F.3.A.R.: Bound in Blood
Disclaimer: Hello FEAR fans. It's been a while since my last once-believed-to-be-oneshot fic entitled Sympathy for the Devil. Well, much to my surprise, everyone came at me for a sequel. Well, it wouldn't be much of a sequel per se, rather a different take on the 3rd FEAR game itself. Now while I did enjoy the game, there were some parts that I felt could be changed and some that didn't need to be there at all. ... Like Jin's character for instance. There will be a difference from the 3rd game, though still maintaining some 3rd game qualities based on what I feel as a fan could have been there.
I do hope you read and review.
"Wild, dark times are rumbling toward us, and the prophet who wishes to write a new apocalypse will have to invent entirely new beasts, and beasts so terrible that the ancient animal symbols of St. John will seem like cooing doves and cupids in comparison."
-HEINRICH HEINE, "Lutetia; or, Paris," Augsberg Gazette, 1842
"No one becomes depraved all at once."
-JUVENAL, Satires
By: VampireQueenAkasha
"It's the way of men to make monsters, and it's the nature of monsters to destroy their makers."
-Harlan Wade
Interval 01: Inception
In 2002, the U.S. Army formed a secret unit dedicated to combating paranormal threats to national security. The unit was named First Encounter Assault Recon. In the year 2025, most of the team was lost to enemy commander Paxton Fettel and his Replica Forces. F.E.A.R. operative known as "Point Man" believed to have escaped from Auburn District shortly after the destruction of Armacham's Origin Facility. His location as well as the location of F.E.A.R. operatives Jin Sun-Kwon and Douglas Holiday are currently unknown.
O
"Consider your origins: you were not made that you might live as brutes, but so as to follow virtue and knowledge."
-Dante Alighieri
Fairport was empty.
Crowe was standing on what remained of a flipped - over pickup truck and scanned the world around her. Broken buildings, splintered wood and debris, paper that gently fluttered by in the wind. It was a depressing, almost unholy sight. She cupped her hand over her eyes to stare up into the rumbling, dark sky. A storm was coming, no doubt.
"We should find shelter soon!" she called over to Point Man.
He was scanning a discarded Armacham weapon's container and looked up briefly at the sky before nodding his head. He snapped his fingers and gestured to a convenience shop that had been completely obliterated by the blast. There was a gaping hole, but at least it would shield them.
Fettel was observing this from over top of a flag pole. He chuckled with amusement.
"Keeping pets now, are we brother?" he sneered.
Crowe looked straight up at him with a scowl. "Hey! I can hear you, you know!"
Fettel chuckled again with a mocking sneer to follow. He didn't respond to her words, but vanished in a swirl of red mist. Crowe joined Point Man inside the coffee shop and nearly jumped at the sound of another clap of thunder.
The rain came shortly after they were inside. It turned into a complete downpour and created an icy - cold breeze through the shop. Crowe was getting hungry and thought that she would look around for signs of food. She did find a few cans of fruit and baked beans that she offered to Point Man. He took it without question and used his knife to carve the can of beans open. He then created a small fire out of newspapers to cook them.
"It's sad what's happened to this place," she said, staring out into the pouring rain, "I feel partially responsible for it."
Point Man didn't argue or disagree with her.
Crowe almost found the silence to be unsettling. "Don't you ever say anything?" she asked.
Point Man gave her a dirty look before he reached beneath his sweater and pulled it down around his neck. Crowe frowned and tried to find what he was trying to show her. She leaned forward slightly and the frown disappeared. There was a pale, wicked scar that trailed along the length of Point Man's neck. A closer inspection revealed the damage to be more severe than she thought. It wasn't just a white scar, it was a scarred path of flesh that appeared to have been torn out completely and replaced.
"Oh shit, I didn't realize," she said, apologetically, "I'm sorry."
Point Man didn't seem affronted or showed signs of caring, so he shrugged it off.
Crowe frowned thoughtfully before she reached into her coat and felt around for a pen and piece of paper. She remembered having the small notepad there before and must have simply forgotten it in the long run.
"Maybe you could write down what you're thinking?" she suggested, "I imagine it would make talking a lot easier."
Point Man stared at her with a bemused look before shaking his head.
