Humanity's Finest
Part 2: Chapter 10
One would ask themselves: how did Samantha manage to bring her undead army to the village her mortal foes were inhabiting so fast. They were nowhere near the village itself. The answer to that was simple: teleportation. It was something her hellhounds could do whenever she pit them against the zombie slayers. She wanted her new minions to have a similar ability to her hellhounds too, so she experimented on the corpses the apes had brought to her the moment she got her hands on them.
Element 115 is scarce now. Finding a large cache is rare nowadays and the last time she found one was at the Mountain of Malefor. But ever since the mountain collapsed she had been unable to get her hands on it. So she had to resort to...other methods.
Der Riese may have collapsed thanks to those dragons all those months ago, but she made sure to keep the presence of the apes hidden from the eyes of the Dragon Guardians when she sent them there to scavenge the complex for anything useful. She remembered the earth around the facility was dead. So whatever was in there, keeping the forces of nature at bay would be useful to her.
It turned out to be a stash of element 115. It was in small amounts, smaller than she would've liked, but she was ecstatic to see there was a cache of element 115 still around. The amount was small enough for her to raise a small army. About 100 of them would be raised from the dead. So she used it on 80 of the bodies the apes had taken when they raided the villages she sent them out to pillage, and the remaining 20 were from the dragons the apes had dragged from the battlefield that became their graves.
After they were infected, Samantha made her undead minions infect other bodies, which in turn allowed them to rise from the grave. Then she began her experimenting. Away from the prying eyes of others, while her ape minions brought in more corpses to be infected before becoming her new test subjects.
Months had passed. And she had received failure, after failure, after failure for her troubles. After months of constant failure, when she was about to give up on her experimenting, she decided to try one last time. But done it a little differently than the last several times. She examined one of her hellhounds; to see how their teleporting ability worked.
Turned out there was a mutation inside their brains that gave them the ability of perception. This perception, after she dug in a little further, gave her hellhounds an out of body experience. In other words it allowed the overgrown dogs to see where they were going, before they teleported. It was how they always appeared near Tank and the others every single time they were about to go in.
Long story short: Samantha found out what she needed from the hellhounds, and copied it in the same likeness she found in her hellhounds to her new undead. Now they have the ability to teleport in the location they see their targets in.
Eager to watch the upcoming slaughter fest, Samantha got herself comfortable as she watched her new undead army teleport on the outskirts of the village Tank, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen are inhabiting. Since the buildings in this village had little to no windows, Samantha covered any available windows with planks, put down some chalk outlines for some weapons for them to get, and place the mystery box in the same place Dempsey had found the first spawn point.
Grinning Samantha lay out on her stomach and rested her chin beneath her hands as she eager watched down on the trio. If there was one thing she had missed after a million years of inactivity, it was watching the survivors struggle to survive.
X.X.X.X
"God fucking dammit!" Dempsey bellowed out furiously. He kicked over a table in anger the moment he and the others were all teleported in one of the buildings. "I thought we were free from this zombie fighting bullshit!" He was angry, and frustrated with the recent event that brought them in this situation.
"As long as Samantha is around, we vill never be free from her minions." Richtofen stated. A frown pulled at his lips as he looked around the room they were all in. Like Dempsey, he, Takeo and Nikolai had their weapons replaced by M1911s before they were teleported in to this room. So the first thing they needed to do was secure some new weapons.
Like in every starting room since they teleported inside that theatre in Germany, there was an outline of an M-14 battle-rifle and a Olympia shotgun on the walls. They were on the opposite walls. While not as powerful as the MP-40 or the AK74u, they would do until they needed to secure some new weapons.
Walking over to the Olympia outline Richtofen placed his gloved hand flat on the surface. The second his hand touched the weapon outline he felt the drainage that accompanied it every time he wanted to buy a new weapon or some ammo. Feeling an object materialising in his palm he gripped it and pulled away, revealing in his hand a real Olympia shotgun along with another one manifesting on the outline itself.
Nikolai seeing Richtofen with a new weapon, followed his example by getting one of his own. "Good idea, comrade!" Exclaimed the Russian, walking up to the wall the Nazi was standing in front of. "Getting ourselves outfitted with new weapon to give us better chance at survival! I like that idea!" This was followed with Nikolai placing his palm flat on the surface of the Olympia, and after feeling the drainage that came after he touched it, he gripped the shotgun and pulled it off the wall leaving behind an exact replica in the same spot. "I never did understand how that worked..."
Dempsey grunted in discomfort as an M-14 battle-rifle appeared in his hand, while manifesting on the outline in front of him. "I don't think any of knows how it works, Nikolai." The marine replied, wheezing and coughing before standing back and allowing Takeo to have his turn. With an M-14 of his own Takeo silently followed Tank to the middle of the room with Nikolai and Richtofen meeting them halfway.
"Alright, guys, what's the plan here? Do we wait for the zombies to break in? Or do we kill them the moment we see them?" Dempsey questioned, looking between the three with an even stare.
If this was anything like their previous engagements with the undead, then they were going to need more 'points' to spend in order to open the doors to the outside; so they had to play this smart.
Takeo frowned and narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the room. There was no windows, so they had no idea on where the zombies are going to come in. With that in mind the Asian gave Dempsey his opinion. "I suggest we wait until they get in. We have no idea which wall they will chose to breach."
