[b]Bruised Coast: Hidden Government Facility[/b]

She stared open mouthed at him, nodded primly and hurried toward where Jorgon and the others were waiting.
''But what about David?'' She hissed irritably as Lef and Marty took point.
''If Laut's still alive, then I'm sure he'll catch up at some point. In the mean time, we're gonna concentrate on getting our job done.'' Dave said soothingly.
The two skeletons slid silently between the double doors and into the dark corridor beyond, scoping the place out before giving the others the all clear.
''But-'' Bassing began again.
''No buts!'' Dave cut her off sternly, ''There was nothing in our job details that said anything about babysitting a pair of civillians! Now shut the fuck up and do as you're told or bugger off back up to the surface where you can see the monsters coming for you.''
She went silent then.
''Vhich vay are ve going?'' Lexmar asked her.
She stared quietly at him.
''Oh for fuck's sake...'' Dave sighed, ''I meant stay quiet as in don't make any unecessary noise, because we don't know what's down here!''
''We need to go to the top floor, back room. Fastest way there is up the front stairs and through admin.'' She said quickly.
''How many floors are there in this place?'' 
She paused, thinking about it as Lexmar ushered her firmly but gently forwards into the darkness with the others.
''Five surface levels, three basement. Access to the front stairs are through that door, at the opposite end of the cafeteria.'' She looked down, following the line of Jorgon's rifle mounted torch and added ''There's a lot of blood in here.''
''I think there's going to be a lot more before long.'' Marty commented quietly as his own rifle mounted torch traced the path of the dry streak of blood. 
''Somevone vas dragged through here.'' Lexmar said idly, looking at the trail of blood that led from one set of double doors to the other.
''Kicking und screamink, too.'' Aelon added in a low rumble, using his own rifle torch to point out the rusty spatters of dried blood that streaked the bare walls and the occasional foot and hand print.
They carefully and silently approached the other set of doors, weapons up all the way.
''Skeletons first.'' Jorgon said softly.
''Aelon, come in last.'' Lexmar said.

The broad shouldered 7'11'' pile of walking muscle nodded and positioned himself in the middle of the corridor, effectively preventing anyone or anything from getting in or out without having the trouble of dealing with him first. Marty and Lef slid once more through the doors in silence with barely a creak from the hinges and almost immediately came across the source of the blood stains. In the middle of the cafeteria floor was a body, a cluster of flies clinging to the chewed intestines and torn stomach that were lying tangled across the linoleum floor. It's head was tilted to the side at an impossible angle, hollow eye sockets staring blankly, mouth wide open, jaw broken in mid-scream. An arm was missing at the elbow and everything below the former reptile's belt was on the other side of the room in several chewed pieces amongst a pile of over turned plastic chairs and school grade tables.
''Found another one.'' Lef said quietly into the darkness, his torch's questing beam alighting on the slumped, gnarled figure of one of the cooks, ''Died how he lived, poor bastard. With ladel in hand.''
''And his face in the mashed spuds?'' Marty enquired as he peered over Lef's shoulder at the chewed body that was slumped awkwardly across the food counter.
Lef gave a little grin, ''Is usually in turnips where I come from. We have good turnips.''
''I know. I've tried them. I could eat a whole bag of your roast turnips.'' Marty sighed. He turned around and went to investigate the half corpse on the floor, giving it a gentle prod with his toe.
It didn't stir in any way, but that didn't mean that it wasn't about to get up and chew someone's leg off. Marty and Dave had seen them play possum before and had even been on the receiving end - more than once - of such dirty tactics. It was low brow, dirty and annoyingly effective at taking out the idiots of the team.
And what made matters worse, was that Marty admired the rotten little bastards for it, because no matter how decayed the zombie was, at least one in the group was generally bright enough to know how to ocassionally outsmart their more mobile prey. It wasn't often that it happened, but it did and it always brought a small, idiotic smile to Marty's already permanently grinning face because it added some drama and variety to a daily life that had already become so routine it was almost as boring as reading the local newspaper, which, thank fuck, had gone out of buisness when a dirty great meteor had obliterated the newspaper's printing plant and everything else for ten and a half miles around it.
''Is properly dead?'' Lef whispered.
''Seems it, yeah.'' Marty replied.
The others filtered quietly into the cafeteria, casting about for something to shoot.
''What about him munching the stale spuds?''
Lef approached the other body carefully, prodded it several times in the head with the tip of his gun but got no response. Still, he backed away carefully from it, keeping its scalpless head in his sights, finger on the trigger.
''Is dead. Hopefully.''
''What d'you mean hopefully?'' Bassing hissed from somewhere in the vicinity of Aelon.
''He means that some zombies have a habit of playing dead.'' Dave paused and mentally went over what he'd just said when Bassing's blue witchlights stared at him through the darkness. ''I know what I mean and so do they. Just, don't go near any zombies that aren't moving... Or any zombies that [i]are[/i] moving...''

They made their way across the cafeteria, to the back left corner where another set of double doors were positioned between the kitchen and a storage cupboard. These ones were smeared with blood, a broken hand still gripping the left handle. 
''These the doors?'' Dave asked, peering through a grimy window and into the dark corridor beyond.
Bassing nodded furiously, eyes darting about as she clung to Aelon, who was none too pleased with having her hanging from his belt.
Once again, Marty and Lef slid silently through the doors and into the darkness beyond, their feet landing in a warm, sticky puddle almost immediately.
''Ew...''
''Is fresh kill.''
''I don't hear anything, though.'' Marty said, trying to wipe the blood from his foot on a fire extinguisher that was mounted on the wall, ''You can usually hear the little bastards gurgling and chewing and what have you.''
Lef cocked his head, listening.
''Nothing. Just silence.''
''Exactly. It ain't right. Fresh blood and silence in an un-explored building. One of the worst possible combinations...''
The others filed in behind them, Lexmar nearly sliding over onto his arse when he stepped in the puddle of blood. He swore long and remarkably quietly as he regained his balance and tried cleaning the blood from between his bony toes.
''Who died?'' He grumbled, looking around.
Marty and Lef shrugged.
''How many people vere in zis building ven you lost contact?'' He asked Bassing.
''There's typically a daily workforce of about oooohhhh, seventy? But we lost contact on a quiet day, so there was only about forty people here at the time. I think. Depends on who was off ill and whatnot.'' She said brightly.
Aelon seemed to perk up a little. He leaned down and whispered something in Ferroni into Lexmar's ear. Lexmar appeared to go vacant very briefly then returned to his usual stern demeanor. He nodded.
''What?'' Bassing asked.
The others stared at him and he returned that stare evenly. Then something seemed to click into place in their minds. They turned around and started to climb the stairs carefully, making sure not to put their feet in anything else or to get caught out from below.
''Seriously, [i]what[/i]? Is it about David? Tell me!'' She pestered.
Aelon groaned, resisting the urge to just swat her away and be done with it. He cast a helpless glance in Lexmar's direction and muttered something else in Ferroni. Lexmar looked over his shoulder and looked her up and down, measuring her mood.
''Ze blood could be Laut's. It is difficult to tell under zese conditions.''
''He could be dead?'' She squeaked.
''He vas ze von who ran off. It's not our fault if he got er, vaylaid...?''
''If something has taken a chunk out of him, you better hope he had the decency to off himself before turning.'' Dave grumbled, ''I'm getting fed up with people like that.'' He added in an even quieter tone.

