Chapter 54: Logbook #047 - Time is of the Essence
"Hah! Get the fuck off….me?" Shocked, a male way screamed at the top of his muffled lungs as he held onto the handle of his weapon and pushed away the arm that reached for him.
"Woah, woah relax there. Having a nightmare again, William?" A soothing and calm voice whispers into him as he gets up from the flat plain bed that was attached by plastic sticks and a clothed net.
"Oh, it's you, Miss Bridge. Sorry there, yeah." Calmed, he smiles in an embarrassed way as he gets back his proper sense before taking a looksey at the amber that shone brightly before him. Warming his skin and comforting the current situation. "It's just a dumb dream again."
"Makes sense, after all what you been through, both as a civilian and a soldier, the stress that you accumulated will only rub off on you from time to time." Smiling back at the young man, she sips onto her small bottle of whiskey before passing it out to him. "Want a sip?"
"Nah, no thanks. Alcohol makes me head, ache." William replies calmly, before reaching onto his pre-packed food that he got from Shanina before they entered the collapsed and ruined research facility.
Camping out for a while as they wait for further orders, The four made a small makeshift camping site out of their available kits that they were offered beforehand and ate up what's left of their dinner and snacks.
"Wheres Captain?" William asked as he looks around, noticing her tent is empty, with neither her or her belongings, he was worried of her whereabouts.
"Ahh, relax. She went to scout about the above floor. I was the one here, all alone, making sure you and the doctor wouldn't do anything explicit while the keen eyes weren't watching, yet..." Teasing the boy, she makes a grin before sipping more of her remaining alcohol.
"I think you're drunk. But thanks for telling me." Shaking his head from the fantasy he just thought off, he shrugged the possibility of it ever happening to the darkest side of his brain, where old memories die off.
"I am still in awe that your body is still fine even the whole infection you went through. Most of the civilians and other personnels that changed were impossible to handle, they were shut off as collateral damage. We had no choice to be off them. But you, you are one of the lucky folk, I say."
Bridgette explains to him as she sighs and absorbs the essence of the ethanol emitted from the drink, and looks above, watching a dripping droplet of water leaking out of a broken A/C Unit that used to blast both cold and warming airs when the body needed it most.
"I mean, there were still those with Natural Immunity." William spoke back to her in a calmed nature, unusual for his normalised ruckus and overexcitement.
"Yeah, but you were like part monster, part human." Bridgette points out to him. "I suppose you couldn't remember everything, but you were like a freakishly beast like creature. Latching here and there and self-harming yourself and taking advantage of weaker people for your own works."
"That's over-exaggeration. I still remember what happened and what I did." Chuckling softly, he bites onto his tongue to keep himself shut. "It was only instinct that was controlled by the corruption, not my memories or other forms of senses."
"After all, this is not some man-made weapon that was made by some dark company et cetera. It was made by a guardian corrupted out of her mind and became what is now, the Biomother. "
"True true..." The voice of Beo voices into his head as she was busy fiddling with a device that he could see through his electronic glasses. "Very true, there's nothing else I can say, but that's true."
Raising his eyebrow, he laughed in his thoughts, before looking closely at Bridgette. "If only this was back to normal, a normal life with a normal society with common males again."
"Then, there won't be any uniqueness, no altered genders and sexuality. We would return back to witch hunts and slavery." Bridgette snarls at him with a sarcastic sentence.
"I don't mean that, oh my god, of course." Grunting, he rubs his forehead with his left gloved hand as he rubs his eyes in annoyance.
"I meant as in at-least guys existing again, with this guardian aliens, living among each other, however they like. A little more unique compared to humans and their boring internet trends everyday and the overly climax of advanced technology reliance." William replies back his interpretation of normal life, a better thought out meaning to it.
"So like just an added on Nationality? Or like some sort of fantasy realm in media?" Bridgette who is quite old-fashioned couldn't understand his wordings properly.
"A little of both, but included with ways to make a better society, government policies and altered ways to prevent conflict, a way to bring out peace."
Finally noticing what he meant, she raised her chin, eyes wide and made a face of awe. "I see now. You want a life where people can live how they want with no hatred to races and other conflicting scandals."
