Chapter 51

(CHASE'S POV)

It was bright and early in the morning when I woke up. I hopped off the counter and walked over to Kevin, who was still asleep.

"Hey kid. It's time to get up." I said, shaking him awake.

"...Ok…" He said still half asleep.

I sighed and looked at him. "Fine. You get five more minutes. After that, you gotta get up."

"Ok Mr. Chase." He said.

I walked around the empty ass convenient store. Nobody was in here. "What the hell…" I looked over to the counter where Wanda and I placed the gasoline. It was clear. The Jerry cans were gone. I heard a faint sound and muffled dialogue coming from out back. I silently creeped my way over to the back door and slowly opened it. My eyes widened at the sight of the group loading supplies into the red van. I listened closely to their conversation.

"Hurry up Troy! We gotta head out before the fucking blonde wakes up and sees us." Bill said.

"Maybe if your lazy ass came over here and helped…" Troy snapped back at Bill.

"Are you sure this isn't wrong? The kid did help get the gas." Wanda said with concern in her eyes.

"Listen, we already got enough to worry about. There's just not enough space Wanda." Troy said.

"I say fuck them. Just more trouble." Bill said with a smirk. Yep, that did it.

I busted the door open and aimed both of my guns at all of the bastards in front of me. "What are ya doing?! Huh? Tryna dip on me?"

The all looked panicked. They were clearly shocked at my presence. "Chase?! We were just-" Wanda started.

~BANG~

I shut her ass up with a bullet to the head. Troy tried to pull out his gun but I quickly tapped two shots to his chest. I then heard a click sound. I looked over to see Bill with a hunting rifle in his hand, pointed at me.

"You stupid kid. You just fucked yourself." He said.

"Fuck you Bill!" I said furiously. "I'm taking that van you son of a bitch."

"Try me you you chicken shit, pussy." He said. I was stumped. I wasn't sure what to do. One wrong step could get my brains blown out.

~BANG! BANG! BANG!~

Three loud ass shots were what I heard next. I looked to my right to see Kevin holding a CZ 75 handgun. His eyes were closed and the gun was shaking in his small hands. Bill had dropped his gun. He had been shot once in his shoulder and once in his left thigh. I didn't hesitate for a single moment. I wasted no time running up to Bill and giving him a face full of size fourteen Timberlines. I shattered his nose which was now leaking profusely. I then lifted my boot and sent it crashing down on his good knee. The prick wasn't walking now.

"...J-just kill me already." Bill said.

"No. I got something special planned for you." I said to him with a ton of maliciousness. I looked back to Kevin. He was still shook about the whole situation. "Kevin, get in and buckle up. I be with you in just a sec. I dragged Bill over to a rack in the convenient store and tied him up with some duct tape that I saw lay around in the store.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He asked frantically.

"...Shut the fuck up Bill…" I said as I moved to the front door. I could see the horde of zombies surrounding the place. I kicked the door and gave Bill one last look. He was still struggling. "I'll see you in hell you motherfucker." I lifted my gun in the air and pulled the trigger. The loud sound drew the attention of the mutated freaks. The all began to charge towards the store. I ran as fast as I could to the back door before locking it behind me. All I could hear were Bill's bloody screams and pained grunts. Was it fucked up of me to let him get eaten by like eighty zombies? Yes. Did I give a shit? Fuck no!

I hopped inside of the van and strapped myself in. I looked next to me to see Kevin giving me a questioning glance. "What happened?" He asked me.

"Nothing I wouldn't wouldn't do again. Now get ready because I'm not the safest driver." I reversed out of the alley way, hitting several of the mindless bastards. I then stepped on the gas and took off to our destination.

(R'S POV)

I was hopping from building to building in search of my target. I was extremely bored so I decided to go on a mission to past the time. I loved working at night. I felt like Batman!

I had dropped down into some large park. It was pretty empty. There was no one here but me. I walked around until I got to a lake. The moon shined brightly against the surface of the lake. It looked amazing. I should take Raven here one of these days. I kept looking at the beautiful water until a figure came into view. She looked at me and seemed to have a playful interest in her eyes. When I blinked, she was gone from sight. I looked around for her but had no luck. I was gonna turn around to leave but ended up staring at and girl with golden eyes and white hair. I stared at her nervously before trying to introduce myself.

"Hi! I'm Rodman but you can call me R." I said kindly to her. She giggled and poked me in the chest.

"You're it. Catch me if you can." She then leapt up into the air, hoping back towards the city.

