Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 213 – Interlude III – Catalina

Chapter 213 – Interlude III – Catalina

She hated the situation she found herself in. She was now a fully-fledged member of Los Demonios, and her bosses truly believed she was one of them. At first, Los Demonios were aware that she saw them as her enemies: they attacked her group, killed all her friends, and forced her to work for the gang. However, after helping the gang capture several groups of survivors, her superiors no longer raised doubts about her loyalty, genuinely believing she had come around and had become one of them. But she wasn’t. She still loathed the gang with every fiber of her being.

Nightmares of Todd being tortured continued to haunt her nights. The most painful part was that Melissa and her other friends at Base Ryder believed she had been the one who brutally killed him. After agreeing to join Los Demonios, she was prohibited from communicating with the workers at Base Ryder, preventing her from clarifying to Melissa and the others that she was not responsible for Todd’s death. The reason her friends thought it was her was that Ryder had instructed his people to spread such rumors.

Melissa and the others might not have believed the rumors about Catalina killing her best friend, but seeing her suddenly become a member of the gang made them think otherwise. After all, it was well known that to join Los Demonios, a potential recruit was required to commit terrible acts, often involving the brutal killing of friends or teammates. Thus, when they witnessed Catalina accepted into Los Demonios and rising through the ranks of the gang, Melissa and the others easily believed the rumors that it was she who had brutally killed Todd.

Catalina felt the weight of hateful glances from Melissa and the other workers every time she visited Base Ryder, and that made her heart ache. It only added to her reasons for hating the gang. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it—not yet, anyway. She loathed everything they had done and dreamed of bringing the gang down from the inside. Yet, as she knew all too well, such a plan was far easier said than done.

Since she was assigned to Base Ryder, her immediate superior was Ryder, who, in turn, reported to Skullface, the supreme leader of the organization—or one of them, since the exact hierarchy within the group was shrouded in mystery. Base Ryder served as a secondary outpost, while the main base, where Skullface and potentially other high-ranking leaders operated, lay hidden somewhere beyond the city’s boundaries. 

The organization was huge, and Catalina knew she couldn’t go against such a powerful force all on her own. She needed help. Ever since she spotted the morphus on that rainy night, standing on the edge of a ten-story building and staring down at her, thoughts of the mutant consumed her. By now, she had heard numerous rumors about it. It was said that the morphus was exceptionally dangerous and far smarter than any other ex-humans. Some even speculated it might be sentient.

After catching sight of the morphus perched on the edge of the building’s roof that rainy night, Catalina’s thoughts constantly returned to the mutant. From what she heard, the mutant seemed to defend itself only when cornered, hardly ever attacking first. She wasn’t sure if this was entirely accurate, though. Yet, if she could find a way to sic the morphus on the gang, it could set her plans for bringing the organization down in motion at last.

That was why she was currently following a pickup truck belonging to Los Demonios. One of its occupants had recently received orders to hunt down and kill the morphus. Unlike them, Catalina had never been assigned such a mission, as her knack for capturing regular survivors made her too valuable to the organization. Ryder and Skullface couldn’t risk losing her by sending her after the dangerous creature, opting instead to assign the mission to those considered expendable. Several gang members had already failed in their attempts to kill the morphus, meeting their own demise at the hands of the creature. With each failure, more people joined the hunt, hoping to increase their odds against the notorious mutant. Currently, besides the pickup truck, an SUV filled with even more hunters was also on the lookout for the morphus, maintaining a steady line of communication with the truck.

Perched atop her motorcycle, Catalina followed the vehicle for quite a while, always keeping it in sight while maintaining a safe distance to avoid being detected. Eventually, the SUV and the pickup truck seemed to have cornered the morphus. The creature bolted into a small building, with the pickup crashing in right behind it. Catalina brought her bike to a stop further down the street, watching the scene unfold from far away. From her vantage point, she could hear the crack of gunfire and the agonizing screams of men meeting their end. It was obvious that this group was faring no better than those who had tried to kill the morphus before them.

