“Go back! Watch out, on your left!”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

   The sounds of hundreds of gunshots became a continuous, paralyzing background noise; it was like a raging river that overflowed the city. They were almost indistinguishable from the howls of the monsters. The shouts of the soldiers could not be heard, except from very close.

   Seraing’s throat was already hurting quite much, he could bet on it that it was bleeding, as he tried to lead his people into the building at the bottom of the magnetic pole.

 “WE ARE RETRIEWING!”

   There were still too many people outside. The uranium shells dropped by the airborne fleet caused such destruction, destroying all the surrounding buildings that the rising dust and debris were like heavy clouds – it wasn’t enough that this obstructed their clear vision, but all the city lights were already cut down by the bombs, so the only lights had come from the shots they’ve made. On top of that, the ruins looked like dark shadows, which disappeared into the dust fog after only a few meters – it was very easy to clash into them while running or while backing away, or to be trapped by them in a corner.

   The buildings were still falling around them, despite that the bombarding had stopped – they were not extremely close, but they were tall enough to crush them, if they happened to fall in their direction. It was a miracle that the Magnetic Field Center was still standing, at least nothing made it collapse yet. However…

   Someone shot a humongous flying monster not far away from the building, where Seraing was waiting for all the soldiers to retreat into the laboratories, and shut the doors. The monster had fallen – the person aimed its heart and killed it instantly, spraying blood into the dusty air, that had already suffocated them – but during its fall, it swept away another section of the building, which crashed into the ground. The road opened up, and half of the running soldiers simply vanished in the cracked asphalt.

   Seraing couldn’t wait for more. There was a last group that had made it to the entrance, and when they were all in, he quickly slammed the door.

   A Vice Admiral clad in a white uniform with golden epaulettes stood beside him, helping him hold the wings, while another of their colleagues barred the door with a wide iron strap, and then blocked the entrance with some debris.

   It was dark inside the building as well, and the air was just as stifling as outside; warm and iron-smelling, mixed with the smell of the canals, making them gag instinctively. The destruction probably reached the canal pipes of the building. Seraing swallowed in every three seconds to keep his insides intact.

 “Have they cleared out the other units?” He still had to ask the Vice Admiral, as they picked up their speed and began to run into the deeper parts of the place, following some dim light and dull noises in the darkness, tripping on fallen furniture, debris or dead bodies that were lying on the floor. The remaining scientists and a few civilians had already retreated to the core of the laboratories; the corridors had emptied at least.

 “They’d restrained the monsters that got inside and closed all the other entrances.” The Vice Admiral was only a couple of years older than Seraing, maybe even a bit older than the Colonel and Dr Ji. Judging by all the pledges on his dusty jacket, he was a successful man – way above Seraing’s league. Seraing probably shouldn’t have tried to take the lead from a person like him, but he was still in a respected position in the Trial Court for his strategic thinking and fast decision-making – in this latter one he was probably more experienced than the Vice Admiral, for the highest-ranked people were not going out to the wilderness anymore; they were kept inside the base safe and sound for full-blown wars, like this one. Who knows how long this person didn’t have a serious fight. So he gathered up his courage to make an order.

 “Let’s help them out.” He said to the shadow on his side. “We have to clear up the space. Then we have to collect all of our remaining weapons and ammunition for checkups. Maybe we have a little bit of time before the monsters break down the doors. It would be a good idea to hold a census as well. We need all of our comrades who still can pick up a gun.”

   They had an agreement, and all of them found their way into the deeper parts of this huge facility. Seraing had been here once or twice in the last couple of weeks, but in the dark, in this stressful situation, he was a bit uncertain in his sense of direction. He had no idea, how many secured places they had left and how many entrances they needed to guard in the next couple of hours. He was used to quickly putting together easy-to-implement plans that usually ensured their success and survival to a high extent, but for that, he had to know the terrain, the size of the team and their available weaponry.

   They reached a door with a high-security system, and its card reader was still lit. There was still electricity here.

