Chapter 13: Mission Starts

Peter Gordon

Saturday 14, February 2015

22:00 Hours

Location Unknown

The silent, rot-infected wooden home gave a feeling of total abandonment. It's slightly greenish planks of oak revealed the house's long life, while the pitch-black darkness in the windows showed no sign of life. The door was ajar, and slightly off-hinge, with long scratches down it's center, as if a wild bear would have broken in. The night that surrounded this house was cold, enhanced by the tightly-knit trees of the forest around, while a crescent moon glistered like silver between gray clouds. This scene is what greeted Colonel Santos' hand-picked team as they traveled through the forest on their search. John McCloud, leader of the team, gestured his men to stay on their toes as he advanced upon the house. He reached the side of the door and gingerly stared inside. The darkness hurt his eyes, so he activated the flashlight on his rifle and gestured the others to advance. Alexander Franklin, Codenamed Leaf, went inside several steps and crouched, gun at the ready and flashlight on. Quickly, Joshua Adams and Olivia Collins dashed in and separated, heading into the two adjacent rooms. Once securing the room, Cloud and Peter Gordon, guns at the ready, headed further down the hall and up the stairs as Leaf proceeded to follow, still watching his back.

"You think this is it, then?" Olivia asked Joshua as their paths reconvened once again at the front door.

"I don’t know what to think. My every instinct is telling me to flee this place, while my intrigue informs me this place holds more than just rot and dust." Joshua glanced about, trying to sort through his thoughts. "I fear this place might be our downfall."

"Or our glorious objective." Cloud stated as he walked down the stairs, Peter and Leaf behind himself. "We'll hole up here for the night. In the morning, we'll move to checkpoint Alpha."

"We should move on, Cloud." Joshua advised.

"No, we rest here. There's several rooms upstairs that aren't too badly damaged."

The team went to the second floor and prepared for a night of uneasy sleep, while Peter was given first shift as a guard at the stairs. Peter's uneasiness disallowed him stay put, so he began to pace back and forth, right besides the stairs. After a bit, he checked the others, one by one, and noticed that they were all asleep. Silently, he stole into Olivia's room, where she was sleeping, using her jacket as a pillow. She was sound sleep, but with one hand under her jacket. Upon inspection, Peter realized she had a handgun in her hand, which proved she was, even while asleep, ready. He silently took his own jacket off and covered her torso with it, then turned and left. 

As he stepped out onto the landing, a muffled, distant noise reached him from below. Rifle at the ready, Peter headed downstairs to investigate. The whole of the ground floor proved to be empty, but more crashing sounds informed Peter that there was a basement. A basement where there's something that most probably won't be friendly. Once again Peter searched the whole ground floor, this time looking for a way down. 'No need to worry the others,' he thought. With that one thought he found the stairs and went downstairs.

"Is anyone there?" He called out. "I'm one of the good guys. Is anyone there?"

"I'm hungry..." A voice, that of a young girl, answered. "Help me..."

"Where are you?" Peter called back, investigating the large basement in search of the girl. "Come out, I won't hurt you."

The girl walked out from a cupboard. She was bruised and dirty, evidently haven't been taken care of in several days. She was skinny beyond what a girl her age, around twelve, should be. Peter escorted her out and gave her some of his own provisions, which she ate while sitting at the top of the stairs. Quickly, he awakened the rest of the team and their surprise was evident when they saw her. Once she finished eating, Olivia helped her clean up, then the girl stood before them in a plain dress.

"I know you." She stated, pointing her finger at Joshua. "You are Joshua."

"Yes I am." He said. "And, you are?"

"I'm Yanai." She replied, groggily. She mumbled something else, then fell asleep.

"Joshua? Do you know her?"

"We all do." Joshua replied. "She's like us. She's one of the survivors from the airport."

"You mean... Wait, what happened to her?" Olivia asked.

"I have no idea." Joshua said, gloominess settling over him. "I know one thing, though. She had it rough these past few days."

"Leaf, do you remember where she was sent?" Cloud asked, leaning against the wall.

"Not quite, sir." Leaf replied. "I do recall her, though, getting on an helicopter."

"Which one?"

"The one Francis was piloting, sir."

"Bound for Texas." Peter stated. "Francis' helicopter was bound for Texas."

"You sure?" Cloud asked.

"Sure as day. She and I are close friends." Peter stated. "Quite."

"I'm sure you are." Olivia said, shaking her head. "Francis Evergrande is close friends with every guy under Colonel Santos' command."

"Not me. I've never heard the name." Joshua stated.

"And I'm otherwise engaged." Leaf added, grinning.

"This is besides the point." Cloud stated, then looked at Olive and added: "I'm interested in someone else, by the way. Never talked to her beyond business."

"Fine. Every guy but you three." Olivia said, shaking her head. "Anyway, Pete, word to the wise, that girl goes around faster than a Nascar car."

"Hey, watch it." Peter growled. "She's not like that."

"I'm sure she'll continue to be a subject once we answer a very simple, yet incredibly important question." Cloud stated. The others attended to him in confusion, then he said: "What do we do with miss Yanai?"

"We can't surely abort the mission and just return, can we?" Peter asked.

"But we can't allow her to tag along." Olivia shot at him. "I won't allow it. It's too dangerous."

"I agree with Olivia on this." Joshua stated. "Yanai is young. I don't even know if WE can survive this, let alone with her."

"We could split up." Leaf suggested, hopeful.

"That'd just increase our chances of dying." Cloud countered.

"Then, what do we do?" Peter asked, annoyed. When Cloud took his time, Peter insisted: "Cloud! What do we do?"

"We'll take her with us." Cloud finally decided. "She'll be under your care, Joshua; Olivia."

"Yes, sir!" They all saluted, unaware of the true nature of the choice they just made. And what it meant for the future.