No, please someone help me, help me. Please don't hurt me, no nooooooooo...

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

My eyes jerked open by my alarm quickly bringing me out from my dream. I reached over with my right hand in searched for the snooze button. When the alarm died, I opened my eyes to see the time, 5:30, exactly the time I set it to.

"Get the hell out of my head, hearing those screams once was enough." I thought as I sat up and looked around."I thought I got rid of that one years ago." As I rubbed the sleep from my eye I looked about my room. A few snapshots of my past hung there on the lonely wooden wall now only distant memories. I couldn't see them but I knew what they were, the images were almost tattooed onto my brain. The one directly across from me that rested on my dresser was of me and my parents standing in front of our home back when I just turned six. We all had party hats and there was a banner that said happy birthday on it hanging on the front porch. That picture was one of the very few I was able to dig up. It was taken three months before they disappeared. Another was Tyrock and I with our military gear when we were in Iraq. The one to the right of it was a picture of us in our first machine shop. He held a grease can and was laughing as I stood under a car up on the lift flipping him off with grease globs all over my overalls. The other picture was of me and Tyrock standing in front of our first building, Granite Industries. the amount of time that spanned between those memories was only 15 years. Those were one of the few happy moments in my life that I can remember, the time in between those moments was one of the reasons the nightmares existed. I thought about how my life used to be until the sound of the alarm dragged me away again from those memories.

As I got out of bed I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror next to the closet. I get my charming good looks from my dad but I have my mom’s eyes and smile. my dad was about six three, weighing around two hundred and forty pounds. he had brown hair and green eyes, he stood tall with a smile on his face. my mom was a few inches shorter than my dad putting her at around six foot. She was thin but she somehow radiated this aura of power. She had blond hair and creamy white skin with blue eyes that were full of care and happiness, she was no less star striking because of her looks. The only difference between me and Tyrock is that I’m slightly taller and that I have a bit more muscle mass. We both have brown hair and blue eyes with a well-earned tan. I stood at six foot five and weighed in at two hundred and thirty pounds, Tyrock is six three and two hundred and ten.

Why am I even waking up at five in the morning? oh right, Today is test day. After Tyrock and I went through the academy and five years in the Navy's Seabees, we came back and started inventing. We quickly built a company and started to drag in a profit. We have a pretty wide range of creations rolling through our doors. So far, we had some hunting equipment, some rifles, and a few vehicles to name off a few categories but none of it was military grade. Trust me, we had multiple ideas but we haven’t built them yet and I don’t think we will for quite some time.

As I got up, I reached over and grabbed my dog tags resting on the nightstand next to the alarm clock. After we came back we never had a reason to stop wearing them. I looked down at the tags. The name Johnathan Christensen settled on one made of aluminum. That was the one I received in the navy boot camp. The other was made of titanium, on it, the name Stones engraved stood out. This tag had a few more scratches on it along with a few scorches as well. This is the one that the American Government gave to me after they turned me into the ultimate killing machine. After my parents vanished a man in a black suit arrived at the orphanage a couple weeks later and took me to a training facility hidden deep within the country. I still haven't found its exact location, not from the lack of trying either. There they gave me the chance to become a soldier or to go back to the orphanage. I took the offer. shortly after that, my cousin arrived as well. We trained until we were eighteen then they let us out into the real world. While we were in they taught us how to live on our own and they also gave us the money we earned as payment for working for them. I can't say everything we did for them was illegal or anything a kid should have seen or done but we still did our job and they made sure we were well off starting out. They also made sure we had new identity and lives that made sure they had no contact with us.

After hanging the tags around my neck, I grabbed a pair of dark green camo pants and a forest green shirt from the dresser on the far side of the room. Once I was dressed, I put on my combat boots and headed for the door knocking on the wall on the right side of the room as I walked, attempting to wake my cousin up. After opening the bedroom door to the hallway, I turned left and headed to the front of the house. As I walked down the hall, I saw the mounted deer and moose head sitting above the fireplace in the living room and dining area with the kitchen on the far side of the room. As I turned the corner I came face to face with a snarling mountain lion jumping at me. I walked past the stuffed creature to the door closing of the kitchen running my hand down its back. As I walked over to the door, the lights automatically turned on.

“Morning Stones.” A cheerful female voice said when I stepped into the kitchen, the lights turned on automatically but not all the way, they shone only bright enough for me to see without getting blinded. The kitchen was built in a "U" shape with dark brown cabinets with light grey marble countertops. The double stainless steel stoves on the far side. There was also a stainless steel fridge to my left and a white pantry door to my right. the sink was on the other end of the counter connected to the pantry with the dishwasher sitting next to it. There was also an island in the center of the room with pots and pans hanging from a rack above it. Part of it was another sink in the middle on the right side.

“Morning Sarah,” I stated as I went over to the fridge and quickly pulled out some bacon and eggs. With my arms full I turned to the island using my foot to shutting the door, I walked over and set the item on the counter then walked around to the other side. I reached over and grabbed the griddle we had sitting in the corner near the pantry. I moved it to the island and plugged it into the socket under the edge of the counter. I walked over and pulled out our favorite yellow box of pancake mix and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet below it. I added the necessary ingredients and mixed it up. Sarah came back onto the speaker as I grabbed a scapula from one of the drawers.

