“…Fuck.”
You hug your rifle tightly to your chest. The aged weapon still holds a bit of heat in the material; your chattering teeth reminds you to take advantage of that. Still, you know you won’t last forever out in the cold in a light hoodie. While the days have been warming up, nights were still incredibly frigid. The thought of that and the discomfort caused by the hard sticks poking your rear make you reconsider hiding in some shrubs. It’s probably safe already, right? You nearly convince yourself to leave when a distant howl echoes across the neighborhood. Despite already being cold, a chill shoots through your spine and you about shit yourself. Your ears still throb and ring, but the sound was pretty clear. This howl was much closer than the one before.
Your heart begins to race for what feels like the millionth time tonight. Rethinking your current vantage, you shimmy over to the side and face the street, lying prone. The old Russian rifle stays tucked close to your chest while you peer through some branches. With your free hand, you feel your loaded pocket while looking for signs of trouble. After a quick mental count, you determine you have eleven rounds left, five of which are loaded in the rifle. Not much for a fight, but still better than nothing.
Surveillance of the darkened land yields nothing noteworthy, for now at least. A quiet sigh escapes your lips and you let your body relax for a moment. The thing still may not be that close. Your boredom sets in as several uneventful minutes pass you by. A pang of melancholy hits you as you play the day’s events back in your head. The literature club doesn’t exist anymore, save for you. Maybe a long-winded flashback can pinpoint the exact moment you fucked up?
...
“Just wait here for a second Anon, we need to get a few things ready,” Monika commands.
You sit on one of the many sofas in Yuri’s house while Monika disappears around the corner with the other girls. Yuri (or maybe it was Monika?) suggested that they hold a literature club meeting somewhere else instead of the same old dingy classroom. After a short conversation, the girls determined that the next meeting should be held at Yuri’s house. You could only politely agree and nod as the girls made the decision without your input. Not like you opposed the notion though, the idea of finally being at Yuri’s house certainly piqued your interest. And so, here you are, reciting poems to each other in one of the more ornate dwellings you’ve ever been in. Until they disappeared on you a second ago, that is. The girls have been acting a little strange lately, now that you think about it. You take notice of them poems on the coffee table again.
You snatch a piece of paper and reread the poem etched on it. This specific poem didn’t make much sense to you earlier, so it was worth another read. Everyone threw their poems onto the table randomly, so you’re not sure who it belongs to. Maybe another reread will unveil its secrets?
Fate pensively stares at me, suring me up,
Am I worthy of what is to come?
Can I surmount the wall that divides I from the precious fruit?
Perhaps that wall can be pierced?
What if the fruit can be attained?
Confidence runs its course.
Smiling, it tells me yes.
Alright, what the fuck does any of that even mean? Inspecting the sheet, you determine that the handwriting seems hurriedly scrawled out on the paper as well. Normally you can tell the girls apart from their handwriting and topic, but this poem has you guessing. You toss the paper back onto the table before you. Is this some sort of allegory on school or something cliché?
“Anon, we’re in the basement! Come down here,” you hear what you assume as Monika’s voice call out to you.
“Why are they in the basement?” you ask yourself.
Following the command, you get up from the couch and navigate to what you assume is the door to the basement. Opening the door reveals that your guess is correct and you descend the stairs to your destination. The basement is pitch dark, save for a couple candles space out on the floor. Your hand innately searches for a light switch while you look around. The dokis are standing around the basement, their faces only dimly lit by the candle light below them. You can’t help but notice how pretty their features look in the candle light. Although, the girls are staring at you with un-blinking and uncomfortable gazes.
Oh fuck, is this the part where they rape and disembowel you? One option horrifies you more than the other. You find the switch.
The basement light flicks on and dimly illuminates the room. A large crimson pentagram is drawn on the floor, and the girls are assembled at each point with a candle. Several symbols are into the pentagram as well. A pile of black hair, burning candles, a book and red sub sandwich sit in the middle of the symbol. Another pile of something organic sits at the tip of the leftover point. Veiled blue veins randomly make their way under the pink and purple mass. You’re afraid to investigate what the mass is but something tells you that it’s a pile of organs.
You speak up, hoping to gain an understanding of what’s about to happen.
“So…” you start, “why are we down here?”
“Ehehe, we have something special planned, Anon!” Sayori answers happily.
