The Zombie Train New Horizons

Chapter 19: Contact

It was dark and foggy. No birds. No crickets. Nothing. Misty trees materialized around me, slowly turning into a forest. I heard the crunching of footsteps in dry leaves. I instinctively drew my pistol. The crunching grew closer.
"Who's there?"
No response.
I kept my gun up near my hip, in the "instinctual" position, just in case they tried to rush me. The crunching stopped. Then, a song began to play. The song. The gentle chiming only provoked me to become terrified, I knew this was bad news.
Suddenly, two deep red lights appeared in the brush, almost like eyes. I raised my gun to fire. The demonic, mechanic creature attacked.

I woke with a start, surprising Vlad.
"Jesus Christ man!"
"S-s-sorry."
"What happened?" Vlad gripped his rifle.
"I uh... had a bad dream."
"Now's not the time for any dreams, we'll be in our killing zone by dawn tomorrow, I suggest you get some sleep." He rolled back over in his sleeping bag, I did as well, eyes open.

Early the next morning, we were up hiking through the Russian backwoods. We had been tasked with recon on the area of Samarskiy on the border of Ukraine, to see if the area was overrun with zombies. We had been briefed that a whole company of men lost contact a few days ago. If they were still alive, we would rebuild contact.
We treaded carefully, despite the apocalypse, nature could seriously punish the careless man. I packed a Swiss Army knife, a flint and steel, a hatchet, short range radio equipment, and among that, a roll of duct tape. I had twelve extra stripper clips for my Springfield, four in pairs on either side of my hips, and four in a quick draw position on my upper chest. Two pistol mags on my lower chest in a quick draw position, and six split over my back half on my hips. Ammo for days. I had packed STG mags in my backpack, I had my assault rifle slung behind me, ready if I needed it. I also had a sling on my Springfield, so if in a tough spot, if I had to drop my rifle, it would hang at my hips until the danger was over. I had it all sorted out.
We continued to hike up a hill where we could overlook the area, the sun following our footsteps. Once we had gotten ourselves comfy, I volunteered to be spotter. I scanned the area, looking for anything that betrayed the presence of anything alive. So far nothing.
"I got something." I head Vlad mumble. "House, cream picketed fence. Big yard. Tree in the middle of it."
"Yeah I see him."
It was a man holding an AK-47. He was wearing a balaclava. I used the rangefinder on my binoculars to prepare for a shot.
"300 yards." I looked at the trees blowing in the wind. "Adjust half a mill left."
"Got him."
I kept looking, around, Vlad still tracking the man.
"Looks like he's a survivor looting the town."
"Maybe."
Then I saw him waving his arms. Off to his left, a van's rear doors flung open. Out came a man wearing a Russian uniform, followed by another man with a revolver to the soldier's head.
"Okay, they're hostile." Vlad commented.
I picked up my Springfield, training on the revolver guy.
"On three, green. One... two... three."
Two shots rang out almost simultaneously. Both men dropped. I looked through my scope at the utterly confused soldier.
"You want to free him or do I?" I chuckled, cycling the bolt. I took aim at the rope bondage, barely scratching it. I fired. Through the scope, I saw a cloud of straw come flying back down. The bewildered soldier regained his wits, picking up his captor's rifle, waving to where he thought we were.
"Let's get him back for questioning."
I took up the flare gun, launching the bright blue projectile over the park. I got up, stretching my legs after more than an hour's worth of laying down. I shook down my sleeping bag that I used to pad the ground, packing it into my backpack. I followed Vlad down to the rally point.