Electro City, once described as the nation's crowned jewel now lay in ruin. The great sky scrapers that had made up the impressive skyline were now toppled and crumbling. Constantly burning fires locked the sky over the city in a perpetual state of ashy twilight. The city had been cut off from emergency and municipal resources for quite sometime. All personal of any significant importance had been evacuated at the beginning of the ordeal, long before the public became aware of the destruction that was crashing down upon them. The only ones who remained within the gutted city now were those who had failed to heed the last evacuation warning before the military had cut the city off, blocking all ways into and out of the area, and the roaming dead.
The outbreak of what Vesta, a multinational medical conglomerate that also held several government contracts for biological weapons production and development, called the Meridian virus had been sudden. A lab-tech, unknowingly exposed and allowed to travel outside of the lab had become patient zero of the current epidemic. Vesta had known about the breech moments after it occurred, but failed to put the proper containment measures into place. They had wanted more information on their biological weapon and the large metropolitan area was more than a welcome testing ground. The lucky ones were those who had gotten out, the rest were now nothing more than food for the ever growing population of Meridian infected individuals.
Helicopters flying over the city were nothing new. Since it had began, helicopters with the blue and white Vesta logo emblazed upon the tail boom were a common sight. What was different about this one though was it's low flying altitude and the fact it was circling one of the last in tacked buildings. Dropping down further, the helicopter remained hovering while two repel lines were thrown from either side of the cabin and down the roof below. The first thing to be lowered was a large crate, the next were two individuals. They were dressed in black flight suits with tactical vests, Vesta's logo stitched onto the back. Both wore drop leg holsters, combat styled boots and gloves. As soon as they touched down, they un-hooked themselves from the repel lines, headed to the crate and began to unpack their gear.
Ammunition for their 9mm side arms, H&K UMP45's and H&K G3, radio and vaccines were all prepared and ready to go. The mission, simple and straight forward. Find a man known as Ace Cooper, his apprentice, radio for pick up and get out. It would have been a cake-walk if not for the fact that the only place to be inserted was located 5 clicks north of where the target was. 5 clicks of infected strewn territory right in the middle of the hot zone. A whole squad should have been deployed, but those in charge felt that the two current agents from Vesta's private defense force were more than enough.
First Lieutenant Laurel Taylor had been working with Vesta for several years. Her codename 'One' was a nod at how many missions she had been a part of that were wholly unsuccessful. She was the leader of this mission as well as an expert in small arms fire and explosive devices.
Master Chief Sergeant Nadia Bishop had been originally employed by one of Vesta's military contract rivals, but a hostile takeover of the company had forced her to seek employment with Vesta. The codename 'Shadow' had been assigned to her because of her remarkable marksmanship skills. While not a medic by training she knew more than enough to deal with any issues that might come up when dealing with a rescue mission such as the one they were on.
Grabbing the pair of binoculars from her utility vest, Shadow looked down. The infected were already beginning to converge on their insertion point.
"Looks like we came in up wind of them." Shadow muttered, "25 are moving on our point. What's the call?"
Walking over to the edge, Laurel motioned for Shadow to give her the H&K G3. From her spot , she took aim at one of the shambling, half decayed figures below. It was a woman, dressed in a light brown body suit with tattered black and red cape. There must have been a costume party going on. The figured stopped and looked up at Laurel with milky white eyes, it's rotting moth agape.
"Really sorry about this, old girl." She muttered, placing the women's head in the center of the crosshairs. The resounding shot and falling corpse, did little to startle the others that were shuffling along, blindly searching for their next meal.
"Good one." Shadow smirked, looking through her binoculars. "Waist of a bullet though."
"One less to deal with." Passing the rifle back, Laurel headed over to the roof access door. She put her ear against it and listened. There was no sound, other than the beeping of Shadow's palmtop computer as she brought up the floor plans of the building.
"Lets see…Croesus Palace, here we go. We can take these to the 12th floor but after that we've got to head to the other side of the building in order to take the rest of the stairs down."
Nodding, Laurel stepped back, removed the 9mm side arm from it's holster and shot the lock off the door. "Age before beauty." She smiled sweetly to Shadow whose response was to flip her the bird.
"Swan before swine." She replied. Holding her UMP at the ready, Shadow cautiously entered the stairwell.
It appeared to be clear though that could change in a moment. The infected outside had responded to their presence almost immediately after they had been dropped off. It seemed safe to assume if there were any infected in the building, that they would be drawn to the two commandos once their presence was detected.
There was an eerie silence as they traveled further down. Was it possible that the infected had migrated out of the building in their search for prey? As they passed a door that opened out onto one of the hotel floors, Laurel glanced out the small window.
