Chapter 8: First Steps

I suppose this isn’t a dream, after all. After passing out as soon as I reached the outpost, part of me was sure I was going to wake up back in my quarters, behind our lines, outside Verdun. I guess the blood loss was already making me delusional. Well, I still have a job to do.

The ambush inside that solar energy facility, during my scouting with the PAC sergeant, had been a surprising and bloody affair. After we were separated, I managed to fight my way down to the ground floor, but ended up pinned down by the robots and ponies before I could leave. Half an hour of intense shooting later, I was about to run out of ammo. My only choice was to attack, and so I did. My memory gets slightly hazy on that point, probably because of the adrenaline, but the few clear images that I have are good enough to understand what happened. I got away, but I paid a heavy price for that, in the form of four bullet wounds, cuts and burns spread all over me.

Eventually, I went back to the PAC base. As I said, I passed out as soon as I arrived, and only woke up now. From what the medic told me, it has been about two days, and a lot of shit has been going down. Fucking great, something exciting happens and I slept through it. Well, at least I can go back to action.

Right now, it’s almost midday and I’m in a meeting room. No, it’s not the same as before, this one is larger, because of the superior number of people this time. Instead of four, there were eleven people inside, five PAC and six EU. Pretty much all officers and more experienced soldiers. The objective of this meeting is to decide our next move.

To be honest, I’m surprised at what the PAC sergeant had done. He had previously refused to help or attempt communication with these ponies, and now he was best friends with one and personally suggesting military action against slavers. I had yet to be acquired with the pony in question, since she was not here. I’m already informed on everything that happened during my absence.

Continuing our discussion, and snapping me out of my thoughts, the PAC captain spoke “So, we have the surrounding areas scouted, and the only threat nearby eliminated, what should our next step be?”

“Well, the supplies we found on that base are enough to extend our survival for about a week,” Dante replied, while looking at some reports “Plus, we also have enough medical supplies and… healing potions… to treat most of our wounded”.

“I… must object to that, sir” another EU soldier replied, with a distinguishable British accent. I’m not quite familiar with him, but I think he’s from the medical group. Yes, Corporal Thomas, that’s his name!

“And why is that, Corporal?” Captain Dante inquired, shifting his attention to the soldier.

“We still don’t know exactly what that substance does and what kinds of side effects it could have” Thomas slowly explained.

The PAC captain frowned at that. “And what exactly do you suggest?” he countered, “We have people on critical condition, and this outpost doesn’t have neither the proper supplies nor equipment to take care of them”.

“I’m well aware of our current situation, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t use them” The doctor replied, “I just think we should be extra careful with them”. Thomas then let out a sigh, locked eyes with the PAC captain and said, “Allow me to do some tests, and take things slowly. All I ask is to have some assurance”.

“I… suppose you have a point,” Nicolay answered, in a more calm tone.

“Back to the point,” Dante said, interrupting the discussion, “We need to decide what we are going to do next and how we should operate”.

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious what our priorities should be” The PAC sergeant, Alex, said. “We need supplies and information,” he stated.

“Do you have any leads on where we could start looking?” Dante asked.

“Snowdrop told me her home is one of the major settlements in the island,” he explained, “I say we go there and see what we can find”.

He had a point. Where there is more people, there should be more supplies. In addition, the faster we began to look for the source of our arrival, the better. Each extra day we spend here brings more uncertainty to our future. However, we shouldn’t just rush into whatever place we believe to have something.

“Maybe we shouldn’t rush into that,” I said, bringing everyone’s attention to me, “We should make sure this area is truly under our control”.

“But why? This will only delay our search,” Alex countered.

“We don’t know how long this might take,” I explained, “We need to ensure this zone remains secure and that there is no attrition with the locals”.

“How do you suggest we do that, lieutenant?” asked Dante.

Well, now that’s a good question. I knew from my last mission that there was at least one village in the area, but it was quite far from here. Well, I know the captains were considering the possibility of using the slaver base as an extra base of operations; maybe we could use it to keep a close watch in the region. Yes, depending on the extent of the damages and our arsenal, we could keep a small garrison there and patrol the area periodically.

“How good are we on weapons and ammunition?” I asked.

Everyone in the room appeared confused at my question. Soon, however, the PAC captain answered, “Well… we have enough ammunition for about two weeks of full combat operations, plus enough weapons and armor to keep everyone outfitted for an equal amount of time”.

“What about heavy weapons and vehicles?” I inquired further.

