Isolated (Red vs Blue)

3: The Misadventures Begin

3: The Misadventures Begin

Not So Many Years Ago: Outpost Alpha (Blood Gulch)

Church stood outside the base and looked around the canyon. It seemed like the most boring place in the galaxy to be — a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. He'd been there only a couple weeks, but he could already tell he was destined to go insane with boredom. There was another base on the opposite side of the canyon, but it didn't seem like anyone lived there. As far as Church could tell, the canyon's only occupants were himself and his captain; an overly chipper man by the name of Butch Flowers. If the boredom somehow wasn't enough to drive him to insanity, Church had a feeling that having to deal with Flowers would be.

"Well, well," the captain's annoyingly cheerful voice said, breaking Church's train of thought. "Look who was up bright and early this morning. How are you feeling today, Private Church?"

"Uh, fine. I guess," Church answered. He turned to face the other soldier. "I have a question for you, though. Are we the only two people in this fucking place? Or are there actually other soldiers that I'm just not seeing?"

"Those are very good questions, private. Though I don't think the swearing was necessary," Flowers commented. "But that actually brings up something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Command contacted me just the other day. As it turns out, we're set to get some new neighbors!"

"So you mean to tell me that the other base has been sitting empty this whole damn time? And I could've had a place to myself? That would've been nice to know a lot sooner," Church complained.

The captain laughed. "Oh, man. Some of the things you say just crack me up. But I wasn't done telling you the exciting news yet."

Church crossed his arms. "Is Command finally gonna let me kill myself? Because I'm pretty sure that would bring me more joy than being stuck here in the middle of nowhere."

"Now, now; there's no need to talk like that. Especially since we're getting a new recruit today," Flowers said.

"I'm sorry, we're what now?" Church asked in disbelief.

"You heard right! We're getting a new member to our little family here at Blood Gulch. Isn't that exciting?"

"No, absolutely not. I could've gone my entire time here without having anyone else show up. And I would've been happy."

"Come now, Private Church. Having another person here will be fun! You'll see. Now if you excuse me, I need to go take some inventory in the weapons room."

Church muttered a rather long string of profanities under his breath as his commanding officer walked away. Having more people show up in the canyon was the last thing he wanted. It was bad enough that he'd been stuck with Captain Flowers; having to deal with other people didn't exactly sound like his idea of fun. Church tended not to like people very much. If he had the opportunity to be alone, he usually didn't hesitate to take it. Especially since trying to dodge Captain Flowers was a bit of a challenge. It seemed like he always knew exactly where to find Church — it got on his nerves.

Since the captain was going to temporarily be busy, Church took the opportunity to try to disappear. He made his way to the wall of the canyon, walking until he found the small foot path that led to a small ledge that overlooked the entire place. Once he was on the ledge, Church set his rifle down and took a seat. Everything was quiet — just like it always was. It was hard to imagine that in a few hours' time, there was about to be a lot more noise in the canyon. The number of people was set to almost triple. Church could only assume that since there was going to be three of them at Outpost Alpha, that there was going to be three people at Outpost No. One. He wasn't looking forward to any of it. Especially since whoever was stationed at the other outpost were supposed to be their rivals. Church knew how that kind of thing worked. There was no way that the two teams were meant to get along.