"Hey…, look, this blood is still fresh …," said Adipati, rubbing it between his fingers. Yusuf gets up, "I think there's another thing to be concerned about. Look at this."
All of them take a good look at it. Accompanied by the bright light, they could see the body. They squint their eyes to take a better look. They remembered something from the news report.
"Is this the missing girl that the news reporter talked about?" asked Carla to the boys. "She kind of young… just like a teenager, but I don't think it's her," replied Adipati.
Yusuf inspects more on the body – her arm and leg are sticking out of the thing's mouth. Every part of her body except those limbs is inside the creature's filthy mouth. Adipati and Carla also notice those with the bright light. All of them look at each other in the eye.
"Hey, how about we pull her out of it so we can see her face?" asked Yusuf to Adipati. "Yeah," he replies, "Let's do it," he then gives his phone to Carla and moves to Yusuf.
Yusuf turns off his phone light and puts it into his pocket. Only Carla with her and Adipati's phone illuminate them both.
Two of them stand right opposite of the limbs. Yusuf grabs the girl's arm and Adipati grabs the girl's leg. They put their feet onto the monster's lip for support. They adjusted their body posture to avoid pain risks.
"Wait! Hold up!" panicked her, "Are you guys very sure about this?" she asked them. Adipati replies, "Don't worry! It won't take long!" he returns to his previous position.
"On three! One! Two! Three! Pull!!!"
Squelch!!!
"Hurk!"
As the boys pull the girl, her body flips revealing a grotesque scenery. Half of her face and her front body are already melted. It stretches like chewing gum that got stepped on and pulled from the ground. Due to this, Carla begins to gag and flees from the scene.
She runs to the nearest pillar and bends forward, "Bleurgh!!!" She gasps for air after throwing up then walks to the other side of the pillar.
"Carla! Are you okay?!" asks Yusuf from afar7, he is worried that she might get lost. Carla coughs, "No…," and is still breathing heavily while sitting down to calm down. Yusuf looks at Adipati, "We should check on her. I'm afraid that she cannot stand up."
Adipati takes a good look at the dead girl's body. "Fine, let's just– go get her, okay?" asked Adipati. Yusuf nods and looks at the girl – there is nothing they can do anyway. Adipati shouts, "Carla! We are going at you! Stay where you are!"
Luckily, they can pinpoint her location because of the phone light. Their only light source is from Yusuf's phone.
Yusuf pulls out his phone and turns back on the torch mode. As soon as he shines the path to her, something dripped onto his backhand.
The droplet size is so big and opaque colored. It is so thick, so gooey, and very sticky. He changes his hand to grab his phone while panicking. Immediately he shakes off the slimy substance from his hand in disgust.
"Yusuf, what's wrong?" asked Adipati in confusion. Yusuf did not reply to Adipati's concerning question. Instead, he points the light to the ceiling above him. That brief moment has left both of his eyes open wide.
"W-Where did it go?!" asked him in panic while looking for something with his light. "What is it?! What did you see?!" Adipati demands answers from shocked Yusuf.
Yusuf answers him in the instant, "A foot! I saw a foot on the ceiling, Adipati!" He continues, "It looks like a human foot but the toenails are so long and sharp!"
The light that Yusuf points follows along the beam. It finally reached the pillar and what it shines upon is unpleasant.
They could see the humanoid legs clinging to the pillar. Yusuf slowly reveals more of the humanoid creature's body parts. They could see its hips, ribs, and shoulders bit by bit. It has human-like skin but the skeletal figure is very inhuman.
Carla could feel a hot air blowing at her neck. "Guys…, I could feel something blowing my neck…," she said. Then something just dripped onto her shoulder making her tremble. She stutters, "G-G-Guys…? What is going on right now…?"
Finally, the light reaches its ugly head and it is above Carla. Its presence was busted by the light and it gave an angry glance at them.
"CARLA! LOOK OUT!"
"AHHH!!!"
GROAHHH!!!
SWISH!
It tries to swipe Carla with its sharp claws. Luckily, she is saved by Adipati who pulls her away immediately from the attack. The creature is unsatisfied by the failure of its attack. It begins to growl, ready to make a second attack.
PEW!
SHIK!
GROAH!!!
The creature growls in pain after getting shot by something. A sharp, hard, and long thing sticks out of its cheek. Adipati and Carla turn their eyes to where it came from. They saw Yusuf lifting his arm that turned to monstrous form towards the monster.
"Over here ugly face!" shouted Yusuf to lure its attention. "Come get some," he said calmly as the creature twitched.
ROARRR!!!
The creature immediately chases Yusuf out of pure annoyance. He runs as fast as he can to avoid it. It jumps and tries to claw Yusuf but he dodges the attack. Yusuf rolls on the concrete floor before kneeling and points his arm towards it.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
He shot the ugly thing three times right at its face. It roars annoyingly and begins to scratch the spikes off. It jumps to attack him but as usual, he dodges. During the nick of time, he swings his arm at the creature's belly.
Swish!
A deep, quick and clean cut manifested on its belly. The creature roars in pain as the blue blood taints the floor.
"That should hold it up for a while," he thought to himself. "I need to kill it now but… how?!" he asked himself.
Before he could plan his attack, things turned for worse. The creature groans as its belly moves actively independently. From the fresh bleeding wound grows several sharp teeth. Yusuf could see a tendril that could split in two come out from it.
It roars very loudly out of its lungs at Yusuf. He begins to run away after hearing the horrifying roar. It chases up him as fast as it can. Unfortunately, Yusuf's ankles got grabbed by the creature's tendrils.
