UNSCDF2 Chapter 33- Researches Gone Wrong

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 21, 2001

1850 Local Time

            “Watch your corners.” Zyrok cautioned as he pointed his flashlight at an intersection with his Desert Fox ready to shoot.

            “Is it me or is it cold?” Nevarez shivered.

            “Obviously it’s cold. The sun doesn’t shine here remember?” Schmidt joked.

            “Hey Zyrok.” Frederick called out from the group of marines.

            “Yeah?” Zyrok turned his head.

            “A directory.” Frederick pointed her gun’s flashlight on a wall.

            “Let’s take a look.” Zyrok walked to the wall and studied the map.

            “Damn, this facility is big.” Forester glanced at the map.

            “Fifty levels underground, who knew there would be another five more levels down...” Zyrok said with a surprised face.

            “Let’s split so we can cover more ground.” Casey suggested.

            “Frederick, Cookson, Hariprasad form a team and designate call sign 1-3. May, Robertson, and Christopher will be 2-3. Forester, Casey, and Taylor can be 3-3 and me, Nevarez, and Schmidt will be 4-3.” Zyrok directed.

            “Sounds good, there are five levels and four teams.” Casey pointed out.

            “Then we better get going. We work our way down.” Zyrok pointed at an elevator down the hall with his flashlight.

            “Boss, you sure that works?” Schmidt asked.

            “If not, we can always take the stairs.” Zyrok smiled.

            “Alright Zyrok, we’ll take this floor.” May volunteered.

            “We’ll take the second.” Frederick replied.

            “Third for us.” Zyrok smiled.

            “Then four for our team then.” Forester concluded.

            “Once we’re done. We’ll converge on the fifth floor.” Zyrok pointed at the map.

            “Alright marines, let’s move.” Forester ordered.

            May’s team hurried into the first room and began to clear while Forester’s team headed for the elevators. Taylor pressed the button, but it did not seem to work so Casey pushed the stairwell doors open. As Zyrok reached the stairwell, Frederick’s team ran past Zyrok and his marines.

            “You got to go faster or we’ll beat you to the fifth floor.” Frederick teased Zyrok.

            “Oh…we have a competition now.” Zyrok crossed his arms.

            “You can sit here and look pretty, but I’m here to work.” Frederick joked.

            “Frederick, it’s on. Come on men!” Zyrok waved at his marines.

            The marines rushed down the stairwell and exited out their assigned floors. Zyrok pushed the door open and waved at Schmidt to take point. Schmidt stuck out his M16 out of the door and panned his flashlight down the halls. As Schmidt walked out a few steps, the sound of moaning could be heard in the distant.

            “Go stealth.” Zyrok whispered as he pulled out his kukri from his belt.

            Schmidt nodded, but decided to continue wielding his M16. Since the flashlight was attached to his gun, he figured he would use his gun to bash any zombies that got in his way. Nevarez looked at Zyrok and then Schmidt and decided to use his M16 as a melee weapon.

            “First room on the left. Breach and clear.” Zyrok pointed.

            Once the marines slowly made their way down the dark halls and reached the door, Zyrok looked at the access panel. He swiped the Secronom keycard and the doors slid open. Immediately, two zombies in bloody lab coats rushed out of the room. Schmidt bashed one zombie to the ground with the butt of his gun and stomped on its neck killing the zombie whilst Zyrok thrusted his kukri into the other zombie’s forehead.

            “Go! Go!” Zyrok commanded as he pulled his knife from the zombie’s head.

            The zombie dropped to the ground dead and Schmidt charged in with his gun ready. Zyrok knelt beside the zombie he killed and picked up a Secronom keycard hanging around its neck. Nevarez walked past the other corpse and got himself a keycard.

            “Clear!” Schmidt shouted as he panned his flashlight back and forth around the room.

            The room was filled with medical equipment and vials of blue liquids. Zyrok walked over to a vial and noticed the word “Nerotonin-1” marked on it.

            “Nertonin…” Nevarez picked up a vial and read it.

            “The Nerotonin-1 is ineffective against the Nertonin-4 virus.” Zyrok looked at the other vials.

            “Was this facility testing for a cure?” Schmidt asked.

            “We don’t know yet. Next room, let’s go. We have to beat Frederick’s team.” Zyrok hustled.

            Zyrok gave Schmidt his looted keycard and exited back out to the halls. He pointed at the door adjacent to them and the team quickly got into formation. Schmidt swiped his keycard on the panel and the doors slid open. From the ground, a zombie with no legs crawled out and growled viciously.

            “Goodbye!” Schmidt swung his M16 like a bat and cracked the zombie’s head open.

            “Clear the room.” Zyrok ordered.

            “Affirmative.” Nevarez replied.

            Nevarez walked into the room cautiously keeping his eyes out for hidden zombies. Schmidt followed behind Nevarez closely while Zyrok watched from the back with his kukri ready in hand.

            “What’s this room?” Nevarez looked at a bunch of cages with dead animal corpses.

