We arrived at the ARC thirty minutes late. Becker and the others were already waiting for us in the parking garage when we pulled in. A light smile on my face, along with slightly pink cheeks, I hopped off Danny's bike and climbed into the front seat of one of the SUVs. Becker jumped into the drivers seat and backed up as Danny jumped into the other SUV. The ride to the anomaly site was one of those awkward silent rides.
When we arrived at the anomaly site I jumped out of the car and headed towards the back. Becker as already deciding on which weapon to chose upon my arrival. I just grabbed a coupe of extra clips for my twin pistols and started a perimeter search. The open fields turned into somewhat swampy marsh land and was very unexpected. I took one step into it and sank till the marsh was up to my knees. A crackling sound rang in my ears as Jess' voice came through the ear piece.
"Hey guys, by the sounds of eye witnesses the creature we're looking for is like a male Medusa. So keep a look out oh and before I forget, they were saying that it was last seen in the marsh land by where you guys are."
"Great. Just what i fucking needed today." I said not realizing that everyone else could hear me.
"What's wrong Kat? Thought this was what you liked to do?" Becker stated.
"It is but not when I'm knee high in marsh land." I growled. "Hey will one of you come over here and get me out before something bad happens?"
"We're on our way love." Danny stated making me blush.
Waiting there seemed like forever. I could hear them coming up behind me which made me smile. As I turned my head to greet them I saw that the source of the sound wasn't from the team it was actually from the creature. Well isn't this just my day? I thought as I watched it come closer towards me.
"Looksssss like my queen issss trapped in the marsh." The demon stated like a snake.
"I'm not trapped I'm just hanging out." I sarcastically replied.
"You were alwayssss a ssssarcastic demon."
"I'm having a slight memory problem would you mind refreshing it by telling me your name?" I asked as I readied myself to pull my weapons out and fire upon the demon.
"Call me Al."
"Alright Al, you wouldn't want to lend me a hand and get me out would you?" I asked hoping that he would actually help me out of this damned marsh.
"Anything for my queen." Al smiled as he sank his tail into the marsh, wrapped it around my body and pulled me out.
Just as I was fully pulled out of the marsh gun shots rang out and the next thing I knew I was falling back into the marsh. Struggling to get to the top of the marsh I could hear the team shouting and more gun fire. There was a splashing sound and then I broke through to the surface. Gasping for air I wiped the black gunk of the marsh away from my eyes. Looking around I couldn't find any sign of Al.
"Where did the demon go?" I yelled at the team as they pointed behind me.
"You've betrayed ussss?" Al hissed in confusion.
"I'm not who you think I am Al. I'm not Sarleen." I said as I took aim at the serpent-like demon. "Thanks again for the help." Then I fired two shots at his head.
Dodging the two bullets he dived back under the surface of the marsh. This is bad. I thought as Al's tail wrapped around my legs and pulled me under the surface. All I could hear was what sounded like Danny screaming at me and the faint sound of bells. Another splashing sound sounded through the thick water of the marsh as I was hit in the back by something sharp. Spinning around I attempted to defend myself. Then there was another hit but this time to my left thigh. As the water rushed by my leg I could feel something lodged in the wound. I was running out of air as a figure started to come into view. Pulling out my combat knife, that was hidden in my boot, I readied myself for another hit from the demon.
"Turn around Sarleen." A strong feminine voice said.
For some reason I did as she said and turned around just in time to have my knife come into contact with something solid. The black water turned a slight red color as my world turned black. I awoke to coughing up black water and the team standing around me. Rolling on to my side I looked around.
"Where's Al?" I asked breathless.
"If you mean the demon you killed it." Danny smiled.
"I killed it? Weired."
"What is? You're a great soldier you shouldn't be surprised at the fact that you can kill something." Becker stated.
"That's not it. I heard a females voice tell me to turn around right before my knife came into contact with something solid." I said as I looked down at the grass.
"No one said anything Kat." Abby said as she looked at the others.
"What about Jess?"
"We would have heard her say something if she did...and she didn't." Connor said.
"Like I said weird. Hey how did you guys get me out of the marsh anyways?"
"Danny got you out." Abby smiled as I turned to look at him.
"What kind of person would I be if I let one of my teammates drown in that?" Danny smiled triumphantly.
"You don't have to look so smug Quinn. But thank you."
"Have dinner with me."
"Excuse me?"
"As payment for saving you, have dinner with me." Danny smiled.
"You're crazy you know that right."
"Yeah maybe but then again you have to be at least a little crazy to keep working here. So what do you say?"
"I say, do you have dinner with all the people you save?"
"No just the pretty ones." Danny joked.
"Sorry to interrupt your moment you two, but we've got a problem." Becker stated.
We looked up in the direction that he was looking to see Al standing there with my knife stuck in his right side. A brass fingernail was ripped off of his right hand. Looking down at my leg I saw that someone had removed it from the wound. The single eye on the demon was a fiery color. He looked different now though. Before he looked exactly like a male version of Medusa, but now he had only one eye, snakes for hair, brass nails, boar tusks, iron teeth, which he showed off when he pulled my knife out of his side, and the lower half of his body was of a snake just like Medusa.
"You have to decapitate him Sarleen." The female voice said in my head.
Thinking that I was going crazy I decided to try it anyways. Then, if it worked, I would figure out where this female voice was coming from. Taking in a deep breath I stood up and dashed towards Al. Jumping at the demon's left side I rolled behind it. With knife in hand I jumped onto Al's back and pulled the knife against his throat. As my knife cut into his neck I started to lean back until I had fully decapitated him. Jumping off of him before he landed on the ground, I dropped the head of the demon and limped off towards the SUV.
Once at the safety of the car I sat in the back where the weapons were and cleaned both my pistols and my knife. When I was done with my first pistol the others had joined me.
"How did you know to decapitate him?" Becker asked.
"The female voice told me so."
"You're kidding right?" Abby questioned.
"Not really but if it makes you feel better knowing that I was then yes I'm joking." I said not once looking up from my second pistol.
I finished cleaning and then jumped out of the back and headed towards the passenger seat. Danny jumped into the driver's seat right as Becker opened the door. Looking over at him I sighed and leaned my head against the window. We pulled away from the anomaly site and headed back to the ARC. Arriving at the ARC we were greeted by soldiers and Lester. Sighing again I jumped out of the SUV and limped into the main building. Lester followed me talking my ear off about safety. I was about to turn around and tell him to shut the fuck up but the sound of Jess gasping and getting up from the ADD stopped me.
"Shit Kat! What did you do to your self?"
"I decided to let the guys drag me by the bumper of one of the SUVs instead of riding in it. Thought it would be fun." I sarcastically answered.
"Well you don't have to be rude about it." Jess said as she got a first aid kit.
"Sorry Jess. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm in pain and my temper is running thin." I apologized.
"It's fine, you would think I would be use to it by now with they guys being such wusses."
"You mean Becker and Danny right?" I asked trying to pick up on her joke as she started to clean my leg after nodding towards her chair.
"Yeah, this might hurt some." She warned as she applied some gauze coated in alcohol to my leg. After not wincing or anything, "wow Kat, you're a lot tougher than the boys are. They usually wince or pull away when I do this."
"I can't feel anything." I said as I ran the back of my hand against my forehead.
"You ok Kat? You don't look so hot." Jess asked as the others entered the room.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"You look really pale Kat." Connor stated as he walked to my side.
"Kat, hey Kat. Can you hear me?" Danny lightly yelled as I passed out.