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I tapped the Morse code, sending the message 'Alert the survivors once two persons arrived there.' to the second hideout as a start. Both Captain Quentin and Fiora had departed there by using bicycles, and from what I could tell, they also seemed to be rushing towards there.
Once they arrived, they were to immediately light all of the lamps there, as well as notifying the survivors on the street by using the speaker. When they had finished doing it once, the first hideout would continue to do the same, and after that the speaker notification would be relayed on one another with both all of the lights on the hideouts still lighting on until the survivors had evacuated from the street.
"All we have to do now is to wait for them…" Kyle said, somehow with nervousness in her tone.
"No turning back…" I responded to her, as I gulped.
Just then, Jonathan reminded me to turn off the second switch in order for me to save my energy. I nodded, before turning it off and resulting in much darker surroundings around us. I could not describe how tense and restless the atmosphere around us was as we waited for their next move. I also could not dismiss the buzzing in my minds which resulted in me constantly looking at my watch.
Perhaps it was due to my restlessness that I felt like almost half an hour had passed while actually it was even still had not been five minutes after both of them had departed from the hideout. Finally and suddenly, a very loud speaking noise could be heard from the direction of the south as a faint light could also be seen from that direction, despite the fog that had engulfed the night. In an instant, Jonathan, Kyle, and I grabbed the hammer, archery equipment, and fire ax respectively while we were hearing what the speaker sound said.
"TO ALL HUMAN SURVIVORS ON THE STREET, YOU ARE ALL ADVICED TO GO TO WHERE THE LIGHTS ARE AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE"
I recognized that it was none other than Captain Quentin's sound speaking through the second hideout speaker. I could feel my heart immediately pounded very hard and the buzzes in my mind getting more intense just as the speaker no longer let out sounds.
Just then, I realized that I had to pedal the power source in order to turn on all of the lights as well as saying the same sentences through the speaker. I pedaled it in a hurry, lighting all of the lamps in the process but just as I was about to speak through the speaker, Ryan insisted that he should be the one doing all of it.
"Let me do it Travis, it is okay…" Ryan said, insisting as he started to say the exact same words.
I let him took the pedals and stood up as he sat down and continued what I had been doing earlier. Just like planned, the second hideout then continued broadcasting the very same words as the light there was still lighting on. The process had been going on for around three rounds when Kyle gave out her thoughts about the process so far.
"I wonder how bad the uproar would be…" Kyle said, as she sighed heavily.
Shortly after, I began to hear faint sounds of multiple running steps from the street. In reflex, I tightened my grip on my fire ax, and apparently both Jonathan and Kyle also heard them since they also did the exact same thing. After a bit more time of waiting, the sounds were becoming more vivid and louder, up until the point that I could also began to hear uproar. As the uproar was getting louder, all of us eventually realized that the survivors on the street had been starting to head for the hideout.
"Jon!" Kyle shouted, with a heavy restlessness in her tone and her anxious eyes towards Jonathan.
"Wait!" Jonathan responded, somehow still calmly but already had his grip tightened to his sledgehammer.
On one hand, I completely understood that Jonathan wanted the three of us to be as efficient as possible in using our strengths as there were absolutely no telling on how many of the aliens would be attracted to the uproar. However, I also shared Kyle's feeling that we had to rush as quick as possible to the street, ensuring that we could save as many survivors as we could. Thankfully, it only took a little while before Jonathan finally gave us the word to go.
"Now!" He yelled as he started to dash towards downstairs, carrying his rifle on his right hand and sledgehammer on his left hand.
I let Kyle to be in the position between me and Jonathan as we followed him, as I felt like she was the most vulnerable to any sudden attacks despite her excellent skills in archery combat. When we finally reached downstairs, I felt like I had a sudden headache as soon as I saw the possible numbers of the survivors that were attempting to escape with their lives.
There must have been at least around a hundred people rushing towards our hideout, and would definitely be much more from beyond the fog that I had yet to see. However, as if Jonathan did not give his mind any thought of a burden about it, or rather because he had to focus, he did not stop for even a bit. As there were finally some people around seven to eight in numbers that I could see, Jonathan rushed towards them and told them to go to the nearest station, but he did not stop rushing.
"Go to the elevated station!! That is where the lights are!!" he shouted, as he continued rushing in front of Kyle and me.
