F.A.I.T.H

Chapter 1: Welcome To My World

I felt her eyes gazing down at my unconscious body.  Watching me as I lay their motionless.  Was I breathing?  I couldn’t tell.  Her hand felt heavy on my chest, her lips felt cold pressed to mine.  I felt the pinch and my eyes shot open.  I lay there drenched in my own blood with my hand glued to my gun still.  My heart felt heavy I knew what had happened my eyes kept their gaze on the gun on my hands till they looked up at her.   Eyes as silver as a quarter, hair long enough to brisk my nose as she leaned over me, looking in panic, and white as a cloud on a summer day.  Tears streamed down her face as I heard her scream my name.  When I finally came too she smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck, even in excruciating pain I Grabbed her back, and bit my lip.
It was three months ago this whole mess started. I was waiting in the Chief’s office when I saw a document labeled F.A.I.T.H.  I read through the document and as it started going into the details I saw what it was named. Fallen Angels In The Highlands. I gazed puzzled as I read on. “F.A.I.T.H.? What is the Chief thinking taking this operation no one is trained enough to handle anything in the highlands. He walked into the room pale white with his normal Cuban cigar in his mouth. “ Sgt Struthers what are you doing sir?” I looked shocked as my heart pounded in my throat “Briefing on operation F.A.I.T.H sir you called me in?” He stared at me with a look of pain an worry. “Now I know how you did on all your scores that’s why I made you Sgt. But that’s not the only reason.  Since The genocide in 2012 mankind has been at the mercy of the rouge celestial beings.  They haven’t been that big of a problem to us until now” He said this as he tossed another document on the desk in front of me. “We had one of them in captive in area 42, Sgt do you remember what area 42 is?” I look confused as I bit my lip and looked down at the page. “Isn’t that where we hold all dead celestial bodies before burn?” He laughed as he pulled another page, this time a picture, as he showed it to me. “Yes son, But we had brought in a live one that seems to not remember anything that happened.”  I looked at the picture and saw her, eyes as silver as a quarter, Hair long and white, her face stricken in panic staying clear from the other soldiers, her hands covered in blood. I heard his voice from behind the picture “Her name was Luna, we don’t know what happened to her or where she went all we know is we want her back.”
A new recruit walked into the room trying to keep his composer but we knew he was in a panic.  “Chief permission to speak.”  He gave a quick glance and waved his hand and the recruit shuddered and spoke “The blood samples you requested sir they… Uh, well.” The chief looking enraged shouted “DAMNIT BOY WHAT HAPPENED?” He scurried into a straight posture and whispered. “Its better if you see for yourself.” The Building shook and we almost fell as we rushed out the door.
When we reached the docking bay we found several inhuman figures destroying the place. They were medium built human shaped figures of blood.  The new recruit stood behind us and chuckled when the Chief and I went for our guns they were missing we looked behind us as we saw the recruit point at our heads. “Now that we are here, enjoy the show.” The bloody figures moved towards us as we turned back around the chief smiled and said out loud towards the recruit. “Boy your smart for your age but, you aren’t smart enough.” He shook his arm and a pistol rolled down his sleeve and breached the inside of his palm. He back handed the recruit in the face and shot him in the arm disarming him and taking back our guns. “Sgt I believe this is yours.” He handed me back my pistol. It felt light in my hand, its red rim, its cold feel, and its soft trigger under my finger. Without a seconds notice I had unloaded a whole clip into one of the blood bodies. It had done nothing.
The Chief and I ran back to the lab where they kept the blood samples. And saw the carnage the monsters left behind.  My heart jumped when I saw the bodies in a perfect line mutilated missing its arms, legs; there was one that made my stomach turn. His face looked ripped off and his corpse was pinned to the wall by his hands. With something written above he mangled body. “Did he believe?” My stomach continued to turn as I kept running. I had reached the lab when I noticed the Chief wasn’t behind me. I grabbed for my gun again loaded it and walked back down the hallway slowly keeping my eyes fixed in front of me. The hallway lights blew out so I used my emergency flashlight I kept in my hip pocket. My eyes adjusted to the poor lighting “I knew I should have bought new batteries for this thing.”  I took slow steps keeping my gun up and my eyes glued to in front of me.  With each step I took I reminded myself of each rule I was taught “Rule Three: Never keep your back exposed” as I whispered this I turned around as fast as I could and nothing was there.
I heard a scream in the distance, and then I repeated the next rule in my head. “Don’t let your fears get ahead of you.” I continued down the drenched hallway when I stepped in something. I looked down and pointed the light down and I saw it, the chiefs badge covered in blood. I looked all around in panic. When I pointed the light up to the ceiling, I saw it. The body hanging from the wall it was crippled and attached to the ceiling it pointed its faceless corpse at me and let out a disgusting growl. That sounded like the sound a dog would make when it’s angry.
My heart pounded and I did the first thing that came to mind. I turned my light off and backed up a little. Raised my gun and blasted two shells at the corpse. The growling stopped I heard a thud in front of me. In fear of it still being alive I took a few more steps back and whispered the next rule. “Make sure the targets…” I screamed the last word as I flipped the light on and shot the rest of the clip at the jumping body “DEAD!” when I unloaded the clip everything went silent the body laid there in front of me motionless, quite as the dead. I searched the body to see if there was any spare ammo guns or anything useful. I found his wallet, “Robert Shields?” I knew the guy. My stomach curled and a tear rolled to my eye, but I held it back. My mind was set on finding the Chief I couldn’t morn the death of a fellow soldier.
I reached the end of the hallway where the Chief and I had started and saw him; he was strapped to the chair in the middle of the room.  Caked in his blood and I could see the blood of our enemies.  I loaded my gun, my last clip. I stepped closer, the click of my shoe on the hard concrete floor sounded through the room. He looked at me, cried and called me over. I knew something was going on and I didn’t want to get too hasty I kept my gun high and I kept my eyes on the Chief. With each click on the hard floor my heart jumped one more beat. I knew it was trap. When I was less then twelve feet from the Chief I noticed he was covered by more then just blood. “Gas?” Without a minuets notice he burst into flames and left out an ear piercing screech. I closed my eyes and fell to my knees in pain. I knew there was something wrong here. I couldn’t tell what but I did know that body wasn’t the chief.
I managed to stand back up on my own two feet and saw the body was missing and I searched the run I was standing in for any signs of life. Not even the abominations were there. I was confused. I looked down at my gun, two shells left, scared to move another muscle. I finally got the courage when I heard the clang of metal form a distance. I looked up and saw the sign saying this was the garage. I looked around to see if I could find where the metal fell. I gazed aimlessly and my attention floated back down the hallway I came from, I knew I had to go back but fear overwhelmed and I crawled up to a standing position. I staggered my way up to the hallway and noticed that the hallway was cleaner. The bodies still laid mangled all the blood was gone, all the blood, except what was on the walls.
Confused to what I saw I proceeded down the new fully lit hallway back down to the science room. Before I approached the door the body I thought I had shot down was gone, without a trace. I was confused to what I saw but I still continued to open the door. When I went into the room I saw the chief lying on the table body mangled and torn open from the stomach. The moment my eyes met his I had vomited on the floor, weak from exhaustion I lost control of my body and fell on my side and passed out. Slowly everything around me went black.
I felt I was moving in a stationary place I was bouncing a little but still fairly still. I knew I was in some kind of car when I looked to my left I saw pure white hair and I started to think I was in a dream. I knew it wasn’t her. I couldn’t have been. Was it?

