Tis a poorly written chapter, but it is progress. I'm going to need a little bit to get back into a writing rhythm, so bare with me for a chapter or two. Either way, enjoy.
Chapter 6: Getting to know the locals
The night was still that day, with not a sound to be heard except for the odd rustle of the trees or the sound of an animal. I volunteered for guard duty that night as I felt some difficulty winding down after the incident with the men in silver armour. From what I knew the scientific members of the 'Tip of the Spear' had begun researching the equipment we brought back. I still didn't know why they had attacked us so suddenly though, and as my mind kept coming back to it I had to keep shaking my head to try and forget it, at least for now. I guess that's one of the only things you do standing in a tower all by yourself. You think.
I continued to gaze towards the tree line that sat a good hundred meters from the FOB, the area that was completely enveloped by the shadows of the forest. I kept shifting my gaze from left to right, taking in a mental picture every time I looked to another area. For a good hour everything remained the same, until I looked back to the area of the forest opposite myself. It was there in the shadows I saw two small dots. Glistening white stones about eye length apart, and they were fixated on me. I began to focus my vision on them, and soon enough my eyes began to adjust to the light beyond the tree line. It was there the image of a figure began to form. It looked almost... huma-
"Hey boss, you alright?" I quickly turned to see Sam climbing the ladder to join me in the tower. As I confirmed who it was I turned my gaze back to the forest, only to see the figure had disappeared.
"Ya, I'm fine" I responded, shaking off the thought of the figure in the forest. "What's up?"
Sam held up a data pad, it's light slightly illuminating the area of the tower. "Techies just finished up with their analysis of the gear we sent em, thought you'd like to check it out." He handed me the data pad and shouldered his Battle Rifle, taking up over watch for a moment. I flicked through some of the files, finding details and profiles on the weapons and equipment we had brought back. Their weapons it seemed were along the lines of an energy based ballistic projectile launcher. Not quite rail gun material, more like little lightning bolts. It seems tests have shown they are used to incapacitate their enemies rather than killing them, and they had no effect on our armour, even that of the naval personnel.
I flicked over to the next file, finding a picture of their armour. It seemed to be made of some kind of steel based alloy, much lighter than steel but at the same time weaker. It fits the bill of the non-lethal weaponry as it could easily be used for crowd control and policing duties, but no where near combat duties. I flicked over to the last page to find a map of the world. On every single continent I saw red dots, some large and some small. But near our location there were no dots for up to a good hundred kilometres. I showed the map to Sam and asked him what it meant.
"Well Hardy had that AI run another in depth scan of the planet, mainly looked for civilisation. Results show that many areas are populated, which are the red dots, but the area we're based is about a hundred clicks from the closest 'live' settlement. Meaning that city near by is slightly abandoned." He turned his head back towards the forest as I shut down the data pad.
"Alright, you can head back now Sam. Based on these results I want to go back out there at sunrise, preform some recon." I picked up my weapon and continued. "Sun will be up in about five hours so go get as much sleep as you can." He turned to me, responding in a mellow tone.
"Actually, you need to go rest. You've not slept in a good twenty hours, and as the team medic I know that a tired soldier can lead to dangers. For himself, and his team. If that soldier is the squad leader it would be worse." I wanted to argue, but I couldn't for two reasons. One, he was correct, a tired squad leader could lead to misjudgements in tactical reasoning and thinking. And two, I was actually too tired to argue anyway, so I started climbing down the ladder.
"You see anything whatsoever, you come get me. No exceptions." He gave a quick nod and shouldered his weapon once again as I reached the bottom. Slowly making my way to the barracks for Raven I walked through the open door, finding the rest of the team snoozing away. As I dropped onto my bunk, slowly drifting away to the silence of the night my mind went back to the image of the human life figure in the forest. I wanted to think of something else but couldn't, but it didn't matter anyway, as I was fast asleep in a matter of minutes.
I was awoken but five hours later by Barry. "Come on boss, we gotta head out soon." Remembering I had ordered a recon mission for the early morning I got up, feeling the joints along my arms and back crack slightly as I stretched. Seeing as I slept in my armour there was no reason to get ready, so I was out the door straight after Barry.
The rest of the team had gathered at the gate after a quick breakfast, slightly eager to get on with the task at hand. I noticed Franklin was standing closer to the front than anyone else.
"I wanna bag one of those bear things today. Would make an awesome mount for the mess." I could see Katy shaking her head at his notation.
"You know the drill Franklin, no trophies." "I know, I was just having a laugh boss." Franklin was one of those kinds of soldiers you'd expect to never follow orders and do as he wishes. When I first met him I thought that, but later down the track I was surprised to find he was quite the opposite, making me glad for him to take point.
"Alright Raven" I said, catching my teams attention. "I want to do a recon around the city, getting eyes into it from new angles to see what we can find. Maybe if we're lucky we could set up shop in that tower and use it as a staging point. But that all depends on if it structurally sound, as the last time we saw it, it seemed to be falling over. Any questions?" Silence.
