Red Waters
Page 3
The trio was grateful that the sun was slowly making its descent beyond the horizon.
A refreshing breeze from the south cooled them off as they trekked through the burning sand.
"I think I see the bus," Aurelia called back to the others, catching a gleam of white not too far ahead.
"I see it too!" Soraf answered excitedly, relieved that the long trip was coming to an end.
"Come on!" Aurelia called.
She took off at a run toward the bus. Caliphar and Soraf took off running after her, keeping pace.
"Made it just in time; that sun's going to be gone in less than an hour," Aurelia announced.
Roadblock
Having finished installing the fan belt, Calliqrus slammed the hood of the bus down. Making sure it was secured properly; he then gave Aurelia the signal to start the engine.
Aurelia turned the key in the ignition, the engine rumbled into life, shaking the frame of the bus gently.
She gently pressed her foot against the gas pedal, revving the engine.
"It's alive!" Caliphar shouted triumphantly, with a double fist-pump.
Soraf and Aurelia grinned as he joined them on the bus.
The sun had finally set, leaving a faint scarlet streak of light stretched across the horizon.
"Everything else on the bus seems to be in perfect condition, so we should be good for our journey," Caliphar declared as he took a seat beside Soraf on the right side of the bus.
"Perfect." Aurelia grinned and she shifted the bus into drive.
She kept one foot on the gas while the other rested on the brake just in case.
"What I'd like to know is why all those Destroyers suddenly got brave enough to go beyond the city," Soraf mused, reclining slowly in her seat.
"Yeah, in my experience they've never gone near the outskirts of the city. Something just isn't adding up," Aurelia replied as she surveyed the road ahead.
There were quite a few cracks and potholes to avoid, thanks to the meteorite that had started this whole fiasco.
"Aurelia's right, the Destroyers seemed more clever. Tracking our scent was one thing, but the way they ambushed us at the junkyard was as if they had planned it. Those things never seemed smart enough to do something like that before," Caliphar observed.
"Well, the ones I tracked seemed pretty smart. They were two entirely different packs and instead of having an all out bloodbath, they grouped together. That was new behavior for them; pretty damned smart if you ask me," Soraf remarked, throwing a glance at Caliphar.
"The only way we're going to find anything out is if we get through the city without being jumped by them again." Aurelia growled softly.
She suddenly slammed her foot hard against the brake. The bus screeched to a halt, leaving rubber burns on the cracked asphalt.
Caliphar threw his arms out brace himself and Soraf, who had been tossed forward as the bus stopped.
"What the hell was that for?" He demanded, glaring at Aurelia.
"We've got a bit of a roadblock‚" She replied curtly, glancing over her shoulder at him.
"What sort of roadblock? There's nothing out here apart from the ruins that could cause a roadblock. Can't you drive around it?" Soraf asked.
"No, I can't drive around. Not without running them over," Aurelia remarked, giving Soraf a look of irritation.
"Them as in Destroyers, or them as in something else?" Caliphar questioned with a furrowed brow.
"Them as in I have no damn idea, but whatever the hell they are, there's at least a doZandrem or more blocking the road. All just standing in front of the bus."
Caliphar stood from his seat and came to stand beside Aurelia. He leaned against the back of her chair as he peered out through the windshield.
He reached across the steering wheel to hit a button, which switched on the high beams.
The sudden flood of light illuminated the small crowd lined up in formation before the bus.
The things in formation were all wearing gas masks and military-issue uniforms. All rested AK-47s against their shoulders.
"What the fuck are those things?" Calliqrus gasped, feeling the fur on the back of his neck stand on end.
Aurelia leaned forward for a better view, squinting out at the crowd.
"They can't be people or whatever. Nobody besides the three of us survived when the meteorite struck," She reckoned.
Whatever they were, they were sending a chill straight down her spine.
From the look Caliphar had on his face, she knew that a similar chill was running through him.
Soraf finally got up from her seat and pushed past Caliphar to look through the windshield.
"Those can't be people, it's impossible. They simply can't be. I refuse to believe those are people!" She growled, turning her face to look away.
"Come out or we shall remove you by force," one of them announced in a loud, gruff voice.
Aurelia and the others exchanged looks, hearing the voice as if it were an echo in their heads.
Aurelia gripped the steering wheel suddenly, slamming her feet down against both pedals. The tires squealed in protest as she revved the engine.
Everyone in the crowd raised their weapons and took aim at the windshield in unison.
