Nikolai knifed the last zombie monkey to death, grabbing the power up in the process as a voice from above screamed. 

"MAX AMMO!"

Alarms stopped going off, signifying the end of the intrusion as a monotone male voice could be heard once again over the loud speakers.

"Security level normalized. System defenses online." 

Nikolai wasted no time in reloading his gun as he glanced over to where the Japanese soldier was standing, noticing he was reaching behind one of the barriers, trying to get at something just beyond his reach. 

"What are you doing over there?" Nikolai questioned curiously, walking over just as Takeo pulled out a tape player, wiping some dust off the top and locating the play button.

"I saw this." Takeo stated calmly, remembering previous radios that had existed in other areas and recalling their importance. "Perhaps it can shed some light on our situation..." 

Nikolai shrugged and was about to say something about needing more vodka when Dempsey and Isabella walked in, followed by Zack, Brianna and Richtofen. Takeo pressed play as they all walked up, crowding around the device, hearing static at first then bits of a broken conversation. 

"Ooooh, what's th-" Brianna began loudly, instantly cut off by her sister. 

"Shhh!" Isabella hissed, frowning slightly and pointing towards the radio as everyone stayed silent, listening in on the recorded audio diary...

"This had better be good Yuri..." Gersch's voice said suddenly as the radio hissed with static. "The fact that you're in this lab again is reason enough to have you permanently removed! If you've done anything to ruin it-"

"Do not worry, you won't be disappointed." Yuri explained, interrupting his fellow scientist as he chuckled. "In fact, I'm sure you won't forget it! But, I can't take all the credit. If you will do me the honors..." 

A few shuffling sounds could be heard in the background as the tell tale signs of a Gersch device being activated filled everyone's ears as they all continued to listen. The radio hissed again after a moment of silence before another familiar voice was heard on the tape. 

"HAVING FUN?" Samantha screamed as Dr. Gersch could be heard yelling in the background. 

"What the-? No! No! Yuri, you-!" 

Yuri laughed evilly to himself as the tape hissed again, close to it's end. "You fat pig! Enjoy your bed! Heheheh, heh... Oh no. No! NoNoNoNo! What have I done? What have I do-" 

The radio clicked once before stopping and shutting off as everyone stayed silent, not knowing what to say after hearing something like that. The sound of boards being ripped down got everyone's attention, as they all focused on surviving for now. 

"We should go to the stage!" Zack suggested, looking at Brianna and Isabella as he shouted over the sound of gunfire, emptying a clip from his MPL into a zombie trying to break in. "It's the easiest place to defend!" 

And I need to Pack-A-Punch this piece of shit...

"Come on, guys!" Isabella said while holding up her Zeus Cannon and moving towards the hallway. "I'll lead the way with this!" 

Zack is right, we need to get out of this tight space before more start swarming... She thought desperately, noticing everyone was starting to get a little overwhelmed. 

"Von moment Izabella~" Richtofen sang as he fired the DG-2, sending a blast of electricity through a small horde coming from the junkyard. "Ze doctor is busy attending to his patients! Hahaha!"

Isabella smirked and rolled her eyes, about to say something back when a piercing scream caught everyone's attention. A zombie coming up through the ground, grabbed Brianna's leg as it scratched her with its fingernails, causing her to yell out in pain as she tried to kick it away desperately. 

Zack turned from his window, seeing the zombie just about to bite as he spun around and fired the last of his bullets into the undead creature's head. He smiled at her, relieved that she was alright as he moved forward to help her up, stopping momentarily when he saw a look of terror on her face. 

"Bri? What's wro-"

The sickening sound of bones breaking and skin tearing filled everyone's ears as Zack's eyes widened. A terrible pain surged through his neck, taking him by surprise and making him scream out in agony.

Brianna covered her mouth with her hands as she watched the zombie maul her boyfriend, blood from his neck splattering her face and the ground, sending her into shock as she shook, unable to do anything. Takeo turned around, quickly shooting the zombie in the head with his Browning as it dropped to the ground, releasing Zack as he slid down the wall, coughing up blood.

"Zack!" Brianna screamed, crawling towards him and crying as she saw the severity of the wound on his neck. Blood continued to pour down his shirt as he clung to his neck desperately, eyes growing heavier by the second. 

Damn... thing... Got me good... He thought, suddenly feeling very tired. He could see Brianna's face close to his own and she appeared to be yelling about something, looking rather panicked. 

