The day had set, and the night had risen. The glow from the moon managed to pierce the thick clouds, bathing the land with much-needed light. However, even when the moonlight brightened the environment, nighttime was where the nocturnal mutants reigned supreme.
"Run away! Quickly!" A loud yell pierced the ever-present silence, accompanied by the cacophonous noise of feet hitting the cracked cement. A screech echoed into the night, followed by a yelp of pain and a wet noise before a thud.
"Get out of the area!" A man wearing a gray camouflage uniform and armor covering his vital areas shouted out. In his hands was an assault rifle without a magazine. Instead, to the side of the gun was a rectangular item that stuck to the gun, displaying four bars on its flat surface. The soldier aimed his gun and fired bolts of orange while his arms shook from the recoil. Behind him were soldiers wearing the same outfit, shooting into the shadows while moving in a certain direction. All of them had the same insignia on the left side of their breastplate: a sleek shield as the body, with a double helix symbol in the center encased in a hug of a bird. Below the insignia was a name: New Gen.
These soldiers were members of the New Gen military personnel stationed at Elden City. They were sent out on a regular patrol on roads usually used by scavenging survivors. They typically had three Humvees with mounted railgun turrets. Usually, it got the job done as the force of the projectiles tore through nocturnal mutants and the hordes of undead that sometimes wandered about. The overall members of the current patrol numbered two dozen.
It started with the vehicles randomly stopping, the drivers saying something was interfering with the engines, which raised an all-out red flag, making every member tense and ready. There were mutants that gained the ability to mess with surrounding electricity; although they were easily killed, they were still dangerous if the patrol was suddenly attacked with a pack of mutants.
The next sign was patrol members suddenly going missing; the other soldiers only noticed when the third member went missing, and the two dozen lowered to seventeen. Protocol for these types of dangers was to radio into the city for an extraction force and hunker down. But whatever mutant messed with the engines also messed with the radios and turret mounts. Then it came out of the shadows.
A beast that easily reached an average man's waist, reminiscent of a rodent mixed with a bat. Its sleek black fur stuck to its body, and claws as sharp as knives clicked to the floor. A long-furred tail dragged on the floor, and its head looked straight at them. It had no eyes, but its mouth was slightly opened and gave out audible clicks. Wide pointed ears twitched from time to time. Its underbelly had a small pus-like bioluminescent glow that hummed with energy, likely the source of electromagnetic interference. The encounter was met with soldiers silently moving and preparing for combat. The mutant was a Voltshade; the problem was that Voltshades moved in packs of ten or more, and the known location of a Voltshade den was a kilometre away from this patrol route.
The conflict occurred when one of the soldiers accidentally stepped on a piece of rubble and fell to the ground with a thud, followed by a misfire that whizzed past the Voltshade. The Voltshade aggressively screeched and swiftly charged towards a nearby soldier. Chaos ensued when nine more Voltshades came out of the surrounding shadows and ambushed the patrol. The entire situation made the patrol lose four members, three Humvees that were now wrecked from misfires, scratches, and dents, and injured two members.
The patrol sent out a flare to the sky as they turned another corner, the direction leading them to another patrol route. Each member fired towards the darkness at any movement they saw. Unfortunately, no Voltshades were killed, and only infected were hit by the gunfire. "Sound off!!!" A soldier yelled, most definitely the Captain of the patrol. One by one, the patrol members replied with their names, huffing and shooting randomly.
"Private Beckett Moore, present!!!" The last one yelled before a bolt was fired. The retreating figures of the patrol were nearing their destination, shouts of order and sounds of vehicles was like a safe haven to them.
Atop a building stood a bone-white figure with glowing crimson eyes, watching them. It was the Blade, its right leg placed on the parapet, slightly bent forward as it observed the figures below. John had sent it to test its agility and movements before testing its combat ability. Initially, John had been with the Blade to observe it, but he had to hastily return to the Tank since Ry was speaking to John's other identity, Amalgam, leaving the Blade to its own devices. Growing bored of staying in the same place, the Blade wandered about, jumping from building to building or dropping down to the ground and traversing swiftly. Due to its wandering nature, it managed to reach the western side of the city, where John had yet to explore.
