"The Way to win in a battle according to military science is to know the rhythms of the specific opponents, and use rhythms that your opponents do not expect, producing formless rhythms from rhythms of wisdom."

-Myamoto Muzashi

Man what happened?! The new century was upon us and I was on my way to a staff position with the 4^th of the 8^th Air Cavalry division, which were replacing the existing Light Infantry divisions currently in existence. Well forget all that shit!! The scientists called it meteor 299 like most it was supposed to harmlessly hit the earth burn up and call it a day but that didn’t happen. It hit mount Kilimanjaro and everything changed. What was in that damn thing? It must have been from hell because that what we called it hell on earth. The volatile continent of Africa got a hell of a wake up call that night. Already flowing with war and famine there was a nice supply of dead just waiting to get up; and get up they did in an unending trance and an undeniable hunger. The blood flowed like an ocean; the entire continent was quarantined with numerous naval vessels along the entire coast killing anyone that dared to leave. The quarantine became useless the plague spread like a festering wound the UN agreed to the use of tactical nuclear strikes on all African cities. New Zealand and Australia were next and fared no better; they too fell under the United Nations nuclear purge tactic, but it was no use it spread everywhere. What could we do? Wait it out? Nuke the whole world? Go to space? Or try to kill em all? The government chose to give the Air cav the same mission they always did and as usual it was kill ‘em all while they held up in some nice safe bunker.

Captain Alex Paxton stopped writing in his journal and began speaking into his voice recorder, " Twenty third June 23:33 hours." He continued, "I have taken command of the 4^th of the 8^th cavalry division after our current Commanding Officer major William Keiller was the victim of a major rotor failure in his MD 500 scout aircraft he survived the auto rotation but was subsequently eaten alive by the horde of dead that gathered at the sound of the crash," "This is the fifth Commanding officer we have lost this year I hope my luck isn’t as shitty as theirs but I guess I got that staff position I was looking for." While laughing the captain continued to record, "We are holding Aegis one our hastily constructed fire base, our ten foot walls and square mile perimeter has not nor should be breached aegis two and four are in constant contact and faring well but Aegis three reported being overrun." "How the hell do you overrun a fire base with a division of troops and aircraft?" ‘It must have been rogue military units no one else would have the guts or the firepower to try." "All air assault troops and aircraft minus the Majors aircraft are ready to begin rescue operations on the hastily setup rescue stations the problem is that they are being overrun faster that we can put them up we are their only chance of survival." " But we are not going to knock down one of the walls and let ‘em walk in, the National Guard tried that now they are just a memory of the out dated practice of helping their fellow man my philosophy is when the dead walk the air cav helps itself everything else is trivial." The Captain switched off the recorder and called his Executive officer Ken Evers, " Mister Evers have we received any transmissions today?" Evers answered, " Yes sir!" " Paradise lost reestablish communication and we have their position." Paradise lost was the name given to rescue station 121 it contained the survivors of two nursing schools and the occupants of a day care center. The nursing students always seductively asked when would the strong soldiers come and save them? They must have thought that would make the Cav. Move faster. They were damn right. If there was ever a mission the men were set on participating in, this was it and zero hour was fast approaching. The builders of these fire bases were smart enough to move all personnel quarters and operation centers below ground. The stench of the dead was unbearable and most soldiers that were on guard duty for an extended period of time would wear their gas masks. Days were spent performing drills or equipment and aircraft checks. We often do short recon missions but after what happened to the Major we keep that to a minimum. Except for paradise lost and the other Aegis bases there were no more incoming transmissions. It was time to go to L.A. Roughly forty miles away and rescue those people, if for anything to give some hope to the troops. This became our top priority. Hell! It may be the end of the world but we had to have some happiness. The only way to get them out would be a joined air assault air rescue mission. T o save the three hundred people in the shelter it would have to be done quickly and with precision. Paxton radioed his second in command, "Mister Evers I need to see you in my quarters in Ten minutes." The Lieutenant answered, "Yes sir, on the way." Evers enter the room " reporting as ordered sir!" The Captain stared at a map of L.A. and spoke, "Ken I think I have an Idea to get those people out of that shelter, five blocks away you see this area with the three buildings?" Evers replied, " I think I know where your going with this one a nice little diversion right?" Paxton smiled, " Yeah the dead are pretty fuckin stupid but you don’t have to be smart to launch mass wave attacks like they do and since the shelter is in this cul de sac the only way in is from above but if a platoon is air assaulted in this area here" the Captain was pointing to an area five blocks away in a dead end alley. "They can set a nice loud ambush that will hopefully give us enough time to air rescue the people in the shelter because the only way we can get in there is from above but if the dead pile into that area its going to be a nightmare especially after we open their door." He punctuated the point "Its like this; we open the door and take ‘em all or we open the door and take as many as we can but once we open the door and the dead hear us its everything goes and I’m not talkin’ about a fire sale!"

