Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again. - Chapter 323

Chapter 323: The rat king.
The alarms had sent out warnings, everyone that was not a fighter had found safety. The base had gone silent.

The gates of Fortress Four had been opened and closed twice, only to send out reinforcements. Sunshine was geared up like the other soldiers, gripping her hammer which hummed faintly from the charge that was coming off her hands. A trail of ice followed everywhere she passed around the base.

She was regretting not having Father Nicodemus’s abilities to fly because she was stuck in the first wall, unable to monitor the situation in the second and third wall with her very eyes.

“They are here.” A voice whispered into her comms.

Static.

Major Elio’s voice came as well, frantic. “Suni, third wall, near the residence of the villagers. The ground has fallen in where they hang furs to dry. The rats are not attacking; they are merging as soon as they come out of the hole. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. They are not waiting to picked off one by one.”

She heard bullets being fired and immediately jumped into the car, following her squad which was racing out as well.

“Not everyone is going, some people should stay back and continue monitoring the first wall.” She shouted into the walkie-talkie.

The drive was short and soon, she arrived in the first wall and jumped out of the car. Joining Philip, Father Nicodemus and Carson, they moved fast, boots crunching over stone and rat carcasses. The squad which was already there was already fighting the rats, trying hard to keep them from merging.

“Some have escaped; they are in the gathering center the villagers formed.” Major Elio informed them through the comms.

Sunshine paused. A team was shooting fire from the dragonoids into the hole to prevent new rats from coming out. But the trouble was, so many had already poured out. There were two different heaps forming. The one in the gathering center made it three.

“Two are decoys, they can only form the giant rat when they have a rat king.” She shouted into her walkie-talkie, “find the one with a bone like crown on its head.”

Sunshine rushed forward, her hammer crackling with electricity. She swung wide, sending a shockwave through the swarm. Flinging her right hand forward, ice followed, freezing limbs, shattering bodies. Efficiency and speed were her goal.

“Found it, gathering center.” Elio told her.

Sunshine swung her hand at the second swarm and did the same thing she had done with the first one. Running forward with her squad, she left behind other soldiers, handling the lone rats and the ones that had survived death at her hands.

Morris had arrived before them, but hundreds of rats had climbed his body, biting wherever they could find. He was not the only villager suffering that fate. Meanwhile, a writhing mass of fur, tails and limbs was forming safely. The rat king was evolving.

Philip unleashed his fire immediately, blasting the mass with hot flames.

The rat king roared.

Dozens of rats turned in the direction of Sunshine and her squad mates. The half-formed rat king continued to evolve, limbs elongating to form crude arms.

Meanwhile, rats reached Sunshine, coming from behind. They swarmed her, trying to bite through her boots and pants. She electrocuted them all and hurled them away. Philip mimicked her actions with his flames.

“Nimo’s down.” A voice came through the walkie-talkie. “She has been bitten. There are others too and…”

“You have thirty minutes before an infection sets in. I gave everyone red fang capsules, swallow them.” Sunshine shouted into a walkie-talkie.

There was no time to turn back and check on her friend. “We need to take it down. Now.”

Father Nicodemus flew above them at full speed. Within five seconds, a shriek came from the rat king, one of his arms fell to the ground. The rest of the squad rushed forward and flanked the creature. Philip aimed fire at its feet, Tommy struck the forming head with lightning. Sunshine’s hammer glowed, a combination of frost and electricity.

She launched it at the mid-section of the mass.

The fight was chaotic. Rats exploded in fire, ice and electricity. Hundreds of rats flew out of the mass, hitting the wall.

“Heads down.” Elio told down.

They lowered their heads as instructed. A second later, a bullet struck one rat that had fallen to the ground with those that flew apart after Sunshine hit the midsection.

It was the rat king, and it was not dead.

Sunshine leapt forward, hammer raised and brought it down on the head of the rat, right on the crown. The bone crown shattered.

The impact caused the ground to shake.

The rat king shrieked, convulsing. Sunshine froze it and shattered it.

The rat king was dead.

The rest of the rats started to flee while some twitched and died.

“We won.” Philip shouted.

“Not yet, we have to kill them before they hide in the houses.” She said. Into the walkie-talkie she said, “Lisha, turn on all thermal scanners on the base. No rat, cockroach or fly should be left alive.”

The battle continued, houses were raided tunnels were searched. Three hours later, silence returned to the base.

Later, residents gathered around the medic bays of every wall. Sunshine sat outside the medic bay of the first wall, breathing ragged. Her hammer was standing next to her legs, hissing, cooling off. Around her, people groaned. Some were bruised; some were bitten but everyone was alive.

Medical experts were moving fast, treating the wounded and vaccinating everyone. Sunshine was worried that a plague might follow the rat attack.

“What do we do after vaccinating everyone?” Lisha stopped in front of her with a tablet that had a list of things they needed to do.

“Quarantine everyone that was bitten and monitor their vitals for forty eight hours.” She answered.

“Nimo will not like that.” Lisha muttered.

Sunshine sighed. She had already checked on Nimo, and her friend had said exactly what Lisha had said. She did not like to be quarantined.

“At least she is alive.” Philip raised his head and said. “We survived. Although, I can never get the disgusting image of those rats coming together. It was disturbing to watch. Doctor Cody says a hug from a certain female Quinn that owns a cat named Bob will erase the memory.”

Lisha gave him a side eye that screamed judgement.

Philip flexed his biceps and smirked.

Lisha scoffed.

Sunshine rolled her eyes. Was this some kind of passive aggressive flirting? She cleared her throat. “How much damage have we sustained?”

Lisha scrolled on her tab, “The fire did not do us any favors. There are some cracks in the ground that need filling. Three dragonoids exploded. The rat king’s corpse was taken by Dr. Sing for further studying. All the geeks are gathered in the lab, celebrating like its Easter and they won the prize egg.”

Sunshine did not bother asking her why that was included in the damage list or why the researchers were geeks. Lisha was a geek too, after all.

“And the watchers?” She asked.

Hades limped over, there were some scratches on his boots and jacket. The robot leg seemed to have sustained some damage. The question was how. He was supposed to be in the command center, safe and far from the action.

“What did you do?” She asked him.