Altered Alliance: Urban Survival; In and Out (Chapter 2)

Max descended the stairs slowly, taking each step one at a time. He aimed his flashlight at the landing below, checking every inch of the walls and the floor. But there was nothing dangerous in sight, only trash. Things such as cans, bottles and old faded news papers.

As Max set foot on the landing he saw a door to the level they were on. Signaling to his squad to stack up, Max reached for the door lever and opened it slowly, peering around and into the hall on the other side.

The hallway was lit much better than the stairwell, but the light that was cast through the windows were dull and gloomy. Max could see dust particles floating up through the rays of light. It made him a little uncomfortable not knowing if there was anyone or anything in the building with him, however the dirt and dust helped reassure him into thinking that the building was truly abandoned.

Max carefully stepped over the mess on the floor and glanced up and down the hallway making sure it was clear as his squad piled into the hall behind him.

"Tilsen, you're with me... Brooks. You, Adams and Riley check and clear all rooms on that end of the hallway," Max ordered, pointing with his hand down towards one end of the hall. Then tapping his ear piece said, "Keep the comm. open."

Brooks nodded and signaled Adams and Riley to follow him as he headed off down the hall away from Max.

Patting Allen on the shoulder, Max turned and headed in the opposite direction. When they came to the first door along the hall Max and Allen stacked up on either side of the door. Allen looked to Max as if to ask for permission and Max nodded.

Cautiously opening the door, Allen stepped through and Max followed, weapons at the ready for anything that may lay on the other side.

Shining their lights around the room, the two soldiers revealed nothing but a desk and a few filing cabinets. Atop the desk was an assortment of papers, all yellowed with age, and an old computer monitor lying face first at an awkward angle.

Max and Allen began sorting through the filing cabinets, but there was nothing but useless files and paperwork in any of them. Max then changed his sights to the desk, where he again found nothing useful to the Safehouse.

However, when he opened the last drawer of the desk, he saw a container of paperclips, some pens, pencils and a small box of golf balls. Max guessed that whoever owned this office space seven years ago must have played a lot of golf after work, possibly with some co-workers.

Grabbing as many of the paperclips as he could that were still seemingly intact, Max stuffed them in one of his pant leg pockets. Next he grabbed the pens and pencils and tested them on the sheets of paper on top of the desk. Almost all of the pencils had broken tips and nearly every pen's ink had dried up and blocked the balled-point.

But after tossing the broken pens and pencils back into the drawer, Max scooped up the few working ones and put them in his pocket with the paperclips.

Max was about to close the drawer but stopped and reached back in. He opened the small box of golf balls and grabbed four, putting them in a different pocket.

"What are those for?" Allen laughed.

"Don't worry about it Tilsen." Max smiled, "You never know when something might come in handy."

Placing the box on top of the desk, Max and Allen exited the room and continued on to the next door.

As they neared it, Max looked out the row of windows and saw the downpour of rain that was going on outside. The rain was coming down so hard that some rain drops hit each other on the way down and created their own small splashes in mid-air.

Max turned his attention back to his immediate surroundings as they reached the door. He and Allen again stacked up on either side and Allen entered first again. But once again there was nothing useful in the room, only a desk and a few filing cabinets.

They did the same with the next few rooms, switching off who entered first on every other door. You know, to mix things up a little... but still, they couldn't find any supplies.

Max didn't get too discouraged though cause most military bases kept their supplies on the lower levels where they were more accessible.

"Brooks, find anything?" Max asked through the comm. system.

"Not a thing, First Sergeant." Brooks sighed, "Should we regroup and head downstairs?"

Max stopped and thought for a little bit and then replied, "Yes, we have a limited time and I'd like to find at least something useful. Brooks, head back to the stairs. Allen and I will meet you there."

"Roger that, Top."

Max looked at Allen, "Alright lets go."

Nodding, Allen followed him back down the hall to the stairwell where they met up with Brooks and everyone else. Max then led his team back down the stairs.

The next three floors produced nothing either and Max was beginning to get discouraged. But as they exited the stairwell to the second floor his hopes were raised.

