Chapter 4: Friendly Reunion
The luscious foliage of the jungle was covered in the deep darkness of the night as the five soldiers maneuvered deep into the unknown. Rain furiously hit the various plants only to bounce off into the abyss of the deep undergrowth that covered the ground. The crunching of twigs under the soldier's massive boots was lost from the raging storm that seemed to get more intense with each passing second.
Maurice had only been in the jungle that surrounded the facility once during a brief live-fire training exercise. That had been in the middle of the day when the sun had left minimum shadows, now the shadows seemed to engulf the vast jungle. Maurice removed his black gloved hand from its former placement on his gun, and motioned Vasiliy towards him.
Before Vasiliy could reach the tall man that had motioned for him a shrill scream split the cold night air. The scream had come from the opposite direction from where Vasiliy had thought that the survivors would have gone.
"We're going to have to split up," Maurice muttered under his breath to Vasiliy trying not to alert the others.
"Yes, sir. I think that's the best decision especially to cover as much ground as we need to," Vasiliy answered attempting to reassure Maurice that he was making the right decision.
"Vasiliy, you take the rookie Ryan Aguilar and check out the previously stated point," Maurice commanded as a weary look passed over his dark green eyes.
"Yes, sir," Vasiliy answered as he snapped off a quick salute under the heavily falling rain.
Vasiliy wasted no time as he pulled the Hispanic rookie out of the ranks without acknowledging the rest of the team. Vasiliy could feel the slightest tremble under Ryan's fatigues as he placed his strong hands on the man's broad shoulders. Ryan's dark brown eyes immediately darted to his attacker, a chill of fear running up his back as he saw Vasiliy's cold gray eyes.
"There's been a change of plans," Vasiliy stated as he motioned for Ryan to take his right flank into the unknown jungle.
Maurice watched the rookie stumble as he tried to follow the quick steps of Vasiliy into the jungle. Rain coursed down his worried eyes as he realized that he might not see either of them again. He quickly shook his head, trying to free his head of the thoughts as he signaled for Tanya and Jason to close the gap between them.
Tanya's wet light hair had permanently plastered itself to her forehead from the intense beating it was taking from the shards of rain as she passed Maurice's command onto Jason. Her fatigues had soaked through and she could feel the cold rain against her bare white skin as she doubled her stride to close the gap between her and Maurice. With each step she took her feet seemed to sink deeper into the soggy undergrowth making it difficult for her to perform even a simple task like walking.
Jason's mind was swamped with confusion, as he steadily made his way through the marsh like terrain of the jungle. His light brown eyes were peppered with shards of fear as he caught the sound of heavy footsteps flanking the small caravan. The steps seemed to be thundering in his ears, trying to make themselves heard over the heavy beating of rain that consumed the jungle. He darted his gaze to his left and right trying to differentiate how many enemies were heading for the small team. Tanya and Maurice seemed to not even notice the snapping sound of breaking twigs under the heavy footsteps, as they continued their monotonous march. Jason could feel panic coiling itself around his body, making him want to break into a sprint for the horizon and leave the awful sound behind.
"Jason, are you okay?" Tanya asked as she fought to make his darting eyes focus on her.
"Yeah, just a little on edge I guess," Jason said quickly trying to convince himself that he hadn't heard anything.
"That's acceptable under the circumstances, but try to hold it together," Tanya said, noticing that Jason's gaze constantly darted around to the surrounding darkness of the jungle.
As Jason brought his brown eyes to rest on Tanya one more time, he saw a crimson liquid begin to cataract her formally sapphire eyes. As he continued to watch in horror her tanned skin became a pale white and cracked exposing dried blood, like that of a decaying creature.
"What's wrong with you?" Tanya asked shocked as Jason slowly began to back away from her as terror flooded his hazel eyes.
Maurice had watched the scene unfold, but hadn't worried until Jason had become panicked. Maurice silently pushed his dark hair out of his eyes trying to give Jason a clear look at his face as he approached the horror stricken man. Maurice had seen mental breakdowns from stress before, but he had never suspected it to affect a fine soldier like Jason. Tanya was frozen in a state of irritation and shock as Jason brought his desert eagle level with her small body.
