The Lone Alpha - Rebirth

Chapter 15: Rumble in the Tunnels

The team immediately came to a stop as Ian gestured them to a halt with his right hand.

"Combat formation! We have company." Ian quietly said through the comms installed in his helmet.

Like a well-oiled machine, they smoothly adjusted their positions with Ian and Sam taking the vanguard while Amelia backed up the rear. They soon formed a V formation, giving each other about 2 feet spacing.

The thuds gradually became louder and from how loud it was becoming, it became obvious whatever they were weren't human and were in a hurry. Multiple furry beings appeared in their view a moment later, their dark eyes like whirpools of darkness.

"It really are these damn rats." Sam commented as over a dozen of the furred creatures blocked their path ahead.

The creatures stopped a good distance away from the hunters with confusion, hesitation, and fear on their faces. Their hesitation only lasted a moment though as they recalled the horror going on behind them and apparently would rather take their chance fighting these hunters than face that frightening wolf.

They let out a cacophony of noises as they fearlessly charged forward, crossing the distance in moments.

"Minimize noise and switch to melee." Ian ordered as he stuck his gun to his back. It stayed put like iron to a magnet, and pulled out his curved sword. The others followed his lead, kept their guns and drew out their daggers, swords, and hammer.

"Finally some action!" Sam nearly yelled as he swung his hammer at the rat in the forefront. Despite its large size and heavy weight, his large strength made it no different from swinging a sword.

*c***k*

The hammer explosively smashed into its intended target, bashing its skull so hard it caved in, and sent it crashing into a wall. It was obvious it wouldn't be getting back up ever as its body had turned limp even before it hit the wall.

The brutal death of one of their own did nothing to dissuade the rest as they pounced at the hunters, their eyes bloodshot either from fear or anger.

Ian slightly sidestepped, easily dodging a claw aimed at his head, and in one smooth motion effortlessly swung his katana. The katana sliced through the air, cleanly slicing off the rat’s hand, and with another twist of his arm, its head slowly slid from its body as blood spurted from its neck. He was on the move the next moment as the rats had charged into their ranks, a sorry mistake.

Amelia had retrieved her bow from a pocket located on her right thigh and with a light shake, the small semi-circular object expanded to form a 30-inch-long compound bow. She quickly nocked an arrow to the bow and pulled it a couple inches. Just before releasing the arrow, its tip began to spin at a rapid rate.

*Whoosh*

The arrow sped through the air and given the short distance it didn't take more than a second for it to hit its mark. The arrow easily pierced through a rat's head, its tip sticking out the back of its head with brain bits slowly gliding off it. It fell with a thud, oblivious to what ended its life. Amelia had already nocked another arrow the second the first left her bow and had already locked on to her next target.

Mark flitted between the rats like a ghost, each swing of his daggers either slit their throats or pierced their hearts and the attached chains made retrieving his weapons easy. His high dexterity made the rats' speed laughable as not only could he see their attacks but he had more than enough time to dodge and counter. He threw his dagger at an approaching rat, hitting it square in the throat, and with a slight tug on the chains, the dagger brutally ripped out of its throat, dashing any hope of regeneration.

Chris lightly turned his body, easily dodging a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth that snapped inches from his face. He turned his katana upright and gave it a light thrust, it smoothly dug into a rat's jaw and emerged from its head. He pulled it out and with a slight swish of his sword, its head fell off its body. He lightly glanced at Minnie, in time to see her slicing off a rat's hands before piercing its heart. She lightly glanced at him after and waved before she heavily swung her sword and split another poor one in half.

"She's so hot." He thought to himself as he mindlessly deflected an incoming claw and slashed at its throat.

Alex's heavy gloves had begun to glow moments ago giving off a faint humming sound, spurts of steam hissing from the knuckles. He currently had his elbows tucked to his side and was dishing out heavy punches at a poor rat. He dodged left and right as multiple rats angrily swung their claws at him, using a brief moment to counter he went straight for an uppercut that lifted the rat off its feet and smashing into the top of the tunnel. He grabbed onto an incoming claw, effortlessly crushing its hand before tugging it closer for a heavy punch that dislocated its jaw.

Jessica was happily swinging her katana and despite being besieged by multiple rats she was able to evade or deflect with ease. Each swing of her Katana sliced off hands and claws like they were made of paper and a thrust aimed for their hearts afterward. They fell one after the other as she effortlessly danced her way through them, claiming their lives like they weren't creatures that would have easily torn normal humans to shreds.

*Bang*

A loud bang was heard causing them all to turn towards Sam who had pummeled a rat beneath his hammer and turned it into a blood painting.

"What happened to minimizing noise." Mark commented while sheathing his daggers that barely had blood on them due to how fast and smooth his attacks were.

The rats were all dealt with by now except one that had simply jumped over the m******e and was trying to escape in the distance.

*Whoosh*

An arrow quickly covered the distance and pierced right through its skull, adding to the body count. This was probably one of those frying pan-to-fire moments as trying to escape from the mad brawl behind led them to encounter hunters that easily slaughtered them despite their advantage in numbers.

"I counted 19 rats in this little tussle, a meager number compared to a standard horde. Oh! and Mark had the highest kill of 6." Ian commented as he sheathed his katana lightly glancing at Mark, he had managed to kill 3 and would have been 4 if Amy hadn't stolen his kill. ‘I'm catching up.’ Ian thought as he smiled behind his helmet.

"Tsk! Mark always gets the most fun." Jessica complained while pouting behind her mask.

"Well, that was fun!" Sam bellowed as he lightly swung his hammer. "And the night ain't over Mark, I'm gonna win this round."

"You only killed 2 of em." Mark snickered as he folded his arms.

"Well, that's because they ran past me after seeing how strong I was haha." Sam confidently claimed, which wasn't too far off from the truth as the rats did try to avoid him after his first strike.

"We still have an entire horde to deal with, you guys can have fun then." Amelia said as she tucked back her bow.

"Alright then let's move, their cave shouldn't be far off." Ian said as he withdrew his gun. They continued to proceed deeper into the tunnels.

"They seemed to have been running from something or was it just me?" Amelia said by his side, a slight confusion on her face.

"I felt so too." Mark commented. " They seemed terrified of turning back for some reason and would rather face us instead."

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than us." Ian chuckled.

With the encounter behind them, they proceeded into the sewers unaware of the terrible battle ahead.