This story(originally known as Task Force 141(Fan Story)) focuses on Task Force 141 as they attempt to contain an undead outbreak in one of the many alternate realities that become trapped in the Dark Aether(originally was come to an end) once the Aether storyline(the Ultimis and Primis storyline) is finished.
Prologue
Ghost loaded a mag into his ACR and pulled back the cocking mechanism before letting it go and causing it to snap back into place with a satisfying click. He looked around the bay of the Blackhawk helicopter and watched as the rest of Bravo 6(Soap, Price and Roach) geared up for their mission.
“We are approaching landing zone, comrades!” Nikolai announced from the cockpit.
The bay doors on the side of the helicopter opened, and Soap rushed over with a rappel and clipped it to a hook on the ceiling near the bay door. Soap grabbed onto the rappel and slid down, followed by Price, Ghost, and finally, Roach. They landed on the ground and got out of the way for the next. Once they had all landed, the rappel was dropped, and the team grabbed their weapons. They looked around the barren landscape, seeing nothing but dust and sand. Ghost listened for anything out of the ordinary, eventually hearing pounding on a steel plate. Ghost walked towards the sound and found a slightly discolored square of sand. Ghost crouched down and tried to brush away the sand, but it wouldn’t move, and Ghost knew what he’d found.
“I found something!” Ghost shouted to the rest of his team.
Ghost stood up and aimed his ACR at the trapdoor as the rest of Bravo 6 arrived.
“Roach. Open it.” Price ordered, aiming his M4 Carbine at the trapdoor, along with Soap, who did the same with his MP5K.
Roach crouched down and pulled the trapdoor open, revealing humanoid beings with dark grey skin and glowing yellow eyes.
“What the hell?” Soap wondered aloud.
The humanoids grabbed at the ground and began to pull themselves up. One of them swung its arm with the intention to harm Roach, who dodged the attack and attempted to grab his sidearm, only to be grabbed and swiped at. Two of the attacks hit Roach, who fell to the ground. The rest of Bravo 6 opened fire on the zombies, killing the wave, and Ghost put away his ACR and grabbed Roach by the shoulders and dragged him back towards the rest of the team as the second wave emerged from the trapdoor.
“Nikolai, we need extraction, now!” Soap told Nikolai.
“You are ahead of schedule, comrade! I expected to have peace and quiet for at least ten minutes!” Nikolai joked.
“Just get us out of here! We don’t have much time!” Price shouted to the radio.
Ghost pulled Roach to his feet and put his arm around his shoulder as Nikolai’s helicopter lowered near the ground. Ghost dragged Roach onboard and Soap and Price followed, shooting zombies at the same time. The helicopter rose from the ground and ascended hundreds of feet into the air.
“I thought it would be another military force, not zombies!” Soap said out loud.
“How did you know they were zombies?” Nikolai asked from the cockpit.
“They smelled like bloody corpses!” Ghost replied.
As soon as Ghost had finished talking, a glowing, blue humanoid figure that looked similar to a skeleton appeared in the bay, as if fate was laughing at him. A blue shockwave burst from the core of the figure, causing the controls of the helicopter and the bay door locking mechanisms to crackle with electricity as the whirring of the blades slowed to a stop. The figure laughed before disappearing in a blue flash, and the helicopter began to plummet towards the ground. Ghost fell to the floor as the rest of Bravo 6 held on for dear life. The helicopter turned to its left and Ghost fell, head first, to the left, towards one of the bay doors. He landed on the door and lost consciousness.
“Ghost! GHOST! We need to go! They're coming!!” Price’s voice echoed.
