A/N: So... this is it. One of the big one's. Brace yourselves is all I can say and I'll get back to you next chapter.
For why I've been absent for so long, don't worry this story is no-where near dead, I just came down with a massive stroke of writer's block, so much so whenever I tried to write parts of this chapter it ended up feeling massively underwhelming and I gave up for parts until my motivation came back, as you can see with this chapter, I've gotten to that point at last, thank you for being patient with me and awaiting this mad chapter, this section of the story will be divided into two chapters 48 and 49, because I feel cramming absolutely everything into this chapter, will be too overwhelming and too rushed for the reader to take in and too avoid a chapter 50 of GTR, I'll need two chapters, to make sure it feels better paced and not too much to take in.
Think of this chapter, as (as the title says) when everything hits the fan and it all kicks off, and for what I have planned next chapter, that's when you need to be afraid and when the overwhelming stuff happens. This chapter may still have some surprises though... but I want to avoid making the next segment rushed, so understand this chapter is needed so next chapter can be better. If things do appear slightly rushed or crammed in this chapter, let me know as looking back while I read some parts of it do feel slightly rushed and feedback is much appreciated even at this late stage.
Okay, so enough rabble and onto this chapter! Enjoy!
"S'matter?"
Stephanie rolled over in her bed, thinking longingly of her boyfriend, of Nick. Back in the glory days when they had first arrived in Wellington and where their relationship was at it's very strongest, where she would giggle and get aroused at the sight of him in his police uniform. Back when the whole group was together, when Lilly and Sarah we're still alive and AJ had friends to play with and they were a whole family unit. Now that unit was gone, Eddie had a new girlfriend from what Stephanie had heard through the grapevine, she was obviously not around the broken group anymore, Lilly and Sarah were never coming back, her former boyfriend was locked up for a massacre she herself had as much blame in. If only she had stayed at Gertrude's house... if only she had...
She wouldn't be here, lying in bed next to President Schulz himself. Many girls in Wellington would give their left arms to be in Stephanie's position, the wealth and social connections being in her position provided... it would make many girls happy. But Stephanie didn't try to seduce him and use him, the president could probably see through those girls that we're trying too. Stephanie herself had the luck of looking like his late wife and not trying to seduce him at all. Her plan had simply been to help her group by sleeping with rich men and sending the money back to them, but then Schulz came along and soon it wasn't just a paycheck she earned. She had money all the time, being by the president's side.
Yet, she couldn't love him.
"Nothing" Stephanie mumbled into her pillow.
"Which means something" Schulz muttered "What is it? Come on, be straight with me"
He had a tenderness in his voice that wasn't usually present, Stephanie knew full well why this was, he only saw her as a replacement for his dead wife. Then again wasn't she doing the same thing? Longing for her imprisoned boyfriend once again? If only she was like Clem and Luke and could turn back time once again, she could have made the right choice and saved them all, why was it so obvious in hindsight? Why did they always make such stupid mistakes?
"I just... I miss my old group" Stephanie finally admitted keeping her eyes on the red of the pillow in front of her.
"Not that wackjob boyfriend of yours!?" Schulz snapped, instantly on the defence.
"No, no of course not!" Stephanie exclaimed to calm him down, "I just miss... well what we once were. As a family unit... but I know my future's with you Schulz, I just..." she sighed there, her sentence ending there.
"Well, that's nice to know" Schulz muttered "I'm sorry for what happened to your group Stef, but... they're broken anyway. People have died, there's no point in trying to help them now, or trying to think about them. Besides what would be the point?"
What was the point?
Stephanie opened her eyes, that memory re-vibrating in her head as she watched her group be escorted towards Olivia's office, she had managed to hide under the bed in the opposite room, a kitchen knife she had smuggled days ago from Kate's house lay in her hand, the dead body of one of the searching soldiers was stuffed under the bed next to her, his throat slit wide open, he had barely made a sound while he fell, but he had left a large pool of blood that was currently soaking through the raven-haired woman's clothing. He had also provided her with a free assault rifle, owing to the fact he late husband was a gun nut she had learned how to use guns quite effectively, they weren't her prefered method, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
She knew someone would spot this pool of blood soon and find the body, so she couldn't stay here long. She had been surprised the others hadn't seen the soldiers approaching, then again as she had wandered out into the corridors in her make-believe vegetative state, she had been lucky that she had been the first to spot them approaching, as she dived to hide in the opposite room while her friends had been captured. Now she was the only unchecked one and they'd come hunting for her.
It hadn't been easy pretending that her mind was lost, but it was the only way she could avoid her group's sympathies and still manage to listen in on all their conversations and plans. She needed that information and she needed to be the first to hear it, to know who had really killed her husband. It was definitely foul play, as she was planning nothing but revenge for the bitch Olivia who had ordered her arm to be hacked off, which cost the life of her baby and whichever member of the New Frontier had shot her husband down. Maybe she'd kill them all, but from what she had overhead she knew one of them had to be responsible. Either them or Olivia's soldiers, they were all the same too her.
Terri had her vengeance, now it was Stephanie's turn to become a killer cub.
She could hear movement from outside, she wasn't escaping this city alone. There was no way in hell she'd achieve that, this building had far too much security, there was no way she alone (bloodsoaked and carrying a gun) could take single step into this city, attempting to escape without being shot down almost instantly.
There was only one plan now...
Go in there, all guns blazing.
Crazy, reckless and suicidal, but if her group had captured and brought to Olivia, then Stephanie was smart enough to know full well what had happened, they had been betrayed. Olivia now knew about the plan, the fact they were immune... everything. For everyone else, they must have felt terrified, their stomach's sinking in defeat after getting so close to escape and victory. But Stephanie had already lost everything, she felt nothing, death didn't scare her the way it used too. Now all she knew is that her heart was beating in her ears with a vicious determination, as her remaining hand tightened on the gun she had in her grip.
A long time ago, even back in Wellington, she had always been the loner, the woman to run away from the group when things got too bad.
Not today.
She didn't need Nick or Lilly or anyone to bring her back this time, she had truly and finally become a member of the group and was going to watch out for them all, because she was going back for them.
What was the point though?
The group was broken, they had almost all died, what was the point of carrying on when everything seemed lost?
Stephanie didn't know the answer herself, all she knew was that her burning desire in those moments was too ensure she finally tried to help, to make her late husband proud.
While also making sure whoever had killed him.
Went down with them in flames.
"Well... well... well... looks like everyone's here"
Olivia said this with a sneering tone in her voice, as Clementine's group was rounded slowly into her office. Clementine looked up briefly to see it had never been so crowded, soldiers lined the walls wherever her eyes looked. Rifles were cocked threateningly, as her stomach sank as her gaze rested on the bound forms of Kate, Javier, Marianna, Max, Conrad and Francine, but they weren't the only one's that had been caught. She could see soldiers being restrained by soldiers and it didn't take her long to recognise the struggling soldiers consisted of David Garcia and his son Gabriel, among around 20 to 30 others, who must have all been members of the New Frontier. Olivia had Clementine's group, along with that of the New Frontier bound and defenseless and all with guns pointed at their heads.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen next.
"Where's Stephanie!?" Olivia snapped, as her cold eyes swept over Luke's downtrodden group "One of them is missing!"
"We are aware Miss President" a gutsy soldier replied to her "We couldn't find her with this lot, but we've got teams patrolling the building, they'll find her within minutes, especially due to her mental state".
"Good, good" Olivia informed him, before she turned towards Luke himself and smiled.
"You lied to me, but you're a very good liar Luke" she complimented him "Shame we have to get rid of you..."
"Tripp and Eleanor fucking sold us out!" Max roared over at them, before anyone could stop him, this also explained their absence while everyone else was here "Olivia knows fucking everything, I knew this plan was stupid"
"Correct you are Max" Olivia muttered sweetly, her voice horribly honeyed as if it foretold some future destruction "and to cut the story short, I knew full well those were vaccations to the infection in your bag" she now spat over at Ethan, who bowed his head in shame "Your group hid a cure from everyone else, a whole damn city can now be saved! and they couldn't be thanks to your selfishness!"
"The cure isn't going to save you from bullets, you know?" James snarled up to her.
Olivia's smile was now more menacing then ever.
"Oh James, my sweetheart!" she mused "Your part of the plan was genius, you could have got everyone out of here. Oh, a small plane! If only you could get to the airfield on the other side of the city and get yourselves out of here! Ha! Even if you somehow escape now, you haven't got a hope in hell to reach it! I think I'll enjoy watching you die last, you can watch your friends go first, then I'll get too you..."
"I didn't ask to be involved in all this!" James exclaimed, seemingly losing his temper at everything he had to endure, "This fucking war between yourself and the New Frontier! We got dragged to this city against our will! We didn't want to die for you at all!"
