"Go!" Bloodfang's voice thundered over the violent rumbling that shook the earth beneath our feet. Dust cascaded from the cracks in the walls of surrounding buildings, as the ground threatened to split open. His stormy eyes locked on Meg and me.
"Find Hylla," he barked. "Tell her to send forth the troops—now!"
"To where?" I asked.
He looked at me grimly, "As many places as possible. Nowhere is safe."
"But—"
"Go! Korvak and I will clear this up and head back to HQ. If the headquarters fall…it's over for END, and the world."
And with that, half of the training field imploded, leaving a massive sinkhole and I saw hundreds of humanoid figures emerging, crawling over each other like ants, a black and grey mass of slimy muscles.
Each about seven tall, with misshapen features, horns on either sides of their heads and hands protruding out of odd places on their bodies.
"What the—" Meg started, but I pulled her arm and ran.
I had no idea what those things were, but they were in hundreds. I didn't see how Bloodfang and Korvak would survive alone.
The last glimpse I had when I looked back was Bloodfang charging at the army, his fists crackling with electricity and Korvak throwing balls of flame down the sinkhole like mini comets.
As I ran alongside Meg, I couldn't help noticing how oblivious the rest of camp seemed. Out on the common area, they hadn't felt the earthquake that had rattled through the ground beneath us. Everyone else were casually milling about—laughing, tossing baseballs, carrying on as if nothing had happened—while the gaping hole and the army I saw was still giving me chills on my skin.
"Why aren't we warning them?" Meg panted trying to keep up.
"We need to get to Hylla first."I answered, "Telling everyone now will only cause chaos and panic which would only make things worse. Hylla has to—"
And then I ran into Hylla, who was just exiting the bathhouse, her hair still wet.
"Whoa there." She steadied me, amused. "You have a habit of…"
"Hylla…" Meg interrupted, "Captain, it's the end of the world!"
I winced. Leave it to Meg to tell you so plainly.
Hylla's smile slipped from her face, "What?"
I filled her in on what had just happened on what used to be the camp's training field. The more I spoke, the more her expression soured to complete horror.
But she didn't panic. Had every END executive had already known this was coming?
"You guys come with me." She said grimly, "I didn't expect it would be this soon but…" her voice trailed away.
She looked drained. Despite the strong look she always tried to put on, I could tell she was anxious and weary.
Shouldering the affairs of the entire camp and also being active on the battlefield couldn't be healthy for anyone. She was our commander-slash-captain for some reason, and now it just seemed unfair for her.
The alarms shrieked, a piercing wail that cut through the camp and ripped her from her daze. My heart sank—Bloodfang hadn't held them. The monsters had broken through.
Two soldiers came wading through emerging black smoke now clouding the whole camp. They moved like shadows in sync, with their twin faces pale beneath their helmets.
A guy and a girl.
They skidded to a stop before Hylla, chests heaving, panic radiating off them.
"We're under attack, captain." the girl reported. She tried to sound formal but I could here the desperation sharp in her voice. "We need your orders—now! It's Skyraxes attacking."
Skyraxes?
"Where are they coming from?" Hylla asked firmly.
"The field…there's a massive sinkhole..." The guy's voice trailed.
Hylla straightened, every inch the commander when she's needed, and the soldiers—though breathless and trembling—looked at her as if she were their only beacon of hope.
"Build a barricade around the entire perimeter of the field." She said, already walking towards the armory, "Bring half our foot soldiers, doesn't matter what their Abilities are, coordinate a defensive line for now. Wait for my signal. We are driving them back to hell."
I could already hear growing sounds of battle—gunfire, crackling flames, monstrous roars—coming from various parts of the camp.
"And… what about everywhere else?" the girl soldier said, her voice breaking, "There are reports that—"
"I know!" Hylla said, clearly frustrated, "But we are the resistance in this war…for the whole world. If the camps fall, it's over for the whole world."
She grabbed the female soldier by the shoulders, "However Martha, take every uninjured soldier not involved in defending the camp right now. Spread out to every part of the city you can cover. We'll be spread thin if the reports are correct about the amount of monsters breaking the surface out there now, but…we still have to try. I'm counting on you, Martha."
The girl nodded furiously.
"Be safe." The other soldier said
"Worry about yourself, brother." Martha smirked and ran off.
"Go, George." Hylla told him. "I'll meet you."
And he left.
Just after they left before I realized those two were actually twins. How had I not noticed them before now?
She turned to Meg and I, both of us still panicked stiff.
"Meg, Zeph—Zephan." She stuttered, "Those monsters...the humanoid forms you saw emerge from the hole in the field are called Skyraxes. They are small in size compared to the other monsters but they make up for it with numbers. And they are ferocious and brutal. You guys should join George in defending the camp. When we are done here, we can join our troops out in the city as reinforcement. Don't die on me."
****
This was the first time I was present in an actual battlefield and I wished it would be my last…without me dying on this one of course.
About two hundred soldiers had formed a long hastily formed shield wall behind a barricade of metal spikes. Some of the Skyraxes had already gotten caught in the barricade spikes.
