I quickly spotted a dozen Custodians from Gamma Company crouched behind haphazardly stacked piles of wooden shipping crates and cardboard boxes. Some were shielding their faces from the smoke while others were coughing uncontrollably.
“On me!” Madison shouted as she sprinted into the smoke on our left. She fired her assault rifle as she went, putting down a hostile with each shot.
Although my eyes smarted and coughs wracked my slim frame, I did my best to keep up with her, firing quick bursts at the enemy. I shot one and forced two others to keep their heads down. Bhagya shot another, her bullets shredding a pile of wooden crates and the Custodian crouching behind them.
A light wind thinned and dispersed the clouds of smoke and dust. That allowed Custodians on the far side of the yard and those hunkered down in the alley to spot our muzzle flashes. They returned fire immediately, sending a hail of bullets in our direction.
That forced us to leap into cover behind a stack of weathered crates. I tensed, about to pop up and shoot, but Madison stayed me with a shake of her head.
A moment later, a flare suddenly arched into the night sky and illuminated the whole area in an eerie yellow light. Suddenly Ryan, Smithson and the men of Delta Company were charging through the door with guns blazing. The enemy returned fire, gunning down first two, then another three men of Delta Company before they could even get a dozen steps into the yard. However, the tide turned quickly as squad after squad of friendlies joined the fray, firing their guns on full auto at the defenders.
When bullets stopped slamming into the boxes we were using as cover, Madison, Bhagya and I rose and rejoined the fray. Using echolocation, we quickly located and picked off four more opponents.
And then it was all over. Fifteen men from Gamma Company and seven from Delta Company lay sprawled onto the grass and dirt. Some appeared lifeless while others clutched terrible fatal wounds, groaning in pain. Medics hurried to friendlies and quickly cut away uniforms to apply temporary field dressings.
“Form up! This isn’t over yet,” Smithson shouted as he approached the entrance to the alley. All of the able-bodied Custodians and Undergrounders took up positions behind him.
Madison, Bhagya, and I took point again, and with Ryan backing us up, moved into the alley. I sang out loud and clear, searching not only the alley but also windows and doorways. I didn’t spot any more enemies, though – they must have sent only three squads to guard the secret entrance.
Our company was halfway down the alley when I heard a gunshot and saw a flash of light from the second floor of a building directly ahead, outside the laneway. I realised there were no lights on inside, and all nearby streetlights had been shot out. Whoever was in that building wanted to be in complete darkness.
“Sniper!” Madison shouted. She ran to the other side of the alley and snapped off a flurry of shots at the window from which the shooter had fired.
Undeterred, they shot at us again and I heard a bullet impact flesh. Bhagya jolted and cried out, her legs buckling.
“No!” I gasped. Not Bhagya! Holding my gun with one hand, I grabbed her with the other and quickly dragged her into the shelter of the closest doorway.
Chapter Eighteen
~ Ethan Jones ~
I sent Lieutenant Xiao, two Delta Company platoons, and the Undergrounders over to attack the gates leading into North End. It was still a couple of hours until sunrise, so apart from weak light from street lamps, it was still pretty dark. The sound of homemade pipe bombs going off, accompanied by assault rifle and machine gun fire, confirmed that Xiao’s diversionary attack was underway. I told him to make as much noise as possible, and his men were accomplishing that admirably. They weren’t supposed to break through the gates, just make it seem like they were trying to.
Letting them perform this important mission without me there to guide them felt like letting someone else fight my battle. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to delegate the job to Xiao and his men because I had to be somewhere else.
Twenty-five armband-wearing Custodians and my Hamamachi Special Forces Unit were hiding on the second floors and roofs of factories and houses that lined the street leading directly to the western gates. The gates themselves were to our left, patrolled by a squad of Armbands.
Nanako, David, Shorty, Leigh and I were in the bedroom of the second floor of an abandoned house, watching the street below. All the houses in this street had been left to fall into ruin when the last of the ten-story apartment blocks were completed about fifty years ago.
