Chapter Text
Crunch!
Karin winced slightly as the ax in her hands cleaved cleanly through skull and brain— sending the nigh-zombified man down to his knees and then to the ground. The viscera splattered against her coat (ugh, and this thing just got cleaned, too…), and she was only grateful it didn’t get into her face. She pried the ax out, taking a step back to look at the man.
Half of his face bore extra layers of skin, blanketing over one eye, half his nose, and half his mouth. The other eye bulged open unnaturally, and most of his teeth had fallen out except a few jagged canines. His outstretched hands had no fingernails, and again were wrapped over and over in excess skin. It was blistered and torn in several places, yet the man didn’t bleed a bit. Not even from his gaping head wound — only brains and fluids that Karin couldn’t give the name of leaked out.
“Hey. Good doctor. Look at this.”
The man behind her, pistol clutched in his hands, sighed heavily.
“I do have a name, Ms. Sauer. I would prefer you to use it.”
“And I told you the formalities got on my nerves.” The truth be told, being Ms. Sauer gave her a little smug satisfaction, but she was trying to feed her ego less these days. More importantly, his insistence on it annoyed her to no end. “Anyways, look at this body. It’s not bleeding.”
The good doctor — Daan, she knew his name was, and what a silly name for someone like him — didn’t argue, and stepped forwards, kneeling by the corpse. He exchanged the pistol for the scalpel in his back pocket, and began carefully peeling back the skin over the monster’s face. Karin perched herself right behind him, watching over his shoulder.
“The stretched-over skin doesn’t appear to have blood vessels in it, so far as I can tell.” He said, stretching out a paper-thin piece of it. “What I’m curious about is why his normal skin doesn’t bleed. There appear to be vessels, but the blood is simply… clotted. My theory: mass blood clotting that shouldn’t allow him to keep walking. And yet, he did.”
“That’s… Well, it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen here. But that’s still disgusting.”
“You asked. But still, the biology of these… people is fascinating. Though I wish that I could do more to help than pry at their corpses.”
Karin shook her head. “They’re our enemies now, no matter what they used to be. It’s our right to defend ourselves.”
“I never said it wasn’t. I only meant…” Daan inhaled, then sighed. “Never mind. We should keep going before anyone else sees us.”
“The city is straight north, isn’t it?”
“Unless it’s moved.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Not at all, Ms. Sauer.”
With that, they fell into silence once more — and Karin felt annoyance sting at her nerves. Daan — of course she had to get stuck with Daan. The man had been stepping on her toes since they got off the train, pushing his weight around and acting like he owned the place, like he knew exactly why they were there.
She’d been suspicious of him, initially. Not as much as the Bremen pig, but he acted far too much like he knew something. And he would certainly have a higher chance of surviving this nightmare, as a doctor. That was why she had pursued him — he was a suspect, and she needed to keep an eye on him. Besides, he had gotten the last word in, and despite her best efforts, Karin Sauer could not stand to lose an argument. She certainly wouldn’t lose one to some dainty little foreigner that dressed like an orphan boy!
So when she saw him heading towards the slums of the town, she decided on following him — just to make sure he wasn’t doing anything suspicious. Even though he gave her a headache within moments, and she was sure it would be unpleasant, sometimes that was the sacrifice one needed to make.
Besides. An annoying companion was the least of her worries. Her head still spun from all of the deformed citizens she’d cut her way through— she didn’t feel bad about defending herself, but the scent of blood and rot stuck in her nostrils and behind her eyes. She gave a cursory glance back to the skin-wrapped man, and kept walking.
As it turned out, Daan was largely harmless — as harmless as anyone could be in Prehevil, anyhow. He carried himself like a church mouse, never taking the lead in their travels unless there was a body to be inspected— little like the pushy man at the train that seemed so confident, yet equally aggravating. He put up a fight when they were attacked, sure, but anyone would. He spoke politely, even when he jabbed, as if dropping the doctor persona for a moment would kill him. She couldn’t stand such a prissy demeanor, but she also couldn’t stand the rot-scent that built up in her nose when she was alone. It was safer, she decided, to stay by his side. He could certainly use the help.
The slums were certainly less aggressive than the outer town — largely, the citizens wandered aimlessly, scraping at their faces. Layers upon layers of skin sloughed off, and when Karin turned to ask—
“Do people even have that much skin?”
— Daan merely grimaced and shook his head.
“It’s a miracle they haven’t hit flesh yet. But maybe that’s the problem. They’re itching to tear off all the excess… poor bastards. I wish there was more I could do.”
“You’re only one man.” Karin spoke plainly. “And this is unheard of. Whatever Bremen’s done here…”
“Bremen, huh.” Daan shut his eye and hummed. “I still don’t want to jump to conspiracy, but they surely came at a suspicious time.”
“It’s hardly conspiracy. Even if not Bremen, do you really think this is natural?”
“Define ‘natural’.”
“There’s no way you believe in the hogwash that that girl at the train was spewing—“
“Of course I don’t.” Daan cut in, leaving Karin scowling. “Everything has an explanation. I’m considering it could be a yet-unknown disease, some parasite we don’t know about that shuts down the brain’s ability to reason. But even then, the symptoms are so variable. I don’t know why it would mutate their bodies so dramatically— and in such different ways, too.”
