Kapitel 3: Chapter 2

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The creatures approached inexorably, stumbling slowly but surely.

Zane froze, his hands shaking. Memories he thought he had repressed surfaced in his mind and sweat ran down his forehead.

What was he going to do?

He had no weapon, he could use magic, but should he?

Should he attack them?

What kind of creatures were they right in front of him?

Were they humans?

Were they monsters?

Why were they here at all?

What was their goal?

Did they even have a purpose?

All these thoughts raced through Zane's mind in a split second as a familiar voice ripped him from his thoughts:

"Zane! Get out of here!" Zero grabbed Zane's jacket and dragged him away. Zane, still deep in thought, just followed the pull of his jacket. Nathan and Asagi were about to run towards them when Zero came running back with Zane and signaled them with a frantic hand gesture to stay there. In no time, the two had put a few meters between themselves and the stumbling creatures that were still coming towards them.

"Get in, now!" Zero shouted only a few meters away from the pickup.

Asagi immediately got back into the pickup while Nathan hesitated: "Zero, what is this?"

"Head down!" they heard from the distance. Immediately, Zero pushed Zane's head down as they walked back to the car. There was the sound of a gun firing.

The bullet pierced the first creature, leaving a large hole in the left side of its chest. The force of the hit tore off its left arm, which flew through the air before the creature itself was thrown back a few meters and landed on the ground.

Alarmed, Nathan turned with his hands over his head in the direction of the shot. Several soldiers and Tyler's distinctive red ATBS, which they had encountered earlier at the barricade, hurried in their direction. The shot that killed the first creature must have come from Tyler's rifle, as no other rifle used by the soldiers could have made such a wound. The bullets of the ATBS weapons were correspondingly larger and often of armor-piercing class, as they were mostly used against other armored vehicles or ATBS.

As soon as the first creature went down, more shots were heard and the next creature fell to the ground. Panicked, Nathan ducked to avoid being hit by a ricochet. Asagi in the pickup also put his hands over his head.

Meanwhile, the first creature tried to get up again, its arm nowhere to be found. A few more bullets hit it and the creature fell again. Black ash or dust came from its wounds, but not only from the wounds. The base of the severed arm also seemed to dissolve into black dust. The dust spread from the wounds all over its body, and before the creature hit the ground it had completely disintegrated into dust.

Where the creature had once stood, there was now only a pile of dust on the ground, carried away by the wind, with only the clothes remaining in the wind.

"Nathan, get in there!" Zero shouted as he and Zane finally reached the car.

"What is this?" Nathan asked, still hesitating to get into the car.

The color drained from Nathan's face as Zero replied: "Infected! Come on!"

Zero glanced in the direction of the infected, who were being shot down one by one by the oncoming soldiers, while Zane frantically jumped over the bonnet and sat back in the pickup. "Buckle up," Zero said in a serious voice as he closed the driver's door.

The tyres screeched from the sudden acceleration as Zero shifted into gear and floored the accelerator. The pick-up lurched for a moment before roaring back at full speed in the direction they had come from. They were only a few meters away from the soldiers. They signaled Zero, who had stopped a few meters behind the soldiers, to stop by waving his hand.

"Are you all OK?! The soldier who rushed up to them asked out of breath as Zero pulled down the window.

"Thank you, we're all fine," he replied.

Immediately, the soldier's gaze flickered through the car and fell on Zane, who was shivering and staring into space in the passenger seat. "Are you sure?"

"Zane." Asagi put her hands on his shoulders from behind and he jumped.

"Yes, it's just the shock," Zero assured the soldier of Zane's integrity.

"Ok," the soldier let out a little relieved.

"Wait here, I'll be right back," the soldier said goodbye, intending to run back to his unit, which had taken up position a few meters away.

"What's going to happen now?" Zero asked the soldier, who was about to wave him off: "I have to go to the hospital." The soldier paused and stared back at Zero, a little confused. It wasn't just the soldier, everyone else in the car was staring at Zero as well. Sensing the stares, Zero added, "I'm a medic."

