Zombie (Creeper) slain: +0 XP ...What? I stared down at the zombie as it slowly disintegrated into nothingness. Nothing? Nada? Zilch? A big ol' zero in the XP column? That couldn't be right... I’d killed the damn thing sure enough, cleaved the Zombie Hunter Axe right through its fucking face, so why was I being denied my rightful reward?

I let out a frustrated sigh. It seemed the easy ride was over. No more XP from creepers; I had no choice but to kill superiors from now on if I wanted to keep getting stronger.

I browsed through my phone, searching for any possible answers as to why this might be happening, but failed to find any explanation. Was I doing something wrong, or did the XP just naturally decrease with time, or the number of zombies I killed? Or did it have something to do with the total XP I’d attained and/or spent so far? At the moment, I had no way to verify any of these possibilities.

I frowned and kicked the corpse just before it finished disappearing. To add to my annoyance, the zombie also declined to give me a drop. Another map would’ve been nice. Oh, well. I glanced to the left of the intersection, the southern stretch of the street, which curved away and was obfuscated by trees. To my right, the northern stretch slanted up into an overpass. The street itself looked mostly residential, with houses slightly smaller and more spaced out than the ones in the neighborhood I’d come from.

A scuffle of noise drew my attention back to my left. I turned to see a pair of figures emerging side-by-side from the curve of the road, shambling forward in a gait that probably constituted full-speed for a zombie. I’d assumed they’d already seen me, but evidently not, as it was only when the one on the left looked up that it began charging.

A sprinter, then. No biggie. In fact, they were probably the easiest of the superiors to handle. I raised my axe to meet it, but before it was even a quarter of the way to me, the zombie suddenly stopped like it had just been pulled back by an invisible leash. It growled and snarled, yet refused to move its feet forward another step.

I shifted my focus to the second zombie, which had now begun moving horizontally. Why did the zombie cross the road? No seriously, why? Was it setting up some kind of two-way attack? Red flags went off in my mind and I immediately pulled out my phone.

Zombie (Schemer) Tap to view description.

Shit. I was immediately on high alert, swiveling around as I scanned through the, bushes, and any other location more zombies could be lying in ambush. I found nothing, however, save for the sprinter that was still frozen in place, and the schemer which was now drifting toward one of the houses.

I contemplated the best course of action. Should I chase it down? Was it running away because it understood the odds were in my favor at the moment? While most zombies seemed to have no sense of self-preservation, an intelligent one certainly could. Then again, what if it was purposely showing weakness to lure me into a trap? Alternatively, it really might be in a vulnerable state, and this might be my one chance of killing it and running away before it gathered up a swarm of zombies to hunt me down later.

I came to the decision that I had to take the risk and go after it. A second later, that decision no longer mattered, and the schemer became the least of my problems.

If it hadn’t been for the zombie left behind, I probably would have died right then. Or perhaps, it would have been the schemer to meet its end. Either way, it was clear that leaving the sprinter straggling behind was a calculated decision. It was a distraction to buy time, serving as bait while the commander escaped.

But not from me.

My focus was still on the runaway zombie, so a flash of pink in the corner of my vision was the only warning I received before the thing arrived. By the time I turned my head, the sprinter was already on the ground and being ripped to shreds. The creature on top of it was something out of a horrific nightmare that made the zombie underneath it look like a stuffed teddy in comparison.

On first glance, it looked something like a hairless ape. About the size and frame of a gorilla, with long, incredibly muscular arms and stocky legs. Its skin had a flushed complexion, almost like human flesh. Its head was remarkably human-like too, except for the severe lack of facial appendages. It had no eyes, ears, or nose; it was like it wore a mask of skin over what should have been a human skull. But it did have a mouth. Boy did it have a mouth. Its jaw opened wide, revealing a set of long, stained incisors like the kind you’d find on a horse. A vicious howl left its throat, one that resembled an amplified human scream far more than it had any right to.

The zombie underneath it struggled. About as successfully as a newborn gazelle against a starving lioness. The creature’s hands—complete with a set of opposable thumbs—tore through its prey’s flesh like it was made out of paper-mâché. Bones cracked like dried branches under its weight and bulging muscles. It scooped up a chunk of rotten meat from the zombie’s neck and brought it do its mouth, lapping at it with a long, prehensile tongue. It sneered and tossed the feed aside, growling in what I could only characterize as dissatisfaction.

I stood there frozen. I should’ve started running immediately, I knew that, but I was in shock, and my feet felt like they’d been tied down with cinderblocks. All I could do was stand and stare in disbelief and horrific fascination as my brain short-circuited trying to fathom what was happening in front of me. Zombies were one thing—I’d been exposed and desensitized to them through various forms of media throughout my life—but this monster... this thing, whatever it was, was something out of a completely different kind of nightmare.

