BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

The beasts that came in were not very strong; at best, they were on the low end of the spectrum, so they were not immune to bullets and laser rifles. But their sheer numbers made it difficult for the police officers to contain them. Allan's father wanted to call for backup, but there weren't enough people inside the city so they could do nothing.

The police blockade was efficient, as they were able to kill a lot of thaids; however, most of the thaids ignored the police and went directly to the group of civilians running away, of which most were kids with no fighting experience.

"We need more firepower!" one officer shouted from behind cover near some cars.

"Shoot them down!" We will have civilian casualties if we don't get rid of these things!"

Some officers ran toward the thaids and fought them in close quarters, while others kept shooting their guns and using their powers from a distance to try to stop the monsters from coming closer. The thaids were getting more aggressive, and the officers struggled to keep them at bay. The situation was becoming more dangerous by the minute, and they needed backup as soon as possible.

The defensive perimeter was still up; shouts and gunshots could be heard. There were also occasional screams coming from inside buildings when a thaid steered away from their group and chased the civilians.

A kid tried climbing over a building but lost grip halfway there, falling onto a bunch of thaids waiting for it to fall, and devouring it as soon as possible. The kid screamed until only muffled sounds could be heard; he died, eaten alive by terrifying monsters.

The scene was chilling, and the kids who saw the scene panicked and tried to gain more distance from the thaids. Some even puked or threw up because they couldn't handle what just happened. One kid got trampled underfoot after being knocked off balance during panic and fell into a crowd of other people. He was dead before anyone realized something had gone wrong.

The police kept trying to protect the civilians; however, they saw a massive thaid from afar and started losing their composure. The situation was getting out of control as more people were getting injured, and the police were struggling to maintain order.

"Concentrate your firepower on that huge bug!" someone shouted. A downpour of attacks came down on the creature, which fell lifelessly on the ground, and his fall slowed other creatures.

"Good job," Luca said.

"Look," another soldier said, pointing at a giant beetle marching toward their position.

The creature was moving fast, and the bullets weren't enough to pierce its carapace.

"Use the grenades!" Luca Grimes, Allan's father, shouted. Allan quickly grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin, aiming at the beetle's feet. The officers quickly followed the order, and a policeman opened a car's door; he picked up the case full of grenades and removed the lid.

As this was done, the police officers lunged for the small weapons, and after having aimed at the creature, they threw the grenades toward the bulk of the monsters, where the beetle was. The grenades exploded, creating a loud noise and a smoke cloud covering the area. When the smoke cleared, they saw that most other monsters had been completely obliterated.

As for the beetle, initially, it avoided most of the grenades, but the sheer number of weapons was too much, and one crippled him, destroying its leg. However, the subsequent throws exploded right next to them in the middle of the beasts' charge, sending them flying through the air and killing many of them.

The thaids' arms, antennae, eyes, and numerous other body parts ended up all over the place, including on top of the thaids that were unaffected by the blasts. After seeing how effective the grenade attack was, the policemen quickly grabbed more of them and tossed them like darts, killing more thaids in the process.

It looked almost comical watching the cops throw grenades left and right. "C'mon!" Allan's dad shouted. It was his way of boosting his colleagues' morale.

The bulk of the beasts were now awfully close to the barricade, so another police officer dashed past it and used his sword to stop more monsters from reaching the civilians. Several other officers did the same, but before being overrun by the thaids, they darted back to the cars and resumed firing at the monsters.

Finally, the wave ended, and the police successfully killed most of the thaids in front of the shelter. The problem was that many monsters went past the barricade and chased a group of fleeing civilians who couldn't reach the shelter on time. The police officers' job didn't end there.

"Prepare the cars to give chase to the thaids," Luca ordered. The chief of police was dead tired, but he had to force himself to fight since the lives of many kids and old people were in jeopardy at that moment.

The whole group then went to their cars, guns blazing. They knew that time was of the essence, and they had to act fast to catch the monsters before they could cause any more harm.

"Start the chase," Luca said to the driver. With their sirens blaring, they sped off in pursuit of the fleeing thaids.

A desolate scene flowed before them as they drove across the city's streets. The place looked like a graveyard; an incalculable number of corpses could be seen littering the streets; some of them were being munched on by thaids, while others were there waiting to be eaten but unable to move due to missing limbs.

Some dead bodies had apparent bite wounds, while others had unidentified ones. For some, it was possible to determine the cause of death, but the wounds were too grievous for the rest.

***

"Ah, ah, ah…" Aaron and his father were tirelessly running away from the beasts. They separated from the group of people running away and went directly inside a building to hide in their tracks.

Aaron's father had been in the military before but had never been a powerful fighter, so he didn't feel confident enough to stop the thaids there and protect his son. The creatures had different means to catch their prey, and to find people inside buildings was not hard at all.

The duo was inside a huge white construction made of concrete. They were gasping for air, but they had to be careful with the noise they made, or else they would be discovered. While inside the building, they slowly went up the stairs; it looked like they were the only ones hiding there.

Most of the adults went out to fight while the kids and the old men and women ran to the shelters. Noises could be heard everywhere; they came from outside the buildings. Most were the victims' screams and the monsters' munching sounds. These were making Aaron progressively anxious.

After a couple of minutes of hiding and trying to assess the situation, the sound of a door being smashed reverberated through the building; it was so loud that it was actually impossible not to hear it. It looked like the creatures had found them.

Aaron and his father had no other choice but to fight. He had no idea how to solve his current crisis; however, he knew he needed his father's help to escape the predicament. The young man and his father kept walking down the hallways, but Aaron had not been cautious enough, and he kicked a metal bucket left by mistake by someone cleaning the stairs, making a loud noise that echoed through the corridors.

Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from outside, and they knew that they were not going to be alone in the building anymore. The sound drew the attention of the creatures outside the building, but they could do nothing as probably several of them had already entered the building.

"Dad, we have to fight," Aaron said, turning to his father with a scared look.

"Fuck…" his father said.

"I'm too old for this…" They slowly went downstairs to try to find a good spot for fighting.

They kept descending until they reached the second floor of the building. The floors had very large hallways on which several reinforced doors stood closed, each one leading to apartments that might contain survivors.

"Let's go," Aaron said. His father nodded and followed him into the hallway.