x-x-TheBurnedMan-x-x - I love how you referred to Wesker as "discount Neo". You're not wrong there! XD

Adam Luck -Appreciate the long review! Love your speculations and thank you for the positive comments as well! A few of your speculations are very close in regards to how the story will unfold. I won't be telling you specifically which ones you almost got right, but they are pretty close nonetheless. As for the sequels with RE2 and RE3, both of them will have elements from their remakes, but most of them will follow up with both the original and novelizations of the games themselves. RE2 and Code Veronica will have a lot of Darkside Chronicles moments as well (from Memories of a Lost City & Game of Oblivion). I know you're wondering how the hell am I gonna do RE3 if it's not looking as obvious on who will be joining in with Jill's adventures, but trust me, you will know by the time we get to a certain point in this story ;) Also, Mike Harper is one of my favorite characters as well! He's basically the modernized version of Woods himself and has a pretty interesting character, to say the least. As of right now, I don't have any plans on including him as a major character, but he will definitely have an honorable mention in the future. He deserves at least that much in my opinion. As for Russell Adler, IIRC, he is still alive as of 1984 due to the multiplayer Cold War events showing him alive after the events of the main campaign itself that took place in 1981. I may include him in the future, but not very likely since I was never fond of his character neither as a villain or protagonist. Compared to Hudson, his character seems to be all over the place, and after the stuff he pulled in the main campaign, I was surprised to find out that Hudson, Woods, and Mason still trusted the guy regardless. He's a very complicated character to understand lol. And no worries, dude! You can have the worst grammar ever and I'd still respond to you, so long as I'm able to understand what you're trying to tell me in general. I ain't no grammar-nazi moron hahaha, but I digress. Oh boy, the number of surprises you'll be having for the next 10+ chapters from now... ;)

Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles - The Underground Laboratory (unreleased OST)

2. Resident Evil: Revelations (2012) - Trace of Riddles

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Catch Me If You Can

Chapter 20

It was around early June of 1986. Woods woke up inside a cell, a big enough animal cage to be exact. Feeling drowsy and nauseous, he stood up on his feet, barely being able to keep his balance as he held himself using the bars in front of him. His vision was blurred, but it was clear enough to see more cages across the room.

It was mainly a blindly-colored white room; a lab of sorts when he saw various lab equipment set up on a small table in the center of the room. A hanging portrait overlooking most of the space was that of an elder man but wasn't able to clearly make out who it really was until he was able to read the big subtitle underneath in bold letters.

SPENCER

The name didn't trigger anything familiar to him at all, but that didn't matter right now. He was now focused on who or what made him land in a place where he was now kept like a literal caged animal.

"Psst! Sgt. Woods?" A low voice was heard somewhere nearby. "Sarge? Sarge!"

Delirious and confused, he began to yell and scream in retaliation.

"AGGGHH! I'LL GET YOU ALL ASSHOLES! COME BACK HERE AND FACE ME YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"

"SHH!" Several more voices were heard, trying to hush him down in whispers. "You'll get us all killed, sir!"

There was no stopping him. He continued on, shaking the entire cage in vain as much as he could.

"C'MON YOU RATS! IS THAT ALL YA GOT?! HUH?! I WILL KILL YOU ALL MYSELF IF I HAVE TO!"

All of the voices that were heard were trying to shut him up, but they all knew it was never going to go anywhere until the only pair of doors on the far right side of the room abruptly opened without warning. A couple of men in white coats with black gas masks on, alongside someone in some sort of military attire that seemed to be jungle-based camo, came barging inside, the man in uniform hitting Woods' shaky hands with a baton, finally making him shut up as he once again lost his balance and collapsed to the ground, still visibly confused.

"You shouldn't have done that, Woods…," the man said menacingly. "I gave your whole squad a chance to live, should they keep it quiet in here. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to be forced to take in one of your squad members for … 'research' purposes." The man quickly turned his attention to the other two men in white coats. "Bring our very first test subject."

Woods slowly began to become aware of his surroundings. The voice of the man was now completely recognizable. He turned his head around, looking at him directly in the eyes, his expression showing a growing bloodlust that began developing inside him.

"Kravchenko…" he said with a low gruff, angered voice. "I'm gonna…" he quickly slammed his fists against the bars in-between them, "...FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Lev Kravchenko merely laughed it off, barely showing any signs of fear towards him, if any.

"And how did that end up for you the last time you tried all those years ago?" He responded with a loathing smirk. "You are just as naive as Mason. In fact, I shouldn't even be surprised, considering all you Americans are the same."

"I swear to you I will fuckin' kill you," Woods continued, his fury going into uncontrollable levels of rage, blinding him with a growing red haze inside his mind. "MARK MY FUCKIN' WORDS! I WILL—"

"NO!"

