David Adams was on call and stationed at a local supermarket, SWAT had been called to prevent looting as the inner city had started to decay into total chaos in the past few weeks, roving bands of civilians were committing unspeakable acts upon their fellow citizens, going as far as desecrating a dead body beyond recognition, and in some cases, there were even signs of cannibalism. Worse, the madness seemed infectious.
The SWAT sharpshooter had started to doze off, as the team on the ground had everything under control, he was woken in the earliest signs of morning as an unmarked, military special forces style Black Hawk whipped overhead. It was heading towards the docks district.
***************************************
Mr. Ayers was busy in his own personal machine shop, tinkering with one of his inventions. The 'rioters' had completely passed his little workshop up, and seemed rather uninterested due to the completely lack of noise coming from the soundproofed building. John continued his working... attached the tank, pulled the discharge handle and *fwoosh* a jet of flame exploded from the shiny alloy nozzle. Checking the distance, the home made weapon had a rather impressive range of a little under 45 feet... nearly the entire length of his makeshift lab.
The weapon test was a complete success, a 21st century adaptation to the old WWII style flamethrower... only this new one was leaner, meaner, and could actually burn through tanks if the crews were careless enough to get into range.
A national guard unit rumbled by a few minutes later, one of them knocked on the heavy metal door. The sound reverberated through the lab. The large man was standing square with the frame, a Husky stood a few feet behind him in full battle fatigues, the assault rifle in his hands was currently at rest, but the white and gray furred canine looked as if he could snap it up at a moments notice.
***************************************
Rebecca had had another restless night's sleep, her husband had been missing for almost a week, and the city seemed to be falling further into chaos by the day. As the faint rays of morning light caught her eyes, her cellphone beeped, alerting her that she was needed at the hospital... it was looking like today was going to be a very, very long day...
"Ahhh freakin a..... " Rebecca grumbled at her phone, everything but her toes still hidden in the covers. After giving herself a minute to relish the last remnants of comfort she'd feel for the day she threw off the covers. She stepped into her slippers and did her morning routine in the bathroom, always keeping a spare change of scrubs on a hook behind the door.
Fresh and clean she left the house, locked it behind her, and went to her car. It was a red 1993 Ford Probe, four cylinder, five-speed, and slightly dented. She gripped the steering wheel for a moment, thinking 'Gary... where could you be...' before she backed out of the driveway and drove to the hospital.
After her husband, Gary, went missing she put together a back pack of survival items and placed it in the trunk of her car. Her mom always taught her to be prepared for whatever could happen, but with the city acting so strange and everything seeming to fall apart, it was hard to gauge what she should be prepared for.
Sergeant David Fredrick Adams rolled to his knees and off the rollup mattress that he took with him on long deployments, and got to his feet. "Roy who was that? Did you see any markings?" Corporal Roy Bennings was Dave's spotter.
"Sorry DFA didn't see it till too late but I didn't see any id on that chopper, bet it was some government job." Roy said from behind his 40 power scope.
"Right..." David said as he picked up the M14 EBR that was his main tool of his trade. "No point sleeping right now its almost opening time.."
Even though the parking lot was empty down below soon it would be time for volunteers and some of the local districts uniformed patrol officers to make sure anyone turning up had the basics. No cars were allowed due to the concrete barriers and mesh fences that had been set up to stop any looting.
While he was the sniper squad's CO he was in overall command here including a 8 man team from the assault section based in the supermarket itself.
"Blue one two, this is Blue one six, check in over."
4th and 63rd st Supermarket
David heard a faint crackle in his radio, and suddenly it jumped to life as the cool, crisp voices of his team on the ground. "all clear sir, no sign of anyone or anything..."
There was the sound of a heavy diesel engine in the distance. Through his scope David could make out another platoon of National Guard troops disembarking and preparing for a street by street sweet... what seemed odd, they were equipped with full combat gear, rather than the usual riot patrol... Seemed whoever was issuing the orders wanted a show of force for the rioters and looters.
A few blocks closer, the first signs of humanity showed up in the inner city, a pack of civilians, walked slowly and cautiously towards the store, the seemed downright terrified, as if the slightest sound caused them to jump. The eased their way towards the barricades surrounding the store. When they reached the entrance the man in front asked "is.... is it safe in there? You're sure there's none of those things..." he paused, pointing towards the general area where a large pack of rioters was reported to be.
*******************************
Rebecca's drive was short and uneventful as she made her way across the bridge to the suburbs and the Ithica's St. Mercy Hospital... The traffic seemed unusually light. Besides the occasional jogger, runner, or child playing outside in the morning cool, the area seemed relatively devoid of life, then again, it was only 7:30am.
At the hospital Rebecca was assaulted with the sudden stench of blood as paramedics came running by with what looked to be possibly the remains of a feline... or perhaps canine, the damage was so severe one could only be astounded there was any life left in that ruined and shattered body.
A few moments later, she made it to the central desk, where the reception greeted her with a quick "hello, and time to get moving, it's a busy day already and we're already understaffed." before given a chance to respond, one of the head nurses walked by, and said in a flat tone, "You're needed in room 203, looks like some type of bite and they need some help right now."
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Charlie's Appartment
Charlie Mask had been sleeping in, enjoying his day off. His apartment was in the up-scale downtown area, where his activities were viewed as even more usual and as such, he was generally left to his own by the other tenants. It was early, even if he was on call that day, (which he wasn't) they'd usually give him a few more hours of rest, and call on one of the other, younger doctors first. The noise continued though... it got louder... the thumping... suddenly it was coming from his door.
From the same general area, a woman's scream could be heard, followed by her shouting, "he's crazy... he's trying to kill me, someone please help me! He's locked in my room but i don't know how long it'll hold him... someone help, someone call the police!"
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At the Docks
The unmarked Black Hawk touched down on the roof of a gray building... a squad of black clad soldiers poured out as they made their way down into the facility, they broke up into pairs as the went to seek out some very specific personnel
Charlie had woken up at the first thump. Lousy kids.. He thought at first, but as he lay there partially dozing, he began to note that the rhythm of the thumping was.. odd. And then the scream.
The raccoon was already out of bed, and practically half way to the door before the women had even started speaking. He had his 9mm in his paw, but opted to leave it on the half-desk as he went for his weapon of choice by the door.. the pump-action.
Why did the old soldier keep the shotgun at the door? Because he's C.C.C., that's why.
None the less, he promptly opened the door with the shotgun readied. We can only hope the poor woman didn't die of stress from both being attacked and now seeing some stark-bonkers raccoon with a shotgun. "What in blazes is going on out here!? I'm trying to sleep in here, ya harpy!"
Rebecca couldn't help but try to hold back her gag reflex upon seeing the carnage going past her as she walked inside. 'This is getting rediculous....'
Upon getting her orders from the nurse she hurried over to room 203, upon entering she stopped at the sink near the door, washed her hands and donned some gloves.
"So what's going on here?"
"Blue one six, Blue one three. Today's load is here Over." The other sniper pair reported from a building next to the supermarket reported as a large truck pulled up to the gate.
"Copy that one three. Orange one five open the gate for em, over." Dave said looking through a spare scope at the truck.
Despite it being the 8th day they had been stationed here everyone was still fresh and relaxed, no rioting was close and each of the team had had a turn sleeping on some inflatable mattresses set up in the apartment building Blue one three was atop. Showers and regular meals had helped aswell.
Military Viral Research Facility
The pairs of soldiers broke off and found the various lead scientists who they were assigned to grab... 6 of the troops were already in or on their way to the helicopter, the last pair, Mendoza and Salem were search for Dr. Molovich, they found her packing some of her things into a large shoulder bag, making some last minute collections before the move. The pair approached, they knew she was their objective, yet they went through the formalities anyways. The tall feline spoke, "Dr. Anastasia Molovich? Master Sargents Salem and Mendoza, we've been ordered to evac you to a safe location for now until things are contained, if you'll please come with us, we're moving out now."
A crackle in both the soldier's earpieces announced from the pilot, "we've got a bit of a wobble in blade 3, nothing i can't handle, but this bird is going into the maintence hanger once we're back at base." With the pilot's reassurance that he had things under control, the pair continued with their duty as if the conversation had never happened.
****************************************************
National Guard Base Camp Halo Whiskey
The Staff Sargent approached almost his commanding officer almost timidly. The short, and slightly pudgy human had been serving as O-7's for all of 2 weeks before the crisis in Ithica hit, and he was still trying to adjust how the primarily science officer did things. His specialty in infectious diseases made him seem like a god-send for the various military commanders fielding the troops trying to contain the epidemic.
The pudgy man waited quietly while Bryan finished reading yet another containment plan sent by one the field commanders... He waited a few moments, then coughed to make his presence known. He waited until he had the foxes attention, then passed a slip of paper. The message, once translated from exact military jargon read, Brigadier General Bryan McKensie, you are requested (given that the message was from a superior, ordered.) to attend a planning session with various command groups all operating in the immidiate area. The results of this meeting will most likely decide the general operations plan of all military forces operating in the city. Several ways to stop the spread of this disease, and cleanse this city of infection will be discussed and your expertise would prove invaluable for evaluating the effectiveness of such plans. Meeting begins 1100 Hours, location Financial District, Hanedey Plaza. A VIP Convoy will pick you up at 800 Hours. Good luck. It was already 7:30, that gave the fox about a half and hour to prepare for a cross town trip in ground transport through several infected zones.
****************************************************
Emerald Greens Country Club
The cool morning air felt nice as the execs prepared for Tee off. Both had hired coaches/trainers and Joseph Boston had been lucky enough to be working that day. 100$ an hour to watch a couple of CEOs inflate their egos while asking for help every once in a while so they didn't seem too arrogant to the other... His man approached and asked, "what would recommend for this shot, i'm thinking the a 8 iron... but, what do you think?
****************************************************
Big-Box Mart
Another day another dollar, or so Tony would always greet Oscar with every morning before his sudden disappearance 3 days ago. The boy didn't show up for work one day, and no one had heard a thing. When employees stopped by his place yesterday, no one was in his apartment as far as they could tell... It got everyone worried, especially with the riots and everything going on. The Ocelot sulked his way to the employee entrance and found it oddly unlocked, and slightly cracked open...
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Hospital
"Oh, good, some help, finally, we had to give poor Mr. Weaver here a sedative, he kept shaking when we tried to draw blood... Seems he got caught in a brawl on his way home from the bar last night, group jumped him, and one of his attackers bit him before he knocked the man cold... Or so his story seems to go. Anyways, if you'd be so kind as to hold his right arm down we'd like to get a few blood samples... the bite looks infected, but we're doing what we can to keep it clean... If all goes well, Mr. Weaver should be free to go in a matter of hours."
The man on the bed looked pale, but he was sleeping for the moment... He was covered in a thin film of sweat, and the bite on his left bicep was quite visible given the short-sleeve nature of the gowns being issued at the moment. The man himself twitched every now and again, but the IV drip made sure he'd be asleep for a little while, at least until he settled down.
****************************************************
Charlie's Apartment
The cat girl sobbed even harder as she saw the gun, but she started to move towards the open doorway and apparent safety, she whimpered softly, "it's Johnny he's gone crazy... he... he hit me.. i fought back, and.... he tried to bite me i think... i don't know what's wrong with him... but i got the door jammed... and i... i just need a place to hide... just until the police get here.... can i hide here.... please... you gotta understand, he's gonna kill me if he finds me..." Tears were running down the girls face as she tried inching closer to the opened door... she was obviously less scared of the gun than the boy, but at the same time, it was quite obvious she didn't want to die right then and there.
****************************************************
Supermarket
Food, water and medical attention were given to the civilians as they recounted their story of how they were assaulted by the mob... The various injuries were stitched where needed as the medic noticed bite marks on 3 of the people, along with one of the un-bitten civilians exhibiting some strange symptoms, it seems he was assaulted by an ex-girlfriend, and when he finally hit her back, she coughed a face-full of blood into his mouth before succumbing to unconsciousness.
From David's rooftop position, he could spot another clump of civilians making there way towards the safety of the police enforced check-point... though when inspected closer there movements seemed... odd, almost jerky, as if a parody of walking when one's limbs were stiff after an awkward sleep... and the group seemed more pale too... If he looked closer he would notice the distinct lack of a right arm, just below the shoulder on of the middle people in the mob... actually, if he looked more closely, he would see most of the others had heinous injuries that would leave a normal person writhing in pain, and unable to move... something about this group was wrong... very wrong... they continued to shamble towards the gate, still a good 600+ yards down the major road.
****************************************************
John Ayers' Lab
Various screams, shouts and the occasional burst of gunfire could be heard coming from outside the Lab, The beating on the door suddenly became more frantic, though the shouts were not understandable as they were muffled while traveling through all the layers of sound dampening material used to soundproof the gutted warehouse turned science lab.
"Go for the gap wedge on this one. Hit it just right, and you can clear the whole rough. Use a nine-iron, you're not going to make it." He seemed polite as ever, but Joseph hated teaching wealthy businessmen. It was just so unnecessary considering they knew almost as much as he did. At least these ones were nice enough to not treat him like a caddy or do that little "chop-chop" clap with their hands. People that treated Joseph as anything less than the mentor he was would very quickly find themselves in need of a new instructor.
Looking out at the wide open course, he couldn't help thinking about the usual things: home, dinner, and what Junior learned in school today. Hope Barbara's making that roast chicken again, with the lemon rub and crushed fennel...
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 01, 2009, 10:22:23 PM
Supermarket
Food, water and medical attention were given to the civilians as they recounted their story of how they were assaulted by the mob... The various injuries were stitched where needed as the medic noticed bite marks on 3 of the people, along with one of the un-bitten civilians exhibiting some strange symptoms, it seems he was assaulted by an ex-girlfriend, and when he finally hit her back, she coughed a face-full of blood into his mouth before succumbing to unconsciousness.
From David's rooftop position, he could spot another clump of civilians making there way towards the safety of the police enforced check-point... though when inspected closer there movements seemed... odd, almost jerky, as if a parody of walking when one's limbs were stiff after an awkward sleep... and the group seemed more pale too... If he looked closer he would notice the distinct lack of a right arm, just below the shoulder on of the middle people in the mob... actually, if he looked more closely, he would see most of the others had heinous injuries that would leave a normal person writhing in pain, and unable to move... something about this group was wrong... very wrong... they continued to shamble towards the gate, still a good 600+ yards down the major road.
Fuck fuck fuck David thought as he triggered his radio "All Blue and Orange units, this is Blue one six. Lockdown I repeat Lockdown. Orange units pull back to the inner barriers. Blue one six Out."
Thankfully the truck had already made it inside the fences and was on its way inside. He watched though his scope at the incoming mob as Roy took over the situation and ordering the SWAT team to gear up and to come outside.
The local patrol units quickly made their way inside the barriers as the civilians were asked to leave as quickly as they could. No one liked their orders on this detail, they were there to serve and protect the innocent and kicking them out into a possible riot just plain sucked.
David unfolded the bipod on the M14 and took up a shooters stance as he played the scope over the mob....Something was very very wrong here...Was that guy missing an arm on PCP or something? He took his eye from his weapons scope and looked through the 40x spotters scope Roy vacated as he had picked up his own Remington 700P.
Bryan gazed longingly at the word 'requested', oh want that I could refuse! Chuck is probably going to drone on and on about how we need to keep the media in the dark, the citizens in the dark... even the law enforcement agencies. He paused in his mental tirade to mull over an oddity in the message, good luck. Good Luck? Why would he write that?
Ignoring the Staff Sergeant standing at attention for the moment, the fox rolled out one of his large city maps and examined the areas between HW and Hanedey, "that is a lot of infected zones to cross with ground transportation, I would have preferred a helicopter."
Turning his eyes to the staff sergeant he issued his orders, "Staff Sergeant Cole, I need you to locate Major Winters and Lieutenant Colonel Daines. Also, have Lieutenant Knighthaven ready the appropriate amount of men for additional escort if needed when the convoy arrives. I'll need appropriate gear just in case."
He dismissed the man, giving the proper salute as needed, and began gathering the odds and ends he would need for the meeting. Backing up his data to the servers, he shutdown his laptop and slipped it into its case.
Bryan took a seat at his desk and awaited the arrival of his staff secretary and the base's duty commander.
Charlie gave the cat girl a look like she was, ironically, infected with something. "Tried to bite you!? What, you dating a zombie or some schmuck? Get your pretty little ass inside, I'm going to go have a 'talk' with your 'boyfriend'." The coon announced, and promptly stormed over to the girl's apartment, muttering something about kids these days.
A half-second and a kicked down door later, Charlie yelled "HEALTH INSPECTION! Get out where I can see ya!" Before he entered the apartment like it was a building full of communists, rioters, mutants, or a combination of the three. He was crouched low, his short tail bristling, and the shotgun at the ready...
Poor Johnny.
Oscar bit his lip as he slowly opened the broken door. The young ocelot had his hunting shotgun, a gift from his father slung over his shoulder, with a crowbar sticking out of his backpack.
Strangely, he somehow felt his exercise was going to save his life...he had dropped a good 50 pounds since taking up kickboxing, and knew how to fight now. In a few months, the young man had grown surprisingly strong and deceitfully fats for his build. He wasn't a Olympic athlete, but for a guy who a year ago could barely climb a story of stairs without loosing his breath, Oscar felt proud. He could jog for a few hours now, and now biked home.
He eased his way into the back entrance, spying his bosses office as he remained as silent as possible. It was likely a looter, or a group of the bastards. Sons of Bitches, the whole lot of them. He had seen a group of them trample over some childern...
He slowly grabbed his crowbar pulled it out of his backpack. If he found the bastard who broke in, he could say good-bye to his kneecaps.
Rebecca nodded and walked to the patient's right side and placed her hands on his shoulder and wrist, firmly holding the arm in place.
"Geez, who the heck bites someone? I guess if their drunk enough they'll do anything.."
She couldn't help but feel this wasn't right; he shouldn't be in this type of condition with just a bite from a human, even a drunk one. Perhaps he took some nasty drugs, but either way the blood test will show what exactly is going on with him.
National Guard Base Camp Halo Whiskey
As his various orders were given and carried out, a flurry of activity overcame the base, as soldiers grabbed gear, vehicles, supplies, and made requests with the quartermaster for every bit of extra firepower they could get their hands on. By the time 7:50 rolled around 4 HumVees were loaded with 2 squads. Each of the heavy trucks mounted an M2 .50 cal on a turret, and the soldiers inside each had some type of automatic weapon. Knighhaven's G36c hung loosely on a combat harness laden with additional magazines. The snow-leopard wore a suit similar to the special forces operating in the area, a matte black, kevlar-nylon weave under-layer. He looked like very much like the recruitment posters the army used for recruitment purposes, very fit, lean, and with his light blue eyes, what even the most conservative of those interested in male half the species, cute.
Major Winters approached the area in a BDU. With the flack-vest she'd been issued, she appeared to almost be making a mockery of the military with her thin features. The Lynx girl stood at 5'8", about average. Her daily routine had kept her thin, and muscled... if there was excess fat on the Major, one would be very hard pressed to find it. She walked by the soldiers, giving the Lieutenant a quick glance as she approached. She was followed a few minutes later by a Beagle wearing a pair of glasses. Once the others had entered, and given their greetings, Knighthaven walked in carrying an extra combat vest, and the commander's personal Ruger SR-556. Behind him the senior NCO of the protection detail carried an extra pack. Knighthaven informed his commander with a salute, "we've got 2 squads, 4 HumVees and enough small arms to fight a private war sir... for the return, we managed to secure a pair of Black Hawks. The trip there looks iffy, so we're gonna be keeping mobile to prevent getting swamped. You're assigned escort is a pair of VIP Suburbans, armored, upgraded, and mounting a hidden M240 turret that can unfold in a moment's notice... they're getting checked in now... we're ready to roll out, on your orders sir."
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Supermarket
The shambling forms made their way towards the concrete barricades, there was something obviously wrong with them. Those inside the store begrudgingly left, and slunk back into the shadows, creeping along and hoping for safety. A few seconds later David's earpiece buzzed as a broadcast from command came in. "All IPD units currently deployed, we've received an update on the current situation. Any civilian that seems to be acting as if on PCP, or some other drug, you are authorized to engage, repeat engage... with lethal force. They are not civilians and most be treated as the highest possible threat. That is all..."
David's earpiece buzzed for a second, then, in the distance the mob in his sights let out a blood-curdling howl as they spotted the civilians leaving the barricades. Everyone in the unit had heard the order, and the team was already shouting for the civilians to get down. They lined up and took aim... they were still well outside the effective range of the M4 rifles most of the team on the ground carried.
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Hospital
The needle slid into the mans arm, he trembled a bit, but nothing too serious happened. The man continued in his drug induced sleep as the med techs ran off, taking the supply to the lab... it almost looked like one of them stuck himself in the hand with the needle, but Rebecca couldn't be sure. She was quickly ordered to help stitch up someone who was mauled by another mob.
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Golf Course
Playing through the next two holes without any interruptions, it was turning out to be a surprisingly pleasant day. Joseph was sitting back as the other exec was hitting his ball, completely disregarding any advice his caddy was giving. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he spotted a small cluster of kids goofing off around the green.
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Next Apartment Down
As the door flew opened, there was almost no sound... a light wind was blowing through an open window. A cursory check around the rest of the place revealed that Johnny was in fact, not in the apartment at all. As Charlie walked towards the window, he noticed a Iguana in a business suit skitter off... The iguana looked back at the former apartment for a moment, it's eye met Charlie's for a few moments... cold, dead like eyes... the iguana stuck out it's tongue for a fraction of a second, turned it's head then ran... The raccoon had the feeling he'd be seeing ol' Johnny again
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Big-Box Mart
(warning, may contain nightmare fuel for the overly imaginative)
Oscar crept into the building, hardly making a sound. He found the lights off as he slunk into the building. A thin shaft of light leaped inside as the Feline moved into the room, crowbar at the ready. Waiting at the other end of the storage area was a somewhat overweight man. His outline was somewhat visible, and his high pitch cackle echoed through the expansive room. As his eyes adjusted rather quickly to the darker conditions he could see the back of the man's head quite clearly. He was wearing a massive reddish afro wig, and his head seemed ghostly white. He let out another high pitched squeal then turned around "Weeeehehehe, what'd'a we have 'ere" he spoke in a high pitched, and nasally voice.
The man's face with thick, jowly and bulbous, his appearance of slightly overweight had grown to grotesque proportions. He had horribly smeared clown makeup on his face, turning something that is usually a bringing of joy into some type of ghastly parody. The man's overall demeanor seemed pigish... as if he were a pig anthro who then underwent plastic surgery to appear human. Oscar would have moved if the pig-man hadn't held a Mac-10 machine pistol dead level with his chest.
The man walked forward slowly, as he got closer, the ocelot could see he had a machete in his other hand, metal gleamed off some bits, but others appeared rusted... only the rust was dripping... it was the remnants of whatever he'd butchered, and recently too. He jiggled as he walked, laughing and squeeling with a glee that was completely at odds with the situation he found himself in. The pig-man was obviously quite insane as he wattled forward, his jiggling almost hypnotic.
Suddenly he looked angry, he shouted in the same nasally voice, " I asked you a quessssstion boy... Whoooo are yooouuuu? and whaaaat are you doingggg in my playhoussssse?" The tones were completely at odds with his facial expressions, his fist tightened around the blade and a trail of gore clearly revealed that it was the manager who'd been butchered. The chimp had always worn his hair in a particular way... and just in front of the gory pile of meat and bone stood a head who's top was facing poor Oscar, the haircut identical to that of his boss.
Charlie had leveled the shotgun on the fleeing iguana, but it was a pointless gesture as Johnny was well out of range.. Still, it didn't keep the coon from noticing the strange look in the boy's eyes.. "Bloody kids these days.." Charlie grumbled as he made his way back to his own apartment, and found the cat girl.
"You girl! What the devil have you and your boyfriend been getting into!? This isn't some manner of fantasy drug, is it!?"
A grey rabbit in a lab coat finished her coffee hurriedly, like someone on their way out the door running late to work.
"Right, right, I'm coming." She chucked the paper cup aside and thrust another fistful of notes and papers into her pockets. "Right, I'm good, sorry. Lead the way, Salem and whoever-you-were." Anastasia didn't have a LOW opinion of soldiers, per se, for the same reason she didn't have a low opinion of teapots or furniture. They were useful, but generally part of the background.
Anastasia was led into the helicopter, Mendoza carried her bags, while Salem gave her an exceedingly brief refresher in the use of a handgun. As the triplet reached the helicopter, they took their seats by the door facing the entrance to the facility Salem sat next to the rabbit, while Mendoza sat across. The windows let the rabbit look out the window, and the pilot's take-off was done so smoothly it seemed the world had fallen from under her feet, rather than the helicopter lifting into the air.
A few minutes into the flight, the helicopter started getting a heavy vibration that seemed to rattle the entire aircraft. The pilot looked back and said, "we've got a real serious problem with rotor 3, i'm gonna have to set he....." his words were cut off as a series of loud sirens blared, and the helicopter started descending in an uncontrolled spiral motion, as if the helicopter were rotating instead of the blades.
