Mutagen

Day 358 - 5:42 PM - Podorejo,Ngaliyan,Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia

Running from branch to branch, rushing from tree to tree, and swinging from vine to vine, Bajing's silhouette traversed the forest with exceptional speed. She moved atop the trees like a squirrel, as implied by her current name.

Soon enough, Bajing's ear picked up on the sounds of an ongoing battle.

Bajing lowered her speed, carefully jumping on branches with barely any noise. She then arrived at a slightly wider area under the cover of the tall trees.

The ongoing bloody battle entered Bajing's sight.

It was a group of mostly injured people besieged by a pack of monsters. These monsters were a lounge of Evolved Komodo Dragons now called [Ground Hunters].

The Komodo Dragons before the apocalypse were solitary creatures. It was very rare to see them in pairs, not to mention groups. However, when the apocalypse began, the Komodo Dragons turned from predator to prey because of their solitary behaviors. Even if they evolved and mutated, a single Komodo Dragon would not survive against a horde of [Infected] and groups of other creatures. Thus, as these animals experienced increased evolution speed, their solitary behavior changed to adapt to the danger.

Nowadays, these Komodo Dragons, no, [Ground Hunters], hunt in groups, ambushing their targeted prey together. And, this time, their prey was a group of humans.

Bajing assessed the situation and took a good look at the surrounding people. The Moon Chasers might be good people, but they were not naive and stupid. They would not gamble themselves for their enemies.

But immediately after Bajing confirmed the individuals surrounded by the enemies, she took out her radio.

***

"Luna, can you hear me?"

Luna's radio sounded as Bajing established contact.

"I can, what's the status?"

Luna replied.

"I found the location. It's Farel from 41st and his group. Surrounded by ten [Ground Hunters], probably more. More than half of their group of thirty are injured, only eight combatants are left, and ten are out of commission. The situation is dire. I'll need to jump in immediately."

"Okay, be careful," Luna gave a go. "We're already on the way. We will arrive shortly."

"Roger."

Bajing gave one last response before the communication cut off.

Luna turned to her comrades. They were already running towards the battle with Mark as their guide. Including Luna, there were twenty-one members of Moon Chasers present. As for the Evernight, it was only Mark and his daughters, Abbygale and Miracle. The remaining members stayed behind by the side of the cleared road to prepare the camp. It was an urgent situation. Thus, Luna could only pick the fastest members to participate. Besides, it was not an extermination but a rescue mission. They did not need strong firepower. What they needed was the skills to make an opening and retreat.

What Luna could not understand was why he let his two daughters come with them. The situation could become dangerous, after all. Still, Luna and her members were pretty impressed with how a little girl like Abbygale could run along with them at their current speed.

Mark could sense the thoughts of Luna and her members. However, he could only shrug. Since they started traveling with the Moon Chasers, the little girls did not have enough share of action. Iola might be fine, but both Abbygale and Miracle had some innate bloodthirstiness due to their mutations. Thus, Abbygale begged her father to come along this time, and Miracle tagged along. The older of the two ran by herself, while Mark had to carry Miracle since they needed to hurry this time.

With this small group, they would attempt a dangerous rescue mission.

***

"Tsk! These persistent bastards."

The leader of the 41st Settlement, Farel, cursed their damned luck.

It was not the first time they encountered this group of [Ground Hunters]. These lizards had been chasing them even before the fog spread a few days ago. Even then, they already incurred a lot of injuries. The fog helped Farel and his members escape the predators, but it seemed that the lizards did not give up. When the fog dispersed, the very same group of lizards ambushed them.

Farel was sure it was the same group of lizards. It was because of the presence of that larger grayish-red colored [Ground Hunter] leading the others.

"SH*T! DIAH!"

Another member shouted as the remaining standing woman of the group got hit by the mace-like tail of one of the [Ground Hunters].

Farel saw what had just happened in the corner of his eye. However, he could not let his attention wander with the leader of the [Ground Hunters] eyeing him.

As he tightened his grip on his spear, Farel began weighing the remaining options. He could sacrifice himself to let the few of his group run, or all of them fight to the death. It would have been nice if they had rockets with them or even grenades. But as one of the poorest groups, they had limited of those, and they already used those weapons during the first encounter.

Farel's mind began to wander. He was tired. Probably, he was the most tired of them all here. But he could not falter. His stamina began to fail, but he would not leave his position open.

HISS!

The leader [Ground Hunter] hissed at Farel, initiating its charge. It was not extremely fast, but each step of the lizard, larger than a pickup truck, could make the ground tremble slightly. Not to mention, its intimidating appearance and bullet-proof scales would make most people shake in fear.

However, Farel stood his ground, protecting the injured teammates behind him.

"RAAHHHH!!!"

Farel screamed as he received the charge with his spear, making his feet leave a long trail on the grass-covered soil. Nonetheless, Farel stopped the charge of the large creature.

"Farel! Watch out!"

A cry entered Farel's ear. As he made a glance to his left, another [Ground Hunter] was already mid-pounce, with its mouth opened wide to devour him.

Farel tried to push the leader [Ground Hunter] and take a step back to fend against the incoming attack. It was when he felt a tug in his hand. To Farel's horror, the leader [Ground Hunter] bit onto his spear, making it stuck. He could let go of his weapon, but he would not be able to fend against the other [Ground Hunter] with his bare hands. While Farel was able to stop the larger lizard's charge, the [Ground Hunters] were not known for their charges but their bites that could chew off a tank.

