I tried to ignore the overwhelming sounds of the aircraft and focus on the information on my hud, but heights were never really my thing. We'd been on the plane for nearly four hours and my ass was getting numb. No matter how many times I shifted my weight, the seat didn't get any more cushiony.

I'm doing this for Jess. I'm doing this for Jess.

When I clasped my shaking hands together, I could feel the sweat build between my palms. Talk about gross. I looked up at my new "friend" who sat across the hold. He was pretty calm for a man about to parachute into a quarantined city filled to the brim with man-eating zombies. How could anyone in their right mind be calm about that?

I shifted again, feeling uneasy about how close we were to the drop zone. That much closer to falling hundreds of feet through the open air. I looked back down at my lap, sighing at my still shaking hands. When the GRE had contacted me, I was skeptical to say the least, but at the firsts mention of Jessica, I was on board. Of course, at the time I hadn't realized that rescuing Jessica meant confronting my extreme fear of falling. Heights I could do. Falling through the air? Not so much.

I sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey, you okay?" his voice startled me, and I jolted in my seat, my eyes darted up to his and I could see him frowning at me, "Oh Jesus, you're afraid of heights?"

I glared back, trying to contain my annoyance. "Yeah, so what? I'm afraid of big dogs too, is that gonna be a problem for you?!"

He shook his head, "What were they thinking sending someone who's afraid of heights? Are you gonna scream when you see an infected too?"

I tightened my fists, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"I need someone I can rely on! Not some scared little girl!" he shouted. I stood, my annoyance escalating to anger. Finding myself ashamed that I had thought he was cute when we got on the plane. Right now, I just wanted to punch him. Repeatedly.

"Fuck off, I don't need to explain myself to you," I shouted before I turned and walked to the edge of bay. He jumped up and walked towards her, "Hey, what do you think you're doing? We're not at the drop zone yet."

"We're close enough," I yelled back, staring at the open air with a burning hatred. I took a step off the edge and suddenly my fear of falling hit me full force. I could feel my hair being forced backwards, and out of the loose bun that I had tugged it up into that morning. When I started to feel dizzy from watching the ground getting closer, I squeezed my eyes tight, ignoring the GRE and the information that funneled through the headset. My chest tightened with fear. What the hell was I thinking?

After a couple seconds I reached back blinding to pull the chute. I was immediately tugged backwards, and my stomach slowly returned to normal, my descent slowed to something much more manageable than freefall. It no longer felt like I was plummeting to my death, but I still didn't want to open my eyes. After taking a deep breath, I slowly opened one eye. The ground was rushing towards me and I felt my stomach jump back into my throat.

Fuck, how do I land again?

I tugged on the toggles and tumbled into a painful somersault, hitting the ground and continuing to roll. I ended up buried beneath the chute and twisting uncomfortably to untangle myself from it. I tossed my hair out of my face, and stepped forward, muttering, "Fucking never doing that again," with a huff only to stop dead in my tracks. The city looked like hell. I was standing in what looked like an alleyway, though I couldn't be sure because the buildings were so closely packed together. I coughed, turning to see a mostly rotted corpse crumbled against the building.

"Fucking hell."

I took a step forward, twisting my torso so I could look up and behind me. The other man from GRE was close to landing, and from the looks of it he would be on top of a building. I chuckled at the idea of him not knowing how to get down. Man, I don't even know what his name is.

I turned back, seeing the zombies around me, they were slow, and for that I was grateful because right then I ached like nobody's business.

"I told you that wasn't a normal drop chute," a voice hissed.

I turned, alert, my hand automatically reaching towards the gun strapped to my thigh.

"Break his legs, then take him to Rais."

Great, I thought while breaking into a sprint, this asshole was gonna get himself killed as soon as he landed. I ignored the growing pain in my ankle and pushed forward. Down the alley and around the corner of a building. I stopped, peeking out. There were three men around him.

"Hell."

I pulled the pistol from the strap on my thigh and immediately shook my head. "Genius plan, shoot them and draw the attention of backup? No thank you." I looked around and picked up a large pipe. After giving a couple practice swings, I shrugged. "Eh, good enough."

"Back up," GRE man said, "All of you."

I looked back around the corner. "Time to go."

"Stop!" One of the men said, "Loud noises draw them."

I sprinted around the corner, pipe in hand. "Then you'd better take a step back, tough guy."

