.21
Last Alarm
Chapter 21
"The Man from Hereford"
Part One
(Re-written by Poynton90)
Tokonosu International Airport, a.k.a 'The Floating Island'
3 miles off the coast of Tokonosu City
Tokonosu Prefecture, Japan
The creature stumbles as it walks towards me, its arms reaching out for me as I pant and lean against the wall trying to catch my breath. These fucking things, I haven't had a chance to stop moving since I got back here nearly six hours ago and now I'm all alone and seriously low on munitions.
The creature growls as it comes out of the darkness and into the light coming from the service through a shaft. Taking the opportunity I level the sights of my M-4 and fire. The rifles bark echoes down the service tunnels, the high-velocity 5.56mm round punctures a neat little hole in the things forehead and it falls backwards onto the cement ground with a thud.
Walking past it I look down and see that half of its jaw is missing, that wasn't from my weapon though, something else did that to the poor fucker's mug.
Walking along I try to look for signs that point out of the tunnels and will maybe point me back into the direction of the hanger. If I can get to the Antonov I can reload and rearm. Hell, if I was qualified enough to pilot that thing I'd fly out of here.
But I couldn't leave the others behind.
And plus the planes fucked…
I sigh to myself as these conflicting thoughts start messing with my mind. I already lost Jim on the mainland when the infected attacked us en mass after the helicopter went down and now im alone in a hostile environment with no intelligence on the status of the teams or the 'enemy'.
I've been in many conflict zones across the globe over the years but never before have I seen things like this before. Maybe on the silver screen back many years ago when I used to like watching horror movies but you would never think these things would actually exist.
I mean, 'zombies'…really?
No, they can't be, not really…
I can smell blood; a heavy sent of iron lingers in the air as I approach a T-junction of the tunnel system. With my back to the wall I keep still and listen as I approach trying to keep my foot fall as silent as possible.
Peering around the corner I see two people moving, could be those things as they lean over a third body that is propped up against the wall with his head leaning down.
My eyebrows go up when I see the two that are moving are clawing at the third man's intestines, pulling them out and bringing them up to their mouths and start chewing on them.
Fuck me; this is just wrong and so many fucking levels!
I stop myself from throwing up by looking away and take several deep breaths before I turn the corner with the barrel of the carbine aimed at the closest creature.
They don't seem to be bothered by my presence as I aim the weapon at them, even when I turn on the PentagonLight MD3R weaponlight and shine the beam directly over them neither of them are deterred from their meal.
"Fucking monsters," I growl and then the first looks up from eating the body on the ground and snarls as it looks up at me. Oh shit! It starts to stand but the other almost seems to pull it down as it too stands up to come to me.
I aim through the carbines' EOTech holographic sight and fire. The first echo booms and the first falls with a nice round hole where its left eye used to be and the second quickly follows after a round clocks it right in the forehead.
Both creatures lie on the ground in a pile together, blood flowing from the bullet wounds to their heads. I keep the rifle aimed at them as I approach so if either of them does move I will have the drop on them.
I'm about to walk past them when I stop and look at the body of the third man and I notice something, this is one of the poor sods that were working near the hanger where my lot were bundled away while we waited for the Antonov to be repaired.
"You poor fuck," I mutter as I turn my back on the poor man and start walking away. I barely reach the next T-junction when I hear a noise from behind me. At first I just thought it was another one of those creatures coming from another direction, and I'm aright, pretty much.
It's the maintenance worker.
He's up on his feet now; strings of his intestines hang from his stomach as blood flows from the large open wound made by the other freaks.
"What the hell? That's impossible," I mutter as the maintenance worker starts stumbling towards me.
"Okay matey, stay back! I can get you medical attention!" I say calmly and hold out one hand in a defensive manner and showing for him to stop. But he doesn't listen or maybe he can't hear me and now he's coming directly for me, his arms out like the others.
"Dammit, stop!" I say forcefully but it doesn't deter the worker from coming at me.
"Damn you for making me do this," I growl. I bring the sight over the man's head but then instead lower the sights over his shoulder and fire.
The round strikes through the shoulder blade and the man stumbles.
Shit, I've just shot a man because he needed help and now I'm gonna go to prison for it…
But the thought suddenly leaves my head when the stumbling worker manages to find his footing and he looks at me and snarls angrily, the man's eyes are crystal clear, no colour at all.
