"Beep! Beep! Beep! BOOM!"
The urgent alarm sounded only three times before a deeper roar drowned it out.
Multiple nozzles along the side of the detonator released a massive cloud of pale yellow aerosol.
The highly concentrated chemical neutralizer spread rapidly outward from the detonator in a hemispherical wave.
The pale yellow mist quickly filled the area. Wherever it touched the crystalline surfaces, they began to hiss and release clouds of white smoke, their sheen visibly fading.
The Predators caught within the mist reacted even more violently.
They shrieked in frenzy as though they had been thrown into boiling oil.
The electromagnetic pulse had only disrupted them, but this highly concentrated neutralizing agent seemed to directly attack both their pheromone-based senses and the chemical-biological balance they depended on.
The Predators began spinning in place, wildly slashing at the air and ground with the bone blades on their forelimbs. Their fleshy growths convulsed violently, and they even crashed into one another. Their earlier composure vanished as they plunged into complete sensory confusion.
Even the large Predator wounded by Jenson, which had been searching for the sniper, fell into the same frenzy and could no longer focus on anything else.
"Now! Move!"
Calista and Maya burst from the shaft entrance at full speed and raced straight toward the blast-proof door.
They moved swiftly through the pale yellow mist.
As she ran, Calista pulled the final block of high-energy plastic explosive from her tactical vest. She quickly secured it to the locking mechanism beneath the blast-proof door's pressure valve wheel and armed the miniature detonator.
"Cover me!" she shouted.
Maya immediately stepped in front of her, raised her weapon toward the nearest small Predator stumbling wildly through the mist, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The bullets struck its side armor and knocked it off balance, buying Calista precious time.
"Get clear!"
Calista pressed the remote trigger as she and Maya dove aside.
"BOOM!"
An explosion far louder than the blast inside the duct erupted in front of the door.
The blast-proof door's heavy locking bolts twisted and snapped beneath the shaped charge, forcing the door open by a narrow crack.
"Inside!"
Ignoring the ringing in her ears from the close-range explosion, Calista scrambled to her feet. She and Maya wedged their rifle stocks into the gap and pried with all their strength.
Bossie came scrambling over, and all three pushed together.
"Creak... Clang!"
They forced the heavy blast-proof door open just wide enough for someone to squeeze through sideways.
"Jenson, Ethan, Mikey, Leon, Honeywell! Get inside!"
Calista shouted to the others as she slipped through the gap, keeping her weapon aimed into the room beyond.
The space inside was smaller than they had expected. It resembled an equipment buffer room, and Leah's team was nowhere to be seen.
The room covered no more than thirty square meters. Rows of dead emergency lights lined the ceiling.
Dust-covered equipment cases and abandoned metal cabinets were stacked against the walls, while scattered papers and severed data cables littered the floor.
Directly across from them stood another equally heavy blast-proof door. A clear sign was mounted at its center:
D-7 Main Laboratory | Authorized Personnel Only | Biohazard Level: A
Beneath it was a cold electronic lock panel with a completely dark screen.
Maya entered second, followed closely by Bossie.
The remaining team members emerged from their hiding places and sprinted toward the door.
On the platform, the neutralizing mist was slowly thinning, and the amount of crystallization had visibly decreased.
Had Bossie's detector still been working, they would have seen the chemical contamination level in the air rapidly falling into the safe range.
However, the frenzied Predators were beginning to recover, especially the larger ones. Their massive bodies swayed as their fleshy growths gradually turned back toward the door, low growls of fury rumbling from their throats.
"Damn it, get inside!" Calista shouted anxiously from the buffer room.
Honeywell was the slowest and reached the door last. Just as he was about to squeeze through, one of the smaller Predators recovered faster than the others and lunged at him with a shriek, driving its forelimb straight toward his back.
Leon reacted instantly. He grabbed Honeywell and yanked him through the gap while raising his rifle.
"Bang!"
The point-blank shot tore the small Predator's fleshy growth apart, sending it staggering backward with an agonized scream.
"Close the door!"
Calista, Maya, and Leon threw all their weight against the heavy door.
"ROAR!"
The Predators slammed into it from outside, making the entire frame tremble.
"Hold it!" Calista yelled, bracing her body against the violently shaking door.
All seven Predators had recovered and were now packed outside, ramming the door with tremendous force.
The eight of them could barely hold it shut. None of them had a hand free to fire.
Even then, the door was slowly being forced open. A massive crystalline forelimb pushed through the widening gap inch by inch.
"Leon! Find something to brace it with!"
Calista felt the force against the door growing stronger. Everyone's boots scraped desperately across the floor. They could not keep this up.
At that critical moment, a soft click came from behind them.
The blast-proof door leading into the D-7 Main Laboratory slid open without warning.
A blinding flashlight beam shot through the gap and flooded the dim buffer room. Several of them instinctively shut their eyes against the glare.
A burst of rapid gunfire followed immediately.
"Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!"
Bullets hammered into the forelimb joint of the large Predator at the front, the one trying to force its way inside.
The shots were exceptionally precise. Every round struck the weaker seams between sections of crystalline armor, repeatedly hitting the exact same point.
"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Under the sustained, accurate fire, the tough crystalline shell finally cracked. Dark green corrosive fluid sprayed from the bullet holes.
The large Predator roared in pain, and its attempt to force its way through faltered.
At the same moment, a tall, powerfully built figure stepped out of the bright light beyond the door.
The visor of his hazmat suit was coated in dried grime, making it impossible for Calista and the others to see his face. They only saw him flick his left arm and send a riot shield flying directly toward Leon, who stood closest to the gap.
Leon caught it in confusion, then immediately understood. Together with Mikey, he raised the shield into position.
With his right hand, the newcomer swiftly drew a heavy tactical axe from behind his back. He drove his hips forward, took two powerful steps, and brought the gleaming blade down with all his strength.
"CLANG! CRACK!"
The axe struck the exact spot on the forelimb that the bullets had weakened.
The horrifying limb, as thick as an adult man's thigh, was cleanly severed at the joint with a single blow.
It crashed onto the floor and continued twitching, its corrosive fluids making smoke rise from the metal beneath it.
A torrent of thick, corrosive liquid sprayed from the jagged stump.
"HISSS!"
The riot shield blocked most of it. Only a small amount splashed onto the shield's edge and the floor, instantly eating pits into the metal and releasing thick smoke.
A roar loud enough to shake the roof thundered from outside. The wounded limb jerked back, and everyone surged forward to slam the door shut. The pounding from outside stopped for the moment.
The newcomer gave the axe a sharp downward flick, shaking most of the viscous residue from its corrosion-stained blade. Rather than looking disheveled, the movement only made him seem fiercer and more imposing.
He wiped the grime from his hazmat visor, revealing a handsome face soaked with sweat, then grinned at Calista.
"Calista, you're here!"