Hello, It’s been around a week since I last posted. Sorry for the wait, it’s just hard to post this since…Well. I guess you will have to see for yourself.
If you haven’t seen previous parts of my story then go here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.
Darius has also made some posts, if you wish to see his perspective, go here:
As I walked into the motel, I saw Bryson,Darius,Martin and Jayden sitting at a table near the front desk, discussing what to do. I quietly walked closer but then I heard the door creak behind me. Turning around, I saw 2 military guards enter the room along with a very beaten and bruised Eddie.
“Sorry i’m late, the facility has been overthrown and we cannot return anytime soon”. He said
The soldiers glanced at Eddie, expecting him to say Just Kidding or something but he only had a grim look on his face as he pulled out what looked like a blue oval that was around 3 feet in diameter.
“As you may all know, The Pilgrim has harnessed power from Yellowstone Volcano and we need to destroy it”. Eddie said, “This is a bomb that if placed into the Caldera, will cut off the Pilgrims power and stop it from becoming even more powerful”. Eddie stated.
“Wait- you’re dismissing the elephant in the room here, Director”. Jayden said.
“Yea, what happened at that facility of yer’s”? Martin asked.
“Kyle and a couple others have been rallying a secret group to overthrow the facility and use it for their own purposes. They tried to kill me but I escaped and took a helicopter with my trusted guards to Yellowstone so we could finish the job here”. Eddie stated, “We need to kill this thing before it escapes the National Park-“. Eddie went to say but Darius cut him off.
“You want our help NOW?! I’m not gonna do your dirty work and risk me and my friend’s lives”. Darius snarled.
I watched as his hand twitched, I remembered how my father used to do the same thing.
“We will help you, but on one condition Eddie”. I stated.
Darius and Bryson looked at me in shock.
“After this mission, we NEVER help you again and we wish to do what we want, and not be restrained by the facility”. I said boldly.
The director chuckled and said, “Yea, sure, it’s not like you’re asking for something big but I expected nothing less from you”. Eddie smirked.
“A deal’s a deal”. Eddie stated and held out his hand for me to shake.
We shook hands and Eddie told us his plan…
Martin and Jayden were to Distract the Pilgrim using the helicopter that held 2 large mini-guns. The helicopter looked oddly familiar. Me, Bryson and Darius were tasked with reaching the Caldera and Eddie and his soldiers were to set off a large explosion at the motel when Martin and Jayden lured the Pilgrim nearby. Before they explode the motel, Me, Bryson and Darius are to set off the bomb, weakening the pilgrim. Once the mission was over, we were all to meet up near the destroyed motel.
I thought the plan was pretty good but I had a question on my mind.
“We don’t know how to set off the bomb”. I said to Eddie.
“Oh- uh, It’s really easy, just press the Orange button at the bottom of the bomb. It will set a 30 second timer so you can get away from the explosion radius”. Eddie said.
“Wait wait wait, Are you all forgetting something actually IMPORTANT”??! Bryson said, clearly annoyed.
“We need weapons”! He said when nobody responded.
One of the guards sighed as they took out a large case filled with a large water gun and 3 water bottles for everyone.
“W-What the hell are these gonna do”?! Bryson asked.
“They are actually extremely effective against the Pilgrim since it’s immune to regular bullets. This is a prototype of H209, Which is water that is unable to turn into a gas and is extremely cold”. Eddie stated.
“Isn’t that basically liquid nitrogen or something-“ I asked but Eddie cut me off.
“There’s no time for dumb questions, we’ve delayed the plan long enough. Lets go”. Eddie stated.
And with that, we were all led out of the motel. Darius was given the bomb because it was extremely heavy even for 2 trained guards. Me and Bryson held our water guns close but then I heard Bryson whisper something to me.
“Hey, you still got her”? He asked.
“Oh, yeah sure”. I said, handing him his desert eagle.
He gave me his water gun as some sort of trade off.
We watched as the helicopter flew above and went slowly out of sight.
