“Captain, we need to bring Christian’s Humvee back here ASAP!”

Caity looked up and found Ryan dashing out of the mansion. Her mouth hung open in shock. She has never seen Ryan like this. In fact, she didn't even know Ryan was capable of being worried.

Hemley realized the severeness of the situation as well. “Why?” He asked as he reached for a radio.

“There’s no time!” Ryan argued. “Call them back and I will explain.”

Hemley nodded and tapped a key on the radio. “Christian! Christian come in! Christian! Ava! Anyone! Damn it!” When there was no answer, he looked back at Ryan. “What is going on?”

“I just talked to the locals. They say there is a horde of Mutated Wolves around here. They are mostly dormant during the day, but they come out and hunt in the night!”

“Oh god…” Caity’s voice trailed off. The only reason they let a single Humvee with next to no defenses back to the Portal was because they thought they cleared up the road from here to the Portal. If there were hostiles in the region, the sound of the convoy would’ve attracted them into the open already. But if what the locals said was indeed true... “we need to reinforce Ava now!”

“Calm yourself.” Captain Hemley reassured. He was worried too, but as the commander, he didn't have the luxury of letting panic guide his decisions. His parents and grandparents have told him enough stories of how commanders paralyzed by fear lead their men into certain doom. “There are so many things that can result in a loss of communication. Maybe they got back to the Portal already.”

“We can’t bet on that.” Ryan declared.

“Indeed.” Hemley started thinking on the spot. “But let’s assume for a second the Humvee is indeed intercepted and destroyed, then what purpose can we serve if we move out? We will just be caught in the open and wiped out the same way. It will be better if we hold this ground and wait to march out in the morning when it’s safer.”

Caity bit her lips, but she couldn’t help but think what Hemley said was the best thing they could do. No point in throwing away their lives for someone that might already be dead...but that didn't stop her from feeling her heart sink. Ava. Christian. Katherine. They were all on that car. Were they just going to be abandoned?

But Ryan had something else to say. “I’m afraid we don’t have a choice. Captain, do you remember what General Kennedy said? If we fail to report back in 12 hours, the task force will be assumed to be destroyed. If that’s the case, they’ll just organize another squad...one that will have no knowledge of what’s going on here.”

“Or they will sit back and wait.” Hemley added, but he knew with the timer Section X was on, chances were they wouldn’t wait. They would simply send in another group of Phasewalkers with a much more careful method of operation. Only if they went silent as well would Section X reconsider.

“And if they do, the second squad may accidentally attract those mutated creatures to the Portal. We have no idea if those monsters can cross! If they can…”

Caity could feel herself holding her breath in dread. The rest didn't need to be said. This was a horde that ripped apart a world that has made it to the stars. If they came pouring through the Portal onto an unsuspecting Earth...soon, Earth would become the same wasteland World Alpha was, with the strong among the survivors preying on the weak.

Basically, it would become hell.

“We have to report back to Section X High Command.” She declared.

Hemley nodded. It was just a small possibility, but just that possibility alone was worth risking the lives of the entire squad to exterminate. He quickly issued a number of commands, and the Phasewalkers were sent scrambling into motion.

As they moved, Hemley suddenly turned to Ryan.

“The locals. Will they be a problem?”

Ryan’s eyes darkened. He knew what Hemley meant. “Some of the questions I asked them are too basic. They are common sense for this world. It’s possible for them to suspect we are not just another group of survivors.”

Hemley nodded slowly. “Our true nature cannot be revealed.”

Chances were, if Kaneton survived, then there would be other groups of survivors as well. On the off chance that the news of who the Phasewalkers really were got out...what would the other survivors do for a chance to go to a world untouched by the apocalypse? This would be a threat to future Phasewalker activities in this world.

As the commander of the vanguard, Hemley knew his job was to exterminate threats like this. Whatever the means.

Ryan knew very well what Hemley was asking. All he did was nod silently and walk away.

Minutes later, Ryan came out of the buildings again. The only difference was a couple of magazines strapped to his tactical belt were now empty.

