I grunted, cruses flying from my mouth like water in a river as I slammed a magazine into the well of the AK, I leaned from around the edge of the window and looked at the teeming masses of the freshly risen and let the damn weapon rip, the sharp retorts filled the room as the shrieks of the undead cried back as the hefty bullets ripped into the zombies clambering against the gate.
I hid behind the wall again and stared at my wife's family still staring at their dead uncle with shock.
"GOD DAMNIT! Are you trying to get the rest of us killed?" I screamed. Slamming another magazine into the AK. I quickly flicked open this new screen thing I'd gotten from some stupid system and flung more magazines and a couple rifles around the room.
I waved my hand at the dozens of small little notification windows. I have no time for this right now. My damn mother in law was crying over the corpse of her brother, a bloody husk of the former man.
Meanwhile my beautiful beloved wife was trying to comfort her as one of her brothers was across the open living room firing another AK at the various zombies trying to clamber through the backyard. Fuck! This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, kick back, enjoy some hispanic cuisine then head off to Disneyland for some fun… but no…
I quickly dropped to my knee and grabbed one of the AKs lying on the floor. "EY!"
My other brother and law looked up from his daze and barely caught the rifle as it sailed at his head. "Fuckin start saving your sorry ass!"
He stumbled for a moment as a zombie slammed against the front door, tearing at the mesh panel, its hands clawing at the glass pane. I took aim and put a bullet through its brain. I started moving towards the door, slowly shooting every other damn creature that moved. I heard the reports of another rifle start, then another. Damn, finally!
I saw some guys shooting at the zombies from across the street, firing blindly. Damn gang… how'd she even convince me that visiting her family was a good idea? Ah fuck, the bolt locked back…. I dropped to my knee as the press of the undead was lessening and I started reading through some of the notifications that I'd gotten.
'Congratulations user on being one of ten selected to wield the military system!'
'First quest: kill one zombie 1/1.'
'First quest: kill one zombie complete, starter pack issued, please collect from the inventory.'
'Quest issued: kill 10 zombies 47/10.'
'Quest complete: kill 10 zombies, Motor rifle squad issued, please collect from the inventory.'
'Killed zombies: 47, rewarded, 94 credits, 470xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 470 xp, 470/1000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
I waved all the notifications aside and flipped to the status screen, a banner across the top filled with various tabs. I scanned them until I found the inventory and pushed it, my finger stabbing the air as the screen shifted to organized rows with a few items scattered on the top. I stabbed the one that had a small image of a soldier and a small voice spoke in my head.
'You have selected a squad of Motor rifle infantry? Do you wish to deploy them now?' "The fuck would I not?" I screamed and a blueish gray circle appeared in the middle of the room and 8 men wearing what I could only presume to be wearing soviet uniforms appeared from the light.
Seven of them held AKs like i'd been throwing around the house, one had what looked like the machine gun variation… whatever that was called. One of the riflemen had what looked like some Russian knockoff of the Law anti-tank rocket slung over his shoulder.
"Sargent, what are your orders?" one of the men asked as the men seemed to come alive. The soldiers quickly looked around as they heard the barking of AKs as this family of misfits were barely holding the dead away from the fence just a few short feet from the house.
"Hold this fucking house? I'm fighting for my life! Orders? Fuck!" I shouted as I gestured at the horde of undead still streaming down the roads. The soldiers quickly dispersed through the house, their disciplined fire joining the scattered shots of my wife's family. The machine gunner rushed over to a bed and leapt on it, quickly flipping the bipod out as he took aim up the street and held the trigger down.
I felt a hand smack my back and I glanced back to see my wife giving me an odd look, her hazel eyes peering at me with an intensity I rarely saw in them. "Who are these people?"
"I barely know what's going on, why would I know the names of eight dudes that came out of thin air?" I asked sharply as I stepped back from the door. One of the soldiers moved to take my place and he started firing without a word.
"More from the west!" I heard one of the soldiers call.
"Moving!" the machine gunner shouted as he rolled off the bed and ran through the living room. The rapid chatter of the gun quickly came to. Slowly my wife's family came back into the living room.
