Missing in λction
CHAPTER I: Astound Vision
There was at one point in my life where I killed a huge nauseating green tentacle worm monster. That's when a man in a blue suit put me here.
I wish I could tell you more, but what is there to say? I don't know what happened to my friends, my family, my acquaintances, or my enemies. I can tell you that my government betrayed us and sent in Black Ops to kill everyone. I also know that the government man accused me of being a witness of something, more like a witness who doesn't know anything. How am I a witness if I can't even remember when Black Mesa was; I have been here for so long that I've lost thought about it.
And that's pretty much all I know.
But, that's not why you're here, is it? To hear me complaining about personal feelings of mine?
Well, guess what, I'm not doing any of that. In fact, I have a new story for you. I do hope you can find it somewhat entertaining. Honestly, I don't know where to start. I guess the safest thing to do is to start where it began.
It all started with me just sitting in time and space as usual. I'm not sure what I was doing back then, probably nothing.
But out of nowhere, the doors opened; then, the government man came out. I knew he was going to offer me something, why else would he be there? We did eventually speak to each other.
"So, Corporal Shephard, we meet once more. I do apologize for your curiosity and otherwise, lack of answers. But, there have been other plannings during your absence Mister Shephard, I do hope you understand. But now I come to you, to tell you that the plan that has been orchestrated unfortunately has many issues to it, someone would have to 'tie up' these, " he took a deep breath, "loose ends." He exhaled and made those two words well heard in his inhuman voice.
"Wait, so let me get this straight, so you leave me in the dark for god knows how long and now you finally come back after all this time to offer me a job?" I said with curiosity.
"Well, to put it lightly, yes."
"Alright, count me in, " I said.
"Like that?" He asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I'm tired of living and spending my life in this goddamn place. I want to go out there and experience the world again!"
"Well that's good to hear, my employers thought you would be hostile. Makes this a lot more easier."
The government man decided to sit opposite from me. "Anyways, I persuaded my employers that you may have a potential for our mission, which they now fully agree with me on these matters. A man you once heard of, who you may have thought was a foe, now needs your help. After all, he was part of your personal Holocaust," he said in a inhuman like manner.
"Yeah I think I have an idea of who you are talking about," I said.
"Quite so."
"So what's exactly my mission?" I asked.
"Well, times have changed during your resting, Mr. Shephard. You will be placed in a city known as 'City 22.' All you need to know is that this area is a major trading partner with the city sectors of Earth. You must destroy or stop all means of production coming in from this location, so everyone in City 17 can have enough time to wait for the arrival of you know who. Now get on your feet and tread lightly, Corporal Shephard."
"Wait what? I'm sorry, but can you please be more specific? I have no idea what the hell you're even talking about. How do ya suppose I do all of th-"
He got up and walked out of existence like that, faster than sound; didn't even listen to me.
But all of a sudden, I found myself on a beach.
I heard the waves flowing on and off the shores. The sand I was on felt fresh and warm. The palm trees were as young and new as a newborn. My hands were wet and felt strange.
At the time, I didn't get any of it.
Next thing I know, I hear someone saying something to me.
"Hey, pal get up, wanna smoke maybe?" Said the mysterious voice.
The man had a grumpy, but also a kind, voice to him.
I wasn't waking up, I felt so tiresome, for a reason I don't know.
The man started lightly kicking me, "Oh my god, get up will ya?" A minute passes, he was still casually and slowly kicking me, "Will you wake the hell up alrighty!? God damn, even I'm not that much of a heavy sleeper!" Screamed the mysterious voice. But, the voice also sounded familiar for some reason.
He then kicked me as hard as he could on my side rib. That woke me up because of how painful the impact was.
I would wake up moaning in pain and frustration. "Hey your finally waking up, well I hope so."
My vision was blurry, I was trying to adjust my eyes and see straight. My body felt like a corpse that had just came back to life.
I tried inspecting the area around me; I found myself sleeping on a mattress in the middle of an alleyway. It was early in the morning, but it was still dark.
I looked up to see whoever was talking to me. I saw a man with a lengthy beard, Caucasian, short brown hair, brown eyes and smoking a cigarette. Who was this man? "God damn, can't believe I'm looking at the one and only."
"Ummm….who are you?" I asked in a confused voice.
"Who am I?! It's me, Jackson, I was on Goose 7 with you back in Black Mesa!" He was screaming at me too. "You probably don't recognize me because of this beard of mine," he said in excitement while pointing at his beard.