"...Fine by me! Power Boots gimme a boost!" I said as my boots glow. I crouched down, cracking the ground beneath me and sprung up after her. We hopped around all throughout the city. She just kept going and going. I was struggling to keep up with her. This went on for about an hour before she came to a stop on what was like the tallest building in Center City. I looked at her as I tried to catch my breath. "Wow. You're pretty good at roof jumping. You should try it with my friend Nyjii. He's good too." I said to her. She remained silent though. Her long black dress was flowing in the cold December wind. "Uh...you ok?" I asked her.

"... You're part of the AOF, right?" She asked catching me off guard.

"Maybe... who's asking?" I questioned.

"I'm Y" She said to me with a slight grin. I looked at her with confusion.

"Y? What kinda name is Y?" I asked her. She then began to laugh at me question.

"You are too funny!" She said. I don't get it though…

"Right…anyway, why did you ask if I was part of the AOF?" I asked.

"Oh I was just…" She said as she stepped in front of me. "... curious…" She finished before licking her lips. "Listen R, I've got a little proposition for you."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"If you can pass three of my test, then I'll give you a special reward." She said grinning.

"Oh snap! Is it cake?! I love me some came!" I said to her. She shook her head.

"Not exactly R." She said.

"Well whatever. I'm super bored so let's get on with the test!" I said pumped up.

"Excellent…"

(CHASE'S POV)

"Hey Kevin, pass me a Snickers bar." I told him. He reached into the duffle bag and pulled out my favorite piece of candy.

"Here Mr. Chase." He said to me as he handed me my snack.

"Thanks kid." I said as I ate the bar. We were driving for about an hour and a half up north. To be honest, it was pretty dull. I mostly just made random conversations with Kevin to pass the time. "You into superheros, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah. My favorite is Spider Man." He said.

"Oh really now? That's what's up. My favorite was always Batman. He didn't need powers to kick some ass. I grew up with Batman comics." I said with a chuckle. "Hell, I always did wanna be a part of the Bat family."

"I like Batman too." He said smiling.

We were driving down a narrow road, coming up to a small intersection. I decided to continue forward. I then heard what sounded like a speeding vehicle flying down a street. I looked to my left and saw black SUV ram into the side of the van. The force of the hit sent the van tumbling into a nearby building. My head slammed against the window of the van, smashing it to shards. The van was now in ruin as it laid upside down inside of the wrecked cafe. My vision was blurry and I felt my left cheek leaking. I looked over to see Kevin was unconscious. I had unbuckled his seatbelt and did the same to mine. I tried to get us the fuck outta the destroyed van but I too fell into unconsciousness.

(BLAKE'S POV)

"Damnit!" I shouted. How could I let him go through with that mission! I felt terrible. The idea of Chase going into that fucked up area and dying didn't sit right with me. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have sent him, but it wasn't. I was just the guy the guy that sent people on their mission and briefed them on their targets. Chase's mission was a special case. The Director himself along with Captain Commander decided to send him alone to "prove his worth". This whole mission was suicide! They even went far enough to shut off his Arsenal.

I was in deep thought while I sat on May's porch waiting for her. Her dad wouldn't let me in so I had to stay outside. I was just so confused by everything. I never wanted Chase to die but I couldn't do anything about that. I looked up and saw two figures dashing through the sky. One was clearly a female. Her bright white hair was visible in the night sky. The other figure was a guy that I recognized right away. Only one person has those golden boots and gauntlets. R follow right behind her. As quickly as they appeared, they soon disappeared. I stared up confused. What the hell was R doing this time. He was always doing something wild or adventurous. I admired his commitment to the AOF. He takes it seriously. I still remember when he first became an operative.

-Flashback-

"Whoa where am I?" A kid said behind me. I looked back to see a black haired thirteen year old kid with red eyes staring at the place in awe. We were inside of the AOF HQ.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"My name is Rodman Mason Damine! My friends call me R... well my only friend is Sonna." He said.

"Well hello R. How did you get...wait did you say Sonna?" I asked.

"Yeah he did." I heard a female voice say to me. I saw Sonna walk into the room casually as she placed a hand on the top of R's head. "He's got an Arsenal Blake. He passed his trial so it only makes sense that I bring him here to get approved." She said.

"But he's only thirteen. You and I JUST became operatives. You want this scrawny kid to join us now?!" I asked with shock.

"Yes Blake and I'd watch it if I were you. He may not look like much but he can hit hard as hell." She told me as she ruffled the kid's hair. "Now I got a mission to finish. Go get him approved already." She then walked off.

"This is all so COOL!" The shouted.

"R, come on and let's get this over with." I told his. We had walked over to the the front desk where Carry, our surveillance specialist sat at. "Yo Carry. You know where the Director is?"

She sighed and looked at me and the kid with confusion. "Uh...yeah he's in office as usual Blake."

I nodded my head and lead the kid to the Director's office. I knocked on the door nervously until I heard "Enter!"

