Meeting (2)
Kenneth looked at Mendell in bewilderment when he heard the young man's loud voice. "What's going on?!"
"I don't know if the Queen Leech has its eyes on us but you just have to know that it's a dangerous one." Mendell continued his investigation and found out that these new creatures were not moving at all, as if waiting for something. If his suspicion was correct, then they were the mutated leeches controlled by the Queen Leech. If they were the target of these bloodsuckers, then there must have been several monitor cameras installed somewhere in this facility, allowing the Queen Leech to observe their movements as soon as they entered this strange facility. "Can you drive the tram faster?"
Kenneth shook his head. "This is already its fastest speed."
"Okay." Mendell sensed that there were movements from the side of the monsters. Several groups were coming toward their direction while a large chunk of their numbers was going farther ahead. "Brace yourself. They're coming. Follow me."
Mendell ran to the other side of the tram and kicked the door open to make an escape route if they were overwhelmed inside the tram. He then asked, "Do you still have some ammo?"
Kenneth took out several ammunitions from his vest. "Here, take this. I still have ammo for my gun."
Mendell received the ammo and reloaded his gun right away. He tried using his soul power to hide his customized weapon and he succeeded, much to his surprise. When he cast the ability on the Samurai Edge, it also disappeared.
Then a blinking sword icon appeared at the top left part of the Night Vision Shades. He activated it via soul power and the sword icon transformed into four squares, with the first three having small images of a log, a spear, and a gun respectively. The last box, on the other hand, was empty.
Mendell recalled that in games, players could set their weapons, items, or spells in the quickslot for easy access. He suspected that these boxes were actually quickslots. Too bad, there was not enough time to experiment right now because the leeches were coming. He summoned his gun once again and prepared himself for the incoming threat.
Kenneth followed behind, not fully comprehending the threat that they were facing, as he aimed his gun forward. When he saw Mendell magically vanishing the weapons on his hand, he simply sighed, accepting the fact that the young man was superhuman.
Mendell waited for Kenneth to reach him before explaining. "We're gonna fight small mutated leeches. Watch out for any falling leeches from above. As much as possible, don't let it touch you. And close your mouth at all cost unless necessary."
Kenneth clenched his teeth when he knew that they were fighting leeches. "As if the spider's not enough, now there are also leeches, huh..."
Mendell did not talk anymore. With their backs against each other, they waited for the monsters to come. The Queen Leech did not disappoint them because a few minutes later, they heard several crashing sounds from the rooftop.
At once, leeches began to fall, covering the tram rooftop, glass covers, and window glasses.
Kenneth's eyes widened when he saw the leeches for the first time. Some were stuck on the glass windows, opening their mouth filled with sharp teeth and secreting juices to melt the glasses. He almost screamed when he witnessed the terrible scene happening before him, wherein the leeches were dropping on the floor like they were raindrops. The rooftop was now filled with holes. He was about to shoot several of them when a number of leeches fell on his vest. "Aaah!"
Mendell looked behind and grabbed the leeches as fast as he could and threw them against the floor, squashing their puny bodies, while shouting, "Don't open your mouth unless necessary! They're like dicks who wanna penetrate any opening so shut your hole!"
Kenneth closed his mouth right away and swatted the remaining leeches as he aimed his gun. Then he started shooting the leeches randomly while checking above from time to time.
Mendell killed several leeches that leaped toward him, stomped those that were near his feet, and swatted the falling leeches with his free hand.
But they kept on coming. Mendel knew that if they could not eliminate these leeches fast, sooner or later, they would be overwhelmed.
Left without a choice, Mendell opted to do his last option. He grabbed Kenneth and jumped out of the tram through the opening he created earlier. With the help of his soul power, he then used his second conjuration skill for the first time - the All-Purpose vehicle.
This was one of the two things he had activated when his soul assimilated with his other self's soul, the first one being the Night Vision Shades.
At once, a 4-capacity small aircraft shuttle magically appeared in the air and caught the two falling people.
"Aaagh! My wounds!" Kenneth could not help but scream when his wounds were hit as he crashed on the empty chair just behind the driver's seat.
Mendell landed facedown on the spot beside the driver's seat. He did not waste time and transferred to the driver's area. Thanks to his other self's memory, he knew how to operate this futuristic vehicle that came from the original Earth. After a few tweaking, he adjusted some knobs and accelerated.
Kenneth was still in agony, seeing that the bandage on his right leg loosened and it was stained with fresh blood. The pain almost stopped him from moving but he gritted his teeth and gathered his strength until he was able to sit properly. He took a deep breath, knowing that he was safe for now, thanks to Mendell. Even though the last one he witnessed was like science fiction, he chose to keep mum and waited until the young man would explain himself.
Mendell had no time for any distraction, steering the aircraft to reach their destination. As much as possible, he did not want to use it. Before he leveled up, he once attempted to summon the All-Purpose vehicle but he almost fainted right away. It was because the vehicle used soul power as fuel to operate. This simply meant that as soon as his soul power was used up, the vehicle would disappear instantly and he would faint as well. He knew that his soul power was not high enough to sustain long travels.
