QCS Interval 1: Thunderhead

[Heaven Hieghts]

An involuntary smile formed on his face, though it was a small one. "Thank you very much." He looked down at the broken glass in his hands. "It was my sister's." He said. "And before that my father's, she gave it to me before she died. I'll owe you one."

[Sylvonia]

Tobias smiled. "Family heirlooms are one of the most precious things one can have. We understand that it's special to you." A thought occurred to him and he pulled a small bag from a pocket. "I figured it may be wise to bring along something to collect something of interest, but there's other uses for these little bags too." Indeed the plastic was just large enough to contain the glass and still seal easily.

[Heaven Hieghts]

He gave Tobias a small smile and dumped all of the glass into one hand then took the bag from him. Dumping the glass into the bag, he looked up at the other soldiers. "There happen to be a bar close to base?"

[Segronovina]

"Well friend..." Laurent suddenly spoke up from behind Tobias "...I do apologize for your watch, but I believe there are more important matters at hand." Laurent moved to stand by Tobias.

He looked at the group before him.

"Chiefly, how do we plan to get in to the city and then get those civilians out?" He asked "I honestly believe we should split-forces, have one enter by the metro tunnel and hold it for the second group until they can get the civilians there." Laurent shrugs "Of course that's only one of a few currently undeveloped ideas I've had." Laurent said.

He looked to the others for any ideas.

[United human countries]

"The evac is at the Statesman Hotel. Biggest building in the city." A voice said from behind them. "Sorry I'm late. Was just informed of my promotion. First Lieutenant Edward Harrison, reporting for duty. I'll be your field commander for this little venture. With luck, it'll be a simple crash and grab, we hit the roof, evac the civilians, and get out. Simple."

[Sylvonia]

"Then I shouldn't be here." Tobias chuckled. "I'm really bad luck." He could just imagine how bad this could turn out. "But what kind of infection are we dealing with? How is it spread?"

[United human countries]

"By bodily fluids, Sylvonian. Actually, mostly saliva. If these things bite you, it's all over. You grow feverish, expire, then rise as a walking corpse that's semi aware of it's actions for the first couple of hours. Fun."

[Segronovina]

Laurent watched Lieutenant Harrison with a raised eyebrow as he spoke of the infection.

"You realize you've just cursed the entire operation: you never say it's going to be easy or it never is." Laurent chuckled.

He looked at the group around him as he readjusted his footing.

"Now not meaning to be rude, but can we stop worrying about the watch when there are people who may die out there, waiting for us?" He asked, looking around.

[Mereshka]

"God, if you're even out there, please let them all be headshots." Patrick took a death breath, letting it grunt out.
"Go!" He nearly screamed.

Saya didn't waste her breath on confirmations, or on warcries as her countrymen would have done, instead channeling all her energies into shooting off like a rocket as soon as Patrick gave the word. And like a rocket she was, nearly a blur as she sped to a speed that would put any Olympic athelete to shame. With this sort of speed at her command, it was no surprise when she was upon the horde of creatures in a matter of seconds.

And what came next made her inhuman sprint seem tame by comparison, as she tore into the zombies with a vengance, dancing this way and that, using her sheath to bat aside the demons as she ripped right through them with the katana. Her accuracy was unnerring, and with every stroke of the blade a zombie lost a limb, or had a head cleaved in two.

However, fast and skillful as she seemed to be, it was obvious that she couldn't last long amongst the horde, made apparent by a zombie grabbing the arm that held the sheath, and biting deeply into the flesh before she managed to seperate its head from its shoulders. Her sheath lost in the scuffle she turned to using two hands, thereby increasing the carnage even further. She was a whirlwind of death now, living true to her word of cutting her way through, and using to hands was able to, with strength shocking for such a small girl, literally slice the things in half with a single stroke.

[United human countries]

Patrick burst the the crowd, heading straight for Saya. "Don't fight, just run!" He slammed his fist into a face, and nearly retched as his hand went straight through the rotten flesh and pulped bone. "Run, I said!" With a swift motion, he unclipped a grenade from his belt, pulling the pin and releasing the spoon before rolling into the shambling horde and sprinting as fast as he could in the opposite direction

[Mereshka]

Saya spun, withdrawing the sword from a zombie head, slicing across the faces of two more on the backswing, and then instantly obeyed the order, sprinting full speed through the crowd, hardly slowing at all even when forced to cut her way through the occasional zombie that got in her way. "How much farther to the extraction poin?" She screamed. There was no end to the hord yet in sight.

[United human countries]

"Just past the next block, up a flight of stairs." Patrick stared at the bright crimson stain. "You're infected."

[Mereshka]

"I'm fine." She growled, cutting diagnoly upwards through another zombie,, but slowing down just slightly. She knew that if she outpaced Patrick, she'd be torn apart alone.

[United human countries]

"You're bitten. That's not fine. I may not know exactly what they are, but, I know what they do."

