-Socks POV-

It was a new day, and a nice one too! The sun was out, there were clear skies, there was a nice breeze, and the perfect amount of humidity. Everything was surprisingly calm until around ten in the morning. For some stupid reason, Nadwe decided to step into the sun. There really is never a dull moment around here.. isn't there?

"OWWWWWWWWWW!! IT BUUUUUURRRRRNNNNNSSS!"

He then started running around in circles, trying to cool down. He sat on the ground, as he was exhausted from running as fast as he could for about five minutes straight. His eyes had turned a pink color, and his fangs had come out. Two small bat wings had also sprouted from his back as well. I went over to see if he was okay.

"Hey, Nad, are you okay?"

Something must happen after a vampire goes in the sun, because what I got as a response was a hiss. His eye color also turned from a gray-pink to a blood red. He then glared at me, and tackled me for the second time in a week. Out of habit, tentacles grew out of my back, and I basically threw him off me. I threw him off me gently, as I didn't want to actually hurt him. He caught himself before hitting anything though and started going after me again. He actually ended up biting my tentacle, which hurt pretty badly. It must've been the same tentacle that Gulvic cut off before, so it still hurt a bit.

In the middle of this, Blaza, Laff, Woolf and Tbh all came around the corner. They came when I first got bit on my tentacle, so they immediately knew me and Nadwe were both in trouble. I was in trouble, because I was being bit and trying not to lose control, while Nadwe was in trouble because he lost it, and was probably about to be killed if he didn't back off. Blaza and Laff came over to where I was, making sure I wasn't about to go crazy, and that I was able to get out of Nad's grip. That kid had some grip though, as he was not letting go at all. I then started pulling, trying to get my tentacle out of his mouth, and the pain got even worse. I swear, I felt my tentacle being ripped in half.

Woolf and Tbh went to Nadwe's side, and tried to snap him out of it, and tried to make him let go, as they could tell it was hurting me alot. My question was why he bit my tentacle in the first place. There's no blood in them.. I think. I started pulling harder, and that's when it got unbearable. I heard a tear. I looked over to where Nadwe was, and he was knocked onto the ground somehow, I assumed because Tbh and Woolf pulled him off. They must've snapped him out of it too, because his eyes were back to his normal gray-pink iris and white sclera. He was breathing heavily, I couldn't hear it, but I could tell. I then looked to the ground.

I saw the end of my tentacle ripped off of the rest. I then moved my tentacle so I could see it. It was true. He had ripped off the end of my tentacle. That's when I really felt it. A clenched my teeth as the pain rippled all the way down to my left shoulder. I started hearing voices.. for the fifth time.

"Get him back. He's hurt you, so you should hurt him.."

"Ooo.. did you feel that? Shouldn't he?"

"He literally ripped off part of you.. now he deserves the same.."

"SHUT UP WOULD YOU?! I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU!"

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be then.."

I then felt the sensation of cold going through my brain. My vision got blurry.. and then.. he took control.

_____________________________________________
-Tbh POV-

Socks was just staring at his severed tentacle, and then glancing at Nadwe every couple seconds. Me and Woolf started getting concerned about the situation and what would happen next. He then seemed to be losing control.

Oh boy.. here we go again..

His expression went from shocked and surprised to angry and painful in a couple seconds. And the next time he blinked, well.. you already know what's going to happen. Gulvic happened. His eyes were dark red slits, not bright red, and from past experiences of mine, that means to run. I started backing up slowly, as he started approaching us. Blaza, Laff, and Woolf also started backing up. Nadwe noticed all of this, and stood up slowly, almost as if he was facing a bear. He started backing up with us. Gulvic's mouth turned into a smile as he said,

"You think you can run?!"

He then used tentacles to practically lock us all in the space between the two buildings of the base. He started putting a tentacle up in the air. It looked like he was about to punch through the wall when he seemed to remember something.

"Actually.. now that I remember, I'd like to make an offer.."

As he said this, he retracted all tentacles to their normal length.

Not trying to kill us? Not normal at all. He has something up his sleeve.

"Laffengas, come here. Everyone else, come here too."

"Why the heck should we?!"

"Just come here, Furry.."

Woolf then got a frustrated and annoyed look on his face, but still came over. You could tell he had an attitude. Everyone got about two feet away from Gulvic, and surprisingly, he was okay with it.

"So? What are you trying to do?"

"I'd like to.. make a deal.."

"Go on.."

"I will leave you alone, leave Socks' mind altogether, and not infect anyone else, if you go through with it."

Oh, because that sounds trustworthy..

"And? What do you want?"

