Dmitry and Valutin University

Main Campus

Harkov City, Azuna

1000hrs September 20, 2787

Erika was pacing back and forth. As a Class representative, it's her duty to lead the class. And this happened to be the worst time to lead one. It's one of those days when a fellow class member falls sick, injured, or died.

As per custom, every class competed for the best class of the year award. An incapacitated classmate could mean a problem in class productivity, setting the class in a bad situation. A death could nullify this problem, as the class grade average is the real deal. And a dead member is no longer a part of the picture. But two wounded ones are a "goner".

She discussed this before with the class officers. Perhaps a visit from the entire class can hasten their recovery. Everybody agreed and they scheduled their visit an hour before dismissal. Precisely at 1600hrs during the 18th of September.

Unfortunately, they were bogged down. Their class adviser wouldn't allow it under the premise of time and safety. For three days they pleaded, yet for three days they lost. That is until Kempf asked for a copy of the letter, this time addressed to the Dean and President of the university.

During their vacant time, he went to the dean's office and asked for an audience. His request was granted and she immediately took him to the president's office where she stated his case.

The President agreed on the condition: He would sign a contract detailing his intent with punishment for failure to protect his classmate being his expulsion. And summoned his class adviser immediately, even before his secretary could finish printing.

The adviser came and attended the signing. Bidding him good luck as he left the premise to tell his class the news.

****

1600hrs

Campus Gate section

-beep: All units ready?

-beep: Locked and ready madam.

-beep: You sure about that Hans?

-beep: Does it look like I'm biting you in the pee-hole Erika?

-beep: Hahaha! The chatter is getting interesting.

-beep: Shut it, Pyotr! Anyway switching to class frequency.

-beep: All units! Operation is a go! I repeat. Operation is a go! Lead elements consist of me and Pyotr. The rearguard is Katya and Andrey.

The Senior high schoolers paddled their bikes and took off in an orderly manner: in columns of two, fifteen ranks deep.

-beep: Mates this is Andrey. Just 'minding everybody that we are aiming for a zero casualty rate as my arse is on the line. Please remain information for the entirety of this tour and please do heed orders while you're at it!

-beep: Klar!!! Said the entire class in unison.

They paddled in unison, breathed, and moved in unison as they were biking towards their target. A mere six kilometers from campus.

But Andrey noticed something wrong in the third kilometer. He knew the place but this is just odd.

-beep: All units, halt! He said and every single bike stopped in their tracks.

-beep: "Andrushka, what's the SitRep over! Andrushka what's the delay?" Katya spoke in the class frequency.

He turned his head left and right, but couldn't identify what's missing, only that it didn't feel right. He took his mask off as his peers looked in total amusement and surprise. He took a deep breath before hearing a crack to his left and another, this time more like hooves in the sand to his right. He turned his head left and right before he wore his mask at a faster pace.

-beep: "All units, all units be advised. Multiple contacts detected in the cornfields in our left and to our right." He stated as quickly as a typewriter in a rush.

-beep: What the hell Andrushka, are you truly that incapable to hold your bladder.

-beep: "For crying out loud Uwe! This is no time to make toilet jokes. Look, we don't have much time. Unless if you're willing to offer your zapper" the conversation was disturbed by another entry.

-beep: Mates! Just heard a few cracks in this area.

-beep: Thank god for that Katrin. He replied.

-beep: Kempf, hostiles are approaching this area. Any suggestions? Erika spoke with haste.

-beep: "Indeed, all class officers sans Hans will stay here to form a rearguard. Hans will lead the rest to the destination, meanwhile, the eight officers plus I will buy some time for the group." Andrey said as he dismounted from his bicycle.

-beep: "For the love of god! Do you want to be ground meat! Get moving!!!" He exclaimed to the petrified masses.

-beep: Everybody moves out! Erika commanded on the radio.

-beep: Jawolh!!! Said Hans as he started paddling and the rest followed.

As the rest dismounted and assembled their weapons Andrey drew his snub-nosed zapper from his bag alongside another zapper resembling a C96 Mauser pistol and a short Kriss on a scabbard.

He checked his weapons and took a deep breath before taking the position. A lurker jumped out of nowhere before being zapped dead by Erika. Three tried to make a meal out of Katya, but Andrey turned them into sandbags piled against each other.

The first wave was done as eight monsters lie on the ground.

-beep: "All units, reload! reload! We don't know just when they'll come." Katya commanded.

-beep: "Requesting Kempf to cover us while we reload." A classmate added.

