With Karina out of sight, laying waste to the dread wolves, it was up to Reece to do as much damage as possible to the stalled horde just down the highway from his position. He also needed to draw them into range of his launcher to inflict even more damage.

Reece couldn’t afford to let them figure out what was happening, so he placed the launcher on one of the upturned wheels of the minivan and grabbed the longer-ranged Spear rifle before running over to the other side of the highway. Then he got on his belly and low-crawled to crest the hill and aimed the spear down the slope, aiming high before unloading the entire clip into the mass of zombies from his elevated position.

As Reece fired into the horde, he could tell it was having a devastating effect. He made sure to sprinkle the incendiary rounds across the entire mass of undead to better spread the fiery chaos. It took their rotting brains a moment to figure out that they were under attack. He slapped in a second clip and repeated the act, spraying small explosions of fire and shrapnel all around the horde of undead. Several of the zombies noticed the muzzle fire up the hill. It did the trick and they started to charge.

Reece quickly rolled backward, out of view, and hustled back over to the minivan and holstered the rifle back in his Helios. Once the former astronaut had reached the minivan, he retrieved his grenade launcher. Weapon in hand, Reece peeked through the vehicle’s cracked windshield again.

The horde was much closer than he expected as the zombies were running up the hill as fast as their rotting limbs could carry them. He could hear their moans and strange screeches as they desperately looked for live flesh to chew on.

Wasting no more time, Reece popped off all twelve grenades into the group. The first two, he aimed at the highway just in front of the leading zombies. The two either blew the leading zombies away or at least slowed them down enough for Reece to retreat on the Helios. The rest, he spaced out for maximum impact on the horde, sending rotting body parts flying in all directions with each explosion.

Running back to the cycle, Reece holstered the grenade launcher and ramped up the power to the machine, which yanked him forward as he accelerated as fast as he could handle. Luck was with him, and he just cleared the blast area when shells from the armored vehicles began raining down across the entire highway.

The enemy fire obliterated the minivan and created several deep craters in the road and surrounding area as they exploded in numerous fiery blasts. Reece felt the weakening shockwave strike him from behind followed by bits of dirt and asphalt as they bounced off his back and helmet. He then checked behind him and noticed that the zombies hadn’t yet crested the hill after him.

He took the opportunity to reload his Spear rifle and M545 launcher. He slowly road his cycle back towards the mob while keeping his Spear at the ready. He saw that the main horde was in chaos, the jaguars were creating mayhem and confusion. Most of the zombies were headed back down the hill as if somehow, they had been called back.

Reece wondered if the Order had figured out how to control them somehow. Reece didn’t have time to consider the possibility for long, as the big cats would soon need his assistance. The behemoths were already on top of them as fat monstrosities had been the closest to the armored vehicles. While it was relatively easy for the cats to evade the lumbering giants, the tide of undead bodies flowing back to them was another story entirely.

Before the undead wave could crash over them, they retreated together, melting back into the woods as one. Reece’s eyes went wide as the entire horde turned as one back towards him as he rode the Helios to meet them. They screeched and roared in anger as they scrambled after him once again, this time having put eyes on their prey.

Reece’s rear-wheel squealed and smoked as he slid to a stop before the oncoming horde and pulled out the grenade launcher again, unloading most of another full clip of highly-explosive incendiary rounds across the entire front line of enemies before angling the weapon up and lobbing a few grenades into the lumbering behemoths for good measure.

Sliding the spent launcher back into its bike-mounted holster, he poured on the power and took off back up the hill while the scrambling zombies shrieked in frustration. This time, the remaining armed vehicles had a clear view of his cycle and launched volley after volley of explosive rounds towards the speeding solar cycle, leading him with their shots.

Narrowly avoiding a crater that appeared a few meters in front of him, Reece zigged and zagged his way back up the hill as he attempted to make himself as elusive a target as he could. Luckily, he avoided the worst of the explosions and shrapnel, though both he and his bike suffered some minor damage from flying debris created by the fiery blasts. Then he was over the hill and breathed a sigh of relief as he was out of imminent danger. It was time to regroup with the others, so he made his way back to the western bridge.

Karina was already waiting for him when he got there, but the rakshasas hadn’t arrived yet. Though splattered with blood and wearing now-shredded clothes, she seemed none the worse for wear. She had a smug little smile on her devilishly cute face as Reece pulled up to her.

Reece pulled his helmet off, feeling a light wind that was blowing across the bridge from the water that surrounded it. It felt good on his damp scalp matted with hair and hot and sweaty face that had resulted from the short but intense skirmish. While he enjoyed the refreshing breeze, he reloaded his grenade launcher again before speaking to the lilitu girl.