“It’s a nice forty-six degree outside with a three mile per hour wind rolling in from the north.” She informed me as I started cooking the bacon in a skillet. I took the mix and started pouring the pancakes on the griddle releasing fumes that filled the log cabin. “The herd will be moving in approximately two hours heading due south for the river.”

“Thank you, Sarah, anything in the mail?” I asked as I flipped the pancakes then cracked the eggs into another pan.

“Not as of right now, I'll let you know when it arrives.” She said. Sarah is a computer program that I made when I was twelve. She has been the only kind motherly figure we’ve had.

After the bacon was done, I turned the pancakes and eggs down so they wouldn’t burn before I sprinkled a little pepper on the eggs. I quickly pulled out some bread from the bread box I had sitting on the counter near the walkway. I stuck them into the toaster and took a quick look around. When I saw I was still the only one in the kitchen, I walked out to the dining room and saw there was no one sitting at the table.

“Strike one.” I whispered smiling as I went over to the closet in the corner of the kitchen pulling out the mop bucket we had stored there along with all the cleaning supplies. After pouring some ice water into the bucket. I headed for the last door at the end of the hall next to mine. After quietly opening the door, I looked inside and saw my cousin still fast asleep. I reached in and turned the lights on seeing if that'll work but he didn’t move an inch.

“Strike two.” I whispered. As I stepped into the room, I could see the few pictures that were in the room. One of Tyrock and his parents and another of him and I standing in front of the large log cabin that we now live in. As I looked around, I saw that the alarm clock sitting on his nightstand was unplugged.

“Strike three.” I declared with a grin. I quietly walked over to the side of the bed and looked down at him. "So peaceful," I thought as I lifted the bucket. "But not for long." with that note I poured the bucket’s contents all over him. He woke up screaming bloody murder as I grabbed a hold of his face patting his cheek.

"Morning sleeping beauty." he jumped out of bed on the other side of me. He looked down at himself and then up at me with a face of sheer rage. "I thought about kissing you but thought this would be more fun."

“Stones, what the hell.” he declared to me shaking off some excess water from his arms. I chuckled as I set the bucket down.

“Hey, not my fault prince charming called in sick and I couldn't find any frogs so I went with the next best thing. I gave you three strikes.” I held up three fingers then started heading for the door. Before I could reach it I heard him charge in rage. Instead of getting out of the way, I stopped and turned to wait for him as he reached his arms out at my face like he was going to strangle me. When he got in striking range, I grabbed his arm and used his momentum to throw him over my shoulder making him land on his back. I rolled him over and planted my knee on his back and pulled his arm backward close to the breaking point. he started squirming and trying to get free, I just lifted his arm closer to his head stopping his struggling.

“Say uncle and I’ll let you go.” I suggested as he again tried to break free.

“Stones please let go of Tyrock,” Sarah said through the speaker in the corner. “By the way, the toast just popped.” I looked down at Tyrock then let him go.

“Come on, breakfast is almost done and next time, get up when I tell you to and we won’t have to go through this again. Deal?” I said holding out my hand.

“Deal.” He stated through gritted teeth as he gave my hand a firm shake, no doubt plotting his revenge. I headed into the kitchen while he changed out of his wet clothes. I walked over to the fridge and pulled out some butter and syrup before heading for the skillet to grab a couple plates from the cupboard above it. I stacked the ten pancakes on one plate and put the eggs on another. Tyrock walked in wearing an outfit similar to mine but with plain dark green pants. He walked in and grabbed the bacon, syrup, and toast and headed to the table. I followed him out. After we sat down, Tyrock grabbed four of the pancakes and slapped them down on his plate.

“Hey, since you’re the first one out of us to grab the food, you get grace.” I said folding my hands. He smiled and rolled his eyes but followed suit.

“Lord we give thanks for this meal my asshole of a cousin made for us,” he said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes, then he put the jokes aside. “Bless it and us as we go about our day. We ask of you that if today is the day you bring us home, let us die on a pile of empty shells defending our great home that you provided us. If this is not to be, then make sure you take Stones first. Amen.”

“Amen.” I repeated smiling. I took a few pancakes and some eggs setting them on my plate, just as I reached for the bacon, I heard a ringing noise coming from the office area off to the left of where I sat.

“Stones, there’s an unknown caller using a video message,” Sarah said as I looked over.

“I'll call it back later," I said grabbing a piece of bacon and biting a chunk off of it.

"I think you should answer it now, it's coming in on a secured line." She said making me pause

“Goddammit, why would anyone be calling this early in the morning?” I groaned getting up. As I walked over, I had to wonder who it was. As I walked into our office, I saw two solid dark oak wood desks with four computers for each standing in the office along with a black leather office chair for each. One of the eight computer screens on my desk had the unknown caller on Skype.

