Chapter 17

The hunt is on

Amelia had been walking for a whole day now, she was tired, thirsty, hungry and very pissed off. Nobody had the right to take HER sister what so ever and whoever did have the guts to do so, was going to be very sorry. If she were to go and storm the NEST base, which she was, she needed to be in good shape so she decided to put her stealth and hunting skills to the test. She had hid in a bush and waited for half an hour before something tasty came here way, a fat, juicy looking hare. Amelia licked her lips and slowly took her bow out but did not taker her eyes of her pray. She put one of the arrows in it, aimed and hit the hare through its eye. A clean kill. Amelia got out of her hiding place, stretched her stiff limbs and walked of to collect the dead hare. She got out a knife, she had taken out of the gear of one of the soldiers, and skinned the hare before tucking in. Amelia had grown use to eating raw meat, she favored it actually. Amelia had stripped the hare of flesh within five minutes and then started off again. After walking for what seemed to be a lifetime, she arrived at a deserted beach. The sand was a very white and almost hurt to look at, there were a few lonesome palm trees sticking out of the earth and there were also a few boulders here and there. Far off in the ocean she saw the island Diego Garcia, that's what her visors told her anyway. She did not know a lot about the island, only that it was part of the British Indian Ocean Territory and that it was famous for its military aspects. Amelia observed the island and looked for anything that might trigger some alarm device or a trap but saw none. The only thing she needed to worry about were the battle ships, which were scattered across the oceans surface, and maybe a few submarines. Cautiously she waded into the ocean. She felt the water sting in her wounded leg but ignored it. When she was in to about knee height she lowered her body into the water. She hissed as the salty substance washed over her gun shot wounds but the pain numbed pretty quickly after that. She transformed into her water creature form and slowly started swimming in the direction of the island. She swam very close to the ocean floor so that any onlookers would not detect her. As she swam, she avoided the nets and fishing hooks that were wading in the water. The water was very clear so Amelia avoided practically anything that was floating on the surface and hoped that if anyone did see her, they would consider her to be an oversized fish and dismiss her presence. When she felt the pressure becoming less, she knew she was near land. She transformed into a half human, half snow leopard and started walking over the ocean floor as she readied her weapons for battle. She was able to breath underwater because her armor also contained oxygen tanks and filters incase of these types situations, situations where oxygen was not available. She walked out of the water slowly she let the sun dry her as she went. The blue sky was so bright it almost blinded her so she kept her visors on. She headed for the underbrush and made sure all her weapons were ready for action before heading into the forest to find the NEST base. She popped up a map of the island on her visors and found where the base was located, she carefully drew out the best and easiest course before moving out again. The island looked like a big crater, it was covered in wild life and small forests, which made it easy for Amelia to hide. She had seen some soldiers here and there but not many, she had shot the ones that posed a threat to her down and then hid their bodies away under a bush or behind rock. She had definitely underestimated the security when she arrived at the base. In and around the NEST base it was teaming with soldiers and they were all armed. If and when she passed them, she had to get over or under a fifteen-meter barbed wire barrier and inside it were more armed soldiers. Amelia was not sure she could take them all on. She was injured and lacked a few of her weapons, not to mention that she had not drunken anything for two days and her last meal had been half a day ago. She after taking all of these thing in consideration, she decided to wait till nightfall. In the mean time she would go hunting. When she was swimming she found plenty of fish and ate as many as she could, then she settled down for a short nap under a bunch of corrals. Her alarm went off at eleven o'clock and she turned it off. It was pitch dark and the stars were shining brightly in the clear sky. Amelia got up and headed for land. When she arrived at where she had last been hiding, she looked over and around the, now dark, base. Security had gone down and everyone seemed to be relaxed, Amelia smiled as she looked for a way in. Every few minutes a truck would come passed and in or out of the base's gates, so maybe if she was quick, she could jump in the back of one and get into the base, without being seen. Amelia army-crawled over the earthy ground, hid in a bush nearest to the dirt road and waited. She got into a pouncing position as she heard a truck coming. The truck passed and Amelia hopped in, without any major difficulties. What she met on the truck was expected; it had about ten soldiers in it. They all stared at her before loading their guns.

"Prepare to meet your maker." Amelia said as she took her blades of her back, grinning evilly. She had killed them all before they could send out an SOS. Amelia waited patiently for the truck to enter the gates. When it did she jumped out on all fours to minimize impact as they were going pretty fast, and hid behind a bunch of crates. Still in her cat form she looked around the inside of the barrier. She saw the NEST base in the middle and looked for an entrance. Her visors helped with that, they tagged every possible way in, vents included. Amelia had learnt, while she was in training, that vents were probably a spy's best friends apart from gadgets. She popped up the schematics of the vent systems in the base and found one that would probably do the job. She was aware that she had to move fast because before long they were probably going to send out an intruder alert and that was going to make the situation get a lot trickier than it already was. She made a quick job of the guards that were supposedly guarding the vent was and jumped in. The vents were much smaller than she had expected but she still fit. She had planed a seemingly safe rout through the ventilation system and knew it by heart, first left, then right, go down two levels, go right again and so on. When she had finally found an opening shaft, she quietly removed it and slipped through and landed on her hind legs, weapons at the ready.