Life After Undeath

Chapter 2.5: A Soldier's Tale

The hallway is crusted with brown blood, the air thick with the smell of viscera.

"It's like a slaughterhouse in here", Ayush said over the radio. I hear nothing except the faint padding of our feet as we infiltrate the building.

We have been given clear instructions at the briefing. Commandos are trained to follow, not ask questions. Not ask why we were airlifted to storm a research facility in the middle of Himachal Pradesh. Or probably why we are authorised to use deadly force and take no survivors for now. Just clear the zone of "hostiles". Our Major had received an urgent communication that afternoon. We, a thirty-strong platoon, were on a low-risk mission when we heard the urgent call to return to FOB. With an unprecedented haste, we were handed our weapons, packed into choppers and sent on our way. In the air, we received our briefing.

[A/N FOB: Forward Operations Base]

There had been an attack at a research facility. A radical had gone wild, biting people, seemingly quite fatally. In the resulting confusion, one escapee selfishly had locked the door behind him, preventing pursuit. The local police had soon arrived. But the strangest thing they heard was "DO NOT OPEN THE DOORS! There are monsters inside!" and words to that effect. That was the last thing they had received. After accessing the closed circuit camera network, whatever had spooked them apparently was enough to warrant calling us in. The lines had been silent ever since. The building's power was cut soon after. The escapee hasn't been traced till yet.

This is where we come in. The 9th Para SF Commandos. We have been told to prepare for "maximum effectiveness"; or as Ayush aptly called it "pounding through a shitstorm". The last time we had been this prepared, we had to go across the border in a surgical strike. But that's another story.

Apart from our standard-issue Indian made semi-auto 9mm Pistol 1A, each one of us carried the ever-faithful Russian made AKM, with 500 rounds. Standard issue urban warfare camouflage, a Kevlar vest, battle-hardened boots, and a tactical helmet completed the set. In addition to this, I carried my khukri. It has been passed from generation to generation, passed onto my father when he survived commando school, and onto me when I repeated the feat.

I distinctly remember seeing the flashes of the camera coming from far of as we arrived. We set down about four hundred meters from the building, away from the interfering police, and gathered for the mission briefing.

"Shoot anyone who seems hostile and rabid. If they don't respond to your commands, shoot them. This is an order.", Major Tom had said. If anyone was surprised by the orders, they didn't express it. Follow orders, not question it. That's what we have been taught.

"How do we distinguish between hostiles and civvies?", I had asked. Looking at this corridor, I understood the feeling of fear that flit across the face of the major.

"Between us, don't treat them as humans. From what we have seen, they are no longer so. Treat them as you would a rabid dog. Put one right between their brows.", he had said with a grim smile. He then explained the layout of the floor we were supposed to be clearing. I mechanically heard the details, but that smile was etched in my mind. We weren't getting the full story.

As the ten of us stood in the hallway, the blasted open doors behind us, that weird smile was the clearest thing in mind. A distraction from the duty we have to do.

"Alpha Unit, proceed as planned. Over.", the order came through the integrated radio of the helmet.

"Roger that."

Quietly cursing, Ayush moves forward. We go in a two-wide, five-long staggered formation. Ayush and I are the second to last, while Tiwari and Bannerjee cover our rear. We start moving deeper into the building.