𝖘𝖊𝖙𝖚𝖕

—𝕷𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝕮𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖉—

𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖚𝖊 𝐈𝐈𝐈: 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖔𝖗 𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘𝖙 𝖚𝖘

Doctor’s prescription: A scalpel a day keeps the vices at bay— Medic

| Commander Blackhound |

“Your son died a hero!”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“...”

| Commander Blackhound |

“The only good news was that all the bombings were within the abandoned city, which had long been evacuated. These attacks were a targeted strike to wipe us out.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“...what's their angle?”

The captain could not control his tears.

| Commander Blackhound |

“The Founder's Day parade is tomorrow.”

The 20th anniversary of Psycorps.

| Commander Blackhound |

“They’re trying to bait our leader into showing himself. If he doesn’t turn up, the bombings will continue.”

The leader, Psycorp's founder, and the head of the city-state known as Bellspring.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“So, their goal was to…whittle our forces down…so that we can't defend the leader anymore…and keep killing innocents until he shows up...”

The captain spoke in a soft tone, still grieving for his son.

| Commander Blackhound |

“It's all over now. We took Anti-psycho’s head and retrieved all the stolen prototypes.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“...stolen prototypes?”

This was the first time the captain had heard the reason for their deployment.

| Commander Blackhound |

“Psycorp was experimenting with a unique division of mechanized infantry for special operations. But, a few of their scientists and researchers went rogue. They smuggled the parts to Anti-psycho and helped assemble them.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

 “The wretched bastards must've been laying low and planning this attack for quite a while!”

| Commander Blackhound |

“I'm sorry. Our intel came too late….”

| Beta-squad Captain |

 “...What has humanity created!? Monsters are creating more monsters!!! In all my years, I've never encountered anything like this.”

The captain spoke in a pained voice. 

| Beta-squad Captain |

“How could we have known? How could we have prepared!?”

| Commander Blackhound |

“Captain, they all did their best! We did as well.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“You did!? All this is news to me. Tell me, why did Psycorps hide this info from us?... Did you hide this info from other teams as well!? If they only knew.”

The captain clutched his knees tightly.

| Commander Blackhound |

“If they knew, captain, the damage would be far greater. Didn't I already explain how members within Psycorps have gone rogue? The enemy is among us! We have to assume that they are listening to these private comms.”

The commander retorted in a harsh tone.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“That doesn't make sense. Can't you even trust us? Anti-psycho already know what those prototypes are capable of, so what's the harm in revealing it now?”

The captain could not contain his anger and let his direct superior know his thoughts.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Captain, don't you'll get in trouble.”

The vice tried to calm the captain before he got into more trouble.

The men felt the same as the captain, but they knew better than to speak up and let their anger quietly burn.

| Commander Blackhound |

“You think it’s that simple!? Anti-psycho has only scratched the surface! The true capabilities of these prototypes remain highly classified. We can’t risk leaking any of their true capabilities on the comms.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“That's absurd!!!”

| Commander Blackhound |

 “Listen. Even disclosing such a thing will get me in trouble. However, I'll gladly sacrifice my points since you lot are all I have left. I rather have my squad in good spirits than have them go off thinking I don’t give a damn.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Commander, I apologize…my head is messed up…” 

The captain was quite taken aback at the sincere tone of his commander.

| Commander Blackhound |

“Just today, we already discovered one traitor. The survivor from the Delta team. He was their newest recruit. Remember him?”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Yes, I know him. He’s a good kid. So he survived?...that’s great! But him being a traitor!? How can that be?”

| Commander Blackhound |

“He single-handedly killed his entire team!”

The commander spoke with utter anger and fury in his voice.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“He did what now!?”

More than one voice exclaimed those words. Hearing such a thing happen brought everyone's morale to an all-time low.

| Commander Blackhound |

“He's on death row. We’re executing him before the week is over. Claims it was due to the prototype or something.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“I don’t know what those prototypes did, but you have to vouch for him, commander! He’s a clutz, for sure. But he’s a good kid. He’s innoc—”

| Commander Blackhound |

“Innocent? Will that bring back the lives he took with his own hands? I expected more from you, captain. I know he was your son's best friend. But, he could very well be part of Anti-psycho.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Surely this has to be a mis—”

| Commander Blackhound |

“ A mistake? A misunderstanding? That excuse is too easy. Rather we must assume that he waited for the right opportunity and took it in cold blood!”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“...”

While the captain wanted to save the boy, due to the friendship the boy had with his dead son, he couldn't deny that he could very well be a traitor. And so he stayed quiet until he could look into this matter himself. 

| Commander Blackhound |

“I'm going to send the support team now. I just got word that all stolen prototypes have been accounted for, and your team can come home. Good work, Beta team! Stand by”

The commander cut the comms after his orders.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Men! Pack it up. We're going home!!!”

