Aiden awoke instantly to feel a sharp pain in his arm.

"Aaggh!" He honestly had no idea what was going on, but Vlad's gun reminded him to stay still.

<Curses, interference. The mutation must finish within...wait...he is listening.>

"Vlad! We need to talk now! Before this happens again."

Vlad looked uneasy. He didn't pull away his gun. And then Aiden knew why. He couldn't be trusted anymore. Not when the virus had control of him.

"Fine, we'll talk right here."

Looking uneasy, Vlad began speaking in Russian. Finally after some more orders he said, "Are you aware of how much sedative I just injected into you along with an antidote?"

Vlad was glad that Aiden was up, but there was no telling onto how long he would stay in this state. Hopefully, though, his body would build up an immunity to the virus, that is, if it didn't kill him.

"The antidote was not enough, but, I've added something extra, I'm hoping that it will work like a charm, but there is no telling yet. We should know within the next twenty minutes, there are two possibilities in that time: A, you're cured, and you never have to worry about zombies again, B, you're dead. Both are better than infection. Now..."

Vlad took a breath and lowered his pistol,"What do you want to talk about?"

"The zombies, Vlad. Everything comes down to that dang hive mind you created for them.

"All the individual thoughts of the original person are there, but they are suppressed somehow. By something. I don't know what. But there is more to this.

"Vlad, the zombies want the Earth. They think they can enslave humanity, and at this rate, you're the only one that can stop them. And...I can't. They're almost done decoding the human genome, and if we don't stop them, then I'm dead. And right now...oh, no..."

Aiden remembered. The one that Vlad seemed to have...and she...

"Atrianna...Vlad you have to go after her. Now. You have to complete your mission. I don't know what is going on down there in that subway, but the zombies don't want you to go in there and find out."

Vlad grabbed Aiden by the head and kept him from struggling, forcing him to focus on Vlad's face.

"Who? Who, Aiden? Just take it easy, and tell us, we must know!"

Vlad hoped that Aiden would be able to focus and respond, either way, they only had little time.

He let go of Aiden and looked to Yuri and spoke in Russian,"Get a squad together, see if there any vehicles in the motorpool, have them here in exactly thirty minutes!"

"Da, Comrade Major."

Yuri turned on his heel and began running towards the large encampment of Russians.

Vlad turned back to Aiden.

Aiden turned to Vlad. "I don't know. Just rescue Atrianna." He resisted the urge to smile. And, then, grimly, he thought about the next step.

"Vlad, the hive...or...whatever it really is...its leader told me...that they were mutating my brain, Vlad. Soon they'll be able to program me however they want. And I really don't think that's a good idea."

He waited for a response from Vlad. Perhaps he would know what to do.

Vlad pulled up a chair that was near the table and he sat down.

"Don't worry, panicking will only make it worse. Be advised, I thought the virus might do something to your brain, I took that in account. The extra ingredient in the serum was zombie blood. As unorthodox as it may sound, it will work. Just like a regular vaccination, your body will build up an immunity to the virus, and therefore stop the mutation. Just patience you will see."

Vlad kept his tone as calm as possible, hoping to keep Aiden from panic, the mutation would win if he did, the Hive Mind works on fear, that is how it was effective, because with zombies, the attacked will be afraid.

Vlad began going over the possibilities of who Aiden said had to be saved. It was a she so that narrowed down the options...

Attriana is here, but the Doctor Alexis Ian...

Vlad turned to Boris,"Where is Doctor Ian?"

Boris looked around,"Not here."

Vlad nodded, he knew that she was an extreme possiblity. They may have to go after her.

(I said Atrianna was in danger...because you sent her out to get zombie blood, remember? And I don't think the zombies are going to like that one bit. And since she is alone...maybe I am misunderstanding. It doesn't matter anyway, really.)

"Vlad...how do you know that your virus will be effective? They could manage to mutate my brain before I am immune. What if..." Aiden stopped, not for effect, but because he wasn't so sure himself.

"Maybe you should just kill me."

(I guess I'm out hunting undead...)

