Hello, dear reader. It’s me again. I’m going to go straight to business.
How are you liking this tale so far? As many would say, we’re just reaching the thick of it. And I took this pause from the tale to alert you of a change. Not a drastic change. It will change back, and change again henceforth. For the sake of storytelling, and for the time being, we won’t follow our protagonist. Of course, we will still “follow” her, but from a different point of view. Continue on with reading, dear reader.
Mike fell to the floor of the training room, against the metal door, riddled with guilt. Unsure of what hell he had just unleashed. Nikki helped the poor boy up.
“Kylee?” Schiffs says suddenly, ending the silence. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Kylee nods and follows Schiffs near the storage room.
Suddenly, once everyone finally pieced together what had just happened, the room became tense, the atmosphere thick. So thick you would need a sturdy scythe to cut through. But they wouldn’t have one. Not anymore.
Mike and Nikki were probably the tensest of all of those in the room. Not only had they lost one of their comrades, best friends, but probably two of them.
Nikki outstretched her arms to him, and he greedily took the invitation. They should have known Belle was going to react this way. They should have known. They should have said something. They should have been slightly considerate of anyone but themselves. It was all their fault.
That was what was going through Mike and Nikki’s minds. But then they both came to a realization. Neither Riley nor Belle would want Mike or Nikki to blame themselves. But they couldn’t help it, they did. After this, Belle might not even want to be friends with Mike. She might not even want to come back. Geez, he really screwed up this time. The room quickly filled to the brim with mixed emotions –pain, anger, stress. Not only had they lost two valuable members of their team, but they were locked inside the training room with nothing but weapons, each other, and a phone.
But this only occurred to them after a few more minutes of pacing and freaking out. Kylee had been the one to point it out. She rings somewhere in The Renegade. Somewhere, anywhere. Ulysses –thankfully- picked up.
Kylee had started explaining what happened, but suddenly the other end was empty, but the space on the other side of the door wasn’t. Ulysses swings open the training room doors and Kylee hangs up.
“What is going on with you, squad one?”
“Everything. Now where is Belle?” Mike asks suddenly.
Ulysses furrows his brows and glances around. “She… she’s not here?” His eyes widen. His question turns into a statement. “She’s not here. Where did she go?”
Mike looks to the ground before speaking. “I told her to leave, a-and then she said that she might leave, and thanked me.”
“And then locked us in here.” Nikki adds.
“And what about Riley?” Ulysses says, looking around a final time.
Now everyone was looking at the ground. “She… She’s…”
“She’s what?” Ulysses spits.
“D-dead.”
His eyes widen again, “Oh, squad one.” He leans against the wall and glances over to the telephone, rubbing his temples. “You should have called immediately.”
“We got distracted.”
“With what?” Ulysses nearly screamed.
“Well, Terry came back.”
“That isn’t an excuse!” He sighs. “Where’s the body now?”
“Belle had it. She had it the whole time. While we… talked.”
“You really fucked up this time, squad one.” Ulysses heads towards the phone. “I’ll call the morgue, see if they saw her.”
Yes, indeed they had seen her. She had dropped off a body. The girl said that there an accident in the training room. And she had explained what had happened, including the suspected cause of death. But was the girl there? Ulysses asked. No, they said in return. She had left about 5 minutes ago. Then, Jenna gets the bright idea that she might be at the infirmary, since she had said she was going to tell Jeff alone. Ulysses only allows Jenna, Mike, Nikki, Schiffs, and Hannah go to the infirmary to look for her.
They enter the infirmary to find, no Belle, but a shocked Jeff. They horridly ran over to him. Jeff looked like he had been crying.
“Jeff! A-are you… ah… never mind. Do you uh,” Mike stutters.
“Do you know where Belle is?” Hannah says cutting Mike off entirely.
“She isn’t at the morgue?” He says slowly.
“What do you mean?” Schiffs asks cautiously.
“Well, she had come in with Riley’s body. She said that she figured I would want to see Riley one last time before they cremated her. God…” Jeff places his face in his hands. He continues talking, choking back tears. “I didn’t… I wasn’t there to say goodbye.”
The five could tell that Jeff was messed up at the moment, and they understood. They wanted to be there for Jeff, unlike they were for Belle. So they stood there, patiently and quietly as Jeff talked.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t…” he pauses, taking a long, shaky breath. “And Belle had already made up her mind. I tried to convince her to stay, but she just smiled and said how she obviously wasn’t wanted.”
Mike suddenly felt a new sense of guilt. He shouldn’t have said what he said. He was prepared to face the consequences of his actions.
Jeff continues, “All while holding Riley’s body. She told me how Riley sacrificed herself to save her. How she was actually her sister?”
Jeff received a few nods, confirming what he thought, and what Belle had said earlier. “But she had left for the morgue… maybe… 10 minutes ago?”
