Reece had to get the nightcore back, activate it, and hope it did something that could change the tide of this battle. It wouldn’t be long before they were overwhelmed by the massive forces of undead and other monstrosities still arriving from nearly every direction. Hargrove had called several divisions to back him up in this battle. It wouldn’t end well for Reece or his friends if things didn’t change soon. At least Pasha had finally made it back to the small group unscathed.

“Hey, sexy,” greeted Reece, indicating the clothes and weapons pile. “Good to finally see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“You’ll hear no argument here,” replied Pasha, slipping on the shorts and t-shirt before checking the rifle.

“I’ve already got sand in places I’d rather not mention, and that seems to be the least of our problems. Oh, and thanks for the save.”

Looking at Pasha in her female form, Reece realized something that caused him to start laughing. Between the stress of the dire situation and finally connecting a couple of dots, Reece only laughed harder. Everyone near him looked at Reece with worry.

“Oh no,” said Chippo. “It looks like he’s lost it.”

“No, no, no,” chuckled Reece, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Pasha, all those years ago when you said you were a lesbian trapped in a man’s body, you weren’t kidding, were you?”

“You just figured that out now?” asked Pasha in disbelief before chuckling at the situation herself.

“Yep,” quipped Reece, their mutual laughter dying down. “Now, put that weapon to good use, girlfriend. I’ve got something I need to do.”

Before Reece could enact his latest plan, a burst of static erupted from his radio. “Zzzzt, Driver Reece, this is Tinkerbelle, over.”

Bewildered, Reece grabbed his radio and pressed the talk button, “Uh, this is driver Reece, over.” He knew it was the Drust-Jaeger, but he didn’t know how or why Tinkerbelle would be contacting him on his radio. He had assumed the EMP had totally disabled the vehicle.

“Apologies, Driver Reece,” replied Tinkerbelle. “I was temporarily rendered inoperable by a low-yield electromagnetic pulse. I’ve rerouted all systems and am now 87% operational. I’ve also taken precautions against additional EMP attacks. What would you like me to do now, Driver Reece? Over.”

“Uhhh, how are you on battle tactics?” asked Reece half-jokingly. “Oh, over.”

“I’ve already analyzed the battlefield and ran several simulations,” answered Tinkerbelle. “You have a zero-point-zero-three percent chance of success.”

“Wow. That good, huh? Okay. Can you do anything to improve those odds?” asked Reece. “Over.”

“Yes, driver Reece,” answered the car. “Would you like me to deploy countermeasures? Over.”

“Sure,” replied Reece. “Deploy whatever you’ve got. We can use all the help we can get. Over.”

“Roger that, Drive Reece,” said Tinkerbelle with an almost gleeful reply. “Beginning targeted electromagnetic blasts towards enemy units.”

Several small bolts of what could only be described as lightning arced over Reece and his allies’ heads to strike several bio-mechanical undead creatures and oddly… Hargrove himself. The bolt hit him right in the face. It didn’t kill him but did send him to his knees. Unfortunately, Aika and Karina were far too busy with the incoming behemoths to capitalize on the opportunity to finish off the stunned man.

Both women noticed the attack, however, and Aika shouted at Reece. “Whatever just happened completely ended his lingering influence on us.”

Before she could continue, a behemoth launched its massive, spiked ball at her, and she was forced to dive forward and take the fight to the monster. Karina finished off another one of the behemoths, beheading it with several powerful swiped of her spear. She backed up toward Reece and yelled over her shoulder.

“I think he had an implant he was using the augment his abilities,” she hollered at Reece. “You should be on much more even footing with him now.”

Reece considered going right after his old commander, but he felt the nightcore was the key to winning this battle. Grimacing, he made his decision. Reece took a moment to center his mind, breathing deeply to calm himself. He had little energy and no idea how long it would hold out with what he had planned. He had to make every moment count.

Masika and Nephi stepped up to Hargrove, blocking his path to Reece with their obsidian bodies and another wall of sand. Nisha and Rik flanked him, and the four began working together to slow Hargrove’s progress as best they could.

“Cyrene, Ciera, Pasha… cover me,” said Reece, seeing everyone else was deeply embroiled in battle. “I’m going for the nightcore with my mind. My body will be helpless.”

