The door to the C-17 opened up to reveal the inky darkness of the Middle East night sky. A few fires spread out along
the meat of Harran city were the only main sources of light. A few buildings had power but mostly the citizens lived in
shacks without electricity.
I looked over the landscape and checked my equipment in the red light that was glowing behind me. When I was briefed
they warned me of the dangers of what were in Harran and then instructed me that I was to take a HALO insertion at
night in unfamiliar territory. I had studied the map before leaving and had a novice understanding of the landscape and
where I would be venturing to.
The zombie outbreak is a bit of a shock. It seems like this reality was only suppose to be on the cinema screen and not
right in front of me. In the short time before I was loaded onto this plane, I was instructed on how to deal with the
undead individually. I was equipped with a few suppressors for my P-90 and HK416 assault rifle. The main equipment for
my night insertion and to move around were night vision goggles and an Infrared optic for my NVGs. I was also informed
of these beasts that are fought off with the use of UV light. However, they had found out the flashbangs were more
effective at burning the inside of their eyes and rendering their attacks ineffective. Besides these I am loaded down with
my parachute, mask, food, water and ammo, and other supplies that might be useful.
My mission was to find a man code named RAIS. RAIS had officially gone rouge from an organization known as the GRE.
He has recently risen to a seat of power. My orders are to kill him or injure them. However, when my CO pulled me
aside, he personally told me to not bother bringing him back alive. He did mention that Rais was erecting an army, a
group of thugs that would do his bidding and run the zone. Apparently, even though the quarantine zone was sealed off,
people believe that jut still has to be dealt. That is where I come in. I am the hammer.
The door suddenly opened. The crew chief shuffled back towards me and motioned to the door. He followed with three
fingers. Three minutes to the drop. I stood up with all of my equipment clanking on my sides. I shuffled with my gear to
the edge of the darkness. It would feel great to get this pack off of me. It had been chafing me since the red sea.
It seemed to only take moments until the light went green and I found myself falling to Earth. It reminded me of my
first jump ever. The commander had to push me out the first time. As a matter of fact, he pushed me out twice during
my time in training. Its funny how far we come in life.
As I am falling I have weird thoughts. Some people contemplate life in the shower. I contemplate life while falling at
terminal velocity. What would be awaiting me when i hit the ground? Would I smack into a building? Was there a
mattress factory that I could land on instead? I doubt it, all of my jumps seem to end up with my ass on a rocky surface.
I took a glance at my altimeter and found that I would pull the chord in 5 seconds. I found the latch and prepared to
pull. The tiny beep of the altimeter prompted me to open the parachute. The large canvas opened in the rectangle shape
and stopped my fast decent. I looked out over the horizon at a good place to land. SOCCER FIELD! I screamed in my
head. Thankfully there was a clearing in this massive city. No infected seemed to be near which would give me ample
time to get my chute off and get away from the site as soon as i could.
Again, the ground was hard as a rock and I managed my controlled fall as I had been trained to do. I hit the ground and
cut away from my chute. I cut off my reserve and put it in a buring bin nearby. The webbing was last and that too went
in the bin before i drew up my P-90. In the briefing I was instructed to aim for the head. Bigger was not better. It made
more sense to have a weapon that had 50 rounds in the magazine for the undead. The M4 was merely for hostile living
people.
I heard a huffing sound in the distance. It sounded like somebody that was out of breath. I raised my p-90 towards the
sound. Out of the shadows was the demon. It was the night hunters. These being were mutated zombies. I readied my
flashbang in case the hunter came at me. However, he sharply turned and walked in a diferent direction. I flipped my
NVGs down to see in the darkness. The darkness lit up into something that I could see. The infected, or zombies I guess
we would call them, were in small groups of 5 to 10. It was a very interesting matter that the zombies would seek out
and hang around other zombies. I would have to avoid the larger streets if possible.
I stayed just off the main road towards my first checkpoint. It was a safe house that was put in by the CIA when top
insurgent military targets were there. The safe house was locked and sealed tight for weeks now. It should be clear of
any infected. As I spotted the roof of the house I noticed a figure walking by the entrance of the house. The shadow
quickly darted out of sight. I spun myself up against the wall and aimed my P-90 down the street. The lazy lighting cast
large shadows. The shadow could be from up the street. The air around this city is making my hair stand up on my
arms.
I unlocked the safe house door and barged inside before quietly closing the door. I cut into a side hall way that led to
some stairs going down. A large steel door covered the downstairs basement. I punched in the numerical entry on the
keypad and opened the door. It was a headquarters with communication equipment and a small armory of weapons and
ammunition.
I sat in front of the comms and attempted to contact the main headquarters. After a few minutes of searching I found
the frequency. "This is Blackbird, I'm in the nest," I said through the radio. The crackled voice on the other side said,
"Roger that, sit tight and wait for further instructions, out," The radio clicked off. My insertion was successful.