CHAPTER 9: THE 2ND EXOBEAST.

Leonard Bane woke up to see the golden sun rays shining down on him, from the corners of the cave. He admired the rays a bit as his eyes cleared before he looked at his shadow reflection.

“Oh, it’s 8:00 am already. Why didn’t this piece of shit wake me up?” He cursed as he quickly got up, going outside the cave. There he saw Clark, diligent as always, doing push-ups.

“Diligent my ass, this guy only did his push-ups daily to keep his 6 packs, to impress girls. F**k,” he couldn’t help but curse again, as the scene left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Oh, Leo you’re already awake. "I thought you’ll sleep like a log of dead wood for the rest of the day. Good morning plant.” Clark finally greeted his friend properly after his regular exchange of insult greeting.

“Clark, my head injury is healed, don’t try me. If you call me a plant again, I swear I'll skin you alive,” Leo retorted while gritting his teeth.

“Shit, Leo you’re such an ungrateful bastard. I protected you throughout the night, already prepared morning meat for you, and a warning is the first thing you say in response to my greeting".

"I'm better off throwing you to that exobeast as food, you are both kin from the same family, the same genus, the same species. No wonder you are just like a black panther.” Clark fired back, feigning anger.

            “Oh, Clark that's so thoughtful of you. You prepared meat for me. I’ll get you a good wife after graduation, ok?"

          He quickly started digging into the meat. "Hmm, your roasted meat is delicious. Good morning Clark.”

This time, Clark was completely left speechless as he gaped at his friend.  “What’s the relationship between getting a wife and what we are talking about,” his brain could not relate.

“Leo, you’ll never change. A shameless piece of shit, that’s what you are.” He finally recollected himself, as he retorted back sharply. Leo just chuckled, ignoring him as he enjoyed the meat.

            “Eat fast Leo, I’m raring to go hunt and slay this exobeast. Jack is the giant slayer; I’ll prove to you today that Clark is the exobeast slayer.” Clark said with slight excitement, as imaginations of himself beheading the black panther already started filling his head.

“I know Clark. You are hulk, ironman, and captain America altogether. Yeah, the exobeast slayer,” Leo praised sarcastically as he directed a thump up at his friend.

“Is that all you can say? Those characters from the ancient marvel cinematic universe, those are completely old school man”. Clark glared at his friend, accusing him with his eyes for comparing him with such ancient superheroes.

He finally stood up after accusing to his fill, going over to eat a second round of meat. He finally relayed his plans to Leo, about the makeshift formation as they ate.

“Wow, Clark that’s awesome. You’re the one great with this kind of situation that requires thinking a lot,” Leo praised exaggeratedly.

Clark beamed a little with pride on hearing this. He completely ignored the sarcasm in his friend’s tone, as he explained his thoughts and plan to him on how the epic hunt will go.

            After eating they rested for about 30 minutes according to their rough estimate, before they both started preparation.

          Clark quickly set-up his sniper rifle, as he increased its range to the maximum. After experiencing how dangerous exobeasts are in close range, they opted for the safer option. He observed through the sniper, as they waited and watched patiently for any activity.

            They persevered like this, waiting for hours before they finally saw movement from the east through the sniper rifle. In the same direction, the black panther was spotted. Due to the dust created by whatever creature was coming, Clark's visibility was impaired so he couldn’t see the animal.

Not long after the creature became clearer and to his surprise, the creature was the same exobeast from yesterday. “It’s the black panther,” he announced to Leo as his friend quickly came to see it.

            He was excited for a short time before immediately feeling despair, as he saw a second exobeast coming together with the panther. He cursed angrily on seeing this.

         He thought exobeasts were supposed to be prideful creatures with dignity as they have their territory. They normally don't allow other exobeasts into their territory.

            This black panther was not so, it shamelessly called for help from a fellow exobeast.

Leo saw it too as their expression quickly became grave. They steeled their mind to fight to the death as Leo unsheathed his sword. There was no need for him to hide as the intelligent predator already knew they were 2, they both prepared to face them head-on.

            Clark focused, as all distractions and sounds left his mind. Only 2 exobeasts to be killed remained, occupying his sea of consciousness. As his mood stabilized, he accurately and fluidly released a bullet from his sniper rifle.

          The panther turned its head swiftly as the bullet scraped its skin. It was just like it expected the bullet, but was not fast enough to avoid it entirely.

          What came as a relief to him was that he saw that yesterday's injuries still affected the big cat, as it was slower and less agile than yesterday.

            After it dodged, he finally caught a glimpse at the other exobeast behind it. It was a huge leopard; it was slightly smaller than the black panther. He quickly informed Leo of his finding; his friend acknowledged by nodding solemnly as he was also completely focused on this clash.

Clark released another 3 bullets at the leopard, it jerked from the impact but continued forward. 2 bullets connected to its right hind limb; the last bullet scraped its back as blood flowed from the injury.

            Both exobeasts ran behind a cliff which obstructed his view, so he decisively left the sniper. Exobeasts are easily recognized compared to other augmented animals, as they are bigger and are more ferocious looking. He unsheathed his sword while telling Leo about his discovery that both exobeasts strengths differed.

            They didn’t wait long as the black panther leaped from behind a rock, appearing in their front. Their laser-powered pistols don’t require bullets, so they unleashed hell on it as laser beams pelted its thick hide.

As expected, it held strong despite the firepower. Even though the laser pistols provided to them are of the lowest grade, they can still pack a punch. This just describes how hard and thick the panther’s skin is.

            They became quickly absolved in all the laser beams and the black panther that they forgot a very important detail, the leopard exobeast. They paid for that, as the leopard sped up from Clark’s side unexpectedly. It was too fast; he was not fast enough to guard with his sword as he saw it clearly aiming for his head.

            Instinct kicked in as he ducked and tried rolling away. He dodged its deadly bite, but its claws were faster. It clawed at his face, giving him a deadly scar on his right cheek as he rolled back. He felt a sharp pang of pain as blood flowed. He gritted his teeth, enduring the pain as he retreated. He yelled at Leo to retreat also.

            Despite the pain he was feeling, he grinned as the panther entered the formation’s range. “Your death is near,” he thought as he quickly pulled the trigger.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it.]