Chapter 68: Desert Mutants

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Desert Mutants

Chapter 68: Desert Mutants

The huge mutant was still staring in shock at his severed arm when Axel Vance stepped forward and drove the enchanted chainsaw across his torso. The Spirit Binding weapon cut through with almost no resistance, and the mutant staggered another two steps before collapsing in pieces onto the dirt. Blood spread across the ground beneath the headlights, and the sheer brutality of the sight finally shattered whatever courage remained among the other attackers.

The surviving mutants turned and ran into the darkness without hesitation. Axel had no intention of letting every one of them escape and warn whoever was waiting deeper in the desert, so he surged after the nearest figure and caught him before he could disappear beyond the firelight. The chainsaw roared once more, and the fleeing mutant dropped before he could make it more than a few yards.

The last attacker was already much farther away. Seth Brundle raised his rifle, but Axel immediately shouted, "Leave one alive!" Seth adjusted at the last moment, and a single shot struck the fleeing mutant’s leg hard enough to send him tumbling across the dirt.

The entire fight had started and ended within only a few minutes. Several mutilated bodies now lay scattered around the abandoned gas station while smoke, blood, and the smell of burned meat mixed unpleasantly in the night air. The lone surviving captive writhed and shouted from farther away, unable to stand on his wounded leg.

The Carter family slowly emerged from behind their vehicle and stared at the scene with pale faces. Big Bob Carter stood frozen with his mouth slightly open, and the beer he had been holding was now lying forgotten on the ground. Ethel pulled Brenda close while Bobby remained near the car, both of them visibly shaken by the realization that they had nearly become victims themselves.

Lionel, meanwhile, walked straight back toward the grill. He picked up one of the sausages that had fallen near the edge, brushed away the worst of the dirt, and took a bite with a disgusted expression. "Perfect. I finally work up a decent appetite and a bunch of desert freaks decide to turn dinner into a crime scene."

His casual behavior finally broke Bob out of his shock. The retired detective slowly stepped toward Axel and asked, "Who the hell are you people?" There was real fear behind the question, as though Bob was worried the answer might somehow be worse than the mutants.

Axel planted the blood-covered chainsaw against the ground, reached into his jacket, and showed his identification. "Miami Police Department." Bob stared at the credentials for several seconds as though the words were refusing to make sense.

"Police?" he repeated.

Brenda looked between the two men and suddenly said, "Dad was a cop too." Axel’s attention shifted toward Bob, whose embarrassed expression deepened immediately.

Bob scratched the back of his neck. "Retired Cleveland police detective." He forced an awkward smile and added, "This was supposed to be a family vacation, so I left my gun secured at home."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "You picked a hell of a vacation spot to travel unarmed." Bob looked toward the mutant bodies surrounding the gas station and clearly had no argument.

The shared law-enforcement background eased some of the tension between them. Bob wisely decided not to ask why a Miami police officer was carrying an enchanted chainsaw or why Seth had enough firepower for a federal raid. He also chose not to comment on Lionel’s impossible ability to walk around after being stabbed through the chest earlier.

Bob’s only real goal now was surviving until sunrise.

Lionel finished the sausage and walked toward the mutant Seth had wounded. He grabbed the man by his clothing and dragged him back across the ground until he reached the fire, then dropped him beside the grill. "All right, let’s have a conversation."

The captive thrashed weakly and spat something in Lionel’s direction. His face was badly distorted, and the sounds coming from his mouth were too mangled to understand. Lionel crouched beside him and slapped one cheek lightly enough to get his attention.

"Where did you people come from?" Lionel asked. "How many of you are out there?"

The mutant responded with another string of broken sounds.

Lionel frowned. "Try that again, but this time use words."

"Move."

Seth stepped forward and crouched beside the prisoner, his scientific curiosity immediately taking over. He examined the mutant’s jaw and mouth structure as carefully as the situation allowed, then gradually became disappointed.

