Zareth sat in a moving carriage. In his arms, he was cradling the mysterious infant. The sun had yet to peek over the horizon. The rhythmic clop of hooves against the dirt road brought Zareth's mind back to the tumultuous events of the past few hours. Maskorudeath, the town he'd called home for some time, now lay far behind him along with the gruesome scene he'd discovered.
'Mariam and Jorah. All those innocent people…"
Guilt gnawed at him as he thought of the elderly couple's fate. They had been kind, if a bit nosy, and certainly didn't deserve such a violent end. But dwelling on their deaths wouldn't change anything now. His priority was to unravel the mystery of this child and find out why Sister Blood had thrust it into his care.
Thinking this, Zareth lifted the baby and began examining it closely. Its cherubic face betrayed no hint of the carnage it might have caused.
"What are you, really?"
As if in response, a sudden warm stream hit Zareth square in the face. The baby, far from sleeping, gurgled with what sounded suspiciously like amusement.
"Did you just piss in my face? You did this on purpose, didn't you brat?" Zareth grumbled as he wiped his face with his free hand.
"Hey, are you ok back there, sir?" Hearing the commotion, the driver's concerned voice drifted from the front of the carriage.
"Everything's fine," Zareth replied flatly, despite his damp predicament. "How long until we reach Nippledale?"
"Ah, I think it's…" The driver began to answer, but his words were cut short as the carriage lurched to an abrupt halt. The horses neighed and clunked their hooves on the dirt road.
"Why have we stopped?" Zareth called out with a note of irritation.
"There's an overturned carriage blocking the road ahead, sir," the driver replied.
"A blockade…"
Zareth sighed deeply. He set the baby down in his lap, then wiped the last traces of urine from his face before sticking his head out of the carriage window. The scene before him was chaotic; a horse engulfed in flames, two wounded figures sprawled on the ground, and a third man trembling as he clutched a flamethrower.
"Good grief, the sun isn't even out properly yet."
Feeling curious, Zareth stepped out of the carriage with the baby in his arms. His joints felt slight pain from the effects of the serum he took earlier. As much as he'd prefer to ignore this predicament and continue on his way, he knew he couldn't leave until the road was clear.
With practised caution, Zareth approached the trembling man with the flamethrower. "You there. Were you the one who set the horse ablaze? What happened here?"
As he waited for a response, Zareth's mind ran through some possibilities. Was this the work of a Tumor? Or merely a tragic accident? Either way, it seemed his journey to Nippledale and the answers he sought about the mysterious baby would have to wait.
The man with the flamethrower turned to Zareth. Trepidation was leaking from his pores.
"It was the horse. One moment it was normal, the next... its eyes turned black, and its mouth... it opened wider than any horse's should." His knuckles turned white around the weapon's grip.
Zareth raised an eyebrow. "A Tumor, then."
The man nodded frantically. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I had no choice but to burn it. But the Tumor… it's still out there somewhere!" He swung the flamethrower around wildly as he scanned the surrounding bushes.
"Watch where you're pointing that thing," Zareth warned. He shifted the baby in his arms to shield it from the man's erratic movements. He didn't want this devil baby to become thirsty.
"Sorry." He apologized but still trembled around with the flamethrower.
"What in heaven's name happened here?" Zareth's driver approached and knelt beside the injured passengers. He offered a water skin to one of the wounded.
The injured man gratefully accepted the water. "Thank you, friend. I'm Marcus," he said, wincing as he shifted his position. "This is my wife, Françoise. We were on our way to Nippledale for our daughter's wedding."
Françoise had her arm cradled against her chest as she responded weakly. "We've been planning this journey for months. Now look at us..."
The driver introduced himself as well. "I'm Roderick. I'm taking Father Zareth here and the infant to Nippledale too. Seems we're all headed the same way."
The man with the flamethrower who was still visibly shaken, spoke up. "I'm Thorne. I... I was doing this early carriage run when we came across this disaster. Never thought I'd end up using this thing." He gestured to the flamethrower. "Those rumours about Tumors being afraid of fire turn out to be true."
Zareth, ever vigilant, kept his eyes on their surroundings as the introductions were made. "We can exchange pleasantries later. Right now, we need to focus on the threat at hand."
Thorne nodded vigorously. "Yes! Yes! Yes! He's right. That... that thing is still out there somewhere!"
As if on cue, the bushes rustled ominously...
"Hmm?"
Zareth quickly shifted his eyes in that direction. Due to the dense foliage, it was hard to make out his target. The bushes rustled unnaturally, and he knew it wasn't just the wind.
"It's still here."
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a fat, glistening bug launched from the earth beneath the overturned carriage and leapt towards one of the passengers.
"Watch out!" Zareth shouted as he spun around, but it was too late.
"Hu-AAH!"
The bug burrowed into Marcus's right ear as if it was drilling through dirt. His body convulsed violently, and his bones cracked and reshaped beneath his skin. In mere seconds, where once stood a man now crouched a monstrous entity.
Zareth's eyes narrowed as he calmly assessed the creature.
