Chapter Two – A dissection and dinner
The medic looked around him. The place looked like one of those abandoned factories that they sometimes fought in. In the background stood multiple abandoned pieces of mechanical lines, and the smell of rot hung in the air (it wasn't as bad as the medic's fridge though).
There was one ladder leading up to a high-end office that the sniper had conveniently turned into a sniper spot.
The Sniper aimed his SMG at the medic. The two men stared each other in the eye. Then, slowly, the sniper lowered his gun.
"Vhy are you doing zis?"
"I'm a bushman, doc. I survive where others fail. And right now, as far as I see the situation, anyone who isn't one of those zombies is my ally. We can start killin' each other again after we get rid of those things. Agreed?"
the sniper held out his hand, ready to help the medic up.
"Agreed then." the medic took the sniper's hand, and rose to his feet again. "So, vhat's ze plan?"
"Plan? What plan?" the sniper flicked his aviators back onto the proper position.
The medic was silent for a while. Then, he grumbled
"So you have no idea how to fix zis?"
"Nope. Luckily I'm stacked to the brim with ammo." The sniper pointed at a large cache of ammo boxes , all orderly stacked into different sizes "I like to be prepared, you know?"
"Jawohl, I've seen zat from our own Sniper."
"Mm hm. He didn't make it, by the way."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw him, through my scope. He hadn't picked as good a spot as I did, as a bunch of zombies cornered him in his hiding spot and tore him apart. I at least put him out of the misery of being eaten alive." The sniper took off this hat and put it shortly on his stomach, as a sign of honor "You were a good bugger, but not good enough."
"Vhy are you mourning him? Won't he just return with ze Respawn?
"Respawn's down. I haven't seen him in an hour. C'mere, doc."
Reluctantly the BLU medic followed his new "ally" up the ladder. It was a mess up there, as it again was stacked with supplies. An orderly stack of soup cans, 23 different can openers all placed orderly on a table. Next to the table the Sniper had attached one of pyro's flamethrowers to a sink. Above it hung a small kettle. The wall was filled with different kinds of sniper rifles and SMG's. Amongst the stack of weapons stood a few weapons that didn't belong to him. Immediately the medic picked up an overdose. It was fully loaded, ready to fire. The sniper turned around, sternly staring at the medic. The medic put the overdose back onto the floor.
"Vhat?" He was starting to be a bit unnerved by the Sniper's stare.
"Can you hear it? Nothing! Bloody nothing! Now think, doc, when has it ever been silent before? Not with a soldier, a demo, or one of those frikking annoying scouts running around. It's like the zombies shut down everything, even Respawn."
"Don't be ridiculous! Respawn has been working for so long!"
"Let's see, where is he..." The sniper peered through his scope looking for something. "There!" He pointed at a dead body, lying on one of the roofs.
"That's YOUR soldier! Dead, killed'm meself. He's been lying there for over an hour. No respawn, nothing. The body never disappeared"
The Medic stared at the dead body for half a minute, but it was still there.
"Ze respawn is not working..."
"So you mean, that...Heavy is...,.Nein! Zat is impossible!"
"Condolences." Sniper returned his attention to his new found duty; killing as much of those freaks as he could. Luckily, his newest rifle was silenced, so the zombies couldn't determine where the kill shots were coming from.
"One body does not prove anyzing!"
"I've seen it happen, three times, one up close. Poor truckie, I liked him the most. See for yourself what happened to him. I buried him in the corner," Sniper pointed at the furthest corner of the building, to a bunch of trash. When the Medic examined the pile closer he could see one gloved hand sticking out. Instantly the medic recognized the engineer's orange glove.
"You have a specimen for me?"
"Not a specimen, but a victim, doc. Treat him with some dignity!" The sniper lashed out, grumbling at the Medic's scientific ways of treating people. As soon as you had a paper cut the medic would be all over you, examining your wound as if it was the holy grail. Finally the bugger would heal you when his curiosity faded away. Then again, the medic did save their lives on an hourly basis , so the sniper (as did everyone on this team) let it pass.
