(Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the characters Joe Gardner, John Bald and Dave/David Hands. These are the property of Chris Ryan's 'Extreme Series' novels. The original story and characters of H.O.T.D also belongs to Daisuke Sato (R.I.P) and Shoji Sato. I myself however, and my fellow author 'FiremanJim' own our own respective characters and additional OC's.)

Last Alarm:

The Okinawa Offensive

Chapter 1

Warehouse/Industrial District,

Northern sector of Tokonosu City,

+3 Years since Z-Day…

The large steel doors to the warehouse had been sealed shut for the last three years. In those three years the contents of the warehouse had remained untouched, the pallets of food, medical supplies and other trinkets that had been meant to be shipped out across the city never left and were a treasure waiting to be plundered.

But like most treasures, whether they belonged to Caribbean pirates, Egyptian pharaohs or another long-lost society from a time long since passed, this treasure was booby-trapped.

The warehouses interior had been a 'safe zone' back when the outbreak had begun three years earlier. The people that had worked in the industrial district had brought their families and loved ones here so they would remain safe until help arrived. They had had plenty of supplies and the warehouse had also had its own power source.

But now, those people that had come here to be free and away from the undead walked aimlessly, occasionally bumping into each other and also the stacked pallets of supplies. One of the creatures, once a young teenage girl, had been the cause for the warehouse inhabitants demise.

She had been grabbed by one of the dead out of the streets just minutes before she had arrived. She had been bitten on the ankle, but the wound had been covered up by the now ruined pantleg of her jeans and it had gone undetected by the others before sealing the doors.

During the night the girl had passed away. It had only taken mere minutes before the infection that had flooded her system started to 'reboot' the creatures functions, the brain mostly remaining inactive while the infection only managed to spread up along the brainstem and go from there.

She had been found by one of the wives of one of the other workers. She had been to go and find a bottle of water for her son when she had seen the girl shaking violently in her sleeping bag. Figuring the girl was having a seizure she had quickly gone over to open the sleeping bag she had been sleeping inside of and helped ease her out and placed her into a recovery position. The woman knew that she wasn't meant to touch the girl as she shook, neither restrain or place anything in her mouth, all she could was allow her to go through with the attack and wait for it to pass on its own.

Unknowingly the woman had doomed them all.

The girl had stopped shaking soon afterwards, her body still shivering occasionally as spasms wracked her body until the woman had gently asked her if she was alright. Asking a few times very quietly and even placing a hand gently on the girls shoulder the girls head had almost snapped to attention at the touch and slowly turned her head to face the woman looking down at her.

Only for her to recoil at the sight of the milky, sightless eyes before she had lunged forward at the shrieking woman. That night it had taken all of two hours before everybody that had taken refuge inside had been bitten, eaten or had turned into one of 'them' as many had called them in the aftermath.

The girl's body now sat against one of the pallets of food, mostly cereal boxes that had burst open, her head slowly turning at the sound of one of her fellow undead dragging itself past her before it rounded a corner and repeated the cycle around the warehouse for the eighth time that morning.

Outside it was raining heavily. With Autumn having just past and now Winter arriving the weather soon started taking a change for the worse. The noise on the rooftop had her look towards the source of the noise. She had tried to reach out to grab at it but her arms had since lost their strength, withered away into nothing but bones and strips of leather.

Suddenly her head turned, a new noise…

From outside the doors that had been welded shut…

Food was coming…


One Hour Earlier…

Trudging through the streets of Tokonosu the line of four figures were slowly making their way towards their objective. Their objective was to reach the food depot storage and distribution center that was located in the Northern sector of the city, clear the area of undead and make sure that the area was safe before the supplies inside would be taken.

The lead figure, nearly standing at seven feet tall, wore a large black tarp that was cut and shaped as a large poncho. The hood however on each figure revealed that they all wore a set of PVS-14 MNVD's (Monocular Night-Vision Device) that were mounted to their ballistic helmets as the sun hadn't risen yet and in their hands, they all carried supressed Heckler & Koch HK416 carbines, except for the lead carrying an integrally suppressed 9mm Heckler & Koch MP5SD6 submachine gun in case he was attacked and the carbine was too big to bring up to use.

His MP5 had a few modifications he had added himself when he had helped to officially form Green Troop nearly two years ago. The weapon had been bog-standard when he had received the weapon from Master Chief James 'Mac' Masters of Seal Team Two but had quickly gone to work on making it his own.

