Walker: Surrender

Chapter 25

Cordell brought his truck to a stop outside the abandoned coal processing plant and looked around. There weren’t any cars nearby, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary and the building appeared definitely abandoned but there was no way of knowing for sure without taking a look inside. 

‘There's no cars,’ Liam commented, having also taken a good look around. ‘no signs of life.’

‘Yeah. Well…’ He cleared his throat as he unbuckled his seat belt, reaching into the backseat for his Ranger gear. ‘I'm not taking any chances.’

‘Hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa. Cassie said that she's calling for backup, so just-just wait.’

‘Liam, listen. If someone is making nerve agent in there, I-I can't risk waiting even one minute. They unleash that stuff, chemicals like that... It's a biohazard.’ Cordell replied as he took his pistol out of its holster in the center console. ‘Every second counts.’

Putting on his bullet proof vest and gas mask that he kept with him, Cordell cautiously approached the building, Liam staying back in the truck. Gun drawn he walked over to a side door and quickly pulled it open, sweeping the inside as he looked around. So far, the building appeared empty.  Slowly he walked in, hearing a sound from deeper in the abandoned refinery, A sound that he thought sounded like someone hitting metal against metal. 

He walked in, his way illuminated by the dim lights on here and there. The electricity was on, someone was definitely in here. Cautiously he continued on, still scanning his surroundings carefully when he startled some pigious, the birds flying towards him cawing loudly. Surprised, he bumped into a stack of old empty oil drums, the drums hitting against a glass window and shattering it.

Liam jumped at the noise and looked out of his window and saw the broken window. Reasoning told him to stay in the truck but instincts screamed that his brother might be in danger. Wrestling with his thoughts, he bit the inside of his lip, praying that backup would arrive soon. 

Cordell’s heart pounded as he recovered from the surprise of the birds, carefully continuing on into the building after a moment. Not far from him, he heard the sound of a valve opening and saw condensed water coming from a pipe up ahead. Slowly, he began to move towards it…

Liam looked around but still there was no sign of the backup that Cassie had promised. Reaching for Cordell’s phone he went to place a call to 911 for assistance but was met instead with that annoying beeping tone. Damn. No service. He tossed the phone back onto the driver's seat and looked at the building for a moment, that gut feeling that Cordell was going to need help getting stronger by the second. Looking into the backseat he saw that there was a spare set of Ranger gear in Cordell’s bag and a moment later, his mind was made up. 

Still navigating his way slowly through the building and now this new obstacle of the water vapor, Cordell finally found his first target. ‘Don’t move!’ He commanded, pistol drawn on the guy in front of him. ‘Texas Ranger. Stay right there.’ The man didn’t move and he cautiously took another step closer to him. ‘Is there anyone else in this building?’

No answer.

Slowly and cautiously, he approached him. ‘Get on your knees!’ The guy didn’t move and after a moment, Cordell kicked in the back of one of his knees to force him to the ground. One hand on the guy's shoulder, the other still holding the gun on him, he went to make the arrest. ‘Put your hands behind your back!’

After a moment, the guy slowly began to raise his hands and he reached back into his belt for his handcuffs. As he did so, the guy reached for something on the bench and before he could react, had stabbed it into his leg. Cordell cried out in pain, the guy rising quickly to his feet and before he could react, tossed him backwards into one of the metal pipes rising to the ceiling behind him.