3 years before. Mission Ourelia 7.
A destroyed ship. The air is rarefied. Distant screams that no longer mattered.
Inside a rusty cargo container, something was moving.
"What was that?" Valeria asked, pointing her flashlight.
A high-pitched squeal. Two bright eyes among rubble. A tiny creature covered in grease and wiring was biting its own harness.
An opossum.
Valeria laughed.
"How the hell did you get here?"
The creature growled and jumped straight into his helmet, hugging him as if it were his only salvation.
He never left her again.
Present. Z-75.
The sand-laden wind licked at his suit.
"Valeria, for heaven's sake, what's going on?" We lost your signal for five hours!
Valeria's mind only had energy to remember the mission in which she was sent 3 years ago, where she was able to rescue many species of animals except one.
Valeria will always blame herself for not saving the life of that possum from the mistreatment of those mercenaries, such was her remorse that she adopted the breeding of that little animal.
"Valeria to Base..." her voice broke before she could finish. He took deep, deep breaths. I repeat, Valeria on base. I'm alive. He confirmed the existence of zombies on planet Z-75.
Valeria swallowed. His face was a mask.
"Not Zara... he did not survive.
There was a long silence.
"We are deeply sorry, Lieutenant.
"I will proceed with an analysis of the terrain." I confirm the presence of zombified entities. I request authorization to execute a protocol of progressive extermination.
"Are you sure?" The planet must be assessed by a scientific mission first...
"I've already evaluated it.
And I'm going to clean it up.
Valeria was no longer the same.
The sadness was not expressed in tears, but in efficiency.
He adapted his laser gun with a thermal sight, calibrated his sensors to detect the zombies' altered carbon footprint, and designed energy traps with metal debris from the ruins.
From that day on, Valeria woke up with a new purpose, a new determination. He wouldn't rest until every last zombie was eradicated, until Z-75 was a safe place.
He slept little. He barely ate. He only studied, hunted, and spoke in silence.
Sometimes murmurs escaped him.
In the silence of the alien night, loneliness weighed, but Zara's presence still accompanied her.
Hunt.
A single Monscar zombie prowled the wreckage of a fallen station.
Valeria watched him from the top of an iron hill.
"Goal 601... He whispered.
He waited for her to approach the sound-activated trap.
When Monscar stepped on the exact spot, a beam of energy caught it in a bright net. It roared, but it didn't last long.
"For you, Zara," he said, pulling the trigger. The laser pierced it with surgical precision.
That night, Valeria returned to the place where Zara's remains rested.
He sat down by the mound of stones.
"Today it was one. Tomorrow, ten. Then, hundreds.
The wind whistled like a distant echo of the voice he could no longer hear.
"I'm not going to fail you again. Not while breathing.
And as the stars swirled silently over the red sky of Z-75, Valeria closed her eyes, her gun on her lap, and the promise of revenge etched in her soul.