SSS+ MONSTER EVOLUTION

Chapter 3 : The Colony

One moment I was staring at Doctor Yelena; the next, I was waking up inside a garbage bin near Block City.

I couldn't recall what had happened. My mouth reeked with the bitter, metallic taste of blood.

I gasped.

"I didn't eat them, did I?"

I shoved two fingers down my throat, forcing myself to vomit out of pure disgust. Fortunately enough—if I could even call it fortunate—I puked up what appeared to be the bloody paw of a rabbit.

I stumbled out, falling next to a pool of stagnant water on the ground.

I stared at my reflection. I looked... normal.

No claws. No fatal wounds. No fangs. Nothing. Just me and my miserable self.

I reeked of rotten blood and garbage.

"I need a bath," I muttered.

I stepped out of the alley to see a hellscape ripped straight from a nightmare. Buildings were burning, people were looting, violence raged in the streets, and dead bodies littered the ground. From what I could see, those corpses had massive chunks bitten out of them. It was definitely the work of a Sanguis monster.

I stared down at my hands.

Why did I still have my sanity? Well... most of it, at least. Why hadn't I transformed fully like the others?

I had been struck by one of them. I was infected. I should have turned into a mindless beast. Yet somehow, I had regained control.

I spotted a group of survivors heading north toward the city center. Instinct urged me to follow them, but I froze. Fear held me back. What if what happened at the lab happened again? What if my body lost control and tried to devour them?

I took a step back—afraid, ashamed. Maybe it was better if I stayed far away from people.

"Hey, you! What are you doing out in the open? And what happened to your clothes? You're covered in blood. Are you infected?!"

The voice belonged to a man dressed in office attire—navy blue trousers and a white button-up shirt heavily stained with dirt and blood. I guessed he probably used to work a desk job.

Before I could answer, a woman stepped up beside him and slapped the back of his head.

"Are you blind? Does he look infected to you? He seems fine." She then turned toward me, wrinkled her nose, and covered her face. "Ugh. What is that smell? When was the last time you took a bath?"

The two walked up to me without a hint of fear. They had no idea what I really was.

"Hey, don't you belong to a colony?" the girl asked. She had soft black hair and a surprisingly friendly face.

"A colony?" I asked, completely unfamiliar with the term.

"Yeah. A colony," she repeated, her tone turning a bit sharper. "Do you have one?"

"No," I replied. "I don't."

The man quickly stepped forward. "Well, you're in luck. We just started our own colony, and we need more hands. What are you good at, exactly?"

"What am I good at?" The question sounded bizarre to me. I had just woken up to a full-blown apocalypse, and here were two strangers casually asking about colony job placements.

The girl slapped her forehead in annoyance. "We need more people for our colony. What are your skills? We might find a place for you. You can't survive out here alone."

The picture was starting to come together. People had grouped up into colonies to protect themselves and survive the outbreak.

But something felt deeply wrong. First, I thought the infection was contained inside the science lab when they sealed the blast doors. Second, how had it spread so quickly, and how were functional colonies already established? Panic should have paralyzed the population long before they organized like this.

"Wait! How long has it been since the outbreak started?" I asked.

Both of them stared at me in total disbelief.

"Have you been living under a rock?" the man asked, reasonably shocked. "It's been about three months."

*Three months?!*

You're telling me I was blacked out for three months? Or worse... whatever was living inside my blood had been in control of my body for a quarter of a year?

Suddenly, a loud siren blared through the air.

"Shit! Quickly, we have to get back to the shelter!"

The girl grabbed my arm and began pulling me along as we sprinted down the street.

"What's happening? What are the sirens for?" I asked, completely ignorant of the rules of this new world.

"It's a Sanguis warning," she called back. "One was probably spotted nearby. We have to hide until the hunters deal with it."

*Colonies? Shelters? Hunters?*

Questions were piling up fast, but asking too many would make me look suspicious. They'd wonder where on earth I'd been to not know any of this, so I kept my mouth shut. I would have to figure things out as I went.

