Justin and the rest of the squad sat down along with Alpha Team and Gamma Team. The briefing room was brightly lit almost to the point of being uncomfortable. The room was set up in a DRASH tent outside the country club and served as the main military operations debriefing room for the company of soldiers assigned to Search and Rescue Company as part of the government's relief operations in Colorado.
Justin looked around for a guy he knew in Gamma and after spotting him, tried to get his attention. "Hey Williams, what's up man?" He asked.
Williams turned looking for the source of the question and gave a half hearted smile. "Hey, Deleon. What's going on?" Williams replied.
"Just got back this morning. Got us three survivors," he proudly proclaimed.
In a less then cheerful voice, Williams said, "Yeah, us too. Got a mom and her two teenage kids. We got back last night."
"What's wrong then? That's good news," said Justin.
"As you can see were missing a couple of guys here. Conrad and Jacobs bought it last night on mission," he explained.
"Fuck me. What the hell happened?" Justin couldn't believe it. Those two were Rangers.
"Conrad got bit by a goddamn shrieker and freaked out. He snapped its neck and started screaming at the Rot coming down the hallway. He pulled his knife and went at them. Jacobs didn't know he had been bitten and tried to get a hold of him but by the time the rest of us got there with the survivors, they were surrounded and one of them jihaded the bastards before they could turn them into dinner," Williams told him.
"That fucking sucks man. I'm glad you got back ok though. At least it wasn't for nothing, right?"
"Yeah we brought back three but lost two of our own in the process. We can't replace guys like those two anymore. I don't know, I just feel sometimes like this whole thing is going to he…."
"Group! Atennn…Tion!"
Before Williams could finish, Thurman sounded the salute as the Captain walked in to the tent.
"At ease Gentlemen," Captain Reinhold commanded. "Normally this would be the usual debriefing you all have become familiar with, but unfortunately there is a serious problem. Our outpost in Moab, Nevada was overrun this morning, there are no confirmed survivors."
MSG Johnson the leader of Gamma Team spoke up first, "How the hell did that happen, there is no major towns near that location."
"Recon flyovers estimate a Rot horde of one hundred thousand plus moving across the city. The outpost was able to transmit an evac request but the rescue choppers didn't get to them in time," the captain explained to him.
Every one gawked in disbelief with a few choice curse words included.
Thurman asked next, "But that still doesn't explain that size of Rot. Where the hell did they all come from?"
"The recon boys said from the looks of some of them, they're from Vegas," the captain answered.
"Bullshit, how the hell did they get all the way over here with no one noticing?" Another question from MSG Johnson.
"That's the issue. We haven't been looking too hard. The Rot have never strayed too far from where they died unless they were following someone and even then not that far before. We watch the main roads at least but it's possible they could have moved through the wilderness"
"Well, what the hell is command going to do about it?" SSG Gata of Alpha team asked.
"That's the other problem. Apparently our pushes east of here have caught the attention of those bastards in Denver and now they are pushing the quarantine zone trying to move west. Apparently our boys were at little too successful with enlarging the security zone and they moved into Silverton." the captain said.
"Could have been all the noise sir," Thurman offered.
"Hell could have been the rescue team's choppers that they are following," Johnson said next. "Who the fuck knows how these things think or act really"
"For whatever reason, the assault force had decided to make a stand in Silverton. Command doesn't want the Rot coming to far out this way. That commits the bulk of our forces though. Which brings us to you gentlemen," the captain explained.
"We don't have much left to defend the west edge of the green zones while we are engaged in the east. To be honest with you guys I have heard rumors down the chain that if they can stop them in Silverton they might make a try to get Denver back."
Before anyone could comment on that the captain continued, "Just a rumor for now. Anyway, prepare to copy." Captain Reinhold opened a folder he had with him and took out a laser pen. He then pulled down a strip map of the area on the butcher block in the front of the seated teams.
"Alpha and Gamma are going to be moving out with what's left of 2nd armored division. You are going to set up a fortified defensive position here 20 miles south of Cisco on route 128. From there you will recon the areas and locate where the Rot are moving. Once you find them you are to act as forward observers for the artillery and air support that we can scrounge up. You will be given the authority to call in the Bradley's for clean up."
