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Present Darkness, Chapter Five: Part II
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 December 2004, 8:26 AM
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0720 hours, November 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
7 Kilometers North of Drop Zone Mike X-Ray
Planet Red Dawn (Codename), Theta 1440+90 System
The flashlights danced across the walls as they exited the prison chamber; the screams of the crazed Jackal still resounding through the hallways and rooms of this eerily quiet facility. This facility's purpose was by no means still a secret, but the horrors and revelation of the Covenant's goal with this underground lab was still hard to bear.
None of the Marines cautiously sweeping through the dark tunnel were at peace with the evident outcome of coming down here and finding the answer. While it answered the question they started with on the surface after that first encounter, coming down here only brought many new ones.
In the foremost of their minds was the fear of encountering these creatures under the same terms as the Covenant. Blood trails led to bodies, and bodies led to hordes of the dead crazed creatures and Covenant. The pain at looking at these images, burned into the minds forever, didn't help them cope with the possibilities of seeing a live creature coming at them. While it was always a good thing, prior to coming to this planet, to see dead Covenant, now the sight brought deeper fears that no one could shake.
On what scale were the Covenant creating these beings? Could there be many more facilities like this scattered across the planet? Could there be laboratories and chambers like these on other Covenant worlds? The questions were endless, but any logical answer to them remained bad at best.
The very fact that these beings were specially designed weapons of war didn't bring any rational conclusions either. It seemed wasteful to turn their own into crazed beings, and it seemed primitive and pagan-like. Were the Covenant nothing more than an insane collective of aliens that strived for more ways to kill? Was this so-called "religious" war nothing more then a ploy to cover the fact that maybe these aliens were simply bloodthirsty?
Lynn hoped not. He hoped that his thinking was flawed or irrational, giving him a wrong answer; for if they were up against such a foe, they would have already lost.
Lost the war...
That thought broke above the rest. It seemed to resound in his ears and flash in his vision. The very demoralizing feeling that accompanied such an event washed over him, and the fears turned into reasons to quit. He had been through, literally, a living hell. He had seen too many people die, too many cities and planets fall to this onslaught.
He stopped walking and let his rifle lower from its shouldered state, bringing his free hand up to rub his forehead. No, this was not the outcome, and it's no way to think of one. He could feel the stares of the others in the dark tunnel upon him as he closed his eyes. The fight is not over, and there is no way I am going to let these circumstances bring it down.
He gripped his rifle and looked up, avoiding the silent stares from the other Marines. Constant fighting, no sleep, no food, sustained injuries...all of which were factors in his fight on the surface. From his urban fighting experience, he knew full and well that half the fight was physical, and the rest was in the mind. His effectiveness was purely determined by his mental state, and nothing else. This cannot get to me...
Lynn pointed his rifle back down the tunnel and continued forward, nearing the purple and white lights of the next room. They had traveled down an unusually longer tunnel then the previous ones, and the room ahead looked larger then the storage rooms. Though the differences were plagued by one similarity.
Bodies.
He stopped a few feet short of the entrance and motioned for Johnson and Wilson to move up to the other side of the tunnel. The Marines orientated themselves so they would enter the room covering as much as possible. The feeling of danger was now stronger then ever.
Lynn gave the forward motion and the group walked into the large room, rifles up and scanning. This room was much larger as first thought; it was easily twice as large as the storage rooms and the ceiling above them was testimony to the internal volume. His eyes quickly scanned his portion, and then he focused on the larger picture of it.
Aside from the few crates and bodies that dotted the area, this room had numerous tie-downs; similar to those used in psychotic wards to contain and hold insane patients. The sight was extremely disturbing, with hundreds of these tie down, bed-like objects in organized, close quarter rows to his left and right. Large arm, body, and leg clamps were attached to each platform. But the disturbing part wasn't all the tie downs.
It was the surgical tools suspended from the ceiling over each platform. Sharp, razor-like tools waited motionless above these tables, and the dark blood-stains were evident on both the surgical objects and the tables themselves. Lynn could feel the sickness inside him as he stared at the horrific sight before him. This was worse then he had ever expected.
He turned to the rest, all of whom stared blankly at the sight before them. He could see the disgust and horror etched across each of their faces, and he figured the same look was on his own. Seeing the prison chamber was bad enough, but seeing this went far beyond that.
This was where those creatures were created.
And this was also where the outbreak must have started.
130 Minutes Earlier
The sight disgusted Derarnee'.
