The Impostor Awakens

If you want to read 13 chapters in advance and while at it help me get by the month, then check my Patreon: patreon.com/TheSynonym

°°°

|Suzaku's POV:|

...

A deep and eerie silence filled the room currently. And I, who stood still in the middle of it, contributed to the silence by not uttering a single word.

Not because I wanted to, but rather because I couldn't.

I was not in a proper state for doing so... At least, not mentally.

"..."

Right now, my back was drenched in a cold sweat. Making my clothes stick to my skin, and instilling a deep feeling of discomfort in me.

My breathing was also heavy. I repeatedly tried breathing calmly, but my body just couldn't regulate its pace.

However, what was in the worst condition right now was my mind.

I felt dizzy. Almost nauseous even.

But the sense of discomfort didn't originate from my stomach or anything like that. It was coming straight from my head.

And it was all because of what I was currently seeing.

What I had caused, to be more precise.

And it had all happened in just a moment.

The people who had tried to kill me... Were now lying on the ground as mere corpses, devoid of any life that may have lingered within them until just a few moments ago. All while I, who had been restrained without being able to move until a few seconds ago, was now standing amidst all of them, with my body covered in blood—...their blood.

Some of them had their stomach pierced, other ones had their necks bent in strange ways, and some others seemed to have been either stabbed to death multiple times or shot precisely in the head.

It was a complete massacre...

...

And it had all been caused by me.

'...'

However, even if you asked me how I did it, I couldn't be able to answer you.

As I said, everything happened in just a moment. Before I knew it, all this massacre had already happened, and I, who was supposed to be restrained under some iron belts that tied me to the bed that was in a corner of the room, was now standing completely unharmed in the middle of the room as if I had never been in that bed, to begin with.

However, why was I so sure that it was me who caused all of this?

Because I saw it.

I saw how, when my eyes caught a glimpse of the saw in the man's hand about to cut my head, my body suddenly appeared behind him and snapped his neck as if it was made of paper.

I saw how, when all the other men in the room were about to pull guns and knives out of their lab coats after watching horrified how I killed who I imagined was their leader, my body appeared behind them and started killing all of them one by one in mere seconds.

I saw how it all had been done by me. Even if I, myself, didn't know how.

"..."

At one time, my hand sprouted a knife-looking bone from my palm and used it to stab multiple times one of the men in the room. Not letting him react in the slightest as his life left his body in between my multiple stabs.

On another, it created from my bones what seemed to be a gun, and used it to shoot another of the men in the head with extreme precision.

With another of the men, I saw how my stomach opened apart like a fucking mouth and shot what seemed to be an enormous and sharp tongue from inside it. Piercing the body of another of the men in just a split second, before then returning to my insides as if nothing had happened, and leaving no traces of my stomach having opened just a second ago at all, aside from the hole in my clothes after the tongue had shot out.

And all of that had happened as if I had been in some kind of automatic pilot.

No, it rather felt like something akin to a survival instinct.

One that had forced my body to move while I was still in a daze, and that had made me kill all of these men before they even had the chance to defend themselves.

Even though I didn't know how.

"Shit"

Eventually, I couldn't help but let out a curse upon feeling my discomfort becoming too much for me to bear.

I felt sick.

I felt confused.

I could feel my stomach churn and my heart beating abnormally fast as I glanced at my surroundings with squinted eyes. Not knowing if I should close my eyes or not.

After all, I was already an adult. I was not some little kid who would become traumatized due to seeing some blood and people die.

However, even then, I felt my insides revolve whenever I recalled my murder spree from a few seconds ago.

Perhaps it was the fact that I was seeing a dead human for the first time. Or maybe it was the fact that it had been me who had killed them. Something that I had never thought I would do, even though I now lived in a chaotic world, and I was planning to work as a hero in the future.

Maybe it was simply both of those factors, combined with the deep iron/fish-like stench that was currently flooding the room.

But honestly, I just couldn't put my head to identify what the source of my discomfort was.

I just couldn't

Not here. Not now.

Not while I was still in danger.

"Huff... Huff..."

So, shaking my head fiercely to shake away the deep sense of discomfort that was enveloping me, I glanced towards one of the doors of this place and walked towards it. Doing my best to ignore the splashing and squishy sounds that echoed across the room whenever I took a step forward.

