The past few days had felt like a surreal nightmare for Allena, and the current events had her feeling more and more like she'd been stuck in a dream for a very long time. Dom, Marcus, Anya, all here with her, saving her from the hell she'd been enduring, appearing like guardian angels from thin air. She didn't recognize the female in front of her, and part of her yearned to know what had become of Cole and Baird, but now wasn't the time for catching up, and she still didn't quite trust that this was all real.
"Can you fill us in on what's happened here," Sam asked, glancing back at her. She blinked once, taking a moment to process the request, then trying to find a place to begin.
"We thought it was just rust lung," she finally said, as they went back outside. "But it got far worse than anything we'd ever seen before." She chewed on her bottom lip, trying to quell the rise of emotions that suddenly came over her. She could feel Dom's eyes boring into her, but she kept her eyes trained straight ahead, pushing everything away. "We tried to help, but in the end, as they began to go mad, all we could do was lock them up somewhere safe, hope we could figure out what was happening and try and prevent a spread." She noticed they had all fallen silent, listening to her. She exhaled shakily, then shook her head. "It didn't spare anyone. I honestly don't even know if I'm infected or not. I was only here for a little bit, got here just before things started getting bad, but you never know." She fixed her gaze on Marcus, who had pulled the group to a stop as he figured out which way to go. "Do me a favor," she said, drawing his attention. They all stopped to look at her, even the woman she didn't know. "If I start running a fever, and if it looks like I'm going to loose it, do us all a favor and shoot me in the head." The silence was overwhelming; a pin drop would have reverberated in that alleyway.
"I'm sure it won't come to that," Anya began, her face pale. Marcus only nodded to her, their eyes meeting for just a second.
"You know where the main power switch is for the fuel line," he asked, bringing a merciful change of subject. She nodded an affirmative, and he motioned for her to take point. "You lead the way then. We've got to turn it on, then get the hell out of here." She knew Dom was staring, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him as she passed him, taking a right and leading them through the maze of alleys. They came out in a courtyard, an eerie silence looming over them. She froze as the others came in behind her, listening for any sign of movement...
Her body reacted before her mind even registered what was happening. A Former came charging at them from an open doorway, arms outstretched and ready to grab her. "Contact," she screamed, already sighting in on the target as more began to spill into the courtyard. It was a full-blown attack, forcing them to move into the center of the open space as more and more of the Formers began to spill out. It was all she could do to keep focused, to keep the fear from rising inside her and causing her to balk. You have friends at your back, her mind whispered. You know they'll protect you.
It still took all of her might to keep her hand steady and her aim true.
"Allena, watch out," she heard Dom shout, as something swiped at her arm, nails raking across her skin. She cursed loudly and jumped away, loosing her balance and landing on her butt on the hard ground. She scrambled back as the attacking Former rushed her, teeth gritted as she tried to get her aim while fighting to keep distance. Just as the Former was about to leap on her, it's head exploded in a puff of smoke, and someone was picking her up by the collar, setting her on her feet.
"I've got you," Dom said from beside her, sticking by her side as they found new targets. She only inhaled and nodded, her hands shaking at the close call she'd just had.
It seemed like eternity before the courtyard finally cleared, the dust settling around them. Dom had stayed by her side through the whole fight, and she was starting to find a sense of security she hadn't known in a long time.
"Everyone alright," Marcus asked, as the group assessed themselves. Allena turned to Dom, inhaling slowly to try and calm her racing heart.
"Thank you," she told him, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. He gave her a smile, and she noticed how tired he looked, how entirely beat up he seemed. It was the first time she'd gotten a good look at him, and she could spot all the differences in his face- lines of worry, of sadness, the white hairs in his thick, dark hair and beard. She almost asked, but he didn't give her the chance to, indicating Marcus with a nod of his head.
"We should get going," he said gently, reaching to give her hand a squeeze before removing it from his arm. "Before more of those things attack."
"Right," she said hesitantly, before turning and motioning for the others to follow her. She led them up the steps to the right of the courtyard, then stopped, a frown on her face as she found the gate before her closed. "Shit," she muttered to herself. "Usually they keep this open."
"Nothing we can't handle," Dom said easily. He and Marcus went and pulled the heavy gate up, letting the women walk through before they ducked under and let it fall shut. The pipeline sat before them, glistening in the late-afternoon sun.
"Alright, we're clear. For now," Marcus grunted, eyeing the pipeline.
"The pipeline runs through the church," Allena informed them, noticing the uneasy look that flashed over Dom's face as she turned back to look at them. "We should be close to the main switch."
