"It all happened three days ago. Our group had discovered and successfully killed our first mutated parasite.

I was in high spirits as the monster was worth about thirty AP, which compared to the one that offered a normal parasite was indeed a great deal.

We momentarily felt unstoppable, no one could afford to take one us inside of our territory. We were well equipped with nano shields and swords, our team work was not that bad as well.

Thus I decided to pay an extra visit to the System base, situated on the other side of the park.

As always we kept going carefully, trying to scout ahead for a possible horde of parasites. Since we learned how smart they can by through ambushes. Firstly you only see one which let you think he's just an easy point, yet he was none other than bait, as a large group of them would follow.

Fortunately on the way we didn't encounter many problems, however deep inside I felt something was wrong, deeply wrong.

In truth central park was zone utilize by many other groups. Not only you had higher chances to run or hide from the infected there, but for them was a lot harder attack you in high numbers due to the vegetation. They had a lot less obstacles in the streets.

Furthermore we surely weren't the only ones in need to use the base. Be it criminals, small groups or even some lone ones, we had never been alone in the park before.

With all the possible caution we could have, we earthlings aren't as experienced. Even for us of the association, we couldn't predict so much.

Thus we just thought of it as a mere coincidence, we kept going.

Then upon reaching the northern side we started to see the first signs of what we should have done, retreat.

Many fights had occurred in this area, however everything seemed so strange. There were traces of blood, a lot of it, yet no bodies could be found.

Every so often we even sighted traces of left over bones, they still had some decomposed flesh around them as we could clearly smell the foul stench permeating the area.

Along the way we saw some other remains of both human carcasses and even animals like birds, dogs and so on.

Well I mean I am not a doctor myself, but distinguishing a human skull from that of a dog isn't particularly hard.

Anyway, already here we should have gotten our suspects, instead of still blaming a possible horde. This because when parasites eat, they take everything, not even bones remain.

Thus we now believe that this had been a mean for 'them' to mark their territory. By leaving all these leftovers 'they' wanted to warn possible intruders.

A few minutes of walking and we would be exiting the park. Time wasn't on our side as the sun painted pink and orange the clouds at the horizon. The sky was clear, no planes were flying above us, no cars were running through the now silent Nova York.

To interrupt this captivating silence was one of the group. He was one of our scouts, since their job was that of exploring the path ahead in case of danger, they were the most attentive of the group. Furthermore they already bought a few tools capable of helping them with the task. They were the weakest members of the team, yet the most important.

'Boss I discovered an unknown creature ahead of us. I can't distinguish its features very well from here, however from what I'm roughly guessing, it should be smaller than the average dog.

It isn't an infected for sure. In my opinion it might have something to do with a 'hidden achievement' of the game.'

He couldn't have been more wrong than this, however we were all eager to find anything to boost our chances of survival. If it really was a hidden achievement it could have helped the group greatly.

However even if for a moment I did think about it being a trap, or maybe something we should come in contact with. After all the System itself was an extraterrestrial being, why could there be other alien kind of beings.

I quickly dismissed the thought and kept on going forward with the group.

Finally we arrived near what I could now distinguish as an extremely disgusting and disturbing creature.

I stared into the foul beast, I immediately recognised it as an abomination, I knew it didn't belong to our world.

It had a strangely elongated head that continued further down its back, it was deprived of either eyes, nose and ears.

The rest of its body was developed more in a horizontal way, as its abdomen reminded me of that of a spider. However those strange thick yet pointy legs surely gave me the chills.

The creature was quick, too quick. As it sensed our presence it quickly escaped with incredible speed, leaving us quite speechless.

'They are quite deep...'

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

What was our scout going on about… I quickly understood, as I slowly got near the rotting carcass the abomination was feasting on, I could see them too. Footprints, as if long and thick needles had just made them. They went further into the ground for about 20 centimetres!

What incredible force it must its legs possess to do this just by running around.

With its speed there was no way we would have been able to catch it. Anyway chasing it with the few time we had left wasn't a wise choice. We might get easily tempted, but we're not that greedy.

We continued to walk..."

Boss suddenly interrupted his narration, he started to desperately press his head with one hand, as if suffering a tremendous headache, while with the other he was repeatedly scratching his neck.

Jhon had never seen his Boss having these kind of problems. Maybe he had some direct contact with those infested. Even if they weren't like the zombies on TV that carried an incredibly dangerous virus they did carry a lot of illnesses with them. They were still rotting corpses after all, their rotten flesh could easily infect you with other kind of diseases.

"Boss? Are you okey?"

After a few second Boss calmed down, leaving only a few scratches and a sense of concern between the members of the group.

"I'm fine now, thank you for your concern. It's since I've been to that 'place' that these symptoms started to randomly appear.

That cursed villa... I-I think I received some kind of mental shock in there. I know you don't understand yet, just let my continue my story.

