F.E.A.R. Aftershock

By Zachary Sweigart

Interval 01 - Prologue

Robert Betters sat uncomfortably at his desk. As commander of the ultra top-secret taskforce known as FEAR, he felt a little disjointed; like he was somehow withdrawn from everyone else.

I should have been the one to go in there. Betters said to himself. I'm the one who gave the damn order to blow Armacham to hell. It was still just minutes after the secret Armacham underground complex in Auburn had blown sky high by Betters' new point man.

Their mission was to try to ascertain the shady dealings of Armacham Technology Corporation, also known as ATC. From start to finish, the evidence led to a chilling and horrifying revelation of the company's mysterious "Origin" project.

ATC had created an army of cloned super soldiers that could be commanded telepathically by a clone commander. That commander was Paxton Fettel. Only a few days before the situation broke loose, the psychotic Fettel mysteriously escaped from his high-security cell and slaughtered anyone and everyone in his way with the help of his clone soldiers.

But there was more; Harlan Wade, the man in charge of Origin, used his own eight-year-old daughter Alma as the first step in the process because of her affinity in the art of telepathy. Harlan's research argued that strength in the supernatural was hereditary, so a mother or father of the child in question would undoubtedly have the heightened awareness and mental strength required to command an entire army telepathically. At fifteen she was impregnated against her will and went into a coma-induced labor. She gave birth to two children; Paxton and another child who Betters still didn't know.

Sick bastard, Betters thought, Used his own flesh and blood for a science experiment. Secretly, Betters wished he had been the one to wring Harlan Wade by his neck, but so far, intel reports were confirming his death inside the Armacham compound when it blew. There was more to the story, of course, but Betters didn't care to remember.

Betters turned to the radio equipment on his cluttered desk and cranked the volume some more. A rescue Blackhawk chopper had left for Auburn a few minutes ago to find the new point man. It was unlikely he'd gotten far from the blast, but right now, after what they'd seen over the past few days, Betters was willing to believe Santa really existed.

Betters took another gulp of scotch and closed his eyes, hoping the nightmare would soon be over.

- - - - -

Jin Sun-Kwon and Captain Holiday were en route to the site of the Auburn Incident onboard a noisy Blackhawk. At least that was what the senator had called it. It was a lot more than a simple "incident", but for right now, a simple word would have to suffice as the label for mysterious event.

Captain Holiday had been with Delta Force for ten years and was used to the chopper's swaying and jolting as the pilot guided the faithful beast through the dust-filled air above Auburn. Jin, on the other hand, preferred to sit on the floor of the chopper as it churned her stomach and reminded her of her lack food in the last fifteen hours.

Jin's eyes scanned the scene below as the dust settled. It was only a few minutes after the blast but she had to see something, anything. She had to know he was all right.

"How far are we from the blast?" Jin shouted up towards the pilot.

"About five miles." The pilot dutifully responded, "Damn! That's one hell of a mushroom."

Jin turned her gaze back towards the sky. The mushroom cloud from the reactor explosion hung ominously in midair as if time had frozen still. The nuclear reactor was a very small yield, but the government was likely going to quarantine Auburn indefinitely.

They should, Jin thought, For once the government did something right. This whole place needs to go to hell.

She had no idea how right she would be…