"Jackson?" I paused for a second and thought about it. "You mean that guy I trained with back in Arizona and fought alongside with at Black Mesa?"
"Yeah, you bet man!"
"Where the hell am I?" I asked in a groaning voice.
"Well, you're sleeping on a mattress. Mystery solved! Where's my prize?" Said Jackson sarcastically.
"Na really? Tell me something I don't fucking know already!" I screamed at Jackson.
"Hey man calm down, don't have a panic attack or anything, " Jackson said with concern. "But, seriously, why are you sleeping on a mattress anyways? Did you have too much to drink or are you just homeless," Jackson asked in another jokingly type tone.
"I'm not homeless," I said with belligerence. "I see you haven't changed all that much, you still ain't helpful."
"Okay, chill Adrian, I was only joking around. Why are you here though, can you at least answer me that?"
I got up from the mattress to stretch.
"I guess a hangover or something, I can't remember," I answered Jackson.
In case you didn't know, I just made that up.
"Oh, well that sucks," Jackson said, "Regardless, it's great to see you again man. Though I just wish it was under better circumstances."
I was glad to see a familiar face like Jackson's, though he looked older than the last time I saw him; he was starting to have gray spots on the side of his hair.
"Hey uh… Jackson, what's with the um.." I started waving my hand around my face.
"What?" Asked Jackson.
"Your beard man, what the fuck is that thing?! You look like a fucking Lumberjack!"
"What? I've been growing it out, I think it looks pretty cool," answered Jackson. "Also, stop acting childish and use more mature language," asked Jackson.
"Childish," I asked in surprise. "Man, look who's talking," I whispered to myself. I paused and then said,"I still think your beard looks stupid though."
"Whatever man, what do you know?" Jackson said. "Speaking of appearance, you still look the same the last time I saw you. Why is that anyway? Did you drink a potion that grants you immortality or something? I sure would want a hit of that-"
As Jackson was rambling on, I saw a Metrocop in the distance. He looked like a Metrocop from any other common sector, but he had blue eyes and his armband said 'C22.' He turned his head in our direction, then he just started walking towards us.
"HEY!" That got Jackson's attention alright, "What the hell are you two doing over there?!" Asked the angry Metrocop.
"Nothing officer," Jackson said, "we were about to leave."
"If I see you back here again, I will make sure you have the worst beating of your life!" Screamed the pissed off Metrocop.
"Oh..Okay, sorry sir," said Jackson in a scared and stuttered voice.
The Metrocop left the area and went somewhere else.
Jackson looked back at me and said, "Man, what's his problem?" Jackson asked in frustration.
"What was that," I asked him.
"Honestly, this isn't the first time I've been through something like this. I think that CP already knows me, but he just hates me and does it to piss me off. Probably a god damn Fallen if you ask me," Jackson said in frustration.
I wondered what he was talking about, I couldn't guess what a 'Fallen' meant.
"How many times has it happened to you," I asked.
"I don't know man, I've lost count at this point," Jackson said. "Look, Adrian, I would love to chat more, but I need to go. If you wanna chat though, come by the abandoned bank on the other side of town. Some of my friends can help you on your way," Jackson suggested.
"Jackson I don't have a damn clue where anything is," I said.
"Well then find out where you are going then. Ask other people, besides me, for help," Jackson suggested again.
"Can you at least point me in a direction of some kind?" I asked Jackson.
"Alright fine, I'll give you some clues. Now, there's this pawn shop that owns a map, it'll show you where to go. The pawn shop is called 'Pawn Shop,' I know store name of the century am I right?," Jackson then chuckled a little bit, "Alright you got all that?
"Well, can you at least tell me where it is?" I eagerly asked.
"It's down a few blocks from here and you can start by going in that direction," he pointed in the area I had to go in. "Do you need anything else, Prince Adrian," Jackson sarcastically asked.
"Well, at least I have an idea of what I'm looking for," I said. "Oh hey before I go, what is this place anyways?"
Jackson looked at me suspiciously; like as if my question was incoherent to him.
"What do you mean? Like the city were in right now," Jackson asked in confusion.
"Yes."
"City 22. Did you get transferred here or something?" Jackson asked in curiosity.
"Yeah, you could say something like that," I answered.
"Actually, that makes a lot of sense: I haven't seen you around here before."
"Yeah, I'm kinda new here."
Jackson decided to lie on a bench and said he would catch up with me later.