Mendell felt a slight tingling sensation on his head. He knew that this was the result of soul power consumption. In a matter of seconds, he pressed the pedal and zoomed fast, overtaking the tram. With his dexterous hands, he quickly pressed a knob and the windshield opened, and their hair started fluttering due to the vehicle's speed. He recalled his gun and conjured the log, which appeared on his right hand. Then, he threw it against the side of the tram with all of his strength.
The tram derailed and crashed against the walls of the tunnel. Fire sparks scattered in the air due to friction. Soon, its balance was lost, toppling all over several times before finally stopping.
Mendell knew that there were still some leeches alive so he could not afford to stay in this area. He tried recalling the log. Even though he was successful, he saw that the log icon greyed out. Was this because he unsummoned the log without touching it, he wondered. Nevertheless, this was not urgent. He had to solve his problem first because the pain in his head was getting intense.
Mendell increased the speed of the shuttle but his eyes began to dim. As expected, it zoomed forward like a jet, reaching the tram station before completely vanishing.
Mendell was able to throw his bag away to prevent the plastic bottles from being crushed. His body was then flung away like a rag, rolling on the floor and stopped only after hitting the leg of a giant bulletin board.
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"Aaah!" Kenneth squirmed in pain as he forced his body to stand up. When he checked his left arm, the cloth Mendell used as bandages were now fully stained with blood. Much more the one on his right leg, which was hurting like hell. Even without opening the bandages, he knew that his wounds were reopened. He searched for anything that could help him when he saw a bag, which he recognized in seconds. "That...that's Mendell's bag."
Kenneth trudged his way toward the bag and picked it up. "Mendell, I'm sorry. I know that it's an invasion of privacy but I need to solve my wounds." When he opened the bag, he saw a long towel, which he cut into two using his combat knife. Then, he took out the plastic bottles that contained the mixtures of three herbs and the bottled water. Once he was ready, he removed the bandages on his right leg and frowned when he saw how bad the wound was. He then washed it clean with water. After that, he applied the powder mixtures on his wound and bandaged it with a clean towel. He did the same with his left arm.
He was very tired but he was concerned about Mendell. After a quick rest, he returned all the things he took out from Mendell's bag when he noticed a leathery-covered book. He was about to ignore it when it started glowing. Curious, he took the book and opened it.
Then he started reading. Page after page. Then he closed it again and closed his eyes, analyzing all the words he had seen. As soon as he opened his eyes, he whispered, "A record of all the monsters that we encountered...our profile...Spencer Mansion...why does Mendell have this information?"
Kenneth returned the book inside the knapsack and wore it on his back. "Whatever the case, Mendell saved me and my team. That's what matters to me. I gotta find him." He took out his gun and walked again, albeit slowly.
Kenneth knew that it was a waste of time to linger on things that he could not understand. Just like his miraculous survival earlier, he could still remember what happened a while ago. When the aircraft vanished, both him and Mendell were thrown forward. He did not know what happened because he just closed his eyes and prayed for the Goddess of Luck to intervene. Maybe she heard his prayers because he crashed against several tarpaulins, which lessened the impact, finally landing on a corner filled with trash bags full of used clothes.
"This is a tram station..." Kenneth slowly moved forward as he carefully searched for Mendell. To the east was the waiting area while the west side had a big bulletin board. At the end of the path was a metallic door.
He squinted his eyes and found a body lying just beside the bulletin board. He knew instantly that it was Mendell. Smiling, he walked toward the young man when he saw four zombies coming out from the opposite corner of the bulletin board. Upon closer look, he discovered that they came out from a hole. He did not know what was happening but somehow, these zombies were heading to Mendell's direction.
Kenneth's heart was getting heavy. He had to save the young man. If there was someone who had to survive between them, then it should be Mendell because his strength was beneficial to the team's survival. Besides, he owed him too much. Without hesitation, he aimed his gun at the nearest zombie and fired. "Hey, come here, you bastards! Over here!" He shouted as loudly as he could.
He shot again but the recoil hurt his wound. Even then, he did not stop shooting, hitting each of the four zombies to attract their attention. Luckily, he succeeded.
Kenneth knew that he was easy to panic. This time, he wanted to overcome this. No matter what it took.
The fifth shot hit the nearest zombie's head. After five bullets, it collapsed on the ground.
The eleventh shot missed but he continued shooting. Then after four hits, he heard a clicking sound and he reloaded his last magazine. Thankfully, it just took him another five bullets to down the second one.
There were ten bullets left. After that, he would have to fight the zombies without the gun. He did not hesitate and fired again. The third zombie died after seven hits. Now, there were only three bullets left.
Kenneth gathered his strength and trudged toward the waiting area. Fortunately, the zombie was following him. He was a little bit faster than the zombie so he was safe, for now. While escaping, he looked around and noticed that there was a staircase at the leftmost corner of the station. Looking at its layout, an idea formed inside his head.
Kenneth grabbed the trash can that was beside him and dragged it and continued walking. After making sure that the zombie was still behind him, he quickened his pace even though it disturbed the wounds on his right leg. At last, he reached the stairs and climbed up, which almost sapped all of his energy and strength.
The zombie climbed up the stairs as well.
Kenneth crossed the narrow ledge and reached the platform. Then he sat on the metallic floor and waited for the zombie. He guessed the finale had come. It was either him or the zombie.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shuree143
Shuree143 Samurai Edge is the standard-issue sidearm for S.T.A.R.S. Some are customized to fit their needs.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone