The mutate stood up on its hind legs, pounded its chest, and roared again. Although it had the shape and approximate appearance of a gorilla, it was bigger than a grizzly bear, standing at least nine feet tall, and that huge, bowling-ball head and gaping, toothy mouth made it look truly monstrous. The general impression was that of an evil, demonic yeti.
It was a Level 39. Could he kill this thing? He wasn't sure. Stu stood at level thirty himself, but he wasn't sure if there was any connection between his own level and that of the zombies he had encountered. He had managed to kill the Living Hell -- a Level 25 monster -- when he was only at level ten, after all. On the other hand, the Lab Rat, whom the ICON system had described as a Level 41, had easily defeated him, and the Cannibal was only three levels below that.
He had no time to think it over, however -- the creature was menacing Luna, who was trying to retreat from it. Stu, who had just activated his Night Vision skill, could see everything perfectly, but Luna, having dropped the flashlight, couldn't see where she was going in the deep darkness; she was stumbling around in a blind panic, her eyes wide.
Stu had taken a massive blow to the chest, which had knocked the wind out of him, but he was able to climb to his feet. He drew his Midnighter and quickly fired two rounds at the monster. The sound of the gunshots, echoing through the cavern, was colossal, like a pair of miniature explosions.
He was sure he hit the beast, but the bullets seemed to have no effect on it; they didn't even stagger it. He aimed higher, intending to hit it in the head, but before he could pull the trigger the thing was on top of him. Damn, it was fast! Like the Lab Rat, the mutate that had killed Virge in the Meku City subway, and all the various speedies he had encountered, the beast -- despite its huge size -- was capable of moving almost supernaturally quickly. How could they reach these speeds? How was it even possible? If not for his own Speed Freak skill, which boosted his own speed and perception, he never would have been able to fight these things. In a world teeming with these creatures, it was no wonder civilization had collapsed; it was no wonder the people of Silent lived in fear of this monster.
The Cannibal swatted the gun out of his hand, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him forward, into its grasp. The big mouth opened up; once again, Stu could smell the thing's horrible breath. It was about to bite him.
Stu's arms were still free. He was able to slam a palm upwards into the monster's jaw, shutting it, just before it chomped into his neck, and was able to use his other hand to yank one of the throwing knives out of his belt. He jammed it deep into the Cannibal's meaty, simian hand -- the hand that had grabbed him by the collar. The monster dropped him.
Stu tried to pull another knife out of his belt -- the only one he had left. He thought he might be able to throw it in the creature's eye, using Dead Aim -- he had killed other zombies in this way -- but the Cannibal wasn't about to let that happen; he batted Stu to one side almost as soon as he dropped him, sending him skidding, once more, over the uneven stone floor of the cavern.
Like the Lab Rat, the thing was incredibly strong, but also wild and unpredictable, more animalistic in its behavior. It was hard to believe the creature had ever been human.
He realized he wasn't strong enough to fight this thing directly. He needed some kind of strategy.
He remembered his new skills -- Shadow King and Silence. Could they be of any use here? He wasn't entirely sure how Shadow King even worked -- it was supposed to give him the ability to "disappear into shadows," but with his Night Vision activated, he couldn't see any shadows in the cavern at all; everything was perfectly illuminated. How could he disappear into shadows if he couldn't see them?
It was probably a moot point, anyway; the Cannibal lived in this pitch-black cavern and presumably had excellent night vision of its own. What about Silence? He activated it, just for the hell of it.
He rose to his feet -- realizing, with a start, that his own heartbeat had gone quiet, and that sound no longer accompanied his movements. He clapped his hands together, experimentally, but heard nothing. The effect, according to the countdown timer which had just appeared in his vision, would last for thirty minutes.
He wasn't sure how this might help him, but he supposed it couldn't hurt. He scrambled over to his fallen backpack and removed his machete from its nylon sheath, thinking he might throw it blade-first at the monster using Dead Aim. He paused, though, as he drew the blade -- what were the odds that he could kill this thing by throwing a machete at it, if he couldn't even kill it with a gun? The idea suddenly seemed ludicrous.
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He turned to face the monster anyway, machete in hand, but to his surprise, the Cannibal wasn't looking at him, nor even at Luna. It had stopped, cocking its head from one side to the other, as though it were listening for something. It sniffed the air.
Stu frowned thoughtfully. Perhaps the monster's night vision wasn't as good as he had thought -- perhaps it had been relying more on sound and smell. If that was the case...
