Monsters.

Lara and Ruri placed their helmets on their heads and rushed outside. All around, the control team were running to their positions, armed with flame throwers and heavy **** rifles. Lara had prepared for the time when the mutants of the woods would try to rush their lines, though she was expecting small waves. Now that the company had aggravated the mutants in the nearby city, she was afraid that they might be facing a full-frontal ****.

A moment later, the trees started to rustle and the sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard from inside the woods. As the branches shook, birds roosting in the treetops took flight and flocked away, darting over the blockade. As the sounds drew closer and closer, Lara and Ruri took cover in a nearby bunker.

"Are the drones picking up anything?" asked Lara as Ruri pulled out her iPad.

"Nothing yet," said Ruri, "The birds are blocking our view, the infrared can't see through the flock."

Lara moved in closer and took a look at Ruri's screen. Along with the birds' body heat, the infrared was also picking up some form of dust in the air. Suddenly a thought crossed Lara's mind. She ran out of the bunker and looked up into the birds overhead, and what she saw filled her veins with ice. The dust was pollen that had been caught on the birds' wings, and they were heading towards the nearby tree line on the other side of the blockade.

Suddenly Lara heard a loud crash followed by the sound of gunfire. When she turned back to the woods, she was shocked as what appeared to be a large, long-legged tic walked out of the trees and into the clearing. It was as big as a water tower, with a large body made of plants and vines, and long legs made of thick tree bark. Under a pink fleshy mouth was several long vines that swished around its long legs.

As her men fired at the beast, their rounds either bounced off its hide or lodged into its skin. The guns were meant to slow down oncoming mutants so that the flame throwers could burn them. However, as the men unloaded their firearms onto the giant plant monster, it did little to stop it.

Soon another tic like monster appeared from the woods, then another. Before long, Lara could see at least seven of the giant monsters heading right for them. Once they came in range of the flame throwers, they began to burn the legs. Though the fires blackened the bark, they didn't last long as the monster doused the flames with sap.

Once the monster came within tentacle reach of the men, it grabbed them with its long vines and pulled them into its large dripping mouth. Inside the plant monster, the men were plunged into a vat of nectar. More vines appeared and ripped their suits from their bodies, exposing them to the nectar and the virus. Both men and women would find themselves drowning in the liquid before the virus started to take hold. Once the virus had transformed them, the vines would pull their victim into a pod, which would them be shot out of the back of the plant monster. Once the pod hit the ground, a new mutant would hatch and search for its next victim.