Humanity's Finest
Part 2 – chapter 1
Everything was ringing in his ears. His ear drums felt like they were going to burst because the ringing was so loud. Opening his eyes slowly so they could adjust to light, Frank Woods blinked repeatedly for several minutes to get his vision working faster before turning his head to look around. Alex Mason was lying face down on the ground a few meters away; and from the blood that dirtied his forehead Frank guessed his comrade had blunt force trauma and would be out of it for a while. Sighing dejectedly to no one in particular Frank bared his teeth as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position while his muscles screamed out in protest. Rubbing the side of his head Frank surveyed his surroundings for anything familiar and too his surprise all he had found was trees. Lot's and lots of trees.
"Oh this is just great." Frank muttered softly with closed eyes. "I have no idea where we both are and from the looks of things the two of us are weapon less. Our situation just keeps getting better and better."
First he, Mason, Bowman and Hudson were under heavy attack from the Viet Cong, then out of nowhere a bright light forced everyone to cover their eyes and they next thing he knew – he ended up in the middle of some jungle with Mason as his only backup. He lost contact with everyone else now and all of his equipment was missing. Some higher plane of existence must like fucking around with him.
Groaning Frank slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to his unconscious brother-in-arms, put his hands securely underneath his arm pits and began dragging Mason away to a new location.
There was no way they were going to stay out in the open. Who knows who's out there? The Viet Cong could still be searching for them at this very moment.
And after he'd put Mason in a secure location he'll go out and search for their missing equipment. His gut telling him that they were somewhere nearby and that he should set out to find them as soon as possible. After a few minutes dragging the unconscious marine was beginning to take its toll on him. Panting lightly Frank looked around before dragging himself and the limp form of Mason to a tree and laid him up against it.
"Not the likely place I'd have chosen but it'll do for now." Frank said, nodding to himself in reassurance. "Stay tight Alex. I'll be back when I do manage to find our gear. If I can't then I'll head straight back here, I just hope you stay put once you wake up." Frank added with an afterthought.
And with that Frank jogged off in the direction he came from beginning his search for their missing equipment.
When Mason opened his eyes he didn't know how long he was unconscious for. But he knew one thing: He was out like a kite for a very long time. The sun was going down and the stars were coming out. And he had a headache the size of a basketball pounding in his head. He looked around and to his dismay realised he was alone in the middle of a jungle of some kind unarmed. Cursing Mason slowly got to his feet. His brain didn't register that he was dragged to where he was.
Groaning at the massive headache he had, Mason massaged the side of his head before looking around with tired eyes. Just… a bunch of pine trees… that seemed to go on forever. Yeah, he was in a Jung- wait, pine trees?
"I don't recall seeing pine trees where I was…" Mason mused. "Where the hell are we?"
"That is what we must find out Mason." A man with a gruff thick Russian accent said. "Dragovich, Kravchenko, Stenier… they cannot be killed by us if we cannot discover where we are…"
Mason turned to look at the man. He had a crewcut, a trimmed beard, light green eyes and had wrinkles under his eyes. His attire consisted of a light green unbuttoned combat jacket, with rolled up sleeves that stopped just over the elbow and wore a black coloured shirt underneath. His trousers were of the same colour as his jacket and wore black army boots.
This man is Captain Viktor Reznov. Who is (unknowingly to Alex Mason) a figment of his imagination, an illusion that was the result of Alex's brainwashing back in Vorkuta.
"I know Reznov. But we can't kill them alone. We need Woods and the others with us. The two of us alone won't be much of a challenge for them to get rid of." Mason said.
Reznov frowned as he considered Alex's words. "True. The two of us alone won't be able to do much…" When Reznov looked down at the ground, he smiled suddenly when he noticed some footprints leading away from them. Along with some drag marks. "It appears that an ally may be nearby." The Soviet informed.
