I still remember the day all of this began. I, Captain Chris Raynor, a captain in the US Army Special Forces, was assigned to lead my team to the outskirts of New York to evacuate a certain VIP we only knew by the call sign "Sierra One". At the time the news was already ranting about some viral outbreak and a lot of news about cannibals and strange mutants were already widespread. But there were still more people who thought that it was not something to really worry about. And I regret being one of those people at the time. But on the day we were sent to evacuate Sierra One, things were already in chaos. Riots everywhere. And the news just kept on getting worse.
It was just after breakfast and I was at the firing range with a handgun firing some shots when my second in command, Lieutenant Dan Summers, came to me with a message from our base commander himself, General Bryce Griffin.
"Hey boss," Summers said as he entered the range. "The general wants us at his office, seems urgent. I think we might be getting a mission."
"A mission?" I asked with much curiosity and confusion. "Aren't we supposed to be on inactive duty?"
"I don't know boss, but it seems important. Besides, other teams were already deployed earlier."
"Whatever. Let me just finish this clip first."
I then emptied my gun at the target, all nine shots hitting its target in quick succession.
"Nice shot." Summers said in awe.
"I know," I said as I placed my gun at my holster and putting on my beret. "Let's go then."
Next thing I knew, we were at the general's office standing at ease as the general briefed us on our mission. "Alright boys," General Griffin began. "We're sending you to upstate New York to rescue a very important person. This is basically a go in go out operation and I don't want any questions asked. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir," I replied.
"Anyways," the general continued. "The VIP is call sign Sierra One. Let's just say he's a very important figure in the higher ups. Sierra One is top priority and he's the only one you're getting out of there, no one else. Here's his photo."
The general then handed me a black and white photo of a bald guy with glasses and a beard in a suit. "Once you get Sierra One," the general continued. "You are going to ride that helicopter straight to Washington DC and you are going to accompany him until you are relieved by the president's own security force. Await orders from then on out. Any questions?"
"Sir," Summers said. "Washington DC's kinda far from the mission area. Don't you think it would be best to just drop by an airport and transfer to a faster mode of transportation? A plane or something?"
"Right now," the general replied. "Well let's just say we can't afford to make stops. You'll be riding a heavily fueled chopper to make sure you get to where you need to go. Anything else."
"None sir," I replied.
"Well then you boys got a maximum of thirty minutes to gear up and get to that chopper. Better assemble your team, captain."
"Yes sir."
After leaving the generals office I ordered Summers to get the team ready and meet me at the prepping room. Summers made a run for it while I dropped by my office first where I took something important before heading to the prepping room myself. By the time I got there, the team was already dressed and were already preparing their arsenal. There was Sergeant William Bradley, my team's weapons expert, stacking up on ammunition. Sergeant Lewis Haynes, my team's medic, sitting in a corner geared up and ready, taking a nap. Sergeant Roy Evans, the team's communications expert and secondary weapons expert, checking the frequencies on his radio. And there was Lieutenant Dan Summers cleaning his handgun. I entered the room and quickly got combat ready as fast as I could. After putting on my flak jacket, donning my helmet, and putting on the rest of my standard gear, I simply took out three clips each for my handgun and assault rifle. I didn't bother to take any grenades or any other extra gear, thinking that the mission was gonna be an easy one. The first person to notice this was Evans. "Hey boss," he said. "Don't you think it's a little bit out of protocol that you're not gearing up too much?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm carrying standard gear."
"Well this is the first time I saw you packing only three clips each."
"I don't know why we're even gearing up anyway," Bradley interrupted. "I mean, we're just gonna extract some guy to DC. I don't even know why we got this job in the first place."
"Let's just get this over with then?" I said. "Move out!"
