WICKET

MAY 2017

The Sun Reach Nuclear Power Plant, located way outside of Wicket, suffered a power outage. After 24 hours of no communication from the internal team or the team sent to investigate, the Special Entity Contamination Team was sent in to investigate, led by Captain Alice Stormer and 4 other Echo Soldiers. All of them were dressed in the yellow hazmat suits, except reinforced with metal plates and wielding assault rifles. Alice had the forearms of her suit cut out. After the transport bus arrived at the entrance to the Nuclear Power Plant, Alice and her team exited. The outside to the power plant was abandoned, except for several cars littered about, most likely from the people who were still inside. The emergency lockdown had been initiated and the security doors had locked the facility. Alice put her arms out, fingers outstretched and molded them into sharp metal knives, before proceeding to slide them through the cracks of the doors. Once she had a grip, she proceeded to pull apart the doors, breaking the mechanism and allowing the doors to open. Alice and the team entered the facility.

Inside the facility was completely dark, with only the red siren lights briefly illuminating the hallways. Echo Soldier #1 pulled up a portable Gauge Counter. The counter indicates that the air is extremely toxic and lethal, and any sort of exposure could immediately kill them.

“Alright everyone, lights on and safety’s off. Stick close, our main goal is to locate the Server Room, where the distress call came from and if deal with what caused this. I’ll take point, stay in a straight line” Alice said, moving to the front of the line as the soldiers got into formation.

The team slowly began to make their way through. The walls and floors of the facility had scorch marks on them, with the walls rusting and breaking down. A toxic gas was present all around, making it hard to see directly in front of them. Alice came to a directory, which showed the Server Room was underground, on Level 5. They made their way to a set of doors that lead to a stairway and began making their way down. The sound of the emergency generator began to get louder. Finally they all made it to Level 5 and continued the path to the sever room, when in the distance they hear a loud screech, almost a mixture of human and something else entirely.

The team began to move a bit more quickly, not wanting to face whatever made that noise. Eventually the team made it to the Server room and to their horror, they noticed that a hand-shaped hole was melted through the security doors. Alice was able to get a grip and pried open the doors. Inside the room was quite a shock.

There laid the bodies of 4 people, whose skin had melted off, exposing their flesh and bones as the meat was sizzling, the sound was horrific. Their eyeballs had popped, with only the optic nerve hanging out. Only one of the bodies had a deep cut across their wrist. Their bodies were slumped in the chairs and their clothing had been burnt.

“What the fuck happened here?” Echo #02 asked, still by the doorway, afraid to get closer

“I don’t know, but it was probably the same thing that made that hole in the door” Alice replied, not being able to take her eyes off the bodies

“Captain, behind you on the wall” Echo #03 pointed out.

They all turned around and on the corroded walls was the phrase ‘PW SUNDANCE5057QXY’ written in blood.

“Echo #04, see if you can figure out the computer” Alice instructed

“Affirmative” Echo #04 replied, before moving over to the terminal and began typing.

“These men were exposed to Level 5 radiation, they must’ve died within seconds” Echo #01 said, as he moved the counter over the bodies

“Must’ve been the most painful couple of seconds in existence” Echo #02 replied, still hanging by the door.

“Captain, I got something” Echo #04 said

“What is it?” Alice said as she and Echo #01 and #03 moved over

“It is audio recordings, all dated yesterday”

“Play them”

Echo #04 hit play and the speakers came to life.

“May 7th, 2017. It is 1:00 am since the reactor downstairs had exploded. It wasn’t a big explosion, but big enough to initiate security protocols. Me, researcher Andy Hood and William Bend along with Technician Jim Court have been locked inside the server room. Not sure about the others but we hope they got to a room in time. We are currently awaiting the Seal Team to arrive and contain the exposure so we can all leave.”

“May 7th, 2017. It is 1:47 am. The Seal Team has arrived and began to get to work. They assured us it would take an hour or two to accurately assess the damage and seal it up. Thankfully we have the newspaper to do crosswords in as we kill time.”

“May 7th, 2017. It 2:30 am. Shortly after the last recording we kept in contact with the Seal Team via radio. As they got closer to the reactor chamber, their comms began to go haywire. The last thing we heard was screaming before dead silence.”

“May 7th, 2017. It is 3:00 am. We haven’t heard anything back from the Seal Team. I fear the radiation has become a lot stronger, melting their hazmat suits. The boys are beginning to get unnerved, but I fear something worse.”

“May 7th, 2017. It is 3:10 am. The external towers have gone off now, the radiation has mostly likely radiated the cables and lines. Thankfully the emergency generators haven’t been touched yet.”

May 7th, 2017. It is 4:00 am. Our worst fears have been confirmed. All of the Seal Team members are dead, except for one. On the security cams we saw a glowing hand melt through the security doors, before his whole body melted through. He rolled through the hole, before getting up. Soon after that the camera went off. I think he fried the circuits.”

“May 7th, 2017. We’ve lost visual contact with the exposed man. All our cams are off. So far we are fine, but if the radiation gets worse, I don’t know if the doors can withstand the radiation for much longer.”

