As the sounds of splashes could be heard from an array of direction, sounds of heavy breathing and trudging could be heard.

"Are you sure this is the place, Fox?" A blond middle-aged woman in a full-on operation uniform asked as she turns towards the centre of the recorder's camera.

A familiar voice hums before making her call. "Well, from aura readings this seems to be the place. It isn't much though."

Holding her gun, Shanina smacks her neck with her free gloved hand before wiping it. "Goddamit, mosquitoes here are annoying me."

"Heh, you will get used to it. It's worse in tropical countries. Imagining staying under humid weathers with those insects." Bridget's replies as she flips her flashlight on from her rifle's attachment holder. "Hold, I swear I heard something."

Flashing the white bright beam through the dark area they we're in, it gave quite a sight of the sewer that started to uncover. Slowly peering it left and right, Shanina and Damonica took watch as they held onto their signature weapons tightly.

"Shall I take a face check?" Damonica whispers softly as she garners Bridgette's attention.

"No..." She replies as she gestures a sign to Shanina that they will standstill.

Nodding slowly with the following blink, Shanina sighs as she gestures to Shin-ae if it was safe.

"Yes, it's fine." She signs back with her universal sign language as her ears flooded about trying to check every angle of any odd echoes.

Damonica looking back at the three. She shakes her head as she rubs her nose with her thumb. "Can we push forward?" She whispers as she rubs the handle of her sledgehammer.

Flicking her fingers twice, Shanina gains Damonica's attention and nods. "Let's go."

Slowly trenching forward, they checked every angle of this labyrinth of a sewer in case they get ambushed. It was hard to know if there would be either Infected or wild animals roaming around this place, either way, they are both dangerous if not handled properly.

Taking a left, following Shin-ae's orders of tracking, they ended up in a split. Not wanting to separate from the team, they decided to randomly pick left.

"Ugh, the smell just gets worse and worse. " Bridgette mumbles as she notices an odd figure holding themselves towards a wall as it wailed quite softly. "Hey, you see that?"

Shanina gestures a fit for them to hold as she aims her handgun's sight reticle towards it, taking a closer look it seemed to be a freshly symbiote infected.

"Holy...." Shanina sighs out. "It's one of them. How did they manage to get in here?"

"Perhaps, the signal somehow affects them too? The one the Fox is following?" Damonica replies as she double hands her weapon.

"Shall I take a shot?" Shin-ae asks as she summons her duplex pistols and converts them to an assault rifle, similar to an M4A62, a variant of an M4 model fitted in with a British Civilian Holding Kit or BCHK for short. "I could probably eliminate it in on-"

"Don't, we can afford shooting and to attract others," Shanina replies as she lowers her palm. "Let Major handle it."

"Me? You sure?" Damonica asks as she turns to Shanina.

"Where's your usual bloodlust?" Shanina asks her in German. "I thought you liked smashing people's heads off."

Grunting, Bridgette and Shin-ae call out to the two.

"Hmm?" Shanina whispers.

"We understand what you are saying, you know," Bridgette replies as she raises her eyebrow and rubs her sore shoulder.

"Oh, yeah. Es tut mir lied?" She sarcastically asks as she returns to Damonica. "Go. Obviously, wear your gas mask so you don't breath in whatever it bleeds out."

"You guys should too," Damonica warns as she slowly trudges towards the possible infected.

Holding their angle towards the Infected in case it attacks Damonica, they watch her as she heads slowly to the being and readies her swing.

Staying silent, the infected made no movements nor a sound, it just stuck itself towards the wall as its white flesh moulded with the cement pipes. It seemed to be one of the variations they cheekily nicknamed "Fleshmeat".

The "Fleshmeat" are strange oddities of Infected that mostly stayed dormant as they slowly melt the host body and bones. Mutating the enzymes of the digestive system, it ate the organs and slowly turns them into rubbery mush. Its skin mostly stuck to the colour of the host's own and they stuck themselves towards the walls of very wet or dark areas as they transformed slowly to their signature Blackened form.

They mostly don't attack until they fully mutate and are very much passive. As they usually infect the brain of the host first. Disrupting its growth further will just automatically kill it.

"Hahh!" Damonica grunts loudly as she swings her hammer towards the skull as a strange splosh sounds as the body collapses and floats on the still muddy water.

Making sure it's dead, Shanina screwed her handgun with a suppressor and gives a shot towards the floating corpse's head. "Just in case." She says.

Sighing in relief, They waited for Damonica to return to them to regroup before pushing forward.

"Well, how was it?" Bridgette asks in a very curious way as if asking a medical question.

