Several horrific screeches could he had coming from behind Jake, Ion, Jessica, and Josh. They were running from a horde of Feral Undead. Jake was combating what he could with his own Undead, which came from the shadows around them. Jessica was blowing any up that had managed to slip past Jake's undead, and any that slipped past Jessica would be swiftly dealt with by Ion. They were running at full speed, back towards home base. It should have only taken about fifteen minutes to get back at this rate.
The Ferals eventually decided to split off into two groups. One stayed behind to try and push through while the second group split off left and right to come up in front of them; however, Josh had set mines around their flanks and before him. As they started touching the mines that they could not see, the mines went off with loud booms.
Fortunately, the mines were effective. They blew the Ferals clean off their feet, limbs began flying around all over the place. Now the downside, the limbs also activated other mines, which went off. This caused Josh to continue to resupply the mines. Eventually, though, the horde became more manageable. When they finally arrived back at the house, they were only a dozen or so left. They remained in their tight formation, but Josh was exhausted. Jake finally gave out and released his Seed Power. He fell onto his knees and felt like hurling. "Sorry, guys..." Jake would mutter in pain.
"No problem. Thank you for stalling them." Josh would comment. "We'll take it from here." Ion and Jessica add. The remaining Ferals were wary. They encircled them while being careful. They didn't know why or what, but something had killed most of them off. Sadly, Josh could only keep around six mines right now. He was still mentally exhausted from before, and now this... it had taken its toll on him. Thankfully though, Ion and Jessica still seemed good to go.
Finally, one of the Ferals made their move. It lept at Josh, Josh would move a mine up to in the pathway between the Feral and himself. The Feral hit the mine, and it exploded, killing it off.
'Eleven more to go.' The group thought to themselves.
Another lunched forward, but this time at Ion. Again, Ion would step towards it and reach out to grab it by the face. But, instead, he would catch the Feral midair, and it tried to claw at him and bite him, but before it could even get the chance, Ion shoved it into the ground with a loud rupture. He then provided to stomp upon its head to end it.
Ten.
Another would dash around at Jessica as if to try and break her view of it. Jessica kept her eyes upon it, and once it had lunged at her, she brought her hands up and released her flames. Much like how she caused some kind of combustion or explosion when she touched Avidity, she did the same thing to the Feral. The only difference was, unlike Avidity, the Feral exploded into a gory mess.
Nine.
This time, two Ferals charged forth. One came at Ion and the other at Josh. Josh moved another mine to intercept the space, and Ion prepared to grab him; however, it seemed another two leaped at them shortly after the first. Jessica would have tried to help them, but two decided to dash at her. She threw out two fireballs, once for each; however, they were swift and evaded them. Jessica continued to throw out more fireballs, and eventually, one hit while the other missed. She was about to be tackled to the ground until an arrow pierced its head. The now-dead Feral hit the ground and rolled away. Jessica didn't even need to know who landed such a clean shot.
"Thanks, Bestie!" Jessica would shout.
As for the other Ferals that had come after both Ion and Josh, Ion could deal with one of them. He had punched his hand straight through the chest of the one that came after him, then crush its head with his other hand. After that, he would toss the dead Feral's body towards the one that went after Josh. Josh could kill off the first one, but before he could put another mine in place for the second, it was about to tackle him to the ground. That was when Ion tossed the dead Feral into it, which caused it to be knocked away. Josh quickly acted to return the favor. Since he had mine in hand, he would move it to intercept the second Feral about to tackle Ion. The mine went off, but no damage was done to Ion. Instead, he was covered in blood and pieces of guts, which caused him to sigh and look at Josh. "Really?"
"My bad, man, but hey... at least you are still alive, right?" Josh would remark, which caused Ion to shake his head. "Yeah, whatever. Let's finish this already." Ion would look at the remaining Ferals.
Three.
They were more cautious than ever now, but before they could even do anything else, they were turned into mincemeat. Josh's brow rose curiously, but Ion and Jessica already knew what happened and who did it. They turned to look at Rose was only a few meters away from them with her katana in hand. Everyone seemed to have come to the front of the house and were in the front yard now. Rebecca had Don's second shotgun in hand; meanwhile, April had her bow. Catalina, Juan, Alice, Sarah, Noah, and Tyrone had pistols in their hand. Natalie was on her way over to them once she took a look around. Mark decided to keep to his role and bodyguard her. It didn't look like either of them had weapons, but did Mark really need a weapon? As for Natalie, she had a pistol strapped to her thigh under her dress.
Jen and Boss were also in the front yard, but they decided to look around and make sure nothing else was around. That was when they had spotted Dillian and Sussan running down the road. "What are they running from?" Jen asked as she squinted her eyes. Boss did the same, but what he saw was something he didn't want to believe. He removed his glasses and cleaned them off just to make sure they weren't foggy, then put them back on, and he still saw the same thing.