Fucking hell Andrew, you're a soldier! You know this man shouldn't be alive!
The worker comes at me again and just as I level the sights again on his forehead I think 'He's one of them', I fire. This time it isn't a wounding shot, the bullet hits the worker in the forehead and exits through the back with a trail of blood and brain matter chasing it.
The worker keels over and with a loud slap falls on the ground and doesn't move again, okay, this is starting to freak me out a wee bit.
I decide that for now the only thing I can do is leave them here, the Japanese can recover their dead later if they can.
Overhead I see light pouring through the grates, I haven't a clue whereabouts' I am right now but I think I must be under the runway about now. I've been on the move since late last night after making it back here with the British embassy staff and a dozen of their protection team while I blended in with them.
After the crash in the park last night and I was separated from Jim and the others I had managed to escape the boundaries of the park thanks to the infected attacking the police who had set up barricades at each of the entrances.
Of course I didn't want them to get hurt by these things, I saw one of them tear out the throat of one of the police officers who was minding his own business near one exit as I approached it. I killed the creature with my knife but the officer was bleeding out.
All I could do for his was apply a pressure bandage to the wound and wrap it tight but not enough to choke him. I stayed with the man for as long as I could while civilians were gathering around. I couldn't just aim my weapon at them because they didn't know what was going on and they weren't attacking me.
Soon I had heard more police approaching and I looked at the man as I propped him against the squad car, he was still alive but barely. I nearly started screaming if anyone was a doctor but I don't think that would have helped in the slightest.
Already I could see the black lines forming around the wound where the officer had been bitten and it was spreading. I knew it was an infection but I had never seen anything like it before outside of a science fiction movie.
Eventually more police arrived at the scene and I slid away amongst the crowd as they parted the way for me as I ran. However a few police officers spotted me running from the scene and started chasing me but with everything that was happening in the street they soon gave up the chase.
The streets were in chaos in the hours after we scattered from the park. The police force was out in full force and what with the civilians running about and the police forces on the move it was almost impossible to move around without being spotted.
Moving through the less crowded streets and back alleys when they presented themselves I had started making my way towards the British Embassy. I still had contacts here from when I used to work in this city from a few years before. All I could have hoped was they would still be able to help me.
Luckily I had managed to get a call through to one of the lads that worked on the security detail for the embassy, a Royal Marine none the less. He had managed to get me clearance to enter the grounds and had informed the guards that they had permission to allow me in when I had arrived.
Up on the rooftop of the embassy I could see two more Marines with their SA80's while patrolling the grounds in full Osprey body armour and a few of the lads on the ground carried Benelli shotguns for close range engagements if the walls around the grounds fell.
Hours later after I was given a full check over by the embassies medical team and my contact gave me the run down on what had happened since the night before. Apparently this 'disease', or whatever the hell it is is spreading at a phenomenal rate.
Already this has already been spotted in Russia, China, most of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and was reported in smaller cases in the United States. Apparently they had been receiving news updates from the U.K, the country is on lock down, no flights in or out and all the ports have been closed too and the Royal Navy and Air Force have been out in full strength since last night.
I asked my contact about the disease and if there was any idea how it had started or where it had come from. They didn't know, there had been news on the comm's about reports coming in from all over about their country being 'ground zero' but when the times stamps were put together they just came up negative.
The earliest news of the outbreak had come from the Balkans in Eastern Europe but it couldn't be confirmed with such a small amount of intelligence.
With this news in mind he offered me a place on the evacuation helicopter with the rest of the embassy staff under the guise of a security officer. Accepting the position he said that a helicopter, a JASDF Chinook helicopter would arrive at the embassy a few hours later and then transport us over to Tokonosu International where a place would land for British dignitaries and then take off, fly to Aussie and then over the U.S and back to the U.K.
I had taken the time after that little debriefing to try and catch up on some sleep and try to regulate my body after coming down from a constant adrenaline high.
I had slept for a few hours until I was awoken by one of the embassy staff that the helicopter would be arriving soon. When I exited the building and out on the roof of the embassy I noticed a small amount of people gathering outside the gates, their arms reaching through trying to get in.