Atriana watched her prey through her pistol scope.

That's it...just a bit closer...just a few more inches...

Atrianna grinned as the zombie triggered the mine she had set, blowing off it's legs and one of it's arms.

Now comes the hard part.

Atrianna walked down toward the Zombie and loaded her pistol.

The zombie stared at Atrianna with what she could only describe as undisguised hatred.

"Alright...I know your kind can talk. I've heard your kind do it before. You are going to tell me where the one who controls you is."

The zombie remained silent, well as silent as a zombie could stay.

I guess I have to do this the hard way.

Atrianna unloaded a shot into the zombie's stump of a leg and was rewarded with a scream of pain.

"I don't want to make this any longer then it has to be! Now tell me!"

The zombie threw back it's head and made a weird laughing sound.

Atrianna smiled and re-loaded her pistol and aimed it at the zombie's ear.

"There's still plenty of you that I can shoot at. Now, you can either tell me what I want to know, or I can drag you back to my safehouse and I can make this a hundred times worse."

The zombie growled at her.

Atrianna unloaded a shot at what remained of the zombie's ear and was rewarded with another howl of pain.

"Tell me!"

Aiden made a move to get up, and Vlad tried to stop him. But Aiden simply stated, "Please."

Hesitating, Aiden was allowed some freedom of movement. Turning to a wall, he smacked it. The wall easily crumbled from the strength of his arm, and a hole formed. Aiden then turned back to Vlad.

"Our only chance is for me to go get Atrianna before something happens to her. If I stay here, they'll use me to kill you. And you have to complete your mission...whatever it is."

Aiden raised his eyebrows pleadingly.

If only you would just tell me your mission, Vlad.

Vlad nodded and slipped his pistol back in it's holster.

"Fine, then we must go find Attriana, before it is too late. Also, we will not kill you. You're worth more to us than just a test subject, so just hope that the serum works and we'll be just fine. Let's go."


Yuri had assembled a task squad as ordered, and had even found an old BMP armored troop carrier in the motor pool that the Russians had set up.

Vlad looked back at Aiden,"I will tell you my mission eventually, but this isn't the time."

He nodded, and proceeded forward. Vlad did not stop him. "Vlad...thank you for what you're doing. I never doubted you."

Or never should had doubted you.

"I'm going to scout the area. And don't give me a weapon. Just in case."

Vlad nodded, "No worries, you can carry one, first step to optimisim is to try and accept the positive situation. You won't be leaving the living anytime soon."

Vlad held out a small pistol that was loaded with a clip of ammo.

"Go ahead, take it. We trust you."

<No.>

<Stop this, human.>

<Why isn't it working?>

<I don't know. But it can't be a mistake. We never make mistakes.>

<Are you sure about that?>

<SHUT UP! The weapon is listening.>

Aiden smiled. "Somehow, I have more faith in myself now, too."

And with that he raced off to find Atrianna before someone else did.

And before his time ran out.

Smith watched Aiden come 'back' to life from his comatose state and started a little when Vlad gave him the pistol, but managed to quell the response before it became obvious to everybody in the area.

"Sorry about, you know, trying to bomb you to Hell." Smith eventually said to break the uneasy silence between him and Vlad. "But, we are at war or going to be at it." Smith shrugged. "It felt odd, though, ordering such a strike on US soil, I've done it before in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it was odd."

He didn't know why he was speaking so freely to the Russian, probably because, dammit, he liked Vlad, but, in any case, it was cathartic to get it out of his system.

"So, you created the Zombies, eh?"

Sam got there just as Aiden ran out.
" Alexis, stay here, and keep the Milkor in grabbing range." Sam said as he went out to see what the Russians were up to.
" Hey Vlad, what are you doing? Aiden can't be possibly good enough to run out after whatever you sent him out on!" Sam exclaimed in Russian. Vlad picked up his pistol, not exactly aiming at him, but not pointed away either...
" Attrianna is out looking for a zombie, which is now of no need... Aiden is looking for her." Vlad said in English.
Sam was curious what the Zombie would've been used for, but before he could ask, he felt himself being tugged away.
" Smith, there you are! I'm going after Aiden. If he suddenly changes before or when he gets to Attrianna, the results will be disasterous. Keep Alexis here, I know you probably still have a few Questions for her..." Sam said as he ran out, looking for Aiden.

