June 27, 2025; Shortly after the sun was fully up, and the new normal dull gray-blue tone of the sky was filled with puffy black clouds moving fast to the East. The still full oak, maple, and sycamore trees filling the Ozark valleys started to shed their now wilted dark green leaves as the temperature hung around forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. And it was still June!

  Clay could feel something big was going to happen and his intuition was screaming at him to get his ass home. Thankfully Sigrid had scored some clothes and shoes for the four Orc girls and Joanna. Around eleven in the morning, having not heard the birds for a few hours by that point, they started out, finally heading south again.

  Before long they had worked their way up the snakey highway. They could see more forested areas interspersed with large brownfields laced with more and more patches of wooded areas, or an actual piece of the Mark Twain National Forest as they made their way further south.

  They could feel the elevation change. The hills got steeper and the highway seemed to mostly follow the ridgeline for a long way. As it started to get dark they sheltered in a tall, two story white farmhouse right next to the highway. Surprisingly Joanna and the four Orc girls did very well. He was sure most of it was Joanna and Tonya who made sure everything went well with them. And the four Orc girls seemed to be developing quite an attachment to Tonya. Clay wasn't entirely sure it was because she was an Orc herself but figured it probably had a lot to do with it.

  Amy and Sigrid seemed to dote on the four girls too and everyone was getting along great. Clay noticed Joanna lingering around Luke throughout the day. The woman had talked to the man off and on through the day as he limped along. Luke didn't seem to notice her extra attention.

  They had an uneventful night and got moving early the next morning just after sunrise, or well the brief glimpse of the fucking sun before it disappeared again as a bright orb behind the dull grey-blue sky.

  Within three hours they had made it to the end of the highway and a dilapidated old gas station that had been closed for years. A foggy haze hung low over the ground making everything damp. To the south was a white-rimmed green sign that read Salem. Just as they crossed a small bridge Clay could make out tall red-brick buildings in the distance. A screech from overhead caused him to look up to see what made the noise as it flew by, Sigrid hit him suddenly from the side, causing him to stagger before he fell.

  He felt the wind off something that snapped really close to his face as he heard Luke yell, "Look out!" Then someone screamed, and as he raised up he could see one of the Orc girls encased in a toothy green pod attached to a vine the size of Clay's fucking leg!

  He could see her legs sticking out, kicking as she tried to struggle against it. Seven or eight more pods snapped at the rest of the party, and Sigrid had already rolled away and nimbly sprang to her feet, already holding two knives. He didn't have time to think about it though as he saw a pod open, the inside filled with large thorn-like teeth and an odd bloodshot eye that lunged for him. He quickly rolled away and came up on one knee. He summoned his bearded axe and drew it back, ready to swing.

  As he regained his feet he saw Luke stab the vine connecting the pod that was slowly dragging the Orc girl back towards a large black trunk laced with large orange veins with a puckered orifice at the top that looked a lot like a puckered alien's asshole. Clay witnessed a vine with a smaller pod toss a small rabbit into the orifice with a disgusting, sucking, popping sound like bones being sucked out of a carcass. His grip on his axe handle tightened as he swung at a snapping pod.

  As his axe split through the pod like a hot knife through butter he heard a low, gurgling groan come from the trunk. Clay saw Luke and Jill finally get the Orc girl out of the pod Luke severed the vine as he said, "Vicious Slash!" The girl hit the ground as if she was paralyzed, her eyes wide with fear. Jill didn't waste any time as she grabbed her by her thin waist and threw her over her shoulder, fending off another pod with her flanged mace.

  "We need to get out of its reach!" Yelled Dawn as she guided Amy and the other women between two houses on the opposite side of the highway. It looked like there were five Tonya's running in every direction. Dawn and Amy were dragging Joanna and Amy looked like she was covered in green slime or mucus.

