Chapter 32 Trouble in Japan

Alice stood there, angry and ready to take on some of that anger on the Japanese guy sitting on his butt. The four body guard suddenly appearing in front of her taking various Karate fighting stances made her smile. At least, some action to vent her frustration. Alas, it was not to be. From above her, red dot appeared on each of the four men. Some on their forehead, some on their hearts and other trailing on the floor to get their attention before stopping at their crouch. That got their attention all right. They stopped in their track and Alice sighed.
Kenjiro Tanaka stood up and made a hand gesture to which his men obeyed in silence, taking back their place in the background. Alice raised a hand and the snipers hiding in the upper level of the auditorium turned off their laser sights.

- Blease, gouh habe to listen to be!!! We need your helb!!!

With his broken nose, Kenjiro was even harder to understand but Alice new enough about the man to at least take the time to listen to him. She made an other motion with her hand and her aid brought the little group to her room where they would be able to talk.

After cleaning the blood, replacing the nose in its axis and giving refreshment to everyone, Alice sat on a chair and listened to Kenjiro’s story. Since the Zombies were public knowledge, Japan had made enormous efforts to upgrade the security of their public transportation. Airports were guarded and each plane was searched for sign of an infected. The same with the various harbors. Every train and metro station in the country had been equipped with Zombie fences. These were to prevent Zombies from getting out off a train or the metro and swarm a city. As an added protection, each station could become locked down to prevent anyone from entering or leaving it.

3 days ago, a speed train had had trouble and had had to make frequent stops. Soon, the police, the army and family members of the people on the train received frantic calls about crazy people biting others and looking sick. After the fourth call, they had looked the train and made it go to Tokyo Station, the most fortified of all Japan. There, the camera had showed around 300 people and 35 Z’s. Everyone was infected. They had had no choice but to initiate a lock down. The poor director of the station had evacuated everyone and had done the lock down himself. The, had performed Harakiri. His only son had been on that train.

They now had over 300 Z’s inside Tokyo and had had to prevent people from freeing them. But it was not why he was here. A girl of 16, Yukio Suzuki was still alive. She had been bitten but after the incubation period, had started to write to her family. She was hidden in a small broom closet and had escape notice so far. But...they needed an expert to get in, get her out and take her out of the country. The government had blocked cell phone in and out of the station so she could only contact government officials but the Kyonshi Task Force commander had asked for her to personally take a team there, clean up the mess and rescue the girl. That’s why he was here. To ask for her help.

- But why me? Asked Alice

- Because, you are the only one I know who ever did survive such a mission. And this girl needs all the help and support one of her kind can offer her… and because she is my niece.

