Fletcher ran like his life depended on it, mainly because someone else’s life did depend on it. His side ached as he sprinted through the base in the heavy gear, but he only increased his pace as he reached the first floor. The Unhumans were in the base and going after Palacios, and it was up to him to save the irritable Major.

  Reaching the office door, Fletcher threw it open and stepped inside with his gun raised. Palacios looked up at him with wide eyes, but there was no one else in the room.

  “What on earth do you think you’re doing, Dickens? Put that weapon down.” Palacios got to his feet.

  Fletcher narrowed his eyes and closely scanned the rest of the room. Sure, his Unhuman was rusty, but not that rusty. That [Gnome] had distinctly thought about coming up to the uppermost floor to take out the leadership.

  As he was doing his check of the office, on the lookout for any hint of hidden enemies, Palacios swore and ducked down.

  Swinging his gun around, Fletcher came face to face with nearly all the rest of the Unhumans who made it into the station from the catacombs—a [Shade], a [Nix], and a [Ghoul].

  Fletcher dove across the room to join Palacios in hiding behind the desk as the Unhumans fired their weapons, barely escaping the hailfire of bullets.

  The Major crouched next to him with heavy breaths. Pulling his sidearm out, Fletcher placed it in his hand.

  “I’ll lay down cover fire,” Fletcher said.

  Palacios nodded, though it was far from the confidence Fletcher would expect from someone with that rank in this situation. Deities, no one at this station was going to be capable of fighting. They were going to die.

  Dismissing the pessimistic thoughts, Fletcher put his gun up and blindly fired at the Unhumans. Their incoming shots stopped for a moment, so both he and Palacios popped up to take true aim. The Unhumans were hiding out in the hallway and behind the door, so Fletcher crawled around the edge of the desk to get a better angle. Palacios had his weapon up, but he didn’t fire a single shot as Fletcher took down the [Ghoul] crouched behind the metal door.

  The rest of the enemies popped out and started shooting again, so he rushed back behind the desk and yanked Palacios down before the Major could get his head blown off. Fletcher smacked the man’s head.

  “Idiot. Why didn’t you shoot them?” he asked as bullets rattled against the metal desk.

  “U-unhumans,” Palacios stuttered. “There are Unhumans in the base.”

  “No duh,” Fletcher replied. He shook his head and mentally planned his next step. The Major was obviously not going to be of any use at the moment.

  As the Unhumans continued to fire at them, Fletcher crept around to the right edge of the desk. Just peeking around the corner, he got a shot at the [Nix] who he downed in one go. The other one latched onto his position, so he was forced to retreat again.

  Deities, this was taking too much time. He had to get back to George who was probably panicking while trying to guard the catacomb entrance. And now that there were Unhuman bodies as proof, surely the rest of the base would get battle ready.

  Fletcher heard quiet speaking from their opponent. Oh no. [Skills]. They had no [Skill] shield.

  But that worked to his benefit.

  With a thought, Fletcher activated his only useful [Skill] for battle.

  [Activating: Frenzy]

  As soon as the white text crossed across his vision, Fletcher jumped over the desk and gunned down the last Unhuman, using the increased speed and reflexes from his [Frenzy] to his advantage. The [Shade] collapsed near her teammates. That marked the second to last of the Unhumans in the base, but this was only the stealth mission meant to disorient them before the real attack. Things were going to get much worse, and soon. Not to mention that there was another Unhuman somewhere he needed to find, but that was a problem for once he got everything settled first.

  “Major, I’m assuming you believe me about the Unhumans attacking us now?” Fletcher turned to Palacios.

  He gave him a weak nod.

  Fletcher took his pistol from the Major. “Good. Then it’s time to get ready. This was only the beginning. You need to take command and get everyone to gear up for battle. And you need to contact someone and let them know what’s going on so we can get help. We’ll never make it on our own.”

  Palacios nodded again and went to the wall where an old-fashioned intercom system waited. He pressed the button and a beep sounded throughout the entire base.

  “Everyone, this is Major Palacios. The Unhumans are attacking Vesi Station. Pray to whatever God you might believe in. This is the end of all of us. Our doom has found us. We—”

  The rest of Palacios’s speech was cut off as Fletcher’s fist found his jaw.

  The man collapsed to the ground with a groan as Fletcher took control of the intercom.

  “This is Lieutenant Dixon. Everyone gear up for battle. I want you all to meet me in the mess hall in fifteen minutes. There is no time to lose if we’re going to stand a chance against the Unhumans,” Fletcher said. He then closed out the line and stepped over the idiot on the floor below him.

  Fletcher grabbed Palacios’s collar and raised his head up. “You’re a coward and a failure, Palacios. But I’m going to see us through this, with or without your help. While I organize the troops, I need you to call for help. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Palcios murmured as blood leaked from his broken lip.

  “Good. See that it gets done or you’ll be facing a lot worse than a busted lip.”

  Dropping the man back to the floor, Fletcher left the room behind and went to find someone else to help. He was only one man, and given they had to guard two different fronts between the top entrance and the catacombs, he would need another officer.

  He didn’t bother knocking as he reached Jana’s office, just opening the door and stepping inside.

