Chapter 36:

9:54 pm.

*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!*

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"HEY, I CAN'T KEEP HOLDING THEM!" Peter shouts through the intercom, the high winds make it difficult to communicate.

"KEEP HOLDING! I'VE GOT MY HANDS FULL AL⸺! DUCK!"

*GUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!*

With almost precise unison, all three ducked as best as they could as 4 long sharp objects swung over her head. The owner of such terrifying weapons tumbles and rolls, before springing backup and continuing its pursuit.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE MORE OF THEM!?" Peter shouts as he aims his assault rifle and starts shooting. To which they dodge almost immediately.

The race to Lowee hasn't been long, with only limited visibility, even a well-trained dirt biker would have trouble going through. Plus, the terrain is rough, a sign of a healthy forest, but also a sign that there's a lot of roots sticking out of the ground.

They jump from tree to tree at blurring speeds, despite being slightly larger than an average male, they're thin enough that they can hide between the bushes and trees. Their steps are as soft as cotton, even when running at full speed, they almost don't make a sound. Coupled with their growl resembling a maniacal laugh, it makes fighting them in the forest a terrible mental game.

The Commander was right, fighting them in the forest tilts it to theiradvantage.

"Shit! I can't tell how many are there now!" Peter shouts as he continues to bring suppressive fire, keeping them away as much as he can.

"Just keep shooting! I'll think of something!" Jason responds.

"Make it quick! I'm going to run out of ammo soon!"

The bike roars through the dense forest of Lowee as it jumps over a root that's sticking up from the ground. Jason looks up, checking their distance away from the city. Over at the horizon, he can barely make out the signature building of Lowee. If he were to stretch out his hand, it'll be the size of his index finger.

Acknowledging that they're still far from the city, he lands the bike cleanly before twisting the gas.

There are almost no shortcuts to go to Lowee, only a straight ahead through the thick branches and leaves. Stopping and clearing their pursuers isn't an option either. But recklessly going through at high speed is suicidal. With 3 people on the bike, he doesn't have that much control on the bike's balance as much as he wants to.

"How long can you hold them!?"

"I can't!" Peter answered almost immediately.

"Fuck!" Go back? No time, plus, he doesn't know how many of them are there. Go straight? But they'll run out of bullets before they could even reach Lowee. There's too many of them.

"Nurse! Do you still have some monster bait left!?"

"Eh! Uh‒I do!" Compa stammers at her answer as she dives her hand into her bag.

"Hey! Hey! Don't tell me what I think you're gonna do!?"

"I AM!"

"FUCK! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T MAKE THIS WORK!"

Jason swings the bike to the thickest part of the forest. The branches and leaves scratch, slap, poke, and smack at them. Compa buries her face under her arm, her eyes shut tight. Jason keeps one eye open, bobbing his head as he drives straight through towards the dark.

*GUHIHIHIHHI!*

*HAHAHAHAHAHA!*

The creatures chasing them laugh. They laugh at their helpless prey as they jump from tree to tree with relative ease. Following the scent was worth it, as their prey exudes the smell that they cannot resist. Their monstrous nature let out in full display.

Putting power in their legs, theyweave through the maze of the forest. Without delay and wasting energy, they focus solely on chasing the food before them riding a paraphernalia that could topple at any time.

Theirfood fires their weapon and small objectsfly through from the barrel and towards them. Even in the thick of the night, their vision is as clear as if it was day. They, without delay, swing left, avoiding the weapon's line of fire. The small projectiles miss its mark, hitting only tree trunks and bushes.

Itcharges straight through the darkness, using only the light from the motorcycle as its guide.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

It ducks, jumps, flips, lands, and then leaps towards them. The meal holding the weapon quickly points at it.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Kh! How the fuck are they dodging in mid-fucking-air!?" Peter shouts as he scans the forest.

From what he can tell, there's only 4-6 of themchasing. Even when they turned to the thickest parts, their speed didn't falter. Even if his field of vision wasn't reduced by the night vision goggles, he still wouldn't be able to scratch one of them, let alone hit them.

"Just keep shooting!" Jason says through the intercom.

"Dammit! I was saving these bullets for later!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

He shoots at the abnormal beings from the underworld. Theyweave through the hail of lead, and stone, and wood as though they've seen it all. Peter tries to shoot theirlegs instead, but that also proves to be futile as they simply move their limbs at the right time before the bullet hits. Are there really no weaknesses to these things?

One of them jumps at him again. He quickly points the rifle at it and fires. However, it suddenly gets pulled to the side dodging the–

*GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHHIHIHI!*

Something suddenly flies across his vision.

"WOAH!" on instinct, he pulls himself away, dodging the attack. One of them lands at his left side.

"Fuck–! Oi! They're getting closer! Compa use the bait already!"

"Not yet! Hold on just a little longer!"

"You fucking–! Fine! If I die, I'll fucking haunt you!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

11:11 pm.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me⸻!"

IF ducks the moment another one of them jumps at her.

The moment it lands behind her, she steps and turns towards the window.

*GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!*

It charges at her like a bull. Stomping onto the floor with as much force as an actual bull, shaking the floor with each step. IF makes a break for it, however, it was already dangerously close to her. Without giving her any time to think, it lunges at her.

As she steps forward, she leans forward as far as she can with her only planted leg taking the full brunt of her weight. It passes overhead, as her knee bends as low as she can.

"Kh!⸻!?" Something opens up, she doesn't know what. Suddenly, a surge of pain hits her despite being on painkillers, one of her wounds has opened up.

As the thing lands on the other side, IF resumes putting her other foot forward, dashing towards the window. She covers her face with her arms before launching herself towards the window.

*KSHANK!*

Glass shards scatter around her as she goes through. Right below her, she notices soldiers stacking up onto the door of the building. The soldier's below cover's the face and eyes from the glass shards. As she falls, She quickly looks behind her.

"⸺!" And see its open mouth right at her face. She reflexively swings her knife at it. But the moment she does so, it dodges the attack. Its body suddenly gets pulled away in mid-air and landing onto the roof of the building in the process.

"KH⸻!" Noticing that she's still falling, she brings her knees together and slightly bends forward, turning herself into a ball as she falls towards the next building on the other side of the street.

*KSSHKKSKSHK!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*

"KH⸻!"

She smashes onto the wooden floor, hitting her side and opening another wound. Blood quickly forms in her mouth as her body rolls across the floor from the momentum of her fall.

"CH⸺!"

The moment she stops tumbling, she quickly pushes herself up before a sharp pain on her side stops her in her tracks.

"FUCK⸻!" The pain reminded her that her painkillers wore off and with how rough she's treating her body, the stitches her only remaining friend made are at their limit.

*THUD!*

"GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"

"SHIT—!" But before she could even reach out and drink more painkillers, that thing landed into the other end of the hall staring and smiling maniacally as though it had already won its meal.

"Kh!" She brings up her knife, knowing it'll charge at her. Despite being able to dodge anything thrown at it, a close melee fight gives the best chance of killing it.

*TNG!* *TNG!* *TNG!*

"A smo—!"

*SKSHHHHHHHHHHHH!*

Edited by: TMCraze, Verthin