Chapter 2
The Outbreak
Ryder finishes bandaging up Matlands wound and they get ready to possibly fight their way back to the crossover tube.
"Woods how's the work on the lockdown?" [Asked Bastian]
"I managed to open a few doors that'll take you back to the crossover tubes, but you have to hurry the security protocols there will soon overwrite my stuff trying to contain those things."
"What about EarthGove, knowing Tiedemann I'm willing to bet he's gonna try to keep this under wraps." [As the door opens and start walking]
"I've been monitoring the military transmissions he's ordered the rest of the station security to be on high alert in the public sector, he's especially ordered two of our squads, Security Teams Alpha and Bravo to the mines beneath Gove Sec."
"Col. Bartlett's team?" [Matland inquired]
"Yeah I believe Sargent Weller is with them."
"Why down there?" [Bastian asked]
"I'm not sure I'm concerned it might those things."
They make it to the crossover tube and take the tram back to the public sector, during the ride the tram stopped in it's tracks and the lights go out. They stand in the dark with only the light from their visors to see.
"God damn it as if we don't have enough trouble already." [Said Matland]
"Auxiliary power should kick in…"
Ryder is interrupted when roars coming from both directions put them both on guard. Slashers suddenly appear and run towards the two. They empty clip after clip fending off the horde until they kill the remaining necromorphs but out of nowhere two Pukers jump them both knocking them to the ground. They struggle to get them off themselves while trying desperately to avoid the acid-like liquid coming out their deformed melted mouths. The necromorph on top of Bastion rips off his helmet and forces his mouth open vomiting in his mouth burning the flesh on his face off with him screaming in pain, suddenly in the blink of an eye they find themselves back where they started in the core system they look confused.
"What… what the hell just happened!?"
Bastian feels his face for what he thought he experienced his face getting burned off but realizing his face is fine.
"I… I don't know?" [Bastian stands flummoxed]
"Guys do read me!?"
"Woods?"
6 Hours Pre-Outbreak
"What the hell happened to you two I've been trying to get your attention for three hours straight!?"
"What are you talking about, we were just being attacked on the tram!?" [Matland confused]
"No… you guys were unresponsive… I pulled up a vid link and you two were just standing there like you were in a trance doing nothing for three hours." [Woods explained]
"What the fuck… so what, were we imagining it?"
"You must have been; my readout say you didn't more at all either."
"It felt real… I swear we there."
"Well you weren't I have to find you guys another way the system there overwrote my commands a few hours ago and sealed the doors thankfully the lockdown timer is about to hit zero for this area, however the tram's not there anymore it got called back about an hour ago to the hub."
"Okay, um hear anything from Alpha or Bravo team in the mines?" [Both start walking down the hallway]
"How did you know that?"
"What?"
"How did you know that they were there?"
"You said they were dispatched there by Tiedemann because of a disturbance?"
"That's true but I didn't say anything about Alpha and Bravo team, all I said was that the lock down was about to go offline… are you guys sure you're okay?"
"Yeah we'll sort it out later we need to get back."
"The titan mines are a huge place; they're still investigating there but so far haven't reported anything out of the ordinary… okay I found another route sending it to your waypoints."
"Thanks… what about that Vandal guy did he get to and fix the quarantine seal?"
"No not yet but he's close to it, surprisingly those things haven't tried breaking through yet, but Director Tiedemann contacted him again told him pick up the pace because apparently there's some stuff going down in the public sector."
Matland carefully checks his corners looking for any hostiles.
"What's happening?"
[Woods was quiet]
"Woods hey you hear me?"
"Yes sorry I just got a report that some unitologist near one of the schools just killed himself, he slid his throat right in front a few kids." [Disturbed]
"Jesus in front of children?" [Said Bastian]
"Yeah the kids were pretty shaken up a lot them went home with their parents and there's another one with a few CEC guys that were found hanging."
"What's going on with everyone on this station ever since that big project at Gove Sec started people have been losing it?"
Bastian and Matland stop when they hear men screaming nearby they ready their guns and run to assist.
"We'll call you back there's someone in trouble." [Said Matland]
"Alright I'll see what else is happening." [Both start running down the hall]
They unfortunately arrive too late and to find two men dead on the floor both with a large hole in their chests. The single one alive was trapped in a locked room where they can see him through a window struggling to get an infector off of him as it tries to stick its sharp proboscis in his head.
"Shit we have to help him help open pry this open!"
Bastian grabs hold of the door and both try to get it open as best they can but barely budges.
"Damn it the doors jammed!"
The man in the other room is forced up against the window then falls to the floor. They both hear him scream even louder than silence followed by gurgling, Matland looks through the window and sees the creature was impaled his forehead with its proboscis, soon after the body begins twitching and shaking as it turns into a new slasher growling in an unworldly manner.
"Holy fuck… these things are people." [Matland disturbed]
Matland jumps out of the way as it bursts through the window and Infector rushes to a vent. Bastian easily kills it before it can charge at them shooting off a leg then both its upper limbs.
"Did I hear you right these things were human?" [Bastian's RIGLink pops up]
"Yeah we just saw a guy turn into one of them, there was something else…"
"I know I saw it I'm still processing it."
"If these things can make those other things from both living and dead bodies then the whole Sprawl is at risk."
"Guys I just got word from that situation in the mines."
"Let my guess, those thing are there too?"
"Yes Alpha and Bravo team just engaged hostiles from what I heard they are the same things."
"Any casualties?"
