As the day passed, night fell, casting an eerie, silent gloom over the surroundings. With nothing else to do, Nozomi and Shion decided to take turns keeping watch while the other slept. They needed to stay in peak condition, ready to face whatever might come at dawn.
Outside, things were far from peaceful.
Kenja stood guard as usual, while Saya remained awake, her mind racing with thoughts of the plan Naoki had shared earlier. She doubted its feasibility, but Naoki was right about one thing: staying with Hachiro was no guarantee of safety. He was like a beast lying in wait, ready to turn on them at any moment. And Saya knew she could easily become his prey.
Sitting by an oil lamp, Saya reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe. It was something she'd scavenged when the catastrophe began—a vial of unidentified liquid she'd stumbled upon during the chaos.
It all started when Saya was working her shift at the hospital. A sudden tremor struck, plunging the facility into darkness. As a nurse, her job was to calm the patients, but things spiraled into something far worse.
Memories flashed through her mind like a fleeting gust.
…
"Please, everyone, stay calm!" a nurse called out.
"We're still investigating the cause, but the backup generator will be online soon. Please remain in place to avoid further chaos!" a voice blared over the intercom.
The announcement eased the patients slightly, but then a scream erupted from the intercom, followed by the guttural growl of an unidentified creature.
"What's happening!?" a patient asked, panicked.
"Oh, it's probably just a minor issue. Please don't worry—it could affect your health," a nurse reassured.
Saya was sitting on a hospital bed with a young girl who'd been admitted a few days earlier for food poisoning and diarrhea. The girl's parents weren't present, so Saya was her primary caretaker.
"Saya-nee, what's going on?" the girl asked.
Saya smiled, gently patting her head. "It's okay, just a power outage. Once the lights are back, I'll read you a story, alright?"
The girl nodded obediently.
Saya smiled again, pulling the girl into her arms and stroking her hair to comfort her. But deep down, an unsettling premonition stirred, triggered by that scream. Though the nurses quickly offered explanations, Saya knew it wasn't that simple.
Suddenly, her eyelid twitched.
She quickly covered her eye with her hand.
"What's wrong?" she wondered. "Signs like this are never just coincidence…"
Saya scanned the room. Familiar faces—patients and fellow nurses—filled the space. But when her gaze drifted toward the restroom area, she froze. A distorted face with a savage grin was silently watching everyone.
Minutes earlier, in the dim room lit only by phone flashlights, no one had noticed a slimy, liquid-like creature emerging from the restroom's plumbing.
It crept toward the crowd like a silent predator.
An elderly man stood closest to the restroom, his phone's flashlight illuminating the area as he loudly cursed the hospital's incompetence, railing against everything without reason. His noise drew annoyed glances from others.
"Here he goes again. Why doesn't he just drop dead?" someone muttered.
The nurses lowered their heads, acknowledging the hospital's fault.
But suddenly, the man's voice cut off.
No one paid much attention. He was always complaining, irritating everyone, so his silence was a relief, making the atmosphere almost refreshing.
Only one nurse, his regular caregiver, grew concerned, knowing his medical condition. Worried something was wrong, she approached him.
"Sir, are you alright—Ah…!" She collapsed, horrified by the sight before her.
Her scream shattered the room's fragile calm.
Everyone turned and froze.
The man who'd been ranting stood motionless under the glow of his phone's flashlight. What stunned them wasn't his silence but his face.
It was deformed.
His skin sagged as if melting, his eyes rolled back to whites, and his jawbone hung crooked, as if broken, yet it moved rhythmically. From his mouth, a thick black liquid oozed in thin streams, accompanied by faint crackling sounds from his chest, as if something was… crawling inside him.
"W-what's happening…?"
A trembling nurse asked, but no one answered. The room was gripped by silent terror.
Saya stepped back, clutching the girl tightly. Her eyelid twitched violently. That feeling… just like before!
She scanned the room again, this time spotting a fleshy eye sprouting from the back of the man's neck where his hospital gown was torn. It stared at everyone like a living creature. A small tendril emerged from his skin, swaying as if testing its surroundings.
A chilling smile spread across his mouth, sending shivers down everyone's spines.
Without warning, a tendril shot from behind the man, piercing a nurse's body and dragging her close. His normal mouth suddenly stretched wide, swallowing her entire body whole.
Only then did the room grasp the horror.
Screams erupted, shattering the eerie silence like a bomb. Some patients collapsed, others scrambled toward the locked door, frantically trying to break it open. Shouts, crashes, and breaking objects merged into uncontrollable chaos.
"Run!! Get out now!!" someone yelled, voice hoarse with fear.
The man's body was no longer human—the parasitic creature inside had taken full control. More slimy, writhing tendrils sprouted from him, slithering across the floor like snakes, targeting the trembling figures cowering in corners.
Saya held the girl tightly, her heartbeat pounding as if it might burst.
"Stay still. Don't cry, don't scream, got it?" she whispered, almost commanding.
The girl nodded rapidly, tears streaming down her face but silent.
Saya glanced at the door, but the crowd blocked it, shoving in panic. That route was impossible.
"We need another way. Fast!"
A tendril lashed out, snatching a patient near the door and dragging them back like a broken toy. Blood splattered the white walls. More screams followed, and the crowd pushed harder.
Saya gritted her teeth, keeping the girl close, and pulled them both under a nearby hospital bed. The cramped, dark space reeked of sweat and blood, their rapid breaths the only sound.
From under the bed, Saya saw the creature's legs shuffle past—one human, one a grotesque mass of black flesh. Its tendrils dragged across the floor, one brushing a table leg with a clack that nearly made her gasp.
"Don't make a sound. Don't look. Don't let it find us," she thought, digging her nails into her palm to stay calm.
Another nurse screamed in the distance, then was slammed into a wall, her body crumpling unnaturally.
Saya's eyes darted to the staff emergency exit at the room's far end. It led to an external staircase, usually locked, but during an earthquake, it might have unlocked via the emergency safety mechanism.
She made her decision.
"We're running!" Saya whispered into the girl's ear. "I'll count to three, then we sprint to that door. Don't look back. Hold my hand tight, understand?"
The girl nodded.
Saya summoned her courage, peeking out to check the creature's position—it was busy pulling another body from the floor.
"Three—"
She pulled the girl up.
"Two—"
She gripped her hand tightly.
"One!"
They bolted.
Their footsteps splashed through blood puddles, Saya not daring to pause for a second. A roar echoed behind, followed by a tendril whipping the floor with a thwack!—but it missed.
The girl stumbled, but Saya yanked her up. The emergency exit loomed ahead. Her heart pounded. Please don't be jammed!
She slammed her shoulder into the door.
CRASH!
It swung open.
A cold gust from the stairwell hit them, and in that moment, Saya knew they'd escaped one hell, but the nightmare wasn't over.
In mere seconds, the creature had slaughtered everyone in the room, leaving no bodies behind. Now it turned toward Saya and the girl.
A tendril shot forward. Saya instinctively threw herself and the girl aside, both tumbling to the ground. With no time to waste, she stood, scooped the girl up, and raced down the stairs.
The girl trembled in her arms, sobbing softly, overwhelmed by fear.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Saya said, her voice steady despite the chaos, as she kept running.