Mind X Survival

 

 

    Cleetus yawned while looking at the surrounding people. ‘Damn, that’s a lot of people who want a free meal.’ He thought while scratching his head with his hook. He looked at the round tag he was giving. ‘Man, I have to wait for a long time, shit.’

  Suddenly he heard their guide speak. “All right now that you are all here, please follow me.” He turned around and began running towards the dark tunnel. The tunnel was dark, with several yellow lights dotting the way for them. Pipes of different shapes and sizes crisscrossed across the tunnel. Some of these pipes carried water or sewage across the city.

  The participants were confused at first, but when the guide did not stop and explain, they simply followed him; the mass of confused people ran behind the casual guide, who was so uninterested in them that he chained, smoked, and drank from his flask every opportunity he could get.

   While running, Cleetus sighed. ‘Man, this meal better be so fucking good.’ He thought while running. Cleetus watched the people running with him, and he noticed a kid running with them; he had a fishing rod too. ‘Holy shit, is that a kid? Must be pretty darn hungry to do all that shit.’

  After running for an hour with the never-ending tunnels that kept going left and right, they finally reached a long staircase down; Cleetus noticed that some participants already lost the race. ‘Man, these guys are pussies.’

  They descended down the flight of stairs; long black cables hindered some of the runners, the cables were thrown around the stairs, and it made it harder to focus while going down.

  He saw some of the cables emitting electrical discharge, which shocked a couple of people, and knocked out some people as well.

 Finally, after another hour simply descending the stairway, they reached the bottom, and the guide called out to them. “I am going to increase the speed now.” Cleetus heard some of the people complain, and even he had to add a small amount of Nen to his legs.

   The speed did increase, and more people dropped. Still, after thirty minutes of walking, Cleetus saw the tunnel becoming smaller in size, and he saw human bones lying around.

  The more they ran, the more bones showed up, stacking high in small hills that they had to dodge. ‘The fuck killed all these people?’ Cleetus thought while dodging another collapsing bone hill.

  After another hour, they reached the end of the tunnel. A one-hundred-foot-tall dark iron gate with rusted chains holding the gate closed, each chain was ten feet in length, and it held the door pretty tight.

   Around the gate were twenty busses and their drivers sitting near them; the guide walked towards them and began talking with them. Cleetus watched the rest of the participants relax, eat and drink. ‘Man, these guys a weak… we’ve only run for three hours.’ Cleetus thought while forgetting he had Nen.

  The guide returned. “All right, we’ve reached the first half of the first test; you will pick a bus; the maximum capacity for each bus is forty people.” The guide turned around and pointed at the Iron gate. “Behind this gate are the lost mines of Yarzik.”

  A sudden silence hit everyone, Cleetus looked around, and everyone was in shock. Even the kid was shocked. “The hell is Yarzik?” Cleetus mumbled.

  He heard someone speak next to him. “Yo man, you don’t know Yarzik? What rock you’ve been living under, man.”

  Cleetus looked at number 69. “You could say that… So, what is Yarzik?”

 Number 69 began speaking animatedly. “Shit, dude, that place is a legend, man; one hundred years ago, some noble bought a mountain and sent his slave miners; over four thousand miners mined the mountain.”

 Cleetus shrugged. “Cool, I suppose… and what happened?”

  Smiling, 69 laughed. “What happened is messed up, man; that shit was messed up. The miners found the metal the noble wanted from the mountain, but something happened that made the metal activate, and it turned over four thousand miners into mutated monsters.”

  Cleetus raised his eyebrows. “For real?”

 “Fo sure, homeboy! Or I won’t be purple-gator.”

 Cleetus was about to ask, then stopped. ‘His name is purple-gator… who names someone like that, I mean if it was something like Skeeter, Jimbob, or even Tim, I would understand.’

  “Yeah, thanks for the tip, man.” Cleetus turned back to the guide.

  The guide pointed at the gate. “As I explained, you have to ride these busses through the mines of Yarzik; each bus must not contain over forty people; if the driver dies, you will fail, so keep them safe at all costs.” He took a sip from his flask. “If you want to withdraw, you have ten minutes before the busses start; just come here and throw your number.”

   Cleetus saw a couple of people giving up and some walking to the buses to claim them. He saw a group of military men claiming one bus for themselves and kicking anyone who wanted in.

  He saw a charismatic guy gathering people and making a group for a bus. While he was walking around, he noticed one bus was empty and only had one guy in. Cleetus saw the rest of the participants avoiding the bus like the plague.

  When he turned around, he saw most of the buses are filled. “Welp mah mama always said. ‘Don’t be a sheep.’ Fuck it.” Cleetus yawned and walked to the bus that everyone avoided.

 When he walked in, he saw a guy at the end of the bus drinking beer. ‘Fuck I want a beer… Fuck it.’ Cleetus walked to the guy in the hoodie. When he approached, number one raised his head; Cleetus noticed that the guy had dark blue eyes that pierced him.

  Number one raised his eyebrow. “What do you want?”

 Cleetus shuffled a little. “Look, man… I really want a beer, could you give me some… I will give you something good later, I promise.”

  Number one searched him for any hidden lies, but slowly he gave him a smile his white perfect Hollywood teeth contrasted with his rough-looking demeanor and face. The man retrieved a bottle of beer and threw it to Cleetus.

  Cleetus fumbled with his hooks and caught it. “Thanks, man!” Cleetus looked at the beer; it had a picture of a treasure. ‘Pirates cove’ Cleetus smiled and opened the beer with his hook.

  The lukewarm beer fizzled while Cleetus took a seat, not to the man, Cleetus drank from the beer, and he felt it stinging his throat with fire and a buzzing sensation. He popped the bottle away from him and looked at the treasure with a smile. “Holy shit, I missed beer! Been more than a year since I drank one.”

  Number one raised his beer. “Glad you like it.”

 Cleetus took another sip. “Names Cleetus, what’s yours?”

 Number one took a sip from his beer. “You really don’t know my name?”

 “Should I know your name?”

