Knock. Knock.

"Come in." A haggard looking man with bags under his eyes said from where he sat working at his desk. The door to the office opened and a tired young man walked in. "Any good news for me?"

"Sorry, Colonel. The states have their hands full and won't be able to send up any reinforcements. Instead, they're requesting us to send them provisions. Some of their states are looking at a food and water crisis soon—emphasis on the water, at least in the short term. There have also been call for aid from overseas, especially from Britain, Portugal, Morocco, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines."

The colonel waved it off. "With our infrastructures crippled as well, many of our own are looking at the same problems. I'm sure half the countries asking for aid will be up and running before we are. We've got a lot more land to cover, so we only need to do our jobs and focus on our region. Let parliament worry about all of that, we've got enough on our plate."

"On the topic of provisions, there have been a few complaints among the staff."

"What is it?"

"Some of the volunteers have been sneaking away extra rations for their families."

The colonel let out a sigh as he sat back in his chair. "We can penalize the heavier offenders. As for the rest, as long as they don't overdo it we can ignore them. The owners of the farms in the expanded perimeter we've secured have been cooperative."

"Yes, sir."

"What's the status at the stadium?"

"They successfully secured it and set up a blockade. Civilians are already showing up to seek refuge and volunteer."

"That's good."

"There's been a bit of a hiccup though. One of the squads ran into a bit of trouble nearby with a group that has holed themselves up in the police station. Some of the men have been identified with having ties to a few domestic extremist groups."

"Just great..."

"We've attempted opening a line with them but they don't seem to be interested in what we had to say. However, they responded to us with a counteroffer to join them in rebuilding a 'new world'. They appear to believe that there are vastly fewer survivors than our actual estimates, and are determined to come out of this crisis as leaders."

"There are all types of crazies. Have you tried to explain the situation to them?"

"We have but we were accused of spreading fake news. Apparently, we are so entrenched in our 'old ways' that we can't even see the state that the world is now in."

"It's always these people that come out in troubled times. But this group is too much of a danger to leave alone, and it will be a problem if they find out about the virus."

"I believe we already have a problem, sir."

The colonel gave a questioning look.

"These are the minutes from the conference call with the brass, and PHAC and the CDC." The young man placed a binder onto the table. "That research team they brought in found a new discovery about the virus...it's rather concerning, sir."

The colonel raises his brow as he flipped through the binder.

"The virus is eliciting changes in not just a select few as we initially believed. Everyone is being affected. The rate of the changes only differ from person to person. They believe that in less than a year, the entire human population on earth will no longer be the same. There isn't enough time for them to come up with a vaccine."

"Dear god almighty..."

"They've also come up with a designation for it. They're calling it the Talon Virus."

"Talon? I can see it...the virus does sort of have the appearance of a talon. A little bleak though, but I suppose it's fitting."

"With this new discovery, the general and the CDS are toying with the idea of a hunter-killer team to help out the smaller towns and communities across the country, and some people in parliament are expressing interest."

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh? That's interesting...and I take it they want Private Nielsen as their bird in the sky."

"Yes, sir."

"For a private, he sure is attracting a lot of attention."

"There have been concerns..."

"I know, which was why I placed him in a visible role despite his...condition. Even during such a crisis, I have to deal with all this politicking. These people have seen too many movies. Do they think he's going to be quietly shanghaied into a lab or something? There are plenty of other people showing changes and thousands with symptoms."

"He is the first, after all, and he's being compared to a superhero."

The colonel shook his head.

Knock. Knock.

At that moment, another knock came from the door.

"Sir?" Another young man peeked his head through the open doorway.

"What is it?" The colonel waved him in.

"Private Nielsen just called in and reported that he found something strange. You might want to come to the comms room."

"Thank you, that'll be all for now. You should get some rest, you look like shit." The haggard colonel dismissed the tired young man and stood up from his desk, following the second young man out the door. "What did he find?"

"We're not quite sure. He said he found some kind of alien looking tree or pod."