It was nine in the morning and we were already riding a helicopter headed to Sierra One's home. On the helicopter, we received information on what the house looked like and it's details so we could easily find Sierra One who was said to be hiding in his panic room for some reason. We were also given a message from the general telling us to exercise high caution on the seemingly easy mission that he himself called a 'go in go out' job. Things were starting to get confusing. I never liked missions like this. To begin with, things were quite illogical. The lack of intel they give us also adds up to my discomfort. But we were soldiers. We go where we're ordered and as members of the elite Special Forces, we get the job done. The helicopter made its descent on a large front lawn slowly. I heard the pilot tell us to get ready. The moment it touched down the ground, we quickly opened the doors and took our positions, the very one we use whenever we get off a chopper. It was to secure the location yet this time, I don't even know why we even did it. We then ran towards the entrance to the large home where we stacked up on the front door by the porch. I was about to check the knob if it was locked only to see the the door was slightly opened. Worse, I saw some bloodstains on the ground by the door. I was the first to enter the large home and my team followed suit. The first room was a very large hall with two stairs left and right, separated by a wide hall that led to the backyard. It was a luxurious room decorated with a large chandelier, some paintings on the walls, and some sculptures as well. But there was one thing wrong. The room was a total mess. Several paintings were scratched. Some sculptures were broken. And the worst of them all was there were several bloodstains on the floor. I thought that was it, until I saw the most horrific sight I have ever seen in my life so far. By the middle of that corridor was a female in a maids outfit with her back on us, feasting on a dead body which I can not even describe too much as it was too covered in blood. We raised our weapons as it slowly turned towards us and it was at that very moment did I first saw her cold white eyes and her very pale skin. There was lots of blood on her mouth and on her clothing, probably because of what she was doing. The very sight of it sent a sudden shock to all of us, or me at least. It growled at the sight of us and stood up before charging towards me at an alarming speed. I was about to pull the trigger when Summers fired three rounds from his M4A1 which managed to take down the hideous creature.
'What the hell was that?!" Bradley, my team's bulky weapons expert exclaimed.
"I don't know," I replied. "But if that thing's in here then I guess there's got to be more lying around. Keep your eyes open and your guns ready. We'll make a sweep of the house, grab Sierra One, and run like hell back to base."
"Yes sir," the others replied.
"Bradley," I said as we stacked up on the door to the left. "Shift to shotgun and take point."
Sergeant Bradley nodded in approval as he drew his shotgun and replaced his assault rifle. He quickly opened the door and we came in following as we entered a large living room with dividers making it hard to get a view of the entire room from where we were at.
"Clear left," I said. "Clear right. Check your corners. Fan out. Move."
The team moved as ordered, guns at the ready. As I arrived at the other end of the room, once again facing another wooden door. I heard my men signal an all clear signal before falling in to stack up again. Bradley opened the door and before I even knew it, a loud gunshot was heard and before I knew it Bradley was on the ground.
"What the heck?!" A loud deep voice exclaimed. "I'm sorry!"
I almost pulled the trigger when I realized that the man holding that .44 revolver standing at the other side of the room was none other than Sierra One. Haynes helped Bradley up as he removed the round that luckily landed on his flak jacket. I wasted no moment and quickly approached the target.
"Sierra One?" I asked, noticing that the person was the very one in the photo.
"So I guess you're the evac team, eh?" He said before turning to Bradley who took the bullet out of his armor. "Sorry about that."
"No problem," Bradley replied.
"Yes sir. I'm Captain Raynor," I introduced myself. "We have to leave as soon as we can. We have a chopper waiting outside."
"Where are we heading?"
"Our orders are to get you out of the area sir and bring you to Washington DC."
"DC?!" Sierra One replied. "Are we heading there straight or are we going to transfer to a plane first?"
"Straight sir. We've got a heavily fueled helicopter waiting outside"
"You're serious?"
"Sir, we are running out of time. We have to leave now."
Before Sierra One could even make a reply. I heard chatter on my radio. It was our pilot who seemed to be in trouble.
"Bravo Six," the pilot contacted me with fear in his voice. "You better hurry up. There's some weird things happening around us. There's a lot of people by the gate and it doesn't look normal. It's as if they're... Oh my God! They're breaking into the main gate! What the hell are these things! They're coming in fast! Stanley, weapons free! AAAGGHHH!" What I heard next was purely the sound of gunshots and a brief struggle. "Bravo Six! You better get out of there fast, there's too many of them! They're in the chop..."
Communication was lost and I knew that something had gone terribly wrong. As Sierra One kept rambling about things I no longer paid attention to, I suddenly heard a strange, loud, hissing and growling sound coming in from the entrance.
"Summers," I said. "Take Bradley with you and see what's going on. Evans help me get Sierra One out of here."
