8 Months Later
Somewhere in a thick rainforest jungle that sounded exactly like every jungle ever made in a movie. Monkeys screamed in the distance. Birds screeched overhead. Insects buzzed with consistency.
Under the dense canopy, a pack of ferals moved in a single, miserable line through the bushes.
“Pant… pant… are you sure we’re not lost?” Bella said, her voice cracking.
“Pant… no, we’re not… pant…” Ivy replied, holding a map that was now more sweat than paper.
Behind them trudged Kovalski and Irving.
All of the Misfits are wearing jungle-camo ranger uniforms, and all of them were drenched, panting, and slowly fermenting inside their own clothes thanks to the tropical humidity.
“Pant… pant… you know,” Kovalski muttered, dragging his boots through the mud, “when they said tropic in the briefing… I was thinking beach full of bikinis. With waitresses wearing bikini tops, delivering my bikini martini. While I watch many bikinis lingering on the beach.”
Irving blinked at him.
“You know… pant… it’s impressive… pant… how many bikinis you can fit… into one sentence… during a tormenting rescue operation.”
“Pant… well, that’s our Kovalski,” Ivy said, without looking up from the map.
“A hardened… all-weather-proofed… pervert,” Bella added.
Then, suddenly, the sea of trees ended.
The jungle just… stopped.
No more foliage. No more undergrowth. No more blessed shade. Ahead of them rose a sheer cliff wall.
All four of them stared up.
There was no way to climb that.
Silence hung in the air, broken only by insects and the distant mocking laughter of nature.
“…Are you sure we’re not lost?” Bella asked again.
Ivy’s eye twitched as she checked the map. Then checked it again. Then flipped it upside down.
“How the heck—” she muttered.
“Yep,” Irving said calmly, nodding. “We’re lost.”
But Kovalski wasn’t looking at the map. He was staring at the cliff wall—specifically, one side of it.
“Uhh… guys…” he said slowly, voice dropping. “There’s something over there.”
---
A moment later, the misfits stood together, staring up at something deeply, profoundly wrong.
Several bodies were hanging from the cliff wall.
Suspended. Displayed. Organized.
It was hard to tell what species they had once been. Some were humanoid. Some animal-shaped. Some… maybe both. Every single one of them was red, raw, and completely skinned.
The bodies weren’t limited to the cliff. They were also hung neatly from nearby trees, swaying gently in the jungle breeze like grotesque holiday decorations.
Every Murican stared at the display with neutral expressions.
Everyone except Ivy.
Her face went pale. Then green. Then something in between. She turned, stumbled, and sprinted toward a tree before violently emptying her stomach.
“Bleeegh.”
The retching echoed through the jungle.
Bella tilted her head.
“Wow. She’s actually still got some human left in her.”
“Ssh,” Kovalski said dismissively. “Maybe she’s just building another persona for scheming.”
Irving nodded thoughtfully, still studying the skinned corpses.
“But anyway, at least we found our prey’s home.”
Ivy staggered back, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, eyes watering.
“Ugh… see? We’re not that lost.”
She took two steps forward.
Then she froze.
Something was wrong.
Not visible. Not audible. Just… there.
Her instincts screamed. Her skin crawled. The jungle suddenly felt too quiet.
There's something invisible was watching her.
It had a humanoid shape—she could tell that much—but she could see through it. Like heat distortion. Like a hole in reality pretending to be a person.
Her heart slammed into overdrive.
“C-CONTACT!” Ivy screamed, raising her MP5 and Beretta M9 in one smooth, panicked motion.
RATATATATATATATATATA
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Gunfire ripped through the jungle.
Ivy kept firing.
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Both hands locked. Jaw clenched. Eyes wide. She unloaded toward the general direction of the invisible target.
The rest of the misfits snapped out of their shock and rushed toward her.
“WHAT IS IT?!” Irving shouted over the gunfire.
“IT’S NOT HUMAN!!” Ivy screamed back, not even looking at him.
That was all the explanation they needed.
