Dark Fall

Goodbye New York

With a heavy heart, Alex and his group bypassed all of the dangerous areas that were crawling with Volonoid packs as they made their way towards Battery Park.

Alex didn’t know exactly where the site was but he could bet his money that it would be around the area where the Battery Maritime Building was as it had the ferries that were the likely mode of transportation to evacuate the survivors out of the city.

The group made their way towards the park and met a few of the Volonoids but with Alex at the front, leading the group, and constantly scanning the area, he was able to pick them all off one by one from long range with his anti-material rifle.

It was a shame that he couldn’t absorb them with his [Devour] but Alex had already absorbed 3 Volonoid corpses―the ones he previously killed―and was able to acquire the [Corrosion] ability from them.

Not only that, but Alex’s biomaterial had gained a new property that Scourge called [Hardening] which was acquired similarly from the Volonoids. The Volonoids had a hard shell that protected their heads and some parts of their body, so after absorbing 3 of them, Alex was partially able to acquire that trait.

He was able to harden his flesh and skin, giving him a large boost in defensive power and if applied correctly, it could also boost his close-quarters combat capabilities.

The trait he acquired was good and all, but Alex soon learned to appreciate the power of the [Corrosion] ability he obtained from the Volonoids. Scourge did say it was the only notable ability from those monsters and he was right.

When Alex activated the skill, he was able to turn parts of his body corrosive like his claws or blades so he’d be able to slice through hard and metal objects quite cleanly now. He was also able to apply [Corrosion] onto the bullets he fired from his rifle which enhanced their penetrative and destructive power.

If he had this ability before tackling the alien from before, he would have been able to take it down with a single shot.

Using the rifle in tandem with the [Corrosion] skill was a bit overkill on the Volonoids so Alex stuck to only using normal bullets on them and didn’t waste any of his energy. Using any of his abilities would consume his stamina and that was a resource he had to preserve.

He’d secretly use [Devour] on the corpses of the monsters as his group passed by to replenish his bullets and stamina. He had only created a dozen bullets last time but he had easily spent much more than that in this short time where they made a run towards their destination, Battery Park. As long as he had materials, Alex could infinitely create those special bullets of his so he was able to recklessly spend them just to kill the Volonoids.

Maxie was currently carrying Jesse who was still unconscious while Diane was running while dragging along Josh behind her. This somewhat slowed down the group so Alex had to be extra vigilant and quick in dealing with the Volonoids.

As they continued to move through the streets and alleyways, Alex grew more proficient and skillful with his gun that he could now shoot and load his bullets extremely quickly without even needing Scourge’s help but if Scourge did help him, he’d be able to continuously fire his gun at an unprecedented rate that should be impossible to accomplish for a gun that was modeled after the Barrett M107.

The group quickly made it to the park and along the way, they picked up a few stragglers without meaning to do so. The humans who were running away thought that the military was finally there to rescue them so they naturally made their way over to the source of the gunfire with the Volonoids hot on their tails.

They eventually met up with Alex’s group and Alex obviously wasn’t going to push them away or anything, but with more people to worry about, he eventually had to fall back and bring up the rear so that he could kill as many Volonoids as he could.

All he could do was tell Maxie, Diane, and Josh to continue running and not to worry about him as he was going to be right behind them. Naturally, his priority was still their survival as the others who survived or died was just collateral.

Thanks to him, a large majority of the survivors that had managed to group up with him made it to Battery Park where the Volonoids stopped chasing after them because the military was there to blast them away.

“Echo 1, we see survivors to our 3 o’clock. They’re being chased by those things again. Prepare to intercept and provide us with cover fire.”

[Roger Alpha 1, we’ll provide cover fire for you.]

A soldier talked into his working radio and contacted the operators of the tank next to them when they saw Alex and the other survivors running towards them. Once he got a reply, he motioned with his hand to the other soldiers nearby and they immediately rushed forward.

“Keep running and get behind the tank!” One of the soldiers called out through a megaphone.