“May 7th, 2017. In case something happens, this is the last recording I will make. Don’t have sympathy for me, don’t care about me. To anyone who finds this, do NOT allow them to restart this project. We have created something new, something much worse. William is trying to make a sign or note to anyone who finds our computer terminal and what to do. Please shut down this project, bury it as deep as you can- oh god, oh god he’s here everyone get down!”

The sound melting metal is heard, along with a loud groan that doesn’t sound human. A scream is heard in the distance, the melting metal stops and heavy footsteps begin to fade as the exposed man begins running to the source of the screaming.

“Oh fuck we’re breached. William get that note written now! Use whatever you can! We don’t have much time, promise me you’ll kill this project- ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” all 4 men begin screaming in agony. The sounds of their screaming go for a long time before eventually dying down, with the only sound remaining is sizzling.

“Fuck” Alice said, as she and the Echo Team looked around at the men. The sound of something screaming in the distance caught their attention.

“Let’s go” Alice said as she took charge and the soldiers followed behind her.

The followed the sounds of screaming through a few hallways before a sudden wave of heat hit them. The counter began to rise rapidly, before the glass broke. Echo #01 was forced to drop the counter as it began getting hotter and hotter. They all rounded the corner before stopping and seeing the exposed man, standing in the hallway, hunched over and shaking violently. His skin was a bright green, his bones could been seen in black outlines and the hazmat suit had the top half melted off. The exposed man turned around upon sensing their presence. His eyes were brighter than his body, almost casting a spotlight on the Echo team. Instinctively all of them raised their guns, aimed at him. The exposed man made a loud screeching noise before running at them.

They all opened fire and the bullets tore through him but didn’t stop him. Glowing splats painted the walls as he continued charging. Echo #04 held his gun up with both hands, bracing himself for the impact. The exposed man tackled him over, his hands immediately melting through his protective armor.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Echo #04 began screaming, before stopping when the exposed man pressed his hands to his forehead, melting through it and melting his brain. The exposed man got back up and charged at the rest of the members. Alice and Echo #01 and #02 began to run, hopping to get to a wider space to avoid the exposed man. They all made it to the open area, except for Echo #03. He managed to reach the end of the hallway, before the exposed man began running into him. Echo #03 locked arms with him, before turning and throwing him away. Echo #03’s gloves and shoulder pads were exposed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He began screaming as his body fell to the ground, his body convulsing rapidly. After a few seconds, the screaming stopped and the body went limp. The exposed man got back up and turned his attention to the remaining members. Alice threw her gun on the ground and stood between Echo #01 and #02 and the exposed man. The exposed man began screeching and running at Alice. Alice tightened her stance and was preparing for impact. The exposed man and Alice locked arms with each other, Alice’s arms on his shoulder and his arms going for her face. His hand was inches from her face but Alice had a tight grip of him. In a quick and easy swoop, Alice moved her right arm to his throat, grabbing it. The exposed man stopped going for her throat and his arms went to her arm. He began clawing at it, but Alice didn’t let go. Her arms began to spark up as the radiation tried to eat through her arms. Alice let go of her left hand and pulled it back, making her hand into a fist before driving it into the exposed man’s face. The impact made all the bones in his face crack, the exposed man temporarily stopped clawing as he stood dazed. Alice then winded up her arm again, before driving it back into his face. She punched him again and again until he stopped moving entirely. Alice let go of his throat and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Echo #02. Take off Echo #03’s suit” Alice instructed

“What?” Echo #03 replied, not sure if he heard properly

“His suit, take it off him and bring it here” Alice repeated, this time more aggressively

Echo #02 walked over to Echo #03 and ripped the suit off of him, which started to begin sticking together from the flesh. Alice took the suit and laid it over the exposed man’s head. She then proceeded to rapidly punch the man’s face, caving it in as the sound of bones breaking and radiated blood began spraying. After a few more punches, Alice stopped and took a few steps back. The blood managed to eat through the armor plating, melting it. The radiant glow from the man began to fade. After a few minutes of waiting to make sure he wasn’t coming back to life, the Echo team began to leave. They reached the entrance to the lab and once outside, could safely take off their head gear to breathe.

“Echo #01, call it in. The SECT is officially taking over and if anyone tries to complain, direct them to me and I’ll sort them out” Alice instructed

“Understood” Echo #01 replied and moved to the bus to begin his work

“Echo #02, grab whatever is strong enough to survive and transfer the data recordings over, then send them to the Director”

“Understood” Echo #02 replied and moved to begin his work.

The SECT arrived and began to cover up this mess. The whole incident was covered up as a fire incident and the Nuclear Power Plant was shut down completely. Whatever experiment was going on was seized by the SECT and hidden away. The power plant was locked down and anyone who got out before the radiation took over was threatened to keep quiet about what happened. Alice and the remaining Echo team returned back to their base, to get first aid and await further orders.

“What the fuck happened there?” Alex asked as he applied applying a special chemical to Alice’s arm

“Some sort of experiment gone wrong I think. I don’t know and I don’t want to” Alice replied

“Well, at least we figured out what can hurt us now. Could be a good exit plan” Alex joking said

“Maybe for you, I plan on living as long as I can” Alice replied sternly

“Okay, all done. Take it easy now” Alex said as he put a plastic coating on her arm.

“Thank you” Alice replied, examining her arm before getting up from the table. Alice examined her wounds and noticed that they were completely healed.