"Come on!" Crowe pressed, "Don't you think we need to have an understanding?"
Point Man hesitated briefly before sighing and taking the pen and paper with a bit of force. He gave her an irritated, expectant look to which she understood.
"Is that man your brother?" she asked, referring to Fettel.
Point Man scribbled something quick and held the paper up to her. His penmanship was horrible.
Yes.
She nodded her head and asked again. "Why is Armacham trying to capture you?"
Point Man paused, frowned and began to write something down before holding the paper up again.
You don't know?
Crowe shook her head helplessly at him and handed the notepad back. "No. In all honesty, no one's ever discussed anything with me," she told him, "I was captured after I tried to flee the facility up north of the city."
Point Man frowned at that and he seemed somewhat confused. He scribbled something on the notepad before offering it to her again.
Why can you see my brother?
Crowe looked surprised by the question and when she opened her mouth to speak, Point Man suddenly looked up with a strange alertness to his face. Crowe was somewhat unnerved by the look and started to stand, but Point Man held up an arm to her. She looked at him and he shook his head, removing the guns from his holsters. He brought a finger to his lips and stood up, peering through the rain storm.
Something was out there.
Crowe could hear the soft sounds of rocks being moved and shortly following were heavy, shallow breaths. She slowly reached for her shotgun and followed Point Man out into the rain. The street was empty, but the sound seemed to be getting closer. Point Man looked out toward a pile of overturned cars and something moved. Crowe looked up at Point Man uneasily, feeling a tight, unsettling sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"What's that?" she whispered.
Point Man held up a finger to her and shook his head, silently telling her to stay quiet. Shadows danced across the buildings once lightning lit up the sky; it took the shape of something jagged and enormous, but finally, it disappeared. Crowe relaxed when he did.
"What the hell was that?" she panted.
Point Man shook his head, but he looked somewhat concerned. Fettel appeared between them and stared into the night. The flames around his body didn't seem to be extinguished by the waters. Of course they wouldn't be. He was dead.
"Do you feel that, brother?" he whispered, "We're not alone here."
Crowe backed up several paces and her back bumped into a car's front bumper. It set off a loud, piercing alarm sound that literally traveled for what felt like miles. Crowe watched the sky in horror and looked over at Point Man, who stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief and fury. She stared back with a sheepish, uneasy smile. After a long moment, the alarm eventually died and the silence that carried afterwards was almost maddening.
Finally, they heard another sound. Like footsteps.
Crowe, Point Man and Fettel looked around through the rain to try and pinpoint the source of the sound and noticed the sights of shapes appearing in the shadows. Point Man and Crowe backed up several paces as the shapes became known as humans. Some climbed up from underneath rubble, others from cracks in the buildings, some from the shadows and even more from alleys. They looked like their clothes and bodies were covered in filth, dried blood and even fresh blood from wounds that looked to be self - inflicted; carved symbols and markings into their own bodies.
"Who are they?" Crowe whispered to Point Man, "Are they the citizens of the city?"
Fettel appeared at her side. "They are. Or rather were people. Look into their eyes, brother. Look at the madness within."
The throng of people began to grow into a hissing, chattering mass that focused on the two living beings with insanity in their crooked, psychotic grins. Crowe could see that they were now brandishing weapons of every shape and size; sharp, deadly knives, blood - soaked baseball bats, crowbars with chunks of dried flesh still attached to the ends and other sharp objects. From her theory alone, Crowe could see that from the explosion, they had been reduced to primitive, wild monsters.
One of the men stood in front of the rest; he appeared to have half of the flesh along his jaw missing, exposing the raw muscle beneath and his teeth. His nose appeared to be missing, leaving only fluttering, torn flesh when he breathed.
"We should go," Crowe whispered to Point Man, "There's too many of them!"
Point Man furrowed his brow before he focused his attention to the back door of the coffee shop. He couldn't spare any ammunition with them should it be needed for a much bigger problem that he sensed would come his way soon. After a moment of consideration, he turned and grabbed Crowe's wrist, sprinting out through the door with the woman. There were fierce shouts and wicked laughter following behind him as the group pursued them.
