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Location: L&M, Hibbing, MNDate: July 29th, 2136
Objective: Art of War
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Magnus managed to get the first strike, hitting my across my right arm with the dull part of his cannon. The force made me stumble a little, as well as turn about 70 degrees to my right. I grunted, before taking a swing with my sword, slashing across his chest, cutting off some of the jagged metal pieces in the process. They clattered to the ground, bouncing around us.
Sean, having no sense of honor, came at me.. He was a much worse fighter than Magnus, as he left his face vulnerable. I grabbed his metal cheek forcefully, and yanked him down, which made him crash the the ground.
"Waist of metal..." I growled as I kicked him away.
Magnus had recovered, and he swung at me, managing to catch the metal broad side of my head with the tip of his arm cannon blade. It caught a part of my helmet, jerking my head down, definitely leaving a cut in the helmet, though not enough to go through. I stumbled back, catching myself from falling. I sat there, on my knees, supporting myself with my arm as I hunched over my arm. Magnus stepped towards me, dramatically and deliberately. He got more cautious as he got within a foot of me, seeming to be confused on why I wasn't attacking. He didn't notice, that I was looking at my friends. The horrified looks they had... it made me stop. They knew they could die today. Never see a fixed Hibbing. Never see their families again, or each other.
I wasn't going to let them die. Not today.
He was within a few inches of me, looking down at me. He let out a loud, taunting laugh.
"What's the matter Hunter? Roamer got your tongue?" He asked, before kicking me in the side. I fell over, and he managed to move me a few inches.
"Damn your movie references..." I replied, before he moved towards me again, pulling back the knob on his arm cannon, and letting it slide forward, chambering a round.
"Ever wondered why, in an action movie, when the good guy is about to shoot the bad one, he cocks his gun?"
I didn't respond, still looking at my friends. Ender glanced toward his lab, and mouthed 'cover me'. I nodded.
"Because that is a scary sound to hear... that round sliding into the chamber... signifying imminent death." Magnus said, pointing his gun at me.
"No." I said, before using both my weight, and strength, to turn quickly, and catch his face with my sword. With a satisfying BANG, he fell to the ground. I took out my .44, and took aim, firing near the guards that were nearest to Ender. They completely forgot their task, trying to take cover. Ender rose up, bolting to his lab, which wasn't more than 20 feet away,. He jumped behind cover, to do something, I didn't know what.
I was about to turn around, when I was tackled from behind. I grunted, kicking out, landing a blow on what seemed to be my attacker's upper leg.
I briefly saw the helmet of Sean, guessing that he had gotten back up and collected his wits to attack me. But with my kick, he had been knocked off. I stood up, to face him and Magnus, as they got up as well, side by side.
"Come on! I'll take you on!" I yelled, spinning my sword once in my hand.
Magnus came first, trying wildly to grab my sword, but instead he received a strong left hook punch to the face. I grabbed him by the spiky pieces of his chest, and threw him away, into a shelf. Sean jumped at me and landed a punch to my face. I growled angrily, and tripped him. As he started to get up, I kicked him in the face, launching him 2 feet away.
"How's that helmet holding up, jackass?" I asked. Sean didn't respond, probably out cold.
Magnus jumped me at this point, tackling me as Sean had done. I groaned as he landed on me, finding that he was quite heavy. He stood up quickly, aiming his cannon at me as I got up. He shot at my head, the force knocking me back, rolling and sliding 5 feet away until I hit a clothes rack. My helmet was severely damaged; quite a bit of the left side was missing, and the plastic was burnt from the bullet. It had only skimmed my ear, which was now bleeding.
I was breathing heavily from this, shaking my head, trying to regain my vision, which was now blurry. Magnus and Sean stepped towards me.
"You fight for the weak... that is why you are going to die. Me and Sean work for the strongest group here in this desolate town. Why are they so strong? They use the Roamers. Roamers are dumb, and hunger driven. The perfect slaves." He said.
"I don't fit for the weak... I fight for the group that has correctly set morals." I replied coldly.
"Morals? Where do morals get you anywhere nowadays? Dead. Which is, again, why you are dying today."
"As I said. I'm not dying today." I retorted. Magnus cocked his gun.
"We'll see about that." He said.
