Crashlanding

"FUCK! Hold on, everyone!!", screamed Kevin Dooley over the aviation headset to the others. He was the current pilot of team bravo. He was also actually no member of team bravo. Normally that position would be occupied by Edward Dewey but Dewey was currently only the Co-Pilot because he would take part in the mission.

Why did Dooley scream such words? Obviously because the helicopter the team was flying now started to malfunction and many warning lights started to flash up in front of his face. Edward was also trying to stabilize the aircraft together with him.

The ride of course immediately became extremely bumpy and Zach grabbed hold of a safe spot on the helicopter and got into a lower stance to balance his body.

Suddenly he saw Rebecca stumble and if he didn't actually react and positioned himself in front of her she could have been thrown out of the helicopter down into her death.

But with him saving her she only bumped into him rather forcefully and remained there the rest of this event.

"Dooley! Get us down before we fucking crash!" Marini ordered his pilots in a hasty but calm manner.

"Got it!" With his good flying skills and support from Dewey, Dooley actually managed to land the aircraft at a very small clearing inside the forest.

The engine only coughed a few little hums and soon stopped working entirely.

"Alright everyone, secure the perimeter.", sighed Marini relieved and left the helicopter. The others from the team also did the same. Everyone besides a slightly frightened woman that is.

"Hey, sweetheart. I know I am rather unresistible with my charm but how long do you plan on hugging me?" A cheeky voice came from Zach when he looked down in front of him to Rebecca that was actually still clinging to him.

When Rebecca noticed that she immediately jolted and let go of him. "Thanks..." With a rather embarrassed expression, she also jumped out of the helicopter. But not before seeing the pilot saluting her. In response, Rebecca smiled wryly and gave him a thumbs up for landing so smoothly.

"You are welcome." Zach smiled at her back and looked at the pilot that was now the only one left in the helicopter. "Hey, Dooley. Can you try to get communications running with the RPD?"

"I can try it, but don't expect too much. Most of the electronics seem to be fried.", replied Dooley with a rather awkward smile.

"Alright. Dooley, don't stay here too long. Try to find some shelter nearby if no one of our team returns to you in 2 minutes."

"Huh? That is a rather too small timeframe for me to get communication running."

"Don't worry about that stuff and also keep your weapon ready. Clearly, someone did temper with the helicopter. So you better get to safety first. And that was an order. Understood?"

Zach was currently trying to save Dooley´s sorry ass. For the time being, he was worried to lose too many team members and end up dying in this fucking death trap of a forest.

Dooley looked at him and nodded firmly after thinking about his words. "Understood...You guys also take care."

Nodding a last time Zach also left the helicopter. Whatever would happen to him now was pretty much up to himself.

Walking a little bit further away from the crashland, the team grouped up.

But before Marini could say something Zach noticed some movement in his peripheral vision and made a hand gesture for Marini to stop speaking. Then Zach showed them with his fingers to look in the direction he saw movement.

Readying his weapon he switched a little switch on the side of his mask and a light green light plopped up in his vision on the left side. Soon the transparent part of the mask started to glim lightly and everything started to green out for Zach.

It was actually a feature of his mask - night vision. With that activated he steadily moved forward with everyone else in tow that also took position around him.

Moving forward they soon came to a small forest pathway where they see a crashed vehicle to the side.

When they finally reached it they analyzed the damage that was done.

"Looks like the military...Shit, there are two guys dead.", said Richard Aiken when he used the flashlight of his submachine gun to look inside.

"What happened that an armored vehicle turned over like this?", questioned Forest Speyer. He was the vehicle specialist of the team.

"Hey, I found something. Captain, you should look at this." Rebecca picked up a document from the ground and handed it to Marini.

Marinin looked at it with her. "Looks like they were transporting a criminal to the Arkley Mountains. So maybe that was the person you saw moving around just now." He was talking to both Rebecca and Zach that were not too far away.

He seemed to still look around in caution. "I am not sure about that, Marini.", replied Zach. "I think it was an animal and not human. It was too fast for a man to move around."

"Fine, but we still need to fan out to clear the perimeter and find that Billy Coen guy. He doesn't seem to be here at least. Immediately group back up after finding him. Aiken, Speyer, and Sullivan. You form the first group. Dewey, Chambers, and Orlow you form the second group."

