Exponentially getting more aware.
23:10
Several units are stationed around a high-rise apartment complex.
A light drizzle rained down on the facility field operators as they stood waiting by the building.
"Units 13, 19 and 24 are on their way."
"Unit 24? Ambrose is coming?"
"I thought 24 was reserved…"
"Has anyone gone in since the evacuation?"
"This is Bejines with 22. Do not advance past the second floor. I repeat, do not advance past the second floor of the building."
Voices of field operators bounce back and forth over the radio. They stand idle around the building until several vehicles show up outside the apartment complex. Two full units exit the vehicles before another one rolls up and out of which steps out Sawyer Ambrose along with the rest of unit 24. The idleness of the soldiers breaks as their attention turns to Sawyer who leads his unit to the entrance.
"Alright, brief summary. Inside this building is a newly-identified cryptid. A couple of my men tried to advance to the higher parts of the complex but were pressured back down. They took these two pictures-"
A unit manager is the first to approach unit 24 and fill them in on the situation. This man was the one who had contacted Sawyer's group through Dawn for them to provide their assistance as soon as he had confirmed this as an active high-risk mission in a civilian area.
The manager of unit 22, which had been the first respondents that had gone inside the building, showed Sawyer and his unit one picture on his phone before swiping to the next as he paced alongside unit 24 to the apartment complex's main entrance. Both of these pictures were extremely blurry due to shaking of the photo capturers as they were startled by the entity that they had come across in the building that was slightly discernable as the subject of the photos.
"It just looks like a blob from what I've seen - buncha hands here and there and maybe a face, I dunno. We're calling it a Room-Mesh for now. It seems pretty large, long arms too - scared off my boys. We've got no idea the full extent of its body and what it's capable of, so I say be as careful as you can."
"Has it tried to leave the building?" Sawyer asks the unit manager as he checks the ammo in his gun is fully loaded.
"No, no it hasn't. But you know, we evacuated the residents almost two hours ago via the fire escape coz' at the time the cryptid was still rummaging around on the ground floor where luckily no one was. Since then it's moved up to at least the third floor."
Upon entering the ground floor accompanied by the unit manager and some other field operators from the present units, Sawyer looks around to see signs of a large entity being present here prior to their arrival. The ground floor only had a reception and an access-way to the parking garage underneath them. Signs of the nascent threat's movement such as smashed-in dents in the walls and the doors of the elevator completely crushed inwards rendering it useless.
"Thank God we got here before it interacted with any of the residents, that coulda' been the whole block dead. But there could still be people left in their apartments. If you find anyone who's seen the cryptid then, well you know, take them in."
"Right. We'll take it from here." Sawyer nods reassuringly as the others too ensure that their equipment is all ready to take to battle.
"This is your chance to do the good that you believe in." He murmurs to Claudia.
"I hope you'll see that being here is worth something."
Sawyer knows this is the only thing Claudia needs to hear right now. During the drive there, the awkwardness of the scrapped-together unit was slightly less than usual - well, at least among the guys. Sawyer could still sense Claudia's reluctance on partaking in a ghoulish job that she had been forced to work. She had never dreamed of putting bullets in nightmarish monsters while being side-by-side with strange violent men. Her constant displeasement and mind-numbing wishes of going home and forgetting about the facility and the idea of monsters were blatantly apparent to Sawyer as Claudia avoided eye-contact with him during the entire ride.
However, Claudia's true-good nature would never allow her to leave innocent people in danger when she knew that she had the power to help - now fully displayed to her by her super-human healing factor. Of course, hearing that residents could still be trapped indoors while a dangerous entity roamed the halls did ever-so slightly change her attitude to the mission, Sawyer's words were just a further push.
"Attention units, this is Ambrose with unit 24. Members of my unit will be sent to your locations to advance further up the building."
The extermination had begun.