Off To Hell

After reaching the locker Zach immediately changed into his blackish-blue special operations uniform that he brought for himself. It was pretty straightforward. Meaning it looked pretty much the same as a normal uniform that people in the SWAT team would be equipped with.

But why bother carrying that with him? The real difference was that it had some special options included. For example, it was sturdier than normal clothing and could withstand the blasts of a certain magnitude. That means if he wanted to, he could run through a minefield without taking too much damage.

But just to be on the safe side he would not test that out. His brain was saying him mostly to still not be that idiotic and challenge his luck. Even if the new memories in his head did tell him otherwise to trust this equipment.

That whole thing is actually something Zach was still struggling with to get used to. His memories were still somewhat scrambled at this moment. And he really hated that fact. He could feel how his old memories that were just a few moments old started to feel like distant memories from years ago.

And then there was the content of the new memories. What the hell was the entity that sent him here doing with his mind? And what purpose did he really serve in all this?

Because of his steadily building anger, he started to grumble at himself. Noticing that himself he sighed soon after.

Then he equipped his black bulletproof vest and the other protective gear like the kneepads and gloves. While doing that, he noticed that on his left shoulder as well as at the back of his vest the STARS logo was present.

It was easily seen and was used to identify his allegiance. How laughable. Later it would become a clear red target symbol on his body.

Being finished with that Zach walked over to a mirror and looked at it. His reflection was showing him his old self. It was the same "him" as when he was still alive. Light blonde hair with deep sapphire eyes and a very sharp contour of a face.

At least that is how he remembered his old face. Now his eyes had the color of amber. There was even a clear golden hue to them.

Zach was surprised seeing this unique eye color at first, but when thinking back a moment ago when he changed clothes, he could put one and one together. His body was very muscular and fit now.

That clearly showed him that he got some upgrade on his fitness and probably other things he was not aware of yet.

It was the bonus the entity talked about. Or maybe his background was the bonus and this body was just the body of a very skilled soldier?

But those eyes still made no sense. It was not because he dislikes them or something like that. Such small changed details are not things to bicker about. The real question was why did his eyes change? What purpose would that serve?

Suddenly words flashed across his mind while staring at his golden iris. As if trying to answer his fading curiosity with more questions.

"Rabid Wolf...?" Zach mumbled these words with a slight frown.

Then his expression softened again. "My codename...? I see."

Breathing in deeply and looking at his reflection again he thought about these words. They were more memories of his current new life. It seems he would still get information drilled into his head from time to time.

And what worried Zach more was how calmly he took that in.

Was he already losing himself in those memories or was he just imagining things?

"I should get my guns."

As if annoyed by his own indecisiveness Zach put the last bit of his equipment on.

It was a bulletproof gas mask that covered half of his face where the filter was in black kevlar and the upper half that covered his whole face was bulletproof transparent glass.

It was strapped at the back of his head with a modern mechanism that reeled the strap more and pressed the front tighter to his face so that no air flowed through anything but the filter unit.

Surprisingly it also gave him a very wide field of view while still being extremely protective. He said that because the last part was a strengthened lightweight kevlar helmet.

----

When Zach went back and entered the STARS office again he could only see Rebecca in the room. She was still preparing her medical kit for some reason unknown.

"Are the others already gone? How come you are still here?", asked Zach with a somewhat curious question while walking over to the security room where the guns were stored.

His voice was rather muffled through the equipment so he increased his voice so that she could still hear him normally.

Rebecca turned to him and her eyes became big in surprise. "You are already completely equipped?" Then she became somewhat worried. "Shouldn't this be only a scouting mission?"

Zach his eyebrow twitched and he stopped his steps to look at her.

´What the hell was that question? Don't tell me they really went on and fought against crime without helmets? Are these people complete nutcases? We are a special force unit for crying out loud.´

Looks like Zach will have to get used to some things.

"I am assuming the worst-case...It is a habit of mine. Don't mind me. I am more worried about you. You are after all the one that needs to patch us up. Are you really not going to wear a helmet? Isn't that a little bit irresponsible?"

Zach couldn't just outright tell her that she was a little bit nuts, right?

Rebecca heard his words and crossed her arms in front of herself as if being in defense about something.

"Hey, I can protect myself just fine. No need to worry, mister."

It looks like she took his words as an attack on her capabilities.

"Of course, we do wear helmets. They are already in the helicopter. But we use them only when needed."

