The Beast Within

Chapter 1: Greetings

The year is 1945. The overwhelming smell of rotting flesh and fresh blood fill the air. A humid blanket hovers on the backs of the team of zombie killers. As zombies begin to flood into the building through the four windows, they start to corner the loud mouth marine.

"Where is everybody!?" Demspy yells as he puts down a couple of zombies.

"Right here with you Tank!" Nikolai replies as he kills off the remaining undead.

"Man, I hate freakbags," Dempsy says as he kills what is left of a crawler. "Where the hell are we anyway?"

Takeo looks up at Dempsy with a pale expression on his face, " We are in Japan...or at least..this was Japan until it was plagued by this unholy curse."

As more zombies begin to pile through the windows and into the hut, the four men attempt to blast through them, only to hear a faint clicking sound coming from their guns.

"Out of ammo," Nikolai exclaims ,"I guess I'll have to kill them with my breathe!"

"It's getting a bit crowded in here, ja?" Richtofen says ,"ve should leave now."

With all of them in agreement, they decide to open the upstairs and head down to the first floor, only to see a large box with a strange glow coming from it. Richtofen walks up to the box and as he opens it he notices all of the different weapons appearing and disappearing before him before finally stopping on the SPAS-12.

"Zhis will make a big hole. I like big holes!" Richtofen remarks while admiring his new weapon.

"My turn ladies ," Dempsy proclaims as he pushes everyone out of the way.

"You better give me something good ," he says as he watches the array of weapons change before his eyes. The mystery box slowly comes to a stop on the AUG. Obviously happy with this gift, Tank snatches his new toy from the box.

"I'm gonna make em eat lead and die again," he says cheerfully.

Next, Takeo steps forward and tries his luck with the box. After a few guns pass by, it immediately stops on the RPK. He grabs his new weapon and with a devilish look on his face, he says ,"We will dig many graves!"

After Takeo finishes with the box, Nikolai runs over and quickly flips open the strange container. As the Russian watches the display of weapons flash before his eyes, they slowly come to a stop on the Monkey Bombs.

"Fuck you monkey ," Nikolai says with a frustrated look on his face. When he goes to try the box again to get a decent gun, he hears the sound of giggling and suddenly a teddy bear carries the box away. Nikolai looks at where the box was with a confused look on his ragged face.

"Either I'm drunk or that box is flying around." Nikolai says with a contorted look. With their new weapons, the four have no trouble disposing of the zombies that were causing them trouble before and wipe them out within a matter of seconds.

"Very vell zhen gentleman, " the doctor remarks, " we should split up and figure out vhere zhat damn box went. I vill be over here ," he says, pointing at the doors that have a sign that says 'Comm Room' above them ," and do not bother me unless you have found something useful or you are dying."

Meanwhile, in the upstairs of the hut...

"Damn swamp. Zhis is why I hate Japan. I couldn't have gotten sent to zhe Virgin Islands or somezhing," Ellie groans as she climbs the stairs to the hut and pulls herself through the empty window. Ellie pauses for a moment and glances around the room, unsure about her surroundings. She takes light steps and sees a door made of sticks that is hanging wide open. She creeps over to the open doorway and peers into it, expecting to see another sign of life. She is disappointed to see that she is alone.

"Vhere zhe hell has everyone gone," she asks herself under her breathe as she feels a drop of liquid hit her forehead. Confused, she reaches up and touches the curious liquid only to find out that it is blood. Ellie looks up quickly and sees a body hanging from the decrepit rafters of the drafty, old hut. She reaches into her satchel and pulls out a photograph with the name 'Peter McCain' scrawled on the back of it.

"So, you're the one I've been looking for ," she says in an irritated tone ,"vhat a waste of time ," she utters as she pulls out her camera and takes a picture of the body. Ellie notices the wounds on his body and how he is missing his arm. She wonders to herself ,"i wonder what killed him in such a violent way. Maybe a local will be able to tell me more." With this thought in her mind, Ellie takes her photographs and heads through the open door and into the downstairs of the hut. She sees a large pathway, surrounded by swamp. Near the entrance to this large path, she sees a sign that says fishing hut. In the waters surrounding the pathway, she can see someone who appears to be kneeling down in the swamp. Anxious to find a local, she pulls out her book that she uses to translate Japanese and runs over to the strange man.

