The men have driven several miles in the city, edging ever closer to Anderson Ryder's location. Running down any zombie in the way, they had managed to make good time so far. Doug operates the Minigun, keeping a lookout for any threats. Brooks is in the driver's seat, Shofer in the front and MacMillan and Chris in the back.
"But there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining
What I've felt, what I've known
Turn the pages, turn the stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you?
Yeah, what I've felt, what I've known
Sick and tired, I stand alone
Could you be there?
'Cause I'm the one who waits for you
Or are you unforgiven too?"
Doug sang to himself, reminiscing on the simpler times before the freakbag apocalypse. His girl never liked heavy metal, always preferring that rap garbage which he was freed of listening from once he joined up. While he had nothing against his fellow soldiers listening to it back at base, it always felt like an egg meter going inside his head and scrambling his brain.
MacMillan was cleaning his weapon while he still had valuable breathing room. Before the virus he often thought his time in Iraq was hell on earth. Now, he wished more than ever that he was back there. The towelheads at least needed sleep, unlike the dead.
Four more hours had passed until the Rangers stumbled upon the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. It was still as beautiful as Doug had remembered it. Shitloads of unique flowers and plants he had never cared for until now as they drove over whatever was in their way.
In the corner of his eye, he sees a rather sizable group of zombies surrounding an RV.
Five other zombies were currently busy eating whoever they had killed on the ground near the RV.
"Guys look, some folks are in trouble." Doug announced
"So what? The mission takes priority over all else. They're as good as dead." Brooks replied
"Come on Sarge, those people don't stand a chance against those freakbags. We'd be no better than that piece of shit Ryder." Doug said as Brooks contemplates on whether to act or not before reluctantly agreeing to help.
"Fuck man, fine lets go" He relented as he drove to their location. They see a couple of zombies falling to the ground from gunshots, confirming that whoever was in there was armed as well.
"Everyone inside the camper get down!" Chris said over the speaker as Doug opened fire on the small horde surrounding the RV, disposing of them in almost seconds. He then gets out of the Humvee to meet the others outside in killing the remaining zombies over the body with their suppressed weapons.
As they get up, a particular one stands out from the rest. A very tall, extremely muscular zombie standing possibly 7 feet tall running towards them. It was shirtless with torn black colored Dickies pants. His massive arms made the Rock Johnson's look like twigs as it briefly stopped to beat on its chest like a gorilla, roaring loudly.
"That bloke must've been on some serious roids." MacMillan said
"Focus fire on the Schwarzenegger looking ass!" Chris yelled as they all fired at it. It performs several rolls on the ground to dodge most of the shots as it targets Brooks first, slugging him with its left fist, sending him flying into the ground before focusing on the others clustered together in a tight formation.
"My my, what mutation could possibly cause such abnormal muscle growth on this beast?" Shofer asked, holding down the trigger of his SMG.
"Less yappy, more shootin!" Doug replied, switching to his HK416 after running out of shells for his shotgun.
The muscled zombie sprints towards Chris, grabbing him by the throat as it smashes him to the ground, stomping on him repeatedly as it gets on top of him, roaring and rapidly punching him as he struggles to block each hit.
"Fucker's beating my ass! Get it off!" Chris pleaded as Shofer, MacMillan and Doug fired rounds into the creature. It pauses briefly with several wounds in its chest and side of its body and arms, giving Brooks time to get the zombie in a headlock. It grips his arm wrapped around its neck with both hands as he jams his KABAR fighting knife into its skull, finally killing it. Doug helps Chris to his feet.
"God damn, thing was like a fucking MMA fighter man."
"Brawler, another freaksack type to name." Doug said
"Are you alright, can you walk?" Shofer asked
"I'm fine Doc, minus my probably broken ribs." He replied as they all advanced towards the RV.
"Alright it's safe now, y'all can come out!" Brooks commanded.
The door opens slowly as a man and women walk out, a crying baby in the woman's arms as she attempts to calm him. They both appeared to be in their mid twenties. The man was holding a Remington shotgun in his hands.
The woman had brown eyes, was petite and pale skinned with brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was dressed in a white blood colored sundress with a flowery decal. The man was tall and average built, almost matching Doug's 6'4 height. He had black hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in gray, camouflage cargo pants and a black long sleeved shirt.
"You all, saved our lives. Thank you so much, I thought they were going to get in." The woman said, crying as she held her baby close.
"Don't mention it ma'am" Doug replied
"Who's the guy on the ground?" Chris asked
"My brother, he sacrificed himself to buy us time to get into the RV after he got bitten." The woman replied, almost on the verge of tears. Doug shares a look of sympathy for her, also worrying about his mother and two brothers who have most likely become zombies in this shithole city.
"So um, you guys are soldiers?" The man asked, displaying a timid disposition.
