Month number four since the invasion…

11:46 am, at Phrixus’s parents’ home…

A government officer accompanied by the National Guard are speaking with Phrixus’s father, by order of Jose Romero he is arming the population with basic firearms for self-defense against Apophlings.

“You will use this shotgun to protect yourself and your family against any alien beast that will come to attack your home, if you need more ammo go to your nearest superintendent’s office” said the officer, handing the weapon to Phrixus’s father.

At first he is hesitant but then he relents, taking the gun “How bad is the situation?” he says.

“It is under our control, there is nothing to be worried about, if by any chance you discover many Apophlings near your home please contact the authorities for support,” says the officer, taking his leave.

He gets inside and speaks with his wife and Phrixus.

“Under our control…” Phrixus says sarcastically. “Yeah right… I have seen on the Internet how the casualties are rising across the globe, and more of those creatures are appearing each day,” he says, upset by the situation.

“We live close to downtown but still, those demons are getting more aggressive, a friend of mine told me how a few of them managed to get inside urbanized zones,” said Phrixus’s mother, worried.

“What it bothers me is if they keep handling guns without control those who have nothing to lose will take matters into their own hands, that means looting or robbery, even gangs might start to rise up, if the government fails to maintain order, of course,” says Phrixus.

“There is nothing else we can do, only wait and hope everything will get better…” says his father.

5:51 pm, on the outskirts of Phrixus’s hideout…

“Terminated,” Phrixus ejects the empty shell of his shotgun and standing in front of its dead victim, a Pseudowasp.

“No more in the neighborhood I take it,” Roberth says. “This better be the last one.”

“Seven kills and no traces of anymore, the coast is clear from here,” says Valeria.

“As long they die easily I won’t complain, I just need to dig a pit, throw the bodies there and douse them in gasoline for good measure,” says Phrixus.

“Just another day in the office,” says Valeria.

2 hours later…

Phrixus suddenly receives a call from Eve Grant on his radio equipment, he is surprised and wonders what the Vanguard of the Atlantic wants from him.

“Corporal Phrixus do you copy? Over,” Eve Grant says.

“Loud and clear.”

“Good, we need your assistance regarding the extraction of important personnel in the U.S. embassy in Caracas, we received reports of a large horde of alien creatures that managed to get inside the metropolis and are causing trouble near the facility. So far they haven’t reached the building but we don’t want to take any chances. The military is handling the situation but they say they are scattered in the AO and it will take time to get rid of the assailants. Are you up to this?”

“Ready and able.”

“Good to hear, a transport helicopter will arrive at your location in twenty minutes, carry any necessary gear you need. Our intel tells us about a new unfamiliar breed of Apophlings in the area, exercise extra caution, on an additional note, Floyd, Vincent, and Sylviane send their regards.”

The last sentence makes Phrixus quickly responsive, he has not heard about them for a long time. “Those pals… tell them I also give them my regards and I’m still on the fight.” Phrixus says with enthusiasm.

“Will do, good luck, Eve out.”

“Soooo…” Valeria says. “Trouble in the capital?”

“Oh hell yeah, if they manage to slip through the borders that means we might face a loss of terrain, or in the most extremes cases, we could fall into a state of total anarchy if the seat of government should be overrun by them, and people like the current administration so that would be a real tragedy if that happens.”

“Even the cities are not safe after all…” Roberth says.

“Looks like it’s a good time to use my gauntlets, I haven’t worn them for a long time,” Phrixus says.

Soon Phrixus’s ride arrives.

“I’ll be back soon, keep a watch on the news channel,” says Phrixus.

12:18 am, Caracas…

The transport chopper is getting close to the embassy. The city seems at relative peace, except for the area of operations which consists mostly of a large residential zone. As they get closer to the objective Phrixus watches how, in the blink of the eye, a very large section of the city is blacked out, affecting the embassy as well.

“Whatever is happening below is getting a bit out of control,” says Phrixus.

“Our forces should have formed a perimeter in the embassy,” the pilot says, “but we have a report about some kind of problem inside.”

The chopper lands at the consulate’s heliport. Phrixus gets out of the vehicle and is greeted by the security personnel of the building.

