There were several more explosions. The tanks were firing at them again.
“We have to get out of this alley,” Savannah shouted over the tanks. The others yelled, and he heard more explosions combined with the sound of assault rifles firing. More of the resistance had come, and were firing on Civic Protection. He shouted, and everyone with him ran out into the street. They took cover as they fired onto the soldiers.
Khaleel looked behind them, and saw more of the resistance in the street than he’d ever seen at before. Hundreds of men and women were marching as their own army through the streets. They began to set up their own barricades, firing onto the soldiers and tanks. There were shouts, and flashes of muzzle shots and rounds being fired into the air. Khaleel felt himself shouting, as he joined them, firing onto the soldiers.
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Christina and the rest of their group had been alone for only a short time on their trek. They stopped at an alley with a wide street ahead of it.
“This should take us to Main Street,” Sean said. "That'll take us through East District all the way into Old, and then right to the wall. It’s the straightest route with the least amount of detours. The problem is that Civic Protection will know this too, and they probably already have dozens of barricades along it.”
“Well,” Christina said, “barricades were made to be broken.” Sean chuckled.
“Not if you’re Civic Protection.”
They moved into the street, marching in a ragged line. Christina had counted about thirty in the group, most of them armed. There were a few children among them as well. She held the pistol with one hand, and held on to Alicia with her other hand. The child had been quiet since James had left.
Sean stopped them against a wall of a building. He motioned for them to hide.
“There are soldiers ahead,” he whispered, “let me see if I can take them out.” Christina saw him move on ahead, where there were two soldiers standing guard at the entrance to a building. Sean quietly moved beside them, hidden in a shadow. She saw the glint from a knife in his hand.
The first soldier went down quickly with a knife in the neck. The other was startled, and raised his rifle. Sean was too quick for him, pushing the end of the rifle away as he jabbed his palm into the man’s nose. The soldier fell to the ground, twitching. Sean wiped the knife on the dead man’s clothes and walked quickly back to Christina.
“Those two soldiers were guarding something inside that building,” Sean said. "I’m going to try to find out what. If I’m not back in five minutes, assume I’m dead and move on. Try to find more of the resistance.”
“Wait,” Christina said, “what are you expecting?”
“Civic Protection soldiers are trained during a battle to try to take prisoners,” Sean said, “so they can extract information from them. Any enemy intel is extremely valuable during conflict. I think something like that might have been set up here. They could be torturing people in there.” Christina nodded to him, and he went ahead into the building.
Luke called over to her, and she explained why they’d stopped. He had his daughters in tow, and was obviously stressed about it. They waited. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passes. Luke asked her what they should do. She stood silent for a moment.
“Take the group and go on ahead,” Christina said. “I’ll join you when I can. Try to find and join the other groups headed for the walls.” He nodded, and began to move. She turned to Alicia.
“Go with Luke and his daughters,” Christina said. “I’ll see you again.”
“No, I’m staying with you.”
“Alicia, this isn’t up for debate.” Christina turned to Luke, “Take her, drag her if you have to.” He moved towards her, but stopped.
“Luke,” Christina said, “what are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he said, “I can’t move.” Christina looked at Alicia, who had a serious look on her face.
“I’m staying with you, Christina,” Alicia said. Suddenly Luke stepped forward, and almost lost his balance. They both realized that Alicia had used her telekinetic powers on him, preventing him from moving. She grinned slightly as they stared at her, surprised.
“All right,” Christina said, “fine. Stay behind me.” Alicia acknowledged by stepping behind her. Christina held up the pistol, and made sure it was loaded. She stared at it for a moment, and took a deep breath. She held it up with both hands as she began to move forward, walking slowly into the shaded entrance, the open doorway into the building. Luke and the rest of the group had already moved on.
She crossed the door frame, noticing the door was broken inward. Civic Protection must have stormed the building at some point. She walked slowly into a dimly lit lobby. The floors were a faux marble, and probably once were very reflective. Now they were worn, faded and dull. She was actually surprised that the inside of a building in East District looked this neglected. I guess things aren’t always as they appear, she thought. Fresh drops of blood glittered on the floor as she walked past. The halls had a faint scent of smoke, that could be filling in from outside in the city.
She followed them, moving through the lobby. The elevators looked like they’d been out of order for a while. She noticed an open doorway leading to the stairs, and she headed up them. The stairwell wasn’t much different than the lobby, dimly lit with worn floors. There were drops of blood leading through a doorway onto the second floor. The door was closed, but not latched. She pushed it open slowly. There was a slight creak, but no other sound.
There was shouting coming from down the hallway. Most of the lights were out, but few enough that she could see to navigate through the hallway. Down a ways she could see light coming from one of the rooms. She could tell the shouting was coming from that room.
She walked slowly to the door. It was cracked, and she peaked through the door to try to see inside. She could see a Civic Protection soldier. He was yelling at someone who was beyond her line of sight. She focused on the soldier, and began to raise her pistol. She prepared to push the door open and fire, when she felt a hard object being poked into her back.
