Civilization Takes Another Hit.
Civilization Takes Another Hit.
A low voice came over the uplink. "We're vertical in 30. 29. 28." It continued to count down.
"You know your rolls, stick to 'em, and we'll be in Vassail having a few in no time." A new voice said. This one not so low, as to be heard over the count down.
A few tense moments passed, then, "3. 2. 1. NOW, NOW, NOW!!!"
The world flipped around, spinning faster and faster. Suddenly, no movement. A few bodies jerked a bit, but training kicked in and stopped their automatic surge to right themselves.
"I want complete silence. No alarms, no fuck ups." The first voice said. It wasn't harsh, more of a soothing tone, meant to relax nerves.
The body slowly rolled over the ground, as iff possesed my some otherworldy entity. As it rolled next to the tense team members in cover, it sat bolt upright. The head lolled as if dislocated, maybe broken, the jaw slack and drooling copiusly. The limbs hung limply, slapping itself in a dead sway.
"Uh... Sir... we've got something you might want to see..." A youg voice said over the link.
"What the...?" Came the reply.
Suddenly, quite horrificly, the eyes shot open. They seemed to posses a freakish hatred, or some sort of burning rage. It was hard to tell as the attention was immediatly brought to the arms. They had wrapped around itself, and were squeezing. Liquid was flowing from around the arms, as if it was crushing itself. As if to prove this point, the body broke inwards. The nearest person vomited into his faceplate, the splatter quite clear,, and some other gagged, repulsed by the sight.
Immediatly huge flood lights bloomed on.
Some static pricked over a megacom, quickly followed by a pissed off sounding voice. "Tango Team, you are dead. Please report immediatly to Lord Satan, and request further training in anti-interdictor measures."
Groans were heard from the team as they picked themselves up and out of the small ditch.
The body stood up, unwrapping itself, joints popping back into places. The face gave a smile, and a wink. "Hope I didn't scare you TOO bad... Eghehgheghegh..." Its laugh slurred around the slobber.
"God, gunny, it just ain't natural!"
"And what, you think this is Bad? You've yet to See Bad. Gunny Jimmerson's Seen Bad, and let me tell you. It is Bad. That was just an interdictor. Had he popped in real life, there would be a 32 foot radius of blood fire. Cleaning a faceplate would have been the least of your worries."
"I wish Demons played fair..." Came a whiny, out of character voice.
"They do, we just suck at the game!" Returned the customary reply.
"There were a few half hearted chuckles as they rounded up for
It was true. The VigConcTimp ahd been training recruits in the way of Demon tactics for years. The Demons didn't change tactics, because, frankly, they didn't need to. Why fix what was so broken almost nothing but the insain could resist it? The VCT had early on, fortunately enough for just about all living things under its protection, realised this very fact. It also closely guarded it. Pictures leaking were bad enough, if this got out?
Utter anarchy.
No one wanted to know that their only defense were the utterly mad.
The Demons weren't actually spiritual phenomena. In fact, they were far from it. About 32 years prior to the apocolyptic destruction of Terra, a virul infection was found deep in Atlantic Ocean the crystalized in a secluded salt-stym. Obviously, governments had tried to immediately jump on it. Nations fell in less than a week. Mass hysteria, destruction, you name it, the whole she-bang.
A small, and just emerging Bio-Tech company found a temporary retardent. It worked, in the beginning. Unfortunately, the virus seized it and became stronger, eventually forming an almost pseudo-sentience. It didn't talk, didn't feel. It didn't even have instincts, as far as the egg-heads could figure out. They just killed and killed and killed. And through killing, they replicated.
The virus, much like a nightmare, started out normal enough. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, stomach and head aches. Eventually leading to cancer like symptoms and eventually death. But then, again like a nightmare, things turned real bad, real fast. Reanimation followed by accelerated growth in hair, nails, bone, skin, you name it. The person's image fluxuated rapidly, quickly becoming less than.
At first the subject was confused. Compliant to simple commands. But then something close to rage settled in. It was subtle, at first. But the more change the body went through, the worse it got.
Many Earth based scientists theorised that this was caused by a micro-organism that lived in the human spleen, reacting to the virus, but any records and/or tests were quickly lost in the soon to come chaos.
*****
I sincerely hope you enjoy that epic cliffhanger I just handed you. Maybe I'll continue to edit, revise, "ad moar" as it were. What will happen in the story? Who knows? You tell me, and we'll see.
I will be honest though, this was a bit shorter than I had in mind. Like, way shorter... I will come back, though. I promise.
Go check out my other works if these stories of different interests entertain you!