Welcome to Bloodbath Island!

The START teams had infiltrated the base now and were in a small fenced in court yard. The moon stood full in the sky as the wind gave a loud breeze, hopefully it would help cover them.

“Okay this is the first checkpoint. Playtime is officially over fillies!” Gale Wind quietly addressed his team. Even though he was the only pony on the team due to Static being MIA, he still used his pony slang.

Gale turned out and carefully crept towards the door in front of them. The area they were in had three fenced in doors. One led to the facility’s backup generator while the other led to what appeared to be some sort of large service elevator. At least that is what the sign on the door said.

Gale, his battle saddle read for action, carefully observed the outside of the fence.

“Something’s wrong, the lights to the guard house are out.” Gale announced with alertness.

That was strange indeed. You’d think that an important military facility would be crawling with armed security, not that it was too much of an obstacle for them, but still, that was unusual.

In fact, not only was the guard house lights out, it appeared to be abandoned. The whole place’s power seemed to be out except for a few lights.
The windows were smashed open and shards of broken glass were lying on the ground.

Rick lowered his M16 and said “Ummmm, maybe this has been a wild night of partying for the guards?” he joked around. “You know a little song and dance?”

Gale just shook his head and silently signaled Alan to follow him. Alan nodded in compliance and took his M4 and carefully walked up next to Gale. Rick also came to but Gale shook him off.

“Stay here with Regina junior, leave the guards to me!” Gale bragged with a smile.

He went to the left side of door while Alan covered the right.
Gale silently counted to three and with that, he kicked open the door and stormed in the courtyard ahead, Alan following right behind him.

The sound of their hoof and footsteps and their guns clicking were audible but surprisingly there was no gun fire. Guess the guards were gone for whatever reason.

Regina walked up to Rick you appeared to be angered by Gale’s comment.

“Ha…hey! Did you hear what he just called me?” Rick answered very angrily keeping his M16A4 low.

But Regina shook her head and signaled Rick to calm down.

“Forget about it, just let Gale and Alan handle this.” She explained. She had been on several missions with both Alan and Gale.

Gale was a veteran and took a no nonsense approach to missions. To him, a mission was like a game of chess. He could be abrasive and brash at times but that’s just who he was. Alan on the other hand was much more casual and friendly. However, don’t let his young handsome age and friendly demeanor fooll you, he was a skilled soldier and had years of combat experience.

Ba beep boop, Rick’s wrist radio beeped signaling that the area Gale and Alan had just entered was okay.

“Alright, it’s clear!” Rick said with enthusiasm.

He and Regina headed out to the door and entered the backyard entrance of the facility. The ground was had three paths, one led back to their entry point, the one to the left was into some carry out area, Gale and Alan were examining the ground. The path ahead led to a door which entered an area of the facility.

“Okay let’s do this!” Rick announced with excitement. Because he was a rookie, he had a lot more enthusiasm than Regina had. “I’ll infiltrate the facility and occupy the control room on the first floor.”

Regina lowered her MP5 and nodded. Rick was a master computer expert and hacker. If you needed someone to crack a security clearance system, Rick was your main.

“I should have access to the security codes from there.” He explained. He then picked up his M16 and headed to the door to the facility.

“I’ll contact you guys as soon as I’ve cleared the room!” he addressed although Regina was the only one who heard him.
He opened and closed the door with a clank.

Regina, knowing that Rick could easily handle the inside of the facility checked her surroundings. She looked to her left and saw Alan next to Gale searching the area for any clues. Behind them was a large door which led to what appeared to be some sort of storage facility. Regina then noticed that Gale was squatting and touching the ground with his hooves.

What does that bronco thinks he’s doing? She thought to herself and headed to Gail, her MP5 in hand.

Alan went to a corner of the area where a chain linked fence and a door were at. The door led to what appeared to be an underground generator room.

Alan approached the door and tried to open it but it was locked. Alan shouldered his M4 and pulled out a lock pick kit from his uniform and tried to pick the lock.
Regina let Alan continue his busy and she went up to Gale. He was by a barbed wire chain linked fence which had a large hole in the middle.