The small PDA on the soldier's forearm lit up and the soldier looked at his comrades, who gave him a hand signal. "Hey guys," Tyler switched from his ATBS to the screen in the pickup's center console. The prisoners and the soldier looked at the screen as Tyler began to explain the situation:

"It looks like we're staying here for now. We're just reporting. "

"What just happened?" Nathan asked immediately, waiting for Tyler's explanation.

"It seems we have an outbreak here," Tyler dropped the bomb, confirming Zero's guess. "We're still working out the extent of it, depending on whether we can contain it ourselves or not, but we're still waiting for the exact instructions. We will probably go to the hospital to assess the situation there.

"What about the people in the evacuation bunker?" Asagi joined the conversation.

"They will be evacuated as soon as we have clarified the situation. They should be safe for now," the soldier explained.

"We could use your help but ..." Tyler continued, his gaze clearly fixed on Zane through the screen.

"But what?" Nathan asked, getting over the initial shock as Zero put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling of the pickup.

"I don't want to involve graduates and civilians in a military action, let alone an outbreak... That's too big for you, I can't answer for it. Even if it's just to help with the evacuation," Tyler's eyes wandered over the occupants of the car. "Besides, Ben would kill me if anything happened to any of you," he laughed lightly.

Nathan calmed down while Asagi, who was still trying to calm Zane, looked at Zero.

"OK! I'll get back to you with the evacuation information. You can join us again," Tyler said goodbye while he gave the soldier the order to return.

The soldiers under Tyler's command had positioned themselves at a corner of the building from where they could overlook most of the entrances to the outbuildings as well as the main entrance to the hospital. Only the trees in the park in front of the hospital obscured the view a little. The infected who had earlier made their way towards Zero and Zane were now all gone. The only evidence of the creatures were the vinous black crystals that could be seen between the remains of their clothing.

"So, what do we do now?" Zero put his hands back on the wheel and turned to the others. "What do you think, Zane?" He asked cautiously, while Zane looked down at his clenched fists in panic.

"Huh?" He was startled. "What? Me? I... I... Um..." he struggled for words.

"Calm down, Zane. Everything's fine," Zero tried to calm him down.

"I ... I'm sorry..." he apologized. "I..."

"It's OK, Zane," he patted his shoulder gently and turned back.

"Nathan?" Zero released Zane, who was still struggling with himself and the situation.

"I'm not sure..." Nathan hesitated. "I mean, Tyler's right, we're fresh out of the Academy and not even that, we don't even have a degree. Now we are not only facing an attack by the Teikoku, but also a possible outbreak," he analyzed. "I think it's really too much for us," Nathan added hesitantly, his eyes fixed on the still trembling Zane.

"You're probably right," Zero looked out of the window at the street in front of him as his gaze fell on the rear-view mirror. "What about you, Asagi? Are you all right?" He turned to face her. She seemed to be unsure as well and said hardly anything.

"Me? I mean, I agree with Nathan, but..." she also began to hesitate, as if trying to find her courage. "If you want to get Carol, I'll go with you!"

Zero jumped at her statement. Everyone in the car knew what Zero meant but only Asagi said it out loud. No one blamed him for wanting to get Carol, but the situation had changed drastically.

"Thank you, Asagi," he smiled a little worried. "But I would prefer if ...", he started to say when Tyler appeared on the screen again and interrupted him.

"About your evacuation ..." Tyler came straight to the point. "The evacuation point at the hospital has been officially cancelled and all civilians should go to the base or the Academy," he said in a serious voice. "The best thing to do is to report to the castle, they will collect the civilians there and escort them to the evacuation point on the base. So, take ... "Tyler was about to say goodbye when Zero interrupted:

"Tyler, I'm coming with you, I have to go to the hospital!" Zero repeated what he had already told the soldier.

"What?"

"I'm a medic, I can help you with the evacuation and besides, Carol might still be in there."

"How do you know that?" Tyler asked, reluctantly accepting the idea.

"She didn't respond to the message I sent her right after the alarm," he explained to Tyler.

"All right," Tyler accepted Zero's concern after a while. "We could use all the help we can get, but it's your decision. You can always change your mind and go to the evacuation point," he reminded Zero.

