"Stop the car!"
August yelled at Greye with a worried expression painted on his face.
As the car halted, screams came from the beach, and chaos ensued. People desperately ran from the water and trampled each other with no regard for anyone else.
'What is that thing? It doesn't look like a monster… and if it were an Abomination, how did it get past the warships?'
Cullen examined the strange creature closer, then finally understood what he was looking at.
"Stay in the car!"
August commanded them as he exited the vehicle, slamming the door shut.
'There's no way… that one is completely different from what Arthur transformed into.'
The Abomination on the beach looked like a sphere about two meters in diameter. It was covered in moss and vines and had about eight limbs, which it used to drag itself in the sand.
'The entire sphere of its body is its core! That's much larger than Arthur's… was that thing even human before?'
Cullen's attention slowly shifted to August, who was taking off his suit jacket. His physical appearance was even more apparent now, showing off muscles that even surpassed Darron's.
"Is he going to be okay?"
Cullen spoke, looking at Greye for an answer.
"Don't worry, August is exceptionally strong."
This was the first time Cullen heard his soft voice, but Greye still refused to look at him. Instead, he opened the car door and got out.
"Just wait here until he finishes."
"Wait—Where are you going?"
Greye slowly walked into the city until he disappeared into the panicking crowd, not even glancing at the kids he left behind.
"Look!"
Cullen turned, seeing Henry point out the window to the beach.
'No way… he's going to fight it?'
August was now the only human on the beach, carefully striding towards the Abomination. Strangely enough, it had stopped moving and was lying limp on the sand. If it hadn't emerged from the sea moments earlier, you would think it was just a strange ball covered in vines. Rolling up his sleeves, August made a fist, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Don't play dead now!"
He raised his arm and brought it down on the sand, sending a shockwave through the beach. Amazed, Cullen's jaw dropped as he found himself unable to look away.
'Is his ability super strength? Even with the new Gifted powers, my physical body isn't even close to that.'
Cullen looked at Flora and Henry, who were also in disbelief at the old man.
"Now you're awake! Show me how strong that core is!"
Bending down, he prepared his legs and pushed off them, practically flying to the Abomination. But instead of running, which would have made sense considering the old man's speed, the Abomination kicked off its limbs and greeted August's challenge.
'It has no eyes, mouth, or ears. I doubt it can hear him, much less understand. But still… '
Captivated by the show, Cullen prepared to witness the clash of these two beasts.
August cocked his arm back, ready to throw a devastating punch. Meanwhile, the Abomination seemed like it was preparing to crash into him.
When they finally reached each other, August threw his fist forward, stopping the Abomination dead in its tracks.
CRACK!
A loud sound came from the beach, and a fracture appeared in the walking sphere. Soon, like broken glass, the entire core was shattered and sent flying back by the man's single punch.
'He killed it in a single hit!? How high up in the government is he?'
August smiled and almost laughed as he turned to face the car. But before he could show off, his face suddenly changed.
"What's he looking at?"
The three of them squinted to get a closer look, but only saw horror on his face. He sprinted with unreal speed back to them, shouting with panic.
"Get out now! Look behind you!"
They simultaneously looked out the rear window, understanding what the old man was yelling about.
A second Abomination was right behind the car, slowly approaching them.
"SHIT!"
Flora stretched her arm, Cullen pulled out his dagger, but it was too late.
The core of the Abomination turned yellow, then orange, then red. Then, right as it reached the car, it became too bright to look at.
The Abomination exploded, engulfing the car and leaving nothing behind.
Cullen woke to a beam of light shining on his face, barely making it through the tree line above. Immediately, he felt a pain in his head like it was being thrashed against concrete. His vision slowly started to come back, so he lifted himself up and looked around.
He didn't know what was more surprising: the fact that he wasn't dead, or that he was in the middle of a jungle. Thick trees with vines climbing them surrounded Cullen. Hot and humid air entered his lungs as he inhaled. He couldn't see more than ten feet in any direction because of the amount of foliage.
Then, he discovered the black dagger lying on the ground five feet in front of him.
'This is definitely strange. I don't know how long ago the explosion was, and it probably transported me here. But where are Flora and Henry? And what type of Abomination is that anyway?'
