Operation Cobalt

Chapter 4 Operation Cobalt

POV Justin

A few hours before Operation Cobalt

As I watch the walkers slowly approach the police station from Emily's office window, a dark smile forms on my face as I grab a piece of paper along with a pencil and write a message to Emily in case she survives.

I leave his office and take the elevator down to the basement. I hope I don't get trapped inside of it. It would be very annoying.

The elevator doors open in the basement and I start to search for the generator when a conversation catches my interest.

"With the fuel here, the generator should last a couple of hours." A voice says, so I start to get closer to the origin of the voice.

"Will the barricades be okay, Sergeant? I heard gunshots recently." Another voice is heard, now closer than before, I'm getting closer.

"Don't worry rookie those barricades will hold." I come to the end of a corner where I see two officers arguing next to what appears to be some kind of generator. I grab my gun and take the safety off.

It's show time.

Emily, where are you? I'm lost!" I say out loud as I approach the pair of officers with their hands behind their backs, they just stare at me.

"What the hell, what is a child doing here?" asks one of the officers approaching me. "Follow me, boy, I'll take you to the reception where the other civilians are." At that moment screams begin to be heard coming from the reception and I take the opportunity to quickly shoot both officers in the heads. After this, I proceed to shoot several times at the generator, and sparks begin to come out of it until it stops working and the power fails to leave the entire building in darkness.

I grab my flashlight courtesy of Walmart and start running towards the stairs as the sound of screaming and gunshots begin to fill the building.

Upon reaching the roof I find a person firing into the crowd of walkers outside the police station until he runs out of bullets.

"10 Years of Outstanding Service, Quintessential SWAT Team Sniper, All for Nothing. All law enforcement personnel on layoff must immediately report to active duty. That was all they said this morning, you fucking liars." Says the sniper turning around with a rifle on his shoulder as he drinks a beer.

"All for nothing! The fucking end of the world has arrived." He yells angrily and they stare at me up and down, specifically at my right hand. "Where did you get that gun? That blood on your shirt whose is it? The sniper frowns suspiciously. "I need that gun, mine is out of bullets, give it to me." The sniper points his hand at my gun as he approaches me. Bad selection.

"I think it will not be possible." I say with a giggle pointing my gun at him. "Damned." It's all the sniper says before going down from a headshot.

I check the sniper's gun and it's out of bullets, what a waste. I keep my gun on my waistband covered by my shirt and shortly thereafter someone knocks on the door. The reason I destroyed the generators was to prevent people from taking shelter on the roof, without electricity and in the dark most would die on the lower floors, while I would be safe on the roof, alone.

I'm not going to open this door, they might as well eat everyone behind this door. "Open the door please!" It's Emily's voice. Well, she can survive for now. I open the door and she just stares at me in shock.

"Wow, you took your time." I say with a giggle, then Emily smothers me in a hug.

After surviving Emily's hug and closing the door, two people joined our little group on the roof, I wanted to leave them outside and be eaten by the walkers, but Emily would get suspicious and that would be annoying.

Thus the hours passed until the sniper's radio came to life.

"This is a message to all military troops within and around the city of Atlanta, broadcasting on all frequencies." A tired voice speaks over the radio while giving a slight pause. "Atlanta has fallen."

"Start Operation Cobalt." After that, the radio stops transmitting.

"What is Operation Cobalt?" Emily asks out loud.

"I have no idea." The civilian says. I don't have time to learn the names of insignificant characters. Obviously, I have some information, however, I don't want to spread it.

"That's not the problem." Says the other officer. "We don't have food, we don't have water, we don't have ammunition either." Says the officer showing his pistol without ammunition and throwing it aside. "And as if that were not enough, we are trapped."

Several minutes passed and the sound of several helicopters reached our ears in desperation the officer began to shout asking for help from the helicopters that were approaching the city. "Here, we are here, we are not infected!" The officer yells into the air waving his arms to draw the attention of the approaching helicopters, I notice that these are military helicopters and my heart starts beating fast taking Emily's hand.

"We need to cover ourselves now. This is bad." I say as we stand up and take cover under some construction pipes. The civilian seems to have noticed our movement and started to hide as well.

"Here, here, rescue us!" One of the helicopters shines a spotlight on the officer, followed by a machine gun blast kicking up quite a bit of smoke on the roof and continues to fly to other buildings.

When the smoke clears the officer is dead, as we leave our hiding place we observe how the helicopters begin to shoot at the people who are on other roofs asking for help.

