FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Shadow Company rules Alley One with brute force and fear. Those that dare to speak against them are brutally tortured and given a chance to "repent" after which, whether repentance has occurred or not, the offending animal is often killed in whatever barbaric way suits the attending. Shadow Company has made many enemies, the most known among them being Mech. A secretive group rumored to be packed full of veterans hardened by the brutal trench combat of the final world war.

"I can stay in the AO for five hours!", Truck said over the radio, "Got enough fuel for now and my CIO is gonna look for places to land if it comes to that! We're coming on the drop zone so get ready! Make sure those harnesses are tight."

"You ever dropped from the back of a cargo plane in a vehicle before?", Eirren asked nervously.

"No, but I suppose there's a first time for everything", I said tightening my harness as tight as I could get it to go without strangling myself, "Ben, how are things looking on ya'lls end?"

"We're good to go", Ben said, "what's our plan once we land?"

"Move on the hospital and secure it as quickly as possible. We don't have time to go through every room, so being quiet as possible is a priority."

"Rodger that."

"Alright everyone, pilot just reported in, ready for your drop?"

"Hell yeah! Let's do this!", Nat said.

In the Tundra's rear view, I could see the rear hatch of the plane drop and a red light come on. Eirren laughed nervously, clutching her AK like a teddy bear.

"Fuck this is terrifying as shit", she muttered, taking a deep breath, "it's like I'm back in the fuckin army again."

"Back in?", I asked, "somehow, I don't think we ever left."

The light turned green, Truck flashed me a thumbs up.

"Hopefully this ain't the last time we meet Arien! Good luck brother!", He smashed a button on the wall of the cargo bay, and even over the rushing air behind the trucks, there was an audible click and the Tundra began to slide backwards.

"Arien! This ain't what I signed up for!", Eirren squeaked as a small chute yanked the Tundra from the back of the plane with the Sequoia in hot pursuit. Yes, Eirren had every right to be as terrified as she was. Contrary to what I'd told her, I had done this before, except instead of being in a 6,000 pound pick up, I'd been in an M1A2 Abrams, and that had been the single most terrifying experience of my life. This some how managed to top it, might be be because there was a lot worse than armed animals waiting for me on the ground. Truck had made it clear to me that we did not have the required 600x1000 yard space, plus 400 to do the drop the correct way. Instead, we were dropping into a 150X300 yard cleared area just off of the only clear, intact road leading to the hospital that Truck had managed to locate. To make it worse, we were going to have to rely entirely on the suspension, supposedly an 8 inch stroke, and our tires to cushion the impact. Truck had said that we were on Mech Spec Rides, and from what he'd seen we didn't have anything to worry about, although he didn't seem to convinced himself. Benjamin and I were the only ones who knew this, and we knew that, once Truck let us go, we were at nature's mercy. Once the big chutes were out, I realized we were falling a lot slower than we should, perhaps due to our trucks being a bit lighter than what these chutes were intended for, but who cared? The softer and quieter we could land, the better. The drop from the time Truck hit the button to the time ground came to view was perhaps forty seconds to a minute, and once we could see ground, I breathed a sigh of relief. Looked like we were going to land right on target. About 45 seconds passed from Truck hitting the release to our vehicles touching down. Slow as we seemed to be falling, the Tundra kissed the ground like it meant it, sitting down the full eight inches, bouncing up and compressing another four inches. The Sequoia touched down a bit harder about a hundred some yards away from us, Nat was on the radio almost instantly.

"Everyone still have all their digits?", she asked.

"Ten fingers, toes, two wings...check the rest later", Eirren answered, half gasping for air, "fuck that was terrifying."

"First time jumping from a plane?", Benjamin asked.

"Hey asshole, I was infantry for all of six months near the ending of the war", Eirren protested, "I didn't see that much action."

"I passed static line as a private", Ben joked.

"Fuck you Ben", Eirren hissed as I started the Tundra.

"Truck, Arien, we've touched down safely, we're in route to the hospital now along pre determined path, confirm you have a visual on us."

"Rodger that Arien", Truck said, "looks like it'll be an easy ride, don't have any heat signatures other than yours for miles around, looks like for now we've got this part of the city to ourselves."

"Keep eyes on", I said, "stand by for fire mission if necessary, out."

I put the Tundra in first and began making my way towards the road with the brights on. It wasn't terribly difficult to see that Houston, though it appeared to be mostly spared from Nuclear Bombs, was going to present it's own set of challenges. First of all, there were plants, large plants, everywhere. Second, what of the concrete bridges I could see not covered in vines, had water lines on them. Having grown up in this neck of the woods, and given how hot it could get in Texas even during the winter, told me two things. One, that these plants were getting water from somewhere, given Houston's uncanny ability to submerge in 15 feet of water if someone pissed in the wrong ditch, I imagined that given what I was looking at the city was, or had been at some time post war, largely flooded out. That alone would make things more difficult, and the presence of that much water meant that the humidity was going to be a complete bitch the likes of which the other animals with me probably wouldn't beable to comprehend.

"Truck", I asked pulling the Tundra onto the road, "was there anything in the files about the city being flooded out?"

"Vaguely. Hey, there anything in those papers about flooding?", Truck asked. Something creaked on his end of the radio, papers rustled and I heard someone in the back, though not clearly, "Yeah, my CIO tells me about a third of Sector 3 is flooded, Sector 2 is apparently even worse. That might mean that Shadow Company has some kind of flood control in place, she doesn't see any information about flooding in Sector 1."

"Humidity is gonna be fucking awful come sunrise', I sighed, "see if you can find out if the files mention salt or fresh water. Cause if this city is full of Salt water we don't have much chance of keeping shit quiet."

"We'll keep looking", Truck said, "we have a load of recon optics installed on our wings, we can make recon runs around the AO while still maintaining fire support stature if necessary, just let me know. Looks like there's a couple of air ports around here, we should be able to loiter for a good long while."

"Keep me posted. Arien out. Get ready for humidity like nothing you've ever felt guys, when the sun comes up it's gonna be unbearable."

"Gets hot in Oklahoma too bro", Shannon retorted.

