Terminator: Resistance
Chapter Nine: The Warehouse District
"Damn it, they're not here." Rivers grumbled to himself as he looked around. "Not even a rear guard."
After leaving the group's new hideout, he and Colin had made their way across the ruins over to the warehouse district of the old city, crawling underneath broken down trucks and sloshing across concrete storm drains until reaching the area where the first American Flag had been spotted. It was a good thing the machines couldn't see subtle things like the differences in paint color, since the red white and blue marker was really obvious to human eyes… not that Skynet wasn't around or anything.
One of the reasons for taking such an indirect and complicated route to the first location was because of the Drones flying around, forcing the Private and his companion to duck down at what had to be the worst possible times, usually when they were trying to get through water. Rivers hated getting wet, especially when he had to lay in it for more than a minute while the Drones took their sweet time looking around, and then hearing Colin make the same joke about how it looked like the Private pissed himself, over and over again. Still, it was better than being shot, so he just sucked it up and kept moving until they reached the entrance of the building.
"You go inside and check it out, soldier boy." The rude guy said, before hiding himself underneath another blown up truck. "I'll stay here and make sure nothin' sneaks up on you."
And what a great relief that was, Rivers thought, shaking his head before putting his ear up against the door to listen. On top of leaving him to face any machines that might have wandered into the place by himself, Colin would probably crawl away like a little snake at the first signs of an approaching Scout, or God forbid a Terminator. At least there were no Aerials around, the Private thought as he slowly pushed the door open, leading with his rifle so that he could quickly start shooting if there were Spiders inside waiting for him. So far no red glow of Skynet sensors, so that was good.
The best case scenario he had imagined involved Rivers being stopped by the inner guards as soon as he walked into the old warehouse, getting searched because no one knew him there, and then being taken right to Commander Baron… the worst involved a T-800 waiting to blast him with a plasma rifle. Neither of these scenarios played out, instead leaving the Private alone inside of a dark and silent storage area that had definitely once been a Resistance base, inhabited by neither soldiers nor machines. There were cots lined up against the wall in the least visible place so that any machines storming the place wouldn't see sleeping soldiers right away, along with bottled water and food… just no one around to use them.
Old crates stacked on rusted metal shelves five levels high, created a sort of barrier system that forced the Private to quietly move around the whole interior of the building as if it were some kind of maze. If there was still power to this place, it was turned off, but there were plenty of windows way up high to allow in sunlight, although leaving a lot of corners and other low spaces consumed in shadows. Further into the old base, Rivers discovered some papers scattered across a table and onto the floor, along with a long range communication system that was all burned up and smashed. Destroying any radios that were too big to carry fast was standard procedure in the event that a base had to be evacuated, so was what Jennifer said true? Had the Resistance really packed up and abandoned everyone?
"Hey dickhead, you find anything yet?" Colin's voice crackled through the radio, making him jump when it broke the silence. "Or are you just whackin' your meat in the corner while I'm stuck out here like an asshole."
"Well, no one's a better asshole than you, Colin." The Private replied, looking through the papers. "But no, I haven't found any… hey, wait a second, here's something."
Among the scattered papers, which were mostly personnel rosters and guard rotation schedules, there was one that looked like an official order, and it was signed by Commander Baron. A quick look over the contents revealed that it was the order to evacuate this post, instructing the soldiers to pack up whatever they could, destroy the communications equipment, and move to another nearby location that was only listed as Warehouse Beta. The order was dated as less than a week before, meaning that if he was lucky enough for Warehouse Beta to be the other site Colin spotted earlier, then it was possible for the soldiers to still be there.
The rue guy was more than happy to move on when Rivers came back out, although disappointed that the Resistance hadn't left any plasma weapons lying around for them, so they waited until the next time the Drones passed overhead before moving. There was more cover now that the two of them were closer to the buildings, but more buildings meant more possible danger, such as when the Private had to quickly pull Colin back out of an open doorway so that he wouldn't step right into the path of a wandering Spider. Instead of being grateful, and quiet, the rude guy pushed Rivers back before aiming his rifle into the doorway and pulling the trigger.
