Chapter V: We Gotta Go...
Josh hopped onto the seat and grabbed the passengers handle whilst keeping a firm grip on his ACR. I gave the quad a little bit of a rev just to get the feel for it then slowly pulled off. I chicaned between the other vehicles as I tried to keep as quiet as possible until we came to the end of the hangar and met a great wall of steel. I hopped off the ATV and jabbed the button next to the metal monstrosity then got back on. The doorway slowly squealed open as if it hadn't been oiled in years, which was odd as the building looked fairly new to me.
"Halt!"
Josh snapped his head back towards the hanger entrance. Heavily armoured guards carrying M21 EBRs and RPDs came running towards us firing from the hip.
"OPEN YOU STUPID DOOR!" I yelled in panic,
A sniper bullet pinged of the rear of the ATV smashing an indicator. Josh opened fire on our unwelcome guests. Shame it wasn't accurate.
The door was still squeaking open.
"FOR GODS SAKE OPEN!" I screamed,
Josh released a magazine and inserted new one to continue firing. They were so close now. They were about 15 metres away and they were determined to kill us on the spot. Bullet holes peppered the door, the floor as well as various parts of the back of our quad.
"YES!" The door opened just enough for our escape! I rammed the throttle back and we scraped through the gap in the doorway.
"You're not getting away that easily." Said a guard whom we never noticed,
He had heaved a thermal scoped Cheytac onto a Harrier wing and set up the bipod. He aimed down the grey scope and aimed as we shot into the darkness. He sighted Josh as a white hot being and squeezed the trigger resulting in an ear-splitting bang.
I turned the bike sharply to the right but the bullet still got one of us. I shouted in agony as a searing pain coursed through my right arm. I ignore the pain as best as possible because any sign of slowing down would end up in us getting slaughtered by their increasing arsenal.
"Lucas! Are you alright?" Josh shouted above the roar of the engine,
"That sniper got me on the arm!" I replied through my teeth,
"Hold her steady man! We need to rescue them in one piece not in a pile of metal"
"I'm doing my best sir! It's not easy when you're being shouted at!"
"Shut up and fly!"
"Don't worry, I'll be alright!" I reassured him,
"You got shot!" Josh whimpered back,
"I'm fine!" I grunted as I smashed through a wire fence,
Just then a helicopter began to gain on us with a searchlight glaring down on us.
"What? They've got a helicopter after us? Is this even needed?" Josh shouted out of confusion,
"Let's just try and out speed them!" I replied still in agony,
"It's a helicopter for Christ sake! You don't just outrun a chopper! You get blown up by one! Do we have any stinger missiles? NO!" Josh screamed,
"Don't worry! We're here to help you!" A voice came from the chopper,
"How do we know that?" Josh yelled back,
"If we were with the ones that were chasing you then we would have blown you away already!" The voice continued,
Josh thought this over and was about to yell something along the lines of 'get stuffed' but I stopped him before he had chance,
"I say we trust them." I whined,
"What? We can't trust them!" Josh shouted back,
"It's all we've got! We either die by their hand or be helped by them! I'd rather take that than die for sure!" I replied,
"Grab this!" The voice butted in as a young man rappelled down on a rope along with two other ropes.
Josh never even inched.
"GRAB THE ROPE DAMMIT!" I yelled,
Josh instantly seized the rope, whilst the 'helpful' stranger rappelled further down to relieve josh of his weapon.
"YOU NEED TO GRAB THE ROPE ASWELL!" Josh shouted over the roar of the chopper,
I briefly looked to see a thick rope flailing about aimlessly behind me. Then my focus blurred past the bundle of fibres to what appeared to be a dim white light.
"Bugger." I muttered to myself, "TANGO SPOTTED ON MY SIX!" I shouted,
Josh pulled a strange face as if to say, 'is that the first thing he could think of to warn us?'.
As I slowed down slightly to make an attempt to grab the rope bullets rang out and began to pepper the dirt around me flicking up mud and debris.
"DON'T WORRY! I GOT YOUR BACK, JUST FOCUS ON GRABBING THAT ROPE!" The stranger bellowed as he helped Josh up into the heli,
Even though I'd been shot at, been shot and am in the process of being shot at I still couldn't help but shake the feeling that this guy was legitimate. He stuck his thumb up to me and disappeared into the chopper only to re-appear with some sort of big sniper.
