Hey guys, I'm sorry for taking so long as usual, but I kind of dug myself into a hole with the attack on the military convoy. It seems that this story has become more challenging to write as time goes on, but I shall persevere. Please enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The unforeseen explosion caused everyone to duck down. Sherry was the first one to get up and run outside, but as soon as she exited the truck, she found herself surrounded by j'avo armed with large machetes. Wasting no time, Sherry opened fire on them. Her bullets failed to even damage them, however. She pulled out her shock baton and charged at them, making contact with the blades of their machetes, amplifying the electric current.

Leon and Chris exited the truck and unleashed a storm of bullets on the surrounding j'avo. Sherry hit another of them with her shock baton and turned to Leon and Chris. " Bullets won't work on them! We need to fight them with knives or other blades!"

Chris dropped his gun and pulled out his combat knife with Leon following his lead. "Aim for soft spots of flesh! The underarms, elbows, back of the knees, or basically anything that needs to be soft to move." Leon yelled out.

Sherry sweeped the leg of a j'avo. Bringing her shock baton down on its head, she increased the voltage until the monsters flesh began to char. Chris parried the blows from a j'avo until he managed to get in close enough to render it incapable of attack. Chris took his knife and jammed it through the j'avo's underarm, causing it to drop its machete. Chris picked it up and used it to hack at its knees. Leon evaded the attacks from the j'avo until he was able to maneuver his way behind one and slide his knife across his throat. Other soldiers in the formation had already begun fighting the B.O.W.s, but too few of them had begun using hand-to-hand combat. Chris and Leon joined the men in the defense, but Sherry ran to try and find Jake.

She found the vehicle that led the convoy turned upside-down and on fire. She ran to the cabin of the truck and forced it open, revealing an unconscious Jake that hung in his seat. "Jake?! Jake?!" She yelled, trying to listen for a response. She grabbed his seat belt and unbuckled it, proceeding to drag him outside of the vehicle. He had blood coming from the side of his head, but he was breathing.

Sherry picked Jake up over her shoulder and ran across the street to safety. Setting him down, she began checking for any wounds on his body, but before she could make any proper evaluations, she heard the unmistakable sound of an angry j'avo behind her. The blonde turned around to see the deformed human lingering over her, bloodied machete in hand. Before she could do anything, Leon came from behind the j'avo and severed the tendons in the back of its knees, forcing the j'avo to the ground where he managed to stab his knife through its thoracic outlet.

"What are you doing Sherry? You can't treat him here!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Leon yelled. "Set him down against that wall. We'll hold this position until the j'avo are dead."

Leon and Sherry watched over Jake. Several j'avo attempted an attack, only to have Leon and Sherry fend them off. It seemed as if the battle would go on forever, but as the j'avo's numbers began to dwindle, they became more wary of continuing battle. They yelled out to each other with guttural voices, calling for a retreat. The monsters ran away from the company of soldiers, leaving them with several injured and even more dead.

As soon as the coast was clear Sherry turned her attention to Jake. She shook him gently while speaking his name, trying to wake him. He let out a small grunt before lazily opening his eyes. "Supergirl?"

"Thank God you're ok!" Sherry let out a sigh of relief.

Jake grunted as he rubbed his head. "It'll take more than that to kill me."

Leon kneeled down. "You're lucky to be alive. What happened exactly?"

"We were driving, but suddenly we saw someone in the road. They wore a cloak and were walking the same direction as us. We decided to stop to try and see if we could take them with us, but as soon as we did, they ripped of the cloak to reveal one of those j'avo bastards with a fucking rocket launcher. He aimed it at us, but missed the truck, and hit the ground beneath us. We're lucky. If he had aimed only a few feet higher, he would have killed us."

Sherry wrapped her arms around Jake. "You scared the living hell out of me, you bastard."

Jake smiled and returned her embrace. "I know Supergirl. I know…"

"I really don't mean to interrupt this love fest, but we should really get out of here before those things regroup." Leon explained.

Jake grunted as he stood. "He's right. We need to get out of here ASAP."

Chris aided Jake by offering his shoulder to lean on as they walked back to their vehicle. Claire stood outside the truck, collecting samples of the new B.O.W.s. Chris and Sherry helped load Jake into their vehicle while Leon approached Claire. "What are you doing out here, Claire? It's dangerous."

Claire put her samples into a vial and sealed it with a smug grin. "The world is dangerous, Leon," she said turning to him. "I know you want to protect me, but you of all people should know how capable I am of handling myself."

Leon sighed in defeat. "I know, but you understand I don't want to lose anyone, especially not you."

Claire stood up and kissed him. "I know," she whispered. "But you don't have to worry about losing me. I can take care of myself."

Leon returned the kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said.

Leon took a knee and dragged a finger across the hard skin of the j'avo. "Do you know what made their skin so hard?"

Claire shook her head. "No. This is a different and more potent strain of the C-virus. This strain, when injected, causes severely advanced lithoderma."

"Lithoderma?" Leon asked.

"Stone-like skin." Claire explained.

"Could it be a different virus entirely?"

"I don't think so. It caused the same type of mutations in the subjects as seen in Edonia and China. Only points of normal flesh are the joints and neck."

Leon sighed in annoyance. "Fantastic. I always wanted nearly bullet proof enemies." Leon stood up and began walking back to the truck. "Come on. We should report to the others what we found."

"Agreed."

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Like I said before I kind of dug myself into a hole with that attack on the convoy. I just added it in there as a whim because I felt it would be best to have some type of cliffhanger. Not only that, but I also added the mutated j'avo on a whim as well because I thought that adding normal j'avo would be too boring. I actually almost never have a plan on what I write except for very big things that impact the story directly. In terms of writing, I usually just type whatever comes to mind at that second. Anyway, thank you all for reading. BIG thanks to my editor Xaori who is the BEST. Read her stuff if you haven't already. I'm gonna be getting surgery on Thursday so if you don't hear from me again, you know why. Feel free to take my stuff, but you'll have to attend my funeral and win the battle royal. I'm giving everyone a taser and the last one standing has claim to everything. Also, if anyone is just starting to read the story and see's that I'm getting surgery, don't worry. I usually take a long time to update chapters because I'm a lazy bastard. If all goes well, I will post a new chapter next month. Goodbye, my friends!