The seemingly frail woman suddenly sprang forward like a grasshopper, her legs snapping with inhuman strength as she launched herself upward and landed flat against the ceiling. Her neck twisted unnaturally, and in one horrifying motion, she swallowed the fly whole.
Then she dropped back to the floor, rolled her neck with a crack, and acted as if nothing had happened.
"Ah!" Ben gasped.
"Hm?" The middle-aged woman snapped her head around, revealing sharp, beast-like fangs.
She stepped up to the window, glanced around suspiciously, but saw nothing. After a moment, she shrugged and walked back inside.
Under the window, Ben clamped a hand tightly over his mouth, struggling to stay silent, terrified the monster woman might hear him. Only when she disappeared from view did he finally release his breath, gasping for air.
"I have to tell my cousin! He's gotta come and beat up those monsters!"
Ben sprinted through the narrow streets of the small town, his eyes darting left and right, afraid something monstrous might leap out at any moment.
Buzz...
A sudden roar came from the left. An old car approached, driven by an emotionless old man wearing glasses, heading straight toward him.
As the vehicle passed by, the man's eyes flicked toward Ben, a flash of murderous intent glinting in them before vanishing as quickly as it came.
"Marty?" Ben rubbed his eyes, staring after the retreating car, unsure if he'd imagined it.
He recognized that man—Aunt Vera's neighbor. When they used to visit this town years ago, they'd often seen Marty stopping by for a chat.
"Where's he going?" Ben muttered, frowning as he watched the man's hunched figure disappear into the distance.
Just as the car was about to leave his sight, something went terribly wrong.
The fire hydrant beside the road suddenly burst, spinning wildly and spraying water in every direction. A torrent of water slammed against Marty's car, soaking it completely.
For some reason, the old man reacted as though he'd seen a ghost. He jerked the steering wheel frantically, trying to avoid the water.
Screech—!
The car lost control, skidding and spinning across the asphalt. Tires screeched and burned, leaving chaotic black marks all over the road.
With a thunderous crash, the vehicle slammed into a large tree. The impact sent the old man flying through the air, his body smashing onto the hard ground with a sickening thud.
Ben, who had witnessed the crash from not far away, ran toward him immediately.
"What's wrong with that old man Marty? Why's he so scared of water?" Ben muttered in confusion, but he didn't slow down.
That crash looked brutal. If the man wasn't dead, he was definitely badly hurt. He had to check if Marty was still alive—maybe even call an ambulance.
In his panic, Ben completely forgot about the earlier scene—the woman who had eaten a fly...
On the lawn, Old Man Marty lay face down, motionless.
Ben ran up to him, panting heavily. He crouched down, shook his shoulder, and called out, "Hey! Are you okay?"
There was no response. Marty lay completely still, as if he'd passed out cold.
"This guy… he's not dead, is he?"
A chilling thought crept into Ben's mind. He hesitated, then cautiously reached out, placing a finger under Marty's nose to check for breath.
"Roar!"
Without warning, Marty sprang up violently. His body jerked upright, his face pitted and oozing green slime that writhed and bubbled under the heat.
"Ah!"
Ben stumbled backward in shock, his face going pale.
"Uncle Marty! You've turned into one of them!"
He turned and bolted, panic taking over.
Behind him, Marty bared his bloodstained fangs. His arms stretched unnaturally long, snapping out like snakes as he lunged toward Ben.
Ben glanced back and nearly fainted in terror. He snatched up a baseball bat from the ground and hurled it behind him with all his strength.
Crack!
Marty caught it effortlessly and crushed it in his hand. The bat splintered into shards, scattering across the air like a rain of wooden fragments...
"Help!" Ben shouted, sprinting toward Aunt Vera's house.
Finding his cousin was the only thought in his mind—his one hope of survival.
"Roar!" Marty lunged after him, moving with terrifying speed, fast enough to rival something straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Just ahead, Ben spotted a few elderly people standing together, their faces gentle and kind as they chatted among themselves.
"Help!" he yelled, desperate for them to hear him. He was nearly at his limit.
Sure enough, the elders turned their heads toward the commotion. But the moment they saw Marty chasing Ben, their kind expressions twisted into monstrous snarls. Sharp fangs jutted from their mouths as they roared and charged straight toward him.
Ben's face went pale.
This is bad—really bad!
With monsters in front of him and behind him, there was nowhere left to run.
In his panic, Ben's foot caught on a broken water pipe. He lost his balance and crashed hard onto the ground.
"Roar!"
The monster in front was already upon him, and Marty closed in from behind. His eyes gleamed with venom, his twisted face filled with hatred like a demon straight from hell.
"This is it!" Ben thought in despair. "Don't tell me everyone in this town's turned into monsters!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as the monsters were about to pounce, a blue blur streaked past at lightning speed. Wind exploded outward as the blur spun around Ben, blasting the monsters away with crushing force. They crashed to the ground in every direction.
"C-Cuz?" Ben froze for a moment before his eyes lit up with joy.
With his cousin here, those disgusting creatures didn't stand a chance.
XLR8 retracted his visor and swept his gaze across the area. The monsters he'd thrown aside were already regenerating, their bodies reforming at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The green slime covering the ground writhed and pulsed, merging again into humanoid forms. Their eyes burned with malice as they shrieked and lunged forward, claws ready to rip the two apart.
Grabbing Ben, XLR8 darted forward in a blur, easily evading their encirclement.
"Looks like physical attacks don't work on these things," XLR8 rasped.
Held tightly in his cousin's grip, Ben stared at the grotesque, enraged old man Marty in the distance. A thought suddenly struck him.
"Cuz! I know how to beat them!" he shouted.
He quickly explained everything that had happened earlier with Marty.
"That makes things a lot easier," XLR8 said, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.
After hearing Ben's account, he finally remembered the weakness of these phlegm monsters.
"Roar!"
"Roar! Roar!"
The monsters charged again, howling like berserk zombies, vicious and unstoppable.
XLR8 scanned the area and spotted a bright red fire hydrant nearby, standing silently by the roadside.
He smirked coldly, his eyes flashing. "Let's have a little water fight."
In an instant, he vanished from sight and reappeared beside the hydrant. With one powerful twist, he yanked it open.
He grabbed a thick hose, connected it to the hydrant, and turned the valve full blast.
Whoosh!
A massive jet of water erupted from the hose, roaring forward with tremendous force. The torrent slammed into the phlegm monsters, blasting them off their feet.
The creatures screeched in terror, their earlier ferocity gone as they scrambled to escape.
"Not a single one's getting away," XLR8 said with a grin.
Under the relentless stream, the monsters melted into puddles of green slime, their bodies dissolving completely until nothing remained but ooze.
XLR8 raised the hose, sweeping the street clean, flushing the remains into the sewer to erase all traces.
He knew more of these things were probably hiding somewhere in the shadows. He couldn't afford to lower his guard.
And Grandpa—how was he holding up?
With that thought, XLR8 grabbed Ben and bolted toward Aunt Vera's house, faster than the wind...
Moments after they left, a curvaceous woman in a hip-hop outfit stepped out of a shadowed alley.
"How interesting..." she murmured, extending a soft pink tongue to lick her lips.