March 16, 2007. 03:01 AM.
Rafa and Squadron No. 6 surged forward, eyes locked on the control room at the far end of the silo. They shot and killed some Serovian soldiers on their way.
Sviat emerged from his cover, but a round from Rafa, aimed with Ethan's rifle, shrieked past his ear. The bullet slammed into the steel wall with a deafening clang, forcing the sniper back into the shadows. He was pinned.
With a brutal kick, Sebastian took point with his right leg, his left shoulder still a mangled mess, he tore the control room door off its frame.
The gray veil instantly filled the room. Substantial and suffocating smoke, born from Arnold's last canister. Through the choking haze, the Serovians scientists already raised their rifles with trembling hands, their aim swallowed by the fog.
Close-quarters combat erupted in the darkness. Muzzle flashes illuminated the chaos like lobotomy lights. Blood sprayed across the windows. Dark red flooded the floor. Control consoles were drenched in sin.
The scientists panicked. They fired blindly, adding a symphony of madness where sight was lost and no soul could know who was striking whom.
Sviat tried to seize the control room, but Rafa was too quick. He was a ghost with a rifle, forcing Sviat to cover every time he peeked.
As Rafa cycled Ethan's sniper, a one-second chance opened. Sviat moved to took it like a hawk, but Fox's bullet hit near Sviat's head, resetting the stalemate.
Inside the control room, Arnold and Sebastian moved like demons in the mist. They killed the scientists one by one until only one remained, cowering in a corner.
"Now, tell me..., what the hell is that thing!?" Arnold growled, grabbing the scientist's lab coat. He clearly gestured toward the massive missile dominating the center of the silo.
"I-It's the VM-1... The 'Sky Preacher.' P-please... don't kill me..." the scientist stuttered like a tourette syndrom patient. His body shaking uncontrollably.
"And what does it do?" Rafa asked, entering the room while keeping his eyes on Sviat's balcony.
"I-I'm afraid that I can't—"
CRACK!!
Sebastian kicked a steel chair, hitting the wall beside him, deliberately missed. Sending it whistling past the scientist's ear. His eyes, bloodshot from exhaustion and rage, stared into t
"I-it is supposed to break the sky... to prove if there are any 'cosmic beings' or not..." the scientist blurted out.
Rafa's eyes widened hearing that. "So it wasn't an ICBM?"
The echo of Fox and Sviat's sniper duel rang through the silo, hellish horns of gunfire and bolts cycling in relentless tempo.
"Y-yes..." the scientist answered.
Rafa looked down, unable to process the weight of the words. So all of this... To prove the existence of cosmic beings?
"What the hell is a cosmic being?" Arnold demanded, shaking the scientist.
"Rafa, do you know anything about this?" Sebastian asked, but Rafa turned his face away, staring at the missile in silence.
Ethan with his ruined arm, and Bruce with his stained chest, stared at their leader. They knew. Rafa was hiding something.
"Forget it. It's just a myth," Rafa said flatly.
Arnold let go of the scientist, then he turned around to look at Rafa.
"A myth, huh..." said Ethan in low voice. Eyes stabbed Rafa's heart.
"What kind of myth?" Sebastian pressed.
"Beings with the power of gods... out there in outer space," Rafa replied.
"And the USSR wants to see if they're real or not?" Sebastian countered.
"Maybe they were looking for a God," Rafa said, his eyes still lingered on the Sky Preacher.
Bruce laughed, a dry, painful sound. It was nonsense, bullshit. Cosmic beings didn't exist. They couldn't.
"Ethan, on me. Sebastian, help Fox. Arnold, cover them," Rafa handed Ethan's sniper rifle to Sebastian, then walked out. Arnold followed behind. Ethan followed, clutching his mangled bicep. They moved across the steel platform that connected to the missile.
As they left, the scientist's eyes flickered toward the red launch button. Bruce, breathing heavily, raised his muzzle. "Don't even try."
Sviat tried to shoot one more at Rafa, but Fox's bullet chased and missed, forcing him to took cover again.
