The End

[drsomewhere]

schweeet
so you get school credit for this stuff?

[AztecWarrior]

No...yes.

If I want a certain amount of extra credit, based on how well I do in the fair, I have to type a 3 page creative writing thing. I will probably take this, put it in a different environment, like maybe Vietnam, format it, proofread, and submit.

[Rbstr]

Why not rename everything and still keep it to a sci-fi type thing.

Remove reswpawning and alot of this becomes feasible especialy with the whole nano-thing going on.

Right here in this forum you have the basis for a big sci-fi book/seriese, i'm seeing as big as Asimov's Foundation or something.

Think about it, "The War for Auraxis" (renamed obviously).

You write your (main)characters story form the discovery of the planet untill whatever is the end.

Have them move from lowly recruits to mid level positions when the factions split off to heads of their companies and for more brialiant ones even generals/presidents.

Show thier actions results and how it all comes together at the end

[DeepStrikeck]

very nice Aztec, good luck pulling it all together!

[internetn]

What are these things I am experiencing? I'm so glad at the perfect quality of your story aztec, but I'm just about dieing knowing that It's about to end... THE HORROR!!

BTW put me in there.... I flew a skeeter back in one of your story's

[AztecWarrior]

Note: I'll end this, then maybe do more. Not sure, depends on user interest.

Aztec crept back to the staging area for his flight. The rest of his wing was waiting for him in their aircraft, engines idling but active, casting the dim teal glow over the area. He came in over the radio.

"Everyone out. I want to address you all in person."

His squadmates opened their hatches and stood at attention.

"Respawns aren't working at all. According to preliminary reports, there appears to be some essential force inside Auraxis that allows respawning to occur. It's been waning for the past few hours and has now stopped completely. This isn't a game anymore. This is real. You die, and you're gone. You don't come back. There are no spawn tubes. There is nothing but a cold grave with your name on it. Even if you do get back, you will have the blood of those whom you kill on your hands forever.

"I'm not going to lie to you: I will send you into the meat grinder today. Two empires are converging upon our location. Many good men and women will die here, myself possibly included, defending this station.

You've heard all the crap about why we're fighting and why we're the best faction out of all three. I'll spare you that. I'm going to give you all a chance. You can go. If you don't feel like risking it for real this time, I will write you off personally as combat ineffective and you'll be transferred home immediately and discharged within a day. If anybody gets in my way, I'll take the fall for it if I can't force it. Go, now."

The men and women looked around. Not one of them moved.

"This isn't the Terran Republic. I'm not trying to get one of you to leave so I can shoot you for cowardice. I want the best flying with me today. If you're going to chicken out, do it here instead of in the air."

They remained still. Twenty-two pilots refused to leave.

"You understand that up there I will show no mercy. If you leave a friendly to die and you escape, I will personally kill you....so that's how it's going to be. Nobody wants to leave...all right, listen up. We're going to be running a-"

**ALERT! INCOMING AIR THREATS! ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE OPEN AREAS. ALL AIRMEN ASSUME BATTLE POSITIONS!**

"Major, this is General Wilson. We've picked up about a dozen bombers incoming with escorts, ETA five minutes. Your supporting 14th Squadron is nowhere in sight. Go in and intercept those bombers!" came in over Aztec's radio.

"Bombers to the north. Let's give them hell." he said as he jogged to his Reaper.

Right before hopping in their Hornet light fighters, a pilot remakred to another: "That's the most uplifted I've seen him in weeks."

[Rbstr]

You can't leave it unfinished, that's all I can say.

[AztecWarrior]

22 aircraft, 8 Hornets and 14 Reapers, sped off into the wild blue yonder. Blue & Gold squads had Reapers, White had Hornets.

"13th, you have bogeys bearing 360 heading south. It appears to be a bomber force with heavy fighter escort-- possibly 20 fighters and ten bombers. The VS may also have prepositioned an advance scout team in buggies providing some SAM support." crackled in over the radio.

Fly high and risk SAMs, fly low and risk getting dived on. He hated binary choices like this, where death seemed equally imminent. High.

"Squadron, assume broad wedge formation. Loosen it up. Eyes forward, not on your wingmates. We're not formation flying on Independence Day."

"Copy that, Blue leader." echoed in over the radio.