I opened the door and the Director was there, sitting at his desk sipping a cup of what I assumed was wine. I cautiously stepped in with R trailing behind me. "Uh...hello sir."

"What are you here for Agent Stryder?!" He asked me assertiveness.

"I'm here to get you to approve this kid. I know he's you but Sonna thinks-"

"APPROVED!" He said. He then gestured us to get out.

"Uh...ok sir…" I walked the kid out of the office and he looked at me with a confused look.

"Is that it?" He asked. His golden box began to glow and he was then engulfed in a bright gold light. When the light faded, he was standing there in his combat attire. "WHOA!!! I look cool!" He looked at himself grinning.

"Welcome to the AOF kid, now c'mon. It's time for combat practice!" I told him as we went to the training chambers.

-Flashback End-

Damn that was like three years ago. He really has grown since then...he's still scrawny as hell though.

(CHASE'S POV)

"Mr. Chase!" I heard Kevin call to me. I opened my eyes to see him looking at me with panicked eyes. I noticed that he was outside of the van that I was trapped inside of. I tried to move but my right arm was stuck in place and was in excruciating pain. The inside of the van was extremely hot as well. I took a good look at my surroundings and noticed that the van was on fire and my arm was crushed underneath it. I tried to pull my arm free but it wouldn't budge. I looked up at the worried Kevin.

"Kid, run over to that building over there." I gestured him to the cafe the we smashed into. "Wait in there and take cover." The car was gonna blow and I had to hurry this up. Kevin did as he was told and moved inside of the cafe. I reached forward and grabbed the top half of my crushed right arm. With a quick motion, I jerked it upwards, effectively snapping and bending my elbow out of place. I the grabbed my katana and stared nervously at my now broken arm. "Fuck me to hell…" I bit down hard on my shirt and stabbed into my arm. Pain radiated throughout my entire body as my blade sunk deeper into my arm. I pulled slightly, exposing the inner folds of my skin and muscles. I hacked away at the inner layers of flesh. Blood continued to splatter everywhere. Every time I cut a nerve, I felt as If I was dying from the inside out. The pain was excruciating and I almost slipped back into unconsciousness as I did this. My screams of agony were only muffled by my shirt. I pulled my almost severed arm back a little more, finally exposing the slightly cracked bone. I took the hilt of my sword and bashed it against the bone, widening the crack. When the bone seemed fragile enough, I lifted the blade back up and in one swift chop, my arm was split. I had just successfully amputated my arm. I crawled free of the flaming vehicle and ran as fast as I could to the cafe. I dived to cover as the vehicle exploded. I took off my shirt and tightly wrapped it around my severed arm in hoped of easing the bleeding. My white tank top instantly became red.

"Mr. Chase! Your arm!" Kevin shouted in alarm.

"Yeah kid...I know... I'm gonna miss the damn thing too." I said before slowly crawling to my feet. I brought out one of my revolvers and handed it to the kid. "That's a Ruger GP100. It's not like the gun you fired earlier. This one packs more of a punch. You only got eight shots left in there kid. Make them count. Only use it for emergencies, got it?"

"Ok Mr. Chase." He said with a nod.

"Good because we might run into some trouble. We got about two more miles north until we get to the military base." I said as I grabbed my katana and looked at my reflection. The scar under my left eye mirrored the one Devon had. "We gotta stick together. Stay close to me." Kevin nodded as we began to continue our journey up north on foot.

-Forty Minutes Later-

So far it had been about forty minutes and I was getting light headed. We were so close, you could practically see the place in the distance. I began to slow my walking speed until I eventually dropped to the floor. I was losing consciousness once again. Kevin stopped his walking and ran back over to me. "Mr. Chase! What's wrong?" He asked in a panic.

I looked up at him with blurry vision. "Damnit! I-I'm...sorry kid. This is...as far as I go. I...lost more blood...than I thought..." I struggled to say.

"You have to get up! We're almost there! I can see the smoke in the distance. It has to be the base!" He said, hopefully.

I tried my hardest to get myself to my feet. I truly did, but I just couldn't. I was too worn out. "Kid, just go... You'll be safe. If you...end up safe...then my mission was a success. Please just go Kevin."

"But I don't wanna leave you to die." He said sniffling.

"I'll be fine... I'll catch up with you." I lied. This was it for me. I lost to much blood at this point. I wasn't gonna make it, but as long as this goddamn kid gets to live, then I just don't give a shit.

"Are you sure?" He asked with tears in his eyes.

"...Yeah..." I used all of my energy to tell him that.

"Ok. I'll wait for you at the base. If you don't show up, I'll come back for you!" He said before sprinting forward.

"... Goodbye...kid..."