Heroes never die

Ch. 1 Downfall

We were in the helo on our way to Creve Coeur. Our helicopter pilot was my good friend Josh and his copilot was Enriquez. We had flown together in many missions. I looked around at my team. We were made up of the best Guardians. There was Zach, Guardian 27. My second in command. I could always count on him to keep calm and never have clouded judgement. There was Eben, Guardian 68. He is tough as they come. He is willing to give his life for the man to his left or right without a second thought if the situation required it I could always rely on him to get a job done. Then there was Gage, Guardian 69. He is our sharpshooter him and Zach work best together and he always seems to know what he needs to do to get the job done. Then there is Steve, Guardian 2. I always looked to him like a little brother. He is the muscle. And I know I can count on him to follow through with any order I give. His older brother Jake is also a Guardian he is a sniper instructor. Next there is Trevor, Guardian 13. He is our tactics and strategy guy. He is one of our smartest especially with combat planning. Last but not least is Cody, Guardian 45. He is the Lone Wolf of the squad. The only time he works better then when he is alone is when it's just us. We have known each other the longest he knows what I'm always thinking and I always know what he's thinking. He wasn't with us though because he was trying to get to his dad who was outta state. He had left earlier that day.
   I pointed to the screen on the helo. I said, "ok here's a recap of the zombies we know of so far. First off we have Runners. They are fast, size of teenagers, bite infects others, not seen as often due to most are killed early on due to the fact they just run right at you. Next is the Walkers. A bite from a runner changes a human into this, not slow but not fast either, about as strong as your average Marine. They are dumb and they attack with there hands and teeth. There bite will not do anything. Next up is the Elite. After being a Walker for awhile they transform into this. They are 5-7 ft. Tall, smarter, knows basic tactics, can follow orders, knows how to operate weapons, slightly stronger, and they have basic armor. Then we have the REG. REG stands for Royal Elite Guard. They are a lot stronger and pretty hard to kill they are what the zombies send to hunt us. They can only take you with about 5 or more. If you encounter numerous REGs and you are alone you do not engage. After Elites have proved themselves they transform to a REG. It doesn't happen a lot. They are 7-9ft. Tall. They have heavy armor. They are really smart, really fast, and really strong. Last but not least we have the Berserker. Not much is known about them. We don't know where they come from how they become what they are or how many their are. They are huge. Between 10-16 ft. Tall. They are strong and muscular. They are dumb and the zombies use them like tanks. Luckily we haven't encountered very many of them.
The helo dropped us off and we were to meet back up at the trailer park for pick-up at 0600 hours the next day. Little did I know we would never make it to the pick-up. We had split up and agreed to radio silence. I later found out Zach, Gage, and Trevor got trapped at the Polar Bar as soon as I had left them. They tried to hold their ground but ran out of ammunition and lost. Eben got ambushed and killed at his house. This is the start to the downfall of the United States. Creve Coeur and the rest of Illinois had been overrun. All that was left of my team was Steve and I. Steve lived just a couple houses down the street from me. We first noticed something had changed when we knocked on the door and Hunter answered the door. We had both grew up with Hunter. We had all trained in MMA together. He hugged both of us. We then found out Steve's family had been killed and his house destroyed by a zombie raid about 8 months earlier. Hunter had rebuilt it and moved in. I suddenly was starting to have a bad feeling. I told Hunter to grab his gun and follow me. Steve had a M16A4, Hunter had a M110 shotgun, and I had a M249 SAW. We got to my house and that was when the sirens went off. We took defensive positions in my house there was no time for hellos or celebration. I entered the house and quickly started commanding everyone there. It appeared they knew the drill.
I took the front door. Hunter took the upstairs backdoor. My dad took the big living room window with a flamethrower. My sister,Shaunā, took the windows in the three upstairs bedrooms with an UZI. Steve took the backdoor downstairs to the garage. Alex, my sister Kelsie's boyfriend, and my stepmom, Kari, took the big dining room window. Kari had a SMAW rocket launcher and Alex had a M2 heavy machine gun on a tripod. My stepbrother, Tyler, pulled up to the house in his truck. My sister, Kelsie, and his bestfriend, Mitchel, got out. Tyler had an AK-47, Kelsie had a M9A1 pistol, and Mitchel had a M107 sniper rifle. I told Tyler to get in the house.
He said,"fuck you. You left us." They all hopped back in the truck and started to drive off. Kelsie buckled up to be safe. Kari's SMAW accidentally went off. Tyler and Mitchel jumped out. Kelsie tried to but she was buckled in and stuck. The truck exploded. Alex grabbed a BAR and covered the front door while I fought my way down the street to check on Kelsie and help Tyler and Mitchel. It turns out Kelsie had a knife and and cut her seatbelt and jumped just before the explosion. However she was injured so I helped everyone back to the house. We were under heavy attacks. Wave after wave of zombies just kept coming. Then I intercepted a message on my armor's headset. The voice sounded familiar. It was Leon reporting that he and Brielle were trapped at Brielle's house. They needed any available back-up however it would require a large rescue force to get to them. Leon was an old friend of mine, he was here on leave from the Marine Corps. I couldn't put my family in anymore danger then they were in already. I told Alex, Brielle's bestfriend and neighbor, that I would bring Brielle back safely. He made me promise to come back with her and I told him I would. As soon as I set foot in the basement and Steve saw me he flipped out.
