The sporadic echoes of gunfire still lingered in the stale air as Dan marched through the forest. The other teams were still battling it out with each other elsewhere while Dan had to keep a low profile. Right now, he had no backup with him and he could be easy pickings for another team. The last time he felt this isolated was during the raid in Amethyst. While on the run from Kodak agents, he had no clue whether any of his remaining teammates were still alive, especially after seeing Ben’s neck getting snapped by that traitor Kate.
But he wasn’t truly alone. Angie was doing her part and staying with Li while she trusted Dan to venture out on his own to continue gather points for the team. His team was still counting on him.
In this period of relative quiet, he had five stat points earned from his recent level up. Dan decided that now was a good time to begin allocating his points.
Strength: 31
Agility: 27
Endurance: 21
Intelligence: 28
His endurance was his lowest stat category, but he knew that he didn’t urgently need to put points into it thanks to his healing factor. Dan tried to contemplate what would benefit him most when he encountered a mutated animal or an enemy team and was forced into a fight.
He settled for a balance of allocating points into both strength and agility.
Strength: 31 (+2)
Agility: 27 (+3)
Congratulations! Your updated stats are now:
Strength: 33
Agility: 30
Dan made sure to remain close to the trees as he continued his journey through the forest. If he encountered any enemy agents, he would need to quickly get out of sight and let them pass. Before Dan took another step, his ears picked up a strange guttural growl coming from up ahead and he froze.
He spotted the nearest tree and immediately pressed his back against it. Slowly leaning out to the side, he scanned the desolate trees and ground ahead. His eyes picked up movement and Dan saw an animal up ahead in between the trees. His HUD updated him on details.
Mutated Coyote.
Eliminate it to complete mini-objective.
“Hmm, perfect,” Dan muttered.
Dan broke cover and methodically approached closer and closer towards the mutated beast. The coyote seemingly wandered aimlessly around the forest and didn’t seem to have spotted him yet. Dan was only about twenty meters away from the creature and got a good look. He had seen stray dogs and even the occasional coyote back in his hometown. But this coyote was different.
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Whatever mutations this animal was subjected to, it appeared almost twice the size of the strays he saw in his childhood. The coyote looked built like a tiger with fur thin enough that Dan could see the definition of the animal’s hardened muscles.
Dan tightened his grip on his handgun. With a coyote this big, he had no clue how altered its physiology was or if bullets would even hurt it. But he had only one way of finding that out.
Dan leaned out from the tree and aimed his pistol at the animal. Before he squeezed the trigger, the coyote turned and stared directly at him. By the time his finger hammered the trigger, the coyote charged at him with surprising speed. None of Dan’s shots landed a direct hit. One bullet grazed the side of the coyote and it let out a nasty growl before it closed the distance between them.
The coyote opened its jaw and clamped shut on Dan’s forearm. He was immediately taken back by the creature’s powerful bite. Its teeth penetrated the sleeve of his coat, though not enough to get through the armor underneath. The coyote yanked Dan’s arm to the side and Dan was dragged with surprising force by the animal.
“Shit, what the fuck did they feed you?” Dan shouted.
The coyote was strong enough to drag Dan’s body weight across the ground and slam him into a nearby tree. The impact didn’t cause any serious injury, but he dropped his pistol.
“Okay, my turn,” he said.
Dan clenched his fist and he punched the coyote in its neck. The coyote didn’t yield as its grip on his forearm still held firm. Dan continued throwing more punches to the coyote’s neck and side, surprised at the rock-hard muscles of the animal.
When punches didn’t work, Dan figured the coyote had to be vulnerable in its underside. He let out the hardest kick he could muster in his awkward position right to the underside of the coyote. The animal gave no reaction to his kick.
“Oh come on,” Dan said.
The coyote continued thrashing Dan around with an iron grip on his forearm and Dan was getting sick of it. The animal chomped on his arm and he could feel the creature’s teeth gradually getting through his armor unless he did something quick.
The coyote flung Dan to the side while still biting into his arm. At the corner of his eye, Dan spotted his handgun on the ground and swiped it. He hammered the trigger and fired a few rounds directly into the coyote’s muscular hide until his pistol clicked empty.
Only then did the animal release its grip on Dan’s arm. The rounds penetrated the coyote’s side and Dan saw the bullet wounds beginning to stain the animal’s fur. Still, the coyote didn’t back down and still remained standing on all fours.
Dan grabbed his seventy-seven rifle and quickly shoved the dual bayonets into the neck of the coyote. The blades sunk halfway deep before Dan abruptly pulled his rifle back and let loose with a full auto hellfire from the weapon. He didn’t care how mutated this coyote was. It would not stand back up from a ZK-77 assault rifle.
Tungsten hollow point rounds penetrated the coyote and the creature finally keeled over and drew its last breath before it finally met its end. Dan had won his fight against this mutated beast.
Mutated Coyote defeated.
Congratulations. You have completed a mini-objective. 1 point earned.
Total points: 11.
Dan looked down at his forearm to inspect the damage. Aside from the teeth marks in his sleeve, he seemed fine. But with all of the noise he just made, it wouldn’t take long for another team to arrive and investigate.
Dan broke into a run to quickly get the hell out.