The city disappeared behind her, only a few higher buildings were still visible. Marcia was happy to get away from it, even the forest was a more hospitable place. Once the cars engine was running, countless creatures crawled out of the ruins and started to chase her, one of them teared the co-drivers door out, another one destroyed the still intact rear window and four of those monsters jumped in front of the car, leaving a lot of dark, strange colored blood on the bonnet. She had already left 150 kilometers behind when the left front wheel fell off. The car started to roll and crashed sideways into the next tree.
Marcia opened her eyes, still sitting in the car, her head hurting badly. She sat there for another ten minutes until she could remember what happened, a crack, then she lost control of the car, the next and last thing she remembered was a heavy impact. Her left hand was bleeding slightly, a glass shard still sticking in it. She removed it after checking the radiation meter, there was nearly no change since she left the town. "Still a dangerous area..."
She left the car behind and started to walk once more, the street she drove on had a southern direction, so she didnt leave it. Walking on a street would be more comfortable then the forest. Two hours passed until the street that now went towards west crossed a canal. Water must flow towards the sea, and islands are located in the sea, so she followed the canal now.
Another three hours later she reached something that must have been a control point, it was still intact, unlike every house she saw in the city. Sneaking seemed to be the best way to get closer towards it, she still remembered that man that threatened to shoot her, so she was a lot more careful this time.
But everything seemed to be abandoned, no sign of life anywhere. The buildings inside was still equipped like it was never left, a table, chairs a few shelters. One of the shelters grabbed her attention, it looked like one of the gun cabinets she saw on the coalition bases, but this one stood open. She looked into it and found two more AKs in it, as well as 10 filled magazines. The magazines went straight into her bag, but she left the AKs behind, there was no chance of carrying more then one of them, it would have been too heavy.
She left the building and followed the canal again.
It had taken most of the day for the mechanics at Fort Allison-Waldor to fix the damaged tail fin. But at last the Social Credit was able to set out again, to return to the zone and zeroing in on the survivors.
It had been a harrowing twenty-four hours, a large number of recruits hadn't survived the death trap of HangZhou, out of those who had, half of them were still battling inside the ruined streets for survival. Only a couple had managed to make it past the city and were heading towards the great plains.
Enrico Alvarez sat ontop of the Social Credit, a pair of binoculars zeroing on the highway and the canal. He'd watched the crash of one of the improvised vehicles, sweeping now down towards the canal where a lone figure was trying to guide two tied-together boats along the shattered canal.
Somewhere, out there, was an unknown hostile that had killed a squad of highly trained marines. High Command wanted it contained, however they had wisely decided against trying to force ill prepared, ill equipped, half radiation-poisoned recruits to capture him. A group of specialist marines were in bound from New Hong Kong to deal with the menace.
They were outside the radiation zone, the great plains had been largely spared bombardment. Leaving it with relatively clear air, breathable so long as the people inside of it took their anti-radiation medicine. A couple of Coalition Doctors were standing by next to a small tent, ready to examine the recruits as they made it to check point Alpha. Any found too sick to continue would be loaded onto the Social Credit and sent home.
A number of ATVs and tanks of fuel had been unloaded as well, one for each of the survivors. Once they arrived at Alpha, they would be able to go on towards the coast, and check point Beta.
"Let's see who is going to make it first," Enrico murmured to himself, sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying the warm afternoon air.
The soldier wisely slung his rifle back and raised his hands, slowly stepping back to the door. "You're not Coalition, not with guns and armor like that. Part of the IND assessment expedition maybe?"
Iscariot smiled and was about to respond when his comm unit crackled to life. "The storm's stopped and I've managed to calibrate the sensors and comm array to cut through the radiation perfectly. I'm reading what looks like an evolutionary miracle! The number of species that managed to not only survive, but adapt..."
He would've kept on if Iscariot hadn't cut him short by addressing the soldier. "Not the IND, I'm a Phantom who is here to assess the damage and help fix it."
The Phantoms? Weren't the the ones responsible for the mess on JiangXi in the first place? Their nuclear weapons, and whatever random isotope they had introduced along with them to do far more horrible things than merely kill people, no... there was something in the air that was designed to keep them alive, and suffering.
And there, standing before him, was one of the ones responsible for it all?
