The team ran through the crowded atrium. Scientists scattered to make way for the charging Marines. Some screamed when they saw them carrying two of their own through the atrium. Sarge and Reaper half-carried, half-dragged an unresponsive Goat through the atrium. His eyes were still open, gazing blankly as he was rushed onward. Destroyer rushed a few paces behind them, carrying a semi concussed Mira over his shoulder-despite her protest. Their weapons were stashed over Destroyers back, but even the combines weight of weapon and Mira couldn't slow him down. Bringing up the rear were Portman and Kid, dragged the thick black body bag containing the dead creature.

"Everyone get to the Ark now!" Sarge ordered. "Hunegs move the quarantine zone, evacuate the entire facility! Get everyone to the Ark."

"What's going on?" Hunegs asked.

"Get to the goddamn Ark!" Sarge ordered.

Hunegs rushed the people towards the Ark as the squad raced towards the infirmary. "WE have an emergency, come on!"

The team raced through the next corridor toward the infirmary. The door slid open, reveal Sam and Duke inside. Duke bolted from Sam's side to his team the moment his eyes spotted Goat. Reaper and Sarge dragged Goat to the gurney and laid him on top. destroyer lowered Mira onto a further gurney and dropped the weapons, before turning to Goat's side. Kid and Portman dropped the black bag and moved to Goat's side, training kicking in. Reaper grabbed a heart monitor and dragged it to the gurney.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"He was talking about devils." Portman mumbled.

"Devils?"

"All his bible shit. Angels good and evil. The devils among us." Portman explained.

Mira watched from her gurney. Her tattered vest hung loose from her body. She clutched her cross tightly.

Nash Nebesnyy Otets, da svyatitsya imya Tvoye. Da priidet tsarstviye tvoye, da budet volya tvoya, na zemle, kak na nebe day nam segodnya khleb nash nasushchnyy. Prosti nam grekhi nashi, kak i my proshchayem tekh, kto greshit protiv nas. I ne vvedi nas v iskusheniye, no izbav' nas ot lukavogo. Ibo tsarstvo, sila i slava tvoi. Otnyne i vovek. Amin'.

"Alright let's get this vest off him!" Reaper ordered.

Destroyer reached over Goat's body and pulled the straps of the vest off. "Airways clear."

Duke pulled down Goat's sleeve and took hold of his arm. "Got a weak pulse."

Reaper pulled open Goat's shirt. He grabbed the two sensors from the monitor and placed them on Goat's chest. His heart rate instantly lit up the screen. But the readings were far from good. "Portman, get a second line." Reaper ordered. "How's the pulse?"

"I'm losing him."

"Sam, get me a shot of adrenaline." Reaper ordered. "Kid, keep pressure on that wound."

Sarge looked around the room. His eyes fell on the empty bed where Carmack had once laid, now covered in blood. "Where the hell's Carmack?"

Sam looked up as she prepared the syringe. "He disappeared."

"What do you mean he disappeared?" Sarge demanded.

"He's gone! He disappeared." Sam explained.

"Portman, you got that line in?" Reaper asked.

"No, I can't get it in." Portman explained.

Mira pushed herself off the gurney, finally out of her daze. She walked to Portman's side and pushed him aside. She took the needle from Portman and easily eased it into goat's ankle. "Second lines in, Reaper."

Reaper glanced up at her. "Go dress your wounds."

"Goat first." she replied. She turned form goat's body toward the lab table behind them. She grabbed several gauze pads and pulled them apart. Training indicated that pulled gauzed did better in stopping blood loss. The blood coagulated faster that in piles. Mira turned back toward Goat and passed the gauze to Kid. The Kid quickly placed the gauze over Goat's wound, which had slowed down slightly.

Suddenly Goat's heartbeat stopped. The flat line tone echoed through the lab.

"I've lost the pulse." Duke called.

"Shit!" Reaper muttered. "Let's defib!" He grabbed the defib paddled from the cart. "Charging...clear!"

Everyone drew their hands from Goat as Reaper pressed the paddles against Goat's chest. The current seized Goat's muscles and quickly released him. Reaper watched the monitor as Goat's heart beat once before returning to a flat line.

"Shit. Come on man." Duke pleaded.

