Chapter 85: S#14. Pet Shop (5)
by fnovelpia
The mysterious monsters were created through clothing.
The Hyper sisters had forgotten that they stored their parents’ clothes in the basement.
It was a small mistake, but the consequences were severe. Monsters were rampant in the basement.
We killed several that had come out.
We closed the basement door and locked it. The monsters scratched at the door and fired projectiles, creating a ruckus.
We reinforced the door with thick plywood. It was a sufficient barrier, but we stood guard just in case.
Two hours passed like that.
I was still in just my underwear.
Standing in just my underwear at the pharmacist’s house… it was something I would never do if I were in my right mind.
What the hell was I doing? I felt a burning sense of shame and self-reproach.
Hilda Hyper approached. She had wrapped a long blanket around herself like a robe, covering her body.
Hilda looked worried and quickly wrote in my palm.
‘You’re bleeding a lot.’
The white bandage wrapped around my left arm had turned red.
Hilda brought a fresh bandage.
‘I’ll change the bandage for you.’
‘Thank you, Hilda.’
‘No, I should be thanking you.’
Hilda sat beside me and began to unwrap the blood-soaked bandage.
The sensation of being nursed in my underwear by a beautiful woman was strange.
Hilda wrote again.
‘This is all because of my sister and me. We shouldn’t have made that strange bet with that strange man.’
‘Nancy and I made a bet too. We’re in the same boat.’
‘It’s not the same. You keep getting hurt because of us.’
……
‘You’re amazing, Summer. The most amazing person I’ve ever met. But..’
But Hilda’s fingers stopped. She suddenly bowed her head in distress.
The sentence was cut off, so I couldn’t tell exactly why she was in despair, but I could feel the depth of it.
Seeing Hilda looking so pitiful made my heart heavy. I wanted to hug her fragile shoulders.
A hug is comforting. Nancy had taught me that.
But I couldn’t hug her in this state.
‘Do you think the parrot in the cage felt this frustrated too?’
Hilda asked, referring to the house that had turned into a cage and us.
“No. It’s just a birdbrain.”
I answered honestly.
Hilda smiled faintly. By then, my left arm was wrapped in a fresh bandage.
Someone knocked on the front door.
When I went out, it was the pet shop owner, Littleman.
He had said to survive for a week, but it hadn’t even been seven hours, and he was back.
“Nice body.”
Littleman smiled at me. His teeth were sharp like fangs.
“Did you kill all the monsters?”
“You’re next.”
“I look forward to it. As a hint, be wary of dishes tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?”
“The poachers, of course. After clothing, it’s the dishes that will transform next.”
“……”
“After dishes, it’ll be furniture. After furniture, electronics. Human traces will sequentially turn into poachers. In the end, only the dry cage and the dying beasts called humans will remain.”
Turning tools into monsters…
It was a madman’s setting.
“And by the way, most houses here have turned into cages like this one. They all broke their bets with me.”
That’s why there was silence everywhere.
Were Nancy and Ellen safe?
I gripped the bars tightly with my right hand.
“You broke the bet. You deceived us.”
“I did not deceive you. You really couldn’t find the cat.”
Littleman left, leaving behind a vile smile.
I released my grip on the bars. They had bent slightly.
Though resistant to sudden force, they yielded somewhat to prolonged pressure.
But they barely bent. The bars were so sturdy that bending them enough to pass through was impossible. Even with both arms intact, it would have been impossible.
What if we relied on modern medicine?
I went to Zelda.
“Zelda, I need a favor.”
“A favor…? You’re not asking me to undress again, are you?”
“No, I need you to make a strength-enhancing drug.”
I needed something like the special nutrient Pluto received.
A drug that would temporarily give me immense strength.
Zelda crossed her arms.
“I had a masterpiece, but I lost it a few weeks ago.”
“Please make it again. As strong as possible.”
“If it’s too strong, there will be severe side effects…”
“I don’t care.”
I spoke resolutely.
This wasn’t a statement made out of a sense of invincibility.
I was prepared to bear the responsibility and sacrifice.
Sometimes, you need to use your body rather than your brain.
No matter what, I would get out of here and save the Strode women.
Ellen’s house, the second-floor panic room.