Of course, it was obviously a better idea to take some of the locals back for questioning, but the Phasewalkers had 13 units and only two Humvees. It was a miracle all the Phasewalkers could fit on the rides. They didn't have the numbers to occupy the town either.

All the locals left here were militias who betrayed their own people. Either that, or townspeople who sided with the militias and chose self-preservation over doing what was right. Whether they did the right thing or the wrong thing was up to God to decide.

All Ryan knew was he didn't have a problem with sending these people to meet their judgment.

13 Phasewalkers were stacked onto the two Humvees. Nine men fit into the two cars. Ryan and Caity got on the back, along with two gunners who handled the Miniguns. The Phasewalkers had to do quite the pushing and shoving to navigate themselves around the mounted Minigun, but no one talked about removing the weapons for extra space, not when there were monsters outside in the dark, waiting to get them.

The Phasewalkers had to destroy the Minigun that was dismounted from the third Humvee so it wouldn’t be used against them by whoever that might stumble upon this camp. Whatever space left in the two vehicles were used to store the gauss weapons they acquired.

Finally, the two Humvees went on their way.

The two Phasewalker vehicles came to a screeching stop. In front of them, the third Humvee sat there, motionless.

Dead.

Apart from the two drivers and the two turret-gunners, 9 Phasewalkers poured off their ride with their weapons raised in caution. Caity led the charge as she ran right to the third car. As soon as she saw what was going on, she froze.

Christian laid dead in the driver’s seat. His hand still holding onto his M4A1, but that weapon didn't save his life. In front of him, something cut the windshield and the support beam into two. Cause of death? Well, his head was a distance away from the rest of his body.

Blood stained his green uniform into a dark red shade.

Caity wasted no time to ran to the passenger’s seat. The door was open, and she was terrified to see the medic, or at least what was left of her, on the ground. Ava’s decapitated head was three feet away. Her severed arm? Two feet beside that. Even now, god knew how long after departing from its body, her arm was still gripping onto the medic’s sidearm, a Glock 19.

A testament to the woman’s valor. She fought until the end.

“Ava...no…” Caity whispered. She couldn’t believe it! The woman who she was just talking to hours ago, who just wished her good luck, was dead. Not only so, but her body was also in a dozen pieces scattered all across the ground that even her mother couldn’t recognize.

She distinctly heard Ava’s words echo in her ears.

“My life for hers…”

“Good luck, sister.”

The back of the Humvee was the scene of a massacre. Bodies were torn into shreds so small even she couldn’t tell which part was from who. Caity felt her body fall against the side of the Humvee. Tears filled her eyes and she desperately tried to figure out which parts belonged to Katherine.

The girl that stole her first kiss.

“Thank you, thank you for saving us. You have no idea how grateful we are.”

“A show of appreciation. I will be waiting for you. Please, stay safe.”

Caity slammed her fist against the metal Humvee beam. For a moment, she has never been so angry at herself. She told Katherine she would be safe! She told her no one could hurt her anymore! Right before sending her straight to her death! She should’ve been here! She should’ve been here to protect them! Katherine and Ava and Christian...all of them!

On the side, all the Phasewalkers lowered their heads in both shock and mourning. If the weeks of training didn't form a bond between them, then the brief yet deadly battle definitely did. They walked through the Portal as one, but they wouldn’t go home in the same way.

Ryan bit his lips, but he did his best to keep a solid face. Slowly, he walked to the two decapitated heads and, carefully, removed the two hardware drives attached to the helmet cameras.

Christian and Ava were martyrs. They gave their lives in a foreign world, fighting against monsters until their very last moments. They honored the pact they made with Section X and the government. For that, they should be honored. The most he could do was preserve their last moments.

For a moment, the scene of the attack was silent.

One of the Phasewalkers who lowered his head suddenly found the ground moving. A look of horror barely made it up to his face before something emerged from the ground right under him.

“Help! Incoming!”

Caity turned around and watched as something dug its way out of the ground. It was around one meter in height. Grey carapace covered its body like a suit of armor. Its teeth and claws were like daggers. Its dark figure resembles a wolf back on Earth.