Crowe led the charge as they raced through an alleyway; behind her, Point Man was shoving boxes and garbage cans over his shoulder in an attempt to slow them down. Crowe shoved her way through a pile of debris and spotted an open door just ahead that led into another building. She had a feeling that it couldn't possibly be welcoming, but anything was better than being ripped apart by the maniacs behind them.
"Hey! Hey! In here!" she called back to Point Man, beckoning with one arm.
Immediately, he followed her into the building. It was dark inside and he could hear the mass closing in. He shoved the door shut and backed away, giving Crowe a look that meant, "Don't you say a damn thing". If they so much as made a single sound, the crowds of the insane would no doubt find them. Crowe covered her mouth with one hand when the near thunderous sounds of footsteps faded into the distance. When she was sure that they were gone, she looked at Point Man.
"What happened to them?" she whispered.
Fettel appeared and responded for her. The flames around his body cast an eerie glow around them. "They had once been the people of this city. Average individuals like you or me. Mother's will has spread across this city, driving them to insanity."
"Mother?" Crowe asked, "Do you mean, Alma Wade?"
"Yes." Fettel responded. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, but it was as if he felt no energy to do so. "You know her. You know OF her."
Point Man looked down at Crowe for some explanation and she quickly avoided his gaze, staring down the darkness of a hallway. It looked like several employee offices were lined up with phones and strangely enough, containers with Armacham labels on them. She frowned and pushed them open, noticing that they were filled with ammunition and a few handguns. Point Man switched his chest light on and stepped up, picking the weapons up out of the case.
"They were here," Crowe said, worriedly, "Not too long ago."
She opened another crate and luckily, there was a flashlight inside attached to an assault rifle. She picked up the weapon and switched the light on, lighting up the halls. She could see that there was blood everywhere and much to her unease, appeared to be fresh. Some of the blood was drawn into peculiar markings that looked like fragments of words and symbols. Another blood painting resembled a woman, twisted and gnarled in pain.
"What are these?" she wondered, "What are they painting?"
Fettel approached and studied the paintings with mild interest. "Perhaps these are not the mere ramblings of madmen, but a message of some kind." he suggested. He reached up and pointed at a small collection of symbols. They appeared to be kneeling before a holy figure who looked to be pregnant. "See the way that they are kneeling? It means that they worship her. They worship our Mother as a god."
Crowe frowned. "But why?"
"It is her influence," Fettel explained, "Mother was always capable of brainwashing the weak."
"So they're just mindless Cultists?" Crowe asked.
"That's one way of putting it."
Crowe arched her brows skeptically. "Wow. There's a surprise ... "
Then, a soft clattering sound drew their attention toward the end of the hall. There was a faint glowing coming from inside one of the offices. Point Man gestured for Crowe to stay behind him and he walked slowly toward the room. It was labeled HUMAN RESOURCES. The door was slightly cracked open, so Point Man pushed it open gently with the end of his weapon and peered inside. The office was in total disarray and there were actually working computers - no doubt Armacham's doing. There were also candles lit all over the office, placed on the floor as well as on desks. Sitting at the far end appeared to be an Armacham soldier.
Point Man slowly approached, his weapon at the ready. Those insane citizens were the enemies, but Armacham was just as bad. He still had memories of the hell that they had put him through even before all of this.
"Welcome ... " a voice whispered from the man sitting there.
Crowe and Point Man frowned as the chair turned. Finally, she staggered back with a gasp of horror and covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh my God!" she gasped.
The Armacham soldier's body was covered in blood and dirt as well as his helmet removed. His eyelids had been stitched completely shut and blood trickled down his cheeks, resembling horrible crimson tears. But he was smiling.
"She told me you would come here," he said, "She told me a lot of things."
Behind Crowe, something moved passed the shuttered window. She looked back and could see shadows dance over the walls through the cracks in the blinds as well as hear the faint sound of laughter that sounded like it had come from a woman. A shiver ran through her body at the sound. Point Man and Fettel must have sensed it too because they turned to stare at the dark window. A smile slowly crept up onto Fettel's face.
"She's watching us."
