Constant Vigilance RP

[Magi of Worlds]

Flashback

The sun was just beginning to come up over the Russian countryside as a train was seen coming down the tracks. It was heading towards the Polish border. Passengers were lined up all along the windows to get a good look at the border when it happened. One after another, large explosions could be seen in the distance followed by a peircing whistle before impact. The ground shook all around but thankfully nothing was falling near the tracks, yet...

One of the passengers, who was staring out the window, got up and headed to the bathroom aboard the train. Once inside he changed out of his street clothes and into a custom made black suit like you would wear to a fancy party or another special occasion. Looking into the bathroom mirror Alexander checked out his reflection. Peircing blue eyes and an almost pale face stare back at him. A thin blonde mustache was the only thing covering his lower face and it matched the equally blonde hair atop his head. He smiled at himself and you could barely see the laugh lines hidden by poverty and a harsh life.

He put a flesh colored device in his ear and pressed a button. "Testing, testing!" A crackle of static could be heard and then another voice. "I can hear you perfectly fine Alexander," said the voice. "Now if you're ready, why don't we go over your mission?, it continued. "You are to get off the train in Warsaw and look for a contact by the name of Igor Ishnakov, he will get you transport out of Poland and into Austria." After responding in the positive that he understood Alexander left the bathroom and headed back to his seat. Outside the bombs were falling closer to the tracks and people were starting to panic. Son of a bitch!, Alexander thought to himself.

"This is not good!," a voice can be heard amid the crowd. All of a sudden one of the high pitched whistling sounded very close and everyone looked up as best they could to see one of the bombs coming right for the front of the train! Everyone started shouting at once and pushing for the back. Alexander noticed just in time as a huge explosion rocked the train and threw him to the ground. He looked up as people were thrown everywhere, including out of the train windows. Struggling to get up he brushed the arm of someone laying next to him and noticed they were covered in blood.

He pushed himself away and up and started making his way through the mass of bodies still in the way of the emergency exit. As he finally reached it he turned around and could see the damage to the front from where he was. The people who were alive in his section including him were lucky. Pushing the exit door open he hopped down onto the tracks and examined his body. Light burns but nothing serious it seemed. Wounded were coming out the door behind him and he stood by and watched as they limped or dragged each other to the ground next to the crippled train. He pushed the speaker in his ear and reported the situation. "Confirmed Alex, sounds like you were lucky to make it out. The plan has slightly changed, Warsaw no longer exists." Alexander stands there dumbfounded for a second as he hears the news. He starts walking up the track to the front of the train and pauses as he examines it. All dead it seems. Continuing down the track he sees a sign post for the border with Poland. As he makes his way toward it a noise in the distance interrupts him. He turns around to see something dark blue in the air, almost like a ripple. Before he can examine it further something almost human steps out and looks in his direction. It's very tall, taller than him even and grey with no clothes on. It's body structure was off too. The legs and arms were too long and the hands only held three fingers. There was no mouth on the face either and it only sported a single large eyeball. All of a sudden Alexander could hear a sort of scream in his head and words. He couldn't really understand any of the words but the thing that came from the blue portal, for that could be the only thing it was, motioned with its hands and suddenly Alexander understood that it was trying to communicate with him and apparently through telepathy.

Ten years later...

The cable car could be heard coming down the underground tracks by the next station overs guards. They made ready to welcome or repel whoever or whatever it was, but before they could do anything but check their guns a high pitched scream came from further down the tunnel. It was followed by another and then another. The two men designated at the outpost looked at each other and one of them grabbed the high beam lantern sitting on the ground and undid the clasp. Shining it down the tunnel they could barely make out an electric cart slowly rumbling down the tracks towards them. As it got closer and closer they could make out more details. There were four people aboard and all but one of them was slouched over or hanging off the side. In the middle, huddled over the mechanism that powered the craft was a child of no more than five or six years old.

Taking another look at each other the guards sling their rifles over their shoulders and race down to the cart to help the child. As they get closer they notice that the boy isn't breathing either. Too late in sensing the trap the guards grab for their rifles as Lurkers jump down from the ceiling they were clinging to and fresh screams could be heard down the tunnels.

Further down the tunnel by a good couple of miles stands Stalin Station, a rather large underground station in the Metro. It's platform is full of makeshift houses and tents and a water purifier station. A young man runs from tent to tent calling out a name. "Alex!" He continued on until he gets to the end of the makeshift housing and comes upon the last one. He goes inside and sees a man who, though he was not much older than thirty, had the looks of someone who was tough and had seen more than his fair share of fights. "Are you Alex Muskovich?" the boy asks and the man nods. "Col. Askov wants a word sir," he mumbles and runs out.

Sighing Alexander stands up from the box he was sitting on and makes his way out into the sea of tents on the platform. Taking a small flight of stairs to the second level he heads straight to the station masters office. Upon knocking he is told to enter and opens the door. Inside sits an older and slightly fatter man at a desk. Askov looked terrible to be honest. His hair was disheveled and he had black lines under his eyes. "Colonel" was all Alexander needed to say for Askov's face to light up with a bright smile. He stands up quickly and embraces Alex. "Lieutenant Muskovich my boy! Glad you could make it!" he exclaims. He sits back down and motions for Alexander to take the seat opposite.

"So what is this about sir?" Alex asks before anything else can be said. Askov's expression shifts again to its tired state. "Oh the usual. Those damn monsters are overrunning one station after another and I for one am getting damn tired of it!" he exclaims. "The hierarchy above has a mission to the surface if you are interested Alex, a chance to do some good for everyone trapped down here. You'll be joined by five other members to form a six man team you will be in charge of. They are all former or current members of the KGB also so you all will have the same training to fall back on. Now do you remember Boris your old handler?" Alex nods in the affirmative. "Good, because he'll be in charge of you again for this mission. Now you'll have Sergeant Ivankov as your second and Corporal Spunker to back him up. Privates Duskovich, Slankovic, and Slavkov will complete your team." Alex nodded, he knew all five of the men he'd been assigned and had worked with them at one time or another.

"You will be leaving early tomorrow morning so i suggest you gear up, meet everyone on the team and get some rest. Dismissed!" Alex salutes the Colonel and leaces. His first stop would have to be the armory then. He's issued his normal tactical gear and heads to the ramshackle bar in the lower section of the Station, where he already knows he'll find the others. Upon entering he is surprised to already find them seated around a table together talking. He makes his way over and sits down. Everyone greets him and a server comes over to get his order.

A couple of hours and a few vodkas later Alex gets up and says his good night's. Ivankov, Slavkov and Duskovich follow him out and head towards their tents. Early the next morning saw him at the exit to the Station and entrance to the aboveground. He was dressed in his tactical gear and carried his rifle on his back along with a knife in his belt and a holstered Colt on his hip. One by one the rest of the team showed up at the designated time. As the last man arrives Alexander motions for the guard to open the door that seals them in. They race through and take point just beyond, looking for immediate danger. Finding none they start up the old escalator steps into the abandoned station above. In the middle stands the ticket booth, which had been converted into a Scavengers nest full of supplies such as gas masks, water and extra ammo.

Walking forward Alexander peers into the booth to see a long dead body of a Scavenger who hadn't quite made it. Alex checks his pockets and finds a couple of grenades and some extra rifle ammo. He puts these in his coat pockets and motions his team forward and to take up positions around the station to look for signs of life. After confirming that there was nothing nearby they head out of the Station while strapping on their gas masks. Beyond they station lay the war-torn city of Stalingrad. Loud roaring could be heard in the distance and the heavy wing beat of either a Hunter or a pack of Deathwings not far off. Rifles out they quietly and quickly head for the edge of the city. Using buildings and even vehicles as cover they made quick progress. The target was a jeep that had been set out yesterday for their specific use right outside the city entrance. If they could just make it to the jeep they would be able to get to the next town over without incident, or at least that was the plan.

