by Byrd, Daniel
Jackson was about to finish his last statement when Max’s words sank in. He didn’t want to be held captive while the world was going to hell, but he didn’t want to be involved in that hell either. It was a lose-lose situation, but sitting on his ass all day wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
“You know what? Fuck it, I’ll help. Finding the assholes that did all of this sounds more entertaining than counting the bricks on the wall of my cell every day. If it gets me away from here, then I don’t really care.”
Max smiled. "Glad to hear it. Well then, I think I'll go report to Lieutenant Garrison that Private First Class Zachary Jackson is willing to lend a hand in this operation."
"I'd ask you to tell him a few other things, but I'd rather you not get in trouble over me. You're already taking responsibility for me, aren't you?'
Max hesitated, and then nodded. “Yeah. I don't mind though. I'd hate to go on knowing that you're being held for doing what you thought was right."
"Yeah, well I appreciate it Max. I'll be honest, I wouldn't do it again. He deserved it, but I wasn't myself. I just wanted to make him pay..."
"Hey, put it behind you. It wasn't right at all, but you're getting another chance."
"Right…” Jackson tried to focus on the future. “What are we doing anyway? The military as a whole, I mean?"
Max shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know all of the details, but I do know one thing; picture D-Day, but with zombies."
Jackson laughed. "That sounds like this is the best late Christmas present anyone has ever gotten me."
Max smiled and shook his head as the door behind him opened again. Max turned to leave as Garrison and Jackson exchanged their silent death stares again. Garrison closed the door behind Max and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the help, Dawson."
"I just want him out of his cell. I don't agree with what he did, but he's seen a lot."
Garrison grunted. "Don't sympathize with him. I know you both came up here together, but he's a criminal as far as we're all concerned. Besides, you needn't worry about him. You can keep a close eye on him."
Max was confused. "Wait...what?"
"You'll be sent off to the east as well. We need to keep that man in check. He'll have a special role to play in this operation."
Max couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Sir, I'm not even out of Basic yet. I can't-"
"You will. Don't worry, we can make an exception. Return to your post until further orders, we'll send for you when we're ready."
***
Max was taken back to the border of the Haven, and his mind was racing. How am I supposed to tell Katie I'm going to the frontlines?
Letting his thoughts take his mind away from his current assignment, he missed the two deadmen shambling behind a building not too far away. Though he was watching them, the threat didn't register in his mind. Instead, he thought of David Heyman and how he never seemed to give up despite his pessimistic ways. Even when the screaming man emerged from behind the building and ran straight for him, he was still stuck in his head while the rest of the world moved on. The terror-filled shrieks fell on his deaf ears as he watched the man stumble to the ground, exhausted and unable to carry on. David could've. Joseph could've too. Jackson did even after his squad was killed. Everyone else had the will to keep fighting. When it came time, would he?
The deadmen were upon their victim, but before they could reach their meal cracks of gunshots sounded off as the undead corpses were ripped apart by automatic gunfire. Max stared at the bodies now that they had his attention as they lay motionless. That could've been Joseph and David. That could've been anyone he knew. That's probably what happened to them, or what would've happened without the bombings. The exhausted man struggled to his feet and made a break for the border, waving his hands overhead and shouting. Max swallowed hard and raised his rifle. Orders were clear, and it was time to make a decision; to give into the fear or do something and move forward. The man suddenly stopped running and raised his hands overhead as Max shakily trained the rifle on him.
"Wait! Don't shoot! I'm okay! I swear! I'm-"
The front of his face caved in as the bullet exploded out of the back of his head in a gruesome mess. Max finally breathed again and lowered the gun, shaking violently. He hadn’t taken the shot. Someone else a few yards away was chastising him for his weakness, but Max didn’t care. It took him forever to get used to the idea of killing the undead. Following orders to kill the living? Now that was something he didn't know if he could ever justify.
"Orders are orders," he muttered to himself, before he turned around and threw up on his boots.
