Ahh, yea I am playing with points of views here, so just try not to get confused (towards the end of this chapter). I will place horizontal line breaks to help readers.
Soul Bound
+Recorded conversation in the canteen+
+Date: 02/01/2012+
+Location: Unknown+
+Time: Unknown+
'You know, Jay, dreams are weird.'
'Yea I know what you mean, I had one last night where I was a cow, you know, doing cow things and there was this lady cow, and dayum~ she was hot.'
*Giving Jay a "WTF" look he replied*
'No, no, that's not what I meant, there is this dream, its kinda repeating.'
'What you mean like a broken cassette?'
'No it's repeating as in like I'm always called the same name which is not my own, the settings are the same but each time it's different, you know, like I'm living another life. However I can only observe what is going on and its unsettling, to be honest.'
'I'm no physiologist and shit but since when have you having this dream, and how often do you have them?'
'Almost every Monday, about a week after that operation in Africa. What's it called?'
'What, "Operation Boogeyman"?'
'Yea, that's the one.'
'"Boogeyman" huh, man that brings back memories.'
'Don't think too much about it, you'll get used to it.'
'Yea? We'll see I guess.'
'Trust me, I know. Anyway I am leaving now, my contract for this firm ended this morning.'
'Alright, see ya, but wait! Hey man, I gotta ask, if me and Mikey did go AWOL on that night, would you and Fisher really kill us?'
'I wouldn't think twice about it.'
+Operation Boogeyman+
+Date: 12/12/2011+
+Location: Africa, outside of an unmapped local village+
+Time: 01:00+
'Damn Mikey, I thought we were mercenaries, not fucking kidnappers. How can you guys be so cool with this shit? I mean heck, we don't even know who this guy is.'
'Hey I'm on lookout duty so I'm not complaining.'
'Shit man, I got a bad feeling something shit is gonna happen.'
'Relax Jay, we don't get to choose the job we do, that's commands job, we just carryout their orders, they tell us to jump we jump, they tell us to shit we shit, and if they tell us to kidnap kids, you better do so because you know what? We're expandable, and don't think we won't hesitate to call a group of "Cleaners" to hunt us down after finishing our jobs for us. That is If. You two can kill the two of us first.'
'Look Fisher I'm not gonna try to go AWOL or anything, all I'm saying is that this job is messed up man.'
'Yea I agree, but like what I said just now it's not up to us to decide, anyway if we're silent and stick to the shadows like planned. We should be able to get in and out without too much bloodshed.'
'Alright guys, muster up. I'm going to go through the plan again so listen up. The local warlord wants more fuel for his private war machine, male children to be precise, the females are to bare more children in the close future. The pistols are silenced and their magazines are tagged blue, they are loaded tranquilizers and the ones tagged red are live rounds for your M4s in case things get messy you all only have one of each so make each shot count. Intel suggests there will be a military convoy passing through the village at about Ohh one, twenty. We will wait till they pass then we will carry out the operation. Regarding my name, I'll tell you that if I think your worthy of knowing it, for now, just call me Sir. Any other questions?'
'Yea, how come command gave us so little supplies? And how are we gonna transport all those tagged bodies out?'
'That, we are not going to do.'
'What do you mean?'
'We have enough tranquilizers to knock out all the children and all the women. The men will be taken out with other means, your knife. Then I will signal the warlord and he will collect his prize.'
'Fair enough, what about evac?'
'None, we make our own way back to Singapore. Time limit is a week, you don't get paid if you're late.'
'Man, why they gotta be calling us in for this shit? I thought they do this kind of shit all the time you know what I mean? You know like all this rape and kidnap form other camps and shit.'
'You know there is a saying that I know of and usually follow, "Ours is not to question why, but to follow" I'm not saying that your question is stupid, it's just that it's not necessary. The answer to your question however, is superstition.'
'Superstition? What like voodoo and shit?
'Well, no specific details were given but it was something about a witch or something like that.'
