She watched the two old friends grip in a tight embrace.
"I had heard the Watcher was around." She heard Amber speak to Adam over his shoulder as they hugged. "Did you get my letter?"
"In the cabin?" She listened to Adam reply. "Yeah. I came as soon as I could."
She watched Amber loosen from the huge man's hug and take a step backwards, to stand next to Blufor, who still had his pistol raised at Ghost's head.
"Goddamn red-rings." She heard the woman comment, and watched her spit on the concrete floor of the station, her face illuminated by the light of the under-barrel torches. "They just waltzed in and took the place from right under my nose. Didn't even notice anything was happening until the commander bust down my door with a bunch of his lackeys and told me they were taking me away."
"The commander." She heard Blufor pipe up from behind Amber. "Big guy, bald, total idiot?"
"Yeah." Amber admitted. "They came just after you left my place, coincidentally."
"I know." Blufor replied, the pistol trained on Ghost's forehead. "Threw me in the cells straight after that. I was in there for a week or so, not sure really, and then those two were thrown in after me."
She saw him gesture his head towards her and Joel, who was standing at her shoulder. She could feel herself still shuddering from her encounter with Happy Sal, and at how Ghost's knife had burst through his open mouth, blood spraying everywhere. She looked at the brooding red-ring, his dark blue eyes shining menacingly. She locked her gaze with him, but immediately glanced away, a shiver shooting up her spine.
"Then," She heard Blufor continue, "Adam turned up, disguised as a guy called 'Twigs', or some shit like that."
"Sticks." She heard Adam correct pridefully.
"That's the one. Anyway, Simon – the commander, that is – fell for it, the idiot, and we escaped that day. I though I'd heard Sticks say his name was really Adam Cassel, but I didn't buy it until I saw his face a few hours later. But it was really him."
She heard Amber chuckle.
"Larger than life as usual, eh, Mr. Watcher?"
She glanced at the Watcher to see him shrug the question off. It had been a while since anyone had noted his alias, she realised; he wasn't too widely known this far west. She shuddered as a muffled screech from behind was followed by a chorus of others, as a din of throaty clicks and scrabbling emanated up the tunnel towards them.
"What the fuck?" She heard Amber curse in reaction to the noise. Adam immediately raised his voice and justified the disturbance.
"We're in a tight spot, here, I'm not going to lie. Last we heard from Rat, he told us there was a large amount of infected baring down on our position. They were coming up through the tunnel from the east. We used the RPG from our other heavy unit to collapse it, but it won't stay that way if a Titan decides to show up."
"Rat's here?" She noticed Amber asking with a level of relief in her voice. "That'll make our life better. Damn good leader, that one."
"I know. He's done an excellent job, he-"
"Hey!"
She turned around at the interruption, and saw that Ghost had stepped forward. Had he been the one who had spoken? She admitted, she hadn't recognised the voice. It was deep, and authoritative, but... much colder than the others. She noticed Blufor had moved up with the red-ring, keeping his pistol trained on the man's head.
She heard Adam react angrily from beside her.
"I thought you were mute, you red-ring fuck."
"Mind your tone, Watcher." She heard Ghost reply, not angrily like Adam, but almost trying to convince him he wasn't as evil as he was perceived to be. "I'm only trying to help you."
"Help us?" This time, it was Joel who raised his voice to the bandit. "After you beat the living shit outta me, and chased the girls down, probably to do the same?"
"No," She heard Ghost respond, trying to rescue the argument. "You have to understand, I was following orders, I-"
She heard heavy and fast footfalls as the Watcher surged forward in anger.
"Orders, you reckon?" She almost felt Ghost wheeze as one of Adam's gigantic fists crashed into his gut. "Orders that made you kill innocent people without a second thought?"
She heard the red-ring wheeze again, cough, and spit on the floor, then clear his throat and rebut.
"That's exactly it..." She heard him say between gasps. "I had second thoughts. I'd been having them for a while." She saw his black-hair-matted head dart up, and his deep blue eyes stare straight at her. "I was ordered to kill you back in the subway, you know that, right?"
"But you didn't." She managed, her voice sounding meager as it left her lips.
"No, that's right, I didn't." She heard him splutter, and spit on the floor again. "I had a loss, okay? I had a loss, and things got dark. I found myself with Pyotr's group, doing sick shit before I even really knew it. I bought into it, never questioning it, but seeing you changed me."
She held eye contact with Ghost.
"Ellie, is it?" She heard him ask, and then splutter a third time, still recovering from Adam's vicious strike.
"Yeah." She spoke.
"Don't you dare think you can say her name!"
She moved forward sharply, and placed both of her hands on Adam's raised fist. She looked up at the Scotsman and met his gaze.
"He saved me from Sal. He killed him."
She saw the Scotsman huff, nod, and lower his fist. She moved in closer, and knelt down to Ghost, who was still wheezing on all fours.
"Why did you do it?" She asked him, intrigued. "Why would you save me?"
The red-ring met her gaze, and she looked into his eyes.
"I did some sick things, horrible things, with Sal and the others. Did them without really thinking. Shit... sometimes, I even enjoyed them. But... then I saw you, in the subway, scurrying to save your friend. And... you reminded me of her."
"Her?"
"Her."
"Who was 'her'?"
Ghost didn't answer her question, only staring at the floor, his black mop hanging down toward the cement of the platform. She decided to save that question for later, as she noticed him change the subject when he started talking again.
"All I know," the red-ring began, "is that you won't get into the Nest without me."
She felt Adam's presence beside her as she stared at the red-ring, her curiosity getting the better of her. She saw him crouch next to her in her peripheral vision.
"What're you talking about?" She heard him ask fervently, his voice quiet and courteous, but tense.
"They don't just have guards on the walls, you know." She could feel the tension coming from Blufor and the others in the air as the sounds of rocks being stripped away accompanied shrieks on the other side of the cave-in. "They've got recon groups stationed in the surrounding forest as well."
"Shit." She heard Adam curse.
"Simon is a stupid brute, but being paranoid is one of his better qualities. He does leave places unmanned, though. One I know of is-"
"The pumping station?" She heard Adam ask, as she remembered the terrible night they'd spent there after their escape. She also remembered the third man who had been with them, who they had left to die at the main gate as red-rings swarmed from every direction. Carlos.
"Yeah." She heard Ghost reply. "How did you...?"
"Escape route."
"Thought so. You're smarter than you look."
"And you a better man than you look, I presume."
She saw Ghost nod, and then hoist himself up, having finally gathered his breath after Adam had winded him.
