*Bang*. I get thrown forward as the door slightly opens a bit. I rush and slam my hands on the door and push it closed. I adjust putting my shoulder into the door to barricade it. “What is that?” The reporter screams. “The reason I told you to fucking leave!” I shout, my voice straining as I hold the door shut. Another set of hands appear on the door. I look to find Hayley pressing against the door. Both of our weight is against the door, yet this thing keeps pushing us back. “Marvin, you’re still getting this right?” The reporter asks. “Uh, ye- yeah.” He says as he quickly pulls his camera up.

The reporter rushes in front of the camera, now in clear view of Hayley and I holding the door. He begins to speak, “Hello, America! I am standing here in Elkhart! I have just been attacked by two unknown individuals! And we are currently hiding from- Sir! Soldier?”. He motions towards me. “Please! Sir! I have a few questions!” He says as he rushes next to me, pushing a microphone in my face. My eyes glance over to him. “Yeah, let’s talk right now, I obviously have tons of free time!” sarcasm filled my voice. “Perfect! Now, how long have you been in the city? What is this cordon really for? Are there more military forces in the city? Or are you it? What about the majority of families, are they alright?-"The noises outside the door stop, and the door closes and latches. The BZ stopped trying to get into the room.

“We-we did it!” Hayley says, pride in her voice. I pull my helmet to the side and put my ear against the door. “See! It’s okay! Now back to my questions! America needs answers!” The report shouts. I slowly back away from the door. ‘Why would it just stop?’. A realization comes to me. I frantically look around the room. “J-Jason?” Hayley looks at me confused. “Sir! Can you please answer my-.” I look at the reporter. “What other ways are there into-.” Fear fills my body as I see the appendages appear from a cracked door behind the cameraman. My heart begins pumping, everything slows down, I slam the reporter to the right as I raise my rifle and scream, “Move away from the door!” The door behind the cameraman bursts open, hitting his back and throwing him to the ground. The camera slides across the floor and lands pointing into the room.The black and red sunken eyes of the monster lock with mine as I line up my sight with its forehead. *Bang* *Bang* two rounds fly towards it. It quickly twists as the BZ moves the manhole cover on its back to block the rounds. It moves the manhole slightly to the right as it looks directly at me. Its bloodstained mouth shifts as it makes those damn clicking noises. Suddenly six rounds slam into the manhole cover.

I look to find Hayley aiming at the monster. It adjusts its sight onto her as it clicks again, it rushes her. She is frozen, like a deer in headlights. My body moves without me thinking. I grab the back of her shirt and throw her out of the way. She drops her pistol as I do. Before I had a chance to defend myself the monster slams two of its appendages into my side. Pain fills my side as I am lifted and thrown, my back slams into the wall. My helmet makes a loud thud as it hits the wall. I drop to the ground and black out.

I look up and see a middle eastern home. “Dang, Lieutenant, all this, for what? A platoon that distrusts you? I mean, they didn’t even try to get to you, they just left you. That has to hurt. Oh! Or maybe it’s for the girl? Her entire family is gone, and, instead of her staying in her home. Where she was safe, mind you, you brought her here. She obviously trusts you, if only she knew what happens to people that trust you!” The voice says, mocking me. I find myself unable to move, a a group of silhouettes walk in front of the home. A group of soldiers walk up to the home, as a little girl rushes out to greet them. A taller soldier with a crowbar on his back walks up and gives the little girl a high-five. They seem happy to see each other as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out some candy for her.

“Such a shame, everyone who trusts you has terrible things happen to them, have you ever noticed that?”. A hand touches my shoulder as the man talking stoops down in front of me. It’s Kelly, “It’s your fault, you know that right? Every bit of this. All of them.” He motions behind him towards over a dozen soldiers all standing there. As I look I begin to realize who they are: Patterson, Miller, Vasquez, Soulinski, Ackerson, Morris, Wellers, Gonzales, Benan, and so many others. My heart sank when my eyes landed on the two in front of the rest. It is Jules and Jackson. I begin struggling to move, I feel fear, pain, anger, remorse, it all flows through me as I struggle to get up. “You know, I think they will fit in with this group pretty well. Don’t you think so?” He shakes his head and looks directly at me with a smile. “Oh, don’t worry, That girl following you will be added to the list soon enough. Oh, would you look at the time? It’s showtime!” He grabs my head and throws it back.

I am back in the service room. Pain encompasses my back. I am hyperventilating as I attempt to gain my bearings. I look to find the reporter grabbing the camera and Hayley In the corner of the room. The BZ is now standing over the cameraman. He screams for help in fear. I can get a good look at this monster now, it’s lower half is humanlike until the pelvis, from there it’s legs were split into four appendages which look like spider legs. Two protrude the front, while two out the back. Each one of the appendages having some semblance of human anatomy. Its upper body had four long appendages, along with two additional appendages that I didn’t originally see holding the manhole cover. I try to move, as I get up I am slammed back, my rifle’s sling had gotten caught on an old, nineteen-fifties style heater. I quickly move to untangle it. Suddenly a scream is heard. “No! Marvin!” The reporter screams. The cameraman, Marvin, screams in pain as two of the monster's appendages slam into his legs. Two more slam into his shoulders as it pins him to the ground. He screams “Elliot! Please! Help me!” He cries and begs for help, as the creature closes the distance between the two. Almost like a snake striking, its head rushes forward, embedding its teeth into Marvin’s throat. His screams are muffled into silent shrieks As it bites down. Blood pours out and pools around his head as Marvin’s life slowly exits his eyes. It rips marvins throat out and swallows it.

