Escaping The Mine [8]
VROOOOM!
It was a truly heavenly sound.
The roaring engine of a truck came through even the massive explosive sound of the mutated beast's fist slamming into the ground.
Gio desperately jumped away. He covered his mouth and nose to avoid breathing sand as he caught sight of it in his peripherals.
The truck came barreling through the sand. Bullets flew recklessly from the driver's side window, hitting the beast in various different spots.
ROOOOAAAAR–!
It let out a screech as its attention was taken away from its prey. It raised its fist in order to attack again, but Ricky had other plans.
"What are you looking at?! Get in!"
As he shouted at Gio, he threw two explosives at the beast. One hit it and stuck to its chest while the other landed in the sand below.
Gio's eyes widened.
"Are you crazy?!"
He spoke like that, but that didn't have anything to do with his movements. He scrambled to his feet as fast as he could and got to running in one direction.
Away.
He desperately charged in the opposite direction of the beast. With a humongous sound like a dust storm, a truck approached next to him and pulled ahead.
ROOOOAR–!
Another roar came from behind. A massive footstep slammed into the sand. Gio wanted to look back and see how far away it was, but there wasn't time for that.
"Jump!"
As he said it, Ricky hit the brakes. Gio jumped on instinct, just barely reaching high enough in the air that his legs weren't hit by the truck bed.
As he landed with a thud, the wheels started spinning again. They looked for traction in the sand until they finally found it.
At the same time, the explosions rang out from behind.
Booooooom!
Boooooooooom!
BANG!
Only one of those explosives reached the mutated beast, but it didn't matter. It powered through the force that struck its chest and threw its fist at the ground, barely missing the truck by a few feet.
The sand was sent flying in the air and the truck was offset, but that was the only reason it was able to find its grip so fast.
The truck was a military vehicle with a machine gun attached to the back. A gun like that was already packed with armor-piercing rounds made to combat mutated beasts, and Gio, for one, was very familiar with its functions.
After all, in his past life, if he wanted to fight at all, he had to become familiar with all kinds of hot weapons.
He mounted himself on the turret as Ricky slammed his foot into the acceleration pedal. A blue hue came from the massive energy burst that propelled the truck forward.
BOOM!
A crash resounded as the beast leapt into the air. Its massive claws were outstretched as it primed itself for the moment of attack.
Gio raised the turret barrel and pressed the two buttons present where his thumbs rested. He placed his pointer fingers on both triggers, and–
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Massive rounds that dropped the entire backside of the truck into the sand were fired one after another.
The beast looked terrifying in the sky. Like some sort of creature out of a horror production, its translucent skin and visible organs combined with the dried blood staining its claws made it hard to look at.
But when those bullets hit it, all of that changed. Its momentum fell completely. It was forced back to the ground, unable to strike them.
The truck continued to gain speed and the beast continued to chase, but Gio didn't stop shooting either. He forced it back, reminding it that he had the potential to injure it now.
The sand flying everywhere made it hard to see in the distance, but Gio could see the mining city fading away.
The beast also eventually became one with the sand.
They were not its priority targets.
No. Rather than prey, the moment they got the truck, they became predators that the beasts couldn't ignore.
"Haa…haa…haa…"
Gio breathed fast and short breaths as he watched it fade into the distance.
Bzzt!
The sound of machinery moving came from around him as the roof of the truck extended. The bed was covered and contained, the turret disappeared into the floor somehow and was replaced by four seats, and what was once a truck became a large SUV without halting its movement in the slightest.
It was a bit of consideration from the driver.
'Speaking of…'
Gio wanted to ask Ricky how he was, but he didn't think he had it in him. The moment he saw the beast slow its steps, he fell down into the seats around him and leaned against its rear window.
'We did it…'
They made it out. Somehow, they made it out.
'And, if I was counting right…'
He lost track during that last battle, but it shouldn't have taken more than five minutes for Ricky to show up with the truck.
If those five minutes were included…
One hour, sixteen minutes, and fifty-three seconds.
Back then, everyone wondered why it ended that way. Sure, mutated beast invasions were a terrifying thing. The potential existence of an infinitely multiplying beast was also terrifying.
However, there were several other ways to deal with this situation that were better. It would be a cause of conspiracy theorizing for many years, but an answer was never found.
The most people surmised was that the company that owned the mine paid for this to be done in order to hide some secret.
Precisely one hour, sixteen minutes, and fifty-three seconds after Gio and Ricky first noticed the mutated beasts, it happened.
God's Wrath came down from Heaven.
And Gio watched it fall from the car's back window as he and Ricky moved further and further away.
That was a truly horrifying scene.
The sky above the mining city turned crimson. That crimson light became brighter and brighter until it was blinding.
And that was when the sound came.
VOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A beam of red and white light, wide enough to consume the entire mining site, came down on its coordinates.
It looked like dust, wind, and debris should have been kicked up in every direction. It looked like a shockwave should have spread, destroying everything nearby.
'But the technology used here is too advanced for that.'
Simple, direct elimination of a single target area with no collateral damage. That was the purpose of the orbital weapon system known as the Hammer present in all of the Stratums existing on Earth.
For it to be used here, when its original purpose was to protect humanity from external enemies, was almost laughable.
'Here, they used the Hammer to eliminate a human-made threat and sacrificed tens of thousands of humans in the process.'
This disaster was regarded as a failure in the history books, but it was never once investigated.
'Well, back then, there was only a single survivor.'
He was the only one who lived, so he was the only source of evidence about what truly happened within the city.
If he didn't give an account, it would always remain speculation on the public's part.
Back then, he never gave that explanation. He didn't interact much with those trying to uncover the secrets behind this incident.
After all, he was its only survivor, but not out of luck or skill.
'This time, it isn't just me.'
He had escaped the first calamity of his second life, and he managed to save someone in the process. He glanced at Ricky, who was driving the car.
There wasn't anything left to see where the Hammer struck. What was once a mining city was now nothing more than a path of scorched earth.
'Everything starts now.'
He was free from the mine, free from obligations and responsibilities that held him back.
'It's about time.'
He had been powerless for a little too long. It was about time for him to start setting himself up for success.
"Khh…!"
Gio winced as a bit of wind from the air conditioning brushed against his open cuts.
He looked down at his purple hand, his other hand that was almost in the same state, and his arms and legs covered in small and big cuts and wounds.
'Oh…'
…perhaps it was better to save all that stuff about setting himself up for success until after a hospital visit.