            “Bunnies, rats, dogs, and cats.” Schmidt examined the carcasses.

            “Test subjects.” Zyrok looked at a folder hooked beside a cage.

            “What were the scientists experimenting on?” Nevarez asked.

            “Subject 32 reacted with the Nerotonin-1 drug after two minutes. Loss of vision and paralysis were the side effects of the body’s antibodies mixing with the drug.” Zyrok read the report.

            “Take a look at this one.” Schmidt pulled a folder from a dead dog’s cage.

            “What does it say?” Zyrok looked interested.

            “Advanced stages of the Nerotonin-1 seemed to have a longer cellular stability in the host of 67. The red blood cells in 67 seemed to have a coarse edge after four hours of exposure.” Schmidt read the paperwork.

            “That’s good to hear, but Nerotonin-1 is too old. We need details on Nerotonin-3 and Nerotonin-4 in order to get some good Intel.” Zyrok replied.

           “Nope, nothing here. All of these are Nerotonin-1 test subjects.” Nevarez quickly scanned each folder on each cage.

            “Alright, let’s seal this door and clear the room opposite here.” Zyrok ordered.

            The marines exited the lab and walked to a door in front of them.

            “Same plan, breach and clear.” Zyrok nodded at Nevarez to swipe the keycard.

            Nevarez swiped the keycard and took a few steps back as the door opened. A small group of zombies in body armor rushed out.

            “Fire!” Zyrok ordered as he slashed at one zombie attempting to bite him and pulled out his Desert Fox sidearm.

            Zyrok stuffed his pistol into the zombie’s mouth and fired a round. Nevarez aimed his M16 and popped a few rounds in a zombie before bashing the barrel of the gun to its skull. Schmidt, on the other hand, was doing pretty well. He fired one shot per zombie headed his way doing an instant kill. After a few minutes, the marines had dealt with the threat and moved inside the room.

            “These guys look like the Secronom’s security team.” Zyrok nudged a dead zombie with his boot.

            “And this is the security room.” Schmidt pointed at a lot of broken monitors hanging off the wall.

            “The power’s offline.” Nevarez pressed on a keyboard.

            “Williams, this is Zyrok. Can you see if you can find the controls to turn on the power down here?” Zyrok spoke on the RaidComm.

            A minute passed by and Zyrok got no response.

            “Williams, do you copy, over.” Zyrok asked on the RaidComm.

            “I don’t think Williams heard us.” Nevarez guessed.

            “Forester, do you copy?” Zyrok sat down in a seat as he broadcasted on the RaidComm.

            “Yeah, I hear you Zyrok. What’s up?” Forester asked.

            “I can’t get a response from Williams’ team. Can you keep an eye out for some power controls? Our floor is in complete darkness.” Zyrok responded.

            “Copy. I believe we’re too underground for the RaidComm signals to be received. Our floor is dark as hell as well.” Forester replied.

            “Keep me posted of your progress.” Zyrok requested.

            “Will do Zyrok.” Forester replied and ended the transmission.

            “Hey Zyrok, take a look at this.” Schmidt pointed at a corpse beside him.

            Zyrok the noticed the body was mutilated, but it was easily identifiable from the other bodies that it was neither a scientist nor a security guard. It wore the uniform of a Russian soldier and a rank of Corporal.

            “We have a Gleb here.” Schmidt looked at the dog tag of the deceased Russian.

            “Got separated from his team?” Zyrok searched the body.

            “Looks like it.” Nevarez looked at the other zombie corpses on the ground.

            “A radio…that might be useful.” Zyrok pulled out a radio from Gleb’s back pocket.

            “Does it work?” Schmidt glanced at the radio.

            Zyrok turned some dials on the radio and heard static. He frowned and removed the battery.

            “Looks dead to me.” Zyrok dropped the battery to the ground and knelt over Gleb’s backpack.

            Zyrok rummaged through the backpack and found a spare battery. He smiled in satisfaction and attached it to the radio. Zyrok turned the knob on the side and the radio came to life.

            “Tanya, cover the main doors.” a man spoke on the radio.

            “Sasha, the door won’t hold long. We have to get Vladamir out of here.” a woman replied back.

            Zyrok looked at the radio and then looked at his men. Schmidt shrugged and Nevarez had a curious face.

            “Go and assist?” Nevarez asked.

            “Sasha, they got through. We’re retreating!” Tanya frantically spoke on the radio.

            “Argh! Help!” another man screamed on the radio with gunshots in the background.

            “They got Alexsei!” Tanya shouted.

            “Tanya! Get to our location now. We’re sealing the security doors.” Sasha commanded in a rushed tone of voice.

            Zyrok and his marines huddled around the radio with widened eyes. There were no more transmissions coming out of the radio after Sasha’s orders.

            “Are they…dead?” Nevarez asked.

            “What got them?” Schmidt frowned.

            “Must be zombies.” Zyrok replied.

            “Sasha…do you read?” Tanya whispered.