I asked the Royal Marine Sergeant on the roof if it wasn't possible to try and help some of them. He then smiled and said "Aye, if they weren't already dead" and looking down at them I then noticed he was right, they were all dead. Some had been missing arms and large chunks of flesh and they were all covered in blood.
Just before the Chinook left the marines that were staying behind to get the next helicopter out started taking down the Union Jack flag off the pole. Unlike the U.S Marines when they leave one of their embassies in another country where they do it ceremonial the lads pulled the flag off the pole and stuffed it away in one of their pouches.
As the Chinook started heading out over the city and out towards the ocean I couldn't help but sit near the rear ramp where the JASDF gunner sat and mounted the M60-D machinegun sweeping over the terrain.
Tendrils of black acrid smoke spiralled up into the sky; you could smell the fires burning on the street. On the ground we could see hundreds if not thousands of people trying to escape by car or on foot. There were roadblocks in place; police officers were stemming the flow of traffic across the bridges to the other side of the city.
Fucking muppets, all they are going to do is pen all the living in one place and then it'll be impossible for anyone to escape alive.
We passed over the port of the city, I remember this place well from before where I did numerous business dealings here when I was temporarily working for one of the few big time politicians a few years back.
Soon we were back on the island and the helicopter set down on one of the few helipads on the roof of the main terminal building which was normally reserved for hospital helicopters but in the current state of emergency rules be damned.
I helped the staff exit the Chinook and before it took off I performed a quick search of the helicopter to make sure nothing had been left behind. It was out of habit I did this, picking up my carbine I followed out and onto the rooftop with the others as a few police officers started escorting them down the stairs into the terminal.
As we walked through the V.I.P area of the airport terminal we soon proceeded to an area where we were asked to wait for the aircraft to be refueled and ready to take off.
My contact had told me the aircraft coming to pick up the staff was an American C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest military aircraft currently in used by the armed forces.
Of course the plane was on loan from the yanks so I suppose I had to thank them for that at least.
On the rooftops around the terminal every so often I would see someone moving across dressed in black combat fatigues, some carried MP5's while others I noticed carried sniper rifles. They were the S.A.T, the Special Assault Team that had been stationed on the island in case of terrorist incidents.
One of the police officers 'guarding' us explained to one of the few women that could translate properly said that an incident had occurred the night before by multiple assailants who 'killed' several airport employees and stole a helicopter with several hostages.
I wasn't sure right at that second if I wanted to shit my pants with worry or laugh out loud. The cheeky fucker, he'll never know that we actually tried to save those people and that we never started no fight here.
How the fuck does someone, especially a police officer, suddenly place all the violence that's been going on the last twelve hours down to a group of about a dozen former Special Forces operatives?
Soon we watched as the C-5 was taxied out onto the runway and I had noticed a pair of open top Humvee's escorting it with a couple of armed guards, both S.A.T on the back with MP5's.
It was time to move. We started making our way down through the terminal past hundreds of civilians who were waiting for a chance to leave the island. There were dozens of people here of several nationalities, apparently it had been sorted with the airport staff and the police that any British civilians here were allowed to accompany us on the C-5 regardless of their status.
We weren't leaving anyone behind…
That left a bad taste in my mouth and what felt like a knife being moved around in my guts when we start gathering the British civvies from amongst the crowd of thousands of people and we start moving them towards the gangways towards the plane.
Just as we start moving the last few people along I notice something. Out the corner of my good eye I see someone looking at me curiously. A police officer, looking around I notice he's one of the beat cops that patrols the terminal.
As we look at each other he seems to have what must be a moment of realization and I see his hand go for his service firearm.
But I'm already holding my carbine in a defensive position and as he's about to draw his weapon my rifle is half up aiming in his direction, then as I slowly shake my head at him he seems to snarl and draws the weapon.
FUCK!
I dodge for cover as he draws his revolver and aims it directly towards me. I want to shoot this man, I want to dump a whole magazine into him and reload and keep dumping rounds out of frustration.
And then all of a sudden something, almost a miracle happens. Because he draws his service firearm one of the passengers, a woman, turns around when she hears the commotion and shrieks at the sight before her.
As the chaos starts in the terminal the door to the gangway towards the C-5 closes and im trapped on this side of the door. Fuck, now how do I get out of here?
Looking around I see that nearby is a baggage collection point. It's perfect, I decide to move before the police get their act together and converge on my position. I bolt across the room wading through the civilians towards the baggage claim point and dive onto the belt as it continues to rotate.
