Chapter Two: What Next?

Mercy City Suburb of Chicago

Oct. 25 2327 hours 11:27 PM

1Lt. Lawing

Song: Finish the Fight

The Lieutenant opened his eyes, staring out through his gas mask. Well, might as well get up, the large man thought whimsically. With a grunt of effort, he sat up, the chair squeaking slightly. He unclasped his helmet and took it off his head, sweat beading on his forehead. Those damn things were hot. He then unbuckled the clasps of the mask and pulled it off, allowing the surrounding aromas to permeate his senses. He smelled death and burning rubber, with a slight aftertaste of gunpowder. He closed his eyes to stop them from watering.

Lt. Lawing opened his eyes slowly as he looked around. Curtis remained against the large garbage disposal unit he had slumped against earlier, and even though he wore a mask, his snores were audible. Jenkins had slumped over during the brief nap, and he was almost curled up in the fetal position.

Lawing rubbed his eyes with a gloved hand and felt the slightly itchy material dig into his eyes. They watered as he stopped rubbing them, and he blinked the tears away, then looked around.

The Lieutenant stood up and rolled his shoulders, shaking out the sore muscles in them. He put the mask into a bag on his waist and put his helmet back on. Deciding not to bother with the strap, he left the strip of material hanging near his chin, then turned toward the edge of the roof. The Corporal sat there, looking as bored as a man with a gas mask could. When he noticed the Lieutenant was looking at him. The Corporal faced him from his sitting position and greeted his superior with a lazy two finger salute.

"Corporal, any problems?"

"None sir." the Corporal said in a slight German accent.

"Alright keep an eye out, and call me on the short wave if they wake up or anything happens. Understand?"

"Sir."

"Alright I'm going to check out one of the buildings next door." Lawing turned and started walking toward said building, slinging his M-4 as he did so.

"Sir?"

"Just stay on watch. I'm going to check for food and supplies."

"Alright sir, be careful."

With that, Lawing walked away from the Corporal at a slight jog. He saw a lower building to his right that looked promising. He took a deep prepatory breath, then started running towards it. His arms churned, and his boots crunched in the loose gravel that layered the roof. When he reached the edge, he jumped onto the rail portion of the roof and pushed off with his left leg. The Lieutenant sailed through the air as the other roof came up to greet him.

He landed hard, his right foot slipping on a slick tarp. The Lt fell hard, slamming his head into the tarp and whatever lay beneath it. The impact sent his unsecured helmet flying forward. Lawing slid to the ground on the other side of the tarp, away from the edge, with a shrill squeak. When he stopped moving, the battered Lieutenant groaned in pain. He sat up and massaged his head, where a large bump was already beginning to form. With a frustrated growl, he walked over to his lost helmet and picked it up, putting it on and clicking the buckle together. Satisfied that is was now secured, he continued.

The roof was vastly different then theirs. A large portion of it had a blue tarp over it. Several chairs where under the tarp as well as bedding material. Boxes of ammo littered the roof as did spent shell casings. Curious, Lawing checked the still full boxes, only to be disappointed when he found that most where the wrong caliber for any of their weapons. He sighed heavily, but stashed the few rounds that where into his pockets. With the outside search complete, he walked to the door leading down into the building.

The door had a simple padlock on it. Lawing pulled out a pair of wire cutters and cut them off. The lock clinked lightly as it hit the roof's loose gravel. He opened the door, and his weapon came up into a position to fire as it swung to its full swing. The staircase was devoid of infected and no bodies were visible, though a good bit of blood was splashed on the walls and floor. He slowly descended the staircase, dried blood cracking as he stepped on the blotches of it.

He stopped as he reached a landing. Hesitantly, he peered to the right and stepped down those stairs as well. He reached the floor below the roof and kept moving. He moved silently, turning doorknobs as he walked down the hallway. To his disappointment, all were locked. At the end, however, a single door was ajar; he approached it with his weapon ready.

