# Extinction Agenda



## gothik (May 29, 2010)

*Extinction Agenda a wh40k story not a fantasy one*

Extinction Agenda

A resident evil/Warhammer 40k crossover

Resident evil copyright capcom games

One​
Somewhere, someone had once said, within the swirling mass of conflicting and confusing energies that make up the warp itself were pathways to other dimensions, alternative realities with histories played out and run for all eternity at the whim of the great powers themselves and overseen by the Great Weaver himself.

It was also said that of all the fallen sons, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons could truly understand the way that fates paths affected everything around it, a single decision made played out in one reality, the other choices played out in alternative realties. Whether that was true or not who could say for sure but the ways of the master of fate were never to be fully understood by mere mortals who deigned to have and to hold just a fraction of his power fro themselves and although he gave them what they wanted, the price to pay him would be heavier then their mortal minds could even begin to comprehend.

He was a wonderful master for as long as it served his purpose and like all the gods of the warp do after a while, he eventually gets bored. He had craved the _Thousand Sons_, Khorne had the _World Eaters_ to call his own, the young upstart Slannesh had the _Emperors Children_ to call his and Nurgle had the _Death Guard_ to himself. Between them all they had the_ Black Legion, Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, Night Lords and Alpha Legion,_ but he, he had the _Thousand Sons_ and he had craved them the day he had answered Magnus the Reds plea, now they were his so anything the mere mortals tried to offer him were parlour games really, a minor distraction.

The star system that swam close to the edge of the warp had been a long-term project on the rare occasions that the gods of the warp stopped fighting long enough to join together. Tzeentch had turned a populace of loyal imperial citizens against their corpse god and with the joint machinations of his brothers the whole system had fallen.

Once the Imperials had found out what happened, they had come in force and the Makora System Crusade had begun, that was over a century ago. All Khorne wanted and demanded was blood and skulls yet even this blood thirsting, harvester of skulls, the lord of blood and gore had to admit, albeit grudgingly that the prince of fates plans had this time worked.

Each quarter century each god had been in ascendance and now after a century with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Military, Civilian and the greatest prize had been Astartes had been included in the death tolls and, like much of the Imperium these days, the war, the crusade looked never ending.

For every world the Imperium gained; the Empyrean took two more and it had already caused four Imperial Worlds to be overrun with chaos and became demon worlds and they were condemned to the fate of exterminartus. 

The worlds of _Sarin, Bosan, Secara and Nepton_ had to die, they could not be saved and they could not remain in the hands of the archenemy, circumstances had forced the inquisition and Kalon Danos, the warmaster herself to make that terrible decision, one that no commander ever wanted to make.

Danos had seen through the last twenty-five years of the crusade. A traitor guardsman of the infamous Bloodpact had killed her predecessor, Warmaster MaCarna. He had seen Tzeentch in ascendance, the _Thousand Sons_ had run amok on Sarin, then he had seen Slannesh in ascendance and the _Emperors Children _had condemned Secara with their rites of depravity and perverse rites, they had enslaved the populace to the will of the dark prince of pleasure.

Just before Danos became the warmaster, Khorne had been in ascendance and she shivered as she recalled the olds mans terror when he witnessed the _World Eaters_, once more a coherent force fight alongside the _Word Bearers_ and the appalling butchery that Kharn the betrayer had inflicted alone was enough to cause the old man to have horrific nightmares, and he did not care who he slew, ally, brother or imperial so long as the blood flowed.
Danos had worked it out, alongside Inquisitor Malon of the _Ordo Herecticus _that all four of the ruinous gods were taking turns at “being in power” and now it was the turn of the one they called Grandfather Nurgle.

Reports of plagues had been coming in system wide, the _Grey Knights_ under the command of Justicar Malfra were busy dealing with a demon lord on Vecanza as well as battling along side the _Sisters of our Martyred lady_.

_The Emperors Swords_ were on the planet of Demos and the Imperial Guard were everywhere. Millions of warriors fighting in the name of the Emperor to free this system from the heretics and the traitors that sought to control it. already the tales of heroism of the guard units that were fighting here was beginning to reach almost mythical proportions but Danos did not care about that, these stories would soar morale and that was what she wanted.

She stood before the campaign map and took a deep draught of Amasec. The forest fighters of Sendona IV were fighting alongside _the Emperors Hawks_ 4th company and from what she had heard the two very different warriors had bonded. 

She prayed to the Emperor that their battles would save the forest world. Not just because a great victory with Astartes and Imperial Guard working side by side would be what they so badly needed but because the Inquisition were already talking about making the forest world another victim of exterminartus not just because the plague god was taking that world bit by bit but, if even half of what she heard was correct then they could never afford that world to fall into the enemies hands.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Two


Secanus was one of the largest Forest Worlds that both the Astartes and the Imperial Guard had ever fought on. Apart from one ocean that covered the left half of the world and named the Ocean of Gold by the people of this world the rest of it was one mighty planet spanning forest that was the awe of those that came here.

Oak, Birch and Pine were the main trees that loved here and dead centre was a mighty oak tree that was reputed to be over three thousand years old, its massive limbs looked like many arms. 

All manners of wildlife lived here and it was renowned as a world of natural beauty despite being close in proximity to the outer reaches of the warp beauty flourished here.
With the onslaught of war the populace held out for as long as they could but with the soldiers of the archenemy proving to be tougher then they first thought the Imperials came in to take charge and now, where the forest had once been vast pocketed blast craters showed the battles that took place on this world. 

Captain Valkanas Helosian, commander of 4th Company the Emperors Hawks took in the view of the forest below him during a lull in the fighting. When it was quiet here it was peaceful and peace was something that he rarely felt.

His silver grey eyes took in the view below him with a practised eye. His homeworld, the homeworld of the Emperors Hawks was just like this world, a world spanning forest that allowed the populace to train in the utmost conditions of forest/jungle warfare and it allowed them to hone their lightning attacks to the fullest. 

His black hair was long and tied into a topknot, his helm sat on his belt as he breathed in the air around him. He had been fighting here with 4th company for the best part of a decade now and still they seemed no nearer to victory then when they had first arrived here. 

He stroked his goatee as if in deep thought and indeed he was. He was trying to work out why the enemy were so insistent on heading for the centre of the forest and not facing them head on. 

There is something in there they want he thought to himself there is something that they want really badly that they are prepared to sacrifice themselves for it

His dark red power armour was only just gleaming after he had spent half the day cleaning it and thanking the spirit within for protecting him and enabling him to fight the emperors’ enemies once more. 

The yellow trim seemed to glint in the sunlight almost like gold it had been that highly polished, on his right pauldrons was his companies banner, a swooping hawk with the number 4 between its mighty talons, on the left pauldrons a hawks wing stark white against the dark red. 

He carried the sword of Malarna, a beautiful hand-crafted silver blade with a golden haft, the pillions came out into a hawks wing and the red jewel, a garnet native to his world called Getrayla was its eye. 

Along the haft were carved the names of the captains of the 4th that had carried the weapon into battle, a gift from the Salamanders when the Emperors Hawks had first faced their enemies alongside the sons of Vulkan.

The tale went that the first captain of the 4th, Captain Janus Delancia saved a Salamander scout team from the Dark Eldar that had been killing the populace, in gratitude the Salamander captain; Captain Sygin Tsuan had forged the blade exclusively for the 4th company. 

The blade was always keen but then Helosian knew that anything forged upon the anvils of Nocturne was powerful indeed, such was the craftsmanship of the sons of Vulkan.
It had been passed to every captain of the 4th ever since and their names inscribed on the hilt. 

