The helicopter took off from the hospital and directed itself towards the towering mountains in the distance. It was a quick flight that progressed in silence until they reached the base 30 minutes later. As it approached the mountain it flew to a sheer cliff face which slowly split apart. Revealing a large entrance with multiple helicopters lined up on either side inside of a massive cave dug out of the side of the mountain. The helicopter landed in a spot designated by flight line attendants. The massive doors closing behind with a muted thunk of interlocking metal pieces.

Jumping out of the helicopter Connall was greeted by an administrative assistant. “Please follow me agent MacHagon. The rest of your squad is waiting in the briefing room.” With a half smile Conall waved his hand in a gesture indicating for the assistant to lead the way. “Right behind you.”

Connall walked into the windowless meeting room which was around 15 by 10 ft. A large oval table taking up the majority of the room. A large Monitor was attached to the wall at the head of the table that showed a topographical map of NorthEastern New Mexico. With Murphy sitting next to it with his feet on the table reading something on his phone. Sitting around the table were the members of Alpha squad and a few members of the covert advanced scouts division.

Everyone had their backs to the wall trusting Murphy, Who was the first to notice Connall’s entrance, to inform them of any danger. Setting down his phone and standing he addressed Connall “So very nice of you to finally join us Machagon.” the rest of the rooms occupants turned to look at Connall who gave a devilish grin. “Sorry boss man been a lot going on. Had to get everything in order before I headed out.” With a loud guffaw Saunders’ thick british accent filled with mischief piped up. “Oh quit yer lying we all knows you was busy giving it Alejandro’s mum” Alejandro’s retorted full of righteous indignation. “Fuck you pinche whetto I’ll show you…..” Cut off by Connall’s gravelly voice before he could finish he returned to his seat which he had begun to stand up from. “Oh you got me there Saunders. Except you were a bit off. It wasn’t Alejandro’s mom, it was your wife. And damn does that girl know how to work it. She kept me going for hours. I’m gonna miss that pussy man but i can’t be giving you a third kid ya know. So make sure you take care of my son and daughter.” then with a wink “ and also tell your wife Jodi says hi.” The rest of the room breaking out into raucous laughter.

Before anyone else could jump in. Murphy cleared his throat calling for attention. “Hey why don’t all y’all dipshits shut the fuck up already I know you’re all happy to be seeing Machagon again but you’ll have to save all the dick sucking for later. We got business to attend to.” The laughter subsided and Murphy picked up a remote for the monitor next to him.

Clicking a button, the map change to show dozens of red dots grouped together near a small lake. “As you can see the Romeros are currently grouped together around this lake. From what we understand there was a large event for the nearby communities where they go to the lake for some type of fishing contest. It appears that the outbreak erupted during that event.” Clicking the remote again the map changed to show a series of lines and arrows. “Analytics believe the local’s have all either been changed or have fled. Which means they will be heading towards the closest populated area shortly Which is here.” pointing at a red circle on the map “We need to eliminate them before they can reach that point and prevent them from escalating this outbreak to a class 4.” Clicking again the map produced a series of blue and green circles and lines. “The blue circles indicate Alpha squad the green are Charlie squad and the lines indicate the members of the advanced scouts..”

“Charlie squad is going to be coming in from the North East with their detachment of scouts drawing any roaming Romeros from that direction back to the main group. They will eliminate any that get to close. Our detachment will be doing the same from the South west where we will be coming in from. The two scout teams will cross paths here” Pointing at an area on the map that appeared flat for several square miles. “This is area is the best spot as the main body of Romeros should be heading here barring any interruptions. Once Charlie's scouts reach our position and our scouts reach Charlie’s they will move to the second objective at which point the scouts jobs will be complete and both squads will move in and clean up the threat. Any questions so far?”

A soft voice from the back of the room sounded out “Are we going in with lethal or do we have a cure for this strain.” Shaking his head Murphy replied “No Farrell this is one of the strains that is incurable, sadly. So we’ll going in full lethal.” Clicking the remote again the screen went back to the first image of the topographical map. “We are going to be keeping this as quiet as possible so suppressors on all weapons and you’ll be needing your hand weapons as well. Preferably spears as this strain appears to be more virulent than normal and we will still need to be taking out any crawlers that are left over after the main sweep.” Looking first to Farrell then to Connall “you two will be overwatch during the secondary sweep so you’ll also need to bring your long rifles. Any more questions gentlemen?”

The room remained quiet so Murphy turned the monitor off and set down the remote “Alright gear up and head to the hangar we leave in 20.” Affirmatives echoed throughout the room and they all departed heading to get their gear together.