The aircraft careened towards the inner city. It was at this point that a middle-aged human walked into the streets, he looked up with his jowly cheeks, the man, Abdul, donned his glasses to catch a sight of the black object heading his way. He wasn't too smart or creative, but at least he tried something. He ran for an allyway as the aircraft slammed down.
The Black Hawk's internal areas were largely intact, but the outside was a messed... The large helicopter slammed into the ground and bounced up again before settling. A section of rotor 3 broke off, and through sheer inertia took off like a missile, slicing through Abdul's midsection as if he were a paper target. The human was cleanly bisected, and would have suffered for a few moments before succumbing to sweet release of shock, then death. Instead he felt the blade go through his belly, felt his legs go one way, and his torso the other... and landed facing up... just in time for one of the wheels, which had been torqued off it's mount by the intensity of the crash slammed through the area his head had occupied. Worse, Anastasia's window seat allowed her to witness the entire bloody spectacle.
As soon as the crash had settled to the point of being mildly safe, Salem and Mendoza had their door opened, and were already scanning the street, trying to move Anastasia to a safe location... The loft house 2 blocks up the road would work. With their chosen destination in sight, the pair got set to move, then Salem informed their charge, "see that building over there, the one with the red brick and the green graffiti. That's where we're gonna hole up for a bit until we get a rescue team out here. Stay between us, and whatever you do, do not freeze if you see one of them. " clearly referring to an infected, which if reports were correct, this area should be teeming with them.
Just as he was dwelling on what to do with his upcoming paycheck, Joseph noticed the pack of children screwing around on the course. Not again, he thought glumly as he got up from the golfcart. "I'll be a minute, guys. Those damn kids are trespassing again." He made sure his walkie-talkie was in hand before advancing on the intruders.
"Hey! I thought I told you punks to stay off the green! Get outta here before I call security!" There was just never a week where those miscreants wouldn't come by to blow airhorns, throw eggs at the other members and make utter nuisances of themselves.
For the most part, OScar seemed oddly calm, but this was for one reason only: he was hiding his panic very well, and currently his mind was racing.
ShitshsitshitshitshitshitSHIT!He slowly began to back up, attempting to formulate a plan, his survival instinct kicking in.
"Uh...sorry...I'll be going then....I'm sorry to have disturbed you..."Oscar smiled meekly, his eyes darting around, looking something he could use...
Within Arm's Reach was a clothing rack. At the very least he could tip this thing over in the lunatic gave chase. Oscar was certain being in better shape was to be his trump card. He could escape easier and run faster and longer-he hoped.
However, for he knew this guy could have rigged the entire store with traps...his man's primary weapon was to be his unpredictability, it seems.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 03, 2009, 10:03:29 PM
Supermarket
The shambling forms made their way towards the concrete barricades, there was something obviously wrong with them. Those inside the store begrudgingly left, and slunk back into the shadows, creeping along and hoping for safety. A few seconds later David's earpiece buzzed as a broadcast from command came in. "All IPD units currently deployed, we've received an update on the current situation. Any civilian that seems to be acting as if on PCP, or some other drug, you are authorized to engage, repeat engage... with lethal force. They are not civilians and most be treated as the highest possible threat. That is all..."
David's earpiece buzzed for a second, then, in the distance the mob in his sights let out a blood-curdling howl as they spotted the civilians leaving the barricades. Everyone in the unit had heard the order, and the team was already shouting for the civilians to get down. They lined up and took aim... they were still well outside the effective range of the M4 rifles most of the team on the ground carried.
"All blue and orange units hold your fire till you have a headshot, we need to put them down hard! You are weapons free at this point" Dave said as he lined up on the figure missing an arm.
Stroking the trigger he sent his first 7.62x51mm JHP round of the engagement spiraling at its target. Before he had even checked to see that the shot had hit he was selecting another, watching the targeting lasers of his snipers so that shots were not wasted. David kept firing until the last of the mob was down, all 20 shots in the M14's magazine expended. Roy had already shot through 3 of his 5 round mags for the R700P.
Just as the bolt closed on an empty chamber he was already thumbing the release catch and lifting a fresh magazine to slot into the rifle.
"All units call out! Any injuries?" It was unlikely but David knew that when he was staring down the scope alot could happen around him that he couldn't attend to.
Rebecca sighed, cursing herself for her choice of profession as she rushed down the hall to the next patient's room. She couldn't help but continue to think whether or not that guy stuck himself, what school did he come from? Didn't he know anything about universal precautions? Either way it wasn't her problem. She prepped herself the same as before, donned her gloves and grabbed extra stitching supplies in case they needed them. She waved halfheartedly to her comrades as she went to the bed.
"This is number two for me, how about you guys?"
Bryan returned the salute and nodded his understanding, "give me a moment lieutenant." The fox strapped on the combat vest, retrieved and checked both M9s before holstering them, and shouldered his SR-556. It all fit in nicely with his BDUs, making him look like a real soldier... almost. He retrieved his hat and nodded to the lieutenant.
"Alright, lets roll. Knighthaven, you are in charge of the combat operations while we are in transit. Make sure they don't get too overzealous with gunfire, but don't take chances... and no rescues, it pains me to say it, but we can't afford to bring in civilians during this outing. The infection is too virulent." The fox paused to consider anything else he thought useful, Knighthaven was professional, but Bryan always erred on the side of caution, "if we encounter infected, be sure to shoot for the head as much as possible, take them down with concentrated fire, but be sure to headshot them if we a forced to clear an area. We keep the caravan in the open areas, do not get close to buildings, and we may need some heavy weapons to clear obstructions in the roads."
Major Winters retrieved the general's case with laptop, notes and important papers, as well as the medical kit. With everyone in tow, General McKensie exited his command area, donned his hat, and headed over to the indicated VIP Suburban. He was relieved of his heavier items, which were stored in an easily accessible area, by one of the NCOs. He and the major climbed in and secured themselves as best as they could. Though he tried very hard not to show it, Bryan was very apprehensive about crossing the very hostile areas.
Anastasia liked helicopters. They were advanced and practical and they let you see everything going on below if you had a good enough telescope. She liked the idea of that, being able to track all the possible variables where you were. Not like planes. She always got trapped in an aisle seat on those damn things, and the windows weren't really angled to look down. Overall she was having an alright day. Hell, even that mexican soldier, whatsisface, name started with an M, made good eye candy-
The helicopter gave a sickening lurch and she checked her belt buckle with a curse. Damn things could never stay in the goddamn sky. Helpless to do anything but watch out the window and hope to GOD nothing got all shrapnel-y on her, she marveled at the brutality inflicted upon the man in the alleyway. It was rather horrifying to consider, really, that a civilian may have been better off with the undead than with the soldiers...
Oh well, collateral damage...
She finally managed to crawl out of the wreckage, nodding approvingly to the soldiers casing the joint. Glad that they were less dazed than she was, Anastasia double checked her pockets. Notes, vial, PDA, all that... She smiled to herself, leaned back into the wreckage of the chopper, and pulled three canisters out of one of her bags. They were small, about the size of peanut butter jars, and immediately vanished into the pockets of her lab coat.
"Shoot the bad men. Got it. Don't tell me too much or you'll be out of a job, boys." The collar of her lab coat crinkled in what was probably a smile.
Golf Course
The kids kinda glanced at Joseph and his threats... they seemed to amble on, as if they either didn't hear him or didn't care. They seemed to be heading for some other golfers anyways. His exec called him back as he prepared to take his shot. The ball was teed, all setup, and the Exec was standing in a proper stance. As he began his swing, a blood-chilling howl came from the area around the other golfers as the kids weren't just interrupting the old men enjoying their day off... they appeared to be attack them... Then, as if that wasn't enough, a section of the pack began sprinting towards Joseph and his little party, their inhuman wails could be heard echoing across the grassy fields.
The Scream came just as Joseph's exec was taking his shot... his club swung wide as he flinched with the howl... he turned to scream something at the kids, obvious rage in his eyes, when he saw them heading straight for them... his mouth just sat opened, as he was frozen in total shock from what he was seeing.
*****************************
Hospital
The man who had needed stitches was in his room, his horribly swollen face made it hard to see his eyes, he had cuts, scrapes and gashes across most of his exposed skin, and his clothing was in tatters. As Rebecca eased her way into the room, something about the clothing was familiar... almost... but it couldn't be, how could her husband be here, of all places, and in such a horrible condition... it just... couldn't be possibly, but it was. He was laying in the hospital bed, barely conscious and only semi-coherent due to the pain killers that had been pumped into his system. The man's eye seemed to twinkle a bit, and he grinned for the briefest of moments before groaning in pain...
*****************************
Charlie's Apartment
The girl looked worried as the raccoon came back, she was sitting on a couch, very tense, and seeming ready to run. As Charlie shouted his accusation, the girl began outright crying... she sobbed and said, "I.... I don't know... he hadn't called for a few days... after saying how he was feeling sick... I show up today, and used the key he gave me to get in. He didn't respond when i said his name... when i walked into his bedroom, he was there... acting, strange... he came at me, trying to hit me... kick me... bite me... It... *sob* was like... some wild animal had taken over Johnny.... he's normally a great guy... but... i just don't know, i don't know!" the girl hugged her knees to her chest in a very defensive position... she curled into a ball and just kept on whimpering, tears running down her face.
*****************************
Heli-Crash Site
The pair of spec-ops almost sprinted to the door, they wanted nothing to do with street level fighting under current conditions. As the reached the door to the brick building, Mendoza whipped out a set of lock-picking tools, and went about getting the door open quietly in a matter of seconds. Once inside the building they locked the heavy oak door behind them, and went searching for a staircase. It was strange... the entire building was quiet, as if everyone were asleep.... or dead.
Salem found an apartment he deemed worthy, whispered something to Mendoza, and he picked the lock. The small room looked like a studio flat rather than a proper apartment, the large bare space had paintings sitting along the walls, with various colored drips staining the floors, opened sections of walls and, even somehow the ceiling. The pair suddenly stopped, as a pale skinned man skittered out of some back room area... perhaps sleeping in the broom closet... whatever the case may be, he turned the corner, as if to investigate the sudden noise in his room. Almost as he appeared, it would seem he ran into a hail of bullets as the pair fired short bursts from their SMGs. The man died instantly and never got a chance to utter a word... Mendoza pulled a small pack out of his pocket, unfolded the sheet of plastic that was in the small pack, and draped it over the body.
Outside, the helicopter exploded as the others were looking for their own cover... a howl from somewhere downstairs made it obvious the explosion had woken up the neighborhood... and they aren't friendly neighbors.
*****************************
Supermarket
As David and the other snipers downed the mob with a level of precision that would leave a machine in awe. (if such a machine could feel awe...) The were settling down, adjusting to the new orders when the radio crackled to life yet again, the signal was on his unit's personal channel. "This is General Pryde, head of the task force echo-delta-mike- 1 in charge of special operations in your section of the city. Sargent, i'm ordering you to take 5 other men, and recover whatever is left of my science team, and their entourage. They're located at East 53rd and Edmonton Rd, or at least, that's where their helicopter crashed... i don't care about your protests, these orders supersede anything you've been issued... i need you to get moving soonest, my people are in danger, and they are not replaceable..."
The signal died, and Roy let out a deep sigh, sure that he was not broadcasting, "these romeo-echo-mike-foxtrots are getting to me sir, i don't mind working with the military, but this sworn to secrecy and special orders, and covert missions bullshit had better stop..."
*****************************
En-route to Meeting
The spotted feline nodded, gave a curt, "Yes sir", then proceeded to the vehicles. They were arranged so that a Humvee was both in front and behind each of the suburbans. The Lieutenant found a position inside the front middle Humvee.
The trip was already looking bad as they crossed the bridge from the suburbs to the downtown district. Abandon cars littered the roads, and the high mobility strategy went out the window. The convoy continued slowly, having to navigate the steel and concrete labyrinth without damaging their vehicles.
As the team suddenly reached a clear section of road, things started going from nerve wracking to downright terrifying. As the first Humvee cleared the intersection, it's gunner failed to notice the large truck traveling down the clear and straight section of road. The second gunner noticed it right away however and called out "semi, 9 o'clock, it doesn't look like it's slowi... oh shit... permission to fire?!" Knighthaven looked out his own window as his vehicle entered the intersection, "granted, permission granted, open up on him, repeat open up."
As the feline's orders were recieved the first and second vehicles had already cleared, his was about to, but still managed to fire off a short burst before a building blocked the gunner's view, the rest of the vehicles in the convoy opened up to, riddling the engine block, driver's compartment and in several cases the building's clean through the back of the truck, with the heavy slugs... it however didn't seem to faze the mammoth machine...
The driver was probably dead, yet the truck continued to barrel forward. It almost looked like the convoy would pass unharmed as the last vehicle was crossing the intersection still firing when the truck and Bravo 2 (Humvee is the rear-guard position) disappeared around the corner, bits and pieces of Humvee along with parts of engine's were left in the middle of the road.
Knighthaven came over the comms his voice an icy calm, "Sir, bravo 2 is down, repeat bravo 2 vehicle down. Do we stop and recover what's left of our men, or keep moving... current estimate, all 4 KIA, chances of survival is exceedingly slim..." suddenly the feline stopped as a groan came over the radio, it sounded like Aiden, head of bravo 2. The voice responded after a heavy breath, "we're.... we're ok, vehicle took a glancing blow across the rear corner, and it looks like some of our shells may have ignited something that fell off the truck... looks like the impact took out our rear axle though..."
as soon as the voice confirmed bravo 2's survival Knighthaven clicked to the command channel, "sir, permission to stop and recover our men?"
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 06, 2009, 01:38:59 AM
Supermarket
As David and the other snipers downed the mob with a level of precision that would leave a machine in awe. (if such a machine could feel awe...) The were settling down, adjusting to the new orders when the radio crackled to life yet again, the signal was on his unit's personal channel. "This is General Pryde, head of the task force echo-delta-mike- 1 in charge of special operations in your section of the city. Sargent, i'm ordering you to take 5 other men, and recover whatever is left of my science team, and their entourage. They're located at East 53rd and Edmonton Rd, or at least, that's where their helicopter crashed... i don't care about your protests, these orders supersede anything you've been issued... i need you to get moving soonest, my people are in danger, and they are not replaceable..."
The signal died, and Roy let out a deep sigh, sure that he was not broadcasting, "these romeo-echo-mike-foxtrots are getting to me sir, i don't mind working with the military, but this sworn to secrecy and special orders, and covert missions bullshit had better stop..."
"Shit this is nothing Roy, you should have seen some of the crap that happened when I was with the Marines." David radioed to the team downstairs asking them to split into their tactical groups, one to stay here with the other sniper team and the other to grab one of the armored SUVs that SWAT used to get around.
"Roy you get one of the assaulters to spot for you while I take B team to the crash site." He said as he packed up what he could carry and headed to the ladder leading into the supermarket.
Once downstairs he went through a brief plan with the team he had selected, and as they got into the SUV called for the patrol officer at the vehicle gate to let them through.
Driving passed the remains of the mob Dave couldn't help but think that something was very very wrong.
"Hmm."
Mr. Ayers squinted at the reinforced doorway, and set his new toy down on the desk, careful to keep everything upright and pointed away from him and anything else important.
He didn't get visitors very often, and he wondered what, exactly, they could want...
It was the work of a moment to make his way to the steel door and turn the locks. The door opened with the hiss of pressurized air.
John Ayers' Lab
Mr. Ayers was probably expecting a person to greet him at his lab's entrance, what he was greeted with was the sight of a total bloodbath. Bodies littered the streets, some wearing the blocky- gray patterned urban camouflage, others were civilians.
At the far end of a troop-transport style flatbed truck, a group of civilians were crouching over what appeared to be the body of a dead soldier, at first glance, one would say they were looting the corpse. That is, until one of the 'looters' looked over it's shoulder at the sound of the hissing door. John Ayers was suddenly struck with the observation that the fox who appeared to be a looter was missing most of the skin on his lower jaw, and furthermore, the anthro-fox was holding the entrails of the national guard troop in his hand, dragging them along absentmindedly as if it were a thick string. Suddenly his cold, almost dead-like eyes moved over the opened door, and they made contact with John's... The fox howled and started lurching for the door in what had to be the least possibly graceful gait imaginable.
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Big-Box Mart
The pig man jiggled and bobbled, running probably wouldn't be the best idea, even with the cover of the clothing, the 9mm or .45 caliber slugs would have no problems ripping through the cloth, and then whatever, or whoever was unlucky enough to be on the other side... As if on cue, the pig man lowered the machine pistol and shoved it in his waistband, as if a show of good faith. He spoke again "but, you're not one of them... you have to stay and play... my playhouse is safe, it... it doesn't have any of them for you to worry about.... it's safe.... and fun..." he jiggled and squealed, obviously very excited that the ocelot wasn't infected.
The pig man continued approaching, the machete still dripping bits of the boy's boss. He said almost whimsically, "Come now, we can have fun... and it'll be great..." suddenly the pig man looked far more intimidating, "just so long as you play nice."
"Jesus Christ!"
Mr. Ayers slammed the door shut and spun the wheel that activated the hermetic seal, the door hissing as it shut solid to the frame of the building. The deadbolt soon followed, falling into place with a well-greased slide. He then turned and put his back to the metal door.
He adjusted his glasses. One side had fallen down the side of his face. His expression seemed to be one of shock, and another part measured disbelief.
He could hear, however, the creature from before, pawing at the door. He'd seen bodies before - you didn't get a science degree without dissecting a pig or two. Those entrails had looked real to him.
He moved away from the door with a near hop, his step exceedingly light, and tiptoe-ran to the table where the flamethrower was. He felt crazy for even trying to use the thing, but he didn't have anything else close to a weapon besides it - well, except for the heavy wrench on the table. He picked up the flamethrower first, and then put the wrench in a loop near his pants pocket.
He thought for a moment about what best to do. Using the flamethrower at close range was asking for bad thing to happen. He wasn't sure if he could brain the thing on the first try with a wrench either, but...
He thought. He had chemicals here, although nothing extremely fancy...
Potassium chlorate...red phosphorus, and do I have...calcium carbonate. Right then.
"I've got a little time, I think." he said, turning to the lab bench. He took the flamethrower back off, and grabbed the red phosphorus and calcium carbonate off the shelf. "Let's see if Mr. Armstrong can't help us today, shall we?"
Anastasia strolled into the flat as if she owned it (which, in her mind, at least for the time being, she did). Her eyes flickered over the man the soldiers had gunned down briefly, scanning the walls of paintings. No artists I recognize, but the owner must have been avid for them. Doesn't look like he painted them himself, the psychological profile of such a prolific artist wouldn't really get this obsessed with their own work. It was worth noting that she didn't so much as bat an eye at the gunfire, or the explosion that came later on.
"So, was the man infected or merely very surprising?" Again, that amused smile. She didn't seem to disapprove, per se, but seemed to find the action inefficient in some adorable way. Like a child setting out plush toys to watch under the bed for monsters.
And then the helicopter exploded. Anastasia didn't look. She didn't even flinch. She just closed her eyes, hissed through her teeth and facepalmed.
"Shhhhhhhit. The fuel lines. Always take a couple minutes to block up the fuel lines, or the wreck will explode. Goddamnit, I forget every time." She resumed walking past the soldiers, shaking her head. "You boys may want to cover the entrances. Sounds like that attracted attention."
Charlie seemed to ease up a little off the poor girl, but it was more because something she said had caught his attention than sympathy for the girl.. "Sick?" Charlie repeated, briefly scratching his chin, "All this craziness about riots, people acting oddly.. Heck, from a professional viewpoint, I'd say there be a good chance of an epidemic moving through society.. But what in tarnation kind of virus does THAT to people?" He said, and finally seemed to notice the cat girl was still in the room. He jabbed a finger in her direction, and said, "Look girl. I'm heading to my hospital to try and figure out what in the dickens is going on here. You can come, or you can stay here, but lemme assure you of sumthin'. Your boyfriend was 'altered' to say the least, and you probably don't want to be around these parts if and when he comes back. So make yer mind up right quick like, and if you start feeling funny, for land's sake, tell me girl!" He said, and set about gathering things up from his apartment..
His backpack, some supplies, and a bit of shuffling about later, he remembered his truck was in the parking garage..
"GARY?!?" Rebecca shrieked, immediately setting the extra stitching supplies down on the side table, and went to the head of the bed. "Gary.. holy crap what happened?!" Even though he wasn't in any condition to think much less speak properly she was beside herself; half with anger and half with fear. She wanted nothing more than to squeeze his hand and cradle his head but she also knew that would probably just cause him more pain.
As quick as her near-hysterics happened she was calm again, focused in her job and started working on cleaning the wounds and stitching him up. While she was busy at work she couldn't help but mutter to herself throughout the task, mostly things like: 'could have called' or 'sent an email' and even 'damn freaking men' and about how manly they have to be all the damn time.
She also kept an eye on his vitals, wondering to herself when he ate last or possibly even slept. Rebecca shook her head, though, reminding herself to keep focused; last thing she wanted to do was to poke herself.. who know what those monsters had that attacked him. Which reminded her, once she finished the stitching she fetched a blood sample vial and took some, just in case they hadn't already, and she readied it for the lab.
Once done she looked at him and allowed some emotions to come through. Her eyes bacame more wet than normal as she made a vow under her breath.
"Whoever did this... those bastards are going to pay."
Supermarket Exit
The team had piled into the SUV, it was a tight fit for sure, given that everyone had body armor, assault weapons and at least 10 mags of additional ammunition. As the SUV clear several abandon vehicles, it became quite apparent that traveling on foot would be faster by a good margin. As the team began dismounting, an explosition rocked the SUV, as the concussive wave could literally be felt. A few seconds later screams could be heard echoing throughout the area.
A small cluster of people poured out of a convenience store a few blocks ahead of them, they appeared to be showing symptoms similar to the enraged mob that had assaulted them back at the market... before the team could react, bits of shattered glass rained down from above them as an infected monkey of some type leaped from what appeared to be the 3rd story, right onto one of the members of the team. The monkey bit into the SWAT officer's forearm before the man could react, after the bite, the officer managed to shoulder throw the monkey a few feet away, draw his side-arm, and put a round through the thing's head, right between the eyes. The monkey didn't even flinch as it died instantly.
The echoing gunshot suddenly drew the attention of the now growing mob a few blocks down, as if in unison, they all turned, to see what had made the crack. When they saw 'food' they went for it.
****************************************
John Ayers' Lab
The door slammed on the half-faced fox, but the thing's clawing against the door didn't relent. The door was solid and anything short of a large SUV would do little except flatten itself against the door and walls, and waste it's energy.
Mr. Ayers went about his chemical mixing in relative peace as the distance back to the lab muffled the scratching and clawing noises at the door. His mixtures were quickly completed and ready for use... now the only question is... does John have the will to open the door back up, or will he sit and wait, hoping for some help?
****************************************
Hospital
Gary coughed up some blood, and groaned again as he was treated. He seemed to complain, and flinch less with each passing moment, his heart rate, and blood pressure were dropping subtly. The pigmintation of his skin started to fade a bit too. A few moment's later, the symptoms of the virus became very evident as his eyes started to sink into his head, and his pupils dilated to the point that they head a deathly quality to them.
Rebecca's husband suddenly stopped complaining, and slowly eased off his bed. She was busy checking things off on his medical clipboard, and it was almost too late when he came at her. He managed to grab her roughly by the arm as he let out an un-earthly howl.
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Apartment Building, Charlie's Room
The girl slowed her rocking as Charlie calmed down... as he became less angry with her, she managed to work herself into a state that would pass as something akin to normal. She managed to wipe the tears away and said, "I... I feel fine... a little shaken up, but yea, i'm alright... and you mean i can come with you... that's, well... really generous of you, especially since i don't even know your name..." The black cat stood up, she had white paws and a white patch at the very tip of her tail, but was completely black everywhere else. Her jade green eyes were dertimined suddenly, rather than scared.
She took a step closer to Charlie and said, "i'm sorry for being so rude earlier, and i do thank you for your help. Saleen." She extended a paw, and a hint of a smile even crept onto her face.
****************************************
Apartment Building, Overlooking Heli-Crash
In the fiery wreckage below it looked like at least 3 people were either killed by the blast, or shrapnel that resulted from it. Of the 6 survivors, 5 were soldiers, and they formed a half circle around the last scientist while awaiting pickup. The shriek of the infected echoed down the streets, and as they approached, Anastasia watched as they swarmed around the soldier's last stand.
In the apartment, any and everything was moved to block the door, and drywall keeping the horde out, the refrigerator, bed, couch, tables, cushions were left to form a makeshift sleeping arrangement, and as a quick check, Salem found the plumbing worked fine. The pair seemed to have this situation in hand.
On the street, the body count grew quickly as short bursts of automatic fire brought down infected after infected. The fleshy tide swarmed around soldiers. The 6 survivors were brought down fairly quickly and the infected devoured them. Bits and pieces of gore could be seen being thrown from the smaller swarms scrambling around the dead bodies. An untouched arm could be seen resting outside the circle of infected, hand still clutching it's weapon.
