Quoted By:
“Copy. We’re moving in.”
Two entrypoints. Two fireteams. QRF-15 rushes into the first floor of the building, rifles aggressively shouldered. They sweep and move by ear, estimating their distance to delta-nine-nine by judging the amount of interference cluttering the comm transmission. While most of your attention is focused on covering the courtyard surrounding the building, you steal occasional glances at Carter’s camera feed to track the progress of his team.
Nothing on the first two levels. The two fireteams ascend a narrow staircase to reach the third floor. And as they advance through a series of abandoned office spaces, the transmission finally clears.
“…requesting immediate extraction. Delta nine nine…we engaged a mass of hostiles thirty minutes ago and are about to be overwhelmed….Requesting immediate extraction…”
The message wasn’t automated. The intonation varied as it repeated, so you assume that it was spoken rather than looped. But something was still…off. It might be the calm, unhurried delivery. Or sound of sloshing fluid in the background. A sound that you had previously dismissed as a simple audio artifact.
Both teams reach the locked door at the end of the hallway. Too thick to barge open. Carter’s point man grunts before slapping a trio of explosive cutting charges onto the unyielding surface. You click open the comm channel to warn him….before….
The charges blow, overloading the camera feed with a cascade of sparks. Metal shears, and the door crashes forward. Weapon lights stab forward to illuminate the scene within.
You find one of the four members of delta-nine-nine. He is not good to look at.
His twitching body is suspended from the ceiling, only recognizable due to the teal plate carrier still covering the upper half of his torso. Much like the figure your team had found – and then consigned – near the ranch-house, most of his face has been generously repurposed to spread the growth-tissue pooling around him.