Two corpses lay on the floor.
They weren’t the corpses of the Strode women. They were the corpses of monsters.
If you turn back the clock, this is what happened—
Right after entering the panic room safely, Ellen and Nancy’s clothes suddenly started to swell. It was like a scene from Alien.
The clothes had the lumpy faces of monsters hanging from them like mushrooms.
The monsters hadn’t invaded from outside. They had been with them all along.
“Nancy, I think we need to undress.”
“Okay, got it…!”
They stripped off their clothes and used the chainsaw to deal with the emerging monsters.
They removed everything, even their underwear, ending up completely naked.
Ellen glanced at Nancy. It had been almost ten years since she had seen her daughter’s naked body.
She had indeed inherited the superior traits.
My daughter has grown so much…
She felt both pride and a strange sense of jealousy.
Outside, monsters were scratching at the panic room door. It wouldn’t break, but the situation inside the panic room wasn’t good either.
The canned food and water bottles were empty. There was no food.
Nancy lay on the floor, groaning.
“Mom, I’m so hungry I’m feeling faint. This might be the end for me…”
“Nancy… it hasn’t even been four hours since lunch.”
“…”
Nancy’s eyes flickered.
“If we have no food, we’ll have to eat the monster corpses.”
“Nancy…”
“We have no choice. There’s nothing but empty cans here.”
Nancy felt around the shelves, searching for a can with food.
Of course, she couldn’t find any.
Sighing, she leaned against the side of the shelf.
Then the shelf slid aside.
“Huh? What is this…”
As the shelf moved, a dark entrance was revealed.
Inside, there was a staircase leading down to the first floor.
Ellen was astonished.
“I never heard about a space like this in the panic room…?”
“Where does it lead? The basement?”
Ellen and Nancy cautiously stepped into the entrance.
Descending the stairs, they entered a dimly lit space surrounded by cold concrete walls.
There were large screens and desks arranged neatly. It looked like a command center in a secret organization.
A chill ran down their spines.
They had lived in this house all their lives without knowing about this place. Moreover, there were signs that someone had been active here…
But the most shocking thing was yet to come.
“Oh my God…”
A large screen was attached to the wall.
The screen displayed CCTV footage.
It showed the garage, Nancy’s room, Ellen’s workshop, the bedroom, and the living room…
They had been under surveillance by someone all this time.
The next day.
We decided to perform a simple surgery.
I opened the cap of a super glue tube.
I applied the glue to the torn muscles of my left arm to reattach them. I also glued the torn skin back together.
Seeing me slather my arm with glue, Hilda screamed.
The wound stung, but I could now clench my fingers. My grip strength was partially restored.
Just then, Zelda came out of the workshop. In her hand was a syringe filled with a pink liquid.
“It’s finished, my masterpiece.”
It was a strength enhancer that temporarily boosted muscle power explosively.
I took the syringe.
“But Summer… are you sure about this? I put my heart into making it, but it was rushed, so there might be side effects.”
“What kind of side effects?”
“Your limbs might fall off, your body might explode, your bones might dissolve…”
“I’ll take the risk. If I don’t get out of here, I’ll die anyway.”
The monsters were slowly tearing down the basement door.
As Littleman had predicted, all the dishware in the house would transform into monsters.
After that, all modern conveniences would change…
So, overexerting myself to escape here was a rational choice.
They say you shouldn’t take death lightly.
Then I’ll take it a bit harder.
I asked Zelda for another syringe.
If one wasn’t enough, I planned to take two.
I went to the front door with the Hyper sisters. There was a barrier we needed to break through.
I took a deep breath and was about to inject the drug into my arm when a black figure approached from beyond the iron bars.
It was a black cat.
“Pluto?”
Incredibly, Pluto was alive and approaching, covered in dust and dirt.
It was a joyous reunion, but I couldn’t embrace him because of the bars separating us.
Pluto had lived for more than a week. Nancy and I had won the bet with Littleman.
Following Pluto, a square figure rolled closer.
It was Littleman, pushing his cage.
“Well, I’m a bit late.”
“You see? The cat is alive. Hand over the ten thousand dollars.”
“Of course, I’ll give it to you.”
Littleman sneered and pointed at us.
“If you can get out of that cage alive.”