“Uh, yeah, I can kinda see that…” you reply. The rose blonde girl giggles at your answer.
“You have to guess what that something special is!” she exclaims.
You glance around the room again. All of the girls are smiling intently, obviously happy with your presence. There’s something you notice in their eyes, however, like something is off with them. Your past “experience” with girls in general tells you that they’re just smiling to be polite. Honestly, the sight of the club members looking at you is more unsettling than the satanic crap that litters the floor. You can think of one reason why you would be here.
“…You’re here to kill me, right?” you ask.
The girls are lightly taken aback by your response.
“We aren’t going to kill you,” Monika replies.
“Jesus Anon, why the hell would you think that?” asks Natsuki.
You gesture your hands to the floor around them.
“Because this is how horror movies start?” you say, defending yourself.
The other club members silently look down at the scene they’ve set up, guilt on their faces. Your eyes find themselves resting on the organic mass again. The sight of it irritates you.
“And seriously, what the fuck is that?” you shout, pointing at the fleshy pile.
Yuri mumbles faintly. You don’t clearly hear what she said, but it sounded like ‘noya’ or something.
“We may as well just come out and say it. Anon, we love you. Like, a lot,” Monika says.
“We have for a while…” blushes Sayori.
“I can’t believe you haven’t figured that out by now, you idiot,” Natsuki haughtily says.
“I’ve never loved a boy before you…” Yuri murmurs, her face also red.
You stare in stunned silence. At no point did you ever think that any of these girls would feel that way about you. You had always figured that they only ever brought you on to meet the membership limit for having a club or for ‘diversity’ since you’re the only boy. Your heart is pounding hard in your chest. But wait… she said ALL of them love you?
“Anon,” Monika continues, “us girls have been talking awhile about how we should handle having you.”
She closes her eyes and frowns.
“And we haven’t come up with a good answer. None of us want to share you.”
Fuck, where is this going?
“That is, until Yuri found an interesting passage in one of her books. So we did some research and finally found an answer we all liked.”
“Not at first…” Natsuki mutters.
Seemingly ignoring her comment, Monika continues.
“Why have all of us share you, when you can share all of us?”
Oh god, is this the harem route you’ve always heard and dreamt about? Is this finally about to happen for you? Four beautiful girls all to yourself? You’re starting to shake with excitement.
“So, what we’re saying is that we’ve decided to fuse ourselves into one!”
What.
“We’d never have to share and you can love ALL of us,” Monika continues on.
Ok, so no harem. Fuck. You’re still mildly intrigued by the idea of only having one wonderful girl, but you’d prefer if it were just the doki you’ve always been interested in.
“Isn’t that great?” Sayori asks with a nervous smile.
It crosses your mind that you should voice your disapproval. Maybe that would stop them from doing something too rash. What you say doesn’t quite come out how you would have liked it to.
“Honestly, that idea sounds fantastically retarded.”
“…oh,” Sayori murmurs.
A frown hangs on her face while her eyes are glued to the floor. Yuri and Natsuki begin to also look unsure of themselves, while Monika looks unfazed. That might have come out a little too mean; Sayori seems a little hurt. You should probably apologize.
“I’m sorry ladies, but I don’t believe this could ever go well,”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Monika says. She still has that confident smile of hers.
“I’m fine with not having faith if it means I don’t have to do whatever this is,” you reply, your hand pointed towards what’s scrawled on the floor.
“Believe me, if this wasn’t safe we wouldn’t do it. We’ve gathered everything we need and practiced what we need to do, everything should be ok!”
The idea still doesn’t sound that great to you. Before you can say anything, Monika goes on.
“Just have some trust in us, Anon. When we’re done, you can relax and know that you’ll have all of us forever. We love you.”
The other girls seem to have gained some of their confidence back. They’re giving you small smiles, trying their best to convince you that it’s ok. God you hope it is.
“Let’s start the ritual!” Monika declares, bringing her hands together.
The other club members follow suit and clasp their own hands. In a second, the four girls are chanting some unknown language in unison. At first, the entire ritual comes off as nonsensical and ridiculous to you. You feel like you should speak up and stop the nonsense you’re watching, when the ground begins to tremble beneath you. The tremble grows into a rough shaking, causing you to lose your footing and fall down. The symbols on the floor glow a bright light that oddly doesn’t cast any shadows. The girls continue their spell without hesitation, even with the violent shaking. Soon enough the same white light erupts from the club members’ eyes.