   Seraing got his card out, and swiftly swiped it down; the wide door automatically opened in front of them just to reveal one line of soldiers, holding their guns in their direction. There was one of Seraing’s members – the one with whom he had the closest relationship from the other Trial Court members and a few, also very young-looking soldiers, most likely trainees. As soon as the Judge recognised him, he put down his pistol and raised his hand.

 “DON’T FUCKING SHOOT!”

   He was slightly terrified. Seraing didn’t blame him. The young man – not even a man, just a boy – came to him immediately, while the soldiers saluted the Vice Admiral and embraced their other comrades.

 “Captain.” Haoyu – the Judge – called Seraing like this, even though he wasn’t really his captain, they just happened to be in the same unit under the Trial Court. “We’ve closed all the entrances but some of them… I don’t think many of the doors will hold for too long. Especially the eastern part of the building which is the closest to our refugees.”

 “We have to check our supplements.” Seraing said, and looked at the soldiers not far away, crying on each others’ shoulders. “We need better guards. This door doesn’t need to be guarded for now. We closed the outside gates, and it seems like this one can hold for a while. Let’s regroup and find the capable ones. We need to put our most talented fighters to the openings that will most likely fall first.”

 “Roger that. But… sir… we… we suffered a great loss.”

The Judge’s voice cracked and he hung his head.

 “How many?” Seraing asked, and somehow managed to keep his voice calm and smooth.

 “Only… only eleven Judges had left. And we lost our… lost our General. And a few of his subordinates and Lieutenant of another section… and of course a lot of officers from the lower ranks… There are only about five hundred people left… roughly.”

   Five hundred. Form the entire population. Apart from the airborne fleet’s personnel, of course, which was led by the Colonel himself to… who knows where. Seraing had no chance to ask.

   They fell silent for a couple of seconds. Seraing’s head ached, but he had no time to think about that; he massaged his temple, while he tried to stay calm and collected.

 “Captain, if the doors break, we…”

 “We have to call for assistance.” Seraing cut into the panicky voice, silencing him immediately. He put his hand on Haoyu’s shoulder and looked deeply into the teary, reddened eyes. “First off, let’s go and meet up with the others. After we sort out the guarding troops, we have to make a call to the Underground City Base… this is our best shoot. And then, we are just holding out as long as we can. We still have five hundred people to protect. We cannot fall just now. Keep it together, Judge.”

   Haoyu took some deep breaths as he was taught. They were all practising together back in the day when they were trainees at the Trial Court. There were a few exercises that they had to do every single day, sometimes every single moment of their day, mostly related to keeping their focus and clear mind. As the breathing technique worked, the young man looked much better already.

   The soldiers and the Vice Admiral put his trust in Seraing’s decision, and they all left the door unguarded for now, retreating to the deeper sections of the place. The white, bright light hurt Seraing’s eyes, he squinted and kept his head low – after a couple of hours of darkness outside this was almost unbearable. As they reached the place of the refugees, the corridors and rooms had become much cleaner and unharmed, only a few paper sheets, plastic cups or tissues had fallen to the ground here and there, as the people hurriedly flew into the more secured laboratories.

   The main laboratory was so huge that Seraing couldn’t even see the ceiling. He never had set foot in this place, it was meant for the scientists only, who had worked at the Magnetic Field Center. Judging by the height of the spacious room, he was certain they were currently inside of the magnetic pole itself. Or at least, right below it. Nothing was visible from the outside world, for not having any windows, but he still felt some invisible weight on his head from the direction of the ceiling. If the pole broke, it would crash this place instantly.

   The place was very crowded now. People were segregated; there were groups at various parts of the laboratory. There was a section, where wounded people had gathered and some scientists tried to take care of them, but soldiers were standing above them with loaded guns – it was a higher chance for mutation with severe injuries, so Seraing understood it. Another group were just sitting or standing at the walls of the room; they were either civilians or came from a different division and had no qualification to touch the equipment of the laboratory – or just simply had no mental strength to think about anything else than surviving.

