Strange Creatures
After Hunter left Rochelle and Tyler watched a couple of movies before it got too dark. He escorted her home. Patricia and Beatrice had also left before in got dark. Aunt Carol came back. The family had a meal together before heading off to bed.
The next morning, Tyler woke up pretty early. He finished his morning workout in his room and was currently seated on the floor in a lotus position. His eyes were closed.
His mind was focused on the energy that was inside his body. He didn't know what it was called so for now he called it Force energy because that was how it felt to him. A force that was capable of powering up his cells to give them an extra boost. It was similar to adrenalin but it had a long lasting effect.
He also discovered that he could use this energy to scan to condition of his body. But it required a ton of concentration. By the time he was done, he was sweating and the sun was slowly rising.
After a shower, he wore his school uniform before heading downstairs and having breakfast.
"Good morning Tyler," Aunt Carol greeted him when he arrived in the kitchen that was combined with the dining room.
He took a seat. Aunt Carol served him some scrambled eggs, pancakes. There was also a cup of tea to wash it down.
"Good morning," Tyler replied. "Is Laura not up yet?"
"She's still in the shower. God this girl can take forever," Aunt Carol complained
Tyler didn't reply instead he had a taste of the food and it was delicious.
Much better than the junk they served at the ACD battleship, such was the thought in his head. Speaking of which…I wonder how things are going at base?
WASHINGTON DC, THE WHITE HOUSE
In one large room in particular, several influential people were seated around a table.
These were the several men and women who handled the security issues of the United States of America.
Directors of the CIA, NSA and even the FBI were present together with the 7 generals of the US Army. Among the Directors of the CIA there was Vince Harold who was commonly known as CHIEF. This was the very same man who had helped Tyler Calvin be reunited with his family. He wore a suit as he usually did and his white hair was well combed. This forty-something year old man sat quietly with his eyes closed as he was thinking of various reasons why all of the people who could be considered the powerhouses of the nation were called together in one room.
Indeed the number of people who were present at the table were about 20 with 5 empty seats on either side and a single empty chair at the head of the table where the president of one of the world's superpowers was to seat in a few minutes.
"Vince you sly dog. Never thought I'd see you again," Austin Bush, one of the generals who didn't particularly see eye to eye with CHIEF said.
"Well given the circumstances I had no other choice otherwise why would I want to see that ugly face of yours," CHIEF replied.
The insult didn't particularly hurt any of Austin's feelings because although he didn't have a good looking face, he didn't have a shortage of women in his life. Austin simply sneered before speaking.
"I heard you did something interesting lately," he said which caused CHIEF look at him with a glint of caution. "I heard you released Asset 01."
Everyone was silent in the vicinity as they heard this. Almost all the higher ups knew about the Asset 01, the assassin whole formerly worked for Tonitruum, an organization that almost led to the downfall of the USA and several other superpowers of the world. Asset 01 at the time had killed almost all the higher generals of the nation before the CIA led by Vince Harold managed to capture him. No one knows what else happened after, not even the other 4 CIA directors.
So you can imagine the surprise that everyone had when they heard this. Not only was Asset 01 alive but he was also freely living his life somewhere in their nation no less.
"What does that have to do with you?" CHIEF asked calmly. "And what are you all giving me those stares Asset 01 was nothing more than a kid who was just caught up in several unfortunate circumstances."
"Unfortunate circumstances?" Austin growled furiously. "He killed 5 army generals! I would prefer to see his corpse cut to pieces and fed to the dogs"
"It doesn't matter what you think. The fact remains that Tyler is simply a kid who was manipulated into doing what he did and besides he already received punishment and he served it well for the past 7 years when he worked with the military," CHIEF replied
Austin's eyes widened his eyes in surprised. "He worked with the military?! How come I didn't know about this?"
"Because there was simply no need," a voice that was both powerful and authoritative filled the room and everyone was silent as a heavy presence filled the room. Walking in what appeared to be a suit similar to what military generals wore but golden in color, a man in his late 30's, standing over 6ft 9inches, black hair buzz cut, blue eyes and a handsome face.