Chapter 31: Through the looking glass

Nadia sat alone in a large room. The room was white washed, white gauze moved from a gentle breeze from the huge widows that were letting lightly colder air in. Her eyes were closed and she was thinking about plans, and counters and other such things. She was sad about Mat. He would have made a marvelous addition to her team. She had felt him on the train station but had had not had the time to deal with him or even recruit him. Benjamin, her second in command had made a grave mistake in ordering an attack on the kid. But it was all in the past now.
Sitting on the floor in the lotus meditation pose, she supervised the battle ground from above like the Tsar of old guided their armies. She truly was the last descendent of the sadly famed Romanov and took pride in her heritage. She, like her famous ancestors wanted to conquer. Destroy humanity was a very different goal though.
On a small table next to her were lying a few books: The Art of War, Julius Cesar’s Gaul conquest, Churchill’s biography and surprisingly, a graphic novel from DC comics and one from Marvel. What did they have in common? No one would ever know but her. This was her sanctuary, her most sacred place of all. Those who knew about it knew enough to stay as far from it as possible. Nadia Romanov did not like to have her privacy invaded by anyone.
The whole house was like this room: white, almost bare of furniture and spread carelessly around the different rooms, books and weapons. The books were about all sort of topics, from history to psychology passing through mythology and obscure subjects like the habits of the Ithach’Ïa, a secretive tribe of Amazonian natives. The weapons were all exquisite craftsmanship. From a Russian sword with the Romanov crest on the scabbard to a hand crafted Ak-47 with the cross carved to resemble a blooming lily, everything was as beautiful as it was deadly.
Sighing, she stood up and went to the window. There she stood looking over the Huacachina Oasis in Peru. She had her own helicopter, a small and beautiful thing she loved her Dragon 334 gp from a small business in Italia, Dragon Fly. She had had to pay a handsome supplement to have a motor that was twice the power of the current one and to augment the flight distance accordingly. But it had all been worth it. The liberty of going and coming to her most beloved location in the world from the nearest airport was unparallel.
Something made her eyes lose focus: the battle in Germany had started. And she needed to concentrate over there. She had over 2 000 troops awaiting he command and she had 6 generals anxious for blood. Such inelegancy saddens her but, when the time was right, they too would perish, as would she. And all would be over and good.
Nadia followed the battle with her mind. She saw the leader of the small platoon move straight for her well planned trap. Then, without reason that she could understand, turn around and move his troops to safety. She ordered the use of her special force, recognizing the leader as Thompson, a man to be weary of. To her utmost amazement, he not only survived but repelled her assault. She had to give him and his troop’s credit; they had done a marvelous job with such feeble resources at their disposal. Opening her eyes, she looked at the sky. Over two hours had passed and the outcome of her plan in Germany for a swift takeover of the city was to be planed again.
With her mind still as the lake of the oasis, she turned her attention to Japan. There was a plan that would come to fruition. Soon, hundreds of undead would emerge from the center of Tokyo. Japan was not ready for this. They had planned well, but she was simply better. She understood their main flaw: their distrust of foreigners. Gaijin’s as they called them. They would never call for help outside their own country. And thus their fall would begin. They would be the first nation to fall. Nothing personal there, it was just that it was easier that way. She would attack every island nation out there as they were easier to infiltrate and they could not escape the Bringers of Light. In the end, on one would.
A small smile played on her beautiful features, warming her for a few instants as she imagined the earth pure and green as it would be in a few hundred years from now. And as the sun is masked by a cloud, coldness and serenity masked her face as she turned her full attention to a small drama that would soon become a blazing fire purging this magnificent land that had been Japan. She closed her eyes for the second time that day.

Chapter 30 The Englischer Garten Park fight

*Note: due to the fact that I don’t speak, read or even understand most of the foreign language out there, everything will automatically be translated in English thanks to my “Babel Fish” (Thanks Mr. Douglas Adams). The Author*



Thompson moved his troops to the Pagoda, a 25 meter structure that was modeled on the Great Pagoda from London. There, he placed his fighters for maximum cover of the surrounding and waited for the very bad feeling to go away. It didn’t… It only got worse when he saw that instead of 12 or 15 Z’s, coming up; there were at least 60 of them. The German grunts started to feel uneasy. So he called for some reinforcement and sent some soldiers with the instructions to destroy the stairs using hand grenades so the zombies would be sucked outside or at least on the first floor. A huge explosion shook the whole tower some time later and the soldiers came back with a satisfied look on their face: they had destroyed most of the first round of stairs so no Z’s could climb to them.
Thompson then took his night goggles and tried to see their reinforcement coming. He did not. Deciding to take things in his own hands, he redistributed his resources: his sharp shooter, Hans Larsen, was on the top floor with the medic. With him were 2 of his four D.B.H regular. On the very first floor, were the second 2 with 8 German soldiers. They were his first line of defense. On the middle floor, were the rest of the German forces, 10 soldiers and 2 sergeants. Thompson gave the order to set the weapons on single shoot and to take their time so as not to waist ammo. Each soldier had 3 clips on him including the one in his weapon while the sharp shooter had 5 in all. Hans had special instructions: Hans was to shoot any Z that looked to be even remotely too smart. Thompson had the strong feeling that some of the Z’s would be controlled by the B.o.L and it would do them some mental strain to be “killed” and it might take them some time to recover, meaning that more Z’s would be without instructions.
The moans got louder and louder. By then, Thompson could see to his amazement that some of the zombies had weapons. Running upstairs, he was glad to hear the first of many calculated and evenly spaced shoot. Hans had obviously seen the danger and had started shooting the threat. Indeed, when he reached the top, Thompson could see that Hans had his eye on his visor and was aiming to kill the ones carrying weapons. Without bothering the guy, Thompson made another survey and gasped with horror: A zombie was aiming a rocket launcher at the Pagoda. Without taking his eyes, he gave the orders: “Larsen! Threat at 4 o’cloc, rocket”
- Hi sir, got it. Followed by a splendid head shoot.
Still making looking around, he called targets and Hans downed them. The fight was in full on every level of the towers. The one near the base were killing slowly and taking care of their aim while the one on the median level took targets that were farther away. Soon, way too soon, only Hans had any ammo left. The Germans had added bayonet to their riffle. They were two sided blades, more akin to spikes than actual WWII knifes. They had a single purpose: get through a skull and destroy the brain. And the soldiers were doing a good job with it.
Thompson was faced with a heavy dilemma: get everyone higher and try to keep the Z’s from getting to them, which would prove to be quite hard since there were way too many Z’s controlled by their enemies. The corpses where pilled so high that it made a natural ramp that the zombies could climb. The fight got messy. Thompson was on the front, a basket hilt in his hand and a dirk in the other. He cleaved through heads, knifed eyeballs to get to the brain and made a bloody mess of everything. The other D.B.H were with him on the front line while the regular guys were bringing the rear.
After what seemed like hours but was more akin to 15 minutes, heavy gunfire could be heard. Sighing with relief, Thompson ordered a full retreat to the top floor. There he made certain that everyone was safe, sound and that no one was infected. 6 or 7 minutes later, someone called and was helped to the top of the tower. It was a corporal of the German army. He gave his report: there were over 200 dead Z’s and their forces were still engaged in battle against around 50 of the undead. Thompson’s unit had a head count of roughly 147 Z’s and was relived from duty.
Thompson guided his man to transport trucks and sighed again. He hoped that the fuckers from B.o.L would be found fast. Otherwise, this war was lost…

