Quoted By:
“Alright then buddy…and you’ll be there to back me up, right?”
“Of course, sir. We’ll be using our thermals to scan the treeline.” responds Popov.
“Figures. Hope you manage to find a good parking spot, dick.”
Despite Carter’s annoyance, QRF-15 waste no time in securing the house. The infantry split into two fireteams. One team circles around the aging structure, shimmying along the walls to shine weapon lights into vents and ground-story windows. The second group dons respirators, forming up by the front entrance once their counterparts finish the external check.
Carter nods. Their point man – a heavyset fellow decked in full-coverage ballistic plate– clicks his comm twice.
A rusted lock snaps. The wooden door swings inwards, sending swirls of yellowish dust into the still air.
The next few minutes are difficult to follow even with the benefit of a live camera feed. Room by room, corner by corner, the breach team sweeps through first floor of the house with commendable efficiency. At first, the haul seems disappointing. Notebooks. A few personal items. Several clumps of fungal growth that seem slightly more colorful than the rest. Nothing particularly out of place in a condemned, rotting farmhouse.
But on the second floor, the team notices a shift. Here, the growth thickens. Banks of spores cascade from rotting furniture. Interconnected nodules of dark, sporulating fungus climb up the walls and across the ceiling like ivy. The audio feed hisses as Carter purges his respirator to clear out particle build-up.
A few moments later, the team arrives at the apparent source. A reinforced door blocks their way – half open, but too rusted to move any further. It stops the team for no more than two minutes. A carefully-placed breaching charge sheers the hinges clean off, causing it collapse inwards with a crash. As the dust clears, you manage to make out the inside of the hallway.
The first thing you notice are the burn markings. The entire room is blacked with soot. But in the corner, one of the surviving bookcases is packed to the brim with notes and several stained…bottles? It is difficult to make out their precise contents, but the glass containers are carefully organized and meticulously catalogued. Carter illuminates a few of them for your benefit, allowing you to read the handwritten labels.
“SERF-HOST, TUMESCENT, FIXED IN 16% PFA, KILLED 2/5/XXXX, PHYS. TRAUMA”
“SQUIRE-HOST, SPORULATING, FIXED IN 16% PFA, KILLED 2/8/XXXX, THERMAL”
“VISCOUNT-SOURCE, TUMESCENT, FIXED IN 90% WOOD ALCOHOL/BLESSED ROSE WOOD, SCAVENGED 2/9/XXXX, XXXX”
