The convoy rolled out. A long metal serpent of open rooftop jeeps, turret-mounted vehicles, as well as Armoured vans and lorries. The sky was painted in an orange-blue hue of dawn, with only the occasional cloud dotted across it. Operation Verdant Void was in full swing.
Kaoru and I were in the back of a jeep, bumping up and down along the country roads, passing farmhouse after farmhouse. Opposite us were two agents from other squads; Aiko and Nozomi were a couple of vehicles back.
"Hey Himiko, when we finish this op, I wanna hear you sing again."
That was Connie. Beside him was Miko. They were from a different squad, but in this op, we were working in larger groups for the expedition.
When he said that, I felt hollow in my chest.
"Oh god. I wish I hadn't done that."
I placed my hand over my eyes in an attempt to escape.
Miko spoke up beside Connie.
"At least singing was all you did."
I do wonder how Aiko feels right now. She looked rough yesterday when we were going over the operation; the whole day, she couldn't take her face off her hands—it almost became a permanent part of her outfit. I can't blame her; my stomach was in knots, too.
"Yep, I'm sure she's starting to regret it too."
We all laughed, but Connie stopped, quickly turning to Kaoru, who had also been laughing.
He pointed at Kaoru.
"Don't think you're getting away scot free, we all have videos of the duo of despair."
"Oh, really? Send me the videos, I need to put that on my portfolio."
Little did they know, alcohol or not, Kaoru was still going to put them through his singing. Nozomi, on the other hand, that was impossibly uncharacteristic of him.
Our laughter faded. I turned back to Connie and Miko.
"While we're here, we may as well get to know each other a bit. What brought you to the special operations division?"
The two looked at each other, memories seeping out of the smiles they exchanged.
"I'm Connie, this is Miko. We've been buddies since elementary school."
"I was born in Neppon like you guys, came here when I was eight. It was scary—like being in a whole new world. Connie was the first one to befriend me. Then we joined the army together-"
"Miko got promoted to the special forces for her stealth efficiency. Honestly, she's like a ghost. Then she got scouted by MEI for their special forces department-"
"So, I told them, I'll join if my friend Connie can as well."
They were finishing each other's sentences, flowing from one to the other.
Kaoru asked,
"You got scouted?"
I turned to him,
"I got scouted, too, Kaoru."
He turned back to me in surprise.
"What?"
"I think it was because I saw the aethesium entity."
"You saw what?!"
The two called in sync. They stared at me, mouths gaping.
"What did it look like?"
I closed my eyes. The exact picture of the figure that appeared that day was projected onto my mind.
"It was like looking at a purple ocean—in the shape of a person. He looked back at me with glowing purple irises."
"Purple?"
Kaoru looked confused.
"It's red, isn't it?"
I looked Kaoru in the eyes.
"You're talking about the one in the hall, right? I totally forgot; that confused me at the time."
Connie and Miko looked between us. We'd switched to Nepponese; Connie looked completely lost. Miko, however, looked attentively.
Kaoru looked even more confused.
"Are you saying there's more than one?"
He asked.
"I'm not sure, but the entity at the school was definitely different to the one in Neppon. I know—it's burnt into my mind."
Kaoru looked down at the floor, eyebrows low.
"Jesus."
It came from the front of the jeep.
"You guys take a look ahead."
Kaoru raised himself first.
"Whoa."
"What is it?"
I asked from below.
"I don't know."
He provided little help, so I decided to take a look for myself, pushing his head out of the way.
In the distance, it looked like a cityscape—skyscrapers cut through the sky. However, the towers we saw weren't made of concrete and glass, but wood bark and leaves, although from here, they looked colourless—white.
"Are those trees?"
A keen observation from Connie.
They explained the situation to us, but it didn't truly register; it still doesn't feel real looking at it now.
A voice crackled through the car radio; it was Mrs Isamu.
"Perimeter teams, fan out. Expedition teams, A, B, C, and D, head to your positions."
Just as planned yesterday. Now that we were closing in on the vicinity, many vehicles split from the convoy; some took a right turn, and then we and a few others took a right turn later, the rest continuing on the path ahead. The idea is to cover as much of the perimeter as possible, setting up forward operating bases. We stayed on roads to maintain a good speed—the off-road ground would be a pain, not to mention the fact that the area around us is mostly private farmland.
