F A D E- New Kansas

by Tom Cain

  "You keep cutting out Bowmen, but the door has take some serious hits and we have one injured down here, it's pretty bad" she glanced over at the medic to confirm that he doubts about the doctor's survival, he gestured back with so so hands.

  "Not sure if he's going to pull through".

  "Who is it" a loud blast was heard over the radio and felt in the storage room, dust fell from the concrete ceiling.

  "Woah, that was a big one, it's the ship's captain, I can't remember his name, but he's shot" Shamroe said.

  Silence on the radio.

  "Bowmen?" Shamroe asked several times with ever increasing volume.

  John and Seven were standing atop a pile of broken buildings, had caught each other's right fists and were squaring off against each other. John, while maintaining his grip of sevens fists bowed down and sprung immediately up ploughing his head into Seven's unsuspecting face. Seven did not let go, but groaned in pain, John repeated the move landing another thundering head butt directly to Sevens face. This time it broke the vice like grip they had of each other.

  "Argh John, I can't see a winner here" said Seven queuing up a further punch.

  Seven launched his fist at Johns face, John snarled and threw his left hand punching Sevens wrist and deflecting the blow. Again Seven threw the punch, and again John blocked the punch with a punch. John placed a well timed foot into Seven's chest and knocked him over.

  "Why won't you just die?" John asked still pretty angry but clearly tired from the fight.

  "Ah, I don't know Eight. I just don't like thinking about it" Seven tried to get to his feet but John rushed forward, breaking the rubble beneath his feet and crashing into Seven sending him tumbling down the pile of concrete and debris.

  "Seven, doing this ain't helping no one, you are not going to win this" John said before performing an unnaturally high jump from the top and landing next to his opponent. Crack! the floor broke again as he landed.

  "John, albeit against my better judgement, perhaps you are somewhat right". John looked sceptical as he grabbed Sevens throat and curled up his fist.

  "This could go on forever John, you are strong, perhaps even stronger than me. You are resistant and so am I, you heal and so do I. It seems our mother gifted us both this strength. I can no longer see the point in continuing this futile battle. The doctor made us in equal measure it seems." Seven said trying to release John’s grip on his throat.

  "Oh yeah? so if I let you go, what's going to happen eh?" asked John.

  "I will leave John, I promise you I will leave, I am not going to grovel John, I would prefer to die fighting, so make a choice. Either try and kill me or let me leave you to the doctor." Seven stated, straight faced.

  John released his grip allow Seven to catch his breath and get to his feet.

  "I have no desire, I don't believe you will win this fight but in equal measure I don't believe I will, let me walk away John". Said Seven. The pair were battered and bruised.

  Seven had several broken ribs, a broken leg, nose, eye socket and John was not much better off. John wiped some blood away from his nose and pondered for a moment.

  "Seven, you think you can walk away from all of this? you killed my best friend". Seven shook his head with dead eyes.

  "I didn't kill your friend John, the bombs were set up by by Three and Four. I killed Three. I went to find you, I expected you would come, you didn’t but I ended up fighting. You have gained my respect though John, for even considering letting me leave". Said Seven.

  Another huge blast was heard. John turned to look back to see the tunnel he entered through collapsed and broken.

  "I don't know why, but I believe you and if I’m wrong" said John turning back around to see no one there. Seven had slipped away again into the darkness. John heard Seven's voice whisper inside his head.

  "I will see you again John, I won't go far".

  John looked around in all directions. He eyes moving rapidly around every possible exit.

  "Where are you?" he said to himself.

  John jumped up onto a ledge overlooking the destroyed areas. Lights were flickering as power from the generator still reached the bulbs but the connections had been frayed by all the fighting. John couldn't see clearly in all directions but felt several more rumbles from another district. John heard a buzzing from a distance. John jumped down and moved towards the sound. It was an engine coming from somewhere, John heard a low level shout coming from behind one of the remaining flat roofed buildings. It was a dark haired and bearded soldier named Watson.