“We have one APC, two MBTs, one Battlewalker, the Titan, two transport ships and one gunship on operational condition,” He replied, “We also have an extra gunship that can fly and use the cannon, but unable to use rockets or missiles”. The PAC captain took a deep breath, and kept going, “On heavy weapons, we have three anti-tank missile launchers and two anti-air. We also have three mortars and two anti-armor rifles. But why do you want to know that?” He concluded.

“I say we expand our presence to the slaver base we captured, from there we can keep the whole area secure and stay in touch with the local civilians,” I explained.

There were some murmurs of approval in the room. “That does sound like a good idea…” one EU soldier, commented.

“I think I have a plan,” Alex said, shifting all attention towards him, “How about I go with my unit to the settlement, while the lieutenant keeps a strong garrison in the slaver base?”

“Wouldn’t that be risky?” Dante questioned.

“If the lieutenant keeps the area secure, I could easily fall back there, in case something goes wrong,” The PAC sergeant explained, “He could also provide support if necessary”.

With no objections from the room’s occupants, Dante said, “Well, I guess it’s settled then, we set up these two task forces and proceed with the plan.”

“We should also think about diplomacy,” added Nicolay.

“What do you mean?” Dante asked.

“If that place is truly big, there’s bound to be one or more factions operating there,” He explained.

“Any suggestions?” Dante replied.

“I say we play weak, at least for the time being,” Nicolay answered, “Nobody would ever attack someone they think is strong, by appearing weak we should discover their true opinions and intentions towards us”.

With that, the meeting ended. After eating a good meal, I set out to prepare for my new assignment. I picked up the same equipment as before, my armor, sidearm, knife, grenades, assault rifle and a few EMP grenades (we would probably have to take care of those robots eventually). Finding my squad mates didn’t took long, within an hour, everyone was ready. Same people as before, Dias, Medici, and Elliot.

The sky was cloudy, and it seemed the weather could get worst. Despite the ugly sight, the temperature was quite pleasing, much better than the constant blizzards and snowfall from Europe. However, I still felt a little bit homesick, because despite the extreme conditions, that place was still my home.

Just before we left, I saw the PAC sergeant with his own unit and the pony, probably leaving for their own mission. With all set and ready, my squad mates and me walked out of the outpost and set out for the slaver base. Nothing but the vast and lifeless landscape of this island ahead of us. Soon we became bored, for this whole area was strangely quiet, with only the wind and the occasional insect breaking the silence.

There were a few small talks during our journey, but nothing worth mentioning. Most of them were centered on our worries regarding this place, our homes and our “allies”. No matter how hard we looked, the future was still uncertain, bringing even more apprehension to us. Despite all of that, at least I still have my team, people who I can trust. I can’t even imagine what would be like to end up here alone.

After about an hour of walking, we arrived at the slaver base. A few soldiers, who remained there after the operation, greeted us. There was some clear damage from the attack, but nothing too serious. A few broken windows, doors and a wall or two, but all building were still standing. We could easily repair all that and put this place to good use.

Before I could continue my observations, a few voices caught my attention. Looking to my left, I spotted a soldier near one of the warehouses having a… argument with one of the former slaves. Most of the ponies had already left, but seven of them decided to stay until the next day. These ponies in question appeared to be offering a large bag to the soldier, who shook his head and right arm in a gesture of denial.

Telling the others to stop, I gestured Elliot to follow me (since he was the only who knew how to speak their language) and went see what this was about. Our approach halted the ongoing argument, with both sides turning to look at us.

“What’s going on, soldier?” I asked him.

“Lieutenant sir, these people are trying to… give back some of the supplies we gave them…” he replied, looking at the bag held by the pony, “They keep saying it’s only fair for helping them out”.

Trying to comprehend the situation, I said to Elliot, “Well, could you tell them we don’t really need anything?” That wasn’t true, we did need more supplies, but these people were even worse than us. I can’t help but to be rather surprised at this action.

After a brief conversation with them, the corporal turned to me and said, “They still insist we should have something”.

“Alright, sigh… tell them that if they truly want to help us, they should go back to their homes and spread a good word about us,” I replied, hoping to end this little issue quickly. Thankfully, they seemed to understand, giving a nod to the corporal and making their way to the gate.

“Thanks for the help, sir,” the soldier told me, after the former slaves left.

Elliot and I went back to the rest of our team. I briefly explained what that was about and then turned back to our former task. We spread out and gave an extra look to the whole place. Those who took part in the attack had already analyzed this place previously, but I still wanted to give a second look. The bodies of the dead and most of the blood were gone, yet the signs of fighting were still obvious.

