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Chapter 8 - Graveyard

 Woody drives the Darla rig to the graveyard.

Jake: Holy shit....talk about creepy.

Woody: Yeah....goddamned Blood Hogs and Raiders piss, shit and cum all over these graves. They have no respect for the dead.

Kyle sighs.

Kyle: A lot of the soldiers who I served with were buried here...could've used those men to take down Kronos....would've saved us less casualties.

Kyle, Jake, Walter and Cameron step down onto the graveyard and begin to search the area for clues.

Cameron: Sir...I mean...Kyle...what exactly are we looking for again?

Walter: Clues, son...Olden said that these things came from here...so if we find something, maybe we can find their hive and kill it.

Cameron: Huh?

Walter: You know how you play with a wasp or beehive and you kept swinging at it and bees came out? Well, if you burn the nest, then the bees die with the nest.

Cameron: Well, what about the wasps?

Walter: Wasp and bees are basically the same thing, man.

Cameron: They are?

Jake: Kid, I have to ask...why do you ask so many questions?

Kyle:....let's split up...search more ground....Walter, you stick with me. Jake, Cameron, take the right.

Kyle and Walter separate from Jake and Cameron as both groups search the graveyard. After a long search, Walter stumbles upon a piece of Zeus Corps shoulder pad armor.

Walter: Zeus Corps? Yo, Kyle!

Kyle walks over as he and Walter kneel to examine the piece of Zeus Corps armor.

Kyle: Zeus Corps?

Walter: What do you think? Maybe a recon squad passed here and never responded back?

Kyle: No...there's no camp or equipment set up....

Kyle notices a camp site across from the graveyard.

Kyle: huh...

Kyle and Walter walk over to the camp site and search the tents, finding Kronos scientist lab coats and Zeus Corps armor.

Walter: Strange....Kronos lab coats. Zeus Corps armor...and no one...

A short pause, before Kyle walks over to a dead Kronos doctor with a diary in his hand.

Kyle: Hello there.

Kyle takes the diary and reads as the notes stating their survival of the past three years since their banishment by Kyle himself after the end of Kronos Industries.

Kyle: Walter....these guys are the same soldiers and scientists we banished, man...

Walter: what?!

Kyle: I'm reading a diary from one of the scientists....they were out here this whole time...they must've fled South and set up here after we put down Kronos....

Walter: Yeah..... look at the date. October 2031. One year after the war.....and these things...these Condemned must've taken them out....

Kyle: Hold on....looks like this guy was shot...fled in here and bleed out...and I just see him...coats...and armor...

Walter: So?

Kyle: So where are the other bodies? The other soldiers. Like Jackal....probably Barnes....We sent them all out here.

Walter: You think Barnes might have caught up with those guys?

Kyle: What do you mean by that?

Walter sighs.

Walter: Kyle.....I think you should know....After we took down Kronos, Sarah and I heard gunshots on the helipad....we thought it was Barnes...but then I saw him running away from the direction of the gunshot...and I know Barnes had some sort of super soldier shit in him, but I'm gonna guess that it wasn't him that killed Billy and Nathan.

Kyle sighs.

Kyle: How'd you figure know?

Walter: I just guessed, man....plus I noticed the dirty looks that Nathan gave you. Hell, I saw you whoop his ass once...Billy was a great dude. I figured he came to your defense.

Kyle gives a look.

Walter: Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me...but I do think you need to have a talk with Sarah. She's your wife.

Suddenly, an earthquake occurs, alerting Kyle and Walter.

Jake speaks through Kyle's radio.

Jake: Kyle! Walter! We're under attack!

Kyle and Walter retreat while back at the rig, Jake, Woody and Cameron are seen opening fire on the attacking Condemned forces. Kyle and Walter manage to fight their way to the rig, before Kyle manages to get onto the turret and open fire, killing most of the attacking Condemned. During the battle, Brute Condemned armed with rocket launchers enter.

Kyle: Holy fuck!

Jake: What do we call them?!

Kyle: Minotaurs!

Jake: Do we have to name them after Greek creatures?!

The Minotaurs open fire, but Kyle easily guns them down. A Condemned mortar crew enters and opens fire, managing to destroy the turret and a wheel.

Woody: No! Darla! You bastards took out her leg!

The gunfight continues before Kyle manages to use the mortar on board to take out the rest of the Condemned crew.

Jake: We're good!

Woody: We're not good! Darla's hurt, son! And if Darla's hurt, we can't get back!

Kyle: Well, do we have any other transportation on this rig? We gotta get back to Dallas and tell Olden what we found!

Woody: Well...there is another option...there's the lifts we used to transport others underground...

Jake: Underground?!

Woody: Yeah...

Walter: and what's the other option?

Woody: We walk, but it's a fifty mile walk and your feet will be bleeding by the time y'all reach home...Personally, we're in the shit and I'd go with the lifts.

In Dallas, a guard standing on the wall begins yelling out.

Dallas Guard: We got Blood hogs inbound!

Shawn, James and Tanner approach the wall, while Olden approaches the guard.

Olden: How many?

Edington Guard: Three! Looks like Blood Hogs! They're on bikes.

