Escaping The Mine [7]

Ricky put his fears completely behind him.

He had been fighting in front of Gio for long enough. As they faced another mutated beast, he courageously took the frontline role once more. 

And he did his job as well as he'd learned to do it in these past several minutes. 

He used his rifle the only way he knew how. While Gio acted as a distraction, he shot at the beast, bringing it down little by little. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

With his eyes wide open, Ricky let loose. He held down the trigger of his rifle without letting go, aiming as best as he could.

KEEEUUURRRGH–!

The beast screamed in pain. Ricky missed more than he hit his shots, but the bullets that did reach the target were more than enough to cause damage.

The beast was already injured, and whether it was through luck or skill, Ricky was striking its head and chest relatively consistently.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The cries of the beast went in one ear and out the other.

Ricky kept shooting like he knew nothing else until there wasn't any more ammunition in the clip.

The beast continued to roar in pain. It dragged its body against the ground to reach him like every other beast they'd met thus far.

These creatures were unbelievably resistant, and even in their weakest state, they were still terrifying. Ricky struggled to reload his gun as it approached him, fumbling with the magazine, but he was lucky he wasn't alone.

Bang!

A spiked baseball bat slammed down onto the beast's head.

Bang!

Then again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then again, and again, and again.

Gio slammed the bat into the mutated beast's head until it resembled mush on the ground. Only then was he certain that it was dead.

"Huu…"

Compared to their other battles, this one was much faster. And, as Gio looked around, he realized that their surroundings were clear of beasts.

'I see… we are no longer the easiest prey.'

Because there were only two of them, they were seen as lesser prey. The majority of the beasts in the city had all gone to hunt the large groups that had gathered.

'They're not my concern, though.'

Gio came back to the past to save people, but he knew that it was impossible to save anyone else in this camp. 

'I can only thank them for holding off the beasts so I can escape.'

He could only save the world to honor their memory. That was the least he could do to express his gratitude to their spirits.

With Ricky following close behind him, Gio rushed through the streets of the city that he knew well. They ran and ran and ran as fast as they could, using the least of the minutes they had left, until finally, they could see it in front of them. 

Their destination. 

There was around thirty feet between the outer wall and the nearest building. Usually, these thirty feet were covered by barriers and guarded by patrol groups, but neither of those things existed anymore.

Without any mutated beasts in their vicinity, Gio and Ricky could rush from where they stood to the wall itself in a handful of minutes.

The wall really was massive. It was hard to see the roof of the dome, as it was usually covered in darkness. The walls were also far enough away that they sort of vanished from perception. 

Only at this close distance could one see just how massive they were.

'It's an unbelievable marvel of technology. This is the same technology that allowed us to first colonize Mars all the way back then.'

This same dome shield technology was the lowest and most basic version of the artificial atmosphere technology that was created hundreds of years ago.

Of course, the technologies of the current age were much better than their predecessors. The base mechanisms were the same, but compared to those dome shields, this one was much more durable and left room for many more conveniences.

Though, when it came to explosives, even a wall of this sturdiness wasn't quite enough to withstand them. 

Gio wasn't thinking about any of this as they reached the wall. He marveled at its grandeur for only a moment before refocusing on the task at hand. 

'We're lucky. Most of the beasts are being drawn to the two large groups fighting in the city. My original plan was to move through them to reach an exit, but that changed after we found explosives.'

Rather than taking the path that would force them to encounter more beasts, they could take the path of least resistance.

Because they didn't go anywhere near those two massive groups, they didn't have to see the hundreds or more beasts that were in the city.

They only had to fight four times before they finally reached the outer wall.

"Keep watch. If you see even a shadow, let me know."

Time was short. The moment he blew the wall down, they had to bolt as far as they could before they ran out of time.

Gio planted all of the remaining explosives he took from the security headquarters on the wall and stepped back with Ricky.

The two of them turned their backs and covered their ears as a huge bang rang out from behind them. Shrapnel went flying in every direction, but they'd taken cover specifically to avoid it.

