Undercover

C and F made their way through the forest, trying to create as little noise as possible.

"We'll need to find what's remaining of the military first, if we want a shot at fighting back." C instructed.

"Well, there were a lot of soldiers in the city earlier," F added, "Since they couldn't take down the reaper, and because the reaper was heading east the entire time, it's safe to assume they went west."

"We'll just wander the woods for now. If we find anyone, we'll ask if they have seen the military." C further commanded. 

Halfway into the forest trail, C slowed down on speaking his plans. He eventually went on to more direct lectures.

"Try to balance your weight onto the front of your feet in tiptoes, to make less sound." C whispered.

"I was a ranger before this, I should be instructing you." F quietly retorted.

The two trekked through the dense foliage, before F suddenly stopped. C looked back to check on her, and saw her staring intently at a tree. She signaled C to come over.

"Look at this, C." F almost shouted.

"What is it?"

C approached the tree, and realized that F was staring at a beetle resting on the side of it.

"It's… a beetle." C observed, "A stag beetle?"

"A big one at that." F explained, "Do you know what this little guy just sitting here means?"

"Umm… What does it mean?"

"Think about it, C, have you seen a creature from Earth ever since the aliens started attacking?"

C thought about it for a moment, "Now that you bring it up, no. But I haven't really been awake for that long since they first attacked."

"Exactly. Since this beetle is here, it means that either the aliens only attack humans or the aliens haven't reached this area yet." F concluded, ignoring the second part of C's answer, "But, I've seen them attack almost anything that moves, so I'll bet on the latter. That means we don't need to sneak around and waste time anymore!"

"How can you be so sure, just based on a single bug?"

"Trust me, I'm a ranger!"

"That still doesn't-"

C was cut short when F suddenly started to run ahead, prompting C to quickly follow her.

"Wait! Slow down!" C shouted, as F proved to be much faster than him.

F's sprint slowed down to a run, and eventually to a jog to allow C to catch up.

"For a police officer, you aren't that fast." F remarked.

"Well, you shouldn't just run off like that without warning." C attempted to scold, as he tried to catch his breath.

"Heh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to burn off some energy." F said, "Besides, you need to be fast in order to get out of trouble, Mr. Alien Fighter."

C was about to reply, when he stumbled out of the forest lining.

"We're out of the forest already?" He said as he quickly balanced himself.

C cautiously walked out from the foliage, peering through on both sides to make sure nothing was there. He spotted a sizable hill just outside the forest edge, and told F to climb up for a better view. The two climbed up to the top of the small hill, finding out from the peak that it overlooked a town.w

"Finally, a town." C said, "I hate walking through forests."

F took in the sight of the sun rising from over the far-off mountains, as C went towards the edge of the hill. He heard gunfire from across the town, sounding like those from a automatic rifle.

"Was that a…"

C walked closer to the town to hear more clearly, before he suddenly dropped down.

"Ack!" C almost screamed from both surprise and pain, as he landed butt first on a concrete floor.

He looked up, and realized that he fell in front of what looked like a abandoned bunker.

"Are you okay?" F said, clearly about to burst with laughter.

"I'm fine." C replied, trying to recover from the fall.

C got up, and examined the entrance to the bunker. It was a stone door that was slightly ajar, revealing part of a small room of some sort. C moved the door open and jumped when a rat scurried out of the shadows, forcing out part of a laugh from F, who quickly covered her mouth.

"It's just a big, empty room." C observed, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"What'd you expect?" F responded.

"I guess the town it is then." C said, looking at the empty room.

As they left the concrete bunker, C and F heard the loud gunshots again. This time, however, they also heard this loud, distorted scream eerily similar to a human's.

Both C and F paused, before C continued walking. C noticed that F's smile disappeared rather quickly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" C asked, "Are you coming?"

"N-no… I remember that type of scream. I'd rather not go there." F answered in an unusually serious demeanor.

"Hey, we have to go. There are soldiers in there, they could help us."

C noticed F's fearful expression. He paused for a moment to think of something, before coming up with a plan, "Alright, you stay in that bunker. I'll go into the town and look for the soldiers. When I find them, I'll come back."

"O-okay. But come back quickly, you got that?"

"Alright."

"If you don't, I'll go in and look for you."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. Just don't do anything reckless."

C gave F both the bat and the baton, telling her that he has a pistol readied. As F went back to the bunker, C realized that he was by himself again. C paused for a moment, almost reconsidering his plan, before continuing on towards the town.