 Number one laughed a little and took another sip. “I was a famous boxer.”

  Cleetus took a sip and shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, don’t know much, man; I’ve been out of the loop for a long time now.”

 “Well, my name is John, and my nickname was John rip and tear; I was famous in Zaban City.”

 Cleetus laughed. “Why would they name you that?”

 John smiled, and with one hand, he tore the metallic seat and reshaped it into a cube. “Because I can do this.”

 “Holy sweet Jesus!” Cleetus looked at the cube in wonder. “That’s awesome, man.”

 John flicked the cube to Cleetus and took another sip. “Yeah, but I had to run and leave my life behind.”

 Cleetus caught the cube. “Should you be telling me this man? I mean, we just met.”

 “Don’t worry about it; this shit is on the news. Everyone knows.” He took one last sip from his beer and crushed it in his hand, and turned it into dust. “My bastard manager took a bet and told me to take a dive; he had the nerve to kidnap my son Johness. So, I killed him and his bodyguard and ran.”

  “What about your kid?”

 John shrugged. “Don’t worry about it; my kid has the same ability as me, if only weaker. He could kill grown men, so I won’t worry about it.” John replayed while opening another beer bottle with his hand.

  They heard the door to the bus open up, and three people walked in, number 104, number 105, and number 60. They sat and remained quiet, but some of them gave Cleetus a bewildered look.

  Cleetus shrugged and began making small talk with John, but more people kept coming in; he saw purple-gator, number 555, number 700, and her pet, 900, and 954.

  He noticed more people coming in, but they took the second level of the bus, and finally, the last to arrive was the kid with the fishing rod who was chatting up the bus driver.

  After fifteen minutes, they heard the speakers opening up. “Hello… I am your examiner Will, sorry for the late introduction, but now we are ready to start the exam. As I explained before, the exam is simple to stay on the bus and do not let the driver die. If the bus broke and the driver is alive, you simply have to escort the driver to the meeting point.”

   Will cleared his throat. “Now the gate will open, and each bus will go in order; we will give each bus twenty-minute between each other. Get familiar with the weapons in the second level; you will be needing them.” Instantly he saw numbers 900 and 954 run upstairs to get the weapons.

 “There is a map of the road you will be taking in each seat, you will need it, so good luck, and I will meet you at the end cove, Will out.”

 

 

     Cleetus looked around the bus, nervous people fidgeting in their seats, checking their weapons, food, and water supply. It has been three hours since Will talked to them, and people are getting restless; there were a couple of fights, but number 105, the guy with the pirate shtick, broke it up.

  Suddenly they heard the gate opening up, and one of the buses moved in, and the gate was closed again. The speakers opened up, and a young voice spoke. “Hello, I am informing you that your bus will be next; in 20 minutes, you will start; good luck.” And the speakers shut off.

  He saw the driver walk towards the metallic cage that has the driver seat, and he locked it. He heard the bus starting up. “Don’t worry, folks. I am just heating up the bus.”

  Cleetus turned his head to John. “Nervous?”

John scoffed and drank another beer bottle. “Fuck no, I am a dead man either way; if I don’t finish this test, bounty hunters will.”

  Just when Cleetus was about to ask another question, he heard the speakers acting up. “Ahoy, there ye sack o' shits.” Cleetus looked at the source of the noise and saw number 105 using the speaker’s system. “Me name be Capitan Vex wilds, Now I don't give a shit who ye reckon ye be, but I am the cap'n now.”

  He saw a guy wearing a tank top with the word big dog written on it stand up. “Hey, who the fuck do you think you are!”

  Vex raised his gun, and without any sort of hesitation, he shot the guy in the head, spraying blood all over Cleetus. “Look at me, I. AM. THE. FUCKIN'. CAPITAN NOW!”

  Vex placed the gun next to his head and began scratching. “Now, I don’t care about ye folks, but if we wish t' survive this, we need a leadership system. So, I figured I will be the leader.”

  Number 555 stood up, looking annoyed. “I don’t mind you being the leader, but what makes you more qualified than someone else here?”

  Vex smirked and spread his arms wide with a smile. “Three hours we waited, 'n no one took the mantle o' leadership me good scallywag, so that leaves us wit' three conclusions. One no one wants t' be the leader, two, some o' ye didn' even reckon we need a leader, three ye don’t know wha' the fuck we shall be facin' out thar, so ye thought that its better t' keep yer cards close.”

  Then Vex sighed and made an obvious motion of disappointment. “But I 'ave a good heart 'n I could not see ye bastards rot 'n die in that cavern, so since I know wha' we shall be facin' out thar, I will be yer leader. Trust me, bastards, I won’t lie t' ye 'twill be hard 'n 'twill be challengin' but believe me, I want the best fer ye.”

  When he made that proclamation, most people turned and looked at the dead guy. Instantly Vex huffed in anger. “Don’t look at the dead scallywag like that, he was challengin' me leadership, so I need an example… you scallywags don’t even care about 'im, do ye.”

 Some people began nodding at his speech, and Cleetus could see that most of them already accepted him, but Cleetus did not really care right now because he is currently covered in blood.

  Cleetus slowly stood up, and the people around him looked at him; he walked towards the dead guy and kicked his dead body away. The body smashed next to Vex, who was still smiling without flinching.

  With every step, Cleetus huffed and grew angrier. When he reached Vex, he spoke. “I don’t give a single fuck about your leadership or whatever you want to do. But you owe me clean clothes.” Cleetus tapped the man’s chest with his bloody hook.

  Vex’s smile twitched, and without looking away, he produced a small handkerchief. “Will a handkerchief suffice fer now ye bastard?”

  Cleetus looked at the pink handkerchief with a women’s name on it. ‘Fuck, this guy is charming.’ Cleetus thought while looking at the pirate. “Fine.” He took it and walked back and saw most of the people around flinching away from him.

  When he sat back down next to John, John asked him with a weary voice. “What the fuck was that Cleetus?”

