Virtually Existent

Chapter 06 - It Keeps Happening!

Eli peered into the warehouse through the doorway, sliding his knife free as he saw the entry rummaging through one of the four foot cubic white crates scattered within. Strangely the crates were never stacked on one another, but had been arranged into a maze for whatever reason. Eli slunk through the crack in the doorway without disturbing it, straightening out only to crouch down as he closed in the distance to his target noiselessly. With a sudden movement he struck, driving the blade through the both of his victim's jugular veins in the one stab, pulling out immediately after in one flawless maneuver before even taking note of the contents they were so consumed by.

Pickups were a big deal in the melee, being the only source of weapons and protection in the entire arena. It was the luck of the draw if you were to find one at all let alone something useful, although the most popular contestants appear to find better things earlier on. Finding a crate full of them was a rarity.

After dragging the corpse away Eli took up it's position without a hint of irony to sift through the pickups. He spent some time there, discarding pickups he didn't need or want without a second thought until he came across the first one of value and cracked a smile. 

Some time later Eli was happy with his haul, standing up and cracking the first pickup to equip him with a full set of combat ready armour he immediately began fussing with to make more comfortable. The next was an assault rifle, it's holster flashing into existance on Eli's back with ammunition to spare clipped neatly onto it while the weapon itself dropped into his hands. Lastly he snatched a second combat knife out of the air, securing it within a holster in his boot immediately after. Eli was thinking that the arena was far too easy while he laid out the high grade explosive.

Eli hauled himself into the warehouse rafters, taking a moment to catch his breath and look at the pile of explosives he had made in the far end. If he had put too many explosives in he would know it soon enough. Hoisting his rifle up onto a shoulder he looked down the sights and fired at the pile.

Two men entered the warehouse through the front doors, stopping for a moment in the shock of the missing half of the warehouse and the smoldering wreckage that replaced it. They kept together as they passed under the shadowed rafters, their rifles up to tackle anyone that would try and ambush them from the cover of the wreckage.

From an unseen angle Eli hurled the magnetic explosive at the leader, watching as the chaos began. "Shit!" exclaimed the more fortunate of the two men, pulling at the ticking timer on his friend's back as he tried to remove the vest. Giving up, the one with the explosive held to the unspoken agreement between the two and sprinted off in the oppsosite direction. The explosion vaporised one man, but did nothing at all to his comrade, who Eli would have to deal with personally.

"You son of a bitch!" Eli heard from below, looking down to see the business end of a grenade launcher staring back up at him. Swearing, Eli jumped from his spot in the rafters just in time. The explosion went off as Eli was in the air, sending him flying off horizontally and bouncing violently off of the ground afterwards.

Eli groaned, rolling onto his back as he tried to overcome the ringing in his ears. It struck him suddenly: the fight had only begun, and he was losing. Scrabbling onto his feet, Eli barely managed to avoid the burst of gunfire while he threw himself behind the first cover he could find which turned out to be a crate.

With his ears ringing and world spinning Eli fought with himself to get onto his knees and shakily crouch behind the crate. Just as his world was coming the right way up again Eli's foe dove over the crate. The two of them collided sharply, and both tumbled onto the warehouse floor.

Growling like animals, the two of them landed with their combat knives side by side, one pointed up and one down to form a deadly spike in both direction. Eli's angle gave him the leverage to keep the blades at bay using pure adrenaline for now, but he knew if he didn't move he'd become too exhausted to continue.

With a yell Eli rolled his foe off and then they both came to a stand at the same time, their blades clashing against one another time and time again as the skilled combatants fought. They circled, blades denting deeply as they collided again and again.

Eli's blade gave way first, the handle snapping off completely. In one swift motion Eli discarded the useless plastic and sidestepped a wild lunge. Grasping onto his foe's arm, Eli ducked down and ripped his knife out of it's holster in his boot. His foe was stunned by the unexpected manuever, unable to do anything as Eli drove it up through his jaw and into the back of his skull.

Exhausted, Eli stepped back as the entry collapsed onto the ground. He replaced his knife and picked up his rifle just before all hell broke loose. Gunfire broke out from the warehouse's front door, more than a dozen different people moving around all intent on killing Eli.

Things had turned from a huge advantage for Eli to him being completely outnumbered. Rounds slammed into him immediately, digging into his flesh but ultimately bouncing off of the armour protecting his vital organs. He dove over a large pile of masonry to roll as he landed in the cover gratefully, hearing explosions going off behind him. "You moron, I told you to fucking wait!" screamed a voice, followed by a burst of gunfire.