Casualties

The Darpa chief was still whimpering behind him as he saw a blonde hair woman exit to the azure hallway.

"Huh," he didn't get a good look at her face as the door shut right after she stepped out.

"Oh, I forgot to tell…shh!" Snake put his finger against his lip to make his message clear to the petrified dark skinned man. Anderson shook his head slowly as a shadow skimmed across their door. A beep noise from their door's mechanism made their ears perk up.

Miraculously, the cell door opened. Snake made one step outside and gradually poked his head to the left side of the cell. A naked body made his stare, "What the..?"

"Don't move," a feminine voice yelled out.

Snake froze as he felt a gun barrel against his skull. A person covered in a green uniform like the terrorist's was holding him up.

"Mr. Anderson," she showed real concern in her voice, "are you okay?"

Snake used this distraction to turn his whole body towards her. He saw her soft, hazelnut eyes stared at him in disbelief, "Liquid!"

"Liquid? Is she talking about the terrorist's leader?"

Her eyes rolled all over his face and hair twice, "No…you're not."

During her perplexity, he bent his body forward like a snake ready to bite. The woman stretched her weapon at him, "I said don't move!"

Her black-gloved hands were violently trembling as her eyes wandered at the man's body, the Darpa Chief, and back to his face. Her thin, index finger was on the trigger ready to shoot, but it paced back and forth nervously away from the trigger. She was nervous. Terrified, she was hesitant to fill his body with sharp, bloodthirsty bullets from her FAMAS. He examined her eyes and with his experience, her eyes were easy to read.

"Those eyes….they are not soldier's eyes."

"Is this the first time you ever pointed a gun at a person," Snake tempted the soldier, "your hands are shaking."

Her quivering sigh acknowledged him to continue as he pulled his SOCOM out to dare the on edge woman in front of him, "Can you shoot me, rookie?"

Trying to be as tough as him, her eyes sternly glanced at him as though she was insulted, "Careful! I'm no rookie.

Snake scoffed, "Liar! That nervous glance…that scared look in your eyes. They're rookie's eyes if I ever saw them."

He closely watched as the woman felt overwhelmed by his words. Her weaknesses were showing her alarming quivering body. Her rookie eyes were not bloody by combat they were clear of any guilt or battle.

"You've never shot a person, am I right?"

Anger filled her gaze, "You talk too much!"

"You haven't even taken the safety off, rookie!"

She didn't take his bait as she put her foot down, "I told you I'm no rookie!"

"You're not one of them, are you?"

She took a quick glance at the door behind her before she met his gape, "Open that door. You got a card, don't you?"

"Why," he inquired.

"So we can get the hell out of here," the strength in her voice was quickened as she stepped back from the door that opened behind her.

The Darpa chief screamed as guards entered the area. He scattered under the bed holding his head with his hands whimpering in fear. Snake backed off across the woman as three blue uniform, armored helmet guards pulled out their FAMAS. Aiming his pistol at the guards, he peered at the woman next to him, who was still hesitant to pull the trigger of her gun.

"What are you doing? Don't think. Shoot!"

As an alarm rumbled the hallways, he fired his weapon at the guards before they had a chance to fire theirs. One by one he pounded streams of bullets into each of soldiers' bodies. As the bodies of the three men fell on the bloody mess, he reloaded his weapon before more arrived at the scene.

She still couldn't pull the trigger. Her mind wandered in fear and doubt. She stared at the blood and gore that all the three soldiers caused as her face seemed to glow pale. Biting her lip to keep back a whimper, Snake tried to snap her out of it.

"What are you waiting for," he yelled at her callously, "Shoot!"

"Don't talk to me like a rookie," her strong, irritated voice didn't match her weak stance.

"I'm telling you! Shoot!" Three more guards came towards them.

Finally, the woman pulled the trigger of the trembling FAMAS screaming her head off. Bullets veered randomly across the guards' bodies nearly tearing them in half. Blood spluttered on the walls pouring on the ground. Their bodies crashed down onto each other. Reloading her weapon, her eyes grew dark with blood.