They glanced back at me but were still trying to corner GRE man. I gripped the pipe tighter, "Alright," I said, getting louder, "let me rephrase that. Step your asses back now or I make a lot of noise!"

The man who was clearly in charge stepped towards me, and I groaned. "Damn, man. You really don't listen."

I rushed him, taking a hard swing at his legs. The sickening snap was accompanied by him shouting a slew of curses. I dropped to the ground as his crowbar swung over my head. That was a little too close for comfort I rolled and jumped off the ground. The other two men were advancing on me, and I had to think fast. My eyes flicked to GRE man, who still looked dazed from his rough landing. I swallowed and made a calculated decision, pulling my gun out of its holster. "Back the fuck up!" I yelled at them.

"You pull the trigger and we're all dead," one man said.

I laughed, shaking my head. The two thugs stepped forward and I lowered the gun a bit, aiming at his crotch. "You think I'm not a crazy enough bitch to shoot now and think later?"

They looked at each other but didn't stop coming towards me. I put my foot on the lead thug's throat and shifted my weight onto him, then turned the gun completely downward and shot him in the head. The gunshot echoed, and seconds later we could hear the screeches fill the air.

"Not long now, buddies," I said holstering the gun.

"Fall back. FALL BACK!" One shouted, and they took off running.

I dropped the pipe and rushed over to help GRE man off the ground. "Let's go! I'm not about to be lunch."

He stumbled to his feet and we inched towards a building, but not fast enough. I could see an infected sprinting towards us and was suddenly glad that I had passed on breakfast. If the general smell of smoke and rotting flesh wasn't enough to make you hurl, the sight of an infected could. It had a bit of flesh, still hanging from its open mouth, and its hands and clothes were covering in blood.

I let go of GRE man's arm and dashed back for the pipe, but when I turned back, he was already being bitten. "Jesus H. Christ," I swore, running faster. Before I made it over to him, another man darted out from the building. To the right, another person dropped down off a roof.

"We have to get off the streets!" one of them shouted.

"No, really?" I muttered, helping GRE man walk forward. Behind us, I could hear screeches, and new there must be more of those fast zombies. "Here, take him!" I shouted at the woman leading the way.

When I turned around, I counted four more infected running towards us. I swung fast and hard, kicking back against one zombie as I pulled the pipe from another's head. I glanced over my shoulder to see that they had gotten them inside, and made a mad dash for the building, sliding inside right before they shut the door. I slammed my weight against it, but I could feel the zombies piling up. We couldn't hold it for long.

"Get the door open," I said, feeling the zombies push us backwards and I pulled my gun from its holster again. The door broke under the weight and three zombies tried to claw their way inside at the same time. I fired off three shots in succession and smiled to myself. Headshots.

The man tossed the bodies off himself and gave me an incredulous look. "Are you crazy? All you've done is attract more."

I held a hand out for him, pulling him to his feet. "Right. Sorry for saving your life then."

I turned, shaking my head and retrieving my new friendly pipe from the floor. I didn't bother looking back at the ungrateful man, and instead turned towards the back, following behind the woman and GRE man. She looked back at me and stopped.

"What," I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

She just shook her head. "Tower, this is Jade. Get sickbay ready. Got a guy with a bad head wound… and a bite on one arm."

"Oh shit," a voice crackled through the radio, "Amir's hurt?!"

"No, Amir is fine," she lowered her voice, "but we're bringing in another person too."

"One of us?" the voice asked.

I locked eyes with Jade.

"We'll see."

I resisted the urge to give a sassy retort, mostly because after she was finished speaking GRE man collapsed completely, his body becoming a dead weight that was too much for Jade alone. I grabbed one arm, hoisting him up onto his feet again and we continued forward. Amir took point, and after a minute I could see more people coming towards us.

We were headed towards a skyscraper - likely offices or apartments. The two other men that approached took Crane from Jade and me, hauling him much faster than we could. I jogged behind, up the steps and into the building, taking note of the UV lamps right outside.

It was dark as soon as we entered, but after hanging a left, I could see more light. And absolutely no way up other than jumping. I sighed, taking a running started at the wall, surprised at how I managed to scramble up fairly well.

"Where are you taking him?" I asked.

"Lena," one man shouted back.

I watched them leave, looking to Jade who was staring at me.

"She's our doctor," Jade explained.