Dempsey looked around the room again with a frown. No windows so no visible places for them to cover. "I see your point." He agreed. He then turned to Richtofen and Nikolai; "What do you guys think? Wait until they break in?"
Richtofen gave an indifferent shrug. "Who cares. Zhey vill reveal themselves no matter vhat ve choose."
"I agree with Richtofen." Nikolai voiced out his own agreement. "But I am all for waiting! Perhaps we will get some of those floating things when we kill them again?"
The four tensed when they heard moaning from the outside; unlike the ones they were used too however these ones were different. Very different. They sounded like dying howls you would expect to hear from an animal.
Everyone took off the safety on their Olympia' and M-14s, and strained their hearing to find where the moaning was coming from. They all took aim at the wall on their left when they heard someone on the other side banging and scratching on the surface. Sharing a look with one another, the four zombie slayers slowly moved to the wall, but made sure to keep themselves away from gripping distance in case the zombies began to try and grab them when they made a big enough gap in the wall.
Suddenly a small section of the wall collapsed, with a decaying, skinless arm reaching through the gap before the arm bent to grab on another section of the wall. Whoever owned the limb had showed inhuman strength when the arm pulled back, taking away a large section of the wall with it.
"Holy shit..." Was Tank Dempsey's shocked words when he saw just what was on the other of that wall. From what they could make out, it used to be a cheetah. The only reason he could identify it was because of it's facial structure. While it was missing chunks of its flesh, and had patches of fur and skin missing, Tank was still able to compare its face to the other cheetahs that were here this morning.
Now he knew what had happened to those missing inhabitants that the Dragon Guardians said were missing. Samantha turned them into zombies. He was startled from his thoughts when he heard one of the Olympia's going off and the cheetahs head literally exploding. Turning he wasn't surprised to see that it was Nikolai who delivered the first shot. Dempsey smirked inwardly, guess Nikolai was too impatient on letting them in.
Nikolai opened fire once more when he saw another zombified cheetah take the place of the one he shot, and had to reload as he had used both shells that were in the chamber. As Nikolai reloaded his weapon none of the others opened fire as they saw several more arms reach through the gap to tear down more and more of the wall. Wanting them to make a large enough gap for them to be able to get inside first before they opened fire.
It took Nikolai five seconds to reload his weapon again and he took aim with it once more at the opening. However he did not open fire, opting to wait for them to get inside of the room first. As more and more of the wall was torn away, the four were slowly able to see just how many of them were outside at the moment. They all had a grim expression as they saw a large horde on the other side of the wall waiting to break in.
Turning to gaze at one another, they nodded simultaneously as if they knew what the others were thinking. Taking position in front of Nikolai and Richtofen, both Takeo and Dempsey knelt down and the four took aim at the gap in the wall that was getting bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. The two stared down the sights of their M-14s, while Nikolai and Richtofen stared down the sights of their Olympia's, the four knowing what their roles are.
Nikolai and Richtofen would open fire first; kill and wear down the zombies as they climbed through the gap. Takeo and Dempsey would then take over as the two behind them reloaded. The M-14 had more bullets to fire than the Olympia, so they would be able to take down any zombies that tried to make their way in the room as the two behind them reloaded. It was an effective system that had worked every single time, the four had managed to get themselves bogged in to a corner.
When the zombies had manage to make a big enough gap to climb through both Nikolai and Richofen opened fire. The first shells from their shotguns killed several zombies and ripped off the limbs, and exposed the torsos of the still functioning zombies behind them. The two fired a second time and several more had died as they tried to climb through, making a huge pile of corpses that continued to build up.
Dempsey and Takeo took over at this point while Nikolai and Richtofen reloaded their weapon. They took careful aim at the heads and fired once. As the M-14 always had 8 bullets inside a magazine – it should have 20 bullets inside but Samantha always wanted to make things difficult for our heroes - they could fire much longer than the shotgun, therefore giving Nikolai and Richtofen more than ample time to reload.
With this system the four shared, they were able to easily mop up the zombies before they could get one foot inside the room. However, like previous engagements' they had with the zombies, they all knew it wouldn't be long until the zombies got faster and tougher.
However are a new type of zombies they had never encountered before, and neither of them knew just how tough they were going to get the more the fight is prolonged.
Reloading their rifles Takeo and Dempsey stood up and, keeping their weapons at the ready, walked cautiously to the large gap in the wall with Nikolai and Richtofen following them. Without sticking their heads through the gap, the four zombie killers looked through the gap and found there was a fog that rolling in. The four shared a look before they backed off. Dempsey however stayed close to the gap, and raised an open palm in front of it. What happened next was unsurprising to them; several planks rose up from the ground and latched onto the wall, 'repairing' the gap.
When he was finished Dempsey turned to the others and shouldered his rifle. "Since we can repair gaps, I'm going to assume we're able to do everything else as well?"
"Makes sense." Nikolai said nodding his head in agreement as he too shouldered his shotgun. "Why change something when things are already beginning to become difficult?"
"Let us not forget zhe fact ve are facing new zombies." Richtofen reminded them with a pointed look. "Ve have no idea vhat zhey are able to do. Are zhey able to become faster? Vill zhey get stronger? Can zhey jump to inhuman lengths to catch up to us? Zhere are so many questions unanswered."