The blade itself was a masterpiece and Helosian had marvelled at the way the light seemed to flex into oranges and reds if held in a certain way. A single groove ran the length of the blade like a great blood channel and it had, had more then its taste of enemy blood over the centuries.

He also carried a bolter that he had himself carved with the name of each victory he had attained as a brother, a sergeant, a veteran sergeant and finally captain. 

The Emperors children themselves had been around since M32 making them 8000 years old and hailed from the world of Erestole, a vast forest world with its monastery deep in the heart of the forest.

The Hawks Nest was home to a thousand warriors, serfs, novitiates and legion employees. They were also created with a mixed heritage, the Raven Guard were one of their parent legions, the other they did not know although, the inner cadre of the legion believed they were also descended from Dorn himself. 

Although they had no real way of knowing if this was true or not so they thanked their fathers instead of father, they classed Corax and Dorn as their fathers and strived to stay true to what the great Primarchs had lain down. 

Helosian glanced skywards for a moment and sent a wistful thought to the stars, asking the chapters fathers to watch over them and give them the courage to attain the right victory.

He took one last look around him then went to join his sergeant and squad Kerox, with the scouts of the Sedona III Forest Rangers.

He had always strived to protect the Humans, it was his job to do so, he and his brothers were sons of the Raven and the Imperial Fist, but sometimes he despaired over how they were sometimes forsaken for the deeds of the Astartes, yes he was an angel of death, the emperors will in full violence and indeed to unleash the Astartes was to unleash death itself. 

This however did not stop him having respect for the Imperial Guard, for they died a million times, when they died who was there to carve their names in memorial stones or speak about their sacrifices to future generations? 

The Sedona III were all that was left of the Forest Rangers, the Sedona I had been wiped out two years before trying to protect women and children from an onslaught by the Emperors Children, and the Sedona II were killed in action and decimated before Sarin was destroyed.

They had no homeworld to speak off, their sun had gone Supernova three years after the III left, it had destroyed their system and left them homeless, Helosian had promised that they could call Erestole their home for he had never seen such bravery and selfless sacrifice for the emperor and he remembered all their names so that he could inter them on the halls of remembrance back at the nest.

Right now he wanted to see what the enemy were up to and this was the best way to do it. 

Chaplin Danos had not been too pleased when he heard about the Captains plan but as Helosian had explained, there was a reason that they had not been attacked yet and he wanted to know why, there was something within that forest that was more important then killing them.

He had made his choice and left Danos in charge now he had a job to do and he would do it with his favoured sergeant and his squad as well as his favourite members of the Forest Rangers.

He supposed Astartes shouldn’t have favourites but war was a funny thing and it always forged brotherhoods that would seem unlikely in other circumstances. It was rare for him to find such a band of brotherhood that reflected the brotherhood of his chapter and indeed any other legion and their successors but the bonds forged between 4th company and the Forest Rangers had been earnt in sweat, blood and tears.

Helosian was not ashamed to say he had wept for the fallen guard as none of their deaths were anything less then honourable and with great courage and he knew that his brothers too had shown their grief at the deaths of such brave adopted brothers and sisters.

It had its upside though, last month in a lull in the fighting he had the unusual but never the less joyous responsibility of watching over the wedding of two of the group he had chosen. Chaplain Danos had married them and he had blessed them.

Now as he made his way to where they all waited for him he wished that they would all see this through and that he would see more unions like that before they were done.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Three

The gunshots echoed down the alleyway, each shot true and the shot of a marksman, but for every shot she fired, there were more to take the deads place. As the slide on her Detonics slid empty she cursed in such a colourful way that it was hard to believe that she was a lady, however anyone calling her such would have been lynched.

Jill Valentine was a hard-bitten, emotionally drained former S.T.A.R.S officer who had watched not only her partner and best friend die but others she had called friend. 
Her brown air was tied back into a tight ponytail and her blue eyes, so cold and devoid of anything watched the figures shuffle towards her as she expertly emptied and changed the clip then continued to pick off the group as if she had not even missed a heartbeat.

“Jill, move now!!” a second woman yelled and without breaking her fire rate she began to move back towards the other woman.

“Where is she?” Jill now spoke as the other woman began firing herself.

“She’s dealing with the underground nest”

“So we get the ground dwellers and she gets the darkness, it always did suit her best”

“You know she is better at that then us”

“Claire, sometimes I wonder what would have happened if she had never gone down into that blasted H.I.V.E”

“We’ll never know will we”

Claire Redfield, so like Jill in that she had seen too many of her friends and family fall victim to this uncountable plague she too had begun to give up on seeing anything remotely decent in the world. 

Whereas Jill wore a S.T.A.R.S uniform, to honour her colleagues and friends Claire was dressed all in black, like some long gone special ops soldier. Her red hair also long was tied back but with a vicious blade on the end of it that Jill had seen do its job that many times she had to remind Claire on occasion to watch where she was aiming that thing.

Claire’s green eyes were dark, darker then when Jill had first met her. That had been in Alaska and the two women had become firm friends and although they had built up their own little network of survivors and information passing they preferred to work alone, well with one other but no hindrances.

If they found survivors they arranged pick up to the underground home they called Hades. It wasn’t safe on the surface anymore; underground really was the safest place.
They looked at each other as they received a telepathic warning and both dived out the way as not only the building behind them exploded but also the rocket that moved past them and into the crowd before them.

Jill covered her head as the crowd groaned then shut her eyes tight as the explosion sent bits of bodies and blood all over the place. She finally got to her feet and pulled a face at the bit of gore that sat on her boot.

She raised her gaze and stared at the woman with the rocket launcher “must you always be so fucking melodramatic?”

The third woman remained silent for a moment, watching the mass up ahead just to make sure that there was no movement then turned her cold face to Jill.

“It got rid of them didn’t it?”

Jill shook her head and waved her foot about getting the gore off. She was about to say something when a single gunshot rang out and both women looked to where Claire held the barrel of her gun towards her mouth and blew across the end of it.

“You missed one,” She said in such a matter of fact voice that her friends actually laughed.

Claire took the knife from her hair and tucked it into her boot. The grim half smile on her face and stood looking at a sign that was battered and dented.

“Welcome to Fulford, home of the battle of Fulford 1066…Cute”

“Alice, where now?”

Alice looked around her and pointed, “Don’t know about you two but I am hungry”

The three fell into step with each other and headed away.


Alice was the one that seemed not to care much anymore but that was a lie in itself. When it came to those that had been bitten or scratched she was quite pragmatic about it, 

“Shoot yourself or in three days you become one of them, but become one of them you will”

After what had become known as the first incident of Racoon City she had been experimented on by the very corporation she had worked for, of the nine people she had gone with during that very unforgettable experience she was the only survivor, even Matt who had come out with her had been infected by one of the many experiments that place ran. He had become Nemesis and after the destruction of Racoon City he had died and she had discovered just what it was that Umbrella had done to her.

Alice was as tall as her friends, her only true friends, but her once blonde hair was now black and short. She wore a long cattleman’s coat and a Stetson, blue jeans, a t-shirt and dark black bikers boots.

When she had escaped the H.I.V.E the scientists of Umbrella had bonded her with the T-Virus and instead of turning her into one of the creatures it had given her incredible speed, strength, agility and stamina but more then that it had changed her mentally. She was a powerful psionic and it was that which had really kept them safe all these years.

They had made their way from America to Europe and then England, looking for a reason behind this all. Looking for what had possessed Umbrella to do such a thing, create such a devastating plague that not only was it destroying the world slowly but also why they did it. 

