The zombie rose up with a caved-in face as if the head bursting never happened.
Ian backed off instantly cursing his bad luck and useless zombie knowledge.
Without a brain, a zombie would stop functioning or simply 'die', but the creature in front of Ian was perfectly fine...minus the head.
Ian was confused by the ordeal until he saw more worms spilling out of the caved-in face as the zombie continued moving towards him.
A thought popped into his mind:
Were the worms controlling the body?
It was absurd.
But everything that he experienced today was absurd.
Ian gritted his teeth and decided to do one thing that he was good at.
He ran away.
There was no possible way to kill something that is possibly controlled by a hivemind of hundreds if not thousands of worms.
Ian hated that he had to run away again but survival was more important than his ego. So he retraced his steps to the exit and closed the door behind. Upon reentering the alleyway, Ian sighed to himself and then-
Crash
-the sound of an object falling reached his ears prompting to turn towards the source.
The alleyway was no longer empty as before.
Corpses that littered the alley slowly rose up filling the narrow path that Ian was facing. He turned to look at the opposite way only to find even more were blocking his path.
Ian grimaced at his predicament.
Sure he could smash their heads in but it could attract other monsters, but he was more afraid of getting grabbed. The worm zombies may lack mobility but their undying strength was surely more than his lively strength especially when there were dozens in this alley.
So with no other choice, Ian decided to backtrack again into the garden. He open the door to see the previous worm zombie was a step away causing Ian to panic and kick it as hard as he could knocking the creature back a few steps. At the same time, he gripped the door handle to stabilize himself since the alleyways were muddy. Right after, Ian enter the garden barely missing a grab from behind forcing Ian to leave the door open as another appeared behind the first.
Ian cursed at himself for almost getting grabbed but he kept running to the other side searching for another exit. Soon he found one and hope luck was on his side as he opened the door.
Ian felt his heart beating rapidly as the door opened slowly from his perspective even though he pushed it open with all his strength yet it seems that the adrenaline was working against him.
Time slowly passes as the door finally revealed the other side only for it...
....to be empty. The entire one second span of opening the door felt like an eternity but Ian welcomed the emptiness of what appears to be an deserted city square. He quickly shut the door behind him and moved briskly across the empty stalls to the orange glow.
As Ian was a few meters away from the garden entrance, he heard knocks coming from behind him forcing Ian to turn his head back. Yet it seems that the door held up....for now. So, Ian ignore the knocks for now and increased his pace but stopped himself from running in case something popped out of the stalls.
He really hated jump scares.
Then again, Ian wasn't sure if anyone enjoyed jump scares. His thoughts drifted a little to try remembering any crazy people in his world who enjoyed jump scares.
'Maybe people who enjoy horror games?'
Ian thought of another friend who streams wacky weird games including horror games, she wasn't good at them but her viewers enjoys her panic screams so they playfully bully her to stream them.
Ian chuckled at the one memory of her screaming so loud that her neighbors called the police reporting a possible crime happening.
Being alone in this nightmarish city was slowly weighing on Ian that he started reminiscing old memories while being surrounded by danger. Ian smile bitterly at his situation and made a promise to himself to gift her a copy of Citizen Evil 2. He really needed a laugh at the moment.
Meanwhile, he was still scanning his surroundings in this quiet city square full of stalls.
Wait quiet?
Ian turned around to look at the garden entrance.
The door was intact.
Did the zombies give up?
Ian wanted to believe that but his instincts were screaming at him as if danger was still present. So he hid behind one of the stalls with a slight view of the garden entrance. The stall itself contained spoiled meat causing Ian to gag which prompted him to place a hand over his mouth and nose in an attempt to block the smell.
He waited.
And he waited.
Finally when his nerves were getting the better of him, Ian saw something above the entryway of the garden. He could only see the silhouette of the figure climbing over the wall with ease.
But then it looked in his direction as if scanning for him.
The glowing red eyes shown as brightly in the pitch darkness from far away. Ian quickly duck his head, glad that the stall he picked was the least damaged with cloth walls and roof like a tent.
His spine was tingling as he was shaking uncontrollably at remembering those glowing red eyes. He wasn't sure what kind of monster it was but those eyes stirred up the most primal fear that a human can manage. The closest comparison that came to his mind was like a paralysis demon because Ian could barely move his body right now.
But it wasn't like Ian want to at the moment, because he could finally hear the red-eyed monster's steps near him.
Pat
The sound of barefeet stomping in mud reached Ian's ears causing his breathing to rise.
Pat
The stomping was getting closer to his back to get soaked in sweat.
Pat
The stomping was now on the other side of wooden planks that made up a hiding spot for Ian.
"Miiiiinnnneeeee...."
The creature hissed into the air close by to Ian causing his heart to beat in his throat.