He’d flown straight into a damn snowstorm. He was somewhere over Alaska right now, possibly a few miles east of Eielson Air Force base. Far from home, that’s for damn sure.
It was at this point that he himself questioned why he was doing this. He had a feeling that it wasn’t just for the dead woman riding shotgun in the plane next to him. This might just be for him. Not for her. Not for anyone.
Maybe there wasn’t a reason. Maybe he just wanted to fly head-first into a blizzard and die from frostbite.
Speaking of which, it was cold as hell in here. He’d turned off anything that would remotely hinder his fuel consumption. He didn’t take into account before he left how much fuel he’d need to get from California to Russia.
Apparently half a tank won’t cut it.
He stared out into the never ending blankness of the blizzard. He was almost sure he’d die here in this cold. Maybe he’d fly straight into the side of a mountain and die instantly instead of surviving and having to freeze to dead.
There was a reason he joined the Army and not the Air Force. He couldn’t fly worth shit.
“Unmarked air craft, identify yourself and correct course. You are flying over US Air Force territory.” A voice crackled through the static of the Jet’s ham radio. “Change course now or you will be shot down.” They say.
“This is Corporal Adam Johnson of the US Army. Requesting emergency landing.” Adam says into the radio. There was a long period of silence and Adam feared he was about to get shot down.
“Copy that. You’re cleared for landing.” They said.
One Month Later
It had been a little over a month since Adam had left the US. Now he was here, sitting aboard the Aurora cruise, a ship from the 1900’s. It didn’t work, it was just a museum. But it was secure, and that’s why from the past month they’d moved here to work.
“Are you sure about that?” Adam asks, looking at the map of the US.
“I’m more than sure. We’ve had out satellites over the US for some time now.” She says. Her name was Viktoriya, she’d been working with Adam since he got here a few days back. She was the leaders second in command, so to say.
“That’s crazy.” Adam says.
“Not as crazy as an American flying a plane all the way across the ocean, crash landing in Kovrov, and hiking the rest of the way to Moscow carrying a dead body.” She says.
“True enough.” Adam says as he scans the map. “Go over what you said one more time. I just can’t comprehend it all.” He continues. She sighs.
“The superweapon that has been created by the American and Mexican governments lies in a bunker somewhere in the coastal US. The exact location is undisclosed to us here in the Russian government.” She said, looking over the map that was laid across the table. It had four red pins planted in different areas. Two in California, one in Kansas and one in Montana.
“The code that will arm the weapon was divided into ten segments and given to ten people trusted to guard the codes. The weapon requires a majority to be armed, meaning 6 out of the ten would be enough to activate it and blow half the United States into the ocean. We’ve already secured four lengths of the code and destroyed them entirely.” She continues.
“How did you find the codes?” Adam asks.
“Akilina Denisovitch is a busy woman, corporal.” She says. Adam nods.
“Looks like.” He says. “You people seem to know how to pick leaders.”
“For a little while, then we just kill them.” She says, with a laugh.
“No offence, but that’s kind of true.” Adam said, the looks back at the map. “Okay, so you’ve gotten four? That means there’s still a working majority out there somewhere.” Adam said. She nodded.
“There is.” She said. “But there’s good news too.” She goes on.
“And that is?” Adam asks.
“We’ve located two more lengths of the code.” She says.
“How?” Adam asks.
“We have a lot of friends in the US. Just like Ivan Resnov. I’m sure you know him.” She says. Adam grits his teeth.
“Yeah. I knew him.” He said. “So, where are these codes?” He asked. She opens up a small wooden box and takes out two pins, she sticks one in some coastal Mexican town and another in New York.
“We’ve tracked them to their respective places.” She said. “But, here’s the bad news.” She said, looking over towards Adam.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“We’re sending you in.” She said.
“To Mexico?” He asked.
“Hell no.” She said. “We’re sending you to New York. We send you to Mexico, you’d start a boarder war.” She said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He said. “What exactly am I looking for?” He pressed.
“The code was tracked to an apartment in NYC, but once our teams got there, it was gone. Good news is, we have a good idea who has it.” She said.
“Who?” Adam asked.
“The last people known to enter that building was a girl and a group of soldiers.” She said. “The girl went back to a camp that the soldiers had set up and is currently living there.” She went on.
“Seems like you’ve been stalking her for some time.” Adam said.
“Yeah. You don’t even know half of it.” She said.
“What’s her name?” Adam asked.
“Her name is Lucia Martinez. From what we can gather, she has no idea what she has.” She said.
“And I’m going to get that length of code from her.” Adam said.
“Yes.” She said.
“And what do I do with the girl afterwards?” He asked.
“There’s no need to hurt her if she cooperates. But if she resists, kill her. The fate of the world is more important than her life.” She said.
“I know.” Adam said. “I just don’t understand one thing.”
“What is that?” She asked.
“Who would make a superweapon powerful enough to destroy life as we know it, and then leave it practically unguarded in their own back yard?” He asked.
“The kind of person that wanted to end life as we know it.” She responded.
“But it was funded by the government.” He said.
“Exactly.” She said.
Two months Later
Adam sat crouched behind a tree watching as the other men set the trap. Adam himself thought one was enough, but the Russians thought otherwise. Overkill is underkill to them. It was pretty much a simple snare trap, as far as Adam could tell, he didn’t get traps all too well. Why not just confront them up front?
One of them men pulled tight on a length of rope and turned to Adam, flashing a thumbs up. Adam gave him a thumbs up and he trotted across the ground towards Adam, easily avoiding all the taps he and his men hand just set.
“How many did you set?” Adam asked.
“Five.” He responded.
“We’re looking for one person.” Adam said. “Not trying to catch the whole town.” He continued.
“It’s better this way.” He responded. “I am proud of my work. It will work. Trust me.” He said.
“It better work.” Adam said.
“Corporal, there’s a girl coming up the side of the mountain now.” A voice said through his radio, it was Katia, who was camped out at the bottom of the hill.
“Is she alone?” Adam asked.
“Affirmative.” The voice responded.
“Stand by.” Adam said.
“Copy.” The Katia said.
“Get ready.” Adam said to Lev, the man next to him. The two fell silent as Adam heard footsteps tramping through the trees. Whoever that was, they didn’t really care if they were seen or not.
Adam spotted her coming up the hill from his left, going straight for where Adam had set his traps. She continued trampling though the brush cutting a path straight towards the trapped area. Just as she stepped past Adam’s field of view, he heard a loud snapping sound. She let out a high-pitch shriek and then, nothing.
Adam peeked out from around the tree and found the girl hanging upside down from a length of rope attached to her leg, heading upwards towards the tree.
“Whoa.” Adam said. “didn’t know you could do that.” He said.
“It was easy.” He said as he moved forwards towards the girl.
“Is she alive?” Adam asked, noticing she wasn’t trying to escape.
“She should be.” He said, sounding just as confused as Adam. Then he saw it, a steady stream of blood dripping from her forehead to the ground. She’d hit her head on the ride up.
“Do you people understand the term ‘We need them alive’?” Adam asked. He shrugged.
“She’s alive.” He said. “Just unconscious.”
“Better than nothing.” Adam said as he stepped up to her. He pulled the picture out of his pocket and held it up to her.
“Fuck.” Adam said.
“What?” he asked.
“We got the wrong person.” Adam said, looking from the picture to the girl. The picture showed a thin girl with black hair and tan skin. The girl in the tree had chocolate skin and looked all together nothing like the girl in the picture.
“What do we do?” Adam asked.
“Sir, we’ve got a group of two approaching from the top of the hill. One of them is armed, I have them in my scope right now, I can take them out on your command.” Katia said through the radio.
“Negative. Let them come.” Adam said. Then he turned back to his ‘friend’. “Let’s go.” Adam said as he trotted away, ducking behind a tree again.
“What the fuck? Who is that?” A voice asked, male.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.” Another responded, a girl.
“Come on, we have to cut them down.” He said.
“How’d she get up there?” The girl asked.
“Some hunter must’ve been setting traps. She must’ve set one off. Looks like she his her head on that rock over there.” He said.
“Come on. We need to get her back to camp. She’s bleeding.” She said.
“Lucia, wait!” He yelled, just before there was another snapping sound, followed directly by another.
“Fuck!” She yelled. “Get your knife and cut us down!”
“I dropped it.” He responded.
“What about the gun? Can you shoot the rope?” She asked.
“Bad news. I dropped that too.” He said.
“So much for all that training.” She said. Adam nodded to his companion and the two stepped out from behind the tree. Adam rested his hands on his gun, though didn’t raise it. Once the girl spotted him he raised his hands.
“We don’t mean any harm. We just head some yelling. Are you two alright?” He asked, lying.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” The boy responded. ‘You mind cutting us down?” He asked.
“Are you armed?” Adam asked.
“I used to be.” He said, his eyes looking over to a pistol that was on the ground way out of his reach.
“What’s your names?” Adam asked.
“I’m Felix.” He said.
“And you?” Adam asked the girl.
“Lucia Martinez.” She said. “Can we cut the formalities for now? This kind of hurts.” She said.
“Yeah. Sure thing.” Adam said, as he turned his back to them. “Adam Johnson to base.” He said into his radio.
“Go ahead.” A new voice spoke.
“We’ve captured Lucia and two others. Please advise what to do with the extras.” He said.
“Protocol says eliminate all witnesses.” The voice said.
“Copy that.” Adam said as he turned back to his companion. “I got the girl.” He said as he lifted his gun to the unconscious girl’s head.
“Wait!” Lucia cried out. “Just tell me what you want.” She said. Adam turned to her looking her over. She was scared, and had reason to be.
“We want something you have.” Adam said. “A flash drive.” He said. Her eyes darted around the trees, looking for anything to help.
“Look, let them go and I’ll just give it to you.” She said. Adam narrowed his eyes at her.
“Sir?” Adam’s soldier asked.
“Do it. Let them go.” Adam said.
“Copy that.” He said as he pulled his knife and cut the rope around the boy’s foot. He fell to the ground with a thud. When he stood back up, he had a pistol in his hand. Bad move. Adam would’ve shot him, but his fellow solider was closer. He quickly grabbed the gun out of the boy’s hands and bashed it into the side of his face. He fell down hard to the ground. Out cold.
Adam pulled out his knife and cut the unconscious girl down from the tree. She too fell hard to the ground, but unlike the boy she didn’t get back up. Once they woke up, they’d find home on their own.
Adam walked over to Lucia, his knife still in hand.
“So, you were about to hand over the flash drive?” He asked. She reached up towards her sneaker, but couldn’t reach it.
“It’s in my shoe. I can’t reach it.” She said. Adam looked at her and nodded, grabbing at her shoe, and pulled it off her foot. A small flash drive fell from the shoe to the forest floor. Adam picked it up and looked at it.
“Base, we’ve secured the package.” Adam said.
“Copy that. Proceed to destroy package.” The radio said.
“Copy that base.” Adam said as he looked at the small drive. He dropped it to the ground and pulled his gun up. He fired about ten rounds into the little thing before he was satisfied with its destruction. “Package is destroyed, base.” Adam said.
“Copy that. See you at the Evac point. Base out.” The radio said. Adam looked over at Lucia.
“You just saved the world.” He said to her as he turned and began walking away, his soldier following behind him.
“Wait, aren’t you going to cut me down?” She asked. Adam just kept walking. “Come back here!” She yelled. “Get back here you bastard!” she yelled, Adam looked over at his soldier.
“You mind shutting her up?” He asked.
“Not at all.” He responded as he pulled up his rifle, bashing the stock right into her face. Her body instantly went limp as a gash appeared on her forehead.
“Let’s go.” Adam said.
“Copy that.” He said as he walked up next to Adam.
“Adam, Evac point has been compromised.” Katia spoke through the radio.
“What do you mean?” Adam asked.
“I fell back a while ago to scan the Evac area. There’s a bunch of people here.” She said.
“Have they seen you?” Adam asked.
“No. But I can’t move.” She said. “Just fall back to the RP. I’ll meet up with you guys there.” She said.
“What’s going on?” The soldier asked as they walked.
“Katia is pinned down. Our Evac is comprised. We have to find a place to stay tonight.” Adam said. He pulled out a map.
“From where we are now, it’s a twenty minute walk to the nearby abandoned town. We could set up in a house over there. Otherwise, it looks like we’re camping out here in the woods tonight.” The solider said.
[Head for the abandoned town] It sounds a lot more comfortable than camping in the woods and a twenty minute walk doesn't seem to be too much.
Great part! While I like all of the PoV's, Adam is currently among my favourites. This stuff with the government-created superweapon is very intriguing. If Viktoriya's side of the story is the full truth, that gives a lot more credibility to Zero's earlier claim that the government is working with the Network. After all, a government that seems to have the goal of ending life as we know it is certainly able to work with mass-murdering terrorists as well. I just wonder about the nature of this superweapon. Also, could you give me a reminder, how exactly did Lucia come into possession of the flash drive?
Adam Johnson
Airborne? Yes.
Alive? Yes.
Going in the right direction? Possibly.
Headed straight for hell? Definitely.
He’d fl… moreown straight into a damn snowstorm. He was somewhere over Alaska right now, possibly a few miles east of Eielson Air Force base. Far from home, that’s for damn sure.
It was at this point that he himself questioned why he was doing this. He had a feeling that it wasn’t just for the dead woman riding shotgun in the plane next to him. This might just be for him. Not for her. Not for anyone.
Maybe there wasn’t a reason. Maybe he just wanted to fly head-first into a blizzard and die from frostbite.
Speaking of which, it was cold as hell in here. He’d turned off anything that would remotely hinder his fuel consumption. He didn’t take into account before he left how much fuel he’d need to get from California to Russia.
Apparently half a tank won’t cut it.
He stared out into the never ending blankn… [view original content]
The town sounds like a better option than the woods. And if they stay in the woods, Lucia and her friends could return with reinforcements, so they should better move.
Adam Johnson
Airborne? Yes.
Alive? Yes.
Going in the right direction? Possibly.
Headed straight for hell? Definitely.
He’d fl… moreown straight into a damn snowstorm. He was somewhere over Alaska right now, possibly a few miles east of Eielson Air Force base. Far from home, that’s for damn sure.
It was at this point that he himself questioned why he was doing this. He had a feeling that it wasn’t just for the dead woman riding shotgun in the plane next to him. This might just be for him. Not for her. Not for anyone.
Maybe there wasn’t a reason. Maybe he just wanted to fly head-first into a blizzard and die from frostbite.
Speaking of which, it was cold as hell in here. He’d turned off anything that would remotely hinder his fuel consumption. He didn’t take into account before he left how much fuel he’d need to get from California to Russia.
Apparently half a tank won’t cut it.
He stared out into the never ending blankn… [view original content]
[Head for the abandoned town] It sounds a lot more comfortable than camping in the woods and a twenty minute walk doesn't seem to be too muc… moreh.
Great part! While I like all of the PoV's, Adam is currently among my favourites. This stuff with the government-created superweapon is very intriguing. If Viktoriya's side of the story is the full truth, that gives a lot more credibility to Zero's earlier claim that the government is working with the Network. After all, a government that seems to have the goal of ending life as we know it is certainly able to work with mass-murdering terrorists as well. I just wonder about the nature of this superweapon. Also, could you give me a reminder, how exactly did Lucia come into possession of the flash drive?
Ah, I remember it now, thanks! That makes me wonder if there is any connection between the flash drive and the dream that brought here to the apartment in the first place. It might just gave me an idea about the purpose of these dreams, even if their source still remains as mysterious as ever.
Also, could you give me a reminder, how exactly did Lucia come into possession of the flash drive?
She found it in the apartment they were in after Santiago got shot.
It felt like there was a wildfire being lit in her ribs. It was hard enough to breathe right now, much less attempt to tilt her head and look out the window. She could hear yelling outside, something big was happening.
She ran her fingers through her red hair, which had definitely grown longer in the past months. She stared up at the cabin ceiling, allowing herself to take in how cold it had become. Winter in the mountains was no small game. Another bout of yelling came from outside and Katie sighed. She couldn’t just sit here and hope everything was alright out there.
Well, she could. But that just wasn’t how she worked.
She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to sit up, sending a shockwave of pain down the side of her body. She had to pause after she’d sat up, to catch her breath. She hated being like this, fragile and broken. This wasn’t her. This was someone else.
Wrapping on arm around her injured ribs, she forced herself up off the couch. As soon as she was on her feet, she nearly feel back down as the pain caused her to stumbled forwards, crashing into the wall.
She angrily gripped the wall and pulled herself back up. She wasn’t going down that easy.
The sheer amount of pain in her ribs had effectively stolen her breath already. She slowly began shuffling forwards towards her boots. Each step she took hurt that much more than the last. The burning pain in her ribs was only matched by the numbness in her head.
Instead of actually tying her boots, she just shoved her feet inside them and continued on her way. She knew that if she tried to bend over to tie her shoes, she wasn’t going to be getting back up.
She continued to shuffle forwards towards the cabin door, one hand gripping her ribs the other clenched in pain. She bit down on her lip to keep herself from crying out.
The door was so close, but seemed so far away. Like one of the illusions where the closer you come to your destination, the farther away it gets. The closer she came to the door, the more she could feel the arctic-like breeze from outside. The closer she got the colder it got.
This house, as it would turn out, wasn’t very well insulated in the first place. So now that it was winter, it was pretty cold in here. Well, at least they had walls. It’s better than some people have.
She reached out a hand, placing it on the frozen doorknob, giving it a twist. A cold blast of air greeted her the moment she opened the door, taking her breath away. She instantly regretted even standing up.
It was one step down from the front porch to the ground, and that one step may have well of been the end of her, as she took the step down a shock was sent down her side, seared through her like a branding iron. She bit down hard on her lip this time, too hard. She instantly recognized that faint taste in her mouth as blood as she spit up the red bile onto the white snow.
Wiping her mouth, she looked up to see what all the yelling was. Here was a large group gathered with none other than Coates in the middle of it all, waving his pistol around like a madman and the crowd was going along with the ride.
She saw that next to Coates was Zero, the Network agent. She may not be the most brilliant person on earth, but you don’t have to be Walter O’Brien to be able to put two and two together. Coates was going to kill Zero.
Off to Coates’ left, Katie spotted Lester, who was responding angrily to everything Coates was saying. They were both debating over this man’s life. Except this wasn’t a debate, the crowd called for blood. Lester only called for what was right.
Katie quickly pushed her way through the amassed crowd up to Coates.
“What are you doing?” She demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He said, looking at Katie. It only now realized to her how feeble she might actually look right now. She was thin, pale, and injured. She must’ve looked like somebody woke up from the county morgue and decided to take a stroll around the woods.
“He’s going to kill Zero.” Lester announced.
“Damn right we are!” A man yelled from the crowd.
“You’re not going to kill anyone.” Katie said. Coates glared at her.
“It’s not your decision to make. Leadership of this group doesn’t fall to you, it falls to me.” He says. “So step aside.”
“Not going to happen.” Katie says.
“Look at you, trying to act all tough and intimidate me.” He says, stepping up to Katie’s face. “All you are is a cripple with a pretty face. You’re just a figure head. You don’t have any backing. Not anymore.” He says. “So get out of my way.”
“Not a chance in hell.” She responds to him, not backing down from his glare. Katie honestly saw it coming, she just honestly couldn’t do anything to stop it. Coates took a good swing at her, jabbing her right in the ribs. She instantly saw spots in her vision and her legs buckled form under her, forcing her to the ground. There she lay, on the frozen ground, snow surrounding her, clutching her burning chest as Coates towered over her. She blinked a few time, trying to get the spots out of her vision.
“You should’ve just walked away.” He said.
“Son of a bitch!” Lester yelled out as he pushed forwards towards Coates.
“Stay back old man.” Coates said. Lester didn’t seem to hear him, or just didn’t care as he threw a punch straight at Coats. For an old man, Lester seemed to have a hard hit, as Coats stumbled multiple feet backward holding the side of his face before he regained himself. Katie attempted to sit up, but the pain in her chest forced her back to the ground coughing. She could still taste blood from when she bit her lip, the bittersweet metallic taste.
“I’m not going to let you rip this place apart because you want to go on a witch hunt you asshole!” Lester yelled at Coates, taking a step towards him. Caught somewhere between a step, there was a loud cracking sound that broke through the frozen air. Katie watched in horror as Lester was blown off his feet as a bullet sailed through his forehead and out the other side.
“You fucking son of a bitch!” Katie yelled. “I’ll kill you!” She hoped that her voice sounded stronger than it felt. Each word she uttered riddled her body with new waves of pain. Coates turned away from Lester, looking over her.
“You have no say. You fall in line behind me, or meet the same end as him.” He said, pointing the gun back at Lester. Katie glared at him.
“I’ll never fall in line behind you.” She growled. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“So be it.” He said, but instead of turning the gun on her, he turned it on Zero, pulling the trigger, putting on right into the Ex-Network agent’s gut. Zero sank to his knees, looking at the newly formed hole in his body before completing the fall to the icy ground. Laying on the ground, Katie could feel tears welling up inside her. They’d started a while ago, but it was just now becoming hard to hold them back. Coates walked over to Katie, crouching down next to her.
“This could’ve easily been avoided, Katie.” He said.
“Go fuck yourself.” Katie said.
“You’re not fit to lead anymore. You know that.” He said.
“I just want what’s right for everybody.” She responded.
“Everybody must only mean yourself than.” He said. “My interests are those of the country. Anybody with half a brain would realize that one dead Neo is better than on live on. Anyone who thinks otherwise is dead… Or working with the Network.” He said.
“What are you implying?” Katie asked.
“I’m saying you should watch your back.” He said.
“Is that a threat?” She asked.
“No. It’s only a threat if I don’t intend on living up to it.” He says.
“I will kill you for this.” She said. He nods.
“Sure you will.” He says. “But you’re no longer welcome here, Katie. My men will escort you from the area and you will never return.” He says.
“And if I do?” She growled.
“You’ll be shot on sight.” He said. “You’ve got three minutes to get everything together before you hit the road.” He says as he turns and begins to walk away.
“You’re no hero, Coates.” She said. “You’re not a hero.” He stopped in his tracks, looking back at Katie.
“Neither are you.” He said, then continued to walk off.
“Jesus Christ.” The man next to Katie mumbled. “What did we get ourselves into?”