Lawing pushed open the door and entered the small apartment. In the dim light of a single naked bulb, Lawing could make out a kitchen and dining room area, where an oak table and counter sat. On the table, to the Lieutenant's pleasant surprise, was a stockless pump action shotgun as well as a large revolver. Lawing picked up the revolver and put it into a pocket and picked up the ammo boxes around it and put them into an empty pocket on his vest. He grabbed the shotgun, and secured it into a sling on his back, forming an 'X' with his M-21. He put that ammo into the last open pocket in his vest and continued into the apartment.

Lawing walked into a room that was the master bedroom. What he saw on the bed stabbed him in the heart.

A family laid on the bed: a mother and father and two small children. The woman wore a stained blue skirt and a white blouse, her feet clad only in socks. The dark-haired little boys wore matching white t-shirts and red shorts, twins most likely, their hands tangled in their mother's long brown hair. A dark-haired man in an undershirt and jeans sat at the side of the bed, his limp arm across his family, as if to ward them off from death itself. Sadly, Lawing observed, he had failed. In the man's hands sat a bolt action rifle, its barrel pointing at the doorway. On the night stand near the father was an empty jar of pills. The fathers' eyes where still open, obviously watching for intruders before taking the rest of the pills himself. Lawing walked towards the family; he slid his hand to the man's eyes and pushed them closed.

"May god grant mercy to you, May he give mercy to us all. God forgive this man for his acts and have mercy on his family as well. God I ask you to forgive this crime and have mercy on them. I ask you god to heed this prayer. Amen." Lawing said solemnly, then drew back his hand.

Lawing turned back towards the door and stalked out of the room. He made his way out of the apartment slowly, the scene still frozen in his mind. He continued on numbly, while a single thought ran through his mind: Would I have done the same for my family? The Lieutenant shook his head sadly, and reached the top of the stairs. When he reached for the knob, his radio crackled and buzzed. Lawing stepped back down the stairs a few steps, then clicked the receive button.

"Lieutenant, Curtis and Jenkins are awake and they want to talk." The Corporal's tinny voice sounded from the shoulder mike..

"Roger I'm on…" Lawing started to say as a loud bang stopped him.

Lawing turned towards the sound, his rifle half raised. He found the door he had just previously gone to open almost torn from its hinges, and an infected...something stood in the doorway. The infected had a white shirt on, black pants and a tie. It had pale white skin, red eyes, and graying hair. The infected had one other thing that the others didn't: six inch claw-like nails from his hands.

"Bring it on motherfucker." Lawing snarled.

The infected roared at Lawing, a high piercing wail, and started to move from foot to foot. Lawing switched his safety off moving the level to a third click from safe, the level had been scratched out and replaced with "Kill Them ALL!" The infected picked up speed and charged the Lieutenant, claws raised.

Lawing squeezed the trigger as the infected came running at him. The sound of the 5.56 mm rounds exiting the chamber nearly deafened him. The rounds from the M-4 tore off chunks of meat as they hit. Brain matter and bones erupted from the corpse as the rounds hit its head. The infected stumbled forward and fell as the magazine was emptied. The barrel smoked as the Lieutenant ejected the spent mag and inserted another one.

Lawing side-stepped the fallen monster and sprinted up the stairs. As he ran, sounds of other infected reached his ears. Alarm coursed through him, and Lawing put on a burst of speed as he sped toward the edge of the roof. On the adjacent roof, the other three soldiers were waving at him and beckoning wildly. When he reached the threshold, the Lieutenant leapt through the air, landing badly on a fire escape and sliding forward before crashing into the brick wall it was attached to.

"LT., you okay?" Curtis's panicked voice sounded from above.

"Yeah, I think so." Lawing said shakily as he stood up on the rungs of the ladder.

Lawing yelled in fright as an infected fell through his vision. The group of crazed zombies that had been behind him had reached the roof and followed, falling off the roof and onto the ground below. The spectacle only caused Lawing's subordinate's to laugh uproariously.