"From the 75th Ranger Regiment to be exact." Brooks said
"Holy shit, you guys are the first soldiers we've seen ever since the National Guard came here. When the city got overrun we were driving out but we ran out of gas and had to set up here in the garden." He said
"Are they still here?" Shofer asked
"No, they pulled out the second everything went to hell here. I heard rumors from some people at this supermarket we were all holding out at that the military was going to bomb the city in a week from now." He answered
"Fuck me" Doug said, dragging his hand down his face.
"We can't thank you enough warriors. I thought those monsters were going to eat my baby." The woman said
"It's what we do, or at least what I do now." Shofer said
"We got some gasoline in the Humvee if you guys need some." Brooks said
"Yes please sir, thank you" He said as Chris gave them a gas can.
"Are you guys the only soldiers left here?" The woman asked.
"That we know of, yes, we're here only to complete our mission." MacMillan replied, avoiding mentioning classified information, not that it mattered anymore.
"Well uh good luck for whatever it is." The man said, shaking Doug's hand as the Rangers drove off.
Fourteen minutes later, the Rangers ran out of gasoline near the Dallas Zoo. Doug kicks a soda can a good distance in frustration of being stranded again.
"Son of a bitch, why does nothing ever have gas in it?!" He moaned
"At least we're not stuck in that foul smelling swamp this time Mr. Kendall." Dr. Shofer replied
"There's a gas station near here but someones gotta watch the Humvee. There could still be marauders out here." Brooks said
"I'll stay" Chris said
"Alright then, let's move out" MacMillan said as they ran.
In 2 minutes they had made it to the Chiron gas station. It has now been set up into a military checkpoint with sandbags and high fences surrounding the entire perimeter. The Rangers cautiously approach, not knowing what threat could lurk.
As soon as they walked towards two abandoned vehicles, they heard the all too familiar sounds of rounds flying past them.
"Active shooters, get down!" Brooks said as they all took cover.
"Whoever you looters are, leave now. Or you will be shot with extreme prejudice!" Announced a British voice
"We're not here to steal from you bro alright! We just need some fuckin diesel for our Humvee!" Doug said
"Humvee? Are you guys military?" Asked another american male voice. One that sounded oddly like Jon Bernthal.
"75th Ranger Regiment, Spectre One" Brooks replied, slowly rising up as he gestured at the others to do the same.
Two soldiers walk up to them from inside the fenced in building, one with a skull-patterned balaclava, headset, and dark red sunglasses. The other dressed in a pair of military green tactical pants, a tight fitting short sleeved black shirt and a black baseball cap. Brooks thought he could've been Jon Bernthal's long lost brother with how physically alike they are.
"What's your names?" MacMillan asked
"My friends call me Ghost, and this idiot's Decker. So now that that's out, what are you guys here for?" He asked
"We're here to kill the bastard that caused all of this. But our Humvee has run out of gas and we'd appreciate it if you could lend us some." Brooks said
"Well we've also run out of gasoline for our generators so how about a lil proposal to make it worth our while. You guys go find some fuel, vodka and some junk shit for us and we'll give you as much diesel as you need?" Decker said
"You kidding me, looters have probably ransacked this entire city. And you want us to risk our asses for a bag of shit Doritos that for all we know doesn't even fucking exist?" Doug asked, irritated
"Yeah basically man, if I'm going to die in this hellhole I'm going to die eating some good shit." Decker replied as MacMillan cut in, seeing Doug form an increasingly pissed off expression.
"Okay we'll get you your things. You just better not mess us up." He said
"You have our word as fellow infantrymen mate. Be careful, the dead are everywhere." Ghost said as they headed out.
Following some more walking through the city the Rangers find a deserted auto body shop. Wasn't a gas station, but there was still a chance for there to be gas and shit inside.
"Hopefully there's a liquor store or something around here that's still untouched." MacMillan said
"Maybe we should put a few pills in Decker's drink. Dude can probably use some from the looks of it." Doug laughed as Shofer and Brooks rolled their eyes.
MacMillan searches in his backpack for his equipment to siphon gas while the others search the building for anything useful. Doug finds two vending machines with soda and snacks. They are surprisingly untouched despite the rest of the place being somewhat trashed.
He takes out his lockpicking equipment and opens them, all filled with various clean sodas and snacks.
"Jackpot" He said, opening a Mountain Dew can for himself before loading the snacks in his bag. The delicious, sweet taste had managed to briefly take his mind off of the horrors around him.
A heavily obese zombie dressed in a pair of dress pants and a white polo with a red tie comes into view. It's bloated stomach oozing out of its shirt as it bellowed at him like an undead pig. It had a name tag on the right side of its shirt that read (Tanner, Manager)
Doug unsheathes his machete from his left leg, quickly decapitating the beast in one swift slash.