"I'm sure it does."

I'd be lying if I told you it was anything but a peaceful cruise to the Hospital. Surprisingly, the roads coming into the city were clear, but the roads going out were a different story, clogged and worthless. I did almost 100 miles an hour the entire way there, Tundra in 6th gear at just under 1400 RPM, not bad for a Diesel. Once we had Tucker Memorial in sight, things suddenly became far more tricky. The roads into the Hospital parking lot were a fucking mess, as evidenced when we took the exit to get off the free way into the city itself. Anyone who grew up in Texas near Houston will tell you how fucking awful the roads in that shit hole are. When you have the population of an entire city trying to flee nuclear bombs, combined with bad roads, it takes a complete cluster fuck and somehow manages to fuck it even worse. Cruising at 96 miles an hour became crawling around old rusted cars at idling speed while trying not take the mirrors off of my ride. Some creative driving, a hurting left knee and something that smelled suspiciously like a burning clutch later, we were pulling up to the emergency entrance under a covered area of Tucker Memorial Hospital.

The building was not in great condition, most of the windows were broken out and the sides of the building was covered in vines. Parking lot was packed full of both, cars and trash. Upon stepping out, it became obvious that the hospital was filled with Biomass and Scourged, the stink was unmistakable. The front of the building was trashed and the main waiting room was covered in dried blood smears, furniture tipped and smashed. A M2 Browning with a belt of ammunition feeding into the side still guarded the fortifications around the driveway that we'd pulled into. A layer of rust was quickly forming on the worn finish of the weapon, the belt of ammunition that disappeared into the quietly rusting machine-gun had vines around it. Despite that, it still looked serviceable. It was clear that barricade had been overrun, given the claw and slash marks in the concrete and metal construction of the covered area over the driveway. There was a distinct lack of spent ammunition casings, but rifles, M4's and AK's as well as a couple of SCAR-H's were still laying about, covered in dried blood. As far as the bodies to occupy those triggers...where had they gone? Where was the rest of their kit? Their supplies? None of this was a good thing, the hospital was at least a hundred stories tall, it must have been filled with the shit. It would make sense though, after the nukes fell, this place would have been packed.

Eirren strung some very colorful swear words together as she put her gas mask on, "Something about this place rubs me the wrong fucking way. What the fuck happened here?"

"No shit", Alex said, "place gives me the fuckin' creeps. Guns everywhere, but no bodies?"

"How the fuck are we supposed to search this place?", Eirren asked, "we don't have this kinda time!"

We have to", Alex retorted, "Zack's life depends on that Cybernetic Reset Tool!"

"She's not wrong", Shannon hissed, "Fuck! That tool could be anywhere and without splitting up we can't possibly check every single room! And whose to say whatever attacked this barricade ain't still around!?"

"I gotta side with the new girl on this one", Ben said, "we can't split up until this hospital is clear."

"At this point I'm not sure staying here is a good idea", I added my thoughts to the mix, "Shredded fortifications and bloody guns, but no spent casings, no bodies or shredded gear? Something's not right here. Our best bet might be to just find the tools we need and then find another, safer place to work on Zack, or even have truck pick us back up."

"That'll take too much time", Shannon protested, "James can't hold Zack that long!"

"I don't disagree", I hit my radio, "Rhino King this is Condor Ground, we've arrived at the hospital, however, the area shows evidence of attackers and defenders. Bloody guns and torn barricades, but no bodies or equipment to speak of. Is the structure clear of thermal signatures?"

"Rodger that Condor Ground", Truck answered, "structure's almost entirely clear from our end, Thermals are quiet except for ya'll and one signature inside the hospital."

"That's not a good sign", Eirren rubbed her face.

"Rhino, stand by for fire mission, we're going to move into the interior of the hospital, will advise."

"Rodger that Condor, Rhino will stand by for fire, but will not engage unless told."

"Copy last, Condor out", I shut off my radio, "there are too many factors at play here, keep it tight, keep it quiet, return fire only. Nod's down, it'll be pitch black in there."

We moved passed the barricade and into the interior. Flies swarmed around the dried blood, the buzzing was obnoxious to the point of it sounding like a box fan in your ears. I'd become so accustomed to raw gore these past few years I hardly noticed them, but here? God, there were so many. The congealed blood made it impossible to move quietly as our boots stuck to the ground with each step. Perhaps after this it'd be time to sterilize our boots. Still, as we pushed further into the lobby, no signs of the biomass. In the back of the lobby, there was a chart that showed the different sections of the hospital, there were a bunch of them, but one caught our eyes in particular.

"There!", Shannon pointed to a large section right here on the ground floor, "Cybernetics: Installation and Service. That's where we need to go! It's a good starting point if nothing else."

"Short walk", I mused, "okay, let's move."

We tore the map from the wall, using it to navigate towards the Cybernetics wing. The entire time we're heading inwards, I can't shake the feeling that, no, we in fact are not alone here. There's absolutely no evidence to suggest that we are, the entire hospital seems abandoned, on it's face at least, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't exactly by ourselves. As we approached the Cybernetics wing, we began to hear low and higher pitched moans and incoherent babbling.

"Check up, sounds like we got biomass up ahead", I noted.

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, we came to a set of metal double doors, James stopped the group.

"Hold up Arien", He paused to take a breath, he was loosing color quickly, " there's one right behind the door, a big one. This ones....different though. I don't know how to describe it."

"Didn't know there was a such thing as a normal example", I retorted peering through the door. James wasn't exactly fibbing. Right behind the door, chewing on the body of a long dead animal, now, this abomination, I didn't have any words for it, was hunched over. All of the skin was torn off of it's back, allowing me to see that it's spine had been removed, leaving just a gash of a hole where it had used to be. It's arms had been dislocated and moved up to the point that they were poking out of it's back, almost at a 90 degree angle to it's neck. They were long and spindle like, with loops of meat hanging off of the arms as they reached up and over the examples twisted and deformed looking head. The arms had long, bony blades looking like machete's coming out of the hands, which is what the example was using to support itself. The skin all up and down it's elongated and misshapen legs was torn and mangled, revealing cracked bones and rotting, necrotic muscle. I could see another set of hands wrapped around the back of it's torso only in the form of green, bloody finger tips. The level of rot that had set in on this one was extreme, to the point I wondered how the hell it was supposed to support itself. That same cottage cheese looking shit was oozing out of many of the examples open wounds, like I'd seen on that massive example in the mall when we'd rescued Alex. It was chowing down on that old corpse like it hadn't eaten in a few months, which, for all I knew, may not have been far from the truth.

