Starting Over Chapter 2
Chapter 2: First Encounter
Planet: Earth's Atmosphere
Location: AAF cruiser designated "Atlas"
Time: 9:30 pm
Date: July 4th, 2010
Samantha noticed that the crew of the Atlas wasn't exactly friendly nor openly hostile towards her and the rest of the squad. They were nice enough if you needed help or if you had a question they would answer, while they were doing so they acted anxious as if something bad would happen if they spoke too long and usually whatever crew member it was took off after answering the question. The squad, now designated Shadow Force One or SF1, was preparing for their drop onto Earth's surface along another squad selected to accompany them, SF2. Samantha had not taken the time to learn the names of the other squad because everyone had been told to study more about Human culture since no one had been an expert to begin with. Everyone was in the hangar running final diagnostics on things like radios, guns, etc.
Corporal Alison Monroe, the squad medic, had and MA-7 submachine gun. It fired 9mm rounds at 750 rounds per minute and had a 35 round clip. The MA-7 resembled an MP5 but had a grip on the front and a solid stock.
Private First Class Thomas Hawkins, demolitionist and heavy weapons, had an X87 light machine gun capable of 900 rounds per minute and a hundred round belt made of 7.62mm rounds.
Private Allen Hernandez, newly added sniper, was carrying an A-56 bolt action .50 caliber sniper rifle similar to a Barrett with a shorter barrel. It held seven rounds and Samantha wasn't sure how fast it could shoot in his hands.
Sergeant Lucas Matthews, squad leader, and Corporal Samantha Williams, rifleman and communications, were equipped with L92 assault rifles. They fired 5.56mm rounds at a rate of 650 a minute and greatly resembled an M16.
The other squad had the same weapons as they were being issued the same equipment including the M26 Combat pistol which Allen had two of since the A- 56 was a long range weapon. Also both squads were equipped with Mark Two Hazardous Environment Combat suits, HEC suits. The armor was self-contained in case of depressurization, had an automatic air filtration system. The helmet was made to fit the wearer specifically and surrounded the wearer's entire head and had a reflective black visor in the front since the suits themselves were entirely black.
They were also issued packs that contained basic equipment such as food, water, ammuniton, batteries etc. they also contained items specific to what role the person served, explosives for Hawkins, means of concealment for Hernandez, medical supplies for Monroe and communication equipment for Williams.
After both teams had run the appropriate checks they assembled at the dropship, which was little more than an oversized box with jets that would automatically activate and adjust the craft so it wouldn't crash.
Colonel Stewart was at the ship waiting for them. Both squads saluted him and after returning it he said, "Listen up boys and girls, we have no idea what the status of the planet because of debris from colliding satellites are blocking our scans, both of your missions are going to be to find any Human survivors if something has gone wrong. Your communications specialist has a long range communications pack attached to their suit in case you need to call for help or an evac. You will report back to the ship immediately when you go planet side and inform us of how things look down there. Your being dropped into an extremely populated city called GreenlakeValley."
One solider from SF2 raised his hand and asked, "What if nothing is wrong?"
The Colonel seemed to think about it for a second then replied, "Then you ten are the first to ever make contact with the Humans" he paused "so don't fuck it up."
After everyone had loaded into the dropship and strapped in the ship was lowered slightly as it was about to be dropped and then came the countdown
"5...4...3...2...1..."
One of the soldiers from SF2, a brown ferret, shouted, "Express elevator to Hell!"
"...Mark" and then the ship began its short but extremely shaky journey down to Earth
At the same time Earth
13, a 16 year old, life long resident of GreenlakeValley was waking up to the sound of knocking at his door within a compound known as The Sanctuary. He and his friend, known as Shamrock, had arrived at The Sanctuary late last night after being chased mercilessly through the streets of the once great city.
A little history about Greenlake, it originally started out as a city that would help spread out the population of S.C., it went up pretty fast since the cost of property was low and many businesses were expanding and needed workers. The town grew pretty fast and had a small lake nearby which was enlarged to allow for more boating which brought tourists and helped the city get going.
After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and getting dressed in clean clothes from a duffel bag he'd brought with him, 13 put on a ballistic face mask that he wore to hide his face. It was hardly different than when he found it except he had taken red paint and painted 13 onto the mask with the middle of one number going over each eyehole. When he answered the door Shamrock was standing there.
"You ready to go?" he asked fully dressed with his own mask covering his face. His mask was the same as 13's except for a small shamrock painted in between the eyes. The two had known each other for most of their lives, they played little league together, they went to weekend parties their parents held at their houses and got along with just about anyone.
13 and Shamrock had no need to cover their face or not give their real names, they felt, however that they shouldn't get attached to anyone because they often ventured into the city and didn't even live at The Sanctuary, they just stopped in if they didn't think they could make it back to where they were staying or a store to camp out in. The source of their nicknames was that of their luck, Shamrock was Irish by descent and very lucky, 13 was actually born on Friday the 13th but ended up with more good luck than bad.
"Yeah give me a few." was the reply from 13 as he strapped on a MOLLE 10 piece vest that held the ammo for his G36C and his .45 Colt M1911.
After a short walk to the garage known to the residents as the "Chop Shop" the two were greeted by a familiar face, Catherine Walker, a long time resident the same age as the two and friend was standing guard at the vehicle entrance. Catherine, Cat to everyone who knew her, was one of the people that the two had managed to find in the city and bring back.
"You two leaving so soon?" she asked
" 'fraid so Cat" Shamrock said back
"Well you two are coming back later right?" she asked the two
"Why" Shamrock asked before thinking
"Because it's still the Fourth of July even if the world went to hell." she replied with a small laugh
"We might" 13 said to her then proceeded to walk to Hummer that had been the duo's main form of transportation since the start of this whole ordeal.