He couldn't do anything about his scent, but with the sound of his movements now masked, he might be able to get close enough to kill it. He moved to his left, circling around the beast, while it continued cocking its head and sniffing after him. It slowly turned its body in his direction, moving with him as he circled around it, so it must have had some idea of where he was, but it couldn't pin him down exactly.
This was encouraging. Sneaking closer to it, and then around it, he used his speed to quickly close the gap between them and tried to swing the machete at its neck.
The blade made contact, sinking an inch or two into the Cannibal's neck, but it reacted to this almost instantly, grabbing the machete with its bare hand and ripping it out before Stu could do any more damage. The thing was incredibly durable; Stu had put almost everything he had into that swing, and it had barely penetrated its flesh.
Stu somehow managed to hold on to the machete as the Cannibal pulled it out, but he was forced to duck underneath the beast and race away from it as it started to reach for him. Instead of pursuing him, however, it stopped and cocked its head again, listening.
This was it; this was his strategy. Trusting his Silence skill to mask the sounds he made, he crept up behind it again, this time using the machete to slice its back. It spun around, roaring, but by then Stu had already retreated. He waited a second, then came at it again, cutting into its arm, and then its leg, and then its other arm. Silver-stained blood flew from its wounds, as it tried to catch him, but despite its speed, it was always a second too slow. It couldn't hear him coming.
He slashed the monster again and again, focusing on its extremities, hoping to slow it down to the point where he could deliver another confident blow to its neck. Like all zombies, the only sure way to kill it was by decapitation, or by damaging its brain beyond repair.
By now Luna had recovered her shotgun and staggered to her feet. She started loading the weapon.
The Cannibal couldn't hear Stu, but it could hear Luna. It gave up on trying to catch Stu and, getting down on all fours and galloping like an ape, it started rushing towards her.
Desperate, Stu raced after it, but he wasn't fast enough -- the monster's speed was inhuman. Fortunately Luna managed to raise the shotgun and pull the trigger, just as it was bearing down on her. The slug didn't really hurt it, but the recoil from the gun hit her hard and caused her to stumble backwards -- she fell down, and the Cannibal, carried along by its own momentum, ran right over her. Stu, following close behind it, slashed at it with the machete before it could turn around and menace her.
He wanted to tell Luna to stay down, and out of the way, but he didn't want to give away his position, so he said nothing, and went back to his hit-and-run strategy -- cutting its arms and legs and quickly retreating before it could retaliate. He must have been doing some damage, because it seemed to be slowing down, but it was too early to attempt that killing blow; it was still too fast, too dangerous, too unpredictable. He couldn't afford to make a mistake here, couldn't afford to let it catch him. He fought on, gritting his teeth.
Though the monster was slowing down, it seemed to be getting better at tracking him -- it suddenly whirled around at one point, and he was nearly struck by one of its flailing fists. He winced, but carried on, continuing to hack away at the enraged beast.
And then he made that mistake.
He had just darted away from the monster, and was now moving around to the other side of it, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the damn thing's arm shot out, seized him by the neck, and hurled him to the ground. The machete flew out of his hand.
Stunned, he tried to get up, but the Cannibal had leapt on top of him, pinning him down with its enormous weight. He tried to protect his face with his hands -- he thought the monster would try to bite him -- but it batted them away and started hammering its huge fists into his face. The first blow broke his nose, the second shattered his jaw. He could feel his teeth loosening; he could feel blood in his mouth.
Stu's own durability had been enhanced by the ICON system, but even his body wasn't strong enough to withstand this onslaught. The Cannibal, delighted to have finally captured him, rained blows upon him, hitting him again and again, pulverizing his face, driving Stu's skull into the ground.
He had no idea how he remained conscious -- nor, indeed, how he managed to do what he did next. Groping blindly, his right hand landed on something familiar -- the grip of his Midnighter, which he had dropped earlier. He pulled it closer to him, and somehow -- somehow, despite the Cannibal bashing his face to a pulp -- was able to slip his index finger through the trigger guard.
The monster, apparently believing that he was dead, stopped hitting him...but then it leaned over him, its gigantic mouth opening wide. Stu couldn't see it -- his eyeballs had likely burst -- but he could smell its breath, and he could sense, somehow, what it was about to do. Summoning up what little strength he had left, in this thoroughly dazed and defeated state, he reached up with his left hand, seizing the monster by the jaw and pulling it down. Then he shoved the Midnighter's barrel into its mouth and pulled the trigger three times.
He felt the Cannibal's body go slack. It collapsed on him, its huge, shaggy body smothering him.
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. The monster had smashed his face in, destroying his eyes, shattering his bones, cracking his skull. He was done. He was dead.
He tried to say Luna's name, but all that came out was a gurgling of blood.