13 - Discreet (1k words)

╔═══ Author's note ════╗

This chapter contains gore and sensitive content.

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The first screams, raw and desperate, cut through the night. They swelled into a chaotic chorus as villagers scrambled for shelter. Footsteps pounded the dirt, and doors slammed shut in futile defiance.

The clicking in the background drilled into my ears, a maddening staccato that seemed to mock the chaos around it.

The women's cries ripped through the chaos, sharp, wild with fear. The cries only grew louder as the scorpions closed in, fear feeding fear, tugging at my heartstrings.

I put on my thermal mask, and the world snapped into focus. Heat pulsed around me, and their desperate, frantic movements marked the living.

I reached back and drew the twin machetes from their sheaths. They were ready ─ I was ready.

A faint clicking started from beneath the ground, growing louder, closer. Sand shifted as something massive pushed its way up, alive with hunger.

The ground shook as a shadow tore itself free.

A scorpion, its armored body gleaming like a living nightmare, crawled into view. Its pincers snapped, massive and cruel, cutting through the air. Its tail arched, ready to strike.

The wind bit at my face, and sand shifted under my boots as I squared off with the scorpion. Its black carapace gleamed under the moonlight, towering and impenetrable. It looked unstoppable, but an idea burned at the back of my mind, waiting for its chance.

The scorpion surged forward, its tail snapping down like a guillotine. I threw myself into the sand, sliding under its massive bulk as its claws raked the air. My blades found the soft underbelly, and I drove them in with all the fury it deserved.

A hiss, sharp and angry, spilled from the monster's maw. Its tail arched, the venomous tip seeking my flesh, yet I held firm.

Fucking rapists...

With my blade embedded in the creature's soft underside, I dragged it forward, slashing the beast from belly to throat.

Its innards spilled out in a rush of blood, splattering the ground.

As the scorpion crumpled to the ground, my cry filled the night, "You fucking waste of air! I hope you burn in hell!"

The beast twitched once, then went still, its blood staining the sand ─ thick and dark, spilling from its broken body.

From the depths of the darkness, another one emerged. Then another came, until a swarm of them surrounded me.

One by one, they dropped to my blades, their bodies crashing to the ground like garbage, discarded and forgotten.

As the scorpions began to shift into their human form, I kicked one in the face, feeling the satisfying crack of bone as I drove its skull into the bloodied sand. I didn't stop until their pretty faces were nothing but a bloody mess beneath my heel.

Damn, why does every world have such filth?! Fucking bastards, I swear I will kill them all!!

With the machetes in hand, I swung them at the dead bodies. The sounds of their severed limbs hitting the ground were like music to my ears.

I landed on my feet and turned to find another scorpion-slash human fucker. He looked at his severed arms in horror, the blood spurting and spraying like a geyser.

"I told you, didn't I?"

"Ahhh!"

The scorpion fell to its knees, screaming.

"Die..."

I cut off his head.

"Fucking rapist."

I cut the man's cock off, then stabbed him in the eyes.

"I will make sure every one of you fucking bastards die. Even if you are a scorpion, your human skull will look good in my collection!"

I cut the fucker's head off.

Then I cut another's cock off, then stabbed him in the eyes.

"Fuckers."

I cut off their balls and shoved them into their mouths.

I turned away from the marred dead bodies.

There were no words, no amount of words, that could ever express how much hatred I felt for those creatures.

They were a plague, a scourge, a pestilence that had to be exterminated.

And I would see them eradicated.

Even if it cost me my life.

"I can sense another female's scent at the back of the village!"

I heard a voice from above and looked up. Those flying rats again. The only thing they did was watch and do reports all day. I cursed under my breath as I quickly left the crime scene. Wiping the machetes with a towel from my backpack, I tucked them back behind my vest. Holding the bloody towel in my hand.

"Hey, female! Don't run that way! There are two ferals!" One of the flying rats tried to warn me.

"I'm fine! You should focus on saving other females!" I called out, quickening my pace.

The eagle flew down and morphed into a male, who I couldn't even bother to look at.

"It's you!" The flying rat called out in surprise, following beside me, "How did you get there from the Racoons' village so fast? Did the feral snake take you here?"

This pesky guy talked too much! Yet, he was the most informed one about the happenings around the vicinity. So, when I overheard him mention another swarm of scorpions heading to this village, I urged Curtis to run as quickly as he could, but that Dickhead had to interrupt us midway.

"You dropped this along the way, Precious," I heard the annoying voice again, emerging from behind the tree where Curtis waited silently.

At the sight of the flying rat, Curtis twitched his tail and sent it soaring through the air.

Dickhead got on his knees like a knight and attached two heavy weights around my ankles, each one 150 kg, then he grabbed my wrists and secured another 75 kg to each, to make my movements appear more like a human, "Your father mentioned you ought to be more discreet in your actions, lest it alert people it shouldn't."