The lightening outside cracked, immediately followed by a deafening burst of thunder that lit up the silent army outside. Alex calmly strolled through the elaborate corridor, looking over the mess with a cautious eye – trying to piece together the events and thinking back to Amber’s journal with a sad thought of dejection. Chairs with empty handcuffs sat amassed at the end of the hall, some were broken and despoiled, painfully scarred with dried blood and flesh. A few of the lights were off; some were faltering, but the ones that functioned properly seemed to light the hall adequately enough for Alex to see. Dust sailed silently and elegantly through the light that flashed through the windows, almost dancing through the air as it disappeared into the shadows. Alex walked through the creaking hall slowly, holding her arms as she warmed up gradually, watched by the legions of stone angel’s mischievous cherubs. She stood at one of the windows and just gazed into the derelict courtyard and beyond.
She frowned as she stared upon the thousands of cadavers that had hoarded on the other side of the wall, silent and restless - they filled the streets as far as the eye could see and further. Her black eyes glistened, her grey skin turning from red to blue as the lights from outside cast life to her dirt stricken face; hiding her thoughts and fears that completely immersed her mind behind an eerie serenity that was almost haunting. Alex trembled slightly as she glared up into the crimson sky that surpassed the city - patches of clouds lit up as the thunder clapped high above them obstinately.
Paper and debris rained down from the skyscrapers like confetti, blowing through the streets without pattern as if it all had a life and purpose of its own. The horizon continued to glow with oranges and yellows as the city burned; the black trees that surrounded it, trembling as the capital was slowly and painfully stripped to its foundations.
She stood mesmerized at the grotesque, yet surreal horizon; almost taken aback by its macabre elegance. Alex turned and looked over the hall in bafflement, her mind bereft of thought as she took the phone from her pocket, expecting another call that never came. Across the hall were two double doors signed S.W.A.T OPERATIONS OFFICE, ominously boarded up and tightly barricaded with tables and chairs. She put the phone back into her pocket and rapidly approached the office, pulling aside the blockade effortlessly and ripping down the makeshift beams like they were paper.
Calmly, she placed her palms on the entrance and slowly pushed the doors open, scuffing the floorboards as they barged piles of rubbish across the floor.
The S.W.A.T office was lit with the red light that beamed through the blinds, covering the room with light and shadows in eerie uniform. Before her was large and domineering floor space, which had six work stations and three desks; its ground littered with papers, memos and files in disorganization. A radio and communications area at the back rustled with dead airspace, a silent and creepy reminder of just how lifeless the city was. Weapons and clothes were stacked up against the wall, body armor, and riot gear and such. Alex strolled over, searching the gear and pulling a black Flak Jacket from the wall; it was far too big and heavy for her to wear. She continued to search and eventually found a smaller one, its nametag reading ‘Jennings, A’. Alex took off her body-warmer and threw on the Flak Jacket, looking over its pockets, zips and buckles profoundly – it certainly looked the part, heavy with ballistic nylon and carbon fibre, it should provide her with some sort of protection at least. Alex stepped away, clipping Sarah’s teddy to the front of new Jacket and continued to investigate the office.
In the centre of the room was a huge plastic model of the city, intricate and meticulously detailed as the shadows from the window blinds striped its profiles stylishly. Alex stood over the model and looked upon its amazing precision; everything was there, including her home as well Beaumont estates, complete with colourless trees and woodland. She picked up an operation’s memo that was placed on top of the island, giving details of the coloured areas that had been marked upon specific areas on the model.
City Defence Procedures: SWAT Operations Office: First Floor: Police Precinct East All SWAT operations are abandoned, and all Special Weapons and Tactics officers are to secure the East Side Precinct as a base of operations. All other Police officers, Military personnel and Special Forces have their own orders based upon the Beaumont Corporation’s Outbreak Contingency Order.
The colour coded areas are marked into zones and are for operations and team reference only; unauthorized access to another team’s jurisdiction is strictly forbidden without prior authorization from a team captain or leader.
