A guttural growl emerged from one of the houses. It was the same one from which the rotting smell he had noticed earlier was coming.
"Damn it," Mark muttered underneath his breath, his jaw tightening as he instinctively moved his hand down, reaching for the knife hung on his belt as he listened closely to the ragged noise getting louder and louder. "Didn't he say that he had purified it?"
Although he intended to move towards the house, he hesitated. He knew well that a small knife like that wouldn't be enough if his suspicions were right.
He shifted his feet, turning his body towards the carriage that was parked in the distance. The veins on his entire body inflated, a bright red shining from within them.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, only to appear again facing the carriage. The lantern swung violently as he yanked the door open. Inside, the axes lay where Scott had left them. He rashly grabbed one of them before facing the house again.
Once he was standing right in front of the door, the noise stopped. For a moment, the silence took over, playing on the nerves of Mark, whose grip tightened around the axe. However, it didn't take long for the noise to continue. The sound of something ripping flesh before chewing on it became clearer.
However, Mark wasn't worried about that, as he was focused on something else. "I don't sense any blood moon essence, so it isn't a mutated abnormality that is inside."
Mark leaned against the door slowly, making sure not to get noticed by what was inside. "I think Scott actually purified the place, but I think the smell of rotten flesh attracted some normal mutants."
Mark carefully pushed the door, slowly raising the lantern as he opened it. Its light landed on something that moved in the far corner. A large figure, almost covering the entire wall. Its skin stretched along the incoherent mess that was its body, an amalgamation of rotten flesh and visible guts, as if it was stitched together to form an unholy creature. Bones poked out, stretching the skin to where it is close to getting ripped.
"Shit, it's a rotting mutant…" Mark mumbled, his voice shaking as he slowly stepped forward. The creature didn't appear to have noticed him opening the door, and the light pointed at them as they continued ripping the rotting flesh off the wall, since this type often loses their senses as they rot.
"These fuckers are extremely sensitive to vibrations, so I need to advance carefully," Mark thought to himself.
With a deep breath, Mark stepped forward, his knuckles turning white due to gripping the axe and the lantern so tightly. However, the moment his foot touched the ground, the mutant's head jolted upwards, awaiting any other movement.
"Shit…" Mark froze in place, a sweat dropping down his face as he looked at the mutant with his eyes wide open. "I don't have any other option…"
His veins once again inflated as he raised the axe, focusing his eyes on the mutant. Without hesitation, he threw the axe with all his might, landing it on the mutant's back and piercing deeply through his skin.
*SCREECH*
As the axe sank deep into its body, the mutant screamed in fury, a guttural wail that sounded primal as the pain reverberated in its bones.
The monster's body snapped, turning to face the way the axe came from as it tried to pull it out of its body. Its eyes were nothing but a pure white ball filled with veins, turning randomly due to the burning sensation of its fingers digging into its body while trying to reach the axe.
As it continued to scream, a row of needle-like teeth could be seen hanging from its jaws as its mouth stretched impossibly wide. For a moment, it was about to dive towards the door, but it immediately stopped as it could sense the vibrations of Mark's feet slamming against the ground beneath. He had thrown the lantern on the ground before closing the distance between them.
It immediately stopped trying to reach for the axe and swung its large claws in crossing directions, prompting Mark to duck down. Once he was sure the attack missed him, he straightened up again.
He then twisted his body to adjust his position before stretching his arm, launching his hand directly towards the mutant's heart.
Once his hand passed through the mutant's body, another screech emerged from its mouth. This time, it sounded like a shattered glass grinding against metal, a deafening scream that even pierced through the air. Nevertheless, before it could move again, Mark managed to grab the heart.
The mutant tried one last ditch attempt, moving its head and snapping its jaw as it aimed for Mark's neck. However, moved out of its way, managing to avoid the attack.
The blood drenched his hand as he gripped tightly to it. The wet, cold feeling of this organ sent chills down Mark's spine as he pulled it out. His muscles strained as the mutant's body fought back, clinging to the heart like a dying man clinging to life.
The mutant fell to the ground. A lifeless body stinking of decay and rot. Mark's nose burned as he inhaled, standing amidst the pool of blood as he stared at the heart in his hand. A grotesque, misshapen thing, blackened and veined with a glowing mixture of green and red. It was larger and heavier than he expected, still throbbing even after being removed from the body.
Short, ragged gasps escaped his mouth as he raised his head, looking at the barely held-together roof. He knew it might collapse at any moment, but he couldn't move. His body refused to. "Man, I hate this job…" he muttered slowly, his voice barely audible.
"Mark! Are you okay?" Suddenly, the familiar voice of Scott emerged from behind. His short, rapid pants were an obvious proof of his rushing there.
Mark remained silent. His shaking lips couldn't muster the words to answer the concerned questioning of Scott.
"I heard a loud scream and I—" Scott continued, his voice cracking as his eyes scanned the room. His head twisted right and left, trying to process the scene in front of him.
Before he could continue, Mark stopped him, looking at him with cold, tired eyes, "I'm—I'm fine. Everything is fine…"
"Go check on those children… I need to take a breath," He continued. His eyes closed as he let out a sigh.
Although hesitant, Scott nodded. He barely shifted his eyes from the blood-drenched body of Mark as he grabbed the lantern lying on the floor, before turning around and heading to where the boys were sleeping.
A few minutes later, Scott returned. From afar, he saw Mark outside, sitting on the ground with his back pressed against the wall. His gaze was glued to the sky. Even with overcast obscuring the stars, he found peace of mind.
"Are they ok?" Once his eyes noticed Scott close by, Mark quickly asked. His usual calm and cold tone made Scott relax a little.
"Yes…" Scott answered, "They were still asleep even with all that noise."
"I see…"
"So… What happened?" Scott asked, trying his best not to look inside the house.
With a heavy sigh, Mark relayed what had happened to Scott. He tried not to overlook any important details while skipping some things.
"Hmm… this is weird," Scott muttered, talking to himself as he rubbed his chin.
"What is it?…" Mark asked.
"I thought mutants would never go to an open field like this just to get a corpse, especially after it gets purified," Scott answered, his eyebrows drawing together and his eyes narrowing as he looked into the distance.
"Rotting mutants are different," Mark followed. "They don't feed off of blood moon essence. Rather, they target other rotting creatures, as eating their flesh helps slow down the rotting of their bodies."
"I see…"
For a few seconds, they sat in silence, listening to the whispers of the wind moving through the houses. This didn't last long, though, as Scott soon broke the silence, "You should go and rest. I'll take care of things here.
Mark looked at him in silence for a moment before finally responding, "Okay. Just burn the house after you purify it. It will take too long to clean all that is inside."
Scott nodded, as he didn't find the right words to say. His eyes remained glued to Mark as he walked towards the house, slowly merging with the darkness of the night.
Then Scott finally looked inside the house. The moment his eyes caught a glimpse of the rapidly disintegrating body that Mark had left lying on the floor, he couldn't help but drag himself outside before throwing up. The stench became even worse than before, something that he didn't notice because he was too focused on Mark.
"This is gonna take a while…" Scott murmured with teary eyes as he tried to wipe off his mouth with the sleeve of his coat.