"I think your plan worked pretty well, but I think I discovered something we didn’t know before," Reece told her as he worked.

"Oh, what’s that?" she asked.

"I think the Order has figured out how to control the zombies, at least the ones in proximity to them. The horde acted as one, even retreating together to defend the armored vehicles from Angel and his pack," he explained.

"Well...that’s potentially grave news depending on the reach and effectiveness of this control," she said as she considered the implications of his words carefully. "We’d better hope it’s localized and limited if we’re to have any chance of defeating this enemy. Otherwise, they could just amass the millions of zombies together and unleash them like an unstoppable wave that will scour the land over and over until every trace of intelligent life is wiped out."

Reece blanched at the thought. It seemed to sober Karina as well. As they continued to discuss the situation, Angel and his pack came dashing up to them. They were running furiously before sliding to a stop in the dirt at the side of the road, kicking up dust and gravel at their sudden stop.

All seven were present, looking relatively unscathed. The big cat that was Angel pulled a large duffel out from under a bush near the bridge with his teeth and drug it over to his pack. As they each returned to their human forms, Angel opened the duffel and donned a black robe. He then handed out additional robes to each member of his pack so they could exercise a modicum of modesty.

Once changed and dressed, Angel’s pack seemed in high spirits.

"That was a good plan, Karina," stated Angel with a big smile on his face. "We were able to breach many of their vehicles. They were full of the Order’s human followers, armed to the teeth with guns. They never knew what hit them. I guess that we destroyed about half of their weapons and armored vehicles."

"Yes, that worked better than I thought it would," replied Karina. "I was able to dispatch the dread wolves as well."

"All of them?" asked Angle incredulously.

"That’s not hard to believe," cut in Reece. "I’ve seen her fight. It’s honestly a little scary.

"Still, we shouldn’t get cocky," cautioned Karina. "They know we’re here now and won’t be so easy to surprise twice."

"True, but at least there are a lot less of them to fight back now," said Reece optimistically. "I was able to take out a large number of the lead zombies and a couple of the behemoths as well."

"Not a bad start at all," agreed Karina. "However, the next battle will be at night, look."

Karina pointed off to the west. The group looked as one to see the sun drawing low on the horizon. They only had about twenty minutes of twilight left before nightfall.

"We need to set up several barricades on the highway for us to fight behind and slow them down a bit," stated Karina. "Without their wolves sniffing around, we should be able to lie in wait for them and attack them from the sides."

"Why don’t we attack them from behind again?" asked Angel. "That worked pretty well last time."

"They’ll be expecting that," explained Karina. "I know how men think. They’ll be grouped up in the center of the horde, using the undead to protect them from all sides now."

The group got to work immediately. Using abandoned vehicles, a couple of eroded cement barriers, and knocked over posts, they hastily constructed a few barricades. They even used a few makeshift manikins to enhance the ruse. They dressed and armed them, then placed them strategically behind the barricades.

Once their basic preparations were complete, the small band made their way back up the highway looking for a good ambush spot. A couple of miles down the road, Karina indicated they stop. The area seemed appropriate for a decent ambush. The tree-line was especially close to the highway here and the ditch was swampy, with grass and weeds growing tall out of muddy water. The highway itself was in serious disrepair and covered with debris, including a large green highway sign that had fallen to the asphalt of the highway and lay flat.

Seeing the fallen sign, Karina looked at Reece with a wicked gleam in her eye. The small band finished their tasks and took their positions, lying in wait for the horde to arrive.

Several minutes passed before the zombie horde came into view. Just like before, their smell proceeded them. As the mismatched horde of undead and armored vehicles rumbled over the stretch of the highway where the ambush had been set nothing happened at first. Dozens of zombies crawled or walked over the street sign while the woods and ditches around the wide road remained calm.

That all changed after the first large army troop carrier drove over the fallen sign that Karina had noticed minutes before. The zombies shambled on as the thin metal object abruptly slid to the side in the middle of them, revealing a diminutive figure that had been curled up in a pothole beneath it.

Grasping the edges of the two-by-two-meter metal sign that read "Kennedy Space Center, exit left - 2 Kilometers", the small figure spun around incredibly fast and let it fly. The spinning sheet of metal flew parallel to the ground, cutting a path through the tightly packed mass of zombies as easily as a scythe through wheat. Before the spontaneous weapon could even finish its devastating arc of carnage, a three-meter spear was in the small figure’s hands, spinning a wicked blur of blood and severed limbs in her wake.

As soon as Reece saw Karina release the street sign to its devastatingly bloody outcome, Reece lobbed grenade after grenade into the armored vehicles. He made sure to be careful to avoid Karina’s small form who was now busy battling the remaining behemoths with her gore-covered spear.

He was awarded with the sight of vehicle after vehicle exploding into flames, uniform-clad men trying to dive or crawl out of the fires with little success as they were already burning to death.

Taking the explosions as their cue, the seven big cats sprang from the tall grass and cut into the Z’s flanks from both sides, killing dozens before retreating to the tree-line and beyond. Karina cut a swath of destruction back out of the mob before it could recover and headed for the opposite tree-line before the Order could react.

After emptying three full clips of grenades into the armored vehicles, Reece fell back to his Helios that he had left waiting on a dirt frontage road and made his way back to the bridge to regroup.

"So far so good," thought Reece on his way back.

A deafening shriek echoed from the direction of the shrinking horde as Reece rode up to the bridge again and stopped, waiting for the rest of his small crew to arrive. He didn’t have to wait long, but they didn’t arrive alone. He immediately drew out his rifle and took aim as all seven of the rakshasas, as well as Karina, were locked in close-quarters battle with a creature that Reece had never seen before.

It had a humanoid torso and head, but its arms both ended in one-meter-long scythe-like appendages. Its lower body was shaped like an insect with a large segmented abdomen covered in boney plates. Six legs sprouted from the sides of the body, each of which also ended in scythe-like appendages which it used to move around and attack. One of the greyish-coated jaguars was down and bleeding badly and another was trying desperately to limp away from the fight, leaving a blood trail in its wake.

Even outnumbered eight to one, the creature was probably going to be a force to be reckoned with. Reece did the only thing he could and aimed at the creature with the Spear rifle, switching it to three-round burst mode and waiting for an opening. The jaguar-like rakshasas backed off a bit and Karina kept running circles around the creature, causing it to spin as it tried to track her. Every few seconds, it attempted to skewer her with one of its spikey legs.

As the thing turned around to catch Karina’s evasive form, it turned its back to Reece. He took the opportunity to squeeze the trigger, sending out three explosive rounds straight into the creature’s back. It shrieked in pain. Though injured by the attack, the beast was incredibly fast. By the time Reece released the trigger and pressed it again, the creature had dodged out of the way and he narrowly missed hitting Karina.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Karina brought her spear around in a wide arc and caught the creature off-guard as it had momentarily been distracted by Reece’s attack. One of its deadly arm-like appendages went flying and the monster shrieked in pain once again. It was deafening, especially as close as they were to it this time. It took the small group time to recover from the sound and the creature was able to regain its defensive posture.

Karina rushed it head-on, allowing it to deflect her attack as Angel’s large black form came in from the side and locked his jaws on the thing’s remaining forearm. It tried several times to shake him off, but he hung on stubbornly. The rest of his pack attacked the legs and abdomen while it had its attention focused up front between the lilitu and the overgrown rakshasa. Not wanting to hit any of his allies, Reece aimed for the highest point of the creature, its grotesque head.

The thing was moving around so fast that he had trouble even getting it into his sights, but one of the cats was able to bite through one of its rear legs, causing the creature to shriek piercingly again. Reece’s hearing was already ringing from the first time, so he barely heard the cry and was able to maintain focus. The creature held still for a moment as it cried out in pain.

Reece pulled the trigger. Only one of the three rounds connected, but that was enough. The creature’s head exploded when the small explosive round penetrated its mutated skull from the back and blew off half its zombified face.

As the creature collapsed in on itself, Reece got a look at Karina who had been fighting the beast on the other side. She was covered by the monster’s brain matter and was giving Reece a look that said that she was not the last bit amused by the assistance he had provided.

Smiling back at the miffed lady for a moment, Reece grew serious again as he scanned the rest of the area. No new enemies presented themselves, so Reece slung his rifle and assisted the rakshasas in helping the wounded. Three of their number had been seriously injured in the fight with the newest mutation they had just fought. After quickly assessing their wounds, Reece left them for a moment to consult with Karina.

"Can you give them your blood?" he asked the little girl as she irritably scooped chunks of gore and brain from her face and hair.

"No, I can’t. My blood is like poison to them," she informed him before pointing behind him. "But don’t worry, they heal quickly, look."

Reece turned around and saw that it was true. Two of the cats were already up and about, only one was still on the ground, struggling with pain. The pair approached the small huddle of rakshasas as some of them changed back into their human forms. They all had worried looks on their faces.

