A creaking house exploded outward in a storm of shattered wood and flying debris as a hulking creature tore through the fragile walls like paper. Dust surged into the air, thick with the coppery scent of blood and the stench of rot.
The monster responsible loomed nearly four metres tall, its bloated frame packed with mutated muscle, skin stretched so tight it looked ready to split. Bulging veins throbbed across its dark grey flesh - some burst and oozing blackened fluid. Patches of raw skin peeked through tumour-like growths, and its hunched back was laced with twisted bone spines jutting out like jagged fins.
Its face barely resembled anything human. Its sunken eyes burned with hunger, and its jaw hung at a sickening angle, cracked sideways to reveal rows of broken, oversized teeth. One half of its skull bulged grotesquely, a thick horn jutting from it - like the mutation had outrun the body's ability to keep up.
Kai's blood ran cold.
