Beyond human

Adam looked towards his missing arm, everything moved in slow motion, his eyes where still glued to the arm a few meters away from him, his ragged breath slowly exhaling, as he let our a short painful grunt, spurting out a mouth full of blood.

He tried to regain his footing as he put one leg in front of the other, bending his knees and pushing off the ground, heading towards Davion-

*AAAAHHHRRRRRR!!*

A horrific sound penetrated his ears, sending a chill down his spine.

Adam's eyes widened, a sense of dread taking ahold of him. His eyes darted towards the source, only to notice Davion writhing on the ground, froth dripping down the side of his mouth.

Not wanting to waste a second, Adam increased his speed, the adrenaline coursing through his vein, helped him subdue the pain coming from the throbbing stump on his left shoulder.

The hound stopped in it's track after hearing the scream, it seems to have a contemplating gaze while looking at Davion, the human smelled like one of its own.

The aberrant had a look of longing spread across its face, but that changed when the spikes running along it's back released a thrumming vibration, the calm light in the hounds eye dimmed, baring it's fangs, an air of bloodlust appeared around the hound.

Meanwhile, Adam approached Davion's body with hurried steps, he slowly bent down to check his condition, Adams hand was a few inches away from touching Davion- his eyes widened in fear as he immediately retracted his hand.

"What the hell!" Adam exclaimed, he felt like he would have died if he touched Davion.

Adams face was pale and shaken, his voice barely above a whisper as he muttered, "what did you do?"

Heavy footsteps stopped right behind Adam, and he froze, his breath caught in his throat

'shit, the hound!!'

Adam pushed his body over Davion, trying to shield him from the aberrant.

The hound raised it claw, ready to reap there lives-

*BANG*

A blue coloured streak, zipped across the air, blasting the hounds foreleg to pieces-

*RAAARRHHH-*

*BANG BANG*

The hound pained roar was cut short, two more shots rang out, striking the hound's head and obliterating it.

*THUD*

The hounds headless body dropped to the floor.

Adam slowly raised his head, spotting two black dots coming towards them, his gaze was blurry, so he couldn't make out what was happening.

**FIVE MINUTES AGO**

Two armored vehicles, with rugged, angular silhouettes, hurtled towards their destination. The vehicle's robust exteriors were reinforced with thick armor plating, providing comprehensive protection. Each vehicle featured two reinforced side doors a heavily armoured hatch on the roof, and a rear entrance door.

Inside one of the vehicle's, ten figures were visible, arranged in a tactical configuration. Four operatives sat face to face in the rear compartment, while two personnel occupied the front seats, their gears and weapons secured in compartments or held tightly in there hands, recessed LED's casting eerie shadows on the helms of the personnel.

"We've spotted the civilians, Axel, kill the aberrant." a deep voice echoed through the vehicle.

"Roger." a curt reply cam from one of the figures sitting at the rear.

The person referred to as Axel, stood up and headed towards ladder that granted access to the roof hatch, after opening the hatch and sticking half of his body outside. He pulled a sleek, black long sniper rifle, purple patterns ran along the surface.

Axel took aim at the aberrant, and pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

He shot the foreleg that was threatening the civilians, then he pushed a button by the side of the sniper, a display meter at the side of the sniper showing 10%, was increased to 20% after he pushed the button.

Then he shifted his aim to the aberrants head, pulling the trigger two times in rapid succession, two consecutive shots rang out again-

*BANG BANG*

After killing the hound, Axel climbed down and closed the hatch, returning to his seat.

Meanwhile, Adam turned around to look at the dead Hound, letting out a short sigh, he noticed that Davion's condition had settled, and he was no longer shaking in pain.

*SCREECH*

The sound of the two vehicle coming to a halt grabbed his attention, his curious gaze settled on the vehicle's, wanting to know who saved his life.

The side doors of the vehicle's slid to the side, four people dressed in what looked like armors, but there was something different about it, the armor had a lightweight durable frame, providing enhanced strength and agility, interlocking plates covering vital areas, the armor was coloured in a dark silver sheen, with red lines running all over the armor in a specific pattern.

Four armored figures walked towards Adam, carrying stretchers, while the others headed towards the hound.

When they reached Adam and Davion, two of them set the stretcher on the floor and proceeded to put Davion on it, but before they could lift Davion, Adam intervened, pulling him back.

"who are you and where are you taking him to?" Adam asked, suspicion laced in his voice.

The person closest to Adam raised his hands and touched the side of the helmet, causing it to open from he middle, the two sides slid open, revealing the wearer's face.

A calm filled gaze and a kind smile, responded to Adam, "we're from the citadel, and we're here to help... I assure you that you and your friends would be treated and well fed"

All suspicions was wiped off Adams face as he finally let go, losing his consciousness-

But before his body could hit the ground, the person talking to him earlier caught him laying him on the stretcher, after making sure Davion was secured on the stretcher they swiftly moved towards the vehicle's.

The other four figures moved towards the hounds corpse, packaging it in a black leather bag.

Then they moved towards Sam and Lisa's corpse, putting it in a green coloured leather bag.

"Civilians secured, let's head back to the citadel boys!" came the deep voice from earlier.