I'll tell you what I can. So much has come to me in the past few hours, and being with you has really brought the memories flooding back. It's just that I feel so strange about them, like they're not memories, but fragments of nightmares.
But I'll tell you them anyway.
Me and Margarette transferred to Mars shortly after you were deported there, but I didn't want to approach you too soon. You needed your space after what happened on Earth. So I waited. We were no more than security guards for UAC, and at that time didn't even know what they were really doing. We knew they were big on the latest technological projects, but me, a lowly marine on guard duty, could never be in on their secret projects.
The gateways.
Before we could secretly learn more about them, they exploded with life--from Hell. The teleportation gates had connected Phobos and Deimos, and now they were connected with doom. Ette, me, and my platoon were teleported with the UAC crew to do what we could, which was basically nothing but die.
I saw you, with your team. You in your biohazard outifit, by then almost in shreds, with a precious few humans. I remember taking my platoon to team up with you. How our reunion was cut short by duty. Hell, you almost killed me when you saw me loping to you from the dark. Thought I was a zombie.
I remember us making camp near the gateway with guards posted to watch it. Do you remember how many monsters came though that night? And how many marines they took back to Hell with them? How none of us actually slept, as we waited for the next scream to be our own?
I was thinking about Margarette when I left. Worried that some demon would get her. I guess I was being really crazy, but we were sitting ducks! I actually thought I could get the jerk in charge myself. If I would die, it would be for her.
So, giving Ette a kiss that almost woke her up, I took my gear and myself through the gateway.
Turned out it was just a minor portal that took me on the other side of the moon. Not Hell. I recognized the place as a compound of apartments that were being built as an attempt to colonize the moon. It was like a ghost town: a school, a playground, houses, pools, all of it. No people. No wind. No sounds. The artificial atmosphere made the place seem like an ant farm.
I had no idea where I was going, so I just walked straight. When I crept through the open door of the closest apartment, I jumped to see someone sitting on the couch. At first I thought she was dead. But when I came near, she jerked her face to me and snarled. Half her hair was gone and she was covered with shiny blood. In her half eaten hand was a pistol, and it was pointed at my face.
I threw myself down as the shot rang above me, and leaped on her. The gun skittered away but still she tried to kill me, this time with her fingernails and teeth. The butt of my rifle silenced her. Forever.
Not soon after that attack came more. The rest of the family. 2 kids, and the dad. I knew I was crying as I shot them. At least they left bullets and shells.
I stumbled out of there and spent the rest of the day doing more of the same: killing to avoid being killed. It was fun pretending in school, but it wasn't this time. But whenever I hesitated to kill a zombie cornered before me, I just imagined that creature coming after Ette. And I'd blow his brains out.
Yep. Ette died many, many times in my head that day.
My day ended when I was too fatigued to continue. So I holed up in a closet of an apartment I had cleared. Even fear couldn't keep my exhausted body awake that night.
When I woke up, I heard scratching at the door, and snuffling. The smell of rotting flesh and bad breath. O God, I was so fucking scared, Flynn. There was a monster out there, waiting for me to come out! I cursed myself for deciding to sleep in a closet, and then worried that those thoughts would be my last.
So I imagined waking up in Ette's arms late on a Saturday morning as I kicked the door open, shotgun ready.
The monster didn't stand a chance. He was eating pellets and I was still wailing on him. When I finally got a grip, I felt better. Ready to get on with my mission.
I was shocked to see the corpse I left behind. Like a tall human, thick brown skin. Only his skin was covered with evil little spikes, or horns. Black tongue lolling out, red eyes staring up at me.
I shivered with apprehension, not wanting to imagine what else I'd meet from Hell.
But this guy brought friends. They were waiting for me in the playground outside the apartment. The scattered remains of humans littered the sand. I screamed as I blasted at the monsters. One direct shot to the head would take one out, but I have never been the best shot. Especially when it counted.
I ran out of shells and there were still 3 demons gunning for me. A blast of fire from one of them scorched my chest armor off and reddened the skin beneath. Another blast heated my pistol I grabbed from my holster so bad I had to toss it.
I was weaponless.
So I ran, shedding heavy and useless items from my belt and what was left of my vest as I pounded through the complex. It seemed like there was no end to it, and every time I passed a door, I thought another monster would pop out of it.
One of the demons cornered me, and it seemed to grin as it leaned close to my face. Snuffing. I felt myself filled with rage as I cracked his jaw with my fist. My torrent of blows killed him and left me free to get out of that alcove and keep running.
My legs literal gave out after hours of sprinting, and I fell on my face. I crunched the dirt in my hands, moaning, out of pain and fear. It's over, I kept saying to myself, and even thinking about Ette couldn't pacify me.
Then I heard a hiss, like when you put cold water on a hot stove, only much louder. And it was behind me. I got up and faced the demon, though I didn't expect to live. I saw something next to him, so I launched myself at it, sliding right past the monster, who just stood there, taken aback. I picked up the shard of glass I saw glinting at me and slashed at the demon with it. I didn't hit him, but I was able to back him off a bit.
Then when he lunged at me, I lunged at him. My shard snaked between his legs, slicing up his inner thigh. He yelped, but only got madder. Blood spurted from the wound and I was so close I could smell it.
Gotta admit I was surprised to see it was like human blood. Even after all those other killings, this was the first time I noticed that.
As we locked ourselves in this combat, something else decided to watch. I saw him from the corner of my eye, and I whimpered with fear. I couldn't even deal with the hideous creature staring at me, with this brown guy trying to kill me!
From what I could see without really looking, the other monster was human like, well I that human had lost the hair and skin of its face and it had gone through a year long fast. And if it could conjure balls of flame at my feet. I jerked out of the way, still feeling the brutal heat, and the brown jumped too. Nice to know he got safe.
The demon was going to try again, and if I didn't get out of there fast, he would succeed. I sprinted, no where in particular, letting my terror push me harder than I ever could without it. When I felt my hips buckling I at last saw something I could run to: a portal.
Too bad the monsters were also sprinters. Before I could get to the relative safety of the portal, the brown guy scratched at my face. I grabbed him by the shoulder and rammed the shard through his chest, while he ripped open my throat.
And that, Flynn, is where the nightmare ends.