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xix

CHAPTER NINETEEN 
<<十九>>

13/06/2090
11.59 p.m.

❝ z e r o ❞

EERIE silence befell them as they parted ways. she was left alone in her spot, though being able to see the rest from her place. one more minute, and they will act. after the meticulous planning and sourcing of information and data, they had memorized every step they were to take, every route, every corridor, every room. they were ready, but her insides were shaking. the others seemed determined and ready, but she wasn't, emotionally. she was not ready to do a life-or-death thing, even though she went through many more in her simulations. but those were different, because they were simulations. this was the real thing. 

above all, she was not ready to kill. yes, of course she knew how to kill, and slaughtered for hours on end in her simulations, but now... her hands were trembling around her staff. she gulps as Three begins the countdown to when the panic would spread.

f i v e

f o u r 

t h r e e

t w o 

o n e .

as soon as the countdown finishes, chaos erupts. shouts of "move, move, move!" and "the north wing has been breached!" echoed throughout the surroundings, and fields of trap-wire light up with blue-white electricity, sparking like a moray eel. she stares at it impressively. she had been informed of it, but experiencing it up close was magnificent. 

"five, the gas," she whispers. the man gives a firm nod of his head, and wriggles his fingers in the direction of the building. little purple sparks dance around his long fingers as he mutters softly to himself.

ear-piercing screams reverberate in the buildings and the forest where they lie in, before they die down, and silence befalls the area. 

"move," she commands, and they scuttle across the fields into the building.

 the glass building was intact, but blood smeared every pane of window. it was horrible, the carnage that lay at their feet, all with one disease. 

"the smart ones are coming," Two grunts, changing back from wolf form. "Zero, shield. Five, intel. the rest of you, offense. got it?" says Six in a low voice, and they stand back-to-back, hands out and ready, with Zero and Five in the middle.

sure enough, they emerged quickly, armed with surgical knives that they must have grabbed from the labs.

the Operations fought, their teamwork stellar, rotating to and fro, killing all who stood in their way. perspiration dripped down Zero's face, as she struggles to hold up the shield. 

the faces of the attacks were hideous. maybe they had inhaled only a little bit of the gas, but that was enough to deform their faces. their skin was bubbling, as if boiled from inside, while bruises and holes decorated every inch of skin. they seemed like they were from the Walking Dead. 

and so the eight Operations spun and spun, killing and killing.