Chapter 19 What The Mutants were After
With the final buzzer, we split up. I climbed up high. My strength was in quick, sneaky attacks. I could do close up combat, but I tire out quickly. Mr. Griffin gave us radios in case of an emergency. I stayed close to the school. Watching and waiting for the mutants to arrive.
I was rusty, so I was fine with dealing with stragglers. I wasn’t sure what caused a group of them to gather and randomly attack. Even with all the studies my parents paid for to better understand them. They came up with nothing. They even tried coming up with a cure. But no luck with that either. Sometimes it felt like they appeared out of nowhere. That’s how random the attacks can be. That is why they created buzzer systems like the one at the school. To give people a chance to run and hide.
There were many bunkers built throughout the city for this reason. Biters couldn’t break through much. They are only dangerous to people if they break the skin and fluids from their bodies are exchanged with the open wound. They are the most common. Brutes are the muscles of mutants; they can break through most things. They are slow, though.
From my spot in the trees. I was hidden, I had an arrow knocked in the bow, ready to go. The smell of them hit me first before I saw them. Three of the biters made their way towards the school. No brutes in sight yet and no other type of mutants insight, good.
I made quick work of them with the bow. Before long I fell into the song and dance of killing mutants. They kept heading for the same spot at the school. Another group of biters made their way towards the spot. I killed all but one. It made it to where I started and began sniffing and pacing around.
I watched it with an arrow trained on it. This was risky, but something in my gut made me watch and observe. It looked like it was trying to get to the roof of the school. I killed it with my arrow quickly and moved over to the spot it was trying to get to. I had no idea what it was after. Would I even know what I was looking for? I had no clue. I was exposed on this roof, and I didn’t like it, but I had to figure out what it was. Maybe it would help stop future attacks.
After what felt like forever with my heart beating in my ear, I found only one thing out of place on the roof. Some sort of crystal. It was small, maybe the size of a half-dollar coin. It had a strange energy. I took one of the scarves and wrapped it up. Then, I took another scarf and tucked it into my pants after tying it to my belt. I didn’t have pockets I trusted to hold this in, so this would have to do.
Damn girl fashion, it wasn’t practical at all! I didn’t want this to fall out while I was moving around. Hopefully this would keep it safe while battling, so I could study it later.
I moved back into the shadows of the tree I was in. It got really quiet. The hair on my body rose. Something was wrong. I clicked the radio that Mr. Griffin gave us. I couldn’t shake the feeling of wrongness around me.
“Something is not right,” I whispered into the radio. I got nervous when no one answered me right away, but a few heart beats later.
“I agree. All the mutants are just turning and running away. That’s never happened.” Mr. Griffin replied. I felt a little relieved at his response, but what he said was troubling enough.
“Ezra, check in.” Mr. Griffin said over the radio. My heart sank when there was a click of the radio and a blood curdling scream.
My heart sank at that sound. I knew what it was; I didn’t think about anything but getting to Ezra. If he was dealing with a toxic screamer, he was in deep trouble. The only way to kill that kind of mutant was fire. It was one of the rarest kinds of mutants. I only fought one once, and it almost killed me. It had wings and long limbs that stretched and scratched. It couldn’t turn you into a mutant; it had a toxic ooze that burned through anything. You could stab it and behead it and it would still keep going. It regenerated slowly. Hence, fire was the only way it could die, burning it all at once so it couldn’t regenerate.
“That’s a toxic screamer.” I breathed heavily into the radio. I don’t know if either one of them has ever faced one.
“Hawks stay where you are, it’s too dangerous.” Mr. Griffen yelled at me through the radio. I didn’t listen. I had to help Ezra. Leaving him to die by that thing was something I couldn’t live with.
“The only way that thing will die is by fire,” I yell into the radio. “It doesn’t have the mutant venom, so it can’t turn you but the ooze will burn you alive slowly.”
“What? How do you know?” Mr. Griffen yelled and panicked. Ignored him.
“It also lets out toxic gas that can burn any exposed skin. Cover yourself as much as possible.” I prayed Ezra was listening and did what I said. As I was heading to the area Ezra was covering, a large crash occurred, and part of the school building collapsed. I ran faster after that.
“Do we have anything flammable?” I ask, as I run, formulating a plan. It took a lot to take one of those down.
“The green balls,” Ezra whispered as muffled screaming rang in the background. Thank God! I almost sagged in relief at his response, but I kept running. Knowing whatever the toxic screamer knocked down wouldn't keep it down for long.
“You better not be planning anything stupid.” Mr. Griffen yelled at me or both of us, I wasn’t sure, but it was too late. I had a plan. It wasn’t a good one. It was very stupid, but if everything works. The toxic screamer will be dead, and I will maybe be alive.
“Do we have anything to set them on fire? I don’t have a lighter.” I asked on the radio.
“I do.” Ezra whispered again. Thank god for that! After a few more heartbeats that took forever. I reached the area where Ezra was. There were a lot of dead mutants on the ground. Even 5 brutes. Ezra came out of the shadows where he was hiding. He looked a bit worn out, but thankfully, he looked to be in one piece. I handed him one of the many scarves I tied around me so he could cover his face.
“I guess being a lost and found mutant was a good plan.” He teased me, and I laughed a little, even though this was not the time to be flirting and joking around with each other. I smiled at him.
“After almost dying from the last one. I’m always prepared.” I told him.
“What? You fought one of these before.” Shock filled his face and his voice at that. He must have been really exhausted if he didn’t have his “I am too cool” persona going.
“Can I see the lighter?” I asked. I needed to know if I could use it to make enough fire with it.
“Yeah, why?” Ezra asked, fishing out his lighter. Thankfully, Ezra was so extra, his lighter was too. I grabbed it from him.
“Really? This thing is overpowered. But it will do.” I told him. Before he could do anything, movement caught my eye. All I did was react. Blinding, burning pain was all I felt on my back as I tackled Ezra out of the way.