O
Crowe followed Point Man through the building. From the sight of the bulked objects and food, she could guess that they were in the Best Save Co. warehouse shop. The shelves were toppled over and appeared to be made into living spaces and eerie altars. Crowe split up with Point Man to scan the area for weapons and Armacham crates. Whatever was salvageable would be useful to them later on. Her comrade in arms seemed to agree with her logic.
Point Man was in another aisle when Crowe heard a whisper behind her. Crowe frowned and peered toward a meat cooler. There was a steady stream of fog coming from it, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She resumed picking through the piles of dented cans and the whisper came again, only this time it was a lot louder and she could hear fragments of a sentence within; it was hissed in a command, yet also exhibited some form of curiosity.
"Come here...Please. Help me. Won't you help me?"
Crowe stood up and stared at the locker as Point Man approached. He tugged her shoulder to follow, but she didn't budge. He frowned at her, awaiting an explanation.
"I heard something," Crowe said, starting forward.
When she did, his grip on her arm tightened and he shook his head in warning.
"If it was one of those freaks, we'd have been attacked by now," Crowe told him, "Maybe it's someone who needs help."
Point Man's gaze intensified into a firm glare of warning; it was a look that basically said, "Don't fuck with me", but Crowe was certain that whoever called her needed help. Maybe those freaks had hurt someone and they were still alive. That was something, right?
"Just wait out here," Crowe suggested, "I'll be back out."
Point Man grunted and shook his head with irritation. Fettel just smiled at him, giving him a brief look before watching Crowe disappear into the locker.
"Let her go, brother," he said, "She needs to see this."
Point Man frowned at him before staring in the place that Crowe used to occupy, running many thoughts through his head.
Inside the meat freezer, Crowe shivered and held herself against the cold, keeping a firm grip on the gun in her hand. She could see her breath as it puffed little clouds in front of her as she looked around for signs of the caller.
"Hey!" she called, peering through towers of hanging pork and beef. "Are you okay in here? Hello?"
Through the fog and racks of meat, Crowe could see someone standing there. She squinted and struggled to make out the details of the person; it was a little girl in a red, tattered dress. Her feet were covered in blood and her long black hair shielded her eyes.
"Hello?" Crowe whispered, suddenly feeling a shudder run down her back.
"Bird Lady ... "
Crowe looked around wildly for the second voice but she saw no one. She could hear the sounds of flapping and shadows danced wildly around her, distorting her vision. Crowe looked around frantically for a few moments more, struggling to block out the sounds of flapping with her hands. She gritted her teeth and moaned with terror, slowly dropping to her knees. The girl standing there made no attempt to move away.
"You watched as they hurt me ... "
"You did nothing ... "
"I cried but you didn't answer ... "
"Stop ... " Crowe pleaded, "Please."
She suddenly looked up and the girl was now directly staring at her. Crowe could see the red flash of an eye staring at her. She was frozen as the little girl's hands slowly reached out to cup her face and pull her close until she was sure that her nose was touching hers.
"Look, Doctor Crowe."
Crowe looked up and the little girl's hair parted, revealing a horrible skeletal face that screamed demonically into her own. Her head was pierced with horrible flashing memories that ran through her mind in an explosion of pain and hatred. Crowe could literally see every waking memory of the tormented life that Alma Wade had suffered through; every moment she had ever experienced had been used to fuel that rage. Through it all, she could see two familiar little boys standing among the chaos and both looked absolutely frightened.
Finally, when she could take no more, Crowe slipped into unconsciousness.
She awoke moments later to Point Man's harsh slaps to her face. Wincing, she looked up and noticed that both Point Man and Fettel were standing over her; Fettel had a horrible grin on his face filled with mockery and Point Man looked mildly annoyed.
"She couldn't take all of that, could she, brother?" he sneered.
Crowe groaned and sat up, rubbing her forehead. She was shaken, disoriented by the visions and after a moment of looking around, she noticed that the apparition had gone. Point Man grabbed her wrist and forced her to her feet.
"I saw it ... " she finally said, haunted, "I saw everything. She showed me."
Fettel uttered a bark of laughter. "Heh. Better late than never."
Crowe glared at him briefly before she looked up at Point Man. "We'll have time to talk about it later, right now we have to get - "
A soft crashing sound suddenly resonated through the air. Crowe, Point Man and Fettel looked over and noticed that various Cultists were starting to pour their way through a window. Crowe groaned in frustration.