You can only stare on in bewildered awe as the girls and organic pile lightly levitate off the ground, their bodies hanging limp. Despite that their mouths are no longer hearing, the chanting still continues, although now it sounds more ethereal than before. The pile of items at the center becomes engulfed in the same white light that overtook the demonic inscription below it. Tendrils of white light emerge from the pile and slowly connect with each doki (and flesh pile). Seconds go by with the tendrils connected at each girl’s chest, apparently connected at their hearts. Without a warning, the light tendrils retract toward the pile, bringing the dokis into the center.
As the girls collide, the white light becomes nearly blinding. Reflexively, you look down and cover your eyes with your hand. You sit in stunned silence, hands shielding your eyes. Did that just really happen? Did your friends just confess their collective love for you and out themselves as Satanists at the same time? Noticing that the room is quiet, you lift your head up from your hand and open your eyes. Your eyes readjust to the rapidly diminishing light and distinguish a new shape at the center of the room. A few blinks allow your eyes to get a clearer focus on the shape in front you. Yeah, it’s about right here you realized you fucked up.
“Oh sweet mother of fuck what is that!?”
The figure soon comes into view. It is some sort of quadruped with vaguely familiar features. The visage you’re looking at fills you with an immense dread you’ve never felt before. The torso of the creature (if you can even make that distinction) is ripped to all hell, while still wearing the school’s girls uniform. The creature’s front hands both have a small mouth and a pair of pink, almost angry eyes. The back legs are just that; normal stocking-ed legs. A bloodied hand apparently makes up the tail. The horror continues as your eyes move upward. The thing seems to have a muzzle terminated by another pair of hands, along with a several large teeth that make up a mouth. Its ‘head’ has Monika’s eyes, and some of Natsuki’s hair. The dokis were successful in what they sought out to do. But… that seems to have come at the cost of their humanity.
The creature looks at you, its several sets of eyes looking at you judgingly. You pause momentarily, fear petrifying you completely. The chimera sniffs in your direction before letting out a guttural growl. The front hands are jabbering incoherently while the muzzle bares its teeth. Having watched too many monster movies, you realize that now is a good time to leave. Turning around, you bolt up the stairs and sprint out the front door of Yuri’s house. You don’t know how much humanity the girls have retained, but you’re not about to wait around and find out. As you run out of the house, the chimera bursts through the doorway of the basement and takes a moment of pause.
You pick up your speed as you bolt down the street like you’re being chased by a man but darker colored. It feels as if you’ve never ran faster in your life. Fortunately, it’s still bright enough to see, because you have no idea where you’re running to. The chimera plows through the outside wall of the house, much like the Koolaid Man. The being stumbles for a few moments as it reorients itself in its new environment. It mumbles unintelligibly as it returns to all fours and sprints towards your direction.
You round a street corner and make some good distance on this block. A sound of fast galloping and angry growling emanates not too far from behind you. You know it’s catching up and you know it’ll be your death if it gets to you. Thinking fast, you cut into a random yard and vault a few fences before ending up on another street. Adrenaline is a hell of a hormone, because never in your life have you ever been this athletic. Nearly breathless, you keep up the pace and continue to bolt towards the busier part of town.
A part of you is suddenly very happy that you’ve heeded Monika’s advice a couple months ago and began to work out more. There’s no way in hell you’d have made it this far without doing your cardio. And here you thought it was only useful to get the girls to steal glances at you when they thought you weren’t looking. Anyway, you catch a glimpse of a more active part of town at this time of night. Hopefully a police officer or somebody can help you. You don’t see it, but it only took the chimera a second to obliterate the fences and continue to pursue you.
Feeling like you could be overtaken at any second, you push yourself as hard as you can. You dart through a grassy field, chimera still hot on your heels. In what feels like a second, you’re running down a sidewalk through a busy commercial area. Almost as quickly as you ran into the area, you slow down and frantically look for someone who can actually help you. Your search yields nothing and a few screeches let you know how big of a mistake you made.
