Lie in Ruin

Chapter Five

A group of Wanderers growled from an intersection as they scuttled backwards into the view of the team. Optic was immediately shouting orders, pushing Soot and Siren behind her. They peaked around her sides as she quickly slung her Dragunov off her shoulder, looking through the scope hurriedly. Her fingers twitched, and she found the trigger. Immediately her fingers wanted to squeeze it and hear the ricochet and exploding of bullets. Optic restrained herself, and luckily at that. A flurry of dark black wings filled her limited view, and she frowned in confusion. She lowered the weapon a fraction of an inch, and surprise coursed through her body like she was plunging into a cold stream. It was a child- maybe ten or so. He had brilliant wings sprouting from his back, beating in the air like claps of thunder. The air gusted around him, and dust kicked up in the flurry of wind and wings. The orange light from the setting sun glittered off the crow black feathers. He was like an angel of death, holding a scythe in his hands that also glittered in the sunlight. Optic stood frozen in awe, and her team around her did the same. It wasn't natural. Nothing about this world was natural- but this was a child. A human child.

Even more children started to pour out from behind buildings. One girl had a machine gun for an arm, another boy had a hard shell on his back, like an armadillo. There were so many more, all with different features that simply weren't human. It was fascinating, but even more horrifying. They were fighting the Wanderers- it wasn't much of a fight at all. The Wanderers clawed and tried to rip apart the legion of children, none older than thirteen at least. But they all held steady, their faces blank. Grey steel collars that reflected the pink light snagged the notice of Optic, her gaze locking onto them. A blinking green light pounded like a heartbeat in the center.

They were being controlled.

"What... the hell," The words came out Optic's mouth in a rush of air. Horror shredded through her very being. The boy with the wings- he had dark short hair with sea blue eyes. His skin was olive in color. He fit the exact description one of the groups had told them about- he was the boy that had gone missing a month ago. Whoever was taking people... They were mutating them. The blood that rushed in her veins turned cold, and she stood utterly still for moments as she watched the battle in slow motion. Siren raised a hand to her mouth, looking like she was going to be sick. She must've come to the same realization before the others had, and her eyes shuttered shut.

It took a few moments before Optic slammed back into herself. She ground her teeth, a muscle feathering in her jaw. She raised her sniper rifle and looked through the scope, her finger moving to the trigger. She took a last glance out of her other eye to make sure nothing got caught in the crossfire. She squeezed the trigger and kept steady as the gun kicked back into her shoulder naturally. Ahead, a Wanderer fell to the ground with a smoking hole in the middle of the back of its head. She lowered the sniper, swallowing as she stared. The rest of the Wanderers were already dead, some were still convulsing on the ground and letting out horrid shrieks, but it was natural. They wouldn't be getting up ever again, and would be banished to whatever hell they had clawed out of.

The children all froze for a moment, the ones suspended in the air dropping like deadweights. They shuddered and contorted on the ground in a sickening manner. The green light on their steel collars was a rapidly blinking blue. Suddenly, the convulsing stopped, just as it did with the dead creatures of this world. However, these children weren't dead. They slowly rose, standing in a straight line, shoulder-to-shoulder. They began to march forward, in perfect sync. The light on the collars extinguished, just as any light from the children's eyes had. They might as well be dead; their expressions were completely empty. Nothing looked youthful about them anymore.
"They're mutated. Whoever is taking the people around the city- that is what they're doing. They must be returning to wherever they're being experimented on. That means Raven must be there. Come on, we have to hurry!" Gear whispered, his eyes wide. The inventor looked fascinated with the work, but also sickened by it. Less so than almost anyone else. Flint merely looked as expressionless as his sister often did. Gear was already running, straight after the children. Optic looked back at everyone else and nodded slowly, putting two fingers together and motioning forward. They followed Gear, quiet as possible. If these children were dangerous (which they were), they didn't want to alert them of their presence. Unless they were already aware.

Gear looked increasingly determined as they jogged after the children, who's boots marching on the ground echoed through the silent city. The silence sent a shiver down Optic's spine, but she tried to ignore it, instead focusing on the children. There was no obvious link between them- besides the fact they had been taken and mutated by the same person or people. They didn't know what they were getting into, she hated that. They had absolutely no plan, and it felt too much like a suicide mission.

The thoughts brushed against the walls of her mind, but she mostly ignored them for the rest of the trek. Eventually, they found an empty parking lot, surrounded by fences. The wall on one end had a small tunnel that led downwards into what looked like a parking garage. It looked so desolate, that it was surprising the children stopped here. Maybe they had been wrong, maybe Gear had moved on a fool's hope, they all had jumped on the idea as soon as it had entered their heads. There wasn't time for that now, though.

The children stopped at a gate, and Optic called for a halt. She watched carefully, their movements, facial expressions, words. The boy with the wings and dark hair stepped forward from the center of the precession, rapping three times on the gate, kicking it once, then stood stock still. The gate swung open seconds later, and they began to proceed through the gate. Optic signaled for the rest of her team to move quickly as she darted for the gate, which was already starting to close behind the line of children. She slipped through just as it slammed behind her, and glanced back hopefully. The other four were still on the other side. She swore, and ran her fingers through her emerald hair.

"That kid must've used a secret passcode, we'll just copy his movements!" Soot put in helpfully, and she smiled weakly at him.
Flint answered for her, "Sorry, little man. There's a camera, which you are the only one out of view, somehow, and that's most likely for identification if the passcode is used. We have to find another way in." Optic ran a hand down her face, staring at Gear who was silent. He looked thoughtful, then glanced at his bag.
"Gear, no explosives. We can't make too much noise, or they'll be alerted and we'll all be slaughtered," Optic said quickly, stopping his movements. Gear sighed through his nose and stopped staring longingly at his bag. She smiled gently at him, then glanced back at the parking garage behind her. The precession had already disappeared into it. She needed to make haste, otherwise she'd never find anything. "Find a way in, I'll solo inside for now. You'll find something, I know you will," She added, her fingers twitching slightly. She rolled her neck, pursing her lips again as she stared at the rest of her team.

They nodded silently. That was all she needed.

Optic turned on her heel and didn't look back as she sprinted into the parking garage.