Oh man that was amazing. The guys and I had an all-round brilliant time. And to celebrate a fantastic holiday and a safe return; here's the next chapter for you all, plus a little log detailing a new foe.
-X-
The Pelanoi Accounts
Chapter Four: The Charnel House
The Survivors
The dead woman's skull caved, and a morbid painting blossomed underneath the creature's head. Sydney cringed, taking a staggered step away from the kill. The specks of dried blood that matted her black hoodie and her dirty blonde hair spoke that it was far from the first creature she had to put down. She hated this. Hated it with every fibre of her being.
She was a whirlwind of emotions, and she was sure the others weren't much better, though others certainly seemed better at concealing it. Ellen was an icicle given human form, and Sydney reckoned if she lost the cold glower she wore like a glove she'd seem like a halfway decent woman. Kit seemed nice – if a little unwilling to talk – and he'd watched out for her when they had met in the city. Tiffany too seemed perfectly likeable and seemed to have taken up the mantle of 'leader' which, honestly, suited Sydney just fine. She'd also noticed the glances she and Kit had been trading – well if they decided to act on anything Sydney wished them both the best of luck… though she had doubts about whether or not a relationship during a localised apocalypse was really the wisest idea, particularly seeing how one of the parties appeared to make the decisions.
Randolf was a more mixed bag and Sydney really wasn't entirely comfortable around him. Fortunately Cassidy seemed to have taken up the role of guardian and was rarely far away, which she was thankful for, especially in the present situation. She liked the look of Sema, who appeared nervous and wary of the current situation and probably the most human of the group. Leah seemed a little stuck up and self-absorbed for her liking, but supposed that as long as she focused on surviving with the rest of them she could deal. Ethan… now he was pretty messed up. She didn't know what had happened to make him start imagining his best friend was in his head and she severely doubted that she wanted to know. He seemed grouchy and crabby on the best of circumstances and outright rude at the worst.
She craned her head and found the recent addition, chambering a few shells into her shotgun. She wasn't sure what to think of Marissa. She seemed a decent shot but otherwise she was an unknown factor. Her first reaction was to distrust her, but then she realised that she'd known everyone else for less than a day and already she trusted three at least with her life. She told herself she was being irrational. Trust would come. Marissa would be fine, she told herself.
A hand thrust through an open car window and Sydney shrieked in surprise, backing away suddenly, losing her balance and falling to the floor. Another of the dead reached for her, snarling and grabbing. A kukri severed the limb at the elbow.
'You okay?' Sema asked, evidently trying her best not to look at the limb steadily bleeding on the ground.
'Yeah… yeah I think s– ow!' she started as a sharp sting pricked her hand. Raising it to her face she saw that it was cut. Broken glass littered the road where her hand had fallen.
Sema was on it in an instant. Her nervousness, timidity and rabbit-in-the-headlights attitude vanished, replaced by someone who clearly knew what she was doing.
'Hold that up and stay still,' Sydney obeyed, frozen by the sudden authority Sema's voice wielded.
The Turkish woman took a gentle hold of her hand and checked the injury.
'Doesn't seem like there's any dirt in the wound…' she murmured before glancing at the shards of glass on the road, picking up a bloody piece of broken glass.
'Looks clean…' Sema said to herself. She glanced at Sydney's hand, then the glass again and frowned.
'Probably better safe than sorry. Keep that hand raised, I'm going to give you something for that cut.' She reached into a pack and retrieved what seemed like a small bag of herbs. Sydney gave her a questioning look.
'Oh don't give me that,' Sema said pointedly, rolling her eyes, 'they're herbs used for medicine. Load of them around Raccoon City that worked like magic... well until the whole place got bombed to dust that is,' she snorted as she drew the herb from the packet before crushing it and mixing it into paste with some water as best she could.
'Fortunately some bright spark took some out of the area. Not quite as plentiful as they were in Racoon so I'm told but you can still find the odd herb here and there… you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've been pulled in by the Police for possession of these wonderful plants. Oh well…' she trailed off as she applied the paste to Sydney's cut.
