DAYS AFTER〔M〕〔IC〕「Hoef & MidKnight」

[Dire Hoef]

Rodriguez smirked and cackled, "My abuela made some mean chili, with the seasoning and everything." He strapped on his own gear, which was styled with flames and explosions. "I'll have to raid her home for those recipes.. I know she keeps them somewhere!"

Christy was already strapped and prepped, and was leaning up against the table. "Hopefully when all this is over we can all eat like normal people." She laughed.

Rodriguez rolled his eyes, "You know damn well our taste buds are ruined thanks to the rationing.."

Christy shot him a side-eye and only stuck out her tongue in his direction. He returned it with the same level of sass, to which Darius broke it up with his own strap-up.

"Alright. We're leaving," Darius loaded his ACR and primed it. He walked out, Jade and the rest of his team following in close behind him. He trekked across the compound and over to the heliport, and found a black hawk was waiting for them. He boarded the bird, and flipped on his comms gear. He switched to the pilot's frequency and radioed, "We're all aboard. I imagine you know where this taxi is going?"

"Yes sir! Next stop, St. Elmo, Illinois!" The pilot was far too excited for what he was doing. But Darius wasn't going to argue, some people need the thrill to escape the chill.

[MidKnight]

Jade was second last and waited for the Captain to board on the helicopter. She grabbed the door and pushed it to a close and doubled checked it to see if it was sealed shut. She gets on a seat next to the door near the pilots like the Captain had done. She looked out at her crew and she reaches for her pocket and with a grin on her lip, she pulled out a MP3 device. "I'll do the honors." She reached for a wire that can plug into the MP3 device and she scrolled on the list, she clicked a button and the song 'Fortune Son' started playing on the speakers.

"Hey Rodriguez, the next time you wanna improvise on making the rations taste better, try and not to use anti-freeze this time? My tongue is still burning." She looked at the Captain. "Not to mention the smell." She joked.

She looked at her rifle and doubled checked everything she had. She grabbed her vest as she relaxed while feeling the bird flying in the air. "I hate this part." She muttered as she looked out the window.

[Dire Hoef]

The bird flew roughly five hundred meters off the ground, giving the team a bird's eye view of the Mississippi Red Line. The entirety of the Mississippi River had been militarized, and everything east of that river had been reduced to no man's land. The chopper flew deeper into the Eastern American Red Zone, and found that the no man's land transitioned back into ordinary vegetation. Sizeable towns and cities still remained along their flight path, and even power had returned to a small series of apartment complexes.

Although the team watched as people with signs waved them to bring the chopper over. However, the pilot on laughed and kept flying. Darius only shook his head as he realized that they probably did not have an escape plan. He only feared their fates, but the mission called for greater importance.

When the LZ came into view, Darius prepped his protective gear. Once it touched down, Darius lept off and secured a section of the perimeter. The rest of the team followed suit securing their own sections, waiting for the chopper to take off. After it did, and vanished into the distance, Darius radioed, "All elements check in."

"Here," Christy replied scanning her side a little frantically.

"Right here boss," Rodriguez called out through his radio.

"Present sir," the first thing Karmichael said since they started this mission.

And upon hearing Jade's check in, Darius positioned himself in the direction of the town and radioed, "All elements move on my mark. Mark." He stood up and started jog-walking in the direction of the town. He kept his eyes peeled for anything that might be amiss on their journey.

[MidKnight]

When the helicopter arrived at it's location, she grabbed the MP3 and placed it in her pocket. She takes her headgear off and placed it aside. She waited to open the door as she would be out first. She leaped out, boots on the ground and she made her way to her position and kneels "zài zhèli" She said on her radio. She could have said it in English plain words, but sometimes the Chinese comes out randomly for her.

She waited for her Captain to make his next move, after a moment when the Helicopter had left. She begin to follow the Captain after he gave the order. She kept both of her hands on the rifle and pointed downwards but at the ready to point if necessary. She looked around the terrain, old buildings crumbled to dust, the once green grass to almost withered and paled. She almost forgot to attach her suppressor and quickly adds on the addition to her rifle. "Keep up ladies and gents, don't want any of you to fall behind now." She said softly on her radio.

[Dire Hoef]

With almost supernatural timing, Rodriguez would lightly trip over a corpse. This body had been violently mutated, but was dispatched when looking at the several large entry wounds it had along its torso and head. "You just had to say something," he said over radio moving into formation thereafter.

The trek itself was largely uneventful. At points there were shadows that danced between light sources as if following them, but Darius understood that ever since all this broke out strangeness had become the norm. But when the team reached the outskirts of town, the air grew cold. The dead trees swayed with a vacant wind that felt as though it wasn't even there. Darius positioned himself to gain a vantage point over the decaying town.

He observed that most of the population center was bombed out, the southeastern portion of the town being nothing but craters and holes. The petroleum plant is the only place to have lights. However, they're emergency lights which coat the nearby area in a red hue. "There's our place. Christy."

"Listening," Christy's voice was sharp and poignant.

"Use that new techno-module R&D gave you," Darius said as he got up from his position and began moving toward the town, "I want a constant 360. Nothing gets near us without you knowing."

"Okay Captain," Christy proceeded to flip open her wrist to reveal a velcroed micro-tablet that connected to a football-sized drone. That drone came zipping out of her backpack and vertically climbed into the air disappearing into the morning sky. "I'm connected, and I got eyes on us via thermal-imaging. Nobody around us in 500 ft or more. We're green."

Darius nodded and increased his traveling pace, "Once we enter the town, we aim for the plant. The laboratory is on the way." He thought about the last time they went beyond the Red Line, and it reminded him of how routine all of it was. Strangely, he felt almost at peace...