Lawing moved up the fire escape, his boots making a clanging sound as he walked. His men stood there as he approached the top. They clapped as he finished climbing the escape.

"You know LT, if you weren't the leader we would so be laughing at your retardation." Curtis said sardonically.

"Shut up, asshole." Lawing replied gruffly. He wasn't in the mood for the mouthy Warrant Officer.

"No really; you have achieved a new level of retardation. I thought not possible." Curtis continued, and he didn't seem to notice Lawing's face getting red.

"Warrant Officer, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Lawing yelled angrily, turning on the slightly shorter man with a snarl.

"Alright alright, no need to yell."

"I believe the situation warranted it." Jenkins inserted dryly.

Lawing pushed past Curtis and pulled the abandoned folding chair to a table on the roof. He reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a map. He placed the map on the table and folded it out. The map showed a detailed view of Mercy City and Chicago. Face scrunched in concentration, he traced a line until he stopped it at an intersection.

"Check for street signs; I need to get a good fix on our position." He said without looking up. The others scattered to the corners of the roof, looking into the dark.

"Fourth Street." said Curtis cheekily, still miffed about getting chewed out.

"Forrest Avenue." Jenkins said as he looked out to the north.

"Third Driveway." The Corporal said stoically.

"Good, we're a few miles from Fourth's H.Q." Lawing said as he lined up the location to the best of his map skills.

"We gonna try that tonight sir or wait for dawn?" asked Curtis. It was clear the Warrant Officer wasn't a specialist in strategy.

"Now, if we can. I don't want to wait any longer then we have to. They see better during the day and we don't have any good day optics, so night is pretty good."

"Alright, sir." Said Jenkins gloomily. He had enjoyed his little nap.

"I found a nice little revolver, anyone want it? Jenkins?"

"No sir I'm not good with pistols."

"Corporal?"

"Dibs. And it's Yakob."

"Yakob?" asked Curtis skeptically.

"German and Russian." Yakob replied shortly, effectively cutting off that avenue of conversation.

"Sure thing. Here you go." Lawing said as he handed over the .44 along with the ammunition for it, pulling the small boxes out of his vest.

Yakob fit the pistol into a pocket and put the ammo into his vest. All the men nodded at Lawing. He nodded back, they moved to the fire escape and continued down it. The four descended quickly, their boots slamming into the metal stairs loudly. When the squad reached the bottom, they took turns jumping down, falling about ten feet. They reached the mass of bodies that had fallen from the other roof and stepped around it.

The group moved forward onto Fourth Street out of the alleyway. They kept their guns ready, even though the infected did not notice them as they walked. The zombies were alert, but rather were looking in the opposite direction, to the west. Heavy fire erupted from that direction, and the nearby infected began to sprint in that direction. As the infected rounded the corner, several of them were dropped by a burst of automatic fire, and a police officer sprinted out onto Fourth Street. The officer wore black BDU's and a heavy riot helmet, the screen tinted black and hiding the person's face from view. The officer wore standard black combat boots, and printed across its back were the letters 'M.C.P.D.', all in bright white. The person wielded a small SMG, a P90 assault machine gun from what Lawing could tell, as well as a riot shield fastened to his/her arm. The person continued its sprint, spraying infected as it ran. The mystery person slammed several infected away with his/her riot shield, but kept moving.

"Lay down suppressing fire!" Yelled Lawing loudly, and his squad jumped into action.

The group opened fire together, cutting down multiple infected as the person came running at them. They shot in arcs, holding off the zombies that ran towards them. But soon, the trickle of infected gave way to the swarm that the police officer was running from, and Lawing knew that their position couldn't be held.