The suppressor shroud had been modified to accept three picatinny rails to mount a small vertical grip, a side mounted laser sight and also a Surefire weaponlight. The sights he had chosen was the miniature Aimpoint T-1 red dot sight with a raised mount so the dot wasn't being blocked by the iron sights. Finally, he had the whole weapon painted desert tan, many had asked why 'tan' when they mostly operated in an urban environment and rarely in the wilderness but it was his preferred preference.

They were now half a mile from their objective and they were coming upon yet another obstacle the team of four had come across since leaving the ferry port nearly two hours earlier after joining up with the Marine/JSDF contingent from the island after being in the city for the last three days.

Having checked the maps of the area before beginning their journey towards the industrial and warehouse district of the city they had also noticed that there were several roads that led in and out of the city onto main highways and right before them sat one of the largest rows of vehicles. Everything from family vehicles, delivery trucks, tankers and even a few commercial buses, all piled up and blocking their path.

Hearing a collective sigh from the three behind, the lead figure turned and noticed how they all groaned in frustration. While it was an obstacle they had hoped to avoid they all knew they couldn't use this route. Of course, the four of them could just as easily climb over the vehicles to get to their objective but then that would defeat the purpose of them heading out ahead of the main supply raiding group.

They needed to map out a suitable route for the vehicles that were sitting at the ferry port that was used to transport and move goods back to Tokonosu Naval Base, formerly known as the 'Floating Island' airport, and right now eight trucks were waiting along with a mixture of United States Marines and Japanese Ground Self Defence Force ready to assist with loading supplies onto the trucks.


"We can swing around towards the west. That'll bring us out towards near the park but I think the roads over there are clear," Corporal John Bald commented as he pulled out and checked his map of the northern section of the city, tracing a route with his gloved finger along another route they could take.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we went east instead?" Corporal David Hands asked as he stood beside the other Corporal, both now looking at alternative roads, "See this route here? The yanks went through this route a few weeks ago and they said the roads there were clear."

"Maybe. The route seems quicker to take than going west," Bald said as he approached the others and showed them both the route they thought would be appropriate to take.

"Alright lads, we'll head east and see what we find. If the Americans did clear it it'll make out jobs easier," Sergeant Joe Gardner said as David then asked, "And what if it's blocked like this one?"

"Then we head back here and try the western route instead."


For a few minutes as his team conversed, Staff Sergeant Andrew Poynton remained crouched behind one of the few cars that made up the large blockade of vehicles that blocked their path. As he used the cover of the vehicle to temporarily get out of the rain he kept an eye on the area through the lenses of his PVS-14's and scanned the dark areas around them where the undead could be hidden.

He looked down briefly at the MP5 and pulled back the bolt to quickly chamber-check the weapon to make sure it was loaded. Suppressed weapons like this were a rare commodity nowadays. You were still able to get them and use them, especially since there was a large stockpile of them sitting in their armoury back home, but they had been running through suppressors like gram crackers. Plenty of guns to use, just not enough suppressors to use them...or people really.

"Boss, we've got a route," Bald said as he approached and crouched beside him.

"Okay, we'll move out in three minutes. If you need to drink, eat, shit or take a piss you do it now," he told the others as he watches the others disperse

He reached inside the tarp he was wearing and pulled out a packet of Marlboro cigarettes. Taking one between his lips and lighting it he took a deep inhale before breathing out. Since leaving the port earlier that morning they had only run into a few creatures roaming around the area. As they had progressed through the city they had put down any creatures they ran across, hopes that one day they would finally clear the city of the dead and retake it.

That was what the civilian council hoped for though while the military and the government knew it was a pipe dream. For starters, it would take years to clear the city and that wasn't just the undead, but the remains of hundreds of thousands of bodies, human and otherwise, and then having to worry about rouge survivors and scavengers that wouldn't think twice about trying to kill somebody just to take what they had.

And he didn't even want to start about the prospect of the city being riddled with disease and not just the infection that brought the dead back to life.

The team quickly regrouped a couple of minutes later and they were ready to continue.

The eastern route they had chosen was beginning to pan out for them. Having said that the Americans had come through here weeks earlier was an understatement. All around them as they continued in the rain, the road was littered with bodies and body parts. From seeing a few up-close Andrew could tell they were all dead before they had been torn up and thrown around as they had been.

The walls of buildings along the road were riddled with bullet holes and the street itself was littered not just with bodies but links and shell casings for a .50-caliber machine gun and 7.62mm general purpose machine guns. Some of the vehicles that had lined the street looked as they had been forcefully shoved aside, whether it had been an MRAP, an IFV or a Humvee with a snow plough attached to the front he had no idea.

