Chapter Six — The Weight of Predators
Seth crouched low by the cracked café window, every muscle in his body locked tight as the snake slithered into view. Its scales gleamed faintly under the moonlight, each ripple across its body unsettling in its fluidity. The thing moved unhurried, crushing twisted metal and broken masonry beneath its bulk with ease.
It paused near the wolf's corpse, head swaying, forked tongue flicking in and out like an executioner's blade tasting the air. Then—its eyes lifted. For one unbearable instant, those cold reptilian pupils aligned perfectly with Seth's hiding spot.
Seth froze. His breath caught in his throat. Instinct screamed at him to vanish, to shrink into nothing. He ducked down beneath the window, hands white-knuckled around the crowbar. His body trembled, not from the cold, but from the weight of that gaze.
Whatever that thing was, it wasn't just an animal. It was something far more, far higher on the food chain. Every nerve in Seth's body screamed the same truth—if it wanted him dead, he wouldn't even have time to scream.
But then… metal crunched. The sound of destruction grew fainter, not closer. Hesitantly, Seth risked a glance.
The snake was leaving.
It slid down the ruined street, tail casually swatting aside a car as though it were a tin can, until it vanished into the horizon.
Seth didn't understand why it left. Maybe it hadn't cared. Maybe he wasn't even worth noticing. Either way, his entire body sagged with relief, and exhaustion finally claimed him. He slumped against the window frame, eyes drifting shut despite the danger.
Sunlight burned through his eyelids. Seth woke groggy, his body still stiff from the night before. He hadn't really slept—more like drifted in and out, always half-listening for approaching danger.
Still, it was morning. A new day. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus.
Something small caught his attention. An ant.
It scurried along the cracked wall, antennae twitching. Seth blinked, then sat upright. "An… ant?"
Yesterday, the world had been silent—eerily so. No animals, no insects, nothing but moss and ruin. Now he could hear them. The distant chirp of insects, birdsong, even the faint rustle of life in the distance.
Life was returning.
Excitement flickered inside him. Maybe this meant something was changing. Maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought.
He was about to head outside when another sound reached him—heavier, more menacing.
Seth froze. Peering carefully, he saw them: three apes loitering outside the café. Their fur was pitch black, but strange colored stripes ran down their bodies—brown, blue, and black. They were massive, their arms corded with muscle, their movements radiating casual menace as they lounged near the entrance.
Seth's stomach dropped. They slept outside… all night?
Moving quietly, he slipped toward the back stairs. If he was careful, he could circle around and slip away unnoticed. He had no desire to fight yet, not this early in the morning.
But the world had other plans.
The staircase groaned beneath his foot—then collapsed entirely. The crash echoed through the café.
Seth landed hard but rolled, his strange new physique absorbing the impact without harm. But the noise had already drawn the apes' attention. They roared, thunderous and primal, and charged.
Heart racing, Seth scrambled into the back room. His eyes darted around desperately. A rusty knife lay on a counter. A handful of small, round metal bearings spilled across the floor from an old toolbox. He didn't think—he just acted. Grabbing the knife in his left hand and the crowbar in his right, he kicked the bearings across the floor in a scatter.
The apes barreled into the room, the blue-striped one in the lead. Their heavy weight betrayed them—the bearings rolled, their massive feet slipped, and chaos erupted.
Seth lunged at the closest one, the black-striped ape, which had fallen hardest. He drove the knife into its neck with all the strength he had. The blade sank deep, but he didn't stop. He stabbed again. And again. Three, four times in rapid succession until the ape's struggles weakened.
The blue-striped ape tried to rise. Seth abandoned the knife lodged in the first ape and swung the crowbar down hard on its knee. Once. Twice. A sickening crack. The creature howled, leg buckling beneath it.
But the brown-striped ape had kept its footing. With a roar, it swung a massive arm. Seth barely got the crowbar up before the blow smashed him across the room. He crashed into a worktable, wood splintering, then slammed into the wall. White-hot pain lanced his back. For a moment he couldn't breathe.
The brown-striped ape thundered toward him, but its own rage betrayed it—it slipped on the scattered bearings and crashed onto its back.
Seth forced himself up, gasping through the pain. He seized the bent crowbar and staggered toward the downed ape. The creature roared, but Seth raised the weapon and brought it down on its skull. Once. Twice. The third strike drew blood at last. Its skull was thick, monstrously so, but not unbreakable. By the sixth blow, blood poured freely.
The beast convulsed and lay still, not dead yet, but close.
Panting, Seth turned toward the crippled blue-striped ape, which dragged itself across the floor, eyes practically screamed hate its arms clawing at him even as its broken legs trailed uselessly.
Seth didn't hesitate. He raised the crowbar high and slammed it down, not at the skull this time but at the neck. Bone cracked. The ape gurgled. He struck again until it lay unmoving.
The first ape, the one he'd stabbed, gave a final twitch and went still. Having bled out on the floor.
The remaining two also died at this moment.
Then, one after another, three glowing orbs rose from their bodies.
Seth froze as they drifted toward him. He barely had time to tense before they plunged into his chest.
It was the same as before he could do nothing to stop it so he just removed his mind from it.
He sat heavily beside the corpses, staring at the blood-soaked crowbar in his hands. He hadn't wanted this—this savagery, this madness. But survival had forced his hand. Again.
When the trembling finally stopped, he lifted his gaze.
The forest loomed in the distance, vast and dark. Dangerous. But something in his chest had hardened.
Seth stood, shoulders squared, and prepared to leave. Whatever lay ahead, he couldn't keep hiding among ruins. The forest awaited.
And he would meet it head-on.