Hero

The trio of colleagues ran like never before. The fastest was definitely Lucas, his body wasn't at its peak, but he could still use his mutation. Ace, who was in front, was soon passed, his expression not disbelief but despair. All three were desperate to get to their car and get out of this town.

Lucas moved closer and closer to the car and just as he was about to open the truck door, a howling sound sounded from his left side. That howl was very familiar, he had heard it before, it was when he was fighting the mutant dogs. At that moment, he remembered why he felt a strange sensation when he woke up, even though he saw that everyone was fine.

'Damn it! There were 10 signs of life, but only 9 vultures appeared, the one who ran away was the leader! He can control both vultures and dogs!'His [Blood Intuition] detected 23 signs of life when he fought the mutant dogs, but saw only 13 dogs initially. Of the 10 hidden mutants, only 9 birds appeared.

Now he knew where the last mutant was. He turned toward the sound to look for it, but what he saw wasn't quite the missing mutant.

Ace and Ruby also listened to the sound and looked for its source. Their expressions were already ugly, but when they saw a crowd of dogs waiting for them, they became even more desperate. They couldn't count how many mutants there were!

Lucas couldn't see the source of the roar, so he activated [Blood Intuition]. His eyes whitened again with a hint of red, his awareness of his surroundings increased and the world slowed down. His intuition gave him a lot of information, some good and some bad. He reasoned in those short moments:

'44 mutant dogs, none of them with higher energy than mine, but there seems to be something different about them. I can't feel a dominant presence, where's the leader?" Shortly after organizing the uploaded data, an overwhelming presence appeared on the path to the blue pickup truck.

Lucas and company immediately looked for the source of that presence. It was another bird, its wings, this time, it wasn't just made of bones, there was meat and feathers too. The bird was predominantly brown, only the beak was black; it was 1 meter high and almost 2 meters wide. Its beak was small and curved, like that of a parrot, its claws were small but sharp.

The parrot opened its beak and prepared to scream again. Fortunately, there was someone in the group who was already used to fighting birds. As soon as the bird opened its beak, Lucas raised his hand and fired another sphere of blood. It was very instinctive, every action needed to activate this ability was embedded in his brain, he didn't even have to concentrate.

The sphere traveled at high speed, its diameter was small, just 2 cm. Just as it was about to hit its target, it opened its beak fully and roared. Instead of a high or low sound coming out, an irregular cone shape appeared, it was almost transparent and there were ripples on its surface. The tip was facing Lucas, but the purple sphere obstructed its path.

The two attacks collided. They had different composition, one was blood and the other sound effect, but that didn't stop them clashing. At the moment of shock, it created purple ripples that permeated the air within 10 feet around it.

The attacks are neutralized, neither has managed to cross the other. Due to the purple winds, the bird could not see the other side of the explosion, so it did not know where its target was. However, his enemy had no such limitation.

Since turning on [Blood Intuition], Lucas hasn't turned it off and knew exactly where the parrot was. Even before the shock wave dispersed, to seize the opportunity, he threw another sphere of blood. The sphere flew through the shock waves, separating them and forming a tunnel through which it passed.

The bird didn't even have time to locate its prey before a purple sphere hit it right in the middle of its chest. The sphere was very fast, but it still couldn't get through the bird completely. It got stuck in his chest and missed vital organs. However, this was not necessary, as the instant the sphere scratched at her fur, it began to corrode everything it touched.

Lucas never stopped running in the meantime. So when he got to the parrot's original position, he could see its body melting into brown liquid. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the bird's corpse. Ever since he hit him with the sphere, his [Blood Intuition] has found one more presence in front of him.

By that ability he knew that this mutant had more 'energy' than he did. His blood would definitely give him plenty of nutrients, but there was no time for that right now. Even killing the 'leader', he still had the black cloud and the pack of dogs to worry about.

He couldn't think of a better plan to leave town. Apparently, they would still have to depend on the truck. Then, with a steady mind, he abruptly stopped running, turned around and ran toward Ace and Ruby.

He was only 10 meters from the car when he changed direction, his colleagues were farther away. The tall man was 40 meters and the beauty 65 meters, but that was nothing to Lucas, he strengthened his legs to the maximum.

Moments later, he reached Ace's side, wrapped his arm around Ace's waist and carried him to the truck. The scene, if not for the situation, would be hilarious. The dogs were almost 200 meters from the car, while the black cloud was still a few kilometers away. Time was very tight.

After carrying him to the car, he turned and ran to Ruby. Lucas carried her differently than Ace, instead of wrapping his arm around her waist, he supported her with both hands, carrying her as if she were a princess. In the meantime, Ace started the car, unlocked the doors and waited for his friends to enter. While he waited, he couldn't help but say:

"Holy shit, I never enter a city again! Disgrace!" Tom of his, despite being cursing, didn't show anger, just fear of not being able to get out of this situation.

Quickly, Lucas and Ruby got into the car and Ace stomped on to accelerate. Their situation was critical, the dogs were a few dozen meters away and the cloud was less than a kilometer away. There was no time to lose.

The blue pickup finally sped out of town, the mutated dogs to the left and the cloud behind. Thanks to the car's high speed, no mutants could reach the car. During the entire chase inside the city, no voices were heard in the car, everyone was tense, especially Ace, who was driving.

When the trio finally left town and found they weren't being followed, they breathed a sigh of relief. This time, Ruby was the first to speak:

"This has never happened before, how did the situation turn so fast?" Her tone was calm, exuded indifference, her eyes were blank. Her face also lacked emotions.

"What do you mean this has never happened before? Didn't you go into other cities?" Lucas asked confused, he figured this was normal.

"Your ass, faggot! Do you think we're in some kind of movie?! We almost died 10 minutes ago, you cuckold! How is this normal?! Ahh, fuck you! Since the war, nothing is normal in this shit!" Ace was stressed out; a lot happened in less than 30 minutes, anyone in your situation would definitely not have good mental health.

Both Lucas and Ruby might complain about his vocabulary, but the truth is, they understood him, and they didn't have enough energy to complain.

After a while to calm things down, Ruby still showed her thanks, even though she was tired.

"Lucas, thank you so much, I'm sure if it weren't for you carrying us, neither I nor Ace would survive. Thank you!" She looked deep into her rescuer's eyes, her tone one of deep gratitude and sincerity. You could see a slight redness on her cheeks, probably because of the way she was carried to the car.

Lucas didn't expect this, it was something very natural for him. Before even saying something, Ace took the line:

"She's right, thank you so much Lucas. As you may have noticed before, we didn't treat you as a partner, we lacked confidence. You could take the car and drive yourself out of town, your chances of survival would increase, but no, you came back for us. We owe you our life, thank you so much and sorry for before!"

Faced with these sincere words, Lucas didn't know how to react. Although he didn't trust them much, he still saw them as mates. He didn't even consider abandoning them, he simply saw them as partners who shouldn't be abandoned.

"Yeah…you're welcome, I acted on instinct. I honestly didn't think too much." His voice exuded shame and embarrassment, clearly unprepared for these situations.

Putting an end to the matter, Ruby said:

"You are still very innocent." She ended the line with a giggle.

The trio then continued their journey, now much closer together. Some conversations appeared during the journey, bringing them closer and closer. A few matters later, Lucas entered into a delicate conversation.

"You know, how about we talk more about our mutations? I begin."