"Put the gun down!" Maurice shouted losing all compassion for the man as worry for his girlfriend overruled it.
"Get away from her! She's one of those things!" Jason retorted as a clap of thunder drowned him out.
Rain trickled off of Jason's tanned hand onto the trigger of his gun, as he aimed it at his once teammate's head. Jason, if you kill its manslaughter and you'll go to jail for it, a voice inside Jason's head explained calmly. Without warning, Jason dug his left foot into the soggy ground and pushed off hard sending himself into a sprint in the opposite direction.
Jason's wet fatigues slapped hard against his legs as he pumped his arms for speed. Branches of menacing trees slapped his face as if trying to convince him to turn around. He couldn't kill his teammate, he wouldn't kill his teammate, Jason thought as he hurtled a fallen tree. He jerked his head around, against his better judgment, to see if his pursuers were closing in on him. As he focused on the thick layer of darkness that had enveloped him he felt himself hit a sturdy object and topple to the awaiting wet ground.
Jason fought to regain his balance and straighten his thoughts as he groggily looked up at the thing that was impeding his process. If Jason had been in a zoo he would have mistaken the thing that stood in front of him for an overgrown amphibian or mutant frog. The thing's head was incredibly distorted, and its body was a hunter green which made it blend in with the surrounding jungle. Its arms were nearly twice the size of its torso with claws that hung down from them menacingly. Its upper body was hunched over staring its dead black eyes directly into Jason's. In general it looked like the perfect killer, the perfect hunter. Its chest heaved in and out with ragged breaths as it raised its clawed hand and brought it down hard against Jason's cranium. The jungle turned to gray as his thoughts faded into nothingness.
Maurice saw the crimson blood splatter the surrounding trees and immediately begin to collect in a small pool under Jason's crushed head. The thing that hovered over his lifeless form slowly raised its mutated head seemingly sensing Maurice and Tanya's presence. Without looking down at his ammo Maurice knew that they wouldn't be able to bring the beast down with the ammo that he had, but Maurice opened fire with his magnum anyway.
The two shadowed figures precisely followed the hideous beast through the scopes of their sniper rifles. They kept perfectly still, taking short shallow breaths so as not to alert anyone to their presence as they tracked the beast. Shots rang out from the two uniformed soldiers below them only sending the thing into an unimaginable rage. Without hesitation the male figure fired a shot as he saw the thing raise its head in his direction. The thing curved its head causing the bullet to burrow into the thick tree behind it. He had never seen anything be able to react as fast as that in his entire life, the man thought as he waited for the female figure to take her shot.
Tanya's mind flooded with confusion as she heard a sniper rifle shot drill into the tree behind the monster. The hunter snapped its head back and let out a long low bellow before it dug its scaled feet into the ground in order to lunge at them. All Tanya could think of at that moment was that she couldn't believe she was going to die to this thing that seemed to be hunting them.
A resounding bang echoed through the jungle as the shadowed female hit her mark. Crimson blood began to streak down what was left of the "hunter's" amphibious face. Blood had already painted the jungle floor as the hunter toppled into the soggy ground.
"You never have missed a shot," the man said as he jumped out of his resting place in the tree.
"Luck plays a big part in it. Guess it's a good thing I'm lucky," a feminine voice replied as she jumped down beside him.
As Maurice tried to concentrate on the darkness from where the voices were coming from he saw two dark figures step out of the shadows. The figure that caught Maurice's attention first was a young looking man, his small body stature at 5'6 was magnified in the light of the flashlight that Maurice held making him appear taller than he actually was. His soft brown eyes matched his sparkling smile as he focused on Tanya who was staring absent mindedly at him.
"What are you doing here?" Tanya asked as ran to the man and enveloped him in a warm hug.
"Where else would I be?" the man said jokingly as he returned the hug.