Sgt. Adams ran over to the team member who got bitten while the others hunkered down behind the SUV. "Steve you ok?" He asked as he helped him to his feet.
"I'm good DFA, doesn't feel like it got through the Kevlar." He said rolling up the slash resistant overalls SWAT wore. "Teethmarks but no wound." David said examining it.
David pulled out a map and plotted a route to the crash. "Guys we'll leave the SUV here and come back for it, we're only a few blocks away."
He heard a howl as the mob spotted them. "Fuck lets get moving, that alleyway over there." He said pointing to the Alley.
They were halfway down the alley when the mob rounded the corner, David dropped to one knee with the rest of the impromptu rescue team and opened fire. "Single shots only go foe the head!."
One of the assaulters pulled a flashbang grenade from his webbing and thew it in front of the mob calling out "Flash out!" to warn the others.
The "assault" by the semi had Bryan's heart rate through the roof and he flattened his ears against the top of his head. He turned his head to regard Major Winters who was at one of the windows observing the situation.
When she noticed the general's gaze she turned back towards him and smiled a softly, "relax sir, Knighthaven is level-headed and sharp. Trust in him and the rest of the soldiers."
He shook his head ever so slightly, "it's not that, I know his record, I've just had a bad feeling ever since we left the base..."
Bryan barely stifled a rather nasty word as he heard the crash, but the team reported in that they were okay.
Nodding to himself more than anyone else as he took the offered radio from the sergeant riding shotgun and answered the inquiry, "granted and make it fast. Take your squad and have bravo 1 provide support. Alpha 1 maintain forward perimeter and VIP 2 cover rear perimeter. We can take bravo 2's crew in VIP 1, the major and I will see to any injuries. Bravo 2, unmount that 50 if you are able."
Rebecca instinctively pulled away, his grasp was so strong. She swung the clip board at his neck, as if she slash it off but of course it wouldn't go through, but would hopefully make his loosen his grasp. This wasn't a normal patient, it was her husband so she knew she could be rough, but what the hell had he become?
"Gary! Let go!" Somehow she knew he wasn't her husband anymore.. he looked too... dead. This wasn't medically possible.
Charlie eyed her for a bit longer, as if appraising her, before he finally grasped her paw and shook it. "Charlie, Dr. Mask officially, but just Crazy Coon Charlie otherwise. Got that moniker back in my army days." He said, resting the shotgun on his shoulder for a bit. "So, Saleen, can you handle yourself in a firefight?" He asked, before heading over to a nearby closet.. which, oddly enough, had a number of locks on it. He unlocked each one, and revealed the arsenal within that would have made many safety inspectors balk. "Take yer pic. Don't be squeamish, either.. your boyfriend, and I suspect many others, are gonna be dangerous."
"Hey! I'm talking to you!!" Joe gave another warning, but these kids just couldn't respect their elders. He clicked the walkie-talkie on to contact security. "Robert, th--" He nearly dropped the thing once the shrieks rang out. "Jesus, what the hell's wrong with these kids?!" Joseph asked one of the executives, but found himself at unease at the man's expression. When some punks rush you, you get angry, sometimes panicked, but you still move; he was acting like he'd seen a monster. And once he took a second look at the kids, it was obvious something was seriously wrong with them.
He ran to cart, fetching himself a nice, solid nine iron. When help's minutes away and the crisis only mere seconds, you have to take things into your own hands. "Back off, you little bastards! I mean it!!"
With great care, John Ayers put the semi-liquid powder in a semicircle round the sealed metal door, spreading the paste extremely carefully as to avoid setting it off prematurely. It was slow work, but the continued scratches and moans from outside the door did not cease despite the task's length.
This didn't seem to be a joke. Someone didn't pound on a door in-character for over an hour to scare somebody. Someone sensible might suspect he'd gone and hidden in a corner and wasn't even listening at this point. -Something- was outside that door, and it meant trouble for him.
The paste, about two feet in diameter in a semicircle round the door, now simply needed to set. Once dry, the barest touch would set the whole thing off.
He waited.
An hour later, he carefully stepped over the dividing line, and with a deft and careful touch loosened the metal door, undoing the seal and unlocking it, and sprang backwards, jumping over the explosive powder, and reading the large wrench in one hand.
Anastasia grimaced at the scene below. Things were going downhill pretty fast. The soldiers seemed to have things well in hand, but she wondered if she should start defrosting the contents of those jars soon...
In the meantime, she stayed near the windows and watched the show. After all, she might learn something.
Hospital
Gary hardly noticed the blow itself, he didn't reel in pain as most would. He was shoved back and off balance. He tripped over the bed and flopped around to the floor. Many of his wounds had reopened, and he was bleeding rather profusely across the floor. When he slipped in the pools, Gary started crawling towards Rebecca, he let out a loud howl and started sliding across the floor, obviously intent on trying to grab the poor girl.
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Apartment, Inner City (Ana)
Watching out the window, Anastasia learned that the infected clearly could tell the difference between those with and without the virus, furthermore, they had no problems swarming around a fresh kill and devouring the flesh with total disregard for whatever was around them.
The helicopter's fuel spilled into the carnage and turned a hefty portion of the infected and dead into an impromptu funeral pyre. Those that survived however were idly walking around the streets, aimlessly looking around. It took but a few moments for them to spot the bunny girl. Once you was spotted, the one who saw her first craned his head to stare dead center at the window, he then yelled and charged into the front door of the complex.
The man's scream awoke any of the infected in the building, along with every non-infected hiding there.
Within a few minutes the pounding on the walls and door could be heard as the one who'd spotted Anastasia had led a large mob in a rush for food. A section of wall broke and an infected tumbled through the hole, between the furniture, and right at Medoza's boot... Before the Special Forces soldier could even think, the infected pit-bull snagged him by the ankle, Teeth sank through the solid leather boot, and through the Weasel's skin. He kicked the boy off, and shot a short burst into the canine's head, one handed. In the same motion, he tripped over the near headless corpse, right towards the small hole the man had come through. A plethora of groping hands snagged various sections of the weasel's combat webbing, and he was dragged screaming through the small hole. His scream could be heard all the while, along with a couple of muffled gunshots, clearly from the man's sidearm, as his SMG was sitting on the floor, nearly on top of the body where he'd tripped.
*************************
Inner City Streets, 3 blocks from Ana's Current Location
The flashbang was surprisngly effective, the front rows of the fleshy tide flailed about as they were enraged bears... only give their proximity, they flailed and bit as if each was an enraged bear, in a pit full of enraged bears. Soon the mob lost it's sense as it's leaders blocked their path to food and they began to seek alternate routes. Those caught in the alley were quickly gunned down with a minimal expenditure of ammunition.
As they cleared the alley, the crashed helicopter was quite visible, it was burning, and a small swarm of infected could be seen swarming into a near by brick-faced building.
*************************
Streets, Downtown District (Bry)
Knighthaven parked the heavy SUVs in the appropriate positions, and led those not manning the crew served weapons to help move those from Bravo 2's downed Humvee into the VIP transports. They were busy pulling the mounting pins on Bravo 2's M2 when the first sign of infection came. A glass surfaced building, perhaps 50 yards out suddenly bristled with activity as a man eased his way outside. He first looked the other way, then towards the protective ring of vehicles. He emited a high pitched wail and took 3 steps towards the vehicles before a cluster of heavy machine gun bullets pulped the man's head and upper torso.
The glass faced building seemed to explode at the ground level as a swarm of nearly 300 infected came out, literally smashing through the outer window with the prospects of a meal. As they moved out, the feline LT. issued several quick orders, the turrets opened up with a deadly crossfire, and those in the vehicles brought their own weapons to bear as well. The rippling sound of automatic weapons fire echoed for several blocks as the horde was cut down.
Knighthaven issued a quick order to the driver and bodyguard in VIP 1, "Do not let the Brigadier out of the transport, repeat, keep VIP in vehicle, we have the situation under control." He then went about guiding the last of the soldiers from Bravo 2 into the transport, when a second building opened up not 30 feet from Bryan's transport.
The infected let out their inhuman cries as they charged with total abandon towards the waiting machine guns. As luck would have it for one of the infected, an orange and white house-cat, the soldier who's job was to cover that particular zone was in the midst of reloading. Knighthaven threw the last man inside the SUV through the rear door, then brought has G36C to bare. The cat slammed against the armored window with a heavy thud. Before he could get a second smack in, however, a high pitched *Crack* signaled the end of the infected in the area. The snow leopard's carbine put a slug clean through the cat-boy's skull, it splattered a section of Bryan's window with bone, blood and brain matter, and he watched as the orange paw slid down the window, smearing the mess, and revealing an even grislier picture, as the street was pretty well carpeted with the bodies of dead infected.
Knighthaven received a couple of quick updates and sent Bryan a quick report himself, "Sir, area cleared, Bravo 2's fifty is being placed in VIP 2, you've got the crew with you in VIP 1, they all have their weapons, and we're ready to move... Sorry for the delay sir... Tagging location for recovery of vehicle on GPS..." he paused while tapping a few keys on the small computer display built into his armor's left forearm. "...Now... Alright, we're clear to move on your order sir."
*************************
Golf Course
As the kids got a little closer, they suddenly let out what sounded like a rage fueled scream. They rushed towards the cluster of golfers in an awkward sprint, almost as if their muscles were too stiff, and yet they were trying anyways. There were 6 kids in the cluster, one went straight for Joe, Arms outstretched, and howling the whole way.
*************************
John Ayers' Lab
John had barely cleared the semi-circle when his heavy metal door suddenly flew opened. The fox boy with half his facial flesh missing came barging into the room, he shook about violently while looking for the chemist. He spotted the man only a few feet away, and began stalking straight for him... or would have had he not stepped on the highly explosive strip that John had laid.
The Fox went from something akin to alive, and heading straight for John to half splattered across the chemists ceiling, and half splattered across his floor. Hearing the boom, a second shambling form came through John's door. The human woman looked confused as she saw the gore strewn floor, her eye's suddenly turned towards the ceiling and she just stopped and stared at the remains of her fellow member for a second. Suddenly, her gaze shifted around the room, and locked onto to john. She didn't howl, her arms just moved straight in front of her, and she started towards John with a blank face, and eyes that he couldn't quite tell if they were dead, or so full of rage that there was no longer a person behind them.
*************************
Charlie's Apartment
Saleen looked over the man again, this time, instead of eyes filled with fear, she appeared to be curious. The girl looked to be in her early 20s, and in very good shape.
As he asked about handling herself, she smiled as he revealed his cache of weapons, she took a shortened Mossberg 500 and a Glock 23. She replied, "my dad brought me up learning how to shoot with a Glock, seems you've got one almost identical to his... and from what i've heard..." she paused, holding the shotgun by the pump-action, "... These have an unmatched reliability, if we get stuck, i like my guns reliable."
As she slid a few extra magazines into her pocket, she loaded one into the pistol, and went back to Johnny's place. When she returned a few minutes later, she had changed into a gray, long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of loose fitting jeans. She also had mid-sized back-pack in one hand. Saleen smiled thoughtfully, looked the raccoon in the eyes and said, "Lets get packed up and get going, we don't know how long we'll be traveling, and if Johnny wasn't a unique case, we're going to want to have some food, water and extra ammo."
Never thought I'd go out like this...
Oscar weighed his options. Both men had a decent melee weapon at the ready, though while that machete could cut off something rather messily, Oscar's crowbar, combined with his above average upper body strength could kill the man witha well placed blow to the head.
Of course,the man's Mac 10 was at the ready, easy to get to then Oscar's shotgun, and it would have taken a a few seconds to switch the safety off, pump, and aim, seconds Oscar didn't have.
Oscar suddenly realized something far spookier then the man: Just how clearly he was thinking. He could almost see the reaper looming behind the nutcase, pointing at ocelot. and yet, his mind has an odd, crystal clarity...
Without saying a word, Oscar put his crowbar back into his backpack, grip sticking out for quick access. he would "Play' this man's game...untilhe he could escape..
"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Rebecca yelled as she quickly turned and ran out of the door, but she quickly turned back and grabbed the door closed, not wanting to be a complete coward. This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening, it was just like something out of a horror movie! Like... a... zombie.. horror.. movie...
freakin a...
She braced a foot against the door frame to give her leverage to keep the door closed should her... husband?.. try to open it. Looking to the side down the hall she screamed "Hey! Someone! Give me some help here!"
Sure she could've just ran and saved her own hide, but she always had some stupid hero complex with the patients should any of the others get hostile... and she was going to protect who she could. She didn't want to hurt Gary but so help her.. she will not just let him attack people.. espeically her!
Big Box Mart
The pig-man grinned from ear-to-ear as the ocelot lowered his crowbar, he turned his back, and went to the door that led into the main floor of the store. He was busy with the keys, and was not paying any attention to the boy. He giggled from time to time while trying to find the key he could shove into the lock and open the door. Every once in a while, a giggle could be heard, and sometimes Oscar could hear, "we're going to have sooo much fun!"
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 13, 2009, 01:10:20 AM
Inner City Streets, 3 blocks from Ana's Current Location
The flashbang was surprisngly effective, the front rows of the fleshy tide flailed about as they were enraged bears... only give their proximity, they flailed and bit as if each was an enraged bear, in a pit full of enraged bears. Soon the mob lost it's sense as it's leaders blocked their path to food and they began to seek alternate routes. Those caught in the alley were quickly gunned down with a minimal expenditure of ammunition.
As they cleared the alley, the crashed helicopter was quite visible, it was burning, and a small swarm of infected could be seen swarming into a near by brick-faced building.
"I'm gonna take a guess and say that's where our package is..." David said to his team "Right no clean way to do this, so Steve you and I will close on that building lobbing a few flashes while Ken, Mack and Waldo provide cover. Remember we're after a scientist and her bodyguards so watch your fire."
"Alright lets go.." The team made its way towards the building, David and Steve each priming a flashbang and tossing it into the swarm, the rest jogging just behind them and to the right so they could pick off anyone running at them.
Charlie actually grinned at Saleen, and nodded approvingly. "You would have made a fine ranger, girl." He said, before he started looking over his collection as he thoughtfully scratched his chin.. "You know, we've got close-quarter combat all well and covered, but I've got an inkling we don't want these crazy freaks anywhere near us.." He said, and entered the roomy closet for a moment, before exiting with a finely adjusted, scoped magnum in hand. "Sadly, this is about the best I have for long-quarters fighting.. Always left the sharp shooting to our sniper, ya know." He muttered, slipping the weapon into its sheath before grabbing his pack.
"Allright, stay close now. This city always has been a little freaky, but now it's headin' ta hell in a handbasket. Careful not to let the fuckers near ya. As far as I can tell, whatever the heck is spreading isn't airborne.. We'd all be up a creek without a boat if that were true." Charlie said, before he headed for the parking garage, and his truck.. and gods knows what else.
Anastasia twiddled her thumbs as she watched the undead below. It was interesting, the degree to which they were cooperating. She hadn't expected them to be smart enough for that. Really, this was looking like another one of her accidental masterpieces. She'd have to get a sample of the virus for future use when all this was-
Wait, did one just look at her?
Did he? Wait... No. She thought he didn't.
And then the scream went up. The horrible, swarm-hungering scream. Shit, I think he did...
Everything went too fast. MUCH too fast. The ravenous dead were bursting through the wall in a matter of seconds. Anastasia moved away quickly, Mendoza was less lucky.
"Aw hell, SALEM! SALEM!" She grabbed the soon to be late Mendoza's SMG and fired a few bursts into the area they'd dragged him into, hoping to keep their attackers at bay. "We've got a situation over here!"
There was a momentary pang at her conscience at her willingness to fire into the same general region as the still-living Mendoza, but it didn't take her long to rationalize it. After all, he was essentially already dead. She was putting him out of his misery. It was pure coincidence that this goal coincided with saving her own ass.
"Er...aaah!"
John jumped backwards, barely managed to avoid bumping his desk of chemicals and hitting the wall instead. It would perhaps save his life.
A bowl of the same stuff he'd just used sat on his desk.
He grabbed it with the utmost care, and like a frisbee, tossed it at the zombie's feet.
Hospital
A pair of national guard troops were coming out of an elevator roughly 20 feet away. One, a human carrying a compact SMG, and a canine with what appeared to be a combat shotgun. At Rebecca's shouts they rushed over immediately... as they looked her over, they seemed to be inspecting for something... suddenly the canine, which, now that he was closer, Rebecca couldn't be sure because by the fur patters whether he was half-wolf/half-shepherd, or perhaps a pure-blood wolf. Whatever the case was, the soldier asked in a authoritative tenor, "Ma'am, are you alright? Did he bite you? Did you get any of his saliva or blood in your mouth, or do you have some open wounds that may have come into contact with any of this patient's bodily fluids?..."
Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca could clearly see one of the soldiers had a slip of paper folded into his shirt pocket, it looked like a medical report about injuries... and as leaned against a post, Rebecca could clearly see Gary's name on the slip... whoever these men were, they were here about her husband.
********************
John Ayers' Lab
The dish flew straight and true, or would have, had it not taken a sudden upward swing near the end. Slamming into the infected girl's midsection the explosive mixture was more than enough to rip the woman in half, sending a splattering of gore across the back wall of his lab.
The sudden bang grabbed the attention of several other infected, though not sure of what was making the loud noise, or generating the strange smell, the last 3 'survivors' of the assault on the national guard troops made their way towards the open door.
John could hear the grunts as the 3 got closer, the sliding of their feet across the pavement, and suddenly, a hand appeared in the door frame, it was missing the pinky, ring and middle finger, and there was a gunshot wound clear though the center of the palm. Suddenly the tip of a near pitch black muzzle appeared, and the doberman eased his way into the far end of John's lab. Behind him, a human man, and a squirrel woman started easing into the small foyer like prep area that led into the lab proper.
********************
Alleyway and Streets (David)
The flash bangs disoriented those near the back of the mob, but at least 10 had already made it inside, the other 25 or so on the outside thrashed about as if fish out of water. A few moments later a loud, male scream could be heard echoing from the building, along with several gunshots followed by an almost eerie silence coming from the inside.
Outside however, the confused plaguing the infected continued along with their thrashing about. Steve, the SWAT team's SAW gunner opened up with his M249. The long bursts cut blood swaths through the clawing, thrashing mob. A pinkish mist filled the air as he emptied over half his 100 round box into the mob. Death twitches and moans of pain could be heard, but the 27 person mob had literally been mowed down. Not a single infected was standing, and but a single person started trying to crawl towards the team. She was quickly put down by a mercy shot through the skull fired from one of the officers running over-watch.
********************
Charlie's Apartment
Saleen smiled back wickedly, "you certainly keep an interesting collection... and it seems it'll be put to good use soon."
It turned out that the parking garage was completely empty, save for a handful of cars sitting in their assigned spaces, the underground parking deck looked like a giant, empty room, almost looked like it could be built for a very spartan like ball. As the pair approached the truck, the sound of glass shattering could be heard coming from around the area of the exit ramp.
********************
Apartment Building, Inner City
(warning, graphic descriptions)
Ana could hear the sudden rapid fire, almost popcorn like sound of the SAW being fired in the streets below. The weapon in her hands jumped around as she fired haphazardly into the walls outside. The bullets penetrated the thin drywall, along with the flesh of those unlucky enough to be in the way when the shots were fired. After her 4th burst, the gun suddenly clicked empty. Grunting could be heard from the other side, and the clawing on the walls and door was drastically reduced. Salem pulled the chair down covering the hole where Mendoza was taken.
Outside, but 2 infected could be clearly seen, one at the door, and one a few feet down, still clawing at the wall. Salem dispatched both with extreme prejudice. Once he reloaded, he moved the refridgerator with extreme care, and peeked outside. He suppressed a gag as he came back inside and nearly whispered "all clear" to Anastasia.
In the hallway, 6 infected had been pretty well shredded by Ana's uncontrolled firing. Another 2 had been killed by sheer happenstance, one had been hit in throat, and that had severed the spinal cord, the other was missing an eye. Mendoza's black assault suit could be seen, the legs and arms were pretty well intact, but his torso was a mess. He was ripped opened and his internal organs were showing for all the world to see. Under a coil of intestines and what might have been part of the weasel's liver was the combat harness, holding several spare magazine's of ammunition for the SMG now in Ana's hands.
Throughout the fight, Bryan had very little desire to be out there amidst it, but he did do his part in pulling Bravo 2's crew into his vehicle.
Despite his misgivings, hearing Knighthaven's order to keep him in the vehicle triggered something within him, making him desire to be out there with the soldiers despite the situation. A stern, but respectful look and head gesture from his guard made him realize that he would not be exiting regardless of his sudden desire.
Focusing back on the soldiers, he helped Major Winters examine them, checking for significant injury before the surge of infected close to his vehicle brought him unwisely to the window. The gruesome end of the cat-boy stirred much sorrow. Another soul ended, and it was as if he had killed the boy himself.
"If only we had been able to isolate the pathogen sooner, maybe we would be further along on curing..." He sat back down in his seat, barely hearing the lieutenant's report, "yes, let's go... Oh, lieutenant... make sure they detox this vehicle in a full quarantine wash, before we even exit it. I don't want someone even touching dried blood of the infected."
Oh crap oh crap oh crap! Rebecca tried to remain as calm as she could, considering the situation. She took her foot down to stand correctly, but still held the door closed, wondering why Gary wasn't struggling to get out yet.
"No.. he grabbed me but nothing broke skin. I didn't get anything in my mouth either. What exactly is going on here?" She looked to them, talking in her own authoritative tone which she learned well from the RN's she worked with. "You're not allowed fire arms in the hospital! Do you know how explosive this place is??" Her brains was starting to work some.
Granted, she wasn't happy about her husband's current condition.. but she didn't know if she could just hand him over to some numbskulls with guns without a second glance.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 16, 2009, 12:46:33 AM
Alleyway and Streets (David)
The flash bangs disoriented those near the back of the mob, but at least 10 had already made it inside, the other 25 or so on the outside thrashed about as if fish out of water. A few moments later a loud, male scream could be heard echoing from the building, along with several gunshots followed by an almost eerie silence coming from the inside.
Outside however, the confused plaguing the infected continued along with their thrashing about. Steve, the SWAT team's SAW gunner opened up with his M249. The long bursts cut blood swaths through the clawing, thrashing mob. A pinkish mist filled the air as he emptied over half his 100 round box into the mob. Death twitches and moans of pain could be heard, but the 27 person mob had literally been mowed down. Not a single infected was standing, and but a single person started trying to crawl towards the team. She was quickly put down by a mercy shot through the skull fired from one of the officers running over-watch.
The team made its way to the door of the apartment building, David peaking around the corner with a fiber optic peep camera. "Clear. Set up a watch here, Waldo you're with me. Shit hold up we don't know where they are in there." David switched his radio to the channel that he had been given for the Tactical Command Center or Taccom. "Taccom, this is Blue one six. We think we've found the building your Package has taken shelter in, any change you could get them to identify where? I don't think we have time to search the hole place. Over."
He'd just released the transmission key when he heard the roar of a pair of .50 cal machine guns going off somewhere. "Fuck me someones in trouble out there."
Charlie had been his usual paranoid self on the way down, checking corners throughout the trip to the garage.. And even when in the garage, he was glancing towards every pillar, as if he was expecting an ambush at any moment.
And when they finally reached the truck, and the sound of shattered glass echoed through the lot, he growled lowly.. "Knew it was too easy.." He grumbled, before he motioned for Saleen to follow as he advanced towards the origin of the sound...
John Ayers eyes widened, and he dropped the wrench. He immediately jumped onto the table, and with great effort heaved the gas tank sitting there onto his back - he didn't know he could move that quickly, in fact. The nozzle was in his hands a moment later. He didn't need to light a pilot.
This wasn't an ordinary flamethrower.
First spray went in front of the zombies - an attempt to drive them backwards. Next spray went over their heads to sprinkle down like fiery snow, alighting skin and hair and clothing alike as it landed. Fairly quickly, an inferno was building up between him and the undead menaces.
Anastasia studied the body coldly. She didn't really think of it as a horrible thing. She was a doctor, and not one who always worked on the acceptable side of the law. To her it was a body... Inexpertly dismantled. These were componants. Like when you took your computer apart to fix it. She sighed and crouched down next to Mendoza's body, checking over her shoulder to see that Salem wasn't watching at the moment. She turned back to the weasel, looked him over impassively, and finally gave him a look that one could almost call regret.
"Sorry about that."
She collected the harness, wiping away shredded organs and other forms of slime from them as she buckled it on over her coat. Slightly restricting, but she could get comfortable later when they were safer. As it was, her hands and lab coat were still stained red.
"So, I'm guessing this area just stopped being secure, Salem? Or are we counting the big damn hole in the wall as a fixer-upper?"
Parking Deck
Saleen followed the raccoon as they made their way towards the entrance. At first glace, it seemed to be a standard traffic accident. The car leaving the parking deck had gotten rear-ended by a taxi, and the rear-windshield was smashed. glass shards littered the streets, and, although smaller than usual, the ramp was open enough to get a car out of.
