Chapter 11
Alex mentioned that once Heller consumed him all the infected will be taken into his body, so the Red Zone where the virus was momentarily contained in would be a good place to start the search.
Our military forms were up, and we tamed a Marine truck that was abandoned but quite intact. Yuki suggested that we find Alex by a more socially acceptable method than running up roofs, so here we were. She placed herself in the side seat and armed herself with an assault rifle, just in case things get messed up. I was, of course, the unfortunate driver.
As we cruised along the unilluminated road populated by infected people the military radio came talking. "Attention, infiltrating Marine Corps. personnel vehicle, uh, AMC-2045X, you are trespassing into Blackwatch-occupied territory. About-turn and leave, or we will deploy lethal force. Over." I gripped the steering wheel, and glanced at Yuki. "We should back off, or they'd be chasing us down next."
She chuckled a little. "No, Ryutsuri," she said confidently, "you know Alex. This is exactly the kind of place he'd go to for fun." Well, whatever, her conjecture of that guy's whereabouts seemed much more detailed than mine, so I put a little more strain on the gas and cruised on. The radio woke again. "Foxtrot and Echo, we have an unauthorized vehicle entering our premises. Intercept and neutralize, over." Yuki puffed, readying her rifle.
Sure enough, the electric blue visors of Blackwatch troopers lined up on the streets before us, and each of their weapons flashed as they unloaded bullets on us. Yuki poked her head out and fired, knocking out a few of them before our truck rammed through the rest. Patrolling soldiers along the way opened up as well, but they were swiftly shot down by her. More Blackwatch trucks appeared as we intruded further, and attempted to drive us off the road, but Yuki's surprising marksmanship left each of those vehicles driver-less and skidding into lamp posts.
"Command, command," came a shrill yelp from the radio, "we have located both Alex Mercer and James Heller. Targets are fighting each other on the roof of a house in Sector Delta Charlie. The bulk of our forces are on standby on surrounding buildings. Please advise, over." "Roger, do not engage. Remain to observe," came the reply.
Freeing one of my hands I opened a scribbled-on map under the dashboard, and pinpointed Sector Delta Charlie, not very far from our position. Wait. Shit.
"Yuki! Armor!" I yelled, as a platoon of tanks and helicopters appeared from the darkness. From afar I could feel their weapons spin and heat, weapons that would rip our truck to shreds in mere seconds. Yuki squeezed from her seat to mine, until she sat on my lap. She locked our arms together, and kicked open the door. "Brace, Ryutsuri," she reminded, and with her free hand she launched her sharp whip which anchored nicely onto the concrete of an office building. The weapon tightened and retracted, taking Yuki and me with it. We swung diagonally like on a trapeze, and crashed clumsily through the windows. Our truck met a slightly more pessimistic fate, as the explosives ejected from the enemy vehicles rendered it a hunk of junk.
We stayed under cover in the building for a while still a little shell shocked from the impact. No, we shouldn't be. Alex. I sprung up, and dragged Yuki along. We're not far from them, we can get there by roof. So up the stairs we went until we burst through onto the top of the building, and at a distance, helicopter spotlights converged and illumined the arena where they battled…
…no, there's no battle, for the battle had already ended.
Alex was on his knees, his arms a pair of hemorrhaging stumps. Sabrina and the other evolved ones were not there. He looked up, as Heller pinched him by his collar and held him up. The latter transformed his arm into a claw, and swung. And swung, and swung…
I wanted to leap down, rush there and put a hole in Heller's head, but Yuki grabbed me. "He's lost," she whispered, "his arms aren't healing, they've taken too much damage. He's lost." Down there, Heller continued to attack, Alex kneeling, remaining still as bits of his body dissolved into his enemy's body. Little by little, he rotted, into a cloudy black swarm of biomass, and injected itself into Heller's chest, provoking a beast-like roar that sung of that presumably tsunami of energy. But it didn't end. Heller clutched himself, spasming, and with a blast, thousands of tendrils exploded from his waist, running through the streets, impaling every single zombie that roamed the roads. "Take cover!" I was held down by Yuki, as the tendrils missed us by a hair. Finally, that barrage retreated, and as we got up all we saw was Heller patting his chest, and walking off. He doesn't know…
I freed my legs and tried to get to him, to cut him down, but Yuki stopped me again. "Alex hid his daughter in a safe place, safe from that massive attack. James now knows where that is, let him save her." I protested, but she lowered me softly onto her lap, and put her palm on my face. She caressed my forehead, slid down, and closed my eyes. "Sleep."
Darkness.