Okay-dokey, fellow readers. Finally onto Chapter 7! This one is definitely one of the shortest ones this story will get. In all honesty, besides a few more gun battles, nothing too exciting happens. But the next one coming up after this will definitely be more interesting =D And oh yeah, I don't own anything belonging to Monolith. So stop pestering me about it, guys! Gosh!
E-E-E-E-E-ENJOY!
F.E.A.R.
FIRST ENCOUNTER ASSAULT RECON
INTERVAL 04 - INFILTRATION
LZ IS HOT
The "Point Man"
We were now on our way to Armacham HQ. Along the way, I got refitted with more ammo and new body armor. The Black Hawk I was sitting inside of was flying over the city of Fairport, the small lakes and city lights giving it a sense of beauty. It's not that often you get the chance to fly over a marvel such as this. The two Delta Force operatives that were accompanying me were standing up on the chopper, their SMG's ready for when we land. They seemed pretty anxious to get on the battlefield, for all they talked about along the ride was how many "test tube freaks" they'd take down by the end of the day. At least I know they won't be bored. Betters spoke to Den Mother over the radio.
"Den Mother, what can you tell us about your recon team?"
"We were monitoring them on the security network when we lost contact. Now the entire system is offline." Hmm, sounded like the forces shut down all the networking inside to prevent contact from inside." Den Mother elaborated on.
"Any news on the bad guys?" Betters asked.
"We know they hit the main building shortly before 5 pm. No estimate on enemy strength, but we should assume it's a sizable force." Den Mother explained.
"Hostages?" Betters replied back.
"Undetermined" Den Mother told him.
"But no demands?" Betters said curiously.
"Not as far as I know" Den Mother ended as the line went off. This whole rebellion doesn't make any sense. If they aren't making any demands, then what the hell was the point of this whole invasion? I already know that they aren't after space technology, and it doesn't seem like they want anyone alive as far as I could tell. Guess we'll just have to figure it out when we get there.
We were about to reach Armacham soon. One of the pilots said "Dust Seven on final" with Den Mother replying back "Copy, Dust Seven. Do you have a visual?" "Roger that" the pilot told him as we were only quarter of a mile left. "Going dark" he told us, which meant that we were about to get over the LZ in a couple seconds. We all checked our weapons and ammunition as we were getting ready for the battle to come.
"Man, I live for this shit!" one of the Delta's yelled out.
"Keep your dick in your pants!" one of the pilots yelled back at him.
We were now over one of the HLZ platforms. And almost immediately, we were being shot at by Replica forces waiting for us. It was only a few seconds as we were about to land that both of the Delta Force members with me were shot down, their bodies falling to the ground. "We've got contact!" "We've got two men down! Repeat, LZ is hot!" the pilots yelled out as I jumped down to the ground, lucky that I wasn't killed as well.
Taking cover by some barrels nearby, I looked up ahead to see a set of double doors that led to a small office. There were about two Replicas firing at me, another one just below the pad near some ventilation fans for the building. Betters got a hold of Den Mother telling him "Den Mother, can you get him some backup?" "I don't have any available elements." he told him with Betters cursing out "Son of a bitch!". He had no idea how right he was. It was as if life itself was giving me the finger.
Cursing my shitty luck for the last time, I put my focus back to the task at hand... which was surviving. I saw one soldier to the far left who was coming up to the landing zone with a set of stairs. I aimed down my sights with my rifle and headshot him before he even knew I was there. But that still left the bastards inside the office. Taking a peak out from the barrels, I saw that the both of them were still inside waiting for me. Timing it just right, I threw over a grenade which broke the glass doors and landed at their feet. Yelling "Oh shit!" they tried to get some cover, only for an explosion blowing off their chests and arms. Pretty graphic, looking at it from here.
But I wasn't out of the woods yet. There was more gunfire down underneath the vent shafts where about three more Replicas showed up. They must've came from the maintenance rooms that led to the rooftop. Seeing how my odds were pretty favorable from where I was at, I hopped down next to the vent shafts near the Replicas - surprising them - and killed them all while raining gunfire down from above. Only one of them was barely alive after my whole "gung-ho" action sequence, but just barely. He was on his knees attempting to bring his weapon up to kill me before I put him down with the last bullet remaining in my G2A2 clip. That was for my Delta Force backup, you bastards.
After reloading, I went inside where I seemed to have ended up in set of hallways, some machinery to the right, and a big fan to the left spinning. Betters got a hold of me saying "Still no word on Jankowski. It's like he just vanished." Hearing that made me tense up a little. If what I saw really was true, then Jankowski might be dead. But if he was, then they would know right away, right? "The weird thing is that the bodies of the Delta Team he was with are all accounted for." Betters said before he signed off.
As much as I'd like to tell Betters, Jin, and Delta what had happened today, there was a part of me telling myself it was a stupid idea. I mean, how would I explain to them that a little 8 year old girl in a red dress burned everyone alive by just looking at them? And that she's been fucking with me since we started looking for Fettel. I don't have any proof of who or what she is. And even if I did, how do I know how much of this is in my head? They said Fettel is a psychic, so maybe he's making me see things. And only me...
Whatever my suspicions were, they had to be put aside for now. Making my way through more of the hallways and machinery, I stopped for a second when I heard Replicas talk up ahead. "We've lost contact with the roof. Can you confirm if there's been a breach?" "Unknown. We're checking it out." they finished. This makes it easier to sneak up on these guys. And from where I was, there were a few good hiding places in the dark corners of these halls. Looking up ahead, they where two of them coming up some metal stairs. They hadn't noticed me yet, but it was still too risky to start a gun battle in these tight corners. I guess I will have to make use of the darkness.
