Harsh Land Part 2
"Ghosts!"
The whole room jumped as John sprang out of his bed. He had awoken in a cold sweat, dreaming of Green Hills, the Harrows and flames engulfing Kudos. And all the time, the image of the three figures burned themselves into his imagination. He still couldn't get them out of his head. He needed to find them. He promised himself there in and then, he would kill them, if it was the last thing he ever did. Everyone in the room was staring at him. One of the Harrow doctors rose from his chair and approached John. Moonlight was conversing with another woman, both of them wearing very little. Jake Goody was another enforcer working for the harrow. He was sat idly in his chair, stroking his assault rifle like it was a new born child. His caresses sickened Kane, but when it came to a fire fight, Goody was supposed to be the best in the business, he was supposed to have Brotherhood training, but he never mentioned it. And nobody had the courage to ask him. John seemed to be in good company. That was, until he saw the last member of the party in the room. Andrews was staring at him with those strange eyes that emptied Kane's soul.
"We were sent by Fred, this woman says you freaked out. And now you are screaming in your sleep."
"Yeah, it's been a rough day."
"Whatever dude, we going with you from now on."
"I actually came to see Moon."
"It's Moonlight."
"Yeah sure whatever."
"Humph"
"Can we talk outside for a minute?"
"Hey dude! Fred said not to let you out of my sight, and he is the boss man."
"Okay calm down Jake, I'll only be a few minutes."
John got up from the bed and pushed past the doctor, who wanted to check his pulse.
"Fuck off."
He opened the door and waited for Moonlight to go through. He followed soon after, shutting the door behind him.
"I need help."
"No shit, that's why I called the doctor." Her accent had a slight tinge to it, and she dropped her A's quite heavily. It was as if she was slurring. The sort of accent that makes beer can sound like bacon.
"Not for my head. Yet. I need a guide for the mountains to the North. You know anything about that."
"I came through their on my pilgrimage."
"Pilgrimage? It doesn't matter. Can you take me up there? I need to find some people up there."
"What type of people?"
"I don't know, I will know when I find them though."
"Nice to know you have a plan. Okay, sure, I will help you, I'll just get my stuff from the room."
"No, you can't go back in there. I don't trust those guys."
"Aren't you both on the same team?"
"I'm not sure anymore. But we need to go."
"Okay, I erm… I need to get my rucksack. Its in my room, I will be quick. Meet me downstairs."
"Sure, I'll meet you down there."
John quietly slipped down the stairs, whilst Moonlight went up another floor to her room. He waited for a few seconds in the lobby, and then he saw her downstairs. He could see through the gaps in the roof that it was night; they may be able to slip away without being seen. However, he would quickly be missed by the group upstairs; he would have to be fast.
"Come on, stay close to me."
He crept through the door and felt her hand touch his as they slipped into the night. They had gone down two streets before he heard the shouts by the group in the building. He burst into a run and came across a smoking husk of a building, as if it had been burnt out a few hours ago. He could still smell the smoke in the air. He continued to run before he was suddenly blasted off his feet by a huge explosion.
He recovered quickly, in time to see the tell-tale mushroom cloud explosion of a massive bomb going off. People started to scream all around him, and the street erupted in people. Some of them were gangs trying to consolidate territory, there was a Harrow Enforcer trying to get to grips with the situation, however most of the people were prostitutes and drug abusers, the majority of people who inhabited Kudos. He got to feet and reached for his p90. He swore again to himself as he realised he had left all of his weapons in his room, and he wasn't even wearing Harrow colours. He grabbed hold of Moonlight and pulled her to her feet. They began to run down another street before they saw a group of people walking down it, all armed with assault rifles in front of them.
"The Future is now. All who stand in their way must be destroyed."
The group opened fire on them, and John immediately knew they were dead.
"Ahkmed Jahmniri. Hurtryliboon."
Moonlight was standing over Kane, who had fallen on the floor, clutching some type of crystal. It was glowing a sickly green colour. The bullets had stopped in mid-air mere metres from Kane and Moonlight. Somehow she had managed to stop the bullets dead.
"Alexa Crysis!"
The bullets spewed back at the very men that had fired upon them. They had no time to react before the bullets slammed into their chests. Moonlight collapsed onto one knee and clutched her chest. She looked blankly at Kane and then collapsed on the floor. One of the bullets had gotten through before she had managed to get her shield up. It hit her straight in the chest and she was bleeding out too quickly for John to stop. There would be time to grieve later, for now he had to get out of there. He ran towards the group of collapsed men and grabbed one of their rifles and got some clips and tucked them into his trousers. He unloaded the breach and blew down, to clear it out. Then he reloaded and walked down the street. People were running all over the place and scattering into each other. More groups of men were walking down the street, non-discriminately killing everything in their path. He dropped to one knee and waited till the whole group was in line with the opening in the street were Kane was kneeling. He let fly 10 shots, on semi-automatic. The group fell; they had been shot too fast to react. He walked out into the street. A woman began to run toward him. He almost put a round into her, before he realised she was just terrified. He looked closer at her, and he realised it was the blonde woman from William Jones complex. He grabbed hold of her and she collapsed into his arms.