"Yes. I hope I get to prove that to you." She saw the assassin raise his arm for a handshake. "Fuck Pyotr and the others to hell, I'm through with them. Are we good?"
She watched Adam reluctantly place his hand intro the red-ring's, and shake it firmly.
"Yeah, we're good."
"Right." Ghost spoke, gesturing towards a stairwell on the far side of the room. "How's about we get the fuck out of here?"
"Sounds good to me." She heard Ryker comment from behind her, all too eager to leave the death-trap of the prison. She saw him begin to move towards the exit as the others followed, and she tagged along in the rear, a spring in her step given by the adrenaline that was still running through her system.
She noticed Ghost walking swiftly next to her as they moved towards the exit.
"Ellie?" He spoke, the light black stubble around his thin jaw now visible to her. "Sorry for almost head-shotting you. You're a damn good shot with that rifle."
She saw him gesture to the M40A5 she still somehow held over her shoulder.
"First time in a long time I've taken a hit." He commented.
"You okay?" She asked, wary that she may have mortally wounded the red-ring.
"Yeah." He replied, but then inhaled sharply as he moved his wound the wrong way. "Hurts a bit, but I'll live."
She saw Blufor had already reached the blue, metal door that marked the entry to the stairwell. She hovered by him as he flung it open, and stood with him as he did a check-off. The three men she didn't know who'd survived their ordeal went into the stairwell first, and she vocalised the names of those she did know as they passed.
"Three guys first." She commented to Blufor. "Ryker carrying Rider, followed by Amber. Joel, Adam, Ghost."
"Blufor." Blufor said as he walked through the door, and she followed him in.
"Ellie." She said last, as she walked in fully and shut the door behind her. "Gang's all here."
"Not quite yet." She heard Adam speak through the darkness of the stairwell.
"Shit! Guys, where's Olivia?" She heard Ryker ask, his voice laden with desperation.
"Relax, Ryker." Adam rebutted, as she watched him attend to his lapel radio. "Team Two number Two, come in, over."
They all stood there in silence, and she shivered when she heard nothing apart from the dull static that came out of the device.
"Oh, shit." She listened to Ryker swear loudly, his voice echoing up the stairs and rebounding off of the concrete walls for five floors going straight up.
"Relax!" Adam said again, much more forcibly this time. She could feel the tension seething from Ryker's body, even as he held the unconscious Rider. From what she had seen, the young man and the bulky woman shared a genuine love that was almost extinct in the world they begrudgingly called home.
"Team Two number Two, this is Team One leader. Olivia, this is Adam. Olivia?"
"Adam!" The voice came shouting back through the radio. She could hear the tones of fear, even through the poor quality of the radio's speakers. "Shit, the other guys are dead, I'm surrounded!"
"Oh fuck, Olivia!" She heard Ryker almost shout, moving towards Adam swiftly.
"Ryker, calm yourself!" Adam shouted in return, commanding him. His tone made her want to submit to his will; she didn't know why. It was the tone of a natural, born leader. "Olivia, where are you? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not hurt." She heard the reply, followed by a deep exhalation of relief from Ryker. "I'm inside, but so are the infected. I'm up in Cell Block A, I managed to lock myself inside a cell. The other three guys weren't so lucky. Holy shit! There must be hundreds of them up here."
She could hear the screams and clicks of the infected as background noise whenever Olivia checked in.
"Fuck, we're running out of men for the Nest." She heard Blufor comment fervently from behind her.
"Who cares?" Ryker shouted. "We have to save Olivia!"
She saw Blufor turn on the Watcher.
"Adam." She heard him begin. "One life isn't worth eleven others. We should go."
She heard Blufor stumble as Ryker almost bowled him over, and winced as she realised he was still holding Rider in his arms when he did it.
"Hey, fuck you, man!" She heard the young man vocalise.
"Fuck me? For choosing to save everyone else?" She heard Blufor bellow as he raised himself back up, and raise his fist, moving towards Ryker. "You damn hot-shot, I'll teach you how to-"
"Shut it, both of you!" Adam shouted, much louder than either of them had, his voice huge, and filling the stairwell easily. She noticed everyone fall back into silence, stunned by the force of his voice. She stood there brooding in the moment of silence that followed.
"We're not leaving anyone else behind." Adam said, and she audibly heard Blufor sigh. "We go to Cell Block A before we leave."
She watched Adam motion for the stairs, and immediately made to follow him, with Joel on her left and Rider on her right. Blufor had peeled over to stand on the other side of Rider, she noticed, and left Ryker walking beside Amber and the other three men as they made their way up the first flight of stairs.
"If we're going up there," She heard Ghost speak, "give me a gun."
"Fuck no." Came his reply, from Joel. She admitted, she was with her protector on that front.
"Please." Ghost asked, as she noticed him completely ignore Joel's reply and direct the request towards Adam.
She heard a dull, metallic click as the body of Adam's assault rifle was pushed up against the red-ring's tac-vest.
"Here." She heard Adam speak idly, beginning on the second flight of stairs, the sounds of their boots echoing loudly around the stairwell in both directions.
"You're seriously gonna allow that?" She heard Joel ask, breathing heavily.
"Yeah." She listened to Adam reply, the same idle tone in his voice. "If he hurts anyone, I kill him myself." She saw the Watcher's head turn to Ghost, who was clutching the assault rifle and scaling the steps next to him. "Clear?"
"Crystal." She heard the sound of the bolt being pulled back, and the safety clicking off.
"Joel, up here." She heard another command follow, as they reached the door they were going to exit from. If she wasn't mistaken, this one led back out into the corridor where she, Joel and Rider had first encountered Ghost. She shuddered at the memory and the fear it held, keeping her suspicions of the man high as they filed onto the landing before exiting the stairwell.
"What is it?" She heard her protector ask as he reached the Watcher's side.
"Heavy unit time." He simply replied, and she watched him draw the improvised flamethrower from his back, and watched Adam do the same, replacing the assault rifle he'd gifted to Ghost. She heard a small, metallic click as Joel turned the safety off, and the small blowtorch at the end of the weapon ignited.
She saw Adam turn to address the group.
"Here's the plan." He projected, quitely, but clearly. He wasn't loud, but she could hear every word her spoke. "We stick in a tight rank. Ryker carrying Rider in the middle. You guard your side, and Joel and I cut a path for us. Everyone keep your cool and pick your targets well. Clear?"
"Clear." She heard Blufor respond. "What're we waiting for?"
She didn't hear a reply from Adam, only wincing as he loudly kicked the door down, breaking its hinges, and causing it to crash to the floor. She heard the immediate reply from a dozen infected in the corridor, screeching and hollering, and she drew the .44 from her holster and tore the hammer backwards, priming the gun. She moved up with the rest of them, and they formed a tightly-knit rank around Ryker, and shimmied out into the hallway.