A changed world part 2

Thompson was reading the latest report from the Central. He was still smiling from the one detailing Parkson giving a punch to some Japanese guy. He had a pretty good idea who the guy was and he did deserve it. The rest of the news was a mix of good and bad.
Some freaks in Oregon had started a new religious cult stating that God had sent the virus to cleanse the human race. Like he had done with the Flood long ago. They had been arrested for trying to infect their members. The leaders were on trial and facing the death penalty. Death sentence had been reinstated in almost every country in the world with the revelation of the Virus and what people who were infected became. Hiding an infection or worse, an infected was a crime that was more often than not punished by death. Thompson understood the idea of “wanting to keep the loved one close regardless of what they were”. But they were undead and needed to be put down for the good of humanity.
Most countries had changed their military standard equipment. Now, every unit had a sharp shooter and a medic. Every solder had the following: Mid distance rifle that could be modified for urban warfare, a short blade for close quarter fighting and reinforced clothing. These were a true innovation. Some genius in Finland had meshed titan wire between light but resistant cloth. The wire made the cloth impervious to biting. Which was amazing for the regular grunt. Thompson was reading about some of the equipment list that had been issued and wondered if it was a coincidence that most countries had gone back to the medieval time or even older for their bladed weapon. The Greek had brought back the Kopis, a short blade with a inverted curve, the Indian had chosen the renowned Kukri, The Italian the Roman Gladius, more precisely the Gladius Hispaniensis, the Scottish had opted for the basket hilt sword while the British had chosen the Officer Navy sword. The Japanese had gone with the katana and more importantly, the Wakizashi. Used in combination using the Niten Ichi-ryū style. They had also rescinded their no army close in their constitution. They had over 20 000 new recruits ready to learn to defend their country. Even the Canadian had their weapon: The native Amerindian Tomahawk. They had make a new upgraded all steel version which was devastatingly efficient.
The most surprising and daring people where from Thailand. They had recruited the best Muay Thai fighters and had outfitted them with a small machete. But their true weapon was a kind of body armor that covered their fist, elbow, shins and knees. They were made from the same plastic from which where made the pm 34 nightstick. The fists were supplemented with bumps on each knuckle, the elbow and knees had spikes and the shins and forearm guards were both protection and weapon. These fighters would engage the Z’s and using their particular martial art, reduce them to squirming pulp and only then deliver the finishing blow with the machete if they had not killed them beforehand. The only truly prepared forces were from Philippine. With their Martial art, Escrima, they already had everything they needed for close quarter combat against the living dead.
Thompson shook his head amazed with the speed at which the world changed. Almost every armed conflict on earth had been stopped in face of the new peril. Religious, political and other reasons for fighting your neighbor became irrelevant when the living dead were scratching at your backdoor. There were still some radical groups in every country that called to arm and called divine retribution on their ancestral enemies. But they were a minority and mostly ignored. Most disturbing were the small bands who had joined the cause of the Bringers of Light. These where the scary one. Going to the media and actually inviting people to mass suicide or to become one of the “blessed”. They would become one with mother earth and eventually would be joined with Her as soil and fertilizer for her nature to nurture. Sick and perverted psychos…
Well, he had to concentrate on the now. He was in Germany, leading a small platoon of both Germans and regular D.B.H troops. A report had come 4 hours earlier that a small group of Z’s were coming their way. They had gone through the town of Munich mostly undetected but had finally been spotted. Their trajectory had brought them to the Englischer Garten Park where Thompson and his troops were waiting for them. 18 man for 12 Z’s, it was good odds. Thompson heard the first moans when something made him stop. He had the feeling that all was not right. Not being the type to have premonitions, clairvoyance or PSY powers, he was stunned. What should he do? The feeling became stronger. Going from “bad” to “ominous”. Making a decision, he called a general retreat, moving to their second position which was on higher ground.

