Fortified Compound

As C walked down the entryway stairs, he saw soldiers pass by in timed intervals, carrying large crates up the stairs in groups of threes. C almost lost his footing several times, bumping into the soldiers' encumbering outfits, but managed to reach the bottom of the stairs without much incident. Upon reaching the bottom, he was immediately met with a soldier.

"Hey, Lucky. The commander told me to lead you to a room." The soldier said the moment he saw C.

C followed the soldier towards the inner parts of the bunker, where a "guest" room was located. The room was rather spacious, containing little more furnishings than a table and a couple of chairs near the middle of the room.

"You, stay in this room until we get an all clear." The soldier informed C, "Then meet the commander in the 'main room' when it's safe."

The soldier then left in a hurry before C could ask where the main room was. Tired and under moderate amounts of pain from his growing headache, C sat down in one of the chairs in the room. The chair was heavily cushioned, much against C's expectations. C took this chance to rest for a brief moment, and almost managed to doze off before he was shaken awake by an alarm going off. Thinking that it was a breach, C bolted out of the room and ran out through the hall, eventually stopping when he saw the soldiers just sitting around.

"That's the all-clear siren, kid." One of the soldiers explained, noticing C's panic.

"That means the skewers are gone?" C tried to reassure.

"No, it means we've just settled into high alert."

"So they're- wait, do you know where the 'main room' is?"

"It's down the hall from the room you just ran out of, to the left side."

Without hesitation, C jogged back towards the room he came from and took a left, just as the soldier said. He stumbled upon a large fortified door, similar to the one that sealed off the main entrance. He knocked three times, and was informed that it was open.

C peeked inside, and saw a large density of soldiers, just sitting or standing around. C went into the room, and walked past all of the soldiers, who crowded in small groups and were talking rather loudly. He saw a glimpse of the commander, and started to head in his direction. Upon parting through the soldiers, C encountered the commander talking to several other soldiers. They were gathered around a few crates, which were closed shut, and were trying to open them with a crowbar.

"Damn thing's bolted shut." One of the crowbarmen complained.

"Keep at it! The wood will break even if the lock doesn't!" The commander shouted.

The commander turned his attention to C.

"Lucky, you said you saw the Phantom before in the city. Any details of it that you can remember from then?" He immediately asked C.

"The thing's appearance or what it did?"

"Anything you can tell us."

"Well, I remember..." C suddenly trailed off, becoming increasingly nervous as he remembered the details of the Phantom, "It had a dark hood that cast a shadow over its entire face. I only really saw the glowing red eyes that it possessed. I believe that there was a stronger glow near the middle; like pupils of some sort. It also had... I guess armor underneath its cloak; it looked ancient, but, at the same time, it was different from all of the other olden armors that I've seen before."

"Its of Olodonese design, most likely" The commander noted.

"Olodonese?" C questioned, "Wait, do you know anything about the Phantom yourself?"

"Nothing I can tell you."

"Well," C continued, struck odd by the commander's answer, "Its physical capabilities were beyond anything I've seen before for a human - if it even is a human. And... that's basically it."

"So not much new information, huh." The commander said, "How about the aliens? You said that the skewers were affected by the APC's turret, so what else did you find out since the invasion?"

"I didn't find much else that would take down the aliens. That's what I was heading towards the military for."

"Nothing else about the aliens? At all?"

C thought for a few seconds, "The aliens that I've encountered have already been named by the military: the reaper, the skewers, the parasites, the charger, the gunship..."

C paused, then said, a bit loudly in realization, "No, there were two more!"

C paced back and forth in a short line, trying to dig into the lower braces of his memory, "There was a massive alien in the forest that me and the previous army guys I were with encountered. It was probably taller than even the reaper, and had only three long legs. Its mouth was also made of three parts. It had an odd stride to its walk, and was too slow to follow us through the trees. That or we were able to distract it with an explosion."

"Did it have any eyes?" The commander cut in.

"Not that I remember."

