From atop the hill, the surroundings of the school seemed rather silent, and apart from the occasional cracking of the fire they couldn’t hear or see any other mutants. That is the term they agreed on using for the animals that changed due to the light.

Seeing the lack of mutants the group hoped that they might have been wrong. It could be that they were just unlucky that they encountered two mutants at the same place and that the city wasn't infested with as many mutants as they thought.

This hope was sadly short-lived. Descending from the mountain they couldn’t even walk a hundred meters before they were attacked. Thanks to Clay’s superior sense of hearing he was able to warn them of the ambush of another cat.

Luckily this cat was only of the first rank. This is another concept they decided to use on a whim. It just tells how often you underwent a transformation. It seems like after this light everyone had their first transformation, meaning that every animal and human was at least of the first rank.

The spider, on the other hand, must have been on the second if not third rank, as killing it was enough to not only transform Jim but also Clay. They were now both of the second rank and were slowly adapting to the changes in their bodies.

In comparison to the spider, the cat was easier to kill. They now had all weapons, even if the leg of a spider wasn’t the best it was surely better than most people would have at the moment. They were able to overwhelm the cat with their numbers alone.

The tactic here was also more than simple, encircling the target and then taking turns attacking it, while avoiding the few attempts it made to defend itself. It was rather easy to avoid a target if it had to look out for eight different attackers.

Considering the whole situation their group was really good off, which could be weird considering what a dangerous situation they were in, but one had to account for the situation others might be in right now.

Most people lacked most of the things Jim’s group had. First of all and most importantly they had considerable information about their situation. Even if some of it was wrong and is mostly speculation they have yet to find evidence against their thesis and knowing what was going on was something you shouldn’t underestimate.

There was a reason why people said that the most fearsome enemy was the one you don’t know or understand. Additionally, they were in a group and not alone. In numbers lay strength after all.

They also had weapons. They may not be the best but were more than enough to defend themself from most threats they encountered so far.

They came to this assumption mostly because of the carnage around them. Especially after the first transformation humans were at their most vulnerable. They were weak, didn’t understand the situation, and were not able to judge the situation correctly if they were able to think at all.

The first transformation didn’t seem to do much for humans in strengthening their bodies. Animals on the other hand received a tremendous boost in power and didn’t have to think as they were led by instincts.

Considering all of this the survivability of humans was in the beginning up to nothing but luck. Thankfully Jim and his group were one of these few lucky people. Sadly even now they are far from anything they could call safety.

The constant stench of iron and the sight of limbs, organs, and blood that decorated the streets sadly also didn’t help much in their situation. Everyone tried not to think too much about it and ignored most of the corpses.

It was surprising how well you could adapt to situations if the thread of death loomed over your head.

To summarize their journey which would normally take only about fifteen minutes, the city was full of mutants of all kinds; birds, dogs, cats, and the occasional insect.

It was nothing like an army but they encountered about a dozen animals. They should have been all of the first rank, as they were not comparable to the spider in strength or size. The increase in size compared to the original was a pretty accurate measure of their rank.

Fortunately, every mutant they encountered was alone apart from that one time, when two dogs attacked them, but with Jim and Clay distracting the first the others were quickly able to overwhelm the second one and then joined them.

Additionally, they encountered one additional insect. It was a centipede of the first rank and the ugliest thing they had ever seen. They were on a small scale already absolutely horrifying to watch and this was that much worse when you consider that this thing reached to your knees.

In the end, it was rather harmless and was disposed of like the other mutants, but the group definitely agreed that insects were the most fearsome group of animals they could face against. Their spider previously made this already very clear. There was a reason why insects were so small.

Funnily enough, nature gave insects many of the most overpowered skills one could ask for. They were able to fly, could use one of the deadliest poisons, and had with their exoskeleton exceptional defense or exceptional senses with an all-around view thanks to compound eyes. Additionally, they utilized some of the best tools like webs, stingers, or scythes.

It was truly frightening how deadly insects were when you just increased their size without adding anything else.

Also annoying was all the rubble and the ruined cars that littered the streets. They restricted their mobility and the ruins were the perfect hiding spots for mutants. Especially cats liked to use these spots to ambush the group or other mutants. But this was still better than the birds. They weren't especially strong or durable, but faster than anything else they faced and hard to prepare against, when they dived from the sky.

They already had to fight with their life on the line and these birds had nothing better to do than to strike from above like some suicide bombers just to flee as fast as they came.

Truth be told. Without their strength in numbers, probably no one would have survived. Not because the mutants were overwhelmingly strong, on the contrary, they were still weak compared to the spider.

Most of the mutants could be killed with one good hit as none of them had good enough defenses to block the leg of the spider. The attacks from them weren't even that strong, proof of that were the wounds everyone eventually received on this journey due to carelessness or surprise. Thanks to the lack of power behind many attacks, their numbers, and a stroke of luck their wounds were nothing life-concerning, some scratches and small slashes here and there but that was it.

