Mist

Friendly Death

I'm a snow assassin. The sky is dark and the snow stopped falling. The objective mountain looks platoeish, a flat top, I and I cannot simply walk there without a few days of travel and im guessing from the bullets and lasers shooting through the sky, that enemies would prevent that travel. I noticed Unity has black armor, which makes them easy to spot. My white armor, of course, blends into the snow. The cliffside twirls up the mountain. Small unity encampments are dotted up the mountainside. I sneak past most of them reaching the end of the mountain side, a small cave with group of aliens that are talking to each other. I dig my body in the crystal snow watching them.

This one will be my biggest batch. A group of Unity (about 10) sit around a fire. They’re just eating and talking and they don't seem to care about the sky. I hear what they are saying but it's small talk, so I don't listen. I am standing 20 meters above them, and from what I know in this little group is they have mountain jumpers.

Which I need to get to my objective. Mountain jumpers are jump-activated all terrain grappling hooks with a super long rope that attaches to a mountain, then pulls you towards that mountain at fast speeds. I want that; I need it. Plus, it sounds fun, so I want to try one.

The thing about this group is they have weapons beside them but not in their hands. I have to take them out one by one. I really don’t want to have that awkward moment where I stab somebody and they shoot me right away or them sending all their troop to explore the noise that just happened near them.

After a long time of thinking of a plan and studying them, I realize one very important thing: these guys won't stand up and leave this friendship circle. They talk, laugh, and cry... it's kinda weird. I get tired of it and I need to get to my objective. There must be something that can get this friend group not hostile towards me right away.

I learn that the group really likes this one guy. It's a weird alien who must be really good at talking because the other nine adore him. I clench my knife and make a plan to use him as a hostage to get a mountain jumper. Then, I’ll grab the grenade near his neck, detonate it, and stab the people who don’t die from the explosion. Wait... I would probably die with the explosion. All I really need to do is to just stab him. So I’ll take the weird alien and bring it with me to the other mountain. Maybe I can learn how good of a friend it can be. If not, I'll drop it.

The more I think about it, this is kind of evil. These are just aliens with memories and lives. What if these aliens have lives outside of this war. Like families... I’m kind of starting to feel bad. What if I use the creature as a hostage, demand a mountain jumper, and jump to the other mountain before they can even shoot me and I don't kill them.

Then I get another plan. I make my way forward and sit down with them. They all scramble to point their weapons at me. Just as I planned, they don't shoot. I feel cocky. The thing asks, “What business do you have quelling with the great and powerful Unity!” I cross my legs and stare into the creature's eyes. I throw my knife on the ground. One of the soldiers starts to walk over to me to secure me. I think fast and kick his weapon. I jump behind him, as shoots fire and it hits him.

Everything is playing out in slow motion. I pull out my pistol and focus my attention on the shooters. I kick one and punch another. It flies back. I duck and body slam an alien by the fire pit. It falls into the fire with me on top. I spot a weird grenade on this aliens belt. I grab it, detonate it, and toss it. It's a flashbang. I can't see or hear anything. I wait as it wears off on me. I jump up and drop-kick an alien. Just me and another alien are left. It starts to fire at me while I charge at it.

The dark laser goes through me, but I don’t feel pain. I punch the shooter in the face and rip away his weapon. All of the aliens lay strewn across the ground. The pain kicks in for me too, I fall to the side, as the pain grows in my body. I push through it. I scan the area, I find a mountain jumper on the alien who is laying on the ground. I detach it. I fire it at the mountain and jump.

It's not fun, it's cold. The air pushes off my helmet and the cloth. It's so fast that my body hangs there as I fly what seems like 100 kilometers per second. I like wingsuiting more. The mountain jumper slows down right before I land on the mountainside. I lay still for a few minutes, as the pain becomes more unbarable, my side feels heavy, I try regaining my bearings. I reach for my backpack and pull out the visor. It shows me the objective is right on top of this mountain. I hold the metal cord connected to the top, that is covered by a blanket of clouds. I tug it, slowly accelerate up to the top.

The pain increases, so I look down and see this large black block shoved growing inside my body. When I make it to the top, I’m faced with a group of Service Soldiers pointing pistols at me. They immediately lower their weapons and help me up. I still feel dizzy when they help me up. I can't move my bones. The pain is becoming more and more intense. Muffled voices turn me over. I scream in pain.

The soldiers yell for a medic. An insect-like alien crawls towards me, grabs my abdomen, and pulls out the weird black block. Pain shoots through my body now that there's a gaping hole in it. The medic injects me with this thing. It makes me feel no pain, only cold.

The medic yells something and other insect medics pick me up. They place me in this oval shaped tent. My wound hurts again. My brain feels like it's working harder than anything. My heart beats so much my body feels like it’s going to explode. Suddenly, it all stops. The medics lift me out of the tube and into a bed. The aliens dig into me, surround me and speak in muffled tones, I shake and turn as one of the medics injects me with something else and I fall to sleep.