Before the police do manage to get themselves together I disappear through the flaps and into the back area. Okay, looking around I can't see anyone working back here. Maybe because they are all back with the others under guard where it's safest to be.
I get up off the baggage and start making my way through the area as I watch the area for any police officers in pursuit. Every few seconds as I move through the room towards an exit point I will turn and walk with my back to the exit covering the flank and then back towards the exit.
Pushing down on the bar and pushing it open im in another area of the terminal. Looking around this area seems to be where the staff would take their breaks; I see two separate bathrooms, a locker room and a room for relaxing where a television is currently showing a continuous stream of 'white snow'.
I know that I'm being perused by multiple police officers but im curious about what might be happening out in the city. I find the remote and quickly flick through the local channels. Nothing, all white snow.
I leave the restroom behind and carry on with the task at hand, getting the fuck out of here. The plan had gone to shit the moment that copper saw me, stupid fucking idiot, I should have known that some of them had survived to tell the others about what had happened by the hangers last night.
I find another exit. I press down on the bar and it doesn't budge. I try again several times but it doesn't budge, oh come on!
The door is locked and the only thing that comes into my head is 'Well that's not going to make the boys from health and safety very happy now' and the moment I process this I smirk to myself and start giggling.
I get myself together and head back towards the restroom when I hear the police approaching. I stop and peek around the corner and see three police officers, two with their revolvers and another with a shotgun. Looking across the room I see another exit, it's my only chance to escape.
I make a quick dodge across the open space and duck into the corridor and head up towards the door. Pressing down on the bar I sigh with relief as it opens. Swinging he door open I turn back and slowly close the door hoping the police don't hear it.
I'm outside now, up on of the gantries running alongside the main terminal building. Looking across the open area I see the C-5 rolling across the runway with the Humvee's still escorting it until it's ready for final departure.
However I see numerous infected still on the runway, they've got to be dealt with before the plane can depart. I see roughly a dozen or so on the far end of the runway the C-5 is assigned to.
My carbine won't reach out to targets from here, if I try to drop them from here my rounds will fall way too short to the targets.
Just as I'm about to walk down the steps of the gantry to get to the ground I hear multiple gunshots ring out from above me. I stand still waiting to see what happens, the shots are coming from right above me and I step back keeping my back to the door.
I hear a total of twelve shots before all is silent. Looking down towards the runway I see all of the zombies that were in the way of the aircraft are all down. Fucking Christ, whoever's up there is one hell of a good shot.
I take this chance to make my way down the gantry while I can. It takes me a few minutes to reach the ground and when I start moving away from the stairs I hear a noise above me. Looking up I see the three police officers up by the exit I came through, one of them shouts as they spot me and the one with the shotgun aims it I'm my general direction.
Fuck it, I'm not getting a buckshot sandwich because I don't want the death of a copper on my conscience.
I aim the rifle up towards the gantry and one of them shouts as he sees me aim at them. They duck down and the one with the shotgun ducks away as well.
Wow, that's all it took? Didn't know the Japanese police force was recruiting a bunch of pussies now.
I peel around and instead of taking my time I bolt across the open space. Running ahead I spot several zombies ahead. I bring up the M-4 and instead of stopping to shoot I flip off the safety to semi and fire multiple rounds. I hit several of them, they wither under the sudden gunfire and I manage to kill three of them and move through them.
One of them gets too close and I manage to perform a spin heel kick. Most people only think the move is used in Hollywood action movies but when taught and learned in the correct manner some Martial Arts moves can save your life.
Running ahead I spot more zombies, they're everywhere. Coming out of the woodwork. Dammit, I have to find a way through them to escape and get some breathing space.
Nearby I spot what looks like a service hatch which is wide open with a hut set up nearby for maintenance workers. I move towards it and I only put down those that get in the way. Reaching the hut I look inside and find it to be empty of anyone living, otherwise the place looks untouched.
As I emerge I hear a gunshot and duck down as I hear a whiz run right past me. I drop down and see the police officers running at me now, the shotgun totting officer drops to one knee, aims and fires. I roll out of the way as the buckshot hits the ground near me but it's not far off.
This is it; it's now or never.
