The roars got louder and angrier as the monsters approached them. It felt like a typhoon coming. Matthew, Ivo, and Julie were just wait for the storm to pass and jump at the opportunity for escape once the eye passes them.
"Here they come!" Matthew bawled as the feral shrieks got closer. The monsters, known as the sigbins, crashed through the glass and concrete walls around Greenfield district and charged at them by the hundreds.
Matthew threw a grenade at a clump of monsters and their shattered limbs flew in scattered directions. Armed with a Benelli USA shotgun, Matthew pumped buck shots at every monster that dared approached his side of the barricade. The hungry roars turned into pitiful whimpers as every sigbin fell prey to Matthew's superb marksmanship.
Ivo, on the other hand, sprayed bullets in every direction with his M16 rifle. Although not as efficient as Matthew, the M16's high rate of fire proved useful to Ivo in keeping the monsters at bay. He eventually got into a rhythm and every shot landed squarely on their target.
Julie kept feeding off bullets to the two men beside her. Her intense concentration and focus enabled her to proficiently supply the right ammo to both men. 12 gauge Buckshots for Matthew, and 5.56 NATO rounds for Ivo. She occasionally raised her own hell by loading 9 mm parabellums in her Glock, taking down a monster or two which would escape through the sieve of gunfire that Ivo and Matthew unleashed.
30 minutes later, a Huey chopper hovered over them, momentarily dispersing the sigbins on the ground with its strong down-current winds. It landed in front of their barricade, suddenly sending the monsters into hiding.
"Now's our chance! Julie, run to the chopper!" Matthew ordered at the top of his voice.
"I almost expected you to say that 'Ah-nuld' accent!" joked Ivo.
Julie ran to the Huey as its doors slid open. Matthew immediately followed behind her to hoist her up and get her inside. When Ivo was sure that the course to the helicopter was clear, he left his station and sprinted toward the chopper's doors.
However, Matthew slammed the chopper's door shut just before Ivo could jump in.
"Hey! Matthew! I'm sorry about the 'Ah-nuld' joke but this is not funny!" Ivo pounded at the door in desperation. He almost couldn't hear himself above the noise of the rotor blades.
Matthew gave him a dagger-like stare from the other side of the glass. "I'm warning you just once Ivo. Stay away from my wife."
"Matthew! What are you doing?" Julie was equally surprised at what Matthew did. "We promised to save him. Please let him in."
"I'm not going to let that son-of-a-bitch near you ever again Julie!" Matthew's eyes seethed with anger. "That bastard is going to die here for what he did to you!"
"Matthew! Please! I want to save him!" Julie pleaded.
"Matthew! Listen to me!" Ivo pounded at the chopper's door to get Matthew's attention. "Alright! I admit! I love her! I'll prove to Julie I can take care of her better than you! You were gone for a year. Julie was lonely! How could you abandon her like that?!"
The sigbins regained their composure and they started approaching the chopper again. They salivated in the sight of a human that they can finally devour.
"Sergeant! The monsters are back! We need to go!" shouted the Huey's pilot.
"Matthew, we can't leave him!"
"We're going Julie. There's no time!"
The pilot confirmed the signal to fly and finally launched the chopper above Greenfields. Matthew tried to console Julie who was hysterical amidst the commotion.
"Julie! Let him go! I told that I'll forgive you, didn't I? We'll raise the child as our own. We'll be a happy family!" Matthew shook Julie to get her back into her senses.
"Sergeant, our flight seems unstable. Something is stuck on the left skid," the chopper pilot reported.
Matthew glanced over the window and saw Ivo holding on to the Huey's left skid. "That bastard. He's going to get us killed!"
"Please let him in!" Julie pleaded once again.
"The chopper is unstable because of him. Can't you see? He wants us dead!"
"Matthew, he's just desperate. We promised to take him with us." Julie held on Matthew's arm while on the verge of tears. "Please let us save him. It's my only way to atone for Lorraine's death. We have to let Ivo live, for her sake."
Matthew couldn't believe what he heard.
This guy almost ruined us. He almost tore us apart. And you want to let him live for the sake of a friend?
He loved Julie more than anything in the world. Her happiness is what he always wished for.
Matthew slid the chopper door open and reached out a hand to Ivo. "Come on you piece of shit! Get in!"
Julie held on to Matthew to allow him enough space to stretch out and reach for Ivo's arm. The chopper became more unstable by the minute until it suddenly turned 45 degrees to its side. Julie slipped and fell off the chopper but Ivo's reflexes was quick enough to catch her by the arm.
A tentacle like tongue shot out from nowhere and coiled itself around Julie's leg. Matthew was shocked as his vision traced where the tongue came from. It was from the nearby One San Miguel Avenue building. There were three TikTik's scaling the structure and one of them held on to Julie's leg.
"There are more?! I thought I killed the only one!" said a flabbergasted Matthew. The TikTik pulled harder on Julie's leg until her strength faded. She lost her grip on Ivo's hand and the tentacle-like tongue coiled around her body. The TikTik pulled her close in lightning speed and the three monsters jumped across to the nearby buildings.
Matthew ran to the pilot seat, ignoring Ivo who hung dangerously in the left skid. "They took Julie! We need to go back!" he pleaded to the pilot.
Matthew stopped when he saw a pair of black hands shifting from behind the One San Miguel Building. The hands continued upwards and a 5 storey tall kapre emerged from the buidling's spire.
Matthew couldn't believe his eyes. "It can't be. We got the wrong Intelligence. There are kapre's in Ortigas too!"
The kapre perched himself above the building and vaulted himself toward the chopper. It landed a strong slap on the chopper's tail rotor, destroying it into pieces. The chopper went out of control and plunged into a death spiral, exploding into ball of fire as it plummeted in the middle of Greenfields Park
