I was feeling my scars, they reminded me of the things I went through when I was young,
" Jace are you sure?" Duke asked as he checked me over,
" Duke I'm fine, I just haven't had an Flare Out in a while" I replied before checking my weapon, then I see John and Sarge, they were carrying two bodies,
" Destroyer?" Duke asked as I see Sarge carrying the bloodied body,
" And Portman." John said as I see Duke going over Sarge and grabbing his friend, poor Duke, I felt my body stiffening, but I held firm, my wraps were making the
stitches itch, but I relaxed, keeping my weapon secured to my body.
" What the fuck happened, man? I got him, I got , I got you, man. What's up, man?" Duke asked, he was grieving, I feel so much remorse for Duke, he
lost Destroyer,
" What the hell is this? What happened to my sniper? And whose goddamn blood is on that window?" Sarge yelled, why was Sarge was in a state of fury, he was
never this firm with us,
" Goat's. He killed himself." Sam told him, he looked infuriated, so out of it,
" What do you mean, he killed himself? He was already dead." Sarge yelled as he was watching her,
" It's true. It's Goat. He was changing into one of these motherfuckers and he killed himself." Duke yelled, John came over to me and watched me, placing a hand on
me as to comfort me.
" We found two more scientists at the dig. Thurman and a balding guy with glasses." John said as he looked at his twin, I do miss my own brother,
" Dr. Clay." Sam said as she began checking Portman's neck, as if trying to find something,
" Did you check their necks? Were there open wounds on their necks?" Sam asked as John went over to her, it was a serious manor,
" We were conducting a firefight, not an autopsy." John said as I see Sarge getting fed up with the strange behavior, I just stand to the side,
" We came up here to find six scientists. Four are known dead... and Dr. Willits is probably KIA somewhere down in that sewer." Sarge was yelling more and more,
was he trying to figure this out?
" The only one missing is Dr. Carmack. Has Dr. Carmack showed up yet?" Sarge yelled at her, I then got up and shouldered my gun,
" Oh, he's shown up all right." I said in a gritful tone, Sarge stared at me with anger and yet different, as if respect found itself, but I stared hard at Carmack's now
demon self,
" Look at the left ear." I said as I pointed my finger to the alien, Sarge walked over, the creature snarled as Sarge got close, where the left ear was it had stretched
tissue as if almost healed badly, like an infection.
" Son of a bitch." Sarge said as he walked to the sewer imp,
" I think this other one is Steve Willits. I'm going to run the DNA, check it against his med records." Sam said as Sarge was stressed or worse filled with anger,
" What are you people working on up here?" Sarge yelled at her, putting her on the spot, she looked of fear,
" We're analyzing bones, artifacts. We're not doing anything like this." Sam told us, Sarge watched her in a rage like state.
" Then what the fuck is that?" Sarge scolded her as he pointed at the demon,
" It must be a genetic mutation, something environmental or viral. I don't know. It may even be reversible." Sam replied as she was trying to convince us of
something.
" It's irreversible." Sarge said as he was getting his gun,
" Not necessarily." Sam said as I was holding myself together,
" Dr. Carmack's condition...is irreversible..." He sternly told her, he then walked towards him, the creature demon screeched as Sarge put the gun in the demon's
mouth,
" No!" Sam screamed as I see Sarge shoot the creature, dead now.
" Because Carmack's condition is that... he's dead." Sarge told her, he then turned on his comm,
" Kid, you and Duke... get back to the dig and you make sure those other dead scientists...are really dead." Sarge told them, he gets a response, he then looked at
Sam, I felt the urge to bolt, to leave, every sense of the word,
" I've lost... four soldiers. What are you people experimenting with up here? I'm not gonna ask you again." Sarge said as he watched Sam, I got next to John,
" I told you, it's an archaeological research center. Do you think I'm lying to you? Is that what you're saying?You think I'm hiding something? I'm telling the truth."