Curiously Alex looked down and his lips twitched before curling upward. Footprints, but these weren't ordinary footprints. They were S.O.G type of footprints, which meant someone he knew, was nearby. He quickly turned his head to the right when he heard a twig snapping, narrowing his eyes Mason quickly took cover behind a tree and pressed his back against the bark.
He leaned slightly to the left and peaked through the edge of the tree and what he saw shocked him. They were apes, but not just any apes, they were walking ones. They walked on their feet like human beings! There five of them in a small group; the teenage sized apes was in nothing but a loincloth, the adult sized ones wore straps of leather that was knitted together to protect the important parts of their body. And the last, well, it was a fucking giant! It wore iron armour that covered most of its body, with leather underneath that offered some added protection. The armour looked like those ancient Greek soldiers used to wear.
The giant ape had a massive steel claymore sheathed on its back (or in the apes case a long sword) and a round steel shield in its left hand. The teenage sized apes had blunt weapons like clubs and a poorly made shield that was made from a combination of wood and leather. The adult sized apes and monkeys had sharper weapons, short swords and spears to name a few. And their shields was somewhere between the giant ape shield and the smaller ones.
"These creatures… they are apes, and the giant one looks well armoured. It appears they are hostile too, my friend. Be careful Mason." Reznov observed before warning Mason with a grave expression.
Mason to his credit didn't reply. Instead the marine reached down to his boot and unsheathed his combat knife that was trapped to his leg underneath the sleeve of his trousers and held it so the tip of the blade was facing the ground while he straightened himself.
"Alright you no good maggots, hold up!" The armoured ape growled out through bared teeth. The apes stopped in mid-step and slowly turned fearfully to their boss. "We're stopping here for a while to rest. Now get your furry asses out of my sight!" The ape bellowed.
Not wanting to bring the giant ape's wrath down on them every monkey and ape broke off and went into different directions. Mason quietly watched the animal's separating as he tightened the grip on the hilt of his knife. Suddenly a lizard with scales white as snow dropped to the ground, before the ape leader could call yell for everyone to come back the lizard leapt onto the ape, knocking it to the ground with all its weight in its front paws before ripping out its throat with its razor sharp teeth.
Mason watched in fascination as the lizard slowly stepped off the ape's corpse, awed at how easily the scaled creature had killed the monkey with little effort. Squinting to get a better look at it Mason saw two horns spouting from the top of its head before curving down. He realised that the creature had wings, but it was the same colour as the scaled that he almost missed it' and it was wrapped around its back. The tail had three sharp pikes on the outside, three on the sides and another pair on the bottom.
He hunched slightly when it began to hum a tune. "Hmm, those apes are going to be so clueless and afraid when they realise you're gone." Mason realised the creature was a she from the voice. Slowly the lizard turned her head and looked in the direction Mason was hiding with a bloody toothy smile. Mason slowly looked away, "Human, if you wish to know where you are, you won't find it here. Take your friend and go northeast, you'll find the remnants of your species stationed there."
"Go Mason. She knows we're here, but be cautious." Urged Reznov.
Nodding at Reznov's words' Mason cautiously stepped out in the open, revealing himself to the animal with his hands raised to show that he wasn't a threat. "…Thank you." He said with sincerity. He looked at the corpse behind the lizard and resisted the urge to gag in disgust at the sight. So he quickly brought his gaze to the white scaled lizard instead. "I'm not sure if I'll see you again, but, can you answer these two questions for me? What are you and what is your name?"
The scaled animal smiled at him with closed eyes. "A human asked me that very question a long time ago." Mason raised a brow at that. "In the order you asked: I'm a dragoness, one of the few that remains alive and… my name is Flaria"
"Flaria…" Mason paused and tried to phrase what he should say next. "That's a nice name?" I said tried didn't I?
"Thank you." Flaria giggled with a smile. She suddenly looked back and growled. "Those apes are still nearby. I'll deal with them - you go find your friend, human."
