Player is Waiting... (Ultimate Clan Wars)

by Wells, JB

  “Thanks,” Kieran placed it in and looked up at Jonesy, he was stuck in the same throwing position. “No, not you too,” he called with a whimper. He looked around and nearly all of the soldiers were taken out. He looked over at some of the other lads, who were desperately seeking cover. It was a horrific sight, the blackness was alive with the fire of the guns, the pulses lit up the wall and the area beyond. Then it was still, there was no firing and no pulses. The soldiers had all been taken out. Kieran could hear them calling for help. Each of them was begging not to be turned into one of them.

  “Trolls!” Trevelli whispered, his arm now down but his body crumpled as if he’d been frozen mid-fall.

  “Where?” Kieran turned suddenly to see the barrel of a Lagger poking through the flames, it’s metal slowly corroding away but still it remained in position. Kieran covered his face, ready to have his body numbed but he heard a groan. He opened his eyes to see Sergeant Benson standing between him and the Lagger.

  “Run, Kealey…” he wheezed, “Run!”

  Kieran was lost. He didn’t know what to do. He ran backwards until he hit the wall. Scanning the wall all over, he knew he couldn’t scale it, there was no way over to the protection of the other side. He looked back at the mess that surrounded them. There were soldiers everywhere, each one of them stuck and lagging. There were fires in the outpost, where Crusty controlled the Firewall and Crypt Shield. Then the Laggers stopped moving, they dropped their outstretched arms and froze on the spot.

  “Run!” Benson shouted again, “The Trolls are coming.”

  Out of the still and bleak darkness came another enemy, there weren’t as many as there had been Laggers. Kieran watched quietly, as they approached from the distance. He kept still just like the lagging Soldiers. Trolls were now making their way in to pick up the wounded and drag them back to the sad and lonely pits that they emerged from. The Firewall began to flicker; it fizzled and stopped as if a bucket of water had been thrown on it.

  Kieran slowly raised his gun to fire on them.

  “Don’t,” Benson whispered, “It won’t do anything, they think they’re invincible and it makes them stronger. Do not retaliate.”

  Kieran slowly lowered his gun and placed it by his leg. The Trolls grew closer, they weren’t big characters but they moaned and groaned so loudly, he could hear it echoing around The Wall. One by one the Trolls picked a soldier and dragged them away, they were easy targets and that’s what Trolls like, someone who is weaker than they are.

  In his head Kieran could still hear the screams and calls for help, but slowly they faded until the soldiers succumbed to their fate.

  A Troll approached Trevelli, dropped him to the floor and pulled him away. Trevelli didn’t scream he just started to sing a little rhyme. Like a choir of broken men the screaming stopped and they sang their way to their fate:

  The dark is cold but I smile all the way,

  dragged through the black by the vexed.

  It’s sad and lonely to be lost today,

  But I promise General Walker will be next!

  The soldiers all howled, but the words left a haunting feeling shaking Kieran to the core. He could feel his anger rising, his hands began to tingle and shake.

  “Chloe, please come in?” He whispered, his head pinned in one position. He watched as Jonesy was carried away next. “Chloe?”

  The bite won’t hurt, will be over soon,

  my job is done and that’s fine.

  As my flesh turns grey I’ll still sing this tune

  But I promise General Walker you’ll be mine.

  Howl.

  “He’s blocking your signal,” Benson replied. “He wants you alone. Kealey, he wants you. Do not let him get you, for god’s sake boy, run!”

  Another Troll appeared and took Benson, he slumped to the floor and hummed along with the others as they sung.

  “No,” Kieran muttered, “no.” His hands began to tingle more and more, the shake and pain wasn’t from the points racking up. It was him. He was channelling something deep inside, some power he held when in Plantranet.

  “Do it,” Benson called.

  “What?” Kieran said back, he looked down and his armour was glowing brightly. “What do I do?” But there was no answer.

  “Control, Kieran.” Chloe’s voice crackled very faintly in his helmet, she had managed to break through Adam’s blockers. “I think I’m back in, sir.” He heard her calling, “If you can hear me then you need to control it and then release.”

