Famous Cases | Historical Tales | Vampires | Zombies
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Famous Cases | Historical Tales | Vampires | Zombies |
Base: Kabul, Afghanistan
Date/Time: Spring 2010
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| Soldiers in MOPP 4 gear |
I was stationed in Kabul on rapid response about six months ago. Three months into my deployment, we were sent out to [redacted] in southern Afghanistan. The Rangers there had reported an outbreak of a virus at one of the villages. Captain [redacted], our company commander, briefed us on the situation. It was a standard op —just a simple quarantine, they told us. We were going to cut off the village and any additional ones downstream, and after a few days we would move in and commence clean-up operations.
We arrived in the dead of the night. I was in the lead HMMWV manning the .50 cal. In the half moonlight, the place was dead quiet: no light or fires. The captain sent second and third platoons downriver to take the other villages and had us set up defensive positions around the village and don MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) 4. And so we waited—for three days.
Finally, the captain sent in a team consisting of me, Pvt. [redacted], PFC [redacted], and Sgt. [redacted]. The captain told us to treat the area as a "free fire zone." The sun set just before we took an HMMWV down the main drag. It was the same deal: no lights, no sign of people. Then we heard a scream off to our left. We all got out and the sergeant pointed at me and motioned toward the sound. I had my M4 at the ready when I turned corner and saw a woman in a burqa and a man with a AK-47 hunched over another man. They were latched on to the inside of his leg.
I took careful aim and fired a five-round burst to the back of the man's head. He fell limp. The woman stopped and looked at me—she had blood around her mouth and her eyes were black. I'll never forget the sight of her. She stood up and sprinted away faster than I thought possible. I fired another five-round burst and hit her center mass. She flipped and fell to the ground. But then, she got up and ran away!
Then the shit really hit the fan. I heard the steady thump of the fifty and I sprinted back and ducked around the way I had come. These things, whatever they were, were coming out of the woodwork. [Redacted] was on the fifty laying into them. I don't know if you've ever seen what a M2 does to someone at close range but hell, it's not pretty. [Redacted] and [redacted] were out there opening up with their M4s. Then we all jumped in the HMMWV and drove out of town.
After I gave my report to the captain, he asked if we had been bitten. We all said "no" but he he had us vaccinated anyway and put in quarantine for a day or two. When I came out, I learned that they had used a few canisters of nerve gas on the town. I still don't know what to make of this situation. I hoped you might have some insight.
Comment from Dr. Pecos: There are a couple of possibilities. One, you encountered an early-stage vampire/zombie outbreak. Someone in or near the village was infected, and the virus spread, as it is wont to do in a rural, Third World community. The second possibility is more ominous. It's possible that there is a new strain of the virus out there. There were rumors during the Soviet-Afghan war that the Soviets were using Afghan prisoners as test subjects for altered forms of the vampire and zombie viruses. Several people who've served in Afghanistan have told me how the villagers there speak of cave-dwelling monsters that come out at night to hunt. Perhaps this incident is related? In any case, please keep me posted on the situation. If you should be so unlucky as to encounter these creatures again, you must do everything in your power to avoid getting bitten.