Chapter 32 – Serious Bad Luck

"MI6 Main Log 02/11/2006 – 13:37

Our First Plan to manipulate and corrupt the minds of the British society and population of our country has back-fired significantly in the most cruellest of fashions. It seems that Kane-Bridge had found a way to reverse the process using Dance & Indie music that he and the four subject targets had created thanks to the help of Norman cook alias Fatboy Slim. Fortunately, our trooper officials have confirmed that Norman Cook is dead; meaning that Kane-Bridge will have no more support from him or any other who dare to betray Great Britain. Although the public are now against us and are piling pressure on us for answers and reasons behind all this, the Government and main Administrative boards will help clear this problem by making false statements about this whole affair like they always do. As long as he and the four others are trapped in the caves underneath our main stronghold here, Kane-Bridge will receive no outside support for the time being.

The General Leader has ordered that our missiles be delayed from launching until November 5th. Why delay launching when we have the upper hand? I am quite surprised by the General's move, but it is not up to me over when the missiles should be launched so I shall follow and respect the orders that he has given. I would understand though if the General wants Kane-Bridge to reach the upper levels of the caves so that sabotage methods can take place. If so then I will advise the General on perfect locations for this to take place. But for now, I must remain respectful to his orders.

Our defensive and offensive sectors of intelligence have confirmed that British troops are well underway in engaging American troops on the Mexico/America border. Thankfully we were able to take control of upper Mexico for the time being and it won't belong before the 1st line of American defense falls. Once that happens, we will be able to sweep in and take control of most Western States. As long as we have democratic control of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington, then we should still be in course with our main mission and plan; plus we will be firmly in control in winning this war. But for now, our top priority is Kane-Bridge and the four subject targets.

- Sergeant G. S. Jones IV"

A few hours had passed now and Marcus had just finished reading this off a data screen in a room-like part of the caves. In the area were dozens of computers and technological devices. At the far back were two doors. One was open while the other door which was made of steel was sealed shut; having an automatic key card lock enabled in it. The four boys had decided to sit down on the dirty, brownish black ground; leaning next to the greyish coloured machines and shaking slightly at the fact that the temperature in the cave had dropped.

"Guys, come take a look at this." Marcus spoke but no one moved. They were too cold to get up and each of them had rolled up into a ball to try to keep warm; putting their knees and legs inside their jackets. "GUYS!" Finally, Stan had the energy in him to stand up and go over to where Marcus was stood. He quickly skimmed through the log writings and what he read quickly warmed him up with a surprised and quite shocked mood.

"What the hell's going on?"

"Well according to this it sounds as if they're delaying the missiles being launched. But why the hell would they want to do that?"

"Well that's good isn't it? At least we've got more time now."

"Could be a trick though. They know we're here so they might have deliberately written that thinking we'd find out about it and believe it. But then again, the General never makes jokes about his decisions. I guess they must be telling the truth."

"So what do we do now Marcus?"

"We wait a while. They're probably expecting us somewhere right about now. I suggest we stay in this bit of the caves for a few hours and try to warm ourselves up again. I can see the looks on yer' faces that you're a bit low on energy. I'm gunna set up a little camp over there on the flat ground with the stuff I've got in my bag."

As Marcus made his way over to a flat bit of dark ground, Stan walked over to Kyle who had his eyes half-open and didn't look too good.

"Hey dude, you alright?"

"Stan, I'm s-s-s-s-so c-c-c-cold. I don't know why, I just don't feel so g-g-g-g-good."

"Jesus, Kyle, are you like sick or sumin?"

"No dude, I just feel really really cold."

Stan was starting to worry slightly so he walked over to Marcus to ask for some help. "Hey Marcus, I think Kyle isn't feeling very well."

"What? What do you mean?"

"He told me he doesn't feel very well dude. I think something's up with him."

"Is he sick or anything?"

"No, he's just really really cold."

"Oh Jesus. Here……" Marcus took off the jacket he was wearing "…take this and give it to Kyle. That should warm him up a bit."

