Berserk

Chapter 14: Takeover (Part 2)

I walked frigidly through the blazing snowstorm around me. The weather's intensity had increased significantly over the time spent inside the CDC.  My fellows along with my gear were gone. I kept my arms close to my torso and shivered for what warmth I could produce. It didn't help much. Each step was painful and stiff. As I slowly made my way through the snow, some of the dead noticed my presence. They crept out from their hiding places in the buildings and walked out into the street. They walked stiffly and slowly, which was extremely different compared to how they walked when it was warmer. They couldn't keep up with me, even though I was walking at a decently slow pace. My teeth chattered and each breath blew out in front of me. It was as if my life was leaving me through my lungs. I refused to give up now. Not when Ranger fought so hard for me to survive. I clenched my frozen jaw and pushed on. My legs became numb and heavy as I walked. I didn't dare slow down. If the dead caught up to me, I wouldn't have the energy to fight them off. I staggered along, my footprints in the snow becoming jumbled together with drag marks. My vision was becoming hazy as my eyes teared up. The tears began to freeze and crystallize. I squinted and looked at my surroundings through the falling snow. It all blended together and looked the same. I began to lose hope, but something caught my eye. A landmark of sorts. A picked apart corpse was being slowly buried by the snow, but it was still visible. I grunted and began to walk quicker, with my motivation restored. I burst through the door of the building and crawled my way stiffly up the stairs. It took me nearly ten minutes to reach the top. My joints were stiff and painful, yet numb. I forced my way into the top floor and collapsed. I heard footsteps running over to me with hurried voices. I curled up into a ball on the floor and shivered wildly. "Get him a bearskin!" I heard Ripper shout. Through the haze of my freezing vision, I could see faces around me. Soot, Raven, Morgue, Marrow, Ripper, all were staring at me. Then more people began to huddle around me. The people I cared about now were gone and replaced by others. A massive body of a muscular man with Russian tattoos stood over me. His head was missing, and in its place was a mush of tissue and bone fragments. His neck stump gargled slowly. A pale bald man with sharp eyes grinned at me. His body and face were torn to bits, exposing organs and bones. And yet, still he smiled. A young boy with sunken in eyes and a deep hole in his gut stared ghoulishly at me. The remains of a woman. Realistically, it looked like she wouldn't be able to stand, and yet, she did. Her dark brown eyes bore holes in my soul. Finally an old man. Cold pale skin and dull eyes. He appeared to be frozen. The frozen man spoke as the other horrors circled around me. "All this death, and for what?" the old man said. He look faintly like someone I knew. "Ranger?" I asked out loud. "You kicked me out of my home. Now look what you've done to me," he said, breathing frost onto my face. "No, no you're not dead. You can't be dead," I said. "You don't know that," he said. "All of you died for a reason," I said, addressing the rest. "I died because you thought I was a traitor," Crow's fragmented corpse whispered. "I died because you thought I was weak," Bone gargled. "I died because you didn't want to lose a friend," Scarecrow muttered. Baron's body stood still and didn't make any accusations. "The more people you kill the worse this will get," Ranger said. I sat up quickly. "Fuck away from me! All of you!" I screamed. The living around me looked taken aback. Raven covered her mouth and tried not to cry. Ripper's mouth hung open slightly. "I just need to be alone..." I said softly, trailing off. I scooted my way to a corner and curled my knees to my chest. I stared wide eyed at the floor...