"All right, thanks, Tyler."

"I'm coming too," Asagi interjected.

"You too?" Tyler asked confused.

"Asagi, I would prefer that you go to the evacuation point with the others," Zero tried to dissuade her.

"Carol is my friend too, Zero! I want to help too," she argued as Zane looked around uncertainly.

"I don't want you to put yourself in danger," Zero tried to convince her.

"It's my decision Zero, please let me help you," she countered. Zero ran his hand through his hair and scratched his head as his and Zane's eyes met.

Zero smiled at Zane and turned back to the back seat. "Nathan, would you please go back to the castle with Zane?" Nathan was about to follow when he was stopped by Zero's request. He understood immediately what Zero was getting at. "All right, we'll help with the evacuation there," Nathan said in a way that Zane wouldn't feel completely useless.

Still unable to control his shaking body, Zane tried to argue, "I... I..." but was interrupted by Tyler.

"OK, I guess that's settled then. We'll move on in five minutes and secure access to the hospital. Until then you can change your mind."

"Alright," Asagi and Zero replied.

⬢

The five minutes were almost up and Zane stood in front of Asagi and Zero with clenched fists, his eyes fixed on the ground. Nathan was already in the driver's seat and looked out of the window at the others on the street while he waited for Zane. Meanwhile, Asagi and Zero received a makeshift pistol and a bulletproof vest from the soldiers.

"Take care of the car. And see you later," Zero said goodbye to them and went to the soldiers.

"Take care of yourselves," Asagi said goodbye as well before joining Zero. Zane looked at Zero and Asagi who slowly moved away from him.

"Good luck!" Nathan waved to them while Zane continued to watch them, his fists still shaking.

It's just like before! I haven't changed at all! Zane cursed himself as they moved further and further away. I am still so weak! Am I always going to run away? If I lose her too ...

"Are you coming Zane?" Nathan asked as Zane clenched his fists and followed Zero and Asagi.

"Hey wait!"

Zero turned as the still trembling Zane stopped in front of him. "Zero! I will accompany you!" He said a little out of breath. "Take me with you!" He asked Zero's permission, who looked at him in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Zero asked.

"Yes! Let me help you! I'm sure you can use a mage, right?" He tried to confirm his decision.

"What's going on now?" Nathan asked as the pickup drove up.

"I'm going to the hospital too!" Zane told him.

Nathan smiled at Zane's statement. "Well then, of course I'm coming too," Nathan nodded to Zero, who nodded back.

"What is this now?" Tyler asked as he got out of his ATBS.

"We have two more members," Zero said.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, Nathan and I will also help," Zane announced.

Meanwhile, two trucks with more soldiers and an ATBS had joined Tyler's unit. The battle, on the other hand, seemed to continue undeterred despite the possible outbreak.

"Well, if that's the case..." Tyler turned to his ATBS. "I don't have time to worry about it anymore, so I hope you can change your own nappy, Zane, because it's getting serious now," he waved at the group.

"You can count on us Tyler!" Zane called after him.

"I hope your seats are washable Zero," he looked back with a smile before returning to his ATBS.

"Hey!" Zane called after him with a sour face as Zero, Nathan and Asagi started to laugh. "What is it now?" Zane blushed.

"Nice to have you back with us Zane," Zero laughed.

"That's right," Nathan also laughed while Asagi looked at him with a smile.

"Thanks guys!" Zane said, still a little red in the face, but this time for a different reason.

"Everyone start with the briefing!" It echoed from the soldiers' position.

"OK! Here are our orders. We are using the standard outbreak protocol. Since the area of the outbreak is very small, management has decided that Phase 1 and Phase 2 will be carried out in parallel. Phase 1, the evacuation of the civilians, will be done by the other teams. We and another team will take over phase 2 and go to the hospital and try to contain the outbreak," Tyler explained the procedure in a military tone to those present as he stood in the cockpit of the kneeling ATBS.

