At dawn, when the sky was still dim, an ordinary small town was being enveloped by an unprecedented, impenetrable morning fog.
This fog was not formed by the condensation of ordinary water vapor. It presented an unsettling, almost substantial grayish-white, like massive and slowly squirming cotton wadding, swallowing the town's outlines, streets, and even the horizon, compressing visibility to a range of less than twenty meters.
The air was unusually stifling, carrying an indescribable, bizarre odor like a mixture of dust, rust, and a faint sweet metallic stench.
The town's architectural style resembled the Western European flair of the late twentieth to early twenty-first century on Earth in the main universe.
Brick and wood houses with pitched roofs were decorated with delicate wooden window lattices and flower boxes;
narrow and winding cobblestone streets;
old-fashioned cast iron street lamps at the corners emitted a dim, hazy halo in the thick fog;
and the iconic town church bell tower was now mostly hidden in the fog.
All of this exuded a tranquil, even slightly antiquated atmosphere of daily life.
However, this was by no means any Earth metropolis under the jurisdiction of the main universe's Human Empire, nor was it one of those extra-solar colonies with a unified, highly efficient, and practical style.
In the main universe Empire, unless it was a retro preservation zone specifically planned for historical and cultural display or themed tourism, it was almost impossible for such an authentic natural town to exist.
The Empire's mainstream was an architectural aesthetic that integrated grandeur with futuristic efficiency.
Everything in the town before their eyes seemed normal.
The houses, the streets, the street lamps, and even the faint, blurry church bells ringing in the distance.
But this normalcy, contrasted against the endless, suffocatingly oppressive thick fog, instead revealed a subtle eeriness.
It was too quiet. Other than the faint bells and the suppressed environmental noise, the chirping of early birds could not be heard, the starting of vehicle engines could not be heard, and even the sound of the wind was frozen by this heavy fog.
It was as if the entire town, along with time itself, had been frozen and isolated by this bizarre fog.
Just as this balance of dead silence and eeriness was about to crush the nerves of any conscious person... Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several sudden, crisp gunshots that seemed especially piercing in the thick fog abruptly tore through the suffocating silence!
The source of the sound seemed to be the town center, in front of a masonry building hanging a plaque that read Ronda Town Police Department.
In the thick fog, several figures in dark blue police uniforms could be faintly seen frantically raising their handguns and firing continuously at the entrance of the police station.
The muzzle flashes repeatedly tore open small, brief halos of orange-red light in the thick fog, illuminating the terrified, sweat-drenched expressions on their faces.
They seemed to be officers executing the final early morning patrol, having just handed over their shifts, or preparing to get off work.
And the targets they were shooting at were several humanoid objects lunging madly in a bizarre and twisted posture.
Those things could vaguely be seen wearing casual clothes—torn jeans, stained T-shirts or jackets, and so on.
Judging from their clothing, they were likely a few local punks who had been temporarily locked up in the police station's holding cell last night for drunken disorderly conduct, petty theft, or the like.
But at this moment, their forms had undergone a nauseating, terrifying mutation that blasphemed the norms of life.
Their bodies looked as if they had been randomly kneaded by an invisible giant hand. Their limb joints were twisted or folded backward at impossible angles, and their walking posture was as stiff and frantic as marionettes.
The most horrifying part was their faces...
The facial features that originally belonged to humans looked as if they had been melted by high temperatures and then forcibly cooled. Their eyes, noses, and mouths were stuck together, blurred into a constantly squirming tumor-like bulge, only able to let out a whimper like a drowning person, mixed with extreme agony and endless hatred.
Even more bloodcurdling was that small, slimy, fleshy growths like octopus tentacles were constantly drilling out of their exposed skin, or their skin would abruptly burst open to reveal sharp, jagged bony fangs or spikes beneath.
They could no longer be called humans, but rather some sort of living monsters thoroughly twisted by an indescribable power, filled with pain and malice.
Thwack! Thwack!
The handgun bullets fired by the officers, likely 9mm Parabellum rounds, struck the mutants. Most merely embedded into that constantly growing, seemingly soft mutated tissue, or bounced off the twisted bones with a dull thud, but could not stop their lunging advance at all.
