The call came in January. Pick up for deployment the next day bright and early. Deployment to a zone in the New Forest of all places.

Gregson collected me and we went to our usual helicopter pick up point. And were transported to a nearby landing zone to be driven to the forward base camp. Lou meets us as we got out of the Land Rover.

“Johnny boy got to move with this one let’s go.”

He turns and leads me to the lorry carrying my new gear. We enter the back storage container. My gear is on the racks on the wall and I begin to undress. I hang my clothes in a locker.

“See you got a few scars from your last outing.” Lou commented as I removed enough to allow my scars to be seen.

“Yea, hopefully, we will not have a repeat of that today.”

“From your lips to God’s ear.” Lou said.

“What’s going on here.” I asked pulling the armour off the rack.

“You’ll find out in the briefing but unofficially a new zone opened up.”

“Great a new adventure.” I griped.

Lou laughs at this and reaches out to take my utility belt from the rack. I am zipping the armour up when he hands it to me. I wrap it around my waist and buckle it tightly. The rest of my weapons follow.

“Gladius.” He began.

“Check.”

“Ammo belt and a flare gun.”

“Check.”

“Water bottle and energy bars.”

“Check.”

“Shield.”

“Check.”

“Axe.”

“Check.”

My nerves were not as settled by the routine as normal and I was beginning to get a little anxious. The fear of the unknown is a powerful thing.

The ritual of arming and kit checking was strangely calming normally. It had been created to help us deal with the stress of what we’re about to do. The final item is my helmet which I carry along with my shield. We leave the trailer and head to the command-and-control tent for the brief. As we enter the tent a lot of faces turn toward us.

“Alright, the Operative is here so we will begin.” Alexander was in the back but got everyone’s attention.

We all shuffled to the area set up for the briefing. The map on the board was of the New Forest near the edge that led into farming land. I had no real idea where we were at the moment.

“Yesterday morning a new breach zone was found to have formed in this location.” An army Captain I had never met began.

“Its formation was spotted by the new geo satellite and several civilians walking in the area. Local Police units sealed off the area to the best of their ability by mid-day. We are unsure of the threat nature or level as of yet. Operative Harrington was been assigned to enter the zone and gather the information. The zone breach is predicted to be in this general location.” He pointed to an area on the map deep in woodland in the rough centre of the zone.

Great, I thought it is bad enough trying to spot threats normally but the added environmental factors we’re going to complicate things. I blink at this when did I start thinking in Government official speak. Well, that’s disturbing!

“Thank you, Captain Johnson. We are dealing with a new zone here so extra site security is on hand for today’s operation.” Alexander took over. The captain stood away.

“Hopefully we can get the information we need and close this breach soon so all to work.” He finished and the briefing broke up. He motioned me to follow him and the captain out. Lou followed behind me.

We left the tent and stopped close to the zone permitter. He turned to me.

“John, we have been picking up slightly different energy readings from this zone so we don’t know what will happen when you get in there.”

Great, this was filling me with confidence by the minute. I chose not to speak, not trusting myself. I just nod.

“We have additional support personnel increased if an emergency happens. No heroics just get in and find out what we need to know.”

With that, they leave and head back to the C&C tent. I look around and see at least double the normal number of soldiers and some other people in camo and gear who I can spot are not soldiers from their mannerisms. I put my helmet on.

“Hey, Lou who are those guys over there.” I nod towards a group of men and women with their backs to me and him. They were getting briefed on something. Their attention was focused on the sergeant in front of them.

“Well, those are the new support personal teams. They are made up of people hired by the Government from those who are type 2 in their resistance to zone effects.” He spoke levelly.

“You’re Shitting Me!” I reply.

“Wish I was but loses have been mounting and we are running out of soldiers for active service who can function in a support team role.” He went on sadly.

I knew things were getting bad but this was a clear sign of the scale of the situation. Lou continued as I strapped on my shield.

“We need more bodies so we are recruiting them. The civilian population like you are being hired and we are training them. Remember there is a couple of thousand who rank a type two to the few dozen that are type three like you.”

I shake my head at this.

“Well, Fuck!” That was all I can say.

“Fuck indeed my boy. Fuck indeed.”

I close the faceplate of my helmet and turn to the fog of the zone. As a new zone, the barriers normally found have not been put in place as of yet. This means I will just walk straight in to get to work.