"You are unbelievably selfish" Olivia snarled "It's a pity you're immune, truly it is. But why save yourselves, when thousands upon thousands could be saved here?"
The group was silent as she paced around slowly, finally after a minute of unbearable silence in which no one was able to answer her question, she emitted a harsh laugh.
"Because you know what's best" Olivia snapped at last "I might be a villain here, my soldiers might be the villains here. But it's idiotic to doom this entire city, there are hundreds of innocent children down there. Innocent people who've done no wrong" Her voice softened at this point, as she finally seemed to shed her icy exterior as she gazed down upon Luke's group.
"I know it doesn't seem fair" she muttered "You survived so much, only to die here. Well, think of it as... your final destination. This is where you were always meant to die, by saving thousands of others".
No one spoke for a short while, before Luke finally found his voice.
"We knew you dragged us here, against our will right from the start" Luke snapped "When you said Robert died from a bite and had to be put down, we knew it was bullshit! You killed him! and Stef never needed her arm cut off! She lost her child because of that! Excuse us for..."
"Keeping it a secret?" Olivia finished for him "I am sorry, but this is what happened in Wellington right? Some people had to die for the cure to spread to everyone. My soldiers have already slaughtered a few criminals in our jail, using their brain tissue we were able to create new vaccations, which we've injected into Kate's group over there and the lovely new frontier..."
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" David roared over at her, finally finding his furious voice "THE PEOPLE WON'T STAND FOR ANOTHER SLAUGHTER!"
"Maybe they won't" Olivia admitted "But they can kill me, lynch my body or use it for cure fodder at the end of the day, I don't really care, as long as the city is safe. But I'll continue to oversee this operation for as long as live!" Olivia snarled in defiance "Your pathetic new frontier is finished David, before you can say anything the rest of your allies are already being rounded up as we speak. Eleanor gave me a nice list of every single person you had close contact with".
"FUCKING BITCH!" David screamed, before he turned his attention to Kate "WHY'D YOU GO BEFRIENDING THOSE TRAITOROUS SCUM FOR!?"
"I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY'D DO!" Kate bellowed back "AND DON'T ACT LIKE WE'RE ON THE SAME PAGE HERE DAVID, WE WERE GETTING OUT OF HERE WITHOUT YOU AND THE NEW FRONTIER!"
"So you were just plannin' to escape, right under our noses" David muttered, his glare of death now locked on James.
"From what you did too me, what else were you expecting!?" James snapped back.
"If I wasn't bound up, I'd kill every last one of you traitorous scum!" David exclaimed "Why the fuck were you tryin' to run!? You messed up everything! You should have kept your heads down and left it all to us! We could have overthrown this bitch if you all weren't so fucking naive...!"
"and end up in a society run by the New Frontier!?" Clementine couldn't help but pipe up, as David turned to her "There's no way we'd stick around for that"
"It would be better than this!" Gabe protested feebly, trying to make an angry Clementine see sense, but she was having none of it.
"I hate to break up the argument, but there's nothing you can do here other than die" Olivia muttered "Robinson, call on over the helicopter, I'll need to oversee the operation when it begins..."
"Avoiding the riots like a fucking coward more like!" David snapped.
Olivia ignored him, as a buzzing emitted Robinson's waist, the mixed race man held up the device to his ear and nodded in approval.
"Helicopter will be on the roof in fifteen minutes" he informed his president.
"Good" Olivia said curtly "I'll make my leave then, I don't have any more time for arguments or small talk, it's time to get this over with".
"Do you really think this is best Olivia" Ethan said before he could stop himself, as the president looked down at the former agent "I did what you tried to do back in Wellington. We deployed the cure in Wellington and the group around me is all that's left of thousands, if you do this, the unrest it will cause... will the cure be worth it?"
"It will be" Olivia answered with a certainty in her tone that helped no one's nerves "Wellington was a mess, with a much smaller population than what we have here, we have more order and control then Wellington. Also Code AX will finally be complete here Ethan, or should I say Zeljko. You see the americans built this city and you've finished the russian part of the mission and provided a cure! This is the end in creating the perfect Utopia for the survivors! The start of a new world, the start...!"
"Wellington was exactly the same" Terri muttered quietly, to speak up for a silent Ethan "A fortified human settlement, filled with immune survivors, no matter how much you think this will make your city an untouchable paradise it will fall apart, eventually. Then what!? You're immune, but that won't stop them from clawing you too bits..."
"Soldiers, helicopters, bombs and a damn bigger wall and working population, all of those things we have here that Wellington never did!" Olivia exclaimed "Now there's nothing more I can say to any of you, other than..."
"DIE!"
The door to the office was barged open and Stephanie open fired directly at Olivia.
"GET DOWN!"
Robinson roared this, as he shoved Olivia to the ground, Stephanie's first round of bullets tore through his torso, ripping vital veins and arteries to shreds, as his large, convulsing body, covered her own, as she (in some shock) lay underneath him, feeling the blood from his body pour onto her own, as it drenched her formal attire, as Robison laid pinned down to protect his president, a dozen other soldiers instantly fired back in Stephanie's direction, as she reacted instantly, ducking behind the door, before a hailstorm of bullets tore it to shreds, she reloaded with shaking hand, (as having only one arm made shooting and reloading that much more difficult) cursing to herself, if that damn bodyguard of her's had been just one moment slower... she could barely hear her thoughts over the clamber of the gunfire now.
But then there was another dying yell.
In the sudden madness and the direction of the majority of the guns pointed towards Stephanie, it gave David the opportune moment to hit the soldier standing next to him where it hurt. As the soldier wheezed and clutched his bruised privates, he doubled over, allow David to uppercut him and tug the rifle from his hands, without stopping to blink, he opened fire on the mass of soldiers in front of him, who fell in a confused yelps of pain and agonizing screams, more new frontier members were following their leaders example, little Gabe grabbing a pistol and open firing as well, as the soldiers gained their bearings and fired back.
"KILL THE BITCH! FIND OLIVIA!" David roared.
"RUN!" Kate screamed over everything.
It was this call and the sight of Kate ushering a crouching Marianna towards the escape door, that seemed to snap Clementine out of her numb state, at how quickly everything had erupted around her, she felt a hand roughly drag her away from the soldier next to her, as she stumbled over a fallen figure and landed on the ground, as a heavy boot scraped across her face, as the room seemed to go slightly out of focus.
BANG!
"LUKE" LUKE WHERE ARE YOU!?"
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL BUT DON'T DESTROY THE BRAIN!"
"NO! NO!"
"SOMEBODY HELP ME! SOMEBODY...!"
"CLEMENTINE, GET UP! GET UP... GET UP..."
"Aaaaarrgggghhhhh...!" SPLAT!
A woman's scream, cut by this sickening splat, as Clementine faintly recognised as Francine, at least what was left of her, bullet holes were littering her limp body already, she had fallen to the ground with half of her face blown off. A squishy runny liquid on the ground that was once her eyeball, lay amongst the shattered china of her skull, her precious grey coloured brains were leaking out of her head, some of her brains and strands of her curly hair had splatted on Clementine's face, as it dripped from her own hair and the cold blood sent shivers coursing down the rest of her body, as her nose was inches away from Francine's partly open mouth and wide open remaining eye, which was filled with terror at the time of her death.
"FRANCINE!" Came a roar of grief, from somewhere behind her, with this grim reminder that she'd end up in the same state if she didn't move, Clementine pushed herself to her feet and blindly ran in the direction of the door, she tumbled out and felt a hand drag her to relative safety.
"I GOT CLEM!" Luke roared, as Clementine looked up to see (with great relief) the majority of her group had made it out of that hellhole of a room, yet someone was missing, but she couldn't remember who...
"GUYS THEY JUST SHOT CONRAD!" Eddie roared, sprinting out into the corridor after them the back of the jacket he was wearing was covered in bullet holes, but luckily for him, none of them had managed to pierce his skin.
"Francine's dead too" Clementine mumbled.
"Shit" Kate snapped, who had a white faced Marianna under her arm, while a panicked looking Javier stood close to her, his eyes wildly searching the place for any sign of danger. Whereas the other supposed out of it one, Stephanie was watching the door, with a murderous look on her face.
"Stef, I thought...!?" Eddie began, looking back at her in bewilderment.
"Faked it, no time to explain, they'll be on us a minute!" Stephanie snapped "No sign of that bitch Olivia in that madness, hopefully she got shot..."
"That David is hunting us, I swear!" Eddie exclaimed in a panic "I saw Conrad freeze up, must have seen Francine die and then I see David, just aim at him and pull the trigger..."
"He'll be after us as traitors especially" Kate muttered "Did anyone else manage to grab a gun in that madness?"
There was a worrying silence, only broken by Max's bitter snigger.
