This is the beginning of the end.
Disclaimer: I don't own TDI or any of its characters. Nor do I own Battle Royale 2: Requiem and all the stuff I'm stealing from it.
Chapter 12
"Hold your fire until I say." Chris called out to the others. Chris looked to his left, where Noah stood, then Heather at the far side. Chris then turned to his right, where Eva stood right next to him, and Harold at the far right. Their fingers rubbed against the triggers of their guns. The soldiers began to exit the forest and make their way to the complex. There were dozens of them. As the soldiers moved through the open grass and up to the ruins they began to fire their guns at the complex. The teens were quick to duck to avoid fire, except Heather, she remained poised.
The soldiers were fast. They traveled in a tight formation. It did not take long for them to reach the ruins. The soldiers entered into the tight path up the hill to the complex. The teens got more nervous the closer the soldiers came. Eva's trigger finger was twitching. Noah's whole body began to shake which made it hard for him to aim at any specific target.
"Now!" Chris yelled out as he pulled down the trigger of his rifle. Chris blew the head of the leader, cocked, shot, cocked, shot, the next two closed soldiers were dead on the ground too.
Bullets rained down from the complex as the teens fired their automatic rifles. The soldiers struggled to find any kind of cover. Heathers bullets were the most accurate of the students and most deadly, almost as fast as Chris, Heather bagged three of them. She tried to feel no emotion, be an empty shell, of death.
At the other side of the complex, Harold had the clearest shot. One soldier struggled to find cover. He was Harold's first kill. It did not give Harold any satisfaction, not yet anyway, he needed that second kill. When a soldier peeked out of cover Harold splattered him with bullets. Satisfaction finally swept over him. Statistically he had served a purpose, done something. He had taken out two of their guys by himself, 2 for 1. When two enemies tried to tend to a wounded, Harold was given an easy two addition to his count. As he fired down at the rest he began to yell out at the top of his lungs in a warcry, "Ahhh!"
Noah was not doing as well. He was finding it really hard to actually aim for another human being. Instead he found himself aiming over heads and at their cover. When a stray bullet of his collided with the skull of a soldier, Noah paused for a second. Taking deep breaths Noah didn't know how to feel. He decided anger was the only suitable emotion.
Anger was flowing through Eva's blood. She didn't care where her bullets were going. She didn't even bother aiming she just fired her gun in the soldiers general direction. Just the sheer act of fighting back was enough for her. This was what she needed, and had hoped for, a chance to fight for something she believed in. She belonged in this kind of organized chaos. Two soldiers fell from her bullets.
As the first wave was nearly decimated a second wave of soldiers began their ascent up the path. It was hard for Noah to concentrate. He had so many thoughts running through his head. One such thought was that if Chris hadn't seen the teens' collars, they wouldn't have made it all the way up to the complex alive.
The numbness of Heather's body, mind, and soul was even starting to scare Heather herself. There was a time when all this killing and bloodshed would have horrified her. But those days were long gone, she was a hollow version of what she once was. The only emotions she could feel were regret and contempt.
Firing his gun towards the second wave Harold continued his battlecry. Another soldier fell to the ground seemingly from his gun. One of the few remaining soldiers from the first wave made a mad dash towards the left entrance of the complex. The guy ran right down the sight of Harold, who unloaded the rest of his clip on him but without any hits. Eva fired some shots on the guy, one of her bullets grazed the soldier's shoulder, the man seemed unfazed and kept going at the same pace.
Chris put the man in his sights. He followed the guy's movement with his rifle, waiting for the single shot. Harold knelt down into cover as he reloaded his gun. He eyed the left side staircase, realizing his vulnerability. With only a few feet to go, Chris had to stick his entire body out the window to track the soldier. Just a single shot, Chris wasn't happy with it's execution but it did the job. His bullet struck the man in the chest right below the neck. The soldier squandered around a little with a fountain of blood gushing out before finally collapsing on the floor.
Still reloading his gun Harold peeked his head out the window down to see the dead soldier's body in front of him directly below on the ground. With relief Harold began to retract his head back behind on cover. In passing something caught Harold's attention. His eyes widened as he saw a soldier aim an RPG directly at him. "Get Down!" Harold cried to the others as he tried to jump out of his position. The rocket flew right into the left side of the building. The explosion engulfed Harold sending his body flying against the back wall.
"Harold!" Eva yelled out, but no response came from the motionless corpse. Thanks to Harold's warning Eva was able to duck down enough that even though she was tossed by the explosion, she avoided any major injury.
Looking at the dead boy's corpse Chris turned right back to his scope. He quickly surveyed the area until he found the bastard holding the RPG. Fuelled with rage Chris fired three bullet's into the guy, making sure he was dead. Chris then made sure the two nearest soldiers were just as dead.
With Harold gone and Eva still recuperating from the blast, the defender's left side had become exposed. Heather ran from her position over to the opposite side. On the way over she glanced at the nerd boy's body. A single tear ran down her cheek as she ran to take over his position. When she got there though she began to get barraged by bullets making it hard for her to get out of cover and get any good shots off, instead necessitated to sticking her gun out of cover and firing randomly, which proved to be inefficient.
About half a dozen soldiers made a break for the left side entrance. Chris fired the last of his bullets striking one of them. He knelt down and quickly reloaded his gun. Knowing he wasn't going to be fast enough he took pre-emptive measures and began running towards the left side staircase. He dropped his sniper rifle and grabbed an automatic in passing. "I'm heading for the trigger to the mines!"
Eva had picked herself up and been able to snap back to reality. She took her place directly next to where Heather was standing. "I'm going too!" Heather called out as she abandoned her station and ran after Chris. This left Eva and Noah who fired down on the lead group, Eva was able to shoot their leader, making the small squad hesitate for a second.
Chris became very aware of Heather's presence as she darted right behind him. He just ignored her and began his decent down the stairs. "Do you think you're better than these people?" Heather asked as she followed closely behind. "You've both orchestrated atrocities."
Without looking back or slowing down Chris coldly replied, "Yes, I mourn the victims of the bombings I perpetrated every night. Do you think Hatchet is going to mourn you all after sending you here."
Completely filling with rage, Heather aimed her rifle down and fired three bullets into the back of Chris. Collapsing forward Chris's body tumbled down the remaining stairs leading onto the second floor. Heather darted down the stairs, "Do you think mourning them is enough? Mourning won't bring back all the people you killed!" She screamed at him in rage. When she reached the bottom she was surprised to find Chris still alive.
With the last of his strength Chris looked Heather directly in the eyes and said "You're right, mourning them won't bring them back to life. But killing me won't either." The last of his life escaped his body. Heather dropped to her knees. She did not know how to feel, but all she could do was cry.
Heather heard the sound of men entering the complex down below. She rose to her feet and continued her decent down to the bottom floor. She ran down the final set of stairs. When she finally stepped onto the ground floor in front of her the soldiers were entering the building. Without a moment to lose Heather saw trigger for the mines to her left. She made a last ditch plunge towards the trigger as at least one of the soldiers began firing at her. Grasping the trigger she pushed down the button causing a huge explosion in the front of the hallway where all the soldiers were. Dust and debris flew Heather's way as she covered herself as best she could.
When the dust settled she looked to see the whole front entranceway completely caved in, it would take a while before anyone else would be able break through. Slowly she stood up only to feel a sharp pain in her thigh, where she had been shot. Trying her hardest to overcome the pain she pulled herself up and started to ascend back up the stairs.
Meanwhile back in the cave the group of teens finally reached the stockpile of dynamite. Duncan waited no time and began to pack as much dynamite as he could. However he was stopped by Courtney who placed her hands over his. "Please, Duncan, I don't want you to go back there."
"I have to, we need to cover our tracks and I promised Chris." Duncan tried to explain.
Courtney just shook her head. "But you could die! I don't want you to be running back there all by yourself. What if everyone else is already dead? You'll just be running into a death trap. I don't want to lose you!"
"I can't abandon them! Noah, Harold, Eva, I used to torment and make fun of them. Now they're back there dying and I can't accept it. I can't accept they're dying to save me." Duncan explained. An expression of sorrow appeared on Courtney's face when she realized she wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it.
"I'm going with you." Izzy declared as she walked up to Duncan. Everyone was stunned as they turned and looked at her. "That way you're not going in alone. Besides, there's something I need to tell someone before it's too late." She then walked over and started grabbing dynamite.
The others just stood there. Bridgette and Geoff held onto each other tightly but what Bridgette couldn't see was that Geoff had his fist clenched. Angry because of his injury and because of his promise, he felt so useless. LeShawna shook her head, she wanted to help, but knew Harold was staying for her and didn't want that action to go in vain.
Trent knew that two wasn't going to be enough. He let go of Gwen and sighed as he took a step forward. An arm reached out blocking him from moving any further. Trent turned his head to see it was Cody with his arm stretched. "Cody?" was all Trent could mutter.
