The Lost Cemetery - Chapter I

[shyshadow]

My head spinning, a blur of images moving across my mind with only but a fragment of an actual memory. The air around flaunting it's cold embrace, as I could barely pay attention though one thing had caught my mind. It was a face I had seen somewhere. The face spoke, it was trying to speak to me. Yet I could not understand, the message filtered through a grain in which made the words into an utter static. As I looked around I was enveloped by the cold embrace of it's dark illusion, I saw nothing but black. The face began to speak, the filter lifting away I had felt the cold and utter terror of the voice it yelled "Please! Help me!" Then the illusion of black faded away, just as the face had spoke. I found myself on a seat my arm numb to the bone, I looked around and saw my squad chatting. Paying very little attention to my own person, I had spun my head finding myself more awake than I should have been. The sea of blue made its way across to me like a tidal wave of idiots. They had walked up to me as I looked and assessed my situation I had remembered that it was time to begin our operation.

I got up from my seat wiping off the sweat from my neck and brow. I spoke into my headset yelling at the blue babes "Alright delta, line up we'll be deploying on our own. As in if something happens to us we ain't going to get backup unless we're luckier than a leprechaun, single file ass hats!" As I had said that the sea of blue began to straighten up and line up in front of it's Poseidon. I walked down the isle of the sea of blues, or deltas I spoke to them noticing their features and rank on their shoulder, and they could see mine they knew who I was and they respected it. I asked for my 2nd in command, "Sergeant Stroh reporting sir!".
I nodded and asked for my corporals, they both in unison spoke "Corporal" and that's all I could understand, I repeated my question asking for them to say it individually. One of them spoke "Corporal Wilson sir! Field Engineer!".
I smiled, looking at my field medic. They gave me a nervous expression, I yelled out "Come on Corporal, we ain't got all day."
They stood straight and answered "Corporal Harte! Field Medic!".
I gave her a weak smirk seemed like one of those quiet types but usually got a good heart but enough about them, turning towards the man who didn't like aiming. Our smartgunner, we call em "Darth" I think that's a reference to a movie from. What like the 21st century? Or was it the 20th? Anyway, the guy is usually quiet when it comes to everything except down time. Usually that's all the time considering not much happens in the corps, or at least not that much.
They answered when I turned towards him "Lance Corporal Pawolski! Delta's Smartgunner of course!"
I rolled my eyes, motioning with my hand, for him to cut it out. I looked at the best in the business, the lazy bastards that like to shoot and don't care for rank. I walked down the row of "standards" don't even know why they're even classified as standards, you think they'd be called like infantry or something. Anyway I'm going along down the line of marines, I looked at them they addressed themselves one by one like good marines.
They shouted at the top of their lungs, "Private First Class Svarlson! Standard sir! Ready to kick some commie ass!"
Damn kid, he's too young to be so cocky. He looks like he's in his 20s and he does everything someone would do if they were 40! Kid smokes drinks, they can't hold it though, he even wears shades. If we weren't in this day and age he would probably be dead before 70! Anyway enough about them. The next marine cleared his throat, his words slurred like a drunk "Mhmm, yup Private First Class Conrad here sir."
Bastard belched, I chuckled I'm not really one for "respect" but it does feel nice to be called sir. Still not really one that cares much for rank, but this is the corps so if it's an actual commissioned officer wouldn't even think about disrpescting them, apparently you can get arrested for it. Insane I know. I saw a man that was of a darker shade, the man that we call Dubi, Ray Dubi. Half the time we all ask if he born in Dubi and that's where he gets his name, but he just retorts with his usual schmuck, I looked at him. The blue making itself apparent on the dark toned man, hmm maybe we should call him Arab? Because he might as well be one. They looked at me and said "What is it sir? You need something?"
I stared him down, he looked confused then said "Oh sorry your majesty, Private First Class Dubi."

