Wrong Turn Ends

In the woods, desperate panting mingled with the rustling of crushed leaves.

Chris glanced back, his heart nearly leaping from his throat. The rusted pickup truck was like an out-of-control beast, smashing through saplings in its path at an angle that ignored the terrain entirely as it charged toward them.

In the truck bed, the deformed man waving a machete let out shrill howls, as if he could already taste the sweetness of blood.

"Run! Head for the mountaintop!" Chris shouted himself hoarse. He grabbed Jessie, who was on the verge of collapsing beside him, and dragged her forward with all his strength.

Scott and Callie followed behind, their faces long since smeared with tears and mud.

Scott's leg had been injured in the earlier rollover. Every step felt as though steel needles were stabbing into it, but he did not dare stop. His instinct to survive overwhelmed the pain in his body.

However, human strength could not ultimately contend with machinery.

The pickup made a brutal turn and swung sideways directly in front of them, cutting off their path.

One-Eye and Sawtooth jumped down from the truck bed, forming an encirclement with Three-Finger, who had been driving.

At the same time, a relatively slight but equally hideous female mutant emerged from the dense woods behind them. She held a crude bow, its arrowhead glinting with an ominous dark sheen, already aimed at Callie at the rear of the group.

Four against four, yet the disparity in strength was suffocating.

"No..." Callie let out a despairing cry. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.

It was over.

That was the only thought in Chris's mind. The interview, the future, his life... everything would end here, in this unknown West Virginia forest, with these monsters drawing a bloody full stop.

The female mutant bared her teeth in a cruel smile and pulled the bowstring taut.

Just then, a crisp gunshot that seemed almost out of place tore through the air of despair.

Bang!

Time seemed to slow down. The female mutant, just about to release the string, suddenly snapped her head back as a small flower of blood burst from between her brows.

The smile froze on her face, and the cruelty and excitement in her eyes were swiftly replaced by hollow, lifeless emptiness.

The next second, she fell stiffly like a severed log, never making another sound.

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.

Chris and his companions forgot their fear. The three male mutants also stopped advancing and turned in unison toward the source of the gunshot.

From behind several large trees not far away, a figure slowly stepped out.

He was a tall young man dressed in black riding gear, holding a strangely shaped silver-white handgun. A faint wisp of smoke still rose from its barrel.

Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves and fell across him, casting shifting light and shadow over his impossibly handsome face.

His expression was indifferent, as if he had merely swatted an annoying fly instead of killing a living "person."

Edward blew on the barrel of Ivory and silently complained, This gun's recoil is still so satisfying. The entrance was a little too cliché, though. I should've dropped in from the sky.

"Roar!"

After the brief dead silence came beastlike fury.

Three-Finger let out a piercing shriek. He clearly could not understand why his companion had suddenly fallen, but he could sense the threat posed by the man who had appeared before him.

His primitive savagery was fully stirred. He seized the axe at hand, spread his legs, and charged at Edward like a madman.

Sawtooth and One-Eye reacted as well, flanking him from both sides. The machete and iron hook in their hands carved deadly arcs through the air.

Facing three hideous, menacing monsters, Edward did not so much as blink.

He did not even take half a step back. He merely raised his arm calmly.

Chris and the others felt their hearts rise into their throats. They wanted to shout, "Watch out," but their throats seemed clogged by something, and they could not make a sound.

Just as Three-Finger's axe was about to split Edward's face open—

Bang!

Another gunshot rang out.

Three-Finger's forward charge came to an abrupt halt. He looked down at the steadily widening hole in his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He opened his mouth as though he wanted to let out one final howl, but in the end, he only spat out a mouthful of blood before crashing to the ground.

Almost at the same instant, Edward flicked his wrist, and the barrel was already aimed at One-Eye charging from the right.

Bang!

The bullet struck One-Eye squarely in his one eye. The tremendous impact hurled him several meters backward, slamming him heavily into a tree before he slid limply to the ground.

The entire sequence was as swift as lightning, smooth and effortless.

In the blink of an eye, only the last enemy remained.

Sawtooth, wielding his machete, was now less than three meters from Edward.

He had watched two companions die in rapid succession within two seconds. His beastlike instincts filled him with fear unlike anything he had ever known.