'Hey, Fisher how come you know that?'
'Let's just say I was with someone in command when I saw the contract.'
'Alright, here comes the convoy, check your radio frequency and spread out, Mikey, I want you to be our eyes, you see something move that's not us, you let us know. Jay, you sweep the houses on the left, Fisher you sweep the houses on the right. I'll comb from the center, mark all the huts you entered with this highlighter, it will show up under UV light, each one you miss will be a thousand off your payroll. Am I clear?'
'Gotch ya'
'Yes sir'
'Understood'
+Operation Boogeyman+
+Date: 12/12/2011+
+Location: Africa, just outside of an unmapped local village+
+Time: 01:25+
'Alright, the convoys gone, move out'
+Operation Boogeyman+
+Date: 12/12/2011+
+Location: Africa, unmapped local village+
+Time: 01:35+
'I'm telling you man, I don't know why but I'm getting the creeps.'
'It's just that talk of superstition, just forget it.'
'Jay, Fisher, try not to talk so much. Mikey anything to report?'
'I have not seen anything, well besides you guys and your muzzle flashes. Anyway, just a few more houses and you guys should be done, ohh and uhh I think Jay missed a hut at the far edge.'
'Right, I'll check it out, you two continue your sweeps and comb back down the middle for me.'
'Alright.'
'Roger.'
+Operation Boogeyman+
+Date: 12/12/2011+
+Location: Africa, unmapped local village+
+Time: 01:42+
'Mikey, is this the hut you were talking about? I see a mark on this one.'
'No sir, the one on the left of it.'
*After a few seconds, the radio crackled.*
'Well looks like there is no mark on this one, guess that's a cut in someone's payroll.'
'Yea, yea, whatever, anyway we're done here, re-grouping with Mikey boy.'
'Alright, I'll join you guys after this, shouldn't take too long.'
Like the other huts, this hut was circular in shape. This hut however have, ingredients hanging from the walls and the ceiling. He was able to identify several ingredients as onions, carrots and wheat but the others remained a mystery to him and finally a pelt from a zebra carpeted the floor of the hut. The inside of the hut was unnaturally darker than the ones that he had previously cleared, causing him to activated his night-vision goggles. Looking around he found the bed, with the shape on a person wrapped under a blanket.
He drew out his silenced pistol and his knife and was about to flip over the blanket when he heard the sound of shuffling feet behind him, turning into a crouched position, he scanned the closely confined space of the hut, pistol at the ready, first for the source of the sound. Finding nothing, he looked back over his shoulder to check on his target on the bed as he heard the sound of movement, apparently the person shuffled around the bed revealing it to be a male.
He scanned around the hut again just to be sure that there's no one else, finding nothing, he turned back to face the sleeping man. He holstered his pistol, de-activated his night-vision goggles and took a moment to look at the man. Creases on his face suggest that that he had already lived past his days of youth. He felt a sense of pity but reminded himself that he have to finish the job. As he moved his free hand to cover the old man's mouth to prevent him from screaming when his throat is slit, he realized that he could not move.
To his horror, the old man sat up, eyes still closed, and pointed a long and boney finger straight at him. His body snapped straight, he felt his blood rushing from his head and his vision started to blur. Suddenly the old man let out an inhuman screak as bright light poured out from his eyes and mouth.
'Hey is everything ok down there?'
He opened his eyes and saw the panicked eyes and slit neck of the same old man that had light coming out of his eyes and mouth. In his mind kept thinking of the words you are bound over and over again and he could not stop it, as though his thoughts were not his. As the words repeated, he asked himself. Bound to what?
'Yea' the words croaked out of his mouth and he realized that his mouth is dry.
'Come on, you've been there for about ten minutes already, we almost thought that you ran away and ditched us to hog the payment or something.'
Swallowing and licking his lips, he replied, his voice trembling and just slightly louder than a whisper.
