"Stop!"
Rossi heard Jack's voice through the earpiece and instinctively stepped on the brake. The already slow-moving Raptor came to a steady halt. In the next moment:
"PIU! PIU!"
The silencer on the Barrett MK22 worked great. Even in the dead of night, the gunshots were barely audible.
None of the people in the car had night vision goggles, and the two assault rifles they carried only had red-dot sights. In this pitch-black night, only the night vision scope on Jack's rifle could see what lay ahead.
"Keep going straight. About 200 meters ahead, on the right side of the road," Jack said in a low voice.
The Raptor continued forward slowly. Under the beam of the flashlight, a signal tower that had been toppled lay by the roadside. It seemed they had found the reason for the town's lack of cell phone service.
Not far from the fallen signal tower, an old yellow trailer was parked. Two ogre corpses lay beside the vehicle, one on each side, with their heads missing.
The power of the .338 Lapua Magnum round might not compare to a 12.7mm heavy machine gun, but it was clearly enough to deal with these mutated ogres.
"Looks like the monsters here are a lot smarter than their cousins in New Mexico."
Jack's tone was light, but a sense of unease lingered in his heart. While there was no sign that these ogres were using firearms yet, the fact that they had taken down a signal tower suggested that, should they get hold of guns, they wouldn't just use them as sticks.
It seemed pointless to think about fixing the signal tower in the short term. Even with the ever-resourceful Dr. Reed, the tools they had in the vehicle weren't enough to complete such a task.
Jack's gaze followed the high-voltage power lines along the road, eventually landing on a building fenced off with barbed wire near the edge of the town.
"Let's go check out the substation."
The town's power outage was definitely related to the substation. If they could restore it or find a landline phone inside, even if they couldn't call in SEALs, getting some support from nearby law enforcement would be better than their small group taking on everything alone.
Everyone agreed. While they had confidence in Jack's combat skills, charging blindly into the center of town wasn't the smartest move.
On the map Reed had, the town of Lakeview was just a small dot with a name next to it. They had no idea about the town's layout, and it was unclear whether there were any ogre collaborators among the residents.
The Raptor pulled up at the entrance to the substation, where a cut chain lay on the ground. Clearly, some uninvited guests had already paid a visit.
Jack left the Barrett with the night vision scope to Hodge, telling him to stay on guard with Rossi and Emily, while he went inside with JJ and Reed to check things out.
The substation wasn't large. It was a two-story concrete building with the logo of some unknown power company painted on the wall. Jack led the way through the violently broken front door, the stench left behind by the ogres still lingering in the hallway.
One small relief was that the place seemed to have an independent emergency power supply. Yellow warning lights flashed on the walls, and an alarm sounded from somewhere deep inside.
They passed through the hallway into a guardroom, which was empty. Surprisingly, the surveillance monitors were still on, and on the desk were a telephone, a walkie-talkie, and a half-played game of solitaire.
There were no signs of blood, but it was easy to guess that the guards who had been stationed here probably hadn't met a good end.
Reed sat down at the computer to review the surveillance footage while Jack picked up the phone. Unsurprisingly, there was no dial tone. He then grabbed the walkie-talkie, turning the knob to try and pick up any nearby communications.
JJ was also busy, pulling open drawers from the guard's desk, searching through the random clutter for anything useful.
"There's a map here!" she exclaimed in a low voice, a hint of excitement in her tone. She held up a greasy, crumpled local tourist map, which seemed to have been used to wrap food at some point.
"Zzz... Zzz... Junior, this is Angela, please respond! Mike, Kevin, can anyone hear me?" A panicked female voice suddenly came through the walkie-talkie.
"Oh, for God's sake, someone respond!" The voice was on the verge of tears, clearly nearing a breakdown.
"Who are you?" Jack pressed the transmit button.
"My God, finally! I'm Sheriff Carter from Lakeview. I need you to call the CSP in Lurt and tell them to send every available officer to Lakeview immediately! It's an emergency!"
"Sorry, can't do that right now. We're stuck in this hellhole too, and I've just found out that your town's signal tower was taken down. No one can get a message out for now."
Jack paused, realizing that this might sound too hopeless, and added, "Tell me your location, Sheriff. We have some weapons and can come to assist you. Can you give me a brief rundown of the situation where you are?"
"A group of mountain people is attacking Lakeview. They're killing people all over town. Most folks went to the lake today, so it's just me here at the station, uh, and a few young folks who are taking shelter. Whoever you are, please come help us!"
"So, you're holed up in the police station, right?" Sensing the sheriff's erratic state, Jack refrained from revealing too much and stuck to the basics.
"Yes, yes! The power's out here, we can't see anything outside. We only have a few candles. Who are you? How many of you are there? How soon can you get here?"
Jack's calm voice seemed to settle the sheriff a bit, and she finally remembered to ask who he was.
"Who we are isn't important. You'll know when we meet. Just stay calm, Sheriff Carter."
Until Jack was sure of the situation, he had no intention of revealing their identities or location. For all he knew, this could be a trap.
"I have a tourist map of Lakeview. Can you tell me the nearest high ground to the police station? How many of these mountain people are there?"
"I don't know how many... Two young people were attacked on their way to the station, and... my husband... I saw them drag him away. I fired at them, but I couldn't hit them!"
"They... they eat people! Their screams are everywhere outside. Please hurry and help us!"
Sensing that the sheriff was on the verge of another emotional breakdown, Jack quickly raised a finger to silence JJ, who was about to speak to comfort her.
According to the original plan, nobody at the police station would survive. They would all be taken down, one by one, despite having firearms.
Saving them required a proper strategy. Jack's group wasn't made up of heavily armed SEALs, and though the BAU members had some weapons training—Reed was no longer as physically frail as before—they were still vulnerable.
In horror scenarios, anyone could die, even the protagonist. In some films, the protagonist often dies the most tragic death of all.
Until Jack knew the full situation, it was best to reveal as little information about their own position as possible.
"Tell me again, where's the nearest high ground to the police station? If you can't stay calm, you'll only make our rescue plan harder, Sheriff Carter!" Jack repeated.
"The bell tower, southeast of the police station, about a street away. From there, you can see the whole town. Please hurry, my husband, he..."
"Hold your gun tight. We'll be there soon. Stay together with the others. Do not leave, and do not split up under any circumstances."
Jack turned off the walkie-talkie. Reed had already finished reviewing the surveillance footage from the substation and was marking up the tourist map JJ had found.
"Here's the police station, almost dead center of the town, right at the intersection. The bell tower is here, in the lower right corner. The map doesn't show the height, but if the sheriff says it overlooks the whole town, it's probably over 20 meters tall."
Reed swallowed nervously. "Those monsters broke into the substation about half an hour ago. I want to take a look inside. The equipment here isn't easy to completely destroy, so we might be able to repair it."
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [www.p@treon.com/Mutter]
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]