Playing away on his guitar, suddenly the rest of the music stopped and Aiden's singing was left to trail off. He looked at the door. Eve had just entered the studio, dressed in an astoundingly gorgeous black dress. The band was speechless.
Aiden got up and walked over to her. She kissed him, probably just to make the other guys jealous, and then he said, "That's what you're wearing? I mean, not that I disapprove, but...."
Eve just smiled and then handed him the gloves. "Now, there you go. Oh, and there's something else I found that I thought you might want to know about. I don't want to ruin the concert for you, but think of it as a statement you're making now."
She pulled out an advertisement. Aiden looked at and then began to feel a little ticked. A video game about the destruction of Chicago. And there he was, as if he was the enemy. He tore up the advertisement and threw it on the ground.
"I don't even want to know where you got this. Well, are you ready, then? I think we are." Aiden gestured to the rest of the band members.
She nodded. "I'm ready."
"Then let's make this a night to remember," he exclaimed to the entire group. "Um...well actually we have a whole half hour."
They all laughed and exited the studio.
I wonder if Sam and Jaden are here yet.
Frank sat up and looked at the man. He took off the stints and stretched his legs. After the man finished speaking Frank nodded.
"That's perfectly understandable coming from a man who was kind enough to let me into his home. I am not threat to you and your family though. My name is Dr. Frank Wilson, what you probably saw was the result of a bad accident. Those claws you saw are the first of my "abilities." After the nuking of chicago I was certain those abilities were gone but it would appear they have just reset. Sadly as the zombies need to feed so do I, I can control what I eat though. Raw meat in a kitchen or if I must an animal of some kind will suffice. I should probably get out of your way now, I need to find a man...Vlad something, maybe he can cure me."
Frank stood up but stopped himself as he eyed the gun.
"With your permission of course." Frank added.
"Lemme guess, Vlad Rosokosovski? More than likely he is the man you speak of. He's in Kyoto, with some... Friends from the past. I was gonna head over there anyways. I'll get two tickets." Sam said. Then , he had an epiphany.
Aiden! His concert is tonight! In the middle of a highly populated city, were if anyhting happened, like a small dead-raising virus, it would spread like wildfire. CELLPHONE!!
"Alexis, I'm heading to Kyoto, need to talk to Vlad. Stay with the kids. I'll be back soon." He said as he dialed the number for Aiden.
Ring-Ring...
Ring-Ring...
Ring-Ring......
. . . . . .
Jaden burst through the front door of his house, panting and wondering how he'd tell his family about the creatures. His father galred at him, he still loathed Sam, and that Jaden spent time at his house.
"Dad, their back!" Jaden exclaimed.
"Who? The Beatles? The Spice Girls? Elvis? Hitler? Who is?" His father said sarcastically.
"The ummm" Jaden didn't want to say the word, as if saying it would make this real, and not some horrible nightmare. "UNDEAD!" He finally yelled. His father made a fist with his good hand and slammed his fork into the table. His mother dropped the plate she was washing onto the floor, it shattered into hundreds of pieces. His sister, for once, shut up, clearly now was not the time to start whining and complaining because she wasn't the center of attention. But she did start to cry.
"Go get the guns." Jaden Advised.
"Whos advice is this? Yours or Sams?" His father asked with contempt.
"Dammit! Does it matter, we'd say the same thing, just get your gun!!" Jaden yelled, clearly startling everyone, he'd usually been quiet when his dad got all pissy.
His father went upstairs to grab his Wilson Combat 12G shotgun, his mother grabbed the Kar98K off the mantle in their living room, and his sister grabbed a Civilian MP5 that fired .22 rounds, noone trusted her with anything more. Jaden made a habit of leaving his stuff lying around, so he picked his DSA up from where he'd left it, against the wall. For teh next five minutes, he checked and rechecked everything on the rifle. The magazines, the receiver, the cocking mechanism. He loaded the large, curved banana magazines made in .308 for the gun, making sure every bullet would be used.
"Help yourself."
Smith nodded gratefully to Atrianna before popping his DVD into the player. "Unfortunately it's in black and white, but with the lighting it's okay..." He said as he skipped over the content of the past day, stopping right when he'd called Meyer, Mays and Rivers forward.
"Atrianna, I don't know if you want Shayla to see this or not... this is almost worse than what we saw in Chicago..." He let his voice trail off.
"This is where it gets interesting." He said, he skipped ahead a few more minutes and stopped it. "Vlad, do you recognize this building?"
Smith didn't wait for an answer. "It' the old KGB Anomalous Materials Lab, currently owned and operated by... an unknown company that the Western and a good portion of the Eastern World believes is a front for the FSB, or what the KGB became." He hit play again, showing them go through the door and the blood soaked walls.
"I'm sure this all looks familiar to you." He nodded at the screen. "In fact, I found a good amount of them in here... I have another few hours worth, but I'll give you the highlights." He skipped the video forward to when Rivers tossed the two HE Grenades down the trapdoor, and the Zombies simply walked over it in the group, not picking it up and tossing it back like the First Generation would've.
He then skipped to their decent into the facility proper, where they found human bodies strapped to machines that Smith was certain Vlad would recognize. Several IV's were pumping a liquid into them that Smith was certain was the second version of the Zombie Virus.
"We killed them all, those hooked up to the IV's, we even found an old Brute Corpse, likely smuggled out by your men after Chicago..." Smith looked at Vlad for confirmation.
"Anyway, it got even worse the deeper we went." He skipped ahead an hour, to a point that showed a corridor stretching ahead of them. "If you have nightmares easily, I'd suggest that you don't watch this sequence..." He gave the warning half-heartedly, after all, if they had nightmares easily Chicago provided enough for their own private Hell, this wouldn't add much.
He didn't need the video though, this had happened to him that morning...
"Open this goddamn door!" Smith hissed to his demolitions expert as he and the six other men in the 'squad' watched the man's back. "I don't care about how messy, just get it open!"
Without a word in response, the Demolitions Expert took a shaped charge and planted it against the door before setting it off, blowing the door inwards, exposing a clean room.
"A milliliter of the virus has amazing results." A voice said from the inside in Russian. "Imagine what we could do with a hundred milliliters in a person!"
"Idiot, remember what Major Rosokosovski did in America two years ago?" Another voice cut into the conversation.
The seven men and Smith charged into the clean room, or, rather, the clean room's air lock. "Suit up." Smith ordered the other men as he himself put on a clean suit. "Inside." He ordered. "Kill them all."
