Chapter 36

"Alright let's do this!" Naomi said as she got her eyes on the target, a small white panel near the side wall.

"We need to run first!" Johnny spoke as he heard the helicopter coming up behind them fast. He quickly grabbed Naomi's arm and ran. They were zigzagging around the small chimneys. "When the helicopter starts firing you duck!! Got it?" Johnny screamed and Naomi nodded fervently. The helicopter was right behind them and began firing. Naomi dropped to the ground, sliding into the protection of a small chimney. I'm safe!! She thought as she felt Johnny pulling her towards himself. This time however the helicopter didn't stop firing. After a few seconds Naomi could see the thick cement of the chimneys being blown to pieces. What!!

"I knew it!!" Johnny said. "It was just playing with us, now we're in for the real deal" He said looking at Naomi and saw the look in her eyes. Johnny quickly glanced to the side and thought of a quick plan. "Listen, we need to split up, I'll go this way" He jerked his head to the side and you that way. CRAP!!" The helicopter, which was hovering, now circled around the chimney making Johnny and Naomi move carefully around it. "We need to go now!!!" Johnny shouted and let go of Naomi. Instantaneously Naomi felt insecure, even in the dire situation she was in Johnny's embrace had made her feel safe for a few seconds. Johnny ran towards the general direction of the panel but he quickly made a sharp turn to the left. His gun! Naomi saw Johnny jumping to the ground to grab his machine gun. He missed by a few inches. No!! The noise was unmistakable, the helicopter was moving to the side. It was positioning itself to take him out. Johnny stretched out his arm and saw that he could reach the gun. There! He grabbed it and quickly turned his head to locate Naomi, but a more pressing issue came to Johnny's mind as he saw the helicopter turning. That can't be good! Then he saw, through the corner of his eye a white shadow running, he focused his eyes and saw Naomi running, her white lab coat flailing through the air. Good! Now I really should move!! Johnny looked for the nearest chimney and rushed to it, however it wasn't fast enough. One of the many bullets coming from the helicopter's minigun ricochet on the floor and some shrapnel hit him in the most undesirable place. "AHHH!!! MY ASS!!!" He screamed as he hid behind one of the chimneys. He quickly lied on the floor, belly down. Why do these things always happen to me!!

Naomi didn't stop running, even after hearing the gunfire. She was too close to the panel to stop or hide. She could already see the handle. Open it, activate the scaffolds and get out!! The panel was right in front of her, not even the pain on her scrapped knees mattered as she kneeled down. Naomi heard the gunfire stopping. Perhaps Johnny was now dead, but it didn't matter she wouldn't turn around. Her hands gripped the handle and she pulled as hard as she could. The panel opened up and she saw two big circuit breakers on the down position and several small buttons. Labels over the breakers told her what they did. The first one had Emergency 'Evacuation System' written over it and the other had 'Environmental System (Warning: Reset only)'. Without much thought needed Naomi pulled the two big ones up. The helicopter now sounded closer and Naomi could feel her hair rustling, the wind on the roof was not very fast, that meant that the helicopter was close behind her and ready to send her to her death.

Meryl acted on basic survival instinct, but she wasn't going head on to face Velkan. She was going for the gun of the soldier that was down of the floor, its HKG36K had to have some bullets left in the magazine and Meryl could also use the knife that was strapped on his back. Velkan had already stormed inside the room when Meryl ran to the soldier's body. She quickly got to the gun, picked it up and pointed it at Velkan, two shots were fired, one from the HKG36K and one from Velkan's SOCOM. He had seen Meryl going for the gun and reacted by reaching for his weapon with his left hand. "You bitch!!" Velkan almost collapsed on the floor, but by shifting his weight on his cane he prevented it. Blood was dripping from his right leg. "My bad leg!! You're going to pay for that!" Velkan already knew that Meryl was paying for it, Velkan hadn't missed his shot.

She was on the ground and the pain was in her right arm, just below the shoulder, the bullet had hit and it hadn't gone through. The wound was so severe she almost had no strength to hold the HKG36K. Damn!! It hurts! Meryl grinded her teeth as she held the scream inside. The breathing got heavier and the cold didn't help the situation. She looked at Velkan and saw that she had hit him on his leg, but it wasn't as bad as her wound. Meryl tried as fast as she could to reach for the HKG36K gun with her left hand, but Velkan was already moving towards her. "I don't think so little girl!!" Velkan moved as fast he could supporting most of his weight on his sturdy cane and keeping his SOCOM pointed at Meryl.

Meryl saw it and realized she had no chance to survive. Velkan would have shot her where she stood. I lost…I never had a chance…

"Don't worry!" Velkan placed himself in an awkward position so he could kick the gun away from Meryl. "I won't kill you right away! You had no idea I had this did you!" Velkan placed his SOCOM on Meryl's forehead. "It's my old and trusty companion! Now get up!!" He said holding the gun to her head.

Meryl obeyed as she pressed on the bullet wound with her left hand, preventing the blood from coming out.

"You really need a tourniquet there, but first I want to have some fun" Velkan smiled and Meryl saw his yellow teeth before closing her eyes in pain.

"AHHHHHH!!!!" Meryl screamed from the top of her lungs. Velkan had taken the barrel of the gun from Meryl's head and placed it into her wound, pushing the bullet further into the arm.

"Yes, scream!! That's the way I like it!" Velkan said.

Meryl had been shot and tortured before, but this was worst than those times. "AHHH!! Sadistic bastard!! You son of a bitch!!!" She cried out.

