2007: A period of relative peace for STUD. Sporadic outbreaks still occur, as they always will, but there are no large outbreaks for the time being. The reality of the zombie threat is still unknown to the majority of the world's population. Those that do know of them agree that it is a secret that best remain kept. There are those, however, who believe the opposite. They think that everyone should know about the threat posed by zombies, and are willing to do anything to achive that end....


Chapter One

First Strike


General Ark in the middle of the command room at STUD's main base in Utah. The command room was located at the very top of a ten-story building in the middle of the base. Windows located around the entire perimeter of the room gave Ark and unobstructed view of the base below and the expansive desert of the American Midwest. In the distance, even the Rocky Mountains were visible.

The room was packed full of computer terminals and banks of processors. STUD agents dilignetly scanned the internet for signs of zombie outbreaks. They searched through news reports around the globe for telltail signs of attacks. Bizzare murders, bites, unexplained viral infections, all were indications of zombie activity.

Ark leaned over the shoulder of a young STUD recruit. His screen showed a report from CNN that detailed a strange murder in Wisconson. Apparently, the victim was found with a bullet hole in his head and multiple human bite marks around his shoulders and neck. Ark's brow furrowed as he weighed the evidence.

"Yep, looks like a zombie. Dispatch a small team to check out the area, and I expece a report within 48 hours."

"Yes, sir," The recruit replyed.

Behind him, the elevator doors hissed open. Ark turned around, and found himself facing a short man dressed in a computer tech's clothing. He carried a small toolbox.

"You here to fix that logic relay?" Ark asked, analizing the man.

"Uh, yes sir," the man answered, his eyes turned downward.

There was something odd about the man, something in the way he answered Ark's question. It was hurried, nervous. The man definatly had something to hide. Ark kept his eyes fixed on the tech as his hand inched toward his holster. The tech tensed, having noticed Ark's slight movement. His eyes widened in terror.

Ark stopped, and his hand droped back down. The poor man was probably new, and intimidated enough at his presence. There was no reason to scare him any further.

"Your relay is over there in the corner. Get to it."

The tech nodded and practically ran over to the relay. He pulled a screwdriver out of his toolbox and got to work opening the casing of the relay. Ark turned back to the screen with the CNN report on it. He ordered the recruit to continue searching, and walked over to the nearest window. Ten stories below, the team he'd ordered dispatched to Wisconson was already piling into their Huey. The rotors began to turn as the pilot throttled up the engine.

Ark's observations were intterupted by the dinging of the elevator. He turned to see the computer tech darting into the elevator. He slammed at the "close door" button, and the doors hissed shut. Ark heard the elevator motor humming, decending all the way to the bottom floor.

"There is no way he fixed the relay that fast..." Ark said to himself.

He jogged over to the relay, which was still hanging open. The tech's toolbox was still on the floor next to it. Ark's heart began to race, and he knelt down next to the toolbox. Hands shaking, he undid the latch and opened it.

Ark sighed explosivly when he saw nothing but screwdrivers and wrenches inside the toolbox. He sat down, and leaned his back against a bank of processors. There was nothing wrong, and he was overreacting to the nervousness of a new recruit. Ark shook his head, wondering what had put him so on edge.

Before he got up, Ark took another look at the toolbox. This time, something caught his eye. The bottom of the inside of the toolbox was a good two inches higher than the bottom of the outside. Something was wrong, and this time he had reason to believe it. Ark dumped the tools out, grabbed a flathead screwdriver, and used it to pry up the bottom of the toolbox interior. The sheet of metal poped right off, and Ark found himself staring at a sizable block of C-4 explosive with a digital timer attached. The timer read ten seconds, and was counting down.

"Oh shit.....GO! EVERYBODY OUT OF THE ROOM, NOW!" Ark screamed.

He jumped up and dashed for the stairs, knowing the elevator would never get there in time. Ark slammed into the door, throwing it open and pitching himself down a flight of stairs. A moment after he hit the landing, the C-4 exploded.

Instantly, twenty three STUD agents vanished in a flash of light and flame. The force of the blast lifted the roof off the top of the building, and the walls exploded outward. The Huey helicopter carrying the team bound for Wisconson took a piece of concrete right to the rotors, and exploded. Bits of concrete and computer parts rained down on the base, destorying vehicles and small buildings. A flaming piece of insulation landed at the refueling depot, right next to where an agent was filling the tank of his jeep.

The fuel caught fire, and the flames shot down to the underground storage tanks. The entire southwestern corner of the base exploded, blasting a crater 100 feet across out of the utah sand and slaughtering anyone withing the blast radius. Thick, black smoke billowed into the sky, visable for miles and miles around.

