UNSCDF2 Chapter 24- Youth in Action

San Francisco, California, USA

Pacific Heights

April 20, 2001

1230 Local Time

            Sarah fired her shotgun and blew the zombie in front of her to the ground. Vickers fired bursts of two rounds every second to illuminate the stairwell while laying a cover for the team’s retreat. In a matter of seconds, the stairwell was filled with gunfire and zombies growling viciously.

            “Third floor, move!” Fields yelled from the back as he reloaded his UMP.

            Sarah bashed a zombie with the butt of her shotgun and drew her Lock 17 sidearm. The area was too confined and the accessibility for her shotgun was limited. Quickly slinging her Washington 870 to her back, Sarah managed to pop off a few rounds into the crowd of zombies advancing towards her.

            “Go Sarah! I’ll cover you.” Vickers shouted as he realized Sarah’s vulnerability with just a pistol.

            Sarah did not pause to think or say a word. Time was critical and now that Vickers was ready to cover, she acted almost subconsciously. She fired three rounds behind her and ran up the stairs past Vickers. Vickers saw the paradigm shift as Sarah cleared his field of vision. He held the trigger down and unleashed a torrent of bullets into the crowd. Although inaccurate in spraying, the MP5 was able to hit its target due to the close proximity of the targets in the stairwell.

            “Third floor clear!” Fields shouted from the third level.

            “Vickers, move. Second level door won’t last forever!” Sarah leaned against the creaking door as she noticed Vickers spending his ammunition quickly.

            Vickers turned around and slid the magazine out of his MP5 and slapped on a fresh new magazine. By the time Vickers ran past Sarah, Sarah was already in position with her loaded shotgun. Sarah fired off two rounds into the zombie mob and ran after Vickers. Immediately after Sarah left the second level door, the door came off its hinges and crashed to the ground. The zombies poured into the stairwell and joined its companions in the hunt for fresh meat. Sarah fired two more rounds into the crowd and slung her shotgun to her back. Both Vickers and Fields laid a heavy suppressive fire as Sarah ran towards them. Once the SWAT reached the third level door, they slammed the door shut and ran down a hall.

            “There!” Fields pointed at an open office door.

            The three SWAT members hurried inside and closed the door. Almost immediately, everyone knew what to do. Sarah and Fields pushed a metal desk behind the door while Vickers pulled a small cabinet and wedged it against the desk.

            “Get the chairs.” Vickers pointed at some fallen chairs scattered in the room.

            Sarah nodded and hurried off to get the chairs. Fields saw the opportunity and quickly reloaded his UMP. Vickers placed his ear against the door and heard the zombies growling.

            “They’ve broke through.” Vickers whispered.

            “Let’s make a good barricade.” Fields helped Sarah lift a chair and placed it on top of the desk.

            Sarah looked at the barricade and froze in thought. She had seen this before in the past and she suddenly remembered.

            “Taylor…” Sarah muttered under her breath.

            “Huh?” Fields turned his head.

            “Oh, nothing.” Sarah looked worried.

            Sarah could see the history repeating and the ending wasn’t going to be well. She had the urge to change the current situation as if she had a premonition of the future.

            “Is there any way out except the windows?” Sarah spoke her thoughts.

            “Next door.” Vickers pointed at a closed door.

            “Why not the windows Sarah?” Fields asked.

            “I’ve just got a bad feeling.” Sarah had a flashback.

            “Ok, let’s look next door.” Fields pointed at the door with his gun.

            Vickers readied his MP5 to his chest whilst Sarah stood in front of the door with the shotgun pointed at the entrance. Fields waved at Vickers and then leaned against the wall adjacent to the door. Vickers twisted the door knob clockwise and popped the door open. Sarah immediately rushed in and scanned the room keeping her eyes alert for any movement. Fields quickly followed Sarah and scanned Sarah’s corners. Vickers watched the barricade move a little as the door shook from the aggressive pounding.

