Hey! bestknight32 here! First F to my Red redemption 2 non updated save it got deleted when my xbox one had to be hard reset A year of work gone! Anyway thank you dahliingg for helping starting the base of the story and thank you Tim Baril for writing this chapter! Alright thats all until next time!
"The next thing your going say is when is the next chapter coming out?" "When is the next chapter coming out?!" ….Nani!
Doctor Hayden felt the burn in his lungs. Whatever his past, he was not used to this kind of sustained exertion. Watching the others jog down the ruined city streets alongside and in front of him, he could tell that even some of them were flagging after the running battle. And now and then, everyone checked over their shoulders for signs of pursuit. People were tense and just waiting for the next ambush to come their way.
"This way," Ace pointed from in the lead and the group turned down a different street, feet pounding on cracked and broken pavement.
Most streets were scattered with old cars, some just wrecks or abandoned, others burned out husks. Some buildings were mostly intact, others barely standing. Few windows were fully intact. And though it was day, the dark gray sky overhead made it feel more like evening. Except for the glowing orange section right in front of them. A glow that was growing brighter and larger by the second.
Hayden looked over at Melantha as he jogged, panting as he tried to speak at the same time. "What happens…when this catastrophe…strikes…?"
She glanced up and frowned with worry. Her lips parted as she made to reply but they were interrupted.
"There!" someone ahead shouted.
Hayden looked forward and slowed as he saw Ace and the guards up front skid to a halt.
Reunion solders flowed out of a side street less than a block away, and right in the path of their destination. More pointed and shouted and the group sprinted towards Rhodes Island, weapons rising.
"That way!" Ace shouted, pointing at an alley.
"No! Over here!" Adnachiel waved towards a gutted apartment building with no back wall.
"Oh no," Amiya moaned. "Look!" She pointed up to the heavens.
Everyone lifted their heads up and froze.
The clouds above melted away and a searingly bright comet appeared. The sight was mesmerizing. Though the falling object must have been moving many kilometres every second through the air, such a vast distance travelled made it almost seem as if the comet was in slow motion.
"It's heading right for us!" Melantha breathed.
"Take cover!" Hayden shouted.
The group split as some ran for the left side of the street and an abandoned grocery store, while the other half bolted for the gutted apartment complex on the right.
Hayden dodged a minivan whose tires had all been slashed, headed for the grocery store and cursed himself for not being specific as he watched half the team go the other way.
Overhead, the comet descended, an immense ball of cosmic force hurdling at the planet unchecked. Suddenly, it flared. The light blinded them all and causing them to cover their eyes. As the flare died down, smaller comets broke off from the main mass, creating a shower of white-orange stars around the main one.
Amiya tripped and fell with a cry.
Hayden knelt beside her in order to pull her to her feet. "Are you ok?"
"Fine." She nodded, wincing as one knee bent.
Arrows flew through the air, causing them to duck.
Then came the shouts of panic as the Reunion members realized that the catastrophe was right overhead and bearing down on them.
Hayden pushed Amiya into the grocery store. But he himself stood in the doorway, transfixed by the comet. It terrified him on a primal level.
The comet blew through the middle of a skyscraper like it was paper, blowing out the entire middle. But before the top of the building even had a chance to fall, the comet was already ploughing into what might have been a stone cathedral of some kind. The huge object crushed the building, sending stone and concrete and asphalt flying through the air, melting or burning much of it on impact. The catastrophe swept right through the reunion army, cutting off their screams.
The force of the impact was like an earthquake and sent him to his knees. Broken glass rattled in window frames. Dirt and dust cascaded through the air.
"Doctor!"
Hayden felt himself bodily hauled into the building and someone fell on top of him as fire and smoke and the dust of pulverized stone and concrete blasted down the street outside along with a wave of super-heated air. He covered his face and lay there as the world shook.
Crashes all around signalled the building falling apart around them. Someone cried out in pain, though the sound was distant against the roar of the explosion outside. The event felt like forever, but the sound must have died down after a minute or two.