Vlad nodded,"That I did, but it was a biological accident, I was actually trying to create something else, but my superiors liked the mistake better than the accomplishment. I'm not to proud of how they used it."

Vlad sighed,"Anyway, I do not blame you for trying to bomb us, I'd have done the same if an enemy were intruding on my country's soil. Anyway, we are at a truce right now, we'll have to work together."

Vlad grabbed his AK and tapped on Smith's shoulder,"Follow me, I think I know where Attriana is."

Atrianna frowned as the Zombie made another weird laughing sound.

Alright, screw trying to be nice.

Atrianna picked her mini-gun up off the ground and cracked the zombie across the head with it.

"If you don't talk, I'll keep you locked up. You'll never be able to eat again, you'll never be able to do anything, How does a life of torture sound?"

Atrianna smirked as she saw fear enter the zombie's eyes.

"Now, If you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go. You'll be free to do whatever you want, whenever you want. All you need to do is tell me what I want to know."

Atrianna sat down across from the zombie and locked eyes with it.

"Tell me, and you'll be free to go."

Even as the zombie opened it's mouth to speak, Atrianna sensed something was wrong.

Crap!

The zombie clutched it's head in pain and fell over screaming.

There goes my chance to get the location of the hive.

Atrianna picked up her pistol and put a shot through the zombie's head.

Well...wait, what was that?!

Atrianna slowly picked up her mini-gun and turned around slowly.

There were nearly ten of the undead staring at her.

Why aren't they attacking? What's with them?

Running as fast as he could, Aiden prepared for the worst. Because, at the moment, that's what he was best at. The stress and pain were getting to him, though, and he wondered how long this whole scenario could go on.

And then his thoughts drifted back towards his mother. His father was gone. Their marriage never made it. But his mother was out there, somewhere, in the midst of the hive, likely where he could not reach her. She had to still be alive, as the hive was probably using her as bait, or, rather, the hive leader was.

As Aiden charged on, he felt a slight disturbance. And he knew he didn't have much time left.

He was becoming in tune with the hive.

Then, he could finally tell what it was. A zombie in the area had just died. Likely by Atrianna's hand.

Knowing what he knew now, Aiden made a quick prayer for the soul that had just lost its body, trapped by the hive virus.

This was all too much. How could he carry on like this? Only his will and hope carried him on at the moment. And he focused.

No crying, no sighing, no delaying.

And he kept running.

There, in a more vacant lot, was Atrianna, surrounded by zombies. And they weren't moving. But Aiden tried to reach out to their minds. They obviously didn't have control of them. The hive wouldn't let them go for no reason.

What was going on?

Vlad suddenly noticed that Aiden had already left.

"Okay, American, let's move."

Vlad ran out of the area and sped after Aiden.

He noticed several undead, and fired at them, but strangely, they didn't respond, they were just blank.

An effect of what I gave Aiden? Thought Vlad.

It was possible, but there was no way to know right now.

He kept running.

Could this be intimidation? Or maybe a lapse in the hive mind?

<Foolish human. Did you think you could get away with this? You fell right into our hands.>

<Yes, he did.>

<Shut up.>

Aiden hated it when he didn't know what was going on. He felt that something bad was about to happen. And he didn't like it.

All he had to do was outsmart the hive.

Smith followed Vlad, a spare AK-47 he'd found his weapon. He followed Vlad's lead by firing at the Undead milling about but was rather surprised when they did nothing to react. "That's... odd." He said rather puzzled. "But not unwelcome." He however shut up after that statement to conserve his breath as he followed the Russian.

They skidded to a halt in a circle of Undead along with Atrianna. How they made it through that circle Smith would never know, nor, he suspected, would Vlad.

