Chapter 10: Enemies lead towards enemies
At Alexei's house
Ven arrives at the wooden home, untouched from the machines. He looks in front of the house and sees the CD player, still shattered on the floor, but no Alexei. He pans around the area to find him and begins to worry. Suddenly, the russian pig appears in front of the porch, carrying what appears to be a hammer. Ven's expression showed relief that his friend was not harmed during this disaster. Alexei approaches the CD player, and turns to Ven.
"About time," said the dark brown guinea pig. His voice filled with dismay,"You have my gun?" Ven gestures at the pouch and unbuckles the belt. "Good, you've done well."
Ven puts the belt onto the table in front of the course, and returns to Alexei, "What are you up to?" asked Ven.
"You'll see."
Alexei begins to hammer the machine, prying off the pieces as he goes along. Ven walks up next to Alexei, curious on what he's gathering on about. Ven studies the machine and sees a bright blue light glowing around the area Alexei was hammering at. Ven squints to get a better look, but can't make out what it is.
"Grab a hammer and help me break this," barked Alexei. Alexei hands Ven a second hammer that Alexei had brung out. The two begin to hammer away at the broken CD player. After a few good hits, the item in question begins to show itself, and appears to be a chip. It was gray in appearance, but had a blue tint from the electricity flowing in it. It had the word 'Saberling' marked on it, and a timer that read '00:00:00'.
"A computer chip?" asked Ven.
"Not just any chip," said Alexei. "I've seen this technology before." Alexei reaches into the machine and plucks the chip out of it. Ven silently watches and listens. "It's a receiver.. Military grade." Alexei studies the chip in even further detail, "Yeah.. We have these back home, they're designed to be put on unmanned drones or weapons."
Ven looks at the small timer at the top, "It has a clock."
"A timer.. Probably to tell the machines when to activate." Alexei looks in the distance to the village. "This chip is probably in all of the machines."
"Any idea why?" asked Ven.
"Nope... But.." Alexei thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. "If it's a transceiver, then whatever sent the signal out, can send it back."
"It's trackable..."
"Yes. But better yet, it's possible to back track where the signal was sent sent from." He turns to look at Ven. "We can find out who did all of this."
"How are you gonna figure that out?"
Alexei puts down the chip and begins to walk back inside his home, Ven follows. Alexei walks into his room, turning on the battery powered lamp and shoves the bed aside. Underneath it was a compartment, concealed by the wood floor. Alexei digs his finger on the sides and lifts the wood up revealing the contents. Inside was a plethora of gear, given to Alexei from russia. Included were some binoculars, a knife, satellite radio, a regular AM/FM radio, a handheld PDA, a vest, some general tools, and a IRP (Individualnovo Ratsiona Pitanee - The russian version of an MRE). There was a slot for a weapon and some ammo, but it was empty. Next to the case were a pair of keys, one that looks like it goes to a vehicle.
"This is... interesting," said Ven. "I've never seen this."
Alexei picks up the PDA and the satellite radio, "All this gear was given to me for my mission in America, but I had no use for it, until now."
"What's with the keys?"
"Don't worry about it. Come.."
Alexei walks back out his room gesturing Ven to follow. Ven knows in the back of his mind, they're for something important. Ven begins to walk out of the room, eyes fixed on the keys as he leaves. As he walks outdoors, he spots Alexei hooking up the chip to the PDA, using an adapter. He kneels down, blows the dust off the PDA, and powers it on. Ven walks up behind Alexei, and looks at the screen of the PDA. It reads in russian, but at the top was labeled, "S.O.A.D".
"You know, I remember you telling me that you came from russia, and that you used to be a spy," remarked Ven. "But you never told me who you worked for exactly."
Alexei paused then continued hooking up the PDA, "It's not worth telling who I work for.. Use to work for.. Because you already know."
"SOAD." Ven read the text on the PDA.
"Yup, Special Operations Animal Division." Alexei successfully hooks up the machine and attempts to see if the PDA recognizes the chip.
"Was your job a tech specialist?" asked Ven.
"Intelligence. My job was to infiltrate highly secure area's and gather information."
The PDA beeps, signaling that it recognizes the chip. Alexei peers into the screen, going through the info. Ven attempts to read it, but can't understand the language.
"I was right," said Alexei. "These specs match the database.. The chip is used in the unmanned US military weapons program."
"So the country attacked itself..."
"Seems like it."
"That doesn't make any sense. Who would use their own weapons to hurt themselves?"
Alexei thought for a moment, "Maybe it wasn't the government itself, hold on."
Alexei digs into the files of the chip, and attempts to get the ip address. The chip locks him out, asking for an admin password.
"Shit," spurted Alexei. "Of course the files are password protected."
"You can't get in?"
"No I can."
Alexei stands up taking the PDA and the chip indoors. Ven grabs the radio, as well as the holster, and follows. Inside, Alexei sets the chip and PDA on top of the workbench, then heads around the corner to his room. Ven sets the radio down next to the workbench, places the holster onto the table, and falls onto the couch, exhausted from the events earlier. Alexei re-appears around the corner, with another device in his hand, waiving it in the air.
"This baby will get us in," shouted Alexei.
"What is it?" asked Ven.
"It's a code breaker. Designed to break passwords."
"I'm pretty sure your primary job was hacking."
"Nah.. I can do it, but it's not my job. That position belonged to one of my-"
He suddenly stopped short, as if something had hit him emotionally. Ven intervened, "One of your..?"
"Teammates.. A comrade."
Alexei trembled, but shrugs it off, continuing to work on the PDA. Ven felt the pain in his voice and decides to change the subject.
"So, how does that thing work?" asked Ven.
"I-It's generates random code based off probability."
"Sounds complex, does it take long?"
"Depends on how advanced the code is on the chip." Alexei lectured. "Could take a few minutes, could take all night. I have to mess around with the settings to get the best chance."
"Hmm.."
Ven leans back and begins to rest on the couch as Alexei continues the decoding.
Back at Ven's Home
Tibbetts is sitting up against the wall tending to Elliot, awaiting for her to wake up. He was dozing off, about to fully pass out. Suddenly, and abruptly, the front door blasts open, shattering in pieces. Tibbetts sharply gets up and retreats behind Elliot. A blender tries to fit inside, but can't. Instead, It busts down the wall, collapsing that half of the house. Tibbetts doesn't say a word and is in pure shock. The red blender turns around and looks at Elliot and Tibbetts. It raises one of it's legs and swings at Elliot. The sharp blade pierces through her neck and blood splatters everywhere. Tibbetts retreats even further up against the wall. The machine lifts the arms and swiftly attacks Tibbetts. The sharp blade is the last thing Tibbetts sees before it begins to cut into Tibbetts' chest. Tibbetts shrieks widly in panic-
A loud knock on the door. Tibbetts awakes, dazed and disrupted from a nightmare. The door opens, and Tibbetts turns to see who it is. It was Ellis, the newly chosen doctor. Along with him, some people to assist him.
"Tibbetts.. I was wondering where you where at," said Ellis.
Tibbetts trembles for a sec, trying to shake off the nightmare. "W-what do you want?"
"I'm getting accountability for everyone, and gathering the wounded." Ellis shifted his eyes over next to Tibbetts and sees another guinea pig, lying flat on the ground. "Who's that?" asked Ellis.
"That's Elliot.. Ven's mother."
"And you're just in here with her.."
"I'm taking care of her, she's paralyzed from the chest down."
"How do you know that?"
Tibbetts sneered, "It's a secret, I'm not gonna tell the pretend doctor, fuck that guy."
"Yeah, your real fucking funny you know that?"
"Oh, I'm hilarious."
Ellis kneels down next to Tibbetts, and speaks to him softly, "You know, if there wasn't a group of people behind me right now, I would fucking beat the shit out of you."
"Do it, you won't.."
"Did you not just hear what I said-"
"NO BALLS!"
Ellis stands back up, "I don't have time for this shit, leave this house!"
"Make me."
Ellis glares at Tibbetts, then gestures to the group next to him. They obey and approach Tibbetts, about to pick him up. Tibbetts places his hand in front of guinea pigs, and stands up under his own power. He sighs, then points at Ellis.
"Leave her be.. She really is paralyzed." Tibbetts continues. "Make sure she lies straight like she is now, otherwise, you could kill her. And I swear if you do.."
"My job is to save people.. Why would I kill her?"
"You seem to have a lack of knowledge."
"Believe what you want to believe.. She'll be fine."
"She better be fine, or else."
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"Not me, Ven."
"Pfft, I don't even think Ven cares about his family. He's not even here... Anyway you're wasting my time, please."
Tibbetts raises his arms, "Where am I gonna go?"
"Home.. You're house isn't damaged."
"Wait, really?"
Tibbetts heads to the window and searches for his home. He spots it, sure enough, in perfect condition. In awe, he exits the home. Almost immediatly the door behind him slams. Confused, Tibbetts walks over to the side of the home, and looks in through the window.
"You know there's a window here, right?" said Tibbetts towards Ellis.
"GO!" shouted Ellis, seeming very annoyed at this point.
Tibbetts smiles and turns his back, walking towards his home.
The Next Morning, Alexei's home
Everyone was asleep in the Alexei residence. Ven had blacked out on the couch from exhaustion, and Alexei fell asleep on the workbench. The PDA was still on, asking for a password. The morning sunshine, was exceedingly bright, and lit the interior with brilliance. It was peaceful, until suddenly a knock came from the front door. Ven instantly awoke and peered over to the front of the leaving room, eyes bloodshot from sleeping. He sits upright, groggy from bad sleep. The door knocks again. Ven wonders who it could be and looks over to Alexei, who is beginning to wake up. Ven grabs the pistol from the table and slowly walks to the front door. He opens it halfway, with the pistol concealed behind his back. It was Tibbetts!
"What? Why are you here?" said Ven leaning on the door.
"Uh, there's something I wanna show you," responded Tibbetts.
Alexei, finally awake, overhears in the back. "Who is it?" said the russian pig. "Is it those bitches from a couple nights ago? Oh wait, they're probably dead..."
"It's Tibbetts."
"That's even worse!"
"I wanted to show you guys something," remarked Tibbetts.
Alexei continues to ramble from around the corner of the house, "Like what.. Did you finally find your penis?"
"Seriously.."
"I am serious, did you manage to find it?"
Tibbetts murmured, "I definitely found something..."
"Is it your penis?"
Tibbetts sighs, "It involves last night!"
Ven interrupts, "What about last night?"
"It's on the TV.. T-the news channel. Something you might wanna check out."
"What's on it?"
Tibbetts glared at Ven for a few seconds, "Yourself.."
Ven's expression turned questionable, and curious. He looks over to Alexei, who came from around the corner.
"Follow me," said Tibbetts.
