Ravaged by Monsters (Dark Temptations #1)

1. Aliana

ALIANA

The stale, moldy scent of the feeder permeates my nose as I peer through the broken window at the midday sunlight blazing down on the city beyond.

The feeder’s body is long, nearly the size of a plank of wood, and covered in slimy, gray skin, hanging loose on an emaciated body.

Narrow, needled teeth extend from a mouth that’s a little too small for its face, surrounded by stringy whiskers that are a little too long.

Its eyes resemble cracked rocks—chips of onyx stone that have been tossed to the ground but still somehow remain intact, web-like lines whittling the surface.

It crawls forward, its hammer-shaped head twisting in both directions, its nostrils flaring to the size of fists. Those unnerving eyes scan its surroundings but slide over where I’m crouched, remaining oblivious to my presence.

Still, I hold my breath.

Feeders almost remind me of demented centipedes, though they only have six tiny legs that protrude from their hard, slimy bodies instead of a few dozen—three on either side.

A trail of goo is left behind in this one’s wake as it crawls forward, its mouth snapping open to devour everything in its path.

A plastic bottle of water…gone in seconds.

A stuffed bear lying abandoned on the street. Gone. A broken syringe. Gone.

It makes a horrible gurgling noise each time it swallows an object, a satisfied grin erupting on its grotesque face.

Like most anencephalics, the feeder isn’t cognizant in the way humans and beluas are. It simply relies on its senses the way a wolf would hunt prey. But unlike wolves, feeders—as well as most anencephalics—are mainly solitary creatures, preferring to hunt solo rather than with the help of a pack.

Anencephalics refer to all of the monsters who can’t speak or communicate the way a human can. They’re nothing more than beasts, animals, creatures that prey on humans.

But the beluas, the monsters who live behind the golden fence, the monsters with brains that rival that of a human…

They’re the real evil who destroyed this planet.

They first came out in public a hundred years ago. The war with humanity lasted another fifty…until we lost, and the bastard beluas crowned themselves kings.

However, we don’t use the scientific names to describe the monsters who now rule our world. We call them teeth or tongues—the monsters who bite versus the monsters who talk. And the feeder crawling along the ground? It’s definitely a tooth.

I wait until the monster has crawled around a blasted-out brick corner before turning back to the hunting party with me. A ragtag bunch of humans in mismatched former-army gear, we’re part of the resistance fighting against the Ebony Kingdom and the tongues that have taken over our planet.

“Coast is clear,” I say, pulling myself over the gritty windowsill and onto the broken asphalt. The street is peppered with weeds and grass, loose pebbles flying in all directions when my feet touch the ground.

I tighten my backpack straps over my shoulders as I stare at the remains of what was once New York City. The concrete jungle has become so intermingled with trees and vines that the name now actually fits.

Time and weather have eroded away most of the buildings and skyscrapers, leaving behind nothing but crumbling bases and precariously tilting structures.

Moss covers ninety percent of the brick and plaster I can see, and not one window remains intact.

Trees erupt from the interior of most buildings, their spindly branches eating through the siding and clawing at the sky.

Everything is desolate and dilapidated—exactly as the tongues intended it to be when they took over and destroyed human civilization.

I move through a collection of overgrown weeds, my hand hovering over the crossbow I always keep on my back over my pack. Behind me, Bella sidles forward, using her binoculars to look ahead at our intended target—a pharmacy that has mercifully been left alone. Teeth don’t like the taste of pills.

It’s why we traveled so far out into the city when the safest place to be is in the forest. Every human knows that the only places you’re able to gather any supplies anymore are in the cities. The small towns have been virtually decimated, reduced to nothing but rubble.

“All clear,” Bella declares after a moment of taut silence, pulling the binoculars away and rubbing a hand through her stringy, gray-streaked brown hair.

The lines around her eyes seem twice as pronounced today, but maybe it’s just the shadows caused by the sun sitting straight overhead in the sky.

We planned this trip so we could be out at noon, when the fewest monsters are about.

Chase pushes forward with his usual cocky gait, halting abruptly when he’s directly in front of me, his back against my front. I know he’s stopping just to annoy me, and I have to bite down the string of curses that want to erupt.

When he continues to stand there, not moving or speaking, I snap out, “Can you move your fat ass, or do I have to stab it for you?”

He spins on his heel and begins to walk backwards, a malicious twinkle in his emerald gaze.

“Why are you thinking about my ass, dove? Your obsession with me is a little creepy.”

I resist the urge to give him my middle finger as I pick up my pace—practically sprinting at this point—and shove past him, moving towards the abandoned pharmacy.

“Fuck off, shit brain,” I say with a sneer.

His laughing voice reaches me from behind. “We both know I don’t have a fat ass, whore bag, but if it helps you sleep at night…”

I swear my eyes roll so far back into my skull, I see brain matter.

Anyone with eyes can see that Chase is a literal work of art—sinewy muscle covered by tawny, golden skin, bright blond hair, and striking green eyes.

The problem is he knows how good-looking he is.

He seems to believe he’s God’s gift to womankind and that we all must fall to our knees and worship him.

Gag.

All the charming, dimpled smiles in the world can’t make his personality even semi-attractive.

The last two members of our party—Lucas and Eon—reach the building before any of us. Lucas immediately drops to his knees and unzips his backpack, then takes out a tiny seismograph. It’s one of the only devices capable of informing us if any crawlers are around.

Crawlers are teeth—just as the feeders are—and they don’t have a scrap of intelligence to their name.

However, they live in the ground and will strike without any warning whatsoever if they sense someone over their home.

Picture giant worms the size of semitrucks with serrated teeth and no eyes.

The seismograph is able to tell us if any crawlers have made this place their home, burrowing under the foundation of the building.

