Chapter 4
At the airport, Darius and Kevin are introduced and they meet a couple more guys in the company. All are big and intimidating. Cassandra suddenly feels very safe. Her worries start to melt away. “I feel like I am surrounded by G.I. Joe clones,” Cassandra says trying to see who has a sense of humor among the men.
“You are ma'am,” the largest of them speaks up. She didn't expect it to be him but . . . okay.
During the flight, Kevin starts asking Darius a lot of questions about his missions, being a tad annoying. Darius tries to accommodate him without telling him too much. He would like to tell him a lot but not in front of the other men. Cassandra is laughing at him on the inside and enjoying the quiet she is getting.
Their final destination is a small commuter airport. They are met by military looking hummers. They are all taken to a small hotel where they all gather in a banquet room. There the briefing meeting takes place and each man is formally told their jobs for the mission. The owner of the company also introduces Cassandra and Kevin to the group. “They are here to show that we are assisting American military with ample experience and skills. Please be sure they survive.” He flashes a little smile to Cassandra letting her know he is just lightening the mood. “I’m kidding. I would not have approved you accompanying us if I felt I would be putting either of you in any danger. I have complete faith in my men and you should too.”
“Thank you, sir. It is a wonderful opportunity you have given us. I assure you we will not be a hindrance to your objectives either.” Cassandra replies.
That night while killing time in the rustic hotel, Cassandra asks Darius if they are in any danger, if these are actual monster mutant beings. "There is always danger to every mission so you should always be aware of your surroundings. As far as the B.L.O.O.D. team, I have never seen them show aggression towards anyone that is not their target. These guys are focused. Besides I will be right by your side the whole time, you are in safe hands"
"Oh I remember them," she smiles, "see you tomorrow morning. I'm exhausted and cannot wait to sleep in that dusty, dirty bed in my room." Cassandra wasn't exactly happy with the accommodations but it's only for one night.
The next day, Darius had planned a little training time with Cassie and Kevin. He wanted to be sure they at least knew how to load and fire a weapon just in case things went completely south. They never had before though. She and Kevin dress in the outfits Darius brought for them. The contractor doesn't want them to stand out. They have to blend with the rest of the company.
That evening in the lobby they all gather and prepare to head out. They arrive at a small campsite hidden in the jungle. She was shocked at how silently the team unloads and prepares for the night’s coming events. For this reason, she assumes the location of the rebels’ base camp must not be too far away. As night falls, she and Kevin begin to hear the screams and noises of struggles coming from just south of them, indeed they are nearby. They look at each other and know it must be the work of the B.L.O.O.D. soldiers. The radio comes alive with a deep commanding voice telling the owner “mission complete, it's your site now”. In the background are noises that should only be heard in nightmares. Cassandra is very curious about who is on the other end of that radio. Kevin has also just become aware that he is now in close proximity with the mutant soldiers. He looks wide eyed at Cassie, and throws a double thumbs up and mouths the word “YEAH” to show is excitement. He may actually see them! This reminds him to check his camera to be sure everything is ready. This is no time to forget the lens cover! or to have a dead battery!
The group jumps to action and prepares to enter the site on foot which ends being about a quarter mile hike through the jungle. Upon arrival they witness the B.LO.O.D. team being extracted. A large helicopter lands several hundred feet away. A large man stands away from the helicopter and waits for the team to load in. Kevin starts filming the group and notices what looks like blood on their faces, and zooms in to show that they do not have guns or weapons of any kind. "You won't believe the footage I am getting!" whispers Kevin.
"Wait till you see this thermal imaging." adds Darius. “So glad I bought this little toy!” Darius had to hide it from his boss and is only using it right now because all other members of his company are ahead of them. During this time Cassandra is completely enthralled by the image of the squad leader standing there waiting for his men. She has never seen a man so charismatic. Was he the voice on the radio?
