1995: Two Years After the Outbreak: Outside of Angel Grove Demilitarized Zone

Roar! The streaking of a lone A-10 Thunderbolt 2 soared through the skies of the enemy territory positions. It flew through the air, fast and hard, determined.

"Z Hunter One to Command, on approach vector. ETA 30 seconds."

"Roger that, good copy Z Hunter One. You are clear to fire on enemy anti-air positions"

"Roger that, missiles are fee and flying."

Shoosh, Shoosh! Two side winder missiles launched from either side of the Attack Jet, they blew through the air and rushed to their target. Suddenly anti-aircraft bullets fired from the large building occupying the center of the city. The bullets flew through the air attempting to shoot down the missiles, but it was no use, missiles were not aircraft.

BOOM! BOOM!

A huge explosion filled the air, instantly four enemy anti-aircraft positions were destroyed. "Z Hunter One to Command. Good hit. Skies are clear, window is open. I say again, skies clear, window is open."

"Roger that Z Hunter. Good hit. Black Hawks on approach. B-Squad on route."

The Four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters pierced the sky with the brilliance of fierce soaring eagles. They pushed in the exactly direction the A-10 missiles had just impacted. Had the missiles not destroyed the anti-aircraft batteries, the Black Hawks would have certainly been their next target. The military air craft were on a simple mission, locate the missing scientists from Fort Sitting Bull, rescue them and if alive, return them back to safety. It was a simple extraction, and the soldiers of B-Squad were ready.

Inside each craft were five combat ready soldiers, ready to take the fight to the enemy. A lone African America Soldier stood with his second in command by his side. The two warriors synced their watches together gesturing to one another. "ETA to target, 2 minutes." The young African American Lieutenant called out to the rest of his squad, the patch on his name tag reading Landors.

"What's the enemy strength, Jack?" Sargent Sky Tate asked, calling out to his commander in a first name basis.

"I'm guessing at least 20 Skitters, maybe more. Maybe 40 to 50 Deadheads." Jack answered, reloading his M-4 assault Rifle.

"Skitters? Deadheads?" Another young soldier asked.

"You don't know the difference between a Skitter and a Deadhead?" Sargent Tate asked.

"No sir. It's my first combat mission," the young private answered.

Lieutenant Jack Landors shook his head at the young soldier. "What's your name soldier?"

"Carson sir." he replied. "My friends call me Bridge."

"Well… Bridge…" Tate began to explain taking a seat next to him. "A skitter is a cognitive Zombie. Thinks, sees, can fight, shoot guns, even talk. A deadhead… well, they're just that. Dead as a door knob. If you call being a Zombie dead that is."

"I thought all Zombies were dead Sargent." Bridge replied.

"They are… but some are more dead than others. Deadheads are easy enough to deal with. Just don't let them bite you, or you'll wake up hungry for human flesh the next morning."

"And skitters?" Bridge asked

"They're the ones you have to worry about." Jack replied. "Tough as nails, hard to kill. You can empty an entire magazine into one of them and they will still come at you."

Bridge looked to Sky who only nodded in agreement. "Just aim for the head. You can but 10 rounds into their chest before a skitter goes down, but one good hit to the head and their fish food."

Bridge nodded at his Sargent and Lieutenant and turned his attention to another soldier sitting closer to the window of the Black Hawk. "What do they call you?" Bridge asked her.

"Elizabeth Delgado. They call me Zee, on account that I like to kill them. Zombies I mean." She smiled chewing bubble gum, winking at Bridge.

"What about her?" Bridge asked the Zee pointing to the lone soldier in the corner of the helicopter.

"That's Syd. You might want to lay off her. She's not all there in the head sometimes." Zee explained.

"What do you mean?" Bridge asked.

"She was a little rich girl before the war. Lost everything to the Zombies. Killed her family right in front of her. So they say."

"I'll make a note not to make fun of her." Bridge nodded.

Bridge reached for his rifle, locking and loading it once more. He faced Sky once again. "Hey Sargent. You ever seen a Power Ranger up close?"

Sky nodded. "Yea I have."

"Really?" Bridge lit up in excitement. "What do they look like? I heard they wear spandex."

The soldiers all began to laugh at Bridges comments. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"What? What I say? What's so funny?" He asked.

"Who told you that lie?" Sky asked.

"I don't know. Just rumors." Bridge attempted to defend himself.

"No…" Jack replied. "They don't wear spandex. They were armor."

"Armor like us?" Bridge asked.

"No," Sky answered. "Heavy armor… we're talking walking tanks. It looks like buckly plastic, but when you feel it… it's like rock hard concert of metal. And their huge! Between seven and eight feet tall. I'm talking giants."

"You've actually been close enough to touch one?" Bridge questioned.

"No, one of them grabbed me. It on a recon mission. We were scouting the outskirts of the AG. Sending up SALUTE reports. Suddenly we were ambushed. Must have been like 20 of them right Jack?"

"No shit. At least 20." Jack agreed

"Deadheads? Skitters?" Bridge asked.

"No… worse! Putties!" Jack answered.

"Putties? What's a putty?" Bridge asked.

"Viscous looking monsters man. Teeth so large… like a shark. Blades for arms. Scary looking things. They attacked us. We opened fire on them. Killed maybe two of three of them. Suddenly one of them showed up out of nowhere."

"A Power Ranger?" Bridge asked.

"Yea," Sky replied.

"Which one? I hear they all have a color."

"You're right. The blue one. Leaped out from behind and crashed down in the center of the pack of them. I mean when this guy land it was like an Earth Quake. He grabbed me from the ground like I was a rag doll and tossed me out of the area. Never flew so hard in my life. I mean the second he landed, the putties didn't give a shit about us. They stormed on this giant blue beast."

"What happened?" Bridge eagerly asked

Tate continued to tell his story almost as eagerly as Bridge wanted to hear it. "He wailed on them all. Pulls out this huge lance from his back. I mean one minute there was nothing on him, the next this huge blade materialized out of nowhere. Blue energy starts firing out of this thing and he starts cutting down the putties like they were made of tissue paper. In less than 30 seconds 20 of those things were dead! I mean it was like BAM! You think Skitters are scary? You think putties or deadheads are tough? Man oh man… you haven't seen anything until you see a power ranger in action!"

BEEP BEEP BEEP! A red flashing light began to light up in the helicopter.

Lieutenant Jack Landors suddenly stood up and banged on the side of the Black Hawk's hull gaining the attention of his Squad. "This is it! Our mission is simple, we go in, hit the enemy fast, locate the missing scientists, extract them. Simple, sweep and clear. Kill what you can, but this isn't search and destroy, we're here for the scientists, not your kill ratio, got that? Let's go Bravo Squad! Weapons hot! Move in, hit hard! And what's our motto?"

"Aim for the head and they'll be dead!" The team replied, standing up gathering their rifles and weapons.

"Remember, a soldier needs to do three things to stay combat effective. Shoot, Move and Communicate!"

The doors to the Black Hawk swung open, repel ropes fell to the floor. Each soldier grabbed a rope and began to slide down, Bridge was last to go, he gripped his rope, and slide down, before he knew it his feet were on the ground. This was it, his first taste of combat… what would happen?

NEXT: That's not Spandex!