Rafa set up a laptop from his back to neutralize the missile. Ethan began to hack the system, his fingers dancing despite the blood.
Seeing the end, Sviat lowered his rifle. He knew that they done it. As he prepared to surrender, Ivan suddenly stepped out with both hands raised. "We surrender!" he screamed.
Fox, Sebastian, and Arnold froze. The Rules of Engagement held their fingers back. They lowered their muzzles slightly. Arnold watched Ivan, wary but tired. Bruce watched through the control room window.
Rafa looked at Ivan, he then tapped his ECD. "Let them."
Ivan quickly looked up at Sviat on the balcony. In a sharp shout, "Сейчас! (Now!)"
Sviat pivoted with predatory speed.
Ignoring the pain in his arm.
THUUUMPPPP!!!!!!
The heavy round hit Sebastian's head
He didn't even have the time to blink and saw what actually happened...
The bullet pierced his brain, erasing his consciousness.
Sebastian collapsed. His eyes remained open, staring into nothingness.
Fox froze. He was fucking beside Sebastian when seeing this.
Rafa's arms, previously crossed, dropped to his sides in shock.
Ethan stopped, his gaze fixed on Sebastian's body.
Arnold sprinted toward his fallen friend, screaming his name into the void.
Fox raised his sniper, he shot Ivan right in the throat.
But Bruce's attention was ripped away from the scientist.
The scientist seized the moment, lunging for the console.
"Инициализация последовательности запуска. (Initialize launch sequence.)"
Bruce immediately shot the scientist, but he knew that he was too late.
"Fuck! The missile!" Rafa yelled.
"Десять... Девять... (Ten... Nine...)"
Fox tried to shoot Sviat, unleashed a hail of fire toward Sviat. He fired and cycled, fired and cycled, fired and cycled, even as Sviat already dove behind the wall.
"Fox, hold!" Arnold shouted. Fox didn't care.
"Семь... Шесть... (Seven... Six...)"
At that exact moment, the massive steel apocalypse gates at the top of the silo slid open. The night poured in. Heavy rain lashed against the ground.
Bruce emerged from the control room, grunted slightly from his injuries.
But as Fox cycled his rifle,
THUUMPP!!!
Fox's head snapped back as the heavy round found its mark. He crumpled to the steel floor. It was because of Sviat with eyes streaming tears that aimed and took a shot.
"FOX!!" Bruce screamed, paralyzed.
"Пять... Четыре... ((Five... Four...)"
The roar of the missile's engines began to drown out the world, the backblast from the engines incinerate the oxygen inside the silo. The air turned into a living gehenna, screaching into hundreds of degrees in seconds.
Rafa sprinted with all his strength, carrying Ethan away from the missile toward the control room. Arnold couldn't let this slide, he rushed to Rafa and helped to bear Ethan's weight. Meanwhile, Bruce held the control room door, opening it until they could get inside.
"Три... Два... (Three... Two...)"
Sviat aimed his rifle to Rafa, but then—
"Один. (One.)"
The silo exploded.
The missile's engine roared. From the engine's core, smoke and flame erupted, drowning the silo in a suffocating fog.
The Sky Preacher flew upward, a blazing titan whose ascent scared the walls, shattering them with its force. Fifty meters long and five meters wide, it climbed up like a pillar of wrath into the heavens.
Bruce was forced to slam the door shut and retreat into the control room. The reinforced steel and glass held against the blast, shielding him from the heat. Every breath scorched his lungs.
Rafa, Ethan, and Arnold were thrown back by the sheer force of the launch. Falling off from the platform.
The fire burned them as the Sky Preacher ascent upward. The skin on the Squadron outside the control room blacken. Their tactical gear melted into their flesh.
On the balcony, Sviat was touched by the flames. His skin on his fingers fused to the metal of his rifle, but he pressed himself into the corner of the steel wall, hugging himself.
Debris rained down. The silo filled with black, toxic smoke.
