"Are you okay?"
Jessie, holding Jack's hand, noticed his grim expression and asked with concern.
"I just had a sudden headache, but it's gone now."
Jack shook his head. He had just figured out something new and was working on adjusting the sensitivity of his senses, particularly enhancing his hearing to filter out various background noises.
He'd heard of active noise-canceling headphones used in the military that could filter out battlefield noises like gunshots and explosions while still allowing the wearer to hear footsteps and conversations with teammates.
He could now roughly achieve a similar effect by adjusting his perception to a certain extent.
Indeed, his decision to come out was correct. The more experiences he had, the better he could hone his skills. Although, he did feel a bit sorry for Hannah (not really).
The sound of flowing water grew louder. Jack peered from behind a large tree and saw an open area about a hundred meters ahead. A small river flowed down from the mountain, forming a riverbed of pebbles with a few large rocks scattered around.
"I found them. Uh..."
Seeing his hesitation, Jessie curiously leaned closer to him and looked in that direction, only to be stunned.
Francine was lying on her back on a large rock, and Evan was in a strange position above her. Jack thought to himself that achieving such a position with her figure, which was at most an A+, required quite some effort.
"Should we interrupt them?" Jack peeked again, feeling that things were getting even more unusual as the two quickly changed positions.
Jessie glared at him, not knowing what to say, her expression complicated.
They waited for a long time. Whether it was due to the potency of the 'American herbs,' the couple on the riverbed took a long time to finish their 'battle,' loudly shouting as they did.
The two behind the tree simultaneously sighed in relief. Just as they were about to reveal themselves after the couple finished dressing, an unexpected incident occurred.
From the dense forest across the river, a crossbow bolt shot out, directly hitting Evan in the eye and exiting through the back of his head.
Francine, still not fully aware, felt blood dripping on her face and was wiping it off in confusion.
Several more crossbow bolts followed, all embedding in Evan's body. Only then did Francine realize something was wrong, her hands covered in blood, and she let out a piercing scream.
"Francine, run!"
Jessie jumped from behind the tree, shouting at her friend, only to be pulled back by Jack. Thunk, thunk, thunk—several crossbow bolts deeply embedded in the tree trunk, the shafts still vibrating with a humming sound.
Gunshots rang out. Jack, holding his FK7.5 with both hands, fired continuously, taking down two ugly figures that had just leaped from the bushes on the other side. One of them had a hand blown off.
But the crossbow bolts kept coming. Shadows flitted through the bushes; there were at least five or six crossbows firing at them in turns.
Jack reloaded his second magazine, trying to continue covering them, but realized helplessly that the redhead had lost her mind. She had risen from the rock, screaming hysterically.
"Francine, run, hurry!"
Jessie kept crying out warnings to her friend, but could only watch as a crossbow bolt pierced Francine's shoulder blade and exited below her collarbone, sending her tumbling off the rock with a scream.
Jack was momentarily stunned. He had taken down at least five grotesque mutants, but three of them were struggling to get up, covering their wounds and retreating. One of them, whose hand he had blown off, was even among those escaping.
Watching that guy scream and flee back into the woods, Jack couldn't believe his eyes. Although he was using 7.5MM flat-nose bullets instead of hollow points, it was still close to a rifle caliber.
That guy had his hand blown off and took another shot, yet he could still get up and run. Did these people feel no pain?
The crossbow bolts kept coming, and with increasing accuracy. Jack emptied another magazine but found it increasingly difficult to suppress them.
Francine was still crying out in pain, while several fearless mutants tried to cross the river. Jack fired several shots, taking them down. Blood flowed downstream with the river water, but almost immediately, two more mutants emerged from the woods.
Realizing the situation was untenable, Jack didn't hesitate or waste words. He grabbed Jessie's hand and ran back. He had only one full magazine left, while there were at least four crossbows shooting at them, all with a range exceeding 200 meters. Even with a rifle, it would be tough to suppress them.
It had taken them over 20 minutes to find the river from the dirt road, but they ran back in just 10 minutes. Halfway through, feeling the increasing sense of danger behind them, Jack holstered his gun, picked Jessie up, and sprinted with all his might.
"Hey, are you guys okay?"
Scott peeked his head out from behind the truck, visibly relieved to see Jack carrying Jessie. They had obediently stayed out of the car.
"Get in, drive!"
Jack had no time to explain, jumping onto the road.
Scott finally showed some sense, dropping his stick, running to the passenger seat, and climbing in.
Jack set Jessie down, opened the back door, and pushed her in, then jumped in himself, closing the door and shouting at Carrie in the driver's seat.
"Drive, now!"
Before he finished speaking, a crossbow bolt thunked into the car's hood. Carrie screamed and floored the gas pedal.
Jack expected Jessie to angrily demand why they had left Francine behind, like in those cliché dramas, but she just clung to his arm, crying without saying a word.
Instead, Scott and Carrie in the front kept asking what had happened to Francine and Evan and who the shooters were.
Jack was equally confused. He had never seen so many grotesque mutants. Though their limbs seemed normal, their faces and skin were terrifying, and they showed no signs of feeling pain.
He briefly recounted what had happened, leaving Scott and Carrie speechless. After a while, Scott weakly asked,
"So, is Francine dead?"
Jack shook his head. "I don't know. She was alive when we left. There were too many of them; we had to retreat."
"Please, help Francine. We can't just leave her. I can't."
Jessie finally stopped crying and pleaded with Jack.
Jack felt conflicted too. Fleeing in such a panic had left him uncomfortable, but these mutants were incredibly fierce and numerous, making them difficult to handle.
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