Chapter 15: CAT
I nod quickly and head for the door. This isn't good. We need more time. Alec and I aren't even fully healed yet. But we have no time. CAT isn't going to wait patiently outside our gates for a few days until we feel well enough for a fight.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" I ask Alec, scrutinizing him closely as I hold the door open for him.
"Always." Alec replies firmly. He sees my look and smiles reassuringly, "Don't worry, Jess. I'll try to keep the hand-to-hand to a minimum. Maxie may have an aversion to guns, but I don't."
I nod again, silently praying that he'll be alright.
We head quickly towards HQ, noticing the abounding numbers of transgenics in strategic positions as we go. No one simply walks the streets. No one stands around and talks. The city is silent, tense, waiting.
I follow Alec into HQ. Max is hanging over Dix's shoulder, looking at a computer screen. As we get closer, I see that it shows the area just outside the gates of TC. Arrayed in front of our gates is something other than the usual protestors and police. A military squadron is deployed outside our gates, assessing their position before they attempt to penetrate our perimeter.
"Do we have audio, Dix?" Max asks quickly.
Dix shakes his head.
"We don't have that kind of equipment." he apologizes.
Max simply nods and narrows her eyes as she stares at the picture. I assume she's trying to read the lips of the commanding officer.
"...Team Bravo. Once they return from circling the perimeter fence, we can move out. Bravo Team will probably have detected some weaknesses in their perimeter. If this is true, we will be dividing our forces and attacking from multiple fronts. Is that clear?" Max relays the info then looks over at us with a sardonic grin, "We obviously didn't receive the same training."
"Max," Alec cautions, "the fact that they're splitting up isn't necessarily good. We still don't know where those points of penetration will be or how many of them there are."
"I know." Max says, "But they don't know how many of us there are either."
Alec nods in understanding. Apparently, Max is hoping that CAT hasn't counted on there being a city teaming with transgenics and hasn't brought enough manpower to deal with all of us. The problem with that assumption, though, is that it is only an assumption and we have no way of proving it either true or false. Either way we will have to fight.
"What's the plan?" Alec asks.
"Gee, Alec. I thought some of us knew how to do this shit because we were trained in it." Max snaps derisively.
Alec is about to reply, but I stop him by placing a hand on his arm. Max is on edge enough without Alec provoking her and this is definitely not the time.
"What do you want us to do?" I ask.
Max almost instinctively responds to my request for orders, turning towards us with her chin up and her eyes determined.
"The Southeast side could use more people. I've got Katie stationed on the old two-story building with the black doors. Go help her." Max instructs, referring to an X6 that I remember was part of the Alpha Team on the motel mission.
"Got it." I nod, turning towards the door and tugging on Alec's sleeve to get him to follow.
"Max."
"Alec."
They speak at the same time.
"Don't get your ass hurt again." Max warns in a threatening tone.
"Worry about your own ass." Alec snaps in reply.
The two exchange a quick look before Max turns back to the computer screen and Alec turns towards the door.
"She'll be okay." I offer him reassurance as we head towards the Southeast side. I silently tell myself that wherever she is, Kira will be, too. It's all I can do now. I'm becoming 613 again, falling back into the habits of my training. I can feel it happening, but I don't fight it this time. I need to be 613 for this.
"I know." Alec says stiffly, but it's obvious that he's worried about her all the same.
"Focus." I remind him gently, knowing that his worry for Max will only be a hindrance to him in the coming battle.
He nods and I see that he, too, is reverting to his Manticore self. The steely, cold eyes of 494 replace the sparkling orbs belonging to Alec. A slight shiver runs through me as I remember the last time I saw those eyes.
494's eyes snapped to my location and I found his gaze boring into mine, freezing me in place.
I dispel the memory from my head, instead taking stock of my condition. My leg is holding up well, taking my weight easily at a walk. But at a run? Or in a fight? I'm not too sure how much it will take of that. The best thing to do is follow Alec's example and attempt to take out any opponents from a distance. I'm not too bad of a shot. That's one skill set that I was never reprimanded about back at Manticore. Hopefully, I'll prove adequate today.
