Chapter 2

DeBreif

The breifing room was dark and drab, the only real light coming from the large screen at the head of the room, on it were displayed the gruesome images of my previous mission. I sat there, at the back of the room as the higher-ups went over the details, from there they brought in a group of scientists from a branch that I had heard of a few times. The Paranormal and Unnatural Research branch, which I had been called upon to do missions for once or twice in my life.

Their missions usually held nothing of interest, we went in, looked around, pretty much found nothing and then pulled back to base. They were just a bunch of overly obsessed middle aged people with white coats and a claim to knowledge, or so thats what we thought they were, but now we might just be able to use them. Though for now, I kept my eyes on the floor, and waited for them to come and speak to me. My shoulder had been patched up by a field medic in the few minutes that I had been on the Prowler.

"What the hell were those things, Sir?" He asked me that question at least three times, but I didn't answer at all, I just kept my head down as everything started to catch up with me. I had just witnessed the slaughter of my entire team, those were the men I had spent my entire life with, they were like family. I trained with them, fought at their sides, and now they had been massacred in almost a blink of an eye. Suddenly I find myself relapsing...

So quiet... Dark... Why was this happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve such a punishment. I had only approached this group of people so that I could ask them to maybe stop taking all of our food. I regretted my decision as a heavy fist strikes my cheek, causing my eyes to well up with tears. Why would they do this over such a thing? To a child no less? The blows continued to fall, and I could feel a tooth at the side of my mouth become dislodged by one of the forceful punches. As the taste of blood fills my mouth I make an attempt to look up at my tormentor, a grown man with a rag over his face as a makeshift mask, thats all I can see before another punch knocks my head back down.

I just want this to stop, the pain is unbearable and with each strike I feel like I might die, I start to lose conciousness but a sudden punch to my stomach causes me to lurch forward, against the restraints that held me against the tree they had strapped me too. Soon I can hardly think straight, the only thought that runs through my mind continuosly is how I desperately want this to end. when it seems like the man would never stop, there is a sickening crunch and the blows stop. I crack a swollen eye to see the man leaning back, his neck twisted awkwardly, with another person's hands on the back of his neck and chin.

He sets the now lifeless body aside and steps towards me, I try to speak, but I cannot. My head lowers and my eyes slowly close, the last thing I see before I black out are a pair of black combat boots.

I closed my eyes and my hands rose up to meet my head, and I held it there as the memories flashed through my head. I would sit, holding no account of time, feeling like I had been awake for days, maybe I could just... Close my eyes and rest a bit, the higher ups weren't calling for me yet, right? So I let my eyelids relax and with that comes the inevitable darkness, so inviting and seemingly comfortable. In no time i'm asleep.

An image explodes into veiw in my minds eye, its one of those creatures, and it screams that strange cry at me, thats when I wake with a start, the cry of that thing becoming the voice of on of the higher-ups. "Son?" His calm, kind voice broke through my nightmares and his hand shook me awake lightly. I look up, a bit of a greatful look on my face to this man who woke me from my nightmare. "Were sorry we made you wait, but you don't look like your in any condition to undergo questioning." He says after he retracts his hand and stands up straight. "All we need at the moment is the video feed stored in the uplink from your helmet."

I finally open my eyes a bit, and realize that a Higher up was speaking to me currently so I get up quickly and stand rigidly at attention. "At ease Son, you don't need to salute me after what you've done today, what you need is some rest." He raises up a hand and two MPs walk over from the entrance of the Briefing room. They had bewildered looks on their faces, then I realized that there was a clear veiw of the Screen from the entrance.

"These two men will escort you to your quarters, your dismissed." He said with a curt nod, then he turns to walk away. I wanted to ask him a few questions, like, how he and the others were going to deal with this, but sleep sounded way better than a conversation over the things that just slaughtered the only family I ever knew. Not to mention, the toss that the Fuel Air grenade gave me didn't really have the softest landing, so yeah.

I turn now to the MPs, who were staring at me in utter awe. I stared back, my eyes dull with exhaustion. I'm sure I didn't look the greatest right now, My armor had gone in for immediate repair so I was just wearing the close fitting mesh underlay, which was reinforced in all the vital areas. It was torn through the shoulder of course and my blood had dried over most of my chest and my neck. They eventually gathered themselves and then turned about and activated the sealed doors to the room with a high access security card. The electronic sealing door beeps loudly and slides open smoothly and the MPs don't hesitate to step away from me.

