Beneath the Skin

[Delta]

So, introduction. I am vDeltaGamingv. Some of you know me, some of you do not. I have yet to make a real contribution to anything here, so I decided to write a story. So, without further ado, enjoy.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end...

"You're sure?"

"Damn right, I'm sure. You don't question what you've seen with your own eyes," a puff of smoke, a clicking noise, followed by the hammer of a revolver being pulled back.

"Whatever you say, Mr. X," the other man replied. In front of him was a screen of monitors, each one displaying another area of the complex. Too bad the power didn't work half the time, or many more systems inside the complex could be reactivated to protect them.

Mr. X. glanced at the monitor in front of his chair, which went from a blank screen to a flashing word, reading TRANSMISSION - CLASS BLACK.

TRANSMISSION

CLASS: BLACK

CONFIRMATION CODE: 163114

TO: OUTPOST COMPLEX 1-2-9

MESSAGE:

Termination. The point? Think of hell. We live in it now. Walking corpses. Lava. I miss my old life, you know that? Of course you don't. This message is not of importance to many, but to you, that is a matter of difference. Kill him. Verification 1-1-5.

TRANSMISSION END

Mr. X blew smoke into the monitor and looked over at the man sitting to his left. He was watching intently for any disturbance in the complex. The man didn't deserve this, but it was required of him. It wasn't personal, just the way the world was now.

Before the man could turn, a bullet was buried in his skull, blood splattered across the chair, table, and monitors in front of him. He toppled from the chair and lay on his side on the hard floor.

"Just another less to be infected," Mr. X. remarked emotionlessly, standing up and pushing the chair back. His stay here was over, and now he would have to make his own way to where he was needed. Some things in this world were the same, some different. Then you had those who had established their own worlds, only disturbed by the walking dead.

Washington D.C., USA.

"You know we can't hold out forever?" one man in a dirty suit said to another. fingering his sidearm nervously.

"No shit, genius," the man next to him replied, staring out at the world that lay in rubble around them. They were currently in one of the smaller houses on the street, already having raided it of any possessions they could use. Generally ammunition, food, or water.

The first man, Howard Barker, former CEO of one of the largest banking corporations in the world before his entire empire had come to a colapse with society, looked out at the foggy and lava-filled world that greeted them these days. With a shake of his head, he turned to the other man, who brandished a knife with blood already on it, and looked out of the window, full expecting to see shambling undead coming after them.

They were not disappointed.

The Far East, Complex 12

"Hurry the hell up, will you!?"

"I'm trying!" a man yelled back at the group of three men surrounding him. All three were using quite weak weapons to try and keep the zombies away from him as he fiddled with the computer console in front of him, looking for a way to activate the advanced technology the complex housed.

The man tapped another key, opening another window on the monitor, this one filled with an old transmission. Not what he wanted, but he glanced at it quickly, catching the point of the message.

CLASSIFICATION: BLACK

AFFILIATION: 9-3-5

SUBJECT: DR. EDWA-

He got no further than the first four letters of the subject's name, before another pop-up appeared, prompting him to run MDT_ACTIVATION.exe. He quickly activated it, getting an error on the screen, stating that power could not be routed to the MDT without proper connection.

"Damn it!" the man yelled, moving to another prompt, this one called SEAL_DOORS.exe

He ran it, sealing the doros of the room, keeping the shambling undead from entering the gray and blue complex, isolating him and his newfound comrades inside the room with the computer, MDT, and locked door on the opposite side.

"That's better," the man remarked, noticing the lack of gunfire behind him, as the others gathered around the screen and looked at the complexity of the system.

"Now, let's see if we can get this connection set-up properly..."

[Delta]

"All it takes is the will of a single man..."

Washington D.C., USA

Baker's knife sank into the head of the first zombie to approach him, splattering blood across the floor, wall, and his own suit for not the first time that day. He then shoved the undead creature away from him and fire into the one that had been immediately behind it, killing it as well.

The other man, Richard Wilkins, charged directly into one of the shambling bodies and plunged his knife up through the bottom of the thing's head. This was followed by a quick fist to the zombie's face, sending it to the floor.

"Not many, are there?" Baker asked, knifing another one of the creatures nearing him.

"Just as well for us," Wilkins replied, emptying another magazine into one of the shambling creatures as it entered the broken window in the room.

Several dead-again zombies later, the pair was out of ammunition as well as things to kill, so they proceeded to walk into another room behind them, where they found a TV that was turned on, static filling up the screen.

"What the hell?" Baker crouched next to the television and looked for a source of power. It wasn't plugged in to the wall, furthering his intrigue as to how the device was still functioning.

Before he could do anything, Wilkins smacked the top of it with his Colt M1911. What followed was a high-pitched whine, followed by a voice coming from the device.

"Oh, so there are still living people out there! I've been searching for decades!"

Both men just stared in silence, and then the voice began again.

"Listen, you must activate the source. Find the source! Turn it -"

With that, the voice faded away, the television turned off, and the two men were left to gape at what they'd just seen.

"What. The. Hell?" Wilkins summed up for the pair of men, slowly backing away from the television as Baker stood and clutched his head.

NEIN! Do not listen to zat man! He will kill you! He vill destroy the entire world and leave you all to rot! Baker's mind was filled with a voice that was screaming at him, and he looked up at Wilkins to see if he had heard the new voice as well.

"Howard, what the hell is wrong with you?" so he hadn't.

"You don't hear it?" Baker inquired to the other man.

"Hear what?" Wilkins questioned back, taking another step back from his comrade.

"That new voi- GAH!"

LISTEN! Imbecile! Your friend there is deaf, and I am ze only one who can help you! Listen to me if you wish to fix this world and become a hero in it! Baker slumped backwards, clutching his head in pain from the force of the voice, and looked up through blurred vision to see his ally walking towards him with his knife in front of him.

"If you're going insane, then I'll just kill you now, Howard!" a cold voice exclaimed to the slumped man, who was now defenseless.

Nein! Your friend is going to kill you, you imbecile! You are the only hope! Do not let this man stand in your way of restoring your race! KILL HIM! With the last command, the man's voice jumped from what sounded like a German accent to a demonic voice, which sprang Baker to life, his knife plunging up into the chest of the man who had been about to kill him moments before.

"I will restore humanity! Someone like you won't stand in my way!" Wilkins heard these last words being screeched into his ear before he slumped backwards and his vision faded away from him.

Complex 129, China

Mr. X. moved through the files quickly, looking for one person in particular. He was the only one that mattered, and his file would tell all they needed to know about him. He went to the correct section and found the right file after only a few seconds of searching, and opened it there, despite his orders.

"Well, I'll be damned..."

Author's Note: During the part where the voice speaks to Baker, and I'm pretty sure you've figured out that it's our favorite German, I replaced some letters with others to attempt to replicate his accent. Just so you know I can spell.