Fletcher flinched as the door to his office opened. Any small sound set him off nowadays, but after three days of fighting against the Unhumans, he lived in a constant state of heightened senses.

  “What do you have for me, Hernandez?” he asked, pushing aside the paper on his desk. It was the current casualty list. He read it several times a day, each name like a scar on his soul.

  “The latest supply list. Ammo is good, but we’re running low on grenades,” the man said, handing him a paper.

  “They’re our best defense against the Unhumans,” Fletcher murmured. He glanced at the paper and grimaced. “Yeah. That’s not good. What about the current prisoners? Anyone new willing to join up?”

  “Cortez said he thinks we’ll get maybe one more out of them, but those that are left aren’t the kind of people I’d want to fight with anyway,” the corporal said.

  “We’re down ten people from our original force. I’m not sure we get to be picky.”

  “Well, it doesn’t help that the cell is rather roomy now after the last batch joined up. There’s less incentive to fight,” Hernandez pointed out.

  Fletcher nodded, studying the supply list. They still had plenty of food. Crates and crates of the canned goods, but that was about all they had a large surplus of.

  “Hugo is struggling to find enough material to repair the defensive walls. He wants to tear apart the last jeep,” Hernandez added.

  “No,” Fletcher said quickly. While he didn’t have a use for the vehicle currently, he didn’t want to give up their final jeep when it might come in handy later. “Tell him to use the food.”

  “What?”

  Fletcher set the supplies paper down. “You heard me. Use the food. We have tons of canned goods in crates. Those will stop bullets as well as anything.”

  Hernandez sucked his lower lip. “And what do we eat?”

  “Help is on the way,” Fletcher reminded him. “We’re not going to be waiting a full two months for the next supply drop. Use the food. It’s the only thing we can sacrifice.”

  The sergeant nodded. “Okay. If that’s what you’re ordering us to do.”

  “It is. Now get going before Hugo takes that jeep apart.”

  Hernandez ducked his head and exited the office.

  Fletcher winced as the door slammed closed. Couldn’t the guy be a little softer in his movements?

  Too antsy to keep sitting, Fletcher got up from his desk and paced his office, his mind caught up on a million different things. The Unhumans were going to attack again, and soon no doubt. Their attacks came at random intervals, but always within at least ten hours of the last one. Maybe this one would be a small one.

  Fletcher groaned and rubbed his hand across his face. Except the last time they had a “small” attack, it was because the Unhumans were pushing through the catacombs again, and they lost half the guards there.

  The truth was they couldn’t keep up like this. But they had to find a way to keep going. Help was coming. Palacios swore to it every time Fletcher asked him about it, but the Major couldn’t give him any updates. The weather temporarily cut off contact.

  That made sense. They’d had several bitter rainstorms over the past two days, though unfortunately it hadn’t done much to slow the Unhumans.

  Fletcher’s heartrate quickened as his mind churned up the image of the dead Unhumans, all piled together just outside the fence. So much death. His own side had survived heavy casualties as well. Nobody was winning in this conflict. It was a stalemate. Vesi Station had nothing to offer, so why were the Unhumans so insistent on taking them out? What did they gain from this?

  He wondered if it was an ego thing. Perhaps they were too prideful to admit they lost to a small Mixed base like this. Or maybe they were just bound and determined to take control of Vesi for some grand purpose Fletcher did not understand.

  None of that truly mattered. All that mattered was lasting long enough for help to come so he could get his people out of this alive… those who were still alive at least.

  More images of desecrated bodies flashed in his mind, and Fletcher stopped pacing. He needed to get out of his office and do something. Leaving the small room behind, Fletcher went up a couple flights of stairs and outside into the late afternoon. Gray clouds hung in the sky, threatening more rain—why were they getting so much precipitation now of all times? That would make life miserable for everyone, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  Hugo was shouting at people, getting everyone to work on fixing up the wall which had taken a pounding during the last few attacks. He came over to Fletcher when he noticed him.

  “Food? You want me to put food in the wall? No. Try again, Lieutenant Asshole,” the man growled.

  Fletcher shook his head. “There’s nothing else. That’s what we have.”

  “I’m not—”

  “This is not up for discussion, Hugo. Use the food supplies.” Fletcher kept his voice hard, staring at the man coldly.

