Time: 0200 hours
Location: unknown
"Weapons up, men. Stay frosty," Said SOU Jack Cooper.
"Roger that Shadow."
"Roger, Shadow."
"Roger."
"Roger."
"Hawk, what's the situation?"
"We have multiple hostiles, keeping their distance. Same as before."
"Bravo, come in. How's the east wing?"
Jack waited a few seconds.
"Bravo leader, come in. This is SOU Jack Cooper. I repeat, come in Bravo lead, this is the Shadow."
Silence. Jack cursed his luck.
"What now?" asked Melissa Falton -- callsign 'shredder'.
"Nothing has changed. Montanna, Moretz, take the first floor. Search for signs of life. Winchester, Shredder, you're with me. Hawk, keep an eye on those-"
A blood curdling scream exploded in Jack?s earpiece. He jumped.
"Hello? hello? Can you hear me? What's going on?"
Sniper fire roared from the roof of the asylum. One shot, two shots. Small arms fire peppered the wall of the hallway the strike team -- Alpha team, Jack's team -- was in.
A bullet punched through Montana?s throat, spraying blood down the hall and sending him gurgling to the floor.
"GO!" Jack yelled, firing blindly into the darkness as he walked backwards. The fire momentarily ceased and he took advantage of the break by kicking in a wooden door and diving through just as a grenade bounced along the floor and came to rest where he'd been standing. He kicked the door shut.
The grenade exploded, the force sending him backwards. He reloaded.
Moretz and Shredder were running further down the hall to the reception desk when a figure appeared in the doorway and lobbed a grenade. Shredder reached for a door and threw it open, only to activate the trip-wire and be blown away by a waiting claymore. Moretz looked down at the grenade and realized that it was too late for her.
But she had to try.
She spun on her heels and ran at the same time as the grenade exploded...
...Splattering her all over the floor, walls and ceiling.
Jack cocked his rifle and aimed at the door. A figure appeared in the doorway and looked down at him. He stopped. It was Java, the Bravo lead. But he was surrounded in shadows, darkness seeming to melt off him and gently float upwards.
Java opened his mouth and a hundred voices seemed to talk at once.
"Welcome to Hell."