The Men walked into the Airlock and let it cycle, when it was finished they walked into the clean room and pulled their weapons on the scientists.
Before they could open fire, one of the scientists threw a hypodermic needle at one of the men and followed it up with another while the other scientist stood, rooted to the spot.
The squad -sans the two men with the hypodermic needles in them shot the two scientists before moving to help their squadmates.
The two men ripped off their clean suits in an effort to save themselves, but it only served to help them meet their end. One was changing... the other had changed.
The changed one resembled a brute of old, but it was slightly more athletic... more, jumpy. It jumped at one of the men and ripped at it before clobbering it with it's hands, bludgeoning the man to death. It leaped at the man trying to kill the one in the process of changing and bit his neck and ripped his spinal column out.
The two fully changed Brute/Jumpers moved on, tanking through the other men, absorbing bullets into them until Smith feared they were more metal than flesh. In desperation he drew his Colt and fired off every bullet he had into the head of one of the Brute/Jumpers... and it, miraculaously died.
The other one soldiered on towards him, ready to kill him, but Smith danced in close -there was no other word for it- and was able to slit it's neck fast enough with his knife that the thing had to pause. And, during that break, Smith stole one of the fallen men's AK-103's and fired off the entire clip of 30 7.62mm NATO rounds into the things head, killing it.
"While it is a jumpy image," Smith said finally after that sequence of horror. "It's still accurate, they've managed to hybridize a Brute and a Jumper from Chicago." He looked at Vlad and Atrianna. "We're in some deep **** now."
"We're in some deep **** now."
Atrianna giggled...and then burst out laughing, Shayla simply stared at her mother. "Mom...are you okay?"
Atrianna started wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. "No...I'm not! I thought we were done with this **** two years ago and now we have to fight more advanced version of them."
Atrianna stared at the group while still laughing. "I've haven't been the same since Chicago...I'be been a bit more...unstable.
Atrianna broke into giggles and turned to Shayla. "Load up the hummer hon, Mommy's going to go kill some russians...again."
Atrianna giggled again and went down into the basement to gather up the weapons she had gathered after the last attack.
Vlad stared at the screen, even after the DVD ended.
He said nothing, only collapsing onto a nearby chair and resting a hand on his forehead.
Chyort. They never learn...they never ever ever learn.
Nightmarish images flashed through his mind, as he remembered the horrible first tests that he was forced to conduct under orders of his commanding officer....
Chernobyl
April 1, 1987
Secret Test Facility
"Test 1, reanimation virus 237, subject: Alexei Bodoyovik, civilian." Vlad said into the recording device.
He looked through the glass at the tes chamber, 3 remote control machine guns had their guns trained on this 'Alexei Bodoyovik,' who was strapped to a table. IV's ran from his wrists and neck, a strange redish-purple liquid flowing through them.
"Inject first treatment of virus 237."
A hiss filled the room and more of the strange liquid was pumped into the civilian, who began to scream and writhe in the straps. The man went through a hideous transformation into a standard virus.
"Inject second treatment."
More was pumped in, everyone tensed as the ugly thing that was the civilian became brutish and huge, the straps barely containing it.
"Inject third treatment."
The creature became no larger, but the limbs slimmed about an inch, and lengthened about a foot.
"Inject fourth treatment."
And then all hell broke loose.
The brute broke the straps and the machine guns opened fire.
"KILL IT! KILL IT!! KILL IT NOW!!" Vlad shouted, taking out his small Tokarev.
The brute did an unexpected thing, it leaped, taking out the machine guns in a single strike.
No...this isn't good...
"Vent gas!!"
A green mist went in, but it didn't kill it. It suddenly looked at the observation window, looking directly at Vlad.
One of Vlad's lieutenant's grabbed him on the shoulder, "Comrade Major!! We must get you out of here!"
"Nyet!!! We kill it now!"
The brute jumper leaped and crashed through the window, aiming to tackle Vlad.
He moved quickly and lined the pistol up with it's temple and pulled the trigger, killing it but an inch from the gun. It stopped halfway and fell in front of Vlad.
Vlad was breathing frantically looking around the corpse. He relaxed, it was dead.
He looked to the Lieutenant, "Destroy all documents of this test, leave nothing that showed this test existed!! All videos, audio recordings, destroy them!"
"But Comrade Major, the Marshal would love this news!! He wants this progress!!"
Vlad glared at the Lieutenant, "No...no one would ever want this. Do as I say!!"
The Russian looked at the horribly, bloody, scene in front of him. No one, no one could ever know this took place, no one.
Present
That Lieutenant didn't do as ordered, Vlad should've done it himself.
"I thought this was over..."
Tears were gathering in his eyes, but he didn't let them out.
"I'm extremely familiar with everything you've captured on film, Smith. Do you know if the virus was deployed anywhere else? Has it been released?"
Smith sighed. "Dammit. I knew those KGB bastards wouldn't come up with this on their own." He looked down at his hands. "I don't know if it's spread, however I do know that on my way out I set some mines, C4... and a few other goodies around the area. If anybody tries to enter and misses one of them... well, they're going to discover religion pretty damn fast.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that it has been released. The facility was deserted, gutted more like, and it wouldn't take much for the virus to spead. Especially because, knowing you, you probably gave it as much cold resistance as it could have, so it's probably made it to a village or someplace in Siberia and spreading from there."
Smith looked up and fixed Vlad with a wry grin. "Does this mean that we get to nuke Siberia?"
((Chev, you alright? Your post seems a little... off...))
((Nope. Atrianna's actually a little off right now. She's in a bit of a shock right now after seeing the return of the undead in such a graphic way. I'm going to have her break down in a little bit. Vlad created the undead so I guess he was expecting them to return, Your character saw them up close and fought them...but Atrianna was a bit unprepared for the return so soon.))
Shayla watched as her mom descended down into the basement while still giggling. Wow...that's really creepy.
"Uhhhh...I'm...gonna go check on Mom...I've never seen her like this before."
Shayla carefully went down the stairs and she heard her mother humming to herself as she packed various weaponry into crates.
"Does this mean that we get to nuke Siberia?"
"Hmm...let's hope not. I did enough that myself..."
He thought a bit harder on that.
"Siberia is a very arid climate, very cold, almost inhospitable in some areas. If we're lucky, the snow would've killed enough......what matters is that the former KGB units didn't get it into gas form, or even liquid form. If that happens, then we're in some ****."
