David scurried across the streets of New Sara. A squad of survivors armed with Gauss rifles followed him tightly.

When the apocalypse first struck, New Sara became hell. A city of 12 million people, New Sara used to be the very example for the prosperity of the United Earth Confederacy. But when the wave of Mutations hit, the densely populated city was hard struck. Within hours, millions of Mutated Humans were converted.

That, coupled with countless Mutated Animals and Mutated Plants, spelled the demise of the once-proud metropolis. Millions upon millions of innocent civilians were slain. The UEC marched five Armored Divisions into the city. Within three days, not a single one was left.

Thousands and thousands of elite UEC troops were nothing under the claws of millions upon millions of Mutants.

But there was a last glimpse of hope. After the initial uprising, all the Mutated Humans suddenly disappeared. No one knew what happened to them. Did they all die? Did they turn on each other? If anyone knew, then that person was no longer in the realm of the living.

But guess who did turn on each other? The Mutated Animals. As the survivors barricaded themselves out of these beasts’ reach, overridden by hunger, the Mutated Animals turned on each other in a sea of slaughter. It was a bloodbath that ended with most of the Mutated Animals in the city dead. For a while, rotting corpses covered the streets.

This onslaught was what gave the few that survived all the atrocities in New Sara a chance to live on. Make no mistake. Out of the twelve million residents of the city, only a fragment of a percent of that lived. But without those changes, every last one of them would’ve been terminated and the city would be crawling with Mutants.

But even for the survivors, the situation wasn’t too well. The few that lived wrapped themselves around human Mutants, especially since a year into the apocalypse, the supply for ammo was constantly shrinking. But Mutants weren’t saints. They couldn’t, and wouldn’t, protect everyone.

Soon, for most groups of survivors, a rigid hierarchy formed, one similar to that in Camp York. The Mutants were on top. Capable young men and women with guns were in the middle. Everyone else was at the bottom of the pyramid, forever relying on the mercy of those above to survive.

David was one of the middle class, but his task wasn’t easy either. He belonged to a settlement with roughly 300 people that were holding out in a set of apartment complexes. But people needed food, and the Tier 1 Mutant that ruled the area wasn’t going to bother himself with helping the old and the sick. Thus, as that Mutant sat back and enjoyed life, that job fell on David and his pals.

Holding onto a Gauss rifle he found in a gun store with a dozen rounds left, David was sent on his way.

A supermarket was steps away, but David made no intention to go after it. He and his pals have gone to that supermarket and emptied it. A month ago. As time passed on, without resupply, it would just be a matter of time before critical living resources ran out.

To keep everyone alive and fed, David and his friends had to go to more dangerous places. Places neither they nor other groups have ever ventured before.

David was heading to one of such places.

The sound of explosions and gunshots could be heard a distance away. And what was David’s reaction? Nothing. He has been in New Sara long enough to know worrying about these things was a waste of time.

Ever since a few weeks ago, a faction has been trying to retake New Sara. At first, a lot of people back in the camp were thrilled. Legend said that faction was made up of a few UEC military units that survived the chaos. Rumors talked about troopers in black armors advancing into the city with the cover of armored vehicles and artilleries. A couple of women even hoped those soldiers could reinstall law and order and bring those that mutilated them to justice. But deep down, many survivors knew it would be foolish to remain hopeful. Even if this faction truly took over New Sara, who was to say they would make things any better for the common people than they were now?

None of that mattered. All David had to worry about was getting enough food so when he returned to the settlement, his Mutant boss wouldn’t rip him to pieces like he did to the last man that failed him.

The group stopped outside another grocery store. David glanced into the building. It was pitch dark. He turned back to his peers. All of them had a mixture of fear and excitement on their faces.

“Here’s the deal.” David, the squad leader, spoke up. “Something is inside that store. Probably a stronger Tier 0 Mutant. Hopefully not a Tier 1. All I know is the store devoured at least twenty people. Now...before you panic, we’re not walking inside.” He tapped something strapped to his belt. “Explosives. Set them around the perimeter of the store. We blow that fucker up!”

The other survivors looked at each other. This could work! Without much suspicion, they each grabbed a few explosives from David and started placing them around the grocery store. What they didn't see was David slowly taking a few steps back.

The survivors were halfway through with their work when, suddenly, a flash of green dashed across the entrance of the grocery store. The next second, a survivor screamed as he was dragged right into the entrance by the unknown entity.

The rest of the survivors turned and ran. None of them screamed. They have sufficient experience to know those screaming while running had a higher chance of being targeted by the Mutated Animals.