But to be honest, he didn't care either. If the route payed off for them then they would have a clear and open road that would lead right to the front gates of the warehouse they were hoping to raid.

Before many had asked; "Why has it taken three years to raid this warehouse for the large quantity of supplies it holds?"

The answer was always the same; "Do you want to go up against one-hundred thousand undead that were all milling one small area?"

The answer was always 'no'.


"How many stragglers mate?"

"Can't see anything out on the road. I do have eight inside the fences though. Defences are still holding though, looks as though they were trying to hold out inside the warehouse themselves," John replied as he spied the grounds inside the warehouse's fences off perimeter.

The large gates that led in and out of the industrial sector were barricaded with large trucks and many other various small vehicles and objects so that anybody that had been alive could barricade themselves inside and not worry about the dead breaking in.

John aligned the scope's crosshairs on the furthest creature, an undead that was missing the right arm from the shoulder along with its left foot and was only just managing to move by walking on a bloody stump. As it walked, even from where he was lying up on the rooftop of a building a hundred yards away from the warehouse gates, he could hear the bone grinding against the pavement as it moved.

Placing his finger on the trigger he followed the creature and waited until it stopped moving before squeezing the trigger. The suppressed Lewis Machine & Tool LMT308MWS 7.62mm 'Sharpshooter' rifle jolted lightly against his shoulder as it fired, the round hitting the target in the head and took off the frontal lobe, not leaving much left of the face remaining as the body fell onto the ground with a dull thump.

"Hey, you reckon that Rika would be enjoying this if she were 'ere with us?" John asked as he looked for the next target.

"You know that lass as well as the rest of us mate. If she were here she'd have cleared that area by now and started mopping up those inside the building too," Joe replied as he sat beside the sniper.

"She'd be saying this were piss poor and more than likely say that were a waste of Three-oh-Eight ammo."

Instead of replying John quickly finished up, dropping the last seven creatures before radioing down to the others that the grounds inside the fences were now empty of moving hostiles. Re-joining the others a few minutes later, after packing away the marksman rifle and climbing down the stairwell inside the building, the four operatives made their way towards the front gates of the warehouses to get a better look at what they were dealing with.

"No way we can get these shifted lads. Tyres are fucked and we wouldn't be able to shift all this without heavy lift gear. All the noise would attract too many of them before we would even be able to load up the first truck," Andrew growled as he climbed into the cabin of one of the semi-trucks, checked the interior for anything useful before climbing back down.

"Has to be another way inside. They wouldn't have sealed themselves away like this and not hope to get away at some point. There's gotta be somewhere they'd get in or out," David added as he scanned the roads around them, spying the lone creature that had wandered out from nowhere.

"Well," Joe began, "This whole place is a 'park' right. Means there has to be more than one entrance both in and out. Can't be just the one. Place would have been a nightmare trying to get outta 'ere back then."

Joe was right, for a park this size and with as many warehouses inside the fences there must have been more than one entrance for the whole park to use.

They quickly started heading around to the northern face of the park while taking the path around to the east since the west road was blocked off by more vehicles it took then nearly twenty minutes before they finally found what they were looking for. The north side entrance wasn't clear but the only barricades were a couple of family saloon cars and the tyres on both vehicles still looked as they there was enough air in them so they could roll them out of the way.

Whoever had set up the barricades had known what they were doing, to an extent. The southern entrance was heavily fortified as a large undead presence would come from the city to the south while the north side was where the people had fled and maybe hoped the dead wouldn't have much interest in this area.

Instead of clearing them out of the way though the four operatives climbed over the engine block and left the vehicles where they had sat for the last three years to provide some security in case any of the dead somehow wandered up behind them.

As they approached the building they removed their night-vision goggles and were all finally able to remove the 'hoods' of their tarp covers as the sun was beginning to peek on the horizon and the clouds were finally parting and heading away.

"Okay," Andrew began as the four of them stood outside the front doors of the large warehouse, "When we go in there we cover each other's backs. We stay in formation, do not break ranks for whatever reason, and we can get this place cleared."

"Take your time, don't rush. You rush into these things without thinking it through and that's when we start losing control. We lose control and those things in there overwhelm us, there won't be much of us going home in body bags."

"Top off your mags," he then ordered and quickly everyone removed their half-empty magazines and were replacing them with fully loaded magazines. They decided that as they didn't want to take the chance, they decided to remove their packs and laid them down beside the doors to the warehouse and removed their tarps and tossed them aside, they had done their job.

