Chapter 5
725words
Looking at my neck in the mirror, the slit was still seeping translucent mucus. I was somehow extremely calm.
It was not acceptance. It was numbness from despair.
Dr. Chenowith's message came once more.
[Are you still alive? Your will to live is stronger than I expected. Since you survived the first hunt, this means that the transformation has begun. The inhibitor won't work on you anymore.]
I merely replied, [Then, am I just to wait for death?]
[No. There's another solution.]
Dr. Chenowith sent me a screenshot of a map. A red marker glowed in the middle of nowhere, 300 kilometers away from the city.
It was an abandoned lighthouse.
[That’s the original signal reception site. There’s a jammer there. It can sever your link to it, but you have to reach it before full Deep Sea-fication.]
[Remember. No matter what you hear or see, don't stop the car. It uses your strongest emotions and memories to stop you.]
Emotions?
I smiled bitterly.
I had been grinding it out in the city for the past five years. My parents died early. My boyfriend dumped me six months ago due to my family background.
What emotions did I have left worth exploiting?
I found a high-collared sweater to cover the gills on my neck. I put on a raincoat, face mask, and sunglasses.
I looked like a serial killer, but I could not care less.
I rushed downstairs and got into my old second-hand car. I started the car and downed the gas pedal.
The rain was getting heavier. The windshield wipers thrashed wildly, barely clearing the sheets of water.
Skyscrapers twisted behind the rain, warping into shapes that looked like massive sea anemones.
Traffic thinned.
Once I left the city limits, the landscape turned empty.
The navigator told me that there were about 200 kilometers left to go to the destination.
Right at that moment, something knocked on the front passenger door.
Thud, thud.
The car was going at 100 kilometers an hour. Who could possibly knock on the car window at that speed?
I stared straight ahead. My palms were sweating.
"Trust yourself that you're awake. Don't stop the car," I muttered Dr. Chenowith's warning to myself.
Thud, thud, thud.
The knock on the door became even more urgent.
"Honey, open the door."
A familiar man's voice rang out in my ears.
I stiffened.
That voice belonged to Jake Jenson, my ex-boyfriend, who dumped me six months ago.
"It's cold outside. I've missed you."
The voice sounded pitiful and aggrieved.
I could not help but look from the corner of my eye, which almost made me derail the entire car.
Jake's face was pressing on the car window. His eyes were ever so helpless and affectionate, just like when he asked for hugs when he was sick, when we were newly dating.
"Stop the car. I don't care about your family background anymore. I just want to marry you. Let's get married. I love you, babe."
Every word was like a firmly held scalpel, carving at the softest spot of my heart.
Regret, reluctance, and longing. All the emotions flooded me at once.
I could not help but lighten my foot on the gas pedal.
Just when the car slowed down, Jake laughed. The slit of his mouth was so open that it went all the way to his ears.
He had no teeth, only dense clusters of writhing, tentacle-like flesh.
"Stop the car. Stop the car. I want to eat you."
His voice dropped lower, distorted, and crackling with static.
It was the voice on the radio application!
Fear instantly overrode all of my other emotions. I slammed on the gas pedal once more.
The car lunged forward.
"Get lost!" I bellowed.
He was flung backward, vanishing into the rain.
However, I could still hear his shrieks. "You can't escape this! Your heart belongs to me!"
I was gasping for air, tears mixed with sweat.
Was that how it hunted? Did it use my love as a weapon to kill me?
How disgusting. It was vile.
Anger burned in my chest. The initial fear I had in me turned into pure hatred.
"You want to eat me?" I asked through gritted teeth while slamming on the gas pedal.
"Then, you'd better have some damn strong teeth!"