I spot the building with the black doors long before we reach it. Likewise, we're spotted approaching long before we reach the building. I can sense eyes on me despite the fact that Alec and I stick to the shadows provided by yet another overcast day on our way over. We're close to the fence and we can't be too careful.
"Hey, Alec." a voice whispers from somewhere to my left.
Alec and I turn quickly as Katie materializes from out of the alley we're passing. She's dressed all in black and a black hat covers her blonde hair so that it won't give her away. I think briefly about my own light hair, but figure it's still probably a little dark and damp from my shower. I never even got the chance to dry it.
"Katie." Alec nods, "Max sent us to help you."
Katie nods, looking both of us over quickly, her eyes lingering on Alec's abdomen and my leg. Obviously, she knows about our injuries.
"Come on." she gestures and begins to walk back down the alley.
Alec and I follow. She leads us into a building next door to the one with the black doors. We walk through the empty building, out a back door, over to one of the neighboring buildings, and discretely slip inside. Waiting inside are three other transgenics and a lot of weapons.
"You two take the roof." Katie says, throwing us both rifles.
I nod as I automatically check the clip. We'll be acting as snipers.
Alec leads the way up the stairs to the roof and I follow. I can't seem to shake the ridiculous thought that I'm actually on a mission, partnered with 494. That would have been an unthinkable privilege if I was still in Manticore.
Alec stops just before we reach the door that leads to the roof. He turns to me and signs some instructions to me: reminding me to cover the other transgenics, reminding me of my training, warning me not to stay too focused on one area. I nod quickly, hardening my resolve. I will not fail them or him.
Alec pushes the door open slowly and we stalk carefully across the roof, keeping low. Alec moves to the left and I move to the right, both setting up on the side facing the fence. I lower myself slowly to the ground, stretching out on my stomach, my elbows flat on the rooftop, rifle fitted to my shoulder. I train the gun along the fence line, getting used to the weapon. I look closely for any sign of movement along the perimeter.
"You are predators. You will hunt out your targets and eliminate them without hesitation."
I hear Lydecker's voice in my head.
"Movement is the give-away. It is impossible to attack without movement. The key is to detect that movement as it's about to happen. The tensing of muscles, an intake of breath, the clenching of a jaw. You must be able to detect these give-aways."
My eyes search for movement.
"Your rifle is an extension of you. There is no excuse for not hitting your target."
My hands are steady on the cold metal.
"The mission is everything. Nothing else matters."
There. Five hundred yards from my position, along the outside of the fence line, there's movement. My eyes narrow as I focus on the source of the movement. It's a soldier in a black uniform. The movement was his head turning to his right. I follow his line of sight. More soldiers are approaching ever so slowly and subtly, trying to avoid detection. They failed.
I smile and take aim, waiting for the perfect moment.
"Timing is essential. Be patient. Don't rush. Be alert. Don't be late. You must strike at the right moment. If you do not, you will fail."
There are more of them than I first detected. More are coming in from the left. Counting quickly, I see twenty-three of them. My smile turns into a frown. There are an awful lot of these guys.
The X5 next to me on the firing range fired too early and missed his target. The target continued moving down the line and I waited patiently until it was in the right spot. I fired, hitting the mark perfectly. The target continued down the line.
"Don't jump the gun, soldier! Did you listen to what the colonel said about waiting for the right moment? Or are the colonel's instructions not important enough for you to listen to?" a tac leader screamed at X5-761.
"No, sir!" 761 answered.
"Have you learned a lesson today, soldier?" the tac leader demanded.
"Yes, sir!" 761 immediately responded.
I had, too. I wait, determined not to make the same mistake 761 did. I wait, watching as the fence line is cut apart and the team starts coming through. I wait as they assess their surroundings. I wait as they approach the building. I wait until the soldier at point is almost too close for me to get at. Then, I fire.
