Predator: Desert Hammer

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

"Hey buddy! Is it worth checking out, or shall we continue?" He asked, still alert and cautious.

[NcB]

Cody

In his low british accent, Cody told Scott "We'll move towards the entrance and work our way up. Stay close.

"On Three." He said bringing his gun deep into his shoulder.

"Two.. One!" Cody burst forward, low and fast towards the entrance of the building. He used cover as he did, stopping for Scott to catch up at every peice.

This post has been edited by NcB on Jun 10 2009, 10:17 :04 PM

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

He let Cody move a bit before following. After that, he made his way slowly towards the entrance stopping for cover now and again.

[Helios]

Cody & Scott
The entrance chamber reveals a narrow cyclical staircase leading up into a darkened chamber and presumably where the minaret and the shiny object are. Around either side of the staircase are open dual entrances to an even larger prayer hall. For its size it is remarkably empty but a few lone Muslims remain deeply entrenched in prayer. That... or they're cowering. From the entrance chamber outside this area, it's difficult to tell.

A slow creaking sound seems to emanate from above.

[Scruffington]

Max Fightmaster

"Or some kind of vicious predator," Max said, resisting the curious urge to wink at nothing in particular. Max hefted his M60 in a particularly violent and imposing fashion and stared off into the distance, hoping to find the insurgent-laden villages soon, anti-personnel mines or no. Motioning to Butch, the two set off in what they assumed was the straightest line between them and combat, this time checking where their feet were landing from time to time.

[NcB]

Cody

Wiping the beading sweet from his brow, Cody pointed for Scott to check out the room. He removed his glasses and began to ascend the stairs. The anticipation in the air grew thick with each step. Dust played with the creeping light which peirced the shadows of the staircase. He drew a breath and continued to sweep the steps with his rifle, using the undergrip from the rifles barrel.

[Helios]

Cody
You ascend into brief but total darkness continuing the twisting path up into a deceptively large chamber. The stairs end with you facing out into the city on the north side through a large open window of sorts. However, as you immediately turn around to clear the rest of the room you find yourself face to face with the eyes of a flayed corpse hanging from the ceiling twisting slowly in the wind. Oddly enough its dog tags still hang from what's left of its neck. It finally occurs to you that the glint of metal that brought you to this point were in fact the dog tags.

Finally, you break your gaze from the first corpse to see four more behind it, all equally defiled.

You are immediately reminded of images of the Blackwater men strung up on the bridge over the Euphrates from years earlier.




That is of course assuming that these men are in fact your missing marines. Besides the one, the rest do not have dog tags... or do not have dog tags that survived the skinning process.

Fightmaster
you notice a quiet rumble and tightness in your chest that causes the rest of your muscles to tighten up. Then it subsides.

As you continue on across the desert, you find yourself ascending an unnaturally high ridge. Coming to the top you are suddenly startled by the presence of no less than 4 middle-eastern looking men with guns rushing over the ridge and past you. It is unclear whether or not they saw you. Though it is seems fairly obvious they're fleeing something.

[NcB]

Cody

Cody fought back the urge to wreach, instead he brought his hand up to cover his mouth. He reached up and tore down the dogtags whilst quickly saying a silent prayer.

As Codys eyes began to adjust to the lack of lighting he noticed the true horror of his surroundings. Although most of it had congealed, pints of blood collected in large puddels on the tiled flooring around the bodies.

"Those sick fucks..." Cody spoke to himself. Anger grabbed at his voice as horrific images danced through his mind. He snapped at his rifle and moved towards the stairs.

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

Richard waited a bit before making his way for the room Cody had pointed at.

[Scruffington]

Max Fightmaster

"CONTACT!" Max screamed, spinning around to face what he assumed were fleeing insurgents. Taking a wide stance and planting his feet, Max motioned for Butch to see what the men were running from. As soon as Butch moved out of the line of fire, Max began shooting, the rounds from his M60 struggling to be heard over his battle cry.

[Bloodcider]

"It's gut check time!" Butch shouted, priming two grenades and lobbing them over the rise to catch any of the insurgent's gook buddies off guard. He readied his M16 and charged up to the top.

[Helios]

Scott
The men in the hall remain face down possibly cowering, possibly praying.... or both. They do not make any real movements to acknowledge your presence.

Cody
You find Scott standing next to several men kneeling on the ground, face down, with their arms out in front of them.

Fightmaster & Killigan
The explosion sets loose the rocks making up the top of the ridge causing much of it to start sliding down along with a great deal of sand that was being held up by the flimsy geological structure.

Before being forced to deal with the impending rock slide, Max manages to strike two of the men who fall dead while the others continue running onward toward the remains of the goat and in the general direction of the southern city limits.

[NcB]

Cody

Filled with rage, Cody walked upto the nearest muslim and soccer kicked him in the short ribs.

He brought his weapon up at the man and screamed at him "Who killed those people!?" while holding out the soldiers bloody dogtag.

This post has been edited by NcB on Jun 14 2009, 01:06 :02 PM

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

Seeing Cody kick the men and screaming at them, Scott went sideways whilst covering the room. "What happened?" He asked.

[Helios]

Scott & Cody
Wyatt enters from behind you.

"He doesn't know. He keeps repeating the word 'phantom' over and over again. I can't make out the other part but it almost sounds like 'night phantom took their life'. But the word he's using isn't 'life', it's something else."

It's at this point that you notice the several explosions and gunfire from the direction you came into the city.

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

"Explosions! Somethings happening!" Scott says and starts moving back.

[NcB]

Cody

"What the fuck is going on!" Cody shouted as he turned towards the windows. He was entering a state of heightend panic, his muscled had tensed up and his heart wanted to force itself out of his chest.

Cody turned towards Wyatt and then towards the dog tags in his hand.

"Hanging bodies! Ghosts! You better be telling us the whole story Wyatt or god be with you otherwise." Cody spoke with an underlining sound of conviction.

He moved towards the windows, placing the tags in his vest pocket.

[NcB]

So who picked 2 weeks?