Anathema 3- Code Blue
Avril
A bolt of lightning streaked across the gloomy grey rainclouds, lighting up the forest for a split second as if it were day. In that single moment, I could see the mutilated face of the zombie reaching out for me, his three fingers, a thumb, and a stub of a pinky an inch away from the soles of my boots. Just as I was about to raise my foot to slam down on its nose, a wild Ilbi sliced through the ghoul’s neck, severing its head from its torso. It fell down the pine tree, hitting every branch and numerous other zombies along the way.
Muttering a quick thanks, I proceeded to roundhouse kick two more zombies in the face impale two more creatures through the neck. This was a losing battle. Even with the two of us sitting atop this tree, we could only fend off the horde temporarily. Freaking Iro…
Right when my mind accused Iro, a metallic ring clashed with my ears, and immediately, the nearest zombies tumbled to the floor, their faces cut literally into three pieces.
Iro was a blur, dashing into the mass, then away, each time leaving a few more permanently dead. Within a few minutes, their ranks had been cut down sizably. Only a few more stragglers remained, making easy targets for my golden dragon.
As Ethan impaled another zombie with a shuriken, I aimed my Shinebow on the last one, twisting around in confusion as Iro dashed around it. Taking in a deep breath, I released my last soul arrow, and watched in satisfaction as it sliced through the zombie’s right eye. It spun around on the spot and fell face first into the rocky cliff; the arrow head pierced through the back of the skull and stuck out triumphantly before dissipating into the freezing rain.
Ethan strode over to the nearest zombie and pulled out his star, “Well I guess I can’t use these anymore…” He chucked the Ilbi over the side of the cliff; it made no sound as it hit the soft mud hundreds of feet below. “Thanks again for saving me, I’m forever in your debt.”
“You don’t want that,” I snickered back and turned to Iro, my face turning into a glower, “You son of a b****, why didn’t you help sooner?”
“Blondie, I thought you could handle them,” Iro sneered with a casual cock of his head. “Apparently not.”
As he strode past me back to the edge of the cliff, I swore quietly to myself.
“I heard that,” his voice floated back to me amidst the shower. Of course he did. He always heard everything. The son of a b**** somehow knew everything there was to know…
“So what’s going on in Kerning?” Iro inquired, still looking out into the L Forest. The fires of Kerning still raged furiously in the hazy distance.
“Well,” Ethan replied as he strode up to join Iro at the edge, “Containment failed obviously. They overran the entire city in a matter of an hour. There’s no cure yet, so the only thing we can do, is to shoot these things in the head. The infection is spread through the contact of bodily fluids. That’s it in a nutshell.”
“Too bad they didn’t learn that fast enough,” I murmured, recalling the image of those military gunslingers being brutally mauled alive. I could still see that jarring image of the first denizen close up on the MapleTV, ripping the organs out of that unfortunate cameraman.
“So what do we do now?” I asked Iro, joining the two men at the edge. Looking down, I could see a pile of bloody messes, rain water already pooling in their impact craters. The smoke to the north west started to fade into the grey clouds, leaving Kerning City nothing more than a battered, burned out shell of a town.
“I guess we’d have to fall back to Henesys,” Iro replied, turning around towards the direction that we came from, “Gotta warn all those people back home.”
“One thing,” Ethan interjected, “These zombies don’t need any food or rest. They will run and run until they catch their prey. We have to hurry if we are to beat them back. They run insanely fast…” He trailed off, still looking down at the mass grave below.
Iro held his Timeless Knuckle out in front of him and watched as the rain slowly washed off the zombies’ dark red blood. I watched as he tilted his wrist side to side, playing with the waterfall of crimson. The way he did things, it bothered me. I don’t know why I was so disapproving of anything that wasn’t like me. I hated conformist, yet I wanted people to conform to me. I wanted people to realize that the world was objective, that nothing you did in life mattered after death. It would all be forgotten like the raindrops that were falling on my head.
Damn it all, I was thinking again…
We sloshed through the deepening mud, making haste on our journey back east towards Henesys. The Green Mushrooms and Stumps were quiet, not a soul was stirring in the forest. Silence crept through the woods like a plague. The animals could feel this presence of evil. They were close. We didn’t have much time.
Iro walked ahead with Ethan, conversing steadily about the origins of the infection. I paid no attention, but rather concentrated on the pelting of the freezing rain. My Red Napoleon’s cloak had fallen down during the fight, and I did not bother re-covering my head. The rain had matted my hair on the sides of my head, soaking me through completely.
My glove brushed a fern as I walked, the cold golden dragon firm within my grasp. Pricking my nose a little, I hesitated a moment, then removed my left glove and let my hand glide across the tops of the bushes and ferns around me. The wet vegetation felt so clean and pure under my touch; I just wanted to lie down and forget the world. Let the rain envelop me, take my soul in. I smiled.
