Ragnarok: Havoc
Synopsis:
Operation Ragnarok: Final Destiny of the Gods.
Biological warfare, chemicals designed to neutralize enemy life. The mixtures of chemicals are designed to first impede the enemy’s moral, sickening and weakening they’re immunity system. The second effect shuts down all nerves, resulting in an uneasy death. While the missiles worked, something unexpected happened. Mankind, the ‘Gods’ of our world, did not have the resources to stop the after effects. Days later the chemicals reached the major countries. When the other countries ceased fire, America tried to protect itself, resulting in an involuntary shut down of the way humans once lived. Widespread panic resulted in the entire world trying to survive. The chemicals had created something disastrous, something vile, and something inhuman. Those affected by the virus had changed; becoming lanky, but strong. They were fast, disappearing into the shadows. The night had belonged to them: the living dead.
Chapter 1: God of Pestilence and the Pale Horse
Port Said, Egypt
Ethan let the vibrations of his helicopter shift his weight around. He thought of the minor details that distracted him from the last few months. It seemed that the last three months had brought nothing but hell to the world around Ethan. Even the distractions of the flight couldn’t stop him from thinking about the end of the world. Years of countless training and real life exercises couldn’t prepare anyone for this, and he was lucky for surviving the downfall. Again, Ethan’s mind drifted into the abyss of thoughts that surrounded the world. His wife always seemed to be there in the void.
The radio buzzed over Ethan’s ears, “T-minus three minutes till touchdown sir.”
“Thank you, has my other team members landed yet?” Ethan inquired.
The pilot paused, “They’ll be here shortly.” Turbulence struck the helicopter as the pilot began to start his decent. Ethan began to gather his belongings: his FN-SCAR, his backpack full of gear, and his first aid kit. He wanted to be extra cautious in case he ran into one of them. Images of the dark and twisted monsters appeared in his head, the one place he thought he could escape to from them. “Sir we’re about to touch down, please watch your step when the hatch opens, and don’t worry, we have snipers watching the perimeter. That softened Ethan’s mind, at least the creatures weren’t waiting for him.
The desert air struck Ethan hard in the face, coming from a base over in Greece, the climate was so much more different and harder to get used to. Here the desert was harsh, between the heat and the sandstorms, this place will knock anyone down. His sunglasses slipped down from his spikey black hair. Glancing around, he noticed the stale air lift sand and throw it around, which only made this place worse. Straight ahead from his path were the doors to the base, which he still did not know the name of. “Don’t worry Ethan, you’re being watched,” a voice beckoned as the doors opened. “We have snipers watching the perimeter, and motion sensors all around, if anything breaches our perimeter, we’ll have it stuff and gutted before you can grab your gun.”
“Yes sir!” Ethan stood up straight.
“No need to be formal son, we’re not grading you,” The man in the doorway smiled. Ethan’s eyes finally adjusted, the man’s name and ranking were now visible: Sergeant Major Helms. Ethan’s eyes rolled, and he smiled. Off all the people remaining in the world, he was now under Anthony ‘War Machine’ Helms, the man who singlehandedly raided a Russian stronghold, killed their General, and left without alerting a single guard. He also had a great sense of humor. “Come on in Ethan, we have all the food, women, and wine you can partake of!”
Ethan laughed at the thought, “That sounds great sir, but I…” The roar of another helicopter interrupted Ethan. His team was finally here, and they were exiting the chopper the moment the hatch opened. First out was Russell Gibson, the team comedian and medic, holding a M4 Carbine. His short buzzed brown hair and young face had taken the first effects of the sun, causing him to squint, and fumble his first few steps in the sand. Next up was Bradley Rockwell, the team’s brains and best calculated sniper with his M95 sniper rifle. He wore his scarf around his neck, hiding his face with red sunglasses, and his camouflaged hat. He took his steps carefully, knowing the sands are constantly shifting. Last out was Don ‘Bear’ Messidic, the strong demolitions man who was known for being very quiet. His cold stone face seemed unaffected by his surroundings, but his M60 machine gun was held close, trigger waiting to be pulled. Each Delta Team member walked in uniform towards Ethan, their desert camouflage, body armor, and guns making them seem like walking tanks.