Ghost faded into consciousness just in time to see a small flash. The blue figure appeared from the flash and facing a wall with consoles, illuminated by the light from the hole in the ceiling made by the helicopter. The console in front of the figure sparked and red words appeared on the screen while Ghost reached to his holster and grabbed his G18. He pushed Price, who was crouching in front of him, aside and aimed the Glock at the figure before spraying bullets at it, but it disappeared in a flash. Ghost put away the Glock and Soap threw him his ACR. Ghost caught the weapon and stood up with Price and followed Soap to a small lab. Soap swung open the doors to the room, so the three entered to find Roach leaned against a wall and Nikolai with Roach’s Galil behind a table flipped on its side on the front-left side of the room. Price joined Nikolai behind the front-left table while Soap and Ghost took cover behind another flipped table on the front-right side of the room. All four of them mounted their weapons on the tables and prepared for a fight. Zombies approached the lab, some approaching the door and others approaching the windows. The zombies broke the windows, giving them the ability to enter while the zombies at the door bashed on it, trying to get it down. Zombies crawled through the window, only to be mowed down by Price, Nikolai, Soap and Ghost. Soap stood up and shot at the zombies trying to break down the door, moving back down the middle of the room to find a rectangular table in the back-middle. He turned it so it could fit and pushed it towards the door while the rest of the team gave him covering fire. Soap reached the door and flipped the table up so that it was at an angle that would prevent the door from being broken down. Soap returned to Ghost behind the front-right table and continued to shoot zombies. The wave of zombies fell back, fleeing the lab. Nikolai chuckled, for they were victorious. Or so they thought. Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the facility, causing the team to look at each other, confused. The zombies returned, in greater numbers this time, and approached the lab.
“Second wave!” Ghost shouted.
The team reloaded their weapons in unison, preparing for the incoming horde. They mounted their weapons on their tables as the zombies drew closer, and opened fire. The zombies shuffled towards the windows, only to be cut down. Ghost’s ACR clicked, out of ammo, so Ghost pulled the mag out of the weapon, threw it aside, and began to load the next one, only to realise that the rest of his team was out of ammo and that zombies were crawling through the windows. Zombies stepped on the floor of the lab, stepping on broken glass and bloodying their feet, but it didn’t matter to them. All they cared about was murder.
“Fall back! There’s too many of them!” Ghost yelled.
The team turned around and vaulted over the table behind them and mounted their weapons on them.
“Alternate fire! One gun on a window at a time and switch when reloading!” Price ordered.
Ghost and Price opened fire on their windows until they had to reload, so Soap and Nikolai took over. Zombies made it past the first wall of tables and two of them grabbed Roach, who grabbed his M9 and shot at them, but the pistol was knocked away. The zombies dragged Roach away, who was weakly fighting and losing.
“NO!” Ghost yelled, standing up.
“We can’t save him!” Soap told him, holding him back.
Ghost pushed Soap away as the zombies pulled Roach through the shattered window and retreated. Ghost ran to the blocked doorway and charged into the table, knocking it through the door and leaving the lab. He watched as the zombies, huddled around something, snarled as blood sprayed from the center. Ghost aimed his ACR at the group and began to shoot at them, only to be grabbed and pulled back inside the lab by Soap and Price. Ghost landed on the floor between the first and second row of tables. His ACR slid across the floor as he recovered.
“Are you insane?” Price scolded while approaching the recovering Ghost.
“Maybe. But does that matter?” Ghost remarked while grabbing his ACR and getting to his feet. “I’m your only hope.”
“Is that a threat?” Soap asked.
“Oh you bloody wish.” Ghost remarked. “I can get a distress signal out. Faster than any of you.”
“Dammit.” Price grumbled under his breath.
Ghost walked past Price and Soap and exited the lab with his ACR at the ready. Zombies came from the left side of the room only to be shot by Ghost. Nikolai followed him out of the lab and turned right. He walked past the lab and looked to his left to see a vending machine next to a console. He cautiously approached the machine and pressed a button, and a bottle full of red liquid was ejected into Nikolai’s hand. He flicked off the cap and drank the liquid in one gulp, throwing the bottle aside afterwards, causing it to shatter on the floor.
“Nikolai, there’s a time and place for drinking, and this is not it!” Soap told Nikolai from across the room.
Ghost approached the console next to the machine and started typing on it.
“Bad news, mates. I need a long range radio to send a distress signal, and I’ll have to fuse it to the console to secure it.” Ghost told the rest of Bravo 6, who were gathering around him.
“Why can’t we just use the radio from the helicopter?” Nikolai asked.
“We’ll have to find a soldering iron and a spool of solder.” Soap told Nikolai.
“I’ll check the security cameras for them while you grab the-bloody hell, I found them already!” Ghost told his team. “I’ll mark the rooms with the materials while you go look for them.”
“Alright, let’s do this. Soap, you look in the nearest room, Nikolai, look in the helicopter.” Price ordered as Ghost marked the room with the materials.
