The Hybrid

Chapter Eight - The Ambush

When they went back to the forest, they saw the ground troops waiting for them while holding the expedition team at gunpoint. Seeing this scared Anna and Zachary a bit since they don't want anyone to get killed when the ambush happens. The plan was simple: once the expedition team is at a safe distance when Zachary and Anna surrender, the rebellion will set off a surprise attack as a distraction to escape and get everyone back to the island.

"Let them go first before we surrender," said Zachary.

The troops let the team go. As one of the rebellion members led the team to safety, Zachary and Anna walked towards the troops. They were nervous, but they knew that they have to be brave when the rebellion performs the ambush.

"We got this, Anna." said Zachary.

"I know. I'm just glad that we're doing this together." said Anna.

Just as Zachary and Anna stopped walking and the troops were about to grab them, that was the signal for the hidden sniper to set off the ambush. One of the troop members was shot, that was the signal for the rebellion to attack. Anna and Zachary ran for cover during the attack, grabbing their weapons before joining in. Even though they've been preparing for this, it still felt terrifying. As they kept firing, Zachary saw Xilqon and Focrill trying to get wounded Alvoirs to safety during a crossfire. He knew he had to help since they wouldn't be able to defend themselves while trying to get Alvoirs to safety. So he ran into the crossfire to help them.

"Zachary!" yelled Anna.

The moment she saw him running towards the crossfire, she ran after him to stop him, but had to stay in cover as she almost got shot during the attempt. She did not expect him to do something reckless like that since what he's doing is really dangerous. But deep down, she understood why he's doing this. When you're in a war, you always look out for your fellow soldiers in battle.

As Zachary managed to help Focrill and Xilqon get Alvoirs to safety, there was an explosion as a combat vehicle exploded, Zachary used himself as a shield to protect the trio as pieces of metal from the vehicle started flying. He felt an intense sharp pain as a piece of metal stabbed him in the chest, he fell to the ground as he lost consciousness. The last thing he heard was Anna screaming out his name before everything went silent around him.

Suddenly he woke up. As he looked around, he realized that he was in the base's laboratory. As he looked at his chest, there was no stab wound. Which felt strange because he remembered the last thing that happened before he lost consciousness. One minute, he was stabbed in the chest and was about to die, the next minute... He's fully recovered and there's no stab wound on his chest. Ladi arrived as she was informed that he was awake.

"What happened? Was I dead?" asked Zachary.

"You were near death. We managed to get back to the island after the ground troops retreated, we had to perform a blood transfusion since you were losing a lot of blood. You have half of the Yuni blood in your veins now. Our bodies have the ability to heal when damaged, that's how we managed to save you. You're half Yuni now."

Suddenly, that's when Zachary remembered that one particular petroglyph that he saw at the cave. The one that foretold that one of the humans would almost die in battle and be given a blood transfusion, becoming the hybrid. That's when it hit him. He realized that he was the human in that petroglyph, he was the destined hybrid.