The Ferroni and Valdani looked at him quizzically.
''It's been a long day that hasn't exactly gone according to plan.'' He said bluntly.
''Tell me, Sergeant. If you vere to be bitten, vould you suicide?'' Lexmar asked curiously.
Dave thought about it a moment. Then he nodded.
''Yeah. I'd go somewhere quiet and put an incendiary in my brain. The idea of tearing into someone like that, all teeth and claws and disease...'' He shuddered at the thought and went quiet.
''I hear movement.'' Aelon declared softly.
They stopped mid-step on the stairs, guns pointing in every direction as Aelon shuffled Bassing into the middle of the group. They tilted their heads, listening intently to the faint sounds of feet shuffling about somewhere above their heads.
''Sounds like a couple of floors above us.'' Marty whispered.
''Sounds big, too.'' Lexmar added.
''What was going on in this building?'' Jorgon asked Bassing softly.
''What d'you mean?'' She asked sweetly.
''Am meaning that no one builds a place like this for commercial use. During zombie apocalypse, place like this would be left to rot, yes? Would not be considered of much import, unless something of much import [i]was[/i] going on here. [i]Yes[/i]? Yes.''
She stared helplessly at him.
''I really don't know.'' She replied. ''I just have low level clearance. It's David you want to talk to. He's more senior than I am. Hell, I don't even know what he specializes in. He's a professor, but a professor of [i]what[/i], eh?''
''Zis von is completely mad.'' Aelon rumbled, rolling his eyes.
Something over head hit the floor hard enough to shake dust from the rafters and the undersides of the stairs. Dave sneezed and wiped some concrete dust from his eyes.
''The Hell was that?'' Lef muttered.
''Something very big.'' Dave replied. ''Something, I get the feeling, that we're under prepared for.''
''We're always under prepared for this shit. I'm amazed we've made it this far, to be honest.'' Marty said.
They continued their ascent, inching upwards slowly and dropping to a low crouch on the stairs when a wall on the floor above them was smashed in. A cloud of brick dust puffed through the half open doorway that led to floor 3, dusting them lightly and making those with intact sinuses want to sneeze.
''The fuck?'' Lef growled and peered up and around the corner. ''I see something.''
''Vhat?''
''A body. Hanging through broken window of landing door. Female. Not moving. So far...''

Marty, Lef and Lexmar ventured up to the next landing, Marty prodding the scrawny, mottled grey body gingerly with his rifle. The long, chewed tail twitched and a low moan sounded from the otherside of the door. Then the whole body twitched, convulsed then started thrashing when it realised that there was fresh meat available but there was no way of getting to it. The zombie was caught on a shard of glass by the gut and cable knit cardigan. Its arms flailed, legs kicked and tail thrashed. It screeched angrily, twisting about in the window frame, a thick trickle of its dark infected blood oozing thickly down the back of the door and was soon followed by a rope of shredded intestine. The three skeletons stepped back as the zombie's tail lashed out and connected hard with Lexmar's jaw. He swore angrily and snapped his jaw back into place, clacking his teeth together in a chewing motion a few times. 
''I have an idea,'' Marty said.
''It better be good, because zis zing is going to attract ze attention of vhatever it is zat is up here.''
''I'm gonna wrap my arms around its waist and try and free it from the door. Then I'm gonna let it go and someone's gonna kill it.'' He said, already moving into position.
He slung his rifle and wrapped his arms around the zombie's waist, getting as best a grip as he could manage on the flailing creature. With a grunt, he hauled it up and away from the door, intestines still caught on the shard of glass that was still embedded within the window frame. It continued thrashing wildly in his arms, its efforts redoubling when it spotted the more fleshy forms of Dave, Aelon and Jorgon. Snapping its broken jaws together and clawing at the air, it kicked Marty hard enough for him to lose his grip. It dove towards Jorgon, but Lexmar seized his chance and jumped towards it, ramming his serrated combat knife into the zombie's face, using its momentum in combination with his own against it. The blade cracked through bone and sliced through pustulent brain and twisted before being tugged free in one swift motion. The zombie carried on in its forward trajectory, hands still outstretched towards Jorgon as Lexmar twisted neatly out of the way, letting the zombie fall onto its face and slide down the steps behind them. It came to an unceremonious halt at the bottom of the stairs and didn't move. Lexmar wiped down his knife on a rag he had stashed away in a pocket and re-sheathed it.

''Bitch.'' He snarled at the now fully dead corpse.
''We carry on now. Quickly.'' Lef said, his voice shaking a little.
''Vhat else is wrong?'' Lexmar enquired.
''We've just come to the conclusion that a Mutant's in the building with us.'' Marty said unhappily.
The two skeletons had had a quick look in the space beyond the door to floor 3 when the others had been distracted by Lexmar's display of zombie dispatching. They hopped quickly up the stairs and peered into the gloom of the third floor. Something big had punched its way through one of the walls. Desks were smashed to pieces, partition walls had big holes in them, the thin carpet was torn up and the floor was cracked as if something very big and very angry had stamped its way across the entire level without bothering to use the doors provided.
''Any ideas, Doctor?'' Dave asked, eyeing the destruction.
She shook her head madly.
''The nearest meteorite landed twelve miles away from here and it's not big enough for its rad output to affect anything so drastically in this area.''
''Nothing could've gotten down here since?'' He asked.
''We're the first people to have come down here since the Strike, so no. Not unless they can teleport. Or [i]could[/i] teleport, as may be the case.'' She added disdainfully, looking over her shoulder and at the dead zombie that lay on its ruined face at the bottom of the stairs. She felt as nonplussed as the others, ''Which raises the question of how this place got infected...''
''Which raises another question of how Cosht [i]knew[/i] it was infected.'' Marty said, frowning.
''Ve can dizcuss vhilst moving.'' Lexmar growled and moved on up the next set of stairs.
''Yay, more questions...'' Jorgon muttered. ''Would like to know answers to questions, yes? Is much better, knowing answers.''
They hurried after Lexmar as he stalked up the stairs, making a determined bee-line for the fifth floor. They didn't come across any more zombies on their way up, just the occasional hole in the wall where the Mutant had plowed through heedless of the rebar, brick, insulation and plaster. Wires sparked from the edges of the gaping holes, cutting off the power supply to the handful of emergency lights that glowed miserably on each landing, keeping the place in darkness.
''Am assuming servers are priority for power, yes?'' Jorgon whispered to Bassing.
''Yes. The main back-up server will be the last thing to run out of power when the back-up genny finally stops running. We should have another thirty minutes before that starts happening though.'' She replied.
''[i]Thirty minutes[/i]? I thought we had more time than that!'' Dave hissed quietly.
''So did I, but I didn't think there'd be a Mutant down here head-butting its way through walls and tearing out gods-know how many wires in the process. So, thirty minutes, worst case scenario.''
''Ah, crap.''
''We're nearly there, anyway.'' She said brightly, pointing to the final door, ''We just need to get into the back room of the admin office.''