You turn around and look in the direction you just came from. A crowd of people has formed around the monster, which has stopped dead in its tracks. You’re not too far from the crowd, but the chimera certainly can’t see you. Several people have their phones out, recording the sight before them in confusion and uncertainty. Flashes of light emanate from the cameras of people taking pictures. The monster doki, who was trying to understand what it was experiencing, becomes absolutely infuriated with the bright flashes and the attention. It grumbles and hisses while taking a defensive posture, almost in the same way a gorilla would. Some of the crowd takes a few steps backward to be cautious. It wasn’t a good idea to come here.
The crowd is too late with their concern however. The angry beast pounces forward and lands on a man, knocking him down and crushing his torso. One of the aggravated hands grabs another man’s neck and snaps it. The sickening pop of this man’s broken neck is overshadowed by the other monster hand biting the arm of a woman in the crowd. The woman screams in pain as she is dragged closer to the creature’s mouth. The entire crowd darts away in sheer terror as the poor woman is devoured on the spot, her continued screams only silenced after a tooth crushes her head.
You watch the events unfold in horror. This thing clearly has no humanity left and is more capable of violence than you thought. Following the example of the people around you, you run away again. Bolting down the sidewalk, you can hear car horns wailing, brakes screeching and metal and plastic smashing. Damn thing must have wandered into the road. As much as you want to help and stop the violence, you just keep yourself moving. It’s not hard to acknowledge that you’re pretty useless in this situation as far as helping goes.
People are running in every direction in pure chaos. Police cruisers fly by you down the road, their sirens blaring in the distance. The buildings that line the street become increasingly familiar to you. You’re only a few blocks from your house! Relief washes over you as you realize that you gave the monster the slip. Hopefully the police can handle the situation and leave you the hell out of it. It doesn’t take too much for you to pick up the pace and hurry home.
You lock the door behind you and go through the house, drawing all the curtains and blinds. Unsurprisingly, your parents are nowhere to be found again. Relief and irritation hit you simultaneously. While you’re glad that they’re not home this time, they could have at least fucking warned you that they were going to be gone. At least you don’t need to explain a damn thing to them, given that this all blows over. Once you’re sure everything is covered, you throw yourself onto your bed in your room.
Your bed offers some well needed respite for your mind and body. Your lungs and legs still ache from the running earlier while your lower back throbs. Maybe your cardio isn’t all that great? You should probably ask Monika for some more ti—
Oh…
It finally hits you that the dokis aren’t around anymore. Well, they are in a way, but not in the how they used to be. Your heart burns in your chest as you stare up at your ceiling. It’s a tough thought for you to consider. You’d grown accustomed to seeing them every day after school, their smiling faces always greeting you as you’d enter the room. They’re the only girls who’ve ever paid attention to you, who’ve ever actually wanted to talk to you, who’ve actually loved you…
You wipe a few tears from your eyes. God, this is gonna be hard for a while. A few minutes go by while you silently tear up and consider all the time you spent.
You’re prepared to spend the rest of the night this way, when you hear more sirens in the distance. At first, you don’t really pay much attention to them. It’s not for another minute that you realize that the blaring is starting to get louder. Ah shit, they’re headed this way for a reason. You jump out of bed and wipe some of your tears away. You’re about to check outside your window when you hear a not so distant gunshot. The window suddenly doesn’t seem like a good place to be standing in front of. Maybe they’re shooting at—
Oh fuck, she might have actually followed you. Did she smell you out? Did she remember where you live? What if she gets in? You realize that if she did, you’re pretty defenseless. You may as well pull your pants down and prepare for the impending ass fucking. As the gunshots and sirens get louder and more numerous, you’re convinced that she’s about to find you. You momentarily panic, unsure of what to do.
The concept that you need to defend yourself comes quickly. You remember that Dad has an antique rifle sitting under his bed, with ammo not too far from it. He doesn’t know that you know about where it is, thankfully, otherwise he might have actually locked it up. You’ve bonded with him at the range a few times, so using the rifle shouldn’t be a problem. Good thing he forgot to cover up the butt of it with the bed sheets the last time he put it away.
You run into your parents’ bedroom and find the rifle under the bed. The rifle is decently worn, heavy and long, but it’s better than not having anything at this point. At least Dad threw a strap on it so you’re not hefting it everywhere. It’s empty, so you start looking around for ammo. The first place you search is the drawer in his nightstand. To both your joy and dismay, you find the ammo you were looking for. And a dozen extra-large condoms. And a cock ring. And a bible.