As the pair got a little closer however, the first glance observation proved to be a little more complicated. In the back seat of the car that had been on the street, it appeared there was someone going absolutely apeshit in the back of the taxi. The cab driver's door was jammed, and he was frantically working on it, while the badger in the back seat beat against the window with blow after blow. The driver, a human, managed to get out of the passenger side door, just as the badger slammed through the plexi-glass partition. The cab driver was almost out when the badger managed to sink it's claws into the man's leg. It started pulling him in back towards the cab.
********************
John Ayers' Lab
The first jet of flame was longer than intended and instead of creating a wall of flames, engulfed the trio... as the secondary jet ensured their total immolation. The leader of the pack died instantly, and the human, in his panicked screaming agony, tripped over the corpse of the dead doberman. He died after crawling a few feet further. The Squirrel however, was a totally different story. She was completely engulfed in flames, and and her fur and, in some places skin, had started melting, and yet, she took off straight towards John at a clumsy, shambling run, screaming the whole way. Her movements were getting wobblier by the step. About halfway between him and the door, she collapsed and stopped screaming, yet continued trying to pull herself forward until her arms ceased to work...
It was unclear if the lack of oxygen or flame finally killed off his crazed assailant, but, once the flames sizzled out a few moment's later, John was left in a rather bizarre situation. There was nary a sound coming from outside his lab. Not birds, nor wildlife, nor the normal city noises that a metropolis should always be giving off... As if to make things more eerie, an empty glass jar slid off one of his tables and shattered... the noise was almost deafening in the eerie silence, and yet, it told him his hearing was just fine.
********************
Apartment Building, Ground Floor (David)
David's earpiece buzzed as a calm voice replied, "Taccom here, GPS and RF ID tracking puts them 3rd floor. If these blueprints are accurate room 307... pausing for a moment, a few clicks could be heard in the background." Thermals from the chopper in your area show the area as largely clear, 2 clear blooms, 1 is Sargent Salem, Sargent Mendoza is pinging as KIA, and awaiting reply... should be clear for pickup though."
The voice continued, "seems Salem wants me to patch you through to him, you'll have a secure line to him..." about a 3 second pause "... now"
After a careful clearing of the area, in proper SWAT style, David and team would find that the disembodied voice giving them intel was in fact, correct.
********************
Apartment Building, 3rd Floor (Ana)
Salem looked at the body of his dead friend with a mixture of disgust and sadness. Though that only lasted a moment, after that, he regained his usual cold and professional nature. Bringing his hand up to his ear he clicked through a few radio frequencies until he found the one he was looking for. He sent a message to Tactical Command (TacCom) "Sargent Salem TacCom, i've got the package... any idea on when backup is getting here." He paused, and as far as Ana could tell, he looked surprised, suddenly she heard him say, "well, patch them through and send them on up then... we'll be waiting."
The feline's focus went back to Ana as he replied, "we should move into a different apartment, backup will be here shortly" He nodded towards one with the door left wide open.
********************
Convoy to Meeting
Knighthaven acknowledged the request, then sent some orders with which Bryan could clearly see, but not hear as the spotted feline began getting the convoy moving again.
The rest of the trip lasted another 20 minutes, and showed the section of the city strangely quiet and activity at a minimal. Beside seeing some aged concrete fall from a 10 story rooftop, one would have thought the planned ground route had taken them through a city shortly after a neutron bomb had cleansed it's streets of life.
At the meeting hall, the convoy was greeted with a Haz-Mat tent erected and waiting, and despite the delay of both the infected and the 20 minute cleaning the VIP SUV underwent they still made it on time. After the cleaning Bryan was led from his vehicle by a group of civilian clothed officers, and was quickly ushered past the rather extreme security the meeting was being guarded with. At least 10 heavy machine gun nest, 4 M1A3 Abrams MBTs and a handful of other lighter armored vehicles effectively turned any approach to the building into an act of assisted suicide.
********************
Hospital
The wolf smirked at her response, then replied, "Ma'am, that's not a person in there anymore, whoever you think it is, he's no longer that person. I can't tell you too much more, but you should let us handle the situation before even more people get hurt."
As if to add to his statement a loud *thud* could be heard and felt as the man who used to be Gary slammed into door with what could only be a full shoulder ram. The door opened some as Rebecca lost ground while recovering her balance. Through the now cracked door and arm flailed, trying desperate to grab for who ever it could.
His back was turned, Oscar could hope to make a break for it...then again...
It was risky, the man could give chase, or fire his gun, which risked injury Oscar, and then...
Oscar shuddered to think about it. No, if he was going to get out of this in on piece, he had to do this.
He bgean to slowly, silently creep up on the man, pulling out his crowbar. One swift, smack to the back of the head. It risked kiling the man, he knew, but hopefully he'd only be knocked out cold. Once he was within striking distance, Oscar raised his crowbar and aimed for the base of the psychopath's skull, then brought the metal tool down as hard he he possibly could.
Big Box Mart
The pig man squealed "GOT IT!" almost at the same time as the crowbar smacked him across the back of the head. He crumpled into a jiggling heap as he fell to the floor. The door creaked opened and some very strange noises could be heard from the inside... a series of shrieks, grunts, clattering, scratching, and various other noises which the Ocelot had never heard before suddenly assaulted his ears as the door opened on it's own momentum, inch by inch, the sounds grew louder and more bizarre as the door slowly opened all the way. The shelves had been turned into a kind of fortress, and with the security doors blocking the way out, it was almost like a zoo. The useful items had be left on the inside, guns, ammo, food, everything one would need to survive.
The shelves had been welded together with section of sheet metal, and other supplies making quite the impressive makeshift barrier. Those trapped between the barrier and the security doors were flailing defiantly at the metal construct, but doing nothing but make noise and prove their own helplessness at the situation.
After falling Rebecca quickly skittered away from the door, just out of reach. The arm no longer looked like her husband's.. She believe the wolf but she didn't want to; she wanted to find some way to help him but deep down she knew better. She looked up at the two and their guns, realization hit her and she slowly stood up and shook her head.
"No.." She muttered in disbelief and slowly backed up until she reached the wall. She didn't want this, she was better off thinking he was dead than to witness him being... disposed of. She couldn't take it. With that she ran down the hall and went on her way to the exit. She had to get out of here and as far away as possible... tears starting streaming down her face.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 21, 2009, 11:51:17 PM
Apartment Building, Ground Floor (David)
David's earpiece buzzed as a calm voice replied, "Taccom here, GPS and RF ID tracking puts them 3rd floor. If these blueprints are accurate room 307... pausing for a moment, a few clicks could be heard in the background." Thermals from the chopper in your area show the area as largely clear, 2 clear blooms, 1 is Sargent Salem, Sargent Mendoza is pinging as KIA, and awaiting reply... should be clear for pickup though."
The voice continued, "seems Salem wants me to patch you through to him, you'll have a secure line to him..." about a 3 second pause "... now"
After a careful clearing of the area, in proper SWAT style, David and team would find that the disembodied voice giving them intel was in fact, correct.
Apartment Building, 3rd Floor (Ana)
Salem looked at the body of his dead friend with a mixture of disgust and sadness. Though that only lasted a moment, after that, he regained his usual cold and professional nature. Bringing his hand up to his ear he clicked through a few radio frequencies until he found the one he was looking for. He sent a message to Tactical Command (TacCom) "Sargent Salem TacCom, i've got the package... any idea on when backup is getting here." He paused, and as far as Ana could tell, he looked surprised, suddenly she heard him say, "well, patch them through and send them on up then... we'll be waiting."
The feline's focus went back to Ana as he replied, "we should move into a different apartment, backup will be here shortly" He nodded towards one with the door left wide open.
David crept up the stairs avoiding the bodies and blood that may have tripped him or come back to life...Some how the past hour had made him start to think of these things as zombies and not humans. He reached the indicated apartment. He knocked on the door after stepping over the corpse of what looked like a socom trooper. "Avon calling, anyone home?"
Charlie gritted his teeth at the ensuing carnage, and quickly readied the magnum. He sighted in through the scope, right for the berzerk's head, and pulled the trigger.
In whatever followed, Charlie turned his head slightly, and muttered softly to Saleen. "Watch yerself, I got a funny feeling about how this nonsense is transmitted.. no idea how long it takes to sink in though.."
Joe immediately took a mighty swing at the closest kid's right kneecap, fighting every urge to just wrap the club around the little monster's neck. But with them so close, their physical deformities and odd body language became even more apparent. And the smell... did these people roll around in a tub of rancid meat before coming? "The cart, get the cart started!!" Joe screamed to the executives, swinging again and again at the legs of his attackers. If he wasn't so sure this was some hardcore prank, he would have gone straight for their noggins to begin with.
Now, in what movie did he see this almost exact same scenario before...
Mr. Ayers hand shook as he picked up a pair of sunglasses lying on his desk. Aviators, black as midnight and silver rimmed. He'd had to squint when the flamethrower was going full blast - he'd need something to keep the glare away.
The area outside the lab was deathly quiet. No guards, no...zombies, gunfire, screams, or anything that sounded like hell marching his way.
No traffic. No airplanes. Nothing on the wind but the sound of the wind as it passed through empty streets.
These week-long excursions to his lab had to stop.
Mr. Ayers went inside the lab building once again, and when he came out he was carrying a duffel bag bulging with various odd shapes and boxes. He Kept his flamethrower on him, although carrying the nozzle was getting tiring. He'd see if he could find a strap in the APC, something to secure it with and keep it from having to rest in his hand.
He took a handgun off one of the dead national guardsmen. It felt heavy in his hand, and he stuffed it into the duffel bag. He managed to get the APC door open a few moments later, and found quite a few interesting things in there. Two more magazines for the rifle, a few boxes of shotgun shells, and the shotgun itself. Military issue pump action. He even found a strap for the flamethrower nozzle.
He carried the shotgun in his hands, and the nozzle he strapped behind his back. He took the holster off the dead guardsmen, and after fiddling with the straps for a few minutes figured out how to get it around his hips secured.
He felt like Rambo.
He didn't own a car, and normally took a taxi from his lab to his house. It was half the reason he liked staying at the lab, rather than commuting every day. He had a feeling the cab company wouldn't answer if he called. Making sure the shotgun was loaded full, he began to make the trek back towards his apartment. From there, he wasn't sure where.
After the recent adreneline rush of shooting a small horde of slavering lunatics, Anastasia was a touch jumpy. Whirling around with a noise like "EEKbah!" at the sound of someone knocking at the door, the rabbit groaned slightly when she heard the man speak.
"Oh god, a comedian. Can I wait to be rescued by someone else?" She started making her way over to the door, pointedly not looking at the nearby bodies. "I mean really, I'm tired, I've been shooting people, I just can't say I've got it in me to deal with jokes."
Street Level, CCC's Ap.
The loud crack came at the same instant the large and heavy slug punched through the front window, the badger's head and the driver's side window as well. Furthermore, the round carried a pink mist with it as it sprayed the inside of the taxi, and floated through the sunlight on the far side of the crashed vehicle. The badger slumped, and the cab driver managed to untangle himself from the claws before sprinting off down an alleyway. It was questionable if Saleen and Charlie could catch the man, especially with Saleen tugging on Charlie's arm, saying, "we've gotta get out of here before more of those things show up... come on... let's go!"
********************
Streets, outside Big Box Mart
Mr. Ayers had traveled several blocks before encountering the near empty parking lot of the local one stop shopping store. The security doors were down, and it seemed to be completely abandon. Off in the distance, faint howls could be heard from the general direction of his apartment. Closer, a small cluster of people shambled along in the distance, barely visible, yet their movements seemed strangely reminiscent of the way the people who'd attacked him minutes ago moved. He had 3 options at that moment, confront the 5 or so figures, turn around and head back towards his lab for a bit, or try and find a hiding spot until the things passed.
Over towards the back entrance of the a slim and fluid figure makes it's way towards the rear, and darts behind the wall... Before the form cleared the corner, it looked back towards John. Her features were somewhat blurred at the distance, but he was sure she was canine, and she seemed to be holding something at about waist level. A moment later, she was gone.
********************
Hospital
Rebecca could clearly hear the distinct *Cha-Chunk* of the shotgun's action being worked. The wolf said something inaudible to the human, but she really didn't have to hear to know what they were doing. She traveled down the 4 flights of stairs and made it out of the exit in record time. Though, sadly for her, also just in time to witness something truly horrible.
As she made her way to the parking lot, the echoing bang, and subsequent screams could be heard. Another bang, then a third. With the third, a window on the 5th floor shattered, and something came out. It was flailing in the air, yet clearly too small to be person. As it go lower, and therefore closer, she could see it clearly, Gary had been blown in half, while trying to fight the soldiers. The last shell had shattered the window, and sent the upper half of her bisected husband tumbling to his final end.
Her moment of grief was suddenly interrupted as 2 people, moving in that shaky and stiff motion, similar to the way Gary had moved, were shambling around the parking lot, slightly further than half the distance to her car.
********************
Golf Course
The first swing hit, and the kid strated to loose balance, the second caved in his knee... instead of screaming in pain, as would be expected, the kid fell forwards and tried clawing at the grass to pull himself towards Joe.
His executive bolted for the golf cart. The other exec and his instructor weren't so lucky. The swarm of deformed kids descended upon them like a pack of wolves, kicking, punching, clawing, and biting at the screaming and flailing men... Soon, red, meaty chunks could be seen, and the screams of the two men eventually stopped... the kids looked like they were playing with the mutiliated bodies, ignoring the other two men... besides the one who was still clawing it's way after Joe.
********************
Apartment Building (Ana and David)
Salem stood between Ana and the door as he cautiously opened it. The team standing outside was in full tactical gear. The large, black clad feline extended his hand, the point man followed suit. After the firm, yet friendly handshake, he smiled, though concealed behind the full head and facial protection, and said, "Sargent 1st Class Jason Salem, Army Special Forces... Glad to see some friendlies for a change... Though, now that you're here, what's our next move?"
He swung outside the path of the doorway and let them swat team see the smallish rabbit, he waved her forward and figured introduction would probably be a good start. Especially if they were going to get stuck here for a little while.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on July 27, 2009, 11:45:46 PM
Apartment Building (Ana and David)
Salem stood between Ana and the door as he cautiously opened it. The team standing outside was in full tactical gear. The large, black clad feline extended his hand, the point man followed suit. After the firm, yet friendly handshake, he smiled, though concealed behind the full head and facial protection, and said, "Sargent 1st Class Jason Salem, Army Special Forces... Glad to see some friendlies for a change... Though, now that you're here, what's our next move?"
He swung outside the path of the doorway and let them swat team see the smallish rabbit, he waved her forward and figured introduction would probably be a good start. Especially if they were going to get stuck here for a little while.
David pulled down the top of his balaclava "Fuck me you're still with Socom Salem?" He said with a bit of a amazement "I heard you got seconded to the CIA...But yea we gotta got to get to a safe point, we left our ride a block away too many abandoned cars but the route should be safe though cleared it out so lets get going." He pointed to Steve "Steve, the package is all yours nothing gets near her ok?"
The large feline Smirked, pulled his breathing mask down, and replied with a devious grin, "Well shit David, aren't you a little out of the loop. The CIA has clean-up teams are all over the city. We got called in when the SecDef declared an un-offical SOE on Ithica, and sent every available spec-ops team available to try and contain this shit. We're dealing with some fucked up bio-weapon Dave... Like, the kinda shit you see in horror films. It's a virus, and it's in the bloodstream and saliva of those infected... i know it rewires a good chunk of your brain and bio-chemistry. That, and the infected 'live' for about 4 weeks before they starve to death..."
He paused, looking at the rabbit behind him, "though really, if you want more details, you should ask her. She has a bit more experience then i do... Anyhow, good to see you're still in one piece. Once this shit blows over, i owe you a beer."
(OOC notes: SecDef = Secretary of Defense, SOE = State of Emergency)
oScar took a deep breath. First thing he did was grab the Mac10. if the man was still alive it was better he didn't have the weapon. He put the submachine gun in his backpack, thinking it'd be a good weapon if he ran out of 12 gauge.
Now, it seemed like this was a good time to finally make good on that promise to quit.Some food, preferably canned stuff.
Oscar moved silently to the Food Section, looking for anything light enough to carry with a long expiration date. AFter this, he'd grab some more ammo. Somehow, his gut told him he'd need a lot of it...
Bryan didn't even have a moment to speak with his men as he was quickly escorted off by the cadre of plain clothes individuals. He wave to Knighthaven with a 'carry on' gesture, expecting that the lieutenant could figure it out.
Major Winters trailed after him with his case containing notes and laptop. She was very adept at playing the staff secretary.
The first person to greet Bryan was Chuck, the current overall operations commander for the city. The two exchanged the official salutes, before grasping hands in a firm and friendly shake. Of all the general officers in this operational theater, Charles was probably one of the few friends Bryan had, not because of any flaw in the fox's character, but because of the circumstances of his promotion.
He eyed his friend wryly and with a bit of mirth inquired, "a land convoy through heavily infected sectors of the city. Not the wisest tactical choice, it almost smells like Pryde's type of recommendation." The fox sobered up quickly, becoming serious at the drop of a hat, "I'll brief you on what I have, then we should get to the meeting."
Rebecca could not hold it in anymore. With the site of her once husband, halved by a gun shot, careening out of a window.. she screamed. This was not real.. it couldn't be happening.. but yet it was.
Before having a chance to collapse in her despair she looked at her car, and past it she saw two people sauntering about. "Bastards..."She muttered under her breath. Her grief soon jumped a few stages into bloody rage as she ran towards her car. Rebecca hoped that she could get to her car before they noticed her. She wasn't exactly sure quite yet what she was going to do once she got there though..
Charlie didn't need telling twice. He had been nervously eyeballing the pink mist that sprayed out of the taxi. "That is a sure fire way to contract something.." He muttered to himself as he holstered the magnum and followed Saleem.
When they got to his truck, he quickly unlocked the doors and hopped in, starting the truck which roared to life, before speeding out of the parking garage. CCC was watching all sides of the road as they went along, watching for any more of the folk crazier than him as they made their way to the hospital..
Keeping his head down, Mr. Ayers headed towards the back entrance and the person he'd seen skulking over there. He kept his footsteps and movements as stealthy as possible - the last thing he wanted to do was draw undue attention to himself. Shotgun at the ready in case those five zombies caught his scent, or however the hell they hunted people, he snuck over where he'd seen the female canine, hoping she might have an idea of what's going on.
Big Box Mart
While looting supplies, Oscar could hear the metal door leading into the back of the store open. Standing there was a canine, she looked to be in exceedingly good shape, she almost appeared to have the build of a gymnast, except a little taller than one would normally see. As his eyes adjusted, he could see that she appeared to be a collie, with a combination of white, blonds, browns and a few black patches visible over her loose outfit. She wore some tight fitting blue jeans, a fairly tight fitting, and thin strapped, red tank-top, and over that, a somewhat looser zip-up gray hoodie, currently unzipped.
In her left hand, a long, narrow object. It wasn't a gun, that much was clear... as the ocelot focused, he could clearly see the outline of the slightly curved, Japanese style blade. Given the fact that she looked like a martial artist, the sword could very well be a weapon, rather than a decoration, and the way she held it was a clear sign she wasn't a pushover...
Suddenly her eyes locked onto Oscar as her riight hand moved into view, she held a very small handgun, but it, much like the hand that was holding it, was shaking. She was breathing heavy, and it was clear from her facial expression that she was scared. She saw the dead body first, then, the supine form of Pigsy on the ground and cocked the hammer back, saying in a shaky voice that sounded like a parody of authority, "Just who the fuck are you?! What's going on in here?"
Outside the store, John Ayers rounded the corner, just in time to see the brown and blond tail slip into a door, and the door close behind it. Then he heard the muffled words coming from her just on the other side of the now closed entrance.
********************
Hospital
As she screamed, the two forms both twisted, almost in unison. The one was an ugly man, he looked homeless, and worse. His face looked beaten to a pulp, and the opened wounds were oozing. The other was a feline of some type, and he stared at the girl for a moment. Suddenly, he let out a low howl, almost like a painful moan... as if he were trying scream, but something was wrong with his throat. His claws extended as he bolted towards the girl at an awkward run, and the human followed slightly behind in an equally jerky and inhuman motion.
She was almost to her car when she noted the things were closing in. She had 20 seconds at most before the pair were right on top of her.
********************
Apartment Building (Dave/Ana)
David gave the girl a cursory once over, noting that it seemed odd to risk so many lives for such a seemingly plain person. His men took up positions to cover the windows and hallways, while David had his little chat with Salem. The feline noted the professionalism with which the SWAT team executed their jobs, and gave a silent nod of approval. Steve walked over and stood behind the girl, saying, "think of me like a shadow, you might see me every once in a while, but really, just something to be ignored."
David walked over to Ana as well. He kept his face impassive as he said, "i'll need to know everything you think is important to know, and anything that is connected to that... if you've got some secrecy bullshit about specifics, feel free to generalize... but i need to know what the fuck we're dealing with, and why a city full of people are quite literally ripping each other apart..."
Looking outside at the relative calm, David said, "i hope you don't mind filling me in, we've got a bit of a walk back to our transports. Car crash a few blocks down stopped us en-route so we've got to go on foot for now."
With Girl and Salem now in their 'possession' David issued some orders over his mic, that Salem understood, but Ana couldn't hope to hear... some sort of jumble of the military alphabet, shapes, and numbers. Suddenly the team started forming up in the hallway, and David said to the girl, "if you don't mind, i'd like to get moving before more of those... things... show up."
Salem stood at Ana's side, effectively creating a box of cover around her... this only seemed appropriate, given that she was the mission.
********************
Hanedey Plaza (Bryan)
Chuck nodded as Bryan gave him a quick brief about what he considered. He replied with a bit of a sober look himself, "Pryde is actually pushing for a firebombing of the infected zones, and any civies caught in the crossfire are SOL... I'm glad someone has enough presence of mind to try something a bit more practical before we have to go scorched earth on our own city."
The other general then looked at the security detail that was leading them to the temporary office with which Chuck had been allocated for this private meeting before the major ops planning. Chuck himself looked like he hadn't slept in days, which probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch, especially given the sudden flurry of activity now that the military had been given the green light to start operations.
They arrived at a plain, wooden door, which led into a small meeting room around a rectangular fold-out table. there were various maps of the city, with marks over them indicating troop locations, expected infection locations, confirmed locations. The general's aide brought out a teapot and Styrofoam cups, first handing a full cup to the general, then offering some to Bryan and Major Winters. There were also pictures on the wall... Dark shapes, humanoid, but deformed, elongated, or more bulbous... horribly defored whatever they were... All 5 photos were in very low definition and of poor quality that per planted next to a map... sections of string were tied with pins pointing out locations...
With the pleasantries out of the way, Chuck suddenly said, "lets hear this plan of yours Bryan, i'd like to get something going before we loose anyone else unnecessarily... there's already been a huge deal of damage done just by our own slow reaction to this stuff... lets not make the mistake of inactivity again..."
********************
Parking Deck
The trip to the truck was quick, and event-free. Saleen seemed to be ignoring the fact that someone's brain was now spattered across the building across the street, as she was far more concerned with her own survival at that moment. Whatever that badger was, it had acted much like Johnny had.
When they got moving, they could hear a howl come from behind them. A man, dressed like a janitor was trying to sprint after them while they were leaving the parking deck. Though he quickly fell behind, as he had no way to hope to keep up with a motorized vehicle.
As the cleared the major a buildings, Saleen pointed out 2 men in a golf cart. They were just on the other side of a chainlink fence, and they were barely keeping out of reach of the things behind them.
Anastasia nodded to Steve with a smile, That was essentially the plan. Again, just how she generally thought of soldiers.
However, she'd talk to them if she had to. Same reason you talk to a waiter.
"Sure, sure, gimme a sec." The rabbit had strapped on the munitions and whatnot from the unfortunate Mendoza in a rushed manner earlier, and took advantage of the reprieve to adjust it a little. "Right, fine, good. Carry on."
As they made their way down the sidewalk the scientist in Anastasia couldn't help but tally up the effectiveness of the virus thus far. They'd spilled the stuff, what, couple weeks ago? I mean, yeah, crying shame and all, but this stuff worked FAST. The whole city was a WRECK. Crashed cars, burning buildings, crumbling masonry, maybe twenty sane people left in the whole place.
"Hrm... The basics, then, Sergeant... David?" Squinting at his name tag, the rabbit continued, "A few weeks ago there was a viral outbreak at one of our facilities. It spread fast, via any contact of the mucous membranes, and its symptoms include necrosis, mild mutation, fits, rages, symptoms of leprosy and a certain restructuring of the basic biological features. Try to aim for the head."
"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!" Rebecca doubled her efforts to reach her car in time. The nightmarish movements of her pursuers frightened the crap out of her (not literally), so she reached the car just in time. Luckily for her, with it being such an old car, the locks didn't really work so it readily opened for her and she jumped in.
Now, she quickly dug in her pocket for her keys, and fumbling around just briefly rammed the key into the ignition, pressed the clutch, and started the car with a howl of blue smoke. With her past few minutes of bad experiences her gas foot was a little heavy and the engine revved as she put the gear shift into first and squealed the tires, trying to get out of the parking lot as fast as she could.
