A black suv van could be seen moving through the highway in top speed,the van was covered in so much dust and dirt that even the original black colour of the van couldn't be seen, the road itself wasn't in good conditions, with pot holes appearing at some points but the van easily avoided them.
To the left side of the highway, a little distance away, rubbles of destroyed buildings lay across the floor, from the looks of it, they would have seen there fair share of battle.
"I can already see the Citadel walls, 30 more minuets and we'll be in the clear", the driver said with a deep voice.
"Haa, finally, the first thing I'm gonna do is sleep for a whole day, I deserve that much", another person sitting at the back of the van sighed before putting his arm behind his head.
"Exactly what a lazy oaf like you would say, hehe"
The other person at the back of the van chuckled, a mocking glint sparkled across her eyes.
"I'm more hard working than you Tracey"
He turned towards the person sitting across the driver at the front of the van,
"hey Davion, tell her how hardworking I am, remember i helped you kill that aberrant back at the shelter"
The person referred to as Davion turned around, his shoulder length dark hair flailed wildly
"I already told you countless times Bowser, the aberrant was already dead... Tch"
Davion clicked his tongue and turned around.
"fufufu, attacking a dead beast Bowser..... where is your honour?"
Tracey let out a stifled laughter, Bowser pouted, deciding to let them have this win.
"Uncle Sam... What do you think the Citadel is like?", Davion inquired
"I know it's safer than the shelter, better food, more people and definitely clean water"
Sam pointed out.
Davion's awe and anticipation could clearly be seen in his face, 'a place better and safer than the shelter... we can finally live a normal life'
"How lon-"
BANG!
Something hit the right side of the van with great force, it dented the side of the van and pushed it of the road, the van somersulted, skidded across the pavement before coming to a stop, Upside down.
The passengers inside the van where all disoriented from the sudden shift, Davion was the first to regain his bearing followed by Bowser, Sam and Tracey where both knocked out cold, due to taking most of the damage from the impact.
"urgh... What the hell was that..." browser's groggy voice resounded through out the van, he immediately looked ahead of him, gazing at Tracey's unconscious body, blood staining her dark purple hair.
Bowser immediately crawls towards Tracey,
"hey,, Tracey you okay?" she didn't respond but Bowser didn't relent.
Meanwhile Davion was just stirring awake, 'eh-what happened.... The others, I hope there okay'
He tried to move but it proved difficult, then he noticed that he was sitting upside down, the seat belt keeping him in place, after unbuckling the seat belt, he sat upright, his turned around, only to see Sam's unconscious body, upside down.
"uncle Sam", Davion blurted out, moving towards Sam's unconscious body. After some seconds of shaking and calling out his name, Sam finally regains consciousness.
"Davion... What happened?", Sam inquired
"I don't know.. Maybe something must've hi-"
*GROWL*
Davion immediately turned around, gazing at the silhouette stood right outside the van, staring at him with its deep Crimsom eyes.
"it-it's an ab-aberrant!!!", Davion stuttered.
*BANG*
The aberrant hit the van again, trying to crush them inside. Sam noticing the aberrants intentions, kicked his side of the door till it gave out and opened up, pulling Davion out with him.
"Adam, shoot the flare... Tracey bring the sniper rifle with you on your way out!!!"
Sam shouted in a booming voice, enough for the duo still inside the van to her him.
Sam walked towards the door they cam out from with haste, his target, the spiked bat at the side of his seat, with the weapon in hand, he takes several step back, making sure Davion was standing behind him.
As if on cue, another loud sound was heard, but this time the aberrant jumped on the van, revealing itself.
Standing 4 feet tall with pitch black furs, spine like protrusion ran along its back,all the way to the tip of its tail, deadly claws glistened under the sunlight, the aberrants crimson eyes fell on Sam, staring at him like a predator would a prey.
Shivers ran across Sam's body, 'damn it... a tier 3 hound.... We're no match for an aberrant of this level'.
Realization dawned upon Sam, this was a fight they couldn't win, but he won't give up that easily.
The hound bared it's fangs towards Sam and Davion, Sam clenched his fist around the club, waiting for the hound to come for him, 'I won't go down without a fight!'.
***
Five minutes ago
Inside the van, Lisa was already awake, they where already gathering there things when Sam's voice reached there ears, Lisa walked to the side of the van and picked up the sniper rifle.
"I'll handle the aberrant... You shoot the flare"
Bowser nodded and opened the door leading outside the van.
Meanwhile, Sam was still having a stare-down with the beast, sweat drenched all over his back. Davion was shaking in his boots behind Sam, even with Sam's large figure, Davion could still see the aberrant.
The air around the beast was what made Davion hold his breath, he felt like if he made a wrong move he'd be dead in a second, he looked towards the van, wanting to know if Lisa and Bowser were okay.
