Rise

Mission Log 3

When the elevator doors opened, a rush of cold air swept through my body. While I appreciated the cold air, it didn't do a thing to stop my chest pains. Captain Zaire set me down beside the elevator.

"I'm sorry Aneira. But I have to take off. There are medical supplies on the fourth floor. Until I can find them, I have to leave you here. Are you going to be alright here?" Despite the paralyzing pain, I nodded. The Captain stood up and started to walk in the elevator. But he turns around.

"Oh wait! I forgot something." The Captain grabs a blue gun from his back holster. There is a name engraved in frame: Aneira Blaire.

"You lost this during the fight with Adrienne. Here" The Captain hands me back my gun.

"Keep it with you. You never know when you need a backup." I nod again and proceed to place it right beside me.

"Now I'm heading off." The Captain embarks yet again into the elevator. Before the doors close, something catches my eye. Red shoelaces... the Captain had red shoelaces...

"When identifying a Reaper... they always wear red... red shoelaces, anything will do..." The Reapers always wear red. But... no! No! Absolutely not! There's no way that Captain Zaire would be a Reaper! No. I just need to put that out of my head. Captain Zaire would never betray the team. He wouldn't. Plus, not everyone that wears red is a Reaper. Some people just like red that's all. And heck, maybe those red shoelaces came with the shoes. But... Captain Zaire's shoes are... no. No, they must have come with the shoes. No. Let me focus on something else. I try to think about our mission, then the facility, then about colors but everything keeps leading back to Captain Zaire's shoelaces. Ahhhh! I need to stop it! I need to think of something, anything. I try to focus on what do here but it doesn't work. Instead, my mind drifts. Not to Zaire but to mom. I remember a promise I made her about this mission...

"Aneira, I'm glad you want to do this. I'm proud... but... I just want to know... are you going to be okay? Aneira I know that you'll have a couple Reaper Hunters to back you up. But I just need to know you'll be okay. Promise me you'll be okay!" Mom had a look of worry. I thought I would be okay. Yet mom's look put the situation into perspective. Many people have died on these missions. There really is no guarantee that I would be fine. In fact, odds are that I would end up dead more than I would end up alive. But I promised her.

"Mom, I promise I'll be okay. Just don't worry too much okay?" But despite these words, I knew she would still worry. After all, I'm her eldest daughter. There's no replacing me. I live in a family of four. You have mom, me, Maggie and John. I'm the oldest at sixteen. Maggie is five and John is one. We don't have dad because he's gone. Died on a Reaper Hunter mission. In fact, when mom found him, he was infected with the Reaper virus. A cruel joke by the leader of the Reapers, Aiden. Mom told me he said something... something that earned her eternal enmity.

"What a shame. He wasn't ready..." Mom said Aiden disappeared through the vents. To be honest, I never believed her. No way could someone be that cruel. I mean, I believe the part about dad being infected with the virus but not the Aiden part. He can't be that cruel. He just can't. But yet these murders and kidnappings, they were orchestrated by the Reapers. Aiden was in all the police footage. He was the one face connected to everything. But these cases are debatable in and of themselves. I mean, the people were acting strangely. They could of hurt someone with their behavior. The Reapers were just trying to protect themselves. But that still doesn't explain the kidnappings. But why kidnap? That's the one thing that doesn't make sense. I have to find out! I have to get up and at least look!