The sickening crack of bone followed by Andrew's renewed agonized screams shattered the composure of everyone present.
The sound was sharp and unnatural. It cut through the night air and seemed to hang there a testament to the brutality they had just witnessed.
The air on the darkened hill turned icy with terror.
Lily and the other girl their faces white with horror couldn't take it anymore.
The smug confidence they had worn so easily in the classroom was gone.
It was replaced by the raw primal fear of a cornered animal.
They turned and with panicked shrieks they scrambled down the dark path fleeing into the woods.
They didn't care about Andrew or their friends. They only cared about escaping the monster on the hill.
The remaining three boys were paralyzed. A mixture of confusion and raw fear rooted them to the spot.
One of them began to back away slowly his hands held up as if to ward off a ghost. His phone's flashlight beam shook wildly casting dancing shadows. The other two exchanged a terrified glance.
Their plan had been simple. They were going to intimidate a helpless girl.
They were not prepared for this. Then one of them a tall boy with an athletic build the same one who had smirked at Sofia in the classroom gathered a shred of courage. He let out a yell.
"What the hell are you doing?" he screamed. He charged at Adam hoping to tackle him and stop the unfolding nightmare. It was a desperate reckless act.
Adam saw him coming. He didn't flinch. He was a statue of calm in a storm of panic.
As the tall boy closed the distance Adam reached down.
He reached to the strap he had tied around his own thigh hidden beneath the hem of the skirt.
His fingers closed around the handle of the hammer he had hidden there. With a single fluid motion he pulled it free.
He swung the hammer in a tight brutal arc. His enhanced strength made the heavy weapon feel as light as a toy.
The heavy steel head connected with the charging boy's forehead. The sound was a sickening wet thud a dull impact that was somehow more horrifying than the crack of bone. The boy's eyes rolled back in his head.
The forward momentum of his charge carried him a few more steps before he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. He landed in an unmoving heap at Adam's feet.
The last two boys stared their mouths agape. Their minds were unable to process the sheer violence they had just witnessed.
One of their friends lay screaming on the ground with a shattered leg. Another lay unconscious or dead at the attacker's feet. The last vestiges of their bravado evaporated. It was replaced by pure instinctual terror.
This wasn't a fight. This was a slaughter.
"He's a monster!" one of them screamed his voice cracking with fear. "Run! Just run!"
They turned and fled. They tripped over roots and stumbled through the undergrowth in their desperate escape.
They didn't look back. They just ran their flashlights cutting erratic paths through the darkness.
Adam watched them go for a second. Then he started after them. He couldn't let them get away.
If they told everyone what happened here Sophia's life would become an even greater hell.
The story would twist and warp. She would be blamed. He broke into a run his borrowed skirt flapping around his legs as he sprinted down the dark uneven path.
He could see them ahead. Their panicked shapes were illuminated by the bobbing beams of their phone flashlights.
They were heading down the hill towards the main road that ran behind the school. He pushed himself to run faster.
The enhanced stamina from his absorbed stats coursed through him. His lungs felt powerful his legs tireless. He was closing the distance easily.
Just as he was about to catch them a pair of headlights cut through the darkness at the bottom of the hill. A plain white van slowed to a stop on the road.
Adam recognized it instantly. He skidded to a halt his heart pounding in his chest. No he thought his mind racing. How do they know I'm here? It was the same van from the loop where the thugs with the bounty had caught him.
The men he had killed Locks and Marx. It seemed they had friends. Or a whole organization.
The van's side door slid open. Two men in police uniforms stepped out.
At the bottom of the hill the two fleeing boys saw the police van.
Their terror gave way to a desperate hope.
"Help!" one of them screamed.
"Police! Help us!" They ran towards the officers waving their arms and shouting.
Lily and the other girl who had reached the road a moment earlier were already there. They were pointing back up the hill with trembling hands their faces streaked with tears.
Adam watched them all converge on the officers. He looked around.
There was no other way down no other escape route. The woods were too thick on either side.
He let out a long heavy breath his shoulders slumping for a fraction of a second.
So be it he thought. Whatever happens happens. The loop would just reset. Death was an inconvenience not an end.
He gripped the sharpened rebar in one hand and the blood-spattered hammer in the other.
He began to descend the hill. He did not run with the panicked speed of the others. He walked with a steady relentless pace. He was a force of nature an unavoidable consequence.
Down on the road the two police officers looked at the terrified students. They had been on a routine patrol when the piercing screams from the wooded hill had caught their attention.
They were the same two officers who had tortured and killed Adam in one of his first loops. They were puzzled by the scene before them. This was not part of their assignment.
The officer with the short military-style haircut the one who had wielded the metal rod looked at Lily. "What's going on here?" he demanded his voice gruff and impatient.
Lily her face pale and streaked with tears pointed a shaking finger back up the hill. "My friend!" she cried. "Save him! You have to save him! He's hurt!"
The other two boys finally reached the road and joined the girls. Their faces were masks of terror and relief.
"Your friend? What happened to him?" the second officer asked. He was the one who had crossed his arms and watched Adam bleed.
"Someone..." Lily stammered trying to form the words. "Someone attacked him. Up there... He's crazy!"
She couldn't finish her sentence. At that moment a figure emerged from the darkness at the top of the path. It was Adam. He was descending towards them. A weapon in each hand his face a cold emotionless mask.
He was a silhouette of violence against the dark woods. A specter of vengeance walking out of a nightmare.
The sight of him calm and armed after the carnage they had just fled was more terrifying than anything they could have imagined. Their words died in their throats.
They could only stare in silent horror as the monster walked towards them.