After gathering their gear everyone met in the hangar. Looking over the men around him, Murphy nodded in approval, Pointed at a nearby modified blackhawk helicopter and said “Alright gentlemen make sure all your gear is secured and ready to go then load up. I want alpha in first then the scouts in behind” Connall checked the straps on his vest making sure they were secure. Adjusted the spear in his hand into a better grip for climbing into the Helo. Then hopped into the blackhawk followed by the rest of Alpha squad and the scouts.

The flight to the first drop zone was quick and went mostly in silence. A few light hearted jabs thrown between the different operators. As they got close to the first drop zone Murphy asked the squad to do a gear check on the man next to them.

Connall turned to Farrell to his left made eye contact for acknowledgement and pulled on the straps of his vest and checked the extra knives and 12 mags each carried for their weapons. Testing everything to make sure it was all held nice tight and secure. After checking his vest and attached gear he allowed Farrell to do the same for him. Connall then handed over his M4. Which was a matte black affair that had an ACOG scope an extended barrel for improved accuracy as well as a forward grip which housed a bipod all attached. Farrell’s weapon was very similar except that it was modified to fire 7.62 and used a 4x ACOG.

After ensuring both weapons were in proper working order. They moved to their long rifles that they had for overwatch. Farrell utilized a flat grey AXMC chambered in .300 Win. Mag. with a Leupold 6-25x52 variable scope and a collapsible tripod attached. Connall did a quick check to make sure all the moving parts were working properly and that the scope was clean and clear of any obstructions. Connall’s weapon was a desert tan DTA SRS-A1 chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum which had a Tasco 3-9x40 scope as well as a collapsible bipod attached to it.

Each also carried a black 4th gen Glock 17 in a thigh holster next to 2 additional magazines. They checked the other’s weapon then moved on to their hand to hand weapons. Farrell carried a 5 foot spear with a blackened 12 inch leaf bladed spearhead encased in a black leather sheath that held no adornments. Connall was also carrying a 5 foot spear but whereas Farrell’s was beautiful in a very functional way. Connall’s was magnificent. Causing Farrell to let out a low whistle of appreciation.

The spear shaft was intricately carved from Ligustrum Lucidum and stained a dark mahogany. A two sided eagle’s head carved at its based flaring out to prevent the hand from slipping and to provide some weight balancing. The body of the shaft was an uncommon oval shape to allow easy indexing when slashing. Intricate scroll work was carved into the shaft showing beautiful celtic knotwork traveling up and down either side. The blade itself was covered by a black leather sheath that was hand stitched. Da fhada an la tagann an trathnona. Surrounded on both sides by knotwork matching the shaft. When the sheath was removed it showed a 16 inch spearhead that was just as intricate as the rest of the weapon. It was made from a dark grey damascus steel patterned to look like the veins of a leaf with small knots along the spine of the blade.

Looking up from the spear Farrell was met by Connall’s face splitting grin “beatiful ain’t she?” A soft chuckle escaping, Farrell nodded “Yeah but man why you gotta bring something like this. When we’re just heading out to take care of a couple Romeros. You trying to show off that blacksmith friend of yours again. I can’t imagine the cost of something like this.” As impossible as it seemed Connall’s grin lit up even further, light shining in his icy blue eyes “Nah she was a gift. Didn’t spend a dime on her” A smile breaking across his face, Farrell shook his head “Oh well then i don’t think i wanna know how you paid for it. Probably explains the new knee pads though.” Connall laughed in good humor at his friends jibe. “Nah you had it right the first time. Gavin made it for me. He knows a bit about what we do somehow and made it for me specificaly to face what we face. He says the knotwork is some type of enchantment to help when fighting. Says it will help provide extra strength and endurance for me and help keep the blade strong and sharp as well as prevent the shaft from breaking. The runes on the sheath are supposed to be some type of prayer in old irish.”

Laughing he continued“ Don’t know if i believe all that but man if she ain’t a bonafide beauty i dunno what else to call her.” Chuckling at the supposed meaning of the intricate details Farrell shook his head “I think i would have to agree with you there. We’ve never seen anything of that sort as far as I can tell. Even with everything we’ve seen and done that seems a bit farfetched.” Connall nodded his head the smile still remaining. “That’s exactly what i told Gavin but man who knows with everything out there it’s still possible if not hugely unlikely. But when i said that to him he just gave me a small smile shook his head and said some bullshit about I’ll be finding out soon enough. Whatever the fuck that means.”