Ramirez's foot crunched on broken glass as he walked through an abandoned mall, AK-74 raised and ready to fire at any threat.
His two other teammates, Derryl and Austin, followed close behind, their own weapons raised.
The soft glow of the sun filtered through the shattered and messy windows of the shopping complex, highlighting the dust in the air and making the whole place seem a little... ethereal.
But Ramirez and his team just continued on, as they had no time for admiring anything.
They were being pulled out, since the city was to be carpet-bombed in three days.
But they had been ambushed several hours ago by a horde of Darks, losing both their vehicles and the five other UN DETF- Dark Elimination Task Force- teams they had been with.
So now, they were on foot, trudging through the abandoned mall.
Crrrrrrrrrack.
The sound of glass slowly breaking and then shattering came from ahead, from an area in the dark.
Everyone's weapons snapped to the area, red laser sights piercing through the black but not landing on anything just yet.
"Possible hostile. Continue moving."
Ramirez's voice cut through the thick tension like a knife through butter.
They slowly advanced, Derryl and him keeping their weapons trained on the area while Austin looked everywhere else.
"AaaaaaAARGH!"
A sound that was a mix between a growl, grunt, and full-on scream tore through the air before a humanoid figure with pitch-black skin and bloodshot eyes leaped out of the shadows, pupils wide and crazed.
Bang! Bang bang!
Shots from Ramirez's gun echoed in the mall, and no doubt through the Dark-infested city, as three bullets found their way into the infected's head.
It fell at Ramirez's feet, a dark and purple, almost moldy liquid slowly seeping out of it's skull.
"We move, now. More of them will come running from those shots!"
Austin snapped, throwing up his hands before suddenly being tackled to the side by a black blur, screaming as he just pulled the trigger on his firearm, the sound of it firing mingling with the noise of hundreds- no, thousands- of Darks screeching all at once.
"SHIT! RUN!"
Derryl yelled as he took off, Ramirez following close behind as Austin shouted out in pain and the cracking of bones filled the air.
That was when the Darks started dropping from the ceiling.