In the town of Yoen, on a sidewalk, a boy was staring into a store. His face held the innocence of any other child in the world. He was content as he peered inside the storefront windows.

As the boy gazed into the store, a group of teenagers approached, surrounding him.

Spotting them, Cain turned to face them. "Hey what are you do-"

They blocked Cain's mouth as his muffled yells tried to break through. From there, they picked him up and brought him into one of the alleyways.

No one intervened, even as Cain tried to scream for help; people continued with their daily affairs, and they ignored all of it.

Cain was thrown onto the cold, damp alley floor. He shivered in fear as his mind hazed in confusion. He looked up at his attackers. They were a group of six, all tall compared to Cain. Most had blonde hair, while others had brown.

Sinister expressions adorned their faces, instilling even more terror in Cain.

One of them stepped forward, it was the leader. "Well... well... well. What do we have here? A contaminant perhaps?"

Cain's face contorted with dread, and upon seeing this, the leader exclaimed in surprise, "Wallace, you were right! He is one of those filthy shits! This is going to be way more fun now!"

Cain began to whimper and backed himself against a wall. The group inched closer, picking up objects like planks, rocks, and even a metal pipe from the ground.

The leader had a bat and a look of thrill filled his face as he raised it to swing.

In an instant, Cain fell to the ground, hit in the side of his kneecap by the bat. He proceeded to scream in agony.

The leader used his foot to kick Cain in the nose. The young child's vision blurred as he looked down, seeing blood dripping and his knee disfigured and shattered.

The rest of the group approached, taking turns hitting and kicking him. Cain didn't have time to register anything as his body crumpled from the relentless abuse, hearing the cracks in his bones, experiencing the hits against his bruising body, with blood swelling throughout. He felt like a balloon, but that was before his pain receptors went into overdrive.

After a minute or so of non-stop torment and beatings, the group got bored and departed, refreshed after the violence.

Left behind in the alley was Cain.

Rats began scurrying out of holes to get a piece of his dying flesh.

His body was disfigured, except for his head, which remained intact to a degree. Stuck there, his body bled buckets. Worse of all he could feel every ounce of it.

Cain, once an innocent child who knew nothing of the corrupted world, fixed in place, unable to move or speak. He looked more like a bloody, disfigured pile of gore than a human being.

Sitting there, his mind crumbled under the pain. A young boy had now begun his descent into insanity. Why wouldn't he? Insanity was a natural process of the human brain, a defense, or a product of a deteriorating psyche.

In Cain's fracturing mind, his own deafening screams echoed. Amid the chaos and madness, there were still thoughts that were coherent, unlike the others, still holding form to actual language.

'What... Why...? It hurts! It hurts!'

Cain's eyes moved as rats scurried across his body, some licking his blood while others had the confidence to eat his flesh. Even the weeds began to wrap themselves in his flesh and blood.

'It hurts! It hurts!'

His vision turned red from the blood seeping into his eyes, his senses numbed as the excruciating pain disappeared and his hearing turned into pure ringing.

'Why...why did they hurt me? What did I do? Why did I have to come here....why am I alive!'

Cain's thoughts swirled, and new thoughts emerged. Anger, hate, despair.

Cain's face contorted into a sinister smile. His eyes alone could make a grown man wary and fearful. Cain's maniacal laughter drowned out all previous thoughts like a broken record.

After a while, his crazed state subsided, and his eyes became glossy and his mind slowed.

He had passed out from blood loss.

...

At the same time, Feick returned to the shop.

"How did it go... John…Where's the kid?!"

John sat up, he was resting his head down on a desk. "After we finished, I let him go look at the storefronts. He seemed happy and ran out. Didn't you see him on the way here?"

"No… I'll go look for him. Oh also! I don't have to pay for all this medicine stuff, right? It was on my mind on the way here, hehe."

"Treating the Contaminated is the law and is paid for by the Union. So no."

Feick's eyes lit up, and he clasped his hands together when John mentioned the free medical treatment. "That's a relief"

He then headed for the door in search of Cain.

Not three minutes after leaving the store, he had found Cain.

He saw a few passersbyers turning their heads as they passed an alley, their faces losing color in the process.

Curiosity of the cause, he decided to investigate.

