A Tale Retold, RED MIST

Fate

   The ground station was bombarded by crazy amounts of bullet and slashes. Both 2 and 6 went insane. Their teammates were left in shock at how violent their combat styles were.
   Finally, they met at the center. 2 was covered with blood from the creatures. The only thing that was not covered was his visor, and that was because he wiped it off.
   "Give me your pistol." 6 said to 2.
   "Why?" 2 took and gave it to him.
   "Mine’s overheat." He threw the gatling gun on the ground. "There's way too many of them."
   "We need to fall back for the moment.” 2 said.

...

   "We need to split up." 1 said.
   "What? No. There's way too many risk." 10 said.
   "Believe in me, 10. Believe in yourself. You're a top ten." 1 patted his shoulder. "I will go back into the ship and warn them to retreat back. You need to go to the shuttle and report back to the comms. You got it?"
   10 was hesitating at first, but he nodded and agreed to do so.

...

   1 blasted his way into the ship, storming every creatures he came by. Finally he made through to where 25 and 22 were.
   "We need to fall back. Now." 1 said.
   "What about the bodies?" 25 asked.
   "Forget about it. There's a nest in the hangar." 1 said.
   25 looked at the bodies, then back at 1. "You go first." He said to 22. "I will vacuum seal the body bags, so they'll stop decaying."
   "What..? No.. we need to go!" 22 shouted.
   "We need to extract them! If we can't do it now, there's always next time!" 25 scolded.
   22 stared at 1.
   "I will search for the other. You go back to the shuttle and alert the comms." He said.
   "Alright, sir." 22 stood up and ran past 1.
   "Good luck, soldier." 1 said to 25.
   "Thank you, sir." He replied.
   1 left him to do the task.
   He ran his way to where the next closest member was, the upper compartment. Ever since the attack, 3 when silent. 1 had thought something out of the worst.

...

   3 held his pistol tight. He kneeled near 537, arm reached out to protect him.
   "Stay away from Ethan.." He said to the creature in front of him.
   It was a wolf. It stared at him from the doorway. They have been in standoff for quite a while now. 3 noticed something weird, as the wolf didn't take any step closer, it just stared at him.
   Soon, the wolf got shot and died. 1 came to the rescue. He kicked the wolf to the side so he can enter.
   "Why didn't you shoot?" 1 asked.
   "It's.. different.." 3 said. "It didn't attack me."
   1 looked at 3, remembered of what happened back in the nest.
   "Come on. We need to fall back to the shuttle." 1 said.
   "Finally.." He relieved. "You're going home, Ethan."
   1 saw how tedious 3 was, strapping a body bag into his back.
   "You're always like this." 1 commented.
   "I will never break my promise. Even if the world is collapsing, a promise should not be broken." 3 said.

...

   "This is Delta. Do you copy!?" 6 shouted into the intercom.
   But to no answer.
   "This is Alpha, what's going on on your side?" 24 asked.
   "There's a fuck ton of creatures on the station." 6 said. "We suspect there might be a nest."
   "I see." 24 replied. Soon after, he reported back. "We have found a nest on the ship."
   "The fuck.." 6 looked at the rest. He then spoke in the intercom. "We need to extract, now."
   "Our team can't do it now. There's still four members outside."
   "Who is it?" 6 asked.
   "1, 3, 25, and 28." 24 said. But then he said it back. "1 and 28 left."
   "That brat.." 6 said. "Should we extract now?" He asked to the rest.
   No one could give an answer.
   2 then stepped up to the intercom.
   "Tell me every information you got. We will began the extraction first." He said.
   "What the fuck.. we're leaving them?" 6 asked.
   "There’s no choice. Connection to comms is dead. We can't risk losing all of this information. It's either one of us can get back up there, or we'll all die." 2 said.

...

   1 couldn't save him. He was too late. By the time he arrived, he was already dead. A brutal death. His face was gone, punctured into a hollow hole, all the way to the wall.
   1 kneeled down and ripped the BV badge. That was the best thing he could do for now. But as he stood up, he noticed something. 28's helmet was recording. He carefully pulled 28 so he could access his back and took the data. After he was done, he ran back to the shuttle.