At that moment the B.L.O.O.D. commander looks directly at her. Even though she can barely make out that his head seems to be faced in her direction, she just knows he is looking into her eyes and she mesmerized by him. He senses her interest in him and notices Kevin and Darius and their cameras. Immediately he becomes concerned about their intentions. He must stay with her so she can be monitored, so he creates a mental link with her. This will allow him to see and hear whatever she sees and hears whenever he chooses to. It is possible she could be useful to him later, or that she and the two men may need to be eliminated. He holds eye contact with Cassandra for a few seconds, and psychically opens a door to her mind that he may walk through freely. She almost intuitively knows that they are now connected in some way. This is both thrilling and terrifying to her, but she cannot resist him and willingly lets him in.
Cassandra is released from the trance when one of the company guys walks up quickly and says to Darius, "again, no weapons?" The company leader is quick to shut him up and tells him to focus on his job. Once all the soldiers are in the helicopter and take off, the team heads in. He warns the men of possible rebel strays and to be alert.
Kevin is filming dead bodies . . . everywhere. He has never been this close to the horrors of war but is handling it fairly well. He knows he must keep his composure in front of the company. There are no bullet holes or knife wounds, but there is so much blood. Cassandra is speechless. There are a few distant yells, then gunshots that silence them. The company leader notices Kevin and pulls him away.
"You are supposed to be telling a different kind of story here kid. Go get footage of the men loading the cargo." Kevin heads to the truck to film them. Cassandra is feeling very anxious. Darius again reassures her she is safe with him. At that moment there is a noise to her right side. With lightning speed, Darius turns and fires 3 shots into a young man who was running at them with a large machete. She is shocked by his reflexes and how easily it comes to kill another person for Darius. He is a soldier first, this she now knows for sure.
"Let's get this shit to the warehouse." says the leader. Everyone loads up into the 2 hummers and an FWD carrying the containers. Kevin continues to film the trip to the warehouse. Cassandra decides to find out what the other members of the group think of this mysterious team of soldiers, especially since the leader is in the FWD and hopefully they will speak freely. "Are all your missions this smooth?" she asks one of the men.
He replies, "Every time we follow B.L.O.O.D. they are."
"Does anyone know what B.L.O.O.D. stands for?" Cassandra asks. Every gets is shaking their heads no, and the mood becomes a little tense.
"No, we don’t and we try not to think about that. They are messy but thorough." chimes in one of the company men.
Darius adds, "Usually there are no survivors to contend with." There is awkward laughter among the men. Cassandra and Kevin share a glance to express how in over their heads they both feel.
They reach the warehouse and unload the containers. Then they return to the hotel where Cassandra interviews the company owner. She asks generic questions such as, "Is every mission pretty similar?" "Was this one considered a complete success?" "Have there been missions that fail or do not go according to plan?" "Have any of your men ever been injured or killed?" She thanks him for his time, and reassures him she has a great story and his company will be painted in a very well-trained, positive light.
Darius, Cassandra, and Kevin agree to meet in Darius' room to discuss the night and view the footage. “Can I totally bug out now? What did we just see? What agency do they work for?” Cassandra is firing questions at the other two. Questions they have already been asking themselves.
Darius, trying to keep calm says, “Let’s thoroughly go over the footage, both Kevin's film and my thermal imaging. Let's be objective and go where the evidence takes us, alright.” Cassandra can't decide if Darius is trying to keep her or himself calm. Kevin's footage is put in first. Thankfully he brought with him his personal equipment to be able to analyze the film properly. He is an amateur film editor for his friends in film school, another reason Cassandra brought him. “Watching it in real time there are enough details that do not add up, but in slow motion . . . Holy Shit!! Did you see that?” yells Kevin.
“I saw that?!” yells Cassandra.
“Try and keep it down to a dull roar please. These hotel walls are thin.” Darius reminds them they have to be discreet.
“Kevin, rewind that a little,” barks Cassandra. He does and replays it in slow motion again.
