UNSCDF Chapter 36- The Last Stand

Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, USA

Old Radar Station

March 26, 2001

1850 Local Time

            Zyrok and Pruett ran up beside Casey and the others. The zombies were violently shaking the fence as the marines shot at them.

            “The fence isn’t going to last long.” Casey observed as the fence began to swing back and forth.

            “We got to hold the line. Help isn’t on the way till another twenty five minutes.” Zyrok fired his pistol.

            “We’re low on ammunition Captain.” Schmidt reloaded his pistol.

            “Use whatever you can to fend off the zombies.” Zyrok pointed at a rusty iron pipe on the ground.

            Nevarez shouldered his empty M16 and took out his Lock 17. Taylor fired his M21 slowly and made sure that every round took out a zombie. Pruett watched nervously as the zombies growled viciously.

            “This is why I’m a pilot!” Pruett sprayed his pistol at the zombies.

            Zyrok watched as three Bones squeezed past the horde and stood in front of the fence.

            “Fall back!” Zyrok shouted as the Bones began to swing.

          With three hits from the Bones, the fence toppled over and flung dirt in the air. The marines ran backwards firing whatever they had to slow down the brutal horde. Zyrok put away his empty USP and took out his bowie knife. A zombie ran at him with its arms out and lunged at him. Zyrok was agile and he took a step to the left and grabbed one of its arms. He stuck his leg out and tripped the zombie and knifed the zombie to the back of its head. Casey swung his Washington 870 like a baseball bat. Every zombie that ran at him was returned with a well placed hit to the skull. Pruett, on the other hand, was not doing so well as the others. A zombie charged at him and pinned him to the ground. Pruett was pushing the zombie’s head away from his face with both hands and was having a hard time breaking free. Schmidt jumped up behind the zombie pinning Pruett and impaled its head with an iron pipe. Schmidt reached to his belt and gave Pruett his combat knife.

            “Thanks man.” Pruett dusted himself and took the knife.

            Zyrok watched as a Bone whacked Nevarez to the ground and growled loudly. Nevarez fired his Lock 17, but did little damage. Zyrok sprinted towards the Bone and jumped onto its back just before the Bone was going to pummel Nevarez. The Bone roared and spun around in circles trying to shake Zyrok off. Zyrok held onto the Bone tightly with his left hand and jabbed the bowie knife with his right hand into the Bone’s neck. The Bone hissed and cried out loud as Zyrok yanked the knife sideways severing its head. The Bone collapsed to the ground and Zyrok rolled on the dirt. He looked at his right hand and saw blood beginning to seep through the bandage. He ignored the pain and stood up to face two zombies running at him.

            “This is useless. We need to find safety,” Nevarez shouted in exhaustion.

            “Let’s see if we can get on top of the building.” Casey pointed at the radar station.

            “Go guys.” Zyrok ordered as he snapped a zombie’s neck and decapitated another zombie beside him.

         Pruett and Nevarez ran towards the building while the rest were fending off the horde. Zyrok watched as Casey, Taylor, and Schmidt stood beside him fighting.

            “Taylor and Schmidt, go!” Zyrok ordered as he saw Nevarez boost Pruett to the roof.

            “Sir.” Schmidt handed Zyrok his iron pipe.

            “Thanks.” Zyrok took the iron pipe and sheathed his knife.

            A Bone ran up to Casey and swung at him. Casey attempted to block the swing with his shotgun, but miscalculated. The Bone sent Casey flying a few meters and knocked his shotgun away from him. Casey was injured, but he stood up to face the Bone. Casey shouted a war cry and lunged at the Bone with his combat knife. The Bone swung wide and missed Casey by a couple of inches. Casey slid under the Bone and slashed at its legs. The Bone growled in pain and fell to its knees. Seeing the opportunity, Casey hopped onto the Bone and viciously stabbed its head repeatedly until the Bone was no longer moving.

            “Go Casey!” Zyrok smashed a zombie to the side of the head with his pipe and heard a sickening crack.

            Casey nodded and ran towards an eager Nevarez standing beside the building. Nevarez boosted Casey to the roof and watched as Zyrok fought the horde by himself.

            “Come on Captain!” Nevarez shouted.

