Project MCX: The Mission Pt. 01

He stared into her gorgeous hazel eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

She met his look with a loving smile. "Make peace with her. Please. It would mean something."

Although Martin wanted to say no, he couldn't say no to Brea. "Alright...I'll be right back."

She smiled in thanks as he reluctantly let her go. He quickly ran down the path, catching up to Jodi in short time. "Jodi!"

Jodi turned around, startled. "Martin? I thought..."

"I know...I know..." Martin stopped to catch his breath, giving Niki a fond smile. "I was a jerk. I know that. I'm sorry things ended the way they did."

His ex girlfriend gave him an incredulous look. "Really?"

He tried to look sincere. "I mean it Jodi. I know it ended poorly, and I'm truly sorry about that."

Jodi looked at him, not believing him. After a moment she finally rolled her eyes. "Alright Martin...I forgive you. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Martin gave her a roguish grin. "It's a start."

Slowly shaking her head Jodi laughed softly. "She seems really nice Martin. I'm happy for you. Truly. But right now I got a job to do, so we'll have to make nice later. Okay?"

Even though he really didn't want to, Martin nodded eagerly. "Definitely."

Jodi nodded, understanding all too well. She turned turning around and resumed her trek towards the nearby mountains. Martin watched her go, wondering if breaking up with her was the right choice after all. He loved Brea, but old feelings didn't die out that easily.

He felt Niki's hand on his shoulder, and her lips got close to his ear. "And Martin...if things don't work out with Brea...you always have other options."

Her tongue flicked against his ear, and Martin watched Niki slip away. Her green eyes gave him an inviting look before she ran after her sister. He rubbed his ear until breaking out in laughter. Niki always did have a crush on him, but when he last saw her she was jailbait.

But that's no longer the case.

Still, he had Brea and she was plenty. He spared a curious look at the path, realizing that Jodi and Niki must be specifically heading to the old dinosaur caves nearby. Bored kids used to draw dinosaur pictures on the wall and claim they were made by cavemen. Seemed so brilliant at the time...

He shook his head and returned to Brea. She was conversing with Emily, and both women giggled when they saw him. He pretended to not see that. "Alright ladies, ready to continue?"

Brea ran up to him, scooping up his arm with hers. "Definitely!"

The three of them moved down the path, and while Brea didn't say anything Martin felt her concern. "Don't worry honey."

"Hmmm?" she asked innocently.

He didn't buy it completely. "What happened between me and Jodi was another lifetime ago...a lifetime I don't want anymore."

Brea's eyes looked ahead. "Why?"

The first thing that came to mind sounded so sappy, but he decided to go with it. "Because it was a life before I met you."

Emily nearly laughed, but before Brea could reply they heard a shout. Martin held Brea close as he looked around. This place was secluded; how could there possibly be so many others here? "Hello?!"

"Hey!" came the feminine reply.

The three of them looked for the woman, but Emily spotted her first. "There! Down the path!"

Martin followed Emily's finger, spotting her running towards them. He relaxed slightly, realizing it was just one blonde woman.

With a dynamite body.

The hot blonde ran up to them. "Hey!"

Still holding Brea protectively, Martin couldn't help but admire this woman as she got closer. Her body was voluptuous, slim in the middle and ample where it needed to be. Shoulder length dirty blonde hair fell towards a tank top closer to a sports bra, and yet her top barely held her D-cup breasts. Her jean shorts were no bigger than Emily's, but she at least had hiking boots on.

"Hey," Martin finally replied. Even though he never met her before, Martin swore he knew her from somewhere. "What's up?"

The blonde stopped to catch her breath. "I need help."

Emily gave her a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

The woman pointed back down the trail. "I can't find my friends. We camped just up ahead, but I had to return to the car for bug repellant..."

"...you don't need it," Martin pointed out. "There aren't any bugs here, especially this time of year."

"I know!" The way she said it told Martin that she didn't, but he wasn't going to press the issue. "But when I got back to camp it was all messed up!"

"Messed up?" Martin found this absurd. "Like how?"

She didn't find this as amusing. "Like messed up! The tents were thrown about, the food scattered...cans crushed. You know...messed up! Like some sort of animal attacked..."

Martin had to fight against the urge to shake his head. "There aren't any animals around here, at least nothing dangerous. It's probably a prank."

"My friends wouldn't do that." Her blues eyes radiated confidence. "I saw a cop car nearby, and figured they'd be this way."

Martin nearly groaned. "Yeah, we passed them not ten minutes ago. They were heading towards the mountains."

"To look for caves!" Emily added, finding Niki's enthusiasm funny.

The blonde didn't catch the tone, or overlooked it. "Can you help me find them? I don't know this area very well, but I need to find my friends soon! We have a schedule!"

Although he didn't want to, Martin felt Brea's hand on his chest again. "Honey, it's not that far."

Martin bit his reply, finding it hard to argue with her smile. "Alright, we'll go get Jodi."

Brea's smile was appreciative. "You know I love how helpful you are, right?"

Even though she was wrong, Martin liked being her hero. "You know I love hearing you say that, right?"

Not as impressed, Emily rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll go on ahead and get the camp ready."

Surprised, Martin gave her a look. How'd she know how to get there? "You sure?"