This man was the man whole had led America during and after the Tonitruum crisis. He strategically led a Special Forces mission together with Vince Harold to counter Tonitruum and ended victorious. This was President Albert Michaels. Everyone stood to show their respect to the young man who had entered.
"No need to stand. You may take your seats," Albert Michaels said as he himself took a seat at the head of the table.
All members present proceeded to take their seats. Silence filled the room as everyone waited patiently waited for the President Albert's words. Albert Michaels looked at the faces of those present in the room with mixed emotions. The information he was about to give was something that could change the fate of the entire human race…no the whole world.
A mechanical sound was heard in the room at the wall on the opposite side from where the president was seated. The seemed to open up to another hidden compartment and a black screen seemed to have taken its place. The screen lit up and the national seal of the USA was on display. This was the latest integration of the technology that was being implemented slowly with the help of Chisel Tech Corp and several other technological evolutions were going to take place when the government contract with the company was finally completely, but this wasn't the reason why Albert had called these powerful figures though.
"Now the reason why I called you all here is because of a transmission we received from a team that was on a joint mission with the North Korean special forces in a village called --------," Albert said and motioned towards the screen. Where a video transmission was playing now.
******
A few nights before the accident involving Tyler Calvin and Houston Macdonald. The North Koreans had requested for help from the American forces.
This issue was brought to the attention of the United States president. It took a while for him to decide but he sent in seal team 2 which was on the level of seal team 8. The team was composed of 8 squadron members and although the team's experience was limited as it was a newly established squad, their skills and combat abilities were nothing to scoff at. The team was dispatched and sent over to North Korean via fighter helicopters.
North Korean was a country that was ruled by a dictator and it was one of the countries that was put on the United States' watch list. Even the North Koreans were cautious of them.
Despite all that though, North Korean had requested some assistance from the Americans. When the team arrived at the North Korean base 10 km away from the village, the were briefed on the situation.
The village was now a dead zone and it was out of contact. The base was beaming with activity, tanks which were known as the kings of the ground were being readied, armored vehicles were being deployed, heavily armed soldiers moved about and a team of 20 men were to head out with seal team 2. It seemed as though everyone for was preparing for a major confrontation.
The village that was once a place filled with mineral miners and busy markets now had run down buildings. It felt like a ghost town and the grave silence coupled with an ominous fog caused goosebumps to appear on the skin of the soldiers as they moved through the village. The fog was so thick that it made it very difficult so see for more than 6ft away.
Two armored vehicles were deployed and an infantry of 15 men plus seal team 2. A battle tank was stationed quite a distance away from the village and would engage when the deployed soldiers requested immediate assistance.
"Damn it the fog is too thick man," Rodgers, one of seal team 2's members who was in the back of the group complained. Seal team 2 moved in an arrow formation as they swept through the east side of the village.
They passed several demolished houses.
One of the team members suddenly saw movement in one of the houses.
"Captain I think I saw movement," the seal team member said.
After thinking it over the captain replied, "Rodgers and Simon go check it out."
Simon was the guy who spoke a moment ago. He and Rodgers were already off.
"Steven and Mike you guys move and check out the other houses as well," the captain ordered and two other seal team members were off.
"You sure that was a good idea cap?" asked the remaining member who went by the name of Billy and he had a closer relationship with the captain of the team.
"This is the fastest way to check for survivors as well as uncover any ambushes," the captain; Armand replied.
"I get that but something about this place feels eerie," Billy said and Armand couldn't help but think that his friend was right.
From the fog, the emptiness and even then constant standing of the hairs on their skin, it just gave of bad premonitions in Armand's head and if it was up to him he wouldn't have bothered with sending a scout team. He'd have either sent missiles to desecrate the entire area or he would have sent an invasion force that was ready for war at any moment but alas this wasn't his country and he didn't have the authority to make any suggestions to the iron headed Koreans who would rather die than take the word of a foreigner.
"Plus my gut instinct keeps telling me that something is about to go down," Billy added and as if on cue the sound of gun fire rang out to the west of the village followed by screams of men.
"Goddamit what the hell?" Rodgers asked Simon as they saw a dark figure about 10 meters before them squatting next to something on the ground.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crack!
The sound of chewing and bone cracking could be heard by the two. Rodgers held onto his assault rifle that happened to be an M4 Carbine. He didn't know what came over him but every cell in his body was screaming 'Danger!' to him.
Simon inched towards the figure cautiously. His curiosity had been piqued and he wanted to at least know what ever the hell that was before getting out of the place.
Rodgers wanted nothing more than to scream at Simon but if he did that then the thing would be alerted of their presence. Simon was now 4 meters away from the creature and was finally able to see what was going on.
The site horrified him. The creature he was looking at had frail arms, its hair was constantly falling out as it chewed onto what he could recognize as a human body which only had the head remaining.
The creature was wearing tattered clothing which meant that whatever this thing was, it used to be human. Simon body shivered as the scene shook his very core.
He staggered backwards but ended up kicking a cup in the process.
"Shit," Simon muttered under his breath as the creature sharply turned and looked at him with crimson blood red eyes. It disfigured face looked grotesque as it beared its fangs at him. Simon didn't even have time to register what was going on when the creature pounced towards him like a feral cat.
Simon body moved instinctively as he rolled leapt to the side narrowly avoiding the sudden attack. Rodgers, who had been watching from a few meters away saw what happened and without hesitation took aim with his M4 and fired a couple of rounds at the creature that now scurried away from the hail of bullets on all four limbs. It crawled up the wall at a fast pace and it had moved up the ceiling.
Rodgers didn't stop his assault though and continued to fire off bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gun fire rattled in throughout the room as he tried to fire at the fast crawling creature. He didn't notice that the creature was directly above him. By the time he realized this, the creature jumped down to him.
"Crap!" he internally cursed himself for his carelessness.
The creature had long claw-like fingernails. It clawed at his neck and Rodgers reacted by swinging his gun as if it were a baseball bat. It hit the creature in the face and in the process caused it to miss slitting his neck open but instead the claws penetrated his cheek and trailed across his eye.
The creature fell onto the table that completely broke in half. It stood on all fours before charging towards him Rodgers with a growl. Rodgers gritted his teeth as he took a round metallic object from his belt and pulled the pin. He dropped it on the ground while running the opposite direction.
"Grenade!" he shouted causing Simon to snap out of his daze. He too run after Rodgers who was aiming for a broken window. They both jumped at the same time and landed outside the house.
The creature had stopped its charge for a brief moment to inspect the object that its prey had dropped. After a short while it lost its interest and was about to continue its search when the grenade gave off a terrifying explosion that killed it in a matter of seconds and completely destroyed whatever was left of the house.
Rodgers and Simon caught as the dust blew into their nostrils.
"Did you really have to use a grenade?" Simon complained
"What the hell are you whining about! That thing was too fast for me to aim and it was even physically stronger despite having such a frail figure," Rodgers explained. Simon understood Rodgers' course of actions completely, he just said that so that he could attempt to calm his heart that was still beating frantically.
"Rodgers! Simon!" Armand's voice sounded from the distance. He and Billy came as fast as they could when they heard the sound of gunfire and as they got closer an explosion went off which made the already worried captain even more worried.
"Sounds like the cap's worried," Rodgers said while still coughing.
"Come on lets go," Simon stood and shouted. "We're alright captain!"
They met with the captain who looked at Rodgers with concern. His face now had claw marks that ran all the way up his cheek to his eye.
"What happened?" Armand asked and Simon went on to explain what happened.
Armand's face turned dreadful as he heard this. He looked at Billy who was already radioing Steve and Mike to re-group immediately.
They all heard gunfire coming from the western side where the Koreans were and could easily deduce that they too had encountered the strange creature.