Highschool of the dead: The British Outbreak
Chapter 10: In which we serve
Fireteam Viking
Roughly 6 miles from Chester Safezone
Z-day + 32
07:15
"Got one," said Akio, "Distance, 270 meters and closing. Negligible wind."
"I have him," replied Jason, putting his scope on the target's head.
"Understood. Headshot. Fire when ready."
Jason took a few deep breaths and squeezed the trigger on the exhale.
Pfft!
Jason cycled the bolt on his AI Covert. He put the crosshair on another infected and repeated the process for each of the infected in the kill box.
Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!
The last target fell as Jason ejected the spent magazine and replaced it with a spare one from his kit.
"Confirm all targets neutralized."
"Confirmed. Clear to Proceed."
Jason and Akio gathered their things before sliding and dropping from the roof of the bus they'd been sniping from. The pair continued their advance towards their objective; the raider outpost they were supposed to have reconnoitred 2 days prior.
Jason sighed slightly at the memory; how Fred had been bitten, but managed to get a little girl back to them, then distracted the herds of infected while he and Akio made a run for it. In his report, he'd recommended Fred for a posthumous medal for gallantry as well as a promotion. Since then a lot had changed; Jason was now in the process of training Akio to take over Fred's role as a spotter while Jason was handling radios for the team. They'd all taken Fred's passing badly, but Alex had taken it the worse.
Alex had broken down completely. She'd cried for hours into Jason's chest before finally becoming too tired to continue. She'd been stood down from active military duty, pending a psychiatric evaluation. Normally the whole team would have been stood down, but such were the demands of war, that Akio and Jason were thrown back into the meat grinder. Besides, Akio and Jason were of the same mind on this;
'Fred died on this mission. We owe it to see it through.'
They stalked forward, M4's up and scanning for targets while Jason's covert hung from its strap across his back.
"We should be getting close," said Akio. Jason nodded, then threw his fist up into signal 'halt' and tapped his ear. 'listen'. They both stopped and listened, aside from the ever-present sound of infected groaning in the distance, they both heard something else. An engine? Defiantly the sound of someone yelling... or screaming. It sounded like people, trying to get away from something, and there was defiantly an engine.
"Cover," said Jason. The 2 soldiers broke off from the road centre and took cover behind an abandoned car. Jason pulled out his shaving mirror, a stick of chewing gum and his knife. He handed to gum to Akio.
"Chew," he said. Akio took the gum and chewed quickly before taking it out of his her mouth and handing it to Jason. He took the gum and sandwiched it in-between his knife's blade and the back of the mirror. He then pushed it up above the bonnet of the car and scanned around for anything.
He watched as a man and woman, each with a large camping backpack came around the corner, they were running frantically. Then a red pickup truck came around the corner, with 2 men in the back, both carrying long guns. The pickup overtook the backpackers and blocked the road. The 2 in the back jumped down and 2 more got out of the cab. The male backpacker started pleading.
"Please don't!" he shouted, "We haven't done anything to you!"
One of the men from the pickup, presumably the leader, spoke. "Tough shit mate. Put the bags on the ground."
"Ok... ok..." said the man hesitantly as he and his female companion removed their backpacks and put them down on the ground.
"Thank you," said the leader, "Now go to hell."
Boom! Boom!
The 2 backpackers' chest exploded as they each took a shotgun blast. The men in the pickup started laughing. Two of them climbed down from the pickup and went for the rucksacks.
"Should've kept her alive mate," said one of them. "She had a real nice arse."
"Haha, too fuckin' right mate," said the other. Jason was disgusted and looked back at Akio for a moment, and was terrified at what he saw. She had a terrifying grin on her face like a complete psycho would at the point of indulgence. She spun round and started to stand but Jason grabbed the drag handle on the back of her webbing and pulled her down.
"No!" he half-snarled, half whispered. "Stay down."
"The fuck was that?" asked one of the men.
"Probably a crawler in that car reacting to the gunshots," said another. "Let's head back to base before any more show up."
"Yeah. Sound's good." The men got back in their pick up. Its engine revved as it tore off down the road. Once they were gone and out of sight. Jason confronted Akio.
"What the hell was that all about?" he asked. Akio's smile was gone; she looked sad, almost ashamed.