"It felt soft yet hard. We call it The Fleshmeat for a reason I suppose. I wonder what the others refer to it as." Damonica replies with a chuckle as they reached towards the end of the tunnel as they were met with a manhole with a long and tall iron ladder.

It was a tad rusty from a long time of ageing with dirty water but it was still climbable. Taking turns, the women took their chances as Bridgette who went first, pushed the manhole up and slowly to the right side to give a gap to haul themselves out.

Reaching her hand to the younger girls, they were gladly helped up by their senior, as they realised they ended up in a strange building that seemed to be rummaged with materials quickly and efficiently as possible to work as some workbenches of sorts. On the floor, they crumbled upon shards of glass and a small steel frame that shaped to be a pair of glasses as they also noticed spilt crisps from crackers and other strange substances.

"Has he been living here for the past seven days?" Shanina asks in a wondering manner as she bends down and reached for the frame of the spectacles.

"Huh, his glasses are broken," Damonica replies as she watches Shanina inspect it.

Pocketing it into her best pouch, Shanina sighs as she looks around the place. "He seems to be having still an amount of intelligence. Eventhough infected, he still requires liquids and food."

"Could it be he is slightly immune to its mutation?" Bridgette asks as she sniffs up a cup with strange red liquid in it with her gas mask on. "Huh, that's fountain soda. Thought it was blood for a second."

"He indeed has, I suppose," Shin-ae replies. "He specifically likes that brand, so that means his intelligence is still able to understand and read."

"But to somehow stumble in a sewer and make a home, that's absurd," Shanina replies. "A safe house, just like that."

"I mean, the sewer is filled rubbish here and there, I suppose he could have scavenged around as he roamed. The other infected wouldn't attack him as they recognise him as their own after all." Damonica replies as she looks left and right. "He doesn't seem to be home though, has he scavenged again?"

"Should we camp up here and silently wait for him?" Bridgette makes an idea as she points towards the darkest corner of the room.

"Sounds good," Shanina replies. "Two take rest and other two guards the place, we take turns as we do our business. One to watch and the other to protect."

"On it," Shin-ae replies as she then slowly sits by a wooden frame and envelopes her tail over her thighs as a warm blanket of sorts. "I can guard freely without getting tired, how about just one of you each just take turns."

"Oh, that's a better idea," Shanina replies. "I forgotten guardians don't feel sleepy, hungry or the need to go to the bathroom."

"I guess I will have a go first then." She continues. "Miss Bridgette, and Major, you two can rest for now. I will pat one of you up when I want to take turns."

The two nodding, then slump themselves and cross their arms as they make a certain pose and fall asleep in a matter of seconds.

"So, Shin Ah, What do you think happened for all of this to happen? I mean the military and the government are easily handling the problems of the Infected less than a week but as there are more mutant forming here and there, do you wonder if we will get overpowered?" Shanina asks as she was a little worried about her people up above their heads.

Ignoring Leutenegger's wrong pronunciation of her name, Shin-ae ears flopped as she shakes her head with a sad face. "I don't know to be honest. The human military is indeed managing quite easily this zombie-like problem but since the mutants are rather random and odd, the formation of both Guardian and Human teams may just make it easier, to be honest."

"So you are saying, we can rid of the normal zombie Infected's easily but not the newer mutants?" Shanina asked to confirm her suspicion.

"Yep, indeed." Shine nods as she stares at the dust floating by a small beam of light emerging from the ceiling of the room across the other side. "Ahh..." She squeaks.

"Huh?" Shanina whispers as she looks at what Shin-ae was looking at. "Oh, a light. Something's entering."

As a sound of shuffling emerged from the lighted hole above the ground, a being squeezed through it before a strange black lump was shot out from the arms of the person blocking the hole. A sound of repetitive grunts and strange erratic movements, the being tosses a bag of items onto the floor before tearing through its plastic and ripping off its content one by one before consuming it like a hungry wolf.

After its fill, The being licked its lips before sniffing the air. Shanina and Shin-ae stayed as quiet as possible to not gain his attention. As they watched him from afar, they saw him suddenly crawling on all fours as the grunts grew louder and more garbled. "Right....body, pain." It spoke, that's surprising. A sign of intelligence remains.

As the being was in a nearby wall, rubbing his cheeks onto it, it then exerts black sludge from its eyes as it lingered off the walls. "Me, rest." It mumbled before growling in multiple tones.

Holding her mouth, Shanina was in shock to see her comrade and friend that terrible in the state. She looks towards Shin-ae who was in shock and was staring at her master with big widened eyes. Looking as if she was in fear for her life. Returning her sight to the watcher, Shin-ae points to the slowly resting Infected William.

