by Keegan Long
“Never doubted you for a second,” McKenna added. “You’re definitely a better shot than me.”
“You were born for this stuff,” Sarah said.
With Sarah’s comment though I felt a slight change in mood as I looked over at Jill. Right when Sarah said her comment it was like Jill had seen a ghost. Sarah did make a good point. I had never thought I would be such a great fighter but it has all came naturally to me.
“Is everything ok, Jill?” I asked her as I saw her expression change so drastically as if she was hiding something.
“Yeah,” she replied. “Just got a lot on my mind.”
I was not buying Jill’s answer for one second. I knew she had something on her mind but for some reason she was not telling me. Since we were landing so soon I decided to let it go and find out later.
I looked over towards McKenna to notice that she had been watching my conversation with Jill. As I made eye contact with her just gave me a puzzled look signaling that she was just as confused as I was but then continued packing her bag.
I felt the plane shift as it started diving towards the ground bellow. I knew that we were to land any minute so I rushed packing and loading my gun with ammo as fast as I could and then strapping myself into the closest seat to me.
“Everybody make sure you’re strapped in!” Frank yelled back towards us. “It’s going to be a little bit of a rough landing.”
The sick feeling in my stomach had soon returned as we got closer to our landing point.
I felt the wheels on the plane my contact with the ground as we made our landing with this massive ship. I knew we had to be landing in some field of sort because the landing was not smooth as if you were to land on a nice smooth runway.
“Jesus!” Mitch cried out as the first wheel made contact with the rough ground. “You weren’t kidding about rough landing.”
I closed my eyes hoping it would make the time go by faster so when I opened them it was all over. This did not help however and if anything, it made the time go a hundred times slower. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter as my stomach started becoming more uneasy by the second as if I was to pass out any minute.
The plane had finally begun to slow down and then eventually came to a complete stop. I opened my eyes to find that we had all made it in one piece. It was finally over.
“Liberty has landed,” Frank informed us all as we started getting up from our seats. “Now let’s go kick some Cerberus butt.”
“Remember Cerberus is already hot on our trail,” Kevin added. “So, this is a quick in and out. Get Susan before we run into any trouble.”
“Any reading on Cerberus for us Lee?” Joe asked his companion robot.
“There’s lots of talk about the shot down drones on the system,” Lee replied. “It won’t take them long to trace us down.”
“Then we best be quick like the man said,” Lindsay said as she swung her bag over her shoulder. “Let’s get going.”
We all grabbed our things and made our way towards the back of the ship. Frank opened up the back-cargo door as the view of the field slowly came into view. The city could be seen in the far distance and looked not too far away from our current location.
“The transmission came from that command center,” Jill pointed out the tallest building in the city. “We best get going. Better take the head start while we can.”
With that being said we all made our way out of the plane as we walked towards the city in the distance. I could tell this country had seen a tough war in the past years which didn’t comfort me at all.
Scotland here we come.
4
The Streets of Scotland
After that long and god-awful plane ride, my feet were finally on the ground once again. Unfortunately, I knew I would have to be back on that plane as soon as we found Susan.
As we walked through the fields I could notice this used to be some sort of farm field at one time but knew it probably has not been used to grow anything for many years. I was still having a hard time grasping the fact that Cerberus had made their way outside the United States.
Here in Scotland, it was nothing but a war-torn wasteland while the United States still has its districts with buildings and people. It wasn’t that much of an improvement from Scotland but I’ll take anything these days.
McKenna could notice me thinking as I stared blankly at the sky above me. “You ok there, Delaney?”
I snapped back to focus as she called my name out. “Yeah. Just thinking.”
“What you thinking about?” Joe asked as he joined the conversation.
“Just thinking about how much I hated that plane ride,” I answered.
“You didn’t fancy my flying?” Frank asked jokingly.
“It wasn’t your flying,” I assured him. “I just don’t do well with flying.”
“Sorry bud,” Mitch said as he gave me a pat on the back. “Flying isn’t for everyone.”
“It’s not for me,” I replied. “I can promise you that. I preferred our drive to New York even though that took forever.”
“Maybe I should fly next time,” Joe suggested.
Frank did not take kindly to Joe’s suggestion as he quickly jumped to the case. “Hell, to the no. No one touches my Liberty. She’s my pride and joy. I spend all my time working on her so I should be the one flying her.”
“She’s not just your plane,” Jill quickly jumped to the case to remind Frank after being quiet all this time. “She belongs to us all. Now stop being so selfish.”
Frank quickly calmed down at Jill’s words. “Sorry, ma’am.”
“It’s alright,” Jill replied. “We’re all just a bit tired but we can’t let out guard down. Cerberus is hot on our trail. We must all stay focused.”
“She’s right,” Kevin agreed. “And we’re just about to enter the city where the Cerberus Command Center is so there will be some Cerberus presence already here with more probably not too far away.”