"Got one" he grumbled, holding up a similar assault rifle that Stephanie currently had in her grip, it seemed like while everyone else was focused solely on escape, he had clocked on they'd need a weapon in the near future.
"But where the hell do we go from here!?" Molly said "From what I heard, the air-field is at the other side of the city, we'll never get there, we can't..."
"Olivia said she had a helicopter coming on the roof" Luke picked up on quickly "We kill the pilot, steal it and fucking go, we have no other option".
"Oh I forgot about that, nice one country boy!" Molly mused with a smile.
"But can you pilot a helicopter!?" Kate asked worriedly of a red faced James.
"I erm... well planes were my main expertise, but I had a view test runs with choppers..."
"Can you, or can you not!?" Terri snapped, to cut through his waffle, they were running low on time here.
"Depends on the model, but I should be able too..." James muttered.
"Great, that's the new plan then" Luke hurriedly muttered "James is number one priority here, everyone needs to protect him. If he dies, we'll get to the helicopter and probably crash it. James, keep to the damn group! You're our key outta here, understood!? Don't do anything reckless or try and save anyone else! You-need-to-survive!"
"Understood" James muttered, but there was a certain heaviness in his voice, at the massive pressure that had been placed on his shoulders so suddenly. He'd have to leave to friends to die if he had too, but he had to reach that helicopter.
"Anyone, know the way!?" he enquired.
"Just head up! Any stairs, whatever!" Kate snapped "Up leads to the roof, the roof is where the helicopter is gonna be!"
"and we're immune now!" Marianna piped up "If we all escape, we can make our own Utopia, but then again Conrad and Francine won't be there with us"
"We can't think about them now sweetie" Kate told her softly "We just need to go... but fuck... how could Tripp and Eleanor do that to us!?"
"Fucking traitorous scum, they sold us all out" Max snapped "I'd make them pay if I could, but they're probably bundled up somewhere safe right now"
"All we can do is run!" Kate told him "Come on Javi" she said ushering them forward, as the group began it's journey towards the staircase.
"I'll take the rear and guard you guys" Stephanie muttered.
"You sure?" Luke inquired, who was clutching Molly in one of his arms, who was helping him keep upright, despite the leg Nick had made him, while he held Clementine in the other, who was also helping to support him, the gunfire was still raging from the room behind them, but it would be less than a minute before soldiers or the New Frontier came to hunt them down, when they realised they were missing and had slipped out in the madness. Luke wouldn't want to be at the rear of this group with all those people on his ass, but Stephanie seemed more than willing to help right now, which was a stark contrast to who she had been beforehand.
"Yeah" Stephanie muttered.
"Thanks for saving us" Luke told her "I suppose we'll get an explanation later, right?"
Stephanie sighed, looking behind her and then in front of her and back into his remaining eye.
"If there is a later" she mumbled sadly.
"RETREAT! RETREAT!"
David and his allies from the new frontier had managed to align themselves into a strong fighting unit within minutes of the chaos unfolding, but the longer they stayed in this hellhole of a room, the more men they were going to lose. Olivia's soldiers outnumbered his own and so far with every passing second another valuable member of the group he had spent so long building... fell in motionless heaps to the ground. Gritting his teeth together as hard as he could, David ushered his son out of the room and behind a wall of his allies, firing a few last shots into the room behind him he joined his shaken friends and followers.
"What now David!?" one of his men roared at him "They know about us! We can't escape this place...!"
"WE FUCKING FIGHT!" David screamed back at him "THE REVOLUTION BEGINS NOW! WE KILL EVERYONE HERE AND TAKE UTOPIA FOR OUR OWN...!"
"But there are too many...!"
David whacked the panicking man across the face, as he tumbled onto the ground in a pathetic heap.
"We-kill-every-single-one-of-them" David growled to him (yet his group collectively) all in one breath "All of Olivia's soldiers, the bitch herself, all the fucking traitors... we kill them all!" David exclaimed, before his eyes found his son's "We need to do this, there's no backing down now".
"Okay, okay, we fight, I'm with you dad" Gabe muttered in loyalty, as his father smiled down at him.
Inspired by Gabe's words other members of the New Frontier seemed to gain their composure, brandishing the guns they had managed to steal from the soldiers during the skirmish and with vicious looks in their eyes that mimicked the look of their leader, they stood tall and ready for the bloodbath that was about to occur.
"We'll stay together, and work through the building!" David instructed "Gabe, stay close to me!"
"Okay" Gabe said, as he slowly shadowed his father.
"Dad?" he suddenly asked.
"What son?" he muttered looking back at him.
"What about Mari? Do we have to kill her as well?"
"No" David answered instantly "Your sister's young Gabe, but she's in the wrong crowd, but she's my little girl and I'll have her back"
"What about Javi and Kate?"
David's eyes darkened a fraction there, Gabe didn't need his father's answer on this.
"Will you be okay with it?" David eventually asked.
"Yeah... yeah I will be" Gabe answered after a few moments of hesitation.
"You better be Gabe" David muttered "Because after today, after we take this place, you're gonna see a lotta bad stuff"
"I've already seen bad stuff" Gabe replied "But Dad what if we...?"
"We will" David answered, before his son could even finish that sentence "There's no point thinking anything differently"
"But..."
"No but's!" David snapped harshly "We're taking this place, end of story"
Gabe gulped, but followed his father onwards regardless, himself and his father had gotten this far against impossible odds beforehand, the months they spent here in Utopia, each day could have been the last, why was today going to be his last? As long as his father believed they'd get through this, they would.
He was right.
There was no point in thinking any differently.
"Miss President! Miss President!"
Her soldiers were calling, she felt herself being thrust upwards as Robinson's body was rolled off her, Olivia wiped herself down and gained her bearings as she looked down at her loyal follower's body. Robinson... he deserved so much better than this, if Olivia had the time, she might have mourned him and maybe even cried for him, but it can't have been now, not with the New Frontier just running out of the door and those other immune survivors, all of them had to die if she was going to create the Utopia she had always dreamed of, this big city was nothing without the real threat of the New Frontier gone and it's people protected with immunity.
"Kill every single one of them, but leave the brains intact" Olivia ordered harshly "I mentioned the helicopter, they'll be on their way to the roof no doubt trying to get to it. Make sure the helicopter stays in place for me"
"They'll be guards around the chopper, we ensured that" one of the soldiers informed her "If they try that way, I've already given the orders to shoot on site".
"Excellent, but tell them not to aim for the head, we can't destroy the brain" Olivia reminded him "Now, I need to attend to something quickly, the rest of you, I think you are well aware of what to do".
"Yes Miss President" was all she heard and with that they were gone, as Olivia looked down at Robinson's body, it was unfortunate that he had died, even more so due to the fact he hadn't been injected with the cure, then his brain would have been available to make more vacations, but now he was dead and about to turn... so with a heavy heart, she pulled her own small pistol out of her bloodstained clothes and with a dull bang that echoed across the emptying room, her loyal follower, the one that had given his life to save her own, was finally resting in peace.
"You'll be the last" she told his bled out form "After today and thanks to you, we'll have the Utopia we always dreamed of"
and with that, the president was off, to create and led the Utopia she had been with from the start.
"Come on! Come on!" Kate insisted as she soldiered on like a trooper, up the narrow set of stairs that must have led to the roof, (or at least she hoped so) Max was leading the way with his gun in hand and an urgent looking Kate was directly in his shadow.
"Easy, I'm at the front here" Max grumbled to her, when (in haste) she stepped on the back of his heel.
"Sorry I just..." Kate began, before her gaze found the ground and she trailed to a halt.
"I know you're nervous here Kate" Max said looking back at her "But they're are bound to be men surroundin' the chopper and as I'm the only one with the gun here..."
"I know. I know" Kate hushed cutting through him "It's just... Max. How could they?"
Max sighed.
"You think you can trust people" Max growled "and to be honest, I trusted them too. Eleanor was a king gal, a medic, who looked out for everyone. and Tripp, I thought he was a loyal guy. A true soldier through and through and... you know I was actually jealous of them. Of all they had together and I thought in a weird way, they were... near enough perfect"
"Max. I'm... I'm sorry" Kate muttered.
Max sighed.
"Ain't nothin' you need to be sorry for" he informed her "and we can think about all of this later, for now we need to get the fuck outta here".
"Yeah" Kate muttered, "Yeah... okay..."
Merely steps behind them, Terri and Ethan kept their senses on high alert, any bellow or order from a soldier and they would react instantly, they may not have had guns, but not having guns hadn't stopped the pair of them beforehand, sure enough when Terri looked down at the former Wellington Wolf's wrists, she caught a glimpse of something silver there.
"You never dropped those switchblades did you?" she inquired with a smile.
