A musky, damp scent of mold and stagnant water assaulted Abe’s senses as he was led down the stone stairs to the sewers—Elissa leading, and Ricky trailing.

Torches dimply lit the room below, while a dip sounded against water somewhere out of sight.

The others had already been moved to their new cells—sunken knee-deep in the placid water that filled most chambers.

The collars used to drag them here were still fastened around their necks.

“In you go,” Elissa sneered, pulling open the only empty cage.

Abe grimaced, eyeing the spiked, metal bars that enclosed the dark, watery cell.

“Please, there has to be some other way,” Abe pleaded turning to Elissa.

“Don’t make me put a collar on you, too,” Elissa said.

The threat wasn’t empty.

“Really, you’re going to leave me down here?”

Elissa began to walk over to a wooden table along the side of the little landing, where a collar lay.

“Fine, just leave the collar.”

Lowing his head, and gingerly dipping his boot into the water, Abe took a breath before submerging his legs and entering the cage.

Immediately, the cage door rang shut behind him, followed by the grating lock.

Ricky floated over, “They might be brainless, but don’t underestimate them. You might feel special with that ticking mind of yours, but it comes with all the fears and insecurities you had as a human. Those poor suckers, on the other hand, the only thing that compels them is hunger, and by gosh, don’t you look delicious to them.”

“Hunger? What sick game is this?”

“Don’t worry little one, if they eat enough brains—they might just start thinking. Who knows, maybe you can become friends,” Elissa chuckled as she circled the room, checking the other cells.

“Abe,” Ricky inched closer to the cell. “She’s making a point; those feral newborns, they’re going to get stronger, much stronger. But so can you. Follow those instincts in your gut. And whatever you do, don’t get high and mighty in there. You’ll die.”

“What do you mean,” Abe said, lowering into a growl.

“Eating brains,” Ricky grinned. “That human mind of yours can be a distraction. Ignore it. Embrace what you are and feast on the brains of your kin, it’ll put hair on your chest.”

“Are you insane? You want me to eat the rotting fucking brains of those… dead things?” Abe exclaimed, throwing his hands out in disgust.

“If you want to survive,” Ricky said with an indifferent bobble in the air. “Your choice,” he added, drifting back to the stairs they came from. “Ready, Elissa?”

“Almost,” she replied, cranking a lever that released jingling chains that echoed through the sewers and splashed somewhere far beyond their purview. “Good luck, fledglings.”

“No, come back, don’t leave me here!” Abe’s screams echoed through the sewers as steps sounded up the stairs, taking with them the torchlight and leaving the sewers in darkness.

“Please, don’t fucking leave me down here! I’m not like them!”

Only groans and dips remained.

Abe took a deep breath. At least his new vision had taken over.

What do I do, Run? Those things don’t look particularly fast, but then what? Can I even leave this place? Are those things going to hunt me, is she going to hunt me?

His mind swirled with the implications of where he was, and the task in front of him.

*Click*

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Grinding metal resounded through the little cell as the bars at the far end of it began to rise.

It had started. The sewer trial they told him about. Only one ghoul would survive this day, growing stronger in the process, and leaving behind newborn status.

He was the favorite, the one expected to win. Abe didn’t understand any of it, but there was something special about him. Ghouls couldn’t usually speak, or think when born. Mindless—nothing but brain-hungry monsters. But it was more than that. Whatever he was, it was something that had potential.

Even his flesh clung to his body tightly, and his appearance had barely changed, save for some discoloration.

They had told him that when a newborn is victorious, it learns to speak and gains control over itself, becoming a reliable vessel. But there seemed to be a belief that Abe could go beyond what was expected of a regular ghoul, though the details shared had been scarce.

Am I actually going to do this? Eat fucking brains like some kind of monster? No, there’s no fucking way. They can all go to hell. Fuck their explanations. Fuck this place, and fuck that sadistic Mistress!

His body trembled as distant splashes and steps resounded through the water.

I can’t stay here, I’ve got to move.

His body betrayed him, frozen against his commands, and stood shivering in the water, sending out ripples along its placid surface.

Move you fucking useless thing!

Gritting his teeth, Abe willed his feet forward, slowly breaking through the mental spell that had caught him.

I’m wasting time… those things…

He could hear them, their bodies splashing through the water like dogs in play.

Come on! I’m no one’s fucking lunch!

Jaggered steps carried him out of the cell, gradually loosening as he regained control over his terrified body.

Now what? Think, think, think. I need a plan.

His breath was heavy and unsteady.

A groan roared somewhere, followed by a splash. They were fighting already.

Shit, what am I going to do.

Chains jingled through the water to his left, he spun to them, heart pounding.

Just chains. Just fucking chains.

A low, muffled growl followed.

Flushed, Abe’s ear rang as he pivoted through the water, scanning for whatever made the noise—his senses overloaded.

“Raagh.”

What the fuck… Was that one of them? Where is it?

Shadow flashed past his periphery.

He swung to his right.

Something drifted along the water. It was a body, led by the crown of its head.

His eyes widened.

Mutilated. The skull had been cracked open and emptied of its fillings.

No, the fuck… they ate it, didn’t they?

Water splashed.

He whipped to his left, grainy vision scanning the empty sewer tunnel.

Where is it?

A growl sounded to his right, and Abe flung around, jaws flashing through the grainy darkness.

They were on him.

He raised his arms, and pain seared as the jaw of jagged teeth snapped into flesh and bone.

Wobbly, partly dislodged eyes swirled around their sockets before jerking up to eye him.

What the fuck?

It pushed, sending the two scuffled through the water until Abe’s back slammed against the tunnel brick.

Snarling and snorting, the ghoul shook at his arm like a rabid dog.

“Fucking hell!” He gasped as it pressed harder, pushing his arm against his chest and digging its claws into his shoulders as it took hold of him.

Abe pushed back with a palm against his head, but the ghoul barely seemed to notice, instead tightening its jaw like a clamp around his arm, and sending a fresh pang of pain surging.

The ghoul’s weight pressed against him, they slid down the tunnel wall, submerging Abe down to his shoulders as it furiously pressed its rabid attack atop him.

Jaw tightly clamped around his left forearm, Abe pushed his boots into its chest and released his palm from its head.

With a free hand beneath the water, he clawed at the slimy brick around him in search of anything.

Brick, more brick. More fucking brick.

What’s that?

He felt something against the tips of his fingers and stretched for it.

“Fuck!” Abe screamed, biting down as his thigh muscles tightened and he pushed with renewed vigor against his attacker, pressing it back several inches.

There!

The tips of his fingers rolled it toward him and he wrapped his hand around the item and swung—impaling a jagged, broken bone, its edge dagger-like, into the side of the ghoul’s head.

Grunting and convulsing, the ghoul made a final desperate push for Abe as life drained from its body. With a final groan, it slumped against him, jaw still locked on his arm.

Beneath the corpse, Abe lay, chest heaving.

I did it, it's dead.

A moment passed as he calmed beneath the corpse.

How the fuck does my anatomy work? He thought as his labored breaths slowed. Not that he cared. Breathing was a small comfort and reminder of his humanity, however little he might have left.

I’m weak, my arm fucking hurts, and how the fuck am I meant to get this thing off me?

This isn’t good. Not that it was before. But this fucking sucks.

He sniffed, and as he did, a new sensation struck him, one entirely unexpected. Hunger.