"Then it probably was distracted. It's the same way we distract the chargers. A waste of grenades, but bullets simply don't cut it anymore."

The commander paused for a couple seconds, before asking, "You said it had an odd stride, on account of being tripedal, right?"

"Yes." C answered simply.

"Then we'll call them 'striders.' And about the other one?"

C started to pace again, and found himself stumped, "There was another one, I'm sure of it, but I can't remember the details of it. Or where I had seen it. Its strange."

"Then we'll just keep you in the back until you remember." The commander told C, "I'll notify the others of your report on the... strider. Meanwhile, get some rest. Hopefully you'll have a straight head after you wake up."

"Um, where is the rest room, sir? I mean- the room where I can rest-"

"The room you were brought to upon arrival should suffice."

"Alright." C hurriedly said, "Its been an honor to speak to you, sir."

C went back towards the door, and then heard a wooden crate break open. He turned, and remembered that the soldiers were opening a couple of crates.

"Lucky!" Another one of the soldiers called, "Take an MRE with you."

C caught the package that was thrown his way, over a few soldiers.

"Uh, thanks." C said, as he made his way out of the room.

"Hey, you said you wanted to see my boxing skills, right?" A soldier asked the thrower as the door started to close, "If one of those things hit my head, you're gonna see them first hand."

Inside the resting room, C started to prepare his MRE, and got into a comfortable position on the chair. He started to scarf down the food, until he suddenly remembered that the last thing he ate was an alien. The memory damaged his appetite and made him shudder, but he braved through and continued with the meal. After he finished the meal, C started to look around the room. He noticed a stack of magazines near the edge of the table, and started to look through them. "This'll help pass the time," thought C.

C flipped through the magazines, reading through the articles and advertisements for now defunct products. He was quickly bored, and skimmed through the articles quickly. He comes across an article about investments that catches his eye. On the backdrop of the two-page spread lied a full landscape capture of a bustling urban street, complete with skyscrapers and rushing workers. A faint sorrow suddenly welled up inside of C, and he quickly put away the magazines.

Afterwards, C tried to follow what the commander told him to do and attempted to fall asleep, but felt an uncanny panic. He immediately got up from the chair, and started to pace around the room. C decided to take this time to think about the situation he is currently in, but started to get reminded of his headache as an intense ringing took hold of him. He sat down and expected the ringing to pass, but it kept growing. The ringing reached a splitting height, forcing C to clench his head in his hands. A stream of voice-like noises merged in with the consistent ringing, spouting words of various volumes that C could not decipher.

Harrowing minutes pass, then the noises near instantly vanished, leaving C bewildered in his chair. "That's a very bad omen." C silently commented . The ordeal took a load of energy from C, and left him dazed. He eventually worked up the courage to get up, but his legs were still shaken. He sat back down, and, now tired and worn, decided now was the best time to fall asleep, though he was worried that he would have a bad dream.

C woke up without much incident, and felt a lot more energized and upbeat than he was just a while earlier. He got up and decided to get something to eat. He then heard alarms suddenly sound off, followed by heavy footsteps and the clacking of equipment on the other side of the door. C assumed that it was a drill of some sort until he started to hear yelling. The lights in the room shut off, leaving C in almost complete darkness; stopped by a reddish glow from underneath the door. The door slammed open, and a handful of soldiers ran in.

"Lucky, with us!" One of the soldiers shouted.

C had no choice but to follow the soldiers down the halls. Guided only by the soldier's gun-mounted flashlights and the faint red glow of the alarms, the group made their way down into the bunker's depths. He tried to guess why they were moving further into the already secured fortress, but had figured it out when he heard sharp scratching along the concrete ground not far behind them. C ran closely behind the soldiers, and, in moments, was led past a set of sturdy metal doors. 

Beyond the doors were the majority of the other soldiers, bunkered in the large, fortified room. C looked back, and saw the massive doors pulled closed, blocking out anything that would attempt to enter.