"Holy shit", I muttered to myself.

I didn't think I had said it loud enough to be heard, but evidently I had. The damn thing turned it's head a full 180, looking at me with it's eyes below it's mouth, which opened upwards by at least six inches to reveal entire rows of three inch long spikes lining it's mouth. It flipped it's body 'round and lunged at me without warning, crashing through the double doors and landing right on top of me and pinning me to the ground with zero effort. If I hadn't had my gas mask on, there's no telling how much of the toxic sludge it barfed all onto my face might have gotten into my mouth, noes and eyes. The creature's attack prompted a fireworks show from the end of Nat's M4, which ripped the entire half of the rotten creature's body off it's waist.

"Well....", Eirren sighed as I pushed the creature off me, she helped me stand, "that could have been a lot worse."

I wiped the sludge from my gas mask and the ends of my nods, thankfully, It didn't seem to stick to fabrics too well, otherwise, I might have been out most of my kit, "gohhh, fuckin' gross."

"That what they're doing now?", Nat asked, "barfin' on Animals to...what? Infect them with whatever shit they've got?"

"Supposedly", I agreed, "doubt that's the only one, and we just alerted them all. We need to find that tool quick."

Ben and I were the first ones past the set of doors leading into the intake for the Cybernetics wing. The air behind it was foul, smelling a lot like old dry shit, rather then the festering stench of the Biomass. The intake for the Cybernetics wing was set up much like the main lobby to the hospital, with an admin desk directly in front of the doors with two hallway's branching off of the main room. To each side of the doorways that branched off the lobby, there were waiting areas. They arranged the same way, four chairs on each side of a large coffee table, vending machines behind them, that faced a large TV. No indication of what was where in the wing though.

"No directions?", Alex asked aloud, "rude bastards."

"Fuck....what'd we do now?", Ben asked.

I took a deep breath, "only thing we can do. Nat, you take Ben and head down the left hallway, Eirren and I will take the right, while Shannon and Alex stay behind to keep the kids and Zack safe. Get some flares on this tile so you can preserve your nods and light batteries, at least for a little bit."

"Oh, I got just the thing", Alex said digging into her pack. What she pulled on was a large area light with was about as good as the overhead florescent lights once she switched it on, "that'll last a couple of hours."

"Area illuminator", Eirren noted, "good piece of kit there."

"Yeah, place is still creepy as hell even with it", Alex commented as she shut and locked the door from our side, "hurry up, that light only has like a two and a half hour battery."

"Arien, I need to be on one of these details, I'm the only one that knows what to look for", Shannon protested.

"You're also the only one that can keep James from killing over, and thus Zack", I told her, "I need you here. Give me a list, what do you need to operate and what am I looking for regarding that tool?"

She growled, handing me a sheet of printer paper and a tear out from a small note book she kept in her vest, "Little sheet is a list, that big sheet is a picture of the tool I need to reset his cybernetics."

The item on the paper she handed me looked more like a modern take on a medevil torture device than a medical tool. The body of the tool was long and cylindrical, bellowing out towards the bottom, a bit like a Maglight. At the base of the tool were three, triangular spikes that came to flat ends while in between the three spikes was what looked like a vise to grab hold of the spine, in side of which was a smooth rod, about I'd say three eighths of an inch wide.

"You sure about that?", I asked, "it looks like it's designed to break the discs in someone's spine one at a time."

"Fuck dude, it's to reset the popped Snaypsis connections", she said.

I stuck the paper behind my plate carrier and turned to Eirren.

"Let's get moving, clock's tickin'."

With that, we broke off into groups. Ben and Nat went one way, and Eirren and I went the other. Eirren was looking the list over as we moved down the rotunda to the patient rooms. The way that we'd taken had a good view of the five buildings behind the hospital, and the overgrown remains of what was left of a atrium. Despite the milky way being visible, it was pitch dark outside, and the silence of the city was deafening, no crickets, cicada's...nothing. The smell of the Biomass was present, but faint, carrying on the wind from elsewhere. I supposed it was possible that the hospital had been long abandoned by the time the Biomass had come into the picture.

"This is quite the list she's given us Ari", Eirren mused as she pondered the list, "...bruh, I think most of this is for Nat when she gives birth! Have a look at this shit!"

I went over some of the things on the list, "two fitted bed sheets, four flat sheets...70%....90 percent...shit Eirren, I think you're right."

"Did you ever talk to Nat about this?", Eirren asked.

I shook my head, "No, not like I've had time with the way shit's been going down here as of late. I supposed I could have on the plane, but I was too worried about Zack to remember."

"Great", Eirren sighed, "Like Shannon didn't have enough to worry about with James, then Zack and now Nat."

"Don't forget the fact we've got three kids in the mix, and evidently, we'll have five before too long."

"It'll be a fuckin' miracle if we make it to your place in one piece."

"We're not far", I assured, "just have one more big leap to make from the looks of it. Let's hurry up and get this done."

Once we reached the actual patient rooms, we split off, working the rooms across the hall from each other so we could easily get to one another should something go awry. We stripped the rooms of anything meaningful period, to say nothing of what was on the list...which wasn't much, but more than I expected. There were still some medical supplies in good order that had been left scattered about in the rooms, mostly bandages and disinfectants. Nothing that was going to help Zack...or Nat really, directly, but would come in handy if someone got mauled or took a bullet. Room by room, for about 45 minutes, Eirren and I worked our way through the rooms of the Cybernetics wing, stripping it of anything of value. Let me tell you, slim pickings it was. I was in the middle of searching one of the last rooms of the block when Eirren came into my room.

"On your six", She said.

"What up?", I asked.

