Chapter 7

Anne swiftly ejected the bullet casing from her rifle and immediately loaded another round. She was looking down her scope trying to find a good opportunity to shoot but her line of sight was blocked by Thomas, and the second mutant that Samuel was fighting was too fast and agile to get a proper shot off.

Right now it seemed that they were equally matched. To Thomas surprise the mutant he pushed to the ground somehow increased its strength for a moment. Allowing it to free itself from Thomas grip. It jumped back a few meters and examined its broken hands. Without its hands the mutant charged at Thomas yet again but this time it was using its legs. Thomas easily dodged the first few attacks but then got hit full force into his side knocking the air from his lungs.

Before he could recover, another shot rang out across the forest and the mutant Thomas was fighting all of a sudden had a hold in its chest the size of a golf ball. It fell to its knees and then to its side while oozing a puddle of black blood.

This was a great opportunity for Thomas to try out his absorbing ability on an intelligent mutant. Thomas moved with great haste to the mutants dead body and remembering how he did it last time, he shoved his hand into the bullet wound on the mutants chest.

He struggled with the smell of rotting mutated flesh and the feeling of another creatures insides. Thankfully it didn't take long for the black blood to be absorbed into his veins and travelled up to his heart. As soon as the blood reached his heart he felt white hot pain in his heart and brain making him fall to his knees gasping for air. This was at least ten times more painful then any other time he was bitten or absorbed a mutants power.

Seeing that Thomas was momentarily incapacitated, Max got ready to intervene at any moment. He's never been a risk taker and always chooses the safest option but with Thomas down he felt like his back was against a wall. Max needed to protect Anne, it was like his one job since she was not good in close combat.

The third mutant that has just been watching until this point finally joined the fray. It had dark green skin and was bloated in all the worst places. Its first target was the one it deemed to be the most threatening witch turned out to be Thomas. He finally recovered from whatever happened to him when he absorbed the first intelligent mutant. He could feel the power coursing through his veins.

The dark green mutant brandished its claws and grabbed an old rusty car husk and threw it straight at Thomas. Sensing that there was no way for him to catch something that heavy and fast, he quickly dodge rolled out of the way.

He jumped back up to his feet only to be met with a massive blow to the face by the green mutant. There was debris being thrown all over the place caused immense by the speed of the mutant. Thomas crashed into the brick wall of a building leaving behind a small crater from the impact. It knocked the breath out of him but he remained on his feet just barely.

He wiped away a little bit of blood on the corner of his mouth. "Not bad, not bad at all. Now its my turn!" He knelt down and sprinted full speed at the mutant. It took only two seconds and he was right in front of the monster and slammed his fist as hard as he could right in the gut of the mutant.

The force kicked up a bunch of dust and the mutant was sent flying straight up into the air, paused for a moment, and fell right back down on the concrete with a wet thud. Thomas leapt on top of the poor creature and punched its head over and over until only mush remained.

While Thomas was dealing with the green mutant, Samuel was still locked in combat with the remaining mutant. It didn't have any outstanding features besides its sickly pale white skin and lack of muscle like it was made of only skin and bones.

Both Samuel and the mutant were covered in lacerations and bruises but neither refused to give up. Anne tried her best to get a shot off but the white skinny mutant was just to hard a target.

Worried for her father, Anne pleaded for max to assist him before its too late. Max didn't feel good about leaving the person that hired him defenseless but he didn't have much choice it seemed. Also there was only the two mutants left so he hoped they would just focus on him and Thomas and Samuel.

At this point Samuel had lost a lot of blood and started slowing down. The white mutant sensed this and used all its might on an overhead slash aimed at Samuel. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough to dodge and prepared to take a massive hit. In the blink of an eye the mutant was midway through its attack when something hard and fast struck the mutant in the center of its torso. Max had charged over and delivered a fierce mid air kick to it's torso with his mutated legs that were at least ten times stronger than a normal humans legs.

The kick made it slide back a few meters and kneel down. Now it was two on one and the mutant could feel that it was going to lose this fight. Both of its brothers had been slain and it was injured badly from the kick just now. It started looking left and right to find an escape. Thomas was busy stealing the power of the green mutant while this was happening. The white mutant suddenly stood back up and bolted into a nearby alleyway. Samuel wasn't in any condition to give chase but max was. He ran as fast as he could to try and catch the mutant before it escaped.

The white mutant looked back and saw max giving chase so it jumped between the walls of the alley all the way to the top of the rooftop. Max was surprised but didn't slow down and tried to mimic the mutants moves. He ran and placed his right foot on the wall and pushed off going left, right, left, and then made it on the rooftop as well.

The mutant clutched its side in agony but it knew that if it slowed down it was dead. Unfortunately it was too late as Max had already caught up and kicked it directly in the spine breaking it in half and paralyzing the mutant. Back with the others, Thomas had fully recovered by absorbing the mutants powers. Anne quickly ran to her father and embraced him.

Its been about a week since they sent her to the other settlement to hire help.

"Anny thank goodness, I'm glad your okay. And you brought reinforcements." He broke out in a coughing fit for a moment.

"Here dad sit down and rest. What happened? Where is everyone?"

"Cough" There all dead. I'm so sorry, I couldn't save anyone. Those damn mutants went after the weak and I couldn't stop all three of them by myself."

"No it cant be.... All of my friends, my family..." A few tears managed to find there way down her cheeks. She had spent most of her life in this settlement. So many people and memories taken away all in one day. It was almost too hard for her to bear.

Before she could think about it any further she noticed her father looking a bit pale.

"Dad are you okay?" She placed the back of her hand on his forehead. It was ice cold.

"Don't worry my daughter. I just need to rest for a moment." He started to close his eyes but Anne grabbed him by the shoulders and shook hard.

"Don't you dare die on me!" She moved her hands all over his body to try and find the wound. He had some minor cuts and bruises here and there but when she put her hand on his abdomen it was covered in blood. She gently lied him on his back and pulled off her coat to press on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Please dad just hang on." She looked back at Thomas. "Thomas do something please I cant lose my father too!"

Even from a distance Thomas could see that it was a fatal wound. There was nothing he could do but he still knelt down and inspected the wound. It was a deep gash across his abdomen. The only thing holding in his innards was Anne's jacket.

"I'm sorry Anne. He's already gone." He shook his head.

"No! This cant be happening." Thomas placed a hand on her back. She held on to her fathers hand and lets the tears flow.

Soon after, Max had returned with his new prisoner. The white mutant looked like he was about to kick the bucket.