Chapter 4
The next day, Samantha woke up the six men that were sleeping with "Rise and shine! Today ve continue the game!" She then giggled and the weapons crate reappeared.
Nikolai the Drunk groaned and clutched his head. "I shouldn't have drunk all that vodka last night. It feels like my head is going to explode!"
Dempsey rolled his eyes. "You'd better freshen up quick, because Creepo Girl is going to start her game soon."
He was right. Their first enemy of the day, an AK-47er, appeared a few minutes after Dempsey had spoken. He was soon lying on the ground dead, riddled with bullets.
"Tick, tick…BOOM!" said Samantha. Yuri wondered what that was about, until a guy with C4 on him appeared, holding the detonator!
"What the fu-" BOOM! The C4 detonated and Yuri was hurled backwards by the blast.
"Yuri! You alright!" asked a worried Nikolai the Pilot. Yuri managed a weak nod. Thankfully, his force field had deflected most of the blast, and he escaped without any major injuries. That didn't include his ears – they were ringing as if they were bells.
"More C4 guys spotted!" called out Price. It soon became apparent to the eight that these guys were suicide bombers, as they had no regard for their own safety. They were soon all dead, blown to pieces by their own explosives (Richtofen thought that satisfyingly ironic). The same couldn't be said for the AK-47ers. Soap found out that there body armor could let them take two or three bullet hits before dying. As the battle raged on, Nikolai the Pilot called out to the zombie killers, "Hey, are the enemies supposed to get stronger with each day?"
Takeo nodded with a grim look on his face. "That is how Samantha plays her game: send out increasingly difficult enemies for her victims to combat until they are dead."
Price was out of ammo for his M4A1 and went over to the weapons crate for replenishing. However, Samantha didn't let him off that easy. "Nuh uh uh, Captain Price. You must play a little game vith me first."
Price sighed. He had been trapped in this place for only a day and already he was sick of her voice. "Alright, what's the game?"
Samantha giggled and said, "I call it, KNIFE!"
In a flash, Price's assault rifle and sidearm had vanished, and he was left with his knife only. "Oh, what the…"
The weapons crate reappeared a distance away from the hangar. Samantha said, "Now, Captain Price, you must get to that crate with your knife only."
Price looked around with a confused look and said, "Well, okay then…"
He stepped out and started walking towards the crate, thinking to himself how odd it was that there was no resistance. As soon as he had finished thinking that thought, Samantha said, "Oh, you vant a challenge? Okay, here's one for you!" Instantly 20 plus Russians appeared between him and the crate, all armed with AK-47s.
"Me and my big brain," he muttered. But there was no time for self-criticism right now. The Russians opened fire on him and he ducked behind a wooden box.
He was about to call out to his friends for help when Samantha interrupted him. "It's just you alone, Captain Price, and no one else!"
"Damn!" He thought about how weak he was now, all because of a girl. If some of his old squadmates heard about this they would never let him hear the end of it. Although, if he told them that the girl in question had the power to create and take away things spontaneously, perhaps they would have some sympathy. No…they would just think that he was crazy. Price's train of thought was then derailed as an enemy appeared on his left. Price slit his throat and with blood gushing from his wound, the soldier fell. The captain decided to quit cowering behind this box, and charged toward his foes.
Price stabbed one soldier and kicked another in the gut at the same time. He then took care of that fellow and slashed another one. A Russian charged at him with the intent of smashing in his skull with the butt of his rifle, and he ducked and stabbed him in the stomach. He pulled out his bloodied knife and was about to help himself to the fallen soldier's AK-47, but it disappeared right before he grabbed it.
"No, no, no, Captain Price, you are only allowed your knife!" Samantha scolded. "Or perhaps you vant me to take zhat avay as vell?"
Gulping, a mortified Price shook his head and attacked the rest of the enemies. He flipped one guy and used him to knock at other, before killing both of them. A soldier was about to fire at him, but he pushed the fellow's gun away and punched him in the face before puncturing his heart, blood spurting out and getting on his clothes. Price did a quick turn and pushed his knife right into another guy's head. He continued stabbing and punching, kicking and slashing, until all of his foes were dead.
