by Tom Cain
"I, it's like, it's like something takes over and I tumble into a bad dream".
"Yeah well, all that aside we got what we came for so let's get the fuck outta here!" Hollow sounded off from behind.
"You guys can go ahead, I gotta to get to Swiss and see if I can coax the mad doctors location out of him" said John checking then placing the part in his jacket.
An eerie laugh and a cough came from the previous room.
"You aren't going to find him" a voice said from under the flickering light.
John turned around and walked back into the still dusty room to find a survived guard leaning against the wall coughing up blood.
"And why do you think that is?" John asked taking a knee and grimacing.
"He has already gone! He took his alto-pod and launched to another location" the guard spluttered again.
The rest of the group joined John and the guard.
"Where did he land?" Ruf asked grabbing the guard by the neck making him wince in pain.
"No one knows that, even Swiss. He types in his clearance and the thing shoots off to any number of loca…" the guard coughs up blood again, speaking through Rufs grip.
He manages to continue.
"The reason this state stays in shape is because of us you idiots" the guards face screwed up again.
“Oh I hate these fuckers John, always preaching about how they changed the world and made the zones safe” Bandoleer chipped in.
John motioned to loosen Ruf's grip on his neck. A distorted voice was heard over the speakers system, everybody looked up,
"Now you will see Mr Test, the state will fall to the anarchy of the mutated. The Doctor doesn't keep these types in check, I do, who do you think brought trade to Lochwell?. He does want his little device back though. Meanwhile, I am going to watch your zones burn".
A buzzing and click was heard. John looked back at the guard to interrogate him further but he had died during the announcement.
"Was that Ivan Swiss?" Kairi asked looking around nervously.
"If I were to guess I would say it sure was" John allowed the guard to slump over on his right side.
“Never heard his voice before, always thought he was a ghost story” Bandoleer said.
"Ok guys, lets get going, we got to search this tower just in case Swiss is still here pulling some behind the curtain shit" John stood up and got the group moving again.
"We will be taking our dead friends back to London with us" John continued.
"John" Burke limped forwards.
"This place should be heavily guarded, one of the toughest places to get into. Where is everybody?". John looked around at all the faces of the remaining members of the group.
"I have no idea, but the doctors planning something, I can feel it. Either way we have one of the parts and without it he ain't setting the flash off again". The team picked up the bodies of their fallen comrades and began the search of the rest of the tower. The trek back to Little London would be arduous with bodies and injured in tow.
Chapter 14
Buns, Guns and Seven
Marko was awoken suddenly with Mia slapping him on the arm rapidly with her cheeks blown up like balloons. He jolted upright to watch her run over to the side of the multi story car park and vomit tonight's early dinner onto the concrete ground three floors below.
"Huh, what, wait, you sick Mia?" Marko asked slowly coming back into the real world.
"Urgh, I hate that shit, I don't know, I didn't get bitten or none of it in my mouth" Mia said wiping her mouth on a rag she had in her pack.
Marko handed her some water.
"You ok?" he got up from his makeshift bed and put his hand on her back.
"Happened a few times now, I don't know Marko, something's up" Mia said taking a deep breath in and out.
"Good timing! You’re awake" Masie said butting in.
"Times about right now, ever since we saw that thing fire from the tower there's been a bunch of movement in the south. The BCC lines have thinned a lot" she continued clicking a flip lighter and chewing something.
Hatcher got up from a burned car seat he found resting in the corner.
"Yeah, well it's a good time to move out, cover of darkness and all that" Hatcher said.
The night had moved in and they were only a few hours away from the intended target in Zone three. The group had gathered their things and had to make the rest of the journey on foot.
The way to Zone three from this point North of the river was mainly derelict and destroyed buildings after the BCC forces had placed proximity mines strategically at ever increasing milestones to push back mutants and revolting crowds. The BCC pushed most people back as far as Little London and Deep Forge the last two real refuges in the state.
The walk was difficult because of the mines; they had to be careful there were none left over. The BCC should have removed them as they pushed their boundaries forward but there have been accidents.
"Holy shit, this is tedious" Hatcher said.
"Yeah you got that straight, I've done this before though" said Arthur.
"Yeah? When did you go through building mines?" Tuck asked gingerly hopping over a suspicious pile of stones.
"It was about seven years ago, my uncle took me" Arthur told them all whilst navigating around the pot holes.
"Why were you this far east?" Masie asked.
"It wasn't because we weren't involved in the skilling, it was because my dad was a scrapper and we were looking for leftovers" Arthur replied.
"You didn't happen to note where the leftover mines where did you Art?" Marko asked.
"Actually, we never found any. I don't even know if there are any left, the most we found from this site, was some BCC armor, a few weapons, some scrap from a few different vehicles that were mostly blown to bits and some human remains. When we got here, it looked like mines had gotten a few cas of all the holes, but we never had any close calls and we did the whole line up north" replied Arthur.
Grip and Forester moved a large slab of wall out of the way for the group to get past; they could see the conference center where they had heard the hostages were being held. Four stories high, solid dashed grey concrete walls and windows lining the outside. Even from a distance the team could make out movement within the building. Several dark figures flash across the blue tinted glass, which is miraculously still intact.
