Gammarelen Season 1

Chapter 2: Who are you?

Jake mentally shakes off his shock and tries to focus. He needs more than a single butterfly knife to protect himself. With that in mind, he forces himself to approach the body before him. He rolls it over so he can search the front of the military vest. He pulls a full magazine out of the vest pocket and grabs what looks like a flash grenade from the man's belt. Not finding anything else useful, he looks at the knife. Its handle is deep in the man's throat. Jake tries sliding it out, but the knife only moves half an inch. He takes a breath and yanks it out. A gurgling noise comes from the man as blood spills out and starts to form a pool. Jake steps back again, tearing his eyes away from the body. His eyes land on the gun as he hears more noise upstairs. Jake slides the magazine into the side pocket of his cargo shorts and the grenade goes into his right side pocket. Jake wipes his knife clean on the soldier's vest and picks up the gun. He puts the strap over his head and straps the gun on his back. He wouldn't want to alarm anyone else if there were more than two people in his house, so he decides to use it as a last resort.

He moves toward the stairs, setting his foot on the first step before another soldier appears in the doorway. Jake hurls the knife into the man's chest, making him grunt, drop his gun, and grasp the blade sticking out of his chest. He looks at Jake before falling forward. Jake catches him and lays him quietly on the stairs. The man grasps the knife in his chest while the light fades from his eyes. Jake hears more footsteps come closer, their owners whispering.

"I think I heard a noise coming from over here."

Jake can't stay in the basement, it would be too easy for them to corner him, so he leaps up the stairs into a roll that brings him behind the counter in the kitchen. His hopes of being unseen are shattered as someone shouts to the others.

"There he is!" Multiple soldiers open fire on the kitchen. Splinters of wood fly everywhere, from the counter in front of him and the cabinets above him. He grabs the flash grenade, trying his best to block his face from the flying debris, and tosses it over the counter, bracing himself for the explosion. Jake hears it go off and looks at the two soldiers, who are now both blind and clutching their eyes in agony. One of them reaches for his gun, despite not being able to see, but Jake doesn't let him continue. Jake grabs his own stolen gun and fires upon the two men. They fall lifeless after half the magazine is gone, but Jake keeps the trigger pulled back, even after the rest of the clip is gone. Once the house is silent, Jake slowly lets go of the gun. He lets it fall to the floor, staring at the two bodies on the edge of his kitchen floor. He stares at the blood spreading across the tile and the wood floor, filling the cracks in the door frame between the two rooms.

"This... is this... real?" This has to be a dream. He'll wake up, go to school, see his friends, and then play his games. His knees buckle and he collapses onto the floor, he lands on his hands and knees, numbly staring at the blood traveling toward him. When it reaches his hand, his mind stops. The warm liquid surrounds his fingers and he frantically crawls away from it. His back hits the cupboards and he stares at the blood on his hand.

This is real. This is really happening.

Jake hears a crackling sound and grabs his knife, ready to throw it. His muscles relax a fraction as he realizes it's only a radio. He steps closer to the body with the radio, avoiding the pools of blood. Someone speaks between the sounds of static. He crouches down and unclips the radio from the soldier's belt.

"Alpa Squad, do you read me?... Was the mission successful?... Do you copy? ... Squad Bravo is coming in as backup." Jake's eyes widen, he drops the radio and rips his phone from his pocket. The screen is pure static and completely useless.

"No, no NO!" He slams it onto the counter. He looks at the gear the soldiers are wearing. He flings the phone and it slides off the other side of the counter as he frantically searches the vests and belts of the two bodies. He has no idea who is coming after him and no way to call for help.