"Nice party you've got here." Smith observed dryly to Atrianna after he'd regained what little breath he'd lost. "Mind if we crash it?"

Sam told his uncle to stay at the base, protecting it from stray zombies. Attrianna grabbed her Milkor, following Sam as he made a mad dash for the lot were Attrianna was, as were Vlad and Smith.
Sam reached for his crucifix, suddenly remembering he had given it to Aiden.
" I still hope it works for you, Aiden." Sam huffed through his heavy breathing.

A zombie walked out, at that moment, one much stronger and more fierce-looking than all the rest.

You've fallen into our trap...

It spoke. "I trust you expect me now to talk about how all humans are fools. Your ability to take full capacity of your brains astounds me, yes, but after all, Vladimir did create us initially." The zombie smiled. "Of course, we do not owe anything to our creator. In survival of the fittest, anything goes. Which is why you will not live to complete your mission, Russian."

Stepping forward, it flourished a bit, and then continued. "Rather than stand here and waste more time, let us get on straight to the killing."

Lashing out towards a Russian that Aiden did not know well at all, it popped his neck.

Atrianna unleashed her minigun, and the zombie fell, presumably dead. But then another, larger brute emerged from the buildings, and then another.

"You cannot stop us." They spoke in unison, a grim smile on their faces.

<Now we shall use our weapon.>

<Prepare it.>

Aiden felt his control start to slip away. And in those few moments, he looked at Vlad, and knew what he had to do.

He had to outsmart the hive, fool them, trick them, if they were going to win. So he looked at Vlad, winked, and then shot him in the shoulder.

And all of the zombies stopped and looked at Aiden.

<Yes! It worked!>

<But...the process was not complete.>

<Yes, it is, stop whatever you are doing! The weapon works!>

And at that moment, Aiden felt his connection to the hive mind slipping away.

Everyone present, including the zombies, just stared at Aiden.

So he winked again, and began to unload his bullets into the nearby brutes. It seemed that the hive had made a fatal error.

After all, they weren't as smart as humans.

Vlad couldn't be happier as Aiden's bullet slammed into his shoulder. Of course, it hurt like hellfire, but it ultimately saved the situation. He recovered from his fall and mashed his glove onto the wound and prevented any further bleeding, shooting zombies at the same time.

He then began taking out the anti-brute serum.

As the gunfire started and zombies rushed after the group, Aiden knew that Vlad's involuntary sacrifice would mean nothing if they didn't survive. He bolted to Vlad and tried to lift him, but the abnormal effects of the virus were fading since his connection to the hive mind was almost gone and, apparently, the antidote had also done its part.

Vlad handed Aiden some anti-brute serum, but Aiden slipped it into his pocket and lifted him up instead. "Let's go." Turning and supporting Vlad at the same time, he yelled, "Everyone run!" Then, as everyone began realizing their scenario, Aiden turned back to Vlad.

"How do I use this stuff?"

Vlad smiled, just find a nice soft spot on the brute, press it and pray. Then watch it spray, heh, did that one myself, just push it into 'em."

Vlad tried his best to alleviate the situation, his bleeding had stopped, that was good.

"Okay." Aiden tried to let Vlad support himself, and he seemed to take it just fine. Vlad started running before Aiden could say anything about it, pulling out some more brute serum along the way.

He's definitely a soldier.

With that, Aiden charged over to the nearest brute, managed to fling himself onto its back, and jammed the syringe into its head, and then attempted to leap for the nearest roof.

The blood would probably never wash out of his shoes.

Scrambling across the rooftop, he almost lost his footing. Obviously that was the last stunt he could do for today.

As he got down from the roof, he felt more pain that he would have expected, and he nearly tripped again. Righting himself, he ran over to the fleeing party, guns blazing, and almost got hit by Atrianna's minigun. He smiled at her and then realized that his weapon was missing.

Nice job, Aiden.

"You wouldn't happen to have another gun on you, would you?"

