Dream, Demon Soldiers
#5 of Torture
Hunter's eyes slowly opened, and was greeted by the blinding sun.
Where am I?
He opened then all the way and he saw that he was in the middle of a beautiful green meadow, flowers and trees everywhere.
Must be a dream. Hunter thought Where's Blitz?
Hunter looked around for his best friend, but he was nowhere to be found. Hunter spied a little girl on top of a hill swinging on a swing extending from a tree branch, and he walked over to ask to see if she had seen Blitz.
"Hey there. Have you seen...?" Hunter began.
Suddenly the little disappeared and the entire area dissipated into a yellowish tint and began flashing like crazy. The trees disintegrated and the ground seem to open up into a black void, yet Hunter wasn't falling.
Not this again! What the hell is going on?! Hunter thought. So you've come....a familiar voice whispered.
"Alma?! Where are you?! Where is Blitz?!" Hunter demanded, shouting into the emptiness.
"All around." She laughed. "Blitz is here with me, you won't ever get to him!"
"Hunter! Help! Mmpppfffff!"
"Blitz!" Hunter shouted, running around.
"Hold on!"
"Hahahaha. How can you save your friend? When you can't even save yourself!" Alma mocked.
"What are you? Woah!" Hunter shouted.
Hunter rolled out of the way of a huge mass of black tentacles extending from the ground. The air flashed like crazy, changing from orange to yellow as the tentacles began tow whip violently around Hunter.
Dammit! I'm unarmed and there's nowhere to go! What do I do?! Hunter thought frantically.
"No!" Hunter shouted, being surrounded by the tentacles.
Hunter began to scream like crazy, but stopped when he didn't feel himself being crushed. Hunter opened his eyes and for some reason the tentacles kept encircling him, but couldn't approach him.
What in? Hunter thought.
Hunter reached out and felt some sort of invisible wall, it felt like energy.
"What?! You have psychic powers as well?! No matter! They will eventually fail! HAHAHAHAHHA!" Alma laughed.
Psychic powers? Hunter thought In that case!
Hunter then gathered a bunch of energy and let it loose, sending the tentacles flying away from him.
Forget about fighting! I have to find a way out of here!
Hunter began running away from the creature, looking for some way out of this hell.
"You won't get away! You are my prisoner!" Alma proclaimed.
The tentacles began racing after Hunter, but Hunter managed to keep one step ahead.
Blitz! Help me!
"Suddenly a small light began to emanate about 10 yards ahead of Hunter, and transformed into some sort of doorway.
"Stop you dumb dog! I control you!" Alma shouted at Blitz.
"RUN HUNTER! She's taking me over again! I can't....aughh!" Blitz said.
Hunter ran as fast as he could, and right before the doorway disappeared, Hunter leapt through.
"AH!" Hunter shouted, waking up from his slumber.
Hunter looked around the room in a frenzy, looking for any signs of Alma.
I escaped! Blitz! He saved me!
Hunter then felt something missing, something big and warm.
"Blitz?!" Hunter shouted, realizing he was alone in bed. Silence. Hunter got up and readjusted himself. Suddenly Hunter's nose caught something....something that smelled like....death. Hunter followed the smell to the back room, and nearly fell over at what he saw.
No.......
The room was covered in blood and entrails. Then Hunter saw a lab coat on the floor.
It's Shepherd's....Alma must have gotten him! Damn!
Hunter stepped back out into the examination room and shut the door, trying to block out the vision. Hunter pounded the door in anger, trying to vent his rage.
This isn't going to solve anything. I need to find Blitz....and the others! The others! Hunter frantically thought.
Hunter ran out of the room into the hallway, heading towards the main facility. Hunter ran outside, only to be knocked over by something.
What the? Oh shit..... Hunter looked up at entrance of the medical building, only to see what can only be described as a disfigured cano-sapien. It was drooling and hissing like crazy. It was wearing a ripped straight jacket, and had glowing red eyes.
What in the hell?
The creature was slowly coming down from its perch; looking hungry. Hunter sprang to his feet, and ran as fast as he could away from the creature. The creature screamed and began running on all fours to try and catch his prey. Hunter was still pretty exhausted from his previous encounter, so he barely kept out the things clutches.
Come on! Almost there!
"GAH!" Hunter screamed.
