UNSCDF Chapter 3- Be Careful What You Wish For

Auburn, Washington, USA

UNSC Communications Relay Station

March 15, 2001
0930 Local Time

Corporal Jason Milo sat on his chair staring at the radar. He took out his clipboard and took note of the blips he saw on the radar. He jotted down the number and resumed to stare at the screen. A middle aged man with a beard walked over to Milo and took a seat beside him.

            “Same old same old Sarge. Just a few zombies walking around.” Milo turned and spoke to the man.

            “Good. You take some rest Milo, you’ve been staring at that screen for three hours.” the Sergeant patted his back.

            “You know Sarge, the three of us have been stationed here for four months. We should get in on the action.” Milo stood up and waved at a young man sitting by a computer typing.

            “I agree with Milo, Sarge.” a man overheard and shouted as he continued to type.

            “Just finish that report Private Tyler and you can get your rest.” the Sergeant shouted back.

            “Got it Sarge.” Tyler put on a serious face and resumed to type his report.

            Milo went to the kitchen and poured himself some hot coffee. He grabbed the cup and headed up the stairs to the rooftop. He looked at the clear skies and then looked at the horizon. The city of Tacoma was in smoke and the buildings damaged. He looked around and found a stool to sit on. Milo was tired of being stationed here at the station. Everyday he would get up, look at the monitor, do reports, sit on the roof and do nothing, and then go back to sleep for the next day. Milo wanted to join the action and fight alongside his brother, Corporal Daniel Milo. It’s been one year since Milo has seen his brother. All he knew was that he was serving in the 7^th Company stationed at the San Francisco Outpost. Milo took a sip of his coffee and thought about the life before the apocalypse. Suddenly the alarm bell went off and Milo jumped up from his seat. He knew the alarm meant there was a horde of zombies coming to the station.

            “Finally, we’ve got some action.” Milo cheered himself up as he drank all his coffee and headed downstairs.

            “Here, grab this Milo.” the Sergeant handed Milo a UMP.

            “Thanks Mitchell.” Milo took the UMP from the sergeant.

            “Tyler, you watch the entrance with your SA80.” Mitchell pointed at the sealed front door.

            “Copy that sir.” Tyler hurried off.

            “Milo, you and I will take them out from the top.” Mitchell swung his MSG-9 over his shoulder.

            “This will be like shooting fish in a barrel.” Milo flipped the safety switch off and walked up the stairs.

            Mitchell laid his MSG-9 on the roof edge to steady his aim while Milo stood beside him holding his UMP.

            “How many?” Milo asked as he saw a horde of zombies slowly moving towards them.

            “Radar showed us around fifty.” Mitchell replied.

            “Great, fifty versus three.” Milo put on his game face.

            “We have higher ground and we have weapons.” Mitchell reassured Milo.

            “I see them coming.” Milo pointed at the horde approaching their fence.

            “I’ll take them out first.” Mitchell aimed his sniper rifle at the horde.

            Mitchell fired five rounds and took down five zombies. He looked at the horde becoming more aggressive and waved at Milo to shoot. Milo fired a couple of rounds into the horde and looked as the zombies fell down one by one. Mitchell resumed sniping and grabbed out a magazine from his pocket. As the two men fired at the horde, the bodies began to pile up. The bodies were starting to become a ramp over the chain linked fence.

            “Get ready Tyler.” Mitchell spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Copy that Sarge. Locked and loaded.” Tyler replied back on the RaidCall.

            Milo emptied out his magazine and placed a fresh clip into his UMP. The gun was providing a good cover fire, but the zombies continued to scale the fence. Mitchell placed his MSG-9 on his back and took out his Lock 17 and started firing at the horde of zombies.

            “Pistol’s way better than a sniper at this range.” Mitchell fired as the zombies climbed over the fence.”

            “I’ll lay down some cover for you.” Milo fired a bit faster at the oncoming zombies.

            “Couple more left. We can get Tyler to assist us.” Mitchell scanned at the remaining mob of zombies.