'And… there! All good. Now don't soak it for at least an hour or you'll wash it all away and I'll have to do it all over again, and I don't have a whole lot of these things.' Sydney nodded in acquiescence.
'You sure know a lot about this stuff,' Sydney said as she admired Sema's handiwork.
'I'm a nurse. Been into medicine since I was a little kid,' she explained, then stopped as she realised that Randolf was giving her a funny look.
'What?' she asked, not a little irritated by his attention. Randolf held his hands up in a placating gesture, backing away before turning to see if anyone else needed help. He glanced back at Sema before strolling further down the highway to find the others – or the other women. Sema sighed.
'Sometimes I wonder why we keep him around…' she muttered.
'Safety in numbers?' Sydney offered. Sema gave her a patronising smile and shook her head before getting up and heading off after the others. Sydney scampered after her, catching up quickly.
The group made headway through the highway. Pausing occasionally in order to hunker down out of sight of large groups of undead that shambled through the area. Kit and Ellen took point; the latter being almost incorporeal in her reconnaissance much to Kit's muted chagrin.
Eventually Ellen doubled back with Kit in tow, notifying the group that the airport was in sight, and there didn't seem to be much activity around it. Encouraged, the assorted survivors made all possible haste towards the comforting entrance of the airport, entering through the south terminal.
-X-
'I'm not hearing any planes taking off,' Ellen murmured.
'Maybe they're waiting for more survivors?' Sydney offered, though it was clear even she didn't entirely believe her own words. No one gave her an answer.
The entrance to the main terminal was blockaded by dozens, hundreds of bags and other assorted luggage of all different colours. It made for quite a spectacle, but otherwise impeded their progress towards safety.
'Well, keep a careful footing and we should be able to climb over this,' Tiffany said as she observed the barricade. It seemed to have been put together in a hurry; hand and footholds were everywhere. She supposed that the shambling undead lacked the motor skills to climb so it was probably secure on the other side. They sent everyone over one by one until they were all inside the main terminal. The place was a splatterhouse; blood coated almost every surface in the terminal and a few ghastly severed limbs could be seen amidst the carnage.
'I don't think we're getting an evac here…' Ethan said dryly, 'Marcus says this place reeks of trouble and I believe him. We say that we get out. Now.' He added.
'I think I actually agree with the crazy person,' Ellen said, warily observing the post-security shops and restaurants. An eerie calm had settled over the place and she didn't like it one bit.
Tiffany was about to make a decision when a loud roar echoed from behind the barricade of luggage. Seconds later the barricade exploded; bags and suitcases flew in all directions as something big tore through the barrier like it wasn't even there.
The creature was blood-crimson, standing well over three metres tall. A lean, aquiline head crowned its massive barrel chest, a maw; filled with dagger sharp teeth like a lamprey's drooled as if it were starving for a meal. Two beady, dark, dumb eyes took position on opposite sides of its head. It arms were thick as tree trunks and its sandpapery hands ended in wicked, curved claws. A scale-less tail – almost like that of a shark's – extended roughly more than a metre behind the creature, and two spines protruding from behind the 'fins' perched on the edge of the limb quivered strangely.
The monster paused for a moment, taking in its surroundings before its head rested in the survivors' direction. It froze.
'Any plan you guys have you better share it now,' Randolf said, an edge of rising panic to his voice, 'preferably one that doesn't involve trying to slap that thing with a boat paddle.'
As if Randolf's words threw a switch in the creature, it bellowed and charged, covering several metres in as many seconds.
'Run like hell!' Tiffany shouted, turning on her heel and pelting through the terminal. The rest followed in short order, pumping their legs as fast as they could as the monster behind barrelled after them, eager for their blood.
They dived through a corridor leading to one of the terminal gates; the monster however, was gaining ground. Pivoting on her foot suddenly, Tiffany spun and unloaded four bullets into the monster, and with the size of it she could hardly miss. Blood streamed from four neat holes but the creature continued its charge, ignoring the wounds entirely. Tiffany cursed under her breath and resumed her sprint.
An all too familiar groan echoed up ahead and the survivors ground to a halt.
'Oh you are fucking kidding me,' Leah swore in between breaths.