Blue Zones: Law Enforcement (Standard)
Objectives: To aid and assist on the streets of Blackwater, FULL authorization of firearms and deadly force granted towards the infected. To aid and assist other teams when needed, disperse and survival left to the individual. All officers will sign in at designated times via radio contact with the SWAT office where further orders may be given. Failure to do so will lead to the officer to be presumed deceased or infected.
Green Zones: Military and Armed Forces
Objectives: The Military will provide a full deadly force at designated blockades to stop the advancement of the infected into that area. Any citizen found within these areas that cannot be identified as infected or uninfected, maybe shot if given reasonable doubt. The Green zones are mainly to prevent further infection throughout the city. Additional: The full area of Blackwater Bay Amusement Park is being used as a medical centre due to the parks extensive protective wall and the one entrance inside is being guarded by 90% force. Citizens and Military personnel at present will NOT be airlifted to safety and will be detained in the park. Reinforcements will be flown in via the park as and when possible.
Red Zones: SWAT
Objectives: All Special Weapons and Tactics officers will remain at the precinct and establish a base of operations. Full use of firearms and counter measures to protect the precinct has been authorized.
All lower floor and ground blast shutters are to be activated and left sealed for the duration. The main gates into the precinct grounds have been welded shut, and you are to rendezvous with a Police transport when the outbreak subsides on the roof. One Officer will remain at the communications desk in the SWAT operation’s office at all times and will be rotated into two-hour shifts amongst yourselves, as all personnel involved in the outbreak will be signing in at various designated times.
Black Zones: BSCS
Objectives: Classified.
Alex gently lowered the memo and stared upon the model blankly, the city’s efforts of containing the infestation were undeniably futile. She couldn’t help but feel that if it were just an epidemic alone, they may have stood a chance; but as it was, the initial violent outbreak was the least of their problems. She looked down and screwed the paper up, throwing it disrespectfully onto the model; turning and gazing upon the bleak room as the radio crackled behind her.
She approached the main desk as the thunder clapped outside, gazing upon the American flag that hung from the wall defiantly. On the wall before her were framed photos of the various S.W.A.T
members, collecting awards and medals from her father, other officials and even the president himself. She glared over their majestic faces for a few moments, the corners of her mouth faintly smiling as she felt their joy, and the proudness of their achievements.
Suddenly, she turned to a corpse that sat in the corner. She calmly approached it and knelt in front of him, looking over the mess of dried blood he sat in. He sat there silently, his hands on his lap and head lowered – he almost looked like he was sleeping, but the vast state of decay said otherwise. His wrists were slashed and encrusted with blood, his way out of the heartbreak becoming hauntingly apparent. She leant towards him and poked him cautiously, peering closer and clasping him by the hair and slowly lifting his head with a crunch of bones. Suddenly, the cadaver gasped and Alex just stared into its desperate eyes without shock. As the cadaver pushed desperately towards her, she tightened her grip and gazed sadly into
its decaying face, his skin tearing away from his face as his jaw slavered and snapped aggressively. Alex continued to examine the creature profoundly, watching as the rabid animal snapped and foamed at the mouth, mucus and blood blotched secretion pouring away from its poisonous maw. This was the first time she had opportunity to examine one up close and despite feeling sorry for the man, she was absolutely fascinated. All around its jaw was deformed with extra muscle deposits which seemed to be fleshier than the dead muscle everywhere else, its teeth layered in multiple rows – it almost seemed like these things had been given the means to eat living tissue, like some twisted form of evolution.
Alex released the cadaver and stood up, preparing to release the poor man from his misery.
Suddenly, she heard a door slam from outside which was followed by footsteps and a sadistic scraping sound. As the terrifying sound drew closer, she looked around in panic, until abruptly; the phone rang in her pocket. She quickly pulled the phone out then gazed upon the only way out of the room in growing anxiety, the infernal dragging noise drawing nearer with each short moment. Alex hastily placed the phone on the model of Blackwater and ran frantically to one of the work stations, getting down on her knees, crawling under one of the desks as the doors to the office were slowly pushed open.