Before the Red Elite was the Surgical Chamber, where these beings were transformed into the crazed creatures that his superiors sought after. The sight was bloody and violent as he watched his comrades forcefully put these Jackals into the Alteration Pads, where they were strapped down.
The screams from these creatures was disturbing, and the futile struggling after being strapped down nearly brought him to rage. These are good soldiers, capable of following orders and defeating our enemy. He watched as the jagged instruments used to enhance and inject these poisons into their bodies come to life, cutting into the Jackals. This was by no means necessary, and the logic behind this operation seemed wrong to him. What advantage could these beings have?
Granted, with these enhancements they were faster and stronger, and the common fear and cowardice was gone, but to take away the life in these creatures and replace it with nothing but a will to kill seemed beyond what anyone should have considered. How they came up with this was only a question to him. Why they are doing this remained a mystery.
Derarnee' walked the isle of Alteration Pads, passing by Jackals who were being injected. Blood pools had now formed from the constant operation of doing this, and the sight was not welcoming to anyone. The emotional demeanor of this facility was wrong, and it was proof that what they were doing was wrong. Nonetheless, it was his duty to ensure that this operation was conducted quickly and efficiently.
The Red Elite turned at the sight of several large animals being forced into the room. He watched silently as the large, furry creatures were dragged onto Alteration Pads and strapped down, deep growls from them testimony of their resistance. These beings were incredibly strong as it is, and their foreseen strength by his superiors was supposedly immense. The idea was that with the Jackals' speed and these monsters enhanced strength, they would have a dual fighting force capable of anything.
He watched in silence as the tools and injectors came down and began their work on the large creatures. It didn't take long for the process complete, but every second of it was painful for the recipient. The growls and screams filled the air around him in this room, and he hated it. He didn't want to be cooped up underground, listening to the pain of these beings who were on his own side. He wanted to be on the field, hearing the satisfying screams of the enemy; the humans that had inspired this sick operation.
The process finished on the first set of hairy creatures, and like usual, the beings remained motionless as if they were dead. He had witnessed this procedure many times before, and recognized the post-stages. Soon these giants will awake, and we shall see the full extent of their power...
It happened far faster then Derarnee' had expected, and the beasts rose from their slumber. He watched them look around, trying to figure out where they were. All recipients lost their memories, along with any character or personality they had. They were now nothing more then killers.
The struggling began, another common phase, but he realized something was wrong. These beasts were actually beginning to bend their restraints. The outcome for these creatures was unknown, this being the first experiment, but it was thought they would be within practicality.
Apparently not. Derarnee' instinctively brought out his Plasma Rifle as the large monster broke free of its tie-downs, the others following suit. This wasn't supposed to happen...they weren't supposed to be this strong.
He took a step forward as the alarms and lights began going off in the room; the master-computer detecting the premature release of these creatures. The large beings' immediately found a target, and began their attack. They moved with such speed that the outcome of these enhancements was now obvious. They were fast, vicious, and stopped at nothing.
"Give the orders to secure the breach doors!" Derarnee' ordered. An Elite ran for the lockdown panel.
Derarnee' watched in horror as one of the beasts lunged at his comrade, tackling the Elite and sending it to the floor. The being then began its assault on his comrade, beating through the shields on one punch, then ripping into the Elite with its bare hands; followed by a prompt and bloody bite. Body fluids from the still alive Elite spurted everywhere, and its body began seizing as the monster tore into it, biting and clawing its way through.
This was far beyond what they predicted. This was out of control.
The body went limp, and the hairy creature immediately looked up at him, it's eyes red with hate and anger. The creature stood up and began to come at him, but not before the Field Master ended the beast's life with a quick slash of its energy sword.
"Move, Derarnee', and secure the breach doors. Our centralized control has crashed for some unknown reason and we cannot do it by remote." The Gold Elite's deep voice was commanding and thick with a sense of duty. "I shall contain them here."
Derarnee' nodded, and moved for the exit tunnel, seeing a group of Grunts precede him, their squeals nearly silent above the growls and screams of death in this room. He fired a long burst from his weapon as he ran, trying to aid in the fight as all hell broke loose.
This was beyond anyone's control, and there was nothing they could do. His only hope to contain this sudden outbreak was to seal the surface Breach door and keep these beings from reaching the surface. If they did managed to escape, who knew what would happen.
Who knew?