"Bravo, your on stand by at the FDP. If the other teams get into trouble you are their knights in shining armor. Mainly your task is Emergency Evac. You will also be in possession of the limited C-4 amounts that we can spare for use as Alpha and Gamma leaders dictate if the shit hits the fan," The captain finished his briefing and after the details were worked out the teams prepared to leave.
"One more thing folks, the best laid plans last the first 30 seconds of combat. Remember that and be careful out there. Take it to them," and with that the captain left the tent.
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15 hours later…
Justin sat in the Blackhawk as they lowered at the makeshift helipad off of route 128. He looked out at the barricades being erected by the task force from the 2nd Armored. After they had landed and the squad moved out, he finally got a good look at what they had to work with. On the road was a convoy of 15 Bradley fighting Vehicles backed up by 5 M113 Mortar carriers loaded with 120mm mortar systems. Behind the armored vehicles were dozens of 5 tons trucks offloading troops supplies and two had older models 155mm Howitzers that they were towing.
Justin could see a flurry of activity all over the makeshift base as barb wire and sandbags were stacked up on both sides of the bridge that the Task Force commander had chosen for the his defensive position. Justin agreed with the location, there were only two points of entry and only one facing the direction the enemy was spotted coming from. The Rot had been seen moving northwest alongside of 128 and was expected to come right at the bridge. Being on this side had forced them into a bottle neck as they would have to cross the river to get past the task force as it split south near the bridge itself. The rot were not known to cross into water, reports had shown them actually avoiding bodies of water in the past.
As the team moved toward the command tent that was setup on the north side of the bridge Justin thought he saw a group of engineers placing booby traps in the water of the river further south of the position. "Must not be taking any chances," he thought to himself.
When they were at the entrance to the tent, a lieutenant colonel stormed out of the structure with a lieutenant in tow. I told you Harris, get those bastards set up now. The recon teams have already spotted those fuck in range," he barked. "This is not happening fast enough. Are my coms up yet?"
"Yes sir, we already have the air force on standby," Lieutenant Harris answered calmly.
"Have they decided what to give us yet?" The colonel asked.
"They were able to give us another A-10 sir, the total is now 8," Harris told him.
"Good, not great but it'll have to do." The colonel turned at the approaching team. "Finally, staff sergeant I need you to take your men over to the 155s and help those idiots set them up. Then get back to my tent and wait for orders."
Thurman was about to protest but realized the importance of getting the artillery up and ready. "Yes sir, move out Bravo."
Half an hour later the artillery and mortars were set up. As Bravo moved back to the command tent as ordered, 2 A-10s streaked over head buzzing the camp. A general cheer went up around the small makeshift base. "Well, looks like the fun has started," Helem commented.
Some distance away, SSG Gata laid with his team on the crest of a hill viewing the dusty landscape ahead of him, one of his privates chattering on the radio. His second in command was peering through the cope of his sniper rifle. "Sergeant, I got movement straight ahead," the soldier told him.
Gata put his binocs to his eyes and looked ahead. In the distance a small number of shambling silhouettes came over the top of a distant hill. As he increased the magnification, he began to see details of the figures. "Yeah definitely Vegas," he said.
"Whys that Sergeant?" he was asked.
"Elvis has risen from the dead," he joked.
After he heard a couple more chuckles from the rest of his team, he face suddenly drained of its dark color.
The soldier next to him noticed and asked, "What is it boss?"
Gata did not answer at first as his noticed the slow shambling figures in the distance were increasing in number. Then slowly the whole horizon became a living mass of death and started moving closer.
"My…god," he finally forced out.
"Private Roy! Get those A-10s on the phone and tell them to get over here now!" He yelled.
The private put the request in over the radio and a moment later Gata could hear the echoing sound of engines in the distance behind him. The squad absently clutched their weapons harder and braced themselves for the hell they were about to see unleashed.
A/N: Chapter 10, didn't think I'd make this far, but don't worry I will go well past this one. Sorry for the delay. Life you know? This chapter is a bit rushed but I am hoping you enjoy it anyway. You see the rest of the characters in the next chapter. I kind of got bored with them and wanted to get into some action before I continued with their part of the story.