  "John, Ron sent me to find you, did you…? did you kill him?" Watson asked cleaning his grubby face.

  "He, he's gone" said John looking around again.

  "Ah well that's good news, we need you over in Teal. It ain't looking good there John. Valeria has done her best but it ain't looking good" Watson was interrupted by a radio call.

  "Watson, have you reached John yet?" Ron’s voice boomed over the radio.

  Watson picked up the Radio gesturing an apology to John, John was concerned with other things.

  "Sir, yeah I am here and I found John, he's right here with me, looks in bad shape" Watson again gestured an apology.

  John rolled his eyes.

  "John, holy shit, you need to get over to Teal, shits hitting the fan over there, we have taken some serious hits, the civvies are over there, we got them held up in a secured storage bay which is locked down but I don't know for how long. Shit John. Just get there" said Ron frantically.

  “Where is Valeria?” asked John.

  “Burke and Valeria managed to get over there after leaving yellow” replied Ron.

  "You got what he said?..." Watson asked John.

  "Yeah I got that thanks" John said sarcastically.

  "Sir, I got to get you over there, are you ok to jump on?" Watson pointed to a adapted off road motorcycle. The bike had reinforced suspension and handlebars. The wheels were made from thick rubber and the body was a carbon fibre and kevlar hybrid.

  "I will be driving, Watson" said John swinging his leg over the bike while wincing through the pain.

  John and Watson, raced over downed shacks and buildings and shelters, through tunnels and shot passed leaking pipes and smoking holes. Bullet holes, shrapnel and bodies strewn around the path to the district. Civilians still huddled in various nooks and crannies on the way. John had little time to stop. John took a corner sharply and barely missed a rough looking, old rusty pipe poking out from around a corner spewing water into a sewer drain. Watson took a deep breath as they headed around the next, into a straight narrow tunnel. A shallow stream of dirty water running under the wheels, splashed the nearby dark concrete walls. John suddenly slammed on the brakes.

  "whoa, why you stopping John?" Watson asked feeling unnerved.

  "Which way is Teal?" John asked suddenly seeing past the cloud of rescue previously misting up his mind.

  "Oh" Watson chuckled a little.

  John's face turned sour.

  "Oh yeah of course. Keep going up and left, there's a green sign with white writing at a fork, take the right fork, and keep going. I will tell you when you need to turn...sir" Watson gave exemplary instructions.

  "Ok, so left, green sign, right, right?" John repeated.

  "You got it, and I will tell you where to go from there, it's about ten or fifteen minutes" Watson replied.

  The bike roared off, continuing down the dank tunnel. Watson clinging on, one hand on John's waist and the other on the stabilizing handle at the rear of the bike.

  In just ten minutes John had arrived on the battlefront. The area was devastated, in a little over four hours Little London had been reduced to a rubbled mess in most districts. The greener gangs were still roving, mostly controlled by the surviving Little London soldiers, still popping shots off all over the city . John stopped the bike on a high ridge to get an overview of the area, the doctor had created a field around his body and was warding off all assault attempts by Valeria and Burke.
Other soldiers were in the area, bullets at this stage were uneffective. The shield surrounding Ahiro was flickering green and maintained a permanent two meter radius around him. This though, has a flaw. The shield deflected any projectiles penetrating it, but also didn't allow any attacks going out either. The doctor has resorting to crushing his opponents by walking them down and trapping them between his shield and an object. Something that he was currently doing to Valeria.

  The doctor had trapped her against a corner wall of a shop, slowly walking forward the shield grinded up against her face and squeezed it against the solid concrete wall. An old rusty water pipe impacted the shield slowly as it continued to gain ground against Valerias body it bent and crumpled. Valerias body was unnaturally durable and strong, she gripped the shield with both hands, one eye blaring purple against the green hue of the protective bubble, the other had been closed during the fight. Burke stormed up after breaking free from under debris and grabbed the shield pulling back with both hands. The size of Burke in this form was such as he was able to clutch the dome surrounding the doctor like a child would a beach ball and heave at it. The doctors progress was slowed.

