Wow, I cannot believe I forgot to mention how the last chapter was going to be the one where the story stops taking place at Armacham HQ. I wanted to say that sooo badly when I meant to upload the previous chapter, but somehow didn't. Cool beans, huh? But seriously, here is another early chapter that you guys get. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as I enjoyed writing it. Just a few more to go!

"Requiescat in pace, you bastard!" No joke, I actually wanted to say that once to when I was facing a Replica in this game. Has nothing to do with the story, but I just wanted to get that out of my system. Enjoy!

F.E.A.R.

FIRST ENCOUNTER ASSAULT RECON

INTERVAL 08 - DESOLATION

URBAN DECAY

The "Point Man"
We must have been in the air for almost an hour. The helicopter was heading towards the coordinates I picked up earlier and heading off into the Auburn area of Fairport City. Accompanying me was both Jin and Holiday for this trip. Almost the whole ride over here Jin was patching me up, since she is the medic for F.E.A.R. She kept on lecturing me for not being careful enough, with Holiday making fun of her saying she acts like the concerned housewife. Seeing them bicker back and forth made me smile. It was the first time since this mission started that I was actually happy. On the way to our destination, Betters began to brief us of our new assignments.

"The UTM coordinates from Wade's laptop are right smack in the middle of the Rammelmeier industrial compound in Auburn. Place has been shut down for years." he explained to us.

"Why there?" Jin asked him.

"Well, I did a little digging. Turns out Armacham bought the site from the government back in the '50's. Get this... There used to be some kind of underground military complex in that area. I don't think Armacham was interested in what was on the property. They wanted what was under it. And I'm guessing it has something to do with Origin."

No wonder no one knew about ATC hiding some facility. What better place to hide an illegal program that underground of the section of the city that nobody lives in anymore? Pretty convenient way for them to run some projects without getting any towns folk asking too many questions. And seeing how Armacham has been treating their employees with such "care", it wouldn't be too hard to guess how they would handle some journalist.

Holiday was standing up on the chopper while holding on to the side of the chopper. He was carrying Delta Squad's SMG and was getting ready to kick some ass. I could tell from here that he felt bad about leaving me behind to escort Bishop when ATC security attacked us. He was telling me along the way that it wasn't going to be like last time to where he would let me down. Jin was sitting next to me in the chopper, trying her best to relax. She didn't say it to me, but it looked like she was still worried about Jankowski. Those two knew each other longer than I can imagine, for they were partners for years. As far as she knows, Spen is just M.I.A. As far as I know, he's a phantom in the sickest parts of my mind...

An explosion gone off to the side of the Black Hawk. The pilot yelled out "We're hit!" as the chopper was spinning around. Were we shot at by a missile! The pilot was doing his best to keep the bird in the air, but the damage prevented him from maintaining control. Smoke was filling up the chopper, for all I could hear was the pilot screaming "Dust 2 going down! Repeat, Dust 2 going down!". He got a hold of us in the back and said "Hold on to something!". Me, Jin, and Holiday held on tight to the ship so as to not get thrown around into the interior. This is going to hurt...

Everything was black. It took a lot of effort, but I did my best to open my eyes I remember the explosion...

We crashed into some kind of building from the roof. Everyone inside was screaming as we held on for dear life. That was the last thing I saw before I was hit on the head from being rocked around inside the ship. My ears were still ringing from all that loud noise. The pain was difficult to work through, but nothing that can slip me into a coma. As my eyesight was beginning to return, I heard Holiday's voice. He was talking to someone over the radio.

"He looks okay, but the pilot's dead and Jin's banged up pretty bad."

When I could see, I was looking up to the brown ceiling above. I felt some kind of warmth coming from behind me as I was starting to sweat a bit. Looking down, I saw Jin sitting down next to a support pillar for this place. Holiday was right, she looked like she went through hell. There was a lot of dirt covering her face and she looked like she was ready to pass out. Holiday was inspecting to see if she had any broken bones until he sat down next to her. Betters then contacted him.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'll live... but it'll be a while before I can ice skate again." Holiday sarcastically pointed out. At least he isn't too injured to think of a corny joke.

"All right. In that case, I want you to stay with Jin and wait for the medavac." Betters told him. I already knew what he meant by that. I'm going to have to go on alone to our objective...

"You sure you want to send him in alone? These guys ain't fucking around." Holiday questioned him.

The way he said that made it seem like he was a bit hesitant for me to continue on without them. I know how much it meant for Holiday to want to assist me in this mission. He must still feel bad about earlier. Us losing a teammate God knows how, Bishop being killed... Plus him being injured and having to help Jin pretty much sent him off to the sidelines as I go off on my own. Betters spoke to Holiday again.

