Unreal Tournament: THE THING                               
By Adam Horvath

2:34 PM, Saturday, 2029

Aco Phoenix moved slowly through the massive ice channel. He held in his hand a standard AR770, commonly known as an Assault Rifle. It fired 5.56mm bullets with a secondary fire mount: an M355 grenade launcher. This was his starting weapon of choice for the tournaments. Aside from this, all tournament members were equipped with a Kemphler DD280 Shield Gun, which either generates a large shield that covers the user and reflects most shots, or it charged up a blast of plasma which is used in close range to rupture, pulverize and fill blood vessels with gas bubbles. Also, they were all equipped with Translocators. Originally, these devices were used to rescue miners from tunnel collapses, but now they have been incorporated into the tournaments. It fires a small disc, which can bounce off most objects and can fly very far. Then, the user can press the secondary fire which teleports the user to the disc. The newer versions also have a small camera on the disc, which the user can use to get a full 360-degree view of the disc's surroundings with a small screen, attached to the translocator itself.

This was a last man standing match, and Phoenix was more then ready to kill for money and fame. That's what most people fought for in the tournaments: fame, fortune and/or freedom. Some convicts who were desperate to restart a normal life were promised freedom provided they successfully win a match.

Phoenix wore light armor, colored a deep red and fire orange detailing on the joints. He also had a military helmet and dark sunglasses.

Phoenix now saw someone at the end of the tunnel. It was a Gen Mo'Kai, an alien species. They largely resembled Predators from the Predator movies. Some wore family death masks made of stone. They weren't quite as rugged as Humans, but they were very fast and their jumping height was second only to Automations, who were also allowed in the tournaments. This Gen Mo'Kai was equipped with an ASMD Shock Rifle. It managed to get the first shot off, using the secondary fire of the rifle. It was a slow moving ball of plasma. Phoenix knew what was coming next and dove behind a rock for cover. The primary fire of the rifle tore through the air at lightning speed (a fast moving plasma bolt) and slammed into the plasma ball. The ball exploded in a large blast of plasma. The ice channel shook as the plasma energy was released, scorching the ice black and melting a crater in the ground. Phoenix jumped up and released some 5.56mm bullets. The Gen Mo'Kai dove behind an ice boulder. "Oh hell no." Phoenix said and fired a grenade. The ice boulder exploded in a cloud of shrapnel. One large chunk was imbedded in the unfortunate Gen Mo'Kai's chest. Even through the death mask, Phoenix could tell it was in pain. "Be still." Phoenix said and fired the remainder of the clip into the alien. The bullets tore right through it, sending a splash of green blood on the ice wall and froze instantly, the closest thing to a permanent tombstone the alien would get

The next thing Phoenix knew, he was teleported onto a large floating pedestal. He was in a huge metal room, surrounded by four massive televisions showing Phoenix's kill of the Gen Mo'Kai over and over as well as his other famous kills, including the times he blasted an Automation apart with only a Shield Gun and the time he killed five humans with his last bullet by detonating the rockets inside one of the human's rocket launchers, creating a rather large explosion that totally decimated everything within a ten meter radius. Down on the ground, millions of fans screamed with joy as Phoenix's chosen song was played: Bodies. As the pedestal lowered to the ground Phoenix realized what happened: the Gen Mo'Kai he killed was the last man on the field other then him. He was the last man standing. LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR… the speakers roared as Phoenix was let to the ground. Ahead of him was a long catwalk leading out of the room. He began his triumphant march down the catwalk as the speakers now roared AND THE WINNER: THE PHEONIX!!! Phoenix raised his arms and let out his best impression of a Phoenix scream, which was a trademark and very realistic since he had three years of marching down the catwalk to practice. The fans roared louder, some tried their impression of a phoenix themselves. One was a female teen who did a pretty good impression. Phoenix made a gun shape with his hand and pointed at her as he walked. She fainted.

5:12 PM, Saturday, 2029

Phoenix now stood in a large science room, surrounded by people in white coats. He had been requested to keep his battle armor on, and had been given extra ammunition and grenades. He was obviously being sent into combat for the Empire. Probably another group of rebels Phoenix thought with a sigh. He looked around. Most of them were busy musing over vials filled with multicolored liquid or over new experimental bullets. A couple of the scientists looked at Phoenix with mild hatred in their eyes. Damn pacifists Phoenix thought. After a few minutes, a new scientist in a white coat walked in. "Hello." The scientist said. "You must be the legendary Aco Phoenix. You can call me Mr. Matthew's." "Wow, thanks for allowing me that privilege." Phoenix replied with a slight smile, which was his version of a 'hello'.