“Fucking Christ, Dad…”
You shudder before reaching in to grab the ammo. You slam the drawer shut and take a moment to convince yourself that you didn’t see what you did. Remembering the more pressing issue you have, you load the first stripper clip into the rifle. You count the rounds on the other two clips and pocket them. The sirens and gunshots are almost painfully loud. You have guests!
A boom crashes through your house, which is followed by a demented shriek.
“ANON!”
You shiver involuntarily. You’re very aware that the chimera has found your house and is apparently shrieking for you. The voice sounds downright demonic. It’s like a few voices of various pitches and towns speaking at once. The next scream ostensibly comes from near the kitchen.
“WHERE ANON?”
Knowing that you’re about two seconds from being violently maimed and or killed, you panic again. This time, it only takes a second for you to decide what to do. You choose to hastily go through the window in the bedroom. Good thing you’re on the first floor!
You’re on the ground in front of your house pretty quickly. The sirens and headlights on the squad-cars are near blinding and you’re mildly disoriented. The house has been rapidly surrounded by police in the time you swiped the rifle.
“Son, get the fuck out of the way!” you hear a random officer shout.
You pick yourself up from the broken glass around you and run towards the police. No sooner than you do, the chimera bursts through a wall, again, very much like the Koolaid Man.
The police open fire on the monster just as you make it past them. Your ears ache and throb at the volume of the booms. The creature seems irritated by the gunfire and sprints towards its source. Before you can act, the car next to you is flipped over, pinning and crushing several officers. You lose your footing while backing up and fall onto your ass. The chimera throws another car at more officers, who are starting to run away.
There’s nothing but a few feet of space between you and the monster now. You shakily grab the rifle from the ground and aim it and the thing. It’s covered in a lot more blood than it was earlier. You fire a round, which nails the chimera in one of its buff arms. It howls in pain while blood starts to leak out of it. You try to rack another round in the chamber, but only manage to fumble with the bolt. Your shoulder feels like someone just punched it. The monster looks over at you while you finally get another round chambered. Its gaze is still terrifying, from both its head and its hands.
“ANON!” it hollers.
You fire another round. The bullet grazes its shoulder, but not much else. A cop near you is also firing his pistol at the creature, but doesn’t seem to be doing much damage. In fact, the chimera doesn’t even register the smaller bullets hitting it. You hurriedly load another round, this time without fumbling the bolt. The chimera is getting ready to grab you when you get another shot off, this time hitting one of its legs. The monster lets out another pained shriek as it drops to the ground for a second.
You kick your feet forward to push yourself back and away from the thing. You manage to quickly load another cartridge and take another shot, which misses. More officers are firing on the beast, so you try your best to get the hell out of the way. The creature is immobilized for the moment as you get up and jog away. It screams as it attempts to stand up again.
A bright spotlight shines on the chimera from a helicopter above. Bewildered and disoriented, the monster begins thrashing about at anything nearby. With the scene becoming more chaotic, you take a chance and high-tail it down the street again. Fortunately, no one seems to have noticed that you just darted away like a bitch. Behind you, you can hear continued gunfire, sirens and metal twisting. You sling the rifle around yourself and do your best to ignore the ache in your shoulder while you run.
You’re unsure how much time goes by while you’re running. Eventually you slow down to a fast walk, but still keep an eye out for trouble. Thankfully you weren’t followed; however you’re now in an unfamiliar neighborhood. There seems to be more fields and trees than houses around here, so you’re certainly almost out of town altogether. At some point you cut into a field near a dark house and dive into some bushes. You pray that there’s nobody in the nearby house who might detest your presence. Last thing you need is to survive two monster chases just to be shot by some confused homeowner.
You fish one of the clips from out of your pocket and reload the rifle. A spare, steel round juts up from the breech. Instead of fully loading the rifle, you feel lazy and extra round out and toss it back in your pocket. You notice that this neighborhood is very peaceful and, if it wasn’t for the tinnitus you have right now or the fart you just ripped, quiet. You eye the house up for signs of life or an occupant. The house remains still, allowing you to breathe a sigh of relief.
“…Fuck.”
...
Another shriek snaps you out of your reverie of the day.
Ok, shit, it probably knows where you’re at again.