A block away from the jeep Alex spots a Lurker coming out from under a car ahead of them and drops to his knees to take it out with a headshot. As he lines up the shot another one comes up behind Duskovich and clamps its jaws around his leg. He lets out a yell and starts to hit it with his weapon. Alexander and the rest of the team freeze and duck into cover as Duskovich is ripped to shreds in front of them by the two Lurkers. God Dammit! Alexander thinks to himself. When there doesn't seem to be any more Lurkers coming to join the fun he motions to Ivankov to take out one while he shoots the other. After the deed is done they strip Duskovich's body of ammo and anything else they felt they could use and continue on.

Finally making it to the jeep Alexander motioned everyone to get in as he took the driver seat. They speed off down the road, or what was left of it to Verna. It was about three hours away from Stalingrad. Making their way down the dirt path they hear a shriek above them and all of a sudden a Hunter shoots down out of the sky and grabs Slankovic in its talons and takes off with him. It was a long time before his screams seemed to die off in their ears. Their six man team was already down to four and they had barely been on the surface for an hour. Alexander stops at an old fueling station on the outskirts of Verna and sends Ivankov inside to look for fuel cans. After a few minutes of searching he comes back with a full one. Gased up they set off again this time for the border town of Verdunk, Poland...

Three days later...

They arrive in Verdunk at night time and immediately find an abandoned building to camp out in until morning. A lot of the monsters were more active at night than day. It was an old apartment that they chose. Everyone bedded down for the night in rooms on the top floor. Alex was just getting to sleep when he hears a blood curdling scream from the room over. He races out into the hallway and brakes through the door to Ivankov's room. Inside was a bloody mess. It was everywhere. Blood on the furniture, the walls, the floor and even the ceiling. But of Ivankov there was no sign. Alex suddenly hears another scream further in the apartment. It sounded like it was coming from a room in the back.

Alex heads back that way and finds a blood trail leading to a door. Upon opening it he notices two things. The first is a lifeless body that was cut open in several places laying on top of the floor. It was Ivankov and he was covered head to toe in blood. The second thing he notices is a blurry shadow that seems to be hanging over the body. Some sort of blade extends out of it and barely misses hitting Alexander in the shoulder. He bolts from the room and back down the front room of the apartment. He turns and sees the thing following him, so he runs into the hallway and slams the door shut behind him. Hearing a loud noise behind him he turns in time to see a claw leaving a hole in the door as big as his fist and retreating.

Suddenly Alex hears two more sets of screams in the neighboring rooms. It has to be the rest of his team and there must be more of the things that killed Ivankov. He runs to his room and grabs his gear. Back out in the hallway he comes across a bloody but still alive Slavkov. Together they race for the stairs of the building and head out onto the street. "There is a hospital over there we can hide from the monsters that hunt at night in," Slavkov says pointing up the street at a large building. He and Alex make their way to it as quickly as they can. A peircing wail splits the sky behind them and Slavkov slows down to look. He pales and motions for Alexander to look too. Behind them a pair of Hunters have spotted them.

They continue racing for the hospital hoping to beat any monsters the Hunters have summoned to them. Alex spots an open window at ground floor and points it out to Slavkov. They make it and jump in just in time to hear several roars from the throats of at least a dozen Lurkers and Deathwings. They get down on their bellies and crawl to the door leading further into the hospital hoping not to be seen or heard. They somehow manage to make it out into the hospital's hallway without being detected. Alex stops to stand up and listen around him. He can't hear much and the hospital is pretty dark inside except for a few emergency lights that haven't died yet. Movement is caught out of the corner of his eye.

It was a Crawler walking around the corner towards them by the nurses station up ahead. Alex prays that it doesn't see them. Unfortunately it does. A loud howling rips forth from its mouth and is echoed further inside the bowls of the building. Alexander grabs Slavkov and together they run further into the building and what they hope is away from whatever the Crawler was summoning. They spot an abandoned lab room and duck inside. Alex turns around to lock the door behind them and notices that the lock is broken. Cursing he shoves Slavkov over to a metal desk that goes to the floor and tells him to hide under it in the cubby hole. Just in time footsteps are heard coming down the hall. A lot of them. Alexander hides behind the door jam and readies his rifle for whatever comes next. He doesn't have to wait long either. Suddenly footsteps can be heard outside the room. They seemed to pause at the door and Alex sucks in his breath and gets ready to defend his and Slavkov's lives.

After what seemed like an eternity the footsteps started up again further away. Alex waited for a few minutes and backed away from the door over to Slavkov's hiding place behind the metal desk. He helped Slavkov up and they headed for the door. Alexander opened it and slowly stuck his head out to peer around both sides of the frame. Seeing nothing in either direction he and Slavkov leave the room. They turn right and slowly make their way down the hall with weapons raised. At the end of the hall was another office and a dead end. Alexander goes to the door of the office and pushes it open. The hinges make a loud squeak as it sails slowly inward. This seemed to set off several things at once. First was the howling of several things that sound above them and next was a rustling in the office itself, and last was another Crawler emitting another alarm somewhere behind them. Alexander pushes quickly through the doorway and sets his sights on another monster. This one he's familiar with, having gone on several Scavenger missions himself. It looked almost human if you didn't count it's shortness, grey body and long claws on its hands in place of fingers. This whole building must be infested with Librarians! Alex thinks to himself. He quickly raises his ak74 and looks down the laser sights. Before it can so much as shift its stance he fires. The loud explosion of the bullet leaving the barrel echoes all around him and is accompanied by more howling. The bullet flies true though and hits the Librarian right between the eyes and drops it.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Alexander yells at Slavkov who does nothing but nod back in response. They run back the way they came and above them Alexander can hear running in the ceiling following them. Cursing he slows down and motions for Slavkov to do the same. But it's too late. A Librarian bursts through the ceiling right over Slavkov and yanks him back up with it. Screams can be heard now coming from the ceiling And blood soaks through the tile and drips down the hole that the creature left. Cursing Alexander picks up speed and continues down the hall. He needs to find a hiding spot quickly and he knows it! Spotting an open doorway on his right he heads for it. It just happens to be an old janitors closet with a solid steel door and frame. Checking that there's nothing already occupying the room he slams the door shit and locks the deadbolt. Then he locks the sliding chain for extra safety. Spying a large and heavy box of cleaning supplies he struggles to push that up against the door as an added measure of safety. All of a sudden loud banging can be heard against the door. They just won't go away! Alex thinks to himself. "Let me in I'm injured!" comes Slavkov's voice. Thankfully Alexander was used to the Librarian's puppet tricks so he didn't budge an inch. Now he was locked in a janitor's closet until daybreak and the monsters went to sleep and left him alone.

[Heartless Angel]

Three long days of silence at last gave way to screams. His outer set of eyelids opened slowly, the inner set remaining closed to darken the bright lights in the room. "For the love of K'vala, they can't have found me.", he grumbled, reaching for his weapon and sliding behind a nearby desk. He aimed for the door, waiting for an enemy to burst through. After another few moments of silence, he heard another scream, yet further away. "Hm? They're moving away from me? Could it be that someone else was dumb enough to come here of all places?", he asked himself. He looked over to the equipment he had modified to synthesize an antibiotic compatible with his biology. "Hmm... I suppose I can get by on this. I can't just let those things slaughter more people while I sit here and wait for another batch.", he said, as he made his way towards the machine. He transferred the liquid into a compartment on the gauntlet of his equipment, which connected to an IV that would deliver the medicine at a constant rate. He glanced at his other arm, and the swollen purple skin around a fresh cut. "Why is it that every mission on a foreign life bearing planet always lasts longer than the bioadaptive gel ration?" he asked.

