(Fred) Where exactly are we heading to sir?!

  (Sergeant) We’re heading to the statue of Cudrick, the center of the museum!

  Six men ran through the debris-ridden field of dust-covered grass and stone, seeing the amount of destruction of most of the outside monuments and structures that made the museum. Their eyes panned to the many groups that held out the many zompire groups and such, they all continued to look forward ahead, not wanting to see the brutalities around them.

  Fred’s lungs jabbed at his chest, his liver stabbing his stomach as he pced his right hand onto his side. His chest heaving up and down, Fred ground his teeth together as he tried to keep his composure to a minimum.

  The sergeant, his chest starting to pintack him, turned around to see Fred and the other two men’s exhausted bodies, his breathing turning rapid as he yelled out to them.

  (Sergeant) Come on nerds! You’re soldiers right!? Just keep pushing forward!

  (Gary) pants … For the st time … pants … we’re reserves…

  (Diego) gasps … Yeah … gasps … what he said …

  (Fred) The sergeant is right, we have to … pants … keep moving forward!

  Taking a break wasn’t an option for Fred, nor was the sergeant and his two men. Upon smelling the putrid air of smoke and dust, the six of them continued to push on forward.

  After several minutes of running through the desote and dangerous outside museum, the six of them noticed a monument that was right in the dead center of the field and grass. The sergeant, noticing the monument from a mile away, widened his eyes as he saw a major firefight ensuing in front of the statue.

  (Sergeant’s thoughts) I guess they’re defending the statue from them…

  (Sergeant) Men! Get ready to fire!

  The sergeant and his two men, followed by Fred, Gary, and Diego, wielded their weapons as they heard the gring sounds of a holdout ensuing half a mile from their position. Gripping their guns tightly, they focused their eyes on the number of pouncers they saw just from the group alone, their legs quivering from the pressure.

  But they didn’t wield, as their legs continued to push forward even more, their feet blistering from the dreaded run.

  (Gary) Fred … gasps … I don’t … gasps … I could …

  (Fred) Just … pants … keep moving forward!

  On the verge of colpsing onto himself, Gary felt his heart on the verge of popping out of his chest, followed by his entire body emitting a foul odor, the smell noticeable from the two nearest him. Pinching his nose with his fingers, Diego kept his distance from Gary as they continued to sprint, his eyes side gncing at Gary, getting his attention.

  (Gary) gasps … What?

  (Diego) … nothing … gasps.

  (Gary) Yeah … gasps … keep running!

  The sounds of gunshots were getting closer.

  (Sergeant) Weapons-free men!

  The six men steadied their aim, despite their hands and arms moving in the motion of their sprint. Unleashing an army of bullets straight towards the back of the zompire horde, the recoil of their guns shook their hands and arms unsteadily, causing their aim to be dislodged like they were drunk.

  Which caused the attention of the Zompire horde…

  Seeing that the horde focused its attention on the six men, their fangs opening wide as they sprinted towards them with malicious intent, the six men’s faces went pale. Stopping to catch their breath despite the desperate situation, the six men steadied their aim onto the group of zompires again, the imaginary crosshairs more visible to their eyes.

  (Sergeant) Steady…!

  Their fingers caressed the trigger of their weapons, and their breathing was loud and clear for them to hear, with the small sound of a droplet of sweat hitting the field, all of them closed their eyes to breathe.

  (Sergeant) Aim…!

  Letting the murky air into their lungs, the smoke and polluted air that was their only saving grace, the men opened their eyes to the horde of zompires getting closer.

  (Sergeant) And fire!

  The six men unleashed another round of bullets, their aim was not as hazy as compared to their previous attempt. As the bullets hurried into the zompire’s white pigmented skin, the bullets hit the mark, with all of their bullets lodging into the zompire’s left chest.

  Fortunately, the Zompires horde soon started to colpse and crumble to ash, writhing and screaming in agony as they cwed their faces with their brittle yet sharp fingernails. As the ash of the dust started to sway in the wind, the men’s eyes gazed upon the ash flying away up into the air, going away from the field of grass that they crumbled on.

  (Sergeant) Good time to at least stop here for a moment.