The tiny wounds caused by the bullets were filled by newly formed granulation tissue and mucus at an almost visible speed.
"Damn it! They won't die! What should we do, Sheriff Roy!"
A young officer shouted loudly.
Right at that moment, the middle-aged officer called Sheriff Roy forcibly steadied his trembling arms amidst extreme tension. Taking a deep breath and narrowing his eyes, he deadlocked onto the blurred head area of the mutant charging at the very front.
Bang!
With a gunshot, the bullet accurately drilled into the center of that squirming tumor.
Uuurgh—!
The mutant let out an even more miserable wail, its lunging motion abruptly stalling. Immediately after, like a puppet with its strings cut, it twitched and fell heavily to the ground. That head tumor stopped squirming, and dark red viscous liquid mixed with unknown tissues slowly flowed out.
"It works! Aim for their heads! Focus your fire!"
Sheriff Roy roared hoarsely, his voice scratchy from fear and lingering dread.
With a clear command and a successful example, the remaining officers forced down their nausea and terror, focused their firepower, and shot desperately at the head areas of the remaining mutants.
For a moment, gunfire erupted intensely, and bullets whistled through the thick fog.
After a perilous close-quarters struggle where they could almost smell the foul stench from the monsters' mouths, they finally relied on focused headshots to take down all the mutants that had rushed out of the police station. The corpses fell in various twisted postures onto the cobblestone ground in front of the station, no longer moving.
The gunfire ceased. The thick fog seemed to have swallowed the sound as well, leaving behind an even more heart-palpitating dead silence. Only the heavy, trembling gasps of the officers were exceptionally clear.
"Blegh—!"
The youngest officer finally could not bear it. He violently bent over and threw up the little remaining contents of his stomach. The sour stench mixed with the smell of blood and the bizarre odor in the fog, making it nauseating.
An older, middle-aged officer had an ashen face. Forcing down his discomfort, he gripped his handgun tightly with both hands, the muzzle pointing slightly downward, and cautiously approached the corpses of the mutants.
He tentatively prodded them a few times with the tip of his boot. Only after confirming that they were completely motionless did he breathe a slight sigh of relief, though the horror in his eyes remained undiminished.
Another officer, having somewhat recovered from his shock, looked at the twisted corpses on the ground wearing familiar clothes and cursed with a trembling voice: "What the hell... what the fuck is going on?! Aren't these... aren't these those bastards Bob Lee and the others brought in last night? The ones who robbed Old John's grocery store! How did they... how did they turn into these monstrous freaks?!"
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Sheriff Roy wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. His gaze never left those twisted corpses on the ground and then slowly shifted toward the boundless, seemingly alive thick fog all around. His brows furrowed tightly, his eyes filled with unbelievable doubt and deep terror.
"I don't know, but it definitely has something to do with this damn fog..." His voice was low, carrying an ominous premonition. "Leave this for now. Quick! Go back into the station and check! There might be more people inside! Mark and Jenny are still on duty in there!"
Hearing this, the officers' hearts tightened. They immediately mustered their spirits, rechecked their magazines, covered each other, pushed open the heavy, half-ajar oak doors of the police station, and walked in.
The scene inside the doors instantly made them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave. Their hearts, which had just calmed down a bit, were once again fiercely gripped by terror.
The interior of the police station was a complete mess.
The desks and chairs at the reception were overturned, documents were scattered all over the floor, and the walls were splattered with dark red, half-congealed blood and unknown mucus.
Even more terrifying was the ground; severed limbs and body parts could be seen everywhere!
Arms wearing police uniforms, legs wearing casual clothes, and even half of a mangled torso.
Judging from the torn clothing and some still-recognizable features, these were precisely their colleagues who had stayed behind on duty last night, as well as the detainees who might have mutated as well.
A strong smell of blood and an even more pungent stench, like rotting internal organs, hit their faces, making it almost suffocating.
"Mark... Jenny... Tom..."
The middle-aged officer looked at a familiar piece of a police badge fragment. His voice choked with sobs, and his eyes instantly turned red.