[MidKnight]

When they got into formation in a position, Jade felt unease of where they were located and looked around the corner. Soon as they moved, she quickly moved across the street to cover their flanking positions. She kept her rifle at point ready in case of unexpected visitors. She felt her heart beating but her breathing was calm. She found a position and remained there until they were ready to move.

Jade looked around and observed the facility with the lights on. She noticed something was odd about the place. She reached for comm. link. "Wait." She said. "How is the facility still running on power?" She asked curiously. "Was there any info of the building with self sustaining power?" She took a step forward and felt something odd on her boot. She looked down to see a stuff teddy bear on the ground. She kneels down next to it and picks it up to examine it. She sees the face and it was missing an eye ball, covered in mud and dirt, she can tell it has been here for quite a long time. She gently smiled and placed it back on the ground. "Keep an eye on my six...okay?" She said softly as she placed the bear in a sitting position.

[Dire Hoef]

Jade's voice came through on the squad's ear piece, which made Darius halt the squad as they came closer to the petroleum plant. Darius recounted the intel he had gathered before leaving, and only narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He didn't read anything about there still being people out here. Now this had his curiosity peaked. He radioed, "Negative. I didn't read anything about this place still being operational. According to the reports, this whole area was evacuated, a few days after the initial outbreak. They saw what happened on the east coast, and the people here were among the first to get hauled off across the Mississippi."

Darius decided that it was best to investigate this cautiously, "Rodriguez, on me. Christy, Karmichael, and Jade you run security. Anyone and anything that isn't us, you kill with extreme prejudice. This whole mission is beginning to stink to me. Heads on a swivivle. Move."

Rodriguez stepped up behind Darius as Karmichael and Christy took up their own positions around the plant.

Darius led Rodriguez through a hole in the perimeter, and made their way to an area of the plant where there was suitable vantage point to observe anything out-of-the-ordinary. And sure enough, Darius spotted what looked to be lightly armed guardsmen equipped with light caliber weaponry. "Marauders..."

Rodriguez spotted them as well and growled, "Of course.. These fucks don't know when to quit and just join the fight.."

"We've got marauders," Darius radioed into the squad, "We've only ID'd two guards posted outside one of the main storage buildings. We're going to push deeper, and see if they're aren't more.."

"Marauders?? Really?? Them again? Why can't they just give up on being kleptomaniacs, and join us??" Christy whisper-shouted over the radio.

Rodriguez sneered, "That's what I said."

Darius shooshed Rodriguez who then focused up, and followed in behind Darius as the pair ventured deeper into the plant.

[MidKnight]

While the others were arguing, she felt a sudden hand on her shoulder and heard a voice. "Hey." She grabbed the arm and pulled it over her shoulder, throwing the person over her like a sand bag. She for her knife and looked at the man, it was one of the Marauders. She stabbed the man several times in the chest and then the neck area. She lets go of the knife once it struck and remained in the neck and checked her six. Looking around for more targets she was a little surprised one found her a little too easy.

"Keep an eye on your six." She said on the radio with a low tone. "I've been spotted by one, he's down." She scanned her surrounding area before placing her rifle away and dragged the body to a hidden area. She grabbed her knife and wiped away the blood off the blade clean by brushing it on the man. She checked his gear and equipment and found nothing but raggedy clothes, a old shotgun and a pistol on the side. She grabbed the firearms but takes the shotgun and the ammo he had.

"Well well well, a old sawed off shotgun can be quite handy." She examined the shotgun before placing it in her backpack with the ammo. It was a little rusty but appeared to be well maintained. "Another souvenir." She smiled and returned to her duty. "Check those corners." She said softly with a growl.

[Dire Hoef]

Jade had cut in on radio the moment Darius jumped a Marauder by knifing the side of his skull and covering his mouth. He then dragged the corpse into a dark corner, where he had Rodriguez covering him. The two looked at each other as Jade said she was spotted by one, but dispatched them before an alarm could be raised.

Darius didn't hesitate in hardening his focus, he wanted to know why they were here. He pushed across open ground before coming to what looked to be the adminstration building. The two stacked up on the door before Darius slowly pulled the door open. He peered inside, and hadn't seen anyone initially. However, as he was about to step inside, someone came stomping out in a drunken stupor.

The marauder laughed and excused himself, walking out into the plant proper. Darius was a little confused by this, but paid it no mind as he stepped inside with Rodriguez in tow.

The pair slowly crept down the hall, watching for any other signs of movement. And as the two neared the end of that hall, the sounds of a party were heard behind a door. Darius creaked the door open to peer inside, and saw something malicious. It appeared the Marauders had staked two or three people, and had their corpses roasting over a bonfire.

"Their celebrating barberism in here.. But we have yet to find out what they want from this place.." Darius quietly radioed, keeping his voice down so as to not alert anyone nearby.

[MidKnight]

"Their celebrating barbarism in here.. But we have yet to find out what they want from this place.."

She pulled another body towards a dark room where she hid the body. Another man was walking around in her area and she managed to kill him with ease. She checked his pockets and found some ammo on his person. Although finding a rusty knife, a old pistol with a few rounds and a bottle of pills was not her liking of finding things. "Probably because this place has running power and luring unsuspecting targets like survivors would be a great meal ticket." She said over her radio and made a few grunt noises as she pulled the body once more to be more hidden. "But that would also means..." She heard a snarl from around the corner, she reached for her pistol with the suppressor attached. She slowly made her way around the door to find a walking corpse making it's way through the alley way.

"Figured as much." She said, "Apparently these idiots are also attracting our M Killer stragglers." She moved quickly and fired several rounds into her targets head, the body collapsed quickly. She stepped out of the door way and looked both ways. "Only one...good." She looked at the corpse and fired several more rounds to the head and started dragging the body next to the dead Marauder.