A Lost Friend

May 20, 2008

Xenet 71.43.1 System Msg

TTY31201.05.20

Network Connection Enabled
_____________________________

I’ll never forget his screams… You know, I’ve seen a lot since the past two years, but nothing has horrified me quite so much as seeing my best friend being ripped apart and made into a machine. It was like any other day, me and Mike were being relocated to some place in the Foreas Wilderness called Purgas Station or something like that. When we heard the orders we just smiled at each other and entered the drop ship wondering how many bane we’d be able to kill on our new mission. It’s too bad Mikey is never coming back.

We dropped as usual, got orders, and we hiked our way to the front lines. When we got there we noticed how many rookies there were, hell, we couldn’t stop laughing at this one idiot who didn’t even know what AFS stood for. Well, after about a week of waiting, me and Mike were finally chosen to lead a squad into the station. Unfortunately for us, we lost almost every member by the time we even reached the entrance. Mike blasted his way in like he always does, but we found that the whole place was damn near deserted.

Now, our orders were to destroy the main processing plant, but we didn’t have a clue what we were looking for. We trekked through the bane structure and we eventually found our way to a fork in the road. We parted ways, hoping to find the plant easier… I’ll always regret that decision. About ten minutes into it I heard some noise on my walkie-talkie and I immediately picked it up. “Mike, is that you?” I said. The was no answer. “Mike MIKE!” this time I yelled. But there was still no answer.

I don’t think I’ve ever ran as fast as I did that day. I sprinted back to the fork in the road where Mikey left me, and I continued down his path. Almost instantly I heard screams coming from a familiar voice, and I followed them. I kept following them until I came to a room with one of those linkers with what looked like the bane version of a scalpel and hammer. I pulled out my shotgun and I blew that bane to hell. I looked down at the table, and I saw what looked like Mike half opened, with metal and circuits in him. He looked up at me, not even able to speak, and he nodded his head. I knew what I had to do. I pulled out my pistol and aimed. I couldn’t control the tears coming out. I pulled that trigger and I killed my best friend that day.

Tabula Rasa, clean slate...

— JC Severini