"I'm bloody well not going to end up like them," the other female in the group suddenly said, a grim look on her face. "I will not." She had an accent to her voice, although she couldn't quite place where it came from. Maybe it was Kashkuri.
"You won't, Sam," Dom said soothingly, giving a name to the girl. "I've got your back." She glanced back, and he nodded as if to say "I've got yours, too." She only managed a tight smile before heading up the slope to the church.
"The grubs are going to be here soon," Anya informed them, from somewhere behind Allena. "We need to fuel up and get out of here."
"Let's hurry this up," Marcus instructed, and Allena picked up the pace, jogging up the hill that led to where the pump was. They skirted around the church and into the side courtyard, weaving through a smaller gate to the back of the church.
"There," Allena said, coming to a stop and pointing.
"Dom, we'll take care of the pump," Marcus said, glancing back at Dom. Allena watched as they made some sort of silent exchange, all pointed looks and tilts of the head.
"Thanks, but don't wait for me if anything goes wrong," Dom finally said, turning to head towards the cemetary.
"Just make it fast," Marcus said, sounding uncomfortable. Marcus, Anya, and Sam continued on as Dom went to the cemetary, his shoulders seeming to droop with each step he took. Allena bit her lip, hesitatant to leave Dom alone.
"You better come with us," Sam said, noticing her stop. She gave Dom one last look, then complied, trotting after the others. "He's gonna need some alone time," Sam explained, as Allena caught up with her. "His wife's family is over there."
"Oh," Allena said, startled. How many times had she walked past that cemetary, not knowing that Dom's family was right there?
"Allena, you said you were here just before the Lambency started," Anya said, pulling the focus onto Allena. She could see the questions on her face- where had you been before that? How did you survive? Allena nodded, cutting off the question she knew was coming.
"Yeah. Two months, I think. I lost track. But when I first got here, this town was full of life." She looked around, noting all the places where people should have been, and weren't. Her chest ached slightly, but she had long since gotten over the pain of watching a whole town die without her.
"Must have been rough," Sam said, a sympathetic look on her face. Allena shrugged one shoulder, thinking of where she'd been before that.
"As far as most places go, it was pretty good here," she told them. "We had supplies, we had people to protect the perimeter, it was safe from the outside. We just didn't have the knowledge or supplies to try and fight what was killing us from the inside."
"We can play catch-up later," Marcus interrupted, as they stepped into the pavillion where the pump was. "Let's get this pump started and get the hell out of here." Dom caught up with them as Marcus reached the first switch, watching the other man struggle with the rusted switch before flipping out his knife for Marcus to use as leverage. Sam and Anya stepped back to let him take the second switch. Within seconds the pump came spluttering to life, bleching thick smoke from it's pipes as it chugged into working capacity.
"Dizzy, the fuel's online, stand by," Marcus said, his finger pressed to one ear. Allena perked up slightly at another familiar name, but before she got to ask a loud screech broke through the air.
"It's coming from the church," Anya said, pointing as the others moved to join her. They all watched as the boarded up doors began to tremble, something throwing itself against the other side.
"I don't think that's the choir," Dom commented, earning a grunt from Marcus.
"A lot of people went there when they were sick," Allena said, the blood draining from her face. "They told the villagers to board them in."
"And then they all turned," Sam finished grimly, as the wooden boards began to give way.
"We finish this bunch, and then we get the hell out of here," Marcus said, reloading his Lancer.
"Do you think that guy laid enough explosives to blow the whole town?" Dom wondered, as he followed suite.
"What guy?" Allena frowned-someone had been setting explosives? Who the hell had gotten that desperate?
"Some crazy bastard we found when we first got here," Sam explained. "He planted explosives all along the pipeline. There's probably not enough to blow the town, but there'd be enough to put a big hole in it."
"We'll have to settle for slowing them down," Marcus grunted, as the wooden beams nailed across the door began to give and clatter to the sidewalk. The doors suddenly burst outward, and the Formers came pouring out.
"Shit, there's so many of them," Allena said through gritted teeth, her words lost in the clatter of gunfire. Allena rolled out of the way as a Former vaulted over the wall at her, her bullet drilling a neat hole in it's skull as it turned to face her. She sighted in on her next target, steadying her hand before pulling the trigger.
Click.
She froze, her blood running cold at the sound of an empty magazine. She looked up and jumped out of the way as a Former charged at her, knocking it aside with her pistol.