The floor was a mess. Blood stained the walls and carpet, half eaten bodies of guests lay out in the hall. She jumped back as an infected threw itself against the door. It looked male, large with a square body. Half it's face and the majority of it's scalp had been removed, leaving the decaying muscles exposed. By the dirty uniform though, they were able to see that he had once been an employee. A bouncer maybe?
Thankfully though the door seemed to be holding up against the violent attacks and contrary to what the media might say, infected did not know how to open doors or use stairs. They were tied to wherever they fell, forced to roam until decomposition took away what little mobility their reactivated bodies remained.
Shaking her head, Laurel motioned for Shadow to follow her, moving quickly. If there were anymore on that floor, they would quickly join the one at the door. They might not be able to open it like a normal person, but their constant banging could weaken the door forcing it to open and then it would just be a matter of time before they came tumbling down the stairs, searching for their meal. Not being able to walk down the stairs wasn't the same as being able to fall down them.
Coming to the final stair, Laurel moved forward. She held up her hand, signaling for Shadow to remain where she was. She checked the floor via the window, it looked clear. Cautiously, Laurel gripped the door's handle, her thumb pressing the release with a loud click. Slowly pulling the door open she moved around it, her gun at her shoulder and ready to fire. Shadow followed after as they moved into the hallway.
"We need to turn right at the last hall," Shadow referenced the map again. "The door to the stairs will be at the end."
They could hear movement coming down the hall. The lone steps were quick, almost a run, so it was either someone who had just become an infected or a survivor. Instinctively, Shadow moved to the other side of the hall, flanking Laurel's left. Both had their weapons at the ready. A lone man wearing a black tank-top and dirty blue jeans walked out, a heavy rucksack slung over his shoulder. He had dirty blonde hair and a large diamond shaped tattoo over his right eye. He froze, almost dropping the Magnum he carried.
"Who are you?" Laurel ordered, moving forward, keeping her gun at the ready. The man still seemed to be in shock and only started to resist when Laurel pushed him up against the wall and began to frisk him, checking to see if he was carrying any other weapons.
Pushing away, he grabbed the bag which Laurel had knocked free. "My name is Matt. Who the hell are you?"
"That doesn't matter." Shadow came up and looked him up and down. "Have you been bitten?"
"No, and what are you doing here?" He asked again.
"We're from Vesta." Laurel began, "We're here to rescue someone named Ace Cooper."
Matt's expression soured. "What about the rest of the survivors?"
Laurel exchanged a glance with Shadow. They had the resources to only rescue 2 people not counting themselves so with it being just them, their primary objective was to get this Cooper guy and his apprentice out first.
"Not our problem." Shadow said darkly. "We're just concerned with getting our job done. Now step aside."
Matt refused to move from his spot, blocking their movement down the hall.
"Look, Sir." Laurel began, "As soon as we complete our objective, we'll radio in and have another squad flown in to help you and anyone with you out."
He didn't seem to be buying it and only shook his head. "The city is dead because of Vesta. I don't expect them to try and fix any of their mistakes unless something is it for them."
Laurel gave a dry chuckle. "Exactly, someone else is paying for us to rescue this guy. Vesta couldn't care less."
"Probably Mona," Matt mused. "Jack wouldn't care, Vega, if he got out, wouldn't have that much money…"
"Yeah-" Shadow cut in, "We don't know and we don't care. Now if you'll just move, we'll be on our way." Moving in-between him and the wall, Shadow pushed him away as she headed towards the door, Laurel following.
"I wouldn't head upstairs." Laurel called back over her shoulder to Matt. "There's an infected on the 15th floor. He saw us so he'll be trying to figure out how to get down."
"Spade couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag while he was alive. I doubt being dead will have made him any smarter." Mat had a tired, sad smile on his face. "This place is cleaned out anyway, I need to find a new place to get supplies from."
"Uh-huh, good luck with that." Shadow muttered, "El-Tee, we're burning daylight, lets move!"
"Hold on a second." Laurel looked back to Matt. "You got a car?" He nodded. "Here's the deal. You get us to Ace, we'll get you out too."
"And my sister." He stated bluntly.
Laurel flinched a bit. "Fine."
Matt smirked and motioned for them to follow him. "My car's in the underground garage." He explained as they raced down the steps. "My sister is with Cooper right now. All the survivors are held up at an apartment building a few blocks away."
"Exactly how many are there?" Laurel questioned.
"Counting me, eight."
