The worst thing about travelling by shuttle is that there are no windows in the rear cab, the white Photo-plastic was designed to absorb the suns heat and transfer it to the battery and the engines, but with the sun rising the temperature in the shuttle was getting unbareable. What made things worse was the armour, it was clingy and its ventilation was poor in open spaces let alone in a confined shell. None the less the baking journey was almost over.

"Slowing down now, the others are waiting for us." Duke informed the others over the radio. "Looks like Lacy was right, all sixty Hounds are on the ground, armed and ready to go." The radio splattered then fell silent. Duke quickly navigated the shuttle to turn around and brought it to a stop behind the other shuttles, it was a tactical position allowing them to get away quickly and easily if it was needed.

Lacy unclipped herself and shouldered her gear followed by the rest of the team. She turned the lock on the door and the door dropped away revealing her father stood waiting in his full gear.

"I hope I don't live to regret this my girl." He stretched out his arm and helped her down the ramp.

"You won't." She smiled. The rest of the team fell into line and the Sgt noticed Salt all geared up and looking ready for trouble.

"Looks good on you Salt, when we get back we'll see if you can stay in the Owls, or if you join the ranks of the Hounds." He smiled then walked away.

Salt turned to Cade "What does he mean?" Her confusion was clear.

"He'll make you take a blood test, see what your S+ Count is, if its Zero then your a Pure Blood, otherwise you'll be assigned to the Hounds." He padded her shoulder. "Whatever the case, I'll still be here." She smiled at the warmth of his words then he walked off to talk with Brick, one of the Hounds heavy weapon specialists.

After a short but very direct mission brief Sgt Fields sent four teams of five into the city, they were each given a section of the city to investigate and orders to stay in regular radio contact. Remaining with his own team the Sgt turned to the Owls.

"I want you lot to stay with me, we are going to investigate the area around the hotel, to try and see what damage you have caused and what trouble you have stirred up."

It wasn't too long before they reached the hotel, the regular radio contact from the other teams were coming back clear. It was as though every single monster in the city simply vanished. A worrying notion crossed the Sgts mind, what if they are in the city's hydro-thermal network, it would explain how they move around so quickly, vanish almost instantly. He grabbed his radio mic "All Teams locate and secure any HT hatches we are coming up empty so they must be using the vent network under the city." His radio crackled as the teams acknowledged the order. "I want you lot to stay here, set up a spot to defend but stay out of sight as much as possible. Let us know of any trouble heading our way." He looked at each of the Owls then signalled his men to follow him. What worried him the most was not leaving the pure bloods, but going into the heart of the city, it reminded him of his last mission in Newcastle.

He wasn't a Sgt then, just a simple Soldier, a Newcastle Jackal and his team were amazingly good at what they did. Known as the Jackal Five Timothy Fields, Simon Riskover, Carl Hedges, Wayne Black and the lovely Catherine Fields, were without doubt the best Strike Team in the Jackal Unit as well as the only five member team, which was were their team name came from. But on this day things went horribly wrong and only a handful of the Jackals made it out alive.

It had began like a normal day, the twins woke for their feed about four thirty and Catherine rolled out of bed to feed them. Timothy stirred at the sound of them crying and quickly got dressed before picking the adorable little bundle of arms and legs that was Luke. Catherine returned with two bottles handing one to her husband she then picked Lacy from her blankets and placed the bottle of milk in her mouth, Timothy on the other hand was struggling to get Luke to take the bottle, when he finally did, it was gone in no time. With the twins fed and sleeping again Catherine got dressed and sat with Timothy in the kitchenette. They had both been serving in the Jackals for almost ten years, they started out hating each over but with time that changed and with two miscarriages already they had finally got the little family they had wanted. Under normal circumstances marriage was regulated to improve the odds of Pure Bloods being born, but Catherine herself was born a pure blood. Even when she had the twins her S+ blood count was less than fifteen percent which was amazing considering the blood transplants she had after the second miscarriage. As luck would have it both children were born pure, a blessing they thought that would keep them safe forever. They had both semi-retired from active service, placing them on the only under extreme situations would they be called in, it hadn't happened in months, the twins were now almost a year old and things had really started to feel great. That was until the base went dark and the red warning lights started flashing. "This is a Code Three, All Serving Personnel report to the Shuttle Bunker for briefing." After hearing the call over the speaker they relaxed, they only had to respond on a Code Five and they were rare. The lights came back on so they continued eating their breakfast before getting on with the rest of their day. The worst part of breakfast was the tidying up however as they were just finishing up the lights went out again and the red lights flashed again followed by the voice over the speaker "This is a Code Four Warning, will all on leave Personnel please report to the Shuttle Bunker for briefing." The speaker went silent and the lights came back on. The Fields looked at each other with concern, an escalation that quick was very rare, they rushed to the window to look out over the base, armed personnel rushed about and several shuttles were launched from the bunker toward the city. Timothy rubbed his head and turned to his wife "What ever is going on it's big."