Edwin, the other brother I'd yelled at earlier, dropped the AK from shaky hands. Tears were streaming from the younger siblings… wait… Fuck! "Where's what's her name?"
"Who?" Veria asked, my wife looking at me in confusion.
"The one… is she still at school?" I asked, looking at her family.
Their faces paled as the realization dawned on them. My wife quickly whipped out her cell phone, calling her younger sibling. I checked on the soldiers, walking over to them handing a magazine here and there as they expended ammunition.
There was a large pile of notification boxes and as the horde of zombies died down I took a moment to shift through the ones on top of the pile.
'Quest issued: first command, kill 50 zombies, 0/50.'
'Quest Complete: you and your soldiers must kill 50 zombies, killed 83/50 zombies. Sidearm issued, please collect from your inventory'
'Killed Zombies 83: rewarded 166 Credits, 830 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 830 xp, 1,300/1000 xp needed for your next promotion. You may be promoted, accept promotion? Yes, No.'
I pressed yes and watched a little animation of confetti flutter around the screen, briefly obscuring the text that appeared underneath. I waited impatiently as I heard the soldiers shouting to each other and as my wife spoke frantically into the phone.
'1,000 xp deducted. Congratulations sergeant, you have been promoted to Junior Lieutenant! You may now command up to 44 soldiers and their support vehicles. HQ grants you 10 credits for your progress.'
"Andrew!" my wife called. I whipped my head up and stared at her. She looked at me desperately.
"She's trapped in a janitor's closet on the second floor! We have to save her." she stared at me imploringly. I stared back at a loss for a few moments before one of the soldiers walked over to me. I turned to the man, he couldn't have been any older than me yet he had that professional air about him that I lacked in my own military job.
"Lieutenant. The house is secure, we are running low on ammunition, do you have more for us sir?" the man said gruffly.
"I looked at his uniform but the damn thing lacked any name written on it to signify what I should call him, just a pair of red stars pinned to his lapels with the soviet emblem in them.
"What's your name?" I asked, surprised by the hoarseness in my voice.
"I do not have one lieutenant," he replied.
"Alright, then I'll call you Ivan if that's fine by you… are you in charge of this squad?" I asked.
"It is a fine name lieutenant. And no, no one really is, now that you have been promoted." Ivan replied.
"Very well, Ivan, congratulations on the promotion. As for that ammunition…" my voice trailed off as I flicked my hand and summoned the screen and flicked to the store and quickly found the tab I wanted, a crate of ammunition appeared between us at the loss of 2 credits. I had no idea how valuable credits were, I just had to hope I wasn't wasting them.
"Andrew…" my wife said quietly…
"When did you learn that?" she asked.
"Learn what?" I asked as I looked at her as Ivan quickly tore the box open and grabbed the magazines from inside and started passing them to his squad.
"A second language…" her whole family was staring at me with mouths agape. I looked at Ivan.
"What language are we talking in?" I asked.
"Russian…" he replied with a glance, they are speaking English, yes? I do not speak that tongue."
I shook my head and pushed that to the side. I'll worry about my sudden bilingualism later. "Sargent, we have a young girl to rescue from a nearby school. Are your men up to that?"
"By ourselves sir…" he glanced at the few soldiers he could see.
"I'd find that unlikely lieutenant." I paused at his statement before recalling something and glanced at the notifications again. There…
"What if we had a few more squads?" I asked slowly.
"That might work lieutenant, but where would we find the men?" Ivan cast a doubtful look at my inlaws.
I ignored his comment and flipped back to the store and flipped to the infantry section. I sorted by price and selected the motor infantry squad 8 man 35 credits, I added another two and clicked vehicles that I could add. A small list appeared as I looked at the soviet equipment.
"Sargent, what kind of vehicle are your soldiers familiar with?" I asked.
"I have no memories prior to seeing you four minutes ago sir." he replied.
I gave Ivan a look of disbelief then turned back to the page… uh… the BTR is the cheapest, lets get 4 of those… with the crew of course. Totaling 225 credits, I checked my balance, 268… I bit my lip and pressed purchase.