The problem was the speed of their attackers and the chaos of the situation. The city turned from a safe haven to a dangerous place where a new threat waited at every corner.

The mutants were fighting with each other and everyone that crossed their paths. They knew that killing made them stronger and they were following their instinct to get more power.

The chaos was just too big and Jim would never be able to avoid all of the attacks and have enough endurance to fend them all off. He would still need to take a break from time to time to catch his breath.

The only good thing about this was that the group found out that they were surprisingly working well together and the mutants had nothing like a strategy. They were like bloodthirsty beasts that couldn’t think of anything else but killing.

Jim was the main supporter and attacker of this small journey and made sure everyone stayed alive. Helping with this was Jake who had an overview of the situation at all times and told him if someone needed help.

With his enhanced hearing Clay was a big help in spotting the cats in their hiding and the occasional bird that tried to sweep a kill in, but Charlotte and Dennis were the ones who had mostly the sky in view as they weren’t too comfortable with fighting yet. Max, Lukas, Chris, and Clay were doing fine with the fighting.

Of course, they were not really fighting with any sort of martial art or swordplay. They were mostly following their instincts and just trying to stay alive. Not to mention that a leg wasn’t comparable to a real sword.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thinking about it, their fighting seemed rather comical; I mean imagine a main character who is only using a leg as his weapon. Alone the looks from the people in the city would be hilarious, considering the leg of a corpse was constantly dangling from your hip.

Pushing the slightly amusing thought out of his head Jim concentrated again. After almost a full hour of fighting and the occasional rest in between to care for the wounds they finally reached their destination; the museum.

They turned around the final corner at the end of the street and could finally see it. They were really lucky to not discover another rank two mutant. All this killing also gave them more of this new energy. It was very subtle, but after they knew what they had to look out for, they were able to gradually feel how this energy rushed into their bodies after each kill.

They also noticed that the one who was closest to the corpse often gained most of the energy. Thinking about their findings Jim noticed a shadow coming around the corner at the end of the street left from the museum.

It was another dog or more precisely an American Pit Bull Terrier. That thing was huge, almost double the size of its normal version. Examining the dog Jim accidentally made eye contact with the mutant

They interlocked their gazes for a moment, as the dog looked Jim deeply in the eyes, and before he could even think about anything else the dog started running toward him.

"Ahh," Jim couldn't help himself as he exhaled in frustration.

At this rate, I'm going to die before I get to my twenties!

Cursing this he quickly concentrated. That dog was clearly of the second rank and he would not underestimate a mutant ever again. At least it was not nearly as fast as the spider.

Over this short journey here Jim was getting more and more grateful that he survived this spider attack. It could have all ended in just that one moment and he, as well as the others, learned so much from the spider. He even felt something like gratitude towards the small devil that they beheaded.

He was fairly confident that he should be able to avoid the dog, but he didn’t want to know what would happen if he got between these maws or was slashed by the claws at its paw. He needed to be extra careful to not get hit.

Fortunately, the dog was a fairly good distance away, so he had more than enough time to get in a proper fighting position.

Max, Lukas, Clay, and Jim built the frontline and were going to circle the dog. Jake and Chris were at the vanguard to protect them from other mutants who could interfere. Charlotte and Dennis were in the back observing the whole battlefield. They were not strong enough individually, but as a team, they should be enough to kill this new threat.

At the time they went into their formation, the dog was almost on them. Jim was the first to receive its attack. He prepared to avoid the attack, but before it didn’t ram into him like he expected the dog suddenly jumped high into the air to bite his head off.

Thankfully his reflexes went up a good notch after reaching the second rank and Jim was able to duck under the flying dog. Seeing an opportunity he tried to cut one of its legs off.

The dog reacted in time and pulled its leg closer to its body. Instead of a served leg he only cut a small wound on its leg.

It landed with all fours and immediately turned around and attacked with a swing of its right paw at Jim’s chest. He managed to barely avoid it as he swayed to the side so that the attack missed him. Jim could feel the wind from the attacks as it managed to grace his hair.

In this position, he couldn't hold his balance and fell on his back. The dog saw the chance and directly followed with another attack, but before it could connect the dog sensed something and sprung to the right side. Shortly after, the leg of a spider managed to grace the side of the dog.

The wound was very thin and barely any blood was drawn but it made the dog stop his attack and gave Jim enough time to stand up. The one attacking was Lukas who had seen an opportunity to attack.

He swiftly followed after the dog and carefully enclosed the circle it was in, joining Clay and Max who were already in position. The dog was on high alert. It obviously noticed that he was at a numeric disadvantage. Their coordination caught him off guard; the other humans didn’t do that.

Jim was sure this dog killed many humans on his way to rank two and to be honest humans are without a weapon no real threat against these mutated animals.