Ark's ears rang, and he couldn't breath from all the smoke. Coughing, he rose to his feet and staggered up the stairs, praying somebody had survived the explosion. He emerged from the stairwell, and was greeted by harsh sunlight. The entire roof and walls were gone, and the only thing that remained of the command room was the scorched floor. Ark dragged himself over to the edge, and looked down on the base below. Flames towered into the sky from the fuel depot, spewing smoke. The helicopter wreckage was embedded in the perimeter wall, and the screams of the wounded could be heard even at his hight.

"I swear to God, I will find the fuckers that did this, and I'll rip their hearts out with my bare hands..."

Miller’s eyes drooped, the M249 in front of him was resting beside him as he stretched his legs in the pill box out side the thick wall of the Command center. As he yawned the door behind him opened suddenly.

With trained reaction Millers hand rushed t his cross draw to retrieve his pistol. As he turned he saw the face of the relief.

“You’re late!” But Miller suddenly realized why. The man was dead. He didn’t hear it but the puff of blood spray bursting out of Jeffs chest and then Black..

***

Richard could have sworn he had seen something near on of the Pillboxes. It was a flash of some sort. No sound but in the new moon sky it was clear and quick. The sound of his own skin being sliced was the last thing he heard.

***

Krow head rest on his desk, a small snore and a mumble or two, but other then that, Not much more. Suddenly Krow sat up ad the rumble out side his office shook the picture frames off his walls and desk. “What the Fuck!”

The Chaos out side his office door was something he could not ignore. He had to investigate.

Ark greeted him at the door almost rushing and plowing right into Krow as the door opened. “What the Fuck is going on Ark?” Krow asked his second in command.

“We’re under attack! Our Com Array is Down, We’re blind…”

Krow started keeping pace with arks full out run as they tore into the Armory and out the Doors to the court year. “Who! Deep 6? SLUT? CREEPS?”

“I don’t know Sir!”

When they got to the burning remains of the what use to be a stronghold, safe haven. everyone realized the attack was over, all that was left was putting out the fires and trying to rescue any that may still be alive.

"What the Hell Ark, What the Hell..."

"Last thing I remember seeing was some sort of Tech leaving a Tool Box, then boom, COM lite up like a gad damn Roman Candle. No one made it. But before that, Wisconson, something was going down is Wisconson, that wreckage there was what is left of the team I dispatch there."

"Think this has any relivance with this attack?"

"I... I..."

"You had better be sure of your answer!" Krow almost taring a passing agent apart for being too close.

"Sir... My gut tells me yes, Not sure how or why, but yes, I think it does."

"Get me a team out there ASAP. I wanna know what the fuck is going on..."

Wow, so good...I fainted.

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh

I made you faint.

Remember this is a Co-op Between me and Ark... One Write part of it the other will complete the Chapter... We two are the only two who can add new parts of this fiction... Both our Parts count as part of the story...

Ark and Krow walked through the center of the base, observing the fire crews working frantically to extinguish the last of the burning pools of gasoline. The pair entered the armoury structure, which had thankfully escaped damage during the explosion. Saluting the guard, Ark and Krow entered their personal area of the armory. Ark spun the dial on a small safe in the corner, carefully entering the 9 digit combination. While he did that, Krow strapped on his tactical crossdraw vest. The bloody thing could hold 8 mags for any rifle, along with 4 pistol mags. This in combination with his desert BDUs gave him a very tactical look.

The pins on the safe lock clicked into place, and Ark tugged the safe open. Inside was his personal Colt 1911 with 4 clips of ammunition. Instead of going with a full vest like Krow, Ark strapped on a bullet resistant vest and a pair of thigh holsters. The Colt went into the right holster, and a .45 Glock went into the other. The vest had 4 slots for pistol mags, and 4 slots for rifle mags. The holsters each held an extra mag. Ark had a mag in both pistols, and the extras filled all the slots.

Krow elected to take his MP-5A5 with a lighted forgrip, a MK23 SOCOM pistol, and a Pistol Grip Mossberg 500 shotgun. He also carried a shitload of ammo for each gun. Ark went with a relativly simple G-36c with 5 30rd mags. He wore a slick leather trenchcoat over the vest, giving him a "Don't fucking mess with me" look. He slung the G-36 over his shoulder.

Ark turned to Krow.

"I aim to misbehave."




The two commanders of STUD spent the next half hour rounding up a team to participate in the mission to Wisconson. They were only taking 3 people with them, but with both Ark and Krow going they figured that was all they'd need. The team consisted of Ken, Steph, and PFC Jim. Each had their own specialized loadouts, configured for their roles in the team and personal preferences.