It was the end. That was what Farel thought.

However, a woman suddenly fell between Farel and the pouncing [Ground Hunter]. The woman suddenly kicked the ground with her right foot and swung her right leg upwards.

BAM! SNAP!

The foot hit the pouncing [Ground Hunter's] chin, forcing its mouth to close with a loud and painful snap. That kick even forced the [Ground Hunter] to divert the direction of its pounce, hitting the leader [Ground Hunter's] body instead.

Without pause, the woman drew out her MP5, aiming at the leader [Ground Hunter]. Surely, the low-caliber bullets of the submachinegun would not be able to kill the giant lizard. But if aimed at the right location, like the eyes, it would still do severe damage.

Sensing the danger, the leader [Ground Hunter] suddenly retreated, even using the body of its subordinate to shield its face from the bullets.

Unfortunately for the giant lizard, it was a feint. The woman just aimed the gun at its eye for it to let go of Farel's weapon.

"You are!" Farel recognized the woman. "Bajing!"

Bajing nodded in acknowledgment. However, she did not let her attention wander away from the surrounding lizards.

"I already informed Luna about the situation," Bajing spoke. "Just hold on till the reinforcements arrive."

Those words from Bajing were like a tunnel of light in the world of darkness for the members of the 41st Settlement.

"You guys heard that?!" Farel exclaimed to his teammates. "Just hold on a little longer!"

The morale of the group rose despite their exhaustion.

On the other hand, seeing their disheartened prey gain vitality made the [Ground Hunters] falter.

HISS!!!

The leader [Ground Hunter] hissed, commanding the next attack on the group of humans. However, the humans did better this round. And with the help of Bajing, they even managed to take two [Ground Hunters] down by attacking through their eyes and mouth.

The leader [Ground Hunter] glared at the humans and their temporarily renewed strength. It then looked at the sky.

HHHHASSSSSSSS!!!

A loud and differently pitched hiss echoed into everyone's ears.

Then, one after another, twenty more [Ground Hunters] came out of hiding.

It was a hopeless struggle from the start. The leader [Ground Hunter] was not just moving on instinct. It was smart enough to keep reserve troops to ambush the enemy.

But as Farel's group was about to lose hope once again, a small figure suddenly rushed out of the forest.

BAM!

That small figure collided with the leader [Ground Hunter's] face. And to everyone's surprise, the large lizard went flying before completely crushing the trunk of a meter-wide tree and causing the tree to collapse onto another three [Ground Hunters].

But what surprised them even more was the true appearance of the small figure.

Their jaws dropped as they saw it was a little girl with a pair of oddly glowing shoes.

PSHH!

The girl's right shoe suddenly released some steam. But before they knew it, her figure blurred and vanished, running toward another lizard.

One [Ground Hunter] saw the small girl causing the commotion and tried to charge. But it suddenly paused before taking a single step forward. It did not want to stop. It is just, for some reason, unable to move forward.

And then, the lizard felt its body lose balance, along with a painful sensation on its tail. Its body uncontrollably began to spin before it flew onto another of its allies.

What was left where the lizard originally was was another little girl, laughing after throwing the car-sized lizard with her bare hands.

Luna and her member's arrival soon followed. The prowess of the two girls surprised them, but they still went with a swift ambush. They grouped in two or three, ganging up on the lizards closest to the members of the 41st Settlement.

The arrival of the reinforcements ended not only with a rescue, but they managed to eliminate all of the lizards. Even Luna and her members felt the confusion due to the unexpected outcome. When was killing a group of [Ground Hunters] this easy?

Everyone felt that something was wrong. Luna was pretty sure they saw some of the lizards suddenly pause midway through their attacks and ended up getting killed instead. It was strange.

Luna felt suspicious. She stared at Mark, who was checking on his daughters. All this time, he just watched, not showing even a shred of emotion. If there was something, she was sure she saw his eyes shine red a few times while he watched at the sidelines.

While Luna was staring, Mark suddenly stared back. He then gave her a shrug of his shoulder before he turned his head away.

That gesture made Luna even more suspicious of him.

But all of a sudden, Mark called Luna.

"Hey! Can we have this one?"

Mark pointed at the leader [Ground Hunter].

Luna did not mind. However, she still looked at Farel.

"Don't look at me," Farel said with a wry smile. "We weren't able to do anything. The corpse belongs to those who killed it."

In short, the corpse of the leader [Ground Hunter] belonged to Abbygale, who killed it in one kick.

However, Mark suddenly spoke.

"It's not dead, though? It's just unconscious."

Those words made everyone vigilant.

Luna approached. She saw that the leader [Ground Hunter] lay on its back motionlessly, but the slight movements of its chest showed that it was still breathing.

"What are you planning with it?"

Luna asked. She was sure it would be dangerous to leave a creature like this alive.

But before Mark could answer, it dawned on Luna.

"Don't tell me you want to turn this into a pet."

Luna remembered Mark's group. They had several unusual pets. It gave her the clue she needed to realize Mark's plan.

Mark did not answer. He just gave her a slight, knowing smile.