Crimson Veins (Discontinued)

Chapter Eight Homeward Bound

Steven's POV:

I couldn't believe it. How could this city not see any of this? The barricades, the multiple soldiers who march up and down the streets. How did nobody question any of this? Those infected humans, but that creature.. will that happen to me? I can still hear their screams and groans.

What did Mercer do to this city? Just thinking about it made my head split in two. My thoughts were interrupted with incoming footsteps. I stand up, dawning my hood as they approach. Black Watch soldiers aim their rifles at my head.

"Steven! We have you surrounded, nowhere to go, nowhere for you to run," one of them says as I watch his finger slide to the trigger.

I just let out a sigh. Why so much blood shed? My gem glows with a radiating red light as my hands shift into razor claws. Before any of them could react, I dashed forward, slicing the two in half as blood spattered the ground. The last one dropped his gun and went to make a run for it.

"I'm sorry," is all I say before I spring forward, grabbing him by the back of his neck. He wriggled and squirmed in my grip to no avail. My hands. Squeezed around his neck before I heard a snap like a twig off a branch, he went limp in my arms as I dropped him to the ground.

My eyes glance down at the ground around me. Was I really this much of a blood thirsty killer? Just like the worst migraine on the planet, I fell to the ground, holding my head tightly with my hands. A very clear memory went through my head at that moment.

"We are the crystal gems, we'll always save the day. And if you think we can't. We'll always find a way. That's why the people of this world believe in Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, and Steven!"  A little boy sang, strumming his ukulele in front of the gems Mercer listed. They smiled, clapping their hands at his performance.

Just like that, the memory faded. Were they my family? I had to find out the truth. My eyes glanced down at one of the soldiers. His radio wasn't destroyed. I grabbed it and attached it to my jacket before taking off, running up the side of a building, making my way to the top.

"Bradford, do you copy?" My radio buzzed as my body reacted, taking on the appearance of the soldier. "Yeah, I copy," I responded.

"Good, we're about to send you out to Beach City for the operation. Get your ass down here."

"Yes, sir, I'm on my way." With that information I took off, jumping between buildings, careful not to be seen. I eventually reached the base after an hour of running. Before I got there fully, I landed on the ground.

To not make myself look obvious because I'm sure after my encounter in Gentek security is probably way tighter this time around. And boy, was I right, drones everywhere, infection detectors. This was gonna be tricky. I walked calmly with a rifle in hand as soldiers were lined up at the checkpoint.

Suddenly, I noticed the infection alarms and drones going off like a hay wire. The barricades lining the building suddenly crumbled open as a familiar creature burst out of the wall, taking a soldiers head off with one bite. Now was my chance, I quickly ran through the groups, firing a few shots of my rifle at the creature to make myself seem to be on their side.

One of them waved me over, "forget about that. GET MOVING! MERCERS ORDERS!" I firmly nodded my head and made my way to the chopper stationed to take off. Three others were waiting for me there.

Rage that I had to conceal within myself when I saw who was there. The three guys who kidnapped me and slaughtered that family. I had to keep my composure the best I could.

"Brad Ford, welcome to the team," Mark says, patting my shoulder to have me sit down, which I do.

"Why the hell do we have to go back there?" Blake rubbed his fingers between his temples. "We captured Steven, wasn't that it?"

Adam sits up and slaps him in the back of the head as the helicopter takes off into the air. "Yeah, and now he's on the loose with no where abouts. He attacked Gentek and killed multiple soldiers."

"How is that even possible? He was just a seventeen year old kid when we captured him," Blake argued, glancing at all of them then to me.

"Black light," I responded, "Mercer developed that virus. You know the barricades around us, and what just happened back there?" I pointed back at the base that was growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

"What's your point?" Mark rolls his eyes. "Mercer is a lunatic scientist that's a given fact, but what are you getting at Bradford?"

"My point I've seen the other side, innocent civilians being slaughtered by those things. Mercers failed experiments, even the more mutated subjects. I was lucky to even get out of there alive."

Blakes eyes widen at all of this information as he sat up, watching me. " You mean he didn't get the civilians out of there before... well he did have us execute those civilians to capture Steven." His hands shook as his breathing became heavy. " I still see their corpses in my mind, their little girl lifeless in that car..."

"Snap out of it, Blake. we had our orders, and you knew that. Remember, he will make you the next experiment," Mark patted his shoulder.

"I didn't sign up for this shit..."

As much as I saw there was good in him, as soon as we got to Beach City, they were dead, plain and simple. For now, I sat back watching them bicker as I looked outside the helicopter, watching New York shrink farther and farther away.

I know it's been a long time since I've posted pretty much anything. The next chapter will take us back to the gems one last time before they're finally reunited. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all in the next chapter, laters.  :)