Chapter 5

*Meanwhile, at Willard’s Position*

As the commander cursed under his breath, his men opened fire to stall the horde's advance, unfortunately, they couldn't. Willard ordered his men to retreat and create a second line of defense, he prayed Abner was retreating as well. So that, they will fight for another day.

*Meanwhile, at Abner’s Position*

Back to Abner, he saw the projectile missed its target. The soldiers fell as the building rumbles from the impact, Abner stood still as he focus on the certain infected that differs from the rest he encountered. He watched the infected as he raises his hands high in the air and Abner widened his eyes as he read the strange infected’s lips he said: “IT’S DINNER TIME CHILDREN GO NOW! EAT ALL TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT!!!”. At the same time Abner shouted as he put on the radio, “ALL SOLDIERS THIS IS PHANTOM 1-1 ABANDONED ALL OPERATIONS, FALL BACK TO THE CONVOY FALL BACK!!!”. After that, the soldiers that defend the building begin to fall back as they were about to fight, suddenly they heard an enormous explosion erupt, and the soldiers including Abner and Davis lose their balance due to the vibration that erupted through the area. Abner quickly recovered and peek through the window and saw many corpses lying around the mines they placed, the infected were stunned to continue their advance. Giving time to recover Abner’s men recover and start running while the others helped themselves before they didn’t even stand a chance to fight back.

As the ‘weird’ infected recovered from the shock, he looks around and saw his ‘children’ hurt, this enraged him when he saw Abner peeking out the window and start shouting to attack, again the booby trap triggered as they were about to attack. Abner smirked as he saw his booby trap works, he starts ordering his men to retreat. Not knowing what happened next, they felt a loud thud and another and another causing the remaining soldiers to halt their retreat, they turn around and saw two gobblers walking towards them. Davis starts firing his rifle at the giant as one of the soldiers were trying to get the rocket launcher. Despite his efforts, he was then killed as a wooden spike thrust into his stomach. Abner rushed towards and checked his pulse; he heard the soldier’s final breath as Abner was about to call a medic. Gritting his teeth in rage, The Captain shouted to retreat, and the soldiers start retreating. Davis on the other hand picked up the AT4 and fired directly at the enemy leader’s position. An explosion occurred and another rocket launcher fired at the same spot, and again, and again, and again. This buy some time for the soldiers to retreat, when Abner was standing at the gate of the city hall, guiding his men to retreat, when Abner saw Davis and his five men running towards the exit. They heard a shrieking noise coming from the west side and saw six witches running toward them. Abner fired his rifle at the enemy, he managed to kill three of them yet, the other three manage to kill his men. Davis and the rest reached the exit, and one of the soldiers throws a grenade at the enemy who was busy eating their meal. Abner does the same, they killed the witches at the same time, destroying the corpses of their fellow soldiers.

Seeing this, Abner turned around and shouted “RUN!!!”. They ran towards their extraction point, where the convoy was waiting for them.

Speaking of the convoy, Commander Willard was trying his best to stall the infected, from destroying their one-way ticket from the hell they were in. The Commander cursed under his breath as he was trying to defend the convoy as best, he could, looking around and seeing his men were trying their best to defend it even their own life.

“Come on Abner... Where the hell are you now”. Willard thought to himself as he fired again at the infected that was 10 feet away from him, he turns around and start walking towards his Humvee. His men cover his position as they continue fighting the infected until Abner’s unit comes back from their mission.

Back from Abner’s position, they were running from the infected. Avoiding another yet massacre, the captain did his best to save his men from the worst deaths, however, when they reached the middle of the city. The infected attack both the left and right side as Abner guides his troops towards their exfil. The soldiers tried their best to defend themselves, they managed to hold the enemies’ first attack. Abner and Davis look around to see if there was any enemy presence nearby, Abner took this opportunity to leave. One of the soldiers takes a breath as he cannot go further, suddenly he heard the ground shake and a small crack appeared in front of him, this ignites his curiosity. When he looks closely, the arm popped out, it grabbed his face, and screamed, this alerted his fellow soldiers as they watched him dragged down and his scream echoes through the hole that was created earning the flinch of the soldiers nearby. Davis entered the scene and saw a hole in front of him, suddenly, they heard the ground cracking beneath them and the soldiers were frantic when they heard this, a rotten arm grabbed one of the soldier’s feet and ascends revealing rotten flesh, the soldier fired his rifle beneath him. Petrified, they heard another noise, and instantly the zombies revealed themselves as they pounced on the agitated soldiers, creating confusion. Davis quickly killed the zombies even the soldiers who got bit, Abner entered the scene and immediately realized the danger that awaits them.

RUN!!!!

