Narration: Riz

Finn, Tito, Fei, and I walk together to the garage to see a very elaborate vehicle in front of them. The Jeepney looks rusty and rundown, but at the same time, there are plenty of intricate decorations all over its chassis. Maria is of a classical style and shape that can trace its legacies close to the first generation of Jeepneys. There is a myriad of different colors swirling around the vehicle in the form of many abstract designs. The hood of the Jeepney has 4 statuettes of horses on it. Even the wheels have designs in the form of strange spirals focusing on the axles.

“Shite...You have...interesting sense of taste, Ricar,” Finn says with a bemused expression.

“Hey, it works well enough. Plus, the utility on Maria has unlimited potential.”

Fei asks, “Care to explain?”

“She can drive on water. Has an expansive storage container that is bigger on the inside than the outside. And she is more armed than a typical tank.”

Fei looks impressed. “Woah....you really went all out with her. And that’s why your “baptized tires” are called such? Because they drive on water?”

“They also repair themselves in three days.”

Fei ponders for a moment. “Hmm...do such items work for non-Christians?”

“It’s not about being Christian. Blessed items of any kind are based on the principle not necessarily on the will of a higher power, though such powers set the knowledge of these blessings in place as a matter of convenience for their followers, but divine miracles and blessings function as ritualized links to call upon the natural laws of the universe to reassert itself when certain types of magic circumvents----you know what? How about I give you a book later on that subject?”

“Uh...thanks?”

I answer my ringing phone and listen for a moment before hanging up. “Guys, we gotta move. The organizers are starting the parade early because of weather conditions. Security is forming on the ground while the tikbalang are guarding the rooftops. Our allies say the aswang are already moving to their positions. Tito, stay with Reyna while Fei, Finn, and I head out now.”

“As long as you know how to drive Maria. If you wreck her, you pay for the insurance.”

I roll my eyes, “We can talk about this later.”

Everyone other than Ricar goes to Maria. I start the engine which roars loudly. Fei and I could see the variety of buttons, levers, and switches on the dashboard.

She remarks, “That’s...a lot of stuff here.”

I grasp a Rosary hanging on the mirror and pause for a moment. Tikbalang may not care for any gods, but we will need some kinda blessing in case things go sideways. “Tito doesn’t know when too much is too much. As the humans say, he lets his inner nerd get the better of him. Let’s go.”

Finn points behind him. “I’ll be in the back.”

Maria starts to move and drives off from the garage into the road beyond.

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Narration: Ate Dalisay

Music blares from the speakers all over the city. The streets of Cebu are filled with its denizens. Many of them are marching with floats already on the move. The banners on the rafters are waving wildly by the wind. Many dancers in their traditional dresses are dancing with some holding replicas of Santo Nino. More crowds of people start clustering together on the sidewalk.

On the rooftops, squads of aswang and undead are setting up special devices and priming them up for detonation. We will need to be quick because I am sure someone would have caught wind of this operation.

Suddenly, a group of tikbalang ports next to them, and they attack them silently with special spears, bows, and small modern arms. My aswang and the undead attempt to counterattack with their weapons or their very claws but too many of them are taken by surprise.

Multiple squads of aswang and tikbalang are fighting in discrete places, while the humans below remain ignorant of the battles in the hidden places of the city.

I fly into the top of the tallest building in Cebu and set myself in a secure position. I set my sniper rifle up and go prone aiming at any targets below with my scope. I see one of the tikbalang is about to strike one of my brethren. Before he does, I shoot at him hitting him through the chest alerting his squad and forcing them to retreat. I send a message to my men through a communicator. “Got your back. Keep yourselves out in the open. They know I can shoot them from afar.”

One of my underlings replies from the communicator, “Salamaat, Ate.”

Always satisfying catching them unawares.

Narration: Fei

The jeepney goes deeper into the city while trying to navigate to places where it is allowed to drive in. We look around to see if anything odd is happening around. Finn suggested earlier I bring the USB drive just in case it has information about disarming the bombs. Yazmin did a full analysis of the manifest. She noticed there was a section that was locked by a code that she wasn’t able to crack yet. But she noticed it was based on a cipher the aswang crime bosses use to communicate with each other. That is odd. Why have such sensitive information locked in something the aswang can easily gain access to? Maybe it will add up to something later. I pocket it in my sweatpants.

Riz answers his phone again. Listening intently, he then curses and hangs up. He activates the screen on the Jeepney dashboard to see a GPS activate about where we are going into the city. “Fuck, we have a sniper. Some of our guys are being picked off one by one.”

I ask, “Do they know where the sniper is?”

“Considering all the places they are shot at, there is probably one place where the sniper could be located. The tallest building in the city—,” The Jeepney’s Siri starts dinging, “--and NO, Siri, I am not talking to you."

Finn adds to the conversation. “Great, we might have to split up to make sure we can cover the teams fighting the aswang as well as disable the bombs.”

“Did your bitchy friend say anything special about these bombs,” Riz asks.

“Aye...they are bioweapons that release special spores. Turns people into undead. Considering that the mastermind is a necromancer…”

I finished his sentence, “He would have an army of thousands.”

“If not more. All the more reason we have to take him down. We have to find him as soon as possible.” Riz takes another turn on the street.

I decided I should volunteer to take that initiative. “I could fight the sniper. But from here, it will be a long stretch to reach there. I can probably traverse through any electrical equipment to the inside of the building quickly but I don’t know if it will be fast enough to get to the top from the inside, not to mention they could know I am present the moment I enter a room.”

Finn nibbles on his thumb for a moment. “Fei, give me your phone.”

I hand Finn my phone, “You and your thumb. Always planning something together.”

Finn checks the phone, “Riz, some string?”

Riz points to my side, “In the compartment.”

Finn opens the dashboard and takes a roll of string and wraps it around the phone to his spear making sure it’s firmly in place. “Riz, call your backup. I am going to throw this spear in the direction of that building.”

Finn points in the direction of where the building is located. “Can you tell them to take this spear and throw it as far as they can into the side of that building? We might have to chain out our throws depending on distance.”

Riz makes a call on the phone. “We have a plan to take down the sniper.”