Doctor Richard closed his eyes from the intense light assaulting them—rubbing them desperately to relieve the stinging sensation.
"Hold," an unfamiliar voice shouted from in front of them. Doctor Richard opened his eyes, still squinting from the transition in the light that had not been kind to him.
He could vaguely see the appearance of six to seven black armored individuals standing in front of them, pointing their weapons at David and Doctor Richard's faces.
"Ugh- Shit!", David screamed out, desperately rubbing his eyes as well.
"Hands, In the air both of you! Drop the weapon!", The man standing in front of the others shouted, pointing his gun—an M4 at David.
Both Doctor Richard and David complied with this demand of his, raising their hands in the Air as a form of surrender, forcing David to let go of the shotgun in his hands, which fell to the floor with a clang.
Eventually, they were able to open their eyes. Looking at the individuals, they appeared no different from the Manticore soldiers they had encountered beforehand—the same black armor with the same accessories and the same Manticore symbol—the body of a lion with the face of a man, with a second goat head protruding from his neck. To finish it all off, the beast also had Bat wings and a scorpion tail.
"We surrender. Don't be hasty", Doctor Richard spoke out, his face a bit sullen from the expected situation. He was a bit disappointed. After all they had done, they were still caught by this group. Now he would just have to pray or beg that they leave his son alive.
"...", The Commanding officer of the squad did nothing, he just looked at the two who had their hands raised. He looked back at the squad, reconsidered his orders, and then spoke to his squad, "Take the Doctor, Kill the Boy"
"W-what?", It was as if the ground was pulled from under Doctor Richard's feet. He couldn't believe what the commanding officer, who appeared to be a Major at most, had just said.
Panicked, he was about to jump in to save his son when David spoke for himself.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. What would Lieutenant Colonel Talon think of your actions? Hmm?", David spoke out, at first to no one—and then to the supposed Manticore soldiers in front of them.
Doctor Richard didn't knew what was going on in his son's head. He just knew that provoking the guys with guns pointed at them was most definitely a bad idea.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sparrow—how do you know that name kid?", The Major asked, seemingly taken aback by the child's words. He had gotten a signal that the infiltration unit led by Lieutenant Colonel Talon—a respected and competent individual even among the Manticore Organization had been reported missing in action after entering the Laboratory Compound and had not yet answered back.
So he was naturally curious when he heard Lieutenant Colonel Talon's name from this Nineteen or twenty-year-old kid who he had regarded as a nobody up until now.
"I met them in the Lab sir. They are the main reason we were able to get out in the first place", David stated, his expression a mix of gratitude, worry, and melancholy.
"And where is he right now?", The Major asked, seemingly putting the pieces of the puzzle together, trying to form a sort of link to these events.
David shook his head, a somber expression on his face as he sniffed.
"Dead...... He's dead. No....All of them are", David mumbled out, his voice low as if to show his regret, but it was still loud enough for the Major in front of him to hear.
"I see", The major nodded solemnly—quickly hiding the look of surprise on his face, and then inquired, "How did he die? He shouldn't have had much problem with the military?"
"Well....", David explained the entire story of what had happened.
Basically according to him: When the squad was leading them out of there, they fell into a military ambush and had a confrontation. This confrontation lasted long as both sides were decently armed and skilled. But it was their worst mistake to draw out the battle as a horde of Zombies mauled them, taking out most of both parties.
The only survivors being the two father and son, plus Lieutenant Colonel Talon and the young prodigy Major Sparrow.
But they didn't last long as well because the Zombies didn't leave their trail, instead they remained on the survivors' trail who were too weak from the previous confrontation to do much of anything.
But Lieutenant Colonel Talon's noble sacrifice made them capable of leaving there alive. He alone stopped the Zombies from pursuing the remaining three who were tasked with escaping.
But they didn't know at that time that Major Sparrow had already been bitten by a Zombie. Her symptoms became evident the more she walked and before she could turn, she asked David to put her out of her misery.
"Hmm, I see", The Major in front of them nodded. His expression was not visible under the black helmet. But David could tell that he was angry, "Anyways, I thank you for this report, but we can't actually take more than what we were ordered so you'll have to die unfortunately"
"Hahahahaha", Doctor Richard was about to say something but was stopped by David's eerie laughter who had already brought his hands down at this point.
Seeing this, the soldiers went on guard. Even though they knew that David had almost no way of retreating—they still didn't let their guard down. But they did see David's actions as the last desperate attempt of a madman.
"Shoot!", The Major shouted. A bullet cut through the Air and a moment later, a body fell to the floor.
"No!", Doctor Richard closed his eyes as he jumped In front of David, hoping to take the bullet for his son but the bullet never came.
"W-what?", The Doctor Opened his eyes to see that the body which fell on the floor was not that of David—rather it belonged to one of the Manticore soldiers who were about to shoot his son.
Before the soldiers could even do anything, a few more bullets cut through the Air and landed straight into the heads of the other soldiers—tearing right through their helmets and making a mashed paste of their brains.
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Hearing the plopping sound of his comrades' bodies falling to the floor, the Major turned around but just as he did, another one struck his head, killing him on the spot.