"Exactly..." He sighs out. "It feels odd to see women everywhere everyday, but I can't barely interact with them without causng someone to have a mental breakdown. I'm a man, you know. I have also urges that other gals have too. I want to speak with someone, a civillian. "
"So, you just mean, that you are horny right now due to your puberty and you want to have sexual interactions with someone." Being open to his discussion, Bridgette is finally understanding the true meaning of his words, he was just a young man who was sexually frustrated and lonely.
"… I just want to do something that doesn't involve shooting someone in the head and what gives. I just don't want people to suffer."
"But when people suffer, they become stronger. They find new ways to avoid conflict, build better defences and make better strategies. They try to be more open to other political parties and try to negotiate ways to share their resources without stealing or pilfering off."
"That's just being plain edgy and selfish." The young man says. "I get what you mean, but is it right, to just let millions of people die for just one person's choice."
"Are you saying, it was fated for the whole Happening to happen and wipe out almost half the population of females and all of the alpha celled species, in that I mean males, of course. Are you telling me the scientist who created a freaking Bio-Nuclear Bomb out of experimenting on an innocent and curious Guardian in secret without humans knowing what they were in the first place, was fair?"
"I mean, we barely have food. We're just plain lucky that humans started experimenting on mutated food earlier on during the 21st century." William sighs out. "Water and Gas drastically increased in price ever since the wars happened, remember the shipping incidents? Have you forgotten that? You were there, for sure."
"Relax boy, I know what you mean. You lost loved ones, precious life were and will still be at sakes. Its just how the world goes. Please relax, maybe you just need to calm down a little bit."
Slowly leaning towards William, the older figure smiles at him. "You remind me of my ex-husband, he was just like you. He was funny, playful and quite a retard from time to time, but he did his work well, even while I was on-duty. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to make a kid before all hell came lose, you know. So I never had a say to make up a name for a child that I could have conceived."
"What does that mean?" William asks as he felt a brushing sensation on his neck, a flick of hair rubbing his skin, making him feel aroused in both body and mind.
Leaning slowly towards him more, and more, their skins touched closely as the warm feeling of embrace occurred. "Like I said you are one of the lucky few, it's not everyday you get someone that understands your urges. I may be old-fashioned and well, aged, but I understand what a man needs during a time of crisis."
"Miss… you.." Embarrassed and shy being treated like a kid and being pampered, it was only fair, as he too was considered just a subject of experiments for those who urged for someone to comfort. A little skin-ship was all it took for him to get attracted to someone older and more wiser than him.
After some time of embracing and cuddling each other by the warmth, The lady laid on the hardened stomach of the vested figure as he watched over the camping site and the drunken faint woman who was fast asleep. Rubbing between the threads of her roughened locks of hair, the blond that was ruined by mud, dirtiness covered. The hues of the shininess it once had on the younger times the person had is now but a time long forgotten.
"Sorry Miss, you were right. Maybe I was just being a little full of myself, just stressed out from the time I joined Continuum and quit off the normal childhood I could have lived. Maybe rather than thinking back."
"Maybe I should just move on." A soft mutter was left out the mouth as the soft warming and satisfied meeps that left off Bridgette echoed softly throughout the darkened room.
Waiting for his Captain to return, he watched closely the door that acted as their only way of entrance and exit keenly, to ensure no one but their Captain enters.
With a gun on one hand, he watched the flames that blazed between his target and his current position. Like a dog watching over their owner in the times of need.
"Where is she, Where is Shanina? Where is...Captain?" The voice echoing in his head as he awaits for her timely return. Closely, attentively and strictly.
As the sound of hollowing blanks were fired from the next room, his ears triggered red as he realised that something is out of matter. "Colonel, wake up." He whispered into her as he tugged on her loose end of her old branded T-Shirt with a logo barely recognised of a company, famous but no longer existing any-more due to economical and the last-current generation owner having been loss due to The Happening.
"Hmmp, what is it? You want to go for another round already?" She mumbles in a drunken state as her voice spoke in coarse and roughened tone as she stumbles about trying to pick herself up, hugging tightly onto the abdomen of William's heavy vest with a plaster of "Police" loosely pulled off from the mechanism to save money on producing new military batches.
"No, outside is noisy, I hear sounds of gunshots. Is it Captain, or is it possibly another team passing by our doors?" He questions her as he pulls out his MP5 and pulls his sleeve, revealing his socket bracelets which held the crystals to summon out Shin-ae and Sae-Yong.
