After I had left the bunker I wasn't sure what to do or where to go first.
"AI provided tactical options" I said
"Option one circle around current position to take out categories one by one rate of success 93%.
Option two go to the center and kill any and all alphas: rate of success 38%
option three find hunter and provide support rate of success 0% there are no hunter is your vicinity that are alive or not incapacitated."
"Is there anyway to scan the area to see how many categories there are?" I ask
"negative" the AI said
"Ok let's make a fourth option can you scan to see if any of the bunkers have people in them and if any are out of them and are still alive." I ask
"affirmative scanning for any life signals" the AI said.
Not a moment later my map appears with blue dots some at houses other at bunkers from what I can see on my map it looks like a majority are at the school exactly what I thought it would be dense there.
"AI is there anyway that you can mark the area where we have mark the civilians and let me know when a hunter enters the area." I asked
"Affirmative" the AI said
I decided to go to the place with the least amount of people maybe thin out the area. In my area there isn't too many house more like a house to a block but the closer you get to the school is where the houses and population grow. While moving closer to the first location I didn't see much. I started to think there was nothing their but still stuck close to the ground just in case. It wasn't long till I started to notice something was off I noticed an off putting smell. It smelt like raw sewage and on the ground was brown and yellow spots. From my beast class I knew what was here "burrows" they were giant looking fleas they moved fast on the ground but luckily could not jump like fleas they were as big as a cat and had like two pincers that they grab you with. it's easy to get away from as long as there is only one they usually only attack in pairs for for both legs at the same time. They are rated at half a category due to the fact that they are pretty easy to kill as long as you kill one before they could both attack you pretty much disable the other one. They communicate through a scent trail which means once one of them is dead the other smells the scent and loses focus and will. They can only see moving things but because usually these things are easy to kill other categories come to them for food, which is why people usually run from them. I see about ten spots so there must be about twenty or more here and about ten people gone (the spots are what's left of their prey they spit out the waste that is in the body after they are done eating it). I climb up the nearest tree and search for them: there's one beside a stain on the road I can see that it's partner is no where to be found which mean it is dead somewhere. As I look longer I start to see the remains of these categories which means a hunter got to them or another category got to them.
Sitting in this tree I only see the lone burrow and realize it wasn't a hunter who came through here it's another category one that is smart enough to use this burrow as bait. I look around for anything that can be used as an ambush point. I see something move underneath a trapdoor in the dirt. Black long insect legs are coming out from it easily missed if you only looked over it once.
I'm not sure what kind of category this is but one thing is certain it's up on the scale high enough to set a trap and realize what a hunter would do. I take out one of the arrows and unscrew the head I have on and grab another one from the side pocket. I screw on the new head, this is a head that can penetrate through a surface and then opens up to realease white phosphorus.(it's one of the arrow heads that made my dad famous) I look at the angle that the legs are coming out and it looks the category is at an angle, the phosphorus is necessary. Insects breed fast if they are lone hunters like this one, after a meal like it just had it probably laid eggs hiding the sack behind it inside it's den. I set two arrows aside for fast shots it's gonna run after the phosphorus hits it and collateral will be massive. I take a slow breath as I draw the string back and realease I heard a thud as the arrow penetrates and then the white flash through the cracks due to the phosphorus. it came running out as I thought I couldn't really tell what it looked like before but it was like a giant spider something that size could easily devour a human. I fired the two arrows one after the other hit it once in the body and then in the head dying it lets out a screeching noise. If something like that was out here what would be in the middle of the hive be like. I move on running into a category every once, I was lucky for the most part sneak attacks, distant shots and sometimes people having at least some kind of weapon to help out. That changed once I got to the school I didn't even have to be close to see that there was a lot of categories, it was an army. From what I could see it was a lot of category two type creatures just patrolling around "setting up their territory" as I've heard it been called. I can feel my hands trembling this kind of fear wouldn't work on a hunter but me just being a teenager I wasn't sure I could do this. I have no choice others depended on me so there was no time to second guess myself. I had to figure out a plan but what could I do after I was done putting one together. I decide to weave through the weakest parts first before I start going after the huge pack. The categories were mostly "nightcrawlers" they were monkey looking creatures but all black venomous skin, fangs, and claws. They weren't very strong but due to their venom they were considered category two. I know getting to a perch won't help they can climb and have the claws to reach me in no time. I figured this would when they would at least get close enough to at least scratch me. I set a quiver down next to me knowing I might die after I shoot this first shot but I'm ok with that if I can thin them out even a little maybe by the time hunter actually arrive their job would be a little bit easier. I had about twenty arrows left I needed to make them count I set one aside my dad called the volley arrow once shot it had spikes that would spread out and create a wide net hopefully that will take off most of the pack but I wanted to wait to use it till the end just in case. I quickly fire my first shot before it could hit it's Target I shot the next two by the third shot
In my mind i was saying " maybe I should have made some traps to thin them out further" well too late for that now. The first arrow made contact and they immediately started to go into a frenzy but I had no time to worry about that I needed to take out as many as I could before they got too close. luckily they had no idea what direction the arrows came from up until something cut through the pack and heading straight towards me and I knew exactly what it was "nightcrawler behemoth" they are like the big apes of the pack stronger, faster, and smarter nightcrawler packs never really have any the percentage of pack having them is less then 3% which mean this is rare they are considered due to their size and strength they are a category four one of the reasons I saved that last arrow. The pack starts to follow him, reaching for the volley arrow I aim at his chest for maximum damage it may not kill him but I will seriously wound him. I fire and the spikes come out (the way the are weighted makes it to where the point is facing towards the enemy and jet pulses send it faster for penetration). It makes contact but not the way I wanted it to it didn't hit any spots to slow it down but luckily it hit his eyes so he slowed down but the rest of the pack kept coming. Out of arrows I pulled out the blade I had as a back up and get ready for a fight. I steal my nerves and run towards the pack, slow motion kicks in and I'm getting ready to attack the first nightcrawler. I slash the first ones arm off it's blood just squirts everywhere the next one dives at me, my shirt gets ripped but nothing hits my skin it lands on my blade and dies I'm able to throw it off. I don't see the next one and it scratches my arm the venom is fine in small doses but the more you take the more it affects you. I can feel the scratch on my arm but not worrying about it I see another one come towards me with its mouth wide open but o had time to react. I leaned back slashing it's underside blood covering me and before I can get back up one slashes at my leg making good contact. The venom starts to burn me now that it's piling on but I can still move so I keep fighting. I head towards the behemoth and I jump on it's back making sure my boots are pants are the only thing touching it due to it's venomous skin. I start stabbing him repeatedly and since he can't see he's swing wildly hitting the other night crawlers. I finally stabbed him on the top of his head and he fell hard launching me off and I lost my grip on my blade also making contact with some of the nightcrawlers. I had lost all kinds of control of my body the venoms paralysis function kicked in. I was done for but I took out a lot of categories without being a hunter maybe at my funeral they would make me an honorary hunter. Most people close their eyes but me I wanted to see my death coming towards me but instead I saw something else.