"Oh, cock it!" she protested.
O
Point Man and Crowe rushed out into the streets with the Cultists on their heels, screaming like rabid savages. Crowe looked around wildly for a way to break away from them, but Point Man remained calm and rigid through it as always.
Then, much to her relief, she spotted a Replica Armored Truck among the rubble. She grinned and hurried for it. Point Man followed and they quickly entered the vehicle. Crowe rushed at the controls and pressed the button that would shut the door behind them. It slowly roared shut and two Cultists attempted to jump through but Point Man lifted his assault rifle and fired several shots that took out most of their heads in a spray of gore and blood.
Fettel appeared again and tilted his head at the clanging sound. "Wonderful, woman," he snapped, "You've sealed our fate inside this wretched vehicle!"
Crowe scowled at him. "I didn't hear you spitting out any good ones out there!"
"Do you even know how to drive one of these things?" Fettel asked, arching his brow.
Crowe stopped a retort that she had and grunted uneasily. She was relieved to see that the keys were still inside of it. The only training that she ever had with these vehicles was on her free time at Armacham when she was working in the science labs. She knew how they worked and what controls were to be used, but she had never actually driven one before. But right now with the maniacs on their tails, she had to chance it.
"Not ... a full one hundred percent," she admitted, "So let's give it a shot and hope I don't kill us, shall we?" Then, she paused thoughtfully and gestured back to Point Man. "Well, those of us alive right now, anyway. You?" She looked at Fettel. "I don't believe ghosts can die a second time around."
"It it's all the same, I'd rather not put that theory to the test any time soon," Fettel agreed.
Crowe immediately went to work powering up the controls and she gripped the massive wheel in front of her. Peering through the binoculars that helped her see, she could spot several Cultists already starting to climb onto the vehicle.
"Bloody bastards!" she spat, "Get the hell off!"
She pressed on the pedals and the APC moved forward. Crowe winced at the horrible crunching sounds of human bone and meat, followed by a dying shriek. She continued watching the damaged road in front of her with disgust and mild pity.
"Stupid morons can't even move away from a moving vehicle," she muttered, "Their brains really have turned to mush."
The APC rocked wildly as it passed over debris, but it was built for this kind of terrain, so it would hold up fine unless they fell through a hole or into the ocean. Crowe definitely hoped for neither one to happen.
Just then, a voice broke the silence from the radio. She frowned and stared down at it.
"This is First Lieutenant Keira Stokes of Dark Signal. Please, I have important information regarding what's been happening. Is anyone still alive out there? Please, respond."
Crowe immediately grabbed the radio's microphone and brought it to her lips. "I read you loud and clear, Stokes."
There was a sigh of relief on the other end. "Thank God! Who is this?"
Crowe licked her lips thoughtfully before responding. "This is Annette Crowe, Armacham Scientist," she introduced. She noted the almost uneasy pause. "Relax, I'm not the enemy here. It's been real messy on my end too."
Finally, Stokes responded. "Okay, we got introductions out of the way; what's the plan then?" she asked, and her voice seemed quite uncertain, untrustworthy.
"Where is your current position?"
"Wade Elementary School."
Crowe's brow knotted and she glanced over at Point Man. "Did she just say Wade Elementary?"
He nodded.
Crowe winced and shook her head, returning her attention to the radio. "Keira, Wade Elementary is on the other side of the city," she told the woman, "With this rubble and weather, it might take me a little while to get to you."
"Okay. But please, hurry as fast as you can ... I think there's something here with us."
Crowe furrowed her brow at the nervousness in Stoke's voice. "Copy that. Keep your channel open. Broadcast every few minutes so we can keep in touch. We'll be there soon." she said, ending the conversation.
O
The night and the rain seemed to carry on forever. Point Man eventually switched up with Crowe so that she could take a moment to rest. They had to be close by now. Point Man was familiar with the layout of the city having lived in it for several long months.
Fettel appeared beside Crowe as she leaned against the wall in her seat. He folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs, smiling down at her.
"He's a killer, you know," he told the woman, "Shot me down in cold blood. His own brother."