Emily is in shock while the civilian is not feeling too well either. "No, I can't anymore, I can't. I need to get out of here. I don't want to die!" The civilian yells, clutching his head in despair and begins to run towards the door. Bad choice idiot.

"Wait, it's not safe." Emily starts to run after the civilian, but it's too late he opens the door and 2 walkers pounce on him, biting him on the neck and arm. Given this, Emily backs away when several walkers begin to advance toward us, the civilian's cry attracted several. With the door open, the walkers will invade the ceiling, which is annoying.

I throw my backpack at Emily. "There is a gun in the backpack." I tell him as I unholster dad's gun and start shooting at the walkers as I walk over to the door to close it.

Emily seems surprised to see me holding a gun and shooting, but I don't have time to think about it. Hands shaking, Emily grabs the gun from my backpack and starts shooting at the walkers, too, until she runs out of bullets. This creates an opening allowing me to close the door again and breathe a sigh of relief.

Emily is on her knees with tears in her eyes as she holds the gun from my backpack in the palms of her hands.

"Justin… where did you get this gun?" Emily says looking at me with trembling lips. What happened? Oh wait...that's the gun of the officer I killed at the Walmart, Emily's boyfriend's gun.

"Why did you have Rudy's gun in your backpack?" Emily says pulling all the stuff out of my backpack as her hands shake until she pulls out a knife with a Walmart tag still on it.

Drops of water begin to fall on the roof, and rain falls on the entire city, while Emily only watches me with tears in her eyes. I should lie to you, however, I consider this to be a hopeless case.

"Was it you all this time? You killed my boyfriend…the generator shots, was that you too?…you shot the sniper?" Emily says with a small voice.

After these accusations, I do the most sensible thing at a time like this. I start laughing out loud, holding my stomach. "HAHAHA, all this time you had your boyfriend's killer in front of you." I point to my shirt with a smile on my face. "This blood on my shirt is Rudy's blood from being shot in the head at Walmart," I comment as her eyes widen in shock.

"You even gave me a chocolate. It was so much fun, but do you know something, Emily? I say now a bit melancholic. "I like you, however, our playing time is over."

"Why?" is all Emily says as she starts to get to her feet. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" I said tilting my head a little. "Why it's fun and why no one can stop me. I live life as if it were a game and I do not intend to lose. I say spreading my hands theatrically.

"You're a monster, I won't let you hurt more people." She says with tears in her eyes pointing Rudy's gun at me. At this, a predatory smile appears on my face. As long as I keep my hands open.

"Go ahead, shoot, otherwise I'll end up playing with many lives for my entertainment, after all, if we count my previous life, my kill count should be in the millions, both directly and indirectly." I say with a dark smile. At that moment Emily pulls the trigger and nothing happens. "No bullets." I pronounce it slowly.

"And before you say I'm a psychopath, let me tell you that my Uncle Negan says that insanity isn't bad, it's just your true personality." I exclaim with a big smile as Emily just falls to her knees accepting her fate, hugging Rudy's gun.

Now I slowly point my gun at her. "If it's any consolation, it's nothing personal, just the wrong people at the wrong times." I say with a small sad smile on the curve of my lips.

"Bye-bye ~ Emily" I pull the trigger.

Bang!

I look at Emily's inert body and I can't help but sigh, I couldn't spare her life if she knows who I really am, it doesn't help that she knows I killed her boyfriend, she would stab me in the back sooner or later.

"It's poetic. Killed by the very person they were trying to help." I whisper as I reach down and start putting away the things Emily pulled out of my backpack.

"Looks like I win again." I tell myself when a strange feeling runs through my body, pride? Sadness? Acceptance maybe?

I sit on the edge of the roof for a few minutes while I drink some sodas and treat myself to some goodies that I brought in my backpack, in the distance, I hear the few shots that occur in the center of the city. Has the refugee camp already fallen?

A new sound fills the sky when I see new helicopters approaching the city, these are different from the previous ones. I know what's going to happen next.

"Let's enjoy the show." I mention the air when several helicopters begin to pass over me and bomb the streets, along the center of the city.

"What is this?" I mention when my heart starts to beat faster and faster with a smile forming on my face as I watch the explosions that occur in different places in the city, although most are concentrated in the center of the city. I guess there will be no more refugee camps.

"This is fun. It's very fun!" I scream into the air, rising to my feet with hands splayed theatrically as Atlanta is bombed. This is just the beginning of the end.

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