Zombie Army 4: Ultimate Dead War
Chapter 7: Locomotive Lockdown-Part 4 (Part seven of Dead Ahead)
OST: Zombie Army Trilogy OST: Gateway to Hell
Now that the squad had rested up and rearmed, they were ready to move out. After all sixteen of them had rearmed themselves or fixed and upgraded their weapons, they were ready to head out of the saferoom. But before they could open the door, Makoto told his squad something.
"Squad," Makoto spoke in a serious tone, "I need everybody to take out their secondary weapons, safeties off. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen."
Makoto and Mondo had already taken out their secondaries, which were modified Auto-Ordnance M1928 Thompson Sub-Machine Guns. Byakuya already had his modified JP Sauer M30 Drilling Shotgun on him. Leon already had his modified M3 Grease Sub-Machine Gun on him. Chihiro had his modified Winchester M1987 Pump-Action Shotgun loaded and ready for battle. Yasuhiro unholstered his weapon, a modified Molot PPSh-41 Sub-Machine Gun, and turned off its safety. Sayaka unholstered her modified Sterling Armaments L2A3 Submachine Gun and turned off its safety. Junko, Kyoko, and Celeste unholstered their modified Royal Small Arms Factory Sten MK 2 Sub-Machine Guns and turned off their safeties. Taka, Aoi, Hifumi, and Mukuro unholstered their modified C.G Haenel STG 44 Assault Rifles and turned off their safeties. Sakura unholstered her modified Mauser MG42 General-Purpose Machine Gun and turned off its safety. To finish, Toko unholstered her Steyr-Mannlicher MP40 Sub-Machine Gun and turned off its safety.
"Alright now," Bruno's voice came through Chihiro's radio, "Now that comms are back up and running, it's time we got you out of here. Head to platform five, there's a train waiting for you there."
"Thanks, Bruno," Makoto called through the radio, "Copy that, over."
After every member of the kill squad except Makoto stacked up behind the exit door of the saferoom, Makoto then opened it and all sixteen of them went out, the door closing behind them after everybody made it through. As they walked towards the outside wall of the main compound, the ground shook, causing all of them to stumble and nearly fall. Part of the ruined station fell onto the ground but fortunately, there wasn't anybody underneath that part.
"Gah! Another earthquake?!" Bruno radioed, "They're becoming more frequent...That's the fourth today!"
"Go on," Bruno continued, "you better get to that train before this whole dammed place collapses!"
The kill squad then made its way up a flight of stairs and then walked onto a catwalk supported by the roofs of the shanties that surrounded them before, and where a group of resistance members was guarding it. One of them was leaning against the gateway of the anti-zombie fence smoking a cigarette. When he saw Kill Squad 78 making their way towards the gate, he pushed a button, opening the gate, which led to a straight pathway to their train. As Makoto stepped through the gate, he heard what sounded like the horn of a locomotive. From the corner of his eye, he saw it: a train trying desperately to stop with failed brakes. But he couldn't make out what was on the train, until...
*BOOM-CRACK-CRASH-SPLAT*
Makoto then saw what had happened. The train had derailed and crashed into the wall of the station, destroying the wall and crushing two resistance members who were in front of it, killing them instantly. But what he saw next shocked him to his core. Right after the train had crashed into the station, the locomotive burst into flames, consuming the freight car behind it. After that, he saw that a large horde of zombies had emerged from behind the burning train car and started making their way toward them.
"Oh, FUCK!" Mondo yelled in shock and anger, "ZOMBIES!"
"You're right!" Makoto answered back in a similar tone, then he yelled, "Everybody, OPEN FIRE AND LIGHT THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS THE FUCK UP!"
As if by command, all fifteen of his squadmates raised their secondary weapons and then unleashed a devastating barrage of modified bullets and buckshot as they started tearing into the horde of the undead nazis numbering in the dozens.
OST: Zombie Army 4: Dead War OST- Il Mondo Nuovo
To say that the resulting bloodbath that followed was crazy, was an understatement. It was a massacre on both sides. Some of the resistance members who were defending the base from the Nazi zombie incursion were killed as they were pulled apart and eaten alive. Meanwhile, Kill Squad 78 was holding its ground against the horde of the undead. All while this happened, a resistance member on the base's radio was sending out a distress signal to resistance headquarters.
"Resistance HQ, this is the Milan Base." the resistance member radioed desperately, "We are under attack by the undead! Repeat, we are under attack by the undead!"
As bullet casings and shotgun shells poured around the feet of the kill squad, Makoto and Byakuya noticed that the zombies were now climbing into the base using a broken window of the ruined train station as an opening.
