Bab 65: Where Are You?
Warm blood spilled out onto his mouth and dribbled down his chin. However, he could hardly even notice that. For one, nearly his entire body was being consumed. And at the same time, the blood and flesh going down his throat were far more noticeable.
The creatures he had eaten squealed out in pain, before dying shortly after. Jack immediately went to grab another two, before biting down on them once more. Before the flavor of flesh and blood disappeared, it grew several times stronger in his mouth. It was even further amplified by the fact he couldn't see anything, putting more focus on the taste, and even the smell of it.
Not that he didn't like it, of course.
It was quite a change of pace from the jerky that he had eaten for so many years on end. Even as one of his eyes was torn out, the smile on his face only grew brighter, while his excitement grew more robust.
Jack soon got into a rhythm, taking turns between stuffing his face full of meat, swallowing, and reaching out once more. He snuck in sparse breaths each time he reached out, giving him just barely enough air to continue moving and eating.
He only took one bite out of each bat. If they were chicken wings instead, a ton of people would totally freak out. But despite what some would consider a 'wasteful' way of eating, he was very quickly getting full.
It was getting quite difficult for him to continue, partially because he was getting full, but also because the creatures were reaching his muscles, tearing them apart. Still, Jack didn't stop.
Jessica was rather nervous. Although she couldn't see anything, from the sounds, she could tell that something bad was happening and that Jack was struggling. She looked over at Mia with hesitation.
"S-Should we help?"
Mia pursed her lips and furrowed her brows.
"I... don't think we can. We can't see anything at all, what if we just interfere?"
Jessica clenched her fist around a katana.
"But it doesn't feel right to just be sitting here the entire time!"
Mia bit her bottom lip.
"I understand and feel that way too. But... sometimes mindlessly trying to help just ruins everything. Trust me on this. I've made that kind of mistake before."
Jessica pressed her eyelids together tightly.
"Alright... if you say so."
Jack attempted to let out a laugh, but it was caught in his throat. In fact, even his throat was torn out, making it practically impossible to breathe, or perhaps even eat for that matter.
It was at this point, his stomach started to violently reject the large amount of raw flesh that was put inside. All of it came back up in the form of bile. Jack began to vomit rather violently, the smell of it naturally being quite bad.
The countless bat-like creatures were also revolted after smelling the scent of their own chewed-up and partially digested kind. In the end, they all retreated rapidly. For whatever reason, the blood of their own kind wasn't enough to make them run, but the smell of vomit was somehow their bane.
The darkness gradually cleared among the sounds of frantically fluttering wings.
Things were quickly lit up. There was a lamp just a few steps away from Jack, revealing a rather horrifying sight.
He was missing an eye entirely, while the other was half gone. Along with holes in his neck, his skull and teeth were visible near the bottom, which his mask didn't cover. Jack was still reflexively reaching out, though his hands didn't clench all the way, as some of his muscles were missing. To top it all off, both his own flesh along with corpses of bat-like creatures were scattered around his feet.
He stumbled a few steps forward, on the verge of falling down. Though he barely caught himself in the end.
Jessica and Mia were watching in terror, not knowing what to think. Eventually, Jessica stammered under her breath.
"J-Jack? Is he alive?"
There were strange sounds coming out of him as he attempted to laugh, but only wheezy sounds came out from the hole in his throat. His head moved around erratically, almost like he was trying to put it on straight but couldn't.
While his body was regenerating, it was still going to take a while to do so with how badly he was hurt.
Mia blinked a few times before swallowing nervously.
"Are you ok, Jack?"
They were only a meter or so away, still illuminated by the lantern. Jack suddenly spun around upon hearing her voice. Parts of his face messily regenerated, revealing a smile. Though, it was a little too large to be normal.
Mia pushed herself up off the ground, intending on taking off the cloak. However, Jessica's eyes intently remained fixated on Jack with a strangely serious expression. After waiting for a moment, she grabbed Mia, and pulled her away, throwing them back several steps.
And at the same time, Jack rushed over towards them in a frenzy. Warped laughter came from him as he held both his bloody hands out.
"HAhaeeee... HAAAAAAA!"
Before Mia could realize what was going on, Jessica had nearly picked her up while retreating away. Jack rushed over to them like a maniac, tripping over himself and falling a few steps short as they got away.
Mia was rather shocked. After her brain caught up on the situation, she looked at Jessica with wide eyes.
"Is... Jack attacking us?"
Jessica swallowed nervously and whispered to her.
"He seems to be unstable now. We should hide from him until he calms down."
Mia nervously nodded a few times, and the two of them crept away while under the black cloak. As for Jack, he slowly picked himself back up. Although he still looked like a complete mess, the most vital parts of his body were repairing one after another. Soon enough, other than looking messy, he would be more or less healed.
Jack held onto his face, itching his eyes as they regrew. It appeared that the sensation was quite uncomfortable for him.
"Grrrr... GRAAH! Rr...."
Jessica and Mia continued to slowly walk away. Though as they were doing so, Mia couldn't help but speak up with concern.
"Wait, doesn't he have really good vision in the dark? We can't just be sitting around here!"
Jessica furrowed her brows.
"No, no... Jack wouldn't have thrown this cloak at us for no reason. He must've given it to us because he knew that it would cover us. After all, none of the bats went after we put it on, so there seems to be some kind of stealth function. We should stay under it."
She was thinking too deeply. He, in fact, threw it at them because he thought they were cold, and nothing deeper.
He didn't even realize that the cloak had such strong stealth properties in the first place.
Jack soon stopped clawing at his eyes, as they had already regenerated themselves. He slowly stood up before looking around like a rabid animal.
"Whereeeee... Are youuu~?"
Jack's breaths were needlessly heavy and loud, like the main villain in a horror movie.
While keeping their breaths as shallow as possible, Jessica and Mia slowly crawled away, making as little sound as possible. And along with the usage of the cloak, they were almost completely invisible. If the cloak was just covering one person, then Jack wouldn't have been able to get anything at all.
However, since the cloak was spread between two people, it was kind of awkwardly covering them, and the stealth properties were weakened somewhat. As such, he just barely heard a faint footstep in the distance. His head snapped in that direction as he flung himself there.
"RAHH! HAHAAA HAHA."
Mia and Jessica anxiously got out of the way, just barely dodging him. Jack looked around as he huffed and puffed. Not knowing that the two were actually right next to him, slowly inching away.
Jack held onto the side of his head with one hand and hunched over.
"So... we're playing hide and seek! But I'm not used to being 'it'..."
He let out a soft giggle.
"Still, I promise to try my best!"
He spun around, looking around wildly like a paranoid person before randomly choosing a direction and rushing down it, both hands reaching out. Without noticing it, he skimmed right past the two, brushing up against the cloak and lifting it up a little.
Jessica quickly held it down while gritting her teeth.
Jack ran until he fell to the ground, slamming hard into the gravel. Though it hardly mattered to him as a second later, he pushed himself back up. He let out a long hum, almost like he was singing a lullaby before abruptly stopping.
"Can you guys give me a small hint?... This game isn't really fun if you try this hard! You even made me 'it' without asking first! Actually, we should play a different game. I know one that's way more fun!"
Mia looked over and Jessica, who promptly shook her head. She whispered under her breath.
"Don't show yourself, no matter what he says."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Disgrace
Disgrace Does this count as his mom or moms leaving him?
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone