Black Market Merchant

Chapter 222: A Change in Approach
“Those flames will be dying out soon and all that stands between you and the Twisted now is this chain link fence and some barbed wire.” Lisa explained. “You will hold your fire until they reach the fence, and you can shoot them without missing. Everyone must stand a few meters away from the fence too because the monsters will be climbing and jumping over it. If you are against the fence, you will be caught and killed right way.”

Lisa pointed at the blue bandana gangster that was just now returning. “What is your name?”

“Ethan.” The blue bandana gangster replied. He then glanced around him at the other Mad Dogs. “I am one of three remaining squad leaders under Hugo. Lin and Bill are the other two.”

“Ok then, I need all of you to split into three groups and spread out along the fence.” Lisa then pointed at the south end. “Whichever one of you is Lin will guard that south side and from the destroyed security building. There will be likely be a lot of Twisted coming towards this area and so have the best gunners you have go there. Bill, you are to go the north end of the property and take the wounded gangsters with you. The Twisted will probably swing around to that side later in their advance and it will buy you some time to collect yourselves.”

“Then who will I be with in the center?” Ethan asked.

“You’ll be with whoever is left, any capable fighters from the people you just arrived with, and the backup that’s being prepared as we speak.” Lisa replied promptly. “If you all have made it this far, I can trust you to holdout long enough.”

“What about ammo?” Ethan asked.

“Yin and her crew will be distributing the ammo in a moment. We don’t have much so try to shoot sparingly.” Lisa answered as she turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked once more. “I saw how well you fought. We need you over here. The others over there at the dam have more than enough people.”

Lisa sighed and turned to face him. “You sure do ask a lot of questions. I am going to be fighting that.”

Lisa pointed beyond the dam at the baby Hoard Mother. The Land Octopus had now gotten off the back of the baby Hoard Mother to reveal that the leader Twisted had fully recovered without the slightest trace of a burn mark. It was now on the move towards the dam along with the numerous Land Octopus’s and a handful of remaining Plain Striders.

“If I don’t go fight there, those heavy Twisted might cause the dam to crack and break.” Lisa explained. “If that happens there won’t even be a town left to fight for.”

“I-I see.” Ethan stammered seeing the baby Hoard Mother for the first time.

Lisa then left him and hurried back towards the dam. As she passed by Yin, who was distributing the ammo to each of her team members, Lisa told her to provide the Mad Dogs with ammo too.

“I will do what I can.” Yin answered. She then pointed to the pallet in front of her. “I can see what weapons they have from here and I can tell we will have nothing for anyone once I dish out these box’s here. After that I am afraid, we will be fighting hand to hand soon.”

“So, this is the only chance we got to stop the Hoard.” Lisa sighed. “Thank you, Yin. If things get bad start evacuating everyone into the tunnel. Our last resort will be hiding behind those huge metal doors and praying that they will hold.”

“I understand.” Yin answered quietly.

“Lisa, time is almost out for the transformer.” Sadie called from the main control room.

Lisa gave her a thumbs up and started jogging towards the dam. “Everyone, the electricity is about to turn off. This is our last chance to takeout as many as we can, and I will see to it myself that the big white monster never crosses this dam.”

Yin then let out a shrill whistle and Sadie cut the power. Every single electrified Twisted once again collapsed dead in unison onto the dam’s road and bodies of the already slain. The townspeople immediately opened fire as the rest of the Twisted roared and screeched to resume their attack. It had finally come down to their last stand and the Twisted were far from being defeated.

…

Hanna and the other kids were ushered into the tunnel along with their parents by John. At first, they were all told to stay away from the entrance, but then John and several of the male adults left the tunnel to go fight. Then when Hugo was brough in Joan became fully engrossed in providing aid to him. She then got several of the other ladies to help her and soon everyone, including most of the kids, was distracted by her saving Hugo’s life. Hanna saw this as her chance.