“She could be gone by now.” Hannah says suddenly.
“We need to go,” Jenna mutters. “Now.”
“I’ll stay here with Jeff.” Schiffs offers.
Then, the others break out in a run. “Jenna, you and Hannah go alert the others. Nikki and I will head to the first floor, try and get as much time on then as we can.”
Hannah and Jenna agree, and stop at the training room while Mike and Nikki keep running. They take the stairs, not trusting the elevator. They reach the first floor as soon as they could have, and they turn the corner into the garage with a held breath. But they were too late. The helicopter holding Belle within its cockpit had already taken off. Despite their shouts, they did not reach Belle. She heads down the tunnel. Mike leaps and hits a button that shuts one of the huge metal doors at the end of the tunnel. The helicopter speeds up. Faster than the helicopter was able to travel. The door shut and nearly clipped one of the wings of the helicopter. The rest of the squad appears to the retreating helicopter, disappearing behind the closing door.
Schiffs grunts and heads over to the hovercraft and knocked on its shell as if it were a door. “Some of us are going after her. The others will stay here and monitor. Who wants to go?
Robbie, Hallie, Schmitty, Shawna, Kenzie, Mike, and Nikki all volunteer. Schiffs nods and makes sure they have all of the proper supplies. Before Robbie boards, she gives him a hug. The hovercraft lifts off, and they follow the helicopter.
Ulysses runs in to the retreating hovercraft. They explain that the 7 had chased after Belle. He sighs and nods before walking away.
Robby polishes his flamethrower thoughtfully. Probably thinking of a better time before Belle had arrived. Kenzie checked and rechecked her med kit. Schmitty reloaded her colt, Shawna sharpened her daggers, recoated them in gunpowder, and put them in her gun, Hallie reloads her gun that shot out swimming caps, Nikki fiddles with her whip, and Mike runs his hand across his bow. They had reached the surface, which meant that they had to shift to further transportation on foot.
“Are we actually going to fight Belle?” Mike whispers.
“We may have to, depending on her cooperation.” Kenzie whispers back. They had parked the hovercraft in the woods behind an abandoned building.
“But-“
“But nothing, Mike,” Robbie says suddenly. “When you think about it, we don’t know Belle that well. We don’t know how-“
“You mean you don’t know her that well.”
“Yeah,” Robbie snorts. “And you knew her well enough to make her run away.”
Mike looked ready to explode. Nikki held Mike back, and he practically launched himself at Robbie.
“Calm down,” Schmitty whisper-shouted. “We’re here to find Belle, not fight with each other!”
“Madison is right,” Hallie agrees. “Let’s not fight.” Shawna nods her head, agreeing with the other two.
“Fine.” Mike mutters.
They creep to the edge of a house, and creep into the edge of another. Mike backs up and bumps into something. It makes a soft hum and reveals itself. It was the helicopter Belle had taken off in. In this part of the town, there wasn’t that many people. So even if it wasn’t as crowded as it was downtown, there were still people lining the streets. So they had to remain vigilant. Mike’s shriek, however, did not help their vigilance. At least, they hoped it hadn’t.
“She was here,” Mike mumbles. “She can’t be far.”
“That armor she just got has a hood, doesn’t it?” Schmitty recalls.
“Yeah, it does.” Robby confirms.
“We should look for that.” Nikki adds.
Mike feels his ear vibrate, and puts his finger to his com.
“First Lady, what’s your 20, over?”
Mike glances around before tapping the armband he was given before he had left. A holographic map began hovering over his arm. Nearly right above his dot, was the words JEFFERSON HILLS.
“20 is Jefferson at Village Green, over.” He responds as soon as he sees the town name.
“10-4,” Schiffs pauses. There’s talking on the other end, but Mike doesn’t say anything. “We’ve tracked her down. She grabbed a jacket, most likely to cover her armor, and all of our field jackets have trackers in them, over.”
“That’s great, over!”
“Sending it to your map now.” There’s another pause on the other end. “Alright. 10-16 at Carol. That’s a little while away, since you guys are near the old Heritage Hills, but it’s not far. It might be a walk if you have to bring her back unconscious, though. Your best bet would be to destroy the helicopter and then convert the hovercraft into a car and go over to her 20. It’s on your map, by the way, over.”
A little blue dot appears on Carol and Mike nods, though hesitant from the word, ‘unconscious,’ “Alright, thank you Schiffs. Over and out.”