Nazarek had been stranded on this world for nearly 2 years now, on what was supposed to be a 2 week scouting mission. His people had long been at odds with the invaders of this world, and had long since gotten used to the idea of their neighbors conquering worlds across the system, but this was something new. Rather than landing ground troops and taking over through conventional warfare, recently their strategy had shifted to deploying bizarre creatures, the likes of which his people had never seen anywhere in the system. Nazarek had been chosen for a special task group to investigate a planet where these attacks had just begun, hoping to learn enough about their new bioweapons to give his people a means of developing a countermeasure. 697 days ago, his ship touched down on the surface of this strange world that had nearly torn itself apart in war, only to find a new one looming on the horizon. This war had nothing to do with his people, yet moments after setting foot on this planet, they would see their first casualties of war. "Alright, men! The mission is simple, we're to gather information, and collect specimens when possible of these bioweapons. You've all been briefed on their many varieties. You've trained for this. You can do this. Move out!", the commander yelled, standing beside the dropship's door. A shriek could be heard from outside, but no one gave it any thought. The commander opened the door, and jumped to the ground, his weapon ready to engage. The men grabbed their gear, and followed suit, but before the bulk of the soldiers could even exit the ship, the screams of his people echoed out. They had the misfortune of encountering their first Hunter, and it had alerted every beast for miles to the threat his people posed. The commander was the first to fall, as a blade pierced his throat, the XO soon to follow. In a matter of seconds, the entire chain of command had been annihilated. Of the 400 men aboard the dropship, fewer than 30 managed to escape this ambush, and Nazarek hadn't heard from any of them since that day. Contact from their carrier ship in orbit ceased just hours later, and Nazarek has been a refugee ever since.

He kicked open the door to the lab and burst into the hallway, his weapon firing a brilliant green beam down the hallway, killing the creatures patrolling near the stairwell. He entered, and jumped down into the stairwell, dropping several stories before landing on the ground floor. A drop like this would easily shatter the bones of any human, but his species had evolved as amphibians, and spending much of their lives under the weight of his planet's oceans made them very physically strong and durable. He looked out into the main area of the building to see a horde of creatures moving down a hallway, likely following the screams of the arthropods. "Oh, good. One of the primitives pissed off an arthropod.", he said sarcastically. This certainly explained the noise level, as most of the creatures in the building had converged on whatever prey the arthropod had found. Nazarek had to admire either their evolution, or the engineering, his people weren't yet sure when last he heard from them. The arthropods in particular were highly adaptive. They were too small themselves to hunt large prey, so they cooperated with larger species, calling them to kill prey that the arthropods had scouted out, so they could scavenge the scraps left behind. He waited until the horde had passed him to step out into the hallway, where he began firing on them from behind with his weapon on its highest cutting beam setting. Though it would deplete his weapon's energy cell quickly, the damage it could do to groups in an enclosed area like this was incredible. After a few seconds of sustained fire, his weapon began to emit a loud beeping, warning him that it was nearly depleted. Nazarek immediately turned, saving just a little bit of energy in his weapon, and began sprinting towards the exit. "I seriously underestimated their numbers... I wasn't expecting to have this many left to lead away... This should be fun.", he said. In the light of day, his weapon's energy cell could be charged in a few minutes, but in the dark of night, he could be stuck with only a few shots left on the lowest power setting for several hours. He looked over his shoulder to that hallway, ensuring that the group was following him. Though he'd never laid eyes on those the beasts were hunting, he prayed that he had made it in time to save them. "You'd better get out of here alive, primitives.", he mumbled to himself.

[Magi of Worlds]

Hours seem to pass while Alexander sits in the semi darkness of the closet waiting for more Librarians to come down the hallway. Many footsteps could be heard and infrequent poundings on the heavy door. So far it had held up but he wasn't sure for how much longer. He was getting restless and had no idea what time it was or if the sun had already come up yet.

Crackling could be heard in one of his pockets. Alexander reaches down into one of the many pockets on his pants and pulls out a satellite phone. It crackles again and this time he can hear a voice. "Alexander.. are you there?..." Boris! Alexander suddenly realizes with a start. "Yes I'm here Boris!" he says into the phone after hitting the function. "Ah, good to hear your voice! Listen to me, I know your alone right now, there is enough power left in the building for me to control the security cameras strung throughout the building. What has happened to the rest of your team?" Alexander sighs and takes a minute to collect his thoughts. "Dead... They're all dead Boris... And I'm trapped in a closet surrounded by Librarians." Silence follows this statement.

"Well that would certainly explain a lot," Boris says with a heavy sigh. "I'll get you out of here comrade I swear it!-" All of a sudden a huge commotion can be heard in the hallway beyond the door and Alexander stands up and readies his weapon just in case. He can hear what sounds like compressed explosions and a lot of shrieking. Suddenly heavy footsteps can be heard coming from the other end of the hall and a mass of shrieking follows it. The noise fades off into the background after a few minutes. "You're not going to believe what I just saw," Boris exclaims over the phone. "Something humanoid but scaley raced past your hallway and lured all of the monsters lurking around you away. Your door is clear." Alexander can't help but chuckle a little. A scaley humanoid? He doesn't have much time to think before Boris cuts in again. "I can see an exit a couple of hallways down from you. It's clear at the moment. You should leave while you can." Alex moves the box out of the way and makes ready to unbolt and open the heavy door. "And Alexander? Be careful out there will you?" Boris whispers to him over the phone. Alex turns it off and puts it away as he gets ready to make his escape.

He encounters no enemies as he makes his way to the exit and reaches it after only a few minutes. "Now that you're safe I have something to tell you Alex. The government is corrupt and they are planning-!" Boris' words are suddenly cut off and a new voice replaces his. Alexander can hear signs of a struggle in the background. "Lt. Muskovich ignore that last comment. Now I suggest you get back to your mission." After this the phone dies and he puts it back in his pocket. Opening the door outside Alexander is greeted by the sun shining high overhead. He looks around and locates the neighborhood that he parked the jeep last night. Looking all around him and watching for ambushes he makes his way back to it.

[Heartless Angel]

He sat atop an apartment building, looking down on the mess he had made. "Thank goodness for daybreak. I wouldn't have had enough power to deal with that many without a recharge.", he said, tinkering with his weapon. He glanced in the direction of the hospital just in time to see something humanoid emerging. A faint smile illuminated his face. It seems he had at least managed to save one life this day, and in this world, even such a small victory was a rarity. He had seen other planets fall to these creatures, but none he had seen had been set upon just after tearing themselves apart with their own war. With its world's military decimated, and its arsenals nearly spent, this planet didn't stand a chance against the invasion, but seeing even one life saved, at least for a time, made it seem as though there may yet be hope somewhere on this doomed planet. As his mind wandered, his eyes caught something moving in the direction of the survivor, a lone hunter. "Oh no you don't, I didn't just go through all of that to see him torn limb from limb by another horde!", he said, taking aim at the creature. "And... Down you go!", he said, as he fired the cutting beam again, cutting the creature's wing. He looked over the edge of the building to see the satisfying splatter as the hunter landed below. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, and began speaking into it. "Nazarek, acting commander log 327, lately I've seen a sharp increase in the population of the arthropods and aerial searchers. Given the state of most of the planet's survivors, I'm beginning to think that somehow their breeding patterns are being controlled by our enemies to favor tactics suited to the current situation. On most other worlds we have observed, the planet's people have fought back, and it has been primarily combatant varieties that flourished on these worlds, yet on this world, resistance is limited, and the people seem to be focusing on hiding from the creatures, and rather than the combatants, it is the seekers that seem to be growing in numbers above all others. I can only infer that this is in direct response to the strategy of this world's resistance. Thus far, I have seen no evidence that the Tyrant, Colossus, or Harbinger classes have been deployed here at all. I can only assume that these variants are too costly to train, or breed to be wasted on a world without defenses that require them. If it is true that our enemies are controlling their breeding patterns, they must have some means of influencing them. I don't believe these creatures intelligent enough to train or communicate, thus I must assume that there is some technology at work compelling them to take desired actions. If this is the case, it is at least theoretically possible that they could be turned against our enemy if we were able to replicate this technology. I will begin researching this subject further when I am able to establish a new laboratory. End log.", he said. He let out a sigh. "I wonder if anyone on the homeworld will ever actually hear any of these logs...", he said, with a faint trace of sadness. Evidence of emotion was quickly swept away by sarcasm once more. "Of course, the moment I decide to stop recording the damned things is when the high command will send an evac, and I'll be court martialed for dereliction of duty. No thanks".