----------------------------------------

"What's up YouHub! It's your boy, the T.Don, back at it with another video! Today, I've got a special surprise for you all. I found an alien pod! That's right, you heard me, an alien pod! In the middle of a forest." Donny pointed his camera at the Metamorphosis Pod.

Since Will had mentioned that they created a lab version in the future for public use, it meant that it wouldn't matter too much if he made a video or not since this was likely not a huge secret. This was a great chance to boost his viewership. Of course, he made sure to keep the camp and the corpses out of the shot.

"Check it out. It's totally not fake." Donny said, moving around to touch the surrounding trees and the Metamorphosis Pod. "Either that or this must be one expensive set, haha. It feels really disgusting to touch. It's like I'm touching flesh, ick."

Rustle.

Donny suddenly heard the sound of leaves moving in the distance. He whipped around, scanning the tree-line.

"What was that? Did you guys hear that?" Donny let out a shudder. He stopped to listen for anything, but it was completely quiet. He felt goosebumps grow on his skin. "I'm starting to get the creeps out here."

Donny slowly backed up and made his way to the camp, keeping footsteps light and his eyes on the surroundings. All of a sudden, his vision was blocked as he was pushed onto the ground.

"Ahh!" Donny let out a yelp. He swung his arm around to get whatever it was off of him. His arm hit something and there was a squawk.

Donny's vision was finally unblocked and he discovered that his attacker was a falcon. The crazed falcon flapped its wings as it aggressively pecked at Donny's armored forearm.

"Get off me!" Donny kept swinging at it but it wouldn't let up no matter how many times he hit it. Finally, getting frustrated, Donny grabbed his pistol, aimed, and fired.

Bang!

The falcon finally fell for good and Donny laid on the ground to catch his breath. After a while, he rolled onto his side and grabbed the phone he had dropped.

"Remember to like, comment, and subscribe." He said tiredly. "I gotta go now, I'll see you guys next time." Donny stopped the recording and pulled himself up.

Awwooooooo! Awooooo! Awooooooo!

Howls sounded in the distance right as he put his phone away.

"This is going to be one long day..." Donny sighed. "How the hell did Will do this."

After feeding the falcon to the pit, Donny returned to the camp and made sure to keep himself ready at all times and his weapons and shield always in reach.

For the next three days, Donny was harassed by the wildlife of the forest. The traps dealt with the majority of his attackers with Donny only needing to empty and rearm them, and shoot at those that do manage to bypass them.

He quickly learned that the sound of gunshot and smell of blood attracted more predators. By the third day, he wasn't harassed as much but Donny was dead tired from going on very little sleep. He was glad that he had experience from his gaming days and that his newly evolved body seemed to handle the fatigue better than expected.

Bang!

After having to shoot down a murder of crows, Donny placed his riot shield down and moved away from the tree he had backed against for cover. He pulled out his phone and aimed it at the crows.

"Hey, guys. Just logging in." He said exhaustedly. "I was just ambushed by a pack of necro crows. Here's my advice if you ever encounter a pack. Get the hell out of dodge. Book it as fast as you can. Because a group of these little things are worse than any regular creeper."

Without warning, a voice called from above. "This is Private David Nielsen with the Canadian Armed Forces! Identify yourself!"

"Huh?" Donny looked up and his eyes widened at what he saw.

There above the tree-line, a soldier was hovering in the air. He had large fleshy wings behind him—similar to a bat's wings, flapping to keep himself airborne.

"Uh...Donny!" He responded. Without looking away, he brought his camera up to record the incredible scene he was witnessing. "Are you guys seeing this?"

The soldier spoke into a radio on his vest and soon landed onto the ground near Donny.

"I heard gunfire. Are you okay?" Private David Nielsen asked as he glanced at the murder of dead crows on the ground nearby.

"Uh, yeah."

"What are you doing here, Donny? It's dangerous to be camping out here. And what in god's name is that thing?" He asked, pointing at the Metamorphosis Pod.

Before Donny could answer, squelching noises came from the Metamorphosis Pod. An opening appeared in it and a naked young man covered in slime crawled out. The private lifted his tactical goggles to make sure he was seeing correctly.

"Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Private David Nielsen demanded.

"Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe."