Chapter 11 – Blackout

Ironic. The light was the thing that took all the electronics out and started a blackout. None of their gear's electronics worked. Their Cross-com glasses were unusable, as well as their cloak. Every now and again, the cloak would hide their body, leaving nothing to be seen but patches of clothing and gear. 30K had initially been frustrated. "God dammit!" He hissed. His dot sights stopped working, as did everyone else's. They removed their sights and flipped up their iron sights. Instead of the Exo-suit's camo, they opted to keep to the shadows. A little EMP would not stop them, but who launched it? Also, it was immensely harder to navigate in a city they had never been in before. All they knew was that they had to get to the North-Eastern part of the city and, hopefully, a lab of sorts.

As they made their way through a car-infested street, they kept their weapons pointed.

"Spotted one." Pepper called. "Taking the shot."

"Copy." Ghost Lead said, keeping his rifle pointed at the alley where the zombie had come from. There was a pop and the zombie fell with a splat. Ghost Lead peered into the alley. He saw a zombified child that was eating another corpse, horror permanently stuck on its face. The child was marching towards him. "Got one." Was all he said as he picked it off. He put one in the corpse too, just in case.

"Street's clear." Kozak said from the lid of a car. "Let's keep moving, gents." 30K said.

…

They watched as the street continued around a bend, taking them directly East instead. "Hmm. We need to get a better vantage point. Pepper, Kozak. Climb that building and scout an area that takes us North-East."

"Yes, sir." Kozak said and entered the building with Pepper.

The building was as tall as it was wide. It was not a business or a high-rise, but a string of small businesses such as mechanic shops, tailors, butcher shops. The place must have been booming when things were normal. The shops faced a larger, even more car-crowded street parallel to the street that they were travelling on. Inside, the second floor was connected to all other second levels in the string of shops. They entered the building through a back door on the first floor. Bodies littered the place. They did a scan of every room to ensure that they were not ambushed by undead. If they found one, it was by throwing a piece of nearby debris at the far wall. Then, shooting the zombie in the head. For what felt like an eternity, they found a staircase to the second floor.

Up here, it was all offices and sometime seven living quarters. The gas was likely spread in the morning or afternoon, because this floor was completely empty. The third floor was apparently under construction. They saw dead men and women in hard hats and high-visibility vests. As they approached on the staircase, they heard moaning and groaning. Pepper held up his hand in a closed fist. He turned to Kozak who stopped behind him and pointed to the wall to their left. Pepper was flush to the right and Kozak followed suit on the left. As they went up, Kozak whispered, "Eyes on one." He heard another footstep. "No. Two up there. No visual on the second." Pepper nodded. "Take that one. The other'll come out, I'm ready."

Kozak aimed and shot through the hard hat that the zombie was wearing, and he clattered to the floor. The second one lumbered towards the sound and Pepper saw him come out from around the corner. He shot and he fell like the first. There was a deafening silence as they waited to hear more groaning. After about a minute, Kozak said, "We're good, let's go."

They made their way up the next few floors, getting into business offices now, larger areas. A few of the undead, but nothing to worry about. Finally, after about six floors, they made it to the roof. "Finally." Kozak said after ensuring the roof was clear.

All around them, they could see that the city, at least in their area was completely blacked out. The EMP was not in their area as a target zone, the entire city was hit. "Jesus," Pepper said, as he approached the edge. "Entire city was hit." He inhaled and exhaled sharply. "I guess this place is ground zero. Makes sense as to why they'd want this place on lock."

He saw a path from up here, using his sniper scope to see farther down the road. If they cut through the alley before the streets bends, they would be able to get past most of the cluster of cars on the street to the West. Kozak saw a plume of smoke and pointed it out. "What do you think that is?"

"Think it's hostile?"

"Always a possibility. Maybe anarchists or something? A gang?"

"Or just people trying to stay warm." Kozak gestured to the setting sun as the sky was turning a gentle pink to a fiery orange.

"Maybe, we need to be on our toes. This city has not electricity anymore, we can't rely on our gear." Kozak nodded solemnly.

"Alright, we can plan more as we go. Let's move, kid." Pepper finalized and left the roof with Kozak.

…

Once they had made it down, they linked back up with Ghost Lead and 30K. "Have fun sightseeing, you two?" The latter asked playfully. "Oh yeah, a blast." Kozak said.

Pepper explained where they would need to go as well as the possible hostile presence up ahead. Ghost Lead acknowledged and said, "If we can get past them without making noise, then so be it, but, if they have prisoners or are holding onto weapons, we need to take them out. They might be a threat."

"Understood, sir." 30K said for everyone.

"Alright, let's move out, Hunter Team."