'I guess now we know why the place was quiet,' Ellen muttered darkly.
A swarm of the dead lay inside the gates, blood, bullet holes and wounds on some of the creatures told the group that some sort of last stand had evidently been made in this gate. All for naught it seemed as the dead appeared to number in the hundreds. Meanwhile the monster drew ever closer, its poundings footsteps getting uncomfortably louder and its slavering breath drawing in pitch.
'Back the other way, fast!' Tiffany ordered.
'Are you crazy?! That thing's right on our heels!' Leah yelled, panic beginning to set in.
'We'll split into two groups and both will dive down its left and right sides. If it's as smart as I think it is that should confuse it and let us slip past.'
'What if you're wrong?' Ellen asked pointedly, fingering the trigger of her revolver.
'Then it was nice knowing you,' Tiffany replied dryly, 'now form up! We've gotten this far and I'll be damned if I let it end here like this!'
The monster drew closer; Tiffany locked eyes with it for an instant. Its eyes were darker than the abyss, but she saw nothing she interpreted as intellect.
'He who fights monsters…' she mused to herself as she glanced at the undead to her rear. They had nothing to fear from them, being slow and dim creatures. A simple jog would be enough to outpace them.
The creature was barely ten metres away from them now. It drew a thick arm up, prepared to bring it crashing down on its luckless victims.
'Go!' Tiffany bellowed at the top of her voice. The two groups dashed forwards.
The monster stalled, its hand wavered, its eyes darted between the two groups, its pea-sized brain going into overdrive trying to process what was happening in front of it. Tiffany felt a surge of vindication and triumph as she saw Randolf, Marissa, Sydney and Cassidy slip past the beast. She had been right and her tactic had worked! But they weren't out of the woods yet. They'd made it past the monster but as soon as they bunched up it would attack again.
A bellowing roar behind them, followed by a series of sickening crunches and ripping noises made her turn her head. Her eyes widened in disbelief; the monster was laying into the undead. Ripping and tearing their rotting bodies apart with rapid swings of its brutal claws. It picked one of the dead up and tossed it into its gaping maw, its razor teeth shredding meat and bone and in mere seconds the monster had swallowed the dead person.
Tiffany resisted the urge to throw up. Leah and Sema didn't. Even Ellen looked more than a little queasy at the sight.
'Come on. While it's distracted,' Tiffany urged, motioning for everyone to follow her.
Leaving the carnage behind, the group delved deeper into the airport in hopes of finding a way off the island, or – failing that – a safer means of exiting.
-X-
'How big is this place?' Leah wondered aloud as they trudged through another terminal.
'Four terminals plus runway and a lot of lounges,' Ellen stated. Everyone looked at her.
'I landed here for my vacation.' She said as if that explained everything.
'It doesn't matter, let's find an aircraft and take off out of this place before that thing decides it's done playing with dead things,' Ethan interjected, sounding even more grouchy than usual.
No sooner had he finished speaking when an uncomfortably familiar roar echoed throughout the terminal, followed by a screech of tortured metal.
'Too late,' Ellen thought aloud, her voice as dark as her mood.
'We need to find cover. Everybody continue through the terminal, we'll find an exit onto the runway and see if we can find a vehicle!' Once more Tiffany led the group, her handgun primed, though she likely didn't have many bullets left in the weapon.
They rounded a corner, cutting past a fast food restaurant, movement attracted the attention of those bringing up the rear but the survivors in front couldn't react fast enough. A member of the undead stumbled out of the restaurant, reaching for Tiffany, latching onto her arm with its own and pushing her to the ground. It snarled and snapped; its grip like iron and Tiffany found herself unable to bring her weapon to bear without giving the dead man an opening to her throat. Further compounding matters was the appearance of yet more of the dead, shambling out from within the eatery.
One of the dead reached for Ellen, who sidestepped out of its clumsy path and swept the undead's legs out from under it before burying her knife in the back of its cranium. Kit barrelled past his opponent, knife in one hand, crowbar in the other. Stabbing the knife into the shoulder of the zombie, he forced it to its knees before bringing the crowbar crashing down onto its head, ending the threat permanently. He slid the knife out of the undead's shoulder, then ran for Tiffany, who was being approached by three more of the dead.