They stepped carefully through the door and swept into the room that was full of low-walled cubicles. Splitting off into pairs, Bassing sticking with Aelon and Lexmar, they scurried quietly down the aisles, checking out the empty, un-touched work spaces. It didn't look as if anyone had been up there for some time, as everything was still in its place.
''I really don't like this.'' Marty mumbled, eyeing up a stack of brown folders in a dusty in-box, ''It's all too neat and tidy. I mean, there were people here for the Strike, but no one was in admin? And how the Hell did the place get infected?'' He rifled quickly and surreptitiously through the folders, peeking at their contents.
''Could've let someone in just after the strike. Who knows what all those impact concussions did to the security systems. Something could've been jarred into opening the doors. Wouldn't be the first time the enemy's been let into a base because the shockwaves were too much for the computers to handle. Remember Braxton Causeway?'' Dave mused as Bassing hurried forward and started fiddling with the key card lock on the door at the back of the room.
''Braxton Causevay...'' Lexmar pondered, '' Zat happened, vhat? Tree years ago? Small base on ze border? Ve carpet bombed ze whole area into dust and craters?''
''That'd be the one. Couple thousand people died that day.'' Dave muttered darkly.
''Ze concussion of ze exploding bombs scrambled your security systems, letting an infiltrating force into ze base vith ease.'' He continued.
''Yeah.''
''But zen I believe it reset itself after a ten minute reboot period. Ze perimeter cannons zen reduced our shock troopers to mush.'' He added bitterly.
Dave and Marty grinned at him in the dark.
''What is the point of your mumbling, gentlemen?'' Bassing enquired as she continued to wrestle with the lock.
''I think I know what he's suggesting. And it actually makes sense, even with the stupid accent.'' Marty said after a moment's consideration.
''Oh? ... Aelon be a dear and smash this door in, would you?'' She sighed.
Aelon rolled his eyes and grunted, pushing her to one side and putting his weight behind his left foot. The door was launched inwards with a crack and a flurry of splinters, and clattered off a tall server beyond.
''What he's getting at, is that the meteor strikes could've knocked your security systems out of whack and let something, or someone, in. Either radiation fresh from the space rock or someone who had already been infected. And who knows how long it took before the security systems realised that the front door was wide open and sealed everything up again.'' Marty explained.
Lexmar nodded in the glow of the torchlight.
''Exactly. Ze place could have been infected from ze start, but you just didn't realize it until today.'' He said.
''Oh. Well, we won't be here for much longer. The server's right at the back, in the middle row.'' She said and stepped into the room of blinking telltales and low humming.

The rest filed into the room and checked that is was clear as Aelon escorted Bassing towards the server in question. Several of the servers were already dark and offline, cold to the touch, having shut down shortly after the main generator had given up. But the six servers at the rear of the long, windowless room were still humming away, blowing heat and dust into the air. Bolted to the back wall behind the middle rear server was a slim computer that had slipped into stand-by. She woke it up and pulled a small microphone from its slot in the computer's wall bracket.
''Speak into this when I tell you and say exactly what's on the paper. You can't mess it up, because the system will reset itself to a new password, which is something I don't know how to retrieve. And without the master mainframe running, that's something that will be impossible to do, too.'' She pulled six pieces of paper our of her skirt pocket that were wrapped around a USB stick and handed each of the men a slip of paper each. Each slip had the name of their country and a code stamped on it. ''And when one's speaking, the rest of you stay absolutely quiet. Otherwise, password reset.''
She plugged the USB stick into the computer and brought up the relevant files and program.
''Any particular order?'' Jorgon asked quietly, reading his slip of paper in the light from his vest mounted torch.
She pondered a moment, then nodded.
''Dave, you're first. And you [i]must[/i] say the code in your native dialect.''
Dave raised an eyebrow and stepped up to the mic, eyeballed it suspiciously then read off the twelve digits and letters that were printed on  his bit of paper. When he'd done, he stepped to one side and Bassing dragged a skeptical Lef up to the mic by his collar. He spoke his code, then stepped aside for Aelon who rattled it off without pause for thought. Lexmar followed, then Jorgon and finally Marty. The computer screen went black. They looked at each other and came up with their own creative epithets when the computer continued to do nothing. Marty nudged Bassing as she stared expectantly at the computer. She waved him off. The floor vibrated beneath their feet and they instinctively scattered to cover the doorway with their weapons. There was a low, strangled moan from downstairs. The computer screen flickered back on showing that the download was complete. Bassing snatched the memory stick away from the computer and huddled next to Aelon.
''Is it coming this way?'' She hissed anxiously.
''Hard to tell.'' Jorgon replied softly, creeping forward to hide behind the server tower in front of him. 
The others moved up, too, keeping a constant watch on the doorway. When they got halfway across the room, a giant, feathery fist smashed up through the floor behind them, showering them with concrete dust. Bassing shrieked in terror as the Meteor Mutant tore its way through the floor, clawing its way onto the fifth floor, its massive stubby fingered hands clawing servers from their base frames and hurling them across the room, a couple being pushed back down the hole. One massive bulging eye stared at them through a mass of grey fur that tufted thickly out of one side of its thickly scaled face. A pair of crooked buck teeth jutted from its fang encrusted beak. A lone rabbit ear stuck out of the side of its head just below a thick, red cockerel's comb. A huge, tatty cockerel tail arched out of its backside, rustling gently with each heaving breath the monster took. It drooled steaming strings of saliva that hissed hotly on the carpet. The whole muscular pile of Mutant looked as if a giant rabbit and an equally large lizard had collided at high speed in a shed full of chickens and had somehow survived the experience.

Bassing shrieked again and made for the exit, Marty hot on her heels and cursing her. The others stared up at the thing. It returned the stare with mismatched eyes. Then roared at them. They opened fire and the rattle of assault rifles filled the spartan room, almost deafening them. They backed away slowly at first, then turned and ran after Bassing and Marty when all the Mutant did in the face of their assault was raise a swollen chicken claw hand to shield its face from the bullets. It smashed through the wall and lumbered into the admin office space, battering its way through the little, neatly arranged cubicles with large rabbit feet, its knuckles dragging on the floor. It roared after them as they hurtled down the stairs, Marty grabbing Bassing and throwing her over his shoulder, his rifle gripped tightly in his free hand.
''PUT ME DOWN!'' She squealed, thumping her fists against his back.
''No! You run too slow!'' He snapped and jumped the last four steps to land heavily and unsteadily on the landing for the fourth floor.
He cast a look behind him and saw the others barrelling down the stairs after him. He continued running downwards, skipping as many steps as he could, finally skidding to a halt on the first floor landing. He dumped Bassing back on her feet and stared silently down into the murk of the ground floor corridor. The others slid to a stop behind him, Jorgon running into his back, nearly sending Marty into the waiting throng at the bottom of the stairs.
''Oh shit...'' Aelon rumbled softly.
The big Ferroni looked over his shoulder and up the stairs they'd just run down. All was quiet in the darkness. The Mutant had apparently ceased chasing them, which was never a good sign, especially in such a confined space. Meteor Mutants could be as territorial as Grotesques, some even more so, never relenting their destructive rampage until every last creature and building in the area had been destroyed.
''How many, you think?'' Lef whispered.
''Ze whole staff zat vas here during ze moment of ze Strike, maybe more? Hard to tell in zis light.'' Lexmar replied softly, carefully replacing his empty magazine with a fresh one.
''Grenades, anyone?'' Dave muttered quietly, surveying the scene before him.
Zombies had packed into the corridor and were waiting silently and unmoving at the foot of the last flight of stairs. They stared up at the seven reptiles, shuffling occasionally, drooling and moaning softly in the murk.
''No. The space is too confined. We'd blow ourselves up.'' Marty whispered after a moment's pause for calculation.
''I'll cover you, then.'' Dave said softly, switching his ammunition, ''I brought some of my new toys with me.''
Marty eyed up the white painted magazine Dave had slid carefully into his gun.
''Seriously?!'' He hissed. The zombie horde below shuffled anxiously, ''That's just as bad!''
''Vhat is?'' Lexmar demanded, shuffling forward for a better line of sight.
''Dave's got these new bullets. They're hollow points. Or [i]were[/i] hollow points. They're now bullets crammed to the brim with explosives.'' Marty growled.
''It's gonna be fun. Only tried them once on some bricks.'' Dave grinned in the dark.