After clearing my head of the voices of the dead, I stood up slowly. It was nighttime by now. I walked over to the small fire everyone was huddled around. "We need winter gear," I said, now completely clear of mind. "You need clothes in general," Marrow said. I ignored him. "We no longer need the bite proof armor. The dead will hardly be a concern to us now that it's winter," I said. I looked to the people of the group that worked most with animal carcasses. "Can you make fur suits to keep us warm and allow us to still travel?" I asked one of them. "We can," she said. "Good, get right on that," I said. Morgue approached me. "What?" I said harshly. "We got most of your gear, but lost the wooden pike in the snow," he said. "I can live without it," I replied. He walked over to his place by the fire and grabbed a metal device he appeared to be tinkering with. He handed it to me. It was a metal dome-like structure with a leather strap. "For your stump," he said. I slipped my stump inside and fastened the strap to the back of my arm and shoulder. I moved it around, examining it. He handed me a five pronged item and placed it on the end of the metal dome. He twisted it into place. It faintly resembled an attempt at a hand. A hand if a five year old made one. "Tense your muscles like you're trying to grab something," he said. "How the hell am I going to do that without a hand?" I asked. "Just trust me," he said. I focused and moved the muscles in what was left of my forearm. Slowly, the prongs on the device began to come together. I relaxed and they opened again. "When you flex your muscles, it creates pressure on the dome and causes the pincers to come together," Morgue explained. "I can grab things now," I said. "Exactly," he said. "What if I need to engage in close ranged combat?" I asked. He twisted the device and pulled it off. He retrieved another device from his working area. It appeared to be my meat hook, but with an extra spike on the top of it. It resembled a fire poker, but with longer points, one straight and the other making a hook. He fixed it to the dome and twisted it in place. "New and improved," he said. I managed a smile. "We felt bad for losing your stuff, so I made you something better," he said. "Thank you," I said. I walked over to the pile of my things. I left the chest plate where it was. I grabbed my pair of armored pants and put them on. I then grabbed my pistols and bag. I returned to my corner and sat back, looking over my things. My ring necklace still rested on my chest. It left a cold feeling on my skin. I took the hook spike off of my newly gifted attachment dome and tucked it into the bag with the knife, rock, and ammo. I attached the makeshift hand and stared at it. I played with it a bit, flexing the 'fingers' and relaxing them, over and over again. Marrow and Morgue slowly approached me after I repeated this ritual for about twenty minutes. "Have you ever seen someone you love die?" I asked the two of them. "We were at war with a superior community at the beginning of all this. We lost a bunch of people we cared about," Morgue said. "I watched a man I owed my life to try to kill himself," Marrow said. "Tried to?" I asked. "We never found the body. Not even after two damn years," Morgue said. "What made you give up?" I asked. "Finding you," Marrow said. "Why me? I'm not your friend," I said. They looked at each other. "Look, how about we propose something else for us to do?" Marrow said. "I'm listening," I replied. "You and your people come up with us back to where we're from," Marrow said. Morgue punched Marrow hard in the ribs. "Are you goddamn insane? They'll kill people we love!" Morgue shouted. "And we'll still be alive. Your point?" Marrow said. "What if he doesn't remember? What if he's stuck like this?" Morgue persisted. "We need shelter now," I said. "So we get vehicles from the Augusta people and we leave," Marrow said. I thought about this for a moment. "We should deal with them first and then we can travel," I said. "Deal with them how?" Morgue asked. "They have two of the dead within their walls. It won't be long until chaos unfolds," I said. "We are in no shape to wage war, especially with this storm," Morgue said. "This storm is exactly why we need to wage war," I said. "Once the non-fighters are done with the winter wear we will head out and conquer them," I added. "We will suffer more losses than it will be worth," Marrow said. "If they are strong, and they wish to live, they will prevail," I said. Morgue shook his head and Marrow clenched his jaw. "Killing them will be the easy part," I said with a reassuring smirk. They didn't look convinced. "Did you pick up the gear from the dead soldiers?" I asked suddenly. "I did," Morgue said. "Are you some kind of hoarder or something?" I asked. "I'm an engineer. It's how I build your hand after all," he said. "We have two suits of their gear. I say two of us wear their armor and infiltrate the CDC," I said. I stood up abruptly without waiting for a response from the two and walked over to the group. "We have two suits of Augusta armor. I will infiltrate the CDC, but I need another to go with me," I said. "I will," Raven volunteered. "I'd rather you not get killed," I said. "Well I don't want you dying without me," she fired back. "I will go," Ripper said. "You willing to unleash chaos? Kill dozens of innocents for the good of our people?" I asked. "My chainsaw's been gettin' a bit thirsty, so why not," he said. I nodded. "Suit up," I told him. He began offloading his Berserker armor and putting on the sleek dark gray armor plates that the Augusta people wore. He dropped off all of his usual weaponry, that being the revolver and sabre. He picked up the Augusta soldier's sidearm and primary. He held the sub-machine gun and instead put the sling on his chainsaw, pushing it around to his back. He slid on a carbon fiber armored helmet with a visor that completely concealed his face. Now it was my turn to put on the armor. I left my weapons on my belt. I also left on the spiked pants. I placed the armor over top of the pants. I covered my bare skin in the armor. I slid the helmet over my head. I felt powerful. The armor was lightweight, but I believed it would protect me enough to get the job done. I picked up the weapon the guard had. It was a HK MP5. I held it with one hand awkwardly. "Tonight, we will storm them when they least expect it. Tonight, hopefully when the weather clears up some," I said. Ripper nodded. The people making the winter wear for us approached us and handed us fur coats. "Rest good Ripper, for tonight, we fight. We may die, but there's nobody else I'd rather die fighting alongside," I said. "Amen brother," Ripper said. "To the Berserkers!" I said, raising my weapon towards the ceiling. The people rallied and cheered. It felt good to have their support this strongly. This kind of feeling felt so similar, yet so distant...