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Friday, July 28, 2006

Night of the Dead- Chapter 14:Visitors

Admiral Ling was already standing in front of a huge double door entrance. It was mahogany, and the golden tag stuck on the right door said: 'Meeting Room 1'. There were a stack of files and folders she had wrapped around her left hand, and the right was heading for the tin-coated door handle in front of her. It seemed for a moment that she was holding the door handle forever, deep in thought. Then, the Admiral let out a deep sigh and pushed the right door open. Waiting inside was a small room draped in yellow lights shining from the ceiling. The floor was covered in maroon carpet, and furniture and fixtures dark brown. 3 older men were already sitting around an oval table in front of her, waiting. She walked up to the table, set her files and folders down, and got herself comfortable on one of the chairs available there.
"Good evening, gentlemen." They nodded silently, seemingly in distaste.
"I apologise for having to gather so late at night, and under such short notice. But I assure you, gentlemen, it's urgent," the Admiral said, and started passing around photos and printouts.
"I'm sure it is. I wouldn't begin to comprehend the disastruos outcomes have we found out the urgency of this event being nonsensical," one of them spoke, not even laying his eyes on the Admiral.
"The first photo you're looking at is the satellite pictures of vicinities surrounding Boston City. There has been movement 20 miles to the east of the city for the past 3 hours, and they've been moving towards the city's border. We have reason to believe these two are APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers) and they're going into the city for what we do not yet know," the Admiral explained.
"We already know this," one of the older men said, a grin running across his face now.
Admiral Ling's face turned pale suddenly, while she looked up towards them.
"You knew?" Nods came from all three of them, looking rather cool.
" Admiral. Do you assume that we old men are Generals for no apparent reason?" another one of them spoke, leaning forward.
" I do not mean any disrespect, gentlemen, but how did.." "We've been observing our enemies for a while now."
"Enemies?" They had enemies? The Admiral was dumbfounded now, that there was so much more that she was not exposed to.
"Do you think those people who created these monsters would just allow their accidental creations be seen?" one of them said.
"Who people?"
"The multi-billionaires that created these Anti-matters. They've been trying to protect the city from us all these while."
"By monsters, sir, do you mean..."
"We mean monsters, Admiral. A very literal expression of the word," one of them said.
'Monsters?' Admiral Ling was already feeling herself choking, her throat dry.
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. They were all looking at her now, and she couldn't hide her expression from anyone now. She was already starting to panic, something no Admiral should be showing at times like these. She needed a way to get her people out of there.
"Why wasn't I told of this?" she asked, and anyone on the floor was entitled to answer this.
"You didn't have the appropriate clearance for such information," another old man answered. His face did not show a single hint of sympathy.
"My men are down there!" she finally snapped. Before she realised it, she was already standing over them, and her hands had just slammed the table.
The echo of the thump was short lived by the amount of absorbents in the room. The room almost instantly fell silent. The Admiral felt a slight regret for misconduct, but those feelings were quickly gone. She was very angry now. Her men were in a lot of danger. She don't even know what they were currently up against. Something had to be done. But what?

The gun shots lost its consistency, and as if they were traveling. Pyut must already be luring the huge stitched dude to an explosive trap now, and the rest were following him. The building is only a block away from their position, but Crucist could feel the cold silence. This was an office, he could tell. Cubicles, files and folders all around, drawers. There was a white mug on the table just next to where he stationed himself. It was stained, and he could swear the mug used to house some hot coffee. Some hot coffee he wouldn't mind having right about now. The window blind in front of him was down. It had to be to block the light from entering the room he was in and exposing him to anything out there. But he bet those things could smell his blood from a mile away. His binoculars were already reaching the western end of the city now.
An explosion sounded from afar. Pyut must already have killed the bugger. What would they do without Pyut. Would they have survived without Pyut. Crucist let out a chuckle. How ironic this seemed now. The people sent to save their comrades here turned out needed saving from their stranded friends.
Suddenly his binoculars spotted something. Human zombies. But they were walking too fast, and they were carrying guns. No. They're too organized to be zombies.
"Major." Crucist called over the radio.
" Yeah."
"Do you have any surviving team members here you forgot to tell us about?"
"No. Why?"
Crucist caught his gun, and silently left the building.