'If they find out I'm done for, it's me or them.'

Crouching at the back of the group as they waited for the door to open, Aaron felt calm. Too calm, for what he had resolved himself to do.

'Why did my so called gift have to make me into a literal [Man Eater]. Not only do I have to eat Humans to survive I don't even feel bad about it anymore, it's like I don't even see them as people but food.'

Aaron's race had changed to [Man Eater], a Humanoid insect that infiltrated Human groups like a wolf amongst sheep. Man Eaters possessed interesting abilities but their lives revolved around pretending to be what they aren't, making them predisposed towards lying and sneaking.

'I can't take them all at once but I can probably handle them one at a time and with my racial abilities and I can ensure there's no evidence of them dying.. no one even blinked when that last guy disappeared, they just assumed he'd ran away while he was on watch.'

"Tsk."

'I got lucky, I was just so hungry I couldn't resist. If someone had seen me leave the apartment, if we'd even bothered to have a second person on watch, I would've been caught by now.'

Trying to come up with a way to handle the situation as he looked around he saw Four-eyes observing him from the other side of the group, they shared stares for a few moments before the bespectacled man shrugged and looked away.

'And this one, he said his race had changed but didn't say to what.. if he can read minds or something I'm seriously fucked. He was watching me pretty intently just then, does he know already? Should I just try to kill as many of these people as I can and get out in the chaos? Shit! That won't work who knows what abilities they have. My only chance right now is to slip away when no one's looking.'

The metal door had finally been eaten by Timid who was breathing heavily and sweating.

"There, all done *gasp* I-I'm just gonna sit down for a second, I think I ate too much.."

Timid lay down and rubbed his belly, eyes closed with a pained face.

"You gonna be alright?"

"I think, I'll live.. probably. Ha.."

Footballer looked around and saw the 'Healer.'

"Hey buddy, come and heal him for a sec would ya?"

"No, I already healed someone that actually needed it, you think I have infinite power?"

The blonde haired man looked at Footballer with an incredulous expression.

"Uh, yeah, I didn't think about that. Alright then."

He clapped his hands together and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, which was normally how he spoke anyway.

*CLAP*

"Right, everyone, let's move in but be careful and take it slow- oh yeah, wall guy-"

He pointed at Jerome.

"-Go in first and scout, stay out of anything's reach and don't bring anything back up with you, if you have to go out of a window and climb up the side like you said you could do earlier."

Jerome nodded and went through the door, when they could no longer see him they heard the sound of something sticking and unsticking on the walls like duct tape.

"The rest of us, we wait for him to come back with information but keep an eye on the door, stay low and be prepared to fight, we got this team."

Throughout this interaction, no one noticed Aaron had disappeared, his racial abilities synergized and allowed him to practically walk around unnoticed as long as no one was looking at him directly when he activated them. [Man Stalker], [Blur] and [Conceal], these were three of his racial abilities. The first meant that so long as he moved in a specific way, people would generally ignore his movement the target of his stalking however was the only one who could see everything he was doing. The second ability [Blur] meant exactly what it said, it would blur his form with his surrounding, if you tried to look at him you would only see a blurry Humanoid shape, it took certain abilities to see through. The final skill was [Conceal] which as far as abilities go is pretty common and most creatures can learn it outside of racial abilities the difference however was that as a racial ability, it was stronger in general. [Conceal] allowed the user to remain motionless and almost undetectable until it was time to strike, people with low levels and who weren't paying attention could walk right into a mouth and not even know how they died.

Crawling along the ceiling of the sixth floor, Jerome was nervous but excited. His ability was more useful than he'd thought it would be and was the only reason he had survived the massacre at the second floor. He was initially kind of disappointed with his gift but it had saved his life once already and he wasn't the type to be ungrateful.

Slowly making his way along the cieling Jerome got closer to the barricade and could see there was someone guarding it, the door to the occupied apartments were closed.

"Hey, we got stuck on the roof, where's Toby?"

Mike looked up, holding his telescopic fishing spear they had for guarding the barricade.

"Damn it J, don't scare me like that- it ain't normal that people walk on the walls like ya do, I almost threw my spear at ya. An' no, I ain't seen Toby. I got stuck here after we heard that ruckus downstairs, Lame ass Larry said his shift was done an' refused to guard for the rest o' the day."

"Alright, I'm gonna go back and tell the guys you're all still alive down here and then I'ma head down the building to scout, be careful we saw some nasty looking things rush out the building earlier, might be back, dunno, that's why I've gotta take a look."

"See ya in a bit then."