He looked down at her and managed to crack a similar smile.
"I have my ways of keeping them hidden from soldiers" Ethan replied "One of the many things I was trained for, if Stephanie hadn't have come when she did, I would have had to taken a lunge at Olivia and hoped for the best"
"That sounds very much unlike you, Ethan" Terri muttered "Whatever happened to all the careful planning that you were so good at?"
"No amount of careful planning was getting us out there" Ethan said, taking a quick glance behind him, as they turned a corner on the stairwell and proceeded further upwards "Stephanie and Luke... well we must be thankful they were there and thought of what they did. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I forgot about the helicopter in those moments as well".
"Let's just hope it's a good plan" Terri added.
There was a short silence between them, the murmurs of the group behind of them and their own combined footsteps echoing on the stairwell and their own deep breathing were the only sounds that vibrated in their ears in those moments, however with a sudden deep breath, Ethan decided to break that silence.
"There was never time to discuss it, but did you see anything?" he enquired.
Terri turned to face him, in those moments she was plunged back into that alternative world, where she was happy and comfortable and more importantly with her brother once again. It had all been so surreal, but seeing him again just for that last time... it gave her a sense of peace and closure that she wasn't granted beforehand. If the infamous cut throat cub was a saint in Brandon's world, then... she guessed he really had protected her in a strange way and if she could be redeemed and the Wellington Wolf could be redeemed then, all of a sudden this escape meant so much more to her than simply protecting the group.
"I saw what I had too" Terri said "Let's just say, it made me feel alive again, like there was so much more to do than simply protect this group"
Ethan was watching her closely now.
"You know, I was thinking" he began "If, and I do say If we escape this place, I would have to compete with you, I've never played rock, paper scissors, once in my life. I'd like to try it".
"You've never played it!?" Terri said in disbelief, as Ethan nodded to confirm this information.
"Like I said, my life was down to plans and calculation" Ethan said "Games and luck, that wasn't me, but the gamble, the thrill, it's meant to be, enthralling in a way".
"All of our plans and calculations have had a degree a luck, rest assured" Terri informed him "If luck got us this far, we can get further, although I feel better because you have your switchblades with you. I wished I could go back and grab Ana's sword right now".
"We just need to be quick and efficient and we'll take this chopper and go" Ethan said "Then we can see which one of us is the luckiest in the end"
"I accept your challenge" Terri murmured with a smile.
There was another short silence between the pair of them.
"You're shitting yourself, aren't you?" Ethan bluntly said.
"Yep" Terri confirmed with a gulp, "Yourself?"
"You know the answer to that Terri" was all Ethan said in response.
Bringing up the rear of the fleeing group, Stephanie stood with her gun facing the glum and barely lit staircase below her, she was expecting those soldiers to come out of the dark abyss and pull her down and a part of her was almost rearing for it to happen. A chance to press her finger down on the trigger and blast them all into pieces and die in a mess of bloody body bits, screams and insanity, she was too far gone and a mad death like that hardly bothered her. She would be prepared for it, yet as she thought about it, she thought about her previous death.
Crawling out of the hardware store, bleeding out with walkers ripping her to shreds, a slow and painful and prolonged death to have, she wouldn't die like that here, besides what pain could hurt her now. She had lost everything, her unborn child, Lilly and AJ, Sarah, her own husband, she was right in a way, back in the Hardware store all those years ago. If she had just left then, there was a high chance the cult would have killed her, but there was also the chance she could have escaped. Never have gone to ruin with the rest of the group, grown to love and care for them all, she would have been alone and alive, somewhere deep in the woods somewhere, maybe she would have met another group. A group who avoided communities like she planned too, maybe she'd be at their camping site wondering what would have happened if she had stayed at that Hardware store she had fled all those years ago. What if she had managed to escape in that truck? All the possibilities were endless.
But no, she was here, everything she had feared the most had come to pass. She was curious about what could have been, if things went differently.
But she no longer regretted it, if she could go through it all again, one more chance to see Nick again, to play with Sarah or Lilly or AJ, she would take it, even if she knew their fates.
She had grown to love them, that was unavoidable.
So she was making sure whoever ruined it, payed dearly for their mistakes.
"Hey"
Snapped out of her bubble, she turned to see Eddie had addressed her, gazing up at the bearded man she muttered a small "Hey" back.
"So erm... you're cool being at the rear and all?" Eddie muttered, "Y'know? In case those fuckers..."
"I'll be fine here Eddie" Stephanie said "But thanks for the concern".
"Don't mention it" Eddie mused "I don't want you running off and all, like... well you get where I'm coming from..."
"Yeah I... I guess I do" Stephanie said, as she then realised, she wasn't so alone in her grief and madness, someone had been through it all before, just like she had done. Someone who had lost absolutely everything he held dear to him, his girlfriend, his best friend, Rebecca and AJ, he had been denied his chance of revenge against the fucker who was responsible for Rebecca and AJ's deaths, no wonder he snapped and ran off.
"I don't know how you did it Eddie" Stephanie said "You lost everything and everyone close to you and yet, you came back".
"I thought you'd give me a lecture on why I shouldn't have run off in the first place" Eddie said lightly.
"Coming from me?" Stephanie inquired "Some lecture that would be"
She didn't know how he had managed to do it, but after she said those words, his laughter managed to make her chuckle as well. She didn't remember the last time she had laughed, especially while in this hellhole of a city.
"How did you do it though?" Stephanie inquired "Come back to us? You could have stayed gone and no one would have blamed you, we should have done more for you, after everything you went through..."
"It's fine Stef, honestly" Eddie said to reassure her "I told you this before, when I saw their graves, I knew that's what they would have wanted, they'd have wanted me to go back to the group. With all this crazy shit going on and with Clem trusting me with her whole secret thing and all that... it made me feel like I really was valued as part of this group. Yeah, I fucked up, they fucked up, you fucked up, we all have, I couldn't stay angry forever, besides" he said "JJ is most likely dead by now, so it puts my mind at ease".
"Yeah" Stephanie muttered "That's what I want Eddie, some sort of closure, revenge against those who killed Nick and my baby"
"Don't put your own life at risk for it" Eddie warned her "Listen I've been there Stef, you don't realise how valuable you are to the group, we need you. They aren't many of us left now. To think us two of all people have made it this damn far..."
"Considering everyone we knew, I always thought Vince and Shel would survive the longest" Stephanie said, offering her opinion on the matter "But it's funny how things work out, everyone we knew before, Vince, Wyatt, Shel, Becca, Bonnie, Russell... all gone".
"That's why we can't lose anyone else" Eddie insisted to her "Especially not the hot chicks"
Stephanie did a double take as Eddie gave her a cheeky grin.
"I'm... I'm missing an arm!" Stephanie squeaked "I'm not..."
"Missing arm never bothered me" Eddie muttered "Before I got with Violet they were some pretty hot chicks around Wellington with missing legs and arms, kinda like a fetish for me..."
"So this is your plan, weeks after my husband dies?" Stephanie said with her morbid humour returning to the fore "Your plan to seduce me?"
"Who said anything about seduction?" Eddie replied "I could just... take you by force".
"Oh no... how original, rape" Stephanie muttered in mock horror "Please come up with something different, have you been getting tips of Vince on how to set up a rape scenario?"
"Oh yeah, he taught me all the ropes" Eddie said, as Stephanie chuckled into her remaining hand, which was still wrapped around the rifle she held onto, however as she did, Eddie's face dropped.
"We shouldn't be joking about this" he suddenly said "Stef this actually happened to you and..."
"Eddie, it's fine" Stephanie informed him "If you're afraid this will hurt my feelings, then you've honestly got nothing to worry about, I don't think much could hurt me anymore".
Yet deep down, she knew that maybe losing him and a few of the people on this staircase, would be painful final blows.
"DOOR'S UP AHEAD!" Max bellowed as he sprinted up the stairs (two at a time) with the rest of the group hot on his tail, he pressed an ear to the door and heard nothing but silence behind it, as he did this, the rest of the group clambered around him, each of them holding their breaths, as they listened out for any sort of noise.
"Sounds quiet, but they'll have some soldiers at the ready no doubt" Max muttered harshly "I'll fling this door open and fire, when I do, you guys head towards the chopper, diving for any sort of cover as you go".
"I'll lay a supporting fire as well" Stephanie added, her finger itchy on the trigger as the faced the dull, grey door in front of her "We just gotta run and shoot, right?"
"Fast and deadly, that's our plan" Luke piped up "Clem, Molly, if I'm slowing you down or..."
"The answer's no, so can it" Molly snapped instantly.
"I'll lead you two, I'm not leaving anyone behind" Clementine muttered in defiance.
"How charming of you Clem" Luis droned in sarcasm "Buy unfortunately James you can't play martyr like Clem over there, you have to get to the chopper, even if it means leaving everyone else behind".