"So what's the plan Marko?" Mia asked scouting the horizon for threats.
"I say we go in immediately, there is eight of us, so let's break into five and four man teams and attack them from both sides. Looks like the fourth floor is where the action is but there is bound to be guys on the ground. What do we all think?" Marko asked the team who were now gathering around him.
"Marko, I don't know about that. If there is hostages, maybe we should be moving in more quiet like" Hatcher said stroking his beard.
"I don't think they will kill the hostages straight away, else why would they still be alive now?" Masie asked generally.
"We don't even know if they are alive Mase, we can't get a good view from here anyhow" Tuck said.
"Hell of a point, ok then we know our first move" Marko said clearing a space on the ground to draw a rough layout of the building.
"Woah, did I just miss something?" Chrissie shook her head in confusion.
"We got to make sure the hostages are alive, so how we going to do it?" Grip asked.
"We only have a couple options, we can run a diversion while a team finds out if the hostages are alive, we can big balls it or we can try and sneak in, but I don't see the last one working" Hatcher laid out the options.
"Ok well that leaves us with two, a diversion or Billy big balls" Marko said scouring the faces of the team.
"Excuse the silly question, but what's a Billy big balls?" Arthur asked timidly.
"So, a big balls is basically a form of distraction, you get one guy" Hatcher looked at Masie, Chrissie and Mia and continued "or girl who goes right out to the front, waving their arm
s and being all look at me like. That draws the attention of the crowd to them and the other person or peoples go around back and have a look at whatever it is you need to." Hatcher looked for Arthurs acceptance but found a still slightly confused face, "ummmm, so…". Hatcher continued, "So, the person who has to march up to the front has to have some pretty big balls, cas they are target numero uno".
Arthurs confusions turned to a knowing smile and nod.
"Ok so which of the two?" asked Mia starting to feel sick again.
"A full on distraction would mean splitting into two again and maybe setting an explosive off over here to the east of the building" Marko said pointing with a broken stick he found on the dusty floor at some makeshift buildings made from a couple of rocks, this was their attack map. The two buildings that laid before them we shaped in an L, like a corner sofa sitting in the middle of what was basically now rubble. The two stones representing the buildings laid before them on the ground only visible in the dark because of two shoulder-mounted torches being pointing at them. Marko continues.
"Here, the explosive would go off under the east building drawing out the guards to here" again tapping on the floor with his stick.
Two torchlights are spotted exiting the west building.
"Marko we got something coming out of the building" Mia ran off to throw up in a nearby bush. Two guards emerged from the front door of the west building, flickers of lights highlighted their faces as they hungrily dragged on a roll up.
"Perfect timing" Hatcher said.
Marko smiled at the rest of the group who all seemed to know what they needed to do. The whole team got up and split into seven and two. Marko and Hatcher ran in low and quick and to the left, rushing around the rubble stacks under the green glow of the clouded moon at surprising speed. The larger team moved to the right, again low and stealthy, they were all headed for the smoking guards. The darkness covered them perfectly, shadows covering their shadows as they moved through the desolated buildings. The team of seven halted just before eye shot of the guards. Marko and Hatcher lay in waiting, breathing deeply from the run. Chrissie steps forward from the shadows to appear around a corner and whisper at the guards.
"Hey guys, you know those things are bad for ya".
The guards attention immediately turning to Chrissie.
"Hey lady, you shouldn't be out here, you never know who could be waiting for you, or what they wanna do, you know?".
Chrissie looked confused, one of the guards, a slimy man, licked his watery lips and took another drag on his cigarette before saying.
"Yeah, you never know what they might want to do to ya lady, now why don't you come over here and see if this is bad for you" he grabbed his crotch.
A shadow crept over him, emanating from a place it shouldn't of. The light from above the main door was shining towards it but a dark figure moved underneath and towards them, the shape of a hand slithered on the ground, hunting its target. Both guards dropped their cigarettes and started to choke.
"Argh, what the fuck?" one of the guards croaked as his eyes rolled back into his head. The guards were slowly pushed against the wall, and lifted from their feet. Hatcher and Marko appeared from the darkness, Hatcher with his hands in a clutching position and his arms raised.
"Shit, Hatcher said he didn't want to use his mutation again. Well he is going to have to buy me a drink later." Said Grip in a low voice.
The black hands gripped and finished both their targets before slithering back into Hatchers ‘natural’ shadow. The guards fell from against the wall and collapsed on the ground with a thumb. Hatchers arms fell back down to his sides.
"If anyone else has some really useful mutations, now is the time to tell us" Mia said holding her womb still feeling a little sick and a mild pain.
"Sorry guys, I can only use that once in a while and I thought we needed a slightly more sophisticated stealthy situation here" Hatcher added taking a deep breath in and out.
Grip and Forrester start to strip the guards and take their guns. The uniforms were ill fitting but would certainly do what they intended. Mia found a key card on one of their belts and handed it to Grip.