"Hmm, that type of mutation… slack jaw. He seems to still have some sliver of sanity. But this…? I guess its Possession Magnitude is about 1.5. It's much weaker than that Vein Tumor I reduced to ashes, but still dangerous."
"GRAAH!"
The Tumor released a saliva-soaked screech as it locked onto the others closest in proximity; Françoise and Roderick. Jaws gaping wide, it hungrily lunged forward at its prey.
"No!" Thorne who had the flamethrower yelled, and quickly unleashed a stream of fire.
The Tumor ducked under the flames just in time to avoid getting barbecued, however, it then changed its course. It barrelled towards the flamethrower-wielding man instead.
"Huh, it's coming this way!" Thorne began to panic, so much so that his flamethrower jammed at an unfortunate moment. "Dammit! I'm screwed!"
"Tsk!"
Still cradling the baby with one arm, Zareth moved swiftly. He grabbed the man's collar with his free hand and yanked the scared bastard backwards. "Move!" he commanded.
CHOMP!
The Tumor's teeth snapped shut where the man's throat had been moments before. Its momentum carried it past them. It had to utilize its claws to scrape the earth to slow down.
"W-what do we do? My flamethrower won't budge." Thorne was mortified. The same could be said for Françoise and Roderick who were pissing their garments behind him.
"F-Father Zareth." The driver called out fearfully. "You are a Priest, correct? Can't you exercise that Tumor?"
Hearing Roderick's question, Françoise burst out in tears, "No, please don't kill him! He's still my husband!"
"Not anymore lady." He gestured to the Tumor. "Take a good look. Does that look like the man you sleep with at night?"
"Huh!" The woman was scared out of her panties upon closer inspection of what used to be her dearest love. She broke down further in tears and had to be held up by Roderick.
Zareth handed the baby to him. "Hold this, and don't look it in the eyes." His tone left no room for argument. He turned to face the Tumor, which was already circling back for another attack. "And get ready to run if I tell you to."
"GRAAAH!"
The Slack Jaw Tumor sensed there was something delicious within Zareth's feet and immediately lounged for them.
'Hmm? This bastard.'
Zareth was pissed that this low-level Tumor figured him out so quickly. Only mere hours had passed since he had taken the serum, therefore, he couldn't risk igniting his Gospel to toast this monster.
"Tsk, I don't need to bring out the big guns for trash like you."
Saying this, Zareth leapt backwards to avoid the creature's low sweeping attack. Immediately after landing beside Thorne, he grabbed the flamethrower from his grasp and jammed the mouthpiece into the Tumor's throat to prevent it from biting him.
"Die!" Zareth pressed the trigger but realized the gun was jammed.
"It's broken!" Thorne warned him.
"In that case…"
Zareth quickly came up with an idea. He skilfully detached the gas canister from the gun and tossed it between the razor-sharp jaws of the Tumor. As soon as the canister burst and began leaking gasoline, Zareth told the others to fall back while he reached into his pocket for his match.
"GRAAAH!"
The Tumor spat out the canister from its mouth, maybe it fancied blood more than gasoline. Either way, it was already soaked in that good stuff.
Strike!
Zareth successfully lit the match on his first try. Holding the thin piece of burning stick steadily, he waited until the Tumor lounged at him again before flicking forth the match.
On impact, the Tumor's jaw and head exploded into fireworks. It released a deafening screech as it retreated into the forest.
"It's getting away! Go! Chase after it!"
"Hmm?" Hearing this insidious command, Zareth glanced back at Thorne coldly, which made him cower in fright.
Zareth was no fool. It was pointless to chase after such a weak Tumor drenched in flames. Since the core was lodged in its head, it would no doubt die-off shortly.
"Now then, let's get this carriage out of the way so we can continue our journey."
Before then, Zareth heard Roderick's cry, "Father! The baby, it's… it's gone!"
"What?"
Hearing this, Zareth spun around like a windmill and dashed over towards Roderick. "What do you mean it's gone? In which direction?"
"I-I don't know." Roderick was puzzled. He didn't know exactly where or when the baby had vanished from his arms. "I just looked down and he was missing. You told me not to look him in the eyes so I…"
"Tsk, you imbecile!"
In his anger, Zareth grabbed the man's collar and twisted it. He didn't care much about the baby, however, it was a valuable object since it was given to him by Sister Blood. Leaving it to roam free would cause more casualties. He needed to retrieve it and uncover its secrets. Then maybe he could use it as leverage against her mysterious plans.
"Where did it go!" Zareth pressed the issue.
"I told you, I don't know."
"Maybe, ahm…" The woman was about to say something, but she paused upon seeing Zareth's fierceness.
Zareth looked at her coldly and said, "What is it? Spit it out already!"
"I-I think…" she stammered before saying, "Do you suppose it went after that Tumor?"
"What???"
Everyone was flabbergasted upon hearing what the lady had to say, however, Zareth's expression wasn't so disbelieving.
He had seen the sorry state of the town folks. They were brutally mutilated. Just maybe, the baby had gone after the fleeing Tumor. Just maybe.