Tenchi Survivor
Day 16
Jose Philipe Mendola
It was 10:00 when the cameraman showed up at Jose's doorstep. After a brief pause of silence, probably Jose checking his pistol, Jose opened the door. The cameraman followed Jose into his shack. Everything looked like it was in working order, but one could never tell with Jose.
'So what have you been up to all morning?' The cameraman asked. Jose led him out the back door and into what would serve as a backyard.
It was littered with drums of gasoline and boxes of ivory soap.
'Say Jose,' the cameraman asked 'what's with the drums of gas?'
'Oh,' Jose said as if he just realized that he neglected to cover them 'they're drums of gas for my new product I'm marketing.'
'Interesting.' The cameraman said 'and the soap?'
'Well, I'm taking a bowie knife to the bars and shaving them, so once I have enough I can add gas to it, mix it until it has the consistency of clay, stuff it into bottles and market it as 'Jose's Brand Napalm'. Look.'
Jose held up his beta bottle. It had a green label with a pencil shade of his face. Above it, in orange lettering, the letters read 'Jose's Brand Napalm'. Below Jose's mug was the trademarked, copyrighted phrase 'Defiantly NOT for Drinking'.
'Jose,' the cameraman said 'you're insane.'
'That I am.' Jose said 'I tend to get that a lot.'
'So what's on the agenda today?' The cameramen asked.
'The what now?' Jose asked.
'What's the game plan? You can't just let the survivors off for the day. There's only three of them left.'
'You're right.' Jose said as he dropped the bottle of napalm 'I have to think of something extremely evil. Something SO horrible, it will be remembered in history forever.'
'So start thinking.' The cameraman replied 'I'm sure that no one wants to see you hang around here all day making Napalm.'
'Are you sure?' Jose asked.
'Almost 100% Jose.' The cameraman answered.
'Ok, ok,' Jose said 'let's see, we already had special guests, had a scavenger hunt, did a water test, had BT, ate a cast member, shot some stuff-' Jose trailed off.
'Don't tell me your out of ideas?' The cameraman pressed.
'Be still Taggart, be still.' Jose urged 'My mind is a raging torrent of ideas, cascading into a pool of creativity.'
'Ditto.' The cameraman remarked.
'Ditto?' Jose asked 'Ditto, you pin headed putz? I'm not out of ideas; I just need to think harder. Quickly, hand me the reader polls.'
The cameraman handed Jose a small folder.
'Now let's see what the readers want.' Jose cracked the seal and pulled out a single paper. 'This is it?' Jose asked 'this is IT for readers?'
'I'm afraid so.' The cameraman said 'Is it still possible to work off of it?'
'Just so long as at least two of them want the same thing. Let's see, according to this poll, they want to see more sex, cast and crew interviews, me to stop broadcasting all together, a call in radio show, the cast of Sailor Moon to come back and put on a 21+ show, a large pepperoni and green peppers, mushroom, olives, chives, a death threat to me and finally thoughts thus far of the survivors on the island.'
'Well that sounds promising.' The cameraman said.
'You really think the other 4 people that read this will mind if we interview the cast again?'
'As long as you keep it interesting.' The cameraman offered.
'Well, if that's what it's going to take, round up all of the survivors and we'll do another interview.'
'Very cool.' The cameraman said 'I'll go get them.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito looked up from his breakfast of Squid and dirt.
'I feel a disturbance in the Force.' He said.
'What?' Ryoko asked as she looked up from the hole she was scraping the rest of her 'food' into.
'It's as if a great pain will come to 3 people very soon.'
'It's probably another of Katsuhito's feelings he has just before something horrible happens.' Mihoshi said 'just ignore it.'
'What should we do?' Ryoko asked 'What's going to happen?'
'I don't know exactly.' Katsuhito admitted 'but I don't think I want to be here when it does. I suggest we leave right now.'
'Where to?' Mihoshi asked.
'Anywhere but here.' Ryoko said as she began to look around and sweat 'If Katsuhito says something is going to happen, it's going to.'
'I'm getting out of here!' Katsuhito yelled.
'Wait up!' Ryoko shouted as she ran after him 'I'm right behind you.'
Mihoshi stood on the spot and watched Ryoko and Katsuhito run off.
'I don't get it.' She said to no one 'why would they just take off like that?'
The cameraman came out of the foliage to the right of the camera. He looked around the nearly desolate campsite and walked over toward Mihoshi.
'Where did everyone go?' He asked her.
Mihoshi shrugged.
'I don't know. Katsuhito got another one of his feelings and the two of them took off.'
The cameraman considered the information he was given.
'That's not a good thing.' Jose is not going to be a happy camper.'
'Why's that?' Mihoshi asked 'Did he have something planned?'
'Well, not really, but he was inspired by what the readers want.'
'We have readers?' Mihoshi asked in astonishment.
'I guess so.' The cameraman replied 'well, I have to tell Jose that the rest of his cast took off on him. You should probably come with me.'
Mihoshi shrugged and smiled.
'OK.' She said 'Works for me.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'So they just took off, huh?' Jose asked.
'That's about the size of it.' Mihoshi replied.
'What are the odds that they got off the island?' The cameraman asked.
'Not good at all.' Jose reported 'And if they did, I'd just put contingent B into affect.'
'Contingent B?' Mihoshi asked.
'I've taken every possible thing on this island and the water around it and added an enzyme. Once that enzyme is ingested, if searches the body for host cells. Once it has a firm hold on the body, the body requires more of the enzyme to keep its host alive. If the enzyme is not fed, said person will, within 10 hours, slip into a coma and die.'
'So what about the survivors that left the island already?' Mihoshi asked, showing no signs of fear.
'Simple.' Jose said 'They go through a decontamination process before they reach the mainland.'
'And what happens if the decontamination process is not available or is not operational?' Mihoshi questioned, almost getting technical.
'Simply put,' the cameraman said 'all they have to do is eat a food good that has an ant enzyme added to it. Within 10 minutes, the enzyme is totally wiped out of the system.'
'How were you able to conjure this up without the public of the FDA knowing about this?' Mihoshi questioned.
Damn, this girl was getting too chatty. Jose put his hands behind his back and pulled a syringe filled with a clear liquid out of a small case that was connected to his belt loop.
'Well, I had another company aid me in that.' Jose said calmly, ready to jab this girl in the neck and dispose of her body in the ocean 'they were nice enough to take my offer and make the chemical for me. Perhaps you are familiar with Umbrella Corporation?'
Mihoshi thought about it for a minute. Jose got ready to jab her and inject the contents into her blood stream.
'Nope.' She finally said 'Never heard of them.'
Jose was startled.
'Never?' He asked as he replaced the needle.
'Nope. The only umbrella I know of is the one that you use to keep the rain off of your head.'
'Well that's a relief.' Jose said 'I'm going to go suit up and then the three of us will go out looking for these two AWOL survivors.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On the other side of the island, a black helicopter hovered 50 feet above the trees. On the left side of the aircraft, a sliding door opened. Two ropes, tied off on an eyehook on the floor of the chopper, were dropped. Two men in black assault gear, complete with armor, gas mask and Kevlar helmet slid down the lines.
Crashing through the trees, they landed on their feet. One of the assault troopers signaled to the helicopter. Seconds later, it moved away from the island.
The two black clad troopers un-slung their MP5's and gave a quick look around them. Once eye contact was made between them, one signaled to the other. They hurried off into the blind that was the jungle, handcuffs and 9mm pistols tightly packed on their belts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito made no movement when the men in assault gear first touched down. He was in the bushes three feet away from one when they ran by. Jose must have wanted them back really badly if he had sent for backup. He and Ryoko would have to be extra careful.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose walked out of his hut, connecting the last few pieces of his armor. On Jose's right arm, he wore what looked like an elbow long metal-like glove. Centered on his forearm was a small computer. The armor that covered his chest had bend points that made movement very easy. Jose's legs were similarly armored, with bendable points at his knees, thighs, feet and ankles. Jose's left arm was armored as well, bending at the shoulder, elbow and wrist with individual fingers at the end. All extremities were allowed enough room in the armor to flex when moved. Jose carried a helmet under his left arm. It was fused with computer chips and a visor so he would be able to see out of it.