The North American compound in Washington had yielded the English clue and so they had come hoping to finally put an end to this misery. Every city they came through, every town and village was as dead as the people and there was nothing beautiful anymore,

The thought of stroking a cat had long gone out the window, you just never knew if that cat was going to purr or try and eat you. 

They came to an old store, Jill made out the name of the store “Sainsbury’s Local” she shrugged “Hope there are some smokes in here, where did we run out?”

“Aylesbury, 350 miles” Claire replied and moved her shotgun up as they began to enter the building.

“Illegal?”

“Three days ago” Alice quietly said, “We’ll find some more. We always do”

“Great” Jill muttered and raised her Detonics. “Lets just hurry this up”

All three of them fell in to military discipline Jill and Claire deferring to Alice’s more commanding authority.

She tapped Claire’s shoulder and pointed left; Claire nodded and began to make her move off, noting with great delight that there were cigarettes here, in fact they were here there and everywhere. 

Alice tapped Jill’s shoulder and pointed forward, Jill did as she was told, her automatic held out before her with steady reassuring sweeps. Alice went to the centre isle and the three of them made their way up to the other end of the small store, there was nothing, apart from spilled pasta and biscuits and the awful smell of rotten fruit and vegetables. 

“Did they hold out longer here?” Jill wondered aloud.

“The T-virus hit American first, then the world later” Claire called back “It is possible these small islands held out the longest”

Alice came to the end of the isle and cocked her head slightly as the other two joined her side. She moved her fingers to her lips and pointed to the warehouse door, she raised her Uzi and the other two raised their weapons.

Suddenly a teenager came screaming out the back followed by three other teenagers, all undead and looking for a meal.

Jill grabbed the girl and threw her behind her and the women opened fired blowing the heads clean off the monsters. 

Jill glanced at the terrified teenager and checked her over. “She had no wounds” 

“Better bring her with us” Claire came out from the warehouse after checking it “She’ll be safer with us then left here, we can arrange pick up when we get the chance”

Alice holstered her weapon and turned on her heel “Lets get some supplies then move, need to find somewhere safe to hole up”

“Safe hah” Jill glanced at Claire “what a relaxing thought”

“Yeah so would a nice hot bath but not gonna get it” Claire moved her backpack from her shoulders and without another word began to fill it as did Jill and Alice.


Alice remained silent as she smoked the first cigarette she had had in days. The girl was with Jill and Claire and they were talking to her about how she had got here, were there any more survivors, but the girl was still in shock and it was hard to make any sense of her worlds. 

Somewhere in this city was the answer to the questions that had plagued her mind the day that Rain, JD, Kaplan and the others had died. She had adored Rain so it had broken her heart after Matt shot her to stop her from eating them, then Olivera and LJ. She missed LJ’s sense of humour, somehow it had kept them going and she certainly missed Olivera. 

She took a final drag on her cigarette and looked to the sky, distracted by something. The sky was no longer blue, it was a firestorm red, the clouds were gone and a constant heat plagued the world now. 

Terra had been beautiful and now it was ugly, it was as if the grim reaper was sitting there laughing at them all. Terra was a dead world, she just didn’t know it yet and she was still clinging on.

She dropped the cigarette to the ground and ground it beneath her boot.

“No such things as Angels anymore, they turned the lights off and left a long time ago.” She turned “Time to saddle up ladies and move on”

“You better ride with me Tanya” Jill said “We’ll be looking for somewhere to stop for the night now”

The teenager got on the back of Jill’s bike and both her and Claire fell into formation behind Alice.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Four


If anyone ever described Sergeant Kerox of the Emperor’s Hawks as a giant bear like individual then they would be wrong…he was bigger then that. In fact when they made his armour the legion art factors had to cannibalise the design so that it would fit round his muscular build. 

Helosian had come through the barracks and the harsh training regime with Kerox and had marvelled at his sheer bulk before they received the gene-seeds. Many were a time they had spent talking about their own hopes and dreams and how they hoped to make a difference in the eyes of the Emperor.

None of the Emperors Hawks believed for one moment the Emperor was a god, they accepted that mortal minds needed that kind of assurance but they believed in him as one would a favoured grandfather.

Without concrete knowledge on which their Primarchs would have been they looked to the Emperor for wisdom and teaching. 

Kerox walked alongside him, the two men comfortable in each other’s company and Kerox was comfortable with the choice of men that his captain had made to accompany them.

There was Brother Valens, Brother Garrena, Brother Santarex and Brother Colsen of his own squad, Squad Lightborn. Of the Forest fighters there were four, Marianna and Jerron Darcsha, the couple the Chaplain had joined in union, and then Kelsin Hasrana and Jennikana Washnana. 

They had all proved themselves in more ways then one and he was certain that whatever trouble they faced would be faced with honour and courage. He had removed his helm to reveal a strong face, and a face that his men could take as honest and open. There were many who knew that they could trust Kerox to tell them the truth painful or not. 

His eyes were a dark grey, almost metallic grey and a small beard sat around his lower jaw, Helosian thought it gave the look of a trusted father figure but he never voiced it.

“My lord” Helosian turned as Washnana hurried towards him and then dropped to one knee in respect.

“Rise Jennikana, none of you need to show that kind of respect to us, we are all battle brothers and sisters, what is it?”

“It would be better if you saw for yourself lord” 

Helosian and Kerox exchanged glances but followed the woman through the glade and to the lip of a hill rise. She pointed and they clenched their fists in anger.

An anger that was instilled in every loyalist legion and their successors for over ten thousand years. 

Below them mingling with traitor guard elements were four behemoths of a time gone by. Two wore the bloated putrid green and rusted trim armour of the Death Guard and the other two were in the Regal blue, White cloth, Gold trim detailed of the Thousand Sons.

They were stood in front of a rock face but as the watching marines focused in the rock face they were standing before were like a gateway. Intricate symbols decorated the outer rim and the inner rim looked to be a giant stone door with the same symbols carved into the face.

“What are they doing here?” Kerox hissed in revulsion “and since when do they work together? Death Guard and Thousand Sons…working together it seems to be bizarre” 

“Who knows what those traitorous scum are doing but all I know is we are honour and duty bound to get rid of them” Helosian turned to the humans in his party “Get rid of the turncoat guard” he ordered.

Kelsin pointed to the trees around them and the four forest fighters immediately took their places, climbing effortlessly into the branches and concealing them selves. Once Helosian was certain they were out of sight he turned to his men and put his helm over his head, the seals hissing into place.

“For the glory of the one!” He roared and took to the air, his jump pack blazing, his men followed him and they charged down into the fray.


The snipers in the trees picked off the guard and those that were spared the snipers bullets were not spared the anger of the emperors death dealers as they brought the wrath of the Imperium down onto their heads, cutting them in two or splattering their brains across the forest floor.

Helosian grabbed Valens and moved him aside as a lethal psyker blast from one of the Thousand Sons threatened to immolate his battle brother, as it was a group of guardsmen behind them felt the force of a Thousand Sons attack.

“My thanks, my captain” Valens voxed

“Think nothing off it Valens,” he saw the Forest Rangers make their way down cutting through the remaining guardsmen he switched to the vox channel they were using.

_++Kelsin, remain where you are do not enter here, deal with them++

++By your command Lord++_
Satisfied that his orders were being followed he concentrated on the fight at hand. Kerox stood beside him and fired at the Death Guard “I have informed Danos of our situation, he is on route my captain”

“Good” 

The Emperors Hawks fought their way to the four traitor marines but it was not all fortuitous, Brother Colsen’s agonised screams could be heard as eldritch fire wreathed him and burnt him from the inside out.

