good day to all my precious readers, and while you may be the recognition I want. you people wound by not being a critic and telling me what you find interesting or not. Not even a "your writing seems a little too dark..." which I totally admit if you were to read the following chapter.
for those of you who do not like the thought of blood or do not like the prospect of having nightmares and/or the faint of heart please either.
A. effectively go to another story as this chapter holds a lot of the blood and gore I have promised to the readers of my story.
B. delete my story from your history, turn off your computer and step away, IMMEDIATLLY.
Enjoy...Black Pitbull
It's been forty-six hours since Ghost and his team took off from their former base. As they traveled through the air, the unit managed to get some sleep, but only four to six hours at the most. Because of the rigorous training they were put through a year before the outbreak, it not only changed them physically and mentally, but the training also tuned their internal clocks to the point where they would always be alert, even during the small amount of hours they slept. They no longer had the luxury of sleeping long hours into the day like they use to, for their bodies would instantly wake them up. As they team continued heading towards their next destination, Ghost was looking towards his crew as he silently contemplated the information Mongoose and Spider had provided him about their destination in question: The Big Shell. Despite its name, the Big Shell was known as a large beehive structure with ten different buildings connected by lone bridges. Each building was labeled by a letter strut and all were connected to a core, which stood tall thanks to four main supports.
Ghost was told that the old, abandoned oil decontamination base was used for a failed terrorist attack that was executed by a group that called themselves the "Sons of Liberty", which was lead by the biological younger brother of Old Snake. The long forgotten younger brother called himself Solidus Snake, which Ghost thought was strange at first, but simply shrugged it off as the spirits around him continued to provide more information to him. When Ghost set his sights onto Christian, he noticed a few spirits gathered around the young man. Four of them were male while the fifth was female. Christian was just sitting there, completely unaware of this.
One of the men was constantly wearing a storm cloak and spoke in cryptic messages. Another male, a younger looking one with sharp features, stood beside Christian but didn't utter much. However, Ghost was positive that the spirit had been through a lot when he was alive. The female was a soft spoken spirit and wore a kind smile on her face. Her soul had very dark splotches, signaling that she had been a very….. good soldier and did her job well. And for some odd reason, the woman looked familiar to Ghost, but he simply ignored the feeling, deciding that it could have just been his imagination.
The last two male, unlike the other spirits, seemed to be attached to one another somehow. The astral being would somehow flip like a coin; allow one of the two personalities to take control before the other does so. One side was older than the other and seemed to be the one with the most control. The only one out of Christian's spiritual detail was the "coin" spirit.
Not only did Christian have spirits around him, but Mongoose had a few attached to him as well. A total of three spirits were surrounding him. Two of them were more likely his parents while the third was a Russian soldier that was dressed in dark brown forest camo-gear. The solider told Ghost what he knew of the terrorist plot since he had been one of the "Sons" during his lifetime. He sadly met his end when he took a bullet to the head when he had spotted a blonde man in the middle of the hall that was dressed in a grey skin-tight suit.
Flame had a few spirits around her too. One was a father, the second was an aged man dressed in a suit of leaves, and the third was a sharply calm woman. Unfortunately, none of the three spirits could tell Ghost anything like the others could.
Spider had five, and all of them, in some way, were a part of the military. Three were male and two were female. Only the oldest of the group could provide Ghost of information on Big Shell. But the information wasn't anything new. Mantis's and Octopus' spirits knew next to nothing about Big Shell, but the spirit lingering around Raven, who was fairly large, told Ghost about C4 bombs being armed within each of the struts since he was the one responsible for putting them there.
And as for Wolf's spirits, they didn't have anything to add. That was, until the mysterious woman, who always stood apart from the others, joined in. Ghost could tell that the woman was strong and she told him that her name was Fortune and that she was a bringer of… luck. From there, she explained to him about the Sons of Liberty's plot and even divulged a submarine like fortress called Arsenal Gear that was possibly under the structure. It was hidden as a way to hide an ugly truth about America. The hundreds of Rays that were still in its confines, all deactivated and were collecting dust.
Ghost remembered seeing a Ray once. It was nothing more than a monstrosity and a bringer of destruction. He even contemplated on the idea of releasing one of them on Nafsi Giza, and on a certain insect bitch he despised (i.e. Screaming Mantis). However, Ghost thought better of the idea. Of course he still wanted retribution for what the woman did to him, but he wanted to make her pay with his own two hands and not allow some damn machine to do so. And even though the bitch betrayed him, he begrudgingly saw the logic in her action, but he would never let her know that.
They've been a team together for over and year and still he didn't trust her. How could he? The South American shot him and nearly killed him in the process. The only reason he hadn't burned her alive, put a bullet through her skull, or shove a collection of knives through her body was because he couldn't fight the power of telekinesis whatsoever. His own force fields could hold back the invisible force and keep it from paralyzing him, but in order for him to do so; he would have to engulf himself within one. And that in itself hindered his own mobility, which annoyed him immensely since he was known as a mass murdering, unstoppable savage in Africa.