Several gunshots rang out behind him as he ran for the young Marine Captain; the closest of the dead leaned forward to take a bite out of her arm, and with the dead man still grabbing and biting there was precious little she could do to prevent it. Kit vaulted over a crawling undead and tackled the first undead to the ground, slamming a knife into an eye socket before leaping to his feet to face the others, one of whom had turned to shamble after him. He easily avoided its clumsy grab and hooked the curve of his crowbar around a leg, yanking it backwards and tripping the creature. A two-handed blow silenced the undead and he turned to the beleaguered Tiffany who was now desperately trying to fend off two of the undead.
Rushing over, he pulled one off before delivering a vicious back-handed blow with his weapon, breaking its jaw and staggering the undead. Meanwhile Tiffany – whose arm was now free – raised her handgun to the creature attempting to chew through her boot. A squeeze of the trigger and her boot's attacker was no longer an issue. Resighting, she put the sight to the staggering undead that Kit had attacked and squeezed again. Half the creature's skull disappeared in a puff of blood and the monster dropped.
The engagement had taken less than a minute, and a little more than a dozen of the dead had been fought off. Cassidy held Sydney at her side, her own firearm smoking; two still corpses lay in front of the pair. Randolf, Ethan, Sema and Leah stood before four more bodies, one violently battered, another dismembered, a third decapitated and the fourth possessing a gaping hole in its head. Marissa was chambering more shells for her weapon, three shredded corpses pooled out in front of her. Kit observed her reloading, wondering exactly where she kept all her ammunition, then shook his head, deciding it didn't matter before extending a hand to Tiffany.
'Need some help?' he asked casually. Tiffany took the proffered limb and allowed him to help haul her to her feet.
'Keep stuff like that up and you'll have someone fall for you handsome,' Tiffany joked lightly. The ghost of a grin tugged at Kit's lips and he shrugged.
'Thanks by the way.'
'Not a problem, got to stick together to survive,' Kit replied casually.
The group took a moment to take stock of their situation, only to hear the moans of more of the dead.
'Goddamnit, that shooting gallery stirred up the entire fucking hive!' Ethan cursed bitterly.
'We'll keep moving, otherwise they'll corner us,' Tiffany started, all playfulness gone. The soldier was back with gusto.
'If I may?' Marissa asked, shouldering her long weapon. The group turned to her.
'I've not been here long –' she started.
She stopped suddenly, her face contorting into a myriad of different emotions before finally settling on surprise. There was something different about her appearance too, there was blood and –
'Oh…' someone murmured, half-shocked.
A spine was protruding through Marissa's torso, just above her heart. The woman shuddered as she raised a hand to touch the spine, which shivered at her touch. Suddenly her hand fell slack at her side and her legs gave out.
No sooner had this happened when she was wrenched skyward. Turning their gaze upward they found the monster from before, its hands and mouth wet with blood and its tail raising the impaled woman to its slavering maw.
'Oh now how the hell did that thing sneak up on us like that!' Randolf bellowed in frustration.
'Really doesn't matter! Leg it!' Ethan roared as he turned tail and fled, the others needed no motivation, though leaving Marissa to be eaten by the monster rankled with some of them; they had no firepower capable of so much as tickling the beast and chances were that her sudden impalement had killed her anyway.
It still didn't make the sickening crunching of bone and the spattering of blood any easier to bear…
The Mercenaries
The Plexiglas roof of the mall exploded and seven figures dropped into the centre of the mall on rappel lines. Licker BOWs stirred and screeched at the noise before crawling towards its source, eager for flesh, eager to kill.
Grey Team disconnected themselves from the lines as soon as they had touched down, which fled back through their opening. Immediately following this, the leader of Grey Team turned towards two members of his team who appeared practically unarmed in comparison with the rest of her unit; the first being a woman holding a mere pistol, with a tranquiliser gun resting in another holster. The other was clearly young, too young for this line of work, but there was a calm demeanour about him suggesting that he knew what he was doing. The young man was armed with a silenced machine pistol and, strangely, an M1832 Artillery short sword strapped to his waist.
