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The Recruit
"This one's your first mission, recruit. Don't mess it up. Remember, aim for the head, don't get bitten, and if god forbid you do get bitten, take advantage of your time and kill as much as you possibly can."
"She's fourteen, she's bound to mess something up."
"Wow, you have sooo much faith in me, Private Jamieson."
"Hey, why would you be assigned to the best strike team ever? There's this thing called 'balancing'."
"Have some faith in her, Private. She's very promising. Did you see how she performed in the training course? She 'killed' a whole strike team and she only started out with an unsilenced Glock."
"Well, sir, she had the luxury of night vision goggles."
"I didn't even need them! They're too bulky! I threw them away when-"
"Suuuure. That's exactly what I'd say too."
"Sir! Tell him off, will you!"
"My god, you guys need to grow up. Just...maintain radio silence 'till we get there."
Yeah, well, I gotta admit, she was good. Half the time she was hanging upside down, Splinter Cell style. (You know Splinter Cell? It was this virtual special operations training program that you use on these things called PlayStations. What a really weird name for a training program, don't you think?) Half of the team members were "killed" by their own knives.
Man, it's too good to be true. She had the looks, the personality, the brains, and of course, the skills. If she wasn't so goddamned little, or if she was, like, five years older, I'd totally ask her out. Not that there'd be much places to go on a date in a world infested with walking corpses.
"We're here. Private, get down the rope and cover the rest of us."
I did what I was told, but when I turned on my night vision, I screamed. I actually fucking screamed. A big no-no when fighting the undead. I've seen bigger hordes before, but not this close to me. They were like, ten feet away.
That's when she sprang into action. She slid down the rope upside down, dual P90s blazing. She jumped off the rope, shoved one of the P90s into my hands, and shouted something. My ears were still ringing from the loud gunshots--I guess she didn't have time to put on her sound suppressors. All I heard was a faint voice, like someone was shouting three blocks away. Actually, no. It was screeching. Like a girly screeching. Then I felt her hitting my arm a couple times.
"...sakes c'mon! You might die if you stay out here!"
"Uggghhh...what?"
"Jesus, Private! Listen! You freakin' loser! Get back up!"
She gave me a good smack to the back of the head and I was halfway up the rope, shooting blindly. So was she. I gave the rope a good tug and we were outta there.
When I got up, I met an angry squad leader and a standard issue P90 on full auto. "What the hell was that, Private?" the he yelled in my face.
"Don't be so harsh sir, there was too many and he didn't know it." Then she looked down at the writhing pool of bodies below intently. So did I, with a mixture of embarrassment. "There were just too many."
Unexpectedly, she grabbed the C4 that we were supposed to plant at the Wall* and told the pilot to drop her off.
"Hey, Newbie, don't! You said it yourself, there's too many!"
"For once I agree with you, Private. Listen, kiddo. It's rash actions exactly like this that get a lot of good people killed."
"This is my first mission, sir, I can't fail it. I'm not gonna have that on my record." She set up the charges and checked the batteries of the detonator. "And if this mission goes successfully, Angie said she'd give me her Jonas Brothers collection."
As she prepared to go down the rope, she gave us a wink and said. "Besides, if I can easily dispatch an elite strike team, what's a couple thousand zombies gonna do to me?"
My God, I'm gonna say it again: she is freakin' awesome. The hell with her being too young, I'm asking her out. I mean, seriously, if you were just there. It was like a scene from Star Wars where the good guys got out of the Deathstar in time just when it was about to explode. (Aw, man. Anything that guy Lucas makes is holy, pretty much.) You could've taken a camera and filmed the thing from any angle and it would've looked good.
"You did good there, recruit. Made it look real easy."
"For a beginner." A really hot, kick-ass beginner who is even better than one of our best strike teams combined. Ah, I'm in love.
"Well, what's the point of kicking ass if you can't look good doing it, right Jamie?"
I scoffed, "Yeah, sure. Whatever. And don't call me Jamie!"
"Why not? It's really cute!"
"Because my crazy ex-girlfriend used to call me that." And I don't want you to become my crazy ex-girlfriend either.
The boss chuckled. "Alright, you two, go back to your quarters. I'll meet you at the mess hall in half an hour. I gotta go to the Medic's Office."
I walked her back to her quarters and returned to mine while the boss left for the Office.
"Where's the Chief Medic, Angie?" he asked one of the nurses.
"Oh, yeah, she asked for you, didn't she? I'll call her right out. It sounded really important."
He didn't have to wait long before Chief Medic Christie came out holding a clipboard and Newbie's file. The boss knew that file by heart, mine as well.
The two shook hands.
"Sir."
"Chief Medic."
"I got the test results back on your new recruit. I'm sorry to say, but it seems that...well...you did just go near the Wall, didn't you?"
"Yes. And what does that have to do with this?"
"And that's one of the largest Atlas** nests in North America, right?"
"Please get to the point, ma'am."
She sighed, "I'm sorry to say sir, but...she's not immune to the Atlas Strain."
Dumbfounded, he tilted his head to the side and started, "Excuse me?"
"Well, her immune system is strong enough that she can resist the spores for about two to three hours, but she will still turn all the same."