But he could no longer stop his forward momentum. He could only turn all that fear into rage and bring the machete down with every ounce of his strength.

Edward watched the rusted machete rapidly enlarge in his vision, a cold curve touching his lips. He did not even fire again, merely extending his left hand casually.

"Bzz—"

An invisible force instantly enveloped Sawtooth.

The heavy machete stopped eerily less than ten centimeters from Edward's forehead, as if an unseen wall had blocked it.

Sawtooth's expression shifted from ferocity to shock. Veins bulged across his arm as he used all his strength, yet he could not force the machete forward even a fraction.

"Too weak," Edward said softly.

The five fingers of his outstretched left hand curled slightly.

Crack!

A bone-chilling snap rang out as Sawtooth's machete-wielding arm bent backward at an utterly unnatural angle.

The excruciating pain made him release an inhuman scream, and the machete clanged to the ground.

Then Edward pushed his palm forward.

Sawtooth's massive body flew away like a ragged sack, violently propelled more than ten meters. Only after snapping several branches did he crash heavily to the ground. He twitched a few times, then went still.

The entire confrontation had taken barely a dozen seconds.

All four deformed monsters who had driven Chris and the others into despair were dead.

The forest returned to silence, leaving only the rustle of wind through the leaves and the heavy, ragged breathing of the four survivors.

Chris, Jessie, Callie, and Scott stood frozen in place, staring at the man who seemed to have descended like a god, their minds utterly blank.

Everything that had happened before their eyes lay completely beyond their understanding. Was this a movie? Or had they hallucinated from sheer terror?

Edward put away Ebony and Ivory. He walked over to the pickup truck, glanced at the foul-smelling clutter and bloodstains in its bed, and frowned almost imperceptibly.

He turned toward the four unlucky people, who were still petrified, and asked in an even tone, "Road blocked, so you took a shortcut?"

The seemingly abrupt question was like a key, instantly unlocking Chris and the others' thoughts.

"Y-Yes..." Chris stammered. He tried to stand straight, only to find his legs still trembling uncontrollably. "Y-You... who are you? Those... those things..."

"I'm a local. Hunting," Edward casually made up an excuse. He pointed in the direction he had come from. "It isn't safe here. If you want to live, follow me. I'll take you back to the highway."

There was an unquestionable force in his voice that made the four instinctively obey.

Their desire to survive took over once more. Supporting one another, they staggered after Edward.

No one spoke along the way. The atmosphere was oppressive and strange. From time to time, they secretly studied the tall figure ahead, their hearts filled with awe and confusion.

Who exactly was this man? Why had he appeared here? His incredible marksmanship, and that bizarre ability to restrain a monster from a distance... it was all a mystery.

Edward ignored the stares behind him. Relying on his photographic memory, he moved easily through the complicated forest and soon found the path leading back to the main road.

When the familiar asphalt highway and the stream of cars in the distance came back into view, Jessie and Callie could no longer hold back their tears of joy.

Scott also let out a long breath and dropped onto the ground.

Only Chris, after his brief excitement, immediately turned to Edward, his face full of gratitude. "Thank you. Really, I don't know how to thank you..."

"Just lending a hand." Edward waved dismissively, unconcerned.

Just then, the sound of police sirens drew nearer. Several patrol cars with flashing red and blue lights were stopped near the accident scene not far away.

A police officer seemed to notice them emerging from the woods and was looking in their direction.

"The police!" Jessie cried excitedly, as if she had seen a savior.

Chris also brightened. He was about to say something to Edward when he discovered that the man beside him had vanished.

He spun around sharply and heard only a low, wild roar of an engine.

By the roadside not far away, the outrageously designed black Fenrir Heavy Motorcycle that he had seen earlier at the entrance to the forest trail had appeared at some point.

The mysterious man who had saved all of them was now seated on it. He put on sunglasses and casually waved in their direction, as if saying goodbye.

Vrooom—!

The engine roared. The Fenrir Heavy Motorcycle became a streak of black lightning and vanished into the distance in an instant, disappearing beyond the end of the highway in the blink of an eye. It left behind only four stunned people and the increasingly close police sirens.

Chris stared blankly in the direction Edward had gone. He opened his mouth, but in the end could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

It seemed some questions were destined never to be answered.