After I had gotten a few blocks away from the warehouse I reached up and removed my mask, while it protected my lungs from fine particles and some infections it also hid my breath, one of the easiest things for tracking type mutants to follow as spit molecules mixed with our breath and would leave a foot print invisible to all others

I didn't have to put it on until the warehouse since most mutated creatures already knew where the humans territory was, although a tier 2 mutant could probably take out half of the base by itself it wouldn't come out unharmed

That's what gave the humans a fragile feeling of safety and protection when they lived in large colonies, like our base

I had only travelled a few blocks when I had to stop and lean up against one of the alley walls for support

"W-what? I'm this t-tired already?"

I was panting and huffing for air as my limbs felt like lead, they were heavily weighing me down stopping me from moving as easily as I normally would

It seemed like all my injuries and actions had taken a bigger impact on me then I thought, even though I had great stamina I had exhausted myself dealing with the number of accumulated injuries and the energy the elixirs used to rebuild all my different muscles and skin, my body had long been pushing its limit

I was just finally paying that very price that had been slowly accumulating

'There's no way I can reach the base before sun down. I've only got three maybe two hours left?'

Looking straight up I could see it was already long past midday but with the narrow alleyway I couldn't tell a precise time but my inner clock told me around the length or time I had left, it was something I had honed after years of scavenging and carefully keeping track of the time to make sure I had enough time to back track to safety

Being stuck out at night was practically a death sentence for the weak

'Sigh. What do I do now?'

I had to come up with some way of surviving through the night

I turned my head seeing an entrance to the sewers, the lid seemed to be made out of pure metal but it had become nothing but a smooth surface after years

'I heard the hunting group regularly uses it for travelling throughout the city, I could use it but I heard a few monsters sleep down there so it's out'

I continued scanning the surroundings but found nothing, I had to keep moving through the alleys to find somewhere I could sleep safely tonight

I continued slowly making my way through alleyway after alleyway making my way to the area where the base hunts most of their monsters for special rations that provide a larger amount of nutrition making them the perfect food for our mutant force

Turning into an alleyway I found myself at a fork in the road, the first went toward the base whilst the other went straight

It was in a horizontal direction from the base, if I went to that area I would waste time in my travel as I wouldn't get any closer to the base than I was already, not like I could reach it in time with my body in its current state either way

'Fuck....Fuck...Fuck'

I kept swearing to relieve my pain as I continued to stumble and find my way through the alleys after choosing the straight path way, slowly getting closer and closer to my goal of survival I hoped

Every couple of buildings I had to stop and lean against the walls to recover my breathe and relieve my fatigue, I felt like I was getting slower and slower the longer I walked for, even the distance between my breaks was slowly shortening. I now had to be conscious of my footing as my body started to listen less and less to my mind

I turned a corner and found myself in a large open area, I lifted my head to find myself standing before the gate of a depot station

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

There were trains thrown on their sides and towers made of sea containers and crates, everything seemed to be thrown everywhere in a sloppy and chaotic way, it seemed to have been a long time since most of the things were touched as thick layers of dust and greenery seemed to bloom on their surfaces

I pushed open the bent and battered fence gate with ease and stumbled my way towards the sea containers

'One of these might make a good resting place, at least for tonight'

I made my way towards the closest sea container and tried opening its door with great difficulty and finally moved it a measly centimeter, it was a waste of my time to keep trying to open the door so I moved on to the next container

I didn't even try opening it as it was covered in a thick layer of rust and had thick tree vines locking the door closed

After wandering around for a long time I finally found a train container that had been thrown from the train tracks, I climbed up the end of the container and onto the top side, it had a sliding door that easily opened revealing a chaotic inside filled with boxes and crates

I carefully examined the insides before slowly lowering myself down using one of the frames of the door way, when my feet touched the ground I inspected my surroundings more indepth

I pushed boxes to the side and opened the crates, I was looking for any creatures to make sure I would have a safe night

Even the smallest animal can be dangerous, some are even mutants

After repeated searches I knew the entire place was safe so I used my rebar crutch and closed the sliding door behind me

When the door closed everything became dark and it took at least a minute until my eyes had completely adjusted to the new brightness

After looking around again with the new amount of light for any nocturnal creatures I grabbed a box and moved it over before pulling a crate towards me

I arranged them in the shape of a bed, the cold metal floor had divots and a wooden door that had been pierced by different sharp rocks, it would be impossible to sleep on a surface like that

After aligning up four boxes I climbed onto it and laid my body down, the makeshift bed was a little longer than me and wide enough to fit my body, it would work perfectly for a one night stay

Leaning the rebar up against one of the boxes I made sure it was within arms reach

I reached into my satchel and pulled out my mask and grabbed my new dagger

I secured the mask on my face to ensure nothing could happen to my breathing when I dozed off and gripped the dagger tightly in my left hand

Making sure I did everything I could to prepare a retaliation even if I was attacked in my sleep for my best chance of survival, I had to be ready for any scenario that might happen at night

I relaxed and rested my head on my right arm and quickly felt my consciousness slipping away

I had barely been holding on until now so when I relaxed my consciousness disappeared in a matter of seconds

...

"Creaaaa!"

I jolted awake at the loud screech

I quickly got up and grasped the rebar in my left hand but instead of using it like a crutch i held it near the bottom using it much like a bat with a sharp bent end

I stood still carefully waiting for something else to happen

"Rahhrrr!"

"Graaaa!"

"DOOF!"

"BOOM!"

Loud echoes continued to reverberate as I felt the container I was sleeping in slightly shutter every couple of seconds

I continued to be on guard until I made sure that the monsters weren't coming towards me or were anywhere near me

I slowly started relaxing and placed the rebar back down and sat on the boxes

Before going back to sleep I carefully inspected my leg seeing if the injuries had completely faded

I sat there for a few minutes struggling to see it in detail but when I was satisfied by the progress I felt by using my free hand by carefully running my fingers across the now exposed muscles

'I'm gonna have to sew this back together when I get back'

Most clothes were usually destroyed or ripped apart due to injuries, battles or other reasons so almost everyone I had met knew how to sew including those at the base

Because of this a lot of cloth was collected and clothes that have been so badly ruined they can't be used anymore are also kept to fix usable clothes, this was why everyone's clothes were mostly a mishmash of different textures but were mostly the same colours due to the bleaching of the sun

'Phew. Everything seems safe for now though'

After carefully evaluating my situation I laid back down in the same position as before with my dagger tightly clutched in my hand before I relaxed and waited to fall asleep

This time I didn't immediately pass out as my body had gotten some rest and recuperated enough energy to function properly

"Grearl"

A faint rumbling sound came from my stomach but it wasn't loud enough to cause any harm so I ignored it and continued to lay still

Before long I could feel myself fading out and falling asleep

...

I felt my eye lids flicker as I slowly stretched each part of my body at a time

First my toes, then my feet, my legs all the way up to my torso, each of my arms before I sat up and stretched my neck

My entire body was stiff from sleeping

"Yawn"

There were streaks of light making their way in between the cracks of the door

With the light I carefully inspected where my injuries used to be, everything seemed mostly healed only leaving behind scabs and patches of muscle tissue and skin that was stretching and growing across it like bridges and webs, it made it seem like poorly stitched together cloth with only few points connected

Even at the odd sight I could tell that everything was working as it should

'It seems I can finally go home'

I sighed with a smile on my face as I excitedly stood up from my makeshift bed

I had survived the night outside the base