Alex quietly watched through a gap as the Asphyxiated stumbled through the doors, hauling an enormous axe behind him. She covered her mouth in fright as the macabre man panted endlessly from his stifling breaths, watching as he hauled his giant weapon along the ground as it tore up the floor boards and scarred the floor. He paused for a few moments, angrily pulling at his plastic mask with growing frustration and pain – swiftly looking around the room as the phone continued to ring.
The Asphyxiated suddenly approached the model, grabbing the phone from the table and clasping it with his squalid blood encrusted hand, tipping his wheezing head to one side curiously.
She watched secretly as he shook the phone next to his ear, disorientated and completely baffled by the ringing that broke the silence. Suddenly, the phone stopped, confusing him further as he held it in front of him, clearly irritated. He swiftly threw the phone to the ground and heaved his axe into the air, his muscle’s tightening as he plunged the axe into the floor, smashing her phone to pieces.
Suddenly, he paused – quickly scanning the room as Alex watched on.
The Asphyxiated slowly stood to the full height, the blood-soaked wrapping puffing in and out desperately as his stained skin glistened; his creepy and eerie posture growing in the red beams of light. As the strange man made his way around the room slowly, Alex struggled to keep sight of him through the gap - until he eventually vanished from sight. She listened to his heavy footsteps as he laboured around the room, dragging up the floor unsympathetically; searching blindly in curiosity. As he heaved his giant weapon behind him, Alex tried desperately to land a visual, the torturous and unsettling gasps suddenly drawing closer – but she still saw nothing. Alex shut her eyes tight as the floorboards under her quaked and splintered, his vast shadow swiftly looming over her desk as the stench of dying flesh suddenly crawled up her nose.
As the eerie creature hovered above the table, her lip quivered in fear; her suit blitzing her frightened mind with raging outbursts of inaudible words. The Asphyxiated suddenly mumbled and tugged at his wrapped face for a few moments, dragging his axe closer to him as she viewed on in terror. She watched as the shadow hoist his weapon high into the air, his body casting a savage silhouette on the wall behind her, her heart drowning in extreme horror. She shut her eyes tight and put her hands over her head, trembling in fear as the figure stood silent and cold, waiting for him to strike. She curled up behind her closed eyes, hiding mercifully in the darkness for what seemed like a lifetime, but strangely, nothing happened.
Slowly, she opened her weeping eyes and to her relief, the Asphyxiated was walking away, his axe resting on his shoulder. Alex pushed her face to the gap and silently observed as the demon stumbled over to the Officer in the corner, secretly spying on him as he examined the cadaver, toying with it as it snapped at him in animalistic desperation. The Asphyxiated eventually reached down, grabbing the cadaver by the ankle and pulled it from the corner with heartless sadism. As she watched from the darkness, a sickness filled her stomach as the Officer’s rigid body crunched and heaved, the strange and evil creature dragging it across the room.
The Asphyxiated swayed as his body hauled both his giant axe and the crippled body over the litter strewn floor, his long and randomly placed steps dragging sluggishly as he writhed towards the doors. He paused at the doors and jittered, suddenly turning and gazing directly at where Alex was hiding. Alex’s heart dropped instantly and clasped her mouth in fright, trembling as the macabre creature stared across the room. Suddenly, the Radio at the back of the room crackled.
“This is Officer Charley Mayes of Blackwater Correctional Facility Transport, are there any survivors out there, if anyone can hear us; reply on this channel!” a woman’s voice suddenly crackled. The Asphyxiated dropped his weapon and the cadaver to the ground, slowly heaving his painful body towards the radio; Alex watched on with a strange and haunting curiosity.
“I repeat, if there are any survivors out there, give us your location and we will come and find you!”
the voice on the radio continued. The Asphyxiated leant over the radio as Alex watched curiously from the darkness. Suddenly, it leant over and flicked a switch.
“Hello?!” the Asphyxiated cried with a child’s voice. “I’m alive!” it begged eerily.