-Creeaaack...-

When I opened the door, I found myself staring at the insides of the laboratory where I had been trapped before. Apparently, the surgery room had been right next to the lab.

The cell where I had been trapped earlier was on one of the corners of the room, now open and empty.

The strange beings that I had seen in the capsules were also still there. Staring emptily at the void without even flinching after receiving the light coming from the room where I was, despite the lab being pretty dark.

"... There's no exit here..."

However, after a glance around the room, I concluded that it was a dead end, and simply closed the door before going back inside the surgery room. This time aiming to look at the other door that was on the opposite side of the room.

However, once I stepped out of the room once again, this time through the other door, I found myself facing a long and dark corridor dimly illuminated by a few LED lights that were scattered at intervals. Making it hard to see what was beyond a certain distance.

The corridor was incredibly long, and since it was hard to see what was past a certain distance, I wasn't sure whether to walk through it to see if there was an exit somewhere along it, or if I should check the surgery room again to see if there was any other door that I would try out.

-Sigh...-

However, knowing that I was just feeling apprehensive about going into this corridor and that I was just making up excuses to not continue going this way, I took a deep breath and began walking across it. Ignoring the feelings of distress as I did so.

Hopefully, at the end of it, I would find the exit of this place and leave for good.

I just wanted to go back home.

...

|3rd Person POV:|

...

After that. Suzaku continued walking through the corridor for a few minutes.

The corridor was so immensely long that at some point Suzaku started pondering if he was walking in circles.

No matter how much he squinted his eyes to look at the end of the corridor, he couldn't see any end at all. So, it was normal for him to think that maybe he had entered into some kind of corridor in the shape of a roundabout.

It was as if the place where he was had no end.

However, he quickly discarded that possibility when he noticed that he never came across the door from where he had come from.

And, unless this place somehow moved on its own, it seemed like this corridor was just horrendously long.

So, swallowing his frustration, Suzaku just continued walking. Hoping that soon he would find an exit.

Unfortunately for him, things didn't seem that they were going to be as easy as he expected.

-Riiiiiiing!!-

Suddenly, while Suzaku was walking amidst the dark corridor, the lights on the ceiling acquired an eerie red color, and, out of nowhere, a loud and ominous ring bell began filling the entire surroundings. Making Suzaku, who was lost in his thoughts until then, jump in surprise and look around with a shocked expression on his face.

"...?!"

But the situation didn't stop there.

Soon a voice echoed throughout the area and caused Suzaku's eyes to widen and his back to be soaked in a cold sweat upon hearing its words.

[Attention all agents on standby. This is an urgent alert. Subject UN-1 has escaped containment and is currently active in the main corridor. Immediate mobilization to sector 12 is required for apprehension. I repeat, lethal force is strictly prohibited. Ensure incapacitation without causing harm.]

"Shit!"

In the end, a curse was all he was able to utter before he began running with all his might through the corridor. Ignoring completely the sharp pain that ran through his legs whenever he took a step forward.

"Huff... Huff..."

He needed to get out of wherever he was, and fast.

Otherwise, whoever was looking for him now would eventually catch up to him. And he was honestly having none of that.

"Huh?"

Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly in a place where he could hide or avoid encounters.

"There he is!"

While he was continuing to run without a specific destination, suddenly a loud voice echoed from several meters in front of him and made him stop in his tracks immediately. Soon noticing a few figures in guard-like suits sprinting toward him while carrying guns in their arms.

"...!"

Unable to say a word, Suzaku's body froze for a moment.

However, at the next second, Suzaku suddenly boldly jumped from his spot and began running towards the people who had appeared. His face for some reason still frozen in a shocked expression as he did so.

""...!!""

Seeing Suzaku suddenly sprinting towards them, the men halted their steps and immediately pointed their guns at him while yelling "Stop, or we will shoot!"

However, even after hearing that, Suzaku didn't stop. Rather, he increased his speed when he saw the men point their guns at him.

"Fire!!"

Eventually, seeing that Suzaku wasn't stopping, the men pointed their guns at his body and shot.

-Bang!-

However, much to their shock, by the time the projectiles had arrived where Suzaku had been, he had already disappeared from his previous spot and was now instead leaning on one of the walls of the corridor, as he continued glaring at them without flinching in the slightest at the fact that they had just shot him.