"Eh?" Charlie grunted slightly, peering in the direction of where Saleen was pointing. "Yiffy hell, why the fuck aren't they armed!? I've been packing my sidearm for days now.." He said, and then growled lowly.. "Sorry Saleen.. we can't just leave em.. every last living being we let fall to whatever the hell this plague is another one we're going to have to shoot later." He said, swiftly turning the wheel. The agile little truck showed impressive agility as it careened around, and came barreling towards the episode unfurling on the golf course.
He decided better than simply running over their pursuers, remembering the pink mist from earlier. Instead, he came to a screeching halt about twenty feet from them, and came charging out of the truck, stopping to level his pump-action.. and promptly unloading on the infected pursuers with the viciousness only a stark-bonkers raccoon can deliver.
John frowned, still moving quiet. He'd managed to avoid the attention of any...zombies? That's what they acted like. But zombies didn't exist.
He glared in annoyance at the door. His inability to define exactly what caused somebody to try and eat another person's intestines and drive them feral irritated him. He carefully lowered the barrel of the shotgun and knocked twice in the door, and then opened it.
He walked in on what looked like a cluster fuck in the making. Raised voices, people on the ground, guns drawn. He contemplated shooting the ceiling to get their attention, but thought better of it. This wasn't a movie.
"Excuse me. You're the second group of people I've seen today that use words, and the first are dead. Perhaps...we should calm down?"
Big Box Mart
The Collie lowered her arm and pistol a bit. She was still quivering when she heard the sudden sound of a voice behind her. She was shocked to find that she'd been so careless as to let her guard down, and as she turned, noted that the new person was carrying a shotgun... and various other gear she couldn't hope to guess... but, give the shotgun vs her own firearm she wasn't going to argue.
She slid the firearm back into it's holster, concealed under her sweatshirt as she noted the ocelot's smooth motions. She then lowered her head slightly as she turned.... "Al... alright... we can be civil here... just... well, what do you want?"
John blinked. It was an interesting question.
"A million dollars and a tropical island?" he hazarded, giving her a strange look. "Maybe knowing what's the hell is going on would be nice. Why did I find someone eating a national guardsmen outside my laboratory, for example."
OScar raised his eyebrow, turning around to notice this woman as he was pilfering ammo from the shelf. Her question was, in his mind funny as Hell.
"To get the Hell out of here. What do you think? I'm staying in this Hellhole?"He muttered.
hey, at least she wasn't trying to kill him. He made a silent prayer to that little tidbit.
"Now, here's my question; Who the Hell are you? And why are you here?"
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on August 04, 2009, 11:12:53 AM
Apartment Building (Dave/Ana)
David gave the girl a cursory once over, noting that it seemed odd to risk so many lives for such a seemingly plain person. His men took up positions to cover the windows and hallways, while David had his little chat with Salem. The feline noted the professionalism with which the SWAT team executed their jobs, and gave a silent nod of approval. Steve walked over and stood behind the girl, saying, "think of me like a shadow, you might see me every once in a while, but really, just something to be ignored."
David walked over to Ana as well. He kept his face impassive as he said, "i'll need to know everything you think is important to know, and anything that is connected to that... if you've got some secrecy bullshit about specifics, feel free to generalize... but i need to know what the fuck we're dealing with, and why a city full of people are quite literally ripping each other apart..."
Looking outside at the relative calm, David said, "i hope you don't mind filling me in, we've got a bit of a walk back to our transports. Car crash a few blocks down stopped us en-route so we've got to go on foot for now."
With Girl and Salem now in their 'possession' David issued some orders over his mic, that Salem understood, but Ana couldn't hope to hear... some sort of jumble of the military alphabet, shapes, and numbers. Suddenly the team started forming up in the hallway, and David said to the girl, "if you don't mind, i'd like to get moving before more of those... things... show up."
Salem stood at Ana's side, effectively creating a box of cover around her... this only seemed appropriate, given that she was the mission.
Quote from: Boogeyman on August 05, 2009, 05:22:34 PM
Anastasia nodded to Steve with a smile, That was essentially the plan. Again, just how she generally thought of soldiers.
However, she'd talk to them if she had to. Same reason you talk to a waiter.
"Sure, sure, gimme a sec." The rabbit had strapped on the munitions and whatnot from the unfortunate Mendoza in a rushed manner earlier, and took advantage of the reprieve to adjust it a little. "Right, fine, good. Carry on."
As they made their way down the sidewalk the scientist in Anastasia couldn't help but tally up the effectiveness of the virus thus far. They'd spilled the stuff, what, couple weeks ago? I mean, yeah, crying shame and all, but this stuff worked FAST. The whole city was a WRECK. Crashed cars, burning buildings, crumbling masonry, maybe twenty sane people left in the whole place.
"Hrm... The basics, then, Sergeant... David?" Squinting at his name tag, the rabbit continued, "A few weeks ago there was a viral outbreak at one of our facilities. It spread fast, via any contact of the mucous membranes, and its symptoms include necrosis, mild mutation, fits, rages, symptoms of leprosy and a certain restructuring of the basic biological features. Try to aim for the head."
Sergent Adams turned to Ana as the walked, "Mam unless we are carrying riot gear we always aim for the head...They usually don't ask SWAT to bring in live Tangos if someone takes hostages."
Reaching the end of the Alley that lead to the SUV David slowly stuck his head out to see if they could get to the truck.
Big Box Mart
The collie girl sighed, raised her chin and replied, "I'm Nicole, or, Niki if you prefer... and... i have no clue what's going on. I was on my way home from work last night when i got a good scare... whatever the fuck is going on... it's scary shit..."
She trembled slightly as she relived what she saw. "there was 4 or 5 of them, they ran across the street, chasing what looked like a homeless man. They dragged him down in a back alley. At first i thought they were beating him, that is, until i saw on holding the hobo's hand like some kind of trophy. He shoved the thing in his mouth. I... Ran, as fast as i could. Since then, i've been trying to get out of here... i don't know what's happening, but these people, they're fucking insane..."
She looked to be on the verge of tears before regaining her composure. "Alright, i've got a small pharmacy in here" patting the bag, "since it seems we've all got the same goals, perhaps travel together. Safety in numbers and all that. Sound good to you two?" She looked at them both with pleading eyes.
********************
Golf Course
Out of the corner of his eye, Joe caught sight of a truck that looked like it very well might T-Bone his golf cart and send them careening to their death... or, at the very least, slow them down enough for those things to get them...
It stopped, just in time.
Charlie's rage resulted in him spending all 8 shells in the tube on the 5, now very, very dead, bodies. The first Blast sent a hail of buckshot into a man's torso, and sending him staggering to the ground, the second took chunks out of 2 heads as the spread split the difference. The rest did various, yet lethal damage to the rest of the small swarm. In his rage, he then spent the rest of the shells making sure they stayed down... Which they did.
Joe could hear the repeated blasts behind him, and his executive was screaming, " STOP THIS FREAKING THING! NOW!"
********************
Side Alley
The entire area was devoid of life... the ground was still slick with the blood of those they'd slaughtered, but all in all, the area was eerily quiet. For a major metropolis this unheard of, as if, the entire block had been turned into a ghost town. The SUV was sitting exactly where it was supposed to be... and although a bit of a tight fit, the ride back to the base was quiet and uneventful.
As they approached a pair of officers were waiting at the gate, M4s in clear view as they slid the gate back. Suddenly, one of the raised a rifle, and attention was drawn to the direction he was aiming the weapon.
One of the people they'd cast out earlier was being mauled from something that came from out of nowhere, it looked humanoid, but stretched in it's proportions, long and sinuous. It had massive claws, and a long and narrow snout. Suddenly the long tongue stuck out as the infected ant-eater continued to slash at the man, completely oblivious to the dangers around it. A sharp *crackle* as the soldier fired a 3 round burst. The first caught the beast right at the base of the neck at the joint of the spine, shoulders and neck, the second, lifted slightly by the recoil, was slightly offset and ruined the spine and neck. The final round scraped the edge of the brain stem, and, as it traveled out the other side, took a chunk out of the bottom jaw.
As the spectacle was ended before anyone could intervene, a death-twitch sent those razor sharp claws across the wounded man's jugular. He bled out before anyone could do anything to help.
The base was still secure, and those who were clearly healthy and did not exhibit symptoms of those who were infected, were moved into a section of the store where the shelves had been moved out, and some basic necessities of life were laid out before them.
********************
Hospital Exit
Rebecca's driving was erratic as she fled the hospital. The Feline's claws raked across her paint, and the man slammed into the side of her car, taking the side view mirror out, probably with several of his ribs. She made it out, otherwise intact and despite being an emotional trainwreck, physically, she was pretty well unharmed.
She turned down side streets with no destination in particular, when something caught her eye. A jet black SUV with 'POLICE' stenciled in bright white across it's side. suddenly it turned into a local supermarket that looked like it had been converted into a fortress... If there was somewhere safe to stay, that looked to be it.
She heard the crackling, almost overly loud popcorn like noise as she made her turn... it came from somewhere around the back of the building.
Getting out of the SUV David paused noting that some of the civvys from before had been brought in. "Roy gimme a sitrep..."
"Steve escort our damsel in distress inside and make her comfortable" He said before Roy could answer over the radio.
After he was updated David was going to brief the uniformed officers and the rest of the SWAT team on the situation...Then tell command they weren't going to be at the pick up....
"What the hell is that noise?" Rebecca wondered out loud to herself as she drove up to the gates of the makeshift fortress. She turned the car off and set the parking break before getting out and walking up to the gate.
"Ummm... any way I can get in? I just seen half of my husband fall four stories.. I'm a little distraught.. so a safe place might do me some good." Oddly enough her face was like an emotionless stone, although her puffy, red eyes gave away her recent emotional traumas.
The other golfers screaming bloody murder pushed Joe over the edge as he buried the club's head directly into the zombie's skull, giving one last stomp before bolting to the driver's seat of the cart. Turn the key to "D," depress the accelerator, and avoid all inclines like the plague, Joe mulled as they scooted off, sliding for a few feet before picking up speed. "Robert, where the fuck are you?! How did these-- these things get onto the course?!" Joe yelled into his radio, eyes darting every which way for more of the undead spawn as he drove back to the teeing area.
John Ayers scratched the back of his head. He looked around the room for a moment, clearly rendered uncomfortable by this strange female's sudden outburst.
"Yeah...I, ah...that'd be a good idea." he said, clearing his throat. "Who's this guy over here, then? And the guy on the floor?"
Oscar slung his shotgun over his soldier. Quite often he was a sucker with a conscious. Or as his sister said a love of pretty, pretty girls.
"Alright...best idea I've heard al day aside from 'Don't Panic.' "He chortled, trying to crack a joke and ease her tension...and his own..."
Oscar looked at John."Name's Oscar, Oscar Aligheri I work here...or did...not sure anymore..."Oscar looked at the maniac on the floor."I have no idea who he is, but we shouldn't wake him. We should stay the fuck away him is what we should do."
Charlie just watched as Joe sped off on his golfcart.. "Ah well. At least we saved some, right?" The raccoon commented lazily as he reloaded his shotgun. "C'mon now, let's get to the hospital and see if we can't sort this all out.." He said, hopping back into truck, waiting a moment for Saleen, before taking off again..
Supermarket
The dalmatian replied, "New orders are to protect as many civilians as we can find without compromising the perimeter, boss. They're not acting wonky, and there's no sign of trouble. Besides that, we've had a couple encounters with some loners, but really, whatever is going on, it's been pretty quiet in this part of town."
Steve led Salem and Ana into the building where he was welcomed with a, "Just had to go pickup your boyfriend on the way back, didn't'cha Stevey boy?" The man was wearing a full facial balaclava, and he was leaning against a wall.
Steve glared back and was about to respond when Salem approached the man first. His voice was flat and icy as he said, "If you think this is all fun and fucking games corporal you should know that i've been working for SOCOM for the last 5 years of my life, my partner is a fleshy mound of puss and blood... so, ya, make your jokes all you want, but remember, we're all under one roof, and right now, you're about to earn yourself a place on my shit list..."
Clearly taken aback, the man slunk down below some shelves before things could get hostile. The other civilians had gone completely quiet in the wake of the felines could retort, and suddenly their collective gaze came to rest upon the rather average hare in their midst.
Outside, a man in full body armor did a quick check over Rebecca, doing a quick pat down, and seemingly looking for something. Once he waved to a uniformed officer, he said a relaxed tone, "you're welcome to come in ma'am, water is running, and we've got enough supplies to last us quite some time... come on in, and i'll get you a cot and some basics ready."
********************
Golf Course
All Joe got was static as he continued on, his executive was still terrified after nearly getting eaten, then, nearly getting run over. He was actually looking quite catatonic, and when they finally came to a stop he just sat in near silence, whispering, "i can't believe that just happened... it has to be a bad dream... it, just has to be.."
Saleen got in without complaint, she'd been keeping an eye out, glock in hand, and searching for anything that might be hostile. When Charlie had climbed back in, she said, "rather ungrateful... but, you did a good thing there... and yes, i'd like to get going too."
The drive would take the better part of a half an hour, having to avoid wrecks and, once within a few blocks of the hospital in question, pass through police barricades. Things were looking messy as finally pulled into the parking lot. The visitor's lot was completely filled, and apparently government relief had started setting up tents outside. Getting inside would be a nightmare, as the line of people at the main entrance stretched well into road.
********************
Big Box Mart
Niki visibly perked up from her previous, seeming, almost humiliated state a few moments before, given that both seemed kind enough, she brought out a map. Putting a finger on the T shaped island, at the center of the T, she Said, "we're here right now, we gotta get to this bridge, here." Moving her finger to a bridge at the southern tip of the island, and slightly offset, heading towards the suburbs.
"There are national guard troops there, so, it should be safe... That's the safest location to be, except there are also close to a million people that way... and i have no idea how many are those things... there's not much cover from what i could see... "
Running her finger up and to the left cross of the 'T', she continued, "we could try the longer way, go to the nicer part of the city, then around... Less people that way, and probably a lot more cover, as we could slip through the park, but it's also a longer journey... i really didn't think i'd make it either way on my, own, and i'm glad i ran into you... since we're traveling together, why don't we vote on it? I say the long and safe way... what do you boys think?"
The collie's ears were perky and alert, her tail swishing slowly as she intently studied her new comrades. In the corner, the still unconscious Pig/man thing groaned slightly as his weight shifted from a leg twitch.
Rebecca nodded to the officer. "Thanks.. Oh! Hold on." She quickly went back to her car and popped the trunk to take out her backpack of survival supplies. She returned to the gate and entered, giving a wave to the officer with her pack over her shoulder. She wasn't worried about the car; strange things were happening and the least of her worries was some 16 year old beater.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on August 27, 2009, 11:01:05 PM
Supermarket
The dalmatian replied, "New orders are to protect as many civilians as we can find without compromising the perimeter, boss. They're not acting wonky, and there's no sign of trouble. Besides that, we've had a couple encounters with some loners, but really, whatever is going on, it's been pretty quiet in this part of town."
Steve led Salem and Ana into the building where he was welcomed with a, "Just had to go pickup your boyfriend on the way back, didn't'cha Stevey boy?" The man was wearing a full facial balaclava, and he was leaning against a wall.
Steve glared back and was about to respond when Salem approached the man first. His voice was flat and icy as he said, "If you think this is all fun and fucking games corporal you should know that i've been working for SOCOM for the last 5 years of my life, my partner is a fleshy mound of puss and blood... so, ya, make your jokes all you want, but remember, we're all under one roof, and right now, you're about to earn yourself a place on my shit list..."
Clearly taken aback, the man slunk down below some shelves before things could get hostile. The other civilians had gone completely quiet in the wake of the felines could retort, and suddenly their collective gaze came to rest upon the rather average hare in their midst.
Outside, a man in full body armor did a quick check over Rebecca, doing a quick pat down, and seemingly looking for something. Once he waved to a uniformed officer, he said a relaxed tone, "you're welcome to come in ma'am, water is running, and we've got enough supplies to last us quite some time... come on in, and i'll get you a cot and some basics ready."
"Right..." David took another look around the supermarket and its surrounds..his brain working out the tactics of a long siege, which he mentally added he was normally on the outside of. "Roy I want you and anyone not on duty to find out if we have any medically trained civvys, anyone with military service, people with firearms and any construction workers.
We need to turn this place into a hardcore fortress 'cause I don't think we'll be leaving for some time. There's a gun store down the block I want two teams of the Assaulters to take the SUV's and grab everything they can but the moment they see more than four of...shit lets just call em zombies they act just like something out a film anyway...they are to bug out pronto.
Get any construction workers or volunteers to start barricading the doors and windows of the apartment block and set it up as a sleeping quarters.
See if you can get those back alley's blocked off too." Dave looked over at the corpse pile out front. "And see if there is enough metho or turps to burn those bodies...I gotta make a call to the higher ups"
After he was sure Roy had his instructions written down David climbed back up to the roof where he started the day and sat down in front of the PRC-201 secure radio that controlled the SWAT's radio headsets. Punching in the frequency for the Captain in charge of the SWAT unit he waited until his Superior was online.
"Sir I hate to say this but we're stuck here, I can use the SUV's to move at most 4 blocks but that's it. I'm putting a Code Citadel in place here. Also I doubt the Army will get their egghead back unless they want to sent an armored convoy in cause the powerlines here make it imposable for a heli pickup. What I need if you can get the NG or the Army to do it is a ammo drop with some more heavy weapons, if possible some extra portable generators and fuel. And if they have a Sky-crane or Chinook available some more barricade materials."
"I guess that's all Stan, I'll see ya on the flip side. Oh! and try and not let them nuke the city while I'm here!"
Folding his notebook closed and closing his laptop, Bryan rubbed his temples as he sat next to Chuck in his briefing room. There had always been a bit of informality between the two of them, even though Chuck outranked him and was a number of years older than him.
The fox's ears drooped to the sides and he sighed as he looked up at his friend, "well that's about the whole of it. I'm not sure if either of those options will work, but it is far better than fire-bombing all the wardens. My research has gleaned quite a bit, but it still is not enough to be one hundred percent."
Taking a sip of the tea that had been brought earlier, he relaxed a bit, "I'll leave it to you to present it at the meeting, I can fill in the technical details as needed. I really want to take care of this situation with as little violence and loss of life as possible. So many have been lost already." The tension returned and the fox growled a slight bit, "just who the hell ever authorized such a project Chuck? Why would we even need such a horrible biological weapon?"
John thought. The national guard seemed like a logical choice of people to find. He rubbed his chin, and realized that he hadn't shaved in a few days.
"Unless any of you have a pressing appointment, I'd say we take the long way around." he said. "There's no point in trying to force our way through a mess of these...things, unless we have to. It's asking for trouble."
He looked at Oscar. "And what's this guy's problem, then? He's a nutjob, or what?"
"Looks like bloody swine flu scare all over again." Charlie muttered as he pulled into his designated parking spot. There was a small sign proclaiming such:
Dr. Charley Mask
- Brain Surgery -
"What?" Charlie barked, "I may major in microbiology, but it was either take up a second trade or spend my entire career in research, probably putting make-up on monkeys or some crap like that." He said as he reached into the backseat of the truck, pulling forward a large white medical coat which he started to don. "And that's just plain boring. I wanted to do something interesting with medicine, not be some number farting pencil pusher.." He said as he promptly hopped out of the truck. "Assholes misspelled my name anyway.." He muttered, marching up to the main entrance.
It might have been the fact he was a doctor that kept him from having any trouble getting inside, but it was more likely the fact that he had slung his pump-action over his coat that cleared the crowd. Once inside, he headed straight up to the main desk, and immediately demanded to know what the heck was going on.
"This guy tried to kill me. Killed my boss and god knows how many other people."Ocsra muttered, keeping an eye trained on the lunatic.
"We should dcefintly get the hell out of here..."Oscar muttered. National Guard was an exccelent idea. Guys with guns. The question was which route...
"I suggest we take the long way. I have noi clue what's going on, butyou don't need a PhD to know we're up shit creek without a paddle. The of those...whatever the Hell they are, the btter."
Ian was munching away on his sandwich, playing Left 4 Dead while minding the register at Atomic comixwhen it all started. A skinny rabbit entered the store in a very jerky motion, being that the store was in a mall and the cage was up Ian didn't notice a bit, atleast untill it started grunting.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"UUUUNGH" Was her only answer.
"Uh you introuble miss?"
"SSSSSAHHH" Again was her only responce, and she was making her way straight for him. Ian grabbed a replica of Gimli's axe from the weapons rack behind the counter.
"Listen lady, you're creepin me out, so back up NOW!" He yelled, but she pressed on. Ian had heard about the rioters and their symptoms so he was already paranoid of the "zombie uprising", but he wasnt prepared for this. She lurched forward with a mind numbing skriek and Ian swung the axe with all his might.
Big Box Mart
Nikki watched the reactions of the chemist and ocelot closely, noting the way the ocelot seemed more focused on her then anything else. She gave a nod and a smiled crept over her lips as she stood up with her bag and sword, "well boys, looks like we've got a plan..."
she paused as she gave each a coy grin, "so, who's going to take the lead... or, do you really think this is the appropriate time for 'ladies first'?" She stuck the tip of her tongue out to add to the facetious nature of the comment.
********************
Hospital
At the main entrance the NG troops completely missed Charlie, Saleen, and the shotgun strung across his shoulder. At the main desk, while being checked in by the receptionist, a pair of troops approached, one had a sidearm drawn and hanging loosely at his side. The speckles of blood that had gotten on Charlie's coat from earlier shown a deep brownish red. The man with the sidearm side in a polite tone, "Uh, doctor, if you'd surrender your weapon for a moment and come with me... please"
Saleen watched tensely as the men approached, saying, "but he wasn't bitten, he's fine... we're both fine"
Her words fell on deaf ears as the men's focus was on Charlie.
********************
Atomic Comix
The axe swing landed straight and true, burying itself in the skull of the unfortunate rabbit lady. As he tried to take the upswing, Ian suddenly found himself weaponless as the axe was buried it skull, and caught on shattered bone. Over a poster, hung up in the window, he could clearly see several more figures ambling along in the jerky, uncoordinated manner the rabbit had displayed moments before.
********************
Chuck's Office
Chuck sighed heavily at Bryan's last question, it was difficult enough dealing with everything that was going on, he couldn't afford to loose the trust of one of his most trusted confidants. His face steeled and became an emotional mask, something Bryan had never actually witness the man do when they were in private.
Chuck's eyes gave away that it was rather unpleasant what he was about to share, then he started in a flat and level voice, "The actual history of the virus dates back to late 70's in the USSR, Siberia to be precise. We thought the Russians were working on some type of anthrax or smallpox factory. Horrible stuff, to be sure, but nothing could have prepared us for what a SR-71 flight managed to catch on their ultra-high res camera. There's a handful of pictures that are locked away in some non-descript folder, buried in the beaurocracy of the military. They show the last stand of the soldiers stationed in that lab."
He took a deep breath as he continued, "it took 10 hours to get a SEAL team in the air, 8 men were sent to this fake town to recover a body to find out what had actually happened. When they got there, they were assaulted by unimaginable horrors. Those infected were immune to pain, they had no fear, and no memory of who they were. There were 500 or so people at that base, of them around 450 were turned, the rest were dead. The SEALs thought they'd made it, one of their guys had been bitten, but were otherwise unharmed. Thank god for quarantine regs on a mission like this, otherwise we might have seen a similar outbreak to what was shown on those photos. They ended up having to kill the rest of the team when everyone was exposed to the virus."
"In other words, we discovered the virus by accident, and what happened here was a horrible failure of an attempt to render the initial virus harmless so we could begin producing a vaccine. We hired some outside help... and i'm not 100% sure what happened... but, it got out. Someone made a mistake. A big fucking mistake."
********************
Market
Rebecca was given the tour, introduced to the various members of the team, and was about to get situated when another SWAT officer approached, He asked "looks like we're not getting out of here any time soon, if you have any skills in the medical field, military or police training, or are a skilled welder, would you please come here. Those things out there may find us eventually, and we need to turn this place into a fortress before they do."
On the roof, David got an immediate reply, "We'll skyhook some supplies, there might be a few extra goodies besides bullets and bread, keep a lookout in 20, i repeat two zero, minutes... Base command, over and out."
Outside, near the rear the compound, the 8 man team could be seen suiting up to make their 3 block journey to see about getting additional firepower. They gave updates on their approach, giving location and constantly affirming "all clear"
The front of the store was still intact, good sign, the rifles were still in their cases, even better. The team moved 2 by 2 as they clearly store, they posted 2 men outside to guard the exit while the other 6. Up above the infected chameleon slowly made it's way down the wall, it's skin-tone matching the wall perfectly. The long tongue licked it's scaly lips as it inched ever so slowly towards the pair of guards outside. It's grip suddenly faltered as a pad caught a loose brick in the facade of the brown building. It lunged with all it's effort towards the pair, Teeth sinking deep into the shoulder of the first man. The second whip around in time to get a pair of horns in the groin. The lizard lunged forward, ripping the horns out with an animal ferocity while sinking teeth deep into the man's calf. A sudden cry of agony wailed over the radio, as Johnson, the officer bitten on the shoulder, called out "MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN..."
