Operation: healing arrow

First contact

Apollo's pov
I pushed open the door with my left hand before I heard chittering to my right followed by a loud grating scream, I snapped my aim to the right as Buck said "oh shit" just for a deformed discolored person rushed me. The large spikes jutting from their skin and vibrant red veins carving their way across the burnt ashen skin like a river through a valley. The shock of the sight caught me off guard for about half a second before my training took over and I fired a burst into the thing as I stepped back bumping into Ela and then falling over. I heard Pulse's shotgun go off and the whimpering stopped and I rolled off Ela and pushed myself up, Ela groaned "fuck you're heavy" I chuckled as I radioed "We've got one EKIA" Harry replied "bag it, doc can use the subject" I looked at Nomad "you're up" as I spoke "form a line, we clear this floor. 2 meters between each other. Let's get it done" we all spread out and slowly worked our way across the floor. I battled with my nerves as the floor moved under my foot and the beams screamed in protest.
I heard the screams of the infected followed by shots to my left, the call from Blackbeard of "3 down" as I stepped around a corner and one pounced on me, it was different. It had large glowing lumps with spikes, it screamed in my face before nomad's air jab landed next to us. I got thrown through several cubicles landing on a computer groaning as the screen shatter and a small piece of glass embedded itself in my calf. I heard a disgusting noise of something fleshy exploding before I sat up and saw the end of the shard. I took a deep breath and pulled the shard out hissing at the pain before breaking into my med bag. I pulled out my bandage pressing it to the would before wrapping it tightly with gauze. I heard pulse "hey Disciple, you good?" I looked over and nodded "just a shallow cut" I stood and bounced on the leg wincing in pain before I nodded. And I heard calls of clear, Buck asked "Did it scratch you? Did it?" I did a quick once over "No" as he looked towards my leg warily "what happened there?"
      I reached down and picked up the bloody shard he nodded as the nerves started to resolidify, we started back to the stairwell, we continued going floor to floor clearing it out searching for any survivors. I sighed as we reached the half way point, where the tower had been struck, where half the tower had been taken off. The beams were stress the most here for the the next 13 floors. I heard Harry "be advised, LAPD SWAT has begun clearing the lower levels of the tower you're currently in." I replied on the net "rog' what floor are they on?" He replied as we started clearing the floor. "The third, most of the people in the tower started evaccing the moment the tower got hit. You're just finding stragglers." I replied simply "rog" as we kept clearing out. Ela paused and commented "anyone else getting chills walking that close to the edge?" I heard Pulse reply "Don't worry about it, you have a parachute" she laughed sarcastically as the operator in me took over and I ordered "tighten it up" and we continued to check through the floor before we went to the next one.
       This process went on for a couple floors before a horde of the creatures rushed us, I fell to a crouch and the team spread out as we advanced forward firing into the ground as they rushed us. One got close enough where I grabbed the grunt by the back of the neck and spun flinging it off the edge and down to the ground below. I quickly lifted my gun and rejoined the fight, the horde was very quickly dropping in terms of numbers. I sighed in relief when the last one dropped before I heard a wet sloshing sound and an infected person lifting themselves with tentacles appeared out of the puddle. I heard Buck yell "Apex!" As we started firing, we continued to fire but it felt like we weren't making any progress. I called "let's work our way back! We can reform a plan and deal with this! Ela, pulse, Nomad and Buck you're out first!" Blackbeard looked at me for a second before he nodded and we continued to fire at the apex, it rushed forward and I saw Blackbeard pull his knife and meet it halfway slamming his knife into the side of its neck.
He backed up and lifted his mk17 before I heard Pulse "You're clear!" As I looked at Blackbeard "Go!" To which he replied "Peeling! Peeling! Peeling!" As I stepped into the row behind him and back out firing. Once we got to the hallway I looked at Buck "how do we deal with this thing?" He replied simply "we gotta put a metric fuck ton of rounds in its head." I sighed and muttered "fucking of course" I looked at the team and said "we go in, we find cover, we kill this thing and look for more survivors" we're almost there "Baseplate, what floor is the SWAT team on?" He replied after about 30 seconds "24, they've evaced 16 people" I replied "rog'" as I looked at the door and took a breath "let's go" Ela asked "permission to take point?" I answered easily "granted" as the door got booted open and Ela pushed in immediately firing, I followed her in and then the rest of the team followed me. We spread out and tucked in and out of cover whenever the Apex fired a projectile at us. Then the apex did something I wasn't expecting, it summoned more grunts and roaches.
