Adventure of Sgt Dunn 1

The abandoned base shudders around Sgt Dunn as groans and heavy impacts hammer the shelter entrance. Dust sifts from the ceiling, and the barricade answers with splintering cracks.

Inside, Luna Dunn lies on a cleared medical blanket, her long black ponytail coiled beside her, while Cpl Bawer grips another cot’s rail and breathes through labor.

Rhea Chelo, broad and heavily muscled in battered mercenary gear, braces her shoulder against the barricade. Each impact drives her boots backward across the concrete.

A fresh crack splits the entrance. Beyond it, undead voices crowd the narrow approach, while the surviving Marines turn toward Sgt Dunn, awaiting his next move.

Sgt Dunn pulls the cleared blanket fully into place, smoothing its edges and folding the cleanest section beneath the waiting space. It lies ready beside Luna.

Another impact jolts the shelter entrance, but the blanket stays anchored. Luna reaches toward its edge, her breathing measured despite the noise.

Cpl Bawer shifts onto the prepared space while Luna gathers herself beside her. Outside, the dead pound on, but the shelter now has a clean place for the babies.

Sgt Dunn joins Rhea at the entrance, hauling a metal storage rack against the splintering barricade while she wedges a broken support beneath it.

Together they drive the rack into place. The barricade settles with a deep metallic groan, and the impacts beyond no longer shake its upper frame.

A jagged strip of metal catches Sgt Dunn's palm as he locks the support down. He keeps pressure on it, leaving a shallow scrape and a smear of blood.

Behind them, Luna steadies her breathing and Cpl Bawer grips the blanket’s edge. The reinforced door endures another pounding as the team turns back to the births.

Rhea crosses to the rear wall, shoving aside stacked supply crates until a narrow service hatch appears beneath peeling hazard paint.

She clears the debris, forces the rusted latch, and swings the hatch inward. A dark maintenance passage slopes toward the motor pool, with enough room for a stretcher.

The new opening admits a draft carrying cold air and distant rain. Behind them, the barricade groans again, but the team now has a prepared way out.

Sgt Dunn takes position beside the open hatch, keeping his weapon trained down the sloping maintenance passage while cold rain air moves across his scraped palm.

The passage remains empty. Behind him, the barricade shudders under another impact, but the reinforced rack holds and the hatch stays clear.

A loose strip of conduit slips from the hatch frame and clatters down the passage. The sharp noise carries toward the motor pool, costing the team their quiet.

The births are complete, and the alternate exit remains open and guarded. Beyond it, rain taps somewhere in the darkness as the team prepares to move the newborns.

The maintenance passage runs down into the motor pool without movement or sound beyond rainwater ticking through the dark. No undead wait below, and the route remains open.

Rhea leans into the hatchway and scans the low concrete corridor, her weapon sweeping across parked vehicles and rain-slick floor. Nothing answers her scrutiny.

Another blow lands against the main barricade, but the sound now comes from behind rather than ahead. The clear motor pool route offers the team a viable way out.

Sgt Dunn holds the maintenance passage, weapon trained down the corridor as Luna, Cpl Bawer, and Rhea begin moving the newborns through the hatch.

Rainwater ticks from the ceiling. His careful sweep finds the motor pool clear, while the main barricade booms faintly behind the team.

Sgt Dunn shifts to cover the vehicles and the far service doors. The movement costs him a fresh magazine as he reloads, leaving one fewer ready.

Cpl Bawer passes through with the second newborn, then backs toward the hatch while Luna follows. No dead emerge from the dark.

Seal the hatch behind the team