Brick walls and close quarters made the already loud noise of Colin's M16 become several times louder as the Spider's metallic frame was pulverized. Yes, the machine was destroyed and could no longer hurt them, but now every Drone and Scout within audio range was going to come and investigate if they didn't get out of there right the hell now. This meant that there was no longer the luxury of staying low or taking their time between movements, with the Private having to risk exposure by sprinting across an open area before diving through the large open bay windows of the next building he came to… and bouncing off something surprisingly soft.
Hitting the broken checkered tile floor a second after that first bounce, it took Rivers a second to realize that it was the seat of a booth he had bounced off of… one of the mostly intact booths of what looked like an old restaurant. He had been inside many such places, and it was always hard for him to believe that the incredible food on the posters and menus had once been available for anyone who walked in, but then his thoughts were interrupted by Colin jumping through the window a moment later… hitting the same booth, and would have landed on top of him if the Private hadn't rolled out of the way.
Outside, the Drones and a Scout had gone directly to where the shots came from, and after a quick scan of the destroyed Spider, the units began to patrol the vicinity. Rivers was confident that he and Colin could have destroyed the three Drones between the two of them, but that Scout was another story… and if they hadn't gotten out of there when they did, well… they wouldn't have gotten out at all. Pressing himself against the wall beneath the open bay windows, the Private raised his head up just enough to watch as the machines patrolled around for several minutes, before eventually returning to their assigned patrol routes after not finding anything.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rivers asked once the machines were gone. "That Spider didn't see you, and you knew there were Drones flying around, so why in the fuck did you engage?"
"Oh, Shut up, soldier boy, you ain't the boss of me." Was Colin's unexpected reply as he got up. "I thought you Resistance types were supposed to stand and fight, not run away from a little…
Whack! Unable to take the rude guy's bullshit any longer, the Private closed his fist and socked Colin right in the mouth as he was in the middle of standing up, causing him to stumble backwards and fall against one of the other booths. Yes, Rivers knew that he wasn't a trained soldier, but the rude guy had been surviving somehow for this long, so how did he not realize that more machines would come after making all that noise? Was it just dumb luck that Colin hadn't gotten himself killed yet? Either way, the Private made it very clear to him that if the rude guy ever needlessly endangered their lives again, they both wouldn't be walking out of there.
Just like before, it looked like Colin was going to fight back once they were both on their feet, but instead he just got so mad he was red in the face, before storming off toward the restaurant's doors. He could be heard grumbling something about how Rivers was the one putting them in danger with all his running and screaming… just in time to scream himself after almost walking into the giant statue of a really fat man that was standing in front of the building. Most of the paint was burned off, giving it a creepy and unnatural look, especially in the face… the face that the rude guy was now just staring at as if it were a ghost.
"Hey soldier boy, I just found your twin brother." Colin called back, forcing a laugh to hide how startled he was. "Guess he got all the looks, huh, you goofy lookin' bastard?"
With a final word about Rivers being on his own from now on, the rude guy moved away, heading off in a random direction and then vanishing somewhere among the buildings. For a moment the Private considered going after him, but he had run off in the opposite direction that they were headed, and Rivers needed to investigate Warehouse Beta. He could always contact Colin later on the radio once they both had time to calm down, or if he found something of value, be it the Resistance soldiers themselves or maybe a discarded plasma weapon. Speaking of which, he had to get moving.
No matter what else was going on, with the Annihilation Line coming and the threat of that unknown… thing that wiped out Pacific Division, the most important priority was to find Commander Baron and warn South Division. If Colin had lasted this long, he would be fine for another couple hours, so the Private made his way over to the restaurant's doors, and continued on in a different direction than Colin had gone, toward the second possible location of the Resistance.