A/N: Woo! I'm on an update roll today! Every one of my stories has been updated! Hot Damn!
Chapter 14: More Death
Sara followed Sarge down the hall and through the lab complex, when they heard Pinky over the comm.
"Lost Portman on comm., and all I got on Destroyer is a wall," he said.
Sarge picked up the pace to Destroyer and Portman's position.
"Portman, come in. Destroyer. Come in," Sarge called through the comm. As he jumped around a corner, Sara in tow.
Sarge and Sara got back to the airlock. Portman and Destroyer were no where to be seen.
"Destroyer, Portman, where the hell are you?" Sarge asked, again, over the comm.
There was no answer, so Sarge and Sara moved down the hall. They found Destroyer's gun laying in the middle of the hall. They looked at each other and kept moving down the hall and into a large room with a big hole in the floor. They stood near the edge and shined their lights down.
Destroyer lay on the floor of the hole...dead.
"God..." Sara mumbled, sadly.
They then heard a yelling over the comm. It was Portman; they could tell from the string of curses. They ran to where his screaming was coming from.
When they got to the room, John and Kid were already there and Portman was being dangled from the ceiling by another creature. John and Kid fired at it, and Sarge jumped down the small set of stairs. As the creature dropped Portman, Sarge fired the BFG to the ceiling.
A blue, electric bolt shot out of the gun. When the round hit, it dissolved part of the ceiling and wall.
"Holy shit," Sarge said, as he looked from the hole to the gun.
Kid went over to check Portman, and Sara took his spot, staring at the ceiling.
"Good gravy," she muttered, looking at Sarge and the gun.
Kid reached Portman and checked his pulse. He looked back at the other three and shook his head.
"He's gone."
"Damn it," Sarge mumbled. "Reaper, Tex, get Portman and take him to the infirmary. Kid, come help me."
"What?" Kid mumbled.
"Destroyer," Sara sighed, quietly.
Kid nodded and followed Sarge back up the stairs, and out of the room.
Sara looked at John as he walked up to her.
"I assume you're okay now," he stated.
"For now...I guess," she replied.
They looked at each other for another moment, then swung their weapons to their backs. Sara threw her arms around John's neck, as his went around her waist.
When they pulled back, John kissed Sara in a reassuring manner, and they went to pick up Portman.
Sara helped sling Portman onto John's shoulders. They left the room (which Sara finally figured was a bathroom) and met up with Kid and Sarge in the large room, where they found Destroyer earlier.
The four, plus the dead two, headed back to the infirmary.
Sarge walked into the room first with Destroyer over his shoulder.
"Destroyer?" Duke asked and came up to Sarge. He took Destroyer, and placed him against the wall.
Sara came in next, followed by John.
"And Portman," John breathed, going over to the spare gurney and placing Portman on it.
Kid was the last to come in. He kneeled on the floor next to Sara.
"So much for my five dollars," Sara mumbled, looking towards Portman.
"Just be glad you're alive," Kid mumbled back.
Sara grinned down at him, sadly.
"At the moment," she mumbled, still looking at him.
"What the hell is this?" Sarge asked, pointing to the creature stuck in the nanowall. "And whose goddamn blood is on that window?"
"Goat's. He killed himself," Sam replied, calmly.
A very confused look crossed Sara's face, as Sarge looked at Sam like she was crazy.
"What do you mean he killed himself? He was already dead," Sarge said, raising his voice.
"It's true. It's Goat. He was changing into one of these MOTHERFUCKERS and he killed himself," Duke explained, on the brink of tears.
Sara looked down at Kid, who looked like he was going to throw up again. She put her hand on his shoulder.
"All right?" she asked, quietly.
Kid nodded, but not too confidently.
"We found two more scientists at the dig," John started. "Thurman, and a balding guy with glasses."
"Dr. Clay," Sam said, walking over to John, who was still next to Portman's body. "Did you check their necks? Were there open wounds on their necks?"
"We were conducting a firefight, not an autopsy," John said, through gritted teeth.
Sam went over and checked Destroyer.
"We came up here to find six scientists. Four are known dead, and Dr. Willits is probably KIA somewhere down in that sewer. The only one missing is Dr. Carmack. Has Dr. Carmack showed up yet?" Sarge practically yelled.
"Oh, he showed up all right," Duke said, calmly, over his shoulder.
"Look at the left ear," Sam said, standing and pointing at the creature in the nanowall.
Sarge hesitated, then went over to the creature and looked at the left ear...or, actually, lack there of.
"Son of a bitch," he mumbled.
"I think this one is Steve Willits," Sam continued, walking over to the dead creature on the table. "I'm gonna run the DNA, check it against his med records."
"What are you people working on up here?" Sarge continued.
"We're analyzing bones, artifacts. We're not doing anything like this," Sam defended.
"Then what the fuck is that!" Sarge hollered, pointing to Carmack.
"It must be a genetic mutation. Something environmental or viral. I don't know. It may even be reversible," Sam said calmly, while Sarge glared at her.
"It's irreversible," Sarge replied.
"Not necessarily."
"Carmack's condition is irreversible," he practically whispered 'irreversible'.
Sarge then pulled a handgun from one of his pockets, and walked over to Carmack.
Sam screamed a 'no!' as Sarge stuck the gun in creature Carmack's mouth, and shot a bullet into his brain, killing him instantly.
Sara jumped slightly when Sarge pulled the trigger, making Kid look up at her.
"Because Carmack's condition is that, he's dead," Sarge continued, looking from the blood dripping off of his gun to Sam.
"Kid, you and Duke get back to the dig and make sure those other dead scientists are really dead," he instructed.
Sara patted Kid on the shoulder and gave him a weak smile as he stood up. He nodded back, then he and Duke left the infirmary.
During Sarge's ordering, John looked over at Sara, then down to Kid. He knew if something happened to Kid, Sara might loose it...she already lost one friend.
"I've lost four Marines. What are you people experimenting with up here?" Sarge asked, walking towards Sam.
There was a pause, and Sam looked scared, to say the least.
"I'm not gonna ask you again," Sarge sneered.
John and Sara both moved slowly closer to Sarge and Sam.
"I told you, it's an archeological research center. Do you think I'm lying to you? Is that what you're saying? You think I'm hiding something? I'm telling the truth," Sam said, standing her ground.
She started to breathe heavier.
John took a few steps towards her.
"What were you downloading? What were you sent here to protect?" he asked, calmly, but sternly.
"The research data!"
"Research into what?" John asked, still with the same demeanor.
"I-I don't know," Sam said, quietly.
Sarge was about to say something, when Sam cut him off.
"But I know how to find out."
"How?" Sarge demanded.
"I still need those last discs. There's bound to be something on there," Sam explained.
Sarge looked to Sara and John briefly, then back to Sam. "Let's go."
A/N: Yea! John came back...Woo! Uh, yeah...