But he was slightly elated when he saw Lisa aiming at the aberrant with the sniper, relief washed a over his body and in the next instance-
*BANG*
The bullet instantly finds it mark, hitting the beast at the side of its neck.
*THUD*
The hound let out a small howl before slumping on the van.
Sam had a surprised expression on his face, but he immediately shook his head and pulled Davion with him.
"let's goo now!"
"Davion catch"
Adam threw a small backpack towards Davion, which he caught with ease.
Adam took aim at the sky and shot the flare, he waited for Lisa to take her shot before he shot the flare, so the sound from the flare won't alert the beast.
After shooting the flare, they all bolted towards the citadel, Davion picking up the pace as he tried to keep on running, not letting the fear get best of him.
After a few minutes of running, they heard a short scream, judging from the sound, it came from-
'Lisa'
Fear gripped there hearts as they all turned around, only to be met with a gruesome sight, the hound they though was dead, pressing down on Lisa's headless body, crushing her head inside its mouth.
"Lisaaaa!"
Adam let out a pained scream, tears welling up in his eyes... he thought the hound was supposed to be dead, unfortunately the modern sniper rifle wasn't strong enough to damage a tier 3 aberrant.
Sam couldn't believe his eyes, he knew the sniper wouldn't be able to kill the hound, but he didn't expect it to recover from it immediately.
"Davion keep on going... Adam let's go, there's nothing we can do"
Sam told Davion to keep on heading towards the citadel, while he tried calling out to Adam.
Davion hesitated for a second, but after seeing what the aberrant was doing to Lisa's corpse, he urged his legs to start moving towards the citadel.
Adam just stood there, tears streaming down his face, anger, fear, sorrow, regret.
'it should have been me... She doesn't deserve this... Why? Why her?.... She just wanted to survive and yet...'
Rage flashed across his eyes as he looked at the beast,
'And yet this vile creature took it away from her... I'm sorry....sis'
Sam finnaly reached Adam and held his collar, trying to pull him away.
"I'm sorry... But we have to go, now,"Sam said in a low voice, trying not to alert the beast.
Adam clenched his fist, turned around and pushed Sam,
"Thank you for all you did for me Sam, you looked out for me and my sis when no one did, but I must avenge Lisa... I'm sorry"
Before Sam could fully grasp what Adam wanted to do, Adam pulled out a dagger from his leg pocket and ran towards the beast, a resolute expression settling on his face.
Sam tried to get a hold of Adam again, but he was too late,it didn't take long for Adam to reach the beast.
The hound just finished eating Lisa's corpse,using its tongue to pick the piece of flesh stuck on its fang,the only thing that remained of Lisa, was the puddle of blood beneath he hound.
It looked at the human running towards, contempt flashing across the hounds eyes, it lazily raised its foreleg, planning on squashing the bug that tried to disturb its meal.
Adam immediately rolls to the right side, dodging the attack and pushing forward, he raised the dagger, holding it inverted, and with a sudden jump, plunged it into the hounds left eye.
*RRAAAK*
The hound let out a pained bark, shaking its head vigorously, tossing Adam a few meters away.
The hound tried to use its foreleg to remove the dagger stuck in its eye, but it ended up pushing the dagger inside-
*RRAAAAR*
Letting out another pained bark, the hound looked at the human that caused it so much pain, rage taking ahold of the aberrant as it rushed towards Adam.
Sam watched everything at out with a incredulous expression all over his face, he immediately wakes up from his stupor as he noticed the a errant was aiming for Adam.
"That crazy kid, so you expect me to run away while you play hero.... Haha, tough luck," Sam chuckled.
He sprinted towards the hound, readying his spiked club, when he was just a few meters away from the hound, he slides underneath the beast, aiming for its stomach that was almost devoid of fur, noticing a slight gash across the stomach, Sam instantly stabs it with the spiked end of the club, eliciting another pained reaction from the hound.
*AWOOO*
Startled, the beast jumped to the side, laying its eye on the culprit, a shocked growl escaped it's mouth, another puny human dares to attack him!
Sam immediately moves away from the scene, approaching Adam and helping him up.
"I knew you always had it in you kid," Sam praised.
Adam smirked and said, "Never knew you old bones could still move like that"
"Tch, brat!" Sam hit his back playfully.
"Let's get out of here an-look ou-" Sam pushed Adam away, and the next second-
*CRUNCH*
The hound fangs sinking into Sam's shoulder, crushing it to a bloody mess.
"Saaaammm!"
Davison almost tripped, fear and shock gripped his heart, turning around slowly, he laid his eyes on Sam, or what remained of him to be precise.
"No no no... Sa-sam," davion stuttered as tears immediately streamed down his eyes.