Jerome turned back around and like a gecko crawled back along and up the stairs to the roof.

Turning back to the barricade that blocked the stairs heading down to the lower floors, Mike couldn't help but feel pissed off at all this shit. 

'It shoulda been a nice relaxing Sunday, I would've been watching football right 'bout now if it weren' for all this mess. She said she was doin' awright in the big city I bet'n she's glad her papis out here now to protect 'er from these things. Blessins I s'pose, at least I can keep an eye on-'

*KUHK*

*GURGLE*

Mike reached for his throat, dropping the spear so it fell sideways. Aaron caught the spear and pushed Mike's body over the stair railing, it fell between the railings all the way down and into the darkness of the lowest floors, no one would find the body now, not without going all the way down.

'One down, only twenty five or so to go.'

A lewd grin spread across his face as moved back to the corner and activated [Conceal].

'I'm going to keep the women, the young ones anyway. Gotta keep the kids for leverage but first I need to be present when everyone talks about their gifts so I know what to expect.'

Leaning the spear against the barricade, Aaron moved to the second closest apartment, where he was staying with two other families and knocked on the door.

*Knock, Knock*

The door opened slightly as an eye peeked out, seeing no one the woman opened the door further and looked around, she saw nothing so she shut the door. Before she could take her hand off of the handle to do up the chains and lock it another two taps came.

*Knock, Knock*

The middle-aged woman had chills and goosebumps, she was a believer of ghosts before Judgement Day and now with all the monsters running around outside and lower in the buildng, she was a believer of a whole lot of other things too.

She hesitated and looked through the peep hole, seeing no-one she opened the door again and slowly opened it. There was no one there, again. Footsteps came from down the hall, the men had come down from the rooftop but weren't yet in sight, she decided to wait and when she saw them round the corner she stepped out and spoke, as she did so she felt a slight breeze brush past which added to the creepiness.

"Uhm, d-did any of you see a ghost or something? Something was kn-knocking at the door..."

She felt silly asking and the odd looks she got made her lower her eyes to the floor, she really didn't like causing a fuss or being in the center of things.

Footballer answered her as Jerome crawled overhead and back to the barricade.

"No we didn't see anyone that way, probably one of the kids playing a prank, Jerome said Mike's on the 'cade so we would know if something went past."

"Oh, okay.. nevermind then.. Bye."

Blushing furiously the woman scampered back into the apartment and closed the door.

Jerome was at the barricade but there was no sign of Mike, just the spear.

"Mike, you around?"

There was no answer.

'Must've ended his time on guard, probably went back to get someone else to take over.'

Jerome decided to carry on and began to crawl along the walls of the stairs heading to the fifth floor. He looked into every room that was open and even knocked on he ones that weren't, he didn't get any answers but he did take the time to loot some kitchen cupboards in the abandoned apartments.

'The kids upstairs would appreciate some cookies, oh and milk, if it's still good.'

He dropped off the ceiling, one of his abilities counter-acting the inertia of his fall as his modified legs were able to better take the shock and distribute it from falls. Opening the fridge Jerome covered his nose and gagged. Forgetting he was meant to be scouting and had to be careful he spoke out loud in admonishment.

"It's only been two days and the stuff in the refrigerators is gone off already."

Staring him in the face in the refrigerator was a half-eaten roast chicken which had a clear fluff growing on it.

'That thing was going off before Judgement day, no way that was fresh. Oh there's milk.'

Looking at the milk it looked fine, he opened the cap nad it smelled fine so he poured some of it into the sink and it didn't have chunks so he assumed it was fine and put it into his fanny pack, kindly donated by one of the neighbours so he could carry things without lugging around a backpack, it was a tight fit with the cookies, they were probably going to be a bit broken by the time he was done. It didn't occur to him to put the things back and get them later.

Walking stealthily and carefully to the door he looked out and scaled the wall to get back on the ceiling, where he let out a small breath of relief.

'I'm relieved to be on the cieling, heh, I guess I feel safer on the cielings and walls now than on flat ground with those things.'

Jerome continued through the floor taking a look where he could and was even more surprised there was nothing here, he had reached the stairs heading down to the fourth floor and there had been no obstacles to impede his progress.

'This is going way too smoothly. Aw shit, I had to think it. I just jinxed myself, I know I did.'

Hesitantly moving forward he scaled the stairway down to the fourth floor and that was when he saw something that confused him. A third of this corridor was clean, but he could see the door near this end was open, he couldn't see inside because the door was on the left side of the corridor but from the position of it, he guessed it was apartment 4D. Outside of the open apartment door was a mess of gore, it looked more like a trail of blood leading into the apartment and this caused Jerome to get goosebumps.