"Last room's are bare. No point in going further on this block", she said.

"Yeah...not much more here either. Let's go ahead and take what we've got back to the FOB, then we can link up with Ben and Nat, from there, I think we should try the operations theater, if the tool is still in this building, that's where it'll be."

"Sounds like a plan to me", Eirren said.

We bagged everything that we had found up into one sheet and returned to the lobby. We found Alex sitting on one of the chairs, strumming the belt of her 34 like a guitar as she watched the kids quietly playing with some toys that had been left in a box. Shannon was crouched over James and Zack, both of which were losing color, quickly.

"They don't look good", Eirren commented.

Shannon shook her head, "We are out of time. Please give me some good news."

"We didn't find it", Eirren said, "Arien seems to think our best chance is in the operations theater."

"Then that's where we're going. Alex, come gimme a hand here."

Alex threw her 34 over her back and helped Shannon get James to his feet. James looked worse than he had when we met him. Soon as everyone was on their feet, I hit the radio.

"Ben, Nat, drop whatever you're doing, we're moving to the operations theater, if the tool is still in this building, that's where it'll be."

"Rodger that", Benjamin said, "we didn't have much luck on our side anyway, on our way back."

Following a directions display that Alex had taken from behind the administration desk, we moved towards the operations theater. Small room near the end of the wing and there were actually two of them, or more accurately, there was one large theater with two halves for different operations, one for installation and one for service. Shannon directed us towards the service wing and as soon as I put my hand on the door, I was crashing into it. I tried pulling the door open instead, didn't budge.

"Crap", Alex drew the word out in a sigh.

Looking through the door's wired glass window, I could see there was a large piece of steel welded to the back of the door from the inside.

"Fuck! Big ass bar welded to the back of it! Not now! Now is not the time for this!", I threw my weight into the door hard as I could, by try as I might, that bar wasn't moving, "God, fucker that did that deserves a bullet to the brain! Ben! Can you or Nat melt through this with your Corium?"

The two of them traded glances.

"Maybe", Ben said, "here, lemme try first."

Benjamin stepped up to the door and took his glove off. Placing his hand on the hand panels of the double doors, he took a deep breath. The smell of burning metal filled the air and the door began to glow, first a dim red which slowly grew brighter, turning from red, to orange, yellow, and finally white. Benjamin looked like he was putting in more effort as the door changed colors.

"This is a hell of a door!", he said panting, "what do these fuckers have to hide!?"

"Here, lemme help", Nat said jumping in.

Even with the two of them together, it took the better part of five minutes to melt through those slabs of steel. When it finally gave away, the rod on the other side fell with a loud clang. Alex stepped forward first, 34 in her shoulder, giving Nat and Ben the signal to pull the door open. With Alex on point, we funneled into the Service theater.

Impressively large place, looked almost like a mini stadium, perhaps the size of a larger school gym. There were rows of bleachers along the walls that faced two large screens which were mounted to the assembly that held the operations lights above the bed that was built into the floor which looked like it had all kinds of machines integrated into it.

"Looks like damn sport torture arena", Ben commented, "hard to think they probably did way more good than harm in here."

"We can ask Zack what was going on when he wakes up", I stated, "Alex, find a place to set up your 34, watch the entrance as that's our exit point, Ben, you and Nat pay attention to room Security. Shannon, what do you need from Eirren and I?"

"Uhh....", Shannon's eyes darted quickly around the room, falling on the bed affixed to the floor in the center of the floor, then to some other containers set up in the actual operations area. She started rifling through the containers, getting out a variety of things from them, cursing under her breath at the apparent lack of needed materials. I could have sworn that the veins where ready to pop out of her neck when she violently threw open a locker, and then her mood did a complete one eighty.

"HALLELUJAH", She screamed, holding a bright cylindrical object up above her head, "FOUND IT! Ben, Help Arien get Zack out of his equipment, strip him down to his underwear, get him up on the table, on his stomach. Nat, come here. Need you to open all of these surgical tools and make sure they're still in good shape and that any needles with them are sealed, set them out if they're good, we'll have lets say about 30 seconds from breaking James connection until Zack kicks the bucket on down the road."

"Hurry up", James said, barely able to speak due to exhaustion, leaning heavily on the table to support himself, "I can't keep this up."

"I'll have you off of Zack in about 2 minutes", Shannon assured, "Just hang in there brother."

"You can do it uncle James", Mya assured.

Shannon continued to work all kinds of doctor magic as she got the area prepped, shedding her kit and rolling up her sleeves, she threw on some gloves from her IFAK and began preparing the bed, muttering a bunch of medical jargon throughout whatever process she was engaged in until a fan motor came on underneath the bed. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, that works, that alone was like 95 percent of the battle."

Shannon attached some tubes to ports on a machine that was built into the bed, which she spliced into Zack's wrists, one tube for each wrist, doing the shortest runs that she could. Once the blood was flowing through both tubes. Shannon gave James a nod.

"Let him go, he'll be fine from here on out."

James did not hesitate to let go of Zack, after which he promptly fell backwards. Thankfully Benjamin was there to catch him.

"Didn't know you had it in you brother", Benjamin's said, "damn fine job Marine."

"Heh...Thanks Ben", James smiled, for all he was worth. He looked like death.

"Put him up somewhere he can rest", Shannon said, "I'll have a look at him soon as I'm finished with Zack, shouldn't be long now."

"How long we talking?", I asked.

Shannon took a deep breath, "I can't do this the way it's supposed to be done. Says in the instructions to cut a three inch strip of flesh away from the Snaypsis to reset it, but since I have zero controlled environment here, I can't do this the right way. Going to have to slice him down his back, pull the skin apart and reset the connections one at a time...probably looking at about a 45 minute procedure, at least. Suturing the wound will be the easy part."

"You speak up if you run into an iota of "I didn't expect that", you understand?", I asked sharply.

"I'm not dumb Arien", Shannon retorted.

"Didn't say that", I told her.

"You wanna argue or let me work?", she asked.

