Two n, one carrying a Remington M870 shotgun and wielding a large machete, led the way, while the other carried a roll of barbed wire and a crossbow. They seed to be arguing about sothing, occasionally shoving each other.
Just as they were about to pass in front of her, Jessie suddenly stood up from the bushes. The man behind her, hearing the noise, instinctively looked at her.
The next mont, Jessie's crossbow fired, and a bolt accurately struck the cheek of the man closest to her.
The heavy tungsten steel arrowhead, carrying enormous kinetic energy, easily pierced the facial bones and then erged from the back of the skull.
The corpse fell heavily to the ground, and the other man roared, swinging his machete to pounce on Jessie. With a soft sound, the 7.5mm hollow-point bullet exploded with a force disproportionate to the sound, creating a huge cavity in its abdon before shattering its spine.
The man's lower body nerves were severed, its legs buckled, and it collapsed to the ground. However, it didn't die imdiately; it struggled to its feet, attempting to attack anyone who approached with its machete.
He was truly ferocious. Jack stepped forward and stomped on its right hand, which held the machete.
"Hey, can you understand ?"
The only response was indistinct curses, completely unintelligible.
"Can't communicate." He reached for the military knife from Jessie, and dealt with the man.
Seeing that the creature was no longer breathing, Jack wiped the machete on its dirty coat and handed it back to Jessie.
He kicked the two corpses over, enduring the stench and the intense visual impact, and conducted a cursory examination.
The good news was that these creatures were indeed transford humans, not so supernatural beings.
Whether due to environntal factors, inbreeding, or a combination thereof, these creatures generally suffered from congenital deformities such as cleft lip and palate, ear deformities, facial clefts, and wide-set eyes.
Lifting their clothes revealed various hemangiomas, abnormal skeletal developnt, and nurous abscesses and skin hyperplasia resulting from the healing of those abscesses.
The bad news was that these creatures seed to have inherited a degree of pain paralysis, or rather, insensitivity to pain. Their bodies were covered in scars of varying sizes, and it was a mystery how they had survived to adulthood.
No wonder so of them had escaped unscathed after being shot, but Jack estimated that those probably wouldn't have survived; without specialized surgery, blood loss and infection alone would have killed them.
Watching him examine the two corpses, Jessie, pale-faced and swaying precariously, quickly grabbed a nearby tree trunk for support.
"What kind of monsters are these?"
"Are they so kind of degenerated savages?"
Jack shrugged. North Arica is vast and sparsely populated. Plus, there are various environntal factors, so the appearance of such things isn't surprising.
"Hurry up, we still have a long way to go." Jack cut the crossbow with his kukri, leaving only a bag of bolts. He threw the corpses into the nearby bushes and pulled Jessie along.
The dirt road they'd taken before, though dilapidated, was still drivable; a round trip from the gas station to where the accident occurred would only take half an hour. But walking on the forest trail was incredibly difficult.
Jessie was in excellent physical condition, but after two hours of arduous trekking, she finally collapsed to the ground.
Looking at the familiar riverbank that had reappeared before, Jack took out a bottle of water and two chocolates from his backpack.
"Let's eat sothing to replenish our energy. There are still two hours until dark, and we still have a long way to go."
Jessie gulped down half a bottle of water, handed it back to Jack, and started eating a chocolate bar.
"Do you think we can find Francine?"
Jack finished the remaining half-bottle of water in one go, looking at the boulder still stained with large amounts of blood.
"Just follow the water source. They have a lot of people; they'll definitely leave a lot of traces nearby. It shouldn't be difficult, but…"
"I know. I won't cry anymore. If she dies, I just want to kill more of them to avenge her and Evan."
Jessie finished the chocolate in a few bites, picked a leaf from beside her, and wiped her hands. She seed to be adapting quite quickly.
"We'll see. They might not kill her imdiately," Jack said, offering his guess.
Seeing her puzzled look, Jack explained further.
"The freezer is full, which ans they've had a good harvest recently. Maybe they'll keep her alive temporarily."
Jessie's expression froze, unsure what to say.
Jack carefully sensed his surroundings, confird there was no movent, and whispered an order.
"I'll leave a mark on the rock, wait for ."
He drew a crossbow bolt he'd gotten from the man and headed towards the riverbank.
Evan's body was long gone, but beside the boulder lay a large pool of blood and scattered fragnts, attracting swarms of flies and mosquitoes. He'd probably been dismbered on the spot and then carried away in pieces.
Jack carefully observed the direction the blood dripped, confirming it was upstream. He pointed the crossbow bolt upstream and weighed it down with two small stones.
"Let's go, hopefully we can find Francine before dark."
Jack returned to Jessie, pulled her up, and led her along the edge of the riverbank and woods towards the upper reaches of the stream.
They avoided the riverbank because the surrounding area was too open; even with his exceptional senses, he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't beco easy targets.
Another hour of arduous trekking ensued. After crossing several small ridges, Jessie finally collapsed. Even though Jack had pulled her for the latter half of the journey, she was nearly exhausted.
"How much longer?" She sat on the ground, gently rubbing her aching calves.
"It shouldn't be far. I reckon we'll find sothing after we cross this hill." Jack squinted at a wisp of smoke rising in the distance.
The sun was already setting, the sunset a beautiful sight, a stark contrast to the violence lurking in the forest, creating a strange irony.
This ti, Jack didn't let the girl rest for long. After dark, the forest posed not only the threat of these people but also other carnivores.
Sure enough, after climbing the small hill, a clearing appeared at its foot, and not far from the riverbank was a dilapidated wooden cabin.
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