After the two had gotten in and gotten comfortable 13 said to Shamrock, "Dude I think she likes you."
"Yeah right I'm not the last guy on Earth yet!" was his remark while they waited for Cat to press a button that would raise the gate.
"I'm serious she'll only talk to you." 13 shot back, Shamrock could hear the smile in his voice.
"So why don't we just stay here 'till that party she was talking about?" he asked
"Because I don't trust a lot of people here, they'll let anyone who ain't bit in." 13 replied
Shamrock thought about it for a second, "Good point let's go." he said as the gate behind them groaned to life and began to rise up.
13 reached over and turned on the stereo which began to play "To The Fallen Hero" by God Forbid. 13 reached up and hit the skip button though that was one of his favorite songs, the next song was "Meet the Monster" by Five Finger Death Punch
"You're going to have to face it soon enough, you know that right?" Shamrock asked 13
"Yeah and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." He replied in a voice that was void of emotion.
The drop was hard the landing was twice that and when the squads had gotten out of the ship what they saw was utter chaos, cars wrecked into each other, some burned out, others covered on the inside or outside with blood collapsed buildings and bodies. Alison and the medic from SF2 went around checking the vitals but everyone in the vicinity of the craft was dead, they squads called out into the darkness that surrounded them for anyone and was met with silence.
All of the sudden there was the sound of something cracking, like a bone, the squads pivoted with their weapons raised and saw a human with an obviously broken ankle and half his face missing walking towards them. Behind her Samantha heard someone mutter, "My God" and after which the medic from SF2, a light grey Husky ran up to the man asking if he was okay. The man emitted a low moan and then leapt at the medic and began to tear his throat out. As if his screams were a trigger the rest of the bodies began to rise around them.
"That's impossible!" Alison said, "they were all dead, no pulse, not breathing nothing."
Lucas and the leader of SF2 both shouted, "FIRE" and everyone began to unload everything they had into the figures stumbling towards them. The leader from SF2 was grabbed from an alleyway to his left as the group retreated while firing at the figures and before he could even call for help was carried into the darkness followed by blood curdling screams.
When it was apparent that they would be overrun Lucas gave the command to retreat and everyone ceased firing and began to run from the crowd of creatures shuffling towards them with apparently murderous intentions.
13 and Shamrock had not traveled more than two blocks before they met and impassable wall of creatures which had noticed them and began to chase them though the two were quickly losing them.
"I told you we should've stayed for the party!" Shamrock shouted at 13 over the rock music playing from the stereo and then leaned out the window with his M16 to shoot the few that managed to keep pace with them despite the fact that they were going 65 MPH.
They took three more turns and had put a lot of distance between themselves and the creatures. After rounding another turn 13 suddenly slammed on the breaks and turned the
steering wheel sharply causing the Hummer to do a 360 degree spin and come to a stop.
Even though the trek from the landing spot to where they members of SF1 were had only taken, at max, 10 minutes they had lost the other members of SF2, one of them had been pulled into an alley and the ferret from the dropship had ran into the alley after him and the other was standing near a manhole when one of the creatures reached out, grabbed one of his ankles and pulled him down into the darkness. Then when the squad was resting a truck came around a corner going way too fast and nearly ran everyone over. The vehicle had slammed on its brakes and the squad quickly dashed into the shadows and pointed their weapons at the vehicle afraid of what would happen next.
The first door to open was that of the drivers then the passenger, both of them were armed. The driver saw the passenger getting out and turned to him.
"No way dude, stay with the Hummer." he said to the passenger
"No chance, what if you get bit or ganged up on?" he asked
"Then you're going to get back to The Sanctuary and live your life there. Now get back in the Hummer!" the driver said back sternly
"You don't even know if what you saw was people." He replied back before re-entering the vehicle they had arrived in.
After that the driver turned and looked in the general direction of SF1 sweeping his head from side to side and said
"Alright I know you're out there, me and my friend are in a very big rush and if you know what's good for you you'll come out now."
Lucas turned to Samantha, who had been told to memorize as much about the humans as possible, and asked, "What do you think?"
"I have no idea sir." she replied, "He's definitely different than the other humans we've encountered and might be able to fill us in on what's going on."
Thomas raised his machine gun slightly and said, "Yeah well these fuckers attacked us first so I say waste 'em!"
Lucas reached over and lowered Thomas's weapon and said, "No, I'll go out there and speak to him, if he shoots me then kill them both, find an open space and radio for Evac."
Before anyone could argue he was up and walking over. The human turned towards Lucas but didn't raise his weapon. When Lucas got over to where the human was standing they seemed to have a conversation with the human gesturing behind them a lot. Finally Lucas signaled the rest of the squad over.
When the squad walked over to the vehicle the human seemed very eager to leave and he quickly pointed to Thomas and Allen and said, "You two get in the back everyone else pile into the backseat we gotta go now."
Samantha, Alison and Lucas got into the middle section while the human outside led Allen and Thomas around the back when the human suddenly pivoted with his rifle raised at a shadow down the street. He fired one shot then turned and opened the tailgate and said, "Small dude in the chair, bg dude you gotta sit on the floor."
Thomas was about to argue but Lucas said, "Just do it Hawkins."
After Thomas and Allen had gotten in and the human had closed the tailgate he quickly ran back around the side to his door, turned and shot another two of the creatures then quickly hopped in, started the vehicle and began to drive.
"Just in time" the one with the shamrock said while looking in the side view mirror.
Samantha and the rest of the squad turned and saw a mob of the creatures running at the vehicle.
"What do we do now, go to The Sanctuary?" the human with the shamrock on his forehead asked.
"No, first we get some information." The human with the 13 written on his mask said looking in the rearview mirror.