"I got the map," Emily said, showing the trail guide for effect. "I'll just follow these red lines to where you said to go. It was here, right?"

"Yeah." Martin skeptically looked at the map. It was old, but so were the trails. It looked accurate enough, and the spot she indicated was the right one. Maybe she would get there alright. If not...he would to be Brea's hero and go find her. This wasn't as bad as it sounded though; Brea always rewarded her hero in the best possible way.

Emily flashed the others a smile, yet her eyes lingered knowingly on Brea. "Then I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Yes you shall," Brea responded, clutching Martin's arm tightly as she giggled.

Unsure what this meant, Martin played along. "See you in a few."

Together with Brea and the buxom blonde, Martin made his way back to where he last left Jodi. Brea's inexperience with hiking still meant he had to help her along, not that he minded one bit. Fortunately, the blonde was sure footed and needed no help; only directions.

"So what is your name?" Brea asked, trying to spark a conversation.

"Huh?" the blonde replied before realizing what Brea was asking her. "Oh, my name is Cammy."

"Cammy," Brea repeated. "I'm Brea, and this is Martin."

Cammy offered them a pleasant, thankful smile. "A pleasure. And thank you."

"You're welcome," Martin replied before it hit him. Cammy! He did recognize her after all! She was an adult film actress from some of his favorite movies! Everything clicked, and he stifled a laughter.

What was it Jodi said? A 'film crew' was renting out the General's cabin. She couldn't outright say it was an adult 'film crew'. She had to be coy, but this was just like the General!

He shook his head instead when they arrived back at the resting spot. He turned to follow the direction Jodi and the others went when he spotted something. Martin knelt down and looked at something new.

He felt Brea look over his shoulder. "What is it honey?"

"I'm not sure," Martin said. There were markings in the dirt that looked like footprints, but they weren't made from a boot. The prints were long and very oddly shaped. He didn't recognize them, but then again he wouldn't. He never bothered paying any attention to this nonsense when he actually cared about the cub scouts! "It's nothing. Let's find Jodi."

He continued to lead the two women after Jodi, although he kept them going at a fast pace. Those footprints bothered him more than he cared to admit. Someone came to the resting place after them...someone who was messing with them.

Martin found the caves easily enough. They were right where they always were. He smiled when he saw Jodi and Earl's backpacks at the entrance, but his smile faded when he saw no signs of Jodi's party.

Brea looked around too, not seeing them either. "Martin?"

"It's fine," Martin reassured. The backpacks were set there; not thrown there. Jodi and the others went inside, which was good. "These caves aren't deep, nor are they dangerous. They can't have gone that far inside."

Moving quickly, Cammy set her backpack at the entrance too. "I'm going to get them."

"Wait!" Martin almost felt silly cautioning her. "I know these caves. I'll help ya find them."

Brea's eyes looked at him fearfully. "Martin!"

"Hey!" He held her hands tightly. "I'll be fine! Nothing's going to happen, and the sooner we can get this done the sooner we can rejoin Emily."

"I...I know...but..." Brea struggled with saying it.

She didn't have to. Martin already knew about her fear of being underground. "That's fine honey. You can stay out here. I'll just be a few minutes."

Even though Brea didn't like the thought of being left alone, the thought of going inside the caves was worse. Plus, it was her who volunteered for them to help Cammy. She wasn't about to force him to abandon the blonde.

Instead, she nodded in acceptance. "Okay. Thank you, Martin. I'll be fine here."

He gave her a deep kiss. "Everything'll be wonderful tonight honey. See you soon!"

Slowly she nodded, giving him her sweetest smile. Martin's eyes lingered on his beautiful soon-to-be fiancé before he followed Cammy inside the dinosaur caves.

---------

Fox awoke with a start, looking around to regain her bearings. Confused, she checked her own vital readings. Normal.

"So why did the machine switch off?" she wondered out loud. The doctor did say that it would if she became subjected to too much stress, but so far nothing major had happened. She rubbed her head, trying to overcome the grogginess when her peripheral vision caught movement in the other room.

While things in her room were calm, the adjacent room with the patient was a flurry of activity. Something was wrong, just not on her end!

Moving quickly, she exited the room. The doctors were frantic, but she didn't see the military doctor. Instead she grabbed the Asian nurse's arm. "What's going on here?"

"Martin started having seizures," she explained hurriedly. "Not sure what caused it. Nightmare perhaps?"

Fox's grip loosened, allowing the nurse to slip free. She didn't say anything; she already knew what happened.

For her to experience the memory meant that Martin would too. Everything she had witnessed up to that point was seemingly benign, but even now she saw the signs of the approaching horrors. He dismissed them at the time, like any sane person probably would have. Martin had no idea what sort of consequences would befall him for going down in those caves.

While Fox knew that not going in those caves still might not have saved lives, he still struggled against that certainty. Somewhere, deep down in his subconscious mind, he was screaming at himself to stop...to not go into those caves.

As Fox watched the doctors work to keep the man alive, she gave him an apologetic look. "I am sorry Martin, but we are not through yet. I understand your desire to not relive the horror again, but I need to know what happened. I need to understand our enemy."

Martin could not hear her, nor would he even be able to react to her had this not been the case. Instead he struggled to flail around, but his remaining limbs were tightly secured. His mouth made no discernible motions, but she knew what his mind was screaming.

"Don't go!"