"Fuck‚" Aurelia muttered. She took her feet off the pedals and killed the engine.
"Second warning; come out unarmed or else." Again, the voice had echoes in their minds.
Caliphar grabbed his Remington 870 and cocked it one handed, turning to look at the others.
"With me or not?" He asked with a grim expression.
Aurelia grabbed up her AR-15 from behind her seat, grinning wickedly at Caliphar.
"Soraf?"
"You two go ahead of me." Soraf smirked, sliding her Jagdkommando from its sheath.
Caliphar and Aurelia stepped toward the door as Soraf pressed the button to open it.
As it slid open, Caliphar found himself facing one of the creatures that had been currently blocking the road.
"State your names," its voice demanded.
"State this, you dick," Caliphar snarled, shooting the thing in the face and blowing off its head.
Aurelia stepped off the bus past Caliphar and snuck around to the front of the bus.
Crouching down, she held her gun in front of her. Caliphar stayed a few feet behind her, crouched low as he followed her movements.
He peered over her head to look at the crowd still blocking the road.
"How do you want to take them out?" Aurelia whispered, peering around the front of the bus.
"Like this." Calliqrus straightened suddenly and walked around to stand before the crowd.
He aimed his gun at them. "First one of you fuckers to move is getting a bullet in the brain. Now tell me who you are!" Caliphar demanded, raising his weapon higher.
"That is classified. You shall not know our name," They all replied in the same uninflected voice as they leveled their guns at Caliphar.
Caliphar pressed the barrel of his own against the forehead of the one standing in front of him.
A split second later, blood and brain matter sprayed against the others' gas masks.
"Am I going to have to ask again, or do I have to demonstrate what I am capable of doing without remorse?" He threatened, waving his Remington around at the others.
"That is classified."
"Ok, we're doing it my way then," Caliphar said with a sigh.
He cocked his gun again and began to shoot methodically at the crowd, blasting their heads off one by one.
His diversion allowed Aurelia to slip through the crowd unnoticed. She had almost reached the back of the crowd when one of them noticed her and made for a grab at her arm.
Swiftly turning, she raised her gun at it and sent a bullet straight into its eye. The body remained upright long enough for her to peer through the hole that was once its skull before collapsing.
"Hey! Forget something, guys?" Soraf's voice rang out.
She co
uld be seen standing on the top of the bus, her Jagdkommando held high above her head.
The crowd, at least the ones still left standing and with a pulse, turned their attention to the roof of the bus, their guns trained on Soraf.
"Try it and die!" Caliphar growled deeply. The barrel of his gun pressed firmly into the back of one of the creature's head.
"What he said," Aurelia snarled, her fangs bared. She shoved the hot barrel of her gun against the temple of the creature standing behind Caliphar.
Soraf leaped off the roof coming to land on the hood of the bus, a voracious gleam in her eyes.
"Tell us what you are!" She demanded in a loud guttural growl, crouching down low, resembling a gargoyle standing watch over a cathedral.
"That is classified!" The creatures responded all looking at Soraf.
Being unable to see their real faces unnerved her, but not knowing what they really were made it less of a major issue for her.
She positioned herself on the hood to where her legs hung down in front of her, resting her dagger in her lap.
"Now that is really getting agitating, all we want to know is what you all are and it just seems that about the only thing you can say is 'that is classified' and you know what?"
"It is pissing me off to no end, and frankly when I get pissed off real bad things happen," She explained, running her thumb along the dagger's blade, drawing some blood and licking the fresh wound in an attempt to instill at least some fear into the creatures.
The creatures merely gazed at her through the lenses of their masks, seeming unaffected by Soraf's action.
She simply gazed back at them as she jumped down from the hood, landing firmly on the uneven asphalt.
"I didn't want it to come to this but since you are mere monsters to me, I see no point in allowing you to live,"
She spoke softly as she stepped up to the creature with Caliphar' gun trained on the back of its head.
"If you won't talk to us, I'll make sure you never talk again,"
She glared straight into the lens of the creature's mask, raising her dagger up slowly before pressing the tip of the blade against its throat.
In one swift motion she jabbed it straight into the creature's jugular, suddenly pulling it out as blood began to spurt from the wound.
Soraf and the others watched in silence as the creature grasped at its throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Don't even bother; you'll be dead in a matter of seconds,"
The creature coughed up blood as it suddenly collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently as it coughed up more blood before becoming very still.
"Or less," She remarked, wiping the blood off with the rag from her jean pocket.