[Magi of Worlds]

Running for his life Alexander hears a strange noise that seems almost familiar. A popping noise that ended with a slight buzzing or zapping sound could be heard a slight distance away behind him. Alexander turns around just in time to see a Hunter get vaporized as it's coming down to grab him. "The hell?!" he exclaims and looks around for the source of the beam. He was aware of certain technological advances in weaponry all over the world but had yet to see any sort of 'beam' weapon yet. Not finding the source of the destruction that befell the Hunter he ducks his head and continues running.

He finally spots the neighborhood where he parked the jeep and heads for it, not even bothering to try and hide. If he can make it to the jeep nothing else matters. He sees it and starts to slow down so he can yank the door open and climb in. Approaching it from behind he is able to make out everything behind him in the rear view mirror as he gets closer. Spinning around Alexander levels his rifle and shoots at the feet of the Lurkers running to catch up. There's a whole pack of them and he knows he can't beat them by himself unless he fights tactfully.

The rifle fire slows them down enough for him to hop into the jeep and start it. The engines idles and doesn't turn over on the first twist. "Sonofabitch!" he screams into the air just as the engine turns over and roars to life. Alex hits the gas just in time as the hoard is now right on his ass, literally! Speeding down the street he heads out of town as fast as he can. Being a military jeep there isn't any roof so he can acutely hear all the ruckus the Lurkers are causing as he slowly leaves them behind in his dust.

Laughing and looking back at the Lurkers he doesn't notice when his front tire hits a pot hole in the road until it's too late. The force of the vehicle striking it sends the vehicle into the air. It spins and flips a couple of times before thankfully coming back to rest upright on its tires with seemingly no damage.

"Holy fucking God!" Alexander cries and punches the gas again. This time he keeps his eyes on the road as he speeds down the highway. Keeping one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror he heads for Warsaw.

[Heartless Angel]

The survivor broke into a run, though from his vantage point he likely couldn't see the resistance ahead, Nazarek had a perfect view of the area from above. "I've got you covered, primitive. Scurry back to wherever it is that you came from...", he said, picking off key targets, like the hunters, before they had a chance to cal for help. Even with his support, the numbers the man was facing were rather large, fortunately, the man was planning his shots almost as carefully as Nazarek. "Interesting... Your tactics are similar to mine. Could you be military?", he asked himself, as he continued his support.

Soon the man reached a vehicle, military by appearance. This seemed to confirm his suspicion. "A stroke of good luck at last. This world's military may be able to get me the supplies I need to establish a proper laboratory.", he said, as he sat on the edge of the building, preparing to drop as soon as the survivor had a window to escape. The man managed to start his vehicle, and left behind his pursuers, now was his chance. Nazarek dropped from the rooftop, landing gracefully below, before tearing off in the direction of the survivor. "Mmm... I can run at about 40 MPH, much faster than the primitives, but I don't know much about their vehicles... Hopefully I don't lose him", he said.

[Magi of Worlds]

Cruising down what's left of the highway, Alexander's mind shifts back to the mission at hand. He wasn't told everything he believes but can't really prove it either. Boris' strange message to him about the higher-ups planning something didn't sit right with him as well. Alex had an inkling as to just how corrupt the Communist regime in Russia could be. But surely they were still on the people's side, right? With all of these thoughts swirling around in his head he barely sees the familiar face flagging him down from the side of the road ahead. Slamming on the breaks Alexander jumps out of the vehicle and grabs Corporal Spunker into a huge bear hug. "God am I happy to see a familiar face!" he cries out. "Me too sir, me too!" replies Spunker with a huge grin on his face. "How in the hell did you get out of the building and survive the night?" Alex questions him when they finally pull away. "Wasn't easy Lieutenant. I saw something ghostly coming for me and had to jump out the window. Luckily a car broke my fall but it still hurt like a bitch. After that I waited the dawn out underneath said car. When the sun finally came up a huge commotion distracted most of the monsters so I jetted it out of town as quickly as I could." At the bit about the commotion Alexander started to laugh. He explained everything that happened to him that night as he and Spunker got back into the jeep and took off again.

It was about another four days drive to Warsaw so they had to be careful about ambushes along the way. They traveled by day and slept under the jeep on watches at night. On the third night, as Alexander is about to wake up the Corporal for his shift, a group of Lurkers run past in a field on the other side of the road. Alexander quietly sets his sight on them with his rifle and counts. Ten! And they're headed in the same direction as the two soldiers. Shit! Alexander thinks to himself. He waits for the group to pass by and get all the way down the road before he proceeds to wake Spunker up. Explaining what just happened he gives strict orders for Spunker to keep an extra eye out for more groups like this to pass by. The next morning they finally reach Warsaw...

Pulling into the parking lot of an old gas station Alexander shuts off the engine. Their contact is supposedly holed up in the sewers underneath the town's city hall. Alexander was told that the only way to reach said section of the sewer he has to enter a manhole on the edge of town and sneak in past the monsters surely patrolling everywhere. The gas station they pulled into just happened to have the closest manhole. Securing the area around them the two KGB agents head for the back of the parking lot with rifles leveled in front of them. "I'm surprised we've met no resistance so far" Spunker comments as they find the entrance to the sewer. Just as Alex gets the lid pried off a shrieking is heard coming from the gas station. Looking up in shock both see a Crawler in view and it's looking right back at them. "Way to open you're damn mouth!" Alexander yells at Spunker as he shoves him towards the hole. More shrieks can be heard in the distance now. Leveling his rifle Alex shoots the Crawler in the head, hoping it will confuse whatever adversary it was summoning. Alex then grabs the top rung of the ladder and starts partway down after Spunker. Grabbing the lid in one hand he maneuvers it into place and continues down the ladder. At the bottom is Spunker with his rifle leveled and facing the tunnel they must enter. Motioning for Spunker to put his night vision goggles on, Alexander does the same and they both head down the tunnel, further into the Warsaw sewers...

[Heartless Angel]

Nazarek panted heavily. He had been pursuing the vehicle on foot for several days now, but he couldn't tell if he was gaining ground, or, more likely, losing it. "Damn... this... moisture... deficient... atmosphere...", he said, trying to catch his breath, as he held his breathing apparatus against his face. This was largely unnecessary, as it already formed an air tight seal against his face, but it made him feel as though it were more effective, in spite of knowing better. He walked towards a road sign, reading over it briefly before sitting on the ground, leaning up against the post. "Warsaw? Sounds like a weapon of some sort in the English language, though a saw seems rather primitive, even for this planet. They at least have nuclear capabilities, if I'm not mistaken.", he said, as his breathing began to normalize. He began pondering what a Warsaw might look like. "Hmm... Well, it's clearly not something handheld, or a sign wouldn't be telling me where to find it, so it's obviously not a conventional melee weapon. It's also in the singular, so it's likely a rather large weapon. Of course, if it were relevant military technology, I'm sure even this species is at least smart enough to classify weapons rather than inviting tourists to see it. Perhaps it's not a modern weapon, but rather a cultural artifact from an age past, made into some sort of monument. Maybe a military museum?", he talked himself through his series of questionable intuitive leaps. "Hmm... Well, I don't know how the military on this world does things, but on Hyzaliar, military museums are usually pretty close to active military bases. Maybe I haven't lost them after all.", he said, with a sense of renewed hope. He touched a few buttons on his gauntlet, changing his breathing apparatus' operation mode to accumulate moisture as he slept, when he wouldn't need as much water in his breaths. "At first light, then. Warsaw.", he decided, as he laid down to recuperate.