“Hello,” I said as I sat down after clicking the answering tab. Tyrock walked over and grabbed the other chair pulling it up next to me. The person on the screen was a woman with blond hair and glasses wearing a light gray business suit. The only thing I could see behind her was a completely white room, no door, no windows, and no pictures. It was almost like it was designed to not give any information about the person making the call. You only do something like that if you have something to hide. As far as I could tell, she was someone that had a lot of power and knew how to use it.

“Hello, is this Jonathan and Tyler?” she asked a New York accent. As soon as she spoke, I knew today was either going to go really well or it was going to end up as an incoming shit storm. With our luck, it was the latter. The other names were our public names. Our others were buried so deep you needed a very high clearance to even think about it. The government sure does love its black ink.

“Yes, and who are you?" I asked looking at her. “You have the look that says you can order a missile strike on a city and call it an accident. Only a few can do that and most of them are male and I know I didn't vote for anyone that looks like you to be in office. So either you're a secretary or someone with a death wish. So which one is it?” The look on her face was one of surprise. Then I saw her talk to someone off-screen. They must have killed the microphone because we couldn’t hear anything from their end. I turned to Tyrock.

"What?” I said when I saw him giving me a look that said ‘are you stupid?’

“Stones, why can’t you keep your mouth shut for once in your life?” he said shaking his head. “One of these days you’re going to get us in some serious trouble.”

“Oh, you worry too much.” I said, “Also, who was it that almost got us caught back in Pittsburgh?”

“You won’t let that go will you?” he said as the sound returned to the computer.

“Hello, sorry about that, we were having some technical difficulties,” She said.

“Alright though of a good lie for us, because I don't take to kindly to people that contact me on a secure line, one that can only be done by someone that has a lot of money and power if all they want to do is waste my time.” I said as my cousin faced palmed.

“They weren’t lying when they said you were observant,” she said looking a little on edge. “The reason I’m calling is that I would like to thank you for your help.” I looked at Tyrock who looked up at me with the same look of question, then back to the screen.

“What do you mean?” Tyrock asked.

“Your designs, they are what we needed to win the war.” She said with her voice getting stronger and with a tone someone would use after a victory.

“And which designs are those exactly?” I said a nagging feeling settling in my gut. If she is talking about our special designs, nothing good will come of it.

“These,” she said as the screen filled with pictures. I quickly transferred them to the three other computers sitting on the desk along with the ones on the other one against the other wall of the room. Each of them started showing pictures of our secret designs. I quickly pointed to the ones on the other computers. Tyrock rolled over and started looking at each of them. The ones on my side was an exoskeleton that would make the wearer faster and stronger. We also designed an unarmored one for wounded veterans that couldn’t walk. The next was an exo-suit designed to be a literal walking tank. One was dog armor for the k-9 units. On the other side of the room were pictures of our new rifle design along with our design for a stealth jet but with weapons attached to it. That design was one I had made for fun. The last one was a design for a land vehicle that could climb over the roughest terrain without a problem.

The thing is, though, these weren't drawings, these were actual pictures. We were in the process of perfecting the design for the unarmored exo-suit before we sent it to some of our squad friends working in the department of spinal surgery. In the other ones, you could see military personnel standing around them in a strange place that looked like a factory, the thing that scared me was the fact that the uniforms were not that of any American branch.

“Where did you get these?” I asked looking at the ones on the desks hoping to spot some difference in the design. I couldn’t find a single one. That means these were our designs. "How did they get them?" I thought.

“You sent them to us over a month ago.” She said. “You said you had these plans and you wished for them to help with the war.” I looked over at Tyrock. I pointed to the designs and he nodded. Those were ours too.

“When did you say we sent these to you?” I asked as Tyrock rolled over in the other chair.

“You sent them to us forty days ago.”

“Bull shit we didn't send anything how did you get these?” I asked standing up after looking over at Tyrock. She looked at me for a few seconds then sighed.

“We got them out of your hard drives, and thanks to you we have a chance to win the war. Your drawings were very specific, so much in fact that we could have had them done automated on the first day.” She said with a slight chuckle.

“What war are you talking about?” Tyrock asked.

“I can’t say, but I can let you know that the American government is the ones that gave us the designs.” She said. I went stone faces staring hard at the camera.

"why would they do that?" I asked.

"You don't believe me? How about you call them up right now and ask?" she said smugly. "Then maybe we can talk in person over some more designs."

“If I ever see you in person it will be a very short visit.” I snarled through gritted teeth.

“It was nice talking to you too. ” She said swiping a hand across her throat, ending the call. As the screen went blank, we sat there in complete silence the minutes clicking by.

“Stones, what just…” that was as far as he got before I jumped up and punched the wall to the side of us leaving a dent in the strong wood.

“I’m going to kill that bitch!” I spat with disgust as I walked over to the phone on the desk. After putting in a few numbers, I switched it to speaker slamming down the phone. As the call connected I started pacing the room. Then there was a slight click.

“Hello?” the deep jersey ascent sleepily said into the phone.

