End of Days 8 - The Offensive Part 2 - Lights, bullets, action!

Part 2 - Lights, bullets, and action!

The Knights of the Royal Priesthood decided to break up into 3 teams. 2 teams would go on the offensive, while 1 team would stay behind and defence the church against any attackers.

The objectives were simple and clear. Form a road block around the church, kill any zombies within a 1 mile radius, recover food and save survivors.

Team Alpha would be headed by Vash in a mech-warrior, supported by Turtle Teo at the back. Kenneth Watanabe and Clarence Coleman were in the second mech-warrior, guarding Vash's flanks. Bourne Kiatz with his BFG and standard rifle kit, along with Swen King with his plasma rifle, marched at the left side of Vash. This 6-person team had the most advanced weapons and moderate firepower, and they were to clear the street all the way to the expressway, and then head to the nearby university for food and medical supplies.

Team Beta was led by Samuel Wolfwood in a mech-warrior as well, together with Small Ken toggling the rear gun. Jordan flanked the left in his bike, while Gloria in her landrover, with Jeremiah, George and Shilpa equipped with rifle kits, shot guns, grenades, rocket launchers and of cos, GPMGs, flanked the right. Mikki and Jiacholate brought up the rear in another mech-warrior. This 9-person team had a slighter longer task, to clear the path all the way to Jurong Point, and rescue any civilians along the way. Thus, they had more firepower and manpower to complete the seemingly impossible task.

Team Omega was led by Pastor Charmaine in the Dead Reckoning truck. She had visual and audio links with all members of the teams, and could monitor their progress and life-signals in the safety of the impenetratable truck. She had Renee to control the guns on the truck just in case. The remaining 2 mech-warriors were operated by Lionhartz and Shawn, and Rachel and Meryl in the other. The 6-person team stationed themselves around the church compound, defenders of the survivors of this crisis.

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Meanwhile, General Kevin put his own troops to work. He had Colonel Jaric take his battalion of 20 tanks, 30 jeeps and 10 companies of men (500 soldiers) to kill off any zombies in the jurong area of Singapore. He would receive air support from Daryl, air force Captain, the best pilot in the air force with a fleet of 12 fighter planes and 4 Apache helicopters to command. Currently, this was the most that the military had to offer. The rest of the military was already taking emergency evasive action, hiding in their bases, fled for safety, injured and unfit for combat, involved in search and rescue missions, dead, or worse still.. already infected and become one of "them".

"Sir, your uniform and armour plates are ready. Are you sure you want to head the battalion into the battlefield? Things are... chaotic out there." Lieutenant-General KK (Kenneth Kwok) asked his officer and friend for the last time.

Kevin welded his ceremonial officer sword, and took his military cap. "An officer always leads by example. I can't sit here in the office while my men are out there dying. Let's show those zombies what we're made off!" With that, he strode out to command his own battalion of 20 tanks, 15 APCs (armoured personnel carriers), 10 light-attack buggys, 10 jeeps and 5 companies of men, the elite fighting force known as Green Berets, fiercer than the usual infantry, smarter than the usual officer, more tactical than the special ops, and deadlier than the commandos.

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"OPEN FIRE!!!" Vash yelled and let loose a barrage of bullets on the horde of zombies moving towards the church. Heads burst open, spewing brains and blood everywhere. Arms and limbs were severed, chests were punctured like balloons, and zombies became little more than chunks of rotting flesh in the streets.

Turtle was frantically covering the flanks with his machine gun, occasionally lobbing a grenade to create more space for the mech-warrior to move. As powerful as the metal machine was, he didn't like the idea of stomping on undead beings.

Kenneth and Clarence seemed to be having a field day of their own, gleefully blowing off heads and squashing zombies under the legs of the machine. Clearly their gaming and bloodlust for violence in video games were finally put to good use.

Bourne and Swen didn't have such a good time. They barely had any moving targets left after the 2 ferocious mechs had plowed through the zombie horde, and could merely pick off a few zombies. They only used their carbines, not having to bring out the big guns yet. But still, in their hearts, they hoped that this situation would go on for longer than expected, but eventually, the mathematics made them tremble with fear even as they kill more zombies.

Singapore had more than 3 million people. If even only a quarter had been infected and changed into zombies...

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Team Beta led by Wolfwood had a more difficult task, but still made steady progress. In fact, they were moving faster than team alpha. It was difficult to shoot while walking with the mechs, but pretty soon the 4 operators got the hang of it.

Gloria took sadistic delight in squashing zombies by landing on top of them, while her passengers took out dozens of zombies by merely spraying their machine guns out of the windows.

Jordan really didn't have to go, except to take out zombies which were getting too close to him. His shot gun seemed like a toy gun compared to the awesome firepower of the mech-warriors. Still he was an important asset, cos on his motorbike, he could travel faster than any of them, comb areas and search for survivors more effectively. He soon spotted some familiar faces, through the smoke and fires of the surrounding buildings.

"Shashi! Yangshuo!" It was the KORP members from foreign lands, back to help out in the crisis situation. Or perhaps they were simply back from their overseas studies, hoping to restore some friendships and start up businesses here, only to end up in the horrible doomsday scenario that few have imagined. But no matter, they were highly trained combatants as well. Carrying their personal favourite weapons, they had fought through a whole day and night, slaying hundreds of zombies, to get to the church. They were running out of ammunition when Jordan spotted them!

"Get down!!" Jordan shouted while he screeched his bike to a halt, skidding on the road, while unslinging his shot gun and blasting off zombies' heads. "Get on the bike dude!" The 2 hopped on as Jordan sped away, dropping 2 grenades as a parting gift, to the zombies who would soon be blown far apart.

"...5...4...3...2...1.." Jordan counted loudly, almost singing, then.. KRAK-KABOOM!! Dual explosions rocked the earth, as bloody stuff rained down on them. "Not bad, already rescued 2 on my 1st try! Hehz..."

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All seemed quiet at the base, while Pastor Charmaine monitored team alpha and beta's progress, and was actually very pleased and amazed at their fast movement.

Suddenly, there was a monstrous shout from behind the nearby building where Meryl and Rachel were supposed to act as sentry! A horrifyingly deafening, painnful bellowing, like some deranged beast!

"Rachel! Come in! Are you alright? Come in!!" she clicked on their panels, and the camera began to show what had happened...