Knowing Gale’s reputation, Regina put her left arm on her hip and said “Let me guess, this is some of your handy work right?”
But Gale ignored her and continued to touch the ground with his hooves. In his left hoof, he had what appeared to be a couple of 9mm brass casings.

“Hmmm, the brass is still warm.” He observed with a stern look. “These guards were shooting at something very recently.”

Regina took a look at the hole and noticed what Gale was talking about. Next to the hole were a few other pistol rounds besides what appeared to be blood stains. However, the blood was still moist and fresh.
It appeared someone was in trouble not too long ago.

“So who do you think they were fighting?” Regina questioned raising a hand with curiosity.

Gale shook his and head and answered, “This wasn’t much of a fight. I don’t think these guards hit anything before they got sliced and diced.”
He then pointed at the fence’s hole.

“Whatever they were shooting at came in through there. Then just ripped right through this steel fence.”

Regina took another look at the hole. The broken links were pointed outward towards them indicating that whatever created the hole came out from behind it. While it didn’t have any explosive residue on it, it did have what appeared to be fresh blood stains.

“Well other than some blood, it appears the hole is nice and clean.” She then looked at Gale “but I still say you could’ve done this” she teasingly accused.

Gale raised an eyebrow with a rather serious look on his muzzle.

“Very funny.” He said back sarcastically. “We still need to figure out what happened here. Let’s continue to sweep the area.”

He then turned to Alan.

“Lieutenant!” he called Alan by his rank.

Alan put away his lockpick and stood on both legs again.

“Yes Gale?” he called back.

Gale knelt back down and continued to examine the shell casings.

“You and Regina go inside that storage room and take a look around.”

“Roger!” Alan answered with a nod as he grabbed his weapon and headed to the sturdy door.

He and Regina carefully took positions on both sides of the iron door. Regina held her MP5 in both hands while Alan kept his right hand on the M4 and his left on the door’s handle.

Regina gave the signal and Alan opened the door. Alan stormed in followed by Regina and the two drew their guns just in case there were any enemies hiding in the place.

They lowered their weapons though as the place was free of any enemy guards. The storage room appeared to be untouched and was stuffed with boxes and stands piled with useless tools and other knick knacks. Next to the opening door was a small forklift along with a few bags of cement.

Alan and Regina began to inspect the area. Surely there had to be something useful they could use. The shouldered their weapons and began searching through the boxes and crates. They also checked out a few documents they found scattered around there.

Nothing of much use though; just a couple of security and repair reports.

“Hey Regina did you find anything yet?” Alan asked as he closed the lid on an empty fuel jar.

Regina shook her head as she searched through the nearby shelf.

“No,” she replied “nothing yet…wait a minute.”

She moved aside a couple of power tools and worker’s files was a small key labeled “Generator G1”.
It must be the key to the area that led to the ground level’s backup generator. Well there was nothing left to check in the supply area so they headed outside.

Gale was still investigating the hole in the fence trying to figure out what could’ve ripped through such a hard fence.
Regina was heading to the door where she had entered through from the backyard when her wrist radio signaled with a distinctive “ba too toop” beeping sound.

Regina put her radio to her ear. It was Rick.
“Rick here I’m in!” he reported. “The place is deserted though! I have a very bad feeling about this.”

Regina raised an eyebrow at this information. Indeed, just like Rick, she too had a bad feeling. It is quite possible a third party had infiltrated the island.
But who? The Russians? The Chinese? The North Koreans?

“How’s the progress going with that security program?” she asked Rick. Maybe the security system could provide them with more info.
If a third party had infiltrated the island, they were most likely also after the doctor.
“Well I don’t know what’s been going on her but… it looks like all the power in this facility’s been cut!”

Regina nodded her head and replied “Same here.”

“Well as long as that’s the situation, there isn’t a lot I can do.” He explained “Why don’t you see if you can gain access to the backup generator on the ground level.”

“I’m on it.” Regina answered. She then turned back to Alan.

“So what did Rick have to report?” Alan asked.

“Well it appears the place is empty and the power has been cut.” She explained.
Alan’s face suddenly turned to curiosity and disbelief.

