Sovereign: I would like to thank SaRan1999 and AquaBluey for reviewing and Crimson-Tuna-Sub for checking out this story too. Thanks guys!


Chapter 3: First Encounter

Yuri walked through the forest for the next fifteen minutes while listening to Nolan through his earpiece at the same time. During that time, he still had not encountered any sign of life. Not even a bird or a small creature during his walk through the forest. This place literally makes the Democratic Republic of Congo look like Kansas.

"Alright Yuri, keep going straight and you will reach the location of Estellise's signal in five more minutes." Nolan instructed.

"So how did she end up on the island?" Yuri asked.

"Didn't I already tell you back on the aircraft?" Nolan said, sounding peeved.

"You told me why, not how. And I would also like to know what other things happened after the virus spread throughout the island."

"Right." Nolan calms himself down. "Three days after the incident, we sent her to the island along with 24 other scientists and 30 soldiers by air. But after ten months, we completely lost all contact with them."

"Ten months?" Yuri asked incredulously. "Stellar Island was infected ten months later."

"Yes. According to the people who miraculously escape Stellar Island uninfected, they say the virus was let loose there by Major Hades. Hades and another soldier named Major Shitou Yajima were originally stationed on Cocoon Island for ten months before returning to their home Stellar Island where the former brought the virus with him and spread it over there. Both soldiers have since perished there."

"Don't you find it strange that Stellar Island was infected shortly after you lost contact with the people who are still on Cocoon Island?" Yuri narrows his eyes.

"My boss and I think so too. That's why we have a theory that someone among the people we sent to Cocoon is also responsible for letting the virus loose on Stellar. Again, according to the survivors of the Stellar Island incident, Hades snuck into the experiment labs and collected samples of the virus, which he then brought it over there. Only the scientists had access to the labs, not the soldiers. Which would mean someone had secretly given Hades an access card into the experiment labs."

"Who was in charge of the scientists and soldiers stationed on Cocoon Island?" Yuri inquired.

"The scientists were led by Dr. Schwann Oltorain while the soldiers were led by Colonel Niren Fedrok."

"Could it be either one of them who allowed Hades into the labs?"

"We can't confirm anything until you've found any concrete evidence. If Estellise is still alive and you can find her, she may provide us answers."

"Right." Yuri nods his head.

He eventually finds himself climbing up a hill. When he reaches the top, he looks down and sees a small village in front of him in the distance.

The buildings are boarded up and run down, obviously devoid of any life for years. The houses are falling down and the windows are overgrown with cobwebs. Yuri widens his eyes as he sees blood stains splattered on the walls and roads. Cars are also left behind or damaged and their paint job have decayed to rust.

"You've found it. This place is the location of her signal."

"How do you think she broadcasted her signal?" Yuri asked Nolan.

"Do you see any signal towers or satellite dishes?"

Yuri takes out his binoculars and examines the village. He carefully looks at each house. After looking at all of them, he confirms that there is no satellite dish placed on top of any of them.

"The houses don't have any satellite dishes." Yuri responded to Nolan.

"What about a signal tower?"

Yuri looks up and sees something behind a building that looks to be a church. He adjusts his vision of his binoculars and zooms in on the object behind it. Sure enough, it was a signal tower, but it has collapsed and the metal pillars that were supporting it were destroyed. The rest of the tower has fallen over and crashed onto a wooden house that had reduced to ruins.

"I found it, and it's destroyed." Yuri examines the ground below where the tower once was and he discovered scorched marks on it. "I believed the tower was bombed."

"Do you see any explosion marks on the ground?" Nolan inquired.

"Yes." Yuri nods his head.

"Hmmm…" Nolan murmured. "Then it means the tower was bombed recently."

"Who could have done that?"

"Don't know. Perhaps do some investigation. And remember, be careful of any infected."

Yuri holds up his rifle and frowns deeply. He runs down the hill and made his way to the lifeless village.

When he arrived, he cautiously walks through the area. He aims his rifle at all directions as he maneuvers through the dusty streets. After making sure that there are no threats in sight, Yuri lowers his rifle and dashes his way to the church. He stops when he finds himself standing in front of the church doors. He places both hands on the doors and push them open.

