MORTIS

Deep Scars

Eli was busy patching my shoulder up. He looked deeply disturbed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's nothing, Riot."

"Tell me."

Eli sighed as he threaded the sutures into my wound. "I almost watched you die. You have to be more careful."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious. Don't die on me."

Eli and I locked eyes, and I could feel the searing heat of emotion in his eyes.

Eli finished stitching me up, and we continued onward. Crude skulls were spray painted on buildings, trees, cars, you name it.

Dad said "We're getting deeper inside their territory. We should get on a rooftop and scout the place out."

And we did just that. As I looked through Dad's scope, I saw what he meant. About three miles away was a gigantic wall cutting off the inner city from the rest of Detroit.

Zooming in showed that they had snipers and mounted machine guns protecting the perimeter of the wall, killing any trespassers.

"So Dad, how the hell are we gonna do this?" I asked.

Dad took his scope back and said "Like I said, we'll take the subway. It goes underneath the wall, but it's heavily guarded by Reapers. However, I know for a fact it works because they use it to transport a decent amount of personnel outside of the Core."

"How heavily guarded are we talking here?" asked Eli.

Dad smiled and said "They've got Death Troopers with all kinds of firearms, and it's not a small amount of them. I'd say maybe 40 Death Troopers are guarding the entrance and inside the subway."

Eli and I both muttered "fuck" underneath our breath, but what else could I expect? We're outnumbered, plain and simple. But we'll find a way. Dad always has a trick up his sleeve.

"How far are we from the subway?" I asked.

Dad pulled out a small map, made some markings, then said "From the outskirts it's about seven miles away, and we've walked about six miles in. The ride on the subway into the Core is about two to three miles long. We're almost there, we just need to lay eyes on the subway. For now we can rest at an old hideout that I have set up."

We went back down the stairs and headed out of the building, then made our way towards a manhole cover. Dad lifted it, and we climbed inside. As my Dad closed off the manhole behind us, I saw that this was another hideout.

"We'll rest here for tonight, then scout out the subway entrance. May as well start sleeping now." said Dad.

We slept for about six hours and awoke at the crack of dawn. We crept our way towards the subway. A long time ago, I would've complained about walking a single mile on foot. I know better now.

When we got near the subway, we ducked into an alleyway. Dad was looking at the area through the ACOG on his M4.

"Okay, I count 20 bogies outside, more are underground in the subway. See those cars? Use the wheel wells as cover. I see a couple of light machinegun nests, they're probably using an M249. I'm gonna get on the roof and provide fire support. You two, start heading out. As soon as I pop somebody, that's when I'll need the two of you to act. Got it?" said Dad.

I nodded, and Eli replied with "Tracking."

Eli checked his AK, and we started to move out. I took out all my throwing knives. I had about eight in my hand. Eli took cover behind the rear wheels of a Ford pickup truck, and I ducked behind an old police interceptor.

I peeked around the edge of the vehicle, and saw the Death Troopers. They're barely human. They never seem to get exhausted, they don't make small talk, nothing. They just silently stand guard. I saw Dad signal to us on the rooftop behind us, and I could make out him fiddling with his sniper rifle. He was sighted in. I looked back towards the subway.

I heard a soft crack, and then the sound of wet flesh hitting the pavement. Dad took his shot. Eli acted immediately, firing a quick burst that killed one of the M249 nests. The other nest opened fire, pelting the truck he was behind. When Eli moved, I moved up, immediately killing a Death Trooper with a throwing knife before getting back to cover. A hail of 5.56 barely missed me. The M249's metallic chatter was suddenly halted as Dad took another shot. Now I could do MY work. I ripped the bayonet put of its sheathe, and sprinted. A Death Trooper with an assault rifle pulled the trigger, and I almost got hit with his burst. I dropped down into a slide, and tossed a throwing knife into his hand, then I took the bayonet and drove it deep into his neck, and tore his throat out as I ripped the bayonet out the side of his neck.

I got caught completely by surprise as a flashbang suddenly went off in my face, and I fell on my ass, blinded. When my vision cleared, I got clocked in the temple with a baseball bat. I saw the Death Trooper raise the bat over his head for a final blow, and as the bat came swinging down, a hand grabbed the baseball bat, and saw it was Eli.

"Bad touch, asshole." Eli said as he buried a hatchet deep into the Death Trooper's neck.

Eli must have run out of ammo, he didn't have his rifle. He let out a chilling roar as he dove at the next guy, completely cutting his leg off at the knee, then bringing the hatchet down like a hammer into the guy's facemask. A Death Trooper with a rifle took aim, but Eli killed him by throwing the hatchet into his chest. He dove into one of the M249 nests, and picked up the light machinegun. He started spraying 5.56 rounds into the opposition, several Death Troopers started dropping like flies.

More Death Troopers came out of the subway, but they were rebuked as Eli swept the M249 across their formation, making it rain a red mist of blood. When it was done, the M249's barrel was glowing a bright orange. Eli dropped it with a metallic thud.

Dad walked up and said "Good work, we took them completely by surprise. It could have gone worse." As we walked towards the stairs of the subway, a Death Trooper was wheezing.

He started laughing, and I said "What's so fuckin funny?"

"I will take all of your souls with me, into the void. Hail Thanatos." He twisted his jaw, a loud crunching sound. Dad looked visibly disturbed and he said "We need to move now. MOVE!"

All three of us sprinted down the stairs, into the darkness of the stairway. The subway was there thankfully, and my dad ran all the way into the control area. Right before the subway doors closed shut and we sped off, I saw that Death Trooper. He was... changed. Bone growths jutted out of his skin, razor sharp claws of bone were slowly growing from his knuckles. But his face was gone. His skull was exposed, red with blood and sinew, the eye sockets glowing with a blue flame. The canine teeth had morphed into long fangs. Tendrils of bone sprouted from his back, and it seemed that his skeletal structure was slowly twisting and morphing.

The screams stayed with me. No, not screams. More like howls. Empty howls that tear into someone's soul, that chill your spine.

I came up to Dad and asked "What the fuck was that?"

Dad sighed, letting go of the throttle, and removing his helmet.

"That, was a drug called Killswitch. Deathshead's best soldiers usually keep it as a capsule in their molars. It changes them. They're called Revenants, and they're incredibly hard to kill. I've only killed one, and that was with your mother helping me. We tend to avoid Revenants." said Dad.

I stared out the windshield, watching the track pass underneath us. What the fuck did I get myself into?