Vikram had a map. It did not cover a great distance. As if to compensate for the map, Vikram's preternatural senses are extremely sure of direction.
They knew where danger existed.
" There, a left turn. " Vikram said, pointing to a narrow alley.
" Stop here. " he said, just as they came to the alley mouth.
" observe carefully. " he ordered.
" You ! Are you fu*.... " The driver of the other jeep who was about to swear stopped urgently.
" Chachi, it's a crocodile " Nelle spoke for the first time since the jeep started.
Vikram jumped out.
He could see the crocodile as a series of lights.
The redlight which represents the weakness is extremely thin, and underneath the crocodile.
Everywhere else on its body is a gray trembling light, which represented very hard to stab to impenetrable for normal steel.
Vikram ran straight at the crocodile.
As expected, it opened its mouth at the last minute and jumped straight to his throat.
Vikram slid on the last step, leaning to the left.
He extended his right hand with the bayonet and stabbed straight where the redlight is.
The crocodile finished it's jump, landing right on the hood of the military jeep he exited from, Twitched and died.
Vikram swung back as soon as his feet found purchase, pushed the corpse off the jeep, leaving a bloody stain.
The corpse, which fell to the side, emitted a light which was absorbed into Vikram, and then slowly, the body vanished.
[ adding material crocodile skin + 1 ]
[ crocodile tail meat +1 ]
[ corrosive bio liquid with crocodile innards + 10 gallons ]
Vikram's eyes flicked to the messages, then back to the shocked comrade's look.
No one thought of getting down and checking for crocodile's corpse.
In the other jeep, Payal dialed the command center phone number urgently.
" Commanding Officer Payal Sinha, calling in with Black level emergency report. Repeating, black level emergency report, black level emergency report. In county K, there seems to be an underwater portal, which is releasing crocodiles. Please declare country K and all areas surrounding lake G as red zones, evacuate immediately. The mission difficulty is requested to be raised to S-class, air support and radar surveillance requested, asap. Reserve infantry with rifles and bayonets is requested, preferably equipped with spears or long poles. Reserves requested ASAP. " she repeated.
" Commander Jignesh ! Turn on live broadcast of the video on the jeep. From now on, we will help lieutenant Vikram handle the beasts. " she continued.
" The weak point of the crocodile is under its belly. It will protect itself and that belly point at all costs. The best way to kill the crocodiles is to flip them over, and stab straight into that midway point. It will attack in two ways, one is it's crushing bite, other is it's tail whip. Not even superman would come out alive from either, so you should never ever try to block, only ever dodge. Fortunately, we have one advantage on our side. These beasts are rulers of water, land is not their strength. So, instead of being crushed unilaterally, we have a ten percent chance to win. At the end of the day, these beasts are wild. They will not hesitate to kill you. So, no matter how well versed you are in killing them, do not let down your guard. Their strength is greater than you, their speed is greater than you. Your only advantage over them is your maneuverability, and your brain. Do not let down your guard, strive for victory. " Vikram finished his extremely nerdy prep speech.
He is different from these people already.
In his muscles is the strength of an ox, and in his hand, the strike power of a pangolin.
He does not want his comrades to think that killing alligators is an easy job just because he could do it.
" Get off the jeep, spread out in pairs. Keep your bayonet in the right hand, and the rifle, ready to shoot in a second. One team will go forward, the other team will cover them from the left side. " vikram ordered.
After all, there's nothing more important than safety.
The volunteer soldiers who were with Vikram got off the jeep, while the experienced soldiers who were with Payal surrounded her, with lookouts on all four sides.
Nelle came up through the hatch on the roof, settled herself comfortably on the roof with a sniper rifle.
Vikram hung off the jeep and continued giving directions.
The situation was worse than expected.
Alligators filled the streets like a black leather carpet all around the portal.
They keep moving onwards and onwards.
The only silver lining they could see at the moment was that not a single building in the county is built with wood. Everything that could be called a house is only ever built with cement, and had cast iron doors that could take a lot of blunt damage.
Thus, those who were locked up in the houses are probably fine.
The key word being houses.
Unfortunately, H city is no different from other cities. Slums exist. The daily wage laborers live not in houses but makeshift tents made of plastic bags. There is not even visible resistance when an animal breaks into these houses.
The people come straight out screaming - even if one animal is trapped in the plastic bags, the others will kill the people who ran out.
One could not even estimate the loss of life in this situation, for most of these workers are not registered officially anywhere.
The crocodiles did not even leave the bones when they finished.
Even if there was some resistance, as the crowbars on the ground proved, it folded far too fast.
Now, there is naught but a bent crowbar and few blood stains to prove it.
' I dearly hope villages fare better ' Vikram prayed.
They probably would, given most villages are encircled by some or other sort of natural barrier.
From commander Payal's jeep, a military drone flew, showing the seriousness of portal explosion to the military command center.
She received affirmation that the plans will change and reserves will start heading their way.
" Retreat. " Payal ordered.
After all, this is far too near the portal.
They need to establish a line, but the alley has three openings on the back side.
So, the alligators can encircle them at any time.
They were cutting a little too close because they absolutely needed to show this footage to the higher authorities. After all, one picture is equal to a thousand words.
" We have approved two thousand troops to defend in K-county. The soldiers will be equipped with Riot shields and fire extinguishers, as well as sabers. Only those above shooting proficiency four will get the rifles. " the general called out.
" Copied, Sir. " Payal responded.
" Commander Payal ! Could you get out of there safely ? " The general asked after a moment.
" We can hold on for ten minutes, sir. This lake is in a half circle shape. The alley we are in is the deepest part of the curve, so the chances of us being encircled are high. Even so, as long as the infantry team arrives here in ten minutes, we should be able to interface with them. " Payal responded.
" Very well. Commando team ten wll head straight to where you are, and if need be, we will air lift you out of there. " the general offered.
" Yes, sir. Thank you sir. Over. "
It's impossible to reverse the jeeps with a three point turn in this narrow alley.
So, the only way is to drive in reverse all the way.
The death of the first two alligators meant nothing to the ones behind.
They kept crawling up, one after another.
After killing three, Vikram got into a groove.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his comrades.
They retreated time and again, darting behind Vikram to hide from the alligators.
Vikram frowned.
This behavior was troubling.
He marked the soldier.
Akhil, another one from the same apartment. Vikram had taken care of the first two alligators, he encouraged Akhill to kill one.
Only, Akhil refused and shrank back in fright.
If that was all, it's forgivable. The alligators are dangerous, as much as they had weapons, it's hard for volunteers to start killing right away.
The point is every time an alligator makes a movie, Akhil runs behind a soldier of the team, each time, a different one.
He keeps grabbing at seemingly unimportant places, such as the side of the shirt, cuff of the sleeve, or pants of the soldiers. If he held them lightly, the soldiers obviously won't even notice when they move for the clothing moves out of his hands right away.
At the same time, if he exerts pressure with all of his power, then the soldier will stumble right in the middle of the action.
It will result in the soldier losing his life immediately, for not even a single mistake is allowed when fighting with these deadly beasts.
It is only after he saw Akhil's sly smile that Vikram understood.
This is not a trap for other soldiers, but for himself.
Finally, the moment came when Akhil hid behind Vikram.