“Katie.” A weak voice called. Katie rolled her head and looked in the direction of the voice. “Katie.” They called again. She saw Zero, laying on the ground clutching his wound, blood dripping from his mouth. With gritted teeth, Katie reached out to the ground in front of her and began to pull herself along to frozen ground towards him, the cold biting her fingers as she crawled.
“What?” Katie asked. “What is it?” She went on, looking at his wound. She could tell he was in pain, but she could also tell he was masking the pain behind a look of desolation instead.
“California.” He said. “California is in trouble. You need to warn them… Find Trey Horovitz in New York. Tell him I sent you. When he asks for a code, tell him the numbers 2321. He’ll know what to do then.” He said. Katie nodded.
“I understand.” She said, as she began to pull away. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.
“Thank you Katie.” He said. “You’ve saved my life.” He said.
“I didn’t save anyone.” Katie said. He gave a small, pained smiled.
“That’s what I thought a first.” He said, then his eyes went from her face to the sky. “I’m going to go see my little girl again.” He mumbled.
“I’m sorry, Zero.” Katie said.
“You did all you could, Katie.” His pained voice spoke. “I just wish I could say the same thing of myself.” He said. “Now all that there’s left to do is see if this God Lester taught us about has a place for me.” Katie sighed, saying nothing. No matter how highly she thought of Lester, she just couldn’t believe in a God that could do something like this. At that moment, something hurt inside of her, other than her ribs.
It pained her more than anything to admit it. She never though in a million years she’d even have the slightest bit of mercy of a Network agent, but here she was. Zero was different, he was changed. He was on their side, otherwise he wouldn’t have been helping them for the past months, helping to gather enemy intel, pointing out important locations, giving names and faces to the important people.
He wasn’t Network. He wasn’t. He left them in search of a new life, on with the resistance. Katie had somehow found a way to stop hating him and start viewing him as an ally. An inside man.
“How do I know how to find Trey Horovitz, Zero?” She asked. He laughed, in a horribly painful manner that sent blood flying from his lips.
“Zero.” He mused over the name like it was alien to him. “They gave me that name after they counted up all the fears I had.” He said, his eyes looking back to Katie. “Turns out I don’t have many.”
“Zero, I need to know.” Katie said.
“Zero…” He said. “I’ve gone by that name for so many years. It’s hard to remember my real name.” He looked Katie right in the eyes. “I don’t want my gravestone to say Zero, Katie.” He said.
“Zero, I need an answer. Where do I find Trey?” She asked, now well aware of the fact that she was losing him.
“You know, my real name is Mason.” He said. “Mason Hughes.” Katie sighed, well aware of the fact she wasn’t going to get an answer from him.
“Why’d they name you that?” Katie asked.
“My grandfather was a mason, he worked with his hands. They thought it would be a nice homage.” He said. She nodded.
“I’m sure it was.” She said.
“And then the Network came, he died. My parents died. They took my family.” He said. “And I did everything it took to get them back, and I failed.” He said.
“No. You didn’t fail.” She said.
“I failed, Katie. I failed.” He said. Katie could hear heavy footsteps behind her.
“Time’s up.’ Coates’ voice said. “Take her out of here.” He said. Katie felt an arm hook under her arm and pull her up, this time she ignored the pain, replacing it with anger.
“You won’t get away with this.” Katie said.
“Get away with what, Katie? Unifying the country?” He asked.
“Boss, what do we do with the Neo?” A man asked.
“Wait ‘till he bleeds out. Then burn the bodies. Both of them.” He said. Katei narrowed her eyes at him.
“You bastard.” She growled. “Lester had nothing to do with this.” She said.
“You’re wrong.” He said. “He had everything to do with this.” He said, looking to the man holding Katie. “Get her out of here. If she tries to come back in, kill her and burn the body.” He said. Katie said nothing as the man dragged her way towards the edge of camp. She didn’t fight back, she didn’t resist. She went with him. She walked ahead of him. She wasn’t going to let these guys shove her out the door, she was leaving on her own terms. She’d see this place burn. One way or another, true justice would happen.
The large wooden gate opened, the man carrying Katie dumped her outside. Katie looked up at him. He took off the satchel he was wearing and threw it to Katie.
“I’m sorry about this.” He said.
“You will be.” Katie said as she grabbed the satchel. He looked to the ground before turning and walking back in. The guards pulled the gates shut, and now Katie was officially locked out. She looked at the wooden fortifications with an angry sigh. She turned and walked to the other side of the dirt path she was dumped out on, and sat down on a fallen log. She reached into the satchel to see what she had. The first thing she pulled out was a map, and she realized that this was her bag. She’d shoved a bunch of stuff into this bag just in case she ever had to leave in a hurry, well. Now’s a time like that.
She unfolded the map, looking over it. Virginia to New York. That was over a week’s walk in her state, possibly longer if you start counting in breaks and rest. But since it was only her, she could move a lot farther that if she was with somebody. But even after she got there, she needed to find out where this Trey guy was and what his deal is.
She had multiple spots marked on the map, places she could go, places she should stay away from. She always talked with people from the outside to get an update as to the location of safe places on the outside. She only had two marking in New York. One was a place called Camp Birchwood, from what she heard it was a pretty close knit community that was run by a coalition of CIA and Marines, it actually sounded a little bit cozy there. Like the world wasn’t falling apart or anything.
The second place was another unnamed camp, run by the Fed’s. She didn’t hear much about that, except that it was heavily populated. Odds are, if she was looking for someone, they’d be there.
Choice
[Head for Camp Birchwood]
[Head for the unnamed camp]
Carmen Dominguez
“Comms check.” The radio crackled.
“Over watch, copy.” Carmen responded.
“Good to hear. Keep in mind that I’m rigged with a mic, so you’ll hear everything that’s going on down here.” He said.
“Copy that. Just keep your dirty fantasies to yourself.” She responded.
“That may be a little difficult for me to do.” He joked. “And may I ask who my over watch is this fine morning?” The voice asked through the radio.
“None other than Smoke herself.” Carmen responded through the radio.
“Smoke?” They asked. “Shit, this drop must be more important than I thought if they put oyu on the case.”
“Let’s just get this over with quick and clean.” She said. “I don’t like the mess.”
“Copy that.” They responded.
“Let’s keep the peace.” She said.
“How’s my 20 looking?” They asked. Carmen scanned the area through her scope. Nothing other than the man she was talking to down below her with his group in a Humvee.
“Blue skies and rainbows from here, boss.” She said.
“That’s what I like to hear.” He said.
“Any idea what’s in this drop?” She asked.
“I’ve got a few ideas, but I wasn’t directly told what it was.” He said.
“Copy that.” She said, as something caught her eye. She peered through her scope looking at the moving object that closely resembled a tank.
“Heads up boss, I’ve spotted an IFV headed your way.” She said. “It looks like a BMP-3. It has Soviet markings, and there’s a APC following directly behind it, same markings. It looks like they’re headed straight for you.” She said.
“Copy that.” He responded. “This is our drop.” He said.
“Copy that, holding fire.” Carmen said. Just looking at the cannon on that IFV made her want to pull the trigger and kill the guy manning the machine gun. Tanks made her feel on edge. Her high-powered rifle would penetrate lots of things, but a tank wasn’t one of them sadly.
The armored Soviet parade turned from the side roads and onto the road they were on, slowly advancing forwards towards them.
“Ne strelyayte” He called. “Don’t shoot!” He repeated, loud enough that Carmen could hear them from on top of the roof she sat on.
“We’re holding our fire.” The boss called to him. The man from the machine gunners spot climbed out of the nest and climbed down the front of the IFV, hopping down in front of it. Carmen could see he was holding a silver case.
“You’ve gotten what we’ve asked for?” The boss asked.
“Yes. I’ve been told that this is what you’ve asked for?” They asked showing of the case. They just talking now, but Carmen could clearly hear them through the bosses mic.
“Open it up and let’s see what’s inside.” The boss said. The solider nodded, as they flipped the case open. As Carmen watched them, she became aware that the solider might actually be a woman. It was hard to tell from back here, but they did have the curvature of a female and the voice of a female, now that she thought about it.
Carmen saw as they flipped the case open. She saw five small, white sticks laying in the case. Flash drives.
“Five of them?” The boss asked. “We only needed three of them to have the majority.” He said.
“The commander said, consider it a bonus.” The solider, who Carmen was now convinced was female, said.
“The three we have, plus these five… It’s everything we need.” The boss said as he flipped the case shut again. “If I may ask, how did you secure these?” He pressed.
“I’m not sure about the four of them. But the fifth one was found in an abandoned hotel in Mexico. Whoever had it ditched it there and fled.” She said.
“Interesting.” He said. “How many of them are out there in circulation still?” He asked.
“You said you had three, and there’s five here.” She said. “So that’s eight right here. Meaning there’s… One left out there somewhere.” She said.
“You mean two?” He asked. “Eight plus on isn’t ten.” He said.
“The tenth one was destroyed by an American.” She said. “So there’s only one left out there.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. We control the weapon, we control the codes.” He said. “I am thoroughly pleased with your work, send the commander my regards.” He said. The woman nodded, but didn’t move back towards the IFV. “Do you want something?” The boss asked.
“Does this mean we can go home now?” She asked him.
“The Network is true to their word. We no longer deem the Soviets as a threat and will withdraw our troops and return our captives. There is nothing to worry about, I promise.” He said.
“Thank you.” She said. “I’ve been waiting to hear that for months.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” He said. She nodded and climbed back up the side of the IFV, hunkering down into the machine gun nest. Through the scope Carmen could see a slight smile on her lips as the armored parade began it’s mechanical turnaround and slowly chugged back the way it came.
“Smoke, we’ve got to get this to HQ, ASAP.” He said. “You and Bismarck head back to camp, go to the commander and tell him that we are a go for Project Blackstone, and to initiate
Lester, no! Damn it, that one caught me so off guard, I actually needed a moment to realize what just happened. That whole part was crazy, in a crazy awesome way. And definitely one of the saddest parts. Lester always had a special place in my heart after he saved Katie and his death came as a complete shock. He was one hell of a guy. And Zero... the moment Lester died, I knew Zero was a goner as well, with no one to defend him. I was amazed that I actually had some sympathy for him in the end and that his death was almost as sad as Lester's death for me.
Aside from the shocking deaths, this was certainly one of my favourite parts! As much as I love the badassery of a fully-healed Katie, I find her current vulnerable side quite intriguing. If she would have been fully healed already, I have no doubts that she would have kicked Coates' ass. Speaking about Coates and asses, he certainly is one. More than that. What he said would have been enough for me to hate him, but what he did has undoubtedly earned him a firm place on my hate list right next to Jack Hunter. I'm sure he did a major mistake by leaving Katie alive. She's not going to stay weak forever, so he probably signed his own death warrant.
Carmen's part was great as well! Now that the Network has enough codes to take control of the superweapon, I bet the shit is about to get real. I also have the feeling that the missing launch code is connected to Zero's final words. Maybe the numbers he said are part of the launch code. And finally, something I realized... there are these four launch codes which just got into the Networks possession. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is exactly the number of launch codes the Russians already managed to secure, right?
[Head for the unnamed camp]
A larger camp has better chances to be the place where Katie can either find this Trey, or find someone who knows where to find him. It also sounds like the better choice to stay anonymous. I mean, a pretty redhead with seriously broken ribs is a memorable sight and could draw unwanted attention in a smaller place. While I doubt that anyone is actively looking for her, there is always the chance that some people will recognize a famous resistance hero when they see her, maybe even the kind of people she better stays away from.
and to initiate the fallback.” He said.
“What’s the fallback?” Carmen asked.
“We pull out all of our troops east of the California state line.” He said.
“What about the prisoners sir?” she asked.
“Execute all.”
Rest in peace Lester I kind of expected this outcome but I hoped that he would at least safe Zero. Now I regret that I chose to intervene. But not intervening would have been out of character for Lester and I am proud that he stood up for his morals. Of course I still hope that Coates is going to pay for it in time.
Btw, I would like to submit a new character now that Lester is dead. Is there a group for which you could use a new character?
and to initiate the fallback.” He said.
“What’s the fallback?” Carmen asked.
“We pull out all of our troops east of the California state line.” He said.
“What about the prisoners sir?” she asked.
“Execute all.”
Btw, I would like to submit a new character now that Lester is dead. Is there a group for which you could use a new character?
No group in particular. No. But keep in mind, that since I refuse to be bound by logic, the character's group may change over time. Like Carmen 'joining' the Network or Zero joining the resistance. Just a heads up.
[Head for the unnamed camp]
Rest in peace Lester I kind of expected this outcome but I hoped that he would at least safe Zero. Now I reg… moreret that I chose to intervene. But not intervening would have been out of character for Lester and I am proud that he stood up for his morals. Of course I still hope that Coates is going to pay for it in time.
Btw, I would like to submit a new character now that Lester is dead. Is there a group for which you could use a new character?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is exactly the number of launch codes the Russians already managed to secure, right?
These four segments of code (five actually) are the ones the Russians have 'secured' and 'destroyed'. Or so they told Adam. Also, it was implied that the fifth one was the one that Dillon had, in case you didn't notice.
“I’m not sure about the four of them. But the fifth one was found in an abandoned hotel in Mexico. Whoever had it ditched it there and fled.” She said.
Lester, no! Damn it, that one caught me so off guard, I actually needed a moment to realize what just happened. That whole part was crazy, i… moren a crazy awesome way. And definitely one of the saddest parts. Lester always had a special place in my heart after he saved Katie and his death came as a complete shock. He was one hell of a guy. And Zero... the moment Lester died, I knew Zero was a goner as well, with no one to defend him. I was amazed that I actually had some sympathy for him in the end and that his death was almost as sad as Lester's death for me.
Aside from the shocking deaths, this was certainly one of my favourite parts! As much as I love the badassery of a fully-healed Katie, I find her current vulnerable side quite intriguing. If she would have been fully healed already, I have no doubts that she would have kicked Coates' ass. Speaking about Coates and asses, he certainly is one. More than that. What he said would have been en… [view original content]
Btw, I would like to submit a new character now that Lester is dead. Is there a group for which you could use a new character?
No gr… moreoup in particular. No. But keep in mind, that since I refuse to be bound by logic, the character's group may change over time. Like Carmen 'joining' the Network or Zero joining the resistance. Just a heads up.
“Lucia? You there?” A voice asked as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her head ached, and she felt dizzy. Someone was shining a bright light in her eyes.
“Get that out of my face.” Lucia said, her voice sounding as drowsy as she felt.
“You might want to put a bandage on that, head wounds always bleed pretty bad.” She responded, Lucia squinted against the light to get a look at her face.
“Why don’t you put a bandage on it, asshole?” Lucia asked. She chuckled in response. She patted Lucia on her arm.
The bright light that blocked out her face dimmed.
“Damn it.” Lucia mumbled. She was staring directly into Alex’s face. “Am I dead?” She asked. Alex shrugged.
“You tell me. I don’t feel dead.” Alex said.
“I’m not so sure.” Lucia said.
Lucia heard a noise coming from outside the room they were in. Alex smiled at Lucia.
“I’ve got to go now.” Alex said. “I’ll see you around.” She turned and walked away as the room around Lucia faded, and the world replaced itself.
She was upside down, swaying gently back and forth. Any direction she looked in she could only see trees.
A rope was caught around her foot, hanging her off the ground by over two feet. She could feel blood running down her forehead, dripping onto the ground.
She tried to reach up towards the rope, but couldn’t muster enough strength.
“Felix?” She weakly asked, though she didn’t see him anywhere. She scanned her surroundings repeatedly, trying to find Felix, or anyone for that matter. She just couldn’t see anyone.
She hushed her fears, telling herself that it was just too dark to see. He was still here. Somewhere.
Somewhere in the distance she heard a bone chilling sound. Regularly the only sound that would frighten her would’ve been a gunshot.
She could take everything, expect for the sound of a gunshot. That was the only sound that sent shivers down her spine.
When you hear a gunshot, you know something bad is happening. You know that whatever it was on the other end of that bullet isn’t having a very good day. You know something’s not right.
But this sound, it was different. It normally wouldn’t even cross her mind to even think about it, but right now, dangling upside down from a tree with nobody around and no weapons…
The cold, steely cry of a timber wolf rattled her to the bone.
Carmen Dominguez
She was out of breath. She hadn’t run that fast in a long time, if she’d ever run that fast in the first place. She wasn’t really paying any attention to where she was, only where she was going. And as a result, she accidently tackled Banshee to the ground as she ran.
Carmen quickly recovered, jumping to her feet.
“Smoke, what the heck is wrong with you?” Banshee asked as she recovered her hat and stood up, brushing the dust from her uniform. She looked at Carmen’s face and instantly understood something was wrong. “What’s going on?” She asked, tentatively.
“I’m not sure, but nothing good.” Carmen answered. “The Network has just gained control over some sort of superweapon. They’re pulling all the troops out, east of the California state line.” She said.
“That’s not good.” Banshee said. “What’s the plan?” She asked.
“Same plan, only sooner.” Camren said. Banshee nodded.
“I’ll get Glaz and your friends, then meet you by the comms station in five.” She said.
“I’ll get the ordinance and the escape route ready.” Carmen said. Banshee nodded.
“Don’t get caught.” She said.
“Wasn’t my plan.” Carmen said as she turned and the two ran in opposite directions, each with an equally important job. Glaz was just as important as the explosives. If they didn’t get Glaz, they wouldn’t be able to track the IP address back to the source. And if they can’t find the source, all of this would be for nothing.
Carmen walked through the dust roads of the base, nobody seemed to be in a hurry. Nobody knew what was happening. She tried to act casual and not draw any attention to herself, but she’d learned that blending in isn’t one of her strong suits.
She weaved her way into the stockroom and pushed the door open.
“Can I help you with something?” A man asked, sitting behind a metal cage. The clerk. Carmen thought quickly, grabbing her gun.
“Just checking this back into storage.” She said. He nodded, not amused.
“Be quick about it.” He said. Carmen heard a metallic buzz and the metal door swung open. That God for lazy security guards. Carmen ran a hand through her long black hair as she slipped past the door into the stockroom.
She quickly walked over to the locked case clearly marked as explosives, just so nobody would mess with it. Or, in her case, try to break in and steal its contents.
She dug into her pocket and pulled out the key she’d ‘borrowed’ a few days ago. Nobody even noticed, there was a duplicate just like it.
She unlocked the case and flipped its lid open, look in. That was too much C4 to even think about carrying.
She quickly grabbed a bag off of one of the shelves and began to stuff it full of the explosive. An entire military-grade backpack full of C4 should do the job. She looked over her shoulder at the shelves lined with ammo, food, and anything they’d raided from abandoned places.
A sly smile crawled over her face as she grabbed down another backpack and began shoving it with candy bars and food.
Hey, they wouldn’t be coming back this way again any time soon.
Once the bag was full she slung it over her shoulder, opting to carry the one full of explosives in her hands.
“What’s in the bag?” A voice asked, Carmen spun on her heel and saw Six standing beside her.
“Six.” She stuttered, looking to the bag. “It’s nothing. I’m just brining some junk to HQ, they said they wanted to look it over and get rid of some of it.” She said. He shook his head.
“I never heard that order.” He said.
“It was addressed directly to me.” Carmen said.
“You on a supply run for HQ?” He asked. “That’s a downgrade.” He said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, well I just don’t question HQ.” Carmen said. “So, can I just go?” She tried to push past him. He stopped her, and pushed her back, against the wall.
“What’s with the rush, Smoke?” He asked. “You seem on edge.”
“No, not at all.” She said, recollecting herself. “Just let me go, Six. I don’t want to get in trouble.” He laughed, deeply.
“Smoke, you’re not going to get in trouble.” He said.
“And why’s that?” She asked. He planted a hand on her shoulder, strong and sturdy.
“Because HQ never gave you an order.” He said.
“And why do you think that ,Six?” she asked.
“Because I watched you pack on bag full of explosives and another full of food.” Six said. “And then you tell me HQ wants to throw it out? Not likely, Smoke.” He said.
“What do you want, Six?” Carmen asked, trying to stand though in front of a man that towered over her. “It’s obvious you’re here for more than to just harass me about my orders.”
“I happened to see something on your shoulder that caught my eye.” He said. “A tattoo maybe?” He asked.
“Yeah, so?” She asked. “I got it when I joined up. You got a problem with it?”
“No, I just want to see it.” He said. Carmen narrowed her eyes at him.
“No.” She said, shaking her head.
“Okay, so that’s how we’re going to play it.” He said. His grip on her shoulder tightened as, with only one arm, he spun her around and slammed her face-first into the wall. She dropped her back full of C4 to the ground as he ripped the other one from her back.
“Let me go, Six.” She said.
“Shut up.” He said, pulling a knife on her, he held it next to her face.
“Okay, okay.” Carmen said, her eyes widening at the sight of the curved metallic blade. He moved the blade away from her face and quickly cut the back of her shirt open, using his hands to rip a large hole into the fabric.
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” He read out loud.
“It’s a poem.” Carmen said. “By Dylan Thomas, are you happy?” She asked him.
“Yeah, it’s a poem.” He said. “One that’s been used by the Resistance all throughout the US.”
“So what I have it tattooed onto my back, that doesn’t mean I’m part of them.” Carmen said. “I just like the poetry.” She went on.
“Yeah, except one thing, Carmen.” He sneered, using her real name. She was almost alarmed at the fact that he remembered it. She wasn’t even aware that he knew it in the first place. “There’s a reason I hid the vodka behind the books, you don’t read.” He said.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t like poetry.” She said.
“Yeah, that’s true.” He said. “Except the fact that you’re also stealing C4 and food. And you’ve got Glaz and Banshee releasing prisoners from the jail.” Carmen stiffened and began breathing heavily. She knew she’d been caught. She knew her knew.
“Who have you told?” She asked, calmly.
“Nobody.” He said. “Yet.” With that, he stepped back, releasing Carmen.
“Why?” She asked.
“Is it so wrong to just do what’s right for a change?” He asked.
“Bullshit, you want something.” Carmen said. He nodded as he stepped forwards towards her, his hand coming to a rest on her waist.
“You’re right, I do want something.” He said. “And I expect to get it. But not yet. Not right now.” He said.
“You fucking pig.” She said.
