Another day, another headache.

Sloane groaned as she slid out of bed, a touch at her forehead told her that she had a fever. A mild one, but how long would it take for it to get worse?

She needed more medicine, she'll prioritize it when she loots her neighbors later.

Before that, however, Sloane decided to re-organize a few things; she gathered the remaining pills, bandages, and other medicine out of the bathroom and into a plastic container next to her bed.

Then after that she did the same to her water supply, which she relocated to the living room rather than haphazardly spread across two different bathrooms.

She rested shortly after this and before continuing to work, Sloane cleaned her wounds and bandaged everything up before she began preparing to leave the house.

She wore gloves because the blisters in her hands were starting to get worse and also added an extra layer of bandages just in case she re-opened her wounds while moving around later.

Sloane snacked on protein bars as she added items she'd need on the outer compartments of her knapsack.

The main one would be for the things she looted while the others would be for essentials like bandages, sanitary alcohol, medicine, a lighter, flashlight, and her arrows.

These were the items she decided to bring with her, her neighbor's house was only a ways away from hers so she didn't feel the need to bring food. She did give herself a bottle of water laced with painkillers though.

Sloane grabbed her crossbow and pocketed her box cutter, she walked to the door, closed her eyes and began breathing to calm herself.

Everything was going to be fine, she wouldn't encounter anything while outside, and if she does, then her crossbow will be put to use. That's the plan. She'll follow through with it as much as she could.

Opening her eyes, Sloane stepped forward and lifted the bar of wood she framed against the door.

She covered her face with her mask as she stepped out, she inhaled the omnipresent metallic smell in the air, after the blood rain, it was only natural for the wind to smell like this.

The confirmation that the red droplets she saw falling from the sky yesterday being actual blood did unnerve her, but she's shot an uncannily human monster a few days back and killed two others so it's not that weird.

Comparatively speaking.

And at least blood rains were harmless. She couldn't say the same for monsters.

Speaking of monsters, Sloane spotted a giant centipede in the distance, it scavenged trash cans with the eagerness of a raccoon digging through a dumpster behind a fast food joint. It was another scavenger.

She had competition. If creatures like this centipede were left alone, before long, they would empty houses of anything she could loot.

Hopefully, something else kills this thing...

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Sloane made sure to stick to the sides and hide beneath the cover of roofs while making her way across the yard and towards the neighboring house.

She jumped the metal fence and then ran for the building on the other side. She stopped and looked around once she was under the safety of the house's paddock.

Nothing so far.

Sloane ignored the windows and headed straight for the front door, she twisted the door knob and checked if it was locked. It wasn't.

Sloane pushed the door open with her foot and slowly stepped in with her crossbow primed with an arrow and pointing in front of her.

Her steps were careful as she made her way deeper into the building, no one was inside and any signs of life were non-existent. The hallway was empty but scratches were on the walls and bloody footprints, too large to be human, were all over the floor.

Sloane stopped in front of a door, she checked the door knob for any signs of tampering before activating her hearing aids. Time was now ticking for her hearing and she needed to do this quickly.

Sloane kicked the door open, she flinched when it caused a loud bang but otherwise kept her cool and her crossbow pointed in front of her.

She stood before what could only a living room.

It was empty. As expected.

But signs of struggle were all over the place, the couch was upside down and shattered chairs were scattered on the floor near the walls.

Sloane had her eyes on the hole of the upside down couch as she made her way around the room.

She checked for any valuables and found that some cabinets had jewelry in them but nothing more than that, the broken tv was of no use and so were shattered vases.

After putting the jewelry inside her bag, the last thing Sloane needed to check was the couch, see if there was a monster hiding underneath.

She placed a foot firmly against the back of the couch and kicked, the upturned furniture moved but nothing inside crawled out. She did it again, this time she kept pushing until the couch was a few feet away from where it started.

Sloane looked at the trail of blood the couch left behind.

Something was underneath, she felt resistance while pushing it, but was it alive?

Sloane shot an arrow through the gap to make sure. It didn't come out the other side but the thing under the couch didn't react either.

She concluded that whatever was underneath this, it was most likely a corpse of someone who hid from a monster but was obviously killed.

Sloane gave the holes on the bottom of the couch one last look before leaving the living room and going back out the hallway.

Sloane paused.

She pointed her crossbow at the humanoid that was now standing at the end of it. It was just like the monster she left in the basement, with gangly limbs, a permanent grin, and malnourished body.

It stared at her with bloodshot eyes. Uncannily still.

Sloane raised one hand to turn off her hearing aids. She then pointed her crossbow at the creature. She fired.

It only took a moment for the arrow to connect and bury itself into the creature's flesh, it screeched loud enough for Sloane to hear, its mouth opening so wide that Sloane was sure the creature would be able to swallow her whole if it ever got its hands on her.

She ran back into the living room and locked the doors.

She had another arrow in her crossbow by the time the door was violently struck from the other side.

Panicking, Sloane quickly pushed the couch against the door, she ignored the rotting corpse of the kid the couch left behind and stood on one end of the room. Opposite of the door.

Boney hands pierced through the wall and grabbed the door on either side, the creature pulled it from its hinges with a bloody hand.

It stared at her with widened eyes and an even bigger grin, it threw the door it was holding at her. It fortunately didn't fit its former doorframe.

Sloane fired an arrow at the humanoid, aiming for the head.

The creature dodged.

And that was the last Sloane saw of it. She was left with one of the creature's previous victims while it went back into the house's depths.

Sloane controlled her breathing as she assessed her situation, wondering if continuing with looting this place is worth it or not.

She made her way to the window, deeming the entire thing as a failure. She needed to get out of this place, it simply wasn't worth it to risk her life like this when a monster roamed the building she was looting.

She paused.

The centipede could take everything...

... For all she cared.

She paused again.

Even the monster.

It could take on the monster and Sloane wouldn't need to risk her life. That was... Hm.

Sloane looked back at the dead body in the living room. Well, no one in this neighborhood respected her anyway.

And the dead can't complain. They were dead.

Sloane took out the cleaver from her bag and began chopping the corpse of the kid. At least this way, he would be able to take revenge.

She placed the pieces in the trashbag she looted from another cabinet and then jumped out the window.

Sloane went around the house and back into the front door where the creature grinned at her from the staircase, she stared dully at its attempt at scaring her while she tossed the rotting pieces into the hallway.

Once the floors had enough bait to lead the centipede inside the house, Sloane placed pieces of the corpse around the entryway.

Once she only had an arm left, she tossed it as far as she could towards the centipede's general direction.

Insects have better senses for food than humans, so it should...

The centipede turned to the arm and began moving towards it. Sloane ran as far away as she could from the house.

She watched from the sidelines as the giant insect began eating the bait she left behind, it wiped the entryway clean and proceeded to go inside the house.

Sloane turned her hearing aids on and waited for the screech.

It came a moment after the centipede went through the doors, this screech sounded more angry than in pain.

Now, all that's left for her to do is wait.