So it's been a while huh? I just wanted to give some backstory to one of my newest characters. I will get to Dana in the next chapter...or will I?
This was before Alex changed, and yes, I know that in P2 they are called brawlers, but hunters is just...so much more intimidating sounding, don't you think?
Chapter 11: Hammer Company
Private first class, Adrian Washington, and the rest of hammer company, like many others, were sent into NYZ to try and suppress the infection. And like many others, they were merely expected to be the pawns in the grand scheme of things. It didn't matter to Adrian. His family was somewhere in this shit heap and he was going to protect them no matter what.
Hammer company had been in the city for about six months, and had earned quite the reputation in that time. If the Marines had something important needed doing, they were the ones on point in front of the rest. They began to grow cocky, they thought they were invincible, but in Blackwatch's eyes; they were just as expendable as the rest.
"Washington, eyes up," the warning from his platoon leader was enough to snap him out of his daydreaming. Him and a platoon from Hammer company were to inspect an entire apartment complex and wipe out all, if any infection from the area.
There were forty men in total searching four apartment buildings. They were split into squads of ten and began searching the apartments. Before entering the building, Adrian rubbed a patch on his vest that had a picture of a war hammer and below it were the words, "When the real work needs to be done, call in the hammers!" It was hammer company's exclusive insignia. It was on all of the soldier's armor and Adrian's was slightly fading from him rubbing it for luck.
The ten soldiers bust through the metal doors leading into the apartments; their bright flashlights gleaming through the murky darkness that surrounded them, their low breaths and heavy boots were the only things that could be heard. Adrian and one of his squad mates took point, both armed with shotguns for close quarters situations. They were in a long hall, doors on both sides, Adrian split right, his squad mate left, each were backed by four other squad mates. Adrian and his team pushed into the room; a small living room with books and papers littering the floor. In the room were two couches, a coffee table that had a small amount of blood and what looked like a bloody hand print next to it, there was a bookshelf that was knocked over, no doubt the reason for all the litter on the ground, and a tv that looked like it had been smashed in, there was blood splattered on the broken glass.
A tap on Adrian's soldier was his signal to look where whoever tapped him on the shoulder was looking. Adrian wheeled his shotgun around the room and rested his flashlight on a huge puddle of blood, without a body, and bloody footsteps leading into a bedroom who's door was open slightly and had bloody smudges and blotches all over it, like something was trying to beat it down.
A resounding, "Clear," was heard in the next room over. At least they hadn't ran into any trouble yet.
The soldiers had their flashlights trained on the door, ready to smoke the first thing that poked its head out. Adrian was the first to enter through the door. Before he could open the door fully, a loud screech was heard and something slammed into the other side of the door, knocking him to the ground. The four other soldiers instantly formed a semi circle around the door, raised their M4s and open fired on the door, their rounds punching holes through the door and probably through whatever was on the other side. After a short burst, the gunfire stopped, and a loud thud was heard as a body hit the floor.
The soldiers that were in the other room quickly ran into the room asking what the hell just happened. Sergeant, Don Baker, the squad leader, was a man in his early thirties, with shaved brown hair and deep blue eyes. He smiled and offered a hand, "Well now that your little nap is over. Let's get back to work." Adrian smiled and took the hand.
Once he was on his feet, the ten men went to inspect the room to see what was on the other side. One of the soldiers in the back whispered, "Hope we didn't just grease a civilian crying for help..." Another soldier replied, "Nah, no way man. Did you hear that scream? It didn't sound like any person I've ever heard." They both were silenced by Sergeant Baker.
Once again Adrian pushed the door open to find a dead man lying on the floor with bullet holes all over him. His face covered in the tell tale tumors that all infected shared in some way. A small, "Told yah," was said in the back of the group. Their was a door that had bloody footsteps all around it and hand prints all over it. It was trying to get in there.
The squad leader tapped Adrian on the shoulder, "Washington, Jenkins, check out that room, there might be survivors in there." The two delegated men creeped towards the door, guns raised. Adrian got on one side of the door, Jenkins got on the other side. Adrian reached his arm out to turn the knob while Jenkins got in front of the door and raised his gun. The door opened and Jenkins burst inside, Adrian close behind.
