by Tom Cain
"Do you think he has gone yet?" said one guard to the other.
"No we would have heard it, he wouldn't take the tram" the other guard laughed. Valeria's eye glowed purple.
"Wait!" said Burke looking up at a third floor window.
Valeria looked up, they saw a guard staring out over the rear exit. They waited. And waited. The guard finally turned around, John caught Valerias eye and winked. John kissed his pendant, stood up and in plain sight started to walk towards the guards with his hands up.
"Hey guys" said John.
"Hey keep your hands up buddy, you are not supposed to come near this building" the guard attention fixed on John.
Burke looking to his left to see Valeria had vanished and reappeared along a low running wall on the other side of the road.
"Yeah I know, I just lost my way, I need to find the…" John stopped mid-sentence.
Valeria rushed to crack the neck of one guard and before the other could point the gun in her direction John was already holding the guards face with one hand and smashing it into the concrete. They dragged the bodies towards the gate and signalled Burke and Bandoleer to come over.
"Burke you need to crack this lock, get going" John commanded.
“Ah just smash the damned thing” said Bandoleer scoping the area, anchor blade in hand.
“Don’t think that going to get us in quite captain” replied John.
Burke took a look at the reinforced metal shutters and then at the code pad of the lock. He grabbed a large pen knife from one of his overall pockets, which were deep and oily and started to unscrew a front facing panel below the code pad. The cables where guarded by a strong metal mesh which blocked any interference, Burke pointed at the mesh to John who was until that point busy looking around for any other soldiers. John sighed and grabbed the mesh with his free hand and ripped it off completely. Burke both shocked at the sudden motion but not surprised, continued to fiddle with the wires that were revealed. After a few minutes Burke had gotten the correct combination of wires to lift the metal shutters. Valeria and John ducked to each side as the shutters opened slowly from the ground up. A dark concreted area lay out before them, many stone support pillars were visible from the outside. Inside the underground area were several BCC vehicles parked in various locations. John nodded at Valeria to head on inside, she ducked and rushed through to a pillar to have a look around, she made out two guards across the far side of the vehicle bay, they hadn't noticed the shutter doors opening to her surprise. She glanced back at John and Burke to give the signal to move in.
John pulled the dead guards in, and the metal shutters down behind them both and took position behind another pillar, lodging their shoulders against the hard dusty surface. The florescent lights hummed gently as they thought about their next move. The guards who were brandishing automatic weapons were standing outside another set of shutters and a blue door. John began to move to another pillar slightly closer to the guards, he could hear them speaking.
"But they are never like that over there anyway, outside the state I have heard it’s devastated". One of the guards said.
"Yeah, you say that, but Moss told me exactly the opposite, he said he went on a trip with Swiss outside the zones and it was totally different". The other replied.
"Look, I just think that things could be different outside the zones, there could be…" the guard gasped as John dashed to put his large hand around his throat. The other guard looked on in shock at the shear speed of the attack and then fell as Valeria's knife was withdrawn from his back.
"I can tell you… the switch" the guard said with his last gasp of breath, John released his grip slightly.
"You can tell me what?" Johns face screwed up and angry.
The guard took some deep breaths and looked terrified.
"The switch part, it's on the lower levels, behind a Log out machine" the guard spluttered.
"What's a Logout machine?" John tightened his grip again, the guard began to choke.
"It's a computer based safe lock which usually requires biological keys" Burke sounded surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject.
"Where's the key?" John demanded in a shouting whisper releasing his grip again slowly.
"The guards upstairs, he's a sharp shooter, he has clearance" the guard coughed again.
"But he won't give it up, you need his thumb prints, both of them. He is trained never to surrender them, he will try and destroy them before you get to him. I can help you" the guard assured John still looking terrified.
“You better start talking sense you low life piece of shit” Bandoleer pushed through to come face to face with the struggling guard.
“I’ve been talking, I’ve been talking!” the guard contested.
John stared at the guard and looked disgusted.
"Do you know how many civilians you guys have killed to expand your God damned walls?" John tightened his grip again, this time is was going to be for good.
"But, but the thumbs…" the guards eyes rolled up as the blood stopped going to his brain.
"We don't need your help!" John flung the guards body next to the blue door.
"Burke open the shutters" John demanded looking for a way to open the blue door. Valeria nudged John out of the way and stuck her knife in the gap between the lock and the frame, it clicked open.
"The guard we need is up there, we only need his thumbs, we can donate the rest of him to the cause. We need the rest of our guys though so have to open the shutter and give them the signal". Valeria nodded at John in agreement with a determined look on her face.
Burke again got the shutter open, this time slightly quicker. John marched outside after checking for guards to give the rest of the team the go to leave the restaurant and head into the towers. They all started making their way through the front window of the restaurant and made their way across the road. A shot was heard and impact felt. Deidrick Sweet fell to the floor with a cup sized wound to the upper body. The guard on the upper floor had spotted their advance and was sniping them from behind a guardrail on the fourth floor. The shot was clean, precise and deadly. Deidrick was left twitching on the dusty road. The rest of the team scattered left and right trying to dodge potential fire.