All of this armor looked very familiar when Jose picked up the staff that's metallic brown and worn silver color matched the suit. The staff itself had what looked like a charge port on the bottom and a nasty point on the other end. The staff was fastened to his back.
'Barely weighs a thing.' Jose said as he walked toward the cameraman and Mihoshi.
'What IS it?' Mihoshi asked.
'This is a reproduction of the MCJX24. Predator's armor.'
'I remember that movie.' Mihoshi said 'It used to give me nightmares.'
'Me too.' Jose admitted 'but all of that changed after I bought a working model of his battle suit. This makes urban and jungle warfare possible. This has various capabilities that range from invisibility to sound analyzing. This is the first field test that I'm about to do with it, but I've been screwing around with it since I bought it.'
'It looks like it came right out of the movie.' Mihoshi marveled.
'The only problem is,' Jose began as he put on the helmet and fastened it.
Jose spoke again to finish his sentence, but this time the words pronounced sounded like gravel.
'The voice distortion.'
'That sounds horrible.' The cameraman observed.
Jose shrugged and opened a mouthpiece. It retracted into the helmet.
'There's nothing I can do about that part. I had it looked at by everyone from Exerter to Dr. Oak. They can't do anything for me. But that's ok I suppose. Your not really suppose to talk when your assaulting anyway.'
'Good point.' The cameraman said 'but how is this going to work? How am I suppose to be able to follow you if your cloaked?'
'I'm not going to use that until I detect one of the survivors. After that, just look for signs that I'm around.'
'Got it.' The cameraman replied.
'Now let's move. We have to find these survivors.'
'What about me?' Mihoshi asked.
'You stay with the cameraman.' Jose said as he put a claw imbedded hand on Mihoshi's shoulder, causing to cringe a little in fear 'If anything too horrible happens, he has a pistol.'
The cameraman nodded as he flashed his Glok.
'Now let's get moving.' Jose said as he punched a few buttons, causing the mouthpiece to slide back into place and headed into the jungle. The cameraman and Mihoshi followed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two troopers had their automatic weapons trained on the front and back of the thatched hut they crept towards. Near the shelter, a fire pit still smoldered. Obviously, it had been used only a few hours or less ago. Hugging the edge of the tree line, the troopers moved up to the shelter.
Empty.
There were signs of people inhabiting this shelter. Bedrolls, small bags of clothes and some miscellaneous food items. Stepping out of the shelter, one of the black clad troopers unclipped a radio from his belt. Pressing the button to test the reception, he held down the button. He said into it:
'Alpha Omega, this is recovery unit 1. Signs of more than one person present. Request backup immediately.'
'Received Recovery Unit 1. Additional troops en route. Proceed to checkpoint 2.'
'Roger.' The trooper said 'Recovery Unit 1 out.'
The trooper clipped the radio back on his belt and signaled to the other that was standing rear guard. They ran off down a path that would take them deeper into the jungle and, unknown to them, to Jose's house, and checkpoint 2.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko had seen them too. Katsuhito was right. They ran past her, almost tripping over her. She had teleported away just in time. They ran up the beach and stormed the shelter. One of them had used his radio, but Ryoko could not tell what he was saying.
This was defiantly bad. Jose was really bent on finding them.
Ryoko watched as the troops ran off down the path toward Jose's house. Ryoko ran in the opposite direction, occasionally looking behind her for black clad Kevlar wearing troops.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Scanners are not picking up much.' Jose said thought his voice scrambling helmet. 'Mostly small animals.'
'But what do you plan on doing once you find them? The cameraman asked 'you really can't kill them and keep their skulls as trophies.'
'Didn't plan on it.' Jose rumbled 'I'm just going to get them one by one and drag them back for an interview.'
'Sounds logical.' Mihoshi said.
Jose's armband began to flash and beep. Jose brought it up to his visor. Content with the information, Jose hit a few buttons. The beeping from the band ceased, and a single beep came from the helmet.
'What was that?' the cameraman asked.
Jose hit a few more buttons and the mouthpiece slid back into the helmet.
'Sources indicate human movement about 100 yards to my right. I've turned off the radar and clicked on the infrared vision.'
'Groovy.' The cameraman said 'How's it look?'
'Pretty colorful.' Jose reported 'You are both pretty hot.'
'Thank you.' Mihoshi giggled.
'Well get going.' The cameraman said 'I don't want to be out here at night. That's when the big animals come out.'
'There are worse things out here than big animals.' Jose said as the mouthpiece slid back into place.
'Like what?' Mihoshi asked.
The reply sounded like rocks in a blender.
'Like me.'
Jose unhooked his staff, punched a few combinations into his computer and the suit went into cloaking mode. That done, he went off to find Katsuhito and Ryoko.
'This should keep him busy for a while.' The cameraman said as he followed the path of a shimmering, Jose shaped space of air.
Jose crouched, muscle tensing, and jumped into a nearby tree.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two black clad troopers arrived at their 2nd checkpoint. Only now did they see that a single level house occupied the mapped clearing.
Approaching from the front of the building, the troopers quickly opened the door and did a very quick check of the house. No one was found.
They exited out of the back door and came upon a dangerous picture.
Someone had been making firebombs earlier. If said person knew they were here and had a few bottles of this stuff with them, this could be dangerous.
The two troopers were so caught up in the scene that they did not hear the other three troopers until they hit the ground from a second chopper. The helicopter that they came in was even now moving away.
They made contact and moved out into the jungle, intent on finding Jose.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito turned around in mid-run and stopped. He was sure he was being followed. Since he had come within a mile of Jose's house, the jungle had become quiet. It felt like the trees themselves were alive and moving.
He must have been losing it. Trees moving on their own. Not a kind existed.
But if there was a type-
Katsuhito turned and kept running.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose's radar picked up 5 new blips.
'Those aren't survivors.' Jose said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko was hiding in a small grotto near a small spring fed pond. Katsuhito was supposed to meet her here a short time ago. Hopefully, Jose or his thugs did not get a hold of him.
Ryoko ducked back into the foliage when she heard someone running down a nearby path.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Split up.' One of the troopers said as the group of 5 stopped near a small pond.
'Understood.' Another said.
'We'll meet back at checkpoint 2 in one hour.'
'Understood.' A third replied.
'Let's move!' the evident leader said to his troops.
Three of the men ran off in one direction, the captain and the other going in another direction.
Was it Ryoko, or were all of the troopers wearing an Umbrella insignia on their Kevlar? These guys were not hired goons, they were a hit squad. Chances were, they were after Jose.
'Damn it.' Ryoko cursed to herself. Jose WAS an asshole, but he was the host. She had to do something.
She had to find Katsuhito.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose watched the ground from his vantage point in a tree. The cloaking device was on the fritz again, so Jose would shimmer into being on occasion, losing all power to the cloaking.
'Damn cheap material.' Jose mumbled as he tapped the computer on his arm.
The scanner kicked in and two blips showed up not too far from Jose.
Standing up from his crouching position, Jose felt and heard the branch protest the shift in weight.
Jose checked his angle and jumped to the next tree. On the branch for less than a second, he jumped to the next one.
From tree to tree, Jose got closer to the two blips.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'What was that?' One of the troopers asked through his mask.
'What was what?' The captain demanded.
'I think I heard something.' The second trooper replied.
'That's why you just started on this job and I'm leading this operation. I'm sure of everything I see and hear out here.'
God, this Hunk guy was a jerk. Not sure of something and he goes off on you.