"We don't have a choice. Fettel could be anywhere and Alice is out there on her own. By the time backup reaches you, she could be dead."

Getting the strength back into my body, I did my best to stand up. After a few seconds of struggling to stand up, I got myself back onto my feet. Next to me was the combat shotgun and the G2A2 assault rifle I was supposed to take with me. Picking them up, I holstered the rifle to the side while keeping a firm grip to the Vokkler-12. I still had some grenades and proximity mines stacked up from the ride over here. I also have three mags of my AT-14 pistol available, so no worries there.

I looked over at the destruction caused by the damaged helicopter to where it was covered in flames. The pilot's body was barely hanging off from the cockpit, with his arm outstretched over the seat. I didn't know who he was, but he definitely didn't deserve this. Now that I remember, this is about the 2nd chopper the team has had that got blown up today. And the other two times I used a chopper to get somewhere, my entire squad was killed on site. I'm beginning to notice a pattern here.

I turned around to look back at both Jin and Holiday. Jin was still pretty injured, but she knew how to take care of herself. She was doing her best to keep herself calm and relaxed so as not to make her wounds worst. Holiday was wincing in pain as he did his best to sit down next to Jin. He still had his weapon available on him, so at least if anyone enemy troops were to show up, he would be able to take care of Jin and himself. He looked at me and instructed me of our current placement.

"We're still a couple klicks away from the Rammelmeier compound, so you're going to have to get there on foot." Holiday told me. Betters then contacted me over the radio.

"I've got a lot of enemy movement in that area, so expect trouble. They probably want to make sure there weren't any survivors" he said as he then signed off the radio.

The sound of another helicopter was heard far above us. It might be whoever attacked us and is preparing to drop off some of their troops down here. We all didn't like the outcome of this situation, but right now it was up to me to take care of Fettel. As I was exiting this room, I looked back at both Jin and Holiday as they saw me leave. It was almost as if this would be the last time we would ever see each other... I shouldn't be thinking like this.

I walked through this run-down place to reach a set of stairs leading up. The entire place was filthy. Supplies were scattered everywhere, the driest parts of the red walls exposed, and cracks on the hard floor and ceiling. From what I can figure this is some kind of apartment complex that people used to live at before the entire district made it impossible to live here. Amazingly, a lot of lights were still working in this place. Not all of them, but enough for me to see where I was going. Making my way through the second floor, Betters contacted me.

"I'll bet you anything the ground water contamination in Auburn is coming from that secret Armacham facility. That's got to be why they sent somebody to that water treatment plant. They're worried it'll get traced back to them."

What Betters said pretty much took the words right out of my mouth. All that information we found back at their HQ about the contamination and their task force was linked to this district. And Armacham is trying to save their own ass by getting rid of any and all evidence of their involvement of this place. Once I reach this facility, I'm going to make sure to expose those sick sons of bitches.

One of the walls here had an exposed hole for me to get through. Problem was is that there were some wooden boards covering it. After kicking them off, I went through the tight corridors of this abandoned complex. Some rooms were blocked off, some by destroyed property and others by items piled up in front of them. There was another stairway at the end of this hall that I took around to reach the next floor. I stopped when I heard voices up ahead. It was a Replica squad stationed here.

"Command, there's no sign of enemy activity."

"Hold position there until the advance team locates the Vault entrance."

That must mean Fettel and his soldiers found out from Armacham HQ where this place was too. Looking ahead, some parts of this floor was badly damaged that I would have to take some side rooms to get across. There were a few soldiers stationed up ahead with a Heavy Armor unit nearby. I hope this ends up better than my last experience with those things. To the right of me was a small room with a single Replica standing here with his back towards me. I snuck up behind him and broke his neck as quietly as I could.

Lowering his body to the ground, I looked over to see the squad still hadn't noticed me. The other two soldiers were still next to the Heavy unit, so this gave me an idea how to take them all out. Grabbing one out of my four grenades, I rolled the device along the floor to where they were standing. One of them had looked down and tried to get the others to notice. But he was too late as the blast went off, killing the two soldiers and heavily wounding the armored soldier. With it weakened, I ran up to it and blasted it with shotgun shells until it died. The scream it gave off was like the others, almost like a dead radio channel. It probably warned any other Replicas in this place.