As we ran passed the first person, and then the second and so on, I could not be sure if they knew which station that Jonathan had mentioned. However, as I glanced a bit towards my back they all apparently heading towards our hideout, which somehow gave me a bit of relieved. Jonathan continued to shout out the direction as we kept on rushing towards the direction where Jonathan had led us to. Jonathan kept on shouting the same words, until shortly after he began to shout another words to guide the evacuating survivors.
"Follow the people in front of you, and do not use your weapons at all costs!!" he shouted.
As we were rushing towards the exact opposite of them, my mind started to think every possibility where all of the things that we were doing could go for the worst case. Nothing whatsoever came to my mind, except for one thing – the large rectangular hole on one of the railroads at one station prior to the second hideout.
I realized that the possibilities were very slim, perhaps even next to none. However, I just could not shake the thoughts of few of the survivors ended up went to the railroad from that station and for reasons unknown, unfortunately fell down hard from the railroad to the street below. They definitely could not see anything wrong there before it was too late for them as it was completely dark since there were no light source whatsoever, and therefore the hole would not be seen. If it indeed happened, we would be technically the ones who led them to their demise.
Just then, something pulled me very hard by my t-shirt to the ruin rubbles and walls on my left side, made me losing my balance and eventually fell to the ground full of ruin pebbles. When I looked up, I realized that it was Jonathan just now who had pulled me down. Apparently, both he and Kyle were hiding against something not too far in front of them. I noticed that the uproar had become softer, and the crowds were significantly thinner, making me realize that most of the survivors would most likely have gone to either of the hideouts.
Although I could barely see anything clearly as it was very dark, I could tell that much, and I just realized that I had been entangled in my own thoughts when I was running before Jonathan pulled me down. I immediately asked them what they were hiding from with a very low voice, to which Kyle responded that it was most likely the bulky alien that was attempting to catch up to the survivors.
"But... where..?" Kyle whispered, apparently asking to herself as she still could not see the creature.
"Just… less than fifteen feet… from where we are now…" Jonathan responded, with a very low voice and his eyes locked on what seemed to be something very dangerous right in front of him.
I tried to get up and crouch very slowly as I was still in lying position. I soon tried to figure out if it was indeed the same alien that the both of us had indirectly encountered at the hospital. However I could not see even the faintest sight of it, and not long after Jonathan told us to follow right behind him and every steps he took.
"Travis, follow me but not less than five feet from my back…" he said with a very low voice, before turning to Kyle, "Kyle, you follow him no less than three feet…"
As soon as he finished speaking, he started to crouch and approached the supposed location of the alien and I followed as exact as I could, according to his instructions. Just after about a few steps forward, I began to see a somewhat familiar bulky creature silhouette albeit very faintly since it was dark and foggy at the same time.
When the silhouette got more vivid, Jonathan finally signaled me to wait and hold my position, to which I also did the same to Kyle. I waited for a while and watched him crouched idly several feet in front of me, before he started to walk crouch again to the alien faster than he did earlier and seemed to stop again.
Suddenly, he lifted his hammer held on his left hand, and swung it hard to the alien's leg, forcing it to fall down hard to the ground. In an instant, my heart pounded fast and it felt like a pure reflex as my feet carried me swiftly to the alien and I swung my fire ax exactly four times to one of its leg, dismembering it from the rest of the alien's body.
The alien let out a very loud and noisy scream as it had just lost one of its limbs, followed by a couple of arrows that flew past my right side with each hitting the alien's arms, pinning it on the ground. I did not see who had just flew the arrows, but I know for sure that it must be none other than Kyle who was just a few feet away behind me.
As if we should not breathe even for a few seconds, Jonathan then pulled me and Kyle to another nearest ruined walls and we took cover there. I knew full well that both Kyle and I were not to protest for his actions as I could hear clearly rapid thudding sounds that were getting louder very quickly, and definitely coming to where we took down the alien.
Eventually, the thudding sounds subsided by a very loud thud that was accompanied by a gentle quake on the ruined walls where we had taken cover. Right after that, I could hear no more sounds even if it was just the usual one. It was also then that Jonathan signaled us to do the exact same thing that we had done to the first alien.
