As the battle continued, the cops quickly realized their attackers were not superhuman like Uche—they were just ordinary men, albeit with an unrelenting determination that made them both reckless and dangerous. This gave the officers a spark of hope that they might survive the night.
They had taken down a surprising number of attackers in the short time since the assault began, though many officers had fallen as well. The attackers' tactics were pure aggression—they disregarded any form of cover, pushing forward with blind violence, spraying bullets in every direction, and hurling grenades as they closed the distance. This recklessness had made it easier for the cops to shoot them down, but the grenades alone had cost the cops their own casualties.
"Reloading, cover me!"
One of the officers shouted as he ducked behind a scorched vehicle to reload his rifle.
The situation was dire. Their assailants were closing in fast, advancing without pause, spraying bullets and lobbing grenades with reckless abandon. Though the cops had whittled down their numbers, they were still outmatched and outgunned. Worse, they were trapped between the oncoming horde and a raging inferno that was finally starting to die down, although any retreat would still be a fatal gamble. Time was running out.
"Keep firing!"
Sergeant Kim ordered, his voice heavy with exhaustion as he lined up another shot and took down an attacker with precise aim.
The snipers among them were the officers' main advantage. From their positions, they picked off targets with lethal accuracy, one shot at a time. The attackers, by contrast, seemed more intent on sowing chaos than on landing accurate shots, firing wildly into the darkness. But there were only a few snipers, and as the range narrowed, the battle intensified.
All of a sudden, a new volley of gunfire erupted from behind, loud and steady.
"What's going on?"
Inspector Ray shouted, twisting his head in confusion. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted familiar uniforms firing at the third van, just beyond the flames licking at the ground behind them. Relief surged through him.
"Squads Six and Seven—they must have survived!"
He said, a faint smile breaking through the strain on his face. He turned his focus back to the battle before them, a glimmer of renewed hope shining in his eyes.
A flicker of worry crossed Sergeant Kim's face, though his eyes stayed glued to his scope.
"Is Snowflake awake?"
He asked coldly, referring to Uche by the grim nickname they'd given him, named for the icy fear he brought to anyone who faced him.
"I think they're keeping him at bay for now… but can that thing even be killed?"
Inspector Ray's voice wavered, betraying a hint of dread. They all knew they were doomed if Uche re-entered the fight from behind them.
Sergeant Kim didn't look away from his scope.
"We may not be able to kill him, but we can at least finish off his followers before he fully wakes. We can't let him escape."
A few tense minutes later, the gunfire from behind fell silent, leaving only the crackling of nearby flames and the sound of their own rapid breaths. Then, piercing the silent, a single scream split the air.
"Run! Run! We can't stop him! He's a demon!"
The officers whipped around to see the remaining cops from Squads 6 and 7 sprinting toward them, their faces filled with horror. Behind them, Uche emerged, drenched in blood—his own blood. His disheveled hair stood like a dark crown, casting a shadow over his brutalized but still impossibly powerful form. His muscles bulged as he pinned a helpless officer beneath him, plunging his face into the man's neck and draining him dry.
Sergeant Kim felt a shiver crawl down his spine as he watched Uche feed on one of their own.
"Monster. He's a monster,"
Sergeant Kim muttered, feeling a chill spread down his spine as he watched Uche's bloodthirsty ritual. He didn't hesitate.
"Blow the van! Now!"
He shouted.
Seconds later, the van exploded in a blinding flash, metal shrapnel ripping through the air and fire consuming everything within its radius. Corpses and scraps of equipment were thrown into the inferno. For a moment, Uche was lost in the explosion's blaze, his figure swallowed by smoke and fire.
"That… that won't kill him,"
Inspector Ray murmured, his voice shaking.
"It doesn't have to, It'll buy us some time."
Sergeant Kim replied, his voice strained but determined. He turned to the remnants of Squads 6 and 7, nodding at the grim-faced survivors.
"Some of you, keep an eye on the fire. When it dies down, retrieve his body if he's still there and restrain him. The rest, stay with us and help finish off the remaining attackers."
The minutes dragged on, and slowly, the last remnants of daylight slipped beneath the horizon, leaving the battlefield under a cloak of darkness. The once-roaring flames were now little more than flickering embers, casting somber shadows across the bodies littered around them.
The chaos of battle had ceased, replaced by an eerie silence broken only by the strained breathing of the survivors. Against all odds, they had survived. They'd managed to annihilate the enemy forces, though at a terrible cost. Only a small fraction of the officers remained—barely a couple dozen—but their grim expressions showed relief. They'd prevented the attackers from succeeding, at least for now.
"Don't celebrate yet,"
Sergeant Kim cautioned, using his rifle as leverage to stand, his legs weak and trembling. He glanced at his fellow officers, their faces smudged with soot and grief.
"The battle isn't over. The real threat is still behind us."
He looked toward the burnt-out van where Uche had last been seen.
"Snowflake's body should be over there. Let's find him and get out while we can."
The officers quickly assembled into small search parties, moving cautiously toward the van, guns raised and ready. It took time for the flames to subside, and with it, they hoped to locate Uche's charred remains. But after several tense minutes, they found nothing.
"Sir, we found nothing," an officer reported, emerging from behind the smoldering van.
Another officer approached, shaking his head grimly.
"Same here. No body, nothing. Just burnt wreckage."
Inspector Ray's face drained of color.
"How… that flame surely caught him."
"It's one of two things."
Sergeant Kim muttered, his hands trembling slightly as the grim reality dawned on him.
"Either they succeeded in their mission, and someone got him out during the chaos… or he regained enough strength to escape on his own while we were fighting."
His gaze fixed on the empty darkness, feeling the weight of their failure.
"We failed again,"
Inspector Ray said quietly, his face falling as he realized the gravity of their loss. They had fought with everything they had, yet their true target had slipped through their grasp.
"Let's get out of here and report to headquarters,"
Kim ordered, his voice resigned.
---
Unbeknownst to them, while they fought desperately on the battlefield, a shadowed figure had emerged from the inferno. It had moved through the flames as though they were no more than mist, plucked Uche from the wreckage, and vanished into the night.