"True enough..." Dempsey murmured under his breath before he looked and nodded toward the planked up wall. "We'll deal with the problem when it shows itself. We always do. And these new zombies won't change them now." He said as he brought his gaze back to his comrades of circumstance. "So we do what we always do: stay in one area long enough to get enough currency to open some doors and buy new weapons?" Dempsey was referring to the points of course. Every time they killed zombies and repaired barriers, they all would receive some form of currency to buy new weapons off of walls that had weapon outlines and opening doors. The more they got the more fit they are and the less straining their efforts would be. If they had less points then everything mentioned previously would be in reverse, but the strain wouldn't be enough to make them immobile. It would just take them a lot more effort to do things, such as running and carrying things.
"Da! Sounds like a plan!" Exclaimed an enthusiastic Nikolai as he took his shotgun off his shoulder. He was very eager to blow apart the zombies and the only thing stopping him from going out there and taking the fight to them, was the fact he didn't have enough currency to open the doors to get outside, and the fact they outnumbered him. Really, really, really outnumbered him.
"These filthy creatures will fall before us!" Takeo added, using both his hands to raise his rifle to emphasise his words.
Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen all looked at the planked wall when they heard the zombified cheetahs moan, signifying they were back and got themselves in position they were previously. Since there are planks covering parts of the wall, neither of them had to hold back on firing. So the moment one of the undead cheetah's limped into view, it had its head shot off from the rest of its body.
They just had to wait for a bit until they had enough currency between them all to open the doors and get some new weapons that are more powerful than the ones they've got. It won't be until the fifth attack wave there'd be any noticeable changes to them. So they need to move out before that time.
X.X.X.X
It had taken an entire night and most of the next day but they had done it. Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec had killed any apes' and zombies they encountered and levelled most of the encampment. As they were taken by surprise, the apes and zombies were unable to mobilize quickly enough to repel the attacking dragons and dragoness. The four were quick and efficient in their attack, giving the enemy no quarter and sustaining no casualties on their side.
It was literally, in every sense of the word, a one sided slaughterfest.
"Well, let's get this over with so we can all get back home." Frida started as she stepped in front of the others. The three watched as Frida opened her scaled maw, a build up of flames forming at the back of her throat. Then she pushed the flame out of her mouth, that quickly formed into a large fireball, launching it into a section of the encampment that was still standing after their attacks. The fireball exploded, reducing everything that was caught in its proximity to ash.
She had done this several times to the other areas that were standing still; and when she was done Frida turned around and said, "Let's go." to the other three as she past by them before spreading her wings and taking off in the direction she and the others came from. Shaking his head Quake followed by taking a running start before spreading open his wings and taking off after her. Frost and Alec flew after them seconds after Quake took off.
It took them less time to get back to the surface than they took to get to the encampment beneath the city. When the four flew out of the hole and landed on the ground, they easily saw Terrador standing patently for them with a detachment of moles and dragons in armour behind them.
The Earth Guardian with a strict expression stepped forward. "Report; did you succeed in destroying the enemy?" He ordered them in a stern tone.
Straightening themselves as they saw Terrador all business like, Frida nodded her head and obediently gave her report in a professional manner. "The enemy and their encampment was successfully wiped out. Spyro and Sparx were correct when they said there was over 100 inhabitants of that camp. We were able to successfully fight and destroy them without sustaining any casualties on our end however."
Terrador nodded at her report, giving the dragoness a proud yet small smile before he gazed at the hole with a deep frown and narrowed eyes. "That is good news. You four did good down there. Now, it is time for the detachment behind me to do their job." The Earth Guardian turned around to speak to the detachment of soldiers directly.
"As you all know, an enemy force infiltrated Warfang under the dead of night, and had potentially poisoned our warehouse. Spyro and his companion Sparx, under my orders, travelled inside that gap in the ground behind us to see where it led, and return with whatever findings he has."
He took a brief pause to let his words sink in. He knew he had gotten their attention when he had saw them all tense and look at one another anxiously. "Both Spyro and his companion returned, hours later, reporting there was an enemy encampment inhabiting over 100 of our enemies who had infiltrated our fair city underground." He turned, looking between Frida, Frost, Alec and Quake one at a time, saying without pausing to take a breath; "In retaliation I, Cyril and Volteer had sent in four of our own to deal with the threat. Those four are right now in front of me, and, you all heard what Frida said: the encampment and all its inhabitants were wiped out."
At this point Terrador was facing the soldiers again and he began pacing back and forth as he stared at them intently. "However it will not end here! For this is where you all come in! The encampment may have been destroyed and the enemies killed, but that does not mean we should not be vigilant. The enemy can easily reoccupy and rebuild the encampment, if we give them all enough time to recuperate! Your job down there, is to make sure that does not happen! If you see any apes or any of the walking dead, you are to engage them immediately and put them down in the ground where they belong!"
The dragons and moles had perked up by this point, and when Terrador had finished his speech they all let out an enthusiastic cheer. They were pumped up by the speech as Terrador had given them the confidence to do this mission, where as before they looked like they were about to pussy out like a bitch.
With Terrador being the way he is, he could not have anyone who is vital to the safety of the city, inside and out, bitch out before they'd even begun the job they are tasked to do. He had led entire armies to victory against the armies of the Dark Master. Very rarely did he lose any engagements against them. Even Cynder's armies, when she was still corrupted, had suffered defeat after defeat against his leadership until she intervened herself.