Besides, fire wasn't going to help him anyway. The main reason was the fact that he didn't want to hurt the one woman that could pull him out of the dark hole that controlled him for most of his life. So it's also because of that fact that the conniving bitch (Screaming Mantis) leaves to see another day. And hopefully with this time, she finds some way to earn his trust back. And at the moment, that seemed highly unlikely to happen. But if it were to happen, it would most likely take years in order to complete such a task. If he were to forgive her so quickly, that would just make him look like the biggest hypocrite in the world.
While Ghost found himself lost within his own thoughts, his team continued to get as much sleep as they possibly can. Mostly like getting in hours that seemed long forgotten. While some slept in pairs, depending on the person they trusted most, others slept alone. The majority of the females on the team were pretty close; however, many didn't see Flame as a sister just yet. Raven seemed to have a closer bond to Flame than the others.
Since Ghost was known not to play well with others, mainly those of the male gender, the guys of the group chose to keep their distance. And it really didn't help the situation when the B&B sisters decided to share a little story with the others. One that explained how Ghost castrated a young male, who was given permission to stay, who thought he could force his ministrations on one of the younger and less trained females of their former group. The reactions the girls received from the male members of the group nearly caused them all to burst out into a fit of laughter. Even Ghost nearly found himself laughing. Almost. Christian paled. Spider took a glance over at his leader and moved to stand a good five yards away from him. And as for Mongoose, he said replied back in his native tongue, which Christian translated. Christian explained that Mongoose told Ghost that "May God have mercy on the poor souls who tries to date any daughters you may have…" The women just had a good laugh after hearing Mongoose's statement.
All in all, even though Ghost was sort of a lone wolf, Christian did attempt to make an effort of getting to know Ghost/Darkarai. Without provoking him in some kind of way of course. Sadly, Christian was borderline childish the entire time and was somehow able to drag Mongoose into the fray. And if that wasn't enough, he even got Spider to forget about keeping his mental rule of staying far away from a person who was capable of neutering a grown man without hesitation. And before long, just like the B&B, the boys were close as brothers, even though they still held some secrets from one another. So their bond wasn't as close as the B&Bs.
A few hours later…..
"Listen up, everyone. We've finally made it to New York." The pilot announced, waking up the remaining members were haven't awoke from their slumber. "If you want to take a glance, I'll open the bay doors for a minute."
"Let's see it, Ghost." Christian said in a low tone that had a slight longing lacing within it. "I haven't seen or heard much of what's happened to my favorite place." He added.
Ghost remember Christian telling him stories of his time in the large city, especially when he was living there at the time with his adoptive brothers and parents.
"Fine." Ghost told him. "Open the bay doors!" he yelled to the man that was controlling the large metal bird.
With that, a yellow light began flashing as the bay doors slowly opened, allowing low sunlight to enter the once dark compartment.
"Huh? What's going on?" Ghost asked quietly. "Raven, what time do you have?"
"It's a little past one." She answered. "Why do you ask?"
"What? If that's true, then there should be more sunlight out." Ghost thought as he looked back outside. Upon further observation, Ghost soon realized that the sky was filled with thick, dark smoke.
This smoke could only be seen when there was still a heavy fire burning. Looking down upon the city, Ghost and Christian saw that it looked like a living hell down below. The city was literally burning to the ground as several fires continued to burn, neither looking to be going out any time soon.
Looking out towards the ocean, the two men spotted Lady Liberty lying in the water in a broken heap. Her face, as well as the rest of her body, was covered in a heavy coating of soot, and the sight of the symbol of American Pride cry. Lady Liberty was crying in despair for her dying nation and its inhabitants, if there was any left. Her world, her home, was falling apart and all she could do was lay there and watch the scene play before her very eyes. This scene not only devastated the members of the small unit, but it made a bigger impact on the blonde.
Ghost remember the blonde's stories about his parents. He didn't have many tales about his father, who he figured was bipolar in some way, when it came to the things Christian told him he did. However, his mother was a different story. It was clear to see that she had a very special place within Christian's heart. Ghost wasn't speaking of Jack (Raiden) and his wife Rosemary. No. He was referring to Christian's biological parents.
Christian's mother was a kind soul and a polar opposite to his father. How they ever came together was an enigma in itself even to the spirit. His mother wasn't a war bond soldier, but she was strong and selfless and despite his father's harsh training. The woman instilled some words, the blonde had been neglecting for awhile, which was to never let war change who he was as a person. Those were the last words she ever spoke to him before putting a bullet in her own head after finding out what her husband was going to do to him if the man ever succeed in his world domination attempt. The man was planning on shaping his son into nothing more but a harbinger of destruction by turning him into a Cyborg, a mindless puppet.
The reason the blonde was crying over the broken statue was because Christian had said that the statue was the spitting image of his mother and he thought of the monument as a shining tribute to her and the kind spirit she was. To see it utterly broken was the last and final straw that caused his already fragile mind to break. Within moments, he started to sob openly as he fell down to his knees. This caused the other members, who had fallen back to sleep, to wake up.