By the time the team was ready to head for the airfield area, the fires were extinguished, and the wounded were being attended to. Luckily, STUD's small fleet of three Blackhawks, four Little Birds, and two Hueys had escaped damage in the explosion.

As they hiked toward the aircraft, Ark began thinking. If they, whoever "they" is, could penetrate right into STUD HQ, why stop at one bomb? The best time to attack is right after a devestating blow, so why would they stop? Why not kick then when they're already down?

While Ark pondered these questions, the 5 pound blocks of C-4 stuck onto every single aircraft in the area exploded simotaniously.

The blast wave knocked the entire team to their feet, and the entire STUD air fleet blew apart in a burst of flame. Shrapnal shredded any agent within range, and the fire consumed any mechanics or pilots attending to the aircraft. In an instant, the situation went from bad to horrific. People stumbled around, some covered in flaming jet fuel, screaming for help. A second pillar of smoke drifted into the sky, marking the graves of more and more STUD agents.

"Oh my god..." Steph whispered, speechless.

"Shit..." Ken managed to get out.

Ark, Krow, and Jim just stared, unable to find any words. Ark shook his head, snapping out of it. He pulled out his radio and pushed the talk key.

"Put the base on lockdown. Nobody except us in or out. Go through every living person on the base and make sure we don't have any more traitors in our midst."

To the team Ark said, "Come on. We need to get moving."

"Uh, Ark," Jim said, "The choppers are gone. How exactly do you expect to get to Wisconson?"

"Oh, don't worry, we've got a ride...."



Ark led the team into the lowest basement of the command building. From there, he opened a concealed door behind a power relay panel that opened to reveal a narrow concrete tunnel. They followed the tunnel for nearly a mile, out past the base perimeter and into the open desert. Finally, they came to a heavy steel door. Spinning the wheel, Ark open the door to reveal a canaverous, pitch black area. He ran his hand along the damp wall until he came to a light switch and flicked it on.

Powerful florescent lights 40 feet above their heads flickered on. The light revealed that they were standing in a large underground hanger, with equally massive doors on one end. In the middle of the hanger sat a one-of-a-kind aircraft, Ark's pride and joy.

Formerly a V-22 Ospery, Ark had salvaged it from a military scrapyard before it was demolished and took it back to the STUD base. He spent literally years retrofiting and modifying it, transforming it into his personal transport. The gigantic propeler engines had been replaced with jet turbine engines, increasing the plane's range and airspeed. The engines, mounted on the end of the wings, could rotate 90 degrees and allow the plane to take off and land vertically.

The fusalage was jet black, and had an extra layer of armour covering it. Three turrents with dual .50 caliber machineguns were mounted on the sides and top of the plane, all controled via remote control from the interior. It also had an upgraded radio assembly on the front, allowing it to communicate with STUD HQ from anywhere in the world.

Finally, on the side of the bow, the letters "Thresher" shown in bright gold paint.

"Holy shit!" Jim exclaimed.

Ark simply smiled. He loved theThresher more than anything in the world, except perhaps his Colt.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Thresher, named after the American submarine of the same name. You will not find another aircraft like this in the entire world, no matter how hard you look."

As they approached the rear hatch of the Thresher, it burst open on it's own. A tall Brazilian guy with short blond hair poked his head out.

"Ark," he said in a suprised tone, "I didn't expect you here so soon."

"What's up, Dave? Sorry to come unnanounced, but I need the Thresher, now."

"Well....um...I'm afriad I was in the middle of something..."

Ark and Krow climbed into the Thresher, and their mouths droped open. Wires were everywhere, flowing out of the walls like blood almost, and some were even strung across the cieling.

"Dave..." Krow said, "What the hell happened? Were there monkeys? Some sort of terrifying space monkey that got into Ark's plane and tore up the place?"

Dave Sheepishly looked around. "Well you see, errr, well it like this..." rinced his hand in the air. Krow quickly drew his gun putting up to the young mans forehead.

"Listen We just had our entire fleet blown to hell, you had better come up with a good reason why I gods name all this, This chaos is going on in here or I'll not blink when I put a new hole in you skull."

Dave quickly got the point. "The ignition wiring was set up wrong. Had to follow the wires to find the short."

"And did we find this mystery Short?" krow asked taking some of the pressure off the man forehead.

"Right here, you cant miss it..." Krow took a look for him self, "The fleet was blown to hell?"

"Yea haven't you been listening to the radio?"

"Well no, we're in a freaking cave in a mountain. Radio? you gotta be joking."

"How long will it take you to put my plane back togather?" Ark finally asked the impatiance in his voice was apperent. after all he really wanted to fly it yesterday.

