Zombies Walk!

[CommanderQ]

Vlad smiled, just find a nice soft spot on the brute, press it and pray. Then watch it spray, heh, did that one myself, just push it into 'em."

 

Vlad tried his best to alleviate the situation, his bleeding had stopped, that was good.

[Ataris]

"Okay." Aiden tried to let Vlad support himself, and he seemed to take it just fine. Vlad started running before Aiden could say anything about it, pulling out some more brute serum along the way.

 

He's definitely a soldier.

 

With that, Aiden charged over to the nearest brute, managed to fling himself onto its back, and jammed the syringe into its head, and then attempted to leap for the nearest roof.

 

The blood would probably never wash out of his shoes.

 

Scrambling across the rooftop, he almost lost his footing. Obviously that was the last stunt he could do for today.

 

As he got down from the roof, he felt more pain that he would have expected, and he nearly tripped again. Righting himself, he ran over to the fleeing party, guns blazing, and almost got hit by Atrianna's minigun. He smiled at her and then realized that his weapon was missing.

 

Nice job, Aiden.

 

"You wouldn't happen to have another gun on you, would you?"

[ForeverNight]

Smith almost filled Aiden full of lead when he shot Vlad, but managed to restrain the impulse after he saw the wink that Aiden had given. He managed to get a quick look at the injury out of the corner of his eye and assessed it to be or little to no risk to the Russian. Maybe a little painful, but there was no real danger associated with it.

 

After Aiden and Vlad exploded into action, Smith followed suit and started pouring the lead out of 'his' AK-47 as fast as the thing would fire. After working his way through an extended clip -some thoughtful somebody had put in an extended clip with 50 rounds- he threw it at the 'Brute' that Aiden was working on before drawing his pistol and started placing rounds in eyes and other... uncomfortable places.

 

He didn't know if Zombies could feel pain, but he was certain that they would give damn near anything not to after he was done with them.

[Jedi_Man]

Sam had taken a few wrong turns, but finally caught up to Aiden and the Russians. Sam saw Aiden shoot Vlad, and nearly ran into Aiden to stop the Hive's control, but the way he turned and fired at the Brutes made him think otherwise.

" Alexis, unload into the fray!" Sam yelled over the gunfire. Sam took his M8 and started unloading into the crowd, then he was out. Sam reached for a new clip, to find that there were only AKM rounds left. Sam fired the Grenade launcher with the last few rounds of it and threw it at the crowd, pulling out his AKM at the same moment.

Rat-a-tat-tat went the Kalashnikov as he unloaded more rounds into the fray. Alexis had expended one 6-round speed-loader into a Brute, and then was tossed off like a rag doll.

Alexis! Sam thought as he ran towards her. He checked her vitals, she'll live. But she has a broken arm.

[Ataris]

Tossing him a pistol, Atrianna was still glued to her minigun. Figured.

 

After getting to higher ground, the group took down the brutes much faster, but they weren't completely safe. Vlad and Alexis both had broken arms, upon examination, but Vlad was bleeding profusely. What was a seemingly trivial wound had turned out to be quite possibly fatal. Aiden had hit a major artery.

 

So, of course, he made his way over to Vlad, and the others looked painfully at him. Before anyone could say anything, however, Aiden quickly pulled out a small metal box concealed in his pocket. Prying it open carefully, he pulled out a metal sheath. From inside he wriggled out a glass vial, tightly secured. After opening it, he knelt down beside Vlad.

 

Inside the vial was a red liquid, eerily familiar to anyone who had seen the zombie serum. No one made a move yet, however, and Aiden poured half of the liquid into Vlad's mouth.

 

Time passed by, and some people stopped shooting. Soon, however, Vlad's shoulder began to heal. Quickly. The blood flow stopped, and only the ragged, bloody clothing remained. The original super-soldier serum would also revitalize Vlad with energy, but he must have been too stunned to move.

 

There was only one patient left. They might need Alexis now more than ever. The rest of the serum had to go to her.

[CommanderQ]

Vlad looked up at Aiden angrily.

 

"Now what in blazes made you do that? I create this stuff, I don't drink it!"

 

He looked at the wound and shook his head, immediatley jumping back up.

 

'Aw, well, who's to blame you..."

 

He felt very much empowered by the serum, and it brought back many memories from the successful tests back in Russia. He was glad that he had even fixed the stuff...

 

He grabbed his AK-47 off the ground and fitted it with another anti-brute serum, he then looked to Alexis. He grabbed Aiden's arm before he could administer the super-soldier serum.