I remove a smoke grenade from my vest and pull the pin and let the safety spoon fly away before I gently toss the device out into the open. I hear one of the police officers shout in surprise thinking it's a fragmentation but when the smoke starts gushing out I hear them coughing.
I manage to find the entrance to the access tunnels and start climbing down and out of sight. When I reach the bottom of the ladder and drop down the last few steps I look up and pant, fucking idiots.
Why did they have to come after me for?
They were safe where they were and they have probably risked getting themselves killed just to catch me. I start moving away from the hatch and away from the terminal building area, I'm still close to the area where more officers could come after me.
That was an hour ago. Since then I've encountered a dozen or so of the infected down here in the tunnels and have managed to dispatch the lot with little effort. The C-5 took off nearly half an hour ago I suppose after the police cleared the area and finally allowed the aircraft clearance to leave.
At the moment the area is clear of the infected so I decide now's the only chance I'm going to get a break. I sit on the ground with my back to the wall and have a quick snack consisting of water from my Camelbak hydration system and some dried fruit and biscuits from an M.R.E packet.
As I eat I quickly check what ammunition I have left on me. I have eight Magpul P-mags for the M-4 right now and the half empty Surefire 60-rounder quad stacked magazine in the rifle, five mags for the Sig Sauer P226 and five loads for the Mossberg Compact Cruiser in the scabbard attached to my pack.
I also have an additional eight loaded magazines for the M-4 in my pack and three boxes of loose 9mm Hollow-Points towards the bottom of my pack with the rest of my equipment. I have three 'flashbangs' and one smoke grenade remaining too.
I wished that I were able to get my hands on a few frags from the boxes of the plane before we left it behind…
Wait a minute, the plane!
Onboard the Antonov is the group's powerful transponder radio, which was meant for long distance communication with the teams when we touched down on the ground in Africa when we were meant to go out on patrols.
At current state my Motorola radio is a piece of shit and couldn't connect to anyone on the mainland but with the powerful transponder off the An-12 I might have a shot of contacting the teams.
But then what eh?
What would I be able to do if I got in contact with them?
Shit, that's right. There's the three miles of water between us, the police who are right on our arses and the infected as well.
"Bugger," I mutter as I take this all into account. There has to be another way off of the island that I haven't considered yet. I sigh and look at the ceiling but particularly at the light bulb.
A thought then hits me, the islands power. An island like this would just be able to rely upon a few generators unless it was an emergency. Main power comes from the mainland, which would mean there must be tunnels with power cables coming from the mainland.
And since the support staff here would need to maintain regular checks on the power lines they must have an access corridor to them or maybe a path which the lines followed and also acted as a walk way to the mainland.
Okay then, but I'll have to plan it our carefully. First I'll need to locate where the power cables run from and too and then I'll have to check to make sure the route is clear. Secondly I'll also need to get to the Antonov, get some more ammunition and maybe another weapon from the armaments lockers onboard and then get the hell out of dodge.
I need to find a maintenance storage area first, they'll probably be near the runway so im half done already. What I need are plans of the island and then try and figure out where the cables are and where the hanger is for the Laidlaw aircraft.
I polish off the M.R.E and take another glug of water before I gather my things and make my first move. Since I know and can read and speak some basic Japanese I should be able to read some of the signs down here. At the T-junction I clear both directions, no enemies in the area.
"Right then, what do we have here?" I ask myself looking at the sign nailed to the wall in front of me.
"So, this way leads to the terminal, don't want to go that way. And this way leads to the hangers," I say out loud pointing to my left which will head in the direction of the hangers.
"Generators? Where the fuck are the back-up generators?" I mutter looking for another sign.
I manage to locate a map of the tunnel system after searching the local vicinity of the T-junction and a small storage room. Apparently the generators aren't far away from here; actually they aren't that far from the hangers where our plane is located.
I memorize the route I need to take in order to find the cables leading out of here. Once I locate the tunnel off of the mainland then I can secure the area and then make my way topside to find the maintenance hangers, rearm and get the fuck out of dodge.
I encounter multiple hostiles on the way to the generators but I manage to take them down with either a headshot or using my knife through the soft skin at the base of their necks severing the spinal cord to the brain stem.
Soon I locate the generators. They aren't actively giving power but I can still hear a dull humming coming from them, which means they are active and charged up.
