Chapter 6

The creature was finally dead in Thomas arms but before he could throw the body down, he thought back to the bird creature and how he absorbed some kind of power from it. While thinking about this, the dark blood began to ooze out of every pore of the creature and into Thomas.

Just like before the blood entered his veins and ran all the way to his heart. Max and Anne couldn't help but stare at the sight of Thomas injuries healing before there very eyes.

"That's not something you see everyday." Max said while examining his own cuts.

"Iv never seen an ability like that before. Is this because of your mutation?" Anne asked.

"Its only happened one other time." Replied Thomas now fully healed.

"This is crazy, its like you just absorbed the mutation from that creature and fully healed. Are you also able to use their abilities too?" She asked while examining Thomas body where the cuts were just moments before.

"No idea. I wouldn't even know how to use them if that was the case." He said shrugging her off. "Anyway lets get what we came for and get the hell out of here before another mutant shows up."

Thomas hoisted the deer over his shoulders and they started to walk towards Anne's settlement once again.

An hour or two later they were finally getting close to their destination when they spotted a huge smoke cloud in the direction of the settlement.

"It can't be." She clenches her hands tightly. "Were too late." She looks down at the ground with tears in her eyes. They were too late and it seemed her settlement was attacked. All of a sudden it seemed like a dark cloud fell on the group. From Thomas point of view it looked like she gave up on saving her settlement, but in the next moment she looks up with fury in her eyes.

"I understand if you guys want to back out, but I'm going to kill every last mutant or die trying." She pulled the sniper over her shoulder and gripped it tightly in her hands before looking to Thomas.

Thomas knew that this wasn't going to end well, Anne is obviously clouded with rage and not thinking clearly. Even so, he couldn't ignore the fire in her spirit.

"Well. count me in. I'm still looking forward to our payment so I cant leave now, even if it is a suicide mission." Max added. He felt sorry for Anne having lost her home and most likely her family too.

After a few moments every one looked like the life had returned like the gloom was never there. Thomas would normally reject such a mission but after he absorbed the power from the creature from earlier, he felt as if he had boundless energy. He wondered if he could absorb the power of one of the intelligent mutants maybe he would get some kind of ability or something. Plus the reward Anne was going to give them for the bounty would be able to enhance his powers as well.

"Let's make haste. There could be survivors still trapped in the settlement." Thomas said as he began running full speed towards the settlement.

It only took a moment for the other two to realize that Anne wont be able to keep up with their speed.

"Anne, Climb on my back. It will be faster this way."

"Hell no. I'm not doing that."

"Look, its the only way to keep up with that maniac. Its either this or get left behind."

"Okay okay fine."

She reluctantly climbed on Max's back and with his mutated legs they were able to catch up to Thomas in no time. With this speed the group would be able to reach the settlement in the next hour or so.

The smoke bellowing from the settlement wasn't going away. If anything it looked as if it was getting worse. Anne tried to keep her emotions hidden from the others as they sprinted towards the smoke.

The forest near the settlement was getting thicker the closer they got so they had to slow down a bit or risk slamming face first into a tree. Upon breaching the clearing they could finally see the front gate to the settlement. Instead of it being locked tight like it usually was, Anne noticed the gate was blown off its hinges and on fire. The group stopped in front of the gate and Anne hopped of Max's back.

"This cant be. My home is destroyed." She said with tears in her eyes.

Thomas didn't know what to say at this moment. He had never been good with emotions. Without saying anything max walked over and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "We might not have been here in time to save your people but the least we can do is avenge them."

Hearing those words seemed to bring her back to reality. "Lets go teach these bastards what it means to lose everything." The grouped walked inside towards the center of the settlement.

The ground was made of concrete and the houses to both the left and right were all set ablaze. Anne's anger was only getting stronger the more she saw. Dead and burnt bodies laying in the street and everything she knew was either destroyed or on fire.

Thomas couldn't believe only three mutants could cause so much destruction and chaos. Honestly its quite rare for mutants to attack whole settlements like this. From his experience mutants would only attack singular travelers that were caught outside the safety of the walls. Even more strange was the fact that these mutants seemed to work together, something he had never seen before.

When they made it to the center of the settlement what they saw shocked all three of them. They could see the three mutants all working together to fight the remaining survivors.

One of the survivors was covered in blood and cuts all over his body but that didn't seem to slow him down at all while he clashed with the mutants over and over. He had long black hair and wielded a metal pipe he grabbed from the ground.

"Is that all you got you disgusting mutants!" He shouted and slammed the pipe towards the mutants head. It blocked it with both of its forearms only to get a kick to the gut by the survivor pushing it back a few meters.

The survivor swung the pipe around his sides ready to attack again. Before he could one of the other mutants managed to sneak around to the back of the survivor. Anne saw this as they arrived and called out to the man. "No dad, watch out!

The man looked over and saw his daughter with two other men. In the blink of an eye the mutant struck the mans back with its claws. The man knelt down from the weight of the blow but then stood up again completely unharmed. He then ripped of his tattered shirt revealing dark scales all across his body like a suit of armor. The scales spread out from his heart all across his torso and arms and even his neck was covered.

With great effort the man forced the scales even farther until it covered his hands and gave him a sharp pair of claws just like the mutants.

All of a sudden a loud bang was heard all over the battlefield and one of the mutants closest to the man dropped like a sack of potatoes with black blood oozing from a wound on its shoulder. Anne was able to shoot the mutant just before it attacked her father once again. Whether she knew it or not this mutant was the same one she shot before. The mutant recognized the shooter immediately as it jumped on its feet while changing its focus to Anne.

Only a few moments have passed since they arrived and when the mutant charged for Anne, Thomas ran up to meet the mutant head on. They both slammed into each other creating a small shockwave as they locked fingers trying to overpower each other with raw strength. Anne's father's name is Samuel, his mutation allows him to grow scales from his heart to the rest of his body.

The farther away from his heart he tried to grow scales the harder it becomes.

When the mutants attacked their settlement he was one of the few mutated individuals they had. All of the others put up a good fight but eventually they succumbed to their injuries until only Samuel remained. If it was only one mutant Samuel was confident he could take care of it, but three was just too overwhelming for him alone.

When he saw that his daughter had finally returned with reinforcements he was elated. With newfound energy he brandished his dark claws and dashed forward to engage one of the mutants. Thomas was still grappling with one and Samuel with the second one. The third mutant for reasons unknown was staying out of the fight and just observed from the distance.

Thomas was testing his strength against the mutant to see where he stood and surprisingly he easily overpowered the mutant pushing it to the ground and cracking the bones in its hands.