Captain Paxton assembled his aircraft commanders and the platoon leader for the Cavaliers the name given to the air assault Battalion. Pointing to the street in front of the rescue station he began " Gentleman this is LZ hope we are going to make it simple our MH-60 Blackhawks and V-22 ospreys can fit into this area, it may be a tight fit especially for the Ospreys but the Blackhawks should have no trouble." "Commanders once you land have your crew chiefs move the survivors as fast as possible we don’t have lots of time stay alert if you see any dead start shooting don’t wait till their on your position if you see ‘em keep ‘em off balance as long as possible and make sure your crew chiefs move their asses out there concentration should be on the survivors let the door gunners worry about the dead." He began pointing to a spot six hundred meters from the LZ. "This area Lieutenant miles is your job, this is point X-ray you and your men will be air dropped here and proceed six hundred meters to this point." Paxton pointed to a spot six hundred meters from X-ray that led to an open area closed off by three buildings "I want you and three platoons to set up an ambush make as much noise as you can, get the dead over to your position, pop the surprise and wait as long as you can I estimate we need at least thirty minutes!" "Once the diversion begins we will begin the air rescue mission." LT. Miles responded, " Yes sir it won’t be a problem but I have one question sir." Paxton urges Miles, " Continue." "Will we be given any mission assets sir." Paxton forgot to add, "Oh yes sorry about that you’ll have two RAH Comanche attack helicopters flying over watch they will be able to provide any needed fire support." The captain finished the briefing " We are going to have over twenty five aircraft in that small area watch you spacing with ten Blackhawks and ten Ospreys its going to get tight not to mention the five AH64D apaches we’ll have as fire support don’t get fixated on the LZ if you do you’ll sure as hell screw up and get a lot of people killed." "I’ll address the division in one hour lets start equipment checks and pre ops checks ASAP!"

With the 4^th of the 8^th assembled Captain Alex Paxton tells his troops what he expects, "If we do this by the numbers hopefully no one will die but we all know thats bullshit, intelligence says that the dead number from two to three thousand but in reality its eight to ten thousand now they have already overrun the National Guard but those guys were a bunch of pussies, the dead may be numerous but history shows that no one fucks with the Air Cav!!" His comments were met with huge cheers and shouts of "Hurrah!!" "Now its time to get to business all equipment checks will be done in 6 hours; the operation will commence in seven hours lets get it done." "Airborne!!" Once again his comments rallied the troops as they ran to begin operation Steel Dagger. The troops did get it done the; the soldiers of the diversionary mission had all weapons and equipment checks done in under one hour the air crews had all of their aircraft a total of twenty seven ready for battle in under three hours their quick work allowed them to dwell on their upcoming events which sometimes does more harm than good. 

Zero hour. The aircraft began to crank up their engines and the troops of the diversionary mission began to board the aircraft. LT. Tom Miles watched his troops making sure everything was going by the numbers when he was tapped on the shoulder by Captain paxton who began to discuss the missions urgency ‘Good luck Tom." "Thank you sir." replied the lieutenant Paxton looked at his own awaiting aircraft " Tom we lost contact with the station Twenty minutes ago I fear the worst but just in case you need to give us as much time as you can but don’t turn it into a last stand and stay in contact I don’t need anymore surprises today." "Roger that!" replied the LT. as he boarded his aircraft. The three Blackhawks lifted off carrying the diversionary mission with its 30 soldiers aboard.

Onboard the aircraft Tom Miles called to his soldiers, "Alright boys gear up we are ten minutes from point X-ray lets get mean!" Each soldier had on urban camouflage with the new BA-21 body armor they didn’t expect the zombies to start shooting but every little bit helped. Most were carrying the new M-18 assault rifle that fired a 7.62 mm bullet and had a 20 mm grenade launcher under the rifle barrel. The four machine gunners had the M249 5.56 mm light machine gun and all had the .44 cal. Desert Eagle semi auto pistol as backup.

