I woke some time later, my head throbbing in pain. I was covered in sweat. I realized my arms were stuck in place.

"Oh look," a voice said. "She's awake."

My vision was slowly coming back to me. I was back in the facility. We were in a small office, and I was tied up in a chair next to a broken window. My balaclava had been removed.

I could see two men in front of me, both dressed in HECU uniforms. One of them had a goatee and a cigarette in his mouth, with his eyes covered by a pair of black goggles. The other had a scar across his face.

It was the man with the scar who approached me.

"Good, you're awake, Freeman."

"What?" I asked.

"Uh, Mitchell," said the other man.

"Don't play stupid with me," the scarred man said. "I've seen what you did. You've been killing us!"

"Uh, Mitchell, I don't think-"

"SHUT UP!"

He bent towards me and pointed at his scar.

"YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID TO MY FACE!?"

I only stared at him in confusion. "Would you mind telling me who Freeman is?" I asked. At that point, I only knew that "Freeman" was a guy the HECU hated.

He walked to a nearby table nearby, and reached for a crowbar. "Let's see how you like it when-"

He lifted his arm up only to have it grabbed by the second marine.

"MITCHELL, YOU IDIOT!" The man yelled. "THAT'S NOT FREEMAN! Freeman is a GUY, and he was last seen in an HEV suit you moron!"

He sighed. "Why do I even bother with you? You already blew up the helicopter, that could have been our way out of here."

"Look," I said. "I don't want any trouble. I've had a really miserable day and I just want to get out of here."

"So do we," Mitchell said. "But people like Freeman are keeping us from doing that!"

I suddenly felt a firm boot to the chest. My chair fell over, towards the broken window.

"WHERE IS FREEMAN?!" The scarred marine yelled.

"I don't know who Freeman is!"

"Mitchell, enough about Freeman! We brought her here to find out what the Black Ops were doing!"

Luckily for me, I was able to feel a piece of glass in one hand. It felt like it triangular-ish and had some sharp edges.

"GIVE ME FREEMAN OR I WILL MESS UP YOUR FACE LIKE HE DID TO ME!"

I worked as fast as I could to cut the rope. My hands freed, I watched as he swung the crowbar at me, just in time for me to roll out of the way. I yanked the crowbar out of his hand and swung it into his face.

Mitchell screamed. "You'll pay for that."

He grabbed me by the chest, pulled me up close. I managed to swing my knee into his groin. He grunted and shoved me backward, through the broken window.

I quickly tried to stand up, only to feel a boot slam into my back.

"Now I'm going to mess up your face."

I rolled over to see Mitchell holding up the crowbar yet again. He swung it towards me. I rolled over, and heard the bar slam against the ground.

Mitchell growled. He lunged at me, I jumped out of the way, before punching him. As he turned around, I delivered a firm punch to the face, then another, and another. His nose was starting to bleed.

"Oh, you little-"

Suddenly, something grabbed him. In the dim light it would have been easy to miss, but it looked like a rope or maybe a string of some kind, and it was pulling him up.

I looked up to notice that something was attached to the ceiling. It looked like a cone, except on the end was a circle of sharp teeth, and a long "tonge" protruding from the center. It was this tongue that had grabbed Mitchell.

He was pulled upward toward the creature, into its jaws, desperately trying to break free. His head went in first, and for a moment his muffled screams filled the room. Then he remained silent. The rest of his body was still going in, one piece at a time, just being sucked in like he was being swallowed whole. Eventually, his feet also disappeared.

I crawled a few steps backward, wanting to avoid the same fate. I turned around to see the second marine pointing a shotgun at me.

"I don't want any trouble, okay."

"You black ops have been killing us," the marine said. "Why should I trust you?"

"I don't know what's going on here, but it's going well beyond whatever mission parameters we were given. My commanding officer just tried to kill me."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," I said. "I was only told to recover a hard drive. When I got it, they said I was a loose end. They've kept most of us in the dark, it seems. What about you?"

"They didn't tell you? We were told to clean up this mess, only now it's gotten so bad they pulled out and left us behind!"

"Then we're in the same boat," I said. "Look, if we're going to make it out of here the only way I can see is to work together."

"What about Mitchell?"

"You saw what he was doing, I only acted in self-defense."

The marine reluctantly lowered his weapon. "If you try anything-"

"I'm good with that."

"You have a name?"

"Bishop. You are?"

"Grimsberg. I'm an engineer"

"Nice to meet you. We'd better get moving."

"You better not try anything?"