Have You Ever Fought With An Alpha?

"… Doesn't he remind you of Dante when you see him sleeping like that??"

The sky was finally clearing. Some rays of sunlight managed to get in between the clouds and lighten up the day. A situation that was excellent for the fighting prowess of our group since it will allow Gerhard to fight at his full capacity.

Certain parts of the street were illuminated by the rays of sunlight… And in the center of one of them, in the middle of the street, G was taking advantage of it, cuddling under the sun, with his eyes closed in the same way that Dante does it… People gave him weird looks when they passed by, but no one bothered him.

"Yeah… I don't get it… Is he even comfortable like that… I mean, it's not like that position is normal, right?"

"I don't know… I don't think it's comfortable either, and he is not a cat…. Should we wake him up, so he lays down in a normal position? His back is going to kill him in a while."

"Naaah, leave him there charging up until we have to leave… I'll leave his hammer here… Can you keep an eye on him while I look for Blake?"

"Sure…"

Hope sat near G and put her MRGR on the floor as she looked at her new Vector… she started to dismantle to see the parts… thanks to her eidetic memory she didn't have problems recognizing each piece, she had read the same book that gave me the weapon knowledge skill, so she knew every part of the weapon, and she could remember from where she took it.

I left her there having fun with her new gun and went to the furniture store… it didn't take me much time to find Blake and the two sub-leaders. They were on the street, where a heated discussion was going on.

I noticed that most of the people split into two groups, on one side were Blake and Milo followed by Hayley, Zak, and I think that guy was called Tillmann… And in between the crowd, I can recognize some others.

On the other side, Leon was followed by Gabriel… And I think I can see some others. It didn't take too long to understand what was happening, Leon was talking.

"… Also, the walls are the only thing that prevents them from surrounding us!!"

Instead of Blake (the one that most likely seems like the one that had the idea), Milo was the one that answered.

"You know I get your point, Leon… But I agree with what Blake said… In the long run, we are not going to be able to handle them."

"But a direct attack? That is going to leave us with a huge number of casualties, can't we wait?"

The hunting teams had split into two groups, most of them agreed with the idea to attack the Alpha Cow, but there were some of them, that didn't agree with the decision.

The group that preferred to stay at the walls was apparently led by Leon. Don't misunderstand, Leon is a great leader, and his thinking is not entirely wrong… If I didn't have the missions pushing me to be more proactive, I wouldn't think that the decision of attacking was the better one.

The mission was a way to know that something big or dangerous was going on behind the scenes, I like to think of them as a second sixth sense. It was my way to know that staying here wasn't necessarily the best choice… That's the reason I had to act against what should be the first choice.

Luckily, getting Pinky's support was a massive boost to my idea and Blake also preferred a direct approach, having them on my side was already enough for my plan, but the more, the better in this case… The way that Leon thinks was more passive, so just going into the offensive without a good reason was not his style, I have to convince him with facts.

Some might say that last night attack was a good reason to act, but unless another storm appears, it is unlikely for the beasts to get so deep inside without our scouts noticing. Also, it was only a matter of time before Rose and Dante got back on their feet, so even if another storm appeared it is unlikely for those beasts to get inside of Green Shelter unnoticed.

Leon knows all that, so from his point of view a defensive approach made more sense.

"Have you ever fought an Alpha?"

The discussion died down after my question…

People turned around to look at me… I recognized some faces, and some recognized me.

"No… Why?"

The rank system was something that came from the system, so talking about the ranks of each beast would be weird. I will need to add it to my theories in the future, so it becomes more widely known.

"Not all beast are the same… Just like humans, some have stronger powers than others. Alphas are the strongest beasts that we have fought so far… Something that I noticed about the beasts, is that they become smarter as they are more powerful…"

Leon was looking at me with a face that said: "And your point is?"

"The snake Alpha that I fought was not only smart, but also cruel… The reason for why we were able to defeat it in the swamp, was that it tried to play with me before killing me… It made a mistake. I don't think that the viciousness showed by the Snake is a common trait for Alpha beasts… Unfortunately, the Alpha cow is the same, but is more is not as careless as the Snake… The cow plans the attacks and uses tactics and changes them accordingly."

I started to walk forward as I used courage inducement trying to ignite their fighting spirit.

"Last night we were attacked… Two teams sacrificed themselves to give the people that live here a chance for survival … The place where my new family is was one of the targets of that attack… Half a dozen of people died there, the number of wounded is even higher than that, and I don't want to mention the disaster that happened in another refuge. I don't know everyone here… But I can assure you, that more than one of you lost someone, a loved one, a family member, a friend… Or at least an acquaintance."

Everyone was fully focused on my words by now… I could see sadness and resolution in equal parts on their gazes… This was mostly the people that lost someone last night, and most of them were already in the counterattacking group. They wanted revenge.

"The cow is smart…!"

I said raising my voice…

"The last two fights she tried different tricks against the humankind, but never managed to crack our defenses. Escaping from the Aurora Clinic was difficult, but we managed by sticking together and striking back in the crucial moment, first with the arrival of the reinforcement, and later with the work of our allies."

I could see people nodding as they recalled that battle.

"Yesterday you defeated the cow's army once again… They had to run away in defeat."

I said pointing at the place of the battle, some people started to cheer at the mention of our victories…

"But last night struck us hard, to say the least… The Cow is not directly attacking us anymore, it is targeting our loved ones. I'm not going to tell you what to fight for… But I fight for them. Because I want them to be safe in this new world…"

The people in Leon's side started to crack and understand… I focused my gaze at Leon this time

"You are right Leon, The best would be to stay here and hide behind the walls… That's probably the smart answer, but I assure you, that sooner or later, she is going to come up with another plan and take us by surprise."

What made those people back away was fear… And with courage inducement, that fear was just a memory for now.

"It's true that it is dangerous, and some of us might not come back… But if we don't try something, it means that we already failed, and that will be the end of Green Shelter… Maybe not now or tomorrow but someday."

I looked around, I understood that most of the people including Leon agreed that there was truth in my point of view too.

"I know, it's scary… For some of you, those beasts are impossible to fight even in a group… But don't let fear be the one that defeats you before we even tried… You are braver than you think, and this is the moment to show it… Believe in yourselves."

Another pause… I think I have them in my pocket,

"I don't know about you… But even if I have to go there by myself, I'm taking that cow down with me… So, tell me… What are you going to do?!?!"

"YEAH!!!"

The team leaders were on fire… Most of Leon's group weren't cheering, but I knew that my words reached them and that they weren't against it as much as before.

"Let's kill that cow bastard!!

"Revenge for the fallen."

"Prepare the barbecue!!"

'All Hail the Snake Goddess!!'

"Yeah!..."

""…""