Exiled Blood Ants (3)

Michael's breaths came in ragged gasps as he and John dashed through the dimly lit hallways, their footsteps echoing off the cold, stone walls. The relentless pursuit of the Blood Ant thundered behind them, its monstrous form casting a shadow over their desperate flight.

"We can't keep running like this, Teacher!" Michael's voice was urgently strained as he glanced over his shoulder, his heart hammering in his chest. "We need to fight back!"

John's expression was grim as he matched Michael's pace, his eyes scanning their surroundings for any sign of escape. "We can't take it head-on, Michael. It's too dangerous." John's skepticism was evident, but he nodded nonetheless, his trust in Michael outweighing his doubts. "But, let's hear your plan."

With a flicker of determination in his eyes, Michael led the way, ducking into a narrow alcove he knew of just as the Blood Ant rounded the corner, its labored breaths reverberating through the hallway.

"Do you have any more bullets?" Michael whispered urgently as the creature passed them, its thundering footsteps fading into the distance.

"Yeah, I can reload the revolver one last time," John said, reaching into his jacket's pocket and retrieving the revolver. "I didn't bring a lot of bullets with me since I didn't think I would find a damn Blood Ant when I went after you."

"At least now we've confirmed its bad eyesight since it kept running ahead when we were no longer in front of it," Michael observed, peering cautiously around the corner as the Blood Ant rampaged down the hallway.

As the creature's single eye scanned the area, Michael felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. "We need to draw it in closer," he whispered, his voice barely audible over his heart pounding.

"Why would we do that?" John asked. "We can sneak away and leave this place"

"That might work, but we don't know how long the military will take to get here," Michael countered, his mind racing with possibilities. "And we don't know how many students didn't make it to the shelter."

"What?" John's voice was tinged with concern. "We didn't encounter anyone else though."

"I saw my sister, she was hiding in a classroom. If one didn't make it, then others might not have either," Michael explained. "Do you want to scout the area and look for other students when this thing still running around? it could even stumble upon a student"

Michael kept trying to convince John to fight, for some reason, he felt that he had to. 'Even I feel that my excuses are barely plausible, but why do I want to kill this thing so bad?' Michael thought, confused.

SCREECH!

The creature was going back, looking around for the 2 humans it had lost.

"It figured that we couldn't have gotten too far ahead and is now backtracking" John spoke. "This thing is intelligent, maybe abnormally so"

"It's now or never Teacher, we either fight or sneak away" Michael could feel something within him, his heart squeezing itself. 'I want to kill it!!!'

"What's your plan?" John seemed to have thought of something and decided to fight. Whatever he thought of, it seemed to change the look in his eyes as he stared at Michael.

"Here's my plan.." Michael started explaining his idea, which was faced with a counter plan from John. They debated quickly and finally settled on something they both agreed on.

"It's too close now, let's move" John said, handing Michael his revolver. He took a step out of the hiding spot and started yelling. "HEY, YOU UGLY FUCK, OVER HERE"

The creature jolted its head in John's direction, looking at him as if he was an idiot. It saw the small human challenging it, standing there yelling something it couldn't comprehend. It felt its pride challenged as it started walking towards him, screeching nonstop as if to accept the human's challenge.

John continued to taunt the creature as he backed away, drawing it closer to Michael's hiding spot. With a burst of speed, Michael emerged from the shadows, his heart pounding in his ears as he skirted around the Blood Ant's blind side.

He raised the revolver, aiming for the vulnerable spot where its eye had once been. "If one shot in your eye socket couldn't reach your brain and end you, how about more?" he taunted, squeezing the trigger.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Six shots echoed in the hallway alongside the creature's screech. The recoil of the Webley Revolver was strong, but through adrenaline, Michael managed to keep it steady as he released all the shots.

The Blood Ant let out a deafening roar of pain as it thrashed wildly, its massive form collapsing to the ground in a writhing heap.

Michael stood there, breathing heavily, as he stared at the collapsed creature with weary eyes. "Its brain was most likely destroyed, no need to be afraid," John said while approaching, though uncertainty lingered in his voice.

Michael nodded, taking a deep breath, but his eyes never left the creature. Without realizing it, he started walking towards it. He reached his hand and touched the head of the disgusting ant.

Suddenly, a familiar yet unfamiliar sensation coursed through him. Starting from where he made contact with the mutant, a tingling numbness spread throughout his body, something he experienced not long ago.

Without any hesitation, he focused on his attributes.

[Strength: 4.1 | Agility: 2.8 | Vitality: 3.1 | Intelligence: 3.2 | ?????: 1.3 | Energy: 32%]

He could see the Energy percentage increasing nonstop, and as it did so, he noticed something else.

"My stats increased!" He muttered to himself. He increased his strength to open the shelter's steel door, which was at 3.1 before, but he noticed that some other stats had also increased. "Agility increased by 0.6, Vitality by 0.4, and the unknown attribute by 0.2... Was this due to me running for my life just now or.. because I increased my strength stat?" Michael started to think but quickly asked someone who would have the answer. "Zero, what happened?"

[The increase in strength causes the boosted muscles in certain areas to benefit other stats]

"So it is connected? Makes sense. One stat can't increase without the other, since strength covers everything, like leg muscles, which might affect agility," Michael concluded, his mind buzzing with newfound understanding. "This means that I can focus on one stat and the others will increase accordingly."

As the Energy percentage settled on a number, Michael could no longer feel anything from the mutant.

[Strength: 4.1 | Agility: 2.8 | Vitality: 3.1 | Intelligence: 3.2 | ?????: 1.3 | Energy: 147%]