"Sam, give me that adrenaline." Reaper ordered.

Sam quickly passed him the syringe. Reaper stabbed the needled directly into Goat's heart. He injected the adrenaline and pulled the needle back. He watched the monitor. There was a moment of a heartbeat, but it died away once again. "Charging again...clear!"

The monitor beeped once.

"Come on you son of a bitch." Reaper muttered. He watched the heart rate drop again.

"We're losing him." Duke said.

"No we're not." Mira replied. She placed her hands over Goat's chest and started CPR. She was not about to let a comrade die like this. Not without fighting like hell for them. She looked up at Reaper, silently pleading for one last shot.

Reaper didn't want to give up, but medically, they couldn't keep going for much longer. Goat was still unresponsive to every attempt they made. But he couldn't ignore the look Mira gave him. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't and it could have made the difference. "Charging...clear!"

Mira drew her hands from Goat. Reaper pressed the paddled to Goat's chest. His body seized under the current. The monitor picked u a single beat. Then it flat lined again. That was it. They'd given it heir all, but it wasn't enough. They had lost him.

Reaper stared at the monitor in defeat. He sett the paddles down. "We lost him." He reached out and shut off the monitor. He closed Goat's still staring eyes and pulled a tag. Now Maybe the man would find peace in the next life. Reaper stepped away from the gurney and kicked the nearby table. Sam flinched, but she knew his reasoning. It was hard to deal with losing someone. Her brothers way was anger.

Mira stepped from Goat's side, holding her cross in her hand. She leaned against her gurney, muttering to herself in Russian.

Sarge took a deep breath and turned toward Sam. "Doctor, you are going to tell me just what the fuck is going on up here?"

Sam frowned. "What?"

"Come here." Sarge called.

Sam stood her ground.

"Come here!" He repeated.

Sam grudgingly walked over toward Sarge. Stood over an oversized black body bag. The one that had not been used to carry Goat into the infirmary. Sarge unzipped the flap and took hold of it. He looked up at Sam, his eyes burning fury and hate toward her.

"This is 'what'." Sarge said. He pulled open the flap and revealed the dead creature from the sewer.

Sam walked from Reaper's side towards Sarge.

"This is what." Sarge said. He pulled the cover form the body bag, revealing the creature from the sewers. The body was already decaying inside the bag. Black blood oozed from the numerous bullets holes Reaper had inflicted in the sewers. Its numerous eyes were open, along with its jaws full of deformed and razor sharp teeth. Its body was long and gangly, warping in twisted and unimaginable ways.

Sam staggered back from the bag gasping. "God!"

"How you found anything like this on your archeological dig?" Sarge asked.

"No." Sam answered.

"Is there any way this thing came from the surface? From the outside?" Sarge asked.

"The planet is completely dead." Sam explained.

"It came from somewhere lady." Portman chided.

"Portman, shut up." Sarge snapped.

"The atmosphere can't support life." Sam continued.

"Maybe it doesn't need air huh? It could've come from another plant or something?" Portman said, clearly on the edge of sanity.

"What like an alien?" Sam asked.

"Look at that thing!" Portman yelled.

"Portman! You need to shut the fuck up!" Sarge ordered.

"That's not what we saw." Reaper said. He rose from the table and turned. "That's not what Goat and I shot at in genetics."

"You telling me there's more of these things?" Portman asked.

"Yeah Portman." Mira said. She looked up form the floor and lowered her hand. "That's what he's saying. What we shot at was bigger...by far. This...this is something else."

Sarge was far less than keen on having more than one of these fucking things somewhere in the facility. He turned back to Sam. "Where are your surface entry points?"

"There's a pressure door at the end of the north corridor." Sam explained quickly.

"Destroyer, you Kid and Portman get there on the double." Sarge ordered.

Destroyer nodded. "Yes sir."

"Whatever this thing is, it cannot get back to the Ark." Sarge said. "Mac?"

"Sir?"

"I want you to arm Pinky with a weapon, with some ST grenades, and seal the Ark door." Sarge ordered. He turned toward Mira. "Mira."

Mira turned to Sarge. Her face was still bleeding. Loose strands of white clung to her wound around her face. She stood straight, meeting her CO hard gaze. "Fucking fine, Sarge."