We all had to move fast. Evans and I grabbed Sierra One by each arm, pulling him along us to move. Yet for some reason, he struggled like a madman. I'll be honest, I was already resisting the urge to shoot him right there while he kept on ranting and whining. Summers and Bradley were already by the main entrance and I began hearing gunshots as we were moving towards them. We made it to the main entrance where I saw Summers and Bradley by the front porch with their weapons firing on an incoming horde of people who were similar to the monster we encountered upon our arrival. The chopper was also being ganged up by these people and I knew that things had gone from bad to worse.
"Sir!" Summers said. "Chopper's gone! What do we do now?!"
I turned my attention to Sierra One who was in shock at the sight of what was happening around him. "Sir," I said. "Do you have a vehicle?"
"Of course I do," Sierra One replied, his eyes wide and focused on the incoming horde. "Pickup truck's in the garage. Keys are always inside."
"And where's the garage?"
"Out there." Sierra One said pointing to a garage like structure near the main entrance.
"Damn it. Evans, contact command. Tell them what's going on. Tell them to send another damn chopper."
As Evans began working out on his radio, I joined Summers and Bradley fire on the incoming hostiles. Sierra One suddenly appeared on our side, this time with a lever-action shotgun in hand as he too, began firing. I was already on my third clip when Evans tapped me on the shoulder.
"Sir," he said. "Command is in deep shit right now. It's sending all available choppers on evacuation sites. They said the nearest evac site to us is a truck station a mile west. They're sending in reinforcements to secure that site but we only have an hour to get there."
"Damn. Bradley, Haynes, Evans, provide covering fire. Draw their attention away from the garage. Summers, with me, we're gonna get us a way out of here."
Evans, Haynes, and Bradley moved a little bit forward and formed a firing line before shifting to a crouching position when they began opening fire. Sierra One, now becoming more useful, seemed to know what he's doing as he too took a firing position and began firing more accurate shots. Me and Summers began sprinting across the wide front lawn that I think I should call a field, considering its size, as we fired our guns on all hostiles in the way. We reached the side of the garage when an infected suddenly appeared on my side and tried to bite me. It would have if I hadn't reacted so quickly and stabbed a knife into its head before kicking him away. Summers fired on two more of them coming towards us before helping me back on my feet.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Get that truck out of that garage and towards the front porch. I'll cover you."
Summers nodded and kicked the door open as I began firing on incoming infected. It was only there did I shift from full auto to semi-auto, firing one shot at a time. Carefully placing my shots on my targets' heads. It was more effective as it only took a single shot to the head to take them out. But of course, the real reason I did this was because my ammo was running low and I was down to my last clip. As I fired one round and another, I slowly began to regret not taking the mission so seriously. I thought it was just one of those 'get in get out' missions where there was nothing to worry about. I didn't spend much time preparing and gearing up for the mission. I never expected it would be one of the worst mistakes I could have ever made. And when the thing I hated the worst happened, I quickly drew my sidearm, a customized M1911 given to me by a high ranking military official when I graduated at the Academy, and opened fired. My gun ran out of ammo when suddenly, a black pick up truck broke out of the garage and rolled on three infected before rushing towards the front porche. I quickly grabbed my assault rifle before sprinting towards the porch while firing my handgun. I arrived just in time as they were all getting in and I quickly jumped inside the front seat when Summers slammed on the gas and began driving away. Bradley was at the truck bed, shooting at anyone that got near enough. Summers rushed towards the main gate while me, Haynes, and Evans fired at the infected that were blocking our way. Summers simply drove through the gate and took a sharp left turn. I took a look at the side mirror and saw a massive horde behind us. But they were all heading towards the chopper, probably thinking we were still there as we managed to get away in quick time. Everyone inside the truck had already stopped firing except for Bradley who kept shooting for a few more minutes. Eventually, we passed through the entrance to the subdivision and found ourselves in a quiet empty road. Bradley had stopped firing by then and I knew we were safe, for now.
"Boss," Summers said. "Where're we heading?"
"Command told us to move to an evac point. It's a truck station westward. Just stop by the first truck station you see. There's supposed to be some choppers there. We can't miss it."
"What the hell were those things?" Evans interrupted.
"I don't know," I said before turning to Sierra One who had a dead serious look on his face as he gazed out the window. "But I think our VIP does."
