An armored car speeds across an empty highway, a silence having fallen across the passengers as a siren blares in the near distance. A general nervous atmosphere covers the group of men, most of them young and probably barely out of high school. Most had signed up in either desperation or were brave enough to commit themselves to a dangerous job for the sake of their future. Skidding to a stop in front of a huge portal, slowly cracking down the middle, the vehicle stands out against the eerily abandoned bridge.
Exiting from the rear of the vehicle, leading the small group is a surprisingly short but built man, greasy red hair in a ponytail down to his waist. Armed with a pistol and a Bowie knife, the man stops and turns to the group.
"Your job is simple. Catch the attention of the monsters as they leave the dungeon gate, and using your wits and a tracker, stay alive until an awakened finds you. If you turn off your tracker or it gets removed from your person by the beasts that will emerge, you'll most likely die if you can't defeat one of these yourself. Best case scenario, you survive, get your pay, and go on to a more peaceful life."
After a moment of nervous looks and the group mostly dispersing to their positions, one of the youngest members steps up to the leader.
"Forgive me for asking Callen, but how did you end up becoming a first responder? I'm so nervous, but I can't get it off my mind."
A slight smile and sigh betraying his rough exterior, Callen turns away to look at the portal causing all the commotion.
"I guess I just ended up going with the flow, and I've gotten good enough that it's somehow something I haven't even considered not doing. Make sure you don't end up like me, you're just a kid."
Suddenly, the air begins to shake as the portal before them suddenly shatters, and crimson ants the size of a small car with razor sharp claws reminiscent of a mantis begin to quickly rush from within. For Callen, this is the first moment panic has set in on a mission in a while. Panicked look upon his face, Callen rushes to the back of the armored vehicle, grabbing a bandolier of grenades, before tossing it to the young man.
"Shit, kid get out of here. These things aren't something we can survive against! If you get cornered, pull the string at the top and throw this!"
Nodding and dashing away, the kid turns to watch as Callen shuts the rear doors and climbs into the drivers seat of the vehicle. Callen, adrenaline pumping, starts the car and begins to drive it in the direction of the portal. Singling out an ant about to stab one of the members, Callen slams the car into its side, pushing it over the edge of the bridge and catching the attention of a majority of the ants. Immediately going as fast as he can, a tad slowed and shaken from the first impact, Callen pushes the car past and begins to speed down the highway. Seeing that he got the attention of the ants, Callen sighs a breath of relief.
"At least I can be glad I saved a few more lives, but I don't know how I will get out of this one."
Shaking the negative thoughts from his head, Callen turns into an exit, going off road into a field of snow. Firing a shot behind him with his pistol at the nearest ant, the bullet visibly sparks off the surface of it's exoskeleton, causing no visible damage. Clicking his tongue at the quickly approaching ants, Callen attempts to swerve the car around to dodge a claw strike from one ant, but is caught by the mandibles of another. Skidding to a stop, the ants all begin to clamor after the now stopped car, sparks flying as they rip the metal frame apart.
Unwilling to just sit back and accept his fate, Callen patiently waits before diving out of the car between a set of mandibles and begins to run. Not ones to be tricked easily, all the ants begin to turn to give chase. Suddenly, an deafening explosion occurs within the engine of the ruined armored car, sending snow high up in the air.
Not one to become cocky though, and knowing how durable the ants really are, Callen continues to sprint as fast as he possibly could away from the devastation behind him.
Callen manages to make it to an abandoned construction site, a few minutes away, before he realizes that only one of the ants managed to follow him. Readying himself, pistol in one hand and knife in the other, as the ant approaches and rears its claws to strike, Callen dashes forward, stabbing the ant in a gap in it's exoskeleton. As the ant flails from pain, Callen dives behind the ant into a pile of snow, opening fire into the same area he had stabbed. Callen, his pistol now empty, watches as the ant freezes. Only as the ant falls does he allow himself to breath a sigh of relief.
A satisfied look upon his face, Callen allows for his head to fall to rest in the snow, darkness quickly overtaking his consciousness as he passes out.