"GRAB THE ROPE! I'LL COVER YOU!" He commanded,
Wasting absolutely no time I lowered the speed and set the ATV to cruise control leaving me able to stand up. As I lifted my hand off the accelerator and into the air to grab the length of hairy fibres a felt a surge of air and pressure rush past my bare skin. It was a bullet. It must have been a sniper because it blew the accelerator straight off the handlebar. Good thing the cruise control was in the centre of the bike. Our own sniper popped off a few sniper shots of his own, difference was, they exploded on impacted.
"HOLY CRAP!" I shouted,
The explosions caused massive dents in the wheel arch of a pursuing jeep which resulted in the tyre flying off and the vehicle to flip end over end. A new jeep careered out the way of the smouldering heap and ended up a few metres away. A soldier poked his head out of the jeeps roof whilst heaving an RPG up there with him. Our guy fired another shot directly at him. Not a pretty sight. He exploded as well as the RPG rocket leaving another heap of molten metal in our wake.
I grabbed the rope with my good arm first then grabbed it with my other hand. I agonisingly pulled myself up, and with help from Josh, managed to get into the seating area.
"Nothing ever goes right for you does it?" Josh asked as I sat down on a chair,
"Don't worry I'm fine." I replied under my breath,
Josh gave me a very disdained face to which I smiled at.
"Good to know you still have your humour." Josh smiled back,
The sniper fired a few more shots and retreated backwards.
"No time for pleasantries! Pryce! Get us out of here NOW!" He barked at the pilot,
"Yes Surge sir!" They replied,
"Surge?" Josh asked himself,
I was in too much pain to care. I was clutching my arm as blood seeped down my skin and onto the cold steel floor.
"It's alright. Let's take a look what we've got here." Surge said as he removed my hand and took a look at my wound, "That bullets right in there. We need to remove it or we'll end up removing your arm." He said in a monotone way,
"Wait! We don't even know you! Sure you helped us but we don't even know who you are!" Josh hissed,
"Sorry about that. Maybe I was in the process of saving your friends ass from those SPAS officials." He replied. "I am Lieutenant Surge of the 5th rifles in Kanto." He continued as he took off a black face mask," Me and my pilot are the ones who deactivated the main generator so you two could escape. We knew that you and your friend had the capabilities to escape from the main building so we left that up to you." He added,
"Wait. Surge? Lieutenant Surge?" I gasped,
"And kanto? As in the Japanese region or...?" Josh asked,
"No. As in the one next to Johto." Surge corrected,
"Who cares? I just want this bullet out of me!" I whimpered back,
Surge helped me up and walked me to the back of the Cobra.
"Now, I'm going to be blunt here. This will hurt but it'll help." Surge told me,
"I'm sure it's nothing compared to how it felt to have hot metal sear through your skin." I smiled,
Surge smiled at that and he grabbed a pair of, what looked like, tweezers, a clamp of some sort and placed a glass dish onto a metal worktop. He handed the tweezers to Josh,
"Hold these and do EXACTLY what I tell you to ok or this'll only prolong the pain." Surge said to Josh,
Josh simply nodded and stood next to me. The Lieutenant put some antiseptic liquid onto my wound causing me to squeeze my eyelids shut and grit my teeth. He wiped away any remaining liquid and slowly opened my bleeding wound.
"I only do this in emergencies." Surge said to me,
"I don't care, just get it out of my arm!" I protested,
He silently inserted the cold plastic clamp to hold my wound open. Surge made a gesture for Josh to hand him the tweezers, whom appeared as though he would puke. I sniggered at the thought.
Surge gently entered my wound with the steel instrument and in between the muscle until we heard a clinking noise. He'd hit the bullet. Opening the tweezers he slowly wrapped the pincers around the foreign object and slowly pulled it out. Seeing what came out was a mixture of disgust and relief.
"There. No more bullet clogging you up." Surge laughed as he dropped the bullet into the dish, removed the clap, put the tweezers onto the cabinet and retrieved another antiseptic wipe. He grabbed a surgical needle and thread and began to knit my skin back together, with extreme care. He dabbed my wound with the wipe and then wrapped a bandage around my arm.
"There. You're all good to go now." Surge smiled,
"Thanks." I replied,
He nudged me to sit back down onto the leather seats.
"Have a rest. You deserve it." He suggested,
I wasted no time in doing so and promptly slumped onto the large seat to which Josh did the same.
"Just sit back and relax. We're safe now." Surge said triumphantly,
"I sure hope so." I mused,
"Sir. Suspicious looking vehicle north-east of our position. Shall I pursue?" Pryce asked,
"Go for it." Surge replied,
We banked to the right to catch up with the truck. As we got closer I could make out some details. It was a lorry with a dark red container on the back. No doubt it was their truck. It said SPAS for Gods sake.