Once they opened the door, a horrible smell assaulted their senses and they had to cover their noses. Inside was a woman, clutching a small child, no older than five probably. They stared in shock for a few moments. Jenkins had only a deep set scowl, closed fists shaking, "That fucker in there waited them out. They starved to death, Adrian."
Adrian didn't speak. In truth, he couldn't find it in his heart to be sad. This kind of thing happened a lot in the field; bodies of families, tragic things happening to good people. It's just an unspoken part of a war zone, especially one like this.
An awkward silence between the two followed. They walked out of the room slowly, the squad leader looking curious asked, "What happened in there?"
Adrian looked up at the squad leader with a solemn expression and slowly shook his head side to side. The squad leader had been in combat long enough to know what was in that room and didn't ask questions. All of the sudden, his radio exploded with the reports of contact and the sounds of gunfire, a panicked voice spoke, "All teams, this is Hammer 2-2, we have multiple contacts all over, they're fucking all over the place, all squads we need backup!"
Not a second more was spent standing around, every soldier was out of the building in less than five minutes. They exited the doors, squinted at the glare of the afternoon sun, in contrast to the crisp darkness that lie within the apartments. The squad that requested backup, or at least most of them, were currently outside the doors of the apartment building, shooting inside. Loud roars were coming from inside.
One of the men saw them coming and hurried to them, blood splattered all over his armor and huge claw marks slashed across his upper thigh, "We were searching through the room and...in the upper levels, one of my men found a hole in the ceiling and the room had bodies in it, like something ate there and...then..." he started to stare past Adrian and his squad.
Adrian raised his gun and turned. When he was fully turned around, he was staring into the eyeless sockets of a huge creature with blood dripping from its mouth and its' attention fully on him. He didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, the buckshot ran straight through the creature's head, but instead of dropping dead instantly, it screamed, like it was calling for help...
Before they knew it, the thirty five remaining men were surrounded by more than ten of them. The men formed a full circle, rifles raised and men ready for anything. The creatures paced back and forth, calling to each other, like they were planning where would be the best place to attack.
The men of hammer company had heard stories about these things. Men who had survived encounters with them had aptly called them 'hunters'. They heard stories about whole bases being wiped out by a pack or two of these things. There were smart, fast, and indiscriminate about who was next on their menu.
Adrian leaned over to Sergeant Baker and whispered, "Sir, we need to call for help. There's no way we can take these things." The squad leader nodded and reached for his radio, slowly put it up to his face and carefully whispered, "Red crown, this is hammer 2-1, we are currently in grid 117, and are surrounded by some pretty big infected. Requesting immediate support and evac, if you speak on this line, please keep it quiet."
A quiet, yet reluctant woman's voice came over the radio, "Confirmed, hammer 2-1, hold your position." Some relief fell over the squad leader and his rifle lowered slightly.
"Yes ma-"
It didn't take but a second for the hunter to see the weak link and lunge, but it's open jaws stopped a mere inch away from the stunned squad leader, his mouth was almost as open as the hunter's. It closed it's mouth and backed up a few steps, not aggressive looking anymore...if you squinted really hard.
The hunters stopped circling and all crowded in one spot. The soldiers took advantage and spread out, rifles still pointed right at the creatures, but not firing. They knew that if they fired, it'd be the end of them.
A soldier whispered over Adrian's soldier, "What the hell is going on? They stopped calling to each other. It's like they just...forgot about us."
Adrian whispered back, "Whatever it is, it's not..." Every soldier had their mouths agape at what was in front of them; a man in a black leather jacket, grey hoodie, and faded jeans walked out from behind the hunters. Their huge frames towered over him. The man stopped to look at the soldiers pointing rifles at the hunters all around him, completely stunned by his presence.
Adrian very carefully stuck out his hand and gestured for the man to come over to him, "It's going to be ok, sir. We'll get you out of there. I know those things are scary, but you have to very slowly come over to us. We'll protect you."
The man looked up at Adrian, and even in the broad daylight, the man's eyes seemed to have a luminescence to them. His face seemed to be a mix of confusion and amusement. He looked to one of the hunters beside him and started walking over to it.
