The End of us

Can you fight

CHAPTER 18

          Knight led us south through the clustered buildings, as silence engulfed the streets while we moved alley to alley. Weapons at the ready. "Um. Knight?" Scarlet spoke up in front of me as we moved silently. He turns his back looking first at me then to her. "What's on your mind Red?"
          Scar shifts her shoulder strap as she opens her lips. "We've been walking for an hour and you haven't spoken a word since we departed from-" He cuts her off with a brief hand motion of his fist as we freeze in our tracks. He points further down the alleyway to the street intersection as a group of men with weapons scan the building. I squint my eyes at the men and make out their distinct apparel that appears to be… "The Legion…"
           One of the men turn down our alley and another follows. "Get Down!" I whisper, and at the same time; drop to the ground. Scar and Knight take cover behind a green dumpster as the two men approach our direction. Clueless of our presence. The wooden pallets block my vision in front and I can only hear their footsteps grow. "Damnit this is bad…" I think to myself as I reach for my handgun in my belt. My eyes shift to Scar and Knight pressed against the metal, and Knight slings his rifle from his shoulder pointing it down the alleyway.
           The footsteps grow louder and I hear the rough voices of the two. "I'm dying to get my hands on that girl." the other responds with a northern accent. "Who let it go anyway? I was about to have some fun with it." He bellows as they both grunt in agreement.
           Their feet crunch the boys of rubbish beneath them as they approach in silence. Each step grows slower and louder, as I grip my gun tightly. "Stop right there! Drop your weapons!" I blurt as I whirl around the pallets with my pistol outstretched. Shifting my iron sights between the two men. Knight also jumps out of cover with his barrel flashing their eyes with the fear of death. The men react instantly pointing their weapons back at us screaming. "Who are you!?"
            Silence endows us as we stare down each other frantically, but in the corner of my eye I catch a slight hand movement of the right man tightening his grip "Shit! Knight-" my chest rattles as I fly back into a pile of rubbish disorienting me. Two loud shots fire off and I feel myself being dragged by the collar. Into a... "I- I can't- I can't see!" My eyes burned as the fluid ran down into them. Cutting off all light. "Scarlet!" I flail around wiping the fluid from my eyes, and light slowly seeps into them as I rub my sleeve.
             "Are you ok!" A voice calls from in front of me as I make out the red hair of Scar.
             "Yeah. Yeah. Agh… I'm ok." I wipe the rest of the fluid and look at it. "Its not blood…" My tattered green covered sleeve. "What happened?" I look down patting my self and peel off a smashed bullet from the armor. "Son of a… I got shot!" Scar rears around with her rifle pointing towards the alleyway that I was dragged from. I was leaning on a car as Knight was on the right behind another. "They're coming. Can you fight?" He asks. I look down at my rifle and pull the hammer back giving a satisfying click. "Hell yeah!"