"Please, please help me; for God's sake they are killing everyone. They went right through Master Jones' place. His men couldn't do anything."
"Its okay, I will look after you. Come on; let's get the hell out of here."
"Not so fast Mr. Kane."
Kane spun to see Fredrick harrow advancing down the street, holding an M60 machine gun to his shoulder. Behind him, James Andrews stood menacingly.
"You have a duty to uphold to the Harrow family. We are going to get this town back, and you are going to help us. Now come along."
"Sorry sir, I need to get this girl out of here." John pulled the girl closer to himself. Andrews raised his pistol, a Browning High Power, and fired once. Kane flinched and turned to the girl. She had a small round hole in her forehead.
"Now you don't have to do anything. Except come with us." Andrews sniggered at Kane. John let the girl drop to the floor, and closed her eyelids over her eyes. He rose and began to walk towards the two characters in the middle of the street. John heard a big crack! Sound and Andrews fell onto one knee and turned. A Future revolutionary had a gun jam and was frantically trying to reload. Andrews put round after round into the man's body, long after he was dead. Andrews' shoulder was useless to him, he had taken a round to the shoulder and it hung limply at his side.
"We have work to do, come on."
The three men walked down the street, towards the Harrow headquarters, and where the main fighting was taking place.
"What happened to Goody?"
"Those Future bastards got him."
That was the limit of the conversation as they were entering very hostile territory. They crept along side streets. Frederick was just as stealthy as Kane, even though he was holding and M60. Andrews was scarily quiet, he didn't make any sound, even with his limp shoulder. He managed to move like a snake, constantly shifting his position to create the smallest target whilst all the time staying quiet.
"That's it. If we can retake that, then we can start taking back our town." Fred said, as if he were addressing troops.
"I can get in from the roof. I'll meet you in there." Andres skulked off into the shadows, leaving Kane alone with Frederick.
"Don't even think about it soldier. You are seeing this through. I could kill you in an instant."
Kane didn't even have to think. He had made the decision as soon as Andrews had left. This town was going to shit, and he was not going to die there. When Andrews was out of earshot, John launched himself onto Fred. His hands first grabbed for the weapon, then it turned into a spin as he saw Frederick grabbing for his gun. His arm twisted and his elbow crashed into Fredericks face. He fell, but managed to throw Kane over his shoulder by pressing his knee into Kane's stomach and launching him over. Kane hurtled into the wall and sprang up onto his feet. Fred wasn't quite fast enough. John reached for his rifle, but realised to let of a shot would give his position away would be suicide. He again launched for Frederick and struck the side of his face with a glancing fist to his cheek. Fred took the blow and spun, placing both of his hands into a clenched fist into Kane's back. The force took its toll and Kane collapsed onto the group, temporarily paralysed by the blow to his spine. He writhed in agony on the floor as Frederick rose of the ground. He wiped blood from his mouth and picked a stone up from the floor. He brought it above his head, ready to bring down on Kane's head, when two holes appeared in his chest. John managed to turn to face a man holding a rifle in his hands. He had just double tapped Frederick, who was bleeding to death on the floor. He picked up Kane and put him onto his shoulder.
"Mr. Kane is that offer of work still open." John opened his eyes and looked at Chris' harsh, scarred face. He started to laugh to himself, he couldn't believe his luck.
"Get me the fuck out of here Avellone."
The man started to walk towards the edge of the city, with Kane scrambling onto his shoulder. There was sporadic gunfire, but Chris was using the backstreets, and he was able to stay out of trouble. Only once did he encounter any other signs of life, and that was when a family dressed in rags tried to carry their whole positions onto their back. They turned to face Chris, knowing their fate straight away, they understood that they were about to die. After a few seconds, their terror turned into confusion as they realised they were still alive. Chris swayed his head from side to side, and the family ran off down another backstreet.
After that, it took only a few minutes for them to reach the outskirts of the city. Kane turned and rested on the floor, whilst Avellone looked round for a place to camp.
The town was burning; the streets were awash with cleansing flame. Kane thought that it was probably a good thing. Corruption had been rife there. Perhaps it was time for the place to start anew. There were other settlements in the wasteland, and he was good with a gun, work wouldn't be hard to find. He wished Kudos the best of luck, which he knew it would need, and then called for Chris to help him to his feet, he wouldn't be too bad a companion either.