"They're coming in from the broken window!" Byakuya screamed in anger, "Somebody, push their asses back!"
Hearing Byakuya's order, Chihiro and Taka ran towards the window. Right in front of the window, there was a dual M1919 Browning 30 Caliber machine gun mounted on a tripod. Seeing this, Taka had an idea.
"Fujisaki!" Taka yelled in a serious tone, "I'm going to use the machine gun mount to help plug up that hole! Cover my blindspot while I mow the undead bastards down!"
"I'm on it, Ishimaru!" Chihiro responded with the same tone as he raised his shotgun, "Let's show these rotting bile bags what happens when they encounter Kill Squad 78!"
As soon as Taka mounted the dual-machine gun and started firing at the zombies, Chihiro assisted him by helping him fend off the zombies in front of them and by protecting his blindspot by shooting the zombies behind him.
OST: Zombie Army 4: Dead War OST: At A Time Like This
Meanwhile, with the others, Sakura and Mukuro gunned down a group of zombies that wandered too close to Sayaka, Makoto, Junko, and Byakuya, who in turn, shot a group of zombies shuffling towards Mondo, Leon, Kyoko, and Toko. Aoi shot a zombie that was about to bite Yasuhiro's head off, who in turn, shot a group of zombies that were about to take a bite out of both Celeste and Hifumi. Seeing this, Celeste picked off a zombie that almost bit Aoi, while Hifumi gunned down a zombie that wandered too close to Leon. It was utter carnage all over, and in no time, the floor of the catwalk and the ruined station were splashed with the blood of both the undead and dead resistance members. They, for now, had fended off the undead incursion, but the damage had been done.
"What the hell's going on?!" Bruno's voice emanated from Chihiro's radio, "What is happening?!"
Hearing this, Junko then ran to where Chihiro was standing, took the radio's handset, and put it to her ear.
"Bruno!" Junko radioed in shock, "A train full of real zombies just crashed head-on into the station! They aren't wandering husks, they're the real deal! The station's under siege!"
"Bastardo! (Bastards!)" Bruno responded in anger, "There's no time to waste, push forward through the station, and get to that train! Also, look out for survivors as you fight through!"
Nodding her head, Junko then ran to Makoto, then told him what Bruno told her. Acknowledging Junko, Makoto then heard the shocked yell of Yasuhiro.
"Guys!" he yelled in terror, "Look at what's painted on the inside of the train car!"
Makoto and the fourteen other members of the kill squad then turned toward the direction that Hiro was staring. Painted on the walls and floor of the train car, were satanic and hellish pentagrams painted in blood.
"Holy fucking shit!" Mondo yelled in shock, "What the fuck?!"
"Jesus Christ," Celeste spoke in horror, "Who or what the hell would do such a thing?!"
"This can't be real," Aoi spoke in shock, "This can't be fucking real. What the hell am I looking at?!"
"Oh, my!" Mukuro was horrified at what she saw. "This ain't possible! Could this be what caused the zombies to attack the train station?!"
"I agree sis," Junko spoke in equal amounts of shock and terror, "What sort of evil power could've unleashed these monsters?!"
"T-that isn't possible," Toko shivered as she spoke, "I-I can't understand, w-who would do something like this?!"
Other than that, everyone else was staring at the pentagram with horrified expressions. They couldn't believe what they were seeing in front of them was in fact, real.
"I've seen that pentagram before," Byakuya spoke coldly, "Seeing it again is a bad sign."
"I agree, Togami," Makoto responded, "this IS a bad sign. Something twisted and demonic is lurking out there in the great unknown."
"This is starting to become a nightmare," Sayaka spoke weakly, "There's something bad happening here."
"I sense a lot of demonic influence emanating from that symbol," Yasuhiro spoke, "This is a bad sign indeed."
Once everyone regained their composure, it was time to push on inside the train station. After all of them climbed the platform that was the floor of the train car, they went through a hole in its back, where they saw that the rest of the train had derailed on impact, and part of the station had fallen on the train, damaging it even more.
"Fuck!" Chihiro radioed in a combination of shock and anger, "The station's been destroyed! We're taking a long way around to the platform, Bruno!"
As they climbed onto a derailed train car, the kill squad saw that when the train had crashed, it spilled its zombie cargo all over the platforms surrounding it.
"Dear Christ, almighty," Leon whispered in shock, "This isn't possible!"
