Sector REDACTED, Vermont, Operation Confused Rainbow

"Target spotted. Repeat target spotted." Sergeant barks into his squad radio, "Chopper one will perform the retrieval. Choppers two and three stay in the sky to cover us."

"Production Facility has a baby with her." Alex comments, still looking through the binoculars, "Sanctuary wants the Immune child as well."

"Roger." Sergeant confirms as he keeps speaking into the radio, "Secondary target has been confirmed. Repeat, secondary target has been confirmed."

Alex licks his lips nervously as the troops in the helicopter keep firing out into the Herd. The mass of bodies had been thinned, but its nowhere near enough. The team would probably have mere moments to land, grab the Immune woman and her baby, then take off again. Already there was gunfire whizzing past the helicopter as the Herd began to muster a response to the arrival of the Feds. Those lunatics might be poor shots, but with the number of guns in their possession, sooner or later they would manage to hit something.

The helicopters enter a steep dive, heading straight toward the northern area of the settlement in order to cut off the Production Facility's escape. She's certainly running hard, but even though the Herd had been distracted by the sanctuary team's arrival, their stampede would wash over the Production Facility soon. Already many of the settlement's inhabitants had been crushed or trampled by the tidal wave of bodies throwing themselves down the main drag. A shower of sparks erupts from Chopper two as several shots strike its metal frame. Chopper two shudders briefly but regains its balance, keeping formation with the rest of the unit.

"We'll probably only have minutes to perform our mission." Sergeant begins addressing everyone in the helicopter, "Alex, you're with me to perform the identification. Everyone else, clear some space for us and shoot anyone that approaches. Things are going to get ugly the moment we set foot down there. Got it?"

There are muffled affirmatives coming from the gas masked soldiers standing in the helicopter, but Alex hesitantly raises a hand in query.

"Go ahead, Agent Norrie." Sergeant grunts, the roles between the actual commander and his subordinate well and truly reversed.

"We are not going to execute civilians." Alex objects hotly, "That wasn't part of the mission."

"Please, Agent Norrie. The settlement is burning down around us." Sergeant sighs, "The Herd is killing everyone. What do you think will happen once the locals see a helicopter landing? One that is not here to rescue them?"

"Well ..." Alex mutters impotently. The thought had occurred to him, but he had been trying to stifle the unpleasant conclusions that would be drawn by going down that road.

"They would tear us apart, Agent Norrie." Sergeant continues, "Anyhow, these guys aren't American citizens, not really. So they're actually not our problem. Am I right?"

"I doubt they had much of a choice." Alex huffs unhappily behind his mask, "We did abandon this area to its so called king."

"Hard decisions needed to be made." Sergeant shrugs and starts giving his gear a last minute check.

"Asshole." Alex mutters to himself and goes back to tracking the Production Facility using the binoculars. Keep running old girl, Alex cheers in his heart. You just might survive this.

"Get ready." Sergeant rasps as Chopper one makes its final approach.

"Production Facility is still heading toward the north of the settlement. She's just passed the big bonfire." Alex updates the group, "We should be able to make the pick up - oh shit!"

"What?" Sergeant demands, grabbing his own set of binoculars.

"Sniper! Herd sniper on the barn roof!" Alex shouts in alarm as a man wearing a bestial mask made out of multiple deer heads mounts the roof of the squat, wide barn and aims a rifle at the Immune woman. A magical lull covers the settlement, as if the entire world was holding its breath in. For Alex, time begins to slow, as he watches with mute alarm as the sniper prepares to dash humanity's last hope to pieces. There's a small puff of smoke as the sniper's rifle fires mutely, the noise drowned out by the cacophony of the stampede and the noise of the helicopters.

But to Alex, it might as well have been the sound of thunder.

"Shit!" Sergeant curses as the Production Facility goes down, speared through the torso by the sniper's bullet, "Chopper two, deal with the sniper! Now!"

Chopper two abruptly picks up speed, leaving the formation and arcing straight toward where the sniper had set up. The grotesque mask looks up and recognizing the threat Chopper two poses, the sniper immediately slams his hand into the barn's roof, tearing into the construction with animal strength. With a single motion, the sniper tears off a chunk of the roofing, opening up a gaping hole into the building's interior. As Chopper two closes in, the troops inside blazing away with their weapons, the sniper dives through the hole, barely avoiding being blasted apart.

"Shit, too bad we used up all our grenades in the attack runs." Sergeant clicks his tongue, "Now we can't take out that clown."

"Chopper two can keep the sniper suppressed." Alex comments, his eyes hypnotically drawn to the bleeding body of the Immune woman, her blood a rich, crimson shade.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"That's one less chopper we have for keeping the Herd of us." Sergeant complains as Chopper one dips and begins to lower itself to the ground, "OK, ladies! Everyone out! Go! Go! Go!"