"But dude, won't you feel cold?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. Besides, being British, I'm used to cold weather like this. Which reminds me, what is the actual temperature in here?" Marcus changed the mode on his watch to temperature reader and started shaking his fist in mid-air to try to get it to properly work. After about ten seconds he looked back at it. "Bloody hell, it's -3 degrees Celsius in here. Where the hell did all the temperature go in this cave? Quick Stan, take my jacket over to Kyle and tell the others to come over here, I'm gunna try and light a fire."

Stan rushed over to Kyle and placed Marcus' jacket both around Kyle and himself; helping Kyle up onto his feet and walking back over to where Marcus was. As Stan, Kyle, Cartman & Kenny sat down in a circle-like formation, Marcus collected up a few dozen sticks of different sizes he had stored in his bag and placed them in the centre. He then picked up two small rocks. The others thought he was going to try and start a fire by means of friction off the two rocks, but Marcus simply placed the rocks by the collection of twigs. Instead, Marcus did it the idiot's way and got out a small bottle of petrol and poured some on top of the twigs. Lighting a match he threw it onto the twigs and a fire was born; blasting upwards in a roar of flaming sound.

"HA HAAAAA! Oh that method never fails to disappoint."

"Dude, what the hell did you do that for?"

"Did you really think I was going to rub rocks and twigs together? Nah, that's the bloody stupid boy scouts method. THIS is the good old British method. A lick of Unleaded Petrol and yer' got yourself a nice little fire. But never use Diesel though; Diesel's s---."

"Dude, are you a firestarter?"

"Yeh, a twisted firestarter?"

"Nope, but I learned this from watching people do it back home on fields. IT'S FUN. Right, I got a little bit of food here; bread, water and a packet of Polos. Sorry about the choice, but it was all I could fit in."

"Oh man, why couldn't you bring any Pizza or Kentucky Fried Chicken!" Cartman spoke; moaning as always.

"Shut up about god dam food Cartman. You're only saying that coz' you're so f---ing fat!" Kyle replied; getting his energy back from the warmth that Marcus' jacket had brought.

When the time on Marcus' watch indicated that it was 5pm exact, he and the other four boys were expecting to hear missiles being fired. Instead, there was nothing. Complete silence; like there always had been since they had entered the caves. As time had passed, all five lads' clothes had become even more dirtier than they already were. Their jackets were getting cuts and tears in them and their trousers and hats now had a few more dirt marks and scratches on them.

"I guess they were telling the truth about delaying launching the missiles then."

"So what do we do now?"

"Well we've got another 3 days which'll be plenty of time to reach the top of the caves and into the main stronghold. But for now, I think we should get some sleep and try to rest for a while."

Ten minutes later as Stan, Kyle, Cartman & Kenny were lying down on the ground asleep, Marcus was still awake; sitting down and looking forward and thinking about what might happen in the near future. He couldn't think straight and so he decided to lie down as well and get some sleep. Resting his head on a soft rock on the ground, he slowly closed his eyes and also went to sleep. Stan & Kyle had took off both their jackets and had covered most of themselves in Marcus' jacket to avoid getting cold but to also avoid getting too hot at the same time. Cartman was using his hat as a head support while Kenny was simply lying on the floor asleep as if he were dead. Marcus decided to keep one torch on whilst they were all asleep; shining the torch's light upwards onto the cave's sharp and bumpy ceiling.

Meanwhile in a small dark room in the stronghold structure, the General was once more spying on the five lads through an infra-red camera that was somewhere in the room.

"Perfect, they're unaware of anything around them. Jones!"

"Sir?"

"Tell the locking control team on the Basement 2 floor to open all Blue hatches on that level."

"Yes sir!"

"Let's see how they like a little bit of a wed 'n' wild ride through the caves." The General smirked as he waited patiently for what was to follow.

A few minutes later, Marcus was woken up by a slight vibration that he felt on the floor. Opening his eyes and lifting his head he looked around to see if anything was in the area. Seeing nothing he went back to sleep. But the vibration and rumbling continued and Marcus woke up completely to stand up. As the rumbles got louder and the shaking became bigger, Marcus walked over to a bookshelf on a far wall and placed his ears on the shelf wall. The boys were also woken up by the shaking and noise and were puzzled into what was going on.

"Marcus?"