  With the horde gone, the six men saw in front of the two figures in bck suits, their stature well-formed despite seeing that they had blood on their suits. One of the figures was a tall man with long silver hair, simir to Fred, while the other was a short woman with oval gsses with a mean face.

  (Sergeant’s thoughts) Are those agents? Didn’t the comms say we didn’t have any agents backing us up?

  Putting a hand underneath his chin, the sergeant looked down onto the field of gss around them, rubbing his jawline as he tapped his pointer finger along his cheek. Looking back up towards the bck-suited agents wearing bck fedoras, the sergeant led the others to meet with them.

  Walking right in front of the two high-css military personnel, all of them except for the Sergeant started to have their palms sweaty.

  (Sergeant) I wish we could do a formal greeting but there is something I must ask of you. Are you willing to let at least one of these young men be on top of the Cudrick statue?

  (???) Why? Is it important for them to be on a statue in the middle of this?

  The sergeant walked back a couple of steps, his feet steady on the ground as he turned his attention towards Fred, Gary, and Diego. Putting his right hand on Fred’s upper back, he patted it a couple of times as he put on a warm smirk.

  (Sergeant) These young men, this man especially, have a pn, a pn too bold even for me. Can you at least hear it out, Agent Eren?

  The agent Eren trickled his nose with the tips of his pointer finger and middle finger, his small button nose turning red. As his right hand was occupied, he raised his left hand and arm, gesturing a simple shrug at the man.

  (Agent Eren) sighs … I’ll at least hear it.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Agent Eren) Are you sure he could do it?

  (???) That pn is too bold, even for me.

  The two agents folded their arms, their faces sharpening towards Fred.

  Fred started to look away as he didn’t want to make eye contact with the two gring faces, mostly at the short woman with gsses. The woman in question, tapping her heel onto the field of grass, contorted her face as her eyes squinted at the youthful boy.

  (???) Are you suicidal?

  (Fred) No … but I want this pn to work, so it’s better to at least give it a shot—

  (???) Answer my question, are you suicidal?

  The woman in bck hair started to walk towards Fred, her eyes sharpening even more. Fred, looking away from the woman, put his left hand onto his forearm, rubbing it gently with his soft and delicate fingertips.

  The rest of the men look intently at Fred, their eyes beaming at the youthful figure as their eyes sharpen at the words coming from the woman.

  (Fred) I’m not suicidal, it’s just—

  (???) Then what’s your endgame after that pn? What benefit comes out of you after this?

  (Agent Eren) Ada … if he could pull this off, then maybe we have a strong chance to push them back.

  (Agent Ada) I’ve seen that look in his eyes, I know way too many people with that same look…

  Ada’s hand started to tremble dangerously, her fingers slowly wrapping themselves up into tightened fists as she continued to look into Fred’s avoiding eyes. Pcing herself right in front of him, Ada had her hands down to her thighs, gring at Fred as her legs had the urge to kick something.

  (Agent Ada) You’re way too young to pull that off … so stop being some hero and think of another—

  (Women on Speaker) Emergency! Emergency! We have an unidentified variant!

  (Everyone) What!?

  Everyone looked around the outdoor museum to see that everyone who was fighting the little zompire groups stopped to see what the message was about.

  The seven men and one woman had their faces pale to the bone as their hands clenched from the speaker that made the emergency, their feet unable to steady themselves to the field of grass. Fred, the one who squinted his eyes more around him, noticed an unfamiliar creature towards the gate that they came out of.

  (Fred) Do you guys see that?

  Everyone turned their gaze toward where the entrance to the museum, their eyes peeking up at the ungodly figure of a creature that started to make everyone back away slowly. Their legs quivering from the way the giant figure walked out of the entrance of the gate, the men and one woman turned their attention towards Fred.

  Fred, looking into the other's gazes, started to shake uncontrolbly as his chest started to heave heavily again, leading to him convulsing with his own heart.

  (Fred) What is it?

  (Agent Eren) I think it’s time you do that trick…

  (Agent Ada) But, he’s still a kid—

  (Fred) I could do it … but …

  Fred took out his backpack and set it in front of him, opening the backpack to see an abundance of objects littered in it. Pcing his right hand inside the backpack, was the same gss bottle that emitted an EMP burst, the gss still looking fresh despite the now creaking gss from the burst.