"How many are left?" Aurelia asked, keeping her gun trained on the creature standing behind Caliphar.
Soraf glanced around and noticed there were only four more of the creatures left, the two Caliphar and Aurelia had their guns aimed at and two others standing behind Aurelia who seemed afraid to move.
"Kill the bastards, I'll meet you on the bus," She said in a cold tone turning to walk back towards the bus.
As she climbed the steps up into the bus she heard the dull echo of Caliphar and Aurelia's guns firing, the remaining creatures collapsing as bullets pierced their brains.
"Come on, before any more of these things show up," Caliphar said grabbing Aurelia's hand, the two of them running back to the bus.
They ran into the bus and nearly collided into each other, the sight at the back of the bus catching them off guard.
Soraf was sitting in a nearby seat cleaning her dagger with her rag.
"Oh yeah, while you two were keeping the others busy I snagged us a hostage," Soraf explained calmly, glancing up at the others.
At the back of the bus was one of the creatures bound to a seat, its hands and legs tied together.
"Figured we could eventually get the damn whatever the hell it is to say something useful, aside from the repetitive 'that is classified' bullshit,"
Captive Prisoner
"And how do you plan to do that exactly?" Aurelia questioned, looking at Soraf as if she were insane.
"Don't worry about how I make it talk, I have my ideas," Soraf grinned wickedly.
"Do you agree with this?" Aurelia wondered, turning to stare at Caliphar.
He glanced between her and Soraf before shrugging indifferently.
"If she can get any info out of the motherfucker, I'm not against it,"
"Fine, but I want to get us somewhere we'll be safe. Hopefully we can avoid another encounter with whatever the hell these things are, human or otherwise," Aurelia replied curtly before sliding into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition, revving the engine into life.
Caliphar plopped himself down in the seat across from Soraf, letting out a sigh.
"This is going to be an interesting night," He mused aloud, reclining into the seat.
Soraf looked over her shoulder at the creature tied up at the back of the bus, grinning with a malicious insanity at it as she held out her dagger.
"Where are we going, anyway?" Caliphar inquired, looking at the back of Aurelia's head.
"I know a decent spot among some ruins not far from here," She answered.
"Is it safe?" He continued.
"As long as we don't leave the bus, it's pretty much in the center of Destroyer territory,"
"Are you bloody insane?" Soraf exclaimed.
"Everything that got us to this point has been insane, so whatever follows is quite sane," Caliphar interrupted looking at the both of them.
"After surviving Destroyer attacks and killing a bunch of, well whatever those things were and having one as a captive I don't see much else being a surprise," Caliphar explained himself.
"You keep that in mind once Soraf interrogates that thing in our bus,"
"How far away are we from this spot you told us about?" Soraf asked to change the topic.
"We shouldn't be too far," Aurelia answered taking a slight left turn, the bus rocking gently as it turned off the road.
The bus headlights illuminated their path through the ruins until they reached the ruins of an old church; Aurelia slowed the bus to a complete stop before killing the engine.
"This is it, for the night at least," Aurelia said looking at the others.
"I need to get some air," Caliphar muttered as he stood from his seat.
Aurelia opened the door for him as he descended the stairs, stepping out of the bus.
"I'll be right back, be careful with our captive," Aurelia said as she quickly followed Caliphar.
As she stepped off the bus, she saw Caliphar leaning against the side of the bus.
"Seems like a bad dream doesn't it, all this happening the way it did," She said softly, looking up at him. He turned his head to look at her, almost smiling.
"Yeah but not the kind you can wake up from," He replied.
"At least we can be the good guys,"
"No, we're going to become the things those monsters will fear," He grinned.
"Hey! Caliphar! Aurelia!" Soraf exclaimed as she ran to the door.
"What is it?" Aurelia asked as she and Caliphar joined her on the bus.
I got something out of that motherfucker," Soraf replied as she pointed her dagger at their hostage.
"Tell them what you told me," She demanded with a glower.
"We are the Unknowns,"
"What does that mean?" Caliphar asked glancing at Soraf.
She shrugged before jabbing the tip of her dagger into the Unknown's leg.
"Answer him!" She barked. "I am a recruiter; I only take orders from my commanding officer,"
"Your officer is dead, I shot him," Caliphar growled.
Soraf ran the blade of her dagger along the Unknown's neck, drawing blood.
"There are worse things than me you should worry about right now,"
Caliphar moved to stand before the Unknown, slapping him across the face.