It was risky. His plan to have these dragons and apes, stand guard over an area that may receive more enemies travelling through the underground tunnels. If any one else were to take his place, they would have sealed up the passage ways into the city. But not Terrador. What others would have seen as a structural weakness, he had seen an asset. An asset that was a possible way to get their forces around the Dragons Realms a lot quicker than they would if they were on the surface.
But this also had its disadvantages. There was a very high chance that the structure that made up the caves were weak, therefore a risk of collapsing. However Quake and Frida had unleashed a series of large boulders and fireballs at the enemy camp. If the structure of the tunnels was weak then the tunnels would have collapsed around them the moment those attacks collided with the walls.
Terrador however did not know of that.
Another risk was the enemy counter attacking before they were ready. But he knew nothing in life is ever easy, otherwise the Dark Master would have been defeated without the near annihilation of the dragon race and the enslavement of several other species who were defeated by his armies. That was why there was a particularly large force of dragons and moles going underground. Their numbers would help defend the area, and they would be able to scout out the tunnels in case the undead had made any other entry points in to Warfang.
As they finished cheering Terrador moved to the side and watched as the moles hitched a ride on the dragons, before they took off into the underground entrance. Once they were done Terrador brought his attention back on to Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec and giving them a proud look he said; "You four did a good job eliminating the enemy encampment. Take the rest of the day off, Ancestors know you four need it."
The four nod their heads giving Terrador a thankful look before taking their leave. When they were out of sight, Terrador let out a tired sigh as he tiredly looked at the hole in the ground once more. He frowned, worried there are more of these tunnels somewhere in Warfang waiting to be used to ambush them. It was a good thing the city was on high alert, with patrols in every section of the city before this happened. When he sent Frida and the other three dragons in to the underground system to remove the enemy, he had taken the time to gather Volteer and Cyril and had gotten them to redirect several guards to search the facilities inside Warfang for any more tunnels and report to them immediately the second they discover any.
Luckily for them they had no recent discoveries of any under ground tunnels since Sparx had alerted them a night ago. Yawning tiredly Terrador made his way out of the warehouse and onto the streets. He had been up all night, and for the most of the morning. He needed to get some shut eye. It just wouldn't do for a warrior such as himself to fall asleep in the line of duty because he had over exhausted himself.
X.X.X.X
The new zombies were more ferocious than they had thought. The cheetah's were faster and more agile, dodging and often outright avoiding gunfire when the rifles and shotguns were fired. Like the zombies before them however, they soon fell to the combined fire power of Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki, Nikolai Belinski and Edward Richtofen.
Dempsey had just wrestled a zombified anthropomorphic cheetah to the ground, before finishing it off with his combat knife by driving the blade of the knife in the side of its head, all the way to the hilt. Dempsey panted as he yanked the blade out of the head of the now dead zombie, and got to his feet after cleaning the blade on the remains of the zombified cheetah's fur coat.
"Ok so how many waves we lasted so far?" The marine questioned the others as he placed the knife back in its sheathe that was on his bandolier.
"Zhat vas five so far." Answered Richtofen who was reloading his Olympia shotgun with a heavy frown. "Zhese undead are more surprising than I had anticipated..." He said aloud, wondering how that was possible. Zombies, from what he knew of them, were not that smart and had run on their baser instincts.
That remains true for these zombies. However these ones could move faster than any of them had expected. They were more agile as well. Something else that surprised them. But with their weapons and the one bordered up wall where the zombies can get in, the four are rather confident they can hold their ground for few more waves before they had to move on.
"Da! They are faster and agile!" Nikolai exclaimed with a heavy scowl. He was repairing the barrier the zombies had succeeded in tearing down. He looked over his shoulder and growled menacingly; "The two things that are bad when facing zombies, and we have them this early!"
Dempsey grit his teeth in frustration. Nikolai was right about this one. They weren't expecting these zombies to be faster and more agile than a human being. "We should have expected that fucking girl to pull this on us. She has those undead dragons on her side." He growled lowly as he glared at the ground, and kicked an invisible stone. "I should have figured it out sooner, when I was told villages allied to Warfang were going missing. Along with several scouts going missing too."
"None of us knew, the girl had this amount of undead minions under her control." Takeo said lowly and wisely. His back was turned to them. As such no one saw the thoughtful look on his face as he thought back. Back to when they were fighting the zombies. "None of us could have predicted this."
"The signs were there though." Dempsey pointed out grimly giving Takeo a frown even if the Asian didn't see it. Takeo however did turn around to face Dempsey with a frown of his own, and gestured him to continue. So Dempsey did; "The missing villages. The missing scouts. Samantha revealing herself and sicking that dragon on me. The hellhound's too. The signs were all there...we...I...just didn't connect them." He corrected himself before sighing exhaustingly.
Takeo opened his mouth to reply but closed it when he and the others heard the zombies return. "For now, we survive, then we talk about this." Dempsey didn't argue with Takeo on that. Surviving was more important than talking about regretting for not doing something.
He and Takeo took position side by side in front of the newly barricaded wall and took aim through the gaps the planks provided. They didn't bother waiting for the zombies to come inside now. They were getting faster and they couldn't just wait for them to get inside. The four knew with their speed and agility, if the zombies manage to get inside the building, it would not end well for them.