Price, Nikolai and Soap split up and each headed for a different area. Price entered the farthest room, which was surprisingly close. He pushed open the double doors and found a table with a soldering iron on it. He also saw that there were two windows on the walls adjacent to the table. Zombies pounded on the windows, trying to get inside, as Price grabbed the iron and rushed back to Ghost. Soap pushed open the double doors on the room closest to the console and saw two barricades nailed on the walls next to a flipped table with a spool of solder nearby. Zombies violently pulled on the boards as Soap grabbed the solder spool and rushed back to Ghost. Nikolai looked around the cockpit of the helicopter and saw a radio module stuck inside the dashboard. He crouched down in front of it and pulled it out with ease before rushing back to Ghost. Bravo 6 reunited back at the console and placed their findings on the top of the console.
“That was fast.” Ghost said. “Getting this up and running will take some time. Make sure none of us die in the meantime.”
Zombies approached from the opened room and from the left side of the room, approaching the team. Ghost slid his ACR to Nikolai, who picked it up and dual-wielded the Galil and ACR. The zombies began to sprint towards Bravo 6, who began to spray bullets at them, cutting them down. Minutes of killing zombies went by, when suddenly, the facility became dark, and electrical flashes sparked from around the facility, revealing dogs with red eyes and flaming bodies that smelled like rotted, burning corpses. They rushed the 141, who tried to kill them, but they were simply too fast and in too great of numbers. One Hellhound jumped Nikolai while the rest swarmed Price and Soap, who were guarding Ghost. Nikolai grabbed his knife and thrust it into the snarling creature, and saw it emerge from the other side of its body. Nikolai pulled his blood covered arm from the body and chuckled. He pressed the button on the nearby vending machine twice and grabbed the two bottles that emerged.
“Here comrades, catch!” Nikolai shouted, throwing the two bottles to Soap and Price, who caught them.
“I don’t see how this’ll help!” Soap shouted back.
“Just drink it! Then punch them as hard as you can!” Nikolai instructed.
Soap quickly drank the liquid inside of the bottle as Price shot at the Hellhounds, scaring them off. When Soap finished drinking, him and Price switched roles, with Price drinking the liquid and Soap fending off the dogs. Soap punched a dog, launching it multiple feet backwards. He chuckled, and continued to punch the dogs as Price shot at them with his M4. They finished off the hounds as Ghost finished the radio.
“It’s done!” Ghost announced, causing the team to gather around the radio.
Nikolai handed Ghost his ACR as Price turned on the radio.
“Mayday, mayday, this is Bravo 6, we have engaged an unknown enemy and are in dire need of assistance. Our helicopter was shot down and we have no way of receiving extraction. Repeat: we have-” Price started.
“Price?” Someone said through the radio.
“Sandman?” Price asked.
“Affirmative. Team Metal and I are Oscar Mike to your location. We’ll get you out of there.” Sandman informed them. “Just hold out until we arrive.”
Frost planted a Thermite charge on the jammer as the rest of Team Metal shot at the Opposing Forces.
“Burn it, Frost!” Sandman shouted as Frost backed away from the jammer.
Frost detonated the thermite and the jammer came crashing to the ground and Sandman turned on his radio.
“This is Metal 0-1, the jammer has been neutralized.” Sandman said into the radio.
“Solid copy, Metal.” Overlord’s voice said over the radio.
Sandman reached to turn off his radio, but suddenly stopped, hearing something. He waited for a few seconds before speaking.
“Price?” Sandman asked, waiting a few more seconds before continuing.
“Affirmative. Team Metal and I are Oscar Mike to your location. We’ll get you out of there.” Sandman said. “Just hold out until we arrive.”
Sandman turned his attention towards Team Metal.
“Listen up, Metal. An old friend needs our help, and we’re gonna give it to them.” Sandman told them. “Overlord, we need transportation to the last known location of Bravo 6.”
“Affirmative. We have a bird inbound. ETA three minutes.” Overlord informed them.
Minutes later, a Blackhawk helicopter came to pick them up. Team Metal got onboard and the helicopter took off and headed North as US Army Rangers took over for Team Metal.
“Alright Metal, restock on ammunition. We have no idea what we’re up against.” Sandman told the team while placing a crate of ammo in the middle of the helicopter bay before turning on his radio. “Price? Price, do you copy? Can anyone hear me?”
“Yeah, I can hear you.” Ghost responded over the radio while gunfire echoed in the background. “Price is a little… preoccupied at the moment, so, he’ll be awhile. Oh, shit! Get off of me, you bastard!”