'You have purchased Motor Rifle Infantry squad (3) BTR-60PB (4), deduction of 225 credits. Please select a suitable location for your new troops.'
I looked at the ground and saw a faint impression of a circle but with a reddish hue to it. I shook my head and blinked but it didn't go away. This must be that circle thing that summons the troops I just bought. I rushed to the door and shoved it open, Ivan followed on my heels.
The circle lost its reddish hue as I looked at the road and then the circle flared into reality and a light slowly rose from the ground. The four massive infantry fighting vehicles appeared, engines rumbling and the three squads stood at attention on the sides of the BTRs offering sharp salutes.
"Greetings Comrade Lieutenant!" they shouted. I nodded to myself. This would do.
"Everyone! Mount up! We have a rescue Op to perform!" I shouted as Ivan's squad came rushing out of the house. The soldiers opened the side hatches of the BTRs and the crews quickly dove inside. As the infantry clambered on top of the vehicles. I turned to my wife.
"Get your family inside the BTR's…'' I paused as I looked at her family again, failing to remember their large… statures…
"Come on, we can't stay here for long." I gestured for them to get on the BTRs as I clambered on top of one. The soldiers helped my inlaws clamber onto the BTRs as I spoke with one of the drivers.
"Take that right and head down the road." the driver gave me a thumbs up and the BTR lurched into motion. I shot a glance at the other BTR's and gestured for them to follow. The BTR took the corner and i saw a group of zombies slowly shuffling towards us, a distant intersection crowded with crashed cars.
Almost as soon as I raised my rifle to shoot at the zombies the machine gun in the turret beside me opened fire, the zombies quickly being shredded by whatever machine gun the damn thing had. We proceed down the road, the heavy infantry vehicles slowly picking up speed.
"Brace!" I shouted as the BTR slammed into the minivan blocking the road. Metal screeched and glass shattered as the minivan was flung from the intersection, the sedan behind it was thrown several yards as well. The soldiers cheered as the machine gun opened fire at a small group of zombies that came around the corner of a house. The BTRs shoved several other vehicles out of the way before we approached that last turn we needed to make.
"LEFT!!!" I screamed at the driver and the whole vehicle leaned to the side as he wrenched the vehicle to the side. I saw the school up ahead, surrounded by a veritable horde of zombies. However whatever noise inside the school that had drawn their attention the sudden and loud BTRs drew their attention. The machine gun opened up, as the vehicle slowed and the infantry started jumping off and firing upon the horde themselves.
The BTRs slowed to a crawl as two of the ones from behind slowly drew abreast of the the lead vehicle and their machine guns opening up. Quickly thinning the horde. I dropped down from the BTR. "On me!"
I quickly brought the rifle to my shoulder and started firing at the horde, picking off the zombies the machine guns had failed to get. The squads of infantry slowly advanced with me, approaching the main entrance of the school building. "Three squads with me, sweep the building! Last squad, hold this entrance."
I pushed my way into the school's atrium as soldiers pushed into the school's office and started clearing the administrative area. I gestured for one of the soldiers to come over. The soldier came over and saluted.
"Sweep the building, look for a girl, pale with black hair. Hiding in a janitor's closet." I was instructed. The soldier saluted and jogged down one of the halls, calling one of the squads to go with him. My in-laws came running into the atrium. Fear stricken faces as they beheld the blood drenched floors and bloody smears on the desks and windows of the office.
"Andrew, we have to find Kal…"
"I know, they're sweeping the building as we speak." I replied, trying to soothe their fears. I looked outside at the BTRs and the squad holding the line. Where would we go after this? I'm in the middle of LA, the ocean a stone's throw away… between me and anywhere that will have less of the living dead are about a hundred miles of urban landscape and highways by now clogged with refugees trying to escape. Ain't going to be a single plane taking off from the local airports… much less LAX, damnit…
"Andrew…" my wife grabbed my arm. I gave her a strained smile. She just had a way of knowing when I was worrying about things outside of my control. So… let's go over what I can…
I have this military system thing… I'm one of ten people that do, whatever that means. I have access to what appears to be the red army… cold war from what i've seen so far. I glanced at the soldiers outside again. I flicked open the system and mentally patted my own back for taking that stupid ad up on its dumb little game. That alone was the whole reason I was alive. Though not how I'd expected my vacation to go.
