Crane awoke some time later. Brecken went In to talk to him. He closed the door behind him. Crane got up and left a short time after. Brecken was silent. "He is going somewhere," I asked him. "Sector 0, old town," Brecken answered. "The saviors have an underground system that they use to ferry people between the towns, Crane is going to find Jade and get the sample to Camden," Brecken said.

"So, Camden is it now, he is the only one left," I said to Brecken. "Yes, he is it, and he is stuck, he flooded the lab with infected so that Rais can't get to him," Brecken said to me. "Also, there is a bounty on someone, I think Rais is beginning to believe that an outside force is working in Harran," Brecken said to me. "He has no idea, I would like to bring my armory here, maybe all of my stuff from the safe house, I feel like it would be more useful here," I told him. "I will get Blake's men on it," Brecken said. I would like to clear out one of the floors to put it in, kind of like a Tactical Operations Command post," I said to him. "That would make the tower a target," he said. "Look, Rais is out of the slums, the Garrison has been deserted, he's moving to Sector 0, I won't have a shot on him for a while because of the situation, he will stay low," I said to him.

"His main base is this castle, it is a museum, or was a museum, one entrance is blocked by water, the other entrance is the main gate, that is heavily guarded," Brecken answered. "Can I get a shot from the bridge," I asked him. "That might be the only place you will, you are looking at a mile shot though," Brecken said. "Crane cleared out a safe zone at the top, you can crash there during the night, it is stocked with food for seven days, no one has used it in a week," Brecken said to me.

"I will probably be a couple of days. here is the PIN for the lock, rip this up when you are done," I said as I gave him the piece of paper. "Right, we will clear the 18th floor and set up," Brecken said to me. I left my M416 in the room and took my Barrett and P90. With the Barrett on my back and the P90 firmly gripped in my left palm, I left the safety of the tower once more. I went through the fishing village and up through the service hatch to the top of the bridge. It was mid day and hot. The concrete radiated heat off of it. I laid a white blanket over the concrete and laid flat on it. I looked over the water into old town.

The museum was a prominent structure. It sat on the top of a hill with a cliff on the other side. The front gate was barricaded with spikes and sentries had their rifles snaked into the tiny slots that were once used for arrows. It was no doubt that this was where Rais was holding up. It seemed like the infected knew as well. There was a surprising lack of volatile and zombie activity. The quarter mile road led straight into old town. The streamers that were set up for the upcoming Olympic Games were still fluttering in the wind. In the town center, the normal cobblestone walls and floors had structures and scaffolding as the event staff was in the process of building a platform for a concert.

It was truly a sight to watch a place like this slowly die. Just like the people that lived in it, the shops slowly lost their fruits and vegetables, houses lost their paint and had streaks of dark red blood on them. Windows were boarded up. Flowers that lacked water died.

I could see a radio station. It had the flag of Rais draped down the near side. That must be one of the barracks for his soldiers. I took note of that. Maybe I could take the building down with them inside. What I would give for some C4 around here.


It had turned dark during the time I was surveying. I had completely lost track of the time. Night Hunters were walking around on the bridge below. Behind me, I could hear the UV lamps of The Infamy Firewall. It was suppose to stop the spread of the infection, namely the hunters. However, when the grid failed the Harran Air Force had to blow the bridge.

It was time to bunk in. I had all of the information I would need for the shot if it took place. At some point it would make sense to enter Sector 0 and get a real lay of the land. There were many more survivors in old town, many more camps. That was more people with an uncertain future. Women, children, all of these people in a nightmare they can't escape.


I awoke to the sound of my encrypted radio. Headquarters was trying like hell to get up with me. "Blackbird, be advised, the infection has spread out from Harran to the nearby countryside, Harran Army Forces are trying to contain the situation but at this moment it looks like the efforts will fail, they will be closing the secondary and tertiary gates momentarily," they said to me. "Any other news, over," I said. "We have picked up a small radiation signal, possible nuclear device is in the area, will keep posted." they said. The radio clicked off. "Holy shit," I said to myself. The ministry of defense is thinking above nuking the whole area.

I walked out of the door to the early morning air. Above my head were fighter jets making low fly overs. The ministry of defense was showing their power. This could mean that they are going to bomb Harran and Old Town. With so many survivors in the city, many of them would fall victim for no reason other than hysteria. That couldn't happen. Not while I am here.


I arrived at the Tower just as Blake was setting up the comms equipment. "It's all here," he said to me. "Blake, we got a problem, get Lena and meet me at Headquarters," I said to him as I went up to Brecken's room. "Brecken, listen, the ministry may be getting ready to bomb us out," I said to him. "I already knew that, we picked up their signal a few seconds ago, check out this video," he said to me as he pulled up the laptop.

The video was a propaganda news story made to look like the last survivor had been pulled out of Harran. "That's just bullshit, they are trying to cut their losses," I said to Brecken. "Crane is working on a plan to get attention, they will blow charges in an apartment complex in a shape the zombies could not make naturally," Brecken said to me. "The airdrops have stopped," Brecken said to me. "Brecken, the ministry of defense is taking measures to stop the spread of the infection, my government caught a signature of radiation in a small farming community not too far from here," I said to him. "They want to wipe us out," Brecken said. "They feel like they are saving millions of lives by doing this," I said to Brecken. "What can you do," he asked me. "I have a couple of portable SAM missile launchers, we can shoot down some of the planes before they carpet us," I said to him. "I don't want it to come to that," He said to me.

We heard a large explosion on the other side of the river. When we made it to the roof we could see an apartment building, set ablaze with a frowning face on the side. Before we could get excited, a jet came across and shot a missile, ruining our hard work. "Fucking asshole," I yelled into the sky. I rushed down to the 18th floor and grabbed one of the LAW rocket launchers in the armory room. I ran past Brecken, who tried to pull me down, and flipped up the rear sight to the rocket.

The rocket beeped as it acquired a signal, then the ping turned to a loud, continuous beeping. I pressed the button and the rocket shot out of the tube and towards the target. The jet tried to bank left and right to shake the missile, but it hit the planes tail wing and took a large chunk out of it. "Try explaining how zombies did that," I yelled to the pilot, who was trying to keep his plane steady as he went back to base.