Chapter 10: Shoot to Kill

Isaac was at the tenth floor when he heard a loud crashing sound coming from outside. Looking out of the window, Isaac noticed that the mob had finally found its way into the hospital. It was then his suit sealed itself up and began activating its oxygen supply. Confused at first as to why the suit had activated the personal oxygen supply, Isaac was then sprayed with water as the emergency fire sprinklers began activating as a visible cloud of smoke rose into the corridor. A fire had broken out at the lower floors of the hospital. Whether it was caused by the mob or power break Isaac didn't care, he had to get Ellie out of here.

As he ran through the smoke filled corridor, Isaac started to become extremely worried. Ellie didn't have a suit, and she would choke to death if she inhaled too much smoke. Without caring about his own safety or whether he would blow his cover, Isaac ran through the corridor while shouting Ellie's name loudly.

"Ellie? Ellie!" Isaac shouted worriedly as he dashed through the corridor. The fact that there was no one around up here worried Isaac further as he finally arrived at the stairs. Heading down to the ninth floor, Isaac noticed there were many rooms throughout the hallway ahead of him. He didn't care whether he had to search the entire Odyssey station, he was not going to leave until he had found Ellie.

"Never… I'm not going to leave you Ellie. I promise." Isaac thought to himself as he began searching the rooms one by one only to find each of them empty.

"Ellie!" Isaac shouted again as he combed through another room without success.

Just as he was about to leave for the next room, he heard a faint voice calling his name from outside in the corridor.

"I..ac…" said the faint voice.

"Ellie?!" shouted Isaac as he ran outside to the corridor.

"Is..ac…" the faint voice continued.

"Ellie!" Isaac shouted before he was greeted by a blinding flash of light. Putting one hand up to shield himself from it, Isaac heard the voice speak.

"Isaac? Is that you? Isaac!" said Ellie as she switched off the light illuminating from her sec-suit.

It was Ellie. And before Isaac could do anything, she rushed forward and grabbed Isaac before hugging him. As Ellie wrapped her arms around him tightly, Isaac slowly followed and did the same as they embraced each other.

"Isaac… You came back you bastard…" said Ellie softly while tears of joy streaked down her cheeks behind her face visor.

"Ellie…" Isaac whispered back softly as a feeling of warmth slowly began to build inside his chest.

However, the brief reunion between the two of them was cut short as the sound of gunfire together with the fire raged outside the hospital.

"Ellie, let's get out of here… Together." Said Isaac as he released Ellie while looking her wearing the sec-suit. Her curves and slim figure still stood out though she wore it.

"Lead the way." Ellie replied as she lifted her pulse rifle.

Nodding as he acknowledged her, Isaac quickly began heading back to the roof as Ellie followed up behind him.

Kojo, Frank together with the rest of the squad dashed out of the tram as its doors opened only to stare in shock and horror at the sight in front of them. The hospital… It was a mess. The security force guarding the hospital had been overwhelmed as chaos and anarchy ran rampant on the streets. Most of the protestors were inside the building… god knows doing what, though there were some still remaining outside destroying what was left of security barricades. The worst part was that one of the upper floors of the hospital was on fire.

"Fuck…" was all Kojo could mutter as the others stared in horror before Kojo noticed something. At the side of hospital, he could see two figures running down the emergency fire escape… From far, he could recognize one of the figures wearing a Titan Station security suit as he dashed towards their direction leaving Frank and the rest confused.

As he moved closer he recognized one of the figures immediately… 'Keith'… or the bastard posing as him. Slowly approaching with caution, Kojo prepared his pulse rifle as a plan hatched up in his head.

Isaac slowly came down the emergency fire exit as Ellie followed him.

"What's the plan?" asked Ellie.

"We'll take one of the trams that I rewired and head back to the docking bay. Through this chaos, I don't think anyone's going to notice us jumping into one of the transport ships getting out of Odyssey leading to another colony or station." Isaac replied.

Suddenly Isaac noticed someone heading their way blocking their route back to the tram. It was an Odyssey Space Station security force member… or more specifically, Kojo…

"Ellie… Try to find another emergency hospital tram… those should still have power… I'll handle this." Isaac said slowly as Kojo approached him blocking their path to the main trams.

