I watched, fascinated by that monster as Sam hooked an IV up to him.
Well, I wasn't exactly fascinated… just too fucking out of it to move my head.
My head did, however, turn of its own accord when the guys came back in. Sarge had someone thrown over his shoulder, and so did John.
"Destroyer?" Duke asked… I could hear his heartbreak in his voice.
"And Portman." I may not have liked the bastard… okay, that was an understatement, I hated the fucker, but he was still part of the team. We were a family… albeit a very fucked in the head family, but a family none the less.
What the fuck happened, man?" Duke asked as Sarge sat Destroyer down. "I got him, I got him." He grabbed Destroyer and held he close. "Destroyer, I got you, man. What's up, man?" I could tell he was trying to keep his tears at bay. Sarge shot him a look. He was a privateer, he wasn't supposed to be showing any emotion, especially when he was on a mission. There was time enough later for that, or so we were told.
John tossed Portman down on a gurney. He didn't care too much for him either.
"What the hell is this?" Sarge asked Sam pointing to the demon formerly know as Dr, Carmack. I raised my hand like a kid in a class room. Damn, whatever Sam gave me was some good shit!
"And whose goddamn blood is on that window?" The memory of that brought me back to a sober state of mind, and I dropped my hand.
"Goat's." Sam told him. "He killed himself."
"What do you mean he killed himself? He was already dead!" I had to give him that; he was in the dark as to what was going on.
"It is Goat's." I rasped. Sarge looked over at me like he was surprised I was still alive. Get in line, Princess.
"He was changing into one of these motherfuckers and he killed himself." Duke yelled out his pain.
"He didn't want to be one of them… he was too good." Damn my throat was painful.
They started talking again, yelling really, but all I could focus on was Duke and how torn up he was about the death of Destroyer.
He probably felt the same as I did about Goat.
"What are you people working on up here?" Sarge yelled. I'd fucking like to know the answer to that question.
"We're analyzing bones, artifacts. We're not doing anything like this." Sam said, trying to make him understand. I couldn't tell if she was sincere or if she was lying. But if you don't know, then it's always the safer bet to believe they are lying… the lesser of two evils and all.
"Then what the FUCK is that?" Sarge yelled, pointing to the demon formally know as Dr. Carmack.
Sam said something about genetic mutations or viruses. Basically, she didn't know shit.
Big fucking surprise. A sharp pain shot through my stomach. It took me a moment to regain my senses.
"Dr. Carmack's condition… is irreversible…" Sarge pulled out his Desert Eagle and shot the demon in the mouth. Sam screamed. "Because Carmack's condition is that… he's dead."
Holy Shit! I think I missed something while I was in my pain and drug induced stupor.
I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness, but I fought it off. By the time I was able to focus, John, Sam, and Sarge were looking at the computer on my left, Sam sounded like she was about to have a panic attack. I sat up as much as I could.
Fuck, that hurt like a son of a bitch.
Dr. Carmack was on the screen. He was talking about something, then that something was injected into a man.
"He reconstructed chromosome mutation on a human subject." John said.
That's unethical! What the fuck are these bastards up to here! What chromosomes were they mutating? Why is the room spinning worse than I cheap carnival ride?
"We were never gonna do human studies." Sam was desperate to make Sarge understand that she didn't know anything about it.
"What the hell are we looking at?" I tried to voice the fact that I second that, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen.
"Genesis, chapter 1." Yeah, Reaps wasn't creeping me out at all.
They put the dude in some kind of holding tank, and he started to freak out… and change. The tape jumped to a few minute later and the man's body started to contort, bones broke and reset in a different shape, and his body jerked violently. The tape continued to jump a few minutes at a time. The words "Hell Knight" scrolled across the screen in blocky letters. Yeah, the dude was a multiple murderer… and they were doing tests that turned him into a demon… what part of fucking logic don't these so called "scientists" understand?
"Chromosome 24." Sam said as she picked up a vial.
But humans only had 23 pairs of chromosomes.