“Call me what you want.” He said. “But I know every part of your plan down to the last ‘T’. And if you don’t come back to me, and give me what I want. I will end you all.”
“I will kill you.” She said.
“Kill me and everyone dies. I’m not the only one that knows.” He said. “And if I don’t go back and tell them, they’ll go straight to command.” He said.
Carmen looked at him, she was good at reading people. She could tell when they were lying. But Six had always been hard to read. Something in the quick twitch of his eye told her he was lying, but there was no way for her to be sure.
“And what if I don’t come back.” Carmen growled.
“I have this.” He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a map. “Every place you’ve marked on this map, I know. I can hunt you across this entire state if I have to, and then, you’ll only wish you came back on your own.” He said, he dug back into his pocket and brought out a crumbled piece of paper, he shoved it into Carmen’s pants pocket. “Meet me here, in two days, or We will hunt you down.”
she looked at the map. He wasn’t joking. That was their entire plan, everything. There’d be no way for her to run fast enough to get away with him chasing after her, knowing her next move.
“You’re sick.” She said.
“I know.” He said, with a sinister smile. “But you’ll learn to like it. Now get going, before I change my mind.” He said, stepping out of her way. Carmen grabbed her backpacks and glared at him. “Glare at me a little longer, and I swear it’ll be the last thing you see.” He said as he shoved her towards the door. She regained herself and began walking.
She knew he was armed, but only with a knife. She had a gun. She could easily kill him right here right now. But that would only solve one problem and create another. If he wasn’t lying and she killed him, then everything they planned for would be a bust.
But what if they broke with the plan? Would it be that hard to find a different place to camp? Even then they’d have the Network hunting after them.
But was practically becoming a slave to that pig any better than being hunted down?
But what would happen if she walked out of here, and never came back? Yeah, they’d be hunted. But they’d also have a head start to get out of here. If she killed him here and now, they’d start the hunt immediently.
But if she let him go, he’d go tell his friend not to trip the alarm on them. They could get a head start and possibly into Nevada before they even started looking for them.
The cold, steely cry of a timber wolf rattled her to the bone.
Oh damn... in most other situations, that wouldn't be too bad, but that line is terrifying. By the way, I think you made a mistake with Lucia's last name in this part.
[Leave]
It was a hard choice. My first impulse was to kill that swine, but the last two sentences convinced me otherwise. A head start, maybe even into Nevada, is hopefully going to be worth it.
Lucia Dominguez
“Lucia? You there?” A voice asked as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her head ached, and she felt dizzy. Someone was shin… moreing a bright light in her eyes.
“Get that out of my face.” Lucia said, her voice sounding as drowsy as she felt.
“You might want to put a bandage on that, head wounds always bleed pretty bad.” She responded, Lucia squinted against the light to get a look at her face.
“Why don’t you put a bandage on it, asshole?” Lucia asked. She chuckled in response. She patted Lucia on her arm.
The bright light that blocked out her face dimmed.
“Damn it.” Lucia mumbled. She was staring directly into Alex’s face. “Am I dead?” She asked. Alex shrugged.
“You tell me. I don’t feel dead.” Alex said.
“I’m not so sure.” Lucia said.
Lucia heard a noise coming from outside the room they were in. Alex smiled at Lucia.
“I’ve got to go now.” Alex said. “I’ll see you around.” She turned and walked away as t… [view original content]
Lucia Dominguez
“Lucia? You there?” A voice asked as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her head ached, and she felt dizzy. Someone was shin… moreing a bright light in her eyes.
“Get that out of my face.” Lucia said, her voice sounding as drowsy as she felt.
“You might want to put a bandage on that, head wounds always bleed pretty bad.” She responded, Lucia squinted against the light to get a look at her face.
“Why don’t you put a bandage on it, asshole?” Lucia asked. She chuckled in response. She patted Lucia on her arm.
The bright light that blocked out her face dimmed.
“Damn it.” Lucia mumbled. She was staring directly into Alex’s face. “Am I dead?” She asked. Alex shrugged.
“You tell me. I don’t feel dead.” Alex said.
“I’m not so sure.” Lucia said.
Lucia heard a noise coming from outside the room they were in. Alex smiled at Lucia.
“I’ve got to go now.” Alex said. “I’ll see you around.” She turned and walked away as t… [view original content]
The cold, steely cry of a timber wolf rattled her to the bone.
Oh damn... in most other situations, that wouldn't be too bad, but th… moreat line is terrifying. By the way, I think you made a mistake with Lucia's last name in this part.
[Leave]
It was a hard choice. My first impulse was to kill that swine, but the last two sentences convinced me otherwise. A head start, maybe even into Nevada, is hopefully going to be worth it.
Okay guys, I feel like I have some explaining to do.
I know the last few parts have seemingly decreased in quality and I'd like to apologize, I'm sorry for all the rushed development and cliched characters in the last few part, I didn't mean to do that. I've just been overly focused on other things recently, and not overly focusing on my writing.
So yeah guys, sorry. I'll try to try harder. But with 4th quarter rolling in, and my grade going from bad to worse in math, it definitely is difficult for me to juggle everything in my life. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all, you guys are awesome.
First of all, I don't really notice a decrease in quality. In fact, some of the more recent parts have been amongst my favourite parts in the entire story. For example, the part where Lester died, while totally heartbreaking, was really well-written. Lucia's latest part was very intense as well, which is remarkable when you consider that basically all she did was hanging headfirst from a tree. And I find the stuff with this enigmatic superweapon also quite nice. So, do not worry about this. I still enjoy the story as much as always and if anything, I think that your writing has gotten even better with each new part.
At the same time, don't stress yourself! Putting some focus on other, necessary things is nothing bad. I definitely understand your struggle. During my entire school life, math was basically the worst thing that happened to me, so I know that feeling. But good news, regardless of what your teachers want you to believe, if you take the right course of studies later on, you'll never need it again in your entire life. Take your time, I'm sure you can do it! And don't worry about the quality of the story. I can only speak for myself, but I enjoy it as much as always, maybe even more.
Okay guys, I feel like I have some explaining to do.
I know the last few parts have seemingly decreased in quality and I'd like to apolog… moreize, I'm sorry for all the rushed development and cliched characters in the last few part, I didn't mean to do that. I've just been overly focused on other things recently, and not overly focusing on my writing.
So yeah guys, sorry. I'll try to try harder. But with 4th quarter rolling in, and my grade going from bad to worse in math, it definitely is difficult for me to juggle everything in my life. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all, you guys are awesome.
Thanks Liquid. I've just been feeling like I've been rushing everything lately, and I just haven't felt content with what I've been doing. I just feel like I could be doing better than what I am. I just have so much floating through my head all the time now, and it's hard to just get it all onto a page.
First of all, I don't really notice a decrease in quality. In fact, some of the more recent parts have been amongst my favourite parts in th… moree entire story. For example, the part where Lester died, while totally heartbreaking, was really well-written. Lucia's latest part was very intense as well, which is remarkable when you consider that basically all she did was hanging headfirst from a tree. And I find the stuff with this enigmatic superweapon also quite nice. So, do not worry about this. I still enjoy the story as much as always and if anything, I think that your writing has gotten even better with each new part.
At the same time, don't stress yourself! Putting some focus on other, necessary things is nothing bad. I definitely understand your struggle. During my entire school life, math was basically the worst thing that happened to me, so I know that feeling. But good news, regardless of what your teachers want you to believe, if you t… [view original content]
Liquid said it better than I can but I feel the same. This story is so great and I love it. The last few parts have been awesome as always. Its a shame the story isnt better known, because I think it is one of the best written in this forum.
Okay guys, I feel like I have some explaining to do.
I know the last few parts have seemingly decreased in quality and I'd like to apolog… moreize, I'm sorry for all the rushed development and cliched characters in the last few part, I didn't mean to do that. I've just been overly focused on other things recently, and not overly focusing on my writing.
So yeah guys, sorry. I'll try to try harder. But with 4th quarter rolling in, and my grade going from bad to worse in math, it definitely is difficult for me to juggle everything in my life. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all, you guys are awesome.
Liquid said it better than I can but I feel the same. This story is so great and I love it. The last few parts have been awesome as always. Its a shame the story isnt better known, because I think it is one of the best written in this forum.
It’d been awhile now since she’d been able to get a good rest, she’d been walking for a few days now. She knew she had to be getting close, the camp had to be somewhere around here.
The never ending pain seemed to have subsided, for now at least, as the pain was only replaced by the mental torture of replaying the death of Lester and Zero over and over again in her head. She felt like she should’ve done something, she should’ve done anything.
“Trey Horovitz.” She mumbled to herself, absentmindedly kicking a rock that lay in the road before her. It skated across the cracked pavement for a little while before coming victim to friction.
With every step came a new thought, another little ping in the back of her mind telling her how it was her fault they died.
She took a step: You should’ve stood back up.
Another step: You’re the one that should’ve died.
Yet another: You’re a coward. Sending others to die in your place.
Every time she tried to push the thoughts away, they just came back even worse than before. She hated to admit it, but half a mile ago on that bridge over the gorge… She thought about ending it all. Just jumping down, freefalling to the bottom.
But last time that happened, she didn’t end up dead. She just ended up wishing she was.
She sighed and peered up the road a ways, she took note of a man walking towards her. She could tell he was armed, but couldn’t tell which side of the war he was on. Whatever happened to the good old days where two armies would just meet each other on an open field and take turns firing at each other until no one was left? This kind of warfare was so much harder.
Katie wished now she’d the foresight to pack a gun in the bag that hung at her side, but no such luck as of now. Now, she had a stick.
Stick Vs. Avtomat Kalashnikov. Let’s see who wins.
Katie kept walking forwards, waiting for the man to either speak or shoot her dead. Either way there was no point in running.
But none was the case as the man just simply walked past Katie, uttering only a single solitary statement.
“Hey, how you doing?” They half-heartedly asked as they walked past her. Katie kept walking a few steps, perplexed, before giving an answer.
“Uh… Hi.” She responded. It was weird, giving an actually greeting again. She’d thought formalities had died a long time ago.
New York seemed a lot different than Virginia.
“Camp’s about half’a mile that way.” The man spoke, pointing back over his shoulder as he walked. “Can’t miss it.”
“Thanks.” Katie responded, as she began to pick up the pace, now thrilled that she was closer than she thought. Half a mile left and then this whole thing can be done. That is, if she can find this Trey Horovitz.
The man wasn’t lying, up this road a ways the road did indeed keep going, but off to the left of the road was a large clearing. And when she said a large clearing, she meant a tent-city about as large as an average sized town.
Her heart sank, just looking at this place. How was she going to find one man in this mess?
Never the less she continued walking forwards into the camp, walking past rows of tents and hastily constructed shacks of plywood and sheet metal.
There were people everywhere, filling the entire camp. Possibly more people than tents. Her eyes spotted a group of people standing around and chatting, like this world hadn’t fallen apart. One of them had a lit cigarette hanging from her mouth. One of them spotted Katie and his face filled with either fear or concern as he looked at her. Everyone else in the group turned to look.
“Are you alright?” One asked. “You look like shit.” Katie almost laughed.
“I feel like it too.” She responded. “Any idea where I’d be able to find a Trey Horovitz?” She asked. He shook his head.
“Not a clue. Got talk to Doc Watson, he knows just about everyone in this camp.” He responded.
“No small feat.” Katie mumbled. “Where’s he?”
“Just keep going straight. It’s the big tent with a red cross on it. If you miss it you’re probably blind.” He said.
“Thanks for the help.” Katie said as she began walking away.
“Take care of yourself.” He said. Katie didn’t whether to take that was an insult or a genuinely concerned remark, so she just ignored it as she continued sojourning her way through the bustling camp.
She almost couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen so many people in the same place like this.
She spotted the tent from a ways off, the kid wasn’t lying. Even in a camp full of sack tents, this sack tent stood out. It was huge, one of the biggest tents she’d ever seen.
Not many people were inside, seeing as it was a medical tent. A few cots were filled with the bodies of the ill, but luckily not to many. That’s always a good sign.
The only man that looked like a doctor was a tall man on the opposite side of the tent as her. He was standing over a man who was sitting on the edge of a cot. The man had lengthening brown hair with a rough beard, green eyes just like her own. He wore a black T-shirt and a pair of pants that looked like they belonged to the Army. Feds, it had to be. She was nearly relieved knowing Feds were in this area.
She started walking closer, but stopped as she heard the doctor conversing with the man.
“Now, we just don’t have the ability to do anything about this illness here in the camp. We just don’t have the medical expertise, but I can tell you this- These hallucinations are most likely caused by stress along with the underworked mind you have.” The doctor said.
“What do you suppose I do about it, doc?” The man asked.
“You have to stay active, try to change the scenery. Give your mind something new to focus on. You just have to use your head instead of letting your head use you. That’s all I can say, we just don’t have any actual medical solution.” He said. The man nodded, looking past the doctor at Katie. If Katie didn’t know any better she’d probably think that he was kind of cute, but right now she had a job to do.
“Looks like you have another patient.” He said. The doctor turned around and looked at Katie, a solemn expression on his face.
“What happened to you child? You fall off a cliff?” He asked.
“Yes.” Katie said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I’m looking for someone.” She went on. That was the second time someone from this camp commented negatively on how she looked, normally she wouldn’t be too focused on it but she was almost afraid she looked worse than she though, she knew there was bruises on her face and well, her entire body, but she never thought it was too bad.
“Than what are you here for?” He asked.
“Are you doctor Watson?” Katie asked.
“I think so.” The man answered with a smile.
“I’m looking for someone, can you help?” Katie asked.
“Maybe, who is it?” He asked.
“I’m looking for a Trey Horovitz.” Katie said. “And it’s kind of important.” The doctor slowly nodded.
“Alright, come with me.” He said, then turned to the man. “Samu, stay here for a moment, this won’t take long.” So Samu was his name. Samu nodded in return, and the doctor began walking away. Katie followed him, as she led her out of the tent and around the side.
She became aware that behind this tent, even in a camp of so many people, nobody was here. Just as she put that together, she was on her knees, a knife to her throat.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked, calmly as not to appear weak.
“Where’d you get that name from?” He asked.
“What does it matter?” Katie asked. “He’s dead now anyways.”
“Listen here.” He begun. “I didn’t come all this way and change my name just to have some nobody from out of town show up and ruin it all. I’m the only doctor in this camp, and we’re currently suffering from a Cholera outbreak. So if you think you’re going to come in here and just kill me, you’re not. I’m not going to let you kill this entire camp.”
“I have no intentions on harming you.” Katie said, seeing as doctor Watson was actually Trey.
“Then tell me who gave you my name.” He said.
“His name was Mason Hughes, he went by Zero.” Katie said. “He said the code was 2321.” The instant she said that the knife moved away from her neck and Trey hauled her up.
“Why didn’t you just start with that?” He asked. “If you’re here than that must mean the Network has control of the California superweapon.”
“I don’t know.” Katie said. “All he said was to come find you.”
“That he did.” Trey said. “Okay.” He said, looking around, just scanning his surroundings. “I’m in. But there’s something you need to do for me first.”
“First explain to me what’s going on right now.” Katie said.
“The Network’s going to detonate a superweapon in California that’ll probably wipe the entire pacific coast off the map. And I’m the only one with the kill switch.” He said. Katie nodded.
“What do you need done?” She asked.
“Like I said, there’s a Cholera outbreak.” He said. “We don’t have the antibiotics to sustain us here, but up the road about ten miles is a hospital that’s been untouched. Nobody’s raided it, and all the drugs are still there. All you need to do is go in and grab the antibiotics and leave.” He said.
“What am I looking for?” She asked.
“ Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin, and Azithromycin are the one’s you’ll be able to find most easily.” He said.
“How can you be so sure the place hasn’t been raided?” Katie asked.
“That’s the catch.” He said. “The reason it hasn’t been raided is because people can’t go inside without dying a slow and miserable death due to a pathogen that’s been released in the air.” He said.
“So you’re going to send me on an impossible mission to die?” She asked.
“Not exactly.” He said. “I’ve got a few old gas masks laying around, M17’s from the Vietnam war. It’ll give you enough time to get in find the drugs and get out, any longer and it’ll probably give out on you.” He said.
“Just so I know, what kind of pathogen are we talking about here?” She asked.
“It’s a weaponized military-engineered for of Marburg that kills anything it touches. No cure.” He said.
“Lovely.” Katie said.
“I’m in.” A voice spoke. Katie turned her head and saw that the man, Samu had joined them.
“What? How long have you been there?” Trey asked.
“Long enough to know that we need to go into a pathogen filled hospital to get drugs to save the camp.” Samu said.
“I don’t-“ Trey began.
“You told me to stay active, so let’s go already.” He said.
“It’s not up to me, Samu. I’m not part of this mission.” Trey said. “It’s up to her.”
Behold, the greatest line in the entire story XD I don't know why, but this genuinely made me laugh. The whole part was great, even though that was the only moment that was actually funny. The rest was rather sad. I mean, poor Katie. She definitely needs a hug. She always needed one, but never more than now. Aside from her physical fragility, which is obviously affecting her more than she likes to show, she has this massive survivor's guilt now. I hope she's getting a chance to make Coates pay for what he did to Lester and Zero and for what he is putting her through right now. Though she gets major badass points for still appearing tough as nails despite being at the verge of breaking down, physically and mentally. While I like her as the most badass person in a room, I genuinely love the character growth she undergoes now that she has to recover and can't just depend on being badass.
[Bring Samu]
Samu can be her backup, which is definitely very important during such a mission. Katie is still in a physically bad condition, as this part made sure. While she can walk, maybe even run, even minor accidents are likely to incapacitate her. I'd even have a bad feeling for this mission if she'd be fully healed already, but in her current condition, I'm having a worse feeling. Without backup, I'd have an even worse feeling. I guess if something happens, then Samu might be able to save her life. Speaking about Samu, this mission is definitely going to be something new for him to focus on, as Trey advised him. It should be interesting for him to meet a Resistance member from another part of the country, as well as doing such an important mission in general. While I doubt it is going to help him with his stress, it should keep him focussed, which ultimately could be beneficial for him as well and might be a way to counter the hallucinations. And well, if anything goes bad, then I definitely want someone to be with Katie, to make sure that she gets out of there alive.
Katie Dicanto
It’d been awhile now since she’d been able to get a good rest, she’d been walking for a few days now. She knew she had to b… moree getting close, the camp had to be somewhere around here.
The never ending pain seemed to have subsided, for now at least, as the pain was only replaced by the mental torture of replaying the death of Lester and Zero over and over again in her head. She felt like she should’ve done something, she should’ve done anything.
“Trey Horovitz.” She mumbled to herself, absentmindedly kicking a rock that lay in the road before her. It skated across the cracked pavement for a little while before coming victim to friction.
With every step came a new thought, another little ping in the back of her mind telling her how it was her fault they died.
She took a step: You should’ve stood back up.
Another step: You’re the one that should’ve died.
Yet another: You’re a coward. Sending others to die in your… [view original content]
No one should do this mission alone, especially not after they are still recovering from falling off a cliff. Katie needs help on this mission and Samu needs to do something, so this is a perfect team-up. And she thinks he is cute, so I can ship them maybe XD
The beginning of the part made me emotional. This is not what Lester would have wanted, that Katie torments herself because of his death. Shit, I miss Lester now ;-;
Katie Dicanto
It’d been awhile now since she’d been able to get a good rest, she’d been walking for a few days now. She knew she had to b… moree getting close, the camp had to be somewhere around here.
The never ending pain seemed to have subsided, for now at least, as the pain was only replaced by the mental torture of replaying the death of Lester and Zero over and over again in her head. She felt like she should’ve done something, she should’ve done anything.
“Trey Horovitz.” She mumbled to herself, absentmindedly kicking a rock that lay in the road before her. It skated across the cracked pavement for a little while before coming victim to friction.
With every step came a new thought, another little ping in the back of her mind telling her how it was her fault they died.
She took a step: You should’ve stood back up.
Another step: You’re the one that should’ve died.
Yet another: You’re a coward. Sending others to die in your… [view original content]
She couldn’t feel her leg anymore. She could barely feel anything. She was feeling light headed and dizzy. The gash in her head refused to stop bleeding, though it had slowed.
Through the trees she could see the telltale signs of the impending dawn. Had she been out here that long already?
Her vision was tunneling, not only was she now tired but all the blood had already rushed to her head. Her mind refused to quit playing tricks on her, ever since she’d heard that timber wolf however long ago that was, she kept hearing things out in the trees. Circling her like prey.
She’d quit trying to struggle her way out of this a while ago, as it only wasted her energy. There was no way she was getting out of this on her own, her only hope now was for Felix to return.
She heard a stick snap and the rustle of leaves, her head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound.
She couldn’t even tell if anything was out there, but the sounds were getting to her. Hanging upside down from a tree in the middle of the woods was getting to her.
Again, from the woods, came the rustle of leaves. Lucia wanted to say it was just the wind, but the sky was dead calm right now. That was no wind.
“Hello?” She asked, her voice choked. “Anyone there?” She continued, scanning the trees though the only light was the eerie twilight.
She was hoping for a response, right now she’s be happy if the people that trapped her here had come back. But apparently they weren’t that kind.
She did, however, get a sort of response. And it wasn’t the sort of response she wanted.
A low pitched growl emerged from the woods. Her eyes widened, as she attempted to wriggle her way out of the rope. But the more she struggle, the tighter it seemed to get.
In the ever growing twilight that grew brighter with every passing moment she was able to see something moving towards her, only out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head to look at it, her heart skipped a beat.
The creature that was eerily dog-like was prowling towards her, the it diverted its course. It was circling her.
Lucia had once been told that the animals in the wild were just as scared as her as she was of them, right here and now she called bullshit on that. Complete and utter bullshit.
“No ,no ,no ,no.” Lucia spoke to the wolf as if it would understand her fear and just leave her alone. “Help!” She screamed into the woods. “Help!”
The wolf must’ve not been that good with English, though, as it seemed to have misread her cries for help as a command to attack.
The wolf leaped through the air, jaw wide open. Lucia stuck her arm out trying to stop it. The beast clamped down hard on her forearm, blood oozing from where the teeth had ripped through her skin. She cried out in pain as she pulled her arm back from the wolf, only making it worse.
It clamped down harder, all Lucia could feel was the pain in her arm. Everything else was gone now. Everything except the feeling of fatigue, it actually was getting strong the longer she looked at the blood dripping from her arm.
