III - Rain of Death
The tank moved towards the Units and toppled down the fences. However, it stood by Unit A, appearing to wait for further instructions.
George found a prison bus leaving the area. He turned back to the prison and ran inside where he found a mess of items and people scrambling to either fight or flee.
"Where's Lori?" asked Bobby.
"She's running to the barracks! No doubt there are more civilians in there trying to escape!"
Artillery shells rained down on the prisons. The buildings shook as it seemed that the sky took out their anger on them. Shards of concrete was tossed into the air like shrapnel. More and more shells landed on the prisons, destroying the top floors.
"Oh god!" yelled Ronnie Anne, covering her ears. "How long will this last?"
"Y'all need to get out of here!" yelled George. "Grab one of the buses and go!"
Bobby nodded. He grabbed his gun and went to defend Unit A from the approaching tank.
"Go, Ronnie! Go!" he exclaimed.
Ronnie Anne ran away from the halls, finding herself running to the abandoned lot in the middle of the prisons. There was a bus waiting for her to go inside. Or she thought it was waiting for her.
"What's the hold up?" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "Some people are choosing to stay and fight!"
"We know that," said Dr. Feinstein. "It's some redheaded guy looking for his son in Prison C. We're waiting for them."
"I'll go check it out!"
Ronnie Anne ran inside Unit C, searching for a young man. She looked around and found many armed fighters waiting to kill some rogues.
"Hey, have you seen two redheaded guys?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"Yeah, that way," pointed out one of the fighters.
"Thank you! C'mon, Rusty… where'd you go, man?"
George, Vonda, and Bobby came out of Unit A.
"Everyone! Go! Go! Go!" demanded George.
The buses began leaving the abandoned lot while George and Bobby provided cover fire. Vonda held her bow and scanned her surroundings. She then realized one of the buses wasn't budging.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" asked Vonda.
"We're waiting for a young man, his father, and–" said Dr. Feinstein.
"Just leave them!" said George. "We'll get 'em inside the RV by the infirmary!"
Dr. Feinstein nodded and motioned the driver to move the bus towards the barracks. As they left, Haley, Leni, and Carol, holding Zoey, approached the prisons.
"What are you ladies doing here?" exclaimed George.
"We're heading to the sewers!" said Haley.
"You should," said Vonda. "The buses just left."
"Head for the barracks instead. The laboratory is safer there. The doors are shut tight and there's no way the rogues could get inside! It's safer for the baby than some damn sewer."
Haley nodded.
"Alright. You guys go!" said Haley. "I'll stay here and help the wounded. Go!"
Leni and Carol ran away, using the fighters for cover. George turned towards Haley.
"You sure about that?" he asked.
A few bullets smacked against the prison wall. Bobby ducked and sighed. Haley smiled sarcastically and nodded.
"I'll be fine," she said. "As long as my brain is still where it should be, I can help."
The tank moved forward to Unit A, shooting a missile at the guard tower. The guard tower crumbled and crushed the base before dropping to the ground.
"Goddamn," groaned George. "Are your ears working, everyone?"
They all shouted in agreement. The tank moved around Unit A and turned its large gun towards Unit B. It fired the missile and exploded the entrance. A large hole revealed injured fighters.
Some rogues propped out from behind the tank and began firing onto the injured fighters. George came out from the corner of the wall and fired his shotgun at the rogues. Vonda then finished them off with her arrows.
"Run!" yelled George.
They all ran away from where they were as the tank fired its machine gun at them. Bobby ran inside Unit A and found himself trapped in there. George and Vonda ran to Unit B where he regrouped with the rest of the fighters.
In Unit C, Ronnie Anne searched through the flickering lights in the hall. She reached the end of the hall and sighed as she leaned on the wall.
"Rusty, where the hell are you?" she sighed.
"Here," said Rusty, coming out from a dark corner in a cell. "I have a gun. And don't worry. I'm holding it right this time."
"You need to leave. That gun is not going to protect you from the tank."
"My dad is still out there. I don't want him to see me killing people. You know that'll traumatize him?"