“Jason, you better get your fucking ass up so I can get over there and shove my boot up it!” I yelled into the phone. Tyrock jumped up and ran over to me.

“Stones, what the hell are you doing?” he asked pushing me away from the phone.

“That no good, cold-blooded asshole took our designs and sold them.” I declared pushing him out of the way. “Listen you bastard, I don’t know how you got those designs but when I find out, I am going to come over there and rip your eyes out and shove them down your throat so you can watch me tear you apart from the inside out!” Tyrock then grabbed me and pulled me back from the phone trying to get me to calm down.

“Stones, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, what designs?” Jason said through the phone.

“WHAT? You know damn right what designs I’m talking about. The ones you stole from our personal monitor.” I yelled at the phone struggling to get out of Tyrocks grip.

“Oh those designs.” He chuckled as I broke free. “Yeah they got quite a kick out of those didn’t they?

“Yeah, those designs. The ones that you sent to her when you told us we were through with helping governments. Now they are going to use them in a war? What war? Are you trying to make us public enemies one and two? If I have to tell you one last time We... are... done... helping... you.” I said hitting the desk with each pause pretending it was his head.

“Look, is Tyler there?” He asked. I pushed away from the desk and walked out of the room into the living room and sat down on one of the leather recliners. I heard Tyrock talking to him on the phone but couldn’t make out what he said. All I knew was that if I didn’t leave right then and there, I would have done something that would have definitely gotten us in trouble. Tyrock has always been the diplomatic one, I’ve been the club them over the head and ask questions later if they are still breathing type. As I cooled off, I heard the sound of claws scratching on the hardwood floor. I turned to see our German Shepherd, Hunter, walking in. He scampered over to me, sat down, and leaned on my leg.

“Sorry to wake ya, buddy. The damn cold-blooded reptile bit us in the ass. maybe next time I’ll light a fire under him. See how long it takes to get to the bone.” I said as I rubbed his head. He looked up at me and whined. I smiled then Tyrock came out and when I saw the look on his face I knew things went from bad to worse. “What does he want?”

He sighed “He said since they still hold our records they have complete freedom to anything we make. The only way they will stop stealing them is if we start doing it publicly, then he has a chance for the big guy to give us our complete freedom.” he answered sitting down on the couch.

"Great, I think he will have a better chance at beating me in a fight." I snapped standing up and walked over to the table cracking my knuckles. I grabbed a pancake, put some bacon and eggs on it, and rolled it up before stuffing it into my mouth. As I chewed it, I walked over to Tyrock.

“Come on, are we going to test these vests or what?” I asked as I headed for the garage.

"So you're not going to do anything about this mess. you're not even going to worry about it."

"Oh I'm going to do something about it, just after I get a clear head, and that's only going to happen if I start ending lives. So let's just start with some four-legged ones shall we?" Then I stopped and thought for a second. “I’m surprised that the son of a bitch hasn’t taken our vest designs yet.”

“I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t what they needed,” Tyrock said with a shrug as he got his breakfast.

After I opened the large door to the garage, the lights came on and we stepped out into the ten car garage. There were only three actual cars in it but two of the spaces were taken up by the work in progress vehicle. Another two of the spaces were taken up by tools and equipment along with the massive gun safe in the corner. The size of the thing was enough to take up two car spaces by itself and not to mention the weapons maintenance equipment next to it taking up another parking space. As I walked over to the gun safe, I saw motor, suspension, and body parts sitting around the car frame. It was still in pieces but it was coming along nicely. When I stepped in front of the safe door, the computer system recognized me and the doors opened. When I walked inside, I saw row after row of weapons covering the sides of the walls. It held everything from rifles to pistols, from mini-guns to combat knives, and it held enough ammo for each weapon to take out an entire city and then some. The reason we were allowed all these guns was because we make them and because we have what you would call special privileges with the government. If they need help, they can call and we’ll be on our way ready to throw down. It doesn't seem like we will be doing that for a while.

On the back wall were the vests. They were tac 3's with a forest green camo and along with the vests were the full suits. They were made of the best body armor of the day along with our own design, capable of taking a grenade at point blank range. The thing that makes the vest so great for us is the magnetic plating on the back of the vest and on the thighs of the trousers, they make it so then we can attach guns and equipment to them and they won’t come off unless they were blasted off or we remove them. The design of the vest allows the wearer to carry seventy-five pounds without even feeling it. Now we could carry all that weight for a longer distance than if we just stuffed everything in a pack. The vests also have a radio in the back allowing team members to communicate in the field silently. We don’t have to worry about the magnet messing with the radio; there is a special plating between them keeping the equipment safe.

As we walked over to the vests, Sarah spoke through the speaker in the ceiling corners.

“Guys, the herd is getting ready to move.” She said as I put the camo top on. After I had it secured, I put on the vest and the full helmet capable of covering my whole head. I then walked over to the smaller 30-06 rifles we had off to one side. I thought for a second then stopped and looked over to the big fifty Cal rifles sitting on the other wall near the front of the safe.