"Let's take it high. Everybody follow me." he ordered as he took his flight up to medium altitude where the SAMs from the buggies were less of a risk. There was only one focus now: the enemy flight. He looked at the display in his cockpit. Eerily silent. Nothing on the radar. Yet he knew they were out there. Death was out there. Silently waiting, behind every cloud, waiting to dive down and blast him out of the sky for good.

And suddenly, it wasn't silent.

"This is white one, I've got something on the rad-- oh, yeah. We found them. They're flying really damn close. They'll be in missile range in...'bout thirty seconds."

"Okay, let's send these technophile bastards what freedom-loving NC are made of...for good. Everybody paint an enemy aircraft."

"Blue three, locked on!"
"White six, lock on!"
"Gold lead, lock on!"
"Blue leader, I've got one."
"Gold five, painting a bomber."

Everybody found a target.

"Blue three, I'm being targetted too..."

"We're in range, FIRE!" shouted Aztec as he released the deadly AAM-2a Peregrine missile. It fell free and ignited, streaking through the sky faster than its own sound, towards the enemy aircraft, which were just specks at that range.

Aztec's radar warning reciever lit up. Two, no, three enemy aircraft had fired missiles.

"Okay, okay, these bastards really love me." he said to himself. He depressed the radio button: "This is Blue Leader, three missiles, coming my way!"

He broke formation and turned hard to the right. He looked for the missiles and saw nothing. What the hell is shooting at me?

"Hold on, hold on...I think we've been jammed, sir." said White Lead. "My systems are indicating e-lectronic signals that are way too strong for those aircraft...closing in for a visual.

As the other aircraft were busy releasing missiles or dodging them, 2Lt SkyStreak scanned with his eye implants. At full magnification, he saw their secret.

"Sir, we're shooting at drones. There ain't nothing out here." said White Lead with his typical "Southern" twang.

"Great. All flights cancel everything. We're being jammed. Someone call in ECCM or someth--"

"AZTEC! WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR FLIGHT!" shouted out a very angry General Wilson to his radio.

"Shooting at these damn drones, sir. There's no VS bombing force."

"We've been trying to radio you for the past two minutes! The TR are attacking! We need immediate air cover!"

"All flights, afterburners on."

[AztecWarrior]

Dusk was falling. The sun, life's anchor in the hostile universe, was sinking beneath the alien world.

"Aztec, this is Wilson. I'm patching you through directly to a forward air controller. We've got armor trying to encircle our main force defending. We need you to strafe the hell out of them."

"Roger that. Ok squadron, you heard the man-- White squad gets air cover. Reapers, let's go in. Ready your anti-armor missiles."

The outline of the base came into view...tracer fire was lighting everything up. He could see shells arcing over the base and landing in the courtyard-- they were only a few hundred meters away! A TR Galaxy hung over the base's tower, and was dropping personnel onto the roof.

"Okay, break formation. Watch out for SA-"

And before he could finish the sentence, a SAM caught him. This time the threat was real. As he was dropping in altitude, he could spot, still rather far away, a white trail and a bright light coming at him, launched from a Skyguard buggy. The missile. He pulled to the left hard. The missile followed him, like a long snake. It got closer and closer, intercepting his path.As it got closer, Aztec was counting. "Ten, nine, eight..."

"Three...two...one...." and at zero, he swung the aircraft back towards the missile and dropped three flares. The missile was fooled. It veered straight into the flares and detonated. Aztec searched for that Skyguard. He caught it with the laser designator and fired off a missile. The Skyguard didn't even seem to react until it was almost too late. It only began to move right before the missile slammed into it. The familiar blue shock wave and glimmer of a nanite engine exploding was seen, then the resonating sound. The charred wreckage remained.

Two killed.

"Aztec, this is Rydan, I need your help right now. There's a tank next to a large tree. It's blasting everything that moves, we need you to take it out."

"I'll look for it, ah. Got it. Just give me a second."

He saw the tank. He repeated the process, painting it with his laser and firing off a missile. This time, the tank got lucky. It drove behind a rock. The missile lost lock and veered wildly in odd directions before self-destructing.

"Lucky bastard." muttered Aztec as he lowered down and spun to hit the tank from behind. He fired off two more missiles. The Reaper began to reload from the trunk. The missiles sped towards the Prowler and slammed into the rear. Both of them hit. The tank exploded violently, stray ammo bursting out and exploding as well. Machinegun rounds cooked off and sprayed the surrounding area with ammuntiion.

Aztec's radar warning reciever lit up again. Two SAMs, both from different directions. On his left, a shoulder-fired missile. On his right, a Skyguard's deadlier missile.

