Chapter 126

“I don’t buy it,” Jake heard one of them say. “It sounds made up.”

“It’s true,” someone else replied. “Whether you want to accept it or not, that mutant actually exists, Michael.”

“An unstoppable mutant, as black as night, attacking everyone, and no one can kill it? That sounds like an urban legend, you know,” Michael scoffed.

“It’s not an urban legend,” the second man insisted.

“It sounds like one, Jonah,” Michael replied. “Honestly, I’m not surprised.”

“Surprised by what?” Jonah asked.

“By the fact that these kinds of stories are starting to appear,” Michael said. “Think about it. We’re stuck in a world where all kinds of scary monsters exist, and—”

“They aren’t actual monsters,” a third voice interjected. “They’re mutants.”

“Whatever. My point still stands. And please, let me finish my thought, Toby.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“What I was going to say is, considering how many terrifying monsters—mutants, creatures, whatever you wanna call them—are roaming this world, it’s no wonder people begin to imagine their own monsters. That’s why our ancestors figured out how to make fire, y’know—they wanted to fend off the darkness because they believed monsters crawled out of their lairs when night fell.”

“Are you done trying to sound like a philosopher?” a female voice chuckled.

“I’m just stating the obvious, Hanna,” Michael replied.

“I agree with Michael,” another male voice chimed in. “Those stories about that unkillable mutant do sound fabricated.”

“Thanks, Gerard,” Michael replied. “At least someone else here besides myself hasn’t lost their marbles.”

“The truth is, that ex-human actually exists,” Jonah interjected. “There are plenty of people who have seen it. That mutant is called an ex-human morphus.”

“Oh, so people have even given that mutant a name already?” Michael laughed.

“Nobody’s given it a name,” Jonah replied. “It’s what it’s actually called. Someone must’ve scanned it at some point.”

“Yeah, right. You’d think the people who made up those stories about the mutant would come up with a more fitting name. Given all the terrifying rumors about it, the name Morphus doesn’t do it justice. Something like Nightclaw or Creepingnight would be much more appropriate, don’t you think? Though the latter feels more like something out of a children’s scary story.”

Ignoring Michael’s attempt at humor, Jonah continued, “Those who have encountered the morphus say it’s an exceptionally clever mutant. Some even believe it might be intelligent.”

“Puh-leeze!” Michael exclaimed. “Have you ever seen an intelligent mutant?”

“Not personally, no,” Jonah admitted. “But some of them are quite smart. I suppose it depends on their level. The higher the level, the smarter they are.”

While the survivors spoke with vigor, they tried to keep their voices low. Still, Jake could hear them perfectly. He remained crouched in the corridor, his gaze fixed on the slightly opened door from which the voices were coming.

“There’s another interesting rumor about the morphus,” Toby said. “People claim it was once human, a survivor just like us. Then something happened, and he turned into a mutant.”

“Bullshit,” was all Michael said. It sounded like he was no longer interested in discussing the subject.

“Where did you hear that?” Gerard asked, intrigued.

Toby replied, “Remember that group we came across the other day? The one that was surrounded by a horde of mutants? We helped them fight them off.”

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“Yeah. So?”

“We spent the rest of the day with them, right? I made friends with one of the guys. His name is Jacob. We talked a lot. He told me they’d encountered another group of survivors at some point, and from one of them, he heard something interesting. Jacob told me their group recently witnessed a helicopter crash.”

“Yeah?” Michael perked up. “Was it Los Demonios’ chopper?”

“I’d assume so,” Toby replied. “I mean, what other groups have helicopters?”

“That’s incredible,” Michael said. “It's great to hear those assholes lost a chopper. Fuck Los Demonios. Who are those guys, anyway?”

“So what does the chopper crash have to do with the morphus, or whatever it’s called?” Gerard asked, steering the conversation back on course.

“Jacob said it was the morphus who brought it down,” Toby replied.

