Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 13 Ambushed by a Screaming Beauty

"Everyone, get in formation!"

Magnus barked, spinning around and rushing to Sophie, clamping a hand over her mouth.

Those mutated centipedes and spiders could hear. If she kept yelling like that, they’d have an army of them swarming in.

But before Magnus even reached her, he was already surrounded - over a dozen centipedes had crawled up like coiled snakes. In a blink, six or seven of them launched, latching onto him.

"Magnus!"

Emily, Liana, and the first few women who’d jumped out of the truck panicked and ran toward him. But more and more bugs were pouring in. Within seconds, they too had centipedes clinging to them.

The others who followed quickly behind got into a frenzy, wielding shovels and torches, smacking wildly at their teammates.

Magnus cursed under his breath, veins popping on his forehead, rolling on the ground to shake the things off.

"Stop hitting! Damn it!" he roared as he scrambled back up. Right then, a scream pierced the chaos - "Ella! Ella!"

They’d all put on full gear before getting out, helmets and everything. But in the panic, someone had whacked Ella’s helmet with such force that it cracked.

A centipede slipped in through the hole. Its massive fangs pierced straight into her eyes...

"Units One through Ten, defensive ring! Now!"

Fury boiled in Magnus’s voice as he turned toward the girls standing around Ella.

"I’ve told you over and over - not to panic when they latch on! And never, never beat them off with torches. You use the heat! How many damn times do I have to repeat myself? What, you all deaf?"

Even Magnus had nearly had his helmet bashed in by their thrashing. But there wasn’t time to lecture.

"Light the fuel bombs! Nail guns ready - don’t hold back with the ammo!"

The attack had looked overwhelming at first, but in truth, there were fewer than a hundred bugs at the cargo station - nothing too crazy for over 200 fighters. Once they regrouped and reformed, they cleared the yard in under fifteen minutes.

Sophie’s family’s freight depot was one of the bigger ones - mid-to-high scale for private operations. The main warehouse alone was the size of four basketball courts, somewhere around 2,000 square meters.

The convoy moved inside to regroup. Emergency lights were still working, and thankfully, no signs of infected creatures. Seven full trailers stood against the far wall. Not a soul in them.

After five minutes of rest, Magnus called everyone together.

"We’ve got five hours until dawn. Tonight, our goal - scour as many trucks as we can. Box-types only."

His eyes landed on Emily.

"Emily, we’re on the grind again. Go find the 26 girls with licenses. Keep ten behind to teach the others how to drive. The rest, they’re coming with us."

"Liana," Magnus turned to her, saying, "I’ll take three squads out to look for vehicles. You handle the rest - check all the supplies in the warehouse. Then let everyone rest and recharge. At dawn, once we’ve got enough vehicles, we’re heading into the city to scavenge... Oh, and the ten girls who can drive? Have them take shifts resting. Keep the training going."

"Anything else?" He scanned the girls.

"I do!" one of the team members raised her hand.

It was Avery Bradley. She used to be in the Ice Regiment before she got taken by the Emberleaf Legion after some traitor sold her out. Magnus hadn’t seen her since.

Avery glanced around, slightly hesitant under all the eyes on her, then said, "Ying and I saw some anti-theft barbed wire in one of the shipping trailers. You said before that centipedes’ joints and spiders’ bellies are their weak spots. What if we wrapped those wires around our vehicles? It’d make it hard for them to climb on."

Barbed wire like that, if properly attached, could do the job. Magnus had seen Emberleaf Legion use the trick in his past life. Ice Regiment had just never come across that kind of material.

The idea clicked. Everyone nodded without objection. Then another girl spoke up, "One of the girls in our squad lives nearby - her family runs a repair shop. She’s been wanting to go home."

"We’ve got others from Springvale too. They’re not doing well emotionally."

"Same with our team..."

The voices piled on. Magnus raised a hand to quiet them. "We’re not forcing anyone to stay. But wait ’til morning. We’ll bring back some off-road vehicles tonight. Anyone who wants to go home - we’ll help. One week of supplies per person."

He handed the task of calming the teams to Liana, then brought Emily, sixteen licensed drivers, and three full squads onto a sleeper bus.

A hundred torches were loaded, nail guns distributed - this was their best-equipped unit yet. As night deepened, the sleeper bus rolled out.

*****

In the apocalypse, regular sedans were next to useless - they littered the streets. Unless you had a high-end model, they weren’t worth much. SUVs were better, thanks to a higher chassis and better terrain handling. But top-tier were the real off-roaders.

Above them? Box trucks. Higher still: fire engines, water tankers, refrigerated trucks. Fuel tankers were rare gold. And at the top of the chain - RVs and sleeper buses.

At 1 a.m., Magnus himself brought the sleeper bus to a stop in front of a truck 4S dealership.

As the engine cut off, he frowned slightly. Something felt off.

"Squad One, get down and cover me. The other two stay in the bus and wait for my word."

He turned to Emily, his tone sharp. "Emily, get in the driver’s seat. If this turns bad, drive. Don’t wait. At dawn, figure out how to get us back."

"What is it? What could be out there?" Emily stared at him, puzzled. If it was just spiders and centipedes - what was there to be afraid of? Or... was he expecting people?