“Wishing Madison was here, eh?” Nanako said as she knelt beside me. Cool wind blew in our faces from the street thanks to our knocking out the cracked windows with our rifle butts.
“Got that right.”
“Did you have to send her?”
“One of us had to lead the raid on the lab, and as she’s lived there, Madison was the obvious choice.”
“Shouldn’t you have gone with them too?” Leigh asked.
“That’d be overkill. Besides, someone has to hold your hand, Leigh. You know what you’re like when people shoot at you,” I said.
“Hey, that’s not fair!”
“Hey, wasn’t it less than a month ago when those thieving New South Walers waltzed into Hamamachi lands–” Shorty said.
“Oi, you promised you wouldn’t tell ’em about that,” Leigh whispered furiously.
“I haven’t said it yet.”
“You think I don’t know what about your little flight, Leigh?” I echolocated after I spoke so I could watch him squirm.
“I was advancing in the opposite direction, is all. You guys were the ones who should be embarrassed. You was retreating backwards,” Leigh said.
“Your creative use of the English language never ceases to amaze me, Leigh,” Nanako said, chuckling.
My phone rang, so I tapped the earpiece. Aika’s voice rang loud and true. “Jones.”
“Go,” I said.
“I’m under fire. Snipers and machine gunners,” she said. Her words were punctuated by the sound of bullets striking the brickwork near her position.
“That means they’re sending the convoy in your direction and are trying to make you keep your head down,” I said. There were only two ways out of North End. One set of gates led into Newhome Proper, from which they could exit the town via the western gates. The other was through North End’s eastern gates. That was of course in the wrong direction, considering they wanted to rendezvous with the submarine, but as Delta Company was attacking Newhome Proper’s gates, they were trying to avoid the fight.
“Right you are – the convoy’s on the move. It departed the assembly point at the chancellery five minutes ago and is headed straight for the eastern gate house, just as you predicted,” Aika said.
“Explain to them why that’s not a good idea.”
“Didn’t you tell Chelsea Thomas I wouldn’t fire Javelin missiles at targets within the town?”
“Did I? Must have slipped my mind.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hang five, then, I have to take out those snipers before I can get to work.”
Shorty shuffled over to my position, trying to make out my face in the dark. “Is Aika okay, Jones?”
“Of course,” I said, and then concentrated on the sounds coming through the headset as Aika moved to a new sniper hide and engaged Gamma Company’s snipers.
“Got ‘em, dumb amateurs,” Aika said a couple of minutes later. “Right. Preparing to fire the Javelin – the convoy’s lead Bushmasters are approaching North End’s eastern gates. Aiming...missile away.”
A heartbeat later, we heard a boom so loud it was hard to believe it came from the opposite side of the town.
“One down, reloading...second missile away,” Aika said. There was another boom.
“That did the trick,” she said. “The surviving Bushmasters are firing smoke dischargers and the entire convoy is turning around and going back the way they came. Looks like they’ve realised they have to fight through your company
to get out of town.”
“Good work, Aika. That’s it for Javelins, though, okay? I don’t want to risk taking out the vehicles carrying the chancellor or the genetically engineered children by accident. Just keep monitoring that convoy.”
“Roger. Oh – tell your men to be careful of the Bushmasters. Some are fitted with new armoured turrets.”
“That’s all we need.”
Aika continued to report on the convoy as it snaked through town on its way to our position. The convoy was led by a dozen Bushmasters and a similar number of G-Wagons – they were the vehicles carrying the men of Gamma Company. The large number of trucks following them were transporting the Koreans, supplies, and equipment.
When Aika reported that the convoy had reached the gates leading into Newhome Proper, I made a quick phone call to Xiao.
“Yes, sir?” the lieutenant said after one ring.