"HAHAHA!! Yes, I believe that's what I am!!!" Velkan pushed Meryl as hard as he could towards the back wall right beside the counter. There he pushed his gun a bit further into the wound. I'm going to break you and then take you to Campbell!! He'll see how it feels to lose everything!! He'll regret what he did to me.

Meryl was losing it. The pain was just too much to bear! "Please!!" She uttered and immediately regretted it. No I can't give in! But the pain it's just too much! I'm going to die… Meryl was feeling her eyes watering up and the cold did nothing but help Velkan in his torture. Meryl was feeling ready to faint. She opened up her eyes and saw Velkan staring at her wound. The expression on his face was that of a kid playing with his toys. What kind of person would do this! With this thought Meryl felt her eyes heavy and ready to fall to the ground. I'm giving up…I need to, there's no way!

"Oh! You don't have any strength left do you my little FOXHOUND wannabe!!" Velkan said grinning. "You really shouldn't give in to your anger! It will make you do irrational things!!"

He's right! Meryl hated to admit it, but Velkan was right. The rage she felt made her moved too recklessly. She had accomplished nothing but a missed shot on Velkan's bad leg. His bad leg…the cane! Meryl didn't even opened her eyes she just reacted to her thought, she moved her left leg as wildly as she could and with a stroke of luck she hit Velkan's cane and his entire body came crashing down. Meryl felt the pain easing up immediately. She opened her eyes wide and looked at the exit. Run!! I can do it!! She psyched herself up and began moving towards the door, completely ignoring Velkan, now fallen to the ground beside her. She took her left hand to her wound and put pressure on while running towards the exit. Once she cleared it she closed the door shut and sighed heavily.

"HAHAHA!! You really are a little stupid girl!!" Velkan shouted through the other side of the door.

Meryl wondered if she had missed something. What the hell is he talking abou…oh crap!! Meryl threw herself to the ground as fast as she could. Bullet holes began to appear on the door and then on the wall, Meryl removed her left hand from her wound and crawled as quickly as possibly away from the cafeteria area. The bullets were following her, but fortunately none of them hit her. Once she cleared the cafeteria and the corridor next to it she got to her feet and again put pressure on the wound. That bastard, he can see through walls!! Meryl looked to the side, to the cafeteria door and saw the trail of blood she left behind. I need to do something about this! Suddenly she heard the VA speakers coming to life; first Meryl heard a strange alarm noise and then a female voice. "Attention all personnel, Emergency Evacuation System activated"

Mei and Rose crawled until they could no more; the cold was too hard and tiring for them to keep going. Mei ling noticed that her knees were practically blue because of the freezing air inside the vent. Rose could even feel small particles of ice over her eyebrows. Their breathing was extremely fast and every breath they took hurt a bit more because of the cold air. "We…need to keep…moving." Mei Ling said without moving a muscle, even though she wanted to move she didn't have the strength to do so.

"Yes…we…do." Rose replied feeling her entire body shivering. "We need… to help Meryl!"

Mei Ling nodded and again turned to the left side. She saw the fluorescent line with the flashlight and pointed it as far as she could. The exit was still distant and there was no way they could move in this cold. Mei Ling pointed the flashlight to the right, past Rose and didn't see the entrance they had used. They had heard gunfire, but it had stopped now. We're going to die here!! Mei looked at Rose and saw her closing her eyes. I guess we're meant to die here. We're not heroes like Snake and Meryl. We're just support…if we die we'll be replaced. Mei was thinking about the only thing that she felt bad about all this time and wondered if Rose felt the same way. My work will never be recognized!! The soliton radar, my work at the SSCEN…nothing! Why did I even come here!? Mei Ling felt her eyes closing, she felt like sleeping.

Rose opened her eyes and saw Mei Ling's closed. We're dead here! I'll never speak to Jack again; I'll never hold my child in my arms again!! I'll never be able to do something really important…no I won't cry…I…I accept it. Rose closed her eyes again and hoped that sleep would take her from this world. Both Mei Ling and Rose heard a far-away beeping sound then a muffled voice and then the cold diminish. Something or someone had saved them from death.

The sound of gunfire had stopped for a few seconds, but the Major was now busy with answering his radio, as Campbell waited for any kind developments.

"What is it? Is it the Colonel?" The major was talking on the radio again, for the last few minutes everything had been calm. The roof team still hadn't reported in and Campbell hadn't done anything else to upset him.

"No, we left the Colonel to deal with one of them, but we're in pursuit of two others. However we lost them! Without the Colonel's ability they could be anywhere!" One of the soldiers said on the Major's radio.

"Right, I'm sending you more men, over and out." The Major changed the radio frequency. "Team two are you there?"

"Sir, we read you. Over"

"What's your status?"

"We are guarding the second elevator as ordered sir."

"How many men?"

"Four sir, counting me"

"I see!" Send two to meet some men of team one right away. Search of any intruders!"

"Yes, sir, over and out"

The Major shut off the radio and sighed. What a mess!

"Are you having a few problems!?" Campbell asked as he saw the Major a bit distressed.

The Major walked from where he was and approached Campbell. "Not really, but if you want I can create you some"

Suddenly the VA system around the floor crackled and buzzed and then a loud beeping sound came on.

Naomi did it. Campbell thought as he heard the beeping sound dying out and a voice replaced it. "Attention all personnel, Emergency Evacuation System activated"