Dr Augustine Steinhauser, five-time recipient of the SAIL award, the top of his class at the university of Munich and the leading figure of advanced robotics and AI research on the European continent, watched in grim silence from his office at the Berlin Mass Driver transit as the city burned. Off in the distance, beyond the barbed chain-link fence surrounding the mass driver, Augustine could make out the outlines of people running alongside the fence, fleeing from whatever was behind them or trying to get into the transit center for safety. Sitting in his chair and taking a sip of champagne from the small glass cup on his desk, he watched as what appeared to be an armored truck flip itself over in the street after trying to make a desperate turn. Dark figures of people could be seen jumping atop it, trying to get inside before a sudden detonation engulfed them and much of the street in flame. The explosion cast the room in a dark orange light as the door to Augustine's office creaked open and a soldier walked inside, rifle held at the ready.
"Dr. Steinhauser, the preparations are complete, all we need is your facial ID and the launch can begin." the soldier, a young man who looked as though he had only just started high school, said as the sound of another explosion echoed off in the distance, rumbling around the office.
Augustine did not say anything as he nodded, watching off in distance as the fence buckled under the weight of a mob pushing against it, before standing up and following the soldier.
Out in the hallway, other scientists and researchers were busy carrying boxes of documents or cases full of electronics from their rooms, perhaps trying to preserve something on the transit to Hamburg through the underground railway. All the while, groups of weary looking soldiers passed by them carrying an assortment of weaponry ranging from lowly pistols and rifles all the way to a belt fed machine gun being dragged on a cart along with its containers of ammunition. Augustine and the soldier escorting him passed by the soldiers as they rounded the corner as they made their way deeper into the facility, passing through endless hallways and elevators to get through different levels of the facility. Augustine could feel the panic in the air as the passing people looked more and more hopeless and restless before soon, all they were passing were the red stains splattered against office windows.
Reaching the front lobby, Augustine and the soldier stumbled into a checkpoint. Flipped over tables, sandbags and more constitued much of the defenses while soldiers sat behind them, armed and silently praying. Many of the men, veterans hired by the Berlin transit as guards, were prepared for whatever they thought would come through the double glass doors yet when someone finally came in, Augustine could see the men stiffen in shock. Stumbling into the lobby was a woman, clothes in tatters and a bundle of red-stained blankets cradled in her arms, yet looking at her gave the impression the men they were looking at a demon. Strips of torn and bloody flesh hung limply from her limbs, the bones in sections of her body somewhat exposed and leaking fluids onto the floor, while portions of her face had seemingly fallen off such as her nose, cheeks and even her right eye. The woman shuffled forward, a bloody stain following her every move as the soldiers readied themselves, before she spoke.
"P-p-lEAsSSseeE, HheelppP mA-Ma-ma bAaBBy" the woman croaked as she advanced towards the barricades, the bundle in her arms outstretched seemingly for the soldiers to take yet the moment she took another step, just barely halfway across the lobby, a loud snap echoed in the air and the woman fell to the floor. Augustine watched as her left leg snapped cleanly in half and the bundle fell to the ground, exposing that a baby wasn't inside the bundle but instead a gory mess of random limbs and organs which were now splattered to the floor. Silence filled the room as everyone eyed the mess on the floor, some men vomiting at the gory sight, before the woman responded, more portions of her face falling off and exposing portions of her skull underneath.
"MA-AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH BABABABABBABABBA" the woman screamed as she threw herself forward, her remaining limbs snapping and turning in awkward positions as the soldiers begun to open fire. Bullets pierced her body, tearing apart her left arm and spraying blood around her yet she continued to throw herself towards the barricades seemingly unaware of her injuries before one soldier, G36 in hand, fired his shot. A 5.56 round flew through the air and in a moment, pierced her skull. Bits of brain matter and parts of the woman's skull sprayed out behind her as she fell to the ground in a bloodied heap. The soldier who fired the shot fumbled the gun in his hands as the remaining soldiers watched the corpse of the woman who, to the horror of everyone present, pulled itself back up, a massive hole in her head. At that moment, other infected from outside began to make their way inside, looking as deformed and monstrous as the woman on the ground, and the soldiers began opening fire with everything they had as Augustine and the soldier hurriedly made their way to the utility elevator that would take them to the control center.
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Passing by more and more soldiers, the arms they were carrying growing more and more numerous and deadly as they went to reinforce more checkpoints, Augustine and the soldier finally reached the elevator. Ten inches of solid steel and wire mesh protected the elevator from harm while to the side, the terminal connected to the elevator was already lit up and waiting for a command. Reaching into his coat pocket, Augustine pulled out his ID card and quickly swiped it at the terminal, an electronic feminine voice already speaking softly from it.