All twenty five aircraft of the air rescue mission lifted off and headed toward LZ Hope in the lead Blackhawk Captain Paxton hoped Tom Miles would be able to give him enough time to pull off the mission.

Inside the lead Blackhawk the approach to landing zone light comes on and the crew chief yells over the noise of the engine, "One minute from LZ X-ray when we land we will be waiting for your signal to extract if your radio is out pop as much smoke as you can." "The middle building in that alley looks like our best bet good luck!"

Point X-ray. The Helicopters landed unloaded their cargo and were quickly gone. Miles issued his action plan pointing to his map, "Point Yankee is here this is our ambush site" "The buildings fires escape is how we are going to get to the top under any situation so don’t fucking go in that building lets make this the fastest six hundred meter run in history." He gave the commence operation order, "OK two columns flank defense five meter spacing machine gunners to the flank positions I’ll be on point no chatter lets keep this as quiet as possible lets move out." The unit moved in two lines to point Yankee; minutes of sheer terror and no dead could be seen at all Miles began to think maybe they were going to get ambushed but those thoughts diminished as their short run was over and they were at point Yankee. At point Yankee they saw nothing but two burnt out cars and a few skeletons. Miles looked around, " These two cars first squad move them over forty meters from the building second squad set up the mine field third and forth squad move thirty meters down the street and set up some black powder charges lets make some noise so they come to us." Ten minutes into the mission everything was in place the cars, the black powder charges and the staggered minefield. After setting off the black powder charges they began to hear what the world has come to dread. The mind numbing moans of the dead grew louder and they knew the stench was soon to follow. The soldiers began to yell to get the attention of the dead and bring them into their own deadly trap. As with any diversionary attack this one had the potential of becoming a suicide mission. Miles thought to himself that he would make sure this wouldn’t happen, " Listen up!" "When they get to the first wave of mines you will hold fire eighty more meters they will get to the second wave eighty more to the third and fourth after the fourth wave goes its a free fire zone kill anything that shambles and smells like shit!" "Also when the fourth wave goes the choppers are going to come in for some gun and rockets runs when the dead reach three hundred meters they’ll stop then fire like crazy when the dead get within a hundred meters no one uses grenades we will continue to fire until they reach fifty meters the choppers will come in for dangers close rocket and guns runs so when we can withdraw by fire you better move fast." " Now gear up and get mean its time to put these fuckers back in the ground!" His orders were met with cheers, their fear had given way to adrenaline and rage.

The large number of aircraft of the rescue mission overflew point X-ray and awaited word from LT. Miles. The Lieutenant called in, "Sir commencing primary offensive: the dead number from one to two thous <large explosion> moving directly into the fir<large explosion> <sounds of heavy automatic weapons fire> of mines we are commencing primary offensive good lu<explosion followed by short automatic weapons burst>" The soldiers all began to feel the new fear of fighting with their backs to the wall but new they had to stay to carry out the other mission. Three large explosions slammed into the wall of ghouls, the concussion and shrapnel sent them into the opposite direction which happened to be another set of mines. Four more explosions sent the mass to the center of the street were they were met with the last set seven mines of the first wave.

The rescue operation reached LZ Hope and began to circle. Captain Paxton radioed his craft, "The gunships are prepping the LZ once you go in land fast throw ‘em in and get the hell out fast and above all shoot anything that gets back up. The two RAH Comanche gunships began to open fire on the forty ghouls that lumbered around LZ Hope. Their twenty millimeter cannons began ripping the ghouls to pieces along with the street. Captain Paxton call sign Wolf Six began the evacuation, "This is wolf six in hot on LZ Hope no activity." His helicopter came to a quick landing were crew chief Sargent Antoski jumped from his position and ran to the shelter doors. With his M-60 in hand he hammered on the door, "Did somebody order a pizza!" he was answered back, "What?" angry that his joke didn’t come across, "U.S. Army open the door!" And with that the rescue operation began

