With his short legs, it didn't take long before the crowd caught up to Lucius and overtook him. Lucius found himself lost in the rampaging crowd of slaves, the exit to the facility once visible now blocked by the crowd.
"What are you waiting for? Shoot everyone!" someone screamed.
Xiu!
Xiu!
Almost immediately, countless energy beams shot into the crowds, 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!
Lucius was knocked over by an elderly man but as soon as he ran past, a blue energy beam tore through his neck, decapitating him instantly. On the ground, Lucius watched as blood squirted out of the neck while the body kept running, meanwhile, the man's head had fallen in front of him, a mixture of shock and pain on his face.
Thud!
"Argh!" Lucius cried out in pain as someone stepped on his leg, then his back and head.
As 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. All across the place, children, women, and weaker men were knocked over, cries of pain mixed with fearful screams. Lucius could only curl up into a ball, shielding his head with his hands as he 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. Lucius slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurred, and his body ached badly, but he managed to peep through the small gaps in the calm crowd and that was when he saw it.
It was a mutated bear the size of a colossal beast, dwarfing a 6 ft tall man with its massive bulk. It stood at least twice the height of a regular bear, and its muscles formed a grotesque distortion of nature's design. Sinewy muscles bulged beneath mottled fur that had taken on sickly hues of gray and green.
Across its hulking frame, the bear bore the scars of its mutation, with twisted limbs and malformed features betraying the horrors it endured to become the monster it was now. Extra appendages sprouted from its back like grotesque tumors, while its eyes glowed with an unnatural light that spoke of a mind twisted by pain and rage
.
Thick plates of chitinous armor covered portions of its body, providing additional protection. These plates are adorned with jagged spines and bony protrusions, adding to the creature's fearsome appearance.
The brief silence was deadly, but Lucius knew it was only temporary. He struggled to rise to his feet and noticed it was broken, regardless he forced himself up and began limping away in the opposite direction.
Swish!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
Following a swiping sound was a scream from a lady and the chaos returned just as Lucius had predicted. He turned around only to see the 6 ft tall man missing a head, it turns out the mutated bear had slapped away his head with one attack.
"Fuck my life!" Lucius muttered. He wasn't sure why, but tears were running down his cheeks.
All his life, he has been forced to deal with one unfortunate event after another. Was he born just to live a sad life and to die in a gruesome way? If that's the case, what's the purpose of his birth in the first place?
The soldiers turned their guns at the beast and began shooting, but to Lucius's greatest surprise, the energy beams that could tear a man apart almost effortlessly could barely penetrate the protective armor of this beast.
Roarrrrr!
The beast ignored the slaves and began with one powerful leap it sprang into the air, shooting in the direction of a watch tower while other smaller deadly beasts rushed into the facility.
Meanwhile, Lucius saw the slaves, running in groups, and frowned. They ran to the right, and instinctively he turned left, limping toward the direction of the newly excavated mines. One thing he had learned during the few beast attacks when he was younger was that these animals were drawn to the crowd.
While this may sound crazy, being a loner was the best option in a situation like this.
Lucius soon reached the open field and was shocked to see destroyed excavator machinery and drones. The beam of light that came from the sight was clearly more destructive than he expected.
He frowned as he noticed the entire area was fenced, with his injured leg, he had no means of scaling it.
'I know the excavation site is not safe, but that is the only place I can hide right now' Lucius gritted his teeth before going down the huge hole. Unknown to him, a lone mutated coyote that seemed injured followed him from a distance.
The mutated coyote had a lean figure, its once sleek and agile frame now reduced to an emaciated shadow of its former self. Its ribs protruded sharply beneath patchy fur, and one of its hind legs hung limply, twisted at an unnatural angle, and mottled with bruises and lacerations. The fur around the injury was matted with dried blood, and the scent of decay hung heavy in the air as the wound festered.
Considering the festering wound, it was obvious it had been injured even before coming to the facility. In such a condition, it couldn't compete with other predators in the hunt for food. Right now, its best chance was to find a lone injured child, and Lucius fit the description perfectly.
With a ferocious and greedy gaze, it followed Lucius stealthily, limping along the way while leaving behind a path of drool.