I took a walk through the streets of City 22. The streets were decorated with neon lights like pink, purple, blue and other neon colors. The city lights blazed of bright colors with signs and promotable ADs everywhere. The ADs were doing nothing but promoting products. Skyscrapers over my head, like as if the city was New York, but with bright lights.
However, those streets were also sickening to look at; there was trash all over the environment, people living in fear and many living in poor living conditions.
There was also this tall building that was the command center of City 22; the building was called the "Citadel," it had a curvy design and layout to it. The Citadel is the largest building I've ever seen, I couldn't begin to tell you about how big it is.
There's also a lot of factories in City 22; I saw people making products and materials for city use. The Suffusion of smoke within these factories caused sickness and lack of treatment for it's workers.
There was a vastly amount of posters during my visit to City 22. The posters weren't threatening nor harmful, instead they had charm and friendly approaches to them. The topics of the posters were varied: some were about business, news, employment, Patriotism or to love the Senator.
The Senator was in charge of City 22 and was their commander in chief. He was Caucasian, wore a black coat and black dress shirt, black tie, gray dress pants, he always wore a black top hat, had white hair but was going bald, and had a curvy white mustache. From what I saw of him, he seemed to be growing old.
As I was walking through the streets, I found the pawn shop Jackson was talking about. There was a bright blue sign by the shop and it said how it was opened, so I walked inside.
There was nobody there, except for two individuals who looked like they worked there. One of them was over the counter and one was cleaning the floor with a broom. I walked over to the woman with the broom and asked her if they had a map that I could look at. She didn't know for sure, so she turned her head to the counter and shouted,
"Hey Luke!" The man known as 'Luke' popped his head up from the counter and yelled,
"Yeah?!"
"Don't we have a map?"
"Yeah, we have this one." The man known as Luke pulled out a map from behind the counter.
I walked over to see the map, it was a huge map that could possibly cover up two tables. I grabbed the map and looked at it; I found the bank that Jackson mentioned; from further examination, I had to pass through a place called the Museum of Humanity. I thought that the area could give me some answers.
Luke looks at me and says,
"Hey pal, you wouldn't happen to have marks or money on you wouldya?"
"I'm sorry man, I don't have any cash on me. I'm new here and I have to meet up with a friend of mine; he is like family to me, " I stated.
"Oh, that explains why you wanna see the map. But don't worry pal, I'm glad we could help. Although we're living in troubled times, it's nice to help out others now and again."
"Oh, " I said in surprise, "why thank you, I'll be on my way now." While I was walking out, they both shouted at the same time 'goodbye' to me; they both sounded odd for some reason. Not sure if I am looking too deep into this.
I then went into one of the subways because that was the fastest route. I got on one of those subway trains, but nobody else was there except for me. The train ride itself felt like an eternity. I just wanted it to end. But here's the thing, it wasn't that long of a ride, it was about a couple of minutes long. While I was lying down on that chair, it reminded me of being in stasis; I felt so alone again. Then, that loneliness got me thinking about Black Mesa, and how all of my friends died in cold blood; they were just butchered like animals, and for what? It never covered up anything.
The train finally stopped, I got off and walked up the stairs which led me to the surface. Once I reached the streets, it started raining; but it was still dark out, as the skies were filled with black clouds. At the time, I thought it was a terrible time for rain. Too bad I didn't have a coat nor a jacket with me, all I had was a City 22 outfit.
When I was walking through those streets, I analyzed my environment more. Where I was looked different than where I was previously. There was no more blazing bright lights or charm to anything. Mostly everything about the area was dull and gray, instead of colorful like before. It's like as if color itself was slowly dying. Many of the buildings around me were slowly but surely getting run down. There were still ruins of the bright lights and charm there, but they seem like something from the past that was long forgotten; but not before the Combine occupation, but during. I even saw a Skeleton, dressed up in a brown overcoat with a green armband on his right arm, hanging from a telephone wire. That part of the city just looked dead and unlively. Was the whole city slowly turning into this? Like a disease taking over the body, one by one? I make it sound like as if the area I was at before was better, but it was pretty disturbing as well. The difference was that the area I was in was just worse than the other.
There were more propaganda posters in the area, but most of them were the same. They had gray backgrounds and the only thing the posters said was, "OBTAIN FERTILIZED BIOTICS TODAY, " colored in big white lettering. I figured the posters were promoting something, but I didn't know what. The poster that I was looking at for some reason had blood on the bottom right side of it, but, I could still make out what was underneath it. It was a warning label of some kind with the combine logo stamp by it; it said, "Reminder: this product or object is a property from our Benefactors and the Universal Union. These materials shall not be plagiarized nor borrowed. Any attempts of an infringement, the malefactors shall be cauterized of their crimes. The profit goes to help the occupants of City 22 and to our glorious Benefactors."
