Chapter 13: A Morning Offensive

Spencer’s dreams were interrupted by a gentle finger trailing across his lips. His eyes opened to find Sarah leaning over him in the small tent. Only a few remaining security lights near the doors leading to the rest of the mall provided any light to their surroundings. As a result Sarah’s face was obscured by the darkness around them.

“Time for my turn on watch?” Spencer surmised as he stretched his stiff limbs out.

Sarah remained quiet but nodded her head. Spencer was still tired, but he wasn’t about to admit that after forcing Sarah to promise to wake him up a few hours ago. Yesterday was the longest month of Spencer’s life. It was hard to believe it had been less than twenty four hours since he stood in his kitchen and debated whether keeping a shotgun in his kitchen was overkill. Despite his body’s protests Spencer forced himself up.

“All quiet then?” He asked as he sat up and began to assemble his equipment.

Sarah spoke softly. “Yes commander. There were a few sounds outside, but they were far enough away to not be a concern. Howls mostly.”

Spencer yawned as he nodded. “Got it. You get some rest. I’ll keep watch until sunrise.”

He could feel Sarah’s gaze on him as he slid out of the tent and walked towards the center of the store. Once out of sight Spencer placed a finger against his lips and traced the line Sarah had woken him up with a few moments ago. Blood slowly filled his cheeks as he considered the implications of the surprisingly intimate gesture.

Chris’ guide said a first kiss was a huge stat boost… and Sarah seems like she’d be open to kissing if she’s been looking at my lips while I wake up. Spencer reasoned as he found a camping chair set up on top of a large tipped over shelving unit.

He settled into the perch and began systematically scanning the two entryways visible from the position. Spencer had read somewhere that the military trained its members to scan right to left. The opposite of English reading patterns. Supposedly it helped people see things they might otherwise overlook. Spencer quickly fell into a scanning rhythm while his mind worked on other problems. 

Thoughts of his powers, the engie girls he’d summoned, and what he’d be expected to do in order to survive the new world he found himself in filled his mind as the minutes ticked by.

Even though I’ve only known her for a few hours I do like Sarah. I mean, who wouldn’t? I can’t speak for who she is as a person yet. On the shallow side of things she’s incredibly beautiful, powerful, and has an insanely attractive body. I’m fully aware of that, but it feels a bit scummy to push our relationship so fast just because this all powerful system dictated that she would be completely and totally attracted to me. Not to mention doing the same thing to four other girls when I finish finding them… well… three other girls.

Spencer’s quiet sigh broke the still silence that hung in the partially destroyed outdoor goods store. He didn’t know how to be a player. Andrea had already been acting jealous even before he recruited Sarah. What would he do if she had seen Sarah growing more comfortable around him? How would Andrea have reacted if Spencer had kissed Sarah in front of her? He shuddered to think of how he could possibly survive a biologically enhanced young woman who saw the guy she liked kissing someone else.

Spencer’s eyes drifted down to the large patches of dried blood that covered sections of the laminate flooring.

On the other hand… Can I really afford to not grow as strong as possible to survive the apocalypse just because it’s not ‘morally correct’?

 Such questions filled his mind as the early hours of the morning dragged on in darkness

******

Sarah waited patiently for the commander’s footsteps to fade away from the tent before she made her move. With quick furtive glances out either side of the open zipper doorway, Sarah shoved her sleeping bag to the side and wriggled her way into Spencer’s empty one.

“It’s still warm.” Sarah felt an uncharacteristic smile spread over her face while her cheeks flushed red.

It was all Sarah could do to stop herself from giggling like a lovesick drunkard over the next several hours.

Just as the dark night sky began to illuminate itself with the rays of the morning sun, distant gunfire caught Sarah’s ears. This wasn’t the soft frantic shooting of a civilian trying to protect themselves. Rather this was the deep authoritative gunfire of heavy weaponry firing in controlled bursts. All giddiness and mirth gone, Sarah slid free of the sleeping bag and scrambled out of the tent. The commander jogged into view just as Sarah strapped shadowthorn, her beloved sword, onto her hip.

“You heard it too?” Spencer asked.

“Yes commander.”

Spencer nodded towards the entrance to the rest of the mall. “I saw a door to a service stairwell out in the hall. We could get onto the roof and see what’s going on.”

