Escape

Luciano looked desperately at the nearly 40 porcupines at the entrance to the cave. The courage and determination he received before were all down the drain, it would be a different story if they were normal animals, however, these porcupines were mutated, even though their overall appearance was almost the same, the difference in their proportions caused fear even the bravest leader.

A typical porcupine is 8 to 40 centimeters tall, has light brown or black fur, and has a four to eight centimeter black spine on its back, providing protection and a mode of attack. The animals in front of Luciano were much scarier. Its height had increased to almost 1 meter, its skin was now yellowish and its spines were sparse and bigger, reaching half a meter each. His eyes also changed, now emitting a gray light that, in Luciano's eyes, had a mesmerizing effect. In contrast, the leader of the band, who was in the vanguard, was 1.5 meters tall with his biggest spines reaching 1 meter.

"Here! Come fast!" He didn't hesitate to call his group, as he was confident he could overcome this challenge with the help of his team. However, he did not stand by and wait for help to arrive, after all, he was the leader, it was up to him to take the initiative.

So, he activated his mutation in order to transform his hands into a shape resembling a sword, of course, it would still be an arm made of flesh and bone, but shaped like a blade. However, something was not normal, Luciano felt a slight tingling through his body, his blood boiled, he could feel an overwhelming energy emerging from his cells, numbing his senses for a short moment, causing numbness in his limbs.

In the next instant, those sensations vanished as if they never existed, allowing her mind to refocus on the battle that was to come. In this way, he invoked his mutation again, which obeyed him immediately and revealed the consequence of his previous strange sensations. Before, your arms had only your bone structure and modified muscles, your tissues would remain the same, but now, your skin has receded and your bones have taken their place, forming a bone blade in each arm that reflects the sunlight, the sharpness of that blade. , although it didn't compare to a metal sword, it was still very sharp. In addition, he noticed that his arms became heavier, indicating that his bones had increased in density, giving him even greater confidence in his fight ahead.

Luciano saw the new transformation acquired by his mutation and couldn't help but wonder why, and his first instinct was the black crystal. However, he didn't have enough time to think about the matter further, as a giant black thorn was thrown in his direction. The thorn flew too fast, the sharp sound of air making room for its passage was clearly heard, this team leader barely had time to react, his only allowed action was to raise both arms, crossing them to protect his vitals.

Fortunately for mutant pigs, the thorn pierced straight through both bones at once, stopping just inches from your chest.

"What the fuck!? Aaargh!" Despite the pain, he didn't cry out, his voice muffled by his distress. The pain felt was immense, two of his bones were pierced at the same time, something he had never felt before. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, his teeth pressed together until they almost cracked, and his sweat ran down his entire body, such was the pain! His knees lost strength, immediately forcing him to his knees.

At this point, almost all the other members of their group arrived, unfortunately the vision they received was not pleasant. They saw their leader, the figure of whom they should follow and seek refuge, kneeling on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes, his face, contorted with pain, reflected how great his suffering was.

"Leader!" Luiza, the mutant who found the crystal barrier, screamed and ran to her aid, she didn't even notice the gray-eyed mutant pigs around. Ever since this team came to the surface, mutant pigs have been on the alert. There was no reason for this before, after all, there were dozens of them against 1 human, so their leader treated it as fun even though they were irrational animals. So, everyone followed their instincts and prepared for a real battle when they saw more humans arrive.

Thus, before Luiza could even walk a few meters, several thorns were shot towards her. She still had time to notice the black 'cloud' flying towards her, but unfortunately for her, it did not have agile reflexes like Luciano, nor did her mutation react in time when she activated it. In the next instant, his body was pierced by several black stingers, blood spurted all over his body, there was no member of him that did not present a giant skewer through it, because he was still close to his group, his blood splashed on them, staining them and causing them terror...

With a thud, her body fell to the ground. Everyone seeing it was paralyzed, the view was horrendous, there was no horror movie that could replicate the same experience of seeing that type of death in person, even more so with the blood gushing in their faces. None of them ever watched such a scene, so they didn't know what to do. Their leader was kneeling and crying in pain, while his mate looked like a cactus of flesh lying on the ground, and before they could come to, another cloud of stingers took over their horizon. The previous attack was launched by just a few pigs, but this time the whole bunch fired at the group.

Seeing the attack approaching, the most experienced of the group hastily activated their mutations, but nothing helped. The thorns dug deep into each one's flesh, killing them instantly, as well as ending Luciano, who hadn't even gotten up. The pack leader did not even need to participate in the battle, his group could handle this matter on their own.

