Chapter 2.
There was an unfamiliar weight against his chest, a light pressure that extended down his side, fading into the sensation of something lying next to him at his hip. Beyond that, something had wound round his legs, soft and warm.
Snake opened his eyes, slowly adjusting to the light and looked down the bed to see Meryl there, her head against his chest, rising and falling with each breath he took. She had one arm spread across him ending with her hand over his shoulder. Looking further down he couldn't see much; the sheets began at his waist covering the rest of them. Their legs were interlaced together, wrapped round each other's, holding them close together, Snake noticed from the way the covers lay across them.
Meryl still lay there sleeping soundly. Snake smiled to himself.
"No surprise there." he thought, remembering fragments from the evening's activities. Right now, he couldn't sum up with words to describe last night's episode, he was too worn out to do much else but lie there and reflect upon it, found it impossible to sort through all that had gone on inside his head then. His head ached a little when he tried to work them all out and decided that it was best to leave them alone and enjoy them as they were. When it came down to it, it all traced back to his adoration for the woman lying next to him. That didn't need any explanation.
Snake put an arm round Meryl's shoulders, careful that he didn't move around too much and wake her up, she did anyway, moving around leisurely where she lay before looking up to Snake, with dreamy eyes. She smiled, shutting her eyes, hugging him tighter.
"Mmmmm...."She moaned. "Hi, Snake." Meryl purred, her voice soft, running her hand down his shoulder onto his chest, slow and achingly sweet, sending a thrill through him.
"Meryl..." Snake uttered, his voice low, those feelings returned, smouldering away inside. He held Meryl close for a kiss; she writhed in delight, wound her arms round him, leaning back in his arms. Snake moved back from her after a minute or two, still cradling her, both of them breathless. He slowly lay her down, unwound his legs from hers and got up.
"Later, okay?" he said after he caught sight of Meryl's beaming face where she sat holding a sheet over herself as she reached over the side of the bed and threw him his jeans. Snake pulled them on. The clock read eleven in the morning, and he hurried up to get ready for the day.
"So...what do we do for the rest of the day?" Meryl asked with a stretch as she yawned. Snake paused. He hadn't thought of that, and he'd completely forgotten about the dogs; normally he was awake early in the morning, but today was different. His life was different now with Meryl in it. He looked at Meryl's clothes; the ones he'd lent her really meant for his physique.
"Breakfast, let the dogs out and feed them, then get you some better clothes. I can't lend you mine forever." He replied after a while.
"Okay..." Meryl said and flopped over to doze a while.
"I'll wake you later." Snake said and left to go to the bathroom. He waited at the door a while, watched her as she slept, buttoning up his shirt. The days and nights weren't going to be as uneventful as they used to be, Snake thought with a smile.
Liquid was jolted from his light sleep by a discord of howls and barks and ran a gloved hand over his face to wipe away weariness. It had only been a quick nap, and he had trained himself to sleep half-awake so that it didn't take much for him to snap awake. At a time like this, he had to. He picked up his binoculars and peered through them. Bundles of grey, brown, white and black fur charged around the tall figure, their owner, Snake walking away from them to the house, a drained look on his face and in his body language. Liquid looked at his watch; half an hour before midday.
"Manage to drag yourself away from Meryl, Snake? Wasn't too difficult was it?" Liquid smirked.
It would have been so easy to pick him off there and then, a shot from the PSG-1 was all it would take and he could go off leaving Snake in the snow turning it red from the leak in his skull and nobody would really know who had done it; Liquid was after all deemed dead. But something stopped him from carrying on tracking Snake; his head lined up in the cross hairs. Liquid released the pressure from the trigger and looked away from the scope. It wouldn't satisfy him enough to simply kill Snake. He wanted to make Snake suffer, make him pay for everything he had done and that started with Meryl. Bullets only hurt the body, the wounds healed eventually and you knew that they would with proper care, but a blow to one's spirit and depending where exactly you hit, could destroy somebody. Snatching Meryl from him would hurt Snake, Liquid knew that from the way Snake had reacted on Shadow Moses, speaking to him as his old mentor Master Miller. Threatening to kill her would add insult to injury.