In front of them was an open room, where at some point there would have been cubicles but had been replace by tables and desks. This room was less lit than all the other ones due to the fact that the only windows were in the office spaces that skirted the edges of the room. Max guessed that at some point in this bases life, this would have been the nerve center, where all the strategic coordinating and communications would have taken place.

There were maps and various ammunition cases laid out on the tables nearer the center of the room. Rifles, radios and other military equipment were also scattered atop the other tables.

Max pointed to some of the rifles and ammo cases, "Adams, Riley, check the rifles condition and grab five good rifles each and a couple box's of ammo. Then carry them up to the roof so they're easier to EVAC."

"Roger."

The two soldiers stepped towards the tables, but Max grabbed Adams by the arm delaying him, "When you get them up there come back down and grab as much ammo as you can. Understand?"

"Yes First Sergeant!"

Max released him and then turned to Allen and Brooks, "Alright, spread out. Grab as many supplies as you can carry and whatever you think could be useful to the Safehouse."

When they had all started searching the room Max then laughed when he saw something he liked, "And feel free to take a souvenir or two."

Reaching forward Max picked up the silenced USP compact .45 caliber pistol that was lying on a desk inside of a drop leg holster. It appeared to still be in excellent condition.

Removing it from the holster, Max unloaded it and took off the slide and examined all the parts on the inside of the weapon. Everything was in relatively good condition and would not require too much cleaning. Max smiled, this would be perfect.

The USP compact .45 was smaller than his standard issue Beretta M9. But even with the silencer attached, it was nearly the same size. It also weighed less and used a larger caliber bullet than the M9 which allowed for better mobility and stronger stopping power.

This was probably going to be the best souvenir Max had ever picked up from a mission. But just to make sure it worked smoothly, Max pulled back the hammer without actually charging the gun and then pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked back into its original position in a quick and clean motion.

Satisfied, Max reloaded the weapon and then hooked the drop leg holster onto his leg and slid the pistol into the holster to test it out. It was different from the holster on his chest where the M9 rest, but he liked it.

Max checked the drawers in the desk his new weapon had been on and found eight, ten round USP magazines and a couple box's of .45 caliber ACP rounds. Setting his rifle on top of the desk Max took off his pack and lay it next to the gun. Max took a couple of his M9 Mags out of the Mag pouches on his body armor and put them into his pack. He then grabbed the eight USP Mags out of the desk and took the time to load each Mag with the .45 ACP rounds.

After he finished loading them he slid his new Mags into the Mag pouches he had just emptied. And then took one of the box's of .45 rounds and stuffed them in his pack so he would have more rounds if he ever needed them.

Max closed up his pack and put it back onto his shoulders. He then took the four remaining box's of .45 rounds and set them on the desk where Adams and Riley would see once they came back down for an ammo run.

Grabbing his rifle off the desk, Max walked over to the tables in the center of the room where there seemed to be the most maps. He looked at the Maps and decided that they could be useful to the Safehouse because they had the positions of other military bases marked within a fifty mile radius of where they were.

Max looked around the table and found a plastic map tube, he then picked out the maps that appeared to have the most information written on them and rolled them up and slid them into the tube. Max took off his pack again and hooked the map tube to it so that it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Once he shouldered his pack again Max took another look around the room. There really wasn't all that many useful supplies here.

"So, who planned this mission anyways? Max asked over the comm.

"The General said it was anonymous..." Riley began.

"Actually I heard that Joe may have planned the whole thing, Max." Tilsen interrupted.

"Joe Hunt?" Max asked worriedly.

"The one and only."

Max let out a sigh, "Crap. He knew I couldn't resist. Alright gentlemen... Keep your eyes peeled."

"Why what's wrong Top?" Brooks asked.

"Nothing... It's a long story. Just stay on your toes."

"You don't think he's still upset do you?" Tilsen asked.

"Allen, the man needs help! And it's all my fault."

Riley came in over the comm. with a worried tone, "Whoa, hold up! What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry about it Riley. It's a story for the ride home... Hopefully... In the mean time stay alert. I have a bad feeling about this..."

Riley reluctantly let the matter go and the squad remained silent. Max then decided that they should have a look around on the ground floor and hopefully find something a little more fruitful.

Max wanted to leave now but when he checked his watch they still had about ten or fifteen minutes till the EVAC chopper arrived, so he figured he shouldn't waste the time they had.