But then I realized something, back at the pawn shop, mostly everything in that store had the same Combine stamp on the stocks and goods; it also had the stamp for the other posters as well. That is when I understood that this society must have some sure of capitalistic ideals. There must be money or business involvement within and out of the city. But, if their stamps were really on every single advertisement and product, then that could mean the combine have full control over the market and the economy; or at least just in the city. Though at the time, I didn't really care; it wasn't my problem and if people aren't getting hurt or affected by it, then why bother, am I right?...
I saw a group of humans ganging up on a Vortigaunt in an alleyway. The Vortigaunt was on the ground being brutally and repeatedly kicked by the humans. The humans wore black leather jackets and coats with green armbands around their right arms. The human gang had flashlights and they shined them on the Vortigaunt. They were screaming and chanting things like: 'Take this you alien bastard, Humanity first, Eat shit motherfucker!' One of the humans wasn't involved with the beating; instead, he was vigilant about their surroundings and waved a flashlight around. As much as I wanted to help the poor Vortigaunt, I only wanted to meet up with Jackson; I couldn't just get into a random fight. I was mixed about the issue back then: since Black Mesa, for me, was not too long ago, I had no sympathy for the aliens; but, another part of me thought that this was wrong, the Vortigaunt didn't do anything. They probably had knives or other weapons on them. With or without weapons, I could, in theory, take them all out with just my fists; but, I most likely wouldn't make it out without getting some worrisome injuries. To add on that, they would be ready for me, the individual keeping watch would spot me and then warn his friends. It's not like I could take them by surprise. I couldn't take the chance, so, I walked away. I probably got somebody killed that day, I still wish I could have done something else.
I started hearing an announcer coming from the citadel, it had a male voice to it. It said something like,
"Attention, all workers of City 22, paychecks will be arranged to your local district bank terminal. Code: receive, prosper, gluttony."
Finally, after a long walk through the city, I got to the Museum of Humanity. The museum layout was a glass pyramid that was in the slowly decaying city center. Sadly for me, the front door said the place was closed. I didn't know what to do. I felt like a headless chicken in the rain, shivering with no answers or clues on where to go next. Then, I did some brainstorming on what I should do next, maybe walk around the museum? None of it mattered though, because the manager, or the owner, saw me outside. He opened the front door and said,
"Excuse me mister, but you wouldn't happen to be an Adrian Shephard now wouldya!?"
"Yeah! Who's asking?!" I asked the owner in a loud voice. We had to speak loudly to each other because of how thunderous and heavy the rain was.
"Your friend Owen, or Mister Jackson, he made it pretty clear on what you looked like! Also mister what the hell you doing out in the rain?! You don't even have a jacket on! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" The worried owner asked.
"Well, no sir, not necessarily!" I said jokingly.
"Alrighty come on in here, but do it fast before anyone sees you," I ran inside the museum covering the left side of my face with my left hand. I got inside the museum and thought it was so refreshing; maybe it's because of how warm it was in there or something.
"I appreciate your hospitality mister ...um?"
"The name's Robin Yancey, and don't mention it, we certainly need more good people nowadays." This individual had round glasses on, early 40's, bald with dark brown hair on the side, and he was Caucasian.
"Is this really the only way to the bank?" I asked.
"Well, you's would have to come by here. So basically yeah, kind of," Robin said. "There's also a person named Darryl around here somewhere, he'll be escorting you to dat bank."
"Thanks for telling me that Robin, I'll be on my way now," I said.
When I was exploring the museum, I didn't see anything that was historically accurate. The Combine changed most events and moments throughout history and use them for propaganda. There was one item that caught my eye, the American Flag. The description read how it was part of an "oppressive regime" and "dictatorship." It said how Earth before the Combine invasion was a planet with non-stop war and how everyone lived like 'barbarians.' The Combine treats humans from history like this because of how 'weak' we were before the Combine occupation. After the Black Mesa Research Facility was decimated, the world fell into a panic. Some countries started nuking each other, and Xen lifeforms were inhabiting our planet from Portal Storms. But all of that was before the Seven Hour War. The Combine came in around when everyone was already killing each other. Although the United Nations tried combating against the Combine with their limited resources, there was nothing much they could do. After just seven hours of Portal Storms and an army that was too large for us, Earth surrendered.
