"Formation!" Thomas shouted.
Thomas’s shout snapped the soldiers into action. They fanned out, forming a ragged line, their rifles rising to et the threat.
Then the woman moved. She rushed forward. Her body jerked with sharp, unnatural motions. The white dress dragged through the mud as she sprinted toward them with terrifying speed. Her head tilted at a strange angle, and her mouth hung open as if frozen in a silent scream.
Bang!
Before she could get any closer, her head burst apart. Her body dropped heavily into the mud with a wet thud, twitching once before going still.
For a mont, no one spoke. Only the sound of heavy rain filled the air.
"That scream..." one of the soldiers finally muttered, his voice low and uneasy. "Even with this rain... that kind of sound would carry far."
At the rear, Jaxon’s gaze sharpened. "We need to go. Imdiately," he said urgently.
Thomas did not hesitate. "Move! Pick up the pace!"
The group quickly picked up their pace, then broke into a run. Breaths turned heavy, and fear pressed down on them as they left the corpse behind.
Minutes passed. Then it ca, low growls echoed from the distance.
"...Did you hear that?" a survivor whispered.
A shape burst out from the tree line, then another.
Dogs, but not normal ones. Their bodies were swollen and oversized, muscles bulging under patchy, rotting fur. Black saliva dripped from their mouths, mixing with the rain. Their eyes were pitch black, and their limbs moved in sharp, jerky bursts, yet their speed was terrifying.
"Infected dogs!" a soldier shouted.
The creatures lunged forward as a pack, dozens of them charging through the mud like dark shadows, their growls blending with the sound of rain.
"Protect the survivors!" Thomas yelled, raising his rifle.
The soldiers imdiately shifted formation, stepping to the sides and rear, placing themselves between the creatures and the civilians as the pack closed the distance at a terrifying speed.
Gunfire erupted all at once, mixing with thunder and the endless rain.
From the rear, Jaxon and his group opened fire as well, but many of their shots missed. The infected dogs were fast, darting through the trees with sharp, jerky bursts, only slightly slower than the crawler mutants they had faced before.
"Go ahead! Don’t stop for anything!" Jaxon shouted.
So of the survivors cried out, terrified. But Elaine, Hae-in, Cindy, Claire and the others pulled them along, instead of letting them fall behind.
Elena, Natasha, and Na-rin ran ahead, turning back for a while, and firing short and controlled bursts.
Jaxon stayed, shooting while moving, his eyes scanning the trees behind them. ’Focus, just stay calm. We can handle this.’
Rain soaked their faces. Mud splashed up their legs, but the growls grew louder.
A shot rang out, dropping another infected dog that had rushed ahead of the pack. Then Jaxon glanced to the side and saw that Thomas was still at the rear with him.
"Your na is Thomas, right?" he called out.
"Yes!" Thomas shouted back without turning.
"Take your n and keep moving."
Thomas frowned, confused. "What..."
Jaxon didn’t wait. In one smooth motion, he pulled a frag grenade, yanked the pin, and hurled it toward the darkest part of the tree line where the growls were thickest.
The grenade disappeared into the rain-soaked branches.
"I’ll cover the rear," Jaxon said, his voice calm despite the chaos.
Boom.
The explosion tore through the forest. A flash of orange lit up the rain and fog for a split second. The shockwave blasted mud and leaves into the air. Several charging infected dogs were thrown aside, their swollen bodies tumbling across the ground like broken dolls.
For a brief mont, everything seed to freeze. Thomas blinked, montarily stunned. Then he saw Jaxon already moving. He had stepped back into the center of a more open spot, putting himself in the path where the infected could strike.
A dog lunged out of the smoke and debris, jaws wide.
Bang. Its skull exploded mid-air, and the body crashed with a wet thud.
Another dog circled from the side. Bang, a single shot tore straight through its eye, dropping it instantly.
A third dog tried to flank them, leaping toward the group, but it never got close, another precise shot, and it collapsed into the mud before it could strike.
’Impressive,’ Thomas thought, awe creeping in despite the chaos. Jaxon moved without panic, every bullet precise. Even with the weight of the rifle and the slippery mud, he moved fast and precise.
Thomas watched Jaxon’s deadly dance, a seed of doubt planting itself in his mind. ’Who is this guy? Where did he learn to fight like that?’
Then he snapped back to reality. "Hey! Let carry that kid on your back!" he shouted, pointing at Sumiko.
"Go! I’m fine!" Jaxon barked, eyes never leaving the advancing pack.
Thomas cursed under his breath, then yelled, "Fall back! Keep the survivors moving!"
The soldiers jolted from their montary daze and scrambled, retreating down the slope as fast as they could.
Behind them, Jaxon fired relentlessly. Step by step, he moved backward, creating a deadly shield of fire between the survivors and the charging infected dogs.
The infected dogs were not the only ones drawn by the scream. Shadows shifted between the trees, moving from the sides and ahead. The infected had arrived.
With fast movents, their sharp eyes locked onto the fleeing group. Even with the heavy rain dulling the sound, the flashes of gunfire and movent were enough.
"Infected from the front!" a survivor scread, panic rising in their voice.
Thomas and his soldiers charged straight into them.
One infected lunged from the side, leaping out of the trees and tackling a survivor into the mud. A soldier fired, but too late, the creature sank its teeth deep before a bullet finally tore through its skull.
"Damn it! Stay on your feet! Keep going!" Thomas barked.
Gunfire erupted, echoing through the storm. The downhill path descended into chaos: screams, growls, the roar of thunder, and splashes of mud.
A survivor’s feet slid out from under him on the slick mud. A soldier, Private Miller, lunged to grab his arm, but a pair of infected erupted from the bushes, their rotting hands latching onto both of them, as both of them disappeared into the muck with a strangled cry.
"Help!" shouted the forr security supervisor, the man who had clashed with Jaxon’s group before, as an infected clamped onto his leg. "HELP!" He scread with everything in him, but before the creature could bite, a bullet ripped through its skull from behind.
"Elena! Left side!" Natasha shouted.
Elena and Na-rin moved forward, clearing the path with short, precise bursts. A shadow darted from the bushes on the right, only to be shot down instantly by Elaine and Bong-gu’s coordinated fire.
Natasha, Elena, and Elaine moved at once, flanking the survivors. They covered the blind spots the soldiers couldn’t watch, dragging those who stumbled to their feet and pushing them forward.
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