"You have something to lose, I don't," was all the explanation Cody gave as he walked forward in Trent's place to Izzy and Duncan.
Not sure how to reach to Cody's actions Gwen tried to talk some sense into him. "You don't have to do this." She tried to reason.
Turning back briefly Cody looked at Gwen with cold eyes. "You made your decision, now it's time I became the bigger man and made mine." Cody replied. Gwen was shocked and speechless, leaving her to hang her head and not look up.
It did not take long for Duncan, Izzy, and Cody to be fully packed with explosives. They made sure they were locked and loaded. Duncan reached for Courtney and pulled her in to one final kiss. "Goodbye, I'll be back, I promise." And with that the trio turned and began to run back towards the complex. Those left remained still as they watched the trio disappear from sight. LeShawna walked over and placed her hand on Courtney's shoulder, to comfort her.
Running back all Duncan could think about was how he was a horrible person for lying to her.
Heather slowly made her way up the final set of stairs. When she reached the top floor she was surprised to see Eva and Noah both aiming their rifles at her. "Oh thank god it's you." Noah said relieved, he then turned his rifle back down at the advancing forces.
"What took you so long? We thought you guys were goners. Where is Chris?" Eva asked as Heather limped over to the front of the building.
"He's dead." She replied. Both Eva and Noah hung their heads for a second.
Noah's attention was then shifted when he saw Heather was limping and was bleeding from the leg. "You've been shot! Are you okay?" He questioned.
"I'll live." She said back trying to ignore the terrible pain, it was easier for her than most, and she felt so much pain anyway. She took a seat on one of the crates against the front wall. Sitting there she had a clear view down below.
"Damn it Duncan!" Eva yelled out in frustration, "Where is that bastard?" An Explosion hit the outside wall of the complex where Noah and Eva were. Both of them were rocked to the floor as dust and debris covered their bodies. Heather looked down on the ground and fired a round towards where she thought the RPG came.
Slowly both Eva and Noah picked themselves up off the ground. Noah felt a horrible ringing in his ears. Eva on the other hand had to pull a large piece of metal shrapnel out of her shoulder with a loud cry.
Heather noticed at least five soldiers starting a dash towards the right entrance to the complex. She fired her rifle at them, sending one to the ground. A bullet from the ground struck Heather's ear. She winced in pain as she reached for the bloody mess on the side of her head.
Even with a hurt shoulder Eva was strong enough to stand back up carrying her rifle, she fired it down at random towards the path. Noah was finding it harder to shake off the effects from the explosion. When Heather was finally able to regain her concentration she looked down the sight of her rifle and saw the group of soldiers had already entered the complex. "Fuck!" she called out.
An echoing sound rang out in the complex. All the teens looked to the staircase, where the sound of soldiers running up the stairs rang out. Heather tried to pick herself off the crate but it was impossible to move her leg. Noah had finally gotten to his feet holding his rifle when he saw Eva dart by him heading to the right staircase.
"I got this!" Eva called out as she ran to the top of the staircase. Looking down she was shocked to see the four soldiers had already reached the stairs below her. Their rifles aimed up directly at her. She unloaded her gun firing down at them as her body was rattled with bullets, striking her at all points. She dropped to her knees, from there somehow she fired her grenade from the launcher on her gun. The grenade struck down decimating what was left of the four soldiers and partially destroyed part of the staircase. Eva collapsed forward down onto the top couple steps.
"Eva!" Noah cried out, he and Heather could just looked on in horror after witnessing what Eva endured.
Even after being struck numerous times though Eva still had the strength left to call out to the others. "It's okay. I'm happy, I died for a reason. I won't be forgotten. This was the closure I had been searching for." Her body finally went limp as the last of her strength finally gave out.
Noah crouched down in cover. Seeing both Harold die and then Eva was too much for him as he began to breakdown and cry. Heather watched him and envied him. She wished to be able feel so much raw emotion. People were dying all around her and she was finding it so difficult to really feel any emotion. In complete frustration Heather struck her wound as hard as possible to fill her body with pain, the only thing that was truly real anymore for her.
Boy 6, Harold – DEAD
Girl 6, Eva – DEAD
Afterword:
I felt it a fitting ending for Eva to go down guns blazing. So this is it, the final battle. Next chapter will be the climax of the story. Then the final chapter will wrap the story up and I'll reflect on the story as a whole, give some useless facts/trivia. I promise next chapter more death, destruction, and a little twist.
I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. It's always nice to have you're support. I know this story isn't the easiest to read with all the pain and suffering.