  Kieran closed his eyes as a Troll laid its grubby little stubby fingers around his wrist. He felt the power running through him. He controlled the power until it was so great that his whole body was vibrating intermittently. “How…do I …release?” he panted through the surge of power.

  “Anyway you can,” Chloe called back like a distant voice.

  Kieran screamed with anger, his whole body lifted causing the Troll that was holding him to fly towards the mess table. His body continued to vibrate in pulses and the energy exploded out of him into a flash of light. The light broke through the darkness, The Wall and everything that was around.

  “He did it, sir, he caused a flash reboot. They’re down, the enemy is down.”

  Kieran shone for a moment and then he fell to the floor, drained of all energy. His hands tingling like they had before, he couldn’t move, he had nothing left to give. He opened his eyes and looked around, The Wall was still a disaster zone, but the Laggers and Trolls had gone. The soldiers were on the ground, moving slowly but they were still there. The trolls hadn’t managed to take them, but everyone in that room needed regenerating fast. Kieran’s arm plate began to pulsate, it was telling him that he was at critical energy levels and he needed health. His visor was flashing red, it was something he was used to when playing PPSF, but now it was real.

  “I can’t get him to the portal, sir. We need to send someone in to bring him out safely.” There was an edge of concern in her voice. “Hunters and Medics are on their way Kieran, just hold on. ETA five minutes.”

  Kieran smiled with what little energy he had left. He remembered what Trevelli had said, there were supplies on the Mess table. Knowing he had to make his way over there, he crawled onto his knees and fell back down to the ground with a crash. He had to get over there, “I can do this,” he whispered. Finding the button, he lifted the blackout visor and the visor itself to let the fresh air on his face. “That is so much better,” he groaned and began to haul his tired body along the ground. He had to crawl past soldiers who were all heaped on top of each other. Some looked like they were waking up from a good night’s sleep. The light from The Wall was still bright and pierced his eyes, but he was glad of the light, and the air. Painfully lifting his tiresome body, he reached his hand up to the table. The ReGen pad was just out of his reach, he clambered his fingers further across the table top but he just couldn’t reach it. With one last pull on his resources, he heaved his body up by clinging onto the table edge. There was a rumble from the ammo crate that sat underneath, the rumble turned into a crash. Kieran froze. The face that looked back at him was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. The Troll that had grabbed him before the flash had been knocked into the crate and that had protected him from the reboot.

  “You’re coming with me,” The Troll bleated in its own bad tempered way. It took hold of Kieran’s wrists and pulled him from the table with no effort.

  Kieran had no energy left to fight back, even talking was an effort. All he could do was watch the darkness approach as he trailed behind the ugly creature. “Chloe,” he called with all his might but she didn’t respond. It was the darkness interfering, there was nothing in there and the darkness fed the evil. It was easy for Adam to control and manipulate the dark because it was like him, empty.

  28

  The Fastplate had stopped at the edge of Sector B. A large golden shimmering door was staring back at Owen, Dexter and Isabelle. The words ‘Error 404’ running across a holoband.
/>   Cadet Thistle was pacing back and forth outside of the door. Four cadets stood behind him, lining the wall.

  Isabelle jumped off first. “Wow, there are loads of us here.” She walked towards the clan that had gathered and waited patiently for Sebastian’s orders.

  “No kidding.” Dexter tiptoed over the cadets. “There must be hundreds of Hunters here alone.”

  “More are already out.” One of the older cadets confirmed.

  “Wow. Kiwi is going to miss all the fun.” Owen shook his head in disbelief.

  “More for us then!” Dexter smiled and disappeared into the crowd.

  “Seb doesn’t look happy.” Isabelle watched him as he paced, his helmet tightly gripped under his arm.

  “Attention!”

  Every cadet jumped into their board-like stance.

