Sloane glared at the creature staring down at her from the darkness. It looked unnervingly human, yet at the same time, uncannily different.

Sloane used the couch between her and the creature as a kind of blockade that forced the creature to just stand in the kitchen, staring at her with a tilted head.

A silhouette was the only thing she could see of it, the creature was gangly, with thin limbs and a hunched back, its face was oval. It was tall enough that the top of its head physically connected to the ceiling.

Bloodshot eyes that could be seen through the darkness no matter how deep stared at her with an intense focus, waiting for the opportunity when she falters so that it may skewer her with arms long enough to touch the ground despite the humanoid's height.

Sloane stared at it, spear poised.

And the creature just stood there. Still as a statue. Its chest didn't move, like it didn't need to breathe, its eyes were locked onto Sloane's quivering frame, focused to the point of them being unnaturally still.

Sloane didn't know how to confront something so... Inhuman.

Thunder roiled and a flash of lightning followed.

Sloane caught a glimpse of it.

And the sight she saw, no matter how brief, was enough to make her think all the decisions that led up to that moment had been nothing but mistakes.

Thin lips stretched out into a full face grin was the first thing that she noticed, a skeletal look was the next thing she remembered, the creature was more bone than flesh, with a pronounced rib cage and visible vertibrae lining its malnourished neck.

Sloane didn't even know if it has a nose or not, its other features were too inhuman for her mind to focus long enough to notice anything else.

She and it stood at a stand still, gazing at each other with uncertainty until one decided to move and attack.

Sloane was shocked to see herself go around the couch and begin approaching the creature, she couldn't believe it when she noticed her feet, quivering they may be, drag her over to where the creature was.

And to her great surprise, the thing stepped back.

That bit of fear from the enemy gave Sloane courage, made her think that she had the upperhand, so what if these things were inhuman and supernatural? Humans ruled this world, they don't stand a chance.

Maybe it was just simply her lashing out, but Sloane didn't think twice about the reason why humans were dominant on this planet.

She's experienced what it was like to be a lone individual amidst a group, to be the animal hunted by a group of intelligent creatures. But it wasn't for the typical reasons. Not for food and definitely not for sport. But for spite.

Maybe that was why she didn't connect the dots? She didn't notice that there was no driving force in the group mentality that targeted her beyond pettiness?

Humans were dominant because they were a driven, united species collectively intelligent enough to make tools and throw them from a distance. Not because they were individually strong. Never because of that.

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Individually speaking, humans had no power.

They didn't have longer limbs for better reach, stronger muscles, nor did their bones act as natural weapons.

Humans, as a rule, could not move without flesh or muscles, this is what makes them so fearful of seeing someone sick and malnourished. Dying. It reminds them of disease, of their mortality.

And anything that could go beyond these basic traits don't count as mortal in their minds. They still are, of course, death comes for everything. It will take anything. No matter how unfathomable.

However, the point that should be taken from this is that, the supernatural isn't human.

... Sloane moved way before she could even think about doing it.

Her spear raised itself into a block, a small memory from a time when she was futilely learning self defense coming back to help her when the creature raised its arm and slammed it down at her.

The spear held, but Sloane's arms felt the recoil of the impact and she screamed in agony.

She stepped back out of reflex, dodging the creature's slash before countering with a stab aimed at its mouth, she simply thought about it and her body followed suit.

The attack was sloppy, but her reaction was quick.

The creature held its head and Sloane could smell iron scenting the air.

Her attack clearly connected, but unlike the last time, the creature didn't scream in pain, it stopped and stared at Sloane, then its gaze went to the makeshift spear in her hand.

Sloane somehow felt that the creature's grin widened in the next instant.

She managed to dodge thanks to her anticipating an attack, it came from the sides, a full swing that arched from left to right. Sloane jumped back, successfully preventing herself from getting hit.

Sloane didn't know why, but it felt like the creature started playing with her, why else would it use such a long winded attack?

Whatever- it didn't matter- with a cry that sounded more of pain than anger, Sloane charged, her spear pierced the creature's stomach, going through unneeded organs before jutting out its lower back.

Sloane pushed even when something struck her mask, an elbow- it hurt- she used it to fuel her anger and pump her legs.

Her gut hurt, her right arm was burning, and she worried that she might fray her nerves but she pushed through, this was the last step she needed to take this win.

A loud thud passed through her un-aided ears and she stepped back slightly when the creature, who was now pinned to the wall, began flailing.

A flash of lightning and Sloane confirmed that yeah, the creature was grinning more viciously now, its mouth was stretched to the edges of its cheeks, revealing rows of pearly white, way too human teeth.

Sloane shakily grabbed her box cutter and pushed it outward, and she didn't whine when the creature began pulling itself up the spear, that was thunder.

And speaking of, the sky yelled with Sloane in victory as she plunged her box cutter into the creature's stomach, the following screech of pain that it released from the depths of its throat quickly joined in on the chorus.

Sloane tugged the box cutter downward, tearing the monster's skin and exposing its torn guts to the open air.

Sloane left her weapon and ran away when the creature started flailing more violently, it writhed for who knows how long while Sloane stood frozen. Watching vigilantly.

When it finally stopped, Sloane allowed herself to exhale deeply and fall to the ground.

She opened her bottle and chugged a bit of water.

No numbness came. She drank a bit more.

That... Was not how she expected things to go.

After a brief rest, Sloane checked the rest of the house for more intruders while locking any doors she passed. It seemed that it was only those three.

More importantly, during her check, Sloane saw more of the outside world than she wanted to.

A house on the other side of the street was on fire, a car had crashed on a water hydrant, spraying water all over the road, and a telephone pole had fallen, breaking power lines and ruining cellular signals.

It didn't paint a good picture of the world's current state.

Sloane turned on the TV. It didn't work.

Things were not going as well as she hoped them to be.

It seems that the apocalypse she had been waiting for since she was a young girl wasn't all rainbows and butterflies like she expected it to be.

Wishing for the end of the world?

How stupid.

Sloane scoffed at the thought as she removed bloodied bandages off her body and tossed them in a trash can.

The gash in her arm had taken the worse strain during the fight, so she took care of it first. The one in her stomach was painful and made her feel nauseated, while the one on her chest was barely affected.

Two wounds. Sloane thought she had two wounds to worry about as she poured half her bottle on a roll of bandages that she then wrapped around both gashes.

Another layer followed, this one had her wrap a loose shirt around her navel and right arm to soak in the water.

Then she removed everything and repatched it with dry bandages.

The wound on her chest got a more basic treatment, which was a gauze beneath a layer of bandages.

After cleaning herself, Sloane put on a white T-shirt and shorts. She then made herself comfortable in her bed, laying there and waiting for sleep to come but the aches gnawing at her wounds prevented that from happening.

And that was a good thing. Because she was about to make a bad decision.

Sloane sat up.

Her getting the Cell Growth benefit was a bad idea. Why did she even consider it?

Sloane looked around her room.

She clearly couldn't sleep, so she wondered what she should be doing next.

There were multiple things that immediately came to mind, but the first should probably be disposing the body of that monster.

She's seen it cannibalize the corpse of that doppelganger in the past so it wouldn't be strange for its own dead body to attract more monsters into the house.

Sloane left her bed wondering where she would store the corpse. The basement seemed like a good idea...