“Got it,” said Cyrene, letting go of him momentarily to stand up with her assault rifle. Blam, blam! She immediately took out a pair of zombies flanking Ciera. Nodding at the Lilin, Cyrene shouted to her, “Ciera, on us!”

Ciera took the hint and scrambled over to where Cyrene once again held Reece as he fell into a trance. Cyrene nodded once Ciera was beside them. Ciera returned the nod before cocking her head at Cyrene’s embrace of Reece.

“I’m feeding him my power,” explained Cyrene.

“Oh, well, let me help,” replied Ciera, pressing her fleshy thigh against Reece’s bare arm. “This will have to do. I need my arms free.”

To illustrate her point, she spun her rifle around and fired several rounds. A half dozen charging zombies fell. Ciera had blown their heads clean off. It was only a moment’s reprieve. More of the undead filled the breach while Ciera looked to reload.

“Here, let me,” said Cyrene, taking the rifle and ammo box from Ciera’s hands.

The Lilin nodded thanks to the nymph. Then Ciera bent over and pulled Reece’s twin pistols from their holsters at his hip. “I need these more than you,” she told Reece, and he nodded in understanding. He had a different weapon in mind anyway, his mind.

A moment later, she aimed and fired both weapons at different targets, testing her skills to the maximum. Two zombies dropped, so she continued the tactic. Zombies dropped quickly, but there was no end to them. Gunfire erupted nearby. Just then, several more zombies jerked to the side and fell to the ground, having taken numerous rounds to their flank.

Another moment passed with more gunfire, and six more zombies dropped. The undead had all been shot by a pair of unlikely allies, the Beckers. Though Stefanie and Zia looked more like the zombies they had just dispatched than humans now, Reece realized that they must have also retained their minds and possibly their memories. Once their minds were free, the Beckers quickly began killing numerous undead, fighting toward Reece.

They apparently threw their lot in with Reece’s group. The Beckers and a host of former mind slaves of the commander joined them, brandishing enough skill and firepower to keep the circle of allies alive for the time being. Reece felt that he understood them. They too were thinking that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and ‘there was safety in numbers’. He couldn’t argue with their logic. Whether this turned into something long-term or a temporary alliance of necessity didn’t matter at the moment. Reece would take all the help he could get. The thoughts drifted through his mind for a moment. Then Reece got back to the task at hand.

Reece let his consciousness drift towards the nightcore and latched onto a weak mind in the area, that of a ghoul. His brief encounter with Cyrene had bolstered him more than he initially thought, and her embrace was helping too. He could also feel Ciera’s power as it fed into him from their skin-on-skin contact. He’d have to ask the women about their ability to transfer energy later. Right now, Reece had something to do. He immediately took control of the ghoul’s form and used its rotting eyes to scour the ground for the nightcore.

Zombies and ghouls were scrambling around, seemingly everywhere. Mixed in were squads of zombie troopers. These zombies tried to stay in formation, brandishing wicked-looking axes, scythes, swords, and spears. At least these ‘evolved’ zombies hadn’t learned how to use modern weaponry… yet. Slithering among the zombies were massive sand snakes, easily five meters long. Their white eyes betrayed their undead status, and their bodies were augmented with metal spines and scythe-like tails. Several massive behemoths towered above them while bat-winged beasts and stony sphinxes battled each other in the sky above. Rotting flesh and sandstone rained down on the entire mass of monsters while they fought to close the gap towards Reece’s small group.

It took a minute, but Reece finally located the orb. It was getting kicked this way and that by the shambling mob of zombies. Still, it was close by. Using the ghoul’s body, Reece managed to get to the nightcore and pick it up. Then he felt a shadow loom over him. A moment later, he was thrust back into his body. It was a sure sign that his puppet had been destroyed.

Looking across the landscape, he saw a behemoth had just stepped on the ghoul he was controlling. Reece wasn’t entirely convinced, but it seemed like the zombie horde could tell he had taken control of the ghoul. Undeterred, Reece reached out and took control of the behemoth in the ghoul’s stead. Using its massive body, he began systematically stomping everything in the area. In the process, he cleared a swath of destruction around the nightcore’s current resting place and eliminated several ghouls and zombies.