“Sarah, can you pull up the location of the beast?” I said as I lifted the fifty Cal from its place, grabbing a couple dual drum magazines of ammo. The rifle was the standard Barrett M82 with a few designs of my own. it had the design of a red, yellow, and blue colored lightning bolt coming out of a white cloud near the foregrip with the point of the bolt facing the barrel. I also added seven six-point purple stars on the stock. There was a big star in the center with the rest of them surrounding it. There was also a yellow sun painted on the scope covers. I don’t know why I painted these on there but it made the weapon feel finished.

“Scanning… scanning… found him. He is near the old mine shaft five miles northwest.” Sarah said as I let the magnet grab a hold of the rifle, locking it in place. “From what I can tell he’s still sleeping.

“Stones, what are you thinking?” Tyrock asked as I grabbed a desert eagle pistol from the rack along with a couple grenades and placing them in their respected places. The pistol had three pink butterflies engraved onto the handle. I placed it on the magnetic plating on my right thigh.

“I think it’s time that old bastard became a pelt on my living room floor,” I said grabbing an assault shotgun and attaching it to my back next to the rifle. The shotgun had three red apples on the stock, three blue diamonds on the large drum magazine and three colored balloons near the barrel. The shotgun and pistol wouldn't do much to the old bastard but I could use them to get some meat to lure him in.

“Alright, but when he rips you a new one don’t come crying to me.” The bastard I was talking about was this legendary grizzly bear that I have been chasing for years now; he has given me some good scars and I have returned the favor but I have yet to kill him. He is so legendary that a big time big game Hunter tried to get him but came back missing his right arm. He is about the size of a blue whale and weight twice as much. we don't know where he came from or what lab he escaped from but I've always wanted to kill him. When we first meet him we just killed some elk and were in the process of dragging them home when he came charging out and scared us off, taking our kill. After he left I tracked him down and hit him with a tracker so we could know where he was at all times, trying to avoid him. He still attacked us and took our kills but after the third time, I made a bet with Tyrock that I would kill that bear before it killed me. He didn't like the idea but took the bet. After that, I have been trying for years to kill him, and today felt like it might be the day I ended that monster. At that moment Hunter walked into the safe. He barked and grabbed his vest from one of the bottom racks. Pulling it off and barking again.

“Alright buddy, let’s go grab the beast,” I said slipping him into the vest. He barked and licked the side of my helmet. I laughed and grabbed a med-kit on the shelf and attached it to the side of Hunter’s armor along with two spare pistols, his vest had the same design as our vest but instead of a full helmet it only covered the top of his head and the top of his snout, leaving his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose free. Then I attached his headset allowing me to communicate with him. By this time, Tyrock had his vest and suit on along with his weapons of choice: a repeating crossbow and the desert eagle pistol instead of the butterflies I have, he has a crescent moon. The crossbow had a picture of a tribal dragon on the stock and the same apple design near the barrel. it might not be as powerfull as the Barrett but it has been able to make it through the beast's skin, a good shot to the ear or the eye would finish the bastard off. Before we left the safe, we both grabbed two combat knives and put them in the holsters on our chest with the handles facing down. I grabbed another and placed it in the holster located at my lower back with the handle facing my right side.

After we stepped out of the safe it closed and locked with a hiss of air. I headed over to the front door of the garage and walked outside to the great forest of Idaho. The sky was clear without a cloud for miles. Just as Sarah said, there was a slight breeze from the north. I could also tell from the soft ground that it had rained the night before.

Good, makes it easier to sneak up on him, I thought. As soon as I stepped outside I started stretching to check my range of motion. The vest didn’t do much but I won’t be able to do my backward stab as fast as I normally could. The magnets were holding fast and the weapons didn't make a sound. After I was ready I grabbed the small computer from a pouch on Hunter's vest. After raising the antenna on his back, I strapped it to my left wrist, turned on the computer, and checked the signal.

“Hey Tyrock, how does the vest fit?” I asked looking up as he walked over.

“Good, a little stiff in the lower back area but not enough to worry about.” He stated giving my armor a quick once over.

“Alright, let’s test the helmets,” I said after checking his vest. I then reached up and flipped the small activation switch located on the back near the bottom of the helmet. When I activated it the helmet gave a small ping as the motion tracker turned on in the bottom left corner of the visor. The tracker was also an item we were testing to see if we could use it in the field.

“Sarah, is the com network activated?” I questioned turning on the radio checking the helmets connection. I turned to check Tyrocks helmet as well. When I did, his name and his status popped onto the helmet's visor.

“Activated, ready to connect.” She confirmed.

“Alright, Sarah, while we are gone, go over the system see if anything strange pops up, Tyrock lets go hunting?” I asked shutting off the external speakers making it so nothing could hear us. As we headed out, Sarah spoke up.

“Stone, the beast is doing it again.” She said in a whining voice. The thing she was talking about was the fact that every time we go to hunt, he doesn’t move, but as soon as we head out get him, he starts moving. It’s almost like he knows that he’s being hunted.

“Don’t worry, we will work around it and get him. We always do, what way is he heading?” I said through the radio.

