Chapter Five: The Disappearance

It was getting late in the day. Nobody said anything for fear of being shot. By Darkness, rebels, or mercenaries, it was anybody's guess. The group was all spread out as not to be seen very easily. Burrito was in back. He was supposed to be watching the back too, but couldn't help but look at the magnificent ruins that lay in front of them.

"Men, form up." They quickly rushed together to form ranks in front of their superior. Taco was up front waiting patiently when Burrito finally caught up. Taco looked them over very quickly and continued on. Out of nowhere Windows just stops and begins to say something, "That's…"

"The Washington Capitol," Private Glorfingle cut in, "Aye, a magnificent structure, until it was bombed."

Burrito only had to think for a second before he remembered what happened. "Just another reason to hate the Darkness." Everybody looked at Burrito like he was crazy. "What? I'm not a clown all the damn time!"

Taco chuckled and said, "Magnificent indeed, but the same can be said for the rest of the world."

As the sun started to go down Taco decided that it would be best to let his men rest up after a couple of restless nights, but he needed to find a standing building in order to do that. As the sun finally hit the horizon, one could look anywhere around himself and see a cloud of dust in every direction.

Finally as they came up to the Capitol building, a statehouse looked like the sturdiest building around. Hell it looked good enough to camp in too. "We are going to take shelter in that statehouse across the street from the Capitol. Get in there, check for hostiles, and set up camp. Tonight, we rest easy." Taco's words were like music to Burrito's ears, besides they all needed a little sleep.

Windows pulled out his stun rifle and pistol and readied both. He was starting to head in when all of a sudden he heard, "Get in there Private." Taco was looking at Glorfingle to go in instead of Windows? Burrito decided not to question it.

"What? Why me?" Glorfingle looked nervous.

"Because you haven't really cleaned the smell of urine from your trousers. Maybe that alone will be enough to flush out whatever's in there." Taco said with a serious face.

"We don't even know if anybody's in there, sir." Yep, Glorfingle was nervous and everybody knew it. "Besides, I'm a little nervous about this whole thing…"

Windows then pushed Glorfingle inside and followed him in. Waiting outside was a bitch, they were exposed enough to be taken out by an ambush, even with Burrito's rocket launcher. "All clear."

Windows said from inside. Outside was too quiet for Burrito. They others still went in slowly ready for a trap at any moment. Katya was the last to enter, as which point General Taco motioned for everyone to stand down.

"Well done. See private? No reason to be nervous." Stated Taco.

"Yeah, well, nobody's here…" started Glorfingle.

Windows cut him off. "He meant your efficiency. Even I'm not that fast."

Neil was about to open his mouth but then quickly shut it realizing that he had just been complimented. Slayer called out to the others, "Over here!" The team rushed to his position to see Slayer standing as a doorway. As Burrito looked through it he saw that it went downstairs. "A staircase, it leads down."

Taco nodded, pulled out a flashlight, and before anybody had a chance to say anything, he moved downstairs. Ghost did the same and quickly fallowed. Windows tried to follow but got blocked by Katya. Right at that moment Burrito just happened to bump into Windows and knocked him down. "Sorry sir."

Ghost came back from the basement and gave his report. "It's a huge room. 100 meters by 100 meters at best, plenty of room to roam and take a good nap without necessarily bugging anybody. Or waking up in each other's sweat, Burrito thought. Taco started shouting orders; according to him he and Windows were on first guard duty. Burrito and Ghost were on final guard duty, which meant that they got at most, a 12-hour sleep with no interruptions. Something that they direly needed. As Burrito drifted off he sung Green Day in his head, reliving the past and trying to forget about the war all at one time. The room offered a easy way to go to sleep being so dark. Burrito's eyelids started to feel heavy and he drifted off to sleep.

When he awoke he tried to open his eyes but there was something over them. He tried to maneuver his hands to take off whatever was on them but they were tied up. He now noticed that there was something over his mouth as well. He tried to wiggle out of his sleeping bag but then noticed that the end of it had also been shut off. He had nowhere to go. He moved around as much as he could to try and see if the others were anywhere, he just couldn't get out. He was looking for something to help him but found nothing. Well isn't this just great, he thought to himself. The ground seemed to be moving, he had just now noticed it. Either that or he was personally being moved. All he could do was wait and conserve his energy till he got out of the situation that he was in. He started singing Green Day in his head, hoping that someone friendly was close by.