It took a minute before he finally finished squashing everything in the immediate area. Looking around, Reece found the nightcore resting within the outstretched hand of a squashed ghoul. Nothing was moving within ten meters. It was a ghoul whose innards he could still feel stuck to the bottom of his massive foot. The guts mingled with a couple dozen other corpses he had just stomped upon. The mess made a squelching sound with every lumbering step he took.

In his disgust, Reece wasn’t paying attention and was slammed back into his body again. Looking back, he saw that one of the Order’s remaining troopers had fired a rocket and blown the head off the stray behemoth, effectively ending Reece’s control over the thing. Reece found the next closest creature, a relatively intact zombie woman, and again used whatever energy he had left to take control. A familiar presence entered his consciousness as he used her body to fetch the nightcore.

“Ah, finally… just hold on just a little longer, Reece,” said what he recognized to be the voice of Shenfu. “We’re on our way.”

Distracted by the voice, Reece’s newest puppet was set upon by a pack of ghouls and destroyed. Thinking quickly, Reece forced himself into the mind of the largest ghoul of the group. Before the other ghouls could react, he scooped up the nightcore and tossed it with all the strength the ghoul’s body could muster. Then that puppet was also torn asunder by its own kind.

Reece’s eyes grew wide with anticipation as the nightcore hurtled towards them, only to be caught in midair by a nearby gargoyle. Grimacing in frustration, Reece attacked its mind, quickly taking it over. Before he could even get his bearings to fly the nightcore to his small group, he was thrust back into his body yet again. Now he knew they could tell when he had taken control of one of their minds. They must be a hive mind, he realized in frustration. Looking up, he witnessed the body of the gargoyle drop from the sky. The nightcore also dropped along with it, released from the dead creature’s twitching limb.

Above the unfortunate creature hung a much larger one, held aloft by massive batwings. Its wings captured and forced air downward to maintain its position in the sky. This new creature was hideous. To Reece, it seemed like someone was a huge fan of dragons and had decided to build one out of dinosaur bones and animal parts, stitching them together with heavy sutures. The thing had been constructed long ago. Much of its body had rotted, succumbing to the effects of long years of neglect. There were several more similar constructs behind the skeletal Frankensteined dragon. Luckily, these were a bit smaller. Reece wanted to take the dragon-thing over next, but his energy was now tapped.

Even though its construction seemed old and primitive, it was still a frightening sight to behold. It worsened when several dozen additional dragon-like experiments appeared and launched a coordinated attack on the small band fighting for their lives. The sky was nearly filled with flying monsters. Reece and his friends didn’t have the firepower to repel this new attack. The sphinxes were still in the fight, but there were becoming fewer and fewer of them.

“Shen, anytime now,” shouted Reece, responding to the voice in his head from a few moments earlier.

“Just keep your head down,” replied Shenfu.

On Shenfu’s queue, numerous whistling shrieks pierced the air, coming from somewhere behind Reece and his companions. The vaguely familiar sounds grew louder until the first shriek heralded in a dark object that zipped over their heads and exploded into the face of the lead ‘dragon-golem’, for lack of a better term. A moment later, the rest were turned to ash and fiery meat. More missiles streaked into the monstrous flock and exploded, causing the creatures’ remains to rain down from the sky. More grotesque winged creatures of many sorts replaced them but were quickly strafed by several Russian MiG 35s and Chinese J-31s and their deadly underwing miniguns as the jets flew in low, joining the battle.

In their wake came Shenfu carrying Naeva, followed by the rest of the Qilin and their riders. The Rakshasa and Lycaon-mounted Qilin reinforced the remaining sphinxes, taking the fight to the bat-winged monsters, whether they be dragons, gargoyles, or anything else. Angel, Aspen, Taela, Hank, Dmitri, and Bjorn landed with their Qilin mounts near Reece, shoring up his defenses. Bjorn and Hank wasted no time going full berserker while Reece rushed to Naeva and Shenfu. Grabbing the woman in a hug, he pulled back a moment to look at her face, more beautiful because he thought he had seen the last of it. Looking at the rest of his newly reacquired companions, he felt the same for all of them.

“Not that I’m complaining, but how are you all still alive?” asked Reece, eyes wide with wonder.