  Showcasing it to everyone, especially towards the two agents that were in front of him, Fred carried the bottle carefully with both hands, his palms wreaked with sweat.

  (Fred) It will only be a one-time use, and I need a lot more time to set it up for it to work. It would be great if all of you could defend me. And also…

  Taking out his fshlight with his left hand, Fred held it up high towards the others, having a bead of sweat roll down his left temple as he let out a sly smile. With the fshlight having no batteries inside of it, everyone squinted their eyes, followed by the agents folding their arms.

  (Fred) Do you guys have any spare energy to spare? I’m going to need all the light I could get…

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Agent Eren) Seriously, what is that thing?

  (Agent Ada) Doesn’t look like it’s harming anyone, it looks like it's looking around aimlessly as if it’s blind.

  His left eye closed, Agent Eren pced his right eye into the scope of his M21 sniper rifle, his eye focusing on the unholy creature. Seeing the creature with just his right eye, Eren took note of the giant creature on its sturdy legs, its pale skin ever present as it leaked drools of tar from its mouth.

  Almost in a feral state, the creature had no pupils or any eyes to see from, its ears not present on its head, its nose smelling the air around it. Frantically turning its head side to side, tar dripped out of the creature’s lips as a pond of it formed on the cement where it stood.

  (Agent Eren’s thoughts) So we have to stop that thing?

  Pcing his finger on the trigger, Eren caressed it slowly as he parted his legs a couple of inches to the side, his breathing calm with his hands steadying the metal. Ignoring everything and everyone as time slowed in the present motion, the only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of his breathing.

  (Agent Eren’s thoughts) Please don’t let this be a failure, Fred…

  Eren tapped the trigger calmly, firing a single sniper round out of the barrel of the chamber, the burning metal traveling through the field of grass and sidewalks of the museum as it made its way toward the creature.

  The creature looked towards the direction of the sniper shot, its head lifting up and down like a wolf as it tried to sniff out its prey. As the bullet lodged itself onto the head of the creature, Eren let out a mischievous smirk, the corner of his lips reaching to the level of his ears.

  (Agent Eren’s thoughts) And now we’ll just wait for him to sprint at us—

  It puffed out its chest and stomach as the creature stood up tall, showcasing its immense burly arms and chest. At most, the creature was around 10 feet tall or more, with its fangs popping out of its mouth like a saber tooth tiger.

  Its face looking right in the direction of where it shot, the creature started to sniff the gun smoke, its nose muscles not even moving as the creature had no nose to begin with, allowing the two open nostrils to do the work for him.

  (Agent Eren) What the … what is it doing?

  A low-pitched roar vibrated the entire outside museum, the roar reaching the ends and corners of the entire complex.

  The stone walls shook, and the copper and gold statues and monuments' souls were rocked to the core, the field of grass swaying with the wind of the roar. Having its mouth wide open as it continued its warcry, the sky slowly started to darken, as ash started to fall slowly onto the military personnel on the complex.

  Everyone turned their attention towards Eren, with Ada pcing her hands onto her waist as she got up from behind him, her tiny pupils being dited.

  (Agent Ada) That was the best you could do?

  (Agent Eren) I just shot at the creature…

  The gunfights amongst the zompires were put to a halt, and the bullets that were in the background stopped pying their melody. With everyone in the complex turning towards the creature, the sound waves smoothened into the souls of the many soldiers remaining still.

  But humans weren’t the only ones listening to the soundwaves.

  (Sergeant) What are those zompires doing?

  Many of the zompires that were fighting the random soldiers, took many steps back from them, turning their heads to the low-pitched creature that continued to roar with intensity. Their ck of eyes gazing at the 10-foot giant of a zompire, the pouncer's faces all had frowns on them, their lips creviced to be an upside-down U.

  Until it slowly turned to that of a high-raised U.

  In unison, all the zompires around the field started to smile devilishly, their empty eyes and no nose making them almost skeleton-like.

  (Agent Eren) Are you kidding me…

  All the zompires around the field menacingly turned their heads towards the man who held the sniper rifle, their gazes burning into the soul of Eren.