"We, as well as everyone in the hospital, are all exposure class 1. So, prepare for the worst," Tyler looked at Zero as the soldiers looked at each other. "If possible, we should try to evacuate the civilians inside the hospital. Our top priority is to contain the outbreak before it spreads further! So don't come up with any stupid ideas! "This time Tyler's eyes were on the group around Zane. Zane swallowed, feeling Tyler's eyes on him increasing his nervousness.

"Any questions?" Tyler asked, his eyes sweeping over the tense soldiers. Many of them had never been in a fight, let alone a battle, and now they were faced with both a Teikoku attack and an escape.

"All right..." Tyler let the question rest and pressed a button in his cockpit. The chest of the kneeling ATBS, which housed the cockpit, closed under the whistling of the hydraulics and the 22-meter-high red colossus rose with a slight shake of the ground. Blue lights in the sensors on its head and chest began to glow as it picked up the rifle.

"Get up! The mission begins! "

"" "Yes sir," the soldiers replied in unison.

The convoy of ATBS and trucks moved slowly towards the main entrance of the hospital. The two ATBS secured the right and left flanks of the convoy, with three vehicles in the middle, flanked by soldiers. These included two military trucks and Zero's pickup, which was positioned between the two trucks and used by some of the soldiers as a rifle position.

It was only a few hundred meters to the main entrance, but the danger of being flanked and the poor visibility through the small park that stretched out in front of the hospital made a quick advance difficult. The slow advance also allowed them to fight safely and effectively against any infected people who crossed their path.

By now, most of the infected on the streets had been taken out by snipers positioned on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Only their clothes and the black crystals lined the path of the train.

They were only a few meters from the entrance when Tyler's ATBS raised his left arm and signaled to stop. "This is where we take up position," he said through his loudspeaker. Immediately, the two armored trucks drove up and positioned themselves to the left and right of the entrance, forming a bottleneck. The soldiers followed and positioned themselves behind the trucks so that they could see the entrance. The second ATBS also took up a position on the right side of the truck, while Tyler covered the left.

Zero's truck, however, was a little offside, as Tyler had requested. Since they were officially civilians who had volunteered to help with the evacuation, Tyler wanted to keep them out of the potential battle and ordered them to flee if necessary.

Meanwhile, the entrance to the hospital was sealed, a security measure in the event of an outbreak or similar, designed to protect the people inside. But in this case, it locked the people inside. The lock could be opened from the inside, but this was probably not done. The steel lock still blocked the entrance. Cold sweat ran down Zero's back.

"Carol's probably okay," Asagi smiled at the others in the car to encourage them.

"Yes ..." Zero replied as a soldier approached the lock and went to a fuse box built into the wall.

He plugged a cable into his PDA and connected it to the terminal inside the fuse box. The terminal could only be operated in analogue mode to protect it from hacking. Since the AI riots, most vital facilities could only be operated by analogue or by constantly changing codes. The hospital could be unlocked from the city command post, but a special key was required in the event of an attack or outbreak. As this would take too long, it was accessed manually.

The soldier swiped and tapped his PDA as he gave a hand signal and the heavy steel bolt lifted. The lock went up and split down the middle, the lower half sinking into the ground. Behind it, the castle split vertically and the halves went off to the left and right. Behind it was another castle, moving up and down like the first. Just as the lock began to loosen, the soldier ran back from the terminal and the soldiers behind the trucks pointed their guns at the entrance as black sand and ash came out of the main entrance. It spread like smoke around the area before settling to the ground, where it was slowly carried away by the wind.

The soldiers nervously pointed their rifles at the emptiness of the main entrance, their fingers trembling on the triggers. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Nothing moved except the black sand, which was slowly carried away by the wind. Time passed without movement when one of the soldiers gave a signal and the soldiers lowered their weapons and seemed to relax. Then one of the soldiers signaled to Zane and the others that they could join them.

"Here we go..." Zane said nervously as he saw the soldier wave.

When Zane and the others were halfway to the soldiers, a high-pitched scream that Zane was all too familiar with suddenly rang out from the hospital.

"Get in position!" One of the soldiers shouted, and all of them frantically turned their rifles back towards the entrance of the hospital.