"Yes a lot at least 50 total and counting most of them are miners and few of the other squads have flat lined."
"Shit… come on." [To Bastian]
"How far are we from another tram?"
"Not far keep following the waypoint, the tram there is for emergencies so it shouldn't be able to be called civilians only you guys and personnel here in the shards can use it."
"Any chance the personnel here would have used it to get out of here?"
"Yes but after it lets them off it auto returns back to that station."
"Okay."
1 Hour Pre-Outbreak
They make it to the tram station, Matland shoots a large door's control panel closing it keeping a horde of necromorphs rushing towards the area on the other side out from following.
"That should hold them for a… ah fucking hell the tram's not here!"
"We missed it by 15 minutes a group of survivors used it to go to the public sector good news already on its way back ETA about 2 minutes."
"Shit we have to hold out here."
Both ready their rifles aiming at the door startled at the sound of the necromorphs banging on the door.
"Lets hope that door holds." [Said Matland]
"I'm low on ammo, I have… two clips left and that crowd out there is huge." [Said Bastian]
"How many for the plasma cutter?"
"Just one clip and only enough energy for three more shots."
Bastian scans the room and spots a vent.
"I sure hope they don't grow a brain and use that vent."
"Same here though let's not tempt fate… ah fuck."
"Wound hurting?"
"Yeah, fuck it itches." [Trying not to scratch his arm]
They are startled again but a large outward dent that's made on the door from the other side followed by chirping like sounds and screaming.
"How much longer." [Anxious]
"It's coming 40 seconds."
A second later another few bangs on the door makes the dent larger, then two infectors burst out the vent forth at them both quickly kill them.
"Guess you guys where late on not tempting fate."
"Woods not now!"
The tram finally arrived at the station, both quickly board the car and leave back to the public sector before they break through.
"Ah fuck that was close you okay kid?"
"I'll live." [Sits down]
"Hell of a first day at work huh?"
"Not what I was expecting, that's for damn sure how's your arm?"
"It's bleeding again."
"Stress and high BP will do that, let me see."
Matland sits next to him and he examines his arm then unwraps the bandages and rewraps his arm with clean gauze, Woods contacts them on Bastian's RIG Link.
"You guys still kicking?"
"Yeah it was close but yeah on our way back to the public sector, how are things over there?"
"Not good well not at the public sector but at the mines most of Bartlett's team along with two other teams have been whipped out!"
"What… any survivors?"
"It looks like only three Col. Bartlett, Cpl. Price, and Sgt. Weller."
"Shot can you raise them?"
"No too much interference."
Suddenly both along with Woods receives a transmission on channels reserved for the station security and military.
"This is Director Tiedemann to all personnel I want the key subjects terminated and the facility scrubbed this is not a drill Tiedemann out."
"Key" subjects what the hell is he talking about?" [Said Woods]
"I have no idea "key subjects" do they want us to hunt down and kill someone?" [Asked Bastian]
"Oh my god guys you won't believe what happened!"
"Try us." [Said Bastian]
"The crossover tube doors have been jammed open the powers out on all of them, those things are swarming in them and moving to the public sector!"
"What…show us!?" [Matland exclaimed]
Woods sends them a map of the Sprawl's crossover tubes; they see vast numbers of red dots representing the necromorphs rushing into the tubes most of them through Tube A.
"Oh my god." [Shocked]
"There's so many of them there has got to be at least hundreds of them and more still swarming in."
"What happened, I thought that saboteur was going to fix the quarantine seal?"
"That's just it he made it to the crossover tube controls but he had no idea what he was doing, he shut down the power while operations where in mid process it fucked the system up and jammed open all the doors."
"I'll bet Tiedemann is pretty pissed if he doesn't know already."
"If he ordered these key subjects to be executed then he knows come to think of it what's special about these subjects, who are they?"
"I've heard some rumors just yesterday I was surfing the net and I came across a government conspiracy site and someone anonymously posted a story about what happened on Aegis VII and the USG Ishimura, I didn't get to read all of it, half way through the site it got blocked by the station's IT."
"I heard of that but I didn't think much of it?"
"What did you see there?"
"Um the word going around is that apparently the colonist on Aegis VII found something horrible buried there and hours later some engineer knocked out the gravity tethers from the planet crack and basically dropped the whole payload on top of whatever it was, If I recall I think the engineer's name was Isaac… Isaac something can't remember his last name."
"Interesting I'm gonna look into something I'll keep you guys posted."
"Alright we're almost at the public sector."
"Okay heads up its crazy here Tiedemann ordered a complete evacuation of the Sprawl and people are rioting and well it's a breakdown of social order." [Woods explained]
"An evacuation doesn't sound like a bad idea seeing the current situation." [Said Matland]
"Anything from the survivors at the mines?"
"Bartlett and Weller are still kicking but Price flat lined a while ago."
"Should have expected that no one else made it." [Said Matland]
"Arriving at Public Sector." [Tram computer announced]
"Finally at least we had time to catch our breaths."
Bastian is overcome by a headache then an eerie voice similar to his own speaks as if whispering in his ears as his vision becomes a deep yellowish color.
"It's calling to you; to us It needs our help it needs you we must make it whole."
His vision returns to normal after the voice finishes speaking, Matland notices his partner.
"Hey kid you okay?" [He asked]
"Yeah I thought I…" [He replies]
"Thought what?"
"Never mind let's go something tells me this is going to be a long and tougher day then its already been."
"Right with you."