"Got it," I said, shuffling my feet back and forth. I needed to contact the GRE, but that didn't seem like a good idea with GRE man out of commission. I raked my fingers through my hair and looked back over at Jade. "Anywhere I can stay until he's better?"

"Elevator," she said, gesturing to the right, "nineteenth floor."

"What? No stairs?" I gave her a sideways grin, but her frown stayed in place. I don't know why she was so gloomy. I thought things had turned out well… aside from GRE man being bitten. "Is he going to turn into one of… them?" I asked, my good humor fading. My knowledge of the Harran virus was limited to what little the GRE had mentioned – don't get bitten.

Everyone knew the stereotypical zombie stories but seeing as how they didn't kill him off as soon as he was bitten, I was guessing that there was something to be done. Preferably other than cutting off the bitten arm.

"No," Jade confirmed. "Not yet anyway." With that she walked off, leaving me standing there annoyed and confused.

"What the hell does she mean "not yet"? Is he dead or not?" I angrily asked the empty elevator.

Amir didn't waste any time giving me a laundry list of things to do before telling me where I'd be able to sleep my first night, which ended up being a bunk bed that I would share with GRE man. As far as I knew, he still hadn't woken up and it was day three of my joyous vacation in Harran. Lena swore up and down that the bite wouldn't kill him, Antizin would save him from that, but GRE man's head wound was a nasty one. I couldn't count on him helping me with the GRE's request.

So there I was, waste deep in sewage water, my gun covered in sludge and the largest mother-loving zombie I'd seen yet standing in front of me wielding a giant hunk of cement like it was a butter knife.

"Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck," I muttered, stomping through the sludge as quickly as my legs would allow. Thankfully, the zombified hulk was slower than I was.

I scrambled up the bank as he dragged his cement stick closer, pausing only when I heard gun shots. What were the chances Rais' men would be out an about too. Fuuuuuck. They were just about the only dipshits brave enough to use guns out here.

I ran faster, trying to breath through my nose as little as possible. The only thing worse than smelling the sewage, was the taste that lingered in the air. I ran through my options in my head. I could just try to outrun him, it wouldn't bee too hard, but that just leaves him a threat to anyone else out here. The runners from the Tower would be saver if I took him down, which only left hand-to-hand, and I didn't particularly want to get close to him.

I scanned the ground around me, looking for some sort of weapon to use. Aha!

"Need some help?" a voice called from above me.

I looked up to see GRE man jogging over, he stopped on the road just a few feet away. I resisted the urge to smile. "No, actually falling in the sewage was just part of my master plan. Just you wait, I'll have this badboy taken down in no time," I said with a saucy grin. In truth I'd set my eyes on a crowbar not too far away. Without a gun, it'd be harder, but I wasn't exactly without my defenses, like I said mumbo jumbo was slow.

"Oh, really?"

I contemplated following through with my initial plan, but I wasn't going to be an idiot and risk my life just to prove something to this guy. "Of course not. You waiting for an engraved invitation? Shoot him."

"You're pretty bossy for someone needing my help," he said, aiming his gun. It took a few shots to the head before our lumbering giant finally died… again, but GRE man still made relatively short work of him.

"It's been a long day," I said by way of explanation. "But I see sleeping beauty has finally awoken. When'd they let you out?"

"About an hour ago."

"And how are you liking our exotic getaway?" I asked waggling my eyebrows.

The look on his face said it all. "Those were the last of my bullets by the way, so I hope you've got enough."

I laughed. "Oh, GRE man, you think we're gonna be able to use guns all the time. That's adorable." I shook my head. "Asking for bullets is like asking for diamonds, so until you get some currency in those pockets, your weapon will be whatever you can salvage."

"G..R…E man?"

"Eh, didn't get your name back on the plane and I figured you wouldn't respond well to 'Jackass'."

He chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right. It's Kyle Crane. Where are we at we the mission?"

"No sign of Kadir, and no I haven't met Breker yet either. Mostly I've been playing fetch for Amir. They don't seem to want to let me snoop around. Odd, right? And," I chuckled lifting a few strands of my hair, "this red doesn't exactly help me blend in."

Crane's eyes flicked up my body, glossing over my face and hair, likely noticing just how much I stand out - red hair, green eyes, freckles… essentially nothing like any of the citizens of Harran. "Yeah," he drawled, "you really stand out," he grinned, then stepped forward, helping up onto the road beside him. "What's your name anyway?" he asked me.

I placed a hand on my hip. "Sonya Brooke."