I apologize for taking so long, here's the next chapter. I'm not quite sure where I'm going to go with this, though I have a lot of ideas. I appreciate feedback, even if it's negative! Please enjoy.
I want to make a quick note, that it was not my intention to make my character so over the top. While I love reading and writing about OCs I hate it when people make them change the flow of the story too much. I only wanted to make Alysa tough enough to hold her own against hordes of infected while still being vulnerable to to basic human emotions and weaknesses.
Disclaimer: I don't own blah blah blah
I awoke for the THIRD time that day in an unusual place. I looked around briefly and realized they had dropped me off on a bench in central park. I rubbed my temple sorely.
"GAH! Why can't the military use blindfolds when they kidnap people!" I shouted to the sky. Several people walking by gave me a weird look and quickened their pace. I rubbed my face in a tired fashion. This was turning out to be a hell of a day. Where to go from here...
The smell of roasted coffee beans found their way into my nostrils and I drooled. That sounded like a good place to start. I dug a few rumpled dollars out of my pocket and ordered a coffee, extra strength, with four packets of sugar. After I had the steaming cup in my hands, I chose a bench to think over my options.
Well I definitely wasn't joining Blackwatch, that much was certain. But then again it didn't really seem like I had another choice. I took a sip of the coffee, only to burn my tongue.
I mildly wondered what Randall had meant when he had said "maybe after you see what that thing can do, you'll come to your senses". I mean, Alex Mercer was just a man right? To my knowledge he was just scientist that used to work at Gentek. But then again all the terrorist reports were stating that it was a group of people, some rumors floated around about a whole bunch of people all dress alike were setting elaborate tricks for it to seem like they were super-powered.
I tilted my head back on the bench and glanced upwards at the gigantic buildings above me. I was by no means a city person, so the skyscrapers were still amazing to me. The heights they soared to were terrifying feats of construction. Just the thought of being on top of one of those things... I shivered. Heights were not my thing. Or leeches. God forbid someone realized that and combined the two.
I snapped back to attention, the General had said a few days, so I had at most three days to figure something out. I rubbed the back of my neck, I needed more information, especially on this ZEUS/Mercer concept. I had been bluffing back in the Blackwatch headquarters. The only thing I knew about Hope, Idaho was the name and that Randall was somehow tied into it.
I blew a wisp of hair out of my face. While I was on the subject, why was a General with as much pull as Randall bothering with me? Sure I guess you could say I had an... interesting background, but I went AWOL nearly a year and a half ago. If I wasn't mistaken that was a bad thing.
I finished my coffee and tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan. I stretched lazily, enjoying the growing buzz of caffeine in the back of my head. "Okay, now to find what the deal is with this Mercer guy." I strolled casually through the park in no particular direction until I saw a marine. I nonchalantly followed him back to a large base in the heart of a city. The base itself was huge, expanding almost three blocks. Apache helicopters littered the grass like lawn orniments, which seemed a little over the top, even to me. I ducked into an alley outside of the the base area, and waited patiently. Sure enough after a few minutes, a soldier passed by, within seconds he was on the ground unconcious.
I quickly undressed the man, wasting only enough time to chuckle at the soldiers poor choice of boxers. Coat, pants, and helmet on and mask in place. I waltzed into the base completly unnoticed. When I was actually within the boundary I paused to look around. Thousands of soldiers milled aimlessly around the area, it seemed almost... wasteful. All this to prevent one (maybe more) man? Especially with all this fire power, it hardly seemed necasary. I trotted toward the building that served as head quarters for this particular base. As I passed the door I noticed a large mechanism, about half the size of a car, with blinking green lights. A detector of some sort, though not one for metal. I ignored it, more pressing information looming inside. As I passed the double doors I noticed out of the corner of my eye the bright green lights turn yellow.
I passed the receptionist desk, strolling down the hall as if I knew where I was going. (One thing I hated about the military was their ability to make maze-like buildings... among other things) A few minutes of wandering, and I found what I was looking for, an elevater.
Two men stood outside, looking bored. I tried to walk by only to be stopped by a large hand.
"You need proper authorization to enter here. Where's your ID?" I mumbled something about losing it. "Then you cannot gain access." He waved his gun a bit as if to emphasize the comment. I shrugged.
"Shame, that." Before the two men knew what hit them, I had grabbed hold of their chin straps, and yanked down hard, onto my awaiting knee. I then grabbed a key off the guard who had spoken, scanned it and was on my way down into the record bay.
The area was vast, lined with bookshelf after bookshelf. The room was dank and musty and smelled faintly of decomposing paper.
To my luck, there was no one there so I had free reign over the library. I was however limited in my time, as someone was bound to find the bodies fairly soon. Quickly I browsed the 'M' section. Merry, Merca, Mercer! I pulled out the file, which was surprisingly small. I turned to leave passing by the 'C' section. Curiousity got the best of me and I pulled out my personal file.
Calder, S Alysa
Birthdate: 02/19/1985
Place of Birth: Minneapolis, MN
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Aprox. Weight: 120 lbs
Aprox. Height: 5'3"
Misson Record: 96%
I was scanning over an interesting section about my history when suddenly all the lights in the building turned red. A loud siren-like noise resounded and I couldn't help but cover my ears.
SECURITY BREACH! SECURITY BREACH! The metallic voice screeched over and over. Had I been found out already? I wasn't taking any chances. I shoved the file into my pant pocket and took out the handgun I had pilfered off of the unconcious soldier's body, silently clicking the safety off. I hastily entered the elevater, preparing for what awaited me when the doors opened.
