Wither With Me

CHAPTER 40 - AMATEURS

"Sir, I can't get in contact with [Fox]...!" said Private Connor.

"Something might have happened to him... We need to get up, and quickly!" replied Captain Isaac, while reaching for his radio. "HQ, this is Alpha team. We lost contact with [Fox]. We've managed to get inside the hospital through the basement. All stairs are blocked, but we've found an elevator shaft that seems to have been used to access the upper levels. The area has recent signs of activity."

"Understood, Alpha. Charlie and Delta teams are reporting hordes of stingers approaching the hospital, expect contact in a matter of minutes. We'll get everything ready for your extraction, you need to finish the mission as soon as possible."

"Roger that."

Isaac heard gurgling sounds coming from the elevator shaft.

"Shit, the stinger nest must have broken through the barricades... Inhibitors out!" he said, prompting all the team members to reach for their belts.

All of them had a belt lined with small metallic canisters, about the size of a hand grenade. As soon as the pin on the top was pulled, a thin, white mist began oozing from the canister and spreading into the air.

"Alright, come on, come on! Everyone up!" ordered Isaac. "Watch out for hostiles! We're sitting ducks on this ladder!"

The entire team flew up the shaft, with the gas cloud masking their presence. As he ascended, Isaac took note of the elevator doors. Some of them were wide open. The dark hallways were clear of stingers, but he could hear them wandering around the vicinity. They were most likely following the most straightforward path up, the stairwells.

The clock was ticking. Hibernating stingers would only wake up from their slumber under powerful influences. A severe enough disturbance that pushes them to retaliate, a fresh outbreak that drives them into a feeding frenzy... Regardless of the reason, once awakened, they'd spend every remaining ounce of strength in their bodies in order to subdue the threat; with no regards for self-preservation, until they withered away for good.

'The blockages in the stairwells will hold them off for a while, but they'll eventually push through. We have to hurry the hell up...!'

...

The team found itself on the top floor of the hospital. It was quiet. Almost too quiet. No gunshots, no screaming. Everything Isaac could perceive were faint groans and voices, coming from somewhere below their feet.

"T-This is Delta, talking to all units!! The stingers just lit up! I repeat, the stingers lit up! They started sprinting at full speed!!"

"This is Charlie!! Our sector is overrun! They are coming from all directions! HQ, what the fuck is going on!!?"

"This is HQ. Teams Charlie and Delta, deploy inhibitor gas and retreat to safe positions. Disregard your previous tasks. Teams Alpha and Bravo, you need to fulfill your orders and evacuate the area immediately."

"This is Alpha!" said Isaac. "We're at the top of the hospital, we should encounter the target soon, over!" he faced the rest of the team. "Come on, boys!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Be wary, Alpha." HQ continued talking as they traversed the forest of machinery that occupied the top floor. "This phenomenon strengthens our suspicions about the presence of a potential stinger queen in the hospital. Should you be able to confirm this hypothesis, her safety must become a paramount concern."

"Understood...!"

It wasn't difficult to guess why they'd suspect such a thing. So far, the emergence of a stable queen was nothing but a theory. It made sense, it seemed necessary for the rest of the pieces to find their place, but they had no proof. However, this changed everything.