“Really?” Michael scoffed. “So, that mutant can fly now? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No, Jacob said that someone in his group caught sight of it jumping out of the chopper just before it crashed. After that, the morphus clung to a building wall while Jake’s group watched. When it noticed them, it climbed into a window and disappeared.”

“What was the morphus doing in the chopper?” Gerard asked skeptically. “How did it even get in there?”

“How should I know?” Toby replied. “I’m just sharing what I heard from Jacob. The morphus appeared intelligent to him somehow. He also told me that he once heard from somebody else this theory that the morphus was human once.”

“I believe the rumors about the morphus,” Hanna said, who had been mostly silent before until now. “Before joining you guys, I met quite a lot of other survivors. I spoke with many of them,” she added with a chuckle, “at least with those who weren’t trigger-happy and didn’t open fire on me on sight. I heard from several that now and then, they spotted the morphus climbing buildings and leaping between rooftops. So it can’t fly, but it definitely has some incredible climbing abilities and can jump great distances.”

“At one point, I heard another story about the morphus from a different group of survivors,” Jonah added. “One of them claimed they were jumped by it one night.”

“Really?” Toby replied, intrigued. “What happened?”

“They said the morphus appeared out of nowhere. They weren’t even aware it was there or didn’t hear it approach until it was almost right on top of them. One of them, I think his name was Erick, was gripping a mana crystal in his hands. It gave off a lot of light, which is how they noticed the morphus charging toward them.”

“Yeah,” Gerard replied. “Mana crystals are incredibly bright—and quite rare. So far, I’ve only managed to find one myself.”

“Without it, they probably wouldn’t have spotted it until it was too late,” Jonah added. “The morphus was terrifyingly quiet, barely making a sound as it moved.”

“I don’t suppose they killed it?” Toby asked.

“No, they wounded it, but surprisingly, it didn’t fight back. Instead, it snatched the mana crystal out of Erick’s hands and fled.”

“That’s it?” Michael chuckled. “Really? That’s anticlimactic.”

“So it just stole the guy’s mana crystal and ran off?” Gerard asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t it attack them, though?” Gerard pondered. “What did it even need the mana crystal for?”

“Don’t ask me. I know as much as you do. I’m just telling you what I heard. That group has been speculating that the morphus feeds on mana. After all, while it happened very fast, they did notice that it didn’t have a mouth, so the morphus can’t eat. Instead, it must feed on mana, extracting it from mana items the way we do.”

“So this mutant lurks in the darkness, spies on survivors, and steals their mana items?” Michael laughed. “What’s it, some kind of mana thief?”

“Exactly,” Gerard chimed in. “Maybe it’s even listening to us right now, watching from its hiding spot in the shadows.”

“Ooh, how scary,” Michael mocked.

However, a tense silence suddenly hung in the air. Jake remained where he was, listening intently. He thought the survivors had worked themselves up enough to leave the room and venture into the dark corridor to check it for any lurking mutants. Yet all remained silent—no sounds hinted that anyone had moved.

Jake mulled over what he had just overheard. As it turned out, he had gained quite a bit of popularity among the regular survivors. Plenty of rumors about him circulated, and surprisingly, most of them were true. People knew he preferred to traverse the city by rooftops and had figured out that he fed on mana. Some even recognized that he was sentient. Until now, Jake had no idea he was being discussed so much by the survivors, and it made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Michael suddenly exclaimed, “Come on, enough with the campfire ghost stories! The morphus isn’t real. All those stories are made up, so you can all chill out. What’s with you, scaredy-cats? Y’all really look like you actually believe this nonsense!”

“I don’t,” Gerard replied, though his tone lacked conviction.

“It’s all true,” a new female voice chimed in, sounding somewhat familiar to Jake.

“What are you talking about?” Toby asked, puzzled.

“The morphus… is real. The group I was with before… we were attacked by it.”

“The morphus attacked you?” Jonah asked.

“Y-yes.”

“Bullshit,” Michael scoffed.

“I think Elena’s telling the truth,” Hanna said.

Jake suddenly remembered where he had heard that voice before. Elena was the only survivor of the group he had slain many days before.