Preplanned attack

Thankfully, Ryker quickly maneuvered the chopper before they were all crashed to their deaths. 

"Sorry about that," he said, trying to ease the tension in the air, ignoring the slight tremble in his voice.

"Ryker, you fucking killed us! I'm going to kill you once we return home," Vance shouted, still reeling in the aftermath of seeing death in such proximity.

Ryker brushed it off with a chuckle while Seb sat blankly in his place. He was scared speechless.

"See. Seb lost his voice and Lucas almost said hello to the monster over there." Vance wasn't ignorant to what Lucas had experienced for he too had experienced it.

Moments before Ryker controlled the chopper and they flew back to the sky, he had seen how the monster had stared at them as if they were its food.

Its eyes - they were some of the most terrifying eyes he had ever seen and Vance was sure he would be traumatized with nightmares for days to come.

"Sorry, sorry." Ryker felt guilty and he snuck his tongue out. 

Lucas and Seb, each took their time to come out of their trance and once they did, Ryker was in for some more bashing.

"You can bash me all you want when we return. Can we focus on the important matter at hand?" Ryker asked, wishing for them to forget about the matter for now.

"It's no use," Vance sighed, looking at the number of people who had died.

There were barely any humans alive, and even those who were, could barely be rescued. They were caught by the fiends before they reached the rescue choppers. 

It was a total wipeout in Novastra. The survivors could be counted on fingers.

"We're returning home," Ryker said, receiving the message from the other pilots.

"What about the other cities?" Lucas asked, now worried about the other people.

Orvale had been under attack the previous day. Today, it was Novastra. What was going to happen to the other eight cities in the country?

"All the rescue choppers are on it. We need to evacuate the people before it is too late." Vance informed, reading the situation.

Lucas raised his head and looked at the other choppers in the air.

"Is Velomore the only city on a rescue mission?"

"Not at all. All the ten cities in our country are on it. Velomore just has better resources." Vance explained while Lucas thought about it.

"Why didn't we rescue the people from the other cities yesterday?"

Since Lucas was focused on saving his life the previous day, he hadn't given this matter much thought. Now that he did, he realized they could have begun the rescue mission once they were done in Orvale.

"It isn't as easy as you think," Vance said, looking at Lucas mysteriously. "We'll have to consider our resources as well. We had put up a great deal of fight yesterday and had barely enough fuel to return home."

Lucas understood what he was insinuating and pursed his lips.

"Moreover, from the attack pattern, we had assumed, the next attack would be a few days later. We'd use this time to persuade the residents of the other cities to evacuate. Who knew it would be this soon?" Seb added with a sigh.

"Ohh..." Lucas' frown deepened in confusion. "Any idea what happens to these monsters once you leave?"

"We've never stayed that long. Why? What's wrong?" Vance asked when he noticed Lucas frowning.

"I'm thinking. Why did the monsters take a break in the past before attacking the neighboring city? What might have happened for the pattern break to today?"

Not just Lucas, but the other three men too started thinking about it. It sure was baffling that the situation had changed all of a sudden. 

"I feel something suspicious going on here," Lucas mumbled. But his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Vance too felt the same. They had never thought in this direction previously. Now that they did, a can of worms had been opened.

"Ryker, how long can we sustain?" he asked, glancing at Lucas who was lost in his thoughts.

"Another three hours before we'll have to return. Otherwise, we'll run out of fuel," Ryker replied, glancing at the fuel gauge.

"Seb, Lucas, Ryker, is it fine with you guys if we observe the situation here for an hour or two before returning?"

"I'm fine with it." Ryker was quick to reply.

Seb hesitated. He wasn't as brave as the others. But when he thought about the oddity in the situation, he too agreed.

"Lucas, what about you?"

Vance turned to the man who had yet to reply. 

"Huh, what?" Lucas didn't know what they were talking about. He hadn't heard a word they had said.

"Is it fine if we stay here for some time before returning?" Vance repeated.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same."

Ryker immediately conveyed the information to the other pilots, startling them with their baffling decision. He didn't reply to any of their questions, except assuring them of their safety.

Having no choice, the other pilots stopped bothering him and proceeded with their rescue mission in other cities, leaving Ryker and the other three men in Novastra.

With all the humans now dead or rescued, the fiends had no one to attack.

In the first hour, nothing happened. The monsters continued to growl and run around like headless chickens.

But soon, they were consumed with rage, especially when didn't find any humans to eat. So, they started attacking other monsters.

"What the freaking hell!" Ryker shouted when he saw one of the monsters tearing another monster's limb.

The scene was so ghastly that the four men felt their gut's churn.

The fight continued until there was only one monster left. When it didn't find anything to fight with, it started tearing its own limbs.

The four men were mortified. It was anything they had ever seen.

They watched in horror, as the last remaining monster killed itself.

Although the men were traumatized, they were still in their sane minds.

"How is this possible?" Vance was appalled as he stared at the battlefield below him which now held the carcasses of the monsters and bodies of dead humans.

Lucas too was stunned into silence. But his pragmatic brain was analyzing the situation, trying to find a convincing deduction about the entire scenario.

"Guys, wasn't the last monster behaving weirdly?" Seb asked, glancing below him. 

"Well, yeah. Otherwise, why would it kill itself?" Ryker said as a matter of fact.

"What did you say, Seb?" Lucas felt a strange thought pop into his mind when he heard Seb's question.

"I mean the last monster looked as if it was being controlled by something."

Then, it struck Lucas and his eyes widened while his jaw dropped.

"No fucking way!"

"What? What?" Vance was startled when he heard the man exclaim.

Even Ryker perked his ears as he waited for Lucas to say something.

"I think..." Lucas started, finding his notions absurd. But it was the only possibility he could think of.

"The monsters are being controlled by someone. It wasn't a disaster out of nowhere. Instead..."

"Instead, it's a preplanned attack." Vance completed the words for him.