"...?!"

When seeing that, the men were instantly surprised when they noticed how fast Suzaku's reaction towards their guns had been. Letting out a few surprised grunts for a short moment as they all glared at the boy.

However, being the trained men that they were, they recovered fairly quickly from their stupor, and rapidly began to point their guns at him once again.

"Shoot—"

-Crack!-

However, before they had even the chance to shoot again, Suzaku's body completely disappeared from one moment to another, before then a cracking sound echoed amidst the corridor and made all of the men freeze in their spot.

"..."

After that, a second of silence filled the corridor. And, during that small second, none of the men were able to move. As if they had been petrified upon hearing the strange sound from earlier.

Eventually, though, they all regained their mobility and immediately turned to look at what had caused such a gruesome sound. Alert and cautious of any danger as they did so.

"...?!"

However, upon turning around, their cautiousness instead turned into a deep deep fear.

One that, despite having learned to ignore a long time ago through harsh training, had now resurfaced, and stronger than ever.

A fear that, somehow, was making their entire body feel as if they were freezing.

And, how couldn't they?

There, standing in the same position as he had been until a few seconds ago, the man who was their leader and the one in charge of giving out the orders, now had his head looking in a completely different direction from the way his body was facing, and, from his nose and mouth, a long trail of blood could be seen coming out.

His neck had been snapped, and to worsen things, it had been before any of them could even react or notice what had happened.

In the blink of an eye, his life had been swept away like a candle having its flame extinguished by a small gush of air without warning.

"...?!!"

However, despite their confusion, and chaotic minds at that moment, they all knew who the culprit behind that death had been.

And how couldn't they? The culprit was standing right behind the lifeless body of their leader. Looking at them with a cold and terrifying gaze that seemed to stare right into their soul.

"You... What in hell are you...?!"

Eventually, and amidst countless stutters, one of the men managed to let out a few words of incredulity. His voice tinged with terror and horror as he spoke to the one they thought had been just a boy until just a few seconds ago.

However, he wasn't granted a response.

And, instead, what he received after that, was pure darkness.

-Bang!-

Somehow, at that moment, the lights in the corridor turned off as if a blackout had occurred, and left the entire corridor submerged in total and complete darkness.

A darkness that, like a horror movie, was only interrupted by two glowing red eyes staring at them impassively.

"Kill that thing!!!"

Eventually, after their bodies' most intrinsic survival instincts kicked in, the men were able to escape their petrification, and in less than a second, began shooting the figure of the kid with the red eyes standing a few meters away from them.

-Bang!!-

However, just like before, the result was the same.

By the time they finally spent all their bullets, they noticed that the boy who had been right in front of them was nowhere to be seen.

Though, that didn't last very long, since soon they got to know where he was in the hard way.

"Aaaargh!!"

After the deafening silence that came after the bullet hell they had unleashed, a chilling scream reached their ears and made them all turn around hurriedly.

"...!!"

There, the child with red hair and red eyes was standing right beside the corpse of one of their companions, which had several stab wounds covering all its back.

Upon seeing that, they raised their weapons once more. Ready to do anything to survive.

However, it was futile.

None of them was leaving this place alive.

…

A while after that, several screams and grotesque sounds filled the entire corridor, which, along with the darkness that currently enveloped it thanks to the light's malfunction, made everything in it resemble a horror movie.

It wasn't until a few minutes passed, that an eerie silence finally began taking over the corridor. Interrupted only by the faint breathing sounds of what seemed to be an exhausted kid.

However, that silence didn't last very long, as the sound of more people approaching the scene suddenly emerged once again. Filling the corridor with the clamoring echoes of their steps.

However, they rapidly came to a halt when the same grotesque sounds and horrified screams from earlier filled the entire place for the minutes to come.

And the cycle only repeated again and again.

-Bang!!-

"Aaaargh!!"

"Save meeee!!!"

Silence, and then violent sounds.

"Stay away!!!"

"Kill him, kill hiiiim!!!!"

-Bang!!-

Screams of horror, and then silence.

…

Until finally, no sound was left, and only two red eyes remained in the darkness.

…

-To be Continued…-

Next chapter