The Dead Walk

Chapter One: Sabre

Jack Brody stepped onto the runway of Sea Grove International Airport, the small single-engine airplane behind him sputtered as the engine came to a halt. He grasped his black duffel bag from the cargo of the aircraft and nodded to the pilots from the ground who had flown him in. They nodded in return and he started onto the runway, keeping his eyes open for his team as he crossed.

Jack removed his phone from his jean pocket and flicked it on to see several texts from his teammates, "Hey New Guy, we'll meet you on the tarmac when we arrive." The text was from Kevin, one of the older guys on the team.

Jack didn't know what to expect from the rest, he had briefly spoken to them over a virtual meeting on Meet N Greet a team meeting app on his desktop. He was the newest recruit for Black Sabre, a special ops team under direct orders from the President, usually they took direction from the military and operated as their unit but this wasn't the case. He had only applied months ago after being relieved of duty from his old SWAT team in his hometown. It was a whole mess he didn't want to think about right now. As far as he knew, he and only one other member were ex-cops, the rest had military experience of some kind.

Jack found the meeting place on the tarmac next to a lone standing sign on a metal pole on the tarmac labeled, Sabre. He stopped and leaned against a nearby iron stairwell leading into the terminal. After this they were due for their first operation, he had no idea what for or what their objective was, only that they were needed. That was Sabre, after all, they were there only for their objective, nothing else. He opened his phone again to review the roster, six members, he was number seven, there was their captain, officially named Alexander, but went by Al for short. Kevin was the senior on the team and weapons expert, Wayne the tech expert, Jessie the medic, and the other ex-cop was Cass and his friend Brad who had turned him on to the idea of applying.

Jack did his best to memorize their names, he didn't know all of their last names, and last names were not part of Sabre's business. Most members don't get to know each other outside of the team, keep it professional, keep it tight. Sabre was all about effectiveness and precision before personal ties, the philosophy didn't surprise Jack, if anything he understood it. After his last department's fiasco avoiding personal ties may be best.

"Looks like you made it new guy," a woman's voice interrupted him.

Jack looked up from his phone, it was Cass, he wasn't sure how she arrived and it didn't matter. It didn't matter where they all came from as long as they gathered for the mission.

"Yeah," he let out a long breath.

"Nervous?" She asked, "Its okay if you are."

"No," she seemed to look at him questionably as if deciding if he was lying. "What do you think its all about?" He asked.

Cass shrugged, "Could be anything, lots of things going on in the world."

"I'll tell you what its about, you two been under a rock?" Kevin's gruff voice interrupted, his long white beard blowing in the wind on the tarmac.

Jack and Cass looked at him questionably, "This has everything to do with Fall City, the President addressed the nation the other night saying he's sending in special forces. I bet that's us."

"But we're not Army," Jack said.

"Hmm dont think I saw the address," Cass shrugged.

"It's some kind of virus," Kevin grunted as he dropped his duffel bag on the ground and perched himself on a nearby car hood. "Fall City is on lockdown, the hospital is sealed off, residents are supposedly infected with some kind of virus and losing their shit."

"What?" Jack said, "We're dealing directly with civilians?"

"Don't know, that's where my knowledge ends. I doubt it, typically we just provide support for military operations." Kevin said.