They were all in a state ready for battle, but their states quickly changed when all they saw was the burning city below. Octopus shed her own tears as she saw what her beloved was crying over too. It tore her to pieces seeing her boyfriend in such a state of mind. Remaining silent, Ghost simply placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder as he stated in a calm but firm voice:
"Use it…"
No response.
"Use…It…" Ghost stated once more.
Again, no response. The blonde simply sat there as he shed more tears of pain.
"USE IT!" Ghost barked at his brother in arms. He knew Christian had his own powers, but the man had yet to accept them. Not yet anyway.
Christian stared blankly at the smoke filled sky for a moment and let forth his wail of pain and despair. The force of the sound sent the dog into a whining mess and caused the team to fully feel his emotional pain.
DMITRII (CHRISTIAN)
Christian cried out in pure pain, ripping an even bigger whole into his broken heart. He had lost her completely now. His mother was completely gone from his world now. The blonde had nothing now.
First it was the incident a few months ago where he thought his mother was still alive. He thought he had seen her that day. However, the woman who had the uncanny resemblance to his mother was nothing more than a look alive. And to make things worse, she was a cannibal who was attacking his Ivana (Octopus).
At the time, Christian was out of bullets and Ivana was pinned down by the woman as she held her down and was about gnaw on the B&B's face like a late night snack. But before the cannibal could get the chance to do so, Christian drew the large knife Ghost gave him and kicked the woman away. She scrambled as Christian pinned her down as he began to stab her continuously in the face and chest.
Every movement he made warped his mind, making him think he was stabbing the image of his mother, distorting her face in a horrified look of pain until he could finally here Ivana saying his name and pulling him away from the dead body. Christian's face, hair and suit was dripping with the blackened blood. Since then the blonde swore every time he looked in the mirror, he saw himself covered in the black liquid all over again. The first time this happened, Ghost had to literally drag him out of a two hour shower, stark naked, to slap him hard across the face in order to finally bring his mind back into reality.
Once that was over and done with, Ghost told him to anchor himself to something, anything, or else he wouldn't survive very long. At that, he had kept himself alive by remembering the statue of liberty and a riddle his mother told him when he was younger. And even to this day, he has never figure that riddle out. "Two words, my answer is only two words. To keep me, you must give me." it was simple play of words, but the answer always eluded him.
But now, none of that mattered. And now that the Statue of Liberty had fallen, his anchor was cut from him. He found himself lingering within a black pit, an abyss that was inside his own soul. That's when the blonde heard them, the madness of sadness. Hundreds, no thousands sympathizing with him for but a moment until they overwhelmed him. Christian slammed his gloved hands to his ears trying to block them out, to shut them out. But the spirits didn't stop for they wanted to be heard.
Visions of the thousands of soldiers surrounded him, sharing their pain with him and trying to force him to hear them all at once. They wanted him to feel their sorrow and flood him with it.
"Dmitrii... my grandchild, they all know you and you must accept them. Accept them and their pain, their sorrow..." A single cloaked man said over their maddening voice. "I was their last medium; you have to become their next. Very few can hear them and fewer ever try to understand them"
The cloaked man shadowed him, his black cloaked fluttering in the wind as his eyes shown through his cracked glasses.
"Don't worry Dmi, I'll teach you how to silence them after you accept this." Ghost assured him.
Christian did nothing but nod and with that, the voices died down to slight whispers as the world came back to him. As he regained his composure, he noticed someone holding onto him from the side while a hand rested gently atop of his shoulder. The hand belonged to Ghost who was giving him a firm look. The person holding him was none other than Ivana.
"You'll teach me right..." Christian asked as he looked back at the African man, who nodded in reply as he took back his hand.
"Close the doors we've seen enough!" Ghost yelled over the wind. And on his order, the bay doors rose slowly and clanged shut.
After settling back into his seat, Ghost told Christian some self calming techniques and said that Christian had to keep his emotions from ruling him unless he wanted to be hit by the "tsunami". The "Tsunami" would be the voices overloading him and his mind. Mantis would pitch her own tips too as the same thing was useful for her torture screams.
"ETA twenty minutes, Ghost" the pilot spoke to them through the intercom again.
At that Christian had a cold sweat and the low toned voices in his ear rose slightly. It forced him to implement his calming techniques to bring them back to whispers.
"You heard them too. But you didn't attempt to try to listen to them though..." Ghost said nonchalantly as he stood up.
"Listen to what?" Mongoose asked confused as to the situation that three of their members were in; well two since torture screams didn't count as spirits talking at all.
"Christian heard the voices of the lost in this area. but didn't find it very forth coming to listen to what they have to say. Besides, you shouldn't assume that all of them are trying to share their pain with you." Ghost stated as he sat back and began fiddling with his AK-47."They are warning us. Our rescue mission is gonna have some Cannies in our way."