“Where are you, Honey?” the voice asked over the radio sympathetically. Alex clasped her mouth in fright, shivering coldly as the Asphyxiated continued.
“I’m trapped in the Police Precinct, my Mommy and Daddy are dead!” the Asphyxiated cried.
“It’s okay, Honey. Find somewhere safe to hide, we are coming for you!” the friendly voice said over radio. The Asphyxiated suddenly stood up, stumbling and tripping as he grabbed its axe from the ground heartlessly, dragging it over to the radio and smashing it to pieces before her very eyes. Alex was frantic, shivering as her eyes streamed with emotion – she couldn’t let those people walk into a trap, but she didn’t have the time to wait around either. As Alex contemplated on whether to just move on or stay, the Asphyxiated grabbed the cadaver and opened the doors, callously looking back at her and nodding smugly before leaving the room.
As the doors locked together, Alex staggered out from under the desk, listening to the dragging sound as it eventually faded into the distance – suddenly, a door slammed and it was gone. Alex ran up to the radio as it fizzled and sparked furiously, its burning circuit boards sizzling and popping before her. Alex turned and glared over the room as her eyes jittered and streamed – what could she do?
Alex started to calm and as she did, she wandered around the office looking for more clues, until immediately she remembered Amber’s log-book. She took off her rucksack and pulled the book from within; flipping through the tiny pages for something she remembered seeing.
“We have been watching the news reports outside the city, and saving them to the hard-drive in the S.W.A.T Operations Office on the second floor. The username is NEXUS, and the password is 11041976.”
She mumbled quietly as she looked over the workstations, rubbing her head in lost thoughts. She pulled out a chair and sat at one of the tables, waking a computer from its sleep and waited. She stared at the screen as it lit her face, her withering and wraith like shadow crawling upon the back wall, her black eyes washed with light as the operating system booted up, eventually demanding a password. Alex looked upon the book briefly before typing in the username and password; waiting tolerantly as access was finally granted. The computer hummed and instantly, a video started to run.
Live News Report: 31st July 2012 ; 23:32PM - NMC News Network
Studio Newsreader: We are bringing you this special update on day five of the Blackwater Pandemic.
W
e hand you over LIVE to our reporter Tasmin Yaier…
Tasmin: This is Tasmin Yaier reporting live from NMC News, these are the dramatic scenes Live at the Blackwater city quarantine zone blockade on the outskirts of Blackwater. Men, women and children, with their possessions are trying desperately to leave city tonight as the currently incurable and terrifying Legacy Virus infects Blackwater, bringing the current death toll to 382,543, with many thousands more said to be infected. As you can see the military are acting with the Beaumont Corporation and have sealed the gates, and on top there are ACTUAL armed Military Personnel patrolling, most likely BSCS; however, reports are sketchy at this present time.
Studio Newsreader: We have heard many of the unconfirmed reports, Tasmin. But is there any confirmed report on the nature of the Legacy Virus, and more importantly, what it does to the infected?
Tasmin: Well, all I can say is nobody is being told anything, I myself have interviewed the people here, and I have heard stories ranging from violence, erratic and out of character behavior and even CANNIBALISM! The Beaumont Corporation is keeping extremely tight lipped about the whole thing and it appears they too have authority over the military, so it is a very strange and enigmatic event this one, Howard.
Studio Newsreader: How does the Legacy Virus pass from host to host, and how many thousands are infected, Tasmin?
Tasmin: Well Howard, it is actually impossible to put a number on it due to the nature of the Legacy Virus and bizarre way the infected act. The figure 382,543 is actually the number of people presumed dead but as you know from previous reports, death is not actually an issue to a certain extent. We have had reports about people being attacked and eccentric reports of cannibalism and even people being misdiagnosed as DEAD, authorities are saying that it is possible that the virus gives off the symptoms of death allowing such errors in the first place. But as the drama here unfolds we will try and get you some viable pictures of the infected as soon as we can.
Among the Fallen: Resurrection Page 24
