Jerry sat in the lone of the tiny room, the air chilled to a freezer. A table sat across from him, and his wrists cuffed behind. Wriggling his wrists, chaffing the skin, the soldier was still on edge.
They dragged him in, kicking and screaming: “Animals!” “Monsters!”
“Terrorist!” they shouted right back.
And here he was, strapped to a chair in the belly of their beast, ready for interrogation. He hoped it were less severe than XCOM's own methods. Fucking animals, fucking monsters. And he was a hero, goddamn!
A knock at the door behind him. Heavy and fast. The swish as it opened, releasing a wave of fresh heat over the back of his neck. Then a shadow washed over him, blocking out the lone light above.
“Jeremy 'Chase' Richter,” the monster hissed out of sight, becoming a shadow itself. The words sliced through the air around his head like a blade tipped with venom: “Do you know where you are?”
Frozen in place, unwilling to look up at the thing circling his head, he spoke to the wall.
“My name,” he announced, “is Jeremy Cherry Richter.”
The voice exploded in a ragged cackle above. It's monstrous form slunk back, its presence darting around the room. Just out of the light, just out of sight.
“I went with 'Chase' to save you some face. But Cherry? Oho, that it just too good…”
The soldier remained in place, shaky eyes affixed dead ahead. Sinister energies stole over his mind; a pair of eyes were watching from the shadows, imprinting their fearsome gaze upon him.
“M-my name,” he stuttered, grasping desperately at his hero's visage, “is Jeremy Ch-Cherry Richter.”
Darting from the shadows a pair of talons slammed into the table before him, claws piercing steel like scissors through paper. Long and reptilian, scales black as the amorphous shadow they sprung from. They flexed in the table, crunching the steel like a ball of paper.
“There he goes, he does it again!” Violently clearing the table the talons shot forward. He winced, eyes slammed shut, anticipating their clammy clench around his throat. A moment passed, and nothing happened. Something breathed hot on hiPost too long. Click here to view the full text.