"Roger." All of them replied.

With that said Zach´s little group started to separate from the first group and Marini that decided to stay put and communicated with the teams over the radio.

"So, what do you think that criminal did?", asked Dewey.

"The documents were covered in a lot of blood...Most of it was not readable any longer.", mentioned Rebecca now.

"Hmm, at least it was something that seemed to be worth enough for him being transported towards the Arkley Mountains. By the way, I wasn't aware that we had a military base close by in this area?", answered Zach now.

"We don't...Now that you mention that, it is somewhat strange.", frowned Dewey.

Suddenly the group heard gunshots coming from somewhere.

"Shit! What is going on?", asked Edward.

Zach used his radio. "Here team two. Team one, come in..." But there was only silence. "Team one, come in..."

"Fuck, Marini, do you copy?" And once again only silence.

"Why the fuck do we have these shitty radios if the others are not answering.", grumbled Dewey.

Suddenly Zach felt something and turned around in a lightning-fast movement and aimed towards a tree that was close by. A short salve of bullets sounded from his gun and a growling whimper was heard from the target.

"What the!?" Dewey and Rebecca were surprised and looked at the thing Zach shot.

"Is that a dog?", asked Rebecca somewhat worriedly.

The so-called dog slowly rose again and limped towards them. With the flashlights pointed at it the other two now could see its rotten flesh and white dead eyes. There were even guts slightly exposed and dripping down to the ground.

"What the fuck is that thing? And why is it not dead yet?" Just as Dewey said that Zach let go of another salve of three bullets from his gun. But the damn dog stood back up.

"Okay...Guys...Run...NOW!" Zach ordered after hearing sound from other spots in the forest. The other two also noticed that and started to run together with Zach away from the danger. They came across other animals like the one before and even humans that looked the same but also attacked them.

At some point, they reached a train track on which a stopped train seemed to have stranded.

"What is a train doing here?", asked Rebecca.

"Doesn't matter, get in!" Zach opened one passenger room and entered. The other two followed and immediately closed the door.

"Get down. Don't let yourself get seen by them through the windows. Flashlights out." Rebecca and Dewey followed his orders and quickly ducked and deactivated their lights.

Getting back some breath the trio now looked at the interior of the train.

"Shit. Looks like the worst scenario I imagined is on a whole other level...And looks like we are stuck here.", commented Zach after seeing all those undead motherfuckers. There were actually 5 dead bodies lying around in this part of the train from the looks of it.

"What is just going on here...Is this what the news is talking about lately? Do you think that criminal is even responsible for the death of those two MP´s?"

"We would be probably lucky if we did find him still alive...Be careful. Don't touch anything and don't get too close to the dead bodies. After seeing that one fucker not staying down I think these here could have the same ability...", said Zach.

"You can't be serious.", replied Dewey with a disgruntled face.

"Well, this could be a virus of some sort...Like rabies...Very infectious. And by the looks of those wounds and the way they tried to bite us I guess it is spread through fluids.", commented Rebecca.

"We don't know yet and therefore need to keep a distance. We could as well just die after touching them. But somehow I feel like that luxury of them staying dead is kinda not going to happen." Zach pointed at the dead bodies.

"Got it. But if they don't die how are we supposed to deal with them?", asked Dewey.

"I did notice that they get slightly stunned when you hit their heads. That means they are still controlled by the brain and trauma can slow them. Basically just shoot their heads if possible. But do preserve ammo as much as you can. We can't waste all of it and be stranded because we don't have any left."

Then Zach took out his knife and approached a dead body. With a rather powerful stab into the victim's skull he proceeded on to do the same to all of the bodies inside this compartment. "Actually, try to use melee on guys that are easy pickings like this. That should deal with them. If not then try to avoid them. But never get careless."

"Anyway, we need to get out of here. Edward, you check that side of the train and get rid of possible threats. Rebecca and I will go to the front and see if we can get this train to move."

"Got it.", confirmed Dewey.

"Be careful. Immediately run to us if you think there is something you cant handle alone. Let's move. The faster the better. I get the feeling those things outside won't stay there for long."