Hiding inside one of the buildings closest to the tallest building in this city were these three people. They were huddling around with the bright screen of a smartphone at the center of the trio.

“Here’s the building map, and our destination, the panic room is here on the twenty-first floor,” said Dan.

“Does the building have any electricity?” Pixie asked.

“From the current state of the city, I don’t think so but I was informed the panic room has their own set of generator that can last quite for a long time,” said Dan reaffirming to these two that the person of interest might still be alive.

“So the elevator is out,” said Pixie.

“We need to go through the stairs,” said Dan. His eyes traced through the map.

“Here,” he said pointing at the smartphone screen.

“The staircase is around the back of the building, hidden from plain view and I think it’s much safer than using the public staircase,” said Dan. He planned their route to make sure this extraction was a success.

“Are you sure about going through this?” Pixie asked as she still hesitated about going into a building full of goblins.

“It’s my mission, if you don’t want to there’s no need for you to come along,” said Dan.

“I’m not scared,” said Pixie.

“No one said anything,” Jason chimed in.

Pixie gave a bitchy glance at Jason.

“What? Want to fight?” Jason said. Pixie turned around as she cooled herself down.

“I’m in, who’s going to cover your back if it ain’t me?” said Pixie.

Dan smiled as he then glanced Jason. Right now, the unofficial leader seemed to be Jason. He felt the need to received confirmation from Jason.

“Ready?” to Jason’s words, Dan and Pixie nodded.

Jason watched the nervous look on both of these soldiers. He didn’t think soldiers would have the jitters before starting the mission. Jason was curious and seeing how young they were, he had a question in mind.

“Is this your first military ops?” Jason asked.

Dan and Pixie looked at each other. He then nodded to Jason. Both Dan and Pixie along with most of their squad members were experiencing their first time. Fresh out of the military academy and thrown into the real world when everything about the world went wrong.

“Relax,” said Jason as he patted Dan by the shoulders.

“The goblins are mostly at level one, you guys can definitely handle them,” said Jason, while trying to bring up the mood.

“But watch out for their numbers,” said Jason. Although they were level one yet they were still monsters and numbers could easily overwhelm anyone.

Both nodded and the trio departed from the building. Walking through the darkness of the city, the trio traveled around the block heading towards the back of the building. Going to the front was a no-go, goblins were running around with a goblin-made barricade around the front of the building.

The trio was weaving through the back alley hiding from plain sight but at times a bump would appear.

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“11 o’clock,” Dan said as he saw movement under night vision.

Jason saw something rummaging through the dumpster. He ran towards it and incapacitated the thing in an instant. The body dropped on the ground dead. Dan and Pixie came closer and saw what it was, a goblin.

“Shit,” Pixie said while blocking her nose.

“They reek,” she said as the smell was overwhelming their sense of smell. In this narrow pathway, the smell intensified.

“Get used to it, we’re going inside a building full of them so try not to puke,” said Jason.

“Kiii,” a voice echoed in the alley.

Then the three glanced in the same direction as they heard movement at the end of the alley.

“Shush,” said Dan.

Jason with his keen eyesight as well as his night vision ability saw two goblins coming out from behind the dumpster. Then one of them made eye contact with Jason.

“Kikiki?”

Jason burst into a sprint heading towards the two goblins. His hand was quick, pulling out a combat knife from his thigh and throwing it right at the goblin.

The sharp tip of the dagger pierced right through the goblin’s eye going deep into its skull. A perfect throw for a perfect death. The goblin dropped dead and its kin who was to the side turned alarmed.

Rather than fighting, the goblin turned and fled. But Jason was already right behind it as he stabbed the goblin straight to its chest. The crimson hue of steel dirk shined even within the darkness. The goblin gurgled out blood while its body was trembling nearing death. Seconds later, it stopped moving.

Dan and Pixie caught up to Jason.

“Are there more?” Dan asked.

“Clear,” said Jason.

Jason took a peek out from the alley, there was a cluster of monsters from left to right. Most were staying still, sleeping on the street. The back of the building was just right in front of them. They only need to cross over the street and go through that alley, that leads to the back of the building.

“Keep it quiet,” said Jason.

The trio moved out from the alley and lightly jogged to the back of the building. They were cautious with their eyes keeping on glancing around the proximity.

The entered the alleyway with the back of the building within their sight. They reached closer to the building and Jason signaled them to stop.