Then, three more people walked in. One African-American male in green desert style combat armor and glasses identical to Phoenix. He was armed with a Lightning gun, which was exactly like what is sounded. A Sniper gun that shot electricity rivaling a lightning bolt in power. The second was a male Caucasian, lighter built then the first one, in light armor colored gray. He was armed with a Flak Cannon, which either fired several particles of Flak for close range, or a large grenade that exploded in a blast of flak for long range. The third was a Caucasian female in almost identical armor to the second male, except smaller for her smaller build. She was armed with an ASMD Shock Rifle. They were all also armed with Shield Guns and Translocators. Phoenix's first reaction was to raise his gun at them, for they were fellow Tournament players. The green armored one was Malcolm, the second male was Brock and the female was Lauren. "Calm yourself Phoenix." Malcolm said with no change in facial expression. "We are allies for this mission." Phoenix lowered his weapon slowly.

The scientists that gave Phoenix nasty looks now turned their angry gazes to the three new tournament players. "Back to work, pacifist nerds." Lauren said, and the scientists went on adding various chemicals into weird looking bullets and loading them into even weirder looking weapons. Mr. Matthews now started talking. "Everyone gather around." He said. "Malcolm, Brock, Lauren, come on. We need you deployed ASAP, and before you are I need to tell you a story. Please, sit down." The four sat down on some empty tables, keeping both feet on the ground so the table could support the weight of the armor.

"I'll keep this short. About an hour ago, we received a final transmission from one of our resource planets. I've taken the liberty of taping it on cassette." Matthews pressed a button on a small tape player.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ- This is Sgt. Tom of Resource Sector 12. We've been attacked by aliens. We don't know where they are, they always seem to disappear. All we know about them is that they are hostile and use claws. Then, another voice. Tom! We're under attack. And the Captain is acting paranoid. ZZZZZZZZ GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME TOM!!! Settle down Captain! GET BACK DAMMIT- AAAAUUAARRRRRGG Oh god TOM!!! ZZZZZZZZZZ-

"Interesting." Brock said with a smirk. "Shut up Brock." Matthews said. "This is the seventh PLANET to drop out of communication. These creatures seem to be arachnids with rather large claws and mutations. We've had some transmissions screaming the word 'shape shifter' before another death scream, but we're sure they were just insane with fear." "So what do you want us to do, liberate seven planets?" Phoenix asked. "No." Matthews replied. "It is too late to stop them. They seem to be able to slip past even our tightest security. The human race is doomed. The only way to stop them now is with our new experiment. Time travel." "Time travel is not possible." Lauren said flatly. "That's what we thought fifteen minutes ago. But we have just sent a strike force to the first known location of these creatures. It is a place called U.S Outpost North 31, back in 1982. There, the species was attempted to be destroyed by the scientists there, but they failed. The strike forces that were sent over the next five years brought back information of a species of arachnids. Seeing as how they are so large, we thought we got them all, but they always seem to get past our security."

"So this is what you mission objectives are: Enter our time machine to 1982 to meet up with the strike force we have already sent, and destroy every arachnid there. Secondary objectives are: find any survivors and collect any information you can about the species." Matthews pointed to a large metal box with the numbers 1982 printed on a digital screen up top. "Wait." Malcolm said. "How do we get back?" Matthews gave everyone a small watch. It had a digital screen with a number pad, a 'Go back' button and a 'Go there' button. "To come back here, press the Go Back button, and any human in a two meter radius from you will be transported back, and anyone in a two meter radius from anyone you bring back will also be brought back. No go." Suddenly, the two scientists that gave everyone angry looks got up with their experimental guns. "We can't let you do that." One said and raised his gun in a strangely deformed hand. The bullet flew out and hit Matthews in the leg. The explosion of the bullet was enough to blast Matthews' leg off. Matthews screams "GO NOW!!!" as giant spiders entered the room and started killing scientists with ease. The group of four ran into the machine, which was pre set to the time.

Sometime at night, ???, 1982

After a flash of light, the group of four appeared in front of a small strike force. Ten soldiers armed with Miniguns. Miniguns hadn't changed much in the past thirty years. They now fired more advanced bullets, but were still basically a box of ammunition with a large spinning barrel.