I started reading through the basic walk through of the system's functions, it had a description of my abilities and I found myself tempted by it, but I had other things to research at the moment. I flicked through a few tabs and started reading.
'Congratulations on activation of the Military restoration project system, version USSR 1990. You'll slowly gain access to the forces of the USSR as you increase in level and achieve higher ranks, the soldiers will be completely loyal to the system owner in question, but will not go so far as to throw their lives away for no reason.'
'The goal of the system is to give the people of (planet 3, Terra?) a reasonable chance of survival in the worst case scenario of societal collapse. Several individuals of wildly differing morals are to be selected by the system around the planet to be hosts, with the overarching goal of allowing the individual to rebuild a military state to protect civilization from the horrors the cosmos have unleashed upon them.'
'Below is a list of which other system users you have discovered and their assigned military, please be aware that this system is here to help you recreate a nation state for the purposes of world dominion and further deepening of the world into whatever apocalypse the world has created for itself. If continued abuse of the system's power is noticed the others will be notified and heavily incentives to eliminate you.
Alive:unknownAlive(Andrew Riechenbacher): Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1990Alive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknown
'Only one individual using the system is known to you, please find others to gain intel on their nations'
I stretched my head a bit at the long and wordy warning… was the system inadvertently implying it had no way to keep any of us in check? Though the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about my own troops' loyalty was a benefit. The sound of jackboots hitting tile drew my attention and I saw several soldiers escorting some teenagers running down a hall. The one at the rear slowed to a stop and spun on his heel and closed the fire doors, latching them closed as he did.
"Sir, are any of these the girl?" the soldier asked. I glanced at my wife but she shook her head.
"No, hey soldier, what's your name?" I asked.
He paused and straightened. "I do not have one Lieutenant."
"Do you mind if I give you one for now?" I asked as I looked at this kid, then the thought struck me as odd. Why did I think of this guy as younger than me? I'm 23…
"I'd be honored sir." he replied as the rest of the troops came over.
"Alright… George. Get these girls into the BTRs for now… and my inlaws, aftwards assist with exterior security." George quickly saluted and escorted everyone away but my wife.
"Do you think your family is okay?" she whispered. I felt my blood run cold and I grabbed my phone and turned it on. No messages, no calls. I quickly opened my contacts and called my brother. The phone rang and time seemed to drag. Icy tendrils slowly crawled up my back, pricks of cold intermixing with the sweat on my back.
"Andrew?" the familiar voice came over the phone, twinged with a bit of tension.
"Trevor, shit how's everyone? Is everyone okay?" I asked quickly.
"Yeah, hang on, here's mom." he grunted and before mom could speak I heard the telltale bark of gunfire.
"Andrew!" my mother's worried voice filled the phone.
"Hey mom," I replied, "what's going on over there?" I asked.
"There's a lot going on, is everyone alright on your end?" my mother asked.
"We're busy trying to rescue one of Veria's sister's from a school. I have some guys sweeping it at the moment, hey… why's there so much gunfire on your end?" I asked as something that spoke full auto started to sing through the phone. An engine roared and my mother's reply was drowned out, a deep heavy bark sounded followed by a chorus of shouts and an explosion.
"Trevor has some kind of military friends, said they were from a game of his!" I faintly made out my mothers shout. I felt a rush of heat race down my back as I looked at the screen again.
Alive(Trevor Reichenbacher):unknownAlive(Andrew Riechenbacher): Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1990Alive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknown
"Hey honey, I have to go! Call back later!" mom shouted into the phone.
"Alright, stay safe." I replied with an odd feeling in my chest. That didn't take long to figure out who else was on the leaderboard… one of my brothers? The chances were… I shook my head and focused as the other hallway filled with the sounds of running feet. I glanced up as I heard a burst of gunfire and shouting.
