I fall back on the others. I motion to huddle in.

“Zombies ahead.” I tell them quietly. They are all surprised.

“Zombies! This is a Creature zone, not a Grave one.” Karlsson hissed.

“How many?” Mannford asked.

“At least six but likely more.” I answer. “Well, we have got them so this is what we are going to do. Karlsson and I will move up and engage. Mannford on the right Keller the left you two guard the flanks.” I sketch out a rough plan.

“We cannot go around as we need to clear this road for evacuation of trapped civilians. They will swarm when they realise, we are here so we got to hit them fast and hard.” I looked at Keller “Keller be ready. This is not how today was supposed to go. Things are going to get violent fast!”

This was the best prep talk I could come up with on the spot. Even I knew it was lame. They nodded in ascent and we got into position. I turned to Karlsson who looked back and mouthed “Go.”

We quickly advanced I had my shield in front of me and axe ready.

Three zombies came out of the for before us. They were not facing us but a bus. We hit them fast. Only Mannford had nothing to engage. The sound of weapons hitting rotten flesh and bone was heard. Black ichor was soon flying as well as we continued to strike at the zombie’s heads. My anger began to rise in my chest because I knew what was coming.

Grave Chill washed over me but still, I was attacked fuelled by my anger. I would feel it later.

My zombie quickly collapsed. I looked around. Karlsson was finishing him off. Keller was handling hers slowly but was taking it down. Looking to Mannford he was engaging what was turning into five zombies. Moving much fast due to the swarming ability.

I ran over and began to help him. I went in swinging my axe downwards missing the head as the zombie was moving much faster than I am used to. I hit its shoulder and the axe bits deep. I rip it out and mash the zombie back with my shield. Karlsson joins us.

I quickly follow the routine of axe strike and shield strike over and over. The fight turned into a blur of action as I tried to take out as many zombies as possible. Anger surged through me still holding the Grave Chill at bay. Black ichor flew in all directions as blows connected. The fight ended as quickly as it began.

I stopped realising that all the zombies were all down. Breathing hard. I looked at the rest of the group. We were all still alive and standing. We are also covered in the black crap to different degrees.

Mannford and Karlsson were looking good at handling the Grave Chill. Keller was not. I could see her face and it was pale white and her eyes were wide. She was shaking. I walked over to her.

“Keller how are you doing.” I ask her. She doesn’t respond at first. But she looks at me before I ask again.

“No……. I feel strange. I am cold even as I am sweating.”

“Yea. That’s the zone and the Grave type effect of Grave Chill. It’s a bitch when it’s your first time.” I talk to her to focus away from the mental effects of what was happening to her.

“Harrington you need to see this.” Mannford called me over to the bus.

“What have you found.” I asked as I headed over to the bus. The cold was starting to affect me too.

The bus was damaged as the zombies were trying to get in. The door was damaged but I could see inside the bus. It appeared that the bus was full of terrified people. They were so affected by the zone and terrified that they were silent. I looked to the others. We knew that we would find civilians but not this many not this fast.

I looked to the others we were all not sure what to do. I was looking back at the bus when it dawned on me what to do.

“Hello, we are Operatives here to get you out of the zone.” I began. “We need to force this door and then we will get you out.”

I turned to the others.

“Mannford watch out for hostiles with Keller. Karlsson helps me with the door.” Together we got the door open. I went on the bus. I lifted my faceplate so they can see my face.

“We need you to leave the bus we will get you out of here.”

The people began to get off the bus and we discovered that they were from the nearby special needs hospital. This made a complex situation far worse. We realised that some of the kids needed help getting out as they had or need access to wheelchairs.

It takes a good half hour I think to get them off the bus and ready to go. We have to move the zombie corpses away from the bus. Hauling the bodies was not pleasant. The group was freaked out enough as it was. Anything more would break them mentally.

Mannford was still walking a rough perimeter around us. Keller was not engaging with anyone. I had decided what to do with them. I walk over to Keller.

“Keller.” She looks at me. She seems better. “I need you to escort these people out to the zone to the base camp. When there inform command about the zombies and await further orders.”

“Ok………. Wait I taking them alone!”

“Yes. We are going deeper into the zone to attract the attention of anything that will threaten you. It’s up to you to get them out.” I know I am putting a lot on her but it’s not far from the border of the zone.

She is even more hesitant looking around at what she will be needing to do. It looks like she was about to bolt. I think about how to get her to get with the program.

