The Contents of the Hanging Bundle

When truly terrified, you can't even scream. A calm part of my mind noted that.

Someone who shouldn't be able to see was rushing straight at me.

Quite fast.

He opened his mouth wide and lunged to bite my neck.

I barely managed to dodge by stepping back.

The sound of teeth clashing rang out, saliva splattering. I didn't even have the luxury to think about how disgusting it was.

This was far more terrifying than being attacked by monsters.

A physiological horror and revulsion at being eaten by another human welled up inside me.

"Stay back! I'll stab you if you come closer!"

I pulled out my knife and pointed it at him.

But that wasn't a good move.

Threatening someone who couldn't see with a blade had no effect.

Even more so if he had no ears. I couldn't even tell if he could hear me.

How did he even know where I was?

His crushed nose moved.

He was tracking me by smell.

When I slowly walked sideways, his face turned to follow.

"A living human. I want to eat you."

It was a raspy man's voice. But clear enough to hear.

I could tell he saw me as nothing more than food.

I slowly backed away with my knife raised.

His nose probably wasn't as sharp as a dog's. If I put some distance between us, maybe I could escape.

He ran at me again, both hands reaching out.

My left hand holding the candlestick was grabbed.

Despite looking emaciated, his strength was incredible. If he pulled me down with that force, it would be over.

To protect my life, I stabbed the knife into the arm that was grabbing me.

I couldn't put much force into it and only drew a little blood, but he hurriedly released my arm.

Then he pressed his mouth to the wound on his arm, sucked out the blood, and swallowed it.

I felt nauseous, and stomach acid rose into my mouth, leaving a sour taste.

He licked at the wound over and over, reluctant to let any go to waste, until the bleeding seemed to stop.

Blood stains remained around his mouth, and combined with his appearance, he no longer seemed human.

I had to do this here.

I wasn't going to let Azu dirty her hands while keeping my own clean of blood.

If I had to do it to survive, I had the resolve.

The problem was that he seemed stronger than me.

He did appear to feel pain earlier, but rather than flinching, I think he released me because he didn't want to waste the spilled blood.

Hitting him with the candlestick might set him on fire and let me win, but then I'd lose my only light in this terrifying place.

To beat him with this knife, preferably without getting hurt…

Yohane swept the plates off the table with his right arm, sending them crashing to the floor.

The fallen plate shattered with a high-pitched sound.

He reacted to the noise and looked at the floor.

So he could hear after all. The moment he looked down, I raised my knife and lunged.

If I could deeply stab or slash him somewhere, surely he wouldn't follow me.

But Yohane, with no combat experience, couldn't execute his mental image perfectly.

It was dark, and my knife hit one of the white bundles hanging from the ceiling and got stuck.

By the time I realized my mistake, he was already facing me.

I let go of the candlestick and pulled the knife out with both hands.

Then the spot I'd stabbed began to turn red before my eyes.

It looked like blood was flowing out.

Something slid out of the blood-soaked wrappings.

It was… a red-black mass.

After falling to the ground, it twitched and convulsed.

"Meeeeat!"

He pounced on the fallen contents instead of me.

He devoured it single-mindedly, as if he'd completely forgotten about me.

Now was my only chance to escape.

I picked up the candlestick and fled.

From behind, I could only hear wet chewing sounds.

"Damn, damn, damn it!"

What was that?

What were those contents that fell out?

I tried to forget such questions by running.

Right now, I just wanted to get away from here.

I ran mindlessly until my heart gave out, then ducked into what looked like a storage room.

Inside were old wooden crates and piled materials, with no one around.

I sat down and caught my breath.

I pulled out my canteen from my bag and drank some water.

I wanted to gulp it all down, but I stopped after just a sip.

I couldn't expect to find drinking water in a place like this.

Given the state of that kitchen… I should conserve my water.

Fortunately, my leather canteen held a decent amount, and I had two of them.

Good thing I was always prepared.

I rolled up my sleeve and looked at the arm that terrifying creature had grabbed.

I recoiled.

It had turned completely blue, and it was a bit hard to put strength into it.

Cold sweat broke out thinking about what would have happened if he'd held on longer.

I should eat something, but after that experience, I had no appetite.

Fortunately, I hadn't encountered any monsters while running here, and this storage room seemed safe for now.

My breathing had settled, so I did a little exploring.

Unfortunately, nothing in the storage room seemed useful.

There was only rotted wheat and what appeared to be oxidized oil residue.

I sat down again. I needed to rest both body and mind or I wouldn't last.

When I closed my eyes, that scene came back to me and I felt nauseous again, so I took another small sip of water.

Impulsively, I slammed my hand against the floor.

It hurt, but I felt slightly better.

Then I took slow, deep breaths.

If I stayed here too long, I'd die.

The only human I'd encountered was that terrifying man.

But maybe there were normal people here too.

I couldn't abandon that possibility just yet.