            “Tyler, open the main entrance and assist in taking out the remaining zombies. Be careful Private.” Mitchell spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Copy that boss, on it.” Tyler spoke on RaidCall with enthusiasm.

            From the rooftops, Mitchell fired his pistol at the zombies near the entrance while Milo provided a light cover on the climbing zombies. The door below them slid open and Tyler walked out with his SA80 in his hand. He fired bursts of three at the nearest zombie and then whacked a zombie with the butt of his gun before placing a round into its head. In less than a minute, the marines had cleaned all the zombies and regrouped at the entrance.

            “Nice work gentlemen.” Mitchell congratulated his men.

          “This is the first time they got past the fence.” Tyler looked at the dead zombie corpses on the ground.

            “Let’s clean up people. Milo, you take all the corpses and throw them outside our base. Tyler, you do a perimeter check and see if all fences are good or need repair. I’ll go load up our magazines and watch our radar in case anything gets here again.” Mitchell directed his men.

            “Yes sir.” the men replied in unison and walked off to begin their duties.

            “Finish early and we’ll have lunch early.” Mitchell shouted as he headed outside.

Kent, Washington, USA

Near Kent Elementary School

March 15, 2001
0950 Local Time

Thirty five year old Danny Millows and his twelve year old son Patrick walked on the streets searching for food. It’s been two days since they had food. They headed back to a barricaded home and rested on the couch.

“Dad, I think we should go to Tacoma. It’s a big city there and there must be some food.” Patrick rubbed his belly.

“Patrick, the bigger the city, the more zombies there are. We should go to Auburn instead.” Danny suggested, “It’s easier for us to survive there.”

“Sure Dad, any place will do as long as we get food.” Patrick nodded his head in agreement.

“Auburn is a couple of mile. We can use whatever gas we got at the house for the car and head there on a one way trip or we can try walking there.” Danny told his son the options.

“I don’t think I can walk that much with an empty stomach” Patrick looked sad.

“I know, but it’s a gamble with the last bit of fuel we got left in hope of food.” Danny looked at his son and explained.

“Mommy would have wanted us to drive.” Patrick looked upset.

“I know she would have.” Danny felt tears in his eyes, but held himself from crying.

It’s been one month since he had lost his wife to the zombies. They were at the community center looting for supplies when they got attacked. She got bit and had gotten infected. Danny remembered when his wife asked him to kill her before she became a zombie. He remembered how he promised to continue living and to protect their son.

“I hate zombies Dad, Mommy would have been alive if it wasn’t for them.” Patrick punched the ground.

“Me too Patrick. Me too.” Danny focused on the present and then stood up on the couch.

“Come on Patrick. Let’s pack what we can carry and drive to Auburn.” Danny told Patrick as he handed him a backpack.

“I’ll get our weapons and our medic kit.” Patrick rushed off upstairs.

“I’ll get the last remaining gas and fuel up our car then.” Danny went to the kitchen to find fuel.

Danny looked around the pictures on the wall and smiled. He saw pictures of his son growing up and pictures of his wife on their honeymoon. He took down a family portrait and placed it in his backpack. He crouched under the kitchen sink and took out a tank of gasoline. He opened the lid and peered inside.

“Less than half a tank.” Danny examined and closed the lid.

Danny looked around the countertops and placed two chef knives into his backpack. He picked up the tank and walked into the garage. He went to his tool box and took out nails and a claw hammer. He looked at the mini storage unit he made for his wife and opened it. He grabbed three flares, five candles, and one BBQ lighter.

“Dad, I’m done.” Patrick stood at the garage door entrance.

“Good, put your backpack into the car.” Danny pointed at a burnt orange sedan.

“Oh, I forgot to take the fire poker.” Patrick dropped his backpack and ran back into the house.

Danny opened the fuel door on his sedan and emptied the tank into the car. He looked at the fuel meter in his car to realize that it only had one quarter of his fuel tank filled.

“Hopefully, it should be enough.” Danny thought and reassured himself.

