Jake couldn’t alert the survivors to the imminent danger or come to their rescue because the shambler was already on top of him. The mutant’s massive figure obscured his view of the group. Jake dashed to the side as the shambler swung down its log-thick arm. With a mighty thud, the colossal fist pounded the ground where he had been standing just moments before.
A shout from the survivors attracted his attention. He darted around the huge form of the shambler and glanced in the direction of the group. They had become aware that the bloater was about to attack. The obese monster stood some distance away from them, but their instincts warned them that it was preparing to launch some sort of attack, and it appeared to be a ranged one.
The survivors stared at the bloater as it arched its back, stretching its mouth much wider than seemed possible. The intense yellowish-green glow radiating from its belly had grown very bright. The survivors were on edge, ready to scatter at the first sign of what was about to unfold.
A second later, with a loud gurgling sound, the bloater spewed a stream of yellowish-green liquid from its maw. The cascade of acidic fluid arched through the air toward the group’s position. The range of that attack turned out to be quite impressive. The acidic stream easily covered the distance to the survivors. Fortunately, anticipating such an attack, they quickly scattered in various directions as soon as the acid was released.
The stream of acidic fluid hit the spot where the group had been standing a moment earlier. Splashes rebounded in all directions, reaching an impressive distance. Frank, sensing the imminent threat, swiftly pushed Isra aside, placing himself in the path of some of the splashes that would have come into contact with her. Frank screamed in agony as some of the acid splashed against his already-wounded arm. A few drops landed on Isra’s cheek, eating through her skin, but it was Frank who bore the brunt of the damage in his efforts to shield her. Most of his side was steaming as acid burned through his clothes and flesh.
The acidic stream from the bloater’s mouth halted, dwindling to a trickle that ran down its chin and dripped onto its massive belly. The glow within its paunch dimmed significantly, becoming barely noticeable. The attack lasted only a few seconds, but the damage had been done. The group’s formation was disrupted, leaving the survivors scattered, vulnerable, and at least one of them severely wounded.
Jake caught sight of the shambler lurching toward him. He had been so engrossed in watching the unfolding scene he’d momentarily forgotten about the formidable mutant. As it swung its powerful arm downward, he leaped aside just in time, narrowly avoiding being struck. He redirected his focus to the shambler, lunging toward it and striking out with a clawed hand, aiming for the exposed part of the mutant’s throat not shielded by the protective growth.
Taking the shambler out didn’t pose much of a challenge to Jake, but it did take him some time to defeat the well-protected powerful mutant. When its body, bleeding from numerous wounds, finally slumped to the ground, Jake immediately scanned the area to see how the survivors were doing.
Frank and Isra had moved away from the bloater toward the other side of the room, where Isra was tending to Frank’s burned side. The group leader lay on his other side as she applied healing autoinjectors. His wounds still looked pretty bad, but at least they didn’t seem to be life-threatening. Isra had already used several stims, and the empty autoinjectors were scattered on the floor around them. One side of Isra’s face had been marred by the acid, but it had already dissolved. Aside from spoiling her appearance, the wound didn’t seem to cause her much harm. Judging by her twisted facial expression, she was still in pain, but she bravely endured it, placing Frank’s well-being above her own comfort.
Reassured that Frank and Isra were relatively fine and not in immediate danger, Jake shifted his focus away from them. He scanned the expansive room in search of the third member of the group. As it turned out, Archie was on the opposite side of the room, fighting the bloater. For some reason, the mutant singled him out for pursuit rather than chasing down the other two survivors. Archie was currently in one of the corners of the room as the bloated ex-human shuffled toward him, its movements awkward and clumsy. Despite having space to maneuver around the bulky mutant, Archie remained rooted to the spot. He appeared to be close to defeating the bloater, which explained why he chose to stay and fight rather than flee.
The survivors were now aware of the unmistakable signs of the bloater’s impending attack: it arched its back, opened its mouth wide, and its belly glowed brightly before unleashing an acid torrent. Since the bloater didn’t display any of these signs at the moment, Archie saw no need to flee. If he had known about the bloater’s dangerous ability to explode upon death, he would have fled as far as he could instead of letting it approach so closely. From his position, Jake couldn’t see where Archie was aiming his shots, but he was quite certain that the guy was targeting the mutant’s large, exposed belly.
Jake was on the brink of dashing across the room to rescue Archie from the danger he wasn’t even aware of, but it was already too late. As another burst of shots penetrated the mutant’s belly, the massive mutant suddenly halted its advance, its bloated body quivering with intense tremors. Archie must have sensed that something was terribly wrong because he quickly maneuvered around the violently trembling mutant. He moved with such speed that Jake was confident he would manage to put a considerable distance between himself and the bloater before it exploded.
However, just as Archie sprinted past the shaking mutant, something unfortunate happened. One of the nearby leapers propelled itself toward him, knocking the survivor to the ground. He managed to shoot the leaper on top of him through its head, but as soon as he jumped to his feet, the bloater blew up. Its huge body exploded powerfully, sending pulpy pieces of shredded flesh flying and waves of acidic fluid splashing in all directions.
Archie was drenched from head to toe in acid. He died so quickly he never even had a chance to scream. The acid easily burned through his clothes and skin, causing his flesh to flake off his bones. The skeleton and what little meat remained clinging to them crumpled to the floor.
Jake quickly looked around. The bloater was dealt with, and there were no more powerful mutants left. Only a bunch of low-level walkers and leapers remained, with no additional portals opening up. The wave was almost over now. All that was left to do was eliminate the rest of the mutants, which would only take a couple of minutes more to complete.
The final floor of the tower-climbing challenge was nearly finished, but it came at the expense of another survivor’s life.