//------------------------------// // IV - Red Forest // Story: Black Forest: Coverup // by Alfoals Trottenbauer //------------------------------// The team trotted uneasily in the woods. A screeching noise echoed out in the distance. Crows squawked in the night. A scientist galloped towards them. "The military's arrived to our calls! quick, Dr. Manefried! we can-" He was forced to the floor by a marine. "What are you doing!? I thought you were supposed to save us!" "Listen here Egghead, we're here to cover up you and your team's mistake." He said with a knife to the scientist's throat. "If you don't tell us where this Dr. Manefried is, I'm going to kill you. If you rat out your friend, I might let you live." "Dr. Manefried! It's safe out here!" Another stallion in a labcoat galloped towards them. "Are you sure? I heard some struggling..." He asked. A marine shot Manefried in the head. "No!" The scientist shouted. "Squad, we've got a prisoner." The red beret said. They strung him up to two trees. "Sheepherd, you make sure he doesn't get away, the rest of us will scout ahead." The commander said as they trotted off. "Surely you're not like them..." He said quietly. Adrian shook his head. "My name is Dr. Adam Hayshire. I worked in sector B Coolant Reserve. Dr. Manefried, and I along with Officer Rayfeld, attempted to escape the facility, Rayfeld, I'm afraid, crawled into a vent and never came back. Manefried, well, you know how he died." He explained. Adrian took out his knife. The scientist's eyes widened. "What are you going to do with that?" Adrian cut the ropes off his hooves. "Oh, you're letting me free?" Adrian pointed the opposite way his chopper arrived. "Thank you, Sheepherd! I won't forget you!" Adam called back, disappearing into the mist. The soldiers arrived almost as soon as he left. "Sheepherd, did you let him go!?" Red Beret shouted. Adrian acted panicked, pointing the opposite way from the scientist, as if something horrible had taken him. "Oh, I guess ya couldn't fight that... thing, I saw it too, with the red eyes." The stallion he now recognized as Tower said. Adrian nodded. "We found out who was attacking us earlier." Red Beret continued, "It seems those black-ops agents that were sent with the choppers are out to get us." Adrian saw something move behind a bush. His eyes darted to a tree, which the leaves started to rustle. He looked at Red Beret urgently. "Ay, what's the matta with you, Sheepherd?" Tower asked. He pointed his hoof to the bush. "Aw, roadapples! It's an ambush!" Red Beret shouted. The squad was rained upon by ammunition. Adrian fired a grenade from the assault rifle's second barrel. It exploded between four black-ops agents. By the end of it, only Red Beret, Tower, and another soldier were left alive. "Alright... Let's get the tags off these men, Sheepherd. Private Cooper, let's get these agents an honorable grave. Tower, guard the area." Red Beret said reluctantly. It seemed like hours getting all the dogtags. He handed them over to Red. "Let's see," He said as he turned on his radio. "Report: Sigma team to Santego, A platoon of Black-ops agents engaged us in the Black Forest Woods, casualty report: DaReign, Halhoof, Withers, and Green Beret, all down. Request backup." "Red, who's left with you?" The operator replied. He looked at the remnant of his squad. "Uh, Cooper, Sheepherd, Tower and I." He reported. "Stay where you are, sending a squad in your co-ordinates." The operator replied. They heard guns firing in the distance. After an hour, the squad arrived. "Lieutenant Fray, Private Schmidt, Hoofini, Mann, and Lang, reporting for duty, sir." Fray said, a hoof to his head. "At ease. Let's get a move on." Red Beret urged. A tree falling creaked in the distance. "Aw hay, it's that thing that took our chopper down!" Tower shouted. "Squad! Fall back!" Red commanded. A giant manta ray floated behind them. It shot a beam at a tree, it exploded into splinters behind them. "Run! Keep up Hoofini!" He shouted. They galloped faster. Hoofini stopped, throwing his sniper rifle in front of Adrian. 'Hoofini! What the hay are you doing!?" The ray hovered over Hoofini, he pointed a hoof at a large, slit-pupil eye on it's underside. "Shoot it!" He shouted just before the ray shot a beam at him, disintegrating the stallion completely. Adrian levitated the rifle, aimed, and fired directly into the pupil. It shrieked, a rip in space appeared, the ray flew into it. "Adrian! You killed it! You're going to get a medal, if we do make it out alive." Red Beret congratulated. A security guard galloped toward them. Red Beret pointed his gun at him. "Don't shoot! Aim at that beast!" He panicked. A colossal worm sprung from under the dirt and towered over them. The facility nearby had red lights pulsating from the walls. An explosion flared out in the distance. The shockwave approached, flinging trees up from their roots. "O-oh Celestia..." Tower gasped.