A cackling laugh erupted in the darkness. Their eyes saw a group of goblins loitering around the loading bay of the building. It seemed they were wrong, the whole building was crawling with those stinking goblins. But the numbers weren’t that much compared to the front.

“There are twenty-one of them,” said Dan. “They’re too many.”

“I’ll make a distraction, when they’re gone, make a run for it,” Jason said. “and try to keep it down.”

Jason left without waiting. He ran leaving the two behind.

“What is he doing?” asked Pixie.

“Distraction,” Dan said.

A loud clang was heard breaking the silence of the darkness. Dan kept his eyes on the group of goblins as they started to move drawn by the unknown noise.

“Let’s go,” said Dan.

The two started to move and entered the building premise. The coast was clear as there was no goblin on sight. They standby in front of the nearest door. Rather than a door, it was more like a hole on the wall. The door was torn apart with the hinges still on the door frame.

“Are we waiting for him?” Pixie asked.

“Of course,” Dan said.

Pixie looked through the door and her eyes went wide.

“We’ve got company,” said Pixie. She raised up both of her combat knives.

Three goblins came out from the door. All three met eyes with Dan and Pixie. A subtle tension was in the air.

“Kii!” the goblin shouted while pointing at Pixie. Its nose was twitching as it could smell something from Pixie. A smell that was waking up their primal instinct.

“Kikiki!” the other two also noticed the presence of Pixie as they could smell it from Pixie. A rather enticing smell.

The three goblins came rushing at Pixie with drool spilling over from their mouths. Pixie confronted the three goblins, baring her combat knives. The sole of her feet started to glow in purplish hue.

“Dash,” she muttered.

Her speed went up a notch as confronted the leading goblin. Her sudden speed caught the goblin off guard and both of her knives sliced the neck of the goblin. Blood was spilled and the goblin went squirming on the ground.

This easy? Thought Pixie.

“Watch out!” Dan warned her.

But it was too late, the second goblin was already tackling her by the torso. Pixie fell on the floor and what came next shocked her. The third goblin came over as its child-like hand tried to rip apart her clothes. Both of them didn’t care about their dying kin as their chests were heaving like mad with drool spilling over to Pixie.

“The fuck,” said Pixie.

Then a machete entered the scene. Dan hacked one of the goblins. A crack was heard as the blade went straight to the skull.

“Get off of her,” said Dan. He pulled the goblin away as he then kicked the last goblin by the flank.

Dan helped Pixie out as she stood on her two feet. She was disgusted with the drool smothered over her clothes.

“You okay?” Dan asked.

“I’m going to fucking kill them,” said Pixie.

Both of them went for the attack and in a matter of seconds, the confrontation ended with the disgusting goblins dead. The loud sound of their heaving breaths permeated in the air. The battle was easy but something lingers in their mind. Both of them knew that the action of those goblins wasn’t like an attacking animal. Yet, they kept those thoughts to their own.

“Oh, you killed some,” Jason came out from nowhere as the two turned with their arms swinging their weapons.

But seeing it was Jason they halted.

“Geez, don’t do that,” said Pixie.

Jason smelled something. He looked at Pixie and saw some gooey liquid on her clothes.

“That’s nasty,” Jason said as he went walking through the door.

Pixie didn’t have a comeback. Dan patted her by the shoulder.

“Let’s go,” said Dan.

The trio went inside the building and found the secluded staircase. Dan and Pixie started to climbed as Jason slowly closed the door trying to minimize the sound.

Climbing up the stairs they could perfectly hear their own footsteps echoing in the staircase. It definitely killed the word covert. But luck was by their side since they didn’t confront any goblin at the staircase.

Meanwhile, at the loading bay. A bunch of goblins loitered around and found something on the floor. Three of their kin were dead. Most of them were laughing seeing the death of their kin but one of them had an itch in its nose.

It went close to the floor sniffing around like a hound dog and then, it picked up a scent.

“Kikiki,” it said to the group.

The group turned silent as they too prone closed to the floor and started sniffing. They too picked up a scent, a scent that made their mouth salivated. In just a matter of seconds, they were all drooling as their saliva spilled on the floor.

“Kiki!” one of them traced the scent to a hidden staircase as it pointed it out.

Then the glint of their eyes went mad as they were overwhelmed by their primal instinct. An instinct known to goblins. An instinct to mate!