Marcus heard a terrifying sound coming from the other side of a wall and he knew exactly what was about to come crashing through the walls. And without delay he slowly turned back round and yelled at the top of his voice; 'RUUUUUN!' as tiny streams of water began to brake through the cracks in the wall that were seemingly bigger every passing second. The boys ran as fast as they could down the far corridor. Kyle stopped and looked back to see Marcus rushing to pack everything up back in his bag pack.

"Marcus, what the hell are yer' doing? Hurry up!"

With everything packed, Marcus and Kyle sprinted down the corridor to catch up with the other three. And just as this happened, a huge wave and wall of water crashed through the wall and began to make its way down the corridor. The boys were yelling in fear yet still running and sprinting for their lives.

"Don't look back guys, just don't look back!" Marcus shouted; trying to keep everyone calm even in this kind of situation.

But the water was travelling so fast that it finally caught up to them; dragging them into itself and sending them rushing down the corridor along with the water. After a few minutes of being knocked about in the water, the corridor finally ended at a waterfall. The five boys were pushed and dragged down into the deep cavern lake below; causing a huge splash upon impact and getting even more swirled around by the impact of so much water. As all five of them finally managed to get back up to the surface of the water for air, Stan, Kenny & Cartman managed to reach the shore of the lake. As Marcus was about to swim to the shore also; still having his bag pack on, he heard cries from Kyle as he spotted Kyle struggling to stay above the surface of the water. Worrying for his life, Marcus swam as fast as he could over to where Kyle was. But just as he reached him, Kyle ran out of energy and started to slowly sink to the bottom of the lake. Marcus managed to grab hold of him just at the last second and began to try and swim back to the shore. But it was too much for Marcus. The extra weight that Kyle and his bag pack had brought was too much for him to support with just the one hand he was sing to swim.

"Kyle! You have to help me here. Yer' have to give me some swimming support here!" Marcus shouted back to Kyle; who was already tired and drained of energy.

"I…I…I can't Marcus."

"You can Kyle, I need your help!"

"I can't do it! I haven't got the energy inside me to do it!"

Marcus' arm was really starting to hurt. And it wasn't long before Marcus slowed down so much that he along with Kyle were starting to sink to the bottom of the lake.

"No! Kyle, Marcus?" Stan yelled; fearing the worst.

Underwater, Marcus tried as hard as he could to get back to the surface but was slowly sinking as he tried.

"Dam it, I can't reach the surface." Marcus spoke whilst underwater "I gotta lose some of this weight." He pulled out a knife from one of his side pockets in his jeans and started slashing away at the arm support parts on his bag pack. "Come on, COME ON!" He swung his knife as hard as he could at the material on the bag pack and finally after much effort, the bag pack broke off and started sinking quickly down to the bottom of the lake. Marcus now had less weight that he was carrying and he quickly swam back up to the surface. Taking a massive breath as soon as he reached the surface, he slowly swam back to the lake's shore where the other boys were.

As soon as he got to the shore, he placed Kyle down on the ground and started leaning over; placing his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath.

"Is Kyle alright?" Stan asked; sounding very worried.

"Yeh…" Marcus replied; lacking the amount of oxygen to speak properly "He's…just…a bit…tired…and…exhausted that's all."

An hour later, the boys were squeezing and trying to rinse their jackets out and get rid of as much water and wetness as possible. The collision and rough ride by the water from before had added even more damage to their clothes. Their jackets now had dark marks and big holes in them which were so damaged and obvious to see that you practically see parts of their shirts under them. Their hats also were torn in places and parts of their hair could be seen. Their trousers (or Jeans in Marcus' case) had torn where the knees were and had quite a few dirt marks on them as well. There was no point in trying to rinse the dirt off in the lake's water; they knew that their clothes would just get dirty again.

"Right, I've lost all the stuff I had in my bag pack which is a real bummer but I least I've still got my multi-communications device; at least we've still got a map showing us where to go."

"So where DO WE go next?"

"Well it looks like we're gunna have to find someway in getting past this huge metal door. I dunno how though, but it looks like that's the only way forward."

And just as they had all stood back up ready to go, the double metal doors slowly swung open to reveal a dozen MI6 troopers pointing huge guns at all five of them.