She saw the silhouettes of the infected sprinting down the corridor towards them, reminding her of one of her nightmares. She was about to yell at Adam and Joel to fire, until she was silenced by a plume of red-orange flame that burst out from the end of Joel's flamethrower with a loud hiss, the smell of crisping flesh pounding into her. She gagged, and winced, the smell and the heat of the raw flame and its subsequent affects almost unbearable. Still, she held position on the left of Ryker, with two of the men she didn't know guarding that side with her. She could only assume that Adam was with Blufor and the third man on the other side.
She saw the blackened corpses fall to the floor, the walls of the corridor starting to catch fire, and heard Adam's bellowing command.
"Move! Move! Move!"
She noticed Adam moved to the front, and the two men break into a sprint, slowed somewhat by their gear and weapons. The rest of them followed suit, as did she, hindered slightly by a fear-induced stitch that sent pain shooting through her chest. She wasn't sure if it were that, or a broken rib; either way, she didn't have the luxury of paying it any heed at the moment. Adrenaline dulled the pain, but only to a degree.
They reached the end of the corridor, and she noticed Adam continue his tradition of forcibly kicking doors down. This time, she heard it break from its hinges and fall down the steps she, Joel and Rider had ascended earlier, sweeping half a dozen infected down to the bottom of the atrium as it fell.
She exited the door, and looked in horror at what was before her.
There were nearly one hundred infected in the cell block, she guessed at a glance, and more were pouring in through the open double-doors at the end of the reception block with each passing second. Her heart sank fathoms and she could feel immense fear rising in her gut, much more intensely than usual. Their simple presence there had alerted some of the infected, without them even making an overly large amount of noise. She saw one turn, then another, until they were bowling each other over as they sprinted and climbed over to where she and the others stood.
"Fire!" The order came from Adam. Somehow, in the midst of the chaos, she found that irony amusing.
She felt the intense heat course over her face again, as she saw Joel and Adam both let loose with their flamethrowers, dousing anything that came within twenty feet of them with thick, red-orange flames. She practically vomited as the smell of burning hair and flesh assaulted her nostrils, and watched in disbelief as the metal guardrail on the side of the stairs melted completely and collapsed downwards, crushing infected a few meters below in a deluge of molten metal.
She noticed they'd begun to clear a swathe in the infected assault, and heard the sounds of firing assault rifles accompany the flamethrowers' screech. She brought the Magnum up high to contribute, and fired once, twice, three times, four. Four shots, four kills. Not bad, she thought to herself, as she saw the fourth infected collapse onto the floor, soon to be trampled over by countless comrades.
"Move!" She heard Joel shout to her right as she watched him jump off the side of the staircase, a moist crunch under his feet as he landed on the still-warm corpses below. She followed suit, and gagged as she felt a bone crumble underneath her feet. Slowly, she watched the rest do the same; Blufor landed hard, Ghost softly and deftly, and Ryker almost fell on his ass. She swiveled to her right, seeing more infected cramming through the door allowing entrance into the prison, screeching and spluttering as they surged forward. Beyond, she saw that the chain-link fencing had been torn down... by something much larger than any Clicker.
"Olivia?" She heard Adam shout around the Cell Block, as Joel continued barbecuing infected. "Olivia?"
"Adam!" Came the reply, she heard, from the corridor that headed west. She saw another two-dozen infected reaching in through the bars of a cell.
She flicked the chamber of the Magnum out, emptied the spent shells carelessly onto the floor, grabbed a spiral with 6 new shells from her pocket and rammed it into the pistol, slamming the chamber shut as she ran over towards where Olivia was trapped. She felt Adam following closely behind her, his massive feet crunching over the burnt corpses. Joel, she heard, was efficiently culling the infected coming in behind her and Adam, still spraying them with deadly flame.
She raised the Magnum, pulled the hammer back, and fired with one hand, the adrenaline that ran through her allowing her to be able to deal with the immense kick of the gun. She downed three of them, and then two with one bullet, until she saw Adam rip his survival knife from his belt and lunge full-force into the group that remained clawing through the bars of the cell, sending them spiraling away and granting him time to efficiently execute as many of the as he could.
She assisted him, spending her fifth and sixth bullets on another two infected who tried to get the drop on the Watcher. She saw him stand, his strange armour doused in infected blood and glistening in the light of the flame, and move to scoop his flamethrower back off of the floor where he'd dropped it. She had different priorities, and went straight for Olivia's cell.
"Ellie?" She heard the woman say, seeing her sitting in the back-right corner of the cell, weaponless.
"Are you hurt?" Was the first thing she thought to ask.
"No, I'm fine." She heard the bulky woman reply, seeing a look of pure terror plastered across her face. "I'm the only one that made it, though. The others were killed, though, by a-"
"Titan!" She heard a shout emanate from where the rest of the group were standing. She felt her fear grow exponentially. Surely enough, moments later, a tell-tale roar came echoing out from the courtyard, drawing closer towards the entrance. When the beast ran, its footfalls practically shook the building.
"Oh fuck!" She heard Olivia stammer, seeing her head shoot towards the horrific noise.
"Step back, both of you!" She heard Adam bellow from her left. She did what she was told, jumping back almost ten feet, and shielded her face from the heat as he torched the rusted iron bars with the flamethrower. After the plume, she saw them stretch, glowing white and orange, and collapse to the floor inside the cell. She saw Olivia stand, run forward and sharply jump out of the cell, over the molten metal, crashing down into Adam's arms. The big Scotsman responded well, slipping slightly but staying standing, and helping her back onto her feet.
"Was that sound what I think it was?" She listened to him ask.
Behind them, she heard the Titan burst through the low wall separating the reception and Cell Block A, sending fragments of masonry and rotting plasterboard showering across the atrium. She turned, guessing that Adam had the answer he was looking for. She saw Blufor, Ryker and Amber dive to the left to avoid a sweep from the beast's massive arms, while Joel and Ghost leaped up onto the stairway, just escaping its reach. The three men who were with them weren't so lucky, however; she saw two of them get swatted by the massive arm and flung across the room, leaving blood-splats where they crashed into the walls, while the third fired his rifle from underneath the behemoth and was promptly crushed.
"Oh." She heard Adam reply. "It was."
Without another word, she watched the Scotsman dart back down the corridor, over the corpse-ashes, while she and Olivia followed suit. The flecks of burning skin and ash in the air made breathing horrendously hard, especially when running; at least the fire would have killed any risk of the uninfected among them catching Cordyceps. The thick air was hot and heavy in her lungs, and she struggled to keep pace with the fitter, older people as they ran towards the massive beast. She wished she'd had a gas mask.
