"What the HELL are you waking me up at this hour for?"Shepherd fumed, straightening his beret. "This had BETTER be good, Sergeant!"
"Sorry, sir." Foley said shakily, "It's not one of those things we can delay for too long."
"So, what are we dealing with, here? Is it the Russians?"
"That's a negative, sir." The Lieutenant, standing next to Foley, said, even more nervously than Sergeant Foley. "It's... we don't know, sir."
"OK, what the hell? You people are acting like you've seen a ghost! And that's starting to piss me off." The general pointed at a PFC, who was merely standing watch at the moment. "You. Coffee. Black."
"Yes, sir." He snapped to attention and scurried off.
"Can I see what you people have been so worried about now?" Shepherd finished.
Foley looked at the Lieutenant, who nodded grimly.
"Show him, Sergeant."
"Yes, sir." Without any more delay, Sergeant Foley retrieved a ruggedized laptop, one that had clearly been battered a great deal, covered in bloodied mud, and nicked several times with bullets, shrapnel, and... claws?
"We were on patrol in the southern district when Private Ramirez found this." He said, opening it up and clicking a few buttons. "It... it's the damn scariest thing I've ever seen, sir."
A video began playing, focusing on an American soldier who was clearly spooked, finicking with the camera and glancing behind him every few seconds.
"I don't know," he said, in a voice that was out of breath, "I don't know what the hell's going on, but whoever finds this, warn everyone! It's... good God... look!"
He turned the camera around to show... it looked like a mob of people standing around, except they were limp, almost listless, swaying as though they were having trouble keeping their footing.
"I know this seems like bullshit," the soldier continued, "but it's not, I swear to God, you have to warn people! I'm... I'm the only one left! It's not the Russians! Everyone else in the goddamn company's gone! I'm almost out of ammo, and..." The video cut out.
"What... you people are playing some kind of trick on me, aren't you?"
"Sir, that's a man from a company that went dark a few days ago. I wish it were a trick."
"And I'm supposed to believe that ZOMBIES are killing my men?" Clearly, the general wasn't believing this for a second. "That's bullshit."
"What else are we supposed to believe?" The Lieutenant demanded, "All due respect, sir, this calls for action!"
"No action will be taken, Lieutenant. We fight RUSSIANS, not goddamned zombies. Carry on."
"B... Yes, sir."
Content, Shepherd returned to his quarters and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Yes, this is General Shepherd. Put that test down as a complete success."
Happy Halloween 2010, people!