New America
Chapter 1: I become a Merc
Today was a normal day, well as normal as any day during the zombie apocalypse. The year is 2015 and the day was March 15. The zombie invasion started about six months ago when an unknown virus surfaced on the planet. The planet you may ask, well it is still Earth, but mostly filled by the undead.
My name is Alex Vance. I'm a twenty year old Caucasian male. I have black hair and dark brown eyes. Six months ago I was stationed at a U.S. marine base in South Carolina. Six minutes ago I ran out of ammunition for my M-16. You may be asking why not use your handgun? Well that jammed after the second shot. So I threw my rifle at the enemy and reholstered my handgun and ran.
I had just turned down and realized it was dead end. I turned around to see the group of eight zombies follow me into the alley way. All I had on me were a jammed USP.45, a combat knife, and the cloths I had on (which were black combat boots, a white tank top, and digital camouflage pants).
"Great," I thought, "God must hate me."
I pulled out my knife and decided to make my final stand. One of the hoard ran at me and I got into a fighting stance. Suddenly an arrow flew by my head and was impaled into the zombies head. I turned around to see where the arrow came from and I saw a man wearing a green hoodie and blue jeans in the door way of a steel door. He had a black bow and had a full quiver on his back.
"Get inside," the man said, motioning to me to come inside.
I didn't need to be told twice. I quickly ran to the door and the man fired another arrow. It zipped past my head and probably impaled itself into another zombie's head. The man stepped back and I ran inside. The man then closed the door and relocked the reinforced steel door.
The inside was lighted up from the overhead lighting. I could hear the humming of a generator. The room was probably 50 ft. by 100 ft. The room had a jeep and three shelves. One shelf had food and water bottles on it. One shelf had weapons and ammunition on it. The last shelf had cloths, books, and games on it. There was a ladder to an open hatch that led the roof. On the far side of the room was a reinforced steel garage door. There was also a Caucasian male sitting by the jeep. He wore blue jeans, a black t-shirt, a bullet proof vest, and aviator sunglasses. He had black hair also.
"That the man Kelly spotted, I think it would have been better if she had just shot the dang man," said the man.
"Mark, may I remind you that we are looking for survivors to join the Mercs. And I am the leader of Bravo team, not you," Green guy said.
"Mercs? Bravo team?" I asked.
"Yes Mercs, we are bad-to-the-bone mercenaries. We have ten embers, but we are the most bad-to-the-bone people on Earth," Mark said
"Nine," Green guy corrected.
"Yeah, how could I forget that Eddie isn't with us anymore? I put a bullet through his head after he go bit in a little zombie fight," Mark said.
"That the guy I saw?" asked a female voice behind me.
I turned around and saw women in her twenties. She had blonde hair and grey eyes. She wore blue jeans with a hole at her right knee and a white shirt under a black leather jacket. She had a both action sniper rifle on her back.
"Yep," said Mark, "this dumb guy is the man you saved."
"Mark, I order you to shut up for the next few minutes," ordered the Green guy.
Mark fake saluted and pulled out a .44 magnum revolver and started to polish it.
"Sorry 'bout that, Mark is a jerk but he is a good fighter," said Kelly.
"That's ok, you guys have rank?" I asked.
Mark snorted a laugh, but said nothing.
"Yep, I'm rank 1," said Green guy, "they go form 3 being the lowest and 1 being the highest."
"Okay, what's Mark's rank?" I asked.
"3, you start off as a 3 and only get promoted for acts of valor," Green guy said.
"My rank is 2," Kelly said.
"How many are on each squad if there is only nine Mercs?" I asked.
"Well, 4 on each squad, and the two other people are our president and first lady, they are at the base. And ten Mercs if you will join us," Green guy said.
"Well, I mean I guess it beats running form zombies 24/7," I replied, "What do I have to do?"
"That's the spirit," Kelly said while clapping me on the back.
"First off, what's your name?" Green guy asked me.
"Alex Vance, what's yours?" is asked.
"Owen King," he replied.
"Nice to meet you," I said as I reached out my hand and Owen shook it.
"Now, repeat after me," Owen said, "I, Alex Vance, do solemnly swear on the Styx..."
"I, Alex Vance, do solemnly swear on the Styx…" I repeated.
"To uphold and support the Mercs and carry out my duties as a soldier and citizen of New America," Owen said.
"To uphold and support the Mercs and carry out my duties as a soldier and citizen of New America," I repeated.
"So help the gods," said Owen.
"So help the gods," I repeated.
"Welcome fellow Merc," said Owen as Kelly clapped me on the back and Mark scowled.