Smith almost filled Aiden full of lead when he shot Vlad, but managed to restrain the impulse after he saw the wink that Aiden had given. He managed to get a quick look at the injury out of the corner of his eye and assessed it to be or little to no risk to the Russian. Maybe a little painful, but there was no real danger associated with it.

After Aiden and Vlad exploded into action, Smith followed suit and started pouring the lead out of 'his' AK-47 as fast as the thing would fire. After working his way through an extended clip -some thoughtful somebody had put in an extended clip with 50 rounds- he threw it at the 'Brute' that Aiden was working on before drawing his pistol and started placing rounds in eyes and other... uncomfortable places.

He didn't know if Zombies could feel pain, but he was certain that they would give damn near anything not to after he was done with them.

Sam had taken a few wrong turns, but finally caught up to Aiden and the Russians. Sam saw Aiden shoot Vlad, and nearly ran into Aiden to stop the Hive's control, but the way he turned and fired at the Brutes made him think otherwise.
" Alexis, unload into the fray!" Sam yelled over the gunfire. Sam took his M8 and started unloading into the crowd, then he was out. Sam reached for a new clip, to find that there were only AKM rounds left. Sam fired the Grenade launcher with the last few rounds of it and threw it at the crowd, pulling out his AKM at the same moment.
Rat-a-tat-tat went the Kalashnikov as he unloaded more rounds into the fray. Alexis had expended one 6-round speed-loader into a Brute, and then was tossed off like a rag doll.
Alexis! Sam thought as he ran towards her. He checked her vitals, she'll live. But she has a broken arm.

Tossing him a pistol, Atrianna was still glued to her minigun. Figured.

After getting to higher ground, the group took down the brutes much faster, but they weren't completely safe. Vlad and Alexis both had broken arms, upon examination, but Vlad was bleeding profusely. What was a seemingly trivial wound had turned out to be quite possibly fatal. Aiden had hit a major artery.

So, of course, he made his way over to Vlad, and the others looked painfully at him. Before anyone could say anything, however, Aiden quickly pulled out a small metal box concealed in his pocket. Prying it open carefully, he pulled out a metal sheath. From inside he wriggled out a glass vial, tightly secured. After opening it, he knelt down beside Vlad.

Inside the vial was a red liquid, eerily familiar to anyone who had seen the zombie serum. No one made a move yet, however, and Aiden poured half of the liquid into Vlad's mouth.

Time passed by, and some people stopped shooting. Soon, however, Vlad's shoulder began to heal. Quickly. The blood flow stopped, and only the ragged, bloody clothing remained. The original super-soldier serum would also revitalize Vlad with energy, but he must have been too stunned to move.

There was only one patient left. They might need Alexis now more than ever. The rest of the serum had to go to her.

Vlad looked up at Aiden angrily.

"Now what in blazes made you do that? I create this stuff, I don't drink it!"

He looked at the wound and shook his head, immediatley jumping back up.

'Aw, well, who's to blame you..."

He felt very much empowered by the serum, and it brought back many memories from the successful tests back in Russia. He was glad that he had even fixed the stuff...

He grabbed his AK-47 off the ground and fitted it with another anti-brute serum, he then looked to Alexis. He grabbed Aiden's arm before he could administer the super-soldier serum.

"No, do not administer the serum to her. We do not the effects on humans completely, and remember, this serum still has components that go back to the hive-mind days. Just fit her with a turniqet, give her a sling and a glass of water, uh, or vodka for that matter, and she will be fine until we get her to proper quarters."

Vlad felt raw strength pouring through his muscles, he'd need to use this strength properly...

"Vlad, we might not survive anyway. We need you. You have a mission left to do...that we still don't know about. And the serum works, I've used it. But all this tinkering with the 'new and improved' stuff has caused the effects to be lost on me. But I think the connection to the hive might be gone..."

Yelling forced Aiden to pay attention. There were somethings coming up ahead. Really big somethings.

Aiden could best describe them as a brute and a jumper combined.

So he yelled, "I really think we should get to the subway now!!!"