 

"No, do not administer the serum to her. We do not the effects on humans completely, and remember, this serum still has components that go back to the hive-mind days. Just fit her with a turniqet, give her a sling and a glass of water, uh, or vodka for that matter, and she will be fine until we get her to proper quarters."

 

Vlad felt raw strength pouring through his muscles, he'd need to use this strength properly...

[Ataris]

"Vlad, we might not survive anyway. We need you. You have a mission left to do...that we still don't know about. And the serum works, I've used it. But all this tinkering with the 'new and improved' stuff has caused the effects to be lost on me. But I think the connection to the hive might be gone..."

 

Yelling forced Aiden to pay attention. There were somethings coming up ahead. Really big somethings.

 

Aiden could best describe them as a brute and a jumper combined.

 

So he yelled, "I really think we should get to the subway now!!!"

[Jedi_Man]

Sam saw the massive beast running at the group. Sam picked up Alexis and made a death run for the subway. He litterally jumped over all the steps, forgoing all but the first and last. After salmming to the ground and nearly breaking his ankle, Sam tried to convince the door to open.

" Ahh dang it! Its locked!" Sam yelled. Then he set Alexis down, mumbles of pain coming from her. Sam pulled out his Desert Eagle and blew the lock clean off.

From inside there was a voice.

" Hey, now who goes there?" said the voice of an old man whose withered fingers were wrapped around a Colt revolver.

[Chevron 7 locke]

Atrianna blasted another one of the undead with her mini-gun and turned to face Vlad.

 

"The people who unleashed this plague are dead. Do you hear me?! Once we're done here in America, I plan on hunting them down, one by one. Who ordered this unleashed Vlad? What's his Name?"

 

Atrianna turned to blast a brute that had appeared out of nowhere.

 

I'll kill them!

[Ataris]

Aiden felt a chill as Atrianna spoke those words. He didn't know why, but he felt something. A faint memory, as if left behind by his fleeting connection to the hive. So he spoke what was on his mind.

 

"Atrianna, how do you know those people aren't in America?"

 

Everyone stared, confused, and ready to dismiss the thought.

 

"I have a feeling...a really scary feeling...that what we find in the subway is going to be something that we least expect."

 

The stares continued, and then Aiden spoke to Vlad, dispelling the thought from conversation.

 

"Vlad...with the serum in you, is it possible you could take care of this beast for us?"

[CommanderQ]

Vlad looked at Attriana, but did not speak. He was not able to tell her who yet...

 

He looked to Aiden.

 

"Da, I will handle it."

 

He immediatley ran, jumping onto the creature, and sticking the serum into it's skull.

[Ataris]

The jumper-brute...did not explode. In fact, the creature reared up in extreme...anger, or something...Aiden looked at Vlad.

 

"Vlad, go for the head! You've got plenty of strength now!"

 

Vlad looked at Aiden like he was crazy.

[CommanderQ]

Vlad kneed the creature in the stomach, crawling over it's head, and he withdrew his combat knife, cutting at the thing's throat.

 

It quickly gave way, and the thrashing creature stopped, at first not doing anything but standing there, headless.

 

Vlad gave it a kick, and the creature fell down with a loud thump.

 

Vlad casually slid off the creature's body and walked back to the group.

 

"Now that is the way it's done."

[Jedi_Man]

Sam hailed everyone over, apparently, there was a group of survivors that was surviving quite well. The group took out the last few stragglers, then made there way over.

" Hey, guess what? We've got survivors!" Sam said in a barely suppressed excitement.

[Ataris]

Aiden couldn't help smiling. "You know, Vlad, maybe the serum isn't as bad as you think."

 

Then again....

 

"I guess it depends. But I don't think the hive knows that the original still exists. And we still have half a vial...just in case."

 

Flashback

 

"Aiden Valko, welcome."

 

"Yeah, I was betting you would say that."

 

"The death of your squad does not allow insubordination. But, luckily, I don't really care at the moment." The man sitting next to Commander Stanislav grunted.

 

Stanislav walked out from behind the desk, handing Aiden some papers. After reading them, he felt tears come to his eyes. The report was totally false, and that made the obituaries only more ironic.

 

"You're honestly going to publish this?"

 

"We have no choice, Valko," huffed the man at the desk. "You knew the stakes when you signed up for this."

 

Dragomir...he was really gone, wasn't he? He wouldn't be there to argue with his superiors. No, not this time. The tears started to come back. But Aiden was taught to be strong in the military. So he sucked up his emotion.

 

"What do we know so far?"

 

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! DAMN THOSE RUSSIANS!" yelled Stanislav. "Why do they have to screw with our country? And why...Aiden, you haven't seen the rest of the papers yet." He handed over some documents.