She came to a halt behind Adam barely a second after he stopped. She saw the beast rearing at the pain the peppering assault rifles were causing him, but continue to limp forward, towards her friends.
"Adam, we have to do something!" She shouted desperately at the Scotsman as she watched Blufor combat-roll sideways, barely escaping a hair's-breadth away from the Titan's swipe.
She watched as Adam moved forward, priming the flamethrower in his arms.
"Joel!" She heard him holler.
"What?" Came the response.
"Let's make it hot!"
Apparently Joel understood Adam's meaning. As she watched the Scotsman surge forward, she saw Joel leap down from the stairway, and land directly in front of the beast.
She almost melted at the sheer heat of the two infernos blazing at once, as both flamethrowers fired, and caked the beast in flames. She imagined Joel and Adam would be relatively well-insulated from the heat in their thick armour, but she could feel every degree of it, even from this far away.
She heard a small click, and saw Adam's flamethrower burst, the metal tubing giving way and sending small rivulets of flame spiralling over the Watcher's body. She thought it was a miracle it didn't backfire completely, and that Adam managed to avoid the tank actually exploding. She saw him drop to the ground and rushed to help him as he padded his jacket furiously with his hands, dousing the flames. She and Olivia lifted the Watcher onto his feet with a grunt as he hollered to the others.
"Dammit, I'm out!"
That didn't phase Joel, she saw. She watched as he moved forward slowly, holding the trigger of the improvised weapon, driving the beast back down to the floor whenever it tried to stand back up. She saw it had caught fire in many places, and a decent amount of its mutated flesh was melting, dripping onto the floor in wet, hot clumps. She could just make out the red-ring of Martydom through the flames, carved into the beast's back.
She heard it screech and shriek, and watched Joel move forward further, scowling, until he was mere meters away from the beast.
Eventually, it gave up its fight against the flames, and collapsed lifelessly to the floor as a big hunk of charcoal. She saw Joel rip the emptied gas canister out of the bottom of the flamethrower, and throw it down a corridor behind him.
"I'm out, too." She heard him speak, and watched him kick the mammoth infected's corpse.
"We're not out of the drink yet!" She listened to Blufor shout, grappling with her rifle as she wound it around from her back, training it on the stream of infected now piling in through the door. She fired, and allowed herself a little self-satisfaction as she downed three with one bullet which easily ripped through their weakened flesh.
"Push, out into the courtyard!" She heard Adam bellow.
"You heard the man!" Blufor responded. "Go go go!"
She moved up behind Adam and Olivia as they ranked up with the others, who were staggering their fire to drop as many infected as possible. What ones made it through were immediately downed by Ghost and his combat knife, and she saw Ryker still had hold of Rider in his arms.
She watched Adam claim a fire axe from the wall of the reception, and slice an infected open from shoulder to waist, its body falling to the ground in two, clean chunks. She saw him push towards the exit, the guns thrumming around him, and she followed closely, peeking behind his massive armoured body and picking off what infected she could with her .44. She got a head-shot on an old accountant, and a businessman in a grey suit, and sat an infected red-ring down with three body shots, the bullets tearing massive holes in his rotten tac-vest.
The Scotsman somehow managed to plough his way through the swarm of infected to the door of the prison, which she watched him exit quickly, and followed him straight through, the others in tow behind them. The sunlight stung her eyes, but she adapted quickly, and her vision returned. She saw the courtyard, almost full with infected, barrelling towards their position. For a moment, she questioned if she was going to die here.
In the distance, she saw another huge, hulking figure, trudging slowly towards the chain-link fencing. Just behind its position, she saw the SUV and the flatbed, their tickets to freedom, so far out of reach.
"Keep the rank together and keep your cool!" She heard Adam shout, seeing him claim Blufor's pistol as she watched the squad-mate drop runner after runner with the assault rifle she presumed he'd procured from one of the men she hadn't known. "Stagger the fire, and we'll make it out!"
"Push for the break in the fence!" This time, it was Amber she heard shout to the group. She saw her gesture, extending her arm to point to where the first Titan had bent and crushed the chain link under its hulking form. She glanced at Ghost as she reloaded, to see his face stern and focused, dropping targets easily with Adam's assault rifle. She moved with them, trying to keep herself calm, despite the inexplicable fear churning in her abdomen. She trusted them all, more than anyone else in the world.
She noticed Adam split off from the group, using his axe as a primary again, cleaving easily through the infected as they presented themselves. She watched him gradually move away from them, to where an electric generator stood rusted and abandoned. It wasn't the generator he was after, she saw; she watched him pick up a nearby gasoline tank, shake it, and then sprint back over to them, the large green oblong resting in his arms. She watched him run past her, to Joel, and claim the flamethrower from him. Then, he undid the cap of the can, and she observed him clip the nozzle into the bottom of the gun, screw it into makeshift the metal pipe, and light the small blowtorch at the end.
"That's gonna have a shit ton more punch than propane." She heard him say through the din of the infected as she watched him give the weapon back to Joel. "Be careful, and don't tilt it forward, or we're all gonna go up in flames!"
"Gotcha!"
She watched Joel move forward, towards the incoming sea of infected. She saw the flamethrower fire, and Joel rear backwards so the increased force didn't tear it from his grip. The flame it produced was harder to see, and almost blue, but was far, far hotter than the one she'd been exposed to inside the prison. She watched him drag the almost-transparent plume over the infected, left and right, their bodies immediately igniting and collapsing at his feet.
She saw another section of the chain-link collapse as the second Titan burst through and roared at them as it approached.
"See that?" She heard Adam shout to no-one in particular.
"I'm on it!" Came a reply. She turned to her left to see Ghost trample over and infected and begin barging his way through them, sprinting directly at the Titan.
She looked behind herself to check on Rider. She saw that Ryker wasn't in the spot he'd been in a few minutes ago, and she felt her bowels churn at the premise they had both been left behind. She didn't say or shout anything; she only swallowed hard, and gazed hurriedly around the courtyard, trying to pull the friendlies out of the sea of infected. After a few moments, she saw Ryker, up against the Humvee she'd sheltered behind earlier, wrestling with three clickers.
She saw he was no longer carrying Rider; had he dropped her?
"Adam, Adam!" She shouted. She saw the Scotsman's head veer sharply around, a scowl cast over his features. She gestured to Ryker and felt her hand raise to point, watching Adam's eyes follow the tip of her finger.