Sorrow and anger
[Original link: https://sto9.com/txt/3259/7586491.html]
intertwined and burned in their hearts, but more so was a bewilderment and terror that pierced to the bone.
This exceeded the scope of any crime or psychiatric illness they could comprehend.
What exactly was this?
A plague?
A biochemical weapon attack?
Or... some kind of supernatural phenomenon?
Just as they were severely shaken and at a loss for what to do... Bzz... Bzzzt...
A radio communicator in the station that had not yet been destroyed suddenly let out a burst of rapid static noise. Immediately after, a male voice pretending to be calm but unable to hide its panic began to broadcast: "...Emergency alert! Repeat, emergency alert! Nationwide occurrences of... occurrences of massive, unexplained... violent attacks!
The attackers' behavior is extremely frenzied, displaying severe psychiatric symptoms, and...
And their bodies are showing unexplainable, twisted mutations!
Skin, limbs, facial features... All citizens are requested to immediately lock their doors and windows, and do not go out! Do not make contact with anyone behaving abnormally! The military has... has already begun to intervene... The entire country has entered a Level 1 State of Emergency! Repeat, all citizens are requested to..."
The voice on the broadcast was rushed and chaotic, yet the amount of information was astonishingly huge.
However, before the alert could be repeated a second time... Bzzzt—!!!
An extremely ear-piercing electronic noise that seemed capable of rupturing eardrums violently exploded, and the broadcast signal was roughly cut off.
Almost at the same time... Boom—!!!
Boom... Boom...
From the distant horizon, penetrating the thick fog, came muffled, violent roars resembling the explosions of heavy bombs or missiles. The ground even transmitted a faint tremor.
The sound of explosions, and in more than one place."
""
Sheriff Roy and the surviving officers turned deathly pale, looking at each other in dismay.
The national state of emergency on the broadcast and the sounds of explosions coming from outside thoroughly shattered the last shred of their wishful thinking that this was merely an isolated local incident.
Some incomprehensible, terrifying disaster of unprecedented scale had already descended.
And this bizarre thick fog enveloping everything was highly likely the beginning of this nightmare... or the nightmare itself.
"It's this fog! There must be something wrong with this damn fog!"
The young officer cried out involuntarily, his voice trembling with fear. "Why haven't we turned into those monsters? Also... what about our families?!"
These words were like a spark thrown into an oil barrel, instantly igniting the anxiety in everyone's hearts.
Yes, they had luckily escaped disaster, or rather, the mutation had not yet occurred?
But their families—elderly parents, devoted wives, young children—were currently scattered throughout the town, surrounded by this bizarre thick fog!
"My daughter is still at home waiting for me to go back and make her breakfast..."
"My parents are old and have limited mobility..."
"My wife is timid. She must be terrified being home alone!"
Worry and terror surged over like a tide, almost drowning them.
Their breathing became rapid, the hands holding their guns began to tremble slightly again, and their gazes involuntarily glanced toward the all-devouring grayish-white outside the door, as if the thick fog itself was a giant beast ready to devour people.
"Enough! Everyone calm down!"
At the critical moment, Sheriff Roy's low, stern reprimand was like an alarm bell, startling the men into shivering.
His bloodshot eyes swept over every panic-stricken face. Even though his own heart was equally churning, as the backbone of this squad, he had to hold the line.
"The situation is unclear right now. Any guess could be wrong, or it could be true, but one thing is certain..."
He took a deep breath, forcing his voice to sound steady and powerful. "The broadcast said nationwide! This is no longer just a problem in our small town!
We don't know what the situation is in other countries, and we can't do anything about it! Look outside, radio communications are completely paralyzed. We've lost contact with the outside world! Right now, we can only rely on ourselves!"
His words acted like a shot of adrenaline, forcing the panicked officers to gather their attention.
"So, there are two top priorities!" Sheriff Roy held up two fingers, speaking very quickly but clearly: "First, search the entire police station immediately! Dig out all the supplies that are still usable—food, water, medicine, batteries, and flashlights!
The armory! Take all the shotguns, rifles, and ammunition with you!
