"Here, I brought you some water." A familiar, yet kind voice called from above me before a large water canister was dropped in front of me. I chuckled gratefully, before guzzling down some of the water, the coolness of it soothing my parched throat.
"Woah, take it easy Squirt. You don't wanna make yourself sick, do ya?" Another familiar voice laughed, although he sounded slightly further away.
"Will! Epps!" I shrieked, laughing as Epps swooped in to tickle me. I had only been at this base four weeks, and we had already become fast friends. We just got each others sense of humor.
After I had gotten nearer to the base, I had walked around for three days, getting myself really dehydrated. It was so worth it though, because the entire base accepted me without even batting an eyelid. As far as they were concerned, an eighteen year old girl was hardly a threat.
They also thought my name was Ashley, and didn't know that my birthday was actually in two weeks, not four months. But hey, the details didn't matter too much, did they?
It wasn't like they were going to find out the truth anytime soon.
"It's so hot," A young boy, Mahfouz, moaned from beside me. Will ruffled his hair playfully, causing Mahfouz to stick out his tongue. I had to agree with him there, I was sweating like a pig. It was always really hot on the base though. The sun rose ridiculously early, and always set ridiculously late. It had been an absolute nightmare to get used to at first.
It was silent for a few moments, before a look of pure excitement crossed Will's features. I quirked an eyebrow up at him, whilst Mahfouz paused mid drink. "We're leaving this damn base soon," He stated in realization, causing me to smile up at him.
"Correction, you are leaving the base soon," I teased, winking at him. A look of sadness crossed his eyes, but I didn't dwell on it. I was sad that these guys would soon be leaving me, but it just made it all the more easier for me to achieve my goal of getting into the computer to steal those files.
"Hey little lady, I do believe I'm leaving the base soon too. You gonna miss me as well or is that all reserved for William over here?" He questioned, pretending to be offended. Everybody chuckled together, and I snaked an arm around Will's neck.
"Yeah but Epps, at least Will's face is gonna be missed. I mean, damn, look at it. It's like, like a piece of art." I cooed, extremely dramatically. Will laughed before picking at some soggy cheese from his pack. He didn't hesitate as he smushed it into my hair, causing Epps to roar with laughter.
"Wow, little lady ain't lookin' like such a lady anymore." He quipped, causing another wave of laughter to befall the group.
It was silent for a moment before Figueroa spoke, "Oh God, five more months of this. I can't wait to get a little taste of home. A plate of mama's alligators étouffée... Mmm."
"You've been talking about barbecued 'gators and crickets for the last two weeks. I'm never going to your mama's house, Fig. I promise," Epps cried, slightly horrified. I had to agree with him. Figueroa's mama had the habit of cooking up the weirdest concoctions known to man.
"But Bobby, Bobby-" Figueroa started, before Epps held up his hand.
"I ain't never going to your mama's house."
After that, Mahfouz and I struck up our own conversation, only stopping when Donelly started talking about his perfect weekend. Suddenly, Epps rounded on me.
"How about you, Ash. What's your perfect weekend?" The others leaned forward, eagerly awaiting my answer. I scoffed, before taking a moment to think about it.
"Me and my brother used to order a large pepperoni pizza from the pizzeria across the way. Then we'd spend the afternoon watching countless horror films and sci-fi flicks. After that, we'd drive out to the nearest 7/11 and buy ourselves slurpees and sit in the park until two AM. Just chatting and stargazing. Now that was the perfect life. What about you, Captain? You got a perfect day?
Will's eyes snapped up at the sound of his name being mentioned, before a cheesy smile flitted onto his face. "Nah, I just can't wait to hold my baby girl for the first time."
A series of awes erupted from around the group. He blushed slightly, causing me to laugh at him. "He's adorable," Donnelly stated, earning himself one of Will's infamous glare downs.
"That's too-" Epps started, but Will quickly cut him off with a sharp 'shut up'. His face as red as a tomato.
"Aww, is li'l Will blushin'," I teased, earning myself a glare. I merely flipped him the bird before turning around. I came face to face with a messenger, who sent both Will and I uneasy looks. I tapped Will, who turned to face the messenger also, rolling his eyes as he realised what he wanted.
"Later boys," I cooed. The only replies I received were wolf whistles.
The radar tent was always packed with people. It always amazed me at how many people could cram themselves and their computers in there, desperately trying to get the best wifi connection. I glanced over at Will, smiling as I saw him fiddling with his webcam. He was about to skype his girls, I could just tell.
I made my way over to Sharp, who wasn't really doing much, to be honest. I could tell that it had been a slow day, with nothing but paperwork to keep him busy. I smiled at him, and he gave me a half grimace back.
"Rough day huh?" I asked politely.
"Like you'll never believe," He bit back, sending me a sheepish smile. I didn't really care for his attitude. I only spoke to him in order to suss out who had access to the main hard drive system and who didn't.
"Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out." A radar officer beside me called out, glancing up at Sharp worriedly. He immediately headed for the officers radar, and seemed to take a moment to read the information. A grim expression set on his face as he reached for the phone.
"Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US military airspace. Squawk ident and proceed east out of the area. Raptors one and two, snap to heading two-five-zero to intercept. Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not squawking. Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force." Sharp commanded seriously. I felt myself take a big intake of breath.
Somehow, I just knew that shit was about to go down.
Sharp held the phone to his ear before nodding. He turned to a different officer and said "Forty-five hundred X-ray is on the tail." The officer visibly paled, and I felt my blood begin to go cold as well.
"Sir, says here 4500 X was shot down three months ago. Afghanistan," The officer stated slowly, causing every pair of eyes in the room to turn to him. I felt my heart stop.
That's not possible. There is no way. Jason is dead, they had confirmed it and everything. There is no way on planet earth that that is my brothers copter. But the tail code is exactly the same. I could feel myself start to hyperventilate.
