A quick and relatively streamlined fix, Teleporter Z-A was back up and running.
As Takeo rounded the corner to sweep the generator room, the scientists were finishing packing away equipment, ready to move on to the next pad.
Both silently walked past, Chloe giving a courteous nod to the older man on watch duty who had noticed she had gained her weapons back and disposed of the stained hospital gown over-top her clothes.
Through the halls of the animal testing laboratories and climbing the curved staircase up to the joining walkway, the crunching of gravel under boots could be heard below as the men set about prepping for the remnants of the evening and subsequent morning.
Military, she thought, always so prepared like the righteous little soldiers they are.
Though she found it unusual that such a force working against them would continue in pursuit of attacking. Then again, in terms of the supposed enemy's intelligence, it was severely lacking in more than one department. Acting as a single group with a basic directive rather than individuals achieving a larger goal - which one could say means the same thing, but loose terms for generalised arguments seemed the right way to explain it to herself.
In other words, the undead's lack of teamwork and tactics made them vulnerable enough to the point where a small group with limited teamwork could beat them. She almost felt pity for the poor drones.
As they crossed over into Teleporter room Z-B with the Matter Transference laying on the floor ready to be assembled, the air seemed slightly more upbeat. She was finally going home after all, where she would be free to do whatever she wanted.
Though maybe it was the vapours from the cooling fluid situated in the large vats either side having some adverse effects.
She set herself to work immediately, keeping a close eye on Richtofen as he referred to the modified image and added notes.
The Doctor, though exceptionally competent in his abilities, found himself continually questioning some of the design choices that Chloe had stressed were important for the machine to function effectively. Needless to say, he was struggling with adjusting his perfected design to match her modifications when not caught up in his own questioning of the reference material.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Takeo watched the two scientists make their way past and out of the room.
The teleporter at Z-A was now back together, blithely pulsating with its blue light. Humming quietly above the generator.
Earlier on watch, Dempsey had noted something - A distant giggling was heard when he went to get a bottle from the Juggernog machine nearby. And now Takeo, on his watch duty, was investigating if these strange phenomena were still around.
Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, at least not that he knew of. Checking the room to the right of the generator obviously for any lingering undead presence, his guard was up and ready to silence any that dared appear. He checked down the corridor leading to more of the facility's laboratories. There was nothing as he made his way down, meticulously checking the unlocked rooms before double-checking as he made his way back up.
Good.
Nothing to disturb them for the rest of the night.
Then he heard it.
The sound of a small child, laughing in the distance.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Chloe, reflecting on her earlier interactions, the Doctor seemed to prefer being the one to ask questions rather than to answer them.
Glancing from her current part-reconstruction, she found her curiosity leading to the man in question.
He picked up on her almost instantly, glowering as he spoke.
"You know it is rude to stare at others."
Without a word, she set herself back to the task at hand, only pausing when she noticed a shift in her helper's demeanour.
Tiredness had started to take hold over Dr Richtofen, though he valiantly struggled against such an idea, his body desperately showed the signs that sleep was needed - especially after the blood loss earlier. The fatigue had begun to creep into his features, and so did it make him falter when figuring out a small connecting component.
With his relative sleepy subtleness not gone unnoticed. Chloe carefully stretched herself out from within the nested construction work, unravelling from the coordinated entanglement of wires and connected components of the newly modified MTD terminal - now fit with a small screen for simple pre-programmed executions.
In all fairness, she was glad for the help. If it meant she would be out of their way, and them out of hers, everything was going according to plan. They'd probably forget ever meeting her but it was a small price to pay when she was only supposed to be visiting old friends.
She padded over to the man sitting across from her, toiling to stay on the cusp of consciousness, carefully attaching wires and making sure other connections were to be established for the modifications to properly combine with the original MTD designs; the blueprints lay next door for his specific referral.
"Doctor Richtofen..."
The man continued with his intent focus, though shifting from the part at hand to Chloe's rather calming voice worming its way into his ears.
Tenderly she reached out, taking the part from his hands, intricate and delicate, he gave no protest as she lifted it from his interwoven fingers. She rotated her wrist, lightly tracing her index over the trough between ridges
"This part is meant to connect from here."
Alas, he had connected the parts not only on the wrong side, but upside down, though he didn't want to admit his wrongdoing. He frowned in an attempt to hide his tiredness and his mistake.
"I explicitly followed the modified diagrams correctly. It is your own fault for not outlining it clearly enough to be reproduced."
He stifled another yawn, moving the gridded blue paper housing the MTD plans and deliberately crafted modifications within the various notes and designs.