Carl Hedges burst into the Fields home, his face was flushed and his breathing was heavy. "Tim... Cath..." he started trying to speak while catching his breath. "Code Five... Warning... will be... issued." He finished placing his hands on his knees and taking in several large deep breaths. He looked up at his friends mustering the energy to speak. "The City, it's been over run. They are evacuating everyone and they need all military personnel on the ground. That includes us." His words ripped through them, they both had family and good friends in the city, they could not sit back and do nothing, they would have to leave the twins with a minder, it was time to rejoin the fight. Hedges looked at Timothy and they both nodded, Catherine rushed to the bedroom to make sure the kids were safe and to call in a minder. The lights went out and the red warning lights started again followed by the voice from the speaker "This is Not a Drill, This is a Code Five Call... Will all Military Personnel please report to the Shuttle Bunker for briefing." Again the voice disappeared and the lights came back on. Timothy watched as his wife returned from the bedroom "Time to Go then."

Newcastle Prime was an eleven minute Shuttle ride from the base, it had been a long time since the Jackal Five had made that journey and these eleven minutes seemed to go on forever. When the shuttle slowed to a hault they quickly disembarked and joined the others who were receiving orders and rushing off into the city. The Sgt of the Jackals watched as they walked toward him, that look of concern etched over his face.

"If it was up to me I would not have called you in. The Commander wants this place clear and quick." He extended his hand to greet Timothy the teams leader.

"I know Sir, but while we are here, we will do what we have to." A lot of respect had passed between these two men over their years of service. They had both entered the Jackals together, at one time served in the same team, Mason Gibbs had been elevated to Sgt on one merit, he was good with people and got the most out of them, Fields had been given a team as he was ruthless, tactical, an able leader who demanded respect, he would have made a great Sgt but his skills were better served on the ground. "What's the situation? Hedges told me he city is under E-Vac, are we talking incursion or infestation? Possible numbers... any known hide outs?" The Sgt looked at his friend as he asked all the right questions.

"It's like you were never away my friend, however it looks like we are talking infestation, I wish I knew numbers but I can't even chance a guess there are that many. We have found no ground level hives, all intel suggests that they have striking from the Hydro-Thermal vents below the city. It is rather clammy down their Tim, hundreds upon hundreds of miles of intersecting tunnels and hubsm it is like a maze but without the fun, I've ordered the use of close proximity pistols on his, our rifles will just tear through the fibre of the tunnels, that means..." Timothy cut in.

"It's up close and personal, our preferred tactic of choice." The Sgt nodded glumly.

"I hope for the twins you guys make it out come hell or high water, it's always been an honour serving with you Tim, as a team you are all the best, go give them hell." The Sgt saluted them then walked off to give another team their orders.

"You heard him, CPs at the ready, we'll go in through the forth vent, two up in the east section, whatever happens stay close and lets get out of here in one piece."

Unsurprisingly the Sgt had been right, the vents were clammy, they had a heat that enveloped you rather than just warmed you, it was almost choking. Even the air vapor seemed heavy, as though tainted with some kind of unseen illness. They had been underground for five minutes or so with no sign of anything and it felt creepy, unsettling that was until they heard the first cry then the horror of it all sank in. Takin hold of the radio, Black's heart sank "Guys we have no radio." The others looked at him, this was the last hing they needed, no radio meant no help, something the team were familiar with but now, when it mattered the most, they were on their own.

"Riskover and Black take point, Catherine you stay centre guard, Hedges and I will take the rear guard, clear each junction as we cross them, Hedges you lay sleepers, remember keep the blinkers at eye level, we don't need the hassle of explaining any friendly deaths to the Sgt." The team moved in formation 'the gridlock' as they called it, at all times having at least two weapons able to fire in any direction, it was a strong set up, one that had kept them alive more than once. At every intersection the team squared up closing position to allow them to stay closer together and once the junction was clear Hedges placed a long explosive charge below and above each access tunnel to the junction then placed a trip trigger in the middle of the junction. Every howling cry they heard slowed them down but even this hadn't stopped them making good ground. However there was still no sign of the creatures and the longer they took to be seen the more of them they would have to face. It wasn't too long after, just as Hedges finished placing another trap that they heard gun fire ahead of them, the distinct firing sound of the CP echoed dimly down the tunnel.

