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Infestation 2008, Chapter 4: Mobalization
Posted By: Banofdeath
Date: 12 February 2009, 8:51 pm
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I know it has been a bit but, heavy homework loads followed up by Midterm prep proved far too distracting. In any case, let's continue.
Infestation 2008 Chapter 4: Mobilization
Sean gripped the bottom of a chair, the last bump nearly through him out of the roof-lacking transport. The Recent infestation of a local town had been quite a scare. The details were not very clear as to exactly what happened. The situation was not looking very good. Come to think of it, there were never any happy endings to zombie movies.
"So," Private Sean Gallagher decided to break the silence. "What's going on here?"
No one spoke for a few moments, and then a particularly scrawny fellow broke the silence. "Well, this small town we are coming up on recently encountered a new parasitical life form. After it broke out of the small neighborhoods, it also broke through the National Guardsman's lines attempting to contain it."
This basically summed up what everyone already knew, Sean was hoping for something more. To be honest, he was terrified; these things moved in packs. They worked out well coordinated ambushes, to his knowledge; they have never lost a battle yet.
Some people did not seem so convinced.
"Sounds like a crock of shit to me." Sean may not have liked this mission, but certainly did not think it was a lie.
"Are you nuts? Why else would they drag us out here?"
"Hey, I'm just joking, you need to lighten up." Sean looked away, Embarrassed. Several dry snickers immersed Sean in shame. Some others were a bit too nervous to join in.
"So, these things, what are they like?" Uttered the nervous private next to him, Sean thought about this. But, there weren't too many specifics about their appearance. The only think he knew was that they were mutated, ugly looking monsters, not exactly an encouraging thought.
"Well, they are fucking terrifying." Replied Sean, with that response, Sean rested his aching head on one of the transport's support beams. With a tired hand he rubbed his sore shoulders. He wanted nothing more then to spend a quiet moment with his thoughts. Being called from home to find out that you have to fly about four hundred miles to a random location, to deal with an absurdly described foe is bad enough. To actually have to participate in said endeavor is even worse.
Not only was this inconvenient, but there was an element of real danger here. Sean had not signed up to be a hero, he just wanted to get paid, and live a nice quiet life.
Sean's silent bitchings were cut off by something very big and very dense, slamming into the front of the transport. The metal let out and agonizing cry as it was warped and contorted. The front of the troop carrier was soon engulfed in a red flame as the unknown projectile ripped through the engine. The hot fumes mixed with the unburned gasoline, consequently setting off a fire.
The sudden lurch vaulted soldiers every which way; they struggled to their knees in an effort to regain themselves. "Go, pile out, now." Coughed out the Sergeant, Sean shook of the cobwebs in his mind as the sudden action brutally roused him from his daze. He got to his knees despite the shrapnel, and pushed himself up.
As he rose, a man in front of him fell to the ground as a sharp projectile struck him in the side of the neck. Sean ducked his head down in an instant, the men tried to move forward, but the confusion fueled by the inexplicably dieing men slowed the progress. Sean finally flopped from the transport; sheer terror gripped him as he crawled on the ground. With dirt caked fingers, he grasped the soil in front on him, he strained to push himself up, and then tried to find a rock, or something else to hide behind.
Sean witnessed another large slug come from nowhere and slam into the back of the transport. The metal let out a heart wrenching screech as it vomited shrapnel in multiple directions. Men fell from a hail of shrapnel as they desperately searched for cover. Fright governed Sean's actions, he buried his terrified face in the mud to avoid the carnage.
"Where is that shit coming from?" Came Sean's fear riddled inquiry.
"Look, on the hilltops." A bloodied hand reached out towards the hillside to Sean's right.
He turned towards the forest's edge to make out the source of the ordinance. He then regretted his choice; what he saw flooded his mind with fear. Dozens of bipedal humanoid looking figures stormed down the hill. One of them stood out from the rest.
This figure looked like it had been created from a pile of flesh. It made the Hulk look like a pussy by comparison. It was centered on a large mass of thick flesh. It was basically a large three foot diameter ball of rotting skin. Out from this center mass, long legs sprouted, they seemed far too thin to support the massive body of the creature. The creature had arms as well, large ones; they must have been at least nine feet long. Large bumps rested at the end of these long arms. The way that the bumps flew from the ends of the arms, Sean guessed that they were the projectiles that doomed the transport. The shoulders of the creatures seemed to also have flaps. The flaps could be lifted up, and then they could shoot out hundreds of small calcium based rounds in under a minute. The small mob of creatures became a flood of mutated corpses. They ran at impossible speeds down the hill. Sean felt hopeless against such menacing foes.