Crowe frowned at him. "I'm pretty sure you did something to deserve it."
Fettel smirked with a small laugh. "Ahh, so you would condone fratricide?"
"No!" Crowe snapped, glaring up at him, "Don't twist my words."
Fettel chuckled again. She looked tired by now, exhausted by what had happened today. He didn't blame her either; but they were so weak, the living. His only blessing for his own death was that he had survived beyond the grave into something stronger. He didn't enjoy how it had to happen though, but then again, it worked out in his favor.
The APC pushed its way through the gate of Wade Elementary school and stopped in front of the main entrance. After a moment, Point Man and Crowe stepped out with their weapons close in hand. They looked around for signs of any enemy forces before Point Man gestured for her to follow him inside. There were bodies of fallen Armacham soldiers lying everywhere as well as what remained of the staff of the underground facility that she knew was here. They must have tried to escape and were gunned down in the process.
Fettel chuckled dryly. "Pitiful fools," he said, "Their attempt to clean up their mess doesn't seem to be going very well."
They walked through the rubble and debris before passing through the cafeteria. The lightning that flashed through the sky cast eerie shadows over the damage and the deceased. Crowe furrowed her brow and looked around for signs of danger. There was a little farm scene displayed on the stage facing the cafeteria. The edges of the cutouts were slightly charred, the trees covered in bullet holes, the donkey's head had even been blown off. It was a very unsettling sight for her.
She glanced up toward the glass roof. Rain was pouring in through the shattered glass. When lightning ripped through the sky again, the shadow of a spasming humanoid shape danced across the wall. Crowe gasped in horror and backed up, stumbling into Point Man's rigid form. He frowned down at her.
"Did you see that?" she whispered.
Point Man looked up and the shuddering shadow was gone. Though it had disappeared, he definitely sensed a change in temperature; a frigid cold that felt familiar when he had attacked Armacham Headquarters. Though this feeling was slightly different; it carried with it an overwhelming sense of hatred and bitterness.
"What was that thing?" Crowe asked.
Fettel answered for her and he watched the rooftops with a look of intense focus. "A fragment of Mother's mind," he replied, "Let us hope that we will not have to confront it anytime soon."
Just then, a collection of voices filled the air, snippets of conversation through a radio lying beside a fallen Armacham soldier. Point Man bent down and picked the hand held up. They didn't transmit very far, so the conversation going on meant that there were more soldiers around.
"Base, this is Crew Leader of ALPHA Team. We have a downed chopper 12 miles west - south west of base with three aboard. I repeat ... "
And then, SAVAGE's voice emerged through the link. "Affirmative. Hold your positions and we'll rendezvous shortly."
Crowe grunted warily. "That bastard's going to be here soon!"
Point Man switched the radio to a few alternate channels. Then, the sound of Stokes' voice filled the air. Crowe took the radio from him and immediately tuned in so that she could hear the other woman's voice better.
"Keira?" she said, "Keira, can you hear me?"
Stokes sounded relieved. "Yeah. Read you loud and clear!"
"We're here at the school," Crowe told her, "Can you tell us where you're hiding?"
When Stokes started to answer, the radio suddenly filtered loud, interfering static. Crowe angrily tapped the radio and could barely make out the words, "Nurse's Office" through the interference. "Shit. Keira, can you hear me? Keira!"
Then, there were voices as well as beams of flashlights that shone around the corner of another hallway. The voices were coming from various Armacham soldiers making their way into the cafeteria, toward their position.
"Shit, we got to talk to the heads about this," one of the soldiers muttered, "We're getting screwed in the ass for doing this shit."
"Do you want to be the one to tell SAVAGE that we missed sight of the project again?" another soldier pointed out. "He wants us to find that F.E.A.R. operative and bring him in alive. If we screw it up one more time, he's gonna have our asses for it."
Behind the kitchen counter, Point Man and Crowe were hiding from the beams of the flashlights. Crowe looked at him and he gripped a grenade tightly in hand. She gave him a disbelieving look and he pulled the pin, rolling it out into the cafeteria toward the group of soldiers. They immediately stopped talking long enough to look down at the beeping grenade.
"Oh shit." one of the soldiers groaned.
"GET DOWN!" came a shout from another.