As the man came closer, he could now tell that the man was in the standard combat fatigues for the island. Suddenly it hit Maurice; the man standing in front of him must be Tanya's step brother, Tony Territo, who had been stationed here. From what Tanya had told him, Tony was a dead shot with a gun and cared a lot for his teammates, making him an instant favorite in Maurice's eyes.
"Have you forgotten about me?" a feminine voice called as she stepped out of the shadows.
"I can't believe you two made it!" Tanya exclaimed joyfully as she hugged the young woman who had stepped from the shadows.
The woman was petite and stood about 5'3 with her combat boots on. Her almond shaped dark brown eyes glistened with happiness in her olive colored skin, as if she was embracing an old friend. The slim woman's dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun that rested on the back of her head giving her a seductive appearance.
"Who is this?" the seductive woman asked looking at Maurice.
"This is Maurice Dupree, squad leader for the Scarlet Knights," Tanya said snapping out of her joyful trance.
Realizing that Maurice was their superior they automatically snapped into the position of attention and saluted him. Their bodies stood rigid as the rain hit their emotionless faces making small rivers appear on their stone faces.
"You don't have to salute me in the situation we are in. What are your names?" Maurice said trying to seem less professional than his emerald eyes made him appear.
"I'm First Sergeant Tony Territo. I'm the scout for the Sneaky Jackals," he responded as he had been taught to.
"I'm Lieutenant Alex Rodriguez. I'm the second scout for the Sneaky Jackals," she recited quickly after Tony.
"Where is the rest of your squad?" Maurice asked hesitantly not wanting to hear the answer that they might provide.
"All the squads were slain by those beasts except for a few who are holed up in a facility about 2 clicks away," Tony reported losing his composure as he gestured down at the Hunter that lay in a crumpled heap a few feet away from them.
"The facility is covered with Umbrella insignias and holds mostly scientific equipment, almost like they were testing something," Alex quickly said trying to cover up for Tony's loss of temper.
Maybe Sam was right, maybe Umbrella is behind all of this, Maurice thought to himself as the rain scolded him. But what were those things? Could Umbrella have set all this up, there was only way to find out in Maurice's mind and that was to take a look at this facility.
The luscious foliage of the jungle was covered in the deep darkness of the night as the five soldiers maneuvered deep into the unknown. Rain furiously hit the various plants only to bounce off into the abyss of the deep undergrowth that covered the ground. The crunching of twigs under the soldier's massive boots was lost from the raging storm that seemed to get more intense with each passing second.
Maurice had only been in the jungle that surrounded the facility once during a brief live-fire training exercise. That had been in the middle of the day when the sun had left minimum shadows, now the shadows seemed to engulf the vast jungle. Maurice removed his black gloved hand from its former placement on his gun, and motioned Vasiliy towards him.
Before Vasiliy could reach the tall man that had motioned for him a shrill scream split the cold night air. The scream had come from the opposite direction from where Vasiliy had thought that the survivors would have gone.
"We're going to have to split up," Maurice muttered under his breath to Vasiliy trying not to alert the others.
"Yes, sir. I think that's the best decision especially to cover as much ground as we need to," Vasiliy answered attempting to reassure Maurice that he was making the right decision.
"Vasiliy, you take the rookie Ryan Aguilar and check out the previously stated point," Maurice commanded as a weary look passed over his dark green eyes.
"Yes, sir," Vasiliy answered as he snapped off a quick salute under the heavily falling rain.
Vasiliy wasted no time as he pulled the Hispanic rookie out of the ranks without acknowledging the rest of the team. Vasiliy could feel the slightest tremble under Ryan's fatigues as he placed his strong hands on the man's broad shoulders. Ryan's dark brown eyes immediately darted to his attacker, a chill of fear running up his back as he saw Vasiliy's cold gray eyes.
"There's been a change of plans," Vasiliy stated as he motioned for Ryan to take his right flank into the unknown jungle.
Maurice watched the rookie stumble as he tried to follow the quick steps of Vasiliy into the jungle. Rain coursed down his worried eyes as he realized that he might not see either of them again. He quickly shook his head, trying to free his head of the thoughts as he signaled for Tanya and Jason to close the gap between them.