Regrettably, for the dog, he messed with the wrong group. By now the group of humans was determined to survive and they had the weapons to defend themself. They still had to be careful of other mutants joining in due to the commotion of the fight, but if it was only the four of them against the dog, they should be able to win.

At this moment Jake gave instructions from the back, “Guys you have to avoid its attacks at all costs. It seems to possess great strength but lacks speed and probably stamina. You just have to wear it out and then kill it.”

Agreeing with his assumptions the group was careful in slowly whittling the dog down. With this, the next five minutes played out like a cat and mouse game. The group of three circled around the dog, avoiding its attacks while occasionally attacking itself.

Every time the dog made a mistake it would receive another wound, most being not too deep. Its senses were good and it was able to avoid lethal attacks. However, he couldn't avoid all the attacks as they came from four directions and slowly the wounds started to pile up.

Like they assumed after a few minutes of fighting other mutants grew curious about the commotion. A few tried to involve themself in the battle to get one or two easy kills. Especially birds were an enormous threat as they could pray from above for the best targets.

That is also one of the reasons why birds are the most annoying to fight. Lukas predicted this from the experience of the fights they had on their way here and they made preparations for this.

That is also the reason why Dennis and Chris were at the vanguard and not at the front. Even if they couldn’t kill the birds they just had to scare them off. With Charlotte having an eye on the sky the birds didn’t have the chance to do much damage.

Not unimportant to note was that not many mutants remained in the area. They made a huge commotion on their way here, which already attracted most of the mutants in the surroundings. Thanks to that, not many mutants tried to meddle in the fight with the dog.

For another five minutes, the dog was attacked and eventually littered with small and bigger wounds from top to bottom and was standing on its last legs. It was breathing heavily and could barely stand. Only its will to live was keeping it going.

In a last futile attempt to kill Jim, it broke mid-swing over. They fought it for over ten minutes and were now familiar with the dog and its attack pattern and rhythm.

It was like reading a book. In the beginning, everything is hard to understand but the more you read the easier it gets. By now the dog tried everything it could have tried. Every possible attack, from every angle or strategy it knew off like running away or focusing one out to break free from the encirclement.

Nothing worked, and when the enclosure broke it was quickly restored and every opportunity to flee was blocked. It was not fast enough to escape and after the first few minutes of the fight, it was clear that the dog wouldn’t escape with the number of wounds that were piling up.

The dog's condition was miserable and Jim even had a little sympathy for it. It was like its instinct forced him to kill and get stronger and stronger. By now a huge pool of blood had formed under the dog. It was already too exhausted to even stand up let alone attack.

Lukas didn’t waste time and pierced the spider's leg through the eye of the dog, instantly killing it. Afterward, everyone broke down to the ground. They were all exhausted after this long fight. They didn’t get injured except for some scratches but their mental health was completely dried out.

They had to fight with all their senses on edge for more than ten minutes straight. They couldn’t even let their guard down for even a second, as every small mistake meant a serious injury or death.

Knowing that one good hit from the dog could end it all they fought very passively so that no one would be hit even once. This continuous mental stress of almost dying is inexpressible.

Never in Jim’s life was death so close that he felt like he could taste it and on this single day, he had more near-death experiences than many have their entire life. It felt like he was balancing on a tightrope and one wrong step would end it all.

Not long after sitting down Lukas started to convulse and collapse on the ground. The group first panicked as Max soon followed Lukas, but they soon realized that they were undertaking their second transformation.

Knowing this they relaxed a bit but that didn’t make the situation less dangerous. Jim knew best that you were while transforming at your most vulnerable and they quickly had to find a safe place before more mutants came.

They quickly made the short distance in front of the door of the museum. It was still locked and a few strong bashes with Jim's shoulder finally sprang the lock open and they could enter. They placed Max and Lukas on the ground. They had nothing like blankets here so they just ripped the thick curtains from the window out and used them.

Similar to Jim, Max convulsed for a little longer than five minutes and then calmed down. Lukas was similar to Clay and took longer to stop convulsing. The minutes flew by and Max slowly awakened, while Lukas wouldn’t stop shaking.

This transformation took way too long and everyone grew concerned about him. Forming a circle around him they didn’t quite know what to do. This was not an injury or illness they could just treat. It was a transformation that fundamentally changed their body and they still knew almost next to nothing about it.

If they tried anything they could make the situation even worse so they were forced to watch, while Lukas's skin gradually went paler from the deep red that was normal in the transformation. This was more than concerning, as this didn’t happen before.

Suddenly he started to convulse even stronger than before and it was visible to the eye that his body was thinning down quickly enough that he soon resembled a corpse.

*HUHUHUHU-”

Without warning he suddenly stopped and grew as still as a rock. Startled by the sudden stillness Clay held his hand at Lukas' pulse and his eyes grew wide…