“Freeze,” a man behind her said. "Don't move or I’ll shoot you. Drop the gun and step slowly into the room.” She followed the man’s instructions, dropping the weapon and placing her arms in the air. She walked slowly into the room. Sean was on the floor; he had been shot in the leg. Along the wall were several dead men, people who had apparently been tortured and killed. They all wore the “V” patch on their clothes.
“Christina,” Sean said as he winced with pain, “I told you to go without me.” The soldier who had been questioning Sean stared curiously as Christina. The man had a gruff appearance, with hatred in his eyes. He called to the soldier behind her.
“She was about to make the jump on you,” the man behind her said. “I caught her just in time, though. Looks like we have some more rebels to interrogate.”
“Good thing,” the other soldier said, “maybe they’ll last longer than the others we questioned.” He glanced over at the dead men. He then turned to her, taking a good look. “My,” he said, “you sure are pretty for a member of the resistence. Hey, maybe we should do some special interrogation techniques just for her.” The soldier behind her snickered as he pushed her into the room.
“That sounds good to me.”
The soldier who’d been questioning Sean approached Christina, looking her up and down. He face was an inch away from her, so close she could smell his sweat and breath.
“I wonder if you smell good," he said. She felt a sudden flash of emotions; fear, panic, but mostly rage. In a moment of impulse, she latched on to the man’s nose with her teeth. She bit down as hard as she could, and tore. The sound of his flesh tearing was sickening, and he wailed.
She tasted blood, but didn’t hesitate. She spat out the front of the man’s nose as she dove to the floor. She rolled forward, stopping near the
wall. Near the corner, one of the soldiers had leaned a shotgun. The other soldier trained his gun on her, and was about to fire when an invisible force slammed into him from behind, pushing him forward and catching him off-guard. She grabbed the shotgun, and pumped it. She aimed it at the nearest man and squeezed the trigger. She was glad James had taken the time to show her how to hold it properly and aim.
The recoil wasn’t as strong as she expected, but that might have been since her adrenaline was so high. She turned the weapon, and after pumping the barrel again she squeezed the trigger at the other soldier who had part of his nose missing. After he was down she pumped the rifle again and looked around. Both soldiers were down. Sean crawled himself to one of the dead soldiers and pulled a med kit from the corpse. He began to perform short work on his wounded thigh.
“Christina, are you all right?” he asked as he bandaged himself. “That was a good thing you did there.” She looked down at her hands, seeing the shotgun. She could see blood on her chest, and touched her face with one hand. There was blood on her chin from the soldier. William walked into the room, followed by Alicia.
“The little one,” William said, motioning to Alicia, “she called me. She said you needed my help. I thought it could be one way I could help James, by saving the woman he loves.” William looked at Sean. "Are you all right?”
Sean nodded and gave a half-hearted smile as he finished bandaging his leg. Christina was still in shock. Suddenly the realization of what she’d done hit her in the pit of her stomach. That combined with the taste of the soldier’s blood in her mouth and the sight of the dead rebels against the wall caused her to run into the corner and start throwing up.
She finished and Alicia brought her some water from one of the soldier’s canteens. Christina rinsed out her mouth and spat. She splashed water on her face also, trying to wipe as much blood off as possible.
After a few moments she was alright. She stepped forward to them. Sean was standing again, although limping. He had given himself a shot of something from the kit that reduced the pain. Alicia took Christina’s hand.
“I think I understand a little more,” she said. “I know it was good that I killed those men, in my mind. But my heart doesn’t say that. It tells me it was wrong.”
“That’s why this is happening,” Sean said. “As horrible as all of this is, we’re doing it to stop the conflict once and for all.” They were silent. Sean turned to the dead rebels against the wall. “I was too late for them. The soldiers, they caught me by surprise. I’ve been working my whole life trying to save people in Civic Protection’s control, in their possession. What they do when they try to make a person a Civic Protection soldier is take away their humanity. Make them into ugly monsters. The thing I’m most afraid of is that our biggest enemy is really ourselves.”
Alicia stepped forward and took Sean’s hand, too.
“Don’t give up on people,” Alicia said, “we didn’t give up, and we found you. You say Civic Protection is bad, but you came from them. You’re good. There’s more good there, they just don’t know it. It’s never too late to be saved.” Christina looked at the dead men, and took their jackets and covered each man’s face.
“We can’t give up hope,” Christina said, “because it seems like it's harder and harder to find. There’s so much bad out there, so much evil. It makes it harder to see the good.”
“I’ve been searching for it my whole life,” William said. “It seems like when I get closer, something happens that takes me further away. It’s especially hard when I look at myself.” He looked down at the floor.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Sean asked. Christina thought for a moment, and looked at the ring on her finger.
“Yes,” Christina said, “but it’s not just what I believe. It’s what I hope. My hope for the future is what drives me. It’s what drives all of us.” He solemnly nodded to her.
They left silently, entering the street as large numbers of the resistance began passing through. There were shouts as they moved forward, and the gunshots became louder.