"W-w-w-wha-wha-what h-ha-ha-ha-happe-ned just now?", Doctor Richard Inquired, a terrified look on his face.
"What's wrong Father? It's as if you have just seen seven people get killed", David made a sarcastic remark, getting a reciprocating glare from his father.
"I have!", Doctor Richard growled out, knowing full well that this was a part of his son's plan.
"Anyways, we have two choices now", David spoke out in a calm manner as he lifted his hand in the Air and gave a thumbs up.
"Two choices? And what are you doing?", Doctor Richard inquired, a puzzled look across his face.
"Just thanking our help. And yes we have two choices: One is to escape, and the other is to sit back and watch the show as the mongrels get slaughtered", David stated, answering Doctor Richard's question as he chuckled.
"Don't tell me... You plan to destroy the camps of both the organizations here", Doctor Richard said calmly, a shocked expression on his wrinkled face.
"Hmm indeed", David replied nonchalantly, seemingly not taking his Father's words too seriously.
Doctor Richard became shocked at his son's words. He knew that he did what was necessary up til now so he didn't question David's actions too much.
If Doctor Richard had to take a guess, he would say that the amount of individuals in both the Military battalion and the Manticore corps stationed here totaled to around 1500 or so and David was planning to slaughter them in cold blood. That was something that shouldn't be necessary for their escape.
"Stop that, you don't need to kill them right?", Doctor Richard pleaded with his son David, who had started to move towards the cliff's edge.
The exit door sat on a cliff side which looked down into a flatland nearby. A small pathway led down from this location into the forest at the foot of the mountain.
This path was generally hidden and known to very few people aside from the government.
From the edge of the cliff side, one could clearly see the exit of the Sewerage canal from where water was gushing out like a miniature river. And if looked closely one could spot the military camp a kilometer or so away.
The military had stationed people around many of the exits from the laboratory but the main focus of their attention remained the exit of the sewers.
"I can't.", David simply stated.
"Can't or won't?", Doctor Richard inquired sarcastically.
"Both. Actually, I don't want to stop this, and it wouldn't matter even if I wanted to stop this. The plan has already been set in motion and there's no stopping it once it's at this stage", David stated, an irredeemable smile etched on his face.
"...", Doctor Richard didn't know what to say to his son's words. He just kept his mouth shut and looked at his son with a complicated expression.
***
Military Camp, Near the exit of the sewers.
Estimated military personnel = 500.
Commanding officer - Brigadier Azim Sheikh.
"Damn it!", Brigadier Azim Sheikh slammed his fist on the conference table as he looked at six individuals sitting in front of it.
"Brigadier, please calm down", the six Colonels sitting on the frantically tried to calm their commander but all in vain.
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down when we just keep losing squads one after another? And the fucking higher-ups just keep withholding information from us", The Brigadier, a hunky man in his forties stated, a frown still etched on his fatty face.
"Brigadier please calm down. At this moment, we need a stable head who can think through things with a calm manner. If you lose you cool then the situation would only get worse", Colonel Baber, a frail old man—approximately in his sixties stated, his eyes fixed toward the enraged Brigadier, his demeanor calm and unwavering.
"Haah, you're right. Me acting up isn't going to do us any good.", The Brigadier sighed, his demeanor shifting to a much calmer one, "Anyways, What do you have to report?"
Everyone let out a sigh as the Brigadier calmed down. They looked towards Colonel Baber with a thankful expression. Everybody knew that it was bad when the Brigadier lost his calm but thankfully Colonel Baber—the Brigadier's mentor and the only person he listened to, was there to calm him down.
"No sir, there has been no word from the HQ", Colonel Ali—A stout man in his mid-thirties with broad shoulders and a broad face with a thick beard covering most of it replied.
"Damn fuckers", Brigadier Azim Sheikh replied, gritting his teeth hard enough for the others to hear, "Anyways, what about the other squads? Any reports from them?"
"No Sir, they have all been silent for quite a while now. But the reports from some of them before their communication got cut off stated that they had encounters with the walkers", Colonel Waleed—a young man in his late twenties, supposedly the youngest amongst them spoke out with a solemn look.
"Yeah, I figured that much out Sherlock", Brigadier Azim Sheikh shot out, getting annoyed once again and taking it out on the youngest amongst them, "And what about the fuckers from the Santa Claus-"
"Manticore"
"Yeah, that or whatever. What about those pieces of shits?", The Brigadier stumbled in his words, getting a correction from Colonel Baber and then continuing once again.
"They're also suffering from what we've seen", Colonel Baber reported, looking towards the Colonel with a straight expression, "They've lost all their squads which had infiltrated the HBDRS Laboratory Compound"
"Heh, serves them right! Those bastards think they can get away with it just because they are dogs of some big shot cunt or something", Brigadier Azim Sheikh sneered, a sarcastic smile etched on his big face.
"Ahm", Colonel Baber did a fake cough, signaling the Brigadier to return to his senses.