'Natalia, Tech. I want schematics and data on the lab in this building. I also want a list of names; who worked here, where are they and in what condition.' The two members of Grey nodded. Natalia – a woman in her late twenties with dyed red hair worn in a tight bun – retrieved a data pad from a pouch on her combat bodysuit and connected it to her teammate Tech's custom-built data mask; a strange piece of headgear fashioned after the serial killer from the Scream franchise.
'We're in,' Natalia intoned, watching the screen of her pad and manipulating the touch screen accordingly. Elias gave a questioning look to Tech, who nodded in affirmation.
'I'm through the firewalls; Tech's grabbing the info now. Just keep those things off us while we work.'
'Weapons up,' Elias barked to the other four members of the mercenary squad. Grey Team – combat instincts honed to perfection – raised their respective weapons.
'Hold fire,' Elias growled, watching the first of the BOWs lurch into view, the creature paused as if sensing a threat. The skinless creature sniffed the air before pulling its thin lips back into a bestial snarl, exposing its long, dagger teeth. More appeared, some crawling along the walls, most travelling on the floor of the shopping mall, their claws creating little scratches on the stone as they moved with haste.
Elias waited until the dumb beasts were no more than twenty-five metres away before thumbing his headset.
'Weapons free!'
A veritable cascade of gunfire filled the mall. Lickers were shredded to the bone by bullets, shot and slugs. The first wave of lickers was reduced to a grisly parade of flesh and bone in seconds.
'Hold fire!' the gunfire ceased abruptly. The next wave of Lickers hissed and screeched, some of which had been wounded in the one-sided exchange.
'Grenades!' Five fragmentation grenades were unclipped in an instant and the lethal little devices primed. Two seconds passed before they were tossed in unison into the midst of the seething press of BOWs.
The explosions tore many Lickers from their feet, bowling them through the air. Shrapnel shredded many more. The ground floor of the mall was a river of flowing blood and ruined flesh. Some of the BOWs still moved though. Elias frowned at the survivors before craning his head at another member of Grey Team; a woman in similarly dark combat gear with blonde hair that fell a little above her shoulders. She seemed almost too small to be a professional killer.
'Alaina. I want those BOWs dust,' Elias ordered, his voice thick like gravel.
'With gusto,' the petite mercenary replied, her Irish brogue thick and heavy. With practised ease she unclipped several devices from her dark gear before priming them and tossing them once more into the midst of the surviving BOWs, one bounced off the head of a Licker and the creature hissed threateningly at the blipping explosive.
'Ka–' Alaina started…
Then hell opened up on Earth.
'–boom.'
The ground before the young woman was a sizzling crater. Meat giblets littered the area, and the stone floor of the mall not cracked by the explosion was painted with blood.
Elias nodded in appreciation before turning back to the two members of Grey who hadn't participated in the wholesale BOW massacre. A distant screeching told him more Lickers were likely on the way. He signalled for Grey to assume a defensive formation around him and the other two.
'Status?' Elias asked, though it sounded more like a demand.
'Almost… and…' Natalia started.
'Done,' Tech finished for her.
'Yeah. Okay, the lab lies inside a Grant & Glukhovsky pharmacy on the ground floor, about fifty metres ahead of us. Tiny lab. A couple of work benches, consoles and… hmm… and a few large test tubes containing Umbrella Licker BOWs. Movement in the lab too, mostly pacing around the entrance. Unlikely to be human,'
'Personnel?'
This time it was Tech who answered.
'Doctor Emanuel Cortez; spotted in New Rynn City by local security footage. Killed by a PDF trooper – looks like an accident. Doctor Marcus Paisley; also spotted in New Rynn City. Infected; no longer a problem. Professor Kendal Chambers; reported killed in the first hour of the outbreak. Chief technician Julie Winters; sighted in Faraquay City. Deceased. Technician Rhys Winters; also sighted in Faraquay with his wife. Deceased.'
Tech listed off more names than Elias cared to hear, all of them were dead or about to be. Finally he reached the last name on the checklist.