"Better than being dead. Get your butt out of that cell and move!"
"No!"
Ronnie Anne grabbed Rusty's arm and pulled him. He pulled back as he struggled to stay in the corner. She then pulled much harder, shoving him into the halls.
Suddenly, another explosion caused the ceiling of the top floor to collapse. And then, the cell itself collapsed, the debris falling where the metals bars used to be at.
"Oh my gosh!" yelled Rusty. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," said Ronnie Anne. "I'm just a little cramped up in here. Can you see me?"
"No. And you sound really quiet."
"Oh. Just go, then," said Ronnie Anne, her voice echoing inside her concrete cell. "I'll find a way out of here."
"Rusty?" called out Mr. Spokes. "Where are you? We have to go now! The town's under attack!"
"Okay," said Rusty, looking at his gun, then dropping it. "I'm coming, Dad!"
The rogues stormed Unit B and fought against the fighters that had the area locked down. There were a couple fighters who moved to the crumbled roof, but they were quickly sniped by rogue snipers.
"We have to leave," said George. "It's a lost cause. There are too many rogues here."
"Agreed," said Vonda. "Let's go."
George tapped Haley's back as she was stitching up one of the fighters. She fended off her hand before George tapped her harder.
"What is it?" groaned Haley.
"We have to leave! The rogues are coming in way too fast!" said George.
"I'm sorry," said Haley to the fighter. "I truly am."
The fighter groaned as blood poured out of his mouth. He raised his arms as Haley, George, and Vonda left. A few moments after, the rogues stormed the prison, shooting their rifles at the dead bodies. A rogue aimed his rifle at the dying fighter and shot him in the head.
More artillery rained down on the prisons, killing the rest of the fighters and even some of the rogues.
"Damn," said Brick. "Huh. Might as well."
He fired a missile into the Unit D building, killing the rogues and fighters inside. One wounded rogue crawled out of the prison, begging the tank to pick him up. However, the tank continued on driving ahead, crushing the skull of the wounded rogue.
Haley looked outside the fences and found Luan and Hana watching the entire battle.
"Haley, let's go!" exclaimed George.
"The prisoners! I have to free them! Just go to the barracks without me!"
George and Vonda sighed and climbed into their Humvee. They drove away from the Units and made their way to the barracks.
Lori panted as she carried her rifle and revolver to the barracks. George stopped by her and opened the back door for her. Lori placed a thumbs up and climbed inside the Humvee.
The Houlton fighters lied dead outside of the infirmary building. The rogues marched onwards to the barracks, stepping on the mesh fence and the corpses of the people they killed. Black and Lead ordered the rogues to storm the armory when they arrive there.
Haley snuck past the rogues outside the fences. She made her way to the captives and snuck behind the corpses of rogues.
Hana looked at Haley before, unable to say anything with the cloth wrapped around her mouth. Haley took out a scalpel and sighed.
"Sorry this isn't sharp as your katana," she whispered.
One of the rogues turned around and found Haley a few yards away, cutting Hana loose. He aimed his gun at them before being sniped by Luna.
Haley flinched and moved her hair away from her eyes before looking at Luna, who sniffled while making a thumbs up. Then, the rogue snipers were sniped as well. All six snipers were killed.
Hana was freed. She removed the cloth from her mouth and grabbed Luan's katana in the ground. She lunged towards a roamer in front of her and stabbed him through his spine.
Haley then cut off Luan's tied rope, leaving her dumbstruck on the ground. Hana looked at her and tossed her katana back.
"You got this," said Hana before she dashed off.
Haley then grabbed Lynn and picked her body up. She walked away from Luan before turning back to her.
"Coming?" she asked.
Luan nodded and followed Haley, wearing her sheath again.
Lead marched with the rogues to the armory. A couple Humvees arrived to protect the prison buses.
Moss and his convoy of Humvees approached the barracks. They wanted to storm the barracks through the back entrance, or the original entrance– when it was an airport.
Black stayed back and allowed the rogues to overtake the armory. He slowly walked towards the fences to watch Moss's squad arrive at the barracks. He smiled.
