Chapter 11: 14th July, 2013
Singh was abruptly woken up by a fierce knocking on the driver side window. He looked around to see Saarlac looking up at him, his Snow-Sled parked a short distance away. “Come On! Get out! Vader wishes to speak to us all!” Singh heard Saarlac say.
Singh raised a finger in a “one minute” gesture. Singh turned around and saw Sean and Alena were still fast asleep. “Alena, wake up” Singh said softly, lightly shaking her. “Huh?” muttered Alena groggily, still trying to wake up.
“Vader wishes to speak to us” said Singh softly.
“Uh, Okay” said Alena.
“Sean, wake up” said Singh. Sean woke up almost immediately.
“Uh? Um, yeah?” said Sean, still trying to fully wake up.
“Vader wishes to speak to us” replied Singh.
“Okay” said Sean, putting away the Chair and leading the way out. Singh and Alena followed. They reached the main room and saw all the others were up, getting ready to leave. “You guys ready yet?” asked Singh.
“No. You guys go on without us, we’ll catch up.” Answered the Irish Scientist, Paula O’Neil.
“Right, got it” replied Sean. Sean lead the way for the other two, keeping his firearm, a Steyr AUG A3 at the ready, should Zombies try and attack. They walked outside to see Saarlac waiting for them, REC-7 at the ready, looking very annoyed. “Where are the others?” asked Saarlac.
“They told us to go on ahead, they can catch up” replied Sean. “Shit. I’ve been told to escort ALL of you, not in little groups. Look, just wait a sec.” Saarlac grabbed his radio and tuned in. +Vader, this is Saarlac. Do you copy? Over+
+Saarlac, this Vader, I copy, over+
+We’re having a bit of a problem over here, over+
+What? Infected? +
+No, I have three ready to go, but the other 7 are still getting ready and you told me to get back there in 5, over+
+I see. Look, come with your three, I’ll send Chewie to escort the other 7. Vader out+
+Thanks for that. Saarlac out+. Saarlac holstered his radio and looked up at the three. “Well come on, time’s a wasting” said Saarlac as he gestured them to follow as he made his way towards this location, Sean, Singh and Alena following closely.

Chapter 12: 14th July, 2013
Saarlac lead them past the hangars towards a group of silhouettes, which Singh deduced to be the group. As the three scientists neared it, they saw Vader, Jero, Commandos and Pilots all looking a something in the middle, looking very sad and somber. Once the four reached the group, Singh, Sean and Alena saw why. The bodies of 25 pilots, all in various stages of being eaten, lay side-by-side of the bodies of 11 Commandos.
The three were close to tears as they saw the bodies of Boba, Obi-Wan, Windu, Maul, Dooku, Jabba, Lando, Ackbar, Tarkin, Sidious and Jawa. Singh looked around.
Everyone was very sad at the loss; Jango was on his knees, crying over Boba’s death. Solo was down with him, arm over Jango’s back for comfort. “Oh no, here come the others” whispered Sean as Singh and Alena turned around and saw Chewie brining the other seven. Once near the group, Chewie went to his place near Rancor and Grievous. The other Scientists tried to see what was happening.
“What’s going on? What’s.....?” asked Paula as she managed to break through Solo and a Pilot. She looked down and saw Boba’s dead body. She stood there, motionless, and then sank to her knees.
“Boba! Nooo!” she cried as she began sobbing on Boba’s dead chest.
“Noooo!” she wailed to the sky. Gerald was near her, trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away.
“Paula, Jango, please, let me start.........” Jero said sullenly.
“No! Why did you have to die?!” sobbed Paula. Jero silenced himself.
After a couple of minutes, Paula had stopped her weeping and returned to the circle alongside Jango, each holding the other up. Jero started the funeral.
“We are gathered here to mark the passing of Matthew O’Reily, Carl Joseph, Daniel Baird, Timothy Sheean, Paul Jefferson...................................” Singh couldn’t listen anymore. So much death? Thought Singh, blocking everything else why did they have to die? WHY?!?! The commemoration dragged on, People giving speeches on the dead pilots and Commandos and finally, Jero finished by letting Vader have the last word.
“The loss of so many fine individuals will... be a great loss to their friends, their family and mankind. I can never say I feel your pain, for the pain of losing someone you love is a greater pain than any bullet could ever hope to inflict. To those brave people, that put their lives on the line for continued survival of their loved ones, of mankind, I can only say this. Me, us, mankind as a whole, are forever indebted to you, for without you making the ultimate sacrifice, how could we be here, today?” there was a lot of clapping. Then the bodies were lowered into graves and buried. After everyone left to the airfield, Vader and Yoda were the only ones remaining.
They had something else to do.
The bodies of the infected were piled up, a fair distance away from the airfield and the graves. Vader and Yoda were the only ones present as Yoda set fire to the pile of dead Zombies. Yoda walked up to Vader, who was standing a little distance away from the pile. Both of them proceeded to watch the bodies burn until the fires stopped, which took almost 2 hours.