"Alright then Raven, let's move it, I want to be home by sundown." As the gates opened for us I gave Franklin a hand signal telling him to move out. A quick thumbs up later and we were on the move, walking towards the forest in a V formation. It took us a few seconds to reach the area where I had seen those two, what I had assumed to be eyes, but when we got there we saw no evidence of a person being there. No footprints, cracked twigs, nothing.
We continued forwards for about an hour, passing the area where we made contact with the military styled force. We decided to go around it and stick to the trees, just in case. Once we had passed that area and continued straight for another ten minutes we noticed something... odd about the environment. The vegetation began to grow darker, as if it was all dying. The sky began to turn a pale Gray and the air collecting a fine mist. As we pressed on these aspects began to grow more and more intense, as if we were walking into an entirely new world.
"Hey boss, you really think it's a good idea to keep going on?" Franklin yelled from the front. "Just keep moving." I replied at the same volume.
"I don't know, I've just got a really bad feeling about going any further." I would be lying if I said I didn't agree with him. We were standing in a dead wasteland at this point, all the colour drained from the land and sky. I took a quick glance around before coming to a decision.
"Raven, about face, we'll head back for today. Barry, on point." With that we turned around and began heading back towards the FOB, and as we marched I could not only see, but feel the life of nature slowly begin to return, right up until we reached the clearing once again. We kept walking for could have been fifty minutes until we heard a noise that put my hairs on end.
"What was that?" "A growl" Katy said, replying to Franklin. "And it came from a really big anima-" Before she could finish we heard something following the animal based noise. A scream, female for sure.
"Katy, direction and distance." "About five hundred meters south-west. So a good two hundred meters from the FOB." Without a second thought I ordered Raven into a run in order to cut whatever it was off from our base. A few minutes later we came across the clearing between our FOB and the forest, and we weren't expecting what we saw. It was a gorilla for sure, if gorillas could grow as large as tanks. As with the creature from before it's base fur colour was black, with white and red lines coiling around it's body. In front of the creature however was a small group of marines, and a human female.
"Katy, split that things kneecaps!" She then raised her rifle and took a shot at it's left leg, shattering the bone inside. It dropped to it's knee, screaming out in pain before Katy took out the second leg. Without thinking I holstered my rifle and pulled my pistol from it's mount, drawing my knife as well. I quickly climbed onto the back of the creature, stabbing it in the back on the way up. This only riled up the creature even more so as it shook and withered around, trying to shake me off of it's back. I held on tight however, placing the barrel of my pistol against it's skull I let off two rounds before it recoiled and launched me off it's back onto the ground. I landed on the ground with some amount of force a quick grunt. But before that thing knew it I had already launched myself back on it's neck. This time I placed my pistol where the brain would be and let of as many rounds as possible before the clip emptied.
It didn't even feel it. I simply flung me over it's back and continued to lash out at my team and the nearby marines and civilians. I looked over to my team and saw a rather large tree, wide and strong. Then a little light bulb went off in my head.
"Franklin, get that thing to charge you!" "What!?" he yelled in response. "Just do it!" I swear I could hear him moan from thirty meters away as he started laying out rounds from his battle rifle. It surely got the creatures attentions as it turned to face Franklin. It was frothing at the sides of the mouth, rage building inside it, until it let it all loose. It charged Franklin with a devilish speed, nearly hitting him before he ducked out of the way, making way for the creature to hit the tree full force. When wood and flesh collided it made a sound similar to sack of flour hitting a hard floor. Not wasting a moment I leaped to my feet and sprinted towards the animal. As it was dazed I slipped my knife out of its small scabbard, quickly running it along the creatures neck and seeing it go limp. It was dead.
"You alright boss?" I turned to see my team jogging up to me. "Ya, I'm fine. Can't say the same for hi-" As I spoke I noticed it's body began to disintegrate. It's remains turning into what appeared to be rose petals, drifting off into the wind, astonishing all of those nearby. I turned around to see the woman, who I now noticed had a child with her. They were both dressed in what appeared to be middle-class civilian clothes. I turned to face Barry a moment later.
"Get those two inside, somewhere safe. And get them something to eat." "Yes, Sir." Barry began to walk off as I stopped him. "And start making a log of these things. I want details on their strengths, weaknesses, specific abilities. Everything. Whatever we can gather to give us an edge over them." Once again he started to walk off, but stopped himself this time.
"What should I call them sir?" I thought about it for a moment before a female voice from behind us spoke up. "Grimm. They are called Grimm." I turned around to see the source of the voice was the civilian woman who we happened across. I looked back to Barry and nodded.
"Grimm is it then."
So, I've been wondering about something for the story since I'm back to writing it. Should I make everything during volume 3 canon to the story, or mix some of it in for the characters and let the story itself be from me? Reviews and DM's are accepted and remember to leave any criticism, I'm here to improve and can't without criticism.