"Ahh, shit… I don't know." Bridgette gurgles as she wipes excess saliva from her chin. Pushing herself up and giving herself a slap of energy through her now reddened cheeks, she pulls out her unknown AR Model Rifle and checks if it needs a reload.
"Lets wake up the Scientist, just incase..." William thoughts out as he unzips the entrance of the orange civilian tent that they had available left to supply.
"Alright…." The older woman yawns as she slowly staggers her way towards the very broken entrance of their semi-collapsed room they considered a safe room.
As the door was whirred slowly open, Bridgette takes a peek through a small slit as she investigates the hallway of a dimly lit corridor.
Bang Bang~
A sound of deadened blanks could be heard as they echoed from the right side of her ear. Turning her sight of direction, she sees no-one. Not even a shadow. "Could it be from the Auditorium?" Bridgette questions herself as she opens the door fully, ensuring that their safe.
Guarding the door, she calls out to William who was now assisting Scientist Dr. Augustina putting on her lab coat and a very light yet brightly coloured blood orange tint with reflecting tapes stuck upon it to be openly noticed to be a civilian and also a very effective target.
"Hey, hurry up! I think it's from the Auditorium. Maybe Team B is already returning from their collection mission." Bridgette moans as they unpacked their equipment and walk towards her.
"How about Captain, we can't just abandon her, wherever she may be." William sighs out in distastefullness as he escorts the sleepy Augustina out the door.
"I will call her out, have you forgotten we have Walkie-Talkies?" Bridgette blinks twice at him with a childish grin coming off her puffy yet chipped red lips.
"Mine is not functioning, from the whole attack a few days ago, on me?" He reminds her of his mutation that gruesomely destroyed most of his equipments that cannot be replaced in a few days time due to being a low time of reproduction. "Never mind about that, lets go, just go… We can bring that out another time." He says calmly.
Nodding to his opinion, she guides the two as a vanguard through the hallway as she picks on her walkie-talkie and adjusts the channel. Holding the input trigger, she calls out her Millitary ID and Team Code before asking what is currently happening.
"Alpha 228 Delta, Here's Team 1's Bridgette, How is it there?" She spoke in a robotic and stoic tone as she gestures her second hand to ask the two to go forward quickly as the sounds of gunshots never ceased a second.
"Delta 48 Null, Hawk aka Cat (Short for Catherine) here. We're good, we have already set up point in the Auditorium, the Wildlife Museum and the two broken ass Staff Rooms. We're taking point in a room between all four of them, I think it's …. ughh what is it?" A sound of idle talk could be heard as a static of Chau-Min could be heard when close. "I think it's a Greenhouse of sorts." The stutter replied. "Ughhh. Greenhouse, yeah, that's about it. Your end?"
"Captain is missing, we do not know where she is, but Endicrite here told me he hears gunshots and I think it is coming from the Auditorium." Bridgette replies as she watches William fiddling with the botched blue door of the Auditorium which was oozing with black sacks of meat, probably from the growths released from the Bio-Mother's Abilities.
"Can't be. The signals here on my laptop says, it is clear. It could be from the room above, the ceiling has a giant hole leading up to the Engineering room. Should we provide support, Team 1?"
Sighing, Bridgette grabs William's attention by snickering at him a gesturing to stop as she points towards the stair case nearby leading to the next floor upstairs. "No need, we don't have any recalls from Captain, but we will go ahead anyway. My orders as Colonel."
"Alright then, if you see Captain, tell her to slow down on the re-conning, I think she may have forgotten that we have the devices to scan the entire building without needing physical contact." Katherine replies back as she chews on a toothpick as she writes down what is happening on her notepad with a black pinned pen.
"Bridgette out." The static paused as she releases her finger from the trigger before holding onto her Rifle's handle again. "Alright then, we are going ahead."
"Captain?" William asked as he raises his left brow.
"Nah, she's probably the one emitting the gunshots. Ante up!" She orders as she walks up the stairs quickly with her heavy duffel bag.
"Come on Doctor, on me." William kindly asks Augustina as he follows along Bridgette while aiming down sights slowly and steadily, keeping his cool. Walking up the derailed stairs with strange black molds increasing in growth and pulsing strange lights alongside, they knew they were heading closer towards their destination.