Tanya's wet light hair had permanently plastered itself to her forehead from the intense beating it was taking from the shards of rain as she passed Maurice's command onto Jason. Her fatigues had soaked through and she could feel the cold rain against her bare white skin as she doubled her stride to close the gap between her and Maurice. With each step she took her feet seemed to sink deeper into the soggy undergrowth making it difficult for her to perform even a simple task like walking.
Jason's mind was swamped with confusion, as he steadily made his way through the marsh like terrain of the jungle. His light brown eyes were peppered with shards of fear as he caught the sound of heavy footsteps flanking the small caravan. The steps seemed to be thundering in his ears, trying to make themselves heard over the heavy beating of rain that consumed the jungle. He darted his gaze to his left and right trying to differentiate how many enemies were heading for the small team. Tanya and Maurice seemed to not even notice the snapping sound of breaking twigs under the heavy footsteps, as they continued their monotonous march. Jason could feel panic coiling itself around his body, making him want to break into a sprint for the horizon and leave the awful sound behind.
"Jason, are you okay?" Tanya asked as she fought to make his darting eyes focus on her.
"Yeah, just a little on edge I guess," Jason said quickly trying to convince himself that he hadn't heard anything.
"That's acceptable under the circumstances, but try to hold it together," Tanya said, noticing that Jason's gaze constantly darted around to the surrounding darkness of the jungle.
As Jason brought his brown eyes to rest on Tanya one more time, he saw a crimson liquid begin to cataract her formally sapphire eyes. As he continued to watch in horror her tanned skin became a pale white and cracked exposing dried blood, like that of a decaying creature.
"What's wrong with you?" Tanya asked shocked as Jason slowly began to back away from her as terror flooded his hazel eyes.
Maurice had watched the scene unfold, but hadn't worried until Jason had become panicked. Maurice silently pushed his dark hair out of his eyes trying to give Jason a clear look at his face as he approached the horror stricken man. Maurice had seen mental breakdowns from stress before, but he had never suspected it to affect a fine soldier like Jason. Tanya was frozen in a state of irritation and shock as Jason brought his desert eagle level with her small body.
"Put the gun down!" Maurice shouted losing all compassion for the man as worry for his girlfriend overruled it.
"Get away from her! She's one of those things!" Jason retorted as a clap of thunder drowned him out.
Rain trickled off of Jason's tanned hand onto the trigger of his gun, as he aimed it at his once teammate's head. Jason, if you kill its manslaughter and you'll go to jail for it, a voice inside Jason's head explained calmly. Without warning, Jason dug his left foot into the soggy ground and pushed off hard sending himself into a sprint in the opposite direction.
Jason's wet fatigues slapped hard against his legs as he pumped his arms for speed. Branches of menacing trees slapped his face as if trying to convince him to turn around. He couldn't kill his teammate, he wouldn't kill his teammate, Jason thought as he hurtled a fallen tree. He jerked his head around, against his better judgment, to see if his pursuers were closing in on him. As he focused on the thick layer of darkness that had enveloped him he felt himself hit a sturdy object and topple to the awaiting wet ground.
Jason fought to regain his balance and straighten his thoughts as he groggily looked up at the thing that was impeding his process. If Jason had been in a zoo he would have mistaken the thing that stood in front of him for an overgrown amphibian or mutant frog. The thing's head was incredibly distorted, and its body was a hunter green which made it blend in with the surrounding jungle. Its arms were nearly twice the size of its torso with claws that hung down from them menacingly. Its upper body was hunched over staring its dead black eyes directly into Jason's. In general it looked like the perfect killer, the perfect hunter. Its chest heaved in and out with ragged breaths as it raised its clawed hand and brought it down hard against Jason's cranium. The jungle turned to gray as his thoughts faded into nothingness.
Maurice saw the crimson blood splatter the surrounding trees and immediately begin to collect in a small pool under Jason's crushed head. The thing that hovered over his lifeless form slowly raised its mutated head seemingly sensing Maurice and Tanya's presence. Without looking down at his ammo Maurice knew that they wouldn't be able to bring the beast down with the ammo that he had, but Maurice opened fire with his magnum anyway.