It was impossible for him to do anything, the gun, the armour, they both ensured this Iscariots' survival. But if they really were as ruthless as the prop-reels said they were, why wasn't Elias dead? These were just some of the thoughts floating around in his mind as he tried to figure out what he was to do. He had to get clear, signal base somehow... if there were Phantoms on JiangXi, they had to be there with malevolent purpose.
He made a snap decision, diving to the right, sprinting a few steps to vault the stairwell railing, crashing to the stars a level below, and rolling painfully down the unrelenting concrete and tile steps. He was hurt, and he knew it, but he didn't fancy his chances left alone in a Phantom's clutches. He burst through a set of doors, and out into what used to be a maternity ward. Weaving this way and that, he found the far stairs and dragged open the doors...
on Iscariot.
"How in the name of blue hell did you do that?" he gasped as he took a step backwards on instinct.
After reaching the city, Miller'd found the first building and paused to patch up his wound. It was bad, but if he just kept going and got his hands on some decent medication he'd be fine. He had some in his backpack, but it'd only hold back infection for a few days. If he was lucky.
The desolate, dingy metropolitan wreck was a sad site to behold. Buildings that once stood with pride and strength were now a mere shamble of what they used to be. The roads were fractured like dry skin, their cracks large enough to swallow a man whole. It was as if the road had come alive, Miller thought. Come alive with a hunger, which would explain all of the mouths.
His pause had taken far more time than he had intended, but he was finding it hard to find the will to continue. He ate one of his cooked ready meals, drank most of his water and after forty minutes rest he pushed onward. Onward through the valley of Death.
Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of Death rode the six hundred.
Why was the Charge of the Light Brigade coming to mind now? He questioned himself thoroughly as he moved. Was he suffering some sort of mild delirium? Was he trying to associate the bad with something good once again? The Charge of the Light Brigade wasn't exactly a good thing, but it was a good poem and it was one of Miller's favourites.
'Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!' he said: into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.
'Entry nineteen. I seem to be reading poetry to myself from memory. The Charge of the Light Brigade has just come to mind, the reasoning not entirely known to me. Am I associating New HangZhou with the valley of Death from this poem?'
'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldiers knew someone had blunder'd.
His final objective, complete. He had reached a hospital, or the shell of one, and found a pile of weaponry. And vehicles, although whether they worked or not was another matter entirely. Come to think of it, the same for the weapons, Miller thought pessimistically. He lifted one of the AK-74s from the pile, and checked it for ammunition. There was one magazine in the weapon, and combining that with the ammunition he still had he had more than enough. He began to check it thoroughly, making sure it was in working condition. It was.
Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die: into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.
He stepped over the one of the vehicles. It was some sort of ATV, four wheels and a chassis kept above the ground by a flexible material linking it to the vehicles. Light and fast. He pushed down on the ignition button, and was rewarded by a roar of the engine. And then punished by a splutter of the engine.
Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them volley'd and thunder'd...
A gunshot, and a pang as a bullet impacted one of the ATV's tires. It began slowly deflating, the whole vehicle beginning to lean toward that corner. The source of the bullet was another man, dressed in animal skins. On his chest hung a belt covered with bullets ready to be loaded into his rifle. He took another shot at Miller, the bullet bouncing off the metal chassis of the ATV.
Storm'd at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell rode the six hundred.
Miller took aim down the sights of his AK-74. This would truly test it. In his eyes, it would baptise it. He began to pull the trigger. And screamed as he felt muscle tearing in his finger, the ripping of his previous AK-74 from his hands being ignored. His finger must have been broken.
Flash'd all their sabres bare, flash'd as they turned in air, sabring the gunners there, charging an army while all the world wonder'd...
'Yeah, little ****! Get out from behind there and die!' The bandit was shouting now, walking and firing his rifle at the ATV Miller was crouching behind. He took a deep breath, aimed his AK-74 at the bandit and pulled the trigger. The same excruciating pain, but the rewarding sound as the bullet began its journey down the road toward the bandit.
Plunged in the battery-smoke, right thro' the line they broke; Cossack and Russian reel'd from the sabre-stroke, shatter'd and sunder'd. Then they rode back, but not, not the six hundred.
