Reborn as a Prophet in a Horror Movie

#025Reader Mode

#025

He was known as Woodpecker, though the origin of this nickname was a mystery to him. Everyone who knew the reason was dead. They had slowly died by melting in the stomach of test subject XS F-H037-C. Or they had been torn apart. Or they had their organs sucked out. Or their brains devoured. Or their bodies crushed. Or…or… or…

Woodpecker thought he understood all the ways to kill a person. That was nothing but arrogance.

Then, a voice abruptly brought him back to the present, saying, “Ah, his eyelid twitched.”

The voice was high-pitched, almost melodic. Barely able to open his eyes, he saw a blonde young woman, or rather, a girl, looking at him. She seemed youthful, especially with the cute freckles on her right cheek, a detail Woodpecker would have found cute if he was in his right mind.

But after being slowly consumed by stomach acid, his sanity had also dissolved. The only thing left in his mind were the orders coming through the static of a radio. Everything else was slipping away, like water through fingers.

Woodpecker, now more a soldier than himself, struggled to lift his melted eyelids, only to be met with a blinding light and a searing, internal pain, different from the sensation of melting.

“Ugh…”

His brain, which he thought had been emptied of everything except orders, now bore new wrinkles of pain and rage. Each wrinkle formed was like a strike of lightning, exposing the chaos that lay within.

“What if he just dies like this?”

“Isn’t this just self-defense? I mean, we almost died too. Willy’s leg wound should be proof enough, right?”

Christina and Airi’s hushed whispers filled the air, their words laced with urgency. Clearly, the soldier’s condition was dire. Johan put his finger on his lips, gesturing for silence.

“Shh, let’s just ask him.”

Johan crouched in front of the tightly bound soldier, the skewer still protruding from his side. His piercing blue eyes searching the soldier’s for answers.

“What’s the reason behind this? Why not just kill us instead of dragging us here?”

It was hard to believe this was all for some sadistic pleasure. Johan’s straightforward interrogation seemed to slice through the soldier’s mental fog, drawing out the truth from a mind overloaded with commands, agony, and wrath.

“You’re all just bait!” the soldier exclaimed.

“Bait?”

William repeated after the soldier. His blood-streaked face, despite efforts to clean it, looked particularly grim. The soldier, amused by their reaction, burst into laughter, his body shaking with delight.

“Yes, bait! Life beyond our world prefer their humans alive! Dead ones won’t do. But, ah, there’s no time to waste. I have to bring it back… quickly! It’s only me now. I need to return it to the lab. And you all? You should be willing to sacrifice yourselves for your nation. HURRY! If it escapes, it’ll cause havoc!”

His laughter was frenzied, tears streaming down his cheeks as he swung wildly between hysteria and amusement. In that moment, Johan and Seojun’s gazes met, Seojun’s eyes so luminous in the dimness they seemed to cast their own light.

“Tango, samba, or fan dance—choose your fate.” Seojun said in a hushed tone.

“Hold on, you can’t just decide that on a whim. This requires careful thought,”

Johan said seriously, as if they were in a life-or-death debate. Seojun, unimpressed, turned his head, his tongue clicking in annoyance.

“Sure, take all the time you need. Think about it until you’re old and gray.”

Their attempt at humor did little to lift the oppressive atmosphere. The dormitory, both inside and out, showed its age and wear.

The icy wind shook the window panes and frames, causing an eerie rattling sound, while the dust covered wooden floor groaned ominously under their steps. The air was thick with the combined odors of blood and dust, creating an almost tangible atmosphere of dread.

Despite having the soldier restrained, they were far from safe. Outside, hidden in the darkness, were monsters and killers, and with no communication with the outside world and their escape paths blocked, relief was a luxury they couldn’t afford. In the heavy silence that followed, the soldier’s eyes moved restlessly, his partially melted eyelids concealing his true emotions.

“Securing XSF-H037-C is a serious matter. Think about it, everyone. This is our opportunity to show our patriotism, to do our duty for our nation!”

“XSF…what now? How do you even say that? Is that the monster’s name? Huh… I was pretty sure it was Audrey.”