"I'm out of ammo," she shouted frantically, trying to keep distance between her and several Formers. They chased her along the wall, cornering her between a statue and the wall. She jumped and grabbed onto the statue, swinging herself up out of reach as a Former swiped at her. The monsters crowded at the foot of the statue, screaming and clawing as she climbed up to a spot safely out of their reach. "Ugly little shits," she spat at the Formers as they scrambled to get to her, finding some strange satisfaction at taunting the creatures. It helped her hate them, helped her distance them from the people they had once been.
Soon the fire shifted in her direction, as the others cleared out the Formers that clammored at the base of the statue. When the last one had fallen, she climbed down from her perch, landing in the dust left behind.
"I should have checked my ammo beforehand," she said contritely, lowering her head as Marcus and the others reached her. Marcus only grunted, then reached up to contact Dizzy.
"Don't sweat it," Anya told her. "I didn't check either, I just got lucky. Here, take this." She reached back and retrieved her gnasher, handing the shotgun to Allena as she holstered her pistol. It was heavy in her hands, a lot heavier than her pistol, but she knew how to handle it.
"Thanks," Allena said gratefully, cracking the shotgun to check the ammo.
"What's the fastest way back to the fuel station," Marcus asked, turning to face them.
"Cut through the vaults under the church," Dom told him. "It used to be an air raid station during the pendulum wars."
"Better hope we've cleaned out the Lambent," Sam said, examining the room cautiously. Dom pointed to the entrance to the vaults- it was boarded up, but it wasn't a challenge for Marcus' Lancer. He knocked away the peices of wood to make the opening big enough to pass through, then led them onto a pathway, the heavy smell of Imulsion assaulting their noses.
"Ugh! Smell those Imulsion fumes," Dom said, as Allena threw a hand up over her mouth and nose. "Never used to be like this."
"Hey Marcus- your father thinks it's Imulsion that's killing Sera, right?" Allena looked up at Marcus as he vaulted up onto a platform, the man silent as he mulled over the question.
"Yeah, we killed to get this stuff," he said, sounding weary. "Now it's killing us." They were silent as they went through the vault, Marcus' words making too much sense. How many good people had they lost, fighting the wars for control over the fields? How many more soldiers could there have been to help fight off the real threat, if they'd known what they knew now? Allena pushed the thought away- it was too much, and thinking about things that couldn't be changed wouldn't help them now.
"Yo, Marcus, we got grubs up on the highway," Dom called out, one hand pressed to his ear.
"Is the tanker ready to go," Marcus asked, picking up speed until they were all but sprinting down the tunnels. She couldn't hear Dizzy's response, but from the grimace on Marcus' face she knew it couldn't be good. "Ah shit," he grumbled to himself. "Alright, leave the damn thing! Get to the pick-up." They raced for the end of the tunnel, reaching the service elevator that would take them down to the part of the vaults that opened into the highway.
As soon as the elevator touched ground, they all ran for the opening, the last fingers of sunlight splashing over them as they burst into the clean, fresh air. Allena sucked in a great lungfull of it to try and clear the stench of Imulsion that stuck to the back of her throat.
"Marcus! Come on, we're good to go!"
Allena peered between Dom and Marcus, her face lighting up when she spotted Dizzy. She'd never figured out what had happened to him, all those months ago when they'd gone into the hollow, and it brought inexplicable happiness to see that he'd survived. Before Marcus coud respond, the ground below them rocked, an explosion from behind them sending a spray of pebbles into the air. Dom grabbed her and pulled her behind cover and grubs came pouring out.
"Boomer, keep your heads down," Marcus roared, ducking down as the Boomer let his load off into the air. He missed them narrowly, the ground shaking underneath them as the round exploded too close for comfort.
"Shit, guess they decided on a Boomer welcoming party," Allena muttered, ducking as a Boomer fired at her and Dom, another one coming out from the tunnel behind it. Dom only chuckled grimly and shook his head, sharing a glance with her.
"Coulda been worse," he reasoned. She only shrugged, popping up to let off a round at a grub who got too close. The shotgun wasn't great on distance, so she was stuck picking off any locusts who got into range, which happened to be very few. The Gears were ifficient, but there didn't seem to be any ease in the flow of locusts that streamed from the tunnel.
"Watch our flank, we got grapplers coming up the side," Marcus barked out, in full-blown Sergeant mode. Allena moved to help Anya as she disengaged the hooks, sending a full spray of buckshot into the face of a locust half-way up the wall. It fell without a sound, hitting the ground with a satisfying thump as blood oozed from what had been it's face.