But that's the most it could do. Most of the other Skyrax easily cleared the barricade in one leap and were clashing against the shield wall, threatening to break through.
Everything seemed to be on fire—roofs of dormitories, the lawn and a few soldiers. Apparently Hylla forgot to mention Skyraxes belched fire.
A few soldiers were zipping quickly across the sky. Definitely those with flight abilities.
Some were firing huge plasma beams at the bulk of the unending enemy army piled at the mouth of the chasm but it didn't seem to be doing much. Others were trying to put out raging fires with water hoses.
Meanwhile Skyraxes kept pouring out of that massive gaping hole endlessly. An unending army of long skinny limbed creatures.
At this rate, the line wouldn't hold past the next three minutes.
My eyes searched for Bloodfang and Korvak but I couldn't find their outstanding white or flamy red hair in the crowd. I silently hoped they made it out alive and had safely gone back to the headquarters.
The army of Skyraxes were almost on top of the shield wall now, literally, seeing as each Skyrax was twice the size of the soldiers.
As I watched, a Skyrax picked up a soldier in the shield wall, and with its bare hands, plucked the poor guy's head off his neck.
"Oh God." Meg paled beside me.
The scene was so horrifying, our entire army paused, frozen in fear and horror. Even as field soldiers with a lot of battle experience, seeing someone get decapitated like that would still paralyse anyone.
And in that moment of shock…
The shield wall broke.
The soldiers at the forefront got trampled underneath the heel of the seven foot tall charging monsters.
I saw one of the Skyraxes pick up a soldier in the shield wall and flung him like a projectile at one of the soldiers flying around, knocking both of them down the chasm below. Another soldier got impaled in the chest by the horns of a Skyrax.
More Skyraxes broke through the defense, running free in camp grounds, setting everything on fire by belching flames.
That's when I charged into the battle, picking up a sword from a fallen soldier. The blade gleamed wickedly, and had a faint bluish radioactive glow.
I focused on the thickest part of the enemy hoard. If there was anyone who could slow down this onslaught, it's me. If I couldn't, I'd have to die trying.
I slashed and hacked into the bulk of the army, Meg close behind me, covering me with her machine gun, firing rapidly in every direction. But she knew to keep a safe distance from my blade.
I let my reflexes take over at that point. I swung the sword in a deadly arc in front of me, decapitating three Syraxes in one swipe before they even knew what hit them. I dodged and slashed ruthlessly, every hit that managed to land on me felt like nothing compared to what I experienced fighting Bloodfang and Hylla.
Oh and the joy of using my power to actually fight for good for the first time. The dark presence seemed to have gone dormant…for now.
A Skyrax opened its mouth to blast me with flames but I drove my blade down its throat before it could even belch out a spark.
I was moving so fast the monsters couldn't even register what hit them before I turned them to shish kebab.
I kept slashing till I was drenched in monster blood, my body moving and twirling madly, for the first time using the full extent of my power.
Around me, the enemies seemed to be thinning. We were driving them back.
I turned back to see how Meg was faring and I realized I didn't need to worry much about her.
She was battling a Skyrax slightly bigger than the rest, about nine feet tall. It looked like it was pumped with steroids.
Meg was about less than half its height but she didn't let that deter her.
She rolled between its legs, then blasted the Skyrax's knees with bullets. The monster buckled but swung its massive hands at Meg but she dodged it easily, getting inside its attack. She aimed her muzzle at its big mouth and pulled the trigger. Scattered Skyrax brains hit the ground.
She saw me watching her and blew me smugest kiss only she could pull off.
I heard George somewhere to my right, "Advance forward! Steady the defenses and move forward!"
Soldiers slogged forward, attacking and pushing back with renewed strength, everyone fighting together like one big complex killing machine.
We drove the Skyraxes back, riddling them with bullets, laser beams, fire balls and electricity.
This was our home and we were going to protect it.
No more Skyraxes were emerging from the chasm and the last of them on the camp grounds were being taken care of.
The fires were being put out by a small emergency fire brigade team.
I didn't see Hylla anywhere yet. Had she changed her mind and went to fight the outbreak monsters in the city?
I hoped so. We were basically done here.
I noticed people giving me a new respectful look. The type of look I saw them gave big guns like Hylla and Brody.
I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with that.
Meg came over to me and tugged my arm.
"I think we should go help out in the city now. We are basically done here." She said. Her face was covered in soot and blue monster slime but was unhurt.
"Yeah." I said, "Let's just–"
I heard a loud screech from inside the chasm in the field.
Soldiers and medic froze as one, eyes wide in panic.
"Run!" Meg cried.
A giant flying creature flew out of the chasm, screeching into the sky.
It was the size of a passenger plane, if a passenger plane had leathery bat wings and a long slender snake-like body.
Its jaw unhinged and from its mouth, blasted out a giant hose of flames on the camp as it flew, setting trees, buildings and people on fire.
But the most unsettling thing was that…this monster was being ridden by another creature like a horse. I could spot a smaller humanoid figure on its back, and…even more unsettling, the presence in me felt drawn to it.
Almost like I was meant to serve it.