Within seconds, the Mutated Animal struck again. Its green form snapped out of the store and buried its teeth in the legs of the closest survivor. This time, David saw what the creature was. It was a green Mutated Snake. Poisonous, likely, since the bit survivor suddenly stopped resisting. Of course, the mass loss of blood could be a factor as well.

This time, the Mutated Snake didn't even bother carrying its prey back into its nest to feast on. It straight up lifted its head and devoured the unfortunate soul entirely. As it feasted, the pile of explosives was scattered all around it, abandoned by the terrified survivors.

On the side, David grinned slightly as he pulled out a trigger, which he pushed without any hesitance. That ignited all the explosives. With a bang, flames devoured the entire Mutated Snake. Unfortunately, many of his fellow survivors were also caught in the blast. Arms and legs alike started flying, many of them not attached to their original bodies.

David let out a small sigh. Don’t blame me...friends. If he didn't return with the food, the Mutant back home would have his head. He had to resort to desperate measures, such as using his “friends” as baits.

Not the nicest thing to do, but surviving in an apocalyptic world required making some sacrifices.

His guilt was replaced by horror when, out of the shadows, the Mutated Snake slowly slithered its way out. It was by no means at full health. The shockwave and the heat alike wounded it, but against a simple human being like David, its injuries didn't make a difference at all.

That became obvious when the Mutated Snake devoured several maimed survivors around it.

It was definitely a Tier 1 Mutant!

David could feel fear creeping into his heart. What should he do? What could he do? Fight? With what? His Gauss Rifle and 12 bullets? Run? Run to where? Run home and he would meet his end there! Escape this district altogether? How long could he last out there in the iron jungles with one gun and 12 bullets?

Honestly, David felt like he might as well die here in a blaze of glory. Hell...why would he want to live in this world in the first place? Constantly on the run, worrying about his life?

But as the Mutated Snake finished its last prey and turned to David, the man suddenly realized perhaps his suicidal tendencies weren’t as determined as he imagined. Almost uncontrollably, he turned and ran down the street.

The Mutated Snake was right after him.

As David ran, he grew more and more desperate. His mind couldn’t help but go back to the men who he sent to die as baits. He could almost see their faces. He could see them smiling down on him, mockingly. Was he going to join them soon?

The sound of explosions pulled him out of his hallucinations.

As David snapped around, he realized the Mutated Snake who had chased him across the street, the one who had slain a dozen of his buddies, was on its last leg, figuratively of course.

Out of nowhere, dozens of soldiers clad in black uniforms were jumping into position. Their Gauss Rifles opened fire on the Mutated Snake from all directions. Whenever the wounded Mutated Snake tried to go after one of those soldiers, a few rockets would come out of the side and knock it off its feet, putting his assault to an abrupt end.

As a few rockets hit him, the Snake froze in place for a brief moment, trying to recover from the blast. Using this precious opportunity, a few snipers targeted the eyes of the Mutated Snake. A few Defender-III shots later, the Mutated Snake was blinded. That sent the beast into a frenzy, which would’ve terrified inexperienced troops. But against these elite, coordinated assassins, the crippled Mutant only had one thing left to do.

Die.

When the body hit the ground, the black-armored soldiers marched into the open. Before David even fully comprehended what happened, two of these soldiers marched up to him with their guns raised. The man wisely held his hands up.

“Who are you?”

“Uhhh...David.” The man glanced to the side, where these assassins were skillfully pumping a few rounds into the Mutated Snake’s head to make sure it was dead. If it wasn’t before, that has changed.

But that soldier obviously wasn’t satisfied, so David added.

“I’m from a group of survivors one mile away from here.”

Now this soldier was satisfied. He turned to another man, presumably his officer.

“Lieutenant Hemingway! We’ve got another survivor group!”

Another man in black armor walked over. David keenly noticed a teal-colored marking on his armor. He looked like an officer.

“What’s the size of your group?” The officer, Eric, demanded.

“Uhhh…” David suddenly froze. He keenly realized if he gave his settlement out, it would be the same as a betrayal. If things were any different, he would’ve gladly selected his own group over anyone else. But recently...his leader was ready to kill him, and these people...the way they handled that Tier 1 Mutated Snake was not a battle, it was an execution.

Now that he thought about it, the gunshots and the explosions he has been hearing throughout the day was probably this faction as well. A powerful, mysterious faction aimed at taking back the city vs a group that wanted him dead? It was hardly a debate.

“My group has 300 people. Our leader is a Tier 1 Mutant.”