There was a crash over the radio, followed by gunfire from a Glock 18.
“Sorry about that. Bloody bastard jumped me.” Ghost said.
“What jumped you?” Grinch asked, grabbing the radio from Sandman.
“Well, I would tell you, but you’d think I’m crazy.” Ghost replied.
“Just tell us!” Sandman said, snatching the radio back from Grinch.
“It was...It was a zombie.” Ghost told them.
The team fell silent as the reality of the situation sunk in, but was suddenly cut off when Truck started to hysterically laugh.
“Zombies? You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Zombies are attacking you. That is so far beyond belief that Aliens attacking you make more sense!” Truck laughed.
Rewrite
The 141 zombies rewrite is the newest version of the 141 zombies story after I realized that I am terrible at pacing. But recently, I rewrote a CoD fan story called Armistice, and the rewrite was really good(I think)! So I decided to rewrite 141 zombies using the same maps(expanded)(with the same characters), while scrapping a few of my ideas. The story will be slightly different with different reasons for why Task Force 141 is where they are, and the Easter Eggs will change as well. Some maps were cut because I couldn’t find a way to make them fit in the story, so I’m sorry. There is also a change in format, switching maps to chapters, and the text in continuous italics marks the opening cutscene and ending cutscene. I don’t know if anybody will care, because I doubt anyone will read this version, but oh well. Now, onto the story.
Chapter 1: Experimental
April 19, 2016
Simon “Ghost” Riley, John Price, John “Soap” Mactavish, “Nikolai”
Task Force 141
Chara Sands, Russia
Simon slicked back his black hair as he sat in the annex of Fire Base Phoenix, waiting for orders. He glanced back at Team Metal before returning his gaze to the front as General Shepherd entered the room and stood before Task Force 141 and Team Metal. Shepherd cleared his throat, causing all of the Operators in the room to focus on him.
“Listen up, gentlemen. I’ve received intel that the Inner Circle has seized a facility in the Chara Sand desert in Russia tasked with the production of… “Wonder Weapons”. You are to take the facility, and, if possible, secure the scientists developing the weapons.” Shepherd told the teams. “Team Metal will insert at the minimum safe distance to the South, Bravo, the North. You will be assisted by the Omega Group, who have agreed to this joint op. We leave in two hours. Be ready. Dismissed.”
Simon stood up from his chair and trotted towards the exit, wanting to get ready.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The sands are quite beautiful this time of year.” Price joked as he lit his cigar.
“Yeah, sand, sand and more fucking sand is quite the sight.” Frost replied sarcastically.
“We are approaching Southern landing zone, get ready!” Nikolai told the teams from the cockpit.
Truck pulled open the right bay door on the Blackhawk and connected a rappel to the hook in the ceiling and kicked the rappel out of the helo, creating a line to slide down.
“Go now, comrades!” Nikolai told Team Metal, causing them to one-by-one grab onto the rope and let gravity take them to the ground.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghost rappelled down to the ground last, after Price, Soap and Roach. He landed on the ground and drew his ACR as Roach opened a trapdoor embedded in the ground. Soap aimed his XM4 into the open tunnel, checking it for hostiles.
“Clear.” Soap told the rest of Bravo 6.
Price, Soap, Roach and Ghost entered the dark tunnel, leaving the trapdoor behind them open.
“Flashlights on.” Price ordered, turning on the flashlight mounted on the side of his MAC-11.
Soap and Roach activated their flashlights as Ghost let his ACR drop to his chest, secured around his shoulder, and drew his Glock 18 and a handheld flashlight. He turned on the light as he and his team proceeded through the tunnel. Ghost moved his flashlight around, surveying his surroundings. The walls of the tunnel were metal with deactivated lights lining the walls. Bravo team traversed through the tunnel for multiple minutes, finding nothing of note besides scattered papers.
“Comrades! I am under fire by some sort of electricity weapon! My co-pilot is dead, I need help!” Nikolai shouted over the radio. “They’ve disabled my helicopter! I am going down!”
A faint explosion echoed outside of the tunnel seconds later, startling Roach. Price pressed the broadcast button on his earpiece.
“Nikolai, do you copy?” Price asked, almost panicking.
“I’m okay.” Nikolai gasped over the radio. “The blades stopping gave me enough room to jump out and use parachute. I will join you in tunnels, maybe they will have helicopter.”
