No second chances: The beginning of the end

Chapter 8: A Diabolical Virus.

The convoy finally arrived at the meeting point. Two armored hover-like mobile turrets, two research trucks, and three haul trucks full of provisions and supplies showed up.

The leader of the mission walked closer to the group. "Thanks for accepting the request, but I have to warn you, the TDW-A01 mutated and creates hive-minded individuals, which make them harder to fight against, even with magic-enhanced ammunition. It seems the virus can delay the effect of magic as well and we are supposed to study it" -He explained.

"Does it still affect all species besides the half-breeds?" -Chronos asked.

Gree and the Leader of the mission stared at Chronos in silence for a couple of minutes. "Yes" -The soldier answered.

"So, how much time will it take us to arrive at that place?" -Phill asked.

"About a whole day without making too many stops" -Gree Said while walking towards the car. "So we have to leave as soon as possible" -She continued.

When everyone got in their vehicles the mission started. It took about 12 hours before the convoy made the first stop in a small town called Betrio, it had nothing special; the stop was made to fuel up the trucks and eat something. 30 minutes later, the mission continued. The trip was relatively safe, but everyone was ready in case an emergency happened.

"What will happen if we get infected as well?" -Nat asked.

We are going to kill each other if that happens... -Gree thought. "It won't happen with the set of armors you made" -She answered.

Silence fell as the night approached. Chronos tried to analyze the multiple outcomes of what could happen in the mission. Judging by what the soldier said to us, we are bound to have a loss, either material or partners -Chronos thought while designing a mental plan of what to do in case of the worst situation.

Gree was also preparing a plan in case things turned out bad. The words of the soldier echoed in Gree's and Chronos' heads, the two of them were tying ends until they came to the same outcome. "An Ambush" -Gree and Chronos said at the same time.

Phill motioned the convoy to stop in order to discuss the fact that they could be expected by the infected, but despite his signals, he was ignored. He kept trying for about 30 minutes but then he stopped. "We have to assume they are ready for it" -He said.

"That's exactly what I don't want, if they are prepared for an ambush, they had to share that information with us" -Gree countered. "But still, the ambush is just a supposition, they may not like to hear a supposition in a counter-clock mission" -She muttered while countering herself.

"Then we just need to be ready for it, right?" -Nat asked.

"I think it is not that easy, our task is to successfully protect the convoy until we arrive at our destination" -Chronos answered.

"Nat do you know how to shoot?" -Gree asked out of the blue.

"Uh...yes, I shot a couple of times when I helped you crafting some of the weapons you designed" -Nat answered in confusion. "Why?" -she asked.

"Because I need you to use the Gauss rifle in case something happens" -Gree answered with a small smile.

It didn't take them too much time to be prepared for an ambush. "Hopefully everything will turn out good and we will claim our prize when we arrive at the place" -Phill said.

"Hopefully" -Gree repeated.

The convoy was approaching the destination when a dense mist started surrounding them. Then it began to rain heavily, making the vehicles' vision range shrink to a meter.

It didn't take long before a very loud walking caught the attention of everyone in the middle of the rain. The turrets set in position to shoot where the unknown noise was coming from, but it stopped. Everyone expected to find an army of Infected to appear but the reality was far from it. A giant beast, with the features of an elephant with gruesome limbs and decomposed flesh, destroyed one of the turrets instantly by only stepping on it and blocked the road for the rest of the convoy.

The next turret opened fire towards the infected beast, but suddenly another beast attacked it. It had a long and slim human shape, with pale skin and the face of an enraged ape. It didn't seem to be as powerful as the other one but when it got on top of the turret, a deafening screech came out of its mouth and a considerable amount of infected came out of the mist surrounding the convoy.

Nat, Phill, and Gree were paralyzed for a brief minute while staring at the scene. They came back to their senses when the door opened and Chronos left with his equipment. "Chronos wait!" -Nat exclaimed while opening the door and going after Chronos.

"Where are the weapons? In the trunk?" -Phill asked while stepping out of the car.

"Yes" -Gree said while putting on and headset and grabbing a modified gun. "Give the Gauss rifle to Nat and support her with the new Coilgun, and try to keep Chronos alive" -She said while reloading the gun and shooting to the closest infected.

Chronos ran towards the Turret where the simian-like infected was. If I kill it then it won't call anymore infected -He thought while running and killing the infected in his path.

The rain seemed to not stop anytime soon. The turret and a team of soldiers tried to keep the infected far from them, but then the screaming infected jumped towards one of the soldiers and easily ripped his arms apart, making the soldier twitch and scream in pain and agony until the infected devoured his head. The rest of the soldiers shot at the infected while this was feasting on their partner's corpse. The normal ammunition didn't affect it too much so they tried the magical ammunition which was supposed to light in fire the target or electrocute it and make it explode after a couple of impacts.

The turret aimed at the infected while it was eating the soldier, when the turret shot the beast, it hit the ground and a large wound covered its back. A small victory for the soldier didn't last long when the rest of the infected surrounded them. Luckily for the soldiers, loud and quick shots coming from the guns Gree designed, were enough to catch the attention of the infected and take out many of them.

Chronos kept killing effortlessly the infected that was on his way. It seems heavy ammo can kill them easily -He thought while running towards the infected on the ground.