“No way that just happened. Absolutely not! That commander did not just move that quickly, humanly impossible!” Kevin continues. “He is barely visible in slow motion, that alone rules out mutant and android. Neither can bend the laws of physics like he just did!”
Cassandra and Darius look at each other; both are very worried and more than a little scared of what they just filmed. “Let me show you the thermal imaging footage, then you can really blow your cool!” warns Darius. He gives the camera to Kevin and the playback starts. As Darius pans by showing the temperature mapping of his team members and Cassandra and Kevin, everything looks perfectly normal. When the B.L.O.O.D soldiers come into frame, both Cassandra and Kevin jump up from their seats.
“They have no body heat for fuck's sake!” whispers Cassandra, trying to remember to be quiet in her panic. “What does that even mean? Are they not alive? Do they not have heart beats? If they can move that quickly AND may not be alive, what other abilities do they have? We are not safe, none of us are. He saw me; he made eye contact with me.”
Darius gets the look that he is making connections as information surfaces about the whole situation.
“What Darius? Now is not the time for secrets,” Cassandra demands he speak out loud about what he is thinking.
“Okay, I would have thought this all sounded ridiculous before but, our last mission of following behind B.L.O.O.D., their commander made eye contact with me also. It was as if I could not look away, even if I wanted to. I didn't want to though. That night I had a very vivid dream. I was in Egypt at the pyramids and a man approached me who looked exactly like the B.L.O.O.D. soldiers’ commander. He says his name is Osiris and that he needs my help. He praised me for my abilities and my strength in character as a soldier and says these skills are exactly what he needs in an ally. He tells me he will stay with me but will only make contact when I am needed. Then I woke up.”
There is a moment where neither Kevin nor Cassandra knows what to say. Finally she asks, “Are you saying that the mutant soldiers’ commander claims to be Osiris? The Osiris of Egypt? God of the Underworld? Why else would have your dream take place in Egypt if that’s not what he wanted you to believe?”
“That’s absurd! That is mythology; he was not a real person was he?” Kevin asks, sounding very insecure about his question.
“I’m just telling you what I experienced. I have no idea of what is really happening or who he is. After that experience with him and the dream, I researched Osiris. He was named God of the Underworld after he was resurrected, kind of like Jesus actually. The ancient Egyptians also believed there would be a second coming of Osiris where he would save the world from total destruction. I think it is premature to believe that it is THE Osiris that is leading a team of soldiers on missions for the American military and/or government. With that said, what does he need my help with?” Darius asks this rhetorical question, knowing none of them have any answers. He also realizes he does feel a connection to him and wonders how Osiris will choose to contact him when is help is needed . . . and what does ‘staying with me’ mean?
“When he made eye contact with me tonight, I also couldn’t look away and I didn’t want to either. It was as if he was looking inside of me; like he connected with me in some way.” Cassandra realizes how silly this sounds.
“Exactly,” Darius felt the same way.
“We have to keep our heads on straight,” reminds Kevin. “This is all sounding too crazy, even for me. Let's just make a list of things we absolutely know to be true about B.L.O.O.D. so far and see where it is leading.”
“Good idea,” Darius says with approval. However, once the list is constructed and they all look it over there are two glowing possibilities surfacing.
Kevin is the first to speak to up, “Either, they are vampires and the commander just chose the name because it sounds intimidating,” he looks at the other two with the look of disbelief, “or he is really Osiris. Which one do you feel more comfortable with?” Kevin asks Cassandra.
“I'm most comfortable with leaving this all behind me, forgetting all about this night, and writing a bullshit article about how your company assist's the American government with professionalism and valor.”
“You know damn good and well the investigative reporter inside you will not be able to walk away without getting all the answers,” says Darius. She hates when he is right!