“Glad you arrived in time,” says the chief officer. “With the lights out our problems have gotten worse.”

“What sort of problems are we dealing with?” says Phrixus.

“Three soldiers were sent to rescue our VIPs inside but they haven’t returned nor responded on the radio… worse yet, on the radio we are hearing all sorts of random voices and sounds. We don’t know exactly if it is our staff or maybe a new kind of alien creature lurking inside, we don’t have anyone else to send.”

“I’ll get them to safety, I just need a torch or something,” says Phrixus.

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“You are in luck.” He hands over a wearable flashlight. “Strap that over your chest so you have your hands free for your weapons. Good luck and be careful.”

Equipping the device and turning it on he heads over to the dark entrance, he explores the large hall which leads to an office. There is an unsettling silence in the place and the complete blackness makes things look dangerous. Arriving at another place he suddenly hears a male voice from afar.

“I should tell her to go to the movies.”

The voice was strangely loud, and Phrixus thought it could be one of the VIPs. “Are you there? I am the rescue team,” yells Phrixus.

Getting no response, he decides to go toward the source of the voice. He reaches the document storage room, no one here. Just when he is about to leave the place, he hears the repeated sounds of a car horn.

That was weird. Phrixus was sure it could be a new type of alien creature as the security officer had said. Keeping his guard up, he moves to the source of the strange sounds, and it appears he is in a waiting room. On the left side there is a door which leads to an office where people ask for information, to the other side the bodies of the previous rescue team. All of them look like they were torn down by a creature with large claws. As he goes to inspect the bodies, he hears a voice from above.

“I couldn’t care less!” says a childish voice.

Phrixus doesn’t have time to look above to see who or what is talking now, as he is immediately pounced on. Whatever his attacker is, it has a grasp on Phrixus from behind and it starts to bite and claw him. He is unable to get free, and without thinking twice he propels himself backward and bashes the creature against the wall with enough strength to force it to release him.

“Son of a...” Phrixus says. Turning around he gets a clear look at the attacker: it is similar to a Surma but a bit smaller and it has brownish, dark-red fur covering its body, a reptilian head with fearsome fangs, where its lower jaw is slightly longer. It has four legs instead of six like the previously mentioned alien, but the forepaws sport large and formidable five-digit curved talons, they look they can rip apart flesh like butter. The creature is flailing on the floor after being smashed but it quickly regains composure and stands up. Maintaining a prowling stance, it makes audible rattling sounds with its teeth and stares at Phrixus, moving its head slightly. Then the creature “speaks” at him.

“What are you doing, idiots?! Cover the merchandise or they will find it!” A female voice says. This is not coming directly from its mouth, but rather its neck or possibly the chest.

“Wait, what?” says Phrixus.

The response of the beast is to lunge at him. It is very fast. Phrixus’s attempt to block the attack is awkward and late and he is slashed on the right side of his torso and at the same time the creature disengages. Shortly the creature rushes again to perform the same strike. Phrixus, having noticed its pattern of movement, parries the blow with his pollaxe and counterattacks, but the beast gracefully leaps away from the attack. Phrixus performs a flurry of strikes but the creature manages to quickly dodge them aside and falls back.

“Darn it, my laptop stopped working,” the beast says with a male voice.

“You are one slippery bastard,” says Phrixus.

The beast makes the same attack again. Phrixus notes that when the creature rushes forward it exposes itself for a precise hit with the right timing. As the creature reaches him he blocks the attack with his pollaxe. Deftly he unsheathes the telescopic blade on his left arm and impales the beast right in the chest. The creature thrashes in pain. Phrixus pulls back, but the wound is mortal. The critter stops flailing and stays motionless. Warily approaching the body, he pokes the maw of the monster with his blade to make sure it is dead, not even a small twitch from the corpse. Phrixus suddenly hears a door opening behind him, eight people appear which appears to be the staff to be extracted.

“That thing is finally dead?” says one of them.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you make sure it is really dead, like, cut off its head or something?” says another of the group, sounding nervous.

“No, no, the Xenobiology Research Wing of the VOA wants these things as undamaged as possible for further study,” says someone who appears to be the U.S. ambassador.

“How long have you been trapped?” says Phrixus.