The others cast a quick look at him, then at his rifle and shuffled away from him slightly.
''Me and Dave vill open a path for you. Get ze Doctor out of ze building and to ze surface. Ve'll follow as soon as ve can.'' Lexmar said.
''Ferron and Gollona working together? What has this world come to...'' Marty sighed sarcastically, ''You better get your arses to the surface, because if I have to come back down here after you, I'm not gonna be fucking happy, got it?''
''When you see your chance, run.'' Dave said, sighting into the zombies.
''We're going down there?'' Bassing whispered tensely.
''Yes.'' Jorgon said softly.
''Am staying to help Lexmar and Dave,'' Lef said, ''They cannot handle this amount on their own.''
Jorgon sighed and nodded, clapping him on the shoulder.
''Was nice knowing you, my friend. Take care and see you soon, yes?''
Below, the zombies finally lost their patience. They started an uncoordinated ascent, practically climbing over each other in a bid to get to those who were standing at the top of the stairs. Dave pulled his trigger first, the bullets that Trevor had supplied him  a few days earlier in exchange for the cheap peanut butter hammering into the crowd with huge force. The bullets did as they were meant to do; they exploded on impact, doing heavy damage. The first zombie to fall victim to Dave's new toys lost its head and shoulders in an impressive display of fire, blood, brain and bone, the small blastwave scattering and injuring the zombies around it, slowing them down for a few seconds and almost deafening the soldiers and doctor in the process.
''Holy shit.'' Lexmar muttered, his hearing abuzz with the repeated explosions from Dave's rifle.
He and Lef started firing into the crowd, sending more zombies down and scattering.
''There's a gap, go!'' Dave snarled over the noise of their guns.
Jorgon, Marty, Aelon and Bassing ran forward, charging down the stairs and through the mangled crowd of rotting animate bodies and into the cafeteria beyond.
''Are we just going to leave them back there?'' Bassing exclaimed, horrified.
''Yes.'' Jorgon grunted, shooting down a zombie that had followed them, ''We are leaving them so we can complete our mission.''
''So that data you just pulled better be worth it.'' Marty growled and ran for the exit.
Bassing gripped the memory stick hard enough to make the protective plastic casing creak in her fist. She thought it best to not mention the fact that she herself had no idea whether the expenditure of her temporary protectors lives were worth what was on the memory stick.
''I wonder where David went.'' She mused out loud as Aelon ushered her forward towards the next corridor.
''No idea, do not care.'' He growled, ''Now get moving, tiny voman. Do not make me carry you.''
She passed through the double doors and into the corridor behind Marty and shrieked, her hand flying to her mouth in shock. Then she lept forward, throwing her arms around Laut's neck, hugging him hard.
''Where the Hell have you been!?'' She demanded angrily, stepping back and slapping him hard across the face.
''In the basement, seeing to the generator. It was about to die as soon as we walked into the building. Did you get to the server?'' He asked, rubbing his cheek and frowning at her with displeasure.
''Yes. I got the data.''
''Good. Let's get the fuck out of here.''
''We can't leave without the others-''
''Yes we can. Shooting zombies is their business not ours.'' He said and grabbed her wrist, hauling her protesting into the foyer.
''Prefer her over him.'' Jorgon muttered and hurried after them.
''Ve can shoot him und make like suicide?'' Aelon grunted, mocking shooting him in the back of the head.

''Maybe later.'' Marty said a little reluctantly.
They ran into the foyer just as Bassing twisted from Laut's grip. She stepped back and looked him up and down. His formerly neat, crisp suit was creased to hell, torn and smeared with oil, dirt and blood.
''What happened down there?'' She demanded.
''Like I said, I kept the generator going for as long as possible.'' He said, just as the lights flickered and went out, ''Which you should be thanking me for, because it looked as if something big had bitten a chunk out of it. It was pissing diesel everywhere, so I had to use my jacket and IQ to keep it going.''
''Bravo, dickbag. You want a gold star for that?'' Marty sneered, flicking the other reptile's ragged tie to get a better look at the damp blood stain on his chest, ''Did you get bitten?''
Laut stared at him, open mouthed.
''Did you get bitten?'' Marty asked again, fast losing his patience.
''Did I...? No! Of course I didn't. There was only a few down there, which I easily dispatched with a crowbar.'' Laut sniffed, puffing his slight chest out, ''Now c'mon, we need to get out of here.'' He added when the sounds of gunfire inched closer.
The other stared at him skeptically.
''Keep an eye on him.'' Aelon rumbled softly to Bassing as he urged her forward once more, ''He turns, he dies.''
''How do I know he's turning?'' She whispered, staring uneasily at Laut's back as he stalked out into the open. The spotlight and screens that were mimicking the outside world had gone dark when the back-up generator had shut down, rendering everything in darkness. The door into the underground facility was still ajar, which they counted as a small blessing.
''Fever symptoms. Shakink, fever, cold sveat, sickness. In zat order. He must be shot othervise he vill keel us all und many others.''
She nodded fiercely, not liking the idea one bit, but her slowly dissolving mind could still grasp the problems Laut could cause if he had been infected. Shooting someone in the head was a grim and extreme way of combating disease, but for zombieism, it was the only cure. They pressed on through the darkness and stepped into the damp, salty tunnel that lead back to the surface. The postage stamp glow of daylight some distance above them was growing dimmer as the day wore on, but it still lifted their spirits a little as it still denoted freedom from the confines of the infested facility. They hurried upwards, the gunfire behind them having silenced. A few seconds later there was an explosion and the ground vibrated slightly beneath their feet.
''What was that?'' Bassing asked the darkness.
''Grenade.'' Marty said blandly, casting his torch's beam behind him, ''Someone's coming.... Dave?''
''FUCKING RUN! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND US!'' His friend shouted frantically as he sprinted forward, driven by nothing but adrenaline and terror.
Lexmar and Lef followed close on his heels, the others wordlessly getting the point and chasing after them.

