-[???]-
August 30th, 1975, just 4 months after the Vietnam war came to a close, a bird fell from the sky with all white eyes and cracked skin. Then more and more birds of all species started to fall. It created what the people would call the origin of the damned. After the birds fell, the world took notice of their strange symptoms, however it seemed harmless to humans. It wasn't until October 2 months later that disaster struck.
The virus that had laid dormant erupted all at once, people died by the millions, but they didn't stay dead. They rose again after mere moments, their skin rotted and cracked, moaning and moving stiffly. Even the dead were not spared, rising out of graves worldwide as undead mobs. Fantasy had become reality, zombies walking the earth.
The governments wanted to take action, but mass panic and an intrinsic lack of preparation made things difficult. They had experimented with the birds before, but nothing happened so they wrote it off as only effective against birds, and named it the Avian-D3 virus. With how many were infected over the 2 months and the dead rising, not to mention the Vietnam war just 6 months earlier, the number of zombies was staggering.
However not all was lost, despite the looming danger. Few people, just above 1%, mutated specially when infected with the Avian-D3 virus, gaining powers not unlike those in anime and novels. These people became a beacon of hope, jealousy and loyalty of those wishing to live. Sadly, that would not come until much later down the line.
But now, with the eruption of the virus coming out of nowhere, many world governments have collapsed. The biggest factor in this was that in the end, they still saw the zombies as people, people they used to know, talk to and love. Many couldn't bring themselves to put down their friends and family, instead being killed and joining the ever growing hordes.
Zombies also had heightened physical capabilities, although not extreme, enough to overpower most people. Who knows, they might even mutate further, growing ever more dangerous. With the collapse of the government looming above, people began to panic more and more, but remember, not all hope is lost. There is a man who just returned home from the war, far away.
On a mission for himself and his people.
-[Quinn Talen]-
I look down at the city, seeing hordes running around, gun fire and smoke filling the streets, buildings with posters on them asking for help. I was just here to help evacuate the last few government officials and scientists that knew about a project during the cold war. Me and my crew had clear orders to get in, get the officials and get out, don't help anyone else and don't prolong the mission. I knew things were bad, but not so bad that the government would turn on most of their people. Then again, I don't know the full story.
I grabbed my rifle, My old reliable M-16. It was a bit beaten up and a few burn marks around the barrel but it kept me alive in Vietnam, and I'm sure it'll help me keep my life now. Once we reached the LZ(Landing Zone) we secured the rooftop and the three floors one by one. we found them, fighting and blaming each other for what happened here, I didn't understand.
The ex leading scientist pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the two other scientists.
"I'm not crazy here! We all know what we did! You know what you signed up for! We did this!" The man yells. I pointed the muzzle of my rifle at him, "Sir I need you to calm down, we need you alive but that doesn't mean you need to come in one piece." I say as I put my sights on his hand holding the gun. He starts to sweat even more and eventually, after a few seconds of silence he drops the gun.
One of my men is quick to pick it up and holster it, that's when we heard something banging on the first floor. I turned around quickly, my gun trained on the stairs leading down to the first floor. The banging became louder and louder until a blur ran past me and took down one of my men.
Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down, and I saw it. It's a lithe zombie, its left side almost completely rotted down. It was tall, seeming to be around 6'9'' (206 cm) and thin. It was so fast before so why was it so slow now? Everything was slow, even me. I moved my gun as fast as I could in this slowed world and trained it just in front of the lithe figure.
And in a moment, everything sped up again. I pulled the trigger and its head exploded. It didn't seem very durable or strong, just ungodly fast.
"Quinn you alright man? I saw your eyes, they seemed to glow and pulsate for a second there?" I turn and see my other soldier, I just nod in response. I had an headache all of a sudden, I rubbed my head and looked at my soldier that was just knocked down,
"Shit the beast got Adam." I say pointing to his body, his chest was caved in looking like he was punched a hundred times.
I lightly smack Adam a few times but get no response. I checked his pulse and nothing, not surprising considering the caved in chest. Then his finger twitched, and I wasted no time, pulling out my sidearm and training it between his eyes.
"Sergeant Adam Handler, you are hereby honorably discharged, thank you for your brave service to the cause."
And I pulled the trigger.