At the captain’s word, all the men around him started hugging each other, and a loud cheer went up.

| Beta-squad Scout | B-005 |

“Finally! We can get out of this shit hole!”

| Beta-squad Heavy Assault | B-008 |

“You said it. I can’t wait to go back and be done with this mess. My back’s been killing me. I need to get it checked. Know any good chiropractors?”

| Beta-squad Captain |

 “Oh, before I forget! Collect the samples from the bodies.”

Some color was now returning to the captain’s face, and his voice had a bit more strength.

| Beta-squad Rear Guard | B-006 |

“Sir, you mean the strange dark liquid we found within their wounds when we first arrived?”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Yes, open them up if you have to; those traitors don't deserve an ounce of our respect. Get all the liquid in their bodies into a container. HQ will be interested in investigating what on earth it is.”

The captain ordered, finally stepping out of the room and into the carnage outside.

The soldiers who went out all winced. The bodies were so horribly mangled up, dislocated, and jumbled together that they could hardly hold their composure.

Yet, orders were orders, so they switched on their infrared vision. Surprisingly, the bodies still appeared as red blobs on their visors since it hadn't been more than an hour before these men had been so gruesomely killed.

The men winched as their gloves went within the cavity of the bodies lying all over the place. The bodies and blood still were warm to the touch. 

Viewing them only through their infrared visors allowed the men to see the fallen soldiers as something less than human. And they began inspecting the bodies for the dark liquid they saw leaking from the wounds earlier, trying to get some of the liquid into their containers.

| Beta-squad Scout | B-010 |

“What do you think caused this?”

The scout asked another as he squatted down to cut the body open.

| Beta-squad Heavy Assault | B-009 |

“I doubt even a rabid animal could cause such a mess.”

 The heavy assault cut in, overhearing the two.

| Beta-squad Support Carrier | B-012 |

“Then it has to be a machine, right?”

Their newest member pitched in, joining the conversation.

Support Carrier, the mule of the group.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“No, look at the mess. There are no signs of any cuts. Nothing clean. Whatever strange phenomenon occurred here used blunt force to jumble up their innards. In all my years, I've never seen anything like this. It’s almost supernatural! But as a man of science, I must rule out the possibility that spirits were involved.”

Their new medic answered when he overheard their crazy ideas. 

He was new to the team and kept to himself, but today he seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood.

The men all stared at him with awe. Some believed him to be mute; others considered him a moron.

But, what surprised them was that the man had no visor on him, just his glasses that were now clouding over. He happily did his work, cutting open bodies and digging his hands into the hollow cavities, all with a smile.

The men thought that he looked pretty intimidating as some blood splashed onto his face just when he cut open a body with his scalpel. He didn’t even bother wiping it off as he was too engrossed in his work. 

Realizing his mistake, he tried to calm his team by giving them his widest, most reassuring smile and a thumbs up. 

Only to have some entrails from the body he was examining get tangled on his forearm as he struggled to raise his hand to give them the thumbs up. As the medic’s teeth sparked and his glasses glinted in the light, the whole team moved away from him, fearing for their lives.

They all decided to leave it to him. After all, no man felt safe working next to the quack medic.

After a few minutes and some precise cuts with his scalpel, the medic was successful in freeing his hands and stood to his feet.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Where's everyone gone?”

The medic, being quite puzzled, raised an eyebrow at his team's behavior.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Oh well, their loss to miss out on such a fascinating scene. This whole scene is bizarre. The captain was right to call it that. It's as if someone put all of them into a popcorn machine and rattled them back and forth.”

The medic spoke to himself, examining the roof, walls, and floor, which were all covered with blood.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“What's your verdict, doc?”

 The vice asked after returning from outside the building, where he was conducting his own examination. 

| Beta-squad Vice |

“I saw the men all rushing out of the building in a panic. So I came to see what’s up.”

The vice asked the medic while communicating with him in sign language.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“An earthquake.”

| Beta-squad Vice |

“...”

He can speak!? 

Also, we must file a complaint against the crackhead they sent us. 

He comes quite highly recommended, but…

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“A massive earthquake! Enough to bounce their bodies all over the place. Off the roof, the walls, through the hallways. I think we might even find some of them outside?”

The medic said in deep thought.

| Beta-squad Rear Guard | B-006 |

“Vice! We found more bodies behind the building. They're all over the place. Some of them are as far as 300 meters away. Captain says it's unbelievable. Almost as if they were placed in a slingshot and shot out the windows!”

The Rear Guard spoke while running in.

To be continued…