'Something's in there and whatever it is ate a lot of meat, the trails are still wet.'

Deciding he didn't want to be the one to investigate, at least not on his own, he backed up until he rounded the corner and then turned, practicall skittering back up to the sixth floor as if something was chasing him, he made it there and saw another guy was on duty now.

"Hey, watch out down there, something's on the fourth floor I didn't see it but just keep an eye out and shout for help if you see anything."

Not waiting for a response Jerome moved back to the 'main' apartment, this apartment was the one they had meetings in because it was where Mr. Raj was as he came up to the door he went down the wall and did kind of flip so his feet were on the ground, another one of his abilities caused him to be more flexible than normal, he'd unlocked this one when he was running from the Goblins.

Jerome knocked on the door and waited, it opened and he could hear Mr. Rajesh listening to Footballer and Four-eyes telling them about the roof.

As the door closed behind Jerome, one of the other apartment doors opened and then closed again. It seemed like no one had used the door.

Aaron made his way back to the barricade to see if there was another target and to his dark delight there was.

'They're making it so easy, I guess no one even realised Mike's gone yet. What a rush, I feel like a fucking Ninja or something.'

Repeatng his earlier tactic of slitting the throat Aaron put the spear back up against the barricade. This time however he didn't throw the body down the stairwell, he decided to have a heavy lunch after all his hard work. Aaron activated on his racial abilities after making sure he was out of sight, his face clicked and spread away from his head like the door of an 80s ferrari, underneath was just a single black eye where the forehead was and a gaping maw like the mouth of a leech. The maw spread and grew before protruding out and looking just like an actual leech, it wrapped the body beginning with the head like a snake would but as the body entered it was melted into a liquid goo by strong acid before sliding into Aaron's stomach, clothes, shoes and accessories, everything was melted down into nutrients. Despite what it was it didn't taste bad, it tasted different for every person but it was either tolerable or really good, never bad. Aaron's face slid back into place hiding his true form and after checking to make sure there wasn't any mess he reactivated [Conceal] and began to move again, albeit with a full belly his mood had lifted some.

Instead of heading to 'his' apartment, he knocked on the door across from it.

*Knock, Knock*

The door stayed shut for a few minutes before it opened and a middle-aged man looked at Aaron and spoke.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

Aaron was stunned, this guy could see him!

'What the actual fuck, he can see me, that could destroy my plans completely. Think dipshit, think!'

Whilst Aaron was thinking his mouth was already moving and his face took on a genial smile.

"U-uh, yeah hey, hi. So it's your turn on the barricade apparently, the spear's there so just go on over."

'Right, yes, get him alone, end him, problem solved.'

Still smiling Aaron waited for the man to respond.

"Hah? Why's it my turn again? That's bullshit I was on watch last night. Who the fuck said it was my turn?"

'Oh shit..'

"Hey, man, it's not me who makes the decisions, look, let's go there and you can ask the other guy about it, he's the one who told me to get you."

"Bald guy?"

'There was a bald guy?'

"Uh no, blonde guy."

"That piece of shit, he's fucking with me again. Last night he told me to take his shift and he'd do mine, but then I did both and now he wants to do it again, fine, let's go, if I beat the shit out of the guy, help me yeah. He's got it comin."

'Score.'

"Yeah, sure thing bud, let's go."

Turning around the man spoke loudly back into the apartment.

"Hey Maria, Danny, I'm heading out for a minute I won't be long, don't open the door alright?"

A young teenage girl shouted from further in the apartment as the sound of a younger boy giggling was heard.

"'Kay dad!"

The man put his boots on and turned to the guy at the door. 

"Alright, time to kick some ass."

"Yep!"

Aaron let the man take the lead and followed him quietly, as they got closer the 'problem' could see there was no one at the barricade, unfortunately for him Aaron was a step quicker and didn't give the man any time to speak he was already bleeding from his throat as his body was thrown over the railing, unfortunately it didn't go so smoothly down and after hitting the railings all the way to the third floor and echoing with the sound of broken bones, the body got stuck and was just barely visible if you were looking for it.

'FUCK!'

Not willing to go down to risk going down and risking his life he decided to just carry on.

'The next body will dislodge it and we'll be fine. Three down, I have to make sure I get rid of any threa-'

His thoughts were interrupted by a twenty-something year old woman.

"Um, hi, Mr. Raj told us to gather everyone up for a meeting they said we need to make a list of gifts or something.."