"I don't want to talk about it," she said. Jason scowled, he wasn't having it. He took a deep breath.
"Look Akio," he said, softly but sternly. "You're my best friend, and I trust you, but I'm also you squad leader, and I won't risk you in the field if you're not in the right frame of mind. So tell me what's wrong or I'll scrub the op and we'll head back."
Akio looked appalled as if someone had just slapped her. "We can't scrub the op! We need to finish it! For Fred!"
"Is that what this is all about?" asked Jason. Out of everyone, Akio had seemingly taken Fred's death the best, although it had affected all of them differently.
"It's not about him at all," she replied, she'd reverted back to looking ashamed, which Jason had never seen before.
"Then what?" asked Jason firmly. Akio sighed.
"That man, the leader," she said, "I've run into him before."
"Who is he?" asked Jason.
"He was a senior lieutenant to a local gang leader," she said. "After my father took over my grandfather's Chinese restaurant, that man came to him offering 'protection insurance'. It was fine at first, but during a rough spot of business, he fell behind on payments. As an example, that man and 2 of his thugs kidnapped me on the way home from school. They slipped me a date rape drug in their car. I woke up tied to a table in a cellar and they... they..." Akio broke down into tears. Jason could guess what they did.
"How old were you?" he asked.
"12," she replied, biting back the rest of her tears. "They said if I went to the police, they'd hurt my family. I never told anyone."
Jason understood now. This man had done something unspeakable to Akio and she'd never gotten closure. He knew she was fierce, and dangerous in combat, and he remembered the smile on her face he'd seen when she fought infected, or people hand to hand. He'd never seen her like this, broken... crying... ashamed...
"Alright then," he said, "Let's get the son of a bitch."
...
11:00
After hours of searching, they came across the red pickup, parked outside a house. A quick recon has yielded the sounds of moving furniture from inside, they were searching for something. There was only one of them outside on guard duty, but he was smoking a cigarette and his weapon, a bolt action rifle, was slung on his back.
This told Jason that he was relaxed... in control... not feeling threatened...
"You ready?" asked Jason.
"Yeah," replied Akio over the radio.
"Remember. I want the leader alive. The rest we can kill."
"Why?"
"You'll see. Let's go."
Jason emerged from behind the house he was hiding behind, approximately 50 meters down the road, with his 'noise maker', a LASM (Light Anti-Structure Missile) launcher, on his shoulder. Before the guard could even turn his head, much less react to Jason's appearance in the street, Jason fired. The missile speared from its launcher on in an explosive cloud of ignited gas.
At first, Jason was worried the missile was going to miss, having never fired the weapon before, but grinned happily when it flew straight into the pickup's engine block. The Pickup exploded beautifully in a white flash and a billow of smoke, crisping the man on lookout who started screaming in pain. Jason chucked the spent launcher and pulled up his M4, advancing on the house with the weapon shouldered and ready. As he advanced, Jason could hear shouting inside the house, and 3 men came outside, a fat man, a man in an over shirt, and a man with a scar on his face.
Scarface tried to raise his weapon and received a shot to the chest from Akio who was on overwatch with Jason's covert. The 2 remaining men watched as their colleague collapsed, his chest bleeding from shredded vital organs.
"Drop your weapons and get on your knees!" shouted Jason, now only 20 meters from the group. They started to move, but they were moving too slowly for Jason's liking. He put a shot into their friend who'd been cooked in the explosion, as well as shocking the 2 and getting them to disarm themselves faster, this had the added bonus of shutting him the hell up. Fat Man and Overshirt threw down their weapons away and raised their hands Jason stopped about 15 meters short of the remaining pair.
"Hand's on your head!" ordered Jason. They both complied, but Jason shot Overshirt anyway, putting 2 in the man's neck. The man fell back and clutched at his throat, making sick gurgling sounds as he drowned on his own blood. Fat Man stared at Overshirt with his mouth hanging open, paralyzed in shock. He snapped back to Jason after a moment. If he'd been a fighting man, he'd have made a dive for his weapon so he could have gone down swinging.
"Who..." he stammered, "Who are you?"