Several kids came running around the corner, being shepherded by the soldiers as a few made tactical jumps back and took up firing positions. I thrust my phone at my wife and racked the AK in my hands and moved towards the kids.
"Move, faster, get outside!" I shouted at them as several zombies came around the corner hot on the heels of the last few soldiers. They came scrambling around on all fours and outright sprinting. The soldiers opened fire, the fusilade taking several of the creatures out but more came scrambling around the corner, mouths open in deep snarls and their clawed fingers curling like long talons. I shot off a few rounds, at one that was reaching for one of the slower soldiers, the bullets caught the creature in the upper chest and the shoulder, jerking it to the side. My next round found its mark as the creature made to get up from its ungainly sprawl and leap at him again, spattering brain matter over the wall.
The hall quieted and the soldiers muttered curses. One of them glanced at me. "There's more of them coming sir, not like these fast freaks though."
"Where's Ivan's squad?" I asked.
"They went to sweep the upper floor sir." another soldier replied as the muffled shuffling of several feet and groans began to filter down the hall. I cursed internally.
"How's your ammo holding up?" I asked.
"Half left sir."
"Same here sir."
"Just what's in the machine gun Lieutenant." I cursed again and bought another crate of ammo, the box thudded loudly on the floor.
"You there, distribute this. I'm going to check on the guys outside." I gestured at one of the riflemen then quickly jogged outside. The BTRs machine guns were blazing away, tracers cutting swaths out of the incoming horde. I quickly bought another 3 crates of ammo and pried them open grabbing a fist full of magazines before running over to one of the soldiers and jamming the magazine into his kit where there should be magazines. I slapped his back as I ran back to the crate for more mags, performing the same process on several more soldiers until there wasn't a thing left in those crates.
Several soldiers came scrambling out of the school escorting several more kids. I van rushed up to me, face pale. "We need to leave lieutenant! There's something coming. Something big!"
I heard a roar from inside the school and shot a glance at the doors as the last few soldiers streamed out, pushing and shoving students before them. I shouted at the suddenly small seeming platoon of soldiers, my voice cracking. "Mount up!" I waved at the first BTR and gestured for it to start moving. Soldiers slowly hopped on top of the BTRs as they started moving down the road. I started jogging next to the lead vic and several soldiers offered hands to help me up and after passing my rifle took the offered hands that pulled me up.
The convoy quickly picked up speed, smashing cars aside. A roar of rage came from behind and I turned to see a massive hulking figure burst out of the front doors of the school, the glass blasting outward and the metal frames flying across the road. The thing looked like a muscled up version of the hulk. Its head spun rapidly, looking for its escaping prey then its eyes snapped to us.
A roar escaped the beast, drowning out any other noise. Several soldiers started shooting at the thing but it apparently had no effect. The beast slowly started lumbering towards us, slowly picking up speed as it did, knocking cars and vans out of the way with an ease that defeated logic.
"Fuck, LEFT! I screamed at the driver and the convoy screamed around a corner. The beast failed to make the turn, flying into a laundromat, turning the zombie piling out into a fine mist as it did. I spun back around to see a damn Food 4 Less coming up on the left side.
"LEFT!" I screamed and the convoy cut across the parking lot, shooting at the crowd of undead that came spilling out of the Food 4 Less. The beast roared again as it pulled itself from the laundromat, I watched as the rest of the convoy came around the corner, jumping the curbs and knocking cars aside.
The BTR's engines roared as the drivers put the metaphorical petal to the metal. Soldiers firing pot shots at the zombies behind between holding on for dear life. We raced down the street and made a right before we'd have raced through an underpass and into the cargo port. The block wide park quickly spread before us and I directed the BTRs to make an impromptu circle. The soldiers quickly dismounted, taking positions around the small defensive position. I looked at the soldiers and noticed a few had those rocket launcher looking things.
"Ready those RPGs!" I shouted as the beast roared as it came around the corner. A soldier dropped his AK and grabbed the RPG from his shoulder and quickly aimed it at the beast while the riflemen and machine guns started shooting at the beast. It roared in pain and started charging, quickly picking up speed.