Samantha let out a squeal of delight and said, "Congratulations, Captain Price! You have won the game! As a revard, I vill give you a random gun." The weapons crate opened and his M4A1 floated out. Price reached out for it, but it changed to a USP.45, then a P90, then continued to change so fast that Price couldn't keep up with it.
Samantha said, "Just say vhen."
Price continued to watch the flashing guns, trying to find a pattern in the changes. It soon became apparent to him that it was completely random. Crossing his fingers and hoping that it would fall on a good weapon, Price said, "When."
The changing guns slowed down and stopped on a PKP Pecheneg light machine gun. Price breathed a sigh of relief and snatched the gun before Samantha could change it or take it back. The weapons crate disappeared and reappeared in its original spot in the hangar, and Price rejoined his friends.
Soap looked at him and his new PKP, and a look of jealousy crossed his face. "Where did you get that?"
Price replied, "From playing a game with Samantha." Soap blinked and said, "Well, in that case, I wouldn't try to follow suit."
Price went prone on the snow-covered ground and aimed the PKP at the onslaught of enemies. He pulled the trigger and with a roar of adrenaline proceeded to turn them all into mincemeat. Some of the enemies tried to shoot at him but he shot them first.
"Take THAT you S.O.B.!" Price shouted as he made a soldier's head explode in red ruin. He continued hurling insults and bullets at his foes until there was a mass of dead bodies on the ground. Only when he stopped did he notice everyone else staring at him.
"What?" he said. "I was having fun."
Nikolai the Drunk said, "Having fun with your gun! Ha ha! Hey, that rhymes!"
Takeo said, "I'm glad that you have that honorable gun, for our enemies get stronger by the day."
Dempsey gave a wistful sigh. "Those perks would come in real handy right now. Remember Juggernog? Man, that was the best!"
Everyone's attention was then drawn to the northwest where a lightning bolt streaked downward. "Hey, maybe Samantha is giving us more stuff!" said Yuri.
They decided to investigate and cautiously advanced out of the hangar. Price told them about the "game" that he had been forced to play with Samantha, and everyone started running when he mentioned the sudden presence of enemies appearing between him and his goal. The eight passed a tanker truck, went down a short flight of steps, and found another crate with a laptop on top of it.
"This looks exactly the same as the one back at the hangar," Nikolai the Pilot said disappointedly.
"Vell, zhey might look the same, but zhey might have different inventories," replied Richtofen. He flipped open the laptop and found that he was right. The list did not contain guns, but rather explosives, grenades, sentry guns, and at the bottom of the list…
"Awesome! It has perks!" Dempsey said. He jostled Richtofen aside, selected his favorite perk, Juggernog, grabbed the bottle that floated out, and drank.
"Mmmmm…that hits the spot!" Dempsey said, smacking his lips. "And once again I feel strong! Well, stronger," he quickly added, trying to keep up his "tough guy" act.
"Um, yeah, if you guys don't mind, can you give us some context?" Yuri asked.
Takeo complied. "These perks are drinks that can give you improved abilities, like endurance, faster fire rate, and things like that."
"But how can a drink do that?" Yuri questioned.
"I do not know. How did we all get our own force fields?" Takeo countered. To this, Yuri had no reply.
Richtofen explained to the Task Force 141 men what each perk did. "Juggernog, I suspect, gives your force field more endurance, Double Tap Root Beer increases your firing rate, Speed Cola makes you reload faster, and Deadshot Daiquiri makes you automatically aim for the head."
Richtofen then selected Speed Cola for himself. Takeo did the same, as well as Nikolai the Drunk and Price. Soap and Yuri selected Juggernog, while Nikolai the Pilot selected Double Tap. The zombie killers guzzled their perks without hesitation, but the Task Force 141 men were less eager.
Soap looked at his Juggernog, made a face and said, "Do we have to drink ALL of this stuff?"
Richtofen replied, "No, just a little."
"Good, because this stuff looks disgusting."
The Task Force 141 men tentatively took one or two sips and blinked as the effects of the altered drinks took place.
