The Little Prince in the Ossuary
Chapter 47

00047 — #signs–

# Signs (3), Atascadero

A meal break was also a necessary order for soldiers. If you wanted to maintain your combat power, you should eat at the right time. Mealtime was given in two shifts.

Although it was a sudden command, Gyeo-ul prepared a meal without any complaints, for his hunger was at「Bad Status」, and he wanted to stay in the best condition. All one had to do was fill in the calories.

Their meal was a first strike ration (FSR). As Gyeo-ul took out an energy bar, Lt. Jeffrey, who was mixing tuna and mayonnaise, spoke to him.

“You know, doesn’t this look like a bunch of shit?”

Military preservation did not care about aesthetics. The shape of the energy bar was, to put it nicely, looked like a crushed lamb. To put it more frankly, it was indeed like a lump of feces. Gyeo-ul had put down the energy bar. Upon seeing this, Jeffrey grinned.

“What do you say? Revenge of the cockroaches!”

“…”

Being able to joke, even when you were afraid, was evidence of veteran experience. However, some would think it was just immature. Gyeo-ul sighed and chewed sandwiches. It tasted like salty beef.

“I don’t think that’s from a man. Kind of… what is it, automated transmission and reception? Maybe that’s broken. That also caused interference.”

“But we can’t just ignore it. The mission is reconnaissance. We need to find traces of the former team,” Jeffrey muttered with an uncomfortable look at Gyeo-ul’s answer.

“In horror movies, people die when they get a radio like that.”

“……”

That’s nonsense. Is this man really immature?

After the meal, the radio soldier attempted to communicate once more with the unidentified people.

“That’s creepy. At least we’re not dealing with a broken machine.”

The radio soldier who finished communication sweated.

“There’s a response every time I send it over here. The transmission of messages is interrupted momentarily, and the interference frequency becomes stronger. Their transmission resumes shortly, but it includes a message I sent, too.”

“What is that?”

Second Lieutenant Jeffrey had a ridiculous look on his face. Gyeo-ul began to ask. “Is there anything else in particular?”

“Uh, um, I’m not sure…”

As Gyeo-ul nodded, the radio soldier said something uncomfortable.

“The more I repeat it, the more sensitive it becomes.”

“Does that mean the target is approaching?”

“Well, that’s likely.”

Increasing sensitivity proved decreasing distance. The atmosphere became quiet. Gyeo-ul decided to make a suggestion.

“That’s rather good. Let’s keep in touch, get ready for a welcome.”

Jeffrey pointed to the vacant lot outside the main gate.

“That’s enough for the point of fire, right? There’s a cover over here.”

“That’s fine.”

The soldiers moved busily. It was to move the lobby’s booby trap outside. The soldiers who installed Claymores drew the electricity cable. If you hit the detonator here, you could detonate it remotely in time.

As with all public facilities, there was a flagpole at the center of the vacant lot. Jeffrey ordered the soldiers to lower the flag. It was a formality, but the soldiers carried it out without complaint. The American flag was recovered along with the California flag. Jeffrey folded them up well. He said that this was a souvenir.

Until now, radio soldiers had continuously tried to communicate.

“The message I sent came back.”

A tense report. It meant that an unidentified opponent would copy and repeat the words of the radio soldier. In addition, the noise became stronger, and message reception sensitivity also increased. It was almost noisy. Jeffrey grumbled.

“Are they really ghosts, or are they teasing us?”

It was certain that the distance was reduced. He felt anxious because he couldn’t tell how close they were.

After walking for some time, they eventually came across something strange. Across the parking lot, a blurry figure passed quickly between the buildings and coniferous trees over the fence.

“There’s something.”

It wasn’t human, Gyeo-ul was sure, as he raised his gun.

“What? Where?”

The whole platoon was nervous. Soldiers were watching their surroundings, sticking their guns out.

“Where is it?”

Jeffrey’s sounded highly nervous. Gyeo-ul measured the distance. Measurement of the distance by the eyes should be corrected by 「Firearm mastery」.

“12 o’clock, about 120 meters away, hiding behind the building second from the left.”

More than 30 guns moved to follow Gyeo-ul’s words.

The walkie-talkie was going crazy. Gyeo-ul turned it off. In any case, it was impossible to communicate, and all the platoon members were gathered. Jeffrey and his soldiers also did as Gyeo-ul did.

The target didn’t show up easily. Instead, small things began to crawl over the fence. The soldiers were embarrassed.

“Doesn’t that… isn’t that a baby?”

It wasn’t just like a baby – it was indeed a baby. Infected babies, to be exact. There were several of them, and their limbs looked deformed, almost as if they had been burned.

An ordinary baby could not have crossed the fence. These did. They couldn’t even stand on their two feet, but with reinforced power, they came over. Struggling on the railing, they fall down. They rolled down the slope made of grass.

Kaeee-. Kaeeee-

There came a strange cry. The black babies crawled out. The speed was surprisingly fast, almost like that of a dog. Their big heads swirled from side to side, showing a mutant’s unique behavior.

“Oh, Jesus. It’s getting worse,” someone murmured.