"Do you know which direction he went?"
Flaria frowned and sniffed the air for a scent similar to the humans. Which wasn't easy since the area was now dominated by monkeys and apes. Then she pointed to her right with her tail a few minutes later and said "Follow the footprints, they'll lead you too him. And be careful these creatures are a lot smarter and tougher than the ones of your time."
Before Mason could ask her what she had meant; Flaria took off like a bolt of lightning into the bushes and terrified screams followed soon after. Shuddering as the cries sounded more like the screeching of tortured animals' Mason quickly looked at the ground and followed the footprints left behind by Woods.
….
Woods cursed as he ducked under the overhead slash by an adult sized ape, and blocked another with a sword he had managed to grapple out of the hands of another. The apes had come out of nowhere when he was searching for his and Mason's gear and had took him completely by surprise. He jumped when a monkey tried to take off his feet and retaliated by bringing down his sword, intending to behead it there. But the sword was blocked by another and before Woods had a chance to react he had the air knocked out of him when a gloved fist decked him in the abdomen. He staggered somehow keeping the grip on the hilt of the sword and raised it to block an attack that intended to slice his head in two.
When the two blades met Woods was shocked by the ape's strength and was almost forced to his knees. Gritting his teeth Woods narrowed his eyes in determination and slowly pushed the ape back, he narrowed his eyes even more when no one attacked while he was occupied. He was confused because this was a perfect opportunity for them to kill him, and taking a daring yet very quick glance around him' Woods was surprised that the apes were hanging back even if their weapons were branched.
Now Woods is a battle hardened marine and when he is in the middle of a battle, he would do everything he could to win said battle. And seeing that all escape routes were effectively blocked off by these apes, Woods decided to do a tactic that he was sure wouldn't work. But since they were apes; there was a chance it would work.
"Look!" Woods exclaimed at the top of his voice so everyone could hear. "There are bananas in that tree over there!"
When the apes widened their eyes they eagerly looked around for their delicious bananas and missed the gobsmacked expression of disbelief on Woods's face. Frank blinked repeatedly in disbelief at the scene and inwardly thanked whatever god was out there for making apes liking bananas before hiking it out of there. He was given a chance to escape from these freaks of nature and for the love of whatever god was watching down on him, he was going to take it!
…
Samantha Maxis was rolling on the floor laughing her ass off. Literally. Even if there wasn't a floor to roll around on.
While she was a bit peeved that the apes were fooled that easily, she couldn't help but laugh at how they were fooled. Apes loved bananas back when humans were the dominant species and they seem to love it even more now and Woods unknowingly took advantage of it.
Thanking Woods for that little laugh – even if he couldn't hear it – she decided to give him a little gift that would help both him and his friend. Flexing her fingers Samantha threw her arm out and smiled darkly as a small beam of light came from her digits. While this will help the SOG soldier greatly he will get attacked from her expendable minions the moment Frank touches it. After all she did need to know how skilled these humans were compared to the ones she knows.
That reminded her… She needed to get back and screw around with them a bit more.
…
Mason moved through the bushes with his combat knife held in his left hand. The apes were now on full alert thanks to Flaria and Reznov took off to find some weapons. He stopped and covered his mouth with his free hand when he came across a small group of apes patrolling the path in front of him. Narrowing his eyes at the dangerous situation he had found himself in Mason quickly looked around for a path to sneak past them. There wasn't much to his dismay. Realising the only way to get past them was by careful timing and skill Mason tightened the grip of the hilt of his knife and patently waited for an opening.
"Wait for their backs to turn then strike." Mason told himself.
Twirling the hilt of the knife in his palm Mason slowly stalked his way toward his first target and when the ape's backs were turned he lunged. He covered the apes mouth so it couldn't cry out in alarm, bringing up the knife Mason drove the blade through the animal's throat before ripping it out. Seeing the eyes of the monkey glaze over feeling the monkey becoming limp in his arms, Mason quickly dragged the corpse out of sight and hid it behind some bushes.