"Ahh!!! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" screamed him as the thing dragging him. His claws are buried deep in the concrete floor.
Screak…!!!
The pull is slowed down because he buries his claws into the floor. His claws are leaving some marks on the hard and dusty concrete.
The vile creature pulls its prey harder and harder. At the same time, Yusuf didn't show any sign of giving up. The sticky and slimy tendrils are getting tighter and tighter. During that intense moment, their distance is slowly becoming small.
"LET HIM GO!!!"
SHANK!
GROAH!!!
Adipati managed to jump onto its back and stab it. It groans in agony and begins to shake him off. His claws are buried deep into its flesh making it hard to detach him. He just stuck there, swinging left and right on its back.
Even with that immense pain, it won't let Yusuf go. His ankles are still wrapped around in the tendrils.
Slash!
"Yusuf! Are you okay? Did you hurt?" asked Carla in worries. He unwraps his ankles, "No. Thank you for cutting this stupid thing."
"Woah!!!" Adipati flew from its back and landed in front of them. They quickly help him to get on his feet. The monster growls at them fiercely before running into oblivion. "We must follow it! Come on!" ordered Adipati to them.
They run as fast as they could behind it. They cannot let it go or someone will get eaten later. Thank goodness they can track it down by following the blue blood. The cut from earlier had left the creature vulnerable.
EEEK!!!
They could hear a loud shriek not far from them. They immediately change their course from following the blood to going toward the shriek.
"HELP!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!"
They increase their speed, hoping to reach the girl before it's too late. "Wait, what if… this is a trap?" Yusuf asked inside as he began to remember his past. He instantly shrugs that off because there's no turning back now. He also didn't want to waste everyone's time discussing and arguing.
They run and run and finally they can see her from afar. The beast they hunt is slowly walking towards her. She is frightened to the core, tears flowing from her eyes. It growls and drools then opens its jaws little by little.
"No!!!" screamed Yusuf on top of his lungs reaching out his hand. The beast moves its wide-opened jaws in fast motion with the loud sound, "Roar!!!"
"AHHHHHHH!!!"
CLANG!
That noise not only froze everyone in place but also left them in disbelief. The beast could feel its entire head still shaking. It could feel its teeth still hurting from the bite too. Each of the gang members focused on the thing that it bit.
It is an oval-shaped shield, almost as tall as the wielder. The shield is a little bit wider than the user actually. The thickness of it is the same as two human fingers. It looks heavy but the way she wields it is not like that.
SCHWING! SCHWING! SCHWING! SCHWING! SCHWING!
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
It scratched the thick shield with its claws again and again. The girl screams in panic hoping that she will not die.
They begin to sprint towards the girl without hesitation. The life of that girl depends on their help now.
Swish!
WHAM!
Yusuf and Adipati are flying because they got smacked by the tendrils. Carla was shocked by the sudden attack from the regrown tendrils.
Swish!
It swings back to give another blow to Carla. In that instance, she jumps, avoiding the dangerous attack.
She jumps so far, so high towards the monster. She lifts her sword, very high up in midair.
SLASH!
She slashed the monster's face cleanly off of its head. Blue blood tainted the shield and the body fell onto the floor. The girl shrieks as she sees the brutal bloodshed that occurred. She immediately scoots away and further from the dead creature.
"Waah…," the girl bawling her eyes out very loud. "Adipati…! Yusuf…! Are you alright…?" she called out to the boys. Out of the darkness, they walk with Yusuf's arm on Adipati's shoulders. Even though they are hurt, they still put on a smile and show thumbs up.
Carla approaches the girl and crouches in front of her, "Hey, hey, shush…, it's okay." "W-What is going on? What is this? What is that?" she calmed down with confusion. "It's okay…, there's nothing to worry about. Take a deep breath, okay?" Carla said.
"So…, what is your name? Where are you from?" asked Carla friendly to the girl. "I-I'm from this city. My name is Chutimon…," replied her between the sniffing. Adipati says, "We know you wanted answers. Don't worry, we'll tell you later, okay?"
During that conversation, something bizarre just caught Yusuf's attention. "Adipati," Yusuf suddenly spoke, "Can you let me go? I'm feeling better now." Adipati let him go gently, "Be careful now," he said. Yusuf's eyes still locked on that one peculiar thing.
He walks slowly to that one spot without breaking any eye contact. Everyone follows behind him because of a strong sense of curiosity. After a few steps, he stands in front of it at last. Each of them is flabbergasted by the thing before them.
There is a hole – big enough to fit a person. There are a few piles of dirt near around it. Yusuf flashes the bright light at the big hole. It looks like its depth is the same as the knee height.
"This is so terrible. Can we get more information from you?" Yusuf asked Chutimon. "S-Sure. But…," Chutimon stuttered as she looks at the shield and grabs it in worry. "It's okay, we can wait. Just calm down and it will shrink," Adipati explained to her.
As they waiting, Adipati asked something from Chutimon, "What's your full name?" "Oh, it's Chutimon Thongmee. Thank you for saving my life," she thanked everyone. "You're welcome," Adipati continues, "Still, we need you to follow us to the hotel."
She is shocked, "Why?" hoping there's no trick from them. "For some explanation of course," he said. She nods, understanding what he said but skeptical. She also doesn't know each of their name yet.
They finally get out of the creepy and dark place. The sky shines bright, and the warmth begins to touch their skin. They got a new member and plenty of new questions. The hotel is the next location, a place to rest and relax.