“Sir, what about the sergeant’s body?” asked Lieutenant Storm.
“Leave it, we can’t do anything for her now. The mission must take priority,” he answered.
This would be the first time Corporal Knightley disliked an order her captain had given, yet she would follow the order for the sake of the mission.
They set out to follow the route Captain Quis Podex had on his visualiser. The path the team walked slyly became increasingly difficult to drudge through. The mud grew up to their knees while the foliage grew from seemingly every possible direction forcing the team to hunch down to avoid the long thorns from the moving vines. After sometime, in the distance, they could all make out what they all believed to be the entrance to the facility. The distance didn’t matter to them as they were all as hell bent as they could be on getting to solid ground; fighting through the ever-growing earth. The slop that was once around their ankles was now over their knees and draining them of their energy, even planting the seed of doubt in their minds that they would not be able to reach the facility, but Captain Quis Podex knew his team would succeed in their mission regardless how difficult things may get. He tried not to let the struggle get the better of him, but he fought against exhaustion so much he had to resort to closing his eyes at times to get that little extra burst of adrenaline. Finally, the team reached solid earth, their energy drained, almost completely depleted. The lieutenant gasped; her eyes wide with alarm. The team followed her stare and to their astonishment, their stare was met at the facility’s entrance as it was covered by a plant of sorts; its stems reaching into the earth and across the entire front of the facility. Some even reached out and wrapped themselves around the trees but what caught Lieutenant Storm’s attention was at the centre of this plant was a man! His body was engulfed by the plant’s roots, it seemed like the planet was growing out of his stomach somehow. His eyes were screaming in horrific pain and when he dared to speak, his lips would move with a quiver, yet no sound could be heard.
“How is this possible?” Corporal Knightley asked in disbelief, reaching out to the man, unsure what she would do if he reacted.
“No!” exclaimed the captain, looking to Corporal Knightley and shaking his head.
“The plant seems to be growing from inside of him, like it’s using him as a food source,” Captain Quis Podex told his team before he pointed his rifle to the man’s ribs where several vines had growing out through his body and wrapped around his torso and legs; they were pulsating with each breath the man took; it was like they were acting as his lungs.
“Sir, what do we do?” Lieutenant Storm cried out.
“How could this happen?” Corporal Knightley muttered to the team, not wanting the unfortunate man to hear her.
In the moments of silence that followed, Captain Quis Podex aimed his rifle at the man’s head, the man was able to mumble just loud enough to be heard by an alert ear.
“Thank you,” he said and nothing more just those simple words. What followed was the echoing bang of a single bullet from the Were Inc Captain’s rifle.
The sound of the poor man’s salvation rang out across the countryside, with the tortured soul now dead. The plant rapidly began to wilt and fall away from the walls of the facility dropping from the facility’s entrance lying dead at the team’s feet. The team could at last gain entrance to the facility.
“I wonder who that was,” asked Lieutenant Storm aloud to herself while she crouched down to examined what remained of man within the plant.
“Brandon D. West, Dr Oscar Burton’s assistant,” replied Captain Quis Podex.
Chapter 3
Gained Entrance
C
aptain Quis Podex stepped over the wilted remains and right up to the huge sealed facilities main doors; still covered partly by vines, nettles and other unknown possibly undiscovered strange foliage. He pointed his rifle to the key panel on the centre of the door.
“Marie, can you bypass this?” he asked, knowing all too well she could.
She rushed to the door unzipping a pouch from her utility belt and began the bypassing process. While Corporal Knightley begun to bypass the lock, the captain wondered what other strange creatures could be waiting for them inside the facility. The lieutenant questioned how her team never encountered any of the strange and horrible things that this team had? It was only after they gained entrance to the facility they had to fight for their lives, could it be possible when her team entered the facility, they let lose something dangerous? Could her team be the cause of all these unsettling encounters in Eiru? There was no time to think too much on it when the doors began to slide open; it opened only slightly before appearing to become jammed. It wouldn’t open any wider, the door had only slid open a few feet to the left, but it was enough to get them through. If they squeezed themselves through, all except Corporal Knightley, who was the smallest of the team in height and build, she could fit through the gap quite easily. Captain Quis Podex ordered his team inside with haste, then ordered Corporal Knightley to seal the doors shut behind them! They would leave the outside world and its horror in all its forms outside the safety of Were Inc’s walls for this was where Captain Quis Podex felt most secure.
Once the door closed behind them, the darkness inside was frightening even overwhelming. They would have to rely completely on their night vision equipment until the power was restored to the facility. Lieutenant Storm was trying to hide her fear as she instantly tried to fight off a panic attack.
“Listen