During the peace conference, the president of the United States of America, Wallace Breen, and the Combine met at the United Nations in New York. The president and Breen signed the Treaty of Earth, officially making Earth a colony of the Universal Union. The Combine appreciated Breen's cooperation and gentle kindness. Breen even had a secret conversation with an Advisor about wanting to be the administrator of Earth, the combine, with full trust, would agree to his terms. The Combine selected Breen to lead Earth because he seemed fit for the job and knowledgeable. For the president, however, he would later feel the consequences of his misluck. The combine despised the president for not having sympathy and disagreeing with the treaty. They wanted to dispose of him and thought he would be a problem to the Universal Union. When the treaty was signed, Breen was the first person who was escorted out; he would be one of the only people to leave the United Nations that day. Three minutes later, a synth would take out its pistol and then shot the president in the head; spilling his brain chunks across the table, with his eyeball hanging out of his eye socket. Most of the politicians at the UN would be brutally gunned down, or at least the politicians they saw as unworthy.
I couldn't even tell if some of the events were true. Robin told me that they could be true in some way. Also, he said how Earth would have lost regardless; even if we were prepared. He also told me that Breen was in charge of Earth for a couple of years. Apparently, Breen was a leader with too much on his hands. Many resistance movements would spread across the planet. It got so catastrophic that the Universal Union had to step in and reorganize everything. The removal of Breen's leadership would be the beginning of a new age; the decision was made to have all cities have their own administrators. Breen would still be the speaker of Earth and would still be an administrator over a city. But, Robin doesn't know what Sector Breen operates in now.
As I was wondering about, I heard someone saying something to me.
"Hey you over there, come over here," said a mysterious figure. I go over to see who it is. He had a deep voice to him, he was black and had green eyes. Also, this guy was wearing a green and orange worker suit with an orange hard hat. "Hey man, nice to meet you, I'm guessing your Shephard uh?"
"Yeah, just cut to the chase wouldya?" I asked in a hurry.
"Alright, alright, man, I'll make it quick. My name is Darryl Darnell, I'll be the one escorting you to the bank where Owen is."
"Thanks, Darryl, that's very thoughtful of you," I said.
"No problem, now let's get out of here."
I followed Darryl out of the Museum of Humanity. We walked down the street and into an Alleyway with the rainy sky still out.
I heard the Overwatch announcer again; He said, "Attention, all personnel of Red Company, you have been assigned to exterminate anti-citizens reported in these coordinates. Code: deploy, obliterate, jubilation." Darryl looked at me and said,
"Don't worry, he's not talking about us." As we were walking, nobody was there except for Darryl and I. Darryl's face had the look of bewilderment. "Where are the guards at?" Darryl asked himself.
"Wait what guards?" I asked.
"Ah… Fuck it. Come over here, Shephard."
He runs over to a sewer manhole and opens it for me. "Crawl down here, " he said.
"Wait, what's going on? Why do I need to crawl in the sewers now?" I asked.
"Shephard, there may not be any time to explain. Just go down the drain!" Darryl screamed in fear and panic.
"Okay, I'll do it," I said. "I mean to be fair, I've been through worse."
"Hurry up, " Darryl screamed in a hurried voice. I got on the ladder and started descending. "Don't worry Shephard, you'll do fine. Just look out for the Lambda, it'll lead you man." I got off the ladder by jumping onto the ground. I then realized he called me by my last name. Why would he do that? He could have just called me by my first name like how I did for him. Maybe he was acting formal about it. Also, I didn't know what the hell Darryl meant by 'just look out for a 'Lambda.' I had to find out what he meant by that; I sure did have some fun doing that (not really).
When walking through the sewers, I found somebody at a fireplace near the sewer water; he was cooking a headcrab while sitting down in a wooden chair. He had a dark green bucket hat, Caucasian, pencil mustache, green jacket, and he looked around his late 30's. I thought something about him was odd: why was he cooking in the sewers? I tried affording eye contact so I would not have to speak with this individual. But then, he notices me and says in a calm voice,
"Hello there," he paused. "what brings you here on this fine morning," he asked me in an unemotional voice. I got spooked by him talking and turned around quickly to find him staring at me.
"Oh, well I guess I'm just going for a walk," I said in a stuttering voice.
"A walk?" The fisherman questioned. "And you guess?"