Suddenly, David wrapped his arms around Black's neck and placed him on a chokehold. Black groaned as he watched Moss and his squad storm the barracks. But all Moss did was turn his face and ignore Black.
Black yelled and placed his left foot behind David's own left foot. He pulled David's arm and flipped him to the ground, falling with him. He coughed and grabbed his Bowie knife.
David pulled out his M9 and held the barrel of it.
"Ran out of ammo already?" chuckled Black. "You know, I've been waiting a long time for this."
Black lunged towards David and swung his knife around, cutting David's chest. He cackled as he dug his knife near his cheeks.
David swung his pistol at the general. He smacked him in the jaw and his arm. The general released the knife to the ground. David ducked for the knife before finding himself kicked by Black. He crawled towards the knife before Black turned him over.
Black stepped on David's neck as David himself struggled to push his boot away. Blood hung from Black's graying beard.
"I need to cut your eye out," said Black. "Just so you know how it felt like when you sniped my eye out."
"Go ahead, pussy. Come on! Do it! Do it!"
Black snickered as he picked up his knife. However, three civilians ran towards him and tackled him. David groaned as he regained his breath. Becky picked him up and dragged him away to the barracks.
"Wait, what about them?" groaned David.
"They sacrificed themselves for you," said Becky. "Just go."
Black stabbed the neck of one of the civilians before pulling out his Desert Eagle. He shot one of the civilians before shooting the other who attempted to flee. He picked himself up and pointed it in the air, looking for David. He let out a strong, short yell, sounding louder than the storm itself.
As the rogues closed in on the armory and barracks, the M1 Abrams slowly moved towards the Humvees protecting the prison buses. Then, Sergei arrived with his M60 Patton tank.
"What is this?" chuckled Brick. "Tank versus tank? You're on. That shit you have is outdated."
Brick shot a missile at the tank, severely damaging its armor. But it withstood the blast.
"My turn," said Sergei.
Sergei shot the missile at the rogue tank and manage to scrape away its armor as well. Now, the two tanks pulled out their machine guns. They tried to penetrate through the armor, but were unable to hit the driver for the tank.
The tank continued moving forward until a large anti-tank mine blew up the bottom exterior of the rogue tank. A body was launched out from the rear entrance of the tank.
"Damn. Take that, suka."
George and Vonda rushed towards the burnt tank after dropping Lori off at the barracks.
One of the rogues tried to escape through the top entrance. Vonda shot an arrow at the rogue, slicing through his neck. Brick pushed him out of the way and fell to the ground. He groaned as he lifted his arms up. His face was now completely scarred from fire.
"C'mon, now," he pleaded.
George shot him in the head and ducked. He found another rogue inside the tank and shot him in the head as well.
The smoke of a rocket high in the air caught the attention of George. He yelled at the friendly tank.
"Sergei, get outta there!"
Sergei opened the top entrance of the tank and tried to climb down from it. However, the rocket turned and dropped quickly towards it, exploding on contact. His body was launched out of the tank and landed on the runway with some of his limbs missing.
George and Vonda held their breaths as their Russian friend was blown to bits. Vonda lowered her head as she pulled out the arrow from the rogue's neck.
Lori hid behind the Humvees and watched the fire rage on the tanks. She watched as one of Sergei's limb splattered into the top of a prison bus.
The Humvees arrived outside of the barracks. Lincoln and Clyde came out of the barracks with Lana and Lily. They quickly went behind cover and found Lori amidst the firefight.
"Where do we go?" asked Lincoln.
"Inside a bus," said Lori as she reloaded her AK-47.
"I know. Where are we going?"
Lori looked inside the barracks. The holes in the walls and windows were unable to give a clear view of the laboratory.
"Is Dr. White and Lisa in there?" asked Lori.
"Yeah," replied Lincoln. "So is Carol and Zoey. And Leni."
Lori saw the rogues storm the armory. She then looked at the other side of the fences. And then the smoke billowing out of the prisons.
"D.C.," said Lori. "If you all take Interstate 95… you should make it to Washington. Tell everyone to go there. That's your new home."
