Richmond, British
Columbia, Canada
UNSC
Richmond
Outpost
July
22, 1999
0950
Local Time
“We’re ready for liftoff Zyrok.” a
man in his mid twenties shouted from the Pelican cockpit.
“Let’s get moving.” Charlie waved
his hand as he looked at Casey and Hawkes sitting in front of him.
“First mission Zyrok. What do you
think?” Casey looked at Charlie looking down at the outpost as the Pelican
lifted off.
“I’m excited. The mission doesn’t
sound that difficult. We just need to do a reset on a communications tower.”
Charlie replied.
“Yeah, but I heard there’s a lot of
infected down in Abbotsford.” Casey commented.
“Doesn’t matter. If it gets in our
way, we crush it.” Hawkes pounded his fist.
“Don’t be overconfident Hawkes.”
Casey glared at Hawkes.
“He’s got a point.” Charlie agreed.
“Well, it’s my game face.” Hawkes
grinned.
“War is not a game, my friend.”
Charlie replied.
“What do you know about war?” Hawkes
challenged.
“I know the value of life. Every
life is important.” Charlie countered and thought of Sarah.
“Enough Hawkes, he’s our commanding
officer.” Casey nudged Hawkes.
“It’s alright Casey. Look you guys
don’t need to treat me special just because I’m a lieutenant. I’m not your
boss, I’m your friend.” Charlie explained.
“Wow, man.” Hawkes widened his eyes.
“What?” Charlie asked.
“You’re different. I thought that
you were one of those hardcore hardened officers that I’ve encountered before.”
Hawkes replied.
“Well, I’m not.” Charlie grinned.
“That’s why I like him.” Casey
looked at Hawkes.
“Get some rest now. We’ll be there
in half an hour or so.” Charlie sat comfortably in his seat.
“Yeah, I sure will especially when
we’re getting our own ride back.” Hawkes commented.
“Cole told us there are UNSC assets
left behind in the tower.” Charlie reassured.
“Probably weapons and armor. Wait
till we go there and don’t see a Warthog in sight.” Hawkes joked.
“We’ll find a way back. It’s Cole
testing us in the field. Putting skills we learned to use.” Charlie closed his
eyes to rest.
Abbotsford, British
Columbia, Canada
Abbotsford International Airport
July
22, 1999
1025
Local Time
“We’re here. Good luck marines. I’ve
got to pick up marines down at Pitt Meadows.” the pilot shouted from the
cockpit.
“Alright thanks.” Charlie exited the
Pelican holding a USP.
Casey and Hawkes immediately
followed behind Charlie and then waved at the Pelican as it lifted off into the
blue skies.
“The communications tower is nine
hundred meters west of our location.” Charlie studied his datapad.
“Got it, let’s move.” Casey ordered
as he slung his MSG-9 over his back.
The team lightly jogged west and
reached the tower in twenty minutes. A zombie was standing in front of the door
when Casey smashed his gun at its back of its head.
“That was easy.” Casey laughed.
“Hawkes, you stay here while Casey and I reset the
communications junction up at the tower.” Charlie directed as he swiped his
UNSC ID badge on the access panel.
“Access granted. Welcome Lieutenant Charlie.” the computer
spoke in a woman’s voice.
Surprisingly, the door only slid open one tenth and could not
allow the marines to squeeze through.
“Damn it.” Charlie hit the panel with frustration.
“We can boost you over to the second
ledge.” Casey pointed at the second floor window.
“Sounds good.” Charlie agreed.
Hawkes boosted Charlie to the second
ledge and then boosted Casey as Charlie assisted.
“Good luck. I’ll kill anything I see
in sight.” Hawkes waved.
“Alright, see you soon.” Charlie
waved back and entered a dark room.
“The junction should be a couple
levels up.” Casey pointed at the stairwell.
“Let’s double time it.” Charlie
commanded.
Casey and Zyrok ran up a few
flights of stairs and opened the door to the rooftop. They saw the tower
flashing red and looked at an opened communications box twenty meters above
their head.
“I’ll climb it and reset it.”
Charlie headed for the metal rails and began to climb.
After a few minutes of careful
climbing, Charlie looked at the box and studied it.
“You’ll need to flip the switch
beside power that looks like a lever.” Casey hollered.
“I see it.” Charlie flipped the
lever.
Suddenly the alarm sounded off from
the whole building.
“Warning, all systems reset. All
doors unlocked. Quarantine cancelled.” the speakers announced.
“Quarantine cancelled?” Casey
hollered.
“I flipped the right lever.” Charlie
began to climb down.
Out of nowhere, a mob of zombies sprinted
out viciously from the rooftop entrance.