"I want you to shake my hand to finish the deal.. that's all I want."

Wait- what?

"What?"

"I want to shake my hand to seal the deal! Is it that hard?"

"No, it's just that.. you never specified what you wanted in return."

"That is what I want in return.."

____________________________________________________
-Gulvic POV-

Come on, just take the bait! I slashed your hand for a reason yesterday! Maybe they're smarter than I thought..

"..."

"So? Do we have a deal?"

"Uhm.. I'm not sure.."

They seemed to talk to each other about it, as if it's that hard.

___________________________________________________
-Laff POV-

We had been contemplating for a couple minutes now, and seeing Gulvic getting impatient, we tried to come to a decision.

"I guess we can do it, and if he tries anything, well.. you know what to do!"

"So.. that's a ye- put your hand out if you agree to this."

Everyone made up their minds, and everyone put their hand in. As he seemed to want me to say yes to the deal, I went up and told him our decision.

"We decided to take your offer Gulvic.."

"Very well then. Now, for your end of the deal.."

As we were about to shake hands, I heard Nadwe scream behind me,

"LAFF! DON'T SHAKE HIS HAND! IT'S A TRICK!"

But, it was too late. I completely forgot about the cut on my hand that Gulvic made. The pain went away overnight, and it seemed pretty healed, so I took the bandages off this morning. I then got a sinking feeling in my stomach as if I was about to die. I looked up at Gulvic's face, and he had a smug expression spread across it. He knew what he was doing the entire time, and I was stupid enough to fall for it. I guess the reflection was what I'll look like infected. He took his hand away from mine, and whispered,

"Good luck.."

This was followed by a chuckle of some kind. I stared at my hand. It was covered in the Black substance that coated his forearms at times. The cut started fizzing and bubbling black that almost seemed poisonous. I turned around to see Blaza, Woolf, Tbh, and Nadwe all terrified at what they just saw. They were probably thinking the same thing as me.

Oh.. shoot..

"Guys, please don't freak out.. I'm still the same Laffengas you know for now!"

"Oh- oh really? If you're so sure about that, how about ch- checking behind your back.."

I did, and immediately regretted trusting Gulvic with all my being. I saw pitch black tentacles sprouting from my back. They weren't the same as Gulvic's but they were similar. They had spikes on them, almost like thorns on a rose. I looked forward, back at them, with a face that read 'I'm sorry..'.

I then felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You know what to do.."

I then felt a voice in my head.

"Oh, yes I do.."

This was followed by a new sensation in my chest, eyes, and hands. I looked at my hands to see they had become very sharp. I looked at my chest to see nothing.. until what seemed to be a flesh-colored tentacle slithered its way through the buttons in my lab coat. It must've ripped through the shirt I was wearing underneath. I then felt what seemed to be glue run down my face. I rubbed it, and it was.. black.

What have I done? I fell right into his trap.

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO RUN!! GO ALERT THE OTHERS ABOUT THIS, AND MAKE SURE THEY GET OUT OF HERE TOO. GULVIC IS ALREADY HARD ENOUGH TO HANDLE, LET ALONE BOTH OF-"

I was cut off by my own mind going blank. It was as if someone just barged in on my sentence, and then I couldn't talk anymore. I was interrupted by Ryzo, the soon to be infected side of me. He made me speak for him.

"Actually, ignore what I just said.. let's get started.. shall we?"

My voice sounded almost like a robot that was corrupted. I tried fighting him but, that was the last thing I remember before I lost control.

____________________________________________________
-Blaza POV-

I have no idea why we were all still standing there, but we were. Laff started yelling to run and alert the others, but was cut off by, I assume, the infected side of him.

"Actually, ignore what I just said.. let's get started.. shall we?"

That was the last thing he said before his eyes turned pitch black with a red slit in it. Identical to Gulvic's. Both of them smiled at the exact same time, making it creepier than it really was. The creepiest thing though, was that they said the next thing in an identical tone, in the same gestures and poses, at the exact same time, as if they were practicing for months.

(OG:

(Redraw:

"Ready or not.. HERE I COME!!"

They both then launched their tentacles into the wall, making dents in the walls with many small cracks. This made a huge wave of déjà vu come over my mind, as this was very similar to the jail situation from a couple days ago. I thought that we might be able to get through this with four tentacles, but eight?! That was crazy talk.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Woolf and Nadwe booked it to the woods, as it was right outside the base. Gulvic then exchanged a look to Laff, and Laff reciprocated. Laff then used his other two tentacles to box both me and Tbh in. I assumed Gulvic went to go after Nadwe and Woolf, because, why else would he want him to box us in? I hope they make it. Laff already looked exhausted, as he was breathing heavy, and his expression also hinted he was. I could also tell because the last two tentacles he slammed into the wall, he didn't use as much force.

