Part 28: Evil's Last Stand
Without even thinking, or knowing about the layout of the building, I quickly took cover behind the room's door, and peered around to look for bandits. It came as no surprise when I spotted two of them, racing towards the sound of broken glass. This wasn't good, and I was the only person to have broken that particular window; I was in it alone. My rifle was mostly good for picking enemies off at a distance, it was no use in such close quarters. Luckily, I had my pistol with me, and I blind fired around the corner, the thin wooden protection that the door offered me was barely enough to keep me alive, from the hailstorm of bullets that they had shot towards me. When my clip was empty, two men lay dead, walls had been coated red, and the door practically fell off it's hinges from the shots; I was getting way too lucky for my own good.
I crept slowly down the hallway, gun armed and reloaded, with an itchy trigger finger just waiting to dispense lead to some unsuspecting villainous felon. I came to a split section on the second floor, and finally saw my reinforcements. A good number of the townsfolk had joined me, and since they knew the building well, we all marched down a narrow corridor, to where the stairs were. This place had seen better days.
We passed rooms with boarded up doors, derelict rooms, covered from head to toe with spider webs, and cockroaches pouring out of every crevice; I was getting the shudders just being near this place. I kept close to the group, until they stopped at a dead end. I was confused what they were doing, until one of them crouched by it, and placed down an explosive charge. He asked for everyone to stay back and take cover, which they all did. It didn't take long for my ears to ring, as the chunk of wall was blasted into oblivion. Once the dust settled, I looked around to see a gaping hole, cracking the foundation, and covering the ground in rubble. Peering through, I could see a dark, dingy room, the remains of a once cheerful and comforting guest room. I stood aside, as floods of them passed through the door, and charged into action. I stepped through as one of the last, and heard gunfire exchanged in all directions. I made sure that the left side was safe, and darted for a nearby pillar to cover me. Two men came around the corner, and I dished out a taste of wasteland justice upon them.
The gunfire began to die down, and one of the locals signalled for me to follow him. After a couple of sharp turns, showing the bloodbath that had just ended, he led me back to the group. They had allgathered around a reinforced service door, with a small rectangularwindow in the middle, covered in dirt. A man stepped forward from the group, wiped the dirt from it, and d through. A quarter of a second later, his lifeless corpse flew backwards, with a firm bullethole through his eye, still smoking with embers from the hot lead; they were just meters away from us behind the door.
I told everyone to stand back, opened the door a fraction of an inch, and tossed a grenade through. Seconds later, the last piercing scream of a vile man filled the halls, and died down; justice for the innocent resident he had just murdered. I slowly opened the door, and the townsfolk all pointed their guns around the corner, ready to fire on anything that moved. What greeted them was the lifeless corpses of the bandits, already killed by the group that had came in through the kitchen. The left was lousy with bodies, but the right wasn't as populated, so the group split up, and headed through that way.
Already busy behind cover, Nash and the survivors of the downstairs group had taken position behind a thick wall. On the other side lay the dining room of the place, tables knocked over and used as protection for the bandits. There were two doorways in, and Nash's group were separated into two equal groups covering them, with Nash running between the sides, offering assistance and ideas. I called out to him, and he turned to see me.
"Oh great, it's about time you showed up." Nash said in a hurry. "We don't have much time. It looks like this is their last that you're here, I'll take my group to the left side, and you take the right."
Nash drew his men from the right side over to the left, and I and the group following me took the right. I took a quick squint around the corner, seeing tables knocked over, and a couple of heads poking over the top; not a good time to be tall. I had a plan, and called for Nash to deliver it.
"Got a plan?" Nash asked me.
"A rough idea, if you can pull it off. Your group open fire, and keep firing, to make sure they stay behind cover, then my group will come around the other side and flank them, while they're being suppressed." I responded, not sure if it would actually work with our fairly small group, and with no idea how many of them there were.
"That's a brilliant plan. I'll make sure my side knows what to do. Just give me the signal when you're ready." He said, and crept back to his group. Now all I had to do was tell the side I was on what the plan was, and signal Nash when I was ready. I waited for a moment that seemed right, and gave him a wave. The sound of gunfire ripped through the room, as his group suppressed the enemy into staying firmly behind cover. I didn't have a whole lot of time before they would run out of ammo, so I moved in and threw myself behind the enemies cover. It came as a surprise to them, when they turned to me and found themselves with a faceful of lead. I shouted for Nash to stop, and stood up, taking a moment to look behind me, and see the room smoking from all the brand new holes.
The floor was littered with shell casings, blood and corpses. I was beginning to feel a little a sick, considering we've covered this casino with organs and bullet holes, that would take forever to clean. With the smoke clearing, I could see from the corner of my eye, a man slouched over, in the kitchen. Getting closer, I could make out that he had his hands behind his back, and did not appearing to be moving. It didn't take long before I reached the kitchen and saw Deputy Beagle, lying face down, and making me feel as if we had failed to save him.