"Oh you've got to be f---ing kidding me. BOYS, DOWN THAT WAY NOW!" The four boys ran as fast as they could down a near corridor whilst Marcus managed to quickly dodge the first line of bullets from the troopers. Throwing a gas grenade at the troopers as a blinding distraction, he started sprinting down the corridor to catch up with the four boys; getting out both black enhanced handguns that he had stored under his shirt and holding them tight in his hands. He finally managed to catch up with the others.

"Guys, whatever you do, don't stop. I'm gunna try and stall 'em for as long as I can. You four just continue running as fast as you bloody can."

"But Marcus what if you get…"

"STAN, LISTEN…it's more important for me to make sure that you guys stay safe more than anything else. Just don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

And so Marcus went through the process of quickly stopping, turning around, firing a few shots from both guns at the troopers who were catching up to them and turning back round to sprint forward again; reloading his guns whenever necessary.

"What the hell's Marcus doing!" Kyle shouted.

"Relax dude, he knows what he's doing."

"Troopers, this is futile, we must end this right now. Sniper!"

"Yes sir?"

"Take care of this problem will you."

"Yes sir!"

As the troopers stopped chasing, the Sniper trooper of the group loaded and prepared his rifle and aimed it directly at Marcus. Closing one eye and aiming with deadly precision, he aimed right for an exact area on Marcus' back. And just how he expected, Marcus turned back round to fire another few shots of ammo.

But just as Marcus was about to fire, he spotted the trooper aiming his rifle at him. There was nothing that Marcus could do except stand there in shock as to what was to follow. And within that slow-paced split second, the trooper fired the bullet out of his sniper rifle and Marcus flickered slightly. His eyes wide open and mouth starting to taste a bit funny, he looked down to see the hand that he placed up by his chest (where his heart was) was now covered in thick, dark red blood. His shirt; dyed in red in places was starting to soak in blood as well. And within a few seconds of standing still, Marcus collapsed and feel to the ground; having being shot directly in the heart.

The sound of an extremely loud bullet being fired sent a chill down the boys' spines and they stopped sprinting; turning around and freezing in horror and shock.

"MARCUS!" Kyle yelled at the top of his voice as he and the other three ran as fast as they could to where Marcus was now lying. "Marcus, Jesus Christ, they shot you!"

"Marcus, are you alright?" Cartman spoke in the most ridiculous of fashions for a really ridiculous question.

"Cartman you f---ing stupid asshole, do you think he looks f---ing alright to you? HE'S JUST GOT F---ING SHOT!"

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know that!"

Marcus grunting with sounds of pain tried as hard as he could to speak. "Listen to me guys…get…get…get out of here…while you…still can…I'm sorry…I had to…get you…boys…involved in this; I'm sorry. I didn't think…it would turn out this way. Don't let……the Government win. It looks……like…you're gunna have to…go……without………me." With his speech now finally finished, Marcus' head went back slightly and his eyes slowly closed. It was officially and painfully now known; Marcus……was now dead.

"Oh my god, they killed Marcus!"

Kyle stood off being in a really pissed off mood and turned towards the group of troopers down the corridor. "You bastards. You bastards! YOU…BASTARDS!"

Suddenly groups of troopers from both ends of the corridor began to walk towards the four boys with their guns raised and aimed.

"I believe you'll be coming with us boys. Try anything clever and we will shoot you…" The trooper looked down at Marcus' dead body and smiled "…just like we shot your little insolent friend Marcus here."

"You f---ing bastards!" Kenny shouted under his orange parker jacket "How could you do such a thing. Do you even care that you just shot one of your own people?"

Stan and Kyle were surprised more than anybody at Kenny's outburst. "Woah dude, never heard Kenny say anything like that before."

The trooper pushed Kenny to the ground like some kind of older aged school bully.

"Shut up kid. He's dead; wipe your stupid tears away and get over it. Now then, I believe the General is looking forward to meeting you. LET'S MOVE NOW!"

The group of troopers guided the four boys down the corridor with guns both besides them and pointed at them. And as they walked onward down the corridor; they left behind a now lost, dead friend. The boy known as Marcus Kane-Bridge was no more. But like all stories, there was still a few twists in the tale still to be revealed.