Yes, I've re-written this chapter at long last, it was about time it got re-done and hopefully continued, still the same story I just corrected my horrific writing skills :P most of it was okay I just added and edited so please enjoy the re-written chapter 1 of C009: Armageddon? Thankyou~! ^^
~Rivers
CHAPTER 1: BEGINNING OR END?
Screams of terror filled the night as he ran on, never stopping, not for a single thing…nothing could stop him, not now.
"They're here!"
"Who?"
"Where?"
"…above us!"
"Quickly, we have to get out of here!"
"This way!"
The girl quickly led the small, wounded group from the crumbling, ruined building and into the blood-stained streets outside.
"Wait!" she stopped and turned, looking up into the reddish-black sky of the night. 'How strange, it seems almost as though the sky, too, is dyed with blood…' she shuddered as she thought to herself about the slaughter that the team had seen earlier.
"There, look!" one of the tall men whom was following her shouted, pointing towards the roof, where a shadow stood.
"Is it them?" another asked.
"The things from earlier?" a shortest one asked.
The blond-haired girl shook her head,
"No, it isn't the enemy…something else…I sense a presence... It seems familiar but I don't know why, and it's not hostile…" She trailed off, clutching her hand to the necklace she wore around her neck.
As the small group continued onward, they reached an old bridge, stretching across the harbour. It was damaged in the attack, and was now crumbling.
"We'll need to be careful, everyone" one of the men said, as he carefully stepped onto the bridge. The rest of the group all nodded and stepped out onto the bridge.
"Look out!" a voice shouted from somewhere behind them, seconds before a large, hostile airship appeared out from behind a crumbling skyscraper, firing a missile at the bridge, which shattered beneath them upon the explosion of the warhead. The small team tumbled over the ledges as the bridge gave way beneath their weight and the shockwave of the explosion.
"Ugh! Not good…!" the man with white eyes remarked, struggling to hold onto both the frail ledge of remaining ground and his comrade.
"This is bad!" cried the short one.
"Well, I wouldn't call it good…" the tallest man replied in his deep voice.
"what do we d-…" the girl began, but the ledge she was holding crumbled away, beneath her hand.
"003!" Jet was about to jump and catch her, but someone had already jumped down and caught her hand…
A stunned silence settled over the group for a moment.
"Joe?" 003 exclaimed "It's really you! where have you been?" she asked, hurriedly and between gasps for air.
"…" 009 remained silent.
"009, what's wrong?" 002 asked.
"…can't hold you for long…climb up!" he said, wincing in pain from his wounded shoulder.
"What…?" 003 was going to ask before a small drop of blood spattered upon her cheek. 003 gasped in shock and looked up at 009 "009, you're bleeding!"
"…don't worry…I'll be fine, it's not as bad as it could be..." he replied sharply, straining to hold 003. "darn it…! I can't hold you, I'll have to throw you up to the ledge!" he said.
"Are you kidding? You'll injure yourself worse if you try to throw me with an injured arm!" 003 exclaimed, staring, horrified, at the amount of blood flowing from the wound on 009's shoulder. Hardly what she would call 'not that bad'.
"This is no time to be arguing with me, Francoise!" 009 yelled, rather harshly.
003 flinched, and then Joe threw her upwards to the ledge before she could recover from that to make another argument.
"Ow!" She landed, quite heavily, on the ground above. After remaining stunned for a moment, she looked over the edge to see if the others were alright.
009 was gripping his bleeding shoulder, in pain. "Joe! Are you alright?" Francoise shouted. 009 looked up at her and gave her a quick, pained smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, 003"
"Not meaning to interrupt you two, but can you help us out, our grip won't last forever!" 004 called over to the two.
"As much as I would like to help, I can't at the moment…" 009 began "You can, though, 003" he said, looking back up at her. She nodded, reaching down her hand. 009 gripped her hand and, with her help, pulled himself up. Once safely on the ground, Joe stood up and ran over to help 005, whom was not far off. Once the whole team was back on the safety of solid ground, 003 walked over to where 009 stood.
"Hey, would you like me to bandage your shoulder?"
"No, I'll be fine" he said, smiling "But thanks for offering, anyway"
"Well, it looks like you finally caught up with us!"004 remarked, folding his arms.
"What took you so long, 009. you had us all worrying!" he said, looking as stoic as ever.
"I guess I got myself into a bit of trouble…but it doesn't matter, I've found you now, so it's behind us" 009 replied, smiling weakly.
"You look tired, you want to take a breather for a while?" 002 asked as he walked over.
"I'll be fine, I don't need to take a rest" 009 replied. "Actually, I'd prefer we get moving as soon as possible" he suggested.
"Hmm…if you're sure you aren't going to collapse on us, half way back!"004 remarked, jokingly.
"Oh please...I'm not about to 'collapse half way back' as you put it" 009 said, laughing a bit.