  John revved up the bike again and turned to Watson.

  "Listen, do me a favour, I am going to try and break that thing down, but I need you to fire on him as soon as possible, but before that try and grab the wounded if any outta there, you only got a few minutes" John said nodding Watson off the bike.

  "You got it Watson?" he asked sternly.

  "Yeah I got it". A flick of the wrist later and John was rolling down a collapsed building wall and charging towards the ensuing battle. He spotted a raised stone, which had fallen coming up on the right, which he could use to launch his bike from. He took the slanted rock with a clunk and managed to clear several meters in the air before letting it roll off to the side and aiming at his target. His right arm was fully cocked, green fire burning over the scraped and damaged metal. Duck, who had just arrived on the scene after taking orders from Ron stared up at the spectacle of John mid air, twenty feet, plummeting down towards the shield. The motorbike impacted a rooftop, sending a fireball flying through the air. John came crashing down on the shield, fist first, the doctor released the pressure on Valeria and Burke backed away as Johns fist impacted the shield with a mind blowing burst of green light bubbling out in all directions, vibrating and sending a shockwave through the entire city. The Metal of Johns fist bending and breaking as he full weight piled into it. The shield and Ahiro were forced into the ground, Ahiro wincing could not longer hold against the impact and it dissipated. John's arm was in bits up to his elbow and he came crashing to the ground. landing on one knee and falling over.

  "Number eight! I see you finally found m..." said the doctor before being interrupted mid sentence by a knife running across his throat and cutting him deep. Looking to his right he stared in Valerias bloody eyes before looking back at John with panic and collapsing on the floor.

  "Always brutal huh Val?" John scoffed laying face up on the ground exhausted and broken.

  Burke collapsed off onto an old bench which broke under his weight. He let a huge breath out and started to shrink to his original size.

  Duck and Watson had two grubby children in tow when they turned to see the settling smoke. The children had been pulled from a transport wreckage moments before Johns impact with the shield.

  The radio beckoned Watsons attention.

  "Watson! Watson? What was shit was that? everyone still alive? Watson?" Ron shouted down the comms.

  Watson still in mild shock from the blast fumbled around with his pocket removing the screaming radio and putting it to his mouth.

  "Ron, yeah, I'm here. The doctor is dead".

  "Watson! thank the lord you are alive. Did you get everyone out? Wait a minute, did you say the doctor was dead?" Ron asked surprised to hear.

  "Yeah and yeah. He’s down and out. Finally." Watson replied.

  Watson looked on in disbelief as the doctor didn't get up and the threat was finally over. For now.

  "Holy shit Valeria, you didn't even give him a chance to say his final words" said Burke still laying on the broken bench, naked but now in his human form.

  Valerias eye turned from the angered glowing purple back to normal and she gave Burke an unimpressed face. She stumbled up to her feet and made her way to Burke. She collapsed next to him and smiled. Possibly for the first time.

  "Holy shit Val, you smiling?" said Burke in jest. Valeria gave him a friendly punch to the leg with what remained of her energy.

  "Watson, where's John? the greeners are still around. But by God it’s good news to hear that the docs out of the game. We got a lot of injured out there Watson. Is Duck there with you?" Ron asked.

  "Yeah he is here" Watson handed the radio over to Duck who was slightly more responsive.

  "Sir?" said Duck.

  "You got me Duck, what's the sitrep" Ron replied.

  "Sir, John, Valeria and Burke are down, but not out. All look extremely tired. John's right arm, the metal one is wrecked. Valeria is in a real bad way, looks cut and broken. Burke is back to normal but is also bruised and battered. We have recovered two children who are with us now. Cannot see any other survivors in this area. John and the team don't look like they are in any condition to help fight the greeners sir. Oh and also, the storage area is still sealed". Duck gave the update.

  "How many dead in Teal?" Ron asked already sounding down.

