The jungle city.

Chapter 3!

I hope you enjoy it, .~(^¥^)~.

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Zoom!

As if by magic, a crack appeared out of nowhere in front of him and expanded until it reached the size he intended.

(Open portal!)

The system warning snapped Ethan out of his daze, and he cautiously looked at the portal before circling it. On the other side of the portal, it seemed to be a room identical to his own, but the furniture and walls were covered in moss and roots from various different plants.

"Well, let's go in," Ethan said to himself and carefully crossed the portal and entered the room. His radiation detector showed a slight increase in radiation, but nothing that posed a risk to him.

"Close the portal," Ethan said, and the portal closed, revealing a closed door behind him. With his gun in hand, he slowly placed his hand on the doorknob and opened it slowly.

(Creak!)

The door made a loud creaking noise as if it hadn't been used in years, and Ethan slowly peeked out to take a look.

The door of the room led to a corridor that connected to the living room. The walls and floor were covered in roots and moss, and everything looked very, very dirty.

Seeing that there was nothing in the corridor, Ethan returned to the room and began to search it. It was a simple room, with a deteriorated poster on the wall, a wardrobe, a bed, and a work table with a dusty computer.

"It seems to be a teenager's room, perhaps?" he thought and opened one of the drawers of the bookshelf, finding an old photo frame with a picture of a happy family. The parents in the photo were unrecognizable, but the boy, surprisingly, was recognizable.

Ethan turned the photo frame to the side and saw a message on the back, "With love, George." Ethan read the note and felt a little relieved to see that it was written in English.

He searched the room a little more but only found dust and unrecognizable broken items. The wardrobe also only had rags and nothing that could give him any information.

"What the hell is this place?" Ethan thought, and then, holding the radiation meter in one hand and the gun in the other, he slowly stepped out into the corridor.

There were two more doors in this corridor, one in front of the room he came out of and another near the end.

With the same caution as before, Ethan opened the door and saw a spacious couple's room, quite messy with deteriorating clothes and suitcases on the floor. "It looked like they were leaving in a hurry," Ethan thought and decided to explore the entire house before taking a closer look at the rooms.

With a few more steps, he reached the door at the end of the corridor and took a peek into the living room.

Despite being covered in plants, Ethan recognized a sofa facing a TV stand with old and dusty appliances. There was also a balcony connected to the living room by a glass wall that allowed the sunlight to enter.

Ethan could also see the kitchen, and besides deteriorated pots and utensils on the floor, there didn't seem to be anything else worth his attention.

"This looks like an apocalyptic scenario," Ethan commented, and seeing that the radiation levels were stable, he pressed the radiation meter against the wall and entered the living room.

The main door of the apartment was destroyed as if it had been pierced by something sharp and pulled out. There were also old bloodstains on the walls, making Ethan alert again.

"What happened here?" Ethan thought to himself before returning to the door at the end of the corridor and trying to open it.

However, to his surprise, the door was locked. "I'll try to open it later, but first I'll take a look outside," Ethan thought and walked towards the window, this time with less cautious steps, and placed his hand on the glass door to open it.

Crack!

"Oh shit," Ethan said, and the glass door cracked before shattering into thousands of pieces in front of him, covering all the sound. "Well, I should have waited, it's a very old door," Ethan thought and stepped on the shards of glass to go to the balcony.

At that moment, Ethan saw a sight he would never forget, a deserted city infested with plants in every inch of it. In the sky, there was a red sun that illuminated the city, making it look demonic in his eyes.

Ethan stood there for a few seconds, stunned, before his primitive survival instincts, honed in hours of combat, alerted him to a nearby danger.

Ethan looked at the destroyed door of the apartment and felt a sense of danger, and soon had his answer.

(Roar!)

He heard an unknown roar from the corridor, which sent chills down his spine, and a constant tremor began to approach his apartment.

Without hesitation, Ethan quickly ran back to the corridor and grabbed his radiation meter before returning to the room he came from and leaning against the door, aiming his gun at the corridor.

The sounds of roaring and tremors grew louder, making Ethan extremely nervous and sweating cold, even though he was wearing an extremely warm suit and causing him to take off his mask to breathe and listen better.

Soon, the roars stopped, and Ethan could hear the sound of claws scraping against the floor. Whatever it was, it had just entered the apartment and was coming towards him.

Ethan took a deep breath and looked down the corridor, gripping his gun tightly. His aim didn't even tremble, and he patiently waited for the beast to show itself.

Tic. Tic. Tic!

The sound of claws continued to approach, and Ethan's pupils contracted in fear when he saw the creature in the living room.

It was almost like a demon straight from hell. It was the size of a man, with a similar muscular structure, but its head was deformed to resemble a dog's skull.

Its eye sockets were empty, and its fangs still bore bloodstains in its huge mouth. Its claws were as black as its gray skin, and the creature walked on all fours, slowly advancing through the room while sniffing the air.

In that split second, two thoughts passed through Ethan's mind: What was that? Could it be killed?

Although he asked himself these questions, he knew he would not have an immediate answer or time to think of one.

After sniffing the air for a while, the creature turned its head towards Ethan, confronting him with its two empty eye sockets.

(Roar!)

The creature roared and lunged towards Ethan, intending to tear him apart with its claws. "FUCK!!!" Ethan exclaimed and without hesitation, he fired his gun.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of gunfire echoed through the empty corridor, and the bullets flew, hitting the creature's deformed head and chest, stopping its attack and making it howl in pain as it fell back and tried to run.

Of course, Ethan wasn't going to let that happen, and without hesitation, he shot the creature in the knee, causing it to lose balance and fall face-first onto the floor.

BANG! BANG!

HOWL!

Ethan fired two more shots into the monster's back, making it howl in pain once again and try to crawl away from the human who had caused it so much harm.

Ethan didn't shoot anymore and just walked halfway down the corridor while aiming at the creature's head, counting the seconds until it died.

A black liquid was oozing from the bullet holes, and the creature grunted a few times before becoming completely still.