When we descended the stairs to the middle floor, into that cramped and narrow corridor where the holding cells were located, the air suddenly grew heavy. The smells of urine, rust, and stale death were intermingled. As Elara’s light licked the corridor walls, we saw flickering shadows behind the iron bars. Some were lifeless bodies still in their old inmate uniforms; others were mutants clinging to the bars, their eyes rotted away. The moment we stepped in, the silence was shredded.

  As soon as the creatures in the cells caught the light and the scent of living flesh, they pressed against the bars. They gripped the iron rods with their claws and began to shake them maniacally. The metallic screeching echoing in the corridor and the sound of plaster falling from the walls made my hair stand on end. With every shake, the bars loosened a bit more, popping out of their concrete sockets.

  We were startled by a massive CRACK from the frontmost cell. A muscular mutant with purplish skin threw himself against the bars with all his weight, breaking them in a single move and bursting into the corridor. Through the gap he made, two more snarling mutants behind him slipped out. Three hungry and wild mutants were right in front of us.

  I gripped the combat knife I had taken from the police holster firmly, but the situation was serious. I turned to Elara and whispered through my teeth: "You have to fight this time too; I'm not sure what's going to happen!"

  With a last hope, I spun that chaotic wheel in my mind frantically. Come on, give me something useful!

  [GENETIC ROULETTE ACTIVATED.] [TRAIT ACQUIRED: MUTANT MOUTH (INSTANT MUTATION) - DURATION: 5 MINUTES]

  At that exact moment, the lead mutant lunged at me, claws raised. I felt a terrifying pressure in my jaw; my gums split, my bones cracked, and my mouth opened wide beyond any human capacity, like that of a massive monster. My teeth transformed into razor-sharp bone shards.

  I caught the head of the lunging mutant in mid-air. Opening my mouth wide, I took the creature's entire head into my teeth at neck level and, with one powerful bite, severed the head from the torso as if biting through an apple.

  [NOTIFICATION: LEVEL 4 MUTANT (INMATE) NEUTRALIZED.] [EXPERIENCE GAINED: +65 EXP] [CURRENT STATUS: 345 / 600 EXP]

  As the creature’s headless body slumped at my feet, I spat the disgusting black blood onto the floor. My jaw was throbbing with a sharp ache as it slowly returned to its original shape.

  "I'm lucky I got this skill," I said breathlessly, looking at Elara. "I managed to take one down with a surprise attack, but the other two are still standing. Get ready!"

  Rather than hesitating after seeing the brutality that befell their leader, the other two mutants began to run toward us with even greater rage.

  I stepped over the headless body into the middle of the corridor. That thick, metallic taste in my mouth and the throbbing in my jaw were still there; the Mutant Mouth skill had initiated that 5-minute window of primal combat in my veins. The thought of using the handgun on my belt crossed my mind for a second, but I erased it instantly. A single bullet fired in this cramped space would bring the whole station down on our heads.

  "Expand the light, Elara! Don't let it flicker!" I bellowed.

  One of the remaining two mutants moved with an agility far different from yesterday’s fatty babies. Its orange inmate jumpsuit was torn, and bones had pierced through its skin, protruding outward. It suddenly leaped onto the wall and climbed to the corner of the ceiling, defying gravity. Its claws scraped the concrete like knives as it began to circle above me. The other was a larger brute, charging directly at me.

  "The one on the ceiling is mine, the one on the ground is yours!" Elara shouted, joining her hands and focusing the light on the corner of the ceiling.

  When the mutant on the ground lunged at me, I met its move by holding my new combat knife in a reverse grip. As the creature swung its claw, I ducked and landed a hard blow to its jaw with the hilt of the knife. As the sound of cracking bone echoed in the corridor, the "ceiling-dweller" mutant glided down toward me like a spider.

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  I rolled to the side at the last second. The claws of the monster falling from the ceiling shattered the concrete floor where I had just stood. The large mutant scrambled up from the ground and attacked again, hitting me like a battering ram with its shoulder. The air was knocked out of my lungs as my back slammed hard against the cell bars.

  "Alex!" Elara’s light flickered for a moment, but instead of retreating, she brightened her hands and sent a small burst of light directly into the eyes of the large mutant coming at me.

  When the monster hissed in pain and covered its face, I didn't miss the chance. I drove my knife into its stomach and pulled upward sharply. Black blood splattered over me, but the creature wasn't dead; it gripped my arms with its massive frame. Meanwhile, the mutant on the ceiling coiled and flew toward us again.