Each small convoy had a handful of jeeps, vans, lorries and turreted vehicles. Every expedition team needed to be prepared.
Chassis bouncing on the uneven fields, we closed in on the wall of tall grass and chaotic vines.
Wheels stopped, and the hums of engines faded. We maintained a safe distance from the perimeter, staying wary of the effects.
"Aiko! Nozomi! Over here."
Kaoru called out in the distance, where Aiko and Nozomi could be seen. Nozomi waved and called back. Aiko stretched her hand across the front of her torso, grasping her other bicep with it, looking down at her foot, which was drawing small circles in the ground.
"What's up with Aiko?"
Kaoru asked in my ear.
"I don't know."
Ghost-Line SIX reconvened as the FOB was being assembled.
"What's in the truck?"
Connie asked, pointing at the white, armoured lorry.
Kaoru wrapped his arm around Connie's shoulder.
"That, my friend, is humanity's greatest weapon. You'll see it soon enough."
We set up tents and organised walls of sandbags. By the time we were finished, the sun was beginning to set.
"Expedition team A reporting; FOB complete."
The officer reported back to base, to Mrs Isamu, who was overseeing the operation back at base. Every so often, we would hear the same reports on the radio, mostly from the perimeter teams who set up small outposts. We were the first expedition team to complete our FOB.
"Efficient work, everyone."
The officer was an older man, hair silver like the mutated shrubbery. He carried the air of a kind uncle—constant smiles and a gentle voice.
"We'll turn in for the night and start our expedition first thing tomorrow. Get some rest, you'll need it."
We sat around a small fire, making the most of the warmth while we had the chance.
"Aiko wanna sing a song for us?"
Kaoru asked, taking a bite out of his stew—probably the last proper meal before the operation.
"Shut up."
We enjoyed our last bit of rest.
The following morning, we prepared.
We suited up in white PPE. Hazmat suits, covered in light Kevlar armour.
"Aiko, gas mask."
The officer waved his finger. Aiko wanted to resist but knew it was futile.
"Is it time, boss?"
Kaoru asked the officer, voice giddy, knees bouncing as he barely struggled to hold back his excitement.
"Open up the truck!"
Kaoru ran to the lorry, stretching out his arms like a showman.
"Feast your eyes upon humanity's greatest weapon."
He declared in a deep voice. The shutter door raised. The low sound of humming reverberated inside the trailer.
"My finest invention yet. The weapon that will bring fear to evil-doers and invaders alike. BB... awaken!"
BB slithered through the air, curling its tail as it glided its way out of the trailer.
"Oh great, your creepy snake-terminator. Can't wait to see how this comes back to bite us."
Arms crossed, Aiko said in a sarcastic tone, tilting her head slightly.
"Just you wait until you see it in action."
Kaoru responded, gently punching her arm.
"Attention, everyone. Now that everything is in order, the expedition will begin. Blossom will be leading the ground team. Now, everyone, Mount the Gurkhas."
The Gurkha was an armoured van; it housed a turret on the top, which was being utilised by an enthusiastic engineer. Two vans, as well as a swarm of drones, were allocated to each of the four expedition teams to support their advance. We have extra support—BB—thanks to our very own Kaoru. Each expedition team is composed of four squads, each with four members—like Ghost-Line SIX—Connie and Miko are members of one of the squads supporting us. MEI were taking precautions this time; we can't allow every operation to be a blood bath.
Ready to take on the operation, we mounted the Gurkhas. It advanced, stopping right outside the perimeter. Kaoru tapped a few buttons on his tablet. The swarm swooped in, clearing a path for our team to advance.
Through analysis of images taken by satellites, the Void seems to be structured as follows. Around the outer perimeter, there was a thick layer of vines, acting as the void's protective wall—stopping the unprepared from invading it. Past the wall were fields of overgrown grass and shrubbery. This area seems to be the simplest to advance through.
The final zone is a jungle of mountainous trees, the ones that we could see on the way here. There's not a lot of information we could gain from it; we don't know what lies in the shadows of the foliage—what horrors await.
Our goal in the expedition is to advance through each section, making our way to the core, figuring out what is causing the phenomenon, and hopefully securing it for analysis.