Using sign language, she asks Shanina. "He has become an animal mutant?"

"I suppose so" She replies with a flick of her wrist. "I guess its related to the crystal aura you and your sister released."

"Mutated with our crystals?!" In awe, Shin-ae opens her mouth as she watches the black sludge slithering around the insides and outside of William as she notices it wrapping around the areas where the crystals used to be contained. "You are right!" She gestures back. "But why am I not infected then?"

Shanina shrugs as she blinks twice. "Let's just see what happens...for now."

Nodding, Shin-ae blinks back as she then breathes slower, relaxing for her stationery CCTV job. Adjusting the tape recorder between her bosoms, she then hides its obvious red light that blinked.

Watching it closely, it seemed the tape recorder had some upgrades from its original look. It was attached with a guardian crystal and had a few wires attached to it which lined up with the hips of the foxgirl's pink yukata reaching towards a toolbelt she tied upon herself as a walkie-talkie was attached to it. It probably was used to record frequencies of sounds so Shin-ae could somehow amplify the white noise and hear from longer distances.

Other than that she had two holsters to keep her guns instead of usually summoning and desummoning them. It was quicker and less repetitive as Shin-ae used her guns rather differently than how other gunman, marksmen and snipers do. She had her way of posing and aiming which was rather impossible for a human to master.

Movements which involved a lot of spinning and "dancing", she so calls it a Waltz of Death. How befitting as her name had a similar meaning if adjusted through symbols and language change.

["Thats interesting.... the tape recorder I am using now, looks way different then what she is using." Mary mumbles as she shows off the video that Wilia gave her from her bag.

"Perhaps it is one of the earlier versions before the current," Wilia replied as she licks a spoonful of chocolate from a cup. "Anyway, fast forward a little, they will be quiet for the next few hours."

"Gotcha," Mary replies as she did so. ]

As the tape was forwarded, Mary stops when she sees a slight change in angle on the recording feed.

A sound of tapping could be heard as a soft mumble came afterwards. "My turn...?" Bridgette whispers as Shanina made a sign to not speak before pointing towards William's direction.

A little surprised their target returned early, she was amazed to see what the mutation of the Infected that latched onto him changed his physique and overall behaviour pattern.

After some time, William's body rose in a very odd manner. Pressing himself onto the wall his legs made pressure with the floor before guiding himself back up one step at a time.

Holding himself in a very bent position, he then grunts a few times before "howling" out loudly. Causing all four of the girl's attention, ruining their rest and sleep.

As his shout was defeating in such a small room, its echo followed and gave Shin-ae a concussion whilst headaches for the others. Trying to keep quiet as much as possible, they were then having no choice but to watch what is happening together.

Twitching, William looks at the ceiling before grunting a few times. Sniffing the air with his still usable nose once more, he then tilts his head before looking across the darkest corner of the room, back at the soldiers.

Thinking they may have been found out, they prepared their weapons just in case.

Slowly tip-toeing his way towards their direction, he then sniffles and slowly opens his mouth as he convulsed physical pain through his odd twitches.

Bending down, he sniffs the air once more before following a musk which led to Shanina. Slowly reaching to her head level, he sniffles once more as he clicks his tongue and grunts. Turning back, he bends down and tilts his head back at them. "I can- you." He mumbles as he clicks his tongue once more.

"Why-- you here?" He questions Shanina specifically.

Not sure if she should answer him, she thinks for a few seconds. Waiting for fora response of either aggression or self-talk.

Shin-ae taps Leutenegger's lap before signing if she should answer him.

Leutenegger shrugs, a little confused and worried to answer upon a controlled host that may have manipulation up its sleeve.

"Cap- tain.. *clicks tongue* answer-" He questions once more as he twitches a few times again. "Why you- others?"

Shanina sigh and gains her confidence to answer him. "We were supposed to get you back before spreading the Infection further but instead we find you here locking yourself up."

A sound of steps could be heard before William turns around, facing them. "I came- hide..hide from disease, far." He grunts before raising his hand towards her. "Me- hurt, no one. I stay, you and others rid."

Shin-ae squeaks. "You want us to kill the Infected here?" She was surprised an Infected wants another Infected dead before it spreads further.

"Ye- yes..." William grunts before grinning widely, trying to mimic a smile. "You rid, find a cure.... purify. Bio-mother near, not- here. where different."

"So the Bio-mother is hiding in Germany? How did you find out and cure, you know a cure?" Shanina asks once more, trying to decipher his odd way of speaking.

