Assignment: Hunk
A One Shot Feature Written By Gary Davidson
The daylight had come and gone leaving the entire city eclipsed in darkness. Hunk stood perfectly still amidst the carnage, his eyes hidden behind his gasmask he gripped his MP5 tightly and scanned the area, his head moving from side to side as his vision panned the vicinity. He coughed, harshly enough to make him gag- this cough had gotten worse and he knew the exact reason why. It was that damned viral contagion that had spread through the town leaving the area nothing but a decimated mess of wrecked cars, dead bodies, blood stained streets and shattered glass. Hunk had been prior to his arrival at this junction, his arm ached but he knew there was a cure- all he had to do was get into the underground laboratory and find it. The only problem was how long he had left. He figured no more than 4 hours. He could already feel primal instincts surging through his brain as he stepped forward, avoiding a fallen street lamp he continued on towards the main Umbrella building at the centre of town. Things seemed to have calmed down now- a few hours ago the entire area was crawling with infected people and mutants, the chaos was unrivalled. People were abandoning their homes and running through the streets, everything seemed to be in a state of martial law- people were carrying guns with them shooting anybody who even surprised them. The police had put up a valiant fight but they were soon bettered and left reeling from the slaughter. Now everything was silent- there was no gun shots. No screams or cries of pain, no car engines- just silence.
Hunk arrived at the centre of town, he tilted his head up and looked at the behemoth building which stood on front of him, the heavy steel Umbrella logo hung from the roof. The building loomed over the entire town. Now was no time for procrastination. He bolted forward into the building, the gloomy atmosphere did nothing to ease his mind. This was obviously ground zero. The entire internals of the building were beyond repair. Walls had seemingly been punched through, rubble cluttered the corridors and the carpet was red with pools of blood where the saturated shag had been able to absorb no more. Lights hung from the ceiling and sparked blue flashes. Pieces of glass were strewn across the corridor. As Hunk stepped forward the fragments of the light bulbs crunched awkwardly underneath his feet. He gritted his teeth a jolt of pain surged once again from his arm. He didn't have much time left now. He pounded down the corridor his breathing getting heavier and heavier,
"Damn it"
He muttered beneath his breath as he blazed a trail faster and faster through the narrow corridors, past offices and various board meeting rooms until he reached an elevator. He knew exactly where it took him, he keyed in a code quickly, the machine buzzed and a small denied sign faded into view on the small red screen. He steadied himself, he took a deep breath and punched the code in again, this time in less of a hurry. The gates slid open revealing the elevator interior, almost completely undamaged, obviously these things were made to withstand a pounding unlike the human body- Hunk was getting worse and he knew it, he coughed once again only this time hidden underneath the gasmask he felt something, a moist feeling, he reached his hand up underneath it and withdrew his gloved digits. He was almost afraid to look but when he did his suspicions were confirmed, blood. When he had read the report on this mission they had mentioned that this symptom usually occurred around one hour before death and resurrection.
The elevator ground to a halt on the basement floor, the doors once again slid slowly open only this time revealing an entirely new setting. Sterile labs, sparkling floors and almost no apparent structural damage. The lights flickered but Hunk knew that this was only a result of the back up generators running slowly but surely out of reserve power to fuel the whole buildings systems. No time to waste with thoughts of petty problems which wouldn't matter if he was dead Hunk once again took off down the corridor, his eyes scanned the room tags which were imprinted on each of the doors. He almost shot right past one but hesitated and took a step back, "Viral Sequencing… This is it"
Hunk knew that this was the room where the virus samples were given the final treatment before they were sent off for final analysis. He didn't have time to look for a spare fully completed and analysed sample- it could take days and would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. He burst into the room, his weapon raised at head level just in case. Everything was clear, he lowered the MP5 and looked around. Numerous vials of blue and green liquids sat in tube holders, he moved forward lifting a syringe on his way to a rack of green vials. That report had come in handy after all. Sliding the needle of the syringe through the thin plastic covering on the top of the vial the main body of the syringe soon turned green as the liquid was sucked into it. Hunk slid his sleeve up, holding tightly to the vial, his arm shaking like hell he pushed the needle into a vein…