~Aiko Takeshi - The Suite ~ (#Wattys2015)

=CHAPTER 2= Impending Doom

We eventually came to a stop at a river just below a hill we came upon during the late hours of the night, we had to rest, I was shaken up, Marco didn't say much, "sighs" all was quiet but we couldn't stop here for long,

I don't know if we were being hunted, I don't think we were seen by anyone from the military only that freaky looking thing in the human suit.
We made about a two mile walk overnight from what it felt like and my mind was everywhere and on everything, My mom would barely let me out the house and ive been missing for a day with Marco, I was thinking about the shots i heard and .... I "Chill Aiko" Marco urged me ..its gonna be alright, the military won't harm them I think, but we can't stay here he said, we got no food and we got to get home before we lose strength,
I pulled myself up and with the help of Marco I was standing again, beat from the night's trek and lack of sleep, we planned to undertake the hillside and double back the way we came, we were in a valley with high trees and a mountain side that travelled the valley, We didn't walk beside the river due to the noises it made, we wouldn't have a clue if we were being followed, but it had a good cover when hunting, we moved slowly but smoothly conserving as energy as we could, I passed so many birds and squirrels if we had my crossbow we possibly could have had dinner, "What are you mumbling about"? Asked Marco, we are being followed I told him, Why would you say that? He asked, well I could have sworn I saw that tree move or something moved, your confused he hushed me, did you drink enough...but before Marco could complete his sentence we heard a *crick* *crack*, sounded like someone stepping on rotten sticks, but it wasn't us!, Marco turn to look at me while I look in his direction, then I turned.... we were being followed by men in black suites with silver masks, we counted 4, we couldn't run, we were too tired and these soldiers had guns big guns!
One stood out because his mask was red and he had ... dad's shotgun around his neck, I was afraid for the worst, they slowly came closer and closer, and no one made a sound between us and Marco was clearly up for anything but we had no plan, I tried stepping backwards and the soldier in the red mask spoke! It said "don't move" in what sounded like a humans voice mixed with a robots voice,
He nodded insignificantly as if it In confirmation with something and raised his gun up at us ... my heart Is racing I feel so helpless, I tried to talk to them and in a split second, Marco picked up a stick lying on the ground and charged towards *red mask*, "Marco nooo! what are you doing?? I yelled with fear in my voice and as if in slowmotion I saw *red mask* fly a few feet in the air and landed on one of its crew as if It was kicked in the gut, but it wasn't Marco.

Shots went off in the dozens and the air around was popping with flashes of light, I hit the dirt and held my head as shots whizzed past, I could hear them lodge into tree's and bounce of the mountain side, some even landed a few meters from me. I caught glimpses of Marco at times ducking for cover behind the closest tree, and then I saw what looks like tiny currents of electricity in the form of a human body appear and disappear ... what was it ?

It was same snake scaled suit from the crash, but why? I thought to myself, is it here to help us? Was it stalking us all this time, I came back to reality In time to hear the guns die out one by one, I could see the suit materialise into a fully visible form, it had somehow manage to take down the 4 soldiers I thought, but I wasn't ready to put my trust in this thing as yet. I didn't know what it was or what it wanted, it was quiet for awhile, I didn't hear Marco so I got up to look around, I could see torn bushes, damaged trees, and chipped rocks, three of the soldiers were visibly down but I didn't see red mask, I tried calling Marco but to no avail, "Marco"! I screamed in anxiety ..... no sound was heard, the snake scaled suit was standing in a awkward position with no movement which made the situation even more pressuring and creepy,
I took the chance to go around and look at it, it was smooth no contours just a blank faceless suit, I ignored it and called for Marco a couple more times and this time he answered in a weak voice climbing over a rock, *phew* I felt great seeing his face again but as my eyes scanned his body my smile changed for the worst, He was shot multiple times in the abdomen but he insisted he was ok they were just small wounds he joked, I could tell that my best friend was delusional and in alot of trouble, I attempted to run towards him But was drastically struck inplace, my throat went dry ... red mask was right behind Marco!
M..Marco I stuttered, red mask had half his mask torn off and half a face showing so I confirmed they were indeed people in these suites.
I could see no life in the eye of the person inside only a faint red glow surging through the pupil.
He raised a hand and in that hand was his gun that he aimed at me and out of nowhere came the snake suit and pushed me harshly out the way, it received all the bullets flying towards me, Red mask was out of ammo and the suite emmidiately made an attempt to jump up the rock, and red mask reacted instantly, he grabbed Marco with one hand and back flipped while kicking the snake suit sending it flying into the mountain side, red mask had Marco and the snake suit was inactive, clearly it was up to me now or never, I took a gun of the nearest soldier ran to the rock, I climbed up and stood on top looking for any sight of red mask, I saw him holding Marco as he dived backward of the edge of the mountain side!
Marco! Marco! I ran towards the edge as fast as I could when i tripped over a hidden tree stump and hit my head on a rock.
I was knocked out instantly.

I awoke couple hours later with my face in the dirt and the memory slowly came to me of my current situation, I went to the cliffs edge and it was a rather long drop but water was at the bottom, I saw no sign of Marco or red mask, I was hopeless, I started to wonder if im the reason all of this was happening, I got up and strapped the gun to me and backtracked my way to where the shooting was, I saw the other three soldiers still lying there and the snake scaled suit was still slouched by the mountain side, so I went over there to examine it.
There was clearly someone inside it had bullet holes and blood around, whoever it was is dead. I tried looking for an entrance to getting inside the suit, all my efforts seem futile until I remember that previously the person or thing in the suit touched certain area's on his hand when he went invisible, so I inspected his hands and felt underlying impressions as if buttons were under it.

I fooled around a few buttons while the suit changed textures, temperature, even went invisible a couple times. But what really caught me Is it was really skin tight almost like a ingrown armor, power and stealth unit in your own skin, I couldn't get it off to see the pilot or it if was working so I sat down with for awhile, but to my surprise the suit started glowing so I kinda backed off a bit then, not knowing if it would self destruct or not, but it didn't, instead it slowly starts to peel off the the current user and as it revealed, the user was a male and proved to be naked the more the suite retract from the body.
I stood there and watch this suit seemingly come alive and acting on its own, it eventually came off and looked like a pile of bubbling jelly and stood somewhat still, so I went in for a closer look and before I knew it it was on my hands!, taking over my skin! I tried to get it off, but it jus slowly crept over my body, I couldn't fight it, I was starting to lose oxygen, I saw a thin sheath spread across my eyes and small writings popped up in a corner of what looked like a screen on my face, the word was blinking beside a percentage meter counting up from 1% , Confused I was afraid I was dying and tried to run, I was surprised at the distance I covered during the short Sprint, then I collapsed, clawing at my throat for air .. slowly slipping unconscious ... I was losing grip, I could finally make out the word in the corner of my screen ...it said Configuration 78%.