My name is Isaac McAlister. I'm a senior airman in the United States Air Force Security Forces. I wore a set of *BDU's and was armed with an M9 pistol with eight spare magazines and a morning star. Don't ask how I got the mace, it's not exactly a pleasant story. I had the M9 in a shoulder harness that I wore over my black undershirt and under my BDU blouse which I left unbuttoned. I also wore an all-weather coat, seeing as how it was getting colder, as well as a pair of black fingerless gloves. I wore knee pads over my BDU trousers and elbow pads over my coat. I wore my SF beret to finish the outfit, and I carried several *MREs, bottles of water, and two *IFAKs in my backpack.
As for what I look like, I stand at six feet two inches. I wouldn't say I'm muscular, more of a runner's build, others say I look like I could be a defensive lineman. I had smooth angular features that some say give me an air of nobility, which I think is a load of crap, but what can you do? I had jet black hair, which I kept just within the one and a half inch length limit, and smoky grey eyes.
Some studies say that people with grey eyes tend to be amazing marksmen. Those studies don't lie because I am a damned surgeon with an M9 pistol.
Currently, I was walking through a narrow side street before emerging into a blood stained street that was ominously empty. In the distance I could see a bridge that was packed full of cars and refugees, though one end was barricaded by the Japanese Police.
"I'll be damned," I looked down towards the river and saw a group of survivors looking over at the bridge I was just looking at, "hail, survivors!"
This must have scared the shit out of them because one, a slightly chubby guy, spun around and pointed a .38 calibur revolver at me.
"Whoa, cowboy, I'm alive!" I waved my empty hand in the air in front of me.
"S-Sorry," The guy said sheepishly as he lowered his weapon.
"No problem," I said, hopping down to their level so we could talk easier.
"You're an American? Your Japanese is pretty good," A busty blonde said.
"Never mind that," A pink haired spitfire sputtered, "what is the US military doing about this?"
I turned to face the pinkette, "Well, Yokota AB isn't in much of a position to do anything, seeing as how we were pretty much overrun before we knew what the hell was going on. I and a few of my buddies barely got out of there before the base was lost."
"There are more of you? Were are they?" This time, it was a ginger-haired female who spoke.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out six dogtags, "They didn't make it. Tokyo has a lot of people. A great majority of those people have turned into Them, or they fled the city."
"So you don't know what your own military is doing to counter this epidemic? What are you, an idiot?" The pinkette was livid.
"Lady," I said, seeing as she couldn't be more than four or five years younger than me, "I'm just a grunt. They give me a gun and tell me to watch a gate or patrol a sector of a base, that's it. Intel is generally on a need to know basis."
"He's right, Takagi-san," The cowboy said, "the military generally likes to keep its troops in the dark about a lot of things."
I grinned, "The cowyboy's got it right. I'm Senior Airman Isaac McAlister, you can either call me Isaac or Mac, it's up to you."
The only other guy in the group, him striking me as the leader of group, stepped foward and shook my hand, "Komuro Takashi. The cowboy is Hirano Kouta. This is Marikawa Shizuka-sensei, Takagi Saya, and Miyamoto Rei. The one over there is Busujima Saeko-senpai."
I glanced at the females as they were introduced before looking back at the leader, "I assume you are the leader of this group. I'd be honored to join your group, that is if you don't mind me tagging along."
Takashi looked back at his group, "What do you guys think?"
Kouta looked at me, "What kind of gun are you carrying?"
"M9 pistol. Sorry, it's a 9mm Beretta," I said, pulling my M9 out of its holster for everyone to see before reholstering it.
"He's got to be good with his weapons if he's survived this long by himself," Saeko said, not even looking at me, though I had a feeling she was when I wasn't looking.
"I think we should let him come along," Shizuka said.
"I agree with Shizuka-sensei," Rei nodded.
Takashi turned to Saya, "Well?"
Saya puffed out her chest, "W-Well, another gun wouldn't hurt our chances. I guess he can come along."
Takashi grinned, "Welcome aboard, Isaac-san."
"Please, just Isaac will be fine. The streets uphill are mostly clear, and it is getting dark, so we should find a place to hole up for the night," I said.
"We were already heading to Shizuka-sensei's friend's house. How far away is it, Shizuka-sensei?" Takashi turned to the busty blonde.
"Eh? Oh, it's not far now, it's over that way," Shizuka said, pointing back in the direction I came from.
"Well, shall we?" I grinned.
I could hear the women having fun in the bathroom from as far as the bedroom, so I was sure Takashi and Kouta, who were right next to the bathroom door, could hear them even better.
"Hey, should we see what's in that locker? I'm sure there are some goodies since the other one had ammo," I said.
"Huh? O-Oh, yeah," Takashi pried himself away from the bathroom door with a blush, as did Kouta.
"So," I grinned wickedly as the three of us levered Takashi's crowbar into position, "which of those girls do you two like the most?" The two went a deep shade of red as I laughed loudly. That was when the locker popped open and golden light shone out into the room. I'm exagerating of course, but I wouldn't have been surprised if that actually happened because the contents of that locker were just that awesome!
Kouta nearly lost it as he recited the specs of each weapon in the locker from memory. I agreed that the shotgun should go to Takashi, seeing as how he was the most inexperienced with firearms. Besides, with buckshot, it's damned hard to miss with a shotgun.
Kouta called dibs on the AR-10, and though I was pretty decent with the rifle's cousins, the M-16 and the M-4, I let him take it. That left the M1A1 Carbine and the crossbow.
"Who should get these?" Kouta looked at Takashi.
