The vehicle's wheels crunched through the mud as the convoy moved down an old forest road. The 6:30 AM mist barely allowed for a few meters of visibility. The mission was simple: go in, extract the target, and return before noon. As simple as an operation with four soldiers armed to the teeth could be.
Ghost was out front checking his tablet, Soap was driving without taking his eyes off the road, Keegan was watching the forest with his rifle resting on the door, and Yiming was checking his magazine out of habit.
Then, the forest changed.
A deer bolted out from the trees, followed by two wild boars and an entire pack of wolves. None of them paid attention to the vehicle. They ran desperately into the depths of the forest, tripping over each other, letting out blood-curdling grunts and screeches.
Soap frowned. —"Since when does a wolf run away from something?"—
Ghost looked up from the map. —"Stop the vehicle."—
The engine idled. For a few seconds, only the wind was heard... until an explosion rumbled in the distance.
BOOM
The ground shook for just an instant.
All 4 turned automatically towards the city. A huge plume of smoke began to rise over the horizon.
Soap grabbed the radio
—"Base, this is Bravo-2. Report that explosion."— He only received static.
Keegan tried another frequency. —"Central, do you copy?"—
Ghost quickly changed channels until he caught a weak signal.
—"...Gh...st..."— It was Price.
The transmission sounded broken. —"...fl...ee..."—
More interference. —"...sa...ve...yourselves..."—
A metallic noise saturated the channel. —"...zomb...ckckckkc..."—
The communication died completely. Silence. Ghost lowered the radio slowly, no one spoke.
Soap gulped. —"Did he just say... zombies?"—
Keegan kept watching the horizon. —"It doesn't matter what he said. If Price ordered us to flee... something went very wrong."—
Ghost tucked the radio into his vest. —"The base is unreachable. Extraction is cancelled. From this moment on, our priority is to survive and find out what the hell is happening."—
The forest, which just a minute ago was full of life, fell completely silent—no birds, no insects, only the sound of the engine... and the uncomfortable feeling that whatever had scared all the animals away was still behind them.