"Clearance accepted. Hello Dr Steinhauser, would you like to go to the command center?" the voice asked as the elevator door slowly began to open, the rumbling of the steel doors shaking the area around it.
"Yes, I would now please hurry." Augustine said bluntly as watched the door slowly open but as he watched the steel door slowly slide open, the soldier behind him began to speak.
"Sir...go inside and close the door..." the soldier said quietly as the sound of a clip clipping into place in a gun echoed in the room. Confused by the man's words, Augustine turned to see what was wrong and it was then he saw it. Standing at the very end of the hallway and bathed in florescent light was an infected man, his body covered in blood and gore. From the looks of it, the man had clearly been infected for some time as his body had become warped with disfigured with limbs hanging in odd positions or simply growing others in random positions yet what sent chills down his spine was the man's face. instead of having the face of a human, the virus had instead replaced it with a gaping black hole surrounded by gore-covered teeth. Almost as though he were waiting for Augustine to notice him, the infected man began to walk slowly, the sound of metal scraping as he dragged a red sledgehammer behind him. Augustine's face turned white as he stood in the doorway to the elevator, the infected man increasing his pace as the sounds of even more echoed behind him, when the solder began to speak once again, this time more firmly.
"Dr. Steinhauser, get into that elevator and close it. Now." the soldier said as he fired his first shot, the round piercing the infected's right bicep yet not slowing it down at all. Two more shots were fired as soon as the first on hit, one landing on the left thigh and the other landing in the man's neck, before Augustine stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the control center.
"May god have mercy on you." Augustine said as the he watched the soldier smirk slightly, a horde of infected rounding the corner as the doors finally closed. The sounds of roaring and the firing of more shots echoed from behind the door as he slumped against the far end of the elevator, the humming of jazz music filling the room. After a few moments of sitting in silence, the elevator finally stopped and the door finally opened, revealing the control center.
Already he could the flurry of activity as technicians hurried from terminal to terminal, triple checking all data for the launch while Joel Zengler, director of the Mass Driver stood by the glass windows overlooking the catapult. Even though the man was only in his early thirties, he looked as though he had aged a lifetime with creases and cracks spread all along his worn-down face. Walking to the director, he could see some technicians sitting quietly off to the side and staring blankly off in the distance or at the floor, no doubt traumatized by the carnage they had experienced getting to the center. Standing next to Joel, Augustine stood in silence as the men watched the catapult, its steel frame illuminated by the florescent lights covering and the orange haze of the fires burning behind it.
"I guess this is it huh?" Joel said as he looked down at the ground, the illuminated figures of people swarming into the building in the hundreds sending cold chills down Augustine's back.
"Yes sir, it is." he said as the pair stood in silence once again before they walked to the master terminal located in the center of the room. The master terminal dictated the final procedures of the launch and was already prepped for that moment, simply needing a facial ID from two higher ranked officials to begin to the sequence. Walking up to the terminal, a small censor was scanning the area in front of it, Joel scanned his face and theAugustine's. The scanning only lasted a few seconds, the data taking a moment to process before the ok was given. Walking back to the windows, Joel and Augustine watched as in the distance, the bay door to the hanger housing the shuttle opened up and the shuttle was loading onto the catapult by mechanical claws. Loaded on the catapult, the men and the technicians watched as blue sparks showered the rail of the catapult, the coils being brought to full charge, and the shuttle began to slowly move forward. Quickly, the shuttle gained more and more speed as it went down the rail before it was launched high into the sky, the momentum of the catapult sending it into the lower levels of the stratosphere. After reaching a high enough altitude, its thrusters were activated and gathered crew watched it disappear into earths orbit.
By the time the shuttle had disappeared from view, Joel had already pulled a small from his pocket and put it into his mouth, not giving a hint in hesitation as he pulled the trigger. Picking the gun up off the floor from beside his friend, Augustine contemplated on if he should do it when he heard the sound of the elevtor moving behind him. It was only a matter of time before the infected reached this place. Placing the gun into his mouth, the metallic taste of barrel singeing his tounge, the Dr closed his eyes as he heard to elevator reach the floor.
"Oh lord god, may you have mercy on our souls and guide us to a promised future. May you guide those still living to a prosperous future but most of all, may you guide my child to a new future, to a new dawn..." Augustine thought to himself as he pulled the trigger, the doors to the elevator opening and infected running into the room...