Bravo team’s recon squad had alerted the rest of them about multiple heat signatures their drones had picked up. Signatures' size was similar to the monster they killed a while ago but this time they came in droves of approximately in hundreds about three kilometers from them near the base of a mountain. Everyone had packed up and was ready to go but Riley looked back towards where Eicel and her men had encamped. The cutting-edge night vision had proved its worth to them as it had a clear clean display on their surroundings compared to its predecessors.
Riley saw that they were panicking and immediately tried to hide inside their underground shelter. He felt his conscience gnawing at him and had the urge to help them out. Riley had asked the command center if he could try bringing in these people given the danger of the situation. He was given a go signal and was told to trash the plan at the last minute and prioritize the evacuation. He ordered the MRAP drivers to back out towards the camp running over the pitched makeshift tents in the process.
Riley immediately went out and yanked their door which hadn’t been nailed. He was greeted with screaming and a few spear attacks which he dodged in a nick of time. He pulled out a flashlight and illuminated their cave. He found some of them huddled up and some were guarding the entrance. They had a stupefied look on their faces as Riley pointed the light at them. He realized that he is unable to communicate due to the fact that Mem went home and left them.
Riley did what he could do and yank them outside to the dark especially Eicel and her siblings. The men resisted and shouted and was immediately disarmed, the tension between them had taken a bad turn but it looks like Eicel calmed them down with her words. He gave them the flashlight as an assurance which oddly seems to calm them down. They surprisingly fast to comply and everyone was out in under a minute.
“Princess? Princess, are you sure we have to do what he wants? He wants to capture us! I WAS RIGHT!” Her attendant said.
“We have nothing to defend ourselves, we had no choice but to get captured. If you want, stay here and see if you can survive the darkness. It’s the time of the year again and we had nothing for protection, these people could have left us to fend for ourselves.” Eicel said. “Look at their moving wagon, it doesn’t have beast pulling at it! It even had strange beams of lights on it unlike ours that had candles”. “Aren’t they strange, they had small lights with them too, they don’t look like explorers to me now! Look at their movements, fast and silent, like a trained……….hunters.” Eicel added as she continued to talk about their strange equipment she had noticed.
He then pointed his hands towards the opened MRAPs implying that he wanted them inside. They had been herded by Riley and his teammates inside, shoving them and packing them like sardines. They were cramped as fitting an extra twentyish person wasn’t the best of an idea. Leaving three persons, seatless. Riley asked two operators that had a shotgun to strap themselves above the MRAPs. He divided the Dragon's breath and Thermite slugs for all three of them to use against the monsters.
“God, we should have been provided with some JLTV.”
“Nah, it was the fuckin paperwork that delayed it.”
“You understand, we’re part of one of the biggest secrets in our century, right? They could only provide us with older hardware for now so zip it.”
The howling and the familiar cackles grew stronger as time passed and the eclipse had completely blocked the light of the other world’s star. The operators don’t seem to ignore the darkness which Eicel noticed. The light and comfortable seats inside the vehicle provided them with comfort amidst the cramped situation. The vehicles had started its engine and had scared their first-time passengers. They couldn’t understand what the strange men were saying but they kept staring at them, they wondered how these men can see in the darkness with something that doesn’t even have holes, Eicel, and her siblings clung to each other’s arms to offer comfort. The convoy started speeding away just in time the bravo operators had told them that the monsters had arrived. Riley could see them surrounding the dead monster. They produced a loud sound akin to a hyena but a hundred times more sinister. Like a cult, they chanted in strange sounds. Riley observed them until a few minutes they produced a deep hum and slowly moved, and was gaining speed until they gave chase. The miniguns spun firing their remaining bullets in an unrelenting assault. The barrels were red hot and persevered only to stop as the ammo had ran dry. Riley and the other two who were on the last three MRAP had set fire on the monsters. The fire had spread on the surrounding monsters due to the viscous volatile chemical but the numbers seem to not dwindle.
“Shit! Command, this is Riley of the alpha team, I need close air support now! We need those Apaches, we might not make it, ammo is almost depleted, over!” Riley barked. “Copy that alpha team, gunships will arrive in two minutes.”
Their passengers were more scared by the deafening sound of their weapons and had covered their ears. “Sister, I’m scared,” Lena said. “It’s okay Lena, we’re here we won’t let anything happen to you, these people might have saved us from getting eaten alive there if they weren’t kind enough to shove us here,” Eicel said as she hugged her sister. Her younger brother had clung tight on her who was sitting on the lap of one of the operators since it had been too crowded. The gunners of the MRAPs were using their rifles to shoot at the enemies that were eagerly chasing at them, they were handed by their colleagues with magazines after magazines as they were spraying in full auto. Their grenade launchers had helped them at thinning the herd of their devilish pursuer but they are far too many. The vehicle swerved on the sand as it roared its engine that was pushed to its limit.