The SUV then maneuvered itself in front of the building, allowing its occupants to open fire on the morphus trapped inside. Suddenly, an unexpected turn of events unfolded. A fierce barrage of gunfire erupted from within the small structure, targeting the SUV. The morphus was clearly operating the machine gun mounted in the bed of the pickup truck, validating rumors that it was far smarter than your average ex-human. At this point, Catalina was even willing to take the rumors about the morphus being sentient at face value.

Suddenly, the morphus erupted from the building, charging straight for the SUV. It seemed some of the vehicle’s occupants had managed to survive, for the black mutant sprouted three long tentacles from its back, lashing them into the vehicle and killing some of the remaining gang members. Just then, the passenger-side door flew open, and another surviving gang member bolted out of the vehicle. He didn’t get far, though.

The bandit, injured in one leg, found it difficult to run quickly. A panicked scream escaped his lips as he glanced over his shoulder, seeing the mutant with its three writhing tentacles positioned at the front of the SUV. In desperation, the bandit fired a large pistol at the creature, striking it in the shoulder. To his horror, the mutant barely reacted, and the impact seemed to inflict little to no damage.

The mutant launched one of its tentacles at the fleeing bandit, stabbing it into the man’s back and throwing him off balance, sending him crashing to the ground. Then, for some reason, the three tentacles suddenly detached from the mutant’s back—perhaps it simply didn’t need them anymore. The wounded bandit crawled across the asphalt toward the spot where his pistol had slipped from his grasp when he fell.

Instead of finishing the bandit off, the mutant suddenly turned in Catalina’s direction as if it had just become aware of her presence nearby. Even though its large bluish eyes were emotionless, Catalina felt as if the mutant recognized her. She attempted to use one of her crowd-controlling spells on the black mutant, but nothing happened. It was expected, though, as the spell only worked on groups of ex-humans or emotionally unstable people, having no effect on singular targets. Still, she had to try, just to be sure. As she cast the spell on the mutant, she felt a strange resistance. It was surprising—she had never experienced anything like that with previous targets. Unlike the regular ex-humans, it seemed that the morphus possessed a unique immunity to crowd-controlling magical spells.

The morphus fixed its gaze on her, and she felt a wave of unease wash over her. No, it was more than that—she was terrified. If the black mutant possessed any intelligence, there might be a chance to communicate, maybe even forge an alliance against Los Demonios. But after witnessing how easily and brutally it had slain two groups of bandits, she couldn’t shake off her fear. The creature’s predatory stance sent icy tendrils creeping up her spine. She prepared to swing her bike around and escape the instant the mutant lunged at her.

However, something else happened. The wounded bandit finally grabbed his pistol and fired at the morphus again. The black mutant immediately shifted its attention back to the bandit. It vaulted over the SUV’s hood and reached him in a single leap, transforming one of its arms into a blade and swiftly finishing off the wounded bandit.

Catalina had reached her limit. She simply wasn’t in the right emotional state to try and communicate with the mutant right now. The creature’s predatory stance, its elongated jaws lined with sharp teeth, and the thick blood of its victims coating its body from head to toe made it difficult to believe the morphus could be anything but a mindless killing machine. It seemed intent solely on hunting its prey. Given this, Catalina chose to prioritize her safety and flee. Though she had originally followed the pickup truck here with hopes of connecting with the morphus, watching it dispatch two teams with eerie ease had sent her nerves spiraling. Right now, she definitely wasn’t ready to try to communicate with the mutant and learn whether it was intelligent.

When she propelled her bike forward, the terrifying mutant morphed its other arm into a blade, poised and waiting, obviously believing she intended to attack. But she didn’t. Instead, she veered her sleek bike around and raced in the opposite direction, quickly picking up speed.

Though she didn’t glance back, she could sense the weight of the mutant’s gaze on her.

‘Till next time, she thought.