I held my tongue and let Shannon do her thing. She started by cutting a long line down Zack's back, literally from the base of his head to the base of his tail. She had what looked to me to be medical grade G-Clamps, two of them in fact, which she wedged into the cut and used them to pull apart the skin on either side of the cut. It was stomach turning to watch the way his skin tore into individual strands as Shannon peeled it away to expose his cybernetic spine. Multiple strands of both bare copper and bare aluminum wires were coiled tightly around his vertebrae like the winding's in electric motors and you could see the Snaypsis connectors in between the vertebrae that had both wire and flesh spliced into it with lugs. At the base of his head, two small devices that looked like relays with control boards of sorts wired into them were literally soldered to the base of his skull. I had seen the guts and inner workings of quite a few Animals and even friends in the past five years, but I'd never seen anything close to this. The amount of wires and electronics that were present just in his spine was fucking incredible. Made me wonder how in the everlovin' hell he lived like that.

"That's a lot of fucking wire and broads", I mumbled under my breath.

"Makes you wonder how long surgeons slaved over him installing it all", Shannon said setting the second G-Clamp into place, "thankfully, and luckily for Zack, they made service easy enough even someone as stupid as me can do it."

Shannon set to work. She moved with a certain precision that only an actual doctor could, despite the fact that she was literally consulting the instruction manual Zack had in his IFAK for every move that she made. The tool fit over the connections easily enough and had to be torqued down to his spine with an allen wrench of all things, which I provided from inside the stock of my M4. Once that was down, she screwed down on the reset tool with a socket wrench that had a special adapter for the top of the tool, torquing it down to nearly five hundred pounds. Consulting the manual again, she changed a setting on the adapter and pulled back on the ratchet with everything she had. Just before the veins in her neck ruptured, the tool clicked once, then a rather jarring crack echoed throughout the operating theater. An indicator on the tool changed from red to green.

"That didn't sound good", Nat commented.

"No shit", Alex shivered, "I can feel my spine snapping second hand."

"Says in the instruction manual "you will hear, upon reset, a crack similar to that a bone makes when broken. At this time, should the patient awake, do not alarm him, as his cybernetics and bones will not be damaged during this process", the Shannon breathed an accomplished sigh, "there, one down, five to go."

"Personalized instructions", Alex shrugged, "not bad."

Shannon proceeded to move down Zack's back, resetting the connectors one at a time. She had me help by sewing the wound closed as she did. Thankfully one thing I knew how to do competently was sew a gash neatly closed. As I closed up the wound, Shannon had me applying this dark brown, foul smelling gel that Nat and Benjamin had gathered that, according to her, was a really strong painkiller. When she hit the last connection, all kinds of lights all up and down Zack's implants came on. According to a small display at the base of Zack's skull, the CPU of his cybernetics detected no extreme damage to his body. Good news.

"Ho...thank god", Shannon breathed a relived sigh, making the sign of the cross, "Good job all."

She started to remove the clamps from his back, allowing me to stitch up the wound.

"How long you think it'll be until he wakes up?", I asked.

"I can't say. I can try and look around and see if I can find whatever they use to monitor how a patients cybernetics interact with their biology, but I'd be pushing it at best to try and hook him up, and it'd be a further stretch to make sense of readings. I never claimed to be an expert on Cybernetics, but he was definitely put into some kind of induced coma when the connectors tripped. These Faraday Medical animals were playing 6 dimensional chess when they built this stuff. I don't understand how any of it works anymore than I understand the Biomass, or what happened to James, Ben or Nat."

"So are we playing a waiting game now?", Alex asked.

"Yeah", Shannon said, beginning the process of disconnecting Zack from the aerator, "Not much more I can do anyway. I'd give him a few hours for whatever drugs his implants released to cycle out of his system."

"A few hours?", Eirren asked, "what's the plan till then? We fucking off of this AO? We digging here or taking up another position elsewhere?"

"We need to move out of this damn hospital", I hit my radio, "Condor Ground to Rhino King, how copy?"

"I read you Rhino king" Truck said.

"We need to roll up and get off this x, can you find us a suitable position via your recon cameras?"

"Sure can", Truck said, "Rhino 1-6, Rhino 4-6, let's widen our arc, find our allies on the ground a defensive position."

The two on the other end answered in Russian.

"We'll swing out", Truck said, "I'll radio you soon as I find something. Rhino out."

"Condor copies your last, out", I turned off my radio, "let's get out of this damn OR, move to a room with a quick escape route, as close to the trucks as we can get. Someone needs to find a stretcher to move Zack."

"I'll go", Alex said, "be right back."

"Take back up", I said, "dangerous to go alone."

"I'll go", Eirren said.

Alex and Shannon quickly left the OR while Shannon started looking deeper into room's fixtures for more supplies. Standing over Zack, there was a tug on my pants leg, it was Nero.

"Dad...Is Zack going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine buddy", I assured.

"You promise?", Mya asked.

"Promise", I said, "Aunt Shannon made him all better."

Nero exhaled loudly, it was a stress sigh disguised as a sigh of relief. I turned to Benjamin.

"Ben, you mind watching Mya and Alex's kid while I deal with something?"

"Sure thing boss, if you're gone when we move I'll radio you and let you know where we end up."

"Rodger", I bent down to pick up Nero, "come here buddy."

Nero crawled up to my arm and took a seat on my assault pack. I stepped just outside the OR, into a back hallway, after verifying it was clear, I took Nero off my shoulder and sat down.

"What have you got on your mind buddy?", I asked.

Nero took a deep breath, "Dad....I know you think that I don't know what happened to my family....I've been letting you think that."

"Why?", I asked, not letting on I already knew.

Nero sighed again, "Sometimes when we wake up, you sound so much like my Dad I get these brief thoughts that maybe I'd just dreamed the last month or two. Someone else always chimes in afterwords, reminds me that I haven't. It sucks."

"I can't say I disagree buddy."

Nero paused a moment, sitting back on his haunches, hanging his head in shame. "Was there something I could have done? If I had been paying better attention, I might have been able to hear those bandits attack Mom and Dad, then maybe Martin could have taken them easier. Or if I could have just...heard that damn Feral dragon flying in if I hadn't fallen asleep. I can think of so many things I could have done differently...knowing what I know now from listening to you and the others taking everyone who tries something against us."

