Chapter 45: Reborn

"What the hell is that thing?"

Royce stood frozen, stunned by the sight before him - a pulsing mass of flesh, riddled with bulging veins, lying sprawled across the double bed.

As if to surprise him even further, a section of the flesh suddenly bulged upward. The scene resembled a fetus kicking from inside a womb - except far more grotesque than endearing.

With each kick from the creature trapped within, the fleshy mass tore open little by little. A pale red fluid oozed out from the tears, staining what once had been pristine white bed sheets.

Grrrr!

A guttural growl erupted, followed by a violent splatter as chunks of meat and pale-red goo burst across the room. The creature inside had successfully shredded its fleshy cocoon and flopped to the ground with a thud after a messy birth.

Kitty - the ugly little Chihuahua - had been reborn.

The three teens stared in awe at the emergence of a Feral Vampire. None of them could quite make out Kitty's new form yet - she lay in a limp, soaked heap on the floor, her body rising and falling with each breath. She was still alive.

"What's your next move, Autumn?"

Ethan whispered tensely.

Before Autumn could answer, flashes of light flickered through the room.

In the strobe of Royce's phone camera flash, Kitty's new form was revealed in full.

She staggered to her feet, supported by four thick, muscular limbs ending in claws that looked like they belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur. Kitty resembled a Pitbull the size of a young steer - but without skin or fur. Her entire body was raw, glistening red muscle and exposed tissue.

On the surface, her Feral Vampire form didn't seem as terrifying as her previous Infected version - at least, that was Ethan's first impression.

But he quickly revised that opinion the moment Kitty let out a bone-rattling snarl - angered by the flashing light.

Her jaws stretched open like a snake's - disturbing, yes, but not unheard of.

The multiple rows of jagged, sharp teeth? Ethan had seen those before in the landlord's mutated form. They were terrifying, but expected. Animalistic, predatory.

But then came the tongue…

Kitty had clearly taken creative liberties when evolving that particular body part. This time, her tongue was just the right size - no longer grotesquely oversized - but still unsettling in how it slithered and flicked with purpose.

Suddenly, Ethan found himself face to face - just three centimeters away - with a circular row of teeth that looked exactly like those of a lamprey. Kitty's tongue had moved so fast, he hadn't even seen it coming until it lunged straight at him.

The tongue hissed and twisted violently but Royce was faster. He grabbed the base of the tongue with one hand.

Then with a powerful yank, Royce tore the tongue clean off.

Without hesitation, he flung the severed tongue onto the floor and began stomping it relentlessly, grinding it into pulp.

Ethan barely had time to feel relieved that finally, someone could actually fight back against these tentacle-like things - when suddenly, three brand new tongues sprouted from Kitty's blood drenched throat, replacing the one Royce had just annihilated.

And all three tongues were now aiming directly at Ethan!

Autumn may have a deep-rooted fear of legless, slimy creatures, but there was no way she was letting Royce hog all the glory.

In the blink of an eye, Ethan found himself hoisted over Autumn's shoulder - carried exactly like a wounded soldier being evacuated from the battlefield. He didn't even have enough time to object.

Click!

Royce was still gleefully snapping photos. One hand pointed the phone straight at Ethan's blushing face, while the other held the freshly severed trio of Kitty's tongues like trophies.

"Put that phone away, now!" 

Autumn shouted.

"No way! I've been live streaming this, and people are tipping me like crazy. It's not every day the Vampire Community gets content like this!"

Then, the trio leapt off the balcony to dodge the new wave of attacks - this time from nine freshly sprouted tongues. Autumn landed gracefully, despite carrying Ethan on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Not far from the parked delivery truck stood a green Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, engine already idling.

"Whoa, did Summer let you borrow his car, Royce?"

Autumn beamed as she dropped Ethan to the ground and ran up to the Jeep.

Royce didn't get a chance to answer before Autumn hopped into the driver's seat and eagerly reached for the key already in the ignition.

"No! Get out! Summer will kill me if he finds out I let his little sister drive his car!"

"I'm just trying it out for a second!"

"No way! Do you even remember what happened to the last bicycle you used recently?"

Autumn bit her lip, her brows furrowed. She didn't answer Royce's question. Clearly, she was replaying the tragic memory of that ill-fated bicycle.

Ethan didn't know what exactly happened to the bike, but he remembered very clearly the first time he met Autumn. It was a lovely fall morning - right when she rode her bicycle full-speed down a slope and slammed it straight into someone's brick fence.

It wasn't hard to imagine the kind of disaster she could cause behind the wheel of a car instead of a bike.

In the end, after a long sigh, Autumn reluctantly scooted over to the passenger seat.

"Ethan! You drive!"

"What? No!"

Both Ethan and Autumn shouted in unison.

"If I drive, then who's gonna fight off the dog and its freaky tentacle-tongues?"

"Nooo! I hate tentacles!"

Autumn cried out, face scrunched in pure dread.

CRUNCH!

The delivery truck parked outside the mini apartment building collapsed under the massive weight of the mutated dog. Dozens of tentacle-like tongues slithered inside its mouth - sniffing, twitching, searching for prey.

The teens freaked out when they realized Kitty had spotted them.

Royce had already hopped into the backseat. His upper body hung halfway out the window, phone in hand. He was still very committed to livestreaming this insanity.

Meanwhile, Ethan was in full panic mode at the driver's seat.

"GO, Ethan!"

Royce patted Ethan's seat from behind.

"But… I don't know how to drive!"

"Buckle your seatbelt. Step on the brake. Turn the key. Shift into D. Let off the brake. Then hit the gas. Easy."

Royce replied casually, clearly more focused on attaching his phone to a selfie stick he'd just found in the car.

"Which one's the brake, which one's the gas?!"

Ethan looked desperately at Autumn, but she only shrugged. She was still sulking like a grumpy child for not being allowed to drive.

THWACK! THWACK!

Several sucker like mouths - each at the tip of Kitty's tongues - suctioned onto the window next to Ethan.

Autumn wasn't helping at all. In fact, she made it worse - by hugging Ethan's right arm tightly and burying her face in it. His heart rate spiked immediately.

Outside the glass, the writhing, toothy tongues hissed and screeched furiously. And their owner - Kitty - was now barreling straight toward them.

Ethan had to act fast.

It was either death by tentacle tongue…

Or death by destroying Summer's beloved Jeep.