Chapter 2: It Starts
Tanya groggily woke up to the sound of rain angrily hitting the top of the grass hut. Small droplets of water were freely falling from weak places in the roof. A droplet of rain fell on her forehead and ran down the side of her tanned face. Mechanically she glanced down at her issued watch. The emerald digital numbers flashed 3:30 a.m. Seeing as she wasn't going to get much sleep with water hitting her in the face she silently slid her slim body out of the hard bed and onto the cold ground. Her metal dog tags slapped noisily against her chest as she silently made her way towards the entrance of the hut.
Everyone else in the grass hut was sleeping soundlessly, barely moving in their uncomfortable beds. A flash of lightening illuminated the fairly large room allowing her to avoid tripping over Ryan's combat boots. As she gazed out the door she could see the rain angrily hitting the ground like small bullets. The tall palm trees submissively bent to the aggressive wind, as the sound of thunder grew nearer. This was one of the worst storms she had seen, which was going to make training tomorrow a lot of fun. The sound of rain hitting the ground began to gently lull Tanya back to sleep as she gazed out into the dark sky.
As Tanya began to drift of to sleep she saw a caravan of black helicopters flying through the dark night sky. As she concentrated closer she could tell that all of the black helicopters had the same distinct red and white Umbrella insignia emblazed on the side of it. A huge crate was suspended below each helicopter, as if they were carrying a package. Each dangling crate was easily 12 feet tall and just as much wide. What were a bunch of Umbrella helicopters doing around here this late at night, and what were they carrying, Tanya asked herself as she started to make the treacherous journey back to her bed.
Before she could even get half way there, an explosion sounded from somewhere behind her. She automatically whipped around and got into a defense position as her teammates sprung from each of their beds. She hurriedly went to the space at the door that she had occupied moments before and looked for what had caused the explosion. Maurice was the first one of her teammates to join her at the door even though his bed was my far the furthest away from it.
It didn't take Tanya long to see the raging fire that was dancing around the communications tower. The furious flames licked up the building consuming every inch of it. The communications satellite plummeted to the ground with a loud crunch as the cooling rain began to conquer the wild flames.
"What the fuck was that?!" Ryan shouted as he stumbled groggily out of his warm bed.
"Lightening must have struck the communications tower," Jason suggested as he fumbled in the darkness to make his way to the door.
"Lightening doesn't cause that kind of immediate damage," Sam informed them as he continued to observe the destruction.
"All right, we better suit up and see what kind of damage was done and if there are any survivors," Maurice commanded over his shoulder as he began to put on his combat armor.
By the time all of them had suited up the fire had already died out. In the place of the once illustrious four story communications building was a mound of charred rubble that was still smoldering. The hard rain beat loudly against their bodies as they continued to survey the area even though there was nothing they could do.
"It almost looks like this place was taken down by a missile or something," Ryan shouted trying to be heard over the raging storm.
"Yeah, but by who? Nobody knows that were out here," Jason yelled back.
"We should probably report this to our superiors, don't you think?" Ryan shouted as he stepped into one of the many deep mud puddles that had been formed by the storm.
"Inform it to who. All of our superiors were in that building," Maurice yelled over his shoulder as he jogged to meet another team that was heading up to where they stood.
Maurice knew the team that was walking towards the rubble quite well. They were called the black horseman and were the second best team stationed on the island. Their squad leader was a very tall African-American man with a heavy British accent named Paul Jefferson. Maurice quickly took the squad leader aside from the team and explained what had happened.
"What do you recommend we do?" Paul asked as droplets of rain streamed down his young face.
"Take your team along with teams 3-5 and walk the perimeter. Be sure to thoroughly check the surrounding jungle to the west, I think we might have a squad of rogue commandos playing cowboy out here with us," Maurice said loud enough so that the squad leader was the only one who could hear him.
Paul snapped off a quick salute before returning to find the other squads. Whoever had attacked the communications building had known that all of the superior officers were there and that the tower was the only way to get a message to the outside. Without the tower up they were stranded on this island until somebody came looking for them.
The rain was pelting his face with cold water, but he could just make out Sam hunched over looking at something he held in his hand.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Maurice asked as he pulled up beside him.
"I'm calling for reinforcements and immediate evac," Sam informed him as if he was talking about the weather.
Maurice could now tell that the item that Sam held in his hands was a small walkie-talkie looking device. It was incredibly small, so that it could discreetly fit just about anywhere. Sam was scanning the frequencies seemingly not noticing the fact that the whole team had crowded around him. Without warning, Sam suddenly through down the device which shattered as it hit the wet ground.
"What was that all about?" Tanya asked over his left shoulder.
"Umbrella has blocked all the frequencies, and this storm is going to make it impossible for anyone to get through," Sam said irritation thick in his voice.
"Umbrella? What are you talking about," Vasiliy said at Sam as if he were an escaped lunatic.
"Ye-," Sam was cut off by a shrill scream before he could even finish his thought.
