“Hey! Girly! Over here!” One of the surviving Floodians called from his spot further along the perimeter. Girly, soaked with rainwater like everyone else, wearily crept over. Her fatigues were splashed with mud and the night-vision goggles she wore were the only thing stopping her from tripping over again in the damned darkness. She, like everyone else, was dog-tired from the constant tension their situation raised. They couldn’t dare to let themselves sleep in case the sniper returned to pick them off. Besides, there were so few of them, if the Forsaken made a determined push while even a few Floodians rested, there would not be enough to hold them back. “Out there!” Said the volunteer, pointing out into the forest. With the constant deluge of water, all of the leaves out there shook and quivered with impacts, giving the impression it was alive. But Girly, with her keen eyes, noticed something else. A vague flicker of movement she noticed on the night-vision. “We’re just getting tired.” Girly moaned despondently. “There’s nothing there.” Groggily, she rolled up the sleeve of one of her fatigues and slung her backpack onto the floor. She opened up the backpack and retrieved a white box with a red cross on the lid. She opened it up, picked out one of many stainless steel syringes and a small bottle of sterilising solution. She poured some of the sterilising fluid onto the nape of her elbow and looked away as she inserted the syringe into it. The medical syringe contained adrenaline, and Girly correctly predicted that she would need it in time to come. At the very least it would keep her awake. She carefully put everything back in its place and put the back pack on again. “Look, if you do see anything, call me on the radio, right?” She said, rubbing her arm from the ache her injection caused. The problem with injecting endorphins and adrenaline was that it only made things worse in the long term. A person could keep loading up on them to stay awake and active, but that didn’t mean the user could avoid sleeping. Sooner or later, the user risked health problems and hallucinations by not sleeping, and that was a serious problem while out on a battlefield like this. “No, really! I see someone!” The same volunteer said, again pointing out into the forest. Girly rolled her eyes and again peered into the dense jungle. Things was, she could actually see someone. In fact, she could see two people coming toward them clearly now. “Everyone, stand to. I see two people approaching from my angle. Hold your fire, do not give our position away and await further orders.” Girly whispered into the radio. She aimed her Walther 2000 rifle and looked through the Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10 x 56mm telescopic scope. She zoomed in the magnification, making the two figures jump forward suddenly, then altered the brightness level of the lit parts of the reticule crosshairs-they were getting in her way. “It’s Corbec alright.” She announced with great relief. “It’s Corbec everyone, calm down. Crisis averted.” Corbec, and after quick inspection, JS were carrying a person each on their backs, bizarrely, and Girly took two people down with her to lend them a hand. “We were getting worried there for a moment, sir.” Girly said cheerfully as they got near. “For their sake, I assume.” Corbec joked. “Oh, naturally.” Girly replied, taking the unconscious man that Corbec had slung over his shoulders. “Who is this?” Girly asked. “The sniper. Be careful with him though, JS made him fall off a tree.” Girly looked at JS, who was handing his own sleeping burden off to a volunteer. “It’s a long story. A true one, though.” JS said sagely. “And who’s he? Why is his hand flopping around like that?” Girly said. This time JS answered. “That’s the sniper’s friend. Be careful with him though, Corbec shattered his wrist and bashed his skull with an AK.” Girly looked at Corbec now. He just nodded. “I take my eyes off you for ten minutes and this is what I get, crippled terrorists for presents? You’re just too kind.” She said with a false sweetness in her voice. “Now I don’t want any misbehaving or going out after dark like this again, you two.” “Yes, mum.” Corbec murmured back, like a scalded child, making JS chuckle. “Ooh, you got burned big time.” JS sneered. “That’s enough of that.” Girly said and playfully hit JS on the back of his head. Corbec put an arm between Girly and JS. “Come now children, lets just get these people tied up so we can get some rest, already. Besides Girly, don’t beat up JS, you know full well he’s as harmless as a