Zombie Hunter

The following report was received at ZWN today: dated 2/23/08

Posted 2/23/08
Submitted by: John Bonura

OK My lap top is about to run out of power and I’m not sure how much time I have to finish this. This story needs to be read, and things need to be done or Europe will succumb to another Black Plague. There were six of us Travis Elkins, Cowboy Salter, Rocky Hung, Jet Bobbit, Trent Layne, and myself. We were a group of hunters hired out by the American Government to assess the situation in Kosovo and help extract the US Embassy staff. We were told the riots were political when we were briefed, but they were wrong.

Chaotic scene
We arrived in a city that was tearing itself apart. People were looting stores and burning flags. Streets were blocked by police so we had to ditch our vehicle. Trent took point and we followed in a single file line allowing us to cut through the masses quickly on our way to the Embassy. We were not prepared for what we were about to encounter. Canisters of tear gas spewed the smoke all over the place, but all that did was make the reanimates harder to see.

Our paintball masks that we used to protect our heads lacked the ventilation to filter the gas. Jet could not handle it he ran ahead choking trying to escape. We didn't stop him and I regret it, we didn’t shout because we didn't want to be noticed, but my god it was terrible. Three shots from Jets 12 gauge then screams, we rushed to help but were blinded and chocking. I stopped for a moment to figure out where we were, and decided that we should duck into a side street and try and reach our objective that way.

As we were exiting the fog we heard but couldn't see Jet, his screams will live with me until the day I die. We thought about going back to grab his weapon and ammo, but it was’t worth it we had to keep moving. Moving down the street, it seemed we were moving against the current. Scores of frightened bloodied people rushed past us as we made our way up to a police line standing like a wall against a group of undead. They were failing, maybe a handful of police with handguns. We formed up behind the cars that were used to form a barrier and opened fire. We took a few down but we had no rifles, we were equipped only with one pistol each, one shotgun each, and I carried a pipe wrench on my belt for a blunt weapon, we were entirely unprepared for this kind of defensive stand. How were we supposed to be? I mean we were just civilians that were successful at looting and had a few dozen re-kills each.

"we were just civilians that were successful at looting and had a few dozen re-kills each."

Overwhelmed
After we began firing, their attention turned to us and that’s when we realized the numbers. The sheer mass of the group scared off the police and left the five of us to defend the street. It was hopeless they made it through we back tracked, but were trapped to the back of us the tear gas, and in front a mass of undead. Citizens were throwing Molotov cocktails off rooftops and police were trying to keep the peace. Trent pointed at a nearby office building and told us to run while he covered us and we moved. Rocky in front kicked the door in and was greeted with a shot in the head. His blood splattered on my Kevlar vest and rage took over Travis, Cowboy, and myself stormed the building taking out any who did not yield to us.

We kept watch for Trent and decided to rest in the building before we moved on. It was Cowboy’s turn to watch the door and let us know if Trent came back. We awoke to gunshots, Trent’s headless corpse lie motionless on the stoop, and Cowboy stood breathing heavily, dropped his weapon from his bleeding hand and without speaking walked out and shut the door. He was bitten and he left us so that he would’t attack us. This whole mission is botched Undead are overrunning the streets, the numbers are like nothing I’ve seen, and they are hungry. Travis went to restroom and hasn’t been back for two hours. I am the only one left, I fear Travis has been killed, or worse. I don’t know how I’m going to escape this, I don’t know how to get out, but what I do know is this:

Necro-Mortosis IS spreading and I cant say how long, but it WILL reach Western Europe if nothing is done soon.

The following comment by Captain 'Hawk' Heath does not necessarily represent the views of ZWN. It's editor or staff.
:
This report underlines the difficulties now facing Zombie Hunters. I hear it time and time again. Teams are not fully briefed or a mission is not properly reconned before they are dispatched. I think that a lot of the problems stem from the shortage of professional 'Z teams' out there right now. Many are ill equipped, or just plain inexperienced. The various governments are hiring these people for big bucks and asking few questions. They simply want the outbreaks eradicated. But it comes at a cost. It's not only amateur hunters such as in the case of the Arizona Zombie hunters, that get in over their heads, we only need to remember last years tactical disaster that ended with the wiping out of Michael 'Big Dog' Goodson's whole team.

I grant that the whole 'Zombie hunter' profession is still fairly nascent. However, a background in tactical armed training is paramount. Fire arms and medical skills are necessary, as is unarmed combat training and just plain common sense. Buying a paintball helmet and playing 'Resident Evil' will not get you past the working week in the real world.

My heart does go out to John Bonura's team (team name not submitted) He clearly had some urban necro eradication skills, but they were dropped into a war zone. You cannot blame the guys for what happened. But it does go to show how an un scouted mission can become your last.

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