Okay, now I just have to locate the main cables running from them to the service corridors.
Walking around the room I the various gauges on the terminals and the needles are all in the green, ready to be changed over if there is a catastrophic event with power from the main land. I soon manage to locate the labels, they are encased in a large black tube at the back of the room and I see the end of the tube disappears through the wall.
I open the door closest to the tube and clear the corridor, no hostiles in this sector. Walking along I find the tube again snaking around the corridor and down towards another door and disappears through the wall again.
The moment I open the door I regret it, a body falls into me knocking me down. I scream in surprise as I think its alive trying to tackle me but instead I realize that it is dead, especially with the whole fucking head missing.
"Oh fuck, that's disgusting," I choke at the sight of the severed head.
Bringing up the M-4 I shine the weaponlight along the long dark corridor looking for any signs of the undead. As far as the beam shines I can't see anything along the path. It's possible there could be some down here but otherwise the only 'dead' down here is this poor chap by my feet.
"Okay, as far as I can tell, if the maps right, this is the way out of here," I mutter to myself and lower the rifle and grab the corpse under the armpits and drag the headless creature back into the corridor and close the door behind it, cutting me off from the generator room and the connecting corridors.
Above me is a ladder that leads up to the surface. Hell, this might be easier than I first thought. Apparently 'Hanger 7' is near where I currently am. If I can make it back to the aircraft and get my hands on some equipment I may have a chance of escaping after all.
I start climbing up the ladder and I reach the top rung and I stop before I open the grate above me. I peer around first making sure the area is clear of the police and the undead. Not seeing either of them I open the grate and it squeaks when it's fully open.
"Shite," I climb up quickly and then close the grate back down until it's just leaning on the frame, still accessible for me to use later on.
From this position I have a clear view of the terminal building and also of the hangers a few hundred yards ahead of me. You don't think it but when you've been on the run getting away from the cops and running around underground you'd be surprised how far you've gone.
With the sun blazing above me it's too bright for me all of a sudden to be out in the open, that plus I have snipers to worry about. Coppers on the ground might not be able to hit me but I'm sure that they might.
I pull on my Oakley's as I crouch down before checking over the M-4 and start making my way towards the hangers. As I move along I spot dozens of the infected on the runway now but many more in the distance and many around the terminal too.
Jeez, I wouldn't want to be in there right now.
I reach the first hanger with little effort. The area between me and the next one is crawling with a few so I take my time and walk along with my body pressed against the wall to minimize my exposure until I'm close enough to take them out.
As I reach the corner I pause to take a breather, I peek around the corner…and freeze.
One of the creatures is almost face to face with me, only a few inches separate us. I don't move and I don't breathe but my hand is gripping my pistol firmly. It doesn't seem to be bothered by my presence but at the same time as it looks at me it doesn't seem to notice me either.
Why?
I look at its eyes like I did with the creatures before; they are rolled back in their sockets and streams of blood run down its cheeks under them.
So, are they really blind?
I want to test the theory because then if that is the case I don't really need to fight then, all I have to do is stay out of their way and I can move around freely.
I let my rifle hang on the sling under my right arm and carefully remove the Sig from the Serpa holster on my vest. I hold the hand up in front of the creature and wave my hand back and forth in front of it. It doesn't react to the motion.
I guess that can confirm my theory at least about them being blind.
Reholstering the pistol I take up the rifle and continue on my way but still remain vigilant as I go. Now I have that in mind of these freaks I can get past them and head over towards the hanger without having that worry on my mind.
But the other worry I have now are the snipers. I bet that I've already been spotted by at least one unit and it won't be long before another team tags me as well.
Between each hanger I take a pause for a different amount of time before jumping to the next one. That way if I am being watched it'll give them something to guess about when they'll get a chance at me.
I'm behind 'Hanger 5' now, all I need to do is jump one more hanger and then I'm practically on top of where I need to be. Okay, the grounds open between me and the next hanger, all I have to do now is bide my time.
Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…
Now!
I bolt out into the open and the moment I do I regret it. A high-pitched whining noise comes from towards the terminal and the ground in front of me erupts in a display of dust and chunks of cement. I stumble to a stop and tumble backwards on my arse as another round hits the ground not six inches from my feet.
