MONSTER HUNTING

Monsters vs Humans

Serving Dane a cup of hot chocolate, Charlize sat beside him on the couch. She was trying to keep things together, when all were falling apart.

"Did you know Ruth was a monster before you were friends?" Dane asked, after blowing on his cup gently. Charlize nodded her head as he scoffed.

"That's why it was so easy for you to kill her. Didn't it mean anything to you, Charlize?"

"Like I said, Dane. My duty overpowers the need for friendship and love. My duty—"

"Fuck your duty!" Dane threw the glass on the ground, spilling hot brown liquid everywhere. He rushed to the other room and locked the door. As if even electricity wanted to give up on him, the lights are turned off by a power cut.

"Just great." He mumbled to himself, his left elbow bent over his forehead.

'Ruth…you were my everything. Whoever did this to us…deserves retribution. Even if it is the creator or the destroyer of worlds. I'll seek vengeance from whoever took you away from me.'

Dane cried for a few minutes, uninterrupted by anyone or anything. He sniffled as a thought strikes his head,

'But before that…shouldn't I know more about these monsters? Charlize looks like she wasn't one of your creations. Rather the opposite. She looks like the savior and you, Ruth…you were like the evil. I don't know who is behind all of this…but I promise you my words.'

Charlize knocks on the open door, announcing herself to the mourning man.

"Done crying?"

"Can you please shut up for a while—?"

"I brought you here to explain about the world that we live in." Her words invoked confusion in Dane. He sat up at her arrival at the edge of her bed. Dane furrowed his eyebrows hard, he was trying to learn about the monsters from a monster killer.

"The World…that we live in?" Charlize slowly raises her head, looking into Dane's eyes. Something suggested him that she was serious.

"You and I…we're normal humans. While we live in harmony with each other, there is another variation of our species which blends the characteristics of monster-like appearance and mind. They're what we commonly call…the Monster-Humans."

"So…they are like hybrids or…or evolved species of humans with monster-like abilities?" Dane was trying to confirm, but the research on the species was still ongoing.

"Sort of," She replied, unsure of the answer herself. She scooted closer into his warmth, as she felt lonely deep within.

As a monster hunter, Charlize was an expert in slaying monsters with her abilities. But deep down, her inner voice screams at her that they were once human too. Unlike any other human with a soul and a family.

"There's this thing about Monster-Humans though." She started explaining again, resuming her detailed - but limited information her seniors disclosed to her about the Monster-Humans.

"And that is?"

"They can only show their monstrous side when someone close to them realizes…that they are indeed a monster." She says, looking down on her lap. Dane's eyes grew wide with disbelief and shock.

"Then do you mean…they continue to live as half human - half Monster until someone has killed them!? What the fuck!?" Dane exclaimed, falling off from the bed.

"You're overreacting, Dane. But it's true. By day, Humans go to work and lead a normal life, as usual. And by night…they come out to feast on the weak."

"Why just the weak ones?" Dane was being practical and inquisitive,

"Because the weak have no resistance and tend to surrender quicker. It's that simple. Also…I think maybe the fear factor drives the Monster-Humans to search for their new prey." Dane runs back in his memories. And he starts panting out of fear.

"Then…on the night of the funeral ceremony…I wasn't imagining it."

"You weren't. And the five monsters found you delicious." Said Charlize, folding her leg over the other.

Dane furrowed his eyebrows, he looked at her with confusion.

"But wait…I never told you there were five of them… how would you know?"

"Because I killed them myself, Dane. I dipped my hands into their flesh and coated my arms in their cold blood." Dane gagged heavily as she described the scene, while he begged her to stop with the details!

"That's enough! Well…what about you then?"

"Me? I'm one of the few Monster hunters, Dane. Aren't I special?" She beamed out of the blue.

"Why would you say that? You're not even that pretty."

Charlize felt her eye twitch at his ignorant words.

"I am special, and I won't let you say otherwise. Well, I'm a special grade Monster hunter, because I possess a very unique elemental control." She says.

"Uh huh? And what is that?"

"Ferrokinesis and Metallokinesis. Isn't that weird? Because a monster hunter only has one superhuman strength in possession."

"Huh…isn't that the same though? Ferrokinesis is basically iron and probably other magnetic materials. Metallokinesis is…the same. Just some other metals too, I guess."

Dane looked up to her face, and she looked pissed. He gulped loudly at her scary face.

"No, you fool! Ferrokinesis is where iron grows from my body, hence the rebars! And metallokinesis is metal manipulation!"

"WELL, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!? I'M NOT A FREAK LIKE YOU, REMEMBER?"

Charlize sighed again as she decided it wasn't wise enough to fight with a fool like Dane. An ignorant bastard on top of that.

"Fine. Well. Just know that I'm a bit special."

"Whatever you say, rag princess."

'I'm gonna beat him up so bad one day,'

"Well, you gotta know something more about the humans to monsters ratio in the city."

"Uh huh…enlighten me."

"Take a guess."

"....every three humans, one monster?"

"Nope. Higher."

"Every one human, a monster?"

"Nope, way higher." Dane looked at her in nonchalance. Any other ratio higher than 1:1 was going to make him lose his mind.

"I give up," he stood forth, throwing his hands in the air. Charlize smirked as she said,

"1000:1." Hearing that, Dane smiled innocently.

"Thousand humans to one monster, right?"

"Not exactly," Dane's smile fell to the depths of hell as she denied the numbers. Was it…the other way around?

Charlize watched him have a burn out with the information load on his brain. She sighed and sat beside him on the floor.

"Every thousand monsters, there's just one inhabitant human out here in the city, Dane.

There's a reason why elders say…to never let the doors open at night, for any intruder…might be a monster."