Moving through the damaged rooms, I stopped to see about 2 Replicas stationed at a hallway facing left. Through the hole in the wall here, I could see them aim their rifles down range, possibly waiting for me to go that way. These bastards didn't know that I was watching them. Putting away my shotgun, I grabbed the G2A2 and opened fire at the unsuspecting soldiers. They didn't have a chance to return fire as the bullets easily went through their bodies. After they were dead, I went around the area until I ended up to the hallway the soldiers were originally at. There was a small drop here to the lower floor that I could use to get out of here.

After dropping down, I could see that this floor was more beat-up than the last one. Most sections of the walls here were completely gone, with the ones still around all filthy and covered in lousy graffiti. There was a broken down elevator here, with apparently its only use was just to throw some shit into here for storage. Can't imagine what life was like for this place back in the day.

There was a spot where a door should be that led outside onto a small balcony in between two parts of the building. Some blocks of wood were nailed in my way, but I easily took care of that by knocking them off. When I came outside, I heard the sound of a chopper flying above me. I looked up to see it heading to the right, probably to drop off some reinforcements for another sector. I just know that I'm going to have to fight them. I just know it.

Taking the left path inside the other section of the building, I heard some Replica activity in the next room along the right side. Looking inside the other room, I saw about 3 of them entering from a hallway to the left. They were all next to a lone couch in the center of the far room up ahead. Not wanting them to get the drop on me, I took out my shotgun and fired at all three of them. It only took a few shots for me to kill them all with ease as I then walked past their dead bodies.

Entering the next corridor, some parts of this place I couldn't go past due to a bunch of supplies and dirt stacked in the middle. I went around this area some more and heard something loud moving. This entire place started to shake as crumbles of dirt fell from the floor above. Something was definitely here. In the next room was a maze-like room, with some walls not finished for construction and cabinets randomly leaning against them. It looked like there was an opening on the far end of this room I could use to exit this section of the building. Before I reached there though, something huge had dropped down from the ceiling above. Holy shit, it was one of those mechanized Replica units with the lasers!

As quickly as I could, I ran backwards the way I came while firing several rounds of my rifle to the REV6 unit. It was using its brute strength to tear apart the walls while trying to get a clear shot at me with its weapon. I fired the entire stream of bullets to when I reached the previous corridor. Reloading, I tried to think of the best way to take this thing out. With these tight spaces, it would be impossible for me to circle this thing without getting blasted by those lasers. Looking back, I saw the armored unit tear through the entrance of the last room as it was trying to chase me.

Remembering that I still had some mines to use, I placed one on the ground next to the entrance of the other room I passed before. Quickly I put the device just out of view of the REV6 so that it wouldn't see it as it tried to follow me. Running for my life away from where it was coming, I heard the mine go off as a huge explosion occurred behind me. Turning my head around, I saw that the machine was quite damaged from the blast. If I could just lay down one more, it should be enough to destroy this thing.

Placing my 2nd proximity to the ground behind me, the REV6 Replica unit still continued its pursuit to track me down and kill me. Whoever was piloting that thing must be very determined to fill me full of holes. I guess he didn't learn his lesson when the mine triggered the next explosion. Looking back, I saw that it was still standing but heavily broken. I fired some rounds towards the chest area of the Powered Armor unit as the bullets penetrated through its armored plating. When it took too much, the Replica unit then blew up into several pieces as both parts and blood were scattered all across the walls. Score one for me.

Catching my breath from all the running I was doing, I laid on over to the wall next to me. After my body started to cool down, I started to head back the way I was going before that Replica unit crashed through the ceiling. When I got there, I saw that my exit out of here was blocked off by some more wooden boards placed against it. Not too much trouble, considering I just fought a giant mech unit about 8 feet tall. After breaking the weak 2x4 down, I continued through a corridor and turned left into a dark room. I could now see the outside section of this place as the night sky gave off a dark-blue luminescent feel. There was a destroyed section of the next hall to the north-west of my position to where two Replicas were stationed at.

Through the open window in here, I fired at the two soldier from here with my G2A2. They both died soon after before they could attempt to shoot me. Next thing I knew, a purple beam went straight through next to my face. If I was just an inch closer to the right, I would definitely be dead. I looked on over to the right to the other section of this apartment to see about 3 Replicas by a window alongside the structure. Each one of them were carrying those Type-7 Particle weapons from before, the kind that can completely disintegrate the human body. If I'm not careful here, I'm gonna be a goner.

