The marines barreled down the stairs to the service tunnel. Wayne ran in first, Smartgun ready. He scanned the
tunnel with his eye piece. No life signatures.
"Clear!" He called out. April, Hope and Vinny ran in armed. Vinny lifted up his motion tracker.
"He's right. Nothings moving." He said.
"Do you have their signals?" April asked.
"Yeah, TJs is up ahead. Ramirez must be out of range, deeper in the tunnel."
"Alright, let's go get our marines." They hurried down the tunnel, Wayne in front, not letting their guard down. They
came to where TJs signal was. All they found was blood splatters.
"Oh my God..." Wayne said.
"Christ. Tell me this isn't all that's left of him." April said. Then they noticed drag marks. They lead to a small storage
closet. April walked in, and almost threw up. TJ was hanging by his feet from the ceiling in the middle of the room,
with his left shoulder completely blown off. His head was hanging by only a few strands of sinew.
"Sonuva Bitch..." She said. They other walked in and were just as horrorified. Hope walked over and examined the
wounds.
"Bull shit... Its the same as with the guard! Defiantly Plasma based. Only way beyond what we have." She said.
April scowled.
"That's it. Now its personal. I want Ramirezs' body found yesterday. Move!" April said. Wayne and Vinny ran out of
the room and down the tunnel. Hope cut down TJs body and wrapped it in an old tarp she found in the room. Hope
said a prayer for the fallen marine. Vinny then yelled down the tunnel.
"Sarge! I think we found him!" He yelled.
"Think?" She said to her self. She ran down the tunnel to them. Vinny was looking down a corner.
"What do you mean think?" April asked.
"See for your self." Vinny said. He pointed over to Wayne who was kneeling over a body on the ground. April
walked over, expecting the worst. But she didn't expect this. From the look of it, Ramirez was impaled through chest
with a spear perhaps, and then decapitated.
"What the hell?" She said.
"That ain't the half of it." Wayne said. He flipped the body over, and revealed his spine was ripped out, along with
his head.
"Notice the style? Reached into the back, grabbed the spin, then ripped it out, with the head." He asked. She knew
that particular style.
"Stalker." She said with worry.
"But he wasn't killed by one. The weapon was defiantly made by someone. Most likely a really big spear." Wayne
said.
"What else could it be? No man is strong enough to rip a mans spine out."
"I'm not saying it was. I'm not saying it was a Stalker neither." Wayne looked at the body. "I don't know what it
could be."
April looked at Ramirez.
"Let's get they're body's outta here. We're sealing this place off. Now."
They wrapped up the body, and brought it back with them. Vinny and Wayne carried out Ramirez, and Hope brought
TJ out. April watched her team carry out their dead friends. She was looked down the tunnel with a scowl.
"Who ever did this is gonna pay." She said, as if she knew something was listening. She walked out, closed the
door, and wielded it shut. April turned and walked up the stairs, holding back the anger and sorrow in her heart.
In the tunnel, the ripple in the air appeared. It moved to the door, and ran hand down the wield, inspecting it. It
wasn't going to get in that way. A screech echoed down the tunnel. It turned at the sound, extended its blades,
and moved toward it.