The piercing scream of a man seemed to echo all around them, as the storm increased its aggressiveness. The distinct scream of pain had come from the jungle to the west. The scream had been a familiar voice to Maurice, it had been Paul's voice.
"What the hell is going on around here!" Jason yelled.
Before Sam could answer a low growl was heard over the storm coming from directly in front of them down the makeshift street. Three others soon met the growl as it grew closer. Jason could just make out the sound of claws on concrete as he mechanically reached for his holstered gun.
Through the heavy sheets of rain Ryan could just make out what looked to be a pack of three dogs. Each dog seemed to have a severe limp in at least one of their legs, and they seemed to be drooling a heavy clear liquid that hit the ground and immediately mixed with the fresh rainwater in the various puddles along the ground. Hunks of flesh were missing exposing red raw meat along the dogs' body and hideous faces, and all of the dogs' eyes were heavily cataract with a milky film.
"Open fire when ready," Maurice commanded his voice competing with the heavy sheets of rain and thunder to be heard.
The first round of shots hit the front dog sending it sprawling lifelessly to the ground, which sent the remaining two dogs into a dead sprint for their attackers. As the dogs grew closer a repulsive smell washed over the small team. It smelled like road kill that had set out in the sun for far to long. Saliva ran freely down the dogs' mangled faces as their bodies curled and uncurled trying to gain more speed.
As Vasiliy began aiming for his second round of shots he caught a glimpse of glistening red meat out of the corner of his eye. The heavy falling rain didn't disguise the hellhound that was barely 20 yards to his right and moving at an incredible pace. He would have completely overlooked the hound had he not been trained to check his sides. The hellhounds had sucked the team in towards the front, making them vulnerable to right side attacks. How could the dogs have been able to strategize like that, Vasiliy thought but quickly let it escape his mind as he focused on the new threat.
Vasiliy quickly aimed his gun right above the dog's left eye and pulled the trigger. The dog skidded into a lifeless pile on the wet ground as Vasiliy's bullet found its mark. The dog's crimson blood began to mix with the rainwater giving the surrounding puddles a tie-dye effect.
Within minutes the other two hounds were killed and lay lifeless in heaps of their own. The rain as if wanting to clean up doubled its efforts. The rain bounced off the cooling bodies of the dogs like miniature bullets trying to inflict damage on the already dead dogs.
"What the hell were those things? And how the hell did the know we would be weak on our right side?" Ryan yelled as his boots sloshed around in the puddle that he had been standing in.
"It's started," Sam muttered under his breath as he reloaded his gun.
Tanya groggily woke up to the sound of rain angrily hitting the top of the grass hut. Small droplets of water were freely falling from weak places in the roof. A droplet of rain fell on her forehead and ran down the side of her tanned face. Mechanically she glanced down at her issued watch. The emerald digital numbers flashed 3:30 a.m. Seeing as she wasn't going to get much sleep with water hitting her in the face she silently slid her slim body out of the hard bed and onto the cold ground. Her metal dog tags slapped noisily against her chest as she silently made her way towards the entrance of the hut.
Everyone else in the grass hut was sleeping soundlessly, barely moving in their uncomfortable beds. A flash of lightening illuminated the fairly large room allowing her to avoid tripping over Ryan's combat boots. As she gazed out the door she could see the rain angrily hitting the ground like small bullets. The tall palm trees submissively bent to the aggressive wind, as the sound of thunder grew nearer. This was one of the worst storms she had seen, which was going to make training tomorrow a lot of fun. The sound of rain hitting the ground began to gently lull Tanya back to sleep as she gazed out into the dark sky.
As Tanya began to drift of to sleep she saw a caravan of black helicopters flying through the dark night sky. As she concentrated closer she could tell that all of the black helicopters had the same distinct red and white Umbrella insignia emblazed on the side of it. A huge crate was suspended below each helicopter, as if they were carrying a package. Each dangling crate was easily 12 feet tall and just as much wide. What were a bunch of Umbrella helicopters doing around here this late at night, and what were they carrying, Tanya asked herself as she started to make the treacherous journey back to her bed.
Before she could even get half way there, an explosion sounded from somewhere behind her. She automatically whipped around and got into a defense position as her teammates sprung from each of their beds. She hurriedly went to the space at the door that she had occupied moments before and looked for what had caused the explosion. Maurice was the first one of her teammates to join her at the door even though his bed was my far the furthest away from it.
It didn't take Tanya long to see the raging fire that was dancing around the communications tower. The furious flames licked up the building consuming every inch of it. The communications satellite plummeted to the ground with a loud crunch as the cooling rain began to conquer the wild flames.
"What the fuck was that?!" Ryan shouted as he stumbled groggily out of his warm bed.
"Lightening must have struck the communications tower," Jason suggested as he fumbled in the darkness to make his way to the door.
"Lightening doesn't cause that kind of immediate damage," Sam informed them as he continued to observe the destruction.
"All right, we better suit up and see what kind of damage was done and if there are any survivors," Maurice commanded over his shoulder as he began to put on his combat armor.
