Final Crisis

Chapter 26

January 12th, 2077
The Mojave Desert, Nevada
11:20 a.m

Two vehicles are driving down the simmering desert, finding themselves right beside a large mountain.

“Damn, everything is fucking going to shit, going to shit…” Reese muttered repeatedly, eventually slamming his hands down on the steering wheel and swerving to a stop.

Dust clouds flew up around the vehicles, both stopping in their tracks. Reese forcefully opened the car door, stomping his boots on the hot sand and kicking it up.

“FUCK!”

“Hey now, calm your fucking tits!” Werster bellowed, stepping out of his car, followed by Meiser.

Lane stepped out of the car Reese had been in, putting her hands on her head. She was covered in sweat, and her eyes were irritated from all the surrounding sand and dust.

“How can you tell me to calm down?” Reese asked, getting face-to-face with Werster. “Delta just fucking raided our two biggest labs! They’re destroyed!”

He fell to his knees, putting his hands on his head and shouting again in anger.

“Listen, look on the bright side, alright? They scrubbed all the proof of us being there, and we got our asses out before we could get caught. Don’t we still have the lab up by Seattle?”

“That one’s practically worthless. We barely get anything from there anymore,” Lane added and sighed. “They suggested relocating, but we don’t have anywhere to put them.”

Reese sat and leaned on the wheel. “Damn it, everything was supposed to be going good, it was all supposed to be going smooth after Vecari died…”

“Delta is practically done for anyway. After the fiasco in Almencia, the public hates them now. They’re getting their funding pulled, right?” Werster said.

“Not after such a huge bust like this, no,” Meiser said. “At the very least, they can’t go ahead and kill people in public anymore, so we have that benefit.”

Reese rose to his feet and patted off the sand covering him and going over to his car. “Well, I was able to get a couple pounds of product. Should be good for, gah, I dunno, maybe another ten million? It's nothing. You two take it; Lane and I are going to be headed up to Bellevue, figure out what to do there. You head over to Jevuare and sell what you can.”

Werster took the packets and tossed them into his car. “Dude, aren’t they gonna be looking there next?”

“The police don’t give a shit about that city! So go ahead and–”

“Guys!”

They turned around to face Lane, who was looking away from them, a fearful look on her face.

It was a family of four—two parents and two kids—standing beside a large boulder, their mouths wide open. They were all wearing hiking gear.

“Hi!” Lane waved at them. “What are you all doing out here on this fine day?”

She sauntered over to them.

“Who are you?” The father asked.

“We’re looking to hike, ah, just getting to know the area.”

Reese looked at them with unblinking wide eyes.

“They saw us…” Reese whispered to himself, grabbing a gun tucked into his belt.

Meiser reached out his hand.

“No!”

Within a heart-stopping few seconds, the family was gunned down. The mother attempted to run away, but was shot in the back of the head.

Lane had ducked to the side, falling over in the sand. She looked at Reese in shock and disgust, seeing him walk up to one of the writhing children on the ground to shoot him dead.

“Let’s get out of here!” Reese exclaimed, putting his pistol away. He roughly grabbed Lane by her arm and hoisted her up, walking her back to the cars.

Werster ran his hand through his hair, and Meiser got back in the car.

“Son of a…” Lane muttered, reaching into her belt to grab her own pistol.

“No! Stop, stop!” Werster dove and stopped her, pulling her away from Reese.

“Did you not see what he just fucking did!?” Lane shouted, struggling against his strength.

“What, are you looking to kill me?” Reese stared at her, still not blinking. “Go ahead, do it. You know full well how that’ll bode for you and your family.”

Lane glared at him, fury encapsulating her entire body. She simply grunted in response, and Werster let her go.

“Good. Now…” Reese exhaled, “Think. What’s left for us to go to?”

Werster thought for a moment, then relaxed himself.

“Chergrove. That town up in California.”

~~~

“Yo, Bruce, what should we do?” Werster asked.

The group had found themselves on top of a flight of stairs. They weren’t too far from where they were earlier, still outside. The infected didn’t seem to notice them, however, feasting away on their ally that died, so they stayed put.

“Don’t ask me.”

Bea butted in. “Oh, come on, are you still bitter about earlier? That was like, ten minutes ago.”

“Bruce, I’m gonna go ahead and guess your best interest here is to stay alive. I betcha that you don’t wanna get ripped and torn to pieces, no? C’mon, tell us whatcha got,” He put his hand on Bruce’s arm, “Just like old times. Remember that assignment out in Vegas we did? Our very first one!”

Bruce breathed out hard. “I don’t know. Why don’t we just split up? You need to find the other group, right?”

“Okay, good idea. Reese would probably shove his damn foot down my throat if we came back with not a single one of them. Alright, how ‘bout I go with Ron and radio up ol’ Tony to meet up. Bruce, you go on with Bea and Merla. Wouldn’t wanna get distracted from the mission by your pearly whites.”

“Am I gonna be able to use my weapons?”

“Nah, not unless you have to. Course, it’s all up to Bea now, isn’t it?” Werster chuckled, then motioned over to Ron. “Come on, let’s get going!”

They huddled down the stairs swiftly, keeping their eyes on the distant pack of infected clawing away at the body.

Werster spoke to his walkie. “Aye, Tony, where are you at?”

“Hiding under some table–back near the arts building. I lost everyone, don’t know where they went. Carver’s dead. Lord…”

“I’ll be meeting up with you real quick, alright? You see where any of the little bastards went?”

“Uh, I think one of them might’ve gone to the dorms. That’s all I could see.”

“Alright, let’s go there.”

He put the walkie away, and clicked his tongue at Bea.

“You all be careful. You see another grotesque, hideous, chainsaw-wielding skid mark out there, just run away from it.”

Bea smiled. “You got it.”

She and Merla pointed their guns at Bruce and led him away, and the group parted ways.