Viktor stared at Carol for a brief second hoping that she would let him have a look through the binoculars too. When she didn't budge, he resumed squinting at the scene. As far as he could make out, the people were trying to catch the zombie, one of them was trying hard while the other two had weird looking guns and were distracting it.

Finally, after a few minutes they managed to subdue the creature and carry it on a stretcher into a box that was nearby, that he hadn't noticed before. It looked like a giant rectangular Lego block slightly bulged in the center, in a dull grey brown colour and had four stubby wing-like extensions, two on each side, which reminded Viktor of the arms on a T-Rex. What surprised Viktor was when it did take off vertically on the stubby wings which were actually thrusters, they then rotated and the Legowas flying away. It was bigger than he expected, about thirty feet in length and more than ten feet in breadth, the wings couldn't have been more than four feet long but they were quite thick. There was no aesthetic quality about it as it looked completely utilitarian. Within a few more minutes it had gone out of sight.

“Wow!” Exclaimed Carol, “did you see that?”

“Yeah, I have telescopic eyesight,” replied Viktor with a hint of sarcasm.

She laughed lightly mouthing a silent 'okay' before starting her explanation. “Here's what I saw. Three guys. One zombie. They were not trying to kill it, they were trying to catch it. One of them shot it with a little gun and then they loaded it onto that flying thingy.”

Viktor took it all in stroking his chin. “Interesting. Those people. What about them? Notice anything?”

“They looked a little odd. They were uniformly tall - I mean they were all the same height, built and wore some sort of uniform with helmets. I couldn't identify the markings of their badges, it didn't look like any military I know but I am damn sure they are some sort of military. Apart from the little gun, the other two had weird guns with a rather atypical grip, I've never seen anything like that before.”

“And the flying Lego?” Viktor asked.

“Boys,” Carol laughed, “That's the apt description because it had no features that I could see. All I could make out were the wing-like things that seemed like engines and a similar marking to those guys' badges on its back. Some sort of earth-like silhouette with sharp pointed wings on both sides. Any ideas?”

Viktor rattled his brain to try and recall such a symbol from anywhere. Looking at the technology, it had to be a government agency or a powerful private one. But he couldn't think of one that was even remotely close.

“Nope. Never seen anything like that. It must be a real under the table agency or something that has sprung up after this.”

Carol nodded and sat back into the seat. Viktor continued on the road. As they reached near the place where the zombie was captured, they found dead zombies littering the area. Viktor stopped the vehicle.

“Rest of the pack,” Carol commented. “Actually, more than one pack here.”

“Multiple shots.” He peered through the window at the dead life forms. “But not by the sort of bullets that I know of and I've seen the full Monty; it's gone right through them and even cauterized the wounds.” He turned to look at Carol, “this is gonna sound crazy. But I think they were using some sort of energy weapons. I've tested the prototypes that the boys at DARPA and Dstl had developed. It does similar damage, though I'm surprised it can be contained so neatly like bullet holes.”

“Energy weapons? Like a laser gun?” Her eyes grew wide with excitement, “or a phaser? Reckon they are aliens?”

Viktor laughed, “calm down. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We don't know anything apart from a little guesswork on their technology. They seem extremely dangerous, we need to be cautious.”

“But if it's true; the possibilities...” She let it drift off with a smile and twinkle in her eyes.

“We don't know if they are the good guys though. For all we know, they could be the bad guys.” Viktor noted.

“Party pooper,” Carol joked. “Maybe they're here to help.” She shrugged.

They moved on debating the alien theory. Viktor was adamant that it wasn't extra terrestrial but Carol presented a good case for it.

After a few more minutes of driving they came to a sudden stop. The flying Lego was hovering in the air blocking their way. Two small panels on its either side opened and something resembling a gun barrel appeared out of them.

“This doesn't look good,” muttered Carol.

Viktor turned into the nearest alley narrowly missing whatever was hurled at them from the flying contraption. He looked in the rear view mirror to find that it had hit a garbage can and sent it flying through the air bursting into pieces.

“These guys don't play fair.” Viktor said through gritted teeth.

It was following them from above the alley since its bulk wouldn't allow it to enter it.