"A horde of undead... and not just any undead. They are fast." Boss would turn around quickly.
"Everyone, it looks like a horde of fast-moving undead is coming this way! They are chasing Dillian and Sussan!" Boss shouted.
Josh sighed heavily. "Great..." He muttered. "What? It's just undead." Mark would remark. "No, those are not your normal undead. Jake called them Ferals." Josh would reply. "Ferals?" Mark's brow went up curiously. "Faster, Stronger and Smarter undead." Josh would reply, which caused Mark to grimace. Undead were normally easy to deal with it. They were slow for one which made their abnormal strength meaningless as long as one could avoid them. With a decent amount of force, you could bash their heads in or stab them in the head. Using a gun also worked. The one thing that seemed to upset Mark the most was the 'smarter' remark. What did that entitle? Normal Undead just moved straight at their target, but did that mean they were so much more capable if they had intellect?
"Nat, get Jake and Josh inside!" Mark exclaimed. Natalie looked up from Jake, who she had just finished checking on. "I planned on it. Come on." She would help Jake to her feet. "I can still fight..." Josh would remark, but Mark wasn't having it. "No. You are clearly exhausted. Just rest up for now. We can deal with this." Mark was firm in his statement. Josh wasn't stupid, he knew his limitations, but even still, he wanted to his part. "Fine, but before I go..." He would use the last of his strength to replenish the missing mines. He had spread the six mines out to cover various openings. "Don't worry about the explosions. It's my ability. It will only hurt the undead." Josh would call back as Natalie, Jake, and he went inside.
Since the Undead were only coming from one direction, those who excelled in close combat decided to be the vanguard. This consisted of Boss, Jen, Ion, Jessica, Rose, and surprisingly Mark.
They had created a protective formation for their backline: Catalina, Juan, Alice, Sarah, Tyrone, and Noah. April and Rebecca decided to be in the middle.
"Hey, I see the others!" Sussan shouted back to Dillian. "Good! Warn them!" Dillian shouted back to her. Sussan was about to, but as she got closer, she saw they were in some kind of formation. "I think they know." Sussan would remark, "What!?" Dillian shouted since he couldn't hear her. "Just keep running!" Sussan would shout back, and eventually, they caught up with the others. "Go inside!" Rebecca shouted to them, and they nodded before heading inside.
"Here they come..." Mark would wiggle his fingers around and flick his wrists. A barely noticeable string would release from the tips of his fingers and dance to his motion. Ion would bash his fists together. His veins were a vivid crimson glow. Jessica's eyes would flare a vivid red as well. She would use her Shared Sense with Ion, who was standing next to her. Meanwhile, Boss was fitting his brass knuckles and cracking his neck nonchalantly. "Zombies...." Boss would sigh. His eyes giving off a vivid brown flare. "At least it's not bugs. " Jen would comment as he took to the same stance Boss did. Her eyes giving off a flare of crimson as well.
Sadly, she was wrong. Off in the distance, far behind the horde of Ferals, there was a gigantic Spider. Seeing this caused Mark to groan. "You just had to jinx it..." Mark complained. Ion would smirk, "We'll just have to beat its ass then." Ion would comment. "Well said." Boss would pitch in.
"I'll deal with it when the time comes. Just deal with the undead." Rose would remark, her katana giving off a vivid black glow and her body giving off a vivid white glow. Three other glows came about—one on Boss, one on Jen, and one on Mark. Rose could only use her Seed Power: Link with up to three people. Herself excluded.
April activated her Seed Power and prepared an arrow. Rebecca standing next to her, saw the vivid yellow flare in her eyes, but what caught her attention the most was a small hint of green. She decided not to ask about it but instead wished she could find out about her own Seed Power.
In the beginning, Rebecca didn't believe all that nonsense about Seed Powers. I mean, who would? You just one day have the ability to do something supernatural? But, of course, that did contradict the part about waking up in a world filled with undead and oversized bugs one day. Rebecca only believed she was in another world because of how it was but without proof of the Seed Power. She couldn't believe it. She only believed it when she actually saw them being used. That was when her entire train of thought changed. She regretted not believing in the Seed Power and wished she could find a way to bring hers out.
Catalina, Juan, Alice, and Sarah were looking nervous. They could see the horde of Ferals coming directly at them, and even if they were in the back, just the mere thought of being face to face with one of them was scary. Hell, the undead scared them. Catalina had asked Natalie to watch over Sofia in the house, which was why she wasn't there. I mean, why would they bring a child into danger?