The thing had scraped Hunter's leg with it's claws, and Hunter fell with a heavy thud. Hunter turned to face his assailant, only to be choked mercilessly. Hunter could smell death and flesh on the things breath; he would throw up if he wasn't being choked at the moment.
Can't BREATHE!
SPLAT! Tatatatata. The creatures head exploded, then covered in a spray of machine gun fire. Hunter coughed like crazy and looked toward the source of his savior; it was.....a Rover force? What are they doing here?
"Commander Hunter! Are you all right sir?" a dog said through his face mask.
"Yeah thanks! What are you all doing here?" Hunter asked, getting up.
"We received a distress call from this location! From the looks of things, the situation is pretty fucked up! We encountered a few of those things when we arrived a moment ago, lost a few troops. What is going on sir?" the soldier said.
Hunter was about to open his mouth, but then something weird happened. The air began flashing that yellow tint again, and all the dogs howled in pain. Suddenly a they all raised their guns at Hunter, ready to fire.
Hunter raised his hands and shouted "What the fuck?! It's me! Lower your weapons!"
"COMRADE RUN!" a voice shouted.
Exile ran up behind Hunter with a MP5 and pulled him along, firing along the way.
"Exile! What is going on?!" Hunter demanded, avoiding the oncoming bullets.
"Alma is here! She is controlling those soldiers!" Exile responded, still firing.
The dogs were approaching the two dogs quickly, but the main facility was just a few yards ahead. Hunter and Exile burst in through the main doors and Exile welded it shut with his laser vision. They could hear the soldiers trying to break in, and Exile just smirked.
"Heh these doors are made of the strongest steel on the planet, there's no way...." Exile started.
BAM!
"What was that?!" Hunter exclaimed.
They ran to the main conference room where the noise originated from, and were shocked at what they saw. It looked like a giant, cybernetic robot with machine guns on the side, and had a bulletproof glass cockpit with a soldier controlling it.
"Holy...." Hunter began.
"GET DOWN!" Exile shouted, falling on Hunter.
The robot opened fire and barely missed the duo, and then it switched to a rocket launcher.
"Come on Hunter!" Exile shouted, pulling him towards the opposite door. The two ran as fast as they could and barely made it when.......BOOM! The rocket landed just above the door and sealed off the entrance to the room.
"AHHHHHH!" Hunter screamed, being thrown by the explosion.
Exile ran over and picked him up.
"We have to get to the armory! Hurry!" Exile ordered.
Hunter just nodded, still confused by what was going on.
How the hell did Alma get control so quickly?! What's more...wait....Colleen?! Where's Colleen?! Hunter thought.
"Where's Colleen?!" Hunter asked, still running.
"I don't know! She disappeared when all this shit started going down! I hope she's safe..." Exile replied, almost out of breath.
They said nothing more till they got to the armory. Hunter punched in the code and ran in, then sealed it behind him. The armory in itself was huge. It was filled with various machine guns, shotguns, grenades, handguns and various other weapons as far as the eye could see; all neatly arranged on racks along the walls.
"Stock up! Hurry!" Exile exclaimed. Hunter and Exile grabbed tactical vests, pants and all the necessary attachments to carry their equipment, and then they proceeded to grab some weapons. Hunter grabbed a M4A1 with a grenade launched attachment, along with a SIG P229 .45 ACP for another sidearm. Exile grabbed a Glock 31 in a .357 SIG caliber, and checked his MP5 for damage. After securing their weapons they cleaned out the magazine and ammo cabinets, grabbed some shock, frag, and fire grenades and then attached them to their person in their respected places.
After preparing, Exile asked "What exactly are we dealing with Hunter?"
"Hell itself..." Hunter simply answered, eyes unwavering.
Exile kind of shivered at that remark, and the seriousness of Hunter's tone scared him even more.
"Hell....itself...?" Exile asked.
"Yeah. Alma is one evil girl. She won't stop till everyone has experienced the hell she went through. I wish I could explain more, but we have to find our friends. Let's go!" Hunter said.
Exile nodded and followed Hunter towards the door. Hunter unsealed the door and jumped into the hallway; ready for anything.
"Clear! Hunter whispered loudly. Exile stepped out into the hallway behind Hunter, handgun raised.
"Where exactly are we going? This complex is huge!" Exile whispered.
"We have to find Blitz and Colleen first. I really don't have a clue where they might be." Hunter replied, shaking his head.
