(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 placed his right eye into the scope of his M21 sniper rifle, his eye focusing on the unholy creature. Seeing it 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.

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

Placing 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, 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 sniffing 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.

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’s 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 placing her hands onto her waist as she got up from behind him, her tiny pupils being dilated.

(Agent Ada) That’s 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 stopped. With everyone in the complex turning towards the creature, the sound waves smoothened into the souls of the many soldiers remaining still.

(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 lack 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 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 in unison at the sudden change of the zompire’s behavior, leading to them having their legs on the verge of collapsing. Having their guns on standby, all took a big deep breath in, their grips on their guns creaking the metallic metal.

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 clawed 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.

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 similar to the ones found in The Array…

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(Fred) 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 clawed 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.

The creature started to pound the pavement with his two hands in the front entrance of the first gate, 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 placed the gun into the hands of the Sergeant, his hands feeling the last of the metallic gun for the last time. Looking away, he didn’t make eye contact with the Sergeant as his fingers shook.

But a young man placed 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 and Fred’s hand fell to gravity.

(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. 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. 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 play. 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 last time, his eyes pushed slightly to the center as they slanted 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 similar device that he knows he has. Sensing the object as his knuckles dragged along the outer layers of the glass 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 flashlights, setting them next to the device. Rubbing his hands, Fred sat down, 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.

(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 glass 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, who started to run like a horse, using its arms as legs as it galloped towards the silver-haired man. The hallowing sounds of the soil from below shook, the grass and dirt vibrating across the entire outside museum.

Eren collapsed, hitting the grass field. His legs were unable to move as the sight unfolding in front of him.

(Agent Ada) Get up, Eren!

(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 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 collapse 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 placed 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.

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 place, 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 late.

As Fred turned his head towards the commotion at last, the only sight that swelled upon his tiny pupils was the glowing light of the steamers who were 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 Everglades 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.