"Reaper ten minutes, patch her up." Sarge ordered.

"There's one other door." Sam said.

Sarge looked to her. "Where?"

Sam opened her mouth to answer, but Reaper beat her. "The entrance to the archeological dig."


The lab was silent once Destroyer, Kid, and Portman departed for the door. Sarge had taken up a stance by the door, watching Sam examine the dead creature from afar. Duke stood near Sam while she began her preliminaries. Reaper was seated on a lab tech chair beside Mira, who had taken up a place on the gurney. In one hand, he held a threaded needle, while pressing Mira's flesh closer as he sutured it closed. He'd managed to stop the facial bleeding with QuickClot, but they couldn't risk reopening the wounds during combat. After he thoroughly cleaned the wounds, Reaper began suturing the four massive lacerations. But even with a cleaning, there was still a high risk of infection from the sewers. Once they returned to base, Mira would need her wounds reopened and thoroughly cleaned. Just bringing up the topic would be hell, if they weren't already there. In fact, Mira should be jerking and muttering Russian curses at him.

The troubling truth was, she was completely still while he worked. Reaper lifted his eyes from her cheek to look at her. Mira was staring off toward a section off portion of the lab, where they had taken Goat's body. She clutched her cross with her right hand, but she said nothing. She should be saying something. Yelling, cursing, anything. He hadn't been able to anesthetize her wounds, so suturing should hurt like hell. Next to Goat, she'd taken the heaviest beating of the unit, as she had with every other mission they took up. Somehow it always managed to be him patching up Mira. but every other time she'd been pissed. Not this time. Goat's death had taken its toll on her mental status. Reaper let his gaze drift toward the sectioned off lab. It was no secret that Goat was like a father to her. He looked after Mira better than even Reaper had. She'd lost her real father once before, now she'd lost another one.

"You should say something." Reaper said. He tied off the suture and removed the needle form the thread.

"What the fuck am I supposed to say?" Mira asked, her eyes didn't leave the window.

Reaper shrugged. "You can always finish the scripture you two were sharing down there. We all know Goat enjoyed hearing those in Russian."

Mira paused for a moment. Then she closed her eyes in defeat. "I can't remember how it starts."

Reaper sighed deeply. She never made anything easy for him. "Damn...let's see. 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He-"

"On vedet menya k vodam tihim. On podkreplyaet dushu moyu; On vedet menya na stezi pravdy radi imeni Svoego. Da, hotya ya idu cherez dolinu smertnoĭ teni, ne uboyus' zla ponyomu chto Ty so mnoĭ; Tvoĭ zhezl i Tvoĭ posoh, oni uspokaivayut menya. Ty prigotovil predo mnoyu trapezu v vidu vragov moih; Vy pomazat' golovu maslom; chasha moya pryeispolnena. Tak, blagost' i milost' da soprovozhdayut menya vo vse dni moyeĭ zhizni, i ya prebudu v dome Gospodnem mnogie dni. Amin." Mira finished. She opened her eyes and lifted her face.

"Amen." Reaper repeated.

Mira turned toward him. "Since when do you know Psalms prayer?"

Reaper shrugged as he pulled out his boot knife. "One of the few good habits I picked up from you. Believe it, or not, I read the bible from time to time. I read it over when missions taken a shitty turn." He turned her head away from him. He took hold of thread and gave it a sharp tug as he cut it with his knife.

Mira jerked her head from him. "Ah, yebut!" She turned toward him. Her eyes lit up in fury.

Mira's shout caught everyone's attention. Sarge glanced toward his soldiers and quickly turned away. Whatever had Mira distracted, Reaper had done his job to patch her up and snap her back into focus. Nothing else mattered. Duke suppressed a smirk and turned back to Sam, who was watching her brothers interaction closely. She could see a slight hint of playfulness behind his eyes as he looked up at Mira.

"About time you felt something." Reaper said. He slid his knife back into his boot and picked up an antiseptic wipe.

"I felt everything, mudak." Mira snapped. Her fingers lightly touched her sutures, not wanting to pull them out.

Reaper gently pulled Mira's hand from her stitches. "Sorry." He wiped the pad over her face, giving the wounds one last cleaning and cleaning the remaining blood from Mira's face.

