Monsters are scary.
Such was an undeniable fact. Their power was something to absolutely fear.
Looking at his best friend, Aubrey's face tensed up with fear, his hands twitching as he felt overwhelmingly surpassed.
"Aubrey, here's your hatchet back," Sam said calmly, giving it back to him as Sam looked at the field of corpses before them. "Wait, should I have given you some of their meat to eat?"
The corpses of the vampires disappeared, erased from the world.
"How… how did you do that?" Aubrey asked, looking up at Sam.
"Oh, that's my ability. Superhumans have superpowers, and mine is that I'm a Speedster. I can either slow down my perception of time but still move really fast, or I can just outright run fast."
Aubrey forced an awkward smile. "Wow… you really are a monster, aren't you?" He said, telling the truth within his heart.
"Pffft, nah. You're the monster, I'm the superhuman. Dumb-dumb."
Aubrey massaged his face, letting out a soft laugh. "Haha, yeah… guess that's true."
"Well, this is how much money? That's like… 10,000, all right here. Since it was your hatchet which let me kill them so quickly, let's split it 50/50. I've already been hunting a lot of monsters on my own anyways, so I've got bread. Heheheh, never thought that of the two of us, I would be the one giving money to the other."
Sam laughed quickly. "Haha, yeah, I always imagined myself bumming off you when we grew up. Oh, how the turn-tables."
Aubrey remained silent, simply looking at the prints of corpses dug into the snow.
"...Ha…"
Monsters are scary.
…
Laying in bed later that night, Aubrey looked up at the familiar ceiling with his head against the pillow.
Who knew Sam was so strong? He's really, really frickin' strong. If I was as strong as he was, wouldn't I have been able to avoid getting sneak-attacked by that Hidebehind? I could've, and I wouldn't have needed him to save me.
…He looked so cool. Standing there with his jacket blowing in the wind, having singehandedly defeated an army of vampires without so much as a sweat. If Sienna was there—
"...Hk."
His thoughts continuing, Aubrey groaned in physical pain spurred on by the mental.
Wouldn't she have liked him more? He looked way cooler than me, he was able to beat them all so easily. What about me, huh? Couldn't he beat me?
Aubrey imagined the scenario, and grit his teeth in frustration.
No. That won't happen. Sam's my best friend. Sure, we can fight for fun, maybe even get mad at each other. But that won't happen. We'll never seriously fight with hatred in our hearts; I won't allow that.
Aubrey sat up in his bed, hunched over and looking as though he were sick.
If I eat him, could I get his Ability? I've never eaten a human being before… No, no no no, that's not the right way to think.
Am I even really his friend if I throw him away for such a stupid reason?
Aubrey shook his head, as if answering his own question.
I… I want to be just like him. I don't want his ability, I don't want his money. I want to be him.
If I were him, wouldn't I be even more amazing than he is? He's not doing anything with that power. If I were him, I'd wipe out all the monsters in the world in a week. Being able to pretty much slow down time, doesn't he understand how powerful his ability, his speedster powers actually are?
They're the strongest, but he's not even using his ability like he should. If I were him… I'd be even more amazing.
The delusion set in for a moment, before Aubrey regained common sense and shook that thought away.
I can't keep thinking like this. Am I… am I jealous of him? I think, maybe, I dunno. It's stupid trying to think about that stuff anyways.
I'm not him and he's not me. Trying to think about stupid possibilities that cannot occur in reality is pathetic.
I am Aubrey Palmer.
He climbed out of bed and equipped his titular all-black outfit, changing out his hat for an all-black scarf which was tied over his face and hair. It was a bit less convenient than a hat, but Aubrey didn't have anything else to cover his face and hair with at the same time, so it was chosen.
He put his hoodie over his head and snuck out of the house in complete silence.
He disappeared into the forest in which he almost lost his life, sniffing around and following the scents most similar to his own.
After walking for quite some time, he found them. Inside a cave, Aubrey found a large number of different animals, numbering in around 20.
They turned their heads, seeing Aubrey's entrance. With just a glance, it was immediately clear to them that Aubrey was both familiar yet native, a paradox which stupefied them.
"You… what are you…?" A bear asked in a hushed voice, to which Aubrey simply stood on the rocky ground, counting their number.
"20… Ah, my bad. Me? I'm a WendigoWalker. I came here—"
"A WendigoWalker? But you do not possess their… deficiencies."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"They are not meant to exist. They lack the brain power to do anything more than mindlessly hunt… And as such, they're typically killed by their parents."
"Ah… I see then," Aubrey said with a nasty smirk. "I guess that's why the others weren't so keen on talking. All they know is how to kill those that can't fight back."
"The others?" A wolf said among the group.
"Yeah. Well… hm. Not saying I am one, but… are humans who turn into WendigoWalkers frowned upon?"
"You… are you a…? Yes, that must be it, there's no other explanation!"
"Whoops."
The skinwalkers who were resting all unanimously got to their feet—or, more accurately, paws. Aubrey clicked his tongue, beads of sweat soaked up by the scarf over his forehead.
"Hey now, shouldn't we talk about this? After all, I can be used."
"For what?" The bear spoke.
"Well, I feel like I can be helpful in gaining territory. From what I've heard, vampires own one forest, and you guys should own this one. Use me to fight the vamps, and you're going to have a lot more people to prey upon."
"...Very well. Do not move, boy."
"Rightarooni."
Aubrey watched over the group as the bear walked over to him. It got quite close, and sniffed the air.
"Ah… is that… fear I smell on you?" The skinwalker spoke.
Aubrey's eyes narrowed, tracing the position of the monster as the bear itself smirked.
"So it is."
Fear and Wrath are close acquaintances.
"...Ghk!"