New world

In the last 6 month, the world had changed. Now, everyone knew about the “new disease” and what it did to a human being. They had the Bringers of Light to thank for. Already, people were talking about the “Z Virus”, homage to the famous video games and movies Resident Evil, they were using the slang: “Z” and “Z’s” to talk about infected. The writer of the world acclaimed books: Zombie Survival guide and World War Z, Max Brook had had to go on national tv and explain that his books were fictional and recreational only and should not be used as an actual survival guide. Even though military forces around the world had based their “Intervention Plan” on his writings.
So far, there had been no major outbreak. The Dark Blood Hunters, under the disguise of a “new world wide agency” had prevented all catastrophes and were actively guiding regular forces through what was called the “Zombie Course 101”. They had 3 main division: Science, Public Relation and Public Safety.
Parkson was not happy. Not happy at all. She literally hated this crappy assignment. Science officer in Public Relation was not her idea of having a good time. She envied Thompson his assignment. At least, he had had some fun in Baltimore. A small swarm had come upon the town and had attacked a renowned bakery. The owner, a big guy, had just finished some renovation and was on his roof shooting fireworks, as was his routine whenever something big occurred at the bakery. That’s when he had seen the first of the infected around. He ran downstairs and warned his staff of the incoming danger. Due to the late hour, there were only five other people around: his sous-chef and 3 others. The Z’s, attracted by the noise and the “vitality” of their prey swarmed the place. Due to the renovation, part of the wall fell on the owner and he lost consciousness. His best friend and sous-chef had suddenly gone blood rage crazy. Grabbing a katana (she still did not understand how a fucking katana could find its way in a bakery and why) he had starter cutting heads while screaming insanity at the Z’s. The rest of the staff had used power tools to dismember the zombies. Again, why a bakery needed power tools was beyond her understanding. By the time help got there, the owner had regained consciousness and had grabbed a long cooking shovel used to take cakes out of the oven and was using it to fight the Z’s beside his friend. Since then, they had formed a group of vigilantes and had started keeping the street of Baltimore zombie free. Bakers by day, zombie’s killers by night. Parkson sight. What a turn of event.
“And now, let me introduce to you Dr. Alice Parkson. From the science and public relation of the Disease Control Unit.” Before going onstage, Alice made certain that she had her .38 in her computer bag. Ever since the lecture she had done in San Diego where she had been attacked by some Z’s, she preferred to go armed. One just never knew. She stepped on the stage of Princeton U. She was received with some applause but mostly with a skeptic silence. Alice was getting used to it and she rather had a silent crowd than a hostile one like in Utah. Some crazies had come from all around the state figuring that she would have less security and had started to throw things at her. They were a mix of religious freaks and nature lover who believed that this new virus had been sent here to judge/eradicate humankind. She had had a tough time from it.
She started by explaining the origin of the virus. Or lack of it actually. The only thing any of the D.B.H scientist were certain is that it had been the cause of the dinosaurs disappearance. It coincided with the heavy meteor impact but could not be directly related to it. Some theorized that it had come from one of these meteors and had attacked the system of some mammals creating legion of small but deadly predators who had feed on the dinosaurs. Then, the “post nuclear winter” had almost killed every host. By then, there was not enough food supply and the virus had lain in dormancy until humanity was able to sustain it again.
Other believed that the virus was born with humanity. The proof of it was the early burial rituals that had been observed almost everywhere. From the mommies in ancient Egypt to cairns in Ireland to the sealed tombs in ancient Greek and Rome. Every early ritual allowed for the body to be either cremated, buried so it could not raise or in the Egyptian case, the brain was removed along with every other major organs before mummification. This virus was, following the same theory, the one and only true “human predator”. And it mutated. From it had spawned the black plague of 14th century, coming back until its sudden disappearance during the 19th century. In coincided with the first known world wide effort of the conscious zombies to prevent outbreak around the world.
She moved on to explain the infection sources, its incubation cycle and the disastrous news that it killed 100% of the time. The only way to prevent it from doing more damage was to kill the host and burn it. She moved on explaining the symptom one infected would show and how they never varied regardless of the sex, gender or ethnic group of the carrier. She then passed a movie showing and infected individual going through all the phase of incubation up to his ugly transformation in a monster. At the end of the video, the united state president swore that everything in there was real and no special effects had been added, urging the people watching it to believe in the real treat it represented and to help the disease control unit in any way they could and to never take matter in their own hands as they could become victims themselves.
When she had finished answering the last question, she left the stage and was meet by a Japanese guy. Seeing him, she took a fast step forward and punched him in the face. “How do you DARE show your face to me? Do you know in how much trouble I found myself after I talked to you? And now, I’m the star of 4 movies. FOUR FUCKING MOVIES!!!! I should have let you get eaten then. I hate you!!!”
On the floor, clutching his bleeding nose was the creator of the famous video games and movies: Vile Resident. Facing him, the original Alice.