…

A few seconds earlier, Fred, the mutant with hair on his hands, felt his mutation evolve. Hair grew on his feet, face and chest, while those on his hands increased in size. It was at that moment that everyone felt a strong pressure coming from outside the cave, and Luciano ran to investigate the matter. In the short interval between this and the call of their leader, all team members gained a brief notion of what happened with their mutation, who benefited from the most from this was Fred, as he could 'see' what was happening outside .

'No… Damn! I have to leave!" That was her first thought as she spotted the massive group of mutated animals around the entrance. So her first instinct was to try to find a way out, but her mutation, through his fur, informed him that the cave didn't have a second way out, her only option was ahead of him.

For a brief moment, his face contorted in despair, he could feel an immense amount of danger coming from outside, something he was sure he would not survive if he faced. Just when his hopes seemed to run out, Luciano called his team his.

"It might work!" Just like that, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Just when everyone had risen to the surface, Fred took his first step, he purposefully stayed behind and decided to climb last.

After climbing the cave and reaching the surface, he did not even look at the mutated pigs, his mutation already gave him all the necessary information, wasting time taking a second look would be extremely fatal. So, just heard Luiza's scream and her subsequent death, he immediately started running in the opposite direction of the pigs after reaching the ground, the enhancement given by the crystal made his body a little stronger and faster, allowing him to move farther away . 10 meters in those short moments, but even with all his speed he couldn't escape the porcupines 'senses.

The biggest porcupine saw it all happen, and when he saw that one of his prey was trying to get away, he immediately ordered with a roar that his sub-limbs chase him. The flock then started running after Fred, who was thinking of nothing but running away from that place, and when he felt that pack of mutant pigs was chasing him, his heart stopped for a moment, the fear, which was already big, reached unimaginable heights. Her contorted face was on the verge of collapsing and tears began to pour out of her eyes uncontrollably.

Luckily, the mutated hedgehogs weren't that fast, even with their height improved by the mutation, they couldn't reach their prey, there were about 20 meters separating them. However, the leader did not give up and ordered everyone in his band to shoot their thorns at the fleeing prey. Without a shadow of a doubt, they promptly obeyed and threw their black stingers forward, at that moment, the mutant human ahead felt another wave of danger, his mind, already unstable, almost collapsed due to it.

Fortunately for Fred, all of his fur stiffened and sent information from his surroundings to his mind. He felt another 60 black stingers flying towards him, covering most of the sky behind him. However, thanks to his mutation, he was able to regain some of his self-control and later a thread of determination emitted from his eyes. In this way, he stirred up his mutation even more, and the result obtained surprised him in those short moments, even though he could not see what was on his back, his hair took care so that he could feel everything, even better than if he had trusted in your vision. Every thorn and every mutated beast was clearly perceived in his consciousness, he did not squander that advantage.

Like a torrential rain, the stingers reached their position quickly, but what the pigs didn't expect was for their prey to dodge each thorn, their movements weren't pretty to look at, but they did their job. Even running at high speed, no thorns were able to reach him, Fred sensed the position of each one with extreme precision, making it almost impossible for anything to escape his perception; as the crossbows slow down to launch the attack, the distance between them has increased.

When the pack leader saw this, his anger intensified, as if it wasn't enough that his prey tried to flee, his underlings couldn't even hurt him, allowing her to escape. So he decided to act himself and used his biggest thorn as a weapon. He slowed his speed a little and took aim at his furred prey, firing the stinger with extreme precision. The nearly 1 meter long stinger split the air during its flight, the sound caused could be heard tens of meters away, its speed was surprising.

Of course, Fred didn't miss it, his senses screamed even louder, he knew he would die if it hit him, even more knowing that the speed of the attack was so fast, he could barely feel him approaching. Thus, his only and reachable action was to move to the right, hoping that the attack would miss him. The stinger then got into his position and this time it didn't miss him, but thanks to his quick reflexes, the thorn only hit his left shoulder, instantly severing his arm.

The impact was so great that it made Fred do two somersaults on the ground, filling his mouth with dirt, but luckily, or better, due to inertia, even with his pirouettes he managed to regain his balance and continue his escape, the force of the impact if he dispersed just as his feet hit the ground. Though his escape situation was now much better, his body was clamoring to give up.

Fred was on the verge of fainting due to the immensity of his pain, he had just lost an arm, blood gushing like a waterfall from his shoulder. He had never felt such pain before, his face was distorted to a point where it was impossible to recognize him, however, he didn't stop running, he just followed his survival instincts, forcing him to run as fast as possible for his life. So, with an angry roar, the lead porcupine watched his prey flee, and could do nothing to stop it.