"What about further underground? Shepherd's labs are down there and that's where Alma might be. Shepherd said she had a connection with her, so maybe she might be trying to destroy his research!" Exile suggested.
"It's worth a shot....but how do we get down there? We need Shepherd's override to access the elevator in the medical facility to get down there. One we're stuck in here, and two Shepherd is......dead." Hunter said a little saddened.
"Dammit!" Exile cursed. "Our only hope is to find Colleen! She can possibly hack the keypad....." Exile started.
"FREEZE!" a group of soldiers shouted from behind the duo. Hunter and Exile immediately opened fire, taking out a few of the soldiers in splashes of crimson.
"GET THEM!" one of them shouted. Exile and Hunter ran away from the soldiers, looking for a place to hide.
"Where to?!" Exile asked.
"To the cafeteria! We can use the steel tables as cover!" Hunter replied, reloading his rifle.
They both ran along the cold steel hallway, and then they made a hard right into the cafeteria. The cafeteria had a serving center in the middle along with circular steel tables surrounded by chairs. It was a basic looking cafeteria. Exile and Hunter began over turning all the steel tables for makeshift cover, and then they crouched behind one of them on opposite sides of the room.
"Exile, I'm gonna throw a frag when they storm in. Get ready to open fire afterward!" Hunter whispered loudly.
Exile nodded and cocked his machine gun, ready to go. The soldiers stormed in the room, and Hunter threw a grenade, taking out a good amount of them. Exile and Hunter opened fire and took out a few of the soldiers, but then a lot more arrived. Hunter and Exile ducked behind their makeshift cover and reloaded their weapons, and then Hunter radioed "Were going to get overtaken! Any ideas?!"
"Don't give up comrade! We can....GAH!" Exile shouted. Exile was hit in the shoulder by a rifle round and was bleeding like crazy.
"Exile! Uhhh!" Hunter shouted, pulling back after getting stopped by machine gun fire.
Come on! Think of something! Wait! I wonder... Hunter thought.
Hunter tried to focus on moving one of the tables to throw at the soldiers, and after a little effort it worked.
Yes! I wonder if.... Hunter attempted to focus his energy into a barrier and it worked also.
Bullets bounced off Hunter as he ran over to Exile and helped him up.
"Comrade! A new power?" Exile asked, clutching his shoulder.
"Kind of...." Hunter replied, patching his friend up.
Suddenly the gunfire stopped, and the room flickered the eerie flow once again.
"UHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!" one of the soldiers screamed.
Hunter and Exile watched at the horror that unfolded before them, it was unlike anything they had ever seen. The same black tentacles that was in Hunter's dream reached through the door and a unholy roar echoed throughout the room. All the soldiers were overtaken in a bright flash, and all that was left was various blood splatters around the room. The experience stopped, and the dogs froze in terror.
"Comrade....what...what was that....?" Exile asked, shivering like a puppy.
"Alma, that's what......" Hunter replied, clutching his friend.
You're welcome.... A voice echoed.
"You bitch! What do you want?!" Hunter cursed.
My my, is that anyway to treat your savior?. Anyway, I'm not going to let these soldiers kill you so easily. I want to be the one to do it...... Alma snickered.
"Where the hell is Blitz? Colleen?!" Exile demanded.
You'll find them, soon enough. Alma replied.
"Alma! ALMA!" Hunter screamed.
It was no use, she was gone.
"Dammit!" Hunter shouted, kicking the table.
"Comrade, can we really win this? I mean look at just what happened!" Exile exclaimed.
"We have to save our friends. I'm not leaving them in that bitch's clutches. What's more Blitz is being directly controlled by her. I can't lose him a second time." Hunter replied, fists shaking.
"I knew it. You are in love with Blitz aren't you?" Exile asked. "How did you know?" Hunter asked.
"Come on, the looks you would give him, the quick peeks in the shower room, and after seeing you spend three days with him in recovery, that pretty much sealed it." Exile laughed.
"I guess I'm pretty "super obvious"." Hunter laughed.
"Yeah well, I'm kind of jealous to be honest. But if you love him, I'll support it." Exile said.
"Thanks bro. We can talk later, let's get going." Hunter replied, helping his friend up.
They both stepped back out into the hallway, heading off to look for their friends.
Blitz I'm coming!