Zeta Solar System

  Mission Target: Colony Eighty-Eight-Two-Three, Twenty-two point five light years away from Earth.

  Location: The Death Zone––A region destroyed and abandoned from the colonial wars fifty years ago.

  Objective: Eliminate hostile

  Over the sweeping ruins of a long destroyed city, a group of eight military soldiers, dressed in black armoured high-tech futuristic gear, ran swiftly towards a gutted building near by. The sound of their boots smacking the wet ground was obscured by the heavy torrential rainstorm, a miserable situation for the dead of night. It was already hard enough to see where they were going, with so few city emergency lights still operating after all these years, the solar batteries in them struggling to keep enough power running through them all.

  The faint flickers and sad-sounding hums of them snapping on and off, made the approaching soldiers jittery, as they pointed their weapons about in a state of alert. The leader of the team, motioned his free hand, and used his helmet radio to relay his orders.

  “Okay, we’ve got the assassin cornered. Form up and keep it tight, people. Head to the left of the complex. Move it! Move it! Move it!”

  Their helmet lights shone about as they looked about the ravaged area. War had come to this city long ago, and had made this entire section a wasteland of skeletal structures and scattered rubble. As they approached the tall, burnt out grey building, the soldiers formed up against the wall of it and held their weapons at the ready.

  “Shit! I hate this fuckin’ rain.” One soldier said, flipping up his helmet’s black face shield.

  He was a young adult black soldier, with a deep scar across his nose. He shivered from the coldness and stopped his feet in place, as if attempting to maintain some type of warmth. He shook the rainwater off of his weapon and grimaced at it.

  “I’m getting wet in places I don’t want to be.”

  “Quit your bitching, Mazzy…” The soldier beside him nudged. “That’s all you do is bitch-bitch-bitch…”

  “Fuck you, Janson.” Mazzy stated back. He turned to face him. “Unless you want to see my weapon up your ass, bitch!”

  “Bring it on, big man!”

  “Hey, cut it out you two. Keep it down,” The lead soldier in front stated. He then flipped up his face shield and scowled at both of them. He tried not speak too loud as he asserted his authority over them. “We’ve got one shot at nailing this asshole. The last thing we need is to give away our position.”

  “Gee, I think our helmet lights did that already, Sarge.” Janson sarcastically tapped on it.

  “Cut the back talk, Janzon. We’re on a mission here, ya got that?” The leader pointed aggressively.

  “He’s got a point though…” Mazzy sniffled.

  The other soldiers all nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, fine,” The leader conceded, with a bitter scowl. “Then let’s switch to night-mode, if that makes it any better. Agreed?”

  They all nodded in agreement and did as instructed. The lights dimmed immediately, turning to a soft purple glow that barely highlighted their surroundings.

  “At least it won’t be detectable in that spectrum,” The leader stated as he switched his on. “It should keep the glare down to a minimum.”

  “Unless he’s got the proper gear to detect it.” Mazzy scoffed.

  “Watch it, private!” The leader grimaced back.

  “Are we sure about this intel, Sarge?” The soldier at the back of the group asked, a female with a short build. “Is this really the guy that took out the colonial director a few days back?”

  “Yes, Talia,” The man exhaled in frustration. “We know for a fact the guy is here. We just weren’t sure of what sector he was in. Once they located movement in this area from the satellite sweepers, Bravo Leader made the call, and here we are.”

  “With no reinforcements…” Mazzy included.

  The leader glared at him with dissatisfaction.

  “Mazzy, since you’re being so vocal here,” He gestured to him. “You and Janson can take point, we’ll cover your six…”

  “Why me?”

  “Cause I said so, soldier,” He grinned at him. “Now, move out… both of you.”

  “Great…” Janson grumbled. “Thanks a ton, Mazzy.”

  Mazzy slapped his face shield down in protest, and tapped the glowing blue button on the side of his long gun-like weapon. The plasma-core inside hummed with power as it switched on. He then gestured his head to Janson, to follow behind him as he moved out. The two kept their guns poised in front and slowly walked into the opening of the dilapidated structure. The lead soldier tapped on the side of his helmet.

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  “Bravo Leader, this is Unit 1138. We are situated in the Death Zone area, and have located the target. We are proceeding our way in, request back up as soon as possible.”

  There was a bit of static over the radio signal, and then a woman’s voice responded.

  “Rodger that, Unit 1138, proceed with caution, reinforcements currently on the way, ETA seventy-five minutes. Confirm, over?”

  “Seventy-five minutes? Shit…” The Sargent gritted his teeth. He took a moment to let that sink in, then answered back. “Uh, yeah, confirmed, Bravo Leader. Thanks a bunch… over.”

  He gestured for the rest of the group to follow behind the two soldiers as they cautiously entered the building. Walking in perfect harmony, they kept their guns raised and scanned their surroundings with their purple lights. Moving slowly and staying close together, the group maintained their synchronized rhythm, from their footsteps to the way they aimed their weapons. With precision and unity, the eight of them moved forward in a tight circle.

  The building, torn up and riddled with opened sections, was still giving some shelter from the rain. The wet, damp environment was still prevalent though. All that could be heard inside was the sound of their footsteps, the rain beyond, and dripping of water echoing throughout the complex.

  “Stay frosty people, that killer is in here somewhere.” The lead soldier stated. “Dixon, Sharvez, Miller, fan out on the left…”

  “You got it.” Dixon acknowledged.

  “Don’t lose my ass, Dix.” Sharvez glanced at him.

  “A hunting we will go…” Miller snickered as the three of them broke formation.

  “Jackson, Talia, you’re with me on the right,” The leader motioned with his head. “Mazzy, you and Janson keep moving forward… get it done, guys, no bickering, now’s not the time for that shit.”

  “Amen to that, boss.” Jason snickered.

  As the split away from one another, someone watches them in the darkness from high above. The massive gap in the ceiling reveals the next level, but shrouds the figure gazing down at them. The individual’s eyes glow red, and slowly follow the soldiers as they separate. Mazzy and Janson glance about wildly, as they approach the stairs heading up to the next floor. Both men are uneasy about the climb, and of the condition of the cement stairs, but the pair gingerly headed upwards on it, keeping their weapons pointed out and steady.

  “God, I hate this place, it gives me the creeps…” Janson grumbled.

  “Yeah,” Mazzy acknowledged, hearing his comment. “I’m with you on that, eight hundred thousand people died in this entire zone during the war. Can’t imagine they got all the bodies out of these buildings.”

  “Can you blame them? It’s taken a good fifty years to come back here. The radiation would have fried the lot of them if they came any earlier.”

  “Will you two shut the fuck up!” The lead soldier instructed them, trying to keep his voice low. “You’re broadcasting the convo over an open mike! The enemy assassin is bound to hear it, ya numb-skulls. No more talking, everyone switch to radio silence.”

  The group complied with the order and continued on. Mazzy and Janson continued to climb up. Dixon decided to investigate a pile of debris near the corner of the room. Sharvez and Miller split apart and aimed their weapons up, shining the purple light up to where the hole was in the ceiling. Dixon got closer as he came around the pile. It was a mess of furnishings, computers, and chunks of concrete, all blackened and charred. It didn’t help that it was so pitch-black in the place already, but Dixon tried to keep his light on the rubble and look.

  “Well?” Miller asked him, not looking in his direction. “Anything?”

  “Clear…” He stated back.

  Suddenly, smoothing came out from above, it was a thin wire with a stumpy-looking end. It had immediately shot out and latched around Miller’s throat like a snake. The man gagged as he dropped his gun and reactively tried to stop the noose from tightening. But it was too late. The wire went taut, and his neck snapped instantly. The wire quickly retracted just as fast. There was little time to react, but both Dixon and Shavez fired their weapons up in the direction.

