The Third Breed

Secure the base

“Lance, they stopped. The zombies sto...,” Ariel froze in place when he saw the huge thing in front of him.

The ground trembled, loud whirring sounds echoed as the a mechanical leg took a step outside. Like a huge spider crawling out of the warehouse. It stood twenty feet tall, four legs erected its spherical frame, two large arms were attached to it’s circular body holding a supply crate. Lance could be seen from Its cockpit in the front of the machine. It had the number 222 painted on it’s front which had headlights that made it look like eyes.

The cockpit of the vehicle opened, revealing several levers and switches and a very happy Lance securely buckled on its chair. “Ariel, what’s wrong?”

“Is that, whoa! I can’t believe it, it’s a quadrone.” Ariel kept jumping, hands raised while cheering.

It was as if the young man was suddenly filled with unimaginable happiness upon seeing the huge mechanical vehicle.

Lance couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Ariel, why’d you come here,” he finally asks after getting over the sight.

It took a few moments for Ariel to fix himself up again. “Uh yeah, the...the horde. They suddenly stopped,” he tried to sound more serious even though his eyes were still glinting with joy.

“What? That’s not good,” Lance face straightened.

He was starting to have an Idea what was going on and the reason behind the sudden march of the horde towards their location.

“What do we do now?” Ariel asks, the young man was now in front of the machine. Eyes glinting while touching the sides of the large vehicle.

“We still need to kill them,” Max joins in.

The man still kept quite a distance from the machine, his back on the wall carefully moving, as he exited the warehouse. Probably still scared of the huge spider like contraption.

“Keep an eye on them for now, this thing has a built in radio so you can use the one in the tower to call me. I’m going to close the gap in the barricade on the main road, while Max will set up traps around the camp. Once were done, we’ll come back here and prepare,” he says, then checks some of the machines controls to make sure that everything was working fine.

“Why can’t we just pulverize them using this,” Ariel had this puppy dog eyes while hugging the leg of the machine.

“It’s almost out of juice, and it’s going to take a while to charge it. So, we need to conserve it’s remaining battery for now.” He taps the rectangular indicator to check again if the remaining battery was the same.

“I’m going ahead.” Max was already ahead of him, carrying a large bag and rolls of ropes were around his waist.

“You be careful Max,” Lance waves at the man.

“Okay,” he just bows down, he still had that wary face while looking at the quadrone.

“Ariel, stop gawking and go to your post,” He scolds.

The young man was still appreciating the large machine he was driving, wiping, tapping and feeling its metallic parts. He even gave it a kiss before letting go.

“Aye aye sir,” he happily salutes then runs.

An hour passed and he was quickly able to properly secure and fix the barricade of supply crates that was on the road. He shut the entrance using the supply crate from the warehouse then set up a rope ladder for easy access. Max hasn’t returned when he got back, so he took the vehicle to its station to charge it, then went back to the warehouse to prepare the stuff they were going to need. After making sure that the electric fence was also working properly, he went to Ariel to also take a look at the hordes location and confirm the number.

A few minutes later they saw Max returned from his duty and he began explaining the plan for taking out the horde within the perimeter.

The sun was high up when they reached the area where the enemies had come to a halt. They stopped at a distance, hiding in some bushes a few meters away from the creatures.

“They seem to be trying to get to that tree,” Max points to the large trunk where the zombies were gathered.

Some of the creatures were scratching and gnawing at it, while others kept roaming around.

“It’s Jude and Darius, they’re up there,” Ariel says recognizing the name plates on each one while looking at the binoculars.

“How are they doing?”

“They both look like monkeys, clinging for their lives,” Ariel giggles at the sight of the two men who where still trying to climb higher even though they were already at a good spot.

“Max, make sure you stick to the plan this time, alright,” Lance reminds him.

“Okay.”

“Alright, do you have enough arrows Ariel?” he turns to the other man.

“More than enough,” Ariel taps his bag filled with it.

“Max, are you sure you’re able to move with that many weapons,” he asks seeing as how Max had four katanas, several knives on his arms and legs and spears tied on his back.

The man looked liked a walking armory, good thing he wasn’t wearing his hood this time, which would probably add up to the weight.

“Yup,” Max just nods.

Though Lance was still not sure of it, he trusted that the man was capable enough to handle himself.

“Alright, Ariel go to your position. Max wait until the smoke takes effect okay.”

“Yup.”

The two men nod and they began moving, Ariel climbed the nearest tree, Max went to a nearby bush. He started taking out several canisters and putting it on his utility belt

“Alright, lets start,” Lance says to himself. Trying to calm down.