'What did you hear?' Hunk demanded 'I've been on one too many missions where people think they hear something and don't. Now report, damn it.'
'Something in the trees.' The trainee said 'It's not much, just some leaves and branches moving.'
'Bird.' Hunk said, dismissing the noise 'Nothing else, nothing more. Move.'
With that cleared up, the two troopers continued down the path to search.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Bird indeed.' Jose said to himself as he stalked his prey.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'I don't know where they got off to.' Mihoshi said 'this would be a lot easier if they just stayed around the campsite.'
The cameraman had pulled out his pistol and was cleaning it out of boredom.
A while ago, he had lost all signs of Jose. Since then, a few gunshots had gone off.
They were some distance off, but still, whoever had those weapons might be coming toward them.
'Just stay low and keep quite.' The cameraman said to Mihoshi.
'Aww,' Mihoshi said sadly 'Some animal died.'
'Never mind.' The cameraman said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Whatever had hit the group of the three troopers, it had done it fast. In one pass, it managed to take out all three radios. It was now luring them into using up all of their ammo as they shot at nothing. Two of the troopers had nearly emptied their silenced D5K's; the other with the 9mm Uzi had gone through one clip already.
That one had come to realize what was going and ordered to shoot only if they saw something. Shoot only what you can hit.
They must have thought that they could have hit whatever it was; because 7 clips and a ton of spent brass was on the ground around them.
Well, two of the troopers were shooting anyway.
The other was lying in a suffering state from having his Kevlar ripped apart and the fact most of his entrails were lying next to him. Yeah, he was far from moving ever again.
Either way, this had enraged his counterparts and gave them a reason to fight with more fury. They were scared indeed, but they were panicked.
Another attack came in fast and low. So low and fast in fact that it caused one of the troopers to fall on his back. Unsure whether to grab his legs or his weapon, he stayed with his weapon and continued to fire until his clip expired.
The last trooper standing picked up the silenced D5K his friend that was torn open had dropped, and yelled something to the downed trooper. He didn't hear him.
Automatic weapon in each hand, he opened up on the jungle.
Whatever as out there, he was sure as hell going to hit it. Moving so his back was up against a tree, he continued to shoot until both of his weapons clicked empty.
It was quiet in the jungle. No birds, no animals. Only the sounds of his injured friend.
The trooper on the ground looked up. The one trooper left standing had backed into a tree and emptied both weapons. He was trying to say something to him, but he could not hear anything.
The trooper on the ground saw that the tree spawned two arms and grabbed each side of his friend's head. He only struggled for a second, the tree saw to that. With a quick crunch, the tree separated the spinal cord from the brain. Releasing its grip on the now dead man, the tree allowed the dead body to hit the ground.
The trooper turned over, not wanting to see a neck at such an odd angle.
Only turning over resulted in seeing, and closely, the other guy that was ripped open. Again, not something he would like to see.
Turning over, the trooper saw that the tree was moving in on him.
No, not a tree, a man. He was an older guy in a white and gray robe.
One guy? One OLD guy destroyed three trained agents?
He was talking. The trooper still did not hear anything.
Still taking. He was jabbering on and on. Was he waiting for an answer?
The guy reached down and took the troopers pistol. Damn, he had forgotten about that one. Making a feeble attempt to get the gun, his hand was kicked away.
The old guy rolled the trooper over so he was lying on his chest. Damn. HE took the shock stick too. The old guy was doing something. 7 of the 8 bullets in the pistol fell just out of the soldiers reach.
The gun was then dropped on his back. Had he left a single round in the chamber?
He saw the old guy take off into the jungle in front of him.
One shot, and no one was around. What else was there to do?
Attempting to stand up, the trooper found it came impossible to. His legs had not been shattered; they had been taken clear off. Both of them were gone and there was no pain.
The pistol slid off his back and into the sand next to him.
He reached over and grabbed it. Checking the chamber, he saw there was a single shell left.
What else was there to do?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alpha Unit 2, what the hell is going on?' Hunk yelled into his radio 'Answer me! What is your status?'
No answer came over the radio. He spit out the edible berries he had found out of his mouth. He had some of them, but was no longer hungry.
'Come on.' He commanded his other soldier 'We're going to find them.'
The trooper nodded and they both took off down the path.
The second trooper made a move to follow, but stopped short when he heard a low purring sound in the trees. He shook it off and ran down the path, MP5 at the ready.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was hot in this armor. Jose was sweating horribly. He let out a sigh. The scrambler made it sound like a purr.
'Shit.' Jose cursed to himself.
One trooper had taken off, but the other looked up at where Jose was. Jose did not move. After a second, he ran off after the unit leader
This might be easier than Jose thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko finally found Katsuhito. He was sitting on a long in a praying position. She waited until he was done before she questioned him.
'What happened?' She demanded 'What are you doing?'
'Praying for my own salvation.' He said cryptically.
'These guys that landed, they are here for Jose.'
'I know.' Katsuhito said 'but I was attacked and I had to defend myself.'
'What did you do?' Ryoko asked after a second of thought.
'Nothing I'm proud of.' Katsuhito said close to tears 'I do not want to remember what I did, or talk about it.'
'We can't stay here.' Ryoko pushed 'there's still more of them here. If they find us, we're done for.'
Katsuhito nodded.
'Just not that way.' Katsuhito said, pointing the way he had just come from. 'I'm not going back there.
Ryoko nodded and helped Katsuhito to his feet. Once up, they ran in the opposite direction.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BAM.
A single shot was fired and a single spark of life was extinguished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose followed the troops down the path. They were heading in the direction of all the noise that had been created earlier.
The two troopers were not sure of who shot at what, and neither did Jose.
In mid leap, Jose's cloaking was going haywire again.
'Crap.' Jose said as he landed on a branch. Again, he took a clawed fist to the computer.
All of the shaking Jose was creating was disturbing the branch he was perched on. Disturbing it so much in fact that it snapped.
It was quite a fall to the ground, and the landing was less than fun. The impact however did restore working order to the suit, but not before one of the troopers saw him.
Taking to his feet as fast as he could, Jose got up and ran up the nearest tree, the only signs of him shimmering air.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What was that? It looked like some THING in armor plating carrying a stick and wearing dreadlocks. The image stuck in the troopers mind until someone shook him.
He slowly turned to face his commander.
'I said what did you see?' Hunk asked him.
The trooper went into quick detail about what he saw, it sounded crazy, but they WERE Umbrella agents. They were prepared for this, right?
This was not good. Hunk looked around nervously. He checked is weapon and addressed the soldier formally.
'Look Anderson, I know we're trained to do this type of job, but things have changed horribly. We're going to find the other three and we're going to get out of here. Jose's not worth this. Understood?'
'Understood.' The trooper replied.
'Good.' Hunk replied 'Then let's move out.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'So they are here for me.' Jose said to himself 'I'm not sure what I did to deserve this, but it makes me mad that Umbrella would do this to me.'
Jose laughed.
'Jose mad.' He said 'Jose smash.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'It's starting to get dark.' The cameraman said 'I hope Jose gets back soon.'
Mihoshi spent the last hour occupying her simple mind with a stick, Rubix Cube, mud and plenty of bugs. Off again in her own little world.
'Ah to be carefree.' The cameraman said 'to have no real problems or a crisis at hand.'
'Aw.' Mihoshi whined 'I broke a nail.'
'Game, point, match.' The cameraman grumbled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Umbrella Soldiers Rules of Engagement
Get the job done right.
Get the job done right.
A good soldier never leaves a man behind.
If there is nothing to pick up, dog tags will suffice.
Bean curd = Yummy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was far from worthwhile to take these guys along.
One of the troopers was leaning up against a tree. That would have been fine, except his head was at a 180-degree angle with his shoulders.
Still worse was one of the Special Ops agents had his stomach removed from a ragged hole that Kevlar, clothes and flesh. Something had pulled a lot out of him, or just let spill.