Hayden gingerly lifted himself up and felt the protective body atop him shift away. A glance revealed Amiya's dirt-streaked face, her eyes wide with fright. "Everyone alive?" he called.
A range of replies came back. Bruises, cuts, some coughing, but no serious injuries. And, thankfully, nobody dead.
He hauled himself to his feet and stumbled to the doorway. Outside it was hard to see much through the thick cloud in the air.
The apartment complex across the street was in shambles.
"No!" he cried out, heart leaping. They couldn't all be dead. They couldn't. "The others!" He raced out of the store and into the street, heedless of danger, and headed towards the place their comrades had vanished.
A huge section of the city, exactly where they'd been headed, was gone. There was nothing but a crater, the buildings all around it turned to rubble. In fact, the crater and a rim of debris stretched almost to where they had taken cover. The remains of the comet, a black and glowing-orange mass the size of a house, sat half under a pile of dirt and sewer pipes.
The apartment building the others had run for had been toppled by the force of the blast. Hayden slid to a halt before it and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Adnachiel! Anyone!"
Several tense seconds passed as the others from the grocery store ran up and joined him. Then a shout came back.
"Go around! Other side!"
He sagged in relief. They were alive. Or, at least, some were.
Amiya moved back down the street. "There's a gap between the buildings over here."
They moved towards it, then squeeze through the narrow confines until coming out on the other side of the buildings.
The other half of Rhodes Island was there, covered in dust and more than a few had bloody patches. But, they were alive.
He grinned at the sight of them. "Thank goodness."
Adnachiel gave them a crooked smile. He was just picking himself up off the ground and favoured one leg. "You guys went through wrong way." He wiped a trickle of blood from his temple.
"By the looks of it, you did," Steward joked. "Who takes cover in a building already about to fall down?"
"We went through the building," a guard growled. "Just some of us were too slow."
Cardigan sat on the ground, looking dead tired. She must have been after hauling that huge shield all over. She looked up with tired eyes. "What now?"
"The road ahead is blocked," Melantha told them.
"To be clear," Steward chuckled, "the road is gone. There's a big shard of originium there now instead."
Hayden turned to Adnachiel. "Can you get high and scout a way forward?"
The young man looked unsure. "I could try. But everything around here is going to be unstable after that hit." He glanced down at his leg, not saying anything, but obviously concerned about it. Climbing right now might be difficult for him.
"Follow my lead," Ace told them. He waved them forward. They followed, with groans and tired sighs.
The group made their way through the city at an angle, trying to get around the impact site. But just when they thought to turn back towards their destination, they were forced to detour again.
A second, smaller shard that had broken off from the main comet had crashed through a city library and blocked off the street ahead. Thousands of books within the now-exposed library blazed in their own pyre. Sheafs of paper fluttered in the air and others draped the street, pale pages at odds with the dark-gray ash and dirt everywhere.
"Aw, that's a shame," Hayden whispered. He didn't know if he'd been a fan of reading before losing his memories, but being disappointed at the sight seemed instinctive.
"Yeah," Amiya agreed, coming to stand next to him.
"Let's rest here a second," Cardigan wheezed. She sat down on the ground to regain her breath. Others followed suit.
Hayden looked over at Amiya. Tired and dirty, there was a vulnerability that showed beneath the determination and bravery that she carried herself with. He noticed a cut on her arm. "You're bleeding."
She glanced down. "Oh. It's nothing. I'm fine."
Actually, it was a deep gash and her shirt was sticky with blood. "Here. Let me." He borrowed supplies from the medic so that he could clean the wound and patch her up. Others were being treated as well. He moved quickly. Adnachiel and Steward roamed outwards, scouting. He caught Ace watching them, giving him a flat look. It wasn't hostile, but neither was it friendly and Hayden wondered if the man a problem with him.
After he finished, she smiled gratefully and bowed her head. "Thank you. We should keep going."
He nodded. "Everyone ready?"
There were nods and yeses.
Steward waved from another street and Rhodes Island set off in that direction.
