COSMIC CONSEQUENCES (Book 2)

Mouse Trap

   Meanwhile, Mark was doing push ups when Ace came up to him and gave him an assignment. "What is it that you need us to do?" Mark asks. "I need you and a couple of others to go and raid an enemy base nearby, and by raid I mean kill everyone there, and take whatever may be useful. If there are prisoners, take them back here." Ace responds, monotone. Mark brushes it off and nods, he gathers a couple of other soldiers, puts on his armor and grabs a fusion blaster, along with a proton pistol. He and the other soldiers start heading to the forest, where the presumed base should be located.

   "Listen up men, some of us may not come back, so if you want to say anything, now's a good time." Mark says, not wanting his fellow troops to die without at least saying what they need to. "I have a wife and a baby girl, if I don't make it back, tell them I love them." One soldier says, everyone nods. "Well, I don't have much, but, I'm honestly scared shitless right now." Another one says in a shaky voice. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. Just close your eyes and count down from 5." Mark responds. "It's been an honor to work and serve with you all. Now let's go kick The Xoth's ass!" The last one says, raising their gun into the air, the others doing the same and giving out a war cry.

   They head into the forest, it's quiet. Only the green leaves and brown trunks of the trees in sight. They glance in every direction around them, their guns ready to fire at whatever may come their way. Mark raises a fist and they all stop behind him. He uses hand signals to spread them all out, scout the area. "Be careful of the trees." He whispers, sending them off to search around. The first soldier seems to go out pretty far, looking at every branch and around every corner. He eventually finds out it's all clear and sits down on a log, taking out a picture of his wife and daughter and looking at it. A tear rushes down from his left eye and he sticks it onto a tree with a pocket knife. He stands there for a moment, until he hears something move.

   He quickly grabs his firearm and looks around. Now paranoid, he knows something is there, but what? He walks around, leaving the photo and knife there, he looks around and doesn't seem to find anyone. He sighs in relief and begins walking back...that is until suddenly, a figure happens to appear behind him.

   The second soldier very timidly walks into an opening and contacts the others. Mark and the third soldier come towards him, but are interrupted by a scream and gunshots in the distance. They all run over to see what is was, only to be greeted by the first soldier's bloodied up head on a pike. They all look away in disgust. The second one throws up in a nearby bush "Oh my gosh, that's sick!!" He says. Mark just stares as if all the emotion was sucked out of him. He looks at a nearby tree with the family picture and walks towards it, avoiding the blood and organs splattered everywhere. He picks up the fallen soldiers firearm and sets it into the ground, putting the helmet n top of it.

   He sighs "I'm sorry..." He says full of regret, he gets up but as he's walking back, the figure appears behind him. He stops and plays dumb, pretending he doesn't notice it yet. The other soldiers aim at whatever was behind him, trying not to say anything yet, either way, it's no use. Suddenly, Mark takes out his fusion blaster, stabbing it through the stomach of what was behind him. He stabbed the barrel through a Xoth. It screams out in pain, but he quickly kicks it onto the floor, his gun still inside of its belly. It coughs up blood and he grabs onto the trigger, shooting the Xoth soldier in half with almost a full magazine. its blue intestines all turned to mush, blue and red blood covered almost every surface. Mark takes his gun out and walks up to the other two remaining soldiers. They look at him, almost amazed at how fast and brutal he did it.

   "They can turn invisible now, great." The timid one says, they all head back for the opening, now paranoid, glancing everywhere and taking shots at whatever looked a little out of place. They make it to an opening and The timid one steps on something, it makes a metallic noise and turns out to be a bear trap. It bites down, digging its spikes onto his right leg. He screams, the third, more confident soldier swiftly goes over and takes it off of him. Not long after, several Xoth soldiers appear out of thin air using their new tech, surrounding them.

   It's gonna be a bloodbath.