We had no interruptions for the first half an hour into the forest, For some reason, Yellowstone National Park was eerily quiet despite us being in a forest. I couldn’t even find any animals.
We were walking through a tight passageway with a lot of trees and rocks in the way. Darius couldn’t just brush the trees out of the way since he was holding the bomb so we had to do things the hard way. Me and Bryson managed to get past but Darius was having a bit of trouble. It took a couple of minutes before we got him through the tight squeeze but we managed.
“Wait, I just remembered, How are we supposed to know when the pilgrim is at the motel”. I asked, my stomach tightening into a knot
“Don’t start having a panic attack on us” Bryson joked, pulling out a radio from his pocket.
“Oh, phew”. I sighed.
“Hey, Darius you’ve been pretty quiet, how are you holding up”? I asked.
“Something is off”. Darius said.
“What do you-“ I went to say but then a large Sasquatch came out of the nearby treeline.
“Is that Bigfoot”?! I asked in shock.
Nobody had time to answer me as Bigfoot ran straight towards us, fist’s balled, ready for a fight.
Bryson quickly took out his desert eagle and shot Bigfoot in its eye.
“RUN”! Bryson shouted.
We ran through the forest, hoping to get some distance from the thing. Eventually we took a break and Bryson took out a map. Conveniently, we were pretty close to Yellowstone Volcano. We continued running towards the location and eventually we reached a familiar clearing.
We thought we were in the clear when suddenly, Many lava creatures emerged from the Caldera and ran towards us, letting out terrifying screeches.
Bryson tried shooting them with his desert eagle but it barely did anything. I remembered the water guns and handed one to Bryson and began firing at the creatures.
It took a couple shots to kill even one of them but we were holding up well against the endless horde.
We heard a radio crackle to life around 3 minutes into the battle.
“Guys, you have 1 minute to set off the bomb”. Eddie said from the radio.
I quickly handed Bryson my water gun and told him to cover us. I grabbed onto Darius’s back as he started running towards the Caldera. Me and Darius were halfway towards the Caldera when a couple of the lava monsters noticed us and chased us. They were getting closer and closer despite Darius’s immense speed but we heard a couple shots go off from behind and we were no longer being pursued. We quickly reached the Caldera and Darius leapt into the air, pressing the button and thrusting the bomb into the middle of the Caldera, mid air.
We landed on the other side of the Caldera and we heard all the lava monsters screeching as they died. We all then heard a loud screech from the Pilgrim as it lost lots of its power.
Bryson ran over but suddenly, as he was halfway around the Caldera to reach us, Lava tendrils erupted from the Caldera and began attacking us.
Darius was grabbed and yanked off his feet and I desperately grabbed him and held onto a nearby tree that looked pretty sturdy.
Bryson saw what was happening and shot at the lava tendrils that held Darius. It worked and Darius only suffered some burns on his leg that healed quickly. I looked back at Bryson to see him desperately trying to reload his water guns before a tendril reached out to grab him.
“BRYSON”! I screamed and ran towards him but it was already too late. I watched as the lava tendril grabbed onto Bryson and I heard his screams as his body started burning before our very eyes.
Darius ran towards me and prevented me from getting closer as more lava tendrils were reaching out towards us.
I watched as with one final effort, Bryson threw his desert eagle towards my direction and it landed a couple feet away. I picked it up and looked at it mournfully. The tentacles were getting closer but I didn’t care, it seemed as if the entire world had stopped. The tendrils were about to grab me when Darius picked me up and ran towards the direction of the motel. I looked back to see the lava tendrils slowly shriveling up and turning into obsidian.
I closed my eyes and cried silently into Darius’s shoulder as he ran back towards the motel. It only took a couple minutes before we reached the motel. We saw that the Pilgrim had grabbed the helicopter and Eddie and the guards were fending off some lava monsters. There was a detonation lever a couple meters away. Darius ran towards the lever but was suddenly slapped away by one of the Pilgrims lava tendrils. I watched as the pilgrim crushed the helicopter and 2 people jumped towards the ground.
I ran over to see if they were ok and saw that Martin was shaking Jayden.