  Cleetus cleaned some of the blood. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know, man. When you spoke, something screamed at me to run away from you… I’ve never felt that before… How the fuck did that guy not flinch from you.”

  Cleetus sighed. ‘I leaked some of my Nen at these guys… I hope the cops won’t find out.’ Cleetus cleared his throat. “I don’t know what you mean man, I’m just like that.”

  John opened another beer and gave it to Cleetus. “Right, sure… Whatever you say, man.”

  While they were talking, Vex never stopped, and he pulled the rest to his banner. Vex placed the range people in the second level where they can shoot anything that comes near them; he gained some brownie points when he placed the kid with them in the safest spot near the driver.

   Vex continued telling people what to do and their battle plan; he avoided John and Cleetus like the plague leaving them out of everything, which suited the two just fine.

  Finally, the bus began moving, and the gate opened up, allowing them to travel in, the gate groaned, and its voice moaned, the mines were dark, and the bus pierced the darkness that seems never-ending.

  Slowly the gate behind them groaned with movement, and with each inch it moved, the light from behind them disappeared. With a loud clang, the gate was shut, and the darkness consumed them.

  The bus driver opened the lights, and instantly they saw Yarzik for what it truly is, a mountain on top of mountains, each spike is a mountain in itself, and the man-made road truly showed how unnatural a flat surface in this place is.

  The lights of the bus reflected on the mountains, and small reflections like thousands of stars reflected back; Yarzik felt like a cave in space; most of them stared in wonder at the mountains; there were caves inside of caves.

  Yarzik truly made Cleetus feel small and insignificant, and after ten minutes of simply staring, John woke him up. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

 Cleetus shook his head. “Yeah, I didn’t know such a thing even existed.”

  John chuckled. “Yeah, I hear ya… Want another beer?” John offered with a smile.

 Cleetus nodded and began drinking while chatting with John.

 

 

 

     Cleetus looked at the map and sighed; it has been five hours since they started, and they did not encounter anything yet, no monster to kill, no other buses, nothing. He looked at the map again. ‘I think we are almost done with the open roads, and we will reach the first tunnel in a moment… I hope we get some action here.’

  He peaked at the sleeping John and slumped down, they drank all the beer, and currently, John is trying to sleep it off. He looked around and saw that Vex moved to the second level.

  Getting annoyed from the waiting, Cleetus stood up and walked around the moving bus; he saw most were sleeping, and only two were wide awake, The little kid and number 104.

  Cleetus walked to 104, and the guy flinched a little. “Can I help you?” He asked.

Extending his hook. “Names Cleetus.” Cleetus waited for the guy to get the hint; 104 understood and shook his hook. “My name is Azari.”

 Leaning on the staircase of the bus, Cleetus nodded. “Right, so I have a question if ya don’t mind.” Azari motioned for him to continue.

  “So, I know a guy, and you know he is one of your types was wondering if you know him.”

  Azari furrowed his brow. “You know… If I did not see you back there with Vex, I would have claimed that you may be a racist of some kind, but because I am not stupid, I am going to assume that you are not racist.” Azari replayed with a thick accent.

  Cleetus nodded. ‘Finally, someone gets it. I am not racist,’ Cleetus thought before smiling. “Alright, so my buddy is kind of crazy, and… how do I put this, last time I saw him, he had a doll.”

  Azari nodded. “Not much I can work with, but do you have a name or description.”

“Well, he is handsome, crazy, has purple eyes, and his name is Hamza.”

 When Cleetus mentioned his name, Azari stilled. “D-Dose he travels with a doll named Dave?”

  Cleetus smiled. “That’s the one, his name was Dave… Kind of weird that you know the name of the doll, to be honest with ya, Azari.”

  When Azari was about to replay, someone interrupted them. “Are you guys talking about Wild eyes Hamza?” Cleetus turned his head, and he saw the kid approach them with a wide grin. “I am a big fan; I saw his fight in heavens arena last month.”

  Without saying anything, Cleetus poked the kid in the head with his hook. “Shoo kid, adults are talking.”

 Gin frowned. “Boo no fair, I’m bored, and there is nothing to do here, mister.”

  Cleetus sighed. “Fine, do whatever you want.” Gin smiled while rubbing the spot Cleetus poked.

  “So, Hamza, do you know him?” Cleetus asked.

  Azari nodded, a little shaken. “Wild eyes Hamza, the purple baron, or in the underworld Hamza the flayer. He is famous. Anyone knows who he is, but if you are asking whether I know him personally, no, I do not.”

  Cleetus sighed. “Man, I was hoping to meet him.”

 He heard Azari complain. “Figure a monster wants to meet another monster.”

  “What was that? Did you say something?”

 Azari quickly denied saying something important, but the kid butted in again. “How come you wanna meet Hamza? Are you a fan too?”

 Cleetus sighed. “Why should I tell you, kid?”

Gin frowned. “Fine, then you don’t want to hear what I know about him.” Gin began walking.

 Cleetus quickly placed a hook on the kid’s shoulder. “All right kid, I will tell you, just tell me what you know.”

  Gin quickly turned around. “You, first.”

 “You are playing with fire, Gin,” Azari warned while looking at Cleetus with apprehension.

   Cleetus sighed. “Fine, he helped me, and I intended to return the favor.”

 Gin smiled. “Ok.” He leaned in, akin to revealing a secret. “I heard that he was last seen in the Kakin empire, something about a job the first queen hired him to do.”

 Azari tilted his head. “How did you find that out?”

 “Easy, while I was in York, New, waiting for the exam, I trained myself in hacking because I thought it was fun. I penetrated some gang network to train myself, and bam, they had that information.” He replayed, looking quite pleased with himself.

  Cleetus chuckled. “Aight, I’ll give you that, but why would a gang have that information.”

 Gin shrugged. “Beats me, maybe they bought it or something.”

 “So, do you know anything else about him, kid?”

 Gin closed his eyes. “Hmm… I may know something, but will you give me something in return?”

  Cleetus looked at Azari, who was shaking his arms around trying to save Gin. “How about some moonshine when you grow up?”

