Consuming Fire

Chapter 81

There was a sound of stone grinding and when they looked down, the bunker doors were opening. The soldiers signaled for entry and they ran down the dirt slope and into the bunker.

Instantly, there was gunfire. Joshua's heart leapt into his chest. The bunker was huge, an old war aircraft to the left and dusty equipment and crates to the right. Straight ahead of them, Chinese soldiers were firing at their soldiers. Two soldiers on his left went down. Imogen threw up a force field against them. Once the bullets couldn't penetrate her force field, the gunfire ceased.

Through the clear haze, Joshua could see only half a dozen Chinese soldiers. The rest were Agents and mutants, jumping from all directions in their ragged clothing.

"Marcus," said the Captain in a low tone. "Once we can get a clear opening, I need you to go with my left team to the control room to power down the bunker."

He nodded.

"The rest of us will need to take out these men if we want to go deeper."

"Yes sir," they nodded.

At that moment, something hit the ground beside the soldiers near to Joshua and he looked down to see a black, egg-shaped object.

Joshua's heart stopped.

"GRENADE!" he screamed.

Everyone dove for cover. Imogen spun and threw out her hands just as the grenade exploded.

Bright, white light obliterated around them. Joshua was thrown backwards. He hit a soldier and then went flying into a nearby crate.

His ears rung. Everything around him was still clear, so nothing had been destroyed. He stumbled to his feet and found Imogen lying on the floor around a stain of black smoke. He didn't know if she was alive or if the force had killed her.

The bodies of several soldiers were burnt and crisp on the ground. Not a meter from them was Koko's disfigured body. She'd been killed by the blast. Joshua's heart sunk, but he didn't have time to care, for it was then that the real fight began.

They were suddenly rained upon by gunfire. One soldier went down. They only had a dozen left, including the military officials who had joined them. Imogen could no longer protect them from the bullets.

The soldiers opened fire from behind anything they could protect themselves from. The sun was blazing through the bunker door behind him. He saw the soldiers shield Marcus toward a door on the far right, but their path was blocked by Agents. The soldiers attacked with their weapons but Marcus attacked with brute force, not electricity. His combat skills were more impressive than some of the men Joshua had trained with. He took down two Agents at a time and the soldiers shot the other.

A mutant was running at him. He was terrifying to look at and far more pale than Joshua had ever been, which was definitely a surprise because Joshua often compared the paleness of his skin to that of a piece of paper or a stick of chalk. The mutant's red eyes bore down on him and suddenly, he had whipped out his knives – or were they his fingers? – and was waving them in Joshua's face.

Joshua backed up a few steps, ducked under his right hook and threw a punch to the slasher's gut. He doubled over but sliced a large gash in Joshua's leg at the same time, causing him to stumble back with a yelp.

"Iceman, Iceman," the mutant chanted as he put one hand on Joshua's chest and pushed him to the side wall. The fight was in full-force before him, but he could only see the red eyes of the mutant who had him cornered. "Iceman wants some Dice, does he?"

Joshua didn't know what this man used to be like before he was mutated in one of Dr. Wolfe's sick experiments, and if the situation were any different, maybe he'd try to save him. But like himself, when his power warped his mind and there was no stopping him, Joshua would have wanted someone to put him down too.

"I'm sorry Dice," said Joshua. With a breath of air he formed an icicle and was about to drive it through the man's heart when he felt a sting in his neck. A raspy voice whispered in his ear as unconsciousness came over him.

"You're needed elsewhere, Iceman."