It was nighttime, with a light snow falling. The marines stood in a snowfield, facing the Outpost. It was almost pitch black, except for one minor detail. The outpost was on fire, and most of the outpost was scattered across the landscape in 1x1-foot chunks. "Think this is the place?" A marine asked. "Ok." Phoenix said. "Marines, set up a perimeter here. We'll go scout for survivors." "What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you?" Malcolm demanded. "The fact that I spoke first, now move your ass." Phoenix replied and pushed Malcolm towards the outpost with his assault rifle. Brock and Lauren followed smirking.

Elsewhere

"Gimme more beer Childs." Macready said. Childs reluctantly handed Macready the bottle of brandy, now almost empty. The area was still burning, so provided there were no more Things in the area, they should at least survive the night. Still, they were almost frozen, and it was getting increasingly more difficult for them to wrap their mouths around the bottle. "Don't spill any of that." Childs said. "That's our antifreeze." "Our antifreeze, Childs?" "Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature then blood. All we have to do is get our blood alcohol level up as high as we can and we won't freeze." Macready looked at Childs for a few seconds. "I think you've had enough beer, Childs." Childs sighed and looked behind the chunk of wall he was leaning on. He saw four humanoid figures approaching in futuristic armor. Childs dove at Macready to get him down. Macready struggled, then Childs said "Shut up! Four things are approaching in some kind of alien armor! They must be from the ship that the Norwegians blew up."

They lay in the snow, slowly trying to bury themselves as the four figures drew nearer. Childs prepared his flamethrower for action. At that moment, the four figures attacked. At least they had taken human form. The two in grey armor jumped out from one side of the chunk of wall, facing Childs and quickly yanking the flamethrower out of his hands. One in desert style armor and one in red with fire orange joint details. The female, who had grabbed the flamethrower, pointed it at Childs. "Get up and take the tank off." She said, but quickly pulled on the gun, which tore the flamethrower tank off of Childs' back. Malcolm quickly pulled MacReady out of the snow and checked him for weapons. MacReady broke free and grabbed the gun of the flamethrower out of Lauren's hands. He pointed at the tank with the gun. "ONE WRONG MOVE AND WE ALL DIE!" He screamed. "Do it, Mac!" Childs yelled as he struggled in Phoenix's grip.

At that moment, the ground shook hard. "What the hell's going on?" Macready asked, no longer paying attention to his captors who were also looking around. Then, it burst out of the ground. A formless blob of tentacles, dog heads and dinosaur jaws. At least ten feet tall. "I thought they were arachnids." Lauren said. "BLAIR IS BACK!" Macready screamed. Everyone opened fire if they had a weapon. Phoenix had released Childs and was firing grenades; Lauren blasted away with the fast moving plasma bolts of the ASMD. Malcolm shot arks of lightning. Brock was lobbing Flak grenades as Macready torched the base of the thing with his flamethrower. Childs was weaponless, but noticed Macready still had a dynamite stick in his pocket. Childs grabbed it and threw it into Macready's fire. It exploded in a shower of blood and assorted parts of various animals. Macready rushed forwards and began to torch the larger pieces. "Kill every cell!" Childs yelled. Brock rushed forwards and grabbed Macready, and threw him to the ground. "Restrain yourself!" He said, grabbing the gun. "And don't waste that!" "You don't understand! We have to kill every cell!" Childs said, trying to push Brock away but was restrained by Malcolm.

Sometime at night, ???, 1982

The group walked back to the Marines, who had pieced together small shelters out of larger chunks of Outpost 31. Three small doorless sheds and a meter high wall that circled a 20 meter area. Only seven Marines were there. "Where are the other three?" Phoenix asked, stepping over the metal wall with Macready. "Split up, and gathering materials, sir." "Alone??" Childs demanded as he was pushed over the wall. "We can't let them back in!" Macready said. "They are surely infected!" Malcolm ignored them. "We found these two crack pots in the snow with a rather large bottle of alcohol and a flamethrower." He said, holding both items. Brock grabbed the bottle. "Hey, not bad! 60 years old!" Phoenix laughed. "This is 1982." He said. "That is 13 years old." Brock sighed and threw the bottle behind him. "I don't touch it unless it's at least 20 years old." "You thought it was 47 years in the future? And you call us crack pots?" Macready asked.