"Oh my God." I was with Reaps on that one.
They created a synthetic chromosome pair? Is that even possible?
Why do I feel like I've missed out on something?
I hate being out of the fucking loop.
Reaper took the disc out of the drive. "This is what you were sent here to protect." Yeah, if I was doing illegal genetic testing on murderers, I'd cover my ass too.
"It doesn't make any sense." Sam couldn't wrap her mind around this. Not like it's an easy fucking thing to understand…
I feel for her… I really do.
"You trusted them. They lied to you. They used you, Sam."
Welcome to my world sweetheart.
"If they perfected xenogenesis--"
"Christ, don't you get it? It's this place. It's hell. It always was." I knew Reaper's parents had died here… so I could see why he thought that…
After what happened to me, I was more than willing to agree with him.
"This shit ends here." Reaper was going to destroy those discs, and I was all for it… but Sarge stopped him.
"I didn't see shit. And I ain't paid to see shit. I have my orders and so do you." He turned to Sam, "Is this everything?" then he yelled, which fucking sucked because my head was starting to kill me…
Huh, that's kinda redundant since I was dieing already anyway.
"I said, is this everything?"
She had more to download. Sarge told her to do it, and ordered John to go with her. The rest of them were going to sweep the area and flush these creatures out.
Which all meant…
They were leaving me here… with the bodies… alone.
Fuck that shit!
John came over to me as I tried to sit up
"Hey, hey." He gently pushed me back down. "Don't do that."
I made to protest. Who the hell did he think he was?
"I'm dieing anyway, John. What does it matter?" I rasped.
"Don't talk like that… you're going to be fine." He said as he pulled the blanket back up over my chest.
"You're a fucking horrible liar." I chuckled, then gasped as pain exploded in my abdomen and stars exploded behind my eyes. He brushed my hair from my face and I fought to regain my breath. I felt Sam come over to my other side and Sarge stand at the foot of my bed.
"She's bleeding into her stomach, John." Sam picked up a syringe and added some type of medicine to it. "If she doesn't get help soon, she's going to die."
"See, told you so." I joked to John.
"I won't let that happen." He told me, looking into my eyes. I chalked it up to already losing so many of our squad. I smiled at him as Sam injected the medicine into my IV and I was thrust into dreams once more.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
We were in the helicopter… Portman just made a joke about asking for pussy and the Kid showing up the next day…
I hate that guy…
But I have to admit, that was fucking funny.
"Don't give me an excuse, Portman." John said as he loaded his gun. "No one here will miss you."
Smartest thing I had heard all day.
"Men, look in." Sarge showed us a recording of what we got from Simcon.
It was some guy named Carmack reporting a level five breech and ordering quarantine procedures to be set in place.
But that wasn't what was interesting…
Something was breaking through the solid steel door.
What the fuck were we getting ourselves into?
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
We landed and watched as the Ark elevator rose up from the ground. We all walked inside, except The Kid… he hesitated.
"You hesitate, people die." Sarge told him. It was The Kid's first mission, so I didn't fault him too much on it… he'll learn.
When we stepped out we were approached by a balding guy with glasses.
Computer nerd.
He introduced himself as Sanford Crosby… Who the hell names their kid Sanford?
His parents must have been sadistic bastards who hated him.
The nerd stuck his hand out to Sarge… Sarge glared at him…
Sarge's glare could've scared the shit out of John Cena... you know, the classic WWE wrestler from 2000… anyway.
I grabbed the guy's hand and did a secret handshake with him…
What! I felt kinda bad for him…
Not his fault he was a moron…
Sarge rolled his eyes at me and the guy looked at me like I was freak.
Join the fucking crowd dickhead…
See if I ever be nice to you again.
We followed needle dick to the Ark.
"Welcome to the Ark, gentleman." I was used to this, but I still wondered if I could make him wet himself if I glared at him.
Almost.
"And… lady."
Duke slapped the back of my head when no one was looking.
What?
