Chapter II

Landing quickly and in absolution, each of us fumbled through our gears and switching on our thermal sensors along with night vision goggles in this thickened treelines and rough terrain. 

"Nobody told me that the Grove is literally inside a forest---a very thick one too." coming from Reins who was the last to set his goggles up. "Well, that's what happens when you don't ask questions during briefing,"  Xiao replied as he awaits my signal to advance along with Schneider.

"Alpha this is Command, give me a sit wrap." I glanced at every corner of our current position, It seems that a tough set of trees covers up the entire terrain, making it hard for me to scan the surroundings and I bet even my team does too. "So far so good."

"Good, now I'm sending you the coordinates of the Grove. And remember Captain, quick and clean." Everyone received the coordinates as I did, they've set their watches correct and in sync along with me. The sound of clockwork ticking and the deafening sound of emptiness in this forest---it reminds me of a feeling, a feeling that I've almost forgotten. 

I gestured a hand to finally start the first phase of the operation which was arriving at the Green Grove but things soon came out different from what we've all expected---oh so very different.

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3:42 am

A peaceful forest it was, no noise from birds nor crickets, just the occasional breeze from the treelines. It was more of a morning breeze than of night, so far nothing was out of the ordinary except for one thing, we are in the forest far north of Finland near a coastal village at night yet the breeze blows ever so slightly and it doesn't bring the cold comfort of the night but rather a hot sunny day. 

I started feeling a dripping sensation from the back of my neck all the way down and even from the side of my head. "weird," I mumbled, Schneider who was covering our six caught me anxious. "Something bothering you cap?" 

"Nothing, keep your eyes peeled someone might be scouting the perimeter." I managed to keep a composed figure while wiping away the sweat from my head all the way down to my neck. "Cap. we're here." coming from a rough voice who belonged to none other than lieutenant Reins. 

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3:47 am

We've entered from the rear of the grove hoping, that they would be caught off guard. But we were wrong.

I've given command a sit wrap as we quietly enter every cottage of the grove. By the time we were finish searching, a huge thump clapped inside my chest. begging the question to be answered, "Where are they?" 

Each of us exchanged glances still being wary of the fact that this might be all just a set-up and that those filthy rebels would pop out of nowhere at any given moment. But no, my gut has a whole other scenario already played out, beating out my senses until the hair from my arms and body stood as if the heat emitting from it was a very cold stab.   

The grove was completely abandoned giving way for life to grow. Vines runs down each cottage, ferns grew from the streets to the bedroom and even in the drains, moss and molds grew rich in literally every part of the grove. There were no infrastructures that could be seen operational too as if the whole place was either completely shut down or was abandoned for decades. 

We were in the middle of it all where a wooden statue that barely even stood could be found. We stood there trying to communicate with command, Reins covers our twelve as Xiao in three and Schneider still on six. 

It seems that five minutes had already passed and still, nothing came from command leaving us blind and jeopardizing the operation itself. Every inch of my being begs to leave this place as if it was telling me that this whole place is a no man's land and I bet that I'm not the only one who's feeling this too.

After hopelessly reaching out to command, I started to feel the desperation, all of a sudden I felt on edge like I'm somehow losing my mind over this radio. Then a scream echoed sounding like a woman's voice but not quite---definitely not quite. "AAAAGGHHHH"  All eyes were on six and as if that weren't strange enough a cottage suddenly collapsed unleashing a flock of birds that kindled blue starlight off their feathers. 

One after another more of the cottages completely collapsed in a loud uncontained eruption, and as more cottage collapsed more flock of birds flew out. By the time that it was all happening our guns pointed at different directions depending on where the sound came from. The birds also started to sing, but not what a bird would usually sound like, the birds sang in a very excruciating and horrific manner. The screams of a woman but definitely---not entirely. 

By the time that the entire cottage had been reduced to rubble, we find ourselves in a very peculiar situation, a situation that central intelligence had never prepared us for nor expected us to encounter. The flock of birds flew above our heads in a circle as they dreadfully sang that poured horror over us. 

The sound was unbearable, I even thought that my eardrums were gonna burst out blood at any given time but what came next was even horrifying than of seeing my own pool of blood. 

Reins: "CAPTAIN!" 

Xiao: "CAP! AAGHHHH!"

Schneider: "AAAGGRRHHHH!"

There my team crouched while covering their ears alongside me who was uncertain to bite the dust just as I always feel but this time there was no uncertainty nor clarity, there was just fear---pure desperate fear. 

Everything went deft, the birds that circled over our heads glow in brilliant rays of blue light as if waking up next to the sun.