Chapter 6: Landford's grief
Landford flipped the tables over, smashing the unattended cups on it. He landed his fist towards the wall.
"Goddamn it! Those people are dead because of me! I needed those corpses distracted before I can employ the explosives or else I risk losing my squad, and this operation!" His fist went straight through a table and he landed another fist through it, eventually splitting it in apart in half as his arms spread in opposite direction.
Cody and Davis stood by the office door. They had worried faces, while Ivan and Dan worked on the barricades on the office doors. Cody came forward towards Landford, he placed his hand on his shoulder. Landford sat down, breathing slowly, his hand on his head. Before Cody could say anything Landford spoke.
"You know soldier... Cody... I was never burdened by the deaths of others within my mind before. I knew soldiers whom died within my command before, but they all knew they would have to die one day. They were all prepared, they all blamed fate.... I had guilt, that stowed away in my heart as they died... Bottling that said guilt is a poison to my heart. As time went by, I grew old, as I grew old memories of those soldiers passed by my eyes. They were all soldiers.... They were prepared... But this time... It's the civilians,armed with antique weapons against an undying hoard, soulless, lifeless, and merciless. We left them for our own goals. I thought that my plan to cut off the zombies would work, but it failed. Giving me a shred of guilt, a receipt for every soul that died within that building. "
"Sir, it wasn't yo-"
" It was my fault! If only we left earlier if only I just left to find another place! We could've taken on those decaying corpses. We are experienced fighters, we have the skills, we serve to protect, and we are the soldiers that are the shields of our civilians and what happened? What did we just do right now?... We ran, leaving the people without a sword and shield, and they died without us."
Cody simply stood there and once again spoke.
"Sir, there was an unknown variable within your plan, we didn't know that the debris would break. We all thought that the plan worked... but it didn't. We had to use that plan, to succeed in ours. However you gave the people time to run, not all may have died. They were given time to either run or fight, don't shoulder all that grief by yourself, we were a part of that failed plan as well. We are a squad... We are the Ravens who band together in face of death."
Landford looked up from his seat and at Cody, he smiled a little. He sat back on the seat.
Cody understood, as he left, he grabbed Davis out of the office. Eventually ordering the squad to get the tables together to lean against the entrance. Preparing to barricade in for the night.
**********
Radio tuning echoed throughout the empty room, all the tables leaned upon the doors and windows. The squad sitting in different corners simply staring into the space or having their heads lean against the walls. Landford was still in the office, he had his radio on. Linus’s voice can be heard within the radio.
“Landford, deaths happen yet the earth continues to spin. This world waits for no one especially the undead.”
“Right, anyways how’s the situation on your side.”
“When we split up, we found ourselves within the old town districts. There are less corpses over here, it seems they are more gathered within the center, where our goal is.”
“Why is the laboratory located in the middle of the city?”
“Well…. its just probably a failed city.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Landford, the buildings that we passed by throughout this entire mission. I’ve found most of these buildings were empty… granted after an outbreak, but you’ve looked at the names and sales signs desperately like me. You would notice that the shops were pretty desperate and the owners had horrendous naming senses.”
“Hmm…”
“Alright, the rendezvous point is 8 blocks north, a complete run down towards the streets. Unless there’s a lot of debris or corpses over there we can change the rendezvous anytime if you want. As long as you have your radio, if you lose it. We will have the last resort meet at the hospital down east. It has a helipad there as well as a height advantage.”
“Got it” confirmed Landford
“However if the plans change on my side then I’ll meet you at the lab before you do and secure the location.”
“Alright, stay vigilant Linus.”
“Yeah, stay vigilant.”
The radio cuts off, leaving a silent taste after the conversation. Landford simply grabbed the pack that was sitting on the chair in front of him, getting up he looked at the small window located near the ceiling, too small for childrens to go through. Outside of the window was day, there was nothing to note for nature’s beauty other than the decay of mankind’s creations. Landford walked out of the office, he saw his squad simply sitting down on each corner, having small discussions.
