The Hunt Begins

The Chinook's rotors thundered as Captain William leaned toward the pilot. "Drop us near Milis Park... and we need guns."

Carter nodded sharply. "Sir yes sir! Sir, there are guns in these two boxes sir!"

William turned to the group as the helicopter descended. "Alright then, arm yourselves cause we're going to hunt some demons."

Simon adjusted his energy shield. "I prefer using this sword and shield..."

William pulled two handguns from the crate. "Take this FN Five-seven or this S&W .500. I know you like revolvers. Who knows, you might need it."

Simon reluctantly took the weapons. "Alright, if you say so Captain..."

William gave him a pointed look. "We talked about this."

"Sorry," Simon muttered.

Markus cleared his throat. "Um, sir..."

William turned. "Yes? Oh, your tablet." He handed it back to the young man.

"Thanks... I wanted more ammo for my gun."

Lieutenant Robert looked up from checking his rifle. "And your gun is?"

"Desert Eagle, sir."

Robert gestured to an open crate. "Alright then, this box right here. Take as much as you need."

"Thank you, sir."

Simon surveyed the group. "I think it's best for all of you to have some rifles and leave those katanas. Choose what you like before we land."

Lesley nodded. "Okay."

The helicopter jerked as Carter called out, "Sir, there's a flare signal on our left, sir!"

William craned his neck to look. "Where did it come from?"

"Sir, it came from a hospital, sir!"

William's face hardened. "There might be survivors there... I've got a plan."

Lieutenant Robert raised an eyebrow. "And what is it?"

Carter adjusted the controls. "Y'all ready?"

Simon braced himself against the bulkhead. "Yeah, you can land now."

The Chinook touched down in a cloud of dust and debris. As the rotors slowed, the group quickly armed themselves from the crates. William divided them with military efficiency.

"First team: Simon, Jessica, Alucard, and myself. We'll search for alien tech and eliminate hostiles. Second team: Markus, Isabel, Lesley, and Lieutenant Robert - head to that hospital and secure any survivors."

The teams disembarked into the ruined landscape. The first group turned right, moving cautiously through the skeletal remains of the neighborhood. Building after building lay in complete ruin until they reached the end of the street. Finding nothing, they doubled back toward the landing zone.

Finally, they spotted two houses that had survived relatively intact. William signaled for them to halt.

"Alright, two houses and four people. Simon and Jessica, take that one. Alucard and I will search the one behind us." He looked them over. "Ready? Don't you need anything? Alright then, let's go."

As they approached the house, Jessica hesitated. "May I ask you some questions?"

Simon kept his eyes scanning the windows. "Sure, go ahead."

"How do you know that Captain?"

Simon sighed. "Really?"

Jessica swallowed hard. "Y-yeah...? I don't mean to bother you. If you don't want to talk about it... it's fine."

Simon exhaled sharply. "Fine..."

Jessica brightened slightly. "Yay!"

Simon fixed her with a serious look. "His name is William... and the other is Robert. I knew them when we were investigating an incident... something the government was hiding from everyone."

Jessica's grip tightened on her SCAR rifle. "What is it?"

"It's strange and you won't believe me, but it is what it is... a time machine and a teleportation device."

Jessica's eyes widened. "Wait, what? These things aren't possible in the real world..."

Simon gestured around them at the devastation. "Was any of this possible?"

"No... but still, how?"

Simon's voice grew distant. "Robert and I were guards in case something went wrong. They started by teleporting tools, backpacks - small stuff. It worked. Then they sent one person back in time. That worked too. But when they tried teleporting five people..." His hands clenched. "We were having lunch when the screaming started. Horrible screaming from the experiment room. I rushed in... and it was-"

Jessica whispered, "What did you see there...?"

"You don't want to know."

Simon's vision blurred as the memory overtook him - running down a dark corridor, AR-15 at the ready. His flashlight beam revealed a nightmare: a seven-foot-tall humanoid with five fused heads screaming in unison, ten mismatched legs shuffling violently. "HEEEEEELP..... NNNNNNOOOOOOAAHHHH HEEEELP MEEE!!" Five arms on each side flailed wildly, fingers twice as long as they should be, stretching toward him. "MY EEEYEYYYYEYEYEEESSS!!! HUUUURTSSSSSS!!" Simon fired four shots into its chest. "DOOON'T HEAUURRT MEEEEE!" it wailed as it charged. He kept firing until the last bullet found its mark.

"SIMON!" Jessica's voice yanked him back to the present.

"What?!"

"What's wrong with you? You're not yourself lately."

"How do you know?"

"Because you stopped in front of the door and stood there not responding at all! I called your name eight times!"

Simon wiped sweat from his brow. "Oh god."

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"We better continue searching."

Simon activated his shield and entered the house, paralyzing gun held ready in both hands. Jessica followed, SCAR rifle shouldered, FN Five-seven in her pocket as backup.

The smell hit them first - copper and something spoiled. Then they saw it.

The man from the stream - Michael - wasn't just dead. He'd been disassembled. His head, eyes, arms, legs, chest cavity, organs, teeth, brain, hands - even fingernails and toenails - all meticulously separated and arranged across the walls. The entire room had been painted red with his blood.

Jessica retched violently, her scream echoing through the ruined house. Simon felt white-hot rage flood his veins, his hands shaking with fury.

Then an explosion rocked the outside world.

Simon snapped into action, switching the paralyzing gun to his left hand while drawing his energy sword with his right. He charged outside to see a nightmare made flesh - a 6.5-foot-tall obsidian warrior, its black armor etched with glowing blue runes. Blue flames licked from the eye slits of its helmet as it dueled Alucard and Captain William, its massive black sword leaving afterimages in the air.

"HEY YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Simon roared.

The creature turned its head slowly and laughed - a sound like grinding metal.

Simon leveled his sword. "Choose someone your own size!"

The knight adjusted its grip on its massive blade. "Fine!" it hissed, turning fully to face its new challenger.