Bella’s eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
She swung her M134 minigun forward and pulled the trigger.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTT
Kovalski raised his M16A1.
RATATATATATATATATATA
Irving joined in, aiming his M32 grenade launcher.
THUMP–KABOOOOOM
THUMP–KABOOOOM
At that moment, something primal infected them all. Testosterone. Adrenaline. The jungle in front of them ceased to be a jungle and became a target.
Trees exploded. Branches disintegrated. Leaves turned into green mist. The rainforest screamed as four tried to solve invisibility with overwhelming firepower.
---
After several long minutes of rage, smoke, and ungodly amount of bullets and explosions, the misfits finally stopped shooting.
Silence returned.
No trees remained standing in front of them. Just a smoking, shredded clearing where a jungle had once provided a productive ecosystem.
Kovalski lowered his rifle.
“…Do you think we got it?”
“I don’t know,” Ivy said, breathing heavily. “When I saw it… it looked invisible. Just like the villagers said. The predator can camouflage itself in the jungle.”
Bella wasn’t listening.
She was staring at Irving.
Hard.
“Uh… Captain…” she said slowly, eyes narrowing. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Irving replied, casually reloading.
“That.” Bella pointed at his chest.
Irving looked down.
Three red dots sat on his chest. Perfectly arranged. A neat little triangle.
“Oh shit.”
ZAAP
A laser beam tore through the air from somewhere in the trees.
KABOOOM
The ground behind them exploded in dirt and fire.
“IT CAN SHOOT?!” Ivy yelled.
ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP
KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM
Laser beams rained down in retaliation, tearing holes into the earth around them.
“KYAAA!” Bella screamed, diving sideways.
Their position was now being bombarded by something that was still mostly invisible and very clearly pissed.
“Shit! We’re too open!” Irving shouted. “Retreat!”
The jungle answered with more explosions.
They ran.
Branches whipped their faces. Mud sucked at their boots. Something invisible was still behind them, and that made everything worse.
“How the hell are we supposed to fight an invisible enemy?!” Ivy yelled while sprinting.
“No idea!” Irving shouted back. “We need to regroup somewhere safe and strategize!”
“HEY!” Kovalski suddenly yelled. “Where’s Bella?!”
They all skidded to a stop.
Silence.
Too much silence.
“…Did we leave her behind?” Ivy whispered.
Then—
“KYAAAAAAAAAA—!!”
Bella’s scream tore through, sending birds bursting into the sky in a panicked black cloud.
The three of them froze.
Kovalski’s face darkened. “No… idiot girl…”
“Bella…” Ivy whispered.
“TCH! WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING!” Irving barked.
They snapped back to reality and ran again, following Irving without time to mourn.
---
Jungle River
Moments later, the trees ended again.
This time wide river roared in front of them, its current violent and unforgiving. A giant fallen tree lay across it, forming a crude natural bridge.
No time to think.
They climbed.
Irving crossed first. Ivy followed. Kovalski brought up the rear.
Halfway across—
“AH—!”
Kovalski stumbled.
His rifle slipped from his hands, splashed once, and vanished into the rushing water below.
“GUYS! HELP ME!” he screamed.
His foot was caught in a branch.
Irving turned then he looked around.
Then he noticed a hill nearby.
“Kovalski,” he said calmly, “you’ll be bait.”
“…WHAT?!”
“Me and Ivy will take the high ground and shoot the invisible predator while it’s busy with you!” Irving said, pointing at the hill like this was a perfectly reasonable plan.
Before Kovalski could protest, Irving and Ivy were already running.
“HOW DO I FIGHT IT?!” Kovalski screamed. “I ONLY HAVE MY MACHETE!!”
“GO TOPLESS AND BLEED YOURSELF WITH IT!” Ivy shouted back over her shoulder.
“WHY?!”
“TO LURE IT WITH YOUR BLOOD! AND BECAUSE IT WILL LOOKS BADASS AS HELL!!”
Her voice vanished into the trees.
Kovalski stood alone on a slippery log, shirt intact.
The river roared.