Waves two and three slammed into the dead, both gunships made rocket and gun runs on the dead and still they came. The dead were walking over piles of their brethren but their thrust was unrelenting. The gunships made their final run, "This is snake one in hot from the south firing guns and rockets!" and with that another huge wall of the dead fell and this time they did not get back up. Snake one called the enemy distance, "Enemy at Three hundred meters we’ll hold until they are danger close then we’ll open up again." "Good luck, you guys must have balls of solid rock!" Miles answered, "Roger Three zero zero meters and their made of brass!" He turned to his soldiers, "Cavalier lets fuck ‘em up!" his command was met by the sound of a thirty automatic weapons began to commence fire. The dead were strewn about the street the effects of a unified and efficient team. Effective but not complete; the old wall of dead was always replaced by a new one just as hungry as its predecessor. Time had come to stare at the worlds nightmare and put a bullet in its brain. Miles fear was growing "Short bursts!" pointing to the left, "Machine gunners concentrate there!" He saw his right flank becoming vulnerable, "Put twenty mike mike on the right flank!" Twenty, fifty, eighty five of the dead fell but they would not relent. The ambush site was a clear kill zone but the dead refused to cease; someone yelled, "They wont fuckin’ stop!" Thousands of rounds were being pumped into the driving wall. Miles commanded, "Grenades!" "Fire at will Fire at will!" Bullet after bullet was being sent at the dead, their heads were exploding like ripe melons. Private Sanduval Screamed his final battle cry, "Tell it to the devil you fuck!" not seeing the dead woman get back up to his left his throat became the missions first casualty. Spitting and gagging on his own blood Sanduval was engulfed by the horde. Miles saw his right flank falling, "Adjust fire to the right adjust fire to the right we’re being overrun!" Turning to view the building that was to be their pickup zone he saw many of his men running for it. Many of the men were firing in all directions and throwing grenades with no regard for blast radius. Eight more men fell to the dead and some got back up to join their new army. The call was made ,"Withdraw by fire move to the PZ!" Many of the soldiers were already fighting hand to hand or using their side arms Miles saw the mission degenerating quickly, "Dammit I said we are leaving!" He looked for his radio operator corporal Fowler and saw him running for the pickup zone, he gave chase the situation became chaos, "Stop running you son of bitch!" with that Fowler stopped to let Miles get to his radio, "Miles to Wolf six!" Paxton responded, "This is wolf six go." Miles continued, "We are ov <explosion and automatic weapons burst> moving to pick <large amount of automatic weapons fire and screaming> <loud moaning met with single shot and screams> most of my men are already at the pickup zone ." He called the lead Blackhawk, Catcher one, "Miles to catcher one evac evac were are bingo on ammo position overrun." "Snake one fire everything you got left give us time to get <moans met with large explosions and single burst weapons fire> zone!" "Roger Miles snake one in hot from the south with guns and rockets!" " Roger Miles Catcher one two and three ETA to PZ is two minutes stand by." The lieutenant called wolf six (Paxton), "Miles to wolf six operation ceased holding at PZ hope<heavy weapons fire> hope we bought you enough time!" 

The last Blackhawk lifted off; as Miles looked down he saw the dead fighting over what was left of some of his soldiers and hoped the rescue mission would be spared the carnage they had seen. He looked to the pilot, "Lets go home." Someone in the back laughed and yelled, "I need a fuckin’ beer!" Everyone nervously laughed.

The last Blackhawk landed at LZ Hope and the crew chief hurriedly loaded the reaming five passengers. The pilot yelled to the door gunner, "Get the lead out of yer ass their on top of us!" the crew chief let the last passenger load herself as the entire crew of the aircraft were firing in all directions. The helicopter began to lift off and the crew chief was swarmed before she could get to her aircraft. Defiantly Specialist Tanaka fired a long burst of her M-60 machine gun but as she was being ripped apart the still clenched fist sent a long burst of bullets into the departing aircraft. "Mayday Mayday <screams in the background> wolf seventeen hydraul<loud grinding noise> we<grinding noise intensified> going in!" The remains of wolf seventeen slammed into the rescue station and the huge fire ball that followed shattered all hopes of finding survivors. All orbiting aircraft began to open fire on the LZ but knew it was just pure spite. Paxton ordered a cease fire, "Hold your fire dammit!" "Save your ammo its over lets go home." The flight back to Aegis one was quiet. 

Twelve dead crew men and soldiers at the cost of saving two hundred and ninety plus civilians. It has to be worth it to dwell on these things causes madness We’ve all lost our families but hopefully we gained a new one today. The Aegis bases appear to be the only good chance at living through this. The cries of the dead can be heard loud and strong. They rule what was once ours, but it won’t be forever. The air cav can send them back to hell faster than they can get back up. This war will soon be over and they will no longer call this the city of the dead.