New Belly is one of the big cities of the Bernard Empire, located twenty kiloters from Belly Valley. The place where the city was built was previously inhabited by monsters. However, the Bernard Empire's army killed all the monsters in the forest during Operation Cleanup. They then cleared the forest and built the city, which is now ho to 75,000 people.
Currently, a car is parked on the side of the highway, so distance from the city.
.....
Inside the car, the windows fogged up with sweat and moans.
Laughter was muffled between kisses and gasps.
"Shit, Diego," she whispered, eyes half-lidded, breath hot on his neck. "You're not this good at the gym."
"Because I'm not doing this to you at the gym," he muttered with a grin, burying his face in her neck.
She giggled, biting his ear. "You're such an asshole."
"You love it, Priya."
"I like assholes. Never said I loved you."
He stopped, smirking. "Liar. You'd ride into the dirt if I let you."
Her nails dug into his back. "Keep talking and I will."
Then—crrk.
A noise, sharp and low.
Priya stiffened beneath him. "Diego… did you hear that?"
"What?" He glanced up, squinting through the haze. "You farted?"
She punched him. "I'm serious, cabrón. Sothing's out there."
He sat back, sweat dripping down his temple. "It's probably a goddamn deer."
Another sound—wetter this ti, slurping and clicking, like sothing chewing through cartilage.
Priya grabbed her bra from the dash, shoving herself back into it. "Nope. Nope. Fuck this."
"Alright, alright," Diego muttered, zipping up his pants. "I'll check it."
"Like hell you will!"
"Relax, Priya. I'm not gonna get jumped by a raccoon."
He opened the door and stepped out into the night.
The road was empty, but beyond the shoulder, where the tall grass t the forest—there was sothing.
Big.
And breathing.
"What the fuck is that?"
The girl also got out of the car.
"Check it."
"No way. You check it!"
He scanned the treeline, squinting.
Tall. Seven feet, maybe more. Hulking. A grotesque fusion of things that should never have shared a skeleton. The upper body of a lion—matted fur glistening with damp blood. A coiling snake tail twitching like a whip. Its left arm was more like a clawed gorilla's, thick and brutal, while the right had insectoid plating, twitching with so vile rhythm. Worst of all was its face.
Total Three
A lion's snarling mouth at the center. A goat's head on the side, bleating with distorted malice. And a human face, half-rotten, with eyes like cold coals and teeth filed into needles.
Priya scread.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh
The chira's lion head turned toward her.
And it charged.
"RUN!" Diego bellowed, pushing her hard toward the car.
She tripped.
The thing moved like a locomotive, muscles bulging beneath its mutant hide. In two strides, it was on her. Its jaws unhinged wider than nature ever intended, and it bit.
There was no ceremony. No pause. No theatrical gore. Just a sickening crunch, like a waterlon being split under a boot.
Blood sprayed the windshield.
Diego didn't look back.
He ran, barefoot, his knees aching as he pounded the grave.
His mind was pure panic.
He ran like a fucking coward.
......
"—Yes, yes! Just send soone! Please! Please! Please!"
His voice cracked as he fumbled his words into the receiver of a roadside ergency phone. He was maybe two kiloters from the car now. His body trembled.
He looked back.
It was there.
Not running. Just walking.
Like it was enjoying the chase.
The goat head bleated mockingly. The snake tail hissed.
Diego dropped the phone and bolted into the tall grass.
Thorns tore at his legs. Mud soaked his jeans. He stumbled and fell, once, twice. Branches slapped his face. He swore he could feel its breath on his neck.
Then silence.
No footsteps. No growls.
Just wind.
He turned.
Nothing.
Maybe he lost it.
Maybe—
From the left, it exploded through the underbrush.
The chira slamd into him. He flew, skidded through the mud, rolled over onto his back.
It straddled him. Its lion maw hovered inches from his face.
He pissed himself.
"Please…" he whimpered. "I didn't an—don't… don't eat !"
It didn't care.
The human face on its flank smiled. A smirk that stretched too far, exposing black gums and pus-dripping molars.
Then the insectoid arm stabbed forward, piercing his gut. He felt it. The crunch of ribs. The squelch of organs.
He scread. Then gargled. Then choked.
Ahhhhhhhh
The chira tore a chunk from his belly with its lion teeth and began feeding.
♦♦♦
Back in New Belly, the ergency call buzzed the desk of Officer Gopal.
The dispatcher's voice trembled. "Sir, we just got a call. Male, early twenties, screaming about a monster—north highway, past the Pines, around kiloter marker 47."
Gopal rubbed his temples. "Monsters, huh? What is this, a fucking radio drama? Military killed everything in that forest months ago."
"I—I think he was serious."
"Huh."
He grabbed his coat. "Okay. Take the car keys. Let's go on a patrol."
....
Two hours later, Gopal stood next to a blood-slicked car on the side of the highway. His boots squelched in the mud. The girl's remains were still being bagged by the forensics team. Half a ribcage. One eye. Hair tangled around a branch like black yarn. Her phone had recorded a blurry fifteen-second video—screaming, then sothing massive moving through the fog.
They found the boy's body farther down, ripped open like a tin of sardines. His spine had been twisted completely around.
The dia would be told it was a bear. Or a rogue mutant boar.
But Gopal had seen the claw marks.
Too deep. Too deliberate. And there was the matter of the footprint—twelve inches long. Four toes. Digitigrade.
Not a bear.
He walked back to his cruiser, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it with shaking fingers.
"This thing wasn't supposed to exist anymore," an officer said. "The whole region was sterilized. Flathrowers. Mines. Even goddamn neuro-gas."
"We quarantine the area. No one in or out. I'll report to Central Command."
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