"You see where he was Hollow?" Anvil shouted from behind a burned out car on the far left. The sound drew the snipers attention towards Anvils position. I need someone to duck out so I can get a shot on him. Ben ‘Horse’ Cambolini stood up from his crouched position by a low lying wall on the right side.
"Ah shit, you better get the shot Hollow! Else everyone in the whole area is going to know we are here if they don't already".
With that Horse ran towards the restaurant again in an attempt to draw the snipers fire. The guard saw the run and immediately took aim, Hollow jumped out and clicked a long modified semi automatic pistol from his holster and took aim at the fourth floor, the sniper caught this and adjusted his aim towards Hollow. Hollows reactions were quick and he let off two high-pitched shots, not loud just jarring, ear hurting shots.
The first bullet hit the window directly above the guards position, the second hit just below. The two bullets now stuck in the glass activated and an electric beam shot out from one and connected to the other. A loud whizzing sound and a crack the glass fractures, separating the panes and filling them with a thick misty glaze blocking the snipers view.
"Got ya" Hollow said clicking a new magazine into his pistol.
"Everyone get over to the other side now" he demanded. The team made it to the other side while the sniper broke through the glass only to receive a knife in the back and some glowing eyes. Valeria and John had made it through the blue door and onto the fourth floor. There were a number of empty guard posts on the way up.
The team met John, Burke, Bandoleer and Valeria trying to prise open a steel door on the fourth floor. The silver door was two inches thick and had a key card access point located on the middle right. Valeria pulled out a card from her back pocket and
slid it through the contacts. It beeped and clunked open. The team slowly opened the door and peered inside. As the door creaked open Ruf threw a flash bang into a seemingly empty hallway. The bang sparked and threw out a green tinted light burst-stunning Anvil who was stupidly staring straight at it. After the flash had died down the team moved into exam the room weapons held high. There was nothing in the baron hallway except a large black mark on the floor where the flash bang had gone off and some lingering smoke. At the far end of the hallway was another metal door with a very similar looking card swipe. The team moved along the corridor swiftly and reached the door. The sound of gentle, agitated murmuring could be heard even through the door.
Ruf readied a blue grenade he had stored in his combat belt and lined up against the wall on the left side. The door was made again out of silver steel and had obviously been fitted post apocalypse. John looked at Ruf for confirmation of readiness and stared back at the group, each of the members nodded back, guns ready.
"Wait" John whispered. "We are down one".
"We lost Sweet on the way in, the fucker with the rifle" Horse whispered back.
"We will catch up later! No-one else die!" John demanded.
Valeria pulled out the card again and took out her knife, she slowly swiped the card through the contacts and the red LED switched to green, the clunk of the heavy lock echoed through the long hall. The team were silent. Only breaths of anticipation laced the air. The door opened outwards towards the team with a deafening creak. The room they looked upon was completely dark, pitch black. Ruf threw the blue grenade he has been holding tightly into the centre of the void of darkness, it flew and clonked on the ground, immediately self righting and bursting its upper half with a spray of fluorescent blue liquid which stuck to many objects within the room.
"Ok ready?" John whispered again.
"No, wait for it! You don't want to" Ruf said being interrupted by a large burst of electricity coursing through the air following the blue liquid and striking each and every spot of liquid with a crackle. The reaction lit up the room briefly but long enough to see there were a number of BCC soldiers pointing their weapons in the direction of the open door. After the electrical reaction the grenade blast shocked, knocked down or killed five of the men in the room.
"Go go go" John bellowed.
“It’s go time” Bandoleer said calmly almost to himself.
John ran into the dark room first and rushed to hammer punch the first guard he saw, several guns flashed in the room. Each member firing outwards at areas of the room they had previous seen a standing guard. Muzzles flashed back in their direction, bodies hitting the floor like sandbags being thrown every few seconds. A deafening and blinding twenty seconds ensued.
Finally the firing stopped. Burke found the lights, flicked a switch and they came crashing back on. Clunk. The remaining bullets fell to the floor, Burke looked around for friend or foes faces. A rustle and a thud later, John appeared from under two dead BCC guards scratching his head.
"Argh, why did I take this job?" John mumbled to himself ridding himself of dust and checking for bullet holes.
“Shit, yeah that’s what I’m talking about. Needed that John, I needed that” Bandoleer shouted clearly very excited.
As their eyes adjusted to the newly lit room they saw some friendly faces in the pile. Horse was one of the few who fell, rolled up in a ball having taken a heavy blow to the stomach and being shot in the back.
"Ah shit Cambolini took one for the team, the horse got kicked" Hollow said gruffly from the centre of the room panting.
"Payton bit it too" he continued.
"I saw her charge in like a fucking hero, She got a guy from a whiles away, then took one in the head".
The team felt the loss immediately.
"Anyone else?" John strolled in the centre of the room.
"Argh shit" a liquid filled cough spluttered from behind one the of the pillars in the room circular room. Valeria rushed over to find Anvil curled up behind a large steel container.
"ah they got me a bunch of times, and I got a load of wet on me" he sulked and splutters again.