I hesitate. The memories of my last incursion into a zone and the pain were still with me. Yes, I go to therapy and my body healed but what happened to me those are things you don’t forget quickly if at all.

Lou moves up beside me closer than normal and speaks quietly.

“It’s alright you got this.”

I turn and look at him as he turns to face me. He nods and then heads back to the C&C tent. I do not look back but towards the zone. After a few moments, I nod to myself and advance.

## ## ## ## ##

Lou walks back into the C&C tent where Alexander motions him to a quieter spot.

“Well, how is he?” Alexander asks.

“For now, he will be fine but another mauling like the last will affect him. Hell, it would affect me too.” Lou replies.

Alexander nods looking over to the map.

“Why tell him about the energy readings?”

“If we sent him in without telling him he could miss something that could get him killed.”

“Fair enough.”

Captain Johnson moves closer and draws Alexander’s attention to something else. Lou is left to his thoughts. The regret of sending those like John into the zones weighs heavily on him. He wished he could go in his place but for all his skills and experience he was rated as a type 1.

## ## ## ## ##

The fog of the zone envelops us as normal causing my world and awareness to shrink dramatically. The damp air quickly makes everything wet and with the temperature reduction unpleasant. Even with thermal lining in the armour, I notice the temperature change.

Winter is a terrible time for travelling into zones. The natural reduction of warmth and zone weather effects make travelling in one unpleasant. The psychological effects just act as icing on the cake.

The zones boundary is just outside the tree line of the forest. This means that I am into the trees quickly. This is when I discover the first problem that has not occurred to me. The trees are leafless being winter but the branches are adding to the fogs effect of diminishing sunlight. It’s a lot darker than I was expecting. I have a few chemical stick lights but they will draw more attention to me than I am willing to have in a new zone.

The second comes evident as I slowly advance. The swinging room for my axe is extremely limited. After a few practices swings, I realise that this was not going to be practical as my size and axe length mean that getting it caught in something is too high to chance. I put away my axe and draw my gladius.

I continue my advance. The trees and lack of light mean that I am stopping at much shorter distances to check my surroundings. I am travelling about a meter to a meter and a half before stopping. This was going to be a long day.

Ever since entering this zone, there has been a weird feeling that I am being watched. I find myself looking around longer when stopped. I can’t shake the feeling but there is always nothing that seems like a threat. This is on top of the usual zone effect.

As I progress the feeling continues and several times, I stop suddenly. Spinning around I think that something is near but nothing is ever-present. This is not doing anything go for my nerves and my heart rate is spiking. I am sweating a lot more than normal. Shit man pull it together!

The ground is covered with the usual leaves and branches found this time of year. Everything however is wet and I am forced to make sure I am not making too much noise as I go deeper. I also have to remember that I need to look up as well as I am not used to working in an environment where the threats could come from above. The air smells of dampness, earth and decay.

My breathing is out of whack as I move. The feeling of being watched is another factor messing with my mind and my fight or flight response is all over the place. I don’t want to be here. This zone is messing with me badly.

I stop about sixty meters I think into the zone and lean my back against a tree. I use the time to focus on my breathing to get myself back under control. My eyes however keep moving. That is when I spot the first signs of movement.

Ahead of me further into the forest, I spotted a brief flash of movement. Because of the darker nature of this zone, I know it’s a lot closer than I like. I don’t move but keep up my breathing exercises. The fact that I now have a threat I know is close is ironically helping to calm me.

Whatever it is low to the ground and fast. It’s circling. Yeah definitely stalking me. I bring up my shield and gladius. I know it will begin soon.

I spot another flash of movement. From I different angle. Shit more than one.

I brace myself for whatever threat that this zone has is working together to hunt me. This is not a good sign for my survival chances. I have to focus. Turn to one threat the other attacks from the opposite direction. I remain with my back to the tree. It is a wide trunk and will shield me from attacks from my back. The problem is that the roots make my footing treacherous.

Two unknown threats maybe more not a good day at all.

From my left, a blur explodes from a bush and hurtles towards me jumping. I react out of instinct born from constant training and experience. I turn my upper body and thrust forward with the edge of my shield. The momentum of its flight and my shield edge clash and we are both knocked back. I manage to stay standing as I am braced against the tree.

The other threat tries the same from the other direction but again I beat it back with the flat of my shield this time. Finally, I get a look at the horrors that this zone has for me.