Homesick: The Growing War

Chapter 11

It all seemed sudden that my senses seemed to float in at once. My sight, smell, taste and touch. Mutants. Not extinguished, not anymore. They were crawling towards us, more than a dozen, screeching hoarsely and they were running on all fours, some on two legs towards us. Water mutants, they seemed like that could manoeuvre through water at ease, without having to wade clumsily. The sewer tunnel dropped its temperature, so much that it felt like we were being poured on by icy water. Of course, Ice's speciality. Just make everything cold. I finally got a good look at the mutants, not that I wanted to. Clammy greyish-blue skin, that seemed to be made out of ooze and slime, blood-red eyes the shape of almonds, scabby sharp claws, and when it gave a roar, I had a good look at its teeth and my heart nearly stopped. Sharp rows of jagged pure-white teeth, top and bottom, strong enough to rip off a head. They glistened with amber venom, and out of its mouth leaked a tarry, black oozy substance. A tracker was slotted around its neck, flashing blue, supposedly to know where we are at all costs. Ice must've tracked us down successfully.

The fact that I could read its appearance gave me a jolt back to reality, and that's when I knew how close it was to killing us any second now. I could see them now, the oozy black tar leaking from the corners of their mouth and their mouths wide open to devour us.

"START RUNNING!" I bellowed, my voice echoing around the tunnel, and that's when we all took the hint, all rooted for the spot. Kye on my left armed with his nano spear and Pollax on my right, we took off running, the water slightly slowing us down in our tracks. But there was no time to lose if we weren't going to become meals for the cannibals. Guns aimed, we waved our torches and headed down the other way down the dark tunnel as the air became colder and colder as they advanced closer and closer. "Pollax, you have to get us out of here!"

"The viewer's practically dead, it's all for nothing!" he shouted back through the violent roars the mutants was making. Pollax was looking nervous as we all continued to make our way through this tunnel as quickly as we could, not daring to look behind us. "Keep going!"

So now this was the end. Watchee captured and taken to the city, the viewer dead, stuck in a dark sewerage and having to seemingly fend off about fifty mutants at once. What were we thinking? We were never going to win to him, not ever. He has the world backing him up, spawning thousands of mutants everyday out of the deceased, and we were just this tiny little rebel squad, just like everyone else, with the leftovers of the national military. 

Still running, I looked behind me, flashing the torch, just to see a particularly savage mutant, teeth bared, lunge towards me with a loud screech towards my ankles. The sharp claws sliced at my calf, opening a gash. but it didn't seem too deep. I changed directions, switched hands with my sword and sliced at the mutant's arms, the arm was sliced clean off, landing in the water but before barely I blinked a new one had grown quickly and replaced it painfully, the mutant giving a gurgling cry. Shoot! No one told me it had the power to regenerate! I looked into its face, red eyes gleaming down on me. But before I knew it, the mutant had grabbed hold of my ankles and my wet combat boots, and was dragging me away from the rest of the squad, my torch bobbing in the sewer stream, but the light was still glowing brightly. It dragged me, my palms scraping the stone ground, my torch abandoned.

"Kara!" I heard someone say my name, but the squad was nowhere in sight of the darkness. The voice sounded like Kye, but I wasn't exactly sure. I turned to face the mutant, still dragging me by its ankles. I could hear the other mutants roaring in the distance, attempting to catch up. I glanced at the mutant in the face. Red eyes gleaming, amber venom dripping from its mouth, as well as black ooze. Stuff of the nightmares. Somehow, I just managed to squeeze my handgun out, finger on the trigger, concealed underneath me. I flipped over my ankles, kicked the mutant hard under the chin, but it didn't seem to do the trick. The mutant flicked its head back, but soon, it looked more demented as ever. How had Ice even created this? I fired my gun, but it had no effect and soon I dropped it in defeat, landing in the water.