"Nero...you're a puppy, not a soldier, no one expects that of you. You can't blame yourself for a surprise attack."

"That's not the point!", He snapped, "Martin was a decorated SWAT K9! My Dad spent 17 years in the Russian Military and my Mom was Czech Special forces! One animal with a kitchen knife killed them all! I hear everything that happens around us Dad! When those animals attacked us and shot you up! When the Ford got stolen! I knew what was going on when Uncle James was dehydrated nearly to death! I heard the fight that electrocuted Zack! I heard the panic in Shannon's voice! We keep walking into these things! Sooner or later one of these crazed wasteland animals is going to get lucky! I may not be grown up, but I'm not stupid!", By now, Nero was balling, loudly, "I can't get these nightmares out of my head!"

"What nightmares son?", I asked.

Nero didn't immediately answer.

"Talk to me buddy", I said hugging him tightly, "I'm here Nero."

"Every night! It just plays over and over again in my head! Faceless animals calling my name in everyone's voices getting murdered by...by...by I don't even know what they are! I know I'm bigger than I am now, but even then, every time I try to hurt them back, I get a mouth full of the most fowl shit I've ever tasted. I always think if I spit it out, it won't hurt me..."

Nero paused, I waited for him to continue, he was choking on his words as hard as if someone was trying to shove something the size of his body down his throat.

"It always bubbles inside of my mouth anyway and my jaw falls off of my head and the stuff gets all over my chest. It stays there and stings me until things that are supposed to be inside me fall out. Then they circle around and just rip me apart! They move so quietly that I can't hear them until they strike! By then it's too late! I can't fight something I can't hear!"

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry buddy", I hugged him tightly, "I didn't realize you were having problems like this. I wish you had said something sooner. What can I do to help you feel better?"

He sniffled, then shrugged, "Dad, I know I'm blind, and I know because of that I won't be much of a fighter when I'm older. You aren't going to just...put me down...are you?"

At first, I wasn't sure how to reply.

"Buddy...what would possess you to ask me that question!? What makes you think I would ever consider hurting you?"

Nero didn't answer, not at first. His answer hurt me more than his initial question.

"Dad met some animals, little while ago", Nero began, "they talked a bit, and then one of them asked my Dad when he was going to kill off the blind one. The guy just ran on about how I was hurting everyone's chances because I was blind. I was going to trip a claymore or fall into a hot zone anyway, so he may as well just get it out of the way now. Mom chased them off in the end, and Martin told me later that Dad had let it happen because he was too angry to move. Too this day, I don't really believe Martin told me the entire story."

Way to lay some claymores of your own there bud. If words could kill.

I picked my next words after some thought, "Nero, don't sit there and think you're not a member of this family too", I told him, "you saved us all that night because you were the one who noticed the bandits on the back porch. You were the one who picked up Shannon in the store, and because of that, Zack lived. Just by staying alive when you did, you've already played your part."

Nero still didn't answer.

"Buddy, please listen to me. There's not an animal here that would ever consider hurting you. I certainly won't let another Animal touch you, and as long as my heart is still beating the Biomass will have hell if they're feeling even a little bit frisky. I may not be able to promise you much, but I can promise you this, if something has got it in mind that it's going to bother you, it'll have to all of us first. There's not an Animal or creature on this planet that can level an assault dedicated enough to deal with that."

"Promise?", Nero asked.

"With my soul", I assured. I pulled my Shemagh off my neck and wiped his eyes, "come on bud, let's get back to the others."

I stood up, Nero followed me back into the room, where the others were getting ready to load Zack onto the stretcher.

"Arien", Ben exclaimed, "get your tail over here, we need help!"

"Coming."

"Here, stand over here", Shannon directed me to the end of the stretcher, "grab it here."

I took one end, Benjamin grabbed the one next to me, "where we going Shannon?"

"To the room closest the end of the hallway, near the receptionist area. Alex is already there, she's putting a charge in the hallway."

"Aight, let's get moving."

I was surprised that the stretcher didn't immediately tear apart from Zack's weight, certainly felt like it wanted to. We walked it to the end of the hallway and put him up in the closest room after remaking the bed. The hospital still had no main power so lights, the TV and the adjustable bed was a no go, but some of the other things in the room, IE, the PTAC unit in the base of the wall, still worked, so at least we had AC. Once Zack was safely placed in bed, it was just a matter of waiting. While Shannon tended to him, Nat and Benjamin decided to crash on the two chairs in the room as security, while the rest of us waited in the room across the hallway, letting James have that bed since he was still not in the best shape.

"Hopefully these damn units don't draw in all of the damn dead shit in this city", he grunted as Alex put him in the bed.

"We'll smell 'em long before they get here with the way things have been going", I shrugged, "even if we don't, we have Truck and his crew glaring at us with Thermals. I'll sleep well knowing I have a soviet gunship over my head."

"There was a time I wouldn't have", Alex commented from the corner of the room, holding her 34 across her lap like it was a guitar.

"Why is that?", Eirren asked.

"My Dad", Alex said, "he was...something entirely apart from your regular doomsday prepper. He had some crazy ideas, among them that the only nukes being launched would be at America. Always told him he was full of shit, but to him, I was his youngest, and I was female. What could I possibly know? Right?"

"Bet he's wishing he listened now", James said quietly.

Alex shrugged, "Oh, I take no pleasure in being right about such things. Was always kinda the odd one out in my family, you know cuz I wasn't spending every waking moment cowering in fear at the inevitable. Always figured I'd just grab a belt fed soon as I could."

"See, I don't mean to be a dickhead here, but I'd never guess that someone of your size would be a beltfed, launcher kind of Animal", I noted.

Alex giggled, "I always said that girly shit was whatever I liked doing", she laid aside her MG34 and pulled the olive drab gun case that she'd been carrying since we left her house around and unzipped it, "when those guys from Kostrormansk came by, I decided it might be a good idea to get into something a little more...constructive. What with the biomass running around and all."

