The Anomaly Spiral (work in progress)

CHAPTER ONE: THE EXTERMINATION SQUAD

"My god! The stone- it's a hive! It's out of control! I-I thought I could learn from it, I mean understand it at least! But no... if you're seeing this and they haven't already gotten out yet... please, for the love of god quarantine this whole building and burn it to the ground! This is Chief Scientist Gregory, I-I'm so sorry." The video ends, as Commander Bradley finishes handing out the classified files to his Extermination Squad.

"Now before the building went into full lockdown and our communication was cut off, the good doctor sent us this video along with the files you see in front of you. Captain Reiner, your team's mission is to infiltrate the facility and eliminate any and all Anomalies on sight. Thankfully, Dr. Gregory has done us the great service of identifying the threat you four will be facing."

Each team member opened the folder, only to be greeted by images of monstrous, ghoulish-looking people with animal-like bloodshot eyes. They were what was left of the workers and scientists, twisted into something else, something wrong. Reiner could already tell this was going to be a difficult mission, but he had faith in his companions, Rex and Salem. For six years, he had led the two of them in and out of the most bizarre scenarios this screwed-up world could offer. Parasitic or not it was just another anomaly.

"According to our intel, the best way to put these things down is to aim for the small lump on the back of the skull. That's where these parasites embed themselves, using our improved weaponry this should not be a problem. Hit anywhere else and you're just wasting bullets they will still attempt to kill and infect you, should this happen you all know what to do. If you cannot get a clean shot to the back of the skull your next option is to hit the legs or any other vital point that could knock these things off balance making it easier for a kill shot." Bradley stated as the team finished looking over the files.

Reiner took a glance around the table examining his team and attempting to read the mood, he knew Salem and Rex would be unfazed and prepared as they had faced down worse things than this in the past years on this job, his concern was for the rookie Cain. He was young and impulsive but smart and ruthless, Reiner had a feeling something wasn't right about him.

Bradley continued, "Also command would like you to find the stone artifact previously mentioned and destroy it. To do this and deal with the hostiles we will be supplying the four of you with the AE Suits, these will protect you from any anomalies you may encounter along with our new standard issue Semi-Auto rifles courtesy of Costa. "He is waiting for you now, head down there suit up and make us proud."

As the Commander saluted the team they stood and responded in kind before marching off to the resupply depot to obtain their gear. "Yknow.. So far we've fought shadows men, demons, undead, bugs...parasites controlling humans doesn't sound too bad." Rex sarcastically joked. "You would think what remains of our government would stop experimenting on all the weird shit popping up lately, it would save the extermination squad tons of manpower and time," Salem responded. Cain nodded "I'm inclined to agree seems to me we're relying on stuff we don't understand and can't possibly trust."

"Well if it isn't our top extermination squad!" a loud voice boomed through the hallway from across the way. The large man hurried over, it was none other than Logistics Officer Costa head of Antria City's department supply depot the giant stood at six feet with a welcoming expression upon his scarred bearded face. Costa used to be one of the best anomaly exterminators before he simply resigned due to wanting to spend more time with his daughter. Now he runs the depot, he even creates a lot of the experimental weapons, armour and tech using his years of experience fighting and his talent with tools.