(This story contains foul language, violence, gore, and self-harm. Reader discresion is advised.)

Emergency personnel cared for those who made it out to the parking lot. Throngs of bystanders who wanted to find their missing loved ones and friends in the stadium were held back by police, who beat and arrested anyone trying to get past them. News crews nearby reported on the developing situation, which included incorporating live footage from the blimp still flying over the scene. From what its pilots counted, there were at least eighty of those animals swarming around the sports complex.

Armored SWAT vehicles were allowed to pass the blockades to park right at the entrance of C&H Life Stadium. SWAT officers jumped out of the vehicles with their weapons ready and hurried to the main doors where they filed through, freeing a hail of bullets on a group of the creatures in the lobby. Lead penetrated exoskeletons and chipped off spikes, while the others further from the entry retreated deeper into the complex. When the area was cleared, the officers split into three teams for three separate routes: Alpha Team, consisting of eleven officers including the SWAT commander, Bravo Team with ten officers, and Charlie Team with the remaining ten.

Alpha Team continued straight ahead from the stadium’s main entrance. At the top of the escalators were a bunch of the animals feasting around a small heap of dead bodies. The team blew the monsters away before deciding to take the shorter path to their destination. The team was passing by a kiosk when a rookie heard, “Psst!”

Turning his attention to the kiosk, a woman was slowly standing up with her hands up. “Commander!” the rookie called out, gaining the attention of the other officers, “We’ve got a live one!”

“Thank goodness, I’m so glad to see you!” the lady started to cry as the rest of Alpha Team approached.

“This is not our priority rookie!” the commander chided authoritatively.

“Wait, what?” the woman asked looking gobsmacked.

The commander continued, “Our primary objective is to extract anyone left in the VIP room to safety, then begin mopping up the bogeys until the National Guard arrives. The safety of other civilians is none of our concern.”

“Wait a minute!” said the woman indignantly, “You’re cops! You’re supposed to serve and protect all civilians of this city!”

“Look up both the DeShaney and Castle Rock decisions, lady!” another SWAT officer barked back at her.

“Please, at least find my daughter! We got separated during the panic!” she pleaded as tears began welling up in her eyes.

“Commander, we should at least-” the rookie started before the commander interrupted.

 “Not our problem, direct her towards the exit and let’s continue with our mission! That’s an order!”

Just then, something ran out of a hallway nearby, causing an officer to suddenly draw their weapon and fire. A little girl dropped to the floor motionless. The woman vaulted over the kiosk counter and ran to the child with a heart-broken scream.

“Sh-She-She just jumped out of nowhere.” the officer behind the trigger spoke dispiritedly as he realized what had transpired.

Stopping at the body, the mother dropped to her knees; her hands trembled terribly, not knowing what to do next. She cried reaching out towards the body to see if it was her child, calling out to her, hoping in vain for some response. A loud crack rang out, and the lady landed face first onto the dead body. A bullet entry wound gushed blood and brain bits from the back of her head, while a SWAT officer held the smoking handgun that ended the woman’s life. The rookie angrily grabbed him before the others pulled both officers away from each other. The commander pinned the rookie against the floor. “Enough!” yelled the commander.

“He killed her!” the rookie fumed.

“I’m sorry, would you have preferred to have her tell everyone we murdered her daughter? I bet you would, you little bitch!” mocked the officer responsible for the execution.

The rookie tried fighting to get back up, but the commander slammed him against the ground a couple of times. “I said enough!” the commander snarled. “Nothing more of this, forget what just happened. We need you with us. Once I let you go, focus on the mission from here on, got that rookie?”

The rookie began to whimper before he was slammed on the floor again. The commander reiterated more forcefully, “Got that rookie?”

“Yes, yes!” the rookie yelped out, prompting the commander to release him. Two other SWAT officers hoisted the rookie up off the floor.

“Have him take point!” the commander ordered the other two officers, which they reported with a “Yes sir!” before shoving the rookie to the front and forced him to lead the way.

“Once we’re done here, you and I are going to have a chat.” the commander said to the murderous SWAT officer who replied, “You can thank me later when the media hails our heroism.”