  “Jana, are you—”

  “Dixon! My favorite pretty boy!” Jana held her arms out wide, each hand holding half empty bottles of alcohol.

  “Are you drunk?” he asked.

  “And why would I want to die sober?” she replied before taking another swig from one of the bottles.

  “I thought you didn’t believe me about the attack,” Fletcher said.

  “Not until that found me.” Jana gestured to the corner of her office where a dead [Dwarf] lay. Ah, the fifth Unhuman he needed to find. That was one less thing he had to worry about, though a drunk Jana was a big problem.

  “Jana, come on. The station needs you,” he pleaded.

  “Not as much as this vodka.” She chugged from the other bottle. “Ah. Yeah. That’s what I need. Want some? I promise dying will suck less if you’re drunk.”

  Fletcher walked up to her and then slapped the bottle from her hand, the glass shattering against the concrete floor. “No. You’re going to sober up, and then if we’re still alive, you’re going to help me lead us through this battle.”

  Jana grinned as she put the second bottle to her lips. “Ah, pretty boy. You’re too wound up. You should try relaxing.”

  He grabbed that bottle and tossed it against the wall. “No more.”

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  She giggled. “Yes more. Lots more.”

  Scoffing, Fletcher grabbed her arm and yanked her from chair. “Come on. I’m not going to let you screw anything up.”

  “Oooo. Yeah. Let’s go someplace together. I like the sound of that.”

  He didn’t respond as he dragged her through the base and up a flight of stairs. From there he tossed her in Palacios’s office where the Major was still cowering near his desk. “Sober her up. And make that call, Palacios. You and Jana are the only ones with the authorization to access the global communication system. I never got added. So take care of that one thing while I handle the rest.”

  Fletcher didn’t wait for a response as he marched out of the room and jogged back through the hallways to the mess hall. He sighed as he noted that less than two-thirds of the station’s personnel were there.

  “Where’s everyone else?” he asked as he entered the room.

  Norton shrugged, keeping her rifle close. “They didn’t want to spend their last few hours with a gun in their hands.”

  “It won’t be our last few hours,” Fletcher said, gazing across the troops. Twenty-eight. Twenty-eight soldiers to fight with. That did not look promising. But then again, he should be glad anyone had responded to his order.

  Hugo, Hernandez, Norton, and Kenzo were all there, along with most of their cronies. George was still down at the catacomb entrance, but the [Insectoid] shouldn’t be left there alone for too long since he was—

  An explosion sounded from up above, and Fletcher readied his rifle.

  “Alright. This will have to do. It sounds like we have company,” he said. “Let’s give them a proper Vesi welcome.”

  Leading the way, they all left the mess hall behind and jogged up the stairs leading to the warehouse which guarded the entrance. Fletcher paused before exiting outside.

  “Hugo, take a team and head for the jeep garage. Norton, take another team and head for the end of the runway. Both of you guys keep watch so they can’t circle around. Everyone else stay with me. We’ll take the center position, fighting them head on,” Fletcher explained.

  A chorus of ‘yes, sirs” met him, and then he opened the door and jogged into the night.

  [Dark Vision: Active]

  He didn’t waste time checking that the others were with him as he sprinted for the cover of the tire wall that he and George put together earlier. Eighteen others were with him as Norton and Hugo both took their teams to the areas he indicated.

  Fletcher crouched up so he could look over the tires and past the fence to where the city ruins lay. In between them and the ruins were indistinct moving shapes. Enemies, Unhumans.

  Something large flew overhead.

  “[Tengu],” he shouted in warning.

  The bird-[Unhuman] dropped something as it went, and Fletcher’s eyes went wide as he saw the round objects land.

  Grenades.

  “Watch ou—”

  His warning was cut off by the ordinances going off, lighting up the runway well enough for him to briefly see as several of his already small force were blown up. Bits of their bodies were flung across the runway, and Fletcher turned his sights back to the [Tengu], ignoring the deaths. What else could he do? Losing focus now would mean losing everyone to the Unhumans. He had to keep them focused on their enemies.

  Fletcher fired at the [Tengu], and a few others followed suit, but the majority were yelling and screaming. As the [Tengu] flew away, Fletcher looked back to see what the commotion was about.

  The grenades had been a distraction, and thanks to their [Skills], the Unhumans were able to sneak up to the fence. They were already climbing over the fence and into the poorly lit area the Vesi soldiers were trying to defend.

  “Kenzo, we need more light. A lot more light,” Fletcher called out, hoping she was alive and within earshot. In the meantime, he took aim at the Unhumans, shooting a spray of bullets towards them before ducking behind the wall of tires where the others waited.

  A young woman was next to him, tears streaming down her face as she clutched her gun to her chest.

  “Get up. You have to shoot back,” Fletcher told her. He pulled her up, aiming his gun at the same time.

  He didn’t bother counting all the varieties of Unhumans coming at them, only caring to count how many died. The fact that they were coming at them in the open like this proved poor strategy. Why would they waste lives like this? Or perhaps they didn’t expect to encounter any resistance after their stealth force took out the leadership.

