I reload swearing all the way. I point it to the sky and pull the trigger again.

CLICK.

This leads to a greater bout of swearing as I load the third carriage into the gun. I have two green flares left. This one fire’s off with a whoosh and the area is quickly bathed in a sickly green.

I put the flare gun away and get my axe ready just in case. I also position myself to watch the road and breach. I lean against a large gravestone. The church is in front of me. With the now green-tinted fog, I watch for movement.

There still might be threats out there that have not arrived so I remain wary. I know it will take some time for the sealing team to arrive. This zone is slightly larger than the ones normally sealed and will require a very long power cable.

The grave chill has lowered my body temperature and I am now feeling the cold much more. I move around to keep warm and check on the different angles of approach.

Give in

The voice like a whisper comes I feel from right behind me. I spin ready but knowing that there will be nothing.

“Not this shit again!” I say to the fog.

Give in

The voice comes again and I spin in the direction I think it came from. It seemed clearer and louder that time. Like a woman’s voice whispering just in my ear.

Not alone

I look around to check but do not spin to face again. My axe and shield are up ready for anything. Still, I see nothing.

Come to me

The air is growing heavier again and I feel the grave chill inside getting stronger. This makes me angry once more and the heat of it keeps the chill back. I hate being fucked with!

“Show yourself!” I call out.

I get no answer but I cannot help but feel that something is with me here. The feeling is a first. It was always a whisper. A whisper that is just behind me.

The idea that I am losing it comes to me. Fear grows within me as I start to doubt my sanity. This is one of the signs that an operative is becoming corrupt. No matter which way this pans out it’s bad for me.

I focus my mind on the task at hand. This is the zone messing with me. It has to be. This is just another angle of attack.

I had to believe that. I had to.

I focus on breathing. My heart rate had spiked making me breathe faster. Adrenaline was pumping through my blood.

I seek calm but find none.

I turn in a circle. Breathing in and out. I keep aware of my surroundings. I see no threats but I am still wired for a fight.

You are us

The voice comes again. I wish I could block it out. But it is there and I can’t, my anger continues to build.

I turn to face the breach, I am standing outside the bubble. Even here I can feel it. The wrongness of it was a weight on my chest. It feels harder to breathe when looking at it now.

Anger surges higher and I am starting to see red in reaction to this feeling. It comes thick and hot. It helps and it does not, it just continues to build.

I focus on the breach. Pushing down on the feelings caused by the breach but failing.

I hate this!

I hate begin here!

I don’t focus on my surroundings as my blood is pumping in my ears. I know that I am vulnerable to attack if I lose focus here and I don’t care, bring it on.

Checking again I see nothing I am actively seeking violence.

Time passes slowly as I stand around waiting this only stokes my anger, I keep moving as I restlessly seek an outlet. I walk to the road and look up and down it. Still quiet. I am not happy with this.

I move back into the graveyard and move around it. The snow is undisturbed apart from where I have been. Another good sign normally but not today.

Over time I walk around the church. As I am walking back to my original standing position, I see movement in the fog. Looking in the direction I have come up the road. I can just make out figures in the fog. I grip my axe so tight I hear my knuckles popping. The impulse to attack is screaming at me and I am about to, but something stops me.

I see lights.

The sealing team emerges from the fog moving slowly pushing the flatbed with the sealer through the snow. I am horrified suddenly by what I was about to do and it was like ice water on a fire.

Grey is leading her team from the front. She sees me and waves to acknowledge that she has seen me. She is armed with a round shield and heavy mace. The armour was like mine. All of the team had their faceplates up to allow them to see.

They reached me after a few minutes of further labour moving the flatbed.

“Operative Harrington.” Grey greeted me.

“Sergeant.” I greeted back, shaken.

“We saw your work on the way here.” She looked at me oddly

“Both or just the one on the road?” I asked to distract her.

“Both. I have you seen any more?”

“Nothing yet. I am hopeful there will be no more.” Part of me knows that I am lying about that.

“Great. Where the breach?”

“Follow me and I will show you.”

I lead her and the others to the breach. Grey scanned the area and began snapping out orders. They doubled back and began to move the flatbed into position. The sealing team began to set up the machine. The security team fanned out creating a perimeter.

I stand to the side to stay out of the way. I decide to join the perimeter after a few minutes of standing around. The soldiers are focused on the fog around us.

“Movement!” The call came from my left. Both Grey and I headed over to the soldier who had alerted us.

I looked in the direction he was. I could not miss the figure moving at the limit of our vision. The details were hidden in the fog but I know a zombie is out there.

“Wait here. I will be back.” I tell Grey. She just nods as I walk away from the perimeter. Part of me screams finally in my head, this scares the rest of me.