Brianna... Isabella... I'm sorry I.. I couldn't do more... It was hard to care at this point. Everything was quiet for once as Zack shut his eyes one last time, his hands dropping from his neck as his body went limp. Just like that, they had lost one of their own to the undead.

Despite the tragedy that had just occurred, the zombies didn't stop swarming and there was no time as Isabella realized what had to be done. She cursed, feeling sick to her stomach while watching her sister cradle her dead boyfriend in her arms. 

I need to get her out of here... 

Taking a few quick steps to where Brianna was kneeling on the ground, the younger woman reached out, grabbing the blonde roughly by the back of the shirt and dragging her to her feet as she fought with her. 

"Get up now!" Isabella threatened as her voice began to crack. Her sister was not making this easy. 

"NO!" Brianna shouted, clawing at Isabella's arm with her nails and making her bleed while fighting to return to her lover's side. "Let me go!" She cried desperately, sobbing as Isabella decided she'd had enough. 

She used the adrenaline pumping through her veins to drag her sister back a few feet, slamming her against a wall and slapping her across the face. That seemed to snap her out of her trance, making her freeze for a moment as she stared back.

"He's fucking dead Bri!" Isabella shouted in her face, her anxiety kicking in as scenes from her frequent nightmares began to play out in her mind. "We need to get out of here before we end up like that-"

"Fall back! We've got a breach!" Nikolai shouted getting everyone's attention, as a horde of zombies broke through the back window. Richtofen turned and blasted the small group, silencing them all with a single shot of electricity before he ran out of ammo. 

"Zhis veapon is empty!" The doctor cried, genuinely upset, as he pulled out his crossbow and fired into an open window, creating several crawlers. More zombies started coming up through the ground in a few places, as Dempsey and Takeo did their best to cover the hallway and the window for as long as they could while Nikolai ran around shooting the ones popping their heads through the dirt. 

"Invade my space, I shoot your face!" The Russian soldier shouted as he blasted a zombie in the head with his AK. 

"Hey Izz!" Dempsey shouted backing up from an enormous horde sprinting towards them. "A little help over here!"

Raising the Zeus Cannon, she fired a couple shots, taking out the crowds in a matter of seconds as the sound of rotting corpses being smashed against the walls echoed throughout the Cosmodrome. Blood ran down onto the floor as she reloaded, shouting behind her in the process. 

"Let's move!" Firing another blast from her cannon, she cleared the hallway as she grabbed her sister, dragging her along and shoving her towards Dempsey. "Get her out of here..." Isabella mumbled, sounding a bit choked up. "Please..." 

She'll be okay with Dempsey... It's okay...

Glancing around the room, Takeo and Nikolai abandoned their windows, running towards them as Isabella unwillingly caught a glimpse of Zack's corpse, already partly devoured by a zombie. Sure, Zack was her sister's boyfriend but still, they had all spent a lot of time together and he was her friend as well as someone she had grown extremely attached to over the years. 

Fighting back tears, Isabella felt an uncontrollable rage towards the undead, Samantha... and pretty much everything that had happened to them up until this point. 

Why us? Why did Zack have to die? What the hell do we have to do with all this?! 

So many questions flooded her mind as the tears threatened to spill over. She didn't notice but her hands were shaking as she tossed the cannon to Nikolai and pulled out Calamity, approaching the zombie faster than anyone could stop her. 

"Son of a bitch!" Isabella screamed, bringing her foot up with lightning speed as she kicked the undead soldier in the head, sending it flying backwards. The undead creature stumbled to its feet, lunging for her as she raised Calamity and pulled the trigger, blood and bits of skull flying through the air. Laughing insanely, Isabella continued to advance towards a growing horde coming her way, intent on making them pay for what they had done, but was stopped by a gloved hand pulling her back. 

"Dempshey! Nikolai!" Richtofen shouted, taking control of the situation while dragging Isabella back to the door with ease. "Let us be on our vay!"

Isabella frowned, taking every opportunity to turn around a fire more rounds into the horde following their group as she was pulled along quickly by the doctor, who paused after a moment to turn and fire an explosive into the crowd following them. 

A few crawlers survived, hissing and moving forward at an extremely slow pace as faster zombies began to catch up, causing them to retreat. As they ran by, a zombie jumped out of a window directly in front of Isabella, grabbing her arm for less than a second before the undead appendage was sliced off by Richtofen's bowie knife. 

