I know, I know… long update. I had tests for what like the WHOLE week!!!!! Well that's over with… It's about time I updated, right? Yes, now please stop throwing that boomerang for the lack of update. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Private Richard

The one thing I tried to get out of my mind was Mr. and Mrs. Freddericks' death. The last thing I wanted to imagine was my parents discovering them dead, but then again they would sooner or later… finding THAT out wouldn't take a genius…

At least the F.E.A.R. mission would help me stop thinking about the incident.

I rested my eyes in the car, and tried to forget about the Freddericks and concentrated on the F.E.A.R. mission I was about to have. It was either going to be freakier or more intensifying, either way there was a lot to expect.

The H.Q was rather empty compared to the last meeting. That time there were SFOD-D soldiers, this time there weren't any. Only Ms. Kwon and Mr. Holiday were there… for the F.E.A.R. team anyway. But in the meeting I also noticed another person there… never saw him though.

"Um… Commissioner Betters? I have a question…" I began, and Betters turned to me, "Let me guess, who the new person here is."

I nodded. I didn't think he would've been psychic or any sorts; it was pretty obvious I was going to ask that.

"All right, Dash, he's your new partner, Richard…" He paused, "Um… buddy? What was your last name again?" Betters whispered to him.

"Richard Ly." The new member replied.

"Yes… Richard Ly. He may not be having the same amount of reflexes as you did… but his aim is superb though… but more or less he will be your new companion." Betters finished.

"Well… nice to meet you, Richard…" I said as we shook hands.

He didn't actually look like an Asian, despite his last name… maybe either his mom or dad was Asian. Surprisingly, he also looked like a person around my age too. Here I thought I was the only college student to be in all sorts of firefights, but I guess I'm not alone anymore… unless if the "she" had to come and kill one of us… I hoped that wouldn't happen. She may have been horrible, but killing Richard would be going too far.

More or less we chatted a bit… might as well know a bit more about my new partner before one us dies in a mission. One of the first questions I asked was his age, and he was really the same age as me! At least I never saw him in campus, maybe he went somewhere different… something Einstein can find out in a millisecond.

Commissioner Betters came into the briefing room while we were still chatting. There followed two SFOD-D soldiers as well… they were also talking while the two of us were.

"Only survivors? What happened to the rest of your squad?" Betters questioned one of them.

"We lost contact with Bravo Team but we did find a survivor… until Replica soldiers came to the room ready to ambush us. But after that they died all of a sudden…" One of them replied.

"What killed them? And that survivor you found?"

"He was killed along with the Replicas… when the rest of us Alpha Team tried to run away from the room, the door was locked and we were trapped… right until we found the missing F.E.A.R. team member… he helped us out by kicking the door open from the outside. As for the question of what killed them, we don't know."

Betters looked surprised, and even I was. Missing F.E.A.R. combat operative? Wouldn't that mean the F.E.A.R. point man?

"Who was it?" Betters wondered, asking without taking a pause after the SFOD-D soldier finished his last sentence.

"It was Spen Jankowski…"

Betters didn't talk for a while. He stood there, as he was loss at words. He might have been either happy or really shocked. But either ways he just couldn't talk. I decided to cut the silence…

"Sir, who's Spen Jankowski?"

"He's a missing F.E.A.R. operative… ever since the recent Point Man came in, he disappeared…"

The SFOD-D soldier continued though, "when we tried looking for him, he was gone. But there were bullet holes and trails in that room."

Betters nodded, and stated, "Alright, Dash and Richard, the two of you go in and investigate. I'll tell Commander Shepherd to send in more men… get your weapons ready… god knows what's going to happen… oh and see what might have happened to the Bravo Team chopper…"

"Where's the place we'll be going?" Richard wondered.

"Heh… forgot to mention that. There is a secret laboratory, in which many ATC employees are hiding there… we need you to find any survivors of ATC, and if possible even survivors of any members of Bravo Team."

We both nodded and headed to the armory. As always I took my Assault Rifle out… Richard seemed to like the shotgun more. At least we most likely wouldn't be encountering snipers… he seemed to know his stuff.

After exiting the armory, we headed outside… a Blackhawk just arrived… The strange thing was that there was only one. Last time I remember there were two… that probably meant there would be less enemies, or that the other helicopter crashed… or there was just one requested.

The helicopter landed… there were two other SFOD-D soldiers… our backup probably.

Before we hopped in Mr. Holiday came too.

"Mr. Holiday?" I called, wondering if he was going for combat.

"This is our mission, Dash… and me and Spen go back a long way really."

"…How?" I wondered.

"It's a long story… for now let's get ready to kick ass."

I nodded, and took a seat. While I was riding I looked at Richard a bit. He didn't seem nervous at all despite being a first member of F.E.A.R. I doubt that anyone like his age would go into firefights… Even I'll admit I was nervous too in my very first mission.

I looked outside as we flew. We were going so far to even be flying over an ocean… in other words going to another island.