Jonathan swung his hammer hard to the second alien's leg, dropping it hard to the ground and I proceeded by dismembering its leg again. However, the alien somehow attempted to resist as it managed to swing its cleaver towards our direction, although it missed quite some distance from us. Therefore, he swung his hammer twice to its hand, forcing it to drop its cleaver to the ground, before Kyle pinned both of its hands the way she did previously.
"Tch, this one still resisted even when its death was imminent…" I sighed with a low voice.
"At least it is pinned down now…" Kyle responded.
As there were already two aliens taken down then, we proceeded to the next block of ruined buildings with a slower pace. I noticed that the uproar was already significantly lighter then, although I could still hear it in the distance. Thinking about it made me wonder how Captain Quentin and Ryan were doing back at the hideouts.
In a sudden, Jonathan signaled me to stop and stay at my position. However, as I had just did the same to Kyle, he did not show any signs that he was to move again, either to go straight ahead or somewhere else to which I asked him about it.
"Another one again?" I asked him with a low voice from behind.
"No, not just one. There are two." He responded, as he was crouched still.
Fortunately, it was only for a short moment before he began to move again, but instead of heading straight, he headed left of the intersection that was just ahead of me, and went inside what seemed to be a small shop through the entrance. Since the entrance door was apparently destroyed, it saved us the trouble to break it down before we could get inside it. As the three of us had entered the shop, Jonathan led us to a room where the ceiling had caved in, exposing some parts of the room outside.
Jonathan then suggested me to climb out through the hole on the ceiling, giving me a boost by using his shoulder before I started to climb it. As I was climbing and trying to reach outside, he told me to switch our melee weapons and I was to stay no matter what happened until I heard an alien loud scream. When I could finally reach outside through the hole, I realized that basically I was at the rooftop of the shop since it only has one floor.
Jonathan then gave me his sledgehammer first, before I gave him my fire ax, and both him and Kyle proceeded by exiting the shop. While I waited, I listened to the ticking sounds of my watch, to count how many seconds had passed before they had arrived, and perhaps also to reduce my restlessness.
I had counted around three hundred ticks before something small hit my left cheek. In reflex, I attempted to seek out the source of it, and it turned out that it was Jonathan who probably had threw a tiny pebble to me in order to signal me that they had arrived just beside the shop again.
In almost an immediate, Jonathan crouched and walk fast to the direction right in front of him, and seemed to swing the axe towards another alien just after four steps. Just then, a very loud scream was heard and I immediately jumped down from the shop rooftop, before I hammered one of its leg and dropping it down hard. As he continued to dismember its legs from its body, Kyle pinned it down to the ground just like the other two aliens earlier, as if officially marking it as the third hunt.
"Three of them now. They are already enough for one for each of the buildings, right?" Kyle asked, as she relaxed her bow.
"One more…" Jonathan said, with the presence of full alert on his voice.
He continued by signaling us to hide inside the ruins of the building right in front of the same shop. Since there seemed to be no walls left still standing, we had to crawl to hide behind the piles of the scattered bricks. The three of us stopped crawling when I began to hear rapid thudding sounds in the distance, which subsided very shortly after it seemed to stop right in front of us. Jonathan signaled me to move first, and so I went up to crouch and approached the final source of the sound very slowly. When I felt like I had been close enough, I swung the hammer hard to what seemed to be one of its feet.
Unfortunately, I miscalculated as the swing did not make the alien fell down. In an instant, my head buzzed violently as it managed to hit me with one of its hand, making me to be the one who fell down hard to the ground instead. I could not think straight, but somehow I knew full well that it was about to swing down its cleaver to me, and thus I rolled to my right side as fast as I could, before I heard a very loud banging noise right beside me.
The noise deafened me for a moment as I forced myself to crouch and started to back away when three shots of arrow suddenly pierced it body and were stuck there from behind. The alien seemed to have a good reflex however, as I could hear it screamed and swung its cleaver to the direction behind it, and then in almost an instant jumped towards something and sliced it in two. I initially thought that it had just sliced a small shop, but it turned out that it was a vehicle instead as I could faintly see some tiny sparks when it had just sliced it in half.
However, I heard Jonathan rushed and then made what seemed to be a sound distraction by knocking the sliced vehicle with the fire ax. The alien seemed to be distracted by the sound, as it jumped towards him and swung its cleaver to his direction. However, instead of slaying Jonathan in half, it instead got swallowed in flames due to the fire spark that was created by the friction between its blades and the vehicle body.
