The streets had literally turned into a graveyard. For hours, we moved by clinging to the shadows and hiding behind vehicles. The familiar silhouette of the city was gone, replaced by a nightmare landscape illuminated by flames and shrouded in smoke rising from the asphalt. Several times from a distance, we saw those massive monsters wandering between the buildings; sensing their approach from the tremors in the ground, we huddled among shop ruins, holding our breath until they passed. Under those blood-red clouds in the sky, the despair of humanity had seeped into every corner.

  Avoiding the large monsters, we were looking for weak creatures that we could handle—prey suited to our strength. However, everything around us was too big, too fast, or too numerous. Until we heard that sound.

  While catching our breath behind a car, a thin, high-pitched meow broke the silence. Immediately after, another sound joined the meowing that made my hair stand on end: a wet, distorted child’s voice that sounded like a giggle. "Heh... heh... hee..."

  I touched Elara’s arm and stopped her. Putting my index finger to my lips, I whispered: "There... be quiet. Just follow my steps silently."

  Crouching, we moved toward the source of the sound. When we looked past an overturned dumpster further down the street, I saw it. It was a small, hunched, sickly-looking creature with pale grey skin. It stood on two legs, but its arms were long enough to almost touch the ground. It looked quite weak—at least compared to the giant insects and mutants we had seen outside.

  The creature was chasing a small, black kitten cornered in the street. The kitten ran toward a narrow side street in a panic, and the creature dived in after it with those distorted, childlike giggles.

  Leaning my back against the wall, I glided to the entrance of the alley. Elara was right behind me. When I looked carefully around the corner, I saw that the end of the alley was blocked by a brick wall. The kitten was huddled behind trash bags, arching its back, hissing and meowing desperately. The creature had it completely cornered. Saliva dripped from its crooked jaw onto the ground; it trembled with excitement like a wild animal about to catch its prey, making those strange, childlike grunts.

  Opportunity had fallen right into our laps.

  I turned to Elara, lowering my voice so only she could hear. "Wait here. Keep an eye out; if you see the slightest thing, call out to me."

  Elara’s eyes widened with anxiety. "What are you going to do?"

  I gripped my spear—that makeshift pole—in my hands. Adrenaline had begun pumping through my veins. "We can't miss this chance," I said firmly. "The first potential prey we’ve encountered in hours. I’ll hold it down for you."

  I could see the fear on Elara’s face, but she also knew we had no choice but to keep up with this madness. She swallowed, pressed her lips together, and nodded in approval. I nodded back.

  I took a deep breath, filled my lungs with that sooty air, and bolted.

  My 7 points of agility allowed me to lunge forward with explosive speed. My feet touched the asphalt with almost no sound, melting the twenty-meter distance between us in seconds. The wind roared in my ears. My eyes were fixed solely on the creature's hunched back.

  The creature didn't even notice the danger coming from behind. Its entire focus was on that small black cat trembling with fear. At that critical second when it bent its knees and opened its mouth wide to pounce on the cat, I reached the target.

  Using all my speed and weight, I gripped my spear with both hands and raised it. "Die!" I grunted as I ruthlessly drove the knife at the end of the pole through the creature's back and into its abdomen.

  CRUNCH!

  The sound of the blade piercing flesh echoed in the narrow alley. I pinned the creature to the ground with the momentum of my body; the tip of the blade hit the asphalt, throwing sparks.

  The creature let out a demonic shriek that shook the earth, its childlike voice completely breaking. Its hands and feet flailed wildly in the air, struggling to break free from the spear's tip. Its resistance was more than I expected; I threw my entire weight onto the pole to keep my makeshift spear from snapping.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  In that moment, I locked eyes with the cat. I don't know if those amber, fear-filled eyes looked at me with gratitude or the same terror for a split second, but before the second was over, it slipped past us like a shadow and vanished out of the alley.

  I let out a deep, shaky breath. While continuing to hold the spear tightly and keeping that cursed thing thrashing beneath me on the ground, I turned my head toward the entrance of the alley, made eye contact with Elara, and gestured with my head for her to "Come!"

  Elara ran to my side. Her face turned deathly pale when she saw the creature’s blood-curdling screams and thrashing up close, but she didn't step back. Her eyes were wide open. "You really... you really did it!" she said, out of breath.

  "We were lucky," I said through gritted teeth. My arms were starting to go numb from resisting the creature's struggles. "I managed to catch it in one move. Despite being small, it's quite agile. If it makes any more noise, it could draw other monsters here. Finish it now!"