            Casey, Pruett, Schmidt, and Taylor watched from the roof as Zyrok held an iron pipe with his left hand and a bowie knife with his right. The horde began to circle around him as he swung wildly at the zombies. Zyrok turned to head towards the building when a Bone stepped in front of his path. Zyrok felt that he was a goner, but he was going to give it his best shot and die heroically. Zyrok gritted his teeth and ran towards the Bone. The Bone, however, was walking slowly towards him as if it was not afraid of him. Zyrok watched as the Bone grunted and slammed his fist forward at him. Zyrok rolled sideways and dodged the hit. The Bone jumped at him and pummeled the ground with its feet where Zyrok originally stood. Zyrok bashed the pipe to its arm when suddenly he felt a sense of agonizing pain to his back. He turned around and saw a tentacle zombie swinging at him. Zyrok winced in pain as he felt blood dripping out from his broken Reactive SLX. The armor had absorbed some of the damage and had served its purpose. With that, Zyrok threw his knife at the tentacle zombie’s head and dropped his armor to the ground and watched as more zombies crowded around him. He held the pipe with both hands and watched as the Bone advanced towards him. Zyrok was in a lot of pain and he was exhausted. He moaned in pain and charged at the Bone. The Bone did an uppercut, but was parried by Zyrok’s pipe. Zyrok saw blood drip from his hand down the pipe as he countered the hit.

            “My turn.” Zyrok smiled as he spat blood on the ground.

            Zyrok crouched and put a well placed stomp to one of its knee. The knee snapped and the Bone fell to one side. Zyrok quickly turned and dispatched an incoming zombie as it was just about to claw at him. The Bone roared and swung at Zyrok, but Zyrok easily stepped back and dodged the shot.

            “You can do it boss.” Casey and Taylor encouraged as they watched from the rooftop.

            “I can do it.” Zyrok muttered under his breath to realize that all he needed to do was to kill the Bone so he could get to the roof.

            “Kill the Bone and get out. There are more zombies coming.” Taylor shouted as he scanned the area behind Zyrok with his M21 scope.

            Zyrok turned his head quickly and saw three more Bones and two more tentacle zombies. He shifted his weight forward and brought the iron pipe down on the Bone’s head, but was blocked by its muscular arms. Zyrok danced left and right until he stood in front of the Bone and jabbed the pipe upwards into his jaw and penetrating through its skull. The Bone collapsed and lay in a pool of blood. Zyrok climbed on top of the Bone and ran towards Nevarez. Zyrok could hear the thundering footsteps and the vicious growls as the horde chased after him.

            “You go up first.” Zyrok commanded as he stood beside Nevarez.

            “You go first boss.” Nevarez offered.

            “No, you go first. That’s an order.” Zyrok ordered.

            “Alright, let’s make it quick.” Nevarez watched as the horde was a couple meters away from them.

            Zyrok crouched and boosted Nevarez to the roof. He cursed at the pain in his back and hand after he boosted Nevarez.

            “Come on boss. Jump!” Nevarez stuck his hand out over the roof.

            “We got you.” Casey stuck his hands out.

            Zyrok watched as his marines stuck their hands out to catch him. He hadn’t seen this camaraderie before in his team. He smiled and jumped upwards. The first jump was off and he was nowhere near the hands.

            “You can do it Captain. We’ll catch you.” Taylor reassured.

            Zyrok looked at the horde behind him and swallowed his fear. He took a few steps back and ran towards the wall. He jumped and managed to slip his right fingers to Nevarez’s hand.

            “Got you.” Nevarez held Zyrok’s hand tightly.

            Zyrok swung his left hand upwards as he began to feel himself slip from Nevarez’s hand as blood oozed out of the bandage. Pruett managed to get a hold of Zyrok’s left hand just in time as his right hand slipped from Nevarez’s grasp.

            “Pull!” Pruett shouted at the marines beside him.

            The marines pulled Pruett back slowly and Zyrok began to ascend. Suddenly, Zyrok felt his legs get pulled downwards as the horde below him clawed at his dangling legs. Zyrok felt intense strain to his left arm and saw himself beginning to descend downwards as more zombies grabbed his legs.

            “Nooo…” Casey shouted.

            “Pull harder people.” Pruett held Zyrok’s hand tightly refusing to let go.

            “It’s not working.” Nevarez pulled Pruett with all his might.

            “I’m not going to lose you Zyrok.” Casey shouted and pulled Pruett.

            Zyrok knew the inevitable was going to happen. He was going down and he was losing his strength in his arm.

            “First casualty of this mission and it’s going to be me…” Zyrok thought.

UNSCDF Chapter 7- Heroes Come and Go

Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, USA

Omega Squad’s Camp

March 20, 2001

1600 Local Time

            Zyrok walked up to a ripped tent and motioned for Stewart to take point. Stewart crept forward slowly and pushed the tent doors open. A putrid and foul smell came out and Stewart gagged.

            “Looks like we’re too late.” Zyrok looked at a pile of mutilated bodies on the ground.

            “Rest in peace.” Stewart mumbled.

            “Collect their dog tags and let’s see what happened here.” Zyrok spoke to Stewart as he walked to a cracked monitor.

            “Hey boss, we’ve got some zeds coming here.” Taylor shouted from the door.