"Fuckin' 'ell!" I shout as I drag myself backwards towards the hanger. I'm half way there when I see one large ugly mother fucker waltz into view. Jesus, he's got to be at least seven foot tall!
Shit, either get shot or get munched on…uhh…
I manage to get out of the line of the sniper but now I have the hulking great fucker in front of me to contend with. As I stand to full height the thing is right in front of me. I attempt to dodge it but the things arm lashes out and grabs hold of my vest and pulls me towards it.
"AHH! FUCK YOU!" I roar and bring up both hands, open palms, and slam my hands on its ears. But unlike on a living person it has no effect apart from what looks like pissing it off.
"Shit!" I hiss and I just manage to grab the hilt of my knife when I hear something rip and I fall out of the behemoths grasp and land on the ground with a thud.
"Ah! Dammit!" I groan and look up at the creature and then down at myself and notice one of my pouches has ripped open by the freakishly large creature.
Then I see it…
Oh no… the photograph.
It flutters to the ground softly on the breeze and lands just a few feet between the creature and myself. I struggle to get up but I manage to get on my hands and knees and I start moving towards the picture just as the behemoth takes two large steps forward and then the third goes down, right on top of the picture.
Slowly, I look up from where the photo landed up the freaks foot to his face. In that split second dark thoughts over take my mind.
Murder, rage, anger and hatred…everything evil within me boils up into the one festering beast that lives deep within me and right now…the beats wants out.
I stand to full height and as I look at the creature it almost seems to smirk…fucking smirk.
In a fit of rage I bring up the M-4 and without even aiming down the sighs I flip to automatic and pull the trigger. The magazine empties from the rifle in seconds and the remaining rounds Surefire magazine runs out. At least two-dozen 5.56mm shell casings litter the ground and clatter into one another as they settle in the pile.
I notice the creature has fallen out into the open space between the hangers. I can't do what I wanted to do to the freak, I wanted to cut its ugly mug up with my knife but I guess that in this case, especially with an audience crowding around us I'll have to settle for the quick option.
Instead of trying to conceal myself from the snipers who fired at me I walk over with my pistol in hand and fire three rounds through its skull and then walk back to where the picture fell. I bend over and scoop it up in my hands and check it.
Luckily it hasn't been damaged, but the thought that thing desecrated it with its filthy footsteps is more than enough than any physical damage could so.
I give the picture a once over and then without staring at the people on the picture for too long I quickly replace it in another pouch safely sealed away. I need to get out of here, I need to get somewhere where I can calm down, where I can think straight and get it screwed back on right.
If any of the others saw me right now they'd lose all faith in me because I'm losing my shit.
Shit, after the last 24 hours I'm surprised that everyone that's still alive hasn't lost it yet.
The creatures that approach I ignore them and instead bolt across the open space to the next hanger. Finally, I'm at 'Hanger 7', I look around and see that a few have only decided to go as far as the creature that I just killed but other than that they haven't come any closer.
I lean over while around the back of the hanger and I start shaking. Since last night I don't think aside from those few hours at the embassy I have barely had a chance to rest. What with the undead and armed police out for blood for whatever stupid fucking reason, it tends to take it out of you.
At the back of my mind I keep thinking that if I come across another police officer, I don't care if he is doing his job, I'm not going to die because he feels threatened by me, I'll kill them and whoever else gets in my way of escaping.
Fuck 'em!
Exchanging the magazines in my rifle and slapping the bolt release I bring up the rifle and flip back to semiautomatic, I'm not wasting ammunition out of anger anymore. Besides, can't afford to.
As I stand here waiting for my nerves to settle I keep an eye on the infected, they haven't moved much but they have crowded around the behemoth that I executed. One of them started eating it before it seemed to realize it had been one of its own not long ago before it died.
Strange, they eat living human flesh but not their own…strange, but interesting at the same time.
Looking around the corner I see the coast is clear but instead of rushing through the front doors like a muppet I should check the back door instead first. Ha, well will you look at that, it's unlocked.
Walking into the hanger I walk through the area where the teams were kept under guard and I notice that we left a bit of kit behind in our hasty escape.
Ah well, it's not like we can't afford new gear anyway when this shits over.
I check around to see if anything that was left behind is useful. Aside from a few MRE's, batteries and a small pocket knife there isn't much else.