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Bravo Team cautiously advanced through the abandoned and splattered corridor. Towards the back of the group, a SWAT officer spotted an arm sporting fancy jewelry sticking out from a janitorial closet. A fellow officer stops following the rest when noticing him straying towards the arm. “What are you doing?” the concerned officer inquired quietly.

“Getting an anniversary present for my wife.” whispered the other officer loudly, slowly approaching the closet.

“I told you to not spend too much on your side piece. Can’t you just look for something in the evidence locker like the rest of us?”

“No, I’m looking for something special. She still hasn’t let go of me giving her that black eye.”

“Whatever. Hurry up so we can catch up with the others.”

The avaricious cop looked both ways as if about to cross the street, and then bent down to grab the arm. The closet door suddenly broke off its hinges and fell onto him.

The rest of Bravo Team heard a scream behind them, but two of their teammates were missing. They ran to the sounds of distress and found the missing officers. One was hanging off a spike that gored his mouth and exited out the back of his head. The other was skewered through a hand and side of the torso but was mostly held in place by tendrils. His screaming was accompanied by the noise of riving flesh and bone. A large chunk of the middle back was wrung inwards into five chomping teeth that emerged. On the team leader’s go ahead, Bravo Team gunned down the monster and its victims, until it dropped to the ground with a heavy and wet thud.

Large nails scraped around the SWAT team’s location. They tried reloading with expedience as the noise closed in. It was what they feared when more of the beasts came into view: Bravo Team was surrounded. The fire-at-will command was given by the leader, and the guns went off in a frantic frenzy. What was left of Bravo was being killed, while the SWAT commander checking in on their status could be heard over an earpiece, still embedded in a severed ear laying on the ground.

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“Damn!” the commander exclaimed, “First Charlie and now Bravo!”

Another officer approached him and asked, “Should we continue waiting here at the rendezvous before we carry on sir?”

Just then, something rounded the corner. Alpha Team was about to aim their guns but stopped when it yelled out, “Don’t shoot! Sergeant Vanger of Charlie Team reporting! Don’t shoot!”

The sergeant reached the team. He was missing some of his gear, his uniform was partially torn, and he had a gash across his forehead that bled into his eyes and mouth. He was sat down and treated by the SWAT medic when the commander asked, “Sergeant, where’s the rest of Charlie?”

“They’re all dead sir.” Vanger said while under the care of the medic, “We got ambushed by a few of those things. One got a flashbang into its mouth and exploded. Spikes flew everywhere, killing everyone except for me. Where’s Bravo?”

“They didn’t make it. You’re still armed?”

“Yes sir, I still have my handgun and a few mags.”

“You’re still good to continue with the mission?”

“Yes sir, just let me finish getting bandaged up and I’ll be good to go.”

“Great to hear.” the commander said before turning to the rest of Alpha Team and announcing, “Okay, we’ll be moving out in five!”

…………………………………………………………………………..

The creatures in the hallway to the VIP room were annihilated in a barrage before Alpha Team covered its door. The rookie officer walked up to the door and knocked.

“Who’s there?” a voice inside the room called out.

“Fairview Police Department! We’re here to extract you, open up!” the SWAT officer announced.

“Okay, hold on! We have to unblock the entrance first!”

After almost a minute hearing the sound of furniture being moved, the door was unlocked by a guard. A few SWAT members walked into the VIP room, while the others stayed posted outside. There were six survivors in total: Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, a gofer, and three guards. There used to be seven, but the last living team owner died while trying to escape. The private helicopter was heard leaving without them, so in a state of desperation, the owner smashed a window and tried to climb his way to the helipad. He fell to the stands below and broke his back, paralyzing him. He survived the fall only to be eaten alive, made worse by some of the stake-like spines piercing the more sensitive bits on the body being gorged upon.

The commander radioed the okay to send in a SWAT helicopter to extract the VIP survivors. Mr. Baxter was so grateful for the rescue, he promised to donate generously to the next police officer’s charity event, and to put in a good word to the department’s superiors. When the copter finally arrived, the SWAT team planned their formation so that the survivors and Sgt. Vanger would be in the center of the grouping. Moving out from the VIP room, they all made their way for the stadium rooftop.