"I hear it, I think it is coming from there." Bridgette calls out as she snickers back towards William. "Hurry.." she whispers as she notice the path was empty and safe once again.
"Alright..come!" He tugs tightly on the Doctor as he sprints forward quickly with the Colonel."
"Why is it so empty?" Doctor Augustina asks curiously as she panted in exhaustion. "Did you guys clear all the hordes from earlier or something?"
"No clue, but it is still dangerous and we have to keep an eye out." Closing into the noisy emissions, Bridgette kicks the door open as she quickly heads to the side and leans, watching through her scope what was happening.
There she was, Captain. She was having a battle with what seems to be an infected Captain from Axis, one they haven't seen before. Clothes shredded and skin so pale, her tinge of black that makes up her once beautiful racial features was gone. Just a dark blue of rotting skin with jumbled up untidy uniforms.
Ignoring the sound emitted from the door, the two concentrated on their battle as the two stroked and clashed with their blades as they also partook in defending with their guns that were slowly running out of ammunition. Evidence from the shells laid all about the floor in a random fashion.
"Whose she?" William scratches his head. "I thought we took care of all the Axis captains already back in England?"
"No, I don't think this is England's Captains. Perhaps, this must be the secretary of the old General." Bridgette suggested as she flicks her lighter on and lights up a cigarette for herself. "Want one?"
"No thanks.." William shakes his head as he turns back and watches the fight through his iron sights of his MP5. The movement was too random, quick and hard to discern. They were fighting in a very abnormal state and way, something not possible in a normal human light. It is possible it was with the work of the guardians, both the corrupted and the contracted. "What now?"
"No clue, we can't take a shot, they seem too concentrated on the fight, for something..." Bridgette whispers back as she puffs out smoke through her nose. "Bitch, why did she had to separate from us in the first place."
"No clue Bridge." William shakes his head in confusion as he sighs and makes sure the doctor is safe."We can't intervene. Their guardians are doing the job for them, so we don't know how long the battle will last. I seen guardian assisted battle lasting hours especially with ones which allows bullet based weapons which obviously cannot run out of ammunition."
"But as long as the two can keep the same wavelength, whatever you Continuum people mean, this battle could last for hours, huh? Interesting." Bridgette talks to herself as she lets go of her concentration and relaxes herself by the wall, leaning against it as she enjoyed her smoke break.
A sound of snarls and grudges could be heard from inside as they strange emissions of bullet shells dropping on the ground, resonating soft clinks echoing throughout the room. William was worried they might attract some infected if they were still around. I mean the wave they had to endure at the entrance was already in the hundreds, maybe thousands (Less than that, actually) so to fight them with only three people available is already considered a losing outcome, unless assistance is close enough to help.
"Give up already!" Captain Shanina shouts in pain at the top of her lungs as she latches her whip towards the infected bidden knife that was rusted to its core as she yanks it off the hand that extruded excruciatingly painful growths from the veins and the limb itself.
The opponent snarls and growls back, pertaining to communicate back, but due to the loss of speech, it only can give back animalistic bursts of grunts. In pain and with a burst of adrenaline, somehow, the infected secretary pounces onto Shanina from across the room and tries to rip clothes and flesh off with her remaining limb.
Response too late, Shanina wasn't able to retaliate with her handgun which had run out of ammo after making a clicking sound when triggered pressed. Loosing her grip, she tries to grab upon the infected as she resists the slashes from the being who was trying to kill her out of bloodlust. 'SCHEISSE!" She shouts as she holds onto the gross growths of "hands" as the sharp fingers try to dig onto her armour.
William excited in surprise, quickly gets up and sprints towards the attacker and Shanina. Giving a full kick, the figure bounced off of her and hit upon a wall of lockers which was dented even further before its factory made state.
Whimpering in pain and noticing, the figure was too far gone, William with no remorse releases a burst of rounds into the head and chest of the infected as the figure slowly loss energy and stayed limped.
A cry of death slowly came out of her mouth as blood curdling parasites crawled out through wriggling holes which was quickly gotten rid off when Beo summoned herself out of her knife by William's breast pocket and summons out a black pyre of flame which burned off the body and turned it into immediate ash, remaining of what's left of the secretary known as ash.