“As soon as those gates open, you’re going to be facing some converted Bushmasters with roof-mounted turrets. Let them see you put up a token resistance, but then withdraw into buildings before you take casualties.”
“But, sir–”
“You don’t have any weapons that can stop a Bushmaster, Lieutenant.”
“Got it, sir.”
I listened anxiously as Aika continued to inform me of events as they transpired. Custodians opened North End’s gates and Gamma Company’s Bushmasters drove two abreast into Newhome Proper. They opened fire with their machine guns as soon as they were through. As instructed, Lieutenant Xiao and his men put on a show of resistance and then withdrew. Unfortunately, four of his men were gunned down – reminding me yet again of the high cost we were paying to pull off this revolution.
Once Xiao’s men were safely behind cover, Aika reported that half of the Bushmasters pulled over to the side of the road and laid down covering fire on the positions Delta Company’s Custodians had occupied only moments before. Meanwhile, the rest of the convoy, led by the rest of the Bushmasters, drove quickly past them and headed for the western gates – and us.
Moments later, several Bushmasters, including three sporting turrets, roared into our street. They were followed by G-Wagons and convoy of trucks. They opened fire at the squad of Armbands guarding the gates, causing them to run for cover.
“Light up the Molotovs?” Leigh asked, looking at the row of wine bottles stuffed with cloth wicks behind us.
“Not yet,” I said.
“We don’t have much of a window of opportunity to hit them at the speed they’re going,” David said.
“Get ready, but don’t light the wicks yet.”
David, Leigh and Shorty pulled out cigarette lighters and grabbed wine bottles.
“Here they come,” Shorty said.
True to his words, the leader Bushmasters drove past our window on the road below. Separated from our building by nothing more than the narrow sidewalk, it seemed like we could reach down through the shattered window and touch them.
“Now, Jones?” Leigh said, voice thick with concern. We only had one shot at this, and we all knew it.
“Not yet – watch,” I said.
With the sound of wood splintering, a section of road suddenly collapsed beneath the weight of the lead Bushmasters, revealing a wide, one-metre deep pit. With no way to arrest their momentum, the two armoured vehicles plunged front-first into the ditch, stopping only when they slammed into the far end, crumpling their bonnets. The Bushmasters’ armoured fronts were designed to stop bullets, not impacts with solid earth.
The next pair of Bushmasters only just managed to break in time to avoid slamming into the raised rears of the first vehicles. Utter chaos followed as every other vehicle in the column tried to avoid crashing into the preceding vehicles. Most were successful, but there were a couple of collisions, adding to the general bedlam.
“The whole road collapsed!” Leigh said.
“What did you do, Jones?” Shorty asked.
“Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” Nanako said, smiling mischievously. “Learned that from the Skel, didn’t you?”
“Sure did. Before we left Custodian HQ, I asked Pat Tori if he could arrange for a ditch to be dug across the road and covered with wood painted to look like asphalt. Did a good job in next to no time, didn’t they?”
“You’re a legend, Jones,” Shorty said.
“I know, I know,” I said. “Now grab those Molotovs and light up those Bushmasters. Nanako and I will cover you,” I said. I couched my assault rifle and waited for the Custodians in the Bushmasters below to try to leave their vehicles.
Chapter Nineteen
~ Chelsea Thomas ~
A bullet careened off the doorframe I was using for cover, missing my head by centimetres and showering me with shards of brick. Ducking back further, I pulled Bhagya down to a sitting position and crouched beside her. A palpable wave of relief washed through me when I saw her clutching her shoulder and blood seeping through her fingers. If that bullet had hit her in the chest…
“Get back, Chelsea,” Bhagya said between clenched teeth. “Don’t expose yourself on my account – it’s us she’s shooting at.”
“You think it’s Anna?” I asked.
“Lucia said she could leave with them tomorrow if she killed us all, remember?”
I nodded, recalling the sniper rifle training she received at the Custodian Academy.
