The Dark Guardian - Chapter 24: A Bloody Surprise

[spoiler]So, as you may or may not know, I will be taking over the Dark Guardian series. I hope you enjoy[/spoiler] [b]WARNING: THERE WLL BE BLOOD AND GRAPHIC IMAGERY AHEAD[/b] Somewhere on the Dreadnaught Ian's POV "Ouch, that hurt." I said as I sat up from the spot where'd I'd been dumped. What happened? The last thing I remembered was passing out from an overload of old memories. I scanned the room I was in. It appeared to be some sort of barracks, with four beds lined up against the wall. I froze. Where was my Ghost? As if on cue, he appeared in front of me. "Eyes up guardian, we've got to get out of here." "I have a plan to get out of here," I told it, "But to pull it off, you have to follow my instructions to the letter, got it?". Ghost nodded. "Okay, so the plan is..." *Hours pass* I was jolted awake by the sound of boots echoing towards me. Blinking, I stood up, attempting to compose myself to receive my visitor. Suddenly, the door opened. Standing there was a Warlock, appraising me with one ice blue eye, her other eye hidden behind raven locks of hair. She was garbed in obsidian robes, with an infernal shotgun slung across her back. I recognized her immediately. She was my old friend, now Walker, Sara. Sara's POV As I looked at Ian's new form, I wondered if he recognized me. Para claimed he had recognized her, but she was unsure about the rest of his memories. I was snapped out of my reverie by Ian's voice. "Hello, Sara." For a moment, I was stunned, then my heart swelled with joy. He remembered me! "Ian," I asked tentatively, "Is it really you?" "Of course it's me." Ian's voice was different. It was similar to his original voice, but there was a subtle mechanical growl underlying every single word. I squealed with joy and tackled him to the ground with a mighty bear hug. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alive! We all missed you so much!" Ian grunted out a reply. "Yes, I'm glad to see you too, but it's hard to reply when you're crushing me into the floor." I backed off quickly. "Oops, sorry. I'm just so excited to see you. Here, I'll help you up, and we can be a team again!" I offered him a gloved hand. He took it immediately, crushing my hand in an iron grip. "Thank you for the offer," said Ian. I noticed a subtle movement out of the corner of my eye. [i]What was that?[/i] Ian's voice brought me back to reality. "However," Ian's voice dropped to an unnerving growl. "I must decline." His arm suddenly blurred, and with one swift movement Ian buried his knife in my arm. The steel burned with a sensation of blinding cold. It was as if he'd stabbed me with a shard of dry ice. I howled in agony and wrenched my arm away, frantically working to remove the knife. It was torturous. The unholy sensation of feeling and [i]hearing[/i] the knife scrape against the fragments of my bones, in addition to the immense physical anguish from the pierced skin and shattered bones nearly caused me to stop, but I forced myself to continue, and with a gushing torrent of red, I finally tore the blade free from my flesh. Throwing it as far away as possible, I stumbled backwards, focusing all my power into my arm to heal it as fast as possible. But it wasn't healing. Why wasn't it healing? [b]WHY WASN'T IT HEALING?![/b] Movement caught my attention. Ian had retrieved his knife and was spinning the blade between his fingers. It was soaked in blood. My blood. I had though of Ian as a friend, and with absolutely no remorse, he had stabbed me. The thought drove me to rage. "You... Bastard... You'll pay for that!" I spat through teeth clenched in pain. The Exo Hunter had cleaned his knife of my blood, and I noticed a pale sheen of energy surrounding the blade. Was this why my wound wasn't healing? "Oh, I know I'm getting what's coming to me." Spoke Ian. "We all are. I've known that since my memory was restored." I gritted my teeth. "We'll see, you son of a bitch!" I shouted, drawing Damnation. But it was a fruitless endeavor. Ian kicked it far away out of my grasp before I could unload a blast of buckshot into his heartless face. He knelt beside me. He whispered to me, saying "Calm down. I cut an artery. You'll bleed out if you keep struggling, so I'll make this quick." I couldn't believe it. I was about to die, unless I did something. But I wouldn't let this traitorous piece of shit kill me, not without a fight. I concentrated all my dark power into my good arm, and struck Ian with all my might. The energy left my palm and entered Ian's armor, flinging him backwards across the room, and against the wall. The cry of distress gave me no small satisfaction. But I had to flee. I couldn't fight him with a shattered arm, so all I could do was run. Maybe the others could help me kill the traitor. Ian's POV. As I picked myself up from the floor, I grimaced at the unpleasantness of my task. I had to track down and kill my former friends and their leader, Para. At least Sara had made it easy to hunt her down. The gouts of blood pouring from her arm would make an easy trail to track. I noticed something on the ground. Sara's shotgun. Damnation, if I recalled correctly. It would be a useful tool, so I picked it up. The weapon felt strange. It clashed with my Light, but the corruption of the Darkness within myself made the weapon fit in my hands like it was made for me. I slung it across my back; now it would stay out of my way until I needed it. Sheathing my knife, I hurried out of the room. I had Walkers that needed to be put down. [spoiler]Feedback is appreciated.[/spoiler]