The alley came out onto a main street and Viktor was forced to swerve all over the road to avoid being shot at. The adjoining alleys seemed to be blocked and he was cursing loudly as dodging became a task in itself. Carol lowered her window and twisted around in her seat to shoot at it but it was having no effect.

“I hope that answers your question, Captain Kirk's definitely not on our side.” Shouted Viktor. Carol gave him a dirty look in response.

Viktor turned sharply to avoid another hit but that took them out onto a wider street. “Shit! The Lego is gonna have a good time here.”

Carol took aim, as much as she could from a dancing vehicle, and fired quick bursts at it's front hoping that's where the wind-shield or sensors or whatever they call it might be. The shot seemed to have done the trick as the flying machine missed them by an inch.

An energy beam hit the road where their vehicle had been a second ago but with enough energy to cause one of the back tires to burst, and lift up the backside. It careened out of control crashing through a shop door and coming to a halt completely inside a large department store and out of range of Death's plane that was chasing them.

“Motherf-” seethed a fuming Viktor. He smacked the steering wheel hard before kicking the door open. “Mess with me? Mess with me, will ya? I'll teach you.” He strapped the P-90 across his chest and then retrieved the rocket launcher from the floor of the vehicle. He checked it once and carried it on his shoulder towards the newly created 'entrance' of the shop.

“Viktor! Wait!” She too jumped out of the vehicle.

“The bag, Carol,” he said without looking back, “get the bag.”

Carol looked confused for a second before understanding that he meant the bag with grenades and ammunition for the rocket launcher. She grabbed it and ran to his side.

He stopped and adjusted it on his shoulder, and then quite literally ran out to the street. Taking quick aim he fired a round at the near thruster hitting it squarely. Smoke was bellowing from the direct hit and he heard a small secondary explosion from the inside of the machine, the engine had blown up too. It tried hard to maintain its altitude and position with the remaining thrusters narrowly avoiding crashing into one of the buildings.

“Carol.”

She had already placed the bag beside him and unzipped it. She handed him another rocket. He loaded and fired again, this time aiming for the thruster on the same side as the damaged one.

The loss of both engines and thrusters on one side send it out of control as it scraped the sides of adjoining buildings finally losing the battle against gravity as it crashed down across the street, effectively creating a dead end on one side.

“Booyah!” Viktor had an evil smile across his face, one that Carol shared.

“Too noisy Vik. Gotta look out for packs too,” warned Carol.

Viktor placed the rocket launcher on the floor as he held on to his P-90. Carol signalled that she was going to check out the wreckage. She moved slowly towards the crushed pile of metal, gun raised and senses on alert. Viktor was scanning around with his raised weapon for any unwanted surprises that might be lurking around.

There was a sudden explosion at the side of the downed machine, followed by a piece of metal, the size of a door, exploding outwards. A figure stumbled through it, and before either of them had time to react, it fired wildly at Carol hitting a derelict car that she was using for cover. The shot was powerful enough to blow up the car and send Carol flying, hurling her at the brick wall. She fell limp to the floor, unmoving, eyes closed.

“Carol!” screamed Viktor. He turned to look at the attacker, only to find it turning towards him with its strange weapon.

Viktor was faster, emptying an entire clip into it and reloading before it could even finish the turn. It dropped the weapon, fell down to its knees and finally collapsed on its side. Viktor thought he heard something from inside the wreckage. Just to make sure no more surprises appeared from within, he tossed two grenades into it before running towards Carol. The explosion almost deafened him but the metal seemed to hold itself without exploding outward.

He came to a stop kneeling at her side.

“Carol! No, no, no! Be alive! Please.” His words were in a flurry of emotion as tears escaped his eyes. He tried pumping her chest to no avail. He even tried CPR and anything else he knew for several minutes, begging and pleading all the while. She still wasn't breathing. He didn't want to give up but he didn't know what else to do.

“Please. Don't leave me, Carol. Don't...” He was crying now, putting his forehead to hers as he stroked her cheek.

Suddenly he stopped and pulled his face back. He thought he heard her breath. “Carol?”

He saw a weak smile at her lips, she was breathing lightly and trying to say something. He moved closer to her again.

“It's OK for big boys to cry.” She rasped. Viktor shook his head laughing, trust her to say a line from Coach. He hugged her, kissed her forehead and helped her sit up leaning against the wall.