Exhaling sharply in relief Mason ran the flat side of his knife on the corpse's fur to wipe the blood off. The easy part was finished, now comes the hard part – keeping hidden. Once they realise one of their own is gone they'll conduct a search and there was two ways this would end up.
They will find him.
Or they will find the body of their comrade.
And Mason intended to be away from them before that happened.
Mason cursed at the situation, if he had an M-16 assault rifle, or a Spaz-12 on him then he could blow these apes to kingdom Kong before they knew what'd hit them! Sighing dejectedly Mason searched the corpse for anything useful. He quickly found a sword the size of his arm and eagerly took that as it was better than the combat knife. He took the sheath and strapped it too his back and made the hilt easy to reach for him to grab. He found a pouch full of crudely made explosives. Raising a curious brow Mason took the pouch and strapped it to his waist. They looked awfully similar to those grenades that the pirates of old had used and if his gut was right then the grenades he had were possibly more deadly than the ones he was used to using. Searching thoroughly through the pouch, Mason felt his hands brush against something hard. Frowning he grabbed the object and pulled it out. Mason smiled when he realised what he had found. The ape had a lighter to light the fuse!
"There is no use in letting it go to waste when the dead can't use it." Mason murmured.
Meanwhile with Frank Woods…
"This is a little crazy for my liking… And I am sure I haven't been drinking…!" Frank muttered in between pants.
Frank's been running in the direction he came from for several minutes and was pushing himself so he could get back to Alex as quickly as he could. However with all the apes patrolling Frank was forced to sneak past them, and often he had to brutally take down a few when they were blocking the path he needed to take.
And now he was taking a much needed yet temporary break to rest his legs and was on the look out for more apes. The monkeys were hostile, that much was proven when they spot him wondering about and without warning they attacked for absolutely no reason. They were intelligent beings too, because they were able to follow orders and attack in a group' but like monkeys and apes they had their fair share of weaknesses. Banana's being one.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, I still can't believe they fell for that!" Frank chuckled with mirth while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Hmm?" Frank looked up when he heard a sound resembling static electricity. His eyes widened and his eyebrows arched when he saw a glowing object that resembled a gun floating in front of him. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion Frank readied the sword he stole and cautiously walked toward the floating weapon.
Frank curiously examined the weapon in front of him with squinted eyes. "…A Commando Assault Rifle?" He said to himself. The tone of his voice showed interest. "And it's engraved and silver instead of iron? Odd…" He added after further examination.
He reached out to touch it….
"DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT!"
Then suddenly without warning, a disembodied voice of a man screamed at him from out of nowhere. Frank literally jumped several feet into the air in surprise while screaming like a frightened little girl. He landed smack on his ass causing dust to kick up from the ground around him. Quickly getting to his feet Frank quickly looked around while brushing his hands on his arms and clothes to clean the dirt and dust that settled on him, when he found no one around Frank let out a sigh of relief and chuckled lightly. His reputation as a badass was preserved. If anyone found out he screamed like a girl no one would live it down.
"Who the hell said that!" Frank demanded loudly as he snapped his head in every direction, with his sword held protectively in front of him. "Come out and face me! I know you're here!" He demanded fiercely.
Frank could hear the sneer in the disembodied voice as he spoke. "And what pray tell, are you going to do if I don't hmmm? Are you going to slash that thing until your arm tires? Are you going to curse at me until you run out of words you know? Tell me marine, I would really like to know…"
"You fucker!" Frank cursed. "Do you have any idea who the hell you're speaking too!"
"Sergeant Frank Woods, leader of the S.O.G a branch of special forces that was created by the Pentagon in the United States of America. Your mission is to take out a Russian known as Dragovich. You're father was in the Second World War, a war which took the lives of billions of innocent and 'not' so innocent people' if I might so boldly add. Comrades are Alex Mason, Weaver, Bowman and Hudson of the C.I.A. So even if the information is wrong, I still know more than enough about you that misinformation is irrelevant."
