Index 5 A442.1.2

A Story by Squid

Its another Index story

This is a lot more serious than first anticipated, thought Fenton, watching the cult before him perform some kind of ritual. They wore long cloaks made of what appeared to be deer skin and deer skulls to cover their faces.

I better call this in. With that, Fenton disappeared into the woods and made his way back to his car and drove back to the station.

“Fenton, you're back. How'd it go?” the operator chirped from his desk.

“The A443.1.2 has progressed to stage 4, we need to call it in.”

“That bad, huh?” The operator turned to his phone and dialed a number. “We have a stage 4 A443.1.2.”

Soon enough a helicopter decided out of the sky, the rotors kicked up clouds of dust, causing Fenton to shield his eyes. When it landed a squad of soldiers already in full gear hopped out and saluted Fenton.

“Dr. Umbren, sir!” said the lead troop “Task force Hagall reporting.”

“At ease, boys.” Fenton replied, “As you probably know, we have a stage 4 A443.1.2 in the woods here; they appear to be sacrificing people on an altar made of antlers. The purpose of this is unknown, so we need to go in there and take them out. I’ll be running tactil.”

“Sir, yessir.” came the response from the task force.

“Remember, this is an active instance, it may appear, and if it does, take it out.”

“Sir, with all due respect, can we kill a god?” asked Hagall-4.

“This god-- yes, it bleeds. We can kill it, now let's move.”

Then they all climbed back in the helicopter, and headed towards the drop site. When they arrived the helicopter dropped down ropes and they slid to the ground.

“Hagall-1 to base, touchdown confirmed, moving to target.”

“Copy that, Hagall-1. Proceed with caution.”

The Hagall squad continued to move through the woods towards the target. Their heavy boots crunched on the dry leaves.

“Nearing target, safeties off.” Hagall-1 said, as if their safeties hadn't been off since they touched down.

Soon they came to a circular clearing, they could see figures dancing around some kind of altar in the middle of the clearing. Hagall-1 held up their first and the squad came to a halt.

“Hagall-1 to base, we have reached the target. 12 boogies sighted, are we free to commence assault?” they whispered into the microphone that snaked down by their mouth.

“Roger Hagall-1, clear to commence assault.”

“Alright men, weapons free, move in.”

Hagall squad moved into the clearing, firing, 4 cultists were down in as many seconds, some dove to grab crude spears or clubs, the rest scattered. The next seconds were smoke and light and screams, then, silence. Hagall-1 survived the scene laid out before them, 10 deer skin-clad bodies lay on the ground, and Hagall-5 was down with a spear through her arm.

“Hagall-1 to base, 11 boogies down, 1 boogie is missing, Hagall-5 is down, her condition is stable but we need med-evac.”

“Roger that Hagall-1, sending med-evac, perform perminater sweep, destroy the altar, and RTB.”

“Roger, Hagall-2 with me, let's get rid of this alter.”

Hagall-1 and 2 approached the altar, a crude tower about waist height of birch wood and deer antlers. Fresh blood was running down the side and seemed to be collecting at the base. Something that could generously be called a human corpse was laid across the top.

“Dear god.” muttered Hagall-2.

“Most likely, yes.”

Hagall-1 pulled out a small grenade, pulled the pin, and dropped it on the altar.

“Fire in the hole!” they yelled and dove away from the altar.

Bits of wood and antler and other things flew through the air.

“Sweep complete, let’s RTB.” came Hagall-3’s voice.

“Hagall-1 to base, sweep complete, altar destroyed, ready to RTB”

“Roger that Hagall-1, sending chopper, head to extraction point”

“Roger Base, Hagall-1 out”

The squad made their way through the woods back to the extraction point. Soon the whirring of the helicopter blades sounded overhead, ropes dropped down from the copter and the squad ascended back to the copter and headed back to the station. When they arrived Hagall-1 gave their action report to Fenton.

Fenton breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the helicopter blades. The team was safe. Soon, Hagall-1 came in and handed him their action report. Fenton looked it over, and started to write his own action report.

“Investigated reports of disappearances in Wilas woods. Discovered stage 4 A442.1.2, called in Task Force Hagall. Taskforce destroyed the altar, and eliminated 11 instances. Hagall-5 injured by a spear from an instance, recovery expected.”

Fenton turned both his report, and Hagall-1’s report, headed home, and turned himself in for the night.