'It is done, I'm going to send the signal now.'
He felt hollow, the same feeling someone gets when you were just dumped by the one you love or when you are homesick and alone, as the words you are marked still circle in his head. Walking outside, he pulled out the flare gun that was strapped to his thigh and shot it towards the sky. As he watched the flare rose up into the sky, he saw the face of the old man again, with his eyes and mouth pouring out light.
+Date: 03/01/2012+
+Location: Unknown+
+Time: Unknown+
'Is he the target?'
'Yes, just finished his contract yesterday, the poor soul.'
'What's the cause for his termination?'
'Does it matter?'
'Not really, just wondering'
'He found out last week that there was a hit on his parent's life, so he killed the men after them, hacked into our database, and wiped out the hit contract. The next day, surprise, the guy who placed the hit on them turned up dead.'
'So we are cleaning up this guy for hacking into the mainframe?'
'No, You, are going to clean "this guy", because "this guy", caused us not only to be unable to earn from the hit on his parents, but he also gave us a bad reputation. Now I know your new to our company but in this line of business, reputation goes a long way, and a bad reputation is bad~ for~ business~. Are we clear?'
'Yea, I heard "this guy" have quite the reputation.'
'Nothing I'm sure you can't handle, you can set up a team of three, including yourself of course, "Cleaners" are so expensive to hire. Ohh and don't come back until his dead. '
+Date: 10/01/2012+
+Location: Switzerland+
+Time: 08:45+
'Alright, I fixed the heater, I also already ordered that new T.V. you wanted, it should come next week.'
'Thank you ya, come, give mommy a kiss.'
'Aww come on mom, I'm not a kid anymore.'
'Give your mom a kiss boy.'
'Alright dad. Mua, there you go, bye mom, love you.'
He shook his father's hands.
'See you dad, love you.'
'Come here, give me a hug.'
He hugged his dad, and whispered to his father. 'I may be going away for a long time again. Heck I may not even be coming back this time.'
His dad whispered back. 'It's ok, I will look after mom, remember do what you want, as long as you are happy.'
'Thanks dad, OK then. See you, love you and take care alright?'
'We will.' His father said as he watched his son drive away, deep down in his heart he got the feeling that this would be the last time they would meet again.
He watched his father closed the door from his rear view mirror as he drove out of the garage, then he remembered that he forgot to give them the photo album of the family which they had left with him. He parked his Land Rover at the side of the road and got out of the car, as he was halfway between the car and his parent's house. His car exploded, showering him with dirt and the force pushing him face first into the ground. Seconds later another explosion rang out and when he looked up, where there once stood his parent's house, now stand a building with flames licking out from several holes in the wall and what was the front door.
'NO!' he cried as tears welled up in his eyes, he ran towards the burning building hoping that his parents will somehow still be alive.
'MOM! DAD! Ohh my god, HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME! Ohh god, please god'
He shouted out as he searched the still burning building.
The he heard short screams coming from one of the rooms, looking through a big hole in the wall, he could see a body, it was his dad, laid out on the floor, blood pooling around his head, his mother on her knees, hands over her mouth still screaming out short screams, looking towards the back entrance. When he realized that there was a bullet wound on his father's forehead, as he going to call his mother, he saw he head jerked back as a faint red cloud spray out behind her head. Then he realized what was going on, his sadness turned to rage but he coughed due to the smoke from the fire, giving away the element of surprise.
He was sure he heard someone coughed, could just be something that fell to the ground he though, but still went to investigate, pistol pointing towards the hole in the wall he approached slowly and carefully. He murmured into his radio for backup, just in case, he thought, just in case.