One of Woods' men yelled in fear. "Get off of me! DON'T—"

The other men in gas masks managed to put some sort of chemical on the fellow soldier, making him quickly fall unconscious before he could even finish his last sentence.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE, ASSHOLES!" Woods yelled in vain. "LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE!"

"I said QUIET!" Lev shouted back at him, hitting the cage with his baton multiple times. "I'm warning you now; if you don't keep it down, more of your men will suffer the same fate." He then gave a wide, menacing smile before walking away out of there, "I'll look forward to our next meeting."

Realizing he couldn't do anything, he kept himself silent, staring back at Kravchenko with sharp eyes as he was leaving, his blood boiling in rage as it slowly began to consume him into complete insanity. He quickly sat on the floor, feeling all kinds of emotions inside.

One of his men, who was locked in another cage beside him, tried calling for his attention in a low whisper.

"Sgt. Woods? Sarge?"

Woods did not look back, but answered him discreetly, almost as if he was going to devour anyone who'd talk to him.

"...What?"

"We'll get through this together," said his fellow teammate. "We can either try looking for a way out or fight our way through. What d'ya say? …Sarge?"

Woods was lost in his own thoughts, barely putting attention to his teammate. He kept thinking about the last time he was held as a POW by Kravchenko in the late 60s and thrown out into another POW camp, which he managed to escape years later, determined not to die in a "fucking swamp".

And now that he's here, with his own squad trapped in a lab somewhere, he had to look for a way out. This time, with his remaining men, alive in one piece. However, before he secures his own escape first, he wanted to personally take out Kravchenko once and for all before getting out of there.

Still feeling drowsy and nauseous, he turned around to face Pvt. Serrano.

"I'll make sure to get us out of here," he finally said in a low voice. "That I'll promise." He was met with a determined nod from him, as though he was now feeling more confident than ever. Woods continued, "Be ready if they ever decide to open your cage. Do what you must to escape and help the others if you can. Don't worry about me."

Adrian Serrano quickly became shaken up about his statement.

"Sir, with all due respect, I can't just leave you—"

"That's an order, soldier," he said fiercely before he could finish his last phrase. "Pass the message to the others."

Adrian began looking at his leader with worry in his eyes before finally nodding back at him in approval, almost hesitating to follow his order to leave him behind. Without much thought, he turned around to another cage beside him and began whispering what Woods had just told him to the other person locked inside.

After a few minutes of silence, Woods was able to hear Kravchenko's voice on the other side of the double doors.

He initially couldn't make out what he was saying, but he soon realized that the Soviet was somehow injecting one of his squad members with something.

"...first dose at thirteen-hundred hours… administering 'B' II… now."

The Soviet was completely insane! It was at this point that he began to realize that the reason why they were captured was to be experimented on. Why were they being used as lab rats, Woods did not know. After the cruel experiments he's read about through the dark history of Nova Six, it was slowly starting to make sense to him that Kravchenko was looking for other alternatives for biological weapons either against the West or Angola itself. Without any doubt, Lev wanted to cause destabilization anywhere he thought was a danger to him or whoever he was working for.

After a few moments, without any warning, screams of pure agony were heard from the poor soldier that was being experimented on.

Woods wanted to scream at them to stop doing what they were doing but quickly managed to subdue himself, seeing that he would only make their current situation a lot worse than he's already made it out to be. Because of his initial reckless actions, his teammate was now paying for it with his life.

All he could do was hear his screams, feeling uncomfortable, angered, and defeated for every second that kept passing by. There was no bigger torture for him than hearing his own people suffer at the hands of his worst enemy. Not to mention that they were being used as guinea pigs as well.

For an unforgivable amount of time, the screams then stopped abruptly. Seconds later, an unfamiliar voice, possibly from one of the men in white, said, "Time of death … one thirteen P.M."

Woods clenched his fists even harder than before, his silent rage having no hint of any limitations. Through the red haze inside his mind, he heard a few of his squad members whimpering, feeling despair and fearing for their lives and the fate that awaited every one of them. He felt helpless, powerless, and weak for not being able to do anything for his crew.

"Damn it!" Kravchenko's voice was heard again, following the other person's statement. "All these men we've brought in before - it's been failure after failure! They've all been turning into mindless zombies. Bring me another prisoner! I will be taking care of some… 'personal' business myself…"

Before long, Lev and his henchmen of six came rushing back inside, everyone staring at him almost out of fear of what he was about to do with them next. He quickly stood his ground in front of Woods' cage, his group of henchmen ready to take him out of there, even if it were by force.

"Kneel down. Hands raised," Kravchenko ordered him with a fierce tone.

Woods did not give in. Instead, he stood up close to him, with the gate's iron bars being the only thing that separated the two, and simply spat on his face, looking at him with fury in his eyes.

Lev slowly wiped the spit off of his face with his hand and then gave a small chuckle.

"You really don't understand what exactly is at stake here for you, do you?"

Frank simply stared back at him, his contorted face unchanging.

"Bite me…" he growled.