“Damn!” he cussed back. “Did he explain how or why?”
Regina shook her head. “No, not a clue. He wants me to restore power to the backup generator.”

Alan nodded his head with understandment.

“Okay, then you head to the backup generator and see if you can turn it on,” he explained “I’ll head into the facility and try to do some recon of the place. If the place is deserted it’s very likely a third party may be involved.”

Alan then handled his M4 and left to entrance to the facility.

“Hey wait a minute!” Regina called to him. “Are you sure?”

But Alan turned back with a smirky smile.
“Relax Regina!” he practically laughed. “I’m point man, it’s my job to charge head first into an unknown area!”

Regina smiled and laughed back.
“Alright, just don’t try to get yourself killed before I get back.” She joked back.

Alan giggled and entered the facility. As Regina was about to head outside, Gale stepped in front of her from finishing his investigation.

“What are you doing here?” Regina asked sarcastically.

But Gale kept his same serious expression and tone. Regina and Alan often tried to play jokes on Gale from time to time. A popular game was “Get Gale to smile for more than two seconds”. Winner had to buy the loser a drink.

“I got the last part of your conversation.” He explained.

“Okay.” Regina said. “By the way I found a key.”

She held out her hand and showed Gale the key to the backup generator.
“Hand it over.” He practically demanded as he took the key from her hand with his hoof.

“Let’s head outside!” he ordered as he tilted his head towards the door. Gale entered the area where they had just come in and Regina followed with him.

Back in the area where they had first dropped into the backyard, Regina turned to her right and approached a door next to a notice which read “Restricted Area: Pathway. Backup Generator G1”.
Regina carefully opened the door and entered the area which led to the background generator.

The path to the backup generator was largely empty with an empty fuel tank in the corner. The ground was covered in what
appeared to be brown stone while more steel fences kept the boundaries enclosed.

Behind the fence to the right were crates and to her left was the cliff they had climbed to get up there.

Regina walked down the pathway and noticed that it was very twisted and curved like a snake. But the thing that she noticed the most was that there were large stains of blood on the ground.

With her MP5 carefully in tow, she kept heading down the path noticing there were larger stains of blood as she went on.
The path ended in what appeared to be a large square area with another small path to the upper right corner which led to a medium gray building.

Regina then saw Gale, he was kneeling down on the ground staring at some sort of red blob.
Regina walked up and approached Gale cautiously. Soon she smelt the smell that you never forget once you have smelt it and she then realized what Gale was examining.

Right next to Gale was the torn apart body of a dead zebra soldier.

He appeared to have been torn to shreds as his rear hooves ripped off and tossed aside. His throat and underside torn open reveling his ripped jugular vein which was still leaking very fresh blood. The zebra's black stripes were replaced with blood and tooth and claw marks which were huge and tore straight through to the zebra's exposed bones.

His organs were hanging out, barely clinging to what little tissue and ligament was left while his lifeless tongue stuck out all dry and stiffen. Flies were buzzing around feasting on the corpse and coagulated blood leaked from his lacerations.

A jammed AKM rifle was lying next to his hooves.

“That’s disgusting.” Regina stated very jokingly.

It wasn’t that Regina didn’t have respect for the dead, she did, it’s just that in her line of work, you see men and ponies get blown to pieces and torn apart all the time. You become desensitized to graphic violence.

Gale just stood there and shook his head at the body.

“This zebra’s been eviscerated.” He stated. “Something tore his jugular right open.”

Regina knelt down to get a closer look. That was when she noticed that many parts of the zebra had signs of claw and teeth marks. It was also coated with some sort of saliva residue.

“Look at those tooth marks!” she showed Gale. “It had to be some sort of animal.”

Some bits of the zebra’s flesh were chewed and gnawed on. It appeared that whatever had killed him had also eaten him. What could’ve done this to a zebra soldier?

There were so many possibilities. Maybe the base was attacked by an enemy special forces team that had attack dogs.
But she had never seen dogs with teeth or claw marks that big.

She also noticed several bloodied track prints which were obviously non human and pony.
They were square shaped and almost had a reptilian like appearance to them.
Gale got up and shook his head.

