so this chapter's qoute, i know there is a real quote along the lines of it, but i cant think of it exactly right now, or who said it. if you know it, tell me. anyway, hope you all enjoy this, and i really wish more people read this.
It isn't the calm, calculated soldier you should be afraid of. He can be predicted, countered. The insane, desperate one is the real threat, for you can never truly know what he might do. -Unknown
Lone Sniper, Pittsburg, October 2031
Anya jumped as a crack filled the small room, glass from the window splintering into the room. Anya near instantly dropped to the floor, the whole group doing the same as more cracks ripped through the room, more glass and chunks of wood following the bullets now tearing through the home. She could hear some one screaming over the sound of gunfire. Suddenly, the gunfire ceased, whoever had been screaming now groaning in agony.
"who's hit?" Molina's voice rang out in the sudden echoing silence.
"it's Wyatt. Shoulder, clean through." Brandon was speaking now, Anya unable to stop shaking. She slowly started to try to look over her body, looking for any sign of blood. She had a strange tingle-ly feeling on her shoulder. Her hand slipped up to it, coming away red and wet.
"G-guys!" she felt hands on her shoulder that weren't her own, Cameron speaking.
"you're fine, it's just a graze!" she nodded, still shaking. Suddenly, there was a deafening boom, the main door blasting apart. Anya's head was spinning as an armored trooper rushed in, only for a long black shaft to rip into his throat. He staggered around in the doorway, his advanced bullpup clattering to the floor as he clawed at the arrow. The next soldier trying to rush into the room got stopped up trying to shove the dying comrade out of the way, causing a fatal mistake for the entire breach team. Both Brandon and dale alternating their firing, booming shotgun blasts mixing with short bursts of automatic fire. Several soldiers corpses stacked up on each other, soldiers no longer able to navigate the door due to their dying brethren.
"Move! Go for the tunnel!" She scrabbled across the floor, heading for the door to the garage. Liz was ahead of her, already on her feet and wrenching the door open. Anya was right behind her, the other's trickling through behind them. Wyatt was being supported by Liz's father, looking like he was half conscious. His entire right arm and shoulder was covered in blood.
"Wyatt!" he glanced up at her, a faint smirk on his face.
"Just get in the tunnel Anya, I'm right behind you!" Anya nodded, unslinging her sniper rifle and dropping it into the fifteen foot shaft they had dug through the concrete, right into Cameron's waiting arms. Everyone else was already down there as she started to slide onto the ladder. There was an indescribable metal on metal screech, the reinforced garage door having what looked like a katana rammed into it. she watched as it raked down the metal, making a long gash that a pair of metallic hands forced apart. A strange metal humanoid thing stepped through the hole it had made, a single red glowing eye in the center of it's face. The rest of it's body was covered in black steel plating. On it's back was a black katana like weapon, much thicker and heavier than an actual katana. It pulled the weapon off it's back, slamming the flat edge against both Wyatt and James. They hit the concrete floor, both twitching as if they had been electrocuted. James stumbled to his feet, raising the scoped lever action and fired. The heavy forty yacht seventy round pinged off the chest of the mech, barely rocking the chest back as it walked towards them. He managed to fire off two more shots, feverishly working the lever on the weapon. Once the mech was closer, it swung the katana at him, him raising the hunting rifle to block the swing. But the steel and wood was no match for the powerful swing of the mech, the sword hacking through the gun and into his chest. Anya shrieked as she went for her pistol, only to be dragged down the ladder and into the tunnel. She struggled and squirmed, trying to break free as someone dragged her back, right past several explosives.
()
Denver, December 2031
Anya's eyes opened, almost sealed shut by the crusty remains of tears. She moved her hand to wipe the remains away, startled when she realized that she was holding a piece of paper. Confused, she groggily unwrinkled it, looking at the hastily written words on the ripped half sheet.
Anya, don't go anywhere without me. Just doing some recon, will be back soon. Don't do anything stupid, I can handle myself, just stay there, please.
