Tiberius Broken Chapter One:
By Inheritor-Captain Valentine Valiant♥, (c) Future.
Originally Written for 1st Kiwi Writing Challange.
Stryker was alone: No squad, no Ramirez or Jenkins – his ranking prefix was no longer suitable, no more was he the Commander; he was Stryker, the Stranger in the Darklands. His thousand-stare eyes spoke the volume of what he had seen as he perched apon
Stryker had been out in the Darklands for so long, he had forgotten what year it was, how old he was, how long it had been when Brianna Wu finally took over the world. The landscape of America was now dry, riddled with the mutated ideals of Wu manifested into creatures; the land was not fit for humans like Stryker but for the ever-marching and parading Stutters, a grotesque creature which prowled along and brought tribute to their queens.
Like overgrown ants, Stryker thought,
always going back to its nest… and to its queen.
Stryker knew that the Stutters were blind, locating each other with a repeating sound of
Oy Gevalt in the breeze. Stryker knew they were close and held his position on a high rocky outcropping, whenever one of these strange undulating creatures got close Stryker praised himself for his silent footsteps, if he shot the Deagle he would have been locked on by all the stutters in the area. Softly padding around the pack of mutants, Stryker moved along a decrepit buildings rough stone wall, huddling into a corner until the calls became softer and more distant.
The pattering of rain awoke Stryker from his hateful nap, lurching up he surveyed the afternoon horizon. Stryker hunched up his shoulders from the stressful weight of his Deagle-Nation Approved backpack before trotting off into an aimless direction. Stryker had nowhere to go and nomadically approached each situation, stumbling onto outcrops of humans which often would feel the cold embrace of a deagle bullet. You couldn’t trust any man and his dog in this abyssal landscape.
In the light-deficient night, Jack Stryker felt the crunch of cutlery under his steel-capped boots, a small skeleton-patterned cup had fallen apart into a sharp curled shards, he looked around the area and noticed the stirring of life. Raising his Deagle in defence, Jack silently loaded his gun and scoured the area. In the pale moonlight Stryker saw the shimmering of a Katana and the flair of black hair in the bushes.
“Stop right there,” said welder, “Drop the Mark XIX Desert Eagle in .50 Action Express.”
Stryker was shocked, the katana-wielding person knew exactly what it was and he lowered his deagle in respect to the master. Silently, he paused and watched as the figure exited from the shadowy foliage. It was a woman. This woman was dressed in black military garb he could see that this woman was an elite special BLACKOPS commander, her face was gleaming with a strike of blood, obviously from a recent scuffle, when she lowered her own weapon Styrker appreciated how professional she looked.
With an grin she registered who the man was, “Commander Jack Stryker?”
Stryker nodded.
“I am Corporal Cena, Jane Cena,” I was there when you exterminated Al-Qaeda, “They thought you died.”
Jack was about to reply when suddenly the loud call of a Stutter pierced his ears, “Sssttoop making fun of my s-s-s-tutter!” it hissed as it pounced upon Stryker like a feral journalist. Corporal Cena launched afterwards with her katana and sliced the Stutter’s soft neck, the blood spraying all over Stryker as it curled up and groaned out its call in pathetic attempt. With a heavy breath Cena wiped away the blood from her cheek and looked down at Stryker who was prone on his back with exhaustion, Cena crouched down and gave him her hand, pulling him up with her strength before patting down the dust and blood, “What brings you out here, Commander?”
“Revenge,” he mutters.