Behind them, the tunnel's door was heaved to one side with a mighty grunt and tearing of metal. The Mutant lumbered into the tunnel behind them, bleeding thickly from the multiple bullet wounds that pockmarked its body. It's legs and arse were scorched, its tail was smoking and the flesh of its left foot had been burned to the bone from where it had stepped on the grenade. It roared into the tunnel, clucking angrily, the noise echoing and nearly deafening the others as they ran towards the surface.
''Need tank.'' Dave puffed shortly, ''It ate a grenade. And it's still moving. Gonna cram several shells of napalm down its throat and make chicken nuggets!''
''It did what?!'' Marty croaked, shocked.
''It. Ate. A. [i]Grenade[/i]. The other it stepped on.'' Dave reiterated slowly, his lungs and muscles already starting to burn from the exertion of running fully armed uphill.
''It's very angry.'' Lef growled.
''I vould be too if I ate a grenade zen stepped on anozzer.'' Lexmar grunted unhappily.
There was another deafening roar from behind them, spurring them onwards.
''This is stupid,'' Bassing cried, ''There shouldn't have been anything down here! It should have been empty and nice and quiet! How the Hell did a chicken get down here!?''
''Never assume anything is nice and quiet!'' Jorgon shouted over the snarling and crowing noises from behind them, ''Is quick way of getting killed, yes!''
''Yes!'' She agreed, conceding his point with an acute clarity that scared her.
''We're nearly at the top.'' Laut panted, exhausted.
''Oh, thank fuck!'' Dave cried, ''I think I'm gonna pop a rib before long!''
They burst out into the waning daylight, staggering in the sand and sprinted back up the beach.
''Doctors-'' Jorgon wheezed,
''[i]Professor[/i].'' Laut growled,
''Get into the bus. Lef, get it moving!'' He finished, ignoring Laut.
They staggered onto the cracked tarmac of the beach front car park, Aelon grabbing the protesting Laut by the scruff of his neck and tossing him into the bus as soon as Lef got the door open. Bassing took a running leap into the bus, falling into the fraying padded seat behind the CROWS, getting a death grip on the back of her seat as Lef started the engine, revving it hard as he slammed the bus into reverse before Jorgon had even gotten himself positioned in the CROWS. Outside, Lexmar was waving them on frantically as the Mutant plowed into the sand, tripping up on the sudden change in terrain. Lef didn't need much encouragement. The last thing he heard from the black clad skeleton was a radio channel being shouted at him, which he switched to immediately.
''Head out of town. Ve vill catch up vith you at ze old cricket club.'' His voice came over the radio.
''Copy that. We'll clear a path on our way. Good luck.'' Lef replied over the old bus' radio.
''Bone King'll bring up the rear.'' Dave's voice crackled over the line.

The tank jerked into motion as the bus roared off down the road, the turret rotating to face behind them before Marty had gotten them on the move properly, firing at the Mutant as it struggled with the foreign concept of a beach. The heavy round flew over the Mutant's head and slammed into the cliff face behind it, showering it with flaming rock. It crowed angrily and charged forward. The heavy gun on Lexmar and Aelon's modified 4x4 roared to life and stitched a line of fire up the creature's fat belly, spattering the sand with scorched fat and blood. The Mutant walked snarling into the gunfire, seemingly unphased by the prospect of being slowly shot to pieces. Lexmar finally landed a lucky hit and took a chunk out of its crooked beak.
''I think you just pissed it off even more.'' Dave said blandly over the open radio.
''No, you zink!?'' Lexmar growled back sarcastically as the Mutant's determined walk turned into a headlong rush.
''Follow the bus, we'll try and slow it down.'' Dave said.
There was no argument from the smaller vehicle. Aelon slammed the 4x4 into gear and took off past the tank, chasing after Jorgon and Lef whom they soon discovered had gotten delayed by a thick group of zombies that had congregated in the middle of the road, drawn to the sudden activity and had feverishly swarmed the heavily armoured bus. Jorgon had opened up with all the bus' available weapons, rocket pods spitting and both .50 cal machine guns roaring. Bassing had wriggled her way into the hand crafted turret and was helping lay waste to as many of the crowded zombies as possible with a manic scream of fury and terror, trying to fend them off the bus as they started to climb to the less protected roof. Lexmar opened fire, the 4x4 shaking and vibrating under the power of the gattling gun. More zombies exploded under the fresh onslaught, others being torn to pieces, lying in twitching piles in the road behind the bus. The zombie horde thinned, the bus grunted and moved forward with a belch of thick smoke from its exhaust stack, crushing yet more zombies under its formidable weight and power.
''I hate to say it, but I take it back about vhat I said about zat bus.'' Lexmar grumbled to himself as he watched a zombie explode beneath a chunky, armoured wheel.
Aelon chuckled deeply, ''I never thought you vould admit to beink wrong.''
''Shut up and drive.'' Lexmar said not unkindly.
Aelon forced the 4x4 through the mashed zombies and the handful of living ones, seeing Marty and Dave's tank rearing up in his mirrors, fire roaring from the main gun. Lexmar turned the gattling gun around so he could see what they were up to and saw the Meteor Mutant stagger under another blast from the cannon. Chunks of the Mutant were missing, its ruined guts slowly uncoiling from the gaping wound in its belly, dragging the thick red ropes of intestine behind it. A shoulder had been dislocated from a glancing blow and half of its skull had been caved in  by another. The napalm rounds had also set fire to it at some point in the last few minutes, but still it lumbered forward, smouldering, angry and wounded.

Lexmar snapped an order at Aelon, who in return dropped a gear, yanked on the steering wheel, and hurtled off down a side street.
''Where the fuck are they going?'' Marty snarled, dragging his goggles down over his eyes and propping the driver's hatch open so he could see properly. The zombie that had previously exploded across the glacis plate and beyond was getting near impossible to see through as its remains started to set and dry out.
''Don't know, don't care right now! Just keep driving! I think I have him this time.'' Dave growled, lining the Mutant up in his crosshairs.
He pulled the trigger and got a dull click instead of the standard explosion and recoil. An alarm bleeped cheerfully at him and he looked down at the autoloader's tiny computer screen near his knee. 
He swore creatively and loudly.
''What? Why no boom?'' Marty demanded frantically as the tank smashed its way over an abandoned car then through the rear quarter of a crashed bus as the Mutant started to close the gap between itself and the tank as Marty wrestled Bone King down the narrow streets.
''I'm jammed! The bastard shell's stuck in the breech!'' Dave snarled angrily and continued to swear as he set about the fiddly task of trying to dislodge the 120mm tank round without losing a hand or accidentally blowing himself and the tank up.
The Mutant staggered forward, pushing hard against the ground with its good foot for a boost of speed and swiped at the back of the tank with a broken hand. It made to snatch at the rear-facing main gun, but it couldn't close its shattered fingers around the cannon's barrel effectively enough to do any damage. The tank jerked under the Mutant's failed grip, the turret rings groaning and squeaking under the sudden weak tug.
''Dave?'' Marty asked nervously.
''Almost there...'' He muttered, locked in concentration.
Somewhere behind them, a heavily armoured black 4x4 skidded around the corner from behind an old chip shop, scattering bins and boxes into the street. It roared up behind the pursuing Meteor Mutant and the smaller vehicle's roof mounted gun thundered to life again. The Mutant stumbled, grunted and wheezed in annoyance through its smashed beak and turned on the 4x4, bringing a massive foot up and slamming it down again, leaving a small crater in the road. Aelon jerked the 4x4 around its legs whilst Lexmar tracked it with the gun, hammering more incendiary rounds into it. The 4x4 mounted the opposite curb, plowed through a shop window and smashed through the next, bouncing back onto the road, scattering glass and shelves everywhere. The Mutant swiped at the 4x4, growling angrily, pivoting and lunging for the black vehicle as it dove past the retreating tank.

