Chapter 17 "The Final Countdown"

"Snake, that looks like an apple." Snake continues to stare in silence as Code Talker marvels at his best creation. The old man turns to them.

"My children, this is my greatest creation. With this, my revenge will be complete" Snake and Quiet gasp in surprise as they notice Code Talker's voice changing to a familiar one.

"Skull Face?"

"Welcome Eve and Adam, you are going to be witness to the next step for the growth of humanity. In this Eden here, I will become God and you two can take shelter in Eden or eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge and casts yourself to my world."

"How are you still alive!?" asks Snake pushing himself forward and nearly falling from Quiet's grip.

"You… the parasites, the parasites of revenge that inhabit this very old body. I have been inside the old man all this time ever since he found out I killed his people."

"Mas... Skull Face… why?"

"He erased me from the annals of history, wiped out all my records; I don't even recall my real name…so I will become a god and have everyone carry out my will, a world of silence! From this humanity will take a few step backs in evolution and I'll be able to bend it to my will! Everyone will recognize me; I will make my mark on history!"

He turns around and looks at the fruit "This fruit contains over a million microbial parasite that multiplies when they take in water and inhabit their host very quickly, they connect to me and I can control them. I will have now one of my soldiers eat it and when the parasite takes in the water, the host will explode and the microbial parasites turn aerial and fuse with the water from the clouds, multiply, and fall into open water. In a matter of weeks, the whole planet's water will be infected with the forbidden fruit of knowledge or should I say…. revenge."

Skull Face raises his arms in excitement. "Then every human being will drink my water and they will be under my control!"

"Skull Face that's too much…" Comments Quiet, who now realizes the error of their actions.

"Child, I knew you weren't up to this task, ever since you told me you would only consummate your parasite with Big Boss. You were originally going to be my martyr, but since that failed, I stocked up quite a good number of fallen soldiers, speaking of which here they are arriving."

The soldiers that Snake had killed on his way to the cave raised again and are starting to come through, walking directly to the forbidden fruit so Skull Face plan can come to fruition. "Come my children, only one of you has to eat the fruit and my plan will be complete."

Snake falls to the ground sitting as he is starting to feel the built-up fatigue. Quiet is in shock from what is happening. He quickly grabs her arm shaking it and calls to her.

"Quiet, Quiet... Quiet!"

She comes back to her senses and notices Snake sitting on the floor. "Snake?" "Quiet, listen to me, we can stop this…"

He sees the hesitation in her eyes.

"Quiet listen to me, we can stop this, I know you always wanted to revenge, but look at what it has done to Skull Face. Don't be his tool, let's stop this."

Even though she has returned to her senses she still doesn't grasp the situation completely.

"Quiet take my knife and fight the soldiers, those who pass by me I'll shoot them in the head"

He notices she went into shock again and the soldiers are starting to get closer. "Cover me!"

Those words snapped Quiet back into action, she quickly takes Snake's knife and goes to kill the incoming soldiers.

Skull Face steps back with his wheelchair.

"Men, do the rest!."

Snake is reloading his gun and notices two soldiers passing by him, he quickly aims and shoots them in the head, but he notices the gun is heavier than usual, it must be the exhaustion catching up to him. Quiet continues to kill the soldiers but begins to struggle a bit as the soldiers shove her and punch her back. Three more soldiers pass by Snake and he shoots them again. Then he hears a gasping noise extremely near him and he quickly shoots to the right, now he notices some of the soldiers are approaching him to kill him. He continues to shoot side to side, there were too many soldiers approaching from the cave.

As he keeps shooting the last two soldiers, one soldier pass by him going directly to the fruit and the gun runs out of bullets. He quickly exhorts great effort and lunges his arm forward to grab the soldier by his ankle and pull him down to the floor. Quiet is just finishing killing the last soldiers. Snake strongly holds the soldier's ankle, but it begins to crawl.

"Quiet!" he yells just like he used to when they fought together before. Quiet reacts quickly and goes to stab the crawling soldier in the head. "Boss!" she nods to him in approval.

"Quiet, Skull Face remains." She picks up the knife from the soldier's head and turns around to Skull Face, she gasps in surprise.

"Guess I will have to do it myself then…"

Skull Face is holding the fruit and takes a bite, it is already too late. He throws the fruit to the ground and extends his arms sideways, looking to the hole that gives a glimpse of the sky. He takes a deep breath.

"REVENGE!"

Quiet goes back to Snake's side, they already know it's too late, and the blast from the exploding body will create a vibration that will definitely collapse the cave and bury the two of them here.

"Quiet… Quiet you can escape, make it out of here."

She looks at him "No, I want to stay here, with you…" She hugs Snake's body putting her arms around his shoulder. Resting her head with his. Snake feels the warmth of her embrace, he can feel melting in her loving arms, the feeling overwhelms him so much that tears escape from his tired eye.

Code Talker's body begins to bloat, she's on the verge of tears, and looks at Snake again, tightening her grip on him.

"Snake! I…." She bites her lips as she tries to say her last words to him, but something holds her back, her lips tremble, and lets out a slight sob. Snake grabs her hand and squeezes it. He looks at her eyes, he sees in her the affectionate look she gives him, for at this moment the couple was expressing their feelings with no reservations. Even though Quiet hesitated on putting into words her feelings towards the man, their actions more than made up for it.

"I know…." When Snake spoke those words, looking at her eyes, his life with Quiet flashed before his. When they met, putting her hand on her shoulder and she looked at him back. The many times they waited for the chopper to arrive and Snake would be fatigued and soaked in blood while Quiet stood beside him looking through her scope. Their silent trips on the chopper on their way home. The dance in the rain. Waking up in the cabin, the nights they shared themselves. Snake recalled it all, most importantly he recalled what he felt when he was about to die in Outer Heaven. Puffing that last cigar, tears leaked out, his chest heavy. For it was something that he felt when Quiet left him and that feeling resurged when he was about to die.

Regret, it was regret that he felt. For he was not able to tell Quiet the things he had always felt when he looked at her especially all those years ago. He liked being with her. He liked how her name matched her and her beauty perfectly. He admired her prowess and ferocity in battle. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she is. How special she is to him, for she was the only person who understood him.

And that these last days were the best ones he ever had in his short life. In that few spans of seconds, Snake knew they were going to die. Even so, he hoped that next time he was to wake up, it would be at her side and he will tell her all these things. Snake rests his head with her and closes his eye, smiling.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me…Snake…" Quiet kisses his cheek.

"Thank you…Quiet…I…" His voice goes mute...

The couple hugs each other tightly closing their eyes as Skull Face's body is about to explode.