The soldier finished preparing his RPG and snapped it up, barely lining up the shot before squeezing the trigger. The rocket flew with a hiss, the flight short and brief between the launch and impacting the shoulder of the beast, the bright snap of the explosion and the clap of force caused ears to ring as the beast was blown to the side and sprawled on the ground.
I looked at the beast and noticed it stirring and turned to another soldier to see another RPG being hefted and fired without hesitation. The explosion sent a shower of guts flying through the air, staining the grass a dark red. Between the rifle and machine guns firing into the hordes that had been drawn to the noise I stared at the now lifeless corpse of that mutant beast. Half its left shoulder and head were missing.
Damn… I took several deep breaths to calm myself and leaned back against the warm steel of the BTR behind me. The hordes were slowly dwindling to nothing and the gunfire quickly fell off.
"Lieutenant, that seems to be all of them…" Ivan reported as the students we rescued started opening the hatches of the vehicles and climbing out. I smiled and noticed the flashing notifications in the corner of my vision and I swiped my hand. Several notifications played slowly as I read through them.
'Killed Zombies 197(walkers), 49(runners), 1(tank): rewarded 445 Credits, 2,510 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 2,510 xp, 2,810/5,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
'Mission complete, rescue as many survivors as possible for ongoing quest, "one less zombie" rescue the school children of Phineas Banning. Saved 23. Reward 46 credits, 230 xp.'
'You have gained 230 xp, 3,040/5,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
'Quest complete, rescue your wife's younger sister. Reward 1 platoon set uniforms.'
'Quest issued, increase your platoon size to maximum 32/44 soldiers, 4/4 vehicles. Reward 500xp.'
'Quest issued, survive the first night of the apocalypse. Reward, 1,000xp, motor rifle infantry squad equipment.'
'Quest issued, keep the survivors in your care alive until the second day of the apocalypse. Reward is calculated as a percentage of survivors kept alive. 29/29 Alive. Reward, 1,000 xp, AK-74 (30)'
I glanced at the last few issued quests with an almost seismic desire to sarcastically say. "As if that isn't my plan?" But I refrained. The night? Damn, how the hell… I need somewhere at least slightly defendable…
I scanned the horizon. To the north and east was the endless sprawl of the LA suburban area. To the west was highway 110 and the south was the port and the goddamn pacific ocean… though i couldn't see most of it i envisioned most of it in my mind's eye. Trying to clear block after block with a platoon, forget it? What if one of the monsters sprung a surprise on us? No good that would be… so it'll have to be nearby…
My eyes caught sight of a nearby highrise near the port… unless I wanted to fight my way to whatever hills to the west were called. We could probably seal off some entrances, park the BTRs out front as a picket line, station a couple LMGs and RPGs on the higher floors… I scratched my chin as I eyed the blue painted building.
"Lieutenant, we have a problem." George grumbled as he walked over, he cast a glance at the students. I motioned for George to continue on and followed his gaze to some students bawling or quivering in fear. Others held their phones, talking into them or recording videos, probably for social media. I'd have to be careful about that, probably for the best not to summon stuff like that where the whole world can see.
"We can't communicate with the locals lieutenant, I think they ask all these questions, but i've no idea what they're saying…" George said as he shifted on his feet.
"Not much to do about that, we'll worry about that later, for now go get the other squad leaders, tell your men to rest in short shifts, equal ammunition and pass around a few meals." I said almost absentmindedly, thinking about how the people I worked with on Fort Carson were doing at the moment. Probably not very well, not like they have ammo worth a damn in easy reach of the soldiers and those that did were probably the first to get zombified knowing the base's luck.
"We don't have any meals, lieutenant." Ivan rumbled. I gave him a look then used my system and had a few cases of MREs appear and gestured at them.
"Pass some out to the survivors, meeting in 5 mikes, try and grab some food for the meeting, I have a feeling i'll be doing most of the talking.'' I nodded to the two and they took their leave, talking to their soldiers and fellow squads. I felt a hand clasp my arm, the familiar warmth of my wife's small hand brought a weary smile to my face.
