Chapter 45: Never Trust the Crying Child

"I’m not ready for this..."

The bench beneath me was still there, but it was now the only modern object left around me. It stood beside a stone-paved path buried beneath the ice, only a few meters away from a river that had frozen solid.

The river lay motionless beneath a thick sheet of ice. Half-collapsed stone pillars lined the bank, along with the remains of an old building that had only one wall still standing. On the other side, a dense forest of tangled, bare trees stretched into the distance.

I could make out several dark silhouettes between the trees, but I couldn’t tell whether they were ruins, rocks, or living things watching me.

I touched the black bracelet around my wrist.

"Umbrella."

The bracelet immediately unraveled and spread over my arm like black liquid. It flowed across my shoulders, down my chest, and over my legs, transforming into a thin layer of armor that covered my entire body.

The black layer crawled over my face, leaving only a narrow opening for my eyes before sealing beneath my chin. I didn’t exactly feel safe once Umbrella had covered me completely, but knowing I was no longer defenseless was at least a little reassuring.

I raised my head and looked at the sky.

There was only one moon visible between the bare branches and dark clouds.

Knowing I hadn’t been sent to another planet or an entirely different reality eased some of the fear inside me. I was still in my own world, just inside a part of it that had been altered by the Overlap.

When I lowered my gaze again, my breath caught in my throat.

A little girl was standing a few meters in front of me.

I hadn’t seen her approach, nor had I heard any footsteps on the ice-covered stone path.

She looked five or six years old. Her dark hair fell to her shoulders and hid most of her face, while a thin white dress covered her small body. She clutched an old, dirty teddy bear against her chest with one arm and cried with her head lowered.

"Mommy... Mommy..."

I instinctively tried to stand, but when I felt my knees trembling, I grabbed the edge of the bench.

"Fuck..."

A little girl searching for her mother on the bank of a dark river while holding a teddy bear...

This was definitely the kind of scene that warned you something terrible was about to happen within the first ten minutes of any horror movie. Anyone with common sense would turn around and run instead of approaching the child.

But if the thing in front of me really was a lost child, I couldn’t just leave her here.

There was no way to tell from a distance whether she was a monster or a real girl who needed help.

I forced myself to my feet and kept some distance between us.

"Oiii, little one! What are you doing here?"

The child didn’t lift her head.

"Mommy... Mommy..."

Her voice trembled, and her small shoulders shook with every sob.

I swallowed and took one step forward.

"Can you hear me?"

"Mommy..."

"Oiii, I’m talking to you!"

When I still received no answer, I checked my surroundings. I couldn’t see anything moving between the trees, and I still had no idea where the monster’s scream I’d heard earlier had come from.

The little girl remained in the same place.

I cautiously reached toward her while preparing to gather part of Umbrella around my right palm. If she made any sudden movements, I would be able to defend myself.

My fingertips brushed her shoulder.

The moment the girl felt my touch, she cried even louder and threw herself at my leg. Her small arms wrapped around my knee as the teddy bear slipped from her hand and rolled across the ice-covered stone path.

My entire body tensed, but she didn’t attack me.

She simply clung to my armored leg, continuing to sob and call for her mother.

Was she really just a child?

I began to think my suspicions might have been baseless. The Overlap had probably formed while she was here and separated her from her family. She might have been too frightened to even understand what I was saying.

Some of the tension left my shoulders as I bent my knees and lowered myself toward her.

"Okay, calm down, little one. We’ll find your mom."

I reached my trembling hand toward her hair.

Just as my fingers were about to touch her head, the girl suddenly stopped crying.

Her face snapped up toward me.

There were no eyes in the pale face hidden behind her hair. Her mouth ripped open from her chin to her ears, revealing row after row of sharp teeth.

Before I had a chance to pull away, she sank her teeth into my leg.

"Ahhh!"

Her teeth punched through the thin layer of armor covering my leg and tore it apart. At the same time, her fingers lengthened into claws and dug into my calf.

I opened my right hand in a panic.

The section of Umbrella covering my arm flowed into my palm and formed a black dagger. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I gripped the weapon with both hands and drove the blade into the girl’s head.

As the creature’s jaws released my leg, a piercing shriek tore from its mouth.

"You fucking little bitch!"

I kicked it in the chest with all my strength. The small body flew several meters before rolling across the ice-covered stones and coming to a stop.

I staggered backward, breathing heavily.

When I looked at the place where it had bitten me, I saw the damaged section of armor slowly repairing itself. Still, one of its teeth had reached my calf and left a shallow cut in my skin.

The pain was annoying, but I could still move without any trouble.

I turned my attention back to the child lying on the ground.

The color began draining from its body before my eyes. Its white dress, dark hair, and pale skin melted together until the small body became a pure-white humanoid silhouette within seconds.

It had no nose.

Its ears and eyes were gone as well.

The mouth that had been filled with enormous teeth had also disappeared, leaving no opening behind. The thing lying on the ground now looked like a piece of white wax that had been carelessly molded into the shape of a person.

Holding the black dagger in front of me, I approached it slowly. I waited for it to move, then nudged its shoulder and head several times with the tip of my boot.

It didn’t react.

Once I was sure it was dead, I should have felt relieved. Instead, the fact that it had disguised itself as a child to trick me quickly turned whatever fear I had left into anger.

The dagger melted and flowed back up my arm before reshaping itself into a long, heavy baseball bat. I gripped its black handle with both hands and stared down at the white creature.

"BIIIIITCHH!"

I brought the bat down on the creature’s head with every bit of strength I had.

A dry crack came from the white body as thin fractures spread across its surface. I struck it again, then started beating it over and over, taking out all the frustration I’d built up throughout the day.

"What the fuck kind of rabid daycare escapee disguises itself as a kid and bites someone’s leg?!"

The bat crashed into the creature’s shoulder and knocked its arm to the side.

"Here’s your mommy!"

I brought the bat down again.

"Here’s your teddy bear!"

The creature’s faceless head slammed against the ice-covered stones.

"You goddamn toothy lump of dough! You don’t even have a face! What the fuck makes you think you can trick anyone, you shapeless bastard?!"

No matter how many times I hit it, no blood came out. Its body only cracked and broke apart like dried clay.

When I finally ran out of breath, I rested the bat on my shoulder and glared down at the shattered creature.

"If you ever grab my leg again, I’ll bury you in the river with your teddy bear."

The moment the words left my mouth, a chilling scream rose from deep within the forest.

This time, it was much closer.

The branches of the snow-covered trees shook, sending large clumps of snow crashing to the ground. The moment I saw something moving in the darkness, I lowered the bat from my shoulder and gripped it with both hands again.

I swallowed and stared at the stone path beneath the ice.

"I should probably hurry."