A Universe of Bloody Evolution

“So I’m supposed to write about my thoughts and feelings here. That’s probably the dumbest idea I heard in a long time, but if I don’t do this then that damned girl will never leave me alone… How she got that thought in her head, that she will be the one to “fix” me, I will never know. Not that I need any fixing to begin with… Anyway, now I have to write this journal (Not a diary), or the demon will keep bothering me even in school. Just like she did today. I just hope this wasn't another idea she found on the internet..."

Leo snorted. He was a right prick back then, pushing everyone away even when the Hales had taken him in after Edward left. Leo probably was the reason for their first gray hairs, and if Lily wasn’t her normal annoying self, he would have probably never accepted his foster family.

Worse than a prick, Leo shook his head and returned to the journal, trying to decipher the scrawl he once called his handwriting.

"If I go around it like every low-budget TV show, then I probably should start with an introduction, no matter how dumb that sounds... Right, so my name is Leo Brown and no, it’s just Leo, nothing more. I turned sixteen a few weeks back and my parents are dead. My mother died in a car crash just because some drunk bastard couldn’t stop at a red light. He killed her, destroyed my family, and in return only received a few years in prison. What a wonderful justice system we have, hm?

Then there is my father, the person who I needed the most when my mom died. That fucking asshole promised, he fucking promised to never leave me and yet after a few weeks of casual neglect, he just left. He didn’t say goodbye, he didn’t even give me a damn warning, nothing. I only found out that he wouldn’t be coming back from the Hales… Now that fucker might as well be dead to me."

Leo had no clue what came upon him back then. Ever since Edward had left, Leo refused to even mention his biological mother and father. And then, for some godforsaken reason, he sat down before the empty journal and the words just came out on their own. He wrote and wrote, spilling his heart on a piece of paper. Blunt as ever.

And the moment he finished?

Well, the dozens of lines scrawled all over the writing described Leo’s reaction quite well. As did his increased coldness towards everyone for over two weeks. Hell, even Lily stopped her attempts at “fixing” him at that time.

In her words, Leo played the part of a broody teenager with daddy issues quite perfectly...

Turning to the next page, Leo retrieved the half-eaten candy bar and returned to the book. The journal didn’t inspire many positive feelings in him, but he welcomed the respite from the looming apocalypse all the same. Not even some of the interesting parts of the journal could stop Leo from reading, which in hindsight, might not have been the best of ideas.

In no time, Leo’s eyelids grew heavier, his head coming closer and closer to the desk. The writing inside the journal slowly blurred as Leo’s eyes closed, the darkness welcoming him in its warm embrace.

---

The moment Leo woke up sitting on one of the most uncomfortable chairs and still feeling better than ever, he couldn’t even be mad at himself for falling asleep. The soreness finally left his body, and most of the wounds Leo sustained yesterday, almost disappeared. Some had already scabbed, while others were gone altogether, leaving only small scars behind.

Glancing at the small gap in the curtain where a thin ray of red sun entered the room once again, Leo smiled. At least now he had another day to plan and maybe move along with his goal.

Just before he could get up, another notification from the System decided to appear.

You managed to survive the Night outside a safe zone. Zero Voidlings or survivors killed. Congratulations.

Is this bullshit mocking me? Leo furrowed his brow. And what do you even mean by a safe zone? Is it just another name for a secure shelter? Nah… Until now the System was quite consistent with its naming policies.

Scowl painted on his face, Leo dismissed the message. He had no doubt in his mind that his parent's house wasn't considered a secure shelter, much less a safe zone. A few curtains and wooden shelves had no chance to stand against the nightmares of the Night.

Way to ruin a somewhat happy morning, Leo grumbled.

No matter what the System said, Leo still had to use empty buildings like this one to hide during the night. Make them as secure as possible and then hope that none of the Nightmares had a reason to enter a seemingly empty house. And in case they did?