The Sky Preacher left the silo, tearing through the clouds at supersonic speeds.
As it hit the heart of the rain, the atmosphere kneeled. The rain stopped. The clouds were tore by the shockwave. The dark sky split open.
The Sky Preacher hit the space.
A few seconds later, the missile exploded. it tore a permanent rift in the sky, a glowing wound in space, splitting the sky, revealing a new dimension.
Rafa, lied in the burning wreckage at the bottom of the silo, was looking up. He saw the sky split. He laughed. A broken vocal cord.
Everything, slowly went dark.
In those seconds, his thoughts were on the squadron..., after all, our story is not much different.
Got beat down by the world
Sometimes I just wanna fold.
So...
Please...
...
..
.
Who knows how long he has been unconscious,
Rafa slowly opened his eyes. He felt himself being carried. It was Bruce.
Bruce was just wicked. His skin was red. Blistered from the radiant heat that had penetrated the control room. His breathing was wet, ragged, rattle.
Rafa looked at his own hands. The skin was perfect. Not a singe. Not a blister. Nothing changed. He survived.
"How long... was i out...?" Rafa asked.
"Maybe... three minutes..." Bruce wheezed.
"Put me down."
Bruce complied, nearly collapsing. Rafa stood and took Bruce over his shoulder. Bruce was in critical condition.
"Where's Ethan?" Rafa locked at Bruce face.
"Under the debris... Over there... I think..." Bruce pointed to a pile of twisted metal. He coughed violently, throwing out vapor. Rafa handed him a handkerchief.
Rafa moved toward the wreckage, his movements tired. He let go of Bruce and began to lift the steel beams away with his bare, unburnt hands. Bruce helped where he could, hissing as his blistered skin rubbed against his gear.
"So... it's just us..." Bruce whispered, his eyes teary.
"Yeah... I guess.... But the sniper might still be alive..." Rafa replied.
They dug until they found Ethan's face. He was burnt, black, like a charcoal.
Rafa pressed his ear to Ethan's mouth. "Still alive."
He tapped his ECD. "The missile wasn't an ICBM... We'll explain it later on... We need extraction... Now..."
"Copy that, extraction team is on the way," HQ replied.
Rafa exhaled. Bruce smiled weakly, reaching out to pat Rafa's head as he sat by Ethan. "We're alive, huh."
"Yeah..."
"But, how about Arnold...?" Rafa asked.
"Dead..." Bruce eyes looked on something. A burnt hand.
Rafa just stared in silence.
As Rafa tried to stood—
"Watch out!" Bruce lunged, shoving Rafa off the platform into the ground.
Rafa's gaze locked on Bruce. The shot carving straight into his heart. The world slowed. Sounds collapsing into hollow echoes. We're all just victims of a crime.
Bruce's body hit the floor with a this only he can hear.
Rafa looked toward who shot. Through the black smoke that was thinning slowly, a silhouette appeared. Sviat. The ghost had returned.
Rafa stood up and walked toward him.
Sviat's hands were shaking violently. The burnt skin of his fingers was stuck to the trigger. The flesh had blistered onto the metal. His eyes were red, weeping tears onto a face painted with thermal burns.
He tried to cycle the bolt for one last time. To shot at Rafa, but his hands were dead. He couldn't do it. How many times He tried but He still couldn't do it. He had no strength left to fight the part of the rifle. The meat of his palms had been incinerated.
Despite everything, Rafa looked at the boy and felt a respect. Accuracy like that was a gift. Even when Sviat in critical condition, he still could shoot perfectly.
Rafa stood directly in front of him. Sviat muttered something, words he cannot heard and cannot understood. He slowly rose his gaze, looking at Rafa, waiting for his end.
Rafa reached out to gently ruffled Sviat's hair. "What's your name?"
The boy whispered, his voice a mess from a ruined throat. "Sviat... Sviat Khalaznikov..."
Rafa froze, widened.
Khalaznikov. The name carried the weight of a bloodline. Sviat was one of them.
#5 End.