The bandit yelled as his torso was ripped through, and he collapsed to the ground. His fur coat silenced the impact on the tarmac road.
Miller looked up from his cover, staring at the body for a second. Then he grinned. Third objective complete.
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
Chun Ki Ling. That's what his name was. Why was he having trouble remembering it? Or his age? He didn't understand what was happening. All he knew he had to do was to keep going along the canal. The first boat had run out of fuel as expected at the end of day 1 on the canal. He kept on going during the night, guessing correctly that it would be far better to run out of fuel during mid-day of day 2 rather than spend a night in this barren country.
"Dammit, don't you have anything left?!"
He pointed the small boat to the shoreline, its momentum easing it there. From there, he continued walking along the shoreline. The land was flat and nearly lifeless. There were scuttles and scurries here and there of small rat like beasts burrowing around. Chun kept along the shoreline, he tried to remember the last few days, but almost everything was a blur. Why he was here he could remember - It was a test. What he was doing he could remember - Surviving, but he could barely remember the actual events of the last few days. The poison that entered his system was nearly gone, the radiation medication seeing to that. His blood was a cocktail of poison and antidote, eventually the two would cancel each other out.
He walked on for another hour. He came to a crossing over the canal, and found a road which he then moved on to - rather than the canal. He stopped for a short break.
"Home. Will it ever recover?"
Suddenly, there was a noise. A devilish noise. Looking up ahead, he saw what could only be described as a pterodactyl. It must have been mutated from a bird like creature, but it was huge! It's wings spanned 2 meters by themselves! What's worse, it looked hungry - and little Ling seemed like a good snack.
"That's gotta be real. Arrggh!"
Ling threw his backpack off and grabbed the flare. He struck it and it began flaring red smoke and shining a deep bright red. The flare distracted the bird, while Ling struggled with his assault rifle. Remembering he had barely any ammo, he fired his first shot. It struck the bird clumsily in the neck. Cursing his right arm mucking up his aim, he fired a second. This time it penetrated it's eye and impacted the creatures brain - Killing it.
"I really hope there aren't more of those."
He was mistaken, there were. A squadron of them appeared on the horizon. Seeing the flare was still smoking and shining - Chun made a dash along the road. He hoped the flare would distract the creatures for long enough to make his escape. He spotted something in the distance, further up the road. It looked man-made, and a fresh Coalition flag was flying. Chun ran now as fast as he could, hoping he had reached humanity and hoping the damn bird things weren't following.
"We got the first incoming!" Vance yelled, as the twin sentry guns spiraled up to begin spitting lead. Based on CIWS chainguns, the light machineguns were ideal for saturating the air with enough bullets to make even the largest, and most die hard flock of monster-birds think twice.
A couple of marines sprinted down the road, grabbing the poor and wayward recruit by his shoulders and drag-carried him up the hill to the Coalition doctors. Mean looking men with vicious needles ready to poke and puncture, drain and refill the poor recruit with as many tests as their devilish minds could conjure up.
Enrico sighed wondering at the gaudy get up that Ling was wearing, the soldier probably had a lengthy story to tell, but that would come once the doctors were through with him.
Leaning back against the landing gear of the storm, he continued to smoke his cigarette and enjoy the sun.
His mark never stood a chance. The Bandit used the butt of his gun to hit him behind the head, knocking the man unconscious. The traps he laid were ineffective, and his attention was on the roads outside. Several times, he thought the man had spotted him, but he was wrong.
He looked at the unconscious body and contemplated killing him. It would be so easy, just a quick slice. He glanced over at the Dragunov. The Bandit picked it up, weighing it in his hands. He spotted someone walking alone, slowly, outside on the road. He checked the gun for ammo, it still several rounds. He took aim and shot at the other man. He never knew what hit him, he was killing instantly.
"Effective." thought The Bandit. He checked the unconscious mans body for more ammo and supplies, finding clips for the Dragunov, some food, medical supplies and miscellaneous bits of ammo for other weapons. The Bandit smirked a bit, the man was a treasure trove of goods. The Bandit took all of the ammo the man had for the Dragunov, along with medical supplies. The Bandit, in a rare show of mercy, decided not to kill the man outright, instead opting to let the local wildlife finish him.
