Chapter 5: Rise of the Forsaken
Simon sat across from Flay and Sai, the red-haired girl leaning comfortably on Sai. "So why do you think that only Coordinators are participating on this search and rescue?" Simon asked.
"If you didn't notice, both Tolle and Miriallia volunteered." Sai replied, trying not to roll his eyes. Simon smiled. "I noticed that, but you'll notice that they stayed behind with two Coordinators while eight other Coordinators went ahead."
"Kira is with them too." Flay said. "And Kira is a Coordinator too." Simon replied lightly.
Sai had enough. "Simon, for the last time, leave it alone." Simon held his hand up in defense. "Just listen to me, this is different."
Simon interpreted the silence from his classmates in front of him as a signal to continue. "So you know about the trade embargo the Earth Alliance government has placed on the PLANTs right? Well even being a neutral colony, Heliopolis is affected as well. Orb has been having a hard time sending stuff other than basic supplies."
It was basic knowledge that they had all learned years earlier. "Well among the things difficult to procure are jewels and valuables. A lot of these old temples have heaping piles of gold and jewelry, just waiting to be claimed."
"That's also considered theft; the Earth Alliance would probably hang you for that." Sai interrupted.
"Only if they catch us. Now back on topic. The prices for any valuables on the PLANTs are probably outrages with the low supply and high demand. Don't you think it's just a little odd that a team of eight armed ZAFT academy graduates are here with their commander? I think they're planning on taking everything even remotely valuable in this temple and take it back to the PLANTs."
"But what about the missing students? They actually are missing you know." Flay pointed out.
"Well, there are two explanations for it. The first and least likely, the 'missing' students are in on it, trying to help the Coordinators locate the stockpiles. The second and far more plausible one, the students happened upon the stockpiles and now that masked Commander over there wants to keep them quiet, so he sent out his people to 'rescue' them."
"That has to be the most ludicrous load of bullshit I've ever heard from you Simon." Sai stated.
"Think about if for a second. Sai, you could be the pimpinest dude on Heliopolis, gold chains, rings, everything. Women would flock to you get some Sai-loaf." Simon looked at Flay. "You're already the hottest chick I've ever seen Flay, but imaging walking around with a pair of real diamond earrings, sapphire pendant chains, and emerald studded bracelets. Even your father couldn't get stuff like this."
As smart as she was, having her vanity appealed to was more than enough to convince her to go with Simon. Sai still had his doubts. "Oh come on Sai, it can't be that bad, I mean what's the worse that could happen?" Something in his mind told him not to go, but Sai felt obligated to make Flay happy.
"So how do you plan to get us past them?" Sai asked, pointing to Tolle, Le Creuset, Matthew and Miriallia. Simon grinned. "Leave that to me."
"Man these hallways are creepy looking. I don't remember them being this dark before." Rusty said, sweeping his rifle back and forth. "All clear down here. I know what you mean, it's like the temple came to life." Olor replied.
The pair walked several more feet down the hallway, maintaining a standard sweep pattern when they started to hear screams of pain. "Did you hear that?" Olor asked, hoping he wasn't imagining things. Unfortunately he wasn't. "Yeah, creepy screaming. I'd say at least 10 meters ahead." Rusty confirmed, pointing his rifle barrel in the direction.
There was a doorway up ahead, which led to somewhere. Rusty had never been down this part of the temple before, so he wasn't sure what to expect. Olor gave the all clear signal again, so Rusty popped his head inside the opening. Chained against the back wall were several students, and it looked like they were in various stages of … torture.
"What the fuck is this?" Olor asked, peeking in as well. Of the six students chained to a wall, four were already dead; Rusty checked them all for a pulse. There was a seventh set of shackles with a trail of fresh blood on the floor leading towards another doorway. The other two students were alive and in obvious pain.
"Radio this in, I'll free them." Rusty ordered. Olor nodded. "Con, con, this is Beta 2, six students located; I repeat we've located six students." Four shots in quick succession rang out, freeing the students from their chains.
"Beta 2, this Con. How many of them are alive?" Commander Le Creuset asked.
"Only two sir, we're retrieving them now. We have reason to believe we are not alone here."
"Copy that Beta 2. Medical teams will be standing by."
Rusty helped one of the students up and noticed an odd growth on her bare arm. "Olor, what the hell do you think this is?" Olor hoisted his own student up. "I don't know, but he's got one too, on his face."
Discussion could come later; right now they had to get the two students back to the Main Hall.
This was not the happiest day for Yzak Joule. Normally he didn't mind being paired up with Dearka, but for the past few days his tanned friend had been acting weird. And as soon as their search and rescue had begun, Dearka hadn't been able to stop grinning like an idiot.
Did he not understand the nature of their mission? Students had mysteriously disappeared, and while Yzak could care less about those who couldn't take care of themselves, he was concerned about the apparent change of demeanor of the temple itself.
Their comm units crackled as they were used. It was Rusty's team.
"Con, con, this is Beta 2, six students located; I repeat we've located six students."
"Beta 2, this Con. How many of them are alive?"
"Only two sir, we're retrieving them now. We have reason to believe we are not alone here."
"Copy that Beta 2. Medical teams will be standing by."
"Four students still missing. Dearka! Quit grinning and get to work!" Yzak ordered.