  And in unison all together…

  (Every Zompire) Save! … Save!

  Everyone took a step back as everyone gulped in unison at the sudden change of the zompire’s behavior, leading to them having their legs on the verge of colpsing. Having their guns on standby, all the men and the one woman took a big deep breath in, their grips on their guns creaking the metallic metal.

  Not just the men and one woman underneath the statue, but as well as every other soldier that held out the zompires on the museum took their prospective steps back to take in the erratic behavior.

  (Every Zompire) AAAAAAHHH!!

  The zompires throughout the entire outside museum started to scream, because with their right hands—

  We’re covered in the white pigmented skin that they had, their fingernails completely drenched with their tar.

  With their hands, they cwed their skin, tar, and pieces of dead white pigmented skin dropping onto both the cement and grass as they tore up their vocals. In almost pure agony, the high-pitched shrieks managed to be too much for the soldiers, with most of them putting their hands to their ears shut and closing their eyes from the horrible sound.

  (Agent Ada’s thoughts) It hurts!

  (Fred’s thoughts) Ow! My head!

  Out of all of the personnel in the complex, the only ones that were badly affected by this were both Ada and Fred, clenching their eyes shut as their eyelids were being glued to the sound. The others slouched down as they looked at the grass, the sound causing them to tap their feet from annoyance.

  And then the shrieking stopped.

  Turning their attention back to the zompires, they all widened their eyes, with many of them covering their mouths with their hands. Both Fred and Ada slowly opened their eyes, peeking through steadily as they both witnessed…

  As the zompires had a steaming chest and stomach, almost simir to the ones found in The Array…

  (Fred) Oh no… Oh no…!

  (Gary) Are they fucking steamers now!?

  (Diego) And it looks like that big macho Zompire is the one who communicated with them.

  (Every Zompire) Help Us!

  All the zompires that had cwed themselves into steamers charged forth to Eren, the sniper rifle’s barrel continuing to emit smoke. Everyone taking many steps back from the hundreds of steamers hurdling themselves toward Eren, they walked back to the point where Eren was at the front.

  Seeing the big bulky zompire in the front entrance of the first gate, the creature started to pound the pavement with his two hands, smashing it repeatedly as if it were in a fit of rage.

  With the creature's eyes deadpanning towards the gun.

  (Agent Eren) I think I screwed up…

  (Agent Ada) You think!

  The floor began to rumble as the pouncers, now turned into steamers, charged forth onto the group of soldiers and two agents in the middle of the outside museum. Their breath catching itself onto their throats, everyone turned their attention onto Eren, their faces sharpening at the tall silver-haired man.

  Eren, looking down at the metallic gun that he wielded, darkened his face as if he didn’t pay the soldiers any mind.

  (Agent Eren) How … was I supposed to know …?

  (Sergeant) Sighs … I don’t think they’re following you, son…

  The soldiers and agents turned their attention onto the Sergeant who slowly walked his way towards Eren, his eyes reddened as water continued to pile up in his eyes.

  Looking towards the gun that Eren had, the Sergeant's hands clenched themselves tightly as he ground his teeth against each other. With his breathing hitching in his chest, the Sergeant extended his hands outwards, having his palms facing in front of the Agent.

  (Sergeant) There’s no time. Give me the gun, son.

  Slowly, Eren pced the gun into the hands of the Sergeant, his hands feeling the st of the metallic gun for the st time. Looking away, he didn’t make eye contact with the Sergeant, as his fingers shook coldly at the way things were heading.

  But a young man pced his hand on the shoulder of the Sergeant, a man with silver hair with a white and yellow shirt.

  (Fred) Sir, there’s a big possibility that you won’t make it.

  Squeezing the edges of the soldier’s khaki jacket, Fred’s eyes were the brim of welling up tears, his eyes reddening at the sight of the soldier even daring to hold the gun. The Sergeant took a step forward so that Fred’s hand fell to gravity, his hand tching onto the ground as he watched the Sergeant.

  (Sergeant) Don’t worry son, I’ll be fine. Just do your job as a soldier and I’ll do mine.

