Chapter 29
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Transformation
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This monster wasn't dead yet. To finish it off for good, its head and body had to be separated, or it had to be burned.
[Exclusive Report! Murder at the Kasey Marquess's Estate. Marquess Kasey's Entire Family Massacred...]
I recalled the newspaper headline I’d seen earlier.
It seemed the novel’s story was truly beginning. The reality that the end of the world was just around the corner finally hit me.
“Miss Sinclair, how can you be so calm after seeing that?”
Vanilla asked, staggering over to me after having thrown up everything in her stomach.
“Calm? I'm just pretending to be.”
I pointed to the arm holding the cricket bat. It was trembling faintly.
I probably seemed calm because I knew what this thing was and had experience dealing with a monster at 61 Notium Street.
But that didn't mean I wasn't scared. It was horrifying, terrifying enough to give me goosebumps.
The fact that the world was truly about to end was finally sinking in, bone-deep.
Vanilla fell silent. Ethan placed a hand on his hip, looking at the dead monster with a troubled expression.
“I think we need to investigate this.”
“D-don't touch it!”
I quickly spread my arms to block Ethan as he approached the monster.
“Why?”
Ethan asked. I swallowed hard and glanced at the monster’s corpse. I knew he had the antibody for the virus, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful.
I had to answer carefully here. I didn't want to say the wrong thing and make Ethan suspicious enough to question me.
“Well...”
I trailed off before steeling myself and putting on an innocent expression.
“It’s an unknown creature. How do we know what kind of germs it might be carrying?”
At my question, Vanilla chimed in as if to say, 'That's a good point.'
“It does look like it would spread disease. So, what do we do with it?”
In response to Vanilla’s question, I looked back and forth between her and Ethan and answered.
“Let's burn it.”
I was able to kill the monster at 61 Notium Street completely because I smashed its head with an axe, but this one was different. Still, telling them we needed to separate its head and body would sound suspicious no matter how I phrased it.
So, burning it to ashes was the only option.
“Hmm.”
Ethan mulled it over, looking at the monster's corpse with a displeased expression.
The farmhand, finally getting a closer look at the monster's corpse, collapsed to the ground. He stared at the dead creature with a dazed expression and muttered.
“A-a demon. This has to be a demon...!”
The man seemed to be in shock from the sudden trauma. It would be a problem if he reacted this badly, since creatures like this were about to run rampant all over the world.
“It just looks like some kind of mutated animal. It'll be fine once we burn it.”
I said, approaching the farmhand to comfort him. Then, I spotted something like a bite mark on his forearm.
“Wait a minute.”
The farmhand looked up at me, confused. I pointed at the bite mark.
“What's this?”
“That demon bit me a little earlier...”
The moment I heard the word 'bit,' I scrambled away from the farmhand. Ethan and Vanilla stared at me, puzzled.
Wait, hadn't Ethan helped the farmhand up earlier?
It was unlikely, but I pulled Ethan's hand toward me to check if he'd been bitten. Thankfully, his hand was clean.
“What are you doing?”
In response to Ethan's question, I let out a sigh of relief and pointed at the farmhand.
“I think we need to call a doctor.”
Calling a doctor wouldn't solve this problem. I only said it to buy time. Then, I gripped the bat tightly.
My mind went blank. I had imagined this kind of situation over and over, but now that it was happening, I couldn't think at all. A cold chill ran through my body.
As I stood there, trembling, a large hand grasped my shoulder.
“Miss Cherry, are you all right?”
Ethan studied my face with a serious expression. But something else caught my eye. I could see Vanilla approaching the farmhand to help him up.
“Don't!”
I grabbed Vanilla's arm, and she looked at me strangely.
“Miss Sinclair? What's wrong?”
The farmhand's complexion was already turning blue. His dry, chapped lips were trembling, and he was sweating profusely.
“*Ahem. Cough, cough.* S-something's very wrong with my body. Can you call a doctor?”