   The remaining military personnel were already having a meeting, they were at another corner, discussing their next moves, and the Vice Admiral and his group immediately marched towards them. Seraing found his people in that direction as well, as the Trial Court was still part of the military; they had to follow their higher-ups if their own leader was not among them. Most of them were pale and shaky; Seraing didn’t blame them either. This situation was ten times worse than going into the depths of the Abyss.

   Before he was able to move towards them, he was frozen, hearing a familiar voice not too far away. His heart twisted excitedly and a warm wave ran through his entire body.

   Dr Ji was with the scientist at the dashboard with the former leaders of this place, standing above them. As Seraing started to pay attention towards their direction, he found out that they were already trying to contact the other base.

   As if he felt his gaze, Dr Ji straightened his back and looked at the military group. Seraing saw his profile: the doctor was just as pale as the Judges, frowning, and it seemed like he was searching for something among the soldiers and leaders before his eyes started to wander around the laboratory. When he turned more towards Seraing, the young Judge was able to see the desperation and fear on his features as well. The doctor really wanted to find that thing he was searching for.

   When he found it, they locked eyes and stared at each other through the large room. The blond doctor’s face relaxed, and although he was too far for Seraing to see, he would’ve bet on it that the rims of those azure blue eyes had reddened for a second. Seraing’s heartstring tingled with his stomach, and suddenly his worry didn’t seem to suffocate him from inside that much. His calmness wasn’t just an act anymore, and he was able to smile at the other person.

   Dr Ji’s lips were trembling, but he smiled back and was about to walk towards him, but then Seraing’s arm was grabbed. He was startled; he felt like he was just ripped out of a dream. Haoyu was standing beside him.

 “Captain… You should come. The Major General wants a word with you…”

   Seraing cast a last look at Dr Ji, who stopped in his movements seeing them talking, and then followed Haoyu to the military group.

   Since they’ve elected him to be their leader – as the Arbiter’s right hand and as someone who had just as much experience in battling as him – the remaining generals and colonels now had put their trust in him, just like before the Vice Admiral. Maybe he already had spoken up for him, while Seraing was dazing off. So they asked his opinion of their next move; they explained their situation and current plans, and they were curious about what he would do.

   But, he was not a wizard or some sort of god and he was not the Arbiter either. When they told him the exact numbers of remaining, capable soldiers and the amount of ammunition they had, Seraing needed a good couple of minutes to wake up from the blankness he felt in his head. No one pressured him, but he still felt a sudden weight on his shoulders, as these people were looking at him, waiting for his response. This was the first time he got recognition as a leader, and he couldn’t lie to himself, he got scared a little bit. It’s not like he couldn’t face responsibilities, but when his words were about to decide the fate of the last remains of their species… that was quite a lot.

   They didn’t have much. Five guards per entrance at best, leaving a couple of teams as reinforcements or replacements. They had to divide their attention between the inside and outside situation as well – as there was a chance that people were going to lose their minds, if things got worse, or an infection occurs here. They couldn’t put out all the officers for gatekeeping.

   Seraing wanted at least one judge per team in every guarding group, and requested them to be the leaders of those teams. Not everyone liked to hear this, even from the Judges, but in the end, after some discussion, he got a free pass for this. After they’ve sorted out all the teams – Seraing didn’t have any more say in their decisions about the members of the troops – they announced their plans with everyone in the room. It seemed like the tense atmosphere lowered a little, as they saw their authorities making these moves.

   The noises of the people were weird and quiet after the bombarding’s loudness that happened outside. Seraing himself volunteered to be at the eastern gates, which Haoyu said was the weakest part of the building, but before he went to his position with the team that was entrusted to him, he took a few minutes break, and leaned to the wall in one of the corners. He rubbed his temples and the bridge of his nose. His head still pounded painfully.

 “Drink this. You look dehydrated.”

Seraing looked up. Dr Ji was standing right in front of him, holding a cup filled with water.

   They once again stared at each other. Seraing was humble-mouthed for a second, that the doctor took the initiative to talk to him after what happened last time they were alone… But then he realised this was the exact same line he said to him on that night in the Garden of Eden; he faintly smiled as he took the cup from him. His fingers were briefly touching Dr Ji’s fingers in the process, stroking them gently before he drew back his hand.