"Cure, kill mother... not mine, bio. Infection dies but....." he stays silent for a few seconds.

"What is it?" Shanina asks, willing for an answer.

"but...ah, pain!" He grunts as he twitches and stumbles onto the floor. "Ignore... you go, Munn..ickh. Go forest and find bun...ker. She stays. Cure, simple. Purify, as Shin-ae does."

"So just Aura Purification on the Infected? That simple?" Shanina asks.

Shin-ae nods in return to her question. "Makes sense as the Bio-mother is controlling this strain. I think this might be a mutation or a more potent version of the Axis Rot."

"Fox....right. Love-ly. Smart. I found out....she calls, in the head. Infection immune but it tries to control the brain, me. I rampage, it can control, weapons, foxes. I can help, talk. But no contact, use a phone..." As William holds the pain as he lays down, he mumbles some garbled words before grunts once more.

"Oh, yes. Normal infected can cure. But not mutant. The host is already die-die. Kill before worse." He sighs as he slowly falls into a resting and dormant slumber.

"We contact him through phone, huh?" Damonica asks. "I guess he is trying his best to hold on to his intelligence."

"I can give him my phone..." Bridgette adds as she pulls it out from her best before placing onto the floor and pushing it towards William's sleeping body. It slid before touching his hip, stopping still.

"So, I suppose we can leave," Damonica replies.

"Ja, Vielleicht," Shanina answers before pushing her lazy bum back up. Wiping her palms to rid of the cement dust, she blows the dust to the side before heading to William's body. "Thank you..." she mutters before walking away.

"Why don't I just cure him now?" Shin-ae asks. "I mean he did say he normal infected can be cured."

"Relative on the word normal, he isn't. He is probably a mutant but not having his host taken over yet." Bridgette answers. "Also, we need him to stay infected if he wants to give intel on what plans the Bio-mother has."

"Munich, was it?" Damonica asks. "I got a few old friends that lived there who used to go trekking a lot. They could give a map or some layout of the place."

"Ones that are not royal? That's new." Shanina answers before opening the door slowly. Come, there's another exit here, it was hidden behind the blind spot of the manhole. "

"Alright..." Shin-ae answers before keeping up. In her head, she felt bad leaving her master to fend for himself as he suffered but she had no choice, it was his decision and she will do her best to complete the mission that he couldn't finish.

"I suppose first we rid of the infected in these tunnels first as Mr William brought up." Bridgette makes an idea as she pushes open the manhole. "He did say to get rid of them first. I don't think he can."

"Ugh, fine...down we go then." Staying silent Shanina checks her weapons if it was loaded before following Bridgette who was climbing down the ladder. "Careful, also since we're ridding of them. I guess we can just use our guns now."

"Suppressed or Unsuppressed?" Shin-ae asks, a little curious.

"Whatever beats your bush," Shanina replies. "We do not know how many are here anyway, but if we can attract a few fast, it can make the job easier. Seems to be a Fleshmeat town here though, so normal Infected counts could be low."

Entering their feet into the cold muddy and smelling liquid known as sewer water, they stretched once more around the labyrinths as they rushed here and there to rid of the living Infecteds.

Using Shin-ae's ear as a tracker, they used as much of their wits to take control of the place as they followed echolocations that the tape recorder emitted from her cleavage's.

"So many Fleshmeats, not even an encounter with a Normal!" Damonica shouts as she wipes her hammer, keeping up with the others.

"Don't let your guard down, what if another Mutation spouts out!" Bridgette replies as she breathed heavily. "Damn, I am getting exhausted, there's so many laying about."

As her gas mask slowed her breathing, she shuffles onto her best before connecting a pipe from an oxygen canister before attaching it into her mask's input hole.

"We're reaching the end of the tunnels anyway, just hold on!" Shanina mumbles as she gives a few shots towards a resting Fleshmeat to the head.

A sound of screams could be heard as loud grunts were nearing them. A group of Infected were interested in the commotion as they noticed a light from the end of the tunnels.

"Ah! Horde incoming!" Shin-ae screams as she converts her duplex pistols into another Assault Rifle. This time her very own creation with an odd amount of attachments.

"Horde!?" Bridgette replies surprised as she holsters her handgun and swings her sling rifle towards her two arms before aiming. Looking down the scope and turning on the flashlight, she noticed five, no six...ten infected sprinting towards them. "Get ready girls!"

"No explosives, Damonica! Trying to get us killed?!" Shanina shouts as she held onto her handgun. "Use your MP7!"

