Somewhere in Electrozavodsk, June ?, 2014
"Keep firing!" shouts out the sergeant major, firing off a grenade from the GP-25 that's mounted on his AK-107 into the horde of corpses, sending a rain of guts and blood everywhere.
"They just won't die!" shouts out one of the privates, just as one of the undead assailants grabs the private's arm and sinks its teeth right into his arm. The private lets out scream, and I turn just quick enough to fire a shot right into the skull of the undead assailant before it manages to get its claws into the private. The creature lays unanimated, dead, and the private crawls his way towards the rest of the squads.
"Go for the head!" I shout out, "It's the only way to kill them!" The sergeant major fires a couple of shots into the crowd, and satisfied that my theory works, repeats my words. And so we stand in a line, firing and firing, leaving ringing in my ears and pain in my shoulder.
"Screw this, I ain't staying here and dying!" shouts out another private, running past behind me and to our right flank. Screaming fills the air, to which I turn my head around, only to see that the undead managed to get around to our right flank and the private ran right into the wall of corpses. And from what I hear, they got our left flank as well.
"Get into a formation! I want three men on each side! Winters, take care of the wounded private!" orders the sergeant major. I grab the crawling private who was grabbed before and I saved, and pull him to our GAZ Tigr. I lay him down on the concrete road, take my first aid kit out and inspect the wound. And it doesn't look pretty.
Blood oozes out of the wound, infection already setting in. The bite is deep, right down to the bone. The private stares at me with his pale face, eyes full of fear. I get to doing what I'm trained to do- First aid kit out, antiseptic out, clean the wound, stitch it up and bandage. "It's alright" I say, "You'll be fine."
"Don't lie to me." replies the private in a weak tone, "Just be...honest with me..."
I let out a sigh. As an army medic, you quickly learn there are two kinds of people; people who are terrified and just let you get on with it, and those who put up with it and want the straight up truth.
"Well, it's...The bite is pretty deep, but... You didn't lose too much blood..." I'm lying. Of course I'm lying. He's bled a lot, the bite isn't pretty deep, it's right down to the bone and he'll probably die of infection, but those things you just don't say. "You stay put, I'm going back to the line. You think you'll manage?"
"I...I guess so...I think I'm still fit to fire if one of those gets close..."
"Good." I put my first-aid kit away, and turn to our front. Bodies scatter all over the street, and no more movement is to be seen.
"That's all of 'em, right?" Asks one of the two machine gunners, his RPK still aiming down the street.
"Sure seems like it" I reply. "Anyone else wounded?"
"Doesn't seem like it" he shrugs, "But I would guess some of the rest are a bit shaken up... I mean, Jesus, we just easily killed, what, fifty or so people?"
"They ain't people" says the only other medic in our unit, "It's like...Cannibals...But dead...Brought back to life, somehow"
"Infection?" I suggest. Probably worth finding out more about the enemy before getting in another engagement.
"Well," he says, kneeling down next to a body of one of the dead, "This one's got a bite mark...And the one next to her..."
"Shit, these lot too!" Says the machine gunner, "Hell, all of them are bit!"
"Bitten...?" I know it just as it happens. I spin around, just as the private jumps on me, claws reaching for me, teeth already sunken into my finger. I wrestle with it, and a couple of shots lands in it's chest, almost hitting me. I feel blood oozing out if my index finger, and my other hand fumbles for my knife from my vest whilst I try to push against it with my shoulder. I get pushed down to the ground, and just as its claws rise, ready to strike, a bullet pierces its head, and I'm quick to throw it off me.
"God damn!" shouts one of our scouts, and she rushes to my aid. "You alright?"
"Fuck me...Yeah...I-I..." I'm trembling badly, and I stare at my bite on my left index finger.
"Y-you're bit..." She says, and the medic looks at me with pity.
"Sorry...Just, God damnit..." he says, both hands on his head, clearly stressed. "What do we do now?"
"She only got her index finger bitten...She'll be fine, right?" says the scout, "I mean, it's only her finger."
The rest of the unit just looks at me with sympathy.
"Not risking it..." I say. She looks at me, confused, and hesitates to move back when I take my knife out. I close my eyes, and cut my finger off.