• It's dark...oh so dark, I've locked myself inside an old wooden shack, the only light coming from my trusty lighter, I cant believe its come to this, sitting in a dark room, the sickening howls of those...things..just outside this flimsy wooden door of the crap shoot of a shack ive hidden inside of. Why did it come to this?...the woman I love is dying in my arms, begging me not to let them get her, and the only thing i can do is tell her things will be alright, but I know that isn't true, my ammo is dry, ive got just one bullet left in my revolver for the hundreds of monsters that wait just outside the door of this old shack. I guess there's only one thing to do...to make sure those monsters don't get a chance to get at my beloved, the hammer on the revolver clicks as I pull it back, tears rolling down my muddy face, I give her one last kiss before I aim the gun at her bleeding head whispering sweet nothings into her ear as i get ready to do the unthinkable....My name is Felix A. Cruz, and this is my story...BANG

    Two months earlier.

    My names Felix A. Cruz, I'm twenty-two and I was born in Miami, Florida, my parents are from Puerto Rico, we used to visit their family there every summer, it was a pretty nice place, and my parents can't stop talking about it, but for me, Miami is number one, there aint no other place id rather be in this world then that back in my sunny city.
    "I can't believe this man! Where in Black Water! Can you not understand how awesome this is?!"
    "Yeah Rick, for the hundredth time, I get it, we got the job at Black Rose, were ******** mercenaries now, aint that a hoot?"
    "Man Felix, what got into you? I though you'd be more excited 'bout this man"
    "Yeah I was thinking the same thing"
    That's my friend, Ricky Stars, we've been friends for as long as we can both remember, he's your average jock, strong, aggressive, could probably get a nun to do a sixty-nine id he wanted too, and about as sharp as pair of plastic safety scissors, strange thing about his is we met in first grade, me being six, and him being around nine, I'm not saying he's retarded or something, the guy can memorize an entire play book in one night, and can beat anybody in barroom trivia, no matter the topic, but really, who the hell fails the first grade three times? Not that I cared really, cuz when your friends with the biggest kid in the class, they usually think twice about messing with ya.
    As the truck were riding in stops, Ricks is first out the door, sort of speak, but in his haste to get out of the truck, he had forgot to bring his bag with him, classic. I grab my things and hop off the back of the truck, just as Rick was climbing back in to get his, I get my first look around the base that was going to be my home for the next few months -this aint Miami that's for sure...- I think to myself as I watch the rest of the recruits follow me and Rick out of the truck, all of the just as enthusiastic, makes me think why the hell I'm not...probably because I only got hired on as a chopper pilot? Yeah probably that. As we line up to get our bunks, Rick finally made it back with his bag, his trade mark grin was plastered to his face, it bothered me how he was always grinning like that, he looked like one of those evil master minds in my old cartoons.
    "Rick have I ever told you that the longer someone stares at that grin of yours, the more creepy it gets?"
    "Well that can be resolved easily, don't look at it, it's meant for the ladies man, not your gay a**, at least im not all gloomy and s**t like you are dude, you should be excited man!"
    "Rick... I'm a ******** Ranger with four years of first hand combat experience, and I get hired to fly ******** helicopters?! I mean come on!"
    "Yeah man, it sucks so bad that you got hired by the highest paying paramilitary organization in the western hemisphere, with a cushy piloting job, a real tragedy man, a real ******** tragedy"
    "...shut up Rick..."
    Rick starts laughing as we get our bunks, not surprisingly, me and Rick got bunks next to each other, best friends forever I guess?...Oh God my little sister is getting to me. As soon as all the recruits get their bunks, we all get ordered to line up in front of the bunks, probably to get the usual 'this is my base, my rules' speech from the base commander, sure enough one of the soldiers on the base started barking at us to straighten up for the base commander, what none of us was expecting though was who the commander was. A short, well shaped, belumptious, woman walked out of the officer's tent wearing tight fitting,black cargo pants and button up shirt, with pair of black aviator shades, you know the ones. As if by command, everyone of us, including me and Rick, most of us were waiting for an old battle scared man to follow her out, but no one came, just this short brunet who glared at us from behind her black shades. It didn't take long for us to realize just who the commander was, not that I cared really, I was a bit preoccupied looking at the 'sights' to truly care who she was, but of course, Rick, being the genius that he is opened his trap and had to ruin it.
    "Where's the commander?"
    See? Genius...The woman turned her attention to the both of us, seeing as my hand had made its way up to my face after what rick had said. She walked up to us and looked at us, looking us over, sizing us up, having too look up to do soo, I tried not to look at her, while Rick looked down at her, his grin still clear on his face.
    "What's your name private?"
    "Uhhhh...I'm not a private ma'am, I'm a sarg-"
    Before he could even finish his sentence, the woman had knocked Rick on his a**, her boot heel on his neck, a shocked look on his face as he looked at the girl, he was joined by the rest of the men, including myself.
    "Wrong, maggot, your not in the army anymore, your in black water, your old rank, as well as the ranks of the rest of you excuses for soldiers, mean nothing here, and for your information, I am the commanding officer! And you will refer to me as Sir, do i make myself clear?! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"
    "Sir yes Sir!!"
    Everyone repeated in unison, as they turned away from her and Rick as a sadistic grin graced her lips as she took her boot off of Ricks neck, letting him get back to his feet, turning to look at me for a second before turning around and walking back to the front of the soldiers.
    "Good! Now for those who didn't already know I am the commanding officer on this Base, My name is Lisa Jennings, You will refer to me as Sir, I hear anyone you call me ma'am and you will regret it, seeing as you are all unskilled army rejects, you will all need to be trained to fight by going through our week long training regimen, and you will learn everything by the end of this week, you see, training you to be efficient soldiers costs us at black water money, and we here at black water don't like wasting money, so if by the end of the week, you fail to pass all of our courses, you will be fired from black water with no chance to rejoin black water, in other words, if you fail our training, you will not get another chance to join black water, so if you don't want to go back home without a job, I suggest you don't mess up, oh! And one more thing, your training starts now"
    The woman flashed us one more sadistic smile before turning her back to us, replaced by a brutish man who immediately started barking orders at us, starting by making us drop our bags and do a few hundred push ups before sending us into a run, It wasn't exactly the warmest welcoming I've received, but who cares really? I mean, when you get to meet the girl of your dreams, dose it really matter that you got a warm welcoming or not?