October

At the Paradise Castle branch.

Kazuyoshi lay dead with a smile, sitting on a chair.

When his mother saw him, she trembled and fell to her knees, crying in front of him.

Behind her stood Paul and Santos. Paul watched his queen with a serious expression, while Santos lowered his hat to hide his eyes.

They had arrived late to the meeting point. Far too late.

“Kazu, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have given you those pills. I shouldn’t have enhanced your power. All because of that man,” she said through sobs, her makeup running. “I swear I’ll make them pay. I’ll get my revenge! Paul, Santos, I need you to find Jason and kill him once and for all! Eh?”

As she turned around, a long, sharp nail pierced her stomach, and she collapsed to the ground, bleeding out.

“Why, Paul?”

She looked up and saw her subordinate, the one who could extend his nails at will.

“Just following orders,” he said coldly.

Aoi turned to Santos, full of bitterness.

“I never should’ve trusted you in the first place!”

“Ha, you know full well that without me, you and Kazu-chan would’ve died in a ravine a long time ago. Thanks to me, you have your beautiful castle and jewelry. Sorry, Empress, but your little love games and fairy-tale princes are over.”

With those words, Paul extended another of his nails and pierced the heart of his former mistress.

“Kazu… Jason… I…”

With those final words, Aoi, the fearsome empress, faded from existence.

“Well, that’s taken care of. How’s the search going?” Santos regained his composure.

“I regret to inform you, sir, that the tracking chip I planted on Jason has broken. I no longer know where he is,” Paul said, bowing his head.

“And you're telling me this now?” Santos snapped. “Go and follow them. And make sure they don’t see you—not even a glimpse, understood? They can’t be far. If you hurry, you’ll catch them. Go.”

Without replying, Paul sprinted off on all fours like a beast tracking its prey.

“We need the location of HealingCamp as soon as possible.”

And so, we return to the Carson family.

Jason lay unconscious on the ground in the middle of the forest.

“No, Uncle is dead!!!” Rick cried as he rushed to the presumed corpse.

“No, idiot. He’s still breathing. He’s just in a coma, I think,” said Andrew, smacking his brother on the head.

“But what do we do now? Do we keep going?”

“In this situation, it’s really hard. Neither you nor I can carry Uncle—not even together.”

“You’re right. Uncle’s way too fat,” Rick said, poking his belly.

“Then we’ve got no choice but to do what we did with Valerie. Camp out here until he wakes up.”

“Ohh, good idea! I’ll go set some animal traps like Valerie taught us!” Rick shouted as he ran into the depths of the forest.

“Wait, Rick—” Andrew tried to stop him but gave up as he watched him go. “Well, whatever. Rick always finds a way to survive. I’ll make the campfire.”

And so, time passed.

First week of September.

Jason still hadn’t woken up.

Rick and Andrew camped at night. Their uncle slept under a makeshift shelter, wrapped in bandages. Both their stomachs growled. During this time, they had only eaten squirrels and rabbits.

“Ahhh, I’m bored. If we keep waiting, the end of the world will come before he wakes up,” Rick sighed, staring into the fire.

“Relax. We have to trust Uncle. No matter how hard he falls, he always gets back up.”

“Hey… do you think Mom will be happy to see us?” Rick asked, getting a bit melancholic.

“Probably. She gave us life, so she muest love as at least. The real question is… will we be happy to see her?”

“Well, I won’t know until I see her. At least we’ll leave this world knowing what she looks like.”

“You’re right. I’m sure she had her reasons for leaving us.”

“Besides, we’ve lived an epic adventure to find her! So the outcome better be just as satisfying!”

“Well said.”

They kept talking about little things and played a guessing game about what their mother might look like, until their conversation was interrupted by a strange noise in the forest.

“Shh, Andrew—it’s one of the traps. It’s been triggered.”

“Yeah, and it’s one of the big ones,” Andrew said, sharpening his hearing.

“Let’s go!”

Rick ran off excitedly. Andrew stood torn between staying to protect his uncle or making sure his brother didn’t get into trouble. After a brief moment of thought, he chose the latter and hid Jason’s unconscious body among some bushes.

Andrew followed Rick to the trap. It was a pit in the ground, with spikes at the bottom meant to impale the prey. However, the prey wasn’t what they expected—it wasn’t an animal, but a human, and a familiar one.

“Paul?” the twins asked in unison, tilting their heads curiously.

“What are you doing here?” Andrew began questioning.

“Wait, Andrew. He might try to kidnap us like Kazu did,” Rick warned as he cautiously pulled out his pistol.

“But he helped us escape the castle—along with Santos. They’re probably against the Empress.”

“Yes, yes, your brother is right. I only came to help you escape, but I fell into one of these traps, so help me out before… before…”

The spikes began slowly piercing Paul’s body, and small drops of blood started to trickle down.

“Blood…” he muttered, his voice growing darker and more sinister.

“Paul, are you okay?” Andrew asked, trying to get closer.

“Yes… much better.”

He climbed out of the spikes on his own and stood in front of the boys. But something was very wrong. Paul was taller—but in a strange way. Only his legs had grown longer… and his arms too. His fangs had sharpened, and his nails on both hands and feet had extended. His suit was torn. His back hunched over.