On their way to the helipad, the group was ambushed by more of the barbed fiends. Four SWAT officers were killed almost immediately, with the rookie being the first since he was in the lead. As the officers shot into the swarm of foes, an errant bullet hit a 3-cable ceiling attachment that held a large art piece up above. Weakened, the attachment gave way to the heavy weight pulling on its suspensions, and the ornamental object came crashing down from overhead, smashing one of the guards.

Another guard and the last gofer fled in panic during the fighting. The two were pursued by several monsters, with the guard being swiftly devoured after tripping on an untied shoelace. Meanwhile, the gofer ran into an area that was under remodeling and attempted to hide in a dead-end section behind hanging, clear poly sheeting. The creature pushed through the curtains, causing its victim to reflexively back up into an open junction box of live wires; the violent surge frying the human body inside out, causing near instantaneous death.

Once on the rooftop, what was left of the extraction group made their way towards the awaiting helicopter, with its crew fending off the menaces encroaching on the copter. The last guard and two more SWAT members were killed before everyone else reached the pad. Two Alpha Team officers covered the steps to the helipad from the continuing onslaught, while the final two officers helped Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, and Sgt. Vanger onto the aircraft. The crew were forced to jump back onto their helicopter, when what was left of Alpha Team got overwhelmed. Except for the SWAT commander who turned his own handgun on himself, the rest were eaten alive as the copter took off for extraction.

Despite flying off the ground, the helicopter was still struggling to go higher. “Why aren’t we going higher? Go higher!” Mr. Baxter demanded of the pilots.

“We’ve got too much weight on the craft!” the pilot stated.

“Don’t worry sir,” Vanger tried reassuring Baxter, placing hand on his shoulder, “we’ve got this under control!”

A smile grew onto Mr. Baxter’s face and uttered a drawn out, “Yeah.”

He then placed both of his hands on Vanger’s shoulders, a moment before pushing the injured officer towards the open door. “Hey, stop! What are you-” the sergeant didn’t get to finish his second sentence, when Baxter used one of his meaty legs to assist in kicking the officer out the SWAT copter, screaming to his death.

The helicopter crew’s passenger door officer racked her submachine gun and aimed it at Mr. Baxter, all while Mrs. Baxter sat still watching the whole thing play out stupefied. “What did you just do?” the officer grilled.

“You want to live, don’t you?” Mr. Baxter questioned back aggressively.

Right then, the closed door behind the officer slid open, greeting her with tendrils, offal draped spines, and gnashing teeth. It grabbed her by the arms, which she tried fighting back against. In being forced to turn around, the officer’s gun let off a stream of bullets, damaging flight control equipment, killing one of the pilots and severely injuring the other. The helicopter banked, sending the opportunistic monster and the unlucky officer together out of the craft, plummeting to the ground. The last living pilot still tried flying, all while warnings blared, electricity sparked, and smoke billowed. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter tried holding on for dear life, but the smoke was getting to the wife so much that she attempted to lean outside to breathe. The copter maneuvered in such a way that the passenger door slid shut and decapitated her. Then, the pilot became less lucid, and the SWAT helicopter began ascending too high.

The blimp that was broadcasting live feed from the sky, was showing the whole copter calamity unfold. Prior to the extraction, the blimp pilots got as close as they could to show the action clearly and safely. However, the SWAT helicopter was now flying way too close to their position. The blimp pilots tried what they could to veer away from the oncoming craft, but it was too late. All they could do was give off one terrified scream before the mid-air collision.

The news crews filmed the ensuing explosion creating a macabre artwork of fire and twisted metal in the sky. The large crowds outside the stadium gasped, shrieked, and cried at the sight. Then the debris started raining down, causing everyone to panic and attempt to flee. A rotor blade spun through a group of people before striking a news van, which blew up, killing bystanders and its news crew. Spectators on a rooftop of a building nearby the stadium property ran back inside, right before a sizable portion of conflagrant metal crashed against the side, then finally landing on a busy overpass to cause a deadly pileup. The rest of the mangled aircraft wreckage cratered a dog park.

News choppers buzzed around the new disaster area, transmitting live images to the public already reeling from the reports that monsters exist.