Both Takeo and Dempsey opened fire the moment they saw a sprinting zombie coming toward them a distance away. The fog outside was particularly thick now, making it hard for the two soldiers to spot them. They had to see the glowing eyes of the undead to know where they are.
Still despite its speed it was only one zombie and was easily put down before it could even reach the barricade. Both Takeo and Dempsey reloaded their rifles quickly and opened fire on the zombies as more and more sprinted toward the building.
"Fuck! They're beginning to dodge the bullets now!" Dempsey cursed out. Takeo growled in irritation. The second the zombies were nearly 100 yards away from the building, they began to dodge and weave past the bullets from their M-14 rifles. Not one for giving up Takeo quickly took out the empty magazine from the slot of his rifle and replaced it with a fresh one, before taking aim again and firing with a deep scowl on his face.
The first bullet missed its target. The cheetah jumping into the air to avoid the projectile completely. Takeo followed the undeads trail with his rifle and opened fire the moment the zombified cheetah's feet touched the ground. The undead cheetah was unable to get out of the way and the bullet easily met its mark; directly in the forehead, destroying the brain and killing the zombie instantly.
Dempsey however was reloading his rifle again as the cheetah's were quickly closing the distance, and had to bite back a curse when a few dozen of them reached the barricade before he could finish reloading. However, before they could get their paws on the planks Takeo opened fire on them. The close proximity made sure the bullets were unable to be missed and the Asian made sure to aim for their heads when he opened fire.
Dempsey turned to Nikolai and Richtofen and yelled out; "Nikolai! Richtofen! We need cover over here!" over the groans of moaning of the zombies that sound like they were in the hundreds. The Russian and German quickly ran to them with their shotgun at the ready, and after both Takeo and Dempsey moved out of the way the two men opened fire.
The shells easily made short work of the zombies who were packed together closely at the barricade, trying to rip off the planks in order to get in. The two had to reload again, forcing Takeo and Dempsey to take over once more while they removed the empty shells from the chamber of their Olympia, and replacing them with new ones.
But of all their combined fire power and their teamwork, the four were forced to back off when the cheetah's had managed to get their decaying hands on the barricade, and ripping off the wall one by one. Taking aim once more Dempsey bared his teeth as he fired rapidly into the bodies of the zombies who were about to breach the room. Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen didn't bother to take turns now. They all fired rapidly into the horde who were now beginning to climb over the ledge of the wall.
Like the last several times they done this; their bodies lifelessly fell to the floor as their torsos and limbs were ripped to shreds by bullets. Like the wave previous to this one, the zombies were able to get inside the room. In response to this Dempsey grabbed a pineapple grenade – that always spawned by two in every round – cooked it for three seconds before throwing it to the approaching horde.
The grenade exploded seconds later. The force from the explosion coming from the grenade blew off the legs of several zombies, reducing them to crawl around by their arms. Few of them were missing arms, or were killed outright. These ones were too far in between however as the pile of corpses that were beginning to gather in front of the window softened the impact the grenade should have been able to give off.
However, in spite of all this more and more zombies were getting in. But the pile of corpses were making the zombies slow down, just giving the four soldiers enough time to reload their weapons. Dempsey knowing it was only a matter of time before this room would be overrun, decided to head to the door that kept them in this room and used the currency he had built up from fighting the zombies to open it up. Pressing a palm against it, Dempsey gasped as he felt a small part of his energy drain away.
Smirking as the door opened to the outside, the former Marine Raider turned to address his companions. "Guys, the door's open! Let's get out of here quick!" The three looked and seeing that the door was indeed open, they quickly followed the American when he ran through the doorway.
The outside of the building was worse than they thought. The fog that covered the entire of the village was now thick enough that it made visibility almost non existent. Thankfully, the four of them were close together so they were still able to see one another thanks to their close proximity to one another.
Dempsey looked to his companions. "Stay close and keep quiet. We don't know where these freak-bags are lurking." He whispered to them. They nodded seeing the wisdom in his words. Being close to another would mean they would be able to support each other if they happened to get in trouble. Being quiet in this fog would allow them to hear where the zombies are and which direction they are in. It also works both ways. The zombies would know where they are if they made a lot of noise too.
The four walked in a diamond formation. One at the front taking point. Two in the middle watching their sides. And one in the back watching their flank. The formation would provide cover in all directions and angles. It's perfect for a situation like this.
Dempsey being the courageous badass he is took the spot at the front. Nikolai and Richtofen took the middle, with Takeo taking the flank. The four then cautiously moved into the fog and further away from the building they just came out from. Not ten seconds later a large crowd of zombies ran out of the doorway and into the open. The second they came out however they immediately slowed until they were limping around.
This was a sign of intelligence. A minor upgrade from Samantha. Originally the zombies would still run in the fog, giving away their position to the living almost immediately. However thanks to Samantha making sure they weren't as brain-dead like their predecessors when they were going up against the living, they now knew when to run and when to walk.
In this case since Dempsey, Nikolai, Richtofen and Takeo haven't spotted them yet, or opened fire upon them they had no reason to run.
As she watched the scene below Samantha was feeling proud of her accomplishment. That accomplishment on making the zombies more smarter when trying to track down their prey. Their predecessors were not that smart, and it was something she had regretted not improving. But this new chance had given her some opportunity to try out some experimentation. Teleportation was one of them. Now knowing when to run and when to walk was another. There are of course several other experiments she had accomplished doing, but...she will wait until her minions reveal them to her mortal enemies.