Chapter 13: 14th July, 2013
The Scientists, Commandos and Pilots were all helping to rebuild the airfield. They began mopping up the blood that stained the walls, dragged away the wreckage of the battle. Put toppled Black-Hawks back up right and repaired hangar and other doors. Repairs took about 2 hours to complete.
As the airfield’s inhabitants were about to leave to their bunks, Yoda and Vader roared in on Snow-sleds.
They then killed the engines, dismounted and turned to face the group. “Scientists and Commandos, the UN has ordered we continue on our journey immediately. However, we can’t do it through the air. Jero has no pilots to spare, and has barely enough to perform the daily operations” yelled Vader “You have 2 hours to gather your belongings and meet back at the transports.”
There was a bit of groaning from the Scientists and Commandos as they walked back to gather their possessions.

As Singh walked through the corridors of 2nd Barracks, he overheard talking down a corridor to the right. Singh walked up against a wall and decided to listen to this conversation. “So, what did you want to talk to me about, Paula?” asked a man.
“Jango......uh, me and Boba had an affair” said Paula.
“Wh, WHAT?!?!” said Jango, surprise dripping from his voice.
“That’s not all,” continued Paula
“Not ALL?!” said a more disbelieved Jango.
“Jango, I’m pregnant and Boba’s the father” finished Paula.
“Pregnant?!?! How long have you known?” asked Jango in disbelief
“Did Boba know?”
“I knew about it only a month ago. I told Boba a fortnight ago.”
“Oh My God” sighed Jango “How long were you going to keep this a secret?”
“We were both going to tell you today. But Boba....”
“Look, it’s ok, it’s ok, please, don’t cry.”
Singh was slumped against the wall, staring down in disbelief. Dear God! Paula, a mother! Oh that poor child, it’ll never know what its father was like burned in Singh’s mind.
“So, you overheard about my brother, huh?” Singh snapped around to see Paula and Jango looking down at him.
“Oh, uh, sorry. I didn’t know it would be that serious” stammered Singh.
“It’s okay, Singh” replied Paula, giving Singh a hand to help him to his feet.
“Thanks. Well, uh, I better be getting back to my room. Bye” said Singh as he walked briskly past them and continued the pace until he reached his room. He shut the door and slumped to the floor. He had seen that the other three were ready and gone, so it was only him. But he couldn’t care. His thoughts were racing with the past events. Paula? Having a baby with Boba? Well, I never thought. And how did Vader know?!?! And that Kiss! I’ve got to talk to Alena about it! “Come on Singh! Just get ready to go! You think your heart out later” Singh jokingly said to himself as he got to his feet and got his stuff together, opening the door in case anyone wanted to talk.