Lynn walked cautiously over the bloody mess that was once a Gold Elite; a feared and potent warrior the he had never seen dead. He looked about the room, seeing the death and destruction. This was in fact where the outbreak occurred, and nothing the Covenant could have done would stop it.
He watched as Delyn walked over to a nearby tie-down and inspected the surgical devices from up close. The gunner was fascinated by it, but the disgust in his face was readily evident.
"So this is how they do it, they inject these creatures with some concoctions that turns them into crazed creatures."
Lynn nodded, walking closer to the tables and looking them over. They probably did hundreds of these things a day, turning them from their previous state into this unreal type of creature. How this could even be considered, or how they could even derive a procedure of doing it, was beyond him. It was beyond them all.
Weapons came up as a new sound emitted from the far exit tunnel; this one deeper and more ominous. Lynn noticed out of the corner of his eye as Delyn reacted to the sudden noise by bringing his weapon up, but hitting his hand on something.
The sound ceased a second later, and the weapons cautiously lowered, all eyes still trained on the far exit tunnel. This place wasn't empty; there were still many more dangers existing in this underground Covenant facility.
"You okay?" Westfield asked.
Lynn turned to see Delyn holding his hand, the pistol dropped on the floor. The Marine gunner looked distraught and concerned, and held his hand as if wounded. He took some steps closer to see.
"What the hell...?"
Delyn looked up, horror in his eyes. His wound on the hand, which looked like a small cut, was quickly inflaming to dark red. It then began turning black.
"Oh shit, oh shit..." The gunner began repeating over and over again, as the infection spread quickly, moving across his hand.
"Wilson, med kit!" Lynn ordered, slinging his rifle and stepping to help Delyn. The gunner began to shudder in either shock or fear, he couldn't tell. The blackness engulfed his entire hand and moved up into his forearm. What was this?
Wilson ran over and brought out some disinfectants. He quickly rubbed it on the wound, but watched with dissatisfaction as nothing changed. He continued to rub the wound, hoping that his continued effort would change the severity of this cut.
Delyn let go of his hand and shoved them both back. "Get away from me..." The gunner's eyes were dilated and his movements were erratic. "Get away!"
"Listen up, we're here to help you..." Lynn tried forcefully.
"Get away!"
The Marines took a cautious step back as seizures began. He growled in pain and fell to the floor, spitting up blood.
"What the hell is going on?" Westfield said, much too loudly.
The convulsions continued for minute; the Marines standing still, not knowing what to do. Whatever caused this was directly related to the room they were in, and the purpose of this room was already clear.
"Oh shit," Lynn said silently. "He's been infected with whatever the Covenant uses to enhance these creatures."
Keeton looked over at him and slowly raised his pistol. "What?"
Lynn looked closely at Delyn as he became motionless. "He's one of them."
Delyn's body came back to life, and the man looked back at them. The way he moved seemed different, and the way he stumbled to his feet further indicated the changes in his body. Lynn looked at him, in both fear and astonishment. Was he really becoming one of these crazed beings? The answer lay before him.
Red eyes stared back at him.
"Take a step back, Sergeant." Westfield cautioned, raising his large M271B, the barrel pointed at Delyn, who shakily stood before them.
Lynn did so slowly, looking at the man. Delyn looked right back at him, but he could tell the presence of his comrade no longer existed in this new man. He was gone forever; he was dead.
Lynn blinked as the body lunged forward at him. He didn't have his weapon raised and braced for the impact of the attack, but the event was overshadowed with a short, explosive burst from the nearby machine gun. He opened his eyes and saw the body of the former-Marine lying in front of him, blood running from the massive wounds of the M271.
He took another step back and kept staring at the body. This place was far more dangerous then he thought.
And it had claimed its first Marine.
0730 hours, November 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Carrier Stanton Bay
In orbit above Planet Red Dawn (Codename), Theta 1440+90 System
The bodies of the Battalion Executive Staff lay dead before him, pools of blood beginning to form on the floor of this long corridor. The regret of having to do this was present, but it was far overshadowed by the duty that forced him to.
The second man walked up from behind the group of dead bodies, brandishing his compact sub-machine gun. "We're still not done with this."
The first man nodded, stowing his long silenced pistol. "One of them is missing: the Intelligence Officer."
"Word has it he's on his way to the surface to further investigate our objects."
The first man looked up from the bodies. "Then to the surface we go. Get the others together and geared up, we'll leave as soon as I can make transportation arrangements."
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