Tinga's Perspective

Everything seemed to quiet. Max and Zack were no where to be seen. I was beginning to get a bad feeling like something had happened. When all of a sudden, I look up to see a group of guys coming out of the cabin and shooting guns at us.

The one in charge yelled "I want them alive."

The firing stopped; however, it was quickly replaced by a downpour of darts.

I immediately turned my motorcycle around and headed into the woods. We would be a lot safer there. We get into the woods and Johndy follows my lead as we quickly leap off our motorcycles.

We would have some cover now to plan our attack and analyze our enemy.

My guess is Max and Zack are in the cabin unconscious or tied up and they are the bait for us. I'm not going to lead anyone into a trap, so we hang back and wait. I observe the men walking carefully in our direction. They are wearing standard military uniforms and they must have had some good training; they are not separating so we can take them out one at a time. They also don't appear to be from Manticore; for one Manticore people aren't smart enough to keep radio silence. I motion to Johndy and Jace to split up. Kladu motions that he is going to go with Jace. It's quite impressive that he knows military hand signals. I wonder what is mission really is.

I move deeper into the forest and look over my shoulder to make sure Jace and Johndy will be okay. I'm going to circle around to the back of the cabin and see if I can get in that way. I hear movement off to my left; my reflexes kick in as I crouch down behind a bush. It's one of them; an enemy. As he walks closer, my muscles tense as I prepare to attack. I move the bush slightly so he will continue in my direction. He won't be able to tell if I'm who he is looking for or a wild animal until it is to late.

He approaches the bush, and when he is close enough, I hurl myself at him. He drops his gun as he falls to the ground. I land on top of him and quickly grab his throat. He struggles beneath my grip to breathe before he falls silent and still. I pick up his gun and check to see how many shots I have. There is three darts left. I could take out three of them from the top of the hill and reduce the defenses around the cabin. When I turn to go up the hill, I hear movement. I turn the safety off the gun as I move to investigate. I see Max's body as I start to circle. I stop thinking and rush to help her as someone jumps down on me and begins to strangle me. I look up and notice it's Zack. When he realized it was me he released his grip and helped me up.

He asked where Johndy and Jace were. I motioned back towards the cabin. Zack told me to meet up with them so we could regroup. He wanted to meet back up on top of the hill. I nodded okay and just as I was about to leave, three guys jumped out at us. Two of them went for Zack and the other one went after me. I defended myself as I fought with him. He blocked hit after hit as I did the same until finally I connected with the side of his head. He was pushed backwards, but recovered quickly. He did a flip and tried to kick me in the stomach. I leaped out of the way as he went flying by. He still has his back to me, so I jump quickly into the air and grab a hold of a tree branch. I look over at Zack, he appears to be holding his own pretty well. The guy I was fighting is looking around confused. I guess he doesn't know a genetically engineered girl can disappear real fast if she needs to.

He turns and has his back to me as he starts to walk over to the other fight. This is my chance. I swing down from the tree and kick him in the back. He flies forward and lands on his stomach a little dazed. I leap forward and land on his back. He struggles to move as I kick his head to the side and snap his neck. Now it's time to help Zack a little bit. I sneak up behind one of Zack's opponents and pull out the knife he has strapped to his side. He turns around to see who is there and Zack delivers a kick to the side of his face. As he falls to the ground I slit his throat. The other guy stands still for a second and stares at us until he runs forward screaming. Zack's foot connects with his stomach and he falls forward. I go to make a deadly slice to the back of his head with my knife when I see a strange marking. I stop short of cutting him and he falls to the ground at my feet. I haven't seen any sort of marking like that before. I look up at Zack who is staring down at the guy with the same confused look I have.

Zack's Perspective

I have to keep moving. I have to find Tinga, Johndy and Jace and make sure they get out of here okay. I hear movement off to my left so I lay Max down behind a bush and move to investigate. They won't think of her as a target because she is already down, she will be relatively safe. I can't see who is approaching, so I climb up in the tree and crouch down on the branch. This way I can pounce as soon as I see my attacker. A twig snaps and out runs a girl towards Max. I don't have time to think; I have to protect Max. I jump down on the girl and pull her to the ground under me. I reach for her throat and notice that it is Tinga. I quickly get off of her and help her up.

I ask where the others are and she motions back towards the cabin. I quickly tell her I'm going to take Max back up to the top of the hill and to get the others so we can regroup. I go to ask her who the guy with them is, but I decide to bit my tongue. There is no time to worry about that now. Obviously they trust him or he wouldn't be here. Tinga turns to run off and I turn to go back up the hill. I see three guys coming out of the trees. There is no way I'll be able to out run them and carry Max, so I set her down and prepare to fight. Tinga sees them too. She is also standing close by in a ready stance. Two of the guys come after me and the other one goes after Tinga. I stand still and allow my muscles to tense, so I'll be ready when they make the first move. One of them makes a hand signal as the other one circles around to the other side of me. I don't recognize the hand signal. These people might not be from Manticore, or Lydecker is getting smart and teaching his lapdogs a new code. On second thought, Lydecker isn't that smart. The one from behind me attacks first. I block and send him falling to the ground as I kick him in the side. The other one attacks and I try to defend, but I am caught off guard as the other attacker comes up from behind me a throws a punch into the back of my neck. Damn that hurt like hell. I loose my concentration for a second and the other guy kicks me in the stomach. I run and get out from the middle of them. These guys aren't ordinary soldiers; they've had some training.

I was starting to get frustrated, but I saw Tinga start to walk up behind one of my opponents. This is my chance to take them out. Tinga distracts one by taking his knife out of his side pocket. As he looks to see who is there, I kick him in the head. Tinga slits his throat as he falls to the ground in her direction. The other guy stands there and stares at us for a few seconds, then puts his hand on his knife and runs towards us screaming. He must know he doesn't have a chance, but he doesn't give up or retreat. I've got some respect for the guy. He knows his mission and he will die in the process of completing it if he has to.

I prepare to attack as he rushes forward. I lay a kick into his stomach and send him falling forward. Tinga goes to stab him in the neck as he falls by her. She stops short and stands there staring at him. I notice a strange marking on the back of his neck. I'm not quite sure what to think. We've ran into the Red's and a couple other groups, but I have never seen a marking such as this before, and someone from the informant net has always given us warning if they find another government that is doing genetic research.

I look up at Tinga and motion for her to get the others. This situation has just gotten ten times worse. When she leaves, I pick up the guy and throw him against the tree. I ask him who he is and he just ignores me. I ask him what is in the darts, and again I'm ignored. Who ever he is, he was taught well. This is going to take a little effort to get any information out of him.

He is still laying on the ground. I walk up in front of him and pick him up. he doesn't struggle to get away. It is almost like he welcomes death. I help him up and surprisingly he takes my hand and allows me to bring him to his feet. I can tell by the way he is standing that he doesn't want to fight me.

I ask him, "If you won't tell me who or what you are, can you at least tell me why you are hear?"

He responds, "I can tell you anything other than my government wants to get a hold of you. I wasn't told the whole story, but I overheard something about taking down a genetics lab that was being rebuilt."

I wonder if these people are trying to stop Manticore, or perhaps one of the other government run programs. But why wouldn't they just ask for our help. They should know it's less likely that we will work for them if they try and force us into it, even if it is our enemy they are sending us after.