The late 20's officer drew his sidearm while the beast was busy with the other man. He fired and kept shooting, after the 6th or 7th shot it stopped moving, Johnson continued to fire. Warick, the other officer, and a jack-rabbit, was KIA, having bled out when the horns pierced and ripped through several major arteries.
The men inside came out to find Johnson almost fine, a little disoriented, shivering slightly, and whispering, "What the fuck was that thing..." over and over.
Two men loaded Johnson and the body of Warick into the into the back, while the others finished their last load of ammunition and firearms. They managed to collect a pair of semi-auto G3s but with scopes already attached, a half dozen M16s, and 18 assorted pump action shotguns. As they prepped to move, Corporal Sloan clicked his Comm, "Slaon here boss, we just got jumped by a crazy fuckin' thing, we got a man down and a KIA here... we're packed, loaded and on our way back... Recommend double checking the rooftops and walls of all buildings, this thing blended in perfectly."
Charlie had just started to look over a report about how many infected were coming in, a number which he would probably not like much at all, when the soldier asked for his weapon. He barely even looked over his shoulder, just enough to note the rank of the NG. Seeing him to only be a PFC, he snorted lightly. He knew a messenger when he saw one.
"So how much brass does he have?" Charlie asked, nonchalantly..
From Basilisk: "Major Grant's orders, anyone with blood spatter is to be disarmed and quarantined immediately... Orders are orders."
"Don't we know it." Charlie replied in the same tone, setting the clipboard down on the front desk. "But tell me something, soldier, when it comes to medical situations, who has the priority on orders? Is the lazy ass brass, or the actual doctors? Answer that one for me. C'mon now, they should've taught you this in basic!"
From Basilisk: PFC Jason Vierez pulls the cocking handle on his M16A2 and holds the weapon by the pistol grip. "Orders are orders, i don't give a rats ass what you think you're doing, you're getting screened right now"
Charlie gave the PFC a long, hard and cold stare, before he just snorted. "Son, you have less then three seconds to put that weapon back on safe before you skip straight from the emergency room to the morgue. And after that, you're going to march your happy ass out of MY hospital, and you're going to find this Major Grant, and if he's not in here talking to me in less than 10 minutes, crazed diseased rioters are going to be the LEAST of your worries." He said in a voice that was as cold a steel blade in a siberian snowstorm..
"Now get the hell out of my sight. I have to figure out what in hell has these people acting like this.." He said, and promptly ignored the soldier as he headed off to his office with the reports. He only paused to tell one of the other doctors to keep him posted on the developments.
Anastasia looked around the civilians assembled in the supermarket with mild curiousity. Eyes checking for bitemarks, judging the effects of the virus on the city. Trying to pick out who was worth being on the good side of, and who was expendable. The man in the balaclava was clearly neither an officer nor a specialist, he could be dismissed. The civilians... Tired, scared, and none of them looked like the political types. It seemed prudent to keep who she was on the down low.
... Social situations. Eugh. She wasn't good at those.
"Um... Hey..." She tried focusing on people's faces, rather than just getting what information she could from their attire and condition, and tore her attention away from musings on the anteater creature she'd seen earlier. Practical mutations, but worth noting that they're all intended for immediate combat. Wonder why that-? Nng. Right. People...
Bryan's face showed no signs of emotion as his chin rested on his hands. The fox was considering what he had been told carefully. If it were himself in charge of the bodies and virus then he most certainly would have been developing a cure. SOPs for this type of thing would have generated a fair amount of the virus for study, the bodies autopsied via those old clunky envirosuits and then disposed of through total incineration. That would have been thirty years ago. The amount of viral mass retained, that should have been retained, could not mathematically escalate to this level so quickly even at the most virulent calculations of infection and transmission.
"This was not just some lab tech spilling a petri dish or poking himself with a needle and not telling anyone. This was a release of a significant amount of the virus, concentrated far beyond the level necessary for a study to develop vaccines or to neutralize it." Bryan's eyes shifted to his hands, "you see Chuck, in its standard form the virus is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of the infected... such as touching the blood or saliva entering a wound. A large amount of people would need to be infected at once. That is how I deduced it was a concentrated form, because then it would be sufficient to become airborne. This state would not last longer than a few moments, but long enough to spread to a high density of people where it will incubate to its normal levels and spread from the infected in the predictable models."
He lowered his hands and stared Chuck straight in the eyes, "someone authorized this to be developed as a bio-weapon. Which means we have people working with separate agendas, pulling different strings on us. I want to know what you are planning to do about the facility this was made at and the strains they are developing there? How do we know they aren't loading the stuff up right now to transfer it to some other facility say in Chicago, or even the middle of nowhere next to some small town in Montana? I am the Deputy Director of National Center for Infectious Diseases in this region and I did not even know about a bio-manufacturing facility in Ithica, which means the authorization either came from Beth, the Director of NCID, or someone else higher."
Rebecca tried to commit the layout of the place to memory. Man.. this cannot be happening.. When the other SWAT officer approached her with the question she couldn't help but think to herself: Uhh... do you SEE the scrubs?? but decided to be polite since she was protected here.
"I have medical training.. and I'm sure I can train some others too if we need it - a lot of it is just common sense." She followed the officer to wherever he decided to lead her.
Quote from: Basilisk2150 on September 04, 2009, 12:33:53 AM
Market
Rebecca was given the tour, introduced to the various members of the team, and was about to get situated when another SWAT officer approached, He asked "looks like we're not getting out of here any time soon, if you have any skills in the medical field, military or police training, or are a skilled welder, would you please come here. Those things out there may find us eventually, and we need to turn this place into a fortress before they do."
On the roof, David got an immediate reply, "We'll skycrane some supplies, there might be a few extra goodies besides bullets and bread, keep a lookout in 20, i repeat two zero, minutes... Base command, over and out."
Outside, near the rear the compound, the 8 man team could be seen suiting up to make their 3 block journey to see about getting additional firepower. They gave updates on their approach, giving location and constantly affirming "all clear"
The front of the store was still intact, good sign, the rifles were still in their cases, even better. The team moved 2 by 2 as they clearly store, they posted 2 men outside to guard the exit while the other 6. Up above the infected chameleon slowly made it's way down the wall, it's skin-tone matching the wall perfectly. The long tongue licked it's scaly lips as it inched ever so slowly towards the pair of guards outside. It's grip suddenly faltered as a pad caught a loose brick in the facade of the brown building. It lunged with all it's effort towards the pair, Teeth sinking deep into the shoulder of the first man. The second whip around in time to get a pair of horns in the groin. The lizard lunged forward, ripping the horns out with an animal ferocity while sinking teeth deep into the man's calf. A sudden cry of agony wailed over the radio, as Johnson, the officer bitten on the shoulder, called out "MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN..."
The late 20's officer drew his sidearm while the beast was busy with the other man. He fired and kept shooting, after the 6th or 7th shot it stopped moving, Johnson continued to fire. Warick, the other officer, and a jack-rabbit, was KIA, having bled out when the horns pierced and ripped through several major arteries.
The men inside came out to find Johnson almost fine, a little disoriented, shivering slightly, and whispering, "What the fuck was that thing..." over and over.
Two men loaded Johnson and the body of Warick into the into the back, while the others finished their last load of ammunition and firearms. They managed to collect a pair of semi-auto G3s but with scopes already attached, a half dozen M16s, and 18 assorted pump action shotguns. As they prepped to move, Corporal Sloan clicked his Comm, "Sloan here boss, we just got jumped by a crazy fuckin' thing, we got a man down and a KIA here... we're packed, loaded and on our way back... Recommend double checking the rooftops and walls of all buildings, this thing blended in perfectly."
Grateful he wasn't holding anything in his hands that he would have thrown, David swore after making sure his throat mic wouldn't pick it up. This was the last thing he needed, their little fort here needed all the trained troops they could get if they were going to survive.
"Copy Sloan, Get back as soon as you can and don't slow down for anything. Blue One Six out." Switching the radio over to one Roy shared with him, he asked him to be down at the gate when the SUV's got back. Then changed his mind and told Roy not to bother, he would go himself. Something in Sloan's voice worried him.
Picking up his rifle he climbed back down to the parking lot after calling the sentrys to watch the top and sides of the surrounding buildings.
Chuck's Office
The man nodded at Bryan's comment, and replied, "your assessment is quite correct, one of the head scientists working on the project, Carlos Mendoza, released a highly concentrated vial of the stuff at Grand Central Station, from there it's been spreading like wildfire... not sure why we weren't called in, in the first 24 hours, but, we got here ASAP, and i'm sorry things have gotten this crazy."
Pausing to glance over the reports, Chuck gave another nod of approval. Suddenly twitching as he realized he'd missed something, he added quickly, "The lab itself is getting hit with a triple dose of napalm, we have the Abraham Lincoln 2 hours flight time away and closing, the F-18's are fueled and launching momentarily. If nothing else, if the orders get countermanded, we'll know who's working against us."
A ring of the telephone interrupted what Chuck was about to say, placing the phone to his ear, he heard a brief rundown of something that Bryan couldn't quite make-out, suddenly, the man in front of him got up and said, "looks like they're ready for us. You should know..." pointing to the pictures on the map, "we're seeing some short term mutations we've never seen before. Seems non-mammals can have a reaction well beyond anything we could have predicted... If you're going with this convoy, watch yourself, alright?... I'll catch you at the meeting."
As if on cue, a pair of staff secretaries arrived at the door and escorted chuck, after an informal salute, down a hallway. In the same party, a young officer, tiger, came and waited to escort Bryan and his little entourage to their assigned seats. As he saluted, he said, "Lieutenant Knighthaven is already inside, if you'll follow me, sir."
********************
Hospital
Rather than leaving, the PFC clicked his mic, and whispered something inaudible to Charlie, the rifle still pointed and grip and trigger still in hand. He said, "Major is on his way, stay right where you are, and don't try anything."
As if to reinforce the point, Charlie could hear the sound of large charging handle being pulled, the Ex-army ranger, and national guardsman, Sargent Heinrich Viesigar stepped behind Charlie, the AA-12 was loaded with a full drum and hooked to a 3 point harness. The man had a boyish look to him, and given his build, facial features, and light, feathery, blond, hair, he looked to be more male model, than soldier. He hissed in the raccoon's ear, "Please, do something stupid, ya fuckin' rat..."
The man was cutoff as a slightly overweight fox slid out the elevator in full dress uniform, pins, medals and awards were displayed with pride across the canine's broad-ish chest. He opened his mouth to make a snide comment when he was cut off at the sound of automatic weapons fire. Through the glass door, and the crowds of people, Charlie could see the top of something large and beige, a flash of something darker brown, and suddenly a crimson plume.
The sound of assault weapons grew louder, as the two guards just out the glass windows began firing as fast as the could burst their weapons to the left of the glass door. Another flash of brown as a massive, scythe-blade-like object curved between the window and the man. He screamed as a second blade came from seemingly nowhere, cleaving the man in about and silencing his screams. The man to the right of the window kept firing and backed into a pillar.
The massive, razor sharp, claw seemed to go for miles as it's owner plodded along. Suddenly, the edge of it's face appeared, then the chitinous shell. It's cold, black eyes focused on the man in front of the door, pinned between the beast and a pillar. The small pincers around the beast's toothed maw snipped and wavered in eager anticipation. The flat shell ended in two, massive, shelled legs, which held the monstrous crustacean upright. Suddenly, it's claw swiped again, this time, shoving the man into the waiting pincers by the mouth. They eagerly ripped the man apart.
Suddenly, Major Grant unholstered his rather pathetic 9mm handgun and began unloading on the beast. The rounds punched through the safety glass, but had no discernible effect. The crab turned slowly as it's body reacted to the strange sensation of getting shot. It's massive right claw shattered the double doors as broken glass and metal sprayed inward with the beasts awkward turn. Viesigar bolted towards the inner hospital, shotgun in hand. PFC Vierez stood in front of his CO unloading his magazine into the creature's torso. Small dents could be seen where the rounds impacted the armor-like shell of the crab. Without a hint of motion, it's claw reached out again, and, seemed to gently pinch the PFC across the shoulder, that is, until he almost split in half with a near surgical precision cut, clean through flesh, bone and blood. Grabbing a section of the dying man in it's smaller claw, the crab moved onward making it's way towards Charlie and Major Grant. Bits of flesh, cloth and blood, dribbling from the quivering maw. It was ready for it's next victim.
********************
Market
Standing by Ana's side, in full tactical gear, Salem stood as the ever vigilant bodyguard, as much as she might try to blend in, the very fact that the feline refused to leave her side gave away that she was someone special. Not that it mattered, everyone else seemed far to intent doing their own things. The only motion that caught Ana's eye were a couple of people entering the men's room. Everyone else was quietly huddled around trying to either take in what was going on, or try and help.
***
Suddenly the officer facing Rebecca clicked his comm as the message came in. He looked at her, noted the scrubs, and said, "we've got a man who's wounded, looks like he'll need some help, shoulder and neck wound... follow me."
He waited for Rebecca, guiding her towards the entrance ramp, where David and his team were waiting. The SUV pulled in, and the team piled out, carrying Johnson out first, and setting him on stretcher the scout team's medic had in his pack. Warick's body was placed in a black bag, and laid ceremoniously down in a corner for the time being. Anyone not helping with the wounded officer carried loads of weapons and ammunition into the central area of the store. The stockpile was neatly organized onto emptied shelves. Once everything was in place, everyone seemed to circle around the wounded, wondering just what the hell had happened.
Charlie had been given the punk special forces a mean look, like he was about to pull something... when the most screwed up creature one can ever meet in a zombie apocalypse came crashing in through the front of the hospital.. a mutated CRAB.
"Major, you flippin' idiot, that thing is a tank! RUN!" He bellowed, pulling out his magnum and tossing it to Saleen. "Make for the back of the hospital, there's an exit that way!" Charlie bellowed, bolting to the front desk, where he ordered everyone out of the hospital, ASAP!
After that, he took off after the SF blowhard. "Coward!! The only one here with any weapon that could scratch that thing!! And you're going the wrong damn way for the exit!" He bellowed, before turning back to Saleen. "My truck. I've got some explosives. And armor rounds! We need to circle around.." He said, leading the way through the hallways..
Even as he rolled to the tee-off range and clubhouse, Joe could scarcely process what had just happened a scant few minutes ago. Shooting, shouting, a truck nearly flattening his pansy-mobile golf cart, and not a single security detail responding. And technical child-killing on his part, even if they were zombified. "We're getting out of here," Joe muttered as his shoes touched grass, "and you're going to write me a check for half the lesson when this is over." Assuming the CEO even had the presence of mind to head for the hills instead of crying like a baby and waiting for the beasts to choke on his lovehandles. Robert, anybody, please still be alive... fastest way to my car is through the lobby, just hope these monsters only got in through the fencing. He grabbed another club from the cart, all eyes looking through the windows and all around the range for more shambling figures.
"Damn! Rule 1: Small surface weapons! Zombie Survival guide: 1 Ian:0." Ian headed for the back room. He found his baseball bat and catchers mitt.
"Thank the maker that i was gonna go play soft ball last week. He tossed the glove aside and dashed out of the store, but not with out the latest editions of his favorite comics.
Rebecca stopped for a moment when she saw the body bag, but shook her head and focused on the wounded officer laying on the stretcher. It wasn't the first time she saw one of those, and it was obvious it wouldn't be her last. As she went to ask for medical supplies someone already had an open box beside her.
"Thanks.."
She put her bag down and got to work quickly, worried about how much blood he had already lost. Man did this look nasty; she was thankful to be wearing gloves as she cleaned the wounds and carefully stitched his skin back together.
With a sigh she asked "What's your name? What happened out there?"
Atomic Comix
The pair outside seemed distracted by something, and turned the other way as Ian bolted. They headed into another nondescript store, and much shouting and screaming could be heard from the inside. From his current position, Ian could see a sporting goods store, a car, just outside with it's door left wide open, or a litany of other stores with which he could hide out for a bit to plan his next move. The contents ranged from women's underwear, to jewelry to a Chinese import store.
********************
Golf Course
The other shambling figures had settled into rough circles around the areas where the golfers had originally been attacked. The hand movements suggested they were picking at something. The lobby of the club-house was barren, papers, ripped cloth, broken pieces of furniture could be seen everywhere. A long, streaky mark, about as wide as Joe's forearm was long, led towards the women's bathroom. Further on, several cars were smashed together, however, he could clearly see his was untouched and the only sign of life around it was the chirping crickets hiding in the club's gardens. The exec. fumbled with his wallet as Joe mentioned pay, he screamed, "here, take it all" as he threw the fine leather, loaded with cash and cards at Joe. The man sprinted towards his BMW, keys in hand as he planned to go somewhere, anywhere safe.
********************
Hospital
In the lobby, Major Grant continued to unload round after round into various section of the lumbering, shelled behemoth. The rounds did nothing, they hit chitinous shell, flattened, and fell harmlessly off. Well, they did have 1 dicernable effect, they clearly annoyed the raging crustacean.
The major suddenly tripped over a chair, and the crab's massive foot came slamming down on his leg with a sickening, wet tearing sound. The fox screamed for a second as he was starting to realize he was quite dead. the small claw gripped him around the under-arm and around the back of the neck as the dribbling maw quivered with excitement. Flesh was ripped from bone as the fox went face first into the flashing limbs surrounding the beasts maw.
Saleen needed no prodding, and, with gun in hand, took off down the hallway towards the secondary exit.
At the accusation of being a coward Heinrich shouted back, "Are you fuckin' CRAZY, i'm loaded for crowd control. asshole!" It was at that very moment, as he finished his curse that Heinrich made a sudden realization as he passed a series of abandon lab tables. He didn't need to outrun the monster. He just had to be faster than anyone else. a vicious grin grew across the man's face as he suddenly whipped around with sidearm in hand, and fired a hasty shot at Charlie's leg. Heinrich then dove around a corner before Charlie could respond in kind, making his way down the hallways of the ICU.
Charlie could feel the hot lead as it's gentlest of caress tore fur from flesh, and the distinct smell of burt fur filled his lung. He came out lucky as Saleen was at his other side. Especially fortuitous in case he stumbled. The sound of clattering claws could be seen as the ceramic tiles were shattered as the crab entered the hallway. The lights flickered as the enormous claw managed to catch some of the lower-voltage electric lines. It plodded along, it's pitch-black eyes dead-set focused on charlie.
Johnson who was still a little stunned from losing his teammate of 5 years on SWAT, reached up and stopped Rebecca from dressing the wound. "Ma'am there's no real point..." He stopped as he saw David standing nearby talking to Sloan with a very pained look on his face. Standing up the wounded officer walked over to his team leader and Dave, stopping short he searched for the words he knew neither would like and not want to accept.
David saved him by reaching out and patting him on his un-injured shoulder "I know Mike...Hell I know you're Catholic which makes it even harder, I wish we head a priest here for you to talk to. I have one of the phones cleared if you want to talk to your wife." He trailed off as Johnson smiled.
"Its ok boss I knew SWAT was dangerous when I signed up, I just didn't expect a zombie plague to be what did me in! Tell you what, there was a rifle back at the store we didn't grab if you'll let me I'll try and get it and bring it back. This thing will give me 12 hours right? Well I need to make myself useful in that time, and I know if you let me out I can't come back in its just not a risk you can take..."
David and Sloan looked at each other then back at Mike.
Letting out a sigh David nodded. "Ok I sure as hell don't like the idea of sending you out alone but if you feel you gotta do something to make it worth it.."
Bryan returned the salute and followed the young tiger down the hall with Winters following. As he walked, he considered the words Chuck had spoke and sincerely hoped no one would be countermanding the strike order.
What worried him more than anything else he had considered were these mutations that were mentioned. He had not had a chance to study anything like them and that was a bit of a wildcard in the possible plans. He did seem to notice odd readings among those non-mammalian samples he had received, but at the time he did not know if they were contaminated.
The fox reached his seat and Knighthaven was indeed already in his spot. A brief nod to those around him and he took his seat with Major Winters.
Rebecca frowned as the officer just got up and walked away "...the hell?" she muttered under her breath. Usually she was in a much better mood, but her pre-nursing school instincts kicked in so she quickly strode back to the officer's side with dressings in hand. At least she was able to catch his name this time.
"Mike, I may not know exactly what the hell is going on.. but you won't be any good to anyone for very long if you're bleeding all over the place. Now hold still this will only take a minute."
Given that he was feeling a bit rushed she passed up stitching and just attempted to dress the wound with triple antibiotic salve (with painkillers), gauze, and wrappings - working them underneath his clothes if he'd let her.
Ian headed west through the side entrence of the mall. he made a mad dash for his car, and upon arrival whipped his keys out and wrestled with the clunkers lock f0r a moment.
Charlie's eyes flew wide as his teeth set in pain when the round grazed his leg. He stumbled for the briefest of moments (thankfully caught by Saleen), and let out out a bellowing curse that had surprisingly volume from the angry raccoon. "You sorry son of a b-! You had better crawl under a rock and die for what I'm going to do to you!"
But the crunch of tile reached his ears, and he knew exactly what it meant. Giant crab. In the ICU. Time to run! He quickly got back to his footing with the help of Saleen, and sprinted off towards the exit, this time with his pump action unholstered and readied.
So Heinrich. Giant crab or maniacal raccoon?
"...thanks." Yeah, thanks for the money, sucker. Joe flipped open the wallet's fold, eyebrows raising at the fat loot inside. Rich people sure get generous when they panic. Might just have to take the whole family out for sirloin and filet mignon when this is over. But first things first: getting his ass to the parking lot. At least there weren't masses of deadites hanging around the lobby.
But that huge streak leading to the bathroom... Yeah, right. Open the door and get a biiiigg surprise. Joe kept his butt walking straight on through, eyes flitting to every corner and crevice, expecting zombified toads or wasps to rush out and swarm him. All too soon, he was in the lot and zeroed in straight for his yellow Ford Escape, checking in through the windows and underneath before hopping in and starting the ignition; no ugly surprises for him as he revved up and peeled out into the street.
Golf Club
Joe's drive through the Financial district was odd... quite, and the total lack of people on a major road was certainly off... however, he was headed for home. As he reached the bridge, he was stuck in a line of cars. Soldiers wearing Urban style camouflage, holding assault rifles were stopping each car. As time seemed to creep by at a glacial pace, a pair of soldiers each walked around Joe's car, looking through windows, and checking for other occupants. One knocked on his window, a canine, mixed breed of retriever and lab by the look of him, signaled for Joe to roll down his window.
When the man complied, the soldier started asking a few quick questions, "You're officially entering a green zone, have you seen or experienced anything unusual today sir? aside from this road block that is... Have you been bitten, or come into contact with any individuals today who seemed... well, rabid? If so... did they bite you?" The canine gave him a stern look, and stared him in the eyes, waiting for a reply.
********************
Mall Parking Lot
Ian could hear skittering coming from somewhere behind him, somewhere in the parking lot. The noise sounded like claws clacking across the concrete, probably some type of canine. The noise made his fumbling worse, but, after a few seconds of fumbling, he managed to get his car unlocked, started, and moving. As he cleared his spot and headed for the street, he could see that he was being followed by a gray wolf. It looked rather vicious with it's upper lip curled back, almost like a sneer, and fresh blood stained eerily white teeth. While checking his rear-view mirror one last time, the wolf had stopped, but Ian could see it's head tracking him.
Ian pulled out into the streets, the roads seemed clear, and it was decision time... where to go now?
********************
Market
Mike looked mildly annoyed as he was bandaged up... he wasn't about to complain, given that he could die from blood loss if the situation wasn't taken care of immediately. As soon as the bandages were secured however, he grabbed his assault rifle and headed off to meet up with the team for a farewell to them, his wife, and then try and do something useful with his remaining time.
Stopping at David he said, "If you could gather the boys, i'd like to give them a goodbye too." Walking just out of earshot, one could hear that words were being said, but could not actually make out the contents of the conversation...
Idly observing the on-goings of those around here, Ana would notice that the pair of gentleman who'd gone into the bathroom were taking a rather long time...
********************
Meeting/Auditorium
The lights dimmed, as the remaining officers were seated, the setup had the chairs facing the front, and a projector was displaying a map of Ithica. Small patches of red could be seen, except the Docks and Warehouse district, which was a shining crimson glob amongst a sea of black, white, and green spaces. Red indicated known locations of infected collectives. To Bryan, it would seem a ray of hope that the concentrations were so few except the docks... that area may be a total write-off, but the rest of the city seemed quite savable.
Chuck took the stage, apparently his staff people had been working furiously to edit the prepared information that Bryan had passed off. The screen suddenly changed as arrows suddenly overlayed the map to indicate troop movements. As each island was secured, it would go from white, to green. Chuck explained, "Alright people, you've all been briefed on what we've got going on here... it's bad, it's nasty, and things are getting worse. My staff, with special assistance from Bryan McKensie have come up with a workable plan. The infected, to be quite blunt, are stupid and animalistic... there is no cure, and although we're working on a vaccine, there really isn't much we can do besides eradicate those already infected." "That being said, loud noises attract them, they're no harder to kill than an average person... therefore, it is the general consensus of my staff, and myself, that an armored convoy with infantry support clearing out these nests, while isolating the Warehouse district would be the ideal way to handle this. Acting quickly, we should minimize collateral damage, while having a guaranteed neutralization of the threat."
