Chapter 15

In less than 2 days I will reach the destination where my marine companions will be waiting for me and the expedition will be in a jungle, far from civilization, I wonder what the heck we could ever find there.

What I know and that I have to get away from my family again, I hope that my little one does not grow up too fast and that I will be there in the most important moments, but unfortunately I do not know anything about what our goal or our mission will be, it will come all explained upon arrival, what a hassle.

Everything seems to be too secret, but what could it be, arms trafficking, tracking down a slave courier or suppressing a revolt? As I kept thinking about the future I didn't realize that next to me came my beloved wife with our daughter in her arms.

I turned to them, the little girl is only a few weeks old and is already beautiful like her mother and with a character as strong as her father, while my wife has a worried look, but she doesn't want to show it, I know her , she has always been a self-confident person but if there is something that worries her she will never tell you, but by now I have learned to read her thoughts and understand her looks and attitudes.

" Don't worry dear I'll be back home as soon as possible, it won't be a long mission, I'm sure. You also know that we have faced much worse things, the war has taught us a lot and made us even stronger." 

"I know too, but the fact that nothing is known about the mission or what the goal will be worries me and I can't help but think that if we hadn't had a daughter I would certainly have come too, but I know even though it's different now, promise me you'll be careful."

" I promise you! And when I come back, no more weapons or missions, mother bear. " I said in my turn, trying to make her smile and dampen a little the tension and anxiety that had been created. " Don't call me that, please! If you don't want to sleep on the sofa for the next few days!" she replied jokingly. 

<< TIME SKIP >>

The remaining days with my family have passed too quickly and now that I have arrived with a ferry on this distant coast and forgotten by everyone and everything, I really believe that my wife has seen for a long time, here something does not add up once I arrive I notice that we are outside the entrance of a dense jungle, humid and arid and the base is in one of the few wooden houses built on this god-forgotten coast.

Arrived here now all I have to do is follow my companions and go to one of these houses where our boss and general of this operation was waiting for us. I notice that my teammates are quite similar to me, strong and self-confident, but I also know that each of us will have his potential in different things, one good at traps and tracking, the other is a formidable shooter and more strong in melee and stelt, they are all honorable and veterans, my longtime companions, I can trust them.

" Misses ! It's nice to see you all here again! Can you tell me something I don't know about why we are here or what our mission will be?" I asked all of them.

" Nothing at all boss! Damn ... I was relaxing on one of those loungers away from town and work, instead here I am, risking my butt for them again!" one answered.

" Oh stop it sissy! We were all relaxing, but still we are the same here, what I would like to know and what we would be chasing this time. I don't think anyone has been told anything, I really think it's a big deal hidden even from the rest of the world perhaps, by how much secrecy there is here. " another answered, his name is Aaron, I have known him since training and after that we had also shared many other missions and expeditions together and he always covered my back and I his, unlike the others he is much wiser than may I be even if I am older than him.

" I think so too my friend, but for now let's see what our orders are and let's understand something. I'm sure everything will be explained to us, right General Demian?" I said turning to the general.

I notice that in the room there are only us 5 veterans of the marine and there is almost nothing on staff, just the second in command and some guards, already I don't like it at all. "So why are we here? What are the orders?" I said.

" Simple you are going to hunt down a 'thing', it is very strong and you have to find out where it is, where it hides and how the hell did it destroy an entire base of a hidden colony, find it and you will be rewarded the best, not just medals of honor. "

" A moment what does it mean? what is this 'thing' that you say? don't tell me he's an alien, because, with all due respect, I wouldn't believe it at all, sir." asked Aaron. 

" Look around, do you see the whole world here? NO. Do you see an entire air fleet or an entire army? NO. It's just you and me. Even we like you do not know exactly what it is, but in a nutshell something landed here not many months ago of the transport ships, they were completely sealed and we had them in custody in this colonial base which was however destroyed not a few days ago." 

" It was not a shuttle built by us or by any other state, so there must be something more and you will bring me that thing to study and dissect, alive if you can. You are the best veterans of past wars and you will hunt down our invader. Is it clear to you all? Seen simple right? Look for whoever destroyed the colonial base and hunt them down, this will be your duty and mission." as he went on talking all of this seemed very strange and hard to believe.

" Last thing, everything you will find or see you must report immediately, nothing must escape you. Now go and rest from tomorrow morning you will leave on mission in no less than 10 hours." having said that he went away and instead we remained there still incredulous of what is to come or what has just happened.

" Roy I think the general didn't tell the whole truth, but we certainly can't oppose the orders, so what do we do?", Aaron asked turning to me.

