”Then why in the fuck did she bite me!“ Corbin exclaimed as he stood up out of his seat.

“Yeah, lieutenant, this Punta just latched onto me and was trying to bite me! What do you mean she isn’t infected!” Gomez said still rearing from the situation.

Doc, attempting to examine Corbin’s wound, stated, “Well, if she isn’t infected, something could have caused her to behave like this besides infection. Drugs, Rabies, severe lack of sleep and hallucinations, and that’s just a few reasons. This city's a mess, I can only imagine what kind of traumatic experiences she may have gone through.”

Footsteps could be heard coming up from the basement. Ow retorts, “Ye! Bout dat. Der iz sumtin you wanna see.”

“Yeah, we got four bodies laid out Al Capone style downstairs! Like Nuthin I’d ever seen before. Ontopa that we got what looks like a cot downstairs so this bitch was survivin, if that’s what you wanna call it.” Smith exclaimed.

As they spoke, Jackson rushed into the room. “What’s with the screami- what in the hell happened.” My eyes stayed on the woman unconscious under me. My hands clench the crowbar in case of any sudden movements. A murmuring and disjointed conversation broke out behind me to attempt to explain everything. So many things rushed through my head, yet, almost like a switch it all turned off as I spoke. “Corbin.” I said in a calm voice. “Take your Fireteam and Detain this woman and secure her to something. When done I want you to post up in here. Watch the windows and back door. Doc, patch up Corbin and stay close to him, if this woman is infected, which I doubt, Corbin only has about twenty minutes, max. Jackson, apparently there are bodies down stairs. You and I are going to check it out alone.” I turned my head to look Jackson in the eyes, “Did you find anything upstairs.”

“Uh, no, but what the hell is-.” Jackson answered but I didn’t give him enough time to finish his sentence.

“Good, Jasper, get on the horn right now and get Feathers and Carmine up to speed. I want feathers to link back up with us ASAP. If, and this is a strong if, they are smart enough to create traps and ambushes, then we don't want to be spread out. After you do, Gomez, get to the roof and attempt to get intouch with literally anyone. I don’t care who it is anymore, attempt to get in touch with other platoons, other companies, anything.”

“Uh, Jefe, what’s the point of that?” Gomez asked.

“Gomez, I haven’t heard any gunfire in at least an hour, no air support has been over, no medivac, transport, or anything else has flown around us either. I’m making sure we aren’t the only ones left in this city.” I retorted. As The words left my mouth The dark reality finally hit the men in the room. “Now let’s move.” I said. As I began to stand up I got a good look around the kitchen. It was a small kitchen, dining area mix. Cabinets filled the upper shelves with two windows flanking a wooden door that I assume, leads to the backyard. A sink sat in the center of the left wall. With another window overlooking a side road, the black beyond it is constantly moving with the sounds of the infected filling the once silent city. I tap Jackson on the shoulder and motion to the basement. Not a word was said as we stepped down the dark stairwell. With every step we took, the old decrepit stairs creaked with age. Every step I took I began to pray a bit that I would fall through. I looked right and found boxes labeled for holidays and picture frames. I turned my head left and found four bodies, laid out, covered by blankets, the larger of the two bodies were covered in a, once beautiful, silk blanket. But the two smaller one was around average height, covered in a black heavy duty blanket, and the other was no bigger than a toddler, the body wrapped in a Transformers blanket. I stopped in my tracks at the sight. My weapon lowered as I just stared at the butchered family before me.

In an instant, I could feel the sun on my face, my lungs became constrained from an arid climate, as I heard a woman screaming and crying in the distance. “ببین چیکار کردی! چطور جرات میکنی شما حرامزاده! آنها بچه بودند” I close my eyes, as I opened them, I saw a bombed bazar, dozens of dead civilians, burning cars, screaming mothers, and doc rushing from person to person desperately trying to help who he can. A hand hit my shoulder, I turned my head to meet Jackson, his hand hitting my shoulder yet again pulled back to reality. As I looked into his eyes I could tell he knew something was up. He lifted his hand and pointed towards me. I looked to what he was pointing at, my hand was shaking with my rifle. I quickly grabbed down at my hand to stop the gittering.