 “Thank you, doctor.” He wasn’t feeling thirsty, but the water vanished from his mouth in less than three seconds. “Were you able to make contact with the Underground City Base?”

 “No.” Dr Ji’s cheeks were slightly pinkish and he seemed less stressed, but didn’t look away. “The channel is very unstable. We are still trying.”

 “Then I can entrust you with that.” He sighed deeply. “I will go and protect the eastern entrance. We will try to hold on as long as it is needed but… we will need help from the other base or else…”

 “I know… I’m sorry.”

 “It’s not your fault. The channel has been pretty bad in the past too.” Seraing smiled, but Dr Ji suddenly lifted his chin.

 “No. I’m sorry for… what I’ve said to you… at that night.”

   For a second, they once again looked at each other deeply, before Dr Ji’s eyes trembled and he wasn’t able to hold the eye contact.

 “You didn’t do anything wrong.” Seraing said quietly. “It was my fault. I hurt you and broke my promise. I didn’t mean to… I’ve misread the situation; I thought you weren’t ready to kiss me. I wasn’t really in my right mind. I know it’s not an excuse, but I really wasn’t.”

   Dr Ji finally looked up again, and he seemed to have many emotions all at once. Seraing wanted to show the same feelings towards him; in fact, he never felt a stronger urge to hug this overdramatic and oversensitive person, but before they could move towards each other, one of his team members had stepped to him.

 “Captain, let’s go.”

   There was nothing that they could’ve done against this: Seraing had to go to fulfil his duty. He didn’t look back at the doctor as he walked away, however. He felt like if he saw his helpless face watching him leave, he wouldn’t be able to go. For some reason, he recalled the Colonel’s figure in his mind, and he felt an unexplainable connection with him all of a sudden. Is this how the Colonel felt on that day when he went to the Underground City Base? Seraing only saw An Zhe’s reaction: the wish to reach that person he cared for so much, the wish to ask him not to leave, the wish to touch or hug him one last time – or in the case of the Colonel, maybe first time – and he felt so bad for the little boy. He wanted to reassure him to have faith in the Colonel.

Is there anyone who can reassure Dr Ji now to have faith in him?

   Seraing wasn’t as strong emotionally as the Colonel. But maybe the Colonel himself had a hard time at that moment, wanting to stay at the base instead of risking his life for humanity. The Colonel would’ve never shown such a mentality, probably would even commit suicide first rather than having someone seeing him doubt his own position and responsibility but… maybe at that moment, when he boarded, he didn’t look back at An Zhe, because he knew wouldn’t be able to hold himself together.

   At least, Seraing would love to believe in this. Maybe he was just projecting his own feelings on the Colonel, and maybe projecting An Zhe’s feelings on Dr Ji as well.

   He had to push these thoughts back in his mind when they reached the eastern entrance. The situation was worse than they’d thought.

   The doors were torn down halfway, and the soldiers tried everything to make a blockade to cover all the holes. Every piece of furniture or equipment was used up, chained or tied to the doors, forming such a weird shape as if it was some kind of abstract art piece. The problem was, because of this blockade, their group couldn’t fully take their positions to get a good aim on the invading monsters when the door broke down.

They had to re-open the space a little bit, risking the immediate fall of the door.

   The monsters outside seemed to take a break until this point. They were not attacking or trying to get in when the team arrived. But after they began to move around the furniture, and they made all kinds of noises with the chains and shouting, the creatures noticed them and started to growl at them at the openings of the doors. Vicious eyes were looking at their every movement through the cracks, glowing in the darkness. Their smell was also pretty bad; once again people had to take breaths through their mouths to avoid inhaling these odours.

   They were able to leave a few tall cabinets in front of the doors, strapped the chains around them with a more secured knotting technique, and they’ve won a few moments to catch their breaths and take their places on the corridor. The monsters were adamant about getting inside, but it seemed that they liked to tease them: if they truly wanted, they could’ve already broken the doors with just a little strategy. Seraing knew these monsters were able to think that far ahead, even if they hadn’t consumed and developed human intelligence. But they chose to play with them first, making them much tenser.