Vlad stood, "I hope Attriana is okay...."
He walked after her, heading towards the basement as well.
Smith sat down, heavily. "Gas form? Liquid form?" A pause, then: "Joder!" He got up and followed the rest of the group down the stairs.
"Vlad, what the Hell do you mean by Gas or Liquid form?" He asked, for the moment ignoring Atrianna and Shayla.
He took a quick look at Atrianna, in order to make sure she was okay -she looked a little haggard, but not as bad as she could look- before turning back to Vlad.
"Maybe I'm just too tired, God knows I'm basically running on adrenaline, but if you mean that these things change into either a liquid or a gas..." He let his voice trail off and waited for Vlad's answer.
Vlad saw Attriana, and she didn't look too good, very surprised it seemed.
He looked at her, "Attriana, you okay?"
"Maybe I'm just too tired, God knows I'm basically running on adrenaline, but if you mean that these things change into either a liquid or a gas..."
He looked at Smith, "If they have it in gas or in liquid form, then they won't need any missile transportation like the last one. The last one needed some sort of radioactive activation to get it going in a large radius. Gas or liquid form wouldn't need that, all you'd need to do would be to just drop a can of this stuff in the water system, or let loose some of the gas in the city, and boom, the city's infection begins. No big announcements, and no immediate movement to stop it, at least not until too late."
Vlad went over to a nearby sink, grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and handed it to Attriana.
"Here..this may help."
He then looked at Smith, and saw the dark cycles under his eyes.
"You know, you should really get some sleep before we move. Tired men don't fight well, even if they're on adrenaline."
Shayla crept down the stairs to find her mother standing over a crate of Tactical 12 gauges with a blank look in her eyes.
"Mom...Mom...you alright?"
Atrianna didn't answer.
"Mom...Your...ah...freaking me out here."
Atrianna didn't turn from the crate, but when she spoke she didn it in a voice that sent shivers down her daughter's spine.
"I honestly can't believe it...That those Damn fools would try to revive the project again."
"You and Uncle Vlad managed to beat them two years ago. I don't see why you can't just do it again."
Atrianna turned to her daughter and smiled faintly.
"What we did back then...is something I still have nightmares about. You weren't there Shayla...you didn't see the devestation that the virus caused...Shayla we barely managed to beat the hive back then and I have doubts that we can do it now that they've upgraded."
Atrianna turned back toward the wall of guns and began to load a few Bazooka's into a crate.
"I need you to leave now. I need to make a few calls...make a few deals...call in a few favors that the goverment owes me."
Shalya quietly went up the stairs as her mother loaded the last of the Bazooka's into the crate and then began to load another smaller crate full of grenades.
((I have taken the liberty to go back and make the corrections. My character has no special abilities, yetm and his girlfriend and her family weren't attacked by zombies, but by something else and now by making these corrections i have figured out a better way for him to gain his abilities and it make sence with the story line. So if anyone reads my later posts let me know what you think.))
Xero:
He walked down the middle of the road looking around. He had the feeling that he was being followed but every time he looked back there was no one.
"Xero....hahaha?" came a whisper of a familiar voice in his ear. He drew his sword and turned with a slash.
No one was there.
"Hello little brother." came Xero's older brother from behind him.
His older brother was an ex-soldier and a formor POW. He went crazy and killed his and Xero's parents when Xero was just a small boy. Zalden was his name. He was now 37 years old. He had escaped from a mental hospital. While in there he was diagnosed with Paraniod Schizophrenia and split personallity. He was wearing army cloths, tattered and bloody. He had mohawk styled hair and looking into his eyes you would find no soul within.
Xero tried to swing his sword at him again but Zalden grabbed his arm with one hand and picked him up by the neck with the other.
Xero dropped the sword and tried frantically to catch his breath.
"Well, well, well, i finally found you, my dearest little brother, and this is how you greet me." said Zalden with a smile that would put the Devil himself to shame.
Zalden sniffs Xero.
"Hhmm..."
"What...do you...want?" asked Xero gasping for air.
Zalden reaches into his pocket and pulls out a locket that Xero took notice to very quickly.
"Does this look familiar to you?" asked Zalden smiling again.
"You...it was you...you killed my girlfriend and her family! I'LL KILL YOU!" Yelled Xero pulling at Zalden's fingers that grasped his neck.
"Yes...me and the other EXPERIMENTS." the smile grew on his face.
"Experiments...what are you talking about?" gasped Xero again.
"You'll find out soon enough." said Zalden still smiling.
Zalden then moved Xero's coat and bit into his shoulder.
Xero let out a blood-curtling scream.
"Soon you will join me...and the other hybrid experiments." said Zalden pulling away with blood dripping from his mouth.
He then threw Xero through the window of an abandoned stored and crashed through eight food shelves and through the bathroom door. Dust hovered in the air. Xero laid in the bathroom unconcious while Zalden laughed like the loonitic he was.
Zalden picked up Xero's sword and eyed it with blood-lust. He then stabbed it in the ground showing that he had accomplished his primary mission.
"When you wake little brother, you will not be as you were before...and you WILL join me." he said.
Then he ran to meet his budies and disappeared into the night.
A smile formed on Frank's after hearing that this man knew Vlad and was going to take him there to see him.
"Why yes, that's the man. I can't thank you enough, you've done more for me than anyone I know and I don't even know your name."
Frank stopped for a second and knew he had to do something for this family. This man was doing far too much for him, he had to think of something. The only thing he could do was hope to come up with a cure and make sure this man's family got to it first. He stood up to go follow the man and saw the man's wife, Alexis out of the corner of his eye as he walked over to the man. He hadn't seen beauty like that since his wife Jenny. He shook his head as she entered his mind once more. Frank tied the scarf around his hood again looked over at the man.
"I will personally make sure you make it home to your family, even if it means my own life."
Smith smiled at Vlad. "Yeah, but it's one of those things... after what I've just seen today, compounded with..." He let his voice trail off, he'd brought up Chicago enough for one day and it appeared that Atrianna still felt the effects -god knows he did.
He snapped his fingers and his hand dived into his vest yet again and drew out a package of sedatives. Breaking one in half with a practiced ease he swallowed it and made his way up to the main floor and found a chair that looked relatively comfortable. After taking off his boots -he wasn't totally uncaring about Atrianna's house- he curled up in the chair and let his eyes flutter closed until he was able to escape from both conscious thought and dreams -an ideal combination for the moment.