The soldiers scattered, just as the grenade exploded, sending a wicked spray of shrapnel flying in every direction. Crowe covered her ears and ducked from the blast as it literally jarred her off of her feet and onto her stomach. Bits of wood rained down onto her and Point Man was already up from his hiding spot, his weapons locked and loaded. He began unleashing a barrage of shellfire into the smoke and the recovering soldiers attempted to fire back.
Crowe poked her head up from the ruined countertop and began loading her shotgun with ammunition that she had stuffed into her coat. Her movements were jerky and frantic and she failed to notice a soldier behind her. He aimed his handgun at her head and just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, his forehead exploded in a burst of blood and he collapsed behind her. Crowe looked back in shock and then toward Point Man who stood calmly in the smoke, his weapon barrel smoking.
"Thanks for the save!" she called.
Point Man acknowledged with a brief nod before he looked down toward a bleeding soldier. The man was still alive, despite the horrible gushing stumps where his legs used to be. He laughed wickedly, defiant to the end.
"We didn't need guns to kill your bitch of a mother!" he snarled, "And we won't need them when we get our hands on her again!"
Crowe approached and scowled down at the dying man. "Where is Alma Wade?" she demanded.
The soldier snickered. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Point Man and Crowe scowled darkly down at him, but Fettel stepped up with a small chuckle. "Allow me, you two," he said, "I'll get what I need out of this one."
Before they could even question his motives, Fettel disappeared into the man's body with a sick hissing sound. Crowe and Point Man watched as the man's body spasmed and twitched in painful manners. His eyes widened and he gasped and spit, trickles of saliva running down his chin. After a moment of seizuring all over the floor, the look in his eyes changed and was replaced with Fettel's dark, intense stare. The flames that danced around his body now appeared around the man.
He was possessed.
Crowe and Point Man watched as Fettel sighed through the man's lips. "This one had his orders," he told them, "To reach Mother and to take control. They believed that the Paragon Facility would have a way to reach her."
Crowe frowned. "Paragon? I thought that facility was closed years ago."
"No," Fettel replied, "It's here beneath the school. It was accessed by a Michael Beckett of Dark Signal squad. They were aware of the transmission that woman sent out. They pinpointed her location and thought that she might know something."
Finally, Fettel heaved a sigh. "Ahh, this one's trying to fight me. Oh well, it's not like he would live through it anyway."
Crowe and Point Man stepped back as the man's body seemed to shudder before them. His flesh began to swell at an unnatural size before it burst, sending blood and flesh flying through the air. Crowe had to shield her face from it, but Point Man stood like a rigid statue as he was sprayed with blood. He blinked a few times and scowled at his ghostly brother who chuckled with macabre amusement. He shook his head.
"Come now," he sneered, "It's not the first time that you've had blood on your hands."
They continued through the school, passing an enormous hole that had once been a classroom. Outside, a helicopter was passing overhead through the storm and landed on a rooftop. It carried several Armacham soldiers as well as the familiar forms of VECTOR and SAVAGE. SAVAGE lifted his hand and gestured to the pilot.
"CUT IT! CUT IT HERE!" he commanded, over the whirring of the rotor blades.
There were several more helicopters landing in the school playground and rooftops and their motors eventually died down. Crowe whispered sidelong to Point Man and Fettel, who watched the many soldiers slowly advance into the school.
"Shit. These bastards are going to find us!" she whispered, "We have to find Keira and get out of here, fast!"
SAVAGE gestured to the school with two fingers. "All of you, spread out into groups!" he commanded, "All pilots, take your minis and stay on sight. Make sure that the target does not escape. Keep all eyes on every escape route. I want him ALIVE."
The way he hissed out those words suggested that he had much more in store for Point Man that would not end gently should he find the man again. Point Man gestured with a flick of his head for Crowe to follow and she did. They avoided the large group of soldiers standing guard outside and even more, avoided the massive throng slowly piling into the school. It was best to prevent a waste of ammunition than attack them all at once.
The conversation between the Armacham soldiers filtered through Point Man's radio.
"Commander. SAVAGE, this is Crew Leader of team ALPHA. What is your E.T.A.?"