"Whooaaaaa…I feel as if I just drank ten cups of coffee," Price said.
"My trigger finger is twitching like mad!" Nikolai the Pilot observed.
Soap asked Yuri, "Do you suddenly feel all strong too?" The ex-Spetsnaz man nodded.
Samantha interrupted their little party. "Vell, I'm glad zhat you have discovered zhe perks, for you are going to need zhem very, very soon!" She laughed maniacally.
Soap rolled his eyes. "Honestly, more riddles? Why can't that girl just tell us what she's talking about?"
Nikolai the Pilot opened his mouth to answer, but it turned into an expression of horror mixed with surprise. He shakily pointed to the south and said, "I think that's what she was talking about."
Everyone turned to where he was pointing and saw a juggernaut. An armored fiend, a hulking Goliath, the most resilient enemy they had ever encountered. Anything short of a missile would be pathetically weak against this enemy. The eight men were still standing there when the juggernaut opened fire on them.
Everyone ducked behind cover except Nikolai the Drunk, who thought it would be a good idea to throw his perk bottle at the juggernaut in the hopes of doing damage. "Nikolai the Drunk, get the god damn hell behind cover!" Dempsey hissed.
"No way! You think a RUSSIAN can be intimidated by that thing?"
"The other Nikolai and that Yuri fellow are Russian, and they have the sense to take cover."
"…"
"Everyone, we've got to get out of here! That juggernaut is getting closer by the second!" Price said.
"Ah, so it is called a juggernaut? How interesting," said Richtofen.
"This is NOT the time to be musing on the wonders of the modern world!" Price said to the Doctor. "We've got to find a hiding place or something!" He ducked down as bullets flew overhead him.
"That's it, we're getting out of here!"
Price ran out towards the hangar where the group originally was. The other men followed suit, with the juggernaut hot on their heels. Soap watched as bullets hit his force field and hoped that that Juggernaut stuff would work.
"A room, a room…" Price was muttering. He turned east and passed the tanker the eight had seen earlier. The group went past a rounded part and came to an area with a bunch of shipping crates, and Takeo noticed a hut that looked promising.
"Over there!" he said. Price followed his gaze and went up to the hut. A porch ran around it, and the group went up on it and came across a set of double doors. Richtofen tried to open them, but found that they were locked.
"Scheisse!" he swore. "Zhey are locked."
"No problem," said Nikolai the Drunk. "Let the Russian do it!"
He stepped back, turned so that his side was facing the doors, and rammed into them. The lock broke and the doors burst open, with the unfortunate Russian going full speed through them and crashing into a table.
"Good ol' Nikolai the Drunk!" Dempsey said. He and the others went into the building. Soap and Price barricaded the door with everything they could find, hoping that the juggernaut wouldn't try to smash his way through.
Everyone held their breaths as they heard footsteps outside. Soap could see the juggernaut's feet through the door crack. He watched as they stopped, turned to face the door…and followed the juggernaut into a sitting position. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, he hasn't tried to burst his way into here, but he's decided to camp out there, which is just as bad," he informed the others.
"Let's spend the night here," Yuri said. "Three should be on watch, just in case he changes his mind." The others agreed.
Soap's Journal, entry date 08-18-16
Day 2 of being stuck in this frozen place. Today we encountered enemies with AK-47s and some sick suicide bombers. Price was also dragged into some game by Samantha where he had to kill over 20 enemies with his knife only. I don't know how, but he actually did it and Samantha gave him a PKP Pecheneg. So I guess she can give us good things too. Anyway, we got another one of those crates with a laptop on top of it, and this one had some strange drinks called "perks". Apparently you drink one and it gives you some special ability or something. This is just getting weirder and weirder. I'm writing this in some hut because Samantha decided it would be fun to send a damn JUGGERNAUT after us. We found this hut and currently we're hiding in here, while that juggernaut is waiting for us outside. Not much interesting about this building – It's one large room, with some tables with papers on them. So, we're stuck. I don't know how we're going to get out of this one, but Price will figure it out. He always does. Soap out.