Alpha Project: Genesis

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Richter Squad moved quickly across the fresh battlefield, shooting down super-humans at a breakneck pace. Every time they shot someone down, a soldier would put a shock collar on the body and drag it away. At this rate, the squad imagined, they would be finished with the operation soon.

But Richter Squad knew that wouldn't happen, and all they had to do was look around to prove it.

Around them, the city streets had erupted into chaos. The Resistance had unleashed their strongest fighters first to battle the Unity Troops. Two, hulking, stone people trampled over wrecked cars, throwing soldiers from their hover-cars. A squad of Unity Troops fired on their own people, being controlled by a boy crouched in a back alley. Nearby, a girl manipulated the cold around her, sending ice shards at the soldiers like shrapnel.

Above, the Utopian skyscrapers had become its own battleground. The silver hover-ships waged war against the Resistance on the towering buildings. Laser blasts from the ships blew apart the rooftops, sending chunks of snow and steel down to the streets below. The electric boy hurled lightning at the ships, frying their systems and causing them to plummet to the frosty earth.

And as the tranquilizers, bullets, and supernatural attacks flew from one end of the city streets to the other, the people were caught in the turmoil. They hid in their cars, holding their children as tightly as they could. A few fathers loaded guns and fired from their cars, trying to protect their families from the war outside.

But the Unity Troops continued their mission with a deadly, emotionless drive.

Richter Squad's helmet sensors flashed, and they broke into a full-on sprint. A car was heading for the city gates at top speed, trying to escape the superhuman siege.

"Two freaks inside! Hit the tires!" Sergeant Orson barked.

Putting away his tranquilizer, Richter Squad's sniper loaded real bullets into his rifle and fired three shots. The car's tires nearly burst from the impact, blasting pieces of rubber into the air. Sliding across the icy road, the car finally came to a halt on the sidewalk.

Orson smashed the front door's lock with his gun, then dragged out the father who was driving. The squad surrounded the car while the sniper brought out the rest of the family.

Lining them up, the sniper asked, "Sergeant Orson! Shoot the parents first, or tranquilize the children?"

Before Orson could respond, the father cried out in rage and tackled the sniper to the ground.

You're not taking my kids away, you monsters!" he roared, punching the sniper's cobalt-colored helmet repeatedly.

Immediately, Orson smacked the father in the head with his armored fist. The mother and her little girls screamed as Orson grabbed the father by his hair and cocked his pistol.

"I was going to put your kids to sleep first, papa, but now I think you've changed my mind." Orson gritted through his teeth.

"Sir!" One of the squad members yelled.

"What?!" Orson yelled back.

"We've got an incoming superhuman a quarter of a mile away!"

"What do I care? If he's that far away, he's Thunder Squad's problem."

The soldier hastily explained, "Sir, twenty seconds ago, he was half a mile away!"

Orson looked up, and with his other hand, zoomed in with his helmet sensors.

Through the bullets, lasers, and explosions, he could barely make out a purple blur.

"Fifteen seconds, sir! He'll be here in fifteen seconds!" the soldier shouted.