All of the sudden, a shot rang out, and he stumbled back. I turned, and saw Ender, in his armor, holding a rifle. The barrel steamed from the shot he had taken.
"Hunter! Catch!" He said, tossing me something that was about 4 inches long.
Barely catching it, I quickly examined it. It was a bullet, which looked like an extra long shotgun shell. I opened the chamber of my sword, loading it in.
"On the end of this day.... one shall stand.... one, shall fall..." I said, turning to face Magnus.
"It shall be you, Hunter. I won't die."
I swung at him, just as he swung at me. Our swords met, creating a shower of sparks that fell to our feet, bouncing off the metal of our boots. Straining, we held each other at bay. The metal of our blades kept grinding against each other as one would gain a few inches towards the other, then lose it again. Pushing up instead of forward, I managed to throw him off balance. He threw his arms back to try to balance himself, but I grabbed the back of his head, pushing it forward, to where I punched across his left cheek. He swung at me repeatedly, though none of his hits were enough to get me off him
I took my sword from my left hand, putting the points of the blades on his helmet, aiming the direction of the bullet quickly, before firing. In the split second it took for the metal bb's to reach their target, I saw them flash as they ignited. I jumped as they let out mini explosions, like firecrackers. Magnus yelled in pain, grabbing his helmet, which was smoking from the ammunition. He tried to run, scrambling to get away. He fell to the ground, getting up again, but he ran into a shelf. "Get them, you fools!" He yelled, before disappearing into the store.
Sean, having gained consciousness, ran after him. The men that had surrounded the group, had run away as well. Ender and I covered them on either side as they made a mad dash to their tents. Daniel grabbed his gun, already having his armor on, helping us. Phineas didn't have any armor, so he hid in Chris's office, locking the door from inside. Chris put his armor on, and grabbing his climbing axe, as well as his m1911 pistol.
"We gotta clear the place out. Stay in groups of two. Those two still might be in here, and they are the biggest threat." Chris said.
"I'm with Hunter." Ender said.
"Alright. Daniel, you are with me."
"Allie and Leo are outside playing sniper. I'll have 'em keep the exits covered." I said, holding up my radio.
I made the quick call out to them, before starting off with Ender to clear the building. Ender was at the front, knowing that my broken mask made me more vulnerable to anything. My ear, though no longer bleeding, wasn't receiving sounds very well. There was a slight ringing in the ear to prove it.
With every foot we cleared, I felt more relieved, and hopeful that they had left us without us needing to have full out war. Daniel and Chris radioed that they were clear, and helping check our area, which we were a little over halfway done checking.
After we met up with them, we all joined together to cover the storage rooms, which were the only possible place they would go, other than outside.
I entered first, with my sword ready to attack at a moments notice. The light of the blade lit up my path, allowing me to see anything in front of me, with my good ear, I could hear something in the back most corner of the room. I turned to the group, and gestured with a flick of my head to where I was going, wanting to have the element of surprise on whatever was there. If there was anything there. Then again, I had practically a blue beacon in my hand.
Coming out from behind the shelf, I looked at the corner. Sitting there, was Sean, trying to do something to Magnus's face. Probably trying to fix the wounds.
I stood there for quite a few moments. Sean eventually noticed, turning to me. He didn't have any weapon. We stood and stared at each other for quite some time. Everyone else eventually came up behind me, watching this with confusion. Why wasn't I killing them both?
"Go." I said to him and Magnus,
Magnus looked up at me. With the half of his helmet that was gone, I could see his tired, but everpresent glare. Sean quickly helped him get up, letting him use his shoulder as a support when they walked.
"This.... isn't the end....." Magnus said, his voice sounding rather tired, and defeated.
"I know. But next time, it WILL end." I said.
"We will see..." he said. They walked out of the store, and out of sight. Allie and Leo came down when I radioed that we were done. Leo hugged me tightly. A little stunned at first, I hugged back.
"We need to get you fixed up... you don't look too good." Daniel said.
He brought me to his old medical office, setting me down on one of the makeshift hospital beds. He took off my helmet, giving it to Ender, who took it to fix it.
Using some rubbing alcohol first to clean my wounds, he cleaned the dried blood from my ear, making me wince in pain.