The windows were locked, so there was little light in the entrance hall, which was already dimly lit by the emergency lighting. Footsteps could be heard in the distance. The soldiers' fingers twitched nervously on their rifles as shapes appeared in the hall, moving quickly towards them. The first figure emerged from the shadows and came out of the entrance. Immediately, the soldiers took aim at the figure that had stepped out of the shadows, and in the next moment screamed. Then more people rushed out of the hospital.

"Open fire!" One of the soldiers shouted.

A hail of bullets tore through the storming crowd. Some fell to the ground, but immediately got up. Others were only slowed by the bullets.

These are humans! "Wait, these are..." Zane shouted, begging the soldiers to stop as one by one they fell to the ground. Stop it! Please!

Just as Zane was about to scream again, the last person fell motionless to the ground. The barrels of the rifles smoked as they ceased firing at the soldier's command. A voice came from inside the building: "P... Please! Do not shoot!"

"Don't shoot!" The soldier who had given the order shouted.

When the guns finally stopped, a man stumbled out of the shadows of the entrance.

"Are you all right?" Zane yelled as soon as he saw the limping man. "Zero, quick! The man is hurt," he continued, not giving Zero or anyone time to react.

"I knew you would come to save us," the man said in an exhausted voice, a black trail of blood following the leg he was dragging behind him.

Suddenly, all the soldiers turned their guns on the man.

"What are you doing?" Zane shouted immediately, running towards the soldiers before being stopped by one of them. "That's a human, damn it!" Zane stopped.

"What's going on? Why are you pointing at me?" The man asked in astonishment as he put his hands up in front of him and froze.

His hands began to disintegrate, sand and ash, like those that had flowed from the entrance earlier, coming off his hands as they fell apart.

"He... help me!" The man pleaded desperately for help.

"Asagi, don't look!" Zero took her in his arms to protect her from the incident.

"Do something!" The man begged again when the rot already reached his throat. The lower part of his leg, which he had pulled behind him, broke and he fell to his knees.

"Just do something!" Zane shouted at the soldiers, who looked at each other in uncertainty.

Then a shot rang out, getting everyone's attention. In the next instant, the kneeling man fell forward to the ground, shattering like porcelain before completely disintegrating into ash and dust, like the other infected before him, leaving only a small black crystal.

Silence returned as Zane looked in shock in the direction the shot had come from.

Tyler was standing in the open cockpit, pistol in hand.

"Tyler?" Zane asked in astonishment. "How could you?" Zane shouted the next moment, breaking free of the soldier's grip and rushing over to Tyler. "What were you thinking? Are you mad? Why did you do that?" he said, clenching his hands angrily as Tyler twitched in confusion.

"Zane. Calm down..." Nathan, who had come running, tried to calm him down.

"Maybe we could have helped him!" He kept shouting as Nathan tried to pull him back.

"We couldn't!" Tyler was losing his patience with all of Zane's accusations. "There was nothing you could have done for him! I did the only thing we could! I saved him! "

"Zane, Tyler is right," Nathan supported him.

"But... But he was human!"

"Not anymore!" He shouted at Zane, who flinched. "It's over as soon as you get infected! Don't you understand?"

Zane calmed down and clenched his hands again, staring at the floor.

Meanwhile, Zero's gaze shifted from Zane to Asagi. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, thank you Zero," Asagi nodded. "Is it true what Tyler said?" She asked dismayed.

"Unfortunately, yes ..." Zero looked back at Zane who turned away from Tyler angrily. "I did some research myself and found nothing ... What Tyler did was probably the best option..."

Angry and full of incomprehension, Zane stomped back with Nathan to join Asagi and Zero who had gone over to the soldiers behind one of the trucks. There they waited for Tyler's orders. Tyler seemed to have calmed down and began to report from his cockpit on how to secure the entrance.

As a result of Zane's rebellion, unnoticed by anyone, something began to pulsate in the black crystal the man had left behind when he died. A violet light seemed to glow, surrounded by veins deep within the crystal.

"What's going on now?" One of the soldiers remarked as he watched in shock as the sand around the crystal began to move.

