In the Arc chamber, Sam, Reaper, and Sarge stood amidst the massive pile of bodies.
"You don't have to kill all of them." Sam explained. She stood beside Reaper, keeping her distance from Sarge. "I don't think everyone is infected or even capable of being infected."
"We have orders to contain this threat by any means necessary." Sarge replied.
"So let's evacuate the uninfected and blow this place to hell." Reaper suggested.
"And we have orders to protect this facility." Sarge continued.
"We don't have orders to kill innocent people." Reaper stated. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Sarge stared hard at Reaper. He stepped forward until he was inches from Reaper. "We have to stop anything from getting to the surface. By any means necessary."
Duke entered the chamber. "Found this little chicken shit hiding under a pile of dead bodies."
Pinky wheeled in behind him. "Am I glad to see you guys. That thing cut right through the door. I tried to use the grenade but it came at me too fast. Followed me through the Ark and started to kill everybody. It was horrible."
Sam walked over to Pinky and checked beneath his collar. "There's no wound on his neck. He's clean."
Sarge looked at Sam. "I say who's clean and who's not." He raised his weapon at Pinky.
"Hey it wasn't my fault!" Pinky replied, staring down Sarge's gun. "I'm not a soldier! You shouldn't have left me-"
"Sarge!" Kid called. He jogged into the chamber with Mira close behind me. "There's a storage room to the south. It's got like twenty people holed up inside there. We gotta do something."
Sarge looked at the Kid, raising his brows. "Your orders were to clear that sector. Is it clear?"
Kid shook his head. "No, I told them to stay put. They're okay, they're just scared shitless."
"We kill 'em all." Sarge said. "Let God sort 'em out."
"Sarge, these aren't mindless creatures roaming the halls." Mira replied. "These are unarmed, uninfected women and children fearing for their lives."
Sarge looked toward Mira. His eyes narrowed on her like he was honing in on a threat. "Then God will sort 'em out."
"This is wrong." Kid muttered. "I think-"
"Son! You don't think!" Sarge snapped. "We're in the field soldier."
"Sarge if nothing's found them-" Reaper began.
Sarge glared at Kid. "And you will obey the order, of your Commanding Officer."
Kid was torn between his choices. He'd transferred to the unit not two weeks ago, wanting to be apart of this team. But he hadn't thought of what he might actually have to do on the team. He knew there would be hard orders to carry out, but he never imagined gunning down unarmed women and children. "No."
Mira had to give the Kid props for his balls. It wasn't smart to go against Sarge's orders. It was like signing your death warrant, but the Kid held onto his morals and his ground.
Sarge took a slow breath. He lifted his weapon and aimed directly at Mira's head, shifting the atmosphere of the room entirely. A small gasp escaped Sam's lips. Duke stared at Sarge, completely dumbstruck. Reaper tensed beside Mira, alerting Mira. Mira slowly turned her head toward Sarge, staring down the barrel of the assault rifle. She thumbed the trigger of her weapon, contemplating if she could get a shot. Kid stared at Sarge, getting the warning loud and clear. Follow the order, or someone dies.
"Now." He ordered to Kid.
Kid looked from Sarge to Mira. Mira didn't meet Kid's look, but stared at Sarge. Kid swallowed. Follow and she lives, but the people die. Don't follow, Mira dies, and the people may live. Those were shitty odds to play by. But Kid couldn't follow through with it. Kid gave Sarge a hard stare, getting his message across as clear as he knew how. "Go to hell."
In a split second, Sarge pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the chamber, followed by an eerie silence. For a moment, everyone was in shock. Blood spilled through the air in slow motion. Several droplets hit Mira's face before she realized that she was still standing. All eyes fell to Kid, who was falling backwards, gunshot wound in his throat.
"No!" Reaper screamed.
"Holy shit!" Duke yelled.
