Miller turned around as the morphus sprinted past him. He saw that only one of his men was running; the other had dropped to his knees. The sheer horror must have drained him of his last ounce of energy. He was openly weeping now, mumbling something incomprehensible, as tears streaked down his cheeks. The morphus paid him no mind, though. Instead, it brushed past the kneeling man and chased after the one trying to escape.
Instead of trying to catch up with the fleeing man, the morphus did something else. It launched a projectile from its mouth, striking the man in the leg below the knee. He screamed and collapsed to the ground. Miller could see the fabric of the man’s pants disintegrating, exposing flesh beneath, as the acidic projectile ate through it. The man’s screams intensified as the flesh flaked away revealing the bare bone.
The morphus closed the distance to the man and put him out of his misery by stomping on his head, causing it to burst apart, splattering blood, bits of bone, and brain matter over the floor. The mutant turned again and moved toward the last man, who remained kneeling and sobbing.
Miller was furious. His men were dying even faster than he had expected, dropping like flies. His plan to use them as a distraction for the morphus had failed miserably. If he didn’t come up with a new strategy quickly, the mutant would turn its attention to him after dealing with the weeping idiot, and Miller wouldn’t be able to do anything to protect himself, because the cinch net just wouldn’t fucking rip!
“Beta Team, get your asses over here right now,” he barked into his comms, summoning the last members of his team stationed at the dungeon entrance.
He had initially placed them there to prevent the morphus from escaping, but now that the situation had changed drastically, there wasn’t much point in keeping them at the entrance. He needed them by his side to keep the morphus occupied for a little while until he could tear the cinch net wrapped around his mech suit.
He attempted to activate the chainsaw attached to the right hand of his suit, but it did nothing. The teeth spun violently, only to jam as part of the net got inside, blocking the mechanism and causing the weapon to stop spinning completely. It was irritating. The servomotors whined loudly as he pushed his mech to its limits, straining to force his arms from his sides and tear the net apart, but it held firm.
By the time the Beta Team arrived, the morphus had already dealt with the kneeling man, slamming its huge fists into both sides of the man’s head, turning it into a pulp. Miller felt dismayed that only a handful of men had shown up, while the rest of the Beta Team was missing.
“Where’s the rest of your group?” he shouted at them angrily.
None of the newcomers replied. They probably didn’t even hear him. They gaped at the massacre before them, their eyes darting between the multiple mutilated bodies of their dead comrades. Eventually, they shifted their focus to the pitch-black figure of the morphus as it turned to face them.
Miller had assumed that the rest of the Beta Team had simply escaped upon hearing the agonizing screams of their comrades being killed by the morphus. Judging by the expressions on the faces of the men who had just arrived, it was clear they now regretted not fleeing with the rest of the Beta Team.
“What are you standing there for, you idiots?” Miller yelled at them, hoping his angry shout would wrench them out of their trance. “Kill the freak!”
However, his men had other plans. After witnessing the aftermath of the battle that had occurred, they decided to flee for their lives. As if on cue, all of them turned and dashed down the corridor toward the entrance they had just come from. The morphus, however, was not willing to let them escape.
The mutant chased after them, quickly gaining ground. Then, originating from the morphus, another cloud of pitch-black darkness erupted, almost instantly enveloping most of the corridor. The mutant clearly hoped to disorient its victims, making it harder for them to escape, determined not to let a single one slip away.
One after another, Miller heard loud thuds echoing in the corridor. The mutant must have sent each of his men sprawling. When they finally managed to get back on their feet, they would be utterly disoriented, becoming even easier prey for the morphus.
The cloud of darkness didn’t quite reach where Miller stood. He stared at it intently, unable to see what was happening inside. But he could hear the screams of his men rising and falling abruptly as the morphus killed them one by one. Miller fought against the cinch net, pulling his arms with all his might. He could feel it gradually loosening.
Then, silence fell. No more screams erupted from the cloud of darkness. All his men must be dead by that point. He stared at the cloud, expecting the morphus to burst out and charge at him. Yet, nothing happened. The corridor was eerily still, with not a sound breaking the profound silence.
Miller stared at the cloud for a few more seconds before snapping back to reality. He resumed his struggle to rip the cinch net, sensing he was close to breaking free. He kept jerking and pushing his arms away from his sides until the net finally reached its breaking point and tore apart, setting him free.
No longer restrained, Miller raised his left hand and pointed his energy gun at the cloud of darkness. Though he couldn’t see through it, he assumed the morphus was still inside, so he fired several times in quick succession. The energy bolts zipped down the corridor, completely vanishing upon entering the cloud. He had no idea if any of his shots found their mark.
He stopped shooting and waited. Nothing changed. It was still as quiet as before. A thought crossed his mind: the morphus might have decided to escape. After all, it was one thing to slay fragile humans in mere clothing, but facing someone in a powerful mech suit was another matter entirely. The morphus, not being dumb, must have recognized the difference. While Miller really wanted to confront and kill the morphus, the possibility of avoiding a fight with such a dangerous mutant altogether nearly elicited a sigh of relief from him.
Miller kept staring at the cloud of darkness until it finally dissipated completely. To his dismay, he saw the morphus standing motionlessly in the middle of the corridor, its greenish-blue, emotionless eyes fixed on him. The floor around the mutant was strewn with the bodies of the men it had just slain.
It was obvious that the morphus wasn’t planning on escaping. It must have been waiting for the darkness to dissipate so Miller could see his opponent before initiating the fight.
Miller was furious. All of his men who hadn’t fled were now dead, while the freaking mutant was still standing. It was time to put an end to it once and for all.
With a fierce battle cry, he unleashed a barrage of energy bolts at the mutant.