   Then it happened. The monsters grew bored with just playing with their prey, and began to attack the doors much more violently. The soldiers’ first shots were aimed perfectly, and this had given them confidence. They were all quite solid and stopped shaking by now. The Vice Admiral, who had helped Seraing with the other door before, was also there, and finally was able to showcase the talent he got his pledges for.

   But their group was still made up of just a handful of people. Their shots became more continuous, the howling grew louder and the attacks of the monsters also came in at a faster pace. The door was crying as well every single time it was hit by the intruders.

   These were all mammal-classed monsters, as much as Seraing was able to see and tell. They aimed their guns at their head or heart – and they didn’t have to find any other weak spots, like when they were fighting against insects with armors and shells. It’s not like it was easy, of course, they didn’t get such clear sight of the monsters until they broke into the building completely.

   Seraing soon had run out of his usual bullets. He had to change his pistol to another gun that he got earlier when they sorted out the team members and their remaining weapons. He didn’t like huge guns. It was bothersome to carry them; they were heavy and made the aiming more difficult. Some of them kicked back too hard as well. But he had no choice.

   His aim definitely became worse. Which would not annoy him that much, if he wasn’t the leader of the team. He specifically asked for this position, and now he started to make mistakes. But he couldn’t worry too much about what the other soldiers think of him because of that.

 “Slowly retrieve.”

   They all followed his order regardless. The wings of the doors had almost completely degraded into iron petals on the ground, and the tall cabinets already had some cracks in them; it was just a matter of time before they fell. The chains would probably still be an obstacle, but not that much to prevent the monsters marching in.

 “Ready!”

   They went back to the other side of the wide corridor: at least they had some space to retreat. However, behind their back, only a few meters away, there was the other door, which led right into the laboratory, where the refugees were hiding. It was very close. They only had this ten or fifteen-meter-long hall to eradicate all the monsters that were going to show up at the entrance.

   Retreating was the best decision they could’ve made. The doors were not only broken: it seemed that one of the monsters found a sweet spot, and with exceeding power, it launched itself into the doors and the cabinets and chains and everything that was left there exploded towards the corridor. If they would’ve not backed away, all the members of this team would’ve been dead in an instant from the flying debris.

   Once again, the continuous “BANG, BANG, BANG” became a mindboggling background noise, and Seraing lost his ability to care for anyone else but the monsters. With the first wave, they still did an amazing job, but as the amount of the monsters had increased, they came deeper and deeper, closer to the people, closer to the laboratory.

   Seraing had recognised some of the monsters, but he never encountered so many of them at once. Some of these were not even social types of animals. Seemed like the current situation made them forget their own lifestyles and instincts, and they agreed to work together with the ones that were initially living in a pack.

   Seraing lost track of the time, and he was only able to glance at his pocket. He only had so much ammo, that he was able to last for three or four waves… at best. He had to find a way to get more or take down these monsters in a better way. His eyes were squinting; the air was filled with smoke from the continuous shooting. All the furniture was already used up before to make that blockade, so using obstacles was out of the question. There was a fire alarm not far away around the corner, close to the entrance, but it would not do much good. It would only spray water on them if there is any left. But some of these monsters didn’t like water…

   There was also a huge pipe under the ceiling, running side by side with the walls. He had no idea what that was for since the ventilation system was built into the walls. Maybe a protective shell for the electric wires? If he breaks down the pipes to stop a few waves of the monsters, they could lose the light. Not seeing their enemies was a pretty bad condition.

   If they would’ve had that grenade launcher now… or in fact, they had one inside the laboratory, they managed to save some big cannons as well, but they were not able to use any of them in the building, for its range would explode the whole area. But… they could aim for the entrance with that, in the hope that it will collapse and block the opening completely.

Maybe they would all die in the process.

   Next magazine… this was a bigger one, with thirty-six rounds. Should he try to get that launcher? He glanced towards the Vice Admiral on his side. The military agreed to him and let him be a captain of this team… he should decide alone, but his decision would endanger the life of his comrades.