The Mutant, tattered, covered in holes, smouldering and feeling exceptionally angry, gave chase. It started after the 4x4 as it swerved in front of the tank. The Mutant reached out and swatted the cannon to one side, the sweep of the main gun flattening a lamp post before swinging back into line and belching fire into the Mutants' face. Its head exploded, but the body didn't get the message until a few yards down the road when its knees finally buckled and the whole mess toppled awkwardly to the road, crushing a row of neatly parked mopeds under its massive dead weight.
''We got it!'' Marty crowed happily over the radio.
A static riddled mash of cheers came back, nearly cutting off the weak signal.
''You are close to destination, yes?'' Jorgon asked.
''Ve can see you now. I shall contact Cosht and arrange for our reward.'' Lexmar said.
''I just had a thought. What do we do if he doesn't hold up his end of the deal?'' Dave asked curiously, wiping his greasy hands on a rag.
''Simple. Ve torture him until he coughs up ze revard.''
There was a moment's silence.
''Sounds fair.'' Jorgon came back amiably.


The cricket club's golden years were well passed. The long, squat building's white paint was peeling in the face of the coastal weather and the field was overgrown and un-tended. There was no one around, not even a shambling corpse. They smashed through the old wooden fence and parked in a semi-circle on the green, waiting for Cosht or one of his minions to turn up. Jorgon was still busy trying to peel a rigid Bassing away from the spent gun in the bus' turret when Lef entered the bus and tapped him on the shoulder.
''We have a problem.'' The skeleton said in his native tongue.
Jorgon looked down and cocked his head, one arm still wrapped firmly around Bassing's waist.
''What now? Lexmar hasn't decalared war, has he?'' He sighed.
Lef shook his head.
''No, no, no. It's that idiot professor. We think he's been bitten. Marty caught him dry heaving behind the bus.''
''That could just be motion sickness or something equally stupid.''
Lef stared at him flatly, ''He has a fresh bandage wrapped around his left bicep. I can see it through his shirt, which, by the way, has been replaced courtesy of someone slightly bigger than him, and I know for a fact that that bandage wasn't there before.''
Jorgon grunted and switched back to his broken Gollonan to address Bassing.
''Ok, you just stay there for now, yes?'' He patted her gently on the leg and followed Lef off the bus, leaving her sitting rigidly in the turret, quietly thankful that she'd ran the belt dry as her finger was still tugging the trigger.
They found Laut sat against the side of the tank, head tilted back against the protective side skirts. A thin sheen of sweat glistened on his green head and he looked paler than before. He also seemed to be surreptitiously holding his left arm, gently flexing his fingers. Marty and Aelon were watching him carefully as Lexmar tended to his gattling gun.
''Ah, Professor Laut. May I see your left arm?'' Jorgon asked, approaching him.
Laut squinted up at him, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.
''Something's definately not right with him.'' Jorgon muttered in his own language just loud enough for Lef to hear.
He cast a look at the others out of the corner of his eye. Dave popped up out of the turret and gave a small shrug, and Marty's hand slid slowly and inconspicuously down to his pistol at his hip. They could see the signs, too. But whether Laut knew that, they didn't know.
''Why do you want to look at my arm?'' He asked blandly.
''Just curious. You are injured, yes? You spent much too long on your own in darkness. Am just wanting to check if any serious first aid is, er... Required? Yes, required. That's the word.''
''I don't need first aid.'' Laut grumbled, ''There's nothing wrong with me.''
''Then you won't mind showing us your arm, then?'' Marty said pointedly.
Laut squirmed slightly under his piercing blue witchlight gaze.
''Ve can do zis ze hard vay. I hold him down, somevon else checks.'' Aelon rumbled, stepping towards Laut.

Laut held up his hands and ended up scooting sideways across the ground on his arse when he remembered that he had a little over 69 tonnes of war machine at his back and couldn't move backwards. He clawed his way up the side of the tank and staggered away from the huge Ferroni soldier.
''I swear I will end you if you come near me.'' Laut snarled, seeing Dave moving forwards out of the corner of his eye.
Aelon grabbed his arm and tugged him close, twisting the slight reptile around easily in his grip, wrapping his thick arms around the man's waist and pinning his arms to his sides. Laut squirmed in Aelon's iron grip as Jorgon stepped up and cut through his shirt sleeve with his combat knife. He unravelled the pristine white bandage and carefully pulled away the tightly packed wadding beneath. He sighed and shook his head slowly.
''Can someone please go and distract Bassing? She needs to know, but she does not need to see.'' He said softly as he looked at the sticky bite wound on Laut's bicep. ''It really took a chunk out of you, yes?''
''Yes.'' Laut croaked, his mouth suddenly dry.
He wanted to cry, but the urge to run was more overpowering.
''You're better with Bassing than us.'' Dave told Aelon, dropping onto the hull.
The big reptile considered it for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. He slowly let go of Laut, who stood rigid in place, then moved off towards the bus. Lexmar, Jorgon and Dave then piled on top of Laut when he made to bolt, only making it as far as the rear of the tank before their combined weight overwhelmed him and forced him screaming to the ground.
''What's going on?'' Bassing asked, finally emerging from the bus.
''Ve need to chat, tiny voman.'' Aelon rumbled and forced her gently back onto the bus and away from what was going to happen next.
''We'll give you a choice,'' Dave grunted as Laut thrashed beneath them, ''You can go with dignity or you can go kicking and screaming like a little girl.''
Laut stopped moving and sobbed into the grass.
''You going to run?'' Lexmar asked him.
He shook his head miserably and felt the weight slowly lift off his back after a moment's hesitation.
''What does the first option involve?'' He quavered, not rolling over, but keeping his face buried in the grass so he didn't have to look at anyone.
''We walk you to the pavillion and bury you with some kind of ceremony.'' Marty said.
Laut lay silent for a few minutes, thinking about it. His chances of running and escaping were low, as were their opinion of him. The last thing he wanted was to die hated and to be remembered as total bitch who couldn't face up to the consequences of his actions. He sighed heavily and nodded, pushing himself to his knees.
''I don't want to see it coming.'' He muttered softly.
''Zat can be done, no problem.'' Lexmar said.
''You wanna talk to Doctor Bassing before we go for a walk?'' Dave asked, helping him to his feet.