"Yes sir." Dearka said mockingly with his grin still plastered to his face. This aggravated Yzak even further, so he stopped walking. "What are you so happy about anyways?" he demanded.
Yzak didn't think it possible, but Dearka's grin grew even wider. "Her name is Miriallia; I finally learned her name Yzak."
"Good for you. Now stop mooning over her like a lost lover and get searching, we still have four more students to locate."
They couldn't get much farther; their comm units came to life again. "This is Charlie 1! We're under attack, requesting immediate backup!"
Miguel turned a corner and noticed a complete and utter change. It literally went from moderate light to pitch black. Nichol turned the corner seconds after Miguel and bumped into the taller man. "Woah, that's a sudden change." Nichol commented.
"you … will be … firsssssssssssst …"
"Did you hear something?" Miguel asked, trying to peer into the darkness. Nichol swung around to watch their six, only to find the darkness surrounding them and slowly spreading down the way they came. "Mount lights!" he ordered, and grabbed his light from his vest pocket, turning it on and sliding it on the mounts on the side of the rifle.
Miguel followed suit, and when he swung his rifle back up to its ready position three tentacles came flying out of the darkness, hitting him squarely in the chest, sending him flying backwards. His rifle clattered on the floor stones, partially illuminating his attacker's feet.
It might have once been close to a human foot, or at least it was in the same basic shape with the heel and the ball of the foot. But where the toes would be on Miguel's foot were instead two large and sharp claws, positioned at an angle away from each other at both sides of the feet. It was the same on the heel, two claws angled away to form a very stable foot, capable of keeping the rest of the body upright even under tremendous pressure.
And it was scaly, much like a reptile would be. Hearing his teammate go down, Nichol swung around and leveled his rifle as the tentacles shot out again, this time grabbing hold of his rifle. The thing pulled hard, nearly snapping the buckle that held the rifle to his vest. Miguel snatched up his rifle and opened fire, pumping lead into the thing.
It roared in pain or frustration and swung a large scythe-like arm down at Miguel. He rolled out of the way and switched to his secondary mode of fire. Aiming a little higher than he previously did, he pulled the trigger once, letting the powerful shotgun slug fly. It impacted and sent the beast hurtling off its feet and backwards. The tentacles released their iron grip on Nichol's rifle, so the green-haired boy helped his companion up.
"Thanks." He told Nichol, standing up. "So what the hell was that?" Nichol shook his head. "No clue, but we'd better report this in to Comma-" he was cut off as a tentacle wrapped itself around his neck and his arms, dragging him forward. Miguel opened fire with his shotgun, hoping to drop his foe quickly.
Switching to his primary mode, he also activated his comm unit. "This is Charlie 1! We're under attack, requesting immediate backup!"
"This is Charlie 1! We're under attack, requesting immediate backup!"
Matthew looked at his Commander. "Sir, what do we do?" he asked. And before Rau could answer, Yzak's voice came over the comm. "This is Alpha team, we're on our way, hang tight!"
Yzak's reply did little to ease Matthew's concerns. Tolle and Milly looked at each other uncertainly, neither of them having expected to come under attack by an unknown force. They had convinced themselves that the students had merely gotten lost after the debacle at the Library.
"Sir, Alpha team won't make it in time to do anything! I'm closest to their position, let me go back them up!" he pleaded.
"Goddamnit why won't you die!" Miguel cursed over his open comm.
"Sir!" Matthew tried again. Le Creuset snapped his head up to look at his anxious soldier. "Go." He commanded. Not even bothering to salute, Matthew broke into a dead run to Charlie team's last known position.
Tolle watched him go, and then turned around and sank to the ground. His sight panned over the students, most of who were still subdued from finding out some of their classmates were missing and probably dead. Then something caught his notice. "Hey, where's Kuzzey?"
"This is Charlie 1! We're under attack, requesting immediate backup!"
Athrun looked at Kira apprehensively. Nichol was a good friend. "We've got to help them Kira, what's the fastest way there?"
Kira checked his wrist computer, set on a 3-D display of the temple. "We can cut through the Burial chamber and go up the hallway and take a right, which should lead us to their position." He replied, clicking a few buttons.
"This is Alpha team, we're on our way, hang tight!"
Yzak's voice did little to calm Athrun, especially with Miguel's next comment. "Goddamnit why won't you die!"
The two boys broke into a dead run, running through hallways that were beginning to seem familiar to them. Kira managed the spectacular feat of keeping his rifle trained ahead and keeping one eye on his wrist computer. "Backup is on the way Charlie team, hold tight." Le Creuset tried to reassure his troops.
They kept running, down the hallway leading away from the Burial chamber. Halfway up the hallway, Kira noticed his map indicated there was a T-intersection nearing them, leading off, but he couldn't see an opening. Confused, he stopped and looked at the wall before him. Athrun came up from behind. "What are you staring at?" he asked.
"There's another hallway leading off right here." Kira replied. Athrun looked perplexed. "What? There's nothing here but stone."
"That's the problem. I have no memory of going down … wherever it goes, but my GPS says that I have."
Athrun couldn't reply. "All units be advised, we have four more students AWOL; I repeat, four more students have gone missing."
As if to reinforce Rau's transmission, a female scream echoed through the hall.
Another chapter, another day. Hope it doesn't disappoint, please Review when done reading, I love to see what you all think of it. Feel free to drop me a line, e-mail can be found in my bio.
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Prayer