Kravchenko's loathing smile grew almost instantly as if he expected Woods to react the way he did and immediately ordered three of the six men that were with him to quickly catch themselves another test subject, this time, opening up Adrian Serrano's cage, ready to take him with them.

"No, please! Don't!" He pleaded with his life, crouching against the back corner of his cage as all three of the men began to surround him.

However, it was all just an act from Adrian as he began to overpower one of them, quickly dispatching them with a single punch. One of them managed to pull out a taser to knock him out but Adrian proved them to be too much for them to overpower and used the taser itself to stun both of the remaining guards.

Before he could do anything else, however, he was knocked out unconscious as a result by one of the three remaining henchmen who came and caught him from behind by surprise.

"NOO!" Woods yelled but was immediately stopped by Kravchenko.

"Don't!" He silenced him. "I think you know what'll happen next if you continue to misbehave. Now turn around, kneel, and raise your hands before more pay with their lives."

Realizing there was no getting out of this alive without getting his whole team killed, he complied with deep contempt as Kravchenko opened the gate of his cage behind him.

What he didn't know was coming to him was another dose of the same drug that had the effect of making him feel almost completely numb. He tried to put up a fight against Kravchenko but the drug was too much for him to handle and fell unconscious to the ground once again.

An unknown amount of time had passed and he was now awakened by a sudden cold splash of water hitting in front of his face and across his now half-naked body. His green shirt was now missing and all he had left was his green camo pants. His boots were still in place.

He coughed out some water that went through the wrong pipe, his blurred vision slowly regaining enough view to be able to see his surroundings. It seemed that he was now inside a dark room. The only light shining inside was a blinding one that was hanging just above him, throwing its relentless shade of yellow light above the corners of his eyes. Kravchenko was standing menacingly in front of him, grinning.

He was tied up; his feet bounded to the metal-screwed chair's legs in front and his hands tied behind the chair's back. He was completely under the mercy of the grinning Soviet communist.

"Good," he said rather calmly with his recognizable Russian accent. "I was beginning to think you were a lazy one, but that's not a problem I should be concerned about, right?"

Woods turned his head upwards and merely looked at him with full of disdain in his eyes.

"Fuck… you…" he responded angrily in a low voice.

"Hmph," he mumbled as he turned around before quickly striking him with a strong backslap and then immediately holding his chin tightly, turning his head around directly at him. "I could kill you… right here, right now." He hastily let go of him and continued, preparing himself as he rolled his sleeves and started messing around with equipment that Woods quickly knew what he was going to be using it for. "This is how it's going to work; you tell me everything I want to know, and you can get out of here, unscathed. I can't guarantee you will be getting out of this facility alive, but I am a man of my word." He then approached him closely with a knife in his hand, pointing it directly underneath his chin. "Do anything funny - and my hand with this knife might… slip… in places where you may not like."

There was a moment of silence. Both men were staring at each other's souls through their deadly gazes until Woods finally spoke through the dead silent air.

"And my first answer will be… fuck… you…"

Kravchenko gave a slow, steady smile, almost as if he was about to enjoy his time with Woods alone.

Not long after, he swiftly swung the knife, cutting through his left cheek as a mere warning to him.

"We're gonna have a good time, then," he finally responded before heading back to grab a chair for himself and started explaining a few things before starting a formal interrogation with him.

"So!" He said loudly and suddenly, "You may be wondering why are you here or where in Angola are you currently at."

Woods didn't utter a single word and kept his head down, his rage still slowly building up inside him. Lev continued on.

"You're in an Umbrella facility, right beneath the Cubango River. Turns out, your own government isn't exactly practicing their nineteen seventy-two Bioweapons Convention treaty. You see, I for one, don't see the West's influences to be… practical… for our own interests. However, this place has become the perfect grounds for testing and improving their latest bioweapons, especially now that Umbrella has been trying to better mass-produce their supplies for governments of their own interests, such as the two biggest competitors of the Cold War; America and the Soviet Union. That is why you're here. My employer requires further information, regarding any prior knowledge you may have about me," he leaned closer, trying to meet Woods' downed gaze, "about Perseus."

Woods quickly looked up at him with consternation, a surprised look forming through his angered expression.

"What?!"

Kravchenko smiled back at him maliciously, taunting him as he retreated back to his original position.

"Oh, you didn't know? Yes… after your friend, Russell Adler, killed Stitch, I became the next person in line to lead Perseus. And my employer, well…" he gave a maniacal chuckle before proceeding with whatever he planned on doing next to him. "It doesn't matter. You won't be remembering much after I'm done with you anyway."

He stood up and immediately punched Woods in the face hard enough to make his nose bleed, partially breaking it in the process as he now officially started to interrogate him, grabbing him by his hair as he forced his head to face him directly at his eyes.

"Tell me something first; when did the CIA first take privy on Perseus' actions?"

There was a long moment of silence before Woods mumbled something he wasn't able to hear clearly.