The still injured cat turned back into human form as well and was clutching at the wound in his side and gasping in pain. This was one of the two older men with greying hair, Kashi. He had been wounded by one of the creature’s front legs as he blocked the strike from hitting one of the other cats. The man grimaced in pain and grabbed his belly. Then his stomach started to flex and contort wildly, and he arched his back and screamed in excruciating pain.

It began growing larger until it burst with a sickening pop, spraying blood and guts everywhere around him. A similarly shaped but much smaller version of the creature they had just killed crawled from the gaping wound, letting out a baby screech that was still piercing to everyone’s ears. It started running off towards the woods to escape, feed, and grow.

It only made it about ten meters when Karina’s spear pinned it to the ground. She was on it in a second and removed the spear before bringing it back around and slicing the creature several times, effectively quartering it. The pieces of the baby monster quivered for a moment before deflating and going still, as thick brown ichor continued to ooze from each large chunk for a few more disgusting seconds.

An anguished cry came from behind them as one of the jaguar women knelt by the man. Her shoulders shook as tears streamed from her eyes. She had obviously known the man well, and now he had died horribly right in front of her.

Angel and the other female tried to console her as the remaining four rakshasas picked up his remains and began carrying him back to the space center for burial. The sad moment was a stinging reminder that no matter how much they planned or how powerful they became; the world was still very dangerous and many unknowns still awaited them.

The rest of the small group somberly crossed the bridge back into the space center and regrouped. Now, they would wait until the remainders of the enemy forces finally arrived. They had all hoped and even expected the force to turn back after having sustained such heavy losses before arriving at their base of operations.

At least the space center had been evacuated of everyone except for the fighters, and with any luck, the booby-traps they installed along the bridge would do their jobs as well. All the elders and children had been bused out the north-eastern exit while Reece’s small group had harried the enemy forces. Reece checked his equipment and reloaded while Karina, Angel, and the rest of the rakshasas prepared themselves as well. They didn’t have to wait long.

The still monstrous parade made its way across the bridge, letting the smaller zombies lead the way. As soon as the decaying body of a sundress-clad woman crossed onto the bridge, it hit a tripwire which activated an explosive and sent her and many other zombies flying. This repeated itself over and over as the enemy used the zombies as fodder by having them trip all the traps as they continued to advance.

Little did the enemy know that Karina had the idea to set up a second set of explosives that would be triggered by remote, which is exactly what she did once they were halfway across the bridge. The series of explosions knocked out two of the three remaining vehicles and hobbled all three remaining behemoths, all of which were already horribly wounded.

Of the hundreds of Z’s that the group had started with, only a few dozen remained. Over twenty human fighters for the center stepped onto the bridge with rifles, shotguns, and machine guns at the ready. They fired as one from behind cement barricades, tearing into the front ranks of the zombies as Angel and his squad of cats leaped from the waters surrounding the bridge to ambush the last remaining vehicle.

Reece backed up the fighters, who fired off headshot after headshot as the Z’s rushed them. A single Z got within two meters before it too lost its head. Karina mopped up the limping, lumbering behemoths as they proved no match for her and the scythe-like spear of destruction that she wielded.

With the attack all but over, the sounds of battle died down. Angel and his pack turned human once more to extract the remaining leaders of the group from the disabled vehicles. They pulled thirteen men from the three vehicles, several of them injured.

Marching along the bridge, they checked them for hidden weapons, finding a few blades but nothing else. The armed defenders approached the group of prisoners, guns drawn and pointed, waiting for any suspicious movement. Reece and Karina walked up just as the apparent leader began to speak.

"I hope you imbeciles are proud of yourselves. Do you think you’ve won here today? The masters of the Order sent us here as a distraction, but with orders to take out as many of you as we could..."

Reece noticed the men wore collars like Karina and Ciera when he first met each of them. They were almost definitely being controlled. For them to just give up at the end like this didn’t seem right. Reece was instantly filled with a sense of dread.

"Get away from them right now!" screamed Reece a moment too late.

Some of the fighters and cats backed off instantly out of an abundance of caution, while the rest stood confused by Reece’s shout.

An instant later, the leader smiled and shouted, "For the Order!" before grabbing his collar.

The other prisoners quickly made the same move. Then, almost in unison, they all yanked hard on their collars. The result was not an electrical pulse like Karina had experienced. Instead, a large explosion emanated from each of the controlling devices a split second later. Every prisoner was instantly killed in the violent inferno, but many of the community’s defenders...human and rakshasa alike, were caught in the powerful explosions. Not all survived.