When the survivors heard this, they were finally able to notice the soldiers running at them along with the tank that had suddenly appeared. A few of those at the front started yelling, “Help! Help!”

“Help us! Dear Lord, help us!!!”

“Ahhh!”

“W-We’re saved! We’re saved!”

The soldiers flanked the group from both sides and immediately started shooting at the Volonoids who were chasing after them.

Unlike the aliens, the Volonoids were still affected by ordinary bullets fired from a gun or a rifle as long as it didn’t hit the hard shell protecting them. If it were the aliens here instead, the entire Battery Park would have turned into a hellhole already.

Everyone was too focused on running away earlier so no one had paid any attention to Alex, the person who was the main contributor to their survival. As far as anyone outside of his group knew, Alex was just another one of those soldiers that had rescued them.

The firefight was over after a short while because once the tank arrived and began firing, all of the Volonoids were blasted away and those at the back fled in fear.

The soldiers began rounding up the survivors and Alex quickly hid his gun and took away the grenade launcher that Maxie had strapped around his body. He didn’t want their group to stand out among the other survivors.

“Everyone, please proceed to the dock in an orderly fashion! Anyone who fails to comply will be dragged out from the line and if you resist, we will not hesitate to shoot you!”

“Please follow the signs and quickly board the ferries!”

Alex was honestly quite surprised to see the evacuation site still functioning. It wasn’t only this, he was also surprised that all of the electronic equipment the soldiers were using was still functioning, even the tank and the ferries. 

Central Park was only a few tens of blocks away from this place but no alien had come down here. The jamming device should still be able to reach here so walkie-talkies and radios were still supposed to be broken along with all those other engine-powered vehicles.

He was honestly expecting the place to be deserted or destroyed already but thankfully, it wasn’t. However, Alex noticed something different about the soldiers protecting this place. They weren’t like the normal military soldiers that he was familiar with.

These people’s uniforms were a tad different and so was their gear. Their mannerism was also much less polite because earlier, one of the soldiers had yelled that they would unhesitantly drag out and shoot someone if they were to cause a ruckus when boarding the ferry. It was such an extremely outrageous thing to do and not something a US soldier should’ve said to a civilian.

However, in their current circumstances, maybe such extreme measures were necessary. Alex couldn’t care any more than that because he was fatigued from all the running and shooting.

He wasn’t physically exhausted but he sure was mentally exhausted since he had to keep his mind taut and focused for the past couple of minutes.

Maxie and his group had to anxiously wait an hour or so before they were finally able to board a ferry that would ship them out of Manhattan and over to a port in New Jersey where a survivor base was located.

The humans who were running away thought that the military was finally there to rescue them so they naturally made their way over to the sounds of the gunfire with the Volonoids hot on their tails.

There were a few unfortunate events that happened in the harbor. One person tried causing a ruckus and wanted to cut in line but to everyone’s horror, the soldier from before wasn’t lying when he said that they’d drag you out from the line and if you resisted, they’d shoot you.

Although they didn’t shoot to kill, they shot your arm or calf, somewhere that wasn’t fatal, to teach you a listen. After that, they’d patch you up and send you to the back of the line.

With that, Alex was sure that these soldiers were different from the normal American soldiers. However, he didn’t want to think about it too much because he was too exhausted to think anymore.

He just leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to properly rest. Diane, Jesse, Josh, and Maxie were sitting close by and they too had relieved looks on their faces.

It was especially so for Jesse who had already woken up. He had nearly been killed three times already and as the saying went, third times the charm. If he were to experience another life-threatening situation, then he might actually die that time.

Alex and his group were seated at the rear of the ferry so they were able to watch as they left the burning city of New York behind.

In the distance, Alex and the rest could see some kind of alien ship arrive from the sky as it anchored down in the center of Manhattan, probably where Central Park was. Alex was relieved that they left that place as quickly as they could. 

He didn’t know what other horrors would have descended from that spaceship since he knew that this was only the beginning.