"Oh, SHIT."

And then over the radio:

"Major, the VS are now attacking."

[AztecWarrior]

"Blue three, you've got a missile coming at you!"

"I can't shake it! A-"

Aztec looked to the left. At his 10 o'clock was the shoulder-fired missile. At his 4 o'clock was the Skyguard SAM. He couldn't pull for the sun and use its heat to distract the missiles-- the sun was setting. He decided to dive. He jammed the control stick downwards, feeling his body lighten as gravity loosened. The radar warning reciever was screaming, as well as his squadronmates over the radio.

"Gold six! Missile hit me, engine fire!"

"Bail out, Six!...SHIT, they shot him as he got out!"

He smacked the flare release lever a few times before pulling hard to the right. The smaller missile went for the flares. The larger missile was out-turned. He found himself at treetop level, dodging tracer fire. That's when he saw a TR Hornet diving at him, machinegun blazing. The improved 12mm 3-barreled gun unleashed a stream of tracers into his right wing.

"Blue lead, I've got one on me, can anyone shake him?"

"Hold up, lead, I've got you."

Gold four formed up on the TR Hornet. Aztec saw yellow tracers go by his aircraft, then heard an aircraft smack into the ground.

"Got hi-" A VS missile hit Gold 6's aircraft. "Gah, VS are here. I'm going to have to crash-land in our base."

"Copy that, you may want to just eject, I can see flames coming out of the back." said Aztec.

"Doing it low."

Gold 6 came in just over the base wall and jumped out, kinetic dampeners softening the suicidal jump. And then all hell broke loose over the radio. "VS fighters are everywhere!"

Aztec saw about a dozen Reapers, cannon blazing, flash by his aircaft. His damaged Reaper strained to turn around and deal with the enemy. He noticed that a VS force had deployed an AMS in the area and was now dropping from HARTs. If his base didn't recieve support-- fast-- there wouldn't be any of them going home. He got behind a VS Reaper and lit up his multi-barrel cannon. The high-explosive incendiary rounds sparkled on the purple aircraft, all over the engine and cockpit compartment. The pilot was dead. The aircraft continued turning in circles until it smashed into the base wall.

He noticed that his squadron was losing a lot of pilots. He had seemed to zone out, as more and more of his aircraft crashed or had to land. An orbital strike formed in the distance. The ground began to glow near the VS offensive. Briefly, the troops on the ground ran for cover. Then fury rained down from the heavens in the form of a particle beam, annihilating everything in a large-sized radius. It sure as hell hit the VS AMS, as well as taking out some paratroopers.

A TR Hornet happened to appear in his gunsight. Aztec instinctively pulled back the trigger. He dodged. The Hornet lit up his afterburners and retreated back to friendly lines. Aztec lit up his and followed. He was too close for a missile, and very good at dodging cannon. Left, then right, then left, he seemed to flow through the shells. They ducked down and continued at treetop level, right above bewildered tank commanders and MAX suits, even passing a BFR. Someone launched a shoulder-fired missile at Aztec, but he released a few flares and it disappeared. He was totally absorbed in shooting down this one fighter.

He lost track of where he was. The Hornet was pulling away-- too far. He reached the missile minimum range. Aztec touched off his last remaining air-to-air missile-- and he dodged that, too.

"Must be an ace."

He was down to 33 rounds of cannon before having to reload, a task which would take a few valuable moments and he would assuredly get away. He took a deep breath and let loose a stream of shells. They all hit his left engine, which exploded suddenly. The aircraft spun wildly out of control right before its central power unit exploded.

He realized that he had strayed a few kilometers from the battle. Aztec turned back to repair and reload.

Right below him, out of nowhere, probably the swamp, a TR Skyguard appeared on the road. Aztec was at low altitude and out of flares.

[AztecWarrior]

"Blue three, I'm going to craash! Can't bail!"

"Nnnoooo!"

Aztec focused on the Skyguard. He realized that only five of his squadmates were alive. The battlefield a few kilometers away was on fire with blood, exploded vehicles, and craters. The NC were rapidly being pushed back to the base perimeter. A few minutes and the NC would be fighting inside the base. A few more, and it would be all over.

But at that moment he was focusing on the Skyguard...it remained 300 meters away. It was traveling away from him on the road at a good speed. He saw its astounded rear gunner, who was just as surprised as Aztec. She swung around the turret. She had a choice of the 12mm machinegun or the Skyguard SAM missile launcher. She fired off a missile.

