Chapter 12- Lieutenant Ri

A tranquil blanket of red formed in the skies as the rays of the sun arose with it. The blue darkness that had once dominated the earth was slowly driven away by the might of the Sun. 

On this special occasion, Paxton had arrived at his destination. 

It was a waterway that streamed down the horizon, meeting three other waterways at a junction, thus giving it its name, Fork Water Way. 

The stream was surrounded by large rocks of different/ types, Sandy stones, tall sand pillars and trees. 

Other few pieces of vegetation were available as well, though sparingly . 

Paxton walked up to the stream with a tired expression, falling to his knees as soon as he got close. 

His gaze scanned the surface of the water, as he cupped up a portion with his hands and drank from it. 

'...the water's good'. He thought as he sat down on the ground next to it. 

Now that he had gotten to The Fork Water Way, he had expected things to go a lot smoother. However, even at a glance, it was difficult to find anything to note down. 

The stream was peaceful, with not a single living thing in sight. 

'...Where's the source of this stream anyways?'. 

Waterways tend to originate from Rocks and, most times, other Rivers or Lakes. 

If he was going to search for clues, perhaps that would be a good start. 

With a grunt, he slowly stood up from the ground, stretching his aching body as he followed the stream in the direction it flowed from. 

Taking slow steps and looking around at the same time, he was able to get more information about his surroundings. 

'The Map Team in charge of this location stopped drawing this area when they reached a certain extent'. He thought as his brow furrowed. 

He pulled down his bag, zipped it open and grabbed the map. It took a moment for him to check the map to confirm his location. 

He found it, traced it down a path on the map, nodded his head in satisfaction and continued walking down. 

'I'm on the right path then'. 

It took about thirty minutes, but he soon arrived at the source. There he found a small obsidian stone, extremely short, but widened in diameter. 

At the front was a slit-like opening where the water gushed out from.

'Interesting'. He thought as he approached the rock. 

The stream had gotten more narrow the closer he had gotten to the source, and the reason for that had become palpable. 

The closer he got, the more wary he became because, on closer inspection, the small slit that seemed to be the opening of the stream only got wider. 

There was a large portion below the water level. 

'...Even the source of this lake doesn't make sense'. 

He thought in bewilderment. He looked around on the floor, picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the obsidian rock. 

It struck it and bounced off, but the reaction he wanted was not given to him. 

His gaze stared at it for a moment. 'There's something fishy about it'. He concluded. 

Not only was the underground opening large enough to let a person through, but it was also eerily close to their waterway. 

'They can be dragged into there…but how do I prove that'. 

There was only one way, and that was to inspect it himself. 

With a sigh, he dropped his bag behind a rock and pulled out the scalpel he picked off just the other day and some other army knives. 

Finally, he carried his bayonet and strapped it on his right arm. 

He stood up and walked over to the edge of the stream, where the obsidian rock was the closest and dipped in after taking a deep breath. 

The splash of water was like a stimulant, driving the fatigue that accumulated over the night. He swam through the water until he got to the opening. 

'As I thought, it's large enough for people to pass through'. 

Without a second thought, and after glancing at the surface of the water, he swam in. 

The force of the water pushed him as he did so, but by holding onto the surface of the interior, he was able to push forward with relative ease. 

This continued until the pressure had nearly become unbearable. The amount of time he spent pushing forward had been lost to him, and it was becoming harder to hold his breath. 

But he prevailed, pushing forward despite the turbulent water pressure. 

That was when he saw it, a few distances ahead, an opening. It didn't matter where it led to, as long as he received fresh air once he got there, so without thinking twice, he rushed forward. 

'Almost there'. He thought, his head filled with intensity as he suddenly felt a pull on his leg. 

'What?' He thought, as he glanced back, his gaze widening in shock as he did so. 

'Lieutenant Ri?' He thought in confusion as a man with three scars on different parts of his face glared at him. 

There was a subtle warning in his expression as he swam towards Paxton while pulling him back. 

'I don't have time for this'. 

He pulled down his bayonet and stabbed it into the man's hand, his breath quickly taking a leap of fate out of his body. 

'No!' he cried out as he forcefully removed the man's hands from his leg and rushed forward. 

His senses were getting blurry, and his head was feeling the intensity of the pressure. It took a second, but he could feel pressure forcefully trying to open his mouth. 

'Almost there!' he cried out in his head when the Lieutenant's hands came searching for his leg. 

He had expected it and turned a whole degree while aiming the bayonet at the man. 

'I may not have my memories of how I trained, but everything has been imprinted in my body'. 

He smirked as he pulled the trigger, only for silence to follow after. He stared at the weapon in confusion, then at Lieutenant Ri, whose expression was riddled with evil intent. 

He suddenly pulled out his bayonet and aimed it at Paxton. 'Shit' 

Paxton thought, his gaze glancing at the wall of the interior of the cave. Without wasting a single thought, he pushed forward using his legs like a spring roll, pushing himself to the opening and passing through it in a single motion. 

His body was ejected outside the water pathway, where he landed on the hard surface of a cave. 

"Ahhh!" His voice was shaky and ragged as he breathed in, forcing his body to stand up at the same time. 

'There was a spy in the weapons unit! And they're unto me already?!'. This just narrowed his conclusion even more. 

'Captain Rendo, huh?'. He thought when Lieutenant Ri's arm stretched into the cave. 

He jerked in surprise and rushed forward, swinging his bayonet down and slicing off the arm in one swoop. 

"Hah…that's sharp". He muttered as he walked back slowly. His expression slowly grew dark from the sight of the wriggling arm as he stared at it. 

'....why is blood not coming out?' He wondered in surprise, but something else bothered him. 'Why is it moving?' 

If he remembered correctly, only reptiles had that ability. Why was a human hand moving about after being amputated? Well, he was about to find out as the Lieutenant pushed himself out, through the opening. His gaze was onyx and devoid of light.

Paxton raised a brow in surprise, and slowly took some steps forward, his hand firmly placed on the bayonet. It was his only weapon, despite it not being loaded. 

"I could have put a hole through your head you know". Paxton said with a warning tone in his voice. 

"That's amusing. We made sure your weapon wasn't loaded". Lieutenant Ri's voice was like a wet candle, unable to spark a life but strong enough to burn one. It was erratic, creepy and most especially, inhumane. 

"Sadly for you…I don't need bullets!" he swung his bayonet downwards in an attempt to slice his head off as soon as he got close, but the arm he had just sliced off suddenly sprung into life and jumped in the air, grabbing him by his neck and pushing him to the ground.