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Location: Wastelands, Epitaph.

Time: 01:00am.

Year: 2092, March 1st.

I was hardly breathing, leaning up against the maintenance door. The screeching and growling continued, but I couldn't see a thing. Even when I stared through the walls, nothing was there; just noise and echoes.

"Commander, we're not alone." I whispered into my helmet. "Sounds like Demons, but I can't see anything."

"Same here, boss." I heard Cam whisper. "Just noise; no visuals."

"Just get back to work." Fisher growled back; "And rookie, keep a good eye out for anything suspicious. You have the best vision out of all of us right now, so I expect you to keep us posted."

"Will do, Commander." I sighed. I suddenly noticed that the noise had stopped. I wondered when it stopped, and why.

I lowered my gun and took another corridor to reach a support beam. I was trembling slightly, and trying to tell myself to get a grip. I was walking faster and faster down each corridor, starting to hear the mixture of noises again. I raised my gun again, and approached another exit, leading to another warehouse. I was just about to walk into the opening when someone gripped me by the left shoulder and dragged me back. I saw Cam pressed up against the wall, holding his rifle in one hand, and gripping my arm in the other.

"Stay quiet." He whispered, pointing up to the ceiling. "Look up there."

I did as I was told. I saw two orange lights that looked like eyes. From what I could tell, they were looking towards the door I came from; but not directly at us. It must have been a new breed of Demon; Chameleon, maybe. I felt Cam release my arm and tap me on the shoulder, now pointing at a large paint canister on the floor.

"I'll make it visible, so long as you're able to nail the bastard." He whispered. I nodded slowly, bringing my gun up to face the Demon.

Cam stepped away from me, giving us room to make the shots. Cam released a shot that completely shattered the canister, sending paint around the room, covering the Demon in red and making it visible. I pulled my trigger twice, sending one steel spike into the Demon's chest, cracking its ribcage. The second had implanted itself in the Demon's neck, causing it to fall onto the floor and twitch slightly. Cam finally put it down with one more shot. I walked over to the corpse to pull my spikes out.

"Any idea what that was?" I asked, pulling both spikes out. "It looked like some kind of Chameleon."

"I was thinking that, too." Cam replied. "The Commander and Lance have cut themselves off after planting the first charge to stay as quiet as possible. We'll need to keep moving; and I've already planted another charge, so there's only two more to go."

"Then we'd best get to work." I muttered; "Before more of those things arrive. Take the lead."

Luckily, the warehouse we were in was also one of the target sites, and it took no time to find the right support beam. It looked more like a thick metal pillar, meaning it must have been essential for holding up the whole building. Cam took off his bag and pulled out a large tile of Militia explosives, which were basically plastic explosives with a remote charge attached to it. He slapped the explosives onto the beam and stood up.

"Now we're down to one." He sighed. "We should find the next site and see if the last charge is there or not."

"Commander Fisher here." I heard someone growl over my helmet. "The last charge is planted; let's get the pilot on the phone and get him to pick us up."

"Sure thing, Boss." Cam replied. "But don't you think it was a little...easy?"

"Hmph; Complaining, Cam." I heard Lance ask, hearing him laugh deeply to himself.

"Not as much as you, Lance." Cam retorted, walking on to the exit.

Cam had noticed something. He muttered to himself: "I don't remember closing that."

When he went forwards to lift up the warehouse door again, a high pitched siren wailed overhead. The doors had completely locked up, and we were trapped.

"Shit!" Cam shouted. "Commander, can you get out at all?"

"We're stuck too." Fisher replied. "Does anyone have any explosives left to use?"

"No, sir." Cam said, slamming his fist against the door. "We used them all on the support beams. We could try and get roof access, but I'm not sure that it would be a safe place for the jet to land."

"It's our best bet." Fisher said. "I spotted a helipad from overhead; we'll get up there and call for an evac."

"Yes, sir." Cam said sharply. "We'll-."

Cam stopped talking. Everyone had. We heard a loud hum of machines all around us. The lights had returned to the regular bright yellow, revealing dozens of small cameras around the room, as well as a large projector with speakers. The projector flashed on, causing an image to flicker onto a nearby wall.

The image looked like a Black scaled Dragon. The image was too blurred to notice any other features; but I could still tell that something bad was about to happen. The speakers began to crackle and buzz until finally I heard someone speak.

"No meaning in conflict; but meaning in destruction." The recording played. I could tell it was the Dragon's voice. "Welcome, all Gods and mortal men."

"What the hell is this?" Cam muttered. "Commander, are you hearing this too?"

"Yeah." Fisher whispered back; "it sounds like it's coming from all over the complex."

"Even faced with terror, you would end up standing still." The recording continued. "You're confusion is natural. I am Epitaph; Inscription of death, and all words."

"Is this thing listening to us?" I asked. It sounded like it was replying to our confusion as to what it was.

"I HAVE CREATED GODS!!! NO BODY LISTENED!!!" The recording shouted, and suddenly changed back to a quieter voice. "Correct. I am capable of listening and answering you questions."

I thought for a minute. We all stayed silent until the Commander finally spoke up.

"What is Epitaph?" He asked. "Are you a person, or some kind of computer?"

"My Gods have been maimed by everything. How can this be?" The recording cried, switching back and forth between voices. "I am a man; made into machine. I AM EPITAPH!!!"

"Someone shut this thing up." Lance growled over my helmet.

"YOU CAN'T SILENCE ME. I WILL BECOME GOD!!!" The recording yelled. I raised my gun and pointed it towards the speakers.

"Don't piss off the machine, Lance." Cam joked. "I think it needs plenty of anger management as it is."

"Under...Under...Underneath..." The recording muttered in a droning voice. "Go deeper. KILL IT! Kill it, please..."

"Screw this!" The Commander barked out. "Everyone fire on the cameras, the speakers, all of it!"

We did as we were told, and opened fire on every speaker and piece of electrical equipment we saw until we couldn't hear anything anymore. There was just silence.

"Much better." Lance sighed. "Now let's get out of here."

"Agreed." The Commander replied "We should-."

We all stopped talking again. This time, it was worse. I heard a faint sound of footsteps; and more screeching and growling. I looked around, and saw dozens of pairs of faint orange eyes. I gripped my gun and loaded another five spikes into the cylinder.

"Would you like the crazy voice back now, Lance?" Cam asked, backing up against my back so we would not get taken from behind.

"This just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?" Lance retorted over the comms unit. "Well, if you can't join them, you kill them."

I heard Cam load his weapon. We were both circling around, keeping an eye on the eyes that were watching us. I looked through the next layer of walls, revealing dozens more eyes in the next room.

We would be lucky to get out alive...