"This mission make the bible list?" Mira asked.

Reaper paused in his work for a moment. "Yeah. yeah it does." He dropped the wipe on the table and stood up. "Tilt your head back and let your hair down."

Mira snorted and pulled her hair from her braid. "Sounds like a bad pick-up line."

Reaper smirked. He gently pushed back her hair, layer by layer, gently prodding her scalp as he went. He wound a small laceration on the back of her scalp where she'd met with the ceiling. Surprising, it didn't appear too deep. "Small laceration. No sign of a skull fracture or brain trauma."

"Well damn. I thought for sure seeing pink elephants was a bad sign." Mira joked sarcastically.

"No such luck, this time." he answered. He picked up another antiseptic wipe and cleaned her scape. Reaper suddenly felt the undeniable sensation that he was being watched. He looked up to find Sam watching him from across the room. She stared at him with a look that he couldn't place. It wasn't scrutiny, or critical. It was almost...endearing. Reaper turned his gaze from his sister, back to his patient. He dropped the pad down on the tray and stepped around to Mira's front.

Mira took hold of her hair and immediately began re-braiding it. "Guess we know the answer to our question."

Reaper's brows furrowed.

"What does a superhuman fear?"

Reaper turned back toward the creature on the gurney. "Looks that way?"

Mira tied off her braid and stood from the gurney. "Do you believe her? When Sam says they haven't found anything like it?"

"Yes." he answered without hesitation. He turned to Mira, daring her to question him.

Mira nodded. "Alright. Guess if they had we would've seen evidence of it by now."

Reaper folded his arms in front of his chest. "Any ideas where it came from?"

Mira looked at the creature. "Surface can't support life, but that doesn't mean it didn't come here."

"You thinking bacterial?"

Mira shrugged. "Maybe? Just because it was buried doesn't mean it's dead."

Reaper smirked. "Guess that PHD paid off." He held out Goat's vest.

Mira looked at the vest for a moment before taking it. "You wishing you'd chosen leave?"

Reaper nodded. "Yeah. You starting to wish you'd taken leave?"

"Yeah." Mira replied. She slipped the vest over her body. Goat's vest was clearly too large for her, but it was better than nothing. It made her look smaller than she was.

"Vera." he called.

Mira looked up quickly at the sound of her name.

"About the evaluation-"

"Reaper, times up." Sarge called.

Reaper nodded. "Yes sir." He turned from Mira and retrieved his weapon. He caught Sam's gaze once more as he moved, but turned away quickly.

"Tell me later." Mira whispered as she passed by.

"Take it easy on the stitches." Reaper replied. They followed Sarge toward the door. "Try not to cuss someone out or they may rip out."

"This work for you?" Mira asked, holding out her middle finger.

Reaper shook his head, trying not to smirk as they left the infirmary. Both soldier's were unaware of Sam's watchful gaze as they departed the lab.


translations:

Nash Nebesnyy Otets, da svyatitsya imya Tvoye. Da priidet tsarstviye tvoye, da budet volya tvoya, na zemle, kak na nebe day nam segodnya khleb nash nasushchnyy. Prosti nam grekhi nashi, kak i my proshchayem tekh, kto greshit protiv nas. I ne vvedi nas v iskusheniye, no izbav' nas ot lukavogo. Ibo tsarstvo, sila i slava tvoi. Otnyne i vovek. Amin'. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever. Amen.

On vedet menya k vodam tihim. On podkreplyaet dushu moyu; On vedet menya na stezi pravdy radi imeni Svoego. Da, hotya ya idu cherez dolinu smertnoĭ teni, ne uboyus' zla ponyomu chto Ty so mnoĭ; Tvoĭ zhezl i Tvoĭ posoh, oni uspokaivayut menya. Ty prigotovil predo mnoyu trapezu v vidu vragov moih; Vy pomazat' golovu maslom; chasha moya pryeispolnena. Tak, blagost' i milost' da soprovozhdayut menya vo vse dni moyeĭ zhizni, i ya prebudu v dome Gospodnem mnogie dni. Amin.

PSALM 23:1-6 NKJ
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

yebut fuck

mudak asshole