Chapter 2: A New Home

I woke up to the soft feel of a bed under my head. I slowly opened my eyes so I would adjust to the fluorescent lights over my head. When I finally opened my eyes and sat up my head was throbbing. I tried to get on my feet; I fell like a stone sinking in water. I propped myself back up on the bed and sat there for a moment looking at my surroundings.  I didn’t recognize the place. It looked homey with a creepy feel to it. Like it was too homey. I gathered enough strength to walk around and search the place; I looked in a mirror and saw grey sweatpants, white t-shirt, and a bandage and myself over the top of my head. I slowly started unraveling it when she walked in. She had silver eyes that looked into mine through the mirror, long white hair that reached to her shoulders, dark brown pants and a green fleece turtleneck that almost looked brand new. I turned around in shock and panic and put my back to the wall. “Who are you?” she smirked and giggled and said in a gentle voice. “I’m the one who saved your life.” I looked at her puzzled unsure to what she was talking about. She cocked an eyebrow and approached me. Each step she took to me was another step I took away from her. She kept walking forward to the point where I was backed up against the bed. My heart pounding faster with each step closer she took. My breath got heavier, my heart beat faster I started to lose my sight, and then she grabbed my shoulder and shook me. I snapped out of it. My body relaxed and everything went quite.
“You don’t remember anything do you?”  She said in a stern ruminative tone.  I looked at her hand on my shoulder and I looked into her eyes. I felt calm. I felt at home. It occurred to me finally that she asked a question I answered in a stuttered quite tone. “I don’t even remember who I am.” I dropped my head gave off a small whimper trying to hold back a tear. She lifted my chin looked me dead in the eye and I lost it. My mind got rushed with memories that I had lost. I remembered my name what I did and what happened. When it stopped she let me go and my head started throbbing again. “What happened, Luna? How do you know me?” She smiled and sat down by me. “Everything will be explained in all due time but for right now, we need to get those bandages off. “
She grabbed the end of the bandage and started unwrapping it. She smiled and whispered in my ear “Go take a look.” I went to the mirror again and my heart sunk. The celestial heart was printed on my head. The tribal lines making the shape of the heart on my head, I looked back at her. “What did you do?” she giggled. “Like I said I saved your life. At least in the only way I could.” I looked around the room and then back at her. “We aren’t on earth anymore are we?” She rolled her eyes and spoke. “Yes we are, we are just in the only place you wouldn’t expect.” I looked puzzled and then my eyes shot open. “Are we, in the highlands?” She stood up opened the window and pointed outside. I gazed out clueless at what I was about to see, and saw it. A town with bustling people playing, working, everything you could think of. There was a giant tree that looked as if it reached the heavens just where it stood. Beautiful light red apples hung from the limbs, the leaves a dark green, the branches thick enough that if they were to fall could crush the whole the whole town with just with its shockwave. I looked back at Luna and she smiled. This is the Highlands Kevin, Welcome home.