With my short legs, it didn't take long before the crowd caught up to me and even overtook me. I soon found myself lost in the rampaging crowd of slaves, charging toward the facility exit.
"What are you waiting for? Shoot everyone!" someone screamed.
Xiu!
Xiu!
Almost immediately, countless blue energy beams shot into the crowd, and a bloody massacre began. Slaves cried out fearfully, and the movement became chaotic as people tried to get away from the facility as fast as possible.
Bam!
Someone rammed into me, and I helplessly fell on my back. I caught a glimpse of the elderly man who bumped into me, but the next moment, a blue energy beam tore through his neck, decapitating him instantly.
Splash!
Blood jetted out, splattering in all directions, forcing me to cover my face with my palms. I noticed the body kept running, leaving me both stunned and petrified with fear.
Bam!
Something fell beside me, and my heart skipped a beat. My mind told me to ignore it, but my body moved out of curiosity. I glanced in the direction, my body shuddering upon seeing the man's head, still carrying a mixture of shock and pain on his face.
"Aaah!"
Yelling at the top of my voice, I quickly turned around and tried to pull myself up.
Thud!
"Argh!" I cried out in pain as someone stepped on my leg, then my back and head.
Since everyone was trying to get away, no one bothered to look down, and neither did they care if they were stepping on a young boy.
But it wasn't just me.
All over the place, children, women, and weaker men were knocked over. Our cries of pain drowned beneath the fearful screams of the dozens of slaves who didn't want to get shot. I could only curl up into a ball, shielding my head with my hands as I endured the pain in silence.
After what seemed like an unknown amount of time, there was an eerie silence—no gunshots, no one moved, and no one screamed.
'Am I dead?' I couldn't help but wonder.
Slowly, my eyes opened, but my vision blurred, and my body ached badly. Gritting my teeth, I raised myself a bit as my vision cleared up. I noticed everyone was still here, but they were just standing—petrified with fear.
"What's going on?" I muttered as I peeped through the small gaps, and my eyes dilated at what I saw.
It was a bear so massive it could easily dwarf a 6 ft tall man while on all fours!
It stood at least twice the height of a regular bear, and its muscles and fur seemed to have merged to form thick armor plating all over its body. To make matters worse, its bones protruded from different parts of its body—some adding another layer of armor, while the others were designed to be used as weapons.
However, not all. The beast's hulking frame carried extra, yet malnourished limbs sprouting from its back like tumors. While the mutation improved the bear, it also put it through horrors and pain.
For this beast to get here, it meant the facility gates must have fallen to these monsters, and all the soldiers stationed there were dead.
The brief silence was deadly, but I knew it was only temporary. Not daring to stay here an extra second, I struggled to rise to my feet and noticed my left leg was broken.
'Get up or you are going to die here!' I reminded myself.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself up and began limping away in the opposite direction.
Making my way out of the crowd, I limped toward the mines, ignoring everything around me. I hoped this silence would last longer, but things don't always go the way we want them to.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Someone screamed in terror, and the mutant bear roared viciously in response.
Swish!
Following a swiping sound was a scream from a lady, and the chaos returned, but I didn't stop limping away. I had a head start, and I wasn't about to give it up for anything.
One after the other, horrifying screams were all I could hear.
Instinctively, I looked over my shoulder only to see a 6 ft man missing a head. Initially, I thought his head had been eaten, but then I noticed someone some distance away on the floor, screaming at the sight of a decapitated head laying in front of him.
It turns out the mutated bear had slapped away his head with one attack.
"Fuck my life!" I cursed.
I wasn't sure why, but tears were running down my cheeks.
All my life, I have been forced to deal with one unfortunate event after another. Was I born just to live a sad life and die in a gruesome way?
If that's the case, what's the purpose of my birth in the first place?
On the bright side, the soldiers were spooked. They quickly forgot I tried to escape earlier. They ignored my limping figure running past them and turned their attention to the mutant bear.
Xiu! Xiu!
Xiu! Xiu!
The soldiers turned their guns at the mutant bear and began shooting, but to my greatest surprise, the energy beams that could tear a man apart failed to penetrate the protective armor of this beast.
Peng! Peng!
Peng! Peng!
"Ooh, my God…" a soldier gasped, but I paid them no attention and limped away faster.
Roarrrrr!
Soon, it was the screams of soldiers that I could hear. They sounded even more desperate than the slaves they beat and forced to work in the mines. They always carried themselves like they were important and untouchable, but now they couldn't even protect us from these monsters.
"Useless!" I screamed before looking over my shoulder.
My eyes narrowed upon realizing the slaves were running in groups. A few who started running early easily caught up to me and ran past me. They headed straight into the line I was working in, leaving me with a frown.
Soon, more groups ran past me and ran into that same mine.
"Fools!" I cursed as I gritted my teeth and began running around the mine.
I needed to head over to the new mine that released that dazzling light for one reason.
The first was that there were too many people in the first mine. One thing about these beasts was that they were drawn to crowds because that meant more food.
It may sound silly, but the best thing in this situation was to go solo—and that's what I planned to do.
While this may sound crazy, being a loner was the best option in a situation like this.
Making it around the hill was hard, and my legs ached badly to the point where I could barely stand, but I had no choice but to endure or die.
As soon as I made my way around the hill, I entered a small clearing with the second hill at the far end. To my surprise, the tunnel boring machine and drones were scorched beyond recognition. Even the military vans and military personnel meant to oversee the operation were reduced to charred corpses.
"What the hell happened here?" I gasped.
The beam of light I saw earlier was clearly more destructive than expected.
I frowned as I noticed the entire area was fenced, and with my injured leg, I had no means of scaling it.
At this point, I was having doubts about entering this tunnel. However, the screams I heard behind me were enough motivation. I would rather be blown up than struggle and cry while monsters eat me alive.
Without hesitation, I began limping toward the hill, unaware that I was being followed by two mutated coyotes. They were both emaciated to the point where their ribs protruded from their patchy fur, and their hind legs were twisted and bloodied.
These beasts must have been injured and weak. That was why they decided to pick the injured kid as their target.