The Undead Divisions: An Apocalyptic Monarchy

Chapter 3: Rangers Lead the Way

Earth
2024
75th Rangers Regiment
Fort Benning, Georgia, USA
Pfc Dan. Jackson
Co-Ordinates (32.3912° N, 84.8228° W)
Tuesday 24th September
Diary entry: Day 1
4:12 am

It was on the brink of sunrise and all I could see were soilders running
in one direction. The sun was trying to break the tree line. The sky was vast. It had an odd red tint to it, as if it were bleeding. My legs where tired, but I still forced myself to keep up with Kevin. We had to report to the General's office. The information we had gathered could have been life threatening, don't you think?? We ran past our cabins and heard multiple gunshots being fired. I glanced over to the direction of where it was coming from and seen a line of defences. Mass hoards of those 'creatures' were trying to break through them. They couldn't, but I knew it wouldn't be too long before they would. The office was right in front of us now. The door stood wide open, Kevin and I stopped running. We both looked inside. It was a small building with only a desk, a computer and a couple of chairs inside. Kev looked at me and said, "He's not there. Where could he be??" "The front lines." I said, "He must be there." We glanced over to the front wall and studied the battlefield. The General was standing inside the defensive perimeter giving orders from the inside. Our regiment was struggling. We had to help them. Duane, Jack and Rob were together on a tank. It was an M1A2 Abrams battle type. Very thick armour and a .50 Caliber machine gun fitted in place on the top. Yes, it may be an old tank, but it doesn't stop it being effective. Thousands of those 'creatures' were continually trying to break through our line if defences. They all had the same desire, to kill. Kev and I were behind one of the tanks. We looked around the side of it and seen that there were multiple armoured vechiles along the perimeter. They were violently firing countless rounds. We both looked up at the top of the tank and could see Jack screaming as loud as he could with shells bouncing off the sides like a wild fire. Kev and I shouted at him, but he was way too distracted with his .50 Caliber machine gun. "Hey Kev, we need to go to the General!" "Yea, he's over on the right side of the tank about thirty meters on. You see him??" "Yea, I see him" I replied. We could barely hear each other over the hail storm of bullets and explosives. We started running to the right side of the tank. The ground beneath us was unstable and moved with every step. As I was quickly making my way towards the General, I glanced to were those 'creatures' were. Our men where on the verge of getting overrun. The hands of hope were letting go...
"KEVIN, DANIEL! OVER HERE NOW!" Shouted General Johnston. We were standing behind a wall of sandbags stored up to about nine high. A few M4 Carbines and SR-25 marksman rifles were stacked off the side of them. "You two, come here." We both went up close to hear what he had to say. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" I replied, "We don't really know... those creatures came after us and we all barely escaped. Well..." "Hey, explain later. Where's Sergeant Smith??" "About that..." "What Daniel is trying to say is that he didn't make it." At this information the General looked to the ground. His head moved slightly down. They were practically brothers. Losing him must be hard. "We must go now..." I could tell he was struggling to find breath to speak. I looked up and seen the creatures only a few meters away from the wall and defences. "FALL BACK TO PHASE LINE TWO EVERYBODY! FOLLOW IN ODD ORDER. EVERY OTHER PERSON MOVE BACK!" The General then looked at us and said, "You two, grab those marksman rifles and c'mon!" Marksman rifles weren't really my thing, but it's better than nothing. Kevin and I then grabbed our rifles and loaded them. My body was aching from that mission. I was exhausted. The rifle felt so heavy in my hands, even though I do this type of thing everyday. I forced myself to hold it. My muscles ached. When I stood up more than five of those creatures were about to get over the wall. I hesitated. They were on the brink of accomplishment I then noticed a large shell pass over my shoulder and knocked over the entire sand bag wall in front of me. My hearing had went. I could barely see anything. All I could feel was my brother dragging me away from the incident. As my vision slowly came back I found somewhat form of strength to look up. Our defences were failing. There were too many."Everyone fall back!" I could hear the faint voice of the General. The tank and other vechiles that managed to survive had started to retreat. As they did so, those creatures had breached the main wall. They demolished any survivors that didn't retreat in time. I looked behind me as I was continuing to be dragged. We were only a few meters away from the extraction point. Five helicopters were lined up beside each other, each with their engines on. I thought that we would actually make it. Our defences are holding them back on the main field just enough. I looked around to try notice any flaws. I then seen the tree line again. The sun was just about to break it, until I seen a few stragglers running from underneath the trees. I couldn't find my breath yet to warn anybody. I looked up to the top of the tree line and at this point the sky had turned blood red. I heard this loud cracking noise, like something breaking. There were more and more of those creatures coming from beneath the treeline. I was getting anxious. The trees started to shake all around me. Everywhere I looked was the same. They bent over at such a low angle. Kevin had stopped dragging me at this point. He had realised it too. The trees then gaveway and fell to the ground. My whole body had exceeded the point of fear. My eardrums were filled with this overwhelming chorus of moaning and screaming. Around me were hundreds of thousands of those creatures all on the fallen trees, eating them until there was nothing left...
We were surrounded by chainswarms. There must have been the entire state's population down there.
"LET'S GO NOW!!! EVERYONE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!" The General was desperatly screaming. I no longer needed the support of Kevin to stand up. I looked in the direction of the helicopters and seen the creatures gang up on one of them. I ran over to a different chopper and Kev gave me a hand up. The General came up to me and gave me an explosive charge. "What's this for, General??" I tried my best to speak loud. "WHEN YOUR IN A SAFE VIEW OF THE ENTIRE AREA, BLOW THE CHARGE!" I didn't know what it did. Why do I have a charge?? He turned around and ran to another helicopter. I seen the creatures just emerging onto the extraction point. The helicopters all started to rise. The hailstorm started up again. Hundreds of bullets flew past my ears. I brought my SR-25 to my eye. I looked down my scope and at this point, instincts kicked in... I focused on one of those creatures, blocking out any other noise. All I seen now was this one creature. Everything else was blackened out. I focused on the head and slowly put more and more pressure on the trigger. As the bullet came out I watched it fly the whole way. Although, there was something glowing red in its head. It was like a control point. I'm not sure why I thought that, but I did. As the bullet came into contact with the head it was snubbed out. I looked away from the scope and lowered my weapon. We were now in safe view of the grounds. I looked down just to make sure. I seen a helicopter struggling. It was being dragged down by those demonizing creatures. I tried to shout, but my voice was only to be muffled out by the groans and helicopters. As it hit the ground large amounts of those creatures scattered on top of it just before it exploded. Anger overwhelmed me. I was done. Whatever this charge did, I didn't care. It's time to get my revenge. I placed my finger on the detonator and forcefully pushed down. At this very moment the largest noise I had ever experienced had just filled my ears. My face started to get red hot. I looked down and everything in my line of sight was gone, only to be replaced with a burning fire and smoke. There were large screaming noise that boomed across the ruined landscape. It filled me with fear. What was it?? Well I didn't really care. I then looked up at my friend's shocked faces and tears filled my eyes. I'm not sure why, but they did. Those creatures were gone. However, the real question was, were there more??