The saying 'saving the best for last' did NOT apply here.
The last trooper was missing both of his legs. It was a clean cut, right below the knees. No bone shards, no torn or ripped muscles, just straight and very bloody. Still worse was the fact he ended up painting everything behind him in red, gray and bone pieces. Not the best choice of colors.
It was enough to make a man sick. Anderson was.
Hunk was just pissed. Something had torn his men apart. It was probably that damn thing Anderson had seen. He had to ask him.
'Anderson.' Hun said before he turned around to look in his direction 'Tell me again what you saw in the trees?'
Just the sound of moving foliage was heard.
'Anderson!' Hunk repeated as he turned around. He stopped short at what he saw.
Anderson was on his back, thrashing around like he was fending something off.
The air between Anderson and Hunk was shimmering. It almost looked like a spot of radiating heat.
Anderson as trying to yell something, but was cursing a blue streak while doing it.
Hunk leveled his MP5 at the spot of odd-looking air, but it could have been anything, and I had every possibility of passing on and into Anderson. Dropping the weapon, Hunk pulled out his shock stick.
The stick extended and charged. Hunk swung.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose had dove out of the trees and landed on one of the troopers. He put up quite a fight, and Jose had a hard time keeping him quiet.
Jose was about to dog the suits sharpened claws into the trooper's neck, then his world lit up.
All power to the cloaking and heat vision went offline. Aside from the fact Jose was now visible, it was like looking out of a 90% tinted window. Something had hit Jose and surged the power conduits.
Something hit Jose again, this time HE lit up.
500 volts ran up Jose's back and to the base of his skull. The spark jumped Jose forward.
As painful as it was to do so, Jose rolled off of the trooper and out of the way of the falling shock stick.
Jose rolled over to see the swung stick hit the fallen trooper. The 500 volts did not affect him, not causing the body to jump or twitch in any way.
It looked as if that when Jose jumped from the charge; the claws built onto Jose's armor had dug into the trooper's neck, cutting through the throat and into the spine.
'Oops.' Jose breather.
'You butcher.' The last survivor said as Jose lay on his side. 'Once I'm done with you, I'm going to find this Jose guy.'
'So this guy IS after me.' Jose said to himself. Attempting to activate a few of his defense capabilities, Jose hit a few buttons on the small computer.
A few things sparked as the heat vision returned bit by bit through static.
Inside the visor, the electronics displayed the power cells slowly charging from 5%.
'Bastard.' The trooper said as he swung the shock stick.
Jose rolled to the side and jumped to his feet, brandishing the war staff blade end out.
'So this is the way you want to play.' The Black Ops trooper laughed. 'Happy to oblige.' That said, he pulled out a combat knife out of his boot sheath.
Jose shook his head. Who did this guy think he was? Trying to take out power armor. Foolish.
Jose changed defensive options. He took the staff and spun it around, blade facing down. Stabbing it into the ground, he stood almost at 'attention' with his arms at his side, palms out.
Hunk took this as the best opportunity.
The trooper barreled into Jose's chest before he could react. Jose fell on his back, the trooper more or less in control.
'Those were my best men!' he yelled as he attempted to bring the knife down on Jose's neck. As of now, it looked like he would succeed.
'I didn't touch them!' Jose said, the mask scrambling his voice. The battery was at 48%.
'So, it talks.' The trooper said, forcing the knife still closer. 'Let's see if it bleeds too.'
It was getting hot in the mask. Jose was sweating badly. With the internal cooling device off with the other electronics, it was going to get stuffy in here real fast.
The suit started to spark again and waver in blue green bursts. The cloaking was starting to kick in.
68% power.
The plasma blaster on Jose's shoulder registered as working. Also, the suit just now began to warn Jose that he was being attacked.
75% power, and the plasma blaster on Jose's shoulder was fully functional.
On the side of Jose's helmet, three laser pointers clicked on and formed a triangle on the trooper's mask. The blaster on Jose's shoulder centered on it.
'Like hell you will.' The trooper said as he gave up the fight on one arm and grabbed the blaster with he now free hand.
Hauling hard on it, the trooper ripped it off in a shower of sparks.
Jose attempted to fire, but an alien language appeared in the display with the word 'translating' after it.
The trooper continued his assault with the knife on Jose, only a few inches from it's target.
95% power, contact with blaster lost.
'I'm going to ask this once.' The trooper said 'just so I can add it to the list of successful kills.' He laughed a little 'who are you?'
The helmets mouthpiece retracted and drew into the helmet itself. The cooling agents kicked in at that time, sending up a small cloud on condensation and small doses of nitrogen.
'The name's Jose. And this is my island.'
As far as Jose could tell, the man was shocked. Jose expected to have the blade withdrawn from the fight and it end there. Nothing happened except for more force brought down on the knife.
'Good thing the orders are 'dead or alive'.' The trooper said.
Jose wrenched his hand at the last possible second, bringing the flat of the knife down. This was it. Any angular difference and Jose would be in line in front of some nice white gates.
'Say goodnight Jose.' The trooper said.
'Screw you.' Jose managed.
100% power the suit. Too bad Jose could do nothing.
Jose closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
A flash of pinkish light and a sudden loss of extra weight off of Jose triggered him to open his eyes.
'What the hell?' Jose asked.
Jose looked in front of him and saw the trooper getting up. His mask had blasted off. He was a big guy, clean-shaven, blond hair and blue eyes. The perfect German. Wait, he had lost his helmet too. His Kevlar had a smoking hole in it as well.
Two more blasts of pink energy flew past Jose's head and impacted near the trooper. He took the hint and ran. It was dark, and getting darker. And since the trooper was in black, Jose did not give chase.
Jose turned around, ready to behold his savior in all his glory.
'Damn good thing I'm here to save your worthless butt.' Ryoko said as Jose came face to face with her 'And to think, you could have been cut up like the bastard you are.'
Jose, full power suit and all, collapsed onto his back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Now remember what we agreed to.' Jose said.
'I know, I know.' Katsuhito said, visually in a better mood. 'We never talk of this again once the clean up crews get rid of the bodies.'
'Right.' Ryoko agreed. 'And we never mention this to anyone.'
'Ever.' Katsuhito added.
Jose grabbed them by their shoulders, almost piercing their skin with his claws.
'What the hell is going on?' Ryoko demanded.
'I'm supposed to capture you and bring you back.' Jose explained, triggering the mouthpiece to fall back into place, hiding his mouth. 'And bring you back I will.'
The two survivors were herded to an area of the jungle where some lights were set up. Shoved into the clearing, they could see that the cameraman had set up a few stage lights. Mihoshi was sleeping on the ground.
'Thank god.' The cameraman said 'I was afraid that you got lost or something.'
'These two gave me quite the slip.' Jose said 'and since it's a little too late for interviews-'
'Good point.' The cameraman said 'I'm tired anyway. Been up since dawn and up with a pistol all night.' He shrugged.
Jose walked over to Mihoshi. She was indeed sleeping. Jose prodded her with his foot. She opened her eyes.
'Aaah!' she screamed 'Predator!'
Crap. Jose had forgotten to take off the mask.
She stood up and swung full force a ball peen hammer that hit Jose upside the head.
'Ow.' He replied.
Leading the survivors back to their shelter, Jose said goodnight and retired to his cabin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hunk made it to the auxiliary extraction point and pushed a small escape raft into the water.
Alive and able to fill out a full report, he motored off in the direction of the mainland, swearing vengeance on Jose.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inside Jose's cabin, he put the black Kevlar helmet on top of a shelf. On the front of it was an embroidered red and white umbrella top.
Next to the helmet, a small place card read:
Umbrella Special Agent 'Hunk'. We will never forget you.'
'Too bad he ate something off of the island.' Jose said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of green liquid 'and I have the anti- virus.'