"Hah, hah~, Danke, Will." Shanina breathes heavily as she places her arm onto her forehead and gaining her energy back. "You too Snare… you managed to hold long." Her whip glowed brightly before turning into an ornament of an earring which was looped about Shanina's left ear. "Yeah, take a good rest." Shanina says in a happy tone.
"You alright?!" Beo and William asked quickly together. "You are not hurt are you?" The two responded again. "Why are we repeating the same questions?!" Again they went, "No you first, then Me." A moment of awkwardness stood in the room as the two stood quietly in embarrassment of their strange stunt.
"I am fine, really. Snare held up for me after I lost half of my ammunition. I shouldn't have strayed from you guys. Thanks for coming. If it was any longer, Snare would have given up and I would have probably died or worse, become them." Picking herself up slowly, Bridgette held onto Shanina's armpits and assisted her up steadily. "Thanks Colonel."
"No probs, but please, stop going by yourself every again. What's with Continuum and their solo acts? I know you guys aren't military trained, but still, have some decorum." Bridgette replies as she finishes her cigarette and tosses away the butt nearby.
"Haha, we shall take note of that." Winking at William as she felt a striking pain on her legs. "Ahh, shit."
"What happened?" The doctor asks. "Did your legs get ripped apart? Or is it just exhaustion from over-running adrenaline?"
"Second...If it was ripped apart, I wouldn't have pants right now, heh." Acting more casually than her usual quiet and strict self, Shanina stretches herself before picking up her handgun and her assault rifle a few walks away from her, empty and laid on the floor, idle. Ready to reload.
"Got an ammunition supply ready? I am really dried empty." She looks towards Bridgette who was shuffling through her duffel back, bringing out a strange cylinder like machine that when pressed will activate and emit a light blue hue around the rims. When scanned with a barcode stucked by the side of a rifle through a weld, will produce the best recommended ammo for the gun for universally any situation.
Scanning her gun by using the barcode method, the machine made strange noises as if hand-loaded in a pressure cooker before cooking out a fresh supply with pre-made plastic bullet belts or stocks, which this gun had available in-case of wanting to change modes from a burst round to a full-auto.
"Hows are the other teams going?" Shanina asks as she reloads and repairs her guns on a partially broken table with her multi-tool.
"Team 2 is taking a break in the Auditorium, Team 3 and 4 haven't had any contact since, probably because their signals aren't strong enough." Bridgette replies as she uses her tablet to check for coordinates and any future orders written down from earlier's discussion.
"We should head there too after this, 'cause all four teams have to meet up and then head towards where the focal point is, where the Bio-Mother is, so we can finish this, once and for all." Shanina replies as she removes the muzzle off her handgun and oils it with a small bottle of a strange black concoction meant for guns, obviously.
"Alright, can we go now?" William sighs out as he reloads his submachine gun with fresh stocks. "We're wasting time just standing here."
"Relax, will yah… or do we have to do it for you?" Bridgette grins at him with her typical smile. Reminding him of the earlier interaction among him and her.
"Don't tell me..." Shanina whispers to herself. "Doesn't matter."
"Right, right fine." William replies in an annoyed tone before turning around and walking away, hiding his blush and grin that he was trying to resist to make. Holstering his MP5, h looks by the rail as he watches below the hole, indeed there was a hole, leading to the Auditorium. For fun, he shouts loudly as it echoes away. "Hello!"
There wasn't any response, of course there wasn't but it was just fun for even trying to do it. Even if they are on a serious mission, he still felt like acting himself.
"They are not there. Team 2 are in a meeting room." Shanina calls out as she pats on his back, passing by him towards a bridge walkway which was somehow still intact.
"I know, I am just fooling around." William grins at her with the happiest smile on his face, planting himself a dunce before cheerily singing an old rhythm of classical music that his younger sister does when she was calming her nerves or pretending not to hear, which he was imitating.
"He really is pretty stupid, huh?" Bridgette questions as she lights herself another cigarette.
"Nah, he is just like that. A coping mechanism of sorts, to dodge the pain he is struggling of, in his head." Shanina replies back as she ties up her long black hair again with a tight scrunchie into a ponytail.
"What is that?" Doctor Augistina curiously questions as she picks up her pace towards the two after she picked off and bagged the remains of ashes from the dead burnt off secretary.
"Why is he the only one alive, I suppose."
"Why is he the only one still breathing...as a Male."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone