Tenth Year After the End CH2

002

The little monster wasn't big; rather, it was thin and small. Curled into a ball, it rolled near the crook of my feet.

I could clearly see a tail behind his butt, something humans wouldn't have. It was white, about the same length as its feet, and covered in thin scales on top.

The tail wrapped from its legs to its chest, obediently sticking to the little monster's chest. From where the tail connects to the back of the spine, it is covered in tiny white scales, leading up to its neck.

Its ears were different from those of a human, just like a small cone sticking by the side of its head, it looked stiff, and the tightly shut eyes seemed too big along with its mouth.

Its hands only had three fingers, rather, it was probably closer to a claw, the same thin white scales covered it, and only when you reached the elbow could you see its skin. It was the same for its feet, three toes, covered in white scales, more like the claws of certain animals than the hands of humans. As they were just born, the scales and the nails on their fingers and toes all had a semitransparent layer that seemed to be easily torn off.

The little monster's claws clenched on its chest, have sharp nails. Although they look soft now and seemed breakable, I can imagine that when they really grow up, they would become a terrible weapon.

When this monster is fully grown, it will become terribly dangerous. The monster had some human-like aspects, but it was not a pure human, instead, it was a monster just like I had imagined.

I couldn't help but tighten the grip on my hatchet, cold sweat dripped down my back.

I felt that I had to make a decision.

Just as I raised my hatchet expressionlessly, the little monster's head moved, and its damp lanugo pressed against my ankle.

A tender purring sound came out from its throat as its two curled-up claws flickered, revealing the umbilical cord still attached to its belly.

Its umbilical cord had not been cut yet. Seeing the umbilical cord reminded me that it came out of my belly. I stroked the hatchet, then lifted it and chopped it off.

Blood oozed out as I cut off the umbilical cord.

Along with my movement, the little monster moved, and its head, which was lying on its side, turned towards me and slowly opened up its closely shut eyes.

As its eyelids lifted, a thin white film was revealed, and as the film retracted, its eyes were revealed. It was a pair of green eyes, there was a hint of yellow within the vibrant green, vertical pupils, it gave off an icy feeling as they looked at people.

As I met its gaze, I subconsciously tightened my grip on the hatchet, becoming alert. Its big eyes blinked at me twice as its claws reached out towards me. I noticed there was a milky white web in the middle of its claws, when it was opened, it looked a bit like a duck's.

What does it want to do? Does it want to eat me? I looked at it coldly, with the hatchet in my hand, ready to strike. I learned a long time ago that there are times when one cannot be soft-hearted.

But the little monster's claws drooped down halfway, it couldn't crawl yet, instead, it rubbed its way around as if it had no bones, moving like a caterpillar. At most, it would only move its claws, not being as dangerous as I had imagined. I relaxed a little and then exerted some force, to which the placenta that was connected to the other half of the umbilical cord in my stomach, slid out with a stream of fluid.

The smell of blood mixed with dirt was unpleasant. The little monster was lying there struggling, but I had no intention of touching it. I coldly watched on to see what it was trying to do.

To be honest, I don't know what I should do now. My original plan had been that if I gave birth to a monster, I would kill it with a knife before it could hurt me, and then throw it far away, or find a place to bury the body.

But now......except for the hands, feet, tail, ears, and eyes, this little monster looks just like a newborn baby.

Throw it far away and let it die on its own. This was my last thought.

Now that I had made the decision, I no longer cared about this little monster. I got up and cleaned myself with the water that had already gone cold. Then I packed up the little monster along with the quilt and put it in another room. I returned to my original room, locked the door, and laid down to rest.

After tossing about for so long, I was fatigued, my stomach still hurt, and now even my head hurt. If I don't get a good night's rest, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on. There are no doctors now, every time I get sick, I have to fight it off on my own. There is no available medicine, I have to get well as soon as possible, otherwise, only death awaits me.

Ten years of discipline throughout the apocalypse could make any woman stronger and more resilient, even if I gave birth to that thing, I cannot take time to recuperate, so I have to rest up as much as I can now.

I had a dream during my sleep. In the dream, it was very noisy with a constant bleating sound.

When I woke up, it was already nighttime. Looking outside, I figured it should be about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, I didn't sleep for too long. But it was enough time for me to adjust. During the first two years of the apocalypse, I could hardly sleep. The long-term fatigue and short rest times shaped me to develop an instinct towards quick recovery.

Getting up from bed, I felt that my body condition was pretty good. The first thing I have to solve is my stomach problem. Giving birth to that thing had consumed way too much energy, so I had to make sure to find something to fill up my stomach.

As I came out of the bedroom and passed by the next room, my steps paused. I suddenly remembered that there was a little monster in there. It should probably be dead now since no one has cared for it.

「Boom!」

There was a sound of something falling coming from inside that room.

I grasped the handle and pushed the door open. I stood at the doorway without going in, with my hatchet held in front of me. Let's take a good look at the situation inside before putting away the hatchet.

The little monster that I had thrown onto the bed along with the quilt had now fallen to the ground, it was covered in dust, all gray, and motionless.