Mike touches the com in his ear again and he can no longer hear the low hum of the device. He takes one last look at the dot, and shows his comrades. “This is where she is. It looks like an old house up on the hill on Carol Drive. Schiffs said to destroy the helicopter and take the hovercraft as a car. But be discreet. Hallie, Schmitty, Shawna and Kenz. You four go and start the car and pick us up by the old gas station down the road past the old IGA. We’ll meet you there. Robbie, Nikki and I will take care of the helicopter.” They nod and dash to the next house over. Robbie nods to Mike and Nikki. Nikki walks around to the front of the house to keep watch, while Mike stays in the back to keep watch while Robbie sets the helicopter ablaze. Once he finished, he, Mike and Nikki make a run for the gas station. They hopped into the black car parked there. Once the boys and Nikki were in the car, the car moved toward Belle’s location. They parked the car a few houses away from where she was. The house she was at was a fairy nice house. The front wall was bricked and had a porch on the side. The yard was moderate sized for the area. The front of the house held four windows. Two on the ground floor, and two on the second floor. Mike noticed that, on the window on the right of the second floor, the curtain had shifted. The driveway was vacant, and had stairs that lead to a pathway that lead to a red door. The seven cautiously approach the chipped burgundy door. Why had she chose to hide in this house? Was it the closest when she needed protection, or was it something else entirely?
Quietly... Mike had pushed open the door to the house. Once everyone had cautiously entered, Mike shut the door slowly. The place seemed to still be fully furnished. He crept up the stairs and only Robby and Nikki followed. The other four had cleared the downstairs, including the patio, backyard and basement. He motioned for two to pull out their weapons, just in case. But Mike had another gut feeling. Robbie had checked the master bedroom on the left, Nikki had checked the bathroom, while Mike had checked the smaller bedroom on the right. He skipped over the room that had the window with the curtain. The room Robbie went into was fairly small, for a master bedroom. It had a quite a few windows, though. The room that Nikki had entered was small for a full bathroom. This place seemed big on the outside, but was quaint on the inside. The room Mike entered seemed to have belonged to a little girl. The wall paper being pink and flower-y. Mike sighs, wondering how many families were ruined because of the war. Little did he know, this family wasn’t ruined because of the war. At first.
The three emerged from their respective rooms and prepared to enter the other room with the closed door. Cautiously, Mike pushed open the door. It opened to reveal a couple dead ghouls laying lifeless on the ground next to the bed and in front of the dresser that both stood on the wall next to the door. And near the window, hung a swinging chair. And next to that sat Belle’s scythe with the jacket she had stolen lying beside it, along with her combat boots. Mike had realized that there was a door on the wall parallel to the bed, and he opened it to see a set of stairs that led to an attic. Mike heard another voice that wasn’t in the party and, frankly, he’d never been more relieved.
“I already checked the attic.”
He pivots to see the swinging chair with Belle sitting in it amongst a few stuffed animals.
“Belle! There you are I was-“
“You were what, Mike? Relieved I finally left?” Belle squints.
“N-no.” Mike stuttered.
Belle twists her body, in turn twisting the chair back to face the window. The lets down one socked foot to stop herself. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk, Mike.” Robby says suddenly.
“Why did you guys come?” Belle asks.
“We’re your friends, Belle. We don’t want anything to happen to you.” Nikki mutters.
“Yeah, and you guys proved that whenever you told me to leave.” Belle retorts.
“But we came to find you,” Robbie adds. “And actions speak louder than words. And if you come back, we can forget about your words, since you coming back overshadows that.”
“Yes, but you can never take back what you say,” Belle says. “I don’t know if I can forgive Mike yet.” Belle hugged her knees close to her chest.
“You don’t have to forgive him. You have to trust us in saying that we want you to come back.” Robby says somewhat cautiously. Though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he didn’t want to drag Belle back to the base.
Belle considered Robby’s words. “Well, I still don’t understand why you guys would want to find me.”
Nikki spoke. “You are like the fries at the bottom of a McDonald’s bag. You go unnoticed at first, but once you’re found, someone is always thrilled to have found you.”
Belle chuckled. She changed the subject. “You guys know what this house was?”
Mike clenched his fists. Where was the Belle that would laugh, and still somehow be badass at the same time (as Nikki had said)? Where was the Belle that wanted to take down the Govern? She wasn’t here. Instead, there was a stubborn, selfish Belle. Despite this, Mike chose his words carefully. He didn’t want to anger his friend any more than she had already been.
“Belle. Stop acting like this. We just want you to come back.”
Belle ignored him, and continued talking. “It was my house that me and my family lived in. This was my sister’s room. Not Riley, of course. She slept upstairs. I slept in the room over. I took my brother’s room once he died.” Belle bit her lip, as in to hold something back. She had remembered Mike’s harsh words from before.
Maybe you should have gotten cancer instead of your brother. That way you would’ve already been dead.
Belle continues. “We lived here for a while. This house has actually been up since 1942. We had lived here pretty peacefully. Before having to run away.”
Then, everyone was quiet. You could hear a pin drop.
“Belle…”
Then, there was an ear-piercing shriek.
“Hallie.” Robby says, eyes widened.
YOU ARE READING
The Renegade
Science Fiction**DISCONTINUED** (go check out Bellator. It's similar and is based off of this book)