As we arrived on the streets, just outside central park, we realized that we had been followed.

Three abominations were on our tails. Yet they were three and also didn't seem as strong. Fast for sure, but they didn't actually possess arms or any kind of claws. Plus our numbers were about four time theirs, we weren't as worried them.

Yet soon enough our scouts identified another kind of threat. Climbing through the high building around us, we finally met them.

Two meters tall black abominations were all around us. As soon as they've seen us recognizing them, their strident screeches almost made our ears bleed from pain.

As I observed them better, noticed how their heads were simile to those of the little ones, yet their bodies were more similar to a humanoid kind of being.

We immediately decided to escape from the area this was clearly an ambush, maybe there could have been even more of them.

Unfortunately for us turning back was not an option as they blocked our way back to the park.

Thus we decided to rush toward the System base, fighting inside of it wasn't allowed after all.

We kept running and running, yet they often cut us off, leading us to take various detours towards our destination.

They were persistent, so much that I almost though that someone was purposely leading us off road.

We indeed had a rough time, however we were able to find some rest. Surprisingly so that was exactly the problem. We entered some kind of force shield, in which the creatures didn't dare to step in. I felt them almost feeling fear as they looked in the direction of the villa covered by the shield.

In truth, even I felt an ominous presence coming from it as well. However the team was tired and hungry, the scouts didn't find a single living signature inside of the building.

At first we didn't find anything inside of the villa, literally, as the base floor was empty, shockingly so.

The floor indeed had a few bloodstains, but nothing much compared to what we have seen since the start of the game.

'inhales'

From now on my memory is a little fragmented, even if I won't be able to tell you everything, this should be plenty enough.

The first floor, I wanted to investigate it as the scouts claimed to have heard something coming from it. Thus I chose to go up and investigate it with two of my best boys, since in these times you never know.

Thus we arrived in front of a three meters tall wooden door. It wasn't a common door, it was well decorated with even some caved-in imagines.

The more I stared into it, the more I felt as this wasn't a place where I should be staying here. Whatever is behind this door, is not meat for me to stay in. Yet it was still a sensation, I simply discarded it.

We opened the door and boldly stepped inside. A mistake, a grave mistake. I instantly regret it.

The door suddenly shut closed, as I was inside I instantly noticed how everything was well lighted.

Then the immense dread I felt afterwards can't be described by simple words. The stench of the dead, the deceased and more was permeating the floor.

ERGH...HE-HE-RRLP… ME…

I quickly followed the plea with my eyes, just to discover an horrific atrocity.

A man, sitting with his back on the red stained wall. His face was full of bruises, coagulated blood and puss. He was missing an eye and both ears, while his jaw was probably broken, as he had difficulties in moving it. His left arm had various deep cuts that arrived until his very bone, while his right one seemed to have been partially removed of his skin. A strange kind of mold was latching into it as well, simply looking it gave me the chills. His legs were in a terrible shape, they had been broken on multiple parts, shattered with sheer force. The poor guys was surely done for, I doubt him surviving the day. No rather, he shouldn't even be alive at this point.

Puke, the two boys behind me directly vomited on the floor. As I looked further ahead even I was about to do so.

If it were the us of two weeks ago this wouldn't be as strange. But we already passed the puke part with the start of the game and the arrive of the infested ones. We shouldn't be as impressed, however I had not seen such cruelty and sheer violence in my life before.

This started to look more like a slaughter house. The corridor ahead was completely stained with blood, many other bodies in similar condition to the one near us were scattered here and there. As if they were mere disposable objects.

Viscera and guts painted the floor, even some intestinal leftovers could be seen here and there. Corpses were left hanging on the roof of the long, seemingly infinite corridor.

Screams of the damned reached my ears, clouding my head into a catatonic state. I stared mindless on the bodies still lingering between the realm of the dead and that of the living.

I only felt reassurance through the regular beating of my heart.

After a few seconds I snapped out of the interminable trance I induced myself to.

I looked behind me to find comfort through my comrades.

Only the silent, cold wooden door was there, still locked as an impenetrable wall. I panicked.

I didn't want to stay in this cursed place one more second. I desperately tried to break it, again and again. But it didn't budge, not one bit.

I went forward, no other option was left for me. I made my way through the corpses.

AHGR...I-I… LOV...GHA..

I ignored their pleas, not only because they were in a state beyond saving, but also because they often didn't make sense.

Soon enough doors leading to separate rooms appeared. I deeply feared what tortured souls could be residing there.

I can't even imagine who or what did such things. The malice and pure violence behind these acts is simply horrific. What could you even gain from this.

Finally after pondering for a while I garnered enough courage to find myself opening one of the doors.

An empty room, a single chair and one individual. I looked at his face, I still remember…

The red burned skin, the bloodshot eyes staring at me, his smile, pained.