Chapter Three - Back to the Front
Just over a year. It had been just over a year now since the four people in the very room had risked their lives to bring about the downfall of the world's most powerful private military company. Unsung heroes never to be known, and here they all were, preparing for war once again in the living room of a mountainside retreat in Obersalzberg, Germany as they observed the scene in London on a live feed on a laptop. The undead that had plagued the U.S. were now in Europe, and the thought of the very monstrosities that much closer created an atmosphere of despair that weighed down the air and crushed the spirits of everyone in the room. Aaron Craven sighed as he set aside the automatic shotgun he had been cleaning and looked at the other three who were quietly performing the same ritual on their equipment, all with their minds set on the task at hand. On the couch to his left was the pink-haired woman, Lydia Dedov, or 'Wrench' as he'd come to call her. She was the only one of the four that didn't have direct connections to the PMC they’d toppled, but that didn't stop her from becoming involved in the mess that was their operation to crush Tiamat Unbound. Her father had been killed in one of the company's ops in the Middle East, and vengeance drove her forward. It was actually her interference in Aaron's plans that got him to open his eyes to the deal he'd struck between his former arms company Kriegspartai Industries and Tiamat Unbound in the first place. When they first met, she'd been ready to kill him, but in the end he proved more of an asset to her cause, so she spared him. She wasn't military trained or anything. She was just a girl with a vendetta who was now without a purpose. Ironically that left her like many of the mercenaries they’d scattered to the wind.
In the chair to Aaron's right was the other woman in their group, Alexis Hawkins. A blonde woman in her early-twenties, Alexis was a marksman of great talent, though she treated that talent like a curse. In truth, she hated killing, and only joined Tiamat Unbound because she'd jeopardized her normal life by killing a man in self-defense. That man's target was actually one of Tiamat Unbound's top mercenaries, and that mercenary gave the word that got her a place among their ranks. Her life spiraling out of control, she took the offer that only created a larger conundrum. In the end, she'd lost her mentor in the man she'd saved, and her father to a setup where she was forced to kill him. She was a trooper though, and carried on until the goal was achieved. With recent developments however, it seemed as if it was all in vain. Maybe that's why she didn’t argue about going right back at it again. She carried a heavy heart, but she wasn't one to quit. Not until she saw the world a better place to live. She didn’t want to see anyone else used like she was.
Finally, in the chair next to Alexis with his left arm tucked into a sling was the large modern-day samurai, Makoto Nagase. Makoto had been a senior member of the PMC, whose younger brother was a part of one of its elite teams meant to defend the CEO, Elizabeth Belmont. Unfortunately for her, trying to have Makoto killed after he refused to participate in a conspiracy to frame the United States for actions in Iran proved to be her greatest mistake. Makoto not only survived, but was forced to bring down his own brother as well, and while his brother was away from the nest to hunt him down, the HQ was hit hard. He didn't talk about the incident much, but the others knew it had taken its toll on him. Even now he was carefully inspecting a Gerber blade he kept on his back waist, all the while his
mind a mystery to them.
The four of them had come into the possession of copies of the illegal research projects funded by Tiamat Unbound before its collapse thanks to the careful eye of one Jackson Lewis on the day of the strike. Lewis too was a top mercenary in the company just like Makoto and his brother, but unlike the rest of them he had seen fit to leave and take his chance in the world once again, despite their status as wanted war criminals. Aaron figured that with the amount of money Lewis had acquired along with the data on Tiamat Unbound's inner workings, Lewis would be fine, or at least have a decent bargaining chip if he couldn't pay his way out of a situation. Of course, now the bigger question was why one of the projects that was detailed in the documents Aaron had managed to copy before Lewis left had continued and come to fruition.
Aaron and the other three had spent the past three months getting back into shape and procuring weapons from Aaron’s sources. They believed that they had stopped the threat, but now it seemed that the legacy of Tiamat Unbound was living on after the death of the host. Aaron couldn’t help but grin at the coincidence. Nothing was staying dead these days, it seemed.