"Tango's on the landing pad..." the pilot said without any emotion in his voice.
Taking the cue, Ghost ordered the bay doors to be lowered and then ordered Flame to aim and fire when ready. The Osprey hovered as the doors opened and six Cannibalistic technicians shambled around. Six sniper rounds were fired without hesitation and the bullets hit their marks.
All six targets were taken down in under thirty seconds by Flame. Accuracy like that deserved a medal, but sadly they weren't in that time anymore. Another couple more Cannibals came running up the stairs on the far end of the platform and just like the others, they were quickly dealt with as the large aircraft landed on the large circled H.
"Alright listen up. Cannies are all over this place and the power is out." Ghost stated as he briefed them on the area and its current state."And before anyone asks, the answer is no. We are not having Wolf to turn the lights on, if that is at all possible at the moment." Ghost growled as Raven was going to comment on their situation.
"Besides, we have a better advantage in the dark then they do. S we'll be traveling in the dark once we enter. So it would be best to get out your night vision goggles now." He told them. "And I hope I don't need to remind any of you that you better have a knife on you cause bullets will only attract more to your location. The team will split up into teams of two; Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo." Ghost stated as the ratio of women to men was 5 to 4.
"I can go by myself. Team Delta will consist of Spider and Mantis. Charlie: Flame and Raven. Bravo will be Christian and Mongoose. And lastly, Wolf and Octopus will be Echo" Ghost ordered giving himself the silent label of Alpha team, as he drew his knives. "Spider, Flame, Wolf and Christian will maintain a Codec line with each other along with me."
"Nice! This gives me an excuse to speak like a trucker over the line." Christian said with a spark of his childish self, which brought a smile to the platoon's face and a smirk on Ghost's harsh mug.
"Good to see you still have some embers in you Chris. Now then, according to Raiden's old mental recap, it's better that we enter through E strut. Once we pass through the conveyor system...Delta will head on to clear out strut F, the warehouse. You two better watch each other's backs in there." Ghost said with a pointed look at Mantis specifically, it was clear the South American was still not trusted well by the African.
"Charlie will take strut D, that's the sediment pool. Don't be hanging around the railings in there, the power may have stopped the process, but that shit is still thick enough to turn the whole place into a large sand pit." The two women understood, falling in meant getting stuck inside an artificial quick sand. "Bravo will take strut C, the mess hall, pantry and bathrooms. Echo, you will take strut B, which is the transformer room. Be sure to watch your shot in there. There's a bomb somewhere along the wall."
"Bomb?!" Octopus yelled at him, voice dripping with fear.
"Yes. In fact, there's at least one diffused bomb in each strut. But don't worry; they won't go off anytime soon. However, the same cannot be said if you were to put a bullet in it." Ghost stated as if it wasn't much of a point to telling them. "Pack a small oxygen tank if you can't swim underwater for long distances because parts of the second shell are in need of being pump since they've been underwater for almost eight years."
"So all we have to deal with are cannibals, long journeys underwater and diffused bombs, seems simple enough." Wolf said with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Now as for me, I will take on the core and check all three floors. In order for me to get there, I'll take the same way as Bravo team..." Ghost said as he adjusted some of his knives and armed himself with one of the handguns on board the Osprey.
After checking through their arms and making sure their knives were sharp, they set off to enter the massive base. With Ghost taking point and Mongoose covering the six of them, the team slowly went down a set of steps. At the bottom, the team was greeted by a halted conveyor system. Boxes were still sitting on the lines, waiting to be sorted. Slow shuffling steps could be heard moving around the darkened room.
Christian immediately spotted five infected men and women prowling around through the light green sights of his goggles. Looking towards everyone else, the blonde also saw that the team had on goggles except for their platoon leader. Ghost ducked behind a partially standing wall and held out his hand. He then knocked hard on the wall, trying to attract the attention of the infected. The action worked as soon as everyone saw the heads of the infected snap directly towards Ghost's location. And without a moment's hesitation, rushed towards him.
The African flicked his wrist and the closest cannibalistic technician was brought down with a knife piercing deep into their skull. As the body dropped the other four stumbled over it and Ghost charged forward himself. The trained killer used his other knife and stabbed a rabid middle aged woman in the chest and neck. Drawing his handgun, Ghost downed two more and tackled the last, stabbing the young man through the skull a couple times.
The whole scene lasted about ten seconds with lethal efficiency and brutal execution. Taking back his thrown knife, Ghost got back into his guarded CQC position and continued onward without taking a second glance back at the bodies in remorse. Christian guessed if you take enough lives, you won't care to much sooner or later or Ghost simply didn't even see the infected as humans anymore.
"Delta that's your path..." Ghost barked pointing a still dripping knife to the sound at a electronic door. Walking over to it, he yanking on the metal slab. Surprisingly, it came away easily enough to let them pass since there was no power to help keep it closed. The Russian and South American headed through the door and onto a short bridge. "Bravo, Charlie, and Echo let's go, we don't have time to be standing around." Ghost ordered as he took point again with mongoose taking up the mantle to watch their six.
