Chapter 15 - Last Door
The desert burned beneath black smoke and collapsing steel.
Facility K-27 finally gave up what remained of its structure as entire sections folded inward behind the evacuation convoy. Explosions rolled beneath the earth like thunder while mutant hordes poured endlessly from the ruins.
The armored transports pushed toward the extraction zone through fire and blood.
Then the ground split open.
A massive steel security door erupted upward from beneath the convoy in an explosion of sand and debris.
Darius immediately recognized it.
Containment Gate Theta-9.
The same gate Rowan and Serik had sealed earlier.
The thing behind it had survived.
“Oh no,” Rowan muttered.
The steel door bent outward violently.
Then tore completely in half.
The four-armed mutant emerged roaring into the desert night.
Huge.
Twisted.
Covered in armored muscle and exposed bone growths.
Four massive arms ending in clawed hands capable of ripping armored vehicles apart.
Its body was covered in scars from earlier battles.
And now it looked angry.
The creature landed directly in front of the convoy hard enough to crater the ground beneath it.
One transport flipped instantly.
Soldiers screamed as the vehicle rolled sideways across the sand.
“CONTACT FRONT!” Cassian roared.
The mutant charged.
Fast.
Far too fast for something that size.
One massive arm slammed into Gideon Rook’s riot shield hard enough to launch the giant Steelborn backward through an armored barricade.
Another arm ripped a mounted turret completely off a transport vehicle.
The convoy formation shattered instantly.
Gunfire erupted from every direction.
The mutant ignored most of it.
Rounds sparked against armored flesh while rockets exploded across its body with only limited effect.
“IT’S STRONGER NOW!” Orion shouted.
“No kidding!” Kael answered while dodging a flying chunk of transport armor.
The four-armed monster hit the convoy like a living missile.
One claw punched through a Heavy Metal mech chest.
Another grabbed a Steelborn soldier and crushed him instantly.
Blood sprayed across the sand.
“FORM DEFENSIVE RINGS!” Darius ordered.
But the battlefield had already become chaos.
The alpha mutant attacked from behind.
The swarm closed from all sides.
And now the four-armed nightmare stood directly in the center of the convoy tearing through everything in reach.
This was no longer an evacuation.
This was survival.
Raze Volkov laughed anyway.
“NOW WE’RE TALKING!”
The massive Steelborn shock trooper charged directly toward the mutant firing his rotary cannon nonstop. Thousands of rounds slammed into the creature’s chest while Raze sprinted straight through explosions and debris.
The mutant roared.
Then punched him.
The impact launched Raze nearly thirty feet through the air.
He crashed into the side of a transport hard enough to dent reinforced steel.
“…Okay,” he groaned while standing back up. “That one hurt.”
Titus Cain stepped forward next.
The broad Steelborn defender planted his giant riot shield into the sand just as the mutant charged again.
Impact.
The ground exploded beneath them.
Titus held.
Barely.
Hydraulics screamed through his armor while all four mutant arms hammered against the shield like battering rams.
The giant defender’s boots carved trenches through the desert.
Still he did not move.
“Fire,” Titus said calmly.
The teams unleashed hell.
Railguns.
Missiles.
Explosive rounds.
Drone strikes.
The battlefield vanished beneath explosions.
The mutant finally staggered backward smoking heavily.
Then one arm regenerated.
Everyone saw it happen.
Bone cracked back into place beneath twitching flesh.
“Wonderful,” Kael muttered.
Meanwhile the alpha mutant smashed through the rear convoy defenses.
The Death Reaper intercepted it instantly.
The two monsters collided with enough force to shake nearby transports.
Claws tore through armor.
Bone shattered.
Black blood sprayed across the sand.
The Death Reaper fought like a starving beast unleashed from centuries of captivity.
The alpha fought like evolution itself.
Neither could overpower the other.
Above them
The Fairy danced through the battlefield surrounded by storms of shadow crows. Black wings filled the sky while the pale supernatural being glided effortlessly between tracer rounds and collapsing vehicles.
Entire swarms of zombies disappeared beneath the living darkness.
