The Soulless

Author's Introduction: This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I have read many great stories and have seen many great movies. One of my Favorite genres was the Zombie End of the World type story. As I read and watched so many, I started to think to myself, "Wow wouldn't this be cool if this happened too, or wouldn't this be cool if this happened instead." So, instead of critiquing other peoples work, I decided to try one of my own. I have created a hybrid of "Zombie Rules" in my world that seem more realistic to me, based off of the popular Romero series and other fan fictions and movies I have read or seen. Please feel free to give me your honest opinions and enjoy.

How had it come to this? How could we have not seen what was happening right in front of our noses? So many have died. So much has been lossed. Things have changed. Never again can we look at our world and hope for piece, progress or even safety that so many took for granted in the old days. A terrible price has been paid for our arrogance and ignorance. It will continue to be paid, and they…… will collect.

"Damn it's cold up here." This was the first thing that ran though Cpl. Justin Delion's mind as he rappelled down the line onto the roof of the 30 story office building. As his feet hit the ground, he disengaged the line and immediately brought up his M4A4 to the roof access door and took a knee. Behind him came the noise of four more pairs of boots hitting the ground.

The other four soldiers quickly spread out in a fan to each of side of Justin, weapons at the ready, scanning the green hued night through their NVDs.

To the left of Justin, Staff Sergeant Daryl Thurman, the Search and Rescue Squad's chalk leader began the SitRep. "thhhhh….Raven 4, this is Shadow 6, all boots on the ground, no immediate contact, Over", he reported to the Blackhawk above. "thhh Shadow 6, Raven 4, night vision shows no Rot on the roof at your location. We are proceeding on decoy mission and will await your evac transmission. Happy Hunting, Over". "Roger that Raven 4, Over and Out," Thurman replied.

"Delion, take point. Helem, Trecose, back him up. Thompson, with me," Thurman whispered loudly. The squad moved forward in a tight Pentagon formation, a new tactic that allowed each soldier to turn his back to the others and provide an open field of fire around them while not having to worry about one of those things sneaking up behind anyone. Of course, this was no good in a small area such as a hallway but for wide open ground it was perfect.

Justin quickly but calmly moved forward as Helem moved behind and to his left and Trecose came behind to his right. Specialist Shamir Helem, was Justin's best friend since Jr. High, he had joined the Army alongside Justin and went through Boot Camp, Infantry and Air Assault School with him. The two were like brothers and had survived the blood bath that was Philadelphia together, and had made it to a Federal Evacuation Center or FEC before the city fell. Helem had his SPAS-12 semi-auto shotgun held in the ready position as he softly called "On your left", to Justin.

"On your right", Justin heard from behind him as Private First Class Fiore Trecose announced his position holding ready his UMP-45 watching for any previously unseen movement. This was Justin's first mission with him but he had found out previously that Trecose, as chance would have it, was from the Philadelphia area as well. The young kid of 19 years old had watched his entire family die as they fought to get to the FEC. He was National Guard but had had the same training as the two friends. He was also known to fly off the handle during engagements. He would try and kill as many Rot as he could until he was completely out of ammo, and even then attack them with nothing but his 14 inch Sub Hilt Bowie. His behavior was frowned upon by the commanders, but his effectiveness in clearing out an entire area on his own and saving other's lives allowed him some slack. Justin had just guessed that Trecose was just trying to avenge his family by any means necessary, but the kid made him nervous. He would have to keep an eye on him.

After the two rear guards called their ready position, the squad moved faster to the roof's access door. Speed played an important role on this mission as the longer it took them the more Rot they would have to contend with. While a few were easily handled, they had a tendency to swarm and when that happened nothing less then an armored tracked vehicle was getting away.

"Prepare for entry", Thurman called out as they came to the door. Justin moved to the left of the door, weapon never leaving the door's direction. Helem followed him but kept his weapon facing left and leaned his back against Justin's. Trecose moved off to the right to cover that side while Sergeant Thompson, the last squad member stood in front of the door stowing his H&K MP-5 in a modified hip holster and removing his 12 Gauge Mossberg Bulldog shotgun from his back and pointing it at the door lock.

Thurman stood back, M-16/M-203 combo in the ready position, facing at the door. Distant flashes in the night sky drew Justin's eyes back to the Blackhawk in the distance. He knew that nothing was wrong; the helicopter had flown off a few city blocks to drop flares and draw the Rot away. The plan was to get the attention of the immense number of the Rot and keep them from encircling the building and possibly overwhelming them inside if they were able to get past any of the barricades the survivors must have up. He could see the flares slowly drifting down towards the city streets, like slowly falling white pulsating stars against his light green enhanced field of vision. There was no other noise he could pick up besides the strong cold winter wind howling at them, being as high as they were. For that he was grateful. He and the other knew too well the horrible sounds you could hear in any of the old major cities. At the very least you would have nightmares almost every night. At the worst, you would eat a bullet.

In that second he had taken his eyes off the door, and glanced around Thurman noticed it and growled at him, "Corporal, get your fucking head back in the game. They know what they fucking need to do. You fucking better worry about what you need to do."

Justin flashed him a look of death but understood that he had made a mistake. Any unfocused second could mean death to someone. "Roger that Sergeant".

"And the rest of you cock manglers. We got possible survivors inside. They gotta either be fucking super lucky or be bad ass mofo's to still be alive in a city this big. So watch your fire and try not to get friggin shot by any of them," Thurman cautioned.

SSGT Thurman was a mystery to Justin. The Chalk leader obviously knew what he was doing but no one on the squad, except may be for Thompson, knew the guy's story and Thompson wasn't the talking type. All Justin could find out was that the guy was thirty four years old and didn't take shit from nobody.

"Is that Understood?" Thurman looked at each of them and received a quick nod. "Ok, Thompson, check the door."

Thompson leaned forward with his left hand and tried the knob. "Sergeant, the doors unlocked." Justin quickly gazed toward him. He had learned Thompson was with Thurman already when the other three had joined the team. The 23 year old Sergeant originally came from the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. After two tours in Iraq, Thompson had finally come home to settle down and get some well deserved rest when the first incidents came on the television. While the other three were fairly new to the search and rescue effort, he had already undergone four missions with SSG Thurman. Justin had found that he immediately respected the man.

"Yeah I can see that," Thurman hissed. "Good, less noise. Get ready."

"Here we go again," Thompson whispered to himself. Justin couldn't help but give a small smile. This was the fun part.

"One…," the tensing up of all the soldiers was very visible. Five highly trained killers were about to go to work. "Two….Go," Thurman commanded.

A/N: Well my first chapter. What do you think? I know it was pretty long and they hadn't even gone in yet, but I was trying to quickly introduce the team and their current situation. Next Chapter should be up soon. Entry.