"Goddammit!" She heard him curse. "Come on!" He said to her.
She ran behind him as quickly as she could, and after bowling a stray Clicker onto the floor, she watched Adam vault over a moss-covered jersey barrier, and she followed in hot pursuit, grunting as she landed on the other side. Within seconds they were at the Humvee, and she got down on all fours as she heard Adam aiding Ryker against the Clickers.
She was massively relieved when she came face-to-face with Rider, who was on the floor, sitting up against the side of the rusted vehicle. She saw the elder girl was starting to stir, and tried her best to wake her up.
"Rider, Rider!" She shook the girl's face with her hands. "Rider, wake up!"
She saw the girl start, but struggle to keep her eyes open.
"Rider, come on! Rider, please! It's Ellie, you have to wake up!"
"Ellie..." She heard the elder girl speak quietly. Suddenly, she saw Rider sputter, and her grey-white eyes shoot open. "Ellie?" She heard her ask.
"Get up!" She replied to the girl.
"What the fuck is going-"
"Get up!" Adam shouted from her right, with Ryker standing beside him, a relieved look washed over his face. The haste in Adam's voice was evident to her. When Rider didn't get up, Adam helped her scoop the elder girl off of the ground and move back towards the rest of the group, with Ryker in tow. Once they'd returned, with Joel still showering nearby infected in super-heated flame, she glanced downrange to see Ghost solo, going up against the Titan.
She saw it thump both of its fists down just to the right of Ghost, creating a massive crater in the pavement as she watched the red-ring duck deftly out of the way. She saw him drag his knife along the beast's exposed forearms, sending infected blood spilling everywhere, seeping into the cracks its wallop had just chiseled in the asphalt. When the beast lifted itself and came around for a second strike, she saw Ghost drop prone to the floor, the massive, bloody fists sailing clean over him.
Was he bating the Titan?
She saw him stand back up nimbly, and tuck around the back of the behemoth, slashing away at the creature's back. The beast doubled around a lot faster than she'd expected, but she saw that Ghost was ready for anything, and saw the red-ring jump backwards, just far enough to avoid the beast's reach. It fell onto its front trying to grab at him, not knowing that it would never succeed.
She saw him sling the assault rifle down from his back, quickly aim at the beast's stationary head, and hold the trigger down for a solid five seconds. It was all over in a burst of crimson, and she saw him dart back to the group, past Joel, during a break in his flame-throwing. She felt slightly more secure as he ducked back between her and Adam.
"Not bad, for a bandit." She heard Adam comment idly.
"Thanks, big guy."
She decided her position between the Watcher and the Assassin was a good one for her own chances of longevity. She still held the semi-conscious Rider over her shoulder, where Adam had let go to do what he was best at; Rider was waking up, albeit slowly.
"There's more!" Joel shouted, forcing them to cast their eyes downrange, to the street, where even more infected were sprinting at them from. She saw no Titans, however.
"Shit, keep pushing!" She heard Amber yell from her right, her assault rifle tat-tatting close to Ellie's ears. She saw the building was receding away from them when she looked backwards; they were making ground, slowly but steadily. Even though the cars still seemed eons away from her, she was just glad they'd left the horrific prison behind.
She looked at her protector, cutting swathes through the infected with hot, white-blue flames. She thought he looked unnaturally majestic; she had no doubt realising that this was what Joel was meant to be used for. She felt a little sad at that thought.
She saw more infected pouring in from the street, and even more from residential back-alleys and driveways in the distance. She knew their gunfight had been loud, but how many infected could there be in this damn city?
"Adam!" She heard Joel shout from the front of the group, his resolve clearly thrown by the sheer mass of infected.
"Oh, shit." She saw Adam turning rapidly, observing the infected charging at them from all directions. "Shit, shit, shit!"
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Came Joel's ultimate query.
She glanced at the Watcher, and for the first time since she had met him, saw in his face that he was completely out of his depth.
Her heart sank when he didn't reply. She watched him just stand there, stock still, his eyes flicking around in their sockets and his mouth quivering slightly. She averted her gaze to the column of infected that were still unyielding in their assault, despite the fierce resistance and fight the others were giving... she thought that this might be her final resting place. A shitty prison in a shitty city somewhere far from home.
She pulled her head upwards at the sudden sound of a loud, accelerating engine, accompanied by the peppering of a distant automatic gun.
She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw a dozen infected just in front of her mowed down and flattened by an armoured black coupé, with a criss-cross of bullet holes smattering the bonnet and panel-work, pull in to the courtyard through the hole in the fence the Titan had made. She saw someone leaning out of the window with a light machine-gun, riddling any infected that were left standing by them with bullets as fresh reinforcements crashed into the other side of the vehicle.
"Is... is that my car?" She heard Adam mumble in disbelief from behind her.
She watched the coupé draw closer, and swing past them, power-sliding over infected before it came to a screeching halt a few meters away from their position.
"Run for the cars, you idiots!" She heard Rat shout at them from the window, as she watched the coupé accelerate again, swivel around, and flatten another five infected under its bumper-bar before coming to a halt further ahead, waiting for them.
She immediately broke into as fast of a sprint as she could while carrying Rider over her shoulder, but the elder girl soon caught on, and while dazed, she felt the load lighten slightly as she began to run as well. She could hear the loud, crashing footsteps of the group behind her, guessing by the sounds closest to her that Joel and Adam were at her heels. She could see countless moving silhouettes in her peripheral and hear their screeches and clicks; she blocked them out, only focussing on the cars in front of them, and the black coupé. Ellie hadn't seen who the driver was, and when she tried to look, she couldn't identify them, either.
She had reached the coupé again in mere seconds, and was almost caught up to Rat as he provided cover fire from the window, until the car accelerated again, claiming more road-kill, and came to a halt just before the chain-link fence's huge gate.
She ran as hard as she could, her heart thumping wildly inside her chest. She felt as if she was going to vomit, but she made that wait until she wasn't in a life-or-death situation. She wasn't going to die with a mouthful of puke, that was for sure.
She reached the coupé a third time, and to her surprise, saw that Rat still hadn't burned though the box of ammo clipped into the underside of the machine-gun. She saw him glance at her, nod, and then resume firing. The coupé revved, its rear wheels locking, and she saw Rat slip back inside the window, the machine gun disappearing last. She winced at an incredibly loud screech as the tires gave off a massive plume of smoke, and then unlocked, sending the car crashing through the both chain-link gates, the layers layers snapping free of their hinges and crashing down on top of the vehicle. She saw it pull out into the street and stop again, having cleared them a much easier path to the vehicles than having to try their luck with the two Titan-made holes.
