"The helicopter landed in front of a large structure that jutted out of the mountain, sending sand billowing around the small and desolate compound that rested outside the entrance into the mountain. This was one of the largest mines of Rasine before the outbreak and right now, Rasine was critical to the Defence forces as it was used for both vehicles, and bombs that of which have proved to be most effective in erasing the amalgamate. Rasine, however, was banned decades ago in a treaty after which this compound was left to rot and ruin here behind the backend of the lords. Some poor folk from the military had been stationed here for a while until they decided it was cheaper to just use surveillance cameras.

“Alright boys and girls, you know what to do, the less time we spend here, the better.”, V, the group leader, jumped out of the helicopter and began making their way towards the entrance. “J, you come with me, H and D you form a pair.”. The main entrance was sealed by a blast door which stood several meters in height to allow large automotive that hauled the rock material to pass through back when the place was operational. At the side of the blast door was a smaller door intended for foot traffic. D cut the old industrial padlock that hung on its handle. The door suddenly slammed open as the spring that had been compressed for years finally was able to extend itself. J, H and D had their rifles pointed at the door, fully expecting something to jump out, but nothing came. V led the group inside where they now stood in a large cavernous corridor. V placed an ITS beacon in the middle of the room. ” Alright, activate your ITS locators and keep an eye out for any movement, we know that the invaders like to hide in dark and damp places like this. J, we continue down the main corridor, H and D, you will go into the right corridor. Scan the cave walls frequently in case we find any Rasine. We will remain as silent as we can for the rest of the mission.”

H and D began to make their way through the alternative corridor and at first there was nothing but cavernous rock around them and the muddy ground beneath their feet. It continued like this for a few minutes until the beams of light from their flashlights hit a dead end on the main hallway. Around this dead end were smaller cavernous corridors that seemed to be wide enough to allow 2 trucks to pass side by side. H pulls up the map of the cavern into his visor and it seems these caves are not mapped, probably because they were dug later into the life cycle of the operation of this place. H wiped the dust off a plate that haphazardly hung on the cave wall, it read “processing”. If they were to find Rasine somewhere this sounds like it could be their best bet. The tighter space and the less present support structures, which seemed to be failing at their seams due to the rust, made this corridor feel far more intimidating and claustrophobic, especially as the thick damp air in there almost seemed to absorb the light from H and D’s flashlights. Somewhere in the distance and deep in the mountain there was a crash. The pair lifted their weapons in preparation and looked around. Behind them and in front of them they could only see the cave walls and darkness. The most logical reasoning for the sound was some random rock falling somewhere, they just have to hope one doesn’t fall on them so they pick up the pace and eventually reach the processing area.

The processing bay had been stripped clean apart from a few husks of machinery that had probably been left there as they weren’t worth transporting. At the opposite end of the processing area was a cliff edge that led to a chasm. D pulled out the scanner and began to scan around the area. He pointed it first at the machines and the scanner was able to pick up traces of Rasine. As he scanned the cave walls, near one of them the scanner began to pick up larger traces of Rasine. Walking alongside the wall the scanner began to show larger and larger numbers until D came to the edge of the chasm, there was definitely exposed Rasine down in the chasm. D put away the scanner, lit up a flare and dropped it down into the darkness. The flare exposed the jagged edges of the chasm as it fell red splotches of Rasine shimmering in the flares light. Eventually it fell beyond D’s sight. D turned around and waved to H, “I think we can get outta here now, we found what we came for.”. H nodded as they began to make their way towards the exit of the processing bay. A distorted sound echoed through the corridors. D and H looked around with their weapons ready, trying to figure out where the sound came from, but the bare rock walls made it a fool's errand as the sound bounced around the walls for a moment before everything became silent again. D yelped suddenly as H turned around towards D he was not there anymore. H ran to the edge of the chasm and pointed his flashlight down into the depths. He could see D unconscious and his visor broken on a slanted piece of jutting rock. H was about to call out to him until suddenly his unconscious body was pulled out of sight deeper into the chasm and out of sight.