“No…No….Jayden WAKE UP”! Martin said, holding Jayden.
I didn’t want to look at the sight anymore and I quickly ran over to help Darius but realized we were surrounded by lava creatures. I remembered that Bryson had the water guns last and for the first time, I gave up. I sat down near Martin and closed my eyes. I wondered if i’d finally see my father again. A smile formed on my face as I imagined seeing my father and Bryson again. I was interrupted from my fantasy as Darius slammed through the lava monsters, grabbing me, Martin and Jayden and ran towards the lever.
“Whatever you do, Make sure to hit the LEVER” Darius roared as the lava tendril slammed into him again. He threw all of us forward and towards the lever. Martin was too busy trying to see if Jayden was ok so it was up to me to press the lever. With effort, I ran towards the lever, already exhausted from everything that had happened. I reached out and touched the lever before being grabbed by my other arm from a lava tendril.
I screamed in agony as I held onto the lever for dear life. With enormous effort I pressed the lever down and the motel exploded.
Debri went everywhere, trees collapsed and everyone was blasted back. The pilgrim was currently on top of the motel, using it as a height leverage and to be able to attack more people at once but now the Pilgrim was blasted into the air and collapsed onto the building, The lava tendrils shriveled up and turned into obsidian as the pilgrim was trapped in its own creation. The pilgrim started laughing maniacally as Darius walked towards the Pilgrim cautiously and rammed his claws into the Pilgrim, finally killing him. The Pilgrim let out one last demonic screech.
I grunted and tried to get up but my burnt arm and my legs covered in rubble along with my exhaustion forbade me from doing such. Eddie and his guards were the only ones who were not extremely close to the blast since they were fighting off lava creatures from the forest but one of his guards was crushed by a falling tree.
It’s been around a week since that happened. I’m still recovering from my wounds and finally found the will to post this. I’m currently with Darius, Eddie, Martin and Jayden. Yea, we managed to find a hospital and we all got patched up with most of my money earned from working at facility 14. Jayden had a concussion and broke both his legs but he was going to make a full recovery. He is in a wheelchair currently. The facility has been taken over by some group of people and I fear the day they go to look for us. We are not ready for any attacks from anyone at this point. I got the phone I stole a while back recharged. I got out of the dead guys account as sometimes I’d find messages from his wife asking if he was ok.
We are staying with Bryson’s family right now. They live in a two story house that has a warehouse that Darius stays in. You might be wondering why and how we found Bryson’s family and i’ll tell you. On the desert eagle that Bryson threw to me, an address was etched onto the side. I didn’t notice it before and when I informed his family what happened, they didn’t take it that well but they understood his wishes and allowed us to stay with them for around a month if we wanted to.
As I look out from the balcony I wonder how Bryson and my father think of me right now. Despite everything that happened, me, a 16 year old, has survived despite all odds.
I walked downstairs to see Eddie waiting to talk to me.
“hey, kiddo”. He started, “I know we made a deal but we could really use your help getting the facility back under my control-“ He went to say but I cut him off.
“You’re still asking for help!? Despite being in the house of a man who died for me and Darius. You owe us, why should any of us do more for YOU”! I ranted angrily.
Darius walked into the room and accidentally bumped his head against the ceiling again.
“What’s going on here” Darius asked.
“Travis, you’re missing the point here! If they release those freaks-“. Eddie was cut off by Darius slamming his fist into Eddie, sending him crashing into the wall. He rubbed his chin as he slowly got up.
“It’s not our problem anymore”. I stated.
“That’s where you’re wrong, you didn’t complete the mission…” Eddie started.
“What do you mean”? I asked, confused.
“You said you would help me on the condition that after you helped me you would be free to do whatever you wanted. You’re not done helping me yet and the deal isn’t complete until we get the facility back under control. So you’re helping me or the facility will still hunt you down and kill you and your friends”. Eddie stated.
I was appalled at how he was twisting everything. Knowing that I no longer had a choice, I sighed and agreed.
I’m not sure what will happen next but i’ll be sure to keep in touch… I promise.