Lori wiped her eyes as the rogues came closer to the barracks. Then, she heard gunshots inside the building.
"You better go now."
Lisa made sure that the locks were shut in tightly.
"It's all magnetic, right?" asked Carol. "Why do you need keys?"
"The keys activate the magnets," said Dr. White. "It's how this bastard wasn't able to get out in the first place."
"Hey, fuck you too," said Jett. "Look what happened. I'm going to die, aren't I?"
"We're getting the hell out of this place," said Dr. White. "When this battle is over, you'll live. Either the rogues beat us and free you or Lori wins… and she keeps you alive for a bit longer."
"How are we going to leave this place?" nervously asked Leni.
"There's an emergency exit over here," said Dr. White. "Just lift this shelf and… here's a button. It'll open a door."
"Hey, Lisa," said Leni. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just attempting to estimate time."
"Time for what?" asked Carol.
The rogues looked around the armory. They beamed their flashlights at the empty shelves. Then, they heard a tapping noise.
"Over here," said Sage.
The rogues arrived at the end of the armory and found a wooden bird, pecking at a timer. There was only a second left in the timer. Sage gasped.
"Shi–"
A large explosion blew up the armory and sent a fireball into the sky. The nearby rogues were swept off their feet and dropped a couple feet away from where they stood. Lead and Moss looked at the fireball from their position and gasped.
"It happened," said Lisa. "A fair number of rogues were dispatched. Incinerated, actually."
Jett sighed. He lowered his head as he dug into his pockets. He groaned and looked away from the group.
Moss and the rogues moved around the barracks, kicking the luggage around. Coal followed Moss with a flamethrower in his hands, specialized in one job. Burning.
"It's clear here," said Moss. "Burn it."
Coal pulled the trigger and set a small office room on fire. The rogues continued to search the area, looting the leftover ammo.
"Burn this one," ordered Moss. "That one. Over here. This one too. Don't forget that one over there."
The walls turned black as the fire raged inside the rooms, everything inside torched by Coal's weapon.
Then, suddenly, a claymore mine blew up and sent a rogue flying from where he was. He landed in the ground with his lower limbs missing.
"Holy shit!" yelled Moss.
A couple fighters came out from a jet bridge and trapped the rogues in the other side of the wide halls. Using metal crates for cover, the defenders were able to push back the rogues closer to the burning rooms.
But the metal crates worked both way. So now, the rogues and the fighters were at a stalemate in the halls.
Haley and Luan rushed to the prison where they found Rusty and his father outside a crumbled Unit C.
"What are you guys still doing here?" asked Luan.
"Never mind that," said Haley. "Look at the barracks. The damn infirmary. Nothing is safe. We have to go down the sewers."
"Where would that be?" asked Rusty.
"Across the barracks where hell is loose. You see that tiny air-traffic control tower? It's behind that."
"Okay. Will we be safe there?" asked Mr. Spokes.
"You should be," said Haley. "But I don't know if she will be."
Rusty looked at a bleeding Lynn. He frowned and moved towards the tower. Haley looked at Rusty's father and motioned him to follow her. Luan followed them before Rusty stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, uh, you're… Luna?" asked Rusty.
"Luan."
"Luan, right. Ronnie Anne is trapped inside that prison over there. You think you can get her out?"
"Sure thing, Rusty."
Luan ran back to Unit C, moving the debris out of way so she could enter the prison. She made her way into the prison, searching for the trapped little girl that had once threw pie into her face.
In the meantime, Haley led Rusty and his father to the tower. Using the corpses and potholes for cover, they were able to walk on the runway without attracting any attention. However, Lead and his rogue soldiers caught sight of them.
"Over there!" yelled Lead.
Haley placed a helmet on Lynn's head and dragged her closer to the tower. However, the bullets came raining across the runway as Black marched towards the three civilians. The three survivors took cover behind a couple metal barrels.
"What do we do?" asked Rusty.
Haley saw a squad of rogues waiting for the survivors to spring out of their cover. She took a deep breath until she heard a few sniper shots. She smiled as she knew Luna and Sam had their backs.
