Chapter 10 -Too Close for Comfort

It was much slower going trying to return. Combine soldiers seemed to be dropping out of the woodwork like termites in a burning house, and the zombies were getting riled up from the activity. Trying to avoid contact by circling around while still staying in fairly open areas to avoid a zombie ambush, Grey Team covered nearly twelve miles of ground, while only traveling six in a straight line. But now there were other problems. They were dangerously close to Ravenholm.

Watts and DeMartino could both tell it was getting to Daria, but she had refused to acknowledge it. Both had determined that they needed to ask Jane, but the group had stayed together during the retreat. Near sundown, they finally got their chance. They had set up camp for the night, and Daria had retreated into the treeline to relieve herself, taking several grenades and extra ammo with her.

DeMartino and Watts both down next to Jane.

"So," Watts began, "what's bugging Daria?"

Jane leaned forward, looking past her former teacher in the direction that her friend had left.

"Her mom and sister died in Ravenholm during a shelling attack. Sort of..."

"Sort of?" DeMartino asked.

Jane let out a deep breath before continuing. "It was just us. Jake and Trent died during the portal storms. Ms. Morgendorffer turned out to be really good at keeping us out of trouble, but we still ended up seeing a lot of people turned into zombies."

There was another pause as Jane had to recompose herself. "We were running for the mines, when someone stumbled and took Quinn down with them. Helen ran back, but there was already a headcrab – one of the fast ones – trying to attach to Quinn. While Helen was trying to kill it, another one got her. Then..."

Another pause, longer than the previous one.

"...Daria grabbed a gun from one of the bodies. She shot both of them in the head. She still keeps that gun as her sidearm."

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She was standing in the street again, holding her gun.

"Not again. Please, just one night of good sleep!"

"You don't get it do you?" a familiar voice called out from behind her.

Jane turned, gun at the ready. In front of her stood...

Herself.

"Yeah, you really don't get it."

"Get what?"

"You're evil. Just accept it."

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Jane awoke with a start. Immediately, she found herself looking for Watts. It wasn't until after the disappointment of finding him asleep that she wondered why she went straight to him. A few seconds later, she found DeMartino was also asleep.

Crap, it's only Daria right now. Guess I'll just have to wait it out.

She didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, she could hear the sounds of Ravenholm. In the distance, zombies howled. Interspersed between them were bursts of gunfire and explosions. Daria had obviously heard it too, because she quickly came back from her sentry patrol, pistol drawn.

"Someone has them riled up," Jane suggested.

"Probably. Whatever it is, it's too close for comfort. We need to go ahead and move out."

The two women woke up their teammates, and the group quietly packed up to leave.

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Daria had quickly decided that speed was far more preferable than being near Ravenholm, and had led the team straight to the railroad tracks. They spent the rest of the night diving into the high grass whenever they heard a train approaching- the only rail traffic now was controlled by the Combine. There was always a good chance that a train was loaded with troops and armored vehicles.

As the sun rose above the horizon, they reached a bottleneck. The terrain rose around the tracks, so that the trains were actually running through a trench. Unfortunately, the high ground provided no cover. After consulting the team. Daria decide to keep following the lines through the trench. There were service platforms just off the tracks, built into the concrete walls that could provide cover.

Unfortunately, just a hundred yards in they spotted a Combine patrol. The team moved behind an abandoned rail car to regroup.

Leaning around the corner, Daria held up a pair of binoculars to watch the patrol. They appeared to be covering the entrance to a mineshaft that opened directly onto a small loading dock adjacent to the tracks. Bullet impacts and a few dead bodies showed that someone had already been through and killed several of them.

"Okay, we're going to try to move up before we engage. Watts, can you find a good spot to snipe from?"

Watts ducked a head under the train car.

"The flatbed in front of this one looks like it would have a good angle. As long as I stay in the shade under the car I should be invisible."

"Alright. We're going to use the cars to move forward. Watts, you trail behind and set up where you need to. Once the three of us are in position, you start the assault by firing."

"But..." Jane started.

It was Watts who stopped her. "Not this time. We need as much power up front as we can get. If you stay back here and spot, we just can't throw out enough lead."

Daria's mouth was agape. She wasn't aware that Jane had been learning how to be a spotter.

Is that what they've been doing all night? Why does Jane want to be a spotter? Is it to get close to Watts, or does she want to learn how to snipe?

The Sergeant shut down that train of thought and filed it away for later.

"Alright then, let's move up."

The three crawled under the train car, followed by Watts. When he reached the flatbed, Watts stopped and slid his rifle over his head, propping the barrel on the rail. He wasn't worried about the patrol seeing his gun pointing out, as the angle of the sun kept the barrel in a shadow.

Several minutes later there was a muted burst of static on his radio. The rest of Grey Team was in position.

Walls lowered his head to the scope and examined the patrol, looking for anyone who stuck out as a leader. The uniforms were all the same, leading most of the Resistance to believe that the half-human soldiers had some sort of computer system sorting them all out.

After several minutes, he got his break when one of the soldiers tapped another and pointed towards the mineshaft.

There we go.

Watts centered the sights on the commander's head, having adjusted them before going to bed. The wind was perpendicular to the tracks, making the air calm inside the trench dug for them. The sniper followed the commander with his scope until...

The commander stopped, signaling Watts to pull the trigger.

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Daria was crouched behind the wheel of a flatbed car, looking at the patrol through the undercarriage when she saw blood and a greasy, black fluid burst from the soldier's head. Jane and DeMartino saw it too, and all three rose up to fire over the flatbed.

Her silenced MP7 was completely drowned out by the sound of DeMartino's unsuppressed gun. There was no way she could hear Jane's at the opposite end of the car.

Jane was trying to draw a bead on one of the soldiers in the rear. The one she had originally been aiming at was taken down by Daria and DeMartino's opening rounds. When she was finally satisfied that she was aimed correctly, she went for the trigger, and...

stopped.

Come on, he's not human. He's not human. IT's NOT human.

Only her target remained now, causing Daria and DeMartino to concentrate their fire on him. He had ducked behind cover.

Between bursts in DeMartino's fire, Jane heard the sound of a safety clicking off behind her. She turned and looked up to see an Overwatch soldier standing on the edge of the trench, aiming down at her.

I'm going to die I'm going to dieI'mgoingtodie.

Jane closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.