"So our first objective is to find Lewis, correct?" Alexis asked. Always the serious one, she took after her old mentor well. Doberman had done right with this one. His real name was Terry Shields, and before his death he was the best of the best. He led Dragon’s Talon, the PMC strike team. His subordinate was none other than Jackson Lewis himself. Unfortunately, Lewis didn’t take after his superior, and lived as the warrior he was.
Makoto grumbled something before replying. "Right. It cannot be just a strange coincidence. The only person with the data other than us is Lewis."
"He's also the only one with the assets available to fund a nightmare like this," Lydia added, "so all signs point to the bastard."
She said nothing more as she cleaned the barrel of her rifle. Aaron felt a little guilty. She'd told him just after they'd all arrived here at his retreat last year that she didn't trust the man, and he didn't even question Lewis when he took the money and left. Lewis had even extended the offer to Aaron to join him in his endeavors before leaving, but Aaron couldn't deny that even he didn't trust the man. After all, Lewis was the only person who lost nothing and gained much with the fall of the PMC. His idea was to take the Dragon’s Hoard and fund an effort to rehabilitate the former mercenaries of Tiamat Unbound, but Aaron knew that meant putting himself in a spotlight for the UN to scoop up, so staying away from that idea seemed the smarter option. Plus, there was no denying that Lewis was a warrior above all else. He thrived in battle, and didn’t seem as lost as the rest of them when all was said and done. Lewis was a soldier without a cause, and that made him just like the other mercenaries displaced after losing their home. Maybe that’s what made him the man who could bring those people home…or maybe it was what made him a threat.
"Which is why we'll split off into two teams," Makoto continued. "Hawkins and I will search one possible place Lewis could be, and Craven and Dedov will search another."
"Are we still settled on the two locations we discussed last night?" Lydia asked him.
"Wait," Aaron interjected, "you were engaged in planning something?"
Lydia simply flipped him off and kept her attention on the large samurai. Aaron was genuinely impressed by the sedated nature of the woman who usually carried a 'shoot first, worry about why later' attitude. It was funny since Aaron was the least experienced combatant of the four. He'd only been dragged along in their last escapade because of Lydia's threats anyway. It cost him though, and now he was stuck with a limp because of a gunshot wound.
"Correct," Makoto replied. "One party will search in Oranienburg, Germany, and the other in Italy."
"Why Oranienburg?" Alexis asked.
"If I had to guess, "Aaron explained, "it’s because that's where Lewis has established the rehab center for former mercs. His idea before he left us was to ensure that the fortune of money he had obtained from Tiamat Unbound would be utilized to prepare those trained for war to be able to live normal civilian lives after the fall of the PMC, and not seek to return to the battlefield. An honorable task, I just don't see the appearance of the experimental plague from the documents we acquired from the CEO's office being a coincidence since he has the same files and the money with him."
"Have you looked into the rehab facility to see if it checks out?" Alexis asked. Lydia nodded.
"It's there, and the UN recognizes it. Apparently former mercs from all over are welcome, not just Tiamat Unbound. The program is pretty legitimate from what I've researched in the past few days. Unfortunately, there's no mention of Lewis, let alone an alias that can be traced to him. He could be the ghost CEO since he's wanted like us.”
"So you want to check yourself and see if he'll answer questions?" Alexis asked. Aaron scratched his chin and cocked an eye.
"Assuming he's even there, yeah. I'm not feeling too lucky on that part, but we're bound to find something out. For all I know, he may not be too keen on a visit from us anyway."
Lydia nodded. "Okay, but what about Italy?"
It was Makoto's turn to speak up, "I would like to investigate the old headquarters of Tiamat Unbound."
"I don't think you'd find much," Aaron commented, "especially since the UN swept the place."
"It is still a starting point," Makoto replied, "and besides, I am aware of more crevices than they are. I doubt they were as thorough as they want to believe."