" Have you heard the orders? Tomorrow we will go to this 'destroyed colony' and see what we will find there, maybe there we will find other answers, but in any case the orders remain and we only carry them out. Ready to go in 10 hours! ". 

Before leaving I took Aaron aside and told him: "I don't like this situation too, but we'll do well to be on our guard!"

<< TIME SKIP >> 

" Hours and hours of walking and still nothing! Are you sure it's the right direction boss? Because here the insects are eating me alive damn!" , asked one of my companions , but it was true here the insects are so many and incredibly annoying, even the jungle is so hot and overwhelming, you can't see anything.

" Stay calm colleague! You will see that soon we will arrive at the correspondent point and there we will stop for a while, so that you can relax miss." everyone laughed, at least so the tiredness is not felt that much.

" Roy, what do you think we'll find? For me an huge hole or maybe the destroyed base itself still burns and nothing else. " Aaron said and thinking about what he said he might be right, maybe we won't find anything but rubble or who knows, maybe it's all a fake, all this talk about an alien and spacecraft is all bullshit. 

" Maybe you are right but first let's get there, so maybe we get a general picture of the situation, but if it is true what they say then, well we may have some 'alien' neighbors who are not very sociable. " I said with a bit of sarcasm, but beyond these statements there is still a bad foreboding, if my wife were here she would not believe her ears, aliens, spaceships and all this secrecy, she would have been the only one of us to be curious about wanting to know this elusive 'alien'.

Just the thought makes me laugh and at the same time I feel a note of sadness and loneliness, I had promised that I would retire from being active for operations and missions, but I felt it was not yet time, I wanted to hear one last time the thrill of hunting and shooting.

While everyone else went on the way to go, I notice that one of my companions has stayed behind and is looking in one direction, listening to something, so I went too close and tried to look in the direction that he was looking, but there didn't seem to be anything strange.

"Chief, I think someone is following us, but from a long way off ... are we sure that we are hunting him? Or are we the prey here? ", this is what left me speechless and now what should I say or think?

After this statement made by my partner, it is back in line with the others and resumed the journey, while before following them I turned one last time behind me, in the direction of where I looked before, I too wanted to notice something strange or uncertain, but nothing.

If it's all true and there is someone who thinks he can hunt us down, well he won't live long, nobody here wants to die as a prey and I absolutely want to go back to my family.

Having said that, I too began walking again with my companions until we arrived at our destination, a heap of rubble and roasted human flesh. 

What the fuck happened here !? 

" It can not be? They're making fun of us, aren't they? It can't be a house as a base and then why are these bodies so burned and others hanging upside down on trees?" , one said, horrified by the sight of what each of us was seeing, including myself, I was speechless.

"I think we made a mistake in the entrance, this will only have been a temporary camp or it was just an abandoned house for many years and was only a background, maybe ..." Aaron said, approaching the structure, taking one step at a time, but passing from behind and we following him in turn.

"Ok but that doesn't explain the bodies, Aaron ... they were mutilated and burned, how do you explain this?" said another.

"There must have been a battle or a riot or something must have come out of the base. If you don't see it on the surface it must have been under the surface. Right, Aaron? this is what you are looking for, an entrance to the underground." I said once I understood what he was looking for.

"How can you say there was a fight or something? It was secret, wasn't it?" said the other companion.

" Those hanging from the trees seem to be those who work here while others, even if burned, you can see medals hanging on their clothes that are now nothing if not consumed by the fire, they seem to have been invaders, thin someone wanted to take possession of what they had here, what I don't understand and why someone then destroyed everything. " I said in turn.

"There will surely have been an infiltrator among them and maybe, the one who did this is one who perhaps preferred to destroy everything instead of keeping the discovery, but in any case only one does not explain the mess, it should have been many."

"Unless he was a powerful one, then he would explain all these men here. But ..." I was interrupted when from a distance there was Aaron who called us to go to him, he seemed very agitated and surprised by what he found. 

When we got close to him we notice this huge steel door with all the access prohibitions, it was well hidden from everyone and everything and it seems to have remained intact, but who knows if we will be able to open it and if we succeed what will we ever find?

"Do you think we will find someone inside, boss?" Aaron asked, I in turn replied: "I think we should try to open because only in this way we will know what awaits us inside, but anyway I ask everyone to remain vigilant and attentive! Everything is clear? " 

I can confirm that all of them, one by one, were clearly worried and I was one of them, but it was not the time to be afraid, I know for sure that what we will find will be dark and without any human life.

Once the doors were opened we only got a lot of closed air and there was also a dreadfully unpleasant smell, we put on masks to be able to breathe better, torches lit and once we checked that everything was fine, weapons and ammunition, we walked into the structure , praying not to find another hell.