The last things he heard was Shayla packing a box full of grenades and Atrianna on the phone...
Vlad nodded to Smith, seeing him get out a package of sedatives.
Hopefully nothing happens in the next 10 minutes, it'll be hard to get everyone on the move....but I doubt we have anything to worry about, yet.
He popped out his small cell phone and began dialing a number. If he was going to investigate the infection, he'd need some old friends.
Yuri Alexandrovich lugged slowly up the snow-covered hill in Northern Siberia. He had several pieces of wood over his shoulder, a thick overcoat with it's collar pulled up, and a rabbit-skin felt cap, the sides pulled down over his ears.
The burly Russian could see his breathe in the freezing air, and he was glad that he was layered. Russia's snows definately made you thankful for what you had.
He could see his home, only about 10 yards away, snow piling up against its sides. It was on a large hill, overlooking the small village in the valley below.
He made it to the wooden porch and stamped his feet hard against the strong wood, getting the snow off. He then set the wood down next to the door and walked inside the warm and welcoming inside of the cabin. Yuri took off the thick coat and hung it up, right in time to hear his cellular phone ringing.
Yuri stuck a hand in his pocket and pressed the IPhone's screen. He really enjoyed the American's tech, even if it was sometimes hard to get in this part of the Motherland.
"Da...this is Yuri Alexandrovich speaking.." He said in Russian.
A familiar voice replied back in the same language.
"Comrade, how are you doing in your retirement? Siberia get on your nerves yet?"
"Vladimir! This is quite the surprise! And I am doing well as a civilian, sleep in and eat food....Siberia is cold at times, but I find the people quite warm, kind've makes me think of Moscow. Anyway, what is new with you? Last I heard they had you cooped up in a desk in the Kremlin!"
Vlad chuckled on the other line, "Yes, that is what happened, sadly. You see what rank does to you...anyway...I need a favor."
"What? Anything for you, comrade, God knows that I owe you quite a bit!"
"Can you assemble a squad of some of the guys from the Chicago unit? We may have a recent....problem."
That made Yuri very quiet, and he didn't respond for a minute.
"You can't mean..."
"Yes...there may be some remnant of them returning...and they're not all that much better then the last."
Yuri had already broken out the codebook and began looking through the Codes for the lads from the SF.
"I'll see what I can do, Vlad, this won't take long. Good luck. We'll be ready. Talk to you later."
"Alright."
Vlad hung up, and Yuri slumped down in a nearby chair, grabbing a shot glass of Vodka and dowing it quickly.
I can't believe they're back....
He looked back at the codebook.
Then I have no time to lose... He began searching again.
Vlad stuck the phone back in his pocket and walked over to Attriana.
"I contacted some old friends...we'll have some support soon."
He looked at her again, "Are you okay, Attriana? Anything I can do to help?"
"Are you okay, Attriana? Anything I can do to help?"
Atrianna motioned for Vlad to shut up while she argued with the army official on the phone. "All right...All right...Yes I understand that their are other problems in the world! But if we don't take care of this problem there might be a world left to argue about!"
The voice on the other end of the phone stopped for a second in thought. "We can't send a full military compliment of solders with you. I'm not sure the russians would take kindly to seeing our tanks roll across the snow. We will send...four of our best solders with you. The very best in our army. I only hope that will be enough."
Atrianna nodded. "Arigato."
"Pick them up at the Airport within two hours time. I can't believe that I'm entrusting my best men to a mercenary."
Atrianna's voice went cold. "You don't really have a choice do you? We're the only hope you people have because we're unofficial. Tell your people that they are under my direct command. Good day sir."
Atrianna slammed the phone down and turned to Vlad. "I'm fine. If you want to make yourself useful go and get some of those troops you used in Chicago to come back and help us."
Atrianna picked up a box of grenades and walked up the stairs out of the basement and into the garage where the other boxs of weaponry were waiting.
"I'm fine. If you want to make yourself useful go and get some of those troops you used in Chicago to come back and help us."
Vlad raised an eyebrow, she was obviously taking the news of the virus alot harder then she was letting on. Vlad would leave it at that.
"Well, then here's some good news. I contacted Yuri, you remember him? Well, he's a civilian now, but still has remarkably good people who are still connected to much of the old unit, and more. He'll probably give me a reply soon regarding the men. Yuri always does his best, so we can practically garauntee he'll get a sizeable force ready."
He looked around the weapon-filled basement and garage.
"I've been here quite a few times, but I had no idea you kept this much weaponry down here...how could you even get it into Kyoto...I mean..legally?"
He knew that Japan's rules on weaponry could be quite tight sometimes...but that was the least important thing at the moment.
Another question came to mind.
"Also, Attriana, we'll probably be working with Sam Larson again. You made your peace with him yet? Or am I going to have to warn him to be careful of the zombies and you?"
"Well, then here's some good news. I contacted Yuri, you remember him? Well, he's a civilian now, but still has remarkably good people who are still connected to much of the old unit, and more. He'll probably give me a reply soon regarding the men. Yuri always does his best, so we can practically garauntee he'll get a sizeable force ready."
"Good. I'm going to be heading in first with the group of solders I've been given. I already have a plan and I'll tell you about it later."
"I've been here quite a few times, but I had no idea you kept this much weaponry down here...how could you even get it into Kyoto...I mean..legally?"
Atrianna finished loading a crate of heavy weaponry and the ammunition that went along with it into the back of the hummer.
"I'm one of the heros who managed to keep the zombie's from attacking Japan. I'm allowed a few necessities once in a while."
"Also, Attriana, we'll probably be working with Sam Larson again. You made your peace with him yet? Or am I going to have to warn him to be careful of the zombies and you?"
Atrianna finally turned to Vlad and gave him a predatory look that resembled a cat stalking a mouse. "Tell him that if I see him...He gets a five second head start before I start blasting. No more mercy...No more compassion. Next time, all gloves are off."
Atrianna finally finished loading the last of the weaponry into the back of the hummer. "I'm supposed to go and pick up some Kyoto military personel who are going to assist me in a recon of the area."
Atrianna raised her hand.
"And before you say anything, Vlad you can't come along on this one. The general was very strict on that. He doesn't want any possibility of the main goverment of russian alerted to the fact that we're dropping a Hummer with four Japanese military personel and a hyped up Mercenary into russian territory. Sorry Vlad, but that's how these things work sometime. He said that after the recon is done your solders will be free to move in."
