Town Of Hope, Idaho August 8th 1968, Black ops mission dubbed Spearhead, 1pm
It had been just over 2 hours since the helicopter had disappeared.
"We can't keep looking much longer we're wasting time" Cross thought as they came to what looked like the town center.
"Sir the men are tired. We need to take a break" one of the soldiers whispered as he walked up beside him.
"Fine they have 20 minutes to rest then we move out and let's try not to draw attention to ourselves" he replied quietly.
They had been resting for about 5 minutes when a sound caught Cross's attention. It was faint, it must have been a long way in the distance but he'd heard enough gunshots in his time to recognized one no matter how far away it was. He got to his feet and motioned to the rest of them to follow. Rather begrudgingly the soldiers got to their feet and began following their captain.
"What the f*** are these things?" a marine screamed as a woman with a bleeding stump where her arm should have been jumped on him, snarling and pinning him to the ground. She was thrown off as a shield collided with her head, sending her flying into a nearby wall. "Captain Rodgers we've underestimated the situation badly" the marine said as he was helped to his feet by a man dressed in a blue and white uniform.
"You're right whatever's going on here we aren't prepared for it" Steve replied stretching out his arm to catch his shield as it rebounded against wall and spun back to his hand. "What the hell happened here?" he thought watching the assault. He was caught off guard as a man jumped on him from behind. If he hadn't known better Steve could have sworn he felt the man attempt to bite him through the stab proof material. Reaching up he grabbed one of the man's arms that were wrapped around his neck and throwing his weight forward he flipped the man over his back and pinned him to the ground using the shield.
"Sir! Please calm down!" he shouted at the snarling person beneath him. The man ignored him and continued to claw at the shield snarling and bearing blood soaked teeth. Being a war veteran Steve had seen some disturbing things but this man with is glazed eyes and blood drenched teeth made everything else pale in comparison. The thing that made this so disturbing was the fact that this man looked like a civilian. He could have been your average guy but instead he'd been reduced to a snarling animal. Steve pulled the shield away slightly so he could deliver a blow to the man's solar-plexus. Normally a blow like this would have winded the enemy causing them to buckle over as the air was forced from their lungs but the man acted as though he hadn't even felt it and continued his barrage of scratches on the shield.
"Looks like I don't have a choice" he thought as he reached to the holster on his belt and pulled out the pistol. He pressed the barrel against the man's chest and let off two rounds taking care not to hit any vital organs. He didn't like using guns so he sure as hell wasn't going to kill people with them on the rare occasions he did use them, unless it was absolutely necessary. Thinking that this would have put the man out of action he relented the pressure he was using to pin him but to his shock the man pushed back hard, throwing him off. Getting quickly to his feet he watched as the man stood back up, the gaping wounds in his chest not seeming to bother him in the slightest. "Christ" Steve breathed as he saw the man move towards him blood spurting from the wounds.
"Captain we have multiple tango's coming in from the right flank" one of the marines screamed. Turning Steve saw that there was at least another 30 people closing in on them.
"Retreat we can't hold them!" he shouted turning to the rest of his men. They turned and began to run down the street turning every few seconds to release a volley of gunfire into the approaching horde.
"We can't keep this up forever" one of the marines panted as he ran alongside Steve. Rodgers knew he was right they would have to make a stand soon or else they would just get run until exhaustion took them. Suddenly a large church appeared in front of them.
"The church" he yelled motioning to the building. "Take cover behind the gravestones" Steve barked crouching down behind the nearest one and bringing his weapon up to aim at the infected. The other men did the same panting and shaking as they did.
"On my mark fire, 5 4 3 2..Wait!"
Something strange happened the horde stopped in front of the church gate as if some force was holding them in place.
"Why have they stopped?" one of the soldiers asked as he relaxed his position.
"What's going on?" Steve thought watching the horde off immobile people.
"Maybe they can't come onto holy ground?" one of the others suggested.
"Don't be f***ing stupid!" one of the others barked back.
"Quiet!" Steve snapped as he tried to pinpoint what was preventing them attacking.