"Yeah, right, let's go!"

His fake smile disappeared when she turned around and instead was replaced by a lascivious smirk as Aaron looked at her ass and hair as they swayed with her walk.

'I'm going to wreck that ass and pull that hair until she submits. Wait for me you slut, you're going to be part of my harem and I'll be damned if I don't get you pregnant first.'

Aaron felt movement down below and decided now wasn't the best time, he activated his triplet synergy of skills and followd the girl, she turned around and he was gone.

"Eh? Mister?"

'I swear he was right behind me? Maybe he doesn't want to go to the meeting.. well I told him so that's my part done I'm going back where it's safe being out here creeps me out, like someone's watching me.'

The woman went back to the apartment where everyone was gathering and the door was open, she walked in and took a seat, people kept entering in ones and twos from the other apartments on this floor.

A man was coming in with his wife and two kids but Footballer stepped up.

"Gary, this is an adult only meeting, sensitive stuff if you know what I mean."

Gary looked at Footballer and at everyone else in the apartment sitting anywhere they could, he turned around and spoke to his faithful and loving wife.

"Babe, take the kids back and I'll tell you what we talked about when I get there, okay?"

"Mhm, come on kids, your dad's got grown up stuff to do."

She ushered her children out but gave her husband a furtive glance that held any number of meanings on the way out. Something shared between husband and wife, in their own secret sign language.

Aaron was feeling rather uncomfortable, he was unable to sit because he was afraid someone would sit on him if they saw a space so he was stood against a wall, bent slightly over because of a light sconce on the wall behind him.

Gary was the last one in and the door was closed. Mr. Raj led the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming, we are trying to organise a bit more as whatever this is that's going on, it doesn't seem like it's going to end soon so we have to prepare and gather some information from everyone. We need to know everyone's gifts so we can find the best place for everyone-"

Mr. Raj was interrupted as murmurs and whispers spread around the room.

Footballer spoke up.

"Listen, LISTEN, everyone, please calm down I get it, telling people your gifts is like giving up an ace in the hole but we were stuck on the roof earlier and we lost someone, if we had known Jerome could climb walls he might've been saved."

The room was silent and some people swallowed their nerves audibly.

Mr. Raj took the reigns again.

"We're going to do this secretly at first so everyone can feel at ease, me and Trigger will be the only ones to see your gifts and we won't tell anyone if we can help it."

Someone spoke up from the room.

"Who's Trigger?"

Everyone looked at Footballer expecting him to speak but he shook his head and pointed with his thumb at Four-Eyes standing behind him to the right.

Trigger pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed at the looks he was getting.

"My dad was a gun nut okay? He named all his kids after guns or gun related things.."

Shaking his head and sighing again.

"My sister's name is Shelly. As in Shotgun Shell. The guy was literally gun mad, just, let's drop it okay? I slept in a bed shaped like a bullet until I was 18. You can't bring girls back to something like that."

Some of the people in the room suppressed their laughter but one girl spoke up with a cheerful tone.

"You can if there are monsters running around."

Trigger looked up and she winked at him, he blushed but kept a stoic face as the a portion of the room laughed at her joke.

Mr. Raj joined in and when everyone was done laughing and had a smile on his face.

"Okay, so let's begin, if you could all line up outside and come in one at a time and write down your gifts we can talk about how it works and see how we can best use it to survive until help comes."

As everyone in the room murmured their agreements and shuffled out of the room, Aaron went behind some the couch Mr. Raj was on and sat down. He was pissed.

'Fuck, they're writing it down and I can't show myself incase they can see through it like that last fucker.'

Aaron sat there and the first guy started talking about his gifts which weren't impressive, after the first guy was done he left and Football guy let a second man in who actually had an interesting set of skills, as the man left Aaron poked his head out and remembered the guy before going back into hiding.

The rest of the day passed until late evening as they were organising and Aaron had to sit there through all of it, but it was worth it. Aaron had found several threats and had a malicious grin on his lips.

'Knowledge is power and power is everything now.'

DeathSolstice

Heyo o/ Wasn't sure what to do with C11 but decided to keep following the survivor group for now until the scenario I had in my head plays out. I didn't feel like I wrapped this up so I kept writing and it's around 3770 words or something now (nvm, the thing says 4063 words, whew!), guess that makes up for the fact I probably won't post tomorrow, again, depends on my mood. Enjoy o/ and point out any errors, spell/grammar check didn't point any out which means there are definitely some, I'm not that good- also I saw a plot hole that I fixed so if you see any more, let me know!