Then he heard shambling down the corridor. “Who’s there?” asked Singh, not looking up from his duties. The shambling came closer until it was inside his room. Then Singh heard a moaning. He immediately went into military mode. He swiped his right elbow around, whacking the Zombie in the face. Bones cracked, but it wasn’t defeated. It came again, but Singh was ready. He punched it in the face with his right fist, then his left. Then he uppercut the Zombie, breaking its neck, but it still came. “DIE!” roared Singh, anger rising up in him from the recent deaths. “DIE! DIE! DIE!” roared Singh as he pinned the zombie to the ground and began punching its face. Bones broke, blood splattered, but still it didn’t die. “DIE YOU BASTARD!” roared Singh as he whipped out his Jungle Combat Knife, a trophy from a mission in the South American jungles against a terrorist network, and stabbed the Zombie through the temple. The Zombie’s flailing limbs stopped, as did its moaning and snarling. Singh sighed with relief as he got off the corpse and cleaned and sheathed his knife, swung his duffel bag over his shoulder and walked to the meeting point.

Chapter 14: 14th July, 2013
As he arrived, he saw that everyone was gathered around what Singh believed to be Vader and Yoda. As he pushed his way through Soldiers and others, he saw Vader giving orders out to the assembled.
“Okay, Now Saarlac?” Said Vader, oblivious to Singh’s presence.
“Yo!” answered a voice from around the group’s left.
“I want you and Anakin to remain escort”
“Will Do, Vad-Man!”
“Sure thing!”
“Will you stop calling me that, Anakin?” replied a slightly annoyed Vader.
“Yeah, Okay, sorry bro”
“Anyways, as I was saying, Saarlac and Anakin, travel as escort. Scientists will be placed in the centre transport. I’ll be in lead, with commanding officers, and then the remaining soldiers will be in the last transport, long with a bulk of our supplies. Everyone understand?” Some nodded their heads, other uttered words of understanding, but they all understood Vader.
“Oh yeah, one more thing,” Vader continued “Given the current situation, it is entirely possible that hordes of infected roam across Antarctica. It want EVERYONE to remain on guard AT. ALL. TIMES. Now let’s move out.” The group dispersed to their respective transports, with Vader and Jero remaining to discuss final details.
“Hey! Hey! Cee-dog! Over here!” Singh snapped around and saw Alena and Sean standing near the second transport. Singh smiled and made his way over. Once he reached them, all three proceeded to make their way on board, surprised to see they were the first.
“Well, I guess now we wait” commented Sean as he made himself comfortable.
“Yeah, I guess” replied Alena, sitting next to Sean. Singh grunted and made his way to the bathroom. He wasn’t in any mood to socialise. He just wanted to be alone. Once Singh had sat down, he began rubbing his temples, thinking over the events of the past few days.

In fact, Singh was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t hear the transports roar to life and begin their journey towards the coast, towards their rendezvous point with MT Tempera, which will take them to the South American Jungles, towards certain death, so that humanity, if any humans actually still exist, can come out on top of this pandemic.

Chapter 15: 19th July, 2013
The lead transport drives roughshod over another bump in the ice, like some metal assassin, fixed on its target, giving utter disregard for anything else. Well, with the exception of its occupants and being careful not to split open the ice; because that’s the first rule in any activities on ice: The Ice dictates who lives and who dies; it is your boss, so be nice to it!