  Clay slashed at a snapping pod, leaped over a writhing vine trying to grab his feet, its pod already cut off, and had to quickly throw himself to the side, rolling away as another pod that was closed slammed into the ground where he had been. He came up on his feet and used "Eldritch Bolts!" Sending all three black watermelon-sized bolts laced with green crackling energy arching around each one shot forward and slammed into the black trunk.

  The mutated plant issued a louder gurgling-sucking noise as it seemed to writhe in pain as the bolts struck. Each bolt sounded like a blunt object slammed into flesh at a high speed resulting in sickening wet thwacks. Clay managed to evade yet another smaller snapping pod.

  Luke had worked his way over to the others and Clay caught another large pod with his axe, bursting it open like an over-ripe melon, spraying him with the same green slime-like shit Amy had been covered in. He didn't have time to worry about it though as he chopped another vine off that had nearly taken his head off.

  "DING! Congratulations! New Passive Ability Acquired: Paralysis Immunity. The host is immune to paralysis-inducing skills." Kris said.

  Not that he had time to pay attention to a message, he only barely heard it. He could see that Luke and Jill had made it to the rest of the group and as he leaped over another swiping vine he was suddenly hit mid-air. Hard.

  He slammed onto the ground, bouncing once like a fucking ball. His vision narrowed to seem like everything was at the end of a tunnel. A long, dark tunnel. And then before he could even touch the ground again he was hit again mid-air. He crashed into the wall of a house, his vision burst with bright light for a moment and then he hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, absolutely no try to catch himself. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he hit!

  But the vine that had hit him had already had its pod cut off, and it hit Clay like a whip strike, opening a large gash in his chest that felt like lava as it burned into his muscle.

  "DING! Congratulations! New Passive Ability Acquired: Cast Iron Stomach. The host can safely consume mutated flora and fauna and contaminated water without the chance of obtaining negative side effects." Kris said.

  He had managed to keep ahold of his axe though somehow, and he awkwardly managed to fend off another small snapping pod as he grabbed a nearby windowsill and hurriedly used it to help himself stand. Adrenaline suddenly surged through Clay's body, and ignoring the pain in his body, he moved.

  He ducked under another large snapping pod, viciously hacked another smaller pod as it nearly bit his arm, and with a roar of effort, managed to round the corner of the house. He could see an open chain link fence on the left and a tall wooden privacy fence on the right. He immediately went left, taking the easier road. He could hear vines and pods slamming into the wall behind him so he dared not slow down. He could vaguely make out his name being cried out, but they were distant and getting further away every step.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  And then he was clipped in his left shoulder. The force of the blow flung him to the right violently through the privacy fence with a crash from the splintered boards. As he hit the cold ground and tried to roll up on his feet, something wrapped itself around his right ankle and jerked him abruptly backward with enough force to jerk his feet out from under him, causing him to face plant as he couldn't get his hands up in time to brace himself from the impact. His head bounced off the ground like a basketball. Thankfully, the yard was full of thick, stiff, frosty grass and it cushioned the impact somewhat.

  The vine wrapped around his ankle started dragging him back towards the black trunk laced with pulsing orange veins. "Fuck!" He tried to swipe at the vine wrapped around his ankle, but the swing was intercepted by a medium-sized pod, knocking it away. He continued to flail around trying to get free when he was suddenly lifted off the ground and flung towards the center stem.

  He could see a large pod open and waiting as he awkwardly tried to turn in mid-air to meet it. He could have sworn he heard the stem gurgling as if in anticipation of a hard-earned meal. He swung again at the weird, bloodshot eyeball near the center of the open plant pod maw. As it struck, his axe sank deeply into the flesh-like skin of the pod. He tried to pull the axe back for another swing but the thorny maw snapped shut around his arm, the thorny-looking teeth puncturing his skin as it snapped shut and flung him abruptly straight onto the ground. An "uahhh" escaped him as he had the wind knocked out of him, causing spots to appear in his vision as his ribs suddenly flared up like he had been hit by a red-hot iron.