End Of Day16
Day 16
Jose Philipe Mendola
It was 10:00 when the cameraman showed up at Jose's doorstep. After a brief pause of silence, probably Jose checking his pistol, Jose opened the door. The cameraman followed Jose into his shack. Everything looked like it was in working order, but one could never tell with Jose.
'So what have you been up to all morning?' The cameraman asked. Jose led him out the back door and into what would serve as a backyard.
It was littered with drums of gasoline and boxes of ivory soap.
'Say Jose,' the cameraman asked 'what's with the drums of gas?'
'Oh,' Jose said as if he just realized that he neglected to cover them 'they're drums of gas for my new product I'm marketing.'
'Interesting.' The cameraman said 'and the soap?'
'Well, I'm taking a bowie knife to the bars and shaving them, so once I have enough I can add gas to it, mix it until it has the consistency of clay, stuff it into bottles and market it as 'Jose's Brand Napalm'. Look.'
Jose held up his beta bottle. It had a green label with a pencil shade of his face. Above it, in orange lettering, the letters read 'Jose's Brand Napalm'. Below Jose's mug was the trademarked, copyrighted phrase 'Defiantly NOT for Drinking'.
'Jose,' the cameraman said 'you're insane.'
'That I am.' Jose said 'I tend to get that a lot.'
'So what's on the agenda today?' The cameramen asked.
'The what now?' Jose asked.
'What's the game plan? You can't just let the survivors off for the day. There's only three of them left.'
'You're right.' Jose said as he dropped the bottle of napalm 'I have to think of something extremely evil. Something SO horrible, it will be remembered in history forever.'
'So start thinking.' The cameraman replied 'I'm sure that no one wants to see you hang around here all day making Napalm.'
'Are you sure?' Jose asked.
'Almost 100% Jose.' The cameraman answered.
'Ok, ok,' Jose said 'let's see, we already had special guests, had a scavenger hunt, did a water test, had BT, ate a cast member, shot some stuff-' Jose trailed off.
'Don't tell me your out of ideas?' The cameraman pressed.
'Be still Taggart, be still.' Jose urged 'My mind is a raging torrent of ideas, cascading into a pool of creativity.'
'Ditto.' The cameraman remarked.
'Ditto?' Jose asked 'Ditto, you pin headed putz? I'm not out of ideas; I just need to think harder. Quickly, hand me the reader polls.'
The cameraman handed Jose a small folder.
'Now let's see what the readers want.' Jose cracked the seal and pulled out a single paper. 'This is it?' Jose asked 'this is IT for readers?'
'I'm afraid so.' The cameraman said 'Is it still possible to work off of it?'
'Just so long as at least two of them want the same thing. Let's see, according to this poll, they want to see more sex, cast and crew interviews, me to stop broadcasting all together, a call in radio show, the cast of Sailor Moon to come back and put on a 21+ show, a large pepperoni and green peppers, mushroom, olives, chives, a death threat to me and finally thoughts thus far of the survivors on the island.'
'Well that sounds promising.' The cameraman said.
'You really think the other 4 people that read this will mind if we interview the cast again?'
'As long as you keep it interesting.' The cameraman offered.
'Well, if that's what it's going to take, round up all of the survivors and we'll do another interview.'
'Very cool.' The cameraman said 'I'll go get them.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito looked up from his breakfast of Squid and dirt.
'I feel a disturbance in the Force.' He said.
'What?' Ryoko asked as she looked up from the hole she was scraping the rest of her 'food' into.
'It's as if a great pain will come to 3 people very soon.'
'It's probably another of Katsuhito's feelings he has just before something horrible happens.' Mihoshi said 'just ignore it.'
'What should we do?' Ryoko asked 'What's going to happen?'
'I don't know exactly.' Katsuhito admitted 'but I don't think I want to be here when it does. I suggest we leave right now.'
'Where to?' Mihoshi asked.
'Anywhere but here.' Ryoko said as she began to look around and sweat 'If Katsuhito says something is going to happen, it's going to.'
'I'm getting out of here!' Katsuhito yelled.
'Wait up!' Ryoko shouted as she ran after him 'I'm right behind you.'
Mihoshi stood on the spot and watched Ryoko and Katsuhito run off.
'I don't get it.' She said to no one 'why would they just take off like that?'
The cameraman came out of the foliage to the right of the camera. He looked around the nearly desolate campsite and walked over toward Mihoshi.
'Where did everyone go?' He asked her.
Mihoshi shrugged.
'I don't know. Katsuhito got another one of his feelings and the two of them took off.'
The cameraman considered the information he was given.
'That's not a good thing.' Jose is not going to be a happy camper.'
'Why's that?' Mihoshi asked 'Did he have something planned?'
'Well, not really, but he was inspired by what the readers want.'
'We have readers?' Mihoshi asked in astonishment.
'I guess so.' The cameraman replied 'well, I have to tell Jose that the rest of his cast took off on him. You should probably come with me.'
Mihoshi shrugged and smiled.
'OK.' She said 'Works for me.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'So they just took off, huh?' Jose asked.
'That's about the size of it.' Mihoshi replied.
'What are the odds that they got off the island?' The cameraman asked.
'Not good at all.' Jose reported 'And if they did, I'd just put contingent B into affect.'
'Contingent B?' Mihoshi asked.
'I've taken every possible thing on this island and the water around it and added an enzyme. Once that enzyme is ingested, if searches the body for host cells. Once it has a firm hold on the body, the body requires more of the enzyme to keep its host alive. If the enzyme is not fed, said person will, within 10 hours, slip into a coma and die.'
'So what about the survivors that left the island already?' Mihoshi asked, showing no signs of fear.
'Simple.' Jose said 'They go through a decontamination process before they reach the mainland.'
'And what happens if the decontamination process is not available or is not operational?' Mihoshi questioned, almost getting technical.
'Simply put,' the cameraman said 'all they have to do is eat a food good that has an ant enzyme added to it. Within 10 minutes, the enzyme is totally wiped out of the system.'
'How were you able to conjure this up without the public of the FDA knowing about this?' Mihoshi questioned.
Damn, this girl was getting too chatty. Jose put his hands behind his back and pulled a syringe filled with a clear liquid out of a small case that was connected to his belt loop.
'Well, I had another company aid me in that.' Jose said calmly, ready to jab this girl in the neck and dispose of her body in the ocean 'they were nice enough to take my offer and make the chemical for me. Perhaps you are familiar with Umbrella Corporation?'
Mihoshi thought about it for a minute. Jose got ready to jab her and inject the contents into her blood stream.
'Nope.' She finally said 'Never heard of them.'
Jose was startled.
'Never?' He asked as he replaced the needle.
'Nope. The only umbrella I know of is the one that you use to keep the rain off of your head.'
'Well that's a relief.' Jose said 'I'm going to go suit up and then the three of us will go out looking for these two AWOL survivors.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On the other side of the island, a black helicopter hovered 50 feet above the trees. On the left side of the aircraft, a sliding door opened. Two ropes, tied off on an eyehook on the floor of the chopper, were dropped. Two men in black assault gear, complete with armor, gas mask and Kevlar helmet slid down the lines.
Crashing through the trees, they landed on their feet. One of the assault troopers signaled to the helicopter. Seconds later, it moved away from the island.
The two black clad troopers un-slung their MP5's and gave a quick look around them. Once eye contact was made between them, one signaled to the other. They hurried off into the blind that was the jungle, handcuffs and 9mm pistols tightly packed on their belts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito made no movement when the men in assault gear first touched down. He was in the bushes three feet away from one when they ran by. Jose must have wanted them back really badly if he had sent for backup. He and Ryoko would have to be extra careful.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose walked out of his hut, connecting the last few pieces of his armor. On Jose's right arm, he wore what looked like an elbow long metal-like glove. Centered on his forearm was a small computer. The armor that covered his chest had bend points that made movement very easy. Jose's legs were similarly armored, with bendable points at his knees, thighs, feet and ankles. Jose's left arm was armored as well, bending at the shoulder, elbow and wrist with individual fingers at the end. All extremities were allowed enough room in the armor to flex when moved. Jose carried a helmet under his left arm. It was fused with computer chips and a visor so he would be able to see out of it.
