5
And so, with our new orders, we were off to the communications tower to get some help… Seriously, as if anything could stop this… In any case, we had to cut through the Alpha Labs and Energy Production Plant in order to get there. By now most of the base's population was zombified, and as such we were forced to fight for every meter of ground we took…
Corporal Holmes grunted as he ran along side his comrades. His back was aching from the wounds they had received and the bulky plasma rifle slung over his shoulder did little to ease the pain he was feeling. Still, in a sense it made him feel more secure, somehow impenetrable or invincible. He had honestly no idea where that thought came from, but perhaps it was because his mind was desperately trying to keep the truth from him, trying to keep him preoccupied from the horrors which surrounded him and his team.
The soldiers had decided to avoid cutting through the UAC Administration section to get to Alpha because they knew it would be filled to the brim with hell-spawn. Instead, they chose to take a detour by going underneath it through the maintenance shafts and coming back up when they reached the Alpha Labs complex. What could have been dumb luck turned into disaster as the lower levels were pitch black corridors teeming with zombified engineers and maintenance technicians.
The elevator was just large enough for the six men to cram inside. The crude looking machine whined and moaned as it traversed the numerous floors. At one point the lights failed and the elevator ceased to function. In jerked to a halt and left the marines in complete darkness. It was eerily quiet, so much so that Sam could hear muffled screams and gunshots, moans and screeches, coming from the base. Regardless of what his mind tried to do, he couldn't help but shiver in horror.
Utilizing his night vision visor, Eddy leaned towards the control console and landed his fist on the blank screen. "What the fuck," he moaned in disgust, "I don't want to be trapped down here in this damned elevator!" He looked over at his fellow soldiers. "Especially not with you guys." Morton shook his head and slapped Eddy across the back. "Aw, c'mon, man, it can't be that bad. I mean, really, at least they can't get to us in here." Sam looked over his shoulder and would have shot Morton a concerned look had it not been for his helmet. "I wouldn't be too sure of that. They're sneaky bastards, that much is for sure." "Yeah, don't remind me," Miller groaned.
About thirty seconds later the lights began to glow once more and the elevator let out a squeak as it continued its downward trek. The marines collectively sighed in relief just as the doors opened up to a hideous sight. The ten eyes of an imp greeted them the instant the doorway had opened. It screeched at an ear-piercing volume and whipped its hand out towards Sam in the lead of the pack. Instinctively he lashed back with his gun firmly in hand, knocking the imp's bladed fingers away from him. Unfortunately for the marine, the imp still had another arm and it knocked him back and into the other marines. Before they knew it five marines were on the ground and one imp was staring hungrily at them. Konenburg fielded his pistol and took aim. He pulled the trigger which sent a bullet through the imp's mouth. Blood began to spew forth from its gaping orifice as it flailed around in anguish. Jimmy was not hesitant to put it out of its misery. Several more rounds from his smoking gun and the imp began sprawling around on the floor with its guts hanging out. Jimmy looked down at the defenseless creature and almost felt sympathy for it, but it still looked at him with evil eyes and a black heart. He knew that it was beyond redemption and so landed a bullet in its head, ending the hell-spawn's violent convulsions.
Sam and the others recovered and stood beside Konenburg as he looked down at the bloody carcass. "What's wrong, Jim?" Sam inquired, hoping to ease the tension and keep his group moving. Jimmy looked back up at him and frowned. "I almost felt… sorry for it…" His head shook several times as he yelled out, "I can't believe I felt sorry for that! What the hell is wrong with me?" The security guard was extremely distraught, so much so that it could be seen in his eyes. Corporal Holmes would have belted a marine for something this pathetic, but he came to realize that this man was not a hardened fighter at all. In fact, he was basically a civilian. He couldn't possibly hold this against someone who was so out of touch with the atrocities of war and death.
Sam rested a hand on the security guard's shoulder. "There's no time for sorrow in war, Jimmy. None at all. And when you're dealing with something like this," he said, motioning to the smoking creature, "you can't show any regardless. This is pure evil. It doesn't deserve pity or remorse. Don't let it get to you and you'll make it out of here alive." His rather calm approach to Konenburg stunned the other marines who were so used to Sam laying down the law in a strict fashion, and the Corporal could tell even without looking at them. Sam glanced back at the others and said, "There's no time for this crying bullshit anyway. Let's get moving while we still can."
The marines moved briskly through the darkened corridors but Jimmy was severely hindered as his headgear was not equipped with night vision like the marines. He had to resort to a flashlight which did much to give away their position to any would be stalkers.
