by Wolfe Locke
The others had spread around the building. It was not a factory, it was a house. The outside seemed alright but the inside was falling apart. They had made attempts to take care of it. The sitting room floor was bad and the roof was soaked with something Niles had no idea about. He cursed, how were they surviving in a place this? He couldn’t understand why someone would go through the stress. Just to put down a system that benefitted everyone?
“Hey,” he said to one of the soldiers, the man turned and Niles pointed up the stairs. The man understood. They would be meeting the two other groups soon. Niles watched the soldier go up. His feet were cautiously moving up the stairs. They were made from some kind of metal, something shiny and durable, like steel. Niles was about to say something but then two men came out of the kitchen. Relaxed, unarmed, and unwary. It lasted only a second. One of them cursed and was about to turn around when the other soldier shot them both. Niles saw as the bodies fell.
He gave a signal to wait as he walked to the kitchen and looked in. It was empty, just the usual stuff. They got out and walked up the stairs. Niles was midway up the stairs when he heard guns firing. The sound was definitely not theirs. The gun was different.
“Fuck, they are bringing the main guns now,” Niles said and ran upstairs. The other man followed. They ran until they got to the end of the walkway and when Niles peeped around the bend, there was a body on the floor. The Sergeant’s. He cursed. If he continued like this, they were all going to die.
“Be careful, they have some kind of monster guns,” Niles said to the man accompanying him. Niles hoped he really understood and wasn’t just feigning intelligence. They walked down the hallway. He could hear shots around him but he couldn’t see where they were coming from or going to. Maybe they were outside. He had thought most of the men would be outside. He was still looking and running when a man ran at him. Niles hit his face and when he staggered back, he shot him in the head. They moved forward, hearing the body hit the floor behind them.
“I don’t think they are here,” The other man said. “The place seems really quiet, there is almost no one around.” Niles looked around. The man was right, there was almost no one in the whole place. They were at the end of the hallway. They entered the room of the man they just killed. Niles found a sound grenade on the bed and no gun. No wonder he didn’t shoot. The bomb would have been better though. They walked over the body and walked back.
“But if they are not in here, where are they? Where did those guys enter?” Niles asked. The other soldier, his gun poised, shrugged his shoulder. Think. Think. Think, Niles. The house was a simple one floor above the ground floor. There wasn’t much room to hide anywhere in there.
Zander and three other men walked in to meet them. The men they met outside had been eliminated, some of Zander’s men too. Niles nodded. Zander walked to the kitchen and came back with water on his face. Niles wondered if he was alright, but decided not to ask. This was not the time to wonder too much about it.
“Something isn’t right.” They both realized
“The guys we met outside… patsies. Just homeless people given guns.” Niles nodded. That was the same conclusion he had came to. He frowned.
“If they are not in here, then where the hell are they?” Niles asked. “We looked in every room in the place, they are not here. The guys we chased, they are not in here either, so either there is a door that leads out somewhere, or they are ghosts. And I really don’t believe in ghosts.” Zander sighed. He scratched his face and was about to give a suggestion when someone, one of the soldiers that came in with him, pointed in the kitchen.
“There is something here, sir,” he said. Niles turned to him and then went to check on it. He chuckled and shook his head. The fridge was not a fridge at all. It was a freaking door. There were stairs leading down to the basement. He shook his head.
It was dark down there, but when he put his leg past the threshold, a light appeared. He walked forward and the light kept coming up. Then Niles broke into a run, they were too open. They could all be killed with just a thought if they were not careful. At the end of the staircase, was another door. This one had a security lock and the place was locked up tight.
They made way for Zander and he knelt by the door and went to work. Niles was thinking about what was on the other side and what Marcus had to tell him at the same time. If he survived this, he could end this once and for all. He checked his time and sighed; Zander had been at it for about fifteen minutes. Enough time for them to be ready, they must have known about them already. Zander got up when the door clicked and sucked open.
“Cover your ears,” Niles whispered. Then he threw the sound grenade. When it exploded, a shrill sound exploded through. Niles was clasped his hand over his ears. When it went down, he was the first to go in. He didn’t wait to see them clearly. He started firing immediately, so did the other soldiers.
The inside was a small underground facility. They spread out again after shooting through the first wave of their security. Niles dodged a close swing of a dagger and turned and shot the man’s chest. He entered the first square room and there he saw it, there were about fifteen square rooms in the place, they all had pods.
This was a small online army. He opened the pod and before the person inside could open his eyes, Niles put a bullet in his head. He covered the pod and walked out of the place. He realized the inside was cold. He saw a man running, aimed and shot him down. None of them were going to survive this. He saw Zander fighting someone. He thought of shooting the man he was fighting with but someone rammed into him and his gun fell when he hit the ground. The pain in his leg echoed throughout his body. He turned to see a fist coming straight at him and dodged. The blow hit the ground next to his head. The man on top of him flinched. Niles shoved him away. He was huge, bigger than Niles.