  “Dixon, we’re getting overrun over here,” Hugo yelled to him.

  Fletcher pointed at three of the soldiers closest to him. “Go back up Hugo.”

  They hesitated for a moment as bullets tore through the air.

  Fletcher shoved one of them forward. “Now.”

  The three ran off as Fletcher focused back on the Unhumans at their fence.

  “Shiko, I want you to focus on air defense. Keep the sky clear of any [Tengu] or [Fairies] that might try to bomb us again,” Fletcher ordered. “Cortez, I want you to run back into the base, recruit anyone you can. Ankwah, I want you to use your [Nullify] ability to put a stop to any [Skills] you see coming at us. One well placed [Blastwave] could wipe us all out.”

  The three he ordered nodded and went off to do as he commanded. He knew their [Skills] from having read everyone's files in his free time.

  “Everyone else, keep shooting,” he said as he noticed several soldiers ignoring the rage of battle to look to him for directions.

  That got the others engaged. Fletcher joined them in shooting at the incoming Unhumans. While they didn’t have that great of defenses, they did have the advantage of being at the high ground which gave them a much better view of their enemies as they rushed their position. Not to mention most Unhumans had terrible aim since the Unhuman military was far from experienced with firearms. That kind of weapons technology was only handed over after the Second Unhuman War when the Second Treaty demanded it. Before that, they fought with scavenged Human weapons and then really ancient stuff like bows and arrows.

  Fletcher’s [Frenzy] remained active since his system sensed that he was in battle, and he had no [Mana] limit. The problem was that the others weren’t as lucky. They did have strict limits on how many [Skills] they could use. Ankwah would be able to defend them from incoming [Skills] for a while, but eventually he would run out of strength, and then they would be dead.

  They needed the [Skill]-shield up. And they needed to get the rest of the base to fight with them. Hopefully Cortez found a few more recruits for them. Surely the others would want to defend the station, if only to save their own lives.

  “[Werewolves] in [Wolf Form],” someone shouted.

  Fletcher turned to see this latest development.

  Deities, those things were huge. There were only three of them, but each of them was as big as a cycat. Actually, they were probably bigger than a cycat, and they were faster than one too. Bad news. Very, very bad news.

  Soldiers around him shot at the [Werewolves], but the bullets had minimal effect, if any.

  “Aim for the underside,” Fletcher told his troops. He had no idea if that would work on these guys, but he really hoped that since they seemed to be so close to a cycat, their weakness would be similar as well. Maybe that run in with Trevor months ago wasn’t as much of a waste as he originally thought.

  “How?” someone asked.

  “Just do it,” Fletcher countered, though he was as aware as the rest of the group that they didn’t have the proper position to hit that area on the [Werewolves].

  “Incoming air attack,” Shiko yelled out.

  “Norton, take out the [Tengu],” Fletcher shouted to the Sergeant some distance away. He couldn’t afford to let anyone near him stop fighting against the [Werewolves].

  The [Werewolves] nearly reached their position, but the chain link still stood in their way.

  “When they jump, aim for their bellies,” Fletcher told those around him. He really hoped they would have enough time to get a few bullets in the creatures, and that it would be enough to at least slow them while he came up with another strategy against the Unhumans.

  A large almost-bird flew over, and shooting from across the runway informed him that Norton had heard his command to handle the air strike. But it wasn’t enough. More grenades dropped, but Fletcher didn’t issue any orders about taking cover. The [Werewolves] were about to jump the fence, and this was their one chance to take them out.

  The Unhumans-turned-beasts leapt high in the air, easily springing over the eight foot fence, and Fletcher alongside the others at the center position unleashed as many bullets as he could into their exposed underside.

  Two of the creatures dropped to the ground, dead or too wounded to move. But the third one kept its feet, dashing towards them. Everyone on the Mixed side continued to shoot at it, but the bullets were nothing to it.

  The [Werewolf] broke through the tire wall as though it were made of pillows, and its great jaws clamped around the torso of the nearest soldier.

  The woman’s scream was cut short as the Unhuman-beast bit clean through her, raining blood and guts onto the ground below.

  Dropping the body halves, the [Werewolf] immediately lashed out to the next person as everyone nearby ran away. It’d broken their line completely. This was over.

  Fletcher shook his head, refusing to listen to the pessimistic voice saying Jana was right to get drunk as he dashed towards the creature instead of running away.

  The [Werewolf] got another soldier in its jaws, and Fletcher dove to the ground, getting underneath it before it could react to him. Pointing his gun up, he turned his face away and blasted away at the creature’s underbelly.

  Howling, the [Werewolf] dropped its latest victim and tried to bite at him, but Fletcher rolled away. The creature gave one last howl as it collapsed to the ground, its chest no longer moving and its red blood swirling alongside the bodies of the two soldiers it’d killed.

  “Lieutenant. I-it killed them so fast. What do we do?” Nguyen asked from nearby.

  “Get back in formation. They’re not through with us.” Fletcher pushed back to his feet, but as he approached the fallen tire wall, he discovered that he was partially wrong. Taking out the [Werewolves] must have given the Unhumans food for thought. No more of them breached the fence. The fight was over… for now.

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