He trailed off, covering his mouth with a hand as he coughed violently. When the fit finally subsided, he pulled his hand away to reveal a palm full of crimson blood. Vanilla stared at him in shock.
“Miss Sinclair. Hold on, please let go.”
Despite Vanilla's request, I shook my head and refused to release her arm.
*Cough.*
And just then, the farmhand coughed up more blood and collapsed.
*Thud—*
This time, Ethan tried to approach the farmhand. I stood in front of the fallen man, cricket bat in hand, and faced them both.
“Wait. Please, just wait, don't move. Something's wrong with this man.”
Unable to explain the details, that was all I could say. Vanilla and Ethan looked at me with frustrated expressions.
“Miss Cherry, what are you doing right now?!”
“Miss Sinclair, I didn't take you for this kind of person. This isn't right.”
Listening to their protests, I swallowed back tears. *I'm doing this to save you, to save you.*
And then, just as I'd expected, a sound came from the farmhand, who had seemed to stop breathing when he collapsed.
*Grrrrrr—*
It was the sound of an animal's growl.
“What the. Sir, what's wrong?”
Vanilla spoke, her face a mask of confusion. I looked at the bewildered faces of Ethan and Vanilla before slowly turning around.
In front of the monster's corpse, a person was slowly getting to their feet.
*No, is that even a person anymore?*
It still had the farmhand's face, but its body was beginning to change.
Its stomach swelled and bulged out to the side. Its legs grew unnaturally long. As it twisted its body grotesquely, two extra arms and legs sprouted from the gaps.
It looked like... a spider. It was similar to the monster I had seen at 61 Notium Street.
One of its long, skewer-like legs shot out toward Vanilla without warning. I quickly swung the bat I was holding to meet it.
*Crack—!*
The leg, struck squarely by the bat, snapped and flew to the side. Vanilla gasped.
“Get back.”
I shoved Ethan and Vanilla away. And before they could stop me, I swiftly swung the cricket bat I was holding once more.
*Smack! Thwack!*
*Gurgle!*
The creature, which had been baring its massive fangs at Vanilla, was struck by the bat and slammed into the brick wall.
But it wasn't dead yet. It twitched and showed signs of getting up to attack again,
*Bang—*
Ethan, having come to his senses, fired his gun. The monster that had once been the farmhand, its transformation incomplete, died instantly. The bullet had hit it directly in the head.
Vanilla, who had been staring blankly, turned to me.
“...Miss Sinclair, really, that... strength... I don't know what it is, but it's amazing.”
Then, with a trembling hand, she gave me a thumbs-up. Her expression soon turned to confusion again as she looked back at the monster's corpse.
“But what in the world is going on? That thing just now wasn't human. No, wait, that's not right. It was definitely a person at first... Does that mean the creature we killed earlier was a person, too?”
Ethan also turned to me.
“Miss Cherry, did you know this was going to happen?”
Of course I knew, but since I couldn't admit it, I played dumb.
“No. I didn't. But we all just witnessed that man turn into a monster.”
I looked straight up at Ethan without batting an eye. Then Vanilla spoke to me, her expression still suspicious.
“You told us not to move earlier. You must have known something, right?”
“No. It was just because he was acting so strangely. And there was the risk of infection. That man... it happened right after the monster bit him.”
A brief silence followed my answer.
“You're right. It was strange. Thank you, Miss Sinclair.”
Vanilla broke the silence, thanking me gravely.
“As a police officer, I'm ashamed it took me so long to grasp the situation, Miss Cherry. Thank you.”
Ethan, who had hesitated, his lips parting and closing several times, finally thanked me with an apologetic look.
No, in truth, this was a situation that no police officer or soldier could have possibly understood. Ethan had no reason to blame himself.
Ethan's and Vanilla's gazes were fixed on the two massive monster corpses on the ground. Vanilla stared at them for a moment before throwing up again.
Seeing Vanilla, who could hunt without hesitation, this shaken made me feel bleak about the chaos that would engulf the world when the apocalypse truly arrived.