[Magi of Worlds]

Sneaking around in the tunnels underneath Warsaw, Poland Alex and Corporal Spunker make a terrible discovery. Not only are the sewer tunnels more rundown than previously expected, they haven't encountered any sign of humanity for the last few hours that they have been searching. The theory was that all of human civilization that survived the nuclear attacks had gone into hiding underground in the sewers and the subway stations. According to the mini map in Alexander's possession they had made it to within a block of the capitol building's systems. Of monster's however, there were plenty of signs as well as sightings. As a matter of fact Alexander and party had just escaped some sort of creature that was blobbish and blocked an entire section of a tunnel. It smelled of rotten garbage and had some sort of psychic ability to mess with its prey. Being almost black in color Spunker had run right into it without even realizing it was there. A single eyeball had swiveled around to face them and suddenly the blob started to wriggle around. Grabbing Spunker and starting to retreat Alex was left open to what he can only think of as a psychic attack on his mind. A pressure was exerted on it and was followed by immense pain that almost brought him to his knees. Alex had to fight to stay upright and to drag the Corporal, who was writhing in agony into a side tunnel. Somehow they managed to get about a mile down it before the pressure and pain let up. Miraculously the creature stayed where it was and didn't even attempt to pursue them. Alex wasn't sure if it was even capable of doing so but he wasn't taking any chances. To increase their chances of evading it he and Spunker went down several tunnels that led away from their destination before eventually circling back to the main tunnel.

A loud howling further ahead of them halted the two in their tracks. Running could be heard coming towards them from further down the tunnel, as well as the aforementioned howling. Seeing the two service openings on either side of them that lead to the world above Alex motioned for Spunker to hide in the one on the left while he takes the right most side. Hunkering down and powering off his headlamp Alexander waits in silence as the noises get closer. After a few minutes a light can be seen coming towards them with the noises. What kind of fool would be running around in monster territory with a visible light source? Alex thinks to himself. Getting his rifle ready Alex risks a peek around the corner of his alcove. He immediately regrets it. A little boy is running for his life with a torch in hand and is being followed by at least four or five Lurkers. Cursing their luck Alex gets ready to save the kid when Spunker beats him to it. Rising from his concealed position Spunker fires at the Lurkers and gets their attention. The boy looks at Spunker with hope in his eyes and makes a beeline straight for him. Which gives Alex the perfect shot to take out the leading Lurker closest to the boy. Down it goes and as it does it gives the other Lurkers pause. They stop and as a pack sniff the air. By this time the boy has reached Spunker and is in his arms thanking him in Polish. "You may as well use that access ladder and take him up to safety. I'll deal with the remaining Lurkers here. Be careful on the surface and get back here asap!" Spunker nods his thanks at his Lieutenant, and grabbing the boy with one strong arm, he starts up the ladder.

Meanwhile Alex turns back to the remaining Lurkers and gets ready to finish them off. Setting his rifle to automatic he open fire and scores direct hits on each of the Lurkers vital spots. He switches his rifle back to single shot and waits for Spunkers return..

[Heartless Angel]

He stood before a sign on the road, before hat was left of a large city. "Welcome to Warsaw...", he read. He looked around expecting to see a large weapon somewhere. "Well, either it's gone, or my translation program isn't working. I don't see anything resembling a saw anywhere.", he said, as he made his way into the town. "Maybe it's smaller than I'd expected, and was kept in one of these buildings?", he asked himself aloud, as he looked around. "Well, that building seems a bit more impressive than the rest. I suppose it's a good a place to start looking as any.", he said, as he made his way inside. "It's a shame I lost those primitives. They'd probably know where it is. Hell, maybe they came here to get it themselves. He looked around the lobby of the first building he had entered, and was soon distracted by a rarity it had been some time since he'd laid eyes upon. "Ah! Could it be?', he asked, as he darted across the room. "It is!", he said, as he made a fist, and quickly punched out the glass. "It's been months now since I've found any!", he said, his voice betraying an uncharacteristic happiness. "They may be primitives, but they truly deserve praise for this wonder.", he said, as he reached for his prize. He lowered his breathing apparatus as he examined it. "Ah yes, things are finally beginning to look up.", he said with a grin. A pleasing 'pop' filled the room, as he pulled the tab on the can in his hand before greedily guzzling its contents. "Mmm... Mountain Dew.", he said with a sigh of satisfaction. "This makes me want to visit the mountains while I'm on this world. Maybe I could get some samples to bring home if they ever send that damned Evac. I wonder which mountain it comes from...", he pondered, as he finished the can.

[Magi of Worlds]

Staring at his wristwatch Alexander counts the passing minutes since Spunker's departure with the kid. Muttering to himself he scans the passage ahead once more. It feels like an hour or more has passed but in reality it's only been fifteen minutes. The problem with Warsaw being mostly destroyed by nuclear missiles and taken over by the monsters was that one could not sit idly by for too long before something, usually bad, came along and found you. Taking one last look at the passage ahead Alexander took out his satellite phone and punched in the number to Spunker's. Hitting the dial button he waited. "Yes sir?" Spunker's voice can be heard after the fourth or fifth ring. "Is everything ok?" Alex asks him. "Got a bit of a problem here sir, I think we got turned around by that blobbish creature and topside simply doesn't exist where I am right now. We are running along a deserted road with nothing to hide us from the monsters." A wailing could suddenly be heard nearby followed by Spunker's cursing and followed by the kids screaming. Suddenly the line goes dead. Cursing Alex puts the phone away and gets up from his position. Making his way further down the tunnel he comes across a three way intersection. Checking the map Alexander takes a right and heads further into the sewers. Coming across an area that looks kind of like a maintenance alcove he spots spare equipment for city workers to repair any underground problems. Sitting next to the equipment are two skeletons wearing the bright orange uniforms of the polish working class. Laying next to the skeletons is a much fresher, but still just as dead, body dressed in the fatigues of the polish military. Minus his, or her of course, head and left arm.

Scavenging the body Alexander comes across three concussion grenades and plenty of ammunition. Unfortunately the ammo cartridges don't fit in his AK, so Alex decides to leave them behind. Heading further down the tunnel he notices that it starts to widen from around three feet to roughly six feet. Moving forward cautiously now Alexander can't help but to notice the pieces of bodies laying all around him. Some legs over there in the corner of a darkened doorway. Hands scattered everywhere. Even what appears to be a torso sitting conspicuously in the middle of the tunnel. Further down is an unnatural opening in the wall roughly eight or so feet high and between ten and fifteen feet wide. It looks almost as if someone, or something, took a wrecking ball to the side of the tunnel. There are bones all around the opening as well. Some even have skin still attached. Swallowing the bile slowly rising in his throat Alex takes a tentative step towards the opening and shines his headlamp inside to get a better look. Bones are all over the place in here too. Some even of the monsters themselves. So whatever has been feeding here doesn't seem to differentiate between friend and foe apparently, Alexander thinks to himself.

