Six years ago…
1991
20 miles from the Iraq-kuwait border
06:35 AM
We were out and deployed by about 0100 hours, our platoon commander told us to scout out if the Iraqis were digging in over the border. Me and Jess took a couple of guys with us but just to be extra safe, they brought us an army Bradley in case they got tanks. The both us of were perched on top of a dune scanning for any targets that we could radio in while the Bradley sat nearby.
All i could see through the scope was nothing but desert and more fuckin desert either the Iraqis got smart with their camouflage or they're working with "the camouflage devil" Or maybe it's nothing short of just plain bullshit because there's nobody here. I rested the M40 down to take a breath as Jess gave a small laugh next to me.
"You thought of something funny or are you just being a bitch?" I said while closing my eyes, taking in the air of the desert.
"Yeah, you look like you need to shit." She said and laughed but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
"Close but I'm gonna take a leak, I'll be back in 5." I stepped off and walked back as she took the rifle.
"Happy pissing." She said right behind me as I walked some distance back.
I found a nice bush to let it all out, I stifled a breath as I let 5 hours of piss whizz out of me. I heard a couple of footsteps behind me but I didn't give a shit.
"Good piss Staff sarge?" The soldier behind me asked and I responded promptly.
"Fan-fuckin tastic, 5 hours of sitting on your ass and not shooting shit can drive a man insane." I said while putting my dick back in and zipping up before turning to the guy.
It was one of the crewmen from the Bradley, he looked like a skinny guy probably in his 20s but there was something off about this guy and I can't get my finger wrapped around it probably because he had his rifle out with him.
"You want this spot?" I pointed at the bush but he didn't say much before he replied.
"All good staff sergeant but uh couldn't help and ask." He fidgeted down and walked right up to me.
"What would that be?" I crossed my arms, he looked right at me with killer eyes.
"You got any tips on being invisible? I had my sights on this hajji fiend from like 1000 yards but the fucker ducked at the last second, i'm planning on a rematch with this M4 here.". That question gave me a hint of curiosity and that only made me feel more weird about this guy so I think the best option was to get scarce.
"Easy… just go through sniper school, you'll learn everything from there better than i can." I then walked away back to Jess as he gave a cold gaze back to me, as I went up to join jess it was there that I then noticed the name on his chest: 'McVeigh'.
Present day…
Hotel, somewhere in Tokyo
09:20 AM
Local PD had the entire building cordoned off and kept a perimeter around so nothing gets in. PD was telling us about a devil that took down and killed six civilian hunters inside although we don't know what kind it was there was possibility that it had swallowed some fragments from the gun devil so its dangerous and powerful. Me and Jess got there with 4 guys from our team then hunters from division 4, we're working with Denji, Power and Aki but we also had some others joining us.
I stepped out of the car along with the team as i could see crowds of people being held back by the cops and police lines. Waiting for us there was Aki, Denji and power along with some other hunters also from division 4, from what i could see there was 2 girls with one being tall and the other shorter alongside one guy. The tall girl had an eyepatch while other was shorter and looked timid, the guy however had a grumpy like face kinda reminds me of an old man although he was a young guy.
"Sooooo… you guys are from the CIA?" the girl with the eyepatch said to us casually and i could smell the nicotine from her breath.
"What gave it away?" i said stoicly and she leaned back in a casual demeanor.
"Welll… for one you guys are the only foreigners here, do you see anyone else that look non-japanese?...well…maybe Denji but still…" she gave a smile as she looked at us, it was then looked around and she was right. Although we're dressed in suits and holding guns, we don't look remotely japanese.
"Touche… name's blake…" i said then offered her a hand.
"Himeno…" she took it and shaked my hand.
"Ma'am! Aren't we able to handle this thing? Why the extra help?!" the guy that was beside her called out, something about his tone reminds me of the privates we used to chew out back in the gulf and that tone alone already tells me that this guy must be a rookie.
"That your attack dog? Sounds like he barked more than he bites." my words must have touched a nerve as the guy rushed right up to me.
"What the hell did you just say?!" the guy walked right at my face but himeno held him back with a firm grip.
"Yeahhh…pretty much but with our numbers getting slimmer these two will have to do but don't mind Arai, he can have a soft side." she then gave a grin but its clear that Arai was annoyed with her.
"What about her?" i pointed at the short girl next to her, she seems to be nervous enough to avoid eye contact and it's clear that she's timid.
"Ohhh kobeni? She's just the sweetest and a complete cutie! But she has got the moves…" Himeno swung her arm around her shoulder as Kobeni looked rather more nervous.
"Hey! Are we gonna get this show on the road or what?" Jess called out as she's at the entrance with the rest.
I gave a nod and we all then promptly went inside.
We went up the stairs with the rest and there was something eerie about this hotel and there wasn't no receptionist or anyone alive for that matter that we can find. The hotel was empty, not a single sound or signs of life except for a few scattered bags in the lobby, the cops that surrounded the building said there wasn't much information about the guests except nobody heard shit except some screams and god awful roars.
The only sound we could hear is that Arai kid arguing with Denji about going too fast, Himeno made a bet that if anyone of the public safety hunters managed to bag this thing, she'd give em a kiss and that apparently set Denji off like a rocket. We were coming to the edge of the hallway where a door stood and when Himeno stopped, everyone followed. Myself and my team had our guns raised as we looked around in front and what's behind us.
"What is it?" I asked her and she stood still looking forward before saying with stoicism.
"Stay sharp…here it comes."
Soon enough the knob on one of the doors in the hallway turned and opened, we could hear faint dragging single steps and there emerged a tiny fuckin devil. It had a guy's head but it was deformed and walking on the floor with a foot sticking out on one end and a hand on the other. It gave a few steps before turning to us. I could hear Kobeni whimpering as she saw it and that set it off as it gave a growl and pounced right at her.