But it was no wolf. No...it was something far more deadly.

That creature had some blood in its teeth.

By the way...what sort of wolf hides in the fucking ground for an ambush?

The Phasewalkers quickly sprung into action. Within five seconds, that creature was riddled in a storm of bullets, but before it went down, the creature leaped onto the Phasewalker closest to it and buried its teeth deep into the Phasewalker’s neck.

“Damn it! Man down! Medic...“ Hemley’s call for help came to a sharp, sorrowful end.

But now was not the time for sentiment. Across the field, the ground started moving, and wolf after wolf started to pull themselves out into the open.

“It’s an ambush!” Ryan cried out. The level of intelligence in these wolves was incredible! They might feast on human flesh and blood, but they were definitely far from beasts. They must’ve sensed the two Humvees when they approached, so they dug themselves into the ground to catch the Phasewalkers by surprise!

The two mounted turrets finally had a chance to shine as two trail of bullets lashed down on wherever the ground started moving, but one of the turrets quickly went silent. As the gunner was firing, a wolf emerged from behind him and cut his head clean-off with a single swipe.

“Shit!” The driver of that Humvee kicked the door open and raised his M4A1 and started blasting at that wolf. Bullets collided with carapace, drawing countless sparks. The wolf charged forward fearlessly. The driver screamed, holding his ground and repeatedly pulling the trigger. Finally, the wolf collapsed as he emptied the last bullets in the magazine into his body.

Good to know these creatures were still killable. The driver thought as he turned around and found himself staring at the teeth of another wolf. This time, he wasn’t as fortunate. The wolf bit half of his head off. Skull, one of the strongest bones in the human body, cracked like an egg.

Within the first seconds, four Phasewalkers found their end.

“Fall back to the Humvees!” Helmey screamed as his automatic rifle kept on blasting. With clear, precise shots, he managed to hold back two of the wolves.

Caity raised her SMG and emptied half the magazine into three encroaching wolves. Using the time it bought, she reached into her utility belt and pulled out an incendiary grenade, removed the pin, and smashed it into the center of the beasts.

“Burn you dogs!” She screamed in endless fury.

The incendiary grenade exploded into a sea of flames that quickly engulfed all three wolves. The screams of agony from them was music to her ears.

“Use fire!” Ryan keenly noticed how effective those grenades were, and he quickly followed the example. “Form a barrier of fire! Buy us some time!”

Every Phasewalker here was the best of the best, and they showed why they were chosen for this mission while the others were not. After losing another 4 of their comrades, the 9 Phasewalkers left quickly picked up a new tactic. Incendiary grenades were tossed out across the field. The fires they generated forced the wolves to stop right where they were.

After emptying his stash of grenades, Ryan looked around. Suddenly, he lowered his weapon and ran up to Caity, who was blindly firing her SMG at the wolves in fury.

“We need to go!” He screamed, another rare sight. “Now!”

For the first few seconds, Caity didn't react. Only when he reached out and forced her to lower her weapon did she snap at him. Her eyes filled with rage. It was as if she wouldn’t stop until she kill every single mutated creature around here, and if Ryan wanted to stop her, she would take him out too. But Ryan stood his ground fearlessly.

“We have to go.” He repeated and pulled Caity into motion. Caity slowly nodded and followed.

Back at the Humvees, Hemley and two other Phasewalkers blasted the Mutated Wolf that killed the car driver into oblivion. After the initial shock of the ambush, the M240 machine guns and M32 grenade launchers started putting in the work. They were too few in numbers to turn the tide of the battle, but they could still handle individual wolves that got too close with ease.

There was no time for a clean seating schedule, so the Phasewalkers leaped onto whatever vehicles they could get. Hemley and four others went onto one Humvee while Ryan, Caity, Jack, and another Phasewalker called Henry got onto the other. Ryan found himself in the driver’s seat.

Caity gave the third, abandoned Humvee another look before the two surviving Humvees dashed out into the dark night.