As he opens the church doors, an eerily sound echoes the building. After fully opening the doors, he lets out a gasp and widens his eyes in horror. The walls and floors are stained with blood, bible books are littered on the floor and the wooden chairs are damaged. He slowly walked towards the middle of the church. Then, he heard a noise.

Yuri swiftly turns his head to the left and holds up his rifle. He sees a pastor at the doorway, slowly stepping out of the shadows and staggering towards him. Yuri sighs as he lowers his rifle.

"Sir. Are you al…right…" Yuri trails off when he realizes that the pastor coming towards him doesn't look natural.

The pastor has grey skin and yellow eyes. His head is tilted back and his mouth is gaping open.

"Ummm…father?" Yuri asked frowning as he slowly raises his rifle. "Are you okay?"

The pastor then slowly tilts his head forward. His eyes furrowed and his fingers start twitching.

"What the hell is wrong with you, father?!" Yuri yelled at the pastor.

"Yuri! What is going on?!" Nolan demanded.

Suddenly, the pastor lets out a loud and ferocious roar. He advances towards Yuri who is still hesitant in shooting him. But when the pastor is near him, Yuri lets out a yell as he swings his rifle across his face, sending him falling and smashing his head against the side of a nearby wooden bench.

"That sound! Yuri! You've encountered an infected person! SHOOT THEM!" Nolan cried in horror.

Yuri widens his eyes in horror and places his hand on his earpiece. "What?! Why?!"

"Yuri, listen to me! I know they're infected and they were normal humans before. But you must shoot them to protect and save yourself! It's self-defense and there's no other way!"

As Yuri is listening to Nolan on his earpiece, the pastor slowly rises up from the floor and turns his head back to Yuri, completely ignoring the blood dripping down from the wound on his forehead.

"Nolan, I can't shoot a civilian!" Yuri cried frantically as his heart pounds. "I can't-"

Yuri swiftly turns his head back to the infected pastor as he lets out another roar. The pastor charges at him again and he reaches out his hands at him.

"NO!" Yuri holds up at his rifle and pulls the trigger.

BANG!

He watches with his eyes wide as he manages to fire a bullet through the pastor's forehead, making him throw his head back and his body slumps onto the floor. Yuri lowers his rifle as he stares at the infected person, now lying motionlessly on the floor. He shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe he has shot a civilian.

"Yuri, are you there?" Nolan asked.

Yuri remains silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah, I'm still here."

"You did good. You shot him."

"What the fuck does that supposed to mean?!" Yuri bellowed, feeling both shocked and angry at Nolan's response.

"But Yuri, once you're done investigating the area, you have to get out of there immediately. I don't know if the noise you've made will attract anyone."

"What do you mean?"

"These infected are very sensitive to sound. And since you're in a deserted area, that shot you made may have created a huge echo. It will surely attract them."

Yuri narrows his eyes, distorting his face into a scowl. He still feels extremely confused over what he had just experienced. "Once I'm done, you will give me a full explanation on these infected. You hear me?!"

"I will. Just finish your investigation and get out. Make it quick, I don't think you have much time."

Yuri then hangs up his earpiece and holds up his rifle up again. He carefully walks through the church, looking out for any more infected that may appear out of nowhere.

Suddenly, Yuri heard footsteps coming from behind. He quickly turns around and sees an infected coming towards him. He tries to shoot but the infected grabs him by his arms. He tries to bite him but Yuri quickly kicks his stomach with his knee, causing the infected to release his right arm.

Yuri quickly uses his right hand to pull out his pistol from his gun pouch and holds it in front of the infected's face. He pulls the trigger and the entire right side of the infected's head is blasted off. Yuri then pushes away the now lifeless infected and he falls onto the floor with a thud.

He turns around and sees two more infected running out from the doorway where the pastor originally came out from. He holds up his pistol, managing to shoot down one of them. But the other one is still moving and now near him.