  “Cadets.” Cadet Thistle called. “We are about to enter into one of the busiest zones in the whole of Plantranet. We will be manoeuvring in five groups through Sector B. While I am your commander inside, each of you will be split into the command of my lieutenants. Once inside we will have two hundred medics joining up with us to initiate Recov. The plan is this, we enter and clear everything. You will help the medics restrain and return the Taken and then we will move out. Intelligence tells us that there is a lot of movement and we will be in for a big fight. There will be a few ammo drops once we are in there, so make sure you have a spare Antigen vial at all times. Once we are clear we will move out and clear the next target.” Sebastian nodded at the cadets that stood behind him and they moved forwards. He addressed the group again, “You will obey every order when inside, I will have no renegade missions. Is that clear?”

  “Yes Sir!”

  “You listen to my commands or that of the lieutenants. If all else fails you listen to your Guider. They are under strict instructions to follow my command, or should I be infected, that of the next in charge.” Sebastian walked towards the crowd and parted it in half. He then sectioned them off again until there were five groups. “Group one are with Guardian Reynalds. Group two are with Titan Dawson, Group three with Titan Gray and group four with Guardian Liamson. The final group, you are with me. Code Words for this mission are Sun and Shine. Before jumping around a corner you call Sun and the others repeat Shine, if not you take them out!”

  “Yes!” Dexter grinned, “We get the legend that is Sebastian Thistle.”

  Owen messed around with his belt and pockets. “It’s okay, I thought I’d lost my spare ammo vial. It’s okay,” he panted and held his chest.

  “Brick,” Isabelle whispered and rolled her eyes again.

  “Keep together, keep low and listen to your leader. In all we trust!”

  “Without one, the others will fall!” The crowd shouted back with pride.

  “Dawson and Liamson take the teams left and sweep through. Reynalds and Gray flank right, we will storm the centre.”

  “Copy that.” Lee Liamson nodded.

  “Roger,” Cara Gray called.

  “Team five, with me.” Sebastian approached the door and waited for his group to follow.

  “Good luck,” Isabelle whispered placing her helmet on.

  “Who needs luck, it’ll be like playing PPA but first hand.”

  “We can’t press pause or restart once we’re in there. It’s not a game Dex.”

  Dexter eyed Isabelle cautiously, “I know, I was just making light of the situation.”

  “Once we are in, we will be faced with moving data packets, money packets and more. There will be things continuously moving and not all of it will be the enemy. Try not to take out Spyware or touch any of the Firewalls or encryptions. Follow me.” The door slid open with a silent SHH noise and Sebastian jumped in.

  “Good luck guys.” Owen slipped in front of Isabelle and glanced back at them before he entered.

  “Aw bless, he wants to make sure you’re safe.” Dexter chuckled and pushed Isabelle forwards.

  “I don’t know why, it’s usually me looking after him.” She shook her head and leapt in through the open door, Dexter was close behind.

  “Everybody keep quiet,” Sebastian whispered through the comms. The forty cadets crouched down and kept silent behind a line of metal boxes. Sebastian crept out and in single line formation they followed, covering each other with their guns.

  There were conveyor belts everywhere running in all different directions. The area was huge, so big that the ends of the room couldn’t be seen. It felt like they were in the Grand Hall, just a lot more cluttered.

  “Look at all the safes!” Isabelle uttered in shock. She stared at the wall to wall stack of safes that also ran floor to ceiling high.

  “This place holds the world’s monetary system.” Sebastian stopped and crouched down talking to his Guider. “Sector B is huge, it’s probably one of the largest sectors in Plantranet. It would roughly take five days for us to walk from one side to the other, and this is where the Guiders are our golden help. They can create a portal to get us around here quicker.”

  “Hey, check this out,” Dexter had holstered his gun on his back and walked alongside one of the thousands of conveyor belts. He watched the money as it was carried along the belts from one safe to another. The belts moved from safe to safe transferring money in and out. “These things are so cool.”

  “Wow,” Owen gasped, holstering his gun. “They are so brick!”

  Dexter clipped Owen around the back of his helmet. “Seriously, no more!”

  “Okay, okay.” Owen whined defensively. “Hey, Izzy look at them, they’re alive.”