"What's going on Andrew?" Veria asked, her voice sounded so soft and far, like she was confused and didn't know what to do.
I sighed. "I'm not really sure Ver, but I'll do my best to find out later. But for now we need to focus on surviving the night." I looked at the students and saw a few of them picking at the MREs that had been passed out. Her family was busy trying to comfort their rescued daughter and seemed to be helping some of the kids, chattering away in spanish.
The four sergeants gathered around my wife and I. They had their rifles over their shoulders by their straps, unopened MREs in the other. I glanced at the other two squad leaders and slowly realized they didn't have names. "Alright, I'll call you Joseph and Erik, the two of you will command C and D squads, Ivan, George, A and B respectively."
"Of course Lieutenant." they chorused. I felt my wife tug on my arm and i looked at her.
"What language are you speaking? I don't understand." she whispered.
"Do you guys know any English? Apparently when I address you I speak in Russian, though I've never learnt the language…" I asked to see them glancing at each other.
"Answered my own question…" I said wryly. It would appear not… another mystery to unravel later. I gleaned at my wife, her brow furrowing as she looked at the sergeants.
"Russian apparently, though I have no idea where my sudden fluency has come from, to me I'm speaking American the whole time." I told Ver quietly.
"Alright, first order of business." I grumbled to myself as I pulled up the system panel and flipped through the tabs until I found the quest list. Finding the one I wanted I tried flipping the list so they could see it but the soldiers and even my wife gave me odd looks. I stared at them for a moment… could they not see this massive laptop sized gray slate floating in midair?
"I have this quest to complete and it requires that I fill out my command to its maximum staffing, that being a total of forty four soldiers, currently there are thirty two of you." I explained slowly.
"This system sir, is that how you summoned us?" Erik asked. I nodded.
"Indeed, the BTRs as well. And much more if I gain enough credits to purchase it, anything and everything available to the Soviet Union as of thirty years ago." I explained a bit, then repeated everything to my wife for her benefit, though she seemed lost as I explained it to her.
"Well then, I have twelve soldiers to summon, so if you want more riflemen, machine gunners, RGPs, whatever, I'll make it work, though it's realistically three for each of you…" I looked at the squad leaders.
"Two riflemen and another machine gun." Ivan replied instantly.
"Three riflemen." George and then Erik said slowly. I glanced up from my shopping list at Joseph.
"Two machine guns and an RPG." he said after a moment's deliberation. I added the requested soldiers to my shopping list and hit purchase.
'You have purchased Motor Rifle Infantrymen (8) Infantryman with machine gun (3) Infantry with RPG (1), deduction of 64 credits. Please select a suitable location for your new troops.'
I quickly had the summoned circle out of view of the survivors behind one of the BTRs and after a brief flash of light the soldiers stood at attention and saluted. "Reporting for duty lieutenant!"
A flashing pair of icons floated near my field of vision,
'Quest complete, increase your platoon size to maximum 44/44 soldiers, 4/4 vehicles. Reward 500xp.'
'You have gained 500 xp, 3,310/5,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
I waved the notifications away and nodded to the sergeants, letting them pick their soldiers from the bunch. My wife pulled me to the side. "Look, I don't really understand what's going on. But what are we going to do now?"
I smiled wryly and pointed at that blue highrise I'd been eying earlier. "We're going to clear that building and hunker down for the night, hopefully nothing too bad comes at us, worst case scenario we barricade the stairwells till morning. That's when my next quests from this strange system finish, it should be enough for a promotion, from there I'll summon whatever I can to remedy the situation."
"Okay Andrew, is there anything you need from me?" she asked with a worried look.
"If you could help coral the students and communicate to them on my behalf what our plans are?" I asked.
She nodded and chuckled. She gave my arm a few quick squeezes. "I love you."
"I love you too." I replied before planting a quick kiss on her forehead and parting ways. I grabbed a couple extra magazines from a nearby soldier as I walked over to Gerorge.
"Get your squad ready to move, we'll be clearing that building over there for a suitable place to sleep." I instructed him. He nodded and started gathering his men while I gave instructions to the other squads to start moving the rest of the platoon over to the building twenty minutes after we'd started clearing it.
