The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (104 page)

  “Holy shit man! They’ve been going at for seven and a half hours!” Merritt said when he noticed the time on his cell phone.

  Five minutes later, the obvious happened. Inferno of Terror 154T came flying out of the woods and struck a tree. After he got up Halsey said, “No fuckin’ way!” Everybody was video taping him as he came, picked up Vanasse and threw her so hard against a tree that it killed her. (Gwynn, when he saw that said, “Holy shit, did you guys see that? That was some wicked shit.”) Before he could come after the others (who was still video taping it) he was tackled by Ghost Killer. Night Stalker came and yelled at them for being so stupid and started to demand that they leave. Rymer finally got the point when Inferno of Terror 154T kicked Ghost Killer into Night Stalker and she landed on Cottrill. Before they could react, Inferno of Terror 154T jumped onto Night Stalker killing Cottrill.

  “She’s right! Let’s get out of here… NOW!” Rymer yelled at everyone.

  “What about the cell phones?!” Coville yelled back.

  “Go get ‘em!” Rymer yelled back.

  “You got to be shittin’ me?! You idiots!” Night Stalker yelled out in frustration.

  While Private First Class Gwynn was trying to get Cottrill’s cell phone Inferno of Terror 154T killed him by taking his head off. After he did that both Ghost Killer and Night Stalker tackled him. Carlson was able to get Cottrill and Gwynn’s cell phone before it was too late. He then stood there video taping the fight until Night Stalker yelled at him to leave.

  “As you can plainly see…” Carlson was recording himself saying into his cell phone. “… their adrenaline glands, which are quite advanced, may be working in overdrive... but it can handled the workload. Judging by what I have seen here today… I can say that they should be able to fight for at least 24-to-30 hours straight. It is indeed quite fascinating to see them in action.”

  After Carlson finished downloading the video that both Cottrill and Gwynn made into his cell phone, Carlson threw their cell phones down. Never mind about any family photos, messages, or the like that either one of them may have had (Gwynn had pictures of his little girl and his wife on his cell phone.) on their cell phone, Carlson didn’t consider them important. He was just doing his job.

  Inferno of Terror 154T fought both Ghost Killer and Night Stalker eighteen hours and thirty-three minutes before he finally saw an opportunity. While they were fighting near a steep embankment he threw Night Stalker at Ghost Killer and both of them went over the edge. Inferno of Terror 154T stood at the edge while he saw both of them tumbling down the embankment. He was in a great deal of pain. He had tinnitus in his right ear, blind in his right eye, his skull was cracked both above and below his right eye, and all the molars in the right side of his mandible was gone, or knocked lose. Despite all of his injuries, like a typical Demon X, he will pursue his game till the end of the universe.

  “Get back up here! So I can finish the job!” Inferno of Terror 154T yelled down the embankment. He knew that both of them were still alive even though he can’t see them. He then turn to pursue the other game. His favorite game of them all.

  Rymer and company managed to make it to the next moderate size city before Inferno of Terror 154T realized where they went. Rymer decided to cut across a large field to get to that city, while Inferno of Terror 154T thought that they went to the next abandon small town. Although the city that Rymer went to was large enough to hold 20,000 people, no more than 1,000 lived there. Rymer knew there had to be a police station with weapons that they could use (and perhaps some cops as well). But Rymer also knew that Inferno of Terror 154T would have known the same thing.

  When they got to the city Rymer had no other choice but to go to the hospital because of his injured foot. He divided what remained of his company in two: Corporal Halsey, Coville and Carlson will go to the police station; and Sergeant Merritt, Averillo and Cronin will search for food and water. (The food, water and medicine that they got earlier wasn’t anywhere near enough of what they needed.) Rymer knew that they were on borrow time that none of them could afford. But without food, water, shelter and weapons they are as good as dead. He could do the only sensible thing that he could do and he truly hated making the decision. They must wait a few days so that, not only could his foot heal, but also, no matter how remote the chance may be, either Ghost Killer and/or Night Stalker would meet up with them and/or Inferno of Terror 154T would be killed.