As they looked below the derailed train car, they saw that the zombies were devouring the bodies of the unfortunate resistance members who were there when it crashed into the station. Watching this provided Celeste with an opportunity to lessen the number of zombies they would have to clear out. She took a grenade from her utility belt, pulled the fuse, then threw it at the zombies down below, where it rolled on the platform for a couple of seconds before exploding, shredding the zombies like pulled pork.
"That's fewer zombies that we have to deal with when we continue," Celeste spoke, "It seems that whatever evil sent this horde at us, it wants us dead."
"I agree with your theory, Celeste," Kyoko spoke, "I have a feeling that this isn't some kind of random event, but part of something bigger in general."
"There's evidence supporting Celeste's theory, Kyoko," Junko chirped in, "Sure, a few zombies might wander into the base and cause havoc, but with lots of zombies coming in, that's impossible for a horde of that size and magnitude without somebody commanding them. So you're right, Celeste, something or someone is coordinating them."
"I sure hope that isn't the case, Junko," Chihiro spoke, "If it is, I don't know how the hell we're going to survive this freakshow."
"I know, Chihiro," Makoto responded, "But if we find out who did this, we might have a chance to counterattack. But right now, we have to survive and get to that train."
"Okay people," Byakuya ordered, "You heard the man! Push through the train station, watch each other's backs, and stay alive!"
As the kill squad made their way towards the platform where their train was waiting, they saw another sign that was a bad omen. On the door of the ticket booth, there it was: an octagon-shaped iron lock with a yellow pentagram stamped on it.
"It's a blood seal!" Mukuro yelled in shock, "That's not good!"
"You remember how to deal with them, right?" Bruno's voice blared from Chihiro's radio, "Destroy the zombies that guard it, and you'll break the seal!"
Just as soon as Bruno's call ended, zombies armed with pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles burst out of the wrecked doors of the train cars as if in some cruel but unintentional way, Bruno had jinxed the kill squad.
"Here they come!" Makoto yelled as he and his squadmates raised their guns, "HOLD YOUR GROUND!"
(Nearly half an hour of shooting, spent bullet casings/shotgun shells, zombie blood, cursing, and severed limbs later...)
Kill Squad 78 was exhausted and wounded but managed to kill the zombies guarding the blood seal. Their clothes were splattered and caked with the blood, flesh, and brains of the undead, which showed when the blood seal shattered into pieces that disintegrated into black smoke and dispersed into nothingness. The double door of the ticket booth then flew open at the force of the blood seal shattering, leading to the next place the kill squad had to go to before getting on their train, which was through the abandoned ticket booth. As soon as the kill squad entered the ticket booth, Chihiro's radio blared to life again.
"Hey, hotshots!" Edie's voice blared from Chihiro's radio, "I've turned on the old base defenses, my "Kinetic Energy Turbines." If you see one, shoot it and it will activate the defense mechanism! It should help you out!"
"Thanks, Edie," Chihiro radioed back, "We owe you one."
As the zombies broke the wooden barricade on the ticket booth, all of them saw what Edie had mentioned. It was an aircraft engine with what looked like a bipod supporting the front of it. The input shaft of the engine was connected to an airplane propeller that looked like it had been sitting in a junkyard for a while. Also on the front, there was a bullet-activated switch. Seeing the number of zombies in front of the propeller, Makoto had an idea.
"Everyone!" Yasuhiro yelled, "Keep your heads down! This is going to get bloody!"
After everyone except him crouched down behind the abandoned ticket booth, Yasuhiro aimed his gun at the bullet-activated switch and fired. The force of the bullets activated the trap and caused every zombie that was in front of it to be sucked in by the force of the spinning propeller and shredded the zombies like meat being fed into a grinder.
"Holy shit!" Leon was shocked when he first saw the results of what happened. Then his shocked expression turned into a determined one. "Hell yes! Take that, you Nazi ghouls!"
"Wait, what just happened?!" Hiro spoke as he was confused and shocked at the sight of what he did, "What the hell just happened?!"
"Oh, my Christ!" Junko and Mukuro shouted in awe and surprise, "The trap worked!"
"Good work, Hiro," Makoto responded, "Everybody, through the boxcar and on top of the coal carriage!"
As soon as all sixteen of them climbed on top of the coal carriage, they were greeted by another horrifying sight. On the platform right of the train, it was swarming with hundreds of zombies slowly wandering toward them. Whatever lay beyond, they were ready to face it head-on.
And there you have it: the Locomotive Lockdown Arc is complete. In the next chapter, our heroes come face to face with a new enemy in the New Arc: Off the Rails. Please Favorite, Follow, and send a review for this story! I hope you guys enjoy it!