Sterling walks up to one of the rifles but is careful not to touch it. What the hell... Sterling thinks, unfamiliar with a situation like this.
"What happened here?" Silver asks. "Did someone else already intercept them?"
"No, none of our forces are in the area." Sterling replies. "Also, whoever stopped them wasn't armed. No bullet holes in the ground or surrounding environment. Not a firefight, there are no bodies or bullet casings on the ground. That leaves an ambush via melee attacks, but still no bodies. The only things still here are their rifles, But not a single shot was fired. If they fired shots, we would have heard it from the outpost." Sterling's eyes venture to the bloody footprints. He motions over to Silver and they track the bloody footprints, as they appear to be heading towards the Capital city, new Estarnia. The footprints were accompanied by a trail of blood, which was getting bigger and bigger every step. The footsteps were also beginning to be more and more out of place and uneven. The two soldiers stop at a small river, tainted red with diluted blood. Sterling and Silver exchange concerned looks as Sterling bends down at the river bed to inspect the water, still careful not to touch anything, and still shaken by the state of the women in the lab.
"Silver, where does this river lead?" Sterling asks, knowing Silver did her research on the area, as she's never let him down before.
"It's the river that goes around the city, one of the last ones in the area, and by far the largest," Silver states. "It's the water supply to the city. One of the only natural water reserves left." Sterling pauses, glances at the blood in the water, and breaks into a cold sweat. His brain zooms to a memory of the woman's horrible affliction, and a question hits him. Is everyone in the city doomed to suffer the same fate? Sterling thinks fearfully. He quickly shakes off the fear and mentally slaps himself in the face, while Silver cluelessly watches his internal struggle with a perplexed expression on her face. Sterling shoves logic and reason into his brain, convincing himself that it simply just wasn't possible. But the back of his brain defied the false logic he planted in himself.
"Silver, let's head back. We lost the package." Sterling says, turning away from the river and walking back towards the Death Hammer's stronghold. The two soldiers arrive back through the hole in the fence from which they left and find the other three members standing around a man in light tactical gear and a ski mask, being restrained by Vale. Vale is holding the man in a chokehold, with Dennelli pointing a pistol at the man's head.
"Ah, Sterling!" Vale says, seeing the Captain. "We caught one of the Hammies!"
"We're the Death Hammers!" The man says, staining his voice, uncomfortable from the chokehold. "Not whatever foolish slang you made up!" The man struggles a little but stops when he sees Sterling approach him. Something about Sterling seemed to freak the man out. Sterling could tell that the man was a little old to be in the fight, but experienced enough to handle himself.
"Vale, drop him," Sterling says in a menacing voice, intimidating the man. Vale drops him and the man hits the group, crawling up to his hands and knees. He lifts his head only to come in contact with Sterling's boot, as he kicks the man's head onto the floor, the man's face hitting the ground hard. "You don't deserve to look at us, Death Hammer crap," Sterling says coldly, pointing his rifle at the man. The malice in Sterling's eyes intensifies, beginning to startle even the other members of Alpha Squad. The man's arm struggles to move but is quickly pinned down by Sterling's foot, as the man screams in pain. "Now, answer my questions before you end up in the same state as your unwilling patient." Sterling growls, angered by the thoughts of what happened in the lab and the man's possible connection to it.
"You," the man asks in a congested and pained voice, his nose bleeding through his mask from hitting the floor. "I'll never forget...your damned face."
"And I'll never forget your ugly mug either!" Sterling yells, kicking the man in the side, warranting another scream of pain from him. "What the hell happened in that laboratory!? You better fucking tell me!"
YOU ARE READING
THE GRAVES WE DUG OURSELVES
HorrorA swift order from the officer and the turrets and mortar crew fire their weapons, laying waste to the infected horde. At least, that's what should have happened. In reality, nothing changed. A few bodies went flying, sure, hundreds of infected drop...
