Joe's body moved without any input of from his mind. When he left the staging area, he was barely able to grasp his last shred of sanity. Before he even reached the outer edges of the forest, his mind was filled with only a single thought.
'They will all die by my hands.'
After clearing out every Level Zero and Level One beast within a five-mile diameter, Joe moved deeper and deeper into the forest. No beast that met his line of sight was spared. Even the otherwise passive beasts were killed on site.
As he moved nonstop, the rage grew within him. If these beasts were left to their own devices, they would someday become too abundant to remain within the bounds created by the trees. When that day came, countless lives would be lost.
Thoughts of the brutal deaths of Allison, Sarah, Laine, Shianne and Clara began to play out in his mind. These fictional deaths only drove him deeper into his enraged madness. Every kill brought him a sliver of joy as he ripped a tiny fragment of this threat away from the world.
After crossing the twenty-mile marker, the number of Level One beast began to rise at a rapid rate. Whether they were somehow missed by the formation earlier in the day or if they had moved into the area after the teams withdrew was irrelevant at this point.
Whether the beast was a massive pack of wolves or a small family of rabbits, everything died that crossed his path. Although his killing was efficient, it was in no way merciful. If a beast became lodged on one of his blades, it was thrown off in the direction of others. The only purpose their deaths had was to clear a path to more death.
The sun had long set by this point, so Joe was moving off his limited range of view. His hearing more than made up for his lacking vision. With no other person in the area, Joe could pinpoint the exact location of a beast that was two miles ahead of him off sound alone.
The reflected rays coming off the moon occasionally provided light through a break in the overhead canopy but even that was sparse. After two hours, Joe was stopped in the same clearing where he had begun to lose his reasoning before. Staring at the lifeless corpse, he couldn't help but to smile.
His smile was filled with his murderous intentions and the onlooking beasts prepared to scatter from the area. Before they had the chance, they were met with a cold metal as it slices through their bodies. The fifty-mile marker was just passed this clearing and would likely bring with it an increase in Level Two beasts. Until now, no others had come to greet him.
With an insidious sneer, Joe kicked off once again. His feet drove him deeper and deeper into the forest. His freedom to move seemed to become easier. The trees began to spread apart, and the paths grew wider. His body remained the same as it had been which gave him more than enough room to maneuver.
Just passed the fifty-mile marker, Joe encounters the second Level Two beast of his lifetime. A boar standing nearly three feet tall, and eight feet long greeted him on the path. Unlike the bear from earlier in the day, it charged him as soon as it was made aware of his presence.
With its head tilted slightly downward, Joe immediately saw through its attack. It intended to ram him before driving its six-inch tusks up and into his chest. Just before the two bodies collided, Joe pushed himself just above the boar and dragged his blades on either side of its spine. With a twist of his body, the blades crossed over to opposing sides and severed the spinal cord.
Joe simply looked at the now paralyzed beast before moving on. If it didn't die to loss of blood, then it would serve to bait more beasts into the area. He could take care of them on his way back. With his first Level Two kill since reentering the forest now certain, Joe's mind began to think more rationally.
While rushing towards the next fight, he began questioning why a Level Two beast could be killed so easily. Yes, the bear from earlier was far bigger when compared to the boar but it fought strategically. The boar seemed to almost blindly rush towards him with little thought on the outcome. He would need to encounter and kill many more beasts to understand what was normal for this level and what wasn't.
The biggest difference thus far was that he had encountered only two solo beasts. The lower levels all seemed to group together and fight as one. He began to question whether that ended at Level Two or not when he got his answer.
Joe found the path blocked by a pair of large cats. Unlike the common house cat, these two were a dark black from the tip of their tails to the edge of their noses. The eyes appeared to glow a grayish blue while their claws protruded nearly two inches passed the rim of their paws. The biggest difference came in their size. Just their tails alone were nearly five feet long.
Without warning, the beasts split apart and began to circle around to opposing sides of Joe. Picking the one two his right, Joe changed his direction and attempted to plunge one of his daggers into its side. Immediately after the beast avoided the blade, Joe swung the other blade back and to his left.
A pained roar echoed through the trees as the blade imbedded itself into the second beast's chest. The original target lunged in rage and was met with the full weight of its companion's body. trapped under dead weight, the second beast was powerless as two blades crossed over its throat. Not a single sound escaped the nearly headless body before Joe was yet again charging down the paths.