The jungle watched.
And something invisible moved.
---
A few minutes later—
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Kovalski’s scream ripped through the jungle.
Birds bursting into the sky
Ivy’s face went pale. “No… we’re too late…”
“Shit. Shit. SHIT!” Irving shouted, punching a tree in pure frustration.
---
River Bank
They burst out of the jungle and onto the muddy riverbank, lungs on fire, boots slipping in the muck.
Irving bent over, hands on his knees, forcing air into his chest. His mind raced.
Then he straightened.
“Ivy,” he said.
“What, Captain?” she replied, still gasping.
“You keep running toward the village,” he ordered. “Find a way to reach Murica. Tell them what’s happening here.”
Ivy froze. “A-are you sure?”
Irving nodded.
He looked up at the blue sky, suddenly very calm.
“Heh… no matter what,” he said solemnly “you’re still a civilian… and I’m still a captain.”
“It is my responsibility—”
He looked down.
Ivy was gone.
Just gone.
Already vanished into the jungle, saving her own life.
“…Tch. Still not human at all,” Irving muttered.
Then—
“AAAAAA WHYYYYY—!!”
Ivy’s scream echoed from deep inside the lush forest.
Birds bursting into the sky again.
“Fuck.” Irving muttered in disbelief.
---
Moments later, Captain Irving of the 75th Rangers Division had made a decision.
If he was going to die, he was going to die manly.
He slid beneath a muddy slope near the riverbank and pressed himself flat against the earth. Vines and twisted roots hung above him like a curtain. He didn’t breathe. He didn’t blink.
He waited.
The jungle hummed.
Then—
Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud
Footsteps.
Heavy. Confident. Unhurried.
Irving finally saw it.
Just like Ivy said—something wrong with reality itself. A humanoid shape distorted the air, bending light around it like heat over fire. Only when sunlight hit it at the right angle did the outline appear, shimmering and unstable.
Invisible.
But not unbeatable.
Irving had his own camouflage now.
Mud coated him from head to toe. Face. Hair. Body. Boots.
Slowly, carefully, he crept behind the thing, lifting a thick wooden stick with both hands.
Just one clean hit.
Crack.
A twig snapped beneath his boots.
A rookie mistake.
The creature stopped and turned.
And decide to fade its invisible cloak.
And Irving saw it.
The predator stood like a nightmare given muscle and ritual. Towering. Broad-shouldered. Black and gray skin. Its mask was smooth and inhuman, hiding whatever face lived beneath, while thick, rope-like dreadlocks spilled from its skull and swayed with every movement.
It was death wearing a uniform.
The creature slowly raised a hand… and removed its helmet.
The mask and dreadlocks came off together, revealing tusks and a face that looked like it had made evolution went the wrong way.
Irving swallowed.
“You’re one ugly motherfucker,” he said honestly.
Silence.
Then—
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!” The creature shouted.
“Eh?”
“Aw fuck… Captain, no…” came Kovalski’s voice from behind.
Irving turned.
At the top of the muddy slope stood Kovalski, Ivy, and Bella.
Alive.
All three of them wearing the same expression: regret. For Irving, and for themselves.
“Y-you guys are still alive?” Irving whispered.
“OF COURSE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE!” the creature shouted again.
Irving turned back.
The creature was kneeling by the river now, splashing water on its face angrily.
The gray washed away.
The black faded.
Green skin appeared.
And a face the entire United Demon Kingdom of Murica knew too well stared back at him.
Irving’s blood froze.
Its Prime Minister Alex Solomon.
Solo wiped water from his face, veins bulging on his forehead, eyes burning with rage.
He stepped forward.
“Now,” Solo said calmly, dangerously, “what did you say to me again, soldier?”
Irving screamed.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!”
And as usual. Birds bursting into the sky. Again.
Alright.
Yes, actually started. For real.
New chapters drop every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
If you bribe me with 10 comments within 24 hours of every new chapter (starting now),
I will summon a bonus chapter on Saturday.
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Book 2 is live.
The unhingedness continues.