These defenses were well thought out, despite the lack of proper design and clear flaws on the structure. They definitely had someone with experience to think and build this. In addition, the operation had shown us the weak and strong points of this place. It’s only a matter of planning and organization to make this place even safer.

Once we secure this place, keeping an eye in the area will be much easier. From there, we could try to stablish some communication with the village near the coast. That wouldn’t be too hard, since most of the former captive ponies are from there. After an hour of looking around, everyone gathered back in the center.

“So, what do you guys think?” I asked.

“I think this place is pretty good” Elliot replied, while looking around. “The defenses are good enough and we got plenty of room for a garrison,” he added, receiving nods of agreement from the rest of us. “A few machineguns, some extra cover and equipment, and this place will be safe,” he concluded.

With no one speaking up for or against his review, I decided to add, “Yea, and we could always get a mortar here, just to be sure”. If our next opponents kept following the same pattern as the ones so far, we wouldn’t need such firepower. Most of them were badly equipped, with little to no armor and rusting firearms, none of them with heavier firepower, like explosives or RPGs. Still, better safe than sorry.

Before we could continue our discussion, the same soldier as before, now up on the wall above the main gate, called. “Sir, there’s someone approaching,” he said, while another guy next to him took aim. “Looks like a pony, armed and alone”.

Thinking quickly how to answer that, I said, “Ask him who he is and what his intentions are”. That wasn’t much, but it was the best I could think of right away. Without question, the man did what I asked.

After some talking, he turned to me once again, and said, “He says his name is Bronze Mirage and that he wishes to talk”. I can’t help but to feel there’s something wrong with this. Coming here to talk, that’s it, no problem with the heavily armed aliens around? Well, I could be wrong, and we have enough people in here in case of a fight.

“Alright, tell him to come in, and keep an eye out for trouble,” I answered. Soon, as expected, the pony walked through the half-open gate. True to his name, his coat was bronze color and his mane a yellowish tone, almost like sand; slightly long and covered by a hat (like those cowboy hats from Wild West movies). A duster covered his body, leaving only hooves and part of his chest (which was protected by a plate carrier vest) exposed. On his back was a pair of saddlebags, with the butt of a rifle showing on one and the tip of a sidearm on the other. Lastly, as he approached, I spotted a horn sticking out of his mane, making him a unicorn.

He seemed rather calm, despite all the soldiers around him. He paid almost no attention to them, only a small twitch of his ears when one of them gave a few steps. He bore a neutral and almost bored expression, his eyes looking at us, but not locking in any individual. His behavior made me a little uncomfortable.

“Ask him what he wants to tell us,” I ordered Elliot, once Bronze was a few steps from us. My teammate proceeded to do as told, shifting the pony’s attention toward him. Soon after, the pony gave a small nod of understanding and answered. Equal to his behavior, his voice was calm and strong, almost fully devoid of emotion. It took him about a minute to say everything, after that he remained silent, sitting in his rump and waiting for an answer.

As they talked, I noticed something in his right hoof. At first, I thought it was a piece of armor, fully covering his hoof. However, I spotted some nails and wires in it, leading me to believe it might be a device or weapon of some sort.

“He’s asking for our help,” Elliot said. “He says a group of mercenaries went inside a cave, west of here, about two days ago and haven’t come out yet”.

“Why did they go there and why is he asking us for help?” I asked. Once again, Elliot asked, and the pony answered.

“They were hired by a nearby village to take care of a… insect nest inside,” He replied. “He heard about us from the ex-slaves at the village near the coast… called ‘Green Waters’, he says”.

Interesting, so the ponies we freed were already spreading a good word about us. Well, I suppose we could help, but not right now. First I need to make sure this area is truly safe, only then I can go on random quests. Our job here is almost done, the next task is to go back to the solar energy facility and see what we can do about the robots. Hopefully we can work this out quickly and help them.

“Alright… tell him that we are willing to go there, but we can’t do it right now,” I said. Right before Elliot spoke, I quickly added, “We’ll go there if we can, but I can’t do any promises”.

Elliot told everything to our guest. The pony raised his eyebrows slightly, before nodding and replying. Once he was done, he turned around and went for the exit. “He says he understands,” my teammate said, as the pony left. Well, this was a… interesting encounter, time to finish things and move out.

“Alright, back to our current objective,” I said, shifting everyone’s attention back to me. “Is there anything else you guys want to say?” I asked, receiving no answer. After a few more moments waiting, it became clear there was nothing else to do, and so I changed the subject. “I guess this means we should move to the next task. Did you guys bring those EMP grenades I asked?”

