Muddy ground and a deafening rainfall awaited them outside, one by one the operatives stepped out of the room and into the world. Petrichor filled the air along with the faint scent of mud.

With darkness surrounding them, the L division operatives raised their staffs, and brilliant bright lights shone through the rain, shining the immediate area. Callan also noticed that the rain was no longer hitting them.

The new atmosphere made Callan nervous, despite the light, the area beyond was still dark.

The operatives started to split away from the group, trying to cover more ground in light while being escorted.

Callan and his team stayed in the center, he clutched onto his sword and clipboard. He began to shiver from the cold winds blowing through the open muddy field.

“At least the rain is calmer. I assume we may face a smaller horde at this time.” The woman with the silvery voice remarked.

As they went farther, the cold only became more unbearable, and Callan could only see the emergency flood lights of the wall behind them.

After a few more minutes, the group came to a halt. In front of them was the small fort protecting the machine. Lights emanate from the inside, giving what light it could to the occupants. A small laser gate next to a terminal separated the fort’s defenders from the outside.

“Ah, the rescue team arrived.” A voice from above called out to them. A man wearing G division clothing looked down on the group, his glaive dangled down from the wall, he was visibly tired but still ready to fight.

Hannah walked towards the terminal and began pressing on it. ABove them, the rain continued becoming worse and worse, some of the operatives were becoming more eager to move already.

In seconds, the gate’s lasers shut down, and everyone rushed in before it booted up again.

Inside, crates and boxes of food and other provisions were scattered around, floodlights hung on the walls, shining down on the machine. Other guards rested on the muddy ground, being bombarded by the rain, no longer protected by the tree’s light from the machine. In the corner of one of the walls was a stairwell that led up.

“All G and L operatives take position.” A man stood in front of the entire unit, the man that was speaking in the briefing room earlier. Everyone started to walk up the stairs. The operatives with tools approached the machine and began trying to repair it.

Once everyone was on the walls, they began shining their staffs at the area around the fort, G operatives simply stood near them.

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Hannah walked in front of the team, preparing to speak.

“As for you all, move to different positions of the wall, but continue noting down what is happening, if casualties happen use the scanners.” The team started making their way up, rain continued slamming down on them, becoming noticeably stronger.

The light shone down like spotlights, but all Callan could see was the muddy ground. The rest of his team settled on the other sides of the fort, for now he began noting down what he could while standing behind the line of operatives. A small set of mounted large caliber guns were placed on different parts of the fort, seemingly only used for small scale attacks.

As time went on, Callan continued jotting down what he could on his clipboard. Although relieved it was safe, he was disappointed there didn't seem to be any mutants Behind him, Hannah and the man walked behind the operatives, inspecting them.

"Sir, there seems to be movement close by." Inoperative near Callan alerted. The man immediately walked up to him.

"Where?" The man pointed at a spot just near the edge of the light.

"Keep your eyes peeled. The storm's picking up, mutants would begin running here." He responded.

Suddenly, a low growl startled the fort, Callan nearly dropped his clipboard, and his hand clenched the handle of his sword.

In seconds, mutants began charging at the fort. Their skin was bright red, resembling humans with only mouths, their hands looked larger while some seemed to have blades.

"Here they come!" Immediately, Callan unsheathed his sword as mutants continued pouring through.

Operatives began opening fire with the mounted guns, stopping most of tue mutants in their tracks, tearing off large chunks of thsir bodies.

But the assault didn't stop. Like a wave, mutants flooded in once more, soon slamming into the wall as they climbed over each other to get up. L operatives slowly moved back, and G operatives prepared their glaives for combat.

Without any orders, Callan approached with them, ready to fight.

As he approached the edge, the guards began attacking, slashing at mutants that reached too close and sending them back to the ground.

Callan quickly reached the edge, eager and excited to fight mutants once more. In a blend of slashes and gunfire, mutants fell all around the fort. Hannah and the man joined in with the fighting.

Together they defended the fort with all they had, cutting down relentlessly. Callan's blade quickly became soaked in blood. He felt joy as he killed.more and more, taking out his hatred against them.

But soon, his hatred slowly turned to fear as the horde of mutants became bigger with seemingly no end.

But even with the sight, he kept fighting with all his might.

In horror, a few mutants managed to climb up.and attack the other operatives, cutting them down or tossing them out just to get eviscerated and killed immediately by the mutants.

A dozen or so screams could be heard as many were tossed and killed without mercy.

Turning away from the carnage to rest his arms, a mutant suddenly jumped onto the wall next to Callan, and grabbed one of the operatives.

As if by instinct, Callan mustered all strength he had left and sliced off the mutant's bulky arm in one cut.

The operative fell to the ground, as Hannah ran from behind and cut off the mutant's head, taking down the abomination.

"Nice cut, just like the training." Hannah remarked. "Continue fighting, and I hope you count your kills as well." After speaking, she ran past him, aiding any undermanned area.

'So this is what a mission outside feels like. Far worse than what I dealt with inside…' The operatives below rushed to fix the machine, slamming parts back and welding what they could.