“That’s why it can’t be natural!” Karin glanced at two groaning figures as they paced across a creaking dock. “No disease is this variable. And it would have spread.”
“Not necessarily. Prehevil is rather isolated, is it not? Maybe it hasn’t had a chance to spread.” Daan’s frown deepened. “Ah, shit. What’s the point in debating it if we can’t treat them at all?”
“We can at least bring the truth back. Otherwise, we’ve failed them.”
Daan fell silent. It seems, Karin thought, There’s one thing we agree on.
They stepped down from the dock and walked along the lakeside in complete silence. It would have been peaceful — idyllic, even — if it weren’t for the distant groans and screams on the wind. No sound of seagulls reached their ears — any animal with brains would have abandoned this place long ago.
Karin sighed, resting her free hand in her pocket and letting her ax drag through the pebbles underfoot. A walk on the lakeside. How romantic — except her clothes were stained with viscera, and her company was tolerable at best. Well— it was better than the town. For a moment, she could breathe clean air.
Then, something shifted. The water rippled lightly, and all of a sudden Karin had the distinct feeling — something’s watching us. She stiffened, gripping her ax tighter.
“Did you hear something?” Daan glanced at her, concern etched across his face. “Another villager?”
“Maybe? I just feel like…” She looked around, sweat beading on her forehead.
The water rippled again, and this time Karin heard the sound of shuffling through pebbles behind her. She whipped around, ax poised to swing.
“Show yourself!” She demanded, voice unwavering. “We’re armed!”
There was a long, thick silence — and then, as if on cue, a large figure darted out from beneath the dock, rushing past Karin and Daan before scrambling to a stop. It turned, snout twitching.
It appeared to be some kind of lizard, but it was larger than any Karin had ever seen. It was easily the size of a Labrador, even in its hunching position. Its legs all split into long, humanoid fingers, with black spots where its fingernails must have torn off. Only a meager few remained. It sported a long, fleshy neck flap which dragged wetly through the dirt and rocks, two twisted tails, and two lolling tongues that touched the ground. Karin could spot hooks on the end of both.
The creature had no visible eyes, but it seemed to sense their presence, tongues writhing as if tasting the air. Karin looked up and down, attempting to size up the beast — it, if she wasn’t wrong, was doing the same.
“What do you think?” Karin whispered. “I don’t like the look of those tongues.”
“I don’t like the look of its anything.” Daan whispered back. “But look. It seems emaciated.”
Sure enough, the beast’s ribs pressed against its wet, grimy skin. The knuckles on each hand were sharply defined, and its underbelly tucked in acutely.
“It could be too weak to fight. We might be able to run.”
“What if it jumps on us?”
“Then I shoot it off your back.”
“Huh.” Karin blinked. “Brave boy.”
Brave for a church mouse, anyhow. Anyone desperate enough could handle a gun decently.
“And what’ll you do if you miss?”
“Oh, please. You’ll live.”
The beast snorted, pulling Karin’s attention from a witty retort — it was lowering its head, tails whipping about, and immediately Karin lifted her ax up high. But right before she could swing down—
It gave a distorted hiss, bucked, and whipped its head violently to the side. As it did, a black, brackish fluid sprayed from its throat and nostrils, splattering all over the duo. Karin’s arms dropped to try and block it, fingers slipping from the ax, while Daan stumbled backwards to evade the blast.
The thick liquid stuck like tar and stung, but quickly began to lose its consistency and drip its way off.
“Ugh— oh All-mer, it got in my mouth!” Karin sputtered, tongue stuck out in disgust.
“It’s all over my face… my hands, too.” Daan shook them fervently, the fluid spattering across the rocks. “Is it…?”
The creature wasn’t there. With nothing but a distant sound of pebbles flying growing further away, the lizard beast was nowhere to be seen.
“Gone? I think that was a great time to attack us.” Karin had shrugged her coat off, trying to wring it out. The mess had leaked straight through to her arms, and she suppressed the urge to gag.
“It must really be weak.” Daan said, then smiled mischievously. “I was right.”
“Oh— fuck off. I don’t want to stay here any longer.” Karin grumbled and turned on her heel.
They began on their way back, intending to cross back into the old town or perhaps investigate that maintenance tunnel Daan had found. The city was locked up tight with two keys, and they didn’t have a hold of either. There was much work to be done if they didn’t expect somebody else to do it for them — and who knew what the others were up to?
Head to the tower. That was what that… thing had said. If Bremen really was behind this, they must have manufactured that too. Regardless, it couldn’t mean nothing.
Head to the tower… First, she had work to do.
“So.”
Karin blinked out of her trance. “Yes?”
“You dropped your weapon and I didn’t. What does that mean?”
“I—“ Karin’s face flushed red. “Shut! Up! You are insufferable!”
Despite their surroundings, and the stinging on their skin, Daan’s chuckling and Karin’s fuming drowned it out for just a moment more.