“In the post apocalypse, humans have become the very bottom of the food chain, surviving in trusted social groups. Just below the very animals, needless to say, the beasts are not without their own predators. The [Hunters] are the undead variant of the surrounding fauna. The alphas of these groups, the most successful predator, undergoes a mutation where they transform into a [Charger]. Larger, faster, stronger, smarter. A gift from the infection, a forced evolution rewarding them on their success. At the end of their ‘natural’ life cycle, they merge into the nearest hive, allowing it to adopt its characteristics for the new batch of undead, dubbed [Chimera]. The union between man and beast.” - Dr M. Relim

The mad doctor drifts alongside a pack of hunters led by a charger. With his abilities, he’s able to become aethereal and remain unseen. Observing like a silent predator. The hunters tend to fight amongst themselves, as it turns out they're still as animalistic as they were in life. One would think they would mindlessly drone about with no care, much like the shamblers found amongst humans. Perhaps they are kept in check by the charger.

“In truth the only notable difference found between the undead hunters and their living counterpart is an increase in aggressive tendencies as well as a new found common taste for their living counterparts, not to mention their significantly changed biological structure, composed of rotting flesh and holes, juxtaposed by the increased density and strength of bones and flesh. Perhaps an evolutionary trait to offset the constant decay?

The Charger is much larger, sporting a greater muscle mass, and therefore stronger bones to support said mass, and from my research on un-moving subjects, this is caused by specifically placed tumors that enhance growth in those areas, which tend to use any taken genetic material and spread it around the body. These tumors are connected by an almost fungal system throughout the whole body.”

The doctor keeps his distance, as a familiar scent appears. He looks past himself as the pack is taken to the same scent. Though it's a blur, he can tell it's a familiar woman, with a younger woman sitting behind her. The doctor looked on, as the pack was easily dispatched by a local he’s seen drifting around the wasteland just outside the deadzone. A man in shining armor.

The charger rips apart the bike in anger, throwing it at the last hunter in its pack. After an unsuccessful hunt, the charger turns to its fallen comrades and rips them to shreds, consuming their flesh to satisfy its infernal hunger.

“Due to an evolutionary trait, most animals, namely canines suffer from chronic hunger until they physically can't eat any more.”

The doctor looks onward towards the women, as they are carried off by the knight. As it seems, they are headed towards the deadzone. He remains quiet, his current curiosity gets the better of him, as he follows the wandering charger.

The wanderer walks for hours, searching for a new pack. As an undead, it doesn't feel exhaustion, even if its bones crack in every step. Eventually however, it picks up a scent. Further from the wasteland, the wanderer finds a trail in the air leading into the woods ahead.

“This scent appears to be how chargers find other chargers to usurp. The defending charger fights to defend its pack, as the hunters circle around, forming a specialized arena for their fight.”

The battle is easily won by the wanderer however due to its increased stature and lifelong experience, and as a reward for its victory, it begins to eat the fallen charger until it is full, granting itself a new mutation.

“This new mutation grants it a stronger and larger upper body, much like the busters, this charger now looks more akin to a gorilla, or in the case of this wolf, a lycanthrope. As it could only eat a little over half of its bounty, the unfinished strain only added a partial mutation. “

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These mutations happen rapidly, a metamorphosis, like a caterpillar emerging into a butterfly, or better yet, a spider’s molt. The hunters tear into the molted flesh of the wanderer as it sets off aimlessly, hoping to discover another scent.

Further into the night, the charger half eaten and left to rot by the wanderer jolts awake. It's ravenous. Its stomach was torn out along with its hind legs. It drags itself forward, hearing the call of the closest hive. Despite its loss against the wanderer, it was the alpha of this section of the forest, just as the wanderer was the alpha of the wasteland. The charger claws its way forward, its entrails dragging behind it, getting caught in woodland debris and ripping its insides to shreds. Its pain unfelt, its motivation unwavering.

The hive was close. The call was deafening. It's nearing the end of its life cycle. And as it lay beside the fleshy protruding roots of the hive-infested building, it closes its eyes knowing a brief peace as it's pulled in by the roots.

That is, until it re-spawns. It awakens, feeling a surge of power it's never felt before. It felt a new set of features. As the doctor’s notes dictate, the charger had undergone its second mutation, it had become a chimera. But, it was incomplete. The merger between man and beast was not produced, but rather a feral merger, it was missing a key ingredient, its own genome, and it knew who had it. Needless to say, feral hives produce feral chimeras. And the nearest hive was human centric.

The chimera tears its way out of the hive, spreading its boney bat-like wings and letting out a monstrous howl. The chimera sports a boney tail spiked at the ends, a quilled mane, and 2 sets of claws on each of its paws. Its jaw is stronger, made of a hardened bone-like biomaterial. And while it can't exactly fly with its bone wings, it uses them to trot faster, like an extra set of front legs. It has enlarged bat-like ears that work to map out its surroundings with every step echolocating through the woods and back to its ears, tied with its enhanced sense of smell, it can pinpoint the usurper with 100% accuracy.

It rushes straight through it, weaving through the trees, leaping over boulders. The wanderer isn't caught off guard however. It's a charger for a reason. The wanderer lets out an ear shattering howl, stunning the chimera, crashing into a set of trees.

The quills of its mane get lodged in a tree, and as it slowly gets up in a daze, the wanderer attacks, lunging in after trotting with its fist like paws, aiming to stomp down on the chimera’s head, but the chimera quickly turns to whip its spiked tail into its shoulder, picking it up and launching it back into the huddled arena.

The chimera jumps up and front flips the tree at the wanderer. The wanderer tears through the tree with ease using its front legs, but still gets struck as the chimera shoots its quills alongside the tree. The wanderer is stabbed in the eye, the quill shooting through its brain, but it's not dead just yet.

The chimera bites down on the torn tree and uses it as a weapon.

“Its usage of tools leads me to believe there's traces of human intelligence in its brain. Had the wanderer become a chimera, it would have become complete.”

The chimera allows itself to get hit, and stabs the shoulders of the wanderer as the tree shatters on its chest.

“If these creatures were able to speak, I imagine the chimera would remind the wanderer where exactly it got its upper body mutation from, almost like a cheesy action movie line.”

The chimera bites down on the wanderer’s head, and it drops on the ground. The hunters howl in celebration, as the wanderer is consumed whole. And yet, the chimera isn't complete.

It looks around, at the surrounding hunters.

And then it shook its body.

Killing the hunters with a volley of quills.

It walked around, consuming the hunters, one by one. And finally, it was complete.

The chimera's wings fall off with a loud thump as they hit the ground. The chimera shakes and shakes, panting hard, growling, and it walks around, barely stable. It smashes its head on a tree, over and over but it does nothing. It tries to vomit out, a hack after a hack. Before it finally locks, and it falls over.

Relim’s radio sparks to life, echoing in the woods in a voice unfamiliar to him. “Hey, Dog! Where the hell are you?” A moment of silence. “Over!”

He gains new information from it, and turns to leave. But before he can, the chimera’s metamorphosis is complete. A humane figure tears through its side. A woman, with features not too dissimilar to the chimera itself. By the looks of it, her actions, her unrotten form, this was a hiveborn mephisto. The Hiveborn stands still, before looking up, and slowly turning her head towards Relim’s direction.