0300hrs September 13, 2787

Fort Emily, Forward garrison

8th Light infantry division

Headquarters

8 miles from Harkov, Jazal county

Maj.General Yevgeny Petrovich Von Himmel

8th Light infantry Division Commander's Office.

A man wearing a spiffy black shirt and a peaked cap with a wolf insignia sits in a corner of the room. The office has a darker tone to it and is adorned with the remains and bones of creatures too hideous to look at. The walls were colored black, and the windows were circular. The place was eerily quiet, and despite the man's presence its as quiet as a cell without an inmate.

A knock can be heard as another man with a cap opened the door. He was a middle-aged man with the bearings of a brigadier general. The two Silver knives were pinned in his shoulders. He had deep-seated eyes, a sharp nose, red hair, pronounced chin, pale skin, and a fair build. Though his beauty is mediocre, what sets him apart is his skin and eye color. A sign of albinism. His pale pink eyes broke the hearts of many a schoolgirl due to his rare nature. But in his eyes, lies the look of a sad wolf.

The man in the corner stands up and looks at him. He immediately reached for his desk, as he placed the folder he held in a drawer. He looks at the other man as silence loomed throughout the room. After a second or two he signals the man to come forward.

The Brigadier General complied and placed a folder filled with files on the desk. He looked at the other man's shoulder: Major General, a reminder of his debt to this man.

"Well done Harold! It appears that we wouldn't even have to worry now about that mess." The higher ranked officer said.

"By all means commander. We lost nearly a squad, just to reach that objective!" The lower-ranked officer said.

"It took us three years to reach this far Harold. At least humor yourself." Came the reply.

"Permission to speak freely sir!" The man spoke.

"Permission granted Harold." The Major General said.

"By all means Yevgeny! We have gone too far, yet gained too little. How can you be so sure that this strategy of yours can turn the tide? It's been three years Yevgeny! And we lost nearly 40% of our forces in the process! Brig. General Harold Heralda said.

"Harold! The number of sightings in the city has lessened by 90%. This is better than any year before! We are winning this silent war already." He quipped.

"But with every victory, bleeds us dry!" Harold said anxiously.

"Harold! We destroyed two nests, eight hideouts, and nearly 300 lurkers in a span of two days for the cost of five men. Get a spine, Harold! Your father lost a battalion trying to get this far." He said as he approached a catalog near the desk and requested a file. "I know that you're concerned about the casualties, so am I. But if we go with your plan, we'd lose more and perhaps all of our forces." He added.

"How can you be so sure? We all know that to kill a snake, is to kill its head! Even if we lose the entire division, the 17th Heavy infantry division can still fill our place!" He said as he was interrupted by a rebut.

"The 17th is inexperienced. Not to mention, they're as green as we were twenty years ago! A thousand Lurkers could kill them all in a night! Especially the ones we have here". The commanding officer said. "Harold I know you are brilliant, I served with you for years. Ever since we were lieutenants I knew you were special, but as of now, we can only play the waiting game. He added.

" Yevgeny, the 17th Combined arms division is the first of its kind to place emphasis on Search and Destroy in Azuna. We can theoretically wipe entire nests in just hours with their help." The subordinate said.

"And we were a garrison Division specialized in Defensive warfare, turned special tactics and covert operations in a span of three decades. We outrank them in both experience and capabilities for heaven's sake. We are the best at what we do, we were the only division to last here for thirty years Harold." He said. " If we are to destroy the main nest and follow your delusional professor's Theory. We'd be better off, strapping bombs on every building in Azuna because the Cavalry can't hold them off." He added.

Harold took his eyes away from his commanding officer and silence loomed once more.

" Remember when we were down to only twenty percent of our strength, and you told me to play the waiting game. All those years in the academy were nothing compared to the plan you proposed that made us generals in a fortnight. You told me to play the waiting game and we saved the city." Yevgeny said. " I know you nearly lost your nephew eight times, but I nearly lost my daughter four times as well. A wrong move could end all of Azuna if we would be just as brash as you are! I don't know why you changed all of a sudden. But a faux pas is not an option." He added reassuring his respect.

The machine ticked, and a piece of paper appeared from the opening. The Ranking officer inspected it and presented it to his subordinate.

"You can't be serious! You've done it already!" Harold said in an alarmed voice.

"Yes, and this is the sixth so far."

He looked at Harold with his eyes and eyebrows highlighting the mundane.

"What? Did you think that I didn't think of this before! Ever since we gained the initiative, I planned to end the threat. That piece of paper is the source of my pessimism." He said.

"Thir-thirty two dead in six missions, all failures. What the hell Yevgeny! Why wasn't I, no why wasn't anybody informed? Harold replied with shock.

"I'll tell you why. Because they're secret missions. I created a special unit, meant only for that purpose. Despite the losses, they're currently the best unit in combating the plague." He said.

"That did not answer my question!" Harold replied.

"Well, how do I put it. Well JA! During the near-sacking of Harkov, three Biologists specializing in studies surrounding the plague asked my permission to procure three enemy corpses. Since they carried the necessary documents for such an act, I gave them. In the condition that I get a copy of the manuscript." He said before pausing to gaze on a folder garnished with a broken magazine on the side of his desk.

" What came out was shocking, that I myself commanded them to uphold an oath of silence concerning the matter." He said sadly.

" The lurkers can obtain the memories of whoever they consume." He added.

