Chapter 14: The Separation of the Mercenaries
With Benjamin's help, Mickey and Patten were able to beat back the horde of oncoming Zombies. Besides the Zombie Scouts and Soldiers, the three now had to deal with Zombie Heavies, which were much harder to kill than the other two. For this reason, Mickey and Patten quickly ran out of bullets and Benjamin spent up all the projectiles on his Rocket Launcher. So the three had to resort to their Bats and Shovel respectably, and managed to put up a pretty good fight despite the circumstances. However, Benjamin knew that they wouldn't be able to hold out for very long, and so he blew the Bugle of Bigrock once more. The number of Zombies that came down from the main entrance increased, and bringing up the rear was a single Zombie Sniper.
For a while, the Zombie Sniper just stood a ways up the sloped main entrance, watching as the other Zombies tried to attack Benjamin and the others. Then he took out a Fortified Compound bow, fit a large arrow into the string, and fired it at Benjamin. The arrow only pierced Benjamin in the shoulder, but it did cause Mickey and Patten to stop and look at him. In response, Benjamin grunted and then continued to swing his Shovel violently at the approaching Zombies. In the far back, the Zombie Sniper moved further down the sloped entrance and fired again. This time, the arrow hit Benjamin in the lower abdomen, causing him to kneel. But to Mickey and Patten's surprise, he got back up, even though he was obviously in a lot of pain, and kept fighting. Perplexed, the Zombie Sniper stepped forward and fired another arrow, which hit Benjamin on his other shoulder, causing him to drop his Shovel. He knelt on the floor again and was about to pick up his Shovel when the fourth arrow came flying from the Zombie Sniper's bow and pierced straight through Benjamin's kneecap, causing him to fall on his side.
Angered, Benjamin grabbed his Shovel and hit any Zombies that came near him while Mickey and Patten assisted him. Unfortunately, the two Scouts were picked up by a pair of Zombie Heavies, and carried away. They tried to free themselves, but that didn't seem to stop the Zombie Heavies as they were soon heading up the same stairs Benjamin had used before. Benjamin watched helplessly, and tried to get on his knees though the pain was unbearable, when the Zombie Sniper approached him. He stood over Benjamin's arrow-torn body, and took out a Tribalman's Shiv knife. Then, just as the Zombie Sniper was about shove the knife through Benjamin's heart, a shining blade appeared out of the darkness and decapitated the Zombie Sniper's head in one swing.
It was Aonghus. Benjamin tried to laugh, but instead he coughed up blood. Aonghus quickly helped Benjamin up and placed him against the wall in the back of the room.
"You won't find the two Scouts here," Benjamin muttered, coughing up more blood afterwards. "Those Zombie b****rds…took them away."
"Do you know which way the Zombies went?" Aonghus asked.
"I think they went…that way," Benjamin answered, weakly pointing to the stairs.
"Which Scouts did they take? Was it Freddie and Steve?"
"No, it was Mickey and Patten they took." After coughing up more blood, Benjamin grabbed the Bugle, which had been broken when he fell on his side, and held it up to Aonghus. "Take this…to my father, if you ever get to Bigrock."
"You're not going to die, lad!" Aonghus said insistently. "Once Matthias and Gavin show up, we'll take care of you."
A weak chuckle escaped Benjamin's bloodstained mouth. "Don't lie to me, Aonghus. You know I'm beyond medical aid."
Aonghus said nothing, and instead he took the Bugle from Benjamin's weak hand, which suddenly became limp. Surprised, Aonghus lifted Benjamin's army helmet up, and immediately knew Benjamin was dead. His eyes had gone blank and Benjamin's mouth was agape. Out of respect, Aonghus closed Benjamin's eyelids and placed the army helmet back down to hide the dead man's face. By the time Matthias and Gavin showed up, Aonghus was already carrying Benjamin's corpse towards them.