Cassandra suggest they just go to their own rooms, get some sleep, and hopefully things will seem clearer in the morning. There is nothing they can do right now while still in Colombia anyway. They have to make it back home safely before anything can move forward. They say their good-byes until morning.
Cassandra goes to the lobby first to call her producer, George. The defense company owner sees her and steps behind a pillar where he can listen in. She tells George of her experience and the footage they got. She says "if I didn't know any better I would say they are vampires. We have another theory . . . but it sounds even worse."
George tells her she may be in danger. "Get back to the states as soon as you can and call me when you land." She reassures him that she has Darius with them and he is very capable of protecting them. "Just hurry Cassandra and be careful."
George hangs up the phone and hears a familiar voice from inside his head, "Thanks George, I owe you one." He knows who it is and says out loud to the voice, “Just keep her safe. Her and my Emily are all I have now.”
“Don't worry, I have her linked.” says the voice. George is noticeably relieved.
The defense contractor, after hearing the evidence his imbedded reporters have collected. He decides he wants answers too and calls the B.L.O.O.D. commander, "What the hell are you guys?"
The commander replies "You never cared before where your money comes from and don't worry about the reporter, this situation is completely under my control," and he hangs up.
Cassandra knocks on Kevin's hotel room door and tells him she spoke with George. "He thinks we may be in danger. He wants us back as soon as possible." says Cassandra.
"Did you use the "V" word or the “G” word?" asks Kevin.
"Somehow I am more comfortable with the “V” word."
"I'll bet he flipped his lid over this story!" Kevin seems excited again.
"Actually no, he did not react to it at all." She thinks to herself how odd that is.
"He probably just thinks we are both bananas," says Kevin. “It was good working with you Cassie.” He assumes this kind of craziness will get them fired for sure.
"He won't when he sees this footage. Let's try and get some sleep before we fly out."
Cassandra’s Dream
Just as Cassandra drifts off to sleep in her dusty hotel room, a scene begins to unfold for her and she was back home in Tucson on the
street she grew up on. It was different though . . . deserted and riddled with debris. She could hear someone crying off in the distance. She turned to look at her childhood home. No one has been there for some time; the lawn is overgrown and the house is falling apart. What has happened? An overwhelming feeling of loneliness sets in, but different than the loneliness she was used to. It looks as if everyone just ran. Ran where? Ran from what?
His voice burst through the darkness she was feeling. She was alarmed at how comforting it sounded to her. She wasn’t alone in the scene after all. “Cassie, I’m here with you. You have no reason to be afraid or lonely.”
“Where is everyone? Where are my parents? Why am I here?” Cassie was choking back tears. Even though her childhood wasn’t exactly picturesque, it was painful to see her home like this.
“This is the future we will all bear if we are not successful. This is why I must ask for your help. There are forces at work that need to be handled in a way that my kind cannot handle by ourselves. The human race needs to be lead by those they already trust; a reporter who is always brutally honest with them and a soldier who has fought for their liberty before.” The voice was coming closer and Cassandra could just make out a figure. As the image became clearer, she realized it was the B.L.O.O.D. commander. She became a little frightened as she remembered the images of him and his men she saw on film and the theory the developed of them being vampires.
“What causes all of this, and how can we stop it?”
“There is a plan being carried out by those in power. I have been monitoring it for decades from the inside. This is why I chose to work with the American military. I had to stay close and gain their trust. I am now certain of their plan, and it must be stopped.”
“What are you, exactly? We saw how fast you move and the strength you and your men have.”
“I would rather disclose that to you at a later time, with Darius. I assure you our intentions are pure and we humbly ask for your help. I am terribly sorry for the coming challenges you will endure, but I am confident I have chosen correctly. For now, rest Cassandra”
The scene fades away and a feeling of total peace envelopes her as sleeps through the night. Cassandra awakens the next morning, immediately remembering her dream. She logically tries to dismiss it as being anything but a creation of her imagination. Still, it pulls at her consciousness. Something is telling her that what she saw was real.