Old man rat.

Nate could not believe that the man just in front of him was this fast.

Right before he could come any closer to the old man, the former took to his hills while leaving dust behind his tracks.

Yet Nate was not bothered, because, to him, it didn't matter how fast the man was but for him to at least still be able to see the man's back, then he would not mind if the man outrun him, because as long as he knows he can run for eternity with no worry.

But things don't go as one always wants.

That is because the distance between Nate and the old man was increasing instead of decreasing, and Nate was becoming more annoyed as time went on.

Though at a point, he would have to look at his back to check if Peter was keeping up.

But that was one of the few mistakes he made while chasing the old man.

Just within a few seconds of not keeping his eye on the running old man, Nate lusts away from the fellow.

'How can an old man be that fast?'

'Even with the knife stuck in a vital part of his leg'

Nate had thrown his knife at the old man the moment he saw him, and though he had missed, the knife still ended up piercing the old man's leg.

Nate could not find a reason why this was so.

By this time Peter had already caught up to Nate.

'It's kind of annoying that you are hindering my movement sometimes but what can I do'

Nate would have to keep on following the old man till at least he ran out of breath but he has to look after Peter at some point.

something might appear and attack him at any moment while he was not around, this also made him give up on chasing the old man.

'I don't know who you are but I hope we don't meet in the future, that knife should be a remembrance to you that...

While still in the middle of his thoughts, Nate came to a realization.

'Knife??'

Just then a light bulb came into Nate's head.

'Maybe you are not yet out of danger then'

Nate thought as he looked around the ground as if he was looking for something. 

*****

Meanwhile, In an array, one can see a White-haired old man who is gasping for air heavily.

It was more like the old man was snoring than breathing.

"Tha...that...was close" the man muttered to himself.

'But I was right about those people, they are not human beings, They smell like zombies but they won't behave like one

'Are they also like me?'

Nevertheless, the man could still feel the pain that was rising in him.

"Ahhh!"

The old folks grabbed onto the short knife that was stabbed inside his foot.

He pulled on the knife as he could not endure the pain, he shouted.

"Ahhhh...!!!"

A stream of black blood flew out from his foot.

'Was it a bad idea to after them'

'I was only trying to know if there is someone like me out there, why is my case different then?'

From the path of behavior the man was displaying, one could easily know that he was someone who has been living as a loner.

Not like he doesn't want to make friends, but the world won't allow him to.

"This will now trigger another part of me" The man grabbed the paralyzed leg.

'Another round of going through hell again '

Slowly, a strange phenomenon starts to happen to the man's skin as the bears on the man's body stand up while pointing to the sky.

Just when all this is happening two shadows are cast over the man. 

" Now where are you going to run to," Nate said while hitting a baseball bat in his hand.

"Please, do, you are misunderstanding me, I mean no harm" the old man prided with a low tone.

"What is there to understand? You were following us, and I saw you with my two eyes"

"Why are you following us in the first place?" Nate asked. 

The man did not say anything for some moment, then before replying in a low tone.

"That's because I thought you were like me"

Hearing this, Nate became confused.

Thinking that the man might be playing with him, Nate took a step forward to take action against the man, but that was when he found out that something was off...

Nate had to sniff the air a few more times to be sure of what he was saying.

"You don't smell like a human"

Still not sure, Nate sniffed the air again.

"You do not smell like a human."

"But how is that possible"

Nate has to take a couple of steps back.

[Defence Key]

Nate did not waste any time in giving Peter the required commands, as he also prepared for anything to appear.

"It's of no use, just get out of here!" the old man suddenly shouted at Nate...

Nate was still not getting what was happening.

Even though he knew something was not right somewhere he was not afraid of anything that might show up, he was more focused on what would happen to Peter who also just like he was not afraid, that vocabulary had long been erased from their dictionary.

"Outaaaah!"

The old man seems to want to shout, OUT, but what came out of his mouth was some type of a roar, though it seems weak.

The roar seemed weak, but what the old man turned into was not.

Right before Nate and Peter, the old man was sitting on the ground with his back swaying on the wall.

The old man's body starts to alternate into another shape...

This started with the cloth of the man being ripped off by its own body, as his bears turned into furs, its mouth pointed out like an arrow then at the edge of the mouth, two teeth spiked out from the end.

Just when Nate thought that he had seen enough, the old man's fingernails grew out into sharp claws at the length of a short sword.

The thing currently standing before Nate and Peter is something that Nate knows is a rat man.

Just in a few seconds, the old man had alternated into half a human, half-rat with red eyes and crawled at the length of a sword.

[An alternate Human being dictated]

[quest = Survive with your horde member]

[Reward =???]

'I should be worried about this but after seeing the reward I can get from the system, I'm willing to do this

"Peter attacked!"