There was a chorus of “Yes” and “Yeah”. I proceeded to explain why we needed them. I’m pretty sure they already had read what information we had on those robots, but I decided it would be better to provide a more personal opinion. They were quite interested in these new hostiles, maintaining full attention on every word I said. It’s no wonder, I guess, when I first saw those metal monstrosities I was equally impressed, if not a little terrified.

“Shouldn’t we bring some heavy weapons?” asked Elliot, clearly a little hesitant in regards to our next task. “I mean, what if those EMPs are not enough? I don’t want to end up trapped there like you and that PAC sergeant”. He does raise a good point, but this isn’t really an issue.

“I know that, Elliot,” I replied, raising my hands a little to calm him down. “If they don’t work, we’ll back off and go back to base”. Sure, securing that place was important, especially if what the PAC sergeant said about an underground bunker is true, but right now, we have plenty of time to think this through, no need to rush there. We can do this in a safe and efficient way.

“Well, if that’s the case, then I’m ok with it.”

“Good, let’s get moving then.”

With no further issues, we moved out, leaving our new base and its garrison behind. To our front, nothing but the sand and dirt with a few rocks and dead vegetation spread out in the area. As always, we stayed on the high ground, close to the hills, giving us a good field of vision to most of the surrounding landscape. Besides the hills directly to our right, I could also see another group, a lot taller, far away to the west, probably where that pony wants us to go. There was also the river and the sea to our left, adding some variety and tranquility to the surrounding landscape.

Within the first half an hour of walking, all of us became bored. There was nothing to do but to make short small talks about random subjects as we kicked stones and sticks standing in our way. However, this changed as the sounds of thunders announced the beginning of a light rain. As much as it was refreshing (both because of the high temperature and because of the rarity of this event in frozen Europe), I don’t think any of us desired to get soaked up for the rest of this mission.

Eventually, I spotted our goal, not far from us. It didn’t look much different, the same big but largely damaged building, and the many solar panels around it. The sight encouraged us to speed up, in hopes to get away from this rain.

“Keep an eye out for hostiles, I don’t know if this area is safe,” I told my companions as we approached the ruins. Reaching the main doors, we slowed down, taking cover by either side as I decided how to act. I still had much of the layout of this building stored in my head, but still struggled to make an effective plan. We shouldn’t spread out, last time I was here, this almost cost my life. Perhaps the best way to do this is to wait in an easily defensive area and test our EMP grenades. If things go south, we’ll be in a better position to deal with these robots. “Alright people, here’s what we’re going to do: everyone will follow me inside while keeping a low profile, and we are going to find somewhere easy to defend, hunker down and wait until a hostile stumble on us. With some luck, our EMP grenades will do a quick job of it; if not, we’ll just shoot it down and get the hell out of here”.

“But what if we make contact before we reach a good place?” Medici asked. This is a real problem, but there isn’t much we can do.

“I guess we’ll just have to throw a grenade and hope for the best…”

I went inside, with my companions following close behind. The place was no different from before, the same large hall with ruined furniture, decayed painting and cracked floor and walls. The red lights were still blinking on the ceiling, indicating the defense system was still active. What did caught my attention, however, was the smoking robot surrounded by dead bodies and ash. I was familiar with the sight, but what truly got my attention was the bad smell coming from the bodies, which were already in an advanced state of decay.

Ignoring the horrible sight, I continued my advance towards the internal corridors of the building. I figure the best place to stay was the restaurant, for it was a wide room with plenty of objects to use as cover. I pressed myself against a wall, right before the entrance to the way leading to the room. I looked around and took stock of my surroundings, trying to make sure the path was clear, the illumination was bad, but I could see enough to know there wasn’t anything ahead.

Before I could tell everyone to keep moving, I heard something. At first, it was just a distant and unrecognizable sound, but as it grew louder, and closer, I became aware of it’s origin. One of the robots, and a big one at that, after what happened last time, I know exactly what this low, but rough and strong rumble is. As my body reacted to the imminent threat, by shooting adrenaline in my bloodstream and causing me to sweat beneath my uniform, I got ready. My right hand snapped into one of my pockets, easily withdrawing the EMP grenade inside.

Everyone was tense, none of us dared to make a sound. Our enemy was coming from our front, probably from the room we previously hoped to use as a kill zone. I kept looking at the dark corridor, the sounds getting closer and my heartbeats faster; across from me, on the other wall, was Elliot, keeping a tight grip on his LMG and not daring to move a muscle. A moment later, I saw a large black silhouette of the robot entering the corridor ahead.