After introductions were aside, Phoenix began. "We are from the future." He said. "We are members of a future Empire of Earth in 2029, and participants in a multi species tournament known as Unreal Tournament." "Give some proof." Childs said. Lauren fired a ball of plasma as a rock of ice, then blasted it with a plasma bolt. The rock was blown apart and melted, when it hit the snow it re-froze in the snow. The snow was turned to solid ice. "How do you think we move in this armor?" Brock asked. "If it were made of stainless steel we couldn't move." "Moving on." Phoenix continued. "All of our planetary settlements have been attacked and destroyed by this species of arachnids." "Arach-" "No more interruptions please. Now, our scientists had traced back through history and eventually found a file on this outpost. Just so you know, in two weeks a rescue team would have arrived, and only one member would survive. He would come back, and suddenly disappear with a squadron of soldiers a few days later. Anyway, that's why we were sent. Our scientists discovered time travel technology a few hours ago in 2029 time. We were sent back and are here to destroy the arachnid species and hopefully change the future." "Ok, so what's your story?" A Marine asked Macready and Childs.

Macready told the story. "We were scientists of U.S Outpost North 31, doing whatever was needed. Testing equipment, scanning for potential gold deposits, experimenting with stuff, whatever. Then, about a week ago two Swed - Norwegians showed up via helicopter, shooting at a dog. Our station manager, Garry, was forced to kill one of them, while the other dropped a grenade near the chopper and was blown up." Childs took over. "Clark, the dog handler, put the Husky with the others. Then, that night, it… changed. Mutated into a horrible form of flesh and dog heads as it assimilated or strangled the dogs. That species of arachnids you claim to fight? They are no arachnids. It is a shape shifting parasitic virus. It takes over a species and then can imitate it, and any other species it has assimilated, perfectly. It still has the memories and knowledge of the host. We don't know who is who unless we do a blood test." "Blood test?" Malcolm asked. "It boils down to the genetics of these things. I came up with the test." Macready said. "You see, a Thing is not one organism. Each cell is a different one, working with the others to imitate the organism. If we take samples of each person's blood, or any body part really, and then jab it with a hot poker or other hot object, we can tell who is who. You see, normal blood would just sizzle and do nothing. But Thing blood is actually millions of Thing cells. If we jab it with the hot poker, it will jump up and try to escape. That's why I tried to torch every part of the thing we killed. If even one cell is alive, it can multiply its cells at an extreme speed and grow as strong as it once was."

"Back to your story." Lauren said. "Well, the story is quite long, so long story short. We went to the Norwegian camp and found Thing carcasses burned with Kerosene. But they weren't as dead as they looked. We also found an alien craft, already thawed out by the Norwegians. We have no clue how long it was been down there. Technically the ice was just a few hundred thousand years old, but as far as we know it was in there for millions of years. Anyway, we brought the thing carcasses back to camp. It infected everyone except Me, Childs, and poor Garry and Nauls, the cook. We tried to kill them and more or less succeeded. The thing we just destroyed with those fancy weapons of yours was Blair, a Senior Biologist. It killed both Nauls and Garry, and almost killed me. I thought I killed it with dynamite, but obviously I failed."

At that moment, the three missing Marines reappeared, each with armfuls of wood and metal. Phoenix jumped up. "Ok you three sit down, we're checking you." "For what?" One Marine asked as he put his wood down and sat on it. One of the seven other Marines threw Phoenix a pocketknife. "The creatures we are after are shapeshifting aliens. We are going to administer a blood test to see if you are human." Malcolm pulled up a piece of two by four to use as a blood pedestal. "Brock, we'll use your flak cannon as a source of heat." Malcolm said. "Ok, you first." Phoenix said, flipping open the pocketknife and pointing at the nearest Marine. "You left or right handed?" "Right." "Ok, then stick your left thumb in the snow until it grows numb. In fact, that goes for all of you. Stick your opposite good thumb in the snow." "Ok, my thumb is numb." The marine said. Phoenix grabbed the Marine's left thumb and moved it over to the wood. He then cut the large vain in the Marine's thumb. Blood streamed out of the vein onto the wood. Once there was a sufficient amount, Phoenix asked. "Who has a medkit?" "I do." A marine said, and moved to disinfect the cut. Brock moved in and fired a wave of flak at the blood. Aside from the small splash of the flak hitting the blood, the blood did nothing but sizzle.

