After about an hour, the Hunters manage to fight their way to a schoolyard, just two miles from where Matt arrived. Once they reach the schoolyard, they are told by "The Messengers", a society dedicated to studying and destroying the supernatural, to find a small girl. No sooner had the group of four walk two steps, when suddenly two hundred zombies appear out of thin air and start to attack them! Despite the fact that the Hunters were being mobbed by the undead, Matt does absolutely nothing; doing so would give his position away. The leader of the Hunters, called Judge, slashed his way through a few zombies with his Crusader Sword and headed after more. Right behind him was a huge seven foot man, known as the Avenger, armed with a Battle Axe. The huge man was spinning in small circles, decapitating any zombies foolish enough to get near him. There were two women as well; one was a black women armed with a samurai Katana, known as Defender, and the other was of Asian decent, called Martyr, armed with a dagger in each hand. These two were finishing off any zombies that the other two missed.
Rekilling the undead is nasty business, however. This was proved very blatantly by the large puddles of blood which now covered the road and grass of the schoolyard. It seemed that no matter how many zombies the Hunters killed, more appeared. Finally, after hacking and slashing their way through mob after mob of undead people, the Hunters are successful in eliminating the threat. The sight of all the mangled limbs and pools of blood would make anybody with weak stomachs cringe in disgust. With the zombies destroyed, the Hunters go back into the schoolyard to find the little girl. They figured that the girl would show herself once the majority of the zombies were killed.
When they did go back into the schoolyard, however, they were met by something that was anything but little. A huge "Fleshcraft" monster leaped down from the school's roof and landed in the street! The creature is a fourteen foot abomination created from mutated human flesh! The Fleshcraft is oblivious to Matt, but it doesn't miss the Hunters! Judge saw it coming first; Judge:"God help us!"
After regaining his courage, he lead the Hunters into battle. All of the Hunters pulled out their ranged weapons, which thanks the Messenger's White Magic, could be reloaded an infinite amount of times! Judge's weapon of choice was a Crossbow, while Avenger preferred to hit his foes hard with a high powered, pump action Rifle. Defender was armed with the Revolver she used while on the police force, while Martyr had two pistols. The Hunters hit the slow, cumbersome creature with everything that they can muster, firing relentlessly. The creature appeared to be unharmed, however. Although it was taking hits, evident by bullet holes, its mutated skin was very tough and the creature was quite resilient. So, with a roar, the creature slammed the ground with its open palm, sending out a shockwave! The shockwave was sufficient enough to carry the Hunters toward the wall of a building.
The huge monstrosity loomed over the Hunters, who tensed up, ready for the end; despite being blessed, they are only human. The creature raised its gigantic hand, to bring it down upon the defenceless Hunters' heads! Suddenly, Matt fires a pre-prepped Fortress Beam at the creature. The drilling beam hits the creature in the chest, cutting off a normal sized arm hanging from it! The creature roars with pain as Matt shouts, "BACK OFF!" At that moment, the Hunters look up and see Matt in his full Brawn form!
The Fleshcraft looks up at its attacker and glares evilly. This distraction gave the Hunters time to recover and run out of the creature's path. The monster roars and lots of the spider time bombs, called Skitters, appeared from the road leading to the school! Matt:"You guys take care of the monster, I'll keep the Skitters off your backs!" With that, the more Skitters that came, the more Fortress Beams that Matt fired. As for the Hunters, they continued to fire relentlessly. The creature didn't know what to do; it didn't know whither to protect its bomb-like friends or destroy the Hunters. The constant bullet barrage helped it come to a conclusion. It slapped the ground once again, but this time the Hunters leap over the shockwaves and continued firing.
Although the creature seemed to be impervious to all harm, the bullets that the Hunters were firing were doing a great deal of harm. As for Matt, he was having sort of a difficult time keeping up with all the Skitters that continued to flow from the road! That's when Matt got an idea. He let about fifty of the Skitters get through his barrage. When they neared the Hunters, Matt fired a Fortress Beam at the one in front. The impending explosion caused a chain reaction and all fifty blew up at once. Unfortunately for the Fleshcraft, the Skitters blew up right behind it!
