Merged Soul: Reincarnated in a Dark World

Chapter 19: Night rats

The fourth Gunner gritted his teeth and gripped the edge of the truck tightly, his life depended on it.

This was his punishment for disobeying orders, either he held on till they reached the safe zone or he released his grip and faced the red zone alone without any means of transport.

There was only one result for such a situation and it was his end. The rough movement of the truck because of the uneven path became torture to him, he tried to find a proper spot to place his leg but to no avail, he couldn't concentrate as he could fall at any moment.

His body would hit the back of the truck intermittently causing him to grunt, his breathing got rough and his stamina was waning rapidly.

"I will punch that fool when I get out here" he screamed with bulging eyes, his alarms were blaring rapidly, he saw numerous red dots approaching rapidly, he stared at the screen intensely calculating the time they would need to reach the safe zone.

"Two minutes!!" He screamed, this was the first time two minutes seemed so long to him, he had to withstand two major problems, he was out of power serum and his stamina would be completely depleted in a minute and that is if a night beast hadn't gotten to him first.

"Captain we need him, losing a great Gunner would not be helpful in the long run, I think his punishment should be enough" 1 pleaded to Roland.

Roland sighed "I know, but it's already too late, we open that door, a night beast will surely enter, he has to depend on himself, hopefully he could hold till we reach the safe zone"

1 shook his head, there was no way the last Gunner would survive.

Night beasts with slender builds had begun to close the trucks, the last Gunner looked back and shook his head, he couldn't see any path of survival, he would have stabbed his dagger into the truck for a better grip but the alloy used to make the peacemaker was a newly researched one and it's durability and hardness was off the charts, even an alpha ranked soldier couldn't pierce through it.

Still he wouldn't die like that, he would take at least one of these beasts with him, he reached out to his thighs and grabbed a pistol.

His first two shots were wasted as the beast dogged it, he tried to control his anxiety but his current position didn't allow it, the beast was getting closer and his grip was also loosening, he couldn't support the weight of his entire body with one arm.

Even with the conditioning, beads of sweat filled his face, his arms were unsteady as the rough movements of the truck had seriously affected his aim.

The gleaming black fur and the long fangs of the beast were clearly visible even with the darkness as the beast had arrived, it lunged towards him, with wide jaws, savage rows of fangs and its curved claws gleamed softly, ready to seize him.

He didn't want to know if his new suit could protect him from those deadly weapons, he raised his gun and shot recklessly, soon his gun clicked, his eyes regained their clarity and saw the beast on the ground with sticky white brain matter and blood spilling from its head, his bullet had managed to pass through its mouth and hit its brain.

"Whew!, I'm so....." He couldn't finish his words as the truck had a sudden jolt which caused him to lose his grip.

Everything became slow as he watched the rapidly approaching yellow soil with horror, he couldn't believe it, just when luck shone on him, the evil of this dark world refused to let him go.

He fell hard and rolled for a while before he finally came to a halt. He stared at the dark sky which in some way also had its beauty with hollow eyes, he calmly waited for his death.

But after a while, his brows furrowed, something was wrong and true to his words.

"What are you doing, get up!"

He heard his brother's voice and sat up immediately "I'm alive" he gasped, he couldn't believe it.

"Umm.. I can see a breathing person, so you're definitely alive"

When he heard his brother's sarcastic voice, he raised his head and shouted

"You!!!!!...." He couldn't finish his words as they were interrupted.

"I know it's painful, but we're in a tight spot so continue your reunion later" they heard 1 voice through their COMs.

"Thanks for the info." The last Gunner hollered sarcastically.

He got up and ran after his brother who was already few meters ahead, the sand made it hard for him to catch up as he began panting in few minutes, when he heard gunshots he dived and landed behind a small sand dune, he peeked but couldn't sight his brother, he was afraid to switch on his visor because he had no ammo, the gunfire was heavy, he could hear bullets swoosh past head Continuously.

"Who the hell is shooting this way, there's nothing here" he screamed inwardly, he had forgotten about the protective field his suit has and was complaining like a kid.

His COM beeped and his brother's voice echoed "where are you"

He was about to shout but he stared at his glowing screen and said softly "forty steps away, behind a sand dune 6, O clock.

"What are you doing there!!"

"I'm hiding, what else am I supposed to be doing?'' he replied sarcastically.

"Get over here now!" He heard Roland's angry voice, he trembled, the captain wasn't a man he could mess with twice!.

Without wasting a single moment he laid flat and creeped towards their position, he hid behind dunes and would run a short distance before creeping again, bullets kept whooshing past him and he wished he could just Punch the fool who had such a horrible aim.

He finally saw the trucks, more than a hundred soldiers in exo-suits were scattered around it, most of them were standing with bluish flames spilling out of their muzzles.

A few meters away three trucks were also packed but from their looks, they had a really bad day, deep claw marks covered every part of the vehicle, one of them had a destroyed windshield with blood staining the hood, some were still dripping to the ground.

Soldiers armed in dark silver exo-suits were retreating towards them, most of the AI controlled tripod turrets which surrounded the safe zone were destroyed.

He was alarmed, tripod turrets were the main weapons that protected a safe zone, but this safe zone was close to destruction.

He could see some soldiers being covered by those hateful night rats, their numbers were unimaginable, some soldiers were slow and it gave the night rat a good advantage, a soldier saw he was surrounded and retreated quickly but it was to late, in a matter of seconds he was covered, both his exo-suit disappeared, his screams lasted a second before he was scattered into countless parts, his blood couldn't even stain the ground as every bit was devoured till his bones.

The last Gunner's eyes zoomed in on a rat gnawing on the femur of the soldier, his heart was clouded with pain and anger, suddenly.

Boom!.

A loud shot reverberated as the rat, which was enjoying its meal, couldn't even react before its head burst into blood mist.

BOOM!!

Each loud shot took the life of more than three huge rats, they were also eaten by their kin while they rushed towards the soldiers, Angel knelt on one knee, with a long exquisite gun which had a long muzzle, and her rifle had a shooting range of two thousand meters and each shot was packed with the explosive power able to pierce through double buildings and reinforced alloys.

She knelt steadily and shot at different locations with fast speed, each shot saving the life of a soldier at the battlefront. She placed her long gun at her back and it glued there with metals which came out from her suit and binded it firmly.

She stood up and ran towards a different direction, bullets were swooshing past her as she ran towards the spot where the battle was at its peak.

Roland sighted her and frowned, he turned to Raymond who stood behind him "follow her and make sure you get that chip!"

His metallic helm nodded and his deep robotic voice echoed "understood sir".

He stomped the ground with large waves of sand rising up, his speed was amazing, the sand could not restrict his movements as he closed Angel within a few seconds, while she was running, he caught up with her and maintained his pace to match up with Angel's.

"I need support," he muttered.

She turned to him and nodded, he also nodded and sped off, she watched him disappear into the wave of night rats and turned to a different direction, she needed to get to a higher dune and fast.

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