"Ahead, double time." Said Timothy as he heard a scream of agony rip right through him, finally some contact he thought and as he kept pace with the others he noticed something that had escaped his notice clearly for too long. They were not alone and the white glowing eyes peered straight at him from about half way up the sides of the tunnel walls. Realising far too late, they had walked into a trap. Without warning he opened fire as the creatures lunged forward, snarling and hissing like the frenzied animals they were. Hedges turned to see one of the creatures leap down off the roof of the tunnel five or so feet in front of him, without thought he simply opened fire. The others ran on to find another junction to take up position in but they hadn't found one, in fact the tunnel seemed to stretch on for ages. Hedges and Timothy kept pace, every now and then turning to engage their pursuers. The CPs seemed that have little effect, he knew it was against orders but they had no choice they would have to use their rifles. Their rifle fire exploded, at this close range ripping their targets apart but the noise was deafening and it echoed badly. Screams and Cries could suddenly be heared throughout the tunnel system, they had just rang the dinner bell and they were the main course.

Nothing was working, they had kept the creatures at bay but their numbers just kept growing, their eyes glowed from way down the vent on both sides of them, their rifles cutting down the few as the many lingered in the shadows. Help had tried to reach them but them getting through the horde was useless, they were simply ripped apart before they could make any sort of dent. Massive Explosions erupted down the way they had come, having no idea if friend or foe had set them off but the impact was felt everywhere. Shop floors had caved in, roads had collapsed, entire sections of the vent system had been destroyed all thatnks to Hedges. Holding off the creatures became harder, they needed to conserve their ammo as it was running low. Timothy had suggested collapsing one route to secure a flank it would be risky but it was an option. Out of nowhere Hedges was dragged through a rip in the vent, the others looked on in horror as the space beyond the vent was empty, it was a way out, dangerous but a way out. Timothy was the first to slip through into the vast dark space, he expected it to run along the vent, a void between pipes and intersections, and if this one existed how many more did. Catherine was next, her rifle firing off a few shots before allowing Riskover through then instantly after Black, however the fortified frame of Black, his long blonde hair and brown eyes were dragged back into the vent before being torn apart as the creatures scrambled for him. The others looked on unable to do anything to help, they simply ran on into the dark. Flicking on their gun lights they discovered how truely vast this area they had stumbled upon was, their lights never reached one end or another, they had no sense of direction and what was worse was the lingering smell of decay. The floor was smooth, concrete by the look of it, cold and unforgiving normally but here it was strangely warm and a red moss like plant grew in patches, suddenly Riskover screamed and his cry faded quickly as his body was dragged into the shadows, he dropped his rifle and the light illuminated the gathering numbers of monsters creeping up on them. Timothy stumbled to the floor in panic as the creatures charged forward, Catherine stood her ground to allow her husband time to get back to his feet, he lifted his rifle and between them they brought down a few, but the gap was closing and they had to run. Timothy stayed behind his wife stopping now and then to fire off a few rounds of ammo, then turning back he quickly caught up with his wife as she just continued to run, stopping again to fire upon the creatures closing in on them he pulled the trigger and nothing happened, he had run his ammo to nothing as he turned to catch Catherine up and take her rifle his world was literally torn apart. From out of the blackness a monster lept knocking Catherine to the floor no more than twenty or maybe twenty five feet from him, her eyes wide from the horror, she screamed but Timothy watched in disbelief hearing nothing but his own heart beat pounding in his ear. The monster tore her lower jaw clean off as she lay trying to reach out for her rifle, Timothy rushed forward to help but it was now too late the creature had driven its clawed hand through her chest to rip her heart from it, her body convulsed and the blood from her jaw spat down her body and through her lovely hair, her eyes turned milky white and then it all stopped, Timothy fell to the floor as other creatures raced passed him, ripping limbs and flesh from her like she was nothing. His heart broken, tears in his eyes but he made no sound, just watched in an eerie silence all of his own before passing out.

Looking now at the reckage of the old hotel in Cardiff Prime Sgt Fields turned to his men "Be prepared, we are going to be entering hell."