1 E.Z.D.U. (Johnathan Andrews)
"Damn my head," I muttered as I awoke with a killer headache. Drinking my sorrows away the night before had not affected my head very well.
"Right...I quit," I reminded myself, before grabbing a half-empty bottle of beer, only for the doorbell to ring the moment it grazed my lips. I quickly grabbed my pistol and hid it behind my back, before starting to stand up.
"Dammit," I muttered as I stood up to answer. *Creeeak.* The door let out a loud and long creak as I opened it to reveal a woman dressed in a black suit and a man dressed in the standard military outfit, a dark blue camo suit.
The chain lay, there fully extended as I didn't want to fully open the door, not yet.
She looked frail, yet also strong. Her eyes seemed to be scanning every inch of both me and my apartment before she spoke.
"Johnathan Andrews?" She asked quizzingly, her eyes reflecting disgust at me. Then, before waiting for my reply, she kicked open the door, stepped into my apartment, and kicked a bottle of beer into the wall. *SHATTER!* The man followed closely behind, ignoring her actions.
On instinct, I pulled out my gun and aimed it straight at her heart.
"Wonderful, go ahead and let yourself in bitch," I muttered, looking around for my spare Bayonet knife, making sure to keep my gun trained on her.
"Yeah, that's me, what do you want?" I answered, attempting to remove the hostility in my voice. If she was going to attack me, I needed her to believe I let my guard down, at least slightly.
"Found it," I thought, grabbing my knife discreetly off my coffee table. Her eyes quickly darted to me, as she turned around faster than I expected. Whoever she was, she was trained, and well trained at that, there was no wasted movement as she moved.
"Put the gun and knife down John, I came with an offer," she said calmly, motioning for me to sit on my couch. I didn't move though, instead, I stayed still and lowered my blade, a cheap tactic but an effective one. Although I chose to put down the gun, gunshots would attract unwanted attention.
It was only me and those two in the apartment, if something were to go down, none of our corpses would be discovered for a while. "I have a gun under the couch, as long as I play along if anything happens I'll be fine," I concluded, finally walking over to the couch as her gaze seemed to be looking through me.
"I'm listening," I responded, sitting down as I tried to remember where my other knives were stashed. Unfortunately, my headache prevented me from fully remembering.
I was still fully prepared for a fight, my paranoia wouldn't allow me to ignore her brazen and arrogant attitude.
"I'll keep this as brief as possible, join the E.Z.D.U." She stated, holding out a folder. However, I chose to ignore the folder and instead focused on the acronym she used.
"E.Z.D.U. What the hell is that?" I asked, gripping the handle of my knife hidden in the couch cushion.
"I don't have time- Ugh, whatever. The E.Z.D.U. Also known as the Early, Zombie, Detection, Unit," she explained, not trying to hide her annoyance in the slightest. She must have been someone high up to be such an asshole.
"First, what the fuck is a 'zombie?' Second, I quit the military," I asked confused as I raised the blade a little higher. She wanted to lure me into something, that much was obvious.
"I. Don't. Care. Either join or watch this damned country and everyone you love get razed to the ground," she added, her eyes focused on my hand. She looked straight through me, she was more dangerous than I first imagined.
"I don't have anyone left to love, you bastards took that emotion away from me. Also, I don't give a flying fuck about this country anymore," I responded, letting go of the blade. It wouldn't be an effective tool anymore, that much was obvious.
Instead, I focused on the gun below the couch, sound be damned, I had a feeling she was about to do something.
Her eyes shot open at my response, and she seemed to stumble a bit before finding her words.
"W-Well, then you don't care about all the children that'll perish?!" At her response, I regripped the handle of my M9-Bayonet and swung it through the air, stopping right before it hit her neck.
"H-Hey, let's all calm down. Johnathan, we need your help," the man intervened, clearly trying to calm me down.
"Watch it woman," I grumbled, putting the knife down and grabbing her folder. I hated to admit it, but he was right, nothing good would come of a fight.
"I-I'm sorry Mr. Andrews, please help us!" She begged out, as her eyes began to tear up. So much for the strong woman she pretended to be.
*Sigh.* "What's the damage?" I asked, deciding not to open the folder just yet. It was obvious something huge was going on, and she knew what it was.
"W-We created a bio-weapon capable of destroying the entire world, and we kind of, maybe, accidentally spread it," she explained briefly, scared out of her mind. Hearing her, I buried my face in my hands before standing up.
"You dumb bastards finally did it, you created something you couldn't contain," I grumbled, grabbing my knife and coat.
"Y-You said you'd help?!" She exclaimed angrily as she watched me grab a belt.
"I didn't say I'd help, but I don't really have a choice," I responded, clearly common sense was not as common with her. "I assume you have a base already as well?" I asked, motioning toward the door as she stood there frightened.
"R-Right, sorry sir," she stumbled out, before leading me out to a black car. Soon enough, I was signing an NDA and keeping a solid grip on my knife. It didn't take a whole lot of experience to know something could go down.
The flat black road soon turned into rough pavement as we drove away from the city and into a more deserted area, before arriving near a building.
I stepped out of the car and looked toward the building in front of me. It wasn't huge by any standards, but it was medium-sized, about 50 feet tall at maximum.
The black building stood there, looming over me as the sunlight seemed to be absorbed by the heavily tinted windows.
"What exactly am I going to be doing here?" I asked, beginning to unsheathe my knife. But, she only looked at me with a cocky smile, forgetting the sense of fear I instilled in her only minutes prior.
Then, I fully realized why I had a sense of danger. It wasn't a base of operations, it was a damn armory. "How do you like it, Johnathan?" She asked, her cocky grin making me slightly pissed. The damn woman knew I was unable to back away and leave now.
But, I finally understood what was going on, these creatures or 'zombies' were meant to be killed no matter what.
"What the hell am I going against!?" I shouted, grabbing her hair and lifting her up. I was completely enraged by the sight of her now, children were supposedly dying and here she was with a fucking grin on her face.
"Hey! Let's calm down a bit, ma'am you should stop antagonizing him. He's the most valuable person at the moment, we can't upset him!" The man chimed in again, he seemed lower than her, but at least he saw sense.
"C-Check the folder," she managed to say while gasping in pain. *Thud.* I dropped her onto the ground and found the file, opening it to reveal everything else.
"What the hell have you dumbasses done!" I shouted in a mix of surprise and anger after looking at it for a bit. They had created a bio-weapon, but not just that. They created a weapon that would act as an advanced form of rabies, a mega-mutated virus in short.
"You must understand, we didn't understand this would happen, we were in over our heads!" She shouted in her defense, seeing my pissed expression. She began pinching her arm to prevent herself from falling over in fear as she responded. At least she seemed slightly self-aware.
"That's why you need me, isn't it? I was the best soldier before I was discharged and you need me to fix your whole damn mess," I guessed, getting a nod from her and the man as blood started to come out of her arm.
"Your first assignment is there too," she added, before sinking away after getting an angry glare from me. I knew of a bio-weapon, but now I had to deal with a damn virus too.
"I'll read it later," I answered, still annoyed I had to fight for this shitty country.
"If it isn't done soon, it'll be too late John," she reiterated, her cocky grin reappearing on her crooked face. But, a pissed look from the man beside her made her grin disappear. Maybe he was above her instead of the other way around.
"Just how badly did you fuckers screw up?" I wondered, but instead of saying that, I checked the file again.
"First spread is in Chicago, Illinois, at a waterpark?" I asked, reading it. It was obvious to me even more that this was bad.
"That's why we need you," she said, opening the door to the building and leading me inside. The man followed silently, putting on his badge.