"We're going to run like hell now!" said Haley.
Another bolt of lightning flew across the sky. Black called for mortar fire. A couple rogues shot their mortar rockets into the woods where the two girls were located. After a few seconds, the mortar landed where he last saw the gleaming light. And the sniper fire was heard no more.
Haley picked up Lynn and ran across from the metal barrels to the tower. Rusty followed her before being noticed by Lead.
Lead moved his rifle towards the boy and shot him in the arms, then his chest. The other rogues shot their guns at him as well, shooting until he hit the ground.
Haley opened the manhole and lowered Lynn into the sewers before dropping her a couple feet to the stone walkway.
"Come on, now!" called out Haley as she climbed onto the ladder.
She turned around and found Rusty face-down in the ground, covered in bullet holes. His father sobbed and revealed himself from the metal barrel.
"No!" sobbed Mr. Spokes. "My boy…. Oh… why? Oh god."
Black walked towards Rusty's father who knelt by his dead son. His face was stone-cold, unable to show any empathy for the grieving father. He raised his Desert Eagle and aimed it at him.
"Go ahead…!" sobbed Mr. Spokes. "I need to be with my sons…"
Black pulled the trigger, executing Rusty's father on the spot. Spits of blood splattered onto his fingers. He lowered his gun and marched back to the barracks with it in his hands.
Haley was left speechless. She wiped a tear from her eyes and climbed down the ladder, closing the manhole.
She turned on a flashlight and looked at Lynn's wound in her shoulder. It continued bleeding.
"I'm sorry, Lynn," she said, her voice trembling. "I don't think you're going to make it. I can't save you."
The lightning flashed across the sky. The rain poured into the prisons, flooding the basements and cells. Luan tried to navigate through the pitch-black halls but she was too afraid.
Then, the roamers growled and stood up. Wearing civilian clothings and army uniform, all the roamers inside the prison waded through the flooding halls, raising their arms towards Luan. She raised her katana and sliced one of the roamers' head off. Then another one. And another one.
It felt good. Having the katana after a year felt nice, especially with all the training that Luan received from Hana. But the roamers were too much for her to handle. There were too many coming after her.
She couldn't find Ronnie Anne. She had to abandon the search and find a way out of the prison before the roamers were able to catch her.
The firefight continued raging inside the barracks. Dead corpses from both sides lied in the ground. Becky and David entered the barracks, making their way to the wide halls where the firefight was taking place.
They grabbed some more ammo in a crate by the jet bridge. David nudged Mr. Coleman.
"What did we miss?"
"Nothing much," replied the old fighter. "Just pushing back these rogues closer to hell."
David shot his rifle multiple times at the end of the hall and struck Coal in the head. He dropped to the ground and fell with the flamethrower still in his grip. The rogues quickly retreated away from the hall.
"Get out through the terminal entrance!" yelled Moss.
"You heard the man!" yelled Hoover. "Go!"
The rogues exited through a narrow hall upstairs that they haven't burned, passing above all the fighters at the end of the hall. The fighters shot up at the floor above them, but were unable to penetrate through the ceiling.
Luan made it out of the prison with a surprise waiting for her. Swarms of roamers were wandering around the town. Many of the bodies began to rise from where they died.
Luna and Sam coughed out the dirt from their throats and licked the ash from their lips.
"You survived as well?" asked Sam, chuckling softly.
"What in the bloody hell was that?" groaned Luna.
"Bombs. We're lucky we didn't take a direct hit."
Luna looked at what was left of Houlton. There were swarms of roamers scattered across the war-zone. Her jaws were frozen in place as she found Luan fighting the roamers and struggling to leave Houlton.
The prison buses began to depart from the war-zone. George and Vonda went inside David's RV, while Lori snuck closer to the barracks. She saw many rogues flee from the barracks, all heading to the runway where they were met with the rest of the fighters of Houlton.
Dr. White turned the keys in the emergency exit and deactivated the magnetic locks for the laboratory. He opened it and found many of the buses leaving.