The sand moved in a circular motion towards the crystal and seemed to gather around it. Not only the sand, but also the corpses of the people who had previously attacked the soldiers for no reason were pulled towards the crystal along with the sand that had come out of the entrance.

"What is that?" asked another soldier, as the bodies and sand seemed to coalesce into a viscous mass, twisting and turning like flowing lava. Then a corpse, previously black and veined like the infected, flowed along the outside of the lump. Suddenly, the corpse opened its eyes and let out a high-pitched scream.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEE!"

The soldier screamed in shock and began firing at the lump. More soldiers immediately joined him. There were more high-pitched screams as the lump turned wildly under the hail of bullets.

"Cease fire!" Tyler shouted as the hail of bullets rained down on the screaming black lump. A tendril shot out of the lump and the unprotected soldiers standing between the two trucks were whipped down as the tendril immediately retreated into the lump, which suddenly began to move.

The lump stood up.

However, it was no longer a lump, but a seven meter tall humanoid creature standing in front of them. The creature's main body appeared to be made from one of the corpses the crystal had absorbed earlier.

The ribcage and other bones were still clearly visible within the black, muscular mass. But that was the only part that still looked human. The legs, thin compared to the rest of the body, had developed another joint. The creature had three heads, the head in the middle seemed to be that of the upper body, while the bodies of the other two heads, which sat a little below the skull to the left and right, merged into the creature's massive arms. The shape of the creature was best compared to that of an upright walking gorilla. The creature's grotesquely massive arms ended in equally massive fists, even larger than the arms they supported. Veins ran through parts of the creature's body and skull from a pulsating purple spot in the center of its chest.

The creature let out a high-pitched shriek as it stretched its arms, preparing to approach the soldiers who had previously been knocked down by the vine.

"Damn it, start defending!" Tyler yelled as he and the other ATBS and a few soldiers opened fire on the creature. After the first few hits from Tyler and the others, the creature put its hands up protectively. Its massive arms almost completely shielded its body from the bullets. But the bullets from the soldiers and the ATBS seemed to have little effect. Only Tyler's heavy bullets seemed to have any effect on the infected who had been taken down by them earlier.

Tyler's bullets tore huge holes in the creature's arms, partially piercing it. The black blood that spurted from the wounds spread across the ground, but there was no further damage. On the contrary. After a short time, the wounds seemed to close again.

"Stay away from the blood!" Zero shouted warningly at the soldiers.

"Tyler! This isn't working!" Nathan yelled, immediately assessing the situation.

"I noticed that too!" Tyler replied annoyed. "By the time I cause permanent damage to that thing, I'll be out of ammo! Damn it!"

"We have to retreat! We are not equipped for a fight like this! "The second ATBS shouted in agreement with Nathan as they continued to fire at the creature and Tyler shouted:

"Look out!" In the brief moment that Tyler had stopped firing at it, the creature had grabbed the lorry to its right and used it as a shield as it charged towards the two ATBSs that were in close proximity.

Tyler and the other ATBS barely dodged as the creature spun the truck around, hitting the second ATBS. Hit by the force of the truck, he let go of his rifle, stumbled for a moment and fell back to the ground. Unable to withstand the force of the truck's flight, the creature let go of the truck, which, after a deafening sled ride, stopped a few meters from the overturned ATBS. The overturned ATBS immediately tried to straighten up as the creature charged towards it.

"Zane, protect the ATBS!" Tyler yelled as he reloaded his cannon.

"Huh?!" hesitated Zane, who was shaking again.

"Build an ice wall or a pillar!" Zero shouted as the creature got closer and closer to the ATBS, desperately trying to reach his gun.

"Never mind!" Tyler shouted through the speakers of his ATBS, aiming the gun at the creature's legs.

"Tyler! I'll take over!" Nathan shouted, forming a rune.

The creature towered over the ATBS, which instinctively put its hands in front of it in preparation for impact. The creature raised its giant fist just before it struck the ATBS as Tyler fired a single bullet at the last moment. The armor-piercing bullet tore through the air, shattering the creature's waist and landing on its arms.

