"Jackson, do you copy?!" the leader kept trying, but no response came, "Jackson?!"
"I heard him scream." somebody else said, "I'm heading towards that direction now."
"Be careful there, Carter." the leader said, "Radio us as soon as you find him."
"Acknowledged." Carter replied, as he headed towards the direction from which he heard the scream.
"This'll be a while." Hicks sighed, as he turned around. But what he saw then spooked him out of his wits, until he realized it was only the last member of the group, the one who questioned Jason earlier.
"Geez, Edwards, you scared the crap out of me." Hicks moaned.
"I'm sorry." Edwards apologized.
"Whatever." Hicks cursed, "Since you're here anyway, you can make yourself useful."
"Er... isn't that why I'm here in the first place?" he questioned.
"You'd better stay here and watch my back." Hicks told him, "Coz I got a feeling that whoever this guy is, Jason or somebody else, he ain't gonna make it easy on us."
"So I watch your back? What about mine?" Edwards asked.
"You don't even need to ask that!" Hicks exclaimed.
This didn't make Edwards even one bit more comfortable.
Meanwhile, Carter got closer to where he heard Jackson scream. As he got closer, he got this distinct feeling that he was being followed. When he heard a branch snap, he turned to see what caused it. He was about to fire off his gun, but then saw that he was about to shoot a squirrel. He sighed of relieve, not noticing that somebody moved right behind him. It took him a few seconds before he sensed something moving and turned to look at the man with the hockey mask, which got him to ready his gun to fire.
The leader heard somebody fire his gun. He immediately radioed everyone: "Who was that? Who's firing the gun?"
"It wasn't me sir." Hicks replied.
"Or me." Edwards added.
"Carter, did you find the target?" he asked, but got nothing, "Carter?!"
He kept trying, but gave up after some time. He swore loudly as he dropped his radio, only to notice a shadow in the woods. From the way it looked, he knew it was one of his men.
"Carter." he said, "If you're coming back here, you could radio me first..."
He stopped when the shadow moved into the light, only to reveal that not only was it Carter, he was covered in blood, as though shot with his own gun. He tried to say something, but fell down before he could give so much as a breath of a word. The leader jumped up, picked up his own gun, along with his radio: "Everyone, report back to base-camp. That's an order!"
That's when he felt something sting in his back. He didn't know what it was, but he could feel blood curdling into his mouth as a result. He tried to look at who just got him, but making that turn cost him all his life-energy, so he too fell down.
"You don't think he's found the target himself?" Edwards asked.
"If he did, it means he's in trouble." Hicks answered, "Let's go!"
Together, they returned to base-camp. When they arrived, they found it all in ruins.
"Shit! Somebody really did a number on this." Hicks cursed.
"Look at what he did to our boss." Edwards shivered.
"Don't worry. We're here to take down that bastard who did this." Hicks assured Edwards.
"I don't understand you." Edwards suddenly felt the need to change the subject, "Earlier, you boss me around, even though we have the same rank, and now you're acting like you're a guardian..."
"Hey Edwards!" Hicks interrupted him, lowering his gun in the process, "This not the time to discuss that, but if you have to know, I was still pissed because you made me shit myself. Alright?"
Edwards didn't reply immediately, but in doing so, both of them were distracted from a man falling down from the tree. Hicks was the first to react, but not fast enough, as the man with the hockey mask had already decapitated him. Edwards, being both scared and confused at the same time, knew not what else to do, but to raise his own gun and shoot the big man, once Hicks' dead body fell to the ground. The first round that Edwards fired didn't seem to cause much pain to the masked man, but it did seem to slow him down enough for Edwards to find his leader's gun, and fired some more. Once that gun was empty, the masked man fell down. Though a little scared, Edwards moved closer to the masked man. He nudged him, but he didn't react. He sighed of relief, and turned to what's left of the radio. But only seconds after adter that thought came to him, he felt something rush through his abdomen. He looked down, and recognized it to be one of the spikes that was used to set up their camp's tent. The masked man couldn't be that strong to survive all those bullet-shots, could he be? With that spike in him, Edwards soon lost all energy himself and fell down too. The masked man, meanwhile, now that he killed the last one of those he believed to be trespassers, felt he deserved his rest, and fell back down again.