Extracting the cart from the pile of corpses inside the elevator was damn chore. I tried to hurry, concerned that some other monster could’ve snuck on this floor and visited my room while I wasn't looking. I was still alive though, perfectly fine in my metal body, so my body should also be fine.

Too bad, I dislocated both my elbows in my haste to get that stupid cart out. Clumsy me. It ended up taking more time than if I’d just been careful because I had to concentrate on reattaching my arms.

I also didn’t want to stay too long in that elevator because I just knew the sight of leftover human body parts mixed with the dead monsters that were eating them would get burned into my memory and ruin my appetite for the next few days…that was, if I ever get out of here alive.

I don’t know why I found this more disgusting than other stuff I’ve seen.

I wanted to grit my teeth, but I didn’t have any. I wanted to pant in exhaustion, but I didn’t even breathe, neither was I actually exhausted, just weak and helpless as fuck. This is so frustrating. More frustrating than the time aunt Jenna forced me to go shopping with her and my cousins for an entire day because there was a mega sale, and those whores left me waiting in the super long line to pay for all the stuff they bought.

Heh? What the hell was I going on about now?

Focus. I needed to focus.

“Some serious rest and relaxation would be great after all of this,” I said, struggling to push the cart over the corpses in the hallway. “Maybe a vacation. Hot springs would be nice.” It would’ve already been a huge challenge getting the cart through this corridor if only human bodies were in my path, but traversing an obstacle course of monster corpses was an exceptionally monumental task. An obstacle corpse, I mused. Applause please, thank you very much. Stupid joke.

I took care not to break the two wheels of the cart as it rolled over bones, fangs, claws, scales and spikes. I frowned—in my head, obviously—when I noticed pieces of flesh were getting stuck in its wheels. At one point, I had to pick up the cart and climb over a particularly large monster body blocking the way. I slipped again while carrying the cart and got coated with even more muck.

After what felt like a century, even though it was only about five minutes tops of extracting the cart from the elevator and pushing it over the terrain of monster bodies, I finally reached the stairs. I wondered if the wife of that guy I used to patch up my friend was still alive. I could’ve sworn I heard her scream earlier. Or it might just be some other person getting killed in the lower floors.

I paused in silence for several seconds, listening for any signs of danger.

Everything was still.

I left the cart by the stairs then continued down the corridor back to my room. I could already see my next challenge: passing through the hallway of death again carrying my human body. I didn’t bring the cart with me to my room because I wouldn’t be able to use it to carry my body anyway. There were too many corpses littered on the floor. I’d just end up carrying both the cart and my body, which would be impossible.

Eventually, I reached my room. There were no signs of any monsters, still living ones, lurking around here. I looked back at the passage I just trudged through. Fuck, this was going to suck ass. Not impossible, but it was going to take me a long time to drag my body past all of that. What would I do if the next batch of monsters came? I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last. I didn’t even have any puppet to use.

Or do I?

I looked down the other side of the corridor.

Wife and daughter. The door to their room was closed. It was open when I, um, borrowed my friend. I was sure of that. His family? Who else would be there? They might’ve sneakily closed the door when the fighting started.

Prospective puppets just right there.

This must be a record on how fast I changed my mind about keeping a promise. Well, the guy was already dead when I said I promised not to take control of his family, so I could just say that didn't count.

I did a quick peek inside my room if nothing was disturbed, my special eye scanning through the darkness, then walked to my friend’s room. Nothing like a friend visiting another friend’s home, checking up on their wife and kid. I held the door knob and slowly twisted. Click. I turned it a few more times and it answered with that annoying click each time.

Dumbass me. Of course, they’d lock the door after closing it.

Was there a key card on his body? Too late to check it now. And I also didn’t have the time to waste trying to break it down, especially with how weak I was.

What if I tried to trick them to come out? Like what? Say, ‘Daddy’s here?’ If I was in the shoes of my puppet...I mean friend...and I think there was some violent crime going on in the building, I would tell my wife and kid to stay put in their hiding place no matter what. And if I was the wife and my husband didn’t come back, I also wouldn’t open the door to strangers.

Fine. Back to keeping my promise then because I was such a good person. You know what? I'd even do them a favor.

I knocked then loudly said, “Hello! Your husband has gone off to find help. Just stay inside.” I paused thinking what else to add. “He said he’ll be back with the BID. There are Adumbrae in this building. You might have seen them. So, don’t come out.” I think that was enough to make them stay there until the BID eventually came to rescue survivors. By that time, I’d be sure to escape from this building. “I’m going to hide now too! Good luck to both of us.”

That should be fine.

I jogged back to my room and checked if my body was still safely hidden behind the sofa. Yep, still there. I pulled it out to the middle of my living room area and opened the blanket wrapping my head to be sure. Still pretty and cute, looking like Snow White waiting for a prince to wake her up from a deep slumber. This could also be the story of Sleeping Beauty. Both of them needed a prince.

Where the fuck would I find a prince?

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Step away from her, you monster!” a shaky but determined woman’s voice ordered me. This person turned on the lights of my room.

Uh-oh, not a prince but a new problem.

I had my back to the doorway, crouching down on my human body, so I couldn’t see who this newcomer was. Still, I was relieved she was human. I had enough of these monsters to last me a lifetime. And she didn’t seem to be an Adumbrae or anything of the sort from the way she addressed me. A new puppet candidate?

Bang!

A couple of feet to the left of my body was a bullet hole on the tiled floor, bits and pieces of the ceramic scattered. That was why she was so sure of herself. Bitch, you could’ve hit my body. And she better pay for that. Damage to my room was going to come out of my deposit.

What did she want with me? Even if she had a gun, it was a stupid thing to try and fight monsters. I threw my friend’s gun away after I shot a couple of zombies and it didn’t do shit.