Vader made his way to the front cabin. As he entered the cabin, he saw the passenger seat was taken by Rancor. So Vader improvised, leaning on both chairs. He bended forward to see through the front view-screen. His expression turned to an immediate frown. The convoy was riding head on into a massive horde. Massive? Thought Vader More like Gargantuan! How are there even so many of them? “What do you reckon, Vader?” asked Rancor, who had turned to face him. “Stop the Convoy, stop everything. No, wait, I’ll do it myself” replied Vader, going for his Radio. +Red 2, Red 3, Saarlac, Anakin this is Vader, do you copy over? +
+Red 2 copy, over+
+Red 3 copy, over+
+Saarlac copy, over+
+Anakin copy, over+
+We are approaching numerous infected, repeat, approaching numerous Infected. Kill your engines! REPEAT! KILL. YOUR. ENGINES! + “That includes you, too” Vader ordered the driver.
Within moments, the convoy had stopped, roughly about a hundred metres away from the sickening parade of corpses. “Well? What now?” asking Rancor, mere moments after stopping.
“I don’t know, I really don’t God DAMN know” said a clearly grief-stricken Vader.
“We COULD just wait for them to leave........” questioned the Driver.
“But there ARE numerous UN installations on Antarctica. A horde this size could easily-“
“Shut up. Both of you” scolded Vader.
“But what about-“
“I said shut up” scolded Vader again, sounded an increasingly angry Vader.
“But you see the size of this Horde?!?! What about the damage they could should they come into contact with another UN-“
“I SAID SHUT UP!” screamed Vader.
“THE DAMAGE THEY COULD DO COULD KILL THOUSANDS!!” retorted Rancor, rising to his feet.
There was an eerie silence as both men glared at each other. Vader was the first to back down.
“I’m sorry” apologised Vader “These past few years have been the most stressing than any other in my Life.”
“It’s okay, I guess. I just want to save lives.” Replied Rancor, sitting back down.
“You’re right. Keeping humanity alive is the most important thing. It’s why the ‘A New Hope’ project was set up. But foolish, sacrificial actions never got anyone anywhere. I guess this fight is a psychological one, as well as physical. Would you kill 100 so that 200 may live? Would you kill your family and friends so that an entire generation survives?” said Vader.
“I suppose it’s about your beliefs and weighing up the odds” remarked Rancor.
“I guess you’re right” replied Vader. There was silence until he gave the order
“Fit the weapons with silencers, we make those bastards PAY for what they did!” ordered Vader.
“Nice, knew you’d come to” said Rancor. They both left the cabin to relay orders, leaving the Driver by himself.
“Oh jeez” exclaimed the driver “Well, might as well kick my feet up and enjoy the action.” And at that, he propped his feet up onto the dashboard, folded his arms and went to sleep.

Chapter 16: 19th July, 2013
I’d assume Rancor has something to do with this thought Jango angrily to himself as he jogged up to the head of the convoy. As he reached the front, he saw the horde. My God! You...BASTARDS! This is for Matthew! Thought a rage-filled Jango as he went prone, brought his REC-7 to bear, lined up a zombie and pulled the trigger. The silenced bullet struck true, part of the zombie’s head blew off, spraying its nearby undead companions with coagulated blood. He repeated this process again and again, as did the rest of the Commandos. In just under half an hour, only a fraction of the zombies had shambled out of range. The others formed a massive carpet of brownish-red blood and bodies, spanning at least 100 metres. There were a few cheers from some Commandos.
“Okay, people, we’ve lost valuable time as it is, let’s pack up and move out!” yelled Vader, not moving from his prone position around 10 metres in front of the convoy. The Commandos shook hands and moved back to the transports, some going with bragging rights, others to humiliation.
“Hey Vader!” shouted the driver to Vader from the driver window “Everyone’s packed up and ready to roll! Come on! Let’s Go!” Vader stayed in place for a moment, before standing up, scanning the expanse of the awe-inspiring landscape and moved back to the lead transport, not letting go of his Sniper Rifle, The Barrett XM500.
The transports proceeded forward, over the bodies. The sickening crunch and tearing of bone and rotted flesh underneath 5 tons of steel was drowned out by the sheer roar of the engines.