Patrick rushed back into the garage with a fire poker in his hand and then sat down at the back seat of the car.

“You ready?” Danny placed his backpack at the passenger seat.

“Yes Dad.” Patrick spoke with excitement.

Danny walked to the garage door and lifted the door. He looked left and right for zombies.

“Coast is clear.” Danny smiled and got into the driver’s seat.

Danny turned the ignition and locked the doors. The car slowly went on the road and then sped up on the empty street. Danny swerved a couple of times to avoid hitting zombies walking down on the streets and then turned onto a ramp onto the highway headed for Auburn. Danny drove on the highway past a couple of broken cars and then glanced at the backseat. Patrick was asleep holding his backpack as the sun bathed on his cheeks. Danny entered the outskirts of Auburn and passed a ruined airport. He exited down the ramp and headed towards the outer rural communities in Auburn. He continued driving down a street until he came to a forest. He parked his car and looked at the tank. The empty tank lit up on the dashboard and Danny frowned. He turned off the engine and woke up Patrick.

“Our fuel is near the bottom.” Danny picked up his backup and slung it over his back.

“Are we there?” Patrick rubbed his eyes.

“Almost, I think we can take a look around. This forest looks clear of zombies.” Danny grabbed a chef knife from his backpack.

Suddenly, sniper shots echoed near the forest followed by machine gun firing.

“Get down.” Danny shouted as he crouched next to the car.

Patrick ducked behind the car and grabbed his fire poker. The gun shots continued to fire from behind their car, but no bullets flew at them. After a couple of minutes, the firing died down.

“If there was shooting, there must be other survivors and that means there’s got to be a base.” Danny said.

“Or zombies got them like Mommy.” Patrick looked frightened.

“Don’t worry, let’s check it out. If it doesn’t look safe, we’ll head back to the car and go elsewhere.” Danny stood up and looked around.

Auburn, Washington, USA

UNSC Communications Relay Station

March 15, 2001
1200 Local Time

            Mitchell walked to the radar and looked. Two friendlies near the buildings and two blips near the outer perimeter. He studied at the two blips’ movement and looked as one blip moved first and then followed by the other.

            “That must be human.” Mitchell examined.

            “Tyler and Milo, be ready for two friendlies approaching our station.” Mitchell spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Copy that Sarge.” Milo replied back.

            “You got it boss.” Tyler responded with enthusiasm.

            Mitchell grabbed a set of binoculars beside his desk and headed for the rooftops. Mitchell looked into the binoculars at the edge of the forest and noticed a man and a child running towards their station. He waved his hand back and forth at them in hopes to catch their attention.

            “I see them Sarge.” Tyler spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Go and bring them in.” Mitchell ordered.

            “On it sir!” Tyler spoke back.

            Mitchell watched as Tyler run towards the two survivors and huddled them towards the station. Mitchell rushed down the stairs and saw Tyler talking to the man and the child.

            “That’s my Sergeant.” Tyler introduced Mitchell to the two survivors.

            “Sergeant Steve Mitchell.” Mitchell offered his hand.

            “Danny Millows and my son Patrick.” the man shook Mitchell’s hand and patted Patrick’s shoulders.

            “Welcome to the UNSC Communications Relay Station.” Mitchell placed his binoculars onto the desk.

            “I’m all done Sarge. Bodies are removed.” Milo spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Excuse me sir, do you have any food?” Patrick asked politely.

            “Of course we do. Tyler, show them to the kitchen.” Mitchell spoke to Tyler.

            “Thank you so much Sergeant.” Danny thanked as Tyler led them to the kitchen.

            Milo entered to the room and walked up to Mitchell.

            “Milo, go have some lunch and introduce yourself to them in the kitchen. I’ll watch the radar.” Mitchell sat down next to the radar.

            “Thank you, sir.” Milo hurried off with a smile on his face.

            Mitchell looked at the computer screen and then heard people chatting loudly.

            “This place is going to be livelier.” Mitchell smiled at his thought.