The confused and mentally scattered soldiers were just beginning to pull themselves together. The Sergeant bellowed out, "Fall into line men, get some fire on them." The feelings of terror were largely put aside for the moment. The troopers fired into the advancing lines.
Sean raised his assault rifle up and pulled the trigger. Armor piercing rounds erupted from the end of the barrel, lancing out towards the onrushing line of former humans. Several of the rounds from Sean's rifle seemed to pass right through his target, not doing a whole lot of damage. More rounds struck the resilient foe; it slowed to a near stop, and then doubled over.
"Man," he said aloud, "These things are tough as all hell."
"Cut the chatter Gallagher, your bitchings ain't going to kill them." Sean registered the words and continued shooting.
Several more creatures were either angered, or hungry for Sean's flesh. They ran over to him at breakneck speeds. Their torn faces and ravaged bodies did not betray a hint of emotion, or pain. Sean was becoming more and more terrified as they neared him.
"Shoot them you stupid bastard." The private next to him, Fergus, was too busy with his own problems to look at him. However, he seemingly could not resist the chance to antagonize Sean.
"Learn to shoot, and then talk to me." Responded the occupied Private Gallagher. Showing off his own accuracy, Sean fired at the creatures approaching him. One three round burst caught the lead creature in the waist. He felt his insides churn with excitement as the creature was severed at its lower torso. The two halves fell harmlessly to the ground. His gun then trained onto the last walking corpse, it was now in jumping distance. The creature leapt into the air, Sean gasped in pure amazement. He realized that it was coming to close to get some comfortable shots off.
Fear and surprise melted his stoic accuracy into a wild spray of ammunition. A few shots connected with the creature as it landed next to Sean. It may have been injured, but there was no external sign of it. Sharp tooth-like protrusions on the whip-like tentacle connected with the private's stomach, the knock-out punch threw Sean to the ground with little effort. Piercing, blood curdling screams resonated from its whole heartedly messed up face. They cut deep into Sean's eardrums, adding to his terror. In rage, or hunger, it battered the wounded private with its spiked tendril. Sean raised a bloody hand in a desperate attempt to defend himself, then had it brutally smacked away. After a few whips the creature raised its opposite arm, which had replaced the hand with a jackhammer-like fixture, up for the killing blow. Its upper torso then exploded, a mess of tangled guts and organs erupted from the open wound. The lifeless creature slumped forward.
"Your welcome," came the oddly cheerful cry of Private Fergus. Sean observed the smiling figure. He was sporting a shotgun, and standing next to a pair of previously intact creatures. He inwardly thanked the jerk for granting him new life. The near death experience left him with raging adrenaline.
The previously held advantage of outranging the monsters had evaporated. To Sean's horror the mass of tangled flesh collided with the National guardsmen. Men tried to fight of the creatures with their guns, some pulled out knives. Several men, seemingly unwilling to partake in a melee, fled. Sean was beset upon by two creatures. He fired from the hip at the closest one, backing away in an effort to maintain some distance. The mass of projectiles tore away the creature's lower body. Several shots pierced its cranium; the semi-harmless creature tumbled as its legs literally fell out from beneath it. The second enemy was hit by some rounds, tearing away an arm. Sean brought his rifle up as a club; praying to god he would not miss. With aching arms, he swung the rifle, and smashed it into the parasite infested body. The blow produced a disgusting squish as it landed. Sean brought his gun back up, steadied his shaking hands, and fired. The backwards-staggering revitalized carcass absorbed more shots, as Sean, also turned off by had to hand combat, made a desperate effort to put the thing down before it came in melee range. Soon, the rotting flesh came apart. To his satisfaction, the corpse fell into numerous pieces on the ground.
The previous melee with these things had taken the lives of most of the squad in Sean's transport. The others had run, leaving just Fergus and Gallagher to hold off an entire army.
While Fergus may have been a jackass, he was not a coward; he seemed willing to stand and fight.