"The man is an extortionist." Grumbled Shadow, obviously hating the situation. "El-Tee how do we know he's not going to screw us over?"
"Easy," Laurel stated loudly. "We'll kill him if he does."
The stairwell was clear of any infected but remains of victims and signs of those being turned were clear. With two people now watching the front, Shadow was clear to keep their retreat covered. If luck was on their side, they'd get out of the situation without seeing anymore of the infected.
When they came to the doors that lead out to the garage, Laurel made Matt stand aside and signaled for Shadow to watch her flanks. Cautiously she moved out, poised and ready to shoot. Infected had infiltrated the area, she could hear their shuffling steps and breathless groans. She motioned for Shadow to follow after Matt and guard him.
"C'mon," Grabbing his arm, Shadow started to pull Matt away. "Where's your car?"
Laurel moved after them, her eyes darting back and forth, scanning for the first sight of one of the infected. Stiffly, one moved out from between two cars, it's arms outstretched in an almost comedic fashion as it groaned loudly. Her finger pulling back on the trigger caused the gun to recoil as several shots were let out. The infected lurched backwards and fell onto the cement floor. Others were starting to appear, being drawn to them by the sound and smell. She could hear Shadow's gun going off as well.
"Tell me you're at his car." Laurel spoke into her radio before letting off several more rounds. With a flick of a switch, she had put her UMP into full automatic mode and began to fire wave after wave at the slowly encroaching infected.
"We're here, but there's a bit of a problem." Was her response. "Our way out is blocked. The damn things are overrunning the entrance. They look fresh too."
Fresh was the term used for describing someone who had recently become an infected. Still quick on their feet and strong since rigor mortis and decomposition had yet to take hold. They were slightly more deadly than the ones who had been infected for a longer period of time, sometimes addressed as 'stiffs', though they were just as dumb.
Laurel cursed and glanced over her shoulder, the infected were starting to creep up behind her, blocking her escape route.
There was a screeching of tires and the honking of a horn. A Chevy Silverado came barreling down the garage, slamming into the infected that had gathered around Laurel's rear. Some were thrown, landing dangerously close to Laurel, others were smashed by the truck's large tires. Shadow threw the passenger door open. The fresh infected were running behind them, knocking over the stiffs as they tried to get to their meal. Grabbing hold of Shadow's hand, Laurel hauled herself into the truck's cab, slamming the door behind her. Matt, shifting gears, slammed his foot on the accelerator and Laurel found herself thrown back against the seat from the force.
Matt's driving skills were starting to become apparent. He managed to avoid most of the infected as he swerved, trying to get at the entrance. It was obvious that he had some kind of defensive training. The infected were continuing to pour in, falling over one another in their attempts to get at the living.
Sitting up, Laurel pulled a container, roughly the size and shape of a soda can from the strap on her vest and started to roll the window down. "Matt, throw it in reverse now!" She ordered. He looked ready to protest but when he saw her grip the pin and throw the grenade out the window and into the mob of infected, he did as instructed, heading as far back as he could.
It felt like a lifetime but in fact it was only 10 seconds before the grenade went off. The explosion decimating the infected within it's blast range. The resulting concussion shook the truck and the very building. A clear opening now visible, Matt put the truck into drive and shot out of the garage and onto the street. Looking into the rearview mirror he saw that two of the fresh infected had climbed into the bed and were clumsily crawling towards the back window.
"We've got a couple of hitchhikers." He began to serve, throwing them into the tailgate but unfortunately not removing them from the truck.
Crawling into the back seat, Shadow pulled her UMP up to her shoulder and started to shoot. The glass flew backwards, acting as shrapnel, startling the two infected and making them pause long enough for her to shoot them both in the head. One body fell over the side of the truck's tailgate, the other sank to the bottom of the bed.
"Are you sure that thing's dead?" Matt asked, glancing back at the corpse.
Shadow nodded, sitting down. "They can't survive if the brain or spinal column are destroyed. It prevents the electrical impulses from moving along the body. The Meridian virus activates dead-cells, causing these electrical impulses to be once again utilized by the body." She went on to explain, "Of course the side effects of infection result in the reanimated body containing no intelligence. It functions on the most basic impulses. The need to feed and the need to procreate."
"I did not need that mental image." Matt sank lower into the seat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.
The rest of the drive was in silence. The streets were lined with wrecked cars and dead bodies. Turning down a side street, they drove until they reached a building that had it's entrance barricaded by turned over cars and dumpsters. Matt managed to squeeze the truck past two police cars. Turning the car off, he quickly jumped out and went to move a dumpster into the hole. Going back to the truck, he grabbed the bag and started to head into the building.