Pausing for a moment while the map changed yet again, into a short animated clip of the plan of action. "I'm passing a file out to each of you, contained within are your orders of action. If you have any complaints, you can direct them to my office... I want to keep this short and to the point, and quash this thing before it gets any worse... That is all Ladies and Gentleman, please proceed to your units, and prepare to execute the Op... You are dismissed."
It wasn't so much a meeting as a briefing... a few mumbles of discontent could be heard, but no one stopped Chuck or his entourage as they made their way back to Command and Control.
Bryan, Knighthaven and Major Winters are escorted to the motor pool where the pair of Black Hawks are no where to be seen. Instead they find a pair of Strykers with Knighthaven's team circled around them. (side-note, inside your briefing is more scientific information than actual combat information, as that file has been handed off to Lt. Knighthaven)
********************
Hospital
Charlie and Saleen bolted past the hallway where Heinrich had turned, behind them they could hear the roar as the shotgun sprayed pellets into the tiled walls behind them. They were heading for a safer exit, the one near the main entrance, rather than the labs or the ER. A second burst of shells could be heard... then a scream. Looking back for the briefest of moments, Charlie would see that the crab beast had decided to go after Heinrich.
Ahead of him, running towards the lab entrance, a pair of national guard troops holding M16's came barreling past, ignoring the raccoon and cat completely. Outside, the civilians had scattered at the sight of running people, running from the crab, and, after the a quick walk around the long way, Charlie would find his truck relatively unharmed... the only sign of damage was a long scratch, at an rather familiar height. Seems the crab passed this way a few moments ago and left it's mark.
Ian made a right, he was headed for the Bigby's Grocery outlet's distribution center. It soon became clear however that from the noise of the engine and the state of disrepair it was in that he wouldn't make it far. So, in the middle of the intersection he shut down his car and took cover in the entrance of a near by building.
Anastasia's brows furrowed at the sound of gunfire, simply keeping to herself unless otherwise called for. She assumed that if she was needed they'd call for her...
... The sounds of combat went on though, getting more extreme. More soldiers were brought in wounded. Anastasia stayed where she was; the medics had a procedure and, if they were anything like her, the offers of help would just be considered a distraction from efficiency. What in particular caught her attention was a bitten man, part of David's unit, being sent back out...
Another concern were the men who still hadn't left the bathrooms. Any unattended or unaccounted for individuals were the most likely to turn into liabilities, and she was already picturing infected bursting through the bathroom windows and charging through the hall. She reached into her coat and activated one of the canisters she'd brought with her, smiling to herself as its contents crawled out and slipped out of her sleeve as she passed the bathroom on her way to David. Pulling out her PDA and looking at the live feed from her drone absentmindedly, like someone checking their text messages, she tapped David on the shoulder and indicated that he step aside a moment.
"Are you sure that's wise?" She asked quietly, glancing in the direction Mike had gone in. "That man could infect others when he goes. Is it really a good idea to send him off to do what he was doing? I know, I know," She raised her hands quickly, "He's one of you, and it's heartless and all that, but he could get people killed if everyone isn't COMPLETELY at ready when he turns. I'm just concerned about safety."
Pretending for the moment to have not read the orders, which both Rebeka and Erik knew he did, the fox gestured to the Strykers, "Erik, I might be a non-line flag officer, but I do know that Blackhawks have rotors and fly... this has wheels, a turret, and drives. I distinctly remember asking for helios."
Rebeka immediately gestured to the folder she held for Bryan, showing her business demeanor and completely missing the tone of his mirth, "sir, the orders state we will be accompanying the convoy to observe and collect data. Especially on this new type."
The fox chuckled and shook his head, "yes major I know, I was just trying to keep in good spirits over this. Let's get to it then."
Bryan and Rebeka both entered the lead Stryker and secured themselves as a corporal secured their gear.
Charlie grinned at the SF's predicament.. "Enjoy karma, ya dip$^&#." He muttered as they made their way out the exit.
Upon finding his vehicle, Charlie seemed a little more than perturbed at the superficial damage to his vehicle. "My TRUCK!" He wailed, eyeballing the distinctive calling card of the giant crab. "How in hells am I gonna weld that closed!?" He grumbled, before finally heading around to the back, and opening the tool-box.. which turned out to be more ammo-box than anything.
"Blast it!" Charlie complained a moment later, turning to Saleen. "Best I've got is a single cylinder of slugs for the magnum, a handful for the shotty, or maybe a mag worth of armor rounds for one of their M6s! That ain't enough to take out a tank straight from the ocean of horrors!!" He said, and went back to digging in the box. "Well, there are these.." He said, withdrawing a pair of pipebombs.. "But I'll be damned if anyone wants to get THAT close to that crustacious freak.. But we can't just let it go rampaging about my hospital! What should we do??" He asked Saleen..
"Ma'am with all due respect, unless you can cure him or tell me he's not a threat to us. I suggest you shut the hell up!" Dave suddenly snapped at Ana, it seemed that the stress of the day had caught up with the normally rock solid SWAT member. His shoulders and head slumped for a moment before looking back up at her. "I'm sorry Ma'am you didn't deserve that."
"Look I'm not going to kill one of my own teammates out of hand just because you say this thing is 100% infectious, besides its his own choice."
...............................................................
Mike had wandered over to the managers office where several phones and a sat phone the team had brought as a backup to the radio. After Spending twenty minutes calming and reassuring his pregnant wife, he was glad that she was away in Miami with her folks.
Finally after they had said their goodbyes he went and spoke to the team members one by one, telling each to look after themselves, and if they saw him once he turned to make sure they didn't miss.
"Suggestion noted," Anastasia replied dryly. The look in her eye wasn't unfamiliar to David. It reminded him of a mechanic dealing with a malfunctioning machine, a mixture of frustration and curiosity and mental cogs clicking away...
Damn, I'm gonna have to do something...
"Look..." Anastasia sighed, looked back and forth once and leaned in. "I can check. For certain. A few vials I swiped from the lab- Don't look shocked. I've only got ten unless I find a way to mix up more, and seeing as that's pretty damn unlikely we can't use them on everyone who gets bitten. I don't want this information getting around. I can check him... But in general, you can't risk everyone out of sentimentality." She glared up at him, her low whisper taking on the tones of one who is certain that they are irrefutably right. "You've SEEN what these things can do in a small room. You have LIVES resting on your decisions. You can't just rescue all your buddies... I'm willing to check your friend for certain, but in return I expect to be kept filled in on what's going on around here. All of it. Evac plans, sightings of hordes, liklihoods of survival, all of it. We got a deal?"
Big Box Mart
Niki led the trio when neither of them seemed willing to lead the way, she kept trying to get Mr. Ayers to lead that way, as, his flamethrower was a bit of a hazzard. However, he gentle prodding stopped when a small group of people could be seen moving several blocks down. Niki ducked behind a car and motioned for the others to follow suit. Gesturing towards the crowd she mouthed, 'GET YOUR HEAD'S DOWN' without saying a word.
********************
Rally Point
Lt. Knighthaven smirked, at his charge's quip. "we've got solid armor and the better part of an armored cavalry battalion watching our back, sir. We're making 2 stops to deploy units at Lacaosta Stadium and Alucar station. In 8 hours we've got a trainload of armored vehicles, including 20 M1A3s coming in for further reinforcements. Once these stop and drops are complete, we're heading straight for St. Mercy. I've got digital video of whatever that thing was, it'll be streaming into your display momentarily sir. Last update puts it in the south wing of the hospital."
Within 30 seconds, the video feeds were spliced together to give a comprehensive time line of the monster's moments.
********************
Richard M. Beleville Middle School
(here ya go Silentassassin)
Xander was just getting out of school. There was a mad rush as the bell rang and students made their way for the Bus. Whether he'd actually learned anything was questionable. His bus was running slightly behind, and the ride home started getting tedious. Suddenly, the dull boredom literally ended with a *BANG* as someone slammed into the side of the bus. A howl could be heard, and 2 people started trying to climb through the opened windows the kids had been using for ventilation moments earlier. Children squealed in fear as the smell of blood suddenly ran through the bus. One of the people, a badger by the look of him, had his head all the way in the window.
The driver floored the bus, turning her head at just the wrong time. An RV slammed head on into the bus, throwing the entire bus into a painfully abrupt stop. Xander was 2 blocks from home, but, first things first, he had to get off the bus first.
********************
Storefront
From his position, the area seemed clear. A gun store was a few blocks away, just beyond steel bars, rows of hunting rifles could be seen. The place seemed to not have been looted yet. Further down, a pet store seemed to offer a good location to hide out, and across the street from the pet store, and apartment building stood with it's front door invitingly open.
********************
Supermarket
(Ana)
In her screen, the little drone skittered about, first around the sinks, then under stalls... suddenly it seemed to quiver for a moment, it lost traction for a moment, then managed to regain it's balance after a few seconds of adjustment. It looked down down and the screen turned from a slightly bluish white, to a bright crimson. It followed the pool to a very pale man, who, judging by the image, had been dead for about 15 minutes, next to him, a man crouched and looked back at the drone. He tilted his head as if he understood, the headed for the sink. He cleaned his hands off, took off his bloodstained sweatshirt, to reveal a completely clean T-shirt underneath. He nonchalantly left the bathroom after one more quick inspection, then went to rejoin the others.
(Rebecca)
A female officer sat down next to Rebecca, not human but she couldn't tell what until the officer pulled her mask and helmet off. The vixen's pure white fur, and dark blue eyes were an interesting feature, her short cropped blond hair gave her an almost angelic appearance. She smiled as she leaned her scoped rifle against one of the shelves. "You look like you could use some company, and I'll be honest, you didn't look so hot when you first showed up, and you're still looking pretty down." She put her hand on Rebecca's shoulder reassuringly, "I'm Lisa by the way, is there Anything you feel like talking about?"
(David)
As Mike said his goodbyes and disappeared, Ana approached... it seemed she had something to say.
********************
Outside Hospital
Saleen looked wide eyed as Charlie mentioned the possibility of going "hunting" for Pyramid Crab. "Are you FUCKING INSANE?! it killed 10 soldiers right in front of you and you want to go CHASING IT?! Bullets didn't do anything to that thing, lets get the hell out of here before that thing decides to follow US."
********************
Checkpoint
After a quick once-over, some questions and an obnoxiously thorough search of his car, Joe found himself across the bridge and on his way home. His wife was waiting inside, with a bright smile and a "Well, you're home early, Dear."
It looked like she had dinner about halfway finished for the evening, and his son should be arriving home from school rather shortly.
Eyes opening in a dazed state Xander stared faceful of leather apolstry was what Xander saw. He felt like sitting there for a while and getting better aquainted with the pain he was feeling, but he instead had focus on the blood curtling scream as a young 6th grade girl was having her cheek ripped off by bloodied half-a-badger barely hanging through the window. Wait..back up badger eating a girl when half of the person was already ripped off? This crap didn't happen not in real life it happened in the movies..the zombie movies. "Damnit, don't tell me the punks at 42san weren't just pranking about this being the zombie apocalypse," muttered Xander under his breath. His little monolauge was interupted by more screams moans and the bus driver fumbling with an item a pistol by the looks of it. The overwieght elderly man managed to get the safety off and pop a few rounds with his arm out the window as the badger slid out the window taking the head of the 6th grader with him.
The driver then proceeded to open the door of the bus trying to lunge his bleeding head through the doorway as another of these apparent zombies according to the bowels of the internet grabbed him and dragged him outside. Serves the selfish bastard, thought xander as he saw the pistol slide down a few seats near him now identifing it as a classic 9mm. He grabbed the weapon and opened his window as he saw two of the zombies devouring the driver. He aimed the gun and flinched for a moment then fired making his mind understand these things weren't human.
Rebecca gave the vixen a friendly smile, silently cursing herself for not having put on a better front. She wasn't too great at talking about her emotions.. and felt awkward when others could tell what she was feeling.
"Nice to meet you, Lisa. I'm Rebecca... and thanks.. I guess I could use some company." She took a deep breath and walled up her emotions in a safe place where she could deal with them later. "Basically my husband turned into one of those monsters and I saw half of him fly out of a 4th story window... just a while ago." She scratched the back of her head and looked away. "It's ok though.. he's gone and in a better place and all that, nothing too big." Her teeth pressed into her bottom lip for a moment but then she relaxed, the flood gates not breaking quite yet.
She looked back to Lisa. "So.. do you know what's going on at all?"
Ian hugged the buildings watching the windows just as close as the street. Finally he came upon the gun store. "Good i can stock up on ammo here." he thought.
He opened the door a crack and noted the bell as it lay half cocked ontop of the door. He grabbed the bell and slowly opened the door the rest of the way. Quicker than lightning he has his pistol out and was sweeping the store with his gaze. It all seemed clear. Looking over to a display case he saw a pistol to match his, he had to have it. After searching the counter for the keys to the case he gave up and busted the glass.
His old pistol still pointing into the room he started to rummage for the type of ammo his guns took.
Supermarket
(David)
While Mike headed out, something caught Davids eye, it almost looked like a section of the wall moved. 3rd story of the building across the street. As David tried to refocus, he could clearly see the tip of a tail flick out from over the edge before whatever it was completely disappeared from his field of vision.
He could hear a heavy diesel engine rev somewhere in the distance.
(Rebecca)
Lisa smiled politely, "All i know is that there's a quarantine on the city. There's something nasty spreading about, and no ones talking about where it came from... Unofficially, from what i've gotten my new... err... friend... to tell me."
She paused, seemingly embarrassed about something... the look became obvious when a man (human) leaned over her shoulder and grinned, "Yes, Lis, tell us all about this slick new El Tee you bagged that we're all hearing about..."
A faint pink glow could be seen under Lisa's fur, "Damn-it Steve, do you always have to do THAT..." turning her attention back to Rebecca, "Don't mind him, he's just an ass... As i was trying to say, from what i've heard, unofficially, mind you, is that it's a virus, and it's transferred via saliva... means they gotta bite you for you to get whatever it is..."
She smiled a bit more deviously as she reached into her bag and produced a handgun. "Ever fired one of these before, Rebecca?"
********************
Bus
The bullet was rather poorly aimed, most likely due to a combination of Xander's fear, combine with his inexperience with the cheap and clumsy weapon... what he'd initially thought was standard issue Beretta turned out to be a heavier, and rather unbalanced knock-off... probably made in China. Panic rose to riotous levels as children flooded towards any and every exit available... Soon Xander found himself being pushed towards the rear fire escape. He was only a few blocks from home, and here he thought today was going to be boring...
He was in the middle of a suburb, to the left side of the road were several unfenced yards, as well as to the right. The majority of the homes had gardens and other, stereotypical suburbia-americana... including a rather awkward looking garden gnome.
David quickly put a hand to his radio microphone "All units! One of those mutant things that got Magic and Hammer just slithered on top of North one Orange side 3rd floor, keep an eye out its damn hard to spot..." He said over the Tac-net.
Pulling his M14 up he slid the slid back to make sure a round was chambered and then brought it up to his shoulder using the scope to search the roof line of the building.
"Now right or left," pondered Xander to himself. Xander taking a quick pause to think his options was interupted by a scream of multiple school children to his right......left it is, thought Xander.
Quickly sprinting into the nearest house. He moved through the garden too fast and slipped into the mud. Cursing his luck he began to get up as one of the infected broke away from the group of screaming children and began to approach him. Pulling his arm out the muck he grabbed a nearby gnome and threw it missing the infectedby a good bit. As it smashed into many little terracotta clay pieces the others still busying themselves with some of the slower school children focused on him. "'One more day of school won't hurt son,' Damnit dad," cursed Xander as he began to run through the rest of the garden.
Joe hardly gave his wife enough time to speak before he rushed up and gripped her by the shoulders. "Barbara, we need to leave as soon as Junior gets here. Get the suitcases from the garage and pack your clothes while I get the camping supplies." And it was such a shame, too: a beautiful dinner in the oven, all ruined because of a lousy zombie outbreak. Thankfully, like any good, white, upper-middle class suburbanite, Joe had been planning for an eventual social upheaval by the lower-classes and prepared accordingly.
A first-aid kit, little gas stove, dehydrated meals, water purification tablets, sewing kit, sleeping bags, water pump, and all of the other situational outdoors crap you buy from REI went straight into the back of his SUV. And the shotgun, never forget the shotgun, as much as you always told yourself "I sure hope I never have to use this." God, I really hoped I'd never have to use this... damnit, and what if the schoolbuses aren't running on time? What if those undead bastards-- No. He just couldn't think like that. Besides, the zombies couldn't have gotten as far as the schools, could they?
"El-Tee..." Rebecca muttered to herself, wondering about it and the embarrassment it was linked to. That sort of thing always perked up her ears but that disappeared when Lisa brought out her handgun.
"OOO!! I admit I've only shot one a few times with my Father-in-law.. they seem to be pretty neat. Why.. are you.. thinking about target practice? I have one in my bag!"
And probably for the first time Rebecca smiled, a bit mischievously.
Secure in the stryker, Bryan reviewed the video information presented to him. "It seems this thing is pretty well armored, anything less then 5.56 or 7.62 is probably ineffective. It will probably take at least a .338 lapua round to have penetration and stopping power. Won't know until we see one, but I have a feeling we are going to regret trying to hunt these things without gunships."
Stealing a glance at Major Winters he called out to the lieutenant, "alright, let's get moving Knighthaven."
Anastasia looked down at her PDA and swore. "Wait, nevermind, we have bigger fish to-"
Annnnnd he was already gone. Barking orders about mutants on the roof. That was five types of worrisome, but that thing was out there causing infections as they spoke. She looked around, tapped the nearest soldier on the shoulder and held up the screen, displaying the body in the bathroom that the drone had found.
"We've got a situation here."
She quickly tapped out a few demands to have the drone follow the man in the t-shirt. This was NOT going to be tolerated where she was hiding.
Gun Store
With a pair of pistol, it could be reasonably assumed he was feeling a bit like some badass action hero. His look around the store revealed very little, it was mostly open space with racks of hunting rifles, shotguns, and boxes upon boxes of ammo. On the floor by the .45 cal slugs, a little flake of something was sitting on the lower shelf, upon closer inspection is appeared to be the last digit (As in, from the fingernail and tip, to the first knuckle) of a human hand. Flecks of blood and cloth could be seen in all places around the store. All of them small and nearly insubstantial.
Suddenly, a sound that was eerily like a throaty roar came from the back room. The floorboards creaked and the guttural noise sounded again.
********************
Suburbia (Someone's back yard)
Xander's dash managed to draw the attention of the owner of the house, an elderly looking rat who managed to shake his cane and scream, "GE' OFF MY LAWN... Ya' lousy ki...." he was cut off as the infected turned towards the source of this "strange noise" (to the infected at least) and the two just stared eachother in the eyes for a moment, before the man took off. Xander managed to get through the garden and find some cover through a row of trees. The rat's screaming of agony echoing behind him.
********************
Supermarket (Rebecca)
Lisa's grin grew more devious at the mentioning of a weapon's knowledge. She flipped the weapon around, holding the barrel and handing Rebecca the grip. She smiled as she said, "I'm not sure what you're using but this is my backup, it's standard .45, and even if you don't kill someone, or thing... at the very least, you'll knock em over." Pausing, she looked over at the collection of looted weapons from the sporting goods store, she smirked, "You want a shotgun or a rif..."
The vixen suddenly froze as she pressed her finger up to her ear pieces, "FFFF.... I'll be back in a bit, we've got a bit of a situation..."
Lisa absentmindedly leaned an M16 style rifle by Rebecca, grabbed her own weapon and made her way for the front of the store. Other soldiers seemed to be heading that way as well.
********************
Supermarket Front (Dave)
Through his scope, David could clearly make out signs of claw marks. Whatever it was, it was sufficiently heavy to gouge the solid brick facade of the building across the street, and more worrisome than that, was the fact that it had the brute strength to do it, and it's claws could hold up to such punishment. The beast itself, however, was nowhere to be found. A scan over the building would reveal signs of the thing's movement, but the beast itself was either inside, or had moved on to find less protected prey.
********************
Suburban Home (Joe)
Barbra looked visibly shaken by the words coming from her husband. The yoga instructor started to do as she was told, bringing the suitcases inside. When Joe appeared with the shotgun, she seemed to tense up even more. She said in as sweet a voice as she could muster, "Joe, Dear, what the hell is this all about? You're getting me really worked up... Can you take five minutes to talk about it?"
********************
Convoy
Smiling sheepishly, Major Winter's caught the glance while making a note in file. Lt. Knighthaven Nodded, and, as if on cue, the sound of diesel engines, gas turbines, churning treads and the soft hum of their own vehicle could be heard, all seeming to rev in near unison as the convoy headed out. Knighthaven was carrying Bryan's rifle, and he loaded a fresh magazine into the weapon before handing it over. The spotted feline looked up with a rather serious expression, "I watched the feed sir, standard rounds barely dented that thing. I manged to secure several magazines of AP rounds which are being passed around your protection detail. We've got 1 mag apiece, including your own weapon, if we have to go in on foot, you stay behind me, and in front of Jackson at all times."
He paused as the expression shifted slightly, along with his tone, "I understand this sounds like rather demanding orders coming from someone under you, on your staff. My job is to keep you safe, and this is probably the only way how."
The trip to the train station seemed rather uneventful, only twice did any of the weapons fire, and both times it was from the Abrams and Stryker at the head of the convoy, over a dozen vehicles ahead. As the engine sounds died down, Knighthaven's radio clicked, he asked for confirmation then passed the mic on to Bryan, "uh, General, we've got something you should see here..."
Outside the vehicle, the train station was ahead, however, at 90 degrees to the convoy, what appeared to be a trail of some sort of biological slime, slightly under 3 feet wide appeared to be heading along the train tracks.
********************
Supermarket (Ana)
The soldier she'd tried to recruit had started to pay attention when he reached up and held his own headset. Looking at the rabbit, he said, "whatever it is, I'm sure it's important, but I've got to run, now..." and with that, the masked soldier bolted towards the front door without a second thought.
Salem came over, seeing that she'd returned from what was supposed to be a quick chat with the CO. He saw the look of concern on her face and brought his weapon up into his arms, rather than letting it hang loosely by the harness straps. "Alright, what's up?" he said while trying to look over her shoulder.
The man in the T-shirt rather nonchalantly began sparking up a conversation with one of the other refugees, having not a clue he was being tailed by the little drone.
Ian knew what that sound ment. Ian moved up to the back room, he took a moment to calm himself before kicking in th door and opening fire.
"Goddamn I'm sick of this shit...." Dave muttered under his breath as he brought the rifle down from his shoulder. "All units stand down but stay alert, these things can move, are bloody hard to spot and can climb so watch the walls..." the Sniper said into the radio link.
"Anyone seen the doctor? She was after me a minute ago."
Rebecca took the grip of the .45 with wide eyes and open mouth. "Wow.. uhh, thanks!" Before she could properly show appreciation Lisa was called off.. but not before leaving a nice M16 in her place. Rebecca took that and cradled it in her lap, looking it over carefully and happy to have a new play thing.
Charlie cursed quietly, and nodded.. "I just hope the folks have the sense to get the hell out of there what with this crab going crazy." He said, jumping in the driver's seat, and growled softly.. "But NOW where? I hadn't anticipated sea food coming and ripping my hospital apart.." He said, and leaned over to turn his radio on, shifting through the frequencies...
Supermarket (Rebecca)
From her vantage point, Rebecca could see Lisa and several other soldiers start to head back to where they were a few moments before, looking tense and almost jittery. She could see a black-clad feline talking to a rabbit about something, and the various members of the refugees who were hiding seemed to gather around.
A young man in a t-shirt approached her. Rather nonchalantly, and asked, "Have you thought about what you're going to do once -this" He raises his arms and spins in a slow circle, "is all over?"
********************
Supermarket (Dave)
"Roger, Sir" the team said in almost unison, those who were on active duty continued to scan, reporting all clear. Those who were off duty continued with their banter. Outside the diesel engines grew louder, and a voice came over the comms. "4th and 63rd street outpost, this is forward scout team Epsilon, Delta Six-One-Niner, we've got 2 humvees and 8 rangers to provide support, drone recon has picked up a large mob headed your way, recommending you further fortify your position once reinforcements arrive, do you copy? over."
********************
Hospital (out front) (Charlie)
While shifting through the various channels, most all the raccoon would find was grim news from police or horrible under-reporting from the news... or people reporting their locations... things seemed completely at odds from what he was hearing. Something caught his attention however, at an appartment complex near by, a man was reporting that he and his daughters we trapped in their building and that 2 or 3 of these things were trying to get in... it was maybe a 5 minute drive. Another transmission was a woman reporting that she was hiding in the back of a tractor trailer, also a few minutes away, and needed help. Gunshots could be heard from a 3rd direction, along with distant howls and screams. (East is the man and daughters, South is the truck, West is gunshots)
********************
Gun Store
(I regret to inform you of this, but you're the first victim of 1 on my D20 Marcone, your situation is survivable, but watch that ankle... you should be getting help soon)
Ian's plan would have worked to perfection if not for 1 thing. The door he was trying to kick in, swung outward. With a bone shattering crunch Ian's foot slammed into the solid surface, seemed he'd injured his ankle. It was unclear if it was just a sprain, or a full blown fracture. Either way, Ian's ankle was sending shock waves of pain down his whole leg. The gunshot, meant to be a zombie killer, slammed into the door, shattering the lock, and causing the beast inside to lunge.