"This is Betters… Holiday, do you read me?" Betters questioned from a radio transmitter.

"Loud and clear." Betters replied.

"Good. I need you to destroy that lab too after the mission is over in case Alma is still in there… along with Fettel. I picked up his signal in that area."

"Roger that."

I thought why not just blow up the lab and then escape if there were clone soldiers about to attack us. But I had to remember the primary objective of saving any survivors in there first.

The Helicopter landed in a large area… we still had a long walk to go to get to the laboratory. Just landing anywhere near would only bring unwanted enemy attention.

The five of us got off the chopper… and the helicopter left us for now in case we need backup and the enemy gunship found us… a huge chopper would bring any flying thing's attention.

We were in a forest, and we had to find our own way to the laboratory. But we also had to be cautious in case anyone or anything would attack us. In forests anything could happen… from wolves to trees falling down… and possibly even Alma if she was out here. Even those clone soldiers might have been here to look out for anyone who might be coming to interfere with their plans… if they had any.

"Let's split up for now…" Holiday planned, "Dash and Chris… two of you go together and see if there are any signs of the crashed helicopter. Richard, Jimmy, and I will keep going…"

I nodded. Me and the SFOD-D soldier went to the western side of the forest. We had to check both sides before we move on and rendezvous with the others. The two of us searched for any clues of what might have happened to the helicopter Bravo Team took…

As if what I was thinking of answered the question, me and Chris found it! It was broken into several pieces.

"What the hell happened here?" He wondered and approached the chopper. The helicopter pilot was in there more than just dead. Inside the chopper blood was everywhere. Not only that, his body was cannibalized.

The weapons and ammo stashes were almost completely empty. Bravo Team probably consisted of ten members or more, otherwise there would still be a lot of weapons left. Thankfully it had assault rifle ammo so I picked them up.

Chris and I got out, and opened our comm. Links to Holiday…

"Holiday, we found the Bravo Team's chopper… not a single survivor is here." Chris informed.

"All right… me and Jimmy will secure this area… Richard, find and escort them back." Holiday commanded and Richard replied, "Yes s……"

The transmission suddenly got cut off, and we heard a little girl's laughter.

"You heard something…?" I asked, readying my assault rifle.

"Yeah… keep looking… let's not leave until Richard comes or something hap-"

Suddenly a nail pierced through his chest. He fell down to the ground, dead. I looked to see where the nail came from…

It wasn't Alma, or a clone soldier though. When I kept looking around, but not leaving the current area for Richard to come and find me, another SFOD-D soldier came, this time carrying a Penetrator.

"Hey…!! You just killed-"

I couldn't finish my sentence. Behind him I saw Alma, and she was walking right behind him. He aimed his weapon at me…

"Stupid girl…!! Stop this!!" He shouted really loud.

Although he was probably trying to say that to Alma, he aimed his weapon at me… was Alma doing the same thing she did to me, making me hallucinate and make me believe what I saw was true?

Out of nowhere, a shotgun blast killed the SFOD-D soldier. He dropped his weapon and died.

"Richard!!" I called as I turned back to him.

"We have to get out of here… now!" He warned as he ran away. When I looked towards where Alma and the SFOD-D soldier was, those clone soldiers caught up on us…

"Threat sighted!!"

I ran away as well to where Richard went, and gun fire followed us. We managed to get ourselves unhurt, but slowing down would've lead us to our downfall.

We reached Holiday, and we were panting heavily…

"Sir, those clone soldiers are behind us!! And we're outnumbered!! We have to hurry!!" I gasped.

"All right, move out! Go go go!" Holiday shouted as we both ran away. He shot back as he did too. It may have not done any good, but the best doing so did was slowing the enemy down and distracting so we can run away.

The laboratory was at sight, and we kept running as Holiday gave up shooting and followed us.

"There it is!!" The other SFOD-D member shouted as he also shot back at the clone soldiers chasing us. As soon as we got close to the laboratory, that SFOD-D member was somehow shot down.

The rest of us three members managed to survive, and quickly closed and locked the lab door as we entered…

"Close call…" I gasped as I caught my breath.

"You said it." Richard replied as he took some sweat off his forehead.

The only thing in the room was an elevator, but it was out of fuction…

"Crap, what now?" I wondered, rather frustrated.

"No worries… let me handle this."

Mr. Holiday got out a bomb attached it to the elevator door.

"What are you going to do with THAT?" I asked.

"You'll see." He answered as he defused and added, "Stand back!"

Me and Richard backed away as Holiday leaned on the nearest wall. The bomb blew up.

"Hope that didn't attract enemy attention…" I thought out loud by accident.

When the smoke cleared, the wall that was taken with the explosion actually revealed another corridor. I wonder how Holiday could've found that out without even telling us…

"Heh, a map like this sure comes in handy." Holiday blurted.

I looked at the wall opposite of the direction I was facing. There was a map to the whole laboratory! Never thought there was such a thing… that was awfully convenient. Unfortunately it was pinned to a wall, so we couldn't take it out and look as we explore… even then the map would only provide distraction for us from the enemy.

