An uncomfortable silence engulfed the room; Meryl found that she just didn't know what to say. She felt blind for not seeing the kid for what she really was, though in truth there was no way of knowing. Meryl leant forwards and pressed the button on the intercom device that stood on her desk, when someone answered she asked for every file and DVD of every training session that the missing recruit had done. Moments later there was a knock at the door and a guy in a white lab coat came in pushing a trolley on which stood a TV and DVD player. Other guys in lab coats entered soon afterwards carrying several boxes. Snake didn't know what to make of the massive amount of information that he was being supplied with. Meryl delved into one of the boxes and pulled out a disk labelled 01441, she then walked over to the TV and inserted it into the drive.
The clip was of an outdoor obstacle course, a trail of car tyres, rope swings and large wooden panels. It looked cold, wet and miserable. Standing at the start of the course were four figures. Two of them were holding stop watches, while the other one was holding a clip board poised to take notes.
"There she is" Meryl was pointing at the fourth figure, who was wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt. She couldn't stand still; in fact she was shaking. Most people would have said she was shaking from the cold but not Snake. One look at her face, one look into her eyes and he could tell, she was shaking with excitement. A whistle sounded and she was off. Due to her height Snake was surprised that she was able to make it over the first wall with ease. He watched the girl tackle the rest of the obstacle course at great speed. He could hear the other figures remarks; they were surprised by her agility. When the girl reached the end, the other figures were speechless. Snake wasn't able to see her finish time but he could tell by their faces that she was fast---really fast. The clip then ended.
Meryl got out of her chair and changed the disk. The next clip was of Foxhound's shooting range, a mass of paper targets hung up on some sort of pulley system. On each target was a silhouette of a person. Due to the camera only being focused on them Snake couldn't see the girl anywhere on screen but he knew that she was close by. It was then Meryl informed Snake of the purpose of the exercise
"It's sniping training, during missions she's one of our main snipers. She's....well you'll see for yourself" The targets started to move, swaying from left to right as they crossed the width of the room. A whistle then sounded and several shots were fired. Snake could feel his stomach tighten, not from fear but from anticipation. The girl was able to get a head shot on every single one. Meryl was right, she was good. The clip then ended. Meryl changed the disk and they watched the next clip, they watched training session after training session until finally Snake had enough.
"I've seen enough" he told her. He did not want to see anymore. No matter how many of the training files he sees it'll just show him the same thing over and over again. He didn't want to know what she's good at. He'll find that out sooner or later, what he wanted to know was how she thinks. At least watch something that would give him an insight into what's going on in her head. Meryl was clearly annoyed
"Snake don't be stupid, you need to see this" she stuck the disk in the drive, Snake groaned. Even though he was in the process of quitting, Snake would have murdered someone for a cigarette. He was finding sitting down and watching the files very boring. At least by smoking he would have something to do.
The clip that played on the TV wasn't another training session; it was taken on the day that the recruit disappeared from the base. It showed Foxhound's vast and very plain canteen. It looked very busy; several soldiers were standing by the serving hatch queuing up for their evening meal. Sitting at one of the tables with a vacant look on her face was the missing recruit, she hadn't touched her food. She seemed to be lost in thought, in some ways she seemed almost peaceful. A couple of soldiers walked behind her, they looked like your typical thugs. One of them put his hand on the girl's shoulder; he leaned over and whispered something into her ear. Whatever he said made the girl turn round and stare at him. This reaction pleased him, his face grinning with amusement. Another soldier who was standing on her left said something to her. Snake was annoyed by the lack of sound but he knew by the girl's face that it wasn't a friendly remark. She was clearly upset. None of the soldiers noticed her hand creeping closer to her fork. The soldier standing on her left started laughing, though that didn't last long. The girl had stabbed him in the genitals. He looked down, horrified. She stood up, grabbed her chair and smacked him with it. It sent him soaring across the room, blood gushing from his head. She then charged at the other soldier and knocked him to the floor. She jumped on top of him and started to punch him in the head over and over again until there was nothing left, nothing but a bloody pulp.
The soldier who was standing nearby, the one who never said anything but was clearly along for the ride stood there unable to move. The girl walked over and punched him across the face, blood started to pour from his mouth. He grabbed a knife from one of the tables and rushed at her. She just stood there, her face twisted with an uncontrollable rage. She stepped back, grabbed his arm and twisted it round into an unnatural position, the bone snapped. She then kicked him to the floor where he laid howling in pain. A soldier ran up behind her and grabbed her in some sort of vain attempt to get her to calm down. It didn't work; she stamped down hard on his foot which caused him to let go. She then swung round and kicked him. He went flying across the room. The soldiers who were still in the room confused by the situation rapidly became the girl's new prey. She proceeded across the room taking them out one by one till there was no one left standing. She stood there in the midst of the bodies staring down at her blood covered hands. The clip then changed to show her walking down a corridor, to Meryl no longer a soldier but a demon---a demon who had escaped from the bowels of hell. The girl looked straight into the camera; she pulled out a gun and fired. The picture then died.
Meryl couldn't think of anything to say. The incident had affected her deeply, what she showed Snake was a side of the girl that was never seen before, a side that no one had known about. Thinking about it made her feel queasy; she had seen violence before but nothing like that. She remembered arriving at the scene, watching the medical staff move the injured soldiers to the infirmary. A guy's arm twisted in a way that shouldn't have been possible. Meryl was beginning to feel hot; she got up and opened a window.
The buzzer on the intercom sounded
"What is it?" she asked pressing the button and leaning slightly towards the speaker
"We've opened her room" replied the voice
"We'll be right over" Meryl looked over at Snake "well then shall we?"
When they arrived at the girl's room Snake was slightly surprised by what he saw. The girl's room looked untouched as if no one had ever lived in it. The bedding still covered in its original plastic covering was left neatly folded at the end of the bed. The walls looked so dull and empty; there weren't any posters or a family photo in sight. No books filled the tiny bookshelf. Apart from the few clothes that were found in the wardrobe there was nothing. The whole room seemed deprived of a personality, it was depressing. Meryl noticed the table lamp on the desk was still on; she walked over switched it off and opened the curtains. That was when she noticed something; several pieces of paper had been rolled up and stuck in the bin. She pulled them out and unrolled them across the desk; she was horrified by what she saw.
"Snake you need to look at this" Meryl directed Snake's attention to them. They weren't ordinary sheets of paper; they were blueprints, blueprints of the nomad. While Snake stared at them, he failed to see the red beam of light that was aimed at his head. The beam coming from a sniper rifle whose shooter was hidden in the trees just outside the window.