Chapter 29
The footsteps were getting closer to the cafeteria, Meryl had pushed both Mei Ling and Rose to the pantry. "Stay here, if anything goes wrong get on that vent and get the hell out of here!" Meryl talked fast and kept her voice low, the cold was now greater than it was before.
"What about you?" Rose asked through shivering lips.
"I'll be fine" Meryl replied and quickly got out of the pantry and closed the door behind her.
"Meryl!" Rose almost shouted, but she knew that someone was coming.
"Let's stay back here" Mei Ling said as she pulled Rose into the back of the pantry.
Meryl ran as silently as she could to get behind the small self service counter. There, she got the G36K ready to fire and waited. Her breathing was faster than usual, the cold was not helping the situation.
Velkan was the first inside the cafeteria area and right away he knew what was expecting him. He turned to the three men that were covering the rear. "Stay here, in case someone tries to escape, but don't kill anyone. One of these girls is Campbell's niece." All the men nodded in agreement. Velkan turned his head to the Cafeteria. His left and scarred eye was wide open as he surveyed the room left and right. Damn these headaches!! Velkan head was throbbing and he knew perfectly why, since the mishap it had always been like this, whenever he opened his left a few minutes later a massive headache would appear. It was only a matter of time and fortunately he didn't need much to find out exactly what he wanted. There. Velkan sneaked quietly towards the counter.
Meryl had kept silent for the time, she had heard the same voice that appeared on the VA system before talking to someone else and after that complete silence. She wanted to risk taking a peek but if the man saw her, a fight would surely break out. I have no other choice. Meryl thought and as she got ready to raise her head one massive hand went over the counter and grabbed her neck. "AHHHH!!!" Meryl screamed as she felt the air thinning. The G36K dropped to the floor and she took her hands to her neck, trying to break free from the enemy's grip. Velkan picked up Meryl like she was nothing, she then threw her towards the pantry door. Meryl felt a pain on her back like she had never felt before and the wooden pantry door was shattered.
"AHHH!!!!" Meryl screamed in pain.
"Yes!! Scream! Make your friends know my strength" Velkan said out loud.
Meryl took some time to get accustomed to the pain. With the cold it seemed that the pain was longer than normal. She soon focused her eyes and saw two legs and a cane in front of her. A large black man with a black army uniform was walking slowly towards her. Meryl looked at his face and saw the scarred tissue around his left eye.
"Indeed!!" Velkan said as he noticed the woman on the ground looking at his eye. "This eye is what made me come to you" Velkan said reaching for Meryl with his left hand. Meryl tried to fight back, she placed her arms in a defensive position, but Velkan pushed the two arms aside with no trouble at all and soon he had grabbed Meryl by her neck again. "Your quite the hunt I have to say" Velkan pulled her closer to him. "I could break that scrawny little neck of yours if I wanted…but I want you to die by your uncle's side. Now will you be so kind and tell those two inside the pantry to come out"
Meryl opened her eyes wide wondering how Velkan knew that the two were inside the pantry.
"Oh, of course you don't know yet!! You see, this eye is special" Velkan said as she saw the look of bewilderment in Meryl eyes. He pulled Meryl right next to his face so she could see it clearly. The cornea was white as a blinding light. "I can see through everything!!" Velkan said.
Campbell went over the motions time and time again. It has to be perfect, but this temperature…my moves will be stiffed. Damn, no matter I have to do it. Campbell was sure this was the best chance he had. First he had to wait for Naomi to look at him, and then he could proceed. Since Naomi was trying to keep the cold at bay she wouldn't glance anywhere so Campbell decided to break the ice. "Hey can I have a glass of water?" The soldier right next to him turned to Campbell and swiftly replied. "Shut up!" He then looked away from Campbell.
Naomi, who had her head almost totally concealed between her knees lifted it up and looked at Campbell.
Campbell looked at her and without vocalizing he said. "ELEVATOR" Naomi raised her eyebrows and wondered what the Colonel had meant. What is he up to? Naomi was about to shake her head in disagreement when Campbell made his move.
He was swift and even though he knew perfectly well that the cold would cramp up his already old joints the soldier was completely caught off guard. Campbell had gotten up from the chair he was in, with his hands behind his back he reached for the knife strapped on the guards back. He slid it out from its protection with his left hand and immediately cut its plastics straps. The guard turned abruptly with his gun at the ready, and Campbell knew that he had failed. The guard knocked Campbell down with an elbow blow. The knife dropped from Campbell's hands as he freed himself from the plastic straps. As the guard pointed the gun at Campbell he knew that it was over. I blew it…I won't get to the roof…We are going to die here. Campbell thought as he looked at the barrel of the machine gun.
"What's going on?" The Major got near the scene with another soldier by his side.
"He got my knife." The soldier pointing the gun at Campbell replied.
"Quite feisty for an old man!" The Major replied. "Get him up" The Major ordered the man pointing the gun.
He obeyed and as soon as he lowered his gun he extended his arm to help Campbell up, unfortunately for him something was happening behind everyone's back.
Naomi had kept quiet as she saw Campbell trying to break free, but his attempt failed. It was only after he saw two guards getting closer to Campbell, who was being threaten by a third soldier that she realized that she could do it. The soldier guarding her was looking at the scene a few feet away giving her an opportunity. Naomi got up silently and immediately felt the chilling cold across her body. Without hesitation she pressed the elevator button and to her surprise the doors opened. The sound it had made alerted the soldier a few inches next to her. He turned around and saw Naomi getting inside and pressing the roof button fervently.
"Hey!! You can't do that!!" The soldier shouted and got inside the elevator, as he was about to raise his weapon, Naomi acted. A quick motion of her leg and the soldier cried out in pain. "That's a low blow lady!!" The soldier dropped his gun on the elevator ground. Before the doors closed Naomi thought she saw a faint smile on Campbell's face. Somehow, in an unplanned way his plan had worked. But Naomi was going on the elevator with an enemy soldier and even after she picked up his gun she didn't feel safe. What have I done?
Cold, lack of air, pain throughout her entire body and general amazement. That's how Meryl felt at the sight of Velkan's remarks. "It's obvious that people don't often believe me, but you better be sure it's the truth"
Truth or not it didn't matter to Meryl, she was in a bad situation and she couldn't let it go on. She again tried to loosen Velkan's grip with her two hands but the strength was leaving her. I…need air. Meryl grunted but Velkan's grip was not easing.
"You can't breathe now can't you my dear? Don't worry I just want you to lose conscious, so it'll be over soon" Velkan said as he saw Meryl's eyes closing.
"Meryl!" A voice came from the other side of the pantry door.
"Ahh!! Your two friends are next!!" Velkan smiled as he spoke.
Meryl felt her body going limp. She was starting to feel better. No! I can't lose consciousness…I can't!! Before she lost her senses she gathered what little will power she had and without really thinking about it she punched Velkan in the face. For Meryl it felt like hitting a rock, but afterwards she knew she had struck a weak point. The grip loosened and Meryl fell to the ground.
"You bitch!!" Velkan bellowed. He took his free hand to his left eye. Meryl had struck it. "Get in here!! Kill them all!!!" Velkan was retreating towards the door, walking in a funny way. Suddenly Meryl saw that he was accompanied with three men and their guns were ready to fire. She glanced to the right and saw the G36K on the ground. She crawled to it as fast as she could and grabbed it.
"One of you shoot the pantry!!" Velkan shouted commands.
No! Meryl thought. A hail of bullets pierced through the shattered wooden door. "NOOOOO!!!" Meryl screamed.