Just a little.
I don’t know how long we walked, but it didn’t seem long enough. The heavenly forest scenery was suddenly replaced by the rocky, geometric shapes of Henesian houses. Sighing dejectedly, I entered the city, trailing behind Iro and Ethan.
The streets were completely deserted. A ghost town. The only sign that said we weren’t too late was that blood was not smeared everywhere.
Suddenly, a bright light engulfed us; I put my arm over my head to block out the intense beam.
“Halt who goes there?” someone’s voice on a loudspeaker ordered, “Identify yourself or we will fire on you!”
It was only then that I realized we were surrounded by Corsairs and Snipers hiding behind every nook and cranny in the city, their weapons all trained for our heads.
“Stop! Stop!” Ethan yelled, both of his hands up in surrender, “I am Major Ethan Grey of the Maple Army, Delta Company. We are friendlies.”
The searchlight shut off and I lowered my arms, my pupils dilating to recover from the burst of light. A man was striding up to us, a single man down the road. Ethan saluted uniformly.
“Major Grey, why are you not at your post in Kerning City?” the man asked sternly, not even bothering to return the salute. I looked closely on his blue commodore’s uniform at the name tag that revealed the man as General David McCarthy.
“Because Kerning City isn’t there anymore, General McCarthy, it’s completely destroyed, overrun,” Ethan replied hastily. “Along with everyone in it. You can Code Blue it. The survivors won’t be surviving very long.”
“I see,” McCarthy thought, raising a thoughtful eyebrow. He motioned with a finger for someone out in the haze. After a moment, a set of footsteps started reverberating off of the stone buildings around us. He splashed to a stop just before he reached us and awaited instruction. “Kerning City is Code Blue,” McCarthy told the assistant, “We have lost control. Commence Operation Containment I.”
With a quick acknowledgement, the assistant ran off into the rain, a clash of thunder signaling his exit. Meanwhile, the streets of Henesys seemed to flood right before our eyes, as if the soil itself were regurgitating the water. I breathed in deep, watching my breath materialize as I exhaled. Cold, freezing rain…
“If you’ll come with me to our temporary headquarters,” McCarthy motioned for us to follow. As we walked, I looked around; I could suddenly tell exactly where the snipers were positioned. For military trained personnel, their hiding spots were pretty obvious. I thought about pulling an arrow from my quiver and shooting the mailbox on the left, just to see if he would scream or not. My mind was wandering…
The four of us made our way into a large green tent set up near the town center. As we entered, a blast of putrid, warm air entered my lungs, making me cough and sputter. The place was rank with fear.
General McCarthy sat down at a swivel chair surrounded by a mass of computer monitors, all seeming to show the urban sprawl of Kerning City. “So I guess you’ll be wondering what Code Blue means?” he asked without looking at the three of us, “Major, explain.”
“Yessir,” Ethan replied. I hated the way he just took that order like a b****. “In a nutshell, we’re going to nuke Kerning. It’s the only way to completely eradicate the virus and hopefully contain the infection before we see a nationwide outbreak.”
I took the news in like a mannequin, unmoving and unwavering. It didn’t surprise me that the Nexon Dominion government was that brutal. I could clearly imagine them employing cruel and unusual punishments to whoever and whatever stood in their way. If it meant destroying an entire city where millions lived for the common good, so be it. That’s how it was with the Dominion. For the common good…
An hour later, I found myself on the highest hill in the now deserted Mushroom Park. The rain continued to pound down around me, and I drew my legs up against my chest and held them close with my arms. It felt good being alone, being away from the hustle bustle of that government rubbish. Besides, people were idiots.
A cold breeze brought another heavy sheet of rain down upon my head. I continued to look North West at the distant remains of Kerning City. Those pour bastards… those poor souls. A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder signaled the entrance of all of those people into heaven. Or hell…
“Mind if I join you, hun?” Iro’s voice suddenly pierced the monotonous drumming of the rain on the nearby trees.
“Yes.” I retorted, not moving my gaze.
Iro sat down like I knew he would. He never respected my words, and I learned to stop caring. “Cover your eyes.”
“Why?” I spat, turning my head to glare at him.
At that instance, the entire world flashed white, as if the clouds suddenly disappeared into nothingness. It felt as if a million stadium lights exploded at the same time. I whipped my head back around just as the light faded and saw a mushroom cloud roiling into the grey purgatory above. For a moment, it was silent, then the distant explosion reached us as a faint rumble; one could have taken it to be a clap of thunder a hundred miles away.
We sat there together in the rain watching the rising mushroom cloud twist and turn. A deep, far-away growl of thunder indicated the remaining souls being burned in the fiery pits of hell.