  Elara swallowed. I saw the lump in her throat rise and fall. She pulled the fruit knife I had given her from her jacket pocket. She gripped the knife with both hands as if she were holding the heaviest sword in the world. Her hands were shaking violently.

  She took a step, then hesitated. "How... where should I strike?"

  "The back of the neck," I said, keeping my voice as authoritative and clear as possible. There was no room for emotion. "Stab it in the neck and cut outward. That will kill it for sure. Don't hesitate, Elara!"

  Elara closed her eyes. Her face contorted as if she were in pain, but in that moment, she made a decision. She took a deep, sob-like breath and, keeping her eyes tightly shut, drove the knife into the back of the creature’s neck, beneath that pale grey skin, with all her might.

  The creature’s shrill cry stopped, turning into a muffled gurgle. Elara pulled the knife out by dragging it sideways as I had instructed. Dark, blackish blood splattered onto the asphalt.

  The body beneath me went stiff for a moment and then went completely limp, turning into a lifeless heap of flesh.

  Elara dropped the knife from her hand, collapsed to her knees, and covered her face with her trembling hands. She was breathing rapidly. Seconds later, she lifted her head and whispered into the void.

  "Fifty... Fifty EXP," she said, her voice sounding as if she couldn't believe it. "I’m Level 2. The notification came." She turned her eyes to me; they were filled with tears. "No matter how happy I am to level up... I feel like I'll never get used to this, Alex. Taking a life... it’s so heavy."

  I pulled my spear from the creature's back with one sharp movement. Trying not to look at the blood dripping from the tip of the pole, I said in a toneless voice, "We have to get used to it. If you want to survive against those massive things out there, you need those levels."

  I turned my back while wiping my blade on a clean corner of my t-shirt. It was no time for pity or empathy. "Let's not dally; our time is limited. We have to get out of here before the smell of blood spreads."

  I had taken a step when Elara’s trembling, raspy voice pinned me to the spot.

  "Wait... wait a minute..."

  I looked at her over my shoulder. Elara hadn't gotten up. Her eyes were focused intently on a specific point on the blood-covered creature. Fear had been replaced by a sickening horror. The last trace of color had vanished from her face.

  With her hand, she pointed to the creature's tattered, blood-stained scrap of cloth and the familiar, colorful sneakers on its small pale feet. Looking more closely, I saw the thin, blonde strands of hair still clinging beneath that grey, peeling skin on the back of its neck.

  "Alex..." Elara said, her voice breaking. "Is this... was this monster... a human?"

  My back was toward her. As I wiped the black blood from the tip of my spear on a clean part of my t-shirt, I noticed my knuckles were white.

  I had seen those blonde strands of hair, those small, bloody sneakers too. The moment I had stabbed the spear, I had felt the disproportionate smallness of that body. One didn't need to be a genius to understand where those distorted, childlike giggles came from. But I couldn't care. If I cared, we would both die.

  "Elara..." I said, without turning around. My voice was muffled, heavy and low enough to blend into the howling wind.

  But she didn't hear me. The ragged sounds of breathing coming from behind me turned into an uncontrolled crying fit within seconds.

  "It’s a child!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the narrow, dark alley and hitting the walls. With a trembling finger, she pointed to the corpse on the ground, the human remains beneath that pale grey skin. "Even if it turned into a monster, I can tell! The face... the hair... those shoes! This must be why it was so small and weak... It was just a little child!"

  Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped onto the asphalt, into that dark pool of blood on the ground. She was doubled over on her knees as if the entire weight of the world had been placed on her shoulders. She buried her bloody hands in her hair and lifted her head, throwing a broad, accusatory, shattered, terror-filled look at me.

  "I... I killed a human!" Her scream sliced through the air like a knife. "Because of you! You told me to cut its neck! It was a child, Alex, it was a human!"

  Her voice had risen far too much. In this world, a loud noise was an invitation. To suffer, to feel mercy, or to feel remorse were luxuries; and we did not possess those luxuries. If she continued to cry and scream, this silent street we had just cleared would turn into a dinner table for those massive creatures within minutes.

  I slammed my spear into the ground and turned around sharply. I completely erased that human hesitation from my eyes and put on the cold, ruthless expression given by the survival instinct. Loading all that stress and fear onto my voice, I roared with a violence that would cut through her hysterical scream like a blade:

  "ELARA!"