"Hey, Sam," Eddy panted as they rounded a corner, "why do you get the plasma rifle, huh?" Sam looked over for a brief moment before saying, "Because I never got a beer today, remember?" Eddy frowned in disgust. "No fair," he said, "I didn't get any either!" Sam chuckled. "Too bad, then."
As they passed through a doorway they heard pipes clattering ahead of them. Soon after came several grunts and moans. "We've got company," Sam warned his team mates, "Take up positions." They did so, with Eddy and Marak grabbing boxes for cover from any potential enemy firepower. Like that will stave off bullets, Sam pondered, Do those boxes make them feel safe or something? He remembered the plasma rifle and shook his head. Let our minds do their own thing. That way we might just make it.
The grunts became progressively louder as Bravo Team raised their weapons in preparation for the onslaught. A few seconds later a single zombie came out from under some shadows. He was obviously overweight and was holding a wrench in his right hand. It lumbered towards them at an impeccably slow pace. "What? This is it?" Morton snorted. "I'm disappointed." He switched to three-round-burst and pulled the trigger once, throwing rounds out at the approaching creature. The bullets hit the zombie in the gut but did nothing to stop its advance. Morton, now frustrated, fired again with the same effect. The bullets were practically useless: they were being absorbed by the zombie's fat. Yet another burst failed to stop the hulking mass. David was getting angry and was about to fire again when Sam forced his gun down. "Save your ammo, we'll deal with this another way." The zombified man was now much closer, his blank eyes clearly visible. Sam got up from his crouched position and ran towards the zombie. He slammed his gun across the zombie's head and made it flinch, but the creature was still "alive", if you could even call it that.
Sam didn't know what to do. He didn't have much time to think about it either as the creature came back at him with wrench in hand. It swung the metal object forward in a lunge which Holmes sidestepped easily. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he kicked the zombie in the side and it slammed against the nearby wall. "Screw the ammunition," he yelled, "Open fire!" The marines tore into the creature with all barrels blazing. The plump zombie shook around as bullets riddled its now horribly mutilated body. Sam held his hand up in a cease fire gesture and the men responded accordingly. Amazingly enough, the battered creature peeled itself off of the wall and moaned in Sam's direction. The Corporal was getting sick of this meddlesome zombie and gave it a mouthful of fist. He punched so hard that he felt its neck snap as it stumbled away from him. It clumsily milled around until falling to the floor in a bloody heap. Sam sure was glad that he couldn't smell the stench through his helmet; otherwise he would have puked up his breakfast ration all over the carcass.
Like it was in the elevator, things were now deathly silent. Moans and growls could be heard alongside screaming and gunfire. The sounds, though muffled, could be heard clearly through the dark, dank passage ways. Sam didn't know why exactly the hallways were damp, but he knew he didn't want to find out.
"Ok," Marak said, "I remember some of the floor plans down here." The others looked at him in disbelief. "Patrol. You know how it is…" "Oh. Ah, alright," Eddy muttered. "Right, I remember a service ladder about five hundred yards from here. I think it leads into an air duct under Alpha. We might be able to squeeze in through there." Sam nodded, "Sounds good to me. Marak, you lead the way." "I was hoping you weren't gonna say that," Marak retorted.
The six men slowly advanced forward, checking every shadow and crevice where something might be hiding in ambush. They had long since passed the fat zombie when they ran across a body wearing an engineer's uniform lying on the ground. The poor soul's PDA was on the ground face down a few feet away. Sam decided to investigate. He placed his rifle on the floor and picked up the PDA. It was gilded with blood which Sam could feel slide across his fingers since he was not wearing any gloves. He wiped it off on his pants and flipped the device over.
The screen was shattered and broken, as if it had been stepped on by the engineer's killer. Still, the PDA was functioning properly and displayed the standard red UAC screen saver. Sam touched the screen and it warped around into the standard desktop. According to the information provided, the engineer was a Phillip Mansley who was stationed down here on a daily maintenance check. The poor bastard still had a wrench in his hand.
Sam wasn't that concerned about the man himself, but more or less the information his PDA provided. There were plenty of stored emails which the Corporal didn't much care for, but there was one audio log which was dated as today. He opened up the file and heard the man's panicked voice coming through the device's speaker.
"I… I don't know what's going on, I… they… changed, or… something. I don't know where to go… I mean I just escaped the last one, but I saw some security guards walking around… with guns… they were different, too… I… Wait, something is coming… I hear, voices, I think… What? No, wait! Nooo!!"