"I only need one bullet." Liquid thought forebodingly, that twisted smile appeared on his face again. "One for him, or one for Meryl, either way he's finished."
Killing Meryl with Snake watching on was bound to devastate him. It was cold, it was calculating, but Liquid didn't take such things into account for anything, he just had to follow that monomaniacal drive to ultimately kill Snake. He had to.
The timing had to right too. Sure it would work if Liquid simply took Meryl, but it could be so much better if it was timed well, amplifying the torment he wanted Snake to feel. Catching Meryl at a time such as last night, when they were at their most vulnerable and passions ran high would be the best to prove Liquid's point. He didn't care about what people felt, he only thought about himself and his goal. Snake had to learn to be more careful with his emotions and prevent them from becoming points for people like Liquid, who wanted him dead, to prey upon. But then, if all went well, Snake wouldn't be around to use the teaching again.
Liquid watched him walk indoors and took out a ration, something to take his mind off the boredom while he waited for night.
Nothing much happened for a while. An hour after seeing Snake outdoors, an engine started and a rough pick -up drew away from the house. Both of them were in it. Snake had made an attempt to hide his face, the collar of his coat turned up and eyes shaded under a hat.
"Unusual for him." Liquid thought remembering giving him some sage advice as Master and suggested he wore something on his head during the mission, only for Snake to ask if his bandanna was alright since he didn't like hats. Meryl had her hair bunched up behind her head. Clearly, after what had happened the government would do what ever was necessary to make certain that the news about Metal Gear wasn't leaked out to the public, and that would include those two.
Liquid relaxed, he didn't have much else to do while they were gone and he decided to take a nap. He didn't know what to expect later and he might just need to fight, conserving his energy was imperative.
They drew up in the nearest town, and Snake parked the pick-up. He reached into a pocket and pulled out his wallet and put it into Meryl's hands. She looked up at him.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked simply as she put it into her own pocket. Snake shook his head and smiled.
"As much as I'd like to see you try on clothes Meryl, it is too risky. We're supposed to be dead, remember and who can tell if there are any government agents on the prowl to see if any news has leaked out about Shadow Moses. If there are and they see us together, they aren't going to hesitate and ask questions, or worse." He explained. Snake sighed. "I'm going to have to miss the Iditarod this year too."
Meryl undid the seatbelt and was about to get out.
"Just don't be too long, and don't spend all of my cash. Please?" Snake asked. Meryl grinned at him.
"I won't!" she laughed and hopped out to walk down the street.
Snake reached over to the glove compartment and delved in searching for the packet of cigarettes and lighter, took one out of the packet and lit it. He relaxed, keeping an eye on the wing mirrors and rear view mirror, just in case anybody was watching. He had deliberately come to this town even though it was further than the one he usually went to and knew better, so that nobody would recognise him. The next thing to do was move to somewhere else. They couldn't stay at Twin Lakes too long. If there were any signs of their staying there it would get people asking questions, especially since they had found him to rope him into the mission. But they'd fix that problem later when the time came.
He looked again in the rear view mirror, he'd lost count of how many times he'd done that and his smoke was just about done. Snake saw Meryl walking up the street behind him, a bag in each hand, and he took a last drag on the cigarette before throwing it out the window. Meryl climbed in and put the bags at her feet and handed him back his wallet.
"Thanks, didn't spend too much I hope?" he asked with a smile.
"Of course not." Meryl laughed as Snake started the pick-up again.
Liquid looked round on another scan of the surroundings. He heard the drone of an engine getting nearer, then quieter as it moved further away from him. Three o'clock he read on his watch. They'd been away for some time, but that was understandable seeing how far they were, tucked away, from anybody else. He put the binoculars up to his eyes, this action had become almost as natural as blinking he'd done it so much. The pair walked out of the garage and down towards him to the front door before disappearing inside.