Suddenly, a shriek came from the cell where the Darpa chief was hiding. He ran out of the cell staring at the carcasses that were leaking drops of blood at every corner.

"Get back in the cell," Snake shouted at the man who was now freaking out. The man had his hands over his face in despair and horror.

"I can't! It's…It's…I got to get out of this nightmare," he ran outside the hallway area when he stopped at a bark of orders. Turning to his right, his knees clattered.

The man waved his hands in agony and put them together pleading for his life, "Please….stop...NOOOO!"

The chief shook as every bullet penetrated his body. Holes of blood appeared in his now stained white shirt especially his chest area, which turned black as ink. His red, yellow polka dot tie was ripped in half from the sheer power of the sharp rounds flowing towards him. Finally after minutes of brutality, he succumbed to his wounds. Coughing up a storm of blood, the chief fell forward on the floor with a spatter.

Snake was used to this type of cruelty for all his life. His face showed indifference but the rookie next to him wasn't. She screamed as she stared at the poor man's disfigured body. More guards came through the door.

Enraged, the rookie fired more shots as Snake followed her lead. A click from the hammer of his gun caused Snake to growl, "No ammo!"

That was not good. More guards were coming and his weapon was empty. A click came from the woman's weapon as well, "Damn!" It would take a miracle for both of them to get out alive.

All of a sudden, some of the guards screamed in agony. Shots were fired as the guards fell down from an inexplicable source. No more guards were coming in the room and the alarm was settling down as well.

"Who helped us?"

The rookie walked over the bloody heap of corpses piled in front of the door leading out of the holding cells. She peeked at the body of the Darpa Chief then turned towards Snake, "Thanks for the help!"

"Wait," Snake yelled as he placed his empty weapon back in his gun holder. Following the rookie, he saw her heading towards the elevator he rode to get down here. He couldn't help but stare at her behind wobbling with her hips dancing side to side.

"Who are you," Snake asked as the woman continued to run. His eyes were covered in a white shade. As the white turned into static, he saw three figures standing near a dark skinned man who was shingled to some type of bed. The one with shoulder length blond hair was in the middle staring at the man with fiery. The figure on the right was wearing a dark trench coat with his mask covered in a gas mask.

"What is your code," the figure on the far left with gray-hair was pushing buttons on a console, "Make it easy on yourself!"

"Never!"

"Come on! Be reasonable if you cooperate, we won't kill you!"

Electricity flew through the man's skull as the man called out in surrender, "Ok, I'll tell you but let me make you guys a deal you can't refuse!"

The dream disappeared as Snake came back into reality. He peered as he remembered what he was doing before that strange occurance happened. As she pushed the button on the elevator control panel, she twirled around with her gun aimed straight at him. Bullets were zooming towards him as he rolled over against the wall to miss the woman's feeble attempt to subdue him. Before he could resume chasing her, the elevator doors opened, and she stepped back into the elevator. She raised her fist in the air triumphantly as the doors closed in front of her.

A ghostly wind blew as a shadowy figure danced like water in front of the elevator doors. For what he could tell, the ghost wore a dark trench coat and gas mask.

"Good girl," its voice was spooky in manner, "Just like that!" The figure dissolved in thin air.

The codec ringed in his ear as Campbell's face was melancholy, "Sorry about the Darpa Chief, Snake. The only thing you can do now is locate President Baker."

"Naomi," Snake called out, "I just had some kind of hallucination. Is it from the nanomachines?"

"No, Snake. Your nanomachines are walking properly," she analzyed the nanomachines inside his bodies on her computer monitor. They all looked normal from what she saw.

"Then what was that?"

"It must be psychometric interference from Psycho Mantis, Foxhound's psychic."

"So…" Snake finally saw one of Foxhound's primary members, "that was Mantis."

Knowing full well he was going to need some ammo, he pick pocketed some of the down guards in the hallway. He was in thought as he tried to figure out who that female soldier was. Also he was asking himself who save them from certain death back there, but he ignored the questions floating in his mind. Snake had to focus on his next objective, which was rescuing President of ArmsTech, Kenneth Baker.