Prologue
Six years have passed since Zanzibar Land, six years since Outer Heaven, six years since FOXHOUND, and retiring to the freezing planes of Alaska seemed to fit Snake just fine. He didn't mind its remote location but he loved the thought of being isolated from the world, the last place anyone would look for him. The terrestrial lands of Twin Lakes was nerve-racking but it would give him the solitude he desperately wanted. The icy-mist and haze covered the skies of Alaska casting a shadow over Twin Lakes. Giving it that eerie feeling of uncontrolled terrain, something that would keep most people away. A giant lake sat frozen in the middle of Twin Lakes creating a barrier for the oceanic life to swim beneath its hull. The mountain region surrounded the vicinity in a giant mass, the powdered mountaintops and icy-glaciers bordered the landscape. Alaska was like being in a wildering desert, instead of sand there was a blanket of snow, and instead of the blistering heat there was the freezing unbearable cold.
Snake knew moving to Alaska would mean to adapt to the sub-zero temperatures and uncontrolled blizzards but it was something he knew he could accomplish. Twin Lakes was the perfect place where he could forget his past and start a new life as a dog musher. The once legendary Solid Snake the one who had become a hero after Zanzibar Land no more than six years ago was now the proud father of fifty healthy, well bred huskies. Though taking care of someone other than himself wasn't something he was familiar with but it was something that he could get used to. He lived alone, he had no one else, no family, no friends, no one he was completely alone. Though he never knew his real family, he grew up by himself believing that his family had abandoned him as a child, thinking that wherever they were they were dead. But Snake found out during an infiltration mission on Outer Heaven ten years earlier, he learned his true inheritance, the man known as the greatest warrior of the twentieth century Big Boss was his real father, but in the end he had to take the life of his father with his bare hands. Eventually, him and his fifty huskies over the years had grown a bond, and had become one giant family. He lived his Alaskan life in a small cottage shack no more than ten meters from the Lake. Going out for occasional ice fishing every now and then was something he enjoyed but not something he was obsessed about. Though he loved to fish he'd rather just hangout inside his warm cabin and enjoy nature's beauty.
Who doesn't love to sit back, drink some hot coco and watch the caribou in the spring, then go ice fishing in the winter-
He shook his head and pushed the thought away, he had too many thing to worry about, with the Iditarod the world longest sled race in the world only a week away he had no room to waste time. He quickly set his fishing pole down, letting it lean against the wooden cottage and rushed for the front door. It had already started to get dark, then sun will soon disappear behind the mountains at any moment, making it extremely difficult to practice dog sledding but Snake had already made up his mind he was going to practice in the dark, nothing was going to keep him from his training his dogs-
Training them in the dark will no doubtfully give them the advantage of being well prepared for anything, keeping them aware-
Again, he pushed the thought aside realizing that he had no time to waste, he was to change his cloths and then go outside, get the dogs ready and head for the mountains. He rushed toward the bedroom, without looking he banged against the coffee table with his kneecap.
"Ah! Fuck!-Dammit!" he cursed while rubbing his lower leg, hoping on one foot trying to reach the bedroom. When finally got to the bedroom and ransacked his closet looking for warmer cloths. There's no way he was going out there in his light coat and sweatpants that he was already wearing especially with the temperatures lowering by second it would be like going out there bare naked.
Not something I plan on doing, got hypothermia written all over it-Dammit! Get your head in gear, there's no time for messing around-
And with thatthought he grabbed another coat from the closet, and rushed to the drawers that sat to the side of the bed and grabbed another pair of sweatpants. He never was one for taking his time, always wanted to get things done as fast as he could but you would think the long years of being a stealth agent and mercenary for FOXHOUND (a high-tech special forces group), would have taught him some kind of patients. It had only been six years since he infiltrated Zanzibar for Metal Gear, a nuclear-equipped tank capable of firing solo, it was there he fought and killed his former comrade friend Frank Yeager also known as Gray Fox in middle of a live mine field.
Gray Fox! Why?
Again he let himself get sidetracked, He noticed the room was completely pitch black, he now knew that it was dark outside and with that in mind he rushed backed into the living room and turned off all the lights in the house but not before he grabbed a small flashlight hanging on a key rack by the door. He realize as soon as he stepped outside that the night was completely black, everywhere was covered with shadows that gave Snake something more to be paranoid about. Nowhere could he see anything, even with his flashlight he couldn't see, the light could only shine three feet into the heavy night before the beam was consumed by darkness. Of course it was then he realized that with the a night as thick as it was, it probably wasn't a good idea to go out in this dark, and with that in mind, his evening plans had been canceled. Since he was out there he could at least check on the dogs but he knew they were okay, they were a strong group they could take care of themselves for the rest of the night. He had to toss the idea of training his dogs in the night-
It wasn't a bad idea, either! It would have been good exercise, too-but I underestimated Alaska's dark nights-how could I let myself get so damn careless? Its not something that I'm good at, I never underestimated anything!-Being in Alaska has really had its toll on me!
