Chapter 12: Chase

On the shattered landmark, the words "Olympia Airport" were boldly written.

Initially, everyone had been in a relaxed mood, thinking they had finally reached their destination, but as soon as they looked ahead, their spirits sank. The airport was in ruins, a sign that the mechanical city "Nest" had already been here, with sparks still flickering from scattered fires.

"....Do we still need to search for survivors?"

Alex frowned and asked Chad, who responded with a lifeless face.

"Of course... we can't give up any hope..."

Not only was the airport destroyed, but even the distant city was still smoking, which made the whole team feel heavy and anxious.

They thoroughly searched the airport, and unsurprisingly, all they found was debris. They then turned down the highway toward the city.

At this point, Alex was already feeling restless. He approached Max and whispered beside him.

"Hey... it looks like this rescue mission is a bust... How about we find a chance to break off and go save Anna?"

Max widened his eyes and replied, "No way! We're a team... We should stick together..."

Max was clearly torn, but his words were overheard by Nick, who was walking ahead.

"I'll go with you, if you're willing..." Nick turned around, his eyes burning with determination. Ever since Alex saved Nick, Nick had viewed him like an older brother and was willing to break off from the team to help.

Alex knew this well, but Nick was small and frail, and he didn’t want to risk his life.

"Thanks, but for your own good... it's better if we don't."

Alex tried to reject Nick's offer, but before he could finish, a red beam shot from a bush 700 meters to their right. Both Alex and Max turned to look, and to their surprise, they saw seven strange mechanical spiders there. The red beam was part of their infrared search for humans, which meant they had been spotted.

The other team members quickly realized what was happening, their eyes wide in shock. This was the first time they had encountered mechanical spiders, and they had no idea how to react.

"What are you waiting for?! Run!"

Chad, ever vigilant, shouted for everyone to run, and everyone quickly snapped out of it, frantically dashing across the highway toward the left residential area.

The three mechanical spiders moved with eerie precision, quickly closing in and firing their mounted machine guns. But Chad, with his extensive training, dodged the bullets and immediately counterattacked with a rocket launcher.

"Boom! Boom!"

Chad’s aim was spot on. Two rockets streaked across the air and took out two of the mechanical spiders. However, he didn’t stick around to fight; he quickly ran across the highway toward the residential area.

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Chad knew that these rookies weren’t ready to face these killing machines. The only option now was to run.

Thus, the entire 6th squad sprinted through the desolate residential streets, with several mechanical spiders closing in rapidly, firing their machine guns relentlessly.

Bullets whizzed by them, and the rookies, who had only recently been trained, froze, unsure of how to fight back. It was in this moment that they realized how brave one needed to be to fight as part of the resistance.

In the midst of the chaos, one of the team members, John, shouted,

"What now? We can't just keep running like this!"

Quick-thinking Chad yelled,

"Wait, everyone scatter!"

Before the others could understand his plan, Chad pulled out four spherical objects from his vest and quickly threw them at the mechanical spiders.

"Boom!"

The balls exploded midair, spraying a sticky substance that covered the spiders' eyes. The mechanical spiders immediately went into disarray. As they struggled to remove the sticky goo, the 6th squad had already vanished without a trace.

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An hour later, dozens of mechanical spiders were combing through the residential area, searching high and low, but they found nothing. What these killing machines didn’t know was that, three kilometers away, a figure was watching them through binoculars from the top of a tree.

“They're still searching...”

It was none other than Dillon, a member of the 6th Squad, who had climbed to the top of a tree to observe the mechanical spiders.

Dillon then descended back to the ground and informed the rest of the squad.

One hour earlier, under the cover of the sticky substance Chad had thrown, the squad members had instinctively moved toward the southwest forest and gradually gathered there.

“Is everyone here?” Chad asked, looking around to make sure.

Joey, Brenda, Sherry, Susan, Gordon, Dillon, John, Nick, and Max were all present.

Suddenly, Max and Nick nervously spoke up:

“Alex... Alex didn’t make it?!”

That’s right, no one had seen Alex. The group began to panic and frantically searched the forest, calling for him over and over, but there was no sign of Alex.

Unable to find him, Chad felt deeply guilty. He was the one who led these rookies here, and now, even before their first mission, someone was missing. It shouldn’t have happened.

As they continued to search, Max and Nick anxiously glanced toward the direction from which they had just escaped and said:

“Where did you go, Alex...?”

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Time quickly passed, and by nightfall, a young man was wandering aimlessly through the streets of Olympia City. It was Alex, the one who had gotten separated from the group.

When Chad had told everyone to scatter, Alex had been the only one to run in the opposite direction. This had led him to end up all the way near Puget Sound.

“What the hell happened...? Where is Chad and the others? Did they go in another direction?”

Alex wiped the sweat off his face, exhausted. Although he had pulled out his communicator, he remembered Chad’s warning about these killing machines tracking communication signals. He knew he shouldn’t use it carelessly, so he decided against it.

Suddenly, Alex noticed a red glow in the distance at the end of the street. His heart sank as he realized the mechanical spiders had tracked him down.

“Damn it! Where can I hide now?!”

Panicking, Alex looked around and saw a forest to his left. Without thinking, he bolted into the forest.

Before long, the mechanical spiders arrived at the street where Alex had just been. They seemed to have sensed something, and they entered the forest as well.

The mechanical spiders, with their spider-like and octopus-like legs, trampled through the trees like predators, using their red lights to scan the forest.

At that moment, Alex crouched behind a tree, hiding just ahead of where the mechanical spiders were. He dared not move, but staying still meant he was surely doomed.

Alex’s forehead was covered in sweat, and his mind was racing.

“Escape? Fight back? What’s the best move here...?”

With no other choice, Alex gripped his gun and prepared for the next move as the mechanical spider drew closer to the tree where he was hiding...