   1 was devastated as he saw the shuttle already launched. But later his disappointment dismissed when he saw that the Alpha shuttle was still there. He entered the shuttle and immediately told them to began extraction.
   They all got back to the space station safely.

   16 members gone to Earth, 15 returned home.

   BV28.. didn't make it.

...

   "Who are you..?" 28 was trembling. He clicked a button on his helmet.
   "Recording in progress."

   Not long after, the video turned static, even the audio cuts off. After a few moments, the video continued..

   28 was slammed to the wall. His visor cracked, allowing the tainted air to enter his lungs.  He was grasping for air, his whole body hurts.
   From the distance, the mysterious figure walked towards him. He couldn't do anything, he couldn't talk, couldn't even lift his hand. He was hopeless.
   The figure stood in front of him. it then kneeled down into his level. It looked straight into him, deep into his eyes through the cracked visor.
   Soon, it gotten hold of the visor and tried to open it. 28 tried to held it's hand, but his grip was weak.
   "Rest.." The figure spoke.
   28 was in shock. It was a woman's voice. Just like the number patch, the voice matched the person.
   "You've fought enough.." She said.
   She then punched through the visor, right into the face, crushing it, puncturing it until her hand reach the wall. She retracted her hand. She stood up and walked away from there.
   28 was left there alone, lifeless. His face was gone, planted into the wall. Hollow and gory, his head left a hole mark.

...

   Hall of Command..

   All of them were summoned, the video from 28 was played over and over again.
   "There's no doubt. It's her." 0 said. "An imitation or not.. it's her."
   "Who?" 27 asked.
   Many of them didn't recognise her. But the look of utter horror could be seen from those who knew.
   "Someone we declared dead years ago." 6 said.
   "After she didn't make it to the extraction." 2 added.
   "The day we lost our ground station.." 0 said.

   "The former BV7." Luna stated trembly.

...

   Knowing their state, after the meeting, Luna suggested that a break was needed. They disbanded for a while until the situation seemed appropriate to continue the operation.

   Luna paid a visit to the dining hall. She thought about that figure. She was someone close to Luna. For Luna, it was a pity that she didn't get the peaceful rest. Whatever that was, it had invaded the poor woman's body.

   On the other hand, 7 didn't really recognise the figure. She knew the person existed, but didn't really know much about it.
   7 decided to calm her head for a while with 491.

...

   While both of them on the dining hall..
   In fact, most of them were in the dining hall. Luna, 7 and 491, 10 and 18, 1 and 2 alongside 6, almost all of them were there, each to their own table.

   As 7 and 491 were having their chitchat, 21 came to them. He slammed the table. He then sat beside 7, pulling her closer to him.
   "Stay away from my girl, fuck face." He said.
   7 pushed 21 away. "Stay away from me! Don't you get it!? I hate you!"
   "What did you say!?" 21 was about to punch 7.
   "Oy." 491 stood up. He clenched his fist. "Stop that."
   "And what?" 21 looked at him dead in the eyes. "You're going to stop me?" He smirked. "As if you can."
   Without thinking it well, 21 flung his fist into 7, punching her right in the cheek.
   491 saw the scene in horror. He didn't think that 21 will really going to do it. He had enough.

...

   Crematorium..

   Out of 26 bodies, only one managed to return.
   After it was all done, 537's ashes were put in an urn. 3 took it from the staff and gave it to 823.
   "I'm sorry. This is the best I could do from him." He said.
   "It's okay." 823 looked at the urn. She noticed that it have a slot for the badge. So she took it out and attached Ethan's badge in the urn. "This is the best thing that Ethan had received." 823 smiled warmly. "a lovely and peaceful rest."

...

