The Art of Death Vol I

Chapter 44 (Part 2)

We ran down the long hall to get to the cellar of this base. We only had a little bit of time to get there. Step by step, we continued along while Rain led us to it. We continued making strides towards the cellar. 

"Around this corner," Rain told us. Then we were greeted with about a dozen Beasts, clawing into their innocent victims, mixed with Rain's men and the Junkers. The place was a literal bloodbath. I shot one in the skull that was eating the face off a man. Naomi did the same. Rain didn't join the fight. 

We ended up taking them all out, and we continued running for the cellar. We came up to the door, "Down here," Rain announced. I wasn't sure what Rain's definition of a few being in the cellar, but we took the chance. 

"Okay, I'll go first, then you Naomi, then Rain," I instructed them. They both shook their heads in agreement. I went down the long, thick steps first, trying to be as quiet as possible. The cellar was dimly lit, and I saw a room, then an opening which went into another room. 

"Well Judd? Ya got it or what?" One Junker voiced.

"Yes, these bombs will go off in a few minutes," The other Junker explained. What "bombs"? We had to hurry before they went off. I turned around to see both Naomi and Rain going hysterical. I put my finger up to my mouth giving the, "Shh", sign. I wasn't sure if it were those two only or if there were more. I went down the steps and made it onto solid ground, then I put  my back against the wall. I peered in to see two old men with their backs facing me, all geared up and everything. Then from another room to the left, a third person came in, then a fourth one on the other side came in, and so on. Totaling about six men. 

"Well you guy's, I'll go check on what's going on upstairs. In five minutes I want you to meet me out of here. The bombs will explode in ten, got it guys?" One of the Junkers announced, who I assumed was their leader. He stepped closer and closer to the doorway of this room. I waited. I was going to hatchet him. It was the only solution for now. His footsteps got louder, and louder. Then, his foot stepped in the doorway. He kept going. He made a turn. Luckily he didn't see any of us, since the room was very dim. He started walking up the stairs. I grabbed my hatchet, and jammed it in the back of his head. Bastard didn't know what was coming. I dragged his body across the floor and hid him behind the stairs.

I peered back in, and saw the men have dispersed out into different locations. There were only two in this room. I looked around for something to hide behind. I saw it: An old washing machine. Their backs still faced me. "Okay, I'll go behind that washing machine, and I'll give you guys the signal when it's all clear. Got it?" They shook their heads in agreement. I tip toed quietly, but as fast as possible without making noise. I hid behind the washer. I looked at the two men standing there silently. 

"Well, we better get going in a few minutes," One of them said to the other. 

"Yeah, soon," The other Junker agreed. I gave them the thumbs up to go. Naomi went first, successfully hiding behind me without making a noise. Then Rain came, and she made a small sound. The sound of glass breaking. The two guys didn't even notice. Fucking dumb asses. She then joined us, hiding behind the washer. I peered out. They were still talking about random things, nothing important.

"Okay, Naomi, we need to get them fast, are you up for it?" I asked Naomi.

"Yes," She whispered. I went out from behind the washer, and she quickly followed behind me. Then, the two men cocked their heads a little.

"Well, what do we have here!" One of the Junkers announced with a toothy grin.

"Some intruders," The other guy replied.

Naomi quickly shot both of them in the heads. Then we heard, "What the fuck was that?" We ran back behind the washer as all four men quickly rushed into the room. 

"Fuck! They got Judd and Billy!" One of them announced. I reloaded my gun, and in the spur of the moment, I shot one of the men in the chest. He flew back instantly. He didn't get back up after that one. Then I heard a gun reloading from behind us. It wasn't Naomi, it was Rain. I was surprised she wanted to participate. I just gave her a weird look for a second. 

"You were right, Oliver, I need to fight. We all need to," She whispered, then winked at me. Then, in a moment of luck, all three of us bobbed our heads out, and we shot all of them at once. Well mostly, I had to shoot the same guy a few times, as he refused to die. 

"We need to find those bombs!" Rain announced. We dispersed into the other rooms. Then I saw it, a few of them blinking. 

"I found them!" I hollered. 

Then I heard Naomi's voice follow mine, "I also found more!" I looked at them, with their old, blinking lights, which was older than I was. Then, the bomb's counter informed me it was a minute until explosion. 

"We NEED to get out now!" I screamed in a panic. 

"What's wro-" Rain started to say then was cut off.

"Yeah we need to get out now!" Naomi agreed with me, then added, "There's only a minute left, probably left, we can make it if we hurry." We ran as fast as possible, throwing Beast's to the side as they got in our way. Then we saw it. A horde of them blocked off the entrance. We did what anyone would do. We ran back. Rain showed us another door, which wasn't blocked off. We slammed open the door, and we all fell face first a couple yards away as the entire thing exploded. Good thing I kept the horse behind the building, which was a slight distance away. 

"Everyone okay?" I announced, as Rain and Naomi got back up on their feet. 

"I am," Naomi responded.

"Me too," Rain replied. Good, good. All of us looked up at the building that was burning to the ground and collapsing in on itself. Then we both looked at each other. Rain started sobbing.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I-it's.. All gone. Everything." She stammered, while wiping tears off her face. "None of them had a chance... I'm horrible... Now we have to start all over!" She continued to say.

"Hey, none of this is your fault... Just, this is a horrible time we live in. People kill people on a daily basis now," I told Rain.

"It's true, you could do a good job at rebuilding it your way. Not Autumn's, yours. You'll be amazing at it. That I know," Naomi tried consoling her.

"Thanks... I wonder if any of them made it out alive..." She responded. Then, two men came around the corner.

"Rain? What happened?" One of them asked.

"Well... It's a long story. We need to find new shelter unfortunately. We need to rebuild all over, is what I'm saying," Rain somewhat explained. Both of the men looked down and sighed. "But hey, we can talk about it once we find shelter!" Rain announced. They looked up at her, and agreed to keep helping. Me and Naomi both shot each other looks and smiled.

"Well, we better get going, after all that happened in the last hour, we all need to clear our heads," I spoke up.

"Do you want to join us?" Rain questioned, then added, "We will have a shelter, a safe place." I shot Naomi a look, and she looked back at me. Thing was, I didn't want to risk staying, because it was obvious. Rain would need time to rebuild, reconstruct, everything. I didn't want to help do that, with the added bonus of being scared at night. Just like back when my group first started building. I didn't want to go through all of that again. Horrible memories. 

"Nah, we have somewhere to be," She replied, declining the offer. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. We of course, led them to where our safe house was. That was the last we would hear from Rain. It's kind of weird how you meet people throughout your life. And they will stay in your life for years, but vanish. You could meet someone one day, the next day they are instantly gone. People lose touch with other people all the time. We all share the same moon, under the same blanket of a sky, we would realize that our friends are staring back at us.