Liquid was fairly confident that today this evening he'd kidnap Meryl. From what he'd observed he'd managed to plot out a rough floor plan of the house in his head, which would make it all the easier later on. He would have to make sure that each of them were in different rooms. A confrontation with Snake was the last thing Liquid wanted at this point and there was no telling what would happen if he did run into Snake unintentionally. But then he did have the added advantage of surprise. As far as both of them were concerned, he'd died from FoxDie and was now an ice cube lying on the island.
He took out another ration, refining his plan over and over again. He still had to make room for any possible occurrences, but he could quite easily work something out on the spot. That was part of being a soldier, a terrorist leader and a son of Big Boss. He'd been born to do things like that, trained over the years to distil those skills and seen enough fighting to put that into practise. He did it all without really thinking and Liquid was sure that it was his genes which made him who he was now. He didn't believe a great deal in the nurture side of the argument, preferring to side on the view that genes dictated all.
"This is what I was born to do." Liquid said to himself, saying that phrase he repeated to himself each day, reminding himself that what he was doing was right. It was right to him that he wanted to get rid of all those who didn't fit into his ideological world of war and fighting, and all those who threatened it. People like his brother.
Liquid sighed; he was going to be in for a long wait, but the thought that had kept him going for all those years when he would eventually destroy his twin wasn't going to fail him now for a few hours. It had festered away inside, fermenting, while he was imprisoned in Iraq. All the things he'd been told about how his brother was so much better because they had made him to be the best from his father had promoted that, warped and contorted his view in life. Liquid couldn't remember a time when he'd been happy as a child; all that had happened to him to make him the way he was had blotted that from his memory. He hadn't had a normal upbringing, going to fight at an age when other boys his age were at school doing things that normal kids did, on the verge of heading out to the world beyond. At such an age, you were still impressionable, easy to coerce, and it was that which had changed Liquid.
He still concentrated on the single idea in his mind. It always seemed to play on and on like an annoying record you heard but couldn't get out of your head, stuck in a loop. The only way out was to extinguish the source of it all. And that was Solid Snake.
It had become bitterly cold. No snow fell, but a harsh wind blew in Liquid's face, almost cutting into him. It was pitch black and he couldn't tell where the trees met the sky.
"I should have brought night vision goggles with me." Liquid thought lamenting that he very nearly did, but at the last minute decided not to. It didn't matter too much and would have been an encumbrance he didn't need. He picked up the binoculars, but couldn't see any lights. The curtains were drawn.
"Now what? I have to play it by ear where they are now." He thought angrily. He looked at his watch and pressed a button to light up the face. Half eleven in the night. About the same time he arrived yesterday. Liquid got up. It was time. He went back to the snowmobile and put the PSG-1 on the rack behind the saddle, offloading the magazines for it too. He stuck to the trees while he made his way down to the house. The huskies were locked up for the night; he'd watched Snake and Meryl round them up earlier, so there wasn't much risk of being discovered by them at least. The wind made so much noise as it rushed through the trees that he didn't have to worry about being heard either. Liquid undid the catch on the holster and readied the SOCOM, creeping ever closer towards them. He reached the side that the front door was on and peeped in the window frame. He peered through the gap in the curtains. There was no light in the living room he was looking into, but a glow came from the right, the front wall he'd been observing. It was too near them to prise open the window, so he slinked further up, past the door and tried that window. It was further away and he had a go at sliding the window up just enough for him to slip in. It was stiff at first, but eventually opened easily with little noise. Liquid climbed in and swept snow out of the treads on his boots. Before bringing his legs in and shut it after him. That part over, he inched his way to the door into a corridor where the light shone from.