chapter 27 - world knowledge

Mat was shocked beyond anything he had ever been. He was using telepathy to discuss humanity destiny with the world oldest zombies. His mind rebelled against the idea. George talked again:
- Relax my friend, what is really happening is that your brain is simply emitting and receiving electric waves. The same way a radio works. The virus we have inside is simply expending the range of these waves. That’s what happens with those of us who can control other undead. They simply broadcast their commands and like nice little robots, the Z’s obey.
- Eventually, we all develop this talent. Even though for some of us, it takes longer than for others. Now, continued Nadia, what will you do? Join us or keep helping those who destroy our only and truly important friend, mother earth?
- What about what is happening to me? Can I stop it? I have had enough of being special. I just wanted to be happy and now, I have a bunch of crazy people in my head while I can’t even move!!!! I WANT IT TO STOP NOW!
The mental scream was so strong that everywhere zombies stopped dead in their track and only the truly strong one were able to fight the command. The whole base was put through red alert and only after two hours of searching for the enemy did they notice that Matthiew’s state had change. He had gone from semi comatose to completely off. Nothing seemed to get through him. The doctors tried everything in their powers to get a reaction from him but the conclusion was that he had fled as deep as one could when the order to “stop” had been issued. Nothing they did would get him out. The only thing they could do was to keep him feed and when he was ready, he would come out of his shields.
The top brass decided to follow this plan and even though Mat was a hero, they had a war to fight and they could not let one of their own stop their effort to save humanity. Parkson was enraged and Thompson wasn’t better off. But orders were orders. By now, the rumors had been confirmed: the Ark project was underway and the first footage of a zombie had been seen on national tv. It was time to move to plan B. What was plan B? To find a plan C and fast!
Working over the clock, the people at the top came with a cover story and a reason for the Dark Blood Hunters: A special brand of biochemical medicament had been developed but had turned wrong. Instead of curing paralysis and helping with regeneration, it had attacked the brain and transformed the poor souls in “zombies”. Special teams of Bio-hazard Containment Forces were deployed all over the world to help the different government with the containment and purging of this menace. For now, it would have to do while they worked on a counter strike at their enemy.
It might have worked if on CNN, during prime time, a message of the Bringers of Light claiming full responsibility for the undead rising had not caused mass hysteria and global panic. And while all this happened, Matthiew hid behind his shield.