"Keep your distance for the core or you might get sucked in." What, this fucker thinks we've never been through the ark before? Dumbass.
Sarge told the guy to shut down the elevator and start the six hour quarantine.
Reaper was the first one through… he didn't look to happy about that.
Can't say that I blamed him…
Fucking hate Ark travel.
Sarge was next, then Goat, then me.
I turned into a silvery blob of mercury, and saw the stars pass by me like a warp speed scene from that ancient TV show, Star-something-or-another.
Then everything changed, and I was back home. I was 13, and was picking wild flowers on the side of the road. I remember what happened as it seemed to happen to me over again. I tried to do everything in my power to stop it. Change the memory into never existing at all, but my body moved of its one accord. I was just suspended in the shell of body.
A black pickup pulled up next to me… a man got out.
No. I refused to relieve this! It's the past, there's nothing I can do to change it… there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.
But you could've. A voice breathed into my ear. You could have stopped this all from ever happening if you truly had wanted to. It was mocking me.
'I wanted to!' I screamed in my mind. 'I never wanted this to happen!'
But you did! It cackled. Deep down, you wanted this.
'I would have rather had died!' I yelled to the voice as a man jumped from the driver's seat, a fire raging so hot in his eyes it would have burned through steel.
'No.'
You were too weak to stop it! You're still weak! You're a liability to the team! He was right, you are worthless! You deserved it! You deserve everything you got! You're weak! You should just kill yourself and do the whole world a favor! It yelled in my ear.
Just as the man reached me, the vision cleared and was filled with the scent of the jungle. The air hung so thick with humidity that walking through it was like trying to slice a frozen stick of butter with a chilled knife. This was the place we had lost Gunner when Reaper went for the decoy. It wasn't his fault, they had fooled us all.
Gunner walked out of the murky, dense forest. Half his head missing just like the last time I had seen his body.
"You're weak! You're the weak link! It was your fault I died… yours alone!" He accused, pointing his finger at me and looking at me with his one eyeball.
More people from my past started to come out, some living, some dead.
"You're weak!" They told me, over and over again and again. They surrounded me as I started spinning. Bloodied hands reached for me, tearing at my clothing and my flesh. "Weak!" They chanted.
Suddenly, a gun appeared in my hands, I checked the chamber… one bullet.
Hands grabbed mine and pushed the gun up, up into my dirt dry mouth.
Do it. The voice urged. My finger moved to the trigger and started to pull.
End it all, now. I squeezed harder.
"Aidan." A soft voice called to me. "Aidan, don't." It was soft yet firm and commanding. To tell you the truth, I was more afraid to ignore an order from the voice than I was one from Sarge.
My finger leapt from the trigger and tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. I knew that voice.
A petite form stepped from the thick foliage, face grim and determined, yet worried and loving at the same time. She walked up to me and pulled the gun from my mouth.
"Grandma?" My voice was strained and my face red from holding the tears back.
"Yes." She nodded, her kind face smiling. A single sob escaped from my chest, it burned a line of fire as it met with my lips. My grandma cupped my cheek with a warm, soft hand. A stark contrast to the others, whose hands were as hard and cold as ice.
"My girl." She patted my cheek softly. "You're not weak… You're strong. And you're going to need every ounce of that strength to get through what is to come." She kissed my forehead. "I am so proud of you… always remember that." She smoothed back my hair. "Now, you must leave this before it consumes you." She pulled away, the others shrinking back from her like it burned just being in her presence. "Go, now!" She ordered, and the world around me melted into a mercury silver haze.
What the fuck was that all about?
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
The Kid and Portman threw up…
Gross.
"Is it always that rough?" The Kid asked.
"Believe me; it used to be a lot rougher." Some guy with a machine for an ass came wheeling out of nowhere. "There was a time when Ark travel was susceptible to, let's say… major turbulence."
"What's he mean?" Kid asked Reaper.
"He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another." I couldn't help but laugh…
And it didn't help that Sarge leaned over to look at the guy's nonexistent ass.
The guy said something about UAC, then introduced himself as Pinky.