"Oh well, give me a couple days and I'll have this all tucked away and air worthy for ya."

Krow walked to the front of the Thresher as he took his turn to speack again. "Well get to work, We're taking off in 10, Steph, I need a preflight inspection. Ken, Jim get this Bird fuled, Ark and I will run the preflight in the cockpit. Dave you really should be moving right now."

with that every one took off leaving a very confused Dave first gocking at the fury of action then swinging into action him self. He was determined to set a new speed record aircraft repair history.

***

Alen looked out over the wrackage of what use to be the STUD air fleet. Him and is team had done well. As a entire squade of STUD HQ security officer rushed towards him. the pistole in his hand let it's silent death go. the contents of his head splattered the wall next to him. their job ws done, no way could they ever interfear with their operation now. STUD was gone, now they would rule.

***

"Sir! He just blew his brains out?" One of the security officer said over his radio.

"How many is that?" the radio snapped back.

"Five sir. No one we know or should be here."

"Head count? Other then these Five all are acconted for and sacurity verified."

"Any idea who these guys are?"

"Well Their not SLUT or Deep 6 thats for sure..."

"What? if their not any one of them then who are they? Fundementalist?"

"The Fundementalist don't Attack, just react sir."

"What the Fuck! and Where the Hell is the Generals?"

***

The Big Custom machine ark had always dreamed of flying rolled out of the hanger and into the clearing. the Powerful jet turbine engines roared with the fury that all the STUD agent in Utah had been feeling with in the past hour. Soon the machine was air bourn and racing eastward towards Wisconson...

Very nice you two.

Ark guided the Thresher across the flat Midwest United States, flying low to avoid unnessecary attention. The Thresher was a relativly stealthy aircraft, but there was no reason to take risks. Behind him, Steph tried to use the raido to contact anyone in Ceader Woods, the town in which the report took place. So far, she had been unable to raise the local law enforcement.

"Ark," Steph said, removing the raido headset, "I'm not getting anything from Ceder Woods. Something must be wrong."

"Okay. We'll be there within an hour. I want all the turrents manned when we arrive, and keep trying to contact somebody."

***


Back at the base, Jimmy searched the bodies of the dead enemy agents, hoping to find some clue as to their identities. Jimmy couldn't find anything, not even a wallet or dog tags. These men had gone to extra lengths to conceal their identities. When he went to take fingerprints, he found that the operatives had actually burned off their fingerprints, preventing easy identifactation. STUD still had yet to gain access to the FBI DNA database, so that was out too. Same went for facial recognition.

"Alright, box up whatever they had with them, and burn the bodies," Jimmy ordered.

Jimmy bent down and picked up the dead man's pistol. It was a H & K USP, .45 caliber, with an integrated silencer. The gun was a custom job, far quieter than any normal silenced USP. None of STUD's enemies were known to use weapons of that type. Even Deep Six didn't take the time to customize their firearms.

He grabbed the arm of a passing agent, "Is the officer's garage still intact?"

"Uh, yes sir, the officer's garage was undamaged in the attack."

"Good," Jimmy released him, "Call up GHOST, and see if they have any leads yet."

The officer's garage was a one-story, thick concrete building that was divided up into ten seperate garages for the personal vehicles of the higher-ups in STUD. Jimmy punched the button next to his garage door, and the door rolled up into the cieling. Inside the 10x10 foot garage was Jimmy's personal motorcycle, a modified Yamaha racing bike. On the wall next to it was his titanium katana. At less than a pound, the sword was light as air, and could slice through nearly anything.

Jimmy strapped the sword to his back, jumped on the bike, and stomped the kick start. The bike roared to life underneath him, vibrating violently. He slid the enemy agent's pistol into one of the saddlebags and took off out of the garage, kicking up a plume of sand behind him. He circled the ruined command building, and accelerated out of the main gate, determined to find out who these fuckers were and why they did this...

***

The Thresher closed in on Ceder Woods, flying slightly above treetop level. Ark and Krow concentrated on flying, and behind them Steph continued scanning the radio frequencies. Ken, Jim, and Dave manned the turrents via computer consoles further back, behind the ammunition feeders for the guns.

Ark pulled back on the wheel slightly, guiding the Thresher up and over a tall ridge. The other side of the ridge dropped strait down into the valley that contained the town of Ceder Woods, Wisconson. The ridge circled almost the entire town, forming a bowl roughly ten miles in diameter, with the town filling roughly half of that. The only enterence and exit on the ground was a half-mile wide gap in the ridge, through which a highway had been built.

"Okay, guys, look alive back there," And said over his shoulder, "We're gonna do a quick flyby to check out the situation."