      I yelled to buck, the only one with experience against these things, "They can do that?!" He nodded as we dropped the first wave of grunts. I heard Nomad "I feel I was denied critical information!" I looked to my right and asked Nomad "Think you can put an airjab on the far side of it?" She nodded before asking "why? Don't we want to keep distance?" I replied simply "trust me" before yelling over "Buck, Blackbeard and Ela. Switch with me!" They looked at me in questioning as we passed each other before I ended up alone and I heard nomad "Airjab being deployed" and the sound of the compressed air being released was heard. I listened for the detonation and heard a shriek of surprise from the apex as I tore out of cover yelling "cease fire!"  As I turned in and jumped drop kicking the apex. I watched it fly off the edge before impacting an expose beam and being split in two. I heard Blackbeard behind me "all according to plan?" I nodded as I looked back at him "let's get moving. We've got to clear 21 floors." They nodded as I heard Ela "we should get moving then"
21 floors later
      I kicked the decrepit door in and watched it fall flat as I came around the corner and Buck did the same, we paused for a second before I said "on me" they quickly formed a line and we started moving until I heard a can get kicked. The skittering of metal on the floor caused all of us to freeze before the team spread out to several strong positions to mount a defense from if we needed to. I took a couple steps back and found myself a support pillar to lean around, we waited tensely until I saw the barrel of a police issued M4. I called "Blue, Blue!" Causing the officer to freeze as I hesitantly stepped out of cover. His rifle snapped to me as I said "we're friendlies, calm down" his eyes were wide with fear as his sergeant barked "Christ kolinski, put the fucking gun down!" He responded to the order as I walked forward "Disciple, Team rainbow" he walked forward "Sergeant McMahon, LAPD SWAT" I asked "how were things on the way up?" He replied "we got a good amount out but a couple floors down those creatures got thick"
I looked over the squad "lose anyone?" He shook his head no, "had a couple close calls but no" I nodded once more and said "Let's go, we're getting out of here. Blackbeard, you still got that corpse?" He nodded as I radioed "Thunderbird, this is Disciple" I got her voice in my headset "This is Thunderbird, send traffic disciple" I replied "Our team plus locals are egressing to the roof, eta 20 mikes." She replied "rog, try to hurry. The cities going to shit, how copy?" I radioed back "good copy" before I heard Ela "Time to leave, I'll take point" I nodded as we started to the doorway, I heard Nomad "Sergeant, come with us. We're your extraction" he nodded and gave the order as we started the long boring move back to the roof. I made small talk with the police until we reached the roof, I radioed "Thunderbird, this is Disciple" I got "go for Thunderbird, send traffic" in reply. I said "we're on the x, get us out of here. This tower isn't stable." She replied "on target in 1 Mike" I yelled my orders "Buck, Blackbeard, have that body bag ready to move! SWAT you're on first!"
They didn't argue with the order as I aimed at the roof access door, I heard Thunderbird "30 seconds" as Buck yelled "30 seconds!" And we all echoed it. I heard the chopping of helicopter blades before buck and Blackbeard grabbed the body bag and followed SWAT onto the helicopter. I yelled "get on!" As I stood and walked backwards climbing on after my team. I walked to the cockpit and tapped Thunderbird's shoulder "we're all on, get us the fuck outta here" she nodded as the helicopter lifted off and I heard her "Baseplate, were en route. Test subject secured, all teams accounted for." I leaned out the door and looked back at LA commenting to myself "it really is going to shit, how are we gonna win this thing?" I leaned back in and closed the door before I looked around and said "you guys did good, we're probably getting sent out immediately." They nodded as I spoke once more "I'll talk to doc after we bring the body to him, take 10 minutes rearm and reset. I'll brief when I get told" I got thumbs up before I walked back to the cockpit and looked through the windshield.