Looking around, Christian noticed a large spirit sitting on one of the boxes inside the room. The large man wore a trench coat with a chest rig on and an old ratty pair of roller blades. The man was bald, but the collar of the coat covered up his lower face. The spirit gave him a wave and the collar dipped slightly to reveal a broad smile on his pudgy face. "Laugh and grow fat." the large man croaked as he fell into a fit of giggles.
"Move your ass, Chris. We can't afford you getting distracted because you're starting to see things" Spider barked at him as shoved into the blonde.
Looking back to the spirit, Christian found that the large man had vanished into thin air. His giggles were still floating in the air, giving the dark room a haunting look. Following what was left of the team, he went through another powered down electronic door and quickly caught up with the others, who were standing before a bridge. It appeared to be a two level bridge. Once they traveled safely across, they all reached another door. Unlike the last, this one was left slightly ajar.
Ghost pushed it the door open and quickly looked around the room. The African kept on going, ignoring the sounds of cannibals feeding somewhere in the depths of the strut. Flame and Raven split off as Charlie team and converted to the tactic of Raven checking out the place as Flame watched her back through the scope of her SVD.
Quickly going through the sediment pool, the rest of the team quickly left the room for the blood bath of strut D to start. Going across another bridge, Ghost pulled open another door and entered a residential area. Mongoose and Christian adopted the move of divide and conquer. Which meant Mongoose would take on the mess hall while Christian went through the bathrooms.
Before they left, Christian pulled Octopus toward him and planted a kiss on her lips." Don't die on me Ana..." the Blonde-haired male whispered as Ghost kept moving almost without a care in the world.
"I'll break my boot up your ass if you even think of dying Dmi..." The Scandinavian replied with a wicked smirk that would of made the Joker ask her for pointers, before she kissed him back and slipped out of his grip to follow the rest of the team.
As the door to the other side close Mongoose loudly checked the bolt of his SCAR-H.
"That's very touching Brother. But it's time to go to work." Mongoose commented as he pulled off his metal plated mask and lit up a cigarette.
"You and your toys Goose, you and your toys..." Christian shook his head with a smile as he hefted P90. The 300 round magazine was ideal for what he planned if he was ever surrounded.
"come немного оцелот (Little Ocelot), you may look just like your father when he was your age from the pictures I've seen...But I want to see if you can prove to be just as skilled" Mongoose said as he flicked some ash onto the tiled floor, then headed to the mess hall.
"I will be better than Shalashaska ever will be when this is over, Borya" Christian hissed as he hated when people tried to make him into his real father as he still lived under his shadow in the Russian point of view.
Drawing his large drop-point knife, Christian headed into females bath. "ladies first..." Christian thought to himself with a chuckle. The ladies only had one infected inside and he quickly took him down with a well aimed toss of his blade, Christian really admired how deadly a knife can really be and he didn't know it until Ghost showed him a while back.
Looking around, the blonde had found a playboy poster hidden in a small cylinder in the corner of one of the stalls. Christian took a curious glance at the poster before he felt a presence behind him. Turning his head, he saw several spirits of the Russian terrorists staring and giggling over his shoulders at the poster. Closing the poster, the spirits comically bitched and moaned, telling him to open it again.
Christian took the poster and posted it on the inside of the stall just for their enjoyment. He guessed that with them being dead, that didn't mean they had to be bored too. They cheered and whistled for their medium as Christian left for the Males bath. With a side glance, he saw a blond woman face palming at the perverted display. Walking into the bathroom, Christian quickly ducked back out as he spotted a small group of cannibals feasting on some poor soul.
Gripping his knife firmly, the blonde snuck up onto the group. Four in all were feeding on a man with the MSF uniform on. His desert eagle was lying near Christian's feet. Slowly kneeling down, he picked up the handgun and quietly checked the weapon. It was covered in blood with four bullets in the magazine, not including the two bullets that were jammed inside the barrel. The blonde would of fixed it and took the gun for himself if he hadn't made the mistake of pulling back the slide and letting it go to slap it back into place.
DARKARAI/ ELIJAH (GHOST)
"That idiot Dmitrii!" The blonde-haired spirit of a woman growled as she appeared next to him.
"What did he do?" Ghost whispered as he had Octopus and Wolf trail after him since they were the last team heading towards their destination.
"He posted a really bad poster on the wall, after I spent so much time hiding it when my men did nothing, but stare at it instead of running their routes when we all lived..." Olga, was the spirit's name, said with a groan and pressed her fingertips into her ethereal forehead.
"Playboy?" Ghost asked.
"Playboy." Olga agreed as she continued to guide the African medium.
Ghost smirked at the humorous situation. While spirits could still touch objects, they couldn't general do anything like move objects like they used to do when they were alive, unless they worked together or had unmatched determination to do a task. Long story short, Olga's soldiers had a show they could watch for the rest of eternity and Olga couldn't do anything about it. Sure, she could punish the spirits, but you don't have much command over someone that's already dead.
