Eden's Gate

Chapter 15 - Worth It

I clicked my radio on.

"Hey Dutch, you there?" I asked, walking further into the forest. The radio crackled to life in a second.

"Holy shit, kid. I've been trying to reach you... Heard John nabbed you and I feared the worst... glad you made it out alive." Dutch said, concern dripping from his tone.

"It doesn't matter, I found Hudson. I think John's been 'cleansing' her. You should have seen her, Dutch. She was scared..." My voice caught, remembering what happened.

"I'm sorry about Hudson, but there's not much we can do without John's key. You're gonna have to lure him out. Figure the best way we can do that is to burn his whole fuckin' operation to the ground... so get to work." With that, I ran, avoiding and Peggies as I headed back to Parkers Laboratories. As I passed an outpost, I bought a new vest and changed. Before I left, I stocked up on supplies and weapons, since John had taken my weapons away when he captured me. I jumped in another truck before heading over to PurpleTop Telecom Tower.

I hope Peaches and Boomer are ok, they better not have done anything to them. As I drove closer, I saw two figures around the tower's base. I smiled as I recognised who the figures were. I jumped out and ran to Boomer and Peaches, hugging them. They pounced on me and smothered me in licks and rubbing their heads against me. I laughed, smiling.

"I missed you guys too!" I cried. I stood up, looking up at the tower. I sighed before climbing the tower up to destroy the satellite dishes. I dropped a remote detonation charge against the dishes, before climbing down the tower. I pushed Peaches and Boomer far away from the tower before I clicked the detonator, destroying the disks. The broke disk pieces fell crashing to the ground around the tower.

"POW! Nice work. Phase one is complete! Back to the lab for Phase two." Larry told me through the radio. Driving back to his home was quick, I only encountered a roadblock that I took out with a grenade. Once I got to the lab, however, that was a different story. Peggies littered the grounds. I grabbed my gun and started taking out the Peggies, Boomer and Peaches running into the action. Working together, we took out each of the Peggies quickly. I walked over to Larry by his helicopter. He was still muttering to himself about something.

"Alright, sidekick. Phase numero dos! THIS is where it gets interesting. THIS is where I'll put any scepticism to sleep." Larry said, excited about getting this done.

There's a lot of scepticism, Larry.

"If we're going o get to phase three together, then you need to see the truth with your own eye." Larry continued, getting more excited. I paled.

You better not be part of Eden's Gate, I will not be happy.

"You need to see, that THEY... Are already here. Under the radar. Scouting parties who STUDY US – SIZING US UP FOR THE INEVITABLE SHOWDOWN." Larry yelled, before taking a breath. "If we don't stop them now, it's a wrap on mankind. This is it. It all comes down to this. We need to beat them at their game. Only you can save us. Have I spoken enough clichés to get you fully on board?" He looked at me, full of hope. I sighed, nodding in confirmation. "Good. Head west to the crop circle and collect some alien samples. You can't miss them. They glow at night, and the humming drives the animals crazy. Only a matter of time before it drives us crazy too!" He turned away from me. I left his house, jumping back into the truck, driving over to the crop circle he told me about.

This guy is a nut-case. But he's a smart nut-case, with a powerful weapon. Might as well play along. I pulled over in front of the field, Boomer and Peaches jumping over the fence. I walked around, looking for these glowing alien samples. Peaches and Boomer taking out the crazy turkeys and Peggies around the field. I heard Boomer whimper in pain, I ran over to him seeing a glowing... cow? I pushed the cow over, picking up a small blue rock and pocketing it. Boomer stopped whimpering when I pocketed the rock. Running over to a whimpering Peaches, I found another blue rock, pocketing it too. I looked up at a hawk's cry. Sat up at the top of an old decapitated silo was a hawk's nest.