“I am going back out there to help in the fight.” Hanna whispered to Clair, Rachel, and Jillian.

“What? I think there is something wrong with your mind!” Clair replied instantly. “Why do you keep wanting to do such reckless things lately?”

“What good will it do for us to stay here?” Hanna argued. “Besides I saw how many Twisted were out there. If there is something I can do to help, then I should try too.” Then seeing that no one was near the tunnel exit, Hanna made a move to sneak out.

“Hanna, get back here.” Clair hissed but it was too late. Hanna had already dashed out from the tunnel and into the warehouse.

“What do we do?” Jillian asked. “Should we tell the adults?”

“No, we need to get her ourselves. Look, the adults are too busy right now.” Rachel said. “Come on, before she gets too far away!”

Rachel then began chasing after Hanna before the other two could reply. Clair looked around her and saw that no one was paying any attention to what was going on at the door.

Clair sighed and thought to herself, “Why do I always have to deal with the kids doing stupid stuff?” She then grabbed Jillian’s hand, “Come on Jillian. Let’s go stop them.”

When Clair and Jillian exited the tunnel, they were surprised to see that Hanna and Rachel hadn’t even gone outside yet. Both girls were frozen in place standing in the center of the doorway. Joining them, they understood why. It was absolute chaos.

On all sides of the property people were rushing about, yelling, and shooting at the Twisted. The Twisted responded with roars of their own and leaping great distances to attack the humans. The four young girls watched in horror as several people on the dam were knocked to the ground, bitten, and thrashed about by the Twisted. The humans fighting nearby these bloody scenes responded by shooting the Twisted only to then be attacked from behind. It all was happening so fast none of them could discern what they could possibly do.

There was a sudden blast of fire coming from their right at the west gate. Dixon had dropped another napalm canister and temporarily blocked the Twisted from reaching that area. They could see John, Kirk, and the other adults from their neighborhood moving towards the south to help the Mad Dogs. Meanwhile Ethan and the other Mad Dogs stayed put to deal with the monsters that had crossed over the fence before moving northward and out of their sight.

“Girls, get out of the way!” A voice suddenly yelled at them from behind.

The four girls spun around to see Bell sticking her head out from the armored electric truck. She had finally broken into it, gotten it jump started, and was coming to provide support. The vehicle was so silent they didn’t hear it coming. The four girls rushed over to one side of the entrance and Bell passed by them speedily.

“Lisa, where do I take this?” Bell shouted over the noise of gunfire.

Lisa had picked up a fallen rifle and emptied its clip into the oncoming hoard before turning around. “Take the truck to John and park it on the other side of the destroyed security building. The corner of the fence is the best place to defend right now for a turret!”

Lisa then turned back to look across the dam at the two Plain Striders that were now crossing. The baby Hoard Mother was still being cautious, and it couldn’t trust the dams just yet. The path to the humans was just to narrow and it would be reckless to cross the dam because it still didn’t understand how so many of its Hoard had been stopped by the invisible electricity. The baby Hoard Mother was trying a new approach by sending the Plain Striders to test if they could make it across safely before it tried too.

Lisa had to try and stop them before they came any closer. “Yin now!”

Yin heard her calling just barely over the noise of the fighting. Turning she called to Sadie to restart the transformer. This was going to be their last chance to use the electrical lines to deter the rest of the hoard by stopping the Plain Striders dead in their tracks. Otherwise, the baby Hoard Mother and Land Octopus’s were going to attack next confident the electricity couldn’t stop them.

Like the previous two times all the smaller Night Hounds and Logos Cutter were paralyzed by the electricity. The Plain Striders were about to reach the furthest of the paralyzed Twisted and they didn’t stop running or slow down. Instead, they plowed right into them horns first! To everyone’s dismay all the electricity did was cause them pain to slow down. They were just too big to be stopped!

Lisa lifted her katana high and took a deep breath. “Yin, cut the power! I am going in!”