Dark Fall

Danger and the Successful Hunt

Right as his words ended, Maxie pulled the trigger and a loud bang was heard and the alien in front of him was suddenly blasted away.

Maxie’s eyes widened in shock and so did the other behind him. He stared at the gun in his hand in complete shock before noticing that the alien wasn’t dead yet. It quickly stood up but there was a noticeable large part of the armor around its chest gone.

It had been blasted away earlier so thinking that it was his doing, Maxie unloaded the rest of the clip inside his gun but the bullets just bounced off its armor.

“Okay, so that wasn’t me.”

Over at the rooftop of the adjacent building, Alex was eyeing the alien through his scope and he let out a curse, “Dammit, it didn’t die!”

[Correction, a large part of its core has been damaged. It is hastily trying to regenerate it. One more shot should kill it, aim directly where its armor has been damaged.]

“Right!”

Unlike the original Barrett M107 which was semi-automatic, Alex’s alien tech Barrett was considered bolt action though he didn’t need to eject any bullet cartridge out since the entirety of the organic bullet was fired from the gun.

He only needed to open the chamber to load in his bullet so he was ready to fire again after doing so. However, when he looked down his sight, the alien wasn’t there anymore, only the humans he used as bait.

“s**t!”

[It traced our position from the bullet path. We have to quickly relocate, it’s already―]

The floor just next to him was blown open and a large shadow jumped through it. Alex grabbed his gun and lunged forward, jumping off the building just as a large blade descended on his previous location.

He kicked off the wall and landed on the building where Maxie and the others were before he immediately looked up and raised his gun.

“Just die already!”

He fired his shot and it immediately blasted away the alien that had just jumped down from the building. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hit his mark as his bullet only struck the abdomen area of the alien and sent it crashing into the building behind it.

Alex quickly turned towards Maxie’s group and yelled at them, “Run away!”

Maxie was just surprised to see Alex’s inhuman feat of jumping off a building, kicking on its walls, before landing stably on their apartment room’s floor and smoothly turning around to fire off his gun at the alien.

All of his motions were extremely fluid and it was like he had been hunting down the aliens his entire life but Maxie’s awe was immediately broken as Alex’s words pulled him back to reality.

He ran towards Diane and Jesse, grabbed their arms, and pulled them out of the room, “You heard him! Run!”

The two were also shocked by Alex’s feat but just like Maxie, they immediately regained their wits and realized the situation they were in and followed after Maxie as they ran out of the building.

Alex reloaded his gun and jumped off the building and ran in the opposite direction of Maxie and his group. He made sure that the alien would still be able to visibly see him so he stood on top of the roof of another building while he aimed his gun at the hole in the wall where the alien had been blasted into.

[Why are you exposing yourself? Is it to keep the alien’s attention on you and not those humans?]

“If you already know, then why ask?!”

[Why do this? We can immediately reposition and try to take it out with another shot. You are only wasting this opportunity.]

“Quiet! I don’t need you to tell me what to do. If I run away now, then I’ll always be on the run!”

[...]

Alex waited for the alien to come out but it never did. He frowned before feeling something falling from the sky.

[Above!]

He jumped away immediately and was saved from being crushed under the alien that had landed on his previous spot.

“Just how?!”

[While you were aiming at the hole it created, the alien escaped from a different part of the building and jumped.]

“Damn, so these things can leap into the air like a frog?”

[?]

Scourge didn’t understand what Alex meant by that but this wasn’t the time to question him. He began preparing an optimal course of action for Alex as he analyzed his surroundings before transferring his thoughts to him.

He couldn’t multitask so Alex decided to give partial control of his body over to Scourge and the Zaegnid quickly shapeshifted a part of their body and pulled them away from their spot as the ground erupted and the hostile alien emerged from it.

Alex took the opportunity and fired his gun. He didn’t hit his mark again but the bullet struck the alien’s abdomen again and blasted a hole through it.

“Hah!”

Alex pulled on the bolt of his rifle, revealing the bullet chamber and Scourge shapeshifted another part of their body to grab one of the organic bullets and loaded it for him.