Strut B, the transformer area, looked to be in bad shape. As they went through a side door, they were greeted by the sight of blood staining the walls. There were old buckets full of old soapy water and ammonia. Someone thought they could clean off the stains but if the newer looking stains on the wall were any indication, whoever it was added there own blood to the collection. Following the blood, the trail traveled under the far stairs on the other side of the room.
"Vamp...that sick bastard." Olga snarled as Fortune quickly tried calming her spiritual friend over the actions of her seemingly vampire-like lover.
"Remember what I said earlier. Watch your shot in here." Ghost said with no small amount of dramatization in his voice as he left the women to it. After prying open yet another electric door, Ghost stepped onto another traffic cone orange bridge.
A large team of spirits lazed about on the bridge. "SEAL TEAM 10 Bravo." Ghost theorized as the spirits gave him a smile and a few words of advice about what's inside SHELL-ONE. The bridge going into the core was blown out by some sort of explosion. Ghost drew a couple large machete knives and then lifted his hand up to his ear.
"Statues report..." Ghost ordered through the five way connection.
"Delta Team: Spider. All clear here. Not too many tangos and the bomb was left untouched. I've also found a few older model air drones and a couple of cyphers." Mongoose stated over his line with a slight cheerful tone in his voice, which meant either the Russian got his hands dirty or he had got his hands on some savory mechanics.
"Charlie Team: Flame reporting. All clear in the sediment pool. There's no sign of the bomb as of late, and were just sitting tight for now." Flame groaned as she spoke with slight malice.
"Echo Team: Wolf. We had some trouble with the one we saw earlier, but he was taken care of. And as for the bomb, is still ok." Wolf said quietly, sounding a bit subdued but alright nonetheless.
"Bravo Team, I said statues report...answer me" Ghost barked into his Codec making the others listening in flinch at the abuse of their hearing.
"..." there was nothing but silence that came from Christian's line.
"Christian! Answer me damn it..." Ghost snarled.
"Sorry Boss. I had to take out some cannies that were having a snack when I came along..." Christian stated out of breath.
"A snack?" Ghost questioned for a second. "Never mind that, what about the bomb?" Ghost asked in a more calm tone instead of his drill sergeant bark.
"One of ours, a MSF. He was too far gone and became a Canny. And the bomb, it's still sitting high and dry on a rafter." Christian said somberly as anyone could tell he was thinking about the how the man could of lived a full life.
"Get our brothers tags, Dmi. He deserves to be remembered for his sacrifice. Also, retrieve any sort of material on him." Ghost said, his tone growing just a touch caring for the dead man.
"Tags say Edward Drake, Raccoon. He was carrying a small raw-cut diamond?" Christian sounded curious now, the irony of what just happened to him earlier completely lost to him.
"A Diamond Dog admirer." Ghost thought to himself as he left everyone to just sit and do what they like as he cleared the core for anything. Looking at the broken bridge, Ghost prepared to jump. Glancing down to the water below, the African heard one the SEAL's speak to him.
"That's a long way down man, and we should know. We all died down there." One man told him in a sad tone with an added sigh.
Nodding at the advice, Ghost backed up to the railing and charge forward. As the tips of his dominant foot hit the very edge, the man propelled himself over the ten foot long drop. He would have fallen into water if he hadn't dug one of his huge knives into the metal flooring on the other side. He was literally hanging by his fingertips as he precariously hung there. Tensing his muscles, Ghost ripped out one blade and dug it in father onto the broken bridge to pull himself forward.
He repeated the process until he could calmly drag himself to safety without too much trouble. Retaking his knives and sheathing one, Ghost looked back to the other side. SEAL TEAM 10 Bravo was cheering and whistling for accomplishment of conquering the bridge, decimated as it was.
As a form of acceptance, Ghost raised a fist in respect to the spirits then entered the core. Pulling the door open, he looked around a corner then to the right. There, he spotted a door labeled locker room. Opening the door, he saw a frenzy of the cannibals trying to break into a locker. stepping up to a metal crate, Ghost drew another machete and made a drum roll on the crate.
"Time to die" Ghost sang in a deep voice.
The frenzy of eight wasted no time in bull rushing him. With the smile that would make sharks jealous, Ghost plowed forward. Ducking under a lunge for his neck, he thrust a blade upward through the infected' neck and through the skull and brain. Pulling his blade back, the African twirled around the body and slashed out at another. The next cannibal gurgled as their neck was viciously cut. Eventually, it finally dropped to the ground, dead.
Ghost beat back the remaining six as they cautiously surrounded him. They were getting smarter since they lost two of their group now. An older woman lunged for him, but Ghost instantly sidestepped her and swiped her legs out from under the her. The African then hammer dropped his blade right down into the skull, taking his other blade and throwing it.