He saw the silenced pistol emerge around the hole in the wall, followed by the hand holding it. He waited until the elbow was visible before he grabbed the wrist with both his hands and pulled as hard as he could. A wet snap could be heard as he broke the assaulter's right arm against the broken wall, picking up the pistol, he leaned out of the cover of the wall to shoot at both of the assaulter's shoulders before looking out the back of the house for anyone else who was clad in black and carrying a gun, seeing no one, he dragged the assaulter behind the cover of the wall and shot him in both knees, the man cried in pain and begged for him to stop, but this only fueled his anger. He then shot twice into the man's gut before taking the man's knife and searching his body for ammo and equipment, he does this all as the men bleed and beg for him to stop.
After stripping the man of his equipment he heard noises from the radio bead in the man's ear and knew that there are more. He kick the man in the gut, before stomping on his head then shooting him in face, yet this still did not quell his anger. He emptied the rest of the clip into the head of the already dead man before he was able to calm himself enough to check his equipment.
In total he had the pistol with two clips left and a silenced H&K model mp5 submachine gun with 3 magazines. He peeked out of cover again to look for anyone, seeing no one, he made his way towards his parents. His anger gone, replaced by such an overwhelming sense of grief and remorse that he could have just shot himself at the spot. He went on his knees in the middle of his parents corpses, careful so as to not touch them and closed their mouths and shut their eyes, he was about to say a prayer, something that he have not done in years, for their departed souls when he heard the sound of gravel being disturbed. I'll kill them all. He thought to himself, his anger and hate drowning all his sorrows. I'll fucking SKIN THEM ALL!
He leaned out of the broken back door and found himself face to face with another person clad in black, gun pointing at him. He leaned back, freeing his left hand to push himself back faster, but left his right hand holding the gun outside and squeezed the trigger in attempt to kill the other assaulters. After firing a short burst he ducked and moved further back just as they returned fire at where he once was, full metal jacket rounds making short work of the wall where he had been mere seconds ago. He retorted by spraying the wall, knowing at the back of his mind that it would not do anything.
He turned to run out the front door through the still burning building to try and hit them in the rear but the second floor gave way and blocked his path. Changing clips, he jumped out the back door and rolled into the crouch position and pointed the gun at where he last saw the other assaulters only to find that they are not there.
*They had apparently predicted that he would go out through the front door, thus moved to intercept him*
His mind was beginning to clear up and focus as he moved along the back of the burning house and tried to listen out for any other sound besides the sound of the burning building, thinking of the building made him think of his parents, which in turn fueled his anger again and he lost himself for a few secconds as he thought of how he would torture the assaulters. Seeing the barrel of a gun emerging round the corner of the building snapped him back to reality and he raised his gun over his head. He waited until more of the assaulter's gun come round the corner before stepping forward to use his gun to hit the assaulter's gun downwards, this was not as successful as he hope but the gun's angle was drooped low enough to not be a threat to him, twisting his gun anti-clockwise, he leaned forward to slid his gun around the corner of the building before squeezing the trigger, splashes of red sprayed his hands as the bullets struck home. He must have shot about eight rounds before the gun jammed. No time to clear it. He though as he dropped the mp5 and extracted the pistol and the knife. He tried to use the knife as a mirror to see where the other assaulters are but as he slowly moves the knife towards the corner, he was showered with stone as the assaulter saw the knife and shot a short burst at the wall. Stuck in a stalemate, he called out: 'WHO ARE YOU!'
Hearing no reply, he called out again: 'HOW MANY MORE OF YOU GUYS ARE THERE!'
No reply, of course they would not tell me he answered his own question when the building exploded again.
The flames must have gotten to the gas tanks. He thought as he picked himself up at the same time grabbing the knife, the pistol nowhere to be found. Using the chance, he ran round the corner almost tripping over the body of the previous assaulter which he already forgotten about.
He picked himself up to one knee, the mp5 still in his hands, he looked up just in time to see the target run towards him with a knife drawn, a second later he felt himself getting kicked in the face. He grunted and rolled backwards into a crouch, but was not fast enough as the gun was kicked out of his hands, from the corner of his eyes, he saw the blade coming for his neck as he leaned back and used his legs to push his body back faster as he use his right arm to draw the pistol holstered on his left hip.