They worked quickly to roll up their sleeping bags and pack up the tent. Sarah offered to carry the lightweight tent in her bag and thankfully the commander didn’t object. They made their way to the locked staircase doorway and after a careful application of shadowthorn to the handle they were inside and running up the stairs. Deflated biological drop pods littered the flat shopping mall rooftop as they exited the stairwell and surveyed their surroundings in the growing morning light shining over the horizon. Fortunately all of the monsters that originally dropped up here either broke through the glass panes to the mall below or leapt over the sides to the expansive parking lot around them.

“Holy shit.” The commander walked to the edge of the rooftop and slowly took in the city. “I knew it was bad… but seeing it all like this…”

Sarah thumbed the pommel of her sword and cautiously stepped up next to him. It was the first time she had seen his world from an elevated position. The vast suburban sprawl was a wreck of uncontrolled fires, abandoned vehicles, and signs of violence wherever the eye turned. Sarah’s gut twisted as memories of her past overlaid themselves in the present.

“The Harbingers broke through the protective barriers around my hometown and killed everyone I knew.” Sarah said in what she hoped was an understanding tone of voice. “I was six at the time.”

Spencer glanced at her. “Is that your way of saying that you know what I’m going through?”

Sarah felt the tips of her ears burn and couldn’t bring herself to confirm his words. A distant rumble of sustained gunfire reminded the pair of them why they had come up to the roof in the first place. Sarah followed the commander as he darted over to the northern edge.

“There.” Spencer pointed towards the horizon, past the city limits where muzzle flashes lit up the large highway in the distance.

A wide armored convoy lined either side of the largely abandoned road system. Tanks, IFVs, and smaller recon vehicles illuminated the early morning with muzzle flashes as heavy caliber rounds tore apart hellhounds sprinting across the open ground towards the military vehicles. Drawn in by the gunfire wave after wave of hellhounds exited from the nearest housing developments and commercial blocks only to be met with an intense hail of concentrated fire from the armored line. Out of the corner of her eye Sarah spotted hellhounds in the area directly around the mall take note of the distant firefight and began to run in that direction.

The armored line was extremely well organized. The vehicles moved as one, shifting fire to wherever monsters were most concentrated, and wisely split fire so that the machine guns handled the softer hellhounds while heavier cannons took out harder targets.

“There’s a faceless one!” Spencer leaned forward as a towering figure broke through the wall of a partially burned down home near the city’s edge.

Sarah watched as the main battle cannons of the nearest two tanks swiveled towards the charging creature. Dust puffed up all around as the first cannon lurched back and unleashed a one hundred and twenty millimeter shell at the monster. The high explosive round tore straight through the faceless one and detonated behind it. Only its legs were left to collapse to the ground. The commander whooped victoriously and shook Sarah’s arm with glee.

He’s so handsome when he smiles.

Even Sarah’s normal emotionless mask cracked under the sheer weight of Spencer’s excitement and she returned a small smile. The armored division slaughtered hundreds of monsters. When one vehicle needed a resupply it would back up so a reserve vehicle could take its place. It didn’t take long for the outpouring of hellhounds and occasional faceless ones to slow down to a trickle.

“I think our job just got a whole lot easier.” The commander laughed as he rested the heavy hunting rifle he brought with him from the store on his shoulder.

Before Sarah could think of a suitable response there was a deep rumble in the earth. Sarah grabbed the commander to steady him only to realize that it wasn’t an earthquake like she had initially assumed. They turned to see the massive pillar that dominated the southern skyline opening up near the top.

******

A nauseating sense of deja vu struck Spencer as he watched the huge fan-like door open on the distant pillar. He grabbed Sarah’s hand and immediately pulled her back towards the stairway entrance.

“This is how the hellhounds and faceless ones arrived the first time.” Spencer explained. “The pillar shot out thousands of bio pods full of them all over the place.”

They were only halfway back when a single bio pod launched out of the open pillar. Spencer slowed his pace as he waited for more, but the fan-like door began to close.

“What?” Spencer paused in confusion.

It was only then he realized how large the single bio pod truly was. It could probably fill up the entire outdoor goods store under their feet, but its trajectory took it well over their heads where it landed on the highway halfway between the mall and the military vehicles mowing down monsters in the distance. A plume of steam hissed upwards and obscured the mound of flesh as it opened immediately on impact. A deep rumbling roar emanated from the mist as a huge figure lifted itself out of the pod.

A chime sounded in his ear.

‘Area Warning! The Tower is responding to a significant threat in the area. Area Boss now active.’

“Perhaps we should take cover.” Sarah advised as she slowly pulled Spencer so she was directly between him and the distant giant figure.