Helosian cursed loudly and viciously, his gene seed was gone; there would be no one to replace him and no one to live the honour he had. He moved lightning fast and with his sword ran it through the Thousand Son who had killed Colsen and to his horror all he heard was a sigh. There was no blood, no gore, and no markings to signify there was a body in that armour.

He snarled in anger and turned his attention to the Death Guard, his bolter firing an echo of his rage, and yet despite their horrendous bloated bodies, they moved as effortlessly as any marine, traitor or otherwise.

Kerox swung his chain sword round and decapitated several guardsmen then whipped round to see the head of another vanish in a welter of blood and bone and the members of the Sedona III Forest Rangers charging towards them and although he new they should be chastised the way they had disobeyed his captains orders the way they moved had him in admiration.

They ducked under the attacks of the guardsmen and bringing their long bladed daggers to the fore used back handed attacks to cut their stomachs open and uppercuts to rip their jaws open.

The sergeant returned his attention to the battle at hand and blocked a blow from a snarling Death Guard. 

The monster was easily taller then him but he seemed to recall that the original Leigons were all bigger then their modern day descendants. He swung his chain sword up and even though he was straining against the chaos marines superior strength he knew he had to keep a good distance from whatever was in that bastard’s body.

He had no wish to end his service to the chapter as a sacrifice to the disease god, a grunt escaped his mouth as the ancient chaos imbued strength of the Death Guard bore down on him and Kerox prayed to the fates for something to get this monster off him.

He got his wish although it was not as he would have liked. One of the Forest Rangers came in under the Death Guard and attempted to slice the armour but instead was lifted by his throat and consumed by the flies that emitted from the plague marine’s armour.

Kelsin died in agony and Kerox turned, and fired his melta gunpoint at the marine not only incinerating the traitorous bastard but his friend too. Better Kelsin died like that then be re-animated as a plague trooper.


Garrena was killed by the other plague marine who in turn was killed by Valens and Santarex and the final Thousand Son snarled something incomplete and smashed his staff against the wall just as Helosian let his bolter rip cutting the marine down.

The Emperors Hawks and the three remaining Forest Rangers gathered round but before Helosian could chastise them for disobeying his orders a great light emitted from the wall and engulfed the survivors vanished from view just as Danos and the rest of 4th company arrived.

“Captain!” The Chaplain roared 

His answer was silence.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Five

The Bingo hall stood stark against the skyline. The car park was half full of cars left abandoned and judging by the blood on some of them there had been mass panic here. The Bikes came to a halt and the three women shared uneasy glances with each other then dismounted and carefully made their way inside.

Jill checked the office behind the reception desk and came out after a few moments.

“Clear”

They made their way up the stairs slowly to the book sales department, a noise behind the counter made them halt. Claire moved one side and aimed her shotgun over the counter only to jump back as a creature moved out the arcade behind her, she ducked, span and fired point blank range taking the head off the creature and part of the wall behind it.

She breathed heavily and stood up rejoining her friends. Tanya moved to the body and took a set of keys off the trousers and then stepped back.

“Did you know who that was?” Claire asked.

“My boss” Tanya replied and stared at the mess of the body “he told us to go, I don’t know if any more got out”

“Is there anywhere that people could stay?” Alice wanted to know.

Tanya looked at her and nodded “Customers couldn’t get upstairs, but what if the staff are all zombies and they are upstairs…”

“Won’t know if we don’t check and it’s better then hanging around here” Claire swapped her shotgun for her semi-automatic SMG.

“We do it room by room” Alice reminded her “If we are going to stay here for a day then I don’t want any surprises. Here,” She gave Tanya a gun from her seemingly endless arsenal of weapons. “Take this”

“I-I have never fired a gun,” Tanya stammered

“Trust me you will if you want to live.” Alice bluntly said and watched as Jill and Claire took to the arcade area, she took Tanya through into the main hall.


The arcade was a mess; machines lay broken and battered across the floor, coins and notes spread across the carpet like some money matt. Not that money was any good now; there was nowhere to spend it. 

Blood caked the walls and the machines and judging by the broken glass and the doors hanging on their hinges there was more then mass panic here. Jill crouched down by the smashed telly and looked around her.

“There was a stampede here,” She told Claire “They were in here minding their own business playing the slots and watching TV when panic broke out, there was a mass stampede to get out and people were crushed underfoot.”

“Eaten on their way to get out”

“Looks that way” Jill got to her feet “It must have started in the main hall”

“Yeah and judging by all the coins on the floor here it had been a busy night.”

They rejoined Alice and Tanya and all four made their way round the hall moving through the aisles and towards the bar. The smell of gone off food was rife here and Tanya had to stop herself from gagging at the potent stench.

She took a cigarette out and lit it, drawing in deep breaths and didn’t see the hand move up onto the bar till.

Before she could even scream she was pulled back and over the counter, her screams reaching high pitched as her body was torn apart by teeth and claws. 

Alice and Claire ran over to the Bar and jumped atop it, there was no way they could save the girl now, the kindest thing to do would be to shoot her as well as them cause as soon as they had finished their meal then she too would become one of them.

Both women shot into the monsters heads and finally killed Tanya. Jill came out the kitchen her own weapon smoking; she had taken care of what was in there. She kicked the bodies off Tanya and pulling a face she grabbed the keys from the dead teenager.


Alone again the trio made their way round the hall and out through the stairs to the upper level of the bingo hall. Killing whatever they saw and not thinking about anything other then cleaning this place out so they could have a peace free night and just one night where they could sleep without keeping one eye open.

None of them remembered the last time they had a decent nights sleep, that seemed so long ago now, their senses so attuned and so acute that they often had cat naps where the slightest sound would wake them and stir them into action.

It would be nice to just have one decent nights sleep.


They found their way to the main offices of the company and taking each office one by one they found three more survivors. A tall woman and two men who were hiding out and praying to whatever there was that they would live through it all.

Claire opened the door to the outer office and found some staff members that had managed to get to safety nursing customers that were hurt or injured.

Claire turned to the tall woman and arched an eyebrow “Didn’t you stay to help your staff?”

The woman shrugged “Sweetie they coped that is what they are trained to do”

“Great, they put themselves in the dinner hall and you sit on your arse doing nothing, better your butt gets saved right.” Claire was obviously disgusted and turned to one of the staff “Is there anyone else here?”

“Admin office” A short mousey woman replied and pointed “but we couldn’t get into see if they were ok”

Alice and Claire grabbed one of the staff, a thin man with glasses “Can you get in there?” He nodded “Well let us in then and we’ll get them out, or nor as the case maybe”

The manageress leant forward and whispered to Claire, “Is she always so cold hearted?”

“Only to people she don’t like” Jill answered and started inspecting the wounded.

There were a couple of young women, a husband and wife and an elderly couple sitting on the sofas. She inspected them one by one and with relief saw that the women, and the married couple were less bruised. It was when she got to the two elderly women that she saw the extent of their injuries.

“When was this done?” She asked one of the staff, a portly looking man who looked like he could handle himself in a fight despite his size.

“They were in the toilets, we found them last night when those…things were mulling about in the kitchens, we lost our manager during the attempt.”

She saw the scratches and cuts on both women. She got up and took the man to one side.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

“Leon”

“Well Leon this virus is protean, that means it goes from air to water to anything. One scratch or bite from those things is enough to turn you into one of them” She kept her voice low “The kindest thing to do would be to allow me to shoot them now,” 

He shook his head and bowed his head “One of them is my mother” He whispered.

Jill closed her eyes for a moment, seeing the anguish on his face and she rested a hand on his arm gently 

“I am sorry but they won’t get any better and I truly understand how you feel however Leon, the kindest thing you can do is kill them now. It will get harder later”

He was about to say something when the Admin doors opened and the last three staff members came out.