Snapping my head back, I prepared myself. Luckily, the path ahead wasn’t very wide, barely enough for our metal enemy to fit through, making it an easy target. Once it was close enough, I took the pin out and threw the grenade towards it. For a moment, the sounds of its tracks stopped, probably detecting the movement ahead. A few seconds later, there was a crack, followed by a powerful blue flash and a loud sound of electricity, almost like a small lightning. A moment later it all stopped, leaving only the sound of something burning, aided by a characteristic smell of smoke. I gave a quick look outside, spotting my target unmoving and smoking. Our EMP grenades work.

Moving out of cover, I slowly approached the target, weapon raised and ready. However, it soon became clear the robot was no longer active. I took a moment to analyze the smoking pile of metal, as the rest of my unit came behind me. Well, this surely makes things a lot easier.

“That’s one big son of a bitch,” Elliot said. We remained silent for a few seconds, just contemplating our target. This thing is quite impressive.

“Yeah,” Dias agreed. “Makes you wonder why they didn’t bother to provide some EMP protection”. That’s an interesting thought, it doesn’t make sense to create these big things (which are probably expensive) and allow such a huge flaw. Well, from what I understood, their entire technological progress was weird, spending almost 1000 years with little to no changes, only to jump into late 20th century technology in a few decades, while maintaining a highly aristocratic society and government. I suppose it doesn’t matter, and I’m thankful they didn’t notice or care about this particular flaw.

“Alright people, guess this makes things easier,” I said, turning back to face them. “We’ll split in two teams. Dias and me on one, Elliot and Medici on other”. All of them nodded in understanding, with Dias braking off from the rest to stand beside me. The other two turned around and began to walk away, heading to the other side of the building. “Hey, you two be careful, there could be more threats laying around. We’ll meet back in the hallway once we clear all floors,” I shouted at them, with Elliot looking over his shoulder to me and giving a thumb up.

The two of us kept going to the restaurant, finding nothing but an extra body. The only thing worth noticing was the now open way to the basement, leading to an underground facility, from what the PAC sergeant informed.

“Should we head down there?” Dias asked, staring into the dark path.

“Nah that way leads to some underground facility filled with hostiles, we’ll just clear this building for now,” I replied, not bothering to give him the full details. “We’ll secure it once we have more man and firepower”.

With nothing else to do, we went to the second floor. As we moved upstairs, we heard the distant sound of another EMP grenade going off, with Elliot soon reporting another kill. A lonely body caught my attention, a pony with a green coat and white mane with a few streaks of blue, behind a table. I remember him, one of the raiders from before who stood in my way. Not far from him was the machete he attempted to use as a weapon, right before the pool of dried blood from the multiple shots I had fired on his chest.

Moments after my observation, the distinguishable sound of tracks approaching reached my ears. Once again, the two of us took cover and waited for the target to approach. When it arrived, Dias threw the grenade, and a moment later, it activated. The results were the same as before, our new target becoming a new pile of smoking metal and wires. “Nice kill,” I congratulated him, before we moved out. Soon, Elliot and Medici arrived; we took out the next target, and proceeded up the next floor.

The third floor was nothing out of the ordinary. The same dust-filled offices filled with rubble and a few bodies and skeletons. It took us a while longer to find and deal with the targets, but eventually we succeeded. We then moved to the fourth floor and split up once again. Within time, Dias and I spotted a familiar room, with what I now knew to be talismans exposed. The three glowing jewelry stood there, emanating a characteristic deep blue light, illuminating the room and contrasting with the red lights outside.

Dias slowly approached the three objects, with a vivid curiosity in his eyes. “So this are the talismans we were told about,” he commented, standing a few feet away from them. “What do you think they are for?”

I looked at him and said, “Well, I don’t know, but we should take them back to base. From what I know, depending on what they do, these things could be precious”. Doing as instructed, Dias kneeled down and picked all of them with his left hand (each one was about as big as his palm) and placed them inside his bag.For the sake of being efficient, I’ll just say we found the two robots patrolling this area and took them out, with zero problems. One of them was able to fire a few shots from his energy weapon before the grenade went on, but it didn’t hit any of us.