He then walked back inside shutting the door behind him, his cold hands reached for the light switch to his right and flipped them on. His living room was dimly lit, exposing a fireplace to the left and he walked toward it. The fireplace was small but broad, made into an arc inside the wall, inside lay three wooden logs, on top were a couple of pictures and cut-out newspaper articles that had been framed, also a packet of matches sat on the mantle of the fireplace. He reached for them, and grabbed it, and with one single move he latched out a match and lit it, tossing into the fireplace. He sat at on the couch, leaning over the coffee table. The sounds of crackling and soft whaling of the flames seem soothing to Snake, his whole life he lived around fire, being able to coup with the intense heat of raging fires.
Its not like it was something I was planning on-But every mission I've been on has always included some kind of explosion, the burst of energy and sound, the intensity of the fire can be unbearable-but when you've lived a life like mine, something's are just things you have to adapt to-including taking the life of another human being-it gets easier after awhile, that nervousness, that sickness in the pit of your stomach, the remorse of human life, things like that go away after the few times you do it-
Though not many people could agree with him, but it's like something he always said-
You can never fully understand someone unless you've lived a life like they have, experience the events they went through, seeing the things they have!
Wise words he always thought but something he had to learn the hard way nearly six years ago, with Big Boss.
Big Boss! You crazed son of a bitch!
His mind continued to wander, prying on his past, the very thing he tried to run away from, and at that moment he remembered something Gray Fox had once whispered to him-
"No matter how far you try to run from your past, it'll always catch up, men like us can never truly find peace!"
Just then the chilling final words of Big Boss crawled into his head, ringing like an echo-
"Whoever wins, our battle does not end. There loser is freed from the battlefield, the winner must remain there and the survivor must live his life as the warrior until he dies"
His mind became filled with anger and frustration, he had to release it, his hand clenched into a fist, and with one swift move he let out a howl of rage and battered his hand into the coffee table. His body ached of tension and stress, he needed to relax, rest his eyes till dawn, then train his dogs after breakfast, and that's exactly what he was going to do, he laid back and closed his eyes.
However, even in his sleep he couldn't find peace, the memories of being a God of war, and how he craved it, how he loved it, the enjoyment of killing, seeing a world full of blood and chaos whirled around in his sleep, like a plague, then a tomb-like voice of his long dead friend Frank, began to speak in his mind.
"You are a coward Snake and you deserve to be left alone!"
He woke up in a cold sweat, his eyelids still feeling heavy from his deep sleep. He looked at the clock, it read one o'clock a.m., he apparently had been asleep for hours. His body was heating up, he began to hyperventilate of exhaustion, the whole house was like an inferno, he then realized he had fallen asleep with the fireplace still burning, not a very smart decision on his part.
I might as well have burn the whole god damn place down to the ground while I was at it!
He hurried along to the kitchen and grabbed a metal bucket from underneath the sink and filled it with water. He then stumbled to get back to the living room, he then with one hand holding the bucket tossed the water onto the fiery logs and put out the fire. His body still too hot he then stripped down to his sweatpants, throwing his shirt on the couch.
No one around to peak!-
His strained away from his thoughts to hear his dogs howling, they began to bark, snarling at something nearby. Then he heard a whooshing sound, like the whirling sounds of helicopter blades. He rushed to his bedroom and fumbled under his pillow and pulled out a Desert Eagle .50AE magnum. He then stealthily, head back toward the living room with his gun held in the air, the helicopter blades whirled loudly as if they were on top of the house. He nearly made it to the door frame but his was pined, with nowhere to go, whoever was looking for him outside probably had the whole place surrounded by now. He had the sudden feel of someone watching him, like a sniper, waiting for him to come in range and as soon as he came in view of the window just right next to him he was fired upon, knocking his Desert Eagle out of his hands and sending it flying in the opposite direction. He immediately became overwhelmed with adrenaline, and with the glass spraying into the air and he quickly dropped down to the floor. The window had become lit up with what Snake knew as a helicopter spotlight, the light was shining bright in the windows like something out of a late night science fiction film, when aliens were about to abduct someone.
Then crashing through the windows were four highly armored, highly armed soldiers, raising their FAMAS riffles at Snakes head.
"Don't move!" one of the soldiers yelled out at a very confused Snake, their weapons were still fixing on him.