"These guys are dumbasses." I muttered under my breath.
"Take us in. Were getting her back for you." Surge said as he turned towards me,
We were just to the left of the cab when a scientist unwound the window and began firing a pistol at us. Pointless really. The helicopter was impervious to small arms fire.
"I'm gonna take out the driver and his passenger then take control of the cab. I'll pull over to the side and stop so you can rescue Latias from the container." Surge said,
"I'm taking out the passenger." I said as I stood up and heaved the Cheytac onto my shoulder. "They took her away from me, kidnapped me and Josh, nearly took our lives, shot me in the arm and tried to kill us. That's just a little too much for my mercy-o-meter to be honest. I'm returning the favour." I said as I re-cocked my Intervention,
"Hmm. Very well then. You deserve some revenge. Just don't get shot again. I won't be as careful as last time." Surge laughed back,
I smiled at him and took position on the edge of the bay door. I aimed down my sights at the passengers window. He wasn't there, must be reloading. Surge stood next to me and jumped out the door and into the containers roof. Just then I saw the scientist with the pistol poke his head back out the window. Probably heard the Lieutenant hit the roof.
"Your mine you heartless bitch." I whispered to myself,
I aimed right for his head and squeezed the trigger. I felt the recoil release itself into my shoulder as I attempted to cushion it as best as possible. Let's just say that the scientist wouldn't be constructing any weird machines again. Or his skull.
Surge just looked up at me as I grinned out of sheer contentment. I don't think he approved of the reason for me to smile but I'm sure he understood the notion. He crawled up to the drivers side of the cab. I just lowered my weapon and watched him at work. Surge grabbed his pistol from the holster on his leg and used the butt to smash the window. The driver must have crapped himself as the truck swerved from side the side before going straight again. Surge stuck his head down the side so he was peering into the window. The driver attempted to punch at him but missed leaving a window of opportunity open for Lieutenant Surge to respond.
"Looks like you picked the wrong kid to steal from 'cause look who he got help from." Surge taunted,
The scientist made a face as though he was about to swear at him. He never had chance as Surge pulled his guns trigger ending him. He then quickly clambered down the side, opened the door, pulled out the corpse, sat in the seat and began to pull over.
"He did it again ha ha!" Pryce laughed, "I'll take her down for you." He continued as he lowered the altitude of the Cobra.
Pryce expertly landed the chopper a few metres away from the truck allowing us to get out and meet Surge by the back.
"Lucas. Don't worry. She'll be fine. I know it." Josh said to me,
I smiled and nodded.
"It's all yours. Unlock the door." Surge said,
I reached my hand out to grab the rusty handle and I lifted it. It was extremely stiff to open but I managed to unlock it. I heaved the door open to take a look inside...
"Holy crap!" Josh said as a blur flew out the door, took me down and ended up taking me about twenty metres away from the container. "Don't shoot!" Josh shouted to Surge who was ready to fire,
I couldn't see what had hit me because there was dust everywhere hazing my vision. I could hear a soft growl as something was pinning me to the floor. I could feel a strong sensation of,' I'm going to tear you open, tear out your liver, rip out your guts, then kill you'.
As much as I didn't want to see the face of my demise I felt I had to. I shook the debris off my face and slowly opened my eyes. The figure that had me flat on the dirt was baring their teeth at me. Not something I wanted to be in between. Also they had large ears that stuck up into the air. As my vision focused on whoever this was the growling ceased.
"Oh my God. I can't believe that they were the one to pin him down ha ha. I always imagined he'd be on top!" Josh laughed,
The figure that had me down was furry. It had red and white fur to be exact. Not to mention large amber eyes that reminded me of honey.
"Latias!" I exclaimed,
"Laa?" She replied,
Her face softened to a worried smile. She removed her paws and instead wrapped them around me.
"Good to see you still remember me Latias. For a moment there I thought you were gonna ki..." a certain event cut me short,
"What the...Is she...?" Josh said whilst his face formed a contorted image,
"I believe she is little man. I believe she is." Lt Surge replied with a stern face,
Latias out of sheer happiness, and probably for nearly ripping my intestines out, was spread out on top of me. She was kissing me on the lips. It was the strangest thing I've ever felt. It felt so right, yet, somehow felt so wrong to kiss her in particular. It really didn't stop me however.
"I don't think this isn't something you should be seeing Josh." Pryce said as he attempted to cover Joshes eyes,
"I think we should leave these two alone with each other for a while..." Josh said whilst he was plunged into darkness by Pryces hand.