  The thorny teeth had punctured his arm in multiple spots leaving several long finger-thick thorns buried deep in his shoulder. He coughed, blood sprayed onto the back of his arm as he tried to stand again. His jacket and shirt were shredded into tatters as he rose to one knee using the axe to support himself.

  A large vine the size of his wrist wrapped around him and squeezed, pulling him upwards again in only a couple heartbeats, he was upside down. A large snapping pod was coming straight for his face as he swung his axe to intercept it. As it struck the tree let out another sickening gurgling, popping groan. The axe bit deep into the eye in the pod's center but the pod snapped shut and wrenched itself away, taking his axe with it.

  He coughed again as he swung upside down, and saw more blood spray. He knew that wasn't good! The vine that held him threw him violently to another vine much closer to the orange veined writhing black trunk and its sucking, popping, sphincter mouth. Now he looked at the maw below him and hurriedly summoned his buck knife. He tried to swipe at the vine as he got closer to the sphincter.

  He tried to use his momentum by swinging against the motion as he tried to cut through the wrist-thick vine. He slashed deep into the vine as he tried to swing his weight away from the growing sphincter maw. Just as he cut deep enough the vine released him he fell. The sphincter mouth grew larger much faster as he cut through the air towards it.

  Clay had managed to throw himself sideways enough he slammed into the orange veined trunk, hard. The sound was like a sickening wet slap on bare flesh as he bounced off the fleshy mass and managed to get his feet under him as he hit the ground, hard, with a staggered hop-skip as he bled off the momentum of the fall and collision with the mutated plant after only a few paces.

  He turned quickly, he had spotted something pulsing near the base of the trunk as he recovered somewhat. He couldn't breathe... again. His body screamed at him. There it was! A glowing, pulsing orange-colored heartbeat shone through a translucent membrane surrounding the trunk he could see through the trunks orange veined black skin as his intuition was screaming at him to strike fast before the vines returned to finish him off, or finish feeding him to the giant fucking mutated sphincter plant!

  He could feel his chest burning badly, his arm with the thorns stuck in it was barely usable. He felt woozy as he forced his body to rush forward, lunging for the pulsing orange heartbeat. Clay vaguely noticed a large, birdlike eye rolling around trying to see him, its pupil a milky white color. His knife struck it, the sound like cutting through a large wet eggshell, and he was covered in thick orange mucus-like blood.

  "DING! Congratulations! New skill acquired: Multi-Strike. The host's next strike hits the target two times consecutively. This spell can be synergized with other skills. Cost: 25 Mystical Points." Kris said.

  "DING! Congratulations! New Passive Ability Acquired: Resilience. The host ignores 30% of the damage received from attacks, passive abilities, or skills received in combat." Kris said.

  The stem let out another loud burbling screech as it writhed violently. The pods hoovering around the trunk like a swarm of guardian snakes around their nest started falling to the ground, lifeless. They made odd squelching sounds as they impacted the ground, splattering in greenish goo. The stem continued to writhe and gurgle as his knife sank deeper until he felt something resisting the knife's tip. He gritted his teeth and used, "Crippling Strike!"

  He heard a "pop" almost like the tip of the knife busted through a lightbulb from the strike. The stem immediately went rigid and started turning an ashy greyish-white. Clay pulled his arm and knife free, feeling very weak as he turned around and fell to his knees. His vision was double and he could swear he could hear someone getting closer yelling his name.

  Why were they yelling? Didn't they know that would draw in more muted beasts or opportunists? He was suddenly on the ground, and he tried to rise back up but coughed blood up again. He looked at it that was really, really bad. Was that foamy blood? Fuck!

  "Congratulations! The host has absorbed enough Alpha DNA to initiate evolution. This experience may be painful for the host. Please find a safe place in 5...4...3..." Kris said.

  What the fuck! He tried to move but that last fall had pierced a lung and he couldn't even raise himself up. He grimaced as everything started to go black.