"No meat sandwich for you big boy." He said, walking out into the garage to meet up with the rest of the group.
He does not say anything after seeing everyone alert with guns raised. Right away he knew there was a threat.
Violent, ragged huffing noises could be heard near them from an unknown direction. Shofer checks how many rounds he has left in his magazine while MacMillan aims his Sniper around the area to scope out the threat.
"The fuck is that?" Doug asked, eyes widened on his otherwise composed face.
"Sounds like a bear." MacMillan replied
"Out here?" Brooks said
"We ran out of fuel near the zoo, remember? The animal probably escaped from there." Shofer said
"This'll be a nice change from these zombies." Doug said
A zombified Green Beret soldier runs towards the Rangers, growling loudly. As Brooks prepares to shoot it, a massive Brown Bear surges into view out of seemingly nowhere and tackles the zombie to the ground. The creature thrashes about and moans loudly as the Bear violently slashes into its body with its razor sharp claws, creating giant gashes. It bites the undead's neck with great force, thrashing its body about before ripping out a large portion of its neck, almost decapitating and killing it.
After massacring its prey, it looks up at the Rangers, standing on its hind legs and sounding off the universal bear's roar. It had to be roughly 8 feet tall at least.
The flesh around its muzzle has mostly rotted away, revealing the bone. Its teeth were yellow and bloody. Parts of its ribs are also exposed from decay as well as parts of its leg bones. Aside from that, the Bear was mostly intact.
"Holy fucking shit!" Brooks said, mouth opened wide.
"Son of a bitch, FreakBear!" Doug yelled as the Zombie Bear charged them, roaring. They barely managed to evade as it slammed into an old Toyota in the parking lot with enough force to create a massive dent into the driver's side door and back door.
The Rangers all open fire on the Bear. While inflicting bullet wounds that would bring down a normal animal, the abomination only roared in rage.
The Zombie Bear stands up once again as the Rangers desperately fire more shots into it. It remains undeterred as it attempts to swipe at them with its claws in a rabid frenzy.
"The motherfucker's not going down!" Brooks yelled, having switched to his M1911 after running out for his primary.
"Any ideas?" MacMillan asked
"Yeah, let's try and lure it into the garage. We can drop one of the cars I saw on the lift on the big bastard." Doug suggested
"That's, actually ingenious" Shofer said
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's move!" Brooks said as they ran into the auto shop.
They barricade the entrance with a couch and several tables from the waiting room to buy whatever time they could get before making it to the garage entrance.
"It's locked!" Shofer said
"Not for long, move!" Doug ordered, shooting the glass with his rifle as the Bear roared and bursted its paw through the barricade, ripping apart the door blocking its path as if it were paper.
Doug and MacMillan move a red double bank roller cabinet in front of the door as they run to a raised lift holding a RAM 1500 pickup truck.
"Does anyone have anything that's loud or beeps?" Brooks said
"I do, one of these improvised throwing devices from the swamp village. I believe we shall find out its purpose." Shofer answered, holding up a spherical device with pieces of a smoke detector crudely attached to it.
The cabinet files into the corner as it rams through the entire door, ripping it off of its hinges as it huffs once more.
"Throw it mate!" MacMillan said as the Bear ran after them. Shofer does just that, pulling the pin out of the grenade, causing its alarm to sound continuously. As it lands underneath the truck the Bear jerks it head in its direction, walking right to it and sniffing it.
With the bear distracted, Doug presses the button for the lift, causing the vehicle to rapidly plummet down, completely crushing the Bear. It lets out one final roar before finally dying. Everyone takes a moment to catch their breath.
"Looks like smokey's been put out." Brooks said
"Now for the fuckin booze." Doug said, panting
The Rangers return to the gas station. Now having received their items, Ghost hands them three cans of diesel fuel.
"Good luck, you fuckers are going to need it." Decker said, shaking Brooks hand
"Thanks, you better enjoy that after all the shit we went through to get it." Doug said before they left.
"A fucking bear?" Chris asked
"Yeah, ugly son of a bitch too. You're lucky you weren't there." Brooks said
"If not for Doug's quick thinking we all would've been torn to ribbons." MacMillan said
"It was nothing, though it would've been easier if it was a normal bear." He replied, lighting a cigarette, the smoke fortunately seeping out towards the MG.
"The Dogs are more of a pain in the ass. Least there was only one Bear" Chris replied, examining the makeshift flamethrower that he had found, composed of various bike and metal parts with a fuel tank attached on the bottom, almost resembling the one from that Black Ops 4 he played in Iran.
"Where did you say you got that?" MacMillan asked
"It was inside the security office in the zoo for some reason. Don't know how it got there, but it's ours now."
"You mean mine?" Doug said