UNSCDF2 Epilogue Version 1.1

San Francisco, California, USA

UNSC San Francisco Outpost

April 23, 2001

2100 Local Time

            Red lights flashed inside the whole Outpost and a siren blared through the complex. Cookson rushed through the dark foggy fields armed with a M16. In the distant, gunshots echoed the fields and screams were heard. A few hours after Echo 21 landed back to the Outpost, no one had bothered to check up on each other to see how everyone was doing. Forester called it a night and people went their ways. There was one thing they had left out to check. It was Tanya, unknown to the marines and covered in blood stained clothes, she had been hiding a bite from a spider she had contracted prior to Zyrok’s rescue. Now Tanya had mutated into a spider zombie and was infecting the marines and civilians at the Outpost. The good thing was that Cookson and May had killed the infected Tanya, but the bad thing was that she had turned a good amount of humans into her kind. The UNSC Outpost was literally swarmed with spider zombies and the marines had lost control. Now, Cookson was running to the building where Sarah lived.

            “Sarah!” Cookson called out loudly down the halls.

            A figure ran towards Cookson and pointed his flashlight at Cookson’s face.

            “Don’t shoot.” Cookson blocked the blinding light with his hand and recognized the figure to be Fields.

            “What the hell are those things?” Fields looked at Cookson with a frightened look.

            “Spiders…or so we call it. We thought we had contained it back at Afghanistan, but we didn’t.” Cookson handed his Lock 17 pistol to Fields.

            “Those things are everywhere. Thanks.” Fields took Cookson’s pistol gratefully.

            “Where’s Sarah?” Cookson asked.

            “I don’t know. We got split up. Last I saw her was with Fisher one floor up.” Fields replied.     

            “Come on man, let’s find her.” Cookson ran up the stairs.

            As the pair reached the floor, bodies were everywhere. Two gunshots fired at the end of the dark hall and a feminine scream was heard.

            “Sarah!” Cookson shouted as he sprinted towards the scream.

            Fields quickly ran behind him while keeping alert of his surroundings for any zombies. As Cookson charged into the room where the scream came from, a spider zombie was munching on a woman. Cookson fired three rounds into the back of its head and ran up beside the spider’s victim. It was Fisher and she was half alive as blood gushed out of her neck.

            “Sarah’s in the…next room….kill me…before I turn.” Fisher coughed on her own blood before she slowly closed her eyes.

            “Thank you Fisher for taking care of my wife. I’m sorry it had to go down this way.” Cookson aimed his M16 at Fisher’s forehead and fired once.

            Cookson frowned and quickly went to the next door. He attempted to open the door, but it was jammed from behind.

            “Sarah?” Cookson called out loudly.

            “Sarah, you in there?” Fields shouted and pounded on the door.

            “Is that you Mike?” a quiet voice was heard from behind the door.

            “It’s me Mike and Fields. Open the door and let’s get out of here.” Cookson replied softly.

            “Okay.” Sarah mumbled as she slowly removed the barricade behind the door.

            Sarah opened the door and felt a sense of security as she saw her husband.

            “It’s so good to see you dear.” Cookson hugged Sarah tightly.

            “Guys…we got to go.” Fields saw two spiders walk up the stairs.

            “Other stairs…there.” Sarah pointed at a set of stairs a few meters down the hall.

            “Good girl.” Cookson smiled at Sarah.

            The three ran down the stairs and exited the building and back into the foggy fields.

            “Anyone from Jackal Squadron or Echo Squad copy?” Cookson spoke on the RaidComm.

            “This is Forester here with Echo. We’ve got a Pelican docked next to the main gates. Where are you Cookson?” Forester responded.

            “We’re at the fields. It’s too foggy to make out where the gates are.” Cookson replied.

            “Hey Cookson, Frederick is driving around the Outpost looking for survivors to evacuate. Activate your transponder.” May interrupted on the RaidComm.

            “Copy, will do.” Cookson replied and pressed a button on his utility belt.

            “Cookson, I see your location. Sit tight.” Frederick spoke on the RaidComm.

            From the mist of the fog, three spiders ran towards them. Cookson fired wildly while Fields squeezed off a couple of rounds. Out of nowhere, two headlights appeared from behind the spiders and Frederick’s troop transport Warthog splattered the zombie into pieces.

            “Get on.” Frederick honked the horn.

            Cookson noticed Christopher and Hariprasad seated in the back with two civilians. As Cookson, Fields, and Sarah climbed onto the back of the Warthog, a couple of spiders ran onto the fields.

            “Go! Go! Go!” Christopher shouted as he fired off a few rounds from his pistol.

            The Warthog sped through the fields and then skidded a turn as Frederick nearly hit a stationary Warthog hidden in the thick fog. Frederick continued driving as she looked at her datapad on the dashboard of her vehicle. She was nearing the main gates where the Pelican was waiting.

            “Get to the Pelican now!” Forester yelled as the troop transport Warthog came into view.

            Taylor was mounted on the M60 turret holding the line as hundreds of spiders crawled towards them. The minute everyone was inside, Pruett and Foo lifted the Pelican up just as the turret ran out of ammunition.

            “Get to High Command. They’ll need to know about this.” Forester ordered.

            From the air, the UNSC Outpost was pitch black half covered by the thick fog. Faint screams and gunshots could be heard in the distant.

            “We couldn’t have saved everyone.” Frederick looked below while turning to look at Cookson and Sarah.

            “I know that…” Cookson sighed.

            “Vickers, Patrick, and Fisher…did they make it?” Sarah asked as she looked around.

            “I’m sorry Sarah, they didn’t.” Fields replied apologetically.

            “Hey Sarah…” Cookson eyed Sarah and reached into his pocket.

            “Yeah Mike?” Sarah replied softly.

            “Do you remember a Charlie?” Cookson fished out Zyrok’s UNSC dog tags.

            “Um…” Sarah scratched her head.

            “Well, he was our commanding officer for our operation back in Afghanistan. He was the guy who joined the UNSC to look for you…and he wanted you to have this.” Cookson handed Sarah Zyrok’s UNSC dog tags and the poem he had written for her.

            “Oh…I remember now.” Sarah looked at the UNSC dog tags and saw the name “Charlie Chu (Zyrok)” engraved on it.

            Sarah looked at the piece of paper Cookson handed her and read the poem quietly. The face of Sarah turned to sadness as she finished the poem and looked at the dog tags.

            “Charlie also wanted me to tell you that he loved you till the very end.” Cookson stumbled on the words.

            “I know…I know…” Sarah took the UNSC dog tags and Zyrok’s poem and tucked it under her jacket as a tear trickled down her warm beautiful face.