I slowly checked my rifle, and glanced at the company of Spestanz that I'd summoned for this… infiltration. Dressed in dark clothes, covered with camouflage face paint, carrying as much ammo and weapons as we could get away with.
The predawn light stained the eastern sky a pretty amber as we loaded into the small boats and yachts we'd cross the Potomac in. The captain walked up to me again, seemingly displeased with something.
"Sir, your brother said you'd be staying behind…" he said, his tone somewhere between diplomatic and unhappy.
"When did I say that?" I countered as I shoved extra mags into my plate carrier. Hmmm… I'll have to look into getting some proper ballistic protection for my infantry, why wasnt there a Soviet system?" I'll look into that later.
"Sir, I must insist you…"
I cut off the captain as I tossed him a few grenades. "I insist you stop pressing the issue captain, get your men ready, I want to know what's in those subways…"
I sighed to myself as I affixed the suppressor before boarding the motor boat. I could already hear the faint explosions of the mortars attempting to draw the hordes away from the river. Several British SAS teams were preparing to cross the river, and while my Spetsnaz wore different uniforms, we easily blended in with the hustle of activity.
At 1130 we were to start ferrying across the river… I stepped into the former capital at 1129, the hundred of so Spetsnaz around me walked cautiously, rifles raised. Orders were spoken softly into, hand signals coordinated our advance as the SAS came racing across the river. I followed my soldiers, walking up cratered streets, rubble from the shelled buildings piled up and covered large stretches of the streets.
The sounds of the mortar barrage grew dimmer as they shifted further away. So far it seemed to be working, we'd not seen a single undead… but something felt off. Like there was something watching us… and not my brother's drones flying high overhead.
We clambered over the fallen remains of interstate 395. Just up ahead was our destination… well, the entrance to our objective. A few walkers were slowly shambling up the shattered steps, they were quickly dispatched by bursts of suppressed rifle fire. I was among the first to the top of the stairs.
I glared into the darkness, flicking the flashlight on as I started down the steps, dozens of lights flickering every which way. Long clawed gashes scared the walls, large scratches covered the brick floor.
A small swarm worth of walkers and mutants greeted us as we descended into the station, a pair of subways had rammed into each other on the orange line. The berserkers roared, frothing at the mouth as they charged at us. Reaversstarted clambering the walls and ceilings as they rushed at us.
I flipped my rifle from semi to auto and promptly emptied the mag into the Berserker charging me. I dropped to a knee and grabbed one of the grenades from my vest, pulling the pin I hurled it towards the far end of the platform. "Grenade!"
The little ball flew through the air, a Reaver, arms flailing wildly smacked the grenade aside just before it exploded, showering dozens of the mutants in sharp fragments instead of the walkers I'd thrown it at. I racked the bolt and let it lock forward, sighting on the horde again, firing a few controlled bursts as more firepower began to tell as the company began flooding the station.
Light Machine guns and flamethrowers brightened the station to a degree that the flashlights almost became pointless. Slowly we advanced across the terminal, the undead seemed to continuesly come pouring from the tunnels on the east end anyway. Slowly through the horde trickled to a stop, no more undead came pouring out and we shined a few flashlights in the tunnel to see a large, hulking figure stumbling towards us in the tight confines of the tunnel.
"Sentinel!" A sergeant shouted as the squad opened fire as the massive figure tried lumbering closer to us. A corporal jumped into the middle of the tracks, dropping to a knee and placing his AK on the ground as he unslung the rpg on his back. He quickly sighted it on the beast.
"Stand Clear!" His shout was drowned out by the whoosh of the rocket and subsequent explosion that filled the tunnel. The Sentinel roared, swinging the cracked and charred shield into the walls as it struggled through the tunnel. I shook my head, waiting as the corporal fired another rocket, this time putting it in the massive mutant's chest. I dropped into the track as the Sentinel slumped forward, revealing no more undead behind it. I patted the corporal on the shoulder.
"Alright, We've kicked in the door, let's take a gander and get out of here!" I shouted as the Spetsnaz started following me into the tunnel. We walked on the outside of the rails, myself and the sergeant opposite me keeping our lights trained forward.