The Blade tilted its head slightly as it raised one of its arms with a scythe, as if imagining slicing the mutants or infected it had been watching for quite a while. It wondered why the soldiers were running away when they could have fought them directly in an orderly fashion. It found their actions disgraceful but smart, viewing the soldiers as weaklings who relied on useless things instead of training their bodies to instinctually react to the mutants. Using its ability, it had infused a small amount of energy to see everything in night vision, unaware that its clear vision caused by its ability was something the soldiers didn't have.
It watched for a while before noticing one of the soldiers, the last one to shout out his name, fall to the ground with a Voltshade on his back. Its mouth was biting hard on the soldier's armoured shoulder. The Blade glanced at its outstretched arm before looking back down and reaching its own individual decision. It clacked its mandibles a few times before jumping off the building and using one of its scythes to stab onto the building to slow its descent.
The noise managed to gain the attention of the Voltshades and soldiers alike. The Blade clicked its mandibles once before removing its scythe from the building and letting itself drop on top of a rusty old car wreck.
BOOM!!!
The car caved inwards on the place the Blade landed, creating a small dust cloud and glass shards flying. With a swift movement, the Blade thrust itself forward towards the fallen soldier nearest to it before swinging its scythes at the Voltshade. The Voltshade in the other hand screeched before its head was sliced horizontally into three segments before the Blade used its talons to grab the soldier by his arm and hoisted him up.
The soldier screamed from the sudden appearance and following action before he was cut off when the Blade turned itself around and used its whip-like tail to whip away three Voltshades, while one of its arms sliced a Voltshade by its torso. Clicking its mandibles again, The Blade jumped high in the air before landing beside the Patrol captain and dropped the private, who was shaking in fear and slight confusion, before it turned its body around and charged towards another set of Voltshades.
"What the hell…" The captain muttered to himself, as he watched the Blade killing off the Voltshades like it was nothing. When it was surrounded, it merely turned its body and let its tail whip away its opponents and continued the fight. The captain keenly noticed that the claws of the Voltshade only managed to leave faint scratch marks before either being slashed or clawed by one of its arms. The Blade was slowly being covered by blood as it grabbed a Voltshade by its neck, raised it above them and used its other talon to grab the other end before slicing it by the sides and roughly tearing it in half. Bathing itself in blood, opening its maw wide as it drank the blood of its enemies. It looked back down to the remaining Voltshades and threw the other half of the poor Voltshade it killed towards its companions.
Clicking its mandibles, the Blade watched as the Voltshades chittered and screeched before backing up and running away like their lives depended on it. The Blade let out a guttural huff then looked towards the patrol that stopped running and were now pointing their guns at it. The slight shake of the gun and tremor in their eyes. It merely raised the other half of the Voltshade before turning around and began walking away, leaving a trail of blood and guts.
The patrol members on the other hand, either dropped down on the ground breathing heavily or let go of their weapons letting it hang from the straps before they vomited on the ground. The soldier that the Blade saved, was still frozen in place with their eyes wide. But there was no fear in his eyes, only worship. The Captain sighed tiredly, but still held his weapon firmly, he had already wished that he had brought his flask filled with alcohol. Behind them was another patrol shouting out towards them. 'I fucking hate night shifts.' The captain thought to himself tiredly before he moved to the side and began leaning on a car wreck.
Going back to the Blade, once it was further away from the area, had sat on top of a pile of debris and was slicing up the half of the Voltshade it brought and began to eat it. Blood dripped down its mouth while it chewed with flakes of fur and flesh hanging from its mandibles. John made the insides of the Blade to have internal organs to replenish energy for longer activity time. Its tail was swaying side to side happily as it ate, letting out growls of satisfaction from time to time. The spoils it gained was bountiful since it killed the Voltshades and ate its fill to replenish from wandering too much.
This was the scene where John came back too. The Blade sat on a pile of debri while covered in blood, flesh, and guts; happily eating half a body of a mutant he hadn't seen before. He blankly watched in surprise and astonishment as the Blade sliced a slab of flesh away before throwing it in its mouth and chewed happily. 'That's the last time I leave Blade alone. I only left for an hour and I'm concerned.' John promised to himself while he waited for the Blade to finish its meal. John didn't even question where the other half of the body went.