[Mereshka]

"I. Am. Fine." She told him in a tone brooking no argument. "Now where are those damn stairs? We can talk this out at the Extraction Point."

[United human countries]

Well, no stairs." Patrick rapped his knuckles against the few remaining glass panes. "But, this is it. Stairwell probably be best. Here." He whipped his coat off and handed it to Saya. "I don't think any of the other other survivors will be happy to see a bite mark, regardless of explination."

[Mereshka]

Without a word, Saya wiped away the blood, and showed him her bitten arm. There was not a mark, not even a scar. "Again. I'm fine."

[United human countries]

"That's..impossible. But this is supposed to be impossible. It can wait." The lobby was deserted and bloodstained, faint moans drifted down a cracked marble hallway. "And here is the..stair..well.." The stairs had been destroyed to the second flight. "Well, here goes. Hey up there!" After what seemed like an eternity, a head popped over the railing. "We're tired, uninfected, we need to get up." Within seconds, a rope ladder clattered to the floor. "After you, Miss."

[Mereshka]

Saya nodded, and quickly scampered upwards, making sure to slow down as she neared the top, not wanting to spook anyone. I'm surprised that there are any survivors left. She thought to herself, nearly incredulous at the idea. It had been hell out there, literally, and without Patrick's military training or her...advantages, she was certain they they wouldn't have survived either.

[United human countries]

Patrick took one look at the Civilian's bearing and summed it up simply. "Military?"

"Yeah." The man said, half sigh, half grunt. "Evan Grey. Retired, Union Army. Most of our people here are police, military on leave, or retired, like me. We've shacked up pretty well here, all the floors are clear, we do a sweep every hour or so just to make sure. We've got a camp set up on the sixth floor, roof is on the seventh. Up until yesterday we had some scattered radio contact with other survivors, now we're stuck with white noise, or the military dispatch. You two are probably the last god damn human beings out there."

Patrick's nod was barely a tilt of the head. "We've run into some trouble here and there. Nothing we couldn't handle or run from though."

[Sylvonia]

"By bodily fluids, Sylvonian. Actually, mostly saliva. If these things bite you, it's all over. You grow feverish, expire, then rise as a walking corpse that's semi aware of it's actions for the first couple of hours. Fun."

"If that's the case, we should go." Tobias slung the rifle over his shoulder. "Lead the way." It was halfway between a command and a request, but it was clear he was simply done with wasting time and meant no disrespect.

[Mereshka]

Patrick took one look at the Civilian's bearing and summed it up simply. "Military?"

"Yeah." The man said, half sigh, half grunt. "Evan Grey. Retired, Union Army. Most of our people here are police, military on leave, or retired, like me. We've shacked up pretty well here, all the floors are clear, we do a sweep every hour or so just to make sure. We've got a camp set up on the sixth floor, roof is on the seventh. Up until yesterday we had some scattered radio contact with other survivors, now we're stuck with white noise, or the military dispatch. You two are probably the last god damn human beings out there."

Patrick's nod was barely a tilt of the head. "We've run into some trouble here and there. Nothing we couldn't handle or run from though."

"And what a run it was." Saya said with a heavy sigh, finally seeming to relax now that they were relatively safe. "Enough to leave a girl starved in fact..." Her tone was nothing but speculative, but there was almost...an edge to it, something that hinted at formerly soft living, where speculation such as that would usually produce a meal, and quickly.

[United human countries]

"We don't have much, canned bread, some MRE's dropped earlier. We could try to do a food raid on the cafe on the first floor, but, I don't know what the situation is down there. Number of infected, et cetra." Evan spread his hands. "Other than that, we have water, some food, bland, blankets from the rooms, not quite home, but it's comfortable."


On board ship

"Right, we do need to move. Wasted enough time as is. Right, liss'en up, all QCS field members hit the flight deck. We'll be leaving at Twenty Hundred hours sharp. You've got thirty to go. Get moving."

[Mereshka]

"We don't have much, canned bread, some MRE's dropped earlier. We could try to do a food raid on the cafe on the first floor, but, I don't know what the situation is down there. Number of infected, et cetra." Evan spread his hands. "Other than that, we have water, some food, bland, blankets from the rooms, not quite home, but it's comfortable."


On board ship

"Right, we do need to move. Wasted enough time as is. Right, liss'en up, all QCS field members hit the flight deck. We'll be leaving at Twenty Hundred hours sharp. You've got thirty to go. Get moving."

"Ah well, what works works I suppose..." She said with another sigh, and a shak of her head along with it. "Does anyone know when help is supposed to be here?" She looked around hopefully. "You mentioned you have contact with the military?"

[Shenyang]

A man in strangely mottled urban camouflage was hanging around outside the briefing, shifting his weight uncomfortably to try and get the QCS-issued armor into some semblence of a comfortable arrangement.

"What I wouldn't give to be rid of this stuff..." he muttered, as he attempted to pry the armored plate up off his chest.