She smiled a little as she read the messy words, able to tell just how confused and hesitant he had been in writing it. she set the note down, wiping the crusty substance off her eyes, her eyes instinctively finding her gear. She almost instantly saw that her rifle was missing, about to panic when she realized that his rifle an helmet were still there, guessing that he was borrowing the weapon for it's scope. The window's were still dark, but faint traces of grey showed that morning was on it's way. Pain shot through her leg as she staggered to her feet. She winced, grinding her teeth as she swayed for a second, the searing pain throughout her thigh threatening to topple her. she managed to regain her balance and took a step toward the gear, barely managing to crouch at it. after a few minutes, she had managed to strap on her equipment belt and holster, scooping up Wander's weapon to check if it was loaded. She cursed as she accidently ejected a round, holding the bolt back as she slipped it back in the chamber. The bolt nearly caught her finger as she gently shoved the rounds in the magazine as she let the bolt forward, trying to prevent a type of jam known as double feeding. Once the bolt was locked in place, she checked the safety, only knowing where it was by watching Wander. It was locked to the rear, causing her to set the weapon down, satisfied. As soon as she was done, she rolled onto her rear, leaning up against the couch to wait. With out thinking, she picked up Wanders helmet, smiling slightly as she recognized the design. It was almost the same as the helmet one of her old friends wore, down to the camo patterned cover and flashlight mounted on the side. It even had the same electronic ear protection mounted on it, but something about his seemed different. Cables ran from the earpro to a blocky box on the back of the helmet, a similar cable running along the side of the helmet to a set of ballistic eye protection that was built into the front. There was a port on the bottom of the box that something connected into. She stared at the set up, completely confused until the door opening drew her attention, nearly reaching for the rifle until she realized that it was just the mother stepping out of the hallway.
"Oh, good morning." She smiled warmly as she stepped toward the small kitchen, Anya unable to not return it. "Where's your friend?" she shrugged, not actually knowing where he had gone.
"He's out. Said he had something to do." She smiled, stopping as she past the table, picking up a torn piece of paper.
"Oh, that's sweet of him." Anya gave her a puzzled expression, the woman continuing to speak on her own. "He left a note asking for me to keep an eye on you. Said he was worried about you. He should be back shortly, by the time estimate he gave." Anya nodded, about to speak as a crack ripped through the house, blood spattering across one of the walls as the window shattered. Anya watched in horror as the woman slumped to the floor, her eyes blank and emotionless. There were screams as more gunshots ripped through the house, Anya readying Wanders rifle. As soon as the shots ceased, she leapt to her feet, rushing into the hall way to find the father slumped up against the wall, already dead. She ignored the pain in her leg as she slammed into the door of what she guessed was the kids room, falling onto her side as the door collapsed. She froze where she was, recognizing the metallic humanoid standing in the room, a rifle in one hand, the girl in the other. It's red eye highlighted. The older boy was lying on the floor, half cover in bloody blankets, anya forcing herself to look away from the corpse as she snapped the weapon up and fired, still lying on her side. The weapon bucked painfully against her shoulder in the awkward position she was in, her first round shattering on it's steel plating. It casually tossed the screaming child aside, advancing on her while dropping the rifle, it's now freed hand reaching for the blade on it's back. Anya continued to fire, the heavy rounds doing nothing more than rock the chassis and scuff the paint. The rifle pinged, ejecting the clip. She panicked, reaching for her sidearm. The hulking machine stopped for a second, just about to reach her when an armored form barreled through the smashed window. It didn't get the chance to turn around as Wander rammed the Mosin up into the back of its head and fired. Sparks and bits of electronics blew back over the weapon, it's single red eye flickering out before it slumped over, slamming to the ground with a crunch. Her entire body quivered as he dropped her rifle in her lap.
"on your feet. There's gotta be a dozen of those things out there. They are out of ammo, so this is our chance to run." She nodded, stumbling to her feet as he scooped his rifle up, the dog trotting over to the crying girl in the corner. She was about to limp over to her as Wander suddenly stopped her, unclipping the bandolier and slipping her own back on her. "I'm sorry, I owe you five rounds." She smirked, stepping past him and helping the kid up.
"Come on, we gotta go. Your parents…. They… they didn't make it." the kid nodded, attempting to wipe her tears away.
"Alright, I'm gonna draw their attention, meet me at that department store from last night. Where's my helmet?" she gestured toward the living room.
"Sorry, I didn't grab it." he shrugged, seeming to take a deep breath.
"Anya, these are not like the Stalkers. Do not, under any circumstance, engage. If I am not at that store in ten minutes, get the hell out of here. Do I make myself clear?" she nodded and he darted out of the room, his dog hot on his heals. She waited a minute or so, until she heard gunshots. As soon as she did, she grabbed the kids hand and pulled her out the window.
()
I ran out into the living area, leaping past the two corpse in my way. My helmet was sitting on the floor, right next to the couch. I quickly grabbed it and lugged the cord bouncing on my back into it. there was a two second boot up logo, displaying the Crye tech logo in a blue hologram on my ballistic visor, just before targets started highlighting outside, using the Koreans own Identify friend or foe system to track the Mechs known as Oni outside. One was stepping up to the window, a clear red diamond surrounding it on the heads up display. I aimed and fired, watching the two rounds ping off the armor before yanking the door open and slipping out into the hall. In seconds, I was out the door, ramming through the glass door leading outside. Five of the Oni were marching straight for me, blades already drawn. I ran straight at one, firing my rifle as fast as I accurately could, focusing on it's right arm joint. Only two of the rounds connected, but the severing of it's hydraulic lines caused dark brown liquid to spurt across the thin snow on the ground, dropping the bladed weapon as well. I shoulder charged it, my empty weapon being almost useless now. pain ripped through my shoulder as both myself and the mech fell to the snow. Before I could think to react, it grabbed me with it's unharmed arm, throwing me several feet away. pain ripped across my body as I bounced across the surface, the thin snow doing nothing to soften the landing on hard concrete. I managed to yank another clip out of my bandolier, loading it and firing at the mech's knee join. My round ripped into it, tearing hydraulic lines again, but the mech kept moving dragging itself along with it's good arm and leg. I cursed, narrowly ducking a swing by one of the other mechs before dancing a few feet away, firing a trio of round into it's head. The three rounds did no more than stagger the mech, but it was enough for me to get further away.
"Roxy, find Anya, stay with her. Anya is in charge of you now!" the dog whimpered as more of the Oni closed in, completely ignoring her. one snap of my fingers and she was gone, running through the snow and leaving me alone. Of the original five I had engaged, two of them were within twenty feet of me. One was crawling after me, the other having scrapes in it's paint on the face, but nothing else. Three more were advancing from the apartment, from the smashed window of the kids room, joining those already out there. Three more were marching from around one of the corners of the building, the last of the standard dozen deployed being the one I had already disabled. I aimed at the closest again, firing a pair of rounds into it's knee to slow it down before taking off running, headed for the otherside of the larger street, hoping to use the buildings to slip away. suddenly, more red diamonds appeared ahead of me, advancing through the building. The only reason I knew they were there being the IFF systems on them. I instantly veared, headed down the street. Three of the ONI moved into a position to block me, a growl slipping out of my throat. I aimed and fired at the center one of the three, the two remaining rounds in my weapon staggering it for a second as I attempted to run past. But it seemed to have known what I was planning, sticking it's blade out and slapping the flat side against my shoulder, and electric current ripping through the leather and fabric like it wasn't even there. My vision blurred out, not even realizing that I had hit the snow. My empty weapon was still firmly in my hands, but my entire body was twitching and not following any command I tried to give it. one of the ONI, likely the one I had tried to run by was now standing over me, raising it's blade to strike a killing blow. I tried to reach for my handgun, fumbling with the clasp that kept it in the holster. Before I could draw the weapon, a blurred mass slammed into the Oni, my eyes catching sight of her in time to recognize Anya, her weapon slung as she rammed her pistol into it's chin, firing several rounds. The light shorted and died as she fired, marking the rounds as having killed it. she quickly scrabbled to her feet and grabbed the handle on my armor, dragging me as fast as she could. I managed to pull my hand gun, my hands shaking so badly that I missed with all but two rounds of the eight round magazine, the two rounds that connected hitting way off my aim point of an Oni's knee, one on it's chest, the other into it's shoulder joint, jamming it. I quickly fought to my feet, shakily running after anya as she signaled at the kid, Roxy being hot on our tails. Even with her limp, she was still managing to run better than I was, every muscle in my body feeling like lead. We ran for what seemed like an eternity, none of us wanting to stop. Suddenly, Anya collapsed into the snow, her breath nothing more than ragged gasps. I quickly looked around, seeing an abandoned restaurant and pointing the kid towards it. She nodded and ran towards the building, opening the door as I scooped Anya up, having a lot more difficulty than I should have. As soon as I had carried her in, I lead the way to the dark kitchens, setting her on her feet just long enough to flick my helmet light on, moving to the former meat locker and half carrying her into it. as soon as we were in, I slammed the door shut, panting.
"Anya….. that… was fucking…. Stupid….. of you!" she just groaned as I reloaded my rifle, very glad that I had managed to hang onto it through the whole chase. I looked around the meat locker as I tried to tell if the HUD was managing to get signals out, which it likely wasn't. Even though the walk in freezer was unpowered, it was still bitterly cold, the kid shivering. I quickly dropped my jacket and handed it too her, which she quietly thanked me for. I pulled my helmet off, setting it on one of the shelves as I continued to fight for air, letting the sweat dry on my skin, leaching warmth away whether I liked it or not. Before I could react, Anya was wrapping her arms around me, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't you dare ever tell me to abandon you again! I could have lost you Damien!" I was utterly bewildered for a few seconds, hugging her back, only to be totally shocked again as her lips met mine. I couldn't help but kiss her back, not letting go for several minutes. She finally broke off the kiss, looking as confused as I was. She moved to step away, looking almost frightened, but I didn't let her, hugging her tighter. There is no way I am letting go of her now. Looks like Roxy gets to keep her friend after all. "I shouldn't have done that, i…. I really shouln't have…." I cut her off, putting a finger on her mouth.
"Stop. I'm kinda glad you did. I'm sorry Anya. I….." I wanted to tell her everything, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the words to come out. She reached up and wiped a tear off my cheek, not even knowing I was crying.
"Okay."