"We've figured the safest way to go was up. This place at least offers us a way to defend ourselves and light since the backup generator is still functioning." He motioned for them to start following him up the stairs. "Explain something to me. How come not everyone that's killed is turned into one of those things."
"The Meridian virus has an incubation period of 24 to 48 hours. If you're killed outright by an infected, the virus doesn't have a chance to spread throughout the body. You need to be living and incubating the virus at the time of death to become one of the walking infected. It doesn't kill you either. Normally it's septic-shock brought around from the initial contact with an actively infected individual, which is most commonly a bite. The human mouth is a cesspool of bacteria." Shadow glanced around, the walls looked clean. "Have you made sure the building was clear?
"Yeah, there weren't that many here for some reason. I guess they were all smart enough to get out with the first evacuation warning."
Laurel nodded. "Which begs the question, why are you here?"
"I did get out." Matt started, "But I came back because my idiot sister was staying with her boyfriend, Cooper's apprentice, and wouldn't listen. She thought it would be safer with them."
"How did you manage to get back in?" Laurel asked.
Matt chuckled a bit. "Give a man enough money and he'll look the other way for anything. I thought I would have enough time to get out before they destroyed the bridges."
"Then it's your own bloody fault." Shadow snorted. "I don't see why we have to risk our necks to save you and your sister. We're only being paid to retrieve Cooper and his apprentice."
Laurel shot Shadow a look that told the Sergeant not to say another word. "How have you managed to keep them from over running this place?"
"We shoot any of them that come sniffing around and minimize our going outside to only when necessary."
Laurel and Shadow exchanged looks again, something about that didn't seem right. There had to be another reason, something that either Matt did not know or wasn't telling them. They traveled up several flights of stairs before stopping on the floor everyone was occupying.
"Matt?" A young blonde woman stepped out from one of the apartments and flung herself at him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. "Matt! We heard the explosion and when you didn't come back on time we started to worry."
"It's alright." He returned the hug for a second then let her go. "Where's Cooper?"
"On the top floor keeping watch with Mike and Lori. He's still refusing to shoot a gun though."
Matt simply rolled his eyes and patted the girl on the shoulder. "Alex, get the others. We're going to be leaving."
"Whoa, hold on!" Hissed Shadow, "Our deal was if you got us to Cooper, we'd get you and your sister out. This wasn't part of it."
"The deal's changed." Matt glared at the two of them. "You get us all out or I kill Ace. I doubt Vesta would be thrilled if you returned empty handed."
Laurel gave an audible growl and looked to Shadow, the sergeant appeared ready to snap. "I wasn't bluffing when I said we'd kill you if you screwed us over. But we want out of here as much as you do so we'll go along with this, for now."
Matt had a look of smug satisfaction on his face as he told Alex to again gather the others and followed her into an apartment.
"El-Tee, how can you go along with this? It's just the two of us here and a load of untrained civilians! We might as well just shoot ourselves and get it over with." Shadow protested, her jaw clenched in anger.
Laurel gave Shadow a disapproving look. "My decision stands…for now. We are going to successfully complete our mission and try to get the rest of these survivors out as well. Do you get me Sergeant?"
Shadow was scowling but gave a stiff nod. "Sir, I get you, Sir."
In a few moments everyone was gathered in the hall. Four college students, Dawn, Mike, David and Lori, who had been on spring break when the outbreak occurred and failed to find the evacuation routes. Matt, his sister Alex, and the two who Laurel and Shadow had been sent into save, Ace Cooper and his apprentice Cosmo. As it turned out, Ace had been on the list of people to have been personally escorted out of the city at the beginning of the outbreak but refused to go, wanting to leave with the rest of the population believing he wasn't entitled to any preferential treatment.
"Of all the self-righteous bull." Shadow though as she listened to him.
When Ace was finished, Laurel stepped up and looked to them. "Alright, this is what's going to happen. I will radio that we have made contact with our target and explain the situation. They will give us an ETA and pick up zone. You will listen to what my sergeant and I say and do exactly as instructed. The best way to dispatch an infected is to destroy the brain, killing all motor functions, so aim for the head. If you all keep your guns loaded and keep your hands steady, we'll get through this. In the event that one of you is exposed to the virus by an infected person, there is an antivirus."
Shadow took the opportunity and held up a clear plastic tube that contained a transparent, yellow liquid inside of a second cartridge. "This is an auto-injector it's simple to use. Pull off the red safety cap at this end, place the now exposed black tip against your shoulder or hip and press down on the white end. The auto-injector will engage and dispense the antivirus automatically. We only have four of these so try not to put yourself into a position to get bit in the first place."