Airi tried to lighten the mood with a joke, her voice tinged with sarcasm.

“What if we all get hypnotized by the government after this?”

Christina’s response, delivered in a hushed tone, sent a shiver down Airi’s spine, causing her to rub her arms as if to ward off a chill.

“Hey, cut it out, Tina! Don’t even joke about that. My God, if it weren’t for Bobby, we wouldn’t even know such a name!”

Airi’s voice rose in frustration as she rubbed her sore waist, her irritation obvious as she complained about the pain in her side. Seojun, meanwhile, was left dumbfounded, realizing that Bobby, of all people, shared his taste in names—a fact he would have been happier not knowing.

“Right. And we’re already doing our part by staying healthy, following the law, and paying our taxes.”

Johan’s voice, thick with sarcasm, broke in as he glanced at Airi, who was visibly shivering. He casually flicked the skewer’s handle with his index finger, drawing a groan from the soldier in response to the pain. Johan, seeing the soldier’s eyes roll back beneath his melted eyelids, continued with his probing.

“XSF-H037-C… That’s quite a modern name for a monster, isn’t it? Does it stand for something? Sounds like an acronym.”

“…..”

The soldier, skewered and writhing in agony, could do nothing but return Johan’s gaze, his eyes murky and lacking focus. However, unknown to the rest of the group in the crumbling dormitory, his eyes held a flicker of something deeper.

Despite the strain, his eyes locked onto Johan with a compelling intensity. It wasn’t anger or terror that they conveyed—it was a look of hope. Seojun immediately recognized it; it was the same expression he often showed to Christina.

“Yes, it’s an acronym. The thirty-seventh life form summoned by humans. And the doctor? He assessed its danger level as C. Only a C!”

The soldier’s laughter was filled with madness, his body convulsing sporadically, causing his guts to bulge from the wound on his side.

“So, if you all just pitch in, we can catch it. Right? You owe that much to your country. It’s a sacrifice you ought to be ready to make.”

“What about our freedom and human rights? Or are those just empty words you’ve sold off?!”

Airi, her back throbbing with discomfort, shouted at the soldier with a voice brimming with indignation. William, realizing the tension, attempted to soothe her, but instead of continuing her outburst, Airi simply raised her middle fingers defiantly at the soldier.

Seojun, for his part, wasn’t particularly interested in the monster’s origin story. However, he knew that in horror movies, understanding the past could be key to finding a way to overcome the present terror. He subtly edged closer to Johan, finding a strange sense of security in being next to his large frame and sturdy muscles.

“So, this XXF… How did it end up here at the Hamon campsite? I mean, this place hardly seems like it would house a monster quarantine facility.”

The soldier’s gaze shifted from Johan to Seojun, his disfigured lips attempting to form words.

“If I tell you, will you help?”

“We’ll consider it.”

After all, they needed information to defeat the monster, and while they had no intention of becoming live bait as per the soldier’s plan, there was no harm in listening, right?

“Jun.”

Johan’s voice was soft as he reached out to gently grasp Seojun’s hand, his brow furrowing and lips pursing as he spoke his name.

Making sure the soldier couldn’t see, Seojun swiftly traced the word Lie onto Johan’s back with his finger. It was a brief message, but he was confident Johan would understand.

Johan’s expression remained unchanged as he glanced sideways, giving Seojun no indication of whether he had received the message. Seojun was contemplating whether to write it again when the soldier, chuckling, broke the silence.

“We were in the midst of transporting XSF-H037-C to a new facility during an experiment. It was a top-secret operation, and our unit was the only one deployed.”

“A new facility? Wait no. Don’t tell me. I really don’t want to know.”

Airi, her face pale, clasped her hands over her ears and vigorously shook her head, as though attempting to physically repel the information. William, sensing her distress, reached out to hold her hand, providing a silent source of support. The more they heard, the more they wondered if they’d end up in some government facility, their memories wiped clean. Meanwhile, the soldier’s laughter echoed through the room, causing him to wheeze for breath before resuming his story.