"I don't know about all of this!" James suddenly exclaimed, his face chalk white and sweat dripping down it "What if the chopper we find, isn't one I've piloted before? Then what do we do? What...?"
"We stay here, wait for them to find us and got shot down and slaughtered like lambs" Max snapped "Or we can fucking go and take a risk and get outta here, if you don't know how to pilot it, you'll fucking try".
"But..."
"I don't want to be rude or anything" Terri piped up "But James right now, whatever you feel, whether that be guilt or panic, we as a group don't care. You're the number one priority here, your personal feelings cannot jeopardise this. That's why myself and Ethan here will shield you with our own bodies if we have too".
"What!?" James exclaimed.
"Make that three, as I am a pretty big dude" Luis added.
"Might as well join the suicide squad" Eddie offered.
James, wide eyed in disbelief, gazed over at Melanie, who didn't need to mutter a word but nodded to show, that she too, would lay down her life, if it meant James could get to this chopper, all of it was on him now. He had to take a deep breath and let go of his human side just for a few minutes, until he had got that chopper, until he was piloting it and far away from this city.
"Okay, let's just get this over with" James muttered.
"Okay, best of luck everyone, 3...2...1...NOW!" Max bellowed.
The door was flung open.
For a moment there was a flash of light as the blue sky of Utopia was visible for Clementine, before the yellow flashes of gunfire blinded her vision, there was a sudden jolt as a voice (louder than Max's own) bellowed "OPEN FIRE!"
Everything hit the fan.
Max was expecting there to be a few soldiers awaiting by the chopper, Olivia had left what had seemed to be no less than 10, maybe 15, with one of them using a heavy machine gun attached to the chopper to instantly mow down those who were right in it's path. The roar and pitter patter of the gunfire was deafening in those moments, as the winds in this arid part of Nevada sent grains of sand soaring across the rooftop. Ethan Hart and Terri Rogers were the only pair that managed to duck behind an air conditioning unit in the mad fray, as Max himself had no time, he managed to take out two of the soldiers before his arm was ripped from his body by the sheer force of the firepower from the heavy machine gun.
"FUCK!" Max spat, gazing briefly down at his detached arm, where his gun still lay in it's grip.
He could only gaze at it for a second, before the heavy machine gun fired it's next round into his torso, the stunned Max was left in bloody chunks in seconds, blood from his ruined body sprayed and spurted all over the door and all over a screaming Marianna and Kate. Kate tried to grab his gun to defend herself with, but a well trained soldier instantly landed a well placed bullet in a shoulder, as she roared in pain and fell backwards.
"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" She screamed, clutching her wound.
Another shot from the soldier caught an unaware Javier in the back, who grunted in pain, as Marianna had to tug him back, whimpering now, the man of Spanish descent learnt to keep his body covered as he joined his girlfriend and niece in retreating down the stairs. In the madness, Melanie lost her grip on James and was caught in the crossfire, thinking he would leap forward, she leapt forward, only to find herself alone in the crossfire. With mere seconds she dived behind the familiar air conditioning unit that Ethan and Terri were sheltered behind.
"Where's James!" Terri roared in the madness.
The wide eyed looked in Melanie's eyes gave the blonde teenager her answer, as they both looked back to the door to see the rest of the group couldn't risk being caught in no man's land and had fallen back.
"Their going to creep up on us, they know we are here" Ethan gasped, "and we don't even have a..."
He paused, seeing the smile on Melanie's face and the bloodied gun she had managed to retrieve in the madness, it was something of a grim sight, seeing how Max's arm was still attached to the thing.
Never the less it caused Ethan to smile.
"You can handle a gun right?" he said to Terri.
"Absolutely" she mused.
"My switchblades, your gun" Ethan muttered "We'll have this roof cleared in no time, and Melanie, thank you"
Melanie smiled, in those moments letting every other worry in her head die, she felt happy and content that she had managed to help, yet while she was safe here, situated between the "golden duo" as Robert used to call them, the man she was supposed to be protecting, the man that should have been in her position was back there.
"Stay safe" she thought to herself worriedly.
If only she knew, what Olivia had planned.
"BEHIND US!" Stephanie screamed.
Trying not to slip on the suddenly, very bloody staircase and over the pieces that were left of Max, a door below them barged open and a soldier ordered "OPEN FIRE!" it was clear what had happened. This was an ambush, trapped from in front and now trapped from behind, with some already separated, some wounded and one of them already dead, it was an ideal time for a second assault on the immune survivors. Their ambush would have been a success, had Stephanie not been ready for this, with a instinct only seconds faster than the soldiers below her, she open fired as the three men in front of her fell to the ground instantly, with the high ground and with them all funnelled up in one place, this made it easier than it should have been, but she was surprised as she fired away, that no bullets had pierced her own skin yet. But that was down to a matter of seconds, before they would gain the upper hand.
"RUN! EVERYONE RUN!" Came a blind scream from Kate.
There was nowhere to go, Clementine was aware of Luke muttering "Fuck it" under his breath and suddenly lunging himself, with Clementine and Molly clinging onto him, over the railings to the stairs and into a mess of bodies below. Dazed as an elbow scraped her face and as people kicked and punched from below her, she quickly tried to find her feet, only to fall under the human mess of swirling limbs. Their was gunfire, chips of brick and screams made the room dusty, as she crawled blindly forwards. More hits to her face and legs, she was bleeding from her nose now, yet she carried on blindly onwards, with no idea where any one else was, or what was going on in the loud madness around her. Her hand eventually wrapped itself around a rifle in a limp hand, tugging it away, she managed to find her feet and stumbled out of the door the soldiers must have opened, she heard a yell from behind her, a sudden pain in her leg, without looking she turned back and fired the rifle behind her, a loud, and deep voice roared in pain, as she swung herself blindly around a corner and slammed open a door open in front of her. She had entered some sort of bathroom, with a basic sink and toilet. Closing the door behind her and finding the light switch, she quickly inspected her wound.
Shot, the left leg, just above the thigh, a painful wound that was bleeding but hadn't hit anything fatal. Yet despite that, pain shot up her body and now the adrenaline rush was dying off it was becoming unbearable to put her weight on her left leg. She be limping now for sure, groaning to herself and with her body on autopilot she used the handle to the bathroom door to rip a hole in her trousers, when she had done that, she tugged on the hole, until one of her trouser legs was torn from the knee below.
Using the spare fabric material, she began to wrap it around her wound. What good it would do, she didn't know or care, yet as she turned on the tap and washed away the blood on her wound (through gritted teeth) she listened closely. She could hear the gunshots behind her, the muffled yells and cries.
Her stomach dropped, as she realised then, she may have gotten away.
But what about everyone else?
Many of the soldiers lay dead, but more kept on coming, Stephanie was aware she was coughing up blood now, but had stumbled out into the corridor, firing away at those who fled, her mind near enough gone by this point. This is what she wanted, how she wanted to die, in a blaze of blood and glory. She was hurting, her body was hurting, she must have been shot, somewhere by someone, but she didn't feel the pain like she should have done. She was numb and on autopilot, maybe this is what Nick felt like, during the riot and after he had learnt about Sarah's death.
Looks like she had gained her late husband's vengeful fighting streak.
As Stephanie went rambo, Kate, Javier, Marianna, huddled together and crept down the stairs, with James hot on their tail, unable to find anyone else, he had followed the family to wherever they could hide and heal their wounds.
Whereas Molly was screaming for Luke, Eddie had heard her and grabbed her, trying to ignore a gash on his forearm, ignoring everything he had dragged her out of a door, to where? Who the hell knew, out of here at the moment, that was the plan. Luke himself had found himself alone, dazed and injured, stumbling blindly out of a door, he had not managed to acquire a gun, but after a struggle with a soldier, he had pulled a knife from the soldiers waist, he had blindly slashed at the air, felt a grip lessen on him and had been stumbling blindly since, calling out faintly for Clementine, Molly or anyone, where the hell had they all gone!? These corridors seemed so aimless... where... where were they!? He had to find them, if any of them died now.
"It's my fault" he muttered in panic "All my fault, If I'd have moved when Clementine told me too, none of this would have happened, we wouldn't have even come here... please whoever's listening to me up there. Don't let anyone else die because of my mistakes, if... if it happens one more time, to any of those two in particular..." he gulped there, before muttering the next part of his pray/plea to whatever deity was listening.
"...then I might just lose the will to go on"
Olivia opened the door to the fancy sitting room she had placed Tripp and Eleanor within, hearing a click, both downtrodden survivors looked up from where they sat huddled together on a comfortable red sofa, to where Olivia stood, her face betrayed no emotion as she and her soldiers walked into the warm and cosy room.