"Sorry... shoulda warned you that this was going to hurt like a-" he started to say, before there was a loud 'AHEM' from Leo. He looked over at her, and she gave him a look that I definitely wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of.
"Uh...." he said, before shutting his mouth, and going back working on me.
She came to the other side of me, on her knees so she was eye-level with me. We held eachother's stares for quite some time,
"I missed you." I said first.
"I missed you, too...." She replied softly.
Reaching my hand closest to her, I her head softly. She let out a little sigh.
"You gotta call over more." She said to me firmly.
"I promise I will."
"Good..."
Daniel then applied something that stung even more than the rubbing alcohol, making me cuss little. After about ten seconds, Daniel moved away from me.
"There. Good as new. Any other effects, the inability to hear from the ear, mostly, will be gone within the next week. So that means no supply runs for you." Daniel said.
"And because I'm in the same base as you, I'm even less likely to try to sneak out and do a run." I joked to him.
"Yes. I will break your legs if you try that, so you stay put."
"Alrighty..." I said, standing up.
"Ender is waiting at his armor building fortress of solitude for you."
"Thanks, Daniel. We will be leaving within the hour to go back to our base."
I left, going over to Ender's corner, where was was working on my helmet. I sat down in the rolling office chair beside him, just spinning around in it.
"Wow. Hunter Griffin acting a little..... childish!" Ender teased.
"Ah shut up. You can't say you haven't done this, too." I retorted.
"Valid point. I have. But still, it's not usual to see you, actually having fun."
"I have more important things to do usually."
"Same... it's hard to have fun in the apocalypse."
"Not so much that, as I'd say it's that we wouldn't live long if all we did was have fun."
I felt something small and bouncy hit my head, and fall to the floor. I looked in the direction of where it had been thrown, seeing none other than Leo, smirking at me rather mischievously. I chuckled, standing up, and walking towards her.
"Someone sure wants my attention." I said.
"Guilty as charged. I want to spend some time with you before we part." She replied.
"Huh. Permission granted."
"HA! Like I NEED your permission, Hunter Griffin." She exclaimed mockingly.
"Fine." I just responded, smiling.
We started walking side-by-side. I gave her a fun shoulder bump, which was received by a hard push, making me stumble into a rack of clothing. She tried to suppress a giggle, but it ended up turning into a full scale laugh. Due to my weight, I had knocked the entire rack over, which made her laugh even more. I put it back in its place, before walking back beside her.
After a while, we had gone from making fun of each other, to having a serious conversation. This was different, but it was a big issue.
"We aren't safe until we know that the group that Magnus and Sean are with are dead... and them as well..." Leo said
"As far as we know, they could be anywhere in the city... they might not be part of the hospital group, though I'm fairly certain they are. But even if they are, they would see us coming... they have the best vantage point in the city."
"What about during the night?"
"I would guess they have thermal cameras... probably stole them from the National Guard Armory when shit went down.. and they will be more alert now that we
"So... how would we do it?"
"Either we wait for them to attack again, which is not ideal... or, we try an attack during the winter. Basically, whichever comes first."
"Why winter?"
"We would need a blizzard, or a heavy snowstorm. It would mess with their thermals... especially during night."
"Bring it up to Chris before you leave."
"That's what I intended to do... I'm sure he is thinking the same thing. He is probably pretty high strung after what they did. I know I am... he should bring us all back to this base, instead of having us spread out.." Leo said.
"Aye... but when a mind is set, a mind will stay firm..."
"Unless it's for the good of its companions."
I sighed heavily, looking around. The lights, which had been off all this time, due to the EMP blast, flickered, then came on. This was followed by a triumph yell from Ender.
"I WON YOUR GAME, YOU EVIL LIGHTS!" I heard him yell.
I just chuckled, as did Leo. Typical Ender.
Chris came running by, towards the main entrance. Confused, I turned and ran after him, wondering why he was in such a hurry. He stopped near the door, next to the ladder to the roof, which had been replaced when the explosion had went off from the Roamer, all that time ago.
He saw me out of the corner of his eye, silently gesturing for me to go up the ladder with him. I grabbed a bar, climbing up. When I got to the top, he was staring over the parking lot. At first, I wasn't sure what he was staring at. I traced his gaze, and was surprised to see that what he was looking at, was a small group of people of about 15.