"What the...?" he thought hearing footsteps coming towards him. Liquid swiftly and silently dashed to the doorframe, leaning up against the wall. Soft steps got closer, swishing on the wooden floor. They walked past him and he could see illuminated by the light shining from the corridor, who it was. It was Meryl. It took Liquid a while to get his brain into understanding that this was his chance. He took one quick step up to stand behind her, and speedily put a hand over her mouth and pinned her arms at her sides wrapping his arm round her so she couldn't fight back. Meryl went rigid in shock and froze where she stood. She made no attempt to struggle whatsoever.
"Clever girl." Liquid hissed under his breath into her ear moving away into the shadows. Now he had to wait for Snake to come looking for her.
Snake pulled the plug out of the wash basin, watching the water as it drained away with a bubbling gurgle, his reflection swirled away. He reached over and dried his face with a towel before hanging it on the rail again when he was done. Snake turned away and walked back down the short corridor, past a store cupboard and his gun closet locked double. He poked his head round the door of his room expecting to find Meryl there where he had last seen her packing away her clothes or in the living room watching T.V. like she had said. There was nothing there just the empty bags in one corner next to the wardrobe and the bed, the covers all twisted and creased from the morning.
"Meryl?" he called turning round and went to the living room. Funny, there was no light on and no sound from the television either. What was Meryl playing at? Snake smiled.
"C'mon Meryl!" he laughed. "I know that you managed to sneak up on me twice but you don't have to rub it in." He creeped forward, hoping to make sure she didn't catch him out this time. He reached for the light switch. As it was flicked on, he felt cold metal press into the back of his head. That wasn't what he'd been expecting at all.
"You obviously didn't learn that lesson well enough, brother." Spat a horribly familiar voice from behind him. The blood in Snake's veins froze up in them.
"What the hell!?" Snake exclaimed, fearful of what he had just heard.
"Liquid!?" he exclaimed. "You..." Snake blurted. Liquid laughed. This was so amusing for him, to catch his brother like this.
"What? Dead?" he scoffed. "No. What did I say Snake? I won't die as long as you still live." Liquid said plainly repeating those same words he'd said to him after REX had been destroyed and all his hopes vanquished.
"I saw you die!" Snake growled.
"Well, I didn't did I?" Liquid shot back. "Snake," he began. "I recommend that you don't try any heroics now." Liquid stated mechanically.
"What do you mean?" Snake asked lowering his voice. Liquid laughed again.
"Turn round and take a look."
Snake turned around slowly to face him and Liquid continued to point the SOCOM level with his brother's head. Snake tried to maintain a cool face, but Liquid could sense his fear for Meryl, saw the fury flash in his eyes when he caught sight of him holding Meryl in that dangerous hold, his arm wrapped tightly round her throat. All it would take to break her cute little neck was a quick, violent jerk to her head, and he could tell that Snake knew this, he'd seen him use it so many times on the Genome soldiers that had once been under his command.
"Meryl!" Snake cried. He locked eyes with Liquid, eyebrows knitted together. "Let her go!" Liquid laughed again.
"You know what my answer to that is, brother." Snake sighed.
"What do you want Liquid?" he asked. Liquid went off at the deep end and tightened his grip on Meryl's throat. Meryl put her hands up to his arm, digging her fingernails into the material of his jacket as she uttered out a faint cry for Snake.
"Don't play dumb with me Snake!" he roared. "It's exactly the same as I wanted on that wretched island! I WANT TO SEE YOU DIE, I WANT TO SEE YOU BLEED!! I want to wipe you out and break myself away from that daily torture I go through, remembering that I'm the weak one, the one who was trash from the very beginning, doomed to take second and last place forever!!" Snake was unmoved by his outburst and this fuelled Liquid's rage. But still he kept it under check and steadied his voice to explain himself.
"Know this Snake," Liquid began trying to rein in his vehemence. "I know you. I know what you're weaknesses are and I learned from last time not to make the same mistakes. I was foolish enough to let my hate for you blind me from seeing that there are other ways to get what I want."
