C went into what appeared to be a living room, and saw a couple of the people spread around the room; C counted 11 of them. There was a man, one not much older than C, sitting down on a wooden chair next to a table, along with another one close by who sat on a chair that was pulled out away from the table. The rest of the civilians, a mix of three men, two women, and four children, were in a small group on and next to a worn down couch. C tried to introduce himself, saying a generic greeting of, "Hello," but nobody replied. After a period of awkward silence, the man on the table chair finally replied.

"Don't worry about them." the man said as he stood up from the chair, "We've all been through a lot, so they are just too tired to talk for now."

The man walked up to C and reached out his hand, "Name's John. Nice to meet you."

C shook the man's hand and greeted him in return, "Nice to meet you too, John." 

With this act, C started to feel more comfortable, but the man in the pulled-out chair cut into the conversation, warning, "Don't trust the man too much, John. He appeared out of nowhere in a zombie-infested town, how can we be sure that he's good?"

The man turned his attention towards C, "Sorry, sir, but we can't just start chit-chat with a random person from the streets so easily."

C looked at the man inquisitively, "What, do you think that I'm an alien?"

"No; I am not sure if you aren't an alien. Even if you ain't, the people wandering around these parts aren't exactly right in the head. Not after what happened here."

"I'm not from here." C explained, "I was passing through to look for the military. I want to fight the aliens, the very things that put you guys in this situation."

"That's a bold claim, sir. I'm not sure if I believe that."

"Err… but how would I get you to believe me, then?"

"You don't kill us, that's how." The man said sternly.

The conversation between the two ended there, as quickly as it started. C still had a couple of questions, many in fact, but he decided that asking too much will make the situation worse.

C sat down for a couple of minutes, and found a moment to think. He still was not caught up in the invasion, and still did not understand many things: the various types of aliens that have arrived, those aliens that that pursued him and chased him out of the city, and most importantly, the being that he encountered, K. C sat there, analyzing the events that have passed as of recent, although he still could not side-track from his current duty: telling the soldiers about F. He was nervous: was it really the best choice to leave the girl alone then? Even then, he could not do anything about it now, as he had to wait for the all-clear from the soldiers.

The unnerving sound of gunfire echoed in the building from outside, where the soldiers were now being forced to kill people; those who have been made slaves to an unknown force. C remembered the look of the man controlled by a parasite earlier. Amidst the bloodied clothes and scratches, C remembered that for a brief instant, he saw tears rolling down the guy's face. The very thought chilled C, but he had to stay strong for now. After what seemed to be almost half an hour of near constant firing, one of the soldiers went inside the building.

"Come out guys, the area's clear!" the soldier shouted.

As if on cue, the civilians who were laying around just moments ago sprang up and walked out the door in an almost orderly fashion. C followed behind them, waiting for a moment to send the soldiers in F's direction. The group went out of the building and formed a crowd behind the APC. C went to the side and spoke to one of the soldiers.

"Hey, one of my friends is holed up in a bunker on the outskirts of this town. Can we go back to get her?"

The soldier replied, "Sorry, sir, but we can't do that right now."

C froze for a moment, "Wait, aren't you here to retrieve survivors? Why can't we go back for her?"

The soldier stopped walking for a moment and turned toward C, "Sir, we aren't here on a civilian recovery mission. Our goal here is to exterminate all invading entities and to take notes on the state of the town. I'm sorry for your friend, but first we need to ensure the lives of everyone in our group, and the removal of all threats in the area, understand?"

C hesitated for a moment, before answering, "I… I understand, sir."

The group went through most of the town, not encountering any parasites or hosts along the way. The town was dead silent except for the whirring of the APC and the clanking of the soldier's gear. The atmosphere became uneasy once again. "Its an ambush. It feels just like an ambush." One of the people in the crowd whispered.

C peaked out from the back of the APC and saw that they were marching down a long street, with a hospital at the end. He went back behind the APC and almost got lost in his thoughts, until he heard an odd thumping. The thumping was nearly indistinguishable from the engine at first, but soon became much louder and clearer. The soldiers stopped, with one of them trying to listen to the sound. The soldier's face almost went pale, before screaming, "It's a charger! Get in the buildings!"

The group dispersed, with everyone sprinting into the nearby houses. C was confused from the commotion, until he looked at the street behind him. A massive creature, about the length of a rhino and the height of a semi-truck, was approaching him at almost blinding speeds. C sprinted out of the way, causing the creature to stumble past him and slow its advance. The creature decelerated slowly, buying C enough time to flee into a building. 

With C inside a building, he was able to observe the creature more carefully. It was massive, about ten feet in height, and its tapered head and neck appeared to be covered in a sort of shell, appearing to be segmented and connected by stringy, muscle-like material. The creature's body consisted of a center part that appeared to bind together several more shell like masses, of which its legs were attached. Its legs were arranged in an odd fashion, with its front legs starting from the back of the creature and its back legs doing the opposite. Its body's upright stature was detracted by its neck, which bent down towards the ground. 

With C out of view, the creature acquired a new target: the APC. It ran toward the APC, and positioned itself towards its right side. The creature attempted to impale the APC with its sharp forelegs, managing to dent the metal armor. It then stepped back and smashed its head onto the APC, its neck extending - revealing more of its muscle-like interior - to flip the vehicle onto its side. The force from the headbutt was enough to make the APC tumble upside down, then flip back onto its wheels. The creature was about to launch another assault, when the APC's engine was shut off. It stopped its attack, and started to wander around the area blindly. C realized that the creature could not track its targets visually, lacking any visible eyes on its front-pointed head, and must either track them through sound or other vibrations.

One of the soldiers fired at the creature, causing it to charge towards the building they were in. The soldier retreated further into the building, and the creature broke through the concrete outer walls. This brought enough time for the soldiers inside the APC to exit and run to cover, with one of them holding their head. A soldier from another building shot at the creature, and this time C noticed that the bullets caused sparks as they collided with the creature's body, which seemed more metallic than normal, organic hide. The creature approached the other building, until it was shot from behind by the previous soldier. The creature let out a roar of annoyance, before it was drowned out by a soldier yelling to cover their ears. C saw a grenade being tossed out of one of the buildings, and blocked his ears as it lit up the area. The grenade toppled the creature over, but did little to damage its outer shell. The noise from the explosion did, however, provoke loud screams from across the town.

A single host ran from down the street towards the creature and managed to jump on top of it, but was shortly flung off and propelled through the concrete wall next to C. The parasite detached from its host, and lunged towards C, but was shot out of the air by a soldier next to him. More parasite hosts came out to combat the creature, but were easily thrown aside. One of the soldiers shouted, "Get to the hospital! We'll regroup there!"

The people came out of the buildings and ran to the hospital, one of them even managing to sneak right by the battle through all of the commotion. The soldier near C gave him a spare rifle, and told him to hurry towards the hospital. When they left the building, C looked at the fight and saw a large swarm of parasite hosts attempting to slash and swipe at the creature, although when they landed a hit it barely made a scratch on its armor. In retaliation, the creature swung its head wildly, flinging the parasite hosts away rather easily. C looked on in disbelief, realizing just how affected the town was by the parasites. He was then grabbed by a soldier, who sprinted straight to the hospital.