Innocent Blood

Down in the sewers, Snake, Gustava and Madnar left the trash compactor and stepped outside to the main sewer tunnel.

"Hard to believe this place has a sewer system on these lands." commented Madnar,

"These tunnels have been around since the 1960s. The Soviets needed a way to escape just in case they got bombed." elaborated Gustava as she walked. As they turned the corner they saw a much older gray haired woman in a light military uniform and a unique sniper rifle with a white butterfly crest in her hands. Her blood was splattered on the wall and she had a gunshot in the abdomen. Solid Snake could tell she's been here for a while but that's not what got him, what got him was the message in her blood which stated, "Zeke 18: 20.",

"Zeke 18:20?" questioned Madnar,

"Ezekiel 18:20…'The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.'…" recited Solid Snake, Gustava and Madnar both looked at him with confusion, why did this woman leave this here? Who was she and who did this to her? The verse hit Solid but he didn't even show an ounce of emotion, he just simply took the rifle and checked for magazines, luckily she had a few. Solid was about to turn the corner at the end of the hallway but suddenly, gunfire rang out which made Solid take cover. Gustava pulled Madnar behind the corner but then more shots rang as bullets came from behind. Snake quickly ducked and rolled to take cover,

"Where is it coming from?" asked Gustava,

"I don't know!" Snake replied, he handed Gustava the rifle then his keycards and took out his M1911.

"I'm going to lure them out, take this and go find Holly. I'll make a path for you guys." Snake said to her as he began running away, the gunfire coming in his direction but he luckily took cover. Solid unscrewed his silencer then blindly fired three shots before heading another direction in the dimly lit tunnels. He ran for a minute or two before reaching an intersection, he held his knife with his other hand and rested his gun over the knife hand. Suddenly, gunshots came from all the tunnels, the FOXHOUND operative dove into the water and swam under to lose them briefly.

" Four gunmen, using AK-47s. They fired a total of 15 rounds each from a 30 round magazine. I got a plan. " he tactically thought to himself. Snake closed his eyes then swam up and jumped out of the water and began running as the gunmen kept shooting. As he ran, he could see the tunnel get darker and darker.

" 10 rounds each. " He thought to himself as he continued running, the tunnel now illuminating as he approached a staircase. The gunmen fired their last rounds which allowed Solid Snake to turn around and shoot four shots accurately in the positions where the gunmen were. Solid Snake could hear the rifles drop and their bodies plop into the channel, their blood flowing toward his leg. As the corpses washed up in the light, Snake's face was completely guilt ridden. His eyes wide open and shaking with his entire body, his heart beginning to pound like a drum as the corpses were none other than four children in masks. One child was a little girl who wore a white dress, white shoes and had a knight's helmet while the second little girl wore a black t-shirt, black overalls and had a zombie mask. The next were two boys, one wore a red shirt and black shorts with a demon's mask and the last boy wore a white t-shirt with black ripped pants and a skull mask.

" Oh god…oh god no, no, no! " panicked Snake. Solid rushed and pulled the children's corpses close to him, he lifted the little girl in the white dress and shakingly removed his mask, seeing her pale lifeless eyes stare upward as blood ran down her lip. Snake held her corpse tightly and let out a bloodcurdling wail that echoed through the tunnels. But just as he thought things couldn't get worse, his heard his codec rang,

"You have done well, my son." Big Boss said,

"You monster….they-they were innocent…they were children…." Snake told him, his words shaking as he was.

"Innocent? They never had innocence, when men of power come and kill it, violate it and leave it to die. I give them a purpose, a means to stay alive in this world." Big Boss calmly replied,

"They were fucking children…THEY WERE GODDAMN FUCKING CHILDREN!" screamed Snake,

"THEY NEVER WERE CHILDREN, THEY WERE SOLDIERS! I simply helped them find their calling, you'll see it once you lead them, you'll see what is necessary to prevent them from being violated, used and abused. You see those dead children, don't you? Every one of them is a victim of a war somewhere in the world. And they'll make fine soldiers in the next war. You have to start a war, fan its flames, create victims then save them, train them, love them, let them dream and feed them back onto the battlefield. It's a perfectly logical system after all, children are distant dreamers." Big Boss explained, Solid couldn't help but still break down and cry his eyes out on the little girl's corpse.

"Now that the horsemen are gone, I'll sing them the song that I sang them to sleep, their last rites, at least respect them enough for me to do that…Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high…and the dreams that you dreamed of…once in a lullaby…Oh, somewhere over the rainbow, Blue birds fly…and the dreams that you dreamed of dreams really do come true…" he sang as Solid continued crying his eyes out on the children's corpses, refusing to let go of them.

"Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops, that's where…you'll find me. Oh, somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly…And the dream that you dare to. Oh, why, oh, why can't I? Oh well, I see trees of green and…red roses too. I'll watch them bloom for…me and you and I think to myself…What a wonderful world…" he continued to sing as Solid rocked them like newborn babies.

"Well, I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white and the brightness of day…Highlight the dark, and I think to myself…What a wonderful world. The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people passing by. I see friends shaking hands saying, 'How do you do?'. They're really saying, 'I…I love you'. I hear babies cry and I watch them grow…they'll learn much more than we'll know and I think to myself…What a wonderful world, Oh Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney top, that's where…you'll find me. Oh, somewhere over the rainbow…way up high…And the dream that you dare to…Why…oh, why…can't I?" finished Big Boss as the last bit of Solid Snake's will began to fade.

"Thank you, my son." Big Boss simply said before hanging up, leaving his son with his own shattered sanity. Gustava saw the corpses of the children around Solid and simply gasped while Holly covered her eyes. Gustava ran and tried pulling Solid away from the dead children, slowly prying him away towards the staircase where the others were

"I killed them…I killed them…I…I can't do this anymore…I can't keep going on this mission." Snake dialed Campbell,

"Snake? What happened? You haven't responded-"

"I'm abandoning this mission, I…I can't keep doing this." Snake interrupted,

"What? What do you mean you're abandoning the mission?" calmly questioned Campbell,

"It's been…so many things…I've…I've killed innocent people because…because of him…" he said, sounding horrified.

"You can't abandon this mission! You have orders that you need to follow for your country, to do so is to abandon your nation and be deemed a traitor." Houseman chimed in,

"Lay off him, he's seen some heavy things in this stupid mission of yours!" Miller snapped in,

"He is our soldier, he's meant to follow our orders! These are the enemies, I don't care if they're his friends, they are against us and he has his orders that he needs to follow!" argued back Jim,

"FOR GOD'S SAKE I JUST FUCKING KILLED CHILDREN! I KILLED INNOCENT FUCKING KIDS! I CAN'T KEEP LIVING WITH MYSELF KNOWING WHAT I JUST DID TO THESE INNOCENT KIDS BECAUSE OF MY FUCKING FATHER!" shouted Snake. Silence, the sole silence on the call as Snake made this revelation known. Kaz wanted to say something, deep down he wanted to hold him now like a father should but he needed to do his best right now.

"David-"

"No…you don't get to talk to me…y-you don't get to talk at all…why didn't you save me from him?…why didn't you protect me…why…why did he abandon me…" brokenly asked Solid before he hung up. On the other side of the codec, Kaz lifted his glasses and placed two fingers on his eyes as tears flowed, Campbell and the others looked at him as he began walking away to a locker room. He reached for his coat pocket and pulled out a picture of years ago with him holding a 12 year old David in his good arm and a 10 year old Catherine on his back. His tears began staining a photo as the thoughts raced through his mind. Meanwhile, Solid Snake was walking towards the exit to the sewers, wanting to find a way to leave Zanzibar but then Gustava grabbed his arm,

"Wait David-"

"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear anything from you three!" Solid shot back,

"It's not that just please listen-" she pleaded

"Listen to that bullshit advice about the future and how we should care?!" snapped Solid,

"No because I don't want you to end up like fucking Frank! This is what Big Boss does, he gets in your head, he makes you feel like you're alone or that nothing matters but the killing. He did that with Frank, he's the reason our baby was stolen from us because he knew his grip on Frank would've slipped up the moment he got to be a father. He's trying to break you away from the people you care about like Kaz, Meryl and your sister, even your friends right here in this moment but if you let him break you like you're doing right now, you're going to have to live with the fact that he won for the rest of your life when you could stop him now!" Gustava said to him, Solid paused for a few minutes, taking in the revelation of Big Boss stealing Gray Fox's kid from him and to really take in everything Gustava said to him, he sighed and took a deep breath,

"You're right…it's not over yet. So let's move and end this living hell." Snake said to them as he tightened his bandana. Holly, Madnar and Gustava all smiled as Snake scanned the level 3 keycard and opened the door to reveal an old tunnel,

"According to the map, this tunnel leads to the Bridge of Sorrows and from there we can go to the detention center." Gustava informed,

"Least we're almost there which means we're closer to destroying that mechanical monstrosity." commented Holly, Solid just nodded, refusing to talk after everything that just happened in the last few minutes. Holly and Gustava noticed this and understood there was a lot he was feeling that they can't even begin to think about how painful it is for him, Holly patted him on the back to reassure him but he was still and empty like a statue, no emotion on his face, it very much creeped them out. They eventually reached the end of the tunnel and began to exit it but then suddenly they heard the sound of guns being armed. The four turned to see a platoon of Zanzibar Soldiers with their guns locked at them and to everyone else's surprise Gray Fox standing beside the monster in Solid Snake's head, Big Boss.