"well, since the bridge is out, how do we get out of here now?" 008 asked, stepping forward and nodding towards the broken bridge, where they had so nearly fallen.
"…there is one way we can get to the other side, but it could be risky…I guess we could give it a try though." 009 started walking a gestured for the others to follow. 002 and 004 exchanged glances and shrugged, walking to catch up to their friend, who had now stopped not far from the edge of the bridge, waiting for the others.
After a whiles walking, the group finally arrived at the edge of what had once been a tranquil river, now flowing Red with the blood of the millions who had been so cruelly slain by their old adversary...how he had so suddenly gained the power for such mass destruction none of them knew...
"…eerie…I've never seen such a merciless display of Power…even from him. This is just terrible…" 007 said, looking on over the destroyed city beyond. The attack had seen everything, within a good mile's radius of the original strike, obliterated and as if that wasn't murderous enough, they had unleashed THEM upon the now obliterated city and what few survivors were left...The bodies of many littered the streets; it made continuing forward very hard for the group, not only because the battered frames made walking hard but it was mentally and emotionally testing for ANY who might see the scene.
009 turned away from the horrific scene before the group and continued to walk. His shoulder was numb now, after the loss of blood he had suffered, trying to find his team. He would have already collapsed by now if he wasn't urged forward by the desire to get his friends to safety.
The others saw as he left and followed quickly, trying hard not to look at the massacre that spread around them in every direction. As they walked Francoise noted that 009 was almost constantly looking into the alleys that lined the streets, and he often stopped and checked behind them. He was edgy, and usually when he thought someone was following, he was right...he had some strange way of knowing even when her radar-like senses failed her.
"not meaning to nag or anything, but…when do we stop walking, I'm gettin' tired!" 002 asked, stretching and yawning.
009 looked over his shoulder at his red-haired friend.
"shh! Keep it down!" he snapped, glaring slightly at 002.
"okay, no need to show those fangs of yours, geez!" 002 replied, flinching slightly at the reaction he had received, 009 was usually calm and not easily angered...something must be really wrong if he was this edgey and agitated.
"there is good need, 002…" 009 paused and again checked behind them as some crumbling cement from a building nearby tumbled to the floor, startling him "we aren't safe here, now come on. Quickly, we haven't got far to go" Joe turned back to where they were headed, running now, although slowly. The buildings beside them grew fewer and fewer as they came closer and closer to the edge of the city.
009 stopped here and turned to the others "it'll be dark here, and there are still some of those…things in here, we should be careful" he lead the group into the debris-littered, half collapsed tunnel that marked the exit of the city.
As they walked, sounds echoed on the concrete walls, giving the dingy place a sinister air. Many times they would jump at nothing, the darkness made walking slow, with all the debris scattered across the ground they had to dodge what they could see and hope not to stumble on something they couldn't.
003 hopped over a few pieces of rubble to catch up with Joe, grabbing his arm and hugging it tightly, as she often did when she was frightened. Joe would often comfort and tell her it was okay, but this time he kept quiet, continuing to step over the crumbling remnants of what had been the roof and walls of the tunnel. As the 8 cyborgs came closer to the exit, a small hiss and the eerie, slimy, slithering sound of one of the creatures coming closer signified the arrival of trouble…and in the dark of the mostly-unlit tunnel, there was no chance that they could properly fight opponents such as these...
The flickering, half hanging light on the roof above them gave them little light as it flickered softly, every now and then. As the spine-chilling noises drew closer and closer to them, the cyborgs huddled in a small group, one facing every drection so as to prevent being caught before they could react, if that was at all possible...
The creature seemed to be right next to them, from the sounds, but yet they couldn't see it, the light was too dim and limited here, there was no way they could fight here.
009 remembered his fight here before, in this same tunnel. This was where he had been wounded before, he had been lucky to get a chance to run...then as he remembered what had happened, it hit him.
"scatter! They're above us!" the team responded instantly and dived out of the way, narrowly dodging the slimy masses that dropped like spears from the cracked slabs of concrete above them.
The creatures gurgled and hissed; even in the flashing, infrequent light their distinct shapes were easily definable. The long, globule body wavering like jelly, and the taloned arms, pulling free of the blob of slime and digging into the floor, the massive, eye-less head swaying from side-to-side in a mocking dance-like pattern, as it half-dragged half-slithered its way closer. 009 froze stiff, as he watched more and more of the toothy, murderous grins gleaming in the dim light.
There had to be more than 23 of them here…there was no way this encounter was fluke…this was a planned ambush. These creatures never traveled in these kinds of numbers...not of their own accord...their masters must have planned this, anticipating their decision to leaave the city using this route after the bridge was destroyed. Joe fought them as he could, but was quickly cornered by at least 7 of the massive beasts. The rest of the team was backed-up against walls and rubble as well, it wouldn't be long before the creatures lashed out at them all. The venom in the monsters' bites would kill them quickly, and then it would be over…