"No, Tom! Just, no!" Randall said firmly.

"Why? What's wrong with that?" demanded Tom, his conman smirk twitching on his face.

"I know what people think of me. I've heard the rumors. That I'm not a moral guy. But I'm not willing to go this far."

"What's wrong with attacking a bunch of invaders? What's so immoral about that?" Tom asked while stretching his arm to take in the scene in front of them. "Isn't that the whole reason we're here?"

"I said I'm not gonna do it, doofus," Randall snapped.

"But your lightning spear attack has the best chance of bringing them down."

Randall glared at Tom. Then he looked around to his teammates who he had faced all kinds of monsters and invaders with. He might complain a lot, but he had never run from the fights. He had supported the group and fought with almost everything that he had. Finally, he turned his head back to the invader base that they were at the edge of.

Fog about a foot high was obscuring their feet and the ground. In the distance there were blocky pyramid-like structures, similar to the Aztec temples in South America, or something a person might build in Minecraft. In the sky, at various heights, floated small, white clouds. Clouds that each supported one of the invaders that the group had come to kill.

He looked at the closest clouds, being ridden by little humanoids. They appeared to be angelic cherubim babies. They didn't have wings, or visible diapers since the clouds obscured their lower half, but they cooed and giggled as they were unconcerned while floating around on their little cloud rides. Every now and then they would bump into each other and would roll and laugh together.

"For the last time, Tom. I'm not attacking babies!" shouted Randall. He turned and stomped off towards where they had parked their vehicles. Joseph grunted and followed Randall.

"I told you, they aren't babies. They're human murdering monsters," whined Tom.

"What about you, Lamario?" questioned Tom, selecting a new target. "A bit of pew pew with your arrows?"

Lamar shook his head. "Give it up, Tom. You'd need a group of psychos to attack such cute babies. This Rift is a bust."

He placed a hand apologetically on Tom's shoulder and then walked away. Nick and Carlos followed after him. Ed took some videos of everything before he and Brandon also left. Eventually Elias shook his head and walked away with William.

With only Lucas and Tom left watching the babies floating around, Lucas spoke.

"Sorry, Tom. We'll need to do a bit more research on them. Maybe the Leputi would like to raid it. They shouldn't have the same aversion as humans would."

Shaking his head while looking at the ground, Lucas also left.

"Bah! I thought this would be an easy one," Tom complained while alone.

In frustration, he reached into the fog and grabbed a rock after feeling around on the ground. With an angry grunt, he threw the rock at the closest cloud. The rock hit the cloud with a thump. Then the baby floating on it turned to him.

Tears welled up in its large, reflective eyes. It began to cry softly, but all the nearby cloud babies turned to where Tom was. Slowly they made hissing noises. Their curly golden hair stood up straight on their heads and their eyes turned red. Mouths opened revealing sharp, needle-like teeth. The clouds they rode went from white to black as flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder rumbled through the previously puffy substance.

"Wah!" screamed Tom. As the angry monster babies floated towards him, he turned and ran. As he fled, he yelled while shaking a fist, "I'll be back!"

***

"No, Tom! Just, no!" Randall said firmly.

"Why? What's wrong with that?" demanded Tom as he pointed to the hole that they were all gathered around. "There are no evil cloud riding babies this time."

"I don't know if you paid attention in our other raids, but I hate when we're underground. I've complained about it a ton. Besides, we don't even know what's down there. This Rift is entirely underground."

The hole they stood around was dark. It wasn't dark due to a barrier, but because it was a tunnel leading straight downwards. It was so deep that the light wouldn't go very far, even when they tried an industrial strength flashlight.

"I said I'm not gonna do it, idiot," Randall snapped.

"All you have to do is use your [Blitz Thrust] until you reach the bottom and you'll be safe."

"No means no," stated Randall as he squared up, ready for a physically confrontation with his teammate.

"But what if there's a giant hive of insect monsters who have already created a network of tunnels to conquer Tennessee from underneath? It's our duty to stop them."

"Tom," spoke up Lucas, "the last large underground monster insect hive that we entered was barely manageable by our full group, guys and girls, plus we had a lot of reinforcements. How do you expect us to handle it with just a few of us, especially without any intel?"

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"Carlos, Lamario, can't you notice anything with your skills?" Tom begging.

"[Understand] only shows that the tunnel is deeper than the skill can penetrate," responded Carlos.

"[Notice Signs] and [Evidence] aren't showing any tampering from up here, and they don't work on things that I can't see," answered Lamar.

Nick also spoke.

"I can see in the dark now and there is still nothing but more tunnel going down. That hole is deep."

"Sorry, Tom," said Lucas with an apologetic pat of his shoulder. "I think we need to do a bit more research on this Rift or at least prepare a lot of support. Maybe a crane with a night vision camera."

Everyone but Tom nodded and walked towards their vehicles. Tom let out a disappointed sigh before following.

"Zero for two," he muttered glumly.

***

"No, Tom! Just, no!" Randall said firmly.

"Oh, c'mon!" spat Tom as he raised his arms in the air. "What's the problem this time?"

"You think I haven't watched a lot of horror movies?" Randall whisper shouted as he pointed to the figure walking aimlessly a short distance away from them.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Tom.

"That's a zombie!" Randall shouted before lowering his voice. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to see more figures in the distance. "Once you attack one zombie, you'll get swarmed."

"Quit being a baby," whined Tom.

"I said I'm not gonna do it, moron," insisted Randall, getting into Tom's chest.

