This story has nothing to do with the plot of COD, but i got the idea from a map in COD Black Ops, enjoy!
The heavy winter snow continued to blanket the deserted factory. It stood empty and broad against the blue-grey winter sky, on the edge of a precipice. The sheer drop lead to a misty canyon; the rocky slopes were covered in trees, but if you were to travel down farther, where the mist hid its depths, only craggily rocks would remain.
Rusty and old, the factory had not been used for years. Only one life form still visited; a young girl of thirteen. Her footprints bearing the tread marks of black combat boots, she wore a thin black jacket against the cold, with light jeans, and a hole in one knee. It would not be hard to hear her footsteps clang up the rusted stair case and through the abandoned halls to the control room, except there was no one there to hear it; not any more.
She sits alone on the cold iron floor, leaning up against a control desk. Long ago, leaning so close to this machine she may have heard its buzz of life, but now its internal parts were dormant and as good as dead.
She sat silently for a second or two after settling her self, and finally began to sob. Her sobs eventually turned into hysteria, but there was no one to hear her despair; at least, not any more.
The snow continued to fall in heavy loads, and filled the room with a damp chill that ran up the girl's spine. Her breath was visible in puffs before her face, and moistened it, which would have been drenched without the help from tears and nervous perspiration. She knew they were coming for her, and they would soon be upon her. She gaped at the thought, her big dark brown eyes widening, and the events following her situation flashed before her.
She cowered from them but no matter how hard she tried to burrow her way into the nooks of the dead iron instruments, or squeezed her eyes closed so she thought herself surrounded in blackness, the memories would not spare her.
The girl laughed, without a trouble or care in the world, "Billy! Come on Billy hurry!" she shouted and gestured with her slim arm covered in her black coat for the small boy with curly red hair and freckles flecking his face to follow.
"Wait! Wait Reilly! Don't leave me!" he called, his eyes desperate although there was no threat at all.
"What are you waiting for silly, lets go!" Reilly called to him. He scrambled sloppily up the snow-covered hill after his friend like the tiny five year old he was; he couldn't help but be so attached to her.
They raced on toward the federal building for a town meeting. Their town was small and somewhat vulnerable because of its size, and the location was out in the middle of nowhere, and anything could happen. According to the emergency broadcast this morning, the meeting was important, and Reilly wasn't wasting time. She picked Billy up and ran for the open doors. The federal building had a tall ceiling, and windows that reached up the wall towards it, with burgundy drapes cascading down in swaths of silk. The floors and wood panels along the lower half of the walls were of a dark oak wood, and your shoes clacked on it shiny surface, echoing throughout the maze of rooms and halls.
Reilly rushed down the corridors glancing through the open doors until she found the conference room. She entered quickly with Billy on her heels and sat down, helping him onto her lap.
"Reilly…" he started but she quickly silenced him as the representative in the front of the room began to speak.
"Today we have gathered for an important meeting," he began. The crowd nodded and murmured amongst themselves some impatient for him to get on with the point. Representative Cesar was a sturdy man with a square face and squinted, dark eyes, but they sparkled like burning embers when he was the center of attention. He was no Julius Cesar in reality, but made due for his job in most cases. Seeing the temporary loss of interest in his crowd, Cesar continued, " Today we not here to discuss new ways of development, new tax laws…" he glanced around the room.
"Today, we have gathered for the good of our people. As we all know this village is located in a wooded area secluded from most of civilization. There is no one here to help us; therefore we must stand strong. We are all in grave danger."
Gasps and clamor from the villagers followed. Billy squirmed on Reilly's lap uncomfortably, and moaned in horror. "What does he mean Reilly? What's happened?"
"Hush, Billy! I haven't got a clue yet!" she scolded. Representative Cesar resumed his speech. "Word has spread to me that there is a hostile group of bandits in these woods."
With that onset of words people began to blurt out in anger, "What do you suppose we do then?"
"We haven't got an army!"
"There was never anything we have done to prepare for such a crisis!"
"You let us down Cesar! You let us down!"
Reilly clutched Billy close, he was shivering and frightened from the noise and commotion and began to whimper. Representative Cesar's voice boomed above the shouting, "People stay calm! We can pull through this if we all stay calm and listen to orders!" he snapped, but no one was listening now.
"I want to go home!" Billy wailed in Reilly's lap.