Sam saw the massive beast running at the group. Sam picked up Alexis and made a death run for the subway. He litterally jumped over all the steps, forgoing all but the first and last. After salmming to the ground and nearly breaking his ankle, Sam tried to convince the door to open.
" Ahh dang it! Its locked!" Sam yelled. Then he set Alexis down, mumbles of pain coming from her. Sam pulled out his Desert Eagle and blew the lock clean off.
From inside there was a voice.
" Hey, now who goes there?" said the voice of an old man whose withered fingers were wrapped around a Colt revolver.

Atrianna blasted another one of the undead with her mini-gun and turned to face Vlad.

"The people who unleashed this plague are dead. Do you hear me?! Once we're done here in America, I plan on hunting them down, one by one. Who ordered this unleashed Vlad? What's his Name?"

Atrianna turned to blast a brute that had appeared out of nowhere.

I'll kill them!

Aiden felt a chill as Atrianna spoke those words. He didn't know why, but he felt something. A faint memory, as if left behind by his fleeting connection to the hive. So he spoke what was on his mind.

"Atrianna, how do you know those people aren't in America?"

Everyone stared, confused, and ready to dismiss the thought.

"I have a feeling...a really scary feeling...that what we find in the subway is going to be something that we least expect."

The stares continued, and then Aiden spoke to Vlad, dispelling the thought from conversation.

"Vlad...with the serum in you, is it possible you could take care of this beast for us?"

Vlad looked at Attriana, but did not speak. He was not able to tell her who yet...

He looked to Aiden.

"Da, I will handle it."

He immediatley ran, jumping onto the creature, and sticking the serum into it's skull.

The jumper-brute...did not explode. In fact, the creature reared up in extreme...anger, or something...Aiden looked at Vlad.

"Vlad, go for the head! You've got plenty of strength now!"

Vlad looked at Aiden like he was crazy.

Vlad kneed the creature in the stomach, crawling over it's head, and he withdrew his combat knife, cutting at the thing's throat.

It quickly gave way, and the thrashing creature stopped, at first not doing anything but standing there, headless.

Vlad gave it a kick, and the creature fell down with a loud thump.

Vlad casually slid off the creature's body and walked back to the group.

"Now that is the way it's done."

Sam hailed everyone over, apparently, there was a group of survivors that was surviving quite well. The group took out the last few stragglers, then made there way over.
" Hey, guess what? We've got survivors!" Sam said in a barely suppressed excitement.

Aiden couldn't help smiling. "You know, Vlad, maybe the serum isn't as bad as you think."

Then again....

"I guess it depends. But I don't think the hive knows that the original still exists. And we still have half a vial...just in case."

Flashback

"Aiden Valko, welcome."

"Yeah, I was betting you would say that."

"The death of your squad does not allow insubordination. But, luckily, I don't really care at the moment." The man sitting next to Commander Stanislav grunted.

Stanislav walked out from behind the desk, handing Aiden some papers. After reading them, he felt tears come to his eyes. The report was totally false, and that made the obituaries only more ironic.

"You're honestly going to publish this?"

"We have no choice, Valko," huffed the man at the desk. "You knew the stakes when you signed up for this."

Dragomir...he was really gone, wasn't he? He wouldn't be there to argue with his superiors. No, not this time. The tears started to come back. But Aiden was taught to be strong in the military. So he sucked up his emotion.

"What do we know so far?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! DAMN THOSE RUSSIANS!" yelled Stanislav. "Why do they have to screw with our country? And why...Aiden, you haven't seen the rest of the papers yet." He handed over some documents.

The attack was everywhere, but this told the entire story. The man at the desk got up, and actually looked a little sympathetic.

"The news gets worse, I'm afraid. Take these."

Reassignment. No, more than that...a new identity. Coryn Valkanar?

"What kind of stupid name is that?"

Stanislav walked forward to Aiden. "Take this." He handed him a vial. "God knows when you'll need it again."

"Farewell, son. We'll see you again when the sparks fly." The man sat back down.

Stanislav gave a sympathetic look. "Goodbye, Aiden. We'll keep an eye out for your parents."

The hell you will.