  So this was how he was going to die. Damn it! He had been so close too. He closed his eyes, letting a wheezing breath out as he did. Fuck it, he was ready to go fishing with Jake again. He honestly thought that this was the end of Clay Benton as he drifted away.

  * * *

  "Clay! You can't die!" Cried Jill as she managed to reach Clay. It had taken them a few moments to realize that he'd managed to kill the damn mutated plant monster. And only dared to rush in once it turned that ashy greyish-white color. Clay was covered in blood, and an odd orange-colored mucus-like slime and some sort of dust as the mutated plant was disappearing as the wind blew the tiny particles of what appeared to be ash away.

  She carefully rolled him over as Tonya made it to him too. She let out a gasp and quickly knelt beside him opposite her. A faint golden light radiated from the deep wound in his chest and his body arched as he let out a bloodcurdling scream. Both of them instinctively stood as if startled. The man was unconscious and Jill could have sworn he just got fucking bigger somehow!

  She heard several bones pop, the sound made her want to vomit as the veins through his chest, neck, and arms bulged and started glowing as if a massive amount of energy was suddenly surging through his body's arteries. She heard Tonya gasp, "Oh please no Clay, you have to live!" And the Orc woman was kneeling again, grabbing his large, callused hand. She was her rival for Clay's heart and she couldn't for a moment fault her reaction. She felt the same.

  "I don't know what's happening, but we need to get him to Amy and Dawn now! Do you think we can carry him?" Jill asked and Tony looked up and nodded. Tears already welling up in the woman's eyes. She reached down and patted her shoulder to reassure the woman. "Don't worry. I don't think he'll die if we can hurry!" She urged as she bent down and grabbed his arms, she nodded to Tonya to grab his feet.

  Tonya took the hint and after a few awkward moments, they figured it out and were moving, panting hard from the exertion as they moved beside a small grey house, half burnt down and smelling heavily of charcoal and burnt carpet. Amy rushed up to them as soon as they rounded the corner with Clay. Her hands already glowing as she tried to work her abilities, "Regenerate!"

  Nothing happened. The glow coming out of his veins and wounds didn't diminish at all. "It's not working?" Amy gasped as she tried again, "Healing Touch!"

  Clay convulsed violently. His arms and legs thrashed as he arched his back and let out another long bloodcurdling scream until his voice went horse. More bones popped as his muscles suddenly went rigid like corded wire, every muscle visible standing on end like he was being put through electric shock.

  As Dawn finally made it to Clay she dropped down next to him, feeling his pulse. "This isn't good! He's too hot, we have to cool him down quickly!" The shredded jacket and shirts came off and Jill noticed Clay had steam coming off his body as he lay on the cool ground. "What the fuck!" Dawn quickly washed her hand off, she had gotten some of the orange mucus blood on her hand when she had checked his pulse and felt how hot his body temperature was.

  "We have to wash that stuff off, I think its blood is some sort of poison." She quickly doused her hand with water and dried it off. "And try not to get any of it on you, it's like having a highly potent local anesthesia in gell form." The woman all nodded and after some scrubbing Jill and Tonya had managed to remove the majority of it from him. She couldn't help but notice his chiseled muscles.

  They were extremely careful around the large gash on his chest and the thorns stuck in his shoulder from the pod. As they worked the odd golden glow became less and less. After about ten minutes it had nearly completely dissipated. So was the heat though and Clay began shaking violently as his body temperature plummeted, going from one extreme to another.

  They quickly wrapped him in a blanket and Amy, Dawn, Jill, and Tonya all four managed to move him inside a nearby house. Jill didn't hesitate to shed her damp jacket and crawl under the blanket with him. Grasping his icy shaking body in a warm embrace. "Please Clay. Stay with us." She felt the blankets move and Tonya was on the other side of him, worry etched into her usually smiling face.

  "Don't you dare fucking die on us now Clay Benton." Tonya said as she snuggled as close as she could.