'Finally we have Laborotary Assistant Paulina Sanders; spotted just on the outskirts of New Rynn City. Heading for the docks with a small group of other known, recognised Grant & Glukhovsky personnel… accompanied by unknown individuals; heavily armed and possessing unmarked gear.'
Elias raised a brow behind his gas mask.
'Mercenaries? Like us?'
Tech nodded his head.
'Safe to assume they aren't one of ours?'
'Yes sir. Only team present near New Rynn City is Red Team and their armament is… different,' Tech answered, nodding. He quirked his head.
'Should I call for the chopper? One of our prime directives is –'
'Our prime directive, operator, is to ensure that not a single scrap of evidence linking this disaster to Grant & Glukhovsky leaves this island,' Elias interrupted, his tone harsh, unforgiving, 'that includes facilities, technology, notes and, of course, people. Send word to Red Team of their position and destination. They'll deal with it.' Tech nodded and sent a coded message to the leader of the G&G Red Team. Natalia disconnected her data pad from Tech's mask and stowed it away before drawing her handgun.
'Ready to move sir.'
Tech echoed her words mere moments later, his machine pistol gripped in both hands. Elias nodded and pointed forward with two fingers.
'Move out. Staggered formation. Eyes open; these BOWs can come from anyway.'
The mercenary team moved on, one of them – a man with a long-barrelled PSG1 rifle strapped to his back – stopped by a staircase. Elias noted the activity with a curious glance.
'Hawkeye, report.'
'Somebody set up a barricade on these stairs,' the German sniper observed, taking note of the way various objects were scattered about the staircase, 'do you think it's possible whoever was here gained access to the lab?' he asked.
'It's a possibility,' Elias nodded slowly, turning to Tech and another mercenary dressed in midnight black gear with a strange helmet that seemed almost like a motorcyclists'.
'Tech, get me security footage. Find out if anyone could have entered the laboratory. Viper, you stay with him,' the helmeted mercenary nodded in affirmation, shouldering his carbine and taking a defensive stance next to Tech as he worked his particular brand of magic. He craned his head upwards, observing the floor above them for a moment before glancing to Felix 'Hawkeye' Jäger.
'Hawkeye, you and Alaina set up shop upstairs. Check the stores for survivors. If you see any, interrogate them. If they resist, you know what to do.'
One member of the team who Elias had not yet addressed shifted uncomfortably. Elias turned to him and Natalia.
'You two are with me. We'll check the laboratory, move out,'
The mercenaries split off to perform their respective tasks, Tech and Viper took position in a small retail store, Viper keeping his carbine trained on the store entrance. Up above them, Felix and Alaina swept the floor; Felix standing on the opposite side of the mall while keeping Alaina's back covered with his powerful rifle.
The secret entrance to the lab was open. Elias felt himself frown. He signalled for Natalia and the final (and arguably the most vital) member of their team – the medic who went by the callsign 'Ghost' – to stack up on the entrance. The two took position on either side of the entrance, and Elias became aware of a dulled scraping sound.
Definitely more Licker BOWs.
The small corridor to the lab was empty, the door at the end possessing several punctures. Elias motioned for Ghost and Natalia to cover him, while he moved towards the portal.
The door lurched suddenly, and, within seconds, was pulled off its hinges. A Licker BOW powered towards Elias, its jaws open, hissing its bloodlust.
Elias ducked, allowing the creature to sail over his head. He cursed as he remembered that two of his team were behind him, and that accomplishing their directives would be much more complicated should one – or both of them – fall.
He didn't have to worry about a thing.
Ghost, also known as Jake Burke, reacted first. He sidestepped a brutal swipe of the Licker's claws, colliding with the wall of the corridor before powering away with a jump, rolling away from the BOW. Natalia avoided a sudden thrust by the Licker and stabbed her knife into the creature's back, drawing a pained whine, but not killing the creature. Natalia hopped away from the wounded BOW, her knife slick with its blood.
'Get down,' Elias commanded, levelling his assault rifle at the beast before squeezing the trigger. It took him almost half a magazine, but by the end of it the Licker lay still.
'Thanks,' Ghost said, hauling himself up. Elias said nothing, turning on his heel and entering the laboratory. As Natalia had stated, it was a small lab, appearing only slightly larger than one of Elias' favourite pubs back home.