He approached the boys—

—on all fours.

Sniffing them.

A chill ran down their necks, but they couldn’t move.

“I suppose Santos won’t mind if I eat one of you…”

With those words, both boys ran, trying to get away. But they were far too slow.

Panicked, they shouted at each other.

“We’ll have to split up, Rick!!!”

“No! I won’t leave you!!!”

“Trust me!!!”

“Tch… fine.”

With that, the two of them split up and ran in opposite directions.

Paul stopped and looked both ways, unable to decide who would be his main course.

After a brief moment, he left it to fate and headed left.

At the same time, Rick gripped his pistol, trembling in the darkness, letting out a deep sigh.

“Give me strength, Dad,” he said, looking up at the sky.

Suddenly, noises began rustling in the bushes. Without hesitation, he started firing at anything he heard or saw moving. When he went to check, it turned out to be just a few rabbits.

“Well, at least we’ve got food for tonight.”

“So do I.”

A voice.

Thirsty.

Behind him.

Rick didn’t even turn around.

He accepted his fate, still staring up at the sky.

Paul’s claws began to grow.

Longer and longer.

They slowly scratched the boy’s face, leaving their mark.

But for some reason, a spray of blood shot across Rick’s face. He thought it was his own, but when he turned to check, he realized it wasn’t.

Paul’s hand—the one scratching him—was gone. Blood spurted everywhere. It had fallen to the ground. A clean cut.

Rick looked ahead and saw his brother holding a machete.

Paul screamed and writhed in pain, growing larger with every second.

“Come on, Rick!!”

Andrew began to run, full of confidence. Rick slapped his own cheeks, ashamed of his cowardly attitude from just moments before, and refocused on the future.

“How?!” Rick didn’t understand what had just happened while running.

“I went back to the campfire and grabbed a couple of weapons. Here—take this shotgun.”

“But how did you know he’d go after me?”

“I don’t know… I guess animals are drawn to their own kind,” Andrew joked with a laugh.

“After this, I’m gonna kill you!” Rick shouted.

“Shh, shut up or you’ll attract him.”

“So what’s your plan now, oh brilliant one?” Rick said sarcastically.

“Well…”

Just as Andrew was about to continue, more sounds came from the bushes.

“Quick! Let’s put our backs against that giant rock!” Andrew shouted, pointing.

“What? But we can’t escape!!!” Rick cried in desperation, his panic obvious.

“But he won’t be able to attack us from behind there.”

Andrew grabbed his brother’s hand, and they both nodded in agreement.

“Now, Rick—once he gets close, shoot him with the shotgun.”

“But how will I know where he’ll come from? And I don’t even know if I can do it—he’s too fast!”

“Rick, you’ve got better aim than either of us, even better than Uncle. I know you can do it. Just shoot when I say so. I’ll focus on where he’s coming from.”

Rick nodded. Andrew closed his eyes and focused on the environment. Animals, the flowing river, the wind… but none of that helped. With a bit more concentration, he heard tiny footsteps until—crack!—a loud snap from a broken branch. That, sealed the fate of this fight.

“Now, Rick! He’s there!!” Andrew pointed at a distant bush.

From it leapt the beast—what used to be Paul—its mouth wide open, lunging straight for the twins’ heads.

“Take this, you ugly bald freak!!!” Rick shouted, aiming his shotgun.

The shot fired directly into the creature’s mouth, echoing through the forest. Brains and blood flew everywhere. Paul’s body collapsed to the ground.

Both brothers jumped and bumped fists in the air.

“Yeah! Nobody messes with the Carson twins!!” they shouted in unison, spitting on Paul’s body.

With that, they returned to their unconscious uncle.

But to their surprise—there he was. Awake. Alive and well. Jason, munching on a piece of rabbit, raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey, boys.”

“Uncle Jason!”

They both rushed over, thrilled.

“How long was I out?”

“Too long,” Rick answered.

“I see.”

“Hold on—how long have you been awake?” Andrew asked, his enthusiasm fading.

“Ehm… about half an hour,” he said after thinking for a second.

“And when you woke up, you didn’t wonder where we were? Or if we were in danger? And how didn’t I see you— I was just here a moment ago!”

Andrew kept pushing for answers.

“I saw you both from here with the binoculars. And when you came back for weapons, I pretended to be asleep again,” Jason said with complete calm, as if the situation had been no big deal.

“What?! You saw us running for our lives from a monster and you did nothing?!”

Rick got angry and rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight.

“I was tired! And it looked like you two had things under control. And Rick—what happened to your face? You look like Frankenstein! Hahaha!”

“What?” Rick said, confused, looking at the reflection in his pistol at the scars Paul had left. “You’re gonna pay for this!”

Rick lunged at his uncle, but despite his injuries, Jason stopped him with a quick lock.

“Ha ha, calm down. It makes you look tough. There’s nothing better than that. And Andrew, you too—you did great. I never doubted your smarts. You both did an amazing job.”

Jason ruffled his nephews’ hair, and with that, the Carson twins’ adventure against the ultramutant vampire came to an end.