-One minute later-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Roger screamed, clutching his wounded chest.
"Hehehe... Are you okay, Roger?"
Six called out, barely containing his laughter as he dodged another swipe from a furious Yao Guai.
"Need a Med-X?"
"DO I LOOK FINE TO YOU?! THOSE FUCKING BEARS AREN'T RIGHT! SOMETHING THAT SIZE SHOULDN'T MOVE THAT FAST!"
Raul watched Rebecca climb onto a boulder, gripping her massive Punisher LMG, about to fire.
"We need a plan!"
Said the ever-reliant Mexican ghoul.
"I got one!"
She declared dramatically.
"God help us."
Boone muttered already in his T-80 power armor, as only two in their crew were in armor, and like Raul he not taking any chances.
"Nobody moves!"
Rebecca extended her arms outward.
"If we don't move, they might not see us!"
"Rebecca, That only worked in the movie Jurassic Park. I'm pretty sure they made that up."
Boone said flatly.
"Ohh come on Boone, movies don't lie. And bears are the T-Rexes of the forest."
Rebecca reasoned.
"If we stay perfectly still, we might—"
The crunch of footsteps on the snow cut her off.
They turned just in time to see Raul fucking running away, making his escape with his T-80 power armor landspinners.
Rebecca exhaled.
"Okay, if no one else moves, we might have a chance—"
Roger, deciding payback was in order, lunged at the nearest Yao Guai with a roar, his arm coated in Armament Haki. His punch connected solidly—but the bear responded by biting down on his forearm, hard. With a violent shake of its head, it sent Roger flying—directly into Boone, knocking him clean off his armored feet.
"Dammit, Roger!"
Boone groaned as he tried to untangle himself.
Six fired a burst from his Varis rifle, trying to pin the creatures down, but the mutated bears kept dodging—and dodging—the shots before lunging at him. He barely managed to escape with his Moonwalk, propelling himself backward just as Rebecca opened fire in full-auto mode.
The Yao Guai just ate the bullets, a combination of their cocaine-crazed state and their thick hides absorbing most of the damage before they charged forward, stampeding through the battlefield.
"Uh oh!"
Rebecca yelped and shot into the air using her own Moonwalk technique.
"Plan B!"
She reached into her Pip-Boy inventory and pulled out a Holy Hand Grenade.
"Okay, THIS should do it!"
She primed it and hurled it toward the center of the pack.
She had just enough time for her eyes to widen in shock before one of the Yao Guai swallowed the grenade.
Boom.
The mutated bear exploded from the inside out, sending flaming chunks of irradiated meat and bone flying. The nearby beasts were thrown in every direction, their bodies torn and scorched, yet still alive, walking off the explosion like it was nothing.
Six growled in frustration as he reloaded his Varis rifle, barely dodging a swipe from one of the rampaging Yao Guais.
"Why the hell are these living moving tanks so fast?!"
"I TOLD YOU!"
Roger shouted from where he lay in the snow, groaning in pain.
"THEY'RE ON SOME KIND OF SUPER DRUG!"
"Less talking, more not dying!"
Rebecca snapped as she dropped another Holy Hand Grenade.
Boom!
Sending yet another group of bears flying in an explosion of limbs and singed fur.
Silence settled for half a second after the explosion before Raul reappeared, driving the War Bus straight onto the battlefield. The bus's turrets and artillery cannons swiveled, locking onto the surviving Yao Guai.
"LIGHT 'EM UP!"
Raul howled.
The Eyebots hovering above controlling the turrets and artillery cannons let loose a volley of turret fire and shells.
Boone, meanwhile, was desperately weaving through the forested area, a Yao Guai hot on his heels. Despite the weight of his T-80 armor, he pushed its landspinners to their limits, darting between trees and using the terrain to slow the beast down. But it was relentless—snarling, panting, eyes bloodshot with the cocaine the hell was coursing through its mutated veins.
"This thing's not stopping!"
Boone gritted out, activating his helmet's targeting system and firing off a burst from his Varis rifle at the beast's face. The bullets connected—taking a chunk off its head but instead of slowing, the Yao Guai roared and sped up.
"Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me."
Boone muttered.
Then the roar behind him changed. It was deeper, more guttural—accompanied by a sickening crunch.
Boone dared to glance back.
And saw a second, much bigger Yao Guai had tackled the first one. The two mutated bears began to rip into each other, snarling and bellowing as they fought like rabid monsters.
He didn't wait around to see who won.
Boone booked it back toward the War Bus, barely registering the chaos as Raul's artillery cannons fired round after round at the remaining Yao Guais. One of the beasts had leaped onto the War Bus, clawing at the armored plating, but Jesse who made it to the moving fortress popped out of the top hatch and blasted its face off with a Varis superheated plasma shot.
"We need to leave—NOW!"
Jesse barked.
"AGREED!"
Six yelled, hauling Roger's battered form toward the War Bus while Rebecca covered him with suppressive fire.
Boone finally reached them, panting as he practically dived into the War Buses cargo hold, slamming the door shut just as one of the remaining Yao Guai charged and rammed into the side of the armored-plated door. The entire vehicle shook from the impact.
"I'M FLOORING IT!"
Raul hollered, and without hesitation, he jammed the accelerator. The War Bus's massive tires tore through the snow as they sped away, leaving the blood-soaked battlefield behind.