"When you are on a mission, you do not kill people. You eliminate targets."
The bullet hits my target in the forehead, eliminating it instantly.
Next to me, Alec fires. A second target goes down. The other soldiers are alerted to our existence, but as of yet don't know our whereabouts. I fire again, taking out a third before he can reach the cover of the buildings, keeping a running tally of the remaining targets in my head.
Katie and the other three transgenics appear in the alleys and around the buildings, meeting the scattering team. I watch closely as a soldier fires at Katie. She dodges the bullet, speeding in towards her opponent. She elbows him in the face and wrenches the weapon from his hands. Blood begins to trickle down the soldier's face from his nose, but he shows no signs of feeling any pain. My eyes narrow. Something strange is going on.
Katie socks him in the stomach with the MP-5 she took from him, then kicks him hard in the groin. Any normal man would have hit the ground after that blow, but this guy just stands still with a twisted smirk on his face. Katie stares at him, frozen in surprise for a moment. He punches her in the face, sending her reeling backwards. I train my gun on him, prepared to take him out.
But I never get the chance to fire. Katie recovers quickly and fires herself, four quick shots to the chest. However, the soldier continues to stumble forward towards her. My brain demands to know what is going on. Even a transgenic would be down and out by now. Who or what is this guy?
Fortunately, the soldier never makes it all the way to Katie. After a few steps, he finally falls to the pavement and stops moving, but he never once showed any sign of feeling any of the wounds.
I want to ask Alec what's going on, but I know there's no time. I check once more on Katie and the other transgenic near her before rising slightly to a crouch and moving over to the other side of the building to make sure no one comes up behind us. I immediately take out two soldiers who were attempting to do just that. That leaves seventeen more.
A yell draws my attention. I look up and see a soldier on the roof of the building across the alley from my perch. He's alerting the others to our position. I quickly aim and take him out, but it's too late. We've been made.
"Alec!" I yell.
Alec fires two quick shots before jumping to his feet and running towards me.
"We need to relocate." I say quickly.
He nods, and gestures for me to follow him back downstairs. He kicks the door to the stairwell open and immediately fires twice. I fire once over his shoulder at the soldiers attempting to storm our position on the roof. Two more bodies litter Terminal City. The count is now down to twelve.
Alec moves silently and stealthily down the stairs. I follow him closely.
The second story is clear so we proceed on to the first. Here we encounter a transgenic with some extra primate DNA fighting three soldiers. He's cornered. Alec and I both fire simultaneously, each hitting one of the transgenic's opponents. Alec's target goes down, but the one I hit doesn't. Either I wasn't very accurate or this is another weird soldier like the one Katie fought. I don't waste time trying to decide, but unload another two bullets into the guy, the last of which enters his head. That takes him down.
The transgenic I don't know is able to take out the last soldier in the meantime with some well-placed attacks. He nods to us then disappears into the shadows. Alec and I head outside.
Outside the building, the streets are eerily quiet. Alec and I exchange a look. I signal that we should split up. Alec shakes his head no, but I insist. Reluctantly, he agrees and we head in opposite directions.
The sky is getting darker; it could rain soon. I note the information and store it in my brain, acknowledging that rain will mean impaired visibility and preparing to make the necessary adjustments. My ears strain for the sounds of fighting, something that will tell me what happened while Alec and I were inside the building and where the enemy is currently located. I can hear the strained yells and moans escaping those who have been struck down by attacks and orders being bellowed by people on both sides, but nothing close by. This doesn't make sense.
I pass the alley where we met Katie when we first reached the area, glancing down it quickly. Still nothing but shadows and trash. I move on, keeping one eye on the outside fence the whole time. Did the rest of the CAT squadron retreat? And if so, where are Katie and the other two transgenics who were with her? Were they taken captive? Or worse, were they eliminated and their bodies retrieved to take back to some government base where men in white lab coats can cut them open like they aren't even people? My jaw clenches momentarily with anger at that thought, but I quickly get a hold of myself. I don't need to think about what might have happened. I need to find out what did happen.
