“He’s finally down?” Although she was relieved by the man’s demise, she couldn’t bask in her victory due to the ear-wrenching sounds she perceived coming her way. She glanced back at the viewing window while running toward the stairway.

A seasoned Smokepire broke through what remained of the already broken glass and roared at her.

“GRAAAAH!” Its hectic cries screeched her ears to the point where she almost stumbled. Luckily for her, she fell right into the arms of a dominant man.

“Huh, it’s you,” Denise remembered his appearance right away. “What are you doing here? I thought you left already.”

Smoke Pac pretended as if he wasn’t inside the clinic all along scoping the place. “I heard gunshots and came to see what was going on. I thought you might be in danger.”

Denise was in no mode for chitchat. “We need to get out of here quickly. This place is infested with monsters.”

“Monsters?” Smoke Pac acted surprised to hear this. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s no time to explain. Just go!” Denise shoved him back down the stairs. At the same time, the Smokepire who broke through the glass appeared over their heads with its mouth thirsting for blood.

“GRAH!” It immediately noticed Smoke Pac's presence and delayed. Rather than issuing an attack, it released a loud cry which attracted the other Smokepires to converge on its location.

“That’s the monster I mentioned.” Denise pointed out the obvious to Smoke Pac. “I think it’s telling the others where we are. Come on, let’s go!”

After quickly reloading her gun, Denise grabbed onto Smoke Pac’s hand and began leading him out of the clinic. She was certain that she was doing her duty as a cop to protect a defenceless civilian. Unbeknownst to her, she was protecting a badass gangster.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

While making her escape, Denise fired a few bullets behind her at the flying horde of Smokepires. Not all of them had wings, only the original Unclaimed Souls who Smoke Pac had personally killed could fly.

“Turn left up here!”

“That’s the wrong way.”

Denise told Smoke Pac to take a left turn but he went in the opposite direction. As a result, she was forced to delay for a split second to decide which way was correct. This led to her being mauled from behind by a vicious Smokepire. Both of them crashed through the dilapidated wall which created a shorter exit outside the clinic. While the Smokepire had Denise pinned beneath its huge claws, it took a bite of her shoulder.

“Ah!” Denise released a hectic scream as she tried her best to resist her oppressor. Her strength was no match for that overbearing entity.

Smoke Pac had to come to her rescue by smashing the Smokepire away with his fist. “Get the fuck off her!”

Witnessing this spectacle made the lesser Smokepires delayed from attacking Smoke Pac impulsively. They waited for the mature leaders to show up before they recommenced their charge.

“Come on, we got to go lady.” Smoke Pac helped up Denise from the ground. Her uniform was torn, moreover, covered in blood.

“Take my car, it’s closer.” Denise gave Smoke Pac the key to her car. The Smokepires knew what their aim was and acted quickly to stop their escape.

Boom!

Denise’s car was smashed to pieces by a small group of Smokepires.

“Now what? They’ve destroyed our means of escape.”

“No, they haven’t.” Saying this, Smoke Pac gave his eyes to the garbage truck. “That is still operationally. Hold on to me.” He picked up Denise like a baby in his hand then dashed toward the garbage truck. He was careful not to utilize any of his flashy abilities because he didn’t want her to find out who he really was.

Arriving at the driver's side of the garbage truck, Smoke Pac hurriedly tossed Denise inside then hopped up around the steering wheel. The engine was already running so all he needed to do was shift it in the right gear and get it moving.

Vrm! Vrm!

Smoke Pac was operating the garbage truck as if he was controlling a sports vehicle. He swung it across the street then set it downhill where the impetus would be greater.

“GRAAAAH!” The Smokepires were very persistent in their chase. They followed the truck downhill while doing their best to smash it off the road. Some of them even flew in front of the truck, hoping that this would do the trick. Sadly they were mistaken.

“Die, you bastards!” Smoke Pac ran them over and continued to speed along the road. He was gaining some distance between them, but they were still coming after him. A minute into the chase, Denise gave off a frightful cry.

“AAAH!” She was experiencing a lot of pain from the bite the Smokepire gave her on her shoulder. Blood was gushing out like crazy.

Smoke Pac stared at her and asked, “Are you ok?”

“Hell no! I’m fucking bleeding out here. I need to get to the hos…” She passed out before she could finish her sentence.

“Hey! Hey, lady! Are you still with me?” He checked her pulse. She was still alive, however, she was slipping closer to death very quickly.

“She’s out cold.” After confirming this, Smoke Pac looked ahead down the street and saw dozens of flying Smokepires blocking his path. “Those shitheads must have taken a shortcut over the mountain.”

Screech!

Smoke Pac jammed the brake and stopped the garbage truck abruptly to prevent a head-on collision with the Smokepires. As soon as the tyres stopped their rotation, he was surrounded by the despicable horde. At a glance, he counted fifty… no, hundreds of atrocious enemies.

“Looks like Razi’s theory was right. They have doubled in numbers since I saw them last and I bet this group isn’t the only one scattered across Clown City.”

Smoke Pac dismounted the garbage truck and faced his enemies in the street like a real man would. He was surrounded on all flanks, yet his resolve and determination never wavered. He took a gander back at the truck and considered Denise's predicament briefly.

Giving his focus back to the Smokepire horde, he told them, “While I was busy with my experiments, you fuckers were breeding up the place like parasites. I’m dying to know how you dumb pests accomplished this.”

“GRAH!” One of the Smokepires got offended by Smoke Pac’s comment and lashed out at him with its mouth wide open. It wanted to bite his head clean off.

“Know your place, you piece of shit!” Smoke Pac caught its jaws and ripped them apart like a monster. This gave him easy access to destroy the Resurrection Rubik’s Cube.

“What a waste.” He tossed the finished product in the middle of the road then burned it to cinders with his fire sight. What he did riled up the horde even more.

“I hear you bastards kicking up a ruckus.” He undid his Prosopagnosia ability; tore his shirt wide open and exposed his chest cavity. “Is this what you all want?” He showed off the original Rubik’s Cube that was glimmering with a succulent lustre.

He taunted them some more. “You want it, don’t you? Then come and get it you fucking pussies!”

Whoosh!

After blatantly disrespecting the horde by giving them his middle fingers, Smoke Pac transitioned into a blur of smoke that started speeding back uphill. He was moving so fast that the Smokepires found it difficult to catch up with him.

“Try and keep up, you slowpokes.” The stunt he pulled brought all the attention to himself which meant that the monsters completely forgot that Denise existed. She was still alive back in the garbage truck, but for how long? This was still the query.

“GRAH!”

“GRAH!”

“GRAH!”

Boom! Boom!

The Smokepires were hurling explosive smoke attacks down at Smoke Pac during the heated chase sequence. This created many upstirs of rocks and deep potholes across the asphalt.

Boom! Boom!

Smoke Pac was skilfully dodging his enemies one by one and in multiples, whichever way they came at him. Another spectacular stun he did was to hop off the road onto the mountainside. He was scaling it vertically for a faster way back to the clinic.

The Smokepires were on his trail to a teeth; trying their hardest to catch up with him. Only one of them out of the hundred managed to reach his side. The true identity behind this Smokepire was the mean lady who he had drowned back at Sunflower Avenue.

“This bitch again?” Smoke Pac recognized her right away. He lowered his dashing momentum just to grab her leg and smashed her against the mountain.

Boom!

A huge crater was formed instantly. That lady was buried within 7 metres of rock.

“Hopefully that did the trick.” Smoke Pac didn’t have time to verify if his attack was effective or not. Because as soon as he stopped moving, the Smokepire horde caught up to him.

“Damn, they are here. I better get moving.”