Claire's chest felt tight as she sat between the two people in uniforms. What made it worse was how most of their body was covered by the outfit. She wasn't sure whether the gear counted as an armor, though Claire didn't know what else it could be. As the vehicle bounced around, it was apparent, by the thick trees on either side of the car that they were no longer in the area she grew up in.

“Speed up!” The woman next to Claire yelled at the driver, breaking the long silence.

“U-u-understood!” The man acknowledged the order, though his voice revealed his feelings of apprehension.

A jerk could be felt as the car sped up. It gave the feeling of them spinning out of control and crashing into the nearby trees.

“You sure about this, Gia?” The man asked.

The woman, named Gia, was quiet and ignored the man.

Seeing that Gia wasn't going to acknowledge him, he just grunted and looked out the window. “Ace, how's it looking up there?” The man asked.

With how he was just looking out the window, Claire was confused by his words. She heard the rhythmic whirring behind her, as the person on the gun turret was turning. It was then that she realized that the guy was likely asking the guy on the turret.

The man was silent for a while before he said, “Those people probably messed up, trying to copy what those guys in the medical and science divisions were cooking up.”

“Yeah. I don't know what they were thinking when publishing the information to those academic journals for the world to see. Those two division and their lofty ideas.” He grumbled.

Hearing what the man was saying had confused her. “Medical and Science? Is this connected to what was presented at the convention? And what does he mean about ‘those people’?” She wondered to herself.

Claire wanted to ask the woman the thoughts going through her head, but the woman's mouth made Claire think that the Star and Moon security lady was tense. With how all of their uniforms were like, Claire was only able to see the people's mouths.

Being in a stressful situation, Claire wished that Hannah was next to her. Having Raven here would be good too since she could ask Raven what was happening and why everyone was behaving so oddly.

Looking out the front window, Claire felt a little dizzy seeing how quickly they were moving through the night.

“We need to go faster!” Gia yelled at the driver.

“Faster?!” Claire inadvertently said, regretting her words.

“We can't!” The driver yelled back. “I'm already going as fast as I can!”

“You better hope we're able to get through the net that those things have made!” Gia sounded annoyed though not at the driver.

“No! They don't realize what they're doing, but with how quickly it's spreading… it might as well be a net.” Gia whispered the last part.

“Who's chasing us?”. Claire built up the courage to ask.

Gia was silent on her question as if refusing to interact with her.

“It can't hurt to tell her. She is bound to find out.”. The man next to her said.

“We have our orders, Jake,” Gia said.

Jake snorted at Gia’s response. “There's no order specifically preventing us from telling the assets.”

“One, there isn't any orders that say that I need to tell her anything, and, two, this girl isn't an asset. Her parents are.” Gia snapped.

Jake sighed at Gia's attitude. “Sorry, kid, but Gia's the squad leader, meaning in this vehicle she's the boss,” Jake apologized to Claire.

“Is my family going to be okay?” Claire asked.

Placing his hand on Claire's head, Jake said, “Don't worry, kid. That's why we're here. We're not like the military, meaning we actually do and complete our assignment.”

“What's the Lamia Division?” Claire asked, remembering the name from inside the van. Raven had been surprised at hearing the name.

Jake's right eyebrow went up slightly at heading Claire's question. “We're the Lamia Division." He pointed to the patch on his shoulder that had the picture of a woman with a snake's tail, as she held a bow knocked with an arrow. "People contact us when something bad could happen, or it already happened,” Jake said. “Where'd you hear that name from?”

Claire shook her head, realizing that she could get Raven in trouble. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Gia reacted to Claire asking such a question.

Jake chuckled at Claire's reaction. “Gia, you've really made this girl scared of us,” he poked fun at the woman.

“Instead of being distracted, how about you do your job,” Gia said.

“If they show up, Ace will let us know. All we need to do is follow the squad in front of us. We even have the Arachnia Division scouting for us. I think you're worrying about nothing. Right, Ace?”. Jake joked.

There were two banging sounds, coming from Ace.

“See?”. Jake said, sounding nonchalant. “With Ace looking out for those things and at the rate we're going, we'll be at our destination in a couple of hours.”

Even though Claire was anxious about the situation she was in, the man named Jake was helping her calm down about the situation. She wondered if he intended to make her feel more relaxed. When she looked up at him, she saw him grinning and caused her to laugh.

“It’s good to see you laugh. I know that this is probably a scary situation, but you don’t have to worry. All of us here, including Gia, will protect you and get you to your destination safely.” Jake comforted her. “Right, Gia?”

Claire waited in silence for a moment, before she heard Gia say, “Yeah. You’ll be safe, kid.” Hearing those words made her feel comforted.

------

“What’s the update?” Jackie asked her teammate.

“They'll be soon seen in a short while. The military guys will be the first to spot them.” Lacy, her partner in the squad, explained.

Jackie groaned at the idea of having those people in the military out there. The only reason why they had to deal with these people was that someone higher up ordered them to play nice.

A hushed giggled sounded over her comms, followed by a fellow squad member’s voice. “You should see how nervous these soldiers look. Are they crazy? They’re just on the ground waiting for those things to come.”

“Lulu! Stop goofing off! The squad leader told us to be away from those idiots!” Lacy criticised the Lulu.

Jackie could just imagine Lulu hanging upside down on one of the branches, right above the soldiers.

“I could just drop down on top of them, Lacy,” Lulu said in a slightly panting voice.

Smacking her forehead, Jackie could only shake her head. Everyone in the squad knew that Lulu had a couple of bolts loose in her head, though it did make her crazy efficient at her job. Though… “This isn’t an assassination mission!” Jackie yelled into the comm. “Get back here, now!”