            “Take them out with your M21.” Zyrok turned on the computer.

            “Copy that boss, it’ll be done in a minute.” Taylor replied with excitement.

            Zyrok focused on the screen and looked at the computer.

            “Authentication ID. Hmm…” Zyrok studied at the screen as Taylor fired his M21 in the background.

         “All done boss, three tags here and two more that we found in the other tent makes five KIA.” Stewart walked beside Zyrok.

            “Thank you Stewart, we’re still missing a lot though.” Zyrok typed his name into the computer.

            The computer beeped and asked for a handprint confirmation. Zyrok took off his glove and placed his right hand on a panel beside the keyboard.

            “Welcome Lieutenant Charlie.” the computer spoke with a female voice.

            “Guys! I need a hand over here.” Taylor yelled as he reloaded his gun.

            “Give him a hand Stewart.” Zyrok stared at the computer and spoke to Stewart.

            “Voice command enabled.” the computer spoke.

            “Great! Retrieve data logs.” Zyrok spoke to the computer.

            “Retrieving data logs. One moment please.” the computer responded.

          “Boss, looks like the special zombies. Burnt and the muscular ones.” Stewart fired his UMP at the incoming crowd.

          “Deal with them. Hold them off as long as you can, I’m extracting info over here.” Zyrok said with annoyance as the computer was pulling up the files.

         “Thirteen data logs retrieved. One emergency data log retrieved.” the computer had a flashing message icon.

            “Play emergency data log.” Zyrok commanded.

            “Playing emergency data log sequence Alpha Two One.” the computer screen faded and turned to show an injured marine in front of the monitor.

            “This is Sergeant Major Riley Thompson of Omega Squad. We’ve encountered massive hostiles and are currently defending this camp. Our communications was knocked down by what appears to be a massive muscular zombie.” the video played.

            “Give them hell Stewart!” Taylor shouted in the background.

            “Trying, but these suckers won’t get down.” Stewart fired his UMP.

          “We have many casualties and are now holding the line.” the video continued to play as Thompson turned his head. “Oh no! They’re in! Fire at will marines!”

            Zyrok watched as Thompson turned away from the computer and fired his M16. A minute later, the zombies swarmed around him and knocked the computer camera to the ground. All Zyrok could see was the zombies’ feet and a blood curling scream of Thompson in the background.

            “Sequence Alpha Two One ended.” the computer closed the video.

            “Initiate data extraction.” Zyrok took out his datapad and placed it on the hand scanner.

            “Commencing data extraction to remote device.” the computer responded.

            “They’re getting closer!” Taylor shouted as he took a step back from the entrance.

            “We need to hold the line until we recover the data.” Zyrok took out his USP.

            Zyrok looked at the horde of zombies and felt scared for his first time. The horde consisted mainly of the burnt and muscular zombies. This was Zyrok’s first time having to fight the special zombies and he had no idea how to effectively take them out.

            “Echo 2-3, this is Echo 1-3. Come in, over.” Zyrok spoke on the RaidCall and fired his USP.

            “Echo 1-3, we read you, what’s up boss?” Casey replied on the RaidCall.

          “Requesting immediate backup at the command tent. We’re pinned down by a horde of specials.” Zyrok reloaded his gun.

            “Roger Zyrok, we’re on our way. ETA five minutes.” Casey replied.

            “Roger that.” Zyrok replied with disappointment, “1-3 out.”

           Zyrok looked at Taylor and Stewart and then looked at the horde. He knew they weren’t going to make it.

            “This is it gentlemen. You all heard Casey from the comms. They will be here in five.” Zyrok fired a few rounds and killed a burnt zombie.

            “It’s been an honor sir.” Taylor saluted as he dropped his empty M21 onto the ground and pulled out his Lock 17.

            “Likewise.” Zyrok saluted back.

            “I’m with you all the way Zyrok.” Stewart saluted.

            “Thank you guys.” Zyrok saluted and fire three rounds into the horde.

      “Data extraction complete. All files transferred to remote device.” the computer spoke in the background.

            “Go get it boss, we’ll give them hell.” Stewart sprayed and took down one muscular zombie.

            “The mission comes first.” Taylor reloaded his gun and fired.

          Zyrok handed his USP and two clips to Taylor and ran towards the computer. He picked up the datapad and glanced at the downloaded files.

            “Alright marines, let’s push our way out of here.” Zyrok picked up an iron pipe on the ground and ran towards his men.

           “I’m game, let’s get out of here.” Taylor placed his empty Lock 17 into his holster and fired with Zyrok’s USP.

            A muscular zombie charged at the marines and swung at Zyrok. Zyrok miscalculated the swing and got whacked to his back. The swing of the zombie was so powerful that it flung Zyrok into a nearby tent causing the tent to cave in on him. Zyrok’s helmet cracked and had a gash to his back as his flak jacket ripped apart.