Sam said in an urgent tone, I cracked my knuckled,
" What were you downloading? What were you sent to protect?" I asked her, she stared into my eyes, I was giving her a pleading look, one that had a truth behind it,
" The research data."She said in a scarred tone, one that had something behind it,
" Research into what?" John said as Sam grabbed a disk, she put it into the computer, I see doctors surrounding a very buff man,
" Subject was injected with study agent at 00:03. Vitals normal, elevated heart rate attributable to subject anxiety.C- 24 successfully grafted to subject's marker cells
at 00:09." A voice said as I watched this happen,
" He reconstructed chromosome mutation on a human subject." John said as he was staring hard at the screen,
" We were never gonna do human studies." Sam said as she shook her head,
" What the hell are we looking at?" sarge had asked as I let out a sigh,
" Genesis, Chapter 1." john replied, I see them strap the man down, he was over a chamber,
" Subject moved to protected observation area at 00:17. Subject: Curtis Stahl. Crime: Multiple murder. Status: Condemned to execution." The voice said as I see the
doctors lower Curtis into the chamber, I also watched as Sam grabbed a vial of a clear liquid,
" Chromosome 24." She said surprised about the new information she has acquired,
" Oh, my God." I replied as I see Stahl's hand becoming bad,
" 49 minutes after injection, genetic mutations... began to visually manifest on subject's extremities." The voice said as I watched Stahl's skin turning red, his hand
was forming claws, he had marks and his body was transforming, the film stopped, and I felt anger rising out of me, but I keep it locked inside,
" This is what you're here to protect." John said as he pulled the disk out of the outlet.
" It doesn't make any sense." Sam said as she had confusion in her voice, this was bad, if this is what Carmack was up to, then they tricked my brother,
" You trusted them." I said as I clenched my fists, I had to calm down or suffer from another Flare Out,
" They lied to you." John said as he was in a hardened way protecting his sister,
" They used you, Sam, They used my own brother" I said trying to process it, all of this,
" If he perfected xenogenesis..." Sam was starting on this, this can't be righted,
" Christ, don't you get it? It's this place. It's hell. It always was." I said as I held the tables edge, keeping myself normal.
" This shit ends here." John said as he was grabbing the disks, Sarge was eyeing this,
" What are you doing?" Sarge said as I can feel my heart pumping against my chest, making the stitches in my chest hurt a bit,
" We need to destroy these discs." John said as I watched Sarge stiffen up,
" That's UAC property." Sarge told him, we don't care about this, we need to leave this,
" Fuck UAC, we take this back, they'll just..." I said as Sarge grabbed my wrist and held it in place, but I can't show weakness, not to him, not to anyone, not
anymore, he tilted his head and applied pressure again, but I didn't wince,
" We take the data back." He said as his eyes went to John, he left my wrist go, it had a mark,but I wouldn't let this win, he doesn't scare me.
" Sarge, do you not see what's going on here?" I said as he then stood in front of me, I glared at him, he was losing himself,
" I didn't see shit. And I ain't paid to see shit. I have my orders. And so do you." Sarge said as he then looked at Sam,
" Is this everything?" He asked her, she looked afraid, fear would instill more or less fight in people, but fear can become a weapon,
" I said, is this everything?" Sarge demanded her this time, she was stiff, yet complaint,
" I, uh, have three more to download." She stammered as she stood strong, yet at the same time fearful,
" Then do it." Sarge commanded her, I heard the comm go off,
" Sarge? We got a problem. One dead scientist is missing." Kid's voice came into my ears,
" Now." Sarge said as he was going to the door,
" You just wanna leave her here?" I asked as he then looked at me, even injured, I never leave anyone behind.
" She's got a job to do." Sarge replied, I then walked over to Sam, John was behind me,
" Look, this is Portman's comm. You call if you need help, okay?" John said as he placed it on the table,
" You gonna be all right?" I asked as I shouldered my weapon.
" I'll be fine." She replied as she began to download the data,
" Okay. I'll see you soon." John said as I followed,
" John we live and we survive" I said as I shouldered my gun,
" We always do" He replied as he held me close,
" Then lets go" I said as we went.