Author's Note:

Trying to keep this fic short, but let's see~

【Chapter 2: Garden / Danger】

It was dark by the time the team's chopper passed the sea and hovered inland. As the silhouette of the harbor city of New York came into view, Luke called out with a worried voice.

"Uhh... Cathy...? Keith, sir?"

Catherine, just waking up from her sleep, rubbed at her eyes. "Are we there?" She asked. Keith, having awoken and stood up, froze in his steps immediately when he saw what was ahead of them. "No way..."

The night sky was red, lit not by the city lights, but only by fires that tore through the entire city. As they got closer, they could see the roads littered with dead bodies and filled with nothing but the now swaying, mindless citizens. A lot of them were missing body parts and some were even aggressive enough to fight with one another.

Marc grit his teeth, nails digging into his palms. This. He could have prevented this. If onlyー

Luke smacked him lightly on his back. Marc looked at him.

"We're all at fault here too for passing the most difficult part of that mission to you. Don't bear it all alone," Luke said, cheering him up.

"Tch." Keith folded his arms and looked away in annoyance. Having calmed down after his rest, he tried talking to Marc again. "I guess the boy's got a point. I did say I wanted to end that arsehole with my own hands. Sorry for not taking him down earlier."

Catherine nodded. "I wish I could have helped more, too. Let's do whatever we can to find a solution after this," she said despite how hopeless this all seemed.

Marc smiled a little at everyone's consideration. "Thanks, guys. I'll make sure that we get to the bottom of this."

"Good!" Luke exclaimed happily, "Now time for the bad news! I think we only have enough fuel to make it to HQ. After that, no more choppers for us."

"Great," Catherine said sarcastically.

"Guess we'll just have to see if there's anything else we can ride around HQ if we need it," Keith suggested.

As predicted, the chopper arrived at the VSSE HQ just as the fuel ran out.

What greeted Marc and the others was the sight of zombified agents roaming the HQ grounds. As they had expected and feared, there was a giant crater right there in what used to be a garden in front of the building. Remnants of the missile and the tube carrying the zombie drug could be seen scattered around. The beautiful place which they had once called home was now overrun by death and destruction. Things weren't looking good.

"Are there really no survivors?" Catherine asked in despair.

"I'll land behind the building. It's close to the parking lot, so we can grab a vehicle if we find survivors," Luke suggested.

"Wait!" Marc called out, "Look over there!"

Everyone's attention directed to the HQ's roof, they could see a small group of people fighting off the zombies there.

"Survivors!" Marc exclaimed like he had just found the world's greatest treasure, "And that's the VSSE chief! He's alive!"

"Guess we go and give them a hand," Luke said, "I'm landing on the roof! Ready your guns!"

As Luke swerved their chopper towards the roof, Marc, Keith and Catherine stood by the doors, picking off as many zombies as possible before they landed. The VSSE chief and the team of agents noticed them, some of them cheering and waving in gratitude. Once their chopper landed, the four made their way to provide assistance.

"The heroes are here!" Luke yelled in excitement as he rushed forward to get rid of some zombies trying to attack his comrades.

Catherine winced a little as she pulled her trigger, reminded that they were shooting what used to be their own coworkers just yesterday. Keith put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't falter. They've lost their minds to the drug. Put them out of their misery," Keith advised solemnly. Catherine nodded bitterly, reloading and shooting again.

In the meantime, Marc had rushed to the chief's defense. "Watch out!" He shouted as he shot down a zombie trying to attack his boss. "Chief! Are you alright?!"

"Yes. Thanks, Mr. Godart. I certainly have the best agents," the chief replied gladly, reloading his gun and returning to the fight.

"Clear the way and barricade the entrance to the roof!" Keith commanded. Some of the agents seemed surprised, recognizing Keith as the rumored traitor. Catherine jumped in to defend him.

"He's on our side! We'll explain what happened later. Just do as he says for now!"

Pushing the zombies back little by little, the agents managed to reach the roof's door, quickly slamming it shut and shoving whatever they could find to barricade it, effectively preventing more zombies from coming.

"Whew!" Luke said, dropping to his butt on the floor as he relaxed a little.

"What's happening here?" One of the agents asked Catherine, demanding an explanation for Keith.

"It's agent Robert Baxter. He's the real traitor who framed Keith! And he's the one behind this whole mess!" She blurted out angrily, still in disbelief that he had fooled them all this time.

"What?!" The VSSE chief exclaimed. Upon hearing Robert's name, something seemed to have dawned on him. The colour drained from his face and his eyes widened in fear and shock.

"Sir! Do you know something about it?!" Marc asked hastily.

But before he could hear the answer, he caught sight of something at the edge of his vision. Without wasting another second, Marc tackled the chief, just in time to get both of them away from an explosion where they had been standing.

"Chief!" Marc called out. The chief grunted as he tried to make out what was happening, but fortunately, he was unharmed. The sound of a helicopter could be heard as the smoke cleared.

"Bloody hell!" Keith cursed as he looked up at the man on it, "ROBERT!"

That certainly got everyone's hair to stand on end. Looking up, Robert was certainly there in a helicopter with Wild Dog's logo on it, rocket launcher in hand.

"What do you want?!" Marc shouted as he immediately got to his feet, as if eager to get a second chance at shooting Robert down.

"Getting rid of this world's problem!" Robert spat, "That demon standing behind you!" He pointed angrily at the VSSE chief.

"I shot the missile here just so the old man can have a taste of his own medicine, but oh! How lucky of him to survive! Guess I'll have to take him out myself!"

"What are you talking about?!" Catherine shouted angrily, "You're the demon who needs to be taken out here!"

Robert just laughed as though he didn't care. Dropping the rocket launcher to the side, Robert grabbed onto the heavy machine gun mounted on the chopper, raining down a shower of bullets on the agents. Everyone ducked to take cover.

"Take him down!" Keith ordered.