Sierra One took a deep breath. "Trust me," he said. "You don't want to know. And I'm pretty sure it's pretty obvious already. Let's just say that they're people. Sick people. Very sick people. Or let's just call them the infected."
"Infected?" Haynes asked. "Infected with what?"
"A virus. A deadly virus that turns you from what you are now to one of those things you guys saw earlier. Or even worse."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Sierra One took a deep breath. But before he could reply, Summers quickly stepped on the brakes, distracting us all. "What's going on?" I said.
"Boss, you got to see this," Summers said pointing to a man at the middle of the road, standing there with his back on us.
Everyone took a look at the man at the road and we were all shocked at what we saw. It wasn't normal. His right hand was transformed into something different. Something more horrifying. It was rather large and thick with several thick tentacles wriggling around. For some reason, it slowly turned to face us and it was right there did we see the most horrific sight we have seen so far. His face was severely deformed. Short tentacles were coming out of his mouth and his eyes were as white as snow. From this distance I could see tentacles coming out of its body in several places. It gave out a loud roar before charging at us, alarmingly fast. Bradley began firing his gun as Summers backed up as fast as he could. Haynes, Evans, and I fired from the windows but our bullets had minimal effect on the mutant. It kept coming at us at that alarming speed and our bullets barely managed to knock it back.
"I'm out!" Bradley shouted.
"Me too!" Evans followed.
"We're dead." Haynes said.
"Hang on," Summers said as he shifted the gear. "I got an idea."
He quickly slammed his foot on the gas and came dashing towards the mutant. He managed to hit the mutant but when we thought it was over. We were wrong. The mutant's tentacle extended and managed to catch Bradley off the truck. Summers slammed the breaks as I came out of the car with a knife in hand then sprinting towards Bradley who was desperately trying to get his foot free from the tentacle as it pulled him towards the mutant. However, I was too late as the mutant managed to pull Bradley and had already begun wrapping him around with its numerous tentacles. I drew my pistol and desperately tried to save my weapons sergeant's life but to no effect. It was when I ran out of ammo did I hear Bradley's last words, hard to distinguish due to his screams of pain. "Go!" He said. "Run as fast as you can!"
I stood there in shock slowly walking backwards when a sudden explosion set off in front of me sending a thousand pieces bursting everywhere. I was lucky enough not to get hit by shrapnel despite my range but the loud sound dazed me. It took me a while to realize what had happened. But when I did, I realized that Bradley had just made the ultimate sacrifice. It was not hard to realize that Bradley, in his last effort to save us all, pulled the pins on the grenades attached to his vest and blew himself and his opponent with him.
Haynes and Evans came behind me and stood in shock as we saw what was left of the man who saved our lives in several different occasions. Summers came out of the truck and followed suit.
"What was that thing?" Summers asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "But I'm gonna find out."
I walked as fast as I can back to the truck, opened the back seat door and pulled Sierra One out and threw him at the pavement. I then drew my pistol and aimed it at his head. "You're gonna tell me what's going on here," I said. "Or I'm gonna have to tell command you died on the way."
"What's the meaning of this?!" Sierra One said with a tone mixed with anger and fear. "You can't do this to me. You need me!"
"I don't think so. We've saved your life today, I almost got killed today, and one of my men got killed today! Either you tell me what's going on or I leave you behind here. Or worse."
"We don't have time! I promise, I'll tell you everything later. But first we have to reach that evac point..."
Before he could finish, the loud sound of several helicopters passing by distracted all of us as a large number of helicopters came out of nowhere, heading west. Sierra One stood up. "Captain," he said. "If we don't get to that evac point now. Your soldier died for nothing. You have my word. If we get there, I will tell you everything you need to know about this."
My gun was still pointed at him and only then did I lower it down. I was frustrated and confused and I had no choice but to agree. I got back to the truck, this time at the drivers seat as everyone took their places. Wasting no further time, I stepped on the gas and drove on. From the rear view mirror, I could see the fear and sadness on everyone's faces. I knew we were all worried. Something bad was happening, we don't know if our friends and families are fine, we're running out of ammunition, and we just lost a brother in arms. Summers broke the silence when he opened the radio to check what was going on. After tuning into a news station, we began discovering what was happening around us.