So there she was. Watching them patently in the sky. Watching as her new minions were slowly trailing the zombie slayers in the fog. With her rather advanced perception, she was able to keep track of the four zombie slayers within the fog. No matter if the fog they were within was thick to the degree where visibility was almost non-existent. Her sight allowed her to see a...rather unique outline of them. If she were to compare it to something, then it would be heat vision.
Samantha flinched as she felt some more of her minions suddenly die and it wasn't from here. Frowning the little girl closed her eyes and tried to trace the place where the loss of connection occurred. She scoffed when she realised it came from Warfang. Or rather underneath Warfang. She was not at all bothered to discover one of her outposts she told the apes to set up was destroyed. She knew its destruction was coming a mile away, when she had saw the purple dragon and his dragonfly companion had discovered their presence.
Sure she could have given them a heads up on the upcoming counter-attack but she didn't. She simply did not see the point in telling them when it was their fault to begin with. Sure it was cruel of her to do that but that unfortunately is life. Life cannot always be full of sunshine and rainbows.
She brought her gaze back on to the zombie slayers and scratched the side of her chin with a thoughtful look. Then her eyes lit up brightly when an idea came to her. A maniacal grin grew on her lips as she rubbed her hands together, like a mad scientist would do; "Zhey have cheetah's after zhem. Vhy not sick the moles on zhem too, vhile zhey are outside?" She giggled to herself in a sinister manner.
Dempsey and the others stopped and stared at the ground in alarm when the felt the earth shifting. The four looked at one another with wide eyes before they sprinted along the road, just as several decaying miniature paw hands rose from the earth where they once stood.
All of them knew the cause of the earth shifting beneath their feet. It was the undead. All around them the zombie slayers heard the hissing of the dead rising from the ground. Both Nikolai and Richtofen saw the zombies rising from the earth in true undead fashion in every direction they looked. Without stopping the two soldiers hip fired their shotguns into the rising zombies before they could get out of the earth completely.
Remarkably both shots from them hit their mark, re-killing a total of four zombies to which the zombie slayers realised looked similar to moles. The armour they wore, looked similar to the ones Dempsey recognised being worn in Warfang.
"The fuck!? Are those moles from Warfang!?" Dempsey thought in realisation. He grunted when he felt a hand clamp against his ankle. In retaliation Dempsey took his M1911 out of its holster, aimed at the ground and fired blindly several times until he heard the familiar death groan from the undead and the grip loosening on his ankle. He holstered it again before running to catch up with the others who didn't stop to wait for him. "Samantha turned the scouts that went missing into zombies! But, if she had them killed and turned them to what they are now...where 'bouts did she get those cheetah zombies?"
It was a question he knew would not be answered. A mystery that needed solving. And like all mysteries and puzzles Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and himself came across they would have to solve it to get some answers.
It's the same shit they do on different days.
X.X.X.X
Sparx stopped following his brother and looked out in the distance. His eyes narrowed into slits as he felt a disturbance. Like there was something unnatural in the air. It was as if the oxygen around him was beginning to wither and die.
"Sparx?" Spyro called out to him in a concerned tone when he realised the dragonfly wasn't following him. "What's the matter?" The purple dragon asked as he walked up to him.
Sparx didn't say anything at first. But then he turned to Spyro. "I don't know." He told him with a serious look which had gotten Spyro to straighten himself. He knew Sparx. He was never this serious unless there was something wrong. "It feels as if the air around us is dying...it's like...it's rotting."
Spyro narrowed his eyes in concern and sniffed the air to see if he can smell anything out of the ordinary. "Do you which direction it's coming from?" He asked as he began to sniff around him. "Because I can't smell anything in the air like you're describing."
Sparx shook his head negatively. "Sorry Spyro. I can't tell where it's coming from. It is like it is everywhere." He looked at Spyro seriously. "Something unnatural is happening and I don't like it."
Spyro narrowed his eyes contemplatively. He couldn't smell this rot in the air but Sparx could. He narrowed his eyes even further at the thought. Sparx was smaller in size. Maybe he can detect things that he can't because of that?
Volteer did have a theory that species who are smaller than them are more sensitive to their surroundings. It was true in a way. He did see Sparx react to something a lot quicker than he was able to. That is when he didn't see or hear anything coming. It was like he had a sixth sense or something.
Because of this Spyro was inclined to believe his brother. "Then we'd better be careful from here on out and be more alert for anything out of the ordinary." He told the dragonfly, who began to follow Spyro when he began walking away.
"No offense little brother but everything that is happening right now is out of the ordinary. I mean...the entire city is on alert for an army of dead people for crying out loud!" The dragonfly exclaimed dramatically.
"All the more for us to be watchful. Who knows what could happen if we're not watching?"
"The only thing I can think of happening, is us getting invaded."
"Ssssh!" Hissed out Spyro as he glared at Sparx who was giving him a confused look. "You'll jinx us if you say that!"
Sparx scoffed. "That's nothing but a myth." He told him waving off Spyro's warning. "It is merely coincidence that, that something happens just after you say it. Besides' do you hear us getting attacked?" Sparx asked quickly looking around the city while cupping a hand around the side of his head, as if he were trying to listen to something.
"No." Spyro admitted while giving Sparx a disapproving frown. "But you still shouldn't say something like that though. Even if it is coincidence you still made it happen by saying it." He doesn't like it when people talk about things that can be jinxed. Even if it is only a myth, it can still happen when you least expect it.