I follow behind them without a word and we makes our way through a system of hallways to a personnel lift, which we then board and go up several levels until we reach the surface. Which was agonizing because the awkward silence was rampant in that Lift. Finally my keen ears pick up the sound of a mouth opening and drawing in a bit of a breath, like the start of a question. I stop that with a quick "No." and were back to normal silence, like MPs are supposed to maintain. From there the Lift doors open and we walk through an open area before taking a right, where we were presented with a security door labeled 13 C-LEVEL these were my quarters.

Then the two MPs stand on either side of the entrance and I stepped up to the door this time, pulling my own security card off of my wrist and slipping it into the port. The port scans it and Identifies me, unlatching and sliding open with a metallic click. I glance over my shoulder and as I suspected, the MPs had skipped out... I think I intimidated them a bit.

I walked into the room, my eyes adjusting in an instant, so now it just had an air of gloom to it, but that didn't matter to me, my eyes were going to be closed anyways. I sit down on military cot and set my head in my hands for about the hundredth time and picture the scenes in my head again, even after I layed back and drifted off, they joined me one more time in my head before everything went black.

I drift into my memories again, to the time after I had woken from my severe beating by the man. I flinch as soon as I sit up, expecting another torrent of strikes, but they do not come, then my swollen eyes widen as I remember... That man was killed, but by who? I lift my head to look around, we were in a forested area, a small fire is going in the center of what appears to be a quick attempt at a campsite. "Your awake are you?" A deep voice says from behind the fire. I can't make out his face as i look at him due to intereferance from the light of the fire.

"Wh-Who are you?" I ask in a frightened tone, but then I realize how weak I sound like that, so I suck it up and repeat my question in a more solid voice. He chuckles at my attempt to sound unafraid. "Does that matter? I stopped those men from beating you to death." He lifts a hand up, and I realize he's holding a very large knife, sharpening it. i swallow hard, but I strengthen my nerves to ask another question, but he cuts me off. "Do you have a family kid?" At that question I lower my head and give the ground a depressed stare.

He is quiet for a couple seconds and then sighs. "I'll take that as a no..." He winces when he sees a tear roll down my cheek. Alright, so i'm crying, you would too if a band of rebels had basically slaughtered your family. He sheathes his knife and then pushes himself up. My eyes dart up and follow his every movement, still suspicious. He walks around the fire and then kneels down, putting an elbow on his knee as he smiles at me. "Would you like to have one?" He holds out a hand to me, and I stare at it, then, with another nervous gulp, I take his hand and suddenly my mind's eye is clouded by darkness.

Thats when the darkness lit up, and I was moving through a forest, which was dark, of course, as it was night and... I wasn't alone, when I started to look around I noticed that there was a tall, slender man walking beside me, with long hair and wild eyes, he was talking to me quietly, but I couldn't make out any of the words he was saying. Then they came from out of nowhere, seven strange creatures suddenly blocked our path. Then the vision darkened before I could get a better look.

An abandoned Mansion, it flashes into veiw, lit up by a large flash of lightning, but then my dreams are interrupted by a Siren. Blaring over the speakers was an alert, and from my experience it was the alert to Mobilize. My room door slides open and a Corporal jogs in, his breath is short and his eyes are wide. "Sir!" He shouts and stands at attention. "I've been sent to tell you to suit up and prepare for the upcoming battle, Sir!" My expression is one of confusion as I question him. "What battle?" He swallows and I can see the persperation on his forehead from his Anxiety. "The one taking place at Fourteen hundred hours!" I stand up and look at the digital clock next to the cot, I had been asleep for Eleven straight hours. I give him a look. "What location?" He hesitates, and then answers. "Sir... The city of Rancagua in Chile... There have been reports of widespread panic and Civil unrest... Some sort of rebel force has overrun the entire city and knocked out our means of communication." I walk over to the door and look out at the soldiers scrambling about.

"Rebels huh?" My eyes narrow as it becomes clearer to me. The guatemalen capitol was just a bit over 150 Klicks from the location that he and his squad had been in just last night. I turned to him. "Thank you Corporal, your... Dismissed." I say, just stressing the word Dismissed ever so slightly. He blinks at me and then nods. "Yessir." He says and then hurries out the door. I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that he had been lied to and that this was more than likely his last day in existence.