  Again, the assassin was quick. This time Sharvez fell victim to it, and was also instantly struck dead. Dixon couldn’t stop it in time. He wildly shot his gun at the ceiling and screamed in anger. The team leader and Talia ran over to him and joined in the carnage. Their weapons were ablaze as they tried to take out the enemy.

  Mazzy and Janson, rushed up the stairs and flashed their lights about as they reached the next floor. The sound of bullets slicing through concrete and ricocheting off of steel girders, was deafening. They tried to spot the culprit, but there was nothing there.

  “Hold your fire!” Mazzy screamed into his helmet microphone. “Hold your fire!”

  The guns fell silent as everyone stopped. Mazzy drew closer to the edge as it smouldered, looking down at the others below and holding out a hand with his palm up.

  “Anything?” The leader glared at him.

  “Nothing…” Mazzy responded. “Other than the making this hole even bigger now.”

  That drew a chuckle from the others, but the leader shook head in disappointment and waved to the group with him to move on. They returned to radio silence, and used non-verbal signals (head nodding and hand gestures) to convey acknowledgement. Mazzy and Janson rejoined one another, and explored the level they were on. They took careful steps, maintaining a stealth-like prowess, and searched the area. This floor was even darker than the one below. Even the lightening strikes outside failed to illuminate the room, all they had were their helmet purple lights to lowly tint the spot they were heading into.

  Janson gasped in surprise, but before he could warn his partner, he disappeared as a shadowy figure leapt out and snagged him. Mazzy caught the quick movement from the corner of his eye, spun around and shot at whatever just flew past. He missed it. He glanced in every direction, trying to spot the shadow figure again, but there was nothing. He pointed his gun ahead, keeping a sharp eye for any movement, and stepped into the spot where Janson had been. As he reached the area, he felt something rub against his foot. He aimed his light and gun down, and saw the headless corpse of Janson laying in a pool of blood.

  “No!” He choked. The shock of seeing it caused him to recoil, stumbling slightly backwards in horror. “Janson… shit…”

  There was a noise from above, it sounded like something small scampering about. He tilted his head up and spotted a pair of red glowing eyes looking back at him. He was paralyzed in fear. Mazzy tried to raise his weapon up, hoping his pace wouldn’t be noticed by the unknown assailant above. He thought wrong. The eyes drew closer as the small shadowy being thrusted towards him. His scream was muted by the gush of his own blood, spilling out of his throat and onto the floor.

  In his death grip, Mazzy’s finger squeezed the trigger of the gun, as it blasted away while his body dropped to the ground. The team below glanced up and could see the flashing of weapon, but then, they also saw the outline of the compact figure running away. The leader took the opportunity and commanded his team to head up there. As they did, the figure moved again, zipping by with incredible speed and missed all their shots as they unloaded their guns while reaching the top of the stairs.

  “What the hell is this thing, sir?” Talia jerked about with her weapon in hand.

  “Nothing moves like that…” Jackson grumbled. “Nothing human, that is.”

  “Maybe it’s one of them sentry droids, from the old war days.” Dixon shrugged.

  “Right, cause that’s what killed the colony representative,” Jackson mocked. “Man, come on… droids like that don’t have the processing power to do all that, those things are big and bulky, and just as stupid as fuck.”

  “Whatever it is…” The leader glanced to them. “It’s to be taken out by any means. You got that?”

  “Care to elaborate on how, sir?” The woman soldier scoffed.

  “Like any soldier would, ya dumb shit…” He stared back at her. “Shoot, stab, punch, launch a grenade… throw a fuckin’ rock at its head, for crying out loud! Unless you want to end up like the others…”

  “Right,” She nodded. “I gotcha, sir…”

  The group continued on. They kept close, forming up as a circle again, and keeping an eye on all the corners, looking up at the ceiling, and shining their lights on all areas they could. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by the killer, as its red glowing eyes peered out from behind a collapsed wall far left of them. As the group moved on into the next room, the mysterious figure followed, keeping its eyes focused on them as they proceeded.