Chapter 17: 21st July, 2013
Saarlac had gone off to get some alone time, away from the people. He sat up on a small out crop of ice. There he stared at the sky and the surrounding landscape, thinking of nothing in particular.
Then he saw snow begin to shift, mere feet away from him.
He pointed his rifle at the snow, waiting.
A hand, caked in dried blood and missing flesh on some parts of it shot out. By sheer instinct, Saarlac fired at the hand, blowing a hole clean through the exposed palm. Another hand shot out, nearly identical to the first. Vader was now in battle mode, on his feet and circling around the hands. The hands then started pulling out the rotting carcass of the Zombie they were attached to. Saarlac blasted the thing in the head, spraying brownish-red blood around the vicinity.
Saarlac then began examining the body and was gob-smacked at it.
The Zombie wasn’t wearing any cold-weather gear of any sort, just a pair of knee-high jeans, and still operated at normal zombie levels. Saarlac grabbed his radio and tuned into Vader’s personal channel. +Vader, there’s something, buried in the snow, you have to come over and see this+ +What is it? +
+Just come, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me+ Vader arrived a few minutes later. He looked angrily at Saarlac, who was still looking at the corpse. “You better have a good reason for dragging me all this way Vic-“Vader’s eyes then fell upon the corpse “Oh”
“Oh, indeed,” remarked Saarlac
“I found this guy crawling his way out of some snow. How he got there, I have no idea, but he managed to crawl his way out at the speed of a normal Zombie-”
“And this is without wearing any Cold-Weather gear. How is this possible?”
“Amzi, ever heard of the Lamarckian theory of evolution?”
“The what?”
“Didn’t you study evolution at school? or science for that matter?”
“Yes and No. Coming from a military background, I excelled at History, Geography, Maths, Industrial Arts and Multi-Media. I only did military-relevant Science”
“Nice, but anyways, the Lamarckian theory of evolution is that creatures change in accordance to their environment”
“What? So you mean-“
“Yes, I mean that this Zombie wanted to survive the cold, so either its body temperature increased or its metabolism slowed or something else” “Dear God, what type of Virus IS Virus Z?” exclaimed Vader in disbelief.
“It’s something, but considering this case, it’s possible that there are continental strains of each Virus, specific to the Infected of that Continent, to help them survive, or something” reported Saarlac.
“You’re good, Victor, how did you become this smart?” remarked Vader.
“Well, people say that I’m ahead of my time” replied Saarlac
“Well, let’s get back to the transport”
“Do we report?” asked Saarlac
“Yes. They have the right to know”.

As they left, Victor turned around and looked at the corpse once more.

Chapter 18: 22nd July, 2013
“What?!?!” was how they all replied to Vader and Saarlac’s news.
“But what about the cure? Our work could be undone!” said Singh.
“Look, there’s no proof that they have developed a resistance to our drug. You have to remember, no Infected which were tested on escaped into the Hordes. They just have adapted to the environment, a bit like the ‘Lamarckian’ theory”.
There was an awkward Silence.
“Don’t you mean Darwinian’s theory?” questioned Sean.
“Uhh... Yes, of course” replied Vader shakily. He quickly regained control “Look, the point is, there could be a chance that there are continental strains of Virus Z, each...well...”programmed” is the best word I can think of, to survive the conditions of each Continent. Take the Antarcticanus Strain, as we are calling it at the moment. It has enabled the Infected to function like their fellow Infected, but in Sub-Zero temperatures. We are also theorising that they can also shut themselves off, then reanimate at their own will.” An eerie Silence filled the gathering.
“Dear God. What Virus is this?!” said a grief-stricken Gerald.
“Look, best-case scenario is that this was an anomaly and that Infected was a one-off. But we are wasting time, so get moving!” ordered Vader. The personnel went back to the transports, now feeling very un-safe.