Atrianna slammed the back door of the hummer down and walked back into the house.
Vlad raised his hands in submission.
"Fine I won't come along. I'll just stay here and raid the cellar....you know, if I weren't so awesome, I'd think the Japanese Armed Forces don't like me."
He chuckled afterward, just trying to show that he meant it as a joke. Hopefully, it would lighten the situation...everyone, not just Attriana, were a mite darker ever since the news.
"Just keep me informed of the plan, I don't want you trying anything too drastic in the Motherland. We're not always so forgiving."
He left the room and went over to the living room couch, sitting down and sighing, he needed to think on what was going to happen.
Maybe we're lucky...we could've caught the virus in an early stage..or..maybe Smith killed it with the destruction of the KGB test facility....but we need to be sure.
He shook his head and leaned back on the couch, hearing it crack a little as he did so. There was probably a reason the Japanese choose the ground over western furniture.
"Fine I won't come along. I'll just stay here and raid the cellar....you know, if I weren't so awesome, I'd think the Japanese Armed Forces don't like me."
"Vlad...a group of your men unloaded automatic weaponry in one of their streets two years ago at what appeared to be Russian officers. I think they have a right to be slightly suspicious."
"Just keep me informed of the plan, I don't want you trying anything too drastic in the Motherland. We're not always so forgiving."
"No promises."
Atrianna started up the vehicle and backed out of the driveway and then turned toward the airport where her squad was going to be disembarking soon.
Shayla watched her mom leave through the window. She hadn't even told her where she was going.
Later
Atrianna pulled up to the airport and eyed the four military personel that were waiting on the edge of the street. They were all women who stared at the Hummer as it pulled up.
Atrianna pulled open the door and stood in front of them. All four of them saluted her.
"Greetings. My name is Atrianna and I will be your commanding officer on this mission. Although I am no longer an official member of any military I am one of the few so called experts that we have on this threat. I'm not going to lie to you, this threat is unlike anything you have faced before and you will not likely face anything like it again. This...enemy is powerful and nearly brought the United states to it's knees two years ago and it has now returned."
The women all stared straight ahead.
"I want your names, rank and what skills that you feel you are most qualified at."
"Private Setera. I'm an extremley talented Sniper Ma'm. I can pick a fly off a wall at thirty meters ma'm.
"First Lieutenant Baroka. I'm an expert scout Ma'm. I have seen combat over thrity times in the last five years Ma'm.
"First Lieutenant Majoka. Demolitions expert. I always travel with a small compliment of explosives in my travel pack."
"First Lieutenant Tarja. Weapons expert. I lost my two cousins at the hands of this threat two years ago."
"Did they happen to be named Lee and Leen?"
"...Yes Ma'm. If I may ask, how did you know Ma'm?"
Atrianna smiled briefly. "The two of them used to look after my daughter when I went out on jobs. They would check in on her from time to time. I'm sorry for your loss. I promise you...you will be able to get even for losing them...they were good friends of mine."
Tarja nodded and her knuckles began to flex.
"Lets go ladies. We'll have more time to get aquanted after we get to Siberia."
The women nodded and piled into the vehicle. Atrianna smirked. This could end up being fun.
Xero:
After being unconcious for some time he slowly awakened. For a moment everything was blurry but it cleared up fairly quick.
"W-what...happened." he asked himself.
He tried to stand up but feel back to the floor with a loud grunt. His leg was dislocated. He pulled off is belt as fast as he could, bit down on it, and popped his leg back into place and he grunted loudly though it was muffled by the belt.
He forced himself to stand up; swaying from side to side he limped over to his sword that was stabbed into the ground. The bite wound had stopped bleeding. He picked up, his sheath which he had also dropped when he encountered Zalden. He adjusted the sheath on his back that was most comfortable for him and didn't irritate the wound.
He walked down the road and entered a subdivision of homes hoping that someone would see that he was injured and offered some kind of assistance.
(sorry, a wekend at my uncles house entails lots of video games, not internet checking.)
Five hours ago, Sam had stepped into an airport, bought two coach class airplane tickets, and was heading to Kyoto. Now, he was there.
"Hmmm, it seems that not alot has changed. Listen, doctor, I'll call a taxi, you stay here, no running or jumping off, you hear?" Sam asked his companion. He took his silence as a yes and loaded his trunks, full of a few weapons, into the back of the taxi. Five minutes later, they arrived at Attrianna's house. It appeared teh Hummer was there.
"Doc, get in, talk to Vlad, get out, I've no welcome hear. If you see a women with white hair, stay on her good side. She'll blow you away sooner than you can blink, and for no probable reason." Sam explained, all the while, he was loading his P90 and his Desert Eagle. If attrianna came out, at least he wouldn't be caught off guard. "Tell her, if you see her, that you need to see Vlad, and if she won't budge, tell her Sam's out side waiting."
((Uh...I'm not at the house anymore. Shayla is though. :devsmoke: I can have her try to kill you if thats what you want. :D))
((ok try to, or actualy succeed? lol, i'm not ready to die yet but it would seem realistic enough if she thought i was infected and yes try to kill me.))
((I was talking to Jedi_man. If you read the previous installment of the series you'd know that Atrianna and Sam have...colorful history of trying to kill one another.))
Shayla watched as the car pulled up and the men walked out. She narrowed her eyes at one man in particular.
Is that Sam Larson? Didn't Mom say he was supposed to be shot on sight if he showed up around here? Meh. He did shoot mom back in Chicago so I guess it's justified.
"Uncle Vlad! We have visitors..."
Shayla pulled her own personal Tactical 12 gauge out from the gun cabinet and pulled open the door and walked out with a grim look on her face.
"I thought Mom said you weren't supposed to show your face around her house at any time. She left you alone...your supposed to show the same decency to her."
Shayla leaned on the rifle and stared directly at Larson.
"Uncle Vlad! We have visitors..."
He stood from the couch and checked his sidearm, a habit he picked up over the years.
'Visitors?"
He walked calmly over to the front door, where Shayla stood, shotgun at the ready.
Vlad then saw the visitors. One was Sam Larson, who seemed to have matured a little, and another that Vlad did not recognize.
He motioned for Shayla to lower the shotgun, there'd be enough bloodshed as it is.