She let go of Rider, who was now capable enough to run herself, and raised her Magnum again, picking off three infected with her last few bullets. She passed by the two dilapidated guard towers on either side of the gate, and burst out into the street, rapidly making up the ground between her and the coupé. She presumed the others were still following; she didn't have time to look back.
To her relief, the mystery coupé had cleared them a perfect path; she made the last ten meters to the flat-bed on her own, jumped into the back, and immediately manned the 50cal machine turret that sat on a stand, welded to the bed. She aimed at more infected piling up the street towards them from Smith & Western, and pulled the hand-triggers back. The jolt of the weapon shocked her, and initially its recoil massively overpowered her, until she managed to control it and bring the barrel back down. She didn't have the strength to fire the turret full-auto like the men did, but she noted her effectiveness with it when she fired in short bursts, and how easily the huge-calibre rounds tore through infected's torsos.
She noticed Rider hop into the bed next, then Ghost, then Olivia, and Ryker last. She saw Blufor run to the cabin, fling open the driver's door, and start the ignition. She heard the engine splutter into life, felt the flat-bed veer backwards and turn sharply, and saw a Clicker get ploughed underneath the tailgate right by her feet.
As they pulled off of the driveway, she saw Adam shut the driver's door of the SUV, with Joel and Amber hurriedly slamming the rear-doors shut as more infected threw themselves up against the side of the vehicle. She watched Blufor wait for the coupé and its tinted windows as it pulled off in front of them, and then felt him guide the truck out behind it, hearing the low and well-maintained thrum of Rat's SUV rolling behind them. They picked up speed quickly, and she dropped down from the turret, onto the bed of the truck, sitting against the wall next to Rider. She reveled in the relief of the wind on her face as they pulled away from the prison, and the ravenous infected shrunk into small black dots, before disappearing entirely.
They'd made it out, and she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Fun shit, huh?" She heard Olivia joke, slapping a frightened Ryker on the back.
She looked around at the occupants of the pick-up as they passed the Smith & Western, the low-end residential district surrounding the prison disappearing into nothingness, giving way to high-rises and skyscrapers.
There was Olivia, who while strong, had almost died; she saw she looked oddly excited and invigorated by the event, with a wide smile pressed across her face, the soot and ash from Adam's flamethrower caking her features a shade of grey. There was Rider, which when they made eye contact, simply smiled at her knowingly, her white-grey eyes grateful for Ellie having saved her, again. She looked at Ryker, still shivering and off-put by his brush with death, and then to Ghost, the last one in the back of the pick-up with her. She saw he was brooding, as per usual, his deep-blue eyes boring holes in the floor of the bed. He must've realised she was staring at him, as she saw him look up, and their eyes locked.
"You were brave, back there." She heard him say. "Dependable."
"So were you." She rebutted. "You took one of those fucking things down on your lonesome."
"I've had practice." Ghost replied, and she watched his eyes drift back towards the floor.
She didn't bother replying, aware of the fact he didn't want to continue the conversation, despite her curiosity burning holes in her brain. She held her tongue for a few minutes, maybe ten, or twenty, as the rest of the occupants seemed content with silence and the rushing of the wind. Upon their exit from the unusually uneventful CBD, she struck up conversation with the red-ring again, unsure what she was expecting him to say.
"Why did you kill Sal?" She heard herself ask.
She looked at him, and all she saw was him lift his head and look at her through his jet-black fringe.
"Well...?" She asked, less pointedly than before.
"Didn't you hear me say earlier?"
"Yeah, but-"
"That's it."
"That's it?"
"Yeah." She saw him drop his head again. "Sal, Chriss and Simon are sick, twisted people. As bad as Pyotr, if not worse." She heard him sigh. "It took you almost getting your face sliced off to tell me that. What does that make me?"
"A good man." She replied. She thought the words sounded stupid and fabricated as they exited her lips. "For being able to change."
She heard him chuckle.
"Yeah, I guess."
"What's Rat gonna say about you?" She listened to Ryker say from her right. "Didn't you nearly kill him once?"
"Yeah." Ghost admitted. "But business is business. He's a leader, he should get it."
"Ghost?" She asked, curious about one more thing.
She saw him turn his head back to her, refraining from speaking and letting his eyes inquire.
"Ghost isn't your real name, is it?"
"No." She heard him reply idly. "But the person I was before is long dead, so Ghost fits pretty well."
With that comment, she chose to resign herself to silence for the time being. She watched the mysterious red-ring cast his eyes back down to the floor, not looking up when Olivia questioned the group. She kept her head down at the inquiry, too.
"That black coupé." She listened to the bulky woman say. "I saw Rat hanging out the window, but who the hell was the driver?"
"I don't know." She replied, her eyes fixed on the floor. She had to admit, she thought she'd seen the car somewhere before... she had a hunch at the driver's identity, but wrote it off as just that.
"That's a shame." Olivia replied. "We owe them one. That sure wasn't looking good."
"Never seen that many infected in one place before." She heard Ryker comment, his voice still quivering slightly, even in the aftermath of the attack. "There must've been hundreds. Maybe more."
She glanced upwards to see the sun slowly lowering in the sky. It wasn't quite evening, yet, but she knew they'd spent the entire day in the horrid prison. She was just glad she had another chance to get some sleep. Over the lower buildings, and a bridge carrying a free-way, she could make out the tops of the hospital wards. The sight granted her some degree of comfort.
"How many men did we lose?" She heard Rider ask from opposite her, the elder girl now apparently awake enough to tune in to the conversation. Ellie spotted a large welt raising on her forehead; she must've hit her head on her fall into the prison station's interrogation room.
"Went in with twenty-two, came out with nine." She heard Olivia provide the grim figures. "Picked Amber and Ghost up inside, so minus two. We lost fifteen. There'll barely be anyone left at the hospital now, barring Jack and Martha."
"Shit." She heard herself swear. She knew this was only the beginning; the attack on the Nest was bound to be a move they made soon. How were they supposed to liberate a stronghold with nine people?
"I killed two of them." She heard Ghost say, noticing a pinch of melancholy in his tones. "I'm sorry if they were friends to you."
"They were." Ryker grumbled angrily.
"Andy!" She heard Olivia forcibly whisper to her partner. "Thanks, Ghost. It means a lot that you thought to apologise."
She noticed the red-ring huff, and then Ryker did the same.
She started to dwell solemnly on the losses as they swiveled around a corner, into the parking lot of the hospital, the familiar landmark of the crashed jet coming into view on her right. She thought she should feel relieved, but all she felt was growing tension at the prospect of the attack on the Nest, which was sure to be inevitable.
