Tunnel rescue

Shortly after Uria made herself as inconspicuous as possible, there was a faint sound of skittering coming from the ceiling. Realizing that it was only three of the unknown creatures, she relaxed slightly and waited for the reinforcement squad to arrive, considering the currently weak state of her body.

A few minutes later, the reinforcement squad arrived at the site with the dead trainees where Uria was laying low. Kraft, checking his vitals sensor, saw that someone was alive among the bodies. He was about to tell his subordinates to check the area for Stalkers, as he knew they liked to use corpses to set up ambushes on unsuspecting people and knew this person got very lucky.

"Kos 1 to 6, secure the—"

As Kraft was saying that, he saw an arm raise from the corpses and point directly at the ceiling. Following the direction where the arm was pointing, he looked at the ceiling, but he only saw concrete rubble sticking out in that area of the 50 meters wide tunnel. He realized that the creatures knew they might be capable of seeing them directly, so they tried to hide behind rubble and not be in their direct line of sight.

Looking back at the corpses, he saw the hand raise three fingers, greatly relieving his anxiety about there being a massive ambush of more than a dozen Stalkers.

"Change of plans, advance and keep looking upwards at the ceiling."

The rest of the soldiers understood the meaning as well. In a leisurely pace, they got closer to the bodies lying on the ground. Slowly, on every sensor they had installed, everyone could start seeing three outlines sticking out from the concrete slabs in that area as they got closer and closer. After being sufficiently close, Kraft said, "Take aim!"

The moment the guns were pointed at the creatures, they realized something had gone terribly wrong, yet it was far too late for them.

"FIRE!"

A cacophony of gunshots resounded, and then three bodies riddled with holes crashed to the ground. Seeing the result, Kraft was satisfied.

"Phew, thanks for the timely rescue. I thought I was done for." Quickly dusting herself off with her non-broken hand, Uria stood up.

Suddenly, everyone except Uria, including Kraft, was confused. "Since when do you speak casually to a higher-ranking squad? Or someone who had the privilege of wearing a mech? Report your name at least? Or are you one of those poor souls that happen to lose their memory?" Kraft asked with an annoyed expression, this is his third time dealing with someone who lost their memory this month. 

Realizing her mistake and quickly trying to cover it up, she said, "I, uh, may indeed have lost my memory, so if you're important or something, I apologize for not knowing who you are. I think you're a rescue squad, right?" She slightly bowed her head, then looked at him with a confused expression.

"Yes, yes, whatever, we're the Rescue Team Gamma, here to retrieve whoever is alive, with priority on a VIP," Kraft responded with a then slightly hopeful expression. "Do you have any clue where he is, perchance? Hes called Darren Bord, the second son of the Bord family."

Uria shook her head and simply pointed at the body from which she had taken and put back the decorative knife a few minutes ago.

"Sigh, guessed as much. Kos 10 to 20, guard this point while prioritizing your safety. Wait for a salvage truck to arrive so we can retrieve the armors and bodies. Number 10, you're in charge of those that stay behind. Number 7, carry her. We'll return to base since there is a survivor." Quickly giving his orders, Kraft threw one last look at the area to make sure he didn't miss anything that may have been hiding.

"Damn, I wanted to be the one to carry her." said one of the male soldiers.

"Why?" said the guy next to him.

"Come on, dude, mechs and women, the dream of every one of us. Imagine if she fell in love with me because I could show off how handsome and cool I am." replied the first guy.

"Yeah, dream on, your armor probably smells like you do." came the reply from Number 7.

"Hahaha..."

The laughter had released some of the tension of the soldiers present here. After all, down in this hellhole, ensuring your soldiers can smile is just as important as them being well-equipped. If their morale breaks, they will simply run away, abandoning their comrades to die. Yet where would they run off to, deeper into the Arcology? If the aforementioned Arcology were to ever be overrun, there would simply be no escape as it's located underground. Even if you escaped to the surface, it wouldn't be habitable.

That's why soldiers could never retreat in this hellhole, and the "Stand your ground" doctrine was repeatedly drilled into their heads over and over, no matter what, whether through the training they received or the psychological guidance while they were in active duty. Some voluntarily went as far as to implant simple bionics that would inject a drug that would make them not feel fear once activated, to help them get trough the first battles where fear is most dangerous. 

Quickly climbing on Number 7's armor, Uria somewhat relaxed. After all, pretending to be injured and tired, not having to bother walking back to a base that god knows how far away it is, is quite nice.

Seeing the survivor was rescued, Kraft simply said, "Let's head back now."

Setting off towards the Arcology, the squad was much faster than before considering they didn't need fear an ambush, since everything was cleaned out.

And since they didnt need to fear any sort of mutant creature now during the return trip, the wheels built into the soles of the mech and armors came into play. Said wheels massively increased the top speed of the mechs, while slightly reducing their mobility and making breaking a bit hard, so it was inadvisable to use it if you knew mutants were around.

The tunnel, being mostly straight and flat, was ideal for drive mode, so they extended the wheels and sped down the tunnel. And for the occasional bump or hole in the road they could simply jump over them. 

While enjoying the ride, Uria asked Number 7, "Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Anne. You feel like talking now out of all times, Miss Amnesia?"

"I'm just trying to see if I can remember anything. I don't even know my name or where I live, or anything else for that matter."

"It's not uncommon to lose memories." said Number 7 with a slightly deadpan look.

"It's not?"

"Yeah, there are a lot of different kinds of mutants out there. And some of the mutated flora, or even the fungi, have seeds or spores that will slowly erase your memories if exposed to them for mere minutes. It's really not that uncommon. The tunnels aren't exactly known to be clean from mutants, you know?" with a bit more excitement now present on Anne's face she explained. 

"I see..."

"It's not the worst thing, though. There's a fungus that manages to nearly completely control anything that it parasitizes. The victim remains conscious for most of the process in terrible agony, because the spores attack the nervous system, while the fungus is trying to spread as much as it can. And it spreads very... VERY quickly. And get this, by biting, like zombies. We only recently managed to develop a fungicide that works on it without grievously harming the patient."

"Oh... that's nice, I guess, but..."

Feeling that she had entered a tiger's den, Uria quickly tried to stop her. Yet it was too late.

"Oh! There also exists a mutant insect that is nearly two meters in wingspan, reaching speeds almost half the speed of sound, and can sting you. The worst part? The sting isn't venomous, no, it lays its eggs in the victim. And mere moments after the eggs are in contact with anything like blood, the larva hatch and eat you from the inside, until there's nothing but a skeleton and skin left. Hollowed out, so to speak, you know?"

"I..."

"Did you know there are also really twisted creatures that warp your physiology and turn you into something like a slime? They'll just slurp you up after that. There's also..." Feeling that she had a new person to talk to, Anne unleashed her knowledge accumulated from years of her army experience.

Feeling that it was going to be a long ride, Uria simply accepted her fate. She had forgotten that humans were much less reserved than elves, and it seemed that was true for this world as well.