The bedroom door creaked softly.
The air inside was saturated with a metallic scent.
A heavy smell.
A smell of fresh blood.
In the middle of the room, bathed in the red glow of the outside flames, a silhouette stood on the ground.
It was her.
The old woman from the dirt path.
But she was no longer human.
She was on all fours, her back abnormally hunched, her joints bent at impossible angles.
Her clothes were soaked in red.
And between her skeletal hands…
Was the baby.
She was devouring it.
A wet and sickening chewing sound filled the space.
My stomach turned instantly.
— Blarrgh…
I threw up immediately on the floor, shaken by violent spasms.
Absolute horror paralyzed my limbs.
This world…
This place was hell.
Hearing the sound of my retching, the creature froze.
She sensed the presence of my blood.
Slowly, her head pivoted toward me with a sinister cracking of bones.
Her face…
It was no longer an old woman.
Her jaw had widened, revealing rows of sharp and fetid fangs.
Her bloodshot eyes shone with a wild, hungry glow.
A true Calamity.
She dropped the remains of her prey and let out a shrill cry that pierced my eardrums.
Panic overwhelmed me, but my body reacted out of pure survival instinct.
I raised my weapon with trembling hands.
I lined up the sights on her monstrous head.
Bang!
The gunshot thundered in the enclosed room, illuminating the darkness with a blinding flash.
The power of the recoil made my broken rib howl.
A cloud of black smoke invaded the space.
The Calamity vanished behind the screen of soot.
Had I succeeded?
Had I killed her?
Suddenly, the smoke tore apart.
The old woman charged at me with superhuman speed, claws forward, ready to shred my chest.
I closed my eyes, preparing to die.
But the impact never came.
Crash!
The ceiling above us literally exploded.
Debris of wood and tiles rained into the bedroom.
Another creature had just burst through the roof, breaking through the burning framework.
A feminine silhouette.
She plunged straight onto the old woman Calamity.
Their impact was of unbelievable violence.
The two monsters collided head-on, and the bedroom floor did not hold.
The wood gave way with a great crash.
The old woman was hurled to the lower floor, collapsing onto the ground floor amidst the dust.
I backed against the wall, my heart pounding hard enough to tear out of my chest.
The smoke began to dissipate slightly at my level.
And I found myself face-to-face with her.
The female creature.
She stood near the gaping hole in the floor.
Weapon still in hand, my heart heavy and tightened by adrenaline, I pointed it at her immediately.
I wanted to put a bullet in her head.
I didn’t want to take any risks.
Not anymore.
But as my finger tightened on the trigger, the creature did something unexpected.
She did not charge.
She did not grunt.
She merely stared at me curiously.
Her large eyes shone with a strange, almost innocent glow, contrasting with her monstrous nature.
Time seemed to freeze between us.
That was when a small firefly, a survivor of the chaos outside, drifted between us.
The female creature’s gaze instantly drifted from mine.
Her eyes followed the glowing insect.
Then, like a distracted child or animal, she opened her mouth to try and swallow it whole.
I stood stunned, the weapon trembling in my hands.
What kind of monster was this?
But the respite was short-lived.
From the hole in the floor, a skeletal and bloody hand suddenly shot upward.
The old woman Calamity was back.
She violently grabbed the female creature’s foot.
And with a sharp tug, she pulled her down, making her crash through the floorboards as well.
Crash!
The two monsters found themselves on the lower floor.
And below, a ferocious and pitiless clash instantly erupted.
A battle of fangs against claws.