  The sergeant still had his eyes on the metallic gun, ignoring the sounds of incoming steamers about to bomb-rush them in a matter of several seconds. Turning his eyes towards the other soldiers, followed by Fred, the Sergeant wielded the sniper with his left hand, followed by raising his right hand to give a salute.

  The others looked down onto the grass that was covered in ash, barely looking up as their hands trembled at the sight of the man giving a salute. Fred, the only one who let out a rolling tear down his right cheek, stood there motionless like his feet were magnified to the grass.

  (Sergeant) For my father who was murdered six years ago, I swore an oath!

  (Sergeant’s thoughts) For revenge, it always leads to death… isn’t that right Ramirez?

  He then ran towards the empty field to the right of the statue, lifting the sniper rifle high in the air.

  Feeling the grass on his boots rustling the edges of his heels, the man pushed his lungs to the limits, as the soaring pain of many pintacks stabbing him all at once came to py. Followed by his breathing turning raspy, the Sergeant faced his head forward as he sprinted, ignoring the stabbing feeling from his legs.

  Fortunately, the steamer horde decided to follow the Sergeant, not bothering to give attention to the others in the middle of the field. Seeing this, Fred climbed to the top of the statue, his hands and legs ignoring all the metal dust in his hands and the height of the monument.

  (Gary) Come on Fred!

  (Diego) You can do it!

  Reaching the top of the statue, with his eyes overseeing the entirety of the park, Fred looked down as he was twenty feet above ground, seeing not just a dozen of zompires chasing after the Sergeant.

  It was most likely a hundred of them, all creating dust and dirt as they stampede to the soldier. Having his hands into a fist, he looked towards the Sergeant one st time, his eyes pushed slightly to the center as they snted to give off a determined look.

  (Fred’s thoughts) I have one chance to pull this off!

  Standing on top of the head of the statue, Fred put his backpack onto his chest and put his hand into it, looking for a simir device that he knows he has. Sensing the object as his knuckles dragged along the outer yers of the gss bottle, Fred instantly pulled it out, ignoring the objects that were in the way.

  Followed by many of the others giving him light sources to work with, Fred also pulled out high-voltage batteries and fshlights, setting them next to the device. Rubbing his hands quickly, Fred sat down steadily, not wanting to fall off as the stability of the monument wasn’t the most ideal.

  Doing his experiment on top of a monument, his chest and back start to be coated with hot sweat.

  (Fred’s thoughts) This is the fastest I’ve worked on an experiment!

  (The Sergeant’s thoughts) Even if he doesn’t use the device, it’s fine by me…

  The sergeant turned his head to find the many steamers a few feet away from him, their bodies on the verge of exploding as their arms extended outwards. Their fingertips inches away from his back, the sergeant turned his head towards the others, their faces riddled with wide eyes and open jaws.

  Fred, still working on the device on hand, continued to put many objects into the gss bottle, wrapping them in the copper wire inside of the bottle.

  (Fred’s thoughts) Almost there … just a bit more—

  (Agent Eren) Oh shit!

  Everyone turned their heads towards Eren, except for Fred, his long finger in the direction of the creature…

  Starting to charge as it ran like a horse, using its arms as legs as it galloped towards the silver-haired man. With each gallop that the creature did, the hallowing sounds of the soil from below shook, the grass and dirt vibrating across the entire outside museum.

  Eren had no choice but to colpse, hitting the grass field with his butt, his legs unable to move as the sight unfolding in front of him caused his breath to be stuck in his throat.

  (Agent Ada) Get up Eren!

  (Agent Eren) Oh… oh…

  (Gary and Diego) Fred! Hurry!

  (Fred) I’m trying!

  (The Sergeant’s thoughts) Oh no …

  The sergeant turned his head towards the commotion unfolding, seeing the creature pound the cement and grass with its arms and legs as it galloped. With the creature halfway to their position, the Sergeant clenched his fists hard, the fingertips inside of his palm stabbing himself.

  Ignoring the many sounds of steamers a couple of feet in back of him, their fingertips barely grazing the upper and lower ends of his back, his entire focus was on the charging creature at hand.

  (The Sergeant’s thoughts) I’m not letting them die … not yet.