"Here," He pointed to the part he was currently referring to, "you say it is connected wrong, but.... It is not."
She smiled, sitting down next to him, "I do believe the diagram is correct." A soft-spoken reply to his now obvious lack of focus evident in her voice.
He tried to hide it, but she seemed too insightful to back down.
"And you need to rest." She gently placed the connector piece off to the side holding out her hands, palms up, to him still retaining her smile.
The man eyed her with suspicion, reaching for the part to continue in protest, nonsensically grumbling as he did so.
Instead, she took hold of his wrist. "You need to sleep, Doctor. The last thing I need from you is to be making mistakes on the teleporter from fatigue."
He tried resisting. Though her grip was seemingly loose on his wrist it still held him in place. The Doctor felt as another wave of tiredness swept through him, visibly showing itself to the woman eyeing his level of fatigue and lack of consciousness.
"We can continue working when the sun is up, and you are more mentally alert." She lifted the man from sitting on the floor with ease as she took the brunt of his exhausted weight. She began to lead him over to the offices however, he requested to be taken into Dr Maxis' quarters. She presumed it was situated in the room behind the hastily barred window near the Revive Soda machine.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Takeo turned on his heel, scanning the area for any noticeable disturbance.
Did it come from the teleporter? No, it couldn't have...
Cautiously, he made his way up the staircase, towards the recently reconstructed device. The humming was putting him on edge. He glanced at the newly constructed console, now containing even more buttons labelled with letters and numbers. A small black screen now sat above, scientific sequences waiting to be input in a readable language that would appear as if it were paper. Fascinating, unusual and almost alien in concept to him.
The laughter came again, worming its way into his head.
It was close, but he couldn't discern where it was coming from. He had checked the entire generator room twice; there was nothing left to find.
As he walked out, past the empty cages, he heard a whisper... as if something was calling to him. The stack of cages in the corner, there was something... off. Something not quite right about them.
Cautiously, he approached, drawing closer until he felt a chill down his spine. He had a feeling he was being watched. It was similar to his experience with Chloe.
He peered around the corner up towards the metal walkway, out the other entrance to the main courtyard, there was no one around.
He got down low peering into the bottom cage that rested on the floor.
Inside was a bear.
Bloody, stuffing falling out, stitches breaking apart. The fuzzy outside matted and messed.
Beady little black eyes... staring at him.
On its chubby stumps, a Juggernog bottle resting to its left, and a single un-packed m1911.
The chill came back. Why would a children's toy be in a science facility? Why would anyone bring a child to this dark and sinister place?
He unsheathed his katana, slicing into the bear in hopes it would rid him of his thoughts.
It vanished in a shower of sparks and the voice returned.
"Yay! You found one!"
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Chloe seated the man on the couch in the small, apartment-sized room
"Yay! You found one!"
She paused, wondering to the whereabouts of the sudden voice's appearance though she could discern it came from nowhere in particular.
Chloe thought about staying nearby if Richtofen was in need of assistance, though the dubious looks he gave told her otherwise.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Takeo, thoroughly shocked and confuddled, regrouped with the others tending to food and munitions in the boiler room. It was time for the changeover of the night watch.
"Nothing in this world is not of this world." The samurai said as he entered the men's makeshift camp.
Dempsey took another mouthful from his can, stopping the continued cleaning of his weapon to look up at the older man.
"So you heard the weird, creepy voice too?"
Nikolai's booming speech came from the corner, covered in blankets ready to sleep for the night.
"What the f*ck did you do Takeo?" He took a large swig of vodka, a few empty bottles now amassing in the corner. "She sounds like my ex-wife." He drunkenly chuckled out.
The samurai shot an entitled glare, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
Dempsey piped up, "Well. If any of us see any more, make sure to warn the rest of us beforehand."
Takeo nodded, silently taking a new tin of food from the younger marine with a bow of thanks.
He then proceeded to chastise Nikolai, before Dempsey left for his turn of the night watch.
They soon heard the creepy voice again.
"Wow! You found another one!"
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
The voice resounded again as she closed the door, leaving Richtofen to sleep in peace. This time, Chloe had heard it much louder. She concluded if the sound could be directional enough it had to have come from somewhere in particular. It was time to investigate.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Just as Takeo felt his meditation slipping into a restful sleep... the loud snoring of Nikolai has started to arise once more.
Either through the outbursts of his comrade's nonsensical sleep babbling or the sound of boots hitting the weathered concrete floor, his once peaceful state was rudely interrupted.