“He’s heading west for Old Bear Ridge. Same as always.”I thought for a few seconds. “Time for something different?”

“Tyrock, head for the Wolf Pack Rock and cut north, I’ll head south west and get in front of him. Hunter you’re with me.” I said turning to the right and dropping down into a small dried river bed.

“Copy that, good hunting boys.” Tyrock said as he started climbing a small rock face.

As I headed out, I could hear the forest come to life with the rising sun. Animals started moving and the night critters headed for their homes. As we walked, Hunter had his nose to the ground and sniffed furiously knowing whose scent to pick up. As we slowly worked our way through the forest, my motion tracker kept showing animals walking about but nothing close to the size I need. We have been doing this for about an hour before my motion tracker picked up something big enough off to the right then it slowly vanished. I looked down at Hunter, he was facing to the right of us, the hairs on his neck were up, and he had a snarl on his face. I held my hand out flat with the palm facing down. He then laid down and stayed. I slowly crouched down and moved towards a small bunch of rocks sitting on the hill. With the quietness of a mouse walking on cotton, I pulled the rifle down and flipped the bipod down and rested it on the flat rocky surface.

As I looked through the scope, I slowly took my left hand and moved it behind me curling my fingers and signaling Hunter to come to me. As he slowly crawled over, I felt the ground move. It was a small shake, not enough to be noticed by some people but it sent a chill through my spine. Then it happened again, stronger. Strong enough that I could see the water puddle on the rock ripple. I held my hand out flat, making Hunter stop when I heard the air vibrate as if a tiger was purring right next to my ear. This was no kitty, this was the beast and he was nearby. I looked through the scope slowly moving it back and forth looking for the legendary monster.

Then I spotted some movement in the trees about four hundred yards away. If you were inexperienced in finding an animal you would have missed him but when someone has hunted him as long as I have, you can see him from a mile away and with this guy, that isn't an exaggeration. When I pulled him up in the scopes, all I could see was a paw. That alone would be enough to make most men wish their moms kept their legs shut. The paw was about five feet across and eight feet long, eleven including the claws. The claws could scare a thirty-year battle harden army general so bad that he would piss himself. They were a foot across and three foot long capable of cutting through bone like a hot knife through melted butter. The arm of the beast was as big as a tree trunk and was strong enough to knock a couple down with one swing. It went up about thirty feet to the shoulder. The body of him was big enough to hold an eighteen wheeler in it. I could see arrows sticking out of his shoulder and his back, making him look like some kind of giant porcupine. The arrows looked like they been in there from the time of the first Indians. The head itself would make an entire platoon of marines run like the devil was nipping at their heels. It was big enough to swallow one of his normal size brother's whole and has enough teeth to cut an elephant to pieces. The head was covered with scars and arrows. One eye was blinded by some Hunter long ago but the other could see very well and it was facing my direction.

"Oh shit." I thought looking into that deep cold eye. As I did, I could see his nose moving, he was smelling my scent and as soon as he would figure out it was me, he would charge. I quickly brought my hand to the front of the rifle to steady it while I aimed for his one good eye and took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked in my hands and the beast turned his head making it so my shot hit him in his forehead. The shot failed. His skin was strong as steel and our bullets could go all the way through but not to his brain, we would have to deal with the skull of the beast. As soon as the bullet made contact, I grabbed the gun and ran like a bat out of hell.

“HUNTER COME,” I yelled diving off the rock. His bark was followed by an earth-shaking roar. The beast covered the empty plain in two seconds flat. As I ran, I ducked in between trees and around rocks trying to slow him down enough so that I could get a second shot at him. I could feel him breathing down my neck as his steps made the ground shake threatening me to stumble and fall. After jumping over some rocks, I put the rifle back on the magnetic plating, pulled the pistol off, and shot it behind me trying to distract the demon.

“Hunter, find Tyrock!” he barked and took off heading out in front. Soon the vegetation swallowed him as the beast closed in.

“Stones, what the hell is going on over there?” Tyrock asked through the radio thoroughly concerned.

“I think I have bit off more than I could chew!” I shouted dodging a patch of trees. Then a paw slammed down a few inches to my right. Then the other on the left.

“Hang on, I’m almost there, where are you at?” he said as the beast tried to take a bite out of my back.

“Quarter mile from the river, get your ass over here!” I yelled ducking past a low hanging branch. I busted out of the tree line spotting the river ahead but no Tyrock. As I ran, I caught a paw swinging towards me from the right. I quickly jumped towards it and over it at the same time. I landed on my back sliding across the ground. I seem to have miscalculated the distance and the power of the jump. When I slid to a stop, the beast was upon me. He tried to pin me down with his paws but I rolled to the side. His paw missed me by a hair as it slammed into the ground shaking me so much that I flew back onto my feet. When I landed on my feet, he swiped at me. I tried to jump over it but he clipped my foot causing me to fly higher and spin wildly in the air.