Aztec rapidly fired off a GIM-3c Owl anti-armor missile.

You or me, elmo? You or me?

And then time slowed down. Everything seemed to stop.

Okay...the Skyguard SAM has about a fifty-fifty chance of taking out a Reaper or Reaver. I've already taken 12mm fire. I'm probably going to go down. I'm out of flares. I'm going to see if I can dodge it.

But how? It's already too close, and too fast. Maybe this is it. They always say you can see the one that gets you, you can sense it. I would know, I've died so many times... This must be what they were talking about. Is that it? My life is over? Yes. My life is over.

Oh God, how I've waited for this moment.

I can't take it anymore. This war, the death, the suffering, the pain. I've already been scarred for life. My love is probably dead. Even if I did get back, I'd be horrified and probably mentally unstable forever. The person I was before this war died long ago, after a few base assaults. I'm just a form, a killer in the field and a cryer at home. I've been cheated out of this so many times. I'll dodge the missile only to see if I still can, if the old magic is still on my side. And if it's not, this only confirms it all.

Time resumed.

The Reaper began a dazzling counter-missile move. He turned ninety degrees left and pulled downwards, then upwards, then downwards, then yanking to the right. The SAM continued.

His missile was about to strike the enemy Skyguard.

You or me, elmo?

Neither.

[AztecWarrior]

The missile slammed into the Reaper, just as the Skyguard exploded. It hit right behind the cockpit, in the power unit. Free nanites went everywhere, creating the characteristic blue explosion. He was pushed forward in his seat. The Reaper began its rapid fall to Auraxis. It seemed to play in slow motion (probably from the concussion), his mind recording every detail.

The Reaper half-flew and half-fell. Its engines fluttered and lost power, and there was no more guidance from the control stick. He was going to fall into a marshy area. Yes, he would probably die there, in the marsh. The Reaper kept relative stability after the impact, it did not veer to either side noticeably. The ground got closer, and closer, and closer.

And then it all went black.

[AztecWarrior]

The Reaper was hissing. There was a sharp, definite hissing, for sure.

What else was happening? There was crushed metal everywhere. Water was seeping in to the...well, the space. It was almost like an aircraft cockpit, but the roof was missing...at any rate, he concluded that he was stunned. It seemed falimilar to him. Yes, everything was familiar. That much was sure.

Exactly why he was inside of this hissing scrap heap was beyond him. The pain then kicked in. Everything, EVERYTHING! He tried to open his mouth to scream, but that itself caused too much pain, so he simply moaned. There was scattered red liquid over parts of his armor. Blue and yellow...blue and yellow? And an eagle logo?

And then Aztec remembered everything.

----------------------------------------------
Zulu squad had seen the Reaper go down. Marsman knew that the newbie was getting scared of the battle, so he sent FullClip down with Sledge and Jennyboo, the latter ones having more experience, to check it out about ten minutes later.

They arrived at the beast. It was like a tiger, lying down, injured, and submissive.

"Hey! There's still someone in here!" shouted Jennyboo.

"Jeez, I think he's alive!" said FullClip upon seeing him.

There definitely was.
-----------------------------------------------

AztecWarrior tried to talk, but he felt blood in his mouth. His helmet was broken, and glass was everywhere. If his arm wasn't broken, he'd touch and feel the blood trickling down the side of his face.

And then some elmos showed up.

"Hey! There's still someone in here!"

"Jeez, I think he's alive!"

"Well...if I may make a suggestion, Miss Jennyboo."

"Heh...go ahead, Sledge."

"FullClip, take my pistol. Kill him."

The officer handed the private his pistol. He levelled it at Aztec's face. He was only about three meters away. A sure kill.

"Well...it's hard doing it for the first time...I mean, Sledge, how was your first kill?"

"Instant, a reaction."

"Well, this is real..."

"And what, mine weren't? You heard the Minister of Information, nothing has changed since the respawns went off. Shoot the damn NC."

"The poor guy, he's in pain...shoot him, FullClip."

He stood there, pistol aimed at his head, ready, but too afraid to take the shot. Aztec couldn't take it any more.

"..klm."

"What? I think he's saying something, sir...and uh, ma'am..."

"kllm."

It was hard with all the blood.

"K..kill me.." whispered Aztec.

"...what?" interjected FullClip.

"Kkill me..." he whispered again

"Are you crazy?" asked Jennyboo.

