Post by mjolnir on Nov 18, 2010 16:24:48 GMT -5
I'll be going away for awhile
SO DO YOUR BEST NOT TO FOLLOW
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[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]The Bronx - New York, New YorkThe Devil's Brigade was probably more close than they should've been. They'd been together through hell in the last few months, and even as their newest recruit, SSGT Aiden Davis felt a connection to them that he hadn't felt since he was in high school. Being in a criminal gang isn't exactly glamorous, but one thing is for sure- you're family. His own family never seemed like much of a family to him, and when he fell on the wrong side of the tracks, they completely deserted him. The gang didn't, and he knew neither would any of his current unit.
When he was sent to Iraq originally, the infantry unit he was with was just terrible. He had a commanding officer who very blatantly looked at them like human shields, a medic who was so afraid of fire that he hid rather than healed, and a group of fellow infantry men that nearly blew themselves up at least three times his first tour. Their second tour, one of them shot himself in the foot so he could go home. Needless to say, he was incredibly happy when he was promoted and reassigned. Once he was tagged for Special Forces, he jumped at the chance.
So now he was here. He'd only been with the group for a grand total of two months, but he already knew them better than he could've imagined. First, there was Josiah Kendrick, their communications officer. He was a tad obsessive compulsive, and spent his time cleaning his equipment. Repeatedly. Then there was Robert Johnston, their engineer and local sci-fi geek who was so into StarGate and Star Trek that he could've ran his own convention. Travis McDuff was their medical officer, and was the guy Aiden was the closest to. Travis came from a similar background, and they surprisingly had a lot in common, and unfortunately knew some of the same people in the SoCal gang scene. Roger Lee was their asst. operations and intelligence officer, who was super quiet and acted like he barely noticed the rest of them were there. Then, there was Arthur. Arthur Lawson was the big cheese, the senior sergeant, the guy who was in charge of the whole damn operation. Davis had never really looked up to anyone in his life, but Arthur was the closest he'd ever got to doing so.
Right now, Arthur was concerned with the outbreak. He'd never seen anything like it, and for him, that was saying. It was the thing of horror movies- not real life. For the rest of the group, they were trying to treat the mission like it was a normal one, but they knew it wasn't. When he was in Iraq, Aiden had killed people he never thought he would, because of the situations they ended up in. Women. Children. The elderly. When your enemy has no issue strapping bombs to five year olds and sending them running at you, you don't really have much of a choice. But, the living dead? How was that even possible?
They were being air dropped into the Bronx, strict clean-up operation. Aiden wasn't surprised that the The Devil's Brigade, as was the 7th's nickname, was the SFG getting sent in. They were the closest, being stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Secondly, they were technically the operational unit assigned to both Latin America and North America. So in essence, this was their territory. Regardless, they had been in desert storm 2.0 for the last two months and didn't expect their return to the US to be so crazy.
The helicopter they were in shook as they flew over one of the co-ops in the Bronx. Supposedly, this was the site of a major part of the outbreak, due to the close quarters and horrible living situations. Maybe if we took care of people in the first place, we'd never get to this point. Aiden couldn't help but blame the Government for this entire thing. They were supposed to protect the people, and they had obviously failed... and now the Military was the clean-up crew for greedy politicians and businessmen.
Surprisingly, it was an easy drop, and they were immediately on the move. "Com's going crazy guys," Kendrick said as they dropped the door into the building below. Aiden could hear a bit of it spouting off of his speaker unit. Lots of chatter, and not all of it was military. It didn't surprise him that the civis had taken shit into their own hands, considering how long it had taken the Pentagon to get off it's ass and send more troops. The turned a corner, with Lee in front.
It felt like they'd gone down about twenty flights of stairs, but they finally started hitting floors. It was eerily quiet, and Lawson was very obviously disturbed by it. They were searching one of the higher floors when McDuff spoke up.
"Hey, over here guys."
