By combining the partially restored surveillance footage, the group quickly identified a pattern in the Predators' movements. Their routes closely overlapped with the core area where the initial leak had occurred.
Their choice of the multi-level reactor workshop as a nest was no coincidence. It was the center of the contamination, which had drawn the Predators there and caused them to gather.
Fortunately, the task force still had a considerable supply of chemical neutralizers capable of breaking down those pheromone sources. In theory, they could significantly weaken the Black Fire mutants' senses and disrupt their movement patterns.
After some discussion, they quickly devised a clear operational plan.
"Scatter them?" Leah asked with her arms crossed, seeking confirmation from Calista.
Calista nodded. "Exactly. We need to tear a gap in their movement pattern."
Leah frowned. "You mean using the neutralizers? We don't have enough left to cover the entire plant."
"We don't need to cover all of it." Calista walked to the main surveillance screen and pointed at several key areas. "The main ventilation valve, the residual culture medium discharge outlet, and the abandoned reactor cooling section.
"These points control the airflow throughout the plant. If we release the neutralizers at all of them simultaneously, we can create a purification net and drastically reduce the pheromone concentration."
Michonne leaned against the wall. "The Predators use pheromones to coordinate. Once the concentration falls, they'll become disoriented."
Calista turned to face the group. "It'll be like suddenly going blind and deaf. They'll be separated and lose the advantage of working as a group. Then we can deal with the remaining ten one at a time."
The team divided into five groups and advanced simultaneously toward three primary nodes and two secondary ones.
Leah, Bossie, and Honeywell remained behind to monitor the surveillance feeds. They relayed the positions of any visible Black Fire mutants over the team channel and coordinated the groups' movements.
The first group made relatively smooth progress.
The upper maintenance corridor was dark, illuminated only by their headlamps. Calista took the lead, Michonne covered the rear, and Maya walked between them carrying the makeshift detector.
"The concentration is rising," Maya whispered, watching the numbers fluctuate across the display. "There may be mutants ahead."
The three immediately pressed themselves against the wall and went still.
Calista listened carefully. Aside from her own heartbeat, she heard only the occasional dripping of a distant pipe.
"Not Predators," Michonne breathed, her voice barely audible. "The footsteps are too heavy and too scattered."
Sure enough, several minutes later, two Claw mutants wandered into view.
Calista signaled to the others. The three retreated to the previous junction and slipped into a narrow ventilation maintenance passage.
The passage was so cramped that they had to move while crouched. Cold beads of condensation covered the walls, and one dropped onto the back of Michonne's neck, making her flinch.
"I don't like this place."
After crawling for around twenty minutes, Maya tapped Calista's calf and pointed to the detector.
The pheromone concentration had risen sharply, which meant they were probably close to the target area.
A metal grate appeared ahead.
Calista peered through the gaps. Below them was a vast cylindrical chamber at least thirty meters across, with a ceiling too high to see.
Countless pipes of varying thickness extended outward from the chamber. At its center stood a massive fan assembly.
They had reached the main ventilation valve.
...
The second group ran into trouble.
Honeywell's supposed "shortcut" was actually a maintenance passage half submerged in cooling water.
The murky liquid reached their thighs and was cold enough to numb the bone. Unidentified chemical residue and flakes of rust floated across its surface, and the stench was nauseating.
"Fuck! He calls this a shortcut?" Turner cursed through chattering teeth as he struggled forward through the water.
"That's how it was marked on the plans he drew..." Wells shrugged.
Mike waded silently at the front. "Stop arguing. Save your strength and watch beneath the surface."
His warning came just in time.
The water to Turner's left suddenly rippled unnaturally.
A walker, almost rotted into sludge, slowly rose from the water. Half of its head had decayed away, and its single remaining eye suddenly locked onto Wells.
Wells froze.
His hand moved faster than his mind. He drove his knife into its remaining eye.
"Who the hell decided this was a shortcut?"
Turner glanced back at him. "That's how it was marked on the plans."
They continued wading for another ten minutes before finally reaching the ladder Honeywell had mentioned. It was covered in rust, but the structure still appeared intact.
Mike climbed first. After confirming that it was safe, he signaled for the other two to follow.
The three climbed onto a relatively dry platform.
Ahead of them loomed the wreckage of a massive cooling tower. Warning signs still hung from the surrounding pipes:
Reactor Cooling Section | Danger | High Temperature and Pressure
...
Jonathan and the Dixon brothers needed to cross the reactor workshop.
Jonathan crouched at the entrance and dipped a finger in water to sketch a rough diagram on the floor.
"Daryl, take the elevated walkway over there and provide overwatch and cover. Merle and I will cross the floor quickly and meet you behind the third reactor vessel."
Daryl nodded. However, the first time his boot touched the stairs, the metal let out a loud creak. He flinched and continued with even greater caution.
Merle and Jonathan waited silently for him to reach his position.
A faint voice finally came through the communicator.
"Clear."
Only then did the two men slip quietly into the workshop.
Whenever they approached another vessel, Jonathan would peek around it first, then signal for Merle to follow.
They had already crossed two thirds of the distance. The deployment point in the workshop's northeast corner was less than fifty meters away.
Then Daryl's warning came.
"Stop."
Merle immediately grabbed Jonathan and pulled him into the narrow gap between two reactor vessels.
Almost simultaneously, two Claw mutants wandered into the passage they had been about to cross.
They were not Predators, but they were still dangerous.
Jonathan tightened his grip on his shotgun but did not raise it. Firing would reveal their position.
He looked toward Merle, who had already drawn a revolver fitted with a suppressor. Its effective range was short, but it was enough for this distance.
Merle silently asked with his eyes whether they should kill them.
Jonathan hesitated.
Their primary objective was to deploy the neutralizer, not clear the area.
But the two creatures were blocking the only route to the node.
Just as he was about to nod, the situation suddenly changed.
The two Claw mutants had been wandering aimlessly, but both froze at the same moment. Their purplish red brain growths turned toward the opposite side of the workshop, and low clacking sounds came from the honeycomb shaped openings.
A second later, something moved in the shadows.
Two Predators slid down from the overhead pipes and landed steadily, one in front of the Claw mutants and the other behind them.
Jonathan and Merle's hearts sank.
Predators.
They were only thirty meters away, hunting the Claw mutants.
In an instant, the Claw mutants went from hunters to prey.
The Predators did not attack immediately.
They separated, one moving left and the other right, slowly circling their targets. One of them suddenly accelerated, moving so quickly that it almost left an afterimage. Its sharp crystalline foreclaw tore a wound across the first Claw mutant's back, cutting all the way to the bone.
The Claw mutant screamed and swung its bone blades wildly in retaliation, but struck nothing but air.
The second Predator attacked from the side. Its forelimb pierced precisely through the point where the other Claw mutant's brain growth connected to its neck.
...
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