"I do the dissections around here!" Richtofen shouted, laughing as the zombie growled in what seemed like pain or perhaps annoyance as it charged them both, instantly meeting the doctor's blade again as the corpse finally crashed to the ground. 

Feeling a small tug on his sleeve the doctor tensed, ready to defend himself against another attack as he looked down, sighing when he confirmed that it was a hand of the living and not the decaying claw of a zombie. Turning quickly, they both made their escape, sprinting down the hallway to catch up.

Nikolai led the group down the narrow passageway, equipped with the Zeus Cannon as they all finally made their way onto the stage. Blasting a small group out of the way, the Russian soldier smiled, really enjoying being able to use such an awesome weapon. 

"So easy, even a drunk can do it!" He grinned, holding down the front steps while watching Isabella and the crazy doctor approaching fast with a decent crowd on their tails. 

Takeo noticed that the zombies had stopped spawning in for the moment as he took this opportunity to reload. Perhaps we will get a break finally... He thought, hoping that was indeed the case seeing as he was almost out of ammo. We cannot keep fighting like this forever...

Richtofen and Isabella raced up the steps, running past Nikolai as he waited for just the right moment to fire.

BOOM! 

All the zombies following them were taken out in a single shot as the drunk Russian cheered. 

"The shattering bones of the, uh... DIE! DIE!"

Isabella rushed over to Dempsey and her sister, seeing her crying on the arm of the Marine and looking quite distant. 

"Bri...?" Isabella questioned, hearing nothing but the silence of the Cosmodrome, except for the groans and hisses from a few crawlers. "Brianna..." She continued, a bit frightened of the ghost like expression of her older sister's face. 

"Are you going to be o-"

SLAP.

It happened so fast, Isabella didn't have time to react as the force of the blow sent her stumbling to the ground as she grabbed her now burning cheek in shock. Isabella hissed, starting to stand up but Brianna was already on top of her again, pushing her down as Dempsey moved to break it up, shocked at the blonde's sudden aggressiveness.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT!" Brianna screamed, looking at her younger sister with a look of pure hatred. "You wanted to play this stupid game!" She yelled, breaking down and crying while lunging for Isabella again, this time Dempsey caught her before she could land another blow on the smaller girl. 

"It's your fault we're stuck here!" The blonde shouted as Tank dragged her away, restraining her with the help of Takeo. 

Isabella stared at the ground, not meeting anyone's eyes as she felt her stomach constrict. She's right... She realized while feeling incredibly guilty. None of this would be happening to them right now if it wasn't for me... Zack would still be alive...

"I know cure for depression..." A deep voice slurred, bringing her out of her thoughts as she looked up finding Nikolai in front of her, a small clear bottle in his hand. Helping her up, he offered her the tiny bottle, making her raise an eyebrow as she stared up at the Russian, shocked that he was giving up his favorite thing in the whole world, to her no less. 

Sighing dejectedly, she unscrewed the cap before tilting the container back as the strong liquid hit her taste buds and making her squint a bit as she swallowed it, feeling slightly better already. Handing the bottle back to Nikolai, she slapped her cheeks lightly a few times, pulling herself together as she glanced back to her sister who was arguing with Dempsey at the moment judging by her tone and hand gestures.

We have to finish things here and free Gersch... Isabella realized while planning out their next objective. They had to return power to the third node, which meant heading down to Pack-A-Punch yet again... 

Why you make me do so much running around Treyarch? Isabella thought in irritation while cursing her sore legs, as she noticed that the doctor, Nikolai and the rest of the group were waiting, staring at her and expecting directions. Everyone except Brianna was waiting on her order.

"Pack-A-Punch." Isabella stated, hiccuping slightly and motioning for them all to follow her. "Let's go." She turned around and walked down the hill, passing through multiple doorways until they reached the bottom area of the facility. She walked to the center of the launch pad and stood on the metal grate while explaining what needed to be done to her teammates. 

"Everyone has to stand here until that clock," She motioned to a clock on the wall that had a ballistic knife instead of a regular minute hand as she continued. "Counts down and you hear a nuke go off." Everyone nodded as they all squeezed onto the small platform used to launch rockets, waiting to hear the ticking of a clock counting down.

...Nothing. 

A few more minutes went by and still the hand on the clock refused to move. 