" Moy Bozhe! You can't be serious!" Harold replied.

No reply came from his C.O's mouth. Instead what followed was a moment of silence between the two: one with a messy face, the other his eyes closed and mouth shut.

A tick came from the machine and his eyes opened. He took the paper and gave it to Harold and spoke:

"Harold prepare the troops, prepare yourself, and whatever you do just get ready. This will be very terrible autumn."

Harold cringed as he read. Yet rather than tremble, his faced seared red.

****

"Blaze six, this is Blaze one. What's the status in there?"

"Blaze one this is six, still cleaning the place with the engineers. We found some odd ones here."

"What odd ones six?"

"We found some sort of a test tube baby, but it's not human. It's similar to a chimera but we've never seen anything like it!"

"Six! Say again! Did you see a Chimera?"

"One, I repeat! Found chimera like creature in this sector"

"Copy that six. Anything else you want to report?"

".............static...................................................."

"Blaze six, this is one. Come in over."

".............Static.......Static.........re.........at......"

"Six! this is one. Repeat your last, over!"

"-----------------------------------------------------------"

"Six! this is one. Repeat your last, over!"

"..........................................................................."

"Six! this is one. Repeat your last, OVER!"

".........................................................................."

The radioman looked at his piece suspiciously. He then looked at the window overlooking the mountain where the troops are currently stationed from the command bunker. The weather was fine but the electronics are not.

" Four, this is one. Are you in there over?" He checked another frequency.

"......................................................................" Nothing but pure static.

"Five, this is one. Are you still there over?"

"......................................................................"

"Six, this is one. Where the hell are you?"

"....................................................................."

"Seven, this is one. What's the sitrep over?"

"..................................................................." With those gone, only two teams left: Blazes eight and nine.

"Two, this is one. Are you still there over?"

"One, this is two. The sector is quiet, over?"

"Thank god, I thought you were gone."

"What? What happened to the rest Blaze one?"

"I can't contact four to seven. It seems that they're gone."

"Repeat over? Four to Seven are gone?"

"Roger, Blazes Four to Seven are gone. I can't contact them."

"Better wake the colonel for this. I'll check three and eight. Over."

"Copy Blaze two, over and out."

****

"Blaze one, this is two! We managed to contact blaze nine. Four to eight are gone. Repeat, four to eight are all gone! They were attacked by humanoids with Civilian plasma guns, I repeat! Humanoid hostiles!"

"Blaze two, this is Colonel Juarez. Can you still contact them?"

"Affirmative colonel, they are pinned and waiting for orders."'

"Anything else they are saying?"

"I didn't get that sir? Over."

"Anything we need to know?"

"Yes, those humanoids are handlers! They are using the Lurkers as tools like a pack of hounds or dogs on a hunt. The boys there are overrun, sir!"

" Send them the message to hold their ground or fight a fighting retreat. Whatever the enemy thinks they are good at, Our boys have already memorized the place."

"Yes sir! Over!"

"And tell them, help is on the way."

****

"Hit the deck!" A soldier in his smart suit jumped out of the cover into a shallow foxhole to his left. The sandbag he was using for protection melted into magma in a second. "Those are no longer civilian plasma! Those are anti-armor!" he exclaimed straight into the jumped frequency that is the rad space of his unit. Of the twelve who came with him, only four remained alongside the two remaining support units; a biologist and an engineer. Everyone sent their weapons blazing!

The Zappers of the Azunians screamed in semiauto. The Plasma weapons of the OpFor were also screaming the burned remains of whatever they touched.

An Azunian trooper sent covering fire only to lose his pinky. His finger melted right in front of him but he didn't flinch nor cry.

The OpFor units were very good. They were capable of sending concentrated fire upon the Azunian positions while jumping from cover to cover. Though the Azunians managed to kill or wound a few every now and then they still had the numerical advantage. The only reason why the troopers were still alive is because they were fighting in a very narrow tunnel near one of the exits. To the troopers, every second counts. Those non-combat units carried information that they desperately needed, if those two won't make it out the forces of Azuna would be caught unaware in the next couple of months. To them, nothing else matters, only that those two would make it out.

Boooom! A massive plasma cannon carried by a huge man in robes blew one of the troopers out of his mode of cover. Those sandbags melted and the ball of plasma melted him in front of his team mates.

The sergeant, feeling irked by the sight of losing a squad of veterans to a rushing mob decided to pull out and defend the next position when a single ballistic round shot through him and out of his heart. The man collapsed after his heart was pierced by a railgun the size of a Lebel rifle.

Two of the troopers immediately turned to face the hostiles that were right behind them but were cut down by an HMG in the hands of another huge guy. The last trooper faced his fate and shot to rapid bursts before his entire left arm was sent flying by a massive round from a pistol. He swirled to his left as the remaining force made his body turn like a top before laying face first on the ground.

The Trooper, no older than 28 looked and saw the massive guy with an HMG burnt to a crisp by his desperate shot. But the next person the look at him made him tremble. It was the one with the pistol, and it was huge.

The man was no older than 19, but in his face were the remnants of a bygone age. His grin and terribly villainous smile reeked of pure evil. Nobody can truly admit that this man wouldn't do something terrible.

He aimed his massive pistol at the trooper with a satisfied smile on his face and pulled the trigger. His bullet never reached the trooper, his body was cut in half by a laser beam.