The man that tried to take the supposed opening was brought down by the Machete, which impacting his neck, severing his spinal cord. Another tried at him and Ghost caught the man by the neck with ease. A second woman went for a bite and he simply moved the cannibal in the way. Taking his other blade, Ghost slammed it down into the woman forehead, penetrating her skull down to the brain. Ripping out the blade, a spray of black blood landed on him. He thrust the blade harshly through the man's neck and severed that core as well.
Dropping the two bodies, the feral killer threw his blade yet again and brought down another cannibal. The last one was a large burly male that was foaming at the mouth. Ghost was backed against a wall now, but his shark like smile was still on his face. The cannibal charged at him, but Ghost used the ark of his arm and slammed it into the side of its face. Ghost then forced the infected' head right into the metallic wall.
The splatter of blood didn't faze Ghost at all as he threw the nearly dead man on the floor. It then tried to reach out for him. At that, the African crushed the cannibal's skull brutally with his boot several times. Overkill was an accurate way to describe the merciless display of brutality.
"It's always fun to have these moments to unleash the Ghost..." Darkarai thought to himself with a wistful sigh as he looked towards the locker. The metal door sharply closed itself as someone tried to hide from him. Ghost purposely walked loudly towards the locker and stop once he was standing before it. As he lightly tapped the door, he ignoring the squeak of fear and just cleared his throat.
"You can come out. I won't hurt you." Ghost said with a, out of character, soft voice.
There was no response, with the exception of a slight whimpering. Giving a soft sigh, Ghost asked again for the person to come out, but this time a starkly feminine voice spoke back.
"I don't believe you, GO AWAY!" the girly voice screamed at him.
"She saw how lethal I can be. And even though I saved her life, maybe it was the last kill that really turned her off to me..." Ghost thought with a hand on his chin, stroking his slightly growing beard. Un-strapping his knives, Ghost dropped them onto the floor making a loud clattering sound. The AK-47 was the next to fall to the ground, and lastly was his weapon holsters. The African then took several loud steps back.
"I'm completely unarmed now, so please come out." Ghost said in the soft voice he reserved only for the women he saved back in Africa. It always helped the ones that had the really bad night terrors that the others couldn't handle.
The metal door opened slight and a grayish eye carefully looked at him. Ghost reached out a gloved hand to the cracked door with a more reassuring smile. Had he found a guy instead of a woman, the whole situation would of ended with Ghost calling the man a coward and leaving them there. But it wasn't a guy he was helping. The girl opened the door more and stepped out cautiously.
She was young, maybe eighteen or nineteen, give or take. She had jet black hair, which was pulled into a braid. She wore the same MSF uniform as himself and was shakily holding a COLT 1911A1. Full pink lips quivered as those grey eyes of hers watched his every move.
"W-who a-are you?" the young female asked him as she tried hold her gun threateningly.
"Ghost." He answered. "What happened to you?" Ghost asked as tilted his head to look her in the eye.
"H-hummingbird. M-my platoon l-leader, Tiger, l-l-left me here. S-said I was dragging everyone b-b-behind..." Hummingbird said stuttering away most of the sentence.
"So this...Tiger left you here to die? A green soldier like yourself and a woman at that..." Ghost said getting a nod from the woman. He then picked up his holster of blades."Pick two." Ghost told her.
"Why?" Humming asked him as her lip started quivering again.
"One is for your protection and the other is for when you castrate Tiger for leaving you here" Ghost said with his shark-like smile.
"T-tiger is a-a girl..." Hummingbird said with a small giggle at how much the African soldier cared.
"Dark...are you done going through the core or not?" Wolf asked, braking the moment between Dark and Humming with her voice sounding in his head. And if Ghost didn't know better, he could have sworn that, dare he say it, Wolf sounded slightly jealous. The snigger of three voices gave him a hint.
"No I'm not. Give me half an hour at the most before you head back to the strut D. Once I get there, we can head on over to SHELL-TWO" Ghost said as he strapped his weapons back onto his body and took back his knives. "Head out to either of the struts except for A, someone will take you in..."
Hummingbird said nothing as Ghost left the room. Hearing light steps behind him, Ghost turned to see the ravenette behind him, looking at him with a pleading look on her face. "Can I j-just stick w-with you...?" she asked him with the all powerful puppy dog eyes.
"Hmm, fine. Nut you better pull that trigger when it comes down to it. I can't save you all the time" Ghost said after he gave her a hard look that made her fidget under his gaze.
The bird nodded with some confidence and gripped her handgun tightly, flicking off the safety. Walking down the hall, Ghost bared his blades. The African checked a corner then continued on. Stopping by an elevator with a destroyed camera hanging off the wall, he checked around another wall. Waving Hummingbird over, Ghost point down the darkened hall at a lone cannibal stalking towards them.
"Easy take out. Just aim and fire." Ghost told the young woman.
She lift her gun, aimed, but closed her eyes. Because of that simple mistake, the killer instantly called her on it.
"Don't close your eyes when you do it. Hesitating is the one thing those animals don't do. It will kill and eat you without a second thought." The African spoke firmly to her. She flinched as if he yelled right into her ear but did what he said and opened her eyes.