  This stopped Azari and Gin. “What is moonshine?”

 Cleetus puffed his chest in pride. “Only the greatest spirit the world will know soon, mah family’s recipe for the strongest one hundred and forty proof moonshine, only I can make in the whole world.”

  Cleetus opened his eyes to Gin, who was drooling. “I’ve never tasted alcohol above forty percent before.”

 “Wait, what, they let you drink?” Azari asked.

 “Yeah, all the time, sometimes I mix my mom’s Valka with milk before I sleep.”

  Cleetus was about to replay how irresponsible his family was, but then he remembered his mother, breastfeeding while drinking moonshine. While his little brother was taking a sip of moonshine before going out and playing in the mud with his equally drunk friends. ‘They are in kindergarten, if I remember correctly.’ With that, Cleetus just shrugged.

  “Fine, I can give you some when we finish with this whole testing thingy. So, what do you know?”

 Gin smirked. “I heard that he is in a secret group called “Los Numeros” I don’t know much about them, but that is all that I know.”

 Azari opened his mouth cover, letting out a neat beard show. “I think I’ve heard that name before.” He gave an unsure look while thinking.

  Cleetus looked at Azari. “Go on then.”

“Well, I heard that they are a close-knitted group, that sometimes do a job together, the only way to know if they are part of the group is that they have a skull tattoo on their body, but one thing for sure is that no one has seen three of the same group together.” He stopped for a moment. “But at the same time, the same guy who told me about them told me that the man in the suite exists.”

  Cleetus frowned. ‘Wait a moment, I think I’ve heard about the man in the suite.’ He nodded. “What about the man in the suit?”

 Azari tilted his head. “Well, it's jus….” A sudden sound of something crashing into the bus and the sound of gunfire emerged from the top of the bus.

  The speakers of the system opened up. “Wake up ye sack o' shits! We be under attack!”

 Cleetus turned around and looked at the window, the sound of machine guns firing non-stop at creatures that swarmed their bus. He saw one of them attach itself to the window, and without thinking, Cleetus smashed his hook into the creature penetrating the head.

 Cleetus swung his hand left and cut the creature’s head in half. He looked at them swarming the bus like ants, emerging from the mountains, using their six legs to stick to every surface and their sharp mantis-like claws slashing left and right.

  Vex screamed at Purple-gator, and someone named father Nicoloso; he saw number 60 throw a glass bottle and shoot it; the bottle exploded with fire, killing drove of these creatures back. “Backed at once to the darkness thee heathens creatures! alloweth the mead of the lord to cast the lighteth that shalt expose thy sinful nature!”

  Purple-gator screamed at Nicoloso. “Not a great time for a ye old play Nicoloso! Just throw the damn explosives!”

  Another creature burst inside of the bus, killing two people, but number 555 stood up and simply shot him with his pistol, then he kicked him out of the bus.

  Cleetus quickly turned and looked at John, who was surrounded by these creatures. “JOHN, WAKE UP!”

  When he screamed, he saw a hand piercing one of these monsters and another hand smashing the head of another creature; John emerged with a couple of scratches; he turned around and bite down on a claw tearing it out, then he swung his head down cutting two creatures in half. His body was covered with green blood. “Pansy fucks, I had a good dream.”

  Cleetus smiled and cut another creature. In the middle of the bus, a group of people gathered around to protect themselves. While Gin hung from the rafters, sniping anything with his fishing pole.

  He saw Azari zig-zagging from window to window, cutting anything that tried to get in with his sword and metallic glove.

 Cleetus laughed and channeled some Nen into his hooks, turning them red with heat; he sliced through these creatures like butter. He saw number 700 and her pet jumping away from the bus. ‘What the fuck is she doing!”

  He saw her riding her dire wolf that was catching up with the bus, she slashed any creature that tried to slash the tires, and her wolf ate them up while running next to the bus.

  He saw another spider trying to attack her from the back; Cleetus reached with his hand and hooked the spider to him, cutting him in half. Number 700 turned to him, and he saw her illuminating green eyes brighten from her wooden mask. She nodded at him.

  Cleetus defended the bus as best as he could; for hours, he could only slash, pierces, and kill. Finally, when they exited the tunnel, he saw more darkness, but the creature stayed back in their tunnel. 

 

 

   The bus stopped near the cave, and Cleetus sighed; he emerged from the bus and saw the bus driver happily filling the tank and repairing the damages. Cleetus approached the pile of dead bodies and threw the one he had.

  They have been stripped bare. “Remind me again why we need to do this?”

 Number 900 threw a rope over to 954. “Here you go, Stacy.”

  Stacy caught the rope with her iron chain. “Thanks, May!”

 Cleetus cleared his throat at May. “Oh right, Vex said, and I quote, ‘Yarg I be a pirate n a Capitan Hardi Hardi Harr listen ta mah demands! Yarg’”

 He raised his eyebrow while she ties some of the dead bodies into a ball shape. “Really now.”

 May sighed. “Fine, he said something about a bait and switch; I don’t know so far his plans seem to work.”

  Cleetus poked one of the dead bodies with his foot. “Right… It works. Thanks, May.”

 May smiled at him and waved. “No problem Cleetus, Now I just need to find the cutie Gin and stretch his cutie lil cheeks!”

She squealed, and Cleetus backed away slowly. ‘Good luck, Gin.’ He thought while walking to the gathering thinkers of their group. He saw Vex looking at a map, while number 555 was arguing with 700. “Your fucking battle spirit can’t protect you from the radiation! Just wear the fucking suits, Lagana!”

  Lagana huffed and petted her sleeping dire wolf. “Man of white Nice fear not the radiation to harm me, for I will make it sick with my battle spirit, and I do have my companion Laga to protect me.”

 Dr. Nice screamed and furiously scratched his head. “Dammit, you tribal people! Are you saying that you will give radiation a radiation sickness! Vex buddy, help me out here!”

  Cleetus inhaled some of the stale air and walked forward. “Just wear the suit, Lagana, please.”