“SHIT!!!” I yelled as my view alternated from clear blue skies to green grass and rocks. I landed on my stomach and let out a grunt when the wind was knocked out of my lungs. the helmet protected me from cracking my skull open. I tried to breathe in but my lungs weren't obeying. I rolled onto my back just as a paw pressed down on my chest. The size and force behind it were not helping my empty lungs. As I looked up, I saw the beast looking down at me with his one cold black eye. He growled vibrating the air around me and filling my nose with the stench of rotten meat. This was the closest I have ever been to him and it was not a pretty sight. As he looked down at me struggling for breath, I would bet everything I own that he was smiling at me. He could have easily killed me but he was playing with me. Almost like he just won our little game and he was rubbing it in. Then he reached his head down to bite mine off. I closed my eyes and relaxed. It was a good hunt but he won and I lost. That’s the rules of the game. Subsequently, I heard the sound of something whistling through the air followed by the beast roaring in pain. He raised his paw off of me and stumbled back. I opened my eyes and drew in a deep breath followed by the sound of something landing next to me.

I turned and saw Tyrock and Hunter. Tyrock had his cross bow out and was currently shooting the beast with rapid fire in his head, trying to distract him. Hunter was growing at him baring his teeth. After I sucked in a deep breath of air, I rolled over and pushed myself up on my hands and knees. I could see the beast standing about two hundred yards away. Suddenly, I caught the reflection of glass near the beast’s feet. It was my rifle. The glare of the sun’s reflection came from the scope. I spotted my pistol a couple of yard under him. I looked up at him and he saw the weapons and growled at me.

“Stones, are you okay?” Tyrock asked without taking his eyes off the beast. I looked over at him and nodded still trying to fill my lungs with air. When I could finally breathe normaly, I pulled the assault shotgun off the magnet and pulled back the slide. I aimed it at the beast praying he didn’t know that I didn’t have the range or the power to shoot him.

“Tyrock, head for the house and grab angel,” I said still trying to catch my breath. Angel is a mini gun that we Frankensteined out of a M2 browning capable of firing fifty Cal round at ten thousand rounds per minute.

“Stones, I don’t think that is a good idea,” He started letting loose a couple more arrows. I could tell that he was getting low on ammo. The crossbow was only capable of firing twenty arrows before it had to be reloaded and from how many were in the beast’s face, I'll say he had only three left unless he had a spare clip and even then it will take about ten seconds at least to reload it. That’s too long and my long and medium range weapons were right under the beast so I couldn’t cover him. The shotgun doesn’t have the range to hit him from here.

“Tyrock, listen to me. We are low on ammo and we can’t fight him with our hands” I said still holding the shotgun at the beast. He took a step forward and Tyrock fired an arrow hitting him between the eyes. Again the shot was not fatal but it caused him to step back again. Two left, I thought as I looked down at the rifle and the placement of the pistol. If he won’t listen then I guess it’s time to do something stupid.

“Tyrock, cover me,” I said before I charged heading straight at the beast’s waiting jaws.

“Stones, what are you doing?” Tyrock questioned letting another arrow loose and distracting the beast. One left. I covered the distance in under ten seconds. The beast saw me charging and swung his left paw at me but before I could do anything, a black and tan blur shot past me and latched on to the beast right leg.

“HUNTER NO!” I yelled dodging the left paw. As soon as the beast set the paw down on the ground, he lifted up the other and Hunter to his head. When the beast looked down on Hunter trying to bite his paw, he roared at him. Hunter let go and sprang at the beast snout locking his jaw on his nose. The beast roared and tried to swat him off. At this time I had grabbed the rifle and was heading for the pistol. Then I heard a yelp and saw Hunter land twenty yards away after slamming into a tree. Then the beast saw me. He again tried to swat at me I dived over the swing and rolled under him grabbing the pistol. As soon as I stopped, I turned and ran towards Hunter. A plan already forming in my head.

“Stones, what the fuck are you doing?” Tyrock asked firing his last arrow hitting the beast directly in the inner ear and causing him to turn and roar at Tyrock. I pulled the shotgun off and fired it wildly to get its attention back on me. When it turned back, I ran full out for the tree behind Hunter. As the beast charged me, I scooped up hunter and threw him at Tyrock.

“Just trust me, I have an idea.” I said as he caught him. When I reached the tree I started climbing, I quickly reached over the beast head and jumped and pushed myself off the tree getting myself a couple feet over him. That’s when things went wrong. I was aiming to land on his back but then his head lifted up making me level with his eyes and he opened his mouth to eat me.

Perspective: Tyrock.

After I set Hunter down, I turned to see Stones jumping backward off the tree flying through the air towards the beast. I knew he was aiming for its back but the beast pushed off with his front legs getting high enough that he was level with Stones and opened his mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

“STONES!!!” I yelled pulling out my pistol aiming for the bear’s eye trying to stop him. I wasn’t fast enough. The jaws snapped shut with Stones inside. “NO!!!!!!!” I roared shooting at the monster.