Kravchenko leaned closer to him, now just inches away from Woods' angered and wounded expression.

"Speak louder," he commanded in a low voice.

"I said…" Woods' blue eyes were now met through his own, "Fuck… you…"

Kravchenko's patience was just beginning to be tested and in response, he let go of his brown, rumpled hair and punched him directly into his bare stomach, making him flinch in pain for a brief moment before aiming the knife he had with him in front of Woods' eyes.

"How did you manage to escape the prison camp in Da Nang?"

Woods simply spat on Kravchenko's face yet again and proceeded to say something in response.

"Kiss my ass!"

Lev, noting he wasn't going to get anywhere with him, at least for a while, proceeded to do many torture methods he had learned throughout his time as a Spetsnaz operative, hoping it would break Woods' stubborn nature at some point.

A whole week passed by and Woods kept refusing to answer any of Kravchenko's questions on just about every interrogating and torture session they had. Knowing Woods wasn't going to give up anything, he abruptly stopped taking in Woods for interrogation and instead, kept bringing more and more of his people inside the surgery labs. Woods had to helplessly watch and hear his own men getting tortured, beaten, and experimented on, while he was continuously getting drugged, losing most of his memory, but still becoming aware of the atrocities being done to his squad. Inhuman growls could be heard from time to time elsewhere in the lab. He couldn't tell whether they came from his own men or other types of test animals.

Even if Woods were to comply and tell him anything, he knew the type of man Lev was as he'd simply commit all the horrors made to his team regardless.

One thing was certain - there were caged dogs across some of the rooms he remembered having passed by as they transported him back and forth throughout the lab. Through these blurred phases, Woods was able to hear distant conversations about "infected dogs" being used as a contingency plan, in case any of the other prisoners had the smart idea to escape through the only exit out of the underground facility.

"These infected canines are territorial at their finest," he remembered one researcher's voice. "Release them only when necessary, if the prisoners ever decide to make an escape. An immediate analysis of combat data should always be recorded." The men in white suits never rested and were mostly paranoid of their own research as well.

At least one of his men was able to make their escape at some point after their capture, but according to what the other prisoners have heard, they didn't end up making it to the surface. The poor guy ended up getting mauled by the so-called "MA-39s" or in other words, by the "Cerberus".

The physical torture did almost nothing to Woods, but using his men against him slowly broke him mentally, to the point where he was merely becoming a shell of his former self, almost falling into a catatonic state after a couple more weeks had passed by.

On many occasions, he tried escaping confinement, but the men in gas masks were always on the alert and due to his deteriorating condition, he was always too weak to fight them all off at once. It was always impossible to start off a riot and many of his men under his wing were already either dead, tortured, or experimented on.

On his last day of confinement in the Umbrella facility, they've taken the last person on his team to the operating room. As unfortunate as it was, Woods didn't expect him to survive his terrible ordeal.

"I want him studied," Kravchenko's voice was heard through the doors and walls on the other side of the now-empty confinement room. "He's the last test subject. If all else fails, I want another interrogation set up with Sgt. Frank Woods once again by dawn and if he continues to be uncooperative, throw him inside the container, along with the rest of the failed experiments, and let him rot for all I care."

Woods was seething with rage and fury with every fiber of his being, now beginning to suffer from survivor's guilt, just like he did all those years ago at the Vietnam prison camp when he was the last one left alive. He felt mad at himself for not having been able to do enough to protect anyone from his team and now he was going to suffer those same consequences from before, but this time, only much worse.

At this stage in time, he was weak, delirious, and suffering from hallucinations of his men shouting at him for letting them die of the horrible experiments done on them. His memory was fading like an old photograph, his mind becoming more blurred each time he tried to remember anything. The more effort he gave to remember, the worse his memory would become.

His last interrogation didn't last, however. Kravchenko saw he was already a shell of his former self, noticing just how mentally deranged, Woods had already become as a result of the constant torture he had endured for the past weeks, both physically and mentally. He was no longer fully aware of his surroundings, slowly suffering from the effects of dementia-like symptoms.

Too weak and exhausted, his mind was filled with nothing but a dense fog, and the last thing Woods was able to remember was waking up inside a dark, rancid container, filled with dead bodies of just about every man that was under his care. Some of them had severe lacerations across their bodies. Several seemed mauled …or cannibalized. Others looked physically deformed and decayed. The stench of death inside was a constant reminder of his failure to protect his team as he was slumped into one corner, frail and defeated. For days, he shed the last of his tears, his eyes too dry to show any sadness or despair he had within him. Starved and dehydrated, he was slowly coming to terms with his inevitable demise, inching closer to death's door at every minute he was able to count. He looked like a flimsy skeleton. His body mass had become nothing more than just the weight of his own bones and organs. His medium-built body had faded away into the lost memories he once had. Dried blood was all over his head, face, chest, back, and his remaining ragged clothing, all telling stories of his weeks of torture and pain.

