by M. Lorrox
One eventually comes. “Who’s there?”
“Drop your guns or I’ll kill you!”
“Fuck off!”
Ghost rolls her eyes. “All I want is to get our people out! Tell me where—”
-Bangclang!- A single bullet is shot at the door.
Wrong answer. Ghost holds the explosive sheet by one end and slides it like a frisbee under the gap in the door. The blasting cap barely squeezes through, and the sheet comes to a rest ten feet inside the lab. “Have it your way!”
Inside, the emboldened, armed scientists raise up and aim their guns at the door and at the window to the office—just in case. Instead of seeing any movement at all, they see a bright flash and are shocked by a loud bang only feet away from them in the room. They fall backward and recoil from the explosion as Ghost slips into the room.
In a moment, the smoke clears. The scientists rub their eyes to help them readjust to the dark, and for a moment, they’re surprised to see and hear nothing out of the ordinary. That lasts a total of one additional second. Then, the grenades Ghost placed alongside the glass containers on one side of the room explode, shocking the scientists, shattering the containers, and sending glass shrapnel into the left side of everyone’s faces.
A couple people pull their triggers in their surprise. The bullets mostly hit the walls or other equipment, but one shooter successfully hits a friend in the arm. “Ahh!”
Dr. Anne Kirchner tosses her weapon and raises her hands. “I surrender!”
Dr. Trinn Soun and others follow suit, but William O’Byrne doesn’t. He stands with a pair of guns and imagines he’s a badass. The left side of his face has pieces of glass embedded into his flesh that shine in the red emergency lighting. He spins with both guns raised and his fingers on the triggers. In his mind, he replays every action movie he’s ever seen, and he’s ready to blast a dozen holes into his attacker.
Ghost has jumped over and onto the powered-off banks of fluorescent lights that hang from the ceiling, and she throws a grenade—with the pin still in it—straight into the side of William’s head. -Clonk!-
His body drops with a -thud- and his guns drops with -click-clinks- Ken Haynes, looking at his coworker who is now bleeding from the head, tosses his gun out too. “Surrender! Everybody surrender!”
Ghost looks down at the last holdout below, still clutching a gun. Ghost holds a grenade in her hand and winds it back to throw, then she tosses a previously-used grenade’s pull-ring and pin to the ground where it’ll make a tiny noise. -tnk- She clears her throat.
The holdout looks up at the tiny person in black crouched on an overhead light.
“You should know your safety’s still on, but if you make any move except dropping that gun, I’ll put this grenade through your teeth.”
They drop the gun.
“Everybody stand, put your hands behind your head, and walk to the back of the lab.” Ghost waits while they do, then she slinks down from the ceiling. She lands as a whisper with her feet on either side of William’s back, barely moving the fabric of his splayed-open coat under her feet. She collects the bloody grenade from the ground, then clips both the grenades she holds in her hands—which still have their pins—onto her belt. “Okay, listen up. I’m going to rig some bombs outside this room. Open the doors, and they’ll explode. Get the idea?”
They all nod.
“All I really want is my people. Where are they?”
Anne points down. “One level down.”
Ghost smiles behind her ski mask. “Thanks.” She turns to leave but notices all the guns on the ground. Ugh, can’t leave these... She upends a small trash bin, spilling papers on the ground, and fills it with the guns. When she finishes, she notices one remaining tall glass container that survived the grenades. Next to it, a fridge. “Hey, any blood in that fridge?”
Trinn shakes her head. “Only research samples.”
Ghost tilts her head. “Got any arms in there? My friend lost a pair.”
Trinn swallows and speaks slowly, “Hector incinerated them. They’re gone.”
Ghost doesn’t move. As she looks at Trinn, she sees Charlie sobbing and holding his son. Her lip curls. “And where would I find him?”
Trinn shakes her head. “He already left.”
“What about Johannes? Or Peter—that backstabbing asshole?”
“He left yesterday.”
Ghost’s eye twitches. Then, she breathes and calms. Complete the mission. Revenge can wait. She turns away from Trinn, walks up to the fridge, tosses a grenade—without the pin—inside, then jogs away.
She’s near the door to leave when the fridge explodes, and the scientists cower. Ghost turns around. You’ve got to be kidding me! The glass container beside the fridge still stands undamaged. She grabs one of the pistols she collected, aims, and pulls the trigger while making the grumpiest face possible. The glass shatters, and she leaves, calling behind her, “Stay put if you want to live! Follow if you want to die!”
In the small room that leads to the hall, she sets the basket of pistols aside, then sets up a booby-trap with her only claymore and a tripwire that crosses every door except the one leading out to the hallway.
It takes her an entire sixty seconds. She grips her katars and steels herself for the next battle. Just complete the mission. Clear the levels, find our people, shut this place down.
Gabriel hides on the side of the mountain behind an old, dead tree’s trunk. Bullets fired by the guards blast into the ground and against the tree, but Gabriel is protected.