All the passengers in the helicopter jump the short distance to the ground, their feet stirring up dust as they hit the ground hard. The soldiers immediately start fanning out, forming a cordon between the Production Facility and the approaching crowd while Alex falls in beside Sergeant, the two of them heading straight to the injured woman. Above them, they hear the rattle of gunfire from Chopper three as it gamely tries to keep the Herd away.

"So, what do you think?" Sergeant asks as the pair of them stop at the Production Facility as Alex turns her over, inspecting the fresh bleeding wound. Beside the body of its mother, the baby cries in protest.

"Its the right person." Alex confirms, "She must have shielded her child from the shot using her body. Just missed her heart from the looks of it."

"Is she salvageable?" Sergeant asks impatiently as he scans the settlement's survivors closing in on the cordon.

Alex begins a more thorough examination of the Immune woman, firmly shoving his dislike of Sergeant to the back of his mind.

"If the bleeding is quickly stopped, then yes." the agent concludes, "The bullet wouldn't have damaged her womb. That's what we're here for correct?"

"Good. Get her to Chopper one." Sergeant nods before scooping up the baby with a single hand, "I have secured the secondary target. Its time to leave."

Alex gently takes the Production Facility under her armpits and begins dragging her as gently as possible back to the helicopter. Above them, the troopers in Chopper two fires a burst into the barn. The sniper must have poked his head out again. Time was running out.

"Wait!" a desperate shout stops Agent Norrie right in his tracks. As he turns to see who had called out, Alex realizes that its not one voice, but the entire mob of survivors shouting as one.

"Take us with you!" a ragged man pleads as he tries to cross the cordon. The troopers point their guns at him, the message clear, and the man stops, his face ashen.

"Keep moving, Agent Norrie." Sergeant says, the barrel of his gun warily sweeping the crowd.

"No." Alex replies, as a sudden thought occurs to him, "We still have a mission to complete."

"Uh?" Sergeant grunts dumbly, taken by surprise by this declaration.

The agent settles his palpitating heart. Saving everyone was impossible. But the helicopters could bring at least a few people to safety. The troopers might disagree, but Alex might just have recalled a loophole in their orders that Sergeant had to respect.

"Anyone who is Immune step forward!" Alex shouts into the crowd. Sergeant immediately realizes what is going on and settles down, but remains as tense as ever.

"Are you guys Feds?" the pale faced man asks, trembling, "We heard stories about how the government would whisk Immune folks away to safe areas. Is that what's happening here?"

"Bastards!" A feisty older woman pushes up to the cordon, "That's what you're here for? What about the rest of us?" Just as the woman tries to push her way past the troopers, they shove back hard, sending her flying.

"IMMUNE ONLY!" Sergeant barks at the top of his voice, "Everyone else stand aside!"

"You can't abandon us!" a pleading voice comes out from the crowd. Was it a girl? Or a boy whose voice had not yet broken? Alex couldn't tell. His entire world had begun to spin.

"I'm Immune!" a lone, reedy voice shouts over the commotion. An incredibly skinny, ill looking man emerges from the crowd, waving his arm at Alex. But just as Alex is about to tell the man to come on over, Sergeant interrupts again.

"Show us your Immunity Pass!" Sergeant directs, "Raise it above your head so we can see it!"

"But ... I ... don't have one," the skinny man stutters helplessly, "I lost it when I fled from New York."

"THEN GET LOST!" Sergeant yells at the man dismissively. For a split second, Alex thought that an absolutely vicious expression crosses the skinny man's face, before it recomposes itself into the panicked look from before. Was he starting to see things?

"Look, he said he was immune." Alex protests while fighting back the headache, but Sergeant cuts him off.

"That guy could be lying. Hell, he probably is lying." Sergeant snorts, "And if we let one of them pass without proof, the rest will rush us, with good reason too."

"Out of our way!" the pale faced man suddenly shouts and charges right at the troopers.

And without hesitation, they open fire.

The entire crowd reels backward as the troopers begin taking down anyone who tries to breach the cordon. But with the Herd closing in behind them, the crowd is soon whip lashed back toward the cordon. Alex's mouth hangs agape as the blood begins to flow, the Production Facility all but forgotten. The headache grows worse, probably because of how tightly fitting the new gas mask is.

"I need to take this muzzle off." Alex mutters, "I can't properly see while wearing it. I can't even breathe wearing it."

"Get going." Sergeant nudges the agent hard, rousing the man from his drifting thoughts. But before Alex can get back to dragging the woman away, an earth shaking roar is heard right outside the settlement.

The Maine UMA had arrived.