With full freedom of movement, the four men had gone from looking like scavengers to elite soldiers, each dressed in MTP fatigues, combat vests loaded with magazines and grenades, head, knee and elbow protection and their suppressed weapons now openly held.

"I take it it'd be a daft idea to ask how many we reckon are inside right?" John asked as he quickly checked the blade of his Wakizashi, checking for any imperfections in the blade.

"Aye, it is a bit. Though if we can go by a rough estimation by the number of vehicles parked around here," Joe said pointing out towards the large collection of vehicles, "We could be facing somewhere between thirty to fifty undead. Maybe more," he added the last part hesitantly as he checked the load in his P226 MK25 before holstering the pistol and checking his carbine.

"We using lights or N-V-G's for this?" David asks as an afterthought, "Place is gonna be pitch black inside and unless the 'lectric's still workin' we might as well be running around in there wearing blindfolds."

"Or we're simply just thinking about this the wrong way."

Everybody's head turned to Andrew as he stood off to the side as he cradled his MP5 across his chest.

"What do you mean lad?" David asked his commanding officer

"We draw them out. Instead of us running around inside and possibly getting ambushed from all sides, we open the doors, give it a few loud bangs and let them trickle out to us instead. We drop 'em before they get within thirty feet of us instead of three feet."

"And there's also no risk to us possibly damaging any of the supplies inside too," John added after a moment, nodding at the idea.

"Why didn't we think of this before?"

"Because we've all been awake nearly three fucking days now with only M-R-E's and bottled water to keep us going on these back-to-back operations across the city. I'm surprised none of us have kneeled over yet from exhaustion," their commanding officer growled as he worked the kinks out of his shoulders by rolling them and removing the crick from his neck.

"Plus, I really need a strong cup of coffee or just need to pass out for about a week just to recharge," he sighed heavily.

The four men waited for a few minutes, taking this opportunity to drink from their canteens or Camelbak's or eat a sugar cookie from an MRE to try and get a sugar rush to keep them going just a little bit longer.

"Okay then. We ready to do this or what?"

As Joe, John and David prepared themselves Andrew walked towards the door and loudly pounded his gloved hand against it several times. He waited a few seconds before repeating the process again and could now hear the familiar snarls and growls of the undead closing in on the noise.

"Come on you fucks, come on and fuckin' get some," he grunted and taking a step back and using his boot he kicked the doorknob several times until it finally bent and then came loose on the eighth kick, breaking the knob and the lock making the door fly open as several creatures poured from the door. The creatures tried reaching out for the cause of the disturbance, but by the time their brittle arms were already reaching out he had retreated far enough away to avoid being caught.

For a few seconds, the four operatives watched as the crowd of undead slowly started to increase before the first creatures that had fallen slowly started to rise to their feet and started wandering in all direction.

"Let's clean this up quickly."

Carbines shouldered, red dot sights and lasers hovering over the heads of the closest creatures, they opened fire, single shots to the head. The Full-Metal-Jacket rounds ripped through the brittle skulls like a knife through butter, large chunks of bone, rotten flesh and clumps of matted hair flew as the 5.56mm rounds exited the backs of their heads.

The first line fell with ease and was quickly followed by the second group that emerged out through the door, but the men gave the dead enough time to exit the building and be far enough away from it before engaging them.

Aside from the growls, groans and snarls coming from the dead the only other noises being made were from the clatter of the bolts of their weapons firing, the ejection of the brass shell casings, the snapping as the suppressors kept the guns quiet and finally the gentle clatter of the brass hitting the ground.


As soon as the last corpse managed to crawl out of the building, lacking both legs and having to drag itself on bony stumps this creature received the full brunt of firepower from all four gunmen. All around the area in front of them near the open door, it had been a slaughter.

At a rough count Andrew guessed there had to be at least thirty, maybe forty bodies on the ground in front of them. All of them ranging from children to adults, the youngest was as tall as a fourteen-year-old. The features on the creature long since rotten away due to the heat and humidity inside the warehouse it was impossible to tell the creatures sex. But it had been the shoes the creature wore that identified the creature had been a young girl.

'That could have been my Alice' he thought darkly as he stepped over the dead creatures, kicking each one of them as he passed them. A few of them still twitched when kicked, so with a single trigger pull he would deposit a single 9mm round into the backs of their skulls point blank just to finish the job.

"Should we clear the rest of the structure?" Joe asked as he followed his commanding officer through the field of dead bodies, his carbine aimed at each creature as he passed over them.