"Fair enough," Aaron said in acknowledgment. He had to trust Makoto's judgment now as the senior combatant in the room. Besides, Makoto wasn't that bad. Scary as hell, yes, but not that bad.
"Oranienburg, huh?" Alexis uttered as she set her rifle on the floor at her feet and began to disassemble her HK45 as she spoke. "I've never heard of the place."
"I'd have hoped you would've studied the area, as long as we've been here," Aaron commented after field stripping his M1911 as he began to clean the individual parts of it, beginning with the barrel.
"I don't spend all of my time online looking into things that make me paranoid, thank you," Alexis fired back in vexation. Lydia chuckled.
"Alexis, there are zombies out there. Paranoia isn't that uncommon now."
"It's still a bad thing if you blow the wrong head off," Alexis pointed out.
"Fair enough," Lydia replied offhanded as she pointed her rifle across the room towards the kitchen, eying it through her scope.
"When we have finished preparations, we will depart," Makoto stated to the other three. "Any objections?
All three shook their heads in the negative, and Makoto nodded, apparently satisfied with their resolve. Aaron was glad that these were the people he would be working with. They were an odd bunch, but reliable. He heard Makoto grunting as the samurai slowly stood up from the chair and set his sheathed blade down on the table next to the other weapons. Makoto walked to the large gun safe on the far back wall of the living room that was still ajar from everyone else's digging and retrieved another of his personal weapons from within. The sheathed sword was out of place among the firearms, but Aaron knew Makoto felt better knowing it was safely tucked inside a locked container rather than hung up on a wall. That display never sat well with Makoto, as he’d made Aaron take down a few decorative ones around the place. A true sword was a person's treasure, he’d told him, and it was meant to be kept safe and out of reach. He unsheathed the katana and inspected the metal, looking at himself in the reflection. Aaron could catch a faint glimpse of it from his chair. The scar on Makoto’s left cheek was as prominent as ever, a grim reminder of the events of last year if nothing else would bring back the memories. The very sword in his hands was the one he had taken the life of his brother with, and though it hurt to think about, it looked like he needed its assistance once more. He walked back over towards his seat and propped the weapon against the chair before setting off upstairs. The other three made no comments as they each finished their tasks and reassembled their weapo
ns, all satisfied with their equipment. Lydia stood up and slung the Vintorez over her shoulder before addressing the others. "Makoto and Alexis have a shorter drive, so we'd best get a move on, Aaron. We need to hit these areas before that plague spreads any farther."
"What about the two of us?" Alexis asked. Lydia smiled and pointed to the stairs. "I think he's ready to go."
The attention shifted to Makoto Nagase, who was standing tall and donning a blue kimono with his left arm tucked into it. Something else was hidden beneath the outfit, barely visible in the crease between both sides of the garment. Aaron tilted his head to the side as if trying to get a better look. "Nagase…are you…are you wearing your Tiamat Unbound outfit underneath that?"
Makoto had walked over to the chair and grabbed his sword with his good hand, but turned to the nervous Aaron and shrugged. “Easier to move in."
Aaron nodded, wide-eyed at the towering samurai. “No further comment, buddy."
With that, Makoto walked towards the kitchen, which led to the garage on the side of the foundation. Aaron watched after him as Alexis followed his departure before turning back to collect his weapons. Lydia approached, taking his pistol and grinning like a kid at Aaron. "You're scared of him."
"You're not?" Aaron retorted, going to take the gun back. She brought it away from his grasp, the grin fading as she stared into the kitchen. "Good point. He is…a rather intimidating man."
"Lydia, seriously, should we really be doing this?"
Lydia shook her head with a laugh and inspected the pistol. "You're going to back out now? It's too late to reconsider."
"No, it's just that…well, we're war criminals."
"And?" Lydia asked, her eyes rolling up to meet his before returning to the weapon. She shook her head and turned it over to analyze other things she saw wrong.
"And we're going to be heading across the country, exposing ourselves. What if law enforcement stops us? Hell, what about checkpoints? We'll have weapons!"
