So what do y'know I have finally posted the next chapter. Thank you everyone who wrote to me offering support or to just tell me to stop being a lazy butt. I greatly appreciate it and I can't wait to see what you guys and gals think of the next chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: ehhh
Within These Walls
Chapter 6
Six's POV
"Rex? Come in, Rex? We have a situation at the base!" All further attempts to reach Rex were much like the first; his entire radio frequency had gone silent and all footage surrounding the area were destroyed beyond recovery. Holiday didn't think Rex would have gotten far considering the shape he had been in, but I was being to suspect this was just another ploy by some group to once again eliminate Rex or in the least kidnap him. It would explain the sudden break in during the middle of the night and coincidentally during a time when Rex is unable to defend himself. Even so, at the moment it was out of my hands as I left it to Holiday and her group to find him as I took care of this threat. Believe me I wanted to be out there looking for Rex just as much as Holiday but unfortunately this came first.
My dress shoes barely made a sound as I headed towards the source of the chaos that had erupted within the Providence base. Even without being previously given the coordinates of this unidentified EVO it would have been a simple task of finding its location just by following the flow of armed foot soldiers and other fleeing personnel. The blaring alarms had been quickly shut off after the other troops had gained even the slightest grasp of the situation but the flashing red lights periodically placed throughout the base still persisted.
It wasn't long before I came upon several strategically placed barricades that had been set up surrounding the EVO in hopes that if it attempted to escape this section of the building then there would be enough armed troops to stop it before it caused any further damage.
Not that it would make any difference, I bitterly thought to myself, most of these troops here are essentially cannon fodder. I quickly squashed these thoughts realizing I was just irritable after being woken up in the middle of the night and the radio chatter that had been going through my com a mile a minute.
"Any change?" I asked one of the soldiers whose rank I didn't bother to check.
"It's, uh, it's still over there. The EVO has not moved from its original position, sir," huh, probably a grunt by the almost comical double take and his obvious hesitancy just from speaking with me. Looking up trying to gain my own assessment of the situation I realized that whatever all these troops were pointing their guns at was virtually invisible. All the lights within a 50ft radius of the EVO were shattered and none of the troops had any sort of light on the thing.
"Why is no one getting a spot on the EVO?" I called out to the other troops all squatting around me. Most turned to stare at me but my annoyance grew as they were all too scared to answer.
"The EVO seems to constantly emit a low level EMP. Any power we try to route to this area is ineffective, thermal vision goggles are fried, and even fucking battery powered flashlights are useless. We have to go at this by ear," another faceless foot soldier gruffly responded obviously not too keen on the late night interruption as well.
Without so much a grunt in response I hopped over the barricade using the wall as my cover as I glanced around the corner. I could clearly see a shape moving in the far corner of the hall as it ripped at the chest cavity of the other fallen EVO. Shards of glass as well as the growing pool of blood surrounding the pair reflected the small slivers of moonlight being cast through the shattered observation window. It was obvious the EVO was at least partially aware of all the troops surrounding it by the way its ears flickered at ever gruff order or clicking of guns. Whether it was much more concerned with the meal at hand or it just plain didn't care I wasn't sure, but it never looked up from the corpse in front of it.
Feeling that my skills weren't as of yet needed I turned to soldiers situated behind me still awaiting orders.
"Fire stun rounds," was all I said as the cocking of guns echoed throughout the hall way and only then did it seem to attract the EVO's attention. Glowing blue eyes raised to meet mine; pulling back its bloodied lips, and revealing glowing blue teeth to give me a deep reverberating growl. At this the cacophony of gun fire sprang to life as the EVO made a charge straight for me.
Of course the stun rounds seemed to have no affect against the EVO, bouncing off its hide with sharp metallic pings. Flipping the swords from my sleeve with practiced easy I braced myself for the coming impact as the EVO showed no signs of slowing it down only to run straight into my crisscrossed swords. Struggling with the force of EVO still trying to barrel over me I quickly deflected the creature's weight to the right, ultimately sending it crashing back through the Petting Zoo window.
It rolled midair landing on all fours with me jumping through after intending to stab it in its flanks, but the EVO quickly rolled out of the way leaving my swords buried in the dirt. Without giving me a moment's rest the EVO once again charged towards me with jaws agape obvious aiming for my throat. Ripping one of my blades from the ground I slashed upwards catching the bottom of its jaw and sending it flying away from me. Jumping into the air once again I heard the almost familiar whirring of nanites. The EVO whirled around slashing me from the side with a sword that had emerged from its tail; swatting me aside like a mere fly. My back slammed hard into a tree leaving me barely regaining my bearings just as I was forced to duck to escape decapitation. Rolling out of the way and throwing one of my swords in the process to gain some distance between me and the creature. It leapt back with a snarl as my sword came close to being embedded in its chest, while the tree behind me fell over with a deafening crash after being sliced clean through.
The EVO stood snarling at me as I readied my sword for the next attack to come, but instead there was the sound of guns being cocked overhead. We both looked up to see several squads of troops peering through the previously destroyed windows as they switched over to kill shots, most likely at the request from White himself. The barrage of bullets that rained down on the EVO made it let loose a high pitched yelp as the scene before me was concealed by smoke. After what felt like minutes of just continuous gunfire there was finally a cease and desist order given out. It was probably a little over kill considering very few EVOs could survive a constant onslaught of the anti-EVO rounds. Even the few rounds that were fired at Rex by accident had dropped him within seconds as the rounds shorted out the active nanites in EVOs.
Despite this when the dust cleared a glowing blue bubble could be seen in the center of the carnage and the now revealed wolf like EVO was still standing in the middle of it.
Next thing I know the EVO is crashing through the underbrush with snarl and me hot on its heels, but by the time I even come close to it the thing has already crashed through the north facing perimeter door and ran off into the night.
Going back to pull my sword out of the ground where I left it to my surprise there appeared to be blood staining one of the edges. I distinctly remember that this was the blade I had used to cut the lower jaw of the wolf EVO during the fight. From my knowledge only a select few EVOs actually bled red.
"Holiday, have you discovered any breaches in the perimeter before the EVO set off the alarms in the Petting Zoo?" I asked into my com link watching as several ships circled the base trying to find the escaped EVO to no avail.
"No, no other alarms were tripped and security footage shows nothing. The only footage that was destroyed was from the cameras around Rex's room and the Petting Zoo. Even the trackers we have placed on Rex are not giving off any sort of signal," she rattled off obviously frazzled and worried about the boy.
Just as I had thought, but my brows still furrowed in confusion. None of this was making any sense and nothing was matching up. Other quadruped EVOs bled a variety of different colors other than red and even some bipedal EVOs bled other colors as well. Not to mention most EVOs are trying to break out of providence not in. Though what troubled me the most was that a 15 year old boy doesn't just disappear in the middle of the night, but then again it wouldn't be the first time. Feeling the same dread I had felt when I was first debriefed on the situation I once again contacted the Doctor.
"I want you to pull up all the security footage you have and all that is even remotely salvageable. I want to have a look at this for myself," it looks like my long night is going to turn into a long day altogether. Something was seriously wrong, and I think Rex was set right in the center of whatever was unfolding.
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