'Natalia, check the consoles, make sure they're wiped,' Elias told her before thumbing his comms.
'Alaina, Hawkeye. You two finished your sweep of the upper floor?'
It was Alaina who responded.
'Only one more place to go sir but the door's locked pretty tightly. Place is bare.'
'Check anyway, then rendezvous with Viper and Tech downstairs. We'll be done here in a moment.'
Elias turned to a rather large, important looking console and switched it on. A screen flickered to life. Elias reached carefully inside a pouch and retrieved a small data stick before inserting it into an access point. As he observed the program inside the data stick begin its work his comms crackled into life and Tech's voice filled his ears.
'Sir, I have an update. Security footage shows that a group of nine survivors made this mall their home for all of a night before the BOWs broke in. Hard to tell but it seems that one of them entered the Pharmacy, it's possible that she entered the laboratory.' Elias nodded.
'I see. Finish up what you're doing quickly, Alaina and Felix are on their way to your position. Once you meet up with them, make your way to the lab.'
'Solid copy,' the young Canadian replied before signing off.
Five minutes and the mercenaries were assembled outside the mall; the laboratory was a smouldering wreck, with the mall only a button push from collapsing courtesy of a few well-placed explosives from Alaina. Elias reviewed the feed on Natalia's data pad, watching the civilian woman fiddle with a laboratory console before retrieving a data stick, likely loaded with information Grant & Glukhovsky didn't want the public to know.
'Just had a call from the chopper,' Tech said, 'pilots said they saw a group of survivors whose descriptions match those of the people who holed up briefly in the mall. They were headed for the airport.'
Elias grunted, glancing at the skyline of the city before him. Smoke billowed from various fires, screams and the occasional, distant pop of gunfire reverberated through the dying settlement. He checked his magazine, reloading once he saw it was severely depleted and hefted the weapon.
'Grey Team we're moving in pursuit of a group of survivors who possess sensitive data. Upon meeting them we will engage, and we will kill them,' he said simply, keeping an eye on Ghost. The mercenary was deathly still, and Elias knew full well that he had signed up with an entirely different idea of what their mission was in mind.
The others he was certain he could count on, but Ghost… the situation was complex. Had he not been the only one of the team with any medical expertise Elias would have shot the man and be done with it. As it was he was forced to bring him along, and hope that eventually he would see the necessity of their job.
Until that point though, he'd always have a pair of eyes on the wild card.
'Move out,' Elias barked, and the seven mercenaries hauled themselves in the direction of the airport.
-X-
Just a little side note here; entirely off-topic: should any of you find a food chain called 'Benihana' I suggest you take your friends, family or whoever you want and go there for a meal because goddamnit it's one of the finest eateries I've ever dined at, and this comes from someone who really doesn't go for oriental cuisine.
On another note I'm absolutely shattered writing this but I think I did a reasonably good job on it. I find that – actually – writing while fatigued brings out the imagination. I have a classmate who writes while half-asleep (and, honestly, I wish I could write even half as well as she can) and the things she jots down is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Incidentally I've also found that writing while in that hazy, half-drunk state works wonders for me. Granted I have to patch up the spelling, grammatical and any other errors I've made the next morning (not to mention that it's going to cost me a fortune in the long run) but I've completed more than one chapter this way.
I apologise for what seems like inane rambling but I've been taught and have found little quirks that help me (or people I know who write) to write and write well. There was one rather notable writer who could only do so while standing up completely undressed, and another who could only do it while eating. Point is; when you guys sit down at your screens with your fingers on the keyboard; try something new while you type out your latest brainchild. Have a drink, listen to music, hell, take your underpants off if you're feeling really adventurous (though I'd make sure there's no one else around first). You might find that there's a little quirk or activity you do while you type that clicks for you, makes you write quicker, makes you enjoy doing it more, maybe even makes you better.
Thanks. Not just for reading the ravings of a person who – currently – can barely tell up from down I'm so tired, but for being what you are – writers and readers. Without you guys this earth would be rather dull I imagine.
Cheers