Fresh Flesh (Bkdk, Dkbk)

- 27: Some Kind Of Animal Cannibal -

He walks past Izuku, who quickly turns and follows him, his flashlight pointing right ahead. Even with the lack of clouds to cover the stars and the moonlight, none of it seems to reach this forest.

The darkness is dense, and Izuku is relieved that Todoroki's flashlight is strong enough to cut through it. The creature's heavy footsteps echo in Izuku's ears, but he doesn't have to run after him like before. 

"Is it far from here?" 

Izuku says, trying to be quiet but also trying to make some sort of conversation. Walking in the dark awkwardly isn't really his idea of fun. The creature looks back at him. 

"It's about a minute away. There must have been a shit ton of cult members, the smell is fucking strong."

Izuku's shoulders tense and he speeds up a bit, walking side by side with it. 

"Do you think we'll run into anything? Like that tall, twisted thing from the supermarket?" 

The image of the thing reaches Izuku's mind as he says it. The layers of skin all seeming to twist and wrap itself around the things elongated bones. Luckily, the creature shakes his head. 

"These ones are weak, even if there are a lot of them. They're like fucking ants. They don't get very far before they get blown up." 

He feels sort of relieved by that, and they continue walking. Occasionally, the creature slows down and takes a second to breathe. 

"Are you tired from walking already?" 

The creature quickly looks at him, brows furrowed as he roughly speaks. 

"Fuck no! Just keep walking, shitty Deku!" 

Before he can say anything else, the creature's hand pushes his back and makes him trip forward. He stumbles, gripping his flashlight as he trips through a bush that has thorns. He winces as they prick into his pants, and some get slightly in his skin. 

He's about to yell at the creature not to push him, but his eyes go up and see the sight only a couple of feet away. The house. It's huge, a lot bigger than Izuku first imagined. Its wood and cobblestone exterior is chipped and rotted, some parts of the stairs broken off and snapped. 

The windows aren't covered, but so dusty that Izuku can't see inside even when he shines his flashlight through one of them. The trees around the house are cleared out, but there are still so many around it that Izuku doubts that many people have found this place. 

He walks over to the stairs leading up to the porch and tests it, putting his foot on the first step and letting his weight rest on it. It whines but holds. He looks back, and the creature is still standing by the tree line. 

"It looks so cool! Come on!" 

The creature looks at him and huffs, leaning against one of the trees. On closer inspection, he actually looks pretty tired. Izuku gets away from the stairs and goes towards him. 

"Actually, I'm kinda sore from walking. Let's take a break." 

He tries to make it sound like his idea, so it doesn't yell at him again. It seems to have worked because the creature leaves the tree line, about to sit down on the grass. 

"Fine, but-" 

Izuku feels a gust of wind brush against his back and turns his head. In an instant, his whole body screams at him to get away. He meets two big yellow eyes. The monster is huge, with a swaying twisted mouth that drops to the floor. 

The gust of wind is actually its breath, and Izuku gets a good look at the inside of the monster's mouth when he looks down at eye level. 

"Deku!"