The sky was overcast, but the sun behind the clouds still provided enough light for them to see that the streets of Ceder Woods were devoid of any traffic at all.

Ark swooped in for a closer look.

***

Below them, in an alley between the drugstore and the post office, a black-clad figure raised a Stinger missile launcher, locked on to the Thresher, and fired.

***

Krow's eyes widened, "Shit! Missile incoming, off the starboard bow!"

Ark's eyes darted to the right, and he sighted the missile curving up from between two buildings and arcing toward them, homing in on the engine heat.

"Hang on back there!"

He threw the plane to the right and gunned the engine, darting down toward the ground. The missile flashed over their heads, but rapidly began to come around, still homing in on them. Ark pushed the engines to the max, pointing the Thresher at the nearest sheer cliff. Krow turned to Ark.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

"Trust me!" Ark shot back.

Ark flicked a switch on the control panel in front of him, and the engines rotated 180 degrees, so the thrust directed right in front of them. The Thresher ground to a halt, and Ark rotated the engines vertically, hovering in place. He spun the Thresher around to face the oncoming missile. It streaked right at them, loaded with enough explosives to blow their plane in half.

"Wait for it....wait for it..." Ark mumbled to himself.

When the missile was less than a hundered meters away, Ark cut the thrust to all the engines, and they plummeted downward. The missile, unable to change course the fast, shot over their heads a second time, and plowed in to the cliff. The blast wave rocked the Thresher, and Ark reengaged the engines and shoved the throttle foward. Superheated flame shot out of the engines, and the metal creaked with the stress of fighting gravity.

Ark rotated the engines slightly foward, hoping to get some lift out of the wings. The Thresher surged foward, starting to gain altitude.

"Come on, come on, come on...."

The wings finally got some lift going, and they flew foward, the underside of the plane scraping the top branches of the trees below.

"Slick!" Was all Krow manages to get out as they gain altitude. The sight of the trees below growing smaller and smaller as Ark Took the amazingly nimble aircraft out of lock range. "Lets rethink this shall we, See if you can land us out side of Town limits, Well walk in on foot." Just then STEPH burst into the cockpit.

"What in bloody hell was that?" she asked in a exotic rush of accents. she had developed a rather intresting blend of Noble Scottish and ritch Austrailian all pack nicley into one accent. It made her that much more intresting to many of the Single STUD agents in the Utah Command Center, However she shut most all of them down with her hard edge way. She after all could kill anyone of them with her pinky, should they try anything funny. None wanted to temp the fates to have it prooven.

"GTA. Stinger, Was locked on to us, but ark here handled it well enough. We're gonna land a few clicks out side of town and hoof it. Get everyone else ready."

"And waht about Dave?"

"Get him armed and ready to move out, We're not leaving anyone behind."

"Sir I don't like the idea of leaving my Baby alone with these ass holes."

"Deal with it... These assholes have some heavy fire power. We're going to be under prepared for this. any set of eyes we can get is that much better, besides that he a machanic, and damn good one to, we may need him out there."

Ark leveled the nose as he turned the birn into a veritcal landing. "Steph, Dave, Jim get me a couple of those 50 cals detatched. We're going to take those with us. Dave if you Can i want a sort of Silante alarm set up for our radios, if they mess with our Baby, I wanna know so that we can fuck 'em up when they do." Krow clipped his Strap of his MP5A5 to the loop on his vest shoulder as he checked the mag of his SOCOM. "Ok Lets get moving people!" the gentle rock of landing was smooth as silk.

"Handles like a Dream Dave, Your the man!" Ark called back as he ran the proceedures for shutting down.

"I'm just Glad I got him those flight lessions" Krow Commend with a gentle Elbow Jab to Daves ribs, Both men had a small chuckle over that fact. the moment was over as soon as the side doors slid open, the wall of death assualted them as the air rushed in. There was undead here alright, and they where close.

Moans from the wooded area came too them. and it was getting closer. Not many but it would make for an intresting run into town.

***

The Phone rang again, he knew who it was, but he has buisy with an email he had just recived. with an idle hand he picked up the phone. "Fuck off, I Quit!" he then slammed the phone back in it sattle. there where more important things to do then flip boxes of other people shit. if he had his way, he would have beaten any box marked fragile with a base ball bat. Finally he had a JOB more suited to his skills.

He was close to it too, would take a couple of hours but he could get there. Grabbing his Duster and his Aussie hat a good friend hand given to him when she came to the US. he strapped his Axe to his side and clipped his Shot gun under the folds of the Long leather Duster. His mates needed him and his team. Now he just hoped that the rest of his GHOST wheren't too out of shape or lazy to offer aid.

