Death is only the Beginning (EDITING)

Chapter XXIV

Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania 16:43 pm

3 Hours following the start of Operation Dead Mist

"Come in" said the tired officer as he heard a knock. The door opened and a just as tired soldier with thick sweat marks on his armor. The officer could see his reflection in the soldier's tinted gas mask.

"What is it Sergeant?" asked the officer as he poured a steaming black liquid into a paper cup and gulped it down without any signs of pain.

"Sir, we are dangerously running low on supplies and ammo"

"And what do you want me to do Marcus? We called for help days ago"

"I know sir but I have an idea"

"What do you have in mind?"

"I want to make a field run sir. That emergency broadcast, it will lead our reinforcements deep into undead territory. I must warn them" said Marcus as he stood proudly affront of the tired Colonel.

"I can't let you do that Marcus" said the Colonel as he flicked a burnt piece of his cigar into an ash filled ashtray on a makeshift desk consisting of two large military crates with a cloth over it. Mounds of paper work and radio equipment covered his desk.

"But sir.."

"No! I can't risk anymore lives. I've lost too many already Sergeant"

"And we'll lose many more if we don't get any help. We are all that is left here sir and I know help is on the way but to a lost stand point they don't know is lost."

The Colonel silently buried his cigar into the mound of ash and approached Marcus who still stood proudly by the door.

"There is no way of talking you out of this is there Sergeant?"

"No sir"

"Did you at least come up with a plan as to how you get through the undead horde in one piece?"

"I did sir. I just need your approval"

"I don't want you to do this Marcus. I need you here but you are right. We won't last any longer like this. Take what supplies you need, get some rest, and present me your idea in an hour. Dismissed!"

Marcus saluted and with a smile under his gas mask, he left the office that once was a Shelly gas station. Marcus then passed dozens of equally tired soldiers who are in the process of reinforcing the fence, with whatever they could find, where hundreds of heavily decomposed infected are pressing against. Some of their faces dug deep into the gate and left scars in their gray and blood covered faces. Marcus put back the ear plugs in that he took out to properly hear the Colonel but despite them, the loud moaning has made his ears ache and given him and the rest of the soldiers a mild head ache.

Despite the use of benches, car parts, long metal beams, and military hummers; the fence still bent inwards and threatens to fall at any moment. Thick tire marks cover the asphalt road where the parked cars have been pushed back from the infected's force against the fence. To conserve ammunition, the soldiers taped their knifes onto the barrels of their rifles and have been jamming the blade against the forehead of the infected for the past couple of days. Dead infected have piled up on the ground where their living comrades step over them to get to the gate. The fence creaked as it tried to hold the wait of hundreds of infected pushing against of it.

The Colonel approached one soldier and said "Staff Sergeant Reynolds?"

"Yes Colonel?" he responded as he took a sip of water. Like all the soldiers his uniform is worn down in dirt and sweat.