The Plagues Series: Emergency

Chapter 16

We wrapped briefing just after sundown. The first phase, the missile barrage was to begin just before dawn tomorrow.

We were flown from The Outpost to Dalian, something that seemed to make more sense to be done first since it meant traveling back westward, but in the fray of the preparation for the assault things probably got mixed up. It was here we would get prepped for deployment.

Dalian was a coastal city that was going to be where we flew from to get to Korea, as well as where the naval part of the assault was to be launched from. The assault on Japan was being laucnhed from northeastern China and eastern Russia. All the news here was in Mandarin, a language none of us, except Jay spoke. The TVs perched in the shop windows or in the back of market stalls were either off or had something other than the news on.

We were put up in an inn near Jinzhou bay. The locals seemed pleased to see us, decked out in our AMICA non-combat uniforms. The uniforms were a black and grey digital camouflage pattern with the AMICA universal flag patch on the chest over the heart.

We were free to go off and explore Dalian until dawn; our deployment was to begin tomorrow from a makeshift forward operating base just outside of town.

I sat down on the porch of the inn as a breeze off the water created doldrums of light snow. They were fiercely whipped up, then puffed out of existence just as fast.

The floor boards of the porch creaked as Rogers walked over to the chair next to me, a mug of blood in hand.

"As you've probably guessed,"he said, his voice creaking like the chair as he sat, "this isn't my first rodeo." He took a sip from his mug.

"You're a U.S. Marshall, right?" I said.

"Was, but yup. For fifteen years. There was even an opening for me in the CIA. And then one day, I was the lead on my umpteenth raid, and well," he gestured over himself and smiled disingenuously at me, "here I am."

"What happened?"

"A raid gone bad is what happened. That's always how it goes. It's never routine. But the vamp thing hadn't really picked up. This was before L.A. and all that." He sighed and set his mug down then turned to me. "Look, kid, I've had my eye on you. You're good. It's why you're here." He adjusted himself and narrowed his eyes. "But you're complacent. I see it on your face. You only wanna know what this is gonna mean for you. You think you're invincible because you haven't found your spot yet. Look at me. I had it all figured out, and here I am to help lay a smackdown on the country I used to be an ally of." He softened up his tone a bit. "I'm saying this to all the guys: you don't know what to expect over there so keep your head up. But you especially. I heard your conversation with Absol. You make sure that your place is a part of the team. Understood?"

I forced a nod, swallowing my pride at his presumptuousness. "Yes, sir."

He smiled on half his face. "Good." He grabbed his mug and got up. "And stay away from the news, alright?" he said over his shoulder. "And I don't want want you getting Jay to translate for you."

"Of course," I said, clenching my jaw.

He nodded then sauntered back inside.

 I sat and composed myself, my hands clenched. I felt like I was already aware of everything he said, yet I was still cringing at myself.