The zombie was somehow still alive, struggling and attempting to sink its teeth into whatever flesh it could find. The creature ignored it entirely, even when the zombie’s mouth managed to find its forearm. The bite failed to even dent its skin, let alone draw blood. The creature’s tongue flicked out again, curling up then to the side.

Toward me. Its head followed. It grinned.

Finally snapping out of my reverie, I reacted without thinking. A Quick-Roll to the side saved me from certain death. For all its size, the creature was fast. It was maybe a dozen yards away from me, but that distance closed in the blink of an eye. A gust of wind rushed past me as I came out of my roll. I turned and saw the creature come to a stop a short distance behind me. Its tongue wagged out, lifting up and twisting around like a periscope. It stopped once it was pointing at me, and the creature began swiveling around again.

My mind was a jumbled mess of terror and panic, but a few coherent thoughts managed to make their way to the surface. One, the obvious, that I had no chance in hell of actually fighting this thing. Two, more useful, that it had to be blind. I could have guessed that based on its lack of eyes, but the way it seemed to be using its tongue to determine my location was the confirmation. It was probably a safe bet that it didn’t have a sense of smell or hearing, either.

That, at least, gave me some hope of escape. I activated another Quick-Roll as the creature came again, roaring as it charged. Though my dodge was clean, the creature was much quicker to recover than before. I’d barely gotten back to my feet when it leapt at me again, swiping its massive arm forward.

It was too fast. My Quick-Roll cooldown was still active, so all I could do was stumble backward, barely out of its reach. A second lunge was unavoidable, so I did the only thing I could think of and desperately swung my axe to meet it.

Despite being off-balance, my aim couldn’t have been more perfect. I timed it flawlessly, the blade slashing into the creature’s forehead just as it came in range and... promptly snapping right off. I blinked in disbelief as the broken handle fell from my numbed hands, shattering into nothingness. A half-second later, what felt like a sledgehammer slammed into my side, sending me rolling through the pavement.

Dazed and disoriented, I stumbled back to my feet, expecting the creature be on me to finish me off any second. Instead, I saw it licking at the gash on its forehead. At first, I thought it was treating the wound. Then I saw how ravenously its tongue was lapping up the blood running down its face and realized that it was probably just savoring the taste.

I held my disgust and took advantage of the distraction by making a run for it, sprinting back down the street the way I’d come. Spikes of pain ripped through my ribs with every step, leaving me no choice but to activate Mend.

Heat permeated through my body, healing my wounds and setting my bones back in place. I groaned at the relief, but my solace was cut off instantly as a howl sounded from behind me. I spared a glance back and my heart jumped when I saw how quickly the creature was gaining on me. Despite its awkward form, it had the speed of a racehorse, and there was no chance in hell I’d be able to outrun it.

So, I decided not to try. Instead, I swerved to the side and headed for a large tree. I Double-Jumped and snagged the highest branch I could reach, pulling myself up just as a hand came swiping for my dangling legs. I refused to look down as I made my way up the branches, quickly but carefully. It had to have been at least ten years since I’d last climbed a tree, but my enhanced physical attributes and reduced weight allowed me to scale it as easily as a spider monkey.

I was about halfway up the tree when I registered the rustling and creaking of branches underneath me. Cold dread snaked up my spine as I finally dared to peek back down.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

It was climbing up after me. The creature’s lack of vision hindered its progress, but its hands slowly but surely felt out holds as it kept pursuit. I noted the opposable thumbs on its feet and realized that it might not have been the smartest idea in the world to run from an ape-like monster by climbing a tree.

Too late to change my mind now, I had to keep climbing higher. Maybe its weight would prevent it from being able to reach the top. I wasn’t too confident in that though; I’d seen videos online of large animals like bears and gorillas climbing to the tops of trees with ease.

The creature wasn’t as fast as I was, but that hardly mattered when I was running out of real estate. I reached as high as I could go and started desperately looking around, searching the surroundings for any escape ideas. There was a slightly smaller tree nearby; too far to jump to normally, but with a Double-Jump and a Quick-Roll, I might just be able to make it.

Of course, if I didn’t make it, I’d be a bloody splat of broken bones on the ground. I glanced down. The creature was climbing up steadily, drool seeping from its broad, toothy mouth as its tongue lapped around with a life of its own.

Yeah, that was all the motivation I needed. I found a sturdy jumping point and leapt off, activating both Double-Jump and Quick-Roll while I was still in the air.

Maybe I’d underestimated myself, because I managed to make the jump surprisingly easily. The problem came from the landing. Several small branches snapped off as I tried to snag a hold of them, tearing at my skin as I tumbled down the tree. A few scraped across my face, drawing blood, and one came dangerously close to an eye. It was only when my leg collided painfully with one of the boughs that I slowed down enough to grab something to keep me up. Only after that did I realize I probably could’ve used a second Double-Jump to help slow my fall down.