"Sergeant! British army!" Jason almost shouted back. Overshirt was still gurgling so Jason finished him off with 2 more rounds while holding Fat Man's gaze. He didn't watch where they hit, but Overshirt stopped gurgling.
" Please don't fuckin' kill me! Please guv'ner!" Fat Man started to cry.
"Stop crying." Said Jason. Fat Man continued to whimper and sob.
"Seriously. Stop crying," Jason kicked his legs. "Get up! Move!"
Fat Man stumbled to his feet, cowering slightly. He'd been so confident a little while ago, now he was cowering and...pissing himself. A large dark wet patch was growing on his crotch and speeding down his legs.
"Take off your boot lace," ordered Jason.
"Why?" Fat Man sobbed.
"Do it or I kill you," replied Jason. Fat Man hurriedly complied. He had 3 dead friends around him that could attest to Jason's willingness to carry out the threat. Fat Man removed the boot lace and presented it to Jason. Jason lowered his rifle slightly, but still kept it ready.
"Do anything stupid, and my sniper will kill you," warned Jason. Fat Man nodded vigorously, sweat streaming down his flabby face.
"Hand's behind your back."
He complied and Jason bound his hands with the bootlace. Once his hands were suitably secure, Jason grasped his rifle and forced the suppressor in between Fat Man's shoulder blades.
"March."
The man started walking down the street at gun point, towards the house Akio was positioned in.
"Where are you takin' me?"
Jason felt no need to hide the truth from him.
"To my sniper. A girl you raped 6 years ago."
Fat Man stopped in his tracks and looked at Jason, terrified.
"Whatch'a doin' that for?"
"I'm going to let her kill you if she wants' to."
Fat Man erupted into tears as he dropped to his knees and started begging.
"No! Please guv'ner! I never raped no one! Why you gonna' let 'er kill me over noughin'?!"
Jason looked at the man with interference. "I wouldn't call rapeing of a 12-year-old girl, then threatening her family if she talked nothing. Now get up and move. Or I'll save her the trouble and leave you for the infected if you prefer."
"No!" Fat Man pleaded, "Not the biters! Anything' but the biters!"
"Then get moving."
Fat Man tried to find some Mercy in Jason's eyes, but all he found was cold indifference. He looked down at his feet as he got up and started walking. It was only a short walk before they reached the house Akio was sniping from. Jason marched him through the house and into the back garden, telling the man to get on his knees in the centre of the garden. As he complied, Jason summoned Akio to the back garden. While she was coming, Jason knelt down and whispered into Fat man's ear.
"Don't say a word, or you'll regret it."
Akio appeared in the back garden, her rifle slung across her chest. She walked around the man and stood in front of him, looking down on him. She stared at him with an icy cold glare.
"It that him?" asked Jason, standing a short distance away.
"Yes," she said, venom seeping into her voice.
"He did something terrible to you," said Jason. "It's your choice what to do with him."
Akio simply nodded and stared at Fat Man. Her jaw line moved slightly, her lips became a tight line. Her face was beautiful, built for the smiling that it normally did, but her expression was cold, terrifying even. Fat Man was weeping uncontrollably now. He had not even the courage or dignity remaining to face death silently. Instead blubbered on, snot and tears streaming down his face.
Akio looked at him for some time, before in one fluid, a sudden act of movement, pulled her sig from its holster and pressed it to his forehead. Fat Man breathed in sharply and scrunched his eyes up against what was coming.
'Click!'
Fat Man remained still for a moment, before slowly opening his eye's again to find himself still alive and intact, with Akio's pistol hovering mere centimetres from his face. She lowered it slowly and re-holstered it.
"Let him go," she said, "He's not even worth killing."
"Are you sure?" asked Jason. Akio nodded to him as she passed him and moved back into the house, Leaving Jason alone with Fat Man.
"Get up," he ordered. Fat Man duly rose from his feet, his tears stopped and much happier than he had been. "Move."
Jason led Fat Man through the house, and down the road back towards the still burning wreckage of the pickup and the Fat Man's dead friends. A few infected were beginning to move towards the burning wreck, which Fat Man was worried by.
"Are you going to untie me?" asked Fat Man, looking back at Jason, who was totally unimpressed.
"Not yet," he replied, pushing Fat Man's shoulder so he face front again.