James climbs the ladder to the wall and uses the scopes on his goggles to zoom in on the approaching attackers, revealing to be Condemned on two-legged dog like creatures.

James: It's not Blood Hogs. It's those monsters and they're on some kind of set of two legged beasts.

Shawn: Where are our people? Kyle, Walter, we haven't heard from them in three hours!

Olden: Still no contact from their pilot! They must still be in Ashdown!

Another Dallas Fighter, Patty, approaches Olden with a hunting rifle.

Patty: Mr. Olden; Your rifle.

Patty hands Olden his rifle.

Olden: Thank you, Patty.

Shawn: Shit, that's a damn fine rifle you got there, Mr. President.

The group walks to the entrance of Dallas as Shawn, James, Tanner, Olden and other shooters line up the front as ten Condemned drones approach the town, before everyone lined up on the wall opens fire onto the Condemned drone, who fire back, resulting in casualties on both sides. With only four remaining, the Condemned drones ride their beast over the wall (one of the beast bites off a Dallas fighters head during the jump over the wall).

Shawn: Shit! Tanner, get on that bike! James, you get the trap set up!

James: On it!

Shawn and Tanner use dirt bikes to pursue the Condemned on their two-legged beast. James uses another bike to get to the center of town, before setting up an electric trap for the Condemned drones. Shawn and Tanner continue pursuing the Condemned with Tanner gunning one of them down. Just as the chase is taken to the center of town, James finishes up his trap and deploys it as he takes cover. In slow motion, the trap activates, creating a burst of electricity that kills the two-legged beasts and stuns the Condemned pilots. Shawn steps off his motorcycle and executes one of the Condemned pilots with an arrow to the head. Tanner prepares to execute the last Condemned pilot, before Olden speaks.

Olden: Wait.....we need to interrogate him!

Tanner: Huh? It's a monster! It doesn't understand English, sir!

Olden: Well, maybe, we can try and get something out of it to understand what's going on.

Shawn: No, Tanner, he's right...we need to learn about these things.

At Ashdown, Woody is preparing the lift to go underground as Kyle and Jake prepare to enter their life.

Kyle: Walter! Cameron! You two go into the other lift!

Jake: Yo, Kyle.

Kyle: Yeah...

Jake: Listen, man....I want you to promise me something...If anything happens to me, promise me you'll keep looking for Keera.

Kyle: Jake....I....sure, you got it, man.

Jakes smiles, before climbing up the ladder to the lift. Suddenly, the Condemned launch an attack on the group with many Vegas fighters killed. The Condemned Lieutenant, Scorcher jumps out from under the ground and lands on his knees, arming his blade. Scorcher jumps in front of a few Midtown Manhattan Guards, managing to cut a few down with his blade. The Midtown Manhattan Guards open fire, but Scorcher overpowers and kills them, before Scorcher cuts one of the trucks in half.

Kyle: Holy shit!

Jake: What the hell is that thing?!

Scorcher lands in front of the lift and pulls out his submachine gun, shooting at the digger and attempting to disable it.

Kyle: He's trying to stop the lift!

Woody pulls out an assault rifle and shoots at Scorcher, gaining his attention as Scorcher blocks the fire from the assault rifle while Woody backs away.

Kyle: Woody, what the fuck are you doing?!

Woody: I'll hold him off, boys! You get the hell out of here!

Cameron straps himself into the lift while Walter looks back to notice Woody fighting off Scorcher and Kyle is attempting to lift the seat restraints, but it is too tight.

Jake: Kyle, we have to help him!

Kyle: (straining) Won't budge! Damn!

Woody continues shooting at Scorcher, who continues to block the bullets with his blade.

Walter: Good luck, rookie. 

Walter winks to Cameron.

Cameron: Walter! What are you doing?! Walter!

Walter punches the lock on Cameron's lift, before leaving to aid Woody, who runs out of ammo as Scorcher slices the assault rifle in half in slow motion, before Scorcher grabs and tosses Woody back. Before Scorcher can finish off Woody, Walter jumps onto Scorcher's back and stabs him in the neck.

Kyle: Walter! No!

The lift door closes as Kyle vents.

Kyle: Motherfucker!

The lifts are dug into the ground as Walter continues stabbing Scorcher in the neck.

Walter: Go! Run, goddamn it!

Woody backs away and stands up, running off. Scorcher flips Walter off, before attempting to stab him with his blade. Walter dodges the blade and punches Scorcher in the face, before elbowing him. Scorcher kicks Walter back, before Walter recovers and stands up. Walter equips his blade as Scorcher roars at Walter, who charges at Scorcher, slicing his shoulder while Woody escapes into the rig, before looking back at Walter, who is being overpowered by Scorcher as impales Walter through the shoulder. Walter screams in pain, before Scorcher lifts Walter up and throws him to the ground. During the moment, Walter and Woody make eye contact. Walter then spits up blood.

Walter: Go! Go! Get the fuck out of here!

Woody, saddened, enters the lift as it operates.

Woody: I'll see you again, brother.

Walter: I'll see you too, brother.

The lift digs in as Walter arms a knife and stabs at Scorcher, who knocks Walter out with the butt of his two-sided blade.

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