  Lagana turned and gave a respectful bow to Cleetus. “I will heed the wisdom of the shaman.”

 Cleetus scratched his head. ‘Shaman, what now?’ he gave up. “Sure, whatever, Vex.” Vex looked up. “The driver is almost done, and the ball thingy you wanted it's done, so what is the plan?”

  Vex clasped his hands. “Well, Cleetus, 'tis simple. We ride the bus wit' our radiation suites, we cross the bridge when that beast o'er thar.”

  He pointed at a large fifty foot tall, monster covered in bone-plated armor playing with a destroyed bus in the glowing lake. “Charges at us, we give 'im grub 'n speed towards the tunnel.”

   Cleetus nodded and scratched his beard. “Aight, but what if he ate it all in one bite and wanted more?”

  Vex hummed and pocketed the map. “Let me worry about that, my friend.” Vex hummed while walking away with a smile.

  Cleetus sighed and looked at the annoyed Dr. Nice. “He has a really punchable face.”

 Dr. Nice sighed. “Yeah, and he is hot.” Dr. Nice was admiring Vex’s ass.

 Cleetus looked at Lagana and Dr. Nice checking out Vex. “I can see where I am not needed… Cleetus out.”

 He walked away from them only to hear Lagana speak. “I want some of that man's meat.”

 Dr. Nice nodded. “You said it, sister.”

 Cleetus ran away while covering his ass. 

 

 

    The bus roared with life as they reached the pool of glowing water, Infront of them was a large broken bride illuminated with green toxic waters. Everyone in the bus was wearing a radiation even Laga the wolf wave covered with a radiation tarp.

   The monster roared at them, he threw the destroyed bus away, bodies that were trapped in the bus flew in the air and smashed into he lake, their bodies slowly dissolved.

  The monster roared again, his voice echoes and multiply creating a reverberating sound that could shatter glass. The bus driver was skilled and dodged some of the large rocks the monster threw at them.

  The monster threw another one and the bus driver dodged again, When the monster was near them, Vex screamed. “Do it now!”

  Stacy who was on top of the bus, cut the rope and the ball of human flesh was set loose, the moment the bus dodged the rock. The monster quickly jumped towards the small feast and swallowed it in one bite.

  Stacy jumped back in. “I did it Vex.”

 Vex relaxed and retrieved a cigarette. “Good… Did ye do the thing?”

 Stacy nodded, but they heard the monster chasing them again. Cleetus sighed. “What now?”

 Vex smiled. “Well, my friend… They do say we pirate love some chaos.” Vex lit up his cigarette and the monster blew up from the inside. Sending chunks of flesh all over the place. “’N wha' better way t' spread chaos then scuttlin' the biggest 'n meanest cunt out thar.”

  Cleetus sighed. “You could have just told me, are you trying to be cool something?”

 Vex chocked. “‘tis damn necessary!”

  Cleetus shrugged. “Whatever you say man.” He walked down to the second level and saw Gin getting harassed by May, he yawned and traveled back to his seat, and took a nice nap.

 

 

    Vex Wilds was always the man with the plan, the charming leader, the vagabond, and the damn rascal of the seven seas. He always knew that he was born to be a pirate, even when his father told him that pirates are only there in stories, that they do not exist anymore.

 What does he know? What do all of them know! He thought in anger while smoking his tenth cigarette. Bastards, all of them, there is shipping, there are rich folks who take their expensive yacht out there in international borders and do unspeakable things.

  Oh, he knows what they do in those dark waters, where no one could hear you. Oh, he knew of their sick twisted fantasies; they think themselves untouchable, immortal, invincible?

 No, he told himself, I will gain my title as a hunter, I will hunt them to the ends of the earth, and as they say, a dead man tells no tales. He thought darkly while taking a nice long puff, the smoke rising ever so slowly, covering his face in the darkness.

  He looked at his watch and sighed. ‘Halfway in the second tunnel, and nothing happened. I don’t like this at all.’

  Vex stood up and climbed down to the second level, he saw most of the men were asleep, snoring loudly, and it seemed almost peaceful. He looked at Purple-gator, showing his expensive watch to Stacy.

  He almost laughed when she wanted to open it up and see how it works. He looked at the sleeping form of Cleetus and shuddered. ‘That man is a monster… I don’t know what he did back there, but I almost craped my pants.’

  Spotting John the terror watching over Cleetus. ‘Can’t believe that man-made putty out of his manager.’ He still remembers the screams at the starting zone when he played with his victim. ‘I wonder who would win? John or Cleetus.’ He thought darkly while walking towards the window of the bus.

  Looking at the window, he only saw darkness and darker shapes, illuminated with countless reflections of gems and metal. ‘I wonder how much I could get by selling some of these gems?’ Vex stopped, he thought before he could wonder more, and his greed was getting better of him; he saw some of the men wandering away, trying to get some of these gems. Most of them did not even return; there are dark things in these mountains; he could feel them looking at him, trying to find any weakness.

  He sighed and leaned on the bus cage. ‘Is this the test, I wonder? Battling greed over finishing the job?’ He opened his jacket and got another cigarette; he placed it in his mouth and looked at the void of darkness when he lit it up. He saw a bipedal monster, with four arms holding into the bus’s window, its body and hands were covered with slime, his lower arm was claw-shaped, and it had no eyes to speak of; his sharp toothy maw was wide open.

   

  The monster smiled at him. “Fuck me raw 'n call me Sally.” Blindness overtook him; he felt his body getting rag-dolled around, his face hitting the driver’s cage. Then he felt the shards of glass slashing his face.

   He opened his one good eye and groaned; he saw only darkness. Slowly he pushed himself up and looked around, trying to find any light. He saw the shapes of the mountains above him, below him, next to him, and behind him.

  He looked around more and more, and finally, in the distance, he saw the flickering of the bus; the lights were switching on and off.

  Vex cracked his arm back in place and wobbled his way back to the bus; he searched for his gun and found one of them on his body; the second one was Infront of him, a small distance away.