"Please!" begged Fat Man. "I'll leave town! I promise you'll never see me again." Jason slid his combat knife from its sheath.
"I know," he wrapped his left hand over Fat Man's mouth and forced the knife into his lower back. Fat Man's pain induced scream was muffled by Jason's gloved hand. As he collapsed to his knees, Jason leaned over and whispered into his ear.
"She may have forgiven you for what you did, but I didn't."
He pulled the knife out of his back and inserted into the back of Fat Man's neck, severing his spinal column. Jason just pulled his knife out and re-sheathed it. He turned back and headed back towards Akio, satisfied that there was one less scumbag in the world.
Chester safe zone
Chester Castle
Marsden's office
Z-day + 32
18:00
Knock! Knock!
"Come," called Marsden. The door opened and Sergeant Rees marched inside. He was still in his combat fatigues but minus his combat gear (with the exception of his ever-present gas mask and sidearm). He looked tired and Marsden surmised that he was here to make his mission report.
"Sir," he said as he snapped a salute. Marsden returned it but didn't get up from behind his desk.
"Good evening Sergeant. Stand easy," he said. "Your mission report I assume?"
"Yes sir," replied Jason, relaxing to an 'at ease' position.
"Well let's hear it."
"Yes sir," began Jason. "Lance Corporal Akio and I departed towards the target address by way of the south gate at 06:30 hours. By 07:00 hours we'd arrived in the vicinity of the target area when we came across a group of bandits that, after some covert observation, revealed themselves to be the members of the same gang that were in control of the Broughton Safezone. Once we made it to the objective they were back in residence. We were discovered and they engaged us. We returned fire and assaulted the building, killing all 5 X-rays in residence."
"No prisoners?" queried Marsden, cocking an eyebrow. Jason shook his head.
"No sir," he replied. "We did capture one, but in the process of moving him out of the building he made a move I deemed suspicious, so I double tapped him through the heart. We found a revolver in his inside coat pocket."
"I see" replied Marsden. "Continue."
"Sir," said Jason. "After we captured the premises we conducted a search. Aside from some bolt action rifles, sawn off and full-length shotguns and a few handguns, there were no other weapons present."
"No tear gas?"
"No sir."
"Very well. Continue."
"During our exfill we came across a large group of infected that were preventing our continued recon of the area. To solve this, I deployed my LASM on a nearby pickup truck. The truck created enough of a distraction to allow us to slip through and continue to search the area for Mr. Smith. Reluctantly, our search efforts produced no results."
"I see," said Marsden. He digested the report. "All in all an eventful day at the office then. Wouldn't you say?"
"Yes sir," replied Jason. Marsden nodded before his face dropped slightly.
"You should know Sergeant," he said. "Today I received Private Vera's resignation from duty." Jason sighed deeply.
"I'm not surprised sir," he said. "Losing Fred... I mean Private Hansen shook her up. It shook us all up, but especially her. Are you going to except sir?"
"I don't really have much choice," said Marsden. "The council's on my ass about the way we operate. Who known's, letting her go might make them back off a bit."
"Who knows sir," said Jason. Privately he was furious that members of his team were being used as pawns in a political feud, but he couldn't say anything to Marsden.
"Her resignation brings me onto something else," Marsden said. "You're team has been cut in half Sergeant. It doesn't look good."
"I know sir," said Jason. He was painfully aware how losing 50% of his team in a few days would look to everyone else.
"You've also got that stigma for losing young Joyce. But you and Lance Corporal Long are work well together and are some of our best," said Marsden. "This is why I've got a proposition for you."
"Sir?"
"You can either accept some new team members to replace Hansen and Vera. Or, you and Long can remain as you are and operate as a scout sniper team. The choice is yours."
"Thank you, sir. I choose the latter option."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes sir."
"Are you not going to consult with Private Long?"
"I already know her answer sir," replied Jason. "We choose the scout sniper option."
"Very well," said Marsden. "I'll tell Staff Sale. Good work Sergeant. Dismissed."
"Sir!" Jason saluted and departed the office, once he was out of Marsden's sight he started running. He wanted to get to the bunkroom before Alex was gone. After blowing past some cadets and NCO's and nearly crashing into a few officers, he came onto the hallway that his bunkroom was on. He found Alex in the walking down the hallway away from him, dressed in civvies, rather than combats.