The expression on everyone's face was a mixture of hope and horror. They were going to be leaving this hellhole and get out, but they'd need to leave what appeared to be their only safe haven.
"How exactly are we suppose to believe you? Aren't you part of the group that caused all this?" Dawn questioned, "How do we know you're not going to turn around and shoot us all in the back?"
"Because," Laurel said as she started to set up the radio. "I have plans and dieing isn't one of them." The line was so cliché that Laurel suddenly wanted to stab herself in the eye with a fork.
The radio contact with the main Vesta base outside of the city was brief. Laurel told them about their situation and the new developments. In exchange she was given an evacuation point at Electo City Central park and an ETA of pick up at 2200.
Shadow looked over at Laurel, slightly worried. According to her maps that was over 16 blocks West of their current location and a night maneuver on top of it all. "We're dead."
"We're just going to have to travel on foot." Laurel sighed. There wasn't another way around it. The truck was to small and to exposed and there probably wouldn't be enough fuel to get them there anyway. "Grab your gear people, we're moving out. Matt you're on point with me. Shadow, take up the rear. The rest of you, watch out for each other and try to keep the flanks guarded."
They nodded and all went to gather their guns. Various makes and models of small, low power side arms. The biggest thing they had was a 12 gauge Remington 870 pump-action shot-gun that was being carried by Mike. They had been unable to find a suitable amount ammunition so it was only to be used as a last resort.
"When I said gear, I meant guns and ammunition only. We're not taking food or anything else along." Laurel growled as saw Matt sling the large rucksack over his shoulder.
"This goes were I go. Don't worry, I'll be able to keep up with you."
The lieutenant fumed, her fists clenching. "I told you in the beginning, you will listen to me and do as I say! I do not want to die because you have to bring some sentimental junk with you."
"This isn't sentimental junk." Drawing himself up to full height, Matt stepped up to Laurel and glared down at her. "This is going with me, you understand?"
While the two continued to argue about the bag, Shadow was helping the "troops" prepare, making sure they at least knew how to properly load their weapon. All of them had no experience with firearms outside of a PC survival game but it looked as if they were willing to listen to instruction and use their will to survive, well all except Ace that is.
The man vehemently refused to use a gun of any kind claming it was against his moral compass to shoot another human being.
Even his apprentice looked to be getting annoyed at this point. "They stopped being human a while ago. It's a matter of survival now."
"I'm sure there's a cure that will return them to normal," Ace started.
Shadow scoffed at that and shook her head. "Sure, there's a cure. A bullet straight to the brain, destroying all motor functions."
Ace looked disgusted by Shadow's blunt answer and gave a startled yelp when Shadow lightly jabbed the butt of her rifle into the small of his back. "C'mon flower-child, let's get a move on. El-Tee, we're ready to go!"
Matt had refused to let go of what was in the bag, not even answering her questions about what its contents were. All he did do was assure her that it was needed and that he'd be able to keep up with the group. Having lost this battle and not wanting to waist anymore time, Laurel allowed him to keep the bag. There was still the fact that the building, in the hours they had spent there, had seen no activity from any infected, something had to be keeping them away, but what was it?
As they began to file down the stairs, Laurel couldn't help but feel like this was just the beginning to a much larger nightmare. Once at the lobby, Laurel headed to the front doors and looked around, the area was clear, but she was unsure of how it would be once they passed the barricade. "Move up."
Shadow had to all but herd them out. Muttering all the while about not getting paid enough to put up with so many people.
"Enough of that Sergeant. We've got a long way to go tonight." Shouldering her gun, Laurel headed to the barricade and climbed on top of a car. There were three infected shuffling along but they seemed to be unaware of the humans presence. "I don't like this."
"What's taking so long?" Cosmo asked, "We've only got 2 hours."
She looked back to the red headed youth and heaved a sigh. "Something is very wrong. This many humans should have attracted a larger number of infected. They're drawn to the smells and sounds of anything living. There's something…keeping them from here."
The statement caused Mike to quirk an eyebrow. "Those things can be afraid of something?"
Laurel only shrugged and quietly climbed down the other side of the barricade. "I don't know."
Shadow began to help the others cross the barricade before jumping over it herself. The now reformed group started to head down the street, attempting to be as quiet as possible. The groans of the infected and the screams of the remaining victims were floating heavy on the night air. They managed to get a bit more than half way, the entrance to the park now clearly visible when suddenly Alex let out a scream fit for the horror movies when a trash can was knocked over.
