Still, a job is a job, and she'd go to a planet covered in neck-high swamp if it meant a payday for her and her crew, so it was here, in a grey, colourless back alley, looking out into the grey, colourless gloom for what she assumed would be a grey, colourless buyer, that she waited with a crate of assault rifles. Two Yndij that she had taken to calling Pounce and Highjump kept watch with her, while Dozer, one of her Teraton loaders, kept an eye on the trunk. Covering them were Hailstorm, a Sorak whose real name she couldn't pronounce, and Blaine, one of her Grogan technicians who she took with her to meets purely because he looked menacing with an Onslaught Cannon - a big guy with a massive gun tended to work in her favour.
Seeing movement, Pounce hend up his hand and indicated. Shuffling, not normal walking. Something wasn't right.
"R'lyea, the crawler ready?"
"Give me, like, a few minutes?" R'lyea was the best pilot and getaway driver Steele was prepared to afford - normally that would be enough, but when there was a genuine emergency, the twenty or so percent chance she'd be too drunk to start the engine, it was an issue. "Start it running now, everyone, get the merch loaded up. Everyone on site, cover the load! Pounce, if we get out of this, remind me to hit her."
Pounce gave her a grim smile. "Will do, boss."
The Crew of the Angel Falls gripped their weapons and hoped they'd just encountered a group of drunken party goers...
 |
| Set Up for the Crew of the Angel Falls. Hailstorm the Sorak, Blaine the Grogan and a Survey Drone on the left, Tamara Steele, Pounce and Highjump the Yndijes(Yndijii?) on the right and Dozer the Teraton straight down the middle. |
***
Atlas had not expected to find life in this settlement. Stage 3Zs to be cleansed, yes, but not actual, living and infectible targets. It paused to appreciate it's good fortune before sending it's minions to fan out. It only had one 2A to infect these creatures with - it had not been expecting company - but it would have to do. It had enough 3As to restrain them, at least.
It sensed the Crawler was starting up. It commanded it's minions forward. It did not have long.
 |
| Set Up for Outbreak 153. Three 3A's on the left, a Stage 2A in the middle and a Stage 1A, a 3A and a 3A with HMG on the right. The 3A on the left has an AP2 melee attack, the 2A is Agile and the 2A with HMG is Vulnerable. |
***
***
"Are those... Corp soldiers?" Blaine hefted his Onslaught Cannon and tried to make sense of what was happening. Dozer stepped up next to him and sniffed the air.
"No. Well. Not any more." He tilted his head to Blaine before clicking on his comms. "Boss. They're not human. Not any more."
"What? I don't..." Steele quickly attempted to comprehend what was happening before her shoot first, ask questions never mentality kicked back in. "Fire at will! Anything that isn't our side!" It was all Blaine needed, and he opened up, causing one of them to explode in a shower of blood, even as the rest of them started to advance on them, straight into a crossfire from the waiting Pounce.
As he fired off the last of his clip, Pounce turned to notice one of the creatures poised over him ready to strike, only to be caught off guard by Highjump, who leapt into the zombie's chest, knocking it back, even as another somehow managed to duck under Dozer's wristblades. The horde began to advance, the mob getting bigger every second...
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| Tons of Zombies. This will not change throughout the game. |
***
The zombies had been more aggressive than he'd expected, giving Atlas pause as the rest of his pack started fighting back, already beleaguered by the 3Z assault. The whole Plague line was embroiled in a skirmish with creatures that could have easily been their allies - a fact that frustrated Atlas greatly.
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| Zombies hit the Plague lines too, leaving it in disarray. |
***
Seeing the massive horde of zombies massing on his allies, Hailstorm sent a blast at the nearest mob, scattering them and sending one in a hazmat suit into a wall in a spray of blood. When the dust had cleared, the two Yndij had been blasted to their knees, but the mob had been scattered, giving the group a bit more breathing room, room which Steele used to thrust her blade into one of the last zombies' throat, dropping it to the floor. The remaining zombies kept the pressure up in the only way they knew how - moving in and attacking relentlessly, but finding armoured Teraton a lot harder than their average civilian fare.
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| There was a horde at the end of the corridor. It's not there any more. |
On the other side of the battlefield, more zombies attacked the creatures that should be their cousins, with two of them hanging from Atlas' chitnous hide as the other mindless creatures began chewing their way - more literally than normally - through the pack's lines.
***
The packmembers that weren't pinned down by zombies began their assault of the human lines, well aware that if they allowed themselves to be slowed, they would lose a far more precious reward. Bounding forward and taking shots at any opportunity targets they could find, the Stage 3's followed the Stage 2 as they began to make a move on the Rebs.