"I guess it is safe to assume that the walkers or "Subjects" as how the Government calls them are seriously a threat and a much bigger one than we expected at first", Colonel Baber interjected with his opinion, not caring about the Brigadier's mood at all.
"Hmm, you're right. The bastards have taken down more than 1100 men until now—if we count the bastards from the Manta-shit or whatever", Brigadier Azim spoke.
"Manticore", Colonel Baber corrected him once again.
"Yeah, that...Manticunt", Brigadier Azim Sheikh concluded. It was uncertain if the Brigadier actually couldn't pronounce the word or if he was doing this on purpose, but everyone didn't correct him further and let it be.
The Brigadier looked around the room to see everyone's expressions and just as he was about to speak, someone barged into the council room—well it was more of a tent than a room but they had decided to call it so.
The person was a tall young man—barely in his twenties with a handsome appearance and the insignia on his chest which was a single golden crescent cradling a five-pointed star signified that he was a major.
"You may speak, Major Sameer", Colonel Baber nodded, looking at the young man who trodded into the council room.
The Major was momentarily taken aback seeing all the higher rank officials in a single room but Colonel Baber's words brought him back to reality.
After breaking out of his trance, the young major became nervous. He shook his head and replied after saluting.
"Major Sameer Akram, reporting for duty!", The Major straightened up his posture along with his salute and shouted.
"At ease, soldier", Brigadier Azim Sheikh nodded, signaling the young Major to be a ease, which the major complied with almost instantly.
"What did you want to report, Major?", Colonel Baber asked, wondering what was so important that a Major had to barge in himself to report.
"There have been sightings of something leaving the canals sir", The Major calmly stated, still adapting a respectful tone when addressing his seniors of both rank and age.
"Is it the fucking Walkers?", Brigadier Azim Sheikh inquired, furrowing his brows, "If it is then ask the soldiers to riddle the bastards with bullets"
"No sir, it isn't the walkers. At least not yet. But rather, It is a boat", The Major reported in a serious yet respectful tone.
"A boat you say?", Brigadier Azim Sheikh smirked, nobody knew if it was from excitement or something else entirely but they decided not to worry about it as this was a normal occurrence for their Brigadier.
"Who were the passengers on it? Someone from the research team perhaps?", Colonel Baber Inquired, a contemplative calmness clear on his old face.
"We don't know sir. I rushed here for further orders as soon as its figure came into view", Major Sameer answered honestly.
"I see, let's go check this thing out ourselves. Sitting here I was getting bore- I mean I was wondering why nothing had happened yet", The Brigadier stated, almost letting his intrusive thoughts out but hurriedly realizing his mistake and correcting himself. But this moment was enough for almost everyone to notice his words.
'Was he really gonna say he was getting bored?', Everyone thought as they rolled their eyes. But pushing this matter to the back of their minds, everyone got up and started to make their way towards the makeshift riverside—or sewer-side barracks in this case.
The camp was a bit farther away from the makeshift barracks so it took them a bit of time to arrive there.
Arriving at the location, the Brigadier looked around, a disgusted expression on his face.
"Even though we've fought in tough shit before. Never thought we'd be selected as sewer watch", He scowled, being as sarcastic as possible.
The Sewer canal was a canal in name only—it was around 30 meters from one end to the other with inclined edges reaching from the water to the edges of the bank, making it easier for someone to get out in case they fell into the water.
But this would work against the military as the walkers would be able to get out of the water more easily.
The military had placed large 1x3 sand barriers at different locations along the bank of the canal as a sort of obstacle path in preparation for the walkers.
"So where is that fucking boat?", Brigadier Azim Sheikh inquired looking at the Major for the location but before the Major could say anything, the Brigadier's eyes fell on a boat slowly emerging from the darkness of the mountain along with the sewerage water.
The canal flattened at this point so the water pressure had significantly lessened. Now the water did not move faster than if one were to drop some on a marble floor.
"Let's go down to check", Colonel Baber suggested a look of seriousness on his face.
"Hmm, yes let's go", Brigadier Azim Sheikh nodded and started walking towards the very edge of the bank, the others following right in his footsteps.
They reached the bank in no more than a minute and synonymously the boat reached their location as well.
The Brigadier squinted his eyes, his face sullen with disappointment.
"What the hell, it's empty", He groaned, not knowing that these words of his were heard by everyone there.
"Wait", Major Sameer stated, getting everyone's attention, "There's something in the boat"
"Is that a...Smart phone?", Colonel Waleed said confusedly, his face expression the emotion in his words.
"No shit Sherlock", Brigadier Azim Sheikh sarcastically commented, "But why is it here?"
Before anyone could say anything further, the smartphone started ringing. This grabbed everyone's attention and almost instinctively they looked in its direction.
"Wait! Get back!", Colonel Baber realized something at that time and shouted for the others to come back but it was too late at that time.
The smartphone rang a few times, vibrating in its place as it began to trail off the edge of the wooden plank-like seat it was placed on.
And when it fell, Everyone could see some sort of weird strings attached to it.
"Shit!", Brigadier Azim Sheikh cursed, before the entire boat exploded with a boom, engulfing the entire bank into a mix of fire and debris.