welcome, inspector

Hostile Grounds

  We were, fortunately, too late.

  "What's the vault code, eh?" A man spoke.

  The three of us were listening to the conversation, blocked by a wall and a door separating the station and the pre-vault room.

  "TELL ME NOW!"

  There was a series of clanking and clashing of metal, but a long, dreadful series of ringing followed.

  *

  Markus rammed the door down, but the only thing that greeted us was an armed woman, aiming the rifle at us. Her finger on the trigger, Carlson threw his pistol at her face; she fell flat onto her back, her face red and her nose probably broken.

  He picked his pistol back up, "Follow me," he spun the chamber.

  I held the pistol that Carlson had given me firmly, it gave me courage, in whatever I was supposed to do then.

  Markus held the rifle in his hands, his finger resting on the trigger, he grabbed a vest from the shelf.

  We were in the armoury at the back of the station, stocked with, or maybe which was stocked with ammunition and whatever else you would expect in a police station.

  Whoever was inside had looted everything, except a strawberry donut.

  We heard footsteps, multiple men were coming.

  The three of us ducked into the nearest pocket that we could find, crouching down while holding weapons.

  I found a baton on the shelf behind me, thinking it would come in handy. I rolled it softly off the shelf, then in my grip.

  The door was forced open, two men rushed in, shooting at everything they could see with rifles, "Helloooo~?" The last one stepped in, while the others ceased fire.

  We still kept hiding, all the shots missing; or nearly missing ourselves.

  I looked at Carlson, who was ducked under a table, he nodded at me.

  Markus was exactly in front of Carlson, the three men extremely close to him.

  As Markus was hiding behind a cabinet, he stood up, he showed me a face that seemed like he was trying to signal-

  The man stepped forward, he was directly beside Markus, but still unnoticed.

  The other men were chatting in the hallway, one unequipped while the other had unholstered a rifle, the same as the last man.

  Markus slammed the butt of the rifle into the man's head, driving him to the ground.

  The other two men were shocked, obviously, and the one equipped with the rifle started shooting at Markus. I stepped in, throwing the baton at the man firing, but missed.

  I had gotten his attention, which gave Markus enough time to put his arm over his neck, breaking it in an agonising way.

  Carlson shot the last one who was prepared to run with his pistol, in the head.

  "Let's go!" Carlson commanded, though at the back, but he charged forward, kicking the door open.

  We followed behind closely, now entering the station. The light fluttered between on and off, shattered glass pieces scattered across the floor. The station was in a mess, but the main thing was the corpses of fellow policemen, not one but many.

  It seemed like the whole station was dead, whoever launched an attack had planned it when all the officers were at a vulnerable straight.

  No other signs of life were to be seen, but the computers still showed life. Surveillance cameras revealed what was happening, though hard to make out, there were a few men in the bank vault, where the town's treasury was located.

  We immediately made our way to the vault, but apparently it just took us a dozen steps to reach.

  "What's the vault code, eh?" Albert spoke, his words gruff. His mask was on, as he pointed a pistol at an officer's head.

  The officer refused to answer, he was tied up in a corner, his mouth was not gagged, but he refused to speak.

  "Well then," Albert slammed his sledgehammer onto the vault door, creating clangs and clashes of metal against metal, the metallic ringing nearly unbearable. His team was wearing earmuffs, deafening out the dreadful sound.

  "TELL ME NOW!" Albert screamed, jumping in front of the officer's face.

  "Arrrhhahah!!" He screamed, desperately trying to cover his ears.

  A couple of dead policemen were laid beside him, all those refusing to comply.

  That was when we barged in, the door bulged open though locked. We saw a man right in front of an officer, looking at us in surprise.

  He aimed his silenced pistol at Carlson, but before anyone could react, he fired.

  It missed Carlson's vital parts, but it hit his lower stomach.

  "MONSTER!" Markus screamed, about to pounce and pin Albert down, but his guards threw Markus back to the ground, stabbing him with their combat knives.

  He winced in pain, I fell back, on my back and palms.

  It only took a couple of seconds before the knife hit the head. Before that, Markus turned to me, his eyes were struggling to focus, his face turning red as his mouth was erratically moving.

  "NOO!" I screamed, but I knew I had to run while I still could, Albert looked at me, smiling at me, revealing a set of nasty, ruined teeth. I slowly crouched up, but as soon as Albert's guards left Markus, I stood up and slammed the door on them, grabbing a baton from a nearby table to trap the handles together.

  The doors rattled, "TRAPPED... GET..." was all I could make out, other than a series of gaggle and shouting.

  I dragged the shivering Carlson to the armoury, out of the station and into the police van, but a pair of hands grabbed me and pulled the both of us into the back of the van faster than I could react, but after, it was all black; pitch black.

  The shooter-

  I felt a brute force smash against my face, but after, I just lost control, of everything.

  She had awakened, in a cell, her wrists restricted by metal chains.

  "Let me out!" She shouted, rattling the chains.

  "We wait your friends join you, then we talk." The man spoke in broken english, laughing hysterically. His words echoed throughout the cell, a silhouette of a man standing outside the cell.