"Fall back!" The Lieutenant ordered, and the soldiers began to slowly back into the alleyway. As they all made their way in, the wide area that made up Fourth Street shrank into the killzone of a narrow alley, Curtis slinged his rifle and drew his shotgun from his back. More zombies sprinted into the alley, only to be blown back by scatter fire. Curtis laughed almost maniacally as he thinned the horde, dropping several infected with single shots. The others took this reprieve to swap magazines and continue falling back. Jenkins and Yakob retreated quickly, sprinting after the police officer, who was climbing the fire escape they had descended only a minute before. Lawing slapped Curtis on the back, and the Warrant Officer stowed his weapon and ran to the fire escape.

With the absence of Curtis's fire, the infected began to pour into the alleyway. Lawing greeted them with M-4 rounds, and he backpedaled toward the fire escape. Curtis made his way up the high ladder, then turned and pulled out his dual pistols. High above them, Yakob and Jenkins found positions on the edge of the roof and rained bullets on the undead horde.

Lawing finally turned and began to climb the ladder, his M-4 clattering in front of him. He pulled himself up onto the ladder, then ascended quickly, only to stop. His boot was grabbed about half way up, halting his progress. With an angry swipe at his thigh, he grabbed his pistol and swung it at the infected trying to hitchhike. He pulled the trigger with a sneer, the pistol jumping in his hands, as he shot the infected in the head, blowing brains and icor all over the wall. Its grip relaxed and it dropped, and Lawing continued up the ladder.

Some of the infected kept trying to climb up the stairs as lead rained down on them. The Police officer pulled out a pipe-like object and, with a flourish and a match, lit the fuse fastened to the top. Lawing's eyes widened at the sight of the explosive, and he ducked into the window of the floor he was on.

The officer threw it into the crowd of infected, most of whom were still on the ground. A loud beeping sound emitted from the device, strangely similar to a fire alarm. All of the assembled infected stopped their chase of the soldiers and turned toward this new prey. They jumped at the explosive and began stomping on it in anger, their only wish for it to stop emitting that dreadful noise. And in a way, it did.

The device exploded, sending shrapnel into the infected and ripping limbs off and destroying brain matter, turning it into mush. The crowd was vaporized in a split-second, leaving only a red mist in the air. Blood spattered Lawing and his men as they looked on in awe.

Lawing moved up the ladder quickly as the few remaining infected bled out from various cuts and holes. The Lieutenant finally reached the top of the fire escape, and was clapped on the back by Jenkins and Curtis. Lawing sighed and trudged over to his chair and sat down heavily. He looked down at his hands only to find that he was still clutching his sidearm. Lawing holstered his pistol and looked at the newcomer in black, who stood silently next to the door. Anger started to boil over as he stared at the riot cop.

"Goddamn you motherfucker!" Lawing yelled at the person. "What the fuck were you thinking, using an IED like that! What if the blast had been bigger, huh? We all could have been killed!"

"Where did you even…" Lawing was cut off as the riot cop took off its helmet to reveal a female face. The Lieutenant was speechless, to say the least.

Finally, Lawing turned towards his men. "What did I say not a day ago about me and women?"

"Not to piss them off." Jenkins said dryly, but one could sense the humor in his voice.

"Exactly and what did you let me do?" Lawing asked.

"Piss her off." Curtis said cheekily, and he reached up to undo his mask.

"Look, they weren't that hard." The woman finally said, and she put her hand on her hip in the classic 'you got a problem?' pose, her other arm cradling her helmet.

"That what's she said." Curtis just couldn't stop himself.

Lawing gave the Warrant Officer a deadpan look, tempted to hit him. But to everyone's surprise, it was not a cuff on the cheek from the Lieutenant that struck Curtis, but the sturdy glass of a riot shield, wielded by the female riot officer. The shield hit Curtis over the head with a sharp crack, and he crouched slightly in pain.

"Son of a bitch!"

bathedinblood here, just glad that another chapter is down for the count. I'm going to go work on my other stories, but I would first like to say that I deeply enjoy beta-reading, much more than I enjoy writing. See if you can find me in the story!

M.E.R.C. Inc. here woo another chapter done. So glad that's done. Blood added close to a thousand words for me mainly expanding on descriptions I can't do very well but am learning.