“I know, you’re good.” Jackson said, as he diverts his gaze towards the bodies. “This is fucked. Nothin bout tonight has been okay. I’m still trying to figure out what the fuck hit Vasquez. But we have a job to do. Yous up for that, right Lieutenant?” As he spoke I could feel the pressure finally hit me. I began to stagger back towards the steps, laughing. I fell on my ass landing on a step, my laugh turning into a wail in pain and hurt. Pain surged through my body as I put my hands to my head. All the pain from Iran, my horrid reunion with my family, and this god damn city all fell through the cracks that had developed on my psyche. A minute passed as Jackson just stood there, unsure of what to do. “Jackson, I can’t keep doing this man. I was barely keeping it together in Iran, when we lost so many guys, something shattered me. They all counted on me, and I finally made peace with that. But this fucking city man.” I shot up shouting, “What in the fuck was that thing that killed Vasquez! That wasn’t in the fucking briefing! Those things created an ambush using bodies. How’d they know to set us up in a killbox. And that doesn’t even explain those bodies, who the fuck were they? Who the fuck killed them? Why were they wearing full CBRN kit? Should we be wearing that?“ I put my hand on my head as I began to walk around the basement. I slowly began to realize the cot and drawings plastered in the corner of the room. “Jackson.” I stopped and took a deep breath, tears falling from my eyes, “What the fuck am I supposed to do here?”

“Lieutenant, I don’t think any of us know what to do here. Man, you’ve been through a ton. I’m sorry, but with Strand getting arrested, the change in leadership to “Warchief”, and everything else, we need you. I get it, you need a second, but all those men, who are still alive! Need you up there. Every single one of them trusts you, your choices. You say jump, we will all jump because we know we can trust you.” He said as he walked towards me and embraced me. “So pull your ass together! Please! Because I know I can’t do this.” His voice turned into choked up. “Take a Minute, and just chill. You’ve earned that at least.” I begin to swell as I shake my head in agreement. “Oh—o-okay.” He hit my shoulder twice and staggered me to the cot. As I sat there I looked towards the ground and reached into my pocket. I pulled out a pack of big red, as I opened it I found five sticks left. I grabbed one and opened the wrapper, throwing the stick of gum in my mouth and balling the wrapper in my hand. As I dropped it, the sound of paper hitting paper surprised me. I looked down and found a crudely drawn picture on the ground. The drawing was obviously out of crayon. I picked it up as it depicted five people with “our family” written at the top. But four out of the five were violently scratched out with red crayon. Written below the unsettling picture is “Everyone dies”. I sat the drawing down and looked up towards the wall of pictures, dozens of them were just of happy depictions and a family all telling a story. There pictures of what looked like kids at school, what I’m assuming is parents picking them up from school early, the news telling him he doesn’t have to go to school anymore, a man telling them to go into the basement. One said “Emily wants to go find her boyfriend” and it’s of a girl with dark hair and and a woman with blonde hair who are seemingly yelling. But I was stopped short at one. It was a drawing of a white thing, large claws sat upon its hands with two eyes on the sides of its head. My heart stopped when I realized the most defining part about this thing. It’s glowing red eyes. My eyes shot open as I thought back to the school, what I saw. Underneath the drawing sat the word “boogyman”.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Jackson, look at this.” I grabbed the drawing and stared at it. He quickly rushed over and asked “what?” He looks at the drawing and comes back to me. “What about it?” He asked, confused. He stood there scanning the drawing. “What am I looking at here?” He said as he lowered his shoulders and looking at me as if I had finally lost it.

“Jackson, at the school, I swear something jumped into the grass then into the building across the street. Remember “Red Eyes”. Before I didn’t think it was anything, but-“ before I could finish I was cut off.

“Thane, I think you’re pulling straws man. Do you know how many kids' stories come with red eyes? I mean shit, I used one on my daughter before I left.” His voice turned to one of disbelief.

I straightened my back, looking back at what I said. As soon as I said it, I realized how crazy it sounds. Then I thought back to the spider thing that killed Vasquez.

“Come on lieutenant, we need to get back upstairs and come up with a plan.” Jackson said as he turned his back to me. He started his way to the stairwell as I said. “Look, what if i'm right? You said it yourself earlier. This is some horror movie bullshit! We don’t know what else is in this city, especially after we saw what killed Vasquez.” I knew if I was right, depending on whatever this thing is could be far more dangerous then anything we know about. A sigh left Jackson’s mouth as he stopped in his tracks.

“Lieutenant, I don’t doubt you saw something, and I don’t doubt your instincts at all. Problem is, what exactly do we do? Tell the guys there could be something else in this city?” He lifted his finger and pointed towards the stairwell. “They’re all on edge, '' Ackerson broke down upstairs when he realized Miller’s gone. In the span of two months he lost everyone he called friends. We are all on edge beyond the normal combat jitters. And you want to fill their heads with more shit, I can’t imagine how jumpy that’d make them. I agree we need to be careful, but we can’t let this get out, you feel me?” As he spoke fear and rationalization merging with every word.

