The New Haven Incident - Part Forty-Six

After an hour of careful movement, Mendez and Sebastian arrived at the downtown core. A large explosion in the direction they were travelling made them pause.

Mendez? Connors? Are you there? Sakata’s voice was difficult to make out over the sounds of heavy gunfire.

“We’re here,” Sebastian answered.

It’s getting hot. You need to get here yesterday.

“Almost there.”

Better be.

Mendez and Sebastian exchanged a glance and picked up their pace. “Officer Fernly?” Sebastian said into his comms unit.

Yes? The sounds of pitched battle were clear even from her location.

“We’re roughly five blocks from your location. What’s the situation?”

Uh… a lot of gun fire. We’re holed up in the bakery and can’t move. I can hear the planes though. There’s a lot of Infected.

“Hang tight. We’ll get you across that road.”

“What are you thinking?” Mendez asked.

“Still have those grenades?”

“Sure do.”

“Good.”

The journey to the stadium was largely uneventful. Agent Connors and Warrant Officer Mendez encountered nothing worse than a small group of kobolds already in the process of devouring one another in a frantic, bloody frenzy caused by their diseased minds.

The noise of the creatures was horrific; high pitched shrieks and screams as they attacked and were attacked. Despite the horror of it all, their din permitted Sebastian and Oliver to pass by unnoticed. The tall, thick-walled buildings of the city centre swallowed the sounds only a few blocks further along. Mendez paused to look back.

“That was…” he murmured.

“Really fucking horrific,” Sebastian finished for him.

Mendez nodded. “Yeah.”

Sebastian nodded back at him. He knew. More than that, he understood. In silence, they resumed their quick but careful approach to the stadium.

Mendez followed, glad to have Sebastian take the lead. The man had survived Cedarwood City. So had the warrant officer, but he knew it wasn’t the same. The minute the alarm sounded on the biosecurity breach, he and his team gathered the Cedarwood scientists, and were away before the rest of the city had been touched. The whole operation was over in a matter of hours. Mendez and his team were away before the infection had even left the facility.

Agent Connors, on the other hand, had been in the city when the breach escaped the laboratory. He was going about his day as a young, new member of the Cedarwood City District Police. He’d gone to his desk, sat down, and turned on his computer. By the time the infection reached his part of town, Mendez and the scientists were long gone, the city had already been barricaded, and there was already talk of bombing the hell out of it.

Sebastian had survived nearly two days, somehow crawling out of the city not just alive, but also without any trace of infection. He was the last person to make it out before the bombs dropped. Since then, the agent had been through seven missions, many for multiple days, over the eleven years since Cedarwood.

At best, Mendez had spent a few months a year at Sigma with Harding, training.

It was not comparable. Mendez did not have the capacity to lead in this situation. Lost in the rumination of his own shortcomings, Mendez failed to see that the agent had stopped. He very nearly ran into him.

“What...?” he started to demand. The word fell from his lips incomplete as he stared ahead at the narrow alley. Chrysalises lined the walls of the alley, which was protected from both the sun and any wind by the tall buildings crowding each other in chaotic closeness. The greyish sacks of infected people dotted the walls of the tall buildings in perfect rows.

“Holy shit.” Mendez stared at the closest one. Beneath the stretchy pale grey substance that made up the outer protective layer of the cocoons, he could see the slightly flattened features of a person. Telltale dark patches were visible on the face. Dark Ones in the making. And, though Mendez was no expert, they looked about ready to hatch.

“You don’t happen to have any flamethrower fuel left, do you?” Sebastian spoke quietly.

“No,” Mendez whispered in return. “I didn’t think we’d end up on the fucking set of Cocoon.”

Sebastian’s lips twitched, threatening a smile. “Okay,” he said. “Well, let’s go around.”

“Yeah.  Yeah. Good call.”

They both stepped backwards, their weapons at the ready, keeping their eyes on the chrysalises in case they started to hatch. Mendez stepped back again, and felt his back hit something hard. He turned.

A Dark One cocked its head at him.

“Fuck!” he barked, bringing his rifle up.

He didn’t get far. The Dark One grabbed the weapon, tore it from him and launched him backwards with a strong open-palmed strike to his chest. He landed on his back, sliding a little. He came to a stop with his face directly below a chrysalis. He froze as the thing inside it shifted, making the chrysalis stretch dangerously.

He could hear the sounds of fighting. Cursing quietly under his breath, Mendez wiggled his way out from under the chrysalis until he could scramble to his feet without touching it. He spied Sebastian, locked in combat with a Dark One. Three others had been decapitated.

Utterly unhinged rage flooded him. Mendez snarled. He sprinted forward, taking the Dark One down with an expertly executed tackle. Fuelled by his anger, he used the pause of shock that came with being slammed unexpectedly to his advantage. He grabbed the Dark One by the head and repeatedly slammed it down on the pavement as hard as he could.

Doubled over with exhaustion, Sebastian could do little but lean against a wall and watch as Mendez worked through his emotions. He winced as he heard the slightly wet crunch of a skull giving way. It lasted three more hits, and then the skull was gone, crushed between the pavement and the force of Mendez’ anger.

Huffing in an effort to get some air, Mendez stood up and staggered back. He stared down at his hand, which was now covered in blood and bits of brain matter.

Sebastian straightened. The movement caught Mendez’ attention and he looked up from his hand. He frowned, as if unsure of where or when he was.

Sebastian limped over to Mendez’ rifle and picked it up. He moved to the warrant officer, his stride improving with the use of his legs, and held the rifle out.

Mendez shook the gunk off his hand and accepted the weapon.

“Feel better?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah,” Mendez replied.  “A bit.”

Sebastian offered him a smile and a friendly pat on his shoulder. Mendez, feeling a little shaky, returned to his position behind Sebastian’s right shoulder.

“I am going to need so much therapy,” he muttered.

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