Without warning a giant arm the size of his entire body comes out of nowhere and attempts to grab Alex. Jumping backwards and against the tunnel wall on the opposite side of the Alexander gets a better look at the arm. It's grey in color, like most of the other monsters bodies and ends in claws that are almost as long as half of his arm. Swiping again it barely misses Alex the second time. Tearing down the tunnel in fear Alex heads through another doorway and yet another tunnel in the sewer system. The wall opposite from him shakes and spits out dust and mortar as whatever was in the hole back the way he came from puts up a dogged chase on the other side of the wall...

[Heartless Angel]

Nazarek looked down the scope of his weapon, sighted on yet another Hunter. "Damn, I hate these. I almost miss the Colossus we hit on Tau Alpha IV. Least you went into that fight knowing what to expect.", he said to himself, as a brilliant green beam turned its head into a bubbling mess. He reached into the small bag sitting in his lap, and pulled out another potato chip. "These may be almost completely nutritionally bankrupt, but I can't stop eating them... It's a wonder the inhabitants of this world aren't all morbidly obese.", he remarked. A few dozen empty bags were littered about the room, along with several empty soda cans. Pigging out on human junk food had become the highlight of his life over the past year, the high sodium content was actually necessary for his alien biology, and he would otherwise resort to eating salt straight out of the cans, but he much preferred the addictively crispy delights the humans called potato chips. He had spent the last few hours looking for some indication of a military presence, as well as ransacking any vending machines that hadn't been picked over already, and had unfortunately only succeeded in the latter. "Hm? More hunters." he mumbled, as he dispatched two more of the beasts. It was Nazarek's policy to set up in a high place and pick off every hunter he could see whenever he entered a new region. He had seen far too many good men overwhelmed when Hunters called for reinforcements, and had the good sense to learn from their mistakes. He was getting tired, he'd had very little sleep these past few days, as he had been struggling with an infection. The medicine he had manufactured seemed to be helping, and it was nearly cleared up. He felt as if he might actually get a good night's rest for the first time in a while, yet now he felt as though he couldn't afford the time with a human survivor somewhere in the area, possibly military. This could be exactly the breakthrough he was hoping for, the first real progress he'd made in a long time. He couldn't afford to lose these survivors, but they were smart enough to avoid leaving a trail for the monsters to follow, tracking them was proving nearly impossible. These thoughts swirled around in his mind, as he began to nod off with his weapon still shouldered.

[Magi of Worlds]

Whatever the hell was chasing him just couldn't seem to get through that wall thankfully. Looking at the map in his hand Alex judged that he had run down a dead end in the sewers with that damned thing doggedly pursuing him the entire way. The good news was that back behind him there was a darkened doorway that should lead him further under Warsaw and much closer to his destination. The bad news was that it was on the side of the wall the monster's howling and slashing could be heard coming from... Dammit Alexander you don't have much of a choice though do you?, he thinks to himself. Walking a little further down the tunnel that he's sure is a dead end he comes across a hole in the wall at eye level that's roughly the size of his hand. Switching the headlamp off but leaving his night vision goggles on he cautiously peers into it. The tunnel on the other side looks more like a hallway and is much wider. No wonder such a monstrosity can fit in there but not here. And though I can hear it quite clearly, there doesn't actually seem to be a sign of it... Peering further down to his right Alex finally gets a better glimpse of what he's facing. Thing looks like a fucking giant Librarian! It's slashing and swiping at the wall at its side in an attempt to break it down and push through. After some considerable noise it manages to force a hole just barely big enough for it to push its body through. What the stupid thing doesn't seem to know is that my tunnel has ended. Alexander thinks to himself. Suddenly angry roaring could be heard ahead of Alex. He looks back at the dead end portion of the tunnel ahead of him and sure enough the same pounding and slashing could now be heard coming from there. An idea and plan started to formulate in Alexander's mind. Taking a flashlight out of his Tac vest he turns it on and sets it in the middle of the hallway and sneaks back to the entrance to the hallway the monster had formerly occupied.

He crouched down at the doorway and waited. Sure enough after a few minutes a crashing sound could be heard as the dead end's wall exploded from the monster's savage beating. It slowly started making its way down Alex's old tunnel. It was too big so it had to crouch and couldn't rush to the light that it mistook for him. Taking this as his cue Alex himself started sneaking down the much larger tunnel the monster had exited. Making his way back to the hole it had punched through he glanced inside and could see the connecting tunnel to it. Full of more skeletons the thing had probably killed and not much more else. Setting a landmine he had brought with him, just in case in the middle of the hole he stood back up on the opposite side of it and started to holler and make as much noise as possible. The monster's head picked up and it looked back the way it had come. It snarled in anger at the thought of its prey escaping and another angry howl ripped out of it maw as it rushed back around and did its best to run back the way it had come. Pushing a button on the mine to activate it, Alex did the same thing and ran for his life down the sewer tunnel. He made it another five or so feet down the tunnel before a huge explosion knocked him on his ass. It was followed by a different type of howl that Alex assumed must have been pain. This in turn was followed by the rumble and rush of stone as the explosion knocked out the supporting stones and caused and avalanche behind him as that portion of the tunnel collapsed. "Hopefully I'll never have to go this way again," Alexander says out loud as he stands up and dusts himself off.

Not knowing if the beast was dead or just injured, Alex figured it wouldn't hurt to put as much distance between himself and the collapsed tunnel as physically possible. So taking off to the north he heads for the Capitol building's underground bunker once more..

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________

Two hours later Alexander is looking at his digital wristwatch and cursing. The sun was setting, the map had taken him to many dead ends and he still hadn't found the entrance to the bunker under city hall. At this point he was about ready to give up all hope and head back to Russia empty handed. All of his team was gone and he was lost. The only good news was that he hadn't heard nor seen any sign of that monster from before. Sighing, Alex gets back on his feet from the short break he was taking and turns around to look at the wooden crate he had been sitting on. Is it just me or did it seem to groan a bit when I got up? He thinks to himself in puzzlement. Shaking it off as his imagination he turns back around and starts moving forward once more down the never ending tunnels. After what seemed like another hour of endless walking he realizes that all of the usual noises in the background had faded. The slight echo of his footsteps, the sound of water running, even the slight noise of whatever beasts lurked beneath the city. All of this had ceased. Blinking a few times and looking around himself Alexander slowly starts to notice the low fog that was rapidly ascending all around him. Fog? In a sewer? That thought had barely escaped his mind when a deep and nauseating headache descended on him. It came on so quickly that he hadn't even realized the sheer amount of pain his skull was holding back. God was it excruciating! Worse even than whatever that blob did to him. Shaking off the headache and trying to blink back the tears that were forming Alex almost didn't hear the voices calling to him.

Taking off his gas mask he could hear them better. " Alex! This way Alex!" Suddenly gone was the pain in his head, but everything felt blurry and murky to him now. Again the voices can be heard. "Follow us Alex! We'll lead you home!" Something about that seemed so pleasing to his ears. Dumbly he nods and follows the voices, not even looking where he's going. Further in, they keep calling him and Alexander keeps walking. Home yes, that's where I want to be! The voices yelled encouragement to him the whole way. It took him a while but it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. Alex knew these voices! They were his childhood friends! [I]Wait a minute...[/I No sooner had he started thinking this when his right foot went over empty space. His vision cleared all of a sudden and he could barely make out that he was in the opening of a drain off pipe that fell further underground. I almost fell off into that! What the hell! He thought quickly as he flings himself back and lands on his back and knees. Shivering from his near death experience Alexander takes a good look around. He does a double take when he spots a familiar figure he has only seen once before, ten years ago. Blinking rapidly it disappears just as quickly as it first appeared. Getting up and knocking off the loose dust Alex slowly makes his way over to where he saw the figure. Nothing. No sign that it had even been there.

A spotlight hits him before he can do anything else and a sharp and booming, very human voice speaks up. "Who are you and what are you doing so close to Warsaw Bunker?!" The voice was the best music to Alex's ears! "I'm on a mission from Stalin Station in Moscow's Metro! The password I was told to give you is Sputnik!" Smiling, Alex steps forward as he is told with hands above his head. The officer in charge nods in recognition of the password and beckons Alex to follow him through a doorway. Finally! After what seemed like an eternity in hell, part of my mission is complete!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a good shower, a change of clothes and an hour long tour of the bunker, Alexander was ready to meet his contact. One of the soldiers led him to a room that was sparsely decorated with nothing but a small table, two chairs and single hanging light fixture to keep him company. It was here he was told to wait, and wait he did. For what seemed like half a day he waited. According to his watch only a single hour had passed though. Another hour passed this way as well. It seemed that his entire journey led to this room with its almost unbearable silence. Just as the silence was about to drive him nuts, the door opened again. In stepped a man in full military fatigue, just like Alex had arrived in. Tactical gear shone as if the virgin material it must have been made of was just sewn today. The only odd thing about the man was his helmet. On it was a symbol of three yellow triangles overlapping one another. "But- but, you're from Polis!" Alex managed to stammer out as the man sat down in the chair opposite him. They weren't exactly enemies per say, but Polis and the Red Line very rarely worked together. But here was Alexander's contact, and he was very much a Polis Scavver. The man smiled and removed his helmet and set it down on the table. His face was deeply scarred and pockmarked to boot. His eyes were sunken in slightly but showed a very fierce and predatory green color. The man's head was shaved nearly bald, in military fashion much like Alex's own. And his voice, when he spoke held much contempt and almost hidden menace. "Yes, I am indeed from Polis and my name is Hunter." This was spoken very quietly into the silence but sounded as in a loud echo had come out instead. "So, tell me about your travels to get here and why you're missing several members of your party." The last was said without any annoyance or hatred, as if it was merely a statement to him. Alex sat there for a minute and then he started to speak. As he went over each monster that was encountered and each gruesome loss a frown appeared on Hunter's face and slowly grew grimmer.

A good hour and a half later Alex finished his story. He breathed in a sigh of relief for the tale was indeed long and proceeded to wait for Hunter's judgement. Silence reigned again for several minutes before Hunter finally spoke, the fearsome frown still displayed. "It seems to me, that you would make an excellent Ranger for Polis." He leaned back in his chair and stared Alex dead on in the eyes. "I'm sure you regret the death's of your men and that boy, but it sounds like nothing could have been done to save any of them. In my experience, there are soldiers and then there are men. You are a soldier Alex and it is very obvious. Men like you and me, we survive to fight another day. We are resourceful and intelligent. Your government chose the right man for the job. I just wish I knew more about what that job was to be honest. Anyway, I am to accompany you on the next leg of your journey. We make our way to England to commandeer a ship and take it to America. Once we get to England I'll tell you more about what I know. Now I suggest you get some shut eye. We leave at dawn, whether you're ready or not!" Sensing the dismissal in the tone Alex stood up and left the room, heading for the barracks and the bed he was assigned for the night...

Tossing and turning later that night, Alex kept bringing up his and Hunter's conversation. Just what on earth did he mean by wishing he knew what the government was thinking? Aren't they just wanting to preserve what's left of humanity? As these thoughts went through is head and alarm began to shrill in the hallway. Suddenly the noise of heavy boots and yelling could be heard in the compound. The room he was assigned a pallet in started to provide the same sort of commotion. Everyone was getting up, putting on their uniforms and grabbing weapons all with a sense of urgency. Someone stuck their head into the doorway, yelled "Ambush in the bunker!" and ducked back out again. This got Alex on his feet instantly. On his gear went and into their holster's and pouches his various weapons went. Last but not least he grabbed his rifle and headed for the doorway with the other dozen men in the room. He could make out various phrases and mumblings under their breaths. Most had to do with those damn monsters. After this it was easy for Alex to figure out what had happened. Apparently the monsters had figured out a way inside and they needed to be repelled and the entrance collapsed.

After several twists and turns it became apparent that all of the commotion was centered around the front gate that Alex had entered several hours earlier. Shots as well as screaming and the wailing of monsters could be heard coming from that direction. Have the gates been breached? Alex thinks to himself. Worried about Hunter and the rest of the inhabitants Alex hurried forward with everyone else. It wasn't long before they got there and what Alexander and the rest of the men encountered sent a wave of fear through him and made him close to being sick. The giant monster, minus an arm and parts of its body along with two others of his kind and what seemed like and endless wave of Lurkers had indeed breached the main gate. There were several dead bodies lying around and being set upon. Most of the dead seemed to thankfully be the Lurkers, but there were several human one's mixed in there as well. Two machine guns were opening up on the three behemoths but didn't seem to be doing much damage while everyone else was making do with single shot mosin nagant's and automatic rifles. Suddenly a shout could be heard above the chaos. "Concentrate fire on that wounded Dreadnaught!" As both machine gun's fire turned about and started hitting the wounded giant something clicked in Alexander's mind. So that's what a Dreadnaught is! I'm very lucky to have escaped it! The distraction of the machine guns being turned off the main party allowed one of the Dreadnaught's to get closer and pick the guy on Alex's left up by the arm. The Dreadnaught brought him up to its mouth, and with a sickening crunch it bit his head clean off.

Jumping away Alex opened fire on the massive creature's face but all this served to do was make it step backwards onto another soldier, who was immediately crippled and set upon by three Lurkers. Dodging underneath a massive arm Alex rolled away from the Dreadnaught. His roll brought him up next to one of the smoking machine guns. Its seat was empty and covered in blood. Slinging his rifle across his back Alex hopped into the seat and took aim on the closest Dreadnaught's face. This thankfully did seem to have much more effect and sent it toppling backwards. After this Alex concentrated on the rest of the Dreadnaught's. To his surprise the wounded one seemed to be dead and the last one seemed to be kneeling on the ground in pain. Alex turned back to the first Dreadnaught to see if it needed to be finished off. Before he could push the trigger a loud rumbling and screeching could be heard over the noise. He cocked his head back a little to listen and could hear the screaming of women and children coming from the living quarters section of the bunker. A man suddenly came out of a doorway that lead that way and Alex could see that he was covered in blood. "We've been breached further in! We need help in the living quarters and the armory!" Alex nodded and hopped off the machine gun and with four other soldiers followed the man back through the doorway. I hope they have the battle behind me under control was his last thought backwards.

Entering the corridor that lead to the living quarters and the armory produced a fresh wave of hell upon Alexander's mind. Blood and bodies were everywhere. Unfortunately the majority was human with only a few Lurker bodies around. There was no sign of the monsters themselves but screaming could still be heard from further in. The man led two of the other guys towards the armory and told Alex and the others to head towards the living quarters. The first thing that Alex noticed upon entering the living quarters was surprisingly not the blood or the bodies. Nor was it the set of Dreadnaught's in the cavernous room with the other monsters. No, the first thing Alex noticed was the Crawlers. The really, really big Crawlers. These Crawlers looked the same as the usual one except for two key differences. One difference was obviously their size, they were easily as big as a German Shepard or a Husky. The second difference was the giant scorpion like tail growing out of their backsides, this they were putting to good use. " Aww shit! As if the Dreadnaught's and Lurkers aren't bad enough! They led the fucking Mega Crawlers here too!" This was shouted by one of the two men behind Alex as he was ironically stung and devoured by two of said monsters. This was all too much for Alex and he did an about face and ran back into the hall leading to the armory. Hunched over and catching his breath he didn't hear the approaching footsteps until they were upon him. Hunter clapped his hand of Alex's back, which brought a jolt of surprise out of him. "The battle in front of the main gate is lost Alex and so is the armory. How is the living quarter's?" He asked without any hint of emotion in his voice. "Bad! Giant Crawlers as well as Lurkers and two Dreadnaught have taken over." Alex got out with a shudder. "Giant Crawlers? Ah, that makes sense. There is an area near here the residents call Widow Woods full of the creatures and their cursed webs. Unfortunately we must go that way to leave Poland." Hunter looked around and spotted a door that had a stairway symbol on it. "Listen to me Alex, the three battles will meet here and very soon. The Dangerous One's have to be close by for this many Dreadnaught's to be working together. I'm assuming they are leading these armies. Take that doorway and head up to the Capitol building above. That's how I get down here. I'm going to set some charges and I'll be right behind you. Now go!"