  He walked towards it, and with each step, he could feel the sharp pain hitting him, finally, when he reached the gun. He felt the wind shift; Vex knew that when you are so deep in the caves, the wind does not shift so easily. Something was stalking him.

  Vex pretended to not notice and kept walking forward; his other hand was on his gun, ready for action. He took more steps, and he felt a hot slimy breath on the back of his neck.

  He slowly bent down to pick up his fallen gun, and in that instant, he rolled forward and shot whatever was trying to ambush him; he saw a dark body with four arms fall over and die; it was easily eight feet tall, the claws were as big as daggers.

  Vex sighed and picked up his fallen gun, then he walked back to the bus. He knew that more would come; these beasts were scavengers by nature. He saw a human body, it was a woman, her blond hair was tattered with blood, and her neck was snapped in the wrong direction. “Painless death.”

  Taking a deep breath and ignoring the awful smell of death, he walked back to the bus. He knocked on it once. “Anyone alive in thar?”

 A small knock responded to him. “Vex, is that you?” Vex knew the voice and smiled.

 “Gin ye be alive! That’s a good lad, who be in thar wit' ye.”

 “I don’t know, Vex; I will wake them up.”

 “Ye do that lad, tell 'em t' come out we 'ave much t' plan.” Vex laughed. Maybe they will survive after all.

 

 

 

   Cleetus opened his eyes, and he felt his body being dragged around. ‘The fuck?’ he thought while looking at the starry mountains above him. He felt a clawed grip on his hooks dragging him in a small cave. ‘Aight, that's enough, I need to kill this thing and get back to the bus; I don’t know what happened, but I’ve been kidnapped.’

  He channeled Nen all over his body and stood up; the thing that was dragging him stopped and pulled harder, but Cleetus was stronger. “Aight bitch, where the fuck am I?”

 The beast roared and tried to bite Cleetus. Cleetus dodged to the left, and using his right hook, he pierced the monster’s head; he heard the sound of a shell breaking open akin to a lobsters’ shell breaking in half. He hooked his left hook in and pulled his arms apart, splitting the monster in half.

  “Welp, I think I just found dinner… Wait, I think these guys were human or something… But mah mama always said don’t waste dinner.”

  Cleetus pulled the split body of the monster inside of the cave; he saw a fire and a dead body inside. He looked at the dead man. “Must have crawled in here and made a fire, but he was killed by this guy… I think.”

  Cleetus looked at the monster; it had six purple claw-shaped stingers and two large claws. It had no eyes, and the body was thin in the lower region compared to the upper arms, which were double in size.

  He yawned and placed the monster on top of the fire, cooking it slowly; he could smell that nice aroma of cooked crawfish. “Man, if only I had butter!” He complains while searching the dead man’s bag.

  Cleetus pulled the bag open. “Useless, Useless, Oh a lighter, Cigarette, Useless, Porn magazine very important, Water its ok, dagger?” He looked at his claws. “Useless.” And he threw it away.

  After searching the bag for a while, he gained some stuff to help him, and when the food was done, the purple monster turned pink and red. Cleetus took hold of the monster, and he saw the face looking at. “Can’t eat you while you are looking at me, man… Sorry.” He pushed the face away from him. “That’s better.”

  Cleetus bit down on the lobster-like monster, and the flavor burst into his mouth; it felt good and taste. The salted beef jerky-like flavor, the smoke from the fire, and the rich aroma of acid burning his tongue.

  He stopped and threw the arm of the monster away, then he drank some water while making it into moonshine in his mouth. “Fucking hell, they are filled with acid!” He looked at the pleading half-burnt monster. “Fuck you.”

  Cleetus stood up and dusted himself; he turned towards the dead man and did a small prayer. “You had good taste in porn.” With his good deed of the day, Cleetus took some of the fire with him and walked out, tracking where he was found.

  He walked for hours searching the deep tracks, and finally, when he reached a pretty good imprint of himself, he saw more foot tracks in a specific location. Walking towards it, he found some bus parts that were broken and a body of a dead blond woman. Cleetus clapped his hooks. “She was blond.”

  He saw the tracks of the bus moving away from their crash location. “Wait, they left me…Not cool, Vex. Not cool!”

 Cleetus scavenged more water and any materials he could find and began walking again. He tracked the bus and found bodies of monsters with slashing marks, holes, and burns all over them.

  After three hours of walking, Cleetus grew bored and began skipping while singing. “Ol’ MacDonald had a farm.”

  He stabbed a monster that was trying to eat him. “Ee I ee I o.”

  “And on his farm, he had some cows.”

  He bit down a monster’s hand before twisting his body and smashing it to a pulp. “Ee, I ee I oh.”

 “With a moo-moo here.” Dead monster.

 “And a moo-moo there.” Two dead monsters.

 “Here a moo, and there a moo.” He twisted his body and smashed a monster in the head, making it cry. Then he pointed at a dark mountain, waiting.

  When nothing happened, he sighed. “Come on, man! It’s everywhere a moo-moo!” When no response came, Cleetus hooked the monster that began pleading with him and threw it in that direction, and from the shadow, a girl wearing a suit jumped out. “Ahhh!”

  She expertly dodged the screaming monster. “What the hell!” She screamed at Cleetus.

 “What the hell you?! Everyone knows O’l MacDonald’s! Why won’t you sing with me!”

 “You knew!”

 “No shit! You were so fucking loud; I don’t even know how these guys didn’t find you.” He commented while shaking the body of a dead monster.

  She huffed. “Well, we are not supposed to help you, so you have that.”

 Cleetus sighed. “Fine, but can you tell me how long until I find my bus?”

 She smirked. “I think you failed already; they passed this location an hour ago.”

 Sighing Cleetus, he looked at the starry sky. “I fucking miss my hands sometimes.”

 “Huh?”

 He raised his hooks. “I can’t flip people off with hooks, and you deserve a nice flip-off.”

The girl stayed quiet for a while. “Well, you can use the monster's hand.” She felt a little bad and was trying to help him by poking the dead monster.