Apparently, when the vehicle was sliced, its fuel tank was also cut in half and resulting in the gasoline inside it to pour out. Jonathan seemed to be aware of this, and therefore took the risk of using himself as bait to lure the alien making the same fire spark the way it did earlier near the poured out gasoline. As the fire spark ignited the vehicle's gasoline, a fire was created and quickly spread out to where the gasoline had reached. Unfortunately for the alien, it seemed to be stepping on the gasoline and thus it caught fire as well.
If not completely clearly, the raging fire revealed the alien's very appearance to me. Just like what Ryan had told us, it had a very slanted pair of red eyes, a very larger pair of nostrils compared to the usual alien, and to my surprise, nearly about half wider and larger fin ears. It had both of its hands, unlike its usual counterpart, and to my least of expectation, a more proportional body size as its arms are shorter and its legs longer. It must have a height of around nine feet, because I could clearly see that it was indeed taller than its usual counterpart.
Its features that caught my attention the most was not what I had mentioned so far however. It was its legs and feet instead. I noticed clearly that it had a much more muscular pair of legs, as well as an unusually thick foot. I immediately remembered what Jonathan had suggested to us, that it would most likely be the some sort of a natural gravity balancer and/or booster on its feet. Apparently, the thick part on each of its feet was the gravity balancer.
I also realized that it seemed to be covering its eyes from the fire. At first, I could not understand what it was trying to do. However, I soon noticed that it would most likely cover them because it was dazzled by the sudden brightening from the fire that was created, and not because it attempted to extinguish the flames that had covered its body. Not wanting to pass my opportunity, I rushed to the alien and hammered one of its feet, resulting in its fall to the ground, and allowing Kyle to officially catch our fourth hunt.
"Finally… four of them…" Kyle sighed, as she slowly sat on the ground.
"We get to see its helpless face too, huh…" I said as I panted quite hard.
I also realized that the uproar had completely subsided, indicating that all of the survivors had made it to the hideouts, or at least most of them. I instantly recalled that Ryan, Captain Quentin, and Della were also to fight the aliens at the prepared buildings, making me wonder if they had started to move there. Jonathan however, seemed to have something on his mind regarding the bulky alien, as he had not stopped staring at it for some while.
"What is wrong?" Kyle asked him, as she turned to him.
Jonathan kept silent for a little while longer, before he approached the fourth alien and dismembered its left hand that was holding some sort of a heavy large sack with the fire ax. Then, he continued by separating the hand from the sack, before he finally began to open it up by using the fire ax butt.
In almost an immediate, I was so shocked that I felt my heart never pounded that fast right after I saw another horrifying sights right before my eyes. It turned out that the things it had been carrying all this time were no other than extracted human brains – either complete or just partially. To make it worse, I could not even hear or see anything aside from what was shown right in front of me as my mind was buzzing violently yet again.
In order for me to restore the calmness back into my mind, I closed my eyes and breathed heavily for a few times before I could take a more proper deep breaths, easing my heart in the process. As I opened my eyes again, I noticed the horror was also was drawn on both of Jonathan's and Kyle's face as he closed his eyes in anger and forced himself to look away for a while she ran off, backing away from the sights before covering her eyes.
"Oh… my God…" she said, whisperingly as she trembled and seemed about to drop her tears at any moment.
"Christ…" I muttered, as I looked down, unable to spend any seconds on the horror.
"Good thing that none of the others are here…" Jonathan said with a low voice, as I could clearly see he clenched his teeth behind his mouth.
As the three of us managed to reclaim our composure again, Jonathan told Kyle and I that we were going to have to carry the aliens to the rooftop as it was where we would initiate the fight with the other aliens. To be honest, I had expected that we would have to carry the baits into each of the prepared buildings, however I did not think that we would really need to bring them on the rooftop.
"Really? Only by the three of us?" Kyle asked Jonathan, showing some hints of reluctance in her tone.
"In a matter of speaking, the others should have also be on their way there." Jonathan responded to her, with a convincing tone.
"So please, Kyle…" Jonathan continued.