We arrived at the colony shelter—a fortified, abandoned toy factory. The perimeter gates were reinforced with crude wooden spikes. As soon as we crossed the threshold, the guards slammed the heavy gates shut behind us.

I watched a group of men walking out from the main building.

"That's the colony leader," the man noted.

The two brought me straight to him, explaining that they found me outside and that I wanted to join their ranks.

The leader looked pleased—judging by the state of the factory, they were clearly short on personnel—though he took a subtle step back to avoid my stench.

"So you want to join our colony," he said, assessing me. "That's good to hear. As you may know, everyone here is expected to contribute based on their specialty. Do you have any specific skills?"

I froze for a split second. I couldn't tell him I was a scientist. What was I supposed to say? *"Hi, I'm one of the researchers who created the virus that destroyed society."* I needed a cover story, fast.

"I served as a medical assistant, attending to wounded soldiers during the Ploughman's War," I bluffed.

The Ploughman's War was a brief border conflict that had occurred two years prior, lasting only a year. It was fought against a neighboring nation over a strip of fertile land—land that was practically worth its weight in gold now amidst the famine.

"Oh? So you served in the war, huh?" The leader rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Tell me... how good are you with a firearm?"

"I'm no marksman, but I can hold my own," I replied cautiously.

A smile broke across his face. "Good. I'm planning on forming an official hunter unit to represent this colony. Would you be willing to join it?"

*A hunter...*

I didn't know the full scope of what hunters did—only that the girl had mentioned they dealt with the Sanguis. Joining sounded suicidal, and I genuinely wanted no part in it.

"Forgive me, but what exactly do hunters do?" I asked, playing ignorant. "I spent most of my time hiding in a cellar until my food ran out, so I'm a bit out of the loop with how things work now."

It was a solid cover story.

"Ah, I see," he nodded smoothly. "Our main objective is scavenging for valuable supplies that can keep the colony running—food, medical gear, clothes, tools. But when a Sanguis gets too close to our territory, we also step in to eliminate the threat. Hunters also act as decoys, creating noise in distant sectors to draw the beasts away from the shelters. Does that clarify things?"

It all made sense now. At first, I thought hunters were just reckless adrenaline junkies playing hero, but their role was vital. It explained how these survivors had managed to stay alive for three full months.

"Hunters also get special privileges," he added. "Better food rations, private quarters, and a personal cut of whatever loot you bring back."

The terms were surprisingly generous. "Sure. Why not."

We shook hands.

"My name is Benson, by the way. I didn't get yours."

"It's Wilton," I answered.

After being dismissed, I was escorted to a wash area to finally scrub off the encrusted blood and grime. The bath took hours, but I came out clean and was given a change of clothes. They were worn and slightly torn, but vastly better than the rags I had been wearing.

Night fell quickly. The regular survivors slept together in a large open space on the third floor of the factory. Benson had promised that hunters would get private quarters, but since the unit was brand new, the rooms weren't ready yet. I had to make do on the floor with the rest of the group.

Tomorrow would mark my first official day as a hunter, but the dangerous raids weren't what kept me awake. I was terrified of losing control again. What if I transformed in my sleep and slaughtered everyone in this building?

I needed answers, and my mind kept circling back to one person: Doctor Elana Brown.

She had escaped with her armed security team before the facility collapsed. There was a high chance she was still alive out there. She was the brilliant mind behind the Sanguine research—if anyone knew what was happening to my body, or if there was any way to cure me, it was her.

I had to track her down.

Being a hunter might actually be my best shot. It would allow me to search the city ruins and make contact with other settlements. Benson had mentioned that hunters from different colonies often traded goods and intelligence. Someone out there had to know where Doctor Elana was relocated... hopefully.

I tossed and turned, unable to rest. My thoughts drifted toward Doctor Yelena. Was she still alive? What would she think of me if she saw what I had become? If I ever found her again and told her I was still human inside, would she even believe me?

I struck my temples with the heels of my hands, trying to force the thoughts away, but sleep wouldn't come.

If I let myself fall asleep, would the monster inside me wake up? And if it did... would I ever be able to pull myself back into control?