Time: 01:13 HoursLocation: Stützpunkt Eisen – Frontline, Northern PerimeterStatus: Defensive Line Under Siege
The gunfire had slowed. Not stopped — just slowed. Bursts came in short, desperate spurts. The repeater clanked, hissed, then barked again. Rifle bolts snapped, boots pounded mud. A second flare drifted overhead, sputtering as it fell, painting the trees in flickering white.
Leon crouched behind the main barrier, blood splattered across his sleeves. His eyes scanned the dark, waiting for movement.
"They're regrouping," Ochs said beside him, breath ragged. "That wasn't a retreat. That was a test."
Leon said nothing. Just listened.
Then the jungle went still again.
No howls.No shifting leaves.No footsteps.Even the wounded had stopped moaning.
And from the mist, just beyond the line of collapsed trees, something moved.
At first, it was only shadow.
Then — a shape.
Ten feet tall, maybe more. Skin the color of rotted bone, stretched tight and wet across coils of muscle. It stepped between trees with unnatural silence, its weight somehow leaving no sound. Two white horns curved backward from its skull like scythes. Its arms hung low — fingers tipped with razor-length claws that scraped bark as it walked.
Its eyes burned. Yellow. Cold. Focused.
It didn't move like the wolves.
It moved like it had come looking for someone.
Ritter saw it first.
"Mein Gott," he breathed.
"Contact. CONTACT!" another soldier screamed. "West side! What the hell is that!?"
Leon stood slowly from behind cover.
The beast was just watching them. Still. Breathing heavy. Chest rising and falling like a furnace.
It remembered him.
Leon's grip tightened on his rifle. "That's the same one."
Ochs's eyes widened. "Same… what?"
"The one from the pass. That thing killed two of my guards before I could drop it. I thought it was alone. I was wrong."
The creature stepped forward.
Slow.
Deliberate.
[Radio: Zentrale] – "Eisen Base, reinforcements less than one klick out. Status—?"
Leon pressed the mic, eyes still locked on the beast."Zentrale… We've got a problem."
The monster roared.
It wasn't like the wolves — it was deep, echoing, vibrating in the lungs. It felt like stone cracking underground.
The line shattered.
Beasts surged from the trees again — emboldened, frenzied, reckless.
The pale creature moved first — leapt the barrier in a single bound.
It landed in the center of the camp, smashing into the mud with a wet crash. A soldier opened fire — it grabbed him by the chest and threw him ten meters into a supply wagon. Wood splintered. Blood sprayed.
"Kill it!" Leon roared.
The repeater swung toward it.
BRAT-TAT-TAT—
The bullets struck its shoulder, chest, head — but it kept moving, stumbling forward, snarling. Blood poured black and thick from open wounds, but the beast didn't fall.
It grabbed another man — tore straight through his ribs. Tossed him like a doll.
Leon aimed for the eyes.
POP—POP—POP!
One shot hit the side of its skull — the beast reeled back, growled, and lunged straight at him.
He dropped to one knee and fired again — center mass, then under the chin.
The last shot hit deep.
CRACK.
The creature buckled — knees hit dirt, claws scraping. It snarled one last time…
Then it collapsed.
Dead.
This time for good.
Silence returned — briefly.
Then more howls came from deeper in the woods.
Ritter whispered, "There's more like that."
Leon stood over the twitching corpse, chest heaving, gun still raised.
"Yeah," he muttered. "And they remember us."
The pale monster fell.Its blood steamed on the ground.
But the forest didn't stop.
It answered.
Howls erupted — not ten, not twenty — dozens.Then shapes moved between the trees.
Ritter's voice cracked. "No… no no no— Leon—"
Leon turned.
Seventy. At least seventy. Some on all fours. Some standing upright, taller than a man. Some massive — hulking — moving in jerks, twisted shapes silhouetted by moonlight.
Leon's breath hitched. His throat tightened. His hands shook.
For the first time since the war began—
He lost his cool.
He shouted without thinking:
"WHAT THE FUCK—!? THAT'S TOO MANY! THAT'S TOO MANY!"
Ochs grabbed his arm. "Leon! Orders!"
But Leon wasn't hearing anything.
The line fell apart. Men ran to positions, some screaming, some crying, some racking bolts with shaking hands.
The wolves charged.
The ground trembled under their stampede.
"CONTACT WEST! CONTACT SOUTH! GOD HELP US THEY'RE IN THE TREES—!"
Repeaters opened up.
BRAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT—
Rifles flashed like strobe lights. Beasts jumped the barricades. One landed on a sentry tower and tore the man from it. Another ripped through wired stakes like they were grass.
Leon raised his radio to his mouth — screaming now.
[Radio: Leon – FULL PANIC]"ZENTRALE! ZENTRALE DO YOU READ!?WE CAN'T HOLD THIS! THERE'S MORE THAN SEVENTY—MAYBE A HUNDRED!THEY'RE ALL OVER THE FUCKING WALL—WE NEED EVERYTHING—EVERYTHING YOU GOT—NOW!"
Static burst. Someone else shouted behind him — a long, skin-tearing scream.
Leon turned — a bipedal wolf had clamped onto a man's torso, swinging him like a rag.
Leon fired—POP POP POP—until the beast dropped.
He slammed the radio again.
"SEND MEN! SEND ANYTHING! WE CAN'T—WE CAN'T—"
And then —
Bruno's voice.
Cold. Sharp. Command in every syllable.
[Radio: General Bruno]"Leon. Listen to me."
Leon froze. Even the horror around them felt quieter.
"W–We're surrounded! We're FUCKING surrounded! SEND MORE MEN!"
Bruno spoke again — steady, calm:
"We are deploying heavy motorized equipment."
Leon blinked, drenched in sweat and blood.
"What? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!? I DON'T NEED EQUIPMENT— I NEED MEN!"
Bruno didn't raise his voice.
"Leon. Hold for seven minutes. Reinforcements are already moving. You just need to last. Seven. Minutes."
Leon looked at the waves of beasts smashing against the sandbags.
"SEVEN MINUTES!? WE WON'T LAST SEVEN SECONDS!"
The radio hissed again — Bruno's voice unshaken.
"You will."
Then—A distant horn. South side.
Shapes burst from the far treeline—
Reich soldiers. Dozens. From Stützpunkt Grimm, Stützpunkt Morgen, Stützpunkt Klinge, Stützpunkt Asche — all of them.
They were sprinting full speed, rifles raised, bayonets fixed.
"LEON! WE'RE COMING IN!"
The beasts hit them before they fully crossed into the clearing.
Screams ripped through the forest.
One squad was thrown aside instantly — bodies torn apart, blood splattering bark. Another group tried to form a line, but a huge bipedal wolf barreled into them, sending three men flying.
A soldier's voice shrieked through the night:
"OH GOD—THEY'RE EVERYWHERE—HELP—HELP—"
A second scream followed. Then a third.
The forest floor ran slick with blood.
Leon roared over it all:
"KEEP FIRING! KEEP FIRING! DON'T YOU STOP!"
Ritter's repeater belt ran dry — he fumbled, shaking, Ochs slamming a new one in. The gun spat fire again, cutting down five wolves before jamming.
The base shuddered under the assault.
Men were dying all around. Reinforcements were getting swallowed before reaching the wall.
And somewhere behind the trees…Something bigger moved.
The line was seconds from breaking.