By the time all of them had suited up the fire had already died out. In the place of the once illustrious four story communications building was a mound of charred rubble that was still smoldering. The hard rain beat loudly against their bodies as they continued to survey the area even though there was nothing they could do.
"It almost looks like this place was taken down by a missile or something," Ryan shouted trying to be heard over the raging storm.
"Yeah, but by who? Nobody knows that were out here," Jason yelled back.
"We should probably report this to our superiors, don't you think?" Ryan shouted as he stepped into one of the many deep mud puddles that had been formed by the storm.
"Inform it to who. All of our superiors were in that building," Maurice yelled over his shoulder as he jogged to meet another team that was heading up to where they stood.
Maurice knew the team that was walking towards the rubble quite well. They were called the black horseman and were the second best team stationed on the island. Their squad leader was a very tall African-American man with a heavy British accent named Paul Jefferson. Maurice quickly took the squad leader aside from the team and explained what had happened.
"What do you recommend we do?" Paul asked as droplets of rain streamed down his young face.
"Take your team along with teams 3-5 and walk the perimeter. Be sure to thoroughly check the surrounding jungle to the west, I think we might have a squad of rogue commandos playing cowboy out here with us," Maurice said loud enough so that the squad leader was the only one who could hear him.
Paul snapped off a quick salute before returning to find the other squads. Whoever had attacked the communications building had known that all of the superior officers were there and that the tower was the only way to get a message to the outside. Without the tower up they were stranded on this island until somebody came looking for them.
The rain was pelting his face with cold water, but he could just make out Sam hunched over looking at something he held in his hand.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Maurice asked as he pulled up beside him.
"I'm calling for reinforcements and immediate evac," Sam informed him as if he was talking about the weather.
Maurice could now tell that the item that Sam held in his hands was a small walkie-talkie looking device. It was incredibly small, so that it could discreetly fit just about anywhere. Sam was scanning the frequencies seemingly not noticing the fact that the whole team had crowded around him. Without warning, Sam suddenly through down the device which shattered as it hit the wet ground.
"What was that all about?" Tanya asked over his left shoulder.
"Umbrella has blocked all the frequencies, and this storm is going to make it impossible for anyone to get through," Sam said irritation thick in his voice.
"Umbrella? What are you talking about," Vasiliy said at Sam as if he were an escaped lunatic.
"Ye-," Sam was cut off by a shrill scream before he could even finish his thought.
The piercing scream of a man seemed to echo all around them, as the storm increased its aggressiveness. The distinct scream of pain had come from the jungle to the west. The scream had been a familiar voice to Maurice, it had been Paul's voice.
"What the hell is going on around here!" Jason yelled.
Before Sam could answer a low growl was heard over the storm coming from directly in front of them down the makeshift street. Three others soon met the growl as it grew closer. Jason could just make out the sound of claws on concrete as he mechanically reached for his holstered gun.
Through the heavy sheets of rain Ryan could just make out what looked to be a pack of three dogs. Each dog seemed to have a severe limp in at least one of their legs, and they seemed to be drooling a heavy clear liquid that hit the ground and immediately mixed with the fresh rainwater in the various puddles along the ground. Hunks of flesh were missing exposing red raw meat along the dogs' body and hideous faces, and all of the dogs' eyes were heavily cataract with a milky film.
"Open fire when ready," Maurice commanded his voice competing with the heavy sheets of rain and thunder to be heard.
The first round of shots hit the front dog sending it sprawling lifelessly to the ground, which sent the remaining two dogs into a dead sprint for their attackers. As the dogs grew closer a repulsive smell washed over the small team. It smelled like road kill that had set out in the sun for far to long. Saliva ran freely down the dogs' mangled faces as their bodies curled and uncurled trying to gain more speed.
As Vasiliy began aiming for his second round of shots he caught a glimpse of glistening red meat out of the corner of his eye. The heavy falling rain didn't disguise the hellhound that was barely 20 yards to his right and moving at an incredible pace. He would have completely overlooked the hound had he not been trained to check his sides. The hellhounds had sucked the team in towards the front, making them vulnerable to right side attacks. How could the dogs have been able to strategize like that, Vasiliy thought but quickly let it escape his mind as he focused on the new threat.
Vasiliy quickly aimed his gun right above the dog's left eye and pulled the trigger. The dog skidded into a lifeless pile on the wet ground as Vasiliy's bullet found its mark. The dog's crimson blood began to mix with the rainwater giving the surrounding puddles a tie-dye effect.
Within minutes the other two hounds were killed and lay lifeless in heaps of their own. The rain as if wanting to clean up doubled its efforts. The rain bounced off the cooling bodies of the dogs like miniature bullets trying to inflict damage on the already dead dogs.
"What the hell were those things? And how the hell did the know we would be weak on our right side?" Ryan yelled as his boots sloshed around in the puddle that he had been standing in.
"It's started," Sam muttered under his breath as he reloaded his gun.