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The xenos finished altering their bodies all at once. Wolfgang and Damaine stood up from the ground, feeling a strength they’d never experienced. Wolfgang grinned as he felt the creature pulse through his veins, his body. He willed metal scales to grow over his skin, as it had on James. He stared at his hands as they became armored claws.
“How are you two feeling?” Michael said as he stepped forward. His white hair was now accented with highlights of silver. His eyes swam back and forth between reflective silver and the blue slits on his pupils. The silver creature covered his entire body, and the metal shrapnel from the knives were ejected from his chest as the xeno repaired his heart and lungs from the damage his sister had caused him so many years ago.
“Strong,” Wolfgang said, “and powerful.” Damaine nodded in agreement.
“What about you, Father?” Wolfgang asked.
“Like a new person,” Michael said. “It’s time for me to take care of my city.” He moved over to a data screen at the far end of the room. He tapped on it a few times, and checked the readouts. “Perfect, it’ll take one hour to get the scrambler to fire. Protect me until then, but I can’t be bothered during the process. The machine links to my mind’s eye, and it’ll take intense concentration to do this to the entire city.” Wolfgang nodded to Michael, and he stepped beside him. Michael tapped on the data screen once more, and the image of Ares came up.
“Yes Father?” Ares stared at Michael through the data screen. "Did the xeno live up to your expectations?”
“Beyond my expectations. Ares, it’s time. Have you taken care of the other three?” Ares hesitated for a moment.
“In a way,” Ares said. "Medea is dead, and Dante is dying a slow death. I shot him in the gut. Lucien escaped.” Michael stared for a moment, thinking.
“Good enough,” Michael said, “Lucien is too weak to cause any real problems. Prepare for the Vanguard. I’m sure he’s headed for you.”
“Oh, I am Father, and I’m well aware of his weaknesses. Fortunately he has no idea the extent of my abilities.”
“Good,” Michael said. He looked at Wolfgang and Damaine, and then to Ares on the screen. “A new dawn has come, one that not only sees the end of this city, but of all humanity. Don’t disappoint me.” He deactivated the data screen, and walked out of the room. Wolfgang and Damaine followed him looks of confidence.
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The battle raged onward in the city. More of the resistance flooded into the streets, fighting Civic Protection’s grasp. The soldiers could no longer travel about the city in groups, or hold smaller points. The rebels knew too many ways around, and were easily flanking them. Civic Protection began relying on their heavy weaponry: tanks and gunships. But even the gunships began to have trouble traveling throughout the city.
People were finding and exploiting their weaknesses, and the gunships started hovering over friendly-lines, attacking from a distance. Civic Protection’s goal was to halt all others from reaching the walls. The majority of the resistance groups were moving through East and Old District, to the southern section of the wall. Civic Protection had lined up in front of the wall, but also in lines that were moving slowly outward.
The barricade that was receiving the biggest pounding was on Main Street, at the edge between East and Old District. The street itself looked unrecognizable, filled with rubble from falling buildings and ruined vehicles, not to mention the dead bodies from both sides of the battle. Civic Protection soldiers were relying on the tanks for cover, the resistance making use of destroyed vehicles and large pieces of debris for protection.
Although the resistance had a strong following, Civic Protection had dug themselves deep into the street. Their line extended all around, halting virtually all of the resistance members from trying to get across.
Khaleel was in the front line o
f the resistance, hiding behind a barrier of fallen concrete from a nearby building. The shells flying by were creating clouds of dust all around him. He wiped his eyes for a moment, catching the sweat as it ran down his face. Two others were behind the concrete with him, taking turns peeking around and shooting.
On the other side of the street he could see Kyle and Savannah with some others, hiding behind a wall. They would take turns trying to get shots off also. They were in between two buildings, in an alley that led to a dead end. He closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. As he exhaled he stood up, and began shooting over the concrete. He was shouting, trying to aim at any soldiers he could see.
Over the distance, one soldier poked his head around a tank. Khaleel caught him in his sights as he was firing, and the man was shot down in an instant. The soldier fell behind the barrier, and Khaleel knew he was dead. It had been a head shot.
He saw one of the large cannons on a tank turn toward him. He shouted to the other two men behind the concrete, and they began to run. The concrete exploded behind them as the tank round pounded into it, the concussion from the blast pushing him forward onto the ground. He hesitated, not knowing if this meant the end for him. Suddenly he felt someone grab him from behind, pulling him up. It was Kyle, who had run across the street through the gunfire to help him. They started running together to the other side.
Suddenly there was another explosion. One of the tanks had aimed upward, and shot the top of the building, causing parts of it to collapse over them. Large pieces of concrete and metal were falling all around them. Khaleel could hear Savannah scream as he was knocked backwards from the impact.
The ground had shaken. He was on his back, but he was able to pull himself up. He tasted blood, and half expected himself to be impaled on something. He looked over his hands and chest. I’m all right, he thought. The same could not be said about Kyle.
City of Twilight Part III: The New Dawn (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 3) Page 10