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to give up hope of surviving, but it become progressively harder to do so each time he took a deep breath and smell the stench of his rotting comrades, telling him it was better for him to die rather than live. His hallucinations gradually became even more intense; the inhuman growling he'd hear from some of the corpses lying right next to him, his men taunting him of his own failures, even hearing Mason's voice at one point, calling out for his name. He wasn't able to tell whether it was just another voice trying to humiliate him for his losses or if it was another plea for help. His last remaining hope was that Alex and David Mason were safe at home from any harm…

Suddenly, there was someone shaking him off of his overall hallucinations, thoughts, and brittle hopes.

Briskly opening his eyes to turn and use the last of his fiber strength to fight off his attacker, he was met with familiar green eyes.

However, it was a different face he hadn't seen in his hallucinations. It felt… different. Genuine. And the friendliest he's ever seen or heard from anyone in weeks.

"Frank? Frank!" The voice continued. "It's me! It's me, Mason!"

Woods' expression suddenly turned from animosity to immense relief and sorrow, letting all of his physical strength go and putting all of his dead weight on Mason's shoulder. Seeing his brother in arms coming to rescue him made him want to cry like a child longing for his loving parents, but his bloodshot eyes were too dry and wasted to show any emotion towards his best friend. He closed his eyes once again, trying to rest them as he was beginning to be carried out of there by both Mason and Hudson.

"What did they do to him, Hudson?"

There was sudden ground shaking. Something big was flying above them outside as it circled around, trying to take them out along with the entire barge they were on.

"Shit! We got a hind right on us!" Hudson yelled through the intense sounds of the explosions that were caused by the attacking hind. Woods wasn't able to look at their surroundings since the blinding light of the sun was in the way, hurting his vision even while still having his eyes shut.

"Get Woods to cover!" Mason ordered as he began taking out a Valkyrie rocket launcher nearby. "I got this!"

"Come on, Woods! Stay with us!" Said Hudson, his tone sounding more desperate than Woods ever heard him be.

Woods felt his whole limp body suddenly being carried around Hudson's shoulders. The anesthetic drugs he was given hadn't completely worn off, even days after having them administered to him. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't command half of his lower body to move anywhere at all. He was now under the complete mercy of both Jason Hudson and Alex Mason.

The hind was quickly taken out, but not before it managed to hit the barge one more time, causing the entire thing to instantly sink underwater.

Woods found himself falling off of Hudson's shoulders and hitting directly into the river, now submerged underwater. He felt helplessness and complete despair. For as much as he tried, he couldn't swim back up to the surface. A tiny stroke gave him blinding stings of pain across his injured arms and he couldn't move his legs or feet at all. The hindering environment inside the waters of the Cubango River was too much for him to overcome. His limbs felt too stiff and tightened, he couldn't do anything but either wait for death itself or for someone to come rescue him once again.

Moments after painfully trying to hold on to his last breath for as much as he could, he felt a hand grasping over his bare chest and was now back on the surface as he began to cough loudly.

"Come on, brother. I got you," Woods heard Alex's smooth voice next to his left ear as he was now getting dragged to safety. "I'm not letting you die. None of us are."

They were now on the shore near some sort of jungle, their only way towards escape.

"We've probably attracted the attention of almost every patrolling officer near the area. We need to move," said Hudson as he took point for them.

Climbing up the hillside was a disaster for Woods. He was in a weakened state, that he could barely move a muscle and any type of movement was just pain and numbness all around. With the help of Mason, he barely managed to get through.

"Village ahead," said Hudson as he spotted human activity across the area, while also seeing an antenna around some sort of base. "The antenna means they got a radio."

"We can call Savimbi for extraction," responded Mason as quietly as possible, while still holding onto Woods, who was still in great agony.

After crossing several meters into the small village, they stopped in their tracks. Woods was now laid behind a fallen log, his mouth covered in order to not blow their cover as he was still coughing up whatever water he caught in his lungs when several people were directly in front of them. They were oblivious to their current presence. However, the people they ran into were mere kids, trained to kill any possible intruder around the area, with at least one soldier yelling at them in a foreign language for reasons they did not know about.

Fortunately, there was an air raid siren activated elsewhere in the distance, causing everyone in front of them to retreat to the area that was affected, making an opening for the CIA agents to cross without being seen or hunted down.

"Get to the hut," Hudson commanded in a whisper, as they hid inside the tall grass in case anyone was still nearby.

Mason couldn't carry Woods behind his shoulders as he would be an easier target to spot. Woods felt stings of pain for every centimeter he was dragged with one arm across Mason's left shoulder. Even though Woods could barely see their surroundings, let alone be aware of their dire situation, he understood it was a necessary thing to do so he simply endured the immense amount of pain in exchange for their overall safety.

Once inside the ruined hut and no soldier was nearby, they quickly and silently continued their way towards the antenna.