The city was eerie thing to walk through in the wake of the catastrophe. Ash and smoke filled the air. The sound of wailing and cries of pain intermittently sounded, yet it was also oddly quiet for the most part. A city like this should be filled with life, with love and laughter. Now it had all the life of an undead zombie, a shambling relic of what it once was.
Unfortunately, they ended up getting turned around and had to backtrack a little bit because this area of the city truly was a disaster zone. Hustling through a wide plaza, they got a nasty surprise.
Mephisto and Crownslayer strode out from hiding in front of them. The woman glared but Mephisto grinned.
"We meet again, Doctor!" he cried out, then laughed.
Rhodes Island members immediately looked about, wary of other Reunion forces appearing, and looking for a way out.
Hayden cursed. This day was nothing but a string of bad luck. And these bad pennies kept turning up to get in their way. "Forget them. Back the other way," he hissed at the team.
They turned to flee.
Reunion soldiers streamed into the street behind them, and more popped out of hiding all around. They were trapped, again.
"Come now, Doctor, don't go. We have unfinished business!" Mephisto laughed, his tone arrogant.
"We have no business with Reunion!" he called back.
"You're on my turf. Business is what I say it is. Oh," he shook a finger as if the doctor had been naughty. "Don't bother trying to bargain. Crownslayer and I have reached an accord. No tricks this time. We're on the same page."
Hayden had a sinking feeling. He lowered his voice. "We need a way out. Now."
"We're surrounded," Adnachiel said.
"They're too many of them," Melantha breathed.
Some of the guards looked a bit uneasy.
"What do you want?" Hayden called out, trying to buy time. Then he whispered to his team. "Pick a spot and we'll rush it."
Alec and Cardigan nodded and studied potential exits from the plaza. Which had the fewest soldiers?
"Me?" Mephisto waved a hand and leaned on his staff. "I don't want anything. I'm just here to make sure you don't go anywhere."
Crownslayer frowned at her ally. "Say what?"
"What do you mean?" Hayden asked.
"Our fearless leader has taken umbrage with poor Rhodes Island. Or she has questions. Either way, she's on her way and wants to deal with you personally."
Crownslayer backed up a step and snarled. "Serious? She's coming here?"
Mephisto's brows rose and he nodded.
"To hell with that." Crownslayer turned. "I'm not sticking around for that kind of carnage. We just experienced one catastrophe and I don't feel like having front row seats to another. I'm out."
"Hmm. Well, it's not as if she specifically requested your presence. Feel free to flee if you want," Mephisto mocked her.
"Go to hell." She waved to a few of her personal soldiers and took off. Unfortunately, it didn't really weaken the ring around them much.
Amiya gave Hayden a worried look. "We need to run."
"You know Reunion's leader?" he asked her.
She hesitated, then nodded. "We've all heard rumours. Talulah. She's…supposed to be a goddess of death."
Melantha nodded in agreement.
"Ace? What are our best odds?" he asked. "Can we break out of here?"
The older man shrugged. "Back the way we came, perhaps. I don't know."
"There weren't any cross streets back that way," Cardigan argued.
Ace shrugged. "Maybe we can find our way into the sewers again. Or climb a building. Knock another one down with Arts if we have to." He didn't sound optimistic.
The smell of sulphur and brimstone washed through the plaza, the scent of hell itself. Mephisto turned his head to his left and watched as all of the soldiers blocking the street raced out of the way.
Now that the comet catastrophe no longer lit the iron sky, it was as if night had descended, the thick cloud produced by the impact only making the air thick and dirty, and blocking even more light. Fires burned from lesser impacts throughout the area, spots of fuzzy orange in the haze.
From out of that nightmare came a deceptively small woman. No, not just a woman: a demon. Dual, black horns stood out from behind her temples, jutting out of silvery-white hair that hung to her shoulders. She wore a black and white, ruffled, Victorian-style dress with puffed shoulders and a black satin ribbon on the chest. The dress was cut to the hips to allow her legs free movement.
As she drew closer, flames flickered to life over her entire body, as if she was burning, though none caused her the slightest pain. A barbed, black tail swished back and forth with each stride.