I'm Jimmy I guess. Very good also guys.

Not sure, ask ark... But yes I would be willing to venture you are Jimmy, seeing how I remember some poeple calling you Jimmy...

Real name

Yep, that's the idea.


Chapter 2

Enigma



Jimmy raced along a 2 lane highway in the desert, as fast as he could get his motorcycle to go. There was only one person he knew who could point him in the right direction, and he had very little time to get to him...

***

"Heads up! We got zombies incoming!" Ark said, unslinging his G-36.

"Got a visual?" Steph asked from inside.

"Not yet."

The others emerged from inside the Thresher, weapons at ready. Undead odor permeated the air, and moans were begining to reach their ears. Ark still couldn't see anything through the thick woods. Behind him, the team spread out, covering the small clearing they landed in. Steph thumbed back the hammer on her 9mm, while Ken tightened his grip on his MP-5.

In an instant, the zombies were on them. Five of them stumbled out of the bushes not ten feet in front of Ark, and seven more appeared to the left. Krow fired first, the 9mm rounds of his MP-5 tearing into the head of the zombie nearest him. Ark was a second behind, spraying at the group assaulting them.

The rest of the group fired as one. A zombie darted in, grabbing Ken by the throat and tackled him to the ground. Steph ran over and kicked it in the face, then blew it's head off. In that second or two, another zombie got up behind her and got a grip on her hair. Ken repaid the favor by shooting it in the head over her shoulder. Dave's shotgun boomed and the buckshot blasted a skinny female zombie nearly in half, splattering gore across the side of the plane. Steph finished it off with the last round in the clip of her 9mm.

"Fuck!" Steph yelled, ejecting the mag.

Ken got back on his feet and smashed a zombie across the face with the stock of his MP-5. Ark's G-36 ran out, and he dropped it, drawing the Glock and 1911. There were only 2 zombies left, one of them already in Dave's sights. The other was directly behind Krow, who was loading his gun.

"Krow! Down!"

Krow hit the deck without a word, and Ark placed a .45 slug right between the eyes of the last zombie.

"Everyone okay?" Krow yelled, getting back up.

General affermatives were recieved by everyone in the group.

"Okay, lets get to town and figure this shit out."

***

Jimmy rolled into the parking lot of a small, rundown gas station in the middle of the desert. He cut the engine on the bike, and knocked the kickstand down with his heel. Getting off the bike, he survayed the station. The sign, which read "Thompson's Gas", looked ready to fall off, and the pumps were obviously too rusted to actually work.

He walked up to the door and pushed it open, suprised to find it unlocked. The interior of the building was dark and dusty, and the shelves were bare of any products. Jimmy was about to leave when he heard a voice from the back of the store.

"Who the hell are you?"

Jimmy whipped around. A tall thin figure stood in the back corner of the store, by the register. The darkness prevented any further identifacation.

"Agent Jimmy, I'm with STUD."

"Ah, yes....STUD. I've been expecting you..."

"you've been exspecting us?" Jimmy asked, the only reply he could muster.

"Saw the smoke plume on the horizon, figured I call in see if you guys where just running your distillery a little hot or if anything was wrong, whn i got no answer I figured it was an attack." the older man came into the light lowed his shot gun when he verified the uniform. He looked him over, as he did Jimmy noticed that only one eye moved the other just staied out into nothing, a Glass eye no doubt.

"My General told me about an man, someone who knew more about guns, exspecially Custome jobs."

"Steve Said all that? What a pal huh? Did he by any chance mention how we met?"

Jimmy though about it, "No sorry cant say that he ever said anything like that?"

"Huh no matter. I i reckon you have a piece of iron you want me to look at?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I do." Jimmy was about to say more but the old mans hand stopped him then beckoned him to follow him to the old delapitated Beer cooler. He oppen the door letting out the pungent smell of mildew and mold waft into the small gas station. it was sicking but Jimmy had smelled worse. Much worse, and from waht he could tell so did this man.

With in a few second he head a bolt snap, what sounded like a guarge door opener and the movmvnet of stone tiles and wood rubbing togather. With out a word, the man led jimmy though the Employees only door and into the cooler. a stare way had opened in the floor.

They decended into the dark secret basement level of the old gasstation. jimmy eyes still not ajusted to the darkness couldn't see a thing, but with a flip of a switch the over head lights flashed to life reveiling a large work shop. larger then the actuall upper exterier of the station it self.

Jimmy gasped at the sight. "What the hell is this place?"