'From how thick the blood is, I could guess that the Blade hunted at least 5 or 7 mutants and only brought one back to replenish energy.' John innocently thought, not knowing that the blade literally fought off an entire pack of 2 dozen Voltshades and killed at least half of them. He focused on the small pus like sacks that glowed and hummed weirdly. 'Mutations to mess with electromagnetic fields?' John wondered as he moved his vision closer to inspect.
The Blade, unfortunately, didn't notice John's presence and once he got close enough to observe it properly; the Blade sliced off the sack and threw it into its open mouth before closing it. A blue glowing liquid seeped out of the corner of its mouth while it chewed. '...' John stared at his creation blankly. 'Maybe next time then…;;' Moving his gaze to check the area, the Blade situated itself in a secluded alleyway. A slight glint of something took John's attention, prompting him to look towards it.
On the other mouth of the alleyway were corpses of infected sliced and torn apart, limbs everywhere with black red blood creating ponds of itself. Then a drop of red liquid fell in front of John's gaze and he traced the droplet towards its source. Low and behold, on top of a balcony railing was a skewered mutant that resembled a dog with its head missing. 'Note: Never leave a Blade too long.' John noted to himself before he connected with the Blade.
'Blade, return to the main pool after you finish replenishing. And don't engage in any fights.' John ordered while emphasising on no engagements. He'll need to keep a keen eye on any Blade he makes in the future.
Disconnecting himself, John then switched his perspective back to the main pool. Taking control of the Tank once again while in front of him was Ry sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed into a meditative position. 'I'm not sure that's efficient but this is new territory.' John thought apprehensively. He originally left the Blade for the reason of Ry wanting to try using the unknown energy John and Scorran used. He was so eager for the training that John just told him to focus his mind on manipulating it. That was an hour ago, and both of them were aware that Ry was close to connecting himself to the energy to manipulate it.
John observed Ry for a while before he moved his gaze to his shoulder.The spot where the liquid entered was not glowing or showing any kind of movement. 'Maybe…' John controlled the Tank to silently walk towards the pool and touched its surface. 'Maybe I could transfer energy to him?' John thought to himself, doing the same action he did to let the energy enter the Tank, replenishing the glow in its chest before removing its hand away from the water and walking towards Ry with a little plump of energy staying in the Tank's hand..
'Hopefully, this does not blow up in my face,' John prayed to himself as he stood behind Ry, hovering the Tank's open palm over his shoulder and attempting to transfer energy. The air between Ry's shoulder and the Tank's palm hummed with energy, while a visible translucent energy exited the palm and began to be absorbed into Ry's shoulder. Sensing the energy, the symbiosis on Ry's shoulder wriggled and rose up, creating twisted spikes that attracted the energy towards them. Ry, on the other hand, twitched from time to time.
Suddenly, as if feeling the energy entering his shoulder, Ry's surroundings distorted, with small pebbles and clumps of soil floating up around him. 'He must be focusing deeply,' John thought. Then, like a whirlpool sucking it in, John found that the energy he was providing to Ry's shoulder was being absorbed quickly and violently. 'I need to stop.' John thought to himself before he abruptly withdrew the Tank's hand, cutting off the energy supply. Even then, Ry's surroundings were still distorted and soil covered pebbles twirling or spinning around him. 'I need to wake him up.' John hastily connected himself to Ry's mind in an attempt to wake him.
'Ry, Wake up!' John yelled through the connection, Ry didn't twitch or flinch at the telepathic yell. Only thing it did was the distortion suddenly becoming more distorted and twisted like something was trying to twist the space itself. 'Wake up!' John yelled again while making the Tank bend down and roar as loud as it could to wake him from the trance.
RRROOOAAARRR!!!
The roar was mighty and loud. It sounded like a deep and rumbly truck horn followed by a high-pitch screech that attacked the senses directly, the soundwave vibrating the air and making a plum of dust explode outwards. The sound echoed throughout the area, reaching the far corners of the forest and even reached the distant survivor camps and Elden city. Along with a slight vibration in the ground, depending on how close to the source it was. It did, however, snap Ry out of his meditative trance with a gasp before the distortion started to disappear and the floating debris fell to the ground. Looking around like a scared animal, Ry breathed quickly like he ran a marathon. Eyes frantically looking everywhere and his head swivelling around.