I catch sight of two CAT soldiers coming down the street towards me and quickly back into the shadows behind a dumpster. I wait until they get closer before firing two shots, one at each. Neither of them goes down. I frown. Well, that's not a good sign.
Both soldiers look in my direction and head towards me. They show no sign of feeling the bullet wounds that are bleeding freely. I fire again at the one on the left just before they reach the dumpster. The bullet hits him in the shoulder. He jerks slightly from the impact, but once again ignores the wound. Both soldiers take a hold of the dumpster and fling it aside like it barely weighs anything. I jump towards them, swinging my rifle like a club at the blonde one closest to me, hoping to catch him off guard. The butt of the rifle strikes him across the face, breaking with the force of the impact, but he simply smiles at me with blood-stained teeth.
"Transgenic filth." he spits on the pavement by my feet.
There's more blood in his saliva so I must have done some damage even if he's not acting like he feels it. I drop my useless rifle to the ground and try to come up with another plan. Before I can, the other soldier throws a punch at me that I narrowly avoid. Not only are these guys insanely pain tolerant and incredibly strong, but they're also fast! Who the hell are they?
I spring backwards, looking for a way out, knowing retreat is my best option at this point. The two soldiers move after me, splitting apart to try and corner me between them. I leap over one of them, spinning and kicking at him before he can turn around. They may be fast, but I'm a little faster. That's my advantage.
I feel pain surging up my leg, but I ignore it as I lash out as fast as I can at the two soldiers. They block many of my attacks, but I do manage to land some. They don't show any sign of feeling the blows, but I have to believe that it's hurting them.
I leap again and kick at the brown-haired soldier's head trying to get them to back off enough for me to make a break for it, but he catches my leg. I inhale sharply as his fingers dig into my bullet wound. Then, I grunt with pain as he slams my body back down onto the pavement. Both soldiers converge on me and begin to kick and punch me rapidly. I curl into a ball, trying to protect myself. Their attacks hurt like those of a transgenic. I try to fight back, to push them away, but it's no use. The two of them have me.
I feel like this is how I'm going to die. It hurts so much that I almost wish they would just finish the job. By the time they stop, I'm barely conscious. I think another soldier passes by who calls for their help. Otherwise I think they would have just kept beating me to death. As it is, they may have done enough to ensure that outcome anyway. I can't move. Even breathing hurts.
I close my eyes, feeling the darkness of unconsciousness approaching. Gratefully, I let it take me.
So this is what dying felt like. That's what I was thinking. It didn't really hurt a whole lot, which surprised me. I felt pretty numb actually. And cold, I was very cold.
I'd been shot. I'd never been shot before. But now I was shot, in the stomach, and I knew that I had to be dying.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was on a stretcher, being wheeled down a long, white hallway. I looked around me and saw that there was a woman in white pushing the stretcher and a young man in white walking alongside, reading a clipboard. On my other side was 772. She didn't look at me, but looked straight ahead, back straight, chin up.
"How long ago was she shot?" the young man in white snapped at 772.
"One hour and forty-three minutes, sir." 772 replied immediately.
"What took you so long?" he demanded angrily.
"Sorry, sir. It took time to bring her back to base, sir." 772 explained.
"You will report to the colonel for a debriefing immediately. We'll take care of this one." the man ordered.
"Yes, sir." 772 said, saluting.
A second later she was gone from my side. I struggled to make sense of it all, to piece together a memory from what I had just heard 772 report. Then, suddenly it all came back to me.
We had been on a mission. Unlike our usual intelligence-gathering missions, this time we had been sent to assassinate someone in Billings, Montana. I couldn't remember if we had been successful, but I did remember that there had been more security that we had planned for. Something had gone sideways and I had been shot. I didn't remember the car ride back at all. All I remembered was being shot, lying on the ground bleeding, and then oblivion. It had been nice in the darkness. I had enjoyed the slow fading into nothing as my body went cold. I remembered my mind thinking that I had nothing to worry about anymore before it had shut down.