I took a step back, thinking about what he just said. “You’re Right.” I Said as I looked down at the drawing. “Shit, I know I’m right!” A chuckle and a smile appear on his face as he hits my shoulder. “Now come on, we gotta get-“ the sounds of the steps creaking and heavy footsteps echo throughout the basement as Smith rushes down the stairs shouting “The broads awa-“ he is cut off as his right leg slams through the fourth step, causing his body to shift forward and yelp in pain. His M249 machine gun fell ahead of him and tumbled down the steps. “Ah, Fack!” He shouted. Jackson and I rushed towards him. “Holy shit, you good smith?” Jackson said. “What the hell! I went down the steps completely fine before! God damnit! Yeah I’m fine.” Smith said in disbelief.

Jackson started to laugh, “Hey Smith, didn’t I tell you to lay off the pop tarts and shit.” I found myself chuckling as smith said, “Oh it’s all Ha ha He he in this platoon ain’t it! Shut up and get me the fuck outa this!” We were laughing even harder at this response.

“Alright chill, Jackson get around him and bear hug him, I’ll lift from the front of his plate carrier. Smith, try and stabilize yourself. We gotta lift him out the same way he went in or we might fuck up his leg.” Jackson and Smith agreed and prepared with my plan. “Alright y’all ready?” I asked. They both nodded and agreed. “Alright, one, two, three!” Jackson and I lifted Smith with all our might, as we did, his hands found the railing, as he applied pressure to attempt to stabilize himself, the railing snapped, causing us to shift and drop him. A scream rang out as his flesh tore on the splintered wood. “Facker!” He cried out in pain. “Fuck!” Jackson said. “Shit, Jackson we gotta get him out of this, now, just lift when I tell you too.” I said frantically.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Smith shouted. “Smith we ain’t got time! We don’t know how bad your leg is! If one of those shards hits something important, you’re dead!” I reached into my pocket and grabbed my soft cover. Balling it up and shoving it into his mouth. “Smith, bite down on this.” He began hitting as hard as he could as his breathing became aggressive. “One, two, three!” I shouted as we ripped him out of the stairs. His muffled groans and screams rushed through my now hole ridden soft cover. Blood rushing down his leg, we were moving fast, we put his arm over Jackson’s shoulder as we rushed up the stairs. As we were entering the kitchen, Corbin and Ow were attempting to hold the woman back as she rushed towards doc. One zip tie on her hand. “Why the fuck is she so Goddamn strong!” Corbin shouted. All the while Doc was attempting to calm her down by saying things like “We aren’t going to hurt you!” And “We are the good guys!” But she just wasn’t going to listen. “Doc,'' I shouted. in the center of the confusion Gomez blazed passed all of us.“Okay fuck this!“ Gomez shouted and rushed the woman. He lifted his left leg, spartan kicking her down into the chair. Breaking her away from Corbin and Ow. In an Instant he was on top of her, a M9 bayonet across her throat. “Okay perra, tienes una oportunidad. Stop fucking acting crazy, or I show you how to properly tie a Colombian neck tie!” Her eyes sporadically shifted from him to doc, to me. Her breathing went from erratic to calm as he stared at us.

“Doc, we need help here!” I shouted while helping hold up a bleeding smith. “Holy shit!” Corbin rushed over and grabbed a chair for him to sit in. Doc ran over and began examining the leg. “What the hell happened?” Doc asked. “Doc, I ain’t sure, one minute I’m walkin down the steps and next thing I know I’m part of the house.” Smith retorted.

“What Smith is trying to say is, he came barging in like he always does and one of the steps wasn’t ready for his fat ass, he fell right through it. Issue is, we tried to pull him out at first, but the railing snapped and he got all fucked up.” Jackson said.

“Oh shut the fack up!” Smith shouted back as he threw me my soft cover. I caught it and told Corbin to help Doc as I made my way to Gomez. He was still sitting overtop of the woman, knife to her throat. My hand went on his shoulder as I told him to chill out. Gomez shook his head and apologized. “Go take five over there. I got this.”

I stood over the now fearful woman, her mascara ridden eyes and makeup smeared face only amplified the fear she was emitting. Her eyes only broke the gaze with mine when smith screamed in pain. “Doc, move Smith in the other room.” I said. “Working on it! I need water, don’t use the tap water, check if there are any water bottles in the fridge.” He shouted as they attempted to move him.

I turned back to face the woman. “I have a few questions if you don’t mind.”