“Fuck this! they’re far too man, if this continues, my gun will melt!”
"Have you seen a gun that melted?"
"Yeah, many times AR, AK's those meltdown videos on YouTube."
A few seconds later, the faint sound of their savior can be heard. The rotor’s sound had grown louder and louder as they draw near even drowning the sound of the MRAP’s engine.
“Recon team, this is Hunter 01, do not stop moving and head straight to the gate, over, you’re two kilometers out, we got ya covered, good luck.”
“Thank god, finally.”
“Command, we had visuals on the enemies. Engaging the targets.”
“We’re engaging the enemies now, careful not to hit the convoy.”
“Holy shit, what the hell are those!?”
“Only thing is we had to kill them, no questions for now.”
The squadrons of apache had started their own assault hovering back and forth, covering the retreat of the recon team.
*TATATATATA*
The 30 mm chaingun had been raining hundreds of rounds at the monsters. Rockets simultaneously flew out, blowing up all the unlucky bastard that was unfortunate enough to stand on its way, leaving flesh and gore on its wake. Hellfire missiles left craters on the sand filled with blood and flesh. By the time the Apaches had run out of ammunition, they already thinned out as much as they can but there are far too many but they soon slowed down and noisily fell back into the eerie jungle.
Eicel’s POV
The strange men who claimed to be explorers left and it looks like their insect companion left them and flew somewhere. I saw strange men wearing grass and plants appearing from nowhere and climbed up their carriage. The person I spoke to earlier had been talking with another person when the skies grew dark. I looked up but then realized the situation we were in. it was already the time of the year where the moons block the light which happens every five years. Monsters would grow more vicious and would band together to attack settlements and even cities if they had the chance. Back home, festivals associated with the phenomenon was popular since the abundance of materials and good harvest falls around this time of the year. The cold breeze from the sea, send chills down my spine, a sign of our cruel fate. I ordered everyone to settle inside, it was pitch black but at the very least, we felt safe down there or so we thought.
The entrance had been removed and a person came in carrying a strange object that produced light. In a blind panic, my men started swiping their spears but were easily blocked. I thought he was to capture us since he dragged us out. My close aide protested but then I silenced them. The man pointed us to their carriage and packed us inside, they even disarmed us with our weapons. They were nothing like an explorer, they moved differently. The sound of monsters draw near as seconds passed, we were left with nothing but our clothes since we could not take anything with us and inside their wagon, strangely they didn’t put us in shackles and even sat beside us. My little brother sits on one of the strange men, they were calm like it was nothing and it looks like the person doesn’t mind my brother.
Strange animal sounds grew louder, filled with malice.
Soon the carriage moved. Everyone’s eyes widen including me. It looks like it uses magic to move by itself, I was lost in my thoughts when a loud sound echoed, followed by a continuous explosion. Shouting can be heard among my companions but the strange men were still unmoved and calm. A few minutes and they took out a metallic box filled with a sharp object protruding on top of it, they handed it to someone standing whose upper body was exposed outside. Whenever there was an explosion, small pipes drops along with the metal box were dropped on the floor. I think it had something to do with their weapons, then there is this smell of pungent concoction filled the cabin, I could not discern what it was but it smells like burnt chemical. Then seconds passed, we could hear something, it sounds like large beasts flying near us, followed by sounds of bigger explosions.
Riley and the other two with him who strapped themselves on the MRAP sighed in relief, they were almost out of ammunition and the eclipse is almost finished.
“Goddamn! We almost went to destination fucked!”
“Damn right we were.”
Riley sighed, he looked around, he chose to keep quiet and took notes regarding his observation on the behavior of the monsters.
The light shone brightly as nothing happened, they cheered but then it was short-lived. A second eclipse was onto them and it looked like it will take way longer than before, they couldn’t afford another assault especially when they had passengers.
“Ah, shit! Here we go again!”
A few pale ones appeared shouting and swinging their weapons. A few bullets in the head took care of them whenever they appear. The rest of the trip was uneventful and they had an easy time.
luckily they were just under a hundred meters away and they were successful to cross to the other side. They closed the gate and the recon team and their stow was immediately sent to the quarantine facility for check-ups, especially their refugees which will be subjected to an intensive observation.
I'm bookmarking this
Thanks for the chapter
Good