I move out of the offices and storage rooms and head towards the main hanger itself where the Antonov is located. Inside the hanger I see that the front doors are open, not all but enough for several people or a vehicle to enter.
Opening the door from the corridor into the hanger I stop when I notice something else, the Antonov's ramp is down and on the ground as I enter I see shell casings on the ground. We didn't engage any undead in here, who the hell has been in here?
I then see several corpses, all undead piled together in the shadows of the hanger. A trail of blood shows where they were dragged from after they were gunned down. But what were they doing here on the plane?
Walking up the ramp I see what they were after. The weapons crates are all open; seals broken and lids wide open for the world to see. Walking over I examine each crate and everything that we brought with us from weapons, ammunition, food, medical supplies, radio equipment; all gone.
"SHIT! DAMMIT!" I scream and angrily kick over one of the boxes in frustration. I came all this way for fucking nothing, a fucking freak behemoth nearly killed me, and I nearly lost a connection to the past and get fucking shot at.
You know what, fuck it. Just fuck it, I've had enough. Since I arrived back here all the people here have tried to do is kill me because they think I'm somewhat responsible for the shit that's kicked off here.
Well fuck them, I'm done. I'm getting back to that access tunnel and I'm getting the fuck out of here. The people in the terminal, fuck them!
The crate I kicked over I notice a small belt of ammunition fell out of it. Picking it up I see it's for an M-249. Damn, wished I had one right now. Instead of throwing it away I decide to keep it, tucking the belt away in my pack.
I exit the hanger the same way I came it, through the back door. Checking the flanks I exit the building and start heading back the way I came from. Occasionally I will but down an infected that gets in my way or just kick them aside as I go.
I manage to make it back to hanger 5 where I take a break. As I came back I noticed that the snipers hadn't engaged me, maybe it had been my violent display of aggression on the behemoth that made them not want to engage me in a fight.
I drink a large gulp of water from the Camelbak before looking around and head off again back towards the access tunnels. As I start approaching the hatch I notice there is a larger number of undead in the area now than there was before.
I'll admit this does give me cause for concern but it doesn't matter. In a few minutes from now I'll be at the hatch and then I can follow the tunnels off the island, back to the mainland and try and find the rest of my guys.
I run through a fairly small mob of them but I manage to dodge out of the way of several of them as they turn, trying to grab me as I run past them. It reminds me of the old 'Dawn of the Dead', classic Romero movie, where Roger and Peter are running through the mall just casually pushing the zombies aside.
Me however, I always wondered what the thrill would be like of doing that and now I know. My god I don't ever want to do this again. Those creatures in the movies were just actors in make-up, these things however are the real thing.
One creature gets too close as I'm running and with one good swipe of the MercWorx the blade cuts up through the creatures face. It doesn't kill it but the wound is enough to distract it from pursuing me for now.
After several minutes of dodging the undead I finally make it to the hatch. I find that it hasn't been moved from how I left the grate partially open, I squat down and heave open the heavy steel grate but stop when I hear something coming from down below.
I pull out a small penlight from my vest and shine down into the tunnel.
Oh, give me a friggin break…
Dozens of them are swarming at the base of the ladder leading down into the tunnel. Sweeping along the hatch as far as I can it looks as though there are more than just the ones I can see. They're shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and it seems they're pressing into each other more pressing down the line.
I fall on my backside and sigh as I put the penlight away in my vest. Well, that's it then isn't it? How the hell else can I get away from here now then?
Looking around I see that there are numerous amounts of undead still wandering around but now they don't seem interested in me or they don't know I'm here anymore.
I put my head in my hands and try to calm down. I have to calm down, freaking out now wouldn't do me any favors and with me being sat in the middle of around a hundred undead I'd be fucked in seconds.
Somewhere close by I hear gunfire. Automatic weapons fire, sounds like MP5's and M-4's, most likely the S.A.T unit from the terminal protecting the civvies. From the sounds of it they're heading this way and quite quickly too, I don't really want to get caught by them but I'd rather it was them instead of the undead.
And then what?
Sit in a cell for them to throw away the key and be left behind as the undead swarm around it…well fuck that an' all.
Right then, looks like it's time to leave this place. I get up, dust myself down and check the M-4 before looking around and plan my next move carefully.
Author's Notes:
This chapter is a complete re-write of the chapter that was previously posted by Poynton90.