“Run! Find Hawkes and get a vehicle
first. I’m not going to make it.” Charlie stopped climbing.
“What about you?” Casey fired his
gun at the zombies.
“Get transport first and get me
later. Now go! That’s an order.” Charlie climbed back up to the top of the
tower and saw Casey climb down the ledge holding on to some cables.
“Sir, this is a mess down here.”
Hawkes shouted on the RaidCall.
“I know Hawkes. Casey’s coming down,
see if you can cover him from the west wall.” Charlie replied back with
urgency.
“Solid copy. What about you sir?”
Hawkes asked with concern.
“Find transport first and then get
me. Understood?” Charlie replied and looked down to see zombies swarming the
tower left and right.
“Solid copy, Zyrok. Good luck.
Hawkes out.” Hawkes ended the RaidCall communications as he fired at three
zombies.
“Casey!” Hawkes yelled as he laid a
light cover to hold the line as Casey slowly climbed down to the second floor.
“Oh man.” Casey groaned to realize
that he had to jump one full story down.
“Jump Sarge!” Hawkes reloaded his
gun.
“UNSC!” Casey ran and jumped onto a
zombie.
Casey crushed the zombie and then
bashed its head.
“We need to find transport.” Casey
told Hawkes.
“I know. I saw a hangar nearby when
I was done here guarding.” Hawkes pointed at a building in the far distance.
“Then let’s move!” Casey ordered and
began to run.
After a cycle of running, shooting,
and covering, the team finally made it to the hangars.
“We need to get inside. The zombies
are coming!” Casey frantically looked for an access panel.
“Hurry up!” Hawkes laid suppressing
fire into the mob chasing after them.
“Found it!” Casey found a side
entrance and swiped his ID badge on the panel.
The door unlocked and Casey waved at
Hawkes to follow through. Casey slammed the door shut and heard the zombies
pounding on the door.
“This is what I’m talking about.”
Hawkes shouted as he saw a Falcon docked on a platform.
“Sweet! Let’s fire it up and get
Zyrok.” Casey smiled.
Hawkes approached the Falcon and
noticed it was missing all its armaments. He shrugged and then jumped into the
cockpit.
“No weapons or turrets.” Hawkes
replied as Casey climbed on the Falcon and peeked at the console.
“That’s fine. One person flies and the
other shoots from the back with what we have. Question is…who can fly this?”
Casey asked.
“Darn, I thought you knew.” Hawkes
climbed out of the cockpit.
“Nope. Let’s see if we can find a
manual of some sort.” Casey flipped through the drawers inside the cockpit and
found nothing.
“I’ll go look around the office.”
Hawkes pointed at a room nearby.
After a few hours of searching, the
marines were tired and had given up.
“I’m just going to do trial and
error.” Casey jumped into the cockpit with frustration.
“Hit that yellow big button.” Hawkes
pointed.
Casey pressed the button and the
system lit up. The screen flashed a low battery and a low fuel sign and the
screen went black.
“It’s out of juice.” Casey exited
the Falcon and went to find fuel.
“I’ll get jump start cables to see
if I can start it up.” Hawkes headed back to the office.
Abbotsford, British
Columbia, Canada
UNSC Communications
Tower
July
22, 1999
2200
Local Time
“What’s taking them so long?”
Charlie wondered as he sat on the ledge as zombies swarmed below the tower.
Charlie wondered if his marines made
out alive at all because his RaidCall was not functioning long range due to the
tower interference. He also began to wonder if he would make it out alive.
“Well, this looks like it’s the end
of the road for me.” Charlie looked sadly “I don’t think I’ll ever see Sarah.”
Suddenly, he felt a sense of hope
and inspiration as he took out his wallet and looked at the printed photo of
Sarah.
“I made a promise to her and I will
find her.” Charlie felt determined.
Charlie felt renewed strength inside
him to wait for his marines to bring transport and rescue him. As he was
waiting, he took out a piece of napkin he left in his pocket from the cafeteria
and began to write a poem. After thirty minutes, he looked at what he wrote and
smiled.
“On that dark cold
weary night,
There were zombies
coming left and right.
I sat alone on the
damp moldy tower,
And in the mist was a
single flower,
That brought hope and
promise to the forsaken lands,
Which cast a shadow
over cracked buildings and rubbled sands.
I stood there
thinking about the happy times,
The troubles no
bigger than pennies nor dimes.
The flower inspired
me the courage and strength to fight,
To wipe out all
infected within my sight.
In a world of chaos
and destruction,
That flower showed me
the strength of determination.
I am just a lonely
survivor on this desolate planet,
Sitting alone by
myself like a zombie magnet.”
“This is for you Sarah.” Charlie
looked at the dazzling stars in the night sky and smiled.
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