“Tier 1 Mutant?” The officer’s expressions couldn’t be seen under his face shield. “What’s his power?”

“Speed.” David replied. “He is really fast.”

“Speed.” The officer nodded and turned to the soldier. “Austin, get this information to the High Command and direct some support there. We’ll go ahead and take out that position.”

He turned back to David.

“You’re taking us to your group.”

When the addition of the Generation IV Phasewalker reinforcements was finished, the 1st Phasewalker Regiment marched on New Sara. The entire Regiment was composed of over 4,000 combatants. After leaving the 5th Motorized Battalion and the 2nd Rebirth Battalion to defend Fortress Alpha, the rest of the Regiment of nearly 3,000 went on the march.

After arriving at the city, the Phasewalker High Command adopted a battle plan different from that the Phasewalkers adopted in open fields. Whereas legions of tanks and support crafts could perform a combined assault on open battlefields, that was a lot tougher in a city with all the tall buildings and narrow streets.

The 1st Rebirth Battalion was positioned at the edge of the city. It was establishing a staging ground, barricaded and locked down with lines of gun turrets and trenches.

The 1st Armored Division marched its tanks and armored vehicles down the main streets of the city. Even though they couldn’t quite drive into tiny corners or skyscrapers, just the sound of their engines was enough to attract countless Mutated Animals into the open. Into their death. The Predator II battle tanks paved the road with the blood and corpses of the Mutants.

When things got too tough, the 3rd Artillery Battalion would be summoned to bombard certain areas of the city. Once, a horde of Mutated Rats, each one meter in height, flooded down the streets toward the battle tanks. Just as things became too much for the tanks and the Armored Troopers to handle, a line of incendiary rounds came down from the sky and lit up all the Rats.

The agonized shrieks of those foul creatures were music to the Armored Troopers.

The 2nd Airborne Battalion scoured through the skies, collecting information and raining down death and destruction alike. Its size was hit hard after the death of Major Blyfield and half the Battalion, but with the appointment of a new commander, Major Riley, and the addition of 250 Generation IV recruits, the Battalion was building itself back rapidly with an impressive level of resilience.

But the 4th Battalion was the one with the heaviest task. Divided into squads, these Assault Troopers were ordered to navigate their way across the city where armors and helicopters couldn’t cover. If they encounter weaker foes, they handle the threat themselves. Otherwise, they would call in fire or gunship support.

Of course, the squad under Eric Hemingway was slightly different.

After what was suspected to be a single Mutant massacred half the 2nd Battalion, Caity paid a lot of attention to anti-Mutant methods. Analysts back in Section X were able to somewhat categorize Mutants into different classes and discover countermeasures for each.

For example, for Mutants with super-strength, maintain distance, disable and immobilize them with focused firepower, and then proceed to take them out from a safe distance away.

For Mutants with quicker speed and reflex, rain the field with stun grenades and disable them. Without their mobility, these Mutants become easy prey.

For Mutants that could control things like fire or ice, use the element of surprise. If possible, use jet fighters and bombers to blast them to pieces. In case that wasn't possible, deploy kill teams armed with sniper rifles and heavy firepower and aim to exterminate the Mutants with surprise assaults.

These measures were effective against lower-level Mutants such as Tier 1s, but chances were they wouldn’t do so well against Tier 2 and Tier 3 Mutants.

At the same time, these countermeasures were expensive and often required rigorous training, which was why Caity handpicked a few squads of Assault Troopers. These troopers, given weapons, tactics, and gadgets specialized to kill Mutants, humans and animals alike, were named Stasis Troopers.

Stasis Troopers bore teal markings. There were only a handful of Stasis Troopers available for the moment, all of them chosen from the best Assault Troopers in the two Assault Battalions. They were like the Special Forces of the Phasewalker Corps, tasked with tackling Mutant oppositions that couldn't be handled with conventional methods.

Eric Hemingway led one of these Stasis Trooper squads. In the beginning, things have been a little challenging and there were a lot of casualties. Many Stasis Troopers were ripped to pieces by Mutated Animals before they even had a chance to execute their tactics or use their arsenal. But gradually, as days turned into weeks, the excess of experience made hunting Mutants a lot easier. By the time the squad encountered David, Eric's squad of Stasis Troopers had slain half a dozen Tier 1 Mutants with just the element of surprise, careful coordination, and overwhelming firepower.

And now, they were going to see another Tier 1 Mutant. His attitude would decide whether he would become a member of Fortress Alpha, or if he would become the 7th Mutant to fall before Eric’s squad.