            “There.” Sarah pointed at an emergency exit.

            “Go! Go! Go!” Fields hustled as he ran to the exit.

            “Emergency ladder to escape in the event of a fire.” Sarah pushed the door open and saw a ladder hanging beside the wall of the building.

            “Down we go.” Fields looked down and saw a vacant alley.

            Sarah slung her shotgun over her back and climbed down the ladder quickly. Vickers shouldered his MP5 and climbed down once Sarah had secured the alley.

            “Go!” Sarah shouted to Fields as Vickers reached the ground.

            Fields watched his back for a brief second and then quickly scaled down the ladder with one hand holding his UMP pointed above him in case any zombies got past the barricade. Once Fields reached the ground, he pointed forward with his gun.

            “Double time back to the Outpost.” Fields ordered.

            The three SWAT members jogged out of the alley and took out one zombie along the way with a simple hand combat. As the team reached the gate of the Outpost, Vickers paused for a second to breathe.

            “What a day…” Vickers panted.

            “Yeah.” Sarah agreed and stopped to catch her breath.

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 20, 2001

1430 Local Time

            “So this is what we’re looking for…” Vladamir looked out of the van parked a kilometer away from the facility.

            Vladamir took out a pair of binoculars and scanned the facility.

            “The UNSC is here already.” Vladamir spoke out loud as he saw a troop transport Warthog parked halfway between the fences.

            “Sir?” the driver asked.

            “Get us closer.” Vladamir ordered.

            “Understood sir.” the driver stepped on the accelerator and the van jolted forward.

            As the facility got closer in view, Vladamir widened his eyes. He saw the turrets turning towards the van and opened his mouth in shock.

            “Reverse! Reverse!” Vladamir shouted as he ran to the back of the van.

            The turrets were fast and accurate. Within seconds of range, two turrets fired a wave of armor piercing rounds into the van. The bullets flew through the windshield and struck the driver. Vladamir saw bullets whizzing past him and ducked to the ground. The soldiers in the back of the van got peppered by the fire and collapsed to the ground beside him. Vladamir quickly kicked the back door of the van open and rolled out.

            “Get out!” Vladamir shouted as he took cover behind the van.

            Two soldiers jumped out in time before the van exploded as the turrets blew the engine up. The two soldiers quickly crawled beside Vladamir and coughed as the wind blew dust in their faces.

            “Shit.” a soldier clutched his stomach and groaned.

            A piece of debris had struck his stomach. A hunk of metal protruded from his flak jacket and blood was oozing onto the ground.

            “Aw hell.” the other soldier grabbed a piece of cloth from his backpack and applied pressure to his injured comrade.

            “We’ve got company.” Vladamir watched a Warthog appeared down the dusty streets.

            “Ahh!” the injured soldier yelled as his comrade wrapped the cloth tightly against his wound.

            “Let’s move.” Vladamir stood up.

            “Come on.” the soldier lifted his injured buddy to his feet.

            “He’s dead weight.” Vladamir looked at the Warthog approaching them.

            “We can’t leave him here.” the soldier complained.

            “You’re right.” Vladamir pointed his AK47 and fired a round into the injured soldier’s forehead.

            “What?” the soldier looked at his dead comrade.

            “Get moving or we all die from the UNSC, Corporal.” Vladamir began to run.

            The Corporal looked at Vladamir and then glanced at the Warthog. He had no choice but to follow Vladamir to survive. The pair ran towards a pile of rocks and took cover. Vladamir pulled out his binoculars and watched two marines step of the Warthog while another marine remained on the turret scanning the surroundings for any hostiles.

            “UNSC…” Vladamir muttered under his breath with hatred.

            The two marines walked closely to the destroyed van while keeping alert of the turrets’ sensors. Vladamir watched a marine crouch beside the soldier he had shot and watched the marine wave his hand at the other marine. Vladamir knew the marines were aware of them. It was his carelessness in shooting his soldier that exposed their existence.