BOOM!
Aunt Vera's severed head hit the ground hard, yet her face remained disturbingly animated. She glared at XLR8 with venomous fury as he skidded to a stop. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Physical attacks don't work on these things?!" XLR8's tone carried both surprise and calculation as he assessed the situation. Without hesitation, his long, whip-like tail lashed out in a blur, striking Aunt Vera's lower body with tremendous force.
CRASH!
The impact sent her crashing to the floor in a tangle of inhuman limbs.
"See ya!" XLR8 didn't waste another second on a fight he couldn't finish here. His eyes locked onto the doorway, and he launched himself forward like a blue lightning bolt. A trail of azure light streaked across the ground, afterimages marking his path as he accelerated to incredible speeds.
WHAM!
The door exploded outward as XLR8 burst through it. By the time the debris settled, he was already gone, nothing but a fading blue streak in the distance.
Uncle Frank and the other human-skinned creatures guarding outside barely had time to react. They felt a powerful gust of wind whip past them, kicking up dust and debris, but XLR8's form was already long gone. Too fast to stop. Too fast to even see clearly.
Speed was everything now.
On the streets of the town, XLR8 blurred past house after house, his enhanced vision taking in the horrifying truth of what had happened to this place. Nearly every resident he spotted had become one of these creatures, human skin stretched over something decidedly inhuman. Some didn't even bother hiding it anymore, their true forms visible in broad daylight.
The ones still maintaining their disguises were clearly outnumbered by those who'd given up the pretense entirely.
He kept counting at first, trying to get a sense of the enemy's numbers. Ten... twenty... fifty... but eventually gave up the tally. There were simply too many. If he tried to fight them all head-on, even using powerhouses like Four Arms or Diamondhead, he'd be overwhelmed before noon. Not to mention these things barely took damage from physical attacks.
What he needed was the right weapon.
"That's it, water! These monsters are vulnerable to water!" The memory hit XLR8 like a thunderbolt as he continued his high-speed reconnaissance. He needed to find the town's reservoir, fast.
XLR8's feet became a blur as he came to an abrupt stop on a quiet street. His clawed hands shot out with lightning precision, snatching a cell phone from a human-skinned monster's grasp before the creature even registered what happened.
WHOOSH!
In the next instant, XLR8 vanished from sight, leaving the monster standing there in confused fury.
Several blocks away, hidden in a narrow alley, XLR8 examined his prize. He activated the phone and pulled up the map function, searching desperately for any indication of where the town's water supply was located.
Nothing. No signal. The phone was completely cut off from the network.
"Useless!" He tossed the phone aside with a grunt of frustration and emerged from the alley, his tactical mind already shifting to Plan B.
"There he is!"
The creatures had found him again.
"That monster isn't getting away this time!"
The human-skinned creatures flooded toward the alley entrance from both directions, their movements coordinated and predatory. Some blocked the exit while others closed in from behind, sealing off every escape route. Shadows fell across the narrow space as they pressed closer.
The alley had suddenly become much darker, and much more crowded.
XLR8's visor reflected their approaching forms as he assessed the situation with eerie calm. "You really think you can catch me like this?"
"Get him!"
They didn't bother answering. Like a pack of wolves converging on wounded prey, they rushed at XLR8 from both sides of the alley, their coordination impressive despite their inhuman nature.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
At the critical moment, XLR8 looked up at the wall beside him. His powerful legs coiled like springs, and then he was airborne, bounding up the vertical surface with impossible agility. His feet found purchase on the uneven bricks, propelling him higher with each lightning-fast kick until he launched himself clear over the wall in a graceful arc.
CRASH! BANG! THUMP!
Behind him, the creatures couldn't stop their momentum in time. They slammed into each other in the confined space, tumbling together in a chaotic pile of limbs and curses. By the time they untangled themselves and looked up, XLR8 was long gone.
"Those idiots actually thought they could catch me? Not a chance!" XLR8 called out from his perch atop the wall, his tone dripping with disdain. Then his legs became a blur of motion once more, and he vanished into the town beyond.
Since the phone had proven useless for finding the reservoir, he'd have to do this the old-fashioned way, cover the entire town at superhuman speed until he found it himself.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
XLR8's legs transformed into a whirlwind of motion, moving so fast they left nothing but a continuous blur of afterimages. His body became a streak of dark blue lightning tearing across the ground, leaving deep footprints embedded in the street behind him as proof of his passage.
The human-skinned creatures could only catch glimpses, a flash of movement, a gust of wind, the smell of displaced air and kicked-up dust. By the time they turned to look, XLR8 was already several blocks away.
In just under three minutes, XLR8 had covered nearly the entire town in a high-speed search pattern. He'd crisscrossed streets, darted through alleys, checked every major landmark and side road.
And found exactly nothing.
He slowed to a stop on a deserted corner, his chest heaving slightly from the exertion. "Where is it? There has to be a water source somewhere in this place!"
His frustration was mounting when something caught his attention, a detail that didn't quite fit.
"Wait... what's that?"
XLR8's sharp eyes locked onto a narrow alley ahead. Unlike the others, this one had a rusted fence blocking the entrance. More importantly, there was a metal hatch set into the ground just beyond it, the kind of hatch that typically led to underground infrastructure.
A basement entrance? Or something more?
"That's definitely suspicious." XLR8 approached cautiously, his enhanced senses on high alert. He took a moment to scan his surroundings, using his incredible speed to check every angle in the blink of an eye.
The streets were clear. All the creatures were still out searching for him in the wrong parts of town, his supersonic sprint across the entire area had pulled them away from this location like a living decoy.
They'd never expected him to circle back so quickly.
"Perfect timing to investigate."
SLASH! RIP! TEAR!
XLR8's razor-sharp claws made short work of the fence. The metal groaned and gave way as he carved a roughly two-meter opening through it with swift, precise strikes. Within seconds, he'd created an entrance large enough to slip through.
He approached the metal hatch carefully, his tactical instincts screaming that whatever lay beneath was important. His clawed hand reached for the handle, ready to discover what secrets this town was hiding underground, and hopefully, find the water source he desperately needed to turn the tide of this fight.
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