With her free hand she swatted at the beast in an attempt to break free, but the wolf seemed not to care of her attacks as it acted like it was nothing.
It was only now that she realized there was no more air in her lungs, she’d been crying out the entire time already. But she couldn’t even catch her breath, she couldn’t breathe. Her breath came in short panicked inhales and exhales. Her head was spinning, or was that the world?
Then, to her surprise, the wolf released its grip on her arm and backed up a few steps. Lucia gripped her forearm with her other hand and watched in fear as blood seeped through her fingers in only moment. It was then she realized the wolf had not retreated, it was going for the kill.
It had backed down to poise for the kill strike, it was going for her throat. She watched as the beast left the ground, sailing through the air. Jaw wide open, blood staining its teeth. It closed the gap between it and her quickly.
Lucia wanted to shut her eye, but just couldn’t. It was like a car crash, you want to look away but you can’t.
Inches from her throat, the beast fell from the sky as if hit by an invisible wall. Lucia’s eyes first darted to the dead wolf that had an arrow sticking out from where its heart would’ve been. Then her mind raced, and arrow needs to be shot form a bow. A bow needs a person to shoot it.
A person can either be friendly or enemy, either way, she was about to get out of this tree.
“Help me.” She cried, though her voice was soaked in pain and sounded barely recognizable as human. She heard nearly silent footsteps slowly approaching her. She felt a hand touch her back and then she was slowly spinning around.
Then she was face to face with a person, she couldn’t make out any features. They were wearing a cloak, a hood covering their head and in the early morning light all she could see was a shadow. She could see the silhouette of a bow and a quiver hanging from their back.
She saw a second solitary cloaked figure join the first one, the second one turned to the first one. They too had a bow.
“What do we do?” They asked, Lucia could distinguish a woman’s voice.
“You’re the one that killed the wolf.” The first said, she could tell this one was a man. “It’s your prize.” He said, brushing past Lucia and the other figure. He stepped to the wolf and grabbed the arrow, pulling it out of the beast and placing it in his quiver.
The woman stepped forwards to Lucia, she saw her reach into her cloak and draw a small knife. Lucia first thought she was going to kill her, but realized the woman had other ideas as the knife move upwards to the rope around her foot.
“This is going to hurt.” The woman mumbled, she was wrong. Lucia crumpled to the ground in a semi-conscious heap. She tried to push herself up, but came nowhere close. Her head began throbbing and her arms and legs burnt like they’d been light on fire from inside out.
“What are you going to do with her?” The man asked.
“If we leave her here, she dies.” The woman said.
“Yes.” The man said. “Help me get her up.”
“There’s no way she’s walking away from this one.” The woman said.
“Very true.” The man said, somewhere deep in the back of her mind Lucia detected something of an accent in both of their voices. “I’ll carry her then, just check the area and make sure there’s no more traps.”
“On it.” The woman said. Lucia heard the same nearly silent footsteps retreating into the trees. She felt a hand reach under her back and then under her knees, then she was up off the ground, close against the man’s chest.
“You’re lucky, you know that?” He spoke to her. “Any longer and you’d be that wolfs dinner.” Lucia opened her moth to respond, but her mouth felt like sandpaper. It seemed to not matter, as the man didn’t wait for a response anyways. “We’ve been tracking these wolfs for a while now, the Network’s been messing with animal’s genetics making them more of attack dogs than actual wolfs.” He went on.
Lucia wished he was just joking, just the idea of the Network messing with animal genetics was a frightening thought. But if they’d actually found a way to make it work, that’s possibly even worse.
“Lucky for us all, our group has been sent here to shut down this operation the Network started before it can take off.” He said. Lucia could only hear his voice as a distant fuzzy haze that could barely break though the veil of sub-consciousness. Lucia just began to lose feeling, in her arms, hands, legs. Everything just began to drown out in a sea of fuzziness.
Her own eyes fought against her, she fought to stay awake, they fought to drift away. Everything around her was quickly darkening, she couldn’t even see two feet in front of her.
“Well shit.” The man mumbled, moments before Lucia lost consciousness.
The next time she opened her eyes, she had no clue of where she was or what time it was. The only clue she got was the light seeping in from outside. It was bright enough to possibly be in the late afternoon.
She lifted her hand and looked at it, it was covered with gauze though it had a small red spot seeping through it. When she tried to raise her other hand, she realized she couldn’t. Her hand was handcuffed to the bed she was laying on.
She pulled hard against the chain but the only response she got from it was the clang of metal against metal.
She realized she was covered with a blanket, it was soft. Lucia looked at it and was able to quickly identify the fact that it was made of wolf skin. Just the thought of a wolf nearly scared Lucia, but right now all she cared about was the fact that it was warm.
She could hear someone approaching from outside, and instantly laid back down against the bed, shutting her eyes. She heard the sound of a tent flap being brushed out of the way and then someone was inside with her.
Lucia remained as still as she could, breathing as normally as she could. She felt whoever it was only inches from her face.
“You’re awake.” They said, it was the same woman she’d meet in the woods. Lucia still didn’t move open her eyes. “Come on and get up, stop pretending.” She said. Lucia slowly complied and opened her eyes, looking at her. She was tall with short blonde hair. Her eyes were a deep blue. Her face had black pain smeared on it. She was no longer wearing the cloak she was in the woods, she was now wearing a jacket and black jeans.
“Who are you?” Lucia asked.
“I’m Sarah. Who are you is the better question though.” She said.
“Lucia.” Lucia responded. Sarah nodded, as she into her pocket.
“Well, Lucia.” She said, as she pulled out a key. “You gave us quite the scare. We thought we lost you for a minute.” She said, within moments Lucia’s wrist was released from its shackles. Lucia pushed herself up, sitting. “Careful there, you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“Which side are you on?” She asked.
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“Network or Federal? Which side are you on?” Lucia asked.
“Would you believe me if I said neither?” Sarah asked.
“Depends on what you mean by that.” Lucia said.
“Us here, we’re a multi-national conglomerate of special forces sent to take down key Network research institutions. This group was sent to destroy the research facility that made the very thing that landed you here.” She said. “Before I came here, I worked three years with GSG 9 back in Germany.” She said. “Simon and Iris are GIGN from France, and Amira from the Israeli Defense Forces. All in all, there’s over thirty active units like this one spread across the country, just operating behind the scenes.”
“Why would national defense forces work together for a country that isn’t their own?” Lucia asked.
“Like it or not, Lucia, this country is a global power. If it falls to the Network, what do you think is going to happen to the rest of us? We’ll all fall like dominos, first Canada, Britain, on and on. We’re not looking at some small insertion, we’re looking at a global takeover if it’s not stopped.” She said.
“And you think taking out some research facility is going to make a big difference?” Lucia asked.
“Only if we take out the leaders housed within.” Sarah said. “We started in Georgia, at the CDC. We were able to follow a paper trail that led us this far. Right now, we’re headed for Albany where a state of the art research center was recently hostilely taken over by Network forces.”
“Sarah!” A voice called from outside. “We’ve got a perimeter breach!”
“How many, Amira?” Sarah asked, Amira walked into the tent but didn’t even look at Lucia.
“Looks like two, could be more.” Amira answered.
“Who’s on overwatch?” Sarah asked.
“Iris.” Amira answered.
“Tell her to hold fire until she can identify them as hostile, we don’t want dead civilians.”
“They’ve already been confirmed hostile ma’am.” Amira answered.
“Fuck.” Sarah mumbled. “Eliminate the threat, then we need to get the hell out of here.”
“Where are we headed?” Amira asked.
“North to Albany. Plan doesn’t change, we just have to move quicker.” Sarah said.
“Copy that.” Amira said as she turned and walked out of the tent. Sarah turned to Lucia.
“Kid, you’ve got a choice here.” She said. “I can tell you have some sort of group you’re with somewhere, but I can also tell you’re willing to get out there and kick some ass. If you’re willing, we need all the help we can get.” She said.
[Bring Samu]
No one should do this mission alone, especially not after they are still recovering from falling off a cliff. Katie needs he… morelp on this mission and Samu needs to do something, so this is a perfect team-up. And she thinks he is cute, so I can ship them maybe XD
The beginning of the part made me emotional. This is not what Lester would have wanted, that Katie torments herself because of his death. Shit, I miss Lester now ;-;
Now, she had a stick.
Behold, the greatest line in the entire story XD I don't know why, but this genuinely made me laugh. The whole… more part was great, even though that was the only moment that was actually funny. The rest was rather sad. I mean, poor Katie. She definitely needs a hug. She always needed one, but never more than now. Aside from her physical fragility, which is obviously affecting her more than she likes to show, she has this massive survivor's guilt now. I hope she's getting a chance to make Coates pay for what he did to Lester and Zero and for what he is putting her through right now. Though she gets major badass points for still appearing tough as nails despite being at the verge of breaking down, physically and mentally. While I like her as the most badass person in a room, I genuinely love the character growth she undergoes now that she has to recover and can't just depend on being badass.
[Bring Samu]
Samu can … [view original content]
They seem cool and they saved Lucias life. I am interested in this special forces unit, so lets join them! This also gave me an idea for a character. You know I wanted to submit another one since Lester died. Do you have use for a member of this special forces unit?
Lucia Martinez
She couldn’t feel her leg anymore. She could barely feel anything. She was feeling light headed and dizzy. The gash in her… more head refused to stop bleeding, though it had slowed.
Through the trees she could see the telltale signs of the impending dawn. Had she been out here that long already?
Her vision was tunneling, not only was she now tired but all the blood had already rushed to her head. Her mind refused to quit playing tricks on her, ever since she’d heard that timber wolf however long ago that was, she kept hearing things out in the trees. Circling her like prey.
She’d quit trying to struggle her way out of this a while ago, as it only wasted her energy. There was no way she was getting out of this on her own, her only hope now was for Felix to return.
She heard a stick snap and the rustle of leaves, her head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound.
She couldn’t even tell if anything was out there… [view original content]
Man, I'm glad janitor voted first. This was a hard choice for me and I'm just going to follow him, while still remaining relatively undecided. On the one hand stands a cool multinational team of soldiers, ready to kill Network fuckers, who also saved her from a mutated wolf, which was pretty cool by the way. On the other hand stands her current unit, whom she has been with for months now. There is also her comatose brother with them. However, she can't really help Santiago right now. What he needs are stable conditions and good medical care, so that maybe he is going to have a chance to improve one day. For that, the Network needs to be destroyed. On her own, Lucia can't do much, but she can do her part. Together with these people, she might stand a chance to make a difference. Still, I'm mostly picking this choice because janitor did so, as I am very undecided on this one.
Lucia Martinez
She couldn’t feel her leg anymore. She could barely feel anything. She was feeling light headed and dizzy. The gash in her… more head refused to stop bleeding, though it had slowed.
Through the trees she could see the telltale signs of the impending dawn. Had she been out here that long already?
Her vision was tunneling, not only was she now tired but all the blood had already rushed to her head. Her mind refused to quit playing tricks on her, ever since she’d heard that timber wolf however long ago that was, she kept hearing things out in the trees. Circling her like prey.
She’d quit trying to struggle her way out of this a while ago, as it only wasted her energy. There was no way she was getting out of this on her own, her only hope now was for Felix to return.
She heard a stick snap and the rustle of leaves, her head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound.
She couldn’t even tell if anything was out there… [view original content]
[Join Sarah]
They seem cool and they saved Lucias life. I am interested in this special forces unit, so lets join them! This also gave me… more an idea for a character. You know I wanted to submit another one since Lester died. Do you have use for a member of this special forces unit?
“Are we good to go?” Banshee spoke through the radio. Carmen sighed as she dropped down, she threw the now empty bag to the ground and looked up at the water tower, which was now rigged to go.
“We’re on in five.” Carmen said as she began to trot away.
“Once I get in I’ll only have thirty seconds to trace the source. If it takes any longer they’ll realize what’s happening and cut the feed. Then we’ll be in the dark, and possibly dead.” Glaz said.
“Great to hear.” Carmen said as she slipped through the hole in the sheet-metal fence and began climbing up the hill behind it, once she crested its peak she dropped down and looked in over the camp. “In position.” She said.
“In position.” Glaz said.
“Ready to go.” Banshee said.
“Blowing the charges in five, good luck.” Carmen said as she put down the walkie and counted down in her head as she peering in at the water tower. The camp was lazy right now, but in a few moments all hell was going to break loose.
She hit five, her finger tightened on the detonator. When nothing happened, her heart sank. But then she watched at the water tower light up like someone just introduced flame to a gas station. Within moments the camp was alive, everyone was running around. A few ran towards the tower which was collapsed on the ground in a burning heap.
Something told Carmen that they hadn’t actually been storing water in that tower, water doesn’t burn. That had to be something else.
“We’re in.” Glaz said.
“Thirty seconds.” Carmen reminded them.
“It’ll be more than enough.” He responded.
“Twenty five.” Carmen reported.
“Twenty.” Banshee said.
“Come on… Come on.” Glaz mumbled.
“Ten.” Carmen said.
“Son of a bitch.” Glaz said.
“Five.” Banshee said. “Get out of there, now.”
“Two.”
“Got it.” Glaz said.
“Go!” Carmen yelled.
“We’ll see you at the rendezvous point.” Banshee said.
“Damn right.”
Katie Dicanto
“I’m not sure that I actually caught your name.” Samu said.
“I never said it.” Katie said.
“Well, now’d be a good time.” He said, looking up the road as they walked. Kaite sighed.
“Katie Dicanto.” She said.
“Sounds foreign.” He said.
“My father was Italian.” She said. “Your name doesn’t sound to local either.” He smiled at the comment.
“Finnish.” He said.
“Huh.” Katie muttered.
“So what’s the baggage?” He asked. Katie looked over at him.
“What?” She asked.
“I can tell it by the look in your eyes, something happened and you blame yourself.” He said. “So what was it?”
“Nothing.” Katie said.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing.” He responded.
“I got some people killed, okay?” She snapped at him. “It should’ve been me, but they died instead.”
“Survivor guilt.” He muttered.
“Whatever.” She said. “We’re here.” She pointed towards the large hospital, the was seemingly abandoned. She grabbed the gas mask from her bag and put it on. It was snug and the inside smelled a little musty, but she just had to hope it would work and she wasn’t about to die.
“You know, I used to be in the US Army.” Samu said.
“Used to?” Katie asked.
“Yeah, they kind of want me dead now.” He said.
“Why exactly?” She asked.
“I found out something I shouldn’t have and kinda killed a few of their guys.” He said.
“So you’re not a Fed then?” She asked.
“Nope. Just a resistance member.” He said.
“Just a resistance member.” She mused.
“You ever hear about the Battle for Brooklyn?” He asked.
“Of course I did.” Kaite said. “It’s practically the biggest full-on assault that’s been launched by the Network on the Eastern seaboard. And it failed. You were there?” She asked.
“There?” He asked. “I pretty much coordinated the entire battle.” He said.
“For real?” She asked. “What’s a guy like you doing at a place like this?”
“I guess they kind of forgot about me. Forgot about everything I did for them.” He said as he cautiously stepping through the smashed glass door. “So, what’s your ‘big thing’?” He asked.
“What do you mean by that?” She asked.
“What are you proud of? What’s your legacy? I don’t know.” He said. Katie mused for a second, scanning the darkened halls.
“Ever hear of someone names Volpe?” She asked. He nodded.
“Yeah I have.” He said. “I’ve heard stories about the guy, everything he’s done. I heard he’s practically the only reason the Network hasn’t taken Virginia.” He said.
“Those stories you’ve heard a wrong then.” She said.
“Why’s that?” He asked.
“Well, this ‘he’ is actually a she. And she’s standing right beside you.” She said.
“Wait, you’re Volpe?” He asked. “Wow… What are you doing here?”
“I guess they just forgot about me.” She said, mimicking what he’d said moments ago.
“Damn.” He muttered and then began laughing.
“What’s so funny?” She asked.
“Everything, everything’s funny.” He said. “The two of us, some of the biggest names in the resistance, washed up in some New York camp with nobody to call a friend. You’d think they’d be throwing statues up in our honor or something, but we’re out here getting supplies for some doctor.” He said. “They should treat us like heroes, not some go-for.” He said.
“I’m just beginning to come to the realization that there aren’t actually any heroes anymore. Just those who will and those who won’t.” She said.
“What do you do when you realize there aren’t any heroes?” He asked.
“You just keep surviving.” She said.
Lucia Martinez
“Where are we headed?” She asked.
“We’ve got a short hike to another camp we have set up just to the north of here. We go there and lay low for a while, then we keep moving towards Albany.” She said.
“Sounds like a plan.” She said. Sarah smiled, offering Lucia a hand. Lucia took it, noticing that her hands were freezing, as she was pulled to her feet.
“Glad to have you aboard Lucia, You’re going to fit in just fine.” She said as she led the way out of the tent. Lucia brushed the flap out of the way, stepping into the camp. There were a few tents that Amira had already begun to break down, she made quick work of them, stuffing them into bags to be carried with them.
“Amira, any reports?” Sarah asked.
“Iris said the kills were clean and she’s already headed back in.” Amira said, looking at Lucia. “You’re new here?” She asked.
“Yeah.” Sarah said. “She’s part of the team.”
“Glad to have you.” Amira said, it was probably meant to sound genuine. But it just sounded forced and nearly rude. Her look seemed to just stare right through Lucia, as if she wasn’t even there. She quickly returned to what she was doing.
“Is she always like that?” Lucia asked.
“She tries her best.” Sarah said. “She just has problems connecting with people ever since Vice.” She said.
“Vice?” Lucia asked.
“Story for her to tell, not me.” Sarah said. Lucia heard a static filled voice from the radio that hung at Amira’s belt. From where she stood, she couldn’t tell what had been said.
“What was that?” Sarah asked.
“Simon’s at the camp, he said it’s clear.” She said.
“Copy that.” Sarah said, looking to Lucia. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be fine, I’m just a little dizzy.” She said. Sarah nodded.
“I’m not going to ask you to push yourself just yet, but I am going to ask you to carry a gun. It’ll just make me feel better if I know you can protect yourself.” She said as she walked over to a olive-drab case, flipping the lock and flipping the top open. Multiple rifles lay within. She grabbed one and handed it to Lucia, she looked at her and pursed her lips.
“You don’t have a vest or any body armor…” She trailed, then shook her head. “It’ll be fine, we’ll get it taken care of when we get to camp.” She said, handing Lucia the M16, which she slung over her shoulder.
“Camp’s broken, we’re ready to move.” Amira yelled. Sarah nodded.
“Just waiting for Iris.” She said.
“Present.” A voice butted in. Lucia looked over and saw a Woman walking towards them, a scoped rifle hanging from her shoulder. She heard Sarah breathe a sigh of relief as she walked forwards towards her. She rested her hand against her cheek.
“You okay?” Sarah asked.
“I’m fine.” Iris responded. “It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” Sarah nodded.
“I know. But it doesn’t make it any easier.” She said. Iris leaned forwards and kissed Sarah.
“We can talk about it later, right now we need to move.” She said. Sarah nodded.
“Roll out.” She spoke.
“But what about all of this stuff?” Amira asked. “We can’t just leave it for the Network.”
“Burn it.” She said.
“Burn it.” Amira muttered, unamused. Lucia watched her pick of a can of liquid and begin dumping it over everything in the camp. “Burn it all down, because none of the work you ever do is important.” She mumbled, throwing the now empty can to the ground as she walked towards the fire that burned in the middle of the small camp. She picked up a stick the was laying halfway out of the fire and looked at it, the edge slowly burning. She sighed as she chucked the burning stick, which ignited the liquid she’d dumped everywhere.
She stepped back and watched the camp light up in flames, Lucia saw her sigh as if she was hurt by the fact she just light everything on fire. She turned and began walking away.
The four of them began trekking through the woods, Sarah leading the way with Iris not straying far from her side. Amira hung back with Lucia, though the two didn’t speak much. After a while, Lucia became bored with the silence and decided to speak.
“So…” Lucia began. “Iris and Sarah are together?” She asked. Amira nodded.
“Yeah.” She said. “Sarah needed someone to fill the gap, Iris needed something to help her forget.”
“What do you mean?” Lucia asked.
“Sarah was married, she had two children. Her husband divorced her and took the children form her before all of this happened. She was alone for a long time, it wasn’t easy for her. Iris had a pretty tough time getting where she is today. She had to kill a man she knew personally, and she’d never been the same since. The first time anything ever really happened between the two was back in Richmond, I guess I’ll spare you the details.” She said. Lucia nodded as they kept walking. A thought popped into the back of her mind.
“Sarah said something about you and Vice.” Lucia said. “What is it? What happened?” She asked. Amira looked over at her, her brown eyes flashed with pain at the very mention of the word. Her lips quivered as if she were trying to find words that just weren’t coming.
“Before I was with this group, I was with another unit.” She finally said. “We were operating out of Florida, tracking down some Network hot-shots. We tracked them down to a night club called the Vice, a real sleazy place to be honest. I had a friend, a close friend.” She said, looking at Lucia. “His name was Mark, he was a JTF2 member. They decided to send me in undercover, and I agreed. It would be the easiest way to get the information we needed. Mark decided it would be bad for me to go in alone, so he went in with me.”
She paused, looking up at the tops of the trees as they walked. She took a deep breath and let it out before she continued.
“Once I was in, my job was simple. Get close and listen.” She said. “I was walking through the club when one of the guys grabbed me, I guess he thought I was just one of the dancers. Mark flipped his shit and pulled his gun. I couldn’t remember who shot first, all I remember was a baseball bat. I woke up in the club the next day, not a single person was alive. Anyone that lived ran like hell, including the rest of my group. Mark… Died. When I found him, I barely recognized him. Half his head had been taken clean off, and he’d been shot so many times. After that… I just began wandering around, heading north. I ran into Sarah at the CDC, she saved my life. Her and Simon.”
“That’s… Rough.” Lucia said. Amira laughed, a nervous laugh that was short and conveyed no joy at all.
“That’s not even to speak of my childhood and everything before the war.” She said. “But that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m with good people now, I trust them. I may not agree with everything they do, or how they live, we have our disagreements, but that’s how we are. We’re a family.” She looked over at Lucia. “You should just know, no matter how I act, I appreciate that fact that you joined us.”
