“Are we here?” Dexter asked, a bit dizzy as he clutched on the seat.

“Yeah… ah, fuck, my leg,” Rex cursed, holding his thigh. Looking down, Dexter cringed. The truck was an anomaly too, it was pretty much a hollow metal box with two seats at the front.

The “driver” can drive the truck anywhere they want, but it will always take three days to do so. There was no steering wheel, no brakes, not even a seatbelt. Once the “driver” selects a destination, the truck cannot be stopped.

“What… happened?” Dexter tried touching Rex’s leg, but his hand was slapped by Rex.

“Fucker, do you want a punch or something?!” Rex yelled, gritting his teeth afterward. Although the truck was mostly empty apart from the two seats in the front, there was also a creature in the truck.

It was a plant with long, blue vines that held the entire truck together. The vines were thin, almost invisible to the naked eye. These vines were wrapped around the seats, but they haven't done any harm until now.

“Grr…” With a growl, Rex tried ripping out the blue vines digging into his right leg. If he had to guess, the vines were probably wrapped around his bones.

“Well,” Dexter sighed, his face changing from conflicted to awkward. “I'll… be going now, I have to quickly catch that bug, see ya!”

With a grin, Dexter hopped out of the truck. Rex looked at the open door with a dumbfounded look. “Did he just… leave me alone???”

Suddenly, Rex felt a burst of pain in his leg. Not only that, but also on his back. He looked forward.

“Oh shit…”

In his view, the glass windows of the car had turned opaque blue, and cracks invaded its smooth surface. The blue vine pulsated with light, squirming as he observed everything ensue.

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The vine inside his leg made violent movements as though someone slid their hand inside his muscles, gripping his bones.

“I'm fucked, god damn it Dexter!”

Rex's mind went blank in pain, and his muscles bulged, trying to suppress the pain. With his last bit of will, Rex put on a red glove from his pocket.

Rex punched his right leg, and a bloody explosion coated the walls and floors of the truck.

+++-+++-+++

“Report: Anomaly Travel Truck is acting strangely, requesting back up,” Dexter said to the communicator before hanging up. He wasn't rushing out of the truck just because he was scared of it. He was also rushing toward the village where the bug was found.

‘A growth level of 10 is ridiculous. That damned truck has a growth level of 0.09, and it's already unstable after just a week…” Dexter cursed under his breath.

“Fuck that Chief, I want to rip him apart so badly,” Dexter muttered, finally reaching a tall tree near the village. The village of Randov remained silent, and no person could be seen outside.

“It'd be strange if there was,” Dexter laughed to himself. Then, he began his search. He saw the previous area where he dug out a handful of dirt, and it was untouched.

“It should've left. It somehow sensed me or something,” Dexter muttered another curse under his breath. Then, he looked around, and it wasn't long before he saw a gathering of insects.

“Are those… the same bugs?” Dexter frowned, taking out his worn-out pistol. Slapping it, the pistol twitched violently, emitting an ominous, deep sound that seemed to come from an underground cave. It resembled a wail of despair, as well as an enraged cry.

“Just do as I say,” Dexter scoffed, slamming his fist into the gun. A moment later, it glowed a dim blue and the screaming stopped.

“Nice,” Dexter smirked, confidently approaching the swarm of insects. “There's at least a hundred in there, and they seem to be disecting… a… what is that, a bird? A chicken?”

Dexter shook his head. “Screw this, hey Blue Pistol, capture all of those bugs, and the ones underneath too,” Dexter said, his hands shaking and sweating heavily, his heart beating madly from anxiety. Then, a laughter resounded behind him, before another laughter sounded in front of him.

“The gun is laughing?” Dexter frowned, before glancing behind him. There, he saw a truck being dragged by Rex. The truck was destroyed, torn into a few long strips of metal and vines.

Meanwhile, Rex was somehow limping toward him while dragging the thing behind him. His entire body was stained in blood, his face had multiple scars and his clothes had countless bloody gashes. His right hand was turned to a pulp, and his left hand was protected by a ragged red glove.

As Rex limped, bits of flesh fell off of his right thigh, an endless stream of blood guiding the bits of flesh downward. Seeing Dexter and the gun, Rex furrowed his brow.

“Dexter… heal me, damn it,” Rex cursed, his voice weak, falling to his knee a moment later

Looking at his partner, Dexter hesitated. Finally, he closed his eyes and turned away from Rex.

“Sorry, Rex. Blue Pistol, do it!”

Following his yell, the gun’s laughter died down, and a blue glow covered the area. Soon, a bubble could be seen floating in the air. Underneath the bubble, a half sphere was dug out of the ground, as well as chunks of the trees around it.

“Retrieval successful…” Dexter sighed, pressing the call button in his communicator.

“Mission successful.”

Uttering those words, Dexter fell unconscious.