The rain made the night arrive faster and the situation became direr. The mist, the rain, and the night in the middle of nowhere represented the most challenging situation after getting ambushed. The drivers of the trucks turned on the lights in order to not be on a pitch-black rainy night. The Elephant-like Beast couldn't be seen entirely, but it stayed in its place completely motionless.

The infected eventually stopped coming from the mist. Everything looked like if the group successfully survived, or at least most of them. But the soldiers and Chronos didn't take their victory for granted. The giant beast was still a problem as well as the mist.

"How do you think we should deal with the small one?" -Gree asked sarcastically to the Leader of the mission while pointing towards the Giant infected.

"We need to take as many samples of these infected as we can first, it will help us with the main objective" -The soldier explained. "The Screamer will help us a lot to see how much has the Virus developed" -He continued.

"We are exposed here" -Phill added. "They will come back so we need to be ready and if we stay to get samples then we will all die" -He reasoned.

"That's why you are here, we requested a team in the Guild to protect us in this mission, and the description of the team states that you are a skilled team" -The soldier countered. "We need the samples" -He said with authority.

While Phill and Gree discussed the situation with the Soldier. Nat was patrolling around the convoy with Chronos and the rest of the soldiers were collecting the samples and carrying them in one of the research trucks.

After a couple of minutes, the soldiers carried a lot of samples, but the screamer was missing. "THE SCREAMER IS STILL ALIVE!" -A soldier shouted before being torn apart and consumed by the hurt beast.

Everyone was on alert now, the vision was a problem and the rain blocked the sound of Simian's light walk. In a couple of minutes, the suspense built by the hunting infected was broken by a howl, the howl was coming from the Giant Infected.

This is bad -Gree thought while aiming her gun towards where she expected the beast to appear. She was next to Phill and the Leader of the mission, Phill was also ready and aiming the coilgun.

"Shoot the big one" -The Leader of the mission said by radio to the turret driver. Gree and Phill looked at him in horror.

Is he out of his mind?! -Gree thought.

Gunshots from the turrets could be seen from all sides of the convoy. The heavy ammunition was all used on the enormous limb of the Infected. The Beast let another howl out, then the Screamer jumped out of nowhere and bent the barrel of the turret until it broke.

Chronos was the first one to react. He moved in the blink of an eye. The only thing Nat could see was him jumping towards the infected. "What are you doing?!" -Nat exclaimed.

The beast noticed Chronos and made a quick turn hitting him with its long limbs. Chronos bounced against one of the trucks and fell on the ground. Nat ran towards Cronos and saw him covered in blood. "Chronos! Chronos!" -Nat repeated trying to wake him up. Then she realized it wasn't Chronos' blood; One of the limbs of the infected was severed on the ground next to Chronos.

The infected beast started to scream again this time it was obvious the pain reflected on its scream. Phill aimed the coilgun towards the infected and shot. The impact pierced through the Screamer's chest but more infected attracted by the scream came out of the mist.

Gree managed to hold them back but they were too many. The soldiers also had a hard time fighting them. "The magic ammo is not working, Sir!" -One of the soldiers said to the leader.

After a couple of minutes of trying to survive, the group was running out of ammunition. As good news for the soldiers and the group, the infected slowly became fewer and fewer, but another horror was moving in the darkness.

Nat was next to Chronos killing every infected she could. She recalled the moment back in the guild when everyone agreed on the request, Gree was the one who saw the request and showed it to them. I never thought it would be like this...Grace said it would be just a simple escort mission -Nat thought while shooting the Gauss rifle.

Chronos woke up and quickly got up. "Where is the Screamer?" -He asked Nat who was now resting from the recent fight.

"Phill shot it down" -Gree answered while walking towards them.

The rain stopped now, and Phill was discussing with the leader what to do with the giant infected. The idea of driving around was canceled because of the danger it could represent in case of more infected like the screamer.

"Why did you choose this request?" -Nat asked Gree.

"Because of the reward" -Gree answered. And the "easy" access to the Government's database -She thought.

Chronos felt like something was watching them from the shadows, something bigger and stronger than the screamer. His eyes widened when something charged from the mist and destroyed one of the research trucks with a single tackle. Everyone was in shock because of the explosion and from the flames of the destroyed vehicle stood up a monster with an abnormal human body and unbelievable strength. Its head was almost covered by a formation of pulsing muscles and broken bones from the shoulders, back, and chest. The face of the infected was incomplete as if something chews it and left only the nose, mouth, and ears.

The next research truck immediately called for backup. "There is an abomination here! We need back up!" -The driver of the research truck said while the rest of the soldiers shoot but the bullets couldn't pierce the skin of the infected.

Even Phill and Nat couldn't do any damage to the Abomination with the Gauss rifle and the coilgun, It was futile.

The Abomination jumped and fell on a running soldier, smashing him and splattering his rests all around. Another soldier tried to stab it with a knife but it broke, then the abomination grabbed him and threw him against the ground, breaking most of his bones and destroying his organs, it was instant death.

There is something we could do to kill it... -Cronos thought while positioning in a blind spot.

"Nothing seems to affect it..." -The Leader of the mission said hopelessly.

The Abomination jumped again and aimed to fall on the leader; At this point, he was just waiting to be killed by the infected but a loud metal noise and an impact were heard. The infected fell down quickly as if it bounced against something.

A girl with silver hair and crimson eyes with the looks of a doll landed in front of the Soldier. She was wielding a mechanical battle-ax with magic-enhanced blades and her intentions were to defeat the Abomination.