One of the guards dives for a better position, and Gabriel sends a bullet through his ribs. Two more. If there’s another exit, it must be covered. I’ll—”
Another one of the guards pops up to send a volley of bullets at Gabriel. -brchew-chew, brchew!-
The bullets smash into the tree and shake it, and at the same time, Gabriel pulls the trigger and sends a single bullet into the man’s skull. One more. Maybe I should push forward for a better—”
The last guard tosses his submachine gun down the side of the mountain and starts to run—with his hands up—in the other direction.
Hmm. Smart man. Gabriel squints and fires one more shot, straight into the guard’s falling gun. The bullet smashes into the gun’s receiver. It dents, ruining the gun, and sparks fly into the air as the gun bounces back against the mountain.
Gabriel checks that there are no other guards before breaking cover. “Time to find that other exit.”
Charlie and Elizabeth reach the doorway leading from the stairwell to the residential level. She stops beside the door and turns around. “There’s going to be guards out there and more by the restricted area. I’d rather not be your hostage, but there’s no way they’re going to abandon their post.”
Charlie walks to the door and looks through the window. Can’t see ’em... “Hey, run out there like a you’re terrified and tell them there’s a pissed off vampire knight in the stairwell coming up.”
She sighs. “Why am I helping you?”
“Because I can tell that I don’t NEED to kill you, so this isn’t your fight. Also, I’m not the only pissed off vampire knight in the building.” He smiles and shows his teeth. “I brought friends. Helping us is good for your health.”
She sighs “Fine.” She puts her hand on the doorknob and takes a deep breath.
“Don’t go disappearing on me now.”
She rolls her eyes and opens the door. While still looking at Charlie, she screams, “Help!” Then, she blasts into the hallway and drops to the ground as if panic-stricken and frantic.
Charlie watches through the window for a moment.
“One of them is coming up behind me!”
Charlie positions himself alongside the door. The submachine gun he collected from one of the guards is slung across his back, and both his hands are on the handle
of his sword. He feels his hands tingle, and he glances down; a drip of blood from the blade flows down across his fingers. You’re loving this aren’t you, you demon?
A guard is outside the door, looking through the door’s window into the stairwell. “It’s so damned dark…”
Charlie sucks his gut in and rolls his hands up the handle one finger at a time, like a centipede’s legs walking, only faster.
The guard opens the door and leads with his gun. The instant the man’s nose crosses into the stairwell, Charlie swings with his blade. With his strength and the sword’s honed edge, he swipes straight through the man’s forehead and down through his face and chin. The guard is a dead man walking, still moving forward with his footfall, and Charlie grabs him and pulls him to the side before he collapses.
“Clyde?” The other guard extends his gun’s barrel into the doorway, and Charlie grabs it with his left hand and rips it forward. The jerking motion forward causes the man to pull the trigger, and he is as surprised to be moving as he is to be shooting. As he flies into the stairwell, Charlie swings his blade down again. It enters the back of the man’s neck and exits through his pecs.
Charlie lets him fall.
He bends down to the faceless guard he set beside the door. He ejects the magazine from the dead guard’s gun, slips it into his back pocket, then decides he probably shouldn’t trust Elizabeth. He picks the body up, opens the door, and throws it into the hallway at her.
“Ahhh!” She jumps to the side, narrowly missing the mass of lifeless flesh. “Why the fuck did you do that?”
Charlie steps through the door and glances in both directions. Empty... Hmm. He looks at Elizabeth and shrugs. “Sorry. Lead on.” He picks up the dead body and carries it over his shoulder. When she gives him the stink eye, he sighs.
She brings him to the end of the hall, but she stops before turning the corner. She calls him closer and whispers, “None of us are allowed past this corner, and there’s usually guards positioned down the hall a bit.”
Charlie whispers back, “And my people are in there?”
She shrugs. “It’s the only area on this floor that’s been guarded at all times.”
He nods and thinks for a moment. Finally, he dips his forehead to her. “Thank you, I believe you should head downstairs now and wait with the others. Don’t go anywhere else.”
She responds with a single, slow nod, then she steps backward from him slowly, not blinking.
Charlie waves her away and turns toward the corner. He presses his back against the wall and tries Ghost’s trick again with the tip of his sword, but all he can make out are two blurry black spots in a red painted hallway reflected on a crimson-coated blade. They’re far away... He sheathes his sword and reaches into his pack. “Hey guards!”
He sticks his hand around the corner for a split second and waves. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”
“What?”
“Do you have grenades?” Charlie sets a few on the ground beneath him.
No response.
“Because I have a shitload of grenades. Throw your guns my way, or I’m going to start throwing things your way.”
No response.
“Do I have to count? Maybe I’ll start with how many grenades I can use to paint these walls with your brains. Eight... Seven... Six...”
-Chinkrrrww… Chinkrrrww…- “Alright! We tossed them!”
Sure you did. “Okay, keep your hands up!” Charlie holds the faceless guard with one hand. He swings the body in a circle, whipping it around him. He leans back and builds up speed, then he releases the body around the corner and sends it flying toward the guards.
The faceless, dead guard’s feet trail behind the body as it flies forward. The two other guards, who were lying their asses off, open fire. -brchew, brchew-chew, brchew!-
The already dead guard collapses into a bleeding mess on the floor.