As soon as Jonathan finished speaking, I noticed that I could hear no more speaker sounds in the distance, indicating that the evacuation process had finished. Even though Ryan had not been told yet, I was very sure that he would immediately head for the buildings right after the survivors had arrived on the hideouts since he had agreed to fight the aliens there earlier.
As for Captain Quentin and Della, I somehow got the feeling that he would be able to convince her somehow, and therefore would also probably be on their way there. Jonathan also said that the buildings were just on the next block or two from the street we were currently at, notifying me and Kyle that the distance was not that far.
Without any further waiting, the three of us began to drag the first of our hunted aliens inside the buildings after Jonathan knocked it unconscious first. The greatest difficulty in executing the process was not to figure out how to carry them to the rooftop. Instead, it was to not trigger the traps that had been set up inside the buildings.
Fortunately, I remembered full well on where we had put all of the triggers inside the bank. Jonathan then also told me and Kyle that we would only have to carry all four of the baits to the same building, the destroyed bank as he and Captain Quentin had connected the rooftops earlier by using some broken billboards.
When we finally arrived at the rooftop of the bank, I noticed that Ryan, Captain Quentin, and Della had already been there waiting for us. It turned out that the three of them were the ones who would prepare the baits on the rooftop, whereas Jonathan, Kyle, and I were tasked to carry the baits from the street.
We continued to carry the second, third, and finally the fourth which was the last of them to the rooftop. As we had just arrived there with the last of the baits, I noticed the smell of gasoline from the direction of one of the rooftop edges. Jonathan immediately told me that it was to light the rooftops as soon as we initiated the fight later on.
"Oh that. We found few gasoline jerry cans back at the parking lot building, with all of them still more than half full. But it was Gabe's idea to use them as lighting for the battle." Jonathan explained to me.
Jonathan also mentioned that in each floor of the prepared buildings, there must be at least one or even two opened tank filled a bit with gasoline. Kyle asked on how we should light them without lighter, to which he responded that it would be discussed together once all of the baits preparations were finished. It did not take long before all of the aliens were already finished being prepared as bait, and the six of us gathered on the bank rooftop for the final briefing by Captain Quentin.
The first thing that he told us was about how to light a fire inside each of the opened tanks. I was expecting him to explain us some sort of an emergency method, when instead he only showed us a matchbox from his bag. He continued by giving each of us five match sticks, and as for how to light it he believed that we could figure it out ourselves later on.
To be honest, I really wanted to show how I would drop my jaw to everyone there as I was already expecting something more complicated, but then again it was nevertheless for the better for everyone if the method was as simple as possible. He warned us to only light the tanks once we arrived on that floor, before he ended the first briefing point by telling us that the match belonged to Fiora, as if somehow giving me a hint that she was an active smoker even though she was a nurse.
The second which was also the last thing that he told us was about the execution in initiating the fight. He told us that two of the four aliens would be placed on the rooftop of the bank, while the rest of the two would be placed each on the rooftop of parking lot building, as well as the rooftop of the secretariat building.
He then continued that the fight would be expected to start from the bank, since it was technically in the middle of the other two buildings as it connected them through the rooftops and the third floor, and would be initiated by firing a round or two to each of the bait's head in order to lure a big amount of aliens towards it. I was really surprised, although somehow I sort of expected that it would be me to put the bullets inside the aliens' heads.
I agreed as a response, and the discussion ended by dividing the six persons to each of the buildings. The ones who would fight at the bank would be me and Kyle in regards of the combination of rapid fire with a silent ranged weaponry. Jonathan and Ryan would fight at the parking lot building in regards of Jonathan��s rifle and Ryan's swift movement with the wide spacing area and less place for taking cover. Lastly, Captain Quentin and Della would fight at the secretariat building in regards of the combination of his shotgun in a tighter place and more places to take cover with for Della.
As the briefing ended and the final decision had been made, Jonathan gave a final warning that he, Captain Quentin, and I were the only ones who knew exactly where we had placed the traps, and therefore it would be best for our partners to follow us wherever we went rather than splitting up inside the buildings.
Once all of us agreed, we immediately headed towards our assigned places, except for me and Kyle since we were already on our assigned place. I took a deep breath, and looked at my watch to predict what time it was then. Although I could only barely see it, it seemed that the time was at around 9 p.m. There was only one more step left ahead of us, before we really entered a crucial war with the aliens…