Chapter 6

Rod's POV

It was getting dark so the tour would resume tomorrow. All in all, I only really learned that the barracks were the big orange boxes and the factories were the rectangular structures. The supply depots were where we slept. I tried to get them to let me just go home and come back, but that wasn't acceptable. So here I am, sitting in a supply depot that holds eight people. Some have add-ons on the top where eight more can sleep. From the outside, they look pretty small, though they're not really.

I tried to get to sleep but I kept thinking the Zerg were coming to eat me. It sounded stupid, but I was actually really scared. I kept asking myself, What if they got through the defenses? What if they burrowed right beneath me? What was happening to my family? Right at that moment, I remembered Nicky. Where was he right now? I looked around and realized there were only about four people were in here. So there must be people out guarding the base. I began to feel more reassured. So finally, after lying there for ages, I dozed off into what I hoped was a blissful sleep.

I found myself walking through some odd neighborhood. The buildings were ordinary, not luxurious, but normal. I would've thought everything was usual but there was an odd feeling about the place. It looked abandoned. It was oddly cold and almost foggy. You could hear dying screams in the distance and out of the darkness came a screech of terror. I started sprinting down a side street off Fifth Avenue. I heard them getting closer. I knew it was the Zerg. It had to be. What else would it be? At that moment, I didn't know and didn't care. All I knew was I had to get somewhere safe. In my attempts to scatter, I tripped on a trash can that had fallen over in the surprisingly hard wind.

I knew I only had seconds and could never outrun them. The screeching grew louder and louder. Death was rolling on right toward me. Yanking myself up, I took off down the street at an astonishingly slow pace. Then out of nowhere, a black mass crashed into me. The action flipped me around facing it. What I saw scared me more than anything. It wasn't the Zerg, it wasn't some zombie . . . it was a bloody, tentacled, horrifying image of . . . myself.

I swung awake with a jolt. I was sweating something horrible. You'd think that I'd just finished a marathon. I sucked in a deep breath and hauled myself out of bed. As I slowly forgot about the dream, I remembered the tour was to be finished today. I must say, that was a little exhilarating.

I looked around. There was no one in the supply depot except me. Okay? What time is it? I walked over to the entrance. It was barely morning, maybe five o'clock. Baffled as I was, I walked outside. Marines of all sizes in their big heavy suits ran around. Isn't this place ever just normal for once?

I glanced around, looking for Jackson. I remembered that he had a picture of a skull on his shoulder that gave me some hope. I began to walk toward the bunkers to check there when I ran into someone. I didn't realize who it was till I took a step back.

"I'm really, really sorry, man," I said, gawking at the ghost I'd seen yesterday.

"Get out of my way, punk!" he yelled, shoving me. The voice that sounded from his mask sounded slightly scratchy. Then he laughed. "I'm just kidding, man." He gave me a friendly slug in the shoulder. He was a little taller than me, but not by much.

"What's up, my name is Tenny," he said, holding out his hand. I reached out and shook it.

"H, h, hey." I stammered.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"No, I was just, um," then out of no where a hand grabbed my bicep, spun me around and yelled. I screamed like a little girl and swung my fist outwards. My knuckles hit the target dead on. It happened so fast I didn't notice who I had hit; it turned out to be another ghost.

"GAAAH!" the guy yelled. In the background I could hear Tenny laughing. Between laughs he said—

"And that. . . my friend . . . is what you get," Tenny continued to laugh as the other ghost got off of his knees.

"If I didn't have direct orders not to harm you, then I would have ripped out your spinal cords!" The ghost said.

"Anyways, this is Derk, Rod," Tenny said, taking control of himself.

"Now hold up," I said, eyeing the ghosts. "How in the world do you guys know who I am?"

"Mr. Plank told us." Derk said.

"So, changing the subject," Tenny said eyeing, Derk who was rubbing his jaw, "Do you have some sort of idea as to what your plans are; I mean, now that there is a Zerg threat and everything?"

"Uh well I haven't really thought about it." I said. Crap I haven't even decided if I even want to be in this circus.

"Well think about it now. Like, what unit are you going to be? Marine, Marauder, a pilot at the starport?" Tenny asked.

"Um… I don't even know if I'm even going to be in the Orange Terran."

"Sorry to say but you really don't have a choice. I mean do you really think you can just walk away from what you've been through. Your friends over here will never accept you into society again. You've spent too much time in this camp." Derk said, folding his arms.

"Well I could always say you guys took me captive and I couldn't escape." I said. The moment those words left my mouth I knew I was done for. Derk took a step toward me and grabbed me by the shirt. He yanked me viscously closer to his face.

"Let it be known you pathetic piece of garbage. You let one little word out of your puny mouth about us, and I will personally cut the skin off your scrawny little body and make myself a throw rug!" Derk said, throwing me on the ground sending a wave of pain through my back.

"Gahhh!" I yelled.

"Sorry Rod but you had that one coming." Tenny said, helping me up. Derk stalked off towards a building under construction.

"Hey, Tenny what are those things called that are building that thing over there?" I asked rubbing my back.

"Those are called SCVs. They are very important and it is crucial that none of them die. Sometimes the enemy will send in strike forces that will focus down just the SCVs. Without them there is no mining, which means no minerals, which means no buildings, which means no men," Tenny said looking over at the construction site. "If it comes down to either you or an SCV dying, well, there's no better way to put it then knowing that the SCV would live to fight another day. But of course it depends on what unit you are, and the circumstance. You probably don't have to worry about it, as long as you don't pick a marine or anything. The best answer would be, kill the threat, therefore you both live."

"Eh okay but what is it building?" I asked, trying to keep the thought of sacrificing myself out of my head.

"They are building a ghost academy so we can train more ghosts and we can make nukes. Don't know why we would use one on this planet but, eh why not."

"You guys can make nukes!?" I asked "Just like that?"

"Yeah pretty much. As long as we have the minerals and gas."

"Huh. Wow. Your technology is vastly superior to ours." I said becoming more and more surprised of what they could actually do. Making nukes here takes a much longer time and more resources than a handful of men and a building. I also heard from a marine that this was a tiny fighting force. Nothing compared to whatever was on some planet called, Jinksole. Maybe. . . just maybe I might consider joining these guys. I never wanted to go into the army before, but… well truthfully it looks… kind of… fun.