She entered the plaza and regarded Rhodes Island with an utterly cold expression. Yet the orange irises of her eyes glowed as hot as the flames on her body. In one hand she carried a zweihander, a two-handed sword longer than she was tall. It should have been impossible to wield for such a small woman, yet she carried it effortlessly.
"We should definitely run now," Adnachiel muttered.
Steward agreed. "All in favour, say, I don't want to die."
Talulah, the demon leader of Reunion, climbed up onto a fallen slab of concrete and surveyed the prey in the plaza the way one surveys cockroaches in the basement. When she spoke, her voice somehow flowed throughout the plaza. "Rhodes Island. You stand guilty of killing the infected."
"Only in self defence!" Cardigan snapped with a growl. "You attacked us!"
Hayden stepped forward. "Our mission is to help! We care for the infected. We're trying to cure them!"
Her voice was cold. "So you say. And yet your fellow infected lay at your feet, dead by your own hands. And you consistently stand in the way of Reunion's efforts."
"We're trying to protect the infected!" Amiya called out. "We don't want to fight. We tried to talk but your people refused to listen. They attacked us for their own ends. Please! You have to believe us."
"I have to do nothing. But mete out judgement for traitors to their own kind."
"This!" Hayden shouted at her, fear and anger mixing within him. "You won't listen to us. We're an aid organization. Talk to us. Or let us go. There's no reason for us to fight anymore."
"Talk? Fight?" She tilted her head. "Your guilt is obvious. This is your execution." She raised a pale hand towards them.
Hayden opened his mouth to respond, but Amiya cut him off before he could.
"Doctor!" she exclaimed, looking down.
The ground beneath everyone's feet began glowing orange in the same way as the meteor had been earlier.
"Scatter!" Cardigan shouted and everyone ran in different directions.
The stone of the plaza erupted behind them, molten rock flying through the air. A piece hit Ansel in the shoulder and sent him spinning to the ground with a cry of pain.
"Ranged attacks!" Hayden called out.
Adnachiel was already on it, his crossbow raised. He fired a shot that would have taken Talulah's eye out if she hadn't twitched out of the way at the last microsecond.
Steward followed suit, blasting their attacker with his Arts. The energy connected with the target and caused Talulah to grimace. Steward smirked. "Armor break. Gotcha."
In retaliation, the woman swung her giant sword with one hand and a wave of fire whooshed forth.
Steward barely dodged and the wave cut into the ground behind him. If it had hit, it would have instantly killed him.
Amiya fired off her own Arts, but another flick of the flaming zweihander destroyed the magic. Then it did the same to another bolt from Adnachiel's crossbow.
"Ace," Hayden shouted. "Melantha. Rush her while she's pinned down!"
Ace led the guards towards the demon woman while Melantha swung around to come at her from a different angle, sprinting hard, her katana out and ready for blood.
But Talulah slashed the air as quick as blinking and all the attackers were forced to halt or dodge to keep from being sliced in half. She looked at Hayden and raised her sword. It glowed deep red and flames built up along the blade.
"Look out!" Cardigan cried, leaping in front of Hayden with her great shield to block.
He despaired. There was no way she could block such a strike, no matter how great her shield.
Amiya likely had the same idea. She lashed out with her strongest Arts and Talulah was forced to dodge, wasting her attack. The a huge beam of liquid fire shot overhead and melted part of a ten-story building behind them. Concrete vaporized and metal from the girders inside turned liquid and dripped away.
At this point, most of the Reunion soldiers understood that sticking around was akin to a death sentence. Despite her condemnation of Rhodes Islands attacks on her people, Talulah's attacks could very well hit them as well and so they ran for the hills, figuratively speaking.
Amiya collapsed, falling to her knees and hands, stunned after using so much power.
Melantha, driven back by the demon's attacks, knelt at Amiya's side. "Don't over exert yourself. You know you'll break your rings if you do."
Amiya gave her a weak smile. "I'm not going to let them kill one of my comrades. Or lose the doctor again."
Hayden stood in the plaza, practically frozen and feeling helpless. He watched as Adnachiel and Steward attacked at range while the others tried to drive in close enough to hit the woman with their weapons. Yet it was all any of them could do just to survive the hellish power she kept throwing at them. This stalemate wasn't going to last. But what to do?