“I really want to go back home so I can tend to all my collections.” said Cody
“Collections?” asked Ivan
“3D anime model dolls... aww yeah but since I’m away for awhile the dust are starting to collect on them.” stated Cody
“Oh, you collect those?”
“Yeah… do you what kind of animes they are from?” questioned Cody
“I… don’t watch any, I’m more of a animal planet person. Spending my time eating dinner alone and watching those animals roam about and kill each other.”
“Oh, ok.”
As Landford stood in the middle of the room, the squad looked at him as he stood quietly in the middle with his head up. As if he was pondering about the day. Landford suddenly spoke in the air.
“Private Dan”
Dan quickly stood up and went into attention (military stand).
“Yes Sir”
“Draw out the map, located the location of our position, I want to evaluate the distance between us and the lab.”
Dan grabbed the map out and placed it onto the ground, he had a ruler out and a small journal out. Within the small journal there was multiple notes. Dan grabbed a pen out and started to strike lines down the major roads. Circling major points of where they stayed and dropped off. There was even small fire drawings to indicate major combats with the undead.
“Right, currently we’re off about ten blocks. We’ve passed off four blocks including the alleyways…. “
“Hmm, considering that we’ve encountered multiple hordes and that the first day was only half the day… three days before we can reach to the lab if we continue to encounter the undead. Alright, Cody, Ivan, and Dan go out and scout out a way to reach the lab. Scout out any blockages and zombie hordes, refrain from going into combat, take out single targets with silence.
Cody, Ivan, and Dan stood up and nodded, they grabbed their packs and stood by the doorway where Landford awaited them. They gazed at each other’s eyes confirming something, Landford nodded, and gave them a copy of Dan’s map.
********************
Cody took point taking Ivan’s shotgun while Ivan covered the back. They were in an alleyway looking across both streets, Cody trained binocular scope across some individual sitting corpses.
“No Pack Leader seen.” Cody reported
“Pack leaders?” Dan answered
“The green guys that Landford first shot at when it was waving it’s hands.” said Cody
“Oh those guys, I guess it can be presumed that the zombies have left over intelligence.” questioned Dan
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“Green zombies I guess they must’ve been exposed to radioactivity or some sort of device that allowed them to contain a partial memory of leadership.” entered Ivan
“Then why don’t I see any fat people?” asked Cody
“What do you mean fat people?” Ivan said
“Well usually people in the higher hierarchy within the work forces gain more weight due to the number of stress and weight that was placed upon their shoulders. In due time the weight on their shoulders will shift through them and focus their weight upon the center of the human body, as said it would be the stomach. Therefore multiple C.E.Os and head managers or any job that has a position of leadership would have a little more weight, that’s why my co-workers in the past have said. The higher the pay, the heavier the work.” Answered Cody
Ivan simply placed his hand on top of his face and lifted up, letting out a small groan of disappointment, while Dan simply snickered silently.
“What?” questioned Cody
“I now question, I mean I should’ve known this coming… from your kind.” said Ivan
“What do you mean my own kind?” questioned Cody
“Eh, you're the kinds that accept all types of advices whether good or bad, some unbeneficial.” said Ivan
“My friends are pretty smart…” muttered Cody
“I wonder how you got sergeant Cody…. I wonder how…” pondered Ivan
“Pah, whatever currently there are ten zombies in the streets. A couple of dead bodies in each store. Alright, we’ll take the side with the most debris, the corpses don’t seem to have a brain.”
“What about we throw a monkey bomb?” asked Dan
“What?”
“I- I mean a decoy…” restated Dan. He grabbed a rock and a trash lid. Cody nodded and threw the trash lid, creating a loud sound, Dan followed up by throwing the rock at the trash lid echoing the sound again. The squad waited silently and found that the corpses that were near it simply gave a short glance and walked a couple of steps and stopped once again.
“Your monkey bomb plan failed.” stated Ivan
“Right, onwards.” The squad crouched walked to their destination using the debris of the street to cover the line of sight.
