Escaping The Mine [6]

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots resounded through the empty streets. There were only two humans anywhere in the vicinity. Other than them, only flesh-eating beasts remained.

They heard the gunshots echoing through the streets and chased the scent of blood. Luckily for the two boys fighting for their lives, the scent of blood led most of those beasts elsewhere.

They were able to focus on the battle they were already fighting.

There were two mutated beasts in front of them. One was six feet tall and lanky, while the other was a foot shorter with a rounder body.

Gio really couldn't say why they ended up with such strange body shapes, but if he had to make an assumption, it was because they had taken the forms of the first beings they'd consumed.

But that was unimportant right now.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gio didn't have an infinite number of bullets, but he was sure shooting like he did. After all, he couldn't aim nearly as well with his left hand. 

He and Ricky ran into these two in the middle of the street, but they were able to draw them into a nearby storefront to avoid attracting too much attention.

In this environment, surrounded by shelves, Gio, Ricky, and the beasts had limited space to move through.

Ricky used that fact to hide himself. On the other hand, Gio used it to gain an advantage.

Gunshots came from the end of the aisle, attracting both beasts in his direction. When they charged that way in search of prey, he jumped on top of the shelves and let off an array of shots without a care for wasting ammo.

Bang! Bang! 

The bullets pierced through the lanky beast's back, but they barely made it a few inches into the fat beast.

'One has offense, the other has defense.'

Bang!

As he realized it, the shelf under him was torn apart. The lanky beast swept its claws out in rage and obliterated the sheet metal it was made of.

"Tch!"

Gio clicked his tongue and fell as gracefully as he could.

"Ricky!"

A single callout was all he needed to gain cover fire.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ricky shot at the ceiling, pulling the beats towards him. He was forced to leave his hiding spot and engage in real combat, but he didn't shirk away from the moment.

He had a larger body, so it was harder for him to utilize tight spaces. However, that was only if he had to face both beasts at once. 

Gio knew what he needed to do. After reloading, he took the lightest steps he possibly could, approaching the pair of beasts from behind. Just as he arrived, the lanky beast got a whiff of Ricky's scent and sent its claws flying forward again.

Boom! 

The two shelves on either side of the aisle were cut apart, revealing the aisle to the rest of the store. 

The fat beast stood in front of the lanky beast like a living shield, absorbing all of Ricky's bullets. They were an oddly good combo for no reason.

'But they're not the only ones with help.'

As pieces of metal went flying in the air, Gio charged forward and tackled the lanky beast.

"Ricky, take that one!"

Ricky was running at it before his words even finished. The two of them slammed their individual beasts into different parts of the store, separating them for the first time.

Shing!

"Woah!"

Gio rapidly bent his back, narrowly dodging the claws that came swiping towards him.

In the same movement, he pulled out his pistol and put it to the beast's neck.

"You're not so tough without your friends, are you?"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 

He felt his wrist buckling under the gun's recoil, but it wasn't yet enough to cause him damage.

More importantly, his observations turned out to be true. The lanky beast's defenses were almost nonexistent. With each shot, its body jolted. Off-colored blood flowed from its body, and over time, its movements came to a halt.

Sighing, Gio looked down at his arm with a frown. When the shelf exploded, he couldn't stop himself from being cut by several shards of metal.

'That'll be dangerous if it's left alone…'

But that was also a matter for another time. 

He glanced over at Ricky to see how he was doing. The results were…definitely better than expected. 

Gio's advantage, obviously, was experience. He knew how to wield his gun and body in order to maneuver around the beasts and tactically execute them.

Ricky…?

Ricky had a gun. Ricky knew it had a trigger, and Ricky was recently taught how to fire it and reload. 

The fat beast had a remarkable defense that Gio couldn't penetrate with his slowed shooting speed, but wasn't that because his body was too small to bear the impact of an automatic weapon? 

Ricky was different. Ricky knew that if the beast was directly in front of him, all he had to do was hold the trigger.

And when Gio looked over, that was the exact scene he saw.

The fat beast stood only a few feet from Ricky while he sprayed bullets in its general direction.

They struck its flabs and sunk into its skin, but as Ricky reloaded, retreated, and continued firing, Gio noticed the fat beast's skin start to droop.

Its defenses were worn down by continuous impacts. It took time, but Ricky also started to move better. He intentionally led the beast to follow him and even evaded a few of its attacks.

He showed genuine improvement before the end of the battle, to the point where Gio didn't need to step in until the very end.

Only when it came to killing the beast did Ricky hesitate. Since that hesitation was quickly fading, it also didn't need to be mentioned.

"Haa…haa…haa…"

The duo breathed heavily, but they knew they couldn't stop moving.

Within the same minute, they were already leaving the store and continuing on their escape route.

Every once in a while, Ricky had to look over and see the wounds covering Gio's body.

While he was relatively unscathed, the young boy was covered in scrapes and bruises. There were cuts all over his body that looked like they were going to be infected.

How was he able to keep himself moving?

No, more than that, as they moved and encountered more beasts, how was he able to keep fighting?

Ricky simply couldn't comprehend the kind of being Gio was. He couldn't understand what circumstances could create a monstrous child like this one.

However, there was one thing he knew for certain.

'He can't keep taking the lead.'

If Gio wanted to survive until the end, he couldn't keep expending energy and taking the lead in every battle.

The only way for him to step down from that position was if Ricky personally stood up himself.

The fact that he was shaking in his boots only half an hour ago was completely forgotten from his mind. 

He was the only one who could take responsibility, and he was going to take it without fail. 

Seeing their next enemy approaching from the distance, he firmed himself in this idea.

And, he executed.