"How the fuck are those things already here?!" Gia swore as everyone heard the sound of the turret firing off blasts.

Claire could see flashes of lights going off in front, likely the cars ahead of them attacking the modified humans. It was the first time she experienced such a situation and felt scared by the sudden violence.

Jake turned around in his seat and appeared to be looking for something. A hiss and gears were whirling, before Jake asked, "What'll be your poison?"

"Stop goofing around and get me a compact rifle!" Gia criticized Jake, who chuckled. She clenched her fist, saying, "Hopefully, a compact rifle will still be strong enough to take those things down."

Grunting in agreement, Jake pulled out an oddly shaped gun and passed it over to Gia. "The protocol is for the Arachnia Division to only use melee weapons unless those are considered ineffective. They're smart enough to know that using a firearm this early on is a stupid move." Jake said to Gia.

"You're forgetting about the military, government agencies, and civilian police forces," Gia sharply said. "Though with them already reaching here, we're forced to use the turrets which could cause an Adaption worse than any previous ones..."

"Fuck...," Jake said as he returned back to his seat with a similar looking weapon that he had given to Gia.

Claire could hear cursing on the roof of the vehicle, likely from the man using the weapon.

"What's the situation up there, Ace?" Gia spoke into her comm system.

Looking to Gia and hoping to see good news on the part of Gia's face that Claire could see, Claire waited but soon noticed Gia grimacing. "Are we going to be okay?" Claire looked at Jake.

There wasn't an immediate response from Jake, likely from listening in on the conversation. He soon looked down at Claire and answered, "Ace and the other cars are successfully holding those things back, but the numbers coming out of the woods is getting larger. One of the military cars that were following our caravan was taken out by those things." A heavy silence hung in the air as he looked sorrowful about what had occurred.

"Does that mean that those things had an Adaption?" Claire asked nervously. The idea of a car racing down the road being removed was something she couldn't fully grasp.

"No. Likely, the modified humans, got in front of it, and the car didn't have enough power to plow through them, allowing several of them to get on the car. Based on estimates, those things can punch through the typical reinforced glass material the army uses to protect their drivers." Gia shook her head and clarified.

Several thuds sounded, causing vibrations to travel throughout the car. Claire looked up to see an expressionless man and woman face on the hood of the car. Though it was dark outside, the glow from the various screens in the vehicle gave enough light for her to see their faces. The faces of the people were extremely pale looking, though this didn't unsettle her as much as the eyes that were frantically rolling around as if looking for something.

As if sensing that Claire was looking at them, the two figures both locked their eyes on her, though occasionally one of the eyeballs would act independently and look around. Her chest seemed to stop working as she stared back at those horrific beings. Somehow, as she stared back into their eyes, Claire couldn't sense any consciousness in either one of the creatures though she was confident that they were completely aware of her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The driver yelled in fright and tried to keep the steering wheel stable due to him jerking it earlier. Screeching of the tires alerting the driver that machine was close to going out of control.

Even with the car swerving, both of the modified humans acted uncaring to the current development. The woman lifted one of her hands and after making a fist began slamming it into the window.

"What the fuck are you doing up there?!" Gia swore. There was a slight humming sound followed by the roaring sound of air. "You try the other side!" Gia yelled at Jake.

Jake just nodded his head and lowered the window on his side. Before he maneuvered his body out the window, he raised his gun and fired several shots. "I know that there are a shit ton of them, but you need to do a better job!" Jake yelled and pounded his fist on the ceiling of the car.

Sitting in the middle seat, Claire was surprised that both Gia and Jake had half of their bodies outside of the car. Thoughts of them falling out or getting pulled out of the car rushed through her mind. Looking in front of her, she watched as the woman continuously smashed her fist into the window. With each thud of the fist hitting the glass, she half expected to see cracks begin to emerge.

Raising her fist once again, the woman was about to hit the window again when her fist exploded. As if this was a minor thing, the woman looked at her bloody stump that was leaking out red ooze. Looking forward, the woman seemed to recognize something. There were more flashes of lights, though the woman moved quickly.

Claire watched the conflict unfolding in front of her and was confused by the next event. Using her stump, the woman pushed the man and caused him to roll off of the car. At the same time, the woman rolled off the other side. A minute seemed to pass by before Gia and Jake came back into the car. It wasn't until the window rolled up that Claire sighed in relief.

"Did you get her?" Gia asked.

Jake shook his head and grumbled, "The bitch was too fast. As soon as she hit the ground, that thing dashed back into the forest. At least she has one less hand that'll cause us trouble." Looking to Gia, he asked, "How about you?"

"No... That thing did the same thing, getting into the forest." Gia quietly said. "I have a bad feeling about that one. Did you see how she reacted after you blew off her hand? It was as if she connected the event together, her losing her hand and you firing the rifle. Not only that, she didn't just save herself, but instead also helped her friend."

"Do you think we just witnessed an Adaptation?" Jake responded to Gia's statement. His voice was just as quiet as Gia's as if he was worried that saying such a thing would make it real.

"I don't know...," Gia sounded thoughtful and worried about what had just happened. Quickly raising her hand to her helmet, Gia yelled, "What do you mean they're retreating?!"

Claire could feel Jake tense up as he said, "I don't have a good feeling about this."