Chapter 19: 23rd July, 2013
Timothy Woods, or Bail and Rancor cautiously walked, with guns drawn, scanning around every once in a while the barley big enough valley, formed from the meeting of two ice sheets.
Barely 5 hours ago, they left the land and began traversing on the ice. This is where it becomes really dangerous. Bail and Rancor had been ordered to walk through the gap and out the other side; to scan for any survivors, valuable equipment, or bodies.
“Did I ever tell you about my first love?” Bail asked, wanting to break the silence.
“No, you didn’t” replied Rancor flatly, fully focussed on his duty.
“Ah yes, I remember her. Natalia Porter. We met at High School, dated for a while, then she had to go back to Portugal. It was sad for me, but I still remember her. Her silky black hair, her perfectly tanned skin, her eyes, alive with passion, her-“ he was cut off by Rancor, who was looking dead ahead, one hand stopping Bail, the other gripping the gun’s grip.
Bail wondered what was going on, then he heard shambling.
Suddenly, Zombies fell off the left ridge, falling into the gap.
“Infected! Infected!” yelled Rancor, brining his rifle up and began firing at the bodies “Run! Get back to the transport!” Bail stood there for a moment, like a stunned mullet. A rather biggish Zombie fell barley inches from Rancor, snapping Bail out of the trance. Still a little dazed, Bail gripped his rifle and ran rather cautiously back to the convoy, Rancor following, only to stop and kill the Zombie that got too close.
In the rush, Rancor tripped over and spiked his leg on a stalactite. He yelled in pain. Bail turned around and saw Rancor looking up at him. He quickly turned slung his rifle, turned Rancor over and dragged Rancor back through the gap, Rancor barley controlling his rifle as he fired into the approaching Zombies as more and more undead began falling in through the crevasse.
Then they saw parts of the left ridge caving in.
The sheer weight of the undead was collapsing the tunnel. Boulders of ice and mounds of snow began falling in, crushing and burying the undead. Bail threw caution to the wind and ran, still dragging Rancor along. The cave-in neared them, coming ever so closer to the two. Soon they could feel the snow on their faces. Bail sprinted his heart out and just escaped the cave-in, falling to the ground, panting heavily along with Vader as the ice and snow stopped moving. Bail turned around to the convoy, then back to the cave-in. “How’s your leg?” panted Bail. “Seriously? It’s killing me” panted Rancor.
“Okay, lets get you back” said Bail as he began to help Rancor to his feet and helped Rancor limp towards the convoy.

Chapter 20: 25th July, 2013
The convoy approached the rendezvous in silence. The rendezvous was a slightly built-up port, constructed by Great Britain, Argentina and Chile as a major supply point for the three country’s’ Scientists stationed on the continent. There were relatively large, apartment-sized buildings making up a majority of the port’s buildings, criss-crossed by wide roads. However, one thing stood out in the grey dankness of the dark port. Deep-Blue with a bright Orange trim around the rim of the hull, a giant ship stood resolute in the port. It was the Mt Tempera, with Tempera emblazoned in giant white letters along the hull. It was their ticket out of here.
But that was the last thing many in the convoy were thinking at the moment.
Where is everyone? Thought Vader as the convoy slowly rolled through the empty port. This could be bad. Vader reached for his radio. +All units, repeat, All Units. This could turn ugly, so stay sharp+ he holstered his radio and leant forward to the driver. “No matter what happens, keep driving towards that ship”.
Then everything was plunged into chaos.
Zombies began pouring out of the buildings, digging themselves out of the snow, some where even falling out of windows. “DRIVE! Gun it!” yelled Vader as the two escorts and three transports made a bee-line towards the loading ramp, crew members aboard going to fetch weapons and firing upon the undead ambush.
However, many of the convoy’s occupants proceeded to disembark and form a rearguard to protect the convoy. Among them were Singh, Alena and Sean. Singh lifted his P-90 and began firing at Zombies all around him, whilst slowly moving back, as did those other brave ones.
“What the Hell are you three doing?!?!” yelled Jango over the gunfire at the trio. “Helping you guys!” replied Alena as she shot-gunned a Zombie.
“Yeah! We helping!” added Sean as whacked a Zombie to the ground with the butt of his HK416 and blasted it in the head.
“Okay! Just don’t die!” yelled Jango as he continued the fight. After what seemed like an age, people began yelling that the convoy was safe and that we should haul ass out of here now! This was taken all too well with the rearguard, who proceeded to run up the ramp to safety. As Singh ran up the ramp, he almost made it halfway when a blast of some sort sent a chunk of rock colliding with his temple. He collapsed, barley keeping consciousness. The last thing Singh remembers is Rancor grabbing his shoulder, dragging him up the ramp, firing his REC-7 with one hand, yelling to the two Commandos in front of him, still firing at the Horde. Then it was black.

And nothing more.