Startled, H jumped back from the edge. He pulled up the ITS tracker on his visor and could see D moving downwards, but then his movement became erratic on the tracker before disappearing. They were not alone down here. H began to run back towards the entrance to warn V and J. “V! J! There is something down here!”, H’s calls were only met with static. While running H would look back to see if he could see anything chasing him. Out of breath he finally was able to reach the main corridor and he called out again on the radio “V! J! Respond! We are in danger, D is dead!”, he could only hear static for a while until V’s voice came on, “What? Regroup at our location, we found something very important”. “D is dead! We have to get out of here now!”, H spat out onto the radio. “H, J is wounded and we need your help here, now.”. Torn by this command H cursed under his breath, he couldn’t leave them both to die so he had to follow V’s orders. As H ran down the main cave corridor V’s ITS tracker lit up on H’s visor. However, there was no sign on J’s tracker.

After several bends through the maze-like corridors he ran into V who was standing in the middle of the corridor, the walls were lined with something purple. "V! Where is J I thought she was meant to be wi…!". A sharp and sudden explosion rung in H's ears a sharp pain emerged in his left thigh as he fell to the ground. V was holding a pistol and shot him while he had his back turned away from him. H took quick breaths as he pulled his MNT at V fully intended to fire at him. A large tentacle emerged from behind him looming above him for a moment as he removed his helmet, taking a deep breath of the tainted air inside the hive. "Don’t worry, you and all else shall join us as gods soon, H.". As he finished his sentence the tentacle tightened itself around V's chest and pulled him out of view deeper into the hive.

Deep inside the hive, the amalgamate had dragged V to the brooding pool at the core of its hive. The tentacle disappeared into the brooding pool alongside V as he was dragged into the thick oily liquid. He felt like he was floating inside the brooding pool where his mind began to swim and lose its focus more than before. It became filled with the voices and thoughts of thousands of entities all conversing in alien tongues. Slowly his own thoughts became but a tiny spec in the sea of voices, his sense of self and reality diluted and soon gone. Not long after the brooding pool had become still it began to stir once more as his form began to reveal itself, the viscous liquid rising from the pool, hardening as more of the features took shape. Eventually the creature tore itself free from the goo and released a guttural roar into the depths of the hive. The incubation cocoons in the middle of the brooding pool pulsating slowly as the matriarchs within them were already sending out pheromones throughout the hive to initiate the growth of more infection forms. Soon enough they would emerge from within the confines of their cocoons and lead the amalgamates assault.

Time was at the essence as H was limping out of the mine. The wound on his leg was bleeding profusely but stopping to halt the bleeding was secondary to getting out. He could feel his suit begin to inject an adrenaline cocktail into his bloodstream, however the pain wasn't the worst of it all, but the thought that he may have become contaminated due to the hole that was in his suit now. The adrenaline didn't allow him to dwell too long on that strain of thought as the only thing he could allow to have space in his mind was the small map that resided in the corner of his visor. The pain and blood loss from the bullet were making his vision blurry and unfocused, looking at the map was almost impossible. Finally, he could see the large blast doors which indicated he was near to the entrance. In the distance outside the helicopter was still standing. Fearing he could pass out before he made it back home he hastily applied a tourniquet to his leg and manually administered more adrenaline to keep himself wide awake. The visor lit up with the instructions on how to fly the helicopter and after following the instructions in a half-panicked state he was able to get the helicopter into the air. H glanced at his bloodstained leg. He was in there so briefly that he couldn't have become infected through such a small opening. Though he was still worried at the repercussions that could follow if the people back at HQ saw his suit was ruptured. Setting the helicopter onto autopilot he got out of the pilot’s seat to disrobe his suit and threw it out of the helicopter after which he put on one of the spares. This way there would be no unnecessary worry and worry is something they had aplenty now."

Higher-res: https://sta.sh/02gda3t5c757