All thirty five men were shaking there heads and loudly whispering for him to get away from the hunters.
The man got close to one, the hunter looked down at him and stared right into his eyes, it bared its teeth and growled for a few seconds, much to the dismay of the soldiers, but instead of biting the man in half, it just dipped its head down, like a shunned dog. And like a dog, the man reached his hand up and patted the hunter on the head.
The men all but dropped their guns on the floor in complete amazement.
Then they heard the rotors of four helicopters that were about to come in and evacuate Adrian and his squad mates. But then, as if some kind of switch went off, the creatures roared deafening cries and took off after the helicopters, asphalt becoming mulch beneath their weight and speed.
The helicopters swerved in all directions, trying to avoid the jumping hunters. Two were not fast enough to avoid a hunter latching onto the hull and were brought down. The other two took off towards where ever they came from.
The man had his back to the soldiers, silently observing the impressive explosions from the helicopters. Adrian admired the tribal symbol on his back. He had to admit, this guy looked pretty intimidating.
Sergeant Baker walked right up to him, "Hey buddy, how the hell did you do that? How are you not dead right now?"
In the blink of an eye, the man had turned around and had the squad leader by the neck and lifted him as if he were made of paper. The squad leader chocked out muffled words of 'put me down'. Then, without a second's hesitation, the man had broken the squad leader's neck with an audible crack and tossed him aside like a child throwing away a toy they're done playing with.
The man was completely silent, a small smirk being the only sign the he was enjoying the shocked silence of the soldiers. The man's right arm began to melt into a sea of black and luminescent red tendrils, until it reshaped itself into a short, yet extremely sharp looking appendage. Silence did not follow this time, this time all that followed was gunfire and the repeated screams of, "Open fire!"
The man threw his arm back, revealing that this appendage was a lot longer than it seemed and effectively cut thirty four men into ten.
Adrian was luckier than twenty four other men that were around him, but were not as lucky as the other nine. The blades on that appendage sliced into his knee badly. Adrian screamed in pain and fell to the floor. He pointed his shotgun up at the man for a few seconds before rolling over to see what had become of his platoon. He saw the other nine men backing away quickly, about to run. He reached his hands out and called for them, "Wait please, don't leave me here! Please just help me get up. I can make it, just please don't go. Please!"
Tears rolled down his eyes as he saw some of his best friends, men that he'd killed for, men that he'd lay his life down for, leaving him to die a painful death.
Adrian rolled back over and watched as the man stared down at him and back up at the men, apparently deciding who he wanted more. He decided that he wanted more of a challenge and started running a lot faster than Adrian thought was possible. It was starting to get dark and Adrian could hear distant gunfire and the screams of cowards getting what they deserved.
Adrian painfully pulled himself to his feet and inspected the wound. It was not as bad as it seemed, but definitely required a bandage. Luckily one of the many halves of men had bandages in his pocket. He could hear the screeches of distant infected, he knew that he would probably die soon. Until he heard the voice of a young woman. It was coming from the squad leader's radio, "Holy shit dude are you ok? I saw it all on one of the street cameras. Listen I know of a place that you'll be safe. I have some one hear that wants to talk to you."
The next voice that came on was one that he thought he'd never hear again; his daughter's, she was crying, "Daddy, you have to get up! I don't want to see the monsters take you away!" She started sobbing and the young woman came back on. "Hey, your family is safe, with me. My safe house is just a few blocks away and you'll be safe there."
The address she gave him wasn't but a few blocks over, as he was hobbling through the streets, he saw a puddle of blood and a lone arm lying in the street that had the same patch that was on his chest. He looked at it in disgust and kept on walking.
On that day, Adrian had decided a lot of things. He would go AWOL if it meant he could protect his family, that man he saw would forever be in his nightmares, and Athena was one of the people he could trust most. He didn't like this strange guy that Athena sent, but if she trusts him, then Adrian trusts him.
As always, don't forget to leave a review of any questions, concerns, or advice. The reviews let me know you guys like the story and want more. Seriously you, leave a review. Yes you. You little rebel.