"I know, we can go home, we shouldn't be here." The men attending the meeting that had now turned into a riot were screaming at each other, and a fight was threatening to break out. Reilly knew this was no place for a young child to be if that were to happen, and she slunk for the door, when without warning the lights turned out. Instantly red alert lights probed about the room from their perches on the walls, and alarms blared over the sirens.
"Everybody stay calm! Security!" Cesar's voice bellowed through the room, but everything was now in complete chaos. Everyone ran for the exits, screaming for security, and a way out. Men in guile suits and heavy machine guns burst though the door and an eruption of desperate screams echoed through the room, as did sudden gunshots.
Reilly was pushed to the floor, basically getting trampled by running feet. She frantically grabbed for Billy's arm and yanked him and herself to their feet. She knew well enough that these were the hostile bandits. How had they gotten here so soon? What were they all to do?
Springing to her feet she picked Billy up who was hysterically crying and ran for the exit.
"We have to get to the emergency underground halls!" she said to Billy. She was panting now, and tears of fear streaked her own face. She could hear rapid footsteps approaching and she sprinted on faster for dear life. Her heart thudded in her chest and her legs wobbled under the extra weight of Billy, and she collapsed behind a stack of wooden crates. He chest spazzed with fatigue from running, she was in a boiler room. Huge tanks of gas that fed the giant machine were all around her, and the steam was intoxicating, causing beads of sweat to pour down her face, soaking her shirt in no time.
Billy continued to cry and the footsteps continued to grow louder. "Billy stop crying!" she pleaded, "Billy please hush!" the footsteps came rushing into the room, and a hand pressed itself to her should and she screamed.
"Hush little girl, we're here to help!" a man hissed between his teeth. Reilly turned to see a security guard standing before her, he crouched behind the crates and said softly to her, "It'll be alright kid, I'm here to protect you, get down they'll be here soon. I was followed!" Reilly shied away from the rim of the stack of crates and cowered behind the wooden crates, and shoved Billy down next to her, his whimpers desperate, and she couldn't help but let her tears flow silently as well.
Reilly watched the guard's tense facial expression, his body poised to give a fight, as he held a gun in both hands. Suddenly there was an explosion that shook the entire boiler room, and smoke plumed from the hall, and then came the rush footsteps and a range of bullets came whizzing over her head, and she slid lower, tears still falling and wrapping her arms over her head, eyes trained on the guard in horror. His gun spit out bullets at the enemy like they would never run out, but there was obviously more than one hostile in the room.
Reilly squealed for fear of her and Billy's life, and a scream that was neither hers nor Billy's tore through her like one of the hostile's bullets. The guard screamed in agony as the floor became flecked with red and he collapsed on the floor motionless, blood already forming a pool around his body.
"No! No!" Reilly yelled at him desperately, yanking at his arms. "Get up Mister, Get up!" without thinking she grabbed the gun and pulled hard, trying to release it from the dead fingers locked around it. She gave a last desperate pull and the fingers released. Reilly thrust the gun over the crates and fire randomly and knocked over one of the hostiles and he collapsed dead.
She pulled back behind the crates gasping and crying at what she had just done. She went to fire again but all she heard was an empty click. She pulled herself and the gun behind the crate quickly and found a lever on the side. She griped it in one fist and tugged it back with all her effort and heard a clang of metal. She swung the gun over and fire again, spraying bullets around her screaming, the light from the exploding cartages reflecting of her face.
The bandits scattered for shelter and threw little round balls with a red flashing light into the room, screaming at one another and then fled from the room. Reilly flung the gun to the ground. Bullet holes dotted the gas tanks and a compressed hiss escaped them, and the beeping of the little balls on the floor echoed eerily through the room, and all at once she knew what was happening.
"RUN!" she screamed at Billy and grabbed his hand not waiting for the crying boy to get up, she began to sprint for the exit; two iron double doors that lay ahead of her. The beeping became louder and faster, and Reilly Burst through the doors into the crisp snowy air. Flurries of white whisking through the air, Billy wearily trailing behind, and found themselves on a slim metal bridge leading over a canyon and onto the other side, where a plane of wooded area stretched on for what seemed like forever.
Reilly's eyes shone as they neared the end, but before they met the solid promising earth, an explosion of fire and debris swept them off their feet. The bridge wobbled and collapsed into itself. Frantically grabbing for a hold, Reilly's hand grasped the handle of the bridge attached to the piece of land across from the burning federal building. Billy was dangling helplessly from her other hand, and she strained to keep him from falling into the canyon. Whatever happened, she would never let Billy fall to his death, and give him up to the unforeseen ditch, that now opened up beneath them.