“Welcome to your new home for now, call it Pyramid Hotel,” Helms informed, “Make yourselves at home, it’s been our home since before the fallout.” Helm’s smile turned grim. “I’m not sure if its luck, but we survived out here, whether it’s the sun that helps blind them, or the sands constantly shifting, but we’ve hardly had any of the dead attack us.” Helms now motioned for Delta Team to follow him into the base. They all traveled through the one long hallway, with doors and hallways branching off to their sides. When they finally reached the end of the hallway, a small camera made a beeping noise, allowing the doors to open.
Inside was the control room, with men and women behind computers, all facing the giant screen at the end wall of the room. Some of the workers looked up, while others kept to their screens. Delta spread out, Russell and Don went to the water fountains, while Bradley studied the giant screen at the back of the room. He noted the map of the area, the small radar like screen to the corner, and what looked like routes around the area that seemed to either be safe or to be avoided. The satellite picture of the area looked too surreal; the earth around Egypt actually looked dead, and deprived of any lively colors. Helms took his stride to the center of the room, beginning to point to the giant center screen.
“Now if I can have your attention!” his voice boomed through the room, he certainly knew how to gather attention. Ethan and his men gathered together and focused on Helms. “Delta, you guys are assigned to the “Precision Advanced Recon Team”, P.A.R.T. for short,” he added the last part to inform the workers in the room, not to be redundant. “I think we can all agree that lately events around the world have been more than paranormal, very mythical to say the least. The creations of our minds and Hollywood have actually come to life, whether or not you want to call them ‘zombies’ is up to you, but they are in fact the living dead.”
Ethan winced, remembering his wife… how she had…
“Delta, you are leading this mission because we cannot spare more of our men. Our last patrol team has been missing for five days now. And the last we’ve heard of them they had made shelter outside of what was once an asylum. This asylum was used for 1,000 of years, housing generations of Egypt’s craziest psychopaths, rapists, and murders.”
The men all looked at each other with confusion. They were growing impatient for their reason to being there.
“Now the part that quite frankly confuses the hell out of us,” Helms continued. “The Asylum has been rumored to be haunted for generations now.” Helms rolled his eyes, knowing how ridiculous he sounded. “But we’ve seen firsthand the effects of these ‘hauntings’ the locals believed in before they died: The living dead have been trying to mimic these ghosts and spirits they once believed in, and we have noticed they have been changing.” Ethan smiled one part crazy, one part stupid, and two parts disbelief. “You guys want proof?” The monitor in the back of the room flickered to another screen, this time to something that looked like a homemade video from someone’s helmet. “This was the last video feed we had before our team went missing.”
The video started off with the sun glaring in the screen. Three other soldiers were walking in front of the camera, all moving towards the asylum doors. One of the squeamish looking soldiers jumped at the sound of a loud growl, visually frightened. All of the soldiers drew their weapons as a few howls were heard in all directions. Sand blasted the leader of the soldiers in the face, as he disappeared into a sand cloud, screaming as his gun fired. Silence fell, as the other two soldiers in front of the camera were grabbed and picked off by more creaturely arms, screaming as they died. Trying to flee, the frightened last man ran into the asylum, coughing as sand filled the air around him, his gun firing away from what the camera could see. Screams and curses overloaded the microphone, buzzing the amplifiers playing the video. Finally the helmet housing the camera fell to the ground, adjusting to the face of the soldier’s head it sat upon. Bloodied and bruised, he began to create words with the lips, but a hand grabbed his head, ripping it off from the neck of his body. A pool of blood filled the sand, as murmuring was heard. Helm’s eyes squeezed; he hated what this part brought.
Ethan’s face had turned cold, even if this didn’t exactly prove these ‘zombies’ were acting like the haunted phantoms of Egyptian legend, they were different, calculating their moves. They were communicating.