"Ok, Grip, go and check inside, if they recognize you, blast first and we will come in and back you up as quickly as possible, I will be keeping an eye out for you from that rise over there".
Both Grip and Forrester nodded waiting for the team to conceal themselves before swiping and moving inside the building. It was eerily quiet in there, a dark open space of cold concrete with darkened corners. This used to be an office building but had since been stripped of the desks, carpet, wiring, computers and everything else, leaving nothing but concrete and a some random useless office debris.
Grip and Forrester kept low, clutching at the guards automatic rifles. Creeping past a few plastic pillars that used to be used to port computer and electrical cables. The next room again had no one in it but the two remained quiet and alert. The rest of the team slowly snuck inside the door, as they heard nothing for a few minutes. Grip signaled Forester to stay downstairs and search the ground floor while he went up the fire escape stairs to the first floor. Grip heard voices at the end of the next room, the hallway had a glimmering light at the end with three guards gathered round discussing today's events. Grip relaxed his pose and strutted down the hallway. One of the guards head popped round the corner.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked sounding confused and slightly drunk.
"I am the new guy, got told to patrol the area" Grip said convincingly stopping in his tracks.
"Hmmm really?, I ain't seen you anywhere around" One of the guards said.
"Really? My names Steve I got told to come over by a short guy with a short temper" he explained remembering the stature of one of the dead guards outside and hoping.
"Ha, oh yeah that must have been Crews" the guard said.
"He can really bust your balls if you step outta line. We got told to patrol the area as well, but he asks us to stay off the second floor. So we thought, fuck it, sit down play some cards. You in? What did you say your name was?" the guard asked again taking another swig of his drink from a one liter plastic bottle he was obviously re-using.
"Steve, and yeah why not, what you playing?" Grip said strolling over and around the corner to see three more faces, a small blue plastic crate resting on the floor with some cards lying on top of it and a small fire burning inside a glass vase.
"We are playing Shuffle, have you played before?" a second guard said. Grip nodded his head and took a seat.
"I'm Coin, this is Pete and Pete and the ugly one there is Gross, he doesn't talk much but he got one hell of a thump".
Grip looked through the flickering light as a tall skinny man with terrible burns on his face and neck sitting totally still behind the lights reach.
"Nice to meet you all. Nice to meet you Gross" said Grip putting out his right hand for a handshake. A large lumbering hand appeared through the ark of light being emitted by the glass fire, followed swiftly by a face and a sticky smile. Gross mumbled something incoherent and returned to his upright sitting position sinking back into the darkness.
"Ok, So, Shuffle it is. So who's playing reds?" Grip asked putting one of his hands on his firearm on his right side and clicking off the safety. None of the guards had their gun to hand by the looks of it so this should be easy thought Grip.
"I will be playing reds, both you a Pete will be taking blacks and Gross has got the faces" Coin said.
A crack was heard on the other side of the room as Marko ricocheted a stone off one of the walls. All the guards looked around for the cause, this was Grips chance. He clutched the stolen gun tightly and brought it to his stomach, he started to spray from right to left hitting three of the guards in the chest but was grabbed by Gross's big hand as he reached his position.
“Ah shit it was supposed to be quiet” said Marko
Grip continued to fire as Gross held the gun barrel burning with one hand. Click click click,
the gun was out and Gross showed his oily smile and black teeth again, he stood up nearly a foot taller than Grip and grabbed him around the throat. Grip started to choke, but was trying to hit him with the butt of his gun in his chest. Gross let go of one hand and threw a thunderous punch catching Grip just below the left eye.
"Argh, fucker" said Grip holding his face and trying to ward off any further attacks. Gross felt a thud hit his abdomen as Marko tackled him from below and put all three on the ground.
Within a very short amount of time Grip had gotten loose and Marko had cut Gross several times with his knife leaving him to slowly sink away on the ground in a pool of blackish blood.
"Ok, let's get this going, something is happening on the second floor and everyone would have heard that" Grip said getting his breath back.
The whole group was now inside the building bar Mia of whom was left outside with a radio to warn of any incoming.
"Marko you hear me?" Mia asked using the radio. Markos ear piece was clear.
"I got you Mia, any news?" he replied. "All clear out here".
The team found their way to the emergency stairs, a set of red metal grated steps lay before them. Each step up for every member was met with a clang. At the top of the flight was a door with a security contact card machine. Something seemed too easy about all of this. Someone must have heard the firing. Forrester used the card from one of the downed guards and the door beeped unlocked. Marko slowly swung the door open with a gentle hand and peered inside, a long hallway with offices on either side, Some had flickering lights some didn't. At the end of the hallway were two figures covered by darkness and beyond them another door. The door was light blue but had since been covered in blood giving it an off brown color. The team knew this was a trap. Marko touched his throat contacts.
"Mia, they were waiting for us, be careful out there, and let me know if you see anything".
"Be careful in there Marko, I can always get away, but you, if you need me, shout" Mia replied worried.
"Ok let’s line up, lines of three, keep your guns out at all times, three in front, two center and three behind" Marko barked.