Chapter 431
Chapter 431
The controls were unresponsive. There was nothing he could do to prevent the helicopter from crashing or even to lessen the impact. They needed to bail out immediately. It was their only chance of survival. Or, more accurately, Catalina’s survival, since he was certain that even if not entirely unharmed, he could withstand the crash.
Jumping from the pilot’s seat, he grabbed Catalina by the hand and pulled her to her feet. Having already stashed away the electrolarynx, he couldn’t explain what he had in mind. She was simply going to have to trust him.
He ushered her into the main compartment of the helicopter, his free hand bracing against the walls to steady their hurried movement. Reaching the door, he took hold of the handle and slid it open.
A blast of air struck them with great force, causing Catalina to cling tightly to his form. The world spun wildly before them as the helicopter continued spiraling toward the ground. Seconds were all they had, but Jake’s mind was already racing, devising a way to bail with potentially minimal harm to the human.
Catalina’s eyes widened as she watched the ground rush up toward them. Leaning close, she shouted over the whistling wind and the blaring alarms, “What’s on your mind?”
Sure enough, he couldn’t afford to retrieve his electrolarynx to give her a reply.
He waited a second longer until the helicopter made another rotation, bringing into view a high-rise building abundantly covered in organic matter. He wrapped one arm tightly around Catalina’s body.
Realizing what he was about to do, she let out a panicked cry, “Wait, you aren’t…”
Jake jumped, pulling her with him into the open air. Instinct took over, and she flung her arms around him, clutching him as they plummeted.
Ignoring her screaming, he focused on the ground rushing up toward them. Moments later, he launched a grappling hook from his free hand toward the building. It sliced through the air and quickly latched onto the organic wall. Their fall was halted, flinging them toward the building.
Jake thrust his legs forward, absorbing the shock of the impact. They slammed into the wall with a thud, but the impact lacked the strength to injure the human.
They were suspended just above the ground, so he released the grappling hook. A moment later, they touched down, knees bending instinctively to soften the shock of contact. The surface was also covered with the same organic material that spread across the surroundings. It was solid, yet faintly elastic, further cushioning their landing.
Behind them, the helicopter slammed into the center of the street with great force. Jake whipped around in time to see a colossal fireball erupting from the wreckage, consuming the aircraft in a blazing inferno. Shards of rotor blades tore free in the explosion, one jagged piece hurtling through the air toward them.
Realizing it was slicing through the air right toward Catalina, he shoved her out of the way. But being much slower than him, she was still mid-turn when his hands met her, her footing not yet steady. The force sent her stumbling back. She lost her balance and landed on her rear.
However, she was still in the path of the incoming projectile. The likelihood of it striking her was alarmingly high. Even if it were just a glancing blow, the jagged piece of metal with its sharp edge could potentially inflict a deep, severe wound on her. There was a chilling possibility that such an injury might even prove lethal.
All those thoughts raced through his mind in less than a heartbeat. There was no luxury of time to come up with the perfect plan of action to save the human, so he simply acted. Leaping in front of Catalina, he threw a desperate punch toward the jagged piece of metal that was hurtling toward them.
His fist connected with the metal, altering its trajectory just enough to send it veering sideways. However, the sharp edge sliced through his wrist in the process before continuing its path and embedding itself into the organic matter a couple of feet away from where Catalina sat.
He quickly turned his head to look at the human, catching the frozen expression of disbelief on her face, eyes wide with shock. The incident had unfolded so fast that she hadn’t yet fully processed it all. He then glanced down at his injured hand, expecting the worst.
To his surprise, his hand wasn’t completely severed. It was still attached to his wrist by several strands of his obsidian-like flesh. Hanging limply, the hand was no longer operational, though.
A thought occurred to him that if he set the damaged hand in the right position, it would take less time for his body to reattach it to his wrist and render it operational again than it would to grow a new one. However, he would need to hold it in place with his other hand, meaning he would have no free hands at his disposal. And he definitely couldn’t afford that.
So he used his left hand to tear off the damaged one instead.
Mana, glowing with an ethereal light, immediately began to seep from the ragged stump where his hand had been. Fortunately, his body’s regenerative capabilities kicked in almost immediately, the wound slowly knitting itself together. The flow of mana aided in the rapid healing process.
He then reached his left hand down, and when Catalina gripped it, he pulled her to her feet.
“Thanks,” she said with gratitude. “You saved my life.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet, though,” Jake replied, looking around. Every surface around them, like every single building and even the ground, was covered in the Ravage Contamination, leaving them without even a shred of safe ground to stand on.
And already, bulges swelled across the living mass, rapidly twisting into monsters of varying shapes and sizes all around the two of them.
A sharp gasp from Catalina snapped his attention to her. Jake assumed she was watching the creatures forming nearby, but her eyes were fixed on the crashed helicopter instead. The organic matter was quickly crawling up the wrecked fuselage, indifferent to the flames licking out of the windows and doors. It was consuming the helicopter at a frightening pace. It was clear that in a few more seconds, it would be completely swallowed.
Jake knew that most of her equipment was stored in the helicopter. And it was as good as lost now. All she had on her person was her PDA and an energy-based pistol strapped to her thigh. She then turned her gaze toward him and, for the first time, noticed his injury.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “Your hand!”
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “It’ll grow back very soon.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yep. Not the first time I’ve lost a limb.”
She stared at him in disbelief. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with her, though. Instead, he gestured around them, drawing her attention to the monsters developing all around them.
Some of them were already nearing completion. A few had vaguely humanoid shapes, while others resembled gigantic insects. One looked like a nightmarish version of a cow-sized crab. The others were beyond the wildest imagination.
Catalina’s eyes widened as the reality of their situation finally sank in. She seemed to have only just realized the danger they were in. “What do we do now, Jake?”
“We run.”
“But where? Everything’s covered in that stuff!”
“Someone’s found a way to survive out here somehow, so there must be some safe spots.” Jake noticed several monsters already beginning to move toward them. There was no time for arguing. “Move!”
They broke into a run, sprinting away from the wreckage, leaving the crash site behind as the creatures surged after them.