'Are you awake now?' Still connected to Ry's mind, John sent a question to him with a tone of clear worry. Ry swivelled his head at John's direction, breathing slowly coming but eyes still wide as saucers, he stared at John or in this situation Amalgam. "W-wha…" Ry started, his breathing hitched as a look of fear and confusion swirled in his eyes. "What…what happened?" He asked with a tremble in his voice, and from how John noticed his chest slightly rising up and down quickly. John surmised that Ry was in a state of adrenaline, so he explained it to him calmly. 'You were in a trance, I had shared some of my energy with you in an attempt to rouse up your own control over it,' John made the Tank slightly lower its head more. 'I did not foresee such action would bring adverse effects, you held tightly to the energy and began to violently absorb it.' John made a gesture to the disappearing distortions.
"Thanks." Ry suddenly said, his state slowly returning to normal, he had stood up properly. John straightened the Tank's body as he observed Ry carefully, the situation a moment ago was quite dangerous and eye opening. 'For now, I suggest you ask for my assistance if you wish to train or replenish energy that you spent.' John then made a gesture towards the siblings who, along with the Drone that held the baby, were watching the two of them with a practical twinkle in their eyes and a look of awe and astonishment. 'Maybe use it only in emergencies or if you're with me, to prevent what happened earlier from happening again.' Ry nodded his head resolutely, dusting his clothes before turning to face the direction where his siblings were at. "We need a shelter, if we continue to sleep on the ground or the outdoors," Ry muttered to John, bearing a look of apprehension, "They might get ill from something." Ry finished his words, John nodding his head in agreement.
'I agree with you on that, but I have no experience with them.' John told him the truth. 'Best I could do is send out some scavenger teams to look for usable camping sets or you know how to build your own shelter.'
Ry contemplated to himself. He had some experience with fixing up tents and sleeping bags, since they used to have them. He then remembered the time he built a rudimentary shelter for them to sleep in when they lost their stuff. "I can make a rudimentary one but…" Ry wandered off as he looked around the surroundings. 'Then there's no choice then.' John started before he hoisted up Ry, eliciting a startled yelp from the teen, and walked towards the children. 'I guess I'll have to be your makeshift bed. All we need is a firepit.' John then sent out a quick order to a Drone that previously held the fruits before the kids ate it all, the Drone stood up from its sitting position and walked around the area picking up large pebbles and some dead sticks.
John put Ry down before he controlled the Tank to lie down on its side. The purple pulse letting out some warmth and John manipulating the Tank's body to slightly soften itself for the kids to lie down. Ry was first startled when John suddenly hoisted him up like carrying a sack of potatoes, now he was confused when Amalgam laid down on the grund on their side and raised their right arm like an offering.
The first to react was Jullie, who ironically, pounced on top of the Tank's chest where the pulse was centred. She met in contact with a soft and warm surface, which she melted on instantly. "It's so soft and warm!" She yelled out satisfiedly, following suit was Will who ran up to the two of them and placed his back on the chest before slowly sliding down to the ground. Sighing contently, Will already appeared to be on the brink of sleep. "You're right…" He managed to mutter out before his eyes closed and softly began to sleep. The Drone that held the baby only stepped towards them before it gave the infant to Ry and promptly laid right in front of Will. It then reached out one of its tails and wrapped around Jullie, who was attempting to climb up to the Tank's shoulder, before it removed her from her attempt before slowly placing her beside her brother. It wasn't long for Jullie to yawn and slowly drifted to sleep as well. The Drone turned its head and looked at Ry and the baby.
John had already relinquished control from the Tank and was watching from the Pool's surface. He watched as Ry caved in from how the Drone looked at him before he joined the pile by sitting beside his younger brother and sister, securing the baby in his arms and slowly feeling the tiredness from today, he closed his eyes and drifted sleep as well. The Drone raised its tails in the air before it laid them in a protective manner on the siblings' legs.
The Drone then froze itself like it was dead, but John knew that such action was like selecting the sleep mode option in your computer. When his creation died, from the skirmishes againts the Wolf King's pack, the slain Drones would turn grey and hardened on itself before it broke into pieces of fine dust. The process even surprised John from that time, but found it as an additional plus. Only rarely does he see one of his creations resting or sleeping. Like ants, they tirelessly work for John, their creator.
'I guess I can focus on other stuff for the night.' John wistfully thought before he lowered his perception into the pool to begin new ideas for his existing types.