"If they didn't know we were here…they do now." Sighing, Laurel started to head for the ally, pulling the small flashlight from her belt and turning it on. "I'll check it out, everyone stay together."
There was the sound of chewing and gnashing of teeth on bone but as the light scanned over the area all she saw was a grungy looking dog picking at a dead cat. Giving a relaxed sigh, Laurel turned to go back when the dog growled at her. Turning back around, she felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.
The front of the dog's chest was completely open, the dripping skin and flesh hanging limply from the gaping wound. It started to walk towards her, it's head low, growls getting louder. Laurel's hand was shaking as she raised her 9mm. The dog jumped at her, its fangs bared and she pulled the trigger back. With a heavy thud the creature landed on the ground, it's paws twitching uncontrollably.
"El-Tee! El-Tee what happened…" Shadow trailed off as she and the others came to Laurel's side. "Is that what I think it is?" Laurel gave a nod, kneeling down next to the creature. "That isn't suppose to happen!"
"Hold on, what isn't suppose to happen?" David asked trying to get a look. "What's wrong?"
"The Meridian virus is only suppose to infect humans. It was genetically engineered to only reproduce in a human's biological system. This," Shadow pointed at the dog, "Isn't suppose to happen. It's a mutation that as far as I know, hasn't been seen before."
"If it's mutated to where it can infect animals and possibly be transmitted by them… Shadow, get in contact with the base and tell them what's happened." Laurel ordered.
As the sergeant started to try and contact Vesta's base, David caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Several infected dogs were gathering at the end of the ally, growling and snapping.
"Guys…we've-got a problem!" Stepping back he raised the small Kel-Tec P-32 and started to shoot. His hands were shaking causing most of the bullets to hit the ally walls and only nick the creatures, but untimely not stopping their advancement on the group.
"Out of the way!" Mike snapped as he brought the shotgun up and fired. The head of one dog was blown clear off. Pumping again, he took another shot, and another of the dogs went sailing backwards, hitting the ground with a thick thud.
Getting her wits about her, Laurel stood up she looked around for a way out. They couldn't just run, those things would catch up with them. "Everyone, up onto the fire escape!" Jumping up, she grabbed a rung from a rusty ladder and pulled it down. She forced Ace onto it first and then the others. "Just keep going, don't stop!"
As they climbed, Lori missed a step, making her to fall forward and crack her chin open. Dazed, she tried to pick herself up and gripped the sill of the window next to her. The glass sudden blasted outwards as an infected lunged at her from inside the apartment. Grabbing Lori by her right arm it tried to pull her into the apartment. Screaming out, she desperately tried to pull her arm back.
Seeing their friend in distress, Dawn and David headed back down and began to help her break free. Tried to shoot at the creature only to realize that his magazine had already been completely discharged. Along with Dawn, David gripped Lori's arm and started to pull back. Lori let out scream as the infected bit into her lower arm and with another pull, they managed to get her free, quickly helping their friend up the rest of the way while Mike used the last shotgun shell on the creature.
"El-Tee, your next." Shadow ordered, nodding in the direction of the fire escape. The noise had attracted even more infected and they were coming in from both ends of the ally way and while their progress was slow, the sheer number of them would cause the two to be over run in a few moments.
Nodding, Laurel started to climb up, watching to make sure Shadow didn't try and pull any 'hero' business.
Her magazine spent, Shadow let the UMP slip from her grasp as she turned to jump up onto the fire escape and start climbing up. Her grip faltered for a moment as she felt something grab onto her pant leg. Three infected were pulling and clawing at the fabric, trying to pull her back down towards them. "Bugger off!" She screamed, trying to kick free of their grasp. A shot rang out and one that was holding her fell backwards. Matt was standing on the scaffolding above her, his Magnum aimed down towards them, With another shot, the second one holding her released as the bullet pierced it's skull. Kicking free of the last one, Shadow quickly ascended the rest of the ladder.
"Move it!" He yelled back to the two as he quickly started up the rest of the fire escape
"What, now he's giving the orders?" Laurel growled as she and Shadow continued up. Once on the roof, Mike grabbed Shadow and started to pull her over to were Lori was sitting. Propped up against an ventilation shaft, the woman was shaking, sweaty and pale. Shadow could see the blood running down the rest of her arm and pooling under Lori's fingers.
