Slaughter: The Blood Moon Arrives

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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Evan looked across the village rooftops.

When he saw the building at the center, his red eyes narrowed, and a smile tugged at his mouth.

A tall structure stood above the other houses, much larger than anything around it. On its roof, rain struck a rusted bell, drawing out crisp little rings.

"A church."

"Tall stone building. Narrow access to the second floor. Even Berserkers won't be able to rush me from every side at once."

"That's the one."

Evan decided immediately. He would face the second Blood Moon in that old church.

As he moved toward the trees at the edge of the village, he thought through the next steps.

"There should be at least two hours before the Blood Moon starts."

"Before the Berserkers arrive, I need to set the church up."

He moved at once.

Under cover of the storm, Evan chopped down several trees and used the wood to make Wood Spike Traps.

After circling around, he reached the church.

By then, the Blood Moon was hanging close above him.

He looked up. The tall church rose against a bloody moon. Hard rain slashed across the scene, making everything look strange and almost unreal.

Evan pushed the doors open.

The heavy wood groaned.

His boots dragged water across the floor as he stepped in.

Seven or eight figures sat in the pews.

The moment they heard him enter, the still shapes began to move. Their heads turned stiffly, like rusted gears trying to catch.

Evan looked over their clothes.

A priest. A wedding dress. Suits.

Then he saw the burned-down white candles near the statue and the Bible left nearby.

"So this was your wedding. Sorry for interrupting. I'll give you a proper sendoff and call it my gift."

Evan raised the Stone Sledgehammer in one hand, turning sideways and pointing it at them.

"Raaah!"

The bride walker growled first. She dragged her torn wedding dress behind her, one pale thigh showing through the ruined fabric as she broke into a run.

"No need to rush. Newlyweds get the first blessing."

A bloodthirsty smile spread across Evan's mouth.

Something in his veins finally found a place to be released, and it sang with violent joy.

Facing the bride walker, he gripped the hammer with both hands and swung up from below.

Thoom.

By the time the bride walker reacted, her head had snapped sideways and blood burst from her mouth. Her whole body lifted into the air.

She hit the floor with a wet slap and tried to move, but something below her waist no longer obeyed.

She felt no pain. She only raised her head in blank confusion and looked at the missing lower portion of her body, and at the rotting intestines spilled across the floor.

"Home run!"

Evan looked at the two pale legs still standing in front of him and let out a cheer.

He spun the Stone Sledgehammer over his head once, then let the momentum carry it into his left hand.

The motion was smooth from start to finish.

Crack.

He brought the hammer down on a pew, smashing it and the walker that had been trying to rise from it.

A huge bite of wood vanished from the bench. Beneath the hammer, the walker had become pulp.

"Wooo!"

Evan moved forward with the hammer, almost dancing, as if the walkers' growls and the pounding rain had become perfect music.

His eyes grew redder.

Reason sank lower and lower, buried under the need to vent, to rampage, to break something.

"Groom, groom, groom. How could I forget to toast the groom?"

He tapped his knuckles against his own head and looked at the strong male walker in a suit running toward him. Evan's mouth curved, but inside he felt cold, stripped down to nothing but violence.

Snap.

Evan reached out and caught the tall groom walker by the throat.

His hand tightened, and he lifted the groom from the floor as easily as pulling up a root.

He tilted his head and watched the groom's pale nails scratch through his skin. Blood began to seep from Evan's arm, and his health dipped bit by bit.

"What, not enough for you?"

His voice turned savage.

He slammed the groom to the floor.

The hammer followed and landed on the walker's face.

"Not enough? Not enough? Not enough? Not enough?"

He smashed the groom's face into a mess.

A growl came from ahead.

Without looking, Evan abandoned the hammer. The muscles in his legs bunched, and he launched himself forward.

He landed on the priest walker and pinned it beneath him, one palm pressing its head down so it could not turn.

Evan bared his teeth. They itched faintly.

In the next second, he chose his fists instead.

One punch.

Two.

Three.

Again.

The priest walker's skull tore the skin across Evan's knuckles.

Only when it stopped moving did Evan slow, then finally stop.

He knelt over it with his fist clenched, head lowered, breathing hard.

Rainwater left on his body began to steam from his rising heat, white mist curling up from his head and shoulders.

He stayed like that.

Only when the clock reached 11:55 and the great bell above him gave a sudden deep hum did Evan jerk his head up as if waking from a dream.

He said nothing.

He dragged the sledgehammer up the stairs to the second floor.

There were no walkers there. It had once been the priest's living space, with the bell mechanism connected above the ceiling.

Evan staggered the Wood Spike Traps along the stairs.

At the second-floor landing, he took out his Construction Hammer and used the remaining wood to build a wall across the stair opening.

In the end, he left only the two center wood blocks unfinished.

The gap was just wide enough for him to swing the hammer, but not wide enough to let walkers flood straight through.

By killing the Berserkers one at a time this way, he could keep the damage as low as possible.

He took two antibiotics from his inventory and swallowed them dry.

The infection status disappeared. In its place, an injury recovery icon appeared.

Just then, the sound of rain outside faded, then vanished.

The bell above him swung heavily.

Dong.

The deep sound rolled across the whole village and into the surrounding woods.

It rang once, then the world fell still again.

Something seemed to be howling inside Evan's ears.

He listened closely.

The sound grew from distant to near in only a few seconds.

The stone floor under his boots trembled.

Walker growls, hungry and crowded, rushed up from the narrow stairwell.

Evan lifted his head with eyes gone fully red.

"They're here."

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