“Net! Net!” A voice shouted in Russian(the word was in Russian), followed by the echo of gunfire.
As the gunfire stopped, Bravo team rushed towards the source, aiming their flashlights at the area in front of them. They entered a large, square room enveloped in darkness. Six figures stood in a circle in the middle of the room, heads bowed to look at the ground, causing Ghost to direct his flashlight at them, revealing them to be rotting corpses. The zombies turned toward the light, directing their orange eyes at Bravo team. The six zombies rushed Bravo team, grabbing at the closest member, Roach. Zombies grabbed his arms, causing his to drop his Vector, and dragged him into the darkness. Nikolai entered the area and fired his CZ75 at the other zombies, causing them to fall back. Roach’s screams echoed through the room until suddenly stopping. He was dead.
“What the hell is happening?” Nikolai asked Bravo Six.
A slit in the edge of the wall of the tunnel opened and a large slab of metal blocked off the tunnel leading to the exit. Soap grabbed Roach’s Vector and tossed it to Nikolai, who caught it without hesitation.
“Quarantine in effect. Lockdown successful.” A female voice, the facility’s mainframe, echoed from speakers in the ceiling.
“We’re sending the dead back to their graves.” Soap told Nikolai.
Ghost holstered his Glock and grabbed his ACR, aiming it from his hip as he still held his handheld flashlight. He shone the light around the empty room, looking for zombies. Finding none, he continued to observe the room, finding a door on the right and left side. The one on the left was a pair of glass doors, the right being a singular door.
“We should split up, cover more ground.” Price announced. “Soap, Nikolai, you go to the left, Ghost, you and I will go to the right.”
“Yes, sir.” Ghost replied.
“With all due respect, Captain, I think we should stick together.” Soap cut in. “Those things might pick us off one by one.”
“What do you think this is? A horror movie?” Price joked. “We’ll be fine.”
Soap grumbled as he and Nikolai trotted towards the pair of glass doors while Price and Ghost did the same to their singular glass door. Price pushed the door open and Ghost checked the room inside. It was a small staircase that led to a small, flat area between the staircase and another with the same proportions facing the opposite way, with the same situation as before.
“Clear.” Ghost told Price.
The duo trotted down the staircase and, when they reached the bottom, found themself in a half circular room with three support beams in the middle. Ghost flipped open the Heartbeat Sensor on his ACR, checking the room.
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Price told Ghost. “The hearts of the dead don’t beat.”
“It’s just an instinct, sir.” Ghost replied, flipping his sensor closed.
“You alright, Simon?” Price asked after a few moments of silence, both remaining stationary. “You seem off.”
“I’m fine, sir.”
“I believe you, I just wanted to make sure that you were stable.”
Price raised his MAC-11 and approached the door at the end of the half circular room. He grabbed at it, trying to pry it open, but wasn’t strong enough.
“Ghost, help me with this door!”
Ghost rushed to the door and tried to help pry it open, but it was shut too tight. Price signalled for Ghost to get back, which he did, and stepped away from the door. Price shoulder charged the door three times, getting through the door on the fourth. Price and Ghost entered a room similar to a kitchen, with cabinets, fridges, ovens and sinks lining the walls, along with a cobalt, glowing fridge next to the normal one. Three figures stood in the room, motionless.
Ghost flipped open his Heartbeat Sensor and waited for the radar to mark them, but it didn’t.
“Drop ‘em!” Ghost shouted, firing his ACR at the left-most zombie.
Price fired his MAC at the middle zombie, killing it once again, before turning his attention to the right zombie. It rushed him and knocked him to the ground, causing him to drop his SMG. He grabbed the M39 EMR slung over his shoulder and stuffed the barrel into the corpse’ mouth, firing a round into its head. Price pushed the body of the body off of him and grabbed his MAC-11 before getting to his feet, letting his M39 fall to his chest. He approached the cobalt fridge and discovered that it was more of a vending machine than a fridge. He observed the machine and discovered writing on it. Jolt Juice. He pressed the button on the right side of the front, causing a can to fall from the machine.
“Really? We’re fighting zombies and you’re taking the time to have a drink?” Ghost criticised.
“Shut up, Ghost.” Price replied, opening the can and taking a drink from it.