The BLU medic descended onto the ground floor. He approached the stack of junk on the other side of the room. Pushing it over, he uncovered the body of the RED engineer. It was in a terrible state. His jaw was completely gone, and his skin had darkened and torn. His stomach was full of bullet holes. The medic immediately recognized where the bullets came from: the sniper's SMG.
The medic pulled the engineer's body onto an empty workbench. Using his faithful bone saw he began the autopsy. As usual his morbid curiosity took over and made him lose track of time.
"Zis wil be interesting..."
The Sniper's stomach growled. It was getting late, and he felt that it was time to shut down for the night. While the zombies were dangerous, they were useless in getting in. As long as he'd close up everything and check it thrice they would not be getting in here. The Sniper closed the door to his sniping spot, locked it, and shoved the table in front of it. He checked the front door and the small back end door. Both were inaccessible from the outside. Satisfied, the Sniper began cooking dinner. After a bit of searching The Sniper got out a soup pan he'd bought from the soldier a while a go.
The Sniper opened up one of his soup cans by violently shoving his kukiri into it and ripping the top off. He walked over to his improvised cooking spot where he had strapped one of the pryo's flamethrowers to the far end of the table. After a bit of messing around with the valves on the far end of the backburner he managed to create a steady flame that wouldn't instantly burn the soup.
Sniper's mind drifted off just to how much he feared, and detested the pryo. Like the others on his team the Pyro was something that you should avoid, even when it's on your side. The sniper always appreciated efficiency and subtlety, but the pryo lacked both completely. Often he felt as if he was the only true professional in his team.
He hung the pot above the flame, and idly stared at the flame hitting the underside of the pot, dispersing into multiple smaller flames. "Dieing" by the hand of a Pyro was by far the worst fate you could experience in this slaughterhouse. The feeling of being cooked, and all your insides boiling was by far the worst way to go. As much as Sniper hated dieing, he preferred any death above being burnt alive. A sniper shot to the head or a backstab killed you so quickly that you lived long enough to feel pain
A sound knocked the Sniper out of his morbid thoughts. Instinctively he reached for his SMG and turned around.
The medic was visibly surprised by the gun pointing at his face, but the feeling faded quickly.
"Put zat gun down, please." he said, rather annoyed. After doing his dissection he realized the importance of team work...with his enemy. "I have not seen our spy in a vhile."
"That's what is bothering me." The sniper put the gun away, but within reaching distance. He wanted to be ready, for everything, and anything.
" I am done with my exzamination, and have bad news. Vhatever happened to ze Engineer is UNFIXABLE!"
"Figured that out years ago, doc. What else is new?" The Sniper peered at the bubbling soup
"I have no idea vhat we are dealing with. I suspect a virus, but no virus works like zis. It changed his body into a mindless wreck. You killed him with your MP40, ja?"
"MP40? You mean my SMG?"
"Vhatever, za'ts not important. His stomach was riddled with gun-holes. One of the bullets I recovered is from zat type of gun." The Medic picked up a bloody bullet and showed it to the Sniper. "Vhat happened?
" I saw him walking around defending himself from the zombies, and called him inside. He was getting ill, and while I tried to take care of him, but I ain't exactly the person on the team with medical experience. When he tried to bite me like the other freaks outside I sprayed his body full of led. He was still wakin', doc, and kept reaching for me until I blew half of his face off."
"So ze infected get ill, and zen lose their mind. He had a large bit on his leg, but all other vounds vere inflicted by guns. His stomach showed no sign of an infection, so ze legvound has to be vhere ze infection started. Ze bitemarks in ze flesh were from a human, or vhoever uzed to be one."
"Tell me something I don't already know, doc."
The medic grumbled "Vhy don't you do ze exzamination next time? I'll even lend you my saw."
The sniper wanted to reply, but alarm clock he had set earlier started beeping. He pulled the pan from the backburner and put the pan on the table. Using a filthy spoon he stirred the dark green soup. He tasted it and gave the medic a thumbs up. 'Here's your dinner, doc!"
The medic leaned closer, taking in the soup. It wasn't very good, but something in that smell reminded him of home. The sniper handed the medic another filthy spoon.