Two bullets exploded out the 1911 and the lone cannibal dropped to floor like a sack of potatoes. Before the girl could slip into a depressing mode, he placed a knife equipped hand on her shoulder and told her she had a nice shot before leading them back to the elevator. Slamming a blade in the slit of the door, Ghost pulled the doors apart with a snarl of strength. Finally getting a look, the elevator shaft was dark and the metal box itself was stuck on the floor. Jumping down, Ghost called for Hummingbird after he land nearly twenty feet from the first floor.
Finally trusting him after a couple reassurances, the girl jumped down and land in his arms. Setting her back onto her feet, Ghost looked for the emergency exit to the elevator. Finding it and melting the hinges off, he lift it out of place. He looked in to see a pair of mutilated corpses and dried black blood painting the walls. "Those poor bastards resorted to eating each other when no other food supply presented itself..." Ghost thought to himself.
"Don't touch anything in here. Two of them just ripped and ate each other in there." Ghost said in a calm voice as he gently hung down and touched down without much trouble.
Hummingbird didn't say a word as she follow his example. Ghost had no complications taking five out of six infected people in B2. However, he left the last one to be disposed of by Hummingbird, who ended the creature with a blade through its throat. She didn't know it, but Ghost was giving her small lessons on taking out a target and it helped that she went along with it. The young girl seemed to be trying really hard to do as he said, as if disobeying brought a harsh punishment. Although Ghost would punish someone, he would never blatantly beat someone for doing something wrong.
Climbing up to B1, Ghost left Hummingbird to take out the two cannibals that just shambled around aimlessly. Jerking open the biometric door to the meeting hall, Ghost quickly lit it on fire and closed it back again as the room held about a dozen infected. The screams of agony were muffled as the lock on the door latched back on. Whoever was in there now was going to burn alive without any escape now.
"Core is clear. Start heading for Strut D. The other platoon must be somewhere in the SHELL-TWO" Ghost said over the codec line.
"My b-brother was l-looking for me. D-did y-you find him?" Hummingbird questioned with a hopeful gleam in her eye.
"Is his name Edward Drake...Raccoon?" Ghost asked as he looked the woman in the eye.
The girl gave a nod of yes in reply with a smile. Ghost was afraid that what he was about to say would utterly destroy her, but he knew she deserved to know her brother's fate. "One of mine found him. He was being eaten and was long gone before he got to him." Ghost said with a sigh as he saw the tears start to flow after he had said eaten. The woman just broke down in the middle of the hall.
He let her cry for a minute and then told her she had to stop for right now, She could cry all she wanted when they got back on the Osprey. Whoever this Tiger woman was certainly wasn't above dropping her own subordinates to survive. And if she kept doing that, there won't be anyone left to drop. Walking down the bridge, the two ran into Mantis and Spider, who were coming from strut F.
Strangely, a couple of old air drones trailed behind the latter like loyal pets.
"Spi. What's with the drones?" Ghost question with his AK-47 at the very tips of his fingers.
"I tinkered a bit with them and turned them on. After doing so, they sort of started to follow me around. I don't know much about it myself." Spider answered with a smooth voice which made Mantis look at him just as strangely as he did the Russian.
Ghost stared long and hard at the machines and their optic cameras scanned him like a potential threat. Unhooking his canteen, the African hefted it for a second before throwing it to the side. One instantly had their small green light flick to red with a small alarm and open fire at the thrown object. The canteen was blown to pieces before it fell to the metal ground.
"Protective I see. And you seemed to control your little "girl" very well too... Maybe you and machines are just like me and my "pets". This...gift of electronics could be very useful, maybe even turning Gekko to work for us and possibly one or two Rays in the fortress underneath us." Ghost thought out loud. Hummingbird paled and Mantis didn't dignify his train of thought with an opinion. (She knew very well he would hardly listen to her of all people. Seriously she shot AND almost killed him) and Spider... had his face mask on, but if the slight bulge in it was any indication. the Russian was smirking, sadistically.
While moving through Strut E, Spider and Ghost started thinking up ways of going through the second Shell. Hummingbird and Mantis got friendly with each other, and the younger female sort of admired her confidence. When they finally got to Strut D, the rest of the team were lazing about on the platform in front of the connecting door.
"About time." Wolf mumbled under her breath as she continued to lean back against the wall Octopus was sitting beside.
Hummingbird introduced herself with an ever-present stuttering voice. She seemed to either stand close to Mantis or Ghost, the latter more frequently than the form. Hummingbird didn't rely much on her Codec so she didn't know any frequencies other than her deceased brothers. So calling the other platoon was a lost cause. On top of that, the Big Shell had became a dead zone to even the Codec, so calling Snake or Otacon as a medium to get to the platoon was out too.
With six females and four males, the platoon now had ten members (well nine, with one temporary) in all. They only hand to check four struts since the other two, including the core, were still very much flooded with water. Struts G to J were two of the four they could go to. And hopefully they could find something within them.