"Nah," Andrew simply uttered as he turned to face his Two-I-C, "We've done enough. Time for the jarheads to earn their pay checks. Get on the blower, call them in and make sure to relay the new route to them so they know where they're going," he said as he turned and walked towards the open door and dared peer inside the darkened warehouse.

While it was dark inside thanks to their being no light sources, not even skylights, he could still make out large stacks of pallets inside the open spaces. And while he couldn't see or hear them, he could almost sense that there were more creatures still inside the building.

'Done our job. Besides, nearly out of rounds' he thought as he made his way back towards the others just as Joe finished speaking into his radio.

"Just called in the team's boss and relayed the new route. They said they'll be here in forty minutes."

"What's their security detail?"

"Two squad of Marines are en route with the trucks, heavily armed too. I also told them out our 'friends' here," Joe gestured to the bodies, "And said that there still could be more inside the building."

"And what did they have to say about that?" John asked as he pulled a packet of cigarettes from inside his vest and offered them to the group before taking his own and offered his lighter.

"Said not to worry about them. We've taken care of the main lot, they said they'll be more than happy to take care of the rest."

"The Americans are always happy to get involved in a scrap eh?" David chuckled.

"Yeah," Andrew sighed and then turned back to them, "Come on. We better establish a perimeter around this place and wait for the trucks to arrive. We don't have that much time, so, let's get to it."


Two hours later…

"What the fucking hell happened to 'forty minutes' then Joe?" John growled as he aimed his carbine at another creature that had been approaching their position at the gates from inside the guard station as a light drizzle passed overhead.

"I dunna know. The yank said forty minutes. I don't know what's keeping them," Joe growled back as he brought up his own weapon and fired on the creature before John got a chance, dropping the creature with a single shot to the cranium.

The pair carefully checked their surroundings for any more approaching threats before John sighed, "Look, I'm sorry mate. I didn't mean to snap at you like that," he apologised quietly, not being used to admitting such things he didn't look at his fellow brother in arms when he spoke.

"Wouldn't worry about it lad. We're all on fuckin' edge right now. Plus," Joe paused and looked at his friend, "We're all pretty fucking tired too."

"Hey," John said as he clapped the man's shoulder, "Why don't you try and catch a few winks. I'll wake you when…, 'if' these folks get here," he offered.

"You thinking they won't turn up?"

John couldn't help but snort, "No clue mate," and then turned to Joe, "Go on. Get some sleep lad."


"Where are the bloody troops at?" David muttered as he scanned the horizon, particularly the route they had taken and relayed to the Marines and J.S.D.F to follow to collect the food and supplies.

"Probably got cold feet and ran off," Andrew muttered as he looked back down to his lap as he took the sharpening stone and gently slid the stone along the razor-sharp edge of the knife.

"How much sharper you reckon you can get that thing?" David then asked after a minute of listening to metal and stone grind against each other.

"Probably as sharp as you like you tomahawk to be," he smirked as his good eye wandered down to where the Gerber Downrange tomahawk was hooked to his belt.

David had found the weapon only a few months prior when they had temporarily returned to the United Kingdom to assist the surviving members of the Special Boat Service retake several oil drilling platforms off the coast of Scotland so that the Royal Navy could get their engineers aboard and start drilling for crude oil again. The tomahawk had been found in the foreman's office, buried deep in the skull of a rotten creature. How the high-quality weapon had ended up on the rig in the first place was any bodies guess, and frankly the S.A.S trooper didn't care.

David had claimed it for himself after losing his knife a week earlier in a scuffle with several creatures, which had been lucky he hadn't been bitten or scratched, but had jammed the knife through the chin of one of the undead so its jaw was held fast and the creature hadn't been able to attack him when it grappled him.

"Ey up, I hear something," David said making Andrew snap around back to the present as he quickly sheathed the knife and brought up his carbine.

"What you got lad?" he asked as he peeked through the cover of their hidden position to see where the noise was coming from that David had heard. His ears pricked at the sound of an approaching engine, several infact, as moments later several military transport vehicles pull up towards the north gates of the warehouse district with several Humvee's and an Infantry Fighting Vehicle for protection.

"Looks as though our guys had finally decided to show up," the northern trooper smirked.

"Took them fucking long enough. Can't wait to hear what their excuse is."

"Same here lad."