Ace was thrown by the force of one of Talulah's blasts and fell to the ground, the left side of his body singed and smoking. He grunted and got up on one knee. He looked up. His expression was tired and, for a moment, sad. Then it firmed. He turned to Hayden and their eyes met from across the plaza. "We'll buy you time!" he shouted.
Hayden gritted his teeth. "No! You'll all die!"
The corner of Ace's mouth curved up in a bitter-sweet smile. "That's our job." He stared at Hayden for a couple of moments and then nodded, solemn. "Take care of Amiya. Don't you dare lose her." Then he turned his gaze on Talulah and burst forward, shouting for the rest of his team to join him. "With me! Take her down!"
"No!" Hayden reached out as if he could pull them back, yet of course he couldn't. He could only watch helplessly as men and women charged to certain death—for the sake of others. He only hesitated a second. He could not waste such a sacrifice. "Retreat!" he called to the others. "Fall back!"
Talulah took aim at Ace and fired another huge beam of fire.
Ace yelled in defiance and thrust his hammer in front of him. And by some miracle, he deflected much of the blast. Clothes on fire, he continued forward, determined to strike back.
Hayden both wished he could watch the man's noble sacrifice, and knew that he couldn't waste a moment. As Melantha took one of Amiya's arms, he took the other and together they ran back towards the street they had come from earlier. The medic did the same with Ansel and Cardigan brought up the rear, as always, the last line of defence. Steward and Adnachiel walked backwards, firing at the demon woman, trying to distract her and draw her attention in order to give Ace a chance.
One of the guards screamed as she was cut down.
Talulah gestured and another burst into flames.
Amiya weakly protested. "Stop. We have to go back and save them."
"Keep going," he snapped at Melantha, who likewise showed no sign of slowing, though there was pain and regret on her face.
Amiya fought them, trying to break free. She managed to throw one last shot off with her Arts before her eyes rolled back and she passed out from overexertion.
Hayden glanced over his shoulder as they entered the street.
Three guards lay on the ground, charred. The others formed a wall in front of Ace, blocking the way for him. Ace raised his hammer and screamed in defiance, only steps away now.
Talulah's sword flashed. A wave of fire sliced through the building on Hayden's right.
"Faster!" he shouted, watching the top of the building slide towards them.
They hustled forward, dragging Amiya between them as fast as they could. Steward and Adnachiel fired parting shots, then sprinted to catch up. Rubble tumbled down behind them, huge chunks of flaming concrete crashing down into the street and cutting off the plaza.
Cardigan bashed a hunk of debris away with her shield, though she was staggered enough by the weight to lose a step or two before she recovered.
He turned his head forward again as they ran and bitterly cursed.
Melantha spoke, her voice choked with emotion. "Don't regret his sacrifice. It's one we're all willing to make if it means making this broken world a better place."
"I just…wish we could have—" He cursed again. His steps felt leaden with the weight of self loathing. He hadn't been able to do anything. He didn't have Arts and couldn't wield a weapon. He'd been useless in the battle. "I should have— Dammit, I should have done something!"
"Done what?" Her voice was flat. "That woman is a monster among monsters. There's nothing we could have done but run. We're lucky any of us made it out of there alive."
"Some of us didn't."
She didn't look at him. "No. They didn't."
He felt inept. Why had any of them been looking at him for leadership? His memories were gone, he didn't even know who he was or what he was capable of. And yet, he had to contribute. Somehow, he had to make up for the failure he'd been in the plaza.
"Where to?" Steward asked, panting.
Ansel grimaced. "We already walked this route. There's no way through."
Hayden nodded towards a building. "Let's get off the street. Make sure we're not being followed. Then look for a backdoor. We're not finished yet."
Steward looked at him, appraising and perhaps uncertain, but he nodded.
What was left of Rhodes Island dragged themselves off the street and into a former bowling alley. The glass doors hung loose, the glass crunching underfoot as they went through.