But now I was awake and there were glaring lights shining in my face. Pain was surging through my body as people in white tore open my abdomen to retrieve the bullet. Searing heat cauterized my wound, sending flames of pain through me. I missed the cool darkness where there had been no pain, but it was gone.
Wet. Something wet hit me, followed swiftly by another splash that refuses to let me ignore it. I slowly, painfully open my eyes. Rain is falling on me. The splash of the cool water on my face drags me back to consciousness. I groan loudly, feeling like this must be a practical joke. In reality, I'm dead. It's not possible to hurt this much.
I try to move, but I can't. Just trying to wiggle my fingers sends a wave of pain through me that threatens to take me right back into unconsciousness. I think about that for a second and then realize that I have no qualms with returning to that state. I concentrate on moving my fingers until I pass out a second time.
494 stood in the line next to me. Of course, he was at the head of his line, being a CO, and I was far back in mine, but I could still easily see him and identify him. I tried to keep from glaring at the back of his head out of the corner of my eye. I tried to focus instead on the lecture we were being given by the drill sergeants.
"It has come to our attention that you soldiers are letting phony sentimentality interfere with your judgment. You're getting attached to the members of your unit, giving them stupid names that serve no purpose. Some of you might even be thinking that they are your friends. You have no friends! You are all soldiers! The person next to you is another soldier and nothing more. The only reason you should give a shit about them at all is because the success of your mission might be dependent upon them. Do you understand?" the drill sergeant demanded.
"Yes, sir!" the assembled X5s chorused as one.
My teeth clenched as I noticed the almost imperceptible smirk on 494's face. It was like he knew he was better than the rest of us or something. Like he knew that this lecture didn't apply to him because he was fucking perfect.
I reigned in my temper quickly. It was going to get me in trouble if I didn't get it under control.
"The Board of Directors thinks we need to reassign units. Is that going to be necessary, soldiers?" another sergeant took over for the first.
"No, sir!"
"Are we ever going to have to have this discussion again?" the second sergeant glared at all of us in turn.
"No, sir!"
"494, fall out!" a third sergeant ordered suddenly.
494 almost looked like he was about to grin as he took a step forward.
"Sir?" he asked.
"494, you will demonstrate to these soldiers the detachment that you practice in your unit. Who do you spend the most time with, 494?"
"X5-511, sir!" 494 replied immediately.
"511, front and center!"
511 ran forward to stand at attention next to 494, his CO.
"494, render X5-511 unconscious." the sergeant said emotionlessly.
"Yes, sir!" 494 said crisply.
Without any hesitation, 494 whirled on his second in command and proceeded to beat him into unconsciousness. It wasn't one quick blow either, but a merciless barrage. Finally, a sharp kick to the head knocked 511 flat and he didn't rise again. 494 turned back to face the drill sergeants, resuming attention position. The uncaring look on his face had never wavered. I hated him.
"You would all do well to follow 494's example. You all mean nothing! You are a means to an end and nothing more. Any of you so much as breathes to the contrary, you'll be sorry. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
The sergeants exchanged glances, then nodded.
"Resume sparring practice!"
I paired up with 772 again to practice hand-to-hand combat. I had been secretly calling her Kira, a name she had assumed on our last mission and she had been calling me Jess in return. I irrationally began to think that somehow 494 had discovered this and had turned us in. It seemed almost like he purposely tried to antagonize me. But not just me. It was like he enjoyed making everyone hate him. I had seen him pick on some of the others. How he got away with it, I couldn't figure out. He seemed to get away with everything.
I glanced in his direction, hoping that maybe he would slip up and his opponent would land a punch to his face. Unfortunately, while I was looking in 494's direction, Kira was sending a kick towards my stomach. I grunted as the air rushed out of my lungs and focused my attention back on my opponent. Inwardly, I cursed 494. That had been his fault, too! Would that bastard ever stop causing me pain?