The Eternal Winter - Chapter 4 - Loss (Patreon)

A symbiont – otherwise known as an artificial enhancement symbiont – is a creature created by the scientists of the Terran Research Union to increase the overall strength of the human race. However, it turned out to be too expensive to mass produce this creature on a global scale, so it ended up being turned into a creature meant only for the wealthy and powerful to bond with and was also turned into an incentive for climbing the ranks in the military.
The creature allows its host to gradually grow stronger after many different requirements are met while also keeping the host from aging.
The first requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to have been bonded with the symbiont for a certain period of time.
The second requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to overcome a mental challenge.
And the final requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to overcome their physical limits and push past what their body should otherwise be capable of.
When all three of these requirements are met, the symbiont will automatically begin a cocooning process, locking both the host and the symbiont in a cocoon where they will reach the next Tier, gaining all of the strength and benefits that come along with it.
~Article written by Terran Research Union scientist, Artoria Bellovick

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                                                          Alexander North

After several more minutes of both walking and dodging the shards, we finally run into another monster. But this one looks a lot smaller, and has a different body shape than the others, making me think that it wasn’t originally a human that was infected this time.

The creature has the same pale white skin, with no fur despite its bear-like appearance, and the same pointed ears and sharp fangs as the first creature we met; the one that looked like a wendigo.

Although this one looks less like a wendigo and more like a mutated bear.

An angry one at that.

The creature roars its defiance at us, following which the captain immediately shouts, “Fire!”

We all pull the trigger of our guns, but surprisingly, nothing happens. The guns don’t fire. Or rather, they do fire, but the bullets just fall straight out of the gun and onto the ground without any force behind them.

“What the hell?!” Michael shouts as we all look at our guns with confusion.

“Fuck it,” the captain mutters while throwing down his gun and charging straight at the creature like a lunatic. Or, considering that he’s a symbiont host, I guess it’s not like a lunatic.

I grimace as I realize that it probably would have been a good idea to take dad up on his offer to get a symbiont early on in my career after all, nepotism or no nepotism.

Better to be seen by the other people in the military as a brat who was given everything by his parent and never respected by the others than dead.

But it’s too late for that now.

I drop my gun as well, seeing as it doesn’t look like it’ll be of any use to me. Not in this wintry hell that’s somehow even affected our guns.

“Watch out for its teeth and don’t let it bite you!” Gabriel suddenly shouts, making me do a double take at the usually quiet brute. He then adds something that I never would’ve thought I’d ever hear him say, “It always seems to be bites that turn you in the movies after all!”

I have to force myself to not gawk at the man and instead watch the captain and the bear to see if there are any openings, and once I eventually find one, I straight up toss the pistol that was holstered at my waist at the creature, distracting it from the fight. This gives the captain a chance to get a strong punch in, knocking it down to the ground.

He then pulls it into a hold and strangles it to death while watching out for the few shards of ice poking out of its body.

Meanwhile the monster itself lets out roars of anger mixed with puffs of icy mist until it eventually stops moving entirely.

“Is it still alive?” Robert shakingly asks as he stands a few meters away from the captain and the bear.

Captain Andrew crouches down to feel for the bear’s pulse, only to shake his head and say, “No.” He then gets up again and starts walking towards the base while saying, “Let’s go.”

All of the others immediately begin to follow him, but I stand still for a few moments to stare at the bear.

But is it really dead?

I continue staring at it for a few more seconds, half expecting it to just get up again, only to shake my head and quickly catch up to the others while ducking under another shard.

Guess it is.

Looks like those creatures really aren’t as strong as they seem to be. At least not compared to symbiont hosts.

It could still rip me in two, after all.

Which is a scary thought, but whatever. I just won’t give it the chance to do that.

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                              A few minutes later, back at the infected bear

The blizzard continues to rage on, faintly cloaking a humanoid creature with a light blue glow shining in its chest and sharp fangs filling its mouth as it slowly approaches the corpse of a large, infected bear. However, right as it stops next to it and is about to start chewing on the corpse, the ‘corpse’s’ eyes suddenly open to reveal pitch black orbs with a cold blue ring of light shining from them, startling the other creature.

The infected bear then reaches for the creature and slaps it down to the ground before beginning to tear into it with its fangs.

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                                                       Alexander North
                                                  Several minutes later

“How much further is it?” Robert asks, finally having calmed down a little bit.

Which I suspect the captain defeating that bear has a lot to do with.

The captain grunts and says, “It should just be another ten or so minutes.”

Robert lets out a sigh of relief at that; one that is replicated by all of the others here.

However, right as they’re letting their guards down even just the slightest bit, I notice something and call out, “Another shard!”

And this time, it’s Gabriel that’s too slow to dodge it. But he’s not as lucky as Robert, and the shard pierces straight through his chest plate and into his chest.

“Gabriel!” Victoria shouts, drawing the others’ attention to the man as he falls to his knees and coughs.

“No, no, nononono!!!” Victoria shouts, losing her composure for the first time I’ve ever seen in my entire time in this team. “Why couldn’t you have just ducked faster!!”

She starts to cry in grief, meanwhile I kneel down next to him and – with my gloves on – reach for the shard, only to have my hand slapped away by Victoria, who shouts at me, “Do you want to die?!”

I blink at her before shaking my head and explaining, “No. From what I can guess at the first time we saw an infection, it looks like the shard has to be absorbed into him to turn him. And if it’s taken out before it can…?”

She stares at me for a second, likely surprised by my words, and turns to look at Gabriel, who is already trying to take out the shard.

But surprisingly, he doesn’t manage to take it out.

My brows furrow in confusion, and Victoria reaches down with her own gloves on and tries to help pull it out, only for it to not even budge an inch.

“The fuck? Why won’t it come out!” she shouts in a shrill tone of voice.

I grimace while climbing back up to my feet and looking at the captain, who is just staring at the two.

“Captain?” I prod in the hopes that he might be able to take the shard out.

He glances at me before going down to his knees and trying to take the shard out himself, only to fail as well.

The man then climbs back to his feet and grimly says, “It doesn’t look like we’re able or strong enough to take it out.”

“Well, fuck,” I swear while turning back to Gabriel, who now has his helmet off.

Victoria continues crying for a bit until Gabriel moves his hand to her shoulder and shakes his head. He then turns to the captain and says, “Leave me. Go to the base.”

This just makes Victoria cry even harder, but she doesn’t rebuke his statement. After all, it’s clear that he’s going to turn. I can already see the shard beginning to liquify and get absorbed into him.

I look at the captain to find him clenching his fist in anger before eventually grunting out through gritted teeth, “Fine. Let’s go.”

Victoria, however, rushes in and kisses Gabriel before moving away again and following the captain, leaving the man stunned.

I pat him on the shoulder with a nod and say, “Good luck, friend.”

After seeing him nod back with a stupefied look on his face due to her kiss, I nod again and follow the others.

I’m not sure just what the fuck is going on, what this damn blizzard is, or what those shards are, but I do know one thing.

Whatever caused it is going to pay.

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