The massive explosion blew it forward through the air, past the Hunters. The Fleshcraft landed near the schoolyard entrance, with a hideous gash on its torso. That was the Hunters' cue. They started to aim at this open spot. Now that it was no longer protected by a virtually impenetrable hide, the Fleshcraft began to weaken steadily! At long last, round after round of ammunition pierced the gigantic beast's icy heart. The creature tried desperately to reach the Hunters, but it was too late for it. The Fleshcraft was too large and slow to keep up with the Hunters now that it didn't have the element of surprise on its side. After a few more bursts of ammo, the creature clutched its chest, and fell dead in the opening gates of the schoolyard. Once the monster fell dead, the Skitters stopped emerging from the road, and all remaining self-destructed. With a little help, the Hunters had won their first great victory against the evil forces of the supernatural!
Now that the creature was dead, Matt leaped down from the rooftop to meet the Hunters. The Hunters, in turn, all point their weapons at him! Matt:"Relax. I'm on your side!" Avenger:"We don't need help from any rot!" Matt:"[Changes back to normal] I'm not this `rot' which you speak of. True, that in my normal state I can't see the evil zombies, but I still have basically the same personality I have now in my other form you witnessed. [Retransforms] So, will you accept my help or will you deem me to be nothing more than `rot'?" With this, Matt extends his hand. Judge was the first to speak. Judge:"I'm not about to turn down help." With this he shakes Matt's hand; the others soon follow Judge's example. Martyr:"So, do you have a name or will you settle for `rot'?" Matt:"[(Laughs) Changes back to normal] Call me Matt." Judge:"What be your creed?" Matt:"[Shifts back] Brawn. The name's Brawn, Guardian of Earth." Defender:"So, do you have anything in the range of weapons or `Edges'?" Matt:"I assure you...there is much more to me than meets the eye." Defender:"Like?" Matt immediately extends his Adamantium Blades and then just as quickly sheaths them.
Avenger:"I like you already." Matt:"I'm used to working with friends. I'm afraid that I can't consider you to be friends nor complete out alliance until we are properly introduced." Judge:"Father Esteban Cortez. Creed:Judge." Defender:"Samantha Alexander. Creed:Defender." Martyr:"Kassandra Cheyung. Creed:Martyr." Avenger:"Spenser `Deuce' Wyatt. Creed:Avenger." Matt:"Alright my friends. Let's show the rot who's boss!" Avenger:"I love this guy!" Suddenly, Judge changes the subject. Judge:"We aren't completely certain as to where our powers came from, but your's certainly came from God." Matt:"How could you tell?" Judge:"You are surrounded by an aura of holy, golden light. Despite your demonic looks, you are a truly holy person." Matt:"Coming from a priest, that means a lot." Everyone else agrees with Judge quickly.
Martyr:"Wait! There was a little girl that we were supposed to find here!" Suddenly, a well preserved zombie appears with a small, frightened looking girl next to him. Defender:"Release her you vile heathen!" Ghoul:"This is Kaylie. Get her to the church. Her parents are waiting." All of the Hunters point their weapons at him as soon as the girl is by their side. The Ghoul completely ignores Matt and stares right at the four Hunters. Ghoul:"Typical. I try to help you, and this the thanks I get. You think I can't see you shaking at the other end of that barrel? Do you think that I don't know that your brain is trying to process the horrible fact that...`OH MY GOD IT TALKS!' And if it talks...it thinks. And you can't stand that can you? When are you going to learn that you're not Hunters? You're sheep...with shotguns. You don't want me for your enemy, so take the help!"
Judge:"I'm sorry. I just don't think that we can trust you." He and the other Hunters loosened their grips just a little bit. When the Ghoul saw this, he continued. Ghoul:"Forget whatever happened last year; you've barely scratched the surface of this problem. Ghosts tend to be...territorial about places where they were used like cattle and then tortured to death. They're funny that way. Arkady's execution tore a hole into the land of the dead, and unleashed every pissed off convict that died in that place since 1931. I know you four think you actually accomplished something last year, but the truth is they went back to sleep on their own; there was no one left for them to kill. That was, of course, until this..." The Ghoul holds up a flyer for an all night rave on the anniversary of the execution. Ghoul:"So now they're out again, but this time they want everybody dead. The only way to stop them permanently is find the person or thing responsible for making that hole, and break them. If you do that, every rot in this town will be immediately and violently evacuated back to the other side. But, any living person not twenty miles out of town, dies with them. No favorites, no exceptions, the girl, her parents, everyone...will die! Instantly. You get it now? No second chances and no room for your stupid prejudice!" With this, the zombie disappeared, leaving Matt and the Hunters to ponder their next move.