I of course rolled my eyes, as I usually do because I don't care for rank. It's just a title and if I care for it well I just end up looking less of a man. I swear every time I see Dubi he's got a cigar in his mouth, rarely is it lit, probably because he's so damn poor he can't afford to actually smoke it. Then onto the rest of them, if I'm honest I don't think I really need to go into every detail about them, the fact they didn't got something fancy to say. You got Private First Class Terrance Dominicus, guy's some huge Mexican guy, smart to. They like to follow in line and make sure things get done. Then you got some skinny ginger, Private First Class Steve Humason. Kid doesn't got much of a back bone if I'm honest but that ain't a bad thing either. Then there's the new guy, Private Yamagata Aritiomo I'm pretty sure they're Japanese. They got the eyes slightly slanted, he's even got a pony tail, the guy is pretty quiet most of the time. Don't really know them that well considering they're a recruit. There's Private First Class Daniel Aye, he's a gutsy bastard likes to be use finesse over actual broad. Probably would make a good marksman one day, but I digress. Then get our Technical Sergeant, Lochlann Healy they're smart brave but not too brave. Kid took a bullet for me once, I owe him one.
I looked at these men, standing proud with confidence in my chest, and loyalty in my heart. I gave them all a smile of pride, I spoke "Alright, I've received my order now it's time for you to hear yours. Now all of you will stand together and confident, this is in fact was a USCM ship so whatever took it down probably was something to be scared of, but we're fucking marines! And we ain't afraid of anything! So I want tight spacing and tactical searching, look for hand signals and anything out of the ordinary. Even for an abandoned ship."
They all gave me a shout, something like an "oorah" I felt pride in my chest, something I haven't felt in a while. They begin to stand beside me like sentinels protecting their king, we stood at the umbilical cord docks. They gave a familiar hissing sound, as the large doors lifted open. I motioned towards Ray to take lead, as we made our way through the umbilical cord I looked at the emptiness around me the shiny smooth glass surrounding me. Surrounding that was the vastness of darkness. Lights shining in the distance, I stopped. Placing my hand against the glass, it was met with no cold, my glove stopping it yet it was so smooth, then I felt something grab onto my shoulder. I found myself out of this trance, seeing Duke beside me. They stared at me confused their eyes filled with not only confusion but curiosity, I shrugged him off. Giving him tone "Shouldn't you be moving Oddshot?"
He smirked, jogging forward. We made our way across the umbilical cord, the cord barely moving just the noise of boots stomping. Our blue uniforms conforming to the blue that surrounded us, the dark blue of space. Once we made it across the cord, I insured that everyone had made it across. I did a head count and then shut the airlock behind me. A large slam hit the floor then we pressed out.