Chapter 26 - Light

Mat was in a haze. It was the closest he had come to sleep in years and it felt good. He knew that he had had some humongous troubles, but he could not remember what. Voices came through the haze though. He could hear them and sometime understand them too.
- How did he survive?
- No one knows. By all accounts, he should be dead.
- Still, it’s amazing what he did to protect that kid.
- Yeah…
The kid. That triggered something. A subtle reaction that caused his mind to jolt a bit. There had been a baby all right. But…what was it again???
- I heard a rumor today; they would have started the “Ark” Project.
- Nah, that’s just bullshit. There is no such thing as a “Ark”.
- Quiet guy’s, you disturbed him.
A warm towel was passed on his for head and Mat relaxed again. The Ark. He remembered something about this. When had he heard that name? He tried to figure it out: Add the amount of munitions of one clip to the taxes in Minnesota, multiply it by 2 and you got infinity plus 1. It was laughable; still, the memory was there: a project that was supposed to be a secret. If the infection threat ever reached over 5% of earth’s population, some people would be placed in a special facility where they would be kept safe until the menace was over. They would then set out to repopulate the earth. They would be selected for their worth in a new world as well as their ability to cooperate with other people. Was there such a threat?
Then, among the haze and the fog, he felt a presence. It was warm and felt like a blanket had been placed all around him. Cozy and warm. A voice came from it:
- Hello Mat, how are you felling?
Well, he was feeling not so bad actually. Now that the presence was there, he was kind of happy. He felt lonely.
- You know that you caused me a lot of grief?
Mat was sad. He did not want to cause grief to the voice. He only wanted to serve and protect. As if reading his mind, the voice answered.
- Well, yes, serve and protect. That is so ingrained in you that I don’t believe that even God, should you believe in such a thing, could make you change your mind on that. Still, it as it’s charms… I suppose.
Mat was glad the voice was not mad.
- Me? Mad? Oh no my dear, not at all. Why would I be mad? You only forced me to go through my plans in a new fashion and thus helped me…in your way. No, I would like for us to be friends. Would you like that?
Like that? Of course he would like that!!! What a silly question, who would not?
The voice laughed: What a nice boy. I think we …
Another presence was felt. This one felt more like a cool breeze.
- Hello Nadia, mind if I join your little party?
There was a sigh then, the first voice answered:
- No George, feel free to join us.
- You know, you should at least give him the freedom of truly liking you and choosing his side. Coercion is so not becoming you.
- I knew you would say that… you fun spoiler.
Mat did not understand but suddenly, he felt like a light rain had passed through his soul and felt more awake than he had in a long time.
- Now Mat, we shall do the presentation over again. The lady is Nadia Marcello, half French, half Russian.
- Now now Peter, you know that my real name is Nadia Romanov.
- As you wish.
- And this gentleman is George. He is from an older time.
- That’s an understatement; I’m from Syria, before and “Died” in Nicomedia. I’m famous for my encounter with a dragon…
- A..dragon? asked Mat.
- Yup. Though it really was a dinosaur from what I learned a lot later.
- Now, George, can we get to the business at hand? Came the gentle reprimand from Nadia.
- Please go one.
- As I was saying, we are all friends, even if you don’t know it yet Matthiew. I am the one you saw on the train station. I lead the Bringers of Light. A group of undead, like us, who want to free Mother Earth from the infestation that is humanity. We wish to rid it of the vermin that gouge it’s flesh for ore, drink it’s blood so their cars can move, smoke it’s trees so they can eat their cheese burgers, drink it’s water away and destroy all living creatures. When our goal is accomplished, mankind will be a “souvenir” and nothing will ever pollute our sacred nature ever again.
There was a pause. Mat was so shocked that he could not even think. George spoke again:
- To do so, Nadia and her friends are turning as many people as they can in zombies. Then, they pitch them against you and your forces. As you are the Dark Blood Hunters, they are the Bringers of Light. They set themselves in direct opposition to all that you represent. We on the other hand are in neither group. We are a bunch of old friends who prefer to look at the younger generation go at it. But, we still prefer to let you youngster make your choices with open eyes. And from time to time, one of us will interfere with humanity destiny to bring it around what he or she think is best after an agreement of all of us, elders. Now, from time to time, comes an individual so unique that all parties take interest in him. And that “him” is you Mat. Do you know why?
Mat could only wait for the answer. It came from Nadia.
- Because, you Mat are the next step in our evolution as a species. Even though you are undead, you feel pain, love, hatred and even sexual excitement. We all have sex. It helps to pass time and we feel more human from it.
- You said so first, not I.
- Oh ush George. Stop interrupting me. As I was saying, you FEEL. That’s why you are so important. There is also the strength of your powers and the fact that you sustained your metamorphed state longer than anyone in recorded history and are still alive. You have passed beyond our basic state so fast that you can now communicate with the most powerful of us with your mind. When you or they don’t block it, of course. Now Mat, how about it? Do you wish to join us and rid Mother Earth of the human scum?