I winced as I found a stable position, and my eyes immediately searched out the creature again. It was slightly above me on the other tree and had stopped climbing, its tongue swerving from side to side as it searched out its suddenly departed prey. It didn’t take long for the tongue-antenna to find me. Its head followed, growling as slobbered in anticipation of its upcoming meal.

I tightened my jaw and held my breath. I wasn’t surprised the creature had detected me again, but what I didn’t expect was for it to immediately attempt the jump. For once, I actually caught a break. Or rather, the branch the creature tried to grab as it covered the distance between the trees did. The thing was far too heavy, and it didn't manage to leap far enough to snag one of the larger branches that might've been able to hold its weight.

So, the creature fell. A good thirty feet at least, and smashed into the ground with nothing to break or soften its fall.

And then it got right back up.

“Seriously? Is this thing fucking indestructible or something?”

It started climbing again. I was at my wits’ end. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Jump to another tree to buy some time? Or maybe I should just dive head-first into the ground and put myself out of my misery. It would certainly beat being eaten alive by this monstrosity.

I tried to keep myself calm as I racked my head for ideas. That’s when I finally thought of my phone. Right, maybe the Scan could produce some information that might help me. Only, when I reached into my pockets to look for it, I found nothing inside.

My brain froze for a moment before realizing I must’ve dropped it back at the intersection when the creature had first shown up. Shit. What now? I had an unstoppable, indestructible, rabid creature from hell gunning for me and absolutely nothing to fight it off. No armor, no weapons, no knowledge of its weaknesses. Absolutely fucking nothing—

Wait. No, I did have something! My backpack—I’d almost forgotten I even had it on during the chaos. I quickly pulled it off and unzipped it. Inside was the drop I’d received from the spitter—a jar of incredibly corrosive acid. Would it do the job? I had no choice but to try.

A repugnant stench hit me as I unscrewed the jar, careful not to let any of the fluid inside drip down to my hands. I let a single drop spill on a nearby branch as a test. The acid sizzled and popped as it ate through the wood with ease, causing the branch to snap off.

Oh yeah, this was potent stuff. Every fiber in my being told me to pour it down on the creature immediately, but I needed to get it right. I waited, each second feeling like an hour as it slowly ascended toward me. When it was about ten feet below, I couldn’t hold back any longer.

The first stream missed. Maybe it was nervousness, but I quickly adjusted my aim and poured the acid again, this time hitting the creature in the center of its face. There was a delay in its reaction as the acid bubbled over its skin. Then it let out a scream so loud and horrifically human, it made my heart jump. I gritted my teeth and kept on, emptying the rest of the jar, much of its contents landing inside the creature’s enormous, wide-open mouth.

Its screams twisted, turning into grotesque, gurgling sounds. Its hands lost their grip on the bark and it fell back, tumbling through the smaller branches, ricocheting of the larger ones as it plunged to the ground.

And that still wasn’t enough to finish it. It squirmed, writhed, and screamed, its hands reaching for its face, which had all but melted off. The bone underneath was exposed but undamaged as the acid wore off. It glanced up, and I was both surprised and strangely horrified to find that it had eye sockets underneath the skin, though they were closed off with grey-pink cartilage underneath.

But no matter how hurt it was, as long as the creature was still alive, I was still very much fucked. I cycled through my head for any other bright ideas, but then realized the creature wasn’t actually trying to climb up toward me anymore. Instead, it turned away. First to one side, then to the other. It took a few steps, stopped, swiveled around and started moving another direction. It shook its head, turning up, down, side-to-side, every which way.

Unsure what to make of it, I kept a careful eye on the creature. Was it just dazed from the fall, or did I really piss it off, and now it was preparing some sort of special attack? Neither possibility seemed quite right...

Then I realized what was wrong. The creature’s tongue. It was gone. The acid might have struggled to corrode bone, but it ate through flesh well enough. Without the appendage, the creature lacked all senses; completely blind, deaf, and dumb to the world.

I watched it for a moment longer, skittering from one place to another, wildly swinging its arms and angrily biting at the air. I would have thought it pitiful if I didn’t know it was doing all this in an effort to rip me to shreds and devour my flesh.

I waited until its random movements took it far enough away from the tree, then grabbed the backpack and slowly began climbing down. I was ready to bolt back up at any moment should it show any sign of detecting me, but even as my feet touched the ground, the creature gave no outward indication of recognizing my presence.

And just like that, I’d somehow survived the encounter. All I had to do was be on my away and I'd probably never see this thing again.

But, even as I considered doing so, another thought seeped into my mind. This creature—whatever it was—was so incredibly powerful. It could rip through flesh like it was made of warm butter and survive a thirty-foot fall without the slightest hint of injury. An axe to the head dealt as much damage as a papercut. A faceful of deadly acid still couldn’t kill it. Wild animals were lightweights by comparison, and zombies didn’t even register.

A creature this strong, this tough, this insanely horrifying... how much XP would it be worth?