I quickly drew my combat knife and stabbed it in its right ear, the devil was frozen in midair and i probably killed it because it was at least few inches deep in its brain. I pulled it out and soon i could hear rushing footsteps behind me.
"I smite thee!" Power gave a yell before slicing that thing in half with her blood axe, the flesh of the dead devil fell right in front of Kobeni and she gave a terrified scream. I looked on at the dead bastard as i wiped my knife on my sleeve before tucking it back in.
"Foul beast froze when it saw me! The glory of this kill is mine!" she then gave a cackling laugh while Kobeni wailed on the floor but Himeno kept her cool and said.
"Not really, that was all me." she said with a smug and i could see the ghostly hand above the dead devil retract away.
"A ghost devil…thats a rare sight." Jess said while kneeling to look over the corpse, Himeno gave satisfied scuff.
"Yeah i got me a good one, traded my eye for it too…spoooky powers at my command!" she then gave a satisfied smile before turning to Aki.
"How about it Aki? Any gun flesh detected?" she turned to see him kneeling beside the corpse with a bullet piece of the gun devil.
"Nothing…its not reacting strongly so this isn't our devil." he then tuck the gun flesh into his pocket.
"So thats about it then, let's head up." we then proceeded up the stairs.
A minor scuffle happened between power and Himeno when she brazenly acted out of line but other than that, we just kept going. Arai then noticed that spot of blood where we killed the devil earlier, he checked to make sure that we were on a different floor but we weren't. Turns out we were in a loop of going onto the eighth floor, no matter if we go up or down. Himeno tested it by having Kobeni standing with double peace signs just to see if we were in a loop, sure enough she was right.
Some time later…
We were essentially stuck there and it's fruitless to escape even if we try something different. This place has gotten to the head of some of our Japanese counterparts, Kobeni freaked mentally down to the point she wanted to drink out of a toilet bowl which forced us to knock her out, Arai got into a panic attack and is huddled in a corner of a room while Aki kept the search for the devil itself.
I had Erikson and Vance try to scrounge up food left behind by the hotel guests since our MREs aren't enough. Jess was in charge of keeping tabs on our sleeping beauty and the not-so-tough attack dog with Harris and Taylor. In the meanwhile I was just stuck in this room with that kid Denji just dozing off and power rambling on about winning the Nobel Prize or some shit. Himeno had herself a drag of her cigarette while i sat around contemplating how my life choices got me here.
I survived from dying in the godforsaken iraqi desert and that hell called foster care, now i'm stuck in this fucking hotel room about to slowly starve with no way out. I thought i knew hell firsthand but now i ain't so sure anymore, might as well just breathe every second of air i got here.
"Damn…i'm all out of smokes." Himeno said as she checked her pack of cigarettes, seeing her predicament i then pulled out my own.
"Here…take mine." i handed a pack to her and she looked at it with interest.
"Ooh…american cigarettes, guess this'll do for now.." she took one out and lit it for a drag, i gave a smug before saying.
"Not exactly…its iraqi, got it from the gulf…" i took one out to smoke it myself and she returned the favor by lighting it for me.
"Iraqis huh? Y'know i read a bit about you blake, so you were in on the whole gulf war a couple years back?" she asked and i puffed on out before replying.
"A year and a half of fightin in the desert, we could made the march to baghdad but they had us stop over in Nasiriyah. Now saddam still has his WMDs and his devils and there ain't no goddamn thing the UN or uncle sam could do." i then took a drag.
"Well we all have our fair share of these devils…hell i think Aki's the only one of my partners that lasted this long." I then looked at her with cold eyes as i opened my mouth.
"Devils, humans…they're all the same to me because evil has no bounds whether it be man or beast…frankly i barely could scrape by on how many of the two that i've killed." I took a drag then breathed out a puff, Himeno leaned against the wall as she looked at me.
"You were an interesting read on paper…service in the gulf then moved on to serve in the CIA…why didn't you go private?" She then got another drag.
"Does it matter? We get paid all the same, the agency is no different…" She looked at me with a brow raised then asked me.
"There was this other thing that I read about you in the Gulf… you had an encounter with Timothy McVeigh didn't you?"
I looked at her coldly and hearing that name again sent my blood chilling. I haven't heard or seen that name since the Gulf and the news two years ago. Oklahoma City was where The gun devil first appeared…the first major terrorist attack involving guns in American history, McVeigh made a contract with the gun devil in exchange for its power and that made him in part turned into a devil/hybrid similar to what Denji is but not a fiend. They both in unison caused the deaths of over 50,000 people including women and children, the gun devil escaped but McVeigh didn't thanks to the government issued devil hunters. There's also some thought that the bomb devil might too be involved since the first thing that got hit was a government building killing 168 people.
Oklahoma City was the start then Philadelphia and then the rest of the world including Japan. Chunks of its flesh have been consumed by devils everywhere maybe even by the fucker who's trapping us here but there is nothing we can do in hopes of finding where it is up until now. There's been rumors or talk about a devil born from the essence or part of the gun devil's flesh called "the bullet devil" but nobody knows for sure and nobody has seen much proof if it exists. But doesn't it make some sense? After all, a gun without bullets is useless.
I turned to look at Himeno giving myself another drag before answering her.
"Mcveigh didn't know what he was getting into when he made that contract, he was too angry with himself or rather tried to bring that anger out by being a fuckin psychopath."
She couldn't help but laugh at what I said.
"Musta been one helluva fight if he made a deal with the gun devil, that would've been a sight to see."
"Yeah you should've seen it then…"
I took a drag as i look back on the events of that day, the first day that devil appeared right before humanity's eyes…
