"OK! Here are our orders. We use the standard outbreak protocol. Since the area ofthe outbreak is very small, the management has decided that phase 1 and phase 2 will be carried out in parallel. Phase 1, the evacuation of the civilians is done by the other teams. We and another team will take over phase 2 and go to the hospital and try to contain the outbreak, "Tyler explained the process to those present in a military tone, while he was standing in the cockpit of the kneeling ATBS.
"We, as well as everyone in the hospital, all belong to exposure class 1. So be prepared for the worst," Tyler looked at Zero while the soldiers looked at each other. “If possible, we should try to evacuate the civilians inside the hospital. Our top priority remains to contain the outbreak before it spreads further! So don't even come up with any stupid ideas! "Tyler focused his gaze on the group around Zane this time. Zane swallowed, feeling Tyler's eyes on him made his nervousness rise even more.
"Any questions?" Tyler asked around, his gaze flying over the tense soldiers. Many had never participated in a fight, let alone a battle, and now faced with both a Teikoku attack and an outbreak.
"All right ..." Tyler let the question rest and pressed a button in his cockpit. The chest of the kneeling ATBS, in which the cockpit was located, closed under the whistling of the hydraulics, and the 22-meter-high, red colossus rose with a slight shake of the ground. Blue lights in the sensors of the head and chest began to glow as he picked up the rifle.
"Get up! We start the mission! "
"" "Yes Sir" "" answered the soldiers together.
The convoy of ATBS and trucks marched slowly towards the main entrance of the hospital. The two ATBS secured the right and left flanks of the convoy, in the middle of which three vehicles moved ahead, flanked by soldiers. Including two military trucks, as well as Zero's pickup, which was located between the two trucks and served as a gun position for some soldiers.
It was only a few hundred meters to reach the main entrance, but the danger of being flanked and the poor visibility through the small park that stretched out in front of the hospital made a quick advance difficult. The slow advance also made it possible to fight safely and effectively against all infected people who would cross their path.
Meanwhile most of the infected on the streets had been taken out by snipers, who had positioned themselves on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Only their clothes and the black crystals lined the path of the train.
It was only a few yards to the entrance when Tyler's ATBS raised his left arm and signaled to stop. "This is where we position ourselves", it echoed through his loudspeaker. Immediately the two armored trucks drove up and positioned themselves on the left and right side of the entrance, forming a narrowing. The soldiers followed and holed up behind the trucks so that they could see the entrance. The second ATBS also took a position to the right side of the truck, while Tyler covered the left side.
Zero's truck, however, was a bit offside, as Tyler had asked for. Since they were officially civilians who had volunteered to assist with the evacuation, Tyler wanted to keep them out of the possible battle and ordered them to flee if necessary.
Meanwhile, the entrance to the hospital was sealed, a security measure in the event of an outbreak or the like, which was intended to protect the people in the hospital. But in this case, it locked the people inside. The lock could be opened from the inside, but this had probably not happened. The steel lock still blocked the entrance. Cold sweat ran down Zero's back.
"Carol's probably fine," Asagi smiled at the others in the car to encourage them.
"Yes ..." replied Zero, as a soldier approached the lock and went to a fuse box that was let into the wall.
He plugged a cable into his PDA and connected it to the terminal which was in the fuse box. The terminal could only be operated analog to protect it from hacking. Since the AI uprisings, most vital facilities could only be operated using analog or through constantly changing codes. The hospital could be unlocked via the city's command post, but a special key was required in the event of an attack or an outbreak. Since this would take too long, it was accessed manually.
The soldier swiped and tapped on his PDA as he gave a hand signal and the heavy steel latch lifted. The lock went up being divided in the middle, while the lower half let itself into the ground. Behind it, the lock split vertically and the halves went off to the left and right. Behind it was another lock that moved up and down like the first one. Just as the lock began to loosen, the soldier was running back from the terminal and the soldiers behind the trucks were pointing their rifles at the entrance as black sand and ash emerged from the main entrance. Like smoke, it first spread around the area before settling on the ground, where it was slowly carried away by the wind.
The soldiers nervously pointed their rifles at the emptiness of the main entrance, their fingers trembling on the triggers. A few seconds passed without anything happening. Nothing moved but the black sand that was slowly being carried away by the wind. Time passed without anything moving when one of the soldiers gave a signal and the soldiers lowered their weapons and seemed to relax. Then one of the soldiers signaled to Zane and the others that they could join them.
"Here we go ..." Zane said nervously when he saw the soldier wave.
When Zane and the others were halfway towards the soldiers, a high-pitched scream Zane was all too familiar with suddenly rang out from the hospital.
"Take up position!" Shouted one of the soldiers and all of them frantically pointed their rifles back at the entrance of the hospital.
With the windows locked, only little light entered the entrance hall, which was already sparsely lit by the emergency lighting. Footsteps could be heard in the distance. The soldiers' fingers on the rifles twitched nervously as outlines emerged in the entrance hall, quickly heading towards them. The first shape appeared from the shadows and came out of the entrance. Immediately the soldiers aimed at the person who had stepped out of the shadows and screamed the next moment. Then more people stormed out of the hospital.
"Open fire!" Shouted one of the soldiers.
A hail of bullets broke through the storming people. Some fell to the ground, but immediately straightened up again. Others were only slowed down by the bullets.
These are people! "Wait, these are ..." Zane yelled, begging the soldiers to stop as one by one fell to the ground. Stop it! Please!
Just as Zane was about to scream again, the last person fell to the ground motionless. The barrels of the rifles smoked as they ceased fire on the soldier's orders. A voice rang out from the building: “P… Please! Do not shoot!"
“Don't fire!” Shouted the soldier who had previously given the command.
When the guns had finally stopped, a man stumbled out of the shadows of the entrance.
"Are you okay?" Zane yelled as soon as he saw the limping man. "Zero, quick! The man is hurt,” he continued without giving Zero or anyone time to react.
"I knew you were coming to save us," said the man in an exhausted voice, while a black trail of blood followed the leg which he was dragging behind him.
Suddenly all the soldiers pointed their rifles at the man.
"What are you doing?" Shouted Zane immediately and ran to the soldiers before he was held back by one of them. "That's a human, damn it!" Zane paused.
"What's going on? Why are you aiming at me?” Asked the man in amazement as he put his hands protectively in front of him and froze.
His hands began to dissolve, sand and ashes, like the ones that had streamed from the entrance earlier, were loosening from his hands as they fell apart.
"He ... help me!" The man pleaded, desperately looking for help.
"Asagi don't look!" Zero took her in his arms to shield her from the incident.
"Do something!" The man pleaded again as the decay already reached his throat. The lower part of his leg, which he had previously pulled behind him, broke and he fell to his knees.
"Just do anything!" Zane yelled at the soldiers, who looked at each other with uncertainty.
Then a shot drowned out everything and caught everyone's attention. In the next moment, the kneeling man fell forward on the floor and shattered like porcelain, before he dissolved completely into ashes and dust, like the other Infected earlier, and only a small black crystal remained.
Silence had returned when Zane looked in the direction from which the shot had come in shock.
Tyler stood there, pistol in hand, in his open cockpit.
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