At a quick pace, he made his way back to the alley where he had found the body. Perhaps he had missed something, some clue that could tell him more about whatever it was that attacked them, a small detail he had simply overlooked in his haste. Though when he came to the alley, the pool of blood was still there, and definitely still wet, but the body was no longer there. The man tensed all over, the hairs on his neck standing on end as he looked around. His pupils had now narrowed back into slits as his gaze scanned the still alleyway. No sign of the corpse at all. There were a million different explanations. Some other scavenger had taken it for a late-night snack, maybe. Or, perhaps if it was a creature that had did this, it had come back to finish its dinner. He didn’t like the third option he came up with, that there was always the chance he wasn’t the only one to have come back from the dead around here. His jaw set, the back of his neck still tingling as he set off once again, this time taking in the surroundings more carefully. He found himself in a maze of dark alleyways, the buildings around him just tall enough to block out the moonlight. His footsteps echoed in the cramped alleys. Fences creaked and chattered in the chill night wind. Whispers and whimpers were carried to him from the darkened streets. The near-complete silence was louder to him than if the wind was howling. Shapes seemed to dance and move at the edges of his periphery. It all gave him the nagging sensation that he was being watched. Buildings that almost threatened to crush him eventually opened out onto a wide-open street, bathed in silver moonlight. The man walked out into the road, his footsteps even louder in the open street. His eyes were drawn by another yellow shop light. This shop door, unlike the last, was wide open, the lights within flickering on and off and casting long shadows over the silent road. He strode across the street, not making any effort to stay particularly silent or cautious. After all, it would save a lot of time if a creature just attacked him. After only a few steps, though, something caught his eye, a tiny shimmer on steel. Glittering red on a lamp-post next to him. Kneeling down, the man took a closer look and saw a bloody, smeared handprint at around knee-height. Judging by the size, it was an adult, and looking at the direction of the smear, said adult had been dragged away from the open shop door. He directed his gaze down, at the ground near the lamp post and saw similar smears and blood spatters leading across the road and into yet another cramped, black alley. The man grunted. More dark alleys. Wonderful.

This particular alleyway had one small difference to the ones he’d been traversing thus far. It was a hell of a lot darker, taking several seconds for his eyesight to adjust and for him to be able to survey the area properly. Large dumpster, bins, a tall fence to his right… He looked toward the top of the fence. As he thought, more bloody smears and handprints on the iron bar and chainlinks. Someone had climbed over. Someone who could still be alive. The man tilted his head, judging the rough height of the fence and hoping he wasn’t rusty, then bent his knees and jumped. His feet cleared the top of the fence by almost a meter and he landed in a crouch by pure habit, blinking a couple of times with a frown as he had barely felt the landing impact. Brushing away the surprise, he picked up the pace and headed toward the building that was being fenced away. He was at the side entrance of a tall block of flats. The iron door was open, and of course, there was a bloody smear on the wall. Pure darkness greeted the man as he stepped into the building, he slowed his pace down a little, his footsteps lighter and his guard ready to spring up at a moment’s notice. He had learned years ago to be more cautious in cramped spaces and still had the scars to remind him why. While his sight adjusted within moments, what it adjusted to still almost made him freeze momentarily. The entry hall was covered in blood, a corpse against the wall missing several limbs, and another closer to the front door, in even worse shape. He had seen things like this before, but the image still made its way into his head nonetheless, of every building in this little village looking like this. Shaking his head, the man-made his way through the building, slowly and carefully he crept upstairs and looked around corners before turning them. Neither of the bodies had been the person running, they had been there too long. Some of the blood had dried slightly. The man came across more bodies, and alarmingly, more pools of blood with a lack of any identifiable source. He caught sight of it then, another bloody handprint. Very fresh, someone had just come through this way in a hurry, so the man quickened his pace slightly. He barged into the room the blood was leading to and slowed to a stop, his shoulders falling slightly as he looked down. The carpet was already soaked through with red, a young woman with fresh, bloody hands lying face-up on the floor with her eyes unblinkingly gazing at the ceiling above. Her throat had been ripped out, and she had clearly been trying her best to stem the bleeding but eventually, the wound caught up with her. The man cursed, turning on the spot and kicking the door off of its hinges. He stormed back down the stairs, not caring anymore about the sound he made. The one person who he could have saved and he had been seconds too late. He staggered to a stop at the bottom, his jaw setting as he looked all around. Once again, where he had seen mutilated corpses, there was nothing but bloody stains. Slowly, he fixed his gaze on the front door and stalked towards it. The feeling of being watched, the uneasy and unearthly atmosphere were all beginning to make sense. Another stiff kick and the front door was blasted out into the street. He stepped back out into the cool night air. That was when the first of them attacked him.

A long, anguished moan sounded to the man’s left and he turned slowly. Stumbling towards him was the armless corpse he had seen in the building’s hallway. The eyes were now a deep, bloodshot red and blood dripped as it drew nearer. He hadn’t been brought back to deal with a monster problem. He closed his eyes and shook his head with disgust. It was his coming back from the dead that ravaged this town in the first place. “I’m so sorry.” The man said, his deep voice tinged with pity, before he put the once-living inhabitant out of his misery, and moved on to the next, wherever they may be. It may not have been the job he had expected he’d need to do, but it was still his responsibility nonetheless.