The sound of a shotgun discharge blasted through the speakers. But the log was not yet over. He heard booted footsteps coming towards the PDA. Along with it were strange, disgruntled voices. They sounded nothing like zombified grunts or moans, but rather incoherent words spoken in some foreign tongue. Then came a loud crunching sound and the log ended. Apparently the zombified guard stepped on the PDA and somehow stopped the recording. Regardless, it told Sam that there were still armed zombies roaming around. Maybe coming down here wasn't such a good idea, he thought.After dropping the pad, Sam turned his attention to the body. It, too, was face down, so he hefted it up and over. The head rolled around, showing off its missing jaw, probably blown off by the shotgun. It also showed off its blank, white eyes. The body moaned and started to get up to its feet.
"Holy shit!" Sam yelled. He was going to shoot it but noticed that he had placed his rifle on the ground, out of reach. Instead of panicking, his instincts told him to grab for his right leg. My pistol! He drew the weapon, pointed, and fired. His rounds cut through the zombie's head like a hot knife through butter, shredding its brain along with any hungry thoughts it had. The others, who had set up a perimeter, noticed the zombie, but they were too late to stop it themselves. "You ok?" Marak asked, concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine, but from now on we shoot up any body we run into, got it?" Marak grinned and offered Sam a lift.
Bravo Team had traveled about three hundred yards of the five hundred that Marak had assumed. They approached a large metallic door labeled "E-5 Cooling" and stepped inside. Instantaneously they were met with opposing fire from security zombies coming from across the room. Drawing from their military training, the marines took cover behind anything they could find, including support beams, supply crates, and several large radiators which were jutting out from the walls.
"What do we do, lead?" Morton yelled over the gunfire. "Fire back!" Sam replied. David nodded and exposed himself from behind a support beam, gun blazing. His shots missed their intended target, however, and ricochet around the room. "Goddamnit!" Eddy screamed, "If you can't hit something then don't!" He rounded his supply crate cover and took the shot. One bullet hit one of the zombified security guards, but it continued its assault without delay. "Hey, maybe I should take lessons from you, Grafton!" David hollered back. "Shut the fuck up, marines, and open fire!" Marak yelled over his own rifle.
Sam flinched as bullets whizzed by his radiator and hit the wall behind. The guards were well dug in on the other side, like they were. They had no choice but to endure the slugfest. The Corporal keyed his comm. and tried to talk to Kelly over the mayhem. "Sergeant, we're taking heavy fire over here! What's the word on our relief?" As he opened fire and took down one of the zombies, Kelly got back to him, saying, "Corporal, I just got in contact with a marine. He's still back at HQ…" Sam took cover again. "One marine?" he said sarcastically, "We're gonna need a whole Goddamned army over here!" On the other end, Kelly shook his head. "I'm sorry Holmes, but I can't reach any of the other squads." Sam thought back to the refugees in the HQ room. "Can you contact HQ, sir?" "That's a negative, Corporal, no contact since you headed out." Great, Sam thought, if those guys couldn't hold out, then what chance in hell do we have?
Sam saw more tracers whiz by his head as he scattered some rounds about the opposition's cover. "Roger that, sir. Holmes out." He turned his communications equipment off and looked back at his team. They were all firing back at the enemy, but were unable to do any real damage to them. At this rate we'll run out of ammo pretty damn fast, Sam thought. The Corporal tried to think of a solution when hit his ammo belt across the wall. He reached back, pulled out an HE grenade, and grinned. Luck be a lady tonight
He twisted the top cap of the grenade and pulled it off. The bomb began to whine at an ever increasing pitch as it neared detonation. Sam chucked the grenade as far as he could, yelling, "Fire in the hole!" The smoking grenade landed next to a zombified guard and touched his boot. The zombie looked down just in time to take the full blast of the compact bomb in his face, literally vaporizing him. The other zombies, however, had a more violent death. They were blown apart into harmless gibs and thrown in all directions, including towards the marines. The soldiers started proclaiming their victory as limbs started falling around them. "Hell yeah!" Morton yelled, "Eat that you sorry sonuvabitch! Yeah!" Sam got up and stretched his back. "Well, thank God that's over," he said, "We'd better get moving before more of them decide to take us on." Eddy walked over and slapped him on the back. "Why worry so much, Sam? We came, we saw, and we kicked some serious zombie ass. These assholes won't be able stop us."
Sam deeply wished that he had Eddy's ever-present confidence.