"Is it done then?" Tripp grunted, looking down at the carpet once again.
"What... what happened to your...?" Eleanor began timidly, looking down at Olivia's bloodied clothes.
"They didn't want to go down easily, The New Frontier nor your dammed group" Olivia replied.
"We shouldn't have done this, now I feel like shit" Tripp grunted "Just god damn it Olivia, give us what we asked for and we'll leave and never cause..."
"The deal was, you saved yourselves over them" Olivia said "and unfortunately for you, that Stephanie girl went missing and broke them all out. Open warfare is going on above us now".
Eleanor and Tripp's eyes widened.
"T-they... escaped!" Eleanor stuttered.
"Oh yes and they're not happy at you, at all in fact" Olivia muttered "You see, they realised you had betrayed them, when they were so close to escape. I imagine they're hunting you down right now, the new frontier in particular".
"T-t-t-t..." Eleanor stuttered into silence, as she openly wept on Tripp's shoulder, the blonde man held her close, as he comforted his girlfriend he looked up at Olivia with hardened eyes.
"So what, are you just gonna leave us to be slaughtered then!?" he challenged.
"Oh no, I made it very clear, that I would not let them hurt you, at all" Olivia replied "That's why you are here, safe in this room..."
Her eyes darkened a considerable amount before she spoke next.
"...so I could hurt you instead".
Tripp leapt to his feet, Eleanor screamed and fell to the ground, before an enraged Tripp could grab hold of Olivia two of her soldiers had restrained the struggling, large man and did the same thing with a wailing Eleanor.
"NO! NO! FUCK NO!" Tripp bellowed, knowing full well what this meant, as panicked tears started to rain from his eyes. "FUCK YOU BITCH! YOU MADE US A PROMISE THAT...!"
"They escaped, dozens of my soldiers are dead, dying or will do very soon" Olivia muttered in a bored tone "Why is that? Because you sold out your friends, you technically set this all up and I'd rather use you two as cure fodder than anyone else, people with families, or others in Utopia. You two dying saves many more potential losses..."
"ELEANOR'S A MEDIC!" Tripp screamed in desperation "I MIGHT NOT BE USEFUL BUT SHE WILL BE...!"
"We have plenty more" Olivia replied coldly, as Eleanor broke down completely, and screamed for mercy "No one loves you other than each other" Olivia spoke over her screams "You won't be missed".
"OLIVIA PLEASE! PLEASE!" Tripp screamed and wept in panic.
"I'm saving you a more painful death than the one in the New Frontier will give you, be thankful for that at least" Olivia said "Now soldiers make it fast, I don't want much more fuss or potential escapes, remember don't destroy the brain, a shot through the neck will..."
"NO! PLEASE! NO!"
"OLIVIA PLEASE!"
"Hurry it up" was all Olivia commanded as she turned her back on the two traitors, they were screaming so loud now it was beginning to strain her eyes. So she was thankful when a squealing Eleanor was silenced with a harsh gunshot, Olivia heard choking, Tripp's heartbroken scream of "ELEANOR!" before he too was silenced with another heavy gunshot, the last thought raining through Tripp's mind was one of hatred towards Olivia at her betrayal, but also one begging of forgiveness from the group he had betrayed.
"I'm... I'm so sorry, we're both so sorry..." he thought before, with a last painful choke, the world went black for him.
As for Olivia, she felt nothing, that was merely a strategic move, she was keeping tab of her soldiers and as for the one's she had lost contact with... well she knew the ambush was going on by the roof so she was expecting some casualties there but for some of the others, she had heard through the comm's what their last screams had been. She knew full well David and the New Frontier (like the savages they were) had killed and tortured them into revealing the location of Eleanor and Tripp. Revenge and conquest was the only thing that brute had on his mind, Olivia had to snicker to herself, he was so predictable. He'd come running here expecting his well earned revenge.
What he and the New Frontier would get instead, was an ambush set to end them.
"No sign of them sir!" a soldier told another one "They must have slipped out before we got here".
"Damn, looks like they wiped out the guys here, what a fucking waste"
"We'll make the fuckers pay, I'm sure they got things under control up on the roof now, let's regroup with the others and take down the New Frontier first, this ambush got one of these fuckers, the rest are stragglers or wounded, once the New Frontier are down, they'll be much easier targets".
Luis heard this conversation, as he lay there, feigning death amidst the several bloodied bodies piled onto the narrow staircase, he was surprised no one else had thought of this, he wasn't a big killer, but he was a big guy and he couldn't just sneak out like everyone else, so he had hidden on the ground and faked death, with all the blood he had smeared onto himself, he blended right into this mess of corpses, their blood was warming on his clothes, as she lay somewhat suffocated and soaked, keeping himself totally still and silent, when he heard the soldier's footsteps fade away from him, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He was safe, for now at least.
He'd give it a few more minutes before he was absolutely certain he wanted to move, he'd get back onto that roof and see if anyone was still alive, he could hear gunfire up there as well. If he was a real brave and big man, he'd go up there and help... but did he really want to throw himself in that again? It was a massacre, he had no idea where anyone else was, or if anyone else was even alive? The thought that he could have been the last one of them, it made him feel strange and aimless, what would he do then? Hadn't he insisted that he and his mother stay alone in those woods for years? But even then he had his mother with him, no matter how much of a lone wolf he tried to be.
Being truly alone, like this, this was new territory for him.
He held his breath, this may have been new territory but like the time he was signalled out for Plan X in Wellington and set to be slaughtered, he had ran on his own, he survived on his own strength and whatever brains he had in his head.
He would survive.
Even if he knew people here deserved to live more than he did, even if others in the group had closer bonds than he did, he wanted to survive and see another day away from this city. It had been about everyone else since they had arrived here, Clem and Terri's adventures in this strange other world, Luke's grief, Stephanie's act and the tragedy that befell her, the pressure on James, he had taken something of a back-seat, but now here he was evaluating his own value to the group. Maybe it wasn't much, but he'd do all he could to survive and protect those group of idiots he had grown to care so dearly about.
"Here"
David growled this in savage delight, merely two floors down from the massacre above was where Olivia had decided to hide those fucking traitorous scumbags, he was grinning broadly to himself and many of his surviving troops shared similar expressions, lost in bloodlust, with the blood of the enemies still soaking their clothes, Gabe himself was trying to keep on a tough exterior at this time, but inside he was beginning to wonder if this was all a bit excessive. Especially with some of the... relics the group had collected.
David had made his intentions clear, after the New Frontier took out the majority of the soldiers on the upper floors, they had captured an injured survivor and tortured him into revealing the location of Eleanor and Tripp, through several screaming sessions and unspeakable acts of cruelty, the weeping, injured soldier finally broke down and admitted where Olivia had kept them. David thanked him, he had promised the soldier that his life would be spared if he gave this information. So David used one of the military knives he had obtained from one of the several corpses on the ground and sliced off his penis and balls and left the shocked soldier to bleed out in agony, squirming beneath him, clutching his crotch. When he was dead, David made short work of cutting off the man's head, his face still frozen in agony and terror, arms, legs and heads of the deceased were currently being held by other members of the New Frontier.
He could picture Tripp's reaction instantly, he'd hold up the remains of the soldier's privates and his decapitated head, just so it could confirm to Tripp what he was capable of. He could see the terror in the blonde man's eyes as he tried to shield his useless bitch, David would take savage delight in ending his life, while he had to listen and watch what his soldiers would do to his bitch Eleanor first, the grey door was in front of him. Oblivious to his son's mild discomfort or the infectious bloodlust of the insane soldiers that had stayed with him, he opened the door.
"Tripp..." he called out playfully, but an instant stench of copper and the sights of two motionless bodies sprawled on a sofa in front of him, made him recoil instantly.
Eleanor and Tripp were already dead, their heads missing, blood still oozing from the stumps of their necks, all their clothes removed and written in blood, on the wall behind them, was a very clear message.
Too late- Olivia XXX
A shuffling in the corridor caught his attention, he knew instantly what had happened, Olivia had outplayed him, she was too fucking smart for her own good! He bellowed to his soldiers "AMBUSH!" just as the doors on both sides of the corridor burst open and Olivia's soldiers open fired on his group. Gabe yelped in shock and ducked to the ground, as the soldiers on the fringe of David's group fell instantly, but David was already firing back as pandemonium ensured, he was aware of a pain in his shoulder...
He was stepping over bodies...
Dazed... confused... bullets flying and people screaming...
Where was he? He looked around briefly, he was hurt, the grisly relics were gone, but he was alive and clutching his gun, his fingers sore and the military knife was still on his holster, a few wide eyed survivors had followed him, but among them, he was missing someone.
"Where's Gabe!?" He growled.
None of his soldiers were able to answer him, they all looked at the ground.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE!?" David screamed at them.