Taking out one of the auto-injectors, Shadow rolled Lori's left sleeve up and administered the antivirus. "See," She forced herself to talk in a smooth, quiet voice as she wrapped the woman's wounds with a roll of gauze, "Everything is going to be okay." She patted Lori's shoulder and stood up. The building was now surrounded. It was an easy jump to the next, but after that…
Laurel took the next few moments to take inventory. She had another magazine for her UMP and 3 others for her 9mm. Shadow was down to using her G3 when there was enough room but other than that she was down to her 9mm with 2 full magazines. Matt and Alex had about 45 rounds for their Magnums between the two of them, David had ran out of ammunition but Lori had given him her M1911 because she could no longer shoot affectively, that had another 2 8 round magazines left besides whatever it was holding now. Mike was out as well but he was laughing in a forced manner claiming the shotgun could be used as a club and Dawn still had her H&K USP with half a magazine inserted and one other full one. Cosmo had somehow gotten his hands on a pair of antique Luger P08 pistols, but now only had enough rounds to fill one.
"Shadow, have you managed to get in contact with base?"
The sergeant had been trying to make contact with their superiors after she had patched Lori up. She nodded, a grave expression on her face. "I updated them on the situation and Heaven's Gate is opening. Our pickup time's been pushed forward. We've got 45 minutes to get there or we're not getting out of here."
"What does heaven's gate mean?" Mike asked.
"It means," Laurel sighed, "That the use of thermo-nuclear devices has been authorized. It's the only containment plan Vesta has for when thing get out of control and the experiment doesn't go according to plan."
"Out of Control?" David exclaimed, "Not according to plan? What the hell were they thinking of releasing that virus here!" He went to grab Laurel's arm but in a swift movement, Laurel had him on his knees, his arm twisted behind his back.
"You think I have any control over anything they do? Take out your anger on someone who deserves it." She snapped, letting him go. "Okay, enough wasting time! We're going to get there or at the very least die trying! This is the plan, we get over onto that building, we get down and we start running for the park. It's a straight line."
The gap between the buildings was maybe 3 feet so getting across wasn't the problem. The hard part came when they discovered that the infected seemed to be converging from all points onto their location.
"Everyone start going down the fire escape." As they started to file down, she took off her vest and looked. 3 MK3A2's left, that should make for a good distraction. Over head she could hear the rotors of a chopper approaching, there wouldn't be much time left. Pulling the pin from the middle grenade, she hurled her vest into the horde surrounding them and started to run down the fire escape. The explosion rocked the building and the resulting concussion waves either knocked down or stunned the infected that were within the blast zone.
"Run!" Shadow ordered.
Everyone took off through the hole. The park was in site and the helicopter was hovering over the area, it's search light illuminating the night sky as it landed. Laurel was a good 10 yards behind the others, but the infected were slow in their recovery time so she was quickly gainning on the group. Laurel only hoped that there were no more infected dogs in the mass gathering of the walking stiffs.
Once at the park everyone continued running, the helicopter was now within sight and a full squad of Vesta's defense force was with it. They were going to make it! Something leapt from the shadows of the gazebo as they passed it. The low roar it produced made everyone halt and Ace smile.
"Zina!" He knelt down to great the large black panther as it moved up to him. "We were separated when the Express was overrun by those things. I didn't think she'd actually make it out of there alive."
"Ace…something isn't right." Cosmo tugged lightly on his friend's shoulder. The panther's movements were slow and clumsy, which could just mean she was exhausted, but with everything else that had happened who knew.
"What are you talking about?" Ace asked, putting his hand on the panther's head. "It's Zina."
"Christ, leave the pet!" Shadow snapped.
"She isn't a pet!" Ace turned to face her only to be slashed at by Zina. Her large paw leaving four deep gouges in his chest. Stunned, he fell backwards as the beast jumped on to him. His hand rammed against Zina's lower jaw as Ace attempted to push the crazed animal off of himself. "Zina! What's gotten into you?"
The panther's body lurched as shot after shot was pumped into it's body, coagulated blood oozing out of the wounds. It wasn't until one of the Vesta defense force snipers used a hallowed point round to the middle of Zina's ribcage that the panther finally jumped off of Ace and redirected her attack at the Vesta squad. Before she even had a chance to jump, six of the seven began to fire their UMP's, all set to full automatic. In a matter of moments, the panther lay on the ground, finally downed.
Without a word or explanation the squad gathered the survivors and began to put them onto the helicopter. It's fuselage was reminiscent of an old B52 bomber, though on a much smaller scale. Designed for speed, it possessed two rear rotors, one on each wing and a massive main rotor that was still spinning.