SAVAGE's cold voice filtered through. "Crew Leader, we have a Medevac en route toward your position. Hold your ground until we reach you. Over."
Another soldier piped up after a moment. "Visibility drops dead at 40 feet. If they're deeper than that..."
VECTOR's voice hissed. "Nobody's crawling out of that crash. Nobody."
Crowe and Point Man were somewhat curious by what they were talking about though Crowe more than anything. As they worked their way through the library, she could see a strange, hunched, nearly invisible corpse - like creature with glowing red eyes and sharp claws standing beside the bathroom door ahead through the double doors of the library. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, trying to pretend that it wasn't there.
Point Man acted calm, though she could tell that he sensed it too as he dug his way through the corpses of the fallen soldiers, grabbing for ammunition and any grenades that they still had attached to their bodies. Crowe watched as Fettel quietly observed his surroundings. He lightly touched a patch of burned flesh on the wall and knotted his brow thoughtfully. He observed the corpses and their condition before he looked back at Crowe and Point Man.
"Hmm, these are not natural burns," he said, "Something was here. It killed them quickly. They barely saw it coming."
Crowe studied the piles of empty shell casings littered all over the floor.
"They got off several rounds," she mused, "But they didn't hit it." She paused and suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Through the shadows, she could see something moving silently - or at the very least, she THOUGHT that she saw something. "I don't like it here. We need to move."
There was a grim, unsettling pause for a moment and then, a crackle over Point Man's radio.
"Commander SAVAGE, this is ALPHA Leader. I've got a small problem here. Do you copy?"
SAVAGE's voice was calm. "I copy. What is your situation?"
While they conversation was going on, Crowe looked up and noticed a strange message scrawled in blood on the back of the double doors that she hadn't noticed before when they had stepped inside. It read in bright red blood:
"STAY AWAY FROM THE DARK."
O
Crowe wasn't sure what that meant until she heard a scream.
It was a human scream.
Then, they saw it. Through the shadows, a shape seemed to "swim" about through the darkness. Crowe could see its every feature when Point Man shined his flashlight onto it. It shrieked and disappeared but appeared once more in the shadows. It had a small, slender humanoid body with large, dangerous claws and pus - filled wounds all over its gray, blistered flesh. When it looked at them again, she could see that it had tiny red eyes and sharp, deadly teeth. It had no nose, but two flring holes where a nose should have been.
It shrieked and dove at them. Crowe squeezed several rounds off of her shotgun and it disappeared in a burst of smoke and ash. At that point, Crowe could see an image flash through her head; she saw Wade Elementary as it had once been before the chaos and the insanity of today. It was filled with hundreds of children who were laughing, pointing and cruelly shoving at a little girl in a red dress who attempted to hide from them in the shadows.
"Alma ... " Crowe whispered.
Point Man was already moving ahead and she quickly rushed to follow him. Similar shapes of the creatures began surging toward them and his gait immediately hastened; he squeezed several rounds into them before they could strike. Crowe shot off several rounds as well.
"What are they?" Crowe asked, once they stopped in front of the Nurse's office.
Fettel shook his head. "Mother hated them. They had families who loved them, who worried for them. They mocked and ridiculed her for having nothing an no one. So she took from those fools." he explained, "They forced her into the dark, to hide among the shadows; so forever cursed in that fate they will remain."
Point Man stepped into the office and Crowe followed. Suddenly, he grabbed her by the arm to stop her moments before she plummeted to her death. Crowe yelped out and it echoed all around them. She looked down and noticed that there was no longer a floor to the office and it dropped clear down to another level below. It appeared to be that the floor itself was an elevator of some kind that led to the Paragon facility below.
"Shit," Crowe whispered, "That could have been a messy ending. How do we get down there?"
Point Man glanced up toward a small wall console. Frowning, he reached over to it and pressed a few keys onto it. After a few brief moments, the whirring sound of the elevator caused them to stare down as the machine slowly started up toward them. Crowe looked over at Fettel, who drifted silently beside her. He was floating of course.
"What do you think we'll find down there?" she asked.
Fettel glanced briefly back toward the dark hallways, listening to the desperate screams of the apparitions.
"Nightmares." he answered.
O
Note - So what do you think? Yay? Nay?