All of this armor looked very familiar when Jose picked up the staff that's metallic brown and worn silver color matched the suit. The staff itself had what looked like a charge port on the bottom and a nasty point on the other end. The staff was fastened to his back.
'Barely weighs a thing.' Jose said as he walked toward the cameraman and Mihoshi.
'What IS it?' Mihoshi asked.
'This is a reproduction of the MCJX24. Predator's armor.'
'I remember that movie.' Mihoshi said 'It used to give me nightmares.'
'Me too.' Jose admitted 'but all of that changed after I bought a working model of his battle suit. This makes urban and jungle warfare possible. This has various capabilities that range from invisibility to sound analyzing. This is the first field test that I'm about to do with it, but I've been screwing around with it since I bought it.'
'It looks like it came right out of the movie.' Mihoshi marveled.
'The only problem is,' Jose began as he put on the helmet and fastened it.
Jose spoke again to finish his sentence, but this time the words pronounced sounded like gravel.
'The voice distortion.'
'That sounds horrible.' The cameraman observed.
Jose shrugged and opened a mouthpiece. It retracted into the helmet.
'There's nothing I can do about that part. I had it looked at by everyone from Exerter to Dr. Oak. They can't do anything for me. But that's ok I suppose. Your not really suppose to talk when your assaulting anyway.'
'Good point.' The cameraman said 'but how is this going to work? How am I suppose to be able to follow you if your cloaked?'
'I'm not going to use that until I detect one of the survivors. After that, just look for signs that I'm around.'
'Got it.' The cameraman replied.
'Now let's move. We have to find these survivors.'
'What about me?' Mihoshi asked.
'You stay with the cameraman.' Jose said as he put a claw imbedded hand on Mihoshi's shoulder, causing to cringe a little in fear 'If anything too horrible happens, he has a pistol.'
The cameraman nodded as he flashed his Glok.
'Now let's get moving.' Jose said as he punched a few buttons, causing the mouthpiece to slide back into place and headed into the jungle. The cameraman and Mihoshi followed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two troopers had their automatic weapons trained on the front and back of the thatched hut they crept towards. Near the shelter, a fire pit still smoldered. Obviously, it had been used only a few hours or less ago. Hugging the edge of the tree line, the troopers moved up to the shelter.
Empty.
There were signs of people inhabiting this shelter. Bedrolls, small bags of clothes and some miscellaneous food items. Stepping out of the shelter, one of the black clad troopers unclipped a radio from his belt. Pressing the button to test the reception, he held down the button. He said into it:
'Alpha Omega, this is recovery unit 1. Signs of more than one person present. Request backup immediately.'
'Received Recovery Unit 1. Additional troops en route. Proceed to checkpoint 2.'
'Roger.' The trooper said 'Recovery Unit 1 out.'
The trooper clipped the radio back on his belt and signaled to the other that was standing rear guard. They ran off down a path that would take them deeper into the jungle and, unknown to them, to Jose's house, and checkpoint 2.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko had seen them too. Katsuhito was right. They ran past her, almost tripping over her. She had teleported away just in time. They ran up the beach and stormed the shelter. One of them had used his radio, but Ryoko could not tell what he was saying.
This was defiantly bad. Jose was really bent on finding them.
Ryoko watched as the troops ran off down the path toward Jose's house. Ryoko ran in the opposite direction, occasionally looking behind her for black clad Kevlar wearing troops.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Scanners are not picking up much.' Jose said thought his voice scrambling helmet. 'Mostly small animals.'
'But what do you plan on doing once you find them? The cameraman asked 'you really can't kill them and keep their skulls as trophies.'
'Didn't plan on it.' Jose rumbled 'I'm just going to get them one by one and drag them back for an interview.'
'Sounds logical.' Mihoshi said.
Jose's armband began to flash and beep. Jose brought it up to his visor. Content with the information, Jose hit a few buttons. The beeping from the band ceased, and a single beep came from the helmet.
'What was that?' the cameraman asked.
Jose hit a few more buttons and the mouthpiece slid back into the helmet.
'Sources indicate human movement about 100 yards to my right. I've turned off the radar and clicked on the infrared vision.'
'Groovy.' The cameraman said 'How's it look?'
'Pretty colorful.' Jose reported 'You are both pretty hot.'
'Thank you.' Mihoshi giggled.
'Well get going.' The cameraman said 'I don't want to be out here at night. That's when the big animals come out.'
'There are worse things out here than big animals.' Jose said as the mouthpiece slid back into place.
'Like what?' Mihoshi asked.
The reply sounded like rocks in a blender.
'Like me.'
Jose unhooked his staff, punched a few combinations into his computer and the suit went into cloaking mode. That done, he went off to find Katsuhito and Ryoko.
'This should keep him busy for a while.' The cameraman said as he followed the path of a shimmering, Jose shaped space of air.
Jose crouched, muscle tensing, and jumped into a nearby tree.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two black clad troopers arrived at their 2nd checkpoint. Only now did they see that a single level house occupied the mapped clearing.
Approaching from the front of the building, the troopers quickly opened the door and did a very quick check of the house. No one was found.
They exited out of the back door and came upon a dangerous picture.
Someone had been making firebombs earlier. If said person knew they were here and had a few bottles of this stuff with them, this could be dangerous.
The two troopers were so caught up in the scene that they did not hear the other three troopers until they hit the ground from a second chopper. The helicopter that they came in was even now moving away.
They made contact and moved out into the jungle, intent on finding Jose.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuhito turned around in mid-run and stopped. He was sure he was being followed. Since he had come within a mile of Jose's house, the jungle had become quiet. It felt like the trees themselves were alive and moving.
He must have been losing it. Trees moving on their own. Not a kind existed.
But if there was a type-
Katsuhito turned and kept running.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose's radar picked up 5 new blips.
'Those aren't survivors.' Jose said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko was hiding in a small grotto near a small spring fed pond. Katsuhito was supposed to meet her here a short time ago. Hopefully, Jose or his thugs did not get a hold of him.
Ryoko ducked back into the foliage when she heard someone running down a nearby path.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Split up.' One of the troopers said as the group of 5 stopped near a small pond.
'Understood.' Another said.
'We'll meet back at checkpoint 2 in one hour.'
'Understood.' A third replied.
'Let's move!' the evident leader said to his troops.
Three of the men ran off in one direction, the captain and the other going in another direction.
Was it Ryoko, or were all of the troopers wearing an Umbrella insignia on their Kevlar? These guys were not hired goons, they were a hit squad. Chances were, they were after Jose.
'Damn it.' Ryoko cursed to herself. Jose WAS an asshole, but he was the host. She had to do something.
She had to find Katsuhito.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose watched the ground from his vantage point in a tree. The cloaking device was on the fritz again, so Jose would shimmer into being on occasion, losing all power to the cloaking.
'Damn cheap material.' Jose mumbled as he tapped the computer on his arm.
The scanner kicked in and two blips showed up not too far from Jose.
Standing up from his crouching position, Jose felt and heard the branch protest the shift in weight.
Jose checked his angle and jumped to the next tree. On the branch for less than a second, he jumped to the next one.
From tree to tree, Jose got closer to the two blips.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'What was that?' One of the troopers asked through his mask.
'What was what?' The captain demanded.
'I think I heard something.' The second trooper replied.
'That's why you just started on this job and I'm leading this operation. I'm sure of everything I see and hear out here.'
God, this Hunk guy was a jerk. Not sure of something and he goes off on you.