"Ummm, Kon'nichiwa?" Ellie asks, awaiting a response. The man says nothing and she gets a little nervous. "Excuse me ," Ellie says as she walks closer to the man. She dares to reach out and touch his shoulder to get his attention only to find out that he is not a normal man at all. As her fingers meet his shoulder, the stranger turns around quickly and Ellie sees that he is the walking dead. She falls backwards into the water and pulls out her knife. She quickly uses it to stop the monster that was advancing towards her and she picks herself up out of the water. Ellie walks over to the body and sees its face. "Vhat zhe hell is zhat thing? " she thinks to herself. As she turns around to exit the area, she sees at least 10 of the undead start coming out of the swamps. "Vhat in zhe world!" she yells as she runs away from the beasts that are hot on her tail. She sprints into the downstairs of the hut and out through the first set of doors she sees. Above the doors, there is a sign that reads 'Comm Room'... Back in the Comm Room... Richtofen sits at a table, holding a recorder. "Test subject A vhas zhe toughest to crack, but not impossible. He seemed to have lost more memories than zhe others, but not enough to hinder his fighting capabilities. Test subject B was much easier. He responded greatly to vodka and anything that had to do with vodka. Test subject C was a little strange. He responded mostly to ancient proverbs and constantly brings up honor. I have been...," Richtofen is interrupted by the sound of boots running on the wooden planks outside the shack that he is in. He turns off his recorder, and thinking it is zombies, gets his weapon ready for bloodshed. Suddenly, he sees a small, redheaded woman run in, slam the doors behind her and stand in front of them to keep them closed.

"Vhat zhe hell are you staring at? Get over here and help me you fool ," Ellie yells while trying her hardest to keep the living dead from breaking in. Richtofen looks at her with a mixture of shock and excitement in his face.

"Who are you ," Richtofen asks the strange young lady in front of him.

"No time!" Ellie exclaims as the first undead starts pushing its way into the shack. Suddenly, Ellie feels the sharp pain of claws digging into her inner bicep. She shrieks as she feels the zombie trying to pull her through the door, into the horde on the other side.

Bang!

The zombie pulling Ellie out the shack falls to the ground and releases her arm. Ellie takes the opportunity and runs out the room with blood gushing from the puncture wounds. With no one holding the door closed, the undead push their way into the shack, only to be blown apart by Richtofen's SPAS-12. Ellie hears the last zombie fall and walks back into the front room of the shack.

"Are zhey all dead ," Ellie asked while holding her arm that is now covered in blood.

"An autopsy is more easily performed with a shotgun ," Richtofen declares as he reloads his weapon ,"now, back to zhe matter at hand, who are you?" Ellie looks at him with an unsure look on her face.

"You first ," she says to the odd Nazi.

"I save your life and zhis is how you repay me ," Richtofen says with a morbid look in his eye ,"Maybe I shouldn't have even bothered. Maybe I should just kill you where you stand." He pulls up his weapon and points it directly at her. Ellie feels herself get tense as the barrel of his shotgun meets her eyes. As she takes a deep breath she says to the doctor ," My name is Ellie...I...I'm looking for someone."

"Looking for someone? Who could you possibly be trying to find in zhis swamp of zhe damned ," Richtofen replies to her with a chuckle.

"Zhat is confidential ," Ellie mumbles ," Why don't you tell me vhat a Nazi is doing all zhe way in Japan?"

"I'm on a...personal vacation ," Richtofen retorts ,"but enough about me, I vant an answer. Who are you looking for?"

Ellie looks at him while trying not to look frightened.

"Look, I..I really must g-get going ," She says, trying to steady her words.

" Ah ah ah...," Richtophen says while he pulls the safety on his shotgun ," first you must answer my question, and zhen I vill zhink about letting you go."

Outside of the shack, Dempsy and Nikolai are making their way to the Comm Room, when they walk in to find Richtofen and Ellie.

"Oh, Richtofen has lady. You have two maybe? ," Nikolai says with a drunken slur.

Ellie decides to take a chance and while Richtofen is distracted with Dempsy and Nikolai, she makes a run for the exit. She slips past the Russian with ease, but only to get ripped away from freedom by the large arms of the marine.

"Where do you think you're going cupcake ," Dempsy says as he gets Ellie in a chokehold.

Ellie is struggling, trying to escape the tight hold of Dempsy's arm.

"Let me go you American pig! " she proclaims as she squirms and kicks while in his death grip.

Richtofen then gets his gun and strikes Ellie with it in the side of her head and everything goes dark for her as she becomes completely motionless.

"What the hell did you do that for ," Dempsy asks.

"She was rabid ," Richtofen replies ," I had to calm her down before she hurt someone."

"Ha, yeah right ," Demspy says sarcastically ,"she probably couldn't hurt a fly."