Handgun firepower is too weak. To deal with those... things, we need stronger firepower!"
He pointed at the twisted corpses on the ground and the remains scattered all over the floor, his meaning self-evident.
"Second." He emphasized his tone, his gaze sweeping over everyone once again: "From now on, the few of us absolutely cannot separate! In this fog, in this town, we don't know how many more of those monsters are lurking around. Being alone is a dead end! We must move together! First, we'll go together to the nearest address, check on the condition of our families, confirm their safety, and bring them out."
This proposal lifted the spirits of the officers.
The safety of their families was their greatest concern at this moment.
"I agree!" the middle-aged officer was the first to respond, a glimmer of hope igniting in his eyes.
"Right! We go together!"
"Sheriff, we'll all listen to you!"
Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Sheriff Roy nodded slightly and stopped talking nonsense: "Quick! Get moving! Finish scavenging within five minutes, and then we set off!"
For the next five minutes, there was the sound of chaotic yet orderly rummaging inside the police station.
They opened the iron door of the small internal armory and took out a few shotguns and rifles, as well as a large amount of corresponding ammunition.
From the storage room, they also found several boxes of emergency bottled water, compressed biscuits, a few boxes of antibiotics and painkillers, as well as several high-intensity flashlights and spare batteries.
They distributed all the supplies as evenly as possible, stuffing them into several large backpacks and police tactical vests.
Everyone changed into thicker police stab-proof vests...
Although they might not be completely effective against the bites and tentacles of those monsters, they were at least better than ordinary police uniforms. Their waists were hung full of magazines and shotgun shells, and they gripped long guns tightly in their hands.
Fear still existed, but with a clear goal and stronger armaments, a trace of resolve was added to their eyes.
"Let's move out!"
Sheriff Roy checked the ammo feed of the shotgun in his hands and took the lead in pushing open the blood-stained doors of the police station.
Two police cars parked quietly in the fog. As everyone got in and started the ignition, the engines let out a low roar. The headlights pierced through the thick fog, projecting two dim and limited beams of light.
They decided to first go to the young officer's home, which was closest to the police station. He lived on the street to the east of town, a relatively quiet residential area.
The two police cars slowly drove into the streets shrouded by the thick fog.
Visibility was extremely low, and the speed had to be kept very slow.
The houses on both sides of the street were like silent gray silhouettes. Behind the windows, it was pitch black with no lights at all, nor could any sounds of daily life be heard. There was only a deathly silence and the humming of the engines.
However, this dead silence was soon broken.
Just as they passed a narrow alley entrance, from deep within the thick fog, there faintly came a sluggish, heavy, yet mad sound of footsteps, along with that bloodcurdling whimpering.
Immediately after, a twisted figure stumbled out from the alley and crashed into a mailbox by the roadside, making a dull thud.
One could vaguely make out that it was a middle-aged woman wearing pajamas, but her neck was slanted at a bizarre angle, half of her cheek was collapsed as if melted, and one arm was unnaturally elongated, with the fingertips transformed into sharp bone spikes.
She seemed attracted by the lights and sounds of the police cars. She abruptly turned her head and fixed her remaining intact, yet bloodshot eye on the passing police cars, letting out a hoarse howl and trying to chase after them on all fours.
"Dear God..."
The middle-aged officer in the passenger seat gasped.
This was just the beginning.
As they went deeper into the residential area, more and more mutants began to emerge from the fog, from the shadows of houses, and from behind abandoned vehicles.
Some maintained a basic humanoid form like that woman in pajamas, only with twisted limbs and facial features;
Others were more severe, almost unrecognizable from their original appearance, like chunks of meat forcibly pieced together from several creatures, crawling or shambling on the ground.
They seemed exceptionally sensitive to the breath and sound of living creatures. Once they detected the presence of the police cars, they would let out howls filled with hatred and pain, trying to get closer at all costs.
The streets were no longer empty.
The alleys harbored murderous intent.
This once-familiar home, enveloped by the bizarre thick fog, had already become a crisis-ridden hunting ground overrun by monsters.
The few officers' journey home was destined to be filled with blood and the unknown...
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