From this distance, it will take quite a few bullets from my gun to reach the soldiers from here. If I just had a sniper rifle, I could easily hit all three of them with one shot each. Instead I'll have to make due with what I have. Every time I went back up to look back out to where the soldiers were, I took cheap pot shots into one window at a time until some of the bullets were able to hit their helmets. After getting two of them, the last Replica tried to fire at me with that Particle weapon but just barely missed me. Taking this chance for him being exposed, he was close enough for me to end his life with just a few more bullets to his chest.

In the next room to the left led outside to where I killed those 2 soldiers in the corridor. The center of this pathway was completely gone. The only way to the other side was to jump on over there. After I backed up a bit, I ran forward with all the strength in my legs to hop on over to the other end of this hall. I had just landed on the edge of this path, considering myself lucky that I even made the jump.

Turning the next corner, I was now in the next room with the light inside here still working. Inside was a spare Type-7 Particle weapon for me to carry. Holstering both my shotgun and rifle to the side, I lifted the heavy device for I just knew that I was going to need to use it. The exit to this room led outside to a lowered roof for this place. Another one of the Replica helicopters flew above me to the far left nearby. The noise made me aware of 2 Replicas stationed on the roof of the next building above.

Aiming down the scope of the Type-7, I fire two blasts of these beams towards the unsuspecting soldiers. They died quickly as their bodies were completely fried, leaving nothing but their bones. With no other place to go, I dropped down to the lower roof below me as I made my way through some old generators and ventilation systems. I stopped and took cover behind one of them as I saw some more Replicas going through the halls of the building to the north of me. It looked like they were carrying the same particle technology I was currently using.

I counted about 6 of them as each one of them were stationed on separate windows on separate floors. Unless I were to kill them all, there is no way I can leave this place without losing my decent skin. They hadn't seen me yet, so I took this chance to open fire at 2 of the soldiers scouting the roof here with their scopes. After they were disintegrated, the other soldiers began to notice that they were taking fire from the roof and tried to figure out where I was. While two of them were looking for me, I managed to hit both of them without being detected.

The other Replicas began to yell out "He's over there!" as they began to fire at me with those purple beams. I only had about a few shots left, so I had to make these count. I went around this generator away from where they last saw me so that I could get the drop on them. With their attention away from my previous position, I sniped them both from here as I used up the rest of this things ammunition. With them dead, I was now free to figure out where to go from here.

To the right was a small ledge next to the building to the right to where those other soldiers I encountered were at. Jumping down it, I then climbed up the next section of the smaller roof to where the other building was. Leaving behind the Type-7 due to its low ammo and weight, I dropped it to the ground behind me and brought up my combat shotgun in case of any more close encounters. And I was right, for the door alongside this building here opened up to about 2 Replicas coming outside. Before they could open fire at me, I blasted them apart with my shotgun as they were blown back.

Entering inside the building, I was now into another run-down section of this place. Some of the lights were disabled while the ones that did work were too far apart for me to see quite clearly. There was more Replica activity going on alongside the hallway to the left at the intersection here that I thought was too risky to turn on my flashlight. Moving along the hall, there was one room to the left of me where 3 Replicas stationed at. It looked like they were trying to communicate with the other Replicas in the next building across the street about what was going on.

I grabbed one grenade from my pocket as I threw it over to the closest Replica from here. As it made contact with his back, the explosion went off killing him and the other two soldiers nearby. The Replicas from the next building were surprised with what happened as they weren't sure what happened. Using my reflexes, I went through the smoke caused by the blast and opened fire to the last spots that they were standing at. Luckily, I managed to kill them both as they died screaming. Waiting for the dust to settle, I was now what appeared to be in an old broken down kitchen. There was a small handheld radio system lying on the corner that amazingly still worked. The news channel was on as one of the male reporters was talking about what happened earlier.

"According to a government spokesperson, a second Black Hawk helicopter has crashed, this one in Auburn. Earlier, a Black Hawk was apparently shot down by a helicopter belonging to the unidentified terrorist group that seized Armacham headquarters this evening around 4:30pm. The cause of the second crash as not been determined. Nor is it clear whether there were any survivors."

I guess with all the attention Fettel's army has been getting, that even the news stations would even come to a low-income district like Auburn. One of the rooms ahead of me had a hole on the ground that I could take to get to the lower floor. Convenient enough, there was also an old mattress to soften my fall. Dropping down, I went through the corridor nearby until I reached a red door. Hopefully I must be getting close to the Rammelmeier compound. At least both Holiday and Jin are safe where they are, for I'm sure that these are the last of the Replica forces here.

