Chapter 4

At the entrance to the settlement a blonde girl was waiting patiently. She had a huge sniper rifle slung over her back. It looked almost too big for her to use. With short blonde hair and eyes that seemed to pierce your soul, it seemed like she was waiting for someone.

Not too shortly after, two men arrived at the front gate. The one in the front wore all black clothes and looked kind of like a hardened criminal with a face that looked like he was always angry. The guy following him around seemed like the exact opposite. He almost always had a smile on his face and a pep in his step.

The two men, while looking at a sheet of paper, approached the blonde girl who was looking more annoyed by the second.

"Are you Anne?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, you here about the bounty?" Anne replied while inspecting one of her nails.

"That's right."

"You don't look like much. Listen these mutants are not to be underestimated, even I couldn't take them out alone."

"What's so special about these mutants anyway?" Thomas asked.

"Beside the fact that they have abnormal intelligence, they also work together as a team. Which I have never seen before this." She explained.

"What do you mean work together?" Thomas asked.

"They can strategize. One of them will act as a decoy while the others attack the settlement from a different position. Even with all of our guards we aren't able to protect the people of our settlement from mutants like this."

"That's insane, iv never heard of mutants working together like that. I suppose that's why the reward is so good." Max interjected.

"Anyways we have a long trip ahead of us. Do you have everything you need?"

Both boys nodded and soon after they set out for Anne's settlement which was around a days walk away.

After leaving the front gate of the settlement, Anne began to lead the group towards her settlement while trying to avoid as many mutants as possible. Whenever they did run into any trouble Thomas was the first to charge forward and dispatch the mutants with expert movements.

There were three mutants just wandering aimlessly until they spotted the trio. As soon as the mutants gaze landed on the group, one of the mutants let out a screeching roar that seemed to have enhanced its allies making them move much faster than before.

Thomas was itching to test out his new abilities and that's why he always rushed forward. He also currently didn't trust others in battle and always preferred to fight alone, something he's don't ever since his first group was killed.

Before the others could react, Thomas rushed forward with inhumane speed. In one swift movement he simultaneously unsheathed his black colored sword and attempted to decapitate the mutant screamer. Unfortunately his sword only cut through half of the mutants neck. The mutant clenched its muscle to stop Thomas from getting his sword back.

All of a sudden the two mutants were locked onto their target and started to lunge towards Thomas. He tried with all his might to pull the sword free but the mutant was having none of it and instead held onto the sword and tried to bite Thomas at the same time.

Out of nowhere there was a loud pop sound and the screaming mutants head exploded right in front of Thomas covering himself in thick black blood. Looking behind himself, he tried to locate the source of the noise. What he saw was Anne sitting behind a broken car with her sniper rifle sitting on the hood for stability.

She quickly loaded another round in to her rifle and prepared to shoot again. Thomas gave up on pulling his sword free and instead walked towards the other two mutants with his fists held up ready to brawl. Thomas took three steps forward and swung his right fist towards the disgusting mutants face. He landed a hard blow that sent the mutant reeling.

While Thomas was preoccupied with one of the last two mutants, Max decided to join the fray to stop the last mutant from attacking Thomas from behind. Max normally doesn't like taking risks himself but he had no choice in this situation. He flexed the muscles in his legs to boost himself at break neck speed. Max quickly arrived just in time to intercept the last mutant. He used all the momentum he built up and jumped into the air with his knees pointed forward and slammed into the mutants torso knocking it on its back.

With a hard stomp Max was able to destroy the mutants head before it had a chance to counter him. Thomas on the other hand was getting frustrated by the mutants agility. Every time he threw a punch the mutant would swiftly dodge in a way that normal humans wouldn't be able to. The sound of bones crunching and breaking as the mutant moved around was unsettling to say the least.

Thomas raised his leg up and as fast as possible he kick the mutant in the knee and bent it backwards severely limiting the mutants movements and with no hesitation he grabbed the mutants on both sides of it head and twisted with all his might. A loud crunch could be heard by the whole group and then the fight was over.

Thomas went over to his back pack to pull out a piece of cloth to wipe away the gooey black blood on his face and hands.

"Thanks for the save." Thomas said while looking at Anne and her large sniper rifle that is now hung around her back once again.

"It was nothing. Lets get out of here before more of them show up."

"You got it, boss." Thomas said jokingly.

Noticing the sun getting low they decided to find somewhere in the city they can take shelter and relax. After a few hours the group spotted an old abandoned gun store with all of its windows broken and most things already looted.

"This place is as good as any I suppose. Although a bit creepy." Anne said while shivering slightly.

Even though its been six months since the mutants took over the city, there is still a lot of vegetation reclaiming parts of the building. Using his sword, Thomas cut through some vines and other greenery to gain access to the gun store.

Max used his legs he pushed various furniture in front of the entrance once everyone was inside effectively barricading themselves in for the night. Once the group got settled in and made sure there were no mutants inside, Thomas pulled out his camping stove to make some dinner.

Sadly Thomas isn't a chef and can only make basic meals. Even so, he threw in a couple cans of beans and vegetables and made Max and Anne a bowl.

"Thanks." Said Anne as she gladly accepted the food. Max too.

It wasn't anything special but it would give them the fuel they would need in the coming days.

After everyone filled their bellies it wasn't long before they passed out. Everyone accept Thomas, ever since even before the outbreak he suffered insomnia almost every night. In this case it was a good thing because he could stay up and take watch for any threats throughout the darkness of the night.

Thomas was sitting next to a window of the store trying to stay alert for any trouble but after a few hour he got bored and decided to search around the store to try and find anything that the looters might have missed.

The display cases in the front desk were all empty and so was the cash register. Looking around for a few moments he spotted an old painting on the wall right behind where the cashier would stand. It was a little crooked and he could see something on the wall behind it.

When he pulled the painting off the wall he discovered a hidden wall safe that was still locked tight. Which means whatever was in there is most likely still there. Without knowing the combination though it would be very tough to break in.

Thomas decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Unfortunately he was not a locksmith so instead he placed both his hand on either side of the safe and attempted to break it open with brute force. He grunted from the effort, his veins popping out. He could see the metal bending ever so slightly and after a moment more the safe door burst open.

Thomas could hardly believe his luck at this moment. He pulled open the bent metal door to reveal a .44 magnum and a box of ammo for it. There was also a lot of cash but people stopped using cash soon after the outbreak so there's no point in lugging it around.

Other than that there was small golden augmenting chip used to enhance various physical aspects of the human body. Thomas pocketed the handgun after loading it and grabbed the chip as well. He wasn't sure if he wanted to use it on him self or maybe sell it as they are very expensive items.

Nothing else interesting happened during the night and soon his other companions were up and making some breakfast before trekking the rest of the way to Anne's settlement.