Again there was silence, David wanted to kill them there, as insane anger and bloodlust built in his system, but then he remembered his rage was saved for others. The soldiers from the ambush were dead, he had somehow gotten here, injured, but alive. Yet his ears prickled at something, a sound... a gasp of some sorts that came from nearby room, the door was open oh-so very lightly and as David looked down he could see (very clearly) a trail of blood leading to that room, an injured soldier? Olivia herself? Predatory senses on high alert, he smiled to himself, the revenge that had been denied to him by Olivia was about to be fulfilled, as he approached the room, calling out softly "Whose there...?"
"...whose there...?"
"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!" Kate screeched to herself, holding her head in hands, the small apartment like bedroom herself, Javier, James and Marianna had snuck into... it seemed like a safe haven to hide in. Olivia and her soldiers setting up an ambush, their presence and all the gunfire that had occurred outside, they had been stuck in this room, unable to get back up to the roof. Their plan had been simple, hide in here wait for all the commotion to die down and then sneak back up onto the roof.
But Kate and Javier were injured and despite their attempts to cover their wounds, the blood trail still led to this room.
Now as they had peeking through the crack of the door to see if the coast was clear, David Garcia, bloodied, crazed and straight from battle, was there with a few of his soldiers, all it took in those unlucky moments was for an injured Javier to groan in pain at his gunshot wound, just as the corridor went deathly silent after David had screamed.
He had heard them, he was coming for them.
"We gotta hide!" James hissed, "Or try and fight and..."
"He'll search until he finds us" Kate muttered sadly "and if he finds you, it's game over for all of us..."
"No, I don't care about..." James began.
Kate slapped him, a stunned James could only look back at her.
Javier was looking around wildly, rooted to the spot.
"Kate... Kate..." Marianna was squeaking, she was frozen on the bed, seconds away from seeing her father... about to possibly murder her stepmother and uncle, how would she blot out this?
"Stay under the bed, when it's over, get to the roof" Kate almost whispered to James, as she faced the door and sighed.
"I..."
"Do it, now!" Kate now wept, as a shocked James had a mere second to duck under the bed, as there was a loud smack from above him, a limp body went still on the bed, as James realised Kate must have knocked Marianna out with a harsh punch. With Marianna out cold, there was no way the girl would be traumatised by what she was about to see, James didn't have that luxury.
Before he knew what had happened, the door had slammed open. David drank up the image of his wife and his brother, with his wife holding onto his brother's arm, as both of them froze in place.
"Well, well you two in the bedroom once again" David snarled "What a great coincidence..."
"Fuck you" Kate snarled, as Javier went limp in fear as he met his brother's eyes.
"Don't give me that look Javi" David said calmly "After today little brother, I won't be able to hurt you anymore".
"You're actually going to do this!?" Kate inquired "Kill me and your own brother!? David what the...!?"
"You fucking traitors, you deserve to die for this" David snapped "You know Olivia already got Tripp and Eleanor, I wanted to kill them so badly, now I get to fulfil my urges, just with a couple of fuckers who have been betraying me for so much longer..."
He took a dangerous step forward and looked around the dark room, where he saw his little girl, lying on the bed looking as though she was asleep.
"I knocked her out, she doesn't deserve to see this" Kate explained to him.
"I'm going to better care of her, then you ever did" David informed her "Now if you..."
He didn't get any further, Kate had screamed and had wrapped her hands around the lamp on the bedside table and attempted to whack David with it, as she did, Javier tried to leap at him as well, but David caught Kate's wrist as the lamp fell with a shatter, that sent pieces of glass, skidding across the once pristine floor and right under the bed next to a grimacing and silent James, whatever happened now, he couldn't try to help, he couldn't do anything...
David's soldiers grabbed hold of a leaping Javier and wrestled him to the ground.
"Where the fuck are the others!?" David snapped at Kate.
"Not fucking here, we all get separated, I hope those injures you got, kill you before you find any of them!" Kate shouted in defiance of him.
"and I hope the injuries and death you're about to receive will be heard by all of them" David retorted.
Unfortunately, he was right, because once again, without him knowing it, David Garcia would be psychologically torturing James to a near breaking point.
The model was a Bell UH1, a military chopper James had piloted before, he was thankful when he caught a glimpse of it on the roof, because he would know how to pilot it and fly out of this hellhole, with nothing but the blue sky around him and peaceful, puffy white clouds lazily drifting by, he tried to close his eyes to think about it, but that was merely impossible with the choking noises Javier was making, nor with Kate's ear splitting screams and sobs, as David... James was going to be sick, he could see Kate's bare leg, twitching horribly as blood dribbled down it, he didn't need to see everything to know what was happening above him. The noises were visceral enough, every slapping of skin, sick laugh or grunt from David or one of the several soldiers around him who had joined in, the constant thumps and punches that cracked the bones of Javier's nose and cheeks, tears, blood and other substances, turned the once pristine floor into a murky hotbed of filth. James was suffocating in it all, the small space under the bed, the broken glass next to his hands and head, he felt like was drowning again, the waterboarding... David's laughing, he was gasping openly now. If Kate wasn't so loud, they would have heard him, but Kate was getting weaker, blood was flowing more openly, he looked down at himself and his outstretched arm and for whatever reason his arms locked onto his tattoo.
"I'm a goddamn marine" he snapped at himself "You can't let this get to you"
But then he remembered everything he had lost, all his friends, his dog, his girlfriend, Frank and now Kate and Javier and possibly his whole new group, did he really have the strength to carry on? The tattoo reminded him of everything he once was, young, stupid but loving life while protecting his country. He could imagine Frank in this scenario, telling him clearly to stay out of it and not pick a fight like James always wanted too. Robert's tactics were stupid, he had to fight for what was right, he had to fight David now, to save Kate, to do the right thing and get revenge for everything David had done to him.
But then as Frank had wisely tried to instruct him and from what he had learnt in the marines, it wasn't about being the best or the most bad ass fighter.
It was about surviving and enduring, how much you could grit your teeth, bare it and survive to live and fight another day, no matter how much life threw your way.
So, learning this valuable lesson now of all times, James had to grit his teeth and stop himself from gasping, after what seemed like tortuous hours, but it was probably only minutes, Kate finally fell to the ground, facing away from James (that much he was thankful for) yet she was a nude, bloody, lifeless hunk of meat now, compared to the beauty she had been mere minutes beforehand, a few last desperate chokes from Javier, before he screamed his last, hate fuelled word.
"DAVID!"
Thunk.
Javier's head bounced on the ground, and rested mere centimeters away from James fingers, he withdrew them, as David reached down and grabbed his deceased brother's head.
"Home run little brother!" he mused in a mad delight, before he kicked the head and it smashed something further back in the room, James saw Javier's headless body crumple to the ground next to Kate's, David was laughing hysterically and James just wanted to cover his ears and let it end, he had sat still, left Javier and Kate too die such horrible deaths, now he was being tortured even more...
As if some angel could hear him, David's laughter died down almost instantly, perplexed James listened closely to as why this was.
"Mari?" David said suddenly.
An uncomfortable silence stifled the small room, James stomach took a plunge as he heard the bed creak from above him, Marianna must have woken up at some point and seen... and seen everything that her father had done to her stepmother and uncle.
"Mari" David eventually said, his voice awkwardly soft after everything that had happened "That was..."
A sharp intake of breath, James didn't hear Marianna scream or anything like that, but he saw her little legs dart right past her father and over the bodies of Kate and Javier, as she fled the room with the speed of a cheetah. James didn't even want to think about what that poor girl had seen, it was bad enough being here, but hearing all of that and knowing your father was responsible. The girl would be scarred for life after what she had just seen.
"Mari...!" David called out after her, he turned to his soldiers and muttered a "Come on, we're done here" and proceeded to finally leave the room, searching for his children while killing everyone he considered an enemy, it certainly seemed like a difficult job, but one James could not sympathise with. Because as he crawled out from under the bed and looked down at what was left of Kate and Javier, something seemed to switch off inside of him. He couldn't mourn them, or be disgusted at their fate anymore, he didn't even feel a need to go and try to rescue Marianna from what would be a miserable life under David's rule. Because if he did, their deaths were meaningless, there was only one goal he had in his head now.
Getting to the helicopter, regardless of who got left behind in his wake.
"Damn!"
Terri watched as the bullets from the heavy machine gun sent strands of her curly blonde hair flying off the roof, if she had poked her head out for a second longer, the bullets would have torn through her skull and ended her life. Yet here she was, still breathing and still surviving, next to where Ethan held his bloodied switchblades and where the bodies of several soldiers that had tried to get to them to take them down, lay in bloodied heaps. They thought because they had guns and greater numbers, all they had to do was get to the air conditioning unit and open fire.