Billy wailed and the Building exploded again, sending metal and glass shards streaking through the air. A glass shard tore through the skin of Reilly's cheek and ripped at her coat, tearing the sleeve of the arm holding Billy to shreds, cutting into her flesh. Reilly screamed in agony. "Someone help me!"
There was no reply, and her hand began to slip. The weight had become too much for her. Her head went blank and her vision blurred, coming in and out of focus. She thought she saw movement in front of her. She thought she saw a young pale face, and delicate arms. She thought she saw bright green eyes.
The thundering in her head throbbed, and her vision blackened.
Reilly's vision ebbed back into focus. The snow lay cold against her numb cheek. She coughed and realizing where she was rolled onto her side and looked around. The federal building was completely burned to ashes. The fire that the explosion had cause had long gone out. The wind picked up and carried the ashes across the canyon to where Reilly lay. They twirled tauntingly around her face mixing with the snow, and everything came flooding back.
Anyone who was in the building when it went alight was definitely not alive now. There was barely a sign of life anywhere, and then she remembered Billy. Billy, where was he? Reilly twisted around in her spot, her eyes darting over the snow covered land, when she spotted the tiny navy blue hump of Billy's wool coat. Lying motionless in the snow.
"Billy! Billy are you alright!" she screamed hauling herself to her feet and running over to the half covered bundle. She brushed the snow off of him, and revealed his pale face. By now the sun had set and the silver moon played a pattern of his chubby cheek. "Billy!" Reilly screamed once more and picked his little body out of the snow and laid him across her lap. She rubbed his arms trying to warm up what was left of him. As she looked at him closely she could see bruising and cuts from the explosion. The second one must have been the one to knock him out. Reilly began to cry now looking at his broken body. "Billy! Wake up!" she shook him gently. "Billy?" she shook him once more and cuddled his small body. Finally he stirred and opened his eyes. "Reilly?" he said timidly.
"Yes?" she replied hopefully.
"Where am I?" he asked looking around and shivering.
"We'll be alright, you'll see. The village is close." She said the last part uncertainly. Surely the bandits had raided that as well, and gone off with their valuables, leaving their home in ruins.
"I'm cold Reilly." He said, breaking her train of thought.
"I'll find a place for us to stay, ok? You just hang in there." Reilly got to her feet, and trudged through the snow into the forest as the falling snow began to pick up again.
After walking for what seemed like a lifetime, the snow had now picked up to a blizzard. Reilly peered through the snow, and almost as if it were planned, a cave sat empty and begging for the two to occupy it. Rushing forward, Reilly set Billy down in the back of the cave and sat down herself, resting her acing feet.
"When are we going home?" he asked, sounding exhausted.
"We'll be home sooner than you think, but right now you need to get some sleep." Reilly cooed.
"It's awfully cold tonight isn't it?"
"Yes, very cold. Which is why you need to stay warm." She said chocking on sudden tears seeing her dear friend, nearly brother, in such a weak and lifeless state.
He coughed. "When we get home, I want to sleep in my own bed, even if it's morning."
Reilly couldn't help but stifle a laugh, tears still falling from her eyes. "I'm sure you'll sleep in your bed again Billy."
"It seems so far…" he trailed off and coughed again. "Seems so…" but again he was cut off by his coughing.
"Hush Billy, hush! You'll hurt yourself!" she warned.
Billy's eyes stared past her, "Reilly?"
"Yes," she chocked again.
"You're my big sister right?"
"If you feel that way, yes." She said tears welling in her eyes. Billy looked as if he was going to say something else, but his body became very still.
"Billy?" Reilly questioned. "Billy?" she began to panic and shook him lightly, "Billy!" She shook him violently but gave up her tears falling over his body, and when he didn't respond, she knew he was gone forever.
Reilly screamed into the cave, she screamed into the forest and all that lied beyond. Her world has just shattered. Billy was gone, her village, her family, the federal building, it was all gone.
"I love you Billy, and always will…" she muttered and kissed his head gently, then stood up and walked into the snow, walking slowly, and although the cold was bitter and threatened to bear frostbite, Reilly didn't care anymore if the cold took her. Why should she be the only one alive?