'What did you hear?' Hunk demanded 'I've been on one too many missions where people think they hear something and don't. Now report, damn it.'
'Something in the trees.' The trainee said 'It's not much, just some leaves and branches moving.'
'Bird.' Hunk said, dismissing the noise 'Nothing else, nothing more. Move.'
With that cleared up, the two troopers continued down the path to search.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Bird indeed.' Jose said to himself as he stalked his prey.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'I don't know where they got off to.' Mihoshi said 'this would be a lot easier if they just stayed around the campsite.'
The cameraman had pulled out his pistol and was cleaning it out of boredom.
A while ago, he had lost all signs of Jose. Since then, a few gunshots had gone off.
They were some distance off, but still, whoever had those weapons might be coming toward them.
'Just stay low and keep quite.' The cameraman said to Mihoshi.
'Aww,' Mihoshi said sadly 'Some animal died.'
'Never mind.' The cameraman said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Whatever had hit the group of the three troopers, it had done it fast. In one pass, it managed to take out all three radios. It was now luring them into using up all of their ammo as they shot at nothing. Two of the troopers had nearly emptied their silenced D5K's; the other with the 9mm Uzi had gone through one clip already.
That one had come to realize what was going and ordered to shoot only if they saw something. Shoot only what you can hit.
They must have thought that they could have hit whatever it was; because 7 clips and a ton of spent brass was on the ground around them.
Well, two of the troopers were shooting anyway.
The other was lying in a suffering state from having his Kevlar ripped apart and the fact most of his entrails were lying next to him. Yeah, he was far from moving ever again.
Either way, this had enraged his counterparts and gave them a reason to fight with more fury. They were scared indeed, but they were panicked.
Another attack came in fast and low. So low and fast in fact that it caused one of the troopers to fall on his back. Unsure whether to grab his legs or his weapon, he stayed with his weapon and continued to fire until his clip expired.
The last trooper standing picked up the silenced D5K his friend that was torn open had dropped, and yelled something to the downed trooper. He didn't hear him.
Automatic weapon in each hand, he opened up on the jungle.
Whatever as out there, he was sure as hell going to hit it. Moving so his back was up against a tree, he continued to shoot until both of his weapons clicked empty.
It was quiet in the jungle. No birds, no animals. Only the sounds of his injured friend.
The trooper on the ground looked up. The one trooper left standing had backed into a tree and emptied both weapons. He was trying to say something to him, but he could not hear anything.
The trooper on the ground saw that the tree spawned two arms and grabbed each side of his friend's head. He only struggled for a second, the tree saw to that. With a quick crunch, the tree separated the spinal cord from the brain. Releasing its grip on the now dead man, the tree allowed the dead body to hit the ground.
The trooper turned over, not wanting to see a neck at such an odd angle.
Only turning over resulted in seeing, and closely, the other guy that was ripped open. Again, not something he would like to see.
Turning over, the trooper saw that the tree was moving in on him.
No, not a tree, a man. He was an older guy in a white and gray robe.
One guy? One OLD guy destroyed three trained agents?
He was talking. The trooper still did not hear anything.
Still taking. He was jabbering on and on. Was he waiting for an answer?
The guy reached down and took the troopers pistol. Damn, he had forgotten about that one. Making a feeble attempt to get the gun, his hand was kicked away.
The old guy rolled the trooper over so he was lying on his chest. Damn. HE took the shock stick too. The old guy was doing something. 7 of the 8 bullets in the pistol fell just out of the soldiers reach.
The gun was then dropped on his back. Had he left a single round in the chamber?
He saw the old guy take off into the jungle in front of him.
One shot, and no one was around. What else was there to do?
Attempting to stand up, the trooper found it came impossible to. His legs had not been shattered; they had been taken clear off. Both of them were gone and there was no pain.
The pistol slid off his back and into the sand next to him.
He reached over and grabbed it. Checking the chamber, he saw there was a single shell left.
What else was there to do?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alpha Unit 2, what the hell is going on?' Hunk yelled into his radio 'Answer me! What is your status?'
No answer came over the radio. He spit out the edible berries he had found out of his mouth. He had some of them, but was no longer hungry.
'Come on.' He commanded his other soldier 'We're going to find them.'
The trooper nodded and they both took off down the path.
The second trooper made a move to follow, but stopped short when he heard a low purring sound in the trees. He shook it off and ran down the path, MP5 at the ready.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was hot in this armor. Jose was sweating horribly. He let out a sigh. The scrambler made it sound like a purr.
'Shit.' Jose cursed to himself.
One trooper had taken off, but the other looked up at where Jose was. Jose did not move. After a second, he ran off after the unit leader
This might be easier than Jose thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryoko finally found Katsuhito. He was sitting on a long in a praying position. She waited until he was done before she questioned him.
'What happened?' She demanded 'What are you doing?'
'Praying for my own salvation.' He said cryptically.
'These guys that landed, they are here for Jose.'
'I know.' Katsuhito said 'but I was attacked and I had to defend myself.'
'What did you do?' Ryoko asked after a second of thought.
'Nothing I'm proud of.' Katsuhito said close to tears 'I do not want to remember what I did, or talk about it.'
'We can't stay here.' Ryoko pushed 'there's still more of them here. If they find us, we're done for.'
Katsuhito nodded.
'Just not that way.' Katsuhito said, pointing the way he had just come from. 'I'm not going back there.
Ryoko nodded and helped Katsuhito to his feet. Once up, they ran in the opposite direction.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BAM.
A single shot was fired and a single spark of life was extinguished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose followed the troops down the path. They were heading in the direction of all the noise that had been created earlier.
The two troopers were not sure of who shot at what, and neither did Jose.
In mid leap, Jose's cloaking was going haywire again.
'Crap.' Jose said as he landed on a branch. Again, he took a clawed fist to the computer.
All of the shaking Jose was creating was disturbing the branch he was perched on. Disturbing it so much in fact that it snapped.
It was quite a fall to the ground, and the landing was less than fun. The impact however did restore working order to the suit, but not before one of the troopers saw him.
Taking to his feet as fast as he could, Jose got up and ran up the nearest tree, the only signs of him shimmering air.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What was that? It looked like some THING in armor plating carrying a stick and wearing dreadlocks. The image stuck in the troopers mind until someone shook him.
He slowly turned to face his commander.
'I said what did you see?' Hunk asked him.
The trooper went into quick detail about what he saw, it sounded crazy, but they WERE Umbrella agents. They were prepared for this, right?
This was not good. Hunk looked around nervously. He checked is weapon and addressed the soldier formally.
'Look Anderson, I know we're trained to do this type of job, but things have changed horribly. We're going to find the other three and we're going to get out of here. Jose's not worth this. Understood?'
'Understood.' The trooper replied.
'Good.' Hunk replied 'Then let's move out.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'So they are here for me.' Jose said to himself 'I'm not sure what I did to deserve this, but it makes me mad that Umbrella would do this to me.'
Jose laughed.
'Jose mad.' He said 'Jose smash.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'It's starting to get dark.' The cameraman said 'I hope Jose gets back soon.'
Mihoshi spent the last hour occupying her simple mind with a stick, Rubix Cube, mud and plenty of bugs. Off again in her own little world.
'Ah to be carefree.' The cameraman said 'to have no real problems or a crisis at hand.'
'Aw.' Mihoshi whined 'I broke a nail.'
'Game, point, match.' The cameraman grumbled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Umbrella Soldiers Rules of Engagement
Get the job done right.
Get the job done right.
A good soldier never leaves a man behind.
If there is nothing to pick up, dog tags will suffice.
Bean curd = Yummy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was far from worthwhile to take these guys along.
One of the troopers was leaning up against a tree. That would have been fine, except his head was at a 180-degree angle with his shoulders.
Still worse was one of the Special Ops agents had his stomach removed from a ragged hole that Kevlar, clothes and flesh. Something had pulled a lot out of him, or just let spill.