Is it dead? I walked in slowly, frowning, and turned the little monster over with the hatchet's handle. Its chest was still rising and falling, clearly not dead.

Suddenly, the little monster opened its eyes, and its green eyes stared at me motionlessly. Out of nowhere, it seemed to get excited as it stretched out its claws to grab me. I didn't dodge, and my pants were caught by its claws.

I was a little surprised that during this short amount of time, its claws seemed to be much sharper than when it was just born. I reached out and touched the little monster's tail and felt that the scales on its tail were also harder than at the beginning.

When the little monster saw me touching its tail, it seemed happy for some reason. It stretched out its two claws as much as it could before hugging my foot, then raised its head and shouted at me.

Its shout surprised me.

It had the same exact bleats as a sheep. It was a soft sound that held faint trembling. While shouting, it tried its best to look up at me, but it didn't have much strength. After raising its head for a while, it weakly fell down again, its head lay on the surface of my shoe.

I lifted its face up with my hand, pinched its mouth open, and looked inside. Sure enough, its mouth was full of sharp, gleaming teeth. Just now as it was bleating, a white part was revealed. I suspected that this thing had teeth even as it was just born. Now I can see that not only does it have teeth, but its teeth are sharper than that of a human.

Judging from its teeth, this thing seems to eat meat.

If it doesn't open its mouth, this little monster's mouth only looks slightly bigger than that of an average baby, but once you see the inside of its mouth, without any doubt, you can tell it could open very wide.

As I pinched its mouth turning it left and right, it didn't resist and allowed me to pinch it obediently. It stared at me with its big green eyes, it showed the natural coldness of a cold-blooded animal, but from its eyes, I could I was able to see some emotions of......admiration and attachment.

Do little monsters have the same feelings as fledglings? I felt a weird emotion rise within me.

After a moment of silence, I let go of its head and used a little force to pull it off my leg. But it seemed to be aware of my thoughts. It held onto my ankles tightly with its two little claws and refused to let go, bleating nonstop.

I feel that the cries I heard in my dream came from this thing.

「Let go of me.」I said to the little monster.

It didn't understand what I said and still held onto my foot tightly, even using its two other claws. But it was still too small, I put down the hatchet, and pulled it away with both hands, before throwing it back on the bed. It rolled around on the quilt and cried at me.

I didn't look at it, touching the hole in my pants caused by its claws, I grabbed my hatchet, turned around, and left the room with the hatchet. As I walked into the yard, I glanced at the hatchet in my hand.

The little monster is growing too fast. It is far more dangerous than I had previously imagined. If it is allowed to grow up, it may become a terrible enemy in the future. Maybe it will hunt humans like those ferocious mutant animals.

I once had a friend who had a dog. She and her family treated the dog as another member of the family. But after the apocalypse, the dog mutated and bit my friend and her parents to death. I saw with my own eyes the dog eating their corpses, so afterward, I became vigilant and fearful of all mutant animals. This mentality has saved me countless times.

I can't fully trust other people, not even other living beings, which is why I live here alone.

Even the so-called most loyal dog that has been raised since childhood can bite its owner. What can I expect from such a monster? If I leave it nearby, once it grows big enough to kill me, it will probably eat me up. If I throw it far away and it survives, when it sees me again after it grows up, it might bear a grudge and threaten me. Will I be able to escape then?

So the best solution at hand is still to kill it off like I had originally planned. But should I really kill it? I was hesitant.

Walking into the kitchen, I took the mouse that I had killed in the morning to the sink and skillfully chopped off the mouse's head, peeled off its skin, cut the meat into pieces, and washed it. There is a small piece of land near the kitchen where I planted some scallions, ginger, and garlic. I pulled out some scallions, washed them in water, and took them back to the kitchen.

I boiled the rat meat in a pot and sprinkled two handfuls of salt in. I only have salt, onion, ginger, and garlic to season with. Before I was lucky enough to find a lot of salt, but the other seasonings had been used up long ago. I peeled two cloves of dried garlic and cut a small piece of ginger into smaller pieces, put them all in the pot and boiled them together, then I took out the flour to mix it into a paste. There was not much rice left, but there was still a lot of flour, so I prepared to make gnocchi.

I wasn't a very good cook. After all, I was only a 17-year-old senior high student before the apocalypse. I basically didn’t know anything except studying. Many of my life skills were learned during the past ten years of the apocalypse. Just eat whatever you can get your hands on. No matter how picky you are, after starving for a few months, you won't be anymore.

The rat meat gave off an enticing aroma, while the gnocchi cooked in the pot. Taking out the gnocchi, I put it into a soup bowl. Combined with the rat meat, this was a satisfying dinner.

I fed myself before thinking about the little monster again.

Kill or don't kill?

After sitting outside for half the night, my body covered with dew, I finally picked up my hatchet again and walked step by step toward the room where the little monster was locked up.

I still had to kill it after all.

SMALL THEATER:

Protagonist: Act cute quickly, or I'll kill you.

Little Monster: Baa, baa, baa[1]?

Protagonist: Not cute, bye. 【Raises knife

Little Monster: Give......give my mommy, my tail?

[1]bleating sounds.

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