He just kept looking at her smiling without saying anything.

“I'm alright, Vik,” Carol's voice was low and pained, “just a little sore and my body feels like it got run over and then beat up.”

“OK.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “We need to get out of here. Hopefully the tire's the only thing busted on our car.”

Carol raised a hand pointing behind Viktor, he turned around to see the person he had shot trying to get up. It was on its knees and was having difficulty in getting up further. There was some blood around it but not enough as to be expected when one was shot like it was.

“Stay here.” He gave his P-90 to Carol while he walked up to it removing the Radom from his holster and pointing it at the struggling form.

It looked at him and raised its hands to its head. Slowly it wrapped its hands around the helmet and tugged it off.

Viktor tried to not stare but he found it hard. As much as he hated to admit, he was hoping some creature like the Predator would be behind the helmet. But staring back at him was a human? Red hair, blue eyes and a chiselled face, very much human in appearance. There was something distinctly off about him though, he was sure it was a male because of the light stubble, unless something had gone really wrong with women after the apocalypse. The man's face looked too clean, not a freckle or a spot, his hairline was perfect, he was like an airbrushed picture in the flesh.

“You seem surprised,” the man said calmly, though with effort. “I am not dead because of body armour, but I will be soon enough, if I do not receive medical attention.”

Viktor did not respond as he lowered his weapon.

“I hope you do speak English. I only know French apart from English but I am not good at it. The sentence structures are difficult.” He said. He proceeded to repeat himself in French.

“I speak English very well.” Viktor said calmly as well, no point in losing his cool against him. He knew the type – soldier, take orders and follow them. But he needed information still. “Who are you? Why were you trying to kill us?”

“I am glad you do. You would not understand my native language anyway. My name is Glavan and I think, in your military terms, it would be Captain Glavan. As you can see, I am not from around here. I wish to surrender to your superior.” Though in pain, he spoke in crisp English with an accent Viktor could not place.

Viktor laughed at that. “If you haven't noticed, there's no superior around here, Captain Glavan. So you're gonna have to deal with me. You still haven't answered my second question.”

“Just routine cleansing. We are not supposed to leave witnesses to our sightings.”

“And just who the hell are you?” Viktor's voice rose a tad.

The man stared at Viktor who raised the gun a little threateningly. He sighed and breathed deeply.

“Very well. We are part of the science crew. We pick some of these specimens for testing and experimenting on in the labs, in order to study methods for an easier and safer mode of eradication and disposal.”

Viktor frowned at him, “I thought you said you speak English.”

He ignored Viktor's comment. “It was not supposed to be this way, it was supposed to be quick. These...abominations were a fatal mistake. Something that we are trying to correct.”

“By killing them and the survivors...”

“Yes, unfortunately. The price one must pay, as your philosophers mused.”

“But it looks like we're paying the price while you, whoever you are, are having fun.” Viktor's anger was evident, “Who do you work for? What is your purpose? Are you even from this planet?”

He chuckled lightly, “I look like you, do I not? I am from Earth, if that is what you mean, just not from around here,” he paused. “You have too many questions.”

“You don't have enough answers.”

Glavan suddenly produced a weapon from his side and tried to fire at Viktor but he missed by a good distance. Viktor didn't. Glavan fell to the ground dead, the bullet entering his skull through his eye.

Viktor walked up to the dead body and picked up Glavan's sidearm and the weapon he had used to shoot at Carol earlier. They were of strange design, to say the least. The bigger weapon was sleek black with an orange pattern that seemed to be moving. It was also light for its size with the grip curving inward. He found a little knob on its side. His curiosity getting the better of him, he turned it, the orange pattern dimmed and blackened. “Safety,” he commented smiling. The smaller one wasn't as fancy but still bore trademarks of a similar build.

He then ripped a couple of badges from Glavan's uniform and grabbed the helmet as well, stuffing the badges and the little gun in there. He was sure the military might have some use for it. It was intel after all. He was thinking about trying to get something else that might be useful from the wreckage but it looked too unstable after the explosion forcing him to abandon that plan. 

He carried the items back to Carol who had managed to stand up and limp to him halfway. She held her hands out for the items in his hand.

“Get the rocket launcher, Vik. If he gets up again...” She didn't need to complete her sentence.