"I'm getting low on ammo here," Sam yelled, slapping a fresh magazine into her lancer.
"See if you can find more laying around," Marcus told her, as Dom moved to cover their six.
"This used to be a watchpoint, check in the crates," Allena called out, shooting down another locust. Her shoulder was starting to ache from the gnasher slapping against it, but she grit her teeth and bore it, shooting again and barely missing a grub on the ground.
"Watch out, we've got Formers behind us," Sam called out. Allena and Anya exchanged glances, both women thinking the same thing- is it ever going to stop?
"Fuck," Allena spat out, as a Former came charging at them from the side. Her and Anya dove out of the way, the Former barely missing them and barreling over the side of the building. Allena spun and finished it off, ducking low as a grub let off a shot at her. The Formers scrambled up onto the rooftop, and it was all any of them could do to fight them off while avoiding getting shot by the locusts.
"Shit, we got glowies, too," Dom yelled, and Allena felt her blood run cold. Lambent humans, she'd encountered plenty of times before, but the lambent locusts she'd only had the displeasure of seeing once, and it had been enough to give her nightmares for a lifetime. Two stalks burst out of the ground, spitting lambent locusts out into the fray.
"Hold 'em off," Marcus told them, ducking down to avoid getting shot before letting a round off into a nearby Former. "We gotta get to the pickup!"
"Shoot the pods," Anya told her, before taking aim herself. Allena followed suite, firing rapidly until the pod on the stalk closest to her exploded. Just as they closed up one stalk, another came bursting right through the center of the platform, splitting the group up. She spotted Marcus chucking a grenade at a part of the wall, the explosion creating a bridge between them and the trucks.
"Run! Get to the other side," he yelled to them. Anya pushed her ahead, covering them as they sprinted for the bridge. Marcus provided additional coverage as they all ran, bullets raining down on them from the lambent and grubs alike. As soon as they touched ground on the other side, Allena and Anya turned to cover the others. Sam came over, and then Marcus, but just as Dom was about to cross another stalk burst out through the bridge, cutting him off from them.
"Dom," Allena screamed, before Anya pulled her back behind a barricade.
"He'll be okay," Anya ensured her, as a spray of bullets flew over their heads.
"We're surrounded," Sam called out, as she ducked to reload.
"There's too many, we aren't gonna make it," Dom called to them, looking across the chasm. Allena looked out at him, desperately wishing she was on the other side, that he wasn't alone.
"Hold them off," Marcus yelled, swatting at a Former with his lancer. "Just hold them off!" Allena popped off another shot at a Former, then ducked down to reload her shotgun. She glanced over at Dom, alarmed when she saw him throw down his shotgun even though an army of Formers stood before him.
"Dom, what are you doing," she found herself screaming. "Dom!" He jumped down into the chasm, out of Allena's sight.
"Dom," Marcus yelled, looking down at his friend. Allena heard the sound of a door slamming shut through the sound of gunfire.
"Get out of there, jump!" Dom called up. Marcus turned to respon, but a hail of bullets brushed too close to him, forcing his attention away from his friend.
"Dom, come back," Allena shouted. Anya grabbed her before she could scramble into the open, pulling her back.
"It's too dangerous," Anya told her, holding her easily with one arm. More stalks burst up into the air, forcing them to duck from the rain of dust and stones that came down on them.
"Dom! Dom, where are you going?!" Allena looked up at Marcus, a sick feeling in her stomach as he tried to contact the other man. More stalks came up, the area swarming with enemies.
"Dom, what the fuck are you doing?!" She watched Marcus pale at the response he got, and whatever was said, it prompted Sam and Anya to their feet.
"We have to go," Anya said, hauling Allena after them. She realized a second later what Dom had planned, her heart rising into her throat.
"No, Dom! Dom stop," she screamed, as Sam and Anya grabbed her and forced her to go with them. "Dom! Marcus, stop him!" Marcus stood on the roof, his back to them as they heard the vehicle tearing closer through the tunnel.
"Dom, no!" Those were the last words she heard before a massive explosion shook the ground, before Anya tossed her into cover behind a container, Sam pulling her in so Anya could squeeze back with them. Heat washed over them as flames shot past on either side, debris raining down on the girls. It felt like eternity before hte explosions finally stopped, the crackle of flames filling the silence. Allena stayed where she was as Sam and Anya went to go get Marcus, their shouts lost to the ringing that filled her ears.
Dom is gone. Dom is dead.