Waiting for about 10-15 seconds, they came up the walkway and were going the direction I came from. They had just passed me when I snuck up at the Replica at the back and broke his neck. The other heard the bones break when he turned around with his rifle aimed at me. Kicking in my reflexes once again, I took the Replicas side-arm and shot him several times the chest. "It was over there!" a Replica downstairs said. It sounded directly below me, and I assumed they wouldn't head over to where I was if they expected their teammates dead. Which means I would have to take the offensive.
I ran down the stairs up ahead, and got my rifle ready for the battle. There were three of them, two by some kind of engine, and one more by an power outlet on the wall. Going after the one in back, I shot a single bullet to the power outlet, causing it to explode and take out the Replica next to it. The others were caught with surprise, but regained their composures quickly and opened fire at my position. From where I was, I could shoot in between parts of the machinery where they were. Aiming carefully, I opened fire at them with no chance for them to stop me from where they were.
It sounded like their were still more Replicas in another room up ahead. Moving ahead carefully I stopped when three more were waiting for me to turn around the corner. Activating my reflexes, I went around and opened fire at all of them, with only my bullets taking out one of them while the other two hid behind a pillar. Running as fast as I could, I surprised them by showing up right in from of them and firing at their chests, killing them. I wasn't sure what it was propelling me head-first into action, but I guess it was because I wanted this mission over quickly before more of our people died.
Continuing onward, I stopped when the door nearby led back outside. There was a Replica by some stairs up ahead with a combat shotgun near where I standing. He hadn't noticed me, so I took him out with my rifle. After reloading, there was more enemy chatter on the radio yelling "He's out on the roof!" Rushing outside, but still keeping my guard up, I took cover by more ventilation systems out on the roof. They must've seen me, for gunfire followed my feet as I took cover, my back to the machine. Either they were on ground level, or on the metal balcony right above.
I could hear the footsteps of three Replicas on the ground slowly walking towards my position. Deciding that tricking them was the safest course of action, I pulled out my pistol, put it to the ground, and slid it over to my right. Taking a gamble, I ran out to the left, my rifle ready with both arms. I aimed down at the three Replicas who were distracted for a split second from my pistol. They were dead within seconds with not many bullets going through their heads. Calming my senses down, I then retrieved my pistol that I tossed to the side.
There was a staircase that lead up to more ventilation machines and the metal balcony. Another Replica came outside from another part of the roof up ahead, possibly checking out what had happened. I quickly finished him off with the remaining bullets of my rifle. After I reloaded, I acquired some ammo and a couple grenades from some soldiers, and then continued on. I was in what appeared to be in a generator room, with several support pillars in the middle. A small set of stairs were in front of me that probably lead closer to where I can enter Armacham. Problem was, there were still three more Replica soldiers coming my way. They must have been backup, stationed up ahead with another squad most likely. Remembering I still had a few grenades, I held on to one long enough where when I threw it, it went off taking all three of them.
I went pass all the destruction of the room up the set of stairs waiting for me. Moving past a fan on the right side of the hall, gleaming with an orange light, I stopped for a moment after hearing "Down here." Taking cover once again by some more machinery a couple feet in front of me, I peeked out to see two Replicas coming down from some stairs that led back up to the roof. They must be the last of the squad, for they were in quite a rush to locate me. Wanting to end this quick, I pulled out my pistol, my reflexes as heightened as needed, and shot them both down in a single stream of gunfire.
Going past their bodies, a thought occurred to me. How was it that in just a whole day I became trained to kill only for self-defense, to now going around killing in cold blood? Maybe it was made easier because in the back of my mind, these were not "people." Just clones, created in a lab to fight and receive orders. However, maybe they still had some free will and could've chosen a normal life. Fettel was controlling them with just his thoughts to murder innocent civilians and workers. So I guess that for now, taking their "lives" was needed for the greater good. All of that was put aside when I heard Betters over the comlink.
"What the hell? I'm picking up Jankowski in that general area. How the fuck did he get all the way here?"
That didn't make sense. Even if he was alive, without a chopper he wouldn't be able to get here so quickly. My thoughts traced back to earlier today. That "Jankowski" I kept seeing earlier began to haunt my mind. And even for a moment that I were to believe that were true that he was dead, Betters wouldn't be able to pick up his life signs. Continuing on, I stopped for a moment to see "Jankowski" peek around the corner looking at me. The black holes of where his eyes used to be made a chill go through my bones as he muttered:
"You don't even know who you are."
Jankowski disappeared again into thin air, black dust withering away where he was. Jesus Christ, all of this was starting to give me a headache. I wish I had some damn Tylenol and could go home. But not everyone gets what they want. Putting aside what I saw, I hurried on stair after stair, hallway after hallway. I stopped when the path lead back outside on the roof on an upper floor, as well as the gunfire that almost got me. Backing up back into the hallway, I waited for the moment for them to stop shooting at me. I was trapped, and the only way out was get back out there. What a toughie.
With one of my spare grenades I picked up earlier, I threw it out to where the gunfire was at. The Replicas yelled "Look out, grenade!" with an explosion soon after. I peeked out to see that two of them died right after with the other half trying to get back on their feet. Finishing the job, I aimed down my sights with the rifle and killed them. From up here, there weren't anymore of the soldiers. I followed the stairs going down to ground level. There were no doors at the side of the building, but there was an open spot where a glass window used to be that I can jump down into the building.
Climbing down carefully, I began my infiltration into Armacham HQ...
Hmmmmm, well the main character like what he finds inside? One way to find out... by waiting a few more days for me to update the story again. HAHA =D Like I've said a million times, reviews would be cool. For this story, I mean :P