I mulled it over for a moment, "I think Rei should take the M1A1. An expandable baton is not going to cut it in a zombie apocalypse, and it has a bayonet lug."
I sifted through the bottom of the locker and fished out a bayonet, then fixed it to the carbine, "This'll do nicely."
Takashi nodded, "I think Isaac's got the right idea, what do you think?"
Kouta grinned, "That is a good idea. As for the crossbow, should we take it or leave it?"
Takashi looked in the locker, "There's only a few bolts for it..."
"Then we leave it, no need in taking it if we're only getting a few shots, right? It's no good as a club either, so it'll be dead weight after," I took another look in the locker for myself, "seven shots."
The bathroom door opened and Shizuka came out as naked as the day she was born. I fled down the stairs, leaving the other two behind to deal with their teacher and stopped when I heard someone on the stairs behind me.
"Oh, Isaac-san," Saeko said, "please don't turn around."
On reflex, I almost did so, but somehow I managed to catch myself, "I won't. Let me know when you are decent."
I heard her rustling around in the kitchen until she cleared her throat, "It's okay now." I turned around to face Saeko and immediately felt the heat rise in my cheeks. She was wearing only an apron and a black thong.
"Uh, that's not exactly decent," I muttered, turning away slightly.
"We're washing our clothes, and this is the only thing that fits me," Saeko said, fiddling with the apron, "I should get started on something for dinner."
"I'm going to scout around the block, for supplies. Have Kouta use the flare gun if anything happens, alright?" I glanced over my shoulder as I headed for the door.
"At night? That's a little reckless, don't you think?" Saeko asked.
I fished around in my bag, which I had left near the front door, and pulled out and olive drab bag containing a pair of night vision goggles, "Not with these. My field of vision will be more narrow with these, but I should be alright." With that, I headed out into the night. Alone.
In all honesty, I didn't find much as I foraged through the nearby houses besides more death and more of Them. It was pretty late at night, and I had been looting for a good two hours when I heard someone banging on a door just across the street. I poked my head outside and saw a guy and his daughter standing in the courtyard of the house which had been my next target. I ran out to get him to quiet down, only to be too late when the inhabitants of the house ran the guy through with a homemade spear. They shut the door in the guy's face as he bled out, leaving him and his daughter to die as more of Them began to emerge from the alleys and houses I hadn't cleared yet. I stashed the NVGs in my cargo pocket and sprinted across the increasingly populated street and shut the gate behind me.
I looked down at the girl's father and saw that he was already gone. The girl was bawling loudly, and I couldn't help but notice at how packed the street was now.
"Hey, girl, we have to go, alright?" I placed my hand on her shoulder.
The girl looked up at me, "Mister, my daddy, he's not waking up! He said he wouldn't leave me!"
"He didn't leave by choice, girl," I said, kneeling by her father and closing the man's eyes before covering him with one of the sheets that were hanging on the close line. I heard a high pitched bark, so I looked down and watched as a small dog as it wheasled its way through the horde, then the bars of the gate just before the girl bent down to pick up the puppy. That was when I saw that the latch on the gate was starting to bend under the pressure of the horde.
"Aw shit, we got to go, girl," I said, scooping her up and carrying her bridal style to the wall. Stepping carefully up onto a trash can, then a utility box, I stepped up onto the narrow wall and walked along tight-rope style as I heard the familiar sounds of an approaching humvee. I reached the intersection and realized that I was not going to clear the gap before me unless I was really Ryu Hayabusa and didn't know it.
Still keeping the girl out of reach, I held her up with one arm as I drew my M9 with the other and began firing into the horde. 15 rounds, 12 of Them permanently dead. Not bad for firing one-handed.
I holstered my M9 as the humvee pulled up into a slightly less populated intersection. Kouta and Saeko covered me as I handed the girl down to Takashi and Rei before I jumped down onto the top of the humvee. I then reached my hand into the humvee and felt the handle of my morning star being pressed into my palm.
"Thanks," I said with a wicked grin. I stepped from the top of the humvee down onto the hood, then hopped off the hood and onto the street. As calmly as I could, I walked up to Them as if I were walking towards a normal person before bringing my mace around to bear on Their skulls as hard, and as savagely, as I could. Needless to say, Saeko and I made short work of the zombies barring our escape.
I smiled warmly at Saeko, despite my being decorated with gore and brain-matter, and offered her my hand as I climbed back onto the top of the humvee, "Ready to go?"
With that, we made our first escape together. Takashi's group ended up receiving two new members, luckily for me and the girl, along with a locker full of resources. This was proving to be a better apocalypse than I thought it would be. Don't mistake me, this was only the beginning, and it was only going to get harder from here on out before things ever got any better.
A/N: In my career field, we talk about everything. That includes zombies. Most of the guys in my unit have what we call a "Zombie Plan." I figured, after watching HOTD, Security Forces members would probably last a little longer than your average grunt due to the fact that we come up with stuff like the zombie plan while we're bored out of our minds. Isaac McAlister is an original character I came up with that has a little bit of everyone from my unit in him. Let me know what you guys think, and I will be using military lingo and acronyms in the future, so if you don't understand something in the story, shoot me a message and I'll explain it to you.
BDU: Battle Dress Uniform, which is the woodland camoflauge uniform we used to wear before each branch of the US military wanted a unique uniform.
MRE: Meal Ready to Eat. This is a packaged meal, field rations, used by units when deployed down range. They generally consist of a main course, a side dish, crackers, a sweet, and a beverage powder, as well as a water activated heater. MRE's are used in conjunction with your canteen or camelback which you refill from a potable water tank.
IFAK: Individual First Aid Kit. Self explanatory.