The final floor was slightly more challenging, for it also had those floating octopus robots, armed with electrical saws and small flamethrowers. However, they were not designed for combat, evident by their complete lack of armor. Our weapons had no trouble punching through them, with most of them going down way before they could get close. Doing a quick sweep of the floor, and after finding the real threat (easily taking care of them with our final set of EMP grenades), we found more talismans. Five smaller ones, glowing white, probably indicating a different function. Once again, Dias placed them inside his bag. With this place secure, I radioed Elliot and Medici to meet me back at the entrance of the building.

Soon we all arrived there, taking a moment to rest, drinking some water and eating some snacks while preparing to our next move. Clearing this place was a lot easier then what I had initially predicted; we now had a lot of free time in our hands. I guess this means we should go to that cave. I bet the place is filled with poison gas and mutant insects, if the reports from the PAC sergeant are anything to go by, another good reason for us to help.

As if reading my mind, Elliot spoke “So I guess we are going to those caves next?”

“Yes we are,” I replied, standing back up. It’s clear we are all a little bit tired from all of this, but I’m not about to let whoever these people are to their fates, not when we can help. “Let’s go people; we have some ponies to save!” I said jokingly, earning a few laughs. Everyone stood up, packed their things, and set out west.

It was no longer raining, but the sky was still covered by clouds. We went on a faster pace, for we didn’t had many hours of sunlight left. Passing by the old road, near the river, I spotted a billboard partially destroyed, with a long faded wallpaper, in its place was a large number of graffiti drawings, most of them… obscene. For an instant, I wondered how this place must have been before.

“Did the pony say anything about how many friendlies or hostiles we should be expecting?” I asked Elliot as we crossed the road.

He briefly looked at me, but waited a few seconds to answer, probably trying to remember something, “Nope, nothing at all, he just said where they were and that they needed help”. Great, we are going in without any piece of information; hopefully it won’t be anything too difficult. The next forty minutes of walking went by quietly, that is, until we spotted the cave entrance and something else not far from it.

Just as the pony had told us, there was a small village, right next to the cave. The place was surrounded by barricades in a circular fashion, not nearly as impressive as the slaver base though. Inside of it were about a dozen small houses, closely packed together. These buildings were better preserved than compared to the ruined homes and slums we had seen before. It still looked like an old town; very far from something normal, but it did indicated a superior wealth and living conditions.

We sneaked closer to the cave entrance, keeping away from the village. We didn’t know what their reaction to us would be, so I decided it was best to keep away. Once we reached our objective, I thought about how we should proceed. Well, there is a high chance this place has pockets of poison gas inside, so it’s best to keep Dias out, for he’s the only one not wearing a full-face helmet. The rest of us should stay close, we don’t know the layout of this place or what types of threats it might contain.

“What do we do now, sir?” Dias asked.

“Alright people,” I began, getting everyone’s attention. “This place probably has pockets of poison gas, so I want Dias to stay outside and guard the entrance,” the soldier in question nodded. “For the rest of us, Medici will take the left side, I take the right. Elliot, you got the big gun, you go straight in the middle. Any questions?”

Elliot shook his head and said, “hehe… that’s what she said!” earning a chuckle from Medici.

Dismissing his little joke, I gestured them to move up. We couldn’t see shit beyond the entrance, forcing us to activate our flashlights. Our path went down and deeper into these hills. The tunnel was surprisingly wide and relatively round, almost like a metro tunnel. The place was deadly quiet, except for the sound of water drops and air currents. The scene reminded me of some horror movies I had seen before.

Not wasting time, we went forward, deeper into the darkness. Luckily, the rocks we stood upon acted almost like a natural stairway, not very hard to use. Our progress was slow, given our lack of knowledge and proper equipment to this place. We only had our flashlights and a couple of glowing sticks, hardly enough to go in an unexplored cave. None of us bothered to say anything, causing a small tension to grow. Once we no longer could see the light of the entrance, we placed our two glowing sticks in a rock, serving as a glowing beacon indicating the way out.

Reaching the bottom of the first tunnel, I saw two smaller ways to our left, and a larger one going forward. As much as I’m curious on what might be inside the smaller ones, we can’t afford to take random turns, we should try to keep our path as simple as possible. I’m no expert, but I know that getting lost inside a big cave is quite easy, there is also the risk of accidents and in this case, giant insects and poison gas. “Alright people, let’s keep going,” I said, hoping to end this quickly.

Five minutes later, with the last section far behind us, we found a body. We raised our weapons, looking around in search of any surprises. The smell of blood reached my nose as we approached it. Laying in a pool of his own blood was a gryphon, wearing steel plate armor and with a shotgun still in his talons. His body filled with deep cuts, the one in his neck almost cutting the head out. It was a terrifying sight, proving the existence of hostiles in the area. I had hoped this wouldn’t be the case, just an accident or someone getting stuck, guess I’m not that lucky.

