Sterling walks around the military base in search of his squadmates. He passes a few regular soldiers on his way around the camp, all of them taking at least one look at him before they resume their work. Is seeing a spec-ops trooper that weird? Sterling thinks, getting a little self-conscious, but ends up just shrugging it off. He soon after finds his squad huddled under a tent around the TV, in various positions. Vale is sitting on a box, Dennelli is sitting Kriss-cross on the ground, Silver is standing with her arms crossed and Vedrana is leaning on the tent pole. Sterling takes notice of their interest in the TV and takes a look for himself before scolding them for wasting time. On the screen, a female news anchor in a brick-red suit holding a piece of paper in both of her hands speaks about some sort of disaster.
"-A disease of an unknown origin has struck the Capital city of the Northwest region, taking the whole city in force," the news anchor states fearfully, reading the paper in her hands. "Reports have shown that the disease has a..." She pauses, breaking into a sweat before inhaling and continuing. "...a 100% fatality rate. If you see anyone afflicted with this disease, please call the Police or Disease Control immediately. New Estarnia is under lockdown, as they were hit the hardest. The military has been deployed to maintain order. For now, stay in your homes and do not leave them until further notice." Someone hands the news anchor a different paper and after a bit of confused talking, she swaps it out with the paper she is holding. She then proceeds to read the paper in her hands. Sterling is displeased. Come on! He thinks in frustration. I want to hear more about the- his thoughts are stopped dead in its tracks after he looks back up at the screen.
"And now, under the request of someone, a missing person report." the news anchor says, five pictures of different people popping up. Sterling doesn't recognize four of them. But the one farthest to the right sends a chill right down his spine. A picture of a happy-looking woman with wavy brown hair and a pretty face stares right back at him. It's only pretty for a second to him though. In the next second, the picture transforms into the woman he saw at the lab, all broken in battered. What scared Sterling the most was the eyes. They were sad. Tearful. Human. What he shot was not emotionless. It was a human being. He backpedals in fear as the broken woman approaches him. As she gets closer, he stumbles and falls onto his butt. He closes his eyes and shields himself with one of his arms as the woman reaches him, but she just disappears. He opens his eyes to see his squadmates staring at him with perturbed looks.
"We don't need to take you to a psychiatrist, right?" Vedrana asks, standing up off of the pole she's leaning on, her arms still crossed. Silver rushes to Sterling's side and checks on him.
"Captain? Are you hurt?" she asks, worried while kneeling beside him. Vale turned around and stopped eating his chocolate bar, which meant he was extremely concerned. Dennelli walks over and helps Sterling up.
"You good, Cap?" he asks, waving his hand in front of a dazed Sterling. Sterling jerks as he finally snaps back to reality. He shakes the image of the woman from his head and hits his helmet with his fist to refocus himself.
"One of the images on the screen startled me," Sterling sighs, walking over to the boxes and sitting next to Vale. "You gonna eat that?" Sterling asks, gesturing to Vale's chocolate bar hanging from his mouth. Vale nods slowly then continues to eat his chocolate. The news continued, and in the time that Sterling freaked out, the missing person report ended and the infection report was continued.
"And now to our field reporter on the scene right outside of all of the chaos. Skyler?" the news anchor says, the screen changing to a camera near the New Estarina quarantine wall. A woman in a vest with a sky-blue helmet with the words 'press' printed on both of them holds a microphone and speaks. "Thank you, Addison. Right here is the Local police and deployed military fending off what appears to be hordes of rioters trying to escape the city." The camera shifts to a horrified soldier in riot gear, his shield covered with blood, leaning on a chair. "Here we have riot trooper Sean Wallers. Mr Wallers, care to tell us what you think about this strange and sudden occurrence?" Sean shudders.
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...