The boots stopped, and the gravelly voice of Dempsey took over the surrounding area, scolding Nikolai for being too drunk, too sleepy and a f*ck-up on watch duty.
The older man cracked an eye open watching the two bicker about responsibilities in the team.
Just as the grumbly Russian was struggling to actually stand from the floor, a sudden feeling ran through his body.
Watched again by some otherworldly being... or a very unnerving yet cheery woman.
Rising from his meditation, the other two noted the samurai's worried expression.
He knew Nikolai felt it too, subconsciously hugging his current vodka bottle even tighter than usual.
"S' there somethin' wrong, Tak?" Dempsey asked
A giggle.
All three had heard it – even Nikolai, who had fully woken up thanks to the sound.
Apart from being nothing more than children's toys, it was the mere implications that it was in fact children's toys, that put them on edge.
Cautiously, they circled around to the open side of the boiler, peering inside as the flames danced and writhed about.
Situated near the back, sat a windup toy. A cymbal monkey to be exact, strapped with dynamite, a frag grenade to its left and somehow an unlit Molotov to its right.
All three peered closer into the open flames.
"What are you all doing?"
They all jumped back from the fire's metal enclosure.
Through the half-boarded window, Chloe had stuck her head in to see what the three were up to.
"Well go on. I want to see what happens!" She was all too eager to document and take part in this strange phenomenon.
Nikolai chucked an empty vodka bottle at it. Well, what he thought was empty.
The monkey disappeared into the flames, burning into ash as sparks flew from where it once was.
The voice returned for the final and last time.
"You win. GAME OVER!" It shouted
The men flinched from the sudden tonal shift.
"Fascinating..." Chloe began.
"She sounds pissed." Came the intersecting aloud thought from Nikolai.
"...Yet mildly unusual." Chloe concluded
Whilst still in semi-deep thought, Dempsey invited her in for something to eat and a status update.
"So..." He began, offering her another random tin of food which she so graciously declined.
"How close are you to, uh. Getting home, I guess?"
Her answer was concise. "Very close." Maybe a bit too concise.
"That's um. Well, that's pretty...good." Came the man's awkward response in return. Takeo had long since fallen back asleep, as Nikolai past the walkway above toward the animal testing labs.
"And what about Richtofen? Is he... actually helping you?" The marine was rather disturbed by the presumption. It just felt wrong that a person like Doctor Richtofen would be doing such a thing and go so far as to help another.
"He's asleep." Came her answer to which his expression was 'If you could elaborate a bit further...' and thus, she did. "So, he's not currently helping me at the minute."
A, "Huh." Was all she received back from the man.
They stayed in each other's company for another few hours. Dempsey eventually succumbing to sleep just before Nikolai came back in to wake up Takeo.
Either the drunk was delirious, or hallucinating things on his return, Chloe had been staring, intently watching over the body of the sleeping American. From this distance he could only describe it as a look of bland resentment. Everything Dempsey stood for – America, had burned into what seemed to be a lasting hatred for her own country.
He could not understand. Then again, as she stated, he presumed no one could understand.
He shrugged it off, as he did most things in this hellhole, waking up Takeo for the next watch shift.
As he settled down, he glanced back to Dempsey again, witnessing the woman immediately lock her eyes with his. Quickly he turned himself around, using the hole-covered sheet as futile protection to separate the two so he didn't have to look at her anymore.
Many minutes later when he was awoken, the boiler's flaming light hit his eyes, stinging flashes seeping into his retinas.
It was nearing dawn.
"Nikolai, where's Chloe? What happened last night? – I fell asleep."
He aimlessly looked around where the marine had been earlier in the night. There was no woman.
Instead, Chloe was with the other member of the team.
Maxis' sleeping quarters never had windows, so it was hard for Richtofen to tell how long he'd been asleep for, but he immediately felt the added presence on another in the room. As the man jumped from the bed ready to attack, the Doctor whirled around to face the culprit.
Chloe sat at the base watching him intently.
Silent.
Her eyes never wavered from his, somehow always maintaining eye contact. Boring into his very being, yet those eyes shone so brightly in the dark of the room. A look of intent curiosity.
He scowled to her unrelenting stare.
After what felt like more than a few seconds her eyes slowly blinked.
"I thought I'd come check on you and make sure you've been asleep for a while."
His body seemed to relax slightly, now acknowledging that the other within the room was not too harmful.
"The human body needs roughly seven to nine hours of sleep and, depending on the circumstances, it's currently more than ten for you."
