Chapter 2

Three days later...

They came like lightning. The wind blew, the stalks swayed. In a flash, they had him and his squad surrounded. They were fast, agile and fearless despite the fact that they lacked the superior weaponry that soldiers like them possessed. He saw them with faces covered with a shemagh, advanced with a kriss raised in a threatening manner.

He had to move, he had to act. One of his subordinates fell to the ground with a missing head. His instincts kicked in as he drew his handgun and fired at the killer of his young companion. But his own assailant was just a few steps in front of him.

No time to act think, had to act. He was too close for him to raise his rifle. So he did what he could. The butt of his pistol assailed the air in a vertical swing directed at his attacker's skull. A right straight punch to the bridge of the rebel's nose sent the armed man to the grassy field. The sun was setting, the memory was very clear even if it had happened four years ago.

The man's sword slid a few inches away. He could see fear in his eyes--does he also see the same fear from his victims' eyes as well? In a well practiced manner, he pressed his right free hand at the mouth of the rebel so that no sound would come out. He was young, he realized. But duty comes first.

Duty comes first.

He pressed the barrel of his weapon against the forehead of the struggling assailant. And without a second thought, he pulled the trigger.

He pulled the trigger.

A loud bang.

---

A loud buzz from his alarm clock woke him up with a scream. His combat instincts kicked in as he drew the pistol from underneath his bed and aimed at the direction of the clock, whose small hands were pointed at 4 o'clock--0400 HRS. His breathing was labored and his heartbeat was very quick. He slowly reclined; the moonlight from the window shone through the curtains.

He buried his eyes with the heels of his palm and swallowed. He needed a goddamned drink, he thought. He quietly placed his feet to the ground and paced towards the refrigerator and pulled out a half-filled Jack Daniel's. Normally, liquor like these are banned in a military installation, but since Outpost Detachment Bravo does not exist in numerous official documents and the fact that the Brass did not want to lose them through pyschological trauma, they allowed it secretly, behind the backs of the low ranking soldiers of the 666th Infantry Battalion, or simply known as "Tagapuksa", to avoid encouraging misconduct.

He retrieved a shot glass from the cupboard and quietly poured himself one. The liquid swirled in his throat before draining down his esophagus. His thirst wasn't satiated, so he poured himself another one.

And another one, until he realized that he will be on duty for the next few hours. The Brass may have allowed it, but they won't tolerate half assed actions influenced by alcohol.

He was about to go back to sleep as his world spin in his head when a loud knock could be heard from the door.

"Lukas?" A female voice called. "Are you in there?"

Lukas approached the door and wildly opened it. From the doorway, a uniformed woman stood. He knew her personally since they came from the same unit before, the 5th Infantry Division, and both of them had been veterans of the Moro rebellion conflict that had intensified mid-2000's. He glared at her, but the woman simply wore a warm concerned smile.

"Sergeant, didn't I told you to address me as 'sir'?" He asked. "What do you want?"

"The Major called for a briefing." She said. "Outpost Detachment Oscar was alerted by something."

"What triggered it?"

"Beats me."

"Give me time to dress." He was about to turn when the good Sergeant noticed the bottle of wine on the table.

"You're drinking again?"

"None of your business, Alice." Lukas did not bother to close the door as he undressed his sleep attire and began wearing his uniform. He went on with his business while she watched.

"Are you still having those nightmares?" She pressed on, trying to spark a conversation with him.

"Alice," his voice was rather loud.

"You can tell me," she said cheerfully. "I am still haunted by it occasionally."

She sounded hypocritical to his ears. It made him hate her for what she just said. Of all the surviving combatants of those bloody days, he was the most affected. All of them are, and this woman just shrugged it off as if the whole thing was normal. He wasn't sure if she had gone insane but whenever the psychs evaluated her, she always came out as 'normal'.

"I can manage." Lukas replied firmly as he tied his boot's laces. He did the same with the other before standing up and joining her in the corridor.

Both soldiers were quiet as they traversed the grey corridor, passing by fellow troopers who were also called to the briefing. They made turns around corners; their footsteps are hasteful and with purpose. They finally arrived at a wooden double doors that led to the briefing room.

They all entered.

"Greetings, 2nd Lieutenant Lukas Apostol." Major Tomas Veras greeted, standing behind a table and facing the other soldiers who have arrived earlier were now sat opposite him. "And others. Please take a seat."

They did what they were told. Sergeant Alice tailed and sat beside him to his irritation, but he understood. Maybe, the woman had formed some sort of dependency on him. It was impossible that she wasn't affected in some way because all of them were traumatized one way or another.

But, duty comes first.

As the last soldier sat down, the lights in the room dimmed. The projector in front of the Major activated. He stepped away from the light. On the screen, a document in black and white was projected. Although it was rumored that the digital and physical documents used within the walls of 666IB outposts were colored for aesthetical reasons, it was confirmed by pathologists from a secretive third party organization that the colors has adverse effect in the eyes of the monsters that prevented them from discerning anything written on it.

While it was highly impossible for any monsters to actually eavesdrop, as none had shown tactical capabilities of doing so, the precautionary measure was enacted because of the possibility of a leakage.

Lukas squinted his eyes at the projection before them. The contrast was too bright to be read and the fact that he was under alcohol influence did not help. He casted the Major a glance and decided to rely on his explanation instead since the letters are dancing in his eyes.

"Outpost Detachment Oscar was alerted three days ago by a notification from NBI's Midnight Incidents Unit of a massacre in Davao. Elements from Oscar Detachment were sent, alongside the forensics team attached by MIU and secured the area. While tests were currently being run to uncover what truly happened there, the calls made to the nearest police in the time of the massacre were logged for evidence keeping, most of which described a large number of monsters running around." He paused for effect and heaved a tired sigh.

"Which concerned us." He continued. "Because after the incident, paranormal activity heightened in the last two days, which brought us to the Ararat River hauntings." He faced the projection. "For days, disappearances of travellers were reported to the police by the missing's relatives when they happened to pass by this river at midnight. It was reported that the articles of the persons floated on the surface, but the corpses of those who drown in it were missing. Most of the victims are male but female victims are not rare either."

He made an effort to change the projection, revealing a colorful thermographic image of the river itself. Lukas cringed at the sight because it hurts his eyeballs. However, if one would squint enough, he could make out a humanoid shape in blue--the lack of heat already told everything he needed to know.

"We have a Type-1 Non-Spectral Entity, a malevolent one. It was confirmed that the Hostile Paranormal Entity is not a Ghost or a Spectre of any previous living persons. It was a Black Entity." He grinned. "Your objective was easy. Each of you will carry a handheld Anti-Thaumaturgic Shield device that you are to plant in the bottom of the river itself. The effect of a single device would be enough to deter the Black Entity from manifesting again. As usual, Cutoff Teams will be deployed fifteen kilometers away from the target area to eliminate or detain escapees. Also, do not expect to find the bodies in the water, in case you tried to do something funny." The lights activated. "Any questions?"

There were none.

"Dismissed." The Major said as he deactivated the projection.