The boss turned around and was about to run to Newbie, but she was already there, standing at the doorway, tearing up. A cherry lollipop she had in her mouth fell to the ground.
"Oh god. Oh my god, sir, I don't want to die!" She flung herself into him, dug her face in his BDU vest, and he wrapped his arms around her like a father cradling his child. All the time she was saying "I don't wanna die" in between sobs.
I got there just then and my first thought was "Damn, he was thinking the same thing too." I asked what was going on and Christie told me that Newbie wasn't immune to the Atlas Strain.
"So? You haven't turned yet. The Atlas Strain does its thing like that," I snapped my fingers. "It's been over an hour. Probably didn't release any spores."
That was the biggest lie I've ever told myself.
An hour later, she turned, one hand in the boss's and another in mine. About fifteen minutes before she did, she was telling me how she should've been graduating middle school already.
"Being a child soldier takes its toll on you huh?" I was just kidding around, but that triggered something in her. I should've known. I was a child soldier too. All the trauma of having to kill so much at such a young age is just unbearable. You keep that bottled up and who knows what might happen.
I decided to change the subject, but just then Nurse Angie came in with the damn Jonas Brothers CD that Newbie had fought so hard and died for. I decided to bring out a couple of my Flogging Molly CDs too.
At least she finished 'Requim For A Dying Song' before she slipped into a coma.
Now the words "and the sun that lights the day breaks the darkness and the powers of another great shame, but with you my love, with you my love, with you I will return and requiem for a dying song" are forever stuck in my head. Those are indeed powerful words.
And I never got her name*** right.
I guess I'll just always have to remember her as "Newbie."
After "Newbie" passed, the said team leader left for the Wall.
He destroyed at least two miles of the Wall and the local Atlas Nest.
Then he took his own life.
Two years later, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California were retaken by humans.
---------------------------
Appendix
* The Wall: When the United States falsely suspected that the infection came from Mexico, the US government wasted resources on building a wall on the border. They were wrong, and Mexico was actually spared because many infected from the US couldn't flee to Mexico.
** The Atlas Strain: A kind of zombie I made up. An airborne strain of the Z-Pathogen. Atlas Class Undead, or Zed-As, look like humpback humans with spores on their backs. They kinda look like wheat, except not gold. These spores can be released at will by shaking their backs wildly. The Atlas Strain takes effect immediately, but drugs and a healthy immune system will help slow it down. There is 99% chance that those infected with the Atlas Strain will turn into classic zombies, but there is a 1% chance that they will turn into Atlas Class Undead.
*** "Newbie": This hero's name was never found in any record, and anyone who knew her was given different names. Many experts today believe that she was in a top secret training course and that she was to be the one to liberate the west hemisphere of the undead.
"She's fourteen, she's bound to mess something up."
"Wow, you have sooo much faith in me, Private Jamieson."
"Hey, why would you be assigned to the best strike team ever? There's this thing called 'balancing'."
"Have some faith in her, Private. She's very promising. Did you see how she performed in the training course? She 'killed' a whole strike team and she only started out with an unsilenced Glock."
"Well, sir, she had the luxury of night vision goggles."
"I didn't even need them! They're too bulky! I threw them away when-"
"Suuuure. That's exactly what I'd say too."
"Sir! Tell him off, will you!"
"My god, you guys need to grow up. Just...maintain radio silence 'till we get there."
Yeah, well, I gotta admit, she was good. Half the time she was hanging upside down, Splinter Cell style. (You know Splinter Cell? It was this virtual special operations training program that you use on these things called PlayStations. What a really weird name for a training program, don't you think?) Half of the team members were "killed" by their own knives.
Man, it's too good to be true. She had the looks, the personality, the brains, and of course, the skills. If she wasn't so goddamned little, or if she was, like, five years older, I'd totally ask her out. Not that there'd be much places to go on a date in a world infested with walking corpses.
"We're here. Private, get down the rope and cover the rest of us."
I did what I was told, but when I turned on my night vision, I screamed. I actually fucking screamed. A big no-no when fighting the undead. I've seen bigger hordes before, but not this close to me. They were like, ten feet away.
That's when she sprang into action. She slid down the rope upside down, dual P90s blazing. She jumped off the rope, shoved one of the P90s into my hands, and shouted something. My ears were still ringing from the loud gunshots--I guess she didn't have time to put on her sound suppressors. All I heard was a faint voice, like someone was shouting three blocks away. Actually, no. It was screeching. Like a girly screeching. Then I felt her hitting my arm a couple times.
"...sakes c'mon! You might die if you stay out here!"
"Uggghhh...what?"
"Jesus, Private! Listen! You freakin' loser! Get back up!"
She gave me a good smack to the back of the head and I was halfway up the rope, shooting blindly. So was she. I gave the rope a good tug and we were outta there.
When I got up, I met an angry squad leader and a standard issue P90 on full auto. "What the hell was that, Private?" the he yelled in my face.
"Don't be so harsh sir, there was too many and he didn't know it." Then she looked down at the writhing pool of bodies below intently. So did I, with a mixture of embarrassment. "There were just too many."