C entered the town, which he saw was completely abandoned and totaled. The windows of several buildings were completely shattered, and various assortments of debris, ranging from empty cans to fancy purses, lined the sidewalk. Several of the buildings had large holes in their roofs, with rebar and tiles hanging limply from the edges. The only sound that C heard was the soft tune of wind and his own footsteps. The sun was beaming down on the side of his head, but that still did not detract from the uncanniness of the situation. C walked down the streets for only a moment, before the feeling of being watched forced him to move closer to the buildings.

The buildings of the town were tightly packed, but there was still room for small spaces in between. As C walked past, he saw figures run past the dark alleyways. C reached into his backpack, but had then remembered that he lost his gun in the city. C suddenly felt helpless, but had no choice but to persevere. C went into one of the buildings to look for a means of defense against the ghastly figures. He managed to wander into a small shop, but all he found of potential use was an empty beer bottle. He continued foraging around the building, when he started to hear breathing that was not his own. He quickly turned around, and found himself pointing the bottle as if it were a gun. He scanned around the room, but could not see anything moving. C started to calm down again, as silence filled the room.

C cautiously walked towards the door, when a loud thump caused him to instinctively dodge to the right. To his left, a parasite flew past. It landed next to the door and let out a loud hiss, before darting behind a shelf - out of C's vision. C hid behind the opposite side of the shelf, wielding the empty bottle in his right hand. He waited for a while, until he noticed that the room was completely silent once again. He looked around the room a second time, and saw a couple of cans to fall over from the shelf next to him. He ran over, ready to strike whatever was there, but saw nothing on the shelf.

In the noise, C managed to hear a large amount of containers fall behind him. He looked behind himself and saw a humanoid figure rushing towards him. C stood in place and threw the bottle he was holding. The bottle collided with the figure's head and shattered on impact, sending shards of glass into the figure's body. The figure was knocked over, which gave C a moment to examine it. The assailant was a man, his clothes drenched in a dark red liquid. C looked in horror, not at the bloodied man, but at the parasite tail wrapped around his neck, its base embedded firmly in the back of his head. The parasite's host erratically flailed around, eventually getting back up on his feet. The look of terror that embodied the host's face struck even more fear into C. It reminded C of what F had told him: the man was still conscious.

C tried to run the other way, but was stopped by another parasite, which quickly leapt at him. C blocked his face, shifting his weight and tossing the parasite against the shelf. C ran past it as it was struggling to get up, and bolted out of the door to the outside. He stopped for a moment to look behind himself, but continued to run when he saw the man chasing after him in a full sprint. The noise created inside the building had alerted many more zombie-like hosts, who then ran out of the other buildings, several of them blocking C's path. C had no choice but to take a sharp left into an alleyway.

As C ran down the alleyway, he heard gunfire pierce through the quiet air. The sound grabbed the attention of most of the parasite hosts, but a single one still followed C. C barely dodged the host as it lunged at him from the right, the momentum of its strike causing it to tumble past him. The sounds of gunfire echoed through the alley, causing the attacking host to emit an ear-piercing scream in return. The noise forced C to cover his ears. C ran near the entrance of the alley, followed quickly by the host. The host clawed at him, just missing his neck, but tagging his shoulder. C took the opportunity to grab its arm and throw it outside the alley. The host attempted to get back on its feet, but was quickly gunned down, as was the parasite as it detached and attempted to run away.

C stood there, trying to look the least crazed he could while also breathing heavily from his encounter. C heard someone speak from outside the alleyway. He went close to the entrance to hear it clearer. The voice sounded rather familiar to C. 

"Hey, did you see that? The zombie was just thrown out of the alley over there." The person said, "Someone is in the alleyway."

C heard loud, clacking footsteps come toward the alley. The person came into view, wearing a full military uniform and holding an M4 rifle. The soldier gave C a simple command, "Hands up."

C quietly obeyed, putting his hands over his head and eventually following the soldier. They both walked out of the alley, giving C a chance to observe the group of people that were now here. There were about eight soldiers, all wearing the same uniform, but each one was armed with a different rifle - except one which had what looked like a shotgun. In the middle of the street was a large armored carrier, which was colored a striking light silver similar to the soldiers' uniforms. What followed was a normal check by the soldiers: they searched his backpack and his pockets for any weapons.

"Holy hell, he has a lot of stuff." One of the soldiers remarked.

C was given back his backpack, and was brought to a cleared out building. Inside the building was a small group of people, possibly also saved by the soldiers. The soldier gave C basic instructions, "Wait here until we give the all clear, got it?" C nodded, and went to introduce himself to the group.