"...I don't know what's going on," the guy on the radio said. "But whatever this is, it's obviously big. There are reports everywhere of people killing each other and the army has already been deployed to the scene. The government has declared a state of emergency as everything is in chaos. Earlier today, the government has released an advisory to stay indoors and lock all places of entry. And now, when this chaos erupts, a massive evacuation has been ordered and several evacuation zones has been made... Wait a minute... What is that thing?!... It's coming! Lock the doors!...It's breaking in!..."
What we heard next was a loud roar, similar to the one the mutant with the tentacles gave out, and then loud screams of pain and anguish before it went static. Summers closed the radio and began checking on his gear.
"Well guys," he said. "You sure you're out of ammo?"
"Ran out back at the garage." I said.
"I'm all out." Haynes and Evans said.
"Well I guess," Summers said. "I'm on my last clip. Better make it count."
"Let's just hope we don't encounter any of these... things anymore. Or at least until we reach that evac point." Evans said.
"I don't think we have to worry about that," Sierra One said. He then pointed to a large crowd of people and several vehicles. "That's the evac point."
I drove the car through the abandoned vehicles before being forced to stop when we reached the crowd who was trying to push their way to what they were told was safety. We got off the truck and made our way inside. We were quite lucky as our uniforms and our guns made everyone in our way move aside and we managed to pass through the crowd with ease. I saw several army trucks, soldiers, and helicopters at the large truck station
The soldiers managed to quickly establish a fenced perimeter and secured the station with a checkpoint as the only entrance and machine gun nests. For an evacuation site, it surely looked very secure. Patrols were everywhere with dogs, making sure that no one gets in unless they pass through the checkpoint where they were inspected by medics. I began noticing that all the soldiers were wearing gas masks. We arrived at the checkpoint where we were greeted by their commanding officer.
"Captain Chris Raynor," I said in a loud voice due to the loud sound of the helicopters. "United States Army Special Forces. We got a VIP with us on a special evacuation order. Our main evac was destroyed and we were ordered to move here."
"I'm Captain Barnes," the officer introduced himself. "75th Ranger Regiment. We've received word of your arrival. We got a special team waiting for your VIP in the diner. You're to go there before being sent to your helicopter."
"Copy that."
Captain Barnes signalled seven other men to come with him to accompany us to the diner. We entered the diner and was greeted by more military personnel and a man in a suit with a briefcase in hand. Captain Barnes' men quickly left upon arrival and he himself removed his gas mask.
"Gentlemen," the man in the suit said. "My name is Mike Smith, Central Intelligence Agency. This is a matter of homeland security. Or rather, the survival of mankind. Captain Raynor, first of all, I want to bid you and your men congatulations for a job well done. Weren't there supposed to be five of you?"
"He died," I said. "Sir. Trying to save our lives on the way here."
"Well that's sad," the man said, no sense of remorse on his tone. "Anyways. Doctor Andrews, it would be best to give us a description of what's going on."
"Well gentlemen," Sierra One, Dr. Andrews said. "What we're experiencing now is an outbreak of the TS-32BW. It's a pathogen that can causes its host to die and reanimate as a very aggressive mutant. It causes its host to lose all of its brain functions excepts its ability to move. However, it can cause its host to undergo severe and various mutations that's still not fully known."
"Wait a minute," Haynes interrupted. "So you're saying this is like one of those zombie outbreaks we see in the movies?"
"Sort of," Dr. Andrews replied. "And I'm afraid, if the wrong decisions has been made at this point, there is no hope for survival. For all we know, we need to fight this as soon as we can, not run away from it."
"That's why the president has ordered all units to regroup at Washington DC," Smith said. "And I think it's best if we start going there. Captain Raynor, have yourself and your men checked out at the tent then proceed to the chopper on slot four. Your team will accompany us back to DC."
"Yes sir."
Captain Barnes escorted us to a field tent just beside the diner. He told us to get inside while he himself left, ought to do something more important. Inside the tent, we could see several army doctors in their uniforms, now only with safety masks on. They took our temperature, checked something in our eyes with a flashlight, took blood samples from us, before barraging us with a series of questions asking us if we had experienced intense nausea, unusual fatigue, insomnia, and vomiting over the past few days. None of us answered yes to any of the questions and we were all told that we were cleared after undergoing the same medical procedure one at a time. I approached the lead doctor who was dotting down some notes and dared to ask him a question. "So doc," I asked. "How'd we know if someone's gonna turn into one of those flesh eaters?"