The bastard.
I knew it would come to this.
I injected the strength-enhancing drug into my vein.
My pupils dilated like a broken camera lens. Adrenaline surged through me.
My muscles heated up.
I grabbed the iron bars firmly and pulled with all my might.
My arms trembled violently.
“Haha, idiot! You’ll never open that!!”
Littleman laughed mockingly.
I gritted my teeth with a force that could crush them and pulled harder. Despite my rock-splitting strength, the bars didn’t budge.
The black cat squeezed its head through the bars. It wanted to come to me.
Rather than be captured by the insane pet shop owner, it wanted to be with me, even if briefly.
But its broad shoulders meant only its head could fit through. Its feline flexibility was useless.
Pluto looked up. Our eyes met.
We shared a connection beyond species.
I understood its feelings.
“Pluto… are you sure… is this really okay…?!”
Pluto nodded and meowed, a deep sound like a heavy metal band’s vocalist.
I let go of the bars and picked up the syringe.
I planned to give Pluto a few drops as it wished, but it leapt up and snatched the syringe with its mouth.
The syringe shattered. Pluto eagerly lapped up the liquid.
Its body swelled rapidly.
Pluto’s torso grew thicker, almost tiger-sized.
“What is this…?”
Littleman was startled.
Hilda looked incredulous.
I shouted loudly.
“Pluto! Let’s gooooo!!!”
“Meoooow!!!”
Pluto forced its muscular front paw through the bars. Together, we pulled with all our strength.
Blood rushed to my head, and my vision turned white. Memories of my time with Pluto flashed before my eyes.
Though it was only a week, that time was worth more than ten thousand dollars.
We roared as we summoned all our strength.
Screeeeeech—the iron bars finally bent.
“Meow… meow…”
Pluto staggered inside and fell into my arms.
His breathing was unsteady. He quietly closed his eyes.
I will remember you, Pluto…
Littleman was sneaking away toward the yard.
I ran after him.
“Gotcha.”
I tore through the cage like it was paper and grabbed Littleman by the scruff of his neck.
It was a big catch.
“N-nooo!”
Littleman’s smug demeanor vanished. He wet himself.
Well, considering a 210cm muscle-bound man in underwear, veins bulging, was lifting him by the neck, it was understandable.
Littleman, still wetting himself, frantically waved his hands.
“W-wait a minute! I’ll give you ten thousand dollars!!!”
“I don’t need it.”
“I’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars…! No, a million dollars!!”
“Instead, let’s make a bet.”
I clenched my fist.
“I’ll beat the hell out of you for seven seconds. If you can’t take it, you die.”
“If… if I endure, will you let me live?!”
“No.”
I swung my fist.
“Director! Cut! Cu—”
He spouted some nonsense, but I didn’t listen.
My punch landed squarely in the middle of his face with a resounding thud.
I followed up with an uppercut to his jaw, sending him airborne.
As Littleman floated in the air, I pounded him with machine-gun-like punches.
It didn’t even take 0.7 seconds for him to lose consciousness.
Punching non-stop for seven seconds, his body exploded. Limbs flew off, and chunks of his guts scattered across the Hyper sisters’ yard.
I shook off the meat pieces stuck to my fist.
I blew the steam rising from my fists away with a breath.
When Littleman died, the iron bars surrounding the house fell away.
The monsters collapsed like disconnected robots.
Zelda’s drug played a huge part in our success. Fortunately, it didn’t cause any severe side effects.
Maybe it was thanks to the near-invincible body of a killer.
I headed straight to the Strode women’s house.
I opened the front door and rushed inside, but the house was eerily quiet.
Faint voices could be heard from outside.
The garage?
I ran to the garage. The voices were coming from beyond the wall.
Without hesitation, I broke through the wall.
A bizarre area I had never seen before was revealed.
Ellen and Nancy were there.
“Su-Summer…!”
Nancy burst into tears and hugged me tightly.
“I almost…! I almost died!”
I gently pushed Nancy away.
“Listen, Nancy…”
“Yeah, we found this weird room too. It’s really creepy. There are all these CCTV…”
“No, it’s not that… your clothes…”
“Oh.”
That day, for the first time, I saw the Strode women naked.
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