“Slowly move away from that girl!” she said. “No sudden movements! I can put the rest of the bullets of my gun into the back of your head, you Adumbrae.”

Sorry to inform you, lady, but bullets can’t pierce my metal body. But I didn’t tell her that. I slowly raised my hands in surrender while shuffling away from my human body. Then I gradually stood up, my back still facing her.

“Turn around,” she said.

I followed her orders and got a good look at her.

A frizzy brunette, her wild hair tamed as much as possible by tying it into a high ponytail. I deduced she was a resident because she was wearing a bathrobe over her nightdress. Her skin was evenly tanned, not artificially, more like she spent a lot of time under the sun. I guessed she worked out a lot outdoors; her nicely toned legs were proof of that.

With my enhanced eyesight, I noticed hints of wrinkles on her face. Probably mid-forties? Her body looked really good for her age. I might’ve seen her around before, especially since we were close neighbors, but I couldn't recall. I had an idea who she was.

“Ok, don’t shoot. What do you want me to do next?” I said. I wasn’t an expert, but the way she held the gun seemed professional.

“That voice…so it is you!”

“Me what?” I said, acting dumb.

“The one outside my door…about my husband. Where is he?”

Will you look at that, I was right and she actually came out. It was good that I had a metal body, or I'd already be giggling. “I don’t—”

“Don’t lie, Adumbrae! Did you do anything to him?” She shot again. The tile between my feet exploded. “I can kill you…you know that. A headshot is—”

“And then what? If you kill me, how will you find your husband?”

“I…I…”

“Calm down first.” As if telling someone to calm down in a stressful situation ever worked. “What I said is true. Your husband is trying to look for a way to escape this building and get help. I don’t know where he is now. Somewhere in the lower floors.”

Was she aware I was the one who attacked her husband in their room? Their room was dark, but with my enhanced eyesight, I would’ve seen her. And she’d come to the aid of her husband if she saw us fighting. Maybe she was hiding with their kid inside the bedroom at that time.

“But how? The monsters in the corridor…” She quickly glanced to her back, as if expecting one of them to sneak up from behind, and then looked back to me. “Is my husband dead?”

Oh, boy. I’d rather not be the one to bring her the bad news. “Like I said, he went to get help.”

“Bullshit! He got past…past that? All of those things? Those monsters?” She pointed outside. “Don’t bullshit me. Or did you kill him?”

I really didn’t want to be sucked in an emotional scene. I just found it uncomfortable to stand while someone cried because of some stupid thing. Super uncomfortable. Like when people sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you and you didn’t know what to do. I think it was better to tell her the truth after we escaped; my friend was going to prefer it that way. And since she showed up here through her own volition, I was going to drag her along.

“Answer me, Adumbrae!”

“Mommy?” called a little girl’s voice from outside. “Are you ther—”

“Just wait a minute, sweetie. I’ll come back in a bit.” She stepped closer to me. “What did you do to Cesar?”

Cesar? That must be her husband's name. Oops, I forgot to ask him his name. What an awful friend I was, I thought with amusement. “I keep telling you I don’t know where—"

“Mommy, I’m scared.”

“Don’t come out here!”

“Lady, if I may,” I said. “You got two choices here. Stay inside your room and wait for your husband, who may or may not be alive.” Her face twisted with rage. “I honestly don’t know, lady.”

“I already told you don’t lie to me—”

“Mommy! Don’t leave me alone.”

“Lizzie! Stay inside our room! It’s dangerous out here.”

“Listen here, lady. Shooting me won’t change anything. Anyway, your second option is to go out and try to find him and escape, whatever you want. As you can see by what’s outside, it’s not a good idea. I suggest going for the first option. I can’t guarantee you’ll be completely safe, that no monsters will come, because there’s a ton of them here, but the alternative is more dangerous. So, just let me be here.” Still facing her, I took a step to the side, towards my human body.

Bam!

My head flung back, bending too far, almost popping my neck joints. I staggered from the impact of the bullet, but I was able to regain my balance. I touched my eye. That bitch shot my eye! In other news, wow, she's a good shot.

I waved my fingers before my single eye. Nothing seemed damaged. My enhanced eyesight was working fine, I could see the healthy green color coating this woman.

“Where’s your brain?” She shot me a couple more times, hitting me dead center on my chest. Obviously, that also did nothing, but I nearly fell over from the force of the bullets. Her stupid little kid screamed in their room.

“Save your bullets,” I said. “Those won’t hurt me.” I feel so cool. Like I was roleplaying an indestructible hero…or villain, in this woman’s eyes. “Go back to your room and protect your kid. Pray to the Mother Core, or the High Overseers, or whichever god you worship that I win this fight against those monsters, and also pray that they don’t come for you before I succeed.”

“Wha-what are you talking about?”

“The monsters outside, I killed them all." Time to reel her in. "That was how your husband survived. When he went out of your room, he ran into me fighting the monsters. I was perplexed why he didn’t go back to his room. Now, I understand why: he didn’t want to lead them back to his wife and daughter. Admirable, and very brave. And very annoying because I expended nearly all of my powers protecting him while killing the monsters."

"Is...is that what happened? You killed them-"

“He continued running and I don’t know where he went because I was focused on fighting. Now, if you don’t have any business with me, please go back to your room and hide because I have to get this woman,” I pointed at my human body, “out of this building. She’s the target of the Adumbrae who sent these monsters.”

“Are you…” she started to say as she cautiously lowered her gun, the confused look into her face turning into one of understanding, “are you one of those Adumbrae that fight other Adumbrae?”

With a nod of my head, I said with as much authority as I could muster, “Yes. Yes, I am.”