Common Grade Foxes

 Arnold wasn't looking good at all, his eyes were looking dead as usual, his hair was all messed up with stains all over his blue shirt and he looked paler than the last time Frank saw him.

'How Come he's like this? it's only been a few hours since we came back from that battle.' Frank thought unaware that he had been out throughout the time they returned yesterday and had just woken up this morning.

"Hey Arnold," Frank said as he stepped closer to him.

"Hi, Frank." He said with a forced smile and change continued to pull the bag along with him.

"Hey wait, where are you heading to?"

"To dispose of the refuse." He stopped before saying that.

"Which soldier sent you to dispose of the refuse alone?"

"It wasn't a soldier," Arnold said, shaking his head.

"Then who?" Frank asked.

"The people, they accused me of being the reason why their children were dead," Arnold said the depression in his voice was growing now. "They said I did it so that I could get all the space in the tent."

"Then what happened?" Frank was eager to hear what he had to say.

"They forced me to do all their chores and after that, they told me to go dispose of this on my own."

Now Frank understood why he was looking so tired and had stains on his cloth, but still, what he just said didn't make sense to him, he didn't think a parent would just sit and watch while his or her child got this kind of treatment.

"What about your parents?" The blonde-haired teenager asked.

Arnold stared straight at him with his dead-looking eyes before replying.

"I no longer have parents."

Now that was the reason he was being treated like this with nobody interfering, there had been talks about some of the kids who lost their parents during the time the beasts attacked the town, Arnold had been detected as one of them, he had been lucky to escape that day unharmed but both of his parents had gotten torn apart by those beasts.

'No wonder he always looks depressed.' Frank felt sorry for him, he felt sorry for all the kids that had to leave like this because of the apocalypse.

'Beasts may be dangerous but humans are cruel.' Frank thought, looking at the bag Arnold was holding.

No doubt, that cruelty had been shown on Arnold today, they had decided to take out the anger and depression of losing their children to a boy who managed to survive and they were doing it because he had no parents.

'I wonder what they would have done to me if I had lost my mother.' That thought alone was a disturbing one.

He thought of reporting the case to David who would in turn tell Roger, he did say he would help him out with anything. But first, he needed to help Arnold finish his job because it was essential to keep the camp clean but telling someone to do it after he had done numerous chores just wasn't right.

"You can rest Arnold," Frank said, grabbing onto the bag. "I'll take it out for you."

Arnold didn't say anything as he stared at Frank for a while. His face alone would tell you that he was very grateful. He slightly nodded as he let the bag go and walked back to his tent from where he had come.

Frank let out a deep sigh as he was outside the camp now and looking far ahead was the small forest. It wasn't that much of a long walk from the camp to there but it was a dangerous one given that you could get attacked by a beast. Maybe if he didn't have something up his sleeves he would have asked to borrow the military vehicle, sure he couldn't drive but he had David to help him.

'Let's just get this thing over with.'

[ Superspeed activated ]

[ +20 stat points added to Dexterity ]

[ Dexterity: 7(+20) ]

He felt his body lighten just like the last time he used the ability but his mind wasn't that organized at that time to take in the feeling.

'This feels great.' He thought and without further ado, he zoomed off heading for the small forest, it didn't take him long to get there and now he was standing at the forest's entrance.

[ Speed points: 10/50 ]

'That little run had taken fourth points?'

[ Superspeed deactivated ]

If his speed points were to run out and he encountered something dangerous here then escaping alive was going to be a problem.

He walked into the forest with the bag being pulled along the ground. He soon got to the site where all the refuse was dumped and didn't waste time to start emptying the bag there.

While doing that he heard a growl just behind him, he immediately paused on hearing that and after a while, without hearing it he slowly continued doing it until the growl came again, he paused indefinitely because now he knew he was being stalked.

He jumped out of the way just in time causing the beast to miss him and went crashing into the pile of rubbish.

Frank used the opportunity to distance himself from whatever had tried pouncing on him.

He could hear a slight growl as whatever that was in there burst out.

"A fox." Frank gasped.

Although what he was looking at had the facial features of a fox its body looked like nothing belonging to a fox as the fur covering its entire body was black.

[ Scan successful ]

[ Beast info ]

[ Mutated Fox ]

[ Grade: Common ]

[ Traits: none ]

The beast came charging at him again and this time he was slow to react as the fox dragged him to the floor and was trying to bite his head off now but he was holding the beast back with a tight grip on his mouth.

Frank knew that it wouldn't be long before the beast started overwhelming him and then probably bite his head off.

With his hand still holding onto the beast's mouth, he turned to his side to see a small piece of rock with a pointed mouth.

He was now holding the beast just with his right hand as he tried to reach the rock with his left hand, he was struggling but immediately he touched the rock he picked it up and with his hand about to let go of the beast's mouth he stabbed the rock right through its head.

[ Common grade beast killed ]

[ +20 exp received ]

Frank was panting with the beast on his body now, but once he regained a little bit of his strength he pushed the beast off his body.

"That was tough." He muttered.

The teenager had the Ruger Sr4c he had gotten this morning with him, he wanted to use it, that was until he saw the grade of the beast.

'If a common grade beast can be this tough for me then I don't want to get anywhere near the other grades.'

He was just glad that he had made it out of this one alive, but as he walked to the refuse pile to pick up his bag he began to hear rustling sounds coming from the bushes you would have to cross before entering deep into the forest.

He wanted to just turn and run back but it was already too late as three foxes emerged from behind the bush and the one in the middle didn't waste time jumping toward him. In a panicked state, Frank threw the rock at the beast.

He didn't think that would be enough to kill the beast but to his greatest surprise, the beast stopped mid-air and slumped to the ground.

[ Common grade beast killed ]

[ +20 exp received ]

[ +1 stat point has been added to Dexterity ]

His system had confirmed that the beast was dead and that was because the rock had hit it with its pointed side and that had been enough to pierce through its skull, killing it instantly.

The other two foxes growled at him as they slowly advanced towards him, the death of their brethren had only made them cautious.

"If you guys really love dying then I'll just give it to you." The blonde-haired teenager said and quickly pulled out the Ruger Sr4c from his pocket. He could swear he saw the faces of the foxes turn horrid as they both tried to turn and run away but it was already too late for them as two shots had been fired at the both of them as they quickly slumped on the floor.

[ Two common grade beasts killed ]

[ +40 exp received ]

[ +1 stat point added to Dexterity ]

Immediately his current problem was solved Frank picked up his bag.

'That noise may attract beasts of higher grade.' Frank thought

[ Speed Points: 40/50 ]

'I think that will be enough.'

[ Superspeed activated ]

The teenager zoomed off without looking back he was even faster now with the two stat points he had gained in his Dexterity.

****

Please read Author's note below 👇👇