The two shadowed figures precisely followed the hideous beast through the scopes of their sniper rifles. They kept perfectly still, taking short shallow breaths so as not to alert anyone to their presence as they tracked the beast. Shots rang out from the two uniformed soldiers below them only sending the thing into an unimaginable rage. Without hesitation the male figure fired a shot as he saw the thing raise its head in his direction. The thing curved its head causing the bullet to burrow into the thick tree behind it. He had never seen anything be able to react as fast as that in his entire life, the man thought as he waited for the female figure to take her shot.
Tanya's mind flooded with confusion as she heard a sniper rifle shot drill into the tree behind the monster. The hunter snapped its head back and let out a long low bellow before it dug its scaled feet into the ground in order to lunge at them. All Tanya could think of at that moment was that she couldn't believe she was going to die to this thing that seemed to be hunting them.
A resounding bang echoed through the jungle as the shadowed female hit her mark. Crimson blood began to streak down what was left of the "hunter's" amphibious face. Blood had already painted the jungle floor as the hunter toppled into the soggy ground.
"You never have missed a shot," the man said as he jumped out of his resting place in the tree.
"Luck plays a big part in it. Guess it's a good thing I'm lucky," a feminine voice replied as she jumped down beside him.
As Maurice tried to concentrate on the darkness from where the voices were coming from he saw two dark figures step out of the shadows. The figure that caught Maurice's attention first was a young looking man, his small body stature at 5'6 was magnified in the light of the flashlight that Maurice held making him appear taller than he actually was. His soft brown eyes matched his sparkling smile as he focused on Tanya who was staring absent mindedly at him.
"What are you doing here?" Tanya asked as ran to the man and enveloped him in a warm hug.
"Where else would I be?" the man said jokingly as he returned the hug.
As the man came closer, he could now tell that the man was in the standard combat fatigues for the island. Suddenly it hit Maurice; the man standing in front of him must be Tanya's step brother, Tony Territo, who had been stationed here. From what Tanya had told him, Tony was a dead shot with a gun and cared a lot for his teammates, making him an instant favorite in Maurice's eyes.
"Have you forgotten about me?" a feminine voice called as she stepped out of the shadows.
"I can't believe you two made it!" Tanya exclaimed joyfully as she hugged the young woman who had stepped from the shadows.
The woman was petite and stood about 5'3 with her combat boots on. Her almond shaped dark brown eyes glistened with happiness in her olive colored skin, as if she was embracing an old friend. The slim woman's dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun that rested on the back of her head giving her a seductive appearance.
"Who is this?" the seductive woman asked looking at Maurice.
"This is Maurice Dupree, squad leader for the Scarlet Knights," Tanya said snapping out of her joyful trance.
Realizing that Maurice was their superior they automatically snapped into the position of attention and saluted him. Their bodies stood rigid as the rain hit their emotionless faces making small rivers appear on their stone faces.
"You don't have to salute me in the situation we are in. What are your names?" Maurice said trying to seem less professional than his emerald eyes made him appear.
"I'm First Sergeant Tony Territo. I'm the scout for the Sneaky Jackals," he responded as he had been taught to.
"I'm Lieutenant Alex Rodriguez. I'm the second scout for the Sneaky Jackals," she recited quickly after Tony.
"Where is the rest of your squad?" Maurice asked hesitantly not wanting to hear the answer that they might provide.
"All the squads were slain by those beasts except for a few who are holed up in a facility about 2 clicks away," Tony reported losing his composure as he gestured down at the Hunter that lay in a crumpled heap a few feet away from them.
"The facility is covered with Umbrella insignias and holds mostly scientific equipment, almost like they were testing something," Alex quickly said trying to cover up for Tony's loss of temper.
Maybe Sam was right, maybe Umbrella is behind all of this, Maurice thought to himself as the rain scolded him. But what were those things? Could Umbrella have set all this up, there was only way to find out in Maurice's mind and that was to take a look at this facility.