To my relief no one was. I gratefully trotted down the halls, systematically checking each corner for soldiers. To my astonishment the entire building was empty. It wasn't until I reached the outdoors that I found out why.
Outside was chaos. Hundreds of guns were firing at a rapidly moving object. Helicopters were taking off, tanks screeching to a halt, but above all the noise was a that obnoxious beeping. It eminated from the metal mechanism that was now blinking bright red. I had only a moment to stare at it before a huge chunk of metal silenced it. I froze stunned.
"Damn, that fucking sound is annoying." I whipped my head around to see... him. Mercer. ZEUS.
He wasn't looking at me but at the incoming tank coming our way. Instinctively I jumped out of the way, just as a shell exploded where Mercer was.
Whoever that man had been, he was gone now... Or so I thought.
The man in the hoodie and black jacket stood up sorely brushing himself off. I stared as he picked up a huge chunk of twisted metal and threw it at the tank. It hit it's target with a resounding 'clunk', leaving a very decent sized dent in the tank's surface. The tank still came, if not slower, until it was nearly running over Mercer.
I watched in disbelief as I saw the man's arms transform into hulking masses of flesh. He swung hard hitting the tank square in the front. It promptly exploded. I was still frozen on the ground, only moving when a piece of red hot metal seared through part of my forearm. I yelped and rolled out of the way.
Mercer had his attention on other soldiers, and didn't register my cry. I watched again as tendrils grew out of his arms absorbing the muscle then melted back into him returning his arms back to normal. I stumbled to my feet, scampering quickly away from the fight. I tried to process what I had just witnessed, it hadn't seemed real...
"Hey! Your the one who stole the files!" I snapped out of my thoughts to see a half a dozen men standing in front of me. Two of which were the ones I had knocked out in the building. All had their guns trained on me. I placed my hands in the air, feeling the warm trickle of blood pour down my left arm.
"Are you serious? You're worried about me when there's THAT thing attacking the base?" I nodded my head toward the fire fight with Mercer, whom was easily winning.
"You stole top secret files from a government facility, we are authorized to shoot on site, no matter the situtation." I looked at him dubiously, he was completely serious.
'Oh for the love-!" I whipped out my hand gun and fired a few warning shots to scatter the men. In two steps I was on the closet one slamming my knee into his stomach. Using him as a sheild I fired twice, hitting two others in the leg. I spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the ribcage to the man behind me. As if in slow motion I saw one man raise his gun. I unshiethed my combat knife and leapt forward. I slammed the blade into his stomach, pulled up and elbowed him in the jaw. I yanked the knife out then threw it at the final soldier. I hit him directly in the eye. I doubled over, breathing hard from exhaustion and left-over adrenaline.
I became abruptly aware that the fight had quieted to a degree. I turned to see ZEUS in the middle of a field of dead bodies. His attention was directed solely on me. My heart nearly stopped, and I felt a cold sweat begin to drip down my neck. Reflexively I pulled out my handgun and aimed it at the man, who didn't move. I didn't fire, what good could a bullet do to a man who swatted a tank away like it was a fly?
Time seemed to stop, the silence only filled with my quickening heartbeat. I could smell my own fear, and had a feeling so could he. This wasn't a man, it was a monster.
He smirked at my cowardice, daring me to fire. After a moment, I put my gun down. I widened my stance stubbornly, and shouted. "So what now?"
"As long as you don't follow me, I don't care." then he was gone.
Time seemed to correct itself and i could hear helicopters overhead. My arm ached, badly, I would need stitches. I looked off toward to street and saw the blur of a person jumping from roof to roof. "So that's Alex Mercer" I whispered, I shrugged, retrieved my knife and stumbled to the nearest hospital.
A fews hours and eightteen stitches later I stumbled into my apartment, it wasn't much to say the least. It could barely be considered a hovel. But hey, it was home. I muttereed a slight profanity as my arm grazed the door. I was a little loopy because of the pain pills they had given me, I had refused them, but the doctor had been presistent. I yawned and dropped onto my bed. For a moment I stared at the ceiling. Then I pulled the file out from my pocket and skimmed it's contents.
Mercer, J Alexander
Birthdate: 11/ 01/ 1981
PLace of Birth: Unknown
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Aprox. Weight: 170 lbs.
Aprox. Height: 5'10"
Alex Mercer is a scientist working on the Blacklight project- became a liability- stole- sister of Dana Mercer-
Most of the folder had been destroyed in my fight earlier that day, with only a few bits of information clear enough to read. But only one sentence caught my attention. At the bottom of the folder there was a large red stamp stating DECEASED. I flipped through the file and found a photo, the man at the base HAD been Mercer, that much was for sure, so why did it say he was dead?
I rubbed my temples sorely. It wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of the military faking a death of a soldier, though in this case it was a company. I leaned over and taped the ripped up piece of paper to the wall, next to a few articles about the outbreak. I turned onto my back. This who situation had piqued my interest. I might as well try to find as much out as possible, what else was there to do? The island was blocked off, the streets swarmed with infected, soldiers were shooting anything that moved... I sighed.
"What a predicament you've gotten yourself into this time Alysa." I smiled, I could almost here my father telling me that. I closed my eyes and relaxed. Tomorrow, I would find Dana Mercer.
Sorry, so short, R&R. You know the drill.