            “Zyrok!” Taylor shouted as he saw Zyrok fly across his face.

            Zyrok’s head throbbed with pain and vision began to blur as he heard his men scream as the zombies swarmed around them. Zyrok felt useless as he was pinned down by the metal poles from the tent holding him down. He saw one of his men get ripped apart as pieces of his body flew everywhere. Suddenly an explosion occurred at the rear of the horde and flung zombies everywhere. Zyrok knew it was too late as he fainted by the blinding flash and saw the zombies beginning to move towards him.

Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, USA

Power Plant Three

March 20, 2001

1700 Local Time

            Forester took point and slowly walked to a lifeless marine on the ground.

            “Cover me.” Forester shouted as she approached the body.

           She flipped over the body to a bloody Stanley. Suddenly the lifeless Stanley opened its mouth and attempted to bite Forester. Forester knocked the infected Stanley and pulled out her sidearm and fired once.

            “He didn’t deserve this.” Forester mumbled as she pulled Stanley’s dog tag from his neck.

           Stanley was a light-hearted fellow and interesting marine. Even though Forester met Stanley on the way to the armory, she felt pain as she lost a good guy.

            “We’ve got Private Hemmings here.” Mitchell shouted as he walked past some debris and pointed at a marine missing its legs.

            “Double tap and take his tag.” Forester spoke with sadness in her voice.

            “No zeds here.” Tyler scoped the perimeter.

            “Let’s keep searching.” Forester motioned on.

            Forester walked to a cracked building beside the plant and noticed a pile of mutilated bodies.

            “We’re too late.” Forester saw a decapitated Stokes in the center of the pile.

            “We’ve got some bodies from Omega as well.” Milo shifted through the pile of corpses.

            “Looks like this was their holdout.” Mitchell looked at the makeshift barricades.

            “We got a survivor!” Milo shouted as he saw a critically wounded Michaels buried in the pile.

            “Get me morphine Tyler.” Forester rushed over to the wounded Michaels.

            “Michaels! Can you here me?” Milo gently shook him.

            “Huh?” Michaels spoke wearily.

            “Here you go LT.” Tyler handed a morphine needle to Forester.

            “This will make you feel better.” Forester injected the needle into Michael’s arm.

            “Kill me please…” Michaels begged.

            “Where are the others?” Forester asked.

            “Dead, all dead.” Michaels coughed blood.

          “Sergeant Stokes mentioned about a massive thing. Where is it and what is it?” Forester held onto Michael’s hand.

            “No idea…never seen it. A bulky muscular zed around two stories high. Please kill me. I don’t want to turn into one of them.” Michaels gripped Forester’s hand tightly.

            “Did you know where it went?” Forester slowly took out her sidearm.

            “Headed North towards the Omega Squad’s camp.” Michaels continued to cough blood.

            “You did great Michaels. You are a hero.” Forester thanked.

            “Thank you Lieutenant Forester.” Michaels smiled and closed his eyes.

            “God be with you Steve Michaels.” Forester pulled the trigger and placed a clean shot to Michaels’ forehead.

            “God damn it!” Mitchell kicked the ground in frustration.

            “I know how you feel Sarge.” Milo sympathized.

            Forester pulled the dog tag off Michaels and placed it into her pocket.

          “Search for any weapons or ammo you can find. We’ve got to warn Echo Squad.” Forester picked up a HK69 beside Michaels.

            “Whatever it is, I’m going to freaking kill that monster.” Mitchell picked up a M16 with half a clip.

            “Me too.” Tyler searched his area and found a magazine for a Lock 17.

            “We all are.” Forester pitched in and took out two fresh clips from a body from Omega Squad.

            “Here, take this LT.” Mitchell offered the looted M16.

            “Thanks.” Forester graciously accepted it.

            “I’ve already got a primary.” Mitchell patted his MSG-9 on his back.

            “Echo Squad, this is Fire Team Tango. Come in, over.” Forester spoke on the RaidCall.

            “Fire…Tango…what’s going…over?” Casey replied on the radio with interference.

            “Echo, you’ve got a massive zombie heading your way. What’s your status?” Forester replied.

            “Copy that, currently heading…Zyrok’s team for backup.” Casey replied.

         “Roger, we’re coming ASAP to assist.” Forester responded quickly as she had a flashback of Stokes’ distress call before all communications went out.

            “Copy…Team Tango…Echo…out.” Casey replied.

       “Alright marines, let’s hustle and hunt down that monster and assist Zyrok’s team.” Forester commanded and began to run.

            “Let’s get there in time!” Mitchell hoped. “Double time marines!”