"It's time to go," said Dr. White.
"Where to?" asked Lisa.
Dr. White looked around the buses. He found Clyde and called him.
"Hey, where are the buses heading?" he asked.
"Lincoln says Washington D.C. Hurry, we still have a couple more seats in this bus!"
Dr. White looked back at Lisa, Carol, Zoey, and Leni. He motioned them to leave. However, Jett rocked himself back and forth.
"Wait, don't leave me here! I gotta go too! If I stay here, it won't end well for me! It won't!"
Dr. White shook his head as he carried his bag of lab items. Lisa carried her bag of acids stored in plastic while Carol carried a bag of medicine. Leni carried her light bag of protection gear.
"Hey, you! Leni! I've seen you in the Wasteland! I know you have a heart. Please, I know you can't leave me here!"
Leni paused from where she stood.
"Please, I need to see my family!" exclaimed Jett.
"You don't have time to free him!" said Lisa. "George has the keys to his handcuffs!"
"Here, take it to the bus," said Leni, handing her bag to Clyde. "Just go. I can't leave this poor man in here like this. It's not human."
"Leni, just leave it!" protested Lisa.
"No. If I had known you guys were doing this, I would've freed this man a long time ago. He shouldn't have to be forced to not see his family. He shouldn't suffer."
"You're going to free him? Is it because you don't want him to feel the same pain he inflicted on you?"
"No. It's just the right thing to do. Go. I'll meet you later in Washington."
Lisa nodded. She, Dr. White, Carol, Zoey, and Clyde all went inside the bus. She looked back at the laboratory as the bus drove away, heading out the north gates. She then looked at Lori.
"Please, win," she said. "We need you all in Washington."
Jeffrey covered his head as Preston tried to calm him down.
"What's going on?" asked Jace.
"His flashbacks. I don't know- they were never this bad. We have to leave now!"
The bus drove away from the barracks. Jace looked outside the window and saw Leni waving goodbye. He smiled slightly before waving back, and before he knew it, he was outside of the town with the other buses.
Leni looked at the struggling prisoner. She looked around for something to unlock Jett's handcuffs.
"Have you seen any hair pins around here?" asked Leni.
"No. Aren't you wearing one right now?"
Leni removed the hair tie from her head, releasing her long, golden hair.
"This won't unlock your handcuffs, sir. I know where to find some hair pins. I'll BRB, okay?"
Leni headed out the emergency exit and looked around for a safe passage to the infirmary.
"Wait," said Jett. "Aren't there any tools you can use in here to free me? There's literally pliers on that table! I know I begged them not to use it on me, but that was then… and now I'm not being interrogated! Are you still there? Leni?"
Leni ran out of the barracks and hid between the rogue Humvees and mesh fences that separated the military-zone from the town. She snuck past corpses of roamers. She stepped over the pieces of flesh and shivered when she stepped on a puddle of rain mixed with blood.
"Leni?" whispered Lincoln.
"Going to the RV, Lincoln?" asked Lana.
"No, just go. Vanzilla is still by the infirmary. Lori and I could use that."
Lana sighed worriedly and went back inside the RV. Lincoln snuck past the firefight and tried to follow Leni who was already many yards away from him.
Jett looked at the light coming from the exit. He sighed and then turned towards the roamer in the corner of the room. He chuckled nervously as its golden eyes were fixated on him.
"So," said Jett. "It's just you and me now, right? I… uh… don't exactly taste delicious. So try not to bite me, huh? Unless it's my ass!"
Jett let out a hysterical laugh.
"Oh god, you really are ugly as shit, though. L-Let's talk about that Japanese girl. She lost it. I mean, look at her. Falling in love with a fuckin' zombie? Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm only talking to you because I've been here alone for thirty fuckin' days! Once I get out…"
Jett dug into his pockets. It was a long scalpel that he was able to retrieve when he tried to attack Lori earlier. He kept it in there.
"I'm going to stab the hell out of you," said Jett. "I'll spare blondie, but if she don't like what I do to you… well, I gotta do what I gotta do."
The storm raged on even stronger.