I removed my M41A MK2 Pulse Rifle from my back, the tether that kept me and my weapon close to me always discomforted me yet it was such a necessity. We panned around the entrance of the airlock, seeing nothing except dust. The air was as thick as smoke, found it a little difficult to breath. Other then that everything seemed quiet. We moved in a formation through the entrance, it seemed we entered through the quartered maintenance area. It was tight, a long hallway of blackness. I felt suffocated, I heard my men shouting at each other to quit pushing each other. I yelled at them, must've been Conrad. His slurs were so recognizable, we pressed on. We eventually found the maintenance hatch to the weapon storage, or the warehouses we called them. Where all the firearms and such are stored. It seemed empty, I sent two squads to pan out the area while we swept the area. It was a large room with racks upon racks of firearms, M41As, M39s and M37s lined up in rows. Their ammunition underneath it, that was rather weird. Not a single one seemed to be out of place or missing. We stopped, I began to order my squad "Alright, take five marines. Search the area and grab any equipment that you may need, but I doubt you won't have what you need though."
Dubi began looks through all the guns, looking at them all. Rubbing his hands all over them saying "Whoa man, look at all these guns. I've never seen them before! They're all so new!"
I slung my M41A, removing a flask from my waist. Seeing as Dubi kept up his jokes. I took a swig, never been a drinker but sometimes it's good to keep a flask of whiskey with you. I then heard a beep coming from my headset, hearing the sound of a Lieutenant. They spoke "Staff Sergeant Odd, come in. You and your squad's assignment has now changed, your task is to obtain the flight recorder on board the command deck. Understood?"
I promptly responded with "Yes sir, we're on it."
I shouted at delta "Delta! It seems we got the duty of obtaining the flight recorder! This is probably one of the most important tasks we possibly get. Let's get moving."
As I said that I Dubi's disgruntled voice, "Augh, the fuck is this shit?"
I turned to see the hell he was looking at, I saw everyone gathered around him. I couldn't see anything. They were murmuring, I looked and Yamagata or Yama as I'd like to call him was standing alone. His M41A in hand. I marched forward, moving everyone out of the way. When I saw what Dubi was talking about I was just awed, there some stuff. Like a slime of sorts, transparent. It was sticky, and some of it was on a earpiece. Not really sure what I made of it, looked at Dubi and he looked at me. I said "Alright, come on marines. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger you know? Now let's fucking get moving."
We began to make our way out of the warehouse, through the main entrance. Considering the power was out, I doubt we were going to get through easily. Wilson proudly went up to the door, grabbing his crowbar and showing off his strength. I admired the guy seemed like he was proud of what he did. I watched the flank, we moved forward. Insuring there were no hostiles. We moved through the Sulaco, the dark eeriness of the ship didn't make it any better. As we made our way across the hallways, we saw old dry blood on the walls. The floor charred, bullet holes in the walls. All of it added to the creepiness of the old ship. We kept moving forward.
Through the cafeteria we went. The smell of rotting food was prominent, I think it was food at least. It smelled like months old eggs. It was awful, Conrad commented "Oh man, this smells like you Odd after you've been running for an hour."
I chuckled "Yeah, but at least when I run I don't smell like I've vomited on myself because I can't hold my liquor."
Everyone laughed, except Yama. They stayed quiet, guess he was a serious guy. Eventually we were nearing the end, Wilson quickly opened up the hatch. The manual open apparently was already broken by someone. Looked like they were smashed into, wires spilled from the opening of the hatch. We quickly entered into the central hub of the Sulaco. We looked at the label above the entrance to it and apparently it was dubbed the "Emporium" you could get to every department from here. A security checkpoint blocked the way to the command deck. Our technical sergeant Healy stayed quiet, until I ordered him to run a by-pass on the locking mechanism. I ordered Aye, Yama, and the redhead to stand watch. Garth was to keep watch on center.
We stood there for about a minute until Duke broke the silence "So, what do you think exactly happened to this dump?"
We all turned for a second, then turned back. Dominicus replied to Duke "Well, whatever happened they clearly didn't win. Bet you it was those damn UPP, fuckers."
Pawolski seconded that with "Yup, those UPPs. United Pretty Pals. Their fashion sense always fired bullets on the United States Colonial Marines. Not like that'd start a war Dominicus."
I stared at them as they replied at one another. Dominicus replied with "Hey come on Pawolski, don't act like I can't kick your ass. We both know the UPP don't give a shit about that kind of shit."
Then Pawolski retorts "Yup, of course I know that. What you don't know is that I'm actually a UPP spy here to kill you."
Dominicus looked pissed, I was about to intervene until our field medic, corporal Sam Harte intervened. I was a little surprised she said anything, "Guy seriously, quit the shit. We ain't gonna get far by you Pawolski poking holes at Dominicus."
Pawolski just chucked smiling "Sorry Sammy, I'm just that kind of guy."
I then intervened "Pawolski, cut the shit. We've still got a mission to do." As I said that, we all heard something drop. Sounded like a shattering, the crystal like sound crumbling onto the floor. I quickly motioned us to move forward, I kept Healy on the by-pass. We moved to investigate, it came from down the stairs of the Emporium. It led to secure containment, I motioned Dubi to take lead. Pawolski right behind him, we moved forward into the dark ocean of uncertainty. My heart pounded in my chest, my heart raced. I felt like I was gonna burst in anticipation for what was to unfold. We slowly made our way down the stairs, the hatch was wide open. It was like a wall of darkness that ate up our lights. We quickly piled into the room, we scanned the room. Tables were flipped and vials of glass were sprawled on the floor, cracked or broken. There was a door up ahead, but we decided to not go any further. We just figured it was the umbilical cords breaking off or retracting back to the Almayer. There really wasn't much to see, except I saw some of that same transparent slime on the foot of the stairs. Only real reason I noticed it is because I stepped in it. I didn't really care for it, we quickly made our way up the stairs. I looked back down into the room, I think it was either my imagination but I saw a face. I didn't say anything about it because it was probably just my mind playing tricks on me.
When we arrived back up the stairs, the security check point was opened.
I quickly made a head count and we continued forward. We entered the bridge of the Sulaco, there was a central table surrounded by railing as it dipped into a bunch of other consoles, presumably over watch consoles, and many others. In front of that laid a beautiful sight of space. A window that captured the beauty of space so elegantly. We quickly panned around the bridge, I ordered my marines to search the bridge head to toe for the flight recorder. I hear the scuttling of boots, scouring for the flight recorder. I turned to the hatch, making sure it's closed. I turned back to my marines and for some reason, I felt a chill crawl up my spine and my hairs stood to attention. I felt nervous, then I heard Duke shout out "Got it Odd!"
I looked giddy, order him to place on the table.