From the inside of that bag, Alex pulled the most ridiculous big bore light cannon I think I've ever seen. This firearm, if I can call it that, was essentially a stainless steel tube of monolithic width of about 4 inches with roughly a two inch bore. The lower receiver, was little more than a few pieces of stamped sheet metal that held the bolt and the stock plate. The scope mount was similar, stamped sheet metal welded to the top of the firearm with picatinny welded to that. Despite the simplicity of the design, the cannon was a gorgeous weapon with some very well machined parts on it, especially the muzzle break, a giant tank break like the one on the Barrett M82A1, but scaled up for...whatever slug the cannon launched at it's targets. The brake itself was partially shrouded over the top and bottom by a part of the cannon's monolith, extending about two inches past.

"Damn girl", James said sitting up, "going hunting for buildings?"

"What the hell is that monstrosity?", Eirren asked.

Alex giggled, "A Kostrormansk Ammunition Plant Mutant Hunter, chambered for 40x152mmSSLG, a resized design, closely based on the barrel and firing mechanism of a WW2 era soviet flak cannon."

"A flak cannon!?", Eirren asked.

Alex grinned from ear to ear, "the jackets on the slugs were machined from solid bronze with ultra refined lead poured right in. Nearly 5400 grains exiting the muzzle at close to Mach 2. And guys, trust me, this will stop whatever it hits."

"I seriously doubt there's much, maybe short of a main battle tank, that thing wouldn't stop", James stated.

"How much does that thing weigh?", I asked.

"Enough", Alex said, "the muzzle break weighs as much as your M4, and trust me, you'll be thankful for that when you pull the trigger. I got this special for dispatching large Biomass Examples, given how may huge ones were around my house. But, given the circumstances I've always encountered them in, I've never had the chance to use it in combat conditions. Mark my words, I'm going to take a target with this thing before the week's out. Drives me crazy wondering what he could do when faced with a Mass."

"You want us to leave you two alone for a bit?", James asked sarcastically.

"Nah", Alex said, oblivious, stuffing her shoulder mounted light aircraft cannon back into it's case, "our time will come. Hopefully sooner rather than later. You heard from Truck yet Ari?"

I shook my head, "no, seems like it might be a good idea to call him though. Rhino King, Condor Ground, any luck with that new position?"

"Not yet Condor Ground", Truck said, "we've got three viable locations, but there's some questionable thermal activity going on in the vicinity of two of the three. I can't tell if it's Biomass, Army Remnants or Shadow Company, but trying to move out of the hospital now is sure to sound the alarm."

"I thought you said no one operates in this part of the city?", I asked.

"That's what Shadow Company's files said yes", Truck said, "but then, I can't tell what's causing these heat signatures and I'm not willing to take my plane below the cloud cover. I'm not willing to open fire because I don't want to hit innocents."

"Copy all Truck", I said, "hospital is clear of contacts except for one."

"Rhino copies last", Truck said, "let me know if things start to go south, out."

"No such luck huh?", Alex asked.

"He said he's got a few possibles, but there's some questionable thermal activity around them. He'll let me know."

"We can't stay here", James said, "it's a hospital, it's a target for every armed Animal in the city."

"I'm aware", I said, "soon as..."

Benjamin picked that exact moment to come through the door, "Zack's awake."

"Speaking of."

We found Zack sitting up, most of the color had come back to his face, but despite that he still looked rather out of it.

"Nobody kissed me did they?", He asked.

Eirren laughed, "Nah, they just sliced you up like french bread."

"I already knew that", Zack grimaced, "feels like bad sunburn."

"So besides that, how do you feel?", I asked.

"I've got this nasty burnt taste in my mouth", he said, "so can someone fill me in on what happened and where the hell we're at?"

"Turned out those guys trying to steal our shit had someone who had peeled off the rest of their group", James said, "threw an EMP grenade at us and then tried to run for it."

"Did you at least kill them?", he asked.

"Oh yeah", I said, "we chased him down. After that, those new guys, Truck and Skeve? Turned out, they've been riding with the crew of a Russian cargo platform Gunship. They flew us out here."

"Where's here?", Zack asked.

"Texas."

His face lit up, "no fuckin' way!"

"Yeah, we still got sixty miles or so to go", I said, "city's under enemy occupation, so don't celebrate just yet, let's save the party for when our trucks are parked on my lawn."

"Arien, when I joined up with you, we were looking at over a year's travel time, about a month ago! Now were here? I should get fried by EMP's more often."

"Yeah, how about not ass hat?", Shannon growled, "putting your shit back where it was supposed to be was anxiety inducing."

"I don't doubt that. Even some of the techs at Faraday didn't like working on them."

He looked around for a moment and sighed, "this....we're at Tucker Memorial...aren't we?"

I nodded, "how could you tell?"

"I've uhh....I've got some history with this place", Zack explained, "Animals that worked here gave me my life back. It's hard to explain, this place was nice once. Arien, much as I'd like to give ya'll the grand tour, we can't stay here."

"We weren't planning on it. Can you stand?"

"Yeah, should be able to move on my own, I can't say the same for fighting. Shannon?"

"Arien did some pretty good thread work, but I'd advise against your plate carrier. It'd likely tear it out", Shannon advised, "I'd just stick to your belt for now."

"Someone got my AK...and my clothes?", Zack asked.

"Got your fatigues here", Eirren said, "your kit's in the truck."

Eirren went back to our previous room, at this point, Zack turned to James.

"Thanks for the save brother, didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I", James said, "still feel like acid is slugging through my veins."

"If I knew a damn thing about how the Biomass worked, I'd try and help you", Shannon said, "just let me know if it gets worse."

"Noted", James said.

Eirren stepped back in, "here, need help?"

"Nah", said said taking his fatigues from her, "I got it."

"Condor Ground to Rhino King", I said, "incapacitated squad member is on his feet, gimme a sit rep."

"Condor Ground", a male answered, I recognized his voice as the Pilot of the gunship, "Rhino 1-6, Rhino King is otherwise occupied at the moment. I understand something has come up but Rhino 3-6 can't provide a sit rep at this time as the situation is developing. What I can tell you is that if you wish to abandon current AO, Truck's given me directions a confirmed safearea from the hospital and not a name as we can't risk relaying the information over the radio. Be advised, the plane's recon cameras are in use, but I still have use of one thermal camera. I can direct you with that. Will advise as the situation unfolds."