Does this mean that Jason...is alive?
"That's got to be a mistake. Check again, then recheck," Sharp snapped. He had gone as white as a sheet. His eyes connected with mine quickly, and they widened when he saw the pure panic in my own gaze. Breathe in and out, Hazel. In, and out.
"I did, sir. A friend of mine was on that chopper," He breathed, amazed at what was happening. My head snapped to him.
"Who?" I bit out. The officer looked at me appalled. I knew that I was way out of line, but I had to know who. What is this guy knew...knows my brother.
"Royce. His name was Royce." I gulped at his response. Fighting back tears.
"My brother was on that chopper," I murmured. The entire room stopped. Will's eyes snapped up to me and widened in realization. Sharp just looked absolutely gobsmacked and the other officers looked very fearful. "So trust me when I say, there has to have been a mistake," Sharp nodded, before clicking on the broadcaster. We all held our breath.
"Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase," Sharp commanded, although not nearly as strong as he had done before. The air was tense. I could vaguely make out Will's voice in the background, talking to his daughter. Well, more like fussing over her.
Ten minutes later, I slip outside of the tent, making my way towards the pad. I hide myself cautiously behind one of the nearby choppers, watching as more and more armed gunmen arrive. This entire situation was just insane.
But I couldn't help the fact that my hopes were getting raised. They had never given me my brothers' remains, so maybe there was a chance that there had been a mistake. Maybe he was with Royce on that chopper. Maybe they were both safe. The familiar sound of chopper blades tore me from my thoughts.
As it slowly made its way toward the ground, I spotted a weird symbol on the side of it. My blood began to freeze again. I immediately knew something was off about this chopper.
"That's not an ordinary chopper," I stated aloud. "What the hell is that? Because that ain't no chopper!" I shrieked before bolting from behind the helicopter. I ran as fast as I could, before hiding behind a plane. I peeped around the tail of the plane.
"Forty-five hundred X, something's not right," The loudspeaker crackled, but it was softer now. You could tell, just by looking around, that everybody was holding their breath. The only sound you could hear were the sounds of the chopper's blades rotating, slicing the air like a knife. Shivers made their way down my spine, causing me to gulp quietly.
"MH-53 pilot, power down now. Have your crew step out or we will kill you," Sharp tried again, but to no avail. A bead of sweat ran down my neck, nestling at the top of my shirt.
"Hold your fire, stand by to engage!" A soldier called from the firing squad. I stared right at the chopper, and I swear it was staring right back at me. I couldn't describe it, but I could just tell. There was something...evil about that helicopter. Completely and utterly evil.
Suddenly, a familiar voice pierced the air, "They bombed the antenna farm! We're under attack!" Epps? I wondered, trying to pinpoint where he was. He was close to me. In between me, and the copter. My searching was interrupted however, when this horrible, electronic screeching and rumbling started.
I looked towards the chopper and my mouth fell agape. It was transforming. My brother's helicopter was transforming. And as it was transforming, it started to spawn legs.
"RUN!" I screamed, and suddenly the base was alive with movement. People began running everywhere, trying to desperately to get away from the giant robot standing in the middle of the helicopter pad. Spotting Epps, Lennox and Mahfouz, I started bolting towards them, trying to move as fast as possible.
"It's after the files, cut the hard lines!" I heard Sharp shout to an officer who was desperately trying to unlock the security building for the server. The robot man had already ripped off the roof, and was happily stealing every last piece of information from that hard drive.
"Here, come here! Come here!" Lennox called to us, dragging Mahfouz behind him as he squealed. The robot started to make weird noises, almost as if it were talking in a different language. Shouts filled the air of terrified soldiers as they fled from the area. I watched in horror as the helicopter/man/thing started blowing up anything and everything in its sight, obviously finished with whatever it was trying to accomplish in the first place.
"No!" Epps yelled as a giant foot landed in front of him. I screamed bloody murder as well, forcing myself to slow. I hid myself in between two planes just behind the monster, and watched on in pure horror as it stood over Epps. It looked almost curious.
It started to click at Epps.
"What the f-" Epps started, before it cut him off again. Epps quickly pulled out his phone, taking a few pictures of the monster. The monster stared at Epps, seemingly appalled. Then its cannon fired up, pointing directly at Epps.
"Epps, NO!" I shouted, successfully attracting the monsters attention. However, I didn't need too.
I think I saw the missile before it did. The missile took the monster by surprise. It jerked him sideways, causing him to trip over the plane that was hiding me from view. I didn't even stand a chance when a large piece of burning metal slammed into my side.
I was consumed by raw, blinding agony. A rippled scream tore through my throat, but it was as if no one heard it.
"Epps, let's go!" I heard Lennox shout as the monster continued to shoot things. I could hear explosions all around me, the ground was shaking violently with every new hit. But that wasn't even the worst sound.
The worst sound by far was the dying screams of the soldiers. I could hear their agony filled cries as their lives were slowly snuffed out by a psychotic, raging helicopter dude.
The pain slowly became unbearable as the sheet became hotter and hotter, embedding deeper into my side. It had me pinned good. Breathing became more difficult and I could feel the bile rising in my throat.
Just as I thought my lungs were about to give out, the pressure holding my body down was gone. I looked up as my eyes started to regain focus. At first, I was thankful. The pain wasn't as nearly as bad. The wind must've blown the sheet of metal off me or something.
That thankfulness was short lived however, as instead of seeing the night sky when I looked up, I saw a set of piercing, red eyes. If you could even call them that. I tried to scream as it reached for me, but I just didn't have the energy too.
I vaguely recall its hand wrapping around my body, but by that point, I was so out of it that I couldn't even remember my own name.