It took the I.F.V only seconds to remove the vehicles that were blocking the road into the warehouse district once they were chained up to the Stryker. As soon as the first vehicle was out of the way the Humvee's and trucks rolled into the opened yard. One truck even ran over the bodies that lay on the ground before the driver had even noticed they were there and the large vehicle's tyres ripped the bodies to shreds.

"Eww, lovely," John commented watching the display unfold.

"I know, fuckin' lovely ain't it," David chuckled dryly.

"Come on," Andrew said as the others started following him, "Let's see what the lead man has to say for themselves."

As they approached the lead vehicle, a heavily up-armoured Humvee with a mounted Browning M2-QCB machine gun in the turret, the gunner in the turret cradled an M4A1 carbine with an under-barrelled M203A1 grenade launcher while an M249 Paratrooper light machine gun sat beside him on its open bipod as he scanned the area around them and then pounded on the roof as Green Troop approached.

"Boss, limey's incoming!"

The insult didn't bother them in the slightest. Everybody called each other offensive names all the time that were much worse than 'Limey' or 'yank' and to this date nobody had beaten Andrew's.

"Thanks yank!" he called up to the gunner, who smiled back with a toothy grin before looking back to the ground beyond the wire.

The door to the Humvee opened and the four men paused in their strides as a desert-tanned boot was placed on the ground first before being followed by another and then the slender form of a female trooper wearing M.T.P fatigues stood to her full height and approached the men, a smile on her face mostly hidden by the aviators she wore.

"Well boys," she began and smiled, "You've all done a very good job here today."

"Wish I could say the same about you…Rika-San," Andrew smirked as the former S.A.T operative and now J.S.D.F Special Forces Group officer Rika Minami smiled before approaching and embraced her friend.

"Walk with me," Rika said before turning to his team, "Guys, there are some protein drinks and some high-carb meals in the truck you can have. I know you're all tired so climb on in and get some rest, you've earnt it."

Not needed to be told twice, and a nod of approval from Andrew, the three tired men climbed into the vehicle without a second thought. Both chuckling at the men's quick pace to climb into the truck they turned and started walking.

"What's on your mind then Rika-San?" he addressed her as he walked alongside her.

"How much of this do you think we can salvage?" she asked as she motioned towards the warehouse as they watched several American and Japanese troops moving large trolleys of supplies from inside the building out towards the trucks where more troops were waiting to help load onto the vehicles.

"The supplies?" he asked, "I'd say we can salvage the sanitary supplies including most canned goods but I'm thinking a lot of it's gone over," Andrew said as they watched the empty trolleys being taken back inside the building as more was carted outside.

"Gone over?" Rika asked, unfamiliar with the British term.

"It's unfit for consumption," he stated as they both came to a stop near the fence and both watched a single undead slowly making its way up the road, completely unaware of their presence.

"You want this one?" he asked her calmly. Just looking at the creature he knew it wasn't a real threat, not anymore. He hadn't been able to tell if this undead had either been male or female due to the decomposition the thing was in and that it wore no clothes as well didn't help with an identification as to its gender.

"You know me Andrew-San, I never turn down the chance to put these things down."

Calmly, Rika reached to her holster and extracted the suppressed Heckler & Koch USP Tactical, the same sidearm he had gifted to his friend years earlier, and aligned the iron sights on the creature's skull but then whistles to gain the creatures attention. The figure stops moving and slowly it turns its head back and forth, looking for the source of the cat call moments before a .45-caliber slug penetrates the cranium and blows out large chunks of bone, brain matter and crispy strips of dark leathery skin.

"Disgusting," he commented dryly at the site but smiled as he looked back at Rika as she holstered the sidearm with a smile on her face.

"Better shot than you still," she smiled.

"Better shot she says?" he chuckled, "This coming from the student giving one of her former instructor's shite."

"Well," she began, "You have gotten a bit rusty behind the long guns lately."

He couldn't argue there. It had been nearly three months since he had used a bolt-gun and lately he had allowed John to become the units designated marksman while Rika had been behind the scope of one every other day either while on operations or while at the range with her fiancé.

Looking at Rika he noticed the healthy glow she radiated and the constant genuine smile she wore too. Ever since she had become engaged to Jim three months earlier he had noticed a change in both of them and for the better too. While they had the whole 'boyfriend and girlfriend' thing going on he could see that they were both holding back from taking the plunge of being husband and wife. Why they hadn't he had no idea, they were perfect for each other and had many the same interests and not once, aside from when they had first met, had he ever known the couple to argue about anything.

"Yeah, it's been a while," he muttered quietly before reaching for his Marlboro's and offered one to Rika, who thanked him as she nabbed one from the packet, before taking one for himself and lit their cigarette's.