"Kill me.." he said, louder.

"Can't we just take him prisoner?" asked FullClip.

"SHUT UP AND SHOOT THE BASTARD!" shouted Sledge.

"Kill me!" coughed out Aztec. He then realized it wouldn't do.

"You'r...y...you're afraid. You..you don't know w...what to do? Ccan't kill a man in cold bloo..blood? W..what's wrong? Chk..chicken?"

*click!*

For a second, Aztec thought (with the small bit of his brain that wasn't scrambled egg) that time had stopped again. But it hadn't.

"Sir, the pistol jammed."

"C'mon, you took Basic! Clear the jam!"

He pulled the trigger again to no avail. Another click.

"It's like we're in the Sanctu-"

All over every soldier's radio on Auraxis, the cease-fire was announced a few moments after planet-wide weapons lock was turned on.

***Soldiers of the Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, and Vanu Sovereignty: In light of recent events, as well as the legnth of this war, there have been negotiations concerning an end to this war going on now for a few hours. Today, a diplomatic party met and hammered out a peace plan. As of now, a state of peace exists between all three empires. Each empire has recieved three continents and a section of Searhus. The caverns will be divided in the future. All troops, cease fire. You have fought well today.

Your current order is to stand down and provide medical care to the wounded. Treat all wounded men and women as friendlies. You have all fought well. You have secured the freedom of your individual empires. May it last so very long.***

A tear ran down Aztec's face. It mixed with the blood and fell onto his lap.

He wanted to die.

[AztecWarrior]

"Marsman, this is Sledge, we have a wounded NC, he looks too sick to carry, is there a medevac in the area?"

"Sledge, there is a Sunderer headed your way down the road, wave it down and load the goon up."

"Roger that."

FullClip stood on the road, pistol in hand, looking down, in deep thought. He had just been saved. There was no blood on his hands. He was free. He was no killer. Aztec was long gone.

"You'r...y...you're afraid. You..you don't know w...what to do? Ccan't kill a man in cold bloo..blood? W..what's wrong? Chk..chicken?" I was sincere. I wanted to die. I wanted him to kill.

He couldn't do it because he is innocent. He's still good...I'm gone. I'd kill an innocent man in cold blood any day.

"Airman, a medevac is coming. Stick with it." said Jennyboo.

"I d-died a long...long time ago..."

He heard the wheeled behemoth halt nearby.

I died a long time ago, woman. What you see before you was once a man.

"Andre, what can you do?" said Sledge, looking over the wreck with the medic.

"Jeez, we had to dig in the supply bins for the little stuff we have that's not dependant on respawns and hand-held Vanu technology to heal people. Bandages, morphine, surgery, all that crap...Ooh, he's probably bleeding internally and has suffered severe trauma. Moving him is going to be tough. I'll give him this shot of steroids to keep him alive...apart from that, I really don't have much, I've been running around with injured soldiers for a few hours now."

Andre reached over and injected the steroids into Aztec's arm. It wouldn't dull any pain, but it would keep his weakened system going throughout the horrors to come.

"Okay, we have to move you...AztecWarrior, your name is. Okay. Aztec, get ready. One, two, thrEE!"

Sledge and Andre lifted him by the torso and legs. Aztec wailed in pain. They put him on a stretcher and put him in the back of the medical Sunderer, turrets removed to make more space for patients. There was nobody else inside, but it hadn't been cleaned from the last medical run, and blood stained the walls. It was dark and cold.

"I'll drive him up to the base, see if the remaining NC can arrange a medevac for him. He needs to get to the Sanctuary within a few hours or he's in trouble."

"You do that. Can we hitch a ride?" said Sledge.

"Uh, get in the back along with this guy. While you're at it, make sure nothing happens with him, heart rate, breathing, you know."

The road was smooth. Aztec stared at the cieling of the Sunderer during the journey. It was spent in complete silence except for one occasion.

"Hey, do you have a wife? Girlfriend, fiancee, anything?" asked Jennyboo.

"...I don't think so."

[AztecWarrior]

Aztec began to fade in and out of consciousness after that. He only remembered the vehicle coming to a halt, seeing a huge amount of destruction inside the base, NC soldiers standing guard in the tunnels (indicating how far they had been pushed back), and not much after that. When he finally awoke, it was when a Galaxy bearing the Golden Eagle came to a hovering landing inside the courtyard. He saw the giant craft, blotting out the ascendant moon, casting a glow over the whole area, as its engines got lower and lower.