She stood up to grab something from the small kitchenette behind.
"Your body needs to recover from the blood loss, though sleeping only partly helps."
Hiding it behind her back as she turned to face him, she pulled out a labelled can from behind, arm outstretched toward him.
"I don't know what is in this exactly, but I grabbed it before I came here."
He sized her up, checking if there was any hidden agenda beneath her sudden shift into being 'nice'.
"The human body needs food to sustain itself." She moved closer to him, ready to place the can in his hands. "Simply put, I need you functioning at your best if we are to complete the final teleporter."
He took the can, snatching it away from her grasp as she walked herself toward the doorway leading out into the soon-coming dawn light.
The doctor couldn't deny, the mix of gentle care and concern combined with the reserved, distant instructing made for a multitude of mixed feelings that he wasn't exactly sure how to process. And that led him to another question.
"What of yourself? Have you eaten anything?"
There she paused at the doorway before she spoke.
"I don't really need to eat per-say. But I do when I feel like it." She left the man to eat, setting her sights to the unfinished teleporter.
After a few minutes, the Doctor entered the large open room, ready to get straight to work and continue the upgrading.
Then, as they began work on the third teleporter...
(AN: It's song time. If you want to listen to it whilst reading you can. Otherwise please enjoy.)
There was no warning, they had just appeared, amassing with no awakening wail.
The zombies were back, this time with some friends.
A massive horde, bigger than any fought previous by the men, emerged through the darkness. A new wave had commenced, and they were not slowing down. Balls of lightning zapping hellish dogs into existence, the hellhounds now joining the undead's ranks in pursuit of the enemy.
(0:26 sec in)
As if marching toward them with such a quick and erratic pace.
At this rate, the group knew they were sure to be surrounded.
Baring down upon the facility, they had become prey to these snarling, undead cretins.
The men locked and loaded, prepared to fight and defend the working scientists nearing the back of the facility.
They all knew it would be tough, but through grit and determination they could pull through.
Unearthly screams resonating, coming from everywhere at once, all coming towards the facility... And straight to them.
One of the first zombies emerged loudly screaming as it ran straight at the marine.
It was hit with a bullet blasting into its face.
Chloe felt her concentration slipping, which was a rare occurrence.
The constant gunfire outside giving rise to a familiar, unsettling feeling.
One consisting of multiple, independent, known unknown variables correlated without a control variable to base-measure whether the situation was under complete control or whether a project would have to be, dare she say, abandoned.
She could faintly hear air raid sirens off in the distance.
See the bright flashes of gunfire in the corner of her eye.
It honestly made the situation worse.
(All my atrocities, come by way...)
The current situation required the scientist's full focus barred from distractions.
The swelling of bullets and screams pulled for her focus as Dempsey's voice cut through the cacophony of noise.
"It's a f*ing freakbag convention out here!"
The doctor was quick to note her unease.
"Keep working. The others will keep them away from here."
Both set their minds back to the tedious work of calibrating the matter transference for it to respond with the addition of a visual interface.
His job was the easy part. Her job was the more tedious out of the two.
(NO! Love lost on me...)
"We can't do this - it's too dangerous!" Doubt in her voice
The doctor, quick on his feet with a possible solution.
"Then we'll reroute all remaining power to the central mainframe."
The doctor yelled out to the marine, "Dempsey, would you mind keeping the noise down. Some of us are trying to work!"
She gave him an incredulous look in response.
They both knew what had to happen, "It is the only option we have."
However, she still held her doubts. "I don't think it can handle it, Doctor..."
It could all go wrong if they hadn't gained enough electrical energy.
(I can see them everywhere...)
The fighting neared closer, as they heard Dempsey's gravelly voice rise above the undead chorus again.
"Hey Richtofen. There's a party out here just for you!
Chloe was the one to respond instead Yelling back into the open doorway, "Lead them away RIGHT NOW!"
The man did as he was told, backing up and leading the building number of zombies toward the bridge.
He still continued to fire into the hordes as a glowing Max Ammo appeared from within the cluster of walking corpses.
Dodging around he reached out signalling the voice to respond. "MAX AMMO."
The second response was uncalled for. "HAVING FUN?"
(Your curiosity feeding off..)
The trap had not been activated, leaving the scientists potentially vulnerable if any arose near them.
As she neared the door for Dempsey's relative position, the undead barely noticed her presence.
Pulling out the Overseer's Guardian, it was time for the corpses to vacate the premises or face hell.
Dempsey caught a glimpse of someone moving out of the teleporter room.