Sparx stared at his brother blankly. "Even if it is co... Spyro...what kind of logic is that?"
"It is my logic. Don't argue with it."
"But I wasn't going to... Oh forget it." He began only to pause half-way and threw his arms up in surrender. Spyro smirked victoriously. Happy that he had managed to get another one up on his dragonfly brother.
With that out of the way both dragonfly and dragon went back to focusing on their patrol through the streets of Warfang. If they stayed there a moment longer, they would have seen an unnatural looking fog suddenly appear miles away in the distance. Where Spyro had last seen the marines, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen.
The duo made their way to the Dragon Temple, and, eventually ran into Terrador who was also heading to the Dragon Temple to recuperate. The temple was located near the city centre just in front of the plaza and the market district. As it was near their location, it didn't take long for the two dragons and dragonfly to get there.
The Dragon Temple was simply massive. Its appearance was similar to the old temple they stayed at when Spyro had first met Ignitus. Only this one was much bigger and is made of the finest marble, skilfully crafted by the best architects. There are two conjoined paths that led up to the gateway of the temple, which was over 20ft long making it tall and wide enough for a fully grown dragon to get through.
"I can never get used to the size of these temples you people stay in." Sparx stated as the three made their way up the path. "Their just so, huge!" He exclaimed while spreading his arms in front of him to emphasise his words.
"I am not surprised considering your size." Terrador replied.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Demanded the dragonfly offended.
"What he means Sparx, because of how small you are everything you see is much bigger in your point of view. Considering how small you are, everything you see would be bigger to you than to someone like Terrador." Spyro quickly explained to his brother before said dragonfly could bow a gasket.
"...Oh..." Said the dragonfly, nodding his head as he understood what Spyro was telling him. "So...if a fruit like a banana is large for me...then it would be small for you?" He questioned looking at his brother for confirmation.
Spyro couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation at how Sparx was acting. He knows the dragonfly isn't this dumb. Either he is doing this on purpose or Sparx was acting like this as a joke.
"Yes Sparx. Exactly that." Terrador replied.
He couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment at how easily Terrador is deceived by his younger brother. But if Sparx suddenly make a crack at his intelligence then he would make his younger brother regret it.
"Spyro, how come you aren't as smart as Terrador?" Came Sparx' slightly whining voice.
His response was Spyro thwacking him hard on the back of the head with his tail. Because of this unexpected move from his brother Sparx was unable to react quick enough to dodge; and with the amount of power put behind the blow, it was enough to send the dragonfly crashing the ground.
That left Spyro feeling very satisfied. Terrador couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at the antics between Spyro and Sparx. By the time Sparx was able to bring himself off the ground (the blow had sent him into unconsciousness for a short while) the two dragons were already in the temple. Huffing to himself and rambling about annoying purple lizards who needed an ass kicking, Sparx quickly closed the distance between himself and the Temple entrance.
The doors were already open; so Sparx was easily able to enter the building with no resistance whatsoever.
X.X.X.X
Alex Mason was someone who trusted his hunch and gut feelings. It was what made him trust Viktor Reznov. It was how he survived his days in Vorkuta up until his freedom. But what he was feeling right now, it was like there is something major, something big, was happening; and he along with everyone else should be there for it.
He didn't know how right he was. As he along with Frank Woods, Jason Hudson, Grigori Weaver, Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck were heading towards the passage way that would bring them to Dante's Freezer Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and Dr. Edward Richtofen were fighting off a sudden invasion of undead at the same moment.
Right now they all are several miles away from the village so they won't know what is happening there right now. Even if they did somehow know what was going on they were too far away to try and help. If they suddenly backtracked not would they be wasting valuable time, but they would be giving Samantha more time to uncover this weapon they're going to try and destroy.
"You guys get the feelin' we're all missing out on something?" Woods suddenly asked out of the blue.
Surprisingly Frank had gotten several grunts of acknowledgement from his peers. It was Mason who answered though. "Yeah. I dunno what it means though. But I do feel we should be there."
"Who here among us thinks it's because of that Nazi son-of-a-bitch?" Woods asked in a spiteful tone. Literally spitting out the word 'Nazi' as if it were a cancer. In response several hands went up. All of them were from the humans in the group. Neither of the cheetah's had raised their paws since they had no idea what they were talking about. Nor did they know who or what a Nazi is.
Little did Frank know that he was closer to the mark than he ever imagined.
"You humans look oddly similar to apes. Why is that?" Hunter asked, mainly as a way to start up a conversation and as a way to gain some insight about them.
"Evolution, I guess." Roebuck replied, shrugging. "Both apes and humans are primates; but as you can tell we humans are different to apes in many, many ways. For one we do not have fur all over our bodies, and two we have a different body structure compared to them. And we humans share a common ancestor with chimpanzees who are one of the many primate species back in our time period."
"I didn't know that." Polonsky exclaimed in surprise. He was looking at Roebuck in a new light now.
Hunter and the other cheetah's were giving the humans in the group wary looks now they discovered they were similar, somewhat, to the apes. It was that they haven't been hostile towards them that they haven't attacked yet. Their highly advanced weaponry also added to their wariness factor. They didn't know just what those things in their hands are capable of and they aren't willing to antagonise them because they're primates. Just like the apes. That would be stupid.