“Thank you.” Lucia said.
“So, did you have any family back in your camp?” She asked.
“My brother Santiago, but he’s been in a coma for a long time now.” She said.
“What happened to him?” Amira asked.
“He got shot because of me.” Lucia said.
“We’re here.” Sarah announced. Lucia looked up and indeed they were here, the camp didn’t seem to be set up yet. Everything was still packed up like it’d just been dropped here. Everyone seemed to be at ease, but Amira tensed up, grabbing her gun off her shoulder and aiming it into the camp.
“What’s the matter with you?” Iris asked her, noticing Amira had her gun ready.
“We’ve got company.” Amira said, slowly walking forwards, one step at a time. She wasn’t wrong. More than just Simon was in the camp, another man was sitting on the ground next to him. The man sitting next to him was a muscular looking blonde haired, blue eyed man with a large scar that looked like it was from a burn on his left cheek. The two uttered now words, but sat in silence. A rifle sat next to the man’s boots, it was one that Lucia hadn’t seen before.
Amira took another step, her boot snapping a stick that lay on the ground. The man jumped up, his rifle in his hands and aimed it right at Amira.
“Don’t move jackass!” He yelled, his voice booming. Amira didn’t move any farther, but her finger did find its way to the trigger.
“Put the gun down, now!” Amira demanded, her voice jovial as compared to the man’s.
“Whoa, Whoa.” Simon butted in, jumping up and stepping in between the two. “He’s a friend. He’s one of ours.” The man pointed to the patch on the sleeve of his jacket.
“GSG 9.” He muttered, before he sat back on the ground and put the rifle at his feet again.
“Now that that’s out of the way.” Simon said. “His name’s Torsten. His group was ambushed, he’s decided to join us.”
“We can use all the help we can get.” Sarah said. “Glad to have you aboard, that name’s Sarah and this is my team.” She went on, offering him her hand. He nodded and mumbled something, but didn’t bother to look up. She let her hand drop and then turned back to the group. “Let’s get camp set up, get a fire going, and get some sleep. Tomorrow there isn’t any reason we can’t reach Albany.”
Amira brushed past them and began rummaging through the boxes. She ripped the top off one and pulled something out.
“I’m not bother to put up the tents if we’re only going to be here for the night.” She said. “There’s sleeping bags here, you’ll just have to make do.” She said.
“Copy that.” Sarah said.
Within minutes, the camp went from quiet to silent. Simon built a fire, which Torsten wouldn’t look away from. It was like he was trapped by it, he acted as if if he looked away it might attack him. Sarah had shared a sleeping bag with Iris and the two had turned in early. Simon mused over a map while Amira paced around, peering into the woods her hands not straying far from her gun. Lucia’s rifle was leaning against her shoulder as she sat on the ground.
“She’s right, you know.” Simon said.
“What do you mean?” Amira asked.
“We’ll get there tomorrow.” He said. “But then we need a plan. I’ve studied the layout of the facility and we only have one of two options on this one. We either go in hard, or send someone in undercover.” He said. Amira stopped dead in her tracks.
“You know where I stand on this one Simon. You know I can’t do that again.” She said.
“I know you can’t, and no one’s asking you to. I just wanted to get your say.” He said, she licked her lips as she looked at him.
“We- I can’t do that.” She said. “Undercover just isn’t worth the risk.” She said. Simon looked over to Torsten.
“How about you?” Simon asked. He huffed.
“I don’t give a shit.” He said, before he leaned back into the ground and shut his eyes.
“A man of little words.” Simon said. “How about you… Lucia?” He asked. “What’s your say on this?”
[Go in undercover] It sounds a lot more risky to launch a full attack without knowing everything. If someone goes undercover then maybe they can prevent any surprises for a later attack team.
Great part! I find it awesome that Torsten is already in the story, thank you for putting him in :P About the other POV, Carmens part was intense and I loved the bonding talk between Samu and Katie. Hope their mission goes smoothly.
Carmen Dominguez
“Are we good to go?” Banshee spoke through the radio. Carmen sighed as she dropped down, she threw the now empty bag to … morethe ground and looked up at the water tower, which was now rigged to go.
“We’re on in five.” Carmen said as she began to trot away.
“Once I get in I’ll only have thirty seconds to trace the source. If it takes any longer they’ll realize what’s happening and cut the feed. Then we’ll be in the dark, and possibly dead.” Glaz said.
“Great to hear.” Carmen said as she slipped through the hole in the sheet-metal fence and began climbing up the hill behind it, once she crested its peak she dropped down and looked in over the camp. “In position.” She said.
“In position.” Glaz said.
“Ready to go.” Banshee said.
“Blowing the charges in five, good luck.” Carmen said as she put down the walkie and counted down in her head as she peering in at the water tower. The camp was lazy right now, but in a fe… [view original content]
Awesome part! I must say, I enjoyed Katie's and Samu's talk. It was surprising to me that they kinda have a lot of similarities, which I haven't seen at first. I'm liking their interaction a lot, even though I'm still worried for their current mission in general. We have Katie, who could get pushed to her physical limits and we have Samu, who could get pushed to his mental limits. And the fact that the whole place is basically toxic gives a lot of possible things that could go wrong there even without their respective problems. Here's hoping that they complete each others skills enough to make it out alive.
[Go in undercover]
I originally leant a bit more in favour of launching the attack, considering that Amira is very much against the other option and I don't necessarily want to piss her off, but then it got me thinking. The Network can be tricky and there's no telling what they may have up their sleeve. Going in undercover is a risk for one member of the team, but if this member succeeds, then this option may save the lives of the entire team. An attack without the necessary intel could end up in a massacre.
Carmen Dominguez
“Are we good to go?” Banshee spoke through the radio. Carmen sighed as she dropped down, she threw the now empty bag to … morethe ground and looked up at the water tower, which was now rigged to go.
“We’re on in five.” Carmen said as she began to trot away.
“Once I get in I’ll only have thirty seconds to trace the source. If it takes any longer they’ll realize what’s happening and cut the feed. Then we’ll be in the dark, and possibly dead.” Glaz said.
“Great to hear.” Carmen said as she slipped through the hole in the sheet-metal fence and began climbing up the hill behind it, once she crested its peak she dropped down and looked in over the camp. “In position.” She said.
“In position.” Glaz said.
“Ready to go.” Banshee said.
“Blowing the charges in five, good luck.” Carmen said as she put down the walkie and counted down in her head as she peering in at the water tower. The camp was lazy right now, but in a fe… [view original content]
Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that I have a job interview today, really hoped since it's my first. Once I get home I'll start on a new part. Peace out.
Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that I have a job interview today, really hoped since it's my first. Once I get home I'll start on a new part. Peace out.
Comments
Adam Johnson
Airborne? Yes.
Alive? Yes.
Going in the right direction? Possibly.
Headed straight for hell? Definitely.
He’d flown straight into a damn snowstorm. He was somewhere over Alaska right now, possibly a few miles east of Eielson Air Force base. Far from home, that’s for damn sure.
It was at this point that he himself questioned why he was doing this. He had a feeling that it wasn’t just for the dead woman riding shotgun in the plane next to him. This might just be for him. Not for her. Not for anyone.
Maybe there wasn’t a reason. Maybe he just wanted to fly head-first into a blizzard and die from frostbite.
Speaking of which, it was cold as hell in here. He’d turned off anything that would remotely hinder his fuel consumption. He didn’t take into account before he left how much fuel he’d need to get from California to Russia.
Apparently half a tank won’t cut it.
He stared out into the never ending blankness of the blizzard. He was almost sure he’d die here in this cold. Maybe he’d fly straight into the side of a mountain and die instantly instead of surviving and having to freeze to dead.
There was a reason he joined the Army and not the Air Force. He couldn’t fly worth shit.
“Unmarked air craft, identify yourself and correct course. You are flying over US Air Force territory.” A voice crackled through the static of the Jet’s ham radio. “Change course now or you will be shot down.” They say.
“This is Corporal Adam Johnson of the US Army. Requesting emergency landing.” Adam says into the radio. There was a long period of silence and Adam feared he was about to get shot down.
“Copy that. You’re cleared for landing.” They said.
One Month Later
It had been a little over a month since Adam had left the US. Now he was here, sitting aboard the Aurora cruise, a ship from the 1900’s. It didn’t work, it was just a museum. But it was secure, and that’s why from the past month they’d moved here to work.
“Are you sure about that?” Adam asks, looking at the map of the US.
“I’m more than sure. We’ve had out satellites over the US for some time now.” She says. Her name was Viktoriya, she’d been working with Adam since he got here a few days back. She was the leaders second in command, so to say.
“That’s crazy.” Adam says.
“Not as crazy as an American flying a plane all the way across the ocean, crash landing in Kovrov, and hiking the rest of the way to Moscow carrying a dead body.” She says.
“True enough.” Adam says as he scans the map. “Go over what you said one more time. I just can’t comprehend it all.” He continues. She sighs.
“The superweapon that has been created by the American and Mexican governments lies in a bunker somewhere in the coastal US. The exact location is undisclosed to us here in the Russian government.” She said, looking over the map that was laid across the table. It had four red pins planted in different areas. Two in California, one in Kansas and one in Montana.
“The code that will arm the weapon was divided into ten segments and given to ten people trusted to guard the codes. The weapon requires a majority to be armed, meaning 6 out of the ten would be enough to activate it and blow half the United States into the ocean. We’ve already secured four lengths of the code and destroyed them entirely.” She continues.
“How did you find the codes?” Adam asks.
“Akilina Denisovitch is a busy woman, corporal.” She says. Adam nods.
“Looks like.” He says. “You people seem to know how to pick leaders.”
“For a little while, then we just kill them.” She says, with a laugh.
“No offence, but that’s kind of true.” Adam said, the looks back at the map. “Okay, so you’ve gotten four? That means there’s still a working majority out there somewhere.” Adam said. She nodded.
“There is.” She said. “But there’s good news too.” She goes on.
“And that is?” Adam asks.
“We’ve located two more lengths of the code.” She says.
“How?” Adam asks.
“We have a lot of friends in the US. Just like Ivan Resnov. I’m sure you know him.” She says. Adam grits his teeth.
“Yeah. I knew him.” He said. “So, where are these codes?” He asked. She opens up a small wooden box and takes out two pins, she sticks one in some coastal Mexican town and another in New York.
“We’ve tracked them to their respective places.” She said. “But, here’s the bad news.” She said, looking over towards Adam.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“We’re sending you in.” She said.
“To Mexico?” He asked.
“Hell no.” She said. “We’re sending you to New York. We send you to Mexico, you’d start a boarder war.” She said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He said. “What exactly am I looking for?” He pressed.
“The code was tracked to an apartment in NYC, but once our teams got there, it was gone. Good news is, we have a good idea who has it.” She said.
“Who?” Adam asked.
“The last people known to enter that building was a girl and a group of soldiers.” She said. “The girl went back to a camp that the soldiers had set up and is currently living there.” She went on.
“Seems like you’ve been stalking her for some time.” Adam said.
“Yeah. You don’t even know half of it.” She said.
“What’s her name?” Adam asked.
“Her name is Lucia Martinez. From what we can gather, she has no idea what she has.” She said.
“And I’m going to get that length of code from her.” Adam said.
“Yes.” She said.
“And what do I do with the girl afterwards?” He asked.
“There’s no need to hurt her if she cooperates. But if she resists, kill her. The fate of the world is more important than her life.” She said.
“I know.” Adam said. “I just don’t understand one thing.”
“What is that?” She asked.
“Who would make a superweapon powerful enough to destroy life as we know it, and then leave it practically unguarded in their own back yard?” He asked.
“The kind of person that wanted to end life as we know it.” She responded.
“But it was funded by the government.” He said.
“Exactly.” She said.
Two months Later
Adam sat crouched behind a tree watching as the other men set the trap. Adam himself thought one was enough, but the Russians thought otherwise. Overkill is underkill to them. It was pretty much a simple snare trap, as far as Adam could tell, he didn’t get traps all too well. Why not just confront them up front?
One of them men pulled tight on a length of rope and turned to Adam, flashing a thumbs up. Adam gave him a thumbs up and he trotted across the ground towards Adam, easily avoiding all the taps he and his men hand just set.
“How many did you set?” Adam asked.
“Five.” He responded.
“We’re looking for one person.” Adam said. “Not trying to catch the whole town.” He continued.
“It’s better this way.” He responded. “I am proud of my work. It will work. Trust me.” He said.
“It better work.” Adam said.
“Corporal, there’s a girl coming up the side of the mountain now.” A voice said through his radio, it was Katia, who was camped out at the bottom of the hill.
“Is she alone?” Adam asked.
“Affirmative.” The voice responded.
“Stand by.” Adam said.
“Copy.” The Katia said.
“Get ready.” Adam said to Lev, the man next to him. The two fell silent as Adam heard footsteps tramping through the trees. Whoever that was, they didn’t really care if they were seen or not.
Adam spotted her coming up the hill from his left, going straight for where Adam had set his traps. She continued trampling though the brush cutting a path straight towards the trapped area. Just as she stepped past Adam’s field of view, he heard a loud snapping sound. She let out a high-pitch shriek and then, nothing.
Adam peeked out from around the tree and found the girl hanging upside down from a length of rope attached to her leg, heading upwards towards the tree.
“Whoa.” Adam said. “didn’t know you could do that.” He said.
“It was easy.” He said as he moved forwards towards the girl.
“Is she alive?” Adam asked, noticing she wasn’t trying to escape.
“She should be.” He said, sounding just as confused as Adam. Then he saw it, a steady stream of blood dripping from her forehead to the ground. She’d hit her head on the ride up.
“Do you people understand the term ‘We need them alive’?” Adam asked. He shrugged.
“She’s alive.” He said. “Just unconscious.”
“Better than nothing.” Adam said as he stepped up to her. He pulled the picture out of his pocket and held it up to her.
“Fuck.” Adam said.
“What?” he asked.
“We got the wrong person.” Adam said, looking from the picture to the girl. The picture showed a thin girl with black hair and tan skin. The girl in the tree had chocolate skin and looked all together nothing like the girl in the picture.
“What do we do?” Adam asked.
“Sir, we’ve got a group of two approaching from the top of the hill. One of them is armed, I have them in my scope right now, I can take them out on your command.” Katia said through the radio.
“Negative. Let them come.” Adam said. Then he turned back to his ‘friend’. “Let’s go.” Adam said as he trotted away, ducking behind a tree again.
“What the fuck? Who is that?” A voice asked, male.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.” Another responded, a girl.
“Come on, we have to cut them down.” He said.
“How’d she get up there?” The girl asked.
“Some hunter must’ve been setting traps. She must’ve set one off. Looks like she his her head on that rock over there.” He said.
“Come on. We need to get her back to camp. She’s bleeding.” She said.
“Lucia, wait!” He yelled, just before there was another snapping sound, followed directly by another.
“Fuck!” She yelled. “Get your knife and cut us down!”
“I dropped it.” He responded.
“What about the gun? Can you shoot the rope?” She asked.
“Bad news. I dropped that too.” He said.
“So much for all that training.” She said. Adam nodded to his companion and the two stepped out from behind the tree. Adam rested his hands on his gun, though didn’t raise it. Once the girl spotted him he raised his hands.
“We don’t mean any harm. We just head some yelling. Are you two alright?” He asked, lying.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” The boy responded. ‘You mind cutting us down?” He asked.
“Are you armed?” Adam asked.
“I used to be.” He said, his eyes looking over to a pistol that was on the ground way out of his reach.
“What’s your names?” Adam asked.
“I’m Felix.” He said.
“And you?” Adam asked the girl.
“Lucia Martinez.” She said. “Can we cut the formalities for now? This kind of hurts.” She said.
“Yeah. Sure thing.” Adam said, as he turned his back to them. “Adam Johnson to base.” He said into his radio.
“Go ahead.” A new voice spoke.
“We’ve captured Lucia and two others. Please advise what to do with the extras.” He said.
“Protocol says eliminate all witnesses.” The voice said.
“Copy that.” Adam said as he turned back to his companion. “I got the girl.” He said as he lifted his gun to the unconscious girl’s head.
“Wait!” Lucia cried out. “Just tell me what you want.” She said. Adam turned to her looking her over. She was scared, and had reason to be.
“We want something you have.” Adam said. “A flash drive.” He said. Her eyes darted around the trees, looking for anything to help.
“Look, let them go and I’ll just give it to you.” She said. Adam narrowed his eyes at her.
“Sir?” Adam’s soldier asked.
“Do it. Let them go.” Adam said.
“Copy that.” He said as he pulled his knife and cut the rope around the boy’s foot. He fell to the ground with a thud. When he stood back up, he had a pistol in his hand. Bad move. Adam would’ve shot him, but his fellow solider was closer. He quickly grabbed the gun out of the boy’s hands and bashed it into the side of his face. He fell down hard to the ground. Out cold.
Adam pulled out his knife and cut the unconscious girl down from the tree. She too fell hard to the ground, but unlike the boy she didn’t get back up. Once they woke up, they’d find home on their own.
Adam walked over to Lucia, his knife still in hand.
“So, you were about to hand over the flash drive?” He asked. She reached up towards her sneaker, but couldn’t reach it.
“It’s in my shoe. I can’t reach it.” She said. Adam looked at her and nodded, grabbing at her shoe, and pulled it off her foot. A small flash drive fell from the shoe to the forest floor. Adam picked it up and looked at it.
“Base, we’ve secured the package.” Adam said.
“Copy that. Proceed to destroy package.” The radio said.
“Copy that base.” Adam said as he looked at the small drive. He dropped it to the ground and pulled his gun up. He fired about ten rounds into the little thing before he was satisfied with its destruction. “Package is destroyed, base.” Adam said.
“Copy that. See you at the Evac point. Base out.” The radio said. Adam looked over at Lucia.
“You just saved the world.” He said to her as he turned and began walking away, his soldier following behind him.
“Wait, aren’t you going to cut me down?” She asked. Adam just kept walking. “Come back here!” She yelled. “Get back here you bastard!” she yelled, Adam looked over at his soldier.
“You mind shutting her up?” He asked.
“Not at all.” He responded as he pulled up his rifle, bashing the stock right into her face. Her body instantly went limp as a gash appeared on her forehead.
“Let’s go.” Adam said.
“Copy that.” He said as he walked up next to Adam.
“Adam, Evac point has been compromised.” Katia spoke through the radio.
“What do you mean?” Adam asked.
“I fell back a while ago to scan the Evac area. There’s a bunch of people here.” She said.
“Have they seen you?” Adam asked.
“No. But I can’t move.” She said. “Just fall back to the RP. I’ll meet up with you guys there.” She said.
“What’s going on?” The soldier asked as they walked.
“Katia is pinned down. Our Evac is comprised. We have to find a place to stay tonight.” Adam said. He pulled out a map.
“From where we are now, it’s a twenty minute walk to the nearby abandoned town. We could set up in a house over there. Otherwise, it looks like we’re camping out here in the woods tonight.” The solider said.
Choice
[Head for the abandoned town]
[Camp in the woods]
[Head for the abandoned town] It sounds a lot more comfortable than camping in the woods and a twenty minute walk doesn't seem to be too much.
Great part! While I like all of the PoV's, Adam is currently among my favourites. This stuff with the government-created superweapon is very intriguing. If Viktoriya's side of the story is the full truth, that gives a lot more credibility to Zero's earlier claim that the government is working with the Network. After all, a government that seems to have the goal of ending life as we know it is certainly able to work with mass-murdering terrorists as well. I just wonder about the nature of this superweapon. Also, could you give me a reminder, how exactly did Lucia come into possession of the flash drive?
[Head for the abandoned town]
The town sounds like a better option than the woods. And if they stay in the woods, Lucia and her friends could return with reinforcements, so they should better move.
She found it in the apartment they were in after Santiago got shot.
Ah, I remember it now, thanks! That makes me wonder if there is any connection between the flash drive and the dream that brought here to the apartment in the first place. It might just gave me an idea about the purpose of these dreams, even if their source still remains as mysterious as ever.
Katie DiCanto
It felt like there was a wildfire being lit in her ribs. It was hard enough to breathe right now, much less attempt to tilt her head and look out the window. She could hear yelling outside, something big was happening.
She ran her fingers through her red hair, which had definitely grown longer in the past months. She stared up at the cabin ceiling, allowing herself to take in how cold it had become. Winter in the mountains was no small game. Another bout of yelling came from outside and Katie sighed. She couldn’t just sit here and hope everything was alright out there.
Well, she could. But that just wasn’t how she worked.
She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to sit up, sending a shockwave of pain down the side of her body. She had to pause after she’d sat up, to catch her breath. She hated being like this, fragile and broken. This wasn’t her. This was someone else.
Wrapping on arm around her injured ribs, she forced herself up off the couch. As soon as she was on her feet, she nearly feel back down as the pain caused her to stumbled forwards, crashing into the wall.
She angrily gripped the wall and pulled herself back up. She wasn’t going down that easy.
The sheer amount of pain in her ribs had effectively stolen her breath already. She slowly began shuffling forwards towards her boots. Each step she took hurt that much more than the last. The burning pain in her ribs was only matched by the numbness in her head.
Instead of actually tying her boots, she just shoved her feet inside them and continued on her way. She knew that if she tried to bend over to tie her shoes, she wasn’t going to be getting back up.
She continued to shuffle forwards towards the cabin door, one hand gripping her ribs the other clenched in pain. She bit down on her lip to keep herself from crying out.
The door was so close, but seemed so far away. Like one of the illusions where the closer you come to your destination, the farther away it gets. The closer she came to the door, the more she could feel the arctic-like breeze from outside. The closer she got the colder it got.
This house, as it would turn out, wasn’t very well insulated in the first place. So now that it was winter, it was pretty cold in here. Well, at least they had walls. It’s better than some people have.
She reached out a hand, placing it on the frozen doorknob, giving it a twist. A cold blast of air greeted her the moment she opened the door, taking her breath away. She instantly regretted even standing up.
It was one step down from the front porch to the ground, and that one step may have well of been the end of her, as she took the step down a shock was sent down her side, seared through her like a branding iron. She bit down hard on her lip this time, too hard. She instantly recognized that faint taste in her mouth as blood as she spit up the red bile onto the white snow.