   Blood splattered everywhere. 491 had stabbed 21 over and over again with a cutter blade he had hidden in his pocket.
   7 stab wounds. All in 21's abdomens. To add the pain, 491 shattered the blade at the last stab, leaving it deep inside 21's body.
   21 stood up. Blood was spilling out from him. He looked at the people. They were all staring at him, yet no one dared to help. No one willing to help.
   He stared at 6, his captain. He saw how 6 was staring back at him, deeply in the eyes, as if telling him that all of this was because of his own doing. He then shifted his eyes to 7. He looked at her. He looked at how disappointed she was.

   At his final moment, all he thought was 7. At how harsh he treated her. At how beautiful life would be if somehow he acted nice.

   21 dropped to the floor. His final words were..
   "I'm sorry.."

...

   "29!" Someone ran in the hallway. "29!!" He shouted.
   "Yes, dear?" A woman stopped walking. She was BV29.
   "They're calling you." He said.
   "Who?" She asked.
   "The top 20." He replied. "Hall of Command."

...

   Soon, two new member, BV29 and BV30 joined. They were greeted by Luna and 0. 29 was known to be having an attitude the same as Luna, bossy. While 30 was humble, so humble he could be compared to 3.
   "Welcome to the top 20. You'll be an unofficial member until UHMF declared you to be part of us." 0 said.
   "May the odds be with you, as you devote your lives." Luna put her right hand on her left chest. "For the righteousness of man."
   "For the greater of humankind." 0 quickly added.
   Luna chuckled because of that.
   "For the greater of humankind!" 29 and 30 chanted.

...

   "The day we lost our ground station.." 0 said.
   "The former BV7." Luna stated.

…

   “We’ve ran the test, mister. Anthony.” Dr. Vanessa reported back.
   They were at a hospital. Alyssa, the girl, just recently done her CT scan.
   “I’m afraid to say it.. but it’s a bad news.” She said.
   “Just tell me doctor.” The man insisted.
   “Alyssa has..” She hesitated. “Brain cancer.”
   The man was pulled in a state of shock.
   “No..” He was devastated. “It can’t be. Not her too..” He was trembling. “First my wife, and now her!?” He shouted.
   “Mister Anthony, please.. calm yourself up.” She tried to calm him down.
   “Calm down!?” He shouted.
   “Please, mister Anthony. There’s something else.”
   “Huh..!?” He stared at her. “What is it?”
   “The cancer, it’s linked to something that is still relatively unknown to us. But when we check the connection and even the background from various sources.. it lead to something that you probably familiar with.” She explained.
   “Something that I’m familiar with?” He asked.
   “This cancer caused by some type of virus.” Her stare was full of seriousness. “The same type of virus that you’re handling back then, when you were still part of the Timekeeper.”
   “Virus..? From my past..?” Then it hit him. “That.. thing..” He was shook with horror. His knees went weak.
   “Yes, mister Anthony. We don’t know the cause for it to spread, but it unfortunately infected your daughter. It possibly infected your wife as well.”
   He was leaning into the wall, trying to keep his body upward.
   “Oh, father.. what have we done.. we’re spreading the mist..” A faint red glow was starting to emits from him.

   “The red mist.”

…

   All of them except Luna stared at 0. Luna was becoming nervous, she felt uneasy.
   "That's not her." She said. "Whatever that is, that's not her."
   "The voice proved otherwise." 6 said.
   "No.. what I meant is.." Luna stared at 6. "Whatever controlling that body.. is not her." Her breath was heavy. "She's dead. She supposed to be dead! All this years.. she didn't get a peaceful rest and we didn't even know it! There's something more sinister than those mutated creatures and she's the proof of it!" Luna pointed at the screen.
   "Calm down, Miss Luna.." 1 said.
   7 immediately went to her and hugged her from the side.
   "Luna.. get hold of yourself." 7 whispered.
   Luna looked at 7. She then stared at the table, didn't dare to look at any of them.
   "She was.. my best friend. The only friend I really trust.." She glanced at 7's badge. "I still had her badge.”
   Luna pulled out the badge from her trousers pocket. Black Vulture logo, with the code number 007. At the back side was the name.
   Luna flipped the badge, revealing the name..

   "Alexa.."