Chapter 25: Lost and found

Thompson was livid. They had had no contact with their captain since the Delta Protocol. And that had been 4 days ago! What the hell was recon doing? He thought about everything Mathiew had gone through to become accepted and to be trusted again and hoped that he had survived. The man had asked so many questions: where was the virus originated from? No one knew. Surprisingly, information’s on the virus’s origin were scarce at best. It was agreed that it had been there from mankind origin and was in every mythos out there. Vampires were one of the best example, not the “glowing king” but the Nosferatu of old. People didn’t know about zombies at the time and witnessing an attack by a creature named it vampire. But it still did not give answers. Why did a small percentage of human able to mutate with the virus while most of them simply turned mindless killers? No one knew. It was in the gene but more than that… Well, he had done well for himself, thought Thompson, if someone could survive a delta protocol it was Mathiew Andrews.
Thomas was awaken from his reverie by a someone saying his name: “Thompson, sir? I…I think I have something.” Thompson turned toward the young private and looked at him sharply, well? Out with it man, what is it?
- I have been analyzing the satellite imaging around the perimeter of the Delta and found something odd. There is a shadow growing where there should not be anything.
- Meaning private?
- Meaning that either there is a huge tree growing or something is darkening the soil. And to be seen from that height, it has to be big sir.
- I see your point. It might be good to investigate, send an S&R team. Warn them to approach with caution. We never know, it could be another trap.
- Yes sir!
Thompson went back to his thoughts. Mathiew had gone the extra mile every time he had to do or learn something. He had made it his business to know more than anyone about their new enemy, to hunt it down whenever he could. He had been one of the first to warn the other about a global threat. No one had wanted to believe them. Oh how they believed him now! Half their forces destroyed or missing in action after a bare 1 year of real conflict, awareness growing with the world’s population, pressure from every dam government out there to do something, as if they were sitting on their ass, and more regular troops in their ranks than should be allowed. It as a risky thing since everyone of them could become the enemy if bitten or contaminated. So many liabilities that it was frightening at time.
The thing that truly scared Thompson was that after almost 10 000 years, they were no closer to a cure or a vaccine than they were to prevent the annual flu pandemic. It was maddening. Research to prevent the Z virus from mutating humans were not giving any results. They had tried everything from drugs, to nanobots to no avail. Radiation killed it, but the host died to. With enough drugs, you could destroy it, but no one survived the side effects. And nanites were useless as they were destroyed by the virus!!!!! For a poor Scotsman whose time was long before all this, it was like seeing the power of the church loosing its grip all over again, but this time God was science, and it was losing to a virus so old, it should have been eradicated long ago.
They knew all about its working: the virus entered the blood stream and started mutating anything that it touched. Every cell in contact with it became undead. Once it reached the brain, it killed it and changed its structure so that it was independent from the rest of the human body. It only allowed information from flowing in one direction: from the brain out. That’s what made it so dangerous. Nothing short of destroying the brain killed it. And even then, it stayed alive in the blood, saliva or any other fluid for 22 hours. Cutting the head was stopping the body, but the head itself was still able to bite. And feeding was the only real instinct left in the brain.
They knew all about how the zombie found its food since they had conscious one on their side, but from where did the virus found the genetic material to create this ESP organ? It was said that the human brain was only used to 10% of its capacity, but still. Creating an all new pattern of cells so the Z could detect a human from far away with a sense of smell that was not even there, it spoke of a virus so advance that it should not have been so old. Contradictions within contradictions.
Then, Thompson ears picked a conversation between the Search and Rescue team that made his blood run cold: Target conformed sir, it is the captain alright. But… we are faced with roughly 1 000 Z’s and almost as many dead. They are circling a tent. Waiting. And every 5 minute, 10 of them go and attack’s it. And 5 minute later, 10 other. There is more, we have found sing of one heat source. Small and human. Probably a baby sir. And the captain is… he is in his Dark Hunter persona sir. I repeat, he is in his Dark Hunter Persona. We request backup ASAP. And sir? Bring the heavy weapons… we will need them.
Thompson was amazed and not a little worried: 4 days as a D-H. That would be hell to heal…