"Not many do unfortunately. Before I became a solider, I was a student in university learning about science." The scarred sergeant explained with a wistful expression. Reminiscing his days before he was conscripted into the military to participate in the war in the East. "Then the war happened with Germany and in the East. While we weren't actively participating in the war against Nazi Germany, we were giving our allies help in the form of shipment. Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and America was brought into the war. I and several others were conscripted into the army shortly after that to take part in the war effort."
Polonsky and Miller were both surprised. "Really? Science?" Polonsky asked, to which Roebuck nodded his head. "I was trying to become a car mechanic in University. But that didn't happen because of Japan dragging us into the war. What were you doing before you entered the military Miller?" Polonsky asked as he and Roebuck turned towards their friend with curiosity.
This was the first time they opened up like this and knowing what Roebuck was doing before he became a soldier allowed him to know what he was before he entered the war. Even Frank, Mason, Hudson and Weaver were giving Miller curious looks as to what he was learning before he became a soldier. These three men are, would be/soon to be, heroes in the war against Japan in the Second World War.
"Eh, nothing exciting as learning to be a car mechanic or a scientist." Miller admitted truthfully with a shrug of his shoulders. Scratching the back of his head Miller sheepishly added, "I was learning to become a post man. Nothing important about that. Nothing at all..."
"There's nothing bad about learning to become a post man. As far as I know a lot of people from different roles in society were conscripted into the army 20 or so years ago." Frank said to them sagely before chuckling, "You have to admit though that being in the army is a lot more exciting than being a post man going from door to door every week?"
Miller nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It is pretty exciting. We get to see places we normally would never see otherwise. The only thing that annoys me the most though is getting shot."
"Such is the fate of every solider who are in the middle of a war..." Everyone nodded their heads in sombre agreement. The cheetah's of Avalar had been in a war not too long ago and they had sustained heavy casualties in a lot of skirmish and battles they took part in.
Hunter himself had been tasked by Ignitus himself with finding Spyro and Cynder, and get them back to Warfang in the hopes they would be able to help in the war effort against his Dark Armies. It took him three years to track them down to the mountain of Malefor. The reason he had taken so long to find them was because the purple dragon had been to too many places' and he had to follow in his footsteps and talk to the locals to see which direction he had gone to next.
Miller, Polonsky and Roebuck were in the middle of fighting the Japanese on their home territory on Peleliu. They knew the horror's of war. They knew the risks. The Japanese were stubborn. Greatly so as it took them almost three months instead of three days to take the entire island. They fought the marines tooth and nail for every inch of it. The Marine Raiders had sustained heavy casualties in the Battle of Peleliu but had managed to capture the island in the end.
Two years before that they took part in the early stages of the Battle of Makin. Miller's reconnaissanceteam was there scouting out the island. They were captured. After 1 week of radio silence the Marine Raiders went in to find and secure them. Out of them all only two people were left alive; and out of the two, Miller was the only one who is able for combat.
The S.O.G had taken part in the Vietnam War and many of the battles that took part in it. Many of these involve the capturing of enemy prisoners, rescuing downed pilots, and conducting rescue operations to retrieve prisoners of war throughout South-east Asia.
Everyone here knew the horrors of war. Now they were going to try and prevent another one from breaking out.
"Such is the horror of war..." Woods grimly said out aloud.
They rest of the way was silent from there, and the atmosphere around the group was solemn. Remembering the life and death situations they all faced on the battlefield left a bitter taste in their mouth. "How far are we from this underground passageway?" Mason asked just as they reached a really steep hill.
"Not too far now. It's just ahead, up the mound." Hunter informed just as they began to make their way up the steep hill.
When they reached the top of the slope they found the cave that led under the sea. It took them several hours of walking. Looking up Hunter was able to see the sun in the middle of the sky, showing him it was late in the afternoon.
"Hmm...so this is the underground tunnel huh?" Roebuck stated allowed as he and everyone else stopped in front of the entryway. He looked over it with a light frown on his scarred face. "It looks like it hadn't been used for years." Roebuck was right the tunnel looked like it hadn't been used for years. The entrance was almost covered by overgrown foliage; another few years of neglect and nature would have succeeded in reclaiming it. No one would have known there was a tunnel behind it if it was completely overgrown.
"That is because it hasn't. However it does lead us to Dante's Freezer." Hunter stated.
Gregory turned to Hunter and asked, "How long would it take us to get there?"
"A few days if we are to keep our normal pace. There are several areas within we can use to set up camp and rest for a while. As for food and water, luckily for us there is plenty of foliage within that grows edible substance and water, so that will not be an issue for us." Hunter answered, before he walked ahead of the group and stopping in front of the tunnel and cutting down the foliage that was about to conceal it from the world. Once that was done the archer turned to the others and said, "I'll go first as I know the layout of the underground tunnels well enough to keep us from getting lost."
The humans of the group nodded in agreement. Having someone who knows the place better than they did is a good idea. Better to have someone who knows the layout guide them and keep them from getting lost than someone who doesn't.
Seeing none of them argue with him Hunter nodded back at them and walked in with the humans and fellow cheetah's following after him. If they kept this up they'd get to Dante's Freezer in about three days.
They can only hope Samantha doesn't find what she is looking for within those three days, otherwise everyone would find themselves dead by the end of the week.