Price drank until the can was empty, which didn’t take long because it was less than half full. Price threw the empty can to the ground and felt an odd energy coursing through his veins. The lights in the room flickered on.
“What the fuck?” Ghost muttered, glancing back at the room between the kitchen and the staircase.
It wasn’t powered. Price flicked off his MAC-11’s flashlight and Ghost did the same with his handheld. Ghost kicked open the door to the next room, the lights in the kitchen flickering off and the lights in the adjacent one turned on as Price stepped inside. Ghost observed that it was a conference room with nothing inside besides a large table and fourteen chairs surrounding it. A decaying dog burst through a door on the far right side of the room, followed by four more, two of which were burning from the inside-out. Ghost and Price fired their weapons at the Hellhounds, killing one, but the rest were far too agile. The dogs drove Price and Ghost away from the kitchen and towards a door on the left side of the Conference room. Ghost quickly shoulder charged the door multiple times, but it wouldn’t budge. Fed up with this desperate situation, Ghost stepped away from the door and drew his Glock. He sprayed multiple rounds into the hinges before holstering the weapon and kicking the door open, thanks to the weakened hinges. Price finished off the flaming hounds, causing them to explode and set the table and nearby chairs aflame. Ghost and Price dashed through a long hallway connecting the conference room to a large computer room, cubicles littering the room, odd for an underground facility. On the wall was a set of circuit breakers, almost beckoning them towards it. Ghost rushed to the breakers and found that the breakers were for Sector D of the facility, obviously where Bravo Six was currently located, but all of the switches were flipped off. Ghost one at a time flipped them back on, powering up the different rooms of Sector D.
“Power restored. Fire suppression systems activated for Conference Room D.” The mainframe announced, causing the Conference Room to be sealed off from the rest of the facility.
Price let out a sigh of relief and sat down against the wall, suddenly feeling slightly nauseous. But what was on his mind was just one thought. Where are Soap and Nikolai?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soap and Nikolai pulled open the pair of glass doors and trotted into the hallway behind them. They moved slowly and quietly, not wanting to attract attention to themselves. They continued through the hall, finding that it opened into what was most likely a break room, a couch on the right side of the room near a coffee table that had been pushed to the side, most likely when the outbreak started. Soap glanced to his right and saw an orange light staring back at him. He fired a three-round burst from his XM4 at the lantern, causing it to shatter, sending glass falling onto the floor.
“Was it worth it?” Nikolai chuckled, causing Soap to growl in frustration.
“Fuck you, Nik.” Soap muttered, causing Nikolai to chuckle once more.
Nikolai shone the light on Roach’s Vector onto a door, which Soap rushed towards and kicked open in a matter of seconds. The door sprang to the side, forced open, revealing a barracks gridded with beds. Five figures stood in the room, heads bowed and turned away from the door.
“Check them, Nikolai.” Soap told his comrade.
Nikolai approached one figure and shone his flashlight onto their body, revealing decayed skin and torn clothes. The zombie turned towards the pilot, its orange eyes making it clear that it was dead. Nikolai fired the Vector in his hands, causing the other four zombies to turn towards him and Soap. Soap fired his XM4 at the remaining zombies as Nikolai reloaded, but the zombies simply took the bullets like water to a sponge. Soap’s XM4 clicked, out of ammo, causing Soap to let the weapon fall to his chest and draw Price’s M1911 and fire it at the pairs of orange eyes approaching him. Only one fell.
Nikolai finished reloading and fired the weapon in his hands, killing two of the zombies before all forty rounds in his drum mag were used. He dropped the mag and grabbed another to replace it while Soap drew his 141 Knife and rushed the final zombie, thrusting the blade into its head. The zombie died for one final time and Soap retrieved his knife from the corpse, panting.
“Those damn things are bullet sponges!” Nikolai told himself as he cocked the Vector in his hands.
Soap nodded in agreement, too tired to even talk. He grabbed his XM4 and dropped the mag inside of it before replacing it with another. He grabbed a mag for his M1911 with his left pinky finger and the pistol with the other fingers of his left hand. He pushed the mag into the pistol with the finger holding it and quickly turned it forward, snapping the slide into place before holstering it again. Soap looked around the room, finding two doors, one on the far side of the room and the other on the right side of the room. Soap approached the far door and twisted the knob, finding it was barricaded closed. Soap shoulder charged the door multiple times before it finally caved and the objects holding it closed collapsed. Soap opened the door and shone his light around the armory, trying to find the one who laid the barricade. Soap glanced around a gun rack and saw a human, a live one. Soap peeked his head around the rack one more time, but darted back behind cover when the man fired a pistol at him.
