𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐝

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 08: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐓. 2

Harlow searched the soft grass for his missing manga, his brow furrowing in confusion. Sitting up, he scanned his surroundings.

How...How did I get here?

The laughter in the distance drew his attention. Through the trees, he spotted movement - a squirrel, or something similar, darting through the undergrowth.

"Okay, then," Harlow shrugged, stepping over the leafy barrier.

His manga was still missing, and he had no idea where the doctor or the officer had disappeared to. Pushing through the trees, he emerged into a clearing and froze. People. Not the shambling horrors of the mall, but actual people, milling about and chatting. It didn't make sense.

"Whatever, I'm going back to the mall." Harlow decided.

As he approached the crowd, a prickling sensation made him pause. Someone was watching him. Squinting, he scanned the faces until he found her - a small girl with white hair and a black and white striped shirt, her expression flat and unreadable.

Before he could decide whether to approach her, she moved towards him, her gaze unwavering.

"What's your name?" she asked.

Harlow crossed his arms.

"Tell you what. you get me back into that mall and find me the manga I want, and I'll tell you." Harlow replied.

The girl's expression didn't change, but the air crackled with tension. Suddenly, her hands lifted, and the crowd around them erupted in a gruesome display of violence. Blood and gore splattered across Harlow, who recoiled in disgust.

"Gross! What did you do that for?!" Harlow exclaimed.

The girl lowered her hands.

"Are you not afraid?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Harlow wiped gore from his face.

"--Of dying? Since you entered the mall, I sensed something... monstrous. My father always said monsters deserve no kindness, that they can't tell right from wrong. Maybe he was right..." The girl began.

Harlow scratched his head, her words barely registering. He just wanted his manga. The girl turned and pointed towards the mall.

"I'll ask again. What's your name?" She asked.

Harlow sighed, and replied: "It's Harlow."

"Harlow...Walk with me. Let me show you the pain monsters have caused... the pain they caused my sister..." she repeated, a single tear tracing her cheek.

Trauma dump? Seriously? Harlow thought, but he followed nonetheless.

...

Yowaya shuddered, his breath catching in his throat as he huddled beneath the desk, the hollow groans of the monstrous horde echoing through the store.

The silence between him and Dr. Sunji was a deafening void; with no way to contact the doctor, he was utterly alone, blind to the horrors lurking just beyond his hiding place.

Memories flashed through his mind - the sight of Harlow being swallowed by a gaping black hole in the earth, a scene ripped straight from the science fiction films of his childhood. Reality had twisted into something far stranger, far more terrifying, than any movie.

The doctor and he had barely escaped the ensuing chaos, pursued by a horde of grotesque figures, their movements eerily coordinated, their intent chillingly clear.

A sudden thud against the store wall jolted Yowaya back to the present. His heart pounded in his chest, the image of those creatures, those monstrous parodies of humanity, seared into his mind. They were like zombies, but infinitely more cunning.