"Uhm yeah, I've been walking for um...," I paused, "Well actually, I don't know how long. I Wasn't really watching the time."
"Hmm," he hummed, "that's fascinating, are you enjoying the walk?"
"I guess, I'm just thinking about stuff and other stuff," I replied.
"Oh I understand," he said, "are you loving this morning?"
"Na not really, I feel like I'm dying," I said.
"Oh, how come?" He asked in a curious voice.
"Well, I woke up on a mattress in the middle of an alleyway, and I feel pain all over my body," I stated.
"Well that sounds rough."
"Yeah, it sure is," I said. "Are you enjoying your morning though?" I asked.
"Why yes, I'm just having a blast," he said.
"Oh, well umm… what are you doing there?" I pointed at his meal.
"Just trying to get some breakfast. Have you ever tasted a headcrab before? They taste rather," he paused and thought about it, "actually, I don't know how to describe the taste. Maybe it has a robust taste to it, sured of." When he said 'robust,' I felt something was wrong about him. Also, when he said 'headcrab,' I thought it was a weird name for those things.
"Cool," I said.
"Would you like some?" He asked.
"Uhm.. no, I would rather eat a rat," I said.
"Oh, well more for me than." I wanted to bail out of this conversation, so I said,
"I think I'm going to go back at it," I said. He was gazing back at me, wasn't even saying anything. "You know, walking." The Fisherman then said with relief,
"Oh, okay then, hope you get where you're going." I smiled and thanked him. As I was walking away from the Fisherman, he shouted behind my back, "Now don't get lost now you hear, " in an overly joyful tone. I gave him a wave for a goodbye.
I just kept on walking through the sewers. I was wandering for so long that I forgot what minute it was. My legs, at that point, felt like they could pass out at any moment. In the back of my mind, I thought that I messed up and went the wrong way. But, I just kept walking, trying to find anything or just that Lambda. Though it got me thinking, were the peace talks at the United Nations real? I can tell you that the U.S. wasn't a dictatorship in anyway. But during and even before the Combine occupation, I can't say if the events are valid. Does Robin only know the made-up history? Robin didn't even know for sure if it was true. I don't know whether I believe it or not.
Later on, I found a wooden door from the corner of my eye. I didn't know why it was there in the sewers, your guess is as good as mine. Curious, I walk over to the door and I put my left hand on the knob to find out that its lock was released. I opened the wooden door gently and slowly as possible. Then, I peeked my head around the door to see what was inside. It looked like it was an office of some kind; but it looked clear, I didn't hear or see anything suspicious. I open the door all the way and welcomed myself inside. The room had a desk, chair, file cabinets; you know, things that would normally be in an office. But what really got my attention was a blank picture frame in front of me, with a sprayed painted Lambda on it, hanging up on the wall. After hopelessly walking for an eternity, I was pretty desperate for anything and believed it to be where I had to go. I moved the frame off the wall to find behind it a hole in the wall. That's when I knew that this was where I had to go to get to the bank. I climbed into the hole and then crawled on my shoulders and knees. One thing I noticed was that I advanced from crawling on dirt to suddenly in a vent; that gave me another indication that I was on the right track. So then, I secured my way to the bank to meet up with Jackson.
After that, I wouldn't have even guessed what this adventure would plan for me. it would be the start of a much larger story. But honestly, that's a story for another day.
End of Chapter I
August 14, 2019
Author's Notes:
I hope you were able to enjoy my story, it took me a little bit longer than I expected, but I got it done. I know this chapter was long, in the future I'll try shortening it. That is if I am willing to come back to continue this story; the reason why I wrote this was because I wanted to get some practice with writing. I can't promise I'll come back to finish Missing in Action because I don't know if I want to finish it or not. I have some ideas of what I could do with this story, but I can't promise anything. However, if I feel like I want to continue Missing in Action and take it somewhere and beyond, then I'll totally make another chapter. I'm sorry if you just read my whole story and feel like this is a slap in the face or anticlimactic; I know this may be weird for whoever reads this. But, I have no problems coming back to this story in the future, I just don't know if I want to continue it now, later, or never. But, I would like to hear criticism if you had a problem with my story, I'm an opened mind man who likes to hear and learn from his mistakes and issues.
I also have a YouTube channel called "Elephants Doing Crack," it's a very abnormal channel. The link is: channel/UCGEwsB7LK8_duOhvpJW7_jw/videos
I do hope you enjoyed my story, maybe I'll come back to Missing in Action, if I have the right motivation.