They ran as they heard Abner’s scream, Davis helped his men get up and start following them. As they were running towards the streets, Abner stops and shouted orders to fall back, as he continues to guide his soldiers, he saw a boulder bypass him and continue analyzing on where it will land. Much to their dismay, the boulder landed their exit, cutting off their only hope to escape the onslaught. The soldiers slammed their fists as they yelled in frustration, Davis stopped from his track as he looks back trying to find and saw Abner at the left corner of the street waving at them while their brother covered fire to buy some time to get there, Davis shouted and followed him towards Abner’s position. They ran as they can until they reached the corner of the street. They manage to reach their destination thanks to one of their brothers throwing a grenade stalling the infected’s advance, and another grenade exploded as Davis turns around and saw two of his soldiers tying up the grenade that serves as a booby trap, out of nowhere he saw two infected climbed on the wall, they were shot dead before they attack. Davis stopped from his track and look at beside him, he saw Abner save their soldier and start firing to cover their men, and Davis soon followed.

“Scepter 1 to all stations, time to leave some booby traps. Make it fast, we don’t know where they showed up, leave a path for us and tell us to where we were going, make haste men over and out” Abner radioed as keep firing, when the two soldiers finished their task, they ran as fast as they can to create another booby trap. Abner and Davis were trying their best to stall the enemy’s advance, the two soldiers, however, are working their best.

While Davis fires his rifle as the infected trying to outsmart him, Davis smirks and killed the smartass. Abner took a glance at Davis, “He’s trying to outsmart you” He jest as he killed the infected whose going to jump.

Davis snickered at this, “Same goes to him” he comeback the joke that Abner used him earlier.

Abner chuckled, “wisecrack” he mutters as he continues firing.

The two soldiers finished the booby trap (grenade that attaches to a wire or a grenade trap) and one of them shouted “CAPTAIN, SERGEANT IT’S DONE!!!”

The Cos ran as they heard this, as they reached the other side. The soldier pulled the string and attach it to the grenade’s safety pin. Abner laughed and complimented the men and the four of them left the scene.

The infected were running to the alleyway where Abner and his men went, they ignore the corpses in front of them, and suddenly the alleyway was swarming with zombies. When they reach the middle of the street, one of the infected pulled out the string, and the pin was off, they continue to bypass it and an explosion erupted.

Meanwhile at the rooftop of the City Hall, the ‘infected’ was standing and watching as the explosion erupted at the left side of the city. After that, another explosion erupted yet again. Earning a scoff from the ‘infected’ he turned around and said in a foreign language “You win this round human” and left.

Back at Abner’s position, when Abner and his men were running to meet up with the rest of his unit, they heard a radio coming from their unit.

“Snake 5-1 to Scepter 1 station, the booby traps are set and ready to release, be advised to form a single file to avoid tripping the traps we’re waiting for you at the end of the park exit, over and out”. One of the soldiers informed them and Abner replied.

“Solid copy, wait for our arrival and cover us until we reached you, thanks for the heads up, over and out”. When they heard this, they are picking up the pace to reach their unit’s position.

*Meanwhile, at Willard’s position outside of Hocid Hill District*

When Willard and his men were busy fending off the infected, he alerts the HQ about their situation. He quickly grabbed his walkie-talkie to link up with Abner or his subordinates, Willard continue firing his rifle.

“Eagle to all Phantom stations, what is your status, over”.

Willard drew his pistol and killed the infected whose crawled beneath him, start guiding his men to fight.

“Phantom 1-1 to Eagle, we are crossing the park 1.5 clicks west on your position, over” Abner replied through the radio. The Commander was relieved by this news, and he saw his men struggling to delay the zombies’ advance.

“Eagle copies all, Captain makes haste son. We aren’t going last long, these bastards were overwhelming us anytime, over”. Willard said as he heard Abner cursing through the radio and replied.

“Copy that Eagle, we are able to regroup the rest of my unit. We’re Oscar Mike to your position, get ready for a big explosion, over and out”. When Willard was about to tell him, a sudden explosion occurred. All the people both soldiers and undead were blown away by the explosion, the zombies were struggling to break free because numerous of their own were trampled by the explosion, one of the soldiers saw this and quickly killed the stunned infected. His fellow soldiers follow suit, they quickly armed themselves and killed the zombies while they still have a chance, Willard got up and start ordering his men to fight back.

*Meanwhile at Abner’s position before the explosion*

As Abner, Davis, and the two soldiers were running through the park filled with mines, booby traps, and other explosive devices. The two soldiers were anxious and scared that one of them tripped and trigger the traps, luckily no one tripped. They arrived at the exit and Davis look around to find their men, they heard Abner shout as they followed him when they ran towards their brothers, the infected came out of the blue, and Abner shouted: “KEEP RUNNING”. They followed him, Davis knew that there is a sniper whose covering their six, he smiled and thought “Sly bastard, you knew this is going to happen. Didn’t ya “. They heard a gunshot coming from the west side of their position, the infected killed in a headshot before it reached Davis’s side. Heads down, Davis was sweating bullets.