A shadowy blur that melted and disappeared into the landscape.
He then heard more gunfire join with his and the others becoming louder.
(Chorus 2: I can see them everywhere...)
It was distinct in its fire pattern, the possibility of it being Richtofen soon subsided as he realised who it was.
"What are you doing? You can't leave it now!" His voice angry.
Takeo ran through, activating the electrical trap under the metal walkway, slicing through the fallen corpses pouring down from the upper landing.
"Dempsey, leave them or you risk killing us all!
The PA resounding over the facility "Diverting power to the bridge."
The Tesla coils stationed at the bridge began to spark and glow, signalling the trap's activation.
They were too close.
Nikolai came running through the doorway, followed closely behind by many ravenous mouths.
"I got a lot of them over here!"
He unclipped a grenade, cooking it before throwing it behind into the horde.
It did little to wholly end their lives, many becoming crippled but still continuously fervent in their pursuit.
"There's a lot commin' your way eggheads!"
(Death so beautiful...)
More bared down upon the marine, still valiantly protecting the scientists. Well one scientist.
She refused to back down however. Firing round after round into the reanimated corpses. Sending them down with multiple headshots
Sometimes Dempsey swore she was fighting in front of his eyes when zombies suddenly fell, unmoving to the ground.
Though her shots continued in an almost rhythmic pattern of accuracy.
Richtofen himself was hard at work, stationed as the only current person working on the teleporter, the new interface Chloe had made, he wasn't sure if it was helping or hindering the rerouting process.
(Build-up before finale)
But something was happening complete with loading bar in the form of a spinny circle above the literal word 'loading' in the centre.
"Doctor, how's it looking? She shouted back into the open doorway
She received no response, joining the man back in the room as he watched the console execute the given directives.
Both eagerly awaiting the sequence of lights indicating that all power had been successfully rerouted to the central mainframe.
Two of the three lights had successfully changed. Leaving the last teleporter, the one with a single red light as the loading bar continued upwards to make it three small green lights
The PA became alive once more, "All power diverted to the Central Mainframe."
(I can see them everywhere. EVERYWHERE!...)
They heard the crunch of gravel under heavy boots with the added sloshing from a bottle, Nikolai had come to warn them about the increasingly overwhelming threat, "We gotta move!"
The added voice of Takeo came next, "There's too many of them!"
The undead were Well and truly too close.
"Both of you, get out! Now!" Shouted Dempsey's voice from afar.
The sharp flashes from multiple grenades going off as the Doctor took charge of the situation.
"We can leave via the mainframe, quickly!" Moving out of the teleporter room and out with the others toward the main courtyard.
Chloe found herself lagging behind, "But we haven't even tested it!"
She couldn't risk its failure, not when she was this close and not when they were this close to being killed.
All on the pad, the massive horde made show of their force as the group drew closer together, now barely holding their own with Chloe's additional support.
(Descending unrelenting...)
The central pad groaning in protest as the system hummed louder than before.
Excess heat and light spewing outwards as Richtofen hastily input the codes necessary for the group's departure.
"Dempsey! Do something!" She called out almost frantic.
Between all the gunfire and chaos, Dempsey pulled put the Wunderwaffe DG-2, pointing it straight to the steps directly in front.
Richtofen activated the teleporter.
"Everybody get down!" The marine shouted out.
The weapon fired, electricity mingling with the light and energy from the active teleporter.
It's energy building to new heights - the Matter Transference was overloading.
With flashes of bright white and for some, the stomach-churning experience of teleporting, the device let out the brightest beam of blue light into the sky.
... ... ...
The main courtyard teleporter stood tall, a bright beacon within the greys that made up the facility. Der Riese remained silent. Machinery halted. No Gunfire, no signs of anything or anyone being there. A light breeze gently swaying the exposed overhanging electrical wires, still sparking, creaking, and groaning in protest to the cool October air lazily pooling around the last remains of life in the facility.
The clock, still incessantly ticking away, remained stuck reaching 1:15...
And 45 seconds.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Source of Video used:
| Beauty of Annihilation - Elena Siegman - Lyrics[Official] -- https://youtu.be/LAUOpUsR7ME, 09/12/2010
(All rights to Treyarch, Activision and Kevin Sherwood.)
I am now happy with this. After all December and even editing on New year's eve... it has arrived. I hope the addition of the song part was alright for everyone to read through, it's been a long time coming. I will be posting less now. At least six chapters a year (1 every 2 months) If I don't stick to it, tell me. If I do, count it as a sign that I have done something well!
Peace out – Alina.