“Keller look at me!” My tone draws her gaze back quickly. “Focus! We need to get these people out. You are going to take them out. The number of hostiles is going to increase. We. Need. Them. Out.” My anger is stirring infecting my words.

She looks at me. Nods in understanding and heads over to the group. I follow and tell them that they will be following the road. Keller would be going with them to protect them. There were some complaints but we got them moving.

We stood waiting for the column to leave. Watch for dangers. Mannford, Karlsson and I gathered to discuss the situation. We looked at each other concerned.

“Zombies in a creature zone. Something is going on here.” Mannford started. We nodded.

“We are going to have to carry on into the zone. I do not know what we will find if we carry on.” I told them. “If you don’t want, I cannot force you to continue. Things are going to get worse from here.”

The two other Operatives looked at each other. The fact was that we all knew these things were not “normal” for zones.

“A type one alert is something we cannot avoid. Remember Portland. We cannot avoid this.” Karlsson spoke sadly. The odds were against us no matter what we did going deeper.

“Should you have sent Keller back?” Mannford asked.

“Yes. You both saw her. She is not ready for this.” I told them.

“Alright, we need to do the following. First, we need to save who we can. Second, find any of the lost support teams. Finally, locate the RCT.” I went over the goals that had not changed.

They agreed.

“It is going to be at least 12 hours in here.” I told them. They grimy knowing it was going by a long mission.

I pulled out the map we had been supplied. Mannford and Karlsson gathered around.

“We are here. That road turning off is Abbotts Road which leads to the special needs hospital. We will need to carry on up towards the hospital here.” I point to a building. “We will point whoever we encounter towards the new command point. We need to engage only the threats that we can. We will be quickly overwhelmed if we engage everything.”

“Agreed but we need to keep the road open. If we don’t anyone evacuating will be slaughtered.” Mannford pointed out.

“Yes, the hospital will be the first problem. If it has been overrun, we will be encountering a lot of fresh undead and even ghouls.” I thought out loud.

“You think it’s been overrun?” Karlsson asked.

“I think so.” Looking at the pile of zombie corpses. Many have freshly risen. My thoughts were grim.

The other two did not gainsay my dark mood. They knew the death toll was going to be bad.

“Let’s go. The hospital is first.”

We started along the road moving slowly. Checking the abandoned vehicles found along the road. We found the occasional civilians trying to find a way out. We sent them down the road.

We reach the outer bounds of the hospital. The fog-shrouded site of the buildings. We knew that this was where things were going to get worse. I looked at them and they at me. We were ready.

The grounds surrounding the hospital were blocked off by a low wall and metal fence. We entered through a vehicle entry point. Vehicles are scattered around clearly abandon in a hurry. Debris covered the ground as well. It appeared that they were trying an evacuation but were caught in the zone expansion.

Blood was clear in several areas and it appeared that some fighting was have happened. We needed to know if the hospital was secure or overrun.

We approached the buildings and the doors ways were open. Many windows were smashed. It was not looking good. The fog was hiding a lot of the buildings and wings.

We could see movement in the fog.

I looked to the others and motioned them to pull back. We gathered at the vehicle entry point in the wall.

“It’s overrun.” I spoke. We were all glum as a lot of people were dead.

“There could be survivors in the building.” Karlsson said hopefully.

We knew this was possible. But we knew it was going to be horrific clearing the building. Time-consuming as well.

I was the leader of this little outing so they were looking to me for a decision. I felt ill.

“Thoughts?” I needed to know where they stood. They were hesitant in replying.

“We go on.” Mannford said.

“We stay.” Karlsson said after a few moments.

Great a draw. What to do. There was a good chance of survivors in a building of this size. Leaving would condemn them to death. The undead could spill out also and block the escape route. Heading on could find more to evacuate as well as the support team and RCT.

I feel like I am going to throw up now. I look to the ground and focus on not letting my nerves and emotions run rampant. I get angrier at being forced to make this choice.

I have to make the choice. Me.

I make it and looked up at the sky.

“We move on.” The others are not happy but nod. “First we block as many gaps in the wall as we can.”

“How?” Karlsson asked.

I look around at the abandoned vehicles on the road that we can see.

“With those.” I tell him.

We go over and begin to move some of them. After what I think is half an hour, we have clogged the entranceway. This rough barricade will slow zombies and skeletons but not stop them.

I lift my faceplate. Breathing in deeply. I look around the zone like any other from my viewpoint at the moment. But there is something in the air that I could not identify. A feeling of something.

“Right let’s go.”

I lower the plate again and we carry on down the road.