"…How did you find about that?" Frank asked after a moment of silence.
"How I came to know about you doesn't matter." The voice said with a dismissive tone. "But know this: There are more important things going on in this world that you could not and might ever not be able to comprehend. Listen, go to the Northeast, that is where the remnants of your species are located - it is where your comrade Alex Mason' is going to go once he locates you. But remember, for you all to survive you will have to put aside your petty hatred of those who caused so much pain in the Second Great War."
"'Put aside my petty hatred'? What are you talking about?" Frank demanded.
"I gave you your answer, marine. It is up to you if you are to follow it or not."
Frank opened his mouth to make a sarcastic reply until-
"Hey Woods! Are you here?"
The voice of one Alex Mason completely broke him from his ranting. Blinking Frank turned to the direction the voice came from and to his surprise he saw Mason jumping out of some bushes, with a sword strapped in its sheathe along his back and a pouch on his belt.
Frank allowed a smile of relief show on his face as he patted Mason on the shoulder. "Mason I am glad to see you save and sound!"
Mason had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, well, considering the fact that I've been hiding and killing monkeys that are the size of a horse or taller for the past twenty minutes or so, I wouldn't exactly call that 'safe'." He said sarcastically.
Frank chuckled mirthlessly. "I was doing the same thing. So I know how you feel." He said, recalling the apes he had to sneak by and kill to avoid getting spotted a while ago.
….
Polonsky whistled in awe at the destruction the missile brought upon the remains of the undead dragon when the marines, Soviet, Nazi and Japanese alike all gathered to one spot. The Valkyrie launcher was nothing like the M9A1 Bazooka, in fact, the Valkyrie launcher was so advanced for Polonsky that it had completely blew his imagination! Imagine! Remote controlled rockets! If the Marine Raiders' had these back in Peleliu not only would the Japanese Armoured Tanks be easer to destroy, but it would keep the Anti-tank personal out of harm away because they often needed a clear view of the tank of the battlefield.
If he managed to survive this and get back home to his comrades' he was totally going to forward this idea to his superiors! But first he needed to design it… Yeah, designing rocket launchers would have to be put on hold for now. Survival first, designing things later… Yeah…he can almost feel giddy about it!
"Roebuck… Is it just me or does that look Polonsky has on his face appeared to be… well… orgasmic?" Miller whispered awkwardly to his superior while looking at Polonsky with a highly disturbed expression on his face.
Roebuck looked at the young teen and resisted the urge to shudder. That expression was just wrong on the kid's face!
"Jesus…" Roebuck whispered. "Miller, whatever happens do not interfere OK?"
Miller didn't get the chance to reply, because Roebuck was already walking to Polonsky's side… while cracking his knuckles?
Oh… now he understood, Roebuck was going to beat some sense into the teen.
Quite literally.
Dempsey walked up to the now re-dead corpse of the dead, knelt down beside it and examined it thoroughly for sighing in relief. "Well that fucker ain't getting' back up again." Dempsey stated as he slowly got back to his feet. His brows furrowed when he saw something flash at the corner of his eyes.
Unholistering his M1911A1 Tank quickly took off the safety and took aim, and he wasn't surprised to see a transparent form of a blonde haired, blue eyed child with sickly pale skin staring down at the barrel of his pistol with unimpressed eyes.
Looking up from the gun the girls eyes crinkled with amusement as she silently gazed at everyone who was with him. Apparently they weren't expecting her to appear, if their wide eyes were any definition. She cocked her head slightly when she saw Richtofen staring at her with wide eyes, as if he had seen a ghost from the past. She smirked deviously at the Nazi when she waved at him, her deathly blue eyes boring into his.
"Hello… Uncle Edward…"