“Get back!” The man shouted, aiming his Makarov at the rack. “Do not come any closer!”
“Stand down!” Nikolai shouted, dashing into the man’s field of view, aiming his Vector at him. “We are here to help.”
The man studied Nikolai and, after finding his skin to not be rotten, stood up and approached Nikolai. He held out his hand for Nikolai to shake, which he did.
“Sven Holmberg.” The man told Nikolai, introducing himself. “Doctor. I was head of Research and Development for this Sector of the facility. Our specimens esca-”
“Specimens?!” Soap shouted, grabbing the doctor by his shirt and holding him against the wall in an act of aggression. “You’re telling us that you created those things?”
“We did not plan on them being a weapon! We just wanted to give everyone more time!” The doctor told Soap. “We would be heroes!”
Soap hesitantly dropped Doctor Holmberg and walked away from him, resisting the urge to kill him. He grabbed an AK-47, cocked it, and handed it stock first towards Holmberg.
“Might as well make you useful.” Soap said.
“I can’t use a rifle, it will dislocate my shoulder.” Holmberg told Soap, who sighed and dropped the assault rifle.
“Fine. If you can’t fire a rifle, you get a Machine Pistol.” Soap told Holmberg, grabbing a PP2000 from the rack and handing it to him, resisting the urge to shoot him with it.
Holmberg took the PP2000 and inspected it.
“I guess this could work.” Holmberg said to himself.
“Good.” Nikolai said.
“Come on, let’s move!” Soap shouted, starting to quickly approach the door.
Soap, Nikolai and Holmberg rushed out of the room and through the closed door on the right side of the barracks. They entered a sort of server room and nearly a dozen zombies inside. They all turned towards Soap, Nikolai and Holmberg, their orange eyes illuminating the area around them. The lights burned to life, illuminating the servers and the rotting flesh on the zombies.
“Power restored. Fire suppression systems activated for Conference Room D.” The mainframe announced.
“Kill ‘em.” Soap ordered, causing him, Nikolai and Holmberg to raise their weapons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soap, Nikolai and Holmberg exited the server room and entered the computer room, finding Price and Ghost finishing off a small horde of zombies. Price turned around to face Soap and Nikolai before aiming his MAC-11 at Holmberg.
“Soap, what were you thinking?” Price scolded. “He could turn at any moment!”
“Actually, Element 115 only turns those it effects into zombies after death, so I am fine until I die.” Holmberg explained before taking off the backpack that Soap hadn’t realised he was wearing. “First, we need to upgrade our formula.”
Holmberg opened the backpack, causing multiple cans to fall out. He grabbed one labeled ‘Juggernog’ and handed it to Soap, who quickly opened it and downed it in one gulp. He grabbed on labeled ‘Vulture Aid’ and gave it to Ghost, who opened it and drank it. Holmberg grabbed a can labeled ‘Shank Hank’s Stabathon Soda’ and gave it to Nikolai. Holmberg grabbed a can and offered it to Price, who shook his head in reply.
“I’m good.” Price told Holmberg. “I feel nauseous enough already.”
Holmberg placed the other cans in his backpack and threw it onto his back before drawing PP2000 once more.
“Ugh, it tastes like fish.” Ghost commented, disgust under his painted balaclava.
“This is Hank Jefferson of Sector B of the Ascension group facility. I’m holed up in the panic room of the Sector with other survivors, but zombies are banging on our door. 141, take the metro tunnels from D to B. Doctor Holmberg will show you the way. Please hurry.” A voice said over the comm.
“Doctor?” Price asked, implying that he wanted Holmberg to show them to the Metro tunnels.
“Right this way.” Holmberg told the Task Force, rushing through the computer room and opening the door adjacent to the circuit breaker. Soap, Price, Nikolai and Ghost followed him as he ran through the right side of a split hallway and opened the door at the end. The five found themselves in a wide open room with a Blackhawk helicopter crashed in the middle. Holmberg entered a code into a keypad on the right side of the room to open a door in the wall. The five entered the Metro tunnels, which had a train waiting for them. They all stepped inside the train and waited for the doors to shut.