Though hesitant in leaving Isaac's side, Ellie understood the more important task as she quickly scouted ahead for a nearby emergency tram used by the hospital.

"Kojo? What are you doing here?" asked Isaac slowly.

"Funny thing right Keith… How about you ask yourself that question? What are you doing here? I don't see you in the hospital aiding the security forces… And why are you alone out here? Aren't you suppose to be in the Lounge Area?" Kojo replied as he walked towards Isaac slowly.

Shit… He knows. Isaac thought as he noticed Kojo clutching tightly to his pulse rifle… ready to fire at him… No sudden movements now…

Suddenly as though a stroke of luck happened, Frank came running down to Kojo.

"Kojo? What the hell is going on here? Shouldn't we be helping security at the hospi…" Frank began speaking before Isaac took an opportunity.

He started running as fast as he could away from Kojo who turned to face Frank for a second. Realizing his mistake, Kojo spun around and raised his pulse rifle before letting off a few short burst. Before Frank could say anything Kojo shouted.

"Frank! You're with me! Let's go!" before chasing down after Isaac.

Spending a second to wonder what the hell was going on, Frank joined Kojo is his pursuit.

Isaac ran as he could hear the clattering sound of a pulse rifle firing behind him. As he ran, he noticed Ellie inside one of the emergency hospital trams ahead of him.

"Isaac!" she shouted as she fired her pulse rifle at full auto at Kojo and Frank causing them to duck for cover and giving Isaac enough time to run onto the tram with Ellie before escaping the hospital.

As the tram drove away, Ellie looked at Isaac while reloading her pulse rifle.

"What now Isaac? Looks like they figured out who you are."

"Shit, this changes things… Where is this tram heading Ellie?"

"To the public district. You got any bright ideas?"

"Yeah… Bad ones." Isaac replied as he smiled to himself.

Kojo couldn't believe what he heard when he ducked for cover. That name… Isaac… Isaac Clarke! The terroist responsible for Titan Station's destruction was posing as Keith the whole time?!

"Damn it!" shouted Kojo as the tram was getting further away.

"Kojo, what the hell was that all abou…"

"That guy… I heard that name… it's Isaac! It's Isaac Clarke! The guy responsible for destroying Titan Station that's him!"

"Whoa… slow down Kojo…"

"Frank! Call up HQ, tell them to get every available unit on pursuit. Tell them it's Isaac Clarke! He's here in the station and he's trying to make a break for it!"

Ellie got ready as the tram neared the public district. Her heart was pounding as fast as it was when she and Kaleb were being chased by Necromorphs back at Titan Station. Inside her, Ellie knew that it was the fear of losing Isaac that made her heart beat faster. If she lose him… she would break… she wouldn't be able to handle losing the one man she loved…

"Ellie you alright? You look jumpy." Isaac asked concerned as he looked at Ellie who was tensed up.

"Yeah… It's nothing really." Ellie quickly replied back.

Before Isaac could continue, the tram passed through the public district as it approached the nearby tram station.

"Isaac, look!" Ellie shouted while pointing down at the public district.

The tram was moving through magnetic cables that linked the hospital to the tram station while the public district was right below them. From up in the tram, Isaac could see that half of the public district was dark without power while fires raged throughout some parts of it.

"Holy crap…" Isaac muttered to himself.

"And we're going through that?" Ellie asked.

"Well, it's the fastest way to reach the ship yards now that we can't go back to the docking bay and EarthGov is definitely going to have a hard time tracking us or following us through there." replied Isaac while looking down at the public district.

"It's going to be dangerous down there, that's for sure."

"Yeah, but we've been through worse right?" Isaac replied while turning to face Ellie as she smiled under her face visor.

Just then, the tram arrived at the public district station as the automated voice spoke.

"Arriving at public district. I repeat. Arriving at public district. Door's opening."

As the doors opened, Isaac and Ellie cautiously walked out, both of them wielding pulse rifles looking around only to be confused by the lack of people. The tram station they were in was completely abandoned. The entire place was a mess, luggage were strewn around, other trams were dead in their tracks without power, some vending machines were smashed with their goods looted and some public benches were thrown all over the place. But other than the signs that an entire parade of angry people just passed here, there wasn't a single soul in sight.