As she was getting on, Shadow noticed that two squad mates were putting Zina's corpse into a large, double sealed body bag. The scientists back at the lab would want to study the mutation to see if it could be utilized. Dawn and Mike were sitting together, holding hands while
Ace and Lori were being tended to by a proper medic. Lori seemed to look alright while. She had been given another shot of the antivirus and was now resting her head lazily on David's shoulder while he gently stroked her arm. Ace, on the other hand had green tinge to his skin and his eyes were slightly glazed over, probably from shock. They'd given him a shot of the Meridian antivirus but it was anyone's guess if it would actually work. He'd be put into quarantine as soon as they hit the base back on the mainland.
Her head resting against the bulkhead of the helicopter, Laurel sighed. Ace had been injured, her superiors would chew her out and probably bumped back down to a second lieutenant, but at least they had made it out alive. Closing her eyes, she tried to get some well deserved sleep.
The helicopter gave a jolt as it touched down a few hours later on the mainland. Getting up, Laurel watched as the Vesta scientists helped Ace out, he looked to be in a lot of discomfort and the wounds were now turning black. She was bricked if he died. Once they had taken Ace away from the group, Laurel followed Shadow out, her only desire then was to shower and at least make herself look descent before they ripped the bars from her shoulders.
"You two did well." Matt said dryly as he watched them walk away.
"Piss off." Shadow muttered, brushing her hair away from her face.
Matt smirked and turned when someone called out "Mr. Diamante!" A young man with dirty brown hair and lab coat raced up to him. "Mr. Diamante, did you get the combat data recorders?"
To this, Matt un-slung the bag from his shoulder and opened it revealing several orange boxes roughly 8 inches long and 4 inches wide.
Both Laurel and Shadow felt their jaws drop . This couldn't actually be the Matthew Diamante, CEO of Diamante Inc., could it? Diamante Inc was Vesta's parent company and helped to fuel Vesta's military contracts. Matthew Diamante virtually owned both companies, having majority control over both stocks.
"The combat data-recorders in the Croesus Palace had stopped sending when the power got cut." He explained, not even looking to the two. "I knew the place better than any of you defense force commandos so I decided to go in and get them myself."
"I really wish you wouldn't have, Sir." The scientist added, "It was an exorbitant risk."
Matt just heaved a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Will you quit your harping? I trust myself more than those twits in Research and Development. The entire experiment was a success."
"Success, success?!" Laurel screamed. "The damn virus mutated! A city is destroyed, how many people died and you call it a success?"
"The Meridian virus didn't mutate." The scientist piped in. "Cooper's panther was infected with the prototype progenitor virus, Diva, a few days into the outbreak."
"A prototype?" Laurel questioned. "How did that happen?"
Matt smirked again. "Cosmo. Of course when that damn train of Cooper's was overrun and they were separated from Zina, Alex could no longer obtain the development data. That was the only hiccup in the entire thing."
"But Ace was injured." Laurel pointed out. "Whoever paid for his retrieval is going to be upset."
"Oh I'm not upset at all." Matt started to chuckle. "We'll now be able to see and study how the new virus reacts to his body's unique physiology."
"What about those college kids? Were they part of this thing too?" Shadow asked.
Matt shook his head. "No. Sadly they were just caught up in the experiment but Dawn charmed me so I decided to let them live though the ordeal. They were the perfect test subjects for the deterrent trials."
"Deterrent?" Laurel quirked an eyebrow. "Something else being created by R&D?"
Nodding, Matt pulled a disk roughly the size of a quarter from behind his ear. "Infected only seem to react to both scent and sound. These help in masking an uninfected persons scent, making them smell like they're infected and thus no longer a desirable target. It only seems to work for 72 hours though." Letting the scientist have the bag, Matt walked over to the Laurel and Shadow.
"Now I'd like to read both your final reports so just fax them to my secretary, and oh, try not to make any plans for Thursday next week. We're having a dinner for some probable buyers and I'm sure they'd love to hear from two who have gone through it all." With that he turned around and followed after the scientist who continued to prattle on about how Matt shouldn't take such risks and how happy he was to have Matt back safe and sound.
Laurel and Shadow were both dumbstruck and it was Shadow who regained the ability to speak first.
"Now that's a kick in the balls. A gentler kick in the balls than expected, a well executed kick in the balls that came from a good looking source, but at the end of the day we're still walking funny."
It was an unspoken rule among Vesta's defense force that if you became privy to any knowledge about the experiments or the goings on of the company's leaders, you kept your mouth shut and head down. One did not talk about these things with anyone, even those that had been involved. There were perks that went along with it too, hush-money, in the form of a significant increase in salary, promotions and all expenses paid trips to exotic locals were part of the norm. There the two vowed never to breath a word of any of this to anyone, opting to just head quietly back to their quarters to clean up and get a little rest before having to write their final reports.