He shook his head then started walking towards the squat wooden building that sat at the other end of the field. Lexmar and Marty followed him, leaving Jorgon, Lef and Dave to keep watch whilst Aelon was in the bus being patiently talked at. As soon as they disappeared inside the building, a short convoy of five heavily armoured APCs rolled up, the middle six wheeled vehicle disgorging Governor Cosht along with a group of heavily armed soldiers in jungle camo armour, their faces covered with respirators and tinted goggles. Cosht stuck out like a sore thumb, his golden yellow scales and red spines polished to a gleam, his business suit crisp and clean without a gun or knife in sight. Bassing hopped from the bus, eyeing up the convoy, Aelon appearing behind her, casting a glare at the congregated soldiery that had just turned up. She could just make out the soldiers in the other APCs through the windscreens, each one looking as identical as the next. It made them all uneasy. It was as if someone had accidentally left the cloning machine switched on over night.
''Ah, Doctor Bassing! So good to see you looking well.'' Cosht said happily, ''I trust you and Professor Laut got what we need?''
She nodded numbly as the others shifted uneasily under the blank gazes of the armoured soldiers before them.
''Excellent! Well, gentlemen, I have here the coordinates for each of your rewards, as promised.'' He waved a hand and one of the blank faced soldiers stepped towards them, slinging his rifle to hand Jorgon three slips of paper. Jorgon took the slips, unfolded them then passed the appropriate ones to Dave and then Aelon.
''Now, when the professor decides to show his face, we shall be going.'' Cosht added, looking around for Laut. ''Erm, where is he by the way? And what happened to the other two skeletons?''
The distinctive crack of small arms fire echoed across the field. Jorgon, Lef, Aelon, Dave and Bassing all shifted uncomfortably under the icy gaze that Cosht nailed them all with as his question was suddenly answered in a less than delicate way. 
''Um, about that...'' Bassing mumbled unhappily.
''Go on.'' Cosht growled, eyes narrowing.
''He was bitten. He was about to turn, so we gave him choice.'' Jorgon said.
Cosht peered through the gap between tank and 4x4, and at the two skeletons in the distance who had just emerged from the cricket pavillion carrying Laut's body on a length of wood. They looked up, spotting the convoy of military vehicles.
''Eye for an eye.'' Cosht growled and motioned to one of his troops.
The soldier to his left stepped forward, pulled his pistol free and shot Aelon between the eyes. The big reptile slid lifeless down the side of the bus, blood and chunks of brain matter streaking thickly down the side skirt. In the distance, Lexmar screamed, dropped his end of the plank and started running forward, towards the parked vehicles. He brought his rifle up, flicked the safety off and started firing into Cosht's group of soldiers as he ran forward, shouting incoherently.

The others ducked as one of Cosht's men went down in a gout of blood and lay on the ground screaming in agony as one of his colleagues tried to stem the flow of blood from his ruined shoulder. Marty charged after Lexmar, un-slinging his own rifle, leaving Laut's body behind, wondering what the hell they were going to do as he saw the other four APCs unload their cargo of heavily armed soldiers. They were outnumbered and outgunned, a familiar feeling and a situation that they knew rarely ended well for the smaller guys.
''Lexmar! They'll kill us all!'' He shouted after the irate Ferroni.
''Zey killed Aelon! Zey vill pay in blood!'' He snarled and plowed straight into the waiting arms of Jorgon and Dave as he dove between the tank and 4x4.
The two of them held him in place, arresting his heavy assault rifle before he could get any more shots off. He started swearing at Cosht in his own language as he found himself to be firmly immobile in the two reptile's grips.
Marty finally caught up and looked over at Aelon who was slumped against the side of the bus.
''Oh shit. Why did you do that?'' He asked, dumbfounded by Cosht's actions.
''Like I said, eye for an eye. You shoot one of my men, I shoot one of yours.''
''We needed Aelon!'' Dave snapped.
''He vas my friend, you son of a whore!'' Lexmar snarled.
''And I needed Laut!'' Cosht snapped angrily, ''Doctor Bassing, we are leaving now. Come on, get in the truck. If any one of you make a move, I will have you all killed.''
Bassing stood and looked from the ragged soldiers who had protected her to the soldiers who looked too pristine and faceless for her comfort. She then looked from Aelon to Cosht and suddenly found herself hating him even more than she had done before. She hated him with every fiber of her being. She started crying and Cosht had one of his men pick her up and carry her bodily to his APC. He climbed into the seat next her and swore when she turned around and headbutted him before shuffling to the other end of the bench seat, forcing the soldier there to bail out and climb back in on the other side.
''I'd rather be on the bus!'' She wailed miserably as Cosht rubbed his head, grumbling. 
The evicted soldier slammed the door shut, ignoring the five dishevelled soldiers outside as they hurled abuse at them.
''Driver, get us the Hell out of here.'' Cosht growled.

Dave, Marty, Jorgon and Lef watched Cosht's APC rumble away. The remaining soldiers then piled back into their own vehicles and moved out after their boss.
''That man needs to die.'' Marty growled, ''And whatever he's got set up needs to be torn down as soon as possible.''
''Agreed.''
''I vill help vith his destruction.'' Lexmar growled as he knelt beside Aelon, ''He is up to something and I have ze feeling zat he is not alone in zis.''
''You bury him here, or you take him back?'' Jorgon asked Lexmar, immediately feeling like a dick as soon as he asked the question.
''We know a guy that might be able to help you get him home without er, you know, stinking the place up too bad...'' Dave ventured carefully.
Lexmar sighed and considered it.
''Your friend is good at embalming?'' He asked softly.
''Not really, but he's good at making things. He might be able to make you a cold coffin.''
''You can't be serious.'' Marty grunted.
''Hey, after that peanut butter fiasco, he owes us big time. And, whether we like it or not, we owe Aelon for keeping Bassing out from under our feet and getting us into the server room.''
''Peanut butter fiasco?'' Lexmar asked quizzically, giving the impression of rasing an eyebrow.
''Long story. He has a peanut butter addiction and we netted him a big haul a few days ago- But the point is, he's good at making realiable stuff on the fly. It's your choice. We can get a message to him now or-''
''Yes.'' Lexmar interrupted awkwardly, ''I vould appreciate you doing zis...''
''I'll go radio him now...''
''And I'll go and put Laut somewhere. He's starting to attract some attention over there...'' Marty said, looking out across the field to where they'd left Laut's body outside the cricket pavillion doors. A few crows had landed and were currently industriously picking at his remains.
''I will help.'' Lef said, following Marty back across the field, leaving Lexmar and Jorgon to arrange Aelon's body in a tarpaulin that was stashed away in the back of the bus.


[b]Command Bunker Alpha-5, Conningstone Town Border: Two Days Later[/b]

