Hunter

Ghosts Among Us

"Most eyes were focused on the Middle East at the time. What a lot of people didn't see was that Russia was working overtime to not only spur more fires in the desert but also sow discourse on the state side. They knew that the undeclared war the US was fighting was a dividing point for many people. They used that to recruit individuals to defect with the promise that they were working towards stopping the US involvement. They used whatever sore point they could use. The bombing of innocent children, and the executions of innocent civilians by the various groups demanding the US withdrawal.

Well, one individual who went rogue could have caused a major problem. Dr. Kelly Donner. He had been working with the US Government to better explain the biology of creatures and monsters. He worked with various groups to help with the restriction devices that many of us use today. His work yielded results that we could have only imagined. They only got better as the years went but he was never satisfied. He was kept on a strict leash with his genetic research. He was promised to be let off his leash and that was just too much for him to say no. So he said yes and we were sent in..."

The Russian province of Siberia is an unforgiving region of the world. The further north you go, the more brutal it becomes. It's the perfect place to hide something that no one wants found. Including a lab. A group of soldiers were dropped in under less than favorable circumstances. High winds threw their trajectory off course after already forcing their plane to divert from the original path. It was a miracle that they got into Russian airspace but that bad luck had to go somewhere.

The blowing snow brought visibility down to nothing. Their GPS was the only way they could see where they were going. Six soldiers had to trek the wilderness to a point on a map, find an entrance, and detain their target. That was the end goal to start with. It changes rather quickly after a few days.

It was not planned that this mission was to take more than two days. One day travel, one day of action, and extraction the same day with the VIP. It was always Hunter's caution that he would bring more food than needed. He brought seven days' worth of meals for one person to be packed as tightly as he could get them to fit with his gear. Their weapons weren't as required for this one until they reached the lab. This would and should be the only time they would need to engage in a firefight.

The wind beat them down the first day. The darkness beat them down the second. By the third day, everyone was ready to be done. They were still far off from their target from the botched landing. They camped when they had to at night. Hunter's pre-planning came in handy when things got scarce. Everyone had to limit themselves to one meal a day to try and make it last as long as they could but it quickly ran out. They made it three extra days with Hunter's extra cautious packing.

But once it ran out...

Their best option was just to call for extraction. This wasn't worth walking around blind. In a decision made by the team as a whole, they activated their transceiver to call for pickup. Their radio lit up with chatter as they were bombarded with questions. Without Dr. Kelly Donner in hand, they were not going to come pick them up. It was emphasized that it was imperative that they bring him back. So with that, the group was left behind.

With no food, they had no option but to push forward. Their squad leader did all he could to keep morale up as they moved towards the point once more. After the second day, it didn't matter what encouraging words were said. The empty bellies were screaming louder than he was. They had to do something. Some grace did show itself as they moved along. It came in the form of an old settler's hut. The stone walls seemed to be holding up pretty well. Inside, it was relatively safe from the elements.