Just then they parted and a woman stepped out. She had long red hair and was wearing the remnants of what looked like a dress. She would have been very beautiful had her face not been streaked with blood and dirt. "Why are you running?" she asked looking at the men.
Steve looked at the woman a mixture of shock and confusion on his face. "Who are you?" he asked standing up from behind the gravestone.
The woman ignored him and repeated her question "Why are you running?" her voice was soothing almost hypnotic.
"What kind of question is that? Those things where trying to kill us" one of the marines shouted back.
The women looked at him confusion written on her face. "They were only trying to help you" she replied as she stroked the hair of a man standing nearest her.
"Help us?" Steve asked dumbfounded as he watched the woman stroking one of the creatures that had been chasing them.
"Yes, they were trying to give you a gift. Freeing you from fear, pain and loneliness" she replied turning her emerald eyes to Steve.
"What's going on?" he thought as he looked at the woman "Why don't they attack her?"
"Listen lady I don't know if your insane or something but those things weren't trying to help us. They are just mindless animals" another marine snapped back.
The woman looked at them sadly "You can't see what we offer. That's a shame." She turned back to the man she had previously been stroking and placed her hand on his head. Steve watched in horror as the man's skin began to split and the muscle began to push through. A few seconds the thing that stood where the man had been bore no resemblance to a human, long serrated claws extended from its hands and jagged teeth protruded from its mouth.
"What the f*** is that?" he shouted raising his weapon again.
"Evolution" the woman replied turning to him and smiling. She then proceeded to do the same thing to another 5 people. "Kill them" she whispered to the closest. Then she turned and walked away followed by everyone but the newly created abominations.
The creatures launched themselves at the soldiers with lighting speed. "Fire!" Steve yelled as the monsters charged towards them. A volley of bullets struck them head-on but they didn't even seemed to notice as the bullets ripped through their flesh. Soon they closed in, the first one pounced on the closest soldier and plunged its long claws into the man's chest before chucking him aside like a piece of paper. Steve struck the closest one with his shield temporally stunning it. The creature stepped back shaking its head and snarling. Steve took the opportunity to jump on the creatures back. Raising his arm he slammed the shield into the back of its head causing the monster to buckle and fall to floor he then quickly put two bullets through the creatures skull and it slumped lifelessly. He looked up and to his horror he saw that the marines had been killed. The rest of the beasts then turned their attention to him gore dripping from their blood soaked jaws. They circled him growling and snapping their teeth.
"This isn't going to end well" Steve thought grimly as he looked at the things circling him. A shot rang out and a bullet ripped through the head of one of the hunters. The rest of hunters jumped back in surprise as their comrades body fell to the floor.
"Well these certainly are some ugly ones" came a calm cold voice.
Looking past the hunters Steve could just make out the shapes of some other men. Four of the five remaining hunters quickly broke off to attack the new arrivals and the other leapt at Steve.
"What the hell are these things?" Cross thought as one of them raised its huge clawed hand. Using both hands he blocked the creatures blow by stopping it at the forearm allowing him to avoid the large claws. Swiftly he brought back his right arm and punched the creature in the elbow and felt its joint shatter under his knuckles. The creature stepped back shrieking Cross quickly put it of its misery with a shot to the head. Turning he realized his men hadn't fared as well there was only one left and he was desperately trying to escape from one of the creatures clutches. He was about to help the soldier when he was quickly engaged by another hunter. "Sorry kid" he thought as he watched the hunter start to drag the soldier away but to his surprise a disc-like object struck the creature in the head causing it to drop the man. Then the creature was thrown to the floor as a man dressed in blue and white kicked it in the back leg and struck it on the back. "Well that's one less for me to worry about" he thought as he turned his attention back to his assailant.
The creature swept its arm forward in an arc striking Cross and sending him flying to the ground. "Dam those things are strong" Cross thought as he felt his head swim. Suddenly the hunter was on top of him pinning him to the ground he tried to raise his gun but the monster had it firmly pinned to the ground. "No" he thought gritting his teeth "Not like this!" Then the same disc-like object he'd seen earlier stuck the creature in the head throwing it off him. The blue and white clothed man stood over him hand extended. Reaching out Cross took it and the man pulled him to his feet.