"Sorry to break up your lovers quarrel, guys," interjected Carlos harshly. "I did a scan and it's a normal human being controlled by the invader on its head. He's still alive. According to [Understand], that bubble over the human's head is a race called Quallenian that controls other races like a parasite. It doesn't have much offensive or defensive capabilities and relies on a host to fight."

"See, nothing to be concerned about," crowed Tom, acting vindicated. "In this case, killing the invader even saves people. We accomplish two for one. How about it?"

Lucas took out binoculars and looked at the head of the figure. There was a translucent jellyfish material covering the man's head. It surrounded the scalp, eyes, and down the back of the neck. Several tentacles came out from it and went into the ears and nose of the human, while more in the back entwined his arms.

The person's clothes were filthy and ragged. Clearly, they hadn't been changed in months, adding to the zombie look. The person's skin also had an unhealthy yellowish tint to it. Lucas could also see the human's "Warrior [0]" tag overlapping with the jellyfish body, while a tag of "Montikator [28]" was visible above them both.

"I guess we'll give this a try," said Lucas. "Let's approach cautiously. Tom and I will try to hold him and then Lamar will kill it with an arrow."

"Sounds good," Tom said brightly, his enthusiasm back.

"Got it," nodded Lamar.

About halfway to the figure, Lamar stopped and drew his bow back. He activated [Take Your Time] to get as much power as possible. When that was triggered, he indicated he was ready.

Everyone continued towards the person, staying out of Lamar's target line. When they were about 20 yards away, Lucas and Tom broke into a run. They dashed to the figure, one on each side, and then grabbed their arms.

The human opened his mouth, but the sound that came out didn't seem human in nature. Two pitches rang out, making everyone nearby wince as they felt their brains shaken by the noise.

"I knew it," shouted Randall, barely heard over the painful shrieking. "It's freaking Invasion of the Body Snatchers!"

Randall wasn't even that close, but he leveled his spear and turned in all directions looking for more possessed people that might come running at them. In fact, more did come. Out of very basic buildings in the distance that looked like boxes made with aluminum sheet metal, dozens of the creatures came, each riding on a human. They all joined in the shrieking, increasing the pain in everyone's brains.

"Anytime, Lamar!" shouted Lucas.

"Got it," he responded. "[Steady Shot], [Quick Release]."

With deadly accurate the arrow cut through the air. It precisely hit the center of the jellyfish body while safely avoiding the man's head. The arrowhead pierced through, came out the other end, and continued onward.

When the Quallenian was hit, it popped and sprayed steam into the air. Then the man went limp in Tom and Lucas's arms.

Quallenian "Montikator [28]" slain. 1,160 XP gained. Human "Warrior [0]" slain. 6 XP gained.

"Damnit!" cursed Lamar before shouting to every else. "Killing the monster also killed the human!"

The masses of possessed humans weren't coming fast, but their numbers kept increasing. Lucas looked at Tom.

"We should get the body back to Jackson. Let the doctors and techs see if they can find out a way to separate the humans before we attack this Rift again. There's no point if we're just killing other humans."

Tom sighed and his head drooped. His voice sounded depressed.

"Yeah, yeah. Retreat and research. Again."

Lucas hoisted the body onto his shoulders and began jogging to the others. As he passed them, everyone fell into step as they headed towards the vehicles.

"You know, Tom," said Randall critically. "You really suck at picking raid targets."

"It sure seems that way," he groaned. "Now we're zero of three."

***

Slonack "Montgris [38]" slain. 52,873 shared XP gained.

Marj was breathing heavily with her hands on her knees. Angeline was trying to help support her. Abbey was healing Andrea and Karen as they sat on the ground. All the women were dirty and tired. Eight days of raiding and camping out was taking a toll on them.

"That was a tough one," complained Brittney. She kicked the body of the boss they had just defeated. It had leathery gray skin. A blue mane went from between its eyes, up its forehead, and then spread on its scalp and down the neck. A wide, long nose dangled from the middle of its face to its chin, hiding any mouth it might have. Only four fingers were on its hands. The creature wore thick leather armor, though its toeless, broad feet had no covering.

"Even the lesser Slonacks were tough. The group of five we got stuck with almost did us in," said Alissa.

"I miss our full group," said Andrea, sounding fatigued.

"I miss Adam," added Brittney. "And Brandon, since his buffs would have helped a ton."

"I miss showers," lamented Emily. "I'm going to need like five of them when we get back."

"Yeah," everyone agreed.

"Tell me one thing," said Alissa, getting everyone's attention. "Why is it that all five invader Rift chosen for us had additional animals and monsters?"

Alissa pointed to the side, where Akuji was ecstatically rubbing her cheeks against the smooth scales of a giant snake. The white colored snake was 20 feet long, two and a half feet in diameter, and had a saddle on it. Smaller versions were slithering all around the area as well.

Brittney put on a wry expression before answering.

"I thought that the Rifts with labor beasts or mounts would have less invaders, since it cost the invaders more to include the extra creatures according to Ashtala. When choosing our targets, I thought it would make it easier."

Alissa shrugged.

"Well, at least we made it through. Unfortunately, each base took us so long due to having to subdue and manage the extra creatures." A head jerk towards Akuji indicated just who she thought was responsible for the extra time taken.

Abbey spoke without looking up from her healing.

"As long as we're able to tame or control them, it will increase Jackson's strength as a whole."

"That's my girl. Always looking on the bright side," added Andrea sadly. "Unfortunately, the extra effort cost us time for the contest. I bet the boys are finished already."

"I can't imagine what that smug bastard Tom will do to the statue if they win," moped Alissa. Then she turned to Marj and Angeline. "You two, make sure your man doesn't go overboard with it."

They both nodded in agreement.

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