Ryan was suddenly beside us, standing in the street and firing quick bursts in the sniper’s direction. He looked down at Bhagya, slung his assault rifle over his shoulder, and knelt beside us.
“Help me get her up, Chelz, we have to get her out of here,” he said.
“No! Don’t expose yourself – get back here with us,” I said, eyes wide with fear. Now I knew how the Custodians felt earlier when Aika had targeted them.
A Custodian moved past our position, weapon at the ready as he searched for the sniper’s exact position. Blood exploded from his chest and out his back as Anna’s bullet went right through his supposedly bulletproof vest. Those Blaser Sniper rifles were nasty pieces of work.
Other Custodians tried to find cover by hugging the walls of the buildings on either side of the alley. Some stood in doorways, others behind boxes, lampposts, or rubbish bins. Every time the sniper fired, they shot back at the muzzle flash, but to no avail. They dropped one by one – some with a cry, others without a sound. Anna must have made some kind of bulletproof sniper hide behind the window. Only a direct hit could take her out, and that would probably be one in a million.
“First platoon, withdraw!” Smithson shouted. “Second platoon, provide covering fire!”
Half the Custodians sprinted back the way we came while the others sent a hail of lead towards the sniper’s position.
“Let’s go, Chelsea!” Ryan snapped, hauling Bhagya to her feet.
“No, into the building!” Madison shouted. She sprinted across the road to join us and fired at the door, shooting out the lock. She booted the door open and disappeared inside, calling for us to follow her.
With our arms around Bhagya’s frail form, Ryan and I dragged her through the door and into safety. Using echolocation, I saw that we were in the foyer of an office. Unlike the buildings in Newhome Proper, it was immaculate, with a marbleised vinyl floor, framed art prints on the walls, and spotlessly clean antique wooden desks and chairs.
Joining us, Madison examined Bhagya’s wound with flash sonar. “Ryan, treat the wound until a medic can get in here – the bullet’s gone right through her shoulder. Chelsea and I will take care of Anna, and then Delta Company can resume its advance on the lab.”
“No way!” he said. “Take me with you. Let Chelsea tend to Bhagya.”
“Don’t be absurd, Ryan – you wouldn’t last a minute against Anna. Come on, Chelsea, we’re against the clock here.” Without waiting for my boyfriend’s response, she ran out of reception, going deeper into the building. As I darted after her, Ryan’s protestations faded into the background.
“We’ll use Jones’ favourite anti-Skel tactic – we’re going to ambush the ambusher,” she said.
Arriving at the office’s back door, she stopped and faced me. “We can’t use flash sonar anymore, though – she’ll hear us coming from a mile off. Until we reach her building, just use tongue clicks.”
“Say again?” I looked at her as though she’d gone daft.
“Watch and learn. It’s another trick I picked up from Jones.” Clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth, Madison quietly unbolted the door and slipped through it. Following her, I realised that the echoes bouncing back from her clicks were giving me a faint impression of our surroundings. I was even able to build a faint mental map in my mind. I could also tell what surfaces the clicks were being reflected by. Plaster walls, glass windows and wooden doors all sent back distinctly different echoes. It was nowhere as good as echolocation, but it enabled us to navigate the dark.
The office’s back door led us to a long, narrow walkway that ran between the backs of two rows of buildings. In sharp contrast to the clean and tidy streets of North End, this area had been used as a dumping ground, with used or broken office equipment, packing crates and refuse.
Madison rang swiftly but silently down the gap between the buildings, weaving effortlessly between the obstacles. I followed her with markedly less agility, clicking my tongue as I went so I wouldn’t trip and fall face-first onto the concrete.
We soon reached the street containing the restaurant Anna was using as her sniper-hide, coming out several doors down from her, and therefore outside her field of vision. Gunshots continued to ring out – irregular, louder shots from Anna and sporadic, staccato bursts of gunfire from the Custodians’ assault rifles.
Forager - the Complete Six Book Series (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Series) Page 139