Suddenly, a ball of water floated in the air in front of the infected colossus' chest, and something inside seemed to be glowing. The next moment it exploded, releasing a huge shock wave. The explosion inside the ball of water pushed the water apart so much that it threw the colossus back, separating it from the ATBS. Due to its horizontal position, the ATBS was only exposed to a small area, which meant that it was only slightly affected by the shock wave. The Colossus, on the other hand, had received the full force of the blast and flew a few meters through the air before landing next to the truck it had smashed into the ATBS.

"Asagi, go! Fire at the truck!" Nathan shouted.

"OK!" Asagi replied immediately and in the next moment, she shot a lightning bolt from her hand at the truck, which immediately went up in flames with an explosion.

"Take cover!" Zero shouted and barely had time to warn the soldiers of Asagi's attack before they jumped for cover when the explosion hit them.

The flames of the explosion completely enveloped the colossus, which let out a high-pitched scream as it tried to sit up. Tyler immediately positioned himself between the colossus and the entrance to the hospital.

There is nothing I can do! Zero thought bitterly, the flames right in front of his eyes. His gaze wandered over the soldiers who were helping each other up; to the fallen ATBS who were straightening up; to Nathan and Asagi who had just turned the battle around. What am I doing here? He thought as Tyler pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Zero, go! Get to the hospital with the troops! "

"Tyler! We have to retreat!" Nathan shouted immediately and contradicted Tyler's suggestion while he ran back to Asagi and Zero.

"No! If we do that, it will only get worse! I called for a tank to fix this thing! You go to the hospital with the second team as planned! "

"But..." Zane started to object.

"Come on, while it's distracted!" Tyler shouted again as the colossus stepped out of the flames and his submerged body slowly regenerated. Zero and the others ran towards the entrance.

"Come on Zane!" Zero tapped him on the shoulder as he ran past.

"Team two, this is your mission!" One of the soldiers shouted, signaling the soldiers with a wave to the entrance of the hospital, where Zane and the others were heading.

"Watch out behind you!" The second ATBS yelled over his loudspeaker as he pointed his rifle in the direction of Zane and the others.

Zero and Nathan turned to see more infected, including another Colossus, approaching the hospital.

"Damn, there are more coming!" One of the soldiers at the entrance reported.

"Where are the reinforcements?" asked another soldier.

"Tyler! We have to retreat!" Nathan shouted again.

"No! We stick to the plan!"

"At least let us help you!" Nathan continued.

"You need to get the survivors out of there!" It echoed over Tyler's loudspeaker as he dodged the first colossus that came at him.

"He's right, we have to get in there and save the survivors," said the squad leader who had called the soldiers to him earlier. "Otherwise, there could be more infections."

"But Tyler!" Zane worried.

"Just go!"

"Come on!" Zero signaled to Nathan and Zane as he ran for the entrance, the hail of bullets falling on the infected behind him.

"Everyone here?" The squad leader asked as Zero and the others arrived. By now, many of the smaller infected had been mowed down by the soldiers' hail of bullets. A shot was heard in the distance. The next moment, a huge explosion ripped the shoulder of the second colossus to shreds.

"There are reinforcements!" A soldier shouted as he saw the tank and soldiers advancing in the distance.

"Captain Seaver, we're starting the evacuation," the squad leader reported to Tyler over his communicator.

"Roger that! Good luck," Tyler replied in a slightly stressed voice, still trying to keep the colossus away from the soldiers.

"Team two, march out!" The team leader ordered and the soldiers moved towards the hospital, a little hesitantly.

"Good luck Tyler! Take care!" Zero shouted.

"Stay alive Tyler!" Zane added.

"Why are you still here? Go now!"

"All the best," Asagi added while Nathan looked around anxiously and tried to ignore the situation.

"Good luck guys ..." Tyler said, his voice barely audible over the roar of battle, before the group turned to the soldiers and followed them into the hospital. "And now it's your turn!" Tyler turned back to the colossus standing before him.

This version is a purely grammatical rewrite. No changes in the Story