Frank had different thoughts running in his mind of what might have happened to Arnold, did he run away? But that wouldn't be possible given that the whole area was a wasteland and he would get caught by a beast.

Was he carried away by a beast? That he wasn't sure of but it didn't look like any of the beasts had escaped. Maybe he was torn to shreds, this was the most possible to be the case given that his body couldn't be found anywhere around the area.

While Frank was in the middle of his thoughts he began to hear slight metallic sounds coming from the van.

He slowly walked to the van and was standing in front of the back door now.

He was still hearing the sound but it sounded like whatever that was inside was trying to adjust its position rather than looking for a way out.

He had an idea who or what was in there as he placed his hands on the door but he just wished the latter wasn't the case.

He quickly pulled the door open to see a curled up Arnold shivering like a wet rat.

Arnold was startled and Frank knew there was a tendency that he would scream which was why he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

"It's ok, I don't think screaming will help the both of us," Frank said.

He could feel the scared teenager's heart beating very fast but it began to slow down as he was getting a hold of himself now.

"What happened?" Arnold asked immediately Frank removed his hands leaving his mouth free again.

"I don't think you want to know." Frank breathed out as he pulled his head out of the van.

Arnold quickly got up and followed him. Lieutenant Roger was awake now and was sitting on the floor while rubbing his head.

'Am I not supposed to be dead?' He thought, recalling how the bear beast had knocked him away.

Looking around now he could see that without a doubt he was still alive, one of the things that confirmed that for him was the bear beast which was lying motionless beside him without its head.

He knew that he couldn't be the one that killed the beast because he had gotten knocked but who could have killed it and stopped it from killing him? That was the question.

He heard footsteps from behind him and quickly turned to see Frank approaching him with Arnold hiding behind him.

Roger was surprised, he wasn't surprised just because the two kids managed to make it out alive, he was surprised to see his Ruger Sr4c in Frank's hand.

'Was he the one that killed the beast?' The Lieutenant thought, that had to be the possible outcome considering the boy had the gun in his hand and the fact that the beast's head had been blown to pieces.

"You, you saved me." He said pointing at Frank.

Frank was wondering how he knew it. He looked at the pistol in his hand which had been the clear giveaway.

Roger managed to pull himself up as he walked to Frank.

"I don't know how you managed to survive this but you have really done a wonderful thing for me today," Roger said, touching him on the shoulder.

During the time the beasts were going on a rampage Roger was the only one who was doing well to keep them away from himself and when the beasts saw that they couldn't harm him, they began running past him toward the kids.

He couldn't protect them all and the beasts ended up killing the kids but he still killed the beasts not allowing any one of them to escape, when he thought the fight was over the bear beast appeared from nowhere and knocked him away, he thought it was his end but he was given another chance to live.

As the trio sat down a little distance away from the aftermath of the massacre, Frank narrated how he had gotten knocked away and when he saw Lieutenant Roger on the floor he rushed to him and pulled out his Ruger Sr4c with which he shot the beast dead.

The story was of course altered as he left out parts about the strange system that he had obtained and the speed at which he ran with to save the Lieutenant.

"You are a very brave boy errrrr…"

"It's Frank, Frank Hart," Frank said.

"Oh, Frank Hart, you are a very brave person." The Lieutenant said.

He was truly amazed by the bravery shown by Frank, he was sure that if it was the other kids or even Arnold who was with them now he would have ran away and allowed him to get pummeled by the bear.

Arnold as usual since today was there but he also wasn't there as he was staring far into the wasteland with eyes that looked dead.

A roaring engine could be heard coming their way as the ride which Roger called for had arrived.

It was a military vehicle with large wheels, the vehicle pulled up close to them, and walking out of it now was someone Frank had been looking for since morning.

"What happened here?" David asked with a shocked voice as he looked at the piles of beast bodies, the beast bodies weren't his reason for sounding shocked, rather it was the body of the teenage boys.

What would they tell the parents that begged them dearly not to take them? That their children had gotten torn apart by beasts.

Analyzing everything that had happened so far the kids had been brought here for no other reason rather than to help fight the beasts.

"I know what you are thinking Dave, but we can't do anything about it, it has already been done, the only thing we can do now is try to give their families a good life." Lieutenant Roger said.

"I'm just glad you're alive. I don't know how your mother would feel if you were to be one of the deceased." David turned to Frank.

Frank didn't reply to his words as the trio got into the vehicle.

'I'm just glad she won't have to go through such pain.' He thought.

As the car drove off Roger managed to catch a view of the other bear which Frank had killed.

'He also killed another bear.' Roger thought.

While in the car Frank could feel his heartbeat getting weak and so was his body.

[ Heart energy; 5/100 ]

[ Heart energy is recovering at a slow rate ]

[ Quest received ]

[ Refill heart energy before you lose consciousness ]

He didn't need to be told he wasn't going to pass out anytime soon.

***

Please read Author's note below 👇👇