UNSCDF3 Chapter 4- Yellow Smoke

Arabian Sea, Coast of Karachi, Pakistan

UNSC Perth

May 10, 2001

0845 Local Time

            “Alright Blake, we’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Frederick waved at Blake as she climbed into the boat with her marines.

            “All set?” Sears looked at the marines seated in the boat.

            “Yeah, we’re ready.” Johnson spoke for himself and Parker.

            “Let’s go before the sun really starts to burn.” Hariprasad pointed at the sun.

            Sears pushed the throttle forward and sped the boat away from UNSC Perth. The boat sailed across the choppy waters and came across a wooden dock. Two zombies stood motionless on the dock looking for meat to eat. Johnson aimed his SA80 at one zombie whilst Parker fired her MSG-9 rifle at the other zombie. In a split second, the two zombies dropped to the ground dead unaware of what hit their heads.

            “Move out.” Frederick ordered as she clutched her SA80 and hopped onto the dock.

            Hariprasad wielded his M16 and jogged up beside Frederick.

            “Where can we set up a base?” Hariprasad pointed at some buildings nearby.

            “We need to find a place where there’s cover, but also room for a Falcon.” Frederick pointed at the Falcon on UNSC Perth.

            “Leave that to us ma’am.” Parker interrupted with a smile.

            “Lieutenant, we can do it.” Johnson pulled out a set of binoculars from his backpack.

            “I’m coming with you guys.” Frederick cocked her SA80.

            “What about us ma’am?” Sears asked.

            “You and Hariprasad can watch the boat.” Frederick replied swiftly.

            “Alright.” Sears walked back to the boat and sat down.

            “Move out Cobra!” Frederick commanded.

            The three marines hurried into the city keeping alert of their surroundings. Johnson took point while Parker watched the back. After a few blocks, the group saw a mob of zombies roaming around in the intersection.

            “Hold up.” Johnson halted to a stop.

            “Should we go around?” Frederick asked.

            “I don’t know, but this place looks like a good base.” Johnson pointed at a building behind the mob of zombies.

            “It sure does…little windows and a roof big enough to land a Falcon.” Parker eyed the structure.

            “Behind the mob of zombies…” Frederick reminded.

            “We can take them out. I count roughly…twenty…thirty of them?” Johnson estimated.

            “Shall I call Fire Team Kilo to assist?” Frederick suggested.

            “That won’t be necessary Lieutenant.” Parker adjusted her scope on the MSG-9.

            “You ready Parker? I’ll beat you to kills this time.” Johnson laughed.

            “Try me.” Parker grinned and aimed her rifle.

            “What about me?” Frederick joked.

            “We’ll see.” Johnson fired a round into a zombie’s head.

            The moment the first shot was fired, the mob of zombies turned to face their threat. As they slowly paced themselves to the marines, Parker was lining up headshots one after the other.

            “This is too easy.” Parker bragged as she quickly reloaded her gun.

            “Watch this.” Johnson ran towards the mob and fired two rounds at the closest zombie.

            Johnson bashed the butt of his gun at one zombie and fired; killing two zombies in one fluid motion. Frederick fired a couple of shots and watched the two marines pick off the zombies with deadly precision and skill. Shots echoed the vacant streets as the marines continued their shootout. After a few minutes, the silence resumed and tons of corpses littered the streets.

            “Wow…” Frederick’s face hinted slight amusement.

            “Welcome to Cobra.” Johnson kicked a dead zombie with his boot.

            “Spec Ops at its finest.” Parker slapped on a new magazine into her gun.

            “Indeed.” Frederick nodded quietly.

            Frederick waved forward as she led the team to the building. She bashed the door open with her shoulder and quickly clicked on the flashlight on her gun. A zombie sprung from the darkness and charged at her. Showing her preparedness, Frederick shoved the barrel of the gun into the zombie’s mouth and fired once. Immediately after the shot echoed into the darkness, vicious growls were heard nearby.

            “Light them up.” Frederick ordered as her flashlight illuminated a group of hungry meat-eaters.

            Johnson ran to a table and steadied his gun on the table to shoot whilst Parker went to prone position and began to snipe. On the other side, Frederick was firing burst of three in an attempt to hold the line while using the muzzle flashes from her gun to brighten their surroundings.

            “Reloading!” Frederick emptied out her spent clip.

            “Covering!” Johnson responded by increasing his rate of fire.

            “Take them out marines.” Frederick inserted a fresh clip into her gun and quickly pummeled a zombie with the stock of her gun.

            Parker felt the lack of mobility from her MSG-9 and immediately switched to her USP sidearm. She stood up and fired the pistol with superb accuracy as she danced around the zombies. Just when a zombie was about to get her when the pistol ran out of ammo, she quickly ducked and tripped the zombie. Pulling her combat knife from her belt with one hand and bashing the pistol on the downed zombie, Parker thrusted the sharp blade into the zombie’s forehead putting a stop to the zombie’s flesh-eating career.

            “More zombies…three o’clock.” Frederick warned Johnson.

            Johnson turned his head right and saw a few zombies headed his way. He slung the SA80 to his back and pulled out his sidearm. He charged with his USP firing as he met face to face with his threat. Upon meeting the last zombie in his path, he slid on the floor and tripped the zombie. The zombie growled and slashed its arms wildly, but it was not fast enough to get a hold of the agile marine. Johnson hopped onto its back and grabbed its head with both hands and twisted sideways. A sickening crack was heard and Johnson let go of the zombie. Johnson turned to realize that all the threats had been neutralized and quickly ran towards Frederick.

            “All clear.” Johnson breathed deeply.

            “Huh…I didn’t even break a sweat.” Parker joked.

            “Well Parker…you used more rounds.” Johnson pointed at the spent shells scattered around the floor.

            “Marines…” Frederick attempted to bring the team back to focus.

            “Sorry.” Parker apologized quickly.

            “The two of you can clear the upper floors one by one. I’ll call Kilo here.” Frederick pointed at the stairwell.

            Johnson nodded and waved at Parker to follow him. Frederick tugged her flak jacket and sat down comfortably on a chair.

            “Fire Team Kilo, this is Frederick. Do you copy?” Frederick spoke on the RaidComm.

            “Loud and clear LT. What can we do for you?” Hariprasad replied back.

            “Come to our location. I’ll pop yellow smoke.” Frederick walked out of the building and unclipped a smoke grenade from her belt.

            “Alright ma’am.” Hariprasad responded.

            Frederick pulled the pin and gently rolled the smoke grenade across the street. A small bang was heard and yellow smoke began to form.

            “Visual contact with smoke.” Sears spoke on the RaidComm.

            “UNSC Perth, this is Frederick. Area is clear. Repeat, area is a go. Send in the Falcon.” Frederick looked at the sky and spoke on the RaidComm.

            “Roger, Falcon on station and ready to go.” Daniels replied with enthusiasm.

            “Hit it then.” Frederick commanded.