“ Urgh. Fuck me!” The man exclaimed flailing his hand. There was blood on his face. He looked at Niles’ gun at the same time Niles did. Niles groaned; his leg was aching. He tried to ignore the pain. The man moved to get to the gun, Niles kicked his rib with his good leg. The man groaned. Niles followed up with a punch but the man pushed his hand away and headbutted him. The whole place swam around for a moment.
The man looked at the gun and ignored it. “I will kill you with my own two hands, insect.” Niles stepped back a bit. There was nothing he could do, he was no match for the man. he was bigger and from the way he swatted Niles’s punch away, it seemed like he was as strong as his body suggested.
Niles pushed the insidious thoughts away. He rushed at the man, the bigger man caught him and slammed him to the ground. Niles coughed, the air in him fled. His eyes stung and his back too. But none of this compared to the pain that drilled through his leg. It was the very first time he got the injury. He held the leg, moaning and trying to crawl away from the man. All around him, shots were being fired, people were dying and there he was, about to be murdered like he was a child circled by wolves.
He tried to stand and when he could, he felt like he was dragging a boulder instead of his leg. The right leg was goo but the left felt like it was going to fall off. The man grinned as he moved in for the kill. He tried to punch Niles, but he dodged. The pain increased when he put some weight on the leg. His movement was restricted, but then the man made an error. He held Niles’ throat. He squeezed tight and then tried to pick him up. Niles, trying to breathe, slapped his eyes.
The man yelled and let him fall. Niles coughed, his throat was almost crushed. He crawled until he got to his gun and then he turned to the man. He waited for him to recuperate and when he saw Niles, he made to rush at him. Niles rained a barrage of bullets on him. When he stopped, the man fell forward with a thud. Niles fell back. He was exhausted. He body felt like they were at their limit. He stood up, limping. He walked into the next room and then opened the pod and shot the man in it. His gun was empty.
Niles tossed the gun away, sat on the rim of the pod and let his hand trail through the gel. If it was his
own Rig, he would have shot up but these guys, their pods had no complete Rig. They were not getting in the normal way; the system was not giving them any security. That was probably why they had skilled security guys. Someone entered the Rig room. Niles turned to see one of the soldiers that came with him.
“Tell the others to check the other rooms. They have these guys all over the place. We have to be sure we are getting rid of them before we leave. Is Zander still alive?” The man gave him an affirmative nod.
Niles sighed and very slowly wrapped his finger around the man’s neck and squeezed until he was sure he was dead. He detached his hand from the gel and then stood up.
“Wouldn’t they have been helpful information?” the soldier asked as he turned to go. Niles shook his head. His face was bloody. He hadn’t felt the blood before that moment, even while he fought the other man, he didn’t know. His mind was blank and focused.
“Nope, these were just thugs. The man in charge will be here soon.” The man nodded and walked out. Niles sighed. He was tired, and could use a bath and a good massage. His bones ached and he felt like that small fight had set him back months in recovery. It was worth it though. They would need to blow everything up, raze everything to hell. He sighed again.
There were bodies everywhere as he limped. They had been good. He had feared they were going to be killed, every single one of them. In the end, it wasn’t all that bad. The place stank now. He saw one of the soldiers fire into a pod and when he looked at Niles, Niles called them over
“ What about Zander?” Niles asked.
“Thing’s aren’t looking good, Chief.” Niles frowned. He followed the soldier to where Zander was laid. He was alive, but he was bleeding out. Niles wondered why the other Private he spoke to didn’t tell him anything about that. Zander looked at him when he got close. He right hand was gone, shot off. His entire right side was bloody.
”Don’t you worry, We’ll get you out of here,” Niles promised.
“No, I think I’m done.” Zander muttered.
Niles looked at him and shook his head. If he could still walk with his leg that had once looked worse than what he was seeing, Zander still had a choice. “You’ll be fine. You’ll just have to learn a few things.”
“But we are getting you out of here. You will be alright.” Zander shook his head. We really don’t have time for this.”
“What do you mean?” Zander asked before being interrupted by a loud commotion.
Niles looked away and heard a gunshot followed by another. One of the guys in the pod had been scrambled out of the pod and got off a shot with a pistol before another soldier shot him. Niles turned to Zander, his chest blossoming with red. A look of shock transfixed on his face. Ah Jesus. and the soldier shot him. He died instantly. Niles turned to Zander. The soldier was staring at his wound. He’s scared of not being able to do this anymore. I’ve been there.
Soldiers were the bravest people he had ever know. He had seen so many of them die, he seen the ones who bawl and cry at the certainty of their death. He had seen those who boast and curse at a God they never believed exist while they were alive. Niles had seen those who begged for death because they were severely injured. But looking at Zander’s wet, still eyes. He felt a little bit sad. He didn’t know the man, not very much. But he had liked him.
“Take his body out, we are taking it with us,” Niles said. Grisham would understand. It wasn’t like there was any reason to leave it in the first place. There were three of them with him now. He had lost about four men, and in a way, it was victory. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on whoever Marcus had managed to scrounge up.
“We’ll take all of them and burn this place place down and their secrets with it.” The other men nodded. He joined them to carry the bodies out and when the men went to set the explosives, he sat in the car and waited.
