Year: 132014

Time: 18:35

Location: Koeltztown, Missouri; Somewhere near the Mississippi River

2nd Squadron, Charlie 8

"Gentlemen, we have arrived," the Captain announced.

I looked out onto the barren wasteland that we called Earth. To think that people used to actually live on the surface. As humanity was close to extinction, the OPS rose from the ashes and created safe-houses, called Panopticons, in several locations that are mostly populated. After these Panopticons were built, many decided that they needed most of the resources than any other Panopticon. This caused a cry for war and had many people fighting for these resources. Most of these people refused to fight, but then OPS decided to spread into all the Panopticons and made them fight. This was the first law that they created, and afterward another law was made for people not given a choice to fight, that law was the million-year sentence.

Everyone was given a million years and if they fought in the war, their sentence would be reduced depending on the mission. They also made another law that if you reduced all of your million years, you would be free as a citizen and were given a choice to fight or not. Soon after, they made a law where babies were given a million years once they're born and are put in the field once they're 15 years of age. Which sucks for me, since I just turned 15 last year. I wish I could've told my mom and dad that I didn't want to fight. Too bad I never got the chance to tell them. My mom died during childbirth and my dad died the same day during the retribution of 131 999, the year I was born. My uncle took me in from the Chicago Panopticon after the retribution from the Kansas-Missouri Panopticon, which is destroyed and abandoned now. Fucking hell, it's just one thing after another with no sign of improvement anytime soon.

I hear a whistle from Razz, "Man, this place has gone through some shaz. So much for this world..."

"Yeah, to think that it wasn't always like this," Captain murmured, his voice soft in tone while looking out to what was left in the world. "Let's get to work."

He jumped down from the dropship and after scoping out the LZ, signals us that it's clear. Razz jumped down next, along with me and Demo. As soon as we landed, I looked around the city ruins. Look at this place, it looks like a huge fucking ghost town. Even though I wasn't born the day before the Earth died, it's just sad to see the world in such a state.

"Alright, move out," Captain commanded, acting as the point man for the squad, moving forward towards the city center.

We moved in deep into the heart of the city. This place gives me goosebumps. To think that this world, once thriving with life, now dead and ravaged beyond belief. I saw Captain scoping out the area with his SR-42/LA sniper rifle.

"Alright, we'll lure the Abductor here," the Captain ordered. "Demo, scope out the area. Regroup when you have visual."

"Affirmative," Demo responded. I watched him go further into the city.

"Razz, set up the decoy and then take your position in that building."

"You got it," Razz replied, setting up the bait.

The Captain looked at me, "Echo, on me."

I followed him to a large building and watched him go up using his Thorn as a grappling hook. I look at my accessory, "Sierra, stay low here."

She nodded, accepting the order and went inside the building, hiding in the entrance. I used my Thorn to scale the building and saw the captain flat on his stomach near the edge of the building. I did the same thing, aiming my scope down below.

I heard static in my headset and heard Demo, "Hostile spotted, moving back to your location."

"Copy," Captain replied in his headset intercom.

"Bait, up and running," I heard Razz say.

In my scope, I saw Razz run off into another building as the decoy started to inflate into a fake citizen balloon bomb. As it was inflating, it started screaming for help as loud as it possibly could while my team and I patiently laid in wait for the Abductor.

"Regrouped with Razz, awaiting further orders," Demo announced on the intercom.

"Affirmative, on my command," the Captain replied.

I felt the ground rumble underneath my stomach. As I gulped nervously, I saw the huge humanoid machine tearing its way towards the decoy. The Abductor. It had missile launchers installed on both its shoulders, along with laser cannons on its forearms. Each step it took felt like a mini earthquake, its body slightly glistening red with orange like the sun. Yep, this one's resistant to fire alright. This was the target Abductor. It reached down to grab the citizen dummy with its enormous hands. As soon as it grabbed the bait, the decoy blew up in his hand.

"NOW!" the Captain bellowed, and he started firing at it.

I began shooting as well, feeling the force and recoil from my SMG. Razz and Bomb came out of their respective hiding spot and joined in taking down the Abductor. I saw a laser beam go out from Razz's Phalanx laser cannon, and a hail of bullets propelled from Demo's MG-M7 triple barreled minigun. The Abductor staggered with each shot, struggling to prioritize who to attack first. I ordered my Accessory to open fire and soon after, I saw rockets hitting the Abductor right at its pod, located in its chest. The pod exploded, stunning the Abductor and causing it to fall to its knees. We didn't let up, and soon after we heard another explosion coming from its Will'O engine. The abductor wailed in pain and collapsed with a loud thud, shaking the ground.

"Hold your fire, hold your fire!" Captain shouted.