"Soldier...hey, soldier, you're being evacuated to the Sanctuary. You're stabilized, but you still need trauma surgery to survive. We can't do that here." said a smiling, cute girl in Agile armor. "You nearly died on us already. Don't do it again..."

Aztec felt everything fade away....







----------------------------------------------
Aztec stood in white emptiness. There was nothing, anywhere he turned. Suddenly, a dark cloud, like a smoke grenade, appeared, and with it, a wall. With the sounds of screaming, a flaming hand grasped a chisel and carved the following into the wall:


***964;***959; '***913;***955;***966;***945; ***954;***945;***953; ***964;***959; ***937;

IESVSNAZARENVSREXIVDAEORVM

***1488;***1500;***1492;***1497; ***1488;***1500;***1492;***1497; ***1500;***1502;***1488; ***1513;***1489;***1511;***1514;***1504;***1497;


"WHAT DOES IT SAY?" asked the flaming hand.

"The first, 'Alpha and Omega'. The second, 'Jesus Christ, King of the ****'. The third, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?'"

"YOU TOO ARE FORSAKEN."

"No...impossible, no...no, no!"

Aztec fell to the ground, kneeling, begging the flaming hand for mercy.

"YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED. YOU HAVE FAILED."

"Impossible...no, no..."

"THERE IS NO ESCAPE. TORMENT HIM FOREVER. WOE IS YOU."

He reappeared in a land of wailing and grinding of teeth. The sky was blackened, there was no light, but he could see. He could sense darkness. The air smelled of thick sulfur, and there was a huge lake of oil, burning eternally. There was little question to where Aztec was. Everyone else was wrong. There was nobody else in Hell.

I'm dead. I'm dead and I am in Hell.

A figure walked towards him, especially dark. He radiated darkness, evil, cult worship. He appeared somewhat humanoid, but had hands tied to and hanging from his armpits. He wore a short skirt and nothing else. His face was painted and his hair wild and full of snakes. He had with him in his right hand a flagellum, a bladed whip with many heads. In his left hand was a golden dagger.

"You are the one who has called himself AztecWarrior in life." He spoke in the Aztec dead language, yet, they understood each other.

"Y...yes..."

"Thousands of years ago, from blood long purged from your bloodline, one of your ancestors knew me. Do you know who I am?"

"You are Xipe Totec. Aztec god of life, rebirth, and death."

"Go on."

"Yo..*gulp*...you flay yourself so that the world may grow corn. You wear the skin of the dead. You bring life yet suffer for it."

"Why am I here, lost soul?"

"Eternal punishment."

"For eons I have flayed myself so that the world may be bountiful. I am long since a dead god, a demon. Now, I seek my revenge. And who better to exact my toll upon than the one who seeked our glory in life?"

He leaped forward and pummeled Aztec down to the ground. He was too fearful to get back up. He saw him take his flagellum and slash his chest. The pain radiated everywhere. It was a sharp pain, of multiple cuts. Blood trickled out. He did it again, and again, and again, over his chest. He screamed.

"I require your heart. Huitzilopocthli must be pleased."

He took his dagger and plunged it into his body. He held the skin open as he savagely sliced out the still-beating heart. Aztec screamed even louder.

"Before I leave you for all eternity, I require one more thing. Your skin."

Xipe Totec grabbed one of the flaps of skin that was open and pulled, hard. The sinews of his body broke and his skin ripped off, leaving the exposed muscular frame. Aztec began to go dizzy from the screaming and the sheer pain.

"And now, to eternal perdition."

Aztec was thrown into the fiery lake. He burned....

--------------------------------------------

AztecWarrior awoke, screaming bloody murder, while being wheeled to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in the NC Sanctuary.

I'm not dead...I didn't die...

The demons, the psychological problems, or maybe both, had returned.

"Jeez, well, this one's alive!" remarked one of the aides.

"Shit! Are his vitals okay?"

"Yes, well, for a guy who just withstood a Reaper crash."

A group of medical aides wheeled him rapidly down the hospital.

"Sir, we've detected severe internal bleeding as well as organ compression in the ribcage, in the central chest. We need to operate immediately."

"W...wha...are you g.."

Aztec coughed up blood.

"Going to do?"

"No time to describe it. I also need to inform you of something."

"What?"

"We're all out of anaesthetics. There's no morphine, no sedatives, nothing. You will be fully conscious."

Aztec's opened his eyes wide open in horror.