Chapter 2 Dire Confrontation

That night, the atmosphere was tense, the wind blowing scattered dry leaves on the ground, with fine dust particles floating in the air, indicating the silence of the city. The dim streetlights added to the eerie ambiance.

In one corner of the city, there was a different kind of activity-a commotion and loud noises of objects colliding. Chelsea, a specialist surgeon, was busy taking care of her parents who had just been attacked by a rampage of werewolf soldiers.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Chelsea desperately tried to save her parents. "Father, Mother, hold on! I will try to stem the bleeding," Chelsea exclaimed, attempting to stem her parents' blood flow as they were losing a significant amount of blood from their gaping wounds.

Shortly after, a loud scream echoed from Chelsea's house. "Monsters!" Chelsea screamed at the top of her lungs, realizing that her parents' lives were beyond saving.

Chelsea cried and blamed herself. "What good am I as a doctor if I can't save my own parents?" she lamented internally.

Amidst her sorrow, the sound of roaring military vehicles grew louder. Chelsea turned her gaze towards the window, becoming wary of the situation outside. She saw dozens of fully armed soldiers stepping out of the vehicles. The last person to emerge caught her attention-a tall and imposing figure. Despite his apparent age, the man remained strong and formidable.

The man walked towards Chelsea's house. Chelsea grew increasingly apprehensive, her mind bracing for any possible outcome. The man began knocking on the door. "Who are you?" Chelsea shouted, holding a wooden beam and her surgical knife.

"We are from the Intelligence Security and Surveillance Agency for Mutants (ISSAM). We need to talk to you, Chelsea," the man declared firmly.

Chelsea was surprised that the man knew her name. "How do you know my name?" she asked, becoming even more curious.

"It's better if you open the door first. Let's have a civilized conversation. We know you will need protection, and we are here to provide it," the man suggested, asking Chelsea to open the door.

"Go away, I don't need protection!" Chelsea replied firmly.

"Don't be narrow-minded. We know you are intelligent. Control your emotions and open the door before the werewolves return with greater numbers," the man advised once again.

Chelsea pondered, "He's right. I do need to seek refuge in the safest place," she said to herself.

Slowly, Chelsea opened the door, revealing the tall figure of the man, approximately 55 years old but still robust. Dozens of soldiers with their weapons at the ready stood behind him.

"Good evening, Miss Chelsea. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Captain Murdock, the leader of this military operation. We have reviewed your background, and we need your assistance in eradicating the werewolves," Captain Murdock introduced himself to Chelsea.

After approximately 30 minutes of conversation, Chelsea finally decided to join Captain Murdock and entered the military vehicle. They headed towards their secret headquarters.

In another location, Evan, Captain Murdock's subordinate, was a highly skilled soldier known for his exceptional abilities that made him an effective killing machine in every mission. Evan's task was to pick up Arva, a young and brilliant scientist living in a remote house quite far from the city. Arva was interested in joining the mission as he wanted to further develop his new invention-a balancing formula that was speculated to calm down or even humanize werewolves.

As they walked towards their secret headquarters, passing through a small, seemingly uninhabited countryside, Arva accidentally caught sight of a small cottage where a teenage girl, approximately 17 years old, sat crying while clutching her knees. "Evan, can you stop the vehicle? I see a girl crying over there," Arva said.

"Are you crazy? We don't want to take the risk of bringing a stranger outside of our mission with us," Evan replied firmly. Arva was shocked to hear Evan's response. "Are you human? Where is your humanity?" Arva spoke in a raised tone.

"We are only assigned to pick you up; we have no business with anyone else outside of our mission," Evan reaffirmed his task.

"My task is to protect the community. That's why I conducted research and experiments on this new formula. If you don't want to bring that girl, I'm canceling my participation as well," Arva tried to threaten them. However, unexpectedly, Evan hit Arva's face and said, "Sit down and don't make our mission any more difficult!" Evan spoke in a raised tone.

Arva, who fell to the ground, became emotional. He got up and retaliated against Evan. A fight broke out inside the vehicle. Evan's subordinates swiftly subdued Arva and tied him tightly. Arva was now immobilized. Seeing Arva's determination to bring the girl, Evan felt impressed and suddenly said, "Driver, turn back; we'll take the girl and leave." Arva felt relieved upon hearing Evan's command and thanked him.

Finally, the vehicle turned around and quickly approached the crying girl. Evan then got out very cautiously. He assessed the situation before proceeding to approach the girl.

With great care, Evan approached and pointed his weapon towards the girl. "What is your name? And why are you here alone?" Evan tried to gather information about the girl.

The girl stopped crying and stared sharply at Evan. She then turned her gaze to the open door of her house, where two corpses lay. "My name is Livie. Both of my parents were killed in an attack by werewolves," Livie replied softly. Evan extended his hand to the girl. "Alright, come with us. You'll be safe under our protection," Evan said. Finally, the girl joined Evan and Arva on their way to the secret headquarters.

Flashback to when everything was fine. Initially, life was normal, and the situation was safe and peaceful. However, everything drastically changed when a pack of werewolves began attacking the city for no apparent reason. The cause of these attacks remained a question for the central government. The city quickly turned into a ghost town. The local government coordinated with the central authorities to close off access to other cities to prevent further invasion.

**In the Secret Headquarters**

Captain Murdock's vehicle was seen entering the garage, followed by dozens of escort vehicles. Captain Murdock and Chelsea began to disembark from their vehicles and walked towards a special room to monitor the city's activities. "What place is this, Captain?" Chelsea asked with curiosity.

Captain Murdock explained, "This is a secret place we created to seek shelter from the attacks of those savage creatures and where we devise plans to fight against them."

"But do you already know the meaning and purpose behind the werewolves' attacks on the city?" Chelsea asked again, filled with curiosity.

"Not yet, we still don't know why they're attacking the city indiscriminately," the captain answered wisely.

Chelsea and the captain walked along the corridor towards the central room, where all the city's activities could be monitored.

Shortly after, Evan's combat vehicle appeared, followed by dozens of escort vehicles. When Chelsea saw them arrive, she asked again, "Who are they?"

"They are my subordinates assigned to pick up one of the most brilliant young scientists in the country," the captain replied.

Chelsea became curious, "Wow, the best young scientist in the country?" Chelsea thought to herself, feeling amazed. However, the captain was surprised to see an extra person when Livie got off the vehicle. Captain Murdock quickly went out to approach Evan.

"Who gave you the order to bring someone else besides what I instructed?" Captain Murdock looked angry at Evan. Evan fell silent and felt guilty for breaking his superior's rules. Livie cowered in fear as she saw the captain's anger.

"What if she's also part of the werewolf group?" The captain started explaining his reasons and fears.

"I take full responsibility, Captain!" Suddenly, Chelsea stepped forward and hugged the frightened Livie. The captain fell silent for a moment and then said, "Make sure your words can be trusted!" the captain replied.

Livie felt grateful to Chelsea, then she hugged Chelsea tightly with tears streaming down her cheeks. As this emotional moment unfolded, suddenly the city alarm sounded, indicating that danger was occurring there. Everyone rushed to the central room to see what was happening.

They witnessed the horrors on the large TV monitor. They were completely focused on observing the savage actions of the werewolves attacking the remaining inhabitants. As Livie focused on one of the monitors, she saw a werewolf suddenly shift its gaze towards the camera, and Livie screamed loudly, capturing the attention of everyone in the room.