"JEZUZ KEERIST! Sucker's have got RPGs! Nail that...!" cursing, Snake ordered a shell loaded, before another rocket propelled grenade struck!

As he couldn't get the bazooka-man, Blade targetted two creeps on the right of the street...BANG!...the first one disappeared, flung on his back as his brains sprayed over the room's ceiling. The next round he fired at his target's weapon as he couldn't see much more, but the Kalashnikov's forestock was smashed and the man lost three fingers and the wish to fight.

Shockwaves and flames blew debris flying as the tank gun fired, the bazooka-man didn't have time to scream as the HESH round passed into the room beside him, and the warhead splattered over the wall, and detonated. Although useful against vehicles, High Explosive Squash Head was a superb demoliton round and 20 pounds of plastique blew the front of the building across the road! And much of the rest collapsed as the strucutural members collapsed. The flying rubble took out three more cultists.

"Where the hell these Brood scum get weapons like this?" Blade asked as they searched for survivors. The army major answered that HQ had mentioned an attack on a Russian freighter in the docks: it must have been loaded with munitions.

"Oh great! Bad enough when the punks pull a gun on ya, but now they got bazookas! What next, cruise missiles, huh?" Angel was still spitting blood and his ears were ringing from the tank blast.

So they moved on. The bridge had been the scene of major chaos as people had not only been trying to get out of the city, but in as well! Dead state troopers and marines lay around--like many others they had died when a truck loaded with gas had blown up.

The Army vehicles showed their worth as they could simply go through gardens and bulldoze minor obstacles to get past blockages. By nightfall the suburbs had mingled with farmland, and here they made camp.

"I'm still getting that signal! Seems they've been attacked by those Brood loonies as well, but they're holding!" Angel reported as they made some food, and buried the last of the men who had plague, no one survived it.

"Well if that research center is left standing, that''ll do for me!" And his men could recieve some good medical care, that's what Snake really wanted. Although Father Anderson saw to those injured, he needed an operating room and staff, pity the hospital they'd past today had been gutted.

"A PLANE! A PLANE!" The red headed woman called out, pointing to a light in the sky.

"Sorry miss," Blade not unkindly explained. "It's just a satellite, you can't see them in the city 'cause of the lights." It was a haunting thought: that device might still be spinning around the world, long after it's creators had gone.

Here and there they saw signs of the Brood, churches and hospitals seemed to be their favourite target, or maybe that was just because folk had congregated there, seeking help in their time of agony. The priest noted that the hospitals had been looted.

"Frikkin' Broodies are probably doped to the eyeballs! That's why they stole everything!" the answer was in keeping with Angel's knowledge of scumbags. But still , the Father was troubled by it, more so than by the acts of evil men against the houses of God.

Two days hard travel from the city, and they reached their goal.

"D'Leth Research Facility. Well this is the place!" Blade stood by the entrance sign, and looked at the carnage around. Quite obviously there had been a battle of sorts. The "research" facility had "secret military installation" written all over it because of the simple fact that it's defences had been so damn good!

The tank broke the gates down, which had withstood ramming by several trucks, as no one wanted to leave their amoured shelter too long to open them, but Blade and Angel went ahead. Small buildings, which had served some other purpose as well, had primarily been for sureveillance and defence, dead soldiers manning M60 machine guns were in most of them. Guns hadn't killed them, but the plague had. It wasn't a good sign.

They had to use force to break into the main complex, there was a slight rushing of air outwards as they did so. "Positive pressure!" Father Anderson explained. "To keep germs from getting in by blowing external air leaks back out! When working with infectious agents you have negative pressure to suck them back in if they escape.

Obviously it had been a major bio-chemical facility, with wall maps showing various labs and offices. While the furnishings were intact, the people weren't: the plague had taken them.

"They all died with the past day I'd say! There maybe survivors in a sealed room or such!" The doctor-priest urged the rest to search for the living.

No smal task, as the massive place made the mythical Labyrinth seem like a kid's maze in comparison! After some time, they found, even those who'd sealed themselves away, had died, though in some cases it was simply that the air system had been screwed up and had sucked air out of some rooms, asphyxiating the poor souls inside! Trapped between choking to death or plague, some had tried to batter or even claw their way out of locked rooms. When things had went to hell the electronic locks had shut down too.

"Hey Major, have a look at this!" One of the civilain survivors from the city called out.

Inside some kind of major control or conference room, one of the dead scientists had used a marker pen to write a huge message on the wall: "ROOM 133, NORTH WING, KEY CARD IN MY POCKET, PEOPLE IN SECURE VAULT, RELEASE THEM! THEY IMMUNE!"

"All RIIIIIGHT! We got some people in here folks! Doctors or scientists? Come on , let's get on it!"

Apparently the North wing had a lot of security, they were forced to blow open four doors with gunfire or grenades. But at last they came into room 133.

"Now that is a DOOR!" Even the normally phlegmatic Blade was impressed by the construction, it would have put most bank vaults to shame! It should certainy be capable of keeping the plague and cultists out, a good place to hole up until things quietened down. He swiped the key card through the electronic lock...

And a klaxon horn sounded, and red lights blinked on!

"Run! A frikkin' booby trap!" Angel hated confined spaces, and now this! Everyone stepped back into the next room, but they held, curiosity and the desperate need to see other people was their over-riding concern.

Nearby, a computer came to life, it's screeen flashed up with the words: "NEMESIS: doors activated, cryonic suspension reversal. Personnel will awaken in 15 minutes...14 minutes 50 seconds....14 minutes 40 seconds..."

"Nemesis, I don't like that name, it means "doom or revenge", from an ancient god of retribution." while explaining this, Blade readied his weapon, and Snake ordered his men to do likewise.

Whirring metallic sounds filled the stillness as the massive door's locking bars, each thick as a man's arm, were withdrawn, then the hydraulic rams pushed it open....

Mist poured out, cold mist. As they peered nervously inside, they saw several large objects tilting up: boxes, human sized boxes. Coffins? Strange machinery gurgled or hummed, and numerous computers had lines of code flickering on their monitors.

Minutes crept by, ans they shivered in the chill air. With a soft hiss, each of the eight objects opened, and inside them were...people! Breathing people!

"Cryonics! They really have working cryonics!" Father Anderson explained, and moved to help the people, for they were awake!