"Alright!" Damonica followed Shanina's orders and holsters her grenade launcher onto her left hip holster. Pulling out the submachine gun from her best holster, she aims and takes a few shots at the incoming infected that headed towards them.

"Grrahhh!" One of the infected screams as it sprinted and tries to reach towards the nearest soldiers. Getting shot before that could happen, it fell and floated on the water.

"Fuck!" Shanina shouts before stepping a few feet back. "Stick together! That was a close one."

"Alright..." Damonica answers as she then aims one after another with Bridgette alongside as they gun down five of them.

Shin-ae watched their flanks, as she spun around here and there before pushing shots into the numbskulls of the Infected. "That's seven!"

"Three more left, out of ammo," Bridgette shouts as she holsters her empty magazine and reloads.

"Reload, I will cover you," Shanina answers as she shoots a faster-sprinting zombie onto its torso to slow it down, before two times onto its knee caps and a finisher to the head.

"That's Eight! Two more incoming." Shin-ae calls out as she notices a mutant following behind the incoming normal. "Guys, Screamer! Before it calls others!"

"Oh, you got to be kidding!" Damonica shouts as kicks down the normals onto the floor and steps onto its torso.

As it struggles to get back up, she shoots the screamer before it could prepare itself. "Die, asshole!"

"Hate those freaks," Bridgette replies. "Calls other Normals somehow, attracts a horde then bleed our ears."

"I know right?" Shanina answers before shooting the "drowning" Infected Damonica was stepping on.

"Anyway, that's the last of them right?" Damonica asks as she kicks away the body.

"Yes, that's it," Shin-ae replies as she sighs and turns her rifle back to her duplex pistols, holstering it.

"Well, let's get out of here already!" Shanina shouts. "Come on people."

"Right right..." Bridgette replies as she removes her mask. "Can't let an old woman rest, ey?"

"Old? You are barely in your thirties, lol." Shin-ae chuckles as she spoke in a more modern tone.

"What the fuck is Lol?" Bridgette asks. "That is some twenty first century talk."

"Heh...You want old, she is. Regardless of her features. She lived aeons." Damonica laughs as she exits the tunnel. "Come on!"

As the four exited the tunnel, they then sprinted about, killing any Infecteds they passed by, saved a few civilians and ended up taking shelter in a clothing shop that the owner nailed up as a Safehouse.

A girl in some top tank and very rugged jeans spoke in German to her friend as she panicked about. "What the hell is this bullshit?! Zombies! This ain't a game!"

" I mean...With Guardian involved, I supposed that is possible. I met an undead Guardian once, she said it true it may exist but only working on corrupted ones." Her knowledgeable partner answered as she calms her friend down.

"Hey, you four are soldiers, right? Or Mercenaries." The shop owner asked Shanina and the others as she sat on her chair.

"Yeah, why?" Shanina replies in German.

"I got a job for you guys if you want. You can get half the share. Just go across this place, to the food store and get these civilians some supplies. Food, water, weapons anything to last us. You can take the rest. No gun store though."

"Sure, we can do it in a while," Shanina replies. as she slanted onto the wall, resting herself as she read onto an old pamphlet for a university.

"Great, the name is Olga. In exchange for helping, I can give you coordinates around this place if you need them. There have been a few nutcases of mercenary survivors gunning down innocents and other civilians and if you see them, kill them. They could be possibly Axis but with the dark clothing they have on, it's hard to tell." The shop owner replies.

"Know any last coordinates?" Shanina asks as she tosses away the pamphlet.

"The Ethiopian embassy, up west. Next to a white bungalow. They may camp there." Olga replies she then smokes her last cigarette before shutting it off. "That's all I know for now. Also, get me some cigarettes if you find some. I will be glad."

"Not trying to kill yourself quicker, yes, Miss?" A survivor asks as we flick off the cigarette bud from her shoulder.

"No, just addicted, unfortunately," Olga replies before a raspy and dry cough. Sipping some alcohol from her flask, she then takes a rest.

"Well, shall we?" Shanina asks her team.

"Sure," Bridgette replies. "I think we don't mind a short stroll."

"Not in the park, however..." The survivor replied. "The mall is filled to the bream with Infected, good luck."

"Thanks for the tip, makes our job easier." Shin-ae answers in the Japanese accented German before bowing.

"Ooh, interesting." A civilian replied as she smiles.

As the four pick themselves up the pace, they then exited the clothing shop, as they scouted about to find the mall.

Pausing the video, Mary looks at Wilia. "I think that's it for now...I need to return for work."

"Eh, alright then..." Wilia replies. "See you later perhaps?"

"Indeed, old friend."