"Sam Larson, it's amazing how quick you can get around. How long was it..a few hours or so since your last call? Hmm, anyways, come in. How are you doing? The family?"
Vlad waved to the inside trying to relieve the situation by being friendly, which was slightly difficult to do, being int he home of someone who had a grudge against Sam.
"And...who is this with you? Is he assisting us in the current situation?"
Frank just nodded his head as he listened to Sam. He had finally made it and the first thing he saw was a girl point a shotgun at Sam. He then saw a man open the door wider and let them in...it was him. Frank looked around the room and stared at Vlad.
"And...who is this with you? Is he assisting us in the current situation?"
Frank removed the scarf around his face and let it hand on his neck.
"You really don't remember me? My name is Frank Wilson, I worked with you in creating what now haunts all of us. I was gunned down by your men after I found out what we were doing and became what you would call the first human/zombie hybrid. I was also dubbed Experiment Alpha after I was found to have the virus in me. Does that ring a bell?"
He looked over at the girl with a shotgun.
"I assure you I mean you all no harm I just want to be normal again."
Vlad saw the man remove the scarf, and suddenly he recognized him.
"Yes...now I remember you. The only American scientist on the project. Yeah...Frank Wilson. It's been awhile indeed. No offence intended, but I must say I'm absolutley surprised that you are not dead yet. You get the virus, you're made an experiment, we shot you, and you survive. It's an interesting turn of events."
He sighed and began to walk inside, "We can speak more openly inside. What is it exactly that you're infected with now?"
"Sam Larson, it's amazing how quick you can get around. How long was it..a few hours or so since your last call? Hmm, anyways, come in. How are you doing? The family?"
Shayla raised one of her eyebrows in confusion. Uncle Vlad had been talking to this...idiot before?
'First of all...Mom said that idiot isn't allowed in her house at any time. Second of all...you know this idiot Uncle Vlad?"
"I've heard quite a bit about you Larson. How you shot my mother in Chicago...How you attempted to take control of the mission a few times...how you detonated the nuke without warning and nearly managed to get her killed."
Shayla's voice kept getting quieter and quieter and she recounted the history between the two of them. "She also said...that you were supposed to die the second she saw you again. But I don't think she'll mind if I take you out instead."
Shayla's trigger finger kept twitching as she stared at Larson.
"I assure you I mean you all no harm I just want to be normal again."
"You can go in if you want to. If you want something to eat help yourself."
"You can go in if you want to. If you want something to eat help yourself."
"Thank you miss, you are very kind." Frank said to the girl being polite.
If this was the daughter of this Merc he heard so much from Sam than he wanted to get on the good side.
"I'll try not to be too long." Frank announced to both Sam and the girl.
He stepped inside and followed Vlad in.
"What is it exactly that you're infected with now?"
Frank stood there for a second. He had a theory on how his claws worked and stuck to it. He thought about the abuse he was given when experimented on. He felt some rage take him over but not enough for him to lose it. Within seconds from the forearm down to his hands turned into these claw things. The claws themselves were black with streaks of red. His forearms had spikes on them that stopped just short of the hands. He exhaled and the claws turned back into his arms again.
"How's that for starters?"
"How's that for starters?"
Smith groaned as he sat up in the chair he'd curled up in, his back creaking in protest. He looked down at his watch, five hours, he could work with that. He slowly got out of the chair and worked some feeling other than pins and needles into his arms as he stumbled towards the kitchen, and water.
He made it to the sink before realizing that he didn't have a damn clue about where Atrianna kept her cups. Not wishing to spend valuable time searching for cups he simply turned on the tap and cupped his hands to hold the water. After splashing his face several times to wake himself up fully, he drank the last handful and shut off the tap. He dried his hands with a dishtowel and walked into the main entry way where he saw Vlad talking to a man he'd never met nor seen before and Shayla holding a twelve-gauge on Larson.
Smith raised his hand in greeting to Larson before making his way over to where Shayla and Larson were about ready to kill each other... or, at least, Shayla was.
"Larson," he said dryly. "I imagine that holstering the Deagle and the P-90 would go a long ways towards helping your relationship with Shayla here... walking into other people's homes without an invite is generally rude, doing it while armed is doubly so."
Xero:
Xero limps down the streets of the subdivision. Most, if not, all, the houses had their lights off. He didn't know who to go to. He was so alone.
He leaned against a brick mailbox and fell into a deep sleep. after the abuse he has taken in the past few hours, he was exhausted.
He hoped that this was all just a bad dream and that when he opened his eyes it would all be over and he would be back at the hotel with his girlfriend and her family. He only hoped.
"So, Shayla, your moms not home, hmm? Shame. Bet she never told you the true story. Yeah, I tried to hijack the mission, once. Yeah, I got Shot by your mom, right here" Sam said, pointing to the spot where Attrianna had shot him." Yeah, I saved your mom's butt several times, including when she thought I shot her, Even though I took aim next to her and killed one of the undead, But I'll be damned if you think I set off the nuke! Why would I set off the nuke when we were still in range? Check the phone records, My cell phone was there, where the nuke was, Alexis' cellphone never made the call, It was a fluke of nature. You want to shoot me? Go ahead, see if I can''t pull the trigger the same moment and take you down with me!" Sam said, his own trigger finger itching, for reasons unknown to him. He'd never had a fleeting thought about harming attrianna after the war, and most definitely not her daughter. But if she is willing, lets call it self-defence. Sam thought, waiting for Shayla's finger to make the sign of pulling...
. . . . . .
Jaden looked outside the window, making sure nothing was about to come up and try taking the door down.
"Jaden, anything out there?" His father asked.
"Nothing 'cept for a breeze swayin' the corn." Jaden answered in his non-natural country drawl. It usually lightened the mood, except for today.
"What's that then, oh great one?" His father asked in a sarcastic tone.
Jaden looked out the window again. Just Brad, there helper on the farm. But he was surrounded by the undead.
Jaden ignored all sense, he stepped outside and shot a few of the undead.
"Run Brad! RUN!!!" He yelled as Brad made his way towards his small cottage like house. All the zombies turned to Jaden, obviously attracted to the sound.
Atrianna watched through the window as the cargo plane took off from the runway.
Never thought I'd be on one of these things again...Don't really like them.
She turned back and observed her solders. This time they were her solders. Woman under her command.
"So...I've noticed that your all low rank...Why is that?"
Baroka snorted. "What do you expect? It's a man's military. No matter how good we are, some people just don't want us there. But we serve nontheless."