As the drones finished wading through the vines, we officially made our way through the void's first barrier. What lay ahead of us was unknown territory. We will be the first to witness things beyond human comprehension—possibly worse than what we saw at the school. This was an ecosystem, fuelled by aethesium.
We stepped forward, organising in our advancing formation: Ghost-Line SIX as the vanguard, two squads—including Connie and Miko's squad—on either side of the two Gurkhas, watching our flanks, and one squad at the back, watching our six.
We slowly marched through. In the distance, we heard shrieks unlike anything that inhabited the earth before. We kept quiet, minimising chatter as we kept our guard up, scanning all angles constantly.
"EEEEK!"
We snapped our attention to Aiko's scream.
She was panting heavily, pointing at our first discovery.
It was a small family of beetles—who themselves were far from small—they were the size of a small dog, like a Cocker Spaniel. Coated in a thick exoskeleton that had become translucent, putting their internal compartments on full display. They crawled past us—harmlessly. Their long, thin legs made a high-pitched tapping sound that sent a tingle up my spine. I imagine the creatures only get worse from here.
And I wasn't wrong.
"Oh my god..."
We were a few meters away from where we found the beetles. We'd heard its feeble wails of pain a while back, but only now put the sound to a face.
It was reminiscent of a deer, same anatomy, same antlers. But the area below its torso had transmutated into something far more horrifying.
Its body was merging into the ground.
It was the body of a deer, still alive, fused into a disgusting mush of meat and soil that made eerie sounds reminiscent of lip smacking and slurping. Its eyes were hollow and tired, and its fur was fading in colour into a cold grey. I wonder how long it's been stuck here, in pain.
"What the hell is— Bleurgh"
Kaoru fell to his knees, releasing the contents of his stomach.
Dammit, what the hell. What are we getting ourselves into? Whatever's in this core better be worth it.
We all stared in horror. I placed my hand on my mouth. My eyes were beginning to burn from staring at the mess.
"We can't just leave it like that? Can we?"
One of the MEI agents asked.
"There's nothing we can do."
Nozomi replied, eyes glued shut, index finger and thumb planted on the bone of his nose.
I stepped forward, slowly on shaky knees. I placed a gun to its head and fired, freeing it from its torture. Its wails stopped, but the grotesque suckling from the mass of meat continued. It must be the new circle of life.
Nozomi patted my back.
"You okay?"
Nozomi asked, in a soft gentle voice.
"Yeah."
My voice was hollow.
I took photos of it and reported it back to base.
We stood in silence for a moment, in a small clearing, surrounded by colourless trees. Aiko fell to her knees.
"Aiko?"
I asked squatting down to meet her eyes.
They were hollow.
Her breathing was fast and shallow.
I grabbed her arms.
"Aiko? talk to me."
She began to scream.
We swarmed her, trying to calm her down, but her eyes weren't with us. They darted everywhere. Her arms trembled as she placed her palms on her ears. Something was off about Aiko's body language since we arrived. She was far more nervous than the rest of us. In the first operation, she was lively and ready to go.
Nozomi pushed us all, rubbed her back and started whispering gently in her ear.
"She hasn't been the same since the last operation."
He said, without averting his eyes.
"One of those giant rats from the school almost ate her, and since then..."
He bit his lip. It was like he didn't want to tell us. They've clearly gotten closer than I'd thought.
"She's got PTSD. Dammit, I told her... I told her she shouldn't have joined the operation. But she refused. Saying she couldn't sit by idly while we all risked our lives."
"Fuck."
I whispered under my breath.
Rustle
We jumped, scanning the area around us. We heard the sound of slow footsteps and the occasional low grunt.
"There's something around us."
Kaoru observed.
"Nozomi, get Aiko in one of the Gurkhas and stay with her."
He nodded and gently led her into the van; her legs trembled along the way.
The grunts got louder and louder.
We formed a circle around the Gurkhas, grips firm around our weapons, muzzles tracing lines around the woodland's perimeter.
We heard a loud squeal.
Large boars burst from the undergrowth, three of them. Each the size of a small car, spine armoured with protruding spiked bones—tips clacking against each other as they strode. Their eyes burned in a bright blue glow. They scraped their long, curved tusks along the tree bark as they approached—slow, analysing us with their eyes. They snorted—sharp and wet—blowing hot smoke, slightly tinted in blue.
We opened fire.