Thump. Thump. Thump.

  Dexter smiled, sitting next to his little brother on a bench in the park. The little guy was munching away at a blueberry-flavored popsicle, his face sticky with sugar. Either way, he didn't pause the little guy's gluttony. Why should he? It's not like he didn't do this when he was as young as his brother.

  "Benny, why didn't you take your wife today?" He asked, ruffling his brother's auburn hair.

  "Stop that!" Benny glared at his elder brother, pouting. "Elyshia isn't my wife. I hate her!"

  "Eh?" Dexter blinked in surprise. "What happened between you two? You were fine just yesterday," he pinched Benny's cheeks, who gave up in resisting.

  "She hit me!" Benny popped the popsicle into his mouth, before crossing his arms. "She told me she didn't like me, and then hit me!"

  Dexter chuckled. "Well, maybe you did something wrong," he said, taking a napkin from his pocket to wipe his brother's mouth.

  But then... then there was nothing.

  "Benny?" Startled, Dexter stood up, looking around the quiet park. "Benny? Benny, where did you go?" He called out, his voice trembling.

  He lifted his feet, but they felt weighed down by boulders. Soon, his head felt heavy, and he couldn't even move his torso anymore. His heart kept beating, faster and faster, until he couldn't breathe.

  A tingling sensation reached his feet, and by some miracle, he was able to look down. There, he saw red ants crawling up his feet, going past his legs, and slipping under his shorts. Before he could react, the ants had already covered his body, and all he could see was tiny ant legs.

  A whisper entered his ears. "Brother..."

  "GASP!" Dexter's eyes snapped open, cold sweat coating his face and back. He looked around, seeing the interior of the truck he entered days ago.

  "Are we here?” Dexter groaned, massaging his throbbing forehead as he clutched the seat, staving off vomit.

  “Yeah… argh, fuck? My leg,” Rex growled, holding his thigh. Looking down, Dexter cringed at the sight. The truck was an anomaly too, it was pretty much a hollow metal box with two seats at the front.

  The “driver” can drive the truck anywhere they want, but it will always take three days to do so. There was no steering wheel, no brakes, not even a seatbelt. Once the “driver” selects a destination, the truck cannot be stopped.

  “What… happened?” Dexter tried touching Rex’s leg, but his hand was slapped by Rex.

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  “Fucker, do you want a punch or something?!” Rex yelled, gritting his teeth afterward. Although the truck was mostly empty apart from the two seats in the front, there was also a creature in the truck.

  It was a plant with long, blue vines that held the entire truck together. The vines were thin, almost invisible to the naked eye. These vines were wrapped around the seats, but they haven't done any harm until now.

  They wraped around Rex's leg like a python, burrowing into his flesh like flesh-eating worms. Although they didn't move around, Rex's pale complexion and sweat-covered body told a story about the agony he felt.

  “Grr…” With a growl, Rex tried ripping out the vines digging into his right leg. Unfortunately, the vines were too tough, and he nearly fainted from the pain. From what he felt, the vines were probably wrapped around his bones.

  “Well,” Dexter sheepishly grinned, his face changing from conflicted to awkward. “I'll… be going now. I have to quickly catch that bug, you see!”

  Without a second wasted, Dexter hopped out of the truck. Rex looked at the open door with a dumbfounded look. “Did he just… leave me behind???”

  Suddenly, Rex felt a burst of pain in his leg. Not only that, but also on his back. He shut his eyes, looking ahead as he opened them back.

  “Oh, shit.”

  In his view, the glass windows of the car had turned opaque blue, cracks invading its smooth surface. The blue vines pulsated with light, squirming as he observed everything ensue.

  The vine inside his leg made suddenly jerked, as though someone slid their hand inside his muscles, gripping his bones.

  “I'm fucked. God damn it, Dexter!!!”

  Rex's mind went blank in pain, his muscles bulging as he tried enduring the pain. With his last bit of will, he put on a red glove from his pocket. Putting it on, his breath grew ragged, his eyes going bloodshot as he convulsed violently.

  "GRAAA!!!" With a roar, he punched his leg.

  Then, an explosion devoured the truck, scattering blood all over the place as though it was raining red.

  +++-+++-+++

  “Report, anomaly Travel Truck is acting strangely, requesting back up,” Dexter said to the communicator before hanging up. He wasn't rushing because he was scared of it... well, he wanted to avoid it, sure.

  But he deemed the bugs to be more urgent.

  ‘A growth level of 10 is ridiculous. That damned truck has a growth level of 0.09, and it's already unstable after a month…” Dexter cursed under his breath.

  “Fuck that Chief, I want to rip him apart so badly,” Dexter muttered, finally reaching a tall tree near the village. The village of Randov remained silent, and no person could be seen outside.

  “It'd be strange if there was,” Dexter laughed to himself. They had evacuated everyone the moment the anomaly was sighted. Had they not, anomalies might possess the people in the village.

  Then, he began his search. He saw the previous area where he dug out a handful of dirt, and it was untouched.

  “It should've left. It somehow sensed me or something,” he tutted. Looking around, and it wasn't long before he saw a gathering of insects.

  “Are those… the same bugs?” Dexter frowned, taking out his worn-out pistol. Slapping it, the pistol spasmed, emitting a rumbling, and piercing sound belonging to an underground cave. It was a wail of despair, as well as an enraged cry.

  “Just do as I say,” Dexter scowled, slamming his fist into the gun. A moment later, it glowed a dim blue and the screeching stopped.

  “Nice,” he smirked, approaching the swarm of insects. “There's at least a hundred in there, and they seem to be disecting… a… what is that, a bird? A chicken?”

  Dexter shook his head. “Screw this, hey, you pistol, capture all of those bugs. And the ones underneath too,” he said, his hands shaking and sweating heavily, his heart beating madly from anxiety. Then, a laughter resounded behind him, and another laughter from the pistol he was holding.

  “The gun is laughing?” Dexter frowned, before glancing behind him. There, he saw a truck being dragged by Rex. The truck was destroyed, torn into a long strips of metal and vines.

  Meanwhile, Rex was somehow limping toward him while dragging the thing behind him. His entire body was stained in blood, his face covered burns and his clothes had countless deel cuts. His right hand was turned to a pulp, and his left hand was wearing a ragged, red glove.

  As Rex limped, bits of flesh fell off of his right thigh, the endless stream of blood guiding the bits of flesh downward. Seeing Dexter and the gun, Rex's furrowed brow eased a little.

  “Dexter… heal me, damn it,” Rex weakly called, his voice weak, and he fell to his knees a moment later

  Looking at his partner, Dexter bit his lip. In the end, he closed his eyes and turned away from Rex.

  “Sorry, Rex. Blue Pistol, do it!”

  Following his yell, the gun’s laughter died down, and a blue glow covered the area. Soon, a bubble could be seen floating in the air. Underneath the bubble, a half sphere was dug out of the ground, as well as chunks of the trees around it.

  “Retrieval successful…” Dexter muttered, pressing the call button in his communicator.

  “Mission... cough—successful.”

  Uttering those words, Dexter's body fell motionless, darkness consuming his world.