Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 30: Creepers

Clark wore a blank expression. One of the monsters looked up and stared right at him.

Clark didn’t know how to react. A hand reached up and grabbed him, pulling him down to sit under the window. It was Luther. He motioned Clark to keep silent. Clark nodded and covered his mouth.

The monster downstairs found them. It was headed their way now. They heard a tinkling sound

The monster screamed harshly and ran the other way. The monsters all crawled to where the sound was coming from.

They all moved surprisingly fast. But when they got there, all they found was a can being kicked around by the wind. The closest monster picked up the can in its mouth and swallowed it.

After swallowing it, the team of monsters continued down the street.

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Luther waited by the window and heard the monsters crawl further away from them. Then, he was finally relieved, "We’re clear to go."

Clark felt panicked and looked puzzled, "Luther, what are those things?"

Luther gravely answered, "It is a very strong doomsday monster.”

"Luther, can you kill it?" Constance asked, afraid for their safety should they run into another horde of monsters.

At hearing this, Clark piped up, "Constance, those things don’t have anything on Luther. Did you see how ugly they are? But look how handsome your brother is. That just shows how much better he is than them. Right, Luther?”

Luther was embarrassed, but Constance was amused. She covered her mouth and chuckled.

The hostile atmosphere from before was alleviated for a short while.

Luther shook his head and explained further, "We call them creepers. They’re another variation of an infected mutant. They are very strong, even compared with bronze-level species. But they usually come in groups. Ten creepers can kill a silver-level species."

"Silver level? They’re that strong?" Clark was shocked, still memorizing the ranking system of mutants and erazers.

Luther nodded, "They hate the light, so they hide in dark places. They usually come out after dusk. They are very fast and have sharp claws. They can climb walls. Their bodies are full of corrosive acid. It can burn through anything. So, they’re extremely difficult to kill. It’s best if we avoid them at all costs.” 

"If they find us, we can’t run from them. But they have a disadvantage: they have horrible eyesight. They have to rely on their hearing, so that makes them particularly sensitive to sound. They’ll attack the loudest thing they hear.”

"If they find us, we need to split up and be as loud as we can from different directions to confuse them. Then we’ll have a chance to get the better of them."

"One mistake and you’re dead. It is better to avoid them as much as possible."

Clark asked, "What about their sense of smell? Can they smell us from far away?"

"They do have a good sense of smell, but they rely mostly on their hearing, so we should be safe if we’re quiet." Luther explained.

On the way up the stairs, Luther passed by the corpses of both infected and uninfected humans. Some bodies were torn apart. Their intestines had shriveled and dried up. Others consisted of nothing more than its upper body. The blood and the flesh were mixed together in one of the most violent and gory sights they had seen.

The corpses had been around for a few days by now, and the rancid smell was pungent no matter where they stood.

Luther and the others had soaked rags in water to cover their faces with. They knew that corpses like these were perfect for germs to breed. Such a high number of these corpses were enough to cause a plague. Although the Erazers were stronger, they were mortal after all. If they were infected by the bacteria and got sick, it would not simply reduce their power. It would be almost impossible for them to overcome the illness without proper medical care.

Soon they had reached the sixth floor. Luther had seen the height of the building from outside. This building had seven floors. He decided the sixth floor was the safest floor for them to hide for a short time.

This building had three ways of access on each floor, and each opening had a row of rooms. So Luther figured it was once a commercial building.

As night fell, all three of them put on their headlights because there was no electricity running through the building.

Walking through the dim hallway, their shadows stretched and contorted with the lights. It was so quiet that they could only hear the sound of their own footsteps. The long gust of wind blew down the hall and sent chills up their spines.

Luther turned his light to the wall to help the others see better and said, "Let's split up into different rooms so we can sleep. Be careful."

They nodded and Luther continued to search the hallway. There were six rooms here. He opened the door to one of them and found a residential room with three bedrooms and one hallway between them.

But Luther sensed that something was wrong here. He could smell blood in the room, even though it seemed to have wafted and mixed with the air until it had lost its strong stench. But Luther’s senses were strong enough for him to pick up on it. From the smell, he could tell that the blood came from a day-old body.

As he searched further, it was clear that the room had been searched.

"There were others in this building." Luther felt sorrow over this for a moment. But that moment ended when he heard a scream from Constance outside the room. He hurried out and saw Constance and Clark standing together in the hall. But Constance's face was pale.

"Constance, what's wrong?" Luther asked.

Constance brought her hand to her chest and waited for her heart to stop beating so hard. Then she took her hand from her chest and pointed, "I… I saw a kid. A young child. Her hair was long. Her face was white...almost clear. And she stared right at me. She had white clothes on, but they were covered in blood. She terrified me."

"Was it a ghost?" Clark was now feeling very afraid. He looked around on high alert.

Constance, who was still very scared, was speechless when she saw his reaction, "Why are you being such a wimp? You are a grown man. Act like it!"

"What do you mean? I have been afraid of ghosts since I was a little kid. I hate ghosts and I always have.” Clark defended himself

"Okay, I’ve never heard of a ghost on doomsday, but there are erazers..." Luther said. The truth was, there were some rumors of ghosts being seen after doomsday. Some people said it was a type of superpower, and it was caused by the resentment of the dead. Many others felt that the rumors were only started by the panic of the public.

Luther couldn't tell whether the rumors were true or not. So, he said that he was not sure when Constance said she saw the ghost now.