The two worked in tandem. Sean tried to thin out the mobs as they came in, Fergus, would light the rest up with his shotgun. The tactic worked well for a few moments, but would not last; the weakest part of the human lines, the center, was about to shatter under the pressure.
"Look, the center, its failing." Fergus spat out the shock riddled words. Sean glanced towards the middle of the fray. The parasites were running through the men. Terrified soldiers fled from the carnage. The large tank-forms tore several hapless humans into pieces with half spirited whips. Sean feared for his life, almost certain that he would not make it out. These tank-forms were completely immune to small arms fire. Not to mention the fact that every APC had been taken out shortly after the beginning of the fight.
"We are also about to be ripped to shreds by very large, and very angry mob of mutated freaks." Sean paused to let his words sink in before adding. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
The two privates jumped to their feet, and ran up the hill behind them. They paused to glance back at what was left of the human resistance. The center was completely shattered; the numerically superior parasites were hot on the heels of the remains of 2nd battalion. The Mob that had started to chase them had moved on to other, more tasty targets. The word tasty in this situation, means wounded.
"We cannot stay here." Cried out Sean, fearful and hopeless, he spun on his heels and sprinted to the relative safety of the forest. Fergus followed close behind. The privates continued through up the hill, gathering a few stragglers along the way. Now six survivors trotted into the forest. Several of the men paused to take a knee, others vomited on the ground.
"Ehk, you guys ok?" The men looked at him as if he was retarded.
Right, he said to himself, dumb question.
"Oh god we are so dead." On of the marines called out, loud enough so that Sean was forced to respond
"Keep your voice down idiot; we have to keep quiet and lay low until we can get back to base." The men began to regain themselves, they slowly came together. They had wandered in the general south direction for over an hour. There were some scares; distant screams, falling trees and the like, and one of the privates most definitely shit his pants. But, they were alive, at least.
"So, where do we go from here?" Sean knew that they could theoretically get back to the base by following the roads. But with those creatures lurking around, waiting for them to slip up and expose themselves, long treks through the forest were a near impossibility. Staying put was an equally risky option. Their scent could be smelled for miles, if they stayed still, they'd have a mob bearing down on them within the hour.
"Well, they probably have our scent already. We cannot stay here."
"Well Private Gallagher, got any ideas?" Sean trained his eyes on Fergus; his words were not doubt a challenge.
Despite his anger at Fergus's constant challenges, the straight truth was that he had no real way to get out of this situation. He had not really guess that a convoy of two hundred and fifty national guardsmen would be ambushed, and then subsequently overtaken by a mob of ravenous corpses. But, c'mon who could have possibly seen that coming. In any case, this feud between Fergus and Sean had to end, and Sean knew it.
"Anyone know where the base is?" Came the inquiry from PFC Stone. His face sported a nice collection of scars and bruises, along with a nice touch of blood and soil spread throughout his uniform. His expression was betrayed a surprising hint of indifference, as if he knew he was doomed, therefore realizing that he had nothing to lose.
"According to our mission plans, we should be about five miles north of Bravo Base 2A given how long we have been walking." Fergus placed the map back into his pocket. His stare then slowly turned in Sean's direction. He must have been waiting for a response.
"So, you need me to tell you what to do eh?" Sean cracked a smile and then took a knee, amused with his remark. "Well, I think that if we stay low, we have enough light to make it back to base. But these things come out in force in a short time. They will be hunting us down without fear of aerial back-up. The way I see it, we have an hour to make it back." The men pondered the words, Fergus, the smartass that he was, happened to be the first one to speak up.
"Run away? Hell, I could've thought of that" It was clear that the two were vying for control over the squad, Fergus only needed Sean to slip up once and the men would be at his fingertips.
"Well, since you are so eager to insult my ideas, how about you brainstorm a few?" Fergus paused; he clearly had no back-up to his words.
"We could spend the night here." He tried to sneak a bit of smugness into his voice to appear in control. Sean cut him off, not believing the ruse for a moment.
"Look, if we stay still we die, that is it. If you want to live, you will follow us to the base." The men moved on, striding past Sean without a second look. Fergus glanced back, his shoulders slumped a bit. Sean move towards him and leaned in, he whispered to him, "Back off," Sean's voice wasn't riddled with anger, but with confidence.
Fergus just nodded, in defeat, he moved along with the rest of the men. Like it or not, Sean was in charge.
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