Kid it the ground hard. The impact echoed through the chamber. His eyes were wide open in shock and fear. Blood gurgled from the gunshot wound in his neck. Kid choked on his blood trying to breathe. Reaper dropped beside Kid and held his neck, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Who's blood is on your hands now." Sarge asked.
"You bastard!" Mira yelled. She lifted her weapon and turned to Sarge. Sarge was already aiming his weapon back at Mira. Mira held her aim true, ready to pull the trigger.
"Mutinous insurrection is punishable by death." Sarge stated calmly.
"IT WAS HIS FIRST MISSION!" Reaper yelled furiously.
"And it's not going to be my last." Sarge replied. "I need soldiers. I don't need anybody else, but soldiers!"
Reaper closed the Kid's eyes, putting him to rest. All the Kid wanted was to be RRTS, to serve, and protect. One mission and it ended everything for him, Mira had been right, Sarge had lost all sense of reason now. Reaper slowly stood from the ground and turned toward Sarge. He stood just a few steps from Mira, matching her readied stance. Reaper watched Sarge closely, fingering the trigger. Mira watched Sarge's eyes deviate from her to Reaper's mirrored stance. One soldier under mutinous insurrection could be dealt with easily, but three? It put him at very low odds. The air in the Ark room was filled with the highest tension imaginable. One move would set everything off.
Before a single shot could set off the tension, the echo of a pistol safety unlocking sounded behind Mira and Reaper. "Drop your weapons." It was Pinky. He was holding the gun Mac had given him back on Mars. His eyes were wide in fear. "I mean it. I have no intention of being killed by a madman. Drop your weapons!"
Everyone watched him carefully. A terrified civilian with a gun was not a traditional situation RRTS found themselves in. And this situation was already fucked up enough. Attention on Pinky faded to the vicinity behind him. Duke pushed Sam further behind him, out of harms way. Pinky watched the deviation in their eyes as they all lifted their weapons slowly; not aiming at him, but behind him. A deep growl behind him confirmed Pinky's fears.
"Oh there's something behind me isn't there?" Pinky asked.
A large mutated hand lashed out and grabbed his face. The Imp swung Pinky over his head, crashing him into a crate. The crate was crushed under the force Pinky was thrown down upon it, screaming in fear and agony. Duke pushed Sam out of the path of the Imp's rampage. Mira dropped to her knee as the Imp swung Pinky at them, trying to avoid a collision with Pinky's chair. The wheel collided with Reaper's face instead, sending him through the air over Mira. His boots collided with Mira's head, sending her onto her side. He crashed into storage crates behind the group. The Imp retreated through the corridor, dragging a screaming Pinky as its prize.
Sarge opened fire upon the retreating Imp.
Mira pushed herself to her feet and sprinted to Reaper's side. "Reaper?"
"On me!" Sarge ordered, charging down the corridor.
"Go!" Reaper muttered. His head spun from the impact, his jaw had been fractured from the collision, and blood spilled from his lips and down his chine.
Mira nodded and jogged down the corridor after Sarge.
Reaper heaved himself off the ground and to the opening of the corridor. Duke came up behind him. "Get Sam."
Reaper followed Sarge and Mira down the corridor, firing at the retreating Imp. They passed through the nanowall, but Imp had vanished down the dark corridor. Sarge stood on the left side of the corridor, near the nanowall. Mira was kneeling on the right side, braced up against the structural pillar with Reaper behind her. They inched their way down through the corridor, waiting for sign of the creature. Duke came up behind them, taking position. They waited in silence for a moment.
Mira began to inch her way further down the corridor, continuing their advance, when Reaper stopped her. "No. Listen."
For a moment, Mira stood still. Through the darkened corridor, a series of growls and hissed filled the air. Dozens of staggering steps echoed through the hall, growing louder. Mira swallowed nervously. "What is that?" She whispered.
Suddenly a swarm of infected workers burst from the dark corridor. Some were halfway transformed, others were just beginning the transformation. They screamed, charging the team. Weapon's immediately discharged, firing into the corridor. But the infected kept coming at them in massive waves. It seemed as if once one fell, four more came in its place.