We stopped shooting and gazed upon the toppled over monstrosity. The Will'O engine sputtered and slowly died out. I sighed in relief; it's dead, mission complete. I got up and started rappelling down towards the ground. Captain did the same and once we hit the ground, he started walking towards the dead beast. I signaled for my Accessory to regroup and we followed him.

"Good job guys," Captain announced after inspecting the dead Abductor. "Mission complete."

"WOOHOO! YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Razz screamed at the top of his lungs with child-like excitement.

Demo shook his head with a puzzled look, "Don't you think that was a bit too easy though?"

"Ah, who cares," Razz exclaimed. "we did our job. Mission complete, right?"

"Well, I guess so," Demo replied with uncertainty.

"Either way, grab anything that might be useful and I'll call in our evac," Bullseye advised.

We started plundering the Abductor scraps and stored them all into our Will'O boxes.

"Seagull, this is Charlie 8," I heard the Captain radio in. "Requesting immediate extraction, over."

"Roger that, we're en route, ETA 5 minutes."

"5 minutes? Come on, can't they be faster?" Razz complained impatiently, taking a seat on the ground.

"Calm down, Razz," Captain told him. "Mission complete, remember? There's nothing we need to worry about."

As soon as he said that, Sierra made 4 beeping noises, "Enemy approaching," she told us. "4 o'clock. Type, unknown."

"What!?" I exclaimed, looking into a large decrepit alley with my gun out. The others readied their guns in that direction as well, startled.

"Contact?" Captain asked.

"Negative," Demo responded.

"Heh, she's probably bugged," Razz scoffed, walking out towards the enemy's possible location.

"Razz, get back here," Captain called out.

"What? There's nothing here. Watch."

Razz pulled out a flashbang and threw it into the alley. It went off and we waited for something to happen. And...

Nothing. Maybe he was right.

"See? What did I say? Now, time to get-"

Cutting him off mid-sentence, an unknown Abductor came crashing through the alley, smashing its way through the buildings. Everything happened so quickly; the Abductor grabbed Razz, lifted him up to its face, gruesomely ripped him in half and then tossed his remains to the ground. I saw Razz's face, eyes, and mouth open with shock. Holy shit...

"MAN DOWN! OPEN FIRE!" the Captain screamed.

We started shooting at it, but the bullets just ricocheted off of it, even though It didn't have any shield or weapons or anything a normal Abductor would carry. This Abductor was nothing like the ones I saw before. Its more human-like body was tinged with an eerie, unsettling shade of red, lacking the standard chest pod, and the most striking of all, it had a face, staring menacingly at us. Demo threw a flashbang at its face, but it had no effect.

"What the hell is this thing!? We're not even making a scratch on it!" Demo cried out in dismay.

"DISENGAGE AND FALL BACK!" Captain shouted, having stopped firing and turning around to retreat.

Demo and I stopped firing as well and ran away. I could feel the ground shake as the unknown beast gave chase. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sierra was running with us, thank God.

"URGH!" I heard Demo grunt, seeing him trip over a piece of debris. As he was scrambling to get back up, the Abductor caught up to him and stepped on him, crushing him.

"HOLY SHIT, DEMO'S DOWN, I REPEAT DEMO IS DOWN!" I shouted.

"SEAGULL COME IN, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK BY AN UNKNOWN ABDUCTOR AND IT TOOK OUT RAZZ AND DEMO! REQUESTING IMMEDIATE EVAC!" the Captain screamed into his intercom.

"Charlie 8, this is Seagull, we have visual!"

I looked up and saw the dropship hovering over us, high above, with the doors opened.

"This is the lowest we can get without risking the bird! You're gonna have to Thorn your way up here!" Seagull told us.

"Copy! Echo, grab your Accessory and Thorn up! I'll be right behind you!" Captain shouted.

"Understood sir!" I scooped Sierra up in a bridal carry and launched my Thorn to a nearby building, wall running and slinging myself from building to building until my Thorn could reach the dropship. Once I was in range, I forcefully jumped from the building, soaring through the air as I aimed and fired my Thorn towards the ship. It hit the door and I felt myself zipping towards the bottom part of the door. I climbed inside, placed my Accessory on standby, then looked out. I saw the Captain try to do the same thing and as he was about to launch his Thorn to the ship, the Abductor grabbed him in mid-air and pulled him down.

"NO!" I screamed. I prepared to jump out, but the ship crew held me back. I tried to contact the Captain on comm, but all I heard was static.

I heard someone shout as the doors were closing, "Come on! Let's go, let's go!"

Did... Did that just happen? Razz... Demo... Captain... Are they really gone...? To think that only a couple of moments ago we were sitting here, going over the mission, thinking this was just gonna be like any other op. Finish the mission, then head over to Zakka for a congratulatory drink. As I sat in the darkness of the ship, I let the non-refutable fact sink in.

They're gone.