War: A Business

Chapter 49: Dead Zone

   We landed on a base. Soldiers with violet armbands grabbed Q's corpse and placed it on a stretcher. I walked out of the dropship.

  One of the soldiers guided us to a building. We walked down a corridor then we turned left on a dark room, lighted by a single window letting the sunlight in.

  A plastic table with an Holo screen on top and a foldable chair with it is on the center of the room.A hologram of Madame's face appeared on the Holo screen.

"Greetings, Blue." Madame greeted. "Sit down."

  I did what she said.

"The operation is complete. With a one casualty." Madame announced. 

"Why the fuck did the dropship didnt have any first aid kits?" I lashed out." I thought you are the best of the best! A simple first aid kit would be enough."

"The transport was leaving in a hurry." She answered." The dropship was recently used for a mission. The idiots at the airstrip must have forgotten to resupply the cabinets."

I clenched my fists so hard that my knuckles popped.

"I know how it feels to lose a fellow comrade. Agent Fulcrum took a bullet for me back in 2040, when I was rescuing orphans at London. He was, precious to me." she recalled. "I drank and smoked away, causing my kidneys and lungs replaced with artificial ones, until the pain of losing lessened. Still, I was devastated. When the passage of time came, the pain became a scar of grief." she added. "Ja- I mean, Blue, time heals the scars of grief. There is always hope. Keep doing what you are doing." she advised.

"I have many losses." I replied, depressed. "I wish I have died in the battlefield." I added.

"I know, that is not the reason to give up." she replied. "You can now find your grandpa, report back to me. His last coordinates is in the Russian Dead Zone. Tread with caution, even if the radiation is gone, there are still mutants in the area, with the combination of those affected with the weaponized virus during WW3, Blood Luster. Good luck, new weapons are in the dropship." she announced.

   The hologram faded.I walked out of the room and got outside the building.
I entered the open dropship, and I sat on the chairs.

"This is Peacock, ready to take off!" the pilot announced.

  We hovered and accelerated forward to the sky.

"This is Peacock! Gaining altitude!" The pilot announced on the radio.

   The doors automatically closed. I pulled the E-cigar off my pocket. I looked at the weapons displayed at the side. I grabbed the assault laser and the silenced sawed off semi-auto shotgun at the corner, with extra 30-round mags and a flashlight. I wore them on my vest.

  I lighted the cigar with a flick of a switch.Time seemingly sped up. It lessens the pain. In no time, it was noon. I looked at the windows.

  The landscape is quite green for a wasteland. I always thought that a wasteland is similar to a desert, in a way.

   Abandoned buildings dotted the grasslands. Mutants shambled amidst the tall grass, thankfully far away from me. We hovered above the ground. I jumped out of the dropship. The dropship hovered, leaving me behind.

  I walked to the coordinates Madame sent me. I walked into the forest. The canopy made the sunlight harder to reach the ground.

  I tread carefully, unsure of the dangers at the Dead Zone. This is the first time that I ever been in one. I was informed that this is one of the few places in the Zone that has not been affected by deadly doses of radiation.