Chapter 18

Death Be Not Proud

"When no evidence exists, the cunning will find some. Guilt by association can be sufficient. Still, I think the colonel honestly believed in the evil he did." RT

With the group now nearing the entrance of the prison they could almost taste freedom. "I can't believe were finally going to be out of here." Weiss said. "We'll be out of the prison but we'll still need to escape the island." Responded Torque. "And besides the area were in is fence off and the doors are most likely locked." Blake said. "So will need to climb onto the roof, so does anyone have any ideas?" Asked Yang. "There's that crate over there." Torque pointed out and continued as the girls took notice of the crate, "we can push it to the wall and climb over." He said. Without any objections the group grabbed the crate and placed it on the wall and climbed over it onto the roof. Once on the roof the group noticed a machine gun turret and saw a group of three Marksman along with the prison bus. Getting behind the gun turret, Torque immediately began to open fire on one of the creatures. Upon being fired on the creatures began to retaliate, only to be taken down by the rest of the group.

When the Marksmen were gone, the group saw that the entrance to the prison was closed. "Great, now how are we supposed to open the gate?" Said Weiss, Torque then took the gun turret and destroyed the piece of wood that was used for a wedge. When the wedge was gone, prison bus rolled back and slammed into the gate opening it. "Just like that." Replied Torque. Jumping down from the roof the group made their way towards the entrance of the prison and went through the front gates. Now finally leaving the prison one final time they made their way down the road, while also keeping an eye out for any potential attacks from the creature. As they kept moving, they suddenly heard a noise and with a quick realization they heard it was a truck engine. They then saw the truck coming down the road, in the truck with three inmates, one at the wheel another one in the passenger seat and with a third in the truck bed. As it kept going the third inmate shouted at the driver, "Keep going, I think we lost him." That's when a cloud of green fumes appeared and Hermes showed himself. The inmate in the trunk bed took notice of this and shouted at the driver, "Watch out, up there." The driver took notice and swerved out of the way but went over a cliff and fell into a river. As it did so the inmate shouted, "Oh Christ!"

The group walked over to the cliffs and looked down and saw no one alive down there. That's when Hermes made his way towards them and began to speak to Torque. "Escaping isn't as simple as just getting outside, but I don't need to tell you that. You know there is no real escape." And with that he disappeared. The group-clearly unnerved by what Hermes had said-continued on. Walking down the road where the truck had come from the spotted an open gate and made their way towards it. Only for it to be set ablaze by something. "Okay now what?" Blake asked upon seeing their path blocked off. "We find another way." Answer Ruby. But then the group heard giggling and saw the same girls that they hadn't seen in a long time, only this time there was third girl with them, making them all think that the three girls were triplets. But before they could think on this any further, the three girls ran off. "Okay, now that's super creepy." Said Yang. "I agree, and I don't think those are ordinary girls at all." Weiss replied.

"Whatever they are we better keep our guard up, and to be honest I think those girls are mocking us in a very sadistic and psychotic way." Torque responded. Without any further the group began to move forward, finding a cave entrance in the side of the river the group went through it and as they did, they heard the sounds of a Slayer and then an explosion. "Where did that come from?" Yang asked. "I don't know, but let's be on our guard." Ruby answered. Soon the group exited the cave and were back on the road. But then the group spotted a cluster of creatures, three Slayers and two Marksman. The creatures spotted the group and began to attack. Ruby took aim and fired a weapon at the first Slayer she saw, around took the Slayer's head off causing it to stagger back. She then charged that the headless creature of quick swing of her scythe she severed the creature in half.

A Marksman then took aim at her only to have its head blown off with a shotgun blast by Torque. The headless Marksman fell to the ground dead, before Torque could aim his shotgun at another one of the creatures, a Slayer launched itself at him. Torque barely had time to react before the Slayer hit him. Fortunately, before the creature could hit him it was stopped in midair by Weiss who created a few glyphs that caught the Slayer, she then froze the creature and launched it into a nearby shack wall where it instantly shattered.

The second Marksman took aim at Yang and fired; Yang quickly dodged out the way and launched herself at the creature with a right hook she smashed her shotgun gauntlet in the creature's face and with her left uppercut it the creature in the stomach creating a nice size hole. Before the Marksman could retaliate Yang quickly finished it off with a shotgun blast to the front of the creature face which took its head clean off. The Marksman then felt the ground on its back dead. The last Slayer swung its belated arms at Blake who quickly block them with her sword. She then pushed the creature back and opened fired on it. The rounds get the creature in the chest and stomach as Blake fired the entire clip. Soon the slayer fell to the ground dead and she turned around and reloaded her weapon.

But as she did a dark energy surrounded the Slayer and the creature rose back from the dead, Blake quickly turned around and complete shock. How could she have forgotten that this particular creature could resurrect itself. Blake got ready for another fight with this creature, only for it to be blown in half by Yang. A pair of Slayer legs and fell to the ground dead. When the creatures were gone the group continued forward. Making their way to the tunnel they discovered that the tunnel had collapsed on itself and was blocked off. So, the group decided to go another way. Making their way up a hill the group began to hear the voice of the rogue Colonel.

"For jeopardizing the lives of my men, for honoring your homeland over your new kingdom, and for betraying Vale, you are hereby sentenced to death, by firing squad." He said. They then heard the voices of the innocent men. "But I'm innocent!" One said. "We didn't do anything!" Said another one. "Jesus save me!" Said a third. As the group got closer, they were hit with another vision in it they saw the Colonel with three other men pointing their guns at three innocent men tied to wooden beans. The Colonel then said, "Enough. Weapons to the ready! Take aim! Fire!" Soon the vision ended and the group move forward.

As they moved forward spotted a small shank and went inside in it they found some ammo and grabbed as much as they could. They then saw a ledge above shack he then climbed over the shack and onto the ledge and move forward and asked they did so they heard the voice of the rogue Colonel. "Where the hell did this come from?" He asked. "I never seen anything like it… Oh Jesus, look at the insignia." Another voice. "Fucking Mistral and Mantle, but how can they know about this prison? God dammit, it's Dietrich, Wenger, and Johansson, those sons of bitches. I never trusted them." The second voice and said, "Sir, you can't be serious?"

Suddenly the group were hit with another vision in it they saw the rogue Colonel and the soldier he was talking to. The world Colonel then said, "Serious enough to shoot those fucking traitors!" Then the vision ended the group move forward, as they moved forward it began to enter the islands cave system and as they did, they spotted another inmate. The inmate then said," You won't get me." He then threw a stick of dynamite at the group, which they jumped out of the way in time when it exploded. The inmate then said, "Fuckin' pigs!"

"What the hell was that for?" Asked Weiss. "My guess is he thinks were out to get him. And considering how things have gone down, I wouldn't blame him if I were in his shoes." Answered Torque. The group then moved forward and entered the cave system.

A/N: Hey everyone I hope you're all staying safe during this crisis.