“How exciting,” Nicole said with extreme sarcasm. “Just what I wanted.
Everybody laughed a little at Nicole’s sarcasm.
We had finally entered the city where Susan had sent out her message we received. As I looked around the city it looked worse than it did on the outside. Most of the building had been crushed to nothing but rubble. The buildings that were still standing looked as if they were to collapse at any given second. Scotland looked worse than New York had before we decided to have a battle with Cerberus.
Everyone was in shock as we made our way through the destroyed city. Local businesses had their shops burnt or blown up in most part and even the presence of dead bodies could be seen through the dark alleys in the city with some bodies being more recent than others.
“There are bodies everywhere,” Sarah said as she pointed them all out.
“Cerberus has no intention of imprisoning the outside world,” Jill replied. “Their only mission here is extermination.”
“How did Susan even manage to survive out here?” Lindsay asked as she took in the scenery.
“I have no idea,” Jill answered. “But only by some miracle.”
“We need to get her out of here,” Mitch said. “Before it’s too late.”
“Agreed,” Bekah acknowledged. “But where do we start?”
“Let’s start at the Command Center,” Kevin answered. “She transmitted her message from there so she must have found some sort of opportunity to get into the base. We’ll scout it out and wait to see what happens.”
“Remember Cerberus is already looking for us,” I reminded him. “So, we can’t be too long.”
“We won’t be,” he assured me. “Don’t worry about it. Everything will work out like it always does.”
“Like the time you got shot,” I muttered but he didn’t hear me. Let’s avoid that from happening again.
“The command center is about a block away,” Kevin informed the group. “So, let’s get going.”
We all followed behind Kevin�
��s lead as he looked at the map that he had brought with him. The map was on some sort of tablet that Greg had programmed for us before we left the base. It was quite the fancy tool. It shows all the buildings on the map in a 3D setting and even has a built-in radar that shows you surrounding people or ships within a few blocks from your current location.
“Do you think Susan was able to get out of there before Cerberus found out about her transmission?” I asked Jill as we continued down the long-broken road.
“I’m sure she did,” she replied with a bright smile. “You don’t know Susan like I do. She’s the toughest women and person you’ll ever meet. So, don’t get in her way.”
The way Jill was talking about Susan I could tell that I was going to like her. Anyone who is a fighter against Cerberus will get along just fine with me. I could also tell that Jill cared very much about Susan in the way she talked about her.
We had eventually made it to the street where the command center was located and decided to take residence in the abandoned coffee shop at the other side of the street. As we walked in there was shattered glass across the shop so we had to be cautious about where we stepped. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the shop was a big sign behind what used to be the coffee bar that read: “Doyle’s Coffee and Tea.” Unfortunately, the sign was heavily damaged and looked as if it was going to fall apart at any second.
“I would do anything for a cup of coffee,” Lindsay commented as she scouted the shop.
“I can’t even remember the last time I had a coffee,” Nicole added. “Can’t exactly go to the local Starbucks anymore.”
“I used to have coffee every morning,” McKenna joined in. “I can’t even remember what it tasted like anymore.”
As I made my way around the coffee shop I stumbled across a broken picture frame. I picked it up and removed the shattered glass to see a family picture in the frame. The picture showed an older man surrounded by two men and a woman. They were all wearing aprons with the coffee shop’s logo on it. This must have been the owner of the shop and those workers were his kids. This used to be a sweet little family business but Cerberus had to destroy it. I felt a tear run down the side of my face and quickly wiped it off. When I was done wiping my tear away I carefully put the picture on the nearest shelf to be seen by all that entered the shop.
McKenna noticed I had been doing something and decided to come over and investigate. “What is that?”
“It’s a picture of the family that used to run this coffee shop,” I told her.
“Well, there are no signs of any bodies in here,” she told me in an effort to try and cheer me up. “So, there’s a good chance that they escaped.”
“I hope so,” I replied as I walked away from the picture and continued making my way around the shop.
“Looks like the place is all clear,” Mitch informed the group as everyone came together. “What’s the game plan?”
“We scout out the command center from here,” Kevin responded. “We see how many guards there are and what their patrol schedules look like. After that, we wait for the right opportunity to make our way in to see if Susan is in there or left us any clues. We must be ready at all times because we don’t have much time and we only get one shot at this.”
“Good thing one shot is all we need,” Sarah commented with a grin.
“So, let’s not try and screw this thing up,” Kevin added.
“We’ll be fine,” Jill reassured Kevin who was getting a little too worked up. “Just stay alert at all times.”
With our orders being given the group split up as we all made our way to a spot in the shop to set our things out. McKenna decided to set her things right beside mine with Joe not too far away either.
“Do you think it was smart of us to leave Lee with the plane?” I asked him as we all started unpacking our bags.
“He knows more about it than anyone,” he assured me. “He’s also programmed to fly it too so it should be in good hands if anything is to arise.”