Spencer’s mouth was dry. Before he could think of a response he watched the main battle cannons on each tank swivel and elevate themselves directly at the fifty foot tall behemoth that roared in the center of the highway. The steam cleared and the creature came fully into view for the first time.

The creature had ashen skin similar to the natural plating that covered the hellhound’s bodies. It had two legs and stood hunched over so it could also use its massive arms to support its heavy body similar to an ape. Its head was covered with a metallic helmet that only left its enormous mouth exposed. Bulbous boils wriggled all over it and even as they watched a few fell off and splattered onto the ground beneath it. The boils, similar to the organic drop pods from the tower, released monsters from their innards soon after they struck the ground. 

The massive monster snarled loudly. Spencer could make out rows of sharp teeth even from this distance as large droplets of drool actively leaked from the corners of the monstrosities’ cracked lips. An advanced looking weapon system was wrapped around the shoulders of the giant creature similar to a set of football pads. A glowing powersource flickered to life in the center of its back and a large pair of missile pods lifted up on either shoulder. A shimmering bubble barely noticeable to the naked eye appeared a few dozen feet away from the hulking monster and encompassed its whole body.

“That looks like-” Spencer’s comment was cut short as a dozen tanks fired at the creature.

The shells exploded violently against the shimmering bubble but none of the shots penetrated through the nearly invisible barrier. The creature roared and began to stomp towards the armored column. Spencer held his breath as the military tanks and IFVs began a hasty retreat. 

The line shifted back. Heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, missile batteries, and additional tank shots all peppered the giant monster’s shield. There were flashes over the horizon and shortly after mortar shells rained down on top of the creature to no effect.

The colossal monster roared and the missile batteries on its own shoulders fired a salvo at the reversing armored line. Trophy active protection systems fired from the tanks targeted by the incoming missiles. Some detonated early while others slipped through the protection system’s response and hit their target directly. Vehicles exploded throughout the line and the surviving crew began to bail out. Some in better condition than others.

Smoke canisters shot forward from the surviving line to cover the tanks and IFVs that were no longer able to retreat. Overhead the artillery shells switched from explosive to smoke, completely obscuring the monster’s vision as they exploded against the upper shield. It paused and roared, suddenly unsure how to proceed. 

The hellhounds on the ground were much less concerned with the smoke than their massive counterpart. Taking advantage of the obscured landscape, the dog-like creatures shot forward across the open ground and disappeared into the growing cloud of smoke. On the opposite side of the growing smoke cloud trucks and humvees swerved in from behind the armored line. The two groups clashed in the smoke.

Flashes erupted in the thick white cloud. The soldiers that entered had intended to pull out the surviving crew members of the destroyed armor. Now both groups were in danger from the quick moving hellhounds. 

Spencer clutched the hunting rifle in his hands and began subconsciously counting the number of bullets he had at his disposal. A gentle hand touched his arm.

Spencer recoiled, nearly dropping his bag and gun in the process. Sarah held up a steadying hand and held his gaze with a serious expression.

“You’re my commander.” She said firmly. “If you order me to fight I will fight, but this foe.”

She pointed at the massive beast in the distance towering over the clouds of smoke, gunfire, and flames of burning armor.

“Is beyond my current strength. I cannot guarantee our victory nor your safety.”

Even though she was still as impassive as ever, Spencer thought he could detect a flicker of shame in Sarah’s cool purple eyes. That perceived weakness in his only companion sobered Spencer’s thoughts up immediately.

“Yeah…” He nodded. “I know.”

The fighting in the distance lessened as the military pulled out whoever they could. The colossal monster fired off a few more salvos from its shoulder mounted missile pods. Now that the smoke canisters were clearing up Spencer noted that the faceless ones and hellhounds were only chasing the military personal up to a certain point before stopping.

A territorial defense? Is it based on where each monster landed or, He turned around to gaze at the towering pillar in the distance. Maybe it's a certain radius away from the pillar?

“Commander.”

Spencer turned to see Sarah surveying the streets around the shopping mall.

“That firefight drew away most of the enemies in our immediate vicinity. If our plan is to move anywhere, now would be the best time to do so.”

Spencer immediately looked eastward where the next closest pillar of blue light indicated where the next pod lay waiting. Spencer bit the inside of his cheek. He just vowed he’d take things slowly and carefully, but Sarah might be right. With most of the monsters cleared out they could cover a lot of ground.

“We shouldn’t squander this.” He tightened the shoulder strap on his hunting rifle. “Let’s go.”