As the plane continued to fly, Kain looked out the window and examined the landscape. He noticed small patches of movement on the ground and figured they were roving bands of zombies and monsters. The landscape was a vibrant mishmash of colors, with pink and purple being the most prevalent colors.
Ever since the radiation wave, even the trees and plants were irradiated. Whole new species of wildlife roamed the lands now, the majority being aggressive and dangerous. It was no wonder that humans couldn't survive outside of cities; there were simply too many things that considered you as prey now.
A voice intoned over the speakers, "All members, please equip comm links as approaching target city in 15 more minutes."
Kain reached into his pocket and pulled out the comm link and attached in onto his ear. He turned it on and heard brief static before it cleared and he heard a few voices before turning it off again but leaving it attached to his ear.
Jake finally woke up from the voice and also put on his comm link. His eyes looked more awake and he said, "Man, I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today…"
Kain had a guilty smile as he said, "How do you feel Jake?"
"I have no idea…like I feel overall weaker, but no longer tired. I can't put my finger on it. Anyhow, we are almost there. Are you worried brother? I am a bit nervous actually because Lady Sylvia scared the shit out of me with what we have to face. I am a melee fighter so I will be up front and personal with everything. You are so lucky that you can keep your distance. I kind of wish that I was long-distance now."
Jake's face grew a bit pale as he continued, "I really pray to God there are no squealers when we get there. As soon as I feel the ground shaking, I don't give a shit…I'm going to force my team to hunker down and hide somewhere till it passes. Hell, there is no way I am waiting around to hear a squeal. Screw the overall mission at that point."
The beautiful young woman next to him had overheard the conversation and nodded at Jake in agreement, before looking at Kain and glancing away quickly again.
Kain was going to continue the conversation with Jake, when all of a sudden, he heard a scream, "ENEMY ATTACK INCOMING!"
Kain immediately turned to look out the window and was shocked to see the sky was already filled with giant fireballs careening towards them in an arc from the ground.
*BOOOOM*
The plane shook and everyone was jolted forward in their seats. Someone up front yelled, "The shields held, but they are already down to 70% after one direct hit. I see a few more on a trajectory towards us. Change in plans, we have to bail out now! Everyone, form single file lines to the doors on either side of the plane and bail out. Form groups when you reach the ground and proceed to target location. Strength in numbers! All comm links have maps pointing the direction to target city. Turn on your comm links and keep them on! Good Luck and stay alive!"
As Kain unbuckled, he stood up and joined a quickly forming line and saw that Jake was in front of him in line. He must have unbuckled really fast. Jake was a ball of nervous energy as Kain heard him mumbling, "How the hell did they forget about flaming fireballs in the sky? This shitty mission is already in the shitter. Come on come on, jump faster people I need to get out of this flaming death trap…"
Kain was anxious to get on the ground as well as he looked out the window and saw a few pass dangerously close. Then he noticed one coming directly toward the plane and he yelled out, "INCOMING FIREBALL!"
*BOOOOM*
Everyone got knocked off their feet and a few unlucky ones were knocked out the door, tumbling through the sky as they screamed. After the second direct hit, no one cared about forming lines anymore and just started running towards the door and diving out as soon as they got back up.
Kain got to the door and dived out right behind Jake and everything became the wind. He felt like he was naked as it felt like the wind just went right through his clothing. He felt the wind force open his mouth and he felt his ears pop from the pressure. He started to get a splitting headache, but quickly got his bearings as he was approaching the ground.
He saw a few below him had already deployed their parachutes, so he quickly pressed a button on his parachute harness and his parachute deployed. He was quickly distracted by the numerous calls for help over the comms and a few screams, so he turned it off for now.
He heard an explosion coming from somewhere from above him, and then a few seconds later, he saw a flaming plane plow into the side of a hill and explode in a fiery conflagration. He felt relief pour over him as he got out of the plane in time.
He saw the situation on the ground and his face became grim. He saw many non-evolved zombies looking up at the sky waiting for them to come down. He also heard braying calls and cursed as he thought of Jackal zombies.
Indeed, when he looked to where the sound was coming from, he saw that a body was already mutilated and dismembered while a few Jackals were gorging themselves on the flesh. The main group of Jackals surrounded a melee fighter and a short-range support standing back to back.
The short-range support was missing an arm, presumably because she got bitten and had to cut it off with the ice sword in her still remaining arm. She was pushing back the encroaching jackals by shooting out shards of ice from her sword, but they only injured a few and didn't kill.
The melee fighter at her back was swinging a big mace to clear the area in front of him, giving the jackals little chance to engage, but they were waiting for the melee fighter to tire out and let him keep swinging.
Others that were still coming down from the sky started to liberally launch or shoot projectiles down to the ground. Kain retrieved his sniper rifle and was about to pick off the jackals one by one, but his initial target was flattened into a pancake of flesh, as a melee fighter dropped out of the sky and landed on it.
It looked like the melee fighter was fine from the drop and he immediately bolstered the beleaguered teammates while the rest of the jackals scattered after the death of one of their pack by a human cannonball. Their retreat was followed by various projectiles that rained down from the sky.
Melee fighters still parachuting down saw the human cannonball tactic work spectacularly and soon enough, they directed their parachutes to hover right over groups of zombies and released their parachutes.
A melody of thuds rang out as human cannonball after human cannonball created a canvas of pockmarked crater marks and the congregating groups of zombies exploded into masses of flying flesh. Many in the air cheered their brazen, death-defying tactics.
Kain quickly switched his sniper for his rifle and shot down at the group of zombies waiting below him. The area below him was cleared and he released his parachute when he was close enough to the ground.
He quickly eliminated a few zombies that started to walk towards him, and then breathed out a relieved sigh as he safely made it to the ground. He reloaded a regular round of clips into the rifle before proceeding to where he saw a group of 12 members heading towards a certain direction.
By the time he reached the group, he was the 17th member to join. As the group moved, they killed out a path in front of them while a holographic arrow from someone's comm link was directing their path. Kain had switched to his pistol now to conserve his rifle ammo and was picking off targets that were getting too close to the group.
He was tempted to reach down and touch a few zombies that were dead on the ground, but he didn't dare as the group was moving too quickly and he didn't want to fall behind.
As the group jogged forward at a steady pace, they met and converged with another group heading in the same direction and their count ballooned to 35 members.
With many more melee and short ranged support, those with guns put them away to conserve ammo and they all took out a plethora of swords, daggers, and blunt weapons. Any zombie in their path was quickly bludgeoned or decapitated as the group passed by.
Kain was content to run along at the middle of the pack, however after a few minutes the ones fighting at the front grew tired and started to fall back and others took their place while they rested.
This is how Kain eventually found himself at the edge of the front of the group and a zombie got too close for comfort, so he quickly dashed forward and decapitated the zombie with his dagger. A small stream of power flowed through his arm from the dagger.
Kain was happy with his new finding that zombies do give him power and melee weapons can transfer a portion of a zombie's power to him. He was also surprised at his speed when he decapitated the zombie. He wasn't expecting the speed and almost tripped over his own feet, which would have been quite dangerous and embarrassing.
Kain guessed he had to adapt to the surge in power from when he absorbed the blue pill. Kain smiled as he was determined to kill as many zombies as he could in melee combat before they reached the city.