Instead of hearing Lulu confirm that she understood, there was only silence.

“Seriously, Lulu. I don’t want to get in trouble just because you like to cut things.” Lacy begged.

The line was silent for a moment, before Lulu whispered, “Sorry, I got front row seat to the show. I have eyes on the targets.”

“Shit!” Jackie said. “They’re moving faster than we thought. We should have had another twenty minutes before the soldiers made contact.” Thinking about the situation, Jackie continued, “If you’re there, at least share your feed with us.”

Instead of just seeing the forest around her, Jackie now saw half of it get covered by a request to view an incoming feed. There was a brief moment of disorientation.

“Of course she was upside down,” Lacy cursed.

Shaking her head to get rid of the feeling, Jackie saw the soldiers clumped together and ignoring the concept of spacing. They looked like they were talking with one another, likely complaining about their duty. Movement in the corner of the feed made her look towards it.

“Hey, Lulu! Look over to where the movement is.” Jackie told the girl.

“But I’m going to miss their reaction,” Lulu whined. “Look at how unaware they are. They are just casually discussing things that aren't as important as those things are approaching them.”

“Just do it. You and your weird idiosyncrasies…” Jackie had a strong desire to strangle the psychotic woman.

Jackie watched as the feed changed to get a better view of those things.

“They look like regular people,” Lacy remarked. “How were they able to move as fast as they did. This whole thing is weird.” She said to Jackie.

“Which is why it's even more important that we do our job properly,” Jackie said as she observed the creatures.

The way the people moved reminded Jackie of predators, instead of mindless creatures as seen in the movies. What gave them away was their facial expressions. It looked like they had a mask that mimicked a human face, with how expressionless it was.

Lacy shuddered and said, “They look so creepy. What did those people do? Do you think it was us?”

“I doubt that. If it was us… all of this would have happened sooner during the trials before the medical and science divisions published the article in those journals. A buddy of mine walked me through the article, and he was surprised at how much detail we put into it.”. Jackie shook her head and denied Lacy's thought.

Deep inside, Jackie couldn't deny that the thought did cross her mind, considering what Star and Moon is capable of. Two things removed her suspicion, which was the understanding of the timing of the research data's release and people telling her that people in the respective departments are equally confused.

On the feed, the creatures were close to the soldiers. When they were within ten feet, the group split into two groups, leaving an individual in the middle.

“What in the world?”. Lacy wondered out loud.

The creature in the middle suddenly said, “Help me, please! Is there anyone out there?”

“Wait! What's happening?!” Jackie yelled

out.

“Are those things laying out a trap?!” Lacy followed up.

Both of them were started by the turn of events. From the reports they received from other sections of the Aracia Division, those things never demonstrated the ability to verbally communicate let alone strategize.

“I'm impressed,” Lulu giggled. “Look, one of those idiots is going to check it out.”. Lulu muffled her laughter as she observed the scene.

On the feed, all the soldiers raised up their rifles and flashlights in the direction of the noise. By their body language, it was evident that they were surprised and frightened. The area they were in should not have random civilians walking around with all those things around.

Jackie commended them for meeting the minimum requirement of their job. It would have been worse if they had just so gone towards the voice and not raise their rifles. At least they're suspicious of the situation, though she gave them deductions for being so frightened and acting like new recruits.

The soldier that was checking things out slowly swung the muzzle of his gun, the beam of light illuminating the darkness.

“Didn't he see the thing? The flashlight should have exposed that thing.” Lacy commented as the two of them saw what was transpiring.

“There isn't enough foliage to obstruct the view,” Lulu added. “He's probably just stupid.”

Jackie concentrated on the feed and chose not to respond to Lulu's comment. A feeling inside her seemed to hint that Lacy's comment had some truth to it. The soldier should have spotted it, and Jackie didn't think the soldier was incompetent, which likely meant that the soldier wasn't able to see what the three of them were seeing.

A light bulb went off in her mind. “They probably have some level of camouflage,” Jackie said.

“Of course! Our equipment allows us to view things so that it's unaffected by the time of day, meaning the color adjustments could hide the camouflage. It must be just enough to not be noticeable for us but enough to conceal it from the soldier.” Lacy sounded amazed by the revelation.

The soldier still didn’t find the thing in front of him, the darkness cloaking the creature. “I don’t feel good about this, how about we call it in?” The soldier called back to the others.

While the soldier was distracted, the creature lunged out from its hiding spot and grabbed the soldiers head. As the soldier was screaming in terror, the being dragged the body of the man into the woods.

Seeing such a thing happen, the man’s teammates lifted up their rifles, but due to the way the creature held onto its prey, the others were unable to get a clean shot.

“Let him go!” One of the soldiers screamed. She attempted to fun after the man, but the others tackled her to the ground.

Watching the feed, Jackie could see that the woman was blessed in strength, her teammates barely able to hold her down as they tried to talk her down. Jackie listened to the woman cursing them and the monster, screaming in anger at having to watch not able to do anything.

A minute, or so, passed by before the woman calmed down enough for the other members to let her go. In that brief moment of calm and sorrow, the other creatures closed in from either side.

This time, the monsters didn’t drag away their victims but instead bit off a chunk of each person’s neck. As the people looked to by bleeding out, the creatures just lay on top of them.

“What’s happening? Why are they not doing anything?” Lacy asked Jackie. Even with the training they received, Lacy revealed the feeling of terror beginning to emerge from deep inside.

“Want me to do anything?” Lulu softly asked, a welcomed distraction for both Jackie and Lacy.

Jackie was about to suggest the next course of action, but the words were soon lodged in her throat.

“Why are those things just standing there and looking at me?” Lulu asked.