“Anyone hurt?” Jill asked.

“No” Alice replied and saw the two women. Jill shook her head and then halted her with her thoughts; she filled Alice in on what had already been discussed.

“Better do it soon then” Alice muttered, “Once they are turned then we are all in trouble”

Claire got her rucksack out and started putting some food on the table, “better get some food going” She sighed, “Might be the last one for a while.”

“You see to that Claire, I’m contacting Hades for a pick up” 

Jill moved into one of the training room and stood staring out the window as she informed Hades of what they had found. She heard two gunshots and knew that either Claire or Alice had carried out the mercy killing and it was a mercy.

She had seen what had happened first hand to those bitten or scratched, she doubted Leon would have been able to do the job anyway family members tended to resist the idea, even though it was the right thing to do at the time.

She lit a cigarette and stared out the window then paused as a blinding light lit up the sky further up the road “Oh that doesn’t look good, that doesn’t look good at all.”

Her first thought was that Umbrella had used some of their alien stolen military technology to find them; they wanted Alice so bad that they had been known to kill any survivors just to get to her.

“Alice! Claire!! You both better get in here.” She yelled.

The two women came running in and watched, as the sky remained lit for a few more moments then faded. 

“You can’t smoke in here!” The manageress scalded.

“Lady!” Claire looked her dead in the eyes “Like there’s anyone to give a shit, now get out there and help the others make something to eat and then comfort your friend Leon, he’s just lost his mom”

The trio held their guns up but not too sure if it would do any good if Umbrella led their attack craft in. they would defend this place though, the survivors needed a chance to get to Hades, the safest place in the world.


----------



## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Six

The sensation was like being pulled through a worm hole and having your insides stretched to the limit, your body all put out of place and then an almighty punch as you enter real space and shoved through the door of a bar by a big burly security guard.

Well that’s exactly how the three Forest Rangers felt as they emerged from the vortex that had brought them here, followed closely by the Astartes. Of course the Astartes were used to it, this was nothing new to them but the three humans all fell to their knees and were violently ill.

It was several moments of heaving and finally spittle and ropes of drool before they finished heaving their entire stomach contents up onto the pavement.

Helosian told Valens and Santarex to look after the humans whilst he and Kerox took in stock of their surroundings.

“Where the hell are we?” Kerox removed his helmet and peered skyward. 

It was dark, almost pitch black and he could not discern any start signs visible that might make it easier to attempt to discern where they were.

“Obviously not on Secanus” Helosian mused “I have no idea old friend”

Kerox altered his view to night vision and shook his head, there were no landmarks that he recognised and it was the vehicles that were strewn haphazardly across the road.

They were the strangest vehicles he had ever seen, but then most of the vehicles he had seen in his two centuries of life were Thunderhawks, Leman Russ tanks, troop movement vehicles to name a few.

Still he had never seen anything like this before and the buildings, they all single buildings with different designations. There was no hive that he could discern. From what he could tell by the buildings behind him they were family homes, side by side, not stacked up on one another.

“Emperor’s blood” he swore “Where did that devil bloody well send us Valkanas” 

“I have no idea Praeter” Helosian rumbled “but wherever it is doesn’t look good. This is obviously a place where people live so why are there no citizens on the streets. Why have those vehicles been abandoned like – like….”

“Like?” Kerox urged

“Like they were in a panic to get out. Look some even collided with each other in their haste to escape. This was not an evacuation my friend, this was panic, sheer panic.”

“So what do you suppose happened? An alien invasion? The Dark Eldar slave hinting again? What?”

Helosian shrugged unable to answer any of Kerox’s urgent questions “I do not know old friend, what I do know is this, there was mass panic here and something has caused these people to flee. We need to find a way home or we too may be stranded on an unknown world”

Kerox turned to see the recovered rangers turning in their space to take in what they were seeing, and then patting the wall behind them to see if they actually could get back. 

The sergeant let them and his two remaining Astartes Valens and Santarex aiding them; all of them shook their heads in despair. They were stuck here and there was nothing they could do.


Claire, Jill and Alice watched the new arrivals with a mixture of confusion and awe. The four armoured figures were giants, bigger then anything they had ever seen and the markings on their armour were alien to them.

Dark Red armour with gold trim and a hawk’s wing on the right pauldrons, an eagle on the breastplate and weapons that would not have looked out of place in a video game.

The survivors of the Club were with them, none of them wanting to stay there. Having had something to eat, meagre as it was they picked up whatever they could use as weapons and left with the three women.

“What in gods name are they?” Jill hissed.

Neither Claire nor Alice had any idea what to tell her for in truth neither of them knew. Alice thought they might be something to do with Umbrella but if that was the case then where were the hired guns that usually accompanied their special forces. 

No they had nothing to do with that bastard corporation of that she was certain.
So intent on watching what was going on before them they didn’t see what was happening behind them.

The zombies moved surprisingly silent for creatures that were dead and pounced on the stragglers at the back, their screams of terror and then the horrible scream of terror beyond terror brought the others back to their situation pretty quickly.

The married couple screamed for help as their bodies were dragged down by the sheer weight of numbers, their cries were horrifying, like someone being burnt alive and no hope of survival.

“Move!” Jill barked.

No one needed telling twice and whilst the survivors moved as fast as their legs could carry them. Alice, Jill and Claire did what they did best only this time they were joined in battle.


The giants, hearing the screams and the weapons fire ran with the Forest Rangers to where the group were retreating. The Astartes saw what the humans had seen but were shocked to the core at the savagery and brutality these creatures tore their victims apart.

Without waiting for an explanation Helosian ordered his men to fire.

“The Head!” Claire yelled.

“What?” Kerox turned his attention to the red head 

“Shoot them in the head, you can blow them apart but they’ll still move. They need to be shot in the head”

Kerox relayed the woman’s advice just as the woman who had been grabbed had her arm ripped off and her stomach clawed open. Much to Kerox’s revulsion she was still alive as they ate her from the inside out.

The Forest Rangers took practised shots but even they were starting to get overwhelmed by the numbers.

“Fuck this” Jill grabbed a grenade from her belt, the last one she noticed with dry humour, pulled the pin and threw it. “Grenade!” She warned.

Everyone ducked as the grenade landed near the screaming mans remains and exploded.

The Astartes finished the others off and when the sound of bolter and rifle, semi automatics and gunfire were over there was the smell of death.

Alice turned her attention to the Astartes and three Imperial Guard members.

“You want to tell me who the hell you are?”

Helosian stepped forward and removed his helm, the hiss of the separation making it sound defiantly otherworldly. 

“I am Captain Valkanas of the Emperors Hawks Chapter. This is Sergeant Kerox, Brother Valens, Brother Santarex, Marianna and Jerron Darcsha, and Jennikana Washnana from the Sedona Forest Rangers, and you are?”

“I’m Alice, that’s Jill Valentine and Clare Redfield, Zombie slayers.”

“I have never heard of the Emperors Hawks, let alone the Sedona Forest Rangers” Jill murmured still keeping her attention divided between what was up front and who was with them.

“We serve the Emperor of all mankind, perhaps his touch has not met your world yet, tell me what planet is this?” Helosian asked.

“Earth” Claire retorted with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“This is not Holy Terra, where are the hives?” Kerox was stunned “if holy Terra had fallen we would have known about it surely”

“I don’t know what you are talking about” Jill stood straighter “but we need to get off the streets and somewhere remotely safe so explanations can be made”

“What about that building there” Jennikana pointed to a public house with the name Edinburgh Arms above the door.

