Stewart Rico

The brat was a magnet for madness. It was routine at first. A simple watch on an unconscious brat who was in over his head. But I need information about his past. Was it just him or his family?

The background check was surprising. It was clean and showed a promising future.

Turned out he was not as mediocre as he seemed. Funny, he looked like the type to not bother with school. A’s in English and Technology along with impressive talent in technical creation. Well, the slovenly tired unfocused kid didn’t bother to hide sleeping in class. Honestly, he couldn’t give a rat's ass about class or anything in that building. He had managed to reach the top 10 in a robot-building contest. Well damn, who knew he was that bright.

I sipped my coffee, reading through the file with concern. His search history was a journey going from a normal person with the average filthy porn, some generic comics and manga, then it slid down to the most paranoid nut job. The moments of searching start with a goat-headed monster beast, a spiral down into demonology. It led to an in-depth search for monster creatures, all more crazed than the next. However, it got stranger slowly.

It morphed into how to escape cuffs, how to escape straight jackets, how to build bombs, how to make pit traps, how to find guns, and how to archive things. Then the rampage through manuals ranging from Old Army books, Self-arms making, Bombs, and more had me at a loss. The times were ridiculous too, ranging most nights constantly often for days at a time. That explained why he looked like death half the time and why his grades dropped like a rock.

The information got weirder still. Some small clips of him videoing those monsters were also found on his discord and drive, the footage better than the ones we had. That was alarming, and worse, he wasn't shielded or protected. It was almost three months since they arrived, within that time he should have been dead. All the information I got told me that, but something was withheld. They classified too much information, making it impossible to obtain any real information, and I was given the runaround trying to figure out why. No matter, it was simple.

I would just have to get closer to the target, maybe check if he was awake, and maybe do some questioning. Staking out the hospital parking lot was not expected but going up and beyond was part of my job. This case was too strange, the briefing left too much out, and worst my instincts were telling me something was going to happen, so I got out.

With my service pistol concealed, I moved over to the front desk with my best smile. This would require tact and a bit of a lie, but I was wrong. The nurse in charge screamed as someone dashed out with a large human-shaped package. Without a single word, I made a judgment call, pulling my gun and flashing my badge.

“ Freeze! FBI!” I screamed.

The bastard sprinted past me and I spat, beginning a chase. We dashed through the parking lot and moved to a back alley. It wasn’t pretty I wasn’t out of shape but I was no superhero, what I was chasing was. It leaped over bins and did daring acrobatics over fences I could only barely slip through or climb over.

I could barely keep up, only the oozing liquid leaving the stinking trail to follow. Luckily the chase was heading to the school. The bastard was too agile, leaping over school fences and damn near sailing over benches in its way. However, the package-wrapped figure slung over its shoulder shook loose. It didn’t fall out but it illuminated something for me.

Victor's unconscious head hung to the side to the right of the figure from a strange bag. Even with Victor's weight, he was still faster than me but I knew this place and all the shortcuts.

Instead of directly chasing it, I turned left heading through the school, making a beeline to the crossroad that led to the outskirts of town. It remained on the path moving without a worry and luckily it didn’t even focus on me. My legs cried out for me to stop but I pushed past it, heading directly to the crossroad. Sliding I had slipped out my gun, aiming it at the oncoming figure.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Freeze” I shouted, removing the safety.

Honestly, I wished I hadn’t seen something that horrific up close. Now I couldn’t just shove it off into the back of my mind.

The figure stumbled to a stop with a puddle of goo dripping down from where a chin should be. The goo was a strange dark red fluid that was closer to slime. Another strange fluid poured from the face, its head bleeding from two points. The first hole was closer to the top of the head while the other was the fact it had no jaw. It tilted its head back to me, showing no jaw and a long forked tongue wrapping around it. It was wrong. Like bleeding ice or a nightmare coming to life.

“You shouldn’t be able to see me as anything more than human. Hell, you won’t be able to hear this. That and the package should be fine. So sir, what-,” it began only to stop looking at me.

My hand quivered on the gun as I stared at this mockery of humanity. It wore a white suit that was stained by that strange goo the suit turning it to a disgusting orange colour. The shoes were warped and misshapen. Every colour was there before the goo warping the monstrosity.

“What the hell are you ?” I sputtered.

It tiled its head like a curious owl, licking it with its long, prehensile tongue. It was a strange mix of a serpent’s tongue and a centipede. Bobbing its body it dropped Victor onto the ground and began to approach me.

“Just a servant. Do you humans have a word for it? No matter, I think you can ask my employers.” It spoke before rushing at me.

I fired at the monster, first aiming at the head, blowing a massive hole in the face. It only bopped it’s head back but slowed the beast as it approached. Despite the crest that steamed on my flesh that was supposed to protect me from these things, it still hurt to look at this thing. This abomination should have been shot at birth.

“Oh. You can see me? Well two for one, huh?” it chirped, holding out its left hand which became a mass of twirling oozing tentacles.

I didn’t hesitate, I just started to fire. The bullet punched through the head making another bleeding hole that oozed goo. It stumbled, but I didn’t waste time. I just kept firing. Another ripped through the shoulder and one more hit the chest making another spout of goo that stained the ground.

It was closing in and I could barely keep it together. So I turned to start another chase but I was no longer the hunter. My worn legs screamed as I moved towards the wood. It was behind me and I was going to die. I tried but my hip twisted and I hit the ground. I couldn’t run so I turned crawled back and finally looked at the monster behind me.

It was an insult to god, with long twisted limbs that twitched and shook in the air. The human legs were warped and extended like a tentacle with strange spikes that ripped the pants. The limbs that were outstretched towards me were noodles that had large spikes. Oozes leaked out from my gunshots, smelling like strange jam mixed with a used oil motor. Even the clothes it had were ripped to shreds in loose inky tatters, barely hiding its privates. It was bullshit that I was going to die because of an evil wacky waving inflatable flail arm man.

Like a worm, I crawled backward at least trying to escape. However, one of the tendrils slashed my chest, cutting my shirt and leaving me flat on my back. Screaming, I expected death, but Victor saved me, or at least delayed the inevitable.

He was a man possessed, clubbing the beast from behind. The stick shattered under the impact but it was just enough to push it to the left of me. Then, snarling like a madman, he stabbed what remained of the stick into the chest. The creature slapped Victor away with a mere wave and all the wounds oozed out as it began to melt.

“OoooOoohh you two are fun. I wasn’t able to handle that but my masters will love you two. Pray you never get their notice, I would love to make you a part of me.” It spat as it melted down into a strange green goo.

I vomited onto the grass, the shock making me mad. Still, I looked at Victor, who was just coming to look at me with a black eye.

“This is something,” I sputtered through my vomit.

“Well yeah, but it can’t get worse,” Victor spoke, looking up.

“You said that? Idiot, of course, it can get worse,” I retorted.

“Well, we’re alive,” he grinned, looking up into the night sky. He was chuckling, which was weird.

“At least for now”