“What a fucking moron!” The guards laugh as they continue to send bullets into the body they believe to be Charlie’s.
Around the corner, Charlie sighs, then he pulls the pins from a pair of grenades.
-BooBOOM!-
July and Mary stand beside each other, their backs pressed against the windows that overlook the valley. July swallows. “He’s here.”
Mary’s left arm rests across July’s shoulders, and with her hand, she squeezes July’s upper arm. “I’m scared.”
July narrows her eyes. “Don’t be.”
Outside in the hallway, they hear a man plead. “No, please!” Then a -thud.-
Charlie swings his sword to whip the blood from its tip. He walks to the doors the men were guarding—the only doors for a good distance on the left side—and he pauses. Should I knock? They certainly heard me coming... He knocks.
Mary squeezes July tighter for a moment, then releases her. July takes a few steps forward, standing between Mary and the door.
Charlie uses one of the dead guards’ access card and unlocks the door. He pushes the steel door open, then hides behind the wall. Over the course of a tenth of a second, he pokes his head in and scans the room. Found them! He walks in. “July! Mary! Come on, we’re getting you out of here.” He takes a breath and smells an odd wisp of a scent, and his vision blurs. He holds his breath and looks for any vents that may be pumping gas into the room.
July shakes her head. “No. This is our home.”
Charlie stops walking and furrows his brow. He breathes and smells that scent again. He blinks his eyes and shakes his head. “Mary... What’s going on?” Light from the window behind her shows her in silhouette, but in the red emergency lights, he can see her smiling.
Mary shakes her head. “Don’t come any closer. You’re scaring me.”
He scratches his head, but he slows his movements when he hears July growling at him. He holds his hand up to her. “It’s me... Charlie.” He takes another step forward, and Mary raises her hand.
“I said, don’t come any closer, Carles, but listen carefully. You are about to make the most important decision in your life.”
As he looks at her, he feels an odd sensation as the pain in his body fades. “Mary, what’s going on?” He feels dizzy. “Is there gas in here?” He turns and looks back to the door to the hallway.
“It’s only us in here.”
He turns to her. “Why would you want to stay? Are you... Are you with this group?”
She nods. “Listen to me, you—”
The rage in Charlie helps him offset whatever else is happening to him, and he snaps back to himself. He throws his arms and hands out to his sides. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
July mimics his movement, extending her arms and hands out to her side, still growling at him.
Charlie glances at July then back to Mary. His vision is blurry. “What did you do to her? And what’s wrong with the air in here?”
Mary sighs. “Carles, shut up and listen to me, will you? All your life you’ve taken orders from others and followed other people’s rules, and what have you gained from it? Pain, suffering, and strife. Wouldn’t you rather live by your own rules?”
He rubs his eyes, and he can see better. “I already do.”
Mary scoffs. “No you don’t, you follow all the goddamned rules humans and this life has dealt you. That can change.”
Charlie scowls. What the fuck is even happening here? Ghost should be coming soon, just keep her talking. He swallows. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the cost?”
She smiles. You dumb idiot. Every second you waste, every second our plan unfolds. “Inaction. Something I believe you’ve grown accustomed to these last one hundred and twenty-five years.”
He snarls. “Inaction my ass... Enough bullshit Mary, what the fuck is going on here?”
“Ugh! You’re so small minded... I’ll use simple words so you understand. This is my faci
lity, and I started the Væir project decades ago. Today, we will begin the final cleansing of this world, and in its ashes, OUR world will be born.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “Megalomaniacal bullshit... Or because we’re using simple words, let me rephrase for ya, you’re a fucking nutcase.”
Her eye twitches, and she purses her lips. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”
He laughs. “Neither do you... You know what? Fuck it. And fuck you! July, let’s go.”
July doesn’t move, her face still locked in a snarl at Charlie.
Mary sighs. “July is truly special—like me—and she’s not going anywhere.”
Charlie pleads with his hands. “July, I don’t know what she’s told you, but she just said she’s the one who’s started this whole mess...” He looks up at Mary. “Hold on, you were in the Pentagon when Melgaard trapped the High Council.”
Mary nods.
“You lost your arm. Are you telling me that was part of your plan?”
She glances down at the blanket that covers her right side. “All great efforts require sacrifices. You don’t need to become one.”
Oh my god, Ghost, hurry the fuck up! This bitch is getting on my nerves. He points at July. “What about her?
Mary looks at the back of July’s shaved head and smiles. “Oh, I’ll never hurt her again, I can promise you that.”
“Ha! Like your word carries piss?”
Mary growls back at him.
He feels that weird sensation again, of numbness and disorientation. He bites his bottom lip, hard, piercing the skin, and he roots himself in the pain. “What are you trying to—”
Mary takes a fast breath and calms herself. “Væir is going to end the world’s suffering—suffering that humans create. We’re going to accelerate our next, most crucial evolution.”
Charlie points toward July and feels sick to his stomach. “Why did YOU, and that bastard Melgaard do those things to her? Is that how you end suffering?”