ROTTEN

Chapter 4

“HAJIME!”

The karate tournament was being held at a stadium in Surabaya. The competitors arrived accompanied by their parents or relatives. Everyone, that is, except Audrey.

She had switched off her phone’s signal before the tournament, hoping to avoid calls and messages from her father or the neighbors. Today, she wanted to focus entirely on her match.

Her opponent was a girl around her age, slightly taller than she was. That didn’t bother her. She paid little attention to her opponent’s physical build, focusing instead on the way she positioned herself before attacking.

With her signature unpredictable agility, Audrey dodged her opponent’s strikes and countered with a mawashi geri—a roundhouse kick delivered with the instep or heel of the foot. Her opponent hit the ground.

“YAME!” the referee called.

Both competitors returned to their starting positions, preparing for the next round. Thanks to her nimble movements, Audrey had scored the first point.

“TSUZUKETE, HAJIME!”

KABOOOM!!!

Without warning, the eastern section of the stadium’s roof exploded, sending chunks of debris crashing onto the arena. Panic erupted. Competitors, referees, judges, staff, and spectators scattered in every direction, desperately trying to escape the blast. Audrey ran with them, her mind racing.

What just happened? Why did something explode out of nowhere?!

Some people pulled out their phones to record the incident, while others frantically searched for their children or relatives who had been competing on the arena floor.

Grrrrrr!!

A growl echoed through the stadium. It sounded somewhat like a platypus, only much deeper.

Footsteps followed. Two legs … No. Four. Four enormous feet emerged through the rubble left by the explosion. Smoke still shrouded the wreckage when the silhouette of a giant appeared behind it. Then, a massive snout lined with sharp teeth pushed through the smoke.

Audrey's face was drained of color. She felt as though she were looking at the very creature she had feared for so long.

At that terrifying moment, her father's words came rushing back to her.

[“I … I don't want you going through something like that again. We’ve driven most of them out of this area, but in Surabaya... that’s where they’re concentrated.”]

“The center ...” Audrey whispered. “Could it be ... the center of the monsters I’ve seen before?”

The creature hidden behind the smoke let out a deafening roar. Its heavy breathing swept the smoke away, finally revealing its entire form.

Its body resembled a grotesque fusion of a human and a rat, with the face of a bat. Its claws were unnaturally long, and its arms were even longer than its legs. Patchy gray and white fur covered its body, while a long rat’s tail dragged behind it. Every time it breathed, smoke poured from its nostrils, much like a wild boar preparing to charge.

“KYAAAAAAAAA!!!” Everyone fled from the monster. Some weren’t fast enough. Parents screamed and wept over their injured or dead children, whose bodies had been torn apart by the creature’s claws. Chaos engulfed the stadium.

The horrifying scene unfolded before Audrey’s eyes, yet she stood frozen in place, even though she was dangerously close to the monster.

“RUN, KID!! RUN!!”

The shout snapped Audrey out of her trance. She turned and ran for her life.

Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!

She was already regretting her decision to come to Surabaya alone.

The monster seized those who failed to escape and killed them one by one. Splashes of blood spattered across Audrey’s uniform, sending her into an even greater state of panic.

“AAAAAAAH!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!”

A child’s scream brought Audrey to an abrupt halt. She turned around and spotted a child of about nine years old lying on the ground, blood smeared across his hands. For a moment, she was torn between saving him and running away herself. She was about to flee when the child’s sobbing stopped her again. His cries reminded her of the little girl she had once been, terrified and helpless when she first encountered a buto.

And now, the monster’s footsteps were drawing closer to the crying child.

“Damn it!”

With a burst of agility, Audrey sprinted toward him, scooped him into her arms, and ran. Her lungs were burning, and she was already close to exhaustion, but she forced herself to keep going.

Soon, only the two of them remained on the stadium floor. The adults tried desperately to distract the monster by hurling stones at it, but their efforts were futile. The creature continued pursuing Audrey as she carried the child, who weighed nearly forty kilograms. And then—

CRAAASH!!!

Audrey fell, throwing the child forward as a sharp, excruciating pain tore through her leg.

The monster’s claws had inflicted a devastating wound, breaking her leg. She collapsed onto the ground and screamed in agony. Fortunately, the child she had been carrying managed to reach the stadium exit.

I was so close! Just a few more steps! If only I'd run faster ... If only I hadn't hesitated to save him …

BAM! BAM!

Everyone had fled the scene. The monster approached her, its steps slower than before. Audrey knew those movements all too well. They were exactly the same as those of the monster that had once tried to pounce on her in the teak forest.

Only this time, she was injured. There was no one left to save her. She couldn’t even stand up, let alone run away. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she groaned in pain, clutching her badly injured leg. She was certain she was standing at death’s door.

Dad ... I’m sorry ... If only I’d listened to you ... If only I hadn’t come here …

Audrey’s vision began to blur. As her consciousness faded, she found herself wishing for something she had never imagined she would need.

If only that man with the fire powers would come back…

ZRAAAATTTZZZ!!!

Suddenly, a wave of cold brushed against her skin. Summoning what little strength she had left, Audrey glanced toward its source.

A middle-aged man in a black uniform—the same kind worn by the man who wielded blue fire—was standing nearby. He stomped his foot against the ground, unleashing a burst of ice that halted the monster in its tracks.

Moments later, another man swooped in, a pair of wings spread across his back. He kicked the monster squarely in the face, sending it hurtling away.

Another inexplicable sight. Humans with strange powers, appearing out of nowhere, all wearing the same black uniform.

Who are they?

But there was no time to think. Audrey’s consciousness was slipping away. Slowly, her eyelids fell shut, and her heartbeat grew dangerously faint, as though she were already crossing the threshold into death.