The unit moved quickly, almost in unison towards Travis. He was attempting to treat someone who looked very badly injured. Guy was totally torn to shreds- he looked like he was attacked by a tiger, or a bear, or something with equally as large teeth.
"There's not much I can do, but I can ease the guy's pain."
The guys had seen plenty of death, and the majority of them were like stone when it came to it now. Aiden was no different. He went back to sweeping the place, not really thinking about it any further. Davis followed his instincts, moving around the floor as quickly as he could. His feet led him to a locked door, and without even thinking further, he kicked it down with a swift motion. Aiden swung his assault rifle around the room, systematically deciding whether the room was dangerous or not. It seemed like there was no one in the room.
Meanwhile, the rest of his unit was doing the same. They were all scattered around the floor, but didn't think much of it, as it was a small floor.
Then they heard a scream.
Davis turned, but was stopped by some dude tackling him. He kicked him off, throwing him into the wall across from him. Unfortunately, the guy didn't take any time at all in getting back up, and immediately came at the SSGT again. He grabbed his rifle and pulled the trigger, shooting several bullets into his attacker. It was obvious this was one of the infected, and he shot the guy in the head as soon as he was on his feet.
There was gunfire outside though, too, and he made his way as quick as he could to his unit. The scene he met, however, was one he would never forget. Travis was gone. Completely and totally gone. That was the only way to explain it. There were two men, a smaller girl, and an elderly lady all on top of him. One of the men was the guy he was treating. For the first time in over five years, Aiden was sick to his stomach. They were eating him, and he knew they'd started when his friend and fellow soldier was alive. He wanted to shoot, but knew it wasn't tactically sound, so instead he moved behind one of the pillars holding the building up. He noticed Lee out of the corner of his eye, and Kendrick behind him.
"Lawson? Johnston?"
Lee answered, his voice hoarse, obviously shaken. "Across the hall. Followed several hostiles into one of the apartments. Sent us to find out if you were still alive."
Kendrick looked almost mental. He was clutching his communications equipment, as if they were going to get the order to leave any minute. Josiah's eyes looked like he was a five year old boy, scared and alone in the dark. In reality, that's what they all were.
"We can't leave him like this." Aiden motioned towards his now deceased friend, Travis.
"McDuff? Oh my god.. we saw him get attacked but...the intel.." Lee was easily lost in his thoughts. The guy always knew more than the rest of the group, and in this moment, it was incredibly frustrating. Aiden respected the man's position though, and kept his mouth shut.
"Alright, let's get him cleared."
The three soldiers spread out just a bit, so they would be coming at different angles. Johnston shot first, his unsteady hand making the infected jump at the sound of his bullets hitting the wall behind them. Lee followed shortly after, shooting the whole lot of them several times. The group of infected rose quickly, and darted after their attackers. Aiden took his shot then, nailing the elderly woman and one of the men in the head. The other dude, the one McDuff had been treating, ran after Kendrick. The guy was practically screaming like a girl when Aiden shot him in the back of the head. Lee easily took care of the smaller girl, with absolutely no remorse.
All that was left was one Travis McDuff.
Lee wasted no time. Before Davis could even say anything, let alone get to where Roger was standing, he shot Travis clear in the head six times. Aiden had to stop himself from hitting his commanding officer in the back of the head with his rifle. Kendrick was behind him, shaking.
They were a silent for a moment, then the intel officer spoke.
"Kendrick? You reek."
Apparently the com expert had pissed his pants in the ordeal. Davis would've laughed, but this wasn't exactly the moment for laughter. The asst. operations commander pointed towards the corpse of Staff Sargeant Travis McDuff, and instructed Aiden to remove his weaponry and medical equipment. Davis strapped them to his back, shoving the ammunition into his pack and the medical bag over his shoulder. He gave McDuff's rifle to Kendrick, and stepped passed him, following Lee to Lawson and Johnston's position.