Special Unit

Somewhere in the United States

A small team of America's toughest army soldiers are spread among the boulders and rocky hills surrounding their current target.

"How many?" Maverick, a young man with long blonde hair tied back in a low ponytail murmurs. The small black bud in his ear easily picks up his words despite how low he said it. He presses back against the jagged rock, his breath coming out in fog as it hits the cold desert air. He pulls out his vibrating phone, and sighs at the sight of the contact name: Mr. Prez. He ignores it and puts it back into the deep zipper pocket of his black cargo pants.

His phone continues to vibrate.

"Seven." Leroy crackles into his ear. He sits behind a different boulder a few feet away, his knees propped up. His red hair is tucked into the black beanie he wears, his green eyes glowing from the screen he's looking at.

"That's not a lot." Veronica says, her voice crackling through to the rest of the unit. She's on her stomach above a small cropping in a cliff wall. It overlooks the target, and she can see everyone and everything, from their target, to the rest of her unit. The perfect spot for a higher point of view. She twirls a lock of her finger and pops the bubble gum in her mouth, while on her other hand, her finger grazes the trigger of sniper rifle.

"You're chewing so loud." The man also lying on his stomach next to her holds his hand out in front of her face. A binocular he was looking through dropped down to his chest, hanging from the string around his neck. "Spit it out, now." His brown hair curls around his ears, dark eyes glinting with annoyance. Kevin despised the way she always smacked her lips together, the sound grating into his ears as they sat so close their shoulders brushed.

Veronica ignores the way her cheeks flush and glares, but spits her gum out into his hand. "Buzz kill."

Kevin doesn't reply as he tosses the gum to the side.

Mavericks phone stops vibrating.

"We're in the middle of nowhere." Kevin says. He and Veronica duck their heads down when one of the dead starts to wander toward their direction. A small cactus aids in their cover. "Of course it's not a lot."

"Leroy, can you get a good look at the capsule?" Maverick ignores everyone else and focuses on what needs to get done.

"One second." The other man murmurs. He moves the joy sticks of his controller, eyes glued to the iPad screen on his lap. There's a small buzz and the drone flying around the wandering dead, fly's further into the mountains.

Mavericks phone begins to vibrate with another incoming call.

Leroy squints to see better, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth to concentrate. He spots the crater and light glinting off of a large metal canister. He moves the drone closer until it hovers a few feet above the alien capsule.

"Sending visuals." Leroy says.

The piece in Mavericks ear beeps. He pulls out his phone, ignoring the person who continues to call him, and clicks on the link. The live video feed of the capsule burrowed into the base of a mountain begins to play.

"Can you get closer?" Maverick asks.

"Ugh, can we just do this?" Veronica snaps, resting her chin in her hand. "This is so freaking boring. You can look at it all you want when we have it secured." She's lying, she's actually having the time of her life. Veronica is situated between the man of her dreams, and the sniper rifle gifted to her by him. But she couldn't let him know that.

Maverick clenches his jaw, a moment of silence falling between the small team.

"Kevin, did you hear that? I didn't say 'fucking'." Veronica whispers.

Veronica: has a love for bad words.

The rest of the unit groans through the comms, and Kevin sighs.

"You just said it, so it doesn't count." He says.

"Let's just get it done with." Maverick mutters. Sometimes he just doesn't know what to do with his 'special' unit. He glances down at his once again vibrating phone. "The Prez won't stop calling me."

He makes a hand signal and the soldiers behind him move in on the small group of zombies. Silent shots to the head cause them to drop.

"Clear." Veronica smiles. "And, Gerardo, I got four out of seven. I won."

The last member of their special unit, who has been quiet until now, lowers his own gun with a silencer attached to the barrel. Splatters of blood dot his tanned skin. He tilts his head back to stare in the direction where Veronica laid smirking. His head is shaved, a large white and jagged scar cuts from just below his jaw to the edge of his right brow. His blue and brown heterochromia colored eyes blink.

"Next time." He gives the silent promise of beating her.

Maverick stands up from where he hid and side stepped the unmoving body closest to him. He paused mid step and glances down at it. He crouches down and with careful fingers pries one of its eyelids open.

He calls for one of the supporting soldiers and stands, "Bring this one with us. I believe Mrs. Kim would like to see this." Then he continues to the base of the mountain. He climbs the built up dirt surrounding the alien machine from the crash landing and stares down at it.

"Dig it up." He orders. To the other supporters, "And do it carefully. If we bring it back damaged we'll all be punished for it."

"Yes sir!" He pulls his vibrating phone out and finally answers the call from Mr. Prez.

"Sorry for the late answer boss," He rubs the back of his neck, "We just secured it. We'll be back tomorrow with it."

"The sooner the better." A gruff voice answers back. Maverick can hear just how tired their leader really is. "How does it look?"

Maverick paused, "It's different." He doesn't bother to elaborate, his boss knew exactly what he was talking about.

"What the hell is going on?" The older man mumbled through the phone. "I'll have Decon ready by the time you return."