  “Fine. Don’t come crying to me when you get spam in your eyes from a stray grenade.” Hugo marched away, shouting at some other soldiers to take his frustrations out.

  Norton came over to him. “I don’t remember the last time I saw Hugo that pissed off.”

  Fletcher huffed. “He’ll get over it.”

  “How much longer until help comes?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Communication is down due to the storm,” he reminded her.

  “So we just have to sit here, waiting for them to attack again.”

  “What else do you want us to do? We don’t have the means to retreat,” Fletcher grumbled.

  She shrugged. “I know that. I just wish we didn’t have to wait. It’d be nice if we could take the fight to them. Put them on the defensive.”

  Fletcher paused. “You mean, an offensive strike?”

  “Yeah. I understand there’s no chance of that. We’d be fish in a barrel running down that hill towards their camp in the ruins.” Norton sighed. “But a girl can dream.”

  “Who said we have to go down the hill?” Fletcher asked. He grinned as an idea formed in his head. “Assemble a team of four people you trust to watch your back and meet me on the bottom floor of the station.”

  Norton looked at him in surprise, but understanding crossed her face. “Yes, sir. See you there.”

  Fletcher watched her go, mentally coming up with a list of duties to pass on temporarily. It would have to be quick and targeted, but it might work to take a little pressure off them defensively. After all, didn’t they say that the best defense was a good offense?

  ***

  “Everyone clear on the plan?” Fletcher asked as he adjusted the strap for his rifle.

  “I’m not sure ‘find the Unhuman base and blow it up’ counts as a real plan,” Norton answered with a smirk.

  Fletcher grinned. “Well, if you have a better suggestion, I’m open to hearing it.”

  Ankwah raised his hand. “Is it possible to do this without going into the catacombs?”

  “No. Any other questions?” Fletcher glanced around the group of five soldiers near him, but no one else raised their hands. “Great. I’ll take the lead. Norton, you take the rear. Ankwah, stay close to me so you can use [Nullify] if we run into any Unhumans.”

  “Yes, sir,” they all said in unison.

  “Good luck,” Kenzo said from where she stood on guard at the catacomb entrance, holding the grate open that normally blocked it off.

  Fletcher descended the stone ladder first, followed by Ankwah, and then the others. As soon as his feet hit the ground—which was covered in an inch of water after the storms—he turned on his flashlight. Not everyone had [Dark Vision] so he decided that it was better to make sure the whole team could see rather than lean into his [Skill]. He felt safe bringing Ankwah to [Nullify] any [Skills] they might bump into since Kenzo had managed to get the [Skill]-shield mostly working. The range wasn’t as broad as it was supposed to be, but it covered enough of the area for their needs, so at least they were fighting the Unhumans on even ground—metaphorically speaking.

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  The catacombs reminded Fletcher of a fancy sewer thanks to the water running across the floor and all the branching off tunnels. The stone work was smooth, and the ceiling was high enough that nobody had to crouch, not even Kibet—a part-[Golem].

  Unfortunately, the catacombs were not well mapped out, so Fletcher was going to be taking his best guess to get them through it, assuming he could get them through it. Luckily, he also had Nelson, a part-[Bloodhound], along, and while her [Sniff] wasn’t all that high of a level, it would hopefully be enough to keep them on track. Paired with Fletcher’s general sense of the ruins after all his patrols, he believed they would be able to track down the Unhuman base without too much trouble.

  His stomach was still one giant knot, but he hardly noticed the sensation after all the days of dealing with it. It was difficult to get food down, and in reality, he rarely had the time for proper meals anyway given all the chaos at the station. He was doing the work of managing nearly fifty soldiers during a crisis when the duties should have fallen on Palacios with him and Jana working to support the Major. But of course the other two officers were still locked up—this time in their bedrooms—since they refused to fight and Fletcher was sick of dealing with their drunkenness.

  “The ruins should be that way.” Fletcher used his compass as a guide for which direction to head. “Nelson, confirm that.”

  She paused for a minute, her crimson streaked hair seeming to glow with all the flashlight beams dancing around the corridor. “Yes. That seems right.”

  “Stick close together,” Fletcher said as he continued down the hallway.

  Footsteps splashed behind him, for for a moment, he nearly felt like he was back at officer training where his biggest concern was teaching White a lesson about cheating. He ached for simpler times.