All of them were clumped together, looking back up at us. They seemed afraid, though I didn't know of what.
"What is your business?" Chris called out.
"W-w-we are looking for shelter... Had a group in a Target store, north of here. We were forced to escape, a few days ago.." one responded.
Chris tensed up a little, as did I. Though my reason was different than his. Last time I accepted strangers... well... you know the story.
"Why were you forced?"
"I-it was a fray... of bullets, bodies, and undead. There were more of us, but we either lost them in the escape, or they fell at the hands of those monsters."
"We were just attacked, or betrayed I would more say, by people we had trusted. What's to keep you lot from doing the same?" I spoke up.
They all looked at each other for a few moments, before back at me.
"Nothing is to keep us. Nothing of worth, value, nothing. But you have our promise, to not betray you all."
Chris looked over at me, but I didn't look back. Gears were turning in my mind. To trust, or not to trust. What a simple, yet complicated answer. Trust a human, but so hard to trust once you have seen what they can be.
"Your call, boss." I muttered.
He looked down at his feet, then back at them.
"Alright. But a single hostile move from one of you, will result in a hasty execution of such individual." Chris finally said.
"Thank you for your kindness, sir!" Another yelled.
I went down first, to open the locked door so they could get in. One by one, they filed in, looking around the building.
"The perfect base.. no wonder you all have survived so long..." one commented.
"Hits and hits again have come, but we are strong." Chris replied simply.
I studied them all, seeing that they were well equipped. Each with a melee weapon and at least a sidearm. When not armed with a pistol, they had a shotgun, or a rifle. This made me nervous, so I bumped Chris's shoulder. When I got his attention, I made a slight gesture to their weapons. As they looked around, they didn't notice my gesture.
"I'm going to need you all to drop your weapons." Chris said suddenly.
They all looked at him, surprise painting their faces.
"Don't worry, we won't take them for long. We just need to get to trust you before we allow you to be armed." He said, genuinely apologetic.
With understanding nods, they all put their weapons down at their feet. They moved away, not needing to be told.
"You will all be provided with living accommodations, and gear. First off, you will be assigned a commander, whether here, or in another base. Anyone with first names starting with the letter A-E, your commander is Hunter, here beside me." He pointed.
4 people came over, looking at me with studying looks. I just watched them as they did so, not really caring that they did this.
"Alright. We are leaving for the alternate base in 10 minutes. You will follow Daniel, to get some gear." I said, just as Daniel walked up. Daniel gave a tired wave, walking to the outdoor gear stuff, with them in tow.
I felt something hit my back armor. It was just a rock.
"Hunter." Leo said, walking up.
"Yes?" I asked her.
"I'm guessing this goodbye for a while..?"
"Unfortunately, yes... I still need to talk to Chris about the attack plan, but after that, I will be departing." This earned me a heavy sigh from her.
"don't worry, Leo. I'll contact you on the radio every night."
"Alright... you better. Or else I'll be forced to come over and hit you in the head." She half-joked.
"Ok." I said, giving her a hug.
This held for quite some time, before I finally let go. I smiled at her, walking back to Chris, who had assigned all the new people to a commander, telling them he would have their comrades pick them up in the morning.
"Chris? I need to talk with you..." I poked him.
"What's up?"
"We need a plan of attack... to make sure we have no more trouble from the hospital group."
"As much as I hate to agree to taking them out, I have to agree.."
"I say we do it during winter, during a blizzard or heavy snowfall."
"We'd have to... they'd see us coming otherwise.. and Ender can probably make something to help us out."
"We'd have to make the team to do this secret, and small, so in case these people ARE with them, they still won't find out." I whispered.
"Aye. I suggest we meet at the National Guard armory, 2 weeks from now. I say we take Daniel, You, Jerome, Ender, Allie, and Leo. Me, Phineas, and Joel can do something behind the lines." He replied, in the same manner.
"Alright. It's settled. And Chris... we will make the bastards pay for what they have done to us... this will be... the last stand..."
YOU ARE READING
Desolate (under reconstruction)
Science FictionThe town of Hibbing, MN is under siege. But by an unlikely enemy. Genetically mutated humans, brought into the world by a mishap in the M.W.A.S (Mid West Association of Science), the science station within Hibbing's walls. An attempt to make a genet...