My lonely road Ch.7 Discovery and Rage
Exeter traversed through the vast network of caves and tunnels, each time finding a body of a fallen comrade here and there. He was nearing the gate checkpoint, where he had stationed Angseth, in hopes of keeping her safe. For a reason unknown to Exeter, he was hoping to find her alive, even though there were no others. No chance. There, next to the holo-gate controls was her body.
"No." he muttered to himself. Exeter began ramming against the gate, doing his best to try to open this barricade. It did not budge a standard centimeter, not even wiggle. He pulled out the beam sword and in a flash, cut it down like webbing.
He rushed toward her perfectly intact corpse. Perhaps she was sleeping, or maybe she was in a coma, or knocked out. She couldn't be dead, Exeter though desperately. But closer examination of the body and the swarm of flies around it proved that she was indeed dead, but had not died to long ago.
His armor computer estimates she had been dead for thirteen standard hours. A small tunnel to his left and the claw marks betrayed the killer; a splinter. Exeter's heart nearly stopped, sending chills through his armor. He had been unable to save her, or anyone else for that matter. Exeter kneeled beside her.
He removed her helmet, letting down her long, lush auburn hair. Even in death, she looked tranquil. He removed his own helmet to get a better look at Angseth. As soon as he did, the smell of rotting flesh blasted his face, but he didn't care.
"I… I'm sorry…" whispered in her ear. He was having a difficult time letting out the right words.
"I couldn't… I couldn't save you… or anyone else… I'm sorry." He stammered, attempting to hold back tears. He touched her face, which vas cold, yet fragile. Exeter wished above anything that he could have saved her, but he knew very well it was not to be.
Then for a moment, it looked as if she smiled, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. Exeter too attempted to smile, but was unable to. He took another look at her, then put on his helmet and commenced digging a hole.
After a few minutes, it was deep enough to fit a body in it. Exeter looked at her beauty one last time, then lowered her in and covered it, patting the dirt on top to be extremely flat. He stuck a stick on top, and placed her helmet on it. On the soft soil, he wrote: ANGSETH R.I.P. He picked his gear and began to leave, but stopped himself. Exeter looked at the beam saber and held it tightly in his hands.
"For you…" he muttered, and walked away, with a single salty tear, glistening down his armor.
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Exeter slid for cover as energized bullets ricocheted past him. He breathed heavily, as he had to dodge the "zombies". Exeter had seen something extremely disturbing; the bodies of fellow GF troopers had come back to life, engulfed in dark purple clouds.
At first, he had thought that they had been faking death. He was wrong, very wrong. His computer scanner showed that the corpses were indeed dead, but were infested with some sort of parasite, which was controlling the bodies.
Once the "zombies" caught sign of him, they instantly opened fire, surprising him. Exeter fired a missile at one, and sent it flying. However they simply got back up if they were hit. He needed to get out of there, and fast. Exeter spotted a door just a few meters away, and dashed toward it. He tried to open it, but it was as if the door was jammed.
"Damn door..." he growled under his breath as he fired shot after shot at the door. The, as if by luck, it opened. Exeter dived to the other side, and was able to throw a grenade at the zombies behind him.
There was a great flash of light, several shrieks, then complete silence. He was panting heavily, and needed rest. In front of him about 50 yards away was an enormous tree with many giant pillars surrounding it. And at the base was a single door. Exeter decided to go through the door, to see what lay behind it.
As he walked toward it, the hidden cocoons burst, and out came several splinters. The rage that Exeter had experienced before consumed him again. He sprinted at mach speeds toward the first one and grabbed it.
With his bare hands, he ripped it into two, spewing green fluid everywhere. He sped off to the second and third and stomped on them like mochtroids. It seemed that this was the place of a splinter pack, as a dozen splinters burst out of there cocoons. Seemingly out of nowhere, a large alpha splinter appeared.
This alpha was good and riled up, but it did not matter to Exeter. He dropped everything he had (except the beam sword.) and stampeded the giant bugs. He tore through the first three with his left hand, and crushed another with his right.
He then activated his bema sword, revealing a pulsing yellow energy blade. The splinters were taken a back by the bright weapon, but renewed their onslaught with fury. Exeter did not hesitate, lashed at six splinters that tried to attack from the rear.
With amazing precision and agility, he sliced through all of them, leaving only two small splinters and the alpha. The alpha began falsely attacking him, cleverly dodging his blade at the last second, distracting Exeter from the real threat.
The two splinters jumped at Exeter's hand, successfully knocking it out of his relaxed grip, but also ensured their doom. No sooner were they squashed. Exeter took off, circling around the alpha and ramming into it from behind.
The splinter smashed into the forward wall and vainly to get on its legs. Exeter used his hand as a spear and penetrated through the splinter, his hand exiting through its "eyes".
The alpha splinter let out an ear splitting shriek and died, but Exeter wasn't through yet. He smashed its body until nothing was left but its sharp legs. Just as the rage came, it disappeared in record speed. Exeter looked at it one more time, picked up his weapons, gear, and beam sword and walked through the door.