"Use to be a Moonshine Runner stash. Back in the 30-70's this station served as a relay. some times strait moonshine, when the law prohibited Coores Beer runners would also drive their beer here to swap cars right under smokies nose. Something about the cold filtering prosses. All bogus we found out later, but Smokey and the bandit all based on that. Since then this place was abandoned. When Krow pulled my ass out of Holden he helped me set this place up. You know I own that man my life. So waht have we got fo me to play with?"

Jimmy was impressed with the simple yet very complex funtionality of it all. it was cool in here, a natural cooler in the blazing utah desert sun. while not really looking he took the custom from his belt and handed it to the older man looking at the gracefully organized shelf of every weapon known to man.

"Ahhh, now this is fine work. where did you get this from?"

"One of the bastards that hit us, Blew his brains out with it."

"Now thats something." the older man said as he looked at ti with the jewlers loop.

"What? Show me!"

"See the triger here?" the old man pointed with his picky, the nail it self was longer the all the rest. "it's been swaped with another guns trigger. and this here." Again with his long pinky nail, he pointed to the grip. "It's a sort of Lock, not normally part of a gun of this make. more common on a colt 1911. You follow?"

Jimmy nodded slowly "No... Look I hate guns, The fact is I feel dirt even picking that one up. if you say its weird, I believe you, if you say it's normal then it must be normal."

"Settle down settle down. Lets put it this way. This is a custome Job. One of a kind. and heres the Best part. This Gun is like a finger print. I make a few phone calls and i have anything you want to know. anything you want to know?"

"Yea, Whos does it belong to and who does he work for."

"Concider it done..." the only man picked up the phone. "By the may the name Mont... Mont stevens... Steve just calls me uncle Mont. Good kid. and you are?"

"Name Jimmy, but every one Call me ZKN. Thats short for Zombie Killing Ninja." after a short search Jimmy found him self a seat, he was tired after his hard ride, he needed to take a small rest, soon as he layed his head down on the desk, he was out cold.

looking good :)

You're the Jim on my team, by the way.

I know.

Nice can't wait for the next bit.

Krow leaned around the corner, His eye looking down the sites as he did. Mostly looking for any sign of motion, mostly hopeing he wouldn't see and. Next to follow was steph, then dave, Arm Ken and Jim taking up the rear. "Where are we on GPS Ark?"

"Look like we're comming up on the Town Hall and Court house." ark answered in a whisper.

"Ok Good, Let see if we can get in nice and quiet. Mabe see if theres anyone in there who might beable to help us."

Ark shook his head. they all knew that who ever was alive in this town, also wanted them dead. and who ever that was was gunning for them hard. One thing from all this seemed to point to one conclusion. Who ever they where dealing with was someone they have never faced before. Deep six wasn't know for the most exspencive Equipment or weapons systems, but the neve skimped eigther. these guys where on a budget, a bigger Budget then SLUT, but a budget all the same.

And appeently there was some bad Bad Blood. The more they sw of these guys the more they realized these fuckers where the ones who had bombed them. Arks gut was right about there being a connection. but what the hell was it.

The town seemed amazingly void of any undead. from the layout and the size they should have been overwelmingly mobbed with them, but as fo yet they had only come across a handful here and a few there. Something was deffinitly up.

Now the needed answers.

***

"Hay Jimmy! Wake up!..."

"Huh? Wha? Oh Mont... Sorry, I haven't slept in like 41 hours... How long was I out..."

"Almost 6, don't worry about it. God some good news, I have a name for that iron you brought me. Seems to be owned by a guy name Alen Merks..."

"And?" Jimmy asked when the older man seemed to just stair out into space.

"Oh sorry, Seems Alen Merks had him self a bit of a record. Top Marksman in his class at westpoint. Later Graduated with honors, Joined the Army as an officer, served in the Second Gulf. Stayed there till he was Discharged for conduct unbecomming an officer. From there he joined a MERC's team, worked private Secerurity for some Big time gangster wanna be. Made him self a fat wade of cash before they too kicked his ass out. Seems he was a little to extream for their liking. Bounced around working Odd jobs. Freelance, Bodyguard, and then he just dissapears from the face of the earth."

"Anythign else?"

"Yeah, him and a few of his former MERC buddies who decided to follow his lead seemed to disappear all at the same time. Craig Manson, James Levers, Shaun Nickles, Robert Klains, Seems they liked to remove their finger prints just before a job just incase they died, all 5 real nut jobs, I think it's safe to say. Like I said all five just dropped from the face of the earth. and if my notion is correct, you guys just found him.

"Who the hell are these guys?"

"Well if it help a friend of mine sent me a fax of these guys records. last know wearabout and what not. maybe that will help in some way, but i think I'm pretty much reach the end of the paper trail."

"Yea, well tis should help. maybe some of our boys have gotten the net back up, maybe we can squeeze a little more info out of them. Thanks for the help."