Well, Leo planned to at least try to escape. Although, there was a saying, 'No plan survives contact with the enemy’, and the Nightmares just might kill him before he even moved. F and E+ rank seemed like quite a big gap so who really knew…

Yeah, let’s not think about that now. I really don’t need the images of being torn to shreds in my head. Leo grimaced, pushing those thoughts away.

The problem of sleep was another matter altogether. Even with those new superpowers, there was no good moment to sleep until Leo could find or create this so-called ‘secure shelter’.

Last night he was lucky enough that nothing decided to check his house and get a free snack… Besides, if it wasn't for the journal, Leo’s troubled mind would have never let him close his eyes after seeing the Collector carry out the body of Mrs. Gibson.

So the night is out. At least until I find something more secure.

Then again, sleeping during the day had its own disadvantages, as it was the only time Leo wasn’t scared shitless to travel. With the sun out and no Nightmares wandering around the city, his chances of survival rose significantly... Also who said that normal Voidlings couldn’t try to kill him when he slept during the day?

“This is hopeless,” Leo murmured, head in his hands. “In the end, it will depend on luck and the safety of the place I can find. Nothing more...”

Out of nowhere, his stomach grumbled. Leo scowled and reached into his backpack, removing some dried meat and another bottle of water. He always thought better with some food in his stomach so why not kill two birds with one stone?

As he ate, his mind drifted, searching for ideas to solve at least one of his problems. Everything seemed too risky, wasted too much time, or was straight-up impossible.

No good way to go around it. Risk is always involved, so might as well just wing it and try to sleep during the night while hiding in a barricaded bathroom or basement. Most of those don’t have windows.

Leo sighed. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but he had no better ones.

Putting the leftovers back into his bag, he approached the window. Let’s see what the night brought onto the world…

The curtains parted, and a curse slipped past Leo's mouth.

The sun and transformed plants still colored the entire world in hues of red. What truly surprised Leo were the branches and pieces of roof tiles scattered all around the neighborhood. To add to the absolute chaos outside the window, Leo already spotted two Cursed Humans walking around mindlessly, their red eyes scanning the area.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Leo mumbled, the urge to bang his head against the window getting particularly strong now. “Where did you even come from?”

Getting no answer, Leo walked away, muttering curses on the way out. He made his way downstairs, and when he entered the living room, his body froze as a loud crunch reached his ears.

Looking down, Leo lifted his leg, eyes widening as the glow of his arm glinted against dozens of small pieces of shattered glass.

Like a spring, Leo jumped away, the dagger rising just below his face as he searched the almost dark room for any signs of life. Nothing seemed out of place, and while he noticed a few more glass shards reflecting the light of his arm, it certainly wasn’t anything to pull his hair out for.

Never lowering the dagger, Leo approached one of the windows and slowly pulled the curtains apart.

Rays of the Sun blasted the entire room, bathing it in dim light. Leo once again sent his gaze searching, finally finding a large pile of glass under another window.

This had to be the wind, right?

Leo really hoped that was the case. The thought of a Collector or any other Voidling walking inside the house when he slept, didn’t fill him with much joy.

Gripping the dagger even tighter, Leo decided to check the entire house. Just in case something wanted to surprise him when he moved on to looting the building.

---

For once, luck shined upon Leo, and he found no unrequited guest inside the house. As such, he moved to the final task, looting his adoptive parents' house. Something which Leo promised to keep to himself when he finally found the rest of his family. They didn’t need to know who trashed their house. Not that it really matters anymore.

Honestly, not much was left to be looted as Leo’s parents left almost no food before their trip, and he had enough clothes for now. Only the first aid kit — which Leo almost dismissed after his recovery in the span of one night — and his dad’s hunting rifle interested him.

Leo found the long rifle — a well-crafted CZ with a walnut stock — inside a box within the attic. The box might have been locked, but Leo’s claws didn’t really care about such mundane things.

Along with the weapon, he took a scope for later use and two boxes full of ammunition. For the first time, Leo thanked whatever deities were listening, that his dad had an unhealthy obsession with hunting.

I just hope ‘Identify’ isn’t lying about the fact that you are still in perfect condition, Leo thought as he gazed at the weapon in his hands.