You still can’t see the creature, but its voice sure carries. Now you rethink your shrub-based vantage. Checking to see if everything is clear first, you bolt towards the house and hide on the wall furthest from the street. You get near the corner of the building and peek at the road. Your heart instantly drops.
Not too far up the road, you make out the figure of the chimera. The fact that it was able to find you again mildly agitates you. You curse under your breath. What makes it more strange is that the monster isn’t being followed by police or a helicopter. You mentally question if it killed everyone or somehow gave them the slip. Well, if you of all people could get away…
You stop peeking and press yourself against the wall hard. The creature keeps coming close and closer to where you’re at. You’re mentally preparing yourself for what’s about to happen. The only idea that you hope will save you is to ambush it from the wall and make every shot count. And if you manage to incapacitate it, then you would just bash it with your rifle until either one of you died. A morbid solution, but you know you can’t keep running forever.
You’re about to pop out and start firing when you hear it talk again.
“Come out Anon, we know you’re there…” it intones.
You’re horrified that it knew where you’re at. Its voice is now much more feminine and articulate.
It’s gonna shit talk you while it rips you apart, won’t it?
Aware that you’ve lost the game of hide and seek, you come around the corner. The chimera was already staring your way, calmly waiting for you. You keep the rifle shouldered and pointed at it, ready to fight and not run.
The monster is visibly wounded in a couple spots but is still managing to keep itself up.
“Anon, put the gun down… we won’t hurt you,” it says.
You’re not quick to take up the thing’s word.
“We promise,” it adds.
Okay, it did say please.
You stop aiming the firearm at the creature and keep it pointed downward. While you’re hesitant to believe it, you’re certainly not hesitant to shoot it if it tries anything. Especially now that it seems smarter.
“Thank you…” the chimera says.
The creature’s hand faces are no longer jabbering like they used to. Now they just watch you, which is pretty unnerving. You decide to press the thing for information.
“Why are you trying to kill me? Why have you been following me?” you ask with a mild attitude.
“We’re not trying to kill you… well, that’s a lie, we were at first,” the thing replies.
You cock an eyebrow. You’re not very amused.
“But that’s because we weren’t ourselves then. Like, we were there, but not in control. Something else was there,” explains the chimera.
“Whatever it was that we shared this… body with, we got rid of it around the time we were at your house.”
The creature’s three pairs of eyes feel like they’re staring through you while it talks.
“What do you mean, ‘we’?” you ask it.
“Anon… WE are here. All four of us as one mind and body.”
You stare in amazement back at the creature. Is it—she, rather, the fusion of the dokis? It’s a hard thought to believe, but you still find yourself accepting that idea. You figure that if that wasn’t the case, you wouldn’t be talking with her right now.
“If that’s true, then what’s the last thing you had said to me before the ritual?” you inquire.
Its eyes visibly soften as it recalls what was said.
“That we all love you,” she answers.
“We all still do, so very much. Combining has only made our love for you grow.”
The chimera sits down on the ground, giving itself a moment of physical reprieve. She continues to speak.
“It was awful to watch as we tore through innocent people and have no control over it. Even more so to see that we so nearly condemned you to the same fate, directly and indirectly. That might have been the hardest part; seeing the fear in your eyes as you looked at us.”
You are unable to find the right words to speak. It never occurred to you that this thing might be in love with you.
“We… we can’t ever really make up for all the pain we caused,” the chimera continues on.
“And it hurts even more to know that we did that to you, our love.”
The monster sighs out of its large mouth.
“Even now, your hand is trembling on your gun. You’re still scared, aren’t you?”
Well shit, now that she mentions it…
“We love you to the stars and back, and yet we subjected you to so much.”
The chimera looks downward and proceeds to talk more.
“Anon, we’ve made up our mind. If you wanted to kill us… that would be ok. We already killed so much, and don’t deserve you in anyway… we may not even be able have you in this form either,”
You can hear the chimera dry swallow. Its eyes are tearing up.
“We’d rather let you go than to keep harming you with our presence. But, life in this form... please don’t do that to us. Please don’t make us live on without you either.”
The chimera takes one of its hands and grabs the muzzle of the rifle, letting it rest on her head. It’s tearing up much more.
“We love you.”
Your finger is on the trigger. Just one squeeze and she’s gone forever.
So what do you decide to do?
