A biter limped towards Badger, who approached with his two blades striking its head, yanking them out as the other biters shifted attention to him.

 

Swiftly jabbing with ease, Badger moved up the stairs, effortlessly toppling biters one by one. As he reached the top, a lone biter banged on the door.

 

Approaching, Badger plunged his blade into the biter's head, the sound of the blade connecting with the wood on the other side audible.

 

Badger pulled the body back, the railing breaking as he opened the door. Hayden held a bloodied knife, and Knox's blade was spotless.

 

"Are you two okay?" he asked, and Hayden nodded. "Mikey wanted to go with us to find some rabbit to eat." Knox began tearing up.

 

"Where is Mikey?" Badger asked, kneeling down. "They killed him," Knox responded, beginning to sob. "The biters?" he continued, and Knox shook his head.

 

"These people in camouflaged armor, they approached us claiming to be friendly. Then they fired at us, killing Mikey while we had time to slither away," Hayden answered for Knox.

 

Badger's eyes widened. "Can you tell me something about them?" he asked. "There was a guy with orange eyes; that's all I could make out before we were shot at."

 

Badger paused, staring at Hayden. "It’s them," he stood up. "Hora is onto u-" before he could finish, a shot rang out, hitting Badger in the upper arm. He let out a pained grunt and ducked down.

 

"Duck!" he hissed in pain as they ducked, bullets nearly missing them, hitting the wooden walls around them.

 

"Who’s that?" Hayden hissed back. Badger looked over. "He’s the commander, he runs everything," he whispered, listening for any noise from outside.

 

“We need to get out of here," Knox whispered. “I know. But just wait. We have no idea where they are,” Badger winced as he wiped his knife, then felt the bullet wound and checked for an exit wound.

 

"Okay, good. We got an exit wound," blood dribbled down his arm as he began bandaging. "Do you guys see anything in here that we could use?" Badger asked.

 

Hayden looked around, spotting a gasoline can in the left corner near a bed. "Here," he began to crawl over to it, pulling the gas can and sliding it to the middle, then digging into the drawers.

 

Hayden snickered as he pulled out a pistol from the top drawer, loaded with 8 rounds. "You want to pull some Home Alone shit?" Hayden looked back at Badger.

 

“I've got an idea,” Badger spoke. “Yeah, well, I do too. Save one bullet,” Hayden replied as he pulled out the clip and took out 7 bullets. “Take out the gunpowder,” he continued.

 

Badger looked at Hayden. “I was thinking of making a bomb too,” he responded. “We also need string, and something to rig the gun.”

 

“Brother, can you search the drawer?” He asked, and Knox nodded as he crawled over. Hayden handed the bullets to Badger as he began taking out the gunpowder.

 

Creating a small trail of gunpowder, Badger reached for the gas can and placed it at the front. Knox dug into the drawer and found elastic, string, and a shiny rock with a carved 'K' in it. “You told us that the military made those modified biters. If they can do that. We can do this,” Hayden spoke as Knox crawled over to Hayden and handed him the stuff.

 

“One of us is going to have to stand up,” Knox spoke.

 

“I’ll do it,” Hayden responded and crouched. Putting the clip in the gun, cocking it back. Badger looked at Hayden. “Be careful. Watch for the windows,” he answered and nodded.

 

He stood up and began rigging the trap. “Now we need something to fall onto the string so it can pull the trigger,” Knox looked around and pointed at a metal bucket. “Great, see. Being a scout does work,” Hayden grinned and snuck over to the bucket, grabbing it and returning back.

 

He placed it and attached a string to it that the soldiers would pull and knock the bucket. He looked at the string. “Are you sure it’ll knock it down?” Knox asked.

 

Hayden nodded and snuck over to a window, peeking. 

He saw no one and looked at Badger. “Let’s sneak out of here,” he spoke.

 

Badger snuck over and peeked out the window to make sure. He heard footsteps approaching from the other side. “Okay. This way,” he opened the window and jumped out, Hayden and Knox following closely.

 

Flashlights shined near the entrance of the cabin as they retreated into the bushes, looking at the cabin. A soldier grabbed the door and opened it, the bucket falling and landing on the string, pulling it back.

 

Hayden’s snicker grew as the bullet rang out, going clean through a soldier's foot and hitting the gunpowder, sparking it as the soldier screamed in pain.

 

A soldier tried to grab the other one as they looked at the sparks. “OH SHIT! RUN!” The soldier turned around as the gunpowder reached the gas canister, and then it ceased.

 

The soldiers paused and looked over at the entrance, still in close distance. “It didn’t w-“ suddenly the gas canister blew up, sending soldiers flying and killing a few.

 

A soldier screamed as they crawled away, no legs and on fire. “HELP ME!” He screamed.

 

Hayden looked at the scene before retreating into the woods, Badger led the way as Knox followed.

 

Meanwhile, in a dimly lit chamber where the air hung thick with panic, heavy breaths were closely followed by echoing footsteps. The door creaked open, casting a faint light upon the scene as the room brightened with the flick of a switch.

 

Illuminated in the glow was a stark white room, featuring an individual confined to a chair, tightly strapped. Black boots approached, a black trench coat billowing slowly, and a deep, ominous voice resonating through the space.

 

“You have betrayed me, old friend,” the deep voice spoke, causing the terror-stricken man to widen his eyes. “I’m sorry!” he pleaded.

 

The mysterious figure clicked his tongue and let out a small chuckle. “Oh, Brodie, I liked you. You were a cool dude, just... You had to keep your mouth shut. You failed the one and only thing.”

 

Brodie's breath quickened. “I won’t tell them. I won’t try to tell them ever again!” he stammered, attempting to move as the figure strolled over to a metal table, reaching for a syringe.

 

“I must say, I think you’ll become something new. Something we need,” the figure spoke as he injected a strange black liquid into Brodie, who struggled frantically. “NO NO!”

 

Brodie started to tear up, desperate to move as the figure walked away. “I’ll come back to check on you when it hits,” he declared, switching off the lights. “NO!” Brodie screamed, the room echoing with his agonizing cries. “IT HURTS!” Sizzling sounds emanated from inside the room, accompanied by occasional pops.

 

The door was then shut tight.