"Why the hell isn't this thing counting down?" Isabella mumbled, taking a few steps forward while staring at the unresponsive device, frustrated that her plan wasn't going quite like she expected.

"Maybe you missed a step." Brianna chimed in, still sporting a rather harsh tone.

No, Isabella thought, knowing deep down that she was correct. This was definitely the next step in activating the Kassimir Mechanism... But something was wrong. 

For this to work everyone that's playing has to be on the platform... Isabella remembered, slowly coming to a conclusion as a chill ran down her spine, knowing she was right about this too.

"There has to be someone else here we haven't run into yet..."

...

Near the entrance of the Cosmodrome...

...

The sun was beginning to go down as a young woman with short chestnut colored hair looked around skeptically, surveying the area as she stepped out of her Hummer, grabbing her weapon from the seat next to her. A tiny yip was heard as a small chow-chow jumped out of the Hummer as well and began sniffing around on the ground, looking for traces of anything. 

Light green eyes noticed a black jeep parked a few feet away near the entrance as she made her way over there while snapping her fingers once, getting her partner's attention as the chestnut colored dog returned to her master's side. As she approached the jeep, she noticed the keys were still in the ignition and for the most part... It seemed to be abandoned.

"Check out this sweet ride Shiyla!" The young woman said, adjusting her army jacket as she began snooping through the cargo, looking for any useful supplies. Shiyla jumped up, sniffing the driver's side of the car while yipping to get her owner's attention. 

Hmm... The woman thought, watching the dog wag it's tail excitedly at the scent of other people. I wonder if they're still around here-

A groan in the distance caught their attention quickly, as a hunched over figured approached from the shadows. Shiyla growled and barred her teeth, returning to her owner's side as she readied her Commando and aimed at the limping figure ahead. Her finger was about to squeeze the trigger, which would have resulted in a perfect headshot, but suddenly the corpse's head exploded on it's own as another gun firing was heard behind her.

"What the hell?!" She said aloud, turning around quickly towards the entrance of the large space facility and spying a strange group of survivors, one them equipped with a sniper rifle. The woman with long black hair waved and smiled at her for a moment before handing the rifle back to the doctor with grin.

"See, I told you it would be funny..." 

The German didn't look too amused as he rolled his eyes, sighing at the young woman's pouting face. Returning her attention to the newest member of the 'I'm-a-suvivor-of-the-zombie-apocalypse' club, Isabella strolled over to the other woman who looked to be about her age, as she held out her hand in a friendly greeting. 

"I'm Isabella," She said, shaking her hand as they smiled at each other before Isabella gestured behind her to her teammates. "And this is Dempsey, my sister Brianna, Takeo, Nikolai and Dr. Richtofen."

The new woman smiled, running a hand through her chestnut/black highlighted locks before introducing herself. "Nice to meet you all," She said before continuing, "My name's Hanna Tompkens and this is my dog..." She went on while gesturing towards the animal sitting next to her, still wagging it's tail excitedly. "Shiyla." Thinking about where she actually was, Hanna frowned, confused at meeting survivors all the way out here instead of back at the camp in town where the other people were located...

"What are you all doing out here?" She questioned as everyone in their group looked around at each other, wondering what the best way to explain all this would be.

"It's a long... Crazy story..." Dempsey answered, getting Hanna's attention for the first time as he scratched the back of his head, looking to the sky for answers. 

"Yeah..." Isabella agreed, grinning up at the Marine as he chuckled nervously. "It is strange... But for now," Isabella continued while noticing it was starting to get dark. "We should focus on finding a place to sleep..."

"You guys are more than welcome to share my tents and supplies..." Hanna offered as Isabella's and Brianna's eyes widened simultaneously. 

Blankets, warm food, perhaps even a shitty cot to sleep on... What more could I have asked for? Isabella thought drunkenly, nodding her head up and down vigorously while throwing an arm around her new comrade and grinning. 

"I don't suppose you would have any booz-" 

Before she could finish her sentence, the brown haired woman pulled a bottle of vodka out of her army pack, wearing a grin matching the one still on Isabella's face. 

"Hun, I think we are gonna get along just fine..."

Nikolai's vodka sense tingled as he shivered, knowing there was vodka around somewhere as his eyes fell on the bottle in Isabella's hands. Eyes widening, she took off running, the Russian soldier right behind her. 

"Get back here with that vodka!" He shouted, ignoring the blank stares that Hanna and the rest of the group were giving them...