  "I haven't completely surveyed the area yet sir, but I have already counted fourteen dead under the rubble" Duck replied solemnly.

  "Ah shit, keep looking Duck, we need a count and names if you can manage it. Watson get back to the office, we need backup for clean up. Out." and with that Ron disconnected to continue the management of the assault.

  CHAPTER 18

  City Limits

  The greeners were still terrorising the city. Shots were being fired and civilian casualties were piling up. Soldiers were out trying to maintain pressure and push back the front lines. In zone five, red district, Huck and Kairi were fighting off several greeners. The area was in better shape than Teal and had almost all of its residencies still in tact. Red district was a residential area, so most of the buildings were built as homes. Ron's predecessor Harold Granthem over ten years ago had ordered the population all pull together during the founding of Little London and construct the Red district properly from concrete and steel. After all the people with building skills had come forward and put their heads together they came up with a large solid concrete complex with interlocking walls and grated metal see holes. After the construction which took seventy people roughly five months to complete, what was left was an extremely sturdy very solid living quarters for the occupants of the underground city.

  Kairi and Huck had hidden inside one of the houses with a contingent of four soldiers. The greeners were located in a similar location but in the opposite building. Huck had knocked out the metal grating on the see holes, and had been firing his rifle blindly over the edge. The radio blared.

  "Huck, Teige, what's going on over in Red?" asked Ron. Huck picked up the radio.

  "We got ourselves a few green necks down here, trying their damndest to take the freehold" Huck jested as a few shots clipped the walls shooting dust across the faces of the few sat inside.

  "Ah shit" Huck said clicking back on the radio.

  "Well they ain't giving up, we will be making a move pretty soon on them, would be good to get some heavy hitters in here".

  "They are currently out of action, but the doctor is down" Ron replied.

  "Oh shit the docs down?" Kairi shouted.

  "My finger wasn't on the..." Huck said getting the radio snatched from his hands by Kairi.

  She pushed the radio button to transmit her voice to Ron,

  "The docs down? Is John and the other still alive?" she said.

  "Yeah they are alive but down, we are sending help over there to collect them. You concentrate on yo
ur situation. We got ten more here if you need them with you?" asked Ron.

  A few more bullets hits the wall behind them.

  "Yeah I think we are all good Ron" said Kairi a little excited with the situation.

  Huck snatched the radio back from her and bellowed down it.

  "No no, Ron, we need the back up, don't listen to that nut. How long will they be to get here?". Silence for a minute and a few more holes in the wall.

  "Give them ten minutes, they need to take the truck. I think we got a few up and running, hold tight, out" replied Ron after having given the order to the small squad of soldiers.

  "Thanks Ron. Look forward to it, out". Kairi got up to crouch behind the look hole and sneak a peak over the top, she made out three or four greeners rummaging back and forth in the opposite building. Their silhouettes shifting past the windows.

  "Huck, you will need to cover me, we need to press forward else they will" she said.

  "Wait Kai, wait for the backup. They are coming in the trucks and will give us cover from up that side, don't be stupid, you will get us all killed" replied Huck.

  Kairi fired a few shots in the other buildings direction and received a few in return.

  "Huck you got any grenades?" Kairi asked.

  "Nah used them up in Yellow, why?". Asked Huck.

  Kairi looked at two other soldiers who were hiding underneath a large hole in the wall caused by an earlier explosion. One soldier shook his head. The other looked apprehensive.

  "Give me the nade grink" Kairi said gesturing towards the silent one.

  The soldier reluctantly handed over two grenades.

  "Holy shit are these thump grenades?" she asked.

  "Yeah they are, the got ten seconds on them" one of the soldiers replied.

  Kairi examined the grenades.

  "Ok I got it!" she shouted.

  "You are going to need to cover me, all three of you fire, when the other soldiers hear you hopefully they should get firing too and keep those fuckers down" she ordered.

  "woah, woah, that's not the plan, settle down guys" Huck looked nervous.