Prologue

A blue light lit up the room with gruesome pictures of the recent events. The blue light came from the projector, which had the Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mitchell standing looking at the pictures, arms crossed. The team call-signed Hunter entered the room and stood, looking at the pictures.

John Kozak, Robert Bonifalco, – referred to as "Pepper" by his squad-mates - James Grant Ellison - call-signed "30K," - and Team Leader Cedric Ferguson, otherwise known as "Ghost Lead" all stood at the back of the room, awaiting their instructions. The older male stood in front, 30" at his side, and Pepper and Kozak at the back. Ellison broke the ice, "What are we lookin' at, sir?" Mitchell said without turning around, "Looks to be the result of some kind of bio-chemical weapon." He turned, meeting the gaze of the soldiers in front of him. "We don't know," Horrible images flashed on-screen. People eating other people, flesh being ripped from bones. "What the hell is this?" Kozak questioned. "Like I said, we don't know. People are going insane, at least that's what we believe… According to reports, it originated in Japan and is slowly making its way across the world. The President and other officials of the US are being kept safe in bunkers. The 'normal' army can handle them. Your job is…" He picked up a wireless mouse from a table and clicked, "to take down this biological terrorist, as well as any people along the way. Society might have gone to hell over there, but people need order, and we're going to provide it. Furthermore, the people affected by this virus are completely gone from heat signatures, which means they have no blood flow which means…" He shrugged his shoulders, they're dead." 30K saw a window of silence and cut in, "You expect us to go around there with zombies?"

Mitchell confirmed, "Essentially, that's what they are." Ghost Lead questioned, "With all due respect, sir, why us? The Japanese do have a military, correct?" The Lieutenant Colonel answered, "Yes, but most of their concern is over riot control right now. There is chaos down there. Also, they seem to be attracted by noise. The formal military are protecting high ranking leaders of the nation, same as us." He clicked again on the mouse, dragging it over to a video file. "This was recovered from the overhead satellite, in Tokonosu City, where you're headed." Swarms of zombies overrun populated places. Malls, schools, bars were all crawling with the undead. "They seem to be attracted by noise."

He then switched to another video, showing thermographic imaging of the virus in gas form. "This is the virus in gas form. According to this, it looks like it started at the East end of the city jus a few hours ago. There are survivors at the house of a politician, named Takagi."

He then turned back to the team, placing his hands on his hips, "You are the quietest team I know. Your primary objective is to take down this biological terrorist and maybe we can force them to manufacture a cure. However, if you come across any survivors, you bring them to Takagi's house. We'll be dropping supplies there by plane. Helicopter might be noisy."

Ghost Lead placed his hands on the table in front of him, "Understood." Pepper inquired, "Is there any way we can protect ourselves from this thing? If it spread in gas-form, then we have little to defend against it." Mitchell responded, "The chemical agent did indeed spread in gas form; however, it's gone now. We don't really know where it went. Environmentalists are saying it may have been absorbed by the atmosphere." Silence filled the room, "Any questions?" Mitchell asked.

Kozak stepped forward, "There is one more problem we didn't consider."

"And that is?"

"Language barriers."

30K stepped in, "Not a problem!" Pepper joked, "What? You got an app on your phone that's going to help us?" The heavy-gunner = scoffed, "No!"

Pepper critiqued, "Then what is your plan?" 30K surprised everyone and said, "I can speak Japanese." An awkward silence filled the room. "You serious?" The team leader found himself asking. 30 replied, "Yes." He chuckled lightly, "Kozak ain't the only one who's bilingual." They all chuckled. Mitchell finalized, "Good. Everyone gear up. You've got quite the flight ahead."

Everyone was loaded up in the helicopter. All were wearing grey and urban camouflage body armour and cargo pants. Ghost Lead and Kozak were wearing identical uniforms while 30K was wearing his signature baseball cap and Pepper was wearing his grey toque. All wore face masks and sunglasses that had the left lens lit up with Heads-Up-Display, which objective locations showed in real-time on the environment around them. They all knew their mission was a rather grim one. Dead people eating the living, and those that did survive did not want to. People were holding up in places, being as quiet as they could be. The dead hunt, the living flee. Luckily, the Ghosts were on the way. "Ready for lift off." With that the helicopter was in the air and on the way.

Kozak had his suppressed single shot assault rifle the 417 with a reflex sight atop it. Along with a silenced 45T as side-arm. The equipment they all carried was a sensor that detected movement, combined with their HUD, allowed for them to see through walls as wells as other obstacles. Another 'grenade' he had was a noisemaker for distracting the undead. And, of course, they were all armed with their cloaking devices.

Pepper had suppressed Vector submachine gun for close-encounters and an suppressed M110 sniper rifle for long-ranges.

30K had the Stoner 96, a light machine gun with a red dot sight and a bipod, and a suppressed Goblin with a Tac scope, allowing for shorter-ranged combat.

Ghost Lead had his supressed ACR for longer-ranged pick-offs as well as a suppressed Vector for close-quarters recon and stealth.

They would be landing near Fujimi academy and begin looking for survivors, about nine hundred metres away from the Takagi residence. Before that, they would have to refuel on a water base in the North Pacific Ocean and then get there. It was going to be a long flight.