Samantha groaned as she pushed herself up, below her lay a soft queen bed, she inhaled smelling pancakes and sausage slowly moving downstairs.
"Morning, would you like eggs? I don't normally make eggs with breakfast." Looked over, noting that he had taken off the overshirt he had worn since they met.
"No thank you." She sat at the counter watching Chris work with intrigue, however something on his upper arm caught her eye. "What's that on your shoulder?"
He turned before looking at his shoulder and lifting his sleeve, "I'm a really big gaming nerd so I got the logo of ONI from Halo tattooed onto my shoulder," he pulled down his shirt at his chest revealing a mushroom cloud in a circle with writing around it. "My dad designed this one a few years ago for my novel, when Cat was born I got too busy so I never got the chance to work on it." She nodded.
"So, where'd you learn to cook?" Chris grinned.
"Took a few summer programs over the years as well as helping my mom out in the kitchen from time to time. I refuse to cook fish but give me a chicken breast and I'll make a mean spinach stuffed chicken. What about you? Any recipes that you've mastered?"
Samantha smirked, "nope, I burn everything I touch." Chris looked over as she smiled like it was perfectly fine, she realized he was gesturing for her to come over and she nodded.
"Ok, stand in front of the stove and take the spatula." She did so and he paused, "is it ok if I stand behind you? It would be easier to help." She nodded and he stood behind with his hands out in front of her, she realized what he was doing and placed her forearms in his hands letting him guide her.
Samantha looked down at the pan where bacon was cooking and the man behind her began to speak, "so do you see the bacon curling?" She nodded, "so let's flip it," he gently and slowly guided her arm to put the spatula under and flip the piece over. He pulled back and moved to the side gesturing for her to repeat, she nodded and gently flipped one of the other pieces. "Alright, now we wait for it to curl up. Once it begins to curl we flip it again, should take about two minutes, then we're ready." Sam nodded, moving aside and placing the spatula on a paper towel.
"So, where are we going today? Are we finally gonna liberate the F.A.N.G center?"
Chris shrugged, "haven't thought that far yet, I know that we've got everyone we need to take it back." He quickly picked the bacon up as if curled. "Alright, let's get the girls up."
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The bushes ahead of the group moved aside as they pushed through brush, Samantha stopped them as they reached a trail leading down into the center, Chis quickly climbed the nearby rocks stopping at a ledge to count the hostiles.
"I count around a dozen or two, one with a dog and one sniper, Jess you get the sniper, we need to take the mounted gun, then we break the alarm and mow 'em down." The group nodded and Jess and Catalyst split off while Chris and Sam went to the side.
Chris paused running to the nearby corner and keeping his back to the wall as Samantha split off a bit going through the window. An armored figure rounded the corner locking eyes with Chris, he got two rounds fired off before his throat was slit but by then the alarm had gone off.
The man quickly grabbed the man's LMG turning on the sniper above him and opening fire, the horde turned on him and Samantha leaned out through the window firing into them, the horde shrank and Chris noticed the mounted gun was now unmanned. "Sam get the gun!"
She nodded, running over and gripping the arm as her partner slammed his fist into the alarm until it stopped, a helicopter flew overhead and Samantha growled, firing at it. One of her bullets hit the pilot and the helicopter spun to the ground lodging itself between the stables and the main building, right where Chris was.
Samantha sprinted to the stables as Catalyst and Jess finished clearing their half, a convoy of vehicles appearing and their inhabitants clearing off all Peggie propaganda and they're leader walking over as Samantha reached under the helicopter.
"Was this you?" Catalyst nodded her flashlight aimed at Chris as he tried to get ahold of Sam's hand. "So, where's Chris, I'm guessing he ran when things got tough?"
A voice called out from under the chopper in indignation, "hey! I'm right here, didn't you see the dogfight yesterday?"
"You mean the idiot pilot who rammed another plane for no reason? Yes, I should've known that was you." Finley groaned as Samantha pulled herself out from under the helicopter with Chris in tow.
"Good to see you, Finley." He scowled, walking over to one of his sister's coworkers, Wade.
Jess gestured for Catalyst to leave as Samantha and her explained what was going on, Finley's face fell. "I'll see what I can do, no promises, Andy's a big pain in the ass."