“Ohh shit, Ohh shit, Ohh shit,” Davis thought as he knows, he was going to get pounced, luckily it didn’t. He sighed in relief and start running toward their unit.

*Meanwhile at the sniper’s nest northwest of Abner’s position*

“Damn, another headshot! Nice work Haden” his friend replied as the man named Haden Thorne cocked his favorite rifle AWM, he chuckles as he was about to check his watch. He was about to check his watch; Abner called them through the radio.

“Phantom 1-1 to Hawkeye stations, a job well-done boys. It’s time to leave, time to use those things you’ve learned, good luck out”. Abner informed them as Haden and his friend was about to leave, they heard a door banging, Hades bring out the claymore and placed it near the end of the stairway. As he placed it, his friend made a jump. Haden followed him as the door burst it opened and mercilessly swarmed the place despite trampling their own. As they reached the end of the tread, the claymore clicked.

Meanwhile, as Haden and his friend were running through the rooftop, an explosion occurred at the building as Haden and the other braced themselves from the impact. They immediately leave the area before the horde arrives.

*Meanwhile*

At the other side of the city, Abner and his remaining unit were running despite their reaching their limit, the captain trying his best to guide and protect his men while Davis busied telling coordinates. Since the horde was trying to chase them it was a good idea to reduce their numbers. Suddenly a loud explosion occurred causing them to stumble from the huge impact, Abner recovered himself and managed to rouse them to move. One by one as they got up while Davis and the other soldier were planting the booby trap including Abner watching their six.

*Meanwhile at Haden’s position before the explosion*

As Haden and his friend were jumping through the buildings, thanks for their training during their time in France. Now they easily make it to their rendezvous point, when they were about to jump a sudden wind blew away while they were in midair. They lost their landing mark thanks to the explosion earlier. Hades landed on the safe land, unfortunately. His friend didn’t land safely, Haden saw his friend continuously fall in front of him followed by debris that was coming out of the blue. He got up and saw debris that was on top of his friend’s body, knowing the fate of his friend. He cursed as he got up and start running toward safety. Little did he not know that his friend was lying there unconsciously, thankfully the debris didn’t crush his body and it completely covered him from the infected outside.

Back at Abner’s position.

The captain continued guiding his men as he saw Haden running in front of them, he quickly gets the gist and start running when Haden finally reached them. When they reached the end of the city, Abner saw Willard’s position slowly crumbling. This terrified him and quickly realize that losing their one-way ticket spelled death. He looked at his men, next to Davis they knew they were going to help their brothers. Davis nodded his men to help their fellow brothers, as Abner reached Willard’s position.

“Abner ‘bout time you’ve shown up” Willard exclaimed as he looks at his watch and turn his attention to Abner who get his katana on their Humvee and start walking in front of him.

Abner ignores Willard as he bypasses him, and Davis was running toward him. He too bypasses him as he unsheathed his katana then swings back and forth. Davis quickly realized and was dismayed at his sudden action, he shouted so loud that would crack his voice.

“ABNER WHAT THE FUCK!” he coughed so hard when Willard start helping him, Abner still standing and resolve about what he was going to do. He shouted to fall back without Willard’s command, he knew that this fight will quickly be over soon.

“OHH HELL NO, ABNER YOU BETTER- GET OFF ME, I SAID GET OFF ME!!” Davis shouted as Willard restrain him before something goes wrong. Abner turn around and look at the two, Davis and Willard stop their squabbles as they saw Abner standing in front of them. They saw him as he handed them three letters, Willard knew where this is going, and he didn’t like it.

Before he said anything else, an explosion occurred causing Abner to turn his attention and accidentally drop the letters, thankfully. Davis managed to catch it before Willard took him away, he shouted trying to get Abner’s attention. Unfortunately, his words alone cannot reach him.

While Abner was running toward the infected, a lone tear escaped from his eyes. Knowing he chooses this to the point of no return, pushing those thoughts aside, he is going to save them if that’s the last thing he does.

As Abner reached and decimated the infected before they got their chance, this could buy time for his fellow comrades to flee. This gained their attention and start chasing him, Abner grinned at this as he starts evading what kind of things even they threw at him while trying their best to eat him.

While he was running away, a certain figure was watching from afar. Frown at what he has seen and walks away.

Unknown to them, their decisions change everything. Where humanity has a chance to fight back and take back for what they have lost since 11 years ago.