The Mind Eater's grotesque form quivered. Its glistening, exposed brain throbbed violently, as if processing something new. Something unexpected.
Evelyn's knife, slick with black, curdling blood, dripped onto the concrete. The moment it had pierced Mia's infected arm, the Mind Eater had flinched—as if it had felt the pain itself.
Reaper staggered back, pressing against his wound. His breathing was shallow, but his grip on his shotgun never wavered. "I don't know what the hell you just did, but do it again."
Mia's body twitched unnaturally. Her claws scraped the ground, her head snapping between Evelyn and the Mind Eater, like two forces were fighting for control.
Then, the creature moved.
A blur of muscle and madness, its twisted limbs carried it forward with horrifying speed. Its elongated tongue, coated in viscous saliva, shot toward Evelyn's face—aiming for her eyes.
The tongue whipped past her, slamming into a rusted car and puncturing straight through its metal frame.
Too fast. Too strong.
Reaper fired. Boom. The shotgun slug tore into the creature's ribs, but it didn't even flinch.
The Mind Eater's blackened claws lunged for him—razor-sharp, eager to rip through flesh.
But before it could strike—Mia screamed.
Her infected arm, once a tool of the Mind Eater's will, now shook violently. Her veins pulsed with something unnatural—an internal war raging inside her.
The creature jerked back.
It wasn't controlling her anymore.
Mia's eyes snapped to Evelyn, and in that split second, Evelyn understood.
She had to finish what she started.
With a battle cry, she lunged at Mia, plunging her knife directly into the infected arm—deeper this time.
The Mind Eater let out a shriek—one of pure agony.
Its body convulsed, twitching like a dying insect.
Mia collapsed, gasping, her body shaking uncontrollably.
And then—something horrific.
The creature peeled itself away from her.
Like flesh being torn from bone, the Mind Eater's grotesque mass ripped itself out of Mia's arm, detaching like a parasitic tumor. Dark, rotting tendrils snapped apart, spraying chunks of infected tissue across the pavement.
It landed in a crouch, hunched, seething.
Reaper didn't hesitate.
The shotgun blast took the Mind Eater in the side, sending it skidding across the ground.
"You cannot stop the hunger," it rasped. Then it leapt—vanishing into the darkness.
Mia groaned, barely conscious. Evelyn caught her before she hit the ground.
Reaper reloaded. "Yeah," he muttered. "We'll see about that."