"Alex!" he called. She stopped and turned to him. Her face was red and dry, she'd been crying heavily. He came to a stop in front of her.
"I heard you're leaving," he said. She nodded sadly. Jason sighed, "I'm sorry Alex. I should have stopped Mike running! Hell! I shouldn't have taken him..."
"No," said Alex, cutting him off. "It's not your fault, Jason. I know you did everything you could. I... I just need some space."
"I understand," he said. "Where will you go? What will you do?"
"I spoke to the head doctor. They are willing to take me on a nurse. I'll be staying in some lodgings with other nurses."
"A nurse?" Jason asked, exasperated. "Alex, you're a combat medic! You deserve better than making beds and doing rounds!"
"I know," she said. "But I'll take it for now." She put her box of things down and embraced Jason in a warm hug.
"Thank you, boss," she said. Jason embraced her back.
"You're welcome, medic," he said. "If you ever need anything, anything at all, just shout, and Akio and I will come running."
"Thank you," said Alex. They broke the hug before Alex picked up her box of things and continued back down the hallway.
Chester safe zone
Mickie's bar
Z-day + 32
21:00
Akio and Jason walked into the Mickies together. The bar was pretty full of patrons, almost entirely civvies. The bar had become popular, especially with civvies since it was one of the last places with a large stock of booze, but it was also popular with soldiers because it housed 'the board.'
'The Board' was a whiteboard that had been 'borrowed' by a group of soldiers from the school. It had been brought into the Mickies and written in permanent marker along the top was; 'The honoured fallen.' Below was a grid with the name, rank and status of every soldier that was dead, or missing or bitten. There was a depressingly long list of names on the board, some 16 names. Jason and Akio walked up to the bar.
"Double vodka." Said Jason, to the bartender, flicking his ration card at him.
"Same," replied Akio. The bartender retreated and returned with their drinks a moment later.
"To Fred," said Akio.
"To Fred," repeated Jason. They knocked back their drinks in a single go. Before ordering another round from the bartender.
"You got the marker pen?" asked Jason. The bartender handed him the pen. Jason thanked him and walked over to the board. He flicked the lid off and wrote in the next empty slot;
Fred Hansen. Private. BIA*.
He admired his work for a moment before returning to Akio and his drink.
"Nice to see they care," muttered Akio. Jason looked around at the civvies. Not one of them had taken notice of Fred's name being added to the list of fallen. He wasn't going to have that. Jason grabbed his drink and jumped up on the bar.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! If I may have your attention please!" he shouted over the buzz of conversation, which quickly died and attention went to Jason.
"Yesterday, we lost a good man in the field," explained Jason. "Private Hansen gave his life in an attempt to save a life, and while drawing away, an infected heard so that the rest of the team and a survivor could escape. This is courage of the highest calibre, and I would ask you to stand and raise your glasses in a toast. To Fred."
The bar's patrons stood up with a shuffling of chairs and raised their glasses.
"To Fred," they resounded.
With respects paid, Jason jumped down from his perch and rejoined Akio at the bar.
"You got anywhere to be boss man?" asked Akio.
"Not really," replied Jason. Akio knocked back the rest of her drink.
"Good. Come with me." She led him out of the bar and round the back to a quiet ally.
"What is this Akio?" asked Jason, slightly weary at being led into a dark ally. She stopped in front of him and turned to face him.
"Jason..." she said, almost whispering. "Thank you."
Jason opened his mouth to speak, but she waved him quiet.
"No. Let me finish. What you did today... giving me closure for what he did... no one has ever gone that far, done that much for me. No one. So thank you." She then laughed slightly, "But knowing you you'll just say you would do the same for anyone else, but I just wanted to say thank you."
"Actually," said Jason, "I don't think I would have. Not for just anyone."
Jason strode towards Akio and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Akio, I wouldn't kill for just anyone. Sure, if they're an immediate threat then I'll kill them, but to go out and actively hunt them like we did, to commit what was essentially murder, there are maybe 5 people I would do that for; Fred and Alex are two. Maybe one or two others from before and you. If Fred's death taught me something... it's the value of someone close to you... I guess what I'm trying to say is..."