After our kill cams were up and running, we all entered into the labs… except Mac, he stayed behind.
Portman was hitting on some chicks… they shot him down…
Good girls.
Then some blond chick came along, Portman switched his attention to her.
"Portman." Sarge scolded.
"Sergeant, this is Dr. Samantha Grimm the UAC science officer assigned to retrieve data from the lab." Grimm? What, was she married to Reaper? She didn't really seem his type, but then again, what the fuck do I know? I don't really remember him with any girls, so I couldn't really say if she was his type or not.
"Sergeant… Hello, John."
"Hello, Samantha."
"Helloo, Samantha!" Sarge and Destroyer looked at Duke. Duke looked around like a kid who had just been caught in the bathroom with a Victoria's Secret catalog.
"We really don't have room for passengers." Uh oh, I felt an argument coming on. I watched as Reaper and Sam quarreled, they had to be siblings. Then she asked Sarge what our orders were…
Fuck, this was not going to turn out good for Reaps.
I was right…
She was coming with us.
DOOMDOOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
We stepped out into the corridor after Goat and Portman made sure there weren't any harmful agents in the atmosphere.
I went along with Sarge and Duke, clearing rooms and marking them with fluorescent marks. The vision I had during Arc travel stored in the back of my mind. No fucking around now, time for business.
We three walked into a room that contained the baddest ass weapons I had ever seen.
Fuck, where do I sign up for this shit!
"I'd hate to see what they lock up." I wouldn't.
Duke asked something about Reaps' sister. I wasn't paying attention; I was looking through the computer at the Bio Force Gun. Holy fucking hell! What the fuck where these people working on? And why the fuck would they need a gun like this?
There was gun fire over the comm.
"All units report contact." I stopped breathing, afraid that I might miss someone calling for help…
These guys were the only family I had. I wasn't about to let some fuckwit start knocking them off.
"God damn it, all units report contact."
"Friendly fire, Sarge. Wasting ghost." Destroyer's voice came on over the comm. I let my breath out…
The Kid was going to know what it felt like to have my foot shoved up his bitch ass.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
Portman and Goat reported movement in Carmack's office…
"CONTACT!" Goat yelled over the comm. "Moving east through Carmack's office! Fast!" The three of us shot out towards the creature's path.
"There!" I shouted as I shot at it.
"Confirmed contact. Moving fast, over south corridor." Sarge said as we chased after… whatever the fuck it was.
"Hold your fire!" It was John. He stepped out of the hall and took the lead.
We chased whatever is was into a dead end. Sarge turned on the lights to reveal one of the missing doctors. He was covered in blood and clutching a severed arm to his chest.
Sam came in and Reaper grabbed her arm.
"Sam, I told you to stay--"
"But he knows me, John."
She tried to talk down the freaked out doctor, but it obviously didn't work…
He reached up… and ripped his own ear off his head.
How in the fuck can someone rip their fucking ear off their own head! Fuck me! What the fuck is going on here? What would make someone do that? Shit!
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
I went along with Goat and Reaper as we tried to flush the fucker over to Kid and Portman.
We crept along quietly until Goat accidentally kicked a container down the stairs.
"God damn it." Goat whispered. John gave Goat a look as the can came to a stop, and sighed. I followed suit and gave Goat a small smile… at least nothing came of it.
I looked over to Goat and watched as he made a perfect cross shaped cut with his hunting knife. I elbowed Reaper and nodded towards Goat.
"I took his name in vain." I had seen the scars on his arm, and even the fresh cuts. But I had never actually seen him do it…
It freaked me out.
Sometimes I hated that he was so devoted.
John wasn't too comfortable with it either. It's hard to see your friend hurting themselves and know you can't do anything to stop them.
Reaper and I exchanged brief glances before continuing down the stairs, letting Goat finish up his ritual.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
We had heard something in genetics, and we re-entered.
There were cages… they were empty…
They were covered in fucking animal entrails.
"Looks like we missed the party." No shittin' Reaper.