  Nobody spoke as they made their way through the catacombs, everyone on edge given not only were they going on a very dangerous mission to push back against their enemies but also because the catacombs were known to house especially dangerous creatures from Mythia. Fletcher had struggled enough against the likes of a cycat and a tooth fairy, and he really didn’t want to learn what could be worse than those.

  It took about fifteen minutes of walking, Fletcher taking only a few necessary turns to keep them on track for the ruins before he stopped the team as they reached a more open room in the catacombs with ceilings that stretched up well over twenty feet. There were several hallways branching from it, so he took it to be one of the more central locations in the catacombs.

  “We should be somewhat close. Nelson, you’ll have to guide us from here,” he said.

  She nodded and [Sniffed] the air again. “Okay. That way. I think.” She hesitantly pointed down a corridor to their left.

  “Stay on the lookout. Just because we haven’t run into anything yet doesn’t mean—”

  “Dixon, watch out!”

  Fletcher looked up, swore, and then jumped to the side as a giant frog creature fell from the ceiling.

  Only this one had black and red skin. And lots of eyes. And claws. And fangs.

  Before he could urge them to retreat or run around it, the other members of the team unleashed all their guns against it. Well, if the Unhumans were nearby, they definitely knew someone was in the catacombs, but that was a problem for after they handled the frog-thing.

  This name came to him easier than the tooth fairy. It was a frogstool, a creature which slept around twenty-three hours a day, only waking for a single hour to hunt. They were nasty things but not as dangerous as cycats from what he remembered from his biology class.

  It took a lot of bullets from the Mixed and lots of croaking from the frogstool before the thing officially gave up and hopped away. All those bullets, and still they didn’t kill it. Man, Mythian creatures were incredibly strong. It was unbelievable how well they withstood things like bullets which so easily downed Earth creatures.

  “Everyone to me,” Fletcher said, keeping his voice down. “Nelson, how strong is that Unhuman scent?”

  She [Sniffed] again. “Not. Oh, wait. No. Very close. Getting stronger, even.”

  Fletcher cursed and turned to the hallway she originally indicated, holding his weapon up. “Heads up. We’ve got company.” Stupid frogstool had to ruin everything.

  As he expected, half a dozen Unhumans rushed out of the corridor. More shooting ensued as his team fell apart. Ankwah did at least manage to [Nullify] the [Skills] they were trying to use, and Fletcher did his best to watch everyone’s back so none of their opponents could sneak around to kill them.

  Nelson and Norton were at the front, shooting down the Mixed who were still busy trying to use their [Skills]. Fletcher picked off a [Goblin] who was trying to slip away while Ankwah managed to take out one while maintaining his [Skill].

  They then took out the stragglers who were scrambling now that they didn’t have access to their [Skills].

  Thanks to [Nullify] and the Mixed’s better training with weapons, the battle was short, and Fletcher’s squads avoided any kind of casualties.

  “We have to get back. More will come,” Nelson said.

  “No. We’re close to some kind of base. We have to finish the mission,” Fletcher insisted. Running away would only lead more of the Unhumans back to their entrance, and he didn’t want to go through that kind of battle again.

  “I’m with you, Dixon,” Norton confirmed, holding up the string of grenades they brought along. It was agreed that a strike like this warranted the use of the extra ordinances.

  “Let’s go.” Fletcher rushed into the corridor where the Unhumans had come from, the others running behind him.

  They reached the exit which led to the Unhuman base not too long after, and alongside that, they met resistance.

  “The grenades, Norton. Toss them and let’s go,” Fletcher said as gunfire filled the corridor.

  She pulled the pins and threw the entire thing. Everyone still had at least one of their own grenades on them which he’d hoped to also utilize, but this would have to be enough. At least they were doing something.

  Everyone dashed back down the hallway as the grenades went off, shaking the ground. Shouts filled the air behind them. Their strike was partially successful at the very least, which was all he was looking for. They had to show the Unhumans that they weren’t going down that easy.

  Fletcher remained at the rear to ensure everyone made it out safe as they jogged back through the corridors. Luckily it was basically a straight shot back to Vesi, but they did have company. He heard the yells of Unhumans chasing them once they passed through the main room. Apparently they hadn’t done that much damage, but he liked to believe it was worth it anyway.