Arriving close enough, Mason sat Woods next to Hudson near a pair of giant rocks, providing cover and enough privacy for them to stand their ground for the time being.

"You'll be okay, Frank," Mason calmly reassured his best friend. "I'm gonna radio for help."

"I'll take care of Woods," said Hudson, crouching right next to their weakened comrade. He turned his head to face Mason directly. "Anything goes sideways, you better damn make sure to meet us back here."

Mason nodded and immediately went on his way forward.

He was all alone now. He had to get to the radio station or they were all as good as dead out here.

I have to get there for Frank's sake…

They were counting on him. His rising anxiety wasn't because of their current predicament, but because he was afraid of finding out exactly what have they done to Woods before Hudson came to him to tell him about his best friend going missing.

But he couldn't think of that just yet.

Right now, he had to get himself into the radio station or they could kiss their lives goodbye.

Move your ass in gear, Alex!

He swiftly made his way into the base, trying not to be seen as there were various Cuban soldiers surrounding the area. However, it wasn't just Cuban soldiers, but others wearing black suits with armor in gas masks, almost as if they belonged to a completely different military group.

Who the hell are those guys?

He didn't stop to ponder the question at all. He silently moved forward until he finally made his way toward the main building of the radio station. Jumping through a window from the tall grass he was using for cover, he slowly approached the radio operator, who was seemingly wearing some sort of black suit with a gas mask on as well. On the other side of the radio was a voice of a man he wasn't familiar with at all.

"Any updates?" The man behind the radio said to the operator.

"Shipment has been compromised," said the operator. His voice was filtered through the thick mask and Mason wasn't able to recognize who they were. "Supplies are low. My men cannot stay here any longer. Requesting immediate extraction."

There was a short silence.

"Your orders still stand," the man from the radio blurted out. "We cannot afford to lose valuable research data. Not while Dr. Marcus is ahead of our current research."

The operator groaned and immediately began lashing out at them. "You don't understand! I don't care about your own personal vendetta against him! We cannot risk this any further! More CIA agents have already been spotted with that shithead, Savimbi! If we don't—"

Mason pointed his M1911 at the operator in silence.

The man in the black suit didn't turn to look at him and continued to finish off his last sentence.

"If we don't do something about it, the advancing Americans won't be happy to find the truth about their own…" the guy tilted his head slightly to his left as if he were talking to Mason himself, "…about you."

What fuckin' truth is he talking about? The bodies left in the container? …Something else?

"You're a dead man unless you do exactly as I say," Alex's low voice was filled with a cold and ruthless tone. "Tune the radio to—"

The man gave a violent punch to the radio in front of them, preventing either of them from having any sort of outside contact. He then stood up, facing Mason directly in the face. His facial features were well hidden behind the dark visor of the mask itself with Mason only being able to see his own reflection.

"You're going to kill me, da?" The guy said, coldly. Mason recognized the Russian word at the end of his sentence.

So this guy is either a Soviet or an MPLA soldier who may know some Russian…

Before he could even interrogate him any further, he quickly managed to disarm Mason by sudden surprise and he was now the one with a gun, pointing it directly at his face.

"You're too late," the man said menacingly. "You will be joining Woods and the rest of his jarhead friends," he cocked the gun, almost teasingly, "now."

By pure instinct and out of rage for mentioning his best friend's name, Alex swiftly grabbed him by the arm as the guy in the gas mask shot a bullet in the air, almost as if he was giving a signal to anyone else within the vicinity. Through the intense struggle, the gun was thrown elsewhere and Mason found himself in the arms of the soldier, getting strangled to death as he struggled to take in any breath of fresh air.

Mason quickly reached out for his belt, feeling his way for the combat knife he had with him. Once he was able to grab the knife as he was close to dying, he jabbed it directly on the guy's visor hard enough to break through and stab him directly in his left eye, making him scream and intensely yell out in pain, cursing at Mason for the disaster he had caused him.

More soldiers, both in jungle and black suit attires, came rushing inside. There were even a few soldier kids joining them, willing to shoot him on sight. Mason quickly grabbed his dropped M1911 and made his escape before they could even hit him at point-blank range.

"Hudson! We're moving! Get to the beach! NOW!" Mason shouted at his comms radio as he began putting enough distance between him and the radio station as much as possible. The tall grass served some protection from being easily spotted, but he had to keep moving as shots were being sprayed just about everywhere he went and grab as much cover as possible from the environment around him.

"Is our evac secured?" Said Hudson over the radio.

"Negative! We're on our own," He replied melancholically.

"Shit! They're coming! Hurry Mason! Woods' a sitting duck!"

Mason shot a couple of Cuban soldiers ahead of him before being able to respond to Hudson once more.

"Do what you can to protect Woods! Keep heading towards the river! I'll provide covering fire as you go!"