I returned to George's squad watching as the men double checked their weapons and grabbed extra ammunition and grenades. With a nod the squad formed into roughly three teams, George, his MG and a repair of riflemen, the RPG and three riflemen, then myself and another three riflemen bringing up the rear. We lightly jogged down to a gap in the berm separating the small park from the industrial port. We passed some restrooms, coming to a halt under a small red bridge.
A four lane divided road, somewhat sparesley traveled judging by the amount of vehicles on it. Though there were a fair few semis and their trailers in jumbled wrecks. A few zombies were shuffling around down the road to the east, far enough not to be an immediate concern, and judging by the way they were moving something else had drawn their attention.
George signaled the squad and we started jogging by sections towards the highrise, a small four story building that held the commanding view of the residential neighborhood and nearby harbor infrastructure. George and his section started slowing and taking positions by the high fence around the building's west side and parking lot entrance. The section team arrived and then George and his section bounded forward to the side entrance and glanced through the glass at the stairwell behind it.
When all the sections stacked up a bit away from the door George motioned for my team to stay and remain on watch. I grimaced but nodded and George led the rest of the squad around the building. I quickly had the team set up lanes of fire and directed them on their sectors of fire like my ncos would have done back in the field.
Muffled gunfire came from the inside of the building when a flashing notification appeared in the corner of my vision, flicking it open revealed a slowly ticking counter of what the squad was clearing out as they cleared each floor.
I checked in the soldiers again and their sectors of fire remained devoid of movement. Though straining my hearing I could also hear gunfire from further west. Maybe some other survivors? But a glance at the golden sky told me it was getting late. I heard the engines of the BTRs roar as they came rolling down the roar, the other squads and survivors walking between and around the armored vehicles.
I directed the vehicles to enter the parking lot and take positions before the main entrance, the a couple soldiers were tasked with moving the cars to reinforce the iron fence, and with a few extra wailing car alarms amid the background city noise and rumbling engines… no hordes gathered, seemingly drawn away by other, greater things.
Ivan walked over as he tasked a few extra soldiers with setting up firing positions for the soldiers along the fence line. "Lieutenant, as soon as the building is clear we should send these civilians inside and start letting some of the men sleep."
I nodded in agreement. "Have another squad help George out."
I glanced at the tracker that was only going up every now and then.
"Have them clear each floor a second time, look for anyone in potential hiding spots, until we know how smart these zombies are, we take no chances." Ivan nodded and gathered a few soldiers before heading inside.
I walked over to my wife as she was talking with some of the kids we'd saved. I whispered to her softly as I wrapped my arms around her. "How's it going?"
She leaned against my chest. Sighing deeply as the high schoolers looked at me, a pair of boys maybe five years younger than me. "You're that guy the soldiers listen to."
I nodded and looked at the kids, a bad feeling settling in my stomach. I shouldn't let on how the system works… disseminating that information… probably wouldn't be for the best.
"Are you with the military? The police?" One asked and his friend flicked his head.
"Ain't no way! I keep telling you, these are Russian tanks." The second scolded him then eyed me with suspicion. I cracked the kid a smile as my mind quickly made up some bullshit backstory as my mouth spoke.
"Not bad kid, these are older Russian vehicles, but we aren't military or police either. We're a PMC, Legion, though we'd been hired for a movie… not to fight through downtown LA in the apocalypse…" I chuckled as I felt my wife giving me a look.
"Why'd you save us then?" The second kid asked.
I gave the kid a hard stare. "You getting rescued was a happy accident. I was only at that school to rescue my wife's younger sister, and frankly. If I find you can't pull your weight and contribute after the sun rises, I'll have a lot less mouths to feed."
They stared at me for a moment, shock on their faces. I scoffed. "What kid? Hell's found us and you expect to keep getting handouts? But if you won't pull your weight, then I won't let you drag my men down to save you a second time."
I spun on my heel and walked to the building. A new philosophy forming in the back of my mind, one I'd need to survive. What we'd need to survive.