I opened the door to where know I was in another run-down part of this place. The light above me was barely working, but I could see just fine. Across me was an exposed hole in the wall to where I could see the other side of the next room. As I got closer, I could see someone standing by the hole... It was Alice Wade! Thank God I caught up to her. I walked up to her to see if she was okay. But something was wrong... she was just standing there looking at me. She had an expression of fear all across her face, terrified to even move. There was something on her neck that looked like fingers wrapped around it. That was when I heard his voice.

"Is this who you're looking for?"

It was Paxton Fettel. He stood out from behind Alice with his grip over her neck. He was staring at me with this demonic smile across his face. I was too late to find her before he did. Alice looked so afraid, that she looked like would pass out from being next to the guy. Fettel turned towards and brought his face over to her neck. He sniffed her skin as his smile grew ever bigger. He looked back at me and said:

"She smells nice."

It was too risky to try and fire at him when he had Alice as a hostage. Before I could think of a way to save her, Fettel ran off with Alice as he dragged her off into the other room. If I hurry, I just might be able to catch up with them both. To the right was a path I took to sprint on over near an elevator room. There was a small trail of blood that went off into the next area I could follow. It better not be Alice's... There was a lone broken elevator to the right where some light was coming from. I then heard a voice inside.

"I'm over here."

Looking back at the elevator, I saw that the voice came from inside. Slowly, I walked over to the device to see if anyone was inside. There was no one there. Maybe I was just hearing things. As I went to look, away, I then saw someone standing next to me inside the machine. It was that little girl...

Before my mind could process completely what happened, she disappeared as the light inside the elevator was no longer working. Am I imagining things again? Maybe Fettel is doing this to slow me down. It won't stop me for long. I followed the path I was taking earlier to where I seemed to approaching the other side of that hole. I must be getting close to them. I turned around the next corner...

Alice was dead. Her body was laid out on the ground with blood splattered across the floor and wall. I failed to save her... Fettel is responsible for all this! When I find him, I'm going to tear him apart with my bare hands! His voice then rang clear inside my head.

"She told me so many things..."

Everything turned to darkness. The light inside here came back after a second to reveal Alice was gone. So was all the blood. Then that must mean... this too was an hallucination? If there is a small chance that Alice is still alive, then that means I haven't failed yet. Good chance Fettel is using his powers to slow me down some more by making me see things. That won't stop me.

There was a pathway to the right of me I could take to try and follow them. Just as I had entered there, everything flashed into a bright white.

I remember this place... This was the same place I had seen in my visions earlier. The burning building to where I had seen that little girl. The same place to where the woman was screaming as a child was crying. This time, I was now on the other side of those double doors as there were some steps leading up on the left. At the top was more doors to where that little girl in red was standing by. It looked like she was crying. With time moving slowly for me, I tried to hurry to reach her.

Everything flashed before me again, and this time I was farther away from her. Looking back, I saw that now I was near where those double doors were before. Looking back, I noticed that the hallway in front of me had now gotten longer. The lone light at the end here showed that girl standing there next to the set of doors. Soon I was finally able to get closer and closer to the girl. Before I could reach her, my sight flashed white once again.

The two doors ahead of me opened to where I could see nothing but fire and darkness beyond them. My sight flashed again as three figures were coming towards me. I remember them... They are the beings that take the form of a person. Their skin was gray, bright yellow spots for their eyes looking right at me. They were floating towards me with their arms stretched out for me. They were going to kill me. I raised my weapon to fire at them. The bullets went through them as their forms dispersed into smoke. They are coming closer. They are ready to strike...

I was still firing my weapon until I realized I was no longer back at that dark place. There was no warning that I had left. Only that it seemed that after blinking I was back at the apartment complex. That place was no illusion this time. It felt completely real. Even those things looming closer to me were real. That girl crying was real. What is happening to me...?

I must've wasted too much time here, for God knows how long it was since I've been there. There is a good chance that Fettel might've gotten away with Alice at this point. But not everything had to be that bad. If Fettel and his forces are still looking for the entrance to that secret facility, he might still need Alice to open the doors there. And I doubt he is going to kill one of his only chances of entering that place. Whatever is down there for him, he's not going to get.

Moving on, I went through some more corridors until I had reached a dead end. There was an empty spot for a window to the left me next to a broken heater on the wall. Down below was an alley I could jump down to that may I could use to reach the Rammelmeier compound on foot. Good thing too, for this place started to look fucking disgusting.

I jumped down below into the alley as I was getting ready to head towards my destination...

ZOMGOSH! What a twist! Now every time I think of Alice, I think of Ashley from Resident Evil 4. Reviews pretty, pretty please!