Mason was able to see Hudson from a fair distance now as he began catching up with them, running as fast as possible without stopping as he shot a few more soldiers aiming in their direction. Woods looked like he was falling in and out of consciousness as he was being carried away from their last position.

"Damn Mason!" Hudson exclaimed in shock and surprise, breathing in heavily as he carried Woods around his shoulders to safety. "What the fuck happened back there? Sounds like half of the whole village is on our ass!"

"Can it, Hudson!" Mason ordered, not wanting either of them to slow down at all. Even holding a small conversation could cost them their lives if they weren't careful. "Just keep moving!"

The muddy jungle wasn't making things any easier. It hindered their movement just enough for the opposing side to have enough time to catch up to them and began firing almost directly at them.

"We gotta make a stand!" Hudson suggested as he saw a thick piece of land, spacious enough to keep a semi-conscious Woods hidden for the moment. "They're closing in on us!"

The Cuban soldiers and the black-suited military groups were becoming more relentless as most of their blank expressions were filled with an endless rage of bloodlust. With a FAL assault rifle that he grabbed from a dead soldier near the radio station, he did quick work to most of the ones that were getting too close to their positions. Thankfully, none of the kids that Mason saw earlier were there in the shootout. He didn't want to be forced to kill them simply because of differing ideologies from the locals or the MPLA forces. They all had futures waiting for them regardless of who they were, even if they were all on the wrong side of history.

A whole minute passed by and it seemed as though with one kill they'd get, two more would show up to replace them.

"We gotta get moving, Hudson!" Mason yelled out to him, still trying to take out a couple more soldiers rushing close to their position. "Throw smoke!"

"Smoke out!" Hudson complied as he threw a smoke grenade just in front of their cover, buying themselves more time to get the hell out of there. Immediately afterward, he went to Woods' aid, who was now fully unconscious. Their time was running out. "I got Woods! Let's go!"

They ran through the thick foliage of a narrow path. If any of those Cuban, MPLA, or black-suited forces were to follow their path now, they'd have to run around the entire rocky terrain, making it more difficult to stalk their movements as they headed directly into the river. None of them held up a single conversation and simply kept on moving as shots were still being fired near their vicinity, though most of them were having a hard time taking direct hits from afar.

By the time they arrived close to the hillside of the jungle, climbing down was the easy part. Getting to cover while shots were rained on their positions was the hard part. Especially when more of them were arriving in vehicles across the environment, making their escape harder than it needed to be.

"We have to make one more stand! Unless we delay their movement, we're as good as dead!" Hudson began to sit Woods underneath a pair of giant rocks, who was still unconscious.

"Understood!" Mason responded, already becoming fully annoyed and angry at their relentless actions towards the vulnerable trio.

How many more of these bastards are there?!

Having had enough of their BS, he reached out for a hand grenade he saved up from earlier in the day, took out the pin, and threw it at the surrounding chaos of parked MG trucks, filled with soldiers who were using them as cover, blowing up the entire armada of vehicles on top of a small waterfall.

"We're close now! We gotta make the run!"

After Hudson took out a few of the men in black suits that were closing in on their positions, he then yelled out, "Throwing smoke!"

As the white smoke grew in a bigger radius, he grabbed and began carrying Woods once again.

Mason let out a sudden tone of desperation.

"Go, go! NOW!"

Hudson began to reassure Woods, despite knowing he was still unconscious and may have little time left for survival.

"Come on, Woods," he said almost out of breath. "I got you, brother! Just hang in there for a bit longer!"

Their run towards the river seemed endless. Even though they weren't far off from the shore, each step was already becoming painful as the uneven surface of the jungle made it even more difficult to reach.

Come on, Alex! Blisters on your fucking feet are the least of your worries right now! Frank and Jason need your damn help! Gotta keep moving! Just… keep… MOVING!

Every five seconds, he found himself turning around and shooting back at their incoming attackers. It didn't even feel like an ordinary village was attacking them, but an entire city of bloodthirsty bastards, worse than even wild animals chasing down their prey. Good thing that as long as they kept moving, their shots had a much lower chance of hitting them. Though even by sheer dumb luck, one in about a thousand of those shots could potentially hit either of them.

"There's a boat up ahead!" Hudson emphasized loudly. "We can use it to make our escape!"

It was the only option they had left for survival. Otherwise, they might as well let themselves get shot or captured by the enemy itself.

Out of nowhere, random explosives started detonating around them.

"MORTARS! INCOM—"

Hudson was stopped mid-speech as a shockwave from a nearby mortar explosive knocked him off his feet, making Woods hit the sandy ground next to him.

"NO!" Mason cried out to his downed teammates, giving them as much covering fire as possible while he gave a quick run towards them, his heart pounding almost just as loud as the gunfire around him.

A few of the mortars were committing friendly fire around them, most likely due to the entire jungle being too dense for anyone on the other side to pinpoint their exact location, hitting their own in the process.

"Hudson?! Hudson!"