  Nobody liked Rymer’s plan, but they knew he was right and so they said nothing. (Everyone knew that when those few days are up, they would have only seven days to contact Lenkov or else.) Sergeant Merritt and company had greater success in their search than Corporal Halsey in his. (Without anybody knowing it, Inferno of Terror 154T arrived in the city when both teams got back.) The next couple of days was very tense as they search for weapons and occasionally ran across the locals who told them that they saw a Demon Cy-X matching Inferno of Terror 154T’s description. Everything changed on the third day while Merritt and company was searching for food (the locals refused to bring them any given who was after them).

  “Where in the hell is Averillo?” Sergeant Merritt asked Cronin.

  “I think she went inside that building.” Cronin responded pointing to an abandoned skyscraper.

  Merritt, who had the only handgun with one clip, led the way inside the building. Four hours later, they found the body of Averillo who was obviously killed by Inferno of Terror 154T. As Sergeant Merritt turned to run, Cronin went to search Averillo’s body for her cell phone. When Sergeant Merritt saw what Cronin was doing he yelled at him to come on, he then went over to collect Cronin. Before he got there Inferno of Terror rushed their position. Sergeant Merritt got off several rounds (all of them found their mark) before he was attacked by Inferno of Terror 154T. Cronin then turned and ran for his dear life. As luck would have it, he managed to give Inferno of Terror 154T the slip and made it back to base three hours later.

  “Where is Sergeant Merritt and Averillo?” Rymer asked Cronin when he got back.

  “Dead. Inferno of Terror got ‘em.” Cronin responded out of breath.

  “Tomorrow morning we have no other choice but to go look for more weapons. After that… we are outta here.” Rymer mentioned to their relief.

  At 07:04 they left and headed to where one of the locals said that there was a weapons cache. While they were driving there they realized that Inferno of Terror 154T was following them in a truck. After they gave him the slip (and knowing that they don’t have much time) they arrived at the large house where the weapon cache is said to be.

  “Finally, some good fucking news!” Corporal Halsey said when he found the weapons cache.

  “Everybody! Grab a weapon and take up a defensive position!” Rymer ordered them.

  Two hours later Inferno of Terror 154T found them. As he was running trying to flank them, Cronin shot him twice, one was a nick and the other got him in his left kidney. He then disappeared around the corner of the house. Carlson then ran to a window where both Corporal Halsey and Coville was at and then he started to shoot at what he thought was Inferno of Terror 154T.

  “Would you stop wasting ammo you dumbass!” Halsey said to Carlson threw his teeth.

  “I gotta go.” Coville mentioned. She had to go urinate badly.

  “What?!” Carlson asked her.

  “You know… I have to go pee.”

  “Do it in your damn pants.” Halsey snapped back at her.

  “I’m not doing it in my pants!” Coville snapped back at him. She then got up to go to the bathroom that was nearby.

  “Dumbass bitch!” Halsey remarked.

  “Somebody go with her!” Rymer called out.

  “I’m not letting anybody watch me pee!” Coville snapped back.

  “Fine! Fire a shot if you see him!” Rymer yelled at her.

  “Goddamn civilians!” Halsey said quite annoyed.

  “I heard that.” Rymer said in agreement. Two minutes later they heard the shot and heard her scream bloody murder.

  “Let’s ditch the bitch!” Halsey yelled out.

  “You heard the man!” Rymer yelled out. The four of them then got up to run outside. They all ran to the truck that Inferno of Terror 154T came in since it was closer.

  Rymer was the first to get around the truck. He then aimed his rifle over the hood of the truck and when he saw Inferno of Terror 154T come out he yelled out duck causing them to dive to the ground. Rymer shot Inferno of Terror 154T at the same time Inferno of Terror 154T shot at him. Lucky for Rymer he was quicker on trigger and his shot caused Inferno of Terror 154T to miss him. (The shot nicked the windshield of the truck.)

  “Get in the truck… NOW!” Rymer yelled at them. Rymer shot Inferno of Terror 154T three times before he ran out of ammo. He then yelled out that he was out.

  “Die you ugly freak!” Halsey yelled out as he turned over on his back and started to shoot at Inferno of Terror 154T. Although Carlson and Cronin got up to get into the truck, Inferno of Terror 154T was able to shoot Cronin through the liver.

