The "wall" that contained the mining city was a dome that started on one side of the city and ended on the other side of the mountain that the mine was situated inside of.
Both the security headquarters and the bank building were relatively close to the mine, less than a kilometer away.
However, if Gio and Ricky wanted to reach the wall, they had another four kilometers to cover.
It wasn't an insane distance, but it was long enough. They had roughly thirty minutes remaining before everything went to shit, and since they were only ordinary people...
'We'll be cutting it close.'
The instant they left the bank, Gio started running with Ricky not far behind him. He kept on the lookout with his hand on his hip in case he ever had to draw his weapon, but he was focused on speed more than combat.
'There are vehicles on the wall. If we can reach it, we can escape in time.'
"Ricky, we're going to be running until we reach the wall. Try not to expend too much energy. Even talking counts."
It was hypocritical since he was talking, but he at least had to say that much.
'My body is in its peak condition, but that's still only the peak condition of a thirteen-year-old. This will still be grueling if we have to–'
Before he could even finish the thought, the inevitable happened.
Boom!
With a huge crash, a mutated beast slammed through the side of a nearby building and arrived on their street.
It looked the exact same as the one they'd faced before, only, it was roughly the size of a human instead of being the size of an excavator.
'Really, they made these things too damn humanoid. Is it because they were supposed to be slave replacements?'
It was almost disconcerting when they were regular-sized. They looked too human to not be human yet too inhuman to be related in any way.
Gio was the kind of person who loved to idly ponder about random things while he was fighting, but that was a habit from when he was strong.
Now that he was weak, entertaining it was just stupid.
Without hesitation, Gio raised the pistol off of his hip and fired it.
Bang!
His hands ached as they dealt with the recoil, but it was only a sensation he had to get used to.
A bullet went flying from the chamber and slammed into the mutated beast's thigh. It roared in pain as dark red blood fell to the ground.
GRAGH–!
Despite its injuries, it launched itself off of its legs and swept its claws forward. Gio's eyes as he moved back as fast as possible.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before the beast could get close to him, three more gunshots rang out. The mutated beast was unaware of what they were, but it associated the bang with the same pain it was feeling in its thigh and rapidly retreated.
Little did it know that none of those shots were ever going to hit it.
Because the one firing the gun currently had his eyes shut tight.
"Nice one."
Gio grinned and raised his pistol again. Ricky knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything in this fight, so he chose to follow Gio's instructions.
When he knew he had to shoot, he closed his eyes, aimed his gun away from Gio, and just shot.
Though he didn't do much, it was more than enough of a contribution.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Gio raised his pistol and aimed down the slide. Every time he pulled the trigger, the jolts pulsing through his body became less prominent.
His first shot hit the beast in the thigh. The second hit it in the shoulder. The third...
The third's trajectory was aimed directly at the center of its chest, but the beast was not going to sit still and allow him to kill it.
It dropped its body before the third shot could ring out. It sensed the heat coming from the gun's barrel and instinctively guessed the trajectory of the bullet.
The beast threw its body sideways and landed on all four limbs. Its head snapped at Gio, and in the next moment, it was once again running at him like a wild animal.
"Dammit!"
They didn't have time to waste on combat with a single beast! He didn't have minutes to spare on this battle!
It was only a few meters away and getting closer with every passing moment. Gio looked down at his gun for only a moment before coming to a decision.
"Fuck it. A broken wrist is better than a broken neck."
He calmed his mind, steadied his gaze, and aimed his gun at the incoming beast.
It felt like the world slowed down for a moment as his battle sense activated. He traced the beast's path, and with methodical and decisive movements, he pulled the trigger of the pistol.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
One after another, shots rang out. Each and every bullet that hit the beast made it spurt a geyser of blood onto the ground below, but it did not stop moving.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four more shots rang out. The beast reached out its foot-long claws and gnashed its jagged teeth in frustration.
As its claws stabbed into the ground, they tore the concrete apart like nothing. It was a show of exactly what would happen if the beast was allowed to approach.
Gio looked it in the pits where its eyes should have been with a cold gaze and kept shooting.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Until the only sound coming from the gun were the clicks of an empty magazine.
Thud!
It was as if they were alone on the street. The beast dropped to its knees slowly, succumbing to its wounds.
GREEEAKKH–!
It let out one final screech before dropping to the ground, its life robbed from it.
"Gio, you..." Ricky started to say.
However, Gio interrupted him.
"Don't say anything about it. Basically, you'll have to do a lot more shooting from here on out. That's the end of it."
Ricky desperately wanted to react with concern. The boy acted like he was fine, but had he looked down at his own hands?
His left hand was mostly unharmed other than some slight redness, but his right hand, his dominant hand, had taken the brunt of the impact those consecutive shots had on him.
Every time the pistol's recoil slammed into his wrists, it strained them further and further. Every shot caused immense stress on his developing muscles and ligaments.
Gio fired seventeen times before he took his finger off the trigger.
Seventeen compounded impacts on the same point in his wrist from a weapon of high enough caliber to kill mutated beasts...
Gio's right hand was currently a mess, hanging limply by his side. His thumb was bent strangely backward, and in general, the way that his hand looked like a bag of sand that was slowly turning purple was concerning. It was guaranteed that he at least had one fracture in his bones along with all of the other damage.
Ricky looked between the hand and its owner with a troubled expression. Seeing it, Gio only smiled and patted his shoulder.
"I don't know if you forgot, but we're surrounded by man-eating beasts right now, and all of them want to eat us. You realize how much attention we just attracted to ourselves, right? Rather than being concerned about a wrist fracture, shouldn't you be focused on running?"
Ricky's eyes widened, but Gio wasn't done yet.
"By the way, I literally just threw a grenade over there to distract them, so if we don't want to get stuck in the aftermath of that..."
"Say no more."
BOOM!
By the time the sound rang out, the two of them were already running towards the barrier wall again.
Gio was ignoring the swelling and pain in his wrist, so the least Ricky could do was ignore his fear.
The two of them ran without being chased, as the beasts who were attracted to heat immediately congregated at the site of the explosion.
But, their escape wouldn't end with only a single fight.
It wasn't going to be as easy as killing a single beast and escaping.
No, life was never that kind to anyone.
That was one fact that never changed, regardless of what era one lived in.