Raymond Jasper gazed at the burning wreckage of the town. Bodies strewn about, cars flipped over, buildings on fire. In the distance, what appeared to be a gas station exploded, causing the water tower to collapse.
“They’ve been infected,” one of the men in black behind Jasper informed emotionlessly.
“These experiments must be controlled,” Raymond said angrily to Jacobs, never taking his eyes off the carnage. “Your brother is a danger and a menace. He must be controlled.”
Jacobs Bremen replied simply by saying, “Whatever is best for The Twelve.”
Raymond turned around to face his small army of soldiers and men in black. “Burn the corpses before they reanimate. Shoot anything that moves. Aside from yourselves, of course.” Raymond knew that last quip was unnecessary, but it reminded the soldiers of their place.
The black-clad soldiers moved out, fanning the area. Each soldier was equipped with body armor, a full-face gas mask, a helmet, a sidearm, several explosives, and an assault-grade automatic. Some even carried flamethrowers. All of their gear was a dark shade that blended easily with the night.
The other soldiers present, the cloned super-soldiers, spread out around the perimeter of the quarantine. The clones’ suits and ties were the same shade of black as the other soldiers’ armor. The clones’ only bright spots were their white shirts. Beneath their suits, the clones carried massive Desert Eagles. The clones would make sure that no media-man was able to enter this place.
The strike troopers went about their grim task efficiently while Jasper argued with Bremen as to what would be done with Bremen’s rogue scientist of a brother.
“He must be captured and detained or killed tonight,” Jasper began. Before he could continue, Bremen interrupted.
“He can’t control it. And if he can’t, we can’t. We have to eliminate him.”
If Raymond Jasper was surprised by Bremen’s insensitivity, he didn’t show it. “Our orders were to capture him if possible. The Twelve want to – ”
Raymond was cut off by a soldier’s cry. “They’re reanimating!” the black-clad troop screamed as one of the creatures rose and moaned. The troop opened fire.
All over, the former townsfolk began to rise. The strike troopers opened fire on the beasts, but they were outnumbered. Unfortunately for soldiers, it was tourist season and this town had plenty of motels.
Still, Raymond was confident the well-trained strike troopers could handle it.
Many troops were unleashing volleys of suppressive fire on the motels, while others took our the townsfolk with burst shots. The automatic fire ripped through the unusual zombies, taking them down easily. A couple of soldiers ran back to the mobile command post and the vehicles to get heavier weapons.
Raymond looked a t a former hardware store and saw a group of creatures come out with chainsaws. He wondered how the undead beasts learned to use them. In any case, the creatures bullrushed a group of soldiers firing on a motel.
The former humans had the advantage on the group of soldiers and wildly swung the saws, ripping through the weak spots of the armor.
The zombies that were trapped in the motel jumped out and added to the frenzy. Raymond ordered more troops to that area.
Jasper glanced at a group of men surrounding a duplex filled with ax-throwing zombies. Then he looked toward a team of troopers near a pond. Zombie fish leaped out of the pond at the men, surprising them. They were too small to pierce the armor, however.
A transmission came in through Raymond’s earpiece from the other end of town. “Sir, we’ve found the laboratory. We’re going in.”
A few seconds later, he heard the same voice frantically yelling over the earpiece, “What is that? HD 982, look out!” Gunfire sounded off over the earpiece, and then the voice said, “Something – no, many things – just came out of that lab! They look like giant snakes! They’re armored . . . I think they’ve all left. But I don’t know . . . I think I saw a human run out of there, toward the woods. We will – ” The voice ended in a scream.
Then Raymond saw the multi-headed, serpentine thing emerge on the main street. It was huge.
Jasper ordered the men in black surrounding the town back to his position at the mobile command post via earpiece.
“We’re losing the battle,” Bremen solemnly acknowledged as the suited men raced back to defend the vehicles.
Raymond, secretly annoyed by Bremen’s attitude, barked, “Order the state police to set up a five-mile border around this vicinity. Then call Area 51 and request more men.” Jasper looked to see how the men were faring.
Sickly green zombies leaped on scattered troopers while the men in black punched and shot their way a path through the carnage toward the vehicles. The flamethrower-carrying men lit up anything around them, quickly losing their sanity.
Once Bremen had finished his call and the suited clones had reached the command center, Jasper laid out his plan. “While the shock troopers provide a temporary distraction, we find Jacobs’ brother. He was last seen running into the forest behind the lab. We’re taking the armored vehicles. Then we find refuge and wait for MJ 12 reinforcements.” Without a word, the suited clones loaded up the armored all-terrain tactical transports.
Bremen turned to Jasper. “They aren’t going to send in aid. They’re going to use saturation-bombing. We have to find somewhere safe.”
“I know,” Jasper said without any expression. Then he boarded the closest armored vehicle and gestured for Bremen to follow.
Down below, in the heat of the battle, strike trooper HH 020 looked up and saw the armored vehicles drive down another road. He knew they were leaving him and his comrades to die. He was being used as a distraction.
He wouldn’t have it any other way. That may be why he was leader of his troop. As he took down another zombie and watched other teams of troops dwindle, he ordered his men to move toward a small shop. It was time for a final stand against these creatures.
Home