alvin and the chipmunks II: the squeakuel

I: Beginning Of The End

Nine months. Nine months since Jason Kolchek and his comrades fell deep into The Temple and fought for their lives as a unit. Nine months of being interrogated constantly by people in hazmat suits, and constantly doing their stupid tests. Nine months of the shitty MRE's that tasted like sandpaper and salt. Nine months since he last spoke to Salim... at least his friends were there to help keep him sane.

Jason was lying in his plastic wrapped bed when he heard a set of footsteps coming toward his room. He knew by the sound of the footsteps that it was one of the officers in hazmat suits, probably coming to either ask him another set of questions or to tell him his dinner was ready.

"Your food is ready Lieutenant Kolchek." The voice came from the person in the hazmat suit.

Jason got up and took a deep breath, "About damn time. Wish y'all could just be a bit more generous and give us somethin' good like McDonald's." Jason patted his stomach solemnly as he spoke, "I'd give my leg for a chicken nugget right about now."

"I'm sure you would, Lieutenant Kolchek." The person in the hazmat suit said, not looking up from the clipboard they were holding. "You'll be able to soon, if it makes you feel any better."

"If I had a dollar for every time I heard that exact same line from one of you, I'd be able to buy my own damn McDonald's." Jason snapped back as he got up and left for the kitchen.

The kitchen, sadly, wasn't a big upgrade from the soilders' rooms. It was just as bright, just as empty, and just as plastic. Usually the people in hazmat suits would just stack their MRE's on the folding table in the middle of the room, and the four soilders would grab it and start to eat. This time was different, though. Aside from the same emptiness of the room, there were far more MRE's, and all of them had the same label: "CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES".

Eric, Rachel and Nick followed Jason into the kitchen, and all were met with the same sight.

"So uh," Nick spoke, "Guess we're not having any beef stew tonight?"

"Thank Christ." Rachel responded. "One more of those things and I would have just stopped eating entirely."

"A-fucking-men Ms. King!" Jason replied. "What are y'all waiting for? They left this shit here for us, so dig in! I mean, when was the last time any of y'all had something with sugar in it?"

"Well," Eric interjected, "It was my birthday 3 months ago. They gave me an MRE with some M&M's in it, and I swear to you, it was the best tasting M&M's I've ever had."

"Well, I counted eleven of these. Since you've had sugar, you can get two." Rachel said as she grabbed two of the MREs and tossed them towards Eric. "As for us, we get three."

Rachel passed out the MRE's to Jason and Nick while Eric opened up his. It wasn't any different from opening an actual MRE, only difference was that they each knew there was something good inside. Jason wasted no time biting into the cookie, however all hope of what he invisioned it to taste like was crushed when he bit into it. It was dry and hard, both of which aren't very good aspects for a cookie. His friends all met the same fate as they all bit into the hard, dry cookie. At the very least, it was somewhat sweet.

"Well, that was severely underwhelming." Nick said, tossing the MRE packages into the trash.

"No shit bud, the hell was that even for?" Jason said, sharing the same slightly dissapointed face as all his comrades.

"For good reason, I assure you." A voice came from the entryway, startling the four. It was another person in a hazmat suit, carrying a printed out piece of paper.

The person spoke, this time from the piece of paper they held, "As a token of your service and dedication towards helping your military further understand what happened in the temple, we extend our gratitude to you and are allowing you to leave the base. I'm sure this is very good news to you all."

Eric was the first to speak, "Where are we going now?"

"Home." The person in the suit simply stated.

Almost immediately, everyone began moving around with excitement, as they would finally be as far away from that hellhole as possible.

Jason interjected, "So was that your way of saying goodbye to your dear marines?" He pointed at the discarded MRE packets in the trashcan.

"Partially, the true goodbye gift is the helo waiting outside. Follow me."