"Looks like there's only one left" the man said looking at the last remaining hunter. It glared at the two men menacingly before raising its head and letting out a long shriek.
*Bang*
The hunter fell to the floor a large hole in its head. Steve turned and saw the soldier he'd saved earlier getting to his feet still clutching the smoking m16.
"Looks like we're not quite out of the woods yet" the other man said as a group of about 10 infected approached them. "That thing must have attracted them when it screamed" Steve said as the infected surrounded the three men. The soldier who seemed like the leader quickly leapt into action, striking the closest one in the jaw while simultaneously throwing a round-house kick into the chest of another. Steve watched surprised by the soldiers skills in hand to hand combat before he turned to engage his own opponents.
A few seconds later all the infected where down. Taking a deep breath Cross turned to his last remaining soldier "Go back to the perimeter explain the situation."
"Out there? On my own are you crazy?" The man gawked.
"Would you prefer to continue to the center of the town with me then?" Cross countered, looking at the man he knew he couldn't handle the rest of the journey, he was a boy, 23 at the most. The soldier contemplated this for a minute before nodding."Get going soldier. You did well by the way, Corporal?"
"Taggart sir" the man replied as he began to make his way back to the town perimeter "Corporal Ian Taggart."
"So who the hell are you? And what's with the costume? It looks like a unicorn threw up on you!" Cross asked turning his attention to the Rodger's.
Steve ignored the man's comment "Captain Steve Rodgers, marines" he replied.
"Marines huh?" Cross replied narrowing his eyes slightly.
"And you are?"
"I'm afraid that's classified"
"My men just got attacked by civilians then ripped by those creatures. I think where passed confidential here" Rodger's growled.
"Fine my name is Captain Cross but that's all you need to know" Cross replied testily.
Steve was about to continue interrogating the man when a low groaning caused them both to turn their heads. One of the infected was getting to its feet, it was a girl she couldn't be much older than 18. She began shuffling towards them her mouth open and her glazed eyes fixed on them.
"I'll take care of this then we'll finish our conversation" Cross said drawing his pistol and training it at the girl.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked shocked as he watched the man callously train his pistol on the girl "You can't kill her she's just a kid."
"We killed them just now and you didn't seem to mind" Cross replied not lowering his weapon.
"That was different, it was kill or be killed situation. I don't know whats going on but these people are sick, they need help" Steve insisted.
"Sick huh?" Cross replied still staring at the girl. "These people aren't sick, they aren't even people! All they know how to do is kill. If they were living breathing people could they walk away from this?"
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
The girl was knocked back slightly by the force of the shots but didn't stop her advance.
"That's three rounds in the chest! Why is it still coming?" Cross shouted angrily, this whole situation had started to get to him.
Steve looked on, shocked at the sudden burst of brutality. "Stop it" he growled.
*Bang* *Bang*
Two more bullets ripped into the girls chest but still she didn't falter in her stride.
"Now it's got no lungs! Why is it still coming?" Cross shouted again.
"Stop it! That's enough!"
"Yeah I've made my point I believe that is enough" Cross agreed, he then walked up to the girl put the barrel against her head and pulled the trigger.
Steve watched in horror as the girl's body slumped lifelessly to the floor. As Captain of the Marines Steve wasn't a person to be governed by his emotions but as he saw the girl fall to the floor blind rage took over. He launched himself at Cross throwing a punch aimed at the mans head but was surprised when the soldier spun round inhumanly fast to block the blow. Cross used the momentum from the block to spin and aim a kick to the back of Steve's neck but it never made contact as the Marine lifted his shield and parried it. For the next few seconds they fought, although neither of them actually landed a blow as they both dodged, parried and countered each other. Finally they stopped and took a few steps back, sweat pouring down their foreheads.
"You really want to help these people? Then put a bullet in their head" Cross gasped breathlessly picking up his weapon and holstering it.
Note: Watching 'The Walking Dead' helped me out with this chapter as I had writers block :D I'll try and wrap the Idaho Incident up in its next chapter as i'd like to concentrate on the main story line.