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The sight shocked everyone in the room. It quickly adjusted its eyes towards Hayley. Hayley, terror in her eyes, can’t move. ‘No, no, no, no!’ It gets right above her as it lifts his appendages in the air. Rage fills my body, everyone’s words flow into my mind. I grab my knife and slice my sling. Without hesitating I rush at the BZ. I grab my crowbar from my back, I choke up on it and wind up. I shout, “Get away from her!” forcing the creature to turn. As it does I swing, my crowbar connects *Crunch* its jaw splinters as it rears back. I swing again, making connection with its left two appendages, shattering them. The BZ, now angered, slams one of its appendages into me, I fly back, hitting the ground and rolling. I lose grip of my crowbar while I’m in the air. I land with the crowbar in arms reach. I grip it and rush the monster. ‘I won’t let this thing hurt anyone else! I can’t!’ I think to myself as I realize a way to kill it. I rush it the same way I did before, it swings, exactly what I expected, I slide under the hit and swing. I make contact with its front leg. It rears in pain. I rush back up and swing again, making contact with its rear opposite leg. It drops as I stay behind it. I lift the crowbar and come down onto its head slamming the crowbar into it. It drops, catching itself with what’s left of its appendages. I walk around the side and lift my leg. I slam my boot down onto its last appendages, feeling the bone shatter in them. Its body hits the floor. I walk over and grab the pistol that Hayley dropped. I walk back with a vengeance. Its eyes meet mine as I raise the pistol and fire. The back of its head flies out as the round pierces its skull. I lower the pistol as I take a deep breath. Suddenly growling is heard, I quickly raise the pistol and aim as the now getting up Marvin. I fire, his left eye implodes as the body falls back down before it could fully get up.

I slowly rear back, dropping the pistol. I grip my side. A pain in my ribs from where the Bz hit me. My adrenaline leaves my system as I begin heavy breathing. “Hayley, are you-“ she slams into me, hugging me as tight as she possibly could. She buries her face deep into my plate carrier. I can hear her sobbing. I place my hand on her back and rub gently. “It’s okay, don’t worry, I promised I’d protect you.” I say. “Y-You c-could’ve died! and it would’ve been all my fault!” She manages to say through the tears. “No it wouldn’t have. Besides, I owed you one.” She stops and looks up at me unsure of what I mean. “When you stopped the BZ in there.” I motioned towards Vasquez’s body. She digs her head deeper into me, not wanting to let go. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let anything happen to us. We are getting out of here.” I am quickly startled by the reporters voice, I turn to find him holding the camera. “Hello, America, I don’t know how much of that you saw. But *Sniff* I was wrong. It is so much worse. I do not know how, but the government has to be to blame! I will get to the bottom of this! For Marvin. And for all of you! The innocent American people! This is Elliot Harper, signing off.” He says through tears as he clicks the camera off.

“It’s not going to get out. You know that right?” I say. His face turns to me. “What?” He asks. “The Military is suppressing all comms in and out. Only secured lines-“ I suddenly realized I was able to get a call in the Stryker. “Wait- how did I get a call?” I ask as I pull my phone out. “Hehehe- you really think I didn’t plan for that? I placed an amplifier just outside the city. It allows for everything, even phone calls to pierce through.” He says with a smug attitude. “Wait, how is that? How? That’s not how amplifiers work.” I say. “Normally, you’d be right. But a close colleague gave me some interesting stuff to fix that!”. He gets up and smiles. “Wait, you mean? You were actually live?” I scramble. “Yeah! Yeah I was! All of us! The American people saw it all!”. He says with such pride. “You fucking moron!” I shout as I slam my fist into his jaw as he flails back. “Jason!” Hayley shouts. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? Do you!” I shout at him. “Yeah! I gave the American people the truth!” He says as he grabs his jaw. “Are you really that shortsighted?” I ask. “What are you talking about? He screamed. “You fucking idiot! You better pray the government can stop that from getting out! Because if it does, the riots will be the last thing we need to worry about, panic, hysteria, everything will fall apart! And Martial Law will probably be enacted, which if it is, oh fuck we are doomed. The Government is corrupt, that we agree on, but fuck me! if you think governmental distrust during this shit and a World war is a good idea you’re out of your mind!” I say as he begins to piece it together. “Well there is nothing I can do now! Looks like the people will just have to decide on their own.” He smiles as he responds.

“Just, go home. Come on Hayley, we have to move.” I say as I grab her hand and move to collect our things. I grab my rifle and the pistol. I hand the pistol to Hayley and tell her she’s going to need to reload it. She agrees and we leave the service area. As we do we pass the BZ that attacked us before. Its jaw was ripped and sunken in. As I pass the body, its head moves. It startles me, I aim my rifle down to find it was still alive. As I take a closer look I realize my round went below the brain and severed the spinal column. I take a deep breath and think. ‘I wouldn’t want to be stuck like that.’ I aim my rifle and fire, killing the BZ. I step pass the corpse as we walk deeper into the tunnels. “Hey! Wait up!” a voice shouts behind us.