 

The attack was everywhere, but this told the entire story. The man at the desk got up, and actually looked a little sympathetic.

 

"The news gets worse, I'm afraid. Take these."

 

Reassignment. No, more than that...a new identity. Coryn Valkanar?

 

"What kind of stupid name is that?"

 

Stanislav walked forward to Aiden. "Take this." He handed him a vial. "God knows when you'll need it again."

 

"Farewell, son. We'll see you again when the sparks fly." The man sat back down.

 

Stanislav gave a sympathetic look. "Goodbye, Aiden. We'll keep an eye out for your parents."

 

The hell you will.

 

Aiden felt betrayed as he walked out the door. This was too much. He saw the bench there, so close to the door. He would only walk through the door once for the rest of his life.

 

So he sat down on the bench and cried.

[CommanderQ]

Vlad nodded, quite happy with the current results his serum had. He hadn't done a bad job engineering it, if he didn't say so himself.

 

"Anyway we should get moving..."

 

Vlad began to remember something that he wished he could forget forever, but everything was already flowing.

 

 

 

8 Months Earlier

Chernobyl Test Facility

Missile Silos

0800 hours

 

 

The station was nearly deserted, but not entirely.

 

A small contingent of soldiers had manned it ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. Awaiting orders from the Supreme High Command.

 

Major Vladimir Rosokosovski was among them.

 

He had been here only for a little, completeing his last assignments only weeks before, now he awaited the beckon of his commanders. Which wasn't long now.

 

The telephone in the quiet, gray, bunker, rang.

 

Vlad grabbed,"Da, Rosokosovksi speaking."

 

"Good to hear, Vladimir. Initiate firing sequence 13. Tell your men to do this, then oversee the reactors in Bunker 2. Return in 10 minutes. Give me to Lieutenant Zubov."

 

Vlad nodded, "Yes, Comrade General, one moment."

 

He motioned for the young Lieutenant to step forward to the phone. Vlad hadn't really gotten to him well ever since that day in 1987, back when 'undead' mistake was made. After that, the Lieutenant had asked to be assigned here. There was something about the man that made Vlad resent him. Something in-between ambition, and pure evil.

 

Vlad handed him the phone and left the room, but not before listening to a little of Zubov's conversation.

 

"Comrade General, the regular missiles are to be launched...why not the bio-chem ones? General, this is the perfect time! The Americans least expect us, and we will not let Vlad know..."

 

Vlad had only caught the regular missile part. He had left the room, unable to hear the rest. But the little he heard disturbed him.

 

He returned five minutes later, and arrived right in time to see the missiles lauched. He pressed the buttona and watched the silos open, and the missiles appear. But they were not the missiles that Vlad had armed earlier in the day. These were not the regular ones.

 

And Vlad suddenly knew.

 

He had just launched something terrible.

 

His worst fear had become real.

 

He looked to Zubov,"Don't tell me those are the..."

 

"Bio-chem missiles. It is done, Vlad. Now the world will bow down to the might of Russia as it did before. None can stop us now."

 

"You bastard....HOW COULD YOU!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

 

Zubov remained silent and smiled.

 

The angry Vlad stormed off. He had to do something. He'd have to solve the problem that he created so long ago....

 

 

The Present

 

 

 

Vlad winced at the memory. He could've done more, and he still blamed himself for not noticing the problem earlier. He shook his head, and let the thoughts leave.

 

He did not want his American friends to know his mission, still, or to know his true purpose.

 

They would have to wait and see.

[Ataris]

As the team started walking into the subway, Sam ecstatic about finding a survivor, ((I was actually wondering the other day where the heck the survivors were, lol)), Aiden caught up to Vlad. He had a few questions, although Vlad may be reluctant to answer them.

 

The pain of Aiden's past, nearly forgotten until the zombie attack, was returning, and he felt he needed to try and cope with it. The mental strain of this entire situation was pressing, but he was trying to control himself. Of course, probably no one was going through as much agony as Vlad. But he still wanted to get to know the man, no matter the circumstances that had brought them together again.

 

"Vlad, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I was wondering. Do you have a family? What's happening with them now?"

[CommanderQ]

The question was a bit surprising.

 

"Umm, family? Well, no family. I was an only child, my Mother and Father live in Moscow. I have no wife or children, guess I really never found time, probably better that way....."

 

He kept on walking and noticed the survivors. They made him slightly suspicious, but for good reason, he hoped none of them were bitten.

 

He looked to Aiden, "And how 'bout you?"