“I wouldn’t” A tall dark haired woman, holding what looked to the Forest Ranger like a long iron bar in her hand “I was in there when it all started, trust me you do not want to go in there”

“What’s in there miss?” Jennikana asked once more.

“The Zombies attacked towards the end of the night, and my name is Cara, they killed my partner, and some of my friends. Long as we don’t go in there we should be fine”

“What about over there then…. Cara” Alice asked pointing to another pub with the name the Masons Arms.

“Not sure never drunk in there, Wetherspoons was shut for refurbishment earlier we might get away with that”

“Don’t be silly Cara there might be more of them things in there” The manageress scalded.

“Fine you stay out here then, see if I care” Cara retorted “not like I give a shit what happens to you anyway, all you did was hide behind a desk crapping yourself whilst we got everyone out of the hall. You even left one of the customers to die so don’t even go there with me.”

Claire grinned despite herself and handed Cara a gun “Reckon you can handle this?” She nodded “Good lets go then”

++ Valens, Santarex you bring up the rear ++ Kerox voxed

++ Yes sergeant um sergeant? ++” Valens voxed back

++ What? ++

++ Are we really on Terra? ++

++ Who knows where we are brother, wherever that cursed son of witchcraft sent us, it sure as hell is not the Imperial Palace ++ 

He watched his captain fall into step with the women 

++ come on we need to know what we are dealing with here and until we get these civilians out of harms way we are not going to know what we are dealing with ++


The bar was clear, there were no zombies and no dead bodies around. An exhaustive search had made sure of that. Cara and her colleagues made sure everyone had what they wanted to drink, alcoholic or otherwise. 

Helosian and his men refused but the Forest Rangers had a drink with the survivors just as confused about where they were as anyone else.

Helosian sat on one of the comfortable seats by the rear door but even sitting down he was a head and a half taller then the women. They were also shocked at the fact that none of these people even feared them.

But then with what they had seen a few moments ago he supposed the last thing they would think of fearing was a bunch of giants when they had more then that to worry about, like staying alive and not becoming one of them creatures.

Helosian set his helm on the table, the sheer size of it easily dwarfing the drinks and anything else there. 

He glanced at his battle brothers for a moment and then turned his attention to Alice and her friends.

“What are the situation here then Alice?” He asked calmly. “You say this is Earth, this looks nothing like Earth”

“Maybe not your Earth” Jill muttered 

“Excuse me?”

“This is earth and yet you speak of it like its some kind of temple. This is our earth and judging by the big light that heralded your arrival and probably alerted every flesh feeder for miles I am guessing you come from somewhere entirely different.” 

Alice shot her friend and exasperated look. It wasn’t like she had not worked that out for her self and judging by the thoughtful expression sitting in the captains’ eyes he had worked it out too. 

He just wanted answers nothing more and nothing less so she was going to give him them, after all with weapons the size they had then maybe it would be advantageous.

She took a long slug of Jack Daniels from the bottle and lit a cigarette then sat back and met his gaze with her own, blowing a plume of smoke from her mouth and nose.

“Ten years ago the earth was beautiful. Now it’s a nightmare you see we had corporations for different sectors, and corporations can be very, very powerful especially if like the Umbrella Corporation you deal with military issues as a sideline. 

They were small, started off with things for the home, branched into medical technologies and cosmetics making them one of the big five. What no one else knew was that they were also sidelining in military technology and bio weaponry.

I was assigned to protect an underground facility just outside Racoon City in America’s mid west and the facility was half a mile underground.

Myself and my then partner were set up as a married couple and our job was to guard the entrance to the HIVE which was accessed through an old mansion that we had as our home and our base. 

Something went wrong and the AI computer intelligence killed everyone down there. I went in with a team of special forces from Umbrella to find out what was going on, at the time I had lost my memory as the Red Queen as she was called had set off all the defences to stop the infection from spreading and that meant getting me in the face with knockout gas.

We had no idea what had set her off, just that she had killed everyone down there trouble was they didn’t stay dead”

Jennikana glanced at Marianna and Jerron uneasily. They too looked a little uncomfortable with what they were hearing but as for the Astartes reaction they could not discern, like their captain they listened, no emotion played over their faces.

“Umbrella were working on something called the T-Virus, they had discovered that it had major medical properties, basically reverse cancer, HIV things like that, diseases that had no real cure they also discovered that it had highly profitable military applications. 

Making the perfect soldier, unable to be shot, lightning fast reflexes and agilities, developing psionic powers that could render an enemy dead over thousands of miles just by looking at a picture of the target.

However it was unstable and mutated the carrier into something else. The T-Virus reanimated the dead also and when it escaped into the air filtration system the Red Queen took drastic steps to stop it. 

The t-virus is protean changes with its atmosphere and its virtually unstoppable. We went down there to get the answers and the answers we got resulted not only in me discovering that my partner had set things in motion but was planning to sell it to the terrorist market for millions of dollars.

We also let them out of confinement and I lost some friends, including the only survivor with me.” Alice took a shuddery breath and took another swig on her bottle then a drag on her cigarette.

Helosian remained silent, taking all in what she was saying and letting her finish her story. He already had an uneasy feeling about this place and it was getting worse.

“Umbrella took me and Matt into their testing facilities in Racoon City itself and turned Matt into Nemesis, he had been attacked by the thing that finished off Kaplan and Rain and they bonded me with the T-Virus. 

It didn’t turn me into one of them things, it made me what they had originally planned but its not a gift I can assure you off that.” 

Alice glanced at Jill and nodded. 

“I was a police officer, a member of STARS, Special Tactics And Rescue Squads. We were the best. Whilst Alice was sleeping in the hospital Umbrella reopened the hive and in doing that they let the undead up. 

Within hours the city was in chaos, people were evacuating and being scanned at the Ravens Gate to ensure they did not have the virus but it didn’t matter, because it didn’t show up straight away so those that got out of the city carried it to other parts of the states not knowing they were already infected.

There was a newswoman with us she died when a bunch of school kids had her for lunch. My partner had got bitten at the gate and he contracted the virus then he died when Nemesis shot him only to get up again and I shot him in the head. 

Umbrella sealed the city off leaving the people within at the mercy of those already infected” Jill swallowed “Of the people we found, Alice, myself, LJ, Katherine and Olivera were the only ones that got out of Racoon City, we didn’t avoid the nuclear strike though.”

“What?” Kerox broke his silence “Why?”

“Sergeant, the corporation wanted to clean their mess up. They blamed the power station and said there had been a meltdown. That way all that had happened in the city was reduced to nothing, there was no proof and no bodies to the company could not be held accountable” 

Kerox did not fail to notice the bitterness in the law enforcement officers’ voice and in truth he did not blame her. He had lost many a brother before now to the fell powers that had tried to usurp the emperors rightful place as the ruler of humanity and he could understand the sentiment.

This however was something entirely different and he was already forming an opinion in his mind, judging by the expression on his captains face, he too was already at the same conclusion but was content to let the story be told.

“Olivera’s best friend Nikoli died helping me get Katherine, the daughter of Umbrellas head programmer out of the city. Her father had discovered the T-Virus and Umbrella wanted it.

they wanted it so much they were prepared to kill him and his daughter to get to keep their dirty little secrets. He had created it to help his daughter walk again, to stave off the disease she had so that she would have a normal life and not end up like him in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. 

She had inherited the disease through her father and he was doing what any father would, Umbrella took it and corrupted it and turned it into death instead of life. 

We were caught in the shock wave of the nuclear explosion, as you know all communications and electrics fail when it comes to one of them and we went down like a sack of shit.”