“All clear,” Lucas says after a moment of silence, turning off the device and shoving it once more into his backpack.

Once again, Chase swaggers forward with a shit-eating grin on his face, as if he actually contributed to this mission instead of being a lowlife bottom dweller.

He’s not the one who killed the flier coming after us—that was me.

He simply watched with a cocksure smirk on his arresting face, a golden brow raised.

Like all the other buildings in the immediate vicinity, this one is missing all of its windows and doors, making it easy to access.

The inside is just as dilapidated as the outside, the shelves nothing but broken debris and the items scattered across the dirty floor. Dirt and dust cover every inch of flooring, undisturbed and clear of footprints.

“Grab everything,” I tell my team. I shrug my backpack off and set it on the ground, then snatch items at random.

I don’t know what anything is or what it’ll do, but we can’t be certain what situations will arise. What we don’t need now might be crucial at a later point in time. Besides, Doc explicitly said to take everything and that he’d sort through it later.

“Catch!” Chase exclaims suddenly, and I glance up in alarm just as a bottle is thrown my way. It hits me in the center of the forehead before bouncing onto the floor in front of me.

“What the fuck, dickhead?!” I rub at the sore spot as Chase flashes me his signature asshole grin.

“I thought you might need that, dove.” He nods towards the bottle, which I just now see is body soap. “You’re getting a little…” He plugs his nose dramatically and waves a hand in the air, as if he can dispel my scent into the atmosphere.

I bite down on my growl as I retort, “I’m sorry not everyone can smell like you.”

His grin broadens, revealing those dimples I want to take a fork to. His eyes sparkle with malice. “Like pine and man?”

“Like five seconds of sex and STDs,” I quip, already turning my back to him as I begin to collect more medicine.

I can feel his eyes on me, slowly burning a hole into my nape, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of turning around. It makes him more pissed when I ignore him than when I verbally spar with him.

After a moment, he heaves out a breath and hisses, “Why do you have to be such a frigid bitch?”

“Why do you have to be such a dumb asshole?” I retort immediately.

“Guys…” Bella sighs heavily, slowly shaking her head from side to side.

For as long as I’ve known her, she’s acted as the unofficial peacekeeper of the group.

She always appears slightly exasperated with us—with everyone, really—as if she can’t understand how we made it this far in the monster apocalypse.

Personally, I can’t understand how Chase made it this far in the monster apocalypse.

I mean, he can’t shoot a gun for shit, and he seems to think his sole purpose in life is to fuck as many people as he can.

His weapon? His cock. I’m pretty sure that thing is perpetually hard and he uses it as a sword against the beasts.

Great. Now I’m picturing my nemesis waving his dick around and whacking feeders in the face. Ew.

“Kid, here!” Lucas hollers, throwing me a package of bandages.

I catch it against my chest and dump it into my backpack.

Chase grunts something noncommittally. “So he’s allowed to throw things at you, but I’m not? How is that fair?”

“I like him,” I deadpan, and Lucas chuckles.

Lucas is a large, intimidating man with a thick red beard and matching hair that’s just as long. But despite his terrifying appearance, I know he’s a giant teddy bear. Laugh lines surround his mouth and imprison vibrant green eyes, always sparkling with mirth.

Eon laughs as well but doesn’t speak, which isn’t surprising. He’s a tiny man, with lightly tan skin and almond-shaped eyes. He doesn’t speak much—technically, he doesn’t speak ever —but his features are so expressive you can tell what he’s thinking without words needing to be said.

Chase mutters something I can’t quite hear, but he mercifully leaves me alone to collect supplies.

Our work is long and tedious, but it’s crucial for our survival. Before I led a hunting team, my parents did.

Both were killed by tongues.

To be honest, I don’t know what happened to them. All I know for certain is that they left the camp to gather supplies…and never returned.

Something cold and insidious settles in my stomach when I think about the fate that must’ve befallen my parents. It hurts to think about, hurts to imagine, as if thousands of claws are being dragged across my body, drawing blood.

“Hey, Chase!” Lucas interjects suddenly, holding up a box and waving it in front of his face. “I found the thing you were looking for.”

Chase’s brows furrow. “What thing ?”

“You know…” He lowers his voice to a mocking conspiratorial whisper. “The performance enhancer.” He nods to his own cock. “You know, to make it…work right.”

I bring my arm up to my face to hide my giggle as Chase’s eyes narrow, his face turning red.

“Lucas?”

“Yeah, man?”

“Fuck off.”

This time, I can’t hold back the laugh that escapes me. As soon as the strangled noise leaves my mouth, Chase whips his head in my direction and glares at me.

His lips pull away from his teeth in a sneer. “Ladies never seem to complain about my performance ,” he growls out.

“Because they don’t want to listen to your temper tantrums,” Bella retorts.

Lucas guffaws, reaching forward to give her a high five. Even Eon’s lips twitch into the makings of a smile.

“I’ll have you know—” Chase’s protest is interrupted by the sound of wheels rumbling over broken asphalt.

All five of us freeze, and the only sound I can hear is my own heart pounding erratically.

Bella crouches with flexibility that belies her sixty-odd years of life and scurries to the blown-out window, her earlier mirth forgotten. She crouches down behind a busted sill, and her face drains of all color instantly.

“They’re here,” she whispers hoarsely, stark terror splayed across her face.

I immediately get into action, strapping my backpack over my chest and removing my crossbow.

“Fliers? Eaters? Crawlers?” I demand, ticking off some of the more common teeth.

“No,” Bella whispers, her words swallowed by the sudden rush of blood between my ears, whistling through my head like a raging storm. “Tongues. Lots of them.” Her next word makes cold, insidious fear grab at my heart, squeezing the organ until I feel physically sick. “ Traders .”