“Did that pony said anything about gryphons?” Medici asked, just as confused as the rest of us.

“Actually, he only said the word ‘mercenaries’…” Elliot answered, while analyzing the corpse.

“Well, I don’t care what mythological creature we are looking after, we still got a job to do,” I stated. “Medici, you got anything in your heartbeat sensor?”

“There’s something far ahead, but I can’t get a clear reading” he replied.

“Alright, hopefully that will lead us to our objective, let’s go!”

Moving at a faster pace, we arrived at a slightly larger section of the tunnel, where we began to hear something ahead. It sounded like a series of clicks, getting louder as we approached. Our progress was cut short by a cloud of yellow smoke, probably some chemical weapon, coming from a smaller tunnel to our right.

“Sir, I got multiple contacts heading towards us,” Medici said hurriedly, making all of us snap into combat stance. “A few from the main tunnel, and a lot more coming from the other one!”

Great, we’re outnumbered. I briefly scanned the area around me for something to take cover, spotting three larger rocks a few steps behind us. “Take cover by those rocks!” I shouted, while pointing to them. “Elliot, you take the ones from the main tunnel, Medici and I will take the others”.

Jumping into cover and keeping ourselves low, we waited for our enemy. Each second, the clicks and the sounds of movement became louder. Suddenly, multiple beings came from the wall of smoke. “Open fire!” I shouted, pulling the trigger and sending a barrage of bullets into the nearest target. We were facing something best described as giant ants, as big as a dog or even one of these ponies. Our ammunition did an easy job of them, but they were hard to hit.

The once quiet cave now sounded like a warzone. The constant fire of Elliot’s LMG created a constant ringing in our ears, becoming even worse with the aid of our assault rifles. After killing about twenty of this first variety, two other types showed up. The first was like the ants, but with a larger head, equipped with a pair of sharp looking mandibles. The second type came from above, drawing my attention. These ones looked like giant wasps, two of them quickly approaching.

I pointed my SCAR11, switched to the under-barrel shotgun, and open fire. I spend every single round I had, making sure to take them down. Their bodies were able to withstand against some of my shots, but their wings were not so lucky and were ripped apart, causing them to drop midway. Soon, after killing a few more dozens of them, the fighting stopped, with a pile of corpses around us.

“Holy shit…” Elliot said, drawing some deep breaths. “That was a crap load of them”.

“Do you really think these people are still alive?” Medici asked.

“I honestly don’t know, but I still think we should try to find them,” I replied.

“Where do we go them?”

“Well, most hostiles came from the right tunnel, and we won’t be able to properly search this place while being hunted, so we must first take all of them down” I said, looking into the smoke-filled way. “We’ll head down there, take out whatever hostiles we find, and then keep searching”.

The yellow smoke around us became denser as we went lower. The path was narrow, compared to the main tunnel, but still big enough for us to fit through. Soon, after a few minutes of walking, we found the exit. The small tunnel gave way to a huge circular room, filled with green goo and giant insect pods. Luckily, the gas almost dissipated there, giving us an excellent view. This scene, added by the sound of more insects, send a chill down my spine. All of us tensed up; ready to fire at anything that might approach us.

I heard something loud, straight ahead of me, the sound repeated itself a few more times, following a strange rhythm. Focusing ahead, I notice something on the ground, about ten meters from me. The light from my flashlight revealed that thing to be another gryphon body, wearing the same type of armor, gasmask, and carrying a flamethrower. “Get ready for action, people,” I said to my companions.

Our enemy revealed itself; a giant creature, clad in thick red chitin, easily bigger than a bus, with a powerful set of blades in its mouth and front legs. Needless to say, we fired at it with everything we had, however, our bullets were barely able to penetrate that thing. Thankfully, it seemed our constant barrage got it by surprise, halting its advance. However, I knew this wouldn’t last long, we had to strike it with something else.

“Elliot, keep firing on that thing!” I shouted over the sounds of battle. I began to search for my explosive grenades, shoving my hands inside the many pouches of my belt and vest. “Medici, grab your grenades!” he ceased firing and did as I commanded. Giving a quick glance to our target, I notice it was now approaching, using its arms to cover the head and chest.

