"Aiya, what's that sound? And why have we stopped? Should I come to you?"

That was Marvin's voice on the radio. Aiya registered this but felt unable to move as she stared, both horrified and stunned at what's she was witnessing.

Skullets were almost on them, it had been mere seconds, and the man, Grayson, just stood calm as fuck, watching them rapidly approaching. The only sign he was aware of the immediate danger being his white-knuckled grip on the stupid black box in his hand.

Then the world flashed blue.

Something shot across the ground in front of Grayson, lighting up everything in a weird wave of blue streaked with crackling white lines. At first, it was just a six-foot-wide line sizzling on the ground as it slowly built speed heading towards the Skullets.

Then the blue and white angry wave must have reached 50 yards wide and six feet high by the time it had gone ten feet, growing in length and height as it now sped towards the oncoming horde of nasty crab-like monsters.

The next thing Aiya saw was Skullets flopping on their sides, backs or crashing into each other as they convulsed and spasmed.

As the unaffected Skullets plowed into the ones caught in the wave in front of them, they too started to spasm and then sizzle as they died. The blue wave seemed to grow in size the more Skullets it consumed like a living death wave.

Then as there was less living flesh to consume, it slowly started to fizzle out.

The horrible squealing and clicking sounds, along with the smell of burning hair and charred meat, carried on the wind to the horrified onlookers.

Head now poking through the manhole Aiya saw most of her team stood outside their trucks, weapons ready and prepared to die fighting.

Betty still had her baby locked and loaded, resting on the roof of her truck as she kept aim on the horrifying scene ahead of them. Everyone else seemed to forget they had weapons in their hands as they started opened mouthed.

Somewhere that seemed far away, Aiya heard Errend on the radio with Marvin.

Shit, I never answered him. Even though the thought ran through her head, Aiya still wasn't quite back to reality yet. What even was reality anymore?

--------------------

"What the hell was that!?"

Marvin knew he sounded awed and more than just a little excited. It had been a long time since he'd seen someone else create a weapon that outshined his own.

"Not completely sure, Marvin. But if I were a betting man, I would say it looks like they modified my air-plasma force field generator. Honestly, I am impressed."

Marvin could hear grudging respect in Errend's voice, and he was glad he wasn't the only one awed by what had just happened.

Goddman! We need more of those, thought Marvin.

His mind started to spin rapidly, wondering how it could be turned into a grenade or mini rocket. Ideas were going through his head faster than he could blink. He slowly became unaware that the skies above had darkened and thunder was booming somewhere in the distance.

Somebody punched his shoulder, and he started. Right they still had at least half a day's ride ahead of them before they could camp for the night. Marvin wasn't sure if they would camp or try driving until they reached their destination.

Driving at night came with significant risks. Monsters lived for the night, and often the new ones came out of the ground in random locations in a feeding frenzy, acting as if they had been starved for a very long time. Depending on the monster, it was a death sentence to try and stand your ground when they crawled from the earth after dark.

Yet, Marvin had to admit that Grayson had tricks up his sleeve that even he hadn't expected. Marvin had been expecting something. The man's weird-ass material that made his shiny black tactical suit had been enough foreshadowing in that regard. Yet what he'd just seen was ... well, it was fucking awesome.

Derek punched his shoulder again.

"Dude! I know you have a boner bigger than the Eiffel tower right now but stay with us here on planet Earth, brother. Once that Grayson asshole gives the word, we have to start driving again. Not sure what you're going to do, but I need to piss before we load up again. Fuck they stink!"

With a dirty look at the now smoking charred remains of the Skullets, Derek scrunched his nose in disgust and turned around to find a more or less private-sh area to pee.

There was no cover, no trees, and honestly, no privacy to be had. But they had been a team long enough there wasn't much they hadn't seen of each other, and even if Derek was a new addition, his shit looked like everyone else's.

"You know, I had almost lost hope. Today I may be willing to considering giving it a second chance." Betty was climbing down from her truck bed in front of Marvin, carrying her baby with her like it was an actual child.

Marvin absentmindedly noticed her nose piercing glint in the lightning as thunder bellowed again somewhere a little closer this time.

Looking up into the sky, Betty swore under her breath. "Fuck, it's going to pour. Just when things seemed a little brighter too. This is going to make things messy."

Her words finally brought Marvin fully back to Earth. This wasn't good. The rain would make driving a bloody mess with soupy mud and poor visibility.

Yet that wasn't the problem.

It would get dark real fast if the clouds didn't leave and they were not in a safe place. They needed to find rocks. Or a lot of rocks.

Monsters travelled based on smell and some sort of thermal vision. Some people believed they even had their own natural electromagnetic radar capability.

With the lack of local news broadcasts and radio stations, all Marvin and Aiya had to go on is what they learned from word of mouth. It was hard to say what was fact and what was information made up by crazy people.

One thing that everyone seemed to agree on, though, was that the beasts couldn't dig through rocks as long as the stone was bigger than the monster anyway.

Most communities that were left built themselves around this knowledge. Farming was now something people travelled to do, not a place to live.

Either way, if they got stuck out here in the dark, the mud could be a death trap. At least on the rock, they could build a defensive perimeter, have rotating guards and take turns sleeping.

Fuck! Marvin grabbed his radio.

"Aiya!"

"Yes, we see it too, Marvin." It was still Errend.

Where the fuck had his sister gone. He was guessing she had been as overwhelmed at the crazy weapon they had just seen, too, but she needed to get her head back in the game. Things just got serious. Again.

Seeming to read his mind and Marvin prayed this was the case, being only a coincidence and not a reality, Errend continued.

"Aiya is outside talking to Grayson. By the looks of her red face and arm waving, he is getting a verbal beating. Want me to get her for you?" Errend didn't have any emotion behind his words.

This baffled Marvin. Thoroughly. Marvin had no idea if the man truly didn't feel anything or if he just kept everything bottle up so tight he forgot he could feel things.

Either way, the man had been with them for over eight months now and should know that interrupting his sister while she tore someone a new one was a serious no-no.

"Uhh, negative on that. A wise man doesn't jump into the path of a raging lion. I am confident she will make the seriousness of the situation known to our escort." Marvin heard Betty snort as she pulled herself into the cab of her truck now that her baby was carefully packed away.

"Damn right she will." With that, Betty shut her door and started her truck. Marvin realized he needed to do the same.

Derek yelled at him as he jogged to his ugly rotting chevy a few trucks back, "Get in your truck, loser!" then, because he was Derek, he flipped Marvin the bird and grinned a wild cocky grin that was all Derek.

Shaking his head, Marvin climbed into his jeep. Just as he started the engine, his radio crackled.

"Hey, little brother. So Grayson knows a spot about ten miles up the road that has a giant rocky outcrop. Claims it's a good mile wide and several long. He better be fucking right. Or have a shit load more toys in his truck to kill monsters with."

"Easy, Aiya. I doubt he wants to die any more than you do."

"He's been sheltered too long, Marvin. Cushy job, protected in a goddamn mountain. I almost had to beat the seriousness of our situation into him. And I still get the feeling that he thinks I am crazy."

The first drop of rain made a large splat on Marvin's windshield. He suddenly hoped his wipers still worked. It had been a while since they'd been used.

"Well, let's move then, sister and hope we don't have to tell the man we told you so."