Kerox smiled despite himself, he was warming to the woman, he liked how she said it straight and to the point.

“Umbrella found Alice, she had been impaled upon a metal rod saving Katherine and me from it. we thought she was dead but then with what she had told us about how the T-Virus was working in here we suspected that might not be the case.

We rescued her from an Umbrella compound and headed to Denver but by then it was too late.”

“Too late? How?” Helosian spoke for the first time.

“The virus was already making its way across the country” Jill lit a cigarette and started to take her gun apart and clean it.

Helosian and his brothers admired the way she expertly took it too pieces and began cleaning the parts.

She honoured her weapons spirit she was a true warrior.

“Didn’t you have proof?” Valens asked.

“The Newswoman had recorded everything from the gate to the school and when it was made public Umbrella turned it around and made it look like myself and Carlos Olivera were terrorists and that it was a hoax played to the sickening deaths of the people of Racoon City. 

They had power and power buys a lot of favours captain. When it hit the fan in Denver we were all separated, they were after Alice and she left us feeling that it was safer to be away from us then with us.

Katherine runs Hades with K-Mart but she is in a wheelchair now and Umbrella want her for the fact that she knows way too much and she is the reason we are here. But the story doesn’t end there.”

“Tell us all then” Helosian sat back “I would rather be in the full facts of the situation so I know what myself and my brothers are dealing with, and my sisters” he nodded at Jennikana and Marianna who bowed their heads in respect.

Jill glanced at Claire who was fixing herself a coffee and she came over.

“I lead a convoy. We picked up survivors along the way school kids, adults the lot” She sat the other side of Alice “the T-Virus had spread across the USA, into Asia, Europe, Africa everywhere. 

Not only had it wiped out most of the population but also the planet was dying. Rivers dried up, oceans were unhealthy places to swim, most plant life had died out as had the animal life and trust me you do not want to come across a zombie lion or Komodo dragon.

We had a convoy of 200 to start and gradually it started dwindling, Carlos and LJ met us and stayed and we travelled across the country. When Alice came to us we had been decimated by Crows.”

“Crows?” Santarex frowned.

“Crows are carrion birds warrior, they feed off the dead and by feeding off the dead they also contracted the virus and they attacked out convoy. Killing not only several adults but LJ’s lover too, our only medic. 

Alice had found out that Alaska was the safest haven, there was very little in the way of life and it was cold there, she was thinking that the coldness would halt the T-Virus and we could eke out some kind of existence.

We needed the fuel to get there so we headed to Vegas and that was where we came across what Carlos called the super zombie”

“The what?” Marianna spoke for the first time.

“The T-Virus had mutated again making the Zombie faster and more deadlier. Whereas before we could out run them, now…now they could catch us. They killed off most of the people left, leaving me with the kids and two other adults. LJ was dead Carlos killed him when he succumbed and was bitten by LJ.”

Jill bowed her head and Claire gave Alice a sideways glance, there had been some feelings between them two and Alice blamed herself for Carlos and LJ , like she blamed everyone’s death on her being Umbrella’s target.

“Carlos drove a tanker into a nest of Zombies that were hunched around an old shack, there was a helicopter there and Alice saw it as a way of getting us to Alaska, she was staying, she had things to finish off and when the tanker blew up killing Olivera and the Zombies around him we took his sacrifice as a chance to get out. She got us onto the apache and we left. 

She dealt with what was there and then went looking for the head of Umbrella. We met up again in Alaska, and after some…. misunderstanding we took an old Umbrella compound and turned it into a city underground which we called Hades.”

“Why? Jennikana asked.

“Earths a planet of the dead now” Claire explained, “Hades is reversed, the dead walk the earth and the living walk underneath. My brother is one of the heads there, he ensures that when we send out a call for a pick up the people we have with us are picked up, the trick is to keep them alive long enough to be picked up. 

The human race is on the verge of extinction and you have to be pretty clever to even go out now.”

“So what brings you here and where is here anyway?” Marianna asked.

“This is York, in England. Katherine came across some old journals of her fathers that had been left at the Alaska facility and in it he spoke of getting the inspiration to create the T-virus from a benevolent angel.” 

“Really?” Valens mocked.

“Yeah I know a scientist getting all theological, still that’s what he said, when we went looking for more information K-Mart, my adopted daughter hacked into their computer files and discovered that Umbrella had also been given the same advice from what they said was alien. 

They were not so dispositional to call it angelic.” Claire opened a pack of peanuts and popped one in her mouth “We followed the data back and it ended up here, we are looking for the name of the things that gave those bastards the means to destroy our world.”

Helosian sat forward “So this is a plague then, a plague caused by a virus that can turn the living into the undead?”

“Pandemic would be a better word Captain” Alice rubbed her eyes “But yes, that is a good analogy of it”

Helosian got to his feet “Have you contacted your people?”

“They should be here by dawn”

“We’ll get these people to safety and then we will help you find the answers you seek and pray to the fates that it is not what I think it might be”

“Which is?” Alice asked.

Helosian didn’t answer her straight away, he told Kerox to station watch officers and to shoot anything that looked like it might make its hungry way towards them. Seeing as what Claire had also said about animal life he told them to shoot anything that had teeth and claws too.

He set about making sure the bar was air tight, so that no flies or anything that could be infected got in and when Alice grabbed his arm in a grip that was a lot stronger then it looked he stopped what he was doing and looked down.

“What do you think it is?”

“This could be the work of a god of Chaos we call Nurgle. He has many names but that is the one I know him as and I am even loath to know that. He is the god of disease and pestilence, sounds like he somehow reached your world and turned it into this”

“And that is possible how exactly?” Jill wanted to know.

“I do not know, I do not confess to know and I am not sure I want to know. I just have a strong intuition that this is what has happened and the how’s and whys are best left to those who understand such things.” 

Alice ran a weary hand through her hair and shrugged “Ok find somewhere to settle down, we’ll take it in turns to do the watch. Cara, how about you and Jennikana there take first watch by the smoking area. Remember no lights, it’ll attract them and we want to get you all to safety. 

Claire light the candles but use only a few once we run out of them we are screwed then get some sleep”

“That would be good” Claire admitted and set about her duty.

Alice watched as Jill got people comfortable and went to stand by the rear doors. She would not sleep, this Alice knew and judging by the way the sergeant of these behemoths stood beside her he knew it too.

She wondered if it was possible, possible that a god from another place had caused all this to happen.

If that was the case then her and this god had a reckoning, either that or this really was Armageddon and the god that she had known had long since packed up and left with little thought or care for anyone left here.


----------



## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Seven

The streets were almost deserted; the same devastation that they had seen all through the walk into the centre of the city was the same here only on a more drastic scale.

Shop windows were smashed and vehicles were protruding out of them like metal bodies.
The group made its way slowly through, the Astartes of the Emperors Hawks looking left and right, scanning constantly for threats. It had amazed Jill, Claire and Alice how they seemed to have taken this in their stride. 

They had taken months to get used to seeing people eating people in mass orgies of cannibalism but these giants seemed to not even bat an eyelid. Alice supposed they were conditioned to be immune to such horrors and in that regard she envied them. Better to be immune to the horror then not feel anything at all. 

The group they were with seemed to have split into two camps. There were those who stood with Cara and there were those who stood with Karen, the manageress. Obviously there were those who still saw her as the leader of the group. Someone should tell her that as jobs go this world was screwed and everything she had known was upside down and dead.

Pretty much like the trees that they had seen dotted about or the walls of the ancient castle. 