I get a short distance and the fog pulls back allowing me to see the zombie. It was a weird merged one like the others. This one had two torsos coming out of the pelvis. The two torsos were forming a v shape. I also noticed a third leg coming out of its stomach. This made the zombie very slow. The zombie was staggering forward at a glacial pace. The zombie was shirtless like the others.

I had my shield up and axe ready. I moved to the right looking for an opening. The zombie was now trying to turn to face me. The four arms were trying to reach for me. They only manage to get tangled together. That’s my opening.

Grave chill returns with a vengeance but I push through it.

I move forward. My axe smashes into the closet head. My angle is off as it moves. The axe rips part of the head away. The skull was open and I could now see the brain. This does not “kill” it.

Get is getting close so I back away and wait for another opening. I think about the legs and if I can take them out. This could knock it over. It is reaching for me as it tries to match my moving around it getting tangled again.

I attack the other head. I come in from its right. This time my axe hits smack on target. The axe blade pierces the skull and as soon as it stops, I rip it back ichor coming out. This causes the staggering to get worse. I continue to attack. Blow and blow cause the skull to collapse. Brain matter, bone and ichor fly with every impact. My anger builds again with each blow.

As soon as its skull collapses I back away. I need to see how it is reacting to the loss of one head. The one head cannot control the body and it falls over. I don’t wait and move in. The second skull is soon destroyed and the zombie stops moving.

I step back breathing hard. The grave chill makes sure I know it’s there. I look around not seeing anything that can be called a threat. I return to the rest of the team.

“Is it dead?” Grey asks.

“Yes. Another weird one.” I lean against a gravestone. “It was damn slow and easy to take out.”

“Good. We will finish here then.” She turns and heads over to the flatbed.

I take this time to think about Grey. She is a 5’8 black woman. A career military woman and was what is called a sturdy build. She had some serious muscle on her arms. She was running this group with clear professionalism.

The machine was soon ready. The technicians flicked the power switch on to close the breach. The switch clicks audibly and nothing happens. The technicians swam the machine trying to troubleshoot the problem.

After a few minutes they try again and this time it works. The machine builds a hum as it powers up. It reaches its peak and the breach is closed. The final pop signals its closure and we all let a sigh of relief. Grey issues orders for the pack-up.

The flatbed is prepared to be returned to base camp. The fog is clearing as we start back to the base camp. The team keep their distance from me as I am spattered in black gore. The stuff smells bad even a small amount. I don’t blame them I know I would.

Grey comes over to me as we are walking back along the road. I am in the rear of the group.

“That went well.” She says to me.

“Yes, but I don’t count it over until we reach base camp.” I am still scanning around the thinning fog. Ready.

“True. I never heard of an attack after a breach closer.” She also starts looking around.

“First time for everything. Ever heard of those freaky melded zombies?” I ask. She says nothing for a moment then turns to the rest.

“Alright people! Eyes and ears open. Until we reach camp this is still a hostile zone.” She yells to the rest as she moves back up the line. The support team becomes more focused on the surroundings. The tech teams just keep on pushing the flatbed through the snow.

The zombie corpses are rapidly degrading as we pass. The team mostly avoids looking at them and tries to ignore the smell.

We are moving a lot slower due to the snow. This gives me to look at the builds I passed coming in. I stop at one of the homes. They were empty still but without the fog, the sense of desolation that was also here is now fading.

Not Alone

The whisper comes again from just behind me. I tense up. Slowly turning. Knowing that there will be nothing behind me. But still, I turn back to where the breach was once.

“Anything?” Grey’s voice startles me.

“Eh…sorry no. Thought I heard something but it was just the wind.” I tell her. I turn and walk back to my position. I know she is watching me, but I ignore her.

She quickly walks past talking with the team members. The fog is burning off faster now even with the weak winter sun. I realise it was a lot later than I thought with the sun starting to head towards the setting.

We reach base camp and Major Hawk is waiting at the perimeter for us. He scans over the group and looks happy that we have all returned. Grey and I head over to him. I decided on the way here best get this done as fast as I can. Hawk had made it clear he wants a quick rundown of events before the main debriefing.

“It appears it went well.” He says to us. Grey nods as the operative it is my job to give the main details.

“I encountered 3 zombies in there that were not normal by any definition when it comes to zones.” I tell him. This gives me his full attention.

“Explain.”

“I think there were six but they were merged together somehow.” He looks at me but stops before saying anything.

“Alright. I will ask more in the debriefing best head over to decon.” He says after a moment of thought. I nod and walk towards the tent. I hear Hawk and Grey start talking. I know it will be about me but there is nothing I can do right now.

It’s been a long day but is almost over.

In my chest, my anger still simmered and as I walked to the tent, I was forced to admit to myself I might have a problem.