Unexpectedly, she grabbed the C4 that we were supposed to plant at the Wall* and told the pilot to drop her off.
"Hey, Newbie, don't! You said it yourself, there's too many!"
"For once I agree with you, Private. Listen, kiddo. It's rash actions exactly like this that get a lot of good people killed."
"This is my first mission, sir, I can't fail it. I'm not gonna have that on my record." She set up the charges and checked the batteries of the detonator. "And if this mission goes successfully, Angie said she'd give me her Jonas Brothers collection."
As she prepared to go down the rope, she gave us a wink and said. "Besides, if I can easily dispatch an elite strike team, what's a couple thousand zombies gonna do to me?"
* * *
* * *
"For a beginner." A really hot, kick-ass beginner who is even better than one of our best strike teams combined. Ah, I'm in love.
"Well, what's the point of kicking ass if you can't look good doing it, right Jamie?"
I scoffed, "Yeah, sure. Whatever. And don't call me Jamie!"
"Why not? It's really cute!"
"Because my crazy ex-girlfriend used to call me that." And I don't want you to become my crazy ex-girlfriend either.
The boss chuckled. "Alright, you two, go back to your quarters. I'll meet you at the mess hall in half an hour. I gotta go to the Medic's Office."
I walked her back to her quarters and returned to mine while the boss left for the Office.
* * *
"Where's the Chief Medic, Angie?" he asked one of the nurses.
"Oh, yeah, she asked for you, didn't she? I'll call her right out. It sounded really important."
He didn't have to wait long before Chief Medic Christie came out holding a clipboard and Newbie's file. The boss knew that file by heart, mine as well.
The two shook hands.
"Sir."
"Chief Medic."
"I got the test results back on your new recruit. I'm sorry to say, but it seems that...well...you did just go near the Wall, didn't you?"
"Yes. And what does that have to do with this?"
"And that's one of the largest Atlas** nests in North America, right?"
"Please get to the point, ma'am."
She sighed, "I'm sorry to say sir, but...she's not immune to the Atlas Strain."
Dumbfounded, he tilted his head to the side and started, "Excuse me?"
"Well, her immune system is strong enough that she can resist the spores for about two to three hours, but she will still turn all the same."
The boss turned around and was about to run to Newbie, but she was already there, standing at the doorway, tearing up. A cherry lollipop she had in her mouth fell to the ground.
"Oh god. Oh my god, sir, I don't want to die!" She flung herself into him, dug her face in his BDU vest, and he wrapped his arms around her like a father cradling his child. All the time she was saying "I don't wanna die" in between sobs.
I got there just then and my first thought was "Damn, he was thinking the same thing too." I asked what was going on and Christie told me that Newbie wasn't immune to the Atlas Strain.
"So? You haven't turned yet. The Atlas Strain does its thing like that," I snapped my fingers. "It's been over an hour. Probably didn't release any spores."
That was the biggest lie I've ever told myself.
* * *
"Being a child soldier takes its toll on you huh?" I was just kidding around, but that triggered something in her. I should've known. I was a child soldier too. All the trauma of having to kill so much at such a young age is just unbearable. You keep that bottled up and who knows what might happen.
I decided to change the subject, but just then Nurse Angie came in with the damn Jonas Brothers CD that Newbie had fought so hard and died for. I decided to bring out a couple of my Flogging Molly CDs too.
At least she finished 'Requim For A Dying Song' before she slipped into a coma.
Now the words "and the sun that lights the day breaks the darkness and the powers of another great shame, but with you my love, with you my love, with you I will return and requiem for a dying song" are forever stuck in my head. Those are indeed powerful words.
And I never got her name*** right.
I guess I'll just always have to remember her as "Newbie."
;/'':.._--.:.;._-_-._:^
-.-.._.-t:h_e-E.n^d
::'^:._--._:-<..;:-^;
::'^:._--._:-<..;:-^;
every Rose Has Its Thorns
After "Newbie" passed, the said team leader left for the Wall.
He destroyed at least two miles of the Wall and the local Atlas Nest.
Then he took his own life.
* * *
Two years later, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California were retaken by humans.
---------------------------
Appendix
* The Wall: When the United States falsely suspected that the infection came from Mexico, the US government wasted resources on building a wall on the border. They were wrong, and Mexico was actually spared because many infected from the US couldn't flee to Mexico.
** The Atlas Strain: A kind of zombie I made up. An airborne strain of the Z-Pathogen. Atlas Class Undead, or Zed-As, look like humpback humans with spores on their backs. They kinda look like wheat, except not gold. These spores can be released at will by shaking their backs wildly. The Atlas Strain takes effect immediately, but drugs and a healthy immune system will help slow it down. There is 99% chance that those infected with the Atlas Strain will turn into classic zombies, but there is a 1% chance that they will turn into Atlas Class Undead.
*** "Newbie": This hero's name was never found in any record, and anyone who knew her was given different names. Many experts today believe that she was in a top secret training course and that she was to be the one to liberate the west hemisphere of the undead.
13th.Casualty |
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hell yah!! a zombie story that doesnt end with everyone dying =p niice keep writing
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