kitten.” Corbec quipped. JS laughed, but inside felt no humour. Next time. He thought. Next time and I’ll finish you off once and for all. But he had other worries. Corbec’s intention was to interrogate these two Snap 017 opened his eyes and registered an amazing pain in his leg and just about everywhere else. He was wet, and tied up while standing-by some sort of cable-to a tree. His hair was dripping with water and with horror he realised that his left arm was at a disturbingly wrong angle. He quickly looked away. It was then that he saw Squirrel Dude, similarly tied up like him to a tree. His head was lolled forward and eyes closed. Snap tried to worm and wriggle out of his restraints, but to no avail. He was surrounded by jungle forest, and had absolutely no idea where he was. There was a hill just ahead, but no other visible landmarks. The last thing he remembered was turning to jump from his perch and escape Corbec and his newly-arrived friend. He fell for a moment, then something stabbed into his thigh, followed by a painful fall to Mother Earth. The rest was completely blank until now. “Hello there!” A voice called out from somewhere. Snap looked around in amazement, he knew that voice! It was- “I said hello there!” Corbec repeated, appearing at the top of the hill. He started to walk down toward him. “Clearly everyone on this blasted island lost all of their manners some time ago.” Corbec said, loud enough for Snap to hear despite the distance. “See, back in the civilised world when someone greets you, it’s customary to return the favour.” Snap didn’t say anything. Corbec yawned and stretched once he got close. “Sleep well?” Snap stayed quiet. “I see your friend’s still snoozing.” Corbec strode over to Squirrel Dude and slapped him a couple of times. When that didn’t work, he kicked him in the crotch. And that most certainly roused him from his slumber. Corbec was clad in mud stained combat fatigues, well-worn boots and a red bandana was roughly tied around his forehead, keeping his short-cut fringe upright. He had an old, badly battered pair of sunglasses on, though he took them off and tucked them into a pocket. He had a pistol in a leather holster, both freshly liberated from the ammunition drop. “Well, now I have your full attention, would you like to raise any questions before I begin?” Squirrel Dude was gritting his teeth in pain, so could manage nothing more than the occasional curse. Snap asked instead. “What are you even doing here?” “Me? Well, I’m here to avenge the untold thousands that you maliciously slaughtered in cold blood, of course. All on live TV” “So, the biggest PR stunt ever made?” Corbec laughed. “Ah, dear. We could do with cynical bastards like you, you know?” “Oh, I know. But should you be saying that on live television?” “Well, right now, all cameras are facing away from us. It’s seen as politically unsound for the population to see their leader interrogating peasants like you. You know how things are with politics and all that, I’m sure.” “But it’s OK to oppress them and destroy any resistance to the regime?!” Snap asked, stunned at the attitude this man was taking. How could the killer of hundreds of millions be so genial? This wasn’t right. Corbec, the callous leader of an inhumane government with apparently no regard for the sanctity of human life, had always been in Snap’s view as a monster. As something not human at all. Yet here he was, tall, blonde, blue-eyed and smiling. This was never right. Surely this was some other person? “Well, before you get into a diatribe about the brilliance of freedom and democracy, lets move on to the important part of all this. You’re going to tell me what I want to know.” “You should be reminded that both I and Squirrel Dude have put up with the torture you call Death Games, you ugly sonofa-blam!-. We killed our own friends for your entertainment, and we’re committed to the cause of wiping you and your tyranny out.” Snap hissed. “Just how committed are you?” Corbec asked without looking at Snap. “We’d die for the cause.” “So be it.” Corbec whipped out the pistol from his holster and fired once into Snap’s head, then twice into his chest, in the region around his heart. The preferred method of execution for any professional, be it an MI6 agent or a private operator. Snap slumped like a puppet without any strings to hold it up, the only things stopping him from collapsing being the cable tied around him. Squirrel Dude was transfixed with shock. “Sorry, about that and all, he was just really pissing me off, that’s all.” Corbec said nonchalantly.