"Let's go."

Gio didn't plan to wait for the dust to clear. He grabbed Ricky and prompted him to move. Soon enough, the two were rushing out of a hole around a foot shorter than Ricky. 

"Run! Don't look back! It's not over yet!"

It was his first time seeing the sun in this life, but he couldn't be concerned with it. The amount of time they had remaining was less than five minutes.

'We won't make it.'

They were already running. Ricky did as he was told and followed almost instantly, so they really were doing the best they could.

But they didn't have enough time.

Gio racked his mind for any idea that he could think of, any solution to get him out of this mess, when–

"Ah!"

His eyes widened as he looked into the distance. No more than twenty meters away from them, there was an array of vehicles parked. 

'Those are…'

They were not vehicles belonging to the mine site. That couldn't be true, because, to Gio's surprise, they were all absolutely still running.

'They must be from the first round of reinforcements that arrived.'

The people who drove these vehicles were already inside the mining city fighting beasts. They'd left in a hurry, clearly, but nothing could be better for Gio and Ricky at the moment.

"Come on!"

Urging Ricky to follow him, Gio made a rush for the cars. 

The two boys ran through the scenery of the Wasteland desperately to reach their goal, yet, even in the final few moments, they were interrupted.

A huge shadow appeared over their heads. Gio moved on instinct and dove to the side, tugging on Ricky's shirt to hopefully pull him as well.

But that didn't work.

And the owner of the shadow that swallowed them slammed down into the earth.

A being that should not have been anywhere near this conflict had appeared.

This was not an event that Gio could have ever planned for. 

BOOOOM!

Ricky was nowhere in sight. He disappeared when the sand and debris were kicked into the air. 

Gio was left on his own, and that thing focused its attention entirely on him. 

It was the same height as the beast at the excavator, but it was much bulkier. It had clearly been fed much better than the rest. Gio didn't know how it made it outside, but it was here and they were unfortunate enough to become its targets.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The beast slammed its fists into the ground. Gio scrambled across the sand, barely avoiding the impacts. 

'Dammit!'

He grabbed his pistol and aimed it behind himself, sending off several blind shots.

A few of them did hit the beast, but that wasn't anywhere near enough to do damage.

'Tch!'

Gio tried to calm down. He looked around for Ricky, but he couldn't find his friend in the vicinity.

'No corpse.'

That was enough to assure him that at least he wasn't dead.

Still, that didn't change the fact that he had to survive here.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Gio desperately scrambled across the ground. He barely avoided each and every hit by predicting the beast's movement path, but it wasn't enough. 

'I need firepower.'

He couldn't do this for much longer.

He dodged and dodged and dodged as much as he could. However, that was only temporarily effective. The moment the beast decided to swing its claws, it was over.

Five blades sharp enough to turn Gio into minced meat carved a crescent through the air. He dropped his body to the ground and avoided them, but that was when it happened.

The beast's other arm slammed down on a Gio who couldn't do anything about it.

The world slowed down in his eyes. His mind rushed to find a solution, but his body was already moving. He pulled an object out of his pocket and held it above his head, pleading to any Gods in existence to bless his luck. 

'Please!'

A pulse of air left the object and formed a vacuum. The surrounding atmosphere was sucked into its surface, creating a light that was soon overshadowed. The beast's massive fist slammed down and–

BOOM!

"Kahak…!"

Gio coughed out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying back. In that final moment, a vague barrier had manifested around him absorbing most of the impact. However, at the same time, the shield projector itself shattered into pieces.

His expression only got uglier when he saw the beast approaching again. Its arm was raised in the air. It wanted to smash him into a pulp, and it absolutely had the ability to.

It charged at him, crossing the distance in no more than two steps. It brought its arm down, power emanating from its every movement. 

'It's over.'

There was nothing else he could do in this moment. 

There was nothing else he could do, but from the very beginning, he wasn't alone.

VROOOOM!