Wiping her mouth, she looked up to see what all the yelling was. Here was a large group gathered with none other than Coates in the middle of it all, waving his pistol around like a madman and the crowd was going along with the ride.
She saw that next to Coates was Zero, the Network agent. She may not be the most brilliant person on earth, but you don’t have to be Walter O’Brien to be able to put two and two together. Coates was going to kill Zero.
Off to Coates’ left, Katie spotted Lester, who was responding angrily to everything Coates was saying. They were both debating over this man’s life. Except this wasn’t a debate, the crowd called for blood. Lester only called for what was right.
Katie quickly pushed her way through the amassed crowd up to Coates.
“What are you doing?” She demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He said, looking at Katie. It only now realized to her how feeble she might actually look right now. She was thin, pale, and injured. She must’ve looked like somebody woke up from the county morgue and decided to take a stroll around the woods.
“He’s going to kill Zero.” Lester announced.
“Damn right we are!” A man yelled from the crowd.
“You’re not going to kill anyone.” Katie said. Coates glared at her.
“It’s not your decision to make. Leadership of this group doesn’t fall to you, it falls to me.” He says. “So step aside.”
“Not going to happen.” Katie says.
“Look at you, trying to act all tough and intimidate me.” He says, stepping up to Katie’s face. “All you are is a cripple with a pretty face. You’re just a figure head. You don’t have any backing. Not anymore.” He says. “So get out of my way.”
“Not a chance in hell.” She responds to him, not backing down from his glare. Katie honestly saw it coming, she just honestly couldn’t do anything to stop it. Coates took a good swing at her, jabbing her right in the ribs. She instantly saw spots in her vision and her legs buckled form under her, forcing her to the ground. There she lay, on the frozen ground, snow surrounding her, clutching her burning chest as Coates towered over her. She blinked a few time, trying to get the spots out of her vision.
“You should’ve just walked away.” He said.
“Son of a bitch!” Lester yelled out as he pushed forwards towards Coates.
“Stay back old man.” Coates said. Lester didn’t seem to hear him, or just didn’t care as he threw a punch straight at Coats. For an old man, Lester seemed to have a hard hit, as Coats stumbled multiple feet backward holding the side of his face before he regained himself. Katie attempted to sit up, but the pain in her chest forced her back to the ground coughing. She could still taste blood from when she bit her lip, the bittersweet metallic taste.
“I’m not going to let you rip this place apart because you want to go on a witch hunt you asshole!” Lester yelled at Coates, taking a step towards him. Caught somewhere between a step, there was a loud cracking sound that broke through the frozen air. Katie watched in horror as Lester was blown off his feet as a bullet sailed through his forehead and out the other side.
“You fucking son of a bitch!” Katie yelled. “I’ll kill you!” She hoped that her voice sounded stronger than it felt. Each word she uttered riddled her body with new waves of pain. Coates turned away from Lester, looking over her.
“You have no say. You fall in line behind me, or meet the same end as him.” He said, pointing the gun back at Lester. Katie glared at him.
“I’ll never fall in line behind you.” She growled. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“So be it.” He said, but instead of turning the gun on her, he turned it on Zero, pulling the trigger, putting on right into the Ex-Network agent’s gut. Zero sank to his knees, looking at the newly formed hole in his body before completing the fall to the icy ground. Laying on the ground, Katie could feel tears welling up inside her. They’d started a while ago, but it was just now becoming hard to hold them back. Coates walked over to Katie, crouching down next to her.
“This could’ve easily been avoided, Katie.” He said.
“Go fuck yourself.” Katie said.
“You’re not fit to lead anymore. You know that.” He said.
“I just want what’s right for everybody.” She responded.
“Everybody must only mean yourself than.” He said. “My interests are those of the country. Anybody with half a brain would realize that one dead Neo is better than on live on. Anyone who thinks otherwise is dead… Or working with the Network.” He said.
“What are you implying?” Katie asked.
“I’m saying you should watch your back.” He said.
“Is that a threat?” She asked.
“No. It’s only a threat if I don’t intend on living up to it.” He says.
“I will kill you for this.” She said. He nods.
“Sure you will.” He says. “But you’re no longer welcome here, Katie. My men will escort you from the area and you will never return.” He says.
“And if I do?” She growled.
“You’ll be shot on sight.” He said. “You’ve got three minutes to get everything together before you hit the road.” He says as he turns and begins to walk away.
“You’re no hero, Coates.” She said. “You’re not a hero.” He stopped in his tracks, looking back at Katie.
“Neither are you.” He said, then continued to walk off.
“Jesus Christ.” The man next to Katie mumbled. “What did we get ourselves into?”
“Katie.” A weak voice called. Katie rolled her head and looked in the direction of the voice. “Katie.” They called again. She saw Zero, laying on the ground clutching his wound, blood dripping from his mouth. With gritted teeth, Katie reached out to the ground in front of her and began to pull herself along to frozen ground towards him, the cold biting her fingers as she crawled.
“What?” Katie asked. “What is it?” She went on, looking at his wound. She could tell he was in pain, but she could also tell he was masking the pain behind a look of desolation instead.
“California.” He said. “California is in trouble. You need to warn them… Find Trey Horovitz in New York. Tell him I sent you. When he asks for a code, tell him the numbers 2321. He’ll know what to do then.” He said. Katie nodded.
“I understand.” She said, as she began to pull away. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.
“Thank you Katie.” He said. “You’ve saved my life.” He said.
“I didn’t save anyone.” Katie said. He gave a small, pained smiled.
“That’s what I thought a first.” He said, then his eyes went from her face to the sky. “I’m going to go see my little girl again.” He mumbled.
“I’m sorry, Zero.” Katie said.
“You did all you could, Katie.” His pained voice spoke. “I just wish I could say the same thing of myself.” He said. “Now all that there’s left to do is see if this God Lester taught us about has a place for me.” Katie sighed, saying nothing. No matter how highly she thought of Lester, she just couldn’t believe in a God that could do something like this. At that moment, something hurt inside of her, other than her ribs.
It pained her more than anything to admit it. She never though in a million years she’d even have the slightest bit of mercy of a Network agent, but here she was. Zero was different, he was changed. He was on their side, otherwise he wouldn’t have been helping them for the past months, helping to gather enemy intel, pointing out important locations, giving names and faces to the important people.
He wasn’t Network. He wasn’t. He left them in search of a new life, on with the resistance. Katie had somehow found a way to stop hating him and start viewing him as an ally. An inside man.
“How do I know how to find Trey Horovitz, Zero?” She asked. He laughed, in a horribly painful manner that sent blood flying from his lips.
“Zero.” He mused over the name like it was alien to him. “They gave me that name after they counted up all the fears I had.” He said, his eyes looking back to Katie. “Turns out I don’t have many.”
“Zero, I need to know.” Katie said.
“Zero…” He said. “I’ve gone by that name for so many years. It’s hard to remember my real name.” He looked Katie right in the eyes. “I don’t want my gravestone to say Zero, Katie.” He said.
“Zero, I need an answer. Where do I find Trey?” She asked, now well aware of the fact that she was losing him.
“You know, my real name is Mason.” He said. “Mason Hughes.” Katie sighed, well aware of the fact she wasn’t going to get an answer from him.
“Why’d they name you that?” Katie asked.
“My grandfather was a mason, he worked with his hands. They thought it would be a nice homage.” He said. She nodded.
“I’m sure it was.” She said.
“And then the Network came, he died. My parents died. They took my family.” He said. “And I did everything it took to get them back, and I failed.” He said.
“No. You didn’t fail.” She said.
“I failed, Katie. I failed.” He said. Katie could hear heavy footsteps behind her.
“Time’s up.’ Coates’ voice said. “Take her out of here.” He said. Katie felt an arm hook under her arm and pull her up, this time she ignored the pain, replacing it with anger.
“You won’t get away with this.” Katie said.
“Get away with what, Katie? Unifying the country?” He asked.
“Boss, what do we do with the Neo?” A man asked.
“Wait ‘till he bleeds out. Then burn the bodies. Both of them.” He said. Katei narrowed her eyes at him.
“You bastard.” She growled. “Lester had nothing to do with this.” She said.
“You’re wrong.” He said. “He had everything to do with this.” He said, looking to the man holding Katie. “Get her out of here. If she tries to come back in, kill her and burn the body.” He said. Katie said nothing as the man dragged her way towards the edge of camp. She didn’t fight back, she didn’t resist. She went with him. She walked ahead of him. She wasn’t going to let these guys shove her out the door, she was leaving on her own terms. She’d see this place burn. One way or another, true justice would happen.
The large wooden gate opened, the man carrying Katie dumped her outside. Katie looked up at him. He took off the satchel he was wearing and threw it to Katie.
“I’m sorry about this.” He said.
“You will be.” Katie said as she grabbed the satchel. He looked to the ground before turning and walking back in. The guards pulled the gates shut, and now Katie was officially locked out. She looked at the wooden fortifications with an angry sigh. She turned and walked to the other side of the dirt path she was dumped out on, and sat down on a fallen log. She reached into the satchel to see what she had. The first thing she pulled out was a map, and she realized that this was her bag. She’d shoved a bunch of stuff into this bag just in case she ever had to leave in a hurry, well. Now’s a time like that.
She unfolded the map, looking over it. Virginia to New York. That was over a week’s walk in her state, possibly longer if you start counting in breaks and rest. But since it was only her, she could move a lot farther that if she was with somebody. But even after she got there, she needed to find out where this Trey guy was and what his deal is.
She had multiple spots marked on the map, places she could go, places she should stay away from. She always talked with people from the outside to get an update as to the location of safe places on the outside. She only had two marking in New York. One was a place called Camp Birchwood, from what she heard it was a pretty close knit community that was run by a coalition of CIA and Marines, it actually sounded a little bit cozy there. Like the world wasn’t falling apart or anything.
The second place was another unnamed camp, run by the Fed’s. She didn’t hear much about that, except that it was heavily populated. Odds are, if she was looking for someone, they’d be there.
Choice
[Head for Camp Birchwood]
[Head for the unnamed camp]
Carmen Dominguez
“Comms check.” The radio crackled.
“Over watch, copy.” Carmen responded.
“Good to hear. Keep in mind that I’m rigged with a mic, so you’ll hear everything that’s going on down here.” He said.
“Copy that. Just keep your dirty fantasies to yourself.” She responded.
“That may be a little difficult for me to do.” He joked. “And may I ask who my over watch is this fine morning?” The voice asked through the radio.
“None other than Smoke herself.” Carmen responded through the radio.
“Smoke?” They asked. “Shit, this drop must be more important than I thought if they put oyu on the case.”
“Let’s just get this over with quick and clean.” She said. “I don’t like the mess.”
“Copy that.” They responded.
“Let’s keep the peace.” She said.
“How’s my 20 looking?” They asked. Carmen scanned the area through her scope. Nothing other than the man she was talking to down below her with his group in a Humvee.
“Blue skies and rainbows from here, boss.” She said.
“That’s what I like to hear.” He said.
“Any idea what’s in this drop?” She asked.
“I’ve got a few ideas, but I wasn’t directly told what it was.” He said.
“Copy that.” She said, as something caught her eye. She peered through her scope looking at the moving object that closely resembled a tank.
“Heads up boss, I’ve spotted an IFV headed your way.” She said. “It looks like a BMP-3. It has Soviet markings, and there’s a APC following directly behind it, same markings. It looks like they’re headed straight for you.” She said.
“Copy that.” He responded. “This is our drop.” He said.
“Copy that, holding fire.” Carmen said. Just looking at the cannon on that IFV made her want to pull the trigger and kill the guy manning the machine gun. Tanks made her feel on edge. Her high-powered rifle would penetrate lots of things, but a tank wasn’t one of them sadly.
The armored Soviet parade turned from the side roads and onto the road they were on, slowly advancing forwards towards them.
“Ne strelyayte” He called. “Don’t shoot!” He repeated, loud enough that Carmen could hear them from on top of the roof she sat on.
“We’re holding our fire.” The boss called to him. The man from the machine gunners spot climbed out of the nest and climbed down the front of the IFV, hopping down in front of it. Carmen could see he was holding a silver case.
“You’ve gotten what we’ve asked for?” The boss asked.
“Yes. I’ve been told that this is what you’ve asked for?” They asked showing of the case. They just talking now, but Carmen could clearly hear them through the bosses mic.
“Open it up and let’s see what’s inside.” The boss said. The solider nodded, as they flipped the case open. As Carmen watched them, she became aware that the solider might actually be a woman. It was hard to tell from back here, but they did have the curvature of a female and the voice of a female, now that she thought about it.
Carmen saw as they flipped the case open. She saw five small, white sticks laying in the case. Flash drives.
“Five of them?” The boss asked. “We only needed three of them to have the majority.” He said.
“The commander said, consider it a bonus.” The solider, who Carmen was now convinced was female, said.
“The three we have, plus these five… It’s everything we need.” The boss said as he flipped the case shut again. “If I may ask, how did you secure these?” He pressed.
“I’m not sure about the four of them. But the fifth one was found in an abandoned hotel in Mexico. Whoever had it ditched it there and fled.” She said.
“Interesting.” He said. “How many of them are out there in circulation still?” He asked.
“You said you had three, and there’s five here.” She said. “So that’s eight right here. Meaning there’s… One left out there somewhere.” She said.
“You mean two?” He asked. “Eight plus on isn’t ten.” He said.
“The tenth one was destroyed by an American.” She said. “So there’s only one left out there.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. We control the weapon, we control the codes.” He said. “I am thoroughly pleased with your work, send the commander my regards.” He said. The woman nodded, but didn’t move back towards the IFV. “Do you want something?” The boss asked.
“Does this mean we can go home now?” She asked him.
“The Network is true to their word. We no longer deem the Soviets as a threat and will withdraw our troops and return our captives. There is nothing to worry about, I promise.” He said.
“Thank you.” She said. “I’ve been waiting to hear that for months.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” He said. She nodded and climbed back up the side of the IFV, hunkering down into the machine gun nest. Through the scope Carmen could see a slight smile on her lips as the armored parade began it’s mechanical turnaround and slowly chugged back the way it came.
“Smoke, we’ve got to get this to HQ, ASAP.” He said. “You and Bismarck head back to camp, go to the commander and tell him that we are a go for Project Blackstone, and to initiate
and to initiate the fallback.” He said.
“What’s the fallback?” Carmen asked.
“We pull out all of our troops east of the California state line.” He said.
“What about the prisoners sir?” she asked.
“Execute all.”
Lester, no! Damn it, that one caught me so off guard, I actually needed a moment to realize what just happened. That whole part was crazy, in a crazy awesome way. And definitely one of the saddest parts. Lester always had a special place in my heart after he saved Katie and his death came as a complete shock. He was one hell of a guy. And Zero... the moment Lester died, I knew Zero was a goner as well, with no one to defend him. I was amazed that I actually had some sympathy for him in the end and that his death was almost as sad as Lester's death for me.
Aside from the shocking deaths, this was certainly one of my favourite parts! As much as I love the badassery of a fully-healed Katie, I find her current vulnerable side quite intriguing. If she would have been fully healed already, I have no doubts that she would have kicked Coates' ass. Speaking about Coates and asses, he certainly is one. More than that. What he said would have been enough for me to hate him, but what he did has undoubtedly earned him a firm place on my hate list right next to Jack Hunter. I'm sure he did a major mistake by leaving Katie alive. She's not going to stay weak forever, so he probably signed his own death warrant.
Carmen's part was great as well! Now that the Network has enough codes to take control of the superweapon, I bet the shit is about to get real. I also have the feeling that the missing launch code is connected to Zero's final words. Maybe the numbers he said are part of the launch code. And finally, something I realized... there are these four launch codes which just got into the Networks possession. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is exactly the number of launch codes the Russians already managed to secure, right?
[Head for the unnamed camp]
A larger camp has better chances to be the place where Katie can either find this Trey, or find someone who knows where to find him. It also sounds like the better choice to stay anonymous. I mean, a pretty redhead with seriously broken ribs is a memorable sight and could draw unwanted attention in a smaller place. While I doubt that anyone is actively looking for her, there is always the chance that some people will recognize a famous resistance hero when they see her, maybe even the kind of people she better stays away from.
[Head for the unnamed camp]
Rest in peace Lester
I kind of expected this outcome but I hoped that he would at least safe Zero. Now I regret that I chose to intervene. But not intervening would have been out of character for Lester and I am proud that he stood up for his morals. Of course I still hope that Coates is going to pay for it in time.
Btw, I would like to submit a new character now that Lester is dead. Is there a group for which you could use a new character?
No group in particular. No. But keep in mind, that since I refuse to be bound by logic, the character's group may change over time. Like Carmen 'joining' the Network or Zero joining the resistance. Just a heads up.
These four segments of code (five actually) are the ones the Russians have 'secured' and 'destroyed'. Or so they told Adam. Also, it was implied that the fifth one was the one that Dillon had, in case you didn't notice.
Just wanted to point that out.
Ok, then I will think of something. I will submit the new character soon.
Cool, Can't wait.!
Lucia Dominguez
“Lucia? You there?” A voice asked as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her head ached, and she felt dizzy. Someone was shining a bright light in her eyes.
“Get that out of my face.” Lucia said, her voice sounding as drowsy as she felt.
“You might want to put a bandage on that, head wounds always bleed pretty bad.” She responded, Lucia squinted against the light to get a look at her face.
“Why don’t you put a bandage on it, asshole?” Lucia asked. She chuckled in response. She patted Lucia on her arm.
The bright light that blocked out her face dimmed.
“Damn it.” Lucia mumbled. She was staring directly into Alex’s face. “Am I dead?” She asked. Alex shrugged.
“You tell me. I don’t feel dead.” Alex said.
“I’m not so sure.” Lucia said.
Lucia heard a noise coming from outside the room they were in. Alex smiled at Lucia.
“I’ve got to go now.” Alex said. “I’ll see you around.” She turned and walked away as the room around Lucia faded, and the world replaced itself.
She was upside down, swaying gently back and forth. Any direction she looked in she could only see trees.
A rope was caught around her foot, hanging her off the ground by over two feet. She could feel blood running down her forehead, dripping onto the ground.
She tried to reach up towards the rope, but couldn’t muster enough strength.
“Felix?” She weakly asked, though she didn’t see him anywhere. She scanned her surroundings repeatedly, trying to find Felix, or anyone for that matter. She just couldn’t see anyone.
She hushed her fears, telling herself that it was just too dark to see. He was still here. Somewhere.
Somewhere in the distance she heard a bone chilling sound. Regularly the only sound that would frighten her would’ve been a gunshot.
She could take everything, expect for the sound of a gunshot. That was the only sound that sent shivers down her spine.
When you hear a gunshot, you know something bad is happening. You know that whatever it was on the other end of that bullet isn’t having a very good day. You know something’s not right.
But this sound, it was different. It normally wouldn’t even cross her mind to even think about it, but right now, dangling upside down from a tree with nobody around and no weapons…
The cold, steely cry of a timber wolf rattled her to the bone.
Carmen Dominguez
She was out of breath. She hadn’t run that fast in a long time, if she’d ever run that fast in the first place. She wasn’t really paying any attention to where she was, only where she was going. And as a result, she accidently tackled Banshee to the ground as she ran.
Carmen quickly recovered, jumping to her feet.
“Smoke, what the heck is wrong with you?” Banshee asked as she recovered her hat and stood up, brushing the dust from her uniform. She looked at Carmen’s face and instantly understood something was wrong. “What’s going on?” She asked, tentatively.
“I’m not sure, but nothing good.” Carmen answered. “The Network has just gained control over some sort of superweapon. They’re pulling all the troops out, east of the California state line.” She said.
“That’s not good.” Banshee said. “What’s the plan?” She asked.
“Same plan, only sooner.” Camren said. Banshee nodded.
“I’ll get Glaz and your friends, then meet you by the comms station in five.” She said.
“I’ll get the ordinance and the escape route ready.” Carmen said. Banshee nodded.
“Don’t get caught.” She said.
“Wasn’t my plan.” Carmen said as she turned and the two ran in opposite directions, each with an equally important job. Glaz was just as important as the explosives. If they didn’t get Glaz, they wouldn’t be able to track the IP address back to the source. And if they can’t find the source, all of this would be for nothing.
Carmen walked through the dust roads of the base, nobody seemed to be in a hurry. Nobody knew what was happening. She tried to act casual and not draw any attention to herself, but she’d learned that blending in isn’t one of her strong suits.
She weaved her way into the stockroom and pushed the door open.
“Can I help you with something?” A man asked, sitting behind a metal cage. The clerk. Carmen thought quickly, grabbing her gun.
“Just checking this back into storage.” She said. He nodded, not amused.
“Be quick about it.” He said. Carmen heard a metallic buzz and the metal door swung open. That God for lazy security guards. Carmen ran a hand through her long black hair as she slipped past the door into the stockroom.
She quickly walked over to the locked case clearly marked as explosives, just so nobody would mess with it. Or, in her case, try to break in and steal its contents.
She dug into her pocket and pulled out the key she’d ‘borrowed’ a few days ago. Nobody even noticed, there was a duplicate just like it.
She unlocked the case and flipped its lid open, look in. That was too much C4 to even think about carrying.
She quickly grabbed a bag off of one of the shelves and began to stuff it full of the explosive. An entire military-grade backpack full of C4 should do the job. She looked over her shoulder at the shelves lined with ammo, food, and anything they’d raided from abandoned places.
A sly smile crawled over her face as she grabbed down another backpack and began shoving it with candy bars and food.
Hey, they wouldn’t be coming back this way again any time soon.
Once the bag was full she slung it over her shoulder, opting to carry the one full of explosives in her hands.
“What’s in the bag?” A voice asked, Carmen spun on her heel and saw Six standing beside her.
“Six.” She stuttered, looking to the bag. “It’s nothing. I’m just brining some junk to HQ, they said they wanted to look it over and get rid of some of it.” She said. He shook his head.
“I never heard that order.” He said.
“It was addressed directly to me.” Carmen said.
“You on a supply run for HQ?” He asked. “That’s a downgrade.” He said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, well I just don’t question HQ.” Carmen said. “So, can I just go?” She tried to push past him. He stopped her, and pushed her back, against the wall.
“What’s with the rush, Smoke?” He asked. “You seem on edge.”
