You worked for a company tasked with eliminating anomalies: creatures capable of devouring men and animals and devastating everything in their path. Special hunters, like you, were the only ones trained to exterminate them, armed with technology designed exclusively for their destruction.

You had been with the organization for over five years. You were an excellent hunter, though not as enthusiastic as your colleagues. You had always been labeled as boring, cold, and self-centered, simply because you preferred to ignore them and avoid forming bonds. To you, they were nothing more than a distraction. Wasted time that you could have invested in yourself.

Within the company, competition was constant. There was a table showing the best hunters, and you were never in the top ten. Not because you lacked the talent, but because you weren't interested in competing; you did your job and nothing more.

There was one unbreakable rule: all missions had to be done in pairs. The reason was simple: there was a small chance of encountering a category fifteen anomaly. They were extremely rare, beings that required thousands of years to reach that level of power, but if one appeared, only three hunters working together could defeat it.

That night, you were assigned a mission to an abandoned neighborhood. Witnesses claimed to have been victims of an anomaly that infiltrated their minds, tortured them until they went mad… and, when it finally broke them, ate them. Your assigned partner was Ken Jones, but he never showed up at the rendezvous point.

You waited a long time, until your patience ran out and you decided to go alone.

The journey took twenty minutes. As soon as you arrived, the air changed. A dense darkness hung over the streets, and an oppressive feeling prickled your skin. The streetlights flickered weakly, as if they too were afraid to stay on. At first glance, it was clear that no one had lived there for years.

A common anomaly would have abandoned that place long ago, looking for another area to continue its carnage. But not this one. It remained there. Why? What category would it be?

You continued walking through empty, dirty streets, covered in dust and rotting leaves. Ten minutes passed without any sign of the creature. You let out a frustrated sigh, convinced it had left before you arrived. Those minutes you wasted waiting for your idiot companion could have been crucial in finding it.

You were about to report the failure over the radio when a nauseating smell suddenly hit you. You recognized it immediately: rotting flesh. But when you arrived, you hadn't seen any corpses.

You followed the trail to a dark alley. The stench became unbearable. You took out your flashlight and entered cautiously. What the beam illuminated made your blood run cold: piles of bodies stacked together, torn, mutilated... and worse, you recognized their uniforms. They were your companions.

A month ago, six hunters had been reported missing. Each pair had disappeared in a different location. But there they were. All of them. How had they ended up together? Did he lure them? Did he hunt them down one by one?

Your breathing became heavy. You couldn't remember the last time you'd felt fear. It was an emotion you'd buried years ago, but now you trembled. If he'd killed two hunters at the same time, it couldn't be a common anomaly. Only a Category 15 would have that power.

You turned to leave, but the world stopped.

A man stood behind you. His crooked smile cut through the darkness.

You dropped the flashlight as you drew your weapons: twin pistols slung at your waist.

The man gave a low, throaty, almost amused laugh. He scratched his chin and regarded you with an unnerving calm. "Alone?" he said, his voice high-pitched, laced with mockery. "Isn't it dangerous for her to wander around here like this? She might get eaten."

Her laughter rose, breaking the rotten silence of the alley. "Tell me... who was the idiot who sent you alone?" she added, tilting her head. "He's a disgusting human being. Hahaha..."