The moment Koda stepped outside the house, his eyes widened.
The villagers were acting less like humans and more like wild animals.
He saw multiple men and women on all fours, devouring uncooked purple meat like it was the most delicious thing in the world.
Looking closer, he saw multiple worms and bugs writhing from inside the vulgar flesh of the villagers eating the meat.
His face contorted in disgust but he continued walking, trying his best to ignore it.
But it was hard, especially after learning there were nightmare creatures hiding within the meat.
That along with the way these people were acting, with the future filled with zombies, Koda was feeling more and more on edge.
He felt like the conclusion to this strange nightmare was ever near.
A few houses away, he heard a strained cry.
His face turned pale, not looking forward to seeing what caused the cry.
Getting closer, he peeked his head around the corner of an old building and saw a frail woman screaming on her knees to multiple onlookers.
“Nathan!!
My Nathan!
Y-You… you all know damn well where the meat comes from!
I ignored it until now children!
Nathan… my Nathan was just a boy… you… he isn’t big enough to feed everyone!
Why!
This is just cruel, not just!
It’s cruel!” The woman was screaming, her words were more of a screech than any coherent words, but Koda could make it out.
“This…” he muttered.
“A kid went missing?
He isn’t big enough to feed everyone?
What the hell does that mean!
Don’t tell me…” he said, eyes widening in slow realisation.
Brushing past, he tried to ignore it and headed to Old Bram’s store.
He pushed open the door, breathing heavily and with a dull ache in his heart.
‘Old Bram had no meat left over right?
So… surely today I wouldn’t have to do much.’ He thought.
But he was wrong.
He was so wrong.
On his table was quite a large amount of meat.
Well, it was a large quantity.
The meat itself was quite… Small.
His eyes widened and he got closer, covering his mouth.
He stared down at the small slabs of fresh meat.
There were strange pale veins in the flesh, tiny worm-like parasites kinda like the ones inside of that purple meat was here too.
But… the thing that caught Koda’s attention was… Teeth.
Small, barely noticeable teeth were lodged into some of the unidentifiable blobs of flesh.
His eyes widened and his grip over his mouth tightened.
He turned, staring at Old Bram, who was wiping some blood off a large Cleaver.
Old Bram stared back at him with an unreadable expression and spoke one singular sentence.
“Starvation makes all meat equal.” Koda’s heart was beating so hard and fast that he almost thought Old Bram could hear.
… … Back in Riley’s house, the brown haired boy finished both his and Koda’s meals and patted his stomach with a deep exhale.
“Bloody disgusting, but at least I’m not starving.” He said, looking around the house.
“But… my quality seems to be getting worse.” He looked down at his chest.
There were purple veins littered all across his chest and small, thin writhing worms moving beneath his skin.
Riley grimaced.
“If only I knew about these damn creatures sooner!
Now I’m as good as dead, not like death is a bad thing when living in a cursed village like this.” He sighed.
Standing up, he walked over to the window and peeked outside.
His brown eyes widened slightly.
“Well damn!
Is that what’s supposed to happen?
I’m glad I’ve been killing ’em off recently then… if only I’d have done that sooner, eating that damn meat without sorting out the parasites… ugh!
I should’ve known.” He spat, staring at the villagers all devouring the rotten meat like animals.
Closing the curtains, he leaned back and sighed.
“What can I do… nothin!
No point in getting involved, I’d prefer to spend my last few… weeks?
Months?
Chilling right here.” He said, smiling.
“That Koda… lucky fucker, of course he has an aspect tied to being immune!
Ugh, poor kid is going to have to watch us all become cannibalistic zombies… I feel for him, I doubt I’d be able to help much though.” Riley sighed once more and sat back down.
… … A few hours later, butchering the meat of what he presumed to be a child, Koda’s mind was in turmoil.
He couldn’t speak out, Old Bram was not someone he wished to speak up against alone.
Maybe if Riley was here with his strange Aspect, maybe then he’d be able to put up a fight… Koda shook his head and glanced back at Old Bram, who was having a conversation with a frail woman outside.
He’d been there for a few minutes and Koda knew he’d be there for at least another ten.
Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at the entrance to the cellar and moved.
Very slowly, he crept towards the ominous wooden door and slowly opened it.
Surprisingly, Old Bram didn’t have any locks or anything to hold the door closed.
But then again, the village probably didn’t have any of those just laying around.
Koda shook his head and glanced back at the Old Man once more before descending down into the dark cellar.
The walls were cold and gray, the steps made of stone instead of the familiar wood, making Koda’s eyes narrow further.
He couldn’t see very well, but he continued down nonetheless.
Closer to the bottom, there was a light.
He could see slightly, there was a faint orange glow coming from yet another door.
This one was made of thick stone and had a lock on it.
It wasn’t a proper lock though, one that Kode could easily open.
And so, he did.
Pushing open the stone door, Koda’s eyes widened in horror and he took a step back.
Inside the cellar were multiple corpses, human corpses.
All attached to one disgusting amalgamation of flesh, eyes and worms.
A terrifying nightmare creature.
All of the eyes locked onto Koda, staring at him with an immense hunger.
Its flesh was purple and had pale veins running through its disgusting body, it just looked like a blob of flesh and worms.
Covering his mouth, Koda quickly closed the door and sprinted back up the stairs.
‘No way, shit!
It all makes sense now!
That damn… damn Old Bram!
He’s been feeding the villagers with the infected meat from that Nightmare creature, parasitising them and feeding them to the thing!
But… why?’ CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Rikud0u Have some idea about my story?
Comment it and let me know.