Tarja nodded slowly. "People always expect us to be the frail ones...the ones who are the first to run when the bullets start flying...that is a lie. I once saw my commanding officer run while a handful of us stayed behind to drive the enemy back. We deserve the promotions that the men are given."
Setera laughed. "I sometimes wish I had become a Mercenary. At least then we would be afforded respect from the people who hire us at least."
Atrianna nodded. "It is pretty fun work. You get to travel a lot...See brand new people, course most of them are trying to kill you most of the time. And you get to try a bunch of new food."
Majoka nodded. "Perhaps we should think of a career change once we are done with this. Assuming we live through it."
"Don't worry...I fought this threat once before. I'm sure we can fight it again. We'll be fine...we just need to make sure our bodies are fully covered so they can't infect us."
Atrianna looked at the hummer that they had equiped with parachutes in case the plan was shot down over Siberia.
"We've got fifteen hours before we get there. We'll have to find a way to pass the time. Anyone have any war stories?"
Kyoto
"Go ahead, see if I can''t pull the trigger the same moment and take you down with me!"
Shayla grinned.
"You shoot me, I'm pretty sure Uncle Vlad'll take you out before you have a chance to take another breath. While you are here, you are not allowed to set foot in the house, you are not allowed to touch the house, you are not allowed to take any firearms at all. All fire arms are to be holstered at all times."
Shayla moved back and locked the only door into the house and shoved the key down her shirt.
Shayla holstered the 12 gauge and stood next to Vlad.
Sam sighed, he'd been afraid that maybe she would've taken him up on the offer. He knew if he laid a finger on Attrianna's daughter, she'd stop being passive and hunt him until either one of them was dead.
He slung his P90 over his shoulder and stepped into the cabby.
"Driver, take me back to the airport, then return here and wait until my friend is done. There's $300 in it for you." Sam offered, and the driver accepted all too eargerly. Five minutes later they were at the airport and Sam was on a flight to Russia, more than likely were Attrianna was headed.
15000 feet in the air later...
Hello She-merc, nice to see you again, I've been waiting for this for a long time.
Sam pulled out his gun and fired a shot into Attrianna's leg, blowing it off due to the hollow point round in it. He smiled.
You know, you should've killed me when you had the chance, Next its your daughter, then its oyur family what is left of them. I wish you could last to see it, but my luck would tell me you'd break out and kill me before I got back to you, so, I'll have my fun and finish you off, now.
Sam slowly inserted his kabar under her fingernails, until they popped off, and then he slowly carved up her body, until all that remained was her head, he laughed joyfully and-
"Sh**!!" Sam exclaimed as he sat up in the airplane. He'd never even had a nightmare like that before, what brought this on?
Probably something to with the similarity of the old times, maybe the food I ate before dozing off. I mean, Sh** man!
"Passengers, we'll be arriving at Siberia-Trans airport #123 ( Couldn't think of a city), have a nice day!" The woman said over the intercom.
Sam breezed through the airport, he had a get through the security free card, no need to check his bags and what crap. Once out, he high-tailed it to the rental company, he'd need some wheels and fast.
Applause erupted throughout the stage, and Aiden was growing steadily nervous behind the curtain. Eve poked him. He turned to her, giving her a look.
I don't see Sam.
"Stop looking for him, I'm sure he's there somewhere," she said calmly.
"Right. Sorry. But, this is it, right? This is going to be awesome."
"Yes, it is," and with that she put her arms around him and kissed him, which she had never done before. It was time to go out on stage.
Aiden walked quickly out with his electric guitar, and took the mike. People were cheering, and the thrill suddenly resounded through him. This was it. He couldn't miss the moment.
"Hey, guys, how are you doing tonight? Aw, heck, let's just play the music. Now, let's see a zombie do this!" And with that, he cued the drums. But they never came.
Instead the entire back wall of the concert hall imploded, and hundreds of figures began to flood through.
Zombies.
Hundreds of zombies.
"How's that for starters?"
Vlad watched the strange alien-like claws contract and retract in Wilson's body.
He took a step closer.
"That's..........a first."
He'd never seen any mutation like this before. The undead only advanced in intellect, strength, and skill, but never completely changed.
And once they were declared dead, they didn't always come back, like this Wilson did.
"You want me to cure this? This will take time, alot of it. I'll be honest on that."
He then watched Shayla and Sam engage in a bit of verbal combat. And he had to admit, Shayla handled Sam pretty well, and it seemed he was a bit riled from it.
She stood next to him, and he gave her a quick nod, a silent 'good jobs.'
"I'd say you gave Sam quite the verbal judo match..."
He chuckled and watched as Sam stepped out the door.
((Your post doesn't make a lot of sense Jedi_man. How can you already be at Siberia when I'm not out of the states yet?)
Atrianna's plane was almost out of the United States when the pilot came came back and interupted the conversation with a nervous glance. "Ma'm. You were asked to be informed of any undead threats. it appears that a...concert of all things is under heavy attack by undead forces one mile from our position."
Aiden...It can't be Aiden can it?
"Prepare to take the plane down one mile from the position of the attack. When I tell you, open the cargo bay doors and prepare to drop the hummer...wait. What else are we carrying?"
"One Tank Ma'm. It was supposed to be delivered to one of the general's contacts in russia."
Atrianna grinned as an idea began to take shape in her mind...a very explosive idea. "I don't think he'd mind if we 'borrowed' the tank for a short while. Majoka, load it with some of the spare explosives and then send it down on a delayed timer. If it's Aiden, I think he'll know who sent him help."
Atrianna grabbed one of the small rocks that littered the cargo bay and wrote a short note and then attached it to the rock.
Aiden. If your reading this, then there will be a very explosve suprise heading for the undead. I'd run like hell if I were you.
Love, Atrianna.
Atrianna threw it out the cargo bay door and watched as it dropped through the air. The plane came around for another pass a few minutes later and then she and her troops pushed the tank out.
That is really gonna hurt if he's around when it goes off.
Larson walked out the door, disgusted. Smith clapped, not the racious, annoying laughter that was considered 'normal' clapping, but a polite Golf clap. "Handled him like a pro." He said, "bravo-zulu to the fifteenth power." He said, still smiling.
He looked at this Doctor Wilson before his professional curiousity overtook him. "So," he said, walking towards the man/zombie. "Where'd you study for your doctorate? I was able to get in at the Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota... you?"
