Chapter 14
"That complex looks like it was built nearly thirty years ago," Kenneth said as he turned his camera on and took footage of what they saw.
"Five bucks says that's where all of the craziness started," Billy Coen spoke up for the first time in a while. "It looks like it's been abandoned for years."
"Then why are there lights on in some of the rooms?" Forest asked as he peered at the building through his riflescope. "And why is there someone standing in said room's window looking at us?"
"Get moving!" Captain Marini barked as Forest relayed the intel. "If someone knows that we're here then we just lost the element of surprise, so we need to move now!"
Bravo team began to eat up the remaining distance between them and the complex before reaching the front doors.
"Thirty seconds, and then we breach," Captain Marini ordered. "We're doing this one by the numbers, the zombies get headshots, don't waste your ammunition. Anything else that pops up we'll deal with as it comes."
"Ready for breaching sir," Richard said as he reloaded his shotgun with three breacher rounds and two buckshot.
"Go," the captain ordered and Richard began to take the hinges out of the door with precise shots. "Marine, you've got point, I've got your six."
"Breaching," Coen called out before he threw the door open and was met by an expansive and expensive-looking entryway to a series of dorm rooms. "I've got zombies in here, and lot's of them."
"Let's clear them out," Captain Marini ordered as he began to pick off zombies one at a time. "I have a feeling that they're not the only thing waiting for us in here."
"Captain, there's got to be a hundred dorm rooms in here," Forest said as he counted the doors while covering the rear of the team. "We're going to have to prioritize what we want to search or we'll be here longer than intended."
"Let's clear out these hallways first," the captain replied over the sound of gunfire. "Then we can figure out if there are any places that might have more evidence for us."
After searching every corner, and making sure that every zombie was dead, the team began searching the area around them for anything that might stand out.
"Captain, I've got more of those paramilitary guys from the train in here," Forest said as he peered into a room but didn't enter. "But they don't look like they were attacked by whatever was on the train."
"Help me drag one of the bodies out," Rebecca said. "I need to take a look at them and figure out what caused their death."
"You won't need to look for very long," Coen said as he looked into the room. "I think whatever it is just came to us."
"It's fucking flying!" Forest said as he holstered his pistol and brought his rifle around in time to block what looked like a massive straw from hitting his tactical vest. "Kill this thing!"
"So, we hit the armory, arm the self-destruct, and then get out of here?" I asked for clarification as I removed the grenades from the traps we had set and handed them back to their respective owners.
"Armory is on the way to the Self-Destruct," Kaplan said as he pulled out his PDA with the map on it. "Self-Destruct is at the very bottom of the facility, and the armory is on the second to last floor."
"Why have the armory so far away from the entrance?" I asked as we made our way down the stairs. "That seems like a security flaw."
"As long as there were an armory and security forces it was deemed sufficient," Kaplan shrugged. "That's my take on it at least."
"Stop here," Kaplan said as we reached the next landing. "Armory is on this floor and a quarter of the way in."
"I've got point," Natalia said as she shouldered her AK-74U and took the lead, walking onto the next floor only to see two dozen corpses walking around.
"How many people were in this facility?" I whispered as we carefully skirted the outskirts of the crowd.
"There were two hundred people that lived and worked in the HIVE," Alice replied as she tried to not make any noise in her heels.
"We don't have a path to the armory," J.D whispered to Rain. "Not unless we go loud."
"Frags first," Rain replied with a frown on her face. "Then we clear them out and get to the armory before we blow this place up."
The team members who still had frag grenades primed them and chucked them into the center of the cluster of zombies, the explosives taking out most of the zombies and leaving behind a half dozen that the team made short work of.
"Kaplan, get us into the armory before more of their friends show up," Rain instructed the tech specialist.
"On it," Kaplan said as he keyed in the access code that he had programmed in earlier. "It's open, let's get this over and done with."
"Rain, Edward," J.D said as he tossed extra MP5 magazines to his teammates. "You good, Mark?" He asked me as I grabbed a handful of extra magazines for my rifle.
"I'm good, I replaced my grenades and grabbed some extra ammo too," I slung a grenade bandolier over my shoulder. "Alice, you find some shoes and a holster yet?"
"Yeah, can you hand me some extra magazines for the beretta?" The researcher asked.
"Sure," I replied as I grabbed four extra magazines and some loose rounds before turning and handing them over to the researcher. "I'm surprised they had gear that fit."
"So am I," Alice replied as she made sure all of her magazines were loaded and that her newfound cargo pants and combat boots fit properly. "I'm ready to go whenever you are."
"Here," Rain tossed Alice an extra MP5, some magazines, and a small med kit. "You're our backup medic in case Mark here goes down."
"I mean, I probably do have a concussion," I said with a shrug. "The only thing keeping me going right now is adrenaline and whatever caffeine is in my anti-migraine medication."
"We'll get you checked out when we get back to Raccoon," Edward slapped me on the shoulder. "But we need to get out of here first."
"Everyone geared up and ready to go?" Rain asked us.
"I'm good," I replied as I checked the magazine in my M4. "Let's get out of here."
Author's Note: Kinda taking the games blueprints of the locations and making them bigger to suit how I think they would work IRL