Nyctophobia-Fear Of the Dark
January 30th 1995
William Zadoff, The first American Marine to ever become a successful mercenary, stood in the middle of the forest of Petersday National Park. The humidity of the evening air felt sticky on his skin, while the trees whispered as the wind ran through the leafy branches and gave him a brief moment of calmness . His blonde hair stuck to his forehead, sweat dripping from his brow as his blue eyes studied the parks map.
The trail he was on seemed to be lost in the confusion of the forest surrounding him. His partner, Carlos Gutierrez spoke to him "If you keep looking at that map, your going to become loco mi amigo. ", He chuckled .
" Is that so colonel ? " William asked Carlos. " Because i think we are lost. " Carlos shook his head. Carlos had served with Zadoff, and ever since, they had been friends. " Will, dont you think we should just use our gps that Pendejo agent gave us ? It might work ."
Will shook his head, " They are probably unreliable, besides its still probably in testing ." William had always been the rational one while Carlos, with his brown eyes and Salt and pepper hair, always wanted to do it the easy way.
They stopped and dropped their bags on the grass. " Any civilians around ? ", Carlos quickly pulled out a thermal camera and checked the area . "No, we are good, "
Will pulled out his favorite modified sniper rifle out of the camo bag. Carlos had nick named the gun" Will's best friend " because of how often Will used it . Carlos pulled out an illegally acquired military issued combat shotgun . He grinned as he leaned it over his shoulder, the barrel sticking up in the air, " Maybe we should just ask a park ranger where the cabin, the rangers should know where the cabin is. "
Will ignored him and followed the dirt path. " Or we could follow your stupid ass into the woods. " He mutter under his breath.
As the stars and clouds glided in the sky above there heads, Will and Carlos walked carefully towards what they hoped was there target. They heard a rustle from the brush a few feet away from them. they instantly froze and hid themselves in the brush. Will looked at Carlos and nodded pointed his gun toward the area . Carlos brought his camera up to his face, silently peering at the bush. He looked at Will and shook his head before signaling him to go around .
"So what was it ?", Will asked Carlos when they finally regrouped. Carlos chuckled.
" It was just two college kids having a little fun in the dark. "
Will shook his head,"This is a family park for god's sakes."
Carlos looked at Will and then at Will's best friend, " says the weto with a gun "
Will scowled and turned, yet again leading the way to the target .
After ten or fifteen minutes, they finally reached a thirty foot drop to a valley below. Wiill growled in frustration. " GOD DAM THESE MAPS !!" his voice echoed throughout the surrounding hillside. Carlos nudged him with his shoulder," Hey, amigo, check out the lights down there ."
Will looked to where Carlos was pointing at to see the cabin . " you stay here and ill go check out la casa. Use the radio if you need me", Will nodded his head and took his position. As Carlos scrambled down the cliff face, Will slid on his belly and put his face a few inched away from the scope he was looking through.
After what seemed liked hours, Carlos appeared in his crosshairs and he slowly approached the front door.
***
Carlos wiped the sweat from his brow and checked the windows to make sure no one was inside.
The cabin itself was made of logs like others in the area but the inside was vacant and was rather messy. Tables and other furniture had been flipped on their sides or were strewn around the floor or both. Some of the pictures had fallen from there spot on the wall and glass covered parts of the rug and wooden floor boards. Cupboards doors were swinging caused by draf by a nearby broken window, the entire place looked like it had been hit by a natural disaster.