"Is it because of the shoulder why you aren't using heavy-caliber rifles?" she asked as the leaned against the fence.

Just Rika mentioning the existing shoulder injury caused the wound to flare up. He winced but it quickly subsided after a couple of seconds, "Yeah, it's givin' me a bit of gyp."

"Still hurting?" she asked, concerned when he said that. Out of a few pieces of 'British terminology' she understood the word 'gyp' was one she had quickly become familiar with for when somebody was in pain.

"Yeah, comes and goes. Think I'm alright now," looking back to the trucks he noticed that the men had quickly finished loading up two of the four trucks and were almost finished on the third, "I think we ought to go and rejoin them. Sooner we're all packed up the sooner we can go home."

"Good. Shizuka's been going mad without you around these last few days," Rika smirked as they neared the trucks.

"What does that mean?" he asked nervously.

However, Rika didn't answer and the smile she wore before seemed to grow as she walked back towards the Humvee she had climbed out of, leaving him behind watching as the men loaded the third truck to the brim, "Bitch," he muttered.


Arriving back at the docks the men got themselves ready. While the members of Green Troop had all been awake for the better part of nearly eighty hours they were on top form, mostly being kept awake with energy drinks, they kept their carbines at the ready as they got nearer the ferry port.

Back before the outbreak, the ferry boat that was used to move people back and forth between the island and the mainland had been sunk when the Marines had swept and cleared the island. A Marine had used an M136 AT4 missile launcher against the ferry's hull to sink the boat after it was confirmed the vessel housed nearly three hundred undead and had been drifting dangerously close back towards the island.

Now it was a home for the fish and probably still housed its undead passengers.

Since then the military raiding parties and other such groups, used the LCAC's (Landing Craft Air Cushion) that had been requisitioned from the U.S.S Bonhomme Richard to ferry the vehicles, troops and the supplies safely back to the island.

Pulling up to the docks they saw only a few creatures had wandered into the area since the trucks had departed hours ago but the sharpshooters that had been positioned on the rooftops of nearby buildings had taken them out before they could reach them. The entrance to the port itself was also guarded by two platoons of J.S.D.F troops with a small detachment of Marines and as the vehicles approached Andrew watched as the men at the gates ran out and quickly removed the steel wires that were used to stop anything from breeching the site.

Slowly the convoy of vehicles came to a halt as the American and Japanese troops disembarked from the trucks and Humvees and took up defensive positions around the area. The first of the vehicles carefully drove down the ramp towards the first docked LCAC and slowly boarded with all four of the packed trucks being taken away on the first hovercraft.

It wasn't until the LCAC's engines came to life and started reversing out of the docks when the first of the creatures started emerging on the streets. At first it was a steady trickle but as the minutes ticked by more and more filtered out of the buildings. Soon the noise coming from the docks was drawing out hundreds of creatures.

"Oh fuck me," he groaned as he forcefully opened the Humvee's door and climbed out.

"Andrew-San! Wait!" he heard Rika call after him as he moved towards the wire. However, he knew better than to start firing on the crowd of undead. He stood back behind the Marines and the J.S.D.F and allowed them to perform their duties without getting in the way.

Already the few Recon Marines in the group were engaging with their suppressed weapons but with their only being eight of them firing, the others holding off without wanting to draw them in anymore as the LCAC's engines fade away into the distance the few carbines that were firing wasn't enough to repel them. The sharpshooters on the rooftops were also engaging with a suppressed Knight's Armament SR-25, but for every few they dropped more came.

"Need more firepower," he muttered quietly and looked back towards the Humvee where Rika was just now climbing out of. Stalking towards him he noticed the less than pleased look on her face but it quickly disappeared as he approached her, "Help me," he said as he walked past her towards the Humvee.

Instead of arguing, Rika turned and followed him back to the Humvee.

Just as he was about to reach for the handle the rear passenger door opened and Joe slowly climbed out of the vehicle. He was tired, worn out and looked to be on the verge of passing out but he still looked determined to know what was happening, "What's the matter boss?"

"We got trouble on the line. Roughly a hundred deadies heading this way, we need your guns," he simply stated.

Looking back inside the Humvee Joe looked as though he wanted to argue or say something but sighed and slowly reached back inside the vehicle and retrieved his M4 and handed it over to him before grabbing both John and David's carbines too.

"You going to help out too?" Joe asks as nods down to his MP5SD.