She glanced over the cabin of the truck, watching the black coupé trundle slowly towards the middle building, heading straight for Gate one. She remembered the relief she had felt when it had arrived in the courtyard and cleared them a path, saving her life for another day. If she was going to die, she decided that being shot would be preferable to being eaten alive.
The coupé stopped outside the corrugated iron garage door, and she saw Rat hop out of the side of the car. She watched him slide his gloved fingers underneath the bottom of the door, and yank it upwards with the strength of his back, straining as he brought it up just high enough for the coupé to drive through and Blufor to squeeze the flat-bed in afterwards. She roused herself, and clambered out of the back of the vehicle after Rider, with the others in tow, helping Rat raise the door high enough to allow Adam to fit the larger vehicle through. She let go of the door once the SUV had passed, allowing it to fall and clatter to the floor, its heavy structure sealing them off from the outside.
She turned, and walked back to the convoy with Rat, who walked past the other two vehicles, and leaned on the side of the coupé. She noticed everyone had gathered around him, gazing at him expectantly. She was the last to approach, alongside Adam, who moved up next to her.
"So?" She heard the Watcher ask Rat, seeing Blufor and the others all gazing expectantly at the leader.
"So what?" He replied.
"Who's the driver?"
Rat didn't reply; she noticed him tap three times on the passenger-side window, a large grin splayed across his thin face.
She heard the driver's side door click open, and saw a tall, black-haired woman step out, turn, and grin at them. She hadn't seen her for quite a while.
"Hello, boys." Evelynn spoke, her perfect white teeth grinning happily.
She immediately grinned back at the woman, unable to tame the happiness rising inside of her. Evelynn was okay, after all. What Blufor and Adam had seen as they drove towards the city couldn't have been the cabin burning down. She glanced up at Adam, expecting to see him elated. Instead, all she saw on his face was a look of perplexity.
"What?" She heard Evelynn speak to the Watcher, a sly grin on her face. She saw her flick her long, black hair out of her eyes, showing them to be cool, and blue, just as Ellie remembered. "Don't you recognise me, Gunnery Sergeant?" She thought Evelynn looked surprisingly good, given her state when they'd left her behind.
She saw Adam process the information for a moment, still seemingly in disbelief at the figure standing before him. In a split second, she saw him grin wildly, and she moved backwards to avoid him sprinting past, sliding over the bonnet of his coupe, reaching the woman and holding her in a tight embrace. She watched them kiss on the mouth, and felt oddly happy that Adam had something to live for again. She watched them draw slowly back from the kiss, and saw Adam shudder with relief and happiness.
"You wouldn't believe how much I've missed being able to do that." She heard him say warmly to the scientist.
"You flirt." Evelynn replied, playfully pushing the Watcher off of her.
She couldn't help but let out a small giggle, as she noticed everyone else standing around, awkwardly outside the romance.
"You lovebirds finished?" She heard Rat slur dryly. "We've got an attack to plan."
"After we check everyone's okay." She heard Olivia counter. "How're you doing, Rat?"
She watched Rat raise his arms to his sides, sarcastically showing himself off.
"I'm great. Bit tired, though. You get that way when you have four hundred infected chasing you down a street. If Evelynn hadn't come along, I'd be Sunday lunch a dozen times over."
She saw Adam move towards Evelynn, and slide their hands together lovingly.
"How did you know where to find us?" She listened to him ask the woman.
"I didn't." She saw the scientist turn, and grin at her lover. "I found a truck in a garage in some house that was nearby the lodge. I took it apart, and replaced what I needed to in your car. The oil and water tanks, really." She watched the scientist slap the bonnet. "Sorry, though. I couldn't get the bullet-holes out."
"That's fine. Makes it look cooler." Came Adam's reply. "How did you manage all this? Your calf was practically snapped in two. It hasn't even been a fortnight, yet."
She had noticed that when Evelynn had been released from Adam's bear-hug, she winced slightly as the pressure was put back on her wounded leg.
"Trust me, it was definitely in two pieces." The scientist replied. "Complete splitting of the fibia and tibula. I couldn't move it at all."
"How did you recover so quickly?" She heard Joel ask from her left, presumably as intrigued by Evelynn's surprise recovery as she was.
"That's a story for a select few." She heard Evelynn counter. She guessed the scientist was hiding her, Adam and Joel's infection from the rest of the group. "Let's just say that my theory about accelerated healing has proven itself correct. I could put pressure on it viably around four days ago, and worked from there."
"How did you know to come here?"
"I caught a lead on a red-ring patrol outside the Nest." She heard her say, watching her sit her slender body on the edge of the bonnet of the coupé. She saw her turn to Adam. "You left your sniper rifle behind. Turns out all I needed to frighten them was a big damn gun. They said they'd recently dispatched their best squad here, and I arrived this morning on a hunch. Then, once here, it was just a case of listening for the loudest noise. I was in a park just outside of the CBD when I heard gunfire. I came as fast as I could."
"Not a moment to soon." She saw Rat move forward, place his hand on Evelynn's shoulder in thanks, and then move off, towards the metal door leading back to the ward, with Olivia and Ryker in tow. She saw Ghost follow them, walking completely silently, the assault rifle he carried now slung over his shoulder.
She moved up to Evelynn, coming to stand just in front of the woman and the Watcher. She didn't notice Rider had followed her, until Evelynn's gaze fell on the elder girl, and then back to her.
"Hey, tyke." She heard Evelynn speak to her happily. "You do the women proud while I was away?"
"She sure did." Adam replied for her, and she felt one of his big hands ruffle her hair. For the majority of the time, she hated being treated like a kid, but she made allowances for a few individuals in her life.
"And, who's this?" She listened to Evelynn inquire, glancing back up to Rider.
"Name's Rider." The elder girl said, extending her hand out to Evelynn, who took it, smiling warmly.
"Good to meet you." She heard the scientist reply. "I'm Evelynn. You keep her safe, you hear?"
"Yes ma'am."
Then, she heard Blufor pipe up from the rear, Amber standing next to him and beaming through her white-blond bob.
"You'd said you'd scored at last, Gunny, but I never expected her to be that beautiful."
"If I had to guess," She listened to Evelynn start sarcastically, "I'd say the blonde woman is Amber White, but... who is he?" She watched the scientist melodramatically place her finger on her lip, concentrating.
"Oh, come on, you must've heard of me."
"Well," The scientist said. "Adam did mention one overly-modest squad-mate from time to time."
She watched Blufor grin pleasantly.
"And his name was...?" The squad-mate humorously prompted.
"Blufor?"
"Bingo!"
"Adam said you were dead."