“Nice!” 

He jumped away from the building and created some distance before turning around in midair and firing again. 

The alien was on its knees after Alex had blown a hole through it so it was wide open now. It knew what he was trying to do so it defended its core by raising an arm to block his shot resulting in its arm being blown away.

“One more!”

He was still in the air so the recoil force of his gun pushed him back and he managed to land on the rooftop of another building. By the time he landed, Scourge had already loaded the bullet into his gun so he took aim and fired.

The alien didn’t expect his firing rate to have increased after Scourge began helping him so it was caught off guard. The bullet penetrated the previous spot where its armor was broken near its chest and it shot right through its core.

Alex was already prepped to fire another shot but Scourge’s words stopped him, [The enemy has been...eliminated.]

“I-It’s dead? We killed it?”

[Affirmative. All signs of life from the enemy have completely disappeared.]

Alex let out a short breath before he plopped down on the ground and started laughing, “Hahahaha, it’s dead...it’s really dead!”

[I suggest we quickly acquire the biomaterial of the Zagranid warrior before it starts to decompose. Fresh is always better.]

“Right, right…”

Alex immediately made his way over to the rooftop where the alien’s corpse was on. He activated the unique ability of the Zaegnid race and began devouring the Zagranid corpse.

[Devour.]

“Ugh, this is the second time I’ve seen it but this is really disgusting.”

[You will have to get used to it.]

“Previously, you called the alien an Angrax...why is this one a Zagranid?”

[Each type of soldier is its own race. The medical unit consists of the Angrax race while the warrior unit consists of Zagranids.]

“You were a warrior unit, right? But how come you call yourself a Zaegnid previously?”

[I was originally a Zagranid but after having bonded with you, I have become a Zaegnid.]

“Is there a difference?”

[A Zaegnid is a Zagranid that’s bonded with another living creature, forming a whole new being altogether. Zaegnids are usually viewed as lesser to Zagranids, thus the need for a different name.]

“Huh, so it’s like racial discrimination? I guess your civilization also has such an abhorrent thing.”

[Abhorrent? Yes...it is indeed something abhorrent. However, we Zaegnids are looked down upon only because we have never properly bonded with a suitable host.]

“Are you saying that I’m a suitable host?”

[Yes, most definitely because generally, Zaegnids can never take down a Zagranid, and yet―]

“We just did.”

[Indeed.]

“Well, I can see why you Zaegnids would be looked down upon. After bonding with me, you lost a large amount of your strength so I guess it’s not surprising.”

[Yes, but the loss of strength is compensated with increased agility...as well as intelligence.]

“Intelligence, huh?”

Alex loved the sound of that.

[We can slowly build our strength once we Devour more creatures. In the future, we will evolve...into something much more dangerous than those Zagranids, Angraxes, Kantolians, and others up there...Kukukuku.]

“Stop laughing, that’s creepy.”

[...Devouring complete. Processing biomaterial...Absorbing life energy...Enhancing host body…]

Alex felt the rush again...the same rush that he felt when he devoured his first alien using Scourge’s ghastly ability. The feeling of strength and power coursing through his body as he felt as if he was on cloud nine was almost like a drug.

He tried to control himself and calm down but the feeling was so good. He let loose a sigh after it went away and felt that he had grown stronger.

[Strength and agility have been upgraded by a factor of 0.3 and 0.5 respectively.] 

[Cognitive senses have been mildly enhanced. Scanning area of Radar Ability has increased.]

[Acquired Zagranid skill: Drain]

[Drain - Ability Level 1

Consumes a target’s life force to immediately repair injured body parts and replenish energy.]

[Excess Biomaterial: 40% of host’s mass]

“Hmmm, so I gained another ability from my second devouring. It’s a healing-type ability so this will definitely be useful.”

[It can also be applied to another being after you’ve connected with them through physical contact.]

“Well, I hope those people we saved made it away from this place safely. Instead of sticking around here, they should start running for the city outskirts or suburbs.”