"Your welcome, good luck to you, hope all goes well."

And with a quick salute, Jimmy heared up the stairs and out.

Mont whent back to work on his project as he listen to the bell ring. his hands acked from the small details and arthritus, it wasn't easy as it use to be but he was strong willed and stubbon. his thoughts of the rather stange iron that boy hand brought him.

the bell upstairs rang again. he didn't remember hearing the boys moter cycle racing away. he most have forgotten something. Looking around he spotted the boys Sword he had left behind. "Hay jimmy, Looks like you forgo..." he pain in his chest broung him to his knees, the figure in the shadows was not jimmy. again another flash of light and silance fury. looking down he say the two gushing holes in his chest. "Well Kay darling, Look like I'll be seeing you real soon..."

Ark kicked open the heavy wood doors of the town courthouse, and they swung open without resistance. While the streets outside were relativly devoid of battle scars, the inside of the courthouse was a different matter. The lobby of the courthouse was dominated by a gigantic staircase directly across from the main door, and at the bottom was a ramshackle pile of desks and chairs that served as a barricade.

Bodies littered the area, lying in pools of blood and spent shells. They were stripped almost to the bone, and even the brains had been scooped out of their skulls. A few M-92 pistols were lying around, all empty with the slide locked back.

The rest of the team entered behind Ark, fanning out to cover the area. Ken put a hand over his nose.

"Ugh! What the hell happened here?" He asked.

Krow bent down and picked up a small circular object. He wiped the blood off to reveal the words "Ceder Woods Police Department."

"They're cops," Krow said, dropping the badge, "Or were cops, anyway. Looks like they picked this place for their last stand. Judging by the lack of bodies, they did't do very well."

Krow! Ark! Take a look at this!" Jim called from the top of the stairs.

The two generals dashed up the stairs. Jim was pointing at a body lying on the top landing. It too had been stripped almost to the bone, with one significant difference.

"Check out his head."

The top half of the man's head had been blown open. It looked to Krow like a high-caliber rifle round, far more powerful than anything the cops had with them.

"What the hell..."

***

Jimmy was a little over a mile away from the station when he realized that he forgot his sword. He slowed down, turned around, and took off the way he'd come, going even faster than before. Something in his gut told him that all was not well with Mont Paxman.

He tore into the station parking area and screeched to a stop. Jimmy leapt off the bike and dashed to the enterance, shoving open the door. As the door flew open, Jimmy's ears registered the slightest "click".

He whipped around, glancing up. A 6 inch length of wire dangled from a small black box stuck to the wall above the door frame. A little red light on it begain flashing faster and faster.

"Oh FUCK!"

Time slowed as Jimmy dashed back out the enterence, running harder than he'd ever run in his life. He got as far as the sign out front when the entire building exploded behind him. The flames tore through Mont's stash of weapons and ammuntion, setting them all off. An instant later, it reached the underground fuel tanks.

Jimmy was thrown foward into the air, and his motorcycle was blown apart. The sign toppled over, narrowly missing him when he crashed into the dirt. Thousands of rounds of ammunition went off, sounding like some demented fireworks display on steroids.

He struggled back onto his feet, brushing the soot and sand off his clothing. Debris began to rain down around him. Heat from the towering flames seared his face, and what little remained of the building colapsed into the crater created by the underground explosion.

The sword, constructed of solid titanium, landed point first in the sand next to him.

that part with the sword was smooth.

Yep ark, I was right... Your parts are what is blowing then away...

Damn convenience machine for me. Sorry about unle Mont.

Looking goody-good.

To be honest, Uncle Mont died in 1995, I used him as a character, Becuase I loved that man. Like a Second Father to me, was Good to my family when my dad resigned from the Military. Got my Dad a great Job in Civle Service at teh Navy Testing range in Califonia. It's all good...

I'm sorry all the same.

Mine is an evil laugh!

i notice ark has about 99 and a half explosions in every one of his parts...

"Little Man sure Does loves Fire..."

I will be posting the next part tomarrow... Have a few things to work on and work out...

His avatar for the longest time said pyrotechnician. You didn't pick up his being a pyro?

i did, but i was stating the obvious in an attempt to generate some chuckels... you sir however only sought to point out my mistakes! i demand a free laugh.

HE HE HAW HAW

Damnit Krow....get to work.

I though it was your Turn Buddie... you start and I finnish... Thats alsty one was becuase you had Writed block... Still waiting...

Ooh nice... ^_^

No, it's your turn, right?

im pretty sure it is

Don't care, just get the story going!!!!

Krow your making me angry :angry: i can make your life a living pain