"I was. Well, hypothetically. Being dead is actually kinda cool."
She watched Evelynn and Adam move towards Amber and Blufor, chat idly for a few moments, and then saw the scientist embrace them both separately. She admitted to herself that she did think the 'family meet-and-greet' was a little twee given the context of the infected-filled world, but the sight of genuine affection warmed her somewhat.
Moving back to Joel, she watched Blufor and Amber disappear back towards the metal door, while Evelynn and Adam made their way back to Adam's coupé. Once there, she saw Evelynn gesture for them to come around to the trunk. She watched Evelynn open it, and looked gleefully over a pile of their old guns, some spare food wrapped in tin-foil, and a large, brown satchel. She saw the scientist open the satchel and draw out a machine-gun ammo belt that she presumably pinched from Adam's M240B, which was lying without its box just to her left. The scientist unwound the long fabric, revealing syringes sitting where the bullets should be, filled with a light-blue serum. Evelynn's inhibitor.
"You two look like shit." She heard the scientist remark to Adam and Joel. "Luckily, I've got just the thing to fix that." She watched her stow the fabric back into the satchel, and bring it out of the trunk with her.
"So, there are drugs?" She heard Rider ask from behind her, hearing wary tones in the older teen's voice. Ellie had forgotten that she was still there.
"Please, they are a lot more complicated than 'drugs'." Evelynn countered. She saw the scientist turn to Rider, apparently motioning to tell her the truth. "Long story, or short story?" She listened to her ask.
"Short story." She heard Rider reply warily, apparently uncertain of what she was being asked.
"I'm a scientist." She heard Evelynn start. "I played around with trying to find a cure for the infection. The powers that be, it seems, didn't like me, so I got infected during an experiment. I didn't know for a while." She watched Evelynn point at Adam. "Him and I are together. I unknowingly gave it to him. When I found out, I made this." The scientist plucked one of the syringes out into the open and held it up for examination. She watched her move her finger over to rest on Joel. "He got hurt. He and Adam have the same blood type. The transfusion was successful, but he's infected too. Now we dose ourselves up with this daily, and we can delay turning until I find a cure."
"How long for?"
"Oh, about five years. Give or take."
"Give or take?"
"Yeah. Scientific predictions are always iffy." She watched the scientist move forward, and place her hand gently on Rider's shoulder. "Be a good girl and don't let the others know, okay?"
"I, uh... okay." She could see by the look on Rider's face that she was perplexed by the sudden influx of science.
She was just about to make a joke at Rider's expense when she heard Adam's radio burst into life, and Blufor, Amber, Evelynn and Joel took position next to her, Rider and Adam.
"You there, lovebird?"
She heard the Watcher sigh audibly.
"Too loud and too clear, Rat. What is it?"
"Smartass. Ops room, stat. Ghost may be a crazy fucker, but he knows how to get into that Nest."
"Duty calls." She heard Adam reply satirically, and followed him and Evelynn as they made their way to the big, metal doorway. She reached it third, behind the two 'lovebirds' as Rat had immediately taken to dubbing them, and followed them through, feeling Joel's protective presence behind her. She didn't know whether he'd still be disapproving of Evelynn and her practices, but she wasn't overly eager to find out.
They walked swiftly, and barring Evelynn commenting on how lovely she thought the base was, they reached the Ops room and barged through the door in under a minute. She moved to the side, and sat on a chair, with Joel taking up residence in one just next to her. She felt him strain as he sat down... age and heavy armour were a bad combination, it seemed. Still, she could practically feel the natural strength that continued to emanate from him.
She glanced up to the planning table. She saw Ghost leaning over a map of the Nest she presumed he'd had, with Amber and Blufor standing next to him, pointing to various landmarks. She saw Rat to the side, obviously stressed, swirling and occasionally sipping a glass of scotch that was far too big to be healthy.
"Do we have something yet?" She heard him ask impatiently.
"We do," Amber admitted, "but it isn't going to be easy."
"I hate easy." She heard Adam speak, watching him move towards the table. "What've you got?"
"Ghost?" She listened to Amber prompt the assassin.
"The Nest has two main gates, both of which are heavily guarded."
"We found that out the hard way." Joel cynically commented under his breath to her side. She huffed in response to his statement.
"Which means, with ten men, they aren't a viable option for attack."
"What do you suggest?"
"An espionage attempt. Get a squad in, probably as prisoners, and have them rendezvous with the other squad inside. We eliminate the guard from there."
She saw Adam stand, and listened to him pipe up.
"Do you have radio connection with the Nest?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did you hear about a traitor named 'Sticks' a few days back?"
"Yeah, I did." She saw Ghost take a moment to realise what Adam was alluding to. "That was you?"
"Yeah. Ellie, Joel and Blufor were with me as well. I'm definitely not going to be able to pull Sticks again, and they'll be shot on sight if they're seen."
She watched Ghost lean into the table further, resting his chin on his right arm.
"You won't have to play your ruse again. I can still get in." She saw the assassin grin coolly. She felt slightly unnerved at the unnatural display of emotion. "They still think I'm with them."
"How can we be sure you ain't?" She heard Joel ask from her left. She had to admit, the question was poignant, and topical.
"You just can. I'm never taking orders from them again." She watched his eyes dart up to look at Adam. "I'm one of the Watcher's men, now."
The Watcher nodded, and smiled in acceptance.
"Still don't help us with the nest, though." Joel commented.
"I've got that covered." She heard Ghost continue. "I can lead the ones who aren't famous in through a gate, take them to the prison, dispose of the guards, and let them out again. The rest of you will have to come in the back way."
She shuddered as she realised what 'the back way' was.
"The pump-station?"
"The pump-station. Amber definitely needs to go that way, she's infamous, and a high value target. That leaves Adam, Joel, Blufor and Ellie in the first squad. Take your guns with you. With me will be Rider, Ryker, Olivia and Rat. We'll stop by at the armoury on our way through."
"And then?"
"Stealth is the objective. We start at nightfall. If we can take the guards down silently, and dispose of Simon equally, the operation should be a cinch. If not, Amber and Blufor have a contingency."
She watched Blufor stand from his lean on the table, and listened to him address the rag-tag group. She was a little surprised when he spoke directly to her.
"Remember the warehouse where the LAV was supposed to be?" She heard him ask.
"Yeah?"
"There's something a little more fun in the next warehouse over. Ghost said that the red-rings finished fixing it for us."
She felt her eyes lit up at the awesome premise of the vehicle that was being offered.
"You don't mean...?"
"Yes." She saw the grin spread across his friendly, uncle-like face. "The Little Bird."