Xero:
Xero peeks through the door of his father's lab and listens in to the coversation between his father and his scientist.
"Sir, do you think the exo-suit will be ready for him?"
"I don't know, my son hasn't always been involved in what we do, but this suit should keep him safe from his older brother if ever he breaks out of the institute."
"What makes you think he will?"
"No amount of bars or doors can keep him locked up for too long. Even as a todler, when my wife and I would put him on "time out" in his room he would find a way to escape. DO not waste anymore time, finish the suit...that's an order."
"As you wish sir, what would you have us call it?"
Call it, "Project: Black Wolf."
"Very good sir."
Xero jerks out of his sleep. He wondered what time it was and how long he had been out. It was still night time but he assumed that it was somewhere close to morning. The suit...my father made a suit for me? "Project Black Wolf"
Xero jumped up quickly.
"I have to get that suit." he said to himself.
"But how do i contact...of course!"
He began to run back into the city. He had remembered that he had a radio phone in the trunk of his girlfriend's car. He ran as fast as he could. He pasted the building he was thrown into and passed the grocery store.
Within the hour hemade it to the car to the car. It was partially torn apart. he had hoped that the radio phone was still intact and more importantly whether he could get signal. he tried to open the trunk with the lever but it was jammed and out of anger he broke it off.
He went around to the back of the car and wedged his sword and popped the trunk off and retrieved the radio.
"I don't know how i did that but I'm glad i did it." he said.
He turned the dials on the radio but wasnt getting a good signal.
"No...signal...hmm....i need to get to higher ground. I remember seeing a cliff at the coast when we were making port. i'll head over there and try to get signal." he said and began running in the direction that he sought best.
"You want me to cure this? This will take time, alot of it. I'll be honest on that."
"Thank you Vlad, I'm willing to wait and help you however I can."
Wilsom turned his head to see that Sam had left with the taxi driver. Whoever lived here really didn't like him. Frank turned back to see a new face approach him.
"Where'd you study for your doctorate? I was able to get in at the Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota... you?"
Frank was happy to answer this question for once.
"Well I wasn't in the best shape money wise back then so I went to a community college for two years. I had the highest grades in my class and was able to transfer to a college in Europe. I got my degree in both medicine and science there and I lived there for a few more years. I'd rather not continue my biography as it goes very rapidly downhill from there."
"Well I wasn't in the best shape money wise back then so I went to a community college for two years. I had the highest grades in my class and was able to transfer to a college in Europe. I got my degree in both medicine and science there and I lived there for a few more years. I'd rather not continue my biography as it goes very rapidly downhill from there."
Smith nodded knowingly. "Ah, yeah, I can see where that would be an issue." He reached into his holster and gripped his .45 for a degree of comfort -a habit that hadn't left him since Chicago- before jerking it away, as if the gun physically burned his hand.
"Vlad," he called. "Somehow I get the feeling that Larson's done something stupid... like try to get to Siberia stupid." He grinned ruefully. "And, somehow I get the impression that we're going to have to bail his ass." He looked at Shayla and this Doctor Wilson. "However, I don't know about bringing along Shayla and Doc Wilson... Hell, I don't even know if we should bail him out....
"Any thoughts of yours would be handy right now."
"Thank you Vlad, I'm willing to wait and help you however I can."
He nodded back, saying, "Well, I'll try my best....it's extremely rare to get a side effect such as...what you have."
"Somehow I get the feeling that Larson's done something stupid...like try to get to Siberia stupid. And, somehow I get the impression that we're going to have to bail his ass. However, I don't know about bringing along Shayla and Doc Wilson... Hell, I don't even know if we should bail him out....Any thoughts of yours would be handy right now."
"Well, Smith, I think you're right...but Larson might be just fine, he'll just get into a fight he can't handle and his wits will come back to him, and he'll be running back to us for help...doesn't mean we shouldn't help him, we've lost enough to the virus.....I think we should ask Attriana if Shayla could come along, and Wilson is definately coming along, if I'm going to find a cure for the problem...."
He sighed, "Those are my thoughts at the moment, we should also wait for word from Attriana, she never really told us where she was going, or what she was doing."
"Those are my thoughts at the moment, we should also wait for word from Attriana, she never really told us where she was going, or what she was doing."
Smith grinned. "Remind you of your time in the service? Hurry up and wait!" He sighed a little. "What I'd have given if not only I was awake for Atrianna's leaving, but if she told us something as opposed to running off like she does. And, true, Larson usually comes to his senses as soon as he realizes he's out-numbered."
Smith allowed his smile to broaden. "Do you ever get the feeling that if we were to meet without a crisis that the Universe would collapse? By we, I mean the whole 'group', damn, would be nice to be able to just talk to everybody over a coffee or beer as opposed to fighting for one's life... it kind of looses the appeal after several times."
Wilsom decided to start making small talk with the group and start asking some questions. He spoke up when Smith stopped talking.
"My thoughts on that would be that all of us at a coffehouse has sitcom written all over it. So exactly why are Sam and Attriana always at each others throats. It doesn't seem write to fight one another when zombies are on the loose."
Staring in horror for only a second, and then remembering the way out of the building, Aiden headed backstage and through the hallways until he reached the studio and exited the building. What he saw horrified him.
There were hordes of zombies in the distance, and some of them had already gotten to some of the buildings ahead of Aiden. There was no way this a coincidence. There had to be more hordes than this one. Which meant something dangerous indeed.
New York City was being invaded. It made no sense. They came out of nowhere. So the hordes in the distance were probably New Yorkers themselves.
Maybe someone had nuked the US again, only this time aiming for the largest populated city. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
A hand touched his shoulder, and he flinched. He had forgotten all about Eve.
"What do we do?" she asked hesitantly.
Despite her resolve, it was obviously taking all of her strength to keep from breaking down.
"We...."
A rock dropped nearby. Quite a strange occurrence on its own, but the rock also had a note attached to it.
Aiden grabbed Eve's hand and ran like hell, looking for some method of transportation. And, at the same time, he did something which seemed perfectly sensible to him. He and Eve had tried it once, but it took a lot of willpower to do, and the connection didn't last for long.
Atrianna, pick me up at the front door of the concert hall.
Atrianna winced as she heard the shockwave from the explosive shockwave the tank had caused when it blew up.
Ouch.
"Take us down. Put us down in a clear spot so we can set up a defense line against the infected."
The pilot nodded and the plane began to descend