Aiden felt betrayed as he walked out the door. This was too much. He saw the bench there, so close to the door. He would only walk through the door once for the rest of his life.

So he sat down on the bench and cried.

Vlad nodded, quite happy with the current results his serum had. He hadn't done a bad job engineering it, if he didn't say so himself.

"Anyway we should get moving..."

Vlad began to remember something that he wished he could forget forever, but everything was already flowing.



8 Months Earlier
Chernobyl Test Facility
Missile Silos
0800 hours


The station was nearly deserted, but not entirely.

A small contingent of soldiers had manned it ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. Awaiting orders from the Supreme High Command.

Major Vladimir Rosokosovski was among them.

He had been here only for a little, completeing his last assignments only weeks before, now he awaited the beckon of his commanders. Which wasn't long now.

The telephone in the quiet, gray, bunker, rang.

Vlad grabbed,"Da, Rosokosovksi speaking."

"Good to hear, Vladimir. Initiate firing sequence 13. Tell your men to do this, then oversee the reactors in Bunker 2. Return in 10 minutes. Give me to Lieutenant Zubov."

Vlad nodded, "Yes, Comrade General, one moment."

He motioned for the young Lieutenant to step forward to the phone. Vlad hadn't really gotten to him well ever since that day in 1987, back when 'undead' mistake was made. After that, the Lieutenant had asked to be assigned here. There was something about the man that made Vlad resent him. Something in-between ambition, and pure evil.

Vlad handed him the phone and left the room, but not before listening to a little of Zubov's conversation.

"Comrade General, the regular missiles are to be launched...why not the bio-chem ones? General, this is the perfect time! The Americans least expect us, and we will not let Vlad know..."

Vlad had only caught the regular missile part. He had left the room, unable to hear the rest. But the little he heard disturbed him.

He returned five minutes later, and arrived right in time to see the missiles lauched. He pressed the buttona and watched the silos open, and the missiles appear. But they were not the missiles that Vlad had armed earlier in the day. These were not the regular ones.

And Vlad suddenly knew.

He had just launched something terrible.

His worst fear had become real.

He looked to Zubov,"Don't tell me those are the..."

"Bio-chem missiles. It is done, Vlad. Now the world will bow down to the might of Russia as it did before. None can stop us now."

"You bastard....HOW COULD YOU!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Zubov remained silent and smiled.

The angry Vlad stormed off. He had to do something. He'd have to solve the problem that he created so long ago....


The Present



Vlad winced at the memory. He could've done more, and he still blamed himself for not noticing the problem earlier. He shook his head, and let the thoughts leave.

He did not want his American friends to know his mission, still, or to know his true purpose.

They would have to wait and see.

As the team started walking into the subway, Sam ecstatic about finding a survivor, ((I was actually wondering the other day where the heck the survivors were, lol)), Aiden caught up to Vlad. He had a few questions, although Vlad may be reluctant to answer them.

The pain of Aiden's past, nearly forgotten until the zombie attack, was returning, and he felt he needed to try and cope with it. The mental strain of this entire situation was pressing, but he was trying to control himself. Of course, probably no one was going through as much agony as Vlad. But he still wanted to get to know the man, no matter the circumstances that had brought them together again.

"Vlad, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I was wondering. Do you have a family? What's happening with them now?"

The question was a bit surprising.

"Umm, family? Well, no family. I was an only child, my Mother and Father live in Moscow. I have no wife or children, guess I really never found time, probably better that way....."

He kept on walking and noticed the survivors. They made him slightly suspicious, but for good reason, he hoped none of them were bitten.

He looked to Aiden, "And how 'bout you?"

"My father...left us. And shortly after my mother went into some sort of serious depression, and she was hospitalized. Meanwhile, I was old enough to get a house of my own in Virginia. But when I came back to visit, they said there was a serious disease. At that point the entire country seemed to be on the alert. From there it was a matter of time. I had no idea where my mother was, and after I was kicked from the military, all I had was Richmond."

He neglected to point out that his mother was still out there somewhere, enslaved by the hive mind. Who knows what she had gotten herself into.