Slowly, because I didn't notice it at first… but the walls began to take on an almost unnoticeable palid feeling to them. The hairs on my arms began to stand, like there was a residue static in the air. I shared a glance with the sergeant but we keep pushing forward, the rest of the platoon behind us. Wait… there was a light ahead. Orange, almost flickering…
A few hand signals and a pair of riflemen crept ahead, they crept almost to the edge of the corner before motioning for us to move up. The walls looked orange now, hits of red and black interspaced. I walked up to the light, a massive hole in the metro tunnel, the soldiers pointed down, and my breath caught in my throat.
Rivers of a pale whitish green fluid slowly seeped from the walls, coalescing in large pools between large lumps of shivering flesh. Large… muscles twitch and stretched, large sinewy pillars held up the cavernous space, their sides covered in a soft looking film that would occasionally be broken from within. I stared as several mutants tumbled out of the growing sacs to the ground where they stumbled to their feet, hissing at each other.
I tapped the camera on my chest. Yeah, the light was still there. "My god…"
Most of the platoon was staring into the cavern now. Weapons held limply as we watched hundreds, perhaps thousands of mutants being created in seconds. The growing horde turned towards us, roars and screams filling the air as they surged towards the small platoon.
The sergeant snapped out of his stupor and started firing, bringing the rest of the platoon to their senses. I dropped to the ground and opened the shop. Machine guns rattled mere inches away as I frantically flipped through pages to see what I was looking for. I needed something big, enough to completely wipe out whatever this… thing is… There! I selected one and hit purchase.
'Purchased 1 Aviation Thermobaric bomb, increased power. 10,000 credits.' I looked around for somewhere to spawn in this great big hunk of explosives before just having it drop into existence a few feet below the hole. I crawled over to the bomb, one of the sergeants appeared next to me and we pried off several side panels as the platoon fanned out around us. Ammunition was swiftly dwindling as we played hooky with a bomb fuse with RPGs being fired mere feet away.
Another sergeant knelt next to us, splicing a few wires into his watch as he set a six minute timer. I glanced at him and everything slowed down to a crawl. I nodded and he started it. "Run!"
We scrambled back the way we'd come, Reavers and Specters picking off the slowest runners as we ran for all we were worth, firing the occasional burst behind us. A platoon had been jogging towards us, but seeing our mad dash, tossed a few grenades and joined us. We spilled into the terminal, hundreds of SAS and Spestnaz arguing over pointless bullshit.
"Move! Get out of here! The bomb is going to blow in four mikes!" I shouted, my voice echoing in the near empty station. The SAS looked to me like I was crazy while the Spetsnaz moved almost on instinct as we sprinted up the stairs, it wasn't long before the SAS joined us in our mad dash to the Potomac. We'd made it maybe two blocks before the ground itself shook and sent everyone tumbling to their feet as the ground heaved up and then dropped out from beneath us.
Large gouts of fire and dust shot into the sky as we scrambled to our feet. Building around us, came crashing to the ground, sending plumes of dust and debris everywhere, complicating our sprint. We raced back onto the dock, I kept pushing soldiers onto boats, shouting for the drivers to just get back across the river once they were full. It felt like forever before I found myself on the last boat with a handful of dust caked SAS and Spetsnaz as we raced back across the potomac.
'Killed Zombies: 120,943 walkers, 37,564 runners, 397 tanks, 26,375 reavers, 31,894 beserkers, 457 sentinels, 11,456 specters. Rewarded 918,369 credits, 3,828,175 xp, please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 3,828,175xp, 21,459,667/80,000,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
'You have destroyed a Mutant growing vat, lvl2! Rewarded 3,000,000 credits, 7,500,000xp.'
'You have gained 7,500,000xp, 28,959,667/80,000,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
I glanced at the notifications then back at the growing cloud of dust. Buildings were still slowly collapsing. I realized I was gasping for air, my heart racing like I'd run a marathon. I slumped down in the boat. Damn… that was way too close.