“Not as good as me,” Frank interrupted from the other side of the shop.
“We are all sure of that,” I responded even though I know it probably wasn’t true.
McKenna looked at me and I saw that she was struggling to keep her laughter in but turned it into a big grin instead.
“Just to shut him up,” I whispered to her.
“Don’t want him too loud anyway,” Joe told the two of us. “Or Cerberus will have no trouble finding out where we are.”
McKenna and I had to quickly cover our mouths with our hands to keep our laughter from coming out. Joe was right and had a point.
“We got movement!” Kevin yelled at everyone as we quickly grabbed our guns and got into our positions.
“What do you see Kevin?” Jill asked.
“Two Cerberus guards,” he replied. “Looks like they just came from within the command center. “Should be more of them unless most of them are inside.”
I could just barely make out their figure but we could all hear them talking to each other as they roamed around the front of the building.
“You say reinforcements are coming in?” one of the guards asked the other.
“We sure do,” the other guard responded. “With the increasing resistance, we are seeing here and just today two of our drones were shot down not too far away from here.”
They must have already got word about our presence here from the other base and by the sounds of it, reinforcements were not far behind.
“Jill, we need to get out of here,” Mitch whispered over to her. “Reinforcements could be here at any moment.”
“Just give it a little more time,” she responded. “She has to be around here somewhere. I know it.”
“She’s probably inside the base in one of the cells,” Bekah joined in. “We don’t have the forces to storm the base.”
“Just a couple more minutes,” Jill urged the group.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a loud gunshot coming from some type of rifle. When I looked up I found that the two Cerberus soldiers were being shot at and one of them had already hit the ground dead.
“Everybody get down!” Kevin yelled at us all as the gunshots continued to go on.
Not too long after a bullet had come in contact with the other Cerberus soldier and he now laid on the floor dead alongside his partner.
The gunfire had now come to a stop and we lifted our heads to see where the fire was coming from but could not find the source. We were quickly caught off guard as we heard a noise coming from the back of the coffee shop. I quickly turned with my gun drawn but found myself already too late as I felt the metal of a gun barrel come in contact with the skin on my forehead.
“Don’t you move little girl,” the old woman’s voice told me. “Or I’ll blow your pretty head right off.”
There was a great moment of silence as everyone pointed their guns at the woman until Jill came closer and was able to recognize the person’s figure.
“Susan, is that you?” Jill asked as she made eye contact with the woman holding a gun to my head.
“My god, Jill?” the woman asked as she came to see Jill.
Susan quickly came to recognize Jill and quickly put her gun down and away from my forehead.
Jill quickly made her way to Susan as they embraced in a big hug that a mother and daughter would share.
“Did you guys get my message?” Susan asked as she let go of Jill and started asking questions.
“We sure did,” Kevin replied as he made his way over to Susan and gave her a friendly hug. “Nice and clear.”
Susan started taking interest in Kevin’s dirty appearance as a mother would on her son. “You’re looking a little rough around the edges.”
“I got shot,” Kevin replied to Susan’s observation.
“Well, that explains a lot,” she replied as the room erupted with laughter. “And who do we have here?”
Jill made her way around the room introducing everybody a
nd finally made her way to me last.
“Last but not least,” Jill began to start but was cut off by Susan.
“I need to apologize about earlier,” she came quickly to say. “Didn’t mean to make such a poor first impression.”
“It’s ok,” I assured her as we shook hands. “The circumstance was understandable.”
“And who are you?” she asked me.
“Delaney,” I told her. “Delaney Nordbrock.”
Susan’s expression quickly changed as if she had seen a ghost and just like Jill had looked earlier. She had been put in a complete shock only at the mention of my name.
“My god,” she responded in shock as she looked directly at Jill. “I’ve been waiting and looking for you for a very long time.”
5
Memories
I never thought that I would ever encounter a day that was as weird as the one I was having right now. I had just traveled to the other side of the world to save a friend of Jill’s and when I get here and meet her she tells me she has been waiting for me and knows who I am. This is all making me very uncomfortable right now but at the same time very curious.
“You say you’ve been waiting for me?” I asked her as I tried to make sense of everything going on right now.
“Of course, I do,” she answered with much enthusiasm. “Your mom never stopped talking about her amazing girls.”
“You knew our mother?” McKenna asked as she jumped in to join me in getting some answers.
“I did indeed,” Susan answered. “Greatest woman I have ever met. Let’s start walking back towards base before more Cerberus soldiers come. Could even send some Centaurs and we don’t want to run into any of those if you know what I mean.”
I looked at Jill as she gave me a nod of approval that it was safe for us to follow Susan back to her base. We all followed Susan out of the coffee shop where we met a couple of men who had come with Susan.
“These men are with me,” she informed us as they joined us in walking back to their base. “Part of Scotland Resistance.”