“No, not at all.” She said, recollecting herself. “Just let me go, Six. I don’t want to get in trouble.” He laughed, deeply.
“Smoke, you’re not going to get in trouble.” He said.
“And why’s that?” She asked. He planted a hand on her shoulder, strong and sturdy.
“Because HQ never gave you an order.” He said.
“And why do you think that ,Six?” she asked.
“Because I watched you pack on bag full of explosives and another full of food.” Six said. “And then you tell me HQ wants to throw it out? Not likely, Smoke.” He said.
“What do you want, Six?” Carmen asked, trying to stand though in front of a man that towered over her. “It’s obvious you’re here for more than to just harass me about my orders.”
“I happened to see something on your shoulder that caught my eye.” He said. “A tattoo maybe?” He asked.
“Yeah, so?” She asked. “I got it when I joined up. You got a problem with it?”
“No, I just want to see it.” He said. Carmen narrowed her eyes at him.
“No.” She said, shaking her head.
“Okay, so that’s how we’re going to play it.” He said. His grip on her shoulder tightened as, with only one arm, he spun her around and slammed her face-first into the wall. She dropped her back full of C4 to the ground as he ripped the other one from her back.
“Let me go, Six.” She said.
“Shut up.” He said, pulling a knife on her, he held it next to her face.
“Okay, okay.” Carmen said, her eyes widening at the sight of the curved metallic blade. He moved the blade away from her face and quickly cut the back of her shirt open, using his hands to rip a large hole into the fabric.
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” He read out loud.
“It’s a poem.” Carmen said. “By Dylan Thomas, are you happy?” She asked him.
“Yeah, it’s a poem.” He said. “One that’s been used by the Resistance all throughout the US.”
“So what I have it tattooed onto my back, that doesn’t mean I’m part of them.” Carmen said. “I just like the poetry.” She went on.
“Yeah, except one thing, Carmen.” He sneered, using her real name. She was almost alarmed at the fact that he remembered it. She wasn’t even aware that he knew it in the first place. “There’s a reason I hid the vodka behind the books, you don’t read.” He said.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t like poetry.” She said.
“Yeah, that’s true.” He said. “Except the fact that you’re also stealing C4 and food. And you’ve got Glaz and Banshee releasing prisoners from the jail.” Carmen stiffened and began breathing heavily. She knew she’d been caught. She knew her knew.
“Who have you told?” She asked, calmly.
“Nobody.” He said. “Yet.” With that, he stepped back, releasing Carmen.
“Why?” She asked.
“Is it so wrong to just do what’s right for a change?” He asked.
“Bullshit, you want something.” Carmen said. He nodded as he stepped forwards towards her, his hand coming to a rest on her waist.
“You’re right, I do want something.” He said. “And I expect to get it. But not yet. Not right now.” He said.
“You fucking pig.” She said.
“Call me what you want.” He said. “But I know every part of your plan down to the last ‘T’. And if you don’t come back to me, and give me what I want. I will end you all.”
“I will kill you.” She said.
“Kill me and everyone dies. I’m not the only one that knows.” He said. “And if I don’t go back and tell them, they’ll go straight to command.” He said.
Carmen looked at him, she was good at reading people. She could tell when they were lying. But Six had always been hard to read. Something in the quick twitch of his eye told her he was lying, but there was no way for her to be sure.
“And what if I don’t come back.” Carmen growled.
“I have this.” He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a map. “Every place you’ve marked on this map, I know. I can hunt you across this entire state if I have to, and then, you’ll only wish you came back on your own.” He said, he dug back into his pocket and brought out a crumbled piece of paper, he shoved it into Carmen’s pants pocket. “Meet me here, in two days, or We will hunt you down.”
she looked at the map. He wasn’t joking. That was their entire plan, everything. There’d be no way for her to run fast enough to get away with him chasing after her, knowing her next move.
“You’re sick.” She said.
“I know.” He said, with a sinister smile. “But you’ll learn to like it. Now get going, before I change my mind.” He said, stepping out of her way. Carmen grabbed her backpacks and glared at him. “Glare at me a little longer, and I swear it’ll be the last thing you see.” He said as he shoved her towards the door. She regained herself and began walking.
She knew he was armed, but only with a knife. She had a gun. She could easily kill him right here right now. But that would only solve one problem and create another. If he wasn’t lying and she killed him, then everything they planned for would be a bust.
But what if they broke with the plan? Would it be that hard to find a different place to camp? Even then they’d have the Network hunting after them.
But was practically becoming a slave to that pig any better than being hunted down?
But what would happen if she walked out of here, and never came back? Yeah, they’d be hunted. But they’d also have a head start to get out of here. If she killed him here and now, they’d start the hunt immediently.
But if she let him go, he’d go tell his friend not to trip the alarm on them. They could get a head start and possibly into Nevada before they even started looking for them.
Choice
[Kill Six]
[Leave]
Oh damn... in most other situations, that wouldn't be too bad, but that line is terrifying. By the way, I think you made a mistake with Lucia's last name in this part.
[Leave]
It was a hard choice. My first impulse was to kill that swine, but the last two sentences convinced me otherwise. A head start, maybe even into Nevada, is hopefully going to be worth it.
[Leave]
We shouldnt be rash here. At the moment, Six seems to have the advantage but I hope that Carmen can proof him otherwise later.
It would seem you are correct.
Okay guys, I feel like I have some explaining to do.
I know the last few parts have seemingly decreased in quality and I'd like to apologize, I'm sorry for all the rushed development and cliched characters in the last few part, I didn't mean to do that. I've just been overly focused on other things recently, and not overly focusing on my writing.
So yeah guys, sorry. I'll try to try harder. But with 4th quarter rolling in, and my grade going from bad to worse in math, it definitely is difficult for me to juggle everything in my life. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all, you guys are awesome.
First of all, I don't really notice a decrease in quality. In fact, some of the more recent parts have been amongst my favourite parts in the entire story. For example, the part where Lester died, while totally heartbreaking, was really well-written. Lucia's latest part was very intense as well, which is remarkable when you consider that basically all she did was hanging headfirst from a tree. And I find the stuff with this enigmatic superweapon also quite nice. So, do not worry about this. I still enjoy the story as much as always and if anything, I think that your writing has gotten even better with each new part.
At the same time, don't stress yourself! Putting some focus on other, necessary things is nothing bad. I definitely understand your struggle. During my entire school life, math was basically the worst thing that happened to me, so I know that feeling. But good news, regardless of what your teachers want you to believe, if you take the right course of studies later on, you'll never need it again in your entire life. Take your time, I'm sure you can do it! And don't worry about the quality of the story. I can only speak for myself, but I enjoy it as much as always, maybe even more.
Thanks Liquid. I've just been feeling like I've been rushing everything lately, and I just haven't felt content with what I've been doing. I just feel like I could be doing better than what I am. I just have so much floating through my head all the time now, and it's hard to just get it all onto a page.
Liquid said it better than I can but I feel the same. This story is so great and I love it. The last few parts have been awesome as always. Its a shame the story isnt better known, because I think it is one of the best written in this forum.
Thanks man.
i used to have a lot more people reading this. I really don't know what happened.
I'm not gone, just have to catch up again :-D
Oh. Hi there! Good to know your still around!
Katie Dicanto
It’d been awhile now since she’d been able to get a good rest, she’d been walking for a few days now. She knew she had to be getting close, the camp had to be somewhere around here.
The never ending pain seemed to have subsided, for now at least, as the pain was only replaced by the mental torture of replaying the death of Lester and Zero over and over again in her head. She felt like she should’ve done something, she should’ve done anything.
“Trey Horovitz.” She mumbled to herself, absentmindedly kicking a rock that lay in the road before her. It skated across the cracked pavement for a little while before coming victim to friction.
With every step came a new thought, another little ping in the back of her mind telling her how it was her fault they died.
She took a step: You should’ve stood back up.
Another step: You’re the one that should’ve died.
Yet another: You’re a coward. Sending others to die in your place.
Every time she tried to push the thoughts away, they just came back even worse than before. She hated to admit it, but half a mile ago on that bridge over the gorge… She thought about ending it all. Just jumping down, freefalling to the bottom.
But last time that happened, she didn’t end up dead. She just ended up wishing she was.
She sighed and peered up the road a ways, she took note of a man walking towards her. She could tell he was armed, but couldn’t tell which side of the war he was on. Whatever happened to the good old days where two armies would just meet each other on an open field and take turns firing at each other until no one was left? This kind of warfare was so much harder.
Katie wished now she’d the foresight to pack a gun in the bag that hung at her side, but no such luck as of now. Now, she had a stick.
Stick Vs. Avtomat Kalashnikov. Let’s see who wins.
Katie kept walking forwards, waiting for the man to either speak or shoot her dead. Either way there was no point in running.
But none was the case as the man just simply walked past Katie, uttering only a single solitary statement.
“Hey, how you doing?” They half-heartedly asked as they walked past her. Katie kept walking a few steps, perplexed, before giving an answer.
“Uh… Hi.” She responded. It was weird, giving an actually greeting again. She’d thought formalities had died a long time ago.
New York seemed a lot different than Virginia.
“Camp’s about half’a mile that way.” The man spoke, pointing back over his shoulder as he walked. “Can’t miss it.”
“Thanks.” Katie responded, as she began to pick up the pace, now thrilled that she was closer than she thought. Half a mile left and then this whole thing can be done. That is, if she can find this Trey Horovitz.
The man wasn’t lying, up this road a ways the road did indeed keep going, but off to the left of the road was a large clearing. And when she said a large clearing, she meant a tent-city about as large as an average sized town.
Her heart sank, just looking at this place. How was she going to find one man in this mess?
Never the less she continued walking forwards into the camp, walking past rows of tents and hastily constructed shacks of plywood and sheet metal.
There were people everywhere, filling the entire camp. Possibly more people than tents. Her eyes spotted a group of people standing around and chatting, like this world hadn’t fallen apart. One of them had a lit cigarette hanging from her mouth. One of them spotted Katie and his face filled with either fear or concern as he looked at her. Everyone else in the group turned to look.
“Are you alright?” One asked. “You look like shit.” Katie almost laughed.
“I feel like it too.” She responded. “Any idea where I’d be able to find a Trey Horovitz?” She asked. He shook his head.
“Not a clue. Got talk to Doc Watson, he knows just about everyone in this camp.” He responded.
“No small feat.” Katie mumbled. “Where’s he?”
“Just keep going straight. It’s the big tent with a red cross on it. If you miss it you’re probably blind.” He said.
“Thanks for the help.” Katie said as she began walking away.
“Take care of yourself.” He said. Katie didn’t whether to take that was an insult or a genuinely concerned remark, so she just ignored it as she continued sojourning her way through the bustling camp.
She almost couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen so many people in the same place like this.
She spotted the tent from a ways off, the kid wasn’t lying. Even in a camp full of sack tents, this sack tent stood out. It was huge, one of the biggest tents she’d ever seen.
Not many people were inside, seeing as it was a medical tent. A few cots were filled with the bodies of the ill, but luckily not to many. That’s always a good sign.
The only man that looked like a doctor was a tall man on the opposite side of the tent as her. He was standing over a man who was sitting on the edge of a cot. The man had lengthening brown hair with a rough beard, green eyes just like her own. He wore a black T-shirt and a pair of pants that looked like they belonged to the Army. Feds, it had to be. She was nearly relieved knowing Feds were in this area.
She started walking closer, but stopped as she heard the doctor conversing with the man.
“Now, we just don’t have the ability to do anything about this illness here in the camp. We just don’t have the medical expertise, but I can tell you this- These hallucinations are most likely caused by stress along with the underworked mind you have.” The doctor said.
“What do you suppose I do about it, doc?” The man asked.
“You have to stay active, try to change the scenery. Give your mind something new to focus on. You just have to use your head instead of letting your head use you. That’s all I can say, we just don’t have any actual medical solution.” He said. The man nodded, looking past the doctor at Katie. If Katie didn’t know any better she’d probably think that he was kind of cute, but right now she had a job to do.
“Looks like you have another patient.” He said. The doctor turned around and looked at Katie, a solemn expression on his face.
“What happened to you child? You fall off a cliff?” He asked.
“Yes.” Katie said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I’m looking for someone.” She went on. That was the second time someone from this camp commented negatively on how she looked, normally she wouldn’t be too focused on it but she was almost afraid she looked worse than she though, she knew there was bruises on her face and well, her entire body, but she never thought it was too bad.
“Than what are you here for?” He asked.
“Are you doctor Watson?” Katie asked.
“I think so.” The man answered with a smile.
“I’m looking for someone, can you help?” Katie asked.
“Maybe, who is it?” He asked.
“I’m looking for a Trey Horovitz.” Katie said. “And it’s kind of important.” The doctor slowly nodded.
“Alright, come with me.” He said, then turned to the man. “Samu, stay here for a moment, this won’t take long.” So Samu was his name. Samu nodded in return, and the doctor began walking away. Katie followed him, as she led her out of the tent and around the side.
She became aware that behind this tent, even in a camp of so many people, nobody was here. Just as she put that together, she was on her knees, a knife to her throat.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked, calmly as not to appear weak.
“Where’d you get that name from?” He asked.
“What does it matter?” Katie asked. “He’s dead now anyways.”
“Listen here.” He begun. “I didn’t come all this way and change my name just to have some nobody from out of town show up and ruin it all. I’m the only doctor in this camp, and we’re currently suffering from a Cholera outbreak. So if you think you’re going to come in here and just kill me, you’re not. I’m not going to let you kill this entire camp.”
“I have no intentions on harming you.” Katie said, seeing as doctor Watson was actually Trey.
“Then tell me who gave you my name.” He said.
“His name was Mason Hughes, he went by Zero.” Katie said. “He said the code was 2321.” The instant she said that the knife moved away from her neck and Trey hauled her up.
“Why didn’t you just start with that?” He asked. “If you’re here than that must mean the Network has control of the California superweapon.”
“I don’t know.” Katie said. “All he said was to come find you.”
“That he did.” Trey said. “Okay.” He said, looking around, just scanning his surroundings. “I’m in. But there’s something you need to do for me first.”
“First explain to me what’s going on right now.” Katie said.
“The Network’s going to detonate a superweapon in California that’ll probably wipe the entire pacific coast off the map. And I’m the only one with the kill switch.” He said. Katie nodded.
“What do you need done?” She asked.
“Like I said, there’s a Cholera outbreak.” He said. “We don’t have the antibiotics to sustain us here, but up the road about ten miles is a hospital that’s been untouched. Nobody’s raided it, and all the drugs are still there. All you need to do is go in and grab the antibiotics and leave.” He said.
“What am I looking for?” She asked.
“ Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin, and Azithromycin are the one’s you’ll be able to find most easily.” He said.
“How can you be so sure the place hasn’t been raided?” Katie asked.
“That’s the catch.” He said. “The reason it hasn’t been raided is because people can’t go inside without dying a slow and miserable death due to a pathogen that’s been released in the air.” He said.
“So you’re going to send me on an impossible mission to die?” She asked.
“Not exactly.” He said. “I’ve got a few old gas masks laying around, M17’s from the Vietnam war. It’ll give you enough time to get in find the drugs and get out, any longer and it’ll probably give out on you.” He said.
“Just so I know, what kind of pathogen are we talking about here?” She asked.
“It’s a weaponized military-engineered for of Marburg that kills anything it touches. No cure.” He said.
“Lovely.” Katie said.
“I’m in.” A voice spoke. Katie turned her head and saw that the man, Samu had joined them.
“What? How long have you been there?” Trey asked.
“Long enough to know that we need to go into a pathogen filled hospital to get drugs to save the camp.” Samu said.
“I don’t-“ Trey began.
“You told me to stay active, so let’s go already.” He said.
“It’s not up to me, Samu. I’m not part of this mission.” Trey said. “It’s up to her.”
Choice
[Bring Samu]
[Leave him behind]
Behold, the greatest line in the entire story XD I don't know why, but this genuinely made me laugh. The whole part was great, even though that was the only moment that was actually funny. The rest was rather sad. I mean, poor Katie. She definitely needs a hug. She always needed one, but never more than now. Aside from her physical fragility, which is obviously affecting her more than she likes to show, she has this massive survivor's guilt now. I hope she's getting a chance to make Coates pay for what he did to Lester and Zero and for what he is putting her through right now. Though she gets major badass points for still appearing tough as nails despite being at the verge of breaking down, physically and mentally. While I like her as the most badass person in a room, I genuinely love the character growth she undergoes now that she has to recover and can't just depend on being badass.
[Bring Samu]
Samu can be her backup, which is definitely very important during such a mission. Katie is still in a physically bad condition, as this part made sure. While she can walk, maybe even run, even minor accidents are likely to incapacitate her. I'd even have a bad feeling for this mission if she'd be fully healed already, but in her current condition, I'm having a worse feeling. Without backup, I'd have an even worse feeling. I guess if something happens, then Samu might be able to save her life. Speaking about Samu, this mission is definitely going to be something new for him to focus on, as Trey advised him. It should be interesting for him to meet a Resistance member from another part of the country, as well as doing such an important mission in general. While I doubt it is going to help him with his stress, it should keep him focussed, which ultimately could be beneficial for him as well and might be a way to counter the hallucinations. And well, if anything goes bad, then I definitely want someone to be with Katie, to make sure that she gets out of there alive.
[Bring Samu]
No one should do this mission alone, especially not after they are still recovering from falling off a cliff. Katie needs help on this mission and Samu needs to do something, so this is a perfect team-up. And she thinks he is cute, so I can ship them maybe XD
The beginning of the part made me emotional. This is not what Lester would have wanted, that Katie torments herself because of his death. Shit, I miss Lester now ;-;
Lucia Martinez
She couldn’t feel her leg anymore. She could barely feel anything. She was feeling light headed and dizzy. The gash in her head refused to stop bleeding, though it had slowed.
Through the trees she could see the telltale signs of the impending dawn. Had she been out here that long already?
Her vision was tunneling, not only was she now tired but all the blood had already rushed to her head. Her mind refused to quit playing tricks on her, ever since she’d heard that timber wolf however long ago that was, she kept hearing things out in the trees. Circling her like prey.
She’d quit trying to struggle her way out of this a while ago, as it only wasted her energy. There was no way she was getting out of this on her own, her only hope now was for Felix to return.
She heard a stick snap and the rustle of leaves, her head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound.
She couldn’t even tell if anything was out there, but the sounds were getting to her. Hanging upside down from a tree in the middle of the woods was getting to her.
Again, from the woods, came the rustle of leaves. Lucia wanted to say it was just the wind, but the sky was dead calm right now. That was no wind.
“Hello?” She asked, her voice choked. “Anyone there?” She continued, scanning the trees though the only light was the eerie twilight.
She was hoping for a response, right now she’s be happy if the people that trapped her here had come back. But apparently they weren’t that kind.
She did, however, get a sort of response. And it wasn’t the sort of response she wanted.
A low pitched growl emerged from the woods. Her eyes widened, as she attempted to wriggle her way out of the rope. But the more she struggle, the tighter it seemed to get.
In the ever growing twilight that grew brighter with every passing moment she was able to see something moving towards her, only out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head to look at it, her heart skipped a beat.
The creature that was eerily dog-like was prowling towards her, the it diverted its course. It was circling her.
Lucia had once been told that the animals in the wild were just as scared as her as she was of them, right here and now she called bullshit on that. Complete and utter bullshit.
“No ,no ,no ,no.” Lucia spoke to the wolf as if it would understand her fear and just leave her alone. “Help!” She screamed into the woods. “Help!”
The wolf must’ve not been that good with English, though, as it seemed to have misread her cries for help as a command to attack.
The wolf leaped through the air, jaw wide open. Lucia stuck her arm out trying to stop it. The beast clamped down hard on her forearm, blood oozing from where the teeth had ripped through her skin. She cried out in pain as she pulled her arm back from the wolf, only making it worse.
It clamped down harder, all Lucia could feel was the pain in her arm. Everything else was gone now. Everything except the feeling of fatigue, it actually was getting strong the longer she looked at the blood dripping from her arm.
With her free hand she swatted at the beast in an attempt to break free, but the wolf seemed not to care of her attacks as it acted like it was nothing.
It was only now that she realized there was no more air in her lungs, she’d been crying out the entire time already. But she couldn’t even catch her breath, she couldn’t breathe. Her breath came in short panicked inhales and exhales. Her head was spinning, or was that the world?
Then, to her surprise, the wolf released its grip on her arm and backed up a few steps. Lucia gripped her forearm with her other hand and watched in fear as blood seeped through her fingers in only moment. It was then she realized the wolf had not retreated, it was going for the kill.
It had backed down to poise for the kill strike, it was going for her throat. She watched as the beast left the ground, sailing through the air. Jaw wide open, blood staining its teeth. It closed the gap between it and her quickly.
Lucia wanted to shut her eye, but just couldn’t. It was like a car crash, you want to look away but you can’t.
Inches from her throat, the beast fell from the sky as if hit by an invisible wall. Lucia’s eyes first darted to the dead wolf that had an arrow sticking out from where its heart would’ve been. Then her mind raced, and arrow needs to be shot form a bow. A bow needs a person to shoot it.
A person can either be friendly or enemy, either way, she was about to get out of this tree.
“Help me.” She cried, though her voice was soaked in pain and sounded barely recognizable as human. She heard nearly silent footsteps slowly approaching her. She felt a hand touch her back and then she was slowly spinning around.
Then she was face to face with a person, she couldn’t make out any features. They were wearing a cloak, a hood covering their head and in the early morning light all she could see was a shadow. She could see the silhouette of a bow and a quiver hanging from their back.
She saw a second solitary cloaked figure join the first one, the second one turned to the first one. They too had a bow.
“What do we do?” They asked, Lucia could distinguish a woman’s voice.
“You’re the one that killed the wolf.” The first said, she could tell this one was a man. “It’s your prize.” He said, brushing past Lucia and the other figure. He stepped to the wolf and grabbed the arrow, pulling it out of the beast and placing it in his quiver.
The woman stepped forwards to Lucia, she saw her reach into her cloak and draw a small knife. Lucia first thought she was going to kill her, but realized the woman had other ideas as the knife move upwards to the rope around her foot.
“This is going to hurt.” The woman mumbled, she was wrong. Lucia crumpled to the ground in a semi-conscious heap. She tried to push herself up, but came nowhere close. Her head began throbbing and her arms and legs burnt like they’d been light on fire from inside out.