“Okay, let’s move on.” Gale said with a cautious look in his eye.

Regina got up to and followed Gale to the path which led to a door. Gale then stood next to the door and kept the M4 on his battle saddle mounted in ready.

“I’ll stand guard here,” he explained as he pointed his hoof at the door. “You go on inside and take a look around.”
Regina nodded and walked up to the door and opened it, heading inside.

The inside of the backup generator room wasn’t actually very big. It was cubed shaped and the walls and floor was gray colored with electronic gadgets and devices coating the walls.
At the center of the place was a large cylinder shaped brown generator which had enough energy to power the ground level of the facility in case of an emergency power outage.

All she needed to do was figure out how to reactivate the generator. She walked down the square pathway until she reached the far corner to a glass casing which inside contained several electrodes and four cylinder batteries.

What was interesting was that the batteries had these weird colored rings around them. There were four colors: white, green, orange, and blue in that order.

She then looked to the right and saw a large panel with buttons and switches on it.
She then noticed at the top were four lights: orange, blue, green, and white in that order.

Bellow the case was the batteries were stored, were four buttons.
Out of curiosity, Regina pressed one and with a loud whine, and apparatus shifted the white and green battery around.
That was how she noticed the pattern. In order to activate the generator, the batteries had to be inserted into their outlets in the same order as the colored lights correlated on the activation panel.

A little complex and puzzling but hey, she didn’t build the facility.
She pressed the buttons and rearranged the batteries so they were placed in the correct order; orange, blue, green, and white.
Once that was done she turned to the activation panel. She scanned the panel looking for a way to activate the backup generator until she saw a small notice.

“In order to activate the backup generator Press ‘Push to Close’”

She looked at the bottom of the panel and saw a round green button which read “Push to close”. She pressed it and with a loud whine and hum, the batteries were automatically inserted into their outlets.

While at first nothing happened, Regina noticed several small lights on the panel located on the side of the generator lit up and the generator gave a loud rumble and began vibrating. This indicated the generator had been successfully activated.
Regina smiled to herself.

“Rick I think you’re in business!”

RATATATA RATATATA, RAHHHRRR, RATATATA
“AHHHH!!!”

Regina jumped when she was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of gun fire and a male scream.
Regina gasped at this noise because it came from right outside of the generator room. Gale was outside!
“Gale!?”
Without hesitation, she ran to the door and exited the generator room.

The outside was the same as usual but Regina’s fears were confirmed when she noticed Gale was missing! Where he had stood guard was small splats of blood and several 5.56 NATO brass casings.

“Gale!” Regina called. Hopefully Gale was still alive.
If he was dead, there would have been a body but there wasn’t.

When Regina was scanning the area looking for Gale, a very loud snarl made her jump. She lifted her MP5a3 and kept it at
shoulder aim.
She walked down following the trail of blood.

Oh please Gale! Please be alive! She begged in her head. Despite his tough attitude, she and Gale had been working together quite a ways. He was almost like a father figure to her.

But her heart skipped a beat when she saw that to her right was another ripped hole in the steel fence.
This hole however led to a very steep cliff. Regina gasped and stuck her head out the hole.

“GALE!” she called out desperately. Sure Gale was a Pegasus and could fly, but if he was injured, his flying could be severally handicapped.
“GALE!” she called again this time louder.

Little did she realize, in the distance, a hungry beast had heard her calls…

The reptilian beast was gorging on its dead zebra prey when he heard the call of “Gale”.
It lifted its head and sniffed the air. The scent of another human was in the air. Intruder!
The beast bared its fangs and snarled as he headed towards the direction to kill the intruder.

Regina lifted her head out of the whole fence and turned around towards the path. That was when she noticed that not only was Gale missing, but so was the dead body of the zebra!

Where the zebra soldier had once lane was now a larger pool of blood followed by a trail of blood which appeared to have been caused by drag marks which practically went down the entire snakelike pathway!

Regina suddenly heard the sound of something approaching her. It sounded like something fast and swift was jumping along the crates behind the fence.

Regina looked up and gasped with horror as she saw a large creature snarl and jump with great height from the crate and down on the ground right in front of her!