The three of us proceeded to the path that was blown up, revealing a short corridor. It took less than a minute to actually reach a door. Holiday kicked it open and it revealed to be the elevator room. I wondered why a lab like this would have so much elevators. There were about ten in the entire room.

"Looks like we got company…" Holiday whispered as he looked at one of the elevators. It was coming for the floor we were on… 1F. It reached B4… B3… B2… B1…

"Stay sharp!" Holiday added and we nodded, leaning beside the elevator and getting ready to attack.

The elevator reached 1… and it was about to open up. I put my finger near the trigger and waited for the elevator to open up completely and let the enemies come in to the ambush…

The elevator opened up. The three of us aimed directly towards the elevator… no one was there. But there was a lot of blood in it…

Holiday went in first… "This blood… seems like someone died not too long ago here…"

He got back out and told us, "Let's ride on another elevator… god only knows what could happen to an elevator with signs of dead people."

As if that sentence got another one's attention, another elevator opened up. This time it had one lone clone soldier. Although it was standing for a moment, he suddenly screamed in pain, dropped his weapon and fell down to the floor. Holiday neared the corpse first before me and Richard could take a closer look.

"This Replica soldier… I don't think anyone could've killed it this way…" Holiday said as he examined the body.

"Why?" I wondered.

"No bullet holes in his body… but there is a huge scratch on his armor." Holiday showed us a huge scratch, "We have to see where this came from… let's keep investigating."

We entered the elevator where the Replica soldier came from. Holiday clicked on B4. He made a smart choice, as last time we saw that elevator full of blood it came from B4. We had to check out what was happening there and what might have happened to other people down there.

At least the elevator ride went smoothly… not a single power outage or anything. If there was anything like that, for sure we might have been dead as those clone soldiers… or Replicas as Holiday called it, got killed in the elevator all of a sudden. The elevator opened after a bit...

The room was empty, surprisingly. Not a single person was seen inside… though there were bullet holes, no blood. We searched the area more thoroughly…

We heard gunfire from the next room however. We turned towards the door… there was still gunfire and Replica soldier voices, "Get the hell out of h… ARRGGGH!"

"…Dash… go in and investigate." Holiday ordered.

"Hey, let me join in. We don't want casualties." Richard spoke, reloading his shotgun.

"Alright then, you two go. I'll secure this area." Holiday agreed as he readied his assault rifle, probably in case the two of us got in trouble.

I stood next to the door, and Richard aimed his shotgun towards it. When I opened it he ran in and I followed, staying sharp in case if any Replica Soldiers still remained. The two of us looked carefully only to see the room full of not only dead Replicas, but also some ATC security guards, scientists, and employees…

"A fierce gun battle here eh?" I commented, trying to stay cool as Richard. However he didn't say anything back… but I think that was a bit obvious… until we discovered something.

"For a firefight there aren't many bullet holes in this room… you notice that?" I added as Richard nodded.

Another door however opened all of a sudden, but no one came out from it. It just opened all of a sudden… I really hoped that there was a window in that room and just opened it with the wind coming in… but that was quite unlikely, as that door was probably shut completely.

"DASH!!" Richard yelled, as he blasted his shotgun at the direction the door was. After that however he pushed me to the wall, and he was screaming in pain as he clutched his arm. I looked at it, and there was a huge scratch there.

"Richard? What happened???" I questioned immediately as I got back up.

My question was already answered though… there were those invisible things with red eyes that attacked me the other day again. I fired my assault rifle at them, hopefully thinking that would kill them. It only vanished one of them, but there were a few more coming. They came extremely close to me as they were ready to slash me with their claws…

Richard quickly shot his shotgun at the one closest to us, but the rest were still living, and were few steps away from coming to kill us. I backed away but tripped along the way, and they started getting much nearer…

However, they suddenly stopped and retreated… it almost seemed like they were being called from someone… but who?

I got back up and picked up my assault rifle again… and I checked to see if Richard was okay…

"Hey Richard, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah… it's just a scratch…" He moaned, but tried to stay strong anyway.

"Richard, really man, don't try to use up your strength when you're injured. I'll take it from here…" I replied to Richard's response.

"Are you sure…? I doubt this mission can be handled alone…" Richard rejected my offer for him to stay here.

"Richard, your injured arm won't help us much… besides, I've been in missions like this before. And this is…personal… let's put it that way." I said, having nothing else to say to him. Besides, it WAS personal… if my past was something that mysterious, and Alma was here, then something definitely would be told for me.

"Alright, then… you better be alive when you come back…" Richard groaned as he rested near a wall.

I nodded and left the room. I had something of me to solve…

To be continued…

Not many firefights, I know, but I'm trying to create a scene here. I actually decided to dedicate the whole chapter on Richard instead of the scary things. Since the chapter about him is already made, next chapter will definitely be different… R&R!