Rise

Mission Log 2

It was dark inside the facility. On the outside, the moonlight lit our way. It's silver glow shone off anything it touched. But here, it seems even the moonlight has shunned it's suffocating darkness. Inside, the darkness suffocated us with its tight squeeze. It's too dark in here. I turn on my flashlight, dissipating the dark's tight squeeze.

In front of us stand the remains of a urinal. The proceeding hallway is very thin. So thin, it may hold only three people standing side-by-side. On the left side are the urinals. There are stalls, but the toilets themselves seem to have disappeared. On the walls are pools of dirt and... you know what, I'm not going to guess on what's on those stalls. At the end of the hall is a sink. From far away it looks clean. In fact, it's porcelain shines and glistens when our lights touch it. But a closer look reveals it's inner contents. The sink is dirty; dirt covers the entire bowl. It stains the porcelain making a once nice looking sink into an unclean pool of potential diseases. Although, what we're doing will make those potential diseases look painless by comparison. Behind me, one of the SWAT jumps.

"Who's there?" he says, a sense of panic permeates his voice. The Captain turns around. But what he saw wasn't a person, it was rat. The rat stares at us. I look back and notice it's strange appearance. It's missing fur in places and its eyes are a scarlet red. It must be infected with Reaper virus. Mom told me that virus will always make your eyes red. Did the virus leak out and contaminate the area? I was going to ask but the rat suddenly fled.

"These rats are infected. The virus must be leaking out somewhere. All right. Change of plans everyone. Search the area for any signs of Reaper virus. Let me know if you find anything." As everyone was splitting up, I look around the corner. A strange shadow just showed up out of the corner of my eye. Is someone here? Suddenly, gunshots go off. I lift up my gun but the gunshots disappeared just as they appeared.

"Rookie, stay behind me. Something's here" I nod and carefully look around for any signs of danger. It's quiet. If something's here, it must be toying with us. My feet, glued to the floor in fear, move to accommodate the situation. A noise suddenly comes from the stalls. My feet move slowly and cautiously. My gun in the air as I investigate the noise. Around the corner, I find a cart has fallen. A breath of quick relief is released from my body. I go back to where I was.

"Captain, have you found anything yet?" I whisper, my voice filled with utter panic. The Captain doesn't answer.

"Captain?" I move slowly toward a nearby hall. But something stops me dead in my tracks. About ten feet away, a vent cover comes crashing down to the floor. I knew something was going to come out of it. If the vent cover fell off, something has to come out. For a split second, I hesitated. I waited for whatever was toying with us. But nothing came, nothing. Maybe this is all some kind of mistake. Maybe everything is just falling apart around here. I lower my gun for a split second.

But something attacks me. A hand swiftly punches my ribs. Pain shoots though my body. I groan in agony but the thing doesn't wait for me to recover. They kick me down and kick my gun across the floor. I try to get up, to fight what's attacking me. But the thing senses me get up and proceeds to stomp on my chest. Agony races through my whole being. My body is now paralyzed by pain. The Captain comes running out. His gun flies up, just ready to shoot.

"Well, well, well. It if isn't the Reaper Hunters. Trespassing again are we? You Hunters never learn." The voice was sharp. So sharp, it cut through the silence like a sharpened sword. The voice was one of femininity, the voice of an angered woman. I look up at her eyes. They're red, but not just any red, a fire red. I look up and see her eyes glow in the thick darkness. She's must be a Reaper. Mom's voice starts to come back to me.

"Identifying a Reaper isn't an easy task. They blend in so easily it seems very difficult. But you always want to look at the eyes. Reapers eyes are always red. Not just a regular red but glowing red. Next, Reapers always wear red clothing. Red shoes, red shirts, red shoelaces, anything will do. Once you identify them, be careful okay! I don't want you to get hurt..." So she truly is a Reaper! But what do I do? I'm trapped underneath her stiletto! There must be something I can do. I look over. My gun is all the way over there. I can't reach it!

"Adrienne!" So that's the woman's name! Well, I don't think I can ask her politely if she can get her foot off my chest.

"Well, well. If it isn't Aneira Blaire. How's mommy? Still bruised up from her previous trespass? And Zaire. Normally this would be friendlier greeting but I see you're still resolved to go down with the ship. How fitting for a captain to go down with his ship." As they talk, I try to reach for the spare gun on my leg. My fingers pull and stretch as my hand inches closer to my leg. Just a little more...

"And I see you're still resolved to be on the wrong side the law. It's a shame HQ wants Aiden and not you. Now... let her go!" I could almost grab my gun. But seeing my hand go toward my gun, Adrienne stomps my chest harder.

"Well now. Aren't we attached? How unfortunate that my job is to take her from you. Aiden wants to see his old friend." My hand goes back for my gun. I stretch and stretch until my hand touches it's blue frame. I'm almost there! Just keep her talking Captain!

"It's something called a promise, Adrienne. Something that you won't understand." And with that, I grasp the handle of my gun. I aim it up and pull the trigger. While I couldn't see the bullet, I knew it hit her. Adrienne stumbles back grasping her head. Her heel leaves my chest. As if on instinct, I roll away from her.

"Aneira, you okay?" The Captain extends a hand. I grab it and next thing I knew I was back on my feet. After of few moments of stumbling, Adrienne readjusts herself and says with menacing eyes:

"You maybe able to prolong your life, Blaire! But until you know the truth, you will remain ignorant! Ignorant and stupid as to what is happening before your very eyes! You will never escape your coming infection!" With that, Adrienne jumps up into the ceiling. Where she goes is unknown. My body begins to falter. My knees buckle, sending me tumbling to the floor. My chest quakes with pain. The pain like an onslaught by an unseen foe. The Captain heaves me up with unforeseen force and takes me to a nearby elevator. We go into it, unknown what will happen next...