[Ataris]

"My father...left us. And shortly after my mother went into some sort of serious depression, and she was hospitalized. Meanwhile, I was old enough to get a house of my own in Virginia. But when I came back to visit, they said there was a serious disease. At that point the entire country seemed to be on the alert. From there it was a matter of time. I had no idea where my mother was, and after I was kicked from the military, all I had was Richmond."

 

He neglected to point out that his mother was still out there somewhere, enslaved by the hive mind. Who knows what she had gotten herself into.

 

"Vlad, on another note...have there been any reports of Russian government officials miss-"

 

A loud greeting interrupted their conversation. It was time to meet the survivors.

[Jedi_Man]

Sam had already brought Alexis in and had a 'doctor' help her with her leg. Alexis grunted with every step.

At least she's awake... Sam thought thankfully.

Finally everyone came in. The survivors came out, all 33 of them. They were ragged and tired, and all of them held a weapon of some sort, but weren't particularly aiming at them.

Thats good, they know how to use their guns. Sam thought

[ForeverNight]

Smith followed the group into the subway, always watching his back -dammit, it's just like Somalia all over again! The group stopped as the 'survivors' walked into the light, there were 33 of them and all were armed to the teeth. However, they were a ragged band that Smith suspected would soon be either dead or zombies.

 

"Lieutenant," he said softly to Larson as he walked behind the younger man, causing him to jump slightly in surprise. "Where'd you leave Doctor Ian? I don't know if we can trust the survivors, but I don't think we shouldn't right now..."

 

He just hoped to God that this nightmare would be over before Chicago was a Necropolis.

 

That and the United States of America.

[Jedi_Man]

" Smith, she's over there, on the bench. This guys a doc, and while you may not trust them, I'll give it a chance." Sam said. He enver understood how some people could be so untrusting. Then again, He's probably been like this since the beginning.

" She's awake, so if you have any unanswered questions for Alexis, you can ask now" Sam informed him.

[Ataris]

Aiden's mind was racing. Why were there this many survivors, here of all places? It didn't really bug him, although the attention would now be on them when they had a mission to do. Except something was nagging at him.

 

This was, after all, the subway which Vlad was originally heading into before they diverted to the safehouse. But it didn't strike him as being quite right. Nevertheless, he didn't really doubt the survivors too much. They weren't zombies, as far as he could tell.

 

But they gave Vlad strange looks. Maybe it was because he was Russian. Or maybe it was because he was Russian. The thought repeated itself. He kept it to himself.

 

Walking over to Sam, who looked extremely worried about Alexis, though he tried to hide it, Aiden spoke up.

 

"How are you holding out, Sam?"

[ForeverNight]

"Thanks." Smith said to the, very green, Lieutenant. Hell, he knew people wondered about him, but, well, he'd always been rather untrusting, able to go with the flow, but not that trusting...

 

In fact, about the only people in this venture he trusted was Sam -barely-, Vlad, and Atrianna. Sam by virtue of being in the Army -despite having betrayed his oath-; Vlad, well Smith didn't know why he trusted Vlad as much as he did; and Atrianna because she'd given him the impression of a very 'up front' personality, if she didn't like him, she'd tell him.

 

He walked over to where the doctor was treating Doctor Ian, he didn't know what she was in for until he looked at her. Her leg looked pretty busted up.

 

"So, Doc," he said trying to start up a rapport with at least one of the survivors. "Where'd you study?"

 

"Eh?" The Doctor said -definitely not a medic of any type, Smith decided, probably a civilian. A Medic would've been able to multi-task, after all patching somebody together while having shells rained upon you quickly taught you that skill.

 

He looked down at Ian's leg and was shocked by the ghastly-ness of the wound. The flesh was becoming necrotic and they had to work fast in order to come even close to saving the leg.

 

Drawing out his K-Bar, Smith silently set to work on the flesh, thankfully Ian had slipped back into sleep before this started, it was bad enough when a man screamed, Smith hated dealing with screaming women.

[Ataris]

Sam smiled and replied that he was fine.

 

Well, I tried.

 

He walked over to the work being done. Things didn't look good for Alexis' leg. And Aiden didn't like the feeling he was getting from these survivors. There was no way they could leave her here when they continued with their mission.

 

Assuming, of course, Vlad would let them come along. Aiden had no intention of staying behind, but Vlad's new abilities were going to be a nice persuasion tool.

 

Aiden leaned in and spoke quietly to Smith, while the recently booted doctor couldn't overhear.

 

"Are you getting the strange feeling that things aren't right here? I really think we need to consider using the original serum on Alexis. The hive doesn't know it exists, and just a little bit of it would be all she needs and in a few hours her leg would be back to normal."