-beep: "Roger! I still have two hundred rounds in both arms." He replied.

-beep: "Uh, requesting Andrey to tell us just where the heck did he find those?" Pyotr inquired.

-beep: "This would not be a good time to discuss that." Andrey replied as another wave of monsters came to rip them apart.

The entire group took them out. But just when it seems like the second attack was over, lurkers kept attacking randomly. It became a hassle for Kempf as he ended up covering them as they reloaded.

The place was quiet for a while as nearly twenty monsters lie on the ground dead. Their bodies near the road. But little did they know the peril that awaits.

-beep: "Uh Erika, you still there over." Hans inquired

-beep: "Still in one piece over." She replied

-beep: "We called the constabulary, they'll be there in a Jiffy." He added

-beep: "Thank god for that!" She said expressing relief.

-beep: "Hush! Something's coming!" Kempf exclaimed on the frequency.

Everybody proceeded to crouch and prepared for another fight. The class auditor, sensing something odd, asked Kempf a question.

-beep: Andrey, do you copy?

-beep: Katrin, this is no time to be asking.

-beep: I just want to know. You seemed to know a lot about this place. I want to know why?

-beep: The owner of this land invited me for some tea a while ago. That's why I had some degree of familiarity. But I noticed the sentry lacking, which is why I got creeped out.

-beep: Hostiles spotted!

Just after the transmission, a big lurker emerged from the field, followed by multiple lurkers. The lurkers were eight feet tall, ten feet long, and three feet wide. Never before had any seen such monstrosities. They might have killed some, but never something this big.

-beep: "Mates! Whatever you do, don't shoot. And don't move unless you have to." Erika said on the frequency as a lurker passed her side.

Shockingly, they all converged on Andrey and Katya's position, endangering the two. He reached for his Kriss despite holding the snub-nosed Zapper. But the monsters just got closer and closer, as if with greater purpose.

Suddenly a car appeared and rammed the two with much gusto that it sped up the road trying to attract more attention.

A few gave chase as the rest roared, probably trying to keep them in place.

Sparing no time at all. They neutralized their targets in mere seconds before the Choppers arrived. Troopers from the division and constables rappelled from the helicopter and deployed themselves in position, just as another attack commenced with the leap of a smaller lurker. The choppers sent beams of laser that cut through corn and flesh alike, before circling overhead and giving hell to their hated enemy.

The choppers went on a search and destroy mission just as the head constable ordered transports for the nine students.

Kempf requested the C.O. of the Troopers for a search and rescue mission. He approved it, but Kempf still had one more request: That he may accompany them. The trooper refused, stating that it is too risky before receiving a secured transmission from his General.

He allowed Kemf to go under one condition: he must stick with the troopers at all cost. He boarded one of the choppers as the constables' transports arrived. As the chopper lifted he saw the C.O. raise a salute at him, he replied with a two-fingered salute in kind.

The chopper spared no time hovering and immediately searched for the house, it was a mere 500 meters away from the road. The chopper approached the lawn and landed as the escort circled. Just as they disembarked, the gunner released a burst from his mounted weapon: a minigun-looking zapper with a firing rate of ten zapps per second. Another appeared from the fields nearby and a trooper zapped it in a split second. 'These were crack troops! I should've known.' Kempf thought, remarking their reflexes.

The team split into two groups, one towards the barn and the other with the civilian detachment in the house.

-beep: Barn klar!!!

-beep: Living room klar!!!

-beep: Second floor and balcony, Klar!!! The radio blared as the men went searching for both hostiles and survivors.

Kempf touched the seats and the dining room table. The aroma of the tea and the laughter that once inhabited this room haunted his mind. He felt his heartbeat slacken as a tear dropped from his eye. He felt his anger replace his sadness. 'Too much! Just too much!' He thought as he slammed his hands on the table. But as the sound of slammed fists struck the table, he remembered something. 'Bunker! They had a bunker!' He thought as hope-filled his head.

-beep: "Calling all units! Has the bunker been cleared yet?" He said eagerly.

-beep: No that's a negative, But team two is en route.

-beep: "Tell them to hurry up! I'll clear it for them!" He replied with increased vigor.

-beep: "That's a negative over! Let team two do it!... Hey, Civilian you there?... Just Chyortz!

Kempf rushed towards the storage room where he once heard them speak of a bunker. After arriving in the room, he noticed an operational Mills bomb replica on the floor and picked it up. He found a fake chest with a door underneath.