*************
Andrew suddenly woke up, seeing the latrines with the stains on the floor. He immediately was reminded of his situation, he left the people and heard their screams of pain. The night skies tried to hide the gruesome end, but the flames lit up the dark unveiling the horror. Imprinting the image into his eyes, scarring his memory of his departure.
Andrew sat within the messy restroom, he looked at the dead body in front of him. The head was gone but the bloodstain and the body was still there, simply sitting in the corner almost in the same position as him. He only looked at the dead body simply observing it. He sometimes pondered what have happened to this poor figure. Deciding to stand up, he walked towards the dead body and looked down upon it. Looking at the front pocket of its shirt, Andrew knelt down and grabbed the small corner that was white, he lifted it up observing the details of the object. It was a photograph, a young man in the middle with two labradors on his sides.
Andrew sat back down in front of the headless figure, and grabbed something out of his backpack. It was the map that Mark gave him when he ran away, the markings stated that it was already days old. Clearly stating that Mark was already thinking of an escape plan or leaving early from the team, the arrows start from the base where they settled down and ended towards a red circle that signified the goal of his objective. The last surviving extraction point, rumors that said that the last extraction point will rescue survivors that are no infected. However many say that they will test your blood and if there was a hint of infection or sickness, they will eliminate you with a flamethrower.
Andrew stood back up and stared out of the barred windows of the restroom, he saw the corpses slowly moving about, one of them had their guts spewing out of their stomach. It was a fresh one, having survived the attack. The dying human was successfully resurrected into a fresh corpse. It was a runner, after the deaths of many within that base. The number of runners had increased around his place, he knew that he would have to brave the streets again. Or else his food source will deplete, and eventually get surrounded by these fresh corpses.
He opened his pack and checked his ammo, during his time within the ammunition box. He managed to grabbed twenty m14 magazines a flashlight and some tin cans to eat with. He didn’t have much food left. He’s been surviving by drinking the water bottles that he had and the purifying tabs that he had to refresh the toilets. He couldn’t flush the toilets again for a refill or the corpses will find out and storm the front. Andrew stood up and waited at the barricaded door that he had set up himself. In his left hand he held his m14 and in his right his crowbar. He looked down, listening to the groans outside. Slowly lifting his crowbar up he lodged it onto the wooden barricades. Slowly tearing out the wood, little by little chips of it fell down onto the floor.
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Civilian group
Andrew ( m14, flashlight)
Mark ( m14, flashlight, radio)
Steve (combat shotgun, grenade, radio)
Tony (Bayonet sk74, grenade)
Rebecca ( Uzi)
Chloe ( Mp5, Bowie knife, flashlight)
Current Situation:
Squad Raven
Captain: Landford (m4, Desert Eagle Mark XIX (Deagle), bowie knife, radio, frag grenades)
Sergeant: Cody (m4, beretta tomcat, bowie knife, radio, frag grenades)
Corporal: Ivan (Remington 870 shotgun , beretta tomcat, bowie knife, frag grenades, breach clear equipments)
Private: Dan (Radioman) (m4 , beretta tomcat , bowie knife, satellite radio, frag grenades)
Private: Davis (m4, beretta tomcat, bowie knife, frag grenades, c4,)
Captain: Linus (m4, Desert Eagle Mark XIX machete , radio, frag grenades)
Sergeant: Jake (m4,Desert Eagle Mark XIX bowie knife, radio, frag grenades)
Corporal: Lucas (m4, beretta tomcat, bowie knife, frag grenades, breach clear equipments )
Private: Zack (Radioman)(Remington 870 shotgun,beretta tomcat bowie knife, satellite radio, frag grenades)
Private: Omar (m4, beretta tomcat bowie knife, frag grenades, c4 )
Mission: 1st: Retrieve Lab data and find a cure for this disease
2nd: Locate and rescue any survivors of Squad Alpha and Beta,
* Go to last known locations