Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my own characters. In no way, shape, or form am I making any profit and this is purely for entertainment purposes.
I sigh, barely believing I did that, but still partway believing it. I move through the next room, not expecting what came next. "Light her up!" some more men yell, and suddenly, all the lights seem to come on, practically blinding me due to the low lighting in the last few rooms. They didn't have any guns, just swords, so I don't think they were expecting me to have any guns. I pull out the AK-47 and start getting as many as I could before they realized I had a gun and started ducking down behind things.
I do the same, safely taking out men from behind some metal barrels that I were sure didn't have any fuel in them. I take out the last guy on the upper floor, looting all of their bodies for ammo. There wasn't much else that I needed to do so I just head into the next room without caution, which probably was not a good idea. Another man pops out of another vent in the ceiling, and he had a sword. I was quite unprepared, so I had to scramble a few times to miss his sword.
Once I regain my footing, I quickly take him out without missing a beat. I don't know if I was getting better at taking these men out, or it was just becoming easier. I didn't like that it was becoming easier if that was the case. Giving up was definitely one thing that totally annoyed me about people. Some people just give up before they even try, accepting their fate. Come to think about, that is kind of what I did.
I use the pry axe on the door at the end of the hall and head into the control room. It looked absolutely wrecked, with leaves all over the panel, chairs knocked over, and practically everything being broken. I wipe away some of the leaves, trying the handle, but it just broke right off. I get worried as I start pacing around the room, thinking about any possible solutions. In the end, I just decide to get Riley on the radio to help me. "Riley? Are you there?" I ask, out of breath from running so fast and being very stressed out and worried. "The control panel is totaled." I breath out, wondering what to do next.
He curses before answering me. "You're going to have to patch in manually through the maintenance panel. On old towers, the panels are high up. There is a high possibility that it is on the top of the tower." I tell him that I would get right on that, but he speaks again before I could put my radio back up. "Oh, and Ash? Please be careful." he whispers, barely audible, but I was still able to catch it.
"Don't worry, Riley." I whisper back to him, making this almost our special moment from who knows how far apart. "I'll be back in your arms before you know it." I can almost hear the smile in his voice as we both put our radios up as I move through a hole in the wall. There were strange arrows on the wall that were pointing to the hole. Right next to them were some strange marking of what looked like a house. Either way, I still crouch down, going through as best as I could.
It was easy to tell that the pipes in this little hallway area were hot, so I had to be really careful to not come in contact with them and to miss the steam coming out of some of the pipes. I don't if they were just busting or it was deliberate or what. All I knew that when I could feel sweat on my forehead and my throat drying up, I had to get out of there, and fast. That tower better work after all this. I had to lie down on my side to kick the vent open, but I eventually got it off.
The fresh air felt really nice, but for some reason, it was snowing. That made me really glad that I had Riley's jacket on still. The weird part about it was that it was snowing. It was now day time, but it still felt weird to be snowing. Why would there be snow on a practically tropical island? Then again, it didn't make sense why there was a storm coming out of the middle of nowhere that could take down our ship, but either way, it was still a phenomenon.
I have to cross a bridge by going across a wooden beam that used to be the support of the bridge. A really bad time to realize you have a new fear of heights, Ashton. I make it across, and I had to move carefully around a truck that just left a tiny space for me to pass. I start to go across, and a man pops out from behind the truck. He grabs a hold of my waist and I quickly get a grip on the truck with my hands, pulling against him as hard as I could.
He had my legs in a death grip, and I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to throw me off the bridge and down what looked to be a 500 feet drop by my estimation. I struggle to where he only had my feet and was barely off the edge. I finally get one foot free and kick him square in the face, causing him to take the drop instead of me. The lack of anything holding my legs made them fall to the ground, hitting my ankle on the ground with a very powerful force.
I'm pretty sure that while I was struggling, I had either twisted or sprained my ankle, and that collision definitely did not make it feel better. I shakily let go of the truck, and get my AK-47 out since I knew that more men would be coming, and I was right. I hear a whistle, and then everything took off. I fought my way through until I got to hide behind a barrel where there were was a building in front of me. That building had about ten men just aiming straight for me, and about two or three explosive barrels on the second floor. I take my chance, and I shoot it.
It exploded and killed all of the men that decided to perch there, trying to get an aim on me. I move forward, and the door is suddenly heaved open by two men. A third man was completely decked out in armor and to top it all off, he had a riot shield. "Out of the way!" he commands, pushing his two comrades out of the way. "She's mine!" I gasp, ducking behind a stone barrier to reload very quickly before preparing myself.
I could tell from observing that all he had was a sword, and every time he went to swing it, his body would be exposed. I had to let him swing at me, but dodge last second and get a bullet on him. I sigh heavily. This was not going to be easy. I somehow manage to pull it off, and I escape with only a huge cut running down my left arm that was gushing blood. I know that sounds bad, but it was better than what the other man got away with, and he didn't even get away. He was lying on the ground, dead.
I don't even worry about my arm as I get my pistol out and put my jacket back on to stop the bleeding, ready to get some headshots, doubting that they would have any more men that were decked out in so much armor. "Oh, she's still alive!" a man yells as the door opens back up. I quickly take him out before he could throw his Molotov and it explodes on his body. "Yes…still alive!" I yell and enter the building that he had just come from. I head up the stairs and get into an outside area. I climb those steps and I can see the radio tower in the distance.
The only way to get to it was on a zip line, and the radio tower was higher than the platform, so I had to get on the rope and climb up until I reach the radio tower, dropping myself down. I make my way around the platform on the radio tower to get to a ladder. I check for stability and start climbing up one step at a time. Part of the ladder falls down as I was on my way, but I'm able to stay on the ladder. I get to the next one and climb all the way up that. I grab the thick pole for support as I look down, which probably wasn't a good idea.
I start climbing up what looked to be half of a ladder. Near the top, there was a section where the bars had been broken off, but it was still enough to balance my feet on by the looks of it. I stretch as far as I can, reaching for the next bar that was complete, and I make the jump. It breaks as I grab onto it, but it still supported my weight. I climb the rest of the way and make it to the top where there was a place to sit while I worked on the tower.
I open the maintenance panel and set the radio transmitter inside so that it would be close enough to pick up any kind of signal. "Okay, Riley." I say, putting the two-way radio on top while I talk to him. "I'm here. What do I do now?" Everything looked so old and confusing. I'm really hoping that it still worked, especially with all my effort to get here. It was starting to get colder at the higher altitude, so I zip Riley's jacket up, smiling to myself.
"Thank god you're okay, Ashton!" Riley exclaims out of joy as he then tells me what to do next. "The tower will – or at least should – boost the signal from the transmitter. Find the emergency channel and get a clear signal before you broadcast the SOS." I nod to myself and start tuning the radio until I start to hear the channel. I then adjust it some more so there wasn't any static left.
"Mayday, this is Ashton Rooker of the Endurance. We are shipwrecked on an island in the Dragon's Triangle. Please send help immediately." I say, hoping for any kind of response. Things were starting to look bleak when there wasn't a response for about ten seconds, but after that, the signal starts coming through. I gasp in excitement as the man on the emergency broadcast channel starts speaking to me.
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