  “Go on… get outta here!” Halsey yelled at them while he and Inferno of Terror 154T was shooting at each other. Rymer wasted no time in leaving.

  While both Halsey and Inferno of Terror 154T was shooting each other, Inferno of Terror 154T was walking towards him. When he ran out of ammo Inferno of Terror 154T threw down Mary’s gun and ran at Halsey. Halsey managed to shoot Inferno of Terror 154T under his left mandible and below his molars. The shot then exit near the front of Inferno of Terror 154T’s left ear. Inferno of Terror 154T then attacked and killed Halsey, took his gun and got off two rounds (both hit the truck) before he was out of ammo. He then quickly ran to the vehicle that they came in, got in, but he didn’t pursue them. He had another plan to deal with them.

  Rymer knew that he was in a precarious situation and there was very little that he could do about it. Inferno of Terror 154T was still alive, Cronin was dying, and worse yet, there was only one handgun with one spare clip and one rifle with three rounds left. In short, eighteen rounds to kill something in which multiple rounds could not bring him down. Cronin mentioned in the truck that Inferno of Terror 154T had to be dying (he was right), but neither Rymer nor Carlson believed him. Rymer wasted no time in getting to their destination.

  Although their destination was the same security station in the old regional capital that Task Force ZH-3C was at earlier, and the quickest way to get there is by the monorail, Rymer knew (Task Force ZH-3C didn’t) that there was a secret tunnel (it was not on any map) that led to the security station. He also knew that taking the tunnel was the longest route to the weapons storage, but it was also the most safest to the transmitter in case Inferno of Terror 154T cannot be stop. God… he hopes that Cronin is right about that damn monster.

  Five miles before they got to the tunnel they heard a helicopter and they knew who it was. Inferno of Terror 154T came near enough to them so that they could see him flipping them off. He then flew the helicopter and landed it at the opening of the tunnel, got out with a rifle that he’d got from the security station and waited for them. Rymer slammed on the brakes when he saw where the monster landed the helicopter. Cronin laughed out of frustration.

  “Get out.” Cronin said in a weak dying voice. Both did without hesitation.

  Cronin drove as fast as he could at the helicopter while trying his best not to be shot. Although he was shot, Inferno of Terror 154T was shot three times by Rymer who was providing covering fire. Cronin knew that the helicopter will not explode when he hits it, and so did Inferno of Terror 154T. But what the monster did not know was that Cronin had an explosive that Carlson created and no one had the opportunity to use it. Despite the explosion, Rymer had his handgun pointed to where he saw Inferno of Terror 154T jumped to.

  “Here, take this.” Carlson said to Rymer trying to hand him a backpack with all the cell phones in it.

  “Now is not the time.” Rymer said through his teeth.

  “But…” Carlson was saying.

  “Shut up!” Rymer snapped back. He heard a click from the hammer of a rifle being pulled back.

  When they got to the helicopter (and trying to find a way around it while it was still on fire) Inferno of Terror 154T attacked them. Rymer got off three shots, saw the ugly beast stumbled (a sign that he was dying), and watched him attacked Cronin. As luck would have it, Inferno of Terror 154T didn’t have the rifle and he lost his left arm below the elbow in the explosion. Rymer was able to shoot the ugly beast four times in the his left knee before his gun was knocked out of his hands. As Inferno of Terror 154T was coming after Rymer, Carlson, with the last bit of his strength, grabbed the monster’s left leg and held on with all his might. Inferno of Terror 154T then picked up Carlson and threw him against the wrecked helicopter. Carlson, on fire, then ran after Inferno of Terror 154T who then put him out of his misery.

  When Rymer saw the beast picked up Carlson he ran to get his gun. He then ran at an opening that he saw between the helicopter and the opening of the tunnel. He had to crawl on his back as he tried to go under the tail section of the helicopter. After Inferno of Terror 154T killed Carlson he started to look for Rymer. Rymer didn’t shoot him as he saw the beast come after him. Instead he waited for Inferno of Terror 154T to try and grab his foot before he shot him in his right eye. (Rymer didn’t know that he was blind in that eye, nor could he tell.)