"Have I done something wrong?" Snake said sarcastically, he knew it was a dumb question, he knew whatever they wanted they probably weren't going to tell him their intentions.
"Are you Solid Snake?" the soldiers asked, his gun pointing in the Snakes face, the barrel pointing directly at into his eyes.
"Who wants to know?" he said again sarcastically, he then tried figuring out at his options he wasn't going down without a fight.
I can maybe take these guys out one by one but then there's that sniper outside, he probably has a good eye on me from here-and I can't protect myself without any body armor-Damn! I'm trapped!
Two of the four soldiers circled around Snake, pointing their guns at his back, now he was pined, they had him surrounded.
"I'm sorry Snake but your going to have to come with us" in an instant one of the soldiers moved forward toward Snake from behind and bashed him on the back of the leg, sending him plummeting to the ground on one knee. Then the soldier began talking to the soldier next to him "Cuff'em but keep your guns on him men he's still dangerous" The soldiers around Snake held their guns higher at his head. A soldier slowly moved in, carefully cuffing Snakes hands together. The soldier's ease their tension by loosening their grips on their guns as if knowing that Snake was no longer a threat, at least at the moment. Snake could hear one of the soldiers talking in his com-link of some kind, he could hear the sound of an older man, though with the static he couldn't really tell but the voice of the man in the radio sounded like someone Snake had once knew, a forgotten name from his past.
It couldn't be-Colonel?-Campbell-how did you find me?
Snake tried shaking thought of his once former commander that had somehow found him in the middle of Alaska was ridiculous, but whoever was in charge of the ambush would soon find his life at the grip of Snake's hands. He stopped thinking about was impossible and tried listening in on the conversation.
"Yes, the target has been captured" the irregular soldier had whispered in the radio, a mysterious man responded.
"Good, bring him here undamaged" the man's voice sounded of age, his voice was low and deep.
"Yes sir!" the man then signaled to the other soldiers to move in on the tied up target. Snake knew he was trapped with no where to go, he couldn't think of anything, no type of plan of any kind, nothing came to mind but then it hit like a slap in the face he let himself get careless, he never thought of using-
The dogs!
He had trained them in past about attacking on command, just incase a situation like this came along but Snake still had no idea how they were going to get inside and decided just to do it anyways, maybe they could create a diversion just giving him enough time to escape and with a loud, sharp-tone, he let out a whistle. The soldiers stopped in their tracks confused. The dogs began howling and scratching at the walls trying to get in. With the riffles still pointed at Snake's face he began to wonder if his plan was working, but the guards had taken their eyes of Snake, giving him the advantage to escape. He remembered a simple trick Gray Fox had once taught him in Outer Heaven, a trick he called the Fox Out, a trick on how to break the handcuffs and with the right apprehension of strength and leverage he pulled the handcuffs apart freeing his arms. He shot up grabbing the soldier's gun that hung over his head as he stood up. And with the gun he held it like a bat and swung at the man he snatch the gun from, the man fell to the ground, he then coiled the gun around until his index finger found the trigger slot. He opened fire on the soldiers tumbling to the ground, lifeless. Snake now had a moment to catch his breath and with the sniper waiting outside and his house was filled with windows everywhere, there wasn't enough time to take a breath, and he was right, the sniper had opened fire as soon as he came into view. Snake move the shots and darted behind his couch, he was still trapped, and without really knowing where the sniper was at he jumped up shooting in random directions making him an easy prey, Snake let out a loud yell of pain and dropped his gun, and hid back behind his couch. He realized he had been shot in the shoulder but the bullet somehow managed to go all the way through. He put little pressure on his shoulder just stop the bleeding but the blood was sweeping through the cracks of his fingers.
Get your head together its just a flesh wound! You'll live! Right now you have to find away to get out of this place in one piece, Hmm-maybe I can create a diversion-
He paused from his thoughts when he heard a crash of broken glass from his bedroom window-
More of them?
He held onto his gut hoping that it wasn't anymore soldiers cause he knew if it was more of them then he'd be in big trouble. But there was a weird smell in the air, something that was rotten, it didn't take him long enough to figure it out, it wasn't the first time Snake had ran across this smell, it was the decayed smell of teargas in the air. He had no gas mask and Snake knew that the gas would consume him at any second and he would a prisoner to these mysterious soldiers and for whatever reason they were after him. His eyes started to become heavy and drowsy. His arms and legs had became weak, he started to lean down toward the floor. He lost all his body functions and fell down on the carpet, his head faced the front door. His eyelids became so heavy he could barely keep them open, mysterious figures walked toward him he could see for a split second a symbol and their shoulders of a fox but the tear gas had become to much and he fell unconscious.