They stopped inside the lobby to catch their breath.
"I'll check for a tail," Adnachiel informed them and took up position at a window, studying the outside for Reunion.
Hayden and Melantha eased Amiya into a chair.
"She'll be all right," Melantha stated. "Just give her a few minutes. And she won't be able to fight for a while, even after she wakes up."
Hayden nodded, watching the young woman in the chair with concern. As bad as losing Ace and the others was, some spark inside of him understood that it would feel a thousand times worse to lose Amiya. He wondered about what they had shared before his memories had been taken from him. Was she a student to him? A daughter? Or just a friend? The darkness in his mind was incredibly frustrating.
A crash broke the silence of the room.
They whirled, expecting Reunion.
Steward stood in one of the bowling lanes, where a bunch of pins had been scattered. His normally friendly face was clouded. He slowly bent and picked up a pin. Then he whipped it through the air, where it crashed into the far wall.
They relaxed. Or tried to.
Cardigan slouched on the ground, her back against the bowling alley's front counter. She wiped something from her eyes but kept her head down so that nobody could see whether or not she shed tears.
Likewise, both Ansel and the medic had drawn faces.
Hayden sighed and took a seat next to Amiya. Of course. Everyone else was beat up over losing Ace and the others too. And while the doctor was self flagellating over incompetence, they had lost friends. "Mel—"
"Give me a minute," she interrupted and walked off on her own.
He nodded to himself and went silent.
He felt guilty for not being able to grieve more than in a general sense. Because of his memory loss, he'd known the others for only hours. So when he realized that he hurt more from feeling like a failure, he felt even more selfish.
Amiya stirred next to him. She blinked, coming awake. Still unsteady, she looked around. "Where are we?"
"Just taking a break," he replied.
Her eyes widened. "Ace—!"
He shook his head.
Her eyes closed and she bodily turned away.
He sighed. What a lousy world this was. He admired all of these people for their incredible bravery, and for wanting to doing something worthwhile with their lives, for wanting to save the world, or rather, save the people in it. Even if that meant making the ultimate sacrifice.
Was he that kind of person?
Did he want to be?
He might not be able to entirely answer that at the moment. But he was aware that his former self had been an important part of what they were doing and so he had a duty, a responsibility to continue with them. He could figure out his future later, when they weren't running for their lives and he understood more about what was going on.
The medic passed around a couple of metal bottles of water.
He drank and passed his to Amiya, who mumbled thanks and took a long swig, then another.
Melantha returned. She sat next to Amiya and nudged her. "How you feeling?"
Amiya half smiled and shrugged. "You know."
"Well, stop it."
Amiya laughed softly. "Sorry."
"Take care of yourself out there. We don't want to lose you."
Amiya turned solemn. "Yeah. You too." She passed Melantha the water.
Cardigan raised her head. "We can't stay here long."
Steward tromped back over tot he group. "We should go back. Or send someone. See if Ace…"
Everyone looked awkward at that. And no one wanted to be the one to say they shouldn't. Because he and the others were dead.
Hayden looked around at the hard, hurting faces. "We should go on. The others will catch up later."
Steward looked up with a frown and looked ready to say something angry.
Cardigan looked surprised.
Amiya was the one to stop a fight from breaking out. "He's right."
Steward turned his anger on her.
She forestalled him with a hand. Her eyes were watery as she looked up at him. "I know. I know."
Steward opened him mouth to snap. But nothing came out. He struggled for a couple of seconds and then his shoulders sagged and he turned away.
Adnachiel came to join them. "I'll look for a back way out." He nodded at Hayden without hostility.
Hayden felt lousy, but he'd only been trying to given them a kindness, a lie they could tell themselves to help move forward. Because as much as anyone wanted the others to be alive, none of them believed they were. Not with the amount of firepower that demon Talulah had been tossing around. How could you fight against a woman who could knock down buildings with the flick of a wrist?
Adnachiel called from the maintenance door set between the end of the bowling lanes. There was an exit.
The others slowly picked themselves up and turned to go. It was with heavy hearts, but they still had a job to do. And they had to survive.