   He ran out from those bullets way faster than he expected. His aim became better, he didn’t miss a single shot, yet the waves didn’t seem to stop anytime soon. Only two magazines he had left… he needs to make that decision at least by the time he runs out of this one…

   He was careless. His focus was too fixated on the launcher, he pushed the magazine in the wrong way and it didn’t attach to the gun. As soon as he released it, it fell to the ground. He quickly bent over and got it back, but he lost too many seconds and one of the monsters saw this opportunity. Seraing looked up, but he had no time to shoot anymore, as the creature simply jumped towards him, crossing the distance between them in one momentum.

   The beast was shot right at the moment when its claws reached Seraing, who almost couldn’t step back. He bumped into the wall as well.

The Vice Admiral shouted at him.

 “ARE YOU GOOD?”

   There was no time to be stunned, but Seraing felt a little bit of weakness in his limbs. Still, he nodded, and forced himself to take his spot again.

 “We need something else… we won’t be able to fight like this.”

The Vice Admiral fired again before he glanced at Seraing, and he drew his mouth out.

 “Like what? Cannons? Are you out of bullets?”

 “Almost.”

 “Then let’s retreat.”

   This was an option that they couldn’t choose. Yes, they had one more door, which they could hide behind, but that was the last door. If the monsters would reach and break it, everything would be over.

 “If we are going to flee, at least let’s use up all of our bullets before and take down as many as we can.”   The next wave was coming. It seemed like the monsters started to lose their balance in their teamwork. Some of them were attacking each other, or clashing with each other, as they jumped over the fallen bodies – the carcasses began to pile up slowly in the corridor – as they were marching towards the soldiers. It gave the people some opportunities to shoot them down a bit sooner.

Then something happened.

Seraing wasn’t sure what it was, but all of the team members had stopped firing, just like him.

   The wave of the monsters halted halfway in the corridor. As if they’ve hit an invisible wall, tripping on each other and forming a huge pile of raging, howling mass. There was no wall between them and the monsters that could make them fall, and Seraing had no idea, what just happened. However, the light started to flicker as well, and there was some strange, deep growling echoing through the hallway. At first, Seraing thought, maybe the airborne fleet came back, or maybe they got reinforcements from the other base somehow, and their planes were making this noise, but then he realised, it was not coming from the air above them but from the building itself.

The magnetic pole had growled.

Is it going to collapse?

   They were all frozen in their place, all looking up, then at each other. The Vice Admiral looked like he had died already by sheer fear; his handsome, sharp features seemed stretched.

 “What… what is happening?”

   No one was able to answer. They still held their guns up, aiming at the monsters, but the big pile of meat has not moved since then.

   The flickering of the light and the resonating growling of the building had stopped at some point, just as suddenly as it had begun. The monsters were not harmed, but seemed just as confused as the people in front of them.

   The pile started to crumble when the monsters had come to their senses. They separated from each other sluggishly as if they were dizzy or something. Some of them even looked around, and became cautious, as if they had just woken up from a dream.

   And surprisingly, a few of them decided to leave. Seraing would’ve not believed it, if he didn’t see it with his own eyes. Almost half of those creatures turned back to the wrecked entrance, and there were not many replacing them from outside. The ones that had stayed still seemed to be confused, and hadn’t attacked yet.

 “Captain… let’s retreat now.”

   The Vice Admiral’s quiet advice pulled Seraing out of the shock, and he redirected his focus. His brain worked much slower now.

 “Yeah… yes… everyone, retreat!”

   One by one, they went back to the door of the laboratory, and Seraing waited for them all to get inside. The creatures in the hallway started to growl at them when they saw the movements, but didn’t stop them. Just when Seraing shut the door tight from inside, they heard that the monsters started to approach the door. But their attacking power had reduced significantly. They didn’t launch themselves at the doors anymore, just crawled on them a few times.

   If Seraing thought they had it easy, he learned it soon, he was inherently wrong to be so optimistic.

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