Before leaving, he turned to the man, still laying on the floor. "Thanks, Comrade." he said sarcastically before running down the stairs, and retrieving his Dirt Bike.
The Bandit was satisfied with this hunt, having acquired a beautiful new weapon. He set off, in search of new prey.
As the Commissar Officer watched the activity from the safety of the confines of the Warner Bunker beneath the estate, just outside of town near the forest, through security cameras placed at key points in and around the city, he chuckled, shaking his head at some of the more stupid Nuggets. But when he switched over to the Hospital Cameras he froze, he caught a brief glimpse of the Phantom before it disappeared off the cameras entirely.
Looking around the small security office, it's walls mostly Video Screens and in the corner a small Weapons Cache with Three AK's and a Dragunov Sniper Rifle he found he couldn't see the Phantom anywhere else.
Bringing up the brief glimpse of the Phantom in it's Power Armour onto all the screens and freezing at the exact moment it appeared he frowned...This was unexpected...Still he wouldn't interfere with the Nugget's training, standing up from his leather chair he exited the room and into the corridor, it's reinforced Concrete walls illuminated from above by sections of lighting panels, yet even here he didn't feel safe, as he passed by windows of reinforced glass which allowed a good view into one of the labs he could see specimens inside glass chambers, life-support units keeping them alive and asleep. Most of them were taken from the city, formerly humans but turned into twisted shadows of what they once were, they resembled Zombies of old tales rather than human beings...Parts of flesh were missing or rotting, open sores, skin missing in some places...Some of the other specimens weren't so pretty either...Every time he passed the labs he had to shudder...The Phantom Bombing changed JiangXi so much...It turned a peaceful Colony World into a realm of Nightmares....
Moving on the officer reached a pair of large wooden doors that lead up into the Mansion, on one side of the door a Palm-Scanner as well as an ID-Card reader waited. Taking out his card he slid it through while putting his other hand onto the pad, waiting for it to scan his prints, as it cleared through he could hear a large number of locks 'clicking' open. Taking his hand off the pad and returning his card to his pocket he grasped the handles of the doors and opened them, leading into the main hall of the Warner Mansion, the entrance was located behind the stairwell that led to the second floor, entering the Hall he shut the doors behind him, listening to them lock shut behind him as he walked out from behind the stairwell and into the open hall.
Miller pushed open the heavy hospital doors, throwing a grenade behind him as he desperately sought cover. The bandits were en masse now, he knew they couldn't be far behind.
The doors shut, and were then pushed open again by the powerful shockwave created by the grenade in the small reception area. Some screams could be heard, meaning the grenade had killed a few of his pursuers, but that provided little comfort for him. There were five more replacing every one he killed.
He ducked behind an ATV - the same one from just over an hour ago - and aimed down the sights of his AK-74. His trigger finger would be an insufferable pain, but he'd just have to deal with it. If he wanted to survive, he'd have to deal with it.
The door burst open. Men began pouring out. They were gunned down, but not by Miller. He didn't care, just so long as whatever was shooting at them wouldn't start shooting at him.
Bandits poured out of the hospital like water finding a leak in a jug. Bullets continued flying, and Miller risked a glance behind him.
He gasped, surprised. The recruit moved forward, to crouch next to Miller behind the ATV. He could smell something on the new arrival's breath. Was that... vodka?
One hour earlier
Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon behind them volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell, they that had fought so well came thro' the jaws of Death, back from the mouth of Hell, all that was left of them, left of six hundred.
Miller finished stripping the bandit of his fur coat. It was a little too large for him, but it would do nicely to help keep the radiation away. And keep him warm. From the bandit he'd recovered bullets that wouldn't fit into his AK-74, and shotgun shells. Eleven of them. Despite reservations he took them anyway, in case he found a shotgun. Then if he had no shells, he'd feel like a right fool.
Rumbling, in the distance. Growing ever closer, Miller could hear the pitch getting higher. More bandits? Coalition vehicles? Perhaps a third option? He didn't want to take any chances. The shell of what once was a hospital was his only way out, but there may not be another way out.
As he pushed open the heavy hospital doors, he watched ATVs drive over the small hill and into his field of vision. He pulled the door closed, but it was no use. The bandits had seen him.
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
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