Ethan went into one of the rooms in the apartment. He went down to the ground, his ankle killing him. He began to massage it, aiming to reduce the pain. From outside, he could hear the screams of the group blended in with the roars of the corrupted. He unintentionally smiled; he hoped that they all died.
A sharp pain tore through him. Ack! This ankle is going to be the end of me, he thought. Suddenly, he heard a sound in the building. It was coming from outside the door, walking slowly, the floorboard creaking beneath its steps. From behind the door, Ethan could hear it—its haggard, raspy, and struggling breathing. It was coming closer.
Ethan began to sweat. He already knew that this wasn't an ordinary corrupted. He just hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. It stopped right at the door. His heart began beating so fast he thought it might jump out of his chest.
He quickly stood, scanning the room for a place to hide. The room was a small bedroom, with a balcony at the end. He thought of escaping through the balcony but quickly abandoned that idea. He couldn't use it—there were probably corrupted waiting at the bottom for him, due to the noise he'd created earlier.
That left only one option: the closet. He lumbered over, removing all the clothes and jumping inside. Only there was one little issue—he didn't fully fit in it, so the door couldn't fully close, leaving a small opening. The handle began shaking, scaring the shit out of him. That was the only place he could hide. He went inside, praying it wasn't what he thought it was.
Only, he wasn't so lucky. The door burst open, splinters flying everywhere like missiles, tearing the room apart even more. In walked what he could only classify as a nightmare. It was tall, a black exoskeleton covering its figure. Spikes protruded from its body, forming a sort of armor. Its limbs were too long to be natural. Its long hands ended in six clawed fingers that dripped a crimson substance. But by far the scariest thing was its eyes—two orbs of glowing red.
It scanned the room, eventually landing on the closet. FUCK, Ethan thought. Karma's a bitch, he mused. Right in front of him stood a Bone Crawler—an evolved version of the corrupted. They were quite rare in the game but also extremely dangerous. Count on his luck to encounter one.
That's when he locked eyes with it. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before it opened its mouth, showcasing rows of black teeth. Then it lunged at blinding speed, tearing apart the closet. It lifted Ethan into the air before smashing him onto the ground, still wearing a maniacal smile.
In the game, these creatures were quite sadistic. He had died many times to them. He began kicking at its body, aiming to free himself, but those kicks did nothing but tickle the monster. It began to laugh at Ethan's struggles, the laugh sounding like nails being put in a blender.
Ethan's vision began to darken; no oxygen was making its way to his brain. He was dying. He could feel his strength slowly sapping from his body.
<-10, -10, -10, -10, -10, -10>
A string of numbers appeared in his vision; he was losing HP rapidly.
Ethan wanted to strangle his bullshit system. He could see he was dying—what he needed was help. But unfortunately, none came. Is this what I get for putting the group in danger? His eyelids began to slowly close.
His hands flopped to his sides, unable to lift them. Is this how I die? he thought.
Huh?! Ethan thought. What was this? Was he seeing things on his deathbed? Yes, he whispered internally. Just as his vision went black, his body turned into a bunch of golden sparkles that disappeared into thin air. The Bone Crawler stood there, wondering what had just happened and where its prey had disappeared to.