"Get Woods!" Hudson quickly commanded as he hazily stood up, ignoring some of the pain he was enduring from the shockwave itself. As far as he could tell, there were no obvious shrapnel wounds anywhere on his body.

However, Woods had a few fresh sets of wounds on his back. By the time they found him on the barge, he had already lost a lot of blood and his immune system would most likely have been weakened due to dehydration and starvation. If he wasn't treated on time, he could die at any moment.

Both Mason and Hudson reached Woods and quickly helped him get on his feet, the CIA agent still seemingly unconscious, but still breathing.

"Come on, Frank! Come on! We're getting out!" Pleaded Mason, not wanting to lose the one person he's grown close with since his early days in the CIA.

As they finally reach the shore, another hind in the distance is seen coming directly at them, seemingly with the intention of taking out the trio once and for all.

"No…" said Hudson as he left Woods in Mason's care, walking in front of the river to see the hind closer. " Fucking Russians… DAMMIT! No way out!"

He raised his arms in defeat as he prepared himself to get pumped with thick, deadly 12mm rounds, sacrificing himself first in order to get their attention and at least prevent his friends from getting killed first; the only thing he could think of doing. Shots were fired, but none of the roaring rounds hit him. They all went past him as Mason ducked down, covering Woods' body as he laid down right next to him, trying to protect his best friend despite knowing the 12mm shots could still puncture through his body and hit him regardless.

"What the…!" Hudson exclaimed in confusion, turning around quickly, afraid of seeing his brothers ripped to shreds by the heavy gunfire. Much to his shock, however, the hind wasn't focused on them, but rather on the incoming group of soldiers. Rockets flew above them, exploding on impact towards the opposing group who were firing in their direction in vain. Anyone else left alive who was trying to kill them was already retreating, having absolutely nothing within their arsenal to go against the hind itself.

"You thought I would leave you behind, eh?!" Savimbi shouted at the immensely relieved trio as the hind hovered closer to their position. "Hurry! Come!"

Without hesitation, Mason put Woods' arm over him and carried him towards Savimbi, helping Mason put an unconscious Woods inside the hind. Their rescue mission was seemingly a success, but the overall cost was high. None of Woods' team survived their ordeal and Woods was still inches away from death itself. They still needed to send him to a medical team as fast as possible, but at least the worst part was already over for them.

"Well… We got him, Mason," said Hudson, trying to sound more determined and optimistic after having just felt a sense of extreme defeat, not even a minute ago, putting on his signature shades before boarding the hind.

Mason nodded, slowly smiling back at him in silence as he began to board the hind first.

A gunshot was fired from a distance and in a blink of an eye, Hudson was now injured on his left shoulder, knocking him back off his feet as he yelled out in pain.

Mason quickly turned around as he tried to take out his holstered firearm, but much to his surprise, he didn't have it with him.

Shit! Must've dropped it elsewhere!

Before he could do anything else in response, the lone, injured Cuban soldier was immediately dispatched with ease. Confused, he turned back around behind him and found Woods awakened. Fully weak, but still alive, he held on to Mason's missing M1911 with one hand as he was still aiming in the dead soldier's direction with a pained, but vengeful look on his face.

"You can't kill me…" he muttered in a weak voice.

Author's Note: That last line is probably one of the most memorable lines in video game history (also thanks to Black Ops I & James C. Burns for making it iconic), besides Jill's one-liner at the end of the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis game.

As if you weren't able to tell by the title of the chapter itself, this is essentially my novelization version of events of the very first mission in Black Ops II, except you're able to have an insight into Woods' POV, while still retaining some of Mason's POV as Mason would've most likely told Woods almost everything that happened during that time in his rescue. If it wasn't obvious enough as well, there were quite a handful of changes that were made in order to try and fit it well enough within the RE universe. Obviously, there was no Umbrella or viral experimentations involved in the original Black Ops II storyline XP But I do hope I was able to deliver it well enough.

By the way, Pvt. Adrian Serrano is a semi-OC. I did say I wasn't going to be making any type of OC, but this is a simple exception. While he still represents at least one of the soldiers that were once under Woods' care in the Black Ops II lore, his name is non-existent whatsoever. However, in essence, I don't own the character itself other than his made-up name hahaha.

This chapter was going to be even longer, but because I didn't want to drag on too much on each day of the following weeks during Woods' captivity, I decided to just keep it simple and condense a few important things all in one big summary the best I could. Hopefully, it didn't feel rushed... :S

One more thing before certain CoD fans (or gun enthusiasts) get mad at me for this small detail; yes, I am fully aware that the Browning HP was used in Pyrrhic Victory's cutscenes instead of the M1911, but again, I wanted it to be told in a way in which Mason grew a liking to the M1911 as his own personal weapon of choice until he was given a STARS custom Berretta M92FS (Samurai Edge).

Had so much nostalgia writing this whole chapter! \(^.^)/