  “Faster,” Fletcher called out. Their only hope was to outrun these guys and get back to base where Kenzo and the guard team could back them up at the bottleneck into the station. He couldn’t be sure, but based on the sounds behind them, they were definitely outnumbered.

  They all increased their pace. Fletcher could have outrun them all if he had to, especially if he used [Frenzy], but he wanted to be sure nobody got left behind. That wasn’t the Mixed way.

  They were halfway there when something caught Fletcher’s leg, sending him to the ground.

  He cried out and put his gun up to shoot at the incoming [Vampire], a woman with paper-white skin and blood-red eyes that were similar shade to his own. With a thought, he fell into [Frenzy].

  [Activating: Frenzy]

  It only took a couple of well placed headshots to take out his opponent—a method he picked up from Jeric to ensure [Frenzied] beings died instantly—and the [Vampire] collapsed on top of him.

  Breathless for a moment, Fletcher lay under the dead Unhuman, half submerged in the cold water as the other Unhumans ran past him. They either didn’t notice him under their fallen comrade or they assumed he was dead. He remained still to play into the latter.

  “They’ve nearly caught up. Someone toss a grenade,” Kebit said from up ahead.

  “Dixon is back there,” Norton argued.

  “Sucks for him,” the voice of Ankwah said.

  He heard several plinks of the explosives land nearby as the Unhumans near him screamed and tried to back track. Fletcher rolled, keeping the [Vampire] body over him and putting his hands over his head as the explosions went off. Five of them, one from each of his team. Talk about overkill.

  His head hurt. The ground shook. There was pain all over his body. He may have passed out for a couple seconds, but once he awoke, the catacombs were silent except for his own breathing and an intense ringing.

  With a groan, Fletcher moved from under the protective [Vampire] body. Reaching up to see if he could plug his ears to block the ringing, he discovered blood coming from his ears. And the back of his hands and arms from the bits of shrapnel.

  But a glance around confirmed that the grenades were effective. All he saw were dead bodies and bits of dead bodies from those closest to the explosion.

  His flashlight beam seemed insignificant against the darkness of the catacombs. And there was no other sound. The others were long gone.

  Wait a second, he didn’t need the flashlight. He clicked it off as another set of white text appeared in the corner of his vision.

  [Dark Vision: Active]

  Fletcher’s calf burned from where the bullet had grazed him, and that ringing was driving him insane. Leaning on the wall for support, Fletcher slowly made his way down the hallway, towards Vesi Station. He hoped he was heading in the right direction at least. His compass was broken, and his head felt funny.

  He needed [Frenzy]. That would help.

  White text appeared before he could even summon it.

  [Activating: Frenzy]

  The pain faded, and his head became a little more clear. Okay, good. Maybe he’d survive this after all.

  Fletcher picked up the pace and eventually he saw a literal light at the end of the tunnel. The base.

  [Dark Vision: Inactive]

  As he approached it, he heard talking from above.

  “Someone’s coming. Call Hugo,” Kenzo said.

  “Don’t shoot. It’s me, you idiot,” Fletcher shouted, putting his arms up.

  Kenzo’s face appeared above the grate. “Dixon? Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

  “I tried that once. Not a fan. Now open the grate and let me up. Those blockheads left me behind,” he said.

  The grate was removed as he started the painful ascent up the ladder. Once he reached the top rungs, Kenzo and the others grabbed his arms and pulled him the rest of the way.

  “Deities, Dixon. You look awful,” she said.

  “Getting blown up will do that to you,” he murmured.

  His system sensed that he was out of danger, so as usual it managed his [Skills] as it saw fit.

  [Deactivating: Frenzy]

  The pain and exhaustion came back all at once. He was so tired. He had hardly slept since this all started, but maybe he could catch some sleep now. Just a little nap.

  No. There was so much to do. They had to finish repairing the wall, and he needed to give Norton and the others a stern talking to about abandoning him. Not to mention he wanted to check on George. It’d been well over a day since he saw the [Insectoid].

  Kenzo was talking, but the ringing drowned out whatever she was saying. Fletcher tried to ask her what she said, but that very-needed nap took over instead. His eyes closed, and he passed out despite all the worries running through his head.

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