The door was an old, solid oak door. It swung open and threw Ian a good 5 feet back. Which was lucky, for if he'd be in line with the door, he'd have been in the gaping maw of the half-gator/half-gorilla looking thing that had surged forward. It had the head, teeth, mouth, and scales of an alligator, but it's body resembled something of a gorrila, it's obscenely huge biceps, and large arms in general. The gator beast had short, squat, legs, and a longish tail, adorn with bony barbs near the end. It's distinctly reptilian eyes scanned the room as it let out another deep, guttural roar. It didn't seem to notice Ian yet, as it started moving towards the front entrance of the store.
As he walked back towards the supermarket David replied to the incoming message, "Delta six, this is Blue one six, copy all. Be aware that we have a unusual mutation in the area, highly mobile with innate camouflage ability. Over."
As he entered the supermarket he looked around for Ana, and once spotting her made his way over.
OScar followed close behind Niki, trying to pay as close attention toe surroundings as posiible. His encou nter with the maniac had left him...jumpy, for the lack of a better word.
As if to try and (Possibly futiliy) ease his nerves, oscar tried striking up a conversation with Niki."So...uh...nice weather we're having...isn't it...?"Oscar whispered in a low voice.
Rebecca stood and blinked at the stranger. He seemed somewhat odd.. and he better as hell not be hitting on her.
"Considering it does end and we're still alive.. I'm not sure..I guess continue to be a CENA.." She didn't exactly want to get all emo talking about her dead husband.. maybe make him a proper gravestone to mark an empty buried box. Sure, that's great for conversation.
She looked him over some. "What about you? And.." She looked behind him to the crowd gathering. ".. do you know what's happening over there? Hell, let's just talk on the way." She started walking towards the crowd, inviting the guy to walk and talk with her.
Ian felt his ankle crackle as he was blown back, luckily for him when he responded to the pain all he did was a sharp inhalation sounding something like a frog dieing quietly. The massive figure didn't notice. Ian lay on the ground looking up in disbelif. It was huge, ugly and oddly impressive, but it needed to die. Ian proped himself up on the counter and took careful aim at what appeared to be the back of it's head, let out five shots, then dropped back down. he knew it could'nt end well, but he had to try. If that thing was able to live, he figured no other living person would have the chance to kill it.
Anastasia grumbled and showed Salem the PDA.
"Do me a favor and let someone know your buddy there just ignored a security violation. This man just killed someone in the bathrooms." She pointed to the man in the t-shirt, talking to someone else. "You can check the bathrooms for the bodies. He was eating them, so I assume he's infected and those will need cleaning up. Then have someone capture him." An idea occurred to Anastasia. "Alive, if possible. If we can keep one of these things captive and get a look at how they change, that may give us a way of picking out who that's going to happen to easier." She had her vials, yes, but didn't want to waste them. And apart from that, the creatures did fascinate her. If she could find some way of rendering them more docile...
Supermarket
The man Rebecca was talking with never saw what happened, one moment they were walking. The next moment, he was face down on the floor. A feline of some type was standing over him. For those who'd watched what was happening, Salem had walked behind the man silently. He gripped the human from the back of the hair, and kicked out his knees. After knocking him to his knees, a quick swipe-kick at his chest had folded him over.
Salem was on top of the man in a flash, with zip-ties around both his wrists and ankles in a heart-beat.
David may or may not have caught the action, a simple, "Acknowledge, on our way. Over and Out." Was what was crackled over the radio. The sounds of thumping rotor blades could be heard as the first of several CH-47 Chinooks made their way to their towards their respective drop-off points.
His radio crackled again "Dave, it's Mike... i've got a new toy for you, and approaching from the south-east... keep me covered. Ask the doc if it's a sign of the infection... but i feel fine... shoulder isn't even bugging me."
********************
Street
Nikki watched the sun, looked at the Doctor and the Oscar. She whispered back, "The weather is fine... if it weren't for those things about... We should probably find somewhere to hide out... we've got a few options... would you prefer an office or apartment building? They both have pros and cons, and i'd rather not lead somewhere without getting your opinions."
********************
Gun Store
Ian's shots impeded themselves in the alligator-beast. It looked pissed as it snarled and snapped, trying to find the source of it's sudden pain. It's tail knocked a display case over, on top of Ian. It covered him as the thing smashed the door behind it. It thrashed about, smashing more cases and the front door window as it seemed to shrug off the .45 bullets as if they were flies or some other mild annoyance.
He could hear several diesel engines not too far away, and they seemed to be getting louder.
********************
Auto-shop (Alrighty Squirrel Wizard, here ya go)
As Tanya looked out the heavy door's window, a large convoy of military vehicles came whipping by the auto-shop. They headed north, towards the train station, and seemed to ignore her altogether. She could try and follow, she could head the way they came, or she could hold-out. Whatever she choose to do, her garage seemed safe for the time being, with no sign of infection, and no sign of looters.
Supermarket
"Mike, standby..." David thought for a few seconds "Ok, Mike the outer containment area is clear and unlocked, when you get here go inside and secure it I'll talk to the HVB."
He was just about to tap Ana on the shoulder when Salem made his move. As Salem slammed the man to the ground David had let his rifle hang and had pulled one of his pistols, aimed and cocked in one action at the suspect's head.
"Talk to me Salem." He said with a great degree of trust."
Supermarket
Salem's face was hidden by the kevlar-nylon weave mask he'd donned, but his voice was flat and level. "This fucker is one of them, there's a body in the men's room to prove it. Ana told me she wanted this partial infected alive for observation, so that's what i'm going to do... It'd probably be a good idea to gag him while we're at it... you got anything we can use so he can't bite someone?"
Mike approached and entered without incident. His assault rifle slung across his chest, a large box of massive shells partially exposed sticking out the back of his pack, and a truly massive rifle bag across his back. The bag appeared a little more than 5 feet long, and it was clear that the bag was stuffed with whatever was inside. He waited in the outer area, between the chain-link fence and the building. He waited impassively as he took up watch with the others. From inside, one could see him, and he looked just fine...
Luckily the take-down occurred right next to the hardware supplies had been moved to make space. Spying a roll of duct tape, David grabbed it and secured the man's hands further then paused. "Salem good buddy, I've only got my shooters gloves...You've got those Kevlar fantastics, you mind gagging him?"
Goldson's Autoshop
Tanya watched the armored convoy disappear down the road, her street senses were tingling. Most people would scoff at her, but you learned to trust your instincts when you were on the street. Especially when it came to the authorities. Something felt off, as if it wasn't right; and had been for a while. She glanced around the shop; no cars had been brought in in a while, likely due to the riots, and the tow truck was missing. She walked over to the job board and saw her father's scrawl showing that he had taken the truck out to some suburb place to haul someones clunker in.
She glanced around apprehensively; he had gone out a couple of hours ago, even if there had been trouble with traffic or securing the car, he should have been back by now. This coupled with what had seen outside of the shop concerned her. Now, an intelligent person might try to follow the military convoy showing off their eagerness to get themselves shot. Tanya's gut told her something different. First, the military had been called in; meaning whatever was happening was beyond the control of the cops. Second, either the convoy was running from something, or rushing to get after something else; neither of which would bode well for interlopers. She shook her head; none of this made sense.
Tanya flipped open her cellphone and tried to get into contact with Shawn, a rat of a dubious character and also the local ear with the city. She hadn't heard from him since about a week ago, and the fact that his phone went immediately to voice mail wasn't a surprise, but no less disturbing. She then tried her father's number, the phone rang once and she didn't wait for the automatic message to tell her that the phone wasn't on. Her father was resistant to technology, so the chances are he didn't charge it.
Quickly she pulled over a sheet of paper and put down a message stating that she was leaving; that she was heading towards the address her father had down as his destination. She posted it onto the bulletin board in case her father got back and didn't find her there. She then started gathering some stuff together. She grabbed her backpack and went to the back and fished out a small box from behind a barrel. It was a dirty looking tin that at one point may have held cookies, but after prying off the lid it revealed two hand guns and some extra ammunition. This was her security, a .22 pistol, and a .38 special. Neither fired, but each more than enough to dissuade someone should the need arise. Her mind was working at a feverish pace, and she went over to Riley's station, and looked under the counter. Riley was a booze hound of a human, and though he was sober most of the time he had a tendency to bring his drink with him, he was probably off in some bar drunk off his ass right now. She got three empty bottles and filled them from a nearby gas can, and plugged them with some oily rags from their trash bin. All together this yielded three crude fire bombs; because if the police and military had their hands full, then she just might need an ace up her sleeve should she run into an angry mob of... whatever. When she was done she washed off her hands, and locked up the store, and made her way to the back door, outside which was her father's pickup truck. If the fates smiled down on her, her father was alright but, if not, then... she really didn't know what could happen.
"Honey, it--" Boy, what was a good example to use here... "It's like those stupid games Junior and his friends play. The ones with the-- the zombies and shooting and flipping over cars." Joe carefully pushed her aside and picked up another small suitcase, wedging it between the camping stove and sleeping bags. With all the crap he was packing, his SUV had barely enough room for himself, the missus, and good ol' Junior. "The entire club was swarming with these rotting kids, and I-I-I--" Just the thought of those little undead bastards made his heart skip three beats; they could've very well come from the same school.
"We need to get Junior. If he doesn't show up in the next..." He glanced at his watch. "He's usually home by now, isn't he? Stay here, I'll do a few passes around the school. If we're not back in half an hour, take the other car and get out of town. All right?"
When he was certin the monster had left, Ian started trying to free himself of the debris. A shove here, a wiggle there and a knee for leverage, Ian emploied every method of contortion he could to get out. Luckily for him he was a rat and being such he is able to fit into tighter places than normal folk.
Anastasia strolled up to Salem, David and the infected. clapping slowly. "Well done, gentlemen, bra-vo." There was a slight purr to her voice. She loved it when a plan came together. A small creature that looked like a three-fingered hand, with two small eyes, scuttled unnoticed by passerby and disappeared under the edge of her lab coat. She hoped nobody had gotten too close a look, anyway; the place was surrounded by mutant horrors, the little fingery things would probably get her the WRONG sort of attention by the civilians...
"When one of you gets the chance, see if you can get his wallet. I want a name and profession, get a baseline on anything that may influence his decomposition. Medical info, work conditions..."
Supermarket
Salem took a bow as he finished subduing the partially infected. For his own little sarcastic sense of humor he added a duct-tape bow on the man's head after planting a few strips across his mouth to prevent him from attempting bit anyone else... He snickered at the silver tassels, and couldn't help but hear snickers from the others... the soldiers who spied it could tell that the man clearly could not remove it.
"Ya know, Dave, you should invest in these... Carbon fiber knuckle-guards, and the nylon-kevlar mix really doesn't seem to weigh enough to effect accuracy..."
The feline couldn't help but snicker as his hand went back to resting on the stock of his weapon, habits are habits, and even in the most relaxed setting in this particular city, he couldn't help but think he was still in a combat zone.
A civilian, human male, maybe 24, with short-cropped brown hair looked over from Ana to the man on the floor, to the soldiers, looking back to the rabbit then back at Salem. "What the fuck is going on here? Why'd you just bash Steve's head in like that, then truss him up like he was a christmas present?!"
The other civilians were also on edge, but none seemed as openly defiant.
Lisa came back to Rebecca's side, staying quiet as she watched the general going ons of the action.
********************
Gun Store
Ian could feel the shelf move, ever so slowly. Shells of all caliber littered about on the floor around him, making metallic clatterings as they bumped into shelves, buckles, and just generally rolled across the floor. The gator seemed to be gone... the distant scream of someone else serving to amplify that point. With his ammunition collected, Ian had a few minutes to collect himself and decide where to go next. The streets eerily calm compared to the horror he'd faced but a few moments before.
********************
Joe's Suburban Home
Barbra nodded in agreement, giving Joe a meek smile as she said, "Alright, and be careful hun. Also make sure your phone is on... if he's home before you, there's no point being out looking and i'll give you a call..."
She seemed rather shaken by the news, as she headed back into the kitchen.
********************
Inner City Roads
The gas station had seemed safe, in fact, it had seemed completely deserted. The shrieking howls in the distance were inhuman... in fact, they were like nothing Tanya had ever heard before in her life... It sound more like rending, tearing metal, then it did the throaty noise of some living thing. The squealing shriek continued, there was something heading down the road. It was small and fast... getting closer. From her vantage point, she could make out the long claws on it's hands. The sinuous form of whatever it was seemed almost canine, given the longish muzzle.
It moved more like a feral rabbit than it did a civilized person. Bounding on hands in feet in powerful lunges, carrying it 15 feet at a time. Whatever it was, Tanya had but a few seconds to do whatever it was she wanted to.
As Ian tested his ankle he felt for the baseball bad he had managed to strap to his back. "Yup still there..." he said with a nod of confirmation. Just before he left he managed to scrounge up two holsters for his guns and strap them on, but then he remembered... hand guns are well and good but he'd need a rifle. He selected a scoped Ruger Mini-14 with a strap. He slung it around his back and left in the direction of the engines while being careful not to walk to hard on his injured ankle.
Supermarket
Dave lowered the hammer on the .45 and holstered it, then relaxed a bit more before answering Salem. "It's more about being able to read the pressure on the trigger Sally...."
The SWAT Sargent was about to rib his friend some more when the other man spoke up.
"I hate to tell you this Sir but, your friend is infected and a danger to us all." Dave settled into a more intimidating stance "Did you see him get bitten or spat on? Hell have YOU been bitten or in contact with bodily fluids?" His voice hadn't been raised but was far more unsettling.
"Shit!" Tanya saw the... whatever... sprinting towards her and dashed towards the pickup truck. Whatever it was, it seemed to have a disposition as ugly as it looked. She reached the door of truck with her keys in hand and threw open the door. In a fluid movement she jumped into the cab, and threw her bag into the passenger side seat. It was only then she hesitated a glance back at the creature coming after her. It had almost reached the truck when she jammed the key into the trucks ignition and cranked it. The vehicle roared to life as she tried to speed away.
Hell, in a battle vs a car and a dog, her odds fare better with being in the car.
Rebecca was so stunned at the sudden take-down/close call that she just stood there, silent, for a good long while. Everything that was happening was making her jittery.. that was one thing she didn't like.
Then, she noticed Lisa was next to her - a welcomed presence for sure. First her husband.. then this random guy that decided to start to talk to her.. who next?? Was she just starting to become a zombie magnet?? Hell... need bait? Here she is!
"So.. how's it going?" Oh please let some news be good.
(OOC note: to synchronize everyone as to the same approximate time, i'm fast forwarding everyone who is stalled to about 3:30 PM, giving you about 3-3:30 hours left of sunlight those of you who've been posting, well, that should help clarify)
Outside the Gas Station
The dog thing continued to bound after the car... very narrowly missing the right-fender as the truck leaped to life and surged forward. Her planned route, however, seemed a no-go, as the stopped cars about a half-mile into her trip created an impassible roadblock at a major intersection. Tanya had a few options, turn around, try and navigate on foot, or seek an alternate path to the bridge. Whatever she choose to do, noon had come and gone, and no one wanted to be caught out alone at night.
********************
Gun Store
Ian's hunting of the diesel engines led him to a busy intersection between him and his target. Stopped cars creating a brutal steel maze, full of shade, hidden points of view, and false movements from the reflected light. Down the street a lone person was moving towards the cars, too far too make out much else about him. Judging by his movements, Ian could tell he had a bit of a limp, and appeared to be trying to maintain a constant pace despite the injuries. His own ankle was more an annoyance than a real hindrance, protesting it's use with mild, and currently ignorable, but ever-present waves of pain.
********************
Supermarket
The man confronting David immediately backed off at the accusation sputtering off incoherent babble that may have been a defense, or may have been a nervous breakdown... Something about his buddy having a girlfriend acting weird, and he left. That was about the only full thoughts the sergeant could make out of the several minute without a breath monologue the man gave. Luckily his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a heavy machine gun going off not too far away. The deep resonant echo of the shells being expelled crackled through the store. Then abruptly stopped. The diesel engines were getting closer still.
Mike's radio clicked again, the man on the other end was started shouting over, but feedback was still getting into the system from a nearby source, once the machine-guns stopped, so did the feedback, "*click buzz* Outpost, *click* This is scout team Epsilon, Delta Six-One-Niner, ETA 5, maybe 6 minutes, cleared out a cluster of about 20 to 25 zeds with the Mike Deuces. ETA on airdrop supplies, 10 minutes, main crowd seems to be drifting away from your position, may still get hit with some of the edge groups... So continue, repeat, continue to prepare your position for assualt, ranger team, over and out."
Meanwhile, for Rebecca, the snow-white vixen sat down and gave a pleasant smile. "Things seem to be going reasonably well, we're getting air-dropped some supplies, and it seems we'll be reasonably safe for the night. Hopefully we can get you all airlifted to a safe-zone some time in the morning once resources are available. Right now it seems pretty ugly... but that's mostly just getting the setup in place... you don't have to worry, we'll keep you safe. You've got my word on that."
Planting her hand on the girl's arm and giving her a reassuring squeeze.
Salem fished through the infected man's pocket and pulled out a wallet, it had a state driver's license, multiple copies of a business card for the law firm he worked for, a few pictures of family members, and a plethora of other mundane information. He passed the flaps of leather warped around plastic and paper cards to Ana, and said, "Have fun with your tests, ma'am... we're getting you out of her ASAP... research or no."
"All Blue and Orange units, this is Blue one six. We have incoming friendlies and hostiles. All Blue Units to outer defensive positions, Orange to inner." Dave said to the SWAT and Street Cops, before switching to the frequency the Ranger patrol was using.
"Delta Six-one-Niner, Blue one six Copies all, be aware that vehicle traffic is almost impossible about four blocks out, your hummers might make it but it will slow you down. Our Vehicle entrance is to the north of the parking lot. Blue one six out."
Done with the radio he turned back to Salem, "Sally I need to you to sort this guy out. I've got a bunch of these thing inbound to take care of."
Spotting one of the new civilians in scrubs made his way over to her while waving over the four Paramedics that had been seconded to the detachment, as well as the Sgt in charge of the Patrol Officers. "Ma'am I need you with Clare, Ed, Mary and Chuck to go over every one of the civilians that came in there for bites or scratches, also ask em if the have been spat on or otherwise come into contact with bodily fluids not their own in the last twenty-four hours.
Sgt Preston and his men will keep a tight eye on you all, if you do find anyone that matches that criteria I need you to separate them as quickly and calmly as possible, you may have spotted a caged in area outside that's broken up into several sections, one of my men is in there who has been bitten but seems safe enough for now, call that sector one, put anyone who's bitten or been in contact with fluids in the other one which we'll call sector two. I don't like putting anyone out under the elements or segregating people but I have to treat this as triage, save the healthy ones first."
He let out a sigh "Can you do that?"
Looking over Rebecca's shoulder he spotted Lisa (Krause) gearing up to go outside to join the rest of the squad. "Lady K, Stay here and keep an eye on things."
Bryan had managed to obtain a small sample following all biological and hazardous material protocols. He placed it within an analyzer and returned with his escort to his vehicle.
"Well, I'm not in command of this convoy, so I can't direct its movement. However, this is noteworthy enough wouldn't you think?"
(OOC: I haven't had a lot of time or inspiration for this one, but I suppose I should post a tiny bit at least.)
Rebecca smiled to Lisa, glad of the company and of the message of hope, then she was approached by some military man. She listened to his orders with her arms folded over her chest. Who the hell does he think he is telling me what to do? Keeping herself in check she heard him out, then noted his sigh and his actual asking if she would do it her mood softened. This must be just as hard on him..
She nodded. "I'll do my best." Waving a 'hello' to her four now team mates she adjusted her backpack, slung the M-16 over her shoulder, and pocketed the .45.. both of which she made sure had the safety on.. she didn't want to do anything silly.
"Well.. I suppose.. lets do this." The scrub-wearing Rambo walked towards the group of civilians.
Raising her voice to extend the group she explained. "Alright, there is a virus that has been going around, and some of you might have it. To be able to treat you with the most efficient and effective care I'll need to split you into two groups. If anyone has come into contact with any bodily fluids that are not their own, been scratched or bitten by anything.. and I mean anything.. stand over to my right.. Anyone who hasn't needs to stand to my left."
Glad that the nurse (at least he assumed a nurse, cause he figured a doctor would have kicked up more of a fuss or asked a large amount of questions) was getting to it Dave left the supermarket and headed outside to check on his people's positions.
Swinging by the caged area he waved to Mike, "Magic, how you holding up? You may have some company soon, but I sure as hell hope not. One of the civvys was infected and munched on another, so I ordered a recheck of everyone."
Tanya looked at the snarl of cars in the intersection, and cursed. She opened the door and stood up in the doorway, and surveyed the road. It didn't look good, the cars were strewn haphazardly in a massive jumble, effectively making it impossible to navigate except on foot. She stepped down from her truck and slung her backpack over her shoulder. She grabbed stashed her handgun in her waistband, and checked the ammunition in her revolver. Satisfied, in so far as a person could be satisfied under the current circumstances, she started to pick her way through the cars with her revolver at the ready, hopefully she could make her way through the blockage before night fell.
Convoy (rail-station)
As the scanner printed it's initial results, the strange goo, as had been described, was a type of mucus, commonly found on amphibians. It would take considerably longer to finish it's full analysis, but, the virus quick-tests starting to be distributed to in-field units came back negative.
Knighthaven opened the back of the Styker, as he had company. A pair of masked soldiers, one appeared feline, the other, human followed into Bryan's presence. The feline slightly taller but of narrower build, there unit patch was virtually unnoticeable from the rest of their urban camouflage uniforms, possibly Green Barret, or a SOCOM unit. The human spoke, "Captain Tyson and Lt Halstead reporting, Sir. We've been attached to your detail to investing the sight. Reports in the area indicate something large in the area, and patches of... slime... are always found near the confirmed sightings. Higher ups say you're the expert on virus induced mutations, and we've got a good lead that, that's what we're dealing with."
Knight handed a printed sheet of paper giving Bryan the basics of his current order amendment, along with a second sheet giving the known information about the, well, thing, he was hunting. Amphibian, roughly twice the size of your average sentient, it is unknown if target is hostile, but all sightings say it's always been a fleeting glimpse, as whatever it is, hides in shadows. It appears to be clever, and a good hider if nothing else.
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Clogged Road
Tanya's path through the steel maze is slow. About 2 blocks from a clear section of bridge, she hears a faint *wishk* like noise, hair running across a solid surface, or perhaps a discarded piece of clothing. Suddenly there was *click-clack* behind her. What sounded like a car-door creak open. The distinct ringing of keys left in the ignition when a car is parked and the driver door is opened.
another *Click-clack*, was it getting closer? Looking at the source of the noise, Tanya would only see a shammy, half hanging out a car-window, blowing in the breeze.
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Supermarket
For Rebecca, cooperation wasn't going to come easy, every person moved to the line on her left, despite some having various, obvious signs of recent injury. Makeshift bandages on a man, and a mouse girl, dried blood on a male feline's shirt. The rest however, did look clean as best as a quick once-over glance could tell.
Mike gave a noncommittal shrug, "I don't feel a thing, Sir... it's like the bite didn't even happen..." He paused, as he un-slung the rifle bag, "Found something that might come in handy against the big, nasties, if any more show up."
Unzipping the bag, Mike produced a M-107 Sniper Rifle/Anti-Material Rifle, along with a box of 50 match-grade shells.
"if i'm getting company, i'd like to be sure i got whatever it is that's going around... i mean... shouldn't i be feeling something... i dunno, dizzy, sick... agitated? Think you could get the doc out here, Boss... i dunno if that thing was special... mutation or something... or, if it was even infected at all... because... to be honest, i don't feel a thing."
"Alright I'll get her out here." David said before calling Salem over the radio and asking for Ana, "Where the heck was that hiding Magic? Its a bloody monster, and I wasn't sure they'd cleared it for Civilian use yet...Wait you said Big Nasties? What Big Nasties??!"
Tanya heard the sounds come from behind her and immediately stopped what she was doing and looked around. The only thing that moved was some cloth dangling out of a car window. Figuring whatever was following her was checking the cars; she opened the door of a nearby unlocked car and slammed it shut. Just as door slamed shut, she quickly slinked off to find cover from which she could see if the noise had attracted whomever was following her.
Ian stuck to the right side of the street. He used his rat like agility to hop over some mounds of metal. Always careful of what may be over the next ridge, he waved his guns around like some sort of action movie star. Truth be told the limping figure unnerved him and he gave them a wide birth