Dave emerged from the small cylindrical pillbox, the heavy metal blast door swinging shut behind him with a solid clank. He looked around the yard, searching for Marty with burning eyes, blinking hard in the midday sun. Through the dancing red spots in his vision, he could just make out the high walls that they'd built out of scavenged cars, vans, lorries and whatever else they could lay their hands on. Sat next to the pillbox under the overhang of some overgrown willows was a sturdily built camouflaged lean-to of wood and metal sheeting that had been erected to help protect their two tanks from the wheather.
''The fuck are you doing?'' He asked, walking over to where Marty was crouched on the scarred and heavily dented glacis plate of Drunken Shenanigans.
He had several pots of paint around him, a few more lying empty on the ground. Marty gripped a spray gun in one hand and a rag that reeked of turpentine in the other. The air stank of fresh paint.
''Maintenance. Just doing up Shenanigans, since we don't have much else to do at the moment.'' He replied and started filling in the black patch of camo paint he was currently working on.
From what Dave could see now his sight had cleared up, Marty had already re-painted half of the black on the tank. By the end of the day, he would probably be ready to get started on the green and the smaller splotches of brown that made up the tank's camouflage pattern. There was a cluster of small tins of white, grey and light green paint sat on one of the pillbox's embrasure sills with a trio of small paint brushes lying next to them. No doubt he intended to re-paint the names and logos of the tanks on the turrets, too once he'd finished with the camo paint.
''You gonna re-do Bone King?''
''yep. I found plenty of paint in all the colours of the camouflage rainbow down in that bunker we got handed. Might re-paint the pillbox, too, if there's any left over.''
Dave looked from Drunken Shenanigans to Bone King which was parked next to it. Bone King looked worse off now that its primary purpose in life was to crush zombies and shovel Meteor Mutants out of the way with its botch-fitted mine clearing plow. He wondered idly if they'd ever have to switch over to using Drunken Shenanigans at some point in the future when Bone King finally failed, then quickly shunted the thought aside with distaste. He didn't like the idea. Drunken Shenanigans wasn't their tank, and taking it into action would feel a lot like using someone else's tooth brush. It just felt wrong. Bone King was their tank, had been from the moment they'd passed their exams and operating any other tank was just plain wrong, especially if said tank had once belonged to some good friends who were now long since dead. And anyway, removing the mine clearing plow from the front of Bone King and having to modify Drunken Shenanigans to carry it was tiring to even consider. But if push came to shove, as it inevitably did in their line of work, both in the past and the present, Drunken Shenanigans would most likely have to be called back into action to take over Bone King's duty as a zombie crushing machine. With that thought in mind, he looked at the tank's main gun barrel. It was crooked, bent slightly downwards and to the left from the bore evacuator to the muzzle tip from where it had been catapulted into the side of a building during the Strike. He circled around it, eyeing it up as he reconsidered Drunken Shenanigans' role. Currently, it was being used as a back-up power supply for their little base of operations, a group of thick, heavy duty power cables snaking out from beneath the engine's access hatch and vanishing into a rubber sealed hole in the base of the pillbox, helping feed any power from the massive battery and power plant into the hidden command post's own self contained power grid.

''We need to consider getting Shenanigans up and running at some point.'' Dave said, eyeballing a bent drive sprocket and road wheel.
The tracks looked to be in relatively poor condition, too.
''Any particular reason why?'' Marty asked as he continued to shuffle about on the glacis plate with his spray gun.
''In case we need it as more than a power supply...?''
Marty leaned across to peer around the side of the turret and raised an eyebrow.
''You mean you want it combat ready?'' He asked incredulously, ''Y'know this isn't our tank. It wouldn't be right to take into combat.''
Dave looked back at him evenly, ''I really don't think, given our current predicament, that Commander Davenshire would mind. It just makes sense to have a back-up, in case anything happens to King.''
Marty looked stunned, ''You're talking about using someone else's [i]tank[/i]! That's like, I dunno, like wearing somone else's underwear! It's just [i]wrong[/i]!''
''I know! But we can't just send Bone King off to the mechanic's for a quick tune up any more. We're the last members of our batallion, mate. Danny isn't around any more, not since the Strike took out his workshop with him in it. We need to do something in case King fails.''
Marty kneeled on the glacis plate, mouth open, staring.
''Think about it. We can scrounge the parts somehow. We already know that Drunken Shenanigans is pretty mechanically sound, what with running the engine and what have you on a regular basis. It just needs some new guns, a couple of wheels, a new set of tracks and a bit of TLC. Plus some fresh ammo, of course. We kinda used that all up...''
Marty sighed, shook his head, then nodded.
''Alright, you're right. Bone King won't last forever, and Gods know how long we're gonna be around now that nature's been forcibly fucked with.'' He looked down at himself and grunted. He honestly had no idea how long he would continue to live for now that he was minus all the squishy, pulsing things that had kept him alive in the first place, ''We can go back into Minnsmere Fields and see what we can scrounge up from our last fight. Maybe pay a visit to Base, see if there's anything left there...'' He mused.
''Sooo, that's a yes, then?'' Dave pried, drumming his fingers impatiently on the hull of the tank.
''Yeah. We'll do most of it on the fly-by during jobs though. There's not much sense in wasting more resources on something that might turn into a fool's errand.''

''Sergeant Crae, Corporal Vossen, I haff something zat you might find useful.'' Lexmar announced, walking around the pillbox and into the lean-to.
The pair of them spun around, instinctively reaching for their sidearms, stopping when they recognised the voice and the skeleton it belonged to.
''We didn't hear you come into the yard.'' Marty said, staring at him.
''I left my truck on ze road just beyond ze valls of your little compound and simply valked through zat big hole between ze small car and ze blue lorry in your vall.''
''Bollocks, not again...'' Dave muttered and started going through the stack of sheet metal that was leaning against the back wall of the lean-to.
''Thought you'd gone already.'' Marty said, putting his spray gun down and sliding off the tank.
Lexmar looked up at Drunken Shenanigans, eyeing the damage to it. He tutted at the poor sight it presented.
''You really shouldn't let such good machinery go to vaste like zat. I vould never consider allowing my fighter's vings to sag in such a manner.'' He looked back to Marty, ''I vas getting ready to leave, ven your rather awkvard friend Trevor handed me something to give to you as I vas heading in zis direction anyvay. His vords, not mine....'' He walked back around the side of the pillbox and dragged a large metal crate back, releasing the handle with a grunt.
Marty stared at the crate, eyes going wide.
''Er, Dave...?''
Lexmar cocked his head curiously as Dave sauntered over then stopped abruptly at Marty's shoulder when he spied the crate.
''No fucking way...'' He breathed.
''Vhat?''
''Didn't think he'd have them done so soon.'' Marty said, stepping forward and releasing the catches on the large box.
He flipped the lid up to reveal a cluster of six silvery 120mm shells with thin grooves in the sides nestled within the black protective foam. Marty bent down and picked one up carefully, turning it gently over and over in his hands. There were 4 grooves in total and the high explosive shell weighed half of what their standard 120mm shells weighed, meaning it would go further once fired out of the cannon.
''New toys!'' Dave grinned hugely, cradling one in his arms like a baby.

''Vhat are you talking about?''
Dave tossed the black clad skeleton the shell he was cradling. Lexmar scrabbled to catch it then looked at it skeptically once he'd gotten a firm grip on it. He turned it around and around in his hands, inspecting it closely, almost dropping it when four little stub wings flicked out of the grooves and locked into place.
''Uh, is it meant to do zat?'' He said, holding it at arm's length and eyeing it carefully.
''Yuh. We requested some new rounds a few weeks ago and only found out about what he'd actually done at the weekend. I cannot [i]wait[/i] to try them out!''
''What do they contain, I wonder...?'' Marty mused, looking at the one in his hands.
''Fuck knows. Knowing Trevor, it could be washing up liquid or something that got banned by the MOD.''
''It could be a mixture of ze two.'' Lexmar grunted, gently placing the shell back in the crate, ''I saw ze inside of his bunker. I never vant to go in zere ever again.'' He added darkly. ''Vell, I should be going. I need to get Aelon home and put him to rest, and it is a long journey to ze border from here. I er, thank you. For your help. And I hope you stand by vhat you said about killing Cosht.''
The two reptiles nodded. Lexmar, a little grudgingly, held out a gloved hand. After a split second suspicious hesitation, Marty and Dave shook it in turn.
''We will. You have our channel and you now know where we live, so there's not much choice in it for us, is there?'' Marty grinned.
Lexmar grinned, threw a lazy salute and then walked away, leaving them to their new toys and musing.