  Isabelle and Sebastian joined them and they stared at the characterised money. There were Pound signs, Dollar signs, Euros, Yen, Rupees, Peso’s and many more. Each of the symbols acted differently and each was alive in their own way.

  “You notice the slight colour differences on them, well that shows different amounts like under five, over one hundred, and so on. They are sensitive information that’s why they are all jumpy and nervous.” Sebastian picked one of the Dollar symbols up. It shook with nerves so badly it looked like it would combust. “Watch.” Sebastian kept hold of the symbol until a claxon sounded and a golden flaming net appeared. “That’s the Banking Sector Safety Net. It’s there to stop anyone taking money that shouldn’t. The net glistened and flew towards Sebastian. He dropped the money back on the conveyor belt and the net disappeared.

  “Cool,” Dexter laughed attempting to catch a Pound sign. The pound stood up and jumped out of his grasp. The group laughed at his efforts until Cadet Thistle gave a disapproving cough.

  “Selsus, come in.” Sebastian turned away but his conversation could be heard as Isabelle listened intently to his one-way chat. “Why is the Safety net still running? We were told the area had been breached…Okay understood but…Okay we’ll check that out.”

  “Everything okay?” Isabelle asked.

  “The information was that Sector B was overrun, if that’s the case then the net would have been disabled.”

  “But it hasn’t?”

  “Nope.”

  There was a rumble and a crash from the far end of the room. “Take cover and follow me. Just remember, do not touch the encryption or fire walls.”

  The group crouched low with their guns at the ready. They made their way through the walls of conveyor belts and safes. They watched in fascination as money entered its destined safe and then a wall of fire enveloped the safe. Every now and then a deep red money symbol would rush along the conveyor belts, jumping and bouncing from one belt to another. The Spyware would jump out of the shadows and chase the bad money until it caught it and ate it. The little characters in full black with their upturned collar and large hat ran fast like the wind, but sometimes the dodgy money was faster. Data packets filled the sky of the room like a constant swarm of bats.

  Suddenly all of the cadets stopped, Sebastian had his hand up to signal silence. Each and every cadet’s Guider appeared on their visor and they all said the same message. �
�Swag incoming, keep low. Now!”

  “Everybody, kiss the ground. Now!” Sebastian screamed.

  Isabelle, Dexter and Owen all clattered to the floor, their armour taking a good denting as they met the cold hard stonework. “What’s going on?” Isabelle whispered.

  “Shh.” Sebastian hushed. “Swag bag at twelve o’clock.”

  Isabelle lifted her eyes to twelve o’clock and saw a huge hessian type bag that was as big as a house. “What…is…”

  “Shh.”

  The bag floated around the room and stopped at each conveyor belt. Like a hoover, it sucked up all the shivering money and it grew bigger and bigger expanding with necessity.

  “Everybody stay low.” Sebastian whispered once more.

  There were screeching noises, all the data packets started to go crazy. They flew around erratically and they made so much noise some of the cadets became a little frightened. Then the sky cleared, momentarily, and nets appeared from every angle in the room. Some had flashing sirens like police cars, some were fiery red like the firewalls and others had electrified webbing. The nets swarmed the bag, everything in their reach burnt up, or disappeared due to their power. The cadets could see why they had to stay low. Some conveyor belts caught fire, disappeared and then new ones appeared in a nearby position.

  The Swag bag panicked and tried to get away, it spilt money all over the floor as it clumsily floated away. The nets surrounded the bag, each of them closed in until it was firmly held in place. The nets tightened their grip and the bag bulged, it almost screamed in pain. The tightening could be heard by everyone within the sector, the sounds were like that of cables snapping.

  “Heads down, it’s gonna blow!” Thistle screamed.

  Isabelle brought her head down so fast that her visor clashed with the floor. Dexter and Owen huddled up waiting for the blow. They placed their hands over where their ears would be. The bag exploded with a loud KABOOM. Money flew all over the place for miles, it rained down on the cadets for a few minutes.

  “Ouch!” Dexter shouted. “I think I must be getting the big bucks here. Ouch!”