“We were just passing through here… yeah, just passing through. But then the driver shouted, “There’s a guinea pig running ahead of the car!” Can you believe that? A guinea pig? Outrunning a car? That idiot must’ve been distracted by those lovebirds having sex near the roadside. And we all paid the price. The car flipped, and XSF-H037-C broke free from its restraints!”

“…..”

The dormitory fell silent, except for the soldier’s labored breathing. The residents of Wraithwood Warren were at a loss for words.

Seojun couldn’t help but think of the legendary guinea pig living in Wraithwood Warren. Was Cynthia’s pet really just a guinea pig? Of course, that wasn’t the main problem at hand.

Silver mentioned seeing the military truck earlier today too.

Everyone had their reasons for staying silent, but the soldier, struggling to catch his breath, seemed determined to keep talking.

“It was bizarre, c-completely out of the ordinary. It should’ve been incapacitated from the control drugs we gave it. But XSF-H037-C started moving, and it began to devour us. Like I said, it has a taste for the living…living…living…”

The soldier’s voice, which had briefly regained clarity in his anger, slipped back into a delirious state. His words became more slurred, though he seemed oblivious to his own mental unraveling.

“It devoured cuckoos, sparrows, and finches, consuming everything in its path. Its stomach was surprisingly warm, yet the lake was freezing. There I was, dissolving slowly among my dead comrades, burried deep in its mass, as the putrid lake water seeped in… Hehehe. I thought it was the end for me, that I’d perish too. I was dissolving, but then, by some miracle, it spat me out. This is our collective resolve; I must fulfill the mission. When I came out, I saw the lake. The lake was…”

The soldier’s speech grew more incoherent, but this was the gist of what could be gathered.

The military was conducting a covert operation to relocate the alien life form XSF-H037-C, which was under experimentation. However, due to a mistake by the driver, the vehicle transporting it overturned, rendering the soldiers incapacitated. Seizing the opportunity, XSF-H037-C escaped and began to prey on the soldiers. Despite being administered control drugs, the monster did not respond as expected, becoming highly active and subsequently entering the lake.

The faces of the group, who had been attentively piecing together the story, turned ashen.

“Wait, does this mean that monster was in the lake even when we were out there swimming?”

Airi’s speculation sent a wave of grimaces across the faces of Christina, William, and Johan. Seojun, though he hadn’t been with them at the lake, couldn’t help but shudder at the thought. Golden, his eyes wide with disbelief, added belatedly, “That must be the truck Silver saw!”

In that moment, Christina bit her lower lip in contemplation.

“Hold on, something doesn’t add up here.”

She spoke cautiously, keeping some distance to not enter soldier’s immediate vicinity. Her beautiful golden hair was tangled, her pale skin stained with grime, yet her eyes still shone with clarity and determination.

“Even if it was a classified operation, if contact was lost during the transport of such a dangerous monster, shouldn’t reinforcements or other soldiers be dispatched?”

Her question was grounded in common sense. The soldier, in response, burst into laughter, blood spewing from his mouth, before mumbling through moving lips.

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s a classified operation. A secret plan concocted by the doctor himself!”

“What does that even mean?” Christina tried to press further.

“Let it go. Christina, a monster like that is practically a catastrophic threat. Yet, none of the residents of Wraithwood Warren are aware of this fact. In other words, it was an undercover operation that couldn’t be properly disclosed to the public, and we weren’t the only ones kept in the dark.”

Johan placing a reassuring hand on Christina’s shoulder, shook his head gently as he said this. He narrowed his eyes, his gaze hardening as he looked down at the soldier, his mind racing with thoughts and suspicions.

“They must have been embroiled in internal power struggles, or perhaps, for some other obscure reason, they failed to establish a proper communication network. Otherwise, it’s unthinkable that they would leave such an irrational and monstrous creature unattended for over a day, right?”

The monster had devoured dozens of people. If the authorities were aware of such a dangerous life form, the area would be swarming with activity. It shouldn’t be this eerily quiet.

Feeling the weight of their hopeless situation, Airi, overwhelmed with frustration, pulled at her hair.

“Ugh, why on earth did we have to get dragged into this mess of a nightmare?!”