"There’s no point," Seth said as he stood. "His anatomy is severely malformed. His tongue, lower palate, jaw, and voice structures never developed normally enough for clear speech."

Lionel looked annoyed. "So we kept the one guy who can’t talk?"

"Apparently."

Seth stared at the captive for another second, then abruptly ended the immediate threat before anyone could object. The gunshot echoed across the desert, leaving the Carter family staring at him with renewed discomfort. Seth simply lowered the weapon, his expression suggesting he considered the failed interrogation nothing more than another experiment that had produced no useful result.

A faint scraping sound suddenly came from behind them.

Everyone turned.

The short mutant who had originally approached the barbecue disguised as a starving drifter was moving again.

Lionel stared in disbelief. "This guy’s still alive?"

He walked over and crouched beside the hunchbacked figure, then pulled the ice pick free from his chest. The mutant immediately coughed violently, dark blood running from the corner of his mouth as his cloudy eyes fixed on Axel.

"You..." the mutant rasped.

Axel stepped closer.

The mutant’s lips twisted into something between a smile and a snarl. "You can’t escape."

His breathing became harsher.

"Father will slaughter you."

Seth looked toward Axel with amusement. "Did you hear that? Apparently this nightmare comes with a family business model."

Axel nodded slowly. "Which means there are probably a lot more of them." The warning also confirmed that these attackers were not random scavengers wandering through the desert but part of a larger group waiting somewhere nearby.

Axel looked toward the surrounding darkness. Every mutant had approached without lights, vehicles, or hesitation, moving through the desert at night as though the terrain were their backyard. Chasing them blindly into those hills would mean surrendering every advantage Axel’s group currently had.

"They know this place better than we do," Axel said. "They came in at night because darkness favors them." He looked toward Seth and added, "Without proper night-vision equipment, we wait until daylight before searching for their settlement or the research site."

Seth nodded. "Agreed. Running around those hills blind would be stupid." For once, even his excitement about finding anomalous test subjects was not enough to override common sense.

With the decision made, Seth went over to Bob and began discussing how to divide the remaining hours into watch shifts. Bob’s old police instincts returned quickly once he had something practical to focus on, and he listened carefully while keeping one eye on the desert. Axel walked back to the truck and retrieved a spare handgun and two magazines.

"Take this," Axel said, offering them to Bob.

Bob initially raised a hand to refuse, but the moment his fingers wrapped around the grip, some of the tension visibly left his face. After everything that had happened, the familiar weight of a firearm seemed to restore a small part of the confidence he had lost.

Axel pointed toward the road they had followed earlier. "As soon as the sun comes up, you take your family and head straight back the way we came. Don’t stop to investigate anything, don’t follow strange roads, and don’t get curious if you see something in the hills."

Bob nodded seriously.

"Keep driving until you reach the main highway," Axel continued. "Then go somewhere crowded, take your family to that amusement park if you still want to, eat too much ice cream, and pretend tonight never happened."

Ethel finally stepped forward. "What about you three?" Her eyes moved between Axel, Seth, and Lionel. "If this place is that dangerous, why aren’t you leaving with us?"

Axel smiled slightly.

"Because we came here looking for this."

Ethel stared at him.

Axel glanced toward the dark hills beyond the gas station. "Maybe not these exact people, but something connected to this place." He then looked back at her and added, "Don’t worry about us. Stay with your family tonight and try to get some sleep."

He gestured toward the Carter vehicle.

"By morning, you’ll be heading home."

Ethel hesitated before finally nodding. She gathered Brenda and Bobby, checked on Lynn, Doug, and baby Catherine, then led the family back toward the vehicle to settle in for the remaining hours before dawn.

[500 PS unlocks 1 Extra Chapter]

[10 Reviews unlock 1 Extra Chapter]

Thanks for reading—reviews are appreciated.

P1treon Soulforger has 20+advance Chapters