[About those humans, they are still in the vicinity. In fact, they are in this building and are making their way up to the rooftop.]

“What?”

Right at Alex’s puzzling response to Scourge’s statement, the door to the rooftop was kicked open before a young man and woman stumbled through it. They looked around and quickly saw Alex who was staring back at them.

“Hmph, I didn’t think you people would be so stupid enough to come back here.”

“What the...you’re just a kid…” Maxie involuntarily said when he saw the person who had just saved them from their doom.

He also noticed the pile of goo which he thought was probably what was left of the alien that the young man before him had just killed.

“...Why did you come back here? Don’t you know this place is dangerous?”

Maxie shook his head and replied, “N-Never mind what I said but you’re right, this place is dangerous so we should get going!”

“If you know it’s dangerous, then why didn’t you run away earlier?”

“W-Well, I figured that everywhere else is also dangerous...but sticking around with you who can fight those aliens, wouldn’t that make the place where you’re at the safest?”

Alex glared at Maxie before he noticed the object that he was holding, “Is that one of the aliens’ things?”

“Oh, this? Yeah...I picked it up on the ground but I don’t know what it does.”

“...So you escaped from one of those things? You’re pretty lucky.”

“Yeah...my name’s Maxie, what’s yours?”

Maxie held out his hand in greeting and Alex stared at it for a moment before taking it and returning his greeting, “I’m Alex.”

“Well, Alex, nice to meet you, and thank you for saving us. I’m really amazed that you pulled that incredible feat off!”

Alex shook his head and said, “It wasn’t perfect. I was hoping to kill it in one shot but I guess I underestimated those things’ defenses.”

Maxie and Diane had an awkward look on their faces when they heard Alex’s complaint. They were lucky enough to have survived this long and be saved by him but here he was, complaining that things didn’t go as planned when he achieved what they thought was impossible, killing the alien.

“I know this may sound demanding and all, but can we move together with you, Alex? The chances of us surviving and running away from this place is higher with you…”

Alex thought for a moment while inside his head, Scourge was laughing.

[Haha, this human wants you to be his group’s bodyguard! I say we kill them and leave…]

‘No, Scourge, what the hell are you thinking? I’m living this life only because I want to kill the aliens. I won’t kill any humans.’

[Fine, then let’s just leave. I’ve analyzed their abilities and traits, none of them are special. They’re just lucky enough to have survived this long.]

Alex clicked his tongue at Scourge’s remark before he turned to Maxie and replied, completely opposite to Scourge’s intention, “Let’s get going then. The sounds of battle have likely been picked up by many of the surrounding aliens. They’ll come here and investigate. I can deal with one of them but any more than that is impossible.”

Maxie and Diane’s eyes brightened with hope and they quickly said, “Let’s go then! Thank you so much for helping us out, Alex. You’ll forever be in our debts! Let’s survive this apocalypse together!”

“Yeah, sure…”

[Tsk, I knew you would do this. You’re just straining yourself with more baggage to carry!]

‘Shut up, Scourge.’

[...]

‘Thank you.’

Maxie led Alex and Diane down to the first floor of the building where Jesse and Josh were waiting for them. Josh had a scared look on his face while Jesse was oddly wary when he saw Alex and shielded his son away from him.

“Jesse, Josh,  this is Alex, the one who saved us from that alien. He’s graciously agreed to travel with us now so let’s get along.”

“Hello,” Alex greeted.

Jesse hesitated for a long moment before he awkwardly replied, “Hi…”

Alex turned towards Maxie who seemed to be the leader of this group and said, “We need to move. We’re too close to Central Park right now and the aliens are going to gather there once they’ve caused enough destruction in the city.”

“They’re gathering at Central Park? How do you know this?” Maxie asked.

It was a valid and obvious question that anyone would naturally raise so Alex quickly replied to him. Obviously, he wasn’t going to be truthful about where he got this information so instead, he replied with a believable lie.

“While I was moving here, I saw a large number of them moving towards the park while a few more came down from the sky in their flame-engulfed ships.”

“Then we should move then.”