He was hungry and he wouldn’t mind a vacation at the moment. The purifier was on even though the air quality was good. Grisham had liked Zander, that was the idea Niles had, but he knew how the man would react to the death. Like he reacted to other deaths. Like they meant almost nothing to him. Niles hated the man for that. His perfect facade. He couldn’t do that—sometimes, his mask cracked or fell off completely. That was the kind of man he was. Grisham would have made a perfect president.
They were down the street when the place exploded. He could picture it. The underground facility exploding and the house caving in and everything beneath being buried. He sighed. He was not done, but he knew he was close to the end. He called Kubrick, it connected almost immediately. He looked at the bandages he wrapped his hand with, it was bloody. He would have to take care of it.
“You good?” Kubrick asked. Niles chuckled.
“Yeah, kid, I lost some of my friends but I am alright. It was…difficult,” Niles replied.
“I bet. You ready for the next?” Kubrick asked. Niles nodded.
“Just point me in the right direction.”
Chapter 30: Welcome Home/Fin
* * *
Rats and moles deserve what they get. That was what Niles believed. That was what he was thinking after the call with Marcus. The kid told him the name and Niles froze. He had been hoping that the mole would not be in the base. He was almost certain that whoever was doing this, helping these people, was not one of them. It made sense that way.
It made complete sense not to look closer to home. It wasn’t often that any of the soldiers or military tech guys would be so stupid or greedy enough to betray them. Not that it didn’t happen. He had seen corrupt soldiers before, corrupt officials and killed a few but he felt Grisham would have been careful, or maybe he just plainly didn’t want to think that someone here, from his ilk, would be that bad.
He could tell the energy around him had changed. The other soldiers had probably noticed the shift in his mood. They were not talking, not celebrating. Back when Niles was still a uniformed soldier, he remembered how they would laugh and joke around after every small victory like this.
It didn’t matter how many of their own men ended up in the ground. Victory was victory, and a soldier’s life was all about waiting for his turn to meet death. The thought was both depressing and helpful. It prepared most of them. It prepared Niles.
Every time he picked up his gun, he had just two prayers. That he didn’t meet his death and if he did, it should be quick. There should be no space and time for him to cry, or beg. That during his last moments where he knew his death was certain but not yet there, scared him.
“Sir?” One of the soldiers called. Niles blinked. “Something wrong?” The man asked. He was short, but Niles had seen how fast he was back there. He had survived by being smart and fast. That was enough to respect him. Niles nodded. They didn’t need to know.
He knew who was helping the Old Dominion group enter and exit the System but he was not sure that was all. One thing he had learnt from years of service was that if there was a hole in the System, all kind things can crawl in.
Niles leaned back. There was the possibility that one of the guys in the car with him were part of the deal, or maybe all of them. He was sounding paranoid, Niles knew that. But it was better than being relaxed. In a place where he didn’t know who was friend or foe, he saw everyone as foe. That proved his defense is up and he would not be taken by surprise.
The car behind them was carrying their dead. Niles felt bad for those who had died—Zander still surprised him. He shook his head. The job was not done. He would have more time to mourn the man later. But he had to get to the base soon. He didn’t want the man to run, but he couldn’t send a message to Grisham. They could be monitoring them.
The cars drove straight into the factory’s premises. Niles got out, leaving the others to take care of the bodies. He nodded at the soldier stationed outside. Inside the elevator, he called Grisham. The Colonel connected almost immediately.
“ Niles, how did it go?” Grisham asked. He voice was tight, but Niles didn’t care about that at
the moment.
“Colonel, you need to order a shut down of the facility. He is in here. I have seen him before, the first time I came here. His name is The—”
“Niles, stop,” The Colonel said, and Niles froze. The elevator opened for him to leave, but he couldn’t leave. Then Niles understood. Whoever it was, he didn’t run. Fuck! He ran out of the elevator and started towards Grisham’s office. The synch was still on, but Grisham was not talking anymore.
“Grisham!” Niles screamed. Then the synch disconnected. Niles cursed again. This was worse case scenario. This was stupid. There were two reasons a person would do something like this, he was either pushed into the corner or this was actually what he had wanted all along. Grisham took a left, and then another left. The hallway echoed with the sound of his footsteps as he ran. His already busted leg throbbed. He called Marcus.
“I need your help,” Niles said. Marcus groaned. “Wake up Kid, once more into the breach and all that.” .
“What do you want?” Marcus asked.
“I need you to hack into the base,” Niles said, slowing down when his leg couldn’t take it anymore, but still trying to hurry. How long did Grisham have, and why had Marcus not said anything.
“You there kid?” Niles asked.
“Yeah,” Marcus said. “I had to sit down because I’m pretty sure you’re about to drop some bad news on me. He escaped didn’t he? I should have called the Colonel too, right? I am so sorry, I should have. I was so tired…” Marcus rambled. Niles started walking.
“He didn’t escape, kid,” Niles said. “That’s the problem. He didn’t even try. He probably figured you were tracking him. He didn’t leave, he went straight to the Colonel. I don’t know why, but I think the Colonel has a gun to his head right now.”