My frenetic search ended, with a familiar shape of the explosive in my right hand. Seeing Medici had also found his own grenades, I pointed towards the target, pulled the pin out and threw the grenade at the enemy. The sound of two grenades hitting the rock floor echoed through the room. “Everyone get down!” I shouted, pressing myself against a wall. The explosions that followed shook the ground, amplified by the flamethrower.

My ears were ringing; I waited a few moments for everything to calm down. Standing back up, I spotted Elliot and Medici doing the same. I turned my attention to the big room, trying to see beyond the dust now floating around. What I saw, amidst the rubble, fire and body parts from the gryphon and our previous enemy, was terrifying. Dozens of larvae were crawling from the dead remains of the red queen (as I decided to call it), while many full-grown insects were braking free from their pods.

Without hesitating, I took out another grenade and threw it inside, followed by two others from Elliot and Medici. Once again, they went off, destroying anything nearby and putting an end to the fighting. Waiting a few moments to see if any had survived, I heard Elliot saying, “Well, I guess that takes care of the insect problem”.

“Hell yeah it does,” I replied, getting ready to move. “Let’s get back to the main tunnel, we’ll find those people and get the fuck out here”. We quickly arrived back to our original path, moving further inside and hoping to end this soon. The explosions had attracted a few more hostile from other areas of the cave, but after everything we had seen, they were easy targets. We continued to move, cutting down any opposition and discovering new sections of the cave.

About half an hour later, the sight of bodies, but not of gryphons this time, greeted us. Most of them were toasted, probably by a flamethrower. As I began to wonder if we had hit the right place, I notice something moving in the corner of my vision. I turned around, spotting a wasp flying towards me, I instantly pointed my rifle at it, but before I pulled the trigger, a spear pierced through the things thorax. Initially, I became confused, but in a moment, I realized what was happening. The three of us snapped our weapons towards the source of the javelin.

Three sets of golden eyes were staring of us. Our flashlights revealed two of them belonging to a pair of gryphons, living ones this time. The last one caught my attention. It looked like a pony, but with concerning details. At its sides were a pair of wings, not like birds, but leathery and thick. I notice the iris was different from the other two; these ones were similar to a cat. Taking a better look at the rest of the body, I saw a dark gray coat, covered by leather armor and a black jacket. The weird pony also had burgundy mane and tail.

All of them were in combat stance, the two gryphons pointing pistols at us. We stayed there for a few seconds, none of us daring to move a muscle. Despite the intimidating looks, I could see some fear in the eyes of these people. All of them were wounded, bearing many cuts and bruises. They all seemed exhausted, clearly in no condition to fight. Soon, they began to whisper to one another. At that, I became aware of their genders. The two gryphons were males, and the pony a female (I also notice she possessed a pair of fangs).

“What do we do now, sir?” Elliot asked, clearly uncomfortable with the current situation.

“Tell them to lower their weapons,” I replied. He did as asked, his words cutting the ongoing conversation short. It didn’t work, they became angry at that, raising their voice tones as they answered to Elliot. Before Elliot could say the obvious, I said, “Lower your weapons, guys”.

“What? You’re serious, sir?” Medici asked.

“Yes, I am,” I replied, lowering my own rifle. “Do it now”.

My two companions did as asked, earning a good reaction from the three survivors. They seemed confused at our actions, but also calmer. They lowered their pistols a little, still ready for action, but definitely an improvement.

“Elliot, tell them we mean no harm and explain why we’re here,” I said to him. Once again, he spoke, taking about a minute to translate everything. After he was finished, the larger of the gryphons replied, using a sceptic tone, clearly not believing.

“He doesn’t believe us,” Elliot stated.

“I noticed,” I replied. Honestly, I’m getting real tired of this, we spend hours walking and fighting to save these people, and yet they can’t trust us in the slightest. Fuck, I really need a good shower. “Tell him he can believe whatever he wants, the area is safe and they can leave now”.

Once Elliot ended, I turned around and walked away, soon followed by the other two, leaving the trio of mercenaries behind. Making our way back to the first section of the tunnel, I stopped near the pair of glowing sticks we had left and turned my radio on.

“Dias, do you copy, over?” I called. At first, all I got was static, but soon, he answered.

“Oh, yes sir, I hear you loud and clear, over.”

“Good, call back to the HQ, tell them our mission is complete, over.”

Footnote: Level Up!

Guns: 60

Speech: 55

New Perk: Entomologist - You do an additional 50% damage every time you attack a mutated insect.

Author's Note

Note: Yep, I decided to give a little more EU perspective. As always, thank you all for reading my story and please point out any mistakes. Just so you know, in the next few months my life might get really busy, so updates will likely take longer.