"Oh shut up and kiss me you fool."
He didn't hesitate and she didn't resist as they melted into each other. As the kiss deepened, Akio's hand's explored Jason's back while his hand's just held her close. As they parted, they looked into each other's eyes. They'd walked into the ally friends, they were now lovers.
"I guess we better head back to the castle," said Jason, "See if the mess hall is still serving."
"Lead the way, boss."
Chester safe zone
Chester City Centre
Z-day + 38
17:00
"You guys ready?" said one teenager.
"Yeah," said another.
"Are you sure about this?" asked the third.
"Come on! It'll be great!" encouraged the second.
The 3 teenage boys set their plan into motion. They were students at the Chester Safezone School, and like most of the students, boredom was a constant problem for them. As a result, the number of pranks around the school had skyrocketed. But this one would make the 3 teenagers be remembered forever.
...
"Thanks for the cut Mrs. Richards," called Jason, as he left the barber shop with a freshly trimmed head of hair. He'd been caught out during the morning inspections by Sergeant Owens for letting his hair get too long. So, after his sniper training with Akio and a group of recruits in training in the morning and afternoon, he'd gone to the barbers that he'd been going to since he was 4.
Mrs. Richards called back thanks as the door closed and Jason continued down the road. He walked into the centre of town, pausing outside the town hall to simply let the bustle of people going about their business swallow him, feeling a sense of peace around him for once... then a woman screamed.
Jason snapped around, standing near to an archway that led towards the school, was a woman, running for her life from a trio of infected. Jason acted on instinct. His Sig was up and on target in a flash, he didn't bother with the suppressor.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He fired 3 shots in quick succession, he advanced towards them, weapon raised. He passed the woman who had screamed, who remained speechless as Jason passed her. 2 of the infected were dead outright, their heads each featuring a bleeding hole, the last featured a hole through slightly to the right of the centre line of its neck and was still moaning.
Jason put another round between the eyes of each of them for good measure. Satisfied that the threat from the infected was for now removed. He turned to the woman.
"Are you alright?" he asked, seeing no injury aside from her shock filled face, he started issuing instructions to the gathering crowd. "Sound the alarm! Infected are inside the..."
SLAP!
"MURDERER!" screamed the woman. Jason looked at her blankly before a thought struck him.
Their eyes...
Jason looked back at the 3 'infected' corpses. A closer inspection revealed a shocking truth... they were each wearing heavy makeup, and sported fake plastic scars... and their blood was deep crimson, not the almost black gel that was infected blood. Then it hit him...
He'd just gunned down 3 kids in the street.
Jason looked around. He was surrounded by a mass of civilian onlookers, all surprised and shocked at what Jason had done. Jason looked down at the bodies again.
"Fuck."
"Soldier!" shouted a voice from the crowd. "Put down your weapon and surrender."
Jason looked back at the crowd. 3 police officers were standing forward of the crowd, their weapons trained on Jason. Jason looked down at his Sig. For a moment, he contemplated trying to reason, or even shoot his way out. But he decided against it. He raised his Sig above his head.
"I'm unloading my weapon," replied Jason. He unloaded the magazine, then he racked the slide to eject the round from the chamber. He then placed the unloaded pistol on the ground and kicked it towards the closest police officer.
"Sergeant," said the lead officer, who still hadn't lowered his weapon. "You are under arrest on a charge of murder. You do not have to say anything but anything you do say will be taken and given as evidence. Do you understand?"
"Yes," replied Jason as he sank to his knees and placed his hands on the back of his head, showing the officers that he was not going to put up a fight. As the police officer's cuffed him, all he thought was;
'Marsden sure as hell ain't gonna like this one.'
* BIA: Bitten in Action
Dear reader...
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next few will be focusing mainly on the some of the internal affairs of the safezone. Specifically regarding the views of civilians who haven't been outside the wall since the outbreak started.
This chapter took quite a large influence from the book "The Reclaiming" by D.J. MOLLES.
Anyway, Chapter 11 is in the works and probably will be out before too long
Oh, for suggestions for the story I'd prefer you to PM them to me rather than put them in a review.
As ever please Review, follow, and favourite And I'll see you guys next time
Jango