"Looks like we're late to the party." Isaac remarked while checking the waypoint.

"Where's everyone?" Ellie asked.

"No idea… Anyway let's not waste time, follow me." Isaac replied while checking his waypoint.

The waypoint eventually led them to a huge door that read:

Public District Shopping Center.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Isaac muttered as he used his kinesis module to shove some wreckage blocking the door.

Opening the doors, the two saw the chaos that engulfed this part of the public district. The shopping mall they were in had three floors with them being on the second. Looking down, both Isaac and Ellie saw as anarchy took to the streets of the complex. Looters were running about robbing things as people ran about, some killing each other while others trying to hide or running away. On the floor they were on, things weren't 'that' bad. There were looters but most of the people were hiding inside the stores cowering in fear.

Suddenly Isaac heard someone shouting from the third floor directly above them.

"There he is! It's Isaac Clarke, open fire!" shouted the voice from above before several blue laser sights started aiming at him. Not wanting to find out who was shouting, Isaac and Ellie began running.

Ten minutes earlier

Back at the Odyssey Station Security Force Headquarters, things weren't looking very bright. Office and security staff ran about as phones constantly ran reporting the current situation. The good news was that the public district was the only area affected by the power break leaving the other areas relatively unaffected with no reports of unrest coming from them. Also, only half of the public district was affected by the power break and a repair crew escorted by security forces was on their way to repair the damaged transformers and generators. The bad news was that the public district was the biggest district in the station. Also, the repair crew's efforts to bring the power back online were being hampered by the Unitologist protestors who crowded the area. To make things worse, anarchy and civil unrest had appeared in the affected areas and were spreading like a wildfire to even the non affected areas. Not to mention they lacked the manpower to stop it.

"Sir! Reports of fire spreading at Odyssey Medical Hospital!" said one of the staff.

"Captain! Another protest is occurring at the Unitologist Church in Sector three!" shouted another.

The amount of reports coming in was overwhelming for Captain Martinez who was watching and viewing the entire situation from a giant monitor in the command center of the headquarters. If only they had more manpower. Most of the EarthGov military forces stationed here had either left for Titan Station or were busy handling the refugees to assist the station security (the forces that remained behind). Thank god the refugees were still under control and were being handled by the military, the worst thing that could happen was that the refugees went out of control. The reason they lacked manpower was because most of the security forces were stationed at the public district when the power was cut causing them to be disorganized and confused.

Suddenly he heard one of the staff shout.

"Captain! There's one of our guys out there, his name is Sergeant First Class Kojo and he's insisting that he speaks to you!"

"Patch him through." Martinez said while looking at the monitor.

"Yes sir." Replied the staff.

"Captain Martinez?! We got a situation here!" with a video link of Kojo appearing on the main monitor.

"It better be damn important because I have people telling me that public district is busy tearing itself apart. What is it sergeant?"

"It's Clarke sir! Isaac Clarke!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about sergeant?" replied Martinez.

"Captain the terrorist Isaac Clarke, I just saw him just now. As a matter of fact I just engaged with him earlier at the hospital. However I lost him, but I know where he is."

"What?! Where is he now sergeant?"

"He's at public district sector six captain. Requesting reinforcements so I can pursue him."

"Negative sergeant, we don't have enough manpower."

"We're just going to let him go?!"

"No. I'm sending a gunship to your position right now. Also I'm alerting all current forces about his presence. Sergeant what is his current description?"

"He's disguising as one of the Titan Security forces sir, Corporal Keith Johnson to be precise."

"Understood sergeant, hold your current position, the gunship will arrive shortly."

"Yes sir."

"Oh sergeant, one more thing."

"Yes captain?"

"EarthGov had instructed me to initiate red protocol echo six on Isaac Clarke."

"Yes sir."

"What's red protocol echo six again Kojo?" asked Frank as Kojo closed the video link.

"It means shoot to kill."

Author's Notes: Things are really starting to escalate from here. Hope you guys enjoy the story so far. xP