The doctor replied by first looking at me with a very serious look on his face. It was as if he was glaring at me the moment I asked the question. I stood tall though and after a few seconds of staring at each other, he sighed and began to speak. "Well," he said. "I guess nobody cares at this point whether we keep it a secret or not. Anyway, you'll know it if the subject has high temperature and if his pupils are too dilated even if you shine a bright light on it. Normal symptoms are intense nausea, unexplained fatigue, insomnia, and heavy vomiting."
"Any idea on what those things with the tentacles are?"
"Tentacles?" The doctor asked, astonished. "No, I'm not aware of that at all. Trust me, captain, I don't know more of this that what I've told you. They only told us to keep watch for those symptoms."
"And if you find one of the people trying to evacuate is infected? There's a cure for this, right?"
"To be honest with you. I don't think they're letting anyone infected inside. That's why they fenced the area and have guys with guns everywhere. Once someone breaks in. You know what's gonna happen next. Now if you excuse me, I have work to do."
I dared not to bother the man away from his work any further. I gathered my team outside where we were approached by Captain Barnes again. "Captain Raynor," he said. "There's a supply depot near the helipads. I think it would be best if you and your team replenish your supplies."
"That we will." I said as my team and I followed Barnes towards the makeshift supply depot, another tent with crates of ammunitions, grenades, and even rocket launchers. There were also several guns stacked there as well.
I was surprised at the heaviness of the weaponry they had in that makeshift depot, specially at the rocket launchers lying around. "Why do you think we'll need that?" Summers asked Captain Barnes, referring to the rocket launchers as well.
"Well kid," Captain Barnes replied. "Let's just say it's best to be prepared than sorry. Gear up guys, we all know you're all out of ammo."
"Yes sir," Evans said as he was the first to help himself to the munitions.
We geared up again, as careful as we could, taking as much ammo as we could get. I stacked up on grenades as well, thinking that it might, and will, come in useful in the near future. Evans, now acting as the team's weapons expert as well, took an M249 SAW machine gun and replaced his normal M4A1 with one that had a grenade launcher attachment with it. Summers fancied himself to some of the attachments available and attached a scope to his gun as well as a laser pointer for increased accuracy, something expected considering that he was the team's main sharpshooter. After getting ready and replenishing our ammo, we went out of the tent and was greeted by Agent Smith.
"Well," he said. "I see you guys are quite prepared for war."
"Considering what we've encountered," I said. "I don't think you can call us prepared yet."
"Trust me. You've ain't seen nothing yet."
Our conversation was cut short when we suddenly heard a very load roar coming in from the main entrance along with the loud sounds of gunfire along with it. Screams of terror and pain came following afterward as something as gone terribly wrong. Without saying a word, we ran towards our helicopter which Agent Smith pointed out for us and entered to see that Dr. Andrews was already inside along with Captain Barnes and three other guys whose faces were covered with gas masks. The helicopter took off upon our arrival and from the viewpoint of the helicopter, we could see the terrors below. The main entrance was overwhelmed by a very large horde of the infected. Mutants were also there and I could see another of those tentacled monsters spreading carnage below. There was one large mutant who was huge and had big long arms and great strength that charged and crushed everything on its way. It penetrated through the fence and allowed the masses to enter and easily overrun the site. I could see the very same mutant destroy an entire helicopter in one single smash with its arms. I could no longer bear to look at the carnage. Only a few of the many helicopters managed to escape. Everyone left were sure to be killed. Our helicopter took off and began heading towards its targeted location as we contemplated on what had happened.
As I looked at the men with me, I felt their fear and worry on what was going on. I felt weaker with all of this chaos happening around us. I felt tired. I decided to try and at least relax myself as I sank into a deep thought. Thinking about what might have happened to my family and my friends. I managed to take a look at the window when we passed the City of New York. From that view point alone, I could see that the city had fallen into utter chaos. There was fire and smoke and traffic jams down there. I could see people running, guns blazing, and hordes of infected causing chaos below. I closed my eyes. We were safe, for now. But the day has just begun.