"Vlad, on another note...have there been any reports of Russian government officials miss-"

A loud greeting interrupted their conversation. It was time to meet the survivors.

Sam had already brought Alexis in and had a 'doctor' help her with her leg. Alexis grunted with every step.
At least she's awake... Sam thought thankfully.
Finally everyone came in. The survivors came out, all 33 of them. They were ragged and tired, and all of them held a weapon of some sort, but weren't particularly aiming at them.
Thats good, they know how to use their guns. Sam thought

Smith followed the group into the subway, always watching his back -dammit, it's just like Somalia all over again! The group stopped as the 'survivors' walked into the light, there were 33 of them and all were armed to the teeth. However, they were a ragged band that Smith suspected would soon be either dead or zombies.

"Lieutenant," he said softly to Larson as he walked behind the younger man, causing him to jump slightly in surprise. "Where'd you leave Doctor Ian? I don't know if we can trust the survivors, but I don't think we shouldn't right now..."

He just hoped to God that this nightmare would be over before Chicago was a Necropolis.

That and the United States of America.

" Smith, she's over there, on the bench. This guys a doc, and while you may not trust them, I'll give it a chance." Sam said. He enver understood how some people could be so untrusting. Then again, He's probably been like this since the beginning.
" She's awake, so if you have any unanswered questions for Alexis, you can ask now" Sam informed him.

Aiden's mind was racing. Why were there this many survivors, here of all places? It didn't really bug him, although the attention would now be on them when they had a mission to do. Except something was nagging at him.

This was, after all, the subway which Vlad was originally heading into before they diverted to the safehouse. But it didn't strike him as being quite right. Nevertheless, he didn't really doubt the survivors too much. They weren't zombies, as far as he could tell.

But they gave Vlad strange looks. Maybe it was because he was Russian. Or maybe it was because he was Russian. The thought repeated itself. He kept it to himself.

Walking over to Sam, who looked extremely worried about Alexis, though he tried to hide it, Aiden spoke up.

"How are you holding out, Sam?"

"Thanks." Smith said to the, very green, Lieutenant. Hell, he knew people wondered about him, but, well, he'd always been rather untrusting, able to go with the flow, but not that trusting...

In fact, about the only people in this venture he trusted was Sam -barely-, Vlad, and Atrianna. Sam by virtue of being in the Army -despite having betrayed his oath-; Vlad, well Smith didn't know why he trusted Vlad as much as he did; and Atrianna because she'd given him the impression of a very 'up front' personality, if she didn't like him, she'd tell him.

He walked over to where the doctor was treating Doctor Ian, he didn't know what she was in for until he looked at her. Her leg looked pretty busted up.

"So, Doc," he said trying to start up a rapport with at least one of the survivors. "Where'd you study?"

"Eh?" The Doctor said -definitely not a medic of any type, Smith decided, probably a civilian. A Medic would've been able to multi-task, after all patching somebody together while having shells rained upon you quickly taught you that skill.

He looked down at Ian's leg and was shocked by the ghastly-ness of the wound. The flesh was becoming necrotic and they had to work fast in order to come even close to saving the leg.

Drawing out his K-Bar, Smith silently set to work on the flesh, thankfully Ian had slipped back into sleep before this started, it was bad enough when a man screamed, Smith hated dealing with screaming women.

Sam smiled and replied that he was fine.

Well, I tried.

He walked over to the work being done. Things didn't look good for Alexis' leg. And Aiden didn't like the feeling he was getting from these survivors. There was no way they could leave her here when they continued with their mission.

Assuming, of course, Vlad would let them come along. Aiden had no intention of staying behind, but Vlad's new abilities were going to be a nice persuasion tool.

Aiden leaned in and spoke quietly to Smith, while the recently booted doctor couldn't overhear.

"Are you getting the strange feeling that things aren't right here? I really think we need to consider using the original serum on Alexis. The hive doesn't know it exists, and just a little bit of it would be all she needs and in a few hours her leg would be back to normal."