  Cleetus smiled and took the hand of the monster. “Good idea, lady, it seems you are not so useless after all!” Cleetus raised the monster’s hand in a flip-off motion. “Fuck you!”

  He ran away towards the bus track, leaving the girl pouting. “I am not useless.” She replayed to the retiring Cleetus in a pitiful voice.

 One of the dying monsters raised his head. “Screech!” It replayed in his dying voice only to be crushed by the small, cute girl’s leg. “Thank you for your compliment, dear sir!”

 She stopped and looked down at her leg. “Why am I thanking a monster?”

In the distance, she heard Cleetus. “I heard that!”

 

 

   Vex huffed in annoyance, and slashed at one of the gathering creatures, they were so close, only ten minutes and they could have reached the exist, but the monsters made a trap and flipped the bus. Thankfully the bus driver was still alive, but now a horde of monsters swarmed them all over the place.

  They were trapped inside of the bus, like a zombie movie, trying to escape these creature’s bites. They’ve already lost five people, and only eleven examinees are left, they started out with thirty-nine, and only eleven are left.

  He shot at a monster’s head and finishing it off with his sword. “Damn they be gettin' harder t' scuttle! We needs t' find a way t' flip the bus 'n drive!”

  He saw the rest of his companions struggling with the monsters, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they will all die. Vex looked at Gin and took a deep breath. “Cover me Purple-gator!”

  Vex took hold of Gin and pulled him back. “Listen t' me Gin. I am the Capitan right?”

 Gin gave him a bewildered look. “Yes you are?”

 Vex smiled. “'tis me final command as Capitan, I wants ye t' take the helmsman 'n run away from here, 'tis only a thirty-minute run, do it Gin.”

  Gin’s face fell. “But!”

 Vex poked his head and smiled. “No buts, go do me final command, the Capitan always dies wit' his ship… although this ain't a ship.”

  Gin gave a melancholic smile. “Yes Capitan…Thanks for everything Vex.” Gin pulled the driver up and he knew that maybe because of this he will pass the test.

  In another world, this is what happened to Gin, and he was the only one who passed and received his badge. But when Gin pulled the driver up, they felt the bus shaking.

 

 

 

     Cleetus yawned from walking all the way, he sang and sang, and he beat up monsters, he saw more buses broken, and he scavenged for water and food. When he was almost about to start another song, he heard shouting in the distance and monsters screaming. “What is this all about?”

   Cleetus charged Nen to his feet and ran; his speed increased, and every time he dodged a monster, he killed it with ease. He climbed on top of a small dark hill, and in the distance, he saw a bus flipped over, with monsters swarming all over it.

  The bus flashed with yellow lights. And Cleetus smiled. “I think I found my bus.” Cleetus squatted and looked at the surrounding monsters. “I need a way to get to the bus… but how?”

  He remained there thinking for a way, then it hit him. “Am I ready for that? Code red was always hard to control?”

  He heard more screaming, and he sighed. “Fuck it, I hope I can control it.” Cleetus changed his clothes and brought all the water he gathered and channeled his special Nen, the one he discovered in the time swamp. The Moonshine turned from transparent into a bubbling blood-colored moonshine.

  Cleetus raised it up to his lips and drank it all, the blood moonshine poured into his belly, and he felt the steam escaping from his body. He felt the sweat, and the haze hit him, but he controlled it.

  His body began changing; his muscles broke and reshaped themselves while his skin turned crimson red. His eyes turned demonic black with red irises, while his hair turned pale white.

  More steam escaped, and his belly fat turned into pure muscles, his height grew to ten feet, and the steam from his back changed into arms. Cleetus took a deep breath and slowly exhaled; he spoke in a deep reverberating voice that seemed unnatural. “Code red is on.”

  Cleetus jumped from the mountain and broke the stone under him; the stone felt like smooth cotton candy to his body. He took a step, then two, then he increased his speed towards the horde of monsters.

  His speed increased more and more until he was finally near the first monster. Cleetus charged him with his fist, blood sprayed all over the place, and without stopping, he swung his leg and killed five more.

  Monsters jumped on his back, only for them to be crushed by his steam hands. His hands clapped together, and a cloud of pressurized steam-cooked a wave of monsters in an instant, turning their shells pink in color.

  Cleetus raised his left leg and smashed it into the ground, sending more steam inside; the steam exploded in the distance, sending monsters flying up in the air. Cleetus opened his mouth, and with a roar, pressurized steam escaped from his body like a dragon’s fire breath.

  The steam-cooked all these monsters in a single line. The monsters parted away from the heat like a split sea, and Cleetus walked right in the middle. Any monster that tried to attack him was cooked mid-jump.

  Cleetus smiled, but he felt the alcohol eating away at his sanity. “Fuck I can’t keep it up much longer. I have to set the bus right.”

  Cleetus ran towards the bus, but more monsters covered the way, and he jumped up in the air skipping the fight, He landed near the bus, but he had to walk the rest of the way.

  The monsters attacked him, but his steam cooked them before they could attack. “I need to lower the steam if I want to move the bus, or my mind won’t handle it,” Cleetus grunted grimly.

  Finally, when he reached the bus, He bent down and lowered the steam, the heat kept most of the monsters away, but some tried their luck. And gained a slash or two. Cleetus clenched his teeth and pushed up and up.

  He heard some people inside talking in confusion, but he gave it no mind. Cleetus slowly turned the bus, but more monsters attacked him from the back; he could feel his hard skin getting penetrated.

  Gathering all his strength in one final push, Cleetus pushed the bus, and it finally was in the right position. Breathing heavily, Cleetus gathered the rest of his Nen around himself and pushed it out as steam. Cooking the gathering monsters around him.

  Feeling his mind slipping, Cleetus quickly deactivated his code red and slipped into the second floor. He saw no one was there. And he fell into darkness.

 

 

  

    John Goodarm always knew that he would die a horrific death; since he was a child, they called him disturbing, people threw rocks at him, and grownups hunted him for sport.

