Chapter 1: MIA or KIA
“Huh… what happened? Am I dead?"
"Grinch…Truck…are you there? Ugh, I can’t move!” Sandman called out into the darkness.
Everything was dead quiet, until Sandman heard movement to his left. He tried to open his eyes, but they seemed to be glued shut.
“Truck? Grinch? Is that you?”
The sound was moving closer to him, slowly, as if being cautious. Sandman tried to move his arms, but only was able to lift them up what seemed a couple centimeters. The sound continued to get closer and closer. Soon, he could make out distinctive footfalls and breathing from whatever it was that was approaching him. Thankfully, his muscles slowly began to come around, and he was able to open his eyes partway. He could make out a yellow figure approaching him, but it was extremely dark out and his tinted visor impaired his vision further. Next thing he heard was the sound of a distant gunshot behind him. The yellow figure made what sounded to him as a high pitched squeal, turned a full 180 degrees, and ran away out of sight.
After a couple of agonizingly long minutes, Sandman regained felling in his limbs, and gathered the strength to sit up and take a look around and assess the situation he was in. He was in the middle of a dense forest. The moon was out directly above him, although the canopy was very thick, letting in almost no light. There was a light breeze and the temperature was relatively cool.
“Where am I?” He thought out loud as he looked around, trying to piece together how he got from a collapsing diamond mine to the middle of a forest.
He then turned to his gear, which he placed on the ground to take inventory. He had lost his rifle somewhere, but he still had his M9 Pistol with three mags of ammo, a half full canteen of water, two MRE’s, one Frag Grenade, two Breaching Charges, and his serrated knife. He checked his radio and HUD, but neither worked. He didn't even get static. Sighing, he gathered up his supplies and stood up, stretching his aching limbs. Soon thereafter, he heard a second gunshot go off in the distance.
"Truck, Grinch!”
Fearing for the safety of his brothers in arms, he quickly gathered his belongings and set off into a full sprint through the forest towards the sound of the shot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Is it gone? Did you get it?” Truck asked nervously as he tried to get back up off the ground.
“Yeah… I think so. Man, what the hell was that thing?”
Grinch walked over to Truck and helped him up. They both had woken up about fifteen yards apart in the middle of an open clearing surrounded by a forest that expanded in every direction. While they were trying to get their bearings, they were attacked by what looked like a large wolf. Truck had aimed his ACR at the monstrosity, but only got one round off that sailed past the creatures left side. The weapon jammed on the second, resulting in a misfire and him being tackled to the ground. Grinch pulled out his knife and stabbed the thing right behind what appeared to be its neck. It did not bleed though, and it did not relent. In fact, it seemed only to piss it off. It turned with unnatural speed and started going at Grinch with everything it had, claws and fangs slashing and chomping. Truck quickly brought himself up on a knee, pulled out his M9, and fired once at the wolf’s large and jagged head, piercing right through its skull. Howver, to the groups dismay, it did not fall over dead. It instead let out a high pitched squeal and tore off into the woods in an odd zigzagged pattern. They heard crashing and the sound of branches snapping in the woods, but eventually everything went silent.
“Where is Sandman?” Truck asked, looking around frantically at the woods. “And where are we?”
Grinch tried to bring up his onboard HUD, but to no avail.
“I don't know..." He responded with a grunt as he slapped his helmet violently in a last ditch effort to bring up the display. "Is your HUD working, Truck?” Truck attempted the same, but nothing would turn on.
“No… neither is my radio, or my red dot sight.”
They both sat in silence for a few moments, trying to piece together in their minds what had happened to them. Last thing either of them remembered was the diamond mine. Price and Yuri had just taken off in the helicopter escorting the Russian president out of the mine, when suddenly a blinding white flash of light appeared in front of them. Next thing they knew, they were where they are now.
“Well… what should we do?” Truck asked with a hint of worry.
“I guess we will sit tight here until dawn, it looks pitch black in those woods.” Grinch said while checking his flashlight he had on his helmet. It took a while, but it finally came on, illuminating the small clearing they sat in.
“Ok, I just hope Sandman is ok…” said Truck.
“Yeah, me too. I better save the battery.” Grinch said as he turned off the flashlight, leaving only the dim moon to give them light.