The next morning unfolded pretty quick as if nature was warning the team to get up fast and get their mission over with. Everyone stretched and rinsed their mouths with the jar of water which Ashton had been entrusted with to carry during their journey.
As they all set out towards the Eastern part of the city, Aurelia walked up to Ashton and met him yawning lazily. His eyes were still groggy but he was managing to keep them open.
"Good morning?" Aurelia said in posse of a question, asking if that was the right word to say to him first that morning.
Ashton quickly covered his mouth to avoid any further embarrassments with his yawn. He gave her a nervous smile and nodded his head in response to her good morning question.
"About last night," she began to say, not flinching a bit as she talked. Her stance meant only one thing. What she was about to say was to be taken seriously by Ashton. She continued,
"I guess you should give up on anything you have been fantasizing about with me."
"Eh?" Ashton shrugged feigning ignorance like he doesn't know what Aurelia had meant by her words. He knew she was talking about the whole theory of them falling in love during the latter part of their story and then running in the long buckwheat and disappearing.
"You know what I mean, Ashton. You do not have to pretend."
Ashton scratched his hair a bit as he processed the words he should give as a reply hoping he wouldn't sound rude and even if he does sound rude, who cares?
"Did I ever tell you I liked you? The tale was just a story…feebles…I needed a love story to add an effective sentiment to the tale." He blurted out without a care in the world. He shot her a dirty stare before adding, "I hope you did not let that feeble get into your head."
And with that, he walked away from her, joining Ulysses up front. He tried to put his hand around his neck but Ulysses was fast enough to duck Ashton's move making both boys laugh at such little misses.
Aurelia watched Ashton from behind and made a scuff of disappointment. She never thought Ashton would kick on a bike ride of himself into her face.
'Maybe I am the one who's overthinking it.' She thought to herself then began to walk behind the other members.
***~°~***
They eventually got to the Eastern part of the city and as they walked on, the area was eerily silent like nothing had happened there. There were a lot of abandoned vehicles parked recklessly on the road. Alden was the first to sight the vehicle that had brought the first group to the scene and they all rushed towards it to check if anyone was inside the vehicle.
"There's no one here!" Alden, who had been the first to survey the vehicle because he was the nearest to it, announced before the others got there.
*SIGH!*
"Where have they gone to if not here?" Damien questioned as he looked around hoping to find a clue.
"Over here!" Jamil shouted as soon as he had found something that could serve as a clue. Lying on the dirty street with some newspaper flying around was a torn uniform. He picked it up and showed it to the others.
"It looks like our academy's uniform." Marcus said with a small worry line etched on his face as he had collected the torn piece from Jamil. "What had happened here overnight?" He turned at each member to see how they had accepted the news of the torn piece which he was holding.
"Guys…" Ashton called as he raised his gaze up front. About twenty yards away was a body, lying lifeless in the morning sun. Some pieces of papers were slamming against the body as the wind blew them frantically.
The moment everyone had seen the body, they all turned around in defensive positions as they surveyed the area with their eyes and instincts. They all slowly began to walk towards the body and when they had finally gotten to it, Marcus bent down to check the dead body.
Indeed, the body belongs to a student from the first group and it was easily identified due to the academy's uniform it was wearing. Its face had been dried up like it had been long dried in an oven due to the fact that it probably had been attacked by a mutant. The body looks more like a skeletal frame as the skins on the dead body were completely dried up already like it had been modified.
"It's a mutant," Marcus announced the cause of death as soon as he had finished examining the body. "Probably died seven hours ago."
"How is that possible?" Ashton, who had been confused about seeing a human body deform in that manner, asked as he was still new to seeing things like this.
"The mutant is probably trying to level up and it has drained this student's soul out of his body." Alden explained without an ounce of sorrow in his voice.
"So mutants can also level up like humans?" Ashton asked again. "How do we distinguish a low level mutant from a high level mutant?"
Damien suddenly keybout a sharp groan in protest to Ashton being slow. "You're really going to bring this team down, Ashton! You should have learned all the basics things you should know about a mutat and their leveling up issue. What in the world have you been doing all these while? Playing around?"
"I also know nothing about the Mutant's leveling up!" Ulysses fired in defense of Ashton knowing nothing.
"Will you…"
Before Damien could finish his words, a loud screech was heard out of nowhere. They all turned in the direction of the sound abruptly and what they saw immediately sent fear down their spines. Standing about ten yards away from them was a mutant who had a student from the first group of the academy in its hands.
It was grinning at them as he watched them with his ferocious eyes as it held the female student effortlessly with one single hand.
"She seems to be alive." Aurelia announced urgently as she could still see the student in the mutant's hand wriggle. "We can still save her!"
The mutant roared again as he watched Aurelia take a step from where she had been standing and without warning, the mutant stretched its hand out and its fingers began to elongate into sharp claws. Within a second, it deepened its claws into the girl it was holding and her blood began to drip down the tarmac street road like rain.
The mutant opened its mouth widely and began to absorb the blood into its mouth and the more blood it consumed, the more different its body became.
"It's changing its form!" Marcus raised an alarm as they all watched what was going to happen next with a mix of fear and curiosity etched on their faces.
"Damnit!" Damien, who was standing next to Marcus cursed.
The mutant finally finished its scrumptious bloody meal and to finalize his palate, it sucked out her soul from her body leaving her body all dried up like the other student they had found lifeless about two minutes ago.
The mutant was quick to discard the dead body by throwing it with a single fling across the street making the body hit a small vehicle that was packed on the street.
Their eyes shot open as they watched the mutant in horror as it began to shapeshift…
"How…is…that…possible?" Ashton managed to ask distortedly.
"Is it shapeshifting into a human…like us?!"
***~°~***
Please leave a honest review of how you feel about this book. Xie Xie.
***~°~***