He opened the door after cranking the wheel and descended the stairs. He noticed footsteps heading towards him in the dim room. He turned on the flashlight on his Mauser-like zapper and saw two strange lurkers with multiple mandibles for digging through rock and two limbs for digging dirt. He aimed his light to the left and found a wall, to his right he found a passage.

He drew the Mills bomb from his pocket and slowly moved towards the dim-lit passage. He pulled the pin and threw it at the monsters as he took cover, expecting a blast. The grenade made a click sound as it hit the floor. The monsters thought their prey was near them as the click was too near. They attacked what they perceived to be their meal, but ended up wounding themselves in the process before the grenade exploded.

***

The troopers found the door leading to the bunker and proceeded down the stairs before being greeted by a gruesome sight: two lurkers splattered on the floor. They heard a Zapp, another, and then another as well. After noticing that the sounds came from the dim-lit passage. They rushed in and found three Lurkers dead, all were shot in the head. They pushed forward and found the Civilian standing. Looking at the bloody remains of a dead woman, its lower body to be exact. The lead trooper tried to hail him to no avail. He seemed petrified to the point of inactivity. The C.O. approached him and said:

-beep: Kid, are you alright?...Kid! Say something!

He waited and found a faint reply.

The civilian slowly raised his right arm to his ear. The one carrying the Kriss and touched the earpiece.

-beep: "No sir, no I'm not." The reply sounded like a ghost's voice.

He immediately aimed at a shadow lounging towards him. He emptied what seemed like an entire battery's worth of zapps at the monster, slowing it in pain before stabbing the Kriss on its head and pulling it. Causing blood to spill into his clothes. Another lounged but he shot it in the heart. Another appeared and was shot in the head.

Another came and roared, but this time he struck the blade in anger. Three attacked him at once as four attacked them from behind. They dispatched them as quickly as possible, only to witness something worse.

The civilian immobilized the second and third monsters with a stun after killing the first one with a single strike to the head. The second monster was killed savagely, he broke its spine with his bare hands and pulled out its head from its weary shoulder before proceeded to crush it with his heel. But still the third got it worst. He took off his Mask, the hate and anger were revealed. Despite being stunned the lurker moved a bit with a whimper. He mag dumped his zapper unto the lurker,. sixteen rounds into the body in various locations 'till it shot no more. Then he proceeded to punch the back of the head while growling in anger like a demon. After his fist broke the skull, he pulled the brain out of the cranium and threw it on an approaching figure before shooting it on the spot with another zapper.

The transition was very smooth and quick like lightning.

'Just where did this kid come from?' The squad leader thought to himself.

***

Andrey's anger still cursed his veins. His heart still beating fast. He approached the dead body, seeking to squeeze the life out of it. But on the way, he noticed a locker near the dead monster's body. He ran towards it and opened it. The pain went away and the anger dissipated. Irina Ilin, the youngest daughter just ten years old. He found her curled in fear, too afraid to even open her eyes.

"Hush now Irina, open your eyes. You'll be alright." He said trying to comfort the scared girl.

She slowly opened her eyes and said: "Andrushka, is that you?"

"Yes it's me, we must hurry! It is not safe here!" He claimed.

"Who are those people behind you?" She asked, still afraid and shaken.

"They're here to help us. Come on we need to go." He said before carrying her in his hands as the troopers carved a path towards the chopper.

After the chopper lifted off and flew straight towards the Garrison, Irina burst into tears crying as the chopper flew.

"Now, now Irina, this is no time to cry. We're safe now." He said in a gentle voice.

"Andrushka, I saw them die. All of them! (sob) mama, papa." Her tears went as she cried more and more.

He remembered his first meeting with the family. The tea, the food, the hospitality, and Irina's smile. It was the first day of school and the bus left without him. He paddled but couldn't keep up, only to be faced by a lurker as Irina's brother took it out.

He invited him to their home and invited him for tea and dinner. They talked and ate for hours till it was midnight. The two of the eldest offered to be his escorts and they aided him till they reached the city. The eldest invited him to join them again on the 20th, today happened to be the 20th but there was no tea nor laughter, only blood.

Andrey embraced her while she cried and told her: "Everything will be alright, I promise. Everything will be alright."

She stopped crying and hugged him, and she did not let him go.

After a few minutes with Irina still clinging to him. A trooper signaled him to wear his mask.

-beep: "Dude, you can make a quickie out of that one." The trooper said eagerly.

-beep: " Was um Teufel! You nuts!!! Andrey said with his eyes opened wide.