The same went for the second marine. Brock now fired at the third Marine's blood. The blood launched at least two meters into the air before landing and getting blasted by more flak. The third Marine jumped up and, with a hand already growing massive claws, slashed the marine sitting next to him into three slices. Already its skin was growing more beastlike. "Fire at will!" Malcolm yelled. Phoenix and his group had already put down their weapons, with the exception of Brock, but the Marines hadn't lowered their miniguns. The final marine sitting quickly jumped up and lunged for his minigun. The Thing's chest suddenly split open from the barrage of minigun bullets. A huge scaled arm burst out of the Thing's chest in a shower of blood. It grabbed the Marine and quickly pulled him into the hole in its chest, which was now lined with teeth. The Marine's screams were cut off as the arm burst through him to reach another Marine - and a lightning bolt from Malcolm's gun blasted the arm off.

What no one noticed was that one of the leftover seven Marines had hung back and transformed into a large arachnid with overgrown fangs. Venom already dripped down and sizzled as the ice was melted down for two meters. It jumped upon two Marines, and one fang plunged into each Marine's back. The two Marines screamed, but were also cut off as the venom completely melted the Marines from the chest down. A large mixture of blood and venom formed in the ice, which had also melted down.

Phoenix lobbed a grenade into the first Thing's open chest, and it exploded in a rain of blood and appendages.

The Marine that had been slashed apart had now crawled back together and now formed a small bloody blob. It then fired a huge spike at a Marine, who was impaled. Every Marine turned on the arachnid and blasted it apart in a rain of bullets. Lauren fired a plasma ball and them a bolt, which vaporized the blob thing.

Morning, ???, 1982

Daybreak came and shone light on a very gruesome scene. Three Marines, four Tournament goers and two survivors had slept in shifts, with at least three guards awake at all times, although it was doubtful anyone decided to sleep when it was their turn. The ice was cracked and melted, as Macready had un-ceremonially torched every appendage from the Things. Blood was everywhere, coating the ground in the metal circle formed by the walls the Marines had set up the night before. Phoenix poked Lauren with his rifle. "It's morning. You don't have to pretend you're asleep." Lauren sat up and picked up her ASMD, which she had used as a pillow. Malcolm Childs and the Marines also got up at the same time, obviously awake before Phoenix said it was morning.

Food consisted of various canned items, which the Marines had brought for supplies - tuna, shrimp, chicken and so on. Everyone has sterilized their pocketknives with the flamethrower and used them as can openers. Brock looked at the three supply bags the Marines had brought. "What else is in there?" he asked. "Not much." A Marine said. "More food, ammo for the miniguns, and two of them are full of thermite explosives. Mostly grenades." "Ok." Phoenix said, choking down a bite of canned shrimp and trying not to look anywhere as he ate. "We have two basic options. We can either stay here and try to kill those… things. Or we can head back and die in 2029." "I say we stay and complete the mission." Malcolm said. "Oh, great idea Mr. Future Man." Childs said. "It's Malcolm." "Whatever. It took all of us to kill just three of those things and half of us were killed in the process." "Are you saying we should just admit defeat and go back, and try to attempt to purge a galaxy of them?" Lauren asked sarcastically. "I don't see why not." Macready said. "Your already part of that Tournament dealy, I'm sure you've done things more stupid and suicidal then this." "Ok then. How would you and your ingenious 1982 brain kill them?" Phoenix asked. "Well, since you love risking your lives, there is one way." Macready said. "If we march into what's left of the outpost and blanket it with that Thermite stuff, then get back and use that lightning gun to set one off, the chain reaction should set the rest off like a wave of fire. Simply put - blowing up the outpost once didn't work. Now it's time to blast the remains."

It was the best plan they could come up with, so now they marched into the outpost, guns up, planting Thermite grenades everywhere and ensuring each grenade was in the blast range of at least one other, which wasn't that hard since the blast radius of a 2029 Thermite grenade was about ten feet. And could burn a hole in a foot thick wall of titanium.

"I'd say we've carpeted half of the still-standing buildings." Macready said. "Strange we haven't seen any things yet." "Oh god shut up." Phoenix said. "One of the Tournament rules is not to point stuff out. It will always jinx what you point out." "A little pessimistic Phoenix?" Childs asked. "Five hours ago I watch half of a platoon of highly trained and armed soldiers get killed by weaponless animals. Yes, suddenly my outlook on life is a tad negative compared to yesterday."