When he too turned his head into the putrid alley, horror flushed his face as he peered down the dark, shadow-filled pocket. A pile of blood and flesh squirted and squelched blood like a fountain.

The child he had been talking to just a few hours ago now appeared so disfigured and gruesome that he almost threw up seeing it. The reason he could tell it was Cain was from the torn clothes he gave him.

Panicked, Feick rushed over and attempted to pick up the boy. Cain was a formless mass, making it difficult to hold him.

Cain's limbs kept slipping through Feick's grasp, flesh swinging.

Both parties didn't speak, Cain was incapable of it and Feick was so distraught he couldn't find the will to speak, he grunted and made sounds of alarm. 

Feick got Cain in his arms and rushed back to the clinic with what looked like a pile of chunks. A man walking on the street witnessed this and was horrified, even a lady fainted watching the old hoot carry Cain.

When Feick reached the clinic, John saw the flesh puddle in Feick's arms and his eyes widened in alarm. "What the hell? What is that?"

"I found him in an alleyway. You've got to help him, please!" Feick pleaded with tears in his eyes. It was unknown what emotions he was feeling at this moment.

"I... I have no idea how to treat this. Isn't he dead?" John brought Cain to an operating table and examined the pile of skin and crushed bone.

"His ribs are still in shape. His organs are all damaged, but his heart and brain are in good condition! This kid must have incredible luck!"

Feick's eyes brightened. "Does that mean you can save him?"

John frowned. "There's nothing that can fix this...but wait…"

The Plague Doctor started to reshape Cain into a more human form, unlike the tangled mess he had been moments ago. It was akin to completing a puzzle, albeit a disgusting one.

Cain's skin hadn't torn too much, so he now resembled more of a boneless puddle.

John retrieved an ancient-looking box and explained his thought process, "My unfinished serum is stored here. While it's not complete, I needed to remove the mutated and volatile factors. In Cain's case, it might save him. With his luck, it's worth a shot."

John sounded rather apathetic as he spoke, other than when he mentioned his serum.

The truth was, he wouldn't waste his years of work on a boy at death's door unless it helped further his research.

Even Feick didn't object; as long as there was a chance, he felt he had done enough.

Neither of them had any hope Cain would survive. John's words brought a glimmer of hope but that was it.

John administered the serum and observed Cain. 'If this works, he will either become a grotesque monster or a success I can use! Either way, it's good for me, even if it fails.'

Cain's body started to shake and contort, changing faster than John could process. His skin was no longer translucent but pure white. His hair turned darker, like the abyss itself.

Even his eyes dyed to a deeper color as eyes transformed into enchanting dark emeralds. During this entire process, Cain's body would creak and crack, making disgusting sounds no normal body could hope to copy.

John watched the changes with immense excitement; in fact, he was elated. Cain's body seemed to have mutated.

'Haha! This kid will be the perfect catalyst! With enough effort, I can make him into the perfect subject!'

The changes came to a stop. A normal-looking Cain was on the table. Unconscious.

John looked at him with pride. "It... it worked. Haha, I saved him!"

Feick was overjoyed and relieved. While John was so thrilled that his heart raced so fast it skipped a beat multiple times.

"Feick... this kid will stay with me from now on. I need to study him and figure out what changes occurred. I'll also take him in as a disciple. Keep this under wraps, and don't tell anyone."

John treated Cain as if he were a treasure, his greed for Cain was insurmountable.

"Haha, no worries. It will be better with you... But, John, you know how the world works, nothing's free. Although we're friends, I found him first, so I can say he's mine to the authorities. Then, no one wins. So, how abo—"

Without a moment's notice, Feick gagged. Congealed chunks of blood escaped his throat. The clusters of putrid globs rose from the old man's esophagus, blocking his airways.

Feick stared at John with fear as his eyes turned red and his face warped purple. Before words could escape his mouth to plead, his throat combusted and bloody mucus-like substances dirtied the floor along with his lifeless body.

John stared at the corpse with disgust. "No one will know if a gravedigger goes missing, or care for that matter, haha! How lucky am I! How lucky indeed!"

He then shifted his actions again, his mood switching. The doctor grabbed a mop and began to hum a tune as he cleaned up the mess, appearing as happy as could be.