But even the Fairy seemed strained now.
Too many enemies.
Too much chaos.
Lucien felt it immediately.
“They’re getting overwhelmed…”
Elias grabbed him before another explosion knocked him sideways.
“Stay behind me, damsel.”
Lucien blinked tiredly.
“…You seriously picked now to call me that?”
Elias fired three rounds into charging mutants without looking away from the battlefield.
“You pass out in people’s arms enough times, titles happen naturally.”
Kael laughed loudly while slicing through an infected creature beside them.
“Humanity’s deadliest princess returns.”
“Shut up,” Lucien muttered weakly.
Then the four-armed mutant broke through Titus’ defense.
The creature slammed the giant Steelborn aside before charging directly toward the transport carrying the coffins.
Toward Einar.
The vampire child stared silently at the incoming monster.
Then the third coffin behind him slammed again.
Hard enough to crack the transport restraints.
CLANG.
The four-armed mutant stopped.
For the first time
It looked afraid.
Everyone noticed.
Then the coffin door bent outward from inside.
Something within was trying to get out.
“No,” Einar whispered suddenly.
Actual fear crossed his face now.
“Do not open that.”
The alpha mutant roared again.
The swarm surged harder.
The battlefield began collapsing completely.
Cassian finally looked toward Darius.
No rivalry left.
No politics.
Only war.
“We end this together,” Black Vulture growled.
Darius nodded once.
That was enough.
The two commanders moved simultaneously.
Cassian led the Grave Hounds straight into the alpha mutant while Darius charged the four-armed creature beside him.
Steelborn slammed into monsters beneath storms of gunfire and collapsing firelight.
Rowan multiplied into twelve copies firing in every direction.
Serik’s electrified chain-blades carved glowing arcs through mutant flesh.
Varka’s rotary cannon sounded like continuous thunder.
Dex coordinated drone strikes overhead with machine precision.
Hector deployed automated turrets directly into the swarm while repairing damaged vehicles mid-battle.
Every squad finally fought as one unit.
No separation.
No secrecy.
Only survival.
Then the four-armed mutant grabbed Darius.
The creature lifted the seven-foot Steelborn off the ground one-handed before slamming him violently into a wrecked transport.
Armor cracked.
Warning systems exploded across Iron Alpha’s visor.
The mutant raised another arm to finish him
Orion Hex hit it from the side in full mechanized charge.
The Heavy Metal engineer slammed shoulder-first into the creature hard enough to throw both of them across the battlefield.
“GET AWAY FROM MY COMMANDER!”
Rocket pods fired point-blank.
Explosions engulfed both combatants.
Orion screamed through gritted teeth while his mech suit overloaded around him.
The mutant emerged from the fire anyway.
Burning.
Bleeding.
Still alive.
It swung downward.
Orion raised one armored arm instinctively.
CRUNCH.
The mech arm shattered completely.
Orion roared in pain.
Then Noctis Veil appeared behind the mutant silently.
The black-clad executioner drove twin combat blades deep into the creature’s spine.
The mutant screamed and spun violently
Too slow.
Nero Valek appeared next.
The pale hunter caught one of the mutant’s arms mid-swing and redirected it with terrifying precision before driving a combat blade directly into its throat.
The creature staggered.
Then Milo transformed.
Bones cracked.
Muscles expanded.
Fur erupted across flesh.
The massive werewolf slammed into the wounded mutant like a freight train.
Together
Steelborn.
Heavy Metals.
Monster.
Hunter.
They finally brought the creature down.
The four-armed mutant crashed into the sand shaking the battlefield beneath it.
Still twitching.
Still trying to rise.
Darius limped toward it slowly through smoke and fire.
His armor damaged.
One arm barely functioning.
Blood running down his scarred face.
The giant commander raised his rifle.
“You should’ve stayed buried.”
BOOM.
The mutant’s head disappeared.
Silence hit the battlefield for half a second.
Then the third coffin laughed again.
Not Einar.
Not the vampires.
Something inside the coffin.
Ancient.
Amused.
And the coffin door slowly began opening by itself.