Yuri uses his rifle which he is holding with his left hand and swings it across the infected's face, knocking him down to the floor. He quickly stood above the infected and it lets out a ferocious roar at him before Yuri aims his pistol at him and fires a single shot through his forehead, instantly killing it.

When the fight is over, Yuri lets out a sigh before putting his pistol back into his gun pouch. He couldn't believe it. He can't believe he's killing people again. It's like Afghanistan all over again. And he fears the more people he kill, the more closer he is to becoming a serial killer, just like the terrorists he fought against back there.

Yuri lifts his head up to the front. He carries his rifle with both hands and goes through the doorway where the pastor and the two infected originally came out from. He enters a completely empty store room. He sees that there are many sleeping bags laid on the floor and they are covered in blood stains.

He turns back to the door which has a huge hole smashed through the middle and there are wooden pieces laid on the floor and inside the room.

Yuri lowers his head and sighed. There were originally survivors here but they failed to defend themselves and have gotten themselves killed or infected.

He shakes his head and regains his focus on his objective. He turns around and sees a door at the other end of the room. He lowers his weapon and runs over to the door.

He opens it and finds himself stepping out of the church and into a grassy field. Right in front of him is the fallen signal tower.

Yuri walks over to the burnt marks located below the destroyed pillars. He kneels down and sees some pieces on it. He picks up a piece and sees the words 'C-4' printed on it. Yuri narrows his eyes. Estellise's signal came from the tower. But now the tower is destroyed. And apparently its destruction was caused by C-4 explosives.

Could that possibly mean Estellise destroyed the tower? But why? Why would she destroy the tower right after making contact with the outside world? If she hadn't destroyed the signal tower, she can continue keeping in touch with the military back on mainland America or contact and find any other possible survivors on this island.

'I guess the only way I'll know the real reason is to find her.' He thought.

Yuri stood up and holds up his rifle. He continues walking forward-

THWACK!

Yuri instantly froze and snaps his eyes open. He looks up and sees the top of the building that's in front of him. He looks through the windows and could barely see a large desk falling down behind the building.

Suddenly, he yelped as something wraps around his right foot, sends him falling on the ground on his back, dragging him towards the building and lifts him up into the air. The back of Yuri's head slams onto the building's wall, knocking him out cold. When the desk reaches the ground, it smashed into pieces, and the wire wrapped around it is released. It sends Yuri plummeting through the air and he lands back on the ground, flat on his face with a thud.

"Yuri? What happened?! YURI!" Nolan yelled, hearing all the commotion that's going on. But Yuri didn't answer as he has lost his consciousness and completely pass out.


For a moment, Yuri groggily opens his eyes and sees himself being dragged through the floor. He barely looks up and sees a person grabbing his right foot and drags him through the road. He couldn't see how the person looks like, only their back.

The person then drops his foot and opens the back of a pickup truck. The person turns around and picks Yuri up by his arm, carrying him up to his feet. Yuri then finds himself being roughly pushed into the back of the pickup truck. His stomach made contact with the truck, nearly knocking out the breath from his lungs. He lets out a grunt from the shock and pain of the sudden impact.

When he finds himself now lying on the back of the truck, the person got on board. It kneels down and sees the earpiece on Yuri's ear. It removes the earpiece and places it on the floor, right in front of Yuri's eyes. Yuri sees the person holding their knife up and above the earpiece.

"No!" Yuri managed to croak but the person brought down their knife and slices the earpiece in half, completely destroying it. The person puts away its knife and cups Yuri's chin with their hand. It lifts his head up, making Yuri come face-to-face with his mysterious captor. Yuri's vision became clearer and he widens his eyes as he stares at the mysterious person.

A woman. Pink hair. Light blue eyes.

There's no mistaking who Yuri's captor is.

"If you turn out to be one of them, I swear…" The woman said icily to him with an ugly scowl. "I will kill you."

She removes her hand from Yuri's chin and stood up. Yuri looks up to see the woman lifting her foot up and without any warning, brings it down onto Yuri's face.

And the soldier finds himself passing out once more.

END OF CHAPTER