"Withdraw!" Sarge ordered. He pulled from his position against the wall. "Withdraw behind the nanowall!"
"Move!" Duke yelled.
Reaper emptied his clip. "Magazine!" he yelled. He withdrew from the wall and moved closer toward the nanowall. He slapped another mag into his weapon and continued firing.
Mira moved next. She stayed low to the ground, but eased her way back, firing the entire time she moved. She watched as the infected kept swarming through the corridor. Only small numbers were falling from their weapon fire.
"Mira move!" Duke ordered.
Mira risked a glance behind her. She and Duke were the only ones within the corridor in front of the nanowall. Mira rose from her crouching position and moved backwards. She kept her eyes on the quickly charging infected, firing continuously. Mira pulled the trigger again. Her weapon clicked with an empty cartridge. She reached behind her back for another mag when an infected lunged at her. Mira was thrown to the ground with the infected on top of her. blood seeped from its hungry jaws as it snapped them at Mira's face, trying to rip the flesh from her face. She used the same momentum of the fall to roll herself over on top the infected. By the time Mira was on top, she'd drawn her pistol and fired it in the mouth of the infected. She leapt off the body and rolled backwards through the nanowall.
Sarge slammed his fist into the control on the wall, breaking the control face. The wall immediately began to stabilize, but the damaged control panel couldn't convey the orders correctly. The wall stabilized and destabilized in quick intervals. Enough for bullets, or infected to pass through.
"Fuck!" Duke snapped.
"The wall's not closing." Reaper yelled.
Mira slammed a new mag into her gun and fired into the unstable wall. Suddenly Sam screamed behind them. Mira turned her head a fraction to see Sam move closer to the nanowall away from Duke. Mira turned her head further to see a pair of mutant claws reaching through the vent for Duke.
"Duke!" Mira warned, but it was too late for Duke.
The vent was ripped beneath his feet as the creature pulled Duke into the vent. the action alone serrated the ventilation panels, turning them into serrated razor, slicing through Duke's body with easy. Duke stopped partially by the grip of his gun. He looked up from the vent, blood seeping from his mouth. With another jerk, Duke vanished beneath the razor metal of the vent. there was no sound of gunfire, not growling, nothing to give hope that Duke had survives. he was simply gone.
From behind the wall a massive, mutated hand reached through and grabbed Sarge by the ankle. It jerked him to the ground and began pulling him through the failing wall. Sarge reached out, grabbing Mira's vest to keep him from going through. Mira cried out at the sudden jerk of her body. She adjusted her weight on her feet, but started sliding towards the wall. Sarge's grip on the vest was tight, but the vest itself was slipping from her body in his strong grasp. The action dragged Mira toward the wall and pulled her weapon from her grasp completely. Mira reached out and grabbed Sarge's arm to keep him from going through the wall.
"I'm not supposed to die-" Sarge was ripped from Mira's grip and pulled through the nanowall.
Suddenly another claw lashed through the wall at Mira. She gasped and pulled back, but only enough to where the claws racked over her right cheek. The claws ripped through her skin, immediately sending a wave of blood down her face, matching the state of her left cheek. She crawled from the wall and rose to her feet. Mira pulled out her pistol from her holster and fired at the wall. From behind her, Reaper grunted, but kept firing. Then, the nanowall finally stabilized in front of them. For a moment, the only sound was their heavy breathing. Then a series of thunderous hammering echoed against the wall, making both Sam and Mira jump. Within seconds the nanowall itself began to bulge towards them, giving into the force from the other side.
"Oh shit." Mira whispered, utterly terrified now. "They're trying to break through."
"Let's go!" Reaper ordered. He grabbed Sam's wrist and pulled her from the wall. Mira watched the wall but moved back down the hall after the Grimm's. The nanowall shattered into pieces seconds later. The large hoard of infected and Imps charged down the hall searching for their next meal.
dun dun dun...climax!