Finley stepped into the round cage in the center looking around as Samantha followed, "what happened between you and Chris?"
She hesitated, resisting the urge to just ignore her, "Fort Fizzle, 2030. I was chaperoning a field trip with my niece, Chris went as well, chaperoning Catalyst. The fucking Peggie's had set up a trap, we got there, the busses left, and out they came, before I even had the chance to turn around Chris had taken Catalyst and begun to sprint back down 12. When the crowd was lit ablaze I was out of the reach of the flames. My niece wasn't."
"Can you blame him?" Finley looked up.
"When we were in school he got into fights on a daily basis, one day he literally slammed this Brenton kid into a power box so hard the kid blacked out. Only reason he wasn't expelled was because the fight started after Brenton threatened to stab him." She paused pointing to a camera near the road, "another time when he moved back here, before the incident, a Peggie patrol stopped him, demanded he come to one of their services, he didn't even say a word, just ran them over. It was caught on that camera up there."
"That coward was willing to disobey the Peggie's before most of us were, yet, when faced with some idiot with a flamethrower you'd expect he would be the first to act. But no, he fuckin ran, the reason there's no other sixteen year olds here? The entire fucking third grade class was burnt alive." She growled, "on second thought, I couldn't give a shit about his bitch of a sister." And with that Finley left, Samantha wouldn't admit it to his face, but that put some doubt into her about Chris.
Speaking of Chris… "dad! Where are you!" Samantha ran to the front, noticing a familiar radio on the counter.
"He's gone."
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Chris growled as he rode his ATV towards the edge of town, he quickly slid to a stop as he arrived at a field by the side of Trader Brothers. He burst through the door firing three shots into some of the scumbags before racing to the back where loud breathing filled the room.
"Andy!" He groaned rolling his eyes at the sight of the bear curled up near the door before noticing his sister in the back. "Andy! Hey, we're leaving!"
"We can't leave him, they'll take him!" Chris growled.
"This isn't up for discussion, we're leaving."
She grunted pulling the LMG from his back, "no, we're not." He sighed as she pointed it at him, Cheeseburger watching with intrigue.
"Fine. But only because they're almost here. Get ready," Chris quickly knocked over a rack of old wood heaters placing them in front of them and under the open windows. "Get me as much fuel as you can, we're gonna try to cause a smokescreen for us to get out. With the damn bear."
She smiled picking up chucks of doors that fell off when Cheeseburger plowed through them, her brother groaned filling each burner with as much wood as he could fit before the sounds of vehicles ahead caught his attention.
"Alright, light up the heater." Andy nodded, placing some pieces of fabric in each oven as Chris lit them ablaze. The Peggie's burst through the door as the side door quietly shut, the wall behind the burners filled with bullet holes as they stuffed Cheeseburger into the back of one of their vans and took off down the road.
"What took you so long?"
"Did you see the dogfight up there yesterday? That was me and the new Deputy. We were busy most of the day, let's get you back to the F.A.N.G Center." He paused, "when I stop the car you and the bear run."
"Wha- why?"
"Do it." His sister nodded and the car slowed to a halt, Cheeseburger and Andy got out and the car sped off the road towards the woods, Chris left out as it passed through the brush before walking through, Andy paused as he reached back pulling an arrow from his back and falling to the ground.
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Finley groaned as a Peggie truck quickly approached, however she stopped when she noticed the grizzly bear in the bed and the bullet holes on the side. "Hold your fire!" She quickly ran forwards as it stopped, Andy jumped out running forwards with Cheeseburger following behind.
"They took him!" Andy screams, Finley just stared blankly.
"Took who?"
"Chris! They took my baby brother!" The blonde woman rolled her eyes as Chris's sister sobbed before her.
"I'm sure he's fine," Samantha ran through the crowd as Andy struggled for Finley's attention.
Andy stopped falling to the ground and Cheeseburger lay his head in her lap, "I know you hate him but it's not his fault! Have you ever thought that he ran because he didn't want his daughter to die?" Finley turned as Samantha realized who this was.
"It is his fault! My niece is fucking dead! My sister killed herself! All because your fucking brother decided he valued his own life over ours! If you need proof I still have the scars! He let my family burn, he let his friends burn!"