"No. No, no, no, no, NO!"
I replied,"Steve I can make it to her"
He said,"No not her why does it have to be her she got you in so much trouble back at training. You still haven't learned your lesson? Are you fucking serious? She doesn't even know your alive!"
I said,"I gotta save her man she's what I've been fighting for."
Steve was starting to cry,"your my bestfriend I can't lose you too bro don't go she's not worth it."
I hugged him,"your in charge of the squad now. Train a new one Brielle will be here in the helo soon. I'll miss you. It was great fighting with you." Then I left running to her house because of my training and the experiments it only took me five minutes instead of the usual fifteen.
       When I arrived Brielle had barricaded her door and windows in her room. Leon was seriously injured outside of of Brielle's door in the hallway. He was close to death and there was no way to save him. He had been fighting off the zombies with a P90. I fought my way to him and cleared the house. He was surrounded by at least fifty dead walkers. I told him he did a good job and that I'd take care of Brielle now. He just looked at me with this huge smile on his face and said "it's good to see you again Hillier. She still loves you. She never forgot about you."
I saluted him and said,"you did good devil dog"
He saluted back and the last thing he said was,"rah"
Meanwhile the zombies were breaking through Brielle's bedroom wall from outside wall. I busted open the door. I killed the zombies I could find and secured the room. I went to make sure Brielle was ok. She asked who I was and I told her I was just another Marine.
I wasn't gonna tell her who I was. But I saw she still had this bracelet on that I got her when we were younger. And I accidentally slipped up and said, "damn you still have that." She just stared at me. "Nic?"
"Yea it's me" I replied.
She said, "I hate you do fucking much. How could you just leave me?"
I said, "it wasn't my fault. I didn't want to. I fought them the whole way. I was recruited by the president to become a Guardian super soldier. I couldn't tell anyone."
She said, "oh" she was at a loss for words.
I said, "yeah, they said I was perfect in every way. I was in good shape, determined, strong, had a good memory, smart, and would never give up. So, they assigned me as the True Guardian. I was the leader of my own squad, and commander of all the Guardians. And it turns out my squad was all my best friends from Creve Coeur. There was Zach, Gage, Eben, Trevor, and Steve."
Then Brielle said, "Was?"
I said, "yeah, we split up to visit our families and now Steve and I are the only ones left. All the others got killed."
She said, " I bet you love being the perfect super soldier"
I replied," I'm not I have a huge flaw."
She was confused, "what's that?"
I said "you. Your my flaw. I love you. I'd do anything to see you but this time the cost was too great. I lost my men." By this time the zombie strike force knew that a Guardian was in this building but they didn't know it was the Master Guardian. So a hundred elite zombies had arrived and were preparing to attack. I said, "Brielle, I gotta get you out of here. I've called in an evac helo, it should be here in 2 minutes. It will pick you up, take you to my house. There the helo will pick up Alex, Steve, my family, and any other survivors. Then Steve is gonna take his new squad and any other survivors to Florida to drop you off. Steve will make sure nothing happens to you. I bought a big house, like you wanted, because I planned on coming back after this war was over to see if we could continue where we left off but it's too late for that. I never though the zombies would make it this far."
Brielle said, "wait Steve's new squad? I thought he was in your squad and why are you saying you and not us. What about you? What's gonna happen to you?"
I said, "I have to hold off the zombies and keep them distracted while you make your getaway. I knew it was gonna be this way before I came but I couldn't let you die. This always happens with my men. The girl they love is in danger and they go to try and save them but they usually never make it."
She says, "but it's not gonna be the same outcome here Nic. I won't let it happen."
I said, "Brielle you're out of options. This is my choice now. Alex made me promise to come back with you but I lied to him. He is a good kid with a good future. I told Steve the truth. That I wasn't gonna make it back and that its his squad now."
Brielle said, "I'm not losing you again Nic." The evac arrives. The zombies break down the door. I throw Brielle over my shoulder and run. I jump out the window in the very back, breaking down the entire wall in the process. I fall 10 feet. I land and sprint across the yard at full speed to the helo while the zombies are searching the house. I throw Brielle into the helo and retract my helmet to where it moves into the back of my armor.
Then with tears in my eyes I say "I'll love you till the end, don't ever forget me, you are my everything." I rip my high tech dog tags off my neck and give it to her. I kissed her one last time and yelled to the pilot, "Go, Go, Go."
The helo starts to rise. I turn around and start shooting zombies. But then I run out of ammo and I pull out my knife. I start punching, kicking, stabbing, and cutting the zombies. They are overrunning me. I can't take them all.