The Food Chain

Zane's POV

Zane watched from a distance as Bellman, Daniels and Michael had a conversation around the smoking Humvee. They talked for a minute and then Daniels headed over to us. Anderson, Richards, Carl, David we are all spread out so Daniels called us together.

"Alright ladies, we have a problem. The Humvee needs a new fuel injector OR fuel regulator. So I'm sending you guys out to get both. There should be Humvees in the area, so take these parts from one and get back to us."

"Permission to lead the mission due to my prior mechanical knowledge?" Richards requested.

"Permission granted, Richards." Daniels said with authority.

"Okay I want Zane to take point. Anderson you're in the rear, covering our six. Carl and David taking the side points. I'll take the center." Richards barked his orders out quickly. With that Zane could see Richards might be warming up a little by making him point and that warmed his heart.

"Warming up to me Richards?" Zane asked him.

"No. But I will admit you're useful." He responded. Zane was a little disappointed at his response but still thought he was warming up to his presence.

The team began to move out in their formation down the road, looking for other Humvees that could have useful parts. It was about ten minutes of walking before they came across the first Humvee. They approached the Humvee with caution and Richards opened the hood up. He spent a good five minutes looking at it before shaking his head and the team moved on.

It took another ten minutes before finding the next Humvee and Richards told them to spread out. They all do as he told them to do.

"I reckon we aren't gonna run into any Pales eh?" Carl commented.

"Well we could run into one of them, alphas." David replied to him.

"Enough talking, we don't wanna be heard." Richards told them sternly.

They both shut up and Richards went back to looking under the hood. After about five minutes he shook his head and said;

"These parts are too rusted as well. We have to move further down."

The team got back into formation and proceeded down the road again and that's when they heard it. Two different guttural growls and shrieks and the sound of vehicles or equipment being crushed under their weight. It was coming from the left road coming up on an intersection.

Richards told them to halt. These sounds started coming out of nowhere, from a dead silent city. It brought to life just how dangerous this city could be if the team isn't going to pay respect to the fact that the Pales own this territory now.

"Zane, go take a look around the corner." Richards ordered Zane quietly as the sounds kept coming.

Zane takes a deep breath and moves toward the building on the left. As he made his way there the screams and guttural sounds got more intense. He heard the sound of flesh tearing and snarling. Making it to the corner he pinned himself against it. Looking around the corner and what he sees is terrifying.

Two Alphas are battling in the middle of the street, their tails lashing each other and claws striking at one another. The Alpha on the left is a bit smaller than the one on the right. It has more gashes on itself and seemed to be losing the fight. The larger Alpha has more scars on its body than the smaller alpha. Zane watched as they continued to strike at one another.

The smaller Alpha was taking more and more blows. It eventually could no longer land any more blows on the larger Alpha and the larger Alpha went in for the killing blow. It launched itself at its neck with its mouth of teeth and embedded its tail into its chest. The smaller Alpha went limp, the larger one roared its victory and began to feed on it.

He looked back at the team and shook his head. They could not get past this thing even if they were quiet enough.

"What did you see, Zane?" Richards whispered.

"I saw two Alphas fighting each other. One was larger than the other and the larger one won, its feeding now, on the body of the smaller one. I don't think we can go any further." Zane whispered back to him.

"Alright let's grab some of the components we saw in the Humvees and see if we can make them work." Richards whispers to the team.

The team turned around and began making their way to the Humvees to get the parts they would need. Zane had a sinking feeling in his chest that if the convoy stayed in New York any longer they wouldn't make it out alive.

Daniels POV

It has been about an hour since the team set out. While they were gone Daniels heard the alarming sounds of Pales fighting in the distance of the direction they went. The civilians were talking amongst themselves begotten with fear, Daniels decided he would calm them down.

"Alright guys there's nothing to be afraid of." Daniels said reassuringly as he walked up to them. Danmiels knew he was lying but fear is contagious.

"Are you sure!?" Rachel seemed on the verge of panic.

"Yes I'm absolutely sure." Daniels said to her, with full false confidence .

"The other guys aren't back yet though, are they okay?" Amy asked with a terrified look on her face.

"They are well trained enough to survive on their own. I'm sure they are fine, Amy." Daniels assured her. They seemed to calm a little more.

Daniels walked away and walked over to Bellman, who was looking at the surrounding area, which had various residences. Some of the residences were crushed by shelling. Daniels could tell he was on the lookout for an Alpha Pale. He was nervous too having heard one in the distance obviously fighting something.

It could have been fighting our team we sent and that thought made him more nervous. Michael is with BellMan looking at the Humvee. Daniels knew none of them wanted to be here come nightfall. It was written on all of their faces.

"So what's the problem?" Daniels asked as he walked over to them.

"Looks like a malfunctioning fuel pressure. If we can get a spare it will be up and running in no time." Michael responded towards Daniels.

"Alright we just gotta wait for our boys to get back then," Daniels said.

"IF they get back, those Pales we heard could have eaten them by now." Bellman said skeptically.

"I doubt that, Bellman. They are survivors, I bet they come walking down that road anytime now." Daniels told him with confidence.

Just then he saw the sight of the team that had sent out coming down the road. They seemed to be hurrying down the road, not panicked but quickly advancing down the road. They linked up with the convoy and presented the parts they had found.

The parts they had were rusted but Michael said they were usable. They were rusted to shit, but they could be used and that was a relief. It had been a couple hours since the convoy entered town and it was close to 18:00 hours. The Pales would be active soon and that was a terrifying thought to think to himself.

Richard's team brought the parts they had collected over to MIchael and he proceeded to look them over. They have brought two different sets of parts back presumably from two different Humvees. One set was deemed too rusted to be used, so Michael used the fuel regulator from the set that could be used.

"Why did you guys only bring two sets of parts back?" Daniels inquired.

"We ran into two Alpha Pales duking it out just a few blocks away. We decided it was too risky to advance any further without the victor noticing us." Richards answered.

"Alright let's get these parts installed and move on." Daniels told them.

"Roger that!" Richards said to Daniels.

Daniels turned to Bellman and told him, "See? I told you they would be back any time."

"Alright, maybe I was a little wrong in my tone." He responded.

"Thank you for acknowledging that." Daniels replied.

"Don't think you're still in charge though, MY rank is still higher." He asserted with authority.

"I realize I'm no longer in charge, Bellman. I realize your rank precedes mine." Daniels assured him. "BUT my squad's safety is a matter of importance to me. You will not put my squad in danger for the benefit of your own." He told him with more confidence than Daniels was sure he had.

"Right you are." Bellman said to me.

"Alright I'm finished installing the new part, give the engine a whirl." Michael announced breaking the intensity of their conversation.

Daniels walked up to the Humvee and slid into the driver's seat and turned the engine on. The engine roared to life, The survivors waited a bit to see if the smoke would return but the smoke did not return.

"Alright everyone, mount up, it's time to go!" Bellman yelled out.

They all got into the Humvees and prepared to set out, but the sun was setting and the sound of Pales could be heard in the distance. The civilians got into the center Humvee. Anderson drove it while Zane, Daniels, Richards and the Jacksons entered the front Humvee. BellMan and his squad took up the final two Humvees. Daniels hoped to god they would not run into an Alpha Pale in the dead of night.