Immediately deciding that now was the time to act, Aubrey removed his axe from his belt and made an attempt on the bear's life. But in an instant, the figure morphed into a human, the area in which Aubrey intended to hit now being empty space.
Aubrey spun around, and the man became bear, swiping its paw down like lightning upon Aubrey's chest, tearing him open. His side smashed into the rock, his grip on the hatchet being forfeit due to the strike and speed of his fall.
He heard the sound of metal bang against rock, as pain once again coursed over his body, his eyes looking up directly at the bear.
"You… shit!"
His frightened gaze upwards, the only part of Aubrey's face visible being his eyes for once, he smelt the air.
Murderous intent.
As he just found, skinwalkers and the ones with their blood can smell the emotions of others. Most commonly used to smell fear. However, Aubrey used it for a different purpose, the visceral fragrance of a killer's desire running through his nostrils.
"Hk, w-wait—"
"Why should I wait? Because you want me to?"
"Because—gh… I… I don't know, just, please, wait, somehow, someway!"
"You tried to kill me… why shouldn't I kill you?"
"Gh… I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"
"Didn't mean? To what?"
"To… I didn't mean—"
His words intentionally cut off, Aubrey pressed upwards, slamming the Slit-Mouth-Scissors through the eye of the skinwalker, before delivering a mighty kick to its stomach and sending its large body tumbling back, getting in the way of other skinwalkers momentarily.
He turned around, breaking off into a sprint as he grabbed his hatchet and stormed out of the cave quickly. Immediately, the others who were not impeded broke off into a sprint, chasing him down at 60 miles an hour.
Aubrey grabbed his backpack, ripping the zippers open and throwing all of the contents out onto the ground one by one, the host of smoke grenades giving excellent cover.
He hid behind a large tree, using his Stealth ability to remain obscured. He couldn't outrun them all completely, at least not at the moment. Nor could he fight them; as such, hiding was his only option.
Fuck, if only I did have Sam's powers. He can kill all of them quickly, can't he? That talented… no, shit, just focus on hiding.
Everything went silent for a few seconds, with only the buzzing of cicadas in the air. Then,
"Fear has a smell."
Turning his head, Aubrey looked upwards to see a bear before him, as it cupped his face with its paw and pressed him against the tree bark, chipping it. The sharp claws growing longer and even more dangerous, they dug into his face, ripping it apart.
"RAGGHHHHH! AGGHH! GHAAA, HKK, GYAAAGHHH!!"
Letting out primal screams, the sensitive face was hardly protected by the scarf, as his flesh was torn. His right eye was clawed into, his cheek and mouth pierced, being slowly pulled away.
Aubrey brought the blade of the hatchet to the bear's arm, nearly severing it entirely. The bear pulled away and Aubrey pressed off of the tree, being tackled by a deer, having his body lifted up by antlers and slammed into dirt.
The temperature plummeted, as Aubrey tried to use every ability he had at his disposal. He was still unsure of what Bloody Mary had given him, but under the assumption it was something related to mirrors, then it would be of no use in the forest.
Aubrey looked upwards, his body pinned down to the ground before one of the skinwalkers entered a human form.
"Don't kill him. Not yet."
Aubrey thrashed around, his hatchet being ripped from his grasp before a stone was grabbed and lifted up. His eyes locking onto the stone, Aubrey watched as it was suddenly slammed down onto—
…
Opening his eyes, Aubrey found himself helplessly bound to the ground, the strength of several monsters keeping him fixed to rock.
"Ugghh… h-hua… w-waa? What's… mm."
"I only wonder… if you were so afraid of us…" the bear said, "why would you enter in the first place?"
Aubrey looked around, repeatedly tilting his head in an attempt to understand the world around him. But it was impossible, as his brain simply could not grasp what information was being fed to it with his eyes.
"I… I wanted, ergh, to know, how… to get, ugh…"
"To get?"
"S-stronger…"
His skinwalker side, the side in which he could eat monsters to get traits from them, was the one he had focused most on. He wouldn't have been disappointed to find wendigos, but he most yearned to see skinwalkers, so that he could learn from them on how to grow in strength.
"...Hilarious."
With a deadpan stare, the bear looked down at Aubrey with no identifiable emotion. Aubrey pulled on his limbs, trying to escape their grasp, but was rendered helpless.
Fear and Wrath are close acquaintances. With Fear being the root, Wrath is the execution, the acting upon of that Fear.
Trying to struggle, yet with his head damaged by the rock and his chest split open, Aubrey growled from his weakness, tears of hate sliding down the sides of his face.
"Why… YOU. Why, why are you trying to kill me just because I was afraid?!"
Though he was the one to make the first move, it was only due to his fear of being attacked which led to the action.
"We have no reason not to. You're an existence which ought not be alive, you aren't one of us, and your fear was palpable. If you see a bubble in the air, won't you look at it with interest, and perhaps pop it?"
"Is that what I am? Just a bubble?"
"No, of course not. You're just… interesting to kill. We don't hate you, we didn't plan on killing you. It just seems like the most interesting thing to do. You're not needed, after all."
Aubrey struggled once more, but it had already set in. He no longer fought back, and he looked up at the roof of the cave, panting heavily from a mixture of pain and fear.
He transformed his body to that of a bear, but even his strongest form wasn't enough to break past their weights. Then, upon the attempt at turning into a wolf, the thin limbs couldn't escape grasp and as such, he was still bound.
"Aghhh…"
Groaning in pain and helplessness, Aubrey closed his eyes.
"I… what do I have to do? To live, what do you want of me? What can I do to live?"
"Mm… I don't think that's an option."
And so, the bear transformed into a naked human, mounting Aubrey with a large stone in its hands. Aubrey looked up, his gaze fixed in sorrow.
Unable to move, the killing blow was sure to be struck.