They underestimated the speed and raw strength of the Wellington Wolf himself, although Terri had certainly managed to take down a fair few soldiers who broke cover trying to reach them. Those that had managed to reach them, were quickly sliced up by Ethan's blades, right now both of them (Melanie included) were firing at the only soldier left, the one on the helicopter behind the machine gun. Unlike his allies however, he seemed to be smarter and wasn't leaving the safety of his gun behind. The recurring problem was, this soldier in particular had fast reflexes and whenever Terri, Ethan or even Melanie when she mustered up the courage, poked their heads or guns from behind the air conditioning unit they would be met with an instant volley on powerful gunfire.
Ethan and Terri had tried a coordinated attack, by both firing at him at the same time, but the unit was too small and his spray of bullets was too large, they were only two places they could fire from, the top of the unit was too tall for all three of them to reach. So the soldier knew which sides to lock onto, Terri inhaled deeply, they were firing blind here, they could attack at the same time, but it would take a very lucky bullet from these rifles to end the soldier.
"We have to keep on baiting his bullets" Terri muttered to a sweat drenched Ethan (due to his work killing some of the soldiers that had approached them) "Eventually he'll have to reload and we'll strike".
"He's not out of bullets yet and has us on the lockdown" Ethan informed her "The second it becomes a concern, even a remote concern. He'll radio the other soldiers and call for assistance. As a matter of fact I am surprised he hasn't already, he could do so at any second".
"and everything we've done here becomes useless" Terri muttered in grim understanding "We've emptied the roof and what you're trying to tell me is that..."
"We don't have the time to bait out his bullets" Ethan said "He could radio for help at any second, if all three of us fire at once, we're going to have to rely on a lucky bullet to end him. Which seems unlikely, we're in too small of an area to direct his spray of bullets elsewhere, giving someone else the chance and timing to aim the gun properly and end him".
"In other words" Terri uttered "One of us has to be the bait themselves, run out there and he'll open fire on them, giving the other two people here..."
"A chance to shoot the man" Ethan said "But who...?"
Melanie raised her hand.
"That's brave of you" Ethan informed the mute woman "But it can't be you if we want this to work, me and Terri are faster and we need to maximise this chance. You have decent aim Melanie, stay here and shoot".
Melanie acknowledged this with a small frown, she knew Terri and Ethan were much more athletic and gun savvy then her, but the possibility one of them would die was very real and they were too valuable for the group to lose, whereas she wasn't. But if this failed they would all die and they were on limited time...
"I'll go" Ethan offered "I'm faster..."
"But you have better aim with the gun" Terri observed "It makes more sense that I should go and you..."
"We don't have time to argue about this" Ethan muttered in haste "Terri, If I'm being honest with you, we both care too much about each other to let the other one of us go. So we'll have to decide this through... through..." he paused there before he finally uttered the word "Luck and chance"
"Luck and chance?" Terri inquired.
"It can't be Melanie, I'm sorry Melanie however guilty you feel about all of this, you're simply too slow to do this without getting slaughtered instantly" Ethan bluntly told the depressed looking mute woman, she knew this was true. She couldn't move like Ethan or Terri had done, nor could she make those kills, she could only be ready to fire at the guy when whoever went out there was fired upon.
"I... I told you" Ethan said "I always wanted to play one game of rock, paper, scissors..."
"We can't use this to decide, it's crazy!" Terri exclaimed.
"We won't decide any other way" Ethan snapped "Now we don't have any time, first to three is the winner, no cheating. We play fair".
"I'm ready to die, this doesn't need to..." Terri began.
"We're both fine with dying for this" Ethan muttered "You just don't want to lose me, do you?"
Terri was silent, as she looked at Ethan, he looked back at her.
"I don't want to lose you either" Ethan admitted "But... we have to let fate decide this, because we won't".
Terri gulped, she could hear the urgency in his voice, this had to be done, maybe if she was lucky, she'd end up losing this game and he'd still be alive, here too protect the group. She had her closure in her other world, she was more than ready to go, but then again she didn't know Ethan was thinking the exact same thing. Ethan was thinking after everything he had done in Wellington and bringing all these survivors here, in a twisted way his mission was complete, he had brought the immune survivors to where they were always meant to be, whether they escaped or not, Utopia would become a city filled with immune survivors. If Ethan was his old self, he wouldn't be helping this select group of people escape, but he had grown to care about them all, he didn't want to see them slaughtered. They were immune as well and had survived so much... besides who knew if Utopia would work as an immune safe haven? That was what Wellington was supposed to be and that fell to pieces, he had his own Utopia with his little immune group, he'd stick to that for as long as he continued to breathe.
"You know the rules, what counters what?" Terri finally muttered in grim acceptance.
"I know, I've just never been able to play it" Ethan told her.
"Let's get this over with then..."
"Rock, paper scissors!"
The first round, Ethan drew a rock, Terri a paper.
The second round, Ethan drew a rock again, Terri drew a scissors.
The third round, Ethan drew scissors and Terri paper.
The fourth round Ethan drew paper, Terri drew scissors.
It was unavoidable now, they were both on two points each, looking at each other, they knew the cost of losing or winning this next round.
"Rock..."
"Paper..."
"Scissors..."
Terri looked down at her hand, she had balled her fist up to a rock, Ethan had drawn scissors.
Game over.
"Well" Ethan said with a small smile "I suppose it all runs out in the end"
Terri was stunned, she looked over at his form.
"Et..." she began.
"Fire the second I go" was all he muttered back to her, and before she knew what had happened, he had leapt from cover, a hailstorm of bullets ringing in his direction, Terri poked her head over the edge of the air conditioning unit, but froze up entirely when she heard a grunt and bullet pounding on flesh, she couldn't... she couldn't shoot, she was going cold and...
The gunfire stopped, the soldier had slumped dead, his body slumping over the machine gun, Terri looked behind her to see Melanie herself had managed to do what she hadn't, and landed a few fatal bullets to that soldier, Terri looked down at her, uttered a small "Thanks" before she dropped her gun to the ground and ran over to where she had last seen Ethan run, she found him crouching on the ground, holding his chest and panting painfully.
"Ethan" she nearly whispered in dread, sure enough when she fell to her knees next to him, she could see that his entire chest was a bloody red, tore to shreds by the machine gun.
"N-n-nice shot" he coughed.
"Melanie did it, not me" Terri admitted honestly, as she allowed the dying Ethan to lean on her shoulder.
"No matter how hard we try" Ethan uttered, coughing up blood as he did "We all fail our missions in the end, because of the same reason" in those moments he thought about Dmirty, his old partner, Jenna and that family... everyone in Wellington and now Terri.
"I don't know how much longer I can do this" Terri said "Be there for the group, protect them as long as I can. Taking over now that you're gone..."
"Do it for as long as you can, then you have nothing to be ashamed of" Ethan said, before he looked up at her.
"I don't deserve to die like this" He said "After everything I did..."
"It doesn't matter now" Terri muttered "Just..."
"Don't take my body with me, leave it here" Ethan instructed of her "If I'm going to die, I want to at least help people here and my brain is intact. I started the whole cure process, it should only be right that I end with it".
"But they'll...!"
"I know and that's what I want to happen" Ethan said "and I want you out of here, so you don't have to go through the same thing".
"Ethan..."
"I haven't got anytime, secure the chopper, wait till James gets here and..."
"I'm going to miss you"
Ethan paused and blinked, as a tear from Terri's eyes fell onto his cheeks.
"You can cry openly Terri" Ethan said warmly "Because, this doesn't hurt as much I thought but... I'm going to miss you too and that thought... well it upsets me".
Scrunching her face up, Terri openly cried into Ethan's bloody chest, as he wrapped his weakened arms around her, as she held onto him like a lifeline, the one person that understood her, the one person who understood what it was like to be like her, he was going to ripped away from her.
This world, this city... it was all too cruel, even for someone like her.
She didn't know what sort of world she'd be in once he was gone, but his embrace was warm, whether that was because of the warm sticky blood now on her face, or just his body heat in general, she didn't know. But slowly his beating heart stopped, his last breaths left his system, as he slipped away from life, as his arms went limp by his sides, his body started to go cold, Terri knew she weeping into a corpse now, but that didn't stop her from doing so anyway. She wanted time to mourn, first her brother and now this... this city was fucking cursed!
But as she slowly picked herself up and looked over at Melanie who was hovering nearby, she realised what Ethan had died for. Her head turned towards the empty helicopter, with the soldier now dead, they had this escape route. Ethan had died trying to protect her and to get her out of this city, Brandon wanted her out of this city and as she looked up at the chopper once again, fierce determination boiled in her system, her tears were still red hot on her face. But she had to carry on, like Ethan would have wanted her too.
Because the mission wasn't over just yet.
