Chapter 8 — Pilgrim
The Alpha Mutant hit the corridor like a truck made of flesh and bone.
Steel walls buckled outward from the force of its charge while smaller mutants flooded behind it in shrieking waves.
Lucien immediately fired again.
A beam of white-blue energy slammed into the Alpha’s chest hard enough to blast chunks from its armor plating.
The creature barely slowed down.
Its body was already healing.
Rewriting itself.
Learning.
“MOVE!” Milo shouted.
Lucien grabbed Einar instinctively and dove aside as the Alpha crashed through the exact spot they’d been standing seconds earlier.
The floor exploded.
Concrete fragments tore through the hallway.
The Alpha spun unnaturally fast toward them.
Its ruined chest stitched itself back together in real time.
Lucien’s eyes widened.
“…It’s regenerating.”
“No,” Einar said calmly while stepping around debris.
“It’s adapting.”
The child sounded more annoyed than frightened.
Another mutant leaped from the ceiling toward Einar.
Milo intercepted instantly.
His blade flashed upward
The mutant lost its arm.
Then its head.
The corpse slammed into the wall behind him.
Lucien stared again.
Milo moved differently now.
Not awkward.
Not nervous.
Efficient.
Like someone pretending to be harmless had finally stopped trying.
More mutants poured into the corridor.
Too many.
The Alpha roared and charged Lucien directly.
Milo stepped between them.
“Take the kid and RUN.”
Lucien hesitated.
“Milo”
“GO.”
The Alpha swung one gigantic arm downward.
Milo blocked with both arms crossed.
CRACK.
The impact launched him through a steel door.
Lucien felt the entire corridor shake.
The Alpha advanced immediately.
Einar sighed softly.
“He’s durable,” the child said.
Lucien looked at him in disbelief.
“That thing almost killed him!”
Einar tilted his head slightly.
“No,” he answered calmly.
“It almost annoyed him.”
Then came the sound.
Not a roar.
A growl.
Deep.
Primal.
Wrong.
The entire corridor fell silent.
Even the mutants froze.
A massive shape slowly rose from the collapsed doorway.
Lucien’s breath caught instantly.
Milo stood there
But not entirely human anymore.
His body had changed violently.
Muscle expanded beneath torn clothing.
Bones cracked and reshaped audibly.
Dark fur spread across his arms, chest, and neck like wildfire.
His hands became claws.
His jaw elongated slowly while rows of predatory teeth emerged beneath bloodstained lips.
And his eyes
Still calm.
Still human.
Just buried deeper now.
Lucien whispered:
“…What are you?”
Milo rolled one massive shoulder with an unpleasant crunch.
“Tired,” he answered.
Then the transformation finished.
The werewolf towered nearly nine feet tall now.
Broad-shouldered.
Monstrous.
Built like a living weapon.
Not a mindless beast.
A predator.
The Alpha Mutant stared at him.
Then smiled.
Finally.
A worthy fight.
The werewolf smiled back.
And somehow that looked far worse.
Then both monsters moved simultaneously.
The collision shattered the corridor.
The Alpha slammed into Milo hard enough to bend reinforced steel walls inward.
Milo grabbed it mid-charge.
Claws dug into armored flesh.
The Alpha roared and struck him across the face.
Milo barely reacted.
Instead
He bit the creature’s shoulder hard enough to tear through bone plating.
Black blood exploded across the hallway.
Lucien stared in shock.
Einar simply folded his hands behind his back.
“Oh,” the child said quietly.
“There he is.”
The Alpha adapted instantly.
Bone spikes erupted from its forearms and stabbed into Milo’s torso.
The werewolf snarled violently
Then ripped one of the Alpha’s arms completely off.
The mutants behind it hesitated.
For the first time
They looked afraid.
Milo hurled the severed limb through two incoming creatures hard enough to pulp them against the wall.
Then he charged.
Not elegant.
Not controlled.
Savage.
The werewolf crashed into the Alpha and drove it through three reinforced laboratory walls in a storm of debris and twisted metal.
Lucien finally found his voice.
“You knew?” he asked Einar.
The child looked up at him innocently.
“Of course.”
“That’s a WEREWOLF.”
Einar blinked once.
“Yes.”
“You’re saying that like it’s normal!”
The child thought about that seriously.
“…For me, it is.”
Another mutant lunged toward Lucien from the side.
Lucien reacted instantly this time.
Radiant energy exploded from his hand and vaporized the creature midair.
The remaining mutants recoiled from the light.
Meanwhile
The battle between Milo and the Alpha became monstrous.
The Alpha slammed Milo through a support pillar.
Milo answered by grabbing the creature’s skull and smashing it repeatedly into the floor hard enough to crack reinforced concrete.
The Alpha regenerated.
Milo tore into it again.
Claws ripped through armor plating while black blood sprayed across the walls.
The Alpha adapted mid-fight, shifting its body structure to become larger and heavier.
Milo adapted faster.
The werewolf caught one incoming strike and snapped the Alpha’s wrist backward with horrifying force.
Then he bit through its throat.
The creature screamed.
Milo threw it across the corridor like garbage.
The Alpha crashed into the ceiling and collapsed.
Still alive.
Still regenerating.
Lucien whispered softly:
“…He could’ve killed us anytime he wanted.”
Einar glanced at him.
“Yes.”
That answer did not help.
The Alpha rose again slowly.
Its body twitched unnaturally now.
Damaged.
Afraid.
Milo stood between it and the others.
Massive chest heaving.
Fur stained black with mutant blood.
The werewolf’s glowing eyes locked onto the creature.
Then he growled.
Low.
Threatening.
Predatory.
The Alpha took one step backward.
Lucien stared.
“The Alpha’s scared of him…”
“No,” Einar corrected quietly.
“It recognizes him.”
The Alpha suddenly screamed toward the vents overhead.
Calling for reinforcements.
Smart.
Pilgrim reacted instantly.
The werewolf lunged before more mutants could arrive.
This time there was no prolonged fight.
Only violence.
He hit the Alpha hard enough to punch through its chest entirely.
Claws erupted from its back.
The creature convulsed violently.
Pilgrim grabbed its skull with both hands.
And tore it apart.
Silence hit the corridor.
The remaining mutants retreated immediately into the darkness.
Not fleeing from Lucien.
From Milo "Pilgrim."
The werewolf stood motionless in the center of the ruined hallway surrounded by corpses and shattered walls.
Lucien slowly approached.
“…Milo?”
The massive creature turned toward him.
For one terrifying second
Lucien thought he might attack.
Then Milo sighed.
Actually sighed.
His monstrous form shrank slightly as bones cracked back into place.
“…I really liked that jacket,” he muttered while looking at the ruined remains of his clothes.
Lucien blinked repeatedly.
“You were a werewolf this entire time.”
Milo rubbed his face tiredly.
“Technically.”
“That’s not something you say technically to!”
Einar suddenly smiled brightly.
“You’re both adorable.”
Both men stared at him.
The child walked calmly past the mutilated Alpha corpse without even glancing down.
Then he looked toward the deeper sectors of the facility.
His expression changed subtly.
Less childlike.
Older.
“They’re waking up faster now,” he said softly.
Lucien frowned.
“…Who?”
Einar looked back at them.
And for a brief second
His blue eyes reflected something ancient.
“The things sleeping below us.”
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