The jeep's engine roared as Rebecca steadied her firm hands on the steering wheel. In the darkness ahead, a hulking monstrosity lumbered between the abandoned cars, its gargantuan frame contorting unnaturally as it clawed its way toward them.
"Where's his head?" Billy's voice shook with a mixture of fear and disbelief.
"Hold on tight." Rebecca gunned the accelerator, the jeep's tires screaming in protest as they propelled them at full speed toward the abomination. Billy braced himself. "Oh shit!" With a bone-jarring impact, the jeep slammed into the creature, its massive bulk sent hurtling through the air in a sickening tumble of ripping flesh and splintered bone.
Billy doubled over, clutching his head. "Ugh, I think I have another concussion." Rebecca vaulted onto the roof, snatching up the mounted machine gun. Her deft fingers loaded the ammunition belt, the metallic links clinking as they fed into the chamber. She racked the charging handle, her mind was obsessed with a single goal.
"I don't think it's dead yet," Billy called out, his voice strained.
The headless creature stirred amidst the wreckage, its musculature straining as it hauled itself upright once more. Rebecca whistled sharply, her knuckles whitening around the grips as she traversed the swiveling gun in its direction. With a thunderous roar, the barrage of high-caliber rounds tore into the monster's torso in a sanguine maelstrom of shredded flesh and exploding gore.
The acrid stench of gunpowder and viscera hung in the air as the smoking barrels fell silent, the last few spent casings clattering to the ground. Billy coughed, waving a hand before his face. "Are you finished?"
Rebecca exhaled slowly, her shoulders rising and falling. "Yes...I think I am."
As the jeep's headlights flickered on, a faint, unsettling sound reached their ears - a wet, keening squeal. Billy's brow furrowed. "What the fuck is that?"
Pinpricks of sweat beaded Rebecca's forehead as her eyes followed the amber glow toward its source. Scores of pale, grasping hands were emerging from the monster's ruptured abdomen, clawing outward with grotesque desperation.
Rebecca's voice was taut. "Does your handgun have ammunition in it?"
"I've got something better." The glove compartment thudded open, revealing a grenade's dull metal casing glinting. Their gazes met, a fleeting moment of grim understanding passing between them.
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Weapons drawn, they advanced cautiously toward the writhing horror. From the monster's shredded gut erupted a gangly, fetus-like abomination, its distended jaws unhinged in a piercing shriek as it strained toward them with snapping fangs. Rebecca's fingers closed around the grenade's pin with chilling resolve. "Here's something you can swallow."
She forced the explosive into the gaping maw, its jaws clamping down in a crunch. Without hesitation, Rebecca began backing away, Billy rushing to her side as they sprinted recklessly from the imminent blast radius. They flung themselves to the ground just as the abomination detonated in a deafening eruption of fire and shrapnel, a torrent of viscous matter raining down in a widening arc around the epicenter.
Gasping for breath, Rebecca flicked away a chunk of offal clinging to her shoulder, a shudder rippling through her slight frame. "Ughhh, gross." She staggered upright, her bootsteps faltering as nausea threatened to overwhelm her senses. Billy scrubbed a hand over his ashen features, exhaling a ragged breath before rising to join her.
As they neared the jeep, Rebecca froze, one hand instinctively raised in surrender. A figure emerged from the shadows, HUNK leveling a pistol squarely at her head. Billy's fingers twitched toward his own sidearm. "No!" Rebecca's cry stopped him short, her head shaking. The assailant's weapon tracked toward Billy, silently commanding him to discard his firearm. After a tense moment's hesitation, the gun clattered to the pavement.
The rhythmic thud of approaching rotors echoed through the night sky. The sunrise gilded the forest canopy in molten amber as HUNK extended his marred palm towards Rebecca. His fingers, once whole, now lacked three - the monster's ghastly reward from their last encounter. Rebecca understood and slowly retrieved the floppy disk from her pocket, Marcus's final secrets contained within.
The thump of rotor blades overhead heralded the arrival of the helicopter. She surrendered the disk to Hunk. As the aircraft touched down, his grip vice-like on her arm, he strong-armed Rebecca aboard until his boots hit the floor plates. Only then did he release her, the bird instantly taking flight. Billy went for his handgun, peppering the ascending chopper with hot lead. For a fleeting moment, Rebecca locked eyes with her captor before turning towards the vehicle.
"Billy!" she shouted over the gunfire. He ceased fire, scrambling into the jeep beside her. Rebecca gunned the engine, the tires spitting gravel as she floored it towards the exit.
"What was that you gave him?" Billy's gravelly voice cut through the roar of the engine.
"Evidence."
"How'd he know you had it?"
Her grip tight on the wheel. "Does it matter now?"
The looming shadow of the shuttered gate grew larger in the windshield. Rebecca's boot pinned the accelerator to the floor. "Let's just get out of here." Metal screeched in protest as they burst through, the shutter ripping away to clatter across the ground behind them. The forest canopy closed in as they roared down the asphalt.
Inside the helicopter, HUNK checked the slide of his pistol. Empty. He then discarded it as he watched the sun rise over the trees. "Good job, reaper".