The Darkening

 
 
The Darkening
 
So, I got stationed in New Hampshire, what a shit duty, Seabrook talk about a pit. That’s a soldier’s life though, no freedom while fighting for freedom, right? There were four names on our docket that night, all we were supposed to do is find them, detain them, and attempt to make them an asset for the good ol’ IERA. For some reason these things never go according to plan.
 
Apparently, Seabrook is a hotbed for mutant activity. Something went down in Hampton this one time, but strangely the information never became wide spread. I know a couple of units were deployed there, they came back but not one of them could really describe what went down. I’m sure what happened is above my pay grade, but regardless when I’ve talked to buddies that were on that mission – it’s like they have no memory of it. They remember driving down there in the Strykers, they said one got waylaid by glass or shrapnel on the streets, but the lead truck got to the front and then nothing. Again, the brass has some pretty creative ways of keeping things hush, hush.
 
Marty and I got squaded up with Randall, talk about a gung ho MF’er. This guy thinks he’s going to move the country back to days before Waco – not goin’ happen. The word is out – we may be the baddies. We were looking for private citizens, but if you read the briefings these citizens may be powered up. I don’t think it would have made a difference to raging Randall if the individual was powered up or just dressed funny that guy is just looking to lay the hurt on people. Sicko.
 
The best part about Seabrook is that it’s close to the ocean, I think I saw a decrepit sign for a dog race track as we zoomed by towards our drop site. Other than that, the town, if you could call it that, it looked like an industrial park dipped in acid. Randall takes point, of course, but it’s not like Marty and I were going to stop him. He heads into this building and immediately he’s yelling.
 
“CEASE AND DESIST!”
 
“ARE YOU WILLING TO BE AN IERA ASSET?!” Then blam – shots fired. Marty and I look at each other and roll our eyes.
 
“I backed him up last time, you’re up.” Marty says giving me that bullshit grin of his. I sigh because I know he’s right.
 
As I head into the building I see a sizzling blast of flames burst through the room and Randall soiling his uniform. The target’s name was Rebecca and she looked like she had seen better days – and with Randall’s bang up bed side manner there was no talking this woman down. She was fired up and frankly Randall was lucky he wasn’t as well.
 
I set my blaster to darken and I took my shot. I’m no “hoo-rah” trooper but I am a crack shot and the lights went out for little miss Firestarter. We call for the transport vehicle and that’s when the alert went out.
 
“86 THE DARKENINGS – I REPEAT NO MORE DARKENINGS. TROOPS REPORT BACK TO YOUR STATIONS!” I mean we had just got there, but that’s the life of a soldier: “Hurry up and wait.”