"When they get close enough yeah. Hopefully we'll be able to hold them back until the next hovercrafts in position," he replied as the three of them looked and watched just in time to see second LCAC approaching the docks.

"And what if you can't hold them back?"

"We let rip with the Browning," Rika said and smiled as she gazed lovingly up at the mounted machine gun.


Returning to the line with the carbines from his men had handed them to three of the Marines, who gladly took them, in place of their non-suppressed M16A4's and moved up amongst the Recon troops and quickly started to assist dropping the creatures as they pressed forwards.

Finally, the second LCAC was in position and the Humvee's were able to be moved onto the amphibious vehicle and quickly followed up by the Stryker.

"Okay boys, time to leave I reckon," he called down the line and received several thumbs up from the men before they began peeling away from the line and down towards the dock. The shooters that were up on the roof quickly descended from their position and joined them before heading down to the dock to join the troops who were retreating as the dead now started pushing up against the wires.

Standing only forty feet from the wire Andrew stood with Rika and two other Marines. They had switched from single-shot on their weapons and had gone full auto, emptying magazines within seconds rather than a minute. Nearly down to his last magazine he gave the order for them to pull back, this was a lost cause and they were now just wasting good ammunition.

"Fall back to the dock!" he barked over the loud wails of the walking corpses as they continued to press against the wire barriers. He watched as several fell they started crawling underneath while many were pressed against the steel cables and started to get sawn into pieces as the weight continued to pile against them.

Rika bounded first, barking for the Marines to follow her as he fired one final magazine at head height into the crowd to thin their numbers a little before finally turning tail and running after the others.

He didn't need to see it to hear what came next after he ran. A loud squeal came from behind, multiple infact, before a loud snap could be heard and followed up by another moment later, the barriers had given way under the weight. He knew he had done good to run when he had, either the dead would have claimed him or the cables would have sliced him into pieces when the taught cables finally gave way.

Reaching the dock, he had dared look back for a brief moment, and wished he hadn't, before turning around and running down the ramp to board the LCAC just as Rika and the Marines reached it as well. Behind him there were dozens of creatures, most in an advanced stage of decomposition but he had noticed a few looked 'fresh'.

Normally he would have wondered if they had been surviving in the city until recently or if they had travelled around to reach Tokonosu for evacuation to the island for safety. Or had they been moving from city to city all this time and had been waiting for a golden opportunity to ambush other survivors for their stuff?

The ramp quickly closed behind them just as the engines came to life and the craft started to pull away from the docks. As the ramp moved further away from where they were they could see as dozens of creatures walked down the ramp while many more flooded the docks and spread up and down the area, showing the passengers just how many of the undead had quickly flooded the area when the first LCAC had arrived.

He couldn't have been certain as to how many creatures he was looking at, but at a rough guess as he watched them to continue to flood down the ramp into the water and along the docks behind the wire fencing he would have to guess there were almost three-hundred of the ghouls trying to get to them but knowing that more were coming up from behind he would say almost six-hundred of them instead, possibly even more behind them.

As the LCAC powered out across the small expanse that separated them from the island the men onboard began to relax, some of them planting themselves on the metal sheeting to sit down while many preferred to stay stood as they watched the coastline slowly shrink away.


Author's Notes:

And there you have it folks, the first chapter of the rewrite of my original story, Okinawa Offensive. Now, many of you are probably wondering 'Why has he restarted the story again?' and i'll tell you why. When i started the story last years and started posting chapters every month the story was what i wanted, it was gritty, violent and there was plenty of action which to be fair is what people want in these stories.

But the main reason was this. As i was in the middle of rewriting another chapter for the original posting of this story i started thinking about how hard i suddenly went and made it for myself when it should all have been fairly simple. I took away an S.A.S unit that wouldn't have willingly walked into a warehouse and gotten themselves killed by the undead, and also i found that it was stupid how the character 'Andrew' had once been S.A.S, then turned mercenary, went back to being S.A.S several years later only to leave it again and rejoin yet again for another mission.

It just made things overly complicated and there were also several minor plots occurring that also made it difficult to write as well. In the end (About a month ago) i just stood up from my computer and went "Fuck it!" and started over to simplify it for both myself and for the readers, because i bet a few of you had to bloody clue what was happening.

Don't worry though, there will be more content coming before the plot to retake Okinawa begins. Dealing with the undead, rouge survivors and even cultists and other groups in the coming chapters along with plenty blood, guts and gore but also some romance too.

Anyway, take care everybody and you all stay safe out there in the real world, see ya next time!