"We were just here. What happened to all the animals?" Goat was a little freaked out…
When Goat's freaked out, you know everything isn't peachy fucking keen.
As we walked further in we could see blood splattered over the walls and entrails hanging off the cages…
But that was all that was left of the animals that were there earlier.
Fuck.
There was a sudden growl, and the three of us trained our guns onto someone in a white coat who had their back turned to us. Goat and Reaper brought their guns down, but I kept mine up… my grandma's words coming back to me… Something wasn't right.
Something was completely fucked up here.
"Sir, RRTS. We're here to help." He turned towards us, but turned back around. "Sir, are you okay?"
The guy jerked around and bit the head off of a live rat…
It's times like these when there are no cusswords or combinations of cusswords that can describe how it is you feel.
"Oookay." Well, I guess that was as good as anything… thanks Reaper.
"I think that's no." I said to John as the three of us looked on in disgust.
"Yeah, that's no." He nodded.
The thing stuffed the rest of the rat into his mouth and slurped the tail up like spaghetti…
Spaghetti from hell.
He grabbed a knife.
"No, no, no. Sir, put it down." John ordered. It charged us.
We shot him…
Shit.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
We were making our way out into the hallway when there was a growl from inside the genetics room. We turned just as something jumped out of the ceiling…
Something fucking huge.
We shot at it as it ran away…
Sane people would have run in the opposite direction…
But we're not sane people…
We're Marines.
"Reaper, what have you got?" Sarge came over the comm.
"We're chasing something."
"What do you mean something?"
"Something big, not human."
"God Damn It! Give me a confirmation on what you're seeing."
How the fuck are we supposed to do that when we don't even know what the fuck we're seeing!
"Reaper." Goat said, gun pointing to an open grate.
"It's in the sewer."
Ew.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
"And I though 'being in the shit' was a figure of speech."
Apparently not.
"Get in the goddamn hole, Portman."
We jumped down into the nastiest shit I had ever seen in my entire life.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Pinky told us about the tunnel, and Sarge told Destroyer to cover the exit… the rest of us slopped on.
We came upon a blood stained lab coat… Willits.
This did not bode well.
"Be sober, be vigilant… because you adversary, the devil… walketh about seeking whom he may devour." I fucking hated when he did that.
"That's real comforting, Goat. That ain't freaking me out at all." Portman said just seconds before he was pulled under the sludge, screaming.
Reaper, Goat, and I grabbed for him. Fuck, he was heavy!
After almost losing him, his head finally broke the surface and we hauled his ass up,
"Portman, what the hell happened?" Sarge demanded.
"I fell in the damn hole. Shit." Stupid fucking dipshit.
"Everybody on me. And watch you goddamn footing. Move."
And I though I was in the suck earlier.
Further on, the tunnel split into three different directions.
"Goat, Cowboy, straight ahead."
"Sir."
"Yes, sir."
"Shit." Goat said as his light went started going out.
"Fuck." My light had broken back when I was trying to help save Portman's ass… if his light went out, we were screwed.
"Goat, Cowboy, I think there's something coming up on you." Reaper's voice floated through the comm.
We turned around just as his light went out… fucking brilliant.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
Oh, what ever will happen next? Stay tuned to find out! R&R!
Okay, so now we're getting into the real story. I hop you all enjoyed!
LA Knight: I'm glad you enjoy this! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when people like my stories -… course, it is 102 here so it could just be the heat.
To answer your questions:
Ah! That, my young padawan, is a mystery that will remain just that, a mystery, for now, at least.
No, Portman was the guy they beat the crap out of, it was before he joined the RRTS.
Lamminator: I'm glad you were able to discern my writing style for this story. I tried to make it as un-confusing as possible. I'm also glad you like how I did it. I got lucky when I found the book, it was at Hastings and it was the last one left. I'm glad you like the "princess" bit, it's one of my favorite lines in the story… which is why it showed up again in this chapter. I hope you like it!
New chapter up soon!
Amanda