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The jungle was alive with fire.
Muzzle flashes lit up the undergrowth like strobe lights in hell. Captain Elias Ward ducked beneath a hail of bullets, the bark of the tree behind him erupting into splinters. He slammed his back against the trunk, breathing hard, blood running down his cheek from a fresh graze.
"APCs are down!" someone screamed through the radio. "We're surrounded! Repeat, we're surrounded!"
Ward cursed and yanked his rifle up. Across the clearing, Corporal Ramos was dragging a wounded private by the vest, both covered in mud and blood. Mortar fire rained down behind them, the earth coughing fire.
And above it all, the damned war cries — not human. Deep, guttural howls echoed through the trees, timed, coordinated. Not rage. Strategy.
"Apes," Ward growled. "They've got the ridge."
He barked into his comm: "Squad Alpha, fall back to the ravine! Do not engage in open ground—repeat, get to cover!"
A blur dropped from the treetops. Black fur, seven feet tall, body armored in scavenged gear. It landed in the center of the clearing like a thunderbolt, lifted a massive hammer-like club, and swung. Ramos went flying, armor shattered.
Ward didn't hesitate. He fired three rounds into the ape's chest — nothing. Then a fourth into the eye.
The beast collapsed with a roar that still rattled Ward's teeth.
"They're evolving," Lieutenant Marlowe said as she slid next to him, panting. "That one—he was wearing plated ceramic armor. Who taught him that?"
"They're not just learning," Ward muttered. "They're winning."
Above them, in the jungle canopy, more shadows moved — not apes charging blindly, but coordinated units, flanking, signaling, falling back and re-engaging. A war drum of nature. Organized. Relentless.
Ward checked his ammo. Seven rounds. Not enough.
"Command said this sector was a cleanup op," Marlowe hissed.
"Yeah," Ward spat, watching another one of his men vanish into the brush with a scream. "Tell command their intel is dead wrong. This isn't a cleanup."
He stared into the trees, hearing that low, guttural chant rise again.
"This is a goddamn counteroffensive."
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