I looked surprised, I said "Alright just place it on the table and we'll review the footage or at least make sure the damn thing is working properly. Don't want to come back here a second time."
Duke had a smug look on his face, his voice almost as smug "Watch Odd, this flight recorder is just the entire Sulaco's staff having a large orgy."
No one laughed at Duke's joke, but we laughed at no one laughing. Duke just rolled his eyes proceeding to say "Yeah, alright that was a really bad joke."
I quickly turned on the flight recorder, I saw the buttons on the front as they beeped as I pressed them. Then as I waited for the recorder to start, a large message appeared saying "Footage was deleted by [REDACTED]. Authorization WY #923 GAMMA, 9212 LAMBDA." I was shocked, I was lost for words. Then I became light headed and then. Everything went black.
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Hope you liked it guys. I might do a little editing I kinda wanted you just guys to not get so worked up of not getting it. It's currently 2:30 AM and I just felt like doing this instead of. I don't know playing Overwatch? Anyway I hoped you guys liked it. Sorry if I couldn't fit "that" much character development. Don't worry I'll get there.

[NoahKirchner]

he told me to appreciate it, but not to like it

[shyshadow]

he told me to appreciate it, but not to like it

Like, hate. No real difference. As long as it's read by someone. Also fuck I'm tired GN.

[TehSpoderman]

[Karmac]

man it feels good not having to buy books when people can just write them for us

[Kavlo]

noice

[Imperator_Titan]

man it feels good not having to buy books when people can just write them for us

^^^

[Kerek]

Pretty good, looking forward for the next one!

[Recounted]

theres a lil bit of grammar error here and there

[Mark Wilson]

It was great, can't wait for the next one

[shyshadow]

Re-read it and checked for spelling errors. Fixed a bit, and reworded a few things.

[Mark Wilson]

Are you still making these or is it just taking a lot of time?

[shyshadow]

Are you still making these or is it just taking a lot of time?

I've been a bit busy with stuff, I've been wanting to continue but I haven't had a urge to do so. I've been debating with myself on how to continue the story, this is usually typical things when you're faced with writing a story. Basically I've had writer's block for a while. Hopefully I can continue soon, no guarantee though.

[Tylaaaaar]

Real good shit you've written here, much better then half the other shit that gets published, detail is amazing, muh immersion is fantastic and the way everything is presented is sexy af. Either way. Some good shit.

[HR171]

This is really good, though there are some glaring grammar mistakes; which are a little off putting. Regardless, i think this is a great read and you have managed in only a short text to create tension and introduce the characters.
I rate 8/8; Great.