"H-hey Laff! How are you holding up?"

I got a growl and snarl mixed together as a reply, but I could've sworn that I also heard Laff himself say 'Help Me...'

"Well, Laff, I'm sorry.. but I can't help you. Especially with the.. infection.. present.."

"I have a name you know, and it's Ryzo.."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?"

I got another growl for an answer. He really seemed to be struggling with keeping up the pressure. After about two more minutes, he gave up and the tentacles retracted. I don't think he was strong enough to do this yet. After he retracted the tentacles, he started coughing. Coughing.. up black! Tbh ran over and patted him on the back a couple times. After he stopped, black sludge was dripping from the holes in his mask. Though, after that, he seemed to be back to normal and fine. He still coughed here and there, but it wasn't as bad.

"Wait.. *cough*.. where is Gulvic.."

"I think.. he went after Woolf and Nadwe in the forest.."

"Well, come on! We have to go after them!"

"I feel like we've done enough for the day. How about it's just you that goes, huh?"

___________________________________________
-Nadwe POV-

Me and Woolf booked it into the forest to get away from the deadly duo, but the peace didn't last too long. We heard Gulvic's footsteps crunching on the leaves that had started falling to the ground. They were softer, as he still had Socks' socks on. We could also see where he was very easily, because of the rainbow socks. They really didn't blend in with the brown, orange, green and red color scheme.

This forest was pretty dense, so we needed to try and find a well-hidden hiding spot. If we didn't, well, it would be our death trap. We wouldn't be able to get out of this!  Somehow Gulvic had a knife on him, as something was making a reflection in his hand. After looking around for about ten seconds, he stopped moving altogether. Woolf and I were confused about this until a blade shot past our faces impaling itself into the trunk of a tree right past us. We looked back to see that Gulvic was staring right at us with one of the creepiest smiles I've ever seen.

I heard something coming from behind me, and I was shocked to see a tentacle wrapped around a tree that was right behind us. It seemed to be a dead tree, as it had no leaves, and boy was it leaning towards our direction, waiting to fall. Both me and Woolf seemed to hear it because we both had extraordinary hearing. Hearing the tree creak sent shivers down my spine. It then started leaning even more down towards us. Gulvic seemed to be pulling pretty hard on the tree, but the thing was pretty well-rooted.

Woolf said that we should run, but I had another idea. I told him my idea, and he agreed. After a couple more seconds the tree actually started falling. Me and Woolf ran to the right side, giving us plenty of time to start thinking of ways to get out of the forest. For a second, I got a view of Gulvic through the trees. He seemed to have dodged the tree at the literal speed of light. Just before I looked at him now, the tree was right above his head. This just proves that you should never mess with Gulvic.

A tentacle then dashed between me and Woolf, almost hitting me in the back, and almost hitting Woolf right in the chest. It was instead inserted into a log, but the log was then chucked off the tentacle. It seemed like he was about to dash over to us when he was tackled from behind by Laff.

He started squirming, trying to use his tentacles to push him off. He then resorted to almost turning into a full on animal, and started growling and trying to pierce Laff with his tentacles. Thankfully Laff now knew where and how to pin his tentacles down. Gulvic's eyes also changed from red silts to dark red, hollow circles. Close behind were Blaza and Tbh, but they looked like they were forced.

"Oh thank goodness you guys got here.. I'm pretty sure we would've been dead.."

"Yeah.. I got snapped out of it.. and.. wanted to come help you guys..."

Gulvic eventually gave up after about 45 more seconds, and let out a frustrated and defeated sigh. His tentacles then retracted back into his body, but he winced when the ripped tentacle came. The black that was on his hands and forearms then just somehow got absorbed back into him. Before his eyes turning back into Socks' eyes, he said,

"You all may have escaped unharmed this time, but next time, one of you will perish.. you'll be gone. The smell of blood and darkness will fill the room, and the smell of gunpowder will fill your senses. Just- trust me on that one.."

He finally shut up again, and Socks was back. I gave Laff a nod, signalling that he was back to normal. He then got off Socks so he could stand up.

"What did Gulvic do that was so bad you ended up in the forest?"

Laff then showed him the cut on his hand with out saying anything. It was still bubbling the black substance from before, and Socks could already tell what happened. He started tearing up at the realization of what he did.

"So.. it can spread.."

___________________________________________

Since this chapter is out I shall now dump my sketches for Ryzo in my art book goodbye.