State of Decay: Beginnings.

The assault on Chicago

I crunched the zombies head, smashing his skull with my heel, raised my gun at the oncoming horde and let rip. Body parts, blood and brain matter sprayed my vizor and I wiped it clean with the sleeve of my BDU. A mod, a civilian car modified for combat, smashed into the group of zombies. The mod was a yellow cab with the back of the roof ripped off, in place of a .30 machine gun. The sides were covered in steel plates, barbed wire wrapped around the side and zombie heads were placed haphazardly on the wire. A freshly turned soldier grabbed his former teammate and ripped flesh from his neck. The man on the .30 blasted heavy duty rounds into the hundreds of shambling corpses. But he couldn't attack all over, and a medium sized herd snatched him off. Zombies on all sides grabbed limbs and handfuls of his flesh and pulled, ripping the unfortunate soul in two. I shot three zeds the were going for the driver, giving him enough time to j-turn and smack a zombie into a wall. He punched his fist in triumph, shouting the classic "Hoorah!"

I sighted a few zombies climbing onto a MK23 troop transport, and picked them off, three round bursts peppering their bodies, taking out chunks of flesh. One of the zeds got into the troop hold and I heard gunshots, but they might of been the the squad of reserves fighting back to back behind me. I chipped in, letting off a couple of blasts, but one man was caught by a stray bullet and went down screaming. Zeds saw the opening and broke the tiny ring of desperate trapped soldiers. I finished a dying man off with a headshot, and a few turned in seconds from the multiple bites. The freshly turned are faster. I drop my rifle on the click of an empty mag and yanked out my Berreta. I let out a few shots, catching one on the jaw and spinning him onto his butt. A zed leaped at me, and I triple tapped him out of the air. I emptied the last of my clip at a zed with it's lower jaw missing, and it's tongue waggling as it roared a guttural roar. "Adams! Get your ass out of the line of fire, right now!" My squad leader yelled at me, and over the din, he was quiet as a mouse. I spun, and sprinted to the sand bag fortress, our word for the temp shelter. I dropped my pack on the way and dived through the door. I screamed the whole way, as clammy, undead hands reached for me. As the door slammed shut behind me, the air suddenly filled with the acrid smoke of gunfire. Amid the zombies were looters, the idiots in stores, fighting off an unending assault of living corpses. "Adams, what the hell are you doing out there?" My squad leader, Hale, had gone a fetching shade of red at my foolishness. "I saw a chance to save a civ, sir. SITREP?"

He blustered. "No! No, you will not get a SITREP until you explain why you thought one civilian was enough to compromise the integrity of this situation." I remained silent. "Well? What was so special about this situation?"

"It was a pregnant woman. Sir." I added in with malice. "She didn't make it. I was too late."

His hard features softened up, showing a little compassion. "The situation is FUBAR. We just got retreat orders. FALL BACK!" He shouted to the bunker. The back door, an opening which led to the office which the sand bag fortress was joined to. Suddenly, the front wall, which had two .30s blasting away on it, collapsed. A pile of zombies swarmed the first .30 and zeds climbed over the writhing bodies and took down the second gunner, ripping off his helmet and crunching into his skull. He screamed, but his throat was in two pieces, so all that came out was a strangled gargle. A bubble of air formed in his windpipe and popped, showering my vizor with blood. I screamed and yanked the door open, running through the lobby with my sergeant and a few sprinting soldiers. The ravenous horde were chasing us, hunger leading them on. What was terrifying was that although they roared in what seemed like pain or anger, their cold, blank, unblinking stare never wavered.

I bolted up a collapsed section of flooring, which served as our exit if things got too heavy. As I made it to the top, I saw a soldier with a sledgehammer raising it above his head. I glanced down, at the last few straggler, trying to make it up the slope. "No!" I yelled, grabbing his leg.

He swung down anyway, smashing the floor, dooming the last few. I reached out to a soldier whose name I forgot and he grabbed my hand, trying to pull himself up. But zeds were biting his legs and I could see him, in pain, but falling into unconsciousness. His eyes rolled into his skull, and I let him go, watching him fall, but pulling away as he hit the ground.

We ran up some more stairs, until we hit the top floor, where we lay on our backs, panting from the extortion. Hale looked around. I did a quick head count, counting five. Me, Hale and some other guys. I was the only woman there.

"Ok, zeke ain't too smart, but they sure are persistent. So, take up positions in the door way and fire exit. Adams, take this c4 and place it on the walls. If we go, they go with us."

A skinny kid with glasses, the big, thick kind, with a plaster on the nose, broke down into tears.

"I can't...I can't do it. They're too human... I can't do it."

Hale looked at him seriously. "Are you deserting?"

He nodded, reluctantly. Hale turned, walked to the door of the large office space, turned back, on his heel and shot him right between the eyes. A huge spray of blood splattered the wall, like an action painting. "No room for deserters. Anyone else?" He glared around the room, as if daring someone to nod.

"Positions, now! Adams, where the hell is your gun??"

I shrugged."Ran out of ammo. Didn't wanna carry a ten pound gun up sixteen flights of stairs. So, I don't have one."

He groaned. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his G11. A miracle of a gun.

I took the gun and checked ammo. Only eighteen shots.

Suddenly, I heard a moan. Gunshots rang out and a crowd of zombies pushed through the door. The soldier kneeling there died, from being crushed or from bites. I didn't see. Hale fought bravely, gunning down a big one and pushing a zombie that was missing an arm into the crowd. I let off a few shots, covering him. A zed bit him on the neck, and he went down fighting, gun in one hand, grenade in the other. He lobbed the explosive through the door and it went off, sending a shower of body parts and zombies through.

I raised the detonator and shot another zed. As I swung around to finish off a zombie, one bit me on my leg. At first, it was painless. Then, I screamed as the fire coursed through my veins.

I collapsed, zombies biting me all over. As I slipped into unconsciousness, I pulled the plunger on the detonator, and the world exploded around me.