Mutant babies were more complicated targets than expected. They were small and agile, sometimes jumping up and down on four limbs like a frog. Some of them also crawled underneath a car.

It was probably a new special mutant, a kind that Gyeo-ul had never seen. It was like whoever was behind it was testing them for the first time.

“Terrorist bastards. It’s a violation of the rules to use babies. Fire!”

It was embarrassing because they were babies, but they couldn’t allow them to approach. Jeffrey’s shooting order had been issued.

Drrrr! Drrrr!

The machine gun then fired immediately.

Gyeo-ul saved ammunition. He knelt and focused on single targets, and would hit exactly one shot for each target. Even so, the efficiency was superior to the soldiers shooting auto.

Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!

Whenever the trigger was pulled, red blood was sprayed on the parking lot and the vacant lot.

Paak! A baby shot in the head turned around in the air. The bullet blasted its small skull, forming a hollow from the forehead to the top of the head. Its brains seemed to be scooped out with an ice cream spoon.

“Oh, shit! I’m going to have a nightmare!”

Support firearm soldiers reloaded the machine gun ammunition. With the help of an assistant, he quickly reloaded it and aimed at the mutant babies near the flagpole. There were 200 rounds in the magazine. It was an indiscriminate attack.

When they crossed the parking lot, there was no more cover in the vacant lot. The bunch of mutant babies who entered within the gun’s range was separated. It seemed as if an invisible grinder tore through their bodies. A torn baby fell on the grass. It lost half of its body. Innards flowed out. It wiggled once before turning limp.

“God, God, God, God…”

He called God endlessly right next to Gyeo-ul. In fact, this proved to be an unpleasant experience, even for Gyeo-ul.

“Claymore! Number seven, number eight! Fire!”

At Jeffrey’s firm command, a soldier threw something across the lot and pressed a button.

The earth shook. Each of the two claymores spread 700 ball bearings 120 degrees in front. Gunpowder fog rose over the rain-soaked ground.

It was over-kill. Anything within its scope would be unrecognizable. They only used two out of the eight claymores they brought, but the vacant lot was completely swept away.

While everyone was quiet, Gyeo-ul began to shoot alone. After emptying one magazine, he emptied a new one again. Everyone felt puzzled because they didn’t know what a male officer seemed to be shooting at.

“I missed it.”

Jeffrey asked, “What?”

“You’re so distracted that you forgot. What were we wary of the first time?”

“…Oops.”

Jeffrey hit his helmet. He seemed to curse his stupidity for a moment. The soldiers were on the same page. While the unidentified enemy was on the run, they were completely out of control. Jeffrey, who was struggling, asked the question in a gloomy mood.

“Did you see what it looked like?”

“It only had one leg. It’s covered by shrubs and trees.”

“Did you hit it?”

“For sure. I hit it with several bullets, but I don’t know if they damaged it or not.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re here. You deserve a medal.….”

He asked for the maximum explanation of what Gyeo-ul had seen. The silhouette and one leg alone, which he saw at first, soon gave him an idea of the approximate size. The conclusion was also a special mutant.

“It’s smaller than [Grumble], but it’s definitely not an ordinary mutant.”

Gyeo-ul and Jeffrey advanced beyond the parking lot under cover of the soldiers. They were looking for his traces. However, the bloodstains and grass footsteps were cut off when they met asphalt. It was difficult to expect additional results with the fourth-grade [tracking] of Gyeo-ul. The problem was the rain that was still falling. Bloodstains did not continue. Blurred blood flows into the furrows.

However, they found one new thing. The new mutant had low or no physical resistance.

“Where did this guy run…? It’s too much to search the city.”

The missing former team may have followed an unidentified radio into the city. Gyeo-ul spoke to Jeffrey, who was worried.

“Well, we may not need to search right now.”

“Huh?”

Instead of explaining, Gyeo-ul turned on the radio again. There was a noise. The message was not sent out, but the intensity of the noise is great. It was the same or more than when it was approaching. Gyeo-ul listened quietly and slowly gained confidence.

“This guy is still hunting us.”

It meant that the position of being chased and chasing could be the opposite. There came a moment of silence.

“Asshole… Who’s hunting who?”

Jeffrey giggled at this.

“It’s been hit and now running, and it’s still hanging around? It’s good we don’t have to go after it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, they heard the sound of barbed wire shaking from afar. Very rough. Everyone around looked at one side. It was headed for the state hospital’s isolation ward. There was a noise of breaking windows. It was clear that it went into the building because the interference suddenly weakened.

“Oh, my God, you son of bitch. You don’t want to get caught nicely.”

According to the briefing, 1,200 infected mutants had been accommodated by the CDC in isolation wards. If they were released, there would be hell. Ammunition would run out before fatigue even came. Gyeo-ul eased his worries.

“It’s okay. They said it’s all locked up. We checked one of them ourselves. And so will the individual rooms.”

It was called a hospital room, but in fact, it was like a cell. It wouldn’t even open without a key.

“Oh, I can’t help it. All right, let’s go to the labyrinth.

Jeffrey walked with his shoulders down, but he still took the lead.

Gyeo-ul searched the vehicles of the former team along the way. He was able to replenish his ammunition, as well as obtained some grenades.