“Like forty minutes more or less? When we heard the news about a large group of alien beasts managing to enter this side of the city we called for support, we thought we would be safe here but there were a few that wandered near this area and one turned out to be this thing. It was something we didn’t expect since it managed to quickly kill our rescuers, so it was best for us to remain confined.”

“The worst part is its mimicking of voices, they can even imitate the wail of death of people, something that thing did with our deceased team, it was a terrible experience!” says another of the group.

“We shouldn’t linger here anymore, take this rope,” he hands him over a sturdy cord, “and tie it to the beast’s foreleg and drag it with you, the reinforcements should be here in a moment, if we head back to the heliport we can…” He is interrupted by a bellowing roar coming from outside.

All of them go to a wide window which overlooks the parking lot of the embassy as well as a street. The moonlight is strong enough to see what is outside, to the east they see a main battle tank and some troopers behind it armed to face its foe at front of them: a hulking, big monstrosity which is twice the size of a large transport bus. It looks somewhat like a muscular rhinoceros, covered by what appear to be large plated scales over its body which could act as some sort of armor. Four stubby but robust legs end in hooves, and last but not least its most impressive and daunting features, a massive horn and a pair of tusks that are half the size of its own body and pointing forward. The tank shoots its main cannon against the beast and performs a clean hit above its head, showering the surrounding area with pieces of the beast’s exoskeleton, blood and chunks of flesh. However this is not enough to instantly kill the behemoth, and it roars at the tank and charges forward. The vehicle tries in vain to fall back as the creature grabs the tank with its tusks and with impressive strength it lifts it up and flips it upside down. The beasts hits it three times with its large tusks and then loses interest in the vehicle, after some seconds a Light Armored Vehicle appears from afar and shoots the monster to get its attention. The creature rushes at it while destroying everything in its path like a wrecking ball, the LAV runs away with the behemoth on its tail, and they disappear from the sight of the group who watched the entire event.

“I have never seen huge ones like that… and to survive one direct hit from a tank… this is worrisome,” one of the group says.

“Our military call them Tricephalus…” says the ambassador.

“That would explain the outage in this zone,” Phrixus says, “judging by the brute power of such a being.”

“The sooner we leave, the more likely we get out of here unscathed,” says another of the group.

Without wasting more time, the group heads for the alternate exit which leads to the heliport. After a couple of minutes they arrive at the extraction point, a transport helicopter, where some soldiers of the VOA are awaiting them.

“Good work, all the VIPs are safe, and… what is that thing?” says one of the soldiers, pointing at the dead creature.

“That’s a Mi-Go, nasty buggers… crawling on the ceilings and mimicking all sorts of things, they know how to duck and elude attacks in close quarters but a well-placed shot even from a small pistol can bring them down quickly,” another of the soldiers says.

“It will be put in a cage just to be safe, we’ll drop you back to your place once we leave the embassy. The area is currently hot since there are some stray aliens in the AO but the Venezuelan army is taking care of the situation, we are leaving in two minutes.”

One day later…

“...acting like living siege units they destroy everything in their path. Their tusks are covered in small, curved spines which adds an anti-personnel capability since it can cause gushing wounds on anyone being slammed by its massive teeth. They are impervious to most firearms, requiring explosive ordnance or anti-materiel capable weapons to be able to fight them. Their mammoth-like strength is enough to damage buildings even to the point of demolishing them… in short, they lay devastation and ruin in their wake, better call the air cavalry for this one.” Roberth reads out information about the Tricephalus on the Internet.

“And pest control for the Mi-Gos crawling on the ceilings and ventilation ducts,” remarks Valeria.

“Civilization has never been threatened like this before… the suburbs may be the next target, it seems they have somehow filled the different roles necessary for a functional army: basic frontline and shock troopers, ranged attackers, aerial assaulters, and living giant rams,” says Phrixus.

“The military should keep up the pace, otherwise tomorrow all that will be left is rubble and bodies,” says Roberth.

“Not only them, people like us should be doing our part, as far as I can tell this will require some sort of cooperation if they want the people safe and to keep those bugs at bay.”

“Hire your nearest superhuman to watch and guard your neighborhood, that sounds neat,” says Phrixus.