It started to turn to face me but then it shook it head and roared in agony. It started to shook its head back and forth like it was trying to dislodge something before it turned and roared at me. That’s when I saw it. Stones was hanging in the back of the beast’s throat. He had one of his knifes jammed in and was holding on to that handle for dear life. He looked out at me and gave me saluted at me with two fingers. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was smiling like a mad man. Then he reached down for his pistol and stuck the barrel to the top of it throat and started unloading rounds. That really pissed the beast off. He shook his head left and right trying to dislodge Stones. He pushed off with his front legs and came back down with a crash causing me to lose my stance and fall on my ass. Then the beast stopped, gave a small shudder, and collapsed. When he hit the ground, he caused a massive amount of dust to blow into the air. I coughed when the dust reached my lungs. I quickly stood up and headed over to the hopefully dead demon. On the way, I saw Stones’ rifle on the ground and picked it up. The symbols he had shining in the light, why he had those types of symbols on it was beyond me.

“Stones, you better not be dead or I’ll will bring you back from the dead and send you straight to hell.” I said heading over to the beast head. When I got within striking distance, I raised the rifle at the beast. Then the mouth moved, I quickly aimed it at the beast’s one good eye. Then on the radio I heard:

“Tyrock anytime you want to get off your ass and help me get this damn thing open?” Stones said. I shook my head and walked over to the jaws of the beast. I grabbed the top and spoke into the radio.

“One… two… three.” Then I heaved and the jaw slowly opened as soon as it was opened enough I stuck the rifle into the mouth and used it to hold the jaws open. Stones then crawled out on his hands and knees. He was covered in slime and smelled like a ten year old abandon beef factory with a full inventory. As he crawled out, I could see him holding his left hand to his chest. He looked like he hurt his hand or something. When he was free, he rolled over onto this back and then I saw the blood. I quickly knelt down to determine the extent of the damage He had four deep lacerations on his chest; they looked like they were from being thrown around in a mouth full of deadly sharp teeth. They were each about two inches wide and three inches apart. They cut through the armor like it was tissue paper but it looked like the armor saved his life. Without it he would have been cut to ribbons. I could also see that the computer was damaged leaving Sarah in the dark about his condition. He gave a groan and tried to sit up. He pulled off his helmet and dropped it to the side laying back down. He had a big goofy grin on his face and when he looked up at me he had a sparkle in his eyes that I have only seen a couple times. All of them were during training. It happened when he accomplished something that someone said he couldn’t. Now he’s getting ready to rub it in.

“Tyrock… I… fucking… told you… I… would kill it.” He said taking deep breaths of air giving off a little chuckle. I rolled my eyes.

"You think you can stand, those cuts look pretty bad and we need to get back to the house if we are going to do anything about them.

"No problem lets go." he said holding his right hand out keeping his left to his chest. I smiled and grab his hand giving him a hands up. When he tried to stand, he doubled over in pain. I set him back down on his back and looked around.

“Hunter, here.” As Hunter walked over, I pulled the rifle out of the bear’s mouth and placed it on my back. I pulled the first aid kit off his vest and opened it. Inside was a basic first aid kit but in the bottom were a couple syringes of morphine. enough to make anybody go completely numb. I grabbed one and rolled up Stones’ sleeve and jabbed it in. after a few minutes, the pain drained from his face. I quickly pulled the vest open and cut his shirt away. When I did, it had to be one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen. The cut went straight to the ribs and with what I could see two ribs were broken. He was bleeding a lot and he also had a couple of cuts on his arm. How he managed to stay alive, I don’t know, but right now if I don’t get him back to the house, he would never live to see the sun rise. I grabbed some gaze and wrapped him up. it should slow the bleeding but only of a short period of time. I quickly pulled him up and threw his arm over my shoulder and started heading for the house going as fast as I could. As we headed for the house, Stones got more out of it, like he was drunk or really high and I could see the front of the gaze starting to turn red. He also stumbled enough that I almost had to drag him to the house. When we reached the front door, Stones was almost completely asleep his skin starting to lighten up. When I opened the door, Sarah’s voice called out.

“Guys are you alright? I lost contact with you, what happened?” She asked turning on the lights to max.

“Stones is hurt, I need you to get the medical bay ready.” I said heading for the door. I pushed it open and lead him over to the operation table. I gently set him on it and walked over to the surgical tools taking off my armor off as I went. Then things got worse. At that exact moment, the alarms went off and Sarah spoke.

“Tyrock, I detecting a massive energy signature,” she said sounding worried.

“Where?” I asked grabbing a few tools heading back to stones. hoping it could wait until I was done

“In the garage. It’s heading for the power controls.” I stopped and threw the tools back on the table and grabbed a pistol from the ground and headed for the garage. If whatever is in there gets to the controls, I won't be able to help Stones if his heart stops. I reached the door just as the lights shut down. Then there was a big bang followed by the house shaking. This didn’t feel like an earthquake, it felt like the house was lifting off the ground and being torn apart. As I tried to keep my balance, there was a blinding flash of light then everything stopped.

Author's Note

Hey every one I'm sorry that the story is taking a long time to write but if you like it give it a thumbs up. This chapter is a long one so I can get the rest of the story started, be prepared. your world is about to change.