The saying 'saving the best for last' did NOT apply here.
The last trooper was missing both of his legs. It was a clean cut, right below the knees. No bone shards, no torn or ripped muscles, just straight and very bloody. Still worse was the fact he ended up painting everything behind him in red, gray and bone pieces. Not the best choice of colors.
It was enough to make a man sick. Anderson was.
Hunk was just pissed. Something had torn his men apart. It was probably that damn thing Anderson had seen. He had to ask him.
'Anderson.' Hun said before he turned around to look in his direction 'Tell me again what you saw in the trees?'
Just the sound of moving foliage was heard.
'Anderson!' Hunk repeated as he turned around. He stopped short at what he saw.
Anderson was on his back, thrashing around like he was fending something off.
The air between Anderson and Hunk was shimmering. It almost looked like a spot of radiating heat.
Anderson as trying to yell something, but was cursing a blue streak while doing it.
Hunk leveled his MP5 at the spot of odd-looking air, but it could have been anything, and I had every possibility of passing on and into Anderson. Dropping the weapon, Hunk pulled out his shock stick.
The stick extended and charged. Hunk swung.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jose had dove out of the trees and landed on one of the troopers. He put up quite a fight, and Jose had a hard time keeping him quiet.
Jose was about to dog the suits sharpened claws into the trooper's neck, then his world lit up.
All power to the cloaking and heat vision went offline. Aside from the fact Jose was now visible, it was like looking out of a 90% tinted window. Something had hit Jose and surged the power conduits.
Something hit Jose again, this time HE lit up.
500 volts ran up Jose's back and to the base of his skull. The spark jumped Jose forward.
As painful as it was to do so, Jose rolled off of the trooper and out of the way of the falling shock stick.
Jose rolled over to see the swung stick hit the fallen trooper. The 500 volts did not affect him, not causing the body to jump or twitch in any way.
It looked as if that when Jose jumped from the charge; the claws built onto Jose's armor had dug into the trooper's neck, cutting through the throat and into the spine.
'Oops.' Jose breather.
'You butcher.' The last survivor said as Jose lay on his side. 'Once I'm done with you, I'm going to find this Jose guy.'
'So this guy IS after me.' Jose said to himself. Attempting to activate a few of his defense capabilities, Jose hit a few buttons on the small computer.
A few things sparked as the heat vision returned bit by bit through static.
Inside the visor, the electronics displayed the power cells slowly charging from 5%.
'Bastard.' The trooper said as he swung the shock stick.
Jose rolled to the side and jumped to his feet, brandishing the war staff blade end out.
'So this is the way you want to play.' The Black Ops trooper laughed. 'Happy to oblige.' That said, he pulled out a combat knife out of his boot sheath.
Jose shook his head. Who did this guy think he was? Trying to take out power armor. Foolish.
Jose changed defensive options. He took the staff and spun it around, blade facing down. Stabbing it into the ground, he stood almost at 'attention' with his arms at his side, palms out.
Hunk took this as the best opportunity.
The trooper barreled into Jose's chest before he could react. Jose fell on his back, the trooper more or less in control.
'Those were my best men!' he yelled as he attempted to bring the knife down on Jose's neck. As of now, it looked like he would succeed.
'I didn't touch them!' Jose said, the mask scrambling his voice. The battery was at 48%.
'So, it talks.' The trooper said, forcing the knife still closer. 'Let's see if it bleeds too.'
It was getting hot in the mask. Jose was sweating badly. With the internal cooling device off with the other electronics, it was going to get stuffy in here real fast.
The suit started to spark again and waver in blue green bursts. The cloaking was starting to kick in.
68% power.
The plasma blaster on Jose's shoulder registered as working. Also, the suit just now began to warn Jose that he was being attacked.
75% power, and the plasma blaster on Jose's shoulder was fully functional.
On the side of Jose's helmet, three laser pointers clicked on and formed a triangle on the trooper's mask. The blaster on Jose's shoulder centered on it.
'Like hell you will.' The trooper said as he gave up the fight on one arm and grabbed the blaster with he now free hand.
Hauling hard on it, the trooper ripped it off in a shower of sparks.
Jose attempted to fire, but an alien language appeared in the display with the word 'translating' after it.
The trooper continued his assault with the knife on Jose, only a few inches from it's target.
95% power, contact with blaster lost.
'I'm going to ask this once.' The trooper said 'just so I can add it to the list of successful kills.' He laughed a little 'who are you?'
The helmets mouthpiece retracted and drew into the helmet itself. The cooling agents kicked in at that time, sending up a small cloud on condensation and small doses of nitrogen.
'The name's Jose. And this is my island.'
As far as Jose could tell, the man was shocked. Jose expected to have the blade withdrawn from the fight and it end there. Nothing happened except for more force brought down on the knife.
'Good thing the orders are 'dead or alive'.' The trooper said.
Jose wrenched his hand at the last possible second, bringing the flat of the knife down. This was it. Any angular difference and Jose would be in line in front of some nice white gates.
'Say goodnight Jose.' The trooper said.
'Screw you.' Jose managed.
100% power the suit. Too bad Jose could do nothing.
Jose closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
A flash of pinkish light and a sudden loss of extra weight off of Jose triggered him to open his eyes.
'What the hell?' Jose asked.
Jose looked in front of him and saw the trooper getting up. His mask had blasted off. He was a big guy, clean-shaven, blond hair and blue eyes. The perfect German. Wait, he had lost his helmet too. His Kevlar had a smoking hole in it as well.
Two more blasts of pink energy flew past Jose's head and impacted near the trooper. He took the hint and ran. It was dark, and getting darker. And since the trooper was in black, Jose did not give chase.
Jose turned around, ready to behold his savior in all his glory.
'Damn good thing I'm here to save your worthless butt.' Ryoko said as Jose came face to face with her 'And to think, you could have been cut up like the bastard you are.'
Jose, full power suit and all, collapsed onto his back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Now remember what we agreed to.' Jose said.
'I know, I know.' Katsuhito said, visually in a better mood. 'We never talk of this again once the clean up crews get rid of the bodies.'
'Right.' Ryoko agreed. 'And we never mention this to anyone.'
'Ever.' Katsuhito added.
Jose grabbed them by their shoulders, almost piercing their skin with his claws.
'What the hell is going on?' Ryoko demanded.
'I'm supposed to capture you and bring you back.' Jose explained, triggering the mouthpiece to fall back into place, hiding his mouth. 'And bring you back I will.'
The two survivors were herded to an area of the jungle where some lights were set up. Shoved into the clearing, they could see that the cameraman had set up a few stage lights. Mihoshi was sleeping on the ground.
'Thank god.' The cameraman said 'I was afraid that you got lost or something.'
'These two gave me quite the slip.' Jose said 'and since it's a little too late for interviews-'
'Good point.' The cameraman said 'I'm tired anyway. Been up since dawn and up with a pistol all night.' He shrugged.
Jose walked over to Mihoshi. She was indeed sleeping. Jose prodded her with his foot. She opened her eyes.
'Aaah!' she screamed 'Predator!'
Crap. Jose had forgotten to take off the mask.
She stood up and swung full force a ball peen hammer that hit Jose upside the head.
'Ow.' He replied.
Leading the survivors back to their shelter, Jose said goodnight and retired to his cabin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hunk made it to the auxiliary extraction point and pushed a small escape raft into the water.
Alive and able to fill out a full report, he motored off in the direction of the mainland, swearing vengeance on Jose.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inside Jose's cabin, he put the black Kevlar helmet on top of a shelf. On the front of it was an embroidered red and white umbrella top.
Next to the helmet, a small place card read:
Umbrella Special Agent 'Hunk'. We will never forget you.'
'Too bad he ate something off of the island.' Jose said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of green liquid 'and I have the anti- virus.'
End Of Day16