With the last word out of his mouth Hunter shoved Alex towards the door. He opened it and looked back, Hunter was nowhere in sight and there wasn't another soul to be seen either. All of a sudden Alex could hear a thumping noise coming from the hallway leading towards the main gate and the battle recently waged there. Around the corner a Dreadnaught was crawling. Alex looked upon it in shock and horror. It was the same one he had seen and attacked in the sewer. The same one that had tracked him here and with a sense of dread, Alex realized it was looking for him once again. Suddenly their gazes locked and it slowly started to crawl its way towards him, howling and growling angrily. Alex bolted through the door behind him and slammed it shut. He took the steps two and three at a time. He was two landings up before he door caved and flew through the air and landed under the stairs at the bottom. Through the opening came the Dreadnaught still slow but obviously seeking vengeance. Running up stair after stair Alex tried tp outrun it, but it seemed to always be a landing or two behind him. Finally reaching another door Alex turned around as a huge explosion rocked the foundation and steps underneath him. With a sickening squeal the stairs started to buckle. Quickly jumping through the threshold he barely avoided falling with the collapsing stairwell. He turned back to see the Dreadnaught falling as well and was glad he didn't get to share its fate. He slammed the door behind him and scanned the room around him.

He seemed to be in a much smaller hallway this time. A door slightly down and to the left led into a huge room that Alex figured must be the front of the building. A huge desk that could only be the receptionist's desk was covered in grime and rust. There were moldy papers and tons of debris everywhere. Along a wall and near a bunch of thrown around chairs sat two convenience machines. With all the grime on them Alex was surprised to see that other than a large hole smack dab in the middle of the plexi-glass they seemed to be pristine on the inside still. Seeing that several bags of chips and soda had been taken Alex could only concur that this burglary must have happened quite recently. Today even. He looked towards the glass doorways that had once served as the entrance to the building and set forth to look through them. The world outside was still chaotic as usual but the slowly rising sun seemed to fill him with hope for some queer reason. Shading his eyes against the sun he slowly walked down the steps and onto the street.

[Heartless Angel]

A loud crash woke Nazarek from his brief respite. "What in K'vala's name?", he asked as he was jolted back into consciousness. The sound seemed to have come from below. He looked out the nearby window, expecting to see a dreadnought, or worse, but what he saw immediately brightened his disposition. 'Ah! The human!", he shouted with joy, betraying his people's fondness for an appearance of apathy. His good mood was quickly interrupted by a diving hunter going straight for the human. "Oh no you don't, you bastard... I've been following this one for way too log to lose him now...", he said, as he took aim with his weapon. He took a breath, and held it in. He squeezed the trigger... "Beam emitter diagnostic in progress. Please wait for diagnostic cycle to complete.", the weapon spoke. "Gah! Damn these regenerators!", he yelled out in rage. Chief among the problem with these weapons, was their need for constant maintenance, recharging, diagnostics, and re-calibrations. They were unreliable compared to conventional beam weapons. Nazarek stood up, and looked through the window. "Damn... That's a hell of a drop even for me... If I miss...", he thought, but there really was no choice. He put his weapon on his back, and took a deep breath before kicking out the window and jumping through it. He quickly plummeted from the heights of the building, tucking in his arms to minimize air resistance, he quickly reached terminal velocity. He watched in horror as the hunter closed in on the as of yet unaware human. This was cutting it close. Just a few feet away from the human, he managed to catch up to his prey. With a resounding thud, he slammed down on the creature, driving it into the ground. The wounded creature turned its head, still alive. Still capable of that damned scream. But not for long. Nazarek raised his fist high into the air, and came down hard, bashing the creature's skull into the pavement. He did this again a few times, until finally the pavement beneath began to crack, and the beast finally stopped struggling.

Nazarek got to his feet, breathing heavily. He turned to face the human, and in perfect Polish, spoke, "You alright, primitive?"

[Magi of Worlds]

A heartless cry turned Alex's gaze towards the sky right as a Hunter was swooping down on him. Dammit! No time to raise my weapons! I'm not ready to die! Right as he got these thoughts out a blur sped past his eyes and slammed into the creature and began pummeling it into the ground. Blinking away sunlight and his own shock Alex came face-to-face with a bulky, tall reptilian like creature that stood up and suddenly spoke to him in Polish. "You alright, primitive?," it asked him. Just staring at it for a moment, Alex tried to take everything in all at once. It seemed vaguely human-like but with very obvious amphibian qualities. Sporting gills and some sort of apparatus over its mouth that could only be used for breathing. Slapped across its back was a rifle unlike anything Alex had ever seen before. I wonder if this is the same creature Boris was trying to tell me about? he thinks to himself. Realizing now for the first time how quiet it is, Alex licks his lips to speak when he's suddenly interrupted by his satellite phone crackling. A voice can suddenly be heard coming through. "Lieutenant! Lieutenant where did you go? I'm waiting back behind the Capitol building for you!" Hunter's voice came through loud and clear. Before anyone could react and shrill could be heard overhead and Alex looked up in time to see a dozen or so Deathwings coming straight for the pair.

"Run!" Taking his own advice Alex bolted down the steps and to the right of the building and aiming for the back. Still hearing the cries of the monsters behind him Alex finally reaches the corner and turns to find Hunter thankfully still standing there but nursing a very much alive, but heavily injured Corporal Spunker. He has cut marks all over his uniform where blood is pushing through and he's missing his left arm up passed his elbow. It's wrapped up heavily in cloth but blood is still pushing through. "Do you know him Alex?" Hunter asks as Alex comes over to hug Spunker and then look him up and down. "Yes, this is Corporal Marc Spunker. He's a member of my team. The only one left it would seem. I saw the others die before my very eyes...." Trailing off midsentence Alex continues staring at Spunker. "Well regardless, this man needs medical attention now. I've given him morphine for the pain, but a doctor is in order. Thankfully there's an old army medic set up in an old gas station near the edge of town." Glancing at each other in surprise Alex shifts his glance to Hunter and nods in thanks. Picking his Corporal and friend up and maneuvers him around to where he can still walk with Alex supporting him. "Lead the way," Alex says as he shifts his gaze back towards the front of the building wondering if the strange alien made it away from the ambush, or if he'd died like to many comrades before.

[Heartless Angel]

Nazarek looked at the human, amused by the astonishment plain on his face. Based on the Hyzali Central Command's intelligence, this world did not possess sufficiently advanced technology to be aware of life on other worlds. His people would call this a Vekara class world, named for the Hyzali spirit of ignorance. Normally it was forbidden by law to interact with such a world, but under these circumstances, Central Command had authorized the military to violate this edict. Normally the honor of first contact was reserved for flag officers many centuries his elder, but today it fell to a mere soldier. This unceremonious first encounter was cut short when the human's communication device activated, and soon after the human shouted out a warning and ran for cover. Nazarek turned around just in time to see a small flock of flyers diving straight for them. He turned to see where the human had gone, but he already disappeared from view. With his weapon still in its diagnostic cycle, Nazarek had no choice but the flee. He quickly scanned his surroundings before deciding on a building in the direction the human had run. Maybe he'd get lucky and choose the escape route as the human, but over the past 2 years, Nazarek had learned to never expect good luck on this planet.