Zach only sighed. "Alright then. I was just surprised you would ask me such a question." Zach still thought that was somewhat dumb and unsafe but whatever. "So, why are you still here? It shouldn't take that long to get prepared, right?"

"The others told me to show you to the helipad when you are ready. Something about the youngest member showing new members where everything is." Rebecca now somewhat felt wronged by her teammates.

"And Team Alpha?", asked Zach once more while opening the security room. It was obvious this mission was for Bravo but Alpha was also not here anymore.

"Oh, right. They were brought to chief Irons about something. Can't tell you anything about that since they didn't disclose anything." Rebecca came over to the door to answer him.

Zach his eyes narrowed while he opened his weapon case that had his name on it. ´That is weird? What could the chief be up to?´

"It's alright. We will find out about it soon enough when we get back." Brushing that topic to the side Zach concentrated on the content in his case. He took out a black M9 Beretta and inspected its magazine. To his surprise, it was already fully loaded.

Putting it in his holster on his right thigh he continued and took his primary out. It was a heavy-duty assault rifle. To be precise it was the FN SCAR.

Shouldn't this weapon be produced only way later? No, his memories tell him this weapon is already in use for some time now.

´Damn it.´

Thinking about other things as well, he nearly forgot that electronics and other stuff in this world were way more advanced than his old world.

Duh, in a world where bioweapons were already creating zombies and artificial intelligence could very likely become a SKYNET. What else did he expect, really?

"So you really were in the army. That is the newest SCAR, right?" Rebecca looked at the gun and commented about it.

"Right, but it is a modified model." Just when Zach answered her, Rebecca got incoming communication over her walkie talkie. She stepped outside and answered it.

So much for better radio and stuff. Zach was rather feeling the irony while glancing after Rebecca for a short second.

"Captain, we need to hurry. The others are getting impatient." She said those words and finished up her own stuff.

"Got it.", said Zach and looked at the object in his hands.

Zach had grabbed an item that was pretty special. And normally he would not know its usage but coupled with his new memories he actually knew what it was. It was a fluid injector that could be used to inject something inside somebody. It also could be used to extract samples of liquid.

There were plenty of empty cartridges to use for him as well. Was he actually supposed to do something with those?

Glancing over to Rebecca again who was coming back to him he quickly put the box with the cartridges in a pocket of his and then grabbed his remaining ammo magazines and closed the case.

There was nothing inside anymore anyway.

"Ready?", asked Rebecca at the exact same moment he finished.

"Ready.", nodded Zach.

Rebecca then leads the way to the location of the helipad. While following her, Zach saw her ass moving seductively.

"Nice view." He just couldn't stop himself from commenting on it.

Hearing his words she looked back at him in wonder about what he meant. When she noticed his eyes being fixated on her lower back she started to glare at him.

"Really?", she asked.

"What? Cant I just admire something good when I see it?"

"Listen, I havent said anything when we were together with the others. But dont think that you will get anywhere with your direct approach, okay? I am not such an easy woman."

Zach chuckled a little bit. Rebecca seemed to play the hard to get card. Her poating cheeks and angry look made her look cuter though.

"Suit yourself, police girl." Then he passed by her because she stopped walking for her earlier sentence.

Now he was the one leading her it seems.

"Police girl!? Who do you think you are calling a girl! Hey, don't you underestimate me! And do you even know where we have to go!?" She rebuked back once more and watched his back.

Zach just raised a hand in acknowledgment and continued onward. The helipad was most likely on the roof of the parking lot. That was not such a hard thing to guess.

And just as he guessed, he was correct.

Jumping into the helicopter, the others looked at them both and could feel the somewhat cold atmosphere they had around themselves.

"Did you bully our little Becky? Somehow she looks angry.", whispered Enrico in his ear with a raised brow.

"Did I?" Zach asked him back. That question was also aimed at himself in a certain way. Looking at Rebecca he could still see her glaring at him.

'Looks like I really went too far, huh?'

Shortly after that, they took off.

While flying in the already dark sky, Zach could see the city underneath them showing its brilliance.

It was actually a very large city. No wonder the outbreak became such a problem. Not to mention the space needed to build a sewer system to control the waste disposal of such a large research facility underneath it.

He wondered how many lives will soon perish in this accident. Ten thousand or Hundred thousand? Maybe even more than a million.