  Angling his run to where he was facing the creature head-on, the man pushed his feet to the very limits of what was possible, his lungs on the verge of shutting down as his heart pumped out blood inhumanly possible.

  Everyone seeing this stopped to look at the sprinting man, their knees with most of them started to colpse onto the ground. Eren, the only one who was standing up, had many tears welling up in his eyes, his face motionless as his knees couldn’t dare to take another step.

  (Agent Eren) Damn it …

  (Agent Ada) Is he going to do it?

  The sergeant noticed the many hands scraping on the edges of his back, the steamer's palms slightly burning the fabric of his khaki jacket. Noticing that the steamers were starting to surround him from the left and right, the man looked up towards the creature that was getting closer towards the group, as he pced himself in between them and the creature.

  Opening his eyes wide, the creature that was charging now right at him looked eerily familiar, which caused the Sergeant…

  To stop his daring sprint.

  (The Sergeant’s thoughts) That creature … looks a lot like Ramirez…

  A steamer tackled the Sergeant, its hands wrapping around the man’s waist.

  In slow motion, the Sergeant saw the world in half the speed as his head pressed against the soft and rigid field of grass, the dirt pressing itself onto his left cheek.

  His right eye caught a glimpse of the steamer that tackled him, seeing the facial features of the white pigmented face, noting the presence of no eyes and a devilish face smiling upon him.

  (The Sergeant’s thoughts) Oh, Timber…

  Keeping the Sergeant in pce, the hands of the zompire that held him in bay started to melt the jacket that he wore, its body heat continuing to burn the skin of the man. And in the blink of an eye…

  (Gary and Diego) FRED!!

  (Fred) Got it! What do you guys need—

  It was too te.

  As Fred turned his head towards the commotion at st, the only sight that swelled upon his tiny pupils was the glowing light of the steamers on the verge of exploding. Unable to move from where he sat, Fred’s world slowed down as the steamer that was on top of the Sergeant, followed by every steamer after that…

  Created a Herculean eruption beyond the Evergdes of the past, the meadow, and sand that created the grass and cement being in a sunder of fire.

  While the shockwave…

  Created a cataclysm of serrated winds sweeping through the entirety of the field of knowledge, pushing the people’s souls tenfold onto the melbrew ground.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Agent Ada) Is he responding?

  (Agent Eren) I think the better question is if he’s still conscious.

  Gary, Diego, Eren, and Ada circle the barely conscious Fred, crouching down to see the wide opened mouth of Fred.

  Fred, slowly moving his legs and arms, found the strength to bring his body back up, getting his body to a sitting position as he looked up at the others. Gently, he rubbed the back of his head, feeling a rge bruise as he tightly clenched his teeth.

  (Fred) W-What happened?

  (Gary) Here, let me get you up so you can see.

  Extending his hand outward, Gary pced his hand in front of Fred’s face, his hand covered in dirt and smoke. Despite this, Fred pushed his hand outwards as well, grabbing Gary’s hand as he slowly pulled himself off the ground, his feet barely keeping him up.

  A cloud and fog of smoke and ash circled them, Fred looked around as he saw his backpack right next to him, his face and eyes nonchant.

  (Fred) Did I push the button?

  (Agent Eren) Yeah, you did, right when you fell twenty feet. You managed to keep the creature still, but …

  The smoke in front of them faded away, giving them the sight of a rge crater in the middle of the field that had small fire burns on the grass. Ignoring the little fmes, everyone breathed in slowly as they saw the creature remaining still.

  Taking note of the creature’s drooling tar coming from its saber tooth-like mouth, Fred gulped down hard as he continued to look all over the frozen-like creature. Turning his head to the right, he looked back to see the rge crater, causing him to smolder his hair, and feel a rge bruise on the back of his head.

  (Fred) Wait, why is there a crater? Where were those steamers? And where’s the—

  Fred then widened his eyes as his hands started to tremble.

  (Fred) No…

  The remnants of bck ash around the crater can be seen, followed by smoldering heat waves trapped within the circur formation.

  And the massive creature that remained continued to burn its eyes towards the tall silver-haired man, causing him to look at a dandelion flower.

  But despite all of this, there was no sign of the Sergeant anywhere.