"So what is it?" Snake asked angrily. Liquid laughed uncontrollably.
"Don't you see? Or are you unwilling to admit it?" he paused and hushed his voice to a deathly whisper. "Come to me before midnight tomorrow so we may finish this. Fail to arrive before then and Meryl will die. Fail to fulfil my demands by that time and the same applies. Outer Heaven, Snake." And he began to back off, still training his gun on Snake.
Snake's heart raced. This was no time to start asking himself questions, Meryl was in real danger now, and after he'd vowed to himself that he wouldn't let any harm come to her again, he couldn't imperil it by letting his mind stray. He'd raised his hands in the air and watched as Liquid continued to back off, a spiteful grin crossed his face. Liquid had really gone off the rails now in the sanity department.
"Oh and just one last thing." He smirked lowering the SOCOM. "Just to even things up a little for me." Snake saw the gun snap up, clamped his eyes shut as he hurled himself to the side to avoid the bullet. His lips pulled back into a grimace as it struck and he landed with a bone-jerking crunch. Snake lay on the floor, stunned and unable to move at first. Liquid dashed off, unlocking the front door and let in an icy blast. Meryl's screams, crying out his name, strangled by the wind and throttlehold round her neck.
"Bastard!!" Snake cursed as he struggled to his knees. There was no way he could chase after them in this state. By the time he had unlocked the gun closet and out the door, he'd be too late and even then Snake didn't dare shoot in this dark, not when Liquid had Meryl. He couldn't risk killing her by mistake.
"Anyway, how can I even begin to start thinking about saving her when I'm shot?" Snake thought. He extended a hand down the right hand side of his upper body. A deep gash had been ripped out of him, the bullet mercifully hadn't lodged inside of him, but he couldn't turn a blind eye to it. Snake pulled his hand away; his palm coated in red and painfully got to his feet. Liquid had been smart in choosing to hit him there; it would hurt using his right arm for anything and he'd be slower to react on that side too, stretching torn muscles. Snake staggered slightly making the short distance to the kitchen to retrieve the first aid kit.
"Arrgh! How could I have been so stupid!?" he shouted out loud slamming his fist into the nearest wall. He pulled off his shirt, gingerly peeling it away from where it had been stuck down to his wound with his blood. He gritted his teeth as he did so. There were so many questions screaming out in his head. Why hadn't he emptied Liquid's FAMAS into his body before they had left? How did he not die? How the hell did he find out where he stayed? Did this guy have nine lives or something?
"I told him so much when he was disguised as Master." Snake thought. He couldn't remember telling him where exactly he stayed in Alaska, but that could have been easily found from one of the others, Campbell, Naomi, Mei Ling... they'd all believed him for being Master. Snake winced at the nipping as he carefully cleaned up round the lesion. Liquid had done his homework on Snake it had seemed too, but how? Snake himself didn't know half of his own past until Liquid told him all about the project that brought them into being. But if his files were so highly classified then how had Liquid found them?
"No time for that." Snake said to himself putting a dressing on top of his wound and held it in place by criss-crossing it copiously with micropore tape. It was too late in the night to start chasing after Liquid now, and whatever he had planned, Snake had to be ready for it. He threw the shirt into a bin and headed off to his room for some sleep.
"Outer Heaven? Didn't he call Shadow Moses that?" Snake thought. "I have to go all the way back there!?" Snake sighed. He could only afford a couple hours of sleep. That was providing he got to sleep.
He lay on his back; staring up at the ceiling for a while, reached out to his side, nothing there, an empty space next to him. Why was it that whenever something began to go right in his life it was taken away from him? Meryl had been the best thing to happen to Snake for years. But once again...
"Aww, to hell with this!" Snake shouted throwing back the sheets. "I'm going now." He'd run out of patience and there was nobody around to tell him what to do. This wasn't like the mission where Campbell was guiding him through telling him what he had to do next. It was between him and Liquid. Nothing else.
Continued in chapter 3...