"That was years ago! He didn't have friends anymore! Lycan was always out of town, you wanted nothing to do with him after he ran over those scumbag Peggie's." Andy paused, "our parents are dead, his only girlfriend is dead, all he has left is Catalyst. And that day he was presented a choice he didn't want to make, leave Catalyst without a family or die alongside her. If you were presented with that choice I know you would make the same decision he would."
"So, you and I both know this, he's tough. He'll live." And with that, Finley left back to her camp.
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Chris groaned as he awoke in a cage, Jacob walking forwards with Joseph behind him, the two bumped for heads and Joseph knelt before the cage.
"I know you're in pain. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, hm?"
"I'm Hellenistic you dumb bastard." Chris muttered.
"But you're not the only one to be tested… Did you know that I had a wife? So beautiful isn't she? We were pregnant with our first child. and we were just babies ourselves really. And I was terrified. Becoming a father. Mostly about money. She wasn't worried." He turned staring into space. "She had faith that things were gonna work out. She always had faith, then one day, she was gonna go visit a friend. There was an accident… and the Lord taketh."
"And they rushed me to the hospital and put me in a room with this little pink bundle stuffed with tubes and they said that I had to be strong because my little girl was gonna live. God was looking out for our daughter. And they left me in a room with her. I just… stared… at my daughter. So helpless. So innocent… and all she had in the world was me. A nobody, from nowhere with nothing. And in that moment I knew that God was testing me. He was laying out a path before me. And then all I had to do was choose. So I put my hand on my little girl's head, and I leaned in and I could smell. And we prayed together. Prayed for wisdom. Prayed for strength… then I knew. I heard God's plan for me. And I took my fingers and I put them on that little plastic tube that was taped to her angelic face and I pinched it shut."
"And after a little while her legs began to kick and kick… and then nothing. Stillness. Release." He leaned in, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord… taketh. Pain. Sacrifice."
"These are all part of his test. And we have to prove that we can serve God, no matter what he asks." He turned to Jacob, "you've done well."
Jacob lifted a music box from his pocket and Chris fell backwards trying to get away from it, the music played and he groaned as a vision filled his eyes.
He awoke in a burning room, he quickly grabbed the revolver killing the other two inhabitants before moving into the next, he raced into the ruined hall spraying his Uzi at the five inhabitants without remorse. In the next he was presented with a shotgun.
A voice rang through the vision, "good. Cull the herd." He nodded racing through the maze firing two shots into the heads of the cloudy monsters in front of him, he faintly heard screaming as he moved to the next room.
He picked up the assault rifle with glee, lifting it to his shoulders before aiming into the room, he fired four times killing as many enemies before grabbing the other and snapping its neck. In the next room he got an SMG which he used with pinpoint accuracy, he quickly slid down the hall to a floor beneath him where he finished the vision.
He raced through the bunker with his LMG, ten people stood in his way only to fall all the same.
He gasped as he awoke in a clearing on the mountain, around him a puddle of blood and bodies. He pushed himself up, setting off back up the mountain to his house.
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Samantha groaned as she picked up the tape, she missed Chris, every time he made her do something he was damn well going to do it with her. All the Whitetails ever did was sit in their bunker, and seriously? Sending her to the place she was rescued from? She sighed climbing into the helicopter that would take her over the drop zone.
She sighed looking around, atop a nearby mountain a small cabin with a koi pond stood against the sun, not far to the northeast was her drop zone. "Remember, just swap the tapes and try to do this quietly." She shrugged, standing from her seat and jumping over.
She opened her chute not that far from the hotel landing in the back, she quickly ran to a nearby ladder climbing to the second story before checking door by door. She climbed to the third floor and a man spotted her however it didn't last as she stabbed him through the eye moving to the next door.
She finally found the programming room and with a quick tug tore the programming tape out replacing it with the Whitetail tape. A loud electric guitar began to play and the sounds of footsteps rushing to the room gave her pause. "Seriously?" She groaned, pulling out her weapon.
A horde convoy of trucks pulled into the parking lot and she groaned, taking a few of them out before retreating back inside. Peggie ran down the hall and she shouted firing her assault rifle into them.
Samantha groaned as several helicopters began circling overhead and more people ran to her room, the next few minutes consisted of a Peggie running up the hall, getting shot to death, reloading. At least, that was until a pair of Heavy Peggie's ran into the building.