  I was caught between two fires. At that moment, with the animalistic strength brought by the Mutant Mouth, I pulled the large mutant holding me toward myself. I opened my mouth to that terrifying width again and tore a massive chunk out of the monster's shoulder. As its scream of pain filled the corridor, I hurled it hard toward its companion coming from the ceiling. The two collided in mid-air and slumped to the ground.

  As the larger mutant tried to get up, I used my agility to drop onto it. Pressing its jaw back with my left hand, I buried the combat knife in my right hand right into the center of its throat, where the carotid artery lay. When I twisted the blade inside, the creature's body shuddered once and went rigid beneath me.

  I stood up from the ground, breathless. I was covered in black, sticky blood.

  "One left," I said, looking up.

  The mutant on the ceiling, after watching its companion’s death, began to let out growls while clinging to the ceiling corners. It was no longer attacking directly; it was watching us from the dark corners, waiting for us to leave an opening. Its footsteps echoed on the concrete: click-click-click.

  My breath was shallow, and my lungs burned like a smoky furnace. The black blood on me had already begun to clot. I glanced at the red warning in the corner of my mind.

  [MUTANT MOUTH TIME REMAINING: 01:42]

  Time was running out. That animalistic pressure in my jaw was growing heavier every second, my bones cracking painfully as they struggled to return to their original form. The creature on the ceiling glided from corner to corner like a shadow, tapping its claws against the concrete in the blind spots where the light couldn't reach: click-click-click.

  "Alex, it's moving too fast! I can't focus the light!" Elara said, her hands trembling. Her voice echoed off the low ceiling of the corridor.

  "Don't focus it then," I said, switching my knife to a forward grip. "I'm not saying turn the light off, but don't gather it in one spot. We need to corner it. Elara, run toward that iron door at the end of the corridor, act like you're scared!"

  Elara hesitated for a moment, but the increase in her Intelligence allowed her to grasp the plan within seconds. "Okay, I get it! Finish it the moment it's drawn to me!"

  Elara slightly dimmed the light sphere in her hand and began to run toward the heavy door at the end of the corridor that led to the armory stairs, appearing panicked. Her steps were intentionally heavy and irregular. When the mutant on the ceiling saw its prey escaping, it succumbed to its primitive hunter instinct. Scraping the walls like a spider, it glided rapidly toward Elara.

  "Now Elara! Right above you!" I bellowed.

  Elara stopped suddenly in front of the door, turned around, and released all the energy in her hands in a massive burst toward the ceiling. The Holy Light illuminated the pitch-black corridor like the sun for a moment. The mutant on the ceiling was completely blinded by this sudden and intense burst of light; its claws lost their grip on the concrete, and it lost its balance, slamming onto its back on the floor a few meters in front of Elara.

  Using the final remnants of my mutant physique, I launched myself toward the creature on the floor like a bullet. As I soared through the air, I opened my mouth to that terrifying width one last time.

  Before the creature even realized what was happening, I crashed onto it with my full body weight. While pinning the creature’s arms to the floor with my left hand, I gripped its throat with my massive jaw and tore its windpipe apart in a single move. Simultaneously, I drove the combat knife in my right hand all the way into the spot where its heart was, between the ribs.

  The creature convulsed one last time, trying to tear at my shoulders with its claws, but its strength was fading fast. Within a few seconds, the resistance in its arms broke, and its body went limp, slumped on the floor.

  [NOTIFICATION: LEVEL 4 MUTANT (PROWLER) NEUTRALIZED.] [EXPERIENCE GAINED: +65 EXP] [CURRENT STATUS: 410 / 600 EXP]

  [WARNING: MUTANT MOUTH SKILL HAS ENDED.]

  I collapsed to my knees as my mouth returned to its original state with a sharp pang. I spat the blood in my mouth onto the floor; the taste was terrible, but we were alive. Elara came to my side and put her hand on my shoulder, her light now burning more steadily and peacefully.

  "We did it," she said, out of breath. "The teamwork worked, Alex."

  "Your timing was perfect," I said, pulling myself up from over the corpse. "If you hadn't burst that light, I'd be carrying a parasite on my head right now. But look..."

  We could now hear those muffled, heavy metallic sounds coming from the station floor more clearly. We were right in front of the path to the armory.

  "Our remaining time is decreasing, Elara. We spent some of those 14 hours here. Now it's time to open this door and get our real toys."