Happy with his find, Leo tied it to the side of his backpack and retreated downstairs, ready to unbarricade the backdoor.

I really need more points in Might, especially with the bonus from the taint gone, Leo grumbled, taking a moment to catch his breath and activate stealth.

Soon after, the barrier once again formed around Leo’s skin, and he opened the door just enough to slip out.

Hugging the back of the house, Leo slowly walked toward the end of the wall. He peeked around the corner and instantly snapped his head back when he noticed a Voidling standing right in his path. Scowling, Leo walked to the other side of the building and checked the situation there.

Empty. Leo sighed and followed the thin path between the fence and the wall. Once again, he stopped at the next corner and leaned out, hoping that the Voidling from the other side of the house just remained there.

It didn’t.

This time the Cursed Human stood next to the front door, its nails scraping against the walls as if testing its durability.

Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. Can they feel my presence around here, or is my luck just that shitty?

He could try to jump over the fence next to him and go behind the neighboring house, but Leo didn’t trust himself enough to be completely quiet during the climb. Besides, he had no clue if the other side was even safe…

Just then, a brilliant idea entered Leo’s mind. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book. Something that always worked in movies, tv-series or the few games he played. Hell, the idea even seemed quite smart when Leo took the Cursed Human’s stupidity under consideration.

Shrugging, Leo bent down, retrieved a small rock, and threw it on the road.

The Voidling screeched, and Leo smirked when the beast turned and howled in the direction of the road. Then as if guided by a godly hand, the monster’s head snapped toward Leo’s corner.

Okay, that’s just straight-up bullshit. The beast screeched, and Leo jumped behind the wall, both of his hands gripping the shovel as he settled into position.

When the growls of the Voidling almost rang Leo’s ears, he swung with everything he got.

Crunch!

Leo threw away the slightly bent shaft of the shovel as the Voidiling collapsed to the ground with a thump. The monster twitched, trying to recover from having its head flattened.

Reaching for the dagger tucked in his waistline, Leo jumped forward. He straddled the creature as his dagger once again pushed against the thick skull while his claws dug into the monster's stomach.

The Voidling writhed under him, flailing its arms at everything but Leo.

With one last push, the skull cracked open while Leo’s claws drank the last bits of the monster's Essence. Power filled his veins as the Tainted trait activated, giving Leo the much-needed strength as another Voidling almost barreled into him.

Of course, you had to come, Leo cursed as he rolled away.

To prove that today just wasn’t the day, the monster recovered almost instantly after it stumbled upon its kin’s body.

Growling, Leo dashed to the side, jerking away from another mad charge. The beast was relentless and even faster than the husk of Charles Gibson. No way they are at the same level.

The bent shovel once again landed in Leo’s hands, and he quickly used the tool to block a swipe from the monster. Metal met weaponized fingernails, but the shovel didn’t give in.

I love this shit, Leo grinned as he pushed forward, the Voidling’s back crashing against the wall of the house.

The monster momentarily lost its footing, and Leo swung his shovel again. The metal handle sailed true and the Voidling bent forward, a primal screech escaping its throat.

“Go to hell,” Leo growled, the blunt side of the shovel sending the monster to the ground.

It tried to crawl towards Leo, but he quickly bonked the creature in the head again and positioned the blade of the gardening tool above its neck.

Like a guillotine, the shovel fell with all of the strength Leo could muster.

It cut through the Voidling's neck, spraying blood everywhere as an artery was severed. The metal reached almost the end of the neck before it stopped, not having enough force to continue.

Bile rose in Leo’s throat as the blood splayed on the ground. The natural reaction of his body almost won, only to be stopped by the twitching of the monster’s arm. Leo gulped, grimacing as his throat burned.

With a quick tug, he yanked the shovel out and brought it down again, the head of the Voidling rolling to the side.

With the bloody shovel still in hand, Leo turned away from the sight and collapsed against the fence, sliding down until his bottom hit the floor.

Fuck.