Cullen looked down to see his clothes intact, meaning that the Abomination would somehow transport personal items. He had more questions in the past day than he had in his entire life.
As Cullen walked to pick up his dagger, he noticed something strange.
The vines on the ground were moving. Quickly grabbing his dagger and jumping back, he froze and studied the snake-like vines. They were moving so slowly that it was tough to tell; his improved senses from being Gifted may be the only reason he noticed it. Now that he had gotten a closer look, he saw that almost every vine was connected and moving as well.
'I don't know what happens if I touch one of them, so I need to be careful now. Still, curiosity was grabbing hold of Cullen. But I wonder if I can cut into one with my knife?'
Stopping himself, he started making his way through the jungle while avoiding contact with the vines.
'All Abominations are different my ass. There shouldn't be two of the same one on the mainland. Even if it was one Abomination with two parts, I'm certain I saw August shatter its core. What happened there shouldn't be possible in the city… unless…'
Cullen may have found an answer, but he was interrupted by a noise coming from his side.
Swish.
He looked and saw one of the vines moving rapidly in a direction away from him.
'What's happening? I'm certain I never touched any of them!'
One by one, different vines now started to increase their speeds, all moving in the same direction. Then, Cullen heard a scream.
"FLORA!"
In an instant, Cullen started to sprint along with the vines, moving closer to the voice he heard. Each step was carefully yet quickly calculated to just miss the now lightning-fast vines.
'If that voice I heard was Henry's, that means the vines must be traveling to him. Since he called for Flora, they may be together.'
While in thought, his foot accidentally slipped on a tree root sticking out of the ground, knocking him off balance. In an attempt to stay away from the vines, he launched off his other foot into an open area and landed safely.
That was until, suddenly, something under his foot moved.
A vine hidden in the ground was underneath his shoe, now slithering around like crazy.
Suddenly, vines from every direction came sprawling towards Cullen. He ducked under one that cracked like a whip right above his head.
'Even for me, these are still fast.'
He grabbed the dagger to defend himself from the onslaught of vines, ready to slice each of them in half.
As one approached him, he slashed with the dagger and felt it separate the vine like butter. A green liquid sprayed out of it as both ends squirmed to the ground.
He continued running to where he heard the scream, but this time, he had to occasionally dodge a vine or two, as they now targeted him.
'It's like the Jungle suddenly realized I exist.'
After running about 50 meters, he finally heard another scream. This time, it was much closer. He cut through the remaining vines and saw a large moving tree in the space ahead of him.
But Cullen realized it wasn't a tree at all. It was a mass of vines, all wrapped around a small boy.
"Henry!" Cullen shouted out, but there was no answer.
'He must be unconscious… those vines will crush him if he's held any longer.'
Cullen tightened the grip on his dagger as he sprinted to the mass, ready to cut through it. The base of this thing consisted of many vines spiraling upwards, probably a meter thick. They kept traveling up for about 10 more meters, which was where they encased Henry.
Cullen used the dagger and began to chop at the base, slowly severing every vine that made it up. He wound up his arm to slice again, but a vine came from behind him and caught it before he could act.
'Get the hell off me!'
Unlike Henry, Cullen was a Gifted and, therefore, could use his brute strength to fight against the vines. But while one wasn't dangerous to Cullen, multiple were. That's why he had to quickly escape the first one before others came to trap him, like Flora's brother.
He thrashed around frantically, slashing at the vines surrounding him to break free. But once he cut one, many more came to take their place.
'I'm getting overwhelmed by them… how can I win?'
Cullen went to cut a vine but hesitated at the last second.
'Why do I want to win? To save Henry? Earlier today, I was fine with dying.'
The vine grabbed his arm, forcing him to drop his dagger. More came from other directions, capturing his limbs and rendering his body motionless.
'Can I die now?'
Cullen felt a small responsibility for Char, but it was now fading since she was safe in a hospital. What could he do? With no more responsibilities, Cullen shut his eyes and waited for the darkness to take him.
But just before he gave up, a blinding beam of light shot across Cullen's field of vision, cutting through and destroying the large mass of vines that were holding up Henry. Afterward, he felt the vines trapping his body slowly give out.
Cullen fell to the ground and looked at the blond girl, who ran and caught Henry as he fell from the sky.