   He resorted to living in the woods most of his childhood, where he hunted wolves, bears, and strange creatures until he was satisfied. He looked at his hands popping the head of a monster with ease.

  He remembered his first time crushing stone, steel and his first time taking a life. He remembered the child-like glee he felt, crushing and molding the face of his attacker. He remembered the screams of his wife and kids, how he delighted in his agony.

  John saw the face of his tormentor, the one who drove his father to kill himself because his mother cheated on him. He saw his beautiful face, the face that made him a pariah in the village.

  And he laughed and laughed while his bitch of a mother begged him to stop. He reshaped that lovely face and made it a mirror to his dark and dirty soul. He did his half-sibling too. Young and innocent, but he did not care. His heart was dead.

  She killed his heart. John looked at a monster, a truly terrifying monster in front of him, but he did not care. With a twitch of his finger, he reshaped that flesh and remade it. He was an artist, and he was molding clay.

  He remembered her crying, and her beautiful new family laid there in ruin; John did not kill them; he simply remade them. The husband, the charismatic bard of the village, the one who slept with countless women all over the world, was remade, reshaped, redesigned, and restored to what his soul honestly looked like.

  The children, he oddly, did not feel a thing about his so-called crimes. He simply reconstructed them to show the world how awful his mother’s blood should be. After all, she made him with her foul eggs, right?

  He reached with his finger and popped the heart of a monster with so much ease that he could barely feel the armor, the flesh, and the bones.

  John giggled a little; this reminded him of his bitch of a mother; he wondered what he would do with her, he was a good boy after all, and good boys do not reshape their mothers as his father told him a long time ago. When he found him reshaping a dog.

  So, John thought and thought, and it finally hit him. Why should he reshape his mother if he could rewrite her life? When he finished with the children, he broke his mother’s leg, powdered her bones to dust; it felt like dough, really. He did not understand what she was screaming about; well, he never really broke any of his bones, so he never knew.

  Then he started with her fingers, hands, and arms. He laughed at her moaning body that day; it was funny. She looked like a stretch doll his father bought him once.

  Now she can’t leave her new family anymore as she did to his father, now she is forced to look at their horrible new faces every day, as they take care of her. She has to sleep with the ugly bard she fancied, and she needs to play with her beautiful children every time they asked, while she looks at them.

  This truly made John happy; he left that village and made her new family the pariah like they did to him. He traveled the land, discovering new things, enjoying new foods. And fighting, oh he truly loved fighting.

  John punched one of the monsters and smirked; he saw the head pop with such ease that he wondered if holding back was harder than going all out over steel.

  Years passed by, and one day while he was practicing his hobby of reshaping ugly souls with new bodies, he found a beautiful soul with an ugly and badly reshaped body. She was remade by an amateur who used knives and tools.

  He smirked as he remade that person’s body to look like a ball of moaning flesh. The trick was to never suffocate the heart if you want them to live like that for a couple of days.

  John took Daia in; he took care of her and learned more about her. The more he learned, the more he loved her; he truly did. She had the most brilliant of golden locks, and her smile was truly divine, but that amateur truly made her smiley so rarely; he really wished to see her smile more.

  Years passed, and he married her, she loved him, and he did love her back. She gave him a son, a sweet boy by the name of Johness; she named him after my father. He took her brilliant golden locks of hair, but Johness took his arms. He was an artist like his father.

  John, Daia, and Little Johness lived in peace. He once found Little Johness playing with stray cats, reshaping them. Which made John really mad; he was doing it all wrong, but he was the father, and he needed to teach Johness how to do it right.

   One day, His wife grew sick and tired. So, John did the only thing he knew; he took up boxing and got a manager, he fought day in and day out. He paid her bills, and he was truly happy.

   But Daia was withering away, and she knew that she had no more time in the world. So, she begged him to reshape her face, make her beautiful for her open casket; John agreed; he gathered all the supplies and made her feel no pain. He reshaped her delicate face and made her so lovely; John was even surprised with how delicate he was.

  He treated mice rougher than his wife, and he knew how fast they popped. When the operation was complete, Daia smiled at him and thanked him for everything he did for her. She begged him to take care of their son, and he promised.

  Two days later, she died in her sleep, He never knew Johness had emotions, and when they buried her in that lovely open casket, he felt water coming out of his eyes for the first time since he saw his father die.

  His son cried in his arms, but life goes on, and John did the only thing he knew, which is fighting. He took his only son Johness with him. And taught him everything, how to fight, how to reshape, who to reshape that is the most important.

  His son needed to learn that we only reshape ugly souls, and we reshape beautiful souls to their original shape, just like his mother. But his lessons have fallen on deaf ears, Johness seems to only want to feel the soft clay on his fingers, but John knew that one day he will steer his son right.

  One day, his manager told him to take a dive, but John would not. So, The manager threatened his son, his only poor son Johness. John did the only thing a father like himself would do. John reshaped the manager and made his body burst from the pressure.

  When he tracked down Johness, he found him covered in blood, with the bodyguards reshaped to look like animals. John smiled at his son and told him how to do it right, then he took his son to a safe house and told him to stay safe; John needs to get a hunter’s license to escape from all the ugly souls.

   With that, John began his journey, which would end with his death. “I am sorry, Johness, it seems you won’t learn right from wrong. Is it karma, I wonder?”

 John thought while killing another monster. But just as he was about to give up, he felt the bus shake, and soon steam began emerging from the bus, and he felt it tip and fall right into position; he saw Vex screaming at them to get ready.

  Vex entered the protective box and started the bus; Vex drove right into these monsters, killing them with ease; they drove into a rode made from their dead bodies, which turned pink.

    When they emerged from the tight hole they were dug in, everyone screamed with new hope, but John felt something calling to him, what was that steam, and how did the bus flip over?

  He walked to the second level; he wanted to check if there was any monster upstairs. When he looked into the second level, he saw a naked man, slowly breathing; John walked forward and saw his hooked hands. “Cleetus?”