"Allen, we're headed down a floor, so follow me. Brooks keep looking. Riley and Adams... don't forget the ammo run."

Max's squad acknowledged him with simultaneous, "Roger that."

Tilsen exited one of the small offices in the room and met up with Max. Together they headed across the room and to a set of stairs, separate from the ones they had traversed earlier. This set however, were only capable of going down.

Max lead the trek down the dark stairwell and out into the building's main floor. It was another, large room that was relatively empty apart from the lonely desk that sat facing the building's entrance. The desk had formerly been a welcome desk but was all but useless in the abandoned office building.

Across from where they stood was a door less opening to another set of stairs, which probably linked up to the one they had been on earlier. But next to the stairwell was the opening to a relatively large public bathroom entrance, which Max instantly deemed unnecessary to explore.

Max turned and examined the wall where they had just entered the room and saw a few other empty office rooms. However, then he saw along the back wall, opposite to the front entrance, was a large black and silver vault door which peaked his interest. Max guessed that this building must have been a bank at some point in time.

Motioning towards the vault, Max began walking towards it. When he and Allen neared it they noticed that the vault door was askew, which automatically indicated that there was a possibility that some supplies could be inside. But Max still remained cautious remembering what he had said earlier to his squad and decided to take this room the same as they had with all the others.

Max and Allen stacked up on the wall adjacent to the vaults opening and prepared to enter. The vault was darker than all the other rooms that they had cleared and it made Max uneasy, but nevertheless he peered in and shone the flashlight around. But this was something that Max instantly regretted.

Within the few seconds that Max kept his flashlight on, he had time to make out the pale and naked forms of sleeping Cretin. And in the center of the vault there was a deep hole that the Cretin had somehow dug into the ground and turned the vault into a Hive.

A sharp chill went through Max's body as he hoped that he hadn't woken any of the beast.

And when Allen noticed Max trying to back away from the vault he asked in a moderately loud voice, "What? Max what is it?"

Before Max was able to make him shut his mouth the crying of infantile Cretin rung through the air. The screams were ear piercing and made Max and Allen have to cover their ears.

The crying baby Cretin woke up the rest of the Hive and a deeper but more menacing scream came from the deep. Max and Allen looked at each other with panicked faces and began a headlong sprint for the stairs they had come down.

At the same time they turned, Max heard an identical screech come from inside the bathroom of which he had deemed unimportant. This made him curse under his breath.

He had taken no more than five steps, when he heard the vault door squeal open as an onslaught of Cretin slammed their bodies through the opening for a mad dash towards the invaders.

"Everyone! Roof! Now!" Max yelled into his microphone.

As he and Allen reached the base of the stairs more Cretin started pouring out of the bathroom. Most of whom headed towards Max, but a few headed towards the other stairwell... Max hated how smart they were.

When they were halfway up the stairs to the second floor Brooks asked, "What happened?"

"Cretin!" Max panted, "There's a murder on our tail!"

Max heard Brooks and the others curse but then remain silent.

When Max and Allen reached the second floor they sprinted for the stairwell across the room. but before they where even halfway to it, Cretin busted through, knocking the door off its hinges. They were trapped.


Max thought quickly and dragged Allen to one of the office rooms on the side, choosing one that had the fewest windows. They closed the door behind them and quickly barricaded it, using a desk, filing cabinets and whatever else they could find.

The mass of Cretin slammed into the door trying to get in. But after a good minute of running into the door, the banging subsided, and through the single window facing the inside room, Max could see a hoard of pale Cretin staring at the two soldiers intently. Their greenish-white faces were scrunched and wrinkled with anger. But the enraged creatures just stood there and stared at them.

Max then decided to see how the rest of his team was doing, "Brooks, report!"

"First Sergeant, the Chopper is landing now!" Brooks panted seeming to be very short on breath, "The door to the roof is holding for now. What's your situation?"

Max let out a deep and exasperated sigh, "We're trapped..."

As soon as Max said this, he watched as all the Cretin outside the office back away a few steps. Each one grabbed a various heavy object and began heaving them at the Plexiglas, which quickly started cracking and giving way.

Max looked to Allen, "We're screwed."