The beast was reptilian and bipedal standing on two strong muscular legs. It was slim and muscular and covered with scaly skin and supported by a long whip like tail. It’s back was a darkish brown color while its underside was a brownish tan.

It was armed with a long snouted head with jaws which were filled with razor dagger shaped teeth which had fresh blood and the smell of meat and death on it while it’s two arms ended with three sharp clawed fingers. The creature arched it's back and lowered its reptilian head as it gave a threatening growl.

On the creature’s feet were three toes each having a razor blade claw.
But the most distinctive feature was the middle toe had a larger crescent shaped claw which also had fresh blood on it.

The creature’s predator eyes stared at Regina with primal hunger and snarled at her giving her another good look at its teeth.
Regina slowly backed up and raised her MP5.

“What is this!?” she gasped to herself at the creature. But she knew what this thing was.
She had seen a skeleton of this creature many times in a museum and most memorably, in that Steven Spielberg film she saw in the theaters with her first boyfriend ten years ago.
As hard as it was to believe, she was staring face to face with an actual living dinosaur! More specifically, a velociraptor.

Regina lifted up her gun and tried to fire but the creature was swift and charged at her screeching and snarling with its claws displayed.

Regina lept and rolled out of the way barely escaping as the creature charged past her crashing into a nearby wooden box. In the process, Regina lost her sub machine gun.

Having no time to retrieve her lost weapon, she quickly got to her feet and entered flight mood.
She panted heavily as she sprinted faster than she had ever sprinted before, while the path was only a few meters long, it felt like several miles. Her heart raced and her vision was tunneled, her only focus was on escaping.

She could hear the raptor’s footsteps and snarls behind her but she dared not look back. The only thing on her mind was getting to the exit and heading to the facility.

Maybe she could find shelter in there.

She finally reached the door and quickly opened and shut it. The raptor was still right behind her as she could hear it breathing.

She then ran to the next door which led to the backyard entrance where she and Gale had first begun investigating. Once she got out there, she would run into the facility, hoping to find Rick and Alan.

She practically sprinted into the area, slamming the door behind her and locking it. As she took a few steps forward she heard the raptor’s snarls behind her. Turning around, she saw the raptor creeping her behind the fence still vicious and bearing it's teeth.

Regina pulled out her Sig Sauer P226 (the standard issue sidearm of START) but thankfully the entrance fence was too large for the creature to climb or jump over. The raptor made multiple attempts at trying to jump over the fence but it was unable to find a way to grip the holes to climb.

The raptor snarled with anger and gave one final roar and before turning around and fleeing.

Regina breathed a big sigh of relief as her adrenaline began to lower. In all of her days as a professional soldier and spy, she had never seen or been through a situation like that. Her moment of relief was interrupted however by the sound of the beeping of her radio. She put it to her ear; it was Rick.

“Good news! I got the control system back online!” Rick exclaimed on the other side of the signal. “What’s the situation over there?”

“It’s Gale!” Regina immediately panted back. “I lost him!”

“Huh, so what’s the bad news?” Rick said with sarcasm. “Did you run into some guards?”

Regina hesitated for a bit. Still in disbelief, she finally had to explain what happened.
“Y-you’re not going to believe this but…” she struggled to explain “He was attacked by some kind of…DINOSAUR!”

She practically yelled. On the other line, she heard Rick howling with laughter.

“Whooo hooo!!!” he laughed “Now that’s a good one! So, who was it? Barney?”
Regina bared her teeth and growled, “This isn’t a joke you idiot! We were just attacked by a big assed lizard!”

Rick sighed and answered “For real, what’s going on over there. Alright, meet me at the control room and we’ll sort out this whole situation.

Regina nodded as Rick electronically transmitted the location of the security room to Regina’s radio.

Regina swallowed hard as she approached the door to the facility. She couldn’t believe this. First Static, now Gale! She hoped Alan was still safe.

With hesitation, she turn the handle to the door and opened. The scary part is, the whole facility could be crawling with those prehistoric reptiles. But she still had a job to do.

She breathed deeply and entered the facility. But still, a part of her brain told her that something was seriously wrong with this mission.