Suddenly, the door ahead was hit by something heavy. A second hit blasted the door open. The room it was in was at least five meters tall, and it stood with its lower back pressed against the ceiling. It was a giant reptilian humanoid creature covering in thin tentacles. Tentacles also replaced its teeth, and it's tail ended in a scythe blade made of bone. Its face was unmistakable. It was the face of Blair. The Marines opened fire straight away, cutting up the walls and sending chunks of the creature splattering against the far wall. The thing, impervious to the attacks, tore the door off of its hinges and launched it down the hall. It caught the Marines and sent them to the floor. The thing quickly tore the ceiling off of the hallway so it could stand to its full height, ever growing as it was still changing into more of a dinosaur form. Tentacles launched from the thing's legs and wrapped around the screaming Marines, and dragged them into its leg. They screamed as they were slowly absorbed by it. At this point the rest of the group was blasting away. "Aim for its chest!" Phoenix yelled. Grenades, flak bombs, ASMD bolts and lightning bolts slammed into its chest. The thing was blasted apart as it had been when Phoenix first found Macready and Childs. Pieces of thing were sent into the large room.

The group entered the large room. It was a large supply room, loaded with winter survival gear. Blast holes from the basement covered the floor. Everything was coated with blood. Chunks of thing were everywhere. "Mac, you got the flamethrower?" Childs asked. "I'm already torching the pieces Childs." Macready said, firing up the flamethrower. At that moment, all the thing pieces retreated behind the stacks of boxes. Brock raised his flak cannon and blasted it apart in an explosion of burning parkas. Everyone followed suit, blasting any vertical object in the room to get a clear shot at the thing pieces. The room was now brightly lit by pillars of fire. The thing pieces had now grown into human sized blobs. Then, they split in half and changed form. Five of them took on arachnid form, the other five changed into dog/arachnid mixtures. The three Marines also stood there, still holding their miniguns in alien hands.

There was an explosion of energy as everyone in the room who held a weapon was firing. Childs was the only one without a weapon. "GIVE ME SOMETHING!" he yelled over the noise. Malcolm tossed Childs two Enforcers, which were semi automatic pistols. Childs grabbed them and began to fire at the arachnid things. More things began to pour through the air ducts and holes in the floor. Phoenix dropped the grenade bags and began to fire bullets. Malcolm launched lightning bolts at the Marine things. The group was quickly forced into a circle with the grenade bags behind them. They were quickly running out of ammo. The Marine things had been eliminated first, but now the room was filling with smaller Things. Arachnids, heads with praying mantis talons, deformed dogs, a small human body with a Venus fly trap head and the list went on. The bodies surrounding the group piled higher and higher, yet more still jumped over. ""E CAN'' WIN! WE GOTTA GO BACK!" Phoenix screamed. "WE CAN'T LEAVE WITHOUT KILLING THEM!" Lauren screamed back. Phoenix, now completely out of ammo, grabbed a thermite and pulled the pin. He then pressed a button on his watch.

5:12 PM, Saturday, 2029

Everyone arrived back in the large machine in the science room. The scientists were all gone, and there were blood stains everywhere. "Shouldn't time have changed?" Phoenix asked. "Not yet." Malcolm said. "That grenade will go off in about 3 seconds." Sure enough, a few seconds later, the room was covered in a strange white light. When it disappeared, the scientists were back, and the blood was gone. The scientists who originally were things were now quietly working, not giving everyone nasty looks. "Err… what just happened?" Brock asked. "Good with the ladies but dumb as a rock, are you?" Phoenix asked. "47 years ago, minus about 7 seconds, the grenades went off and obliterated the outpost. We killed the species." The head scientist had no memory of the Things, so when he saw everyone, he said "Hey! Get out of here!" "Shut up old man." Malcolm said as they walked out. Macready and Childs stayed behind. Phoenix heard Macready speak, "Hey, we know a lot about Microbiology and toxicology, and need jobs." Then the scientist. "What a coincidence, we are short of men in the Biology department."

Afternoon, ???, 1982

Several Things crawled over the meter high wall of bodies and blood. The room was still mostly ablaze. The only sound aside from things and fire was a light beeping. BEEP. BEEP. Then the grenade exploded, and with it, two full bags of grenades. The blast was at least 50 meters wide, and set off the grenades placed around the camp. One by one, rows of grenades blasted down halls and through rooms like a set of Dominos. What few remaining building there were erupted in walls of fire.

The rescue team would come and find nothing but a field of burned blood and a wall of fire. Life remained relatively normal until the summer of 2031, when Team S.P.Onage of the Unreal Tournament, consisting of Aco Phoenix, Malcolm, Brock and Lauren, mysteriously disappeared while investigating a rebel uprising on a Neptune colony…

THE END