“What are you going to do with her?” The man asked.
“If we leave her here, she dies.” The woman said.
“Yes.” The man said. “Help me get her up.”
“There’s no way she’s walking away from this one.” The woman said.
“Very true.” The man said, somewhere deep in the back of her mind Lucia detected something of an accent in both of their voices. “I’ll carry her then, just check the area and make sure there’s no more traps.”
“On it.” The woman said. Lucia heard the same nearly silent footsteps retreating into the trees. She felt a hand reach under her back and then under her knees, then she was up off the ground, close against the man’s chest.
“You’re lucky, you know that?” He spoke to her. “Any longer and you’d be that wolfs dinner.” Lucia opened her moth to respond, but her mouth felt like sandpaper. It seemed to not matter, as the man didn’t wait for a response anyways. “We’ve been tracking these wolfs for a while now, the Network’s been messing with animal’s genetics making them more of attack dogs than actual wolfs.” He went on.
Lucia wished he was just joking, just the idea of the Network messing with animal genetics was a frightening thought. But if they’d actually found a way to make it work, that’s possibly even worse.
“Lucky for us all, our group has been sent here to shut down this operation the Network started before it can take off.” He said. Lucia could only hear his voice as a distant fuzzy haze that could barely break though the veil of sub-consciousness. Lucia just began to lose feeling, in her arms, hands, legs. Everything just began to drown out in a sea of fuzziness.
Her own eyes fought against her, she fought to stay awake, they fought to drift away. Everything around her was quickly darkening, she couldn’t even see two feet in front of her.
“Well shit.” The man mumbled, moments before Lucia lost consciousness.
The next time she opened her eyes, she had no clue of where she was or what time it was. The only clue she got was the light seeping in from outside. It was bright enough to possibly be in the late afternoon.
She lifted her hand and looked at it, it was covered with gauze though it had a small red spot seeping through it. When she tried to raise her other hand, she realized she couldn’t. Her hand was handcuffed to the bed she was laying on.
She pulled hard against the chain but the only response she got from it was the clang of metal against metal.
She realized she was covered with a blanket, it was soft. Lucia looked at it and was able to quickly identify the fact that it was made of wolf skin. Just the thought of a wolf nearly scared Lucia, but right now all she cared about was the fact that it was warm.
She could hear someone approaching from outside, and instantly laid back down against the bed, shutting her eyes. She heard the sound of a tent flap being brushed out of the way and then someone was inside with her.
Lucia remained as still as she could, breathing as normally as she could. She felt whoever it was only inches from her face.
“You’re awake.” They said, it was the same woman she’d meet in the woods. Lucia still didn’t move open her eyes. “Come on and get up, stop pretending.” She said. Lucia slowly complied and opened her eyes, looking at her. She was tall with short blonde hair. Her eyes were a deep blue. Her face had black pain smeared on it. She was no longer wearing the cloak she was in the woods, she was now wearing a jacket and black jeans.
“Who are you?” Lucia asked.
“I’m Sarah. Who are you is the better question though.” She said.
“Lucia.” Lucia responded. Sarah nodded, as she into her pocket.
“Well, Lucia.” She said, as she pulled out a key. “You gave us quite the scare. We thought we lost you for a minute.” She said, within moments Lucia’s wrist was released from its shackles. Lucia pushed herself up, sitting. “Careful there, you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“Which side are you on?” She asked.
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“Network or Federal? Which side are you on?” Lucia asked.
“Would you believe me if I said neither?” Sarah asked.
“Depends on what you mean by that.” Lucia said.
“Us here, we’re a multi-national conglomerate of special forces sent to take down key Network research institutions. This group was sent to destroy the research facility that made the very thing that landed you here.” She said. “Before I came here, I worked three years with GSG 9 back in Germany.” She said. “Simon and Iris are GIGN from France, and Amira from the Israeli Defense Forces. All in all, there’s over thirty active units like this one spread across the country, just operating behind the scenes.”
“Why would national defense forces work together for a country that isn’t their own?” Lucia asked.
“Like it or not, Lucia, this country is a global power. If it falls to the Network, what do you think is going to happen to the rest of us? We’ll all fall like dominos, first Canada, Britain, on and on. We’re not looking at some small insertion, we’re looking at a global takeover if it’s not stopped.” She said.
“And you think taking out some research facility is going to make a big difference?” Lucia asked.
“Only if we take out the leaders housed within.” Sarah said. “We started in Georgia, at the CDC. We were able to follow a paper trail that led us this far. Right now, we’re headed for Albany where a state of the art research center was recently hostilely taken over by Network forces.”
“Sarah!” A voice called from outside. “We’ve got a perimeter breach!”
“How many, Amira?” Sarah asked, Amira walked into the tent but didn’t even look at Lucia.
“Looks like two, could be more.” Amira answered.
“Who’s on overwatch?” Sarah asked.
“Iris.” Amira answered.
“Tell her to hold fire until she can identify them as hostile, we don’t want dead civilians.”
“They’ve already been confirmed hostile ma’am.” Amira answered.
“Fuck.” Sarah mumbled. “Eliminate the threat, then we need to get the hell out of here.”
“Where are we headed?” Amira asked.
“North to Albany. Plan doesn’t change, we just have to move quicker.” Sarah said.
“Copy that.” Amira said as she turned and walked out of the tent. Sarah turned to Lucia.
“Kid, you’ve got a choice here.” She said. “I can tell you have some sort of group you’re with somewhere, but I can also tell you’re willing to get out there and kick some ass. If you’re willing, we need all the help we can get.” She said.
Choice
[Join Sarah]
[Leave]
Lester- Gone but not forgotten.
I actually didn't think much of it when I wrote that part, but if it made you laugh, then hey,
[Join Sarah]
They seem cool and they saved Lucias life. I am interested in this special forces unit, so lets join them! This also gave me an idea for a character. You know I wanted to submit another one since Lester died. Do you have use for a member of this special forces unit?
[Join Sarah]
Man, I'm glad janitor voted first. This was a hard choice for me and I'm just going to follow him, while still remaining relatively undecided. On the one hand stands a cool multinational team of soldiers, ready to kill Network fuckers, who also saved her from a mutated wolf, which was pretty cool by the way. On the other hand stands her current unit, whom she has been with for months now. There is also her comatose brother with them. However, she can't really help Santiago right now. What he needs are stable conditions and good medical care, so that maybe he is going to have a chance to improve one day. For that, the Network needs to be destroyed. On her own, Lucia can't do much, but she can do her part. Together with these people, she might stand a chance to make a difference. Still, I'm mostly picking this choice because janitor did so, as I am very undecided on this one.
I could make one if you want to.
Cool! I just submitted one and hope everything is okay with him.
Carmen Dominguez
“Are we good to go?” Banshee spoke through the radio. Carmen sighed as she dropped down, she threw the now empty bag to the ground and looked up at the water tower, which was now rigged to go.
“We’re on in five.” Carmen said as she began to trot away.
“Once I get in I’ll only have thirty seconds to trace the source. If it takes any longer they’ll realize what’s happening and cut the feed. Then we’ll be in the dark, and possibly dead.” Glaz said.
“Great to hear.” Carmen said as she slipped through the hole in the sheet-metal fence and began climbing up the hill behind it, once she crested its peak she dropped down and looked in over the camp. “In position.” She said.
“In position.” Glaz said.
“Ready to go.” Banshee said.
“Blowing the charges in five, good luck.” Carmen said as she put down the walkie and counted down in her head as she peering in at the water tower. The camp was lazy right now, but in a few moments all hell was going to break loose.
She hit five, her finger tightened on the detonator. When nothing happened, her heart sank. But then she watched at the water tower light up like someone just introduced flame to a gas station. Within moments the camp was alive, everyone was running around. A few ran towards the tower which was collapsed on the ground in a burning heap.
Something told Carmen that they hadn’t actually been storing water in that tower, water doesn’t burn. That had to be something else.
“We’re in.” Glaz said.
“Thirty seconds.” Carmen reminded them.
“It’ll be more than enough.” He responded.
“Twenty five.” Carmen reported.
“Twenty.” Banshee said.
“Come on… Come on.” Glaz mumbled.
“Ten.” Carmen said.
“Son of a bitch.” Glaz said.
“Five.” Banshee said. “Get out of there, now.”
“Two.”
“Got it.” Glaz said.
“Go!” Carmen yelled.
“We’ll see you at the rendezvous point.” Banshee said.
“Damn right.”
Katie Dicanto
“I’m not sure that I actually caught your name.” Samu said.
“I never said it.” Katie said.
“Well, now’d be a good time.” He said, looking up the road as they walked. Kaite sighed.
“Katie Dicanto.” She said.
“Sounds foreign.” He said.
“My father was Italian.” She said. “Your name doesn’t sound to local either.” He smiled at the comment.
“Finnish.” He said.
“Huh.” Katie muttered.
“So what’s the baggage?” He asked. Katie looked over at him.
“What?” She asked.
“I can tell it by the look in your eyes, something happened and you blame yourself.” He said. “So what was it?”
“Nothing.” Katie said.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing.” He responded.
“I got some people killed, okay?” She snapped at him. “It should’ve been me, but they died instead.”
“Survivor guilt.” He muttered.
“Whatever.” She said. “We’re here.” She pointed towards the large hospital, the was seemingly abandoned. She grabbed the gas mask from her bag and put it on. It was snug and the inside smelled a little musty, but she just had to hope it would work and she wasn’t about to die.
“You know, I used to be in the US Army.” Samu said.
“Used to?” Katie asked.
“Yeah, they kind of want me dead now.” He said.
“Why exactly?” She asked.
“I found out something I shouldn’t have and kinda killed a few of their guys.” He said.
“So you’re not a Fed then?” She asked.
“Nope. Just a resistance member.” He said.
“Just a resistance member.” She mused.
“You ever hear about the Battle for Brooklyn?” He asked.
“Of course I did.” Kaite said. “It’s practically the biggest full-on assault that’s been launched by the Network on the Eastern seaboard. And it failed. You were there?” She asked.
“There?” He asked. “I pretty much coordinated the entire battle.” He said.
“For real?” She asked. “What’s a guy like you doing at a place like this?”
“I guess they kind of forgot about me. Forgot about everything I did for them.” He said as he cautiously stepping through the smashed glass door. “So, what’s your ‘big thing’?” He asked.
“What do you mean by that?” She asked.
“What are you proud of? What’s your legacy? I don’t know.” He said. Katie mused for a second, scanning the darkened halls.
“Ever hear of someone names Volpe?” She asked. He nodded.
“Yeah I have.” He said. “I’ve heard stories about the guy, everything he’s done. I heard he’s practically the only reason the Network hasn’t taken Virginia.” He said.
“Those stories you’ve heard a wrong then.” She said.
“Why’s that?” He asked.
“Well, this ‘he’ is actually a she. And she’s standing right beside you.” She said.
“Wait, you’re Volpe?” He asked. “Wow… What are you doing here?”
“I guess they just forgot about me.” She said, mimicking what he’d said moments ago.
“Damn.” He muttered and then began laughing.
“What’s so funny?” She asked.
“Everything, everything’s funny.” He said. “The two of us, some of the biggest names in the resistance, washed up in some New York camp with nobody to call a friend. You’d think they’d be throwing statues up in our honor or something, but we’re out here getting supplies for some doctor.” He said. “They should treat us like heroes, not some go-for.” He said.
“I’m just beginning to come to the realization that there aren’t actually any heroes anymore. Just those who will and those who won’t.” She said.
“What do you do when you realize there aren’t any heroes?” He asked.
“You just keep surviving.” She said.
Lucia Martinez
“Where are we headed?” She asked.
“We’ve got a short hike to another camp we have set up just to the north of here. We go there and lay low for a while, then we keep moving towards Albany.” She said.
“Sounds like a plan.” She said. Sarah smiled, offering Lucia a hand. Lucia took it, noticing that her hands were freezing, as she was pulled to her feet.
“Glad to have you aboard Lucia, You’re going to fit in just fine.” She said as she led the way out of the tent. Lucia brushed the flap out of the way, stepping into the camp. There were a few tents that Amira had already begun to break down, she made quick work of them, stuffing them into bags to be carried with them.
“Amira, any reports?” Sarah asked.
“Iris said the kills were clean and she’s already headed back in.” Amira said, looking at Lucia. “You’re new here?” She asked.
“Yeah.” Sarah said. “She’s part of the team.”
“Glad to have you.” Amira said, it was probably meant to sound genuine. But it just sounded forced and nearly rude. Her look seemed to just stare right through Lucia, as if she wasn’t even there. She quickly returned to what she was doing.
“Is she always like that?” Lucia asked.
“She tries her best.” Sarah said. “She just has problems connecting with people ever since Vice.” She said.
“Vice?” Lucia asked.
“Story for her to tell, not me.” Sarah said. Lucia heard a static filled voice from the radio that hung at Amira’s belt. From where she stood, she couldn’t tell what had been said.
“What was that?” Sarah asked.
“Simon’s at the camp, he said it’s clear.” She said.
“Copy that.” Sarah said, looking to Lucia. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be fine, I’m just a little dizzy.” She said. Sarah nodded.
“I’m not going to ask you to push yourself just yet, but I am going to ask you to carry a gun. It’ll just make me feel better if I know you can protect yourself.” She said as she walked over to a olive-drab case, flipping the lock and flipping the top open. Multiple rifles lay within. She grabbed one and handed it to Lucia, she looked at her and pursed her lips.
“You don’t have a vest or any body armor…” She trailed, then shook her head. “It’ll be fine, we’ll get it taken care of when we get to camp.” She said, handing Lucia the M16, which she slung over her shoulder.
“Camp’s broken, we’re ready to move.” Amira yelled. Sarah nodded.
“Just waiting for Iris.” She said.
“Present.” A voice butted in. Lucia looked over and saw a Woman walking towards them, a scoped rifle hanging from her shoulder. She heard Sarah breathe a sigh of relief as she walked forwards towards her. She rested her hand against her cheek.
“You okay?” Sarah asked.
“I’m fine.” Iris responded. “It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” Sarah nodded.
“I know. But it doesn’t make it any easier.” She said. Iris leaned forwards and kissed Sarah.
“We can talk about it later, right now we need to move.” She said. Sarah nodded.
“Roll out.” She spoke.
“But what about all of this stuff?” Amira asked. “We can’t just leave it for the Network.”
“Burn it.” She said.
“Burn it.” Amira muttered, unamused. Lucia watched her pick of a can of liquid and begin dumping it over everything in the camp. “Burn it all down, because none of the work you ever do is important.” She mumbled, throwing the now empty can to the ground as she walked towards the fire that burned in the middle of the small camp. She picked up a stick the was laying halfway out of the fire and looked at it, the edge slowly burning. She sighed as she chucked the burning stick, which ignited the liquid she’d dumped everywhere.
She stepped back and watched the camp light up in flames, Lucia saw her sigh as if she was hurt by the fact she just light everything on fire. She turned and began walking away.
The four of them began trekking through the woods, Sarah leading the way with Iris not straying far from her side. Amira hung back with Lucia, though the two didn’t speak much. After a while, Lucia became bored with the silence and decided to speak.
“So…” Lucia began. “Iris and Sarah are together?” She asked. Amira nodded.
“Yeah.” She said. “Sarah needed someone to fill the gap, Iris needed something to help her forget.”
“What do you mean?” Lucia asked.
“Sarah was married, she had two children. Her husband divorced her and took the children form her before all of this happened. She was alone for a long time, it wasn’t easy for her. Iris had a pretty tough time getting where she is today. She had to kill a man she knew personally, and she’d never been the same since. The first time anything ever really happened between the two was back in Richmond, I guess I’ll spare you the details.” She said. Lucia nodded as they kept walking. A thought popped into the back of her mind.
“Sarah said something about you and Vice.” Lucia said. “What is it? What happened?” She asked. Amira looked over at her, her brown eyes flashed with pain at the very mention of the word. Her lips quivered as if she were trying to find words that just weren’t coming.
“Before I was with this group, I was with another unit.” She finally said. “We were operating out of Florida, tracking down some Network hot-shots. We tracked them down to a night club called the Vice, a real sleazy place to be honest. I had a friend, a close friend.” She said, looking at Lucia. “His name was Mark, he was a JTF2 member. They decided to send me in undercover, and I agreed. It would be the easiest way to get the information we needed. Mark decided it would be bad for me to go in alone, so he went in with me.”
She paused, looking up at the tops of the trees as they walked. She took a deep breath and let it out before she continued.
“Once I was in, my job was simple. Get close and listen.” She said. “I was walking through the club when one of the guys grabbed me, I guess he thought I was just one of the dancers. Mark flipped his shit and pulled his gun. I couldn’t remember who shot first, all I remember was a baseball bat. I woke up in the club the next day, not a single person was alive. Anyone that lived ran like hell, including the rest of my group. Mark… Died. When I found him, I barely recognized him. Half his head had been taken clean off, and he’d been shot so many times. After that… I just began wandering around, heading north. I ran into Sarah at the CDC, she saved my life. Her and Simon.”
“That’s… Rough.” Lucia said. Amira laughed, a nervous laugh that was short and conveyed no joy at all.
“That’s not even to speak of my childhood and everything before the war.” She said. “But that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m with good people now, I trust them. I may not agree with everything they do, or how they live, we have our disagreements, but that’s how we are. We’re a family.” She looked over at Lucia. “You should just know, no matter how I act, I appreciate that fact that you joined us.”
“Thank you.” Lucia said.
“So, did you have any family back in your camp?” She asked.
“My brother Santiago, but he’s been in a coma for a long time now.” She said.
“What happened to him?” Amira asked.
“He got shot because of me.” Lucia said.
“We’re here.” Sarah announced. Lucia looked up and indeed they were here, the camp didn’t seem to be set up yet. Everything was still packed up like it’d just been dropped here. Everyone seemed to be at ease, but Amira tensed up, grabbing her gun off her shoulder and aiming it into the camp.
“What’s the matter with you?” Iris asked her, noticing Amira had her gun ready.
“We’ve got company.” Amira said, slowly walking forwards, one step at a time. She wasn’t wrong. More than just Simon was in the camp, another man was sitting on the ground next to him. The man sitting next to him was a muscular looking blonde haired, blue eyed man with a large scar that looked like it was from a burn on his left cheek. The two uttered now words, but sat in silence. A rifle sat next to the man’s boots, it was one that Lucia hadn’t seen before.
Amira took another step, her boot snapping a stick that lay on the ground. The man jumped up, his rifle in his hands and aimed it right at Amira.
“Don’t move jackass!” He yelled, his voice booming. Amira didn’t move any farther, but her finger did find its way to the trigger.
“Put the gun down, now!” Amira demanded, her voice jovial as compared to the man’s.
“Whoa, Whoa.” Simon butted in, jumping up and stepping in between the two. “He’s a friend. He’s one of ours.” The man pointed to the patch on the sleeve of his jacket.
“GSG 9.” He muttered, before he sat back on the ground and put the rifle at his feet again.
“Now that that’s out of the way.” Simon said. “His name’s Torsten. His group was ambushed, he’s decided to join us.”
“We can use all the help we can get.” Sarah said. “Glad to have you aboard, that name’s Sarah and this is my team.” She went on, offering him her hand. He nodded and mumbled something, but didn’t bother to look up. She let her hand drop and then turned back to the group. “Let’s get camp set up, get a fire going, and get some sleep. Tomorrow there isn’t any reason we can’t reach Albany.”
Amira brushed past them and began rummaging through the boxes. She ripped the top off one and pulled something out.
“I’m not bother to put up the tents if we’re only going to be here for the night.” She said. “There’s sleeping bags here, you’ll just have to make do.” She said.
“Copy that.” Sarah said.
Within minutes, the camp went from quiet to silent. Simon built a fire, which Torsten wouldn’t look away from. It was like he was trapped by it, he acted as if if he looked away it might attack him. Sarah had shared a sleeping bag with Iris and the two had turned in early. Simon mused over a map while Amira paced around, peering into the woods her hands not straying far from her gun. Lucia’s rifle was leaning against her shoulder as she sat on the ground.
“She’s right, you know.” Simon said.
“What do you mean?” Amira asked.
“We’ll get there tomorrow.” He said. “But then we need a plan. I’ve studied the layout of the facility and we only have one of two options on this one. We either go in hard, or send someone in undercover.” He said. Amira stopped dead in her tracks.
“You know where I stand on this one Simon. You know I can’t do that again.” She said.
“I know you can’t, and no one’s asking you to. I just wanted to get your say.” He said, she licked her lips as she looked at him.
“We- I can’t do that.” She said. “Undercover just isn’t worth the risk.” She said. Simon looked over to Torsten.
“How about you?” Simon asked. He huffed.
“I don’t give a shit.” He said, before he leaned back into the ground and shut his eyes.
“A man of little words.” Simon said. “How about you… Lucia?” He asked. “What’s your say on this?”
[Go in undercover]
[Launch an attack]
[Go in undercover] It sounds a lot more risky to launch a full attack without knowing everything. If someone goes undercover then maybe they can prevent any surprises for a later attack team.
Great part! I find it awesome that Torsten is already in the story, thank you for putting him in :P About the other POV, Carmens part was intense and I loved the bonding talk between Samu and Katie. Hope their mission goes smoothly.
Awesome part! I must say, I enjoyed Katie's and Samu's talk. It was surprising to me that they kinda have a lot of similarities, which I haven't seen at first. I'm liking their interaction a lot, even though I'm still worried for their current mission in general. We have Katie, who could get pushed to her physical limits and we have Samu, who could get pushed to his mental limits. And the fact that the whole place is basically toxic gives a lot of possible things that could go wrong there even without their respective problems. Here's hoping that they complete each others skills enough to make it out alive.
[Go in undercover]
I originally leant a bit more in favour of launching the attack, considering that Amira is very much against the other option and I don't necessarily want to piss her off, but then it got me thinking. The Network can be tricky and there's no telling what they may have up their sleeve. Going in undercover is a risk for one member of the team, but if this member succeeds, then this option may save the lives of the entire team. An attack without the necessary intel could end up in a massacre.
Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that I have a job interview today, really hoped since it's my first. Once I get home I'll start on a new part. Peace out.
Wow, these are big news! I wish you the best of luck
thanks man