His heart was pounding and he could feel his stomach churn as he began moving towards the group of flesh eating monsters. Keeping close to the trees and bushes to hide himself.

The wind wasn’t in their favor now, it blew upwards which didn’t allow what he had previously done so he came up with this one which was way more dangerous.

The canisters made a loud hissing sound as it release its red smog, he then begun throwing it as far as he can towards the group of monsters. Several of the infected had already notice him because of the loud sounds, drawing some of the group towards him. The creatures were quick as they wobbled and tried to climb the slope he was in. In a matter of minutes, he had gained the creatures attention as the whole horde were following him up the mountain. He continuously threw canisters while climbing up.

As he was reaching halfway arrows started shooting from the trees, taking down some of the monsters. He took that chance to get to the mound where he left his bag, taking time to check and asses the now fog ridden field.

A few more minutes and the red chemical had started to take its effect, the smoke was also disappearing from the gush of wind.

“Max now!” He shouted after making sure that the smoke had properly scattered throughout the area.

The two of them charged at the thinning red mist, both holding weapons up high as they began their assault. He was now used to the piercing and stabbing action that Max had taught them. He tried to keep phase with the man while making sure he was at a distant while properly puncturing the skulls of the infected who were flopping on the ground.

He took a look at Max when they got to an even flat area of the mountain. Same as before, the man moved with extreme agility, piercing all that was in his way.

A loud screech got Lance attention, there were a few of the horde that the smoke did not reach, the creatures still had their speed and strength as the few unaffected monsters ran towards him.

He felt his blood race to his head as one was already beside him. But before it could even take another step an arrow pierced its head, taking it down in an instant.

That gave Lance enough time to get back to his bearings and return to a slope, from there he awaited the creatures to come close before proceeding to attack, taking advantage of the uneven ground.

With Max’s unstoppable slashes and stabs and Ariel’s rain of attacks they were able to finish the whole group within half an hour.

The two men on top of the tree were staring in disbelief as they manage to finish a whole group of horde with just the three of them.

Ariel was looking smug as they walk to the tree were the two men were stuck.

“Hey guys, you can come down now,” Ariel called out he still had that grin on his eyes.

Yet the two seemed still in shock, remaining perfectly still while looking down on the three of them.

“Jude, Darius, It’s us,” Lance calls out to the two.

Jude seemed to recognize his voice while Darius was already climbing down the tree.

“Lance is that you?” Darius was still perched on the lowest branch looking straight at him.

“Yes, it’s me. So get down already,” he scoffs then begins looking around to make sure that everything is safe.

It took a few more moments for the two to get down, dark circles formed in their eyes and their bags were probably empty, seeing as how it was now neatly folded and both no longer had their weapons.

“We thought the two of you were .”

“Goners, dead, eaten alive,” Ariel butts in before Darius could even finish. All the while acting like he was being strangled.

“Ariel,” he calmly warns.

He did understand why his friend was acting like that. After all, the two left them in the port without a second thought. Though he still felt happy seeing their team mates in good condition.

The two looked at each other head held down as if remembering what they had done.

“We’re also glad you made it out alive.” Lance just says.

“No thanks to you two,” Ariel quickly comments.

“Okay Ariel, that’s enough, why don’t you two go gather your arrows and make sure everything’s clear,” he waves them off.

“C’mon buddy, let’s go clean up,” Ariel proudly puts his hand on Max’s shoulder and takes him along.

“Who’s that?” Jude ask when the two were far enough and busy picking up their stuff.

“Ow, him. That’s Max, he’s a survivor we found along the way.” Lance says, arms crossed, he held his head up high while looking at their very reliable companion.

“Why did you give an outsider weapons,” Jude voice was low but he could feel the mans disapproval.

Lance raised a brow at him. “You saw what he can do right, its not like Ariel and I could have taken down all those things. Or would you have rather preferred we waited until the horde just decided to leave you guys alone.” he says, smirking at the two.

“Is he alone?” Darius joins in, giving glances at the man.

“Can we even trust him,” Jude said with clench fist, moving closer with a sharp look.

“Look here you two, that man risked his life to save us, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him, so you better be thankful he’s with us or you’d still be hanging like monkeys, waiting for god knows what.” Lance snaps at him pointing a finger on Jude’s face before he could even make another step.

The man’s face quickly turned red and was starting to wrinkle. But Lance just stared at him with the same hostility.

“Lance,” A very deep voice echoed behind him.

Jude immediately backed away upon seeing Max.

“We’re finish,” Ariel says.

Lance closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before turning to his comrades. “We better get back to camp,” he says with a smile and the two immediately nod in agreement.