SSS+ MONSTER EVOLUTION

chapter 12: The trap!

Chapter 12: The Trap

It was starting to get dark. Benson and the others were probably worried. They probably thought we were dead.

Margery sat across from me in the old school bus, her knees pulled to her chest. She hadn't spoken in hours. Not since we ran from the supermarket. Not since she saw what that thing did to those men.

"Any plans?" she finally asked. Her voice was hoarse.

I was playing with the flashlight, spinning it round and round. The bus smelled of mold and old death. Graffiti covered the windows—names, dates, messages to loved ones. I didn't read them. I didn't want to know who wrote them or what happened to them.

"We can't go back," Margery said. Her voice was flat. Terrified. "We can't go into the city either. We would die before reaching the shelter."

She was right. But I remembered the raid with Benson and the others.

"It won't work. Their numbers are too great. We would get overwhelmed and killed. Going back, we might not even run into that thing. It's probably in the store, eating or something."

It was the best logical plan.

"That's just an assumption," she said, her eyes empty.

"You have no idea how dangerous going into the city would be."

She looked at me. Really looked at me. "I watched my own pupils—children not more than ten years old—get ripped to pieces by those things. Don't you dare tell me I have no idea how dangerous they are."

I had struck a nerve. A deep one.

I looked outside the window. The moon illuminated the city through the broken glass. New Sunset City. A city previously called the city that never rests. Now nothing but a quiet graveyard for those who dare enter it.

And I knew it was partially my fault.

"I could scout the area," I said. "Look around first. Maybe I can find a safe route for us to use. You'll be safe in here as I look. Plus, we have enough supplies."

I tried to be sympathetic. I think I was doing a bad job.

Margery turned back, laid on a chair, and tucked herself in with her coat like a blanket.

"We will use your route tomorrow," she said, her back to me. "I'm not going to sit idle and be a liability."

She agreed, but it felt like it was only because I forced her to.

"We'll be safe," I said. "I promise you."

The words felt hollow. I was as much a threat to her as the sanguis were. Maybe more. At least the sanguis didn't pretend to be human.

My stomach rumbled. I pushed it down. Not now. Not yet.

---

The next morning came fast. We barely slept. Who would?

We packed all our stuff and began walking back, tracking our steps, watching our surroundings. We used buildings as cover and moved cautiously.

We were almost there when Margery stopped.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Shhh. Listen."

It was the voice of a little girl crying.

"How could there be a child in these parts of the city?" I was confused.

"Let's hurry! She must be scared."

We ran toward the location until we arrived. The voice came from inside a boutique shop.

"We should be quiet. We don't want to startle her. We can take her to the colony."

Something seemed very wrong. A girl like her should be dead. However wrong that sounded, it was the truth.

We went in and saw her. She sat by a corner, dressed in a white dress stained with blood.

"Hey. We're here to help. You don't have to be afraid. What's your name?" Margery asked, walking toward the girl slowly.

"I want my mommy," the girl cried.

"Your mommy? We can help you find her. Where's the last place you saw her?"

"I want my mommy."

"We will help you find her. Come. Let's go." Margery reached out.

The girl extended her hand too, still crying the same words again and again. "I want my mommy."

That's when it struck me.

Since I got infected, I developed a keen sense of smell. I could smell a human from far away. A sanguis too. I wasn't good at it yet—I was still adapting—but I could tell the difference.

Although she looked human in every way, the girl in front of me didn't smell like a human at all.

She stunk of sanguis.

"Margery! It's a trap!"

I rushed and pulled her away.

"What are you doing!?" Margery yelled.

The little girl pushed herself forward and tried to bite Margery. Her mouth opened—wider than it should. Wider than any human mouth could. Teeth lined the inside, rows and rows of them, like a shark.

I pushed Margery away, and the girl snapped at nothing but air.

I pulled out the gun strapped behind my back and unloaded it on her. The bullets tore through her small body. She fell to the floor.

Margery stood there shaking. "What was that?"

"I don't know. But we have to get out of here."

Suddenly, I heard the sound of bones breaking.

I looked back. The little girl had gotten back to her feet. This time, fangs bared in her mouth, her nails too long and curved like claws.

I pointed the gun at her.

"I want my mommy," it cried again.

Somehow, this sanguis was mimicking the sounds of a child crying for her mother to draw prey in. I knew the sanguis had evolved. But never did I think to this level.

The little monster started walking slowly toward us. Crying.

Swoosh!

It jumped at me and pinned me to the ground. The gun fell from my hand.

I tried holding her mouth away, but she was overpowering me. Her mouth opened again—wider, wider—and I could smell the blood on her breath.

Margery, while shaking, pulled out her pistol—a Desert Eagle—and started firing at the girl's head. Blasting and blasting and blasting.

But the girl never paid her any attention. She was invested in trying to bite me.

My arms moved before I did. The blood inside me surged, hardening, reshaping. My fingers elongated into claws. I grabbed her—not with hands, but with something else—and threw her across the room.

She crashed through shelves, wood splintering around her.

I looked at my hands. Normal again. But they weren't. They couldn't be.

It was too dark for Margery to have seen what happened.

"Quick, let's go!" I yelled, grabbing her arm.

The girl ran at us. I kept shooting while we ran, and she kept dodging the bullets, hopping left and right like a maniac as she sprinted at us on all fours.

I saw the route we used coming here and immediately changed directions.

"What are you doing?" Margery asked as we ran.

"I have a plan. Please! Trust me."

I remembered something. These parts of the city were empty because stronger sanguis claimed territories. The lab. The supermarket. The little girl—she wasn't hunting here. She was hiding. This wasn't her territory. But the other one...

"It's catching up!" Margery yelled.

"Run faster!"

"I'm running as fast as I can!"

"Damn it!"

I stopped, grabbed Margery by her waist, and lifted her up.

"What are you doing?"

Bang.

I sprinted as fast as I could. The distance wasn't closing as fast as before.

"Almost there!"

"Shoot!" I yelled at Margery.

"What!?"

"Your gun! Shoot it!"

"Where!?"

"Anywhere! Just shoot!"

She pulled out the Desert Eagle and started shooting high in the sky. I wanted to alert it—the sanguis hiding in the shelter.

THUMP.

We found ourselves in a situation.

The plan worked. A bit too good.

In front of us stood the sanguis that stayed in the shelter. Standing on both feet, looking menacing as it stared at us.

Behind us stood the monster mimicking a little girl.

The two-legged one tilted its head. It looked at us. Then at the girl behind us.

It didn't attack. Not yet.

The voice whispered: " interesting."