"Here they come!" Mark shouted, and Jessica threw out fireball after fireball. They were close enough now, so she was sure she could hit them. After all, they were bunched up. She hit several, but that didn't seem to diminish their ranks. Since they had crossed a certain threshold, Rose was able to use her Spatial Slash. She would quickly draw her blade and sheath it several times in a row. It was a flash draw. No one could even see her draw her blade. What they did see was that the undead were being cut down. Rose decided to leave the further ones to Jessica while taking out any that tried to leap over them. April would take out the ones that got past the front-line. Rebecca made sure to cover their flanks.
Mark was swinging his arms out, and when he did, various Ferals would fall into pieces. He was using his string to cut them down. As for the fist-fighters, well... they decided to take a ruthless approach. Ion, with his Limiter Release Seed Power, had maxed out his strength. From a single punch anywhere on the body, the Feral would explode into a gory mess. That was just how powerful his punch currently was. The same applied when he kicked the Ferals.
Jen would begin taking out Ferals with her own hands. She crushed skulls, ripped out eyes, broke arms and legs, and even twisted their necks. Anything she could do to kill them, she did. She didn't mind being covered in blood either; if anything, she felt a sense of thrill overtake her body. It boosted her adrenaline, and she sought out more.
Unlike Ion and Jen, Boss didn't have the destructive power they possessed. When he hit a Feral in the head or ribs, he still did moderate damage; however, he broke their insides. Since there was no armor and mainly flesh, nothing was stopping his Seed Power, so it went directly for the insides. Attacks to the brain killed them instantly, but he often had to attack other parts of the body or swiftly evade an attack from the undead so he could attack the brain.
Needless to say, they weren't coming out unscathed. Everyone was being scratched up, but no one was getting bitten. Their backline did their best to support their frontline and those in the middle. Thanks to all of their hard training, they were able to help. Sure they may not have hit the head every time, but the shoots did keep the Ferals from taking a chunk out of them.
Meanwhile, inside of the home, Natalie was patching up Ryan in the master bedroom. She had to lay out some kind of pallet for Ryan to lay on since John and Don were lying in the bed hooked up to IV bags and whatnot. Natalie was going over Ryan, there was no internal damage, and nothing was wrong on the inside either, but what intrigued her the most was that some kind of virus was inside of Ryan's system; however, something was eliminating it instantly. She didn't understand it, but as long as Ryan was fine, she decided to just make a mental note of it.
Natalie would turn towards Sussan and Dillian, who were waiting for a verdict. "He'll be fine. With some rest, he should be okay. He is just fatigued. Did he awaken to his Seed Power?" Natalie asked. She had seen it, a source of blue energy beating around his heart. It was faint, but she could tell it was there. They would both nod with surprised looks. "But how did you know?" Dillian asked. "Just a guess. Usually, the first time a Seed Power is awakened, the user becomes extremely fatigued to the point where they pass out without question. He'll be out for a least a day or two. Which is also usually what happens." Natalie would remark. Both Dillian and Sussan were thrilled to hear Ryan would be fine.
"That's great." Jake would murmur. He was sitting in a chair with his head leaned back and his eyes closed. Everyone looked towards Jake. "I told you to rest. Why are you still awake?" Natalie made her way over to Jake to check on him. Jake just chuckled, "You think I can fall asleep with all the noise going on outside? I am surprised those two are still asleep." Jake would comment. Even without looking at them, everyone in the room knew who he was talking about.
Sofia, who was looking at Don and John, looked towards Natalie. "Miss, are they going to be okay?" Sofia asked with a worried expression. Natalie saw the expression on Sofia's face and gave her a soft smile. "They'll be fine sweetie, they just need some rest." Natalie would remark, and Sofia would nod before looking at Don. She saw he was still wearing the necklace around his neck that she had given him.
A smile would curve across her lips. The carved star seemed to give off a dim purple flicker that anyone could easily miss even if they looked at Don. Still, since Sofia was looking at the necklace, she saw it.
Dillian and Sussan looked at one another before getting up. "We'll be back. We can help them." They both left the room and decided to pick up a pair of pistols. One for each of them before leaving the front door. What they saw, though, nearly caused them to step back inside. It was like a wave of undead was trying its best to crash over the group. "Ryan would run out there..." Dillian would remark after a heavy gulp and take a step forward. "Y-Yeah... We need to keep our promise!" Sussan would exclaim, and both of them moved towards the backline.
The others were surprised to see them but glad they joined up. They would also help with the supportive fire. They didn't know how long this would take, but they did bring a sack of ammunition with fully loaded magazines. Once they ejected a magazine from their pistol, they would reload a new one. They would cover each other and call out, "Empty!" Each time someone ran out. Meanwhile, the front-line continued doing their part, and April and Rebecca continued to do theirs. Their teamwork was flawless, but they were too preoccupied to notice something else. It was coming from behind them, but it was at a great distance. So they wouldn't notice it just yet, but what was coming for them was worming its way underground.
It was, a worm.