Further back, the zombies started to bring down the Stage 3's on the back line, tearing two apart even as the Stage 3A that had been toting an HMG started swinging around it's combat knife, turning just in time to watch another of it's comrades being brought down.
 |
| Things start going badly for the Plague. It doesn't get any better from here. |
***
***
Hailstorm climbed the side of the nearby building and opened fire on the Stage 2, bathing it in a concussive blastwave that did precisely nothing as Steele stabbed another zombie to death, allowing Highjump time to hop to his feet and get a shot off at the next nearest monster, blowing it's brains out which, in turn, allowed Pounce to run past and grab a medikit that had been left on the ground.
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| The Rebs manage to leave their deployment area! Magical! |
On the other side of the battlefield, the zombies claimed another victim - the Stage 3A with the machine gun went down, it's wasted muscles not even promising a decent meal.
***
Seeing an actual living enemy, the 2A roared and charged, bounding past a zombie to get to the nearest Yndij, clawing at Pounce's chest, even as the zombies themselves did nothing in return.
***
Finally finishing the zombies in his square, Dozer ran up to the cover of a building as Blaine sent out his survey drone to lure out the remaining zombie in the area, opening up on it and doing... Precisely nothing. Swearing fairly incoherently, Blaine gritted his teeth for the retaliation that he was sure was coming...
 |
| This is the rare case of the before and after photo being identical. |
***
But it never came - the remnants of the pack kept moving up with the unforseen benefit of drawing away the zombies, their few shots doing very little in the way of actual effect, even as Atlas itself tore another two zombies apart. Another 3A went down to the claws of the zombie horde, and, as another half dozen clawed their way from the rubble of the area, even the colossal mutant felt a pang of fear...
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| They're coming... |
***
***
As another three zombies clawed their way out of the sewers, Pounce decided discretion was the better part of valour and bugged out, fleeing as fast as he could and leaving the zombies to the 2A to, hopefully, murder each other. Meanwhile, Dozer teleported behind the nearest 3A, bludgeoning both it and the zombie next to it and leaving him free to grab a datapad of possible lootable areas.
Worried about the huge number of zombies, Hailstorm scattered a huge force of them as Blaine charged up to support him, although the weight of his gun slowed him down too much to be effective, although the retaliation was about as dangerous in return.
Across the field, the zombie horde managed to draw blood on the Stage 2A, driving it into a howling frenzy before the next went for it's throat, bringing it crashing to the ground. Cheering, Blaine didn't notice the two climbing up behind him, reaching behind him... Even Hailstorm could not react fast enough, and watched in horror as he was dragged off the side of the building...
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| The melee on the roof gets more and more intense as increasing numbers of zombies start crowding around... |
***
Knowing the rest of his pack was dead or dying, Atlas roared with overwhelming rage and charged Dozer, barreling into him and sending him slamming to the ground. Alive or dead, the Teraton's comms went dead.
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| There was once a Teraton here. There is no more. |
Meanwhile, Hailstorm managed to keep the zombie hordes at bay, but just could not get the upper hand...
***
Steele and Highjump ran up to support Pounce as best they could but, with the horde incoming, they were well aware that may not be enough...
***
***
Atlas trundled towards the crawler, pausing only to tear a zombie limb from limb - much the same way as the zombies finally did to Hailstorm...
 |
| Hailstorm finally gets dragged under the sheer weight of zombies. He'd survived two turns of four zombies just... Hitting him, again and again and again... |
***
Suddenly incredibly aware of the danger, Steele and the Yndij began pouring fire into the giant, with Pounce managing to scratch his chitin before the zombies got a bit too close for comfort...
 |
| OHMYGODFILLITWITHBULLETS! |
***
***
Continuing it's inexorable march forward, Atlas strode forward, ready to infect the targets these creatures were so pitifully defending, batting zombies aside like flies...
***
Tamara Steele breathed in tight through her teeth and aimed at the monster's head. The world slowed down and she focussed on the grey, colourless rain. Totally calmed and in a zen-like state she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight through the giant's neck. It slumped to the ground, and Steele didn't even wait to confirm the kill.
"Get out! Get the wounded and everyone bail! NOW!"
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| The handful of survivors - just a posed shot, not an actual game moment! |
***
***
"What the hell was that?" Pounce didn't even wait until they were back at the crawler before he started with the questions.
"I have no idea. Some kind of mutant fighting with those creatures? Do zombies even exist?"
"Apparently so..." Blaine staggered up with an unconscious Sorak over his shoulders. "Found this one with a bite mark in his arm. Hope they don't go like the movies."
"What's the plan, boss?" Steele looked grim when she realised she'd have to ask more of her crew to take up arms.
"Break out the Desolators. We need some pretty big guns if this is going to go down the way I think it is..." She looked out at the looming crawler, almost unconsciously aware that Dozer had not only survived but beaten them back. Teleportation was just unfair...
***
Atlas grumbled under it's breath as the hole in it's throat slowly and painfully closed. It's pack had been beaten down but not destroyed, and it was already planning it's next move. To that end, it looked over it's assembled infected and noted a few ex-military that had been recruited into it's ranks. He would use their knowledge to plan his raids better.
He would get off this planet, and take the Plague to the stars...