Helosian slowed his pace and let her fall in alongside her. He liked her, he didn’t know why he liked her he just did. She was pragmatic and a realist, she was a natural born leader and he supposed had this been on their world then she would have made a great sister of battle, or an inquisitor or even an assassin. 

Had the Astartes allowed for women to join their ranks then she might even had made a great librarian. 

He frowned behind his helm wondering where that thought had come from. Shaking his head a little to clear it he put such bewildering thoughts to one side. They were here to find out what had happened and to find a way home. 

Claire consulted her data unit and looked around trying to get a bearing, the only working satellite she could access was an Umbrella satellites and she was loathe to use that but Katherine had ensured that their signals were masked. 

“We need to head towards the old church,” She told Alice.

“Which one?” Jill asked, “This is an old city and there are churches everywhere” she moved her arms around as if to emphasise her point and indeed there were at least three churches in their line of sight.

“Um” Claire pointed, “Maybe church was an exaggeration” She pointed towards the cathedral “That one”

Jennikana read her auspexs and looked around her a little as one of the men in Karen’s group stammered.

“Um isn’t that full of crypts?” 

“Yes” Cara sighed

“Then the dead will be in there won’t they?”

“Maybe” Alice replied “Or maybe not, who knows but we have to find some answers and until Hades can get here to pick you up then we have to stick together.”

“We have movement” Marianna pointed “and by the golden throne they are coming in fast!”

“Where?” Kerox demanded reading his bolter.

“I can’t get a lock on them my lord, I just know they are all around”

“We need to leave” Jill tugged Jerrons arm, “now!”

“Everyone into that building” Marianna’s husband barked “Quickly”

The Astartes formed a defensive line giving the humans time to move so they could cover the retreat. They were confident in their power armours sanctity and its protection. The humans, both this world and their own friends were the more vulnerable. 
Jennikana grabbed Cara’s arm 

“You can’t hang about we can use the windows as cover, what is that building anyway?”

”A bank” Cara replied and shoved Leon “Come on sweetheart let’s move before we become the main meal”

Karen skidded to a halt outside the doors of the bank and shook her head, “The doors are locked” Her voice was desperate and the desperation seemed to spread to her group.

Jennikana shook her head and raising her foot kicked the door open and started shoving people in. 

Jerron stopped where he was and stared at the hoard of the undead that was heading their way. 

He had to find the strength within him to carry on. For the last decade he had been fighting in a star system that was over run with all manners of horror but he had yet to see any cannibals, that’s not to say he had not believed they existed on some more blighted worlds that had been his battlefield he had seen more then his fair share of human sacrifice to the ruinous gods but this, this was a totally different ball game.

Karen was just behind him and she opened her mouth to scream as the hordes came forward, not even the blessed fire of the emperors own angels was slowing them down but still they moved backwards slowly and with discipline.

He felt proud to be part of thier brotherhood and raising his las rifle he began to take shots at the once human assailants and growled at Karen to get into the building.

She refused to move instead she chose to scream at him that they were everywhere and she was going to die.

Distracted and annoyed by her incessant need to be in control he got up and went to knock her out so he would carry her if he had too when he was grabbed from behind and pulled into the on coming hoard.

Karen moved then and ran, ignoring his open hand to help him. 

Jerron pulled his dagger from his hip and began slashing around him screaming an entreaty to the emperor and slicing through throats as much as his strength would allow.

He ignored the bites and the scratches killing as many as he could before something disembowelled him and sent him staggering to the floor. 

“Maria” 

He whispered as he felt the zombies tear through his skin and reach his intestines, the sound of them feeding made him feel sick and with the last reserve of strength he had, he recalled what Jill had told them, and taking his las gun he put it to his head.

“For the emperor” he whispered and pulled the trigger.

Helosian, who had seen the whole altercation, roared his anger and with his sword, the blessed sword of 4th company began cutting the heads off the creatures that were feasting on his friend.

It didn’t seem to bother them, where one fell the others continued eating oblivious to the carnage the Astartes were creating and the shots coming from the upstairs of the bank. 


Marianna was firing into the hoards unaware that her husband was now lying dead, his skin flayed and in chunks where these abominations were feeding off his cooling body.
Kerox unslung his melta and poured flame into the mass of bodies cooking them off en masse and then retreat4ed into the building with his captain and his men. 

Cara and Leon started barricading the doors along with Jennikana and Claire. The others stood around trying to find some thing to do.

Marianna came hurling down the stairs and looked around “Where is Jerron?” 

Helosian watched Karen for a moment and she looked up “What was that sweetie?”

“Where is my husband?”

“He’s dead” Helosian bluntly said, his voice amplified by the grill on his helm “She left him to die” 

Karen looked around her as Claire, Jill and Alice shook their heads. Cara stopped what she was doing and made her way over to the woman who had been her former manager.

“You left him to die? He was covering your ass to get in here and you left him to die” 

Marianna grabbed her and slammed her against the wall; Jennikana grabbed her arms and pulled her back.

“She is not worth it my friend. If there is any justice on this plane of existence she will get what she deserves”

Marianna narrowed her brown eyes and glared at the stone faced woman 

“if there was a commissar here he would have had you shot for your cowardice, stay the hell away from me because when it comes to saving your sorry ass I will leave it”

She shrugged Jennikana arms off her and walked out of the foyer and back upstairs. 

Claire walked over to where Cara stood seething with anger and rested a hand on her shoulder.

“They’ll look to you now, now they realise that she is not above leaving someone to die.”

“Poor bastard that must have been the weapon discharge I heard. He killed himself”

“Better he do that then end up like one of them “

Cara nodded and lit a cigarette.


Kerox peered out the window and shook his head, would that he is on a battlefield facing the traitors of the Imperium then this madness, scurrying around like rats in a trap still they had to find a way home and if the Captain thought that it was best to aid these strange humans then so be it. 

He glanced at his brothers, Valens was standing by the far window, stoic as ever and watchful as ever. He was nicknamed the watchtower, for good reason for whenever there was a watch needing to be undertaken he would stand there for as long as his sergeant or captain asked him.

Nothing got passed him and at one hundred and twenty years old he was still proving to be the inspiration to the young hawks that came up from the scouts ranks. Kerox was proud of him, ever faithful and ever loyal he had the utmost faith that Valens would be beside him in many battles yet.

Santarex was different, he was more subdued, he had been since they arrived in this hellhole and that worried the sergeant. He had seen the younger Astartes with eyes of doubt the last fifty years, as if he was questioning his role in things and how he was making a difference to his chapter and the Emperor. 

Still he was a loyal son of the Emperors Hawks and whatever doubts he maybe experiencing now would soon vanish and if they didn’t then he would recommend to the Captain that he see the chaplain.

It was important that right now they kept their heads and kept their cools. His thoughts turned to the captain who was talking with Alice, Claire and Jill; he also noticed that the one called Cara had joined in their inner circle along with Jennikana. Every so often the captain would glance at Marianna who was sharpening her dagger with a whetstone. 

The Forest Rangers were a private bunch, they did their duty but kept their feelings pretty much to themselves but Kerox as well as the captain he suspected, felt that loosing her husband to a hysterical woman’s actions was going to make life a little more difficult from now on.

He resumed his observation of the captain, his oldest friend in their life before the call of the Astartes and ever since. He could read Valkanas like a book and right now the captain would be itching for a battleship with cyclonic torpedoes on board to blow this planet out of existence, 

A facsimile or not of their beloved holy Terra he would see this world as a suffrage that he could not afford to exist, especially as it would pose a danger of plague across the Imperium and reducing the entire human race to mindless cannibals.

He trusted his captain to do as was required but he was starting to wish they would find a way home soon, and very soon.


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