            “She’s still alive.” Nevarez exclaimed.

            “Sasha…Vladamir…anyone copy?” Tanya whispered.

            “Should we talk?” Schmidt looked at the radio in Zyrok’s hand.

            “Anybody out there? Anyone?” Tanya broadcasted.

            Zyrok sighed and felt the obligation to answer.

            “This is UNSC Captain Zyrok, go ahead.” Zyrok spoke on the radio.

            “Oh thank god. There are zombies everywhere. I need help, I’m stuck Captain.” Tanya said with relief on the radio.

            “Slow down. Tell me what’s going on.” Zyrok spoke softly.

            “They’re everywhere. My team…Sasha and Vladamir…I’m not sure if they are alive.” Tanya breathed heavily.

            “Zombies…where?” Zyrok asked.

            “Not just any zombies, these zombies have multiple limbs and crawl very fast.” Tanya reported.

            “Where are you?” Zyrok asked.

            “I climbed into a vent because I didn’t have enough time to make it to Sasha’s location.” Tanya answered.

            “Which level are you on?” Zyrok pulled out his pistol.

            “Zulu…Level Zulu.” Tanya replied.

            “How many floors down from the underground elevator?” Zyrok asked.

            “Five…five floors down. We approached a destroyed blast door and proceeded to check it out. And…that was when those things appeared and attacked us.” Tanya muttered.

            “Okay, remain calm. We’ll come.” Zyrok replied.

            “Oh thank you Captain. Where are you right now?” Tanya asked.

            “Two floors above you. I’ve got marines scattered around searching. We found your friend Gleb.” Zyrok reported.

            “You better stick together. These multi-limbed zombies are good at picking us off. You found Gleb?” Tanya suggested.

            “Ok. We found Gleb as a zombie and put him down like the rest of them.” Zyrok glanced at Gleb’s body.

            “Gleb lost us when we encountered a mob of zombies.” Tanya said with some concern in her voice.

            “Sit tight, we’ll be with you shortly.” Zyrok spoke on the radio and then looked at his marines.

            “Sounds like a party.” Schmidt replied sarcastically.

            “All UNSC marines, report in.” Zyrok broadcasted on the RaidComm as he clipped the radio to his belt.

            “May here, first floor is cleared and secured. Lots of office paperwork here.” May reported.

            “Frederick reporting in. Floor two is almost secured. Ran into zombies and dealt with them. No big deal.” Frederick reported with confidence.

            “Zyrok, we’ve just secured the fourth floor. A lot of zombies, but we cleared it. We are clearing room two of the fifth floor.” Forester responded.

            “Oh no…” Schmidt looked at Nevarez and then Zyrok.

            “Hold position Forester. Repeat, hold position.” Zyrok commanded.

            “What’s going on?” Forester asked with concern.

            “I’ll explain later. May, get your team to the fifth floor now. The rest of you, quickly finish your floors and regroup on level five.” Zyrok broadcasted.

            “What’s up Zyrok? Can you…wait, what’s that Casey? Did you see that?” Forester asked on the RaidComm and was interrupted.

            “Forester, be careful of different types of zombies. Level Zulu is in the fifth floor.” Zyrok cautioned.

            “Oh…didn’t something get out of Level Zulu? That’s…Casey, watch out! Contact six and nine o’clock! What the hell!” Forester yelled in surprise.

            “Forester, run!” Zyrok shouted on the RaidComm.

            “Holy smokes! What are these things? Taylor, look left!” Forester replied in distress.

            “Nevarez and Schmidt, you know the plan. Double time it marines.” Zyrok shouted.

            “If it’s not one of us, kill it.” Nevarez nodded as he quickly checked the ammunition in his M16.

            “It’s going to be a hell hole once we go down.” Schmidt smirked as he cocked his gun.

            “Let’s get a move on it people.” Zyrok hustled as he sprinted out of the room.

            “This is 3-3 encountering multiple hostiles of an unknown breed of zombies. Need backup! Repeat, need reinforcements in Room B5502.” Casey broadcasted on the RaidComm.

            “Copy 3-3. 2-3 and 4-3 are on the way there.” Zyrok ran down the dark halls and shoved a zombie in his way to the ground.

            “There’s a lot of them Zyrok!” Taylor cried out on the RaidComm.

            “We’re coming. Hold your position. Use everything that you’ve got.” Zyrok ordered.

            “This is 2-3, we’ve reached the fifth floor and are engaging zombies from behind.” May reported on the RaidComm.

            “Give them hell marines!” Forester spoke on the RaidComm loudly.

            “Frederick here, 1-3 is ready to assist. Moving down to level five.” Frederick interrupted on the RaidComm.

            Zyrok pushed the stairwell door open and jumped down the stairs with his marines following behind. Zyrok pushed the door to the fifth floor open and saw a zombie with multiple limbs on the ceiling staring at him. The zombie growled and lunged itself towards Zyrok with its mouth open exposing a set of sharp teeth.