"I got you Anvil" Lisa the team medic rushed over to check his wounds. She found he had been shot several times in the legs and torso.
"I got you Austin, just stay still" Lisa hands started to glow as she closed her eye to concentrate. She felt the wounds she found in her subconscious, and the pain associated with each, each connection glowed inside her mind and she sped the white and red blood cells towards the bullets, she envisioned them pushing through the muscles, and bone and skin and as she did, they did. Slowly pushing the bullets out and removing the shrapnel, Anvil felt nothing only the calming presence of a green glowing light. The team stood in awe as Lisa's mutation became clear; she was a healer, and seemingly a good one. Her mousey brown hair covered her peaceful face and she concentrated on pushing the final pieces out of anvils chest. Anvil smiled as the bullets clinked on the floor, his chest wounds healed and scarred. The team took a sigh of relief as the big guy took a deep breath in and slowly back out, only to cough up more blood and look surprised and shocked directly at Lisa's stunned face. Blood spattered on her face like measles, her mouth agape. Anvil coughs one last time and slumped forwards onto his chest.
"I…I…I didn't see the ones in his back. I have to see them before I can" Lisa said stammering with deep regret still in shock. Anvil fell flat on his stomach revealing two bullet holes in his back.
"A shit, you can't always catch em Lisa, you did your best" Hollow put his hand on her back for reassurance and then walked off shaking his head. Lisa stared off into the distance.
Each member, bar Valeria said a few words to each of the lost. Most of the group had seen a lot of death in their life, and most had learned not to get too attached to other settlers.
"Ron always said to new people in Little not to get too close to your neighbours. Something about being social animals that draws us together in the end, regardless of intention" Carol said buttoning up her denim jacket.
"Listen, we lost three, but let's not lose anymore, we still got a job to do, and we are here for that dimmer part, so lets not let Anvil, Horse and Jack die for no reason. Let's get going before they send a bunch more to finish us off!" John said determinedly.
The team nodded in agreement and they moved on through yet another key locked door on the far side of the room carrying a sense of sadness about them.
The next room was again circular; it had a white tiled floor and solid concrete walls. In the centre of the floor was a small metal finished tile. Next to the tile was a machine, a long thin black support held a touch screen terminal on top. The team had not taken a step into the room yet.
"Burke, you got any ideas?" John asked.
"Looks like an underground safe of some sort, and that must be the Log Out Machine that guard was talking about. Hand me the thumbs". Burke took a step inside to look around the corner and was given the thumbs, a booming robotic voice spewed from some corner mounted speakers.
"Voice activation required Mr Swiss, authorisation code echo, echo, one, Yen, Xing".
Burke turned around to shrug at John and the team. A loud piercing sound shot across their ears.
"Ah shit what is that? Is that bats" Kairi shouted clinging to her revolver. A small black object appeared from the far side of the room and turned from left to right. Burke squinted to make it out.
"Ah shit it's a…" Burkes sentence was cut short as a bullet was fired from the object and hit Burke. The piercing sound grew and a secondary sliding metal door slammed shut trapping Burke inside a seperate room, for a moment Valeria grabbed the door and held it open but could hold it long enough. John began to pound on the door while maddening screams were heard from inside the room. Johns arm charged up as Valeria put dents in the reinforced door with vicious kicks and swipes from her halberd.
"Let me get a charge on it, I got something that could open that" Ruf said looking about his person for
a suitable explosive. Further gunshots and huge crashes are heard from outside the room. The walls tremble and beastly sounds echo from inside. John’s arm is fully charged and glowing green,
“Step back" he says to the group before winding up and lunging into the door with his right hand, the door gains a deep dent and crack with a the huge grinding thud of metal on metal.
The door almost folded in half but didn't completely break. John wound up for a second finishing blow and with right cross and the door exploded inwards. The team were greeted by a smoke and dust filled room.
"Burke? You in here, you alive buddy?" Hollow shouted hearing nothing but a short echo. They heard groaning from where the gun appeared.
"I am still here guys, just took one for the team" Burke groaned. As the dust and smoke settled, the saw burke lying half naked on the floor with a bleeding arm. John looked around; several more trap guns had sprung up but had been destroyed, ripped from their mountings. Large parts of the walls were missing and broken and all that was left was a large hole in the floor where the safe had been and the DMER part lying next to Burke. Lisa, having gotten herself together ran over to help Burke.
"I think I am going to be ok". Said Burke.
"I will be the judge of that Burke". Lisa checked Burkes arm to find no more than a scratch from one of the turrets bullets.
Lisa closed her eyes and healed the wound within a few moments. Burke still felt drained but managed to pull himself up onto the wall and point at the DMER part.
"So, you needed that John?" Burke smirked.
"You are damned right I did Burkey boy" John said cracking his hard face into a slight smile.
"You lucky shit Burke, what the hell happened in here? We just heard a whole heap of commotion" Carol asked squeezing passed Ruf.
"Ah, listen, things just go kinda blank for me, I get scared, I don't really understand what's going on, but it's happened twice now since I got bitten. I only know I wake up from my state and things aren't where they were" Burke said rubbing his head.