She continued to aimlessly walk, when unfamiliar voices broke her trance. She looked around and spotted the gang of bandits still armed, and dressed in their guile suits. She ducked behind a tree, but her foot stepped on a twig and it cracked loudly, brittle from the cold.
"What was that?" a gruff voice came over the howling wind.
"What?" said another voice, sounding somewhat annoyed.
"Didn't you hear that?" replied the first.
"If I did I wouldn't be asking." Said the second, sounding about to burst at the other's stupidity.
"It sounds like someone's here."
"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone was killed in the federal building." Said a new voice.
Reilly gasped, so it was true, everyone was dead. Then clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing she might have given herself away.
"That! Didn't you hear?" said the first voice.
"I think I heard something." Said the third voice.
"Not you too!" the second voice scolded.
"Quiet Conrad!" snapped the third man. "We'll scout the area."
With that, there was no more conversation. Wanting nothing more than to escape what Reilly was sure were the bandits, she started to run into the forest. She sprinted as fast as she could, and she had no idea where she was headed.
"There after her!" said a voice that Reilly could no longer identify as bandit number one, three or Conrad who was apparently the second. All she knew was that she needed to keep running, when finally she burst through a clearing and what seemed to be an abandoned old factory lay before her.
In the midst of her break down, Reilly heard a voice calling, but it wasn't the masculine voices of the bandits. "Reilly." The wind seemed to gently float by her face. "Reilly?" the voice came again, but this time closer. It was feminine, sweat, elegant and flowing.
"Yes?" Reilly answered. " Who's there?"
The air shimmered in front of her and in its place was the beautiful figure of a young woman clothed in a draping white gown. "Siphon, a messenger from the Underworld. A presence unknown to living mankind, until now."
Reilly gaped at her slim figure hovering just above the ground, her flesh glowing slightly. "Why are you here?" Reilly asked, trembling.
"I am here to tell you that we feel your pain, I've watched over you."
"You have no idea what my pain feels like." Reilly snarled.
"Please, I am only here to help you." The messenger replied. "We haven't got much time if you want to be able to save your friends life."
Reilly's skin prickled. "There's nothing you can do, he's dead." She said bluntly, and she felt that no more tears could empty themselves from her eyes.
"He is, but you can change that you know." Siphon challenged.
"How?" Reilly replied almost savagely.
"I can help you, but there are consequences that could change your life, for the good or the worse." Siphon warned.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the corridors, and Siphon and Reilly knew the hostiles were approaching. "Make your choice, Reilly, quickly."
Reilly's palms were sweaty, and she hesitated. Finally when she looked up again, Siphon had disappeared.
"Wait! I want you to help me!" Reilly cried into the empty room and almost as soon as she finished her sentence, the control room melted away and she was standing in the conference room of the federal building. She stood in the center of the room unnoticed, and time was slightly faster than normal, as she watched the people from her village pile in, when something caught her eye. Someone was sitting in the back of the room, which looked identical to herself, with a five-year-old red headed boy on her lap.
It had to be a dream, this couldn't be happening. She thought this over in her head and Siphon's voice echoed in her mind. "You must find a way to reverse the facts." And that was all that came from her. As Reilly watched the previous events happen before her very eyes, the other Reilly scuttled over to the door and the lights went out, and the alarm went on. Reilly saw her real self panic and run through the winding corridors, and ran to follow herself. When she ran, it was as if she was floating and weightless, and she followed herself and Billy to the boiler room, watched herself shoot the bandit, and the bombs set.
Now in slow motion, Reilly watched her real self sprint clumsily with Billy to the doors. They were halfway across the bridge when the explosion ripped through the air with a tremendous bang. Reilly walked out of the smoke that perused her in slow motion, but she was faster, considering she was a figment of the imagination. She made it across before the bridge fell, and in the process gently lifted Billy out of her real self's hands and placed him on solid ground, and her real self lost her balance and missed the bridge rail, and began to tumble in slow motion into the depths of the canyon, and as did Reilly. The two combined together and Siphon's ageless face appeared in front of Reilly's tear streaked face.
"Well done, Reilly." And she disintegrated into snow. Reilly looked up and just once, only once did she see Billy look her in the eyes, and the shattered glass from the federal building rained in a glorious sparkling shower around Reilly's body.
"Goodbye Billy." She said, satisfied and smiling, finally blacked out, and drifted towards the light, and Siphon.