Chapter 513 - Ghosts Appear

Veronica unconsciously growls at Elijah's words, "We aren't going anywhere, Elder." she spits while taking her helmet off, revealing her face to him and causing him to go silent.

"Veronica." he audibly mutters, half in disbelief and half in confusion. "Why are you here?..." he asks, his tone noticeably softer than before.​​

"Why do you think I'm here?" Veronica retorts, her question clearly rhetorical.

...

"I imagine it's to retrieve your... Childhood sweetheart...?"

Afton nods, "It's good you acknowledge it so quickly, means you must already know where she is." he says, taking advantage of Elijah's strange state.

"N-no no no, she isn't here! You've come and achieved nothing! Leave before the cloud takes you!" he demands, the sound of his fist slamming into something becoming audible.

Veronica puts her helmet back on and shakes her head, "We aren't going anywhere without finding her! And if we can't do that, I'll find you instead and wring your neck until you speak the truth!" she growls.

"THEN YOU WILL DIE!" Elijah finally shouts as a strange sound starts emitting from a nearby siren. The hologram cuts out, leaving the trio cautiously standing in the middle of the town square as the sound of scrambling and staggard movements start occurring around them.

Afton whips around when a manhole cover is thrown from its position, it leaves a trail of corrosive red fog as it flies through the air, and from the manhole, a strange humanoid figure appears. It creepily crawls out with a cleaver in one hand... It seems to be a person wearing a strange black hazmat suit with glowing green eyes.

Afton's eyes widen when he sees it, quickly recognising it as one of the experimental hazmat suits designed by the Think Tank before the Great War. "Stop there or I'll blow your damn head off!" he commands while pointing his rifle at it.

The creature ignores his commands however, slowly moving towards the trio while its body bends and contorts are awkward angles the human body made to perform... To Afton, it looks more akin to a zombie than anything else...

Once it gets a couple of meters away from the group its weird and awkward movements change as it throws itself towards them at surprising speeds! Afton isn't surprised, however, allowing its cleaver to skitter off of his armour as he drives his metal elbow into its face, pile-driving it into the floor and kicking up a good amount of dust.

Afton stands up from the attack and looks down at the creature, surprised that it's still moving... The force of his attack should have completely crushed its skull and liquified its brain... Yet it still seems aware and aggressive...

He tries to finish the creature off by firing his Anti-Material Rifle into its chest, this blows a huge hole into it, destroying its heart, lungs, ribs, and spine... But it still continues to move. The hole that was created even starts to be filled with a strange substance similarly coloured to the red corrosive fog...

Finally having enough and wanting to alleviate his curiosity he targets it with [Living Anatomy] to see just what the fuck this thing actually is.

[Ghost]

Health : ??%

Stamina : ??%

DT : 18

Strength : 10

Perception : 3

Endurance : 10

Charisma : 1

Intelligence : 1

Agility : 1

Luck : 1

Ailments :

[Cloud-Ridden] : An unfortunate soul complete contaminated by the Cloud, forcing them to live an agonized and tortured resistance. Unable to die through most conventional means, regenerative capabilities, enhanced strength and endurance while everything else is significantly reduced.

[Blood-Crazed Hunter] : Massively enhanced agility when attacking, mental derangement.

[KILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEGODITHURTSKILLMEPLEASEHELPKILLMEKILLME-] : ??

Afton's hard look softens slightly as he reads through the status... "Sorry bastard..." he mutters, firing a shot into its head and splattering its brain matter across the ground... Only for its head to start slowly regenerating.

Veronica fires her Gauss Rifle at it but it achieves similar results as Afton's attempt. "Why won't it die!"

Afton holsters his rifle onto his back while igniting his Ultra Chainsword, "The fog is preventing it from dying." he states, "Best we can do is chop it up and stop it from regenerating."

He slices his weapon at the Ghost, cutting it in half before continuing his attacking, cutting it into four, eight, sixteen, etc. Eventually, all that's left is a pile of bloody flesh that seems to be emitting particles of red fog.

Despite his efforts, the flesh still seems to be trying to heal itself... Annoyed, he kicks the pile of flesh which forces the many chunks to separate as they're scattered around the area. This seems to put the creature out of commission as while it still seems to be trying to heal, its flesh is spread too far apart to properly regain its mass.

He sighs, "That should deal with it for now..." he mutters, looking back at the disturbed-looking Veronica and Anja.

However, it's only when he turns around that he notices why they were looking that way... Behind him, he could spot more ghosts entering the square. Twenty, thirty, almost forty of them stumbling towards the group...

Afton glances at his companions, "Yeah, fuck this. We barely 'killed' one, I'm not getting involved with... That!" he exclaims, grabbing Anja and forcing a knife-hand into the side of a building, penetrating the wall and creating a temporary handhold for him to climb.

He quickly scales up the building with Anja holding on via her hands around his neck... Veronica slowly follows, using the handholds he'd created. Once they all reach the roof he kneels down and looks over at the Ghost people trying to follow but completely failing at it.

He looks at the others, "See? I told you this was like a horror movie... At least we have the advantage in technology... Though, wouldn't that make this Alien?" he ponders.

"Afton, we don't have time to deconstruct your vague callbacks that no one's ever heard of... There's literally an army of undying creatures inhabiting this town, and we still have no idea where Christine is!" Veronica exclaims.