“Well, lover,” replied Naeva with a mischievous smile. “You knocked me up again, and our little ‘bun in the oven’ healed me much quicker than normal, even from near death. I’m also a lot quicker and stronger now. Together, we managed to escape from the Order’s forces. We all thought we’d lost you. To be honest, it was hard to carry on.”

She fiercely returned his hug, pulling him back into her embrace. Reece could hardly believe it. Smiling, he kissed her in an unexpected but welcome celebration. However, the kiss was brief by necessity. The fight was still uncertain. Reece had a job he had to do, as did all the rest of them. That made it especially odd when Reece felt feminine arms reach deeply into his pockets, feeling him up amid the battle.

“What in Hades!” he cursed, looking down to see Pasha rifling through his extra-dimensional pockets. “Pasha?”

“Sorry, not sorry,” replied Pasha as she started pulling ammo cartridges out of his pockets and dropping them on another shirt she had laid on the sand. “We’re going to need as many of these as I can get, especially with the added help.” Pasha looked up and winked at a smiling Naeva.

“Okay, got it,” replied Reece before looking to Naeva.

“This is wonderful, believe me,” said Reece. “But if I don’t retrieve the nightcore soon, it’ll all be for naught. There’s just no end to them.”

“Go get ‘em, lover,” Naeva smiled before joining Ciera and giving her a surprise hug, the two quickly kissing before breaking off to rejoin the fight. Pasha gave her a butt squeeze, eliciting a dirty look from the Lycaon. Chuckling, he loaded a shotgun and held it out to her. Naeva shook her head at the offer. Shrugging, Pasha cocked the gun and aimed it at an incoming zombie herself.

Not needing a gun, Naeva’s hands sprouted deadly claws, and her eyes blazed red as she ripped into an oncoming ghoul, slicing its head clean off. Meanwhile, Ciera reloaded her guns and aimed at a group of evolved zombies that were getting uncomfortably close.

Reece didn’t have time to enjoy the reunion or watch the grace of his companion’s attacks. He had a critical task, and he needed to get back to it. Cyrene and Ciera’s bodily contact had replenished some of his energy. With the battlefield turning chaotic, Reece redoubled his efforts in retrieving the nightcore.

Karina and Aika continued dividing their time between Hargrove and his host of undead. A pair of vrykolakas joined in and it was all the six could do to fight off them and Hargrove. The undead werewolves split up, one attacking Hargrove himself. That freed Karina and Aika to each handle one of the frighteningly powerful beasts. Karina drove her spear through the mouth of the one charging her and Aika beheaded the one attacking Hargrove before it could turn on them again. It was intense but brief, luck being on the side of Reece’s companions.

Meanwhile, all the fighting had opened a clear path to the Phoenix. So, Pasha ran off toward the vehicle, firing her shotgun at anything in her way. Hank and Dmitri followed close behind, shooting or clawing any zombie she may have missed. A couple of well-placed fireballs from Sora cleared the rest of the path for the trio. While Reece sunk deep into his trance, the trio boarded the jet fighter. Meanwhile, the new arrivals jumped in to lend their support to the fight.

Forcing his mind into the body of another zombie, a rotted yellow lab with most of its pelt missing, Reece quickly located the nightcore and ran for it. He scooped it up with his jaws and ran as fast as he could toward his actual body. If he had practiced learning to control quadrupeds, maybe the poor beast wouldn’t have been trampled by yet another zombie, this one looking like a rotting man, only twice as big, and stocky. The oversized man was also thickly muscled.

Cursing, he threw his mind into this new foe and had to take a few precious seconds to destroy the thing upon the battlespace before gaining control. It hadn’t been mindless like the others. However, its mind had been weak. Its body was strong as well as fast. And more importantly, the nightcore rested at its feet. Reece used the powerful body to pick up the nightcore. It seemed to be the size of a baseball in his enormous hands. Once he had it in hand, he ran it across the battlefield and tossed it when the man got within throwing range. Returning to his body, Reece stood up and watched the orb hurtle through the air. Luck was with him, and the nightcore flew unobstructed. Reece caught the device mid-air just like a Battle-Ball receiver. He had the nightcore. It was finally time to find out what it really did.