"Rodger that Rhino 1-6, moving to vehicles now, will advise."

"That didn't sound good", Benjamin said.

"According to Rhino's pilot, something is currently unfolding abroad that plane. Pilot's clueless at the moment, just says if we wanna move, he has applicable directions."

"Might mean we've got some hell headed our way", Alex suggested.

"Don't want to stick around to find out", I said, "we need to get moving. Eirren and I will take point. Shannon, I want you, James, Zack and the kids in the middle. Alex, you Benjamin and Nat bring up the rear. Let's move single file in two rows, keep quiet as possible."

Zack got dressed, with Alex's help, as quickly as he could. We got everyone lined up and proceeded to move back towards the trucks. Coming through the main lobby of the hospital, all of the flies were gone.

"All of the flies are gone", Eirren gulped, "with all the gore around, that's a bad sign."

"Yeah", I scanned all around the lobby, nothing seemed any different from when we'd entered, "no shit. Sooner we're out of here...the better."

As we exited the lobby, Eirren and Nat ran ahead of the rest of the group to go start the trucks. They practically threw themselves backwards on the pavement once they rounded the corner.

"Gahh!! Holy fuck that's a big one!", Eirren yelped, scrambling back behind the sandbag cover.

"Did it see you?", I asked peeking through the sandbags. It wasn't hard to miss the Biomass that had scared her so bad, the damn thing was easily the size of a small house with no real shape. Various forms twisted and fought on the surface of the mass, making all kinds of horrific noises and speaking in voices of various accents and languages. Black, purple, brown, white and yellow spots plagued the surface of the mass, oozing various fluids the reek of witch could be smelled, literally about 200 yards away through our gas masks. IT was clear to me too that it hadn't just been absorbing flesh and blood creatures. Various forms of twisted plant life was growing out of it's open sores and wounds, every motion of the mass had the plants shaking off a yellow powder, who knew what that could be?

"I don't think so", she said.

"Well if it had I think we'd be hearing about it by now", I said, "Rhino 1-6 Condor Ground, I need you to swing around for an attack run."

"Negative Condor Ground", this time, Truck replied, "I suspect I have fighter aircraft in the AO and had to take my plane into low orbit. I can't effectively target from these altitudes and I can't drop back to gun run height until I'm sure we won't be blown out of the sky."

"I don't think we have five minutes", I said, "there's a biomass out here the size of a house, and if we try and flee it's going to catch us."

Truck audibly grimaced, "I understand Arien, but I can't risk my plane being shot down, I've gotta take care of my family just as you yours Arien. I'll swing back around for a gun run as soon as I'm sure I'm safe. For now, you guys are on your own. I'll maintain radio contact, but that's all I can do for now."

I huffed, "I got ya, we'll make something work."

"No Gunship strike?", Eirren asked.

"Possible fighter in the AO, Truck can't risk dropping out of orbit for a strike", I said, "we're on our own."

Alex took a deep breath, I heard a click, and the sound of metal sliding on metal, "how far is it?"

Turning to face her, she had the MH across her lap, the stock plate, which held the bolt assembly, was off. She was locking one of those huge 40x152mm shells into the bolt face.

"200 yards...roughly."

"You're not thinking about shooting that thing are you?", Eirren asked.

"It's a heck of a shot", Benjamin said.

"Not for this it ain't", Alex said, tapping the shell on the back of the weapon and sliding it in, locking it into place with a heavy metallic thunk.

"That target's gonna be hard to miss", I stated as Alex put in an extra pair of ear plugs underneath her headphones, "But Alex?"

She looked at me as she replaced her headphones.

"You get your wish, don't be tempted to live it twice. Don't miss."

She clasped her helmet, "we wont. Naomi, cover your ears okay?", Alex asked looking towards her daughter, "someone needs to put themselves between Nero and Mya too, shockwave from the muzzle blast might hurt them."

"We got 'em", Nat said picking up Nero and Mya.

"Okay", Alex grinned ear to ear, "I've been waiting a long time for this, let's do it."

She pulled down the legs on the bipod of her cannon, shimmying towards a crate that would provide her a decent view of the target. She peeked over the edge of the crate, and with a grunt hauled her weapon up and over, setting it down on the crate and taking it off safety. She took a deep breath, took the safety off, and sent it.

I'd been behind some stupid single shot big bores with obnoxious muzzle devices in my days, during my short stent as a solider and PMC, and more since the bombs fell. But Alex's weapon? As had been the rule lately, was the most egregious offender, once again. The muzzle blast alone set off the alarms of about half of the functioning vehicles in the parking lot, ours included. The windows of the hospital shattered and the force of the muzzle brake venting the gasses outward to pull the recoil forces away from Alex's shoulder in perhaps the most violent brake blast I'd ever felt, and I'd been standing on the deck with my brother ordered the gunner of his battleship to fire it's 16 inch guns. It didn't quite pull me down from line of sight of the Mass, which meant I was treated to the sight of watching the projectile strike it's target. Where the round hit, it just ripped away everything, peeling it back like the skin of an orange and throwing bits of gore and flesh every which way and tearing it almost completely in half. Blood and fluids sprayed from every open wound of the creature and the force of the impact sent waves rippling through the flesh of the creature, blowing it out from both ends. The only thing that saved it from complete annihilation was the fact that whatever it was using as a spine to hold itself together which was about as thick as a tree trunk, and possibly constructed from a similar material, given the plant growth on it.

"Target down!", Alex said quietly.

"Holy shit", Eirren gasped coming out from behind cover, wafting away the smoke from the muzzle blast.

"Fuckin' smoked his ass", Zack commented.

"Doin' what I can with what I got", Alex said pulling her cannon away from the crate, "but nothing like a cannon shot to attract every biomass and armed Animal in the city."

"On that note, let's load up!", I ordered, "we gotta get moving! This AO is now lost!"