Chapter 16: Taking Off

The wind blew at Alex’s face while the wolf ran aimlessly in the campus.

It had run a hundred meters to the man-made lake where it was now deserted.

He wasted no time and he unleashed his ability on the wolf.

A slit appeared at the already damaged eye of the wolf and without any warning, whistles of the bullets that came out from it could be heard.

Splatter.

The bullets shot into the eye, decimated it and they continued on their trajectory, burrowing through into the head of the wolf.

More than a dozen of the bullets went into it and the wolf’s pace started to slow down.

It staggered left and right for a few moments, walking towards the lake.

Plop.

It dropped to the ground finally and Alex got off from it.

He didn’t stay for long and he quickly turned around to get back to where Terry and Riley were.

Splash.

When he took a few steps away, he heard the water splashing behind him.

Alex turned around and he saw a huge fish had grabbed the body of the wolf with its mouth and dragged it into the water.

The animals that were on land and in air weren’t the only ones to be mutating.

On his way back, he took care of some bugs that were as big as his hands stretched out and some of the rats that were scurrying around in the dark fog aimlessly.

And when he got back to where the others were, they were also done with the wolves.

However, it came at a price.

Many of the students were injured and those who weren’t wounded like Terry and Riley were going around trying to help them.

"Have you given Brian the signal?" Alex asked when he walked up to Riley and Terry.

They gave him a blank look.

Both of them were so busy with trying to help the wounded that they’ve forgotten.

Alex shook his head at them and said, "Let me do it."

He took out the flashlight from his backpack and pointed it at the window of Brian’s room.

The beam of light from it barely shone through the dark fog.

Fortunately, it was still powerful enough for Brian to see it, saving a trip running up the stairs.

When Brian saw the flashlight, he turned on the drone and he began to pilot it out through his window.

Buzz.

The buzzing sound of the drone could be heard in his room and it flew out of the frame of the window within mere inches of touching it.

His enhanced senses and reaction time helped with the piloting.

The drone flew in the cover of the darkening skies towards the building where the school of bio-science was.

On the screen of the remote control, Brian could see the carnage that was all around the campus.

Bodies of students who couldn’t escape in time lay everywhere.

Most of the buildings were barricaded and the students were hiding inside.

When the drone reached its destination, the building for the school of bio-science was also barricaded and no one could be seen.

It hovered for a few moments until a small opening could be seen appearing in a window on the third floor.

Someone peeped out of it and Brian made the drone get near it.

The window was then opened and the drone entered it.

After the drone landed onto the ground, the person inside the building took out the paper attached to the drone and read it.

She frowned and looked at the body of the mutated rat that was also attached to the drone.

After a few moments of hesitation, she wrote something on the piece of paper, attached it back to the drone and took out the body of the mutated rat from it.

Buzz.

The drone took off again and Brian piloted it back to his dorm room.

When it entered back into his room again, he landed it, and quickly closed the window.

Then, he took out the piece of paper attached to the drone and he read the reply from the person.

...

Meanwhile, Alex stood where he was and a familiar sound erupted in his mind.

[Congratulations Host for killing off 34 mutated beasts.]

[Dispensing rewards now:]

[100x bottles of water.]

[100x packets of MRE ration.]

[40x boxes of essential medication.]

[100x Pistols with ammunition.]

[All items are stored in your storage space now.]

[Current status: 135/200]

[Day 1 of 3 for SSS Level Storage Ability.]

He was getting near the target of 200 kills very soon and he had two more days to accomplish it.

From the battle with the birds and wolves, he realized that the mutation for the beasts had advanced to another level.

He wasn’t sure how much more powerful they would become, but there was only one thing that was certain.

Kill as many as he could now while they were relatively weaker than he was or else, it might be much more difficult for him when it was the third day.

And with what he had experimented earlier, he roughly had an idea on what he would do about it.

"Get them back into the building, I will get you medication, water and food as promised." Alex said and the other students nodded their heads.

Even though some of them were hurt, it wasn’t life-threatening other than some open wounds.

As Awakened, their ability to heal was much better than an average adult.

Although they didn’t say it, they were feeling a sense of triumph.

Knowing that they were able to fight back with their own hands was comforting to them in such a chaotic time.

Alex helped them get back into the dorm building and he barricaded the entrance.

After which, he headed back to Brian’s room together with Riley and Terry.

...

In the Business Building, Joe, who was the quarterback of the college’s football team, turned around from the window, after he saw Alex and the other students went back into their dorm building.

"That’s the guy who humiliated me! Kill him!" Felicia, who was beside him, pointed in the direction of the dorm building and said.

"Quiet! I’ll think of something first." He was annoyed at her and said.