                                 CHAPTER 19

             The other group members of the now diseased shout from the alleyway as they scramble to search for their murderers. I grab Scars shoulder as she rests the barrel on the car towards the open alleyway where our foes will emerge from. Her face hardened from the shock of my accident. "No matter what happens…" I whisper to myself through my water barren lips. "She must live." The shouts grow louder as the men near our engagement area. My ACOG aligns with the very center of the exit at head level, and my sweat drips down my forehead as we wait.
            The first man stomps out from behind the walls followed by four others with weapons drawn. Their guns shift from side to side as they search for their unknown foe. I look to Knight for his approval to engage, and at the same time he nods. "Open fire!"
            My rifle rears back into my shoulder blade releasing a hail of bullets into one of the men, causing him to fall to his knees just to be put down by another burst. "Contact down!" I yell out as I smash the back window of the car; swinging my AR-15 through the door to fire again at the next threat. Bullets whisk through the air as we engage. Scarlet downs another with her deadly accuracy and takes a brief second to duck under cover. "Just two more!" She shouts at me. "Make that one!" Knight yells from the next car, as he zeroes in on his next target. The man backs away and spins around bursting into a sprint heading for the alleyway from which he and his downed friends came. The ear shattering crack of Knight's rifle and the trill scream of the fleeing man reassures me that it's over. "Nice shooting you two." I breathe out as I pull my self up, whiling the flash shards from my kneepads. "Everyone ok?" Scar pats herself down searching for any wounds as I look down at my hands browned from touching the dusty car. "We gotta move." Knight grunts, ringing his arm from the kick of the gun. "Somebody's gonna get real curious on what just happened here, and until they get here. We'll be long gone." Already walking back on course, he calls over his shoulder. "The clock's tickin! Lets move!"
          "Yeah wait up!" I call out jogging up to him with Scarlet at my side. "Scar."
          "Hmm?" She flicks one of the strands of hair escaping from her ponytail revealing her beautiful green eyes.
           "I- I'm glad you're ok." I brush glass from a nook in her vest as she blushes. Her eyes sparkle even more than before as we hold each other's gazes. "You're such a flirt Ash!" She chuckles with a slight hint of worry in her eyes as she glances at my damaged vest. "You sure you're ok with that shot?" She asks and I brush her hands from my vest and dismiss her worries. "I should be asking if you're ok. That's a deep cut you got there on your arm." I point as I strip a piece of my sleeve and tie it around the wound. "Where did you get this at?" I ponder as I tie the bandage. "I'm not sure but I think I got it dragging you from that alleyway."
            "Guys. Hold up." I slow down to a stop and the two of them as they stop looking back at me. I rest my palms on my knees as I buckle over panting. "Oh my god! Are you ok?!" Scar rushes back running my back and holding me. "Yea-" I cough up more mucus and my chest tightens. "Get this off of me!" I frantically pull at my straps of my vest and throw it over my head panting from the relief. "Easy easy baby breathe." Scar slings my arm around her shoulder as we push forward.
            About five minutes pass by and we reach our destination. Our eyes scan the railyard ahead. It's massive fences and guard towers scattered around them told us of its Dpf control, and the tracks stretched across it all with a large warehouse centered in the middle. The structure appeared to be modified after the shit hit the fan. "Ashton… You might wanna check this out!" He announces as he peers through his rifle scope. "That doesn't sound good." I remark as I pulll the binoculars from Scar's pack, and  dial in on the massive structure. "I don't see anything!" I puff as I scan the area. "Look at the entrance and the roofs." He points out. I shift my scopes to the front facade of the complex. Then I see it- no I see them!
"I thought only the camps had those…" I gasped as the others reveal themselves to my awareness. "Sentry guns… why?" My spine tingles as the stories of the camps revive in my headed. *One by one it shredded those who tried to escape. One by one the massive bullets would tear the flesh from its victim, and peirce what ever lay in its fire.*
"You serious?" Scar grabs my pair and rapidly scans the area down below. "Shit…-" Her voice darkens at the sight of the murderous beasts. "Knight. What's your plan?.." She utters as she thrusts the binoculars into her travel pack.
"The mission still stands. We mustn't let these… machines stop us from freeing our brothers and sisters from slavery." Knight pulls his face from his scope for the first time, and lift off of his knee. "There's no way in hell I'm backing down."
"Then let's start this before I grow old." Scar slings her rifle to her waist and peers around the perimeter of the railyard. She out stretches her finger at the tallest among the others. "How's that building?
                       
                                   CHAPTER 20

"Ash will you pass me that cloth there." Knight snatched down the bipod of his rifle and lays it on the edge of the ledge. "Sure thing cap."  I toss it over to him while looking into my half full magazine. "Bloody hell son! What was that?" Knight yelled dumbfounded as the piece of my shirt goes tumbling down over the edge and to the ground. "Uhhh my bad."
            "Ah shut it, it's too late." Knight sits back with a smirk, as he flips open the hardbox with the microchips that he had been carrying the whole duration of our travel. "Here. You know what to do." He extracts the map from the case, and slings the box at me. "Catch that!" He jokes as I flail to my arms out to snatched the flying case from the air. "You know you could have handed it to me." I remark as Scar and I make our way to the fire escape at the far side of the roof  where we had gotten up from the beginning. "You guys know what to do from this point right." Knight calls out. "Yeah. Retrieve those schedules and insert these chips into their. security system." I repeat back to him. "Good." He nods, as he adjusts his scope. "Hey Knight one more thing." I look back at him as he sets his rifle down on its bipod. "Yes and what would that be?" He puts his hand on is knee as he listens. "Cover our asses."