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While the battles were being fought near the Radar Dish and inside the Power Plant, Freddie was looking over the metal barrier that had once served to keep vans and trucks from falling down the steep rocky cliff, where a cluster of white buildings lay below and beyond that stood the southern canyons. He knew there was no point in going back, and yet his heart felt heavy. Ignoring the feeling, Freddie jumped over the barrier, and started a slow, steady climb down the cliff.
"Hey, Freddie!" cried a familiar voice.
Freddie immediately stopped, and saw Steve running towards him. He was carrying the cooler the Administrator gave to him, and his own pack.
"Steve, what are you doing here?" Freddie asked.
"I was looking for you. There are so many Zombies running around, so I figured I'd find someplace to hide till the whole thing brushes over, and protect the food while doing it," Steve answered. "But where are you going?"
"To the Moving Fortress. Alone."
"Are you crazy? You can't do that!"
"And whose going to stop me? You?"
"But why do it? What was the point of forming the Mercenaries of the Bomb if you were just going to go off and destroy the bomb yourself?"
"Because I'm a magnet for trouble! Gerald died and Benjamin tried to shoot me because I have the One Bomb! What the Mercenaries of the Bomb stood for was a lie, because if I'm not getting you guys killed, then you'll try to use the One Bomb for your own purposes!"
"But not all of us are like that!"
"I know, but I can't take that risk!" Freddie was about to continue climbing down, when Steve suddenly started to approach the metal barrier. "Steve, what are you doing?"
"I'm coming with you, brother!"
"What? I cannot believe this! First of all, I'm not your brother and second, you'll only cause more misery for yourself if you follow me."
Steve didn't change course, and then he tripped. He immediately lost balance and started falling towards Freddie. Immediately, Freddie grabbed Steve by the hand before he splattered his brains on the concrete below. Holding tightly, Freddie gently swung his friend towards the cliff, until Steve managed to find decent footholds, and let go.
"Don't ever do something like that on me again!" Freddie said, looking down at Steve. "You could've died."
"I know, and I'm sorry," Steve said, avoiding Freddie's gaze. "It's just that I couldn't stand to see my best friend abandon me like that. You would've done the same for me, right?"
"Of course, dummy!" Freddie replied, and then the two made the slow climb down.
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From the telescopic lense on Matthias' Sniper Rifle, Freddie and Steve looked like small red blurs as they ran through the maze of white buildings and into the canyons beyond. Meanwhile, Gavin and Aonghus had finished placing Benjamin's body into a grave that stood before a group of storage tanks. Matthias then came over and joined the two in a sermon, which spoken by Gavin, while Aonghus tossed the first pile of earth onto the corpse.
"May your spirit always guard this place, Soldier," Gavin said, finishing the sermon. "Amen."
For a few minutes, the three men stood in silence with their hats off, staring down at their fallen comrade. Then they lowered Benjamin's possessions into the grave, including the Rocket Launcher, and covered the body with the dirt they dug up. Once that was done, Aonghus placed Benjamin's Shovel into the ground as a grave-marker.
"I saw Freddie and Steve heading into the canyons south of here," Matthias said, putting his hat back on after the moment of silence was over. "Should we go after them?"
"No, they'll be too far away by time we head out," Aonghus said, looking off towards the canyons. "Besides, the Bomb Carrier decided that it would be better this way."
"It's my fault all this happened," Gavin said, shaking his head. "I never should've let the Scouts and Benjamin leave."
"Stop blaming yourself, mate," Matthias said. "We're all to blame for the events that have unfolded, and there's nothing we can do to change it."
"But what are we supposed to do now?"
"There is something we can do," Aonghus replied, causing Matthias and Gavin to look at him. "While we may have lost the Bomb Carrier, we can prevent Mickey and Patten from being tortured at Hightower."
At that, the Sniper and Engineer nodded. Then they went back to the warehouse, and picked out the provisions they could easily carry while leaving the rest in a storage-room Aonghus closed off and marked with a bomb-shaped insignia using his Eyelander sword. Next, they went to the stairs where Mickey and Patten were taken to, and followed the strong odor that the Zombies gave off all the way out of Hydro and in the direction of Hightower.
End of Chapter 14