Samantha tried to stop them at the first floor stair, she grunted as they threw her aside pushing upwards to the programming room. She ran up the stairs desperately trying to stop them before they killed Briggs, she caught one throwing him to the base of the stairs and dropping a grenade on top of him but the other had already kicked the door open.
She tackled the man in a last ditch effort to stop him from reaching Briggs, his helmet tumbled off and he glared at her. "Burn in Hell Sinner." The man raised his LMG and right before he fired he was dragged back onto the balcony.
"She won't, but you will." Chris swung a punch against the heavy catching him in the side of his face, Samantha groaned as the heavy swung on of his own throwing the man into the wall.
Chris quickly stood back up ducking under another right hook and swinging an uppercut into the heavy's chin, the heavy grunted rushing forwards. Chris sidestepped the charge before lifting his arms under the heavy's holding him still, Samantha picked herself up running at the heavy and slamming into him, the railing broke as Chris let his grip go and the cultist dropped to the floor, the man before her growled as the heavy got back up before firing two rounds into his head.
"Are you ok?" She paused taking in his appearance, he was covered in blood, his overshirt was gone and his T-shirt was torn allowing her to see his tattoos.
"I should be asking you that! Where have you been it's been three days?" Chris shrugged, leading her downstairs to the mortar on the lower balcony. She hesitated as the realization of what he was doing dawned on her before sighing.
Samantha picked up the ammo crate and Chris grabbed the actual launcher before they headed upstairs to the third floor balcony where they climbed into the roof. The helicopters began circling as Chris placed the launcher aiming for the first chopper, the woman quickly forced a mortar into the tube and it flew into the helicopter exploding and sending it sprawling into the forest behind the hotel.
The second helicopter tried to play smart but after two mortars missed they got one hit in and the chopper splintered apart. Falling against the roof, Samantha smirked looking at him as he dropped the tube letting it slide to the ground.
"Samantha, is it done? We're on our way to pick him up now, stay there." The aforementioned woman nodded, not paying attention to the radio as they led Briggs to the parking lot.
The pair sat as the Whitetails arrived, Finley walked over to congratulate Samantha when she noticed who the woman was sitting next to. Chris noticed Finley standing a few meters away and stood up whispering something to Sam before walking into the woods.
"So where was he?" Sam shrugged.
"He doesn't know, while we were waiting he told me everything he remembers, getting shot in the back, waking up to Joseph ranting at him, and then waking up in the middle of nowhere." She paused, hiding her hesitation as catching her breath, "then when a pair of heavy's went in I managed to take one out, if it weren't for Chris though we'd both be dead, he managed to get him over the railing." Finley nodded.
"Alright, just, don't trust him, he might be compromised." Samantha nodded jogging into the brush where Chris left.
After a while she caught up to him, ahead of them sat the house with Catalyst sitting on the front steps waiting for him to get home. The man stumbled as he began to tire, Sam rushed forwards swinging her arm under his and helping him ascend the mountain to his daughter.
Catalyst turned as they came out of the brush before racing over and helping Sam carry him to the deck. Chris grinned, "I told you, I'm never going anywhere.
Cat smirked, "of course. Thank you Samantha." She stood walking back into the building and his sister came rushing out.
"Hey! You're finally home!" Chris shrugged.
"Not yet. Sam, could you help me to the kitchen?" The blonde nodded and Andy watched them walk with a confused face. "I'm guessing the bear is around here somewhere?"
"No, just me. Cheeseburger is back where he belongs in the F.A.N.G Center." He smirked.
"No one here can't eat anything that goes into a cheeseburger right?"
Samantha snickered, "other than bear no, I refuse to eat bear."
Chris grinned, pulling out three pounds of beef, "hey Sam, you're helping me with this." She nodded as the man flicked on the grill, "now, do me a solid and peel those potatoes."
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Samantha grinned watching her friend sit on his bench, she nodded stepping off the stair onto the grass. Chris turned as he felt someone approach.
"Mind if I sit here?" He grinned moving aside, Samantha quickly sat down leaning her head on his shoulder.
Little did the pair know they were being watched by Catalyst from her window, she smirked, shaking her head before lying down.