The blade slashed the assaulter's cheek, drawing blood but not cutting deep, he jumped towards the assaulter in hope of stabbing him whilst using his body weight to prevent the assaulter from drawing his weapon. Time seemed to slow down as he soared through the air, he could foresee his knife sab into the assaulter's neck when suddenly he felt the assaulter's foot at his gut.
Using the target's momentum against him, the last "Cleaner" flipped the target over himself and roll into the push up position, tucking a leg under his body, he pushed himself up pistol in his right hand, the left reaching for the knife strapped to his right thigh, he shot at the target but his aim was off.
He felt the bullet graze his left shoulder as he ducked to the right while running towards the assaulter. He swung the knife at the man's wrist, cutting just before the elbow and stepped-turned (turning whilst moving) to the man's side and swung again, cutting into the man's right armpit. Standing behind the assaulter, he was about to stab into the man's kidney when he felt his leg gave way. The man had sweep kicked his legs from under him, and as he fell to the ground, he felt something cold stab into his chest.
The target laid on the ground, knife in his chest, coughing out blood. The "Cleaner" picked up the pistol with his right hand as though unaffected by the earlier knife wounds. 'Man you're though, but I guess this is the end of the line for you. Good thing I was wearing this armor underneath, I think I would have lost my right arm if not for it. Got to give it to you though, killing not one but both my team mates, heck I mean I knew not to underestimate you, that's why we came prepared but this is still unexpected. Send your parents my regards, and just so you know, my name is Taylor Draiman' With that he pointed the gun at the target's head and pulled the trigger. 'Hey boss, the targets dead, send the disposal team and try to make it quick, the officials should be arriving any minute now.'
'Such a pity, and he was such a good soldier too'
'So what was his name anyway?'
'Why do you care?'
'I am afraid the reason is personal.'
'…Nexsus. Nexsus Tragen, anyway you can return now, take what you want while you can, our disposal team usually leaves nothing behind.'
Turning around, Taylor looked at Nexsus's body and bent over. However for some reason the knife seemed to be stuck. He tried twisting his knife his knife but it would not budge. Then he noticed faint traces of light escaping from inside the knife wound, after a few seconds, the light slowly ebbed away and Taylor tried to retrieve his knife again. This time it slid out easily when just a few minutes ago it was almost, if not impossible to even budge it. Taylor inspected the retrieved knife for a moment, one of the first things he noticed is that the blood on the knife seems to be evaporating very quickly, or more like the knife is absorbing the blood into the blade. The weight and the look of the knife seem to have remained the same but it felt different, in a way that cannot be explained or described but the feeling remained on his chest. He also noticed that the knife is warm as though radiating heat from within.
Banishing those thoughts from his head and just classifying them as the effects of an adrenaline rush, he sheathed the blade. A sudden rush of rage built up within him, the feeling engulfed his heart and his chest tightened causing his breath to become heavy. Falling onto his knees he mustered his strength and by sheer power of will, he fought down the feeling of anger that surged so suddenly.
What the heck? He thought to himself and looked at the knife. Naa, can't be.
Picking up all his dropped equipment, he made his way from the scene and never looked back.
From that day on, he brought the knife with him for every mission and no matter how impossible it may seem, he would always somehow get through it alive.
After several years, his mercenary contract ended and he brought a padded armoured case and a scabbard with ornaments for the knife. Locking the knife in the case, he kept is as a family heirloom, the case was passed down from generation to generation but the code to open the case was never passed on. Several generations have tried to get the case open with brute force but due to the case being armoured, not even a dent was left, others have tried to call for lock smiths but even the best could not crack the code on the case. Thus the case was then forgotten of though one way or another, it always remained with the Draiman family.
And yea, that's the first chapter. Hope you have enjoyed it and that it did not confuse you too much during the point of view switching part. Anyway, review and constructive critics are appreciated as always.