Becoming a Monster

Chapter 306: Chapter 306: Exchanging Blame

”Ashbourne!”

The two figures, a couple, flinched, their expressions panic-stricken. From their quick reaction, it was clear they had been expecting to be called out. The irrational fear in their eyes was a clear sign that they knew something the others didn’t.

Their reactions drew the attention of every onlooker. Eyes shifted, following Vincent’s line of sight, until they settled on the pair. For some reason, the moment most eyes centered on them, sneers and judgmental looks followed. Most of the people there didn’t know why, but the two had been treated differently since the day Regina arrived.

Seeing the rise and fall of such a social shift, especially when everyone there no longer had wealth as their means of status, somehow brought them immeasurable satisfaction.

And considering how quickly everyone joined in their mistreatment, something about the couple must’ve rubbed everyone the wrong way long before this moment.

The man stood by his partner, his mouth nervously shivering as he opened his mouth to speak. He knew what Vincent wanted; he knew since that day. He just didn’t believe that this moment would ever come.

”W-We have nothing to do with him anymore! Ki-Kill him! Kill him for all I care.”

The man’s voice cracked. His wife clung to his sleeve, eyes wide and watery, but said nothing.

Vincent’s expression didn’t change. He was cold, calculating. As if he were watching something pathetic crawl across the floor.

”You birthed him, you raised him. You don’t get to wash your hands clean now. Your child killed my own. I have every right to kill you where you stand right now. And you,” Vincent’s eyes finally showed their true colors as they landed on the mother.

”To give birth to such scum, I’ll make sure you live to regret it. Either play your part to help put down the monster you created and accept a quick, painless death, or I’ll make sure to use that body of yours to create monsters of our own until you beg for me to kill you.”

The woman gasped. A sharp sob was muffled by the hand that covered her mouth as tears burst forth. Her husband didn’t continue to shield her or comfort her as he once had. The shivering was still there, but there was a subtle fire in his eyes now, a fire that was directed to his bastard son and the mother who birthed it. To him, he had nothing to do with it, but here he was having to take the responsibility that wasn’t his.

”I didn’t ask for this!” The man spat, his voice rising with desperate madness. ”You think I wanted him? That thing was a curse from the start. We tried; I did everything to raise that thing to be normal.”

The mother flinched like she’d been slapped, but the man didn’t stop, his eyes burned with something far past grief. ”He was hers! She brought that sickness into our lives. Why should I have to pay for that?! Let that twisted bastard die! I’ll gladly help you put it down. I should’ve drowned him the day he was bo-”

Boom!

An explosion sounded underneath them, followed by shouts that echoed from down below. The floor underneath them quaked, fear and panic cries started to merge together as the people who never had to fight a day in their life began to panic.

The door burst open following the sounds of a skirmish below, putting everyone on high alert. They believed it was going to be Noah, instead, it was one of their own, breathing heavily, his face disheveled, barely holding himself together as he braced himself against the doorframe.

”Th-there’s monsters attacking us! And Mark...Mark is leading them!”

Gasps echoed louder than the conflict raging from below from the information they just heard.

Many of them were clearly aware of the tension between Mark’s faction and both Vincent and Burke’s faction. Not only were they aware, but they were also in support of such treatment towards them.

They could see the benefit of the Marks group. In fact, they saw Mark and the others as essential for their base to thrive, and irreplaceable for the benefit of mankind. However, their usefulness was all they cared about.

The divide began when they realized that Mark’s group would not abide by their social rules. The weak should stay weak, the poor should continue to be tools for the worthy. Yet, Mark didn’t think the same.

The others began to see Mark as a thorn in their sides. He gave the illusion of equality to those that should know their place. He gave them the mindset that they could stand up to them, that they too had a voice.

This led them to all unanimously agree to the plan to conspire against Mark. luring in drones of creatures in the vicinity. Not only to force everyone to fight, obtaining a mass amount of gold to make their final day of the shop profitable enough to last them for the future days to solidify their standing.

They only needed a few more days, a week at most. And then other surrounding bases would flock to them, gathering under their banner because they would be seen as the true defense against the creatures threatening their extinction.

And most importantly, they wanted to crush Mark’s momentum. The number of followers he was gathering was increasing each day. And it wasn’t just the able bodies they were worried about. It was the civilians too.

The civilians were seemingly dead weight, but that was only for now. People like Vincent and Burke could see their value. They may not be useful now, but ’when’ they created a place that was devoid of constant threats of danger, those ”useless” people would then achieve their value.

But in order to keep the hold they had over everyone, first, they made the drastic decisions to create a situation where they could reset the board; for Mark to lose his growing following, for the civilians to see that he wasn’t the grand hero they assumed he was, and for their trust in him to falter.

Their plan was flawless. They witnessed Mark and his team’s strength firsthand. Even if hundreds of zombies or an array of beasts were lured by their sirens, Mark’s team of elites would still survive. And Mark’s identity as the people’s hero would keep him from openly going against them.

But now....

Mark was leading Noah, the very monster that they all believed Mark and the others despised after everything they heard Noah has done.

Was this Mark’s way of retaliation? Did they go too far and now Mark wanted them all dead? Did he no longer care about his hero status?

Both Burke and Vincent looked towards each other, a consensus was silently made between them.

They knew that they had to address the issue personally. Mark was too strong of a factor to lose, and if Mark was determined to seek revenge, then only their elites could take care of both Mark and Noah together.

But before they left, Vincent made sure to bring the deranged couple with him.

_____________________

As Mark and the others led the ’monsters’ to the door that led to both the shop, and the people that led to the deaths of so many people. Their group was noticeably smaller; only Mark, Jasmine and Bailey were left.

The others? They had realized too late that something wasn’t right when they neared the end of the mall.

Before they could even reach the doors that would lead them to the shop, a howl sounded from where they came. A howl similar to Fenrir’s, a howl that was more distorted, more unnatural.

Yet Fenrir was still with Noah.

They had remembered too late that Fenrir had left someone alive, someone who had been wounded, and was now infected.

They all wanted to run back together. The haunting memory of the abomination that wouldn’t die remained burned in their minds. But Noah wouldn’t wait for them if they left.

In his words, it was, ”not my problem.”

And so they separated. It was a choice none of them wanted to make, but it had to be done. None of them could say for certain if the people left behind could fight against an abomination Fenrir created, and none of them could say with certainty if that abomination could infect others.

Mark, Jasmine, and Bailey pressed forward. When they arrived at the door’s entrance, they were met by a higher number of guards than there were before.

”Don’t attack!” The moment the two sides saw each other; Mark attempted to deescalate the situation. Guns were already drawn, and weapons were already out, poised to attack.

If it was just Mark, Jasmine, and Bailey, they were willing to stand their ground. None of them there had witnessed Noah’s onslaught, but they did hear about it from those who had fled inside.

They didn’t believe that Mark would allow such powerful monsters to rampage through their people unchecked. They wanted to hear the truth from Mark himself.

Yet, the moment they saw the actual monsters behind them, the dreadful aura emanating from each creature behind them, the guards opened the doors without delay and ran inside.