Chapter 106: Our ride out of here
We're still in exactly the same dream or rather nightmare as before, in fact this has been the case for a few chapters now, and I want to get out of this just as much as you readers do I'm sure.
Hopefully I like to think that if we can get through this batch, then it's a home run to what I'm certain will be Neptune's challenge that is if we can play it right and even if I do, who's to say that there won't be any more enemies coming our way like there has been. It's clear how much Neptune wants us dead in this nightmare and yet she hasn't shown herself up. It could in fact be that she's smarter than I think, nah no way more like more cowardly or more evil, in that she'll just throw her soldiers that she cares so little about at us, and try to break us with despair regarding the conditions of her troops, our situation or how there appears to be no end, no end to her madness.
I just hope that our Loweean allies will have defeated all the drivers there and they won't think to take the trucks away after dropping off all their troops. I sure don't want to be left behind with these enemies, or else we'll never be able to get out of here and do Neptune's challenge, maybe the Planeptune piece of trash doesn't actually want us to do the challenge because she knows we'll simply beat her, just like we always do.
I guess all we can do for now is defeat all of these enemy troops here and just hope for the best, as our Loweean allies have finished and have come back to our position, ready to defend themselves from an assault on two fronts. I like to think that even if we're surrounded, if we can defend our position and hold them off, as well as advance forward as quickly as we dare, we can get out of here. Though the fact that there seems to be dozens of enemies here is quite alarming to say the least.
And so with this knowledge we move to the room to our left, with me and my Lastation allies facing the front, while the Loweeans cover the rear. All of us are prone and are positioned such that we can see each door, but we're some distance away meaning that we can just shoot the enemies down if they enter the room.
It's the best tactic we've got, and I only hope that we can stay here and they'll just come here in reasonable numbers and we can just pick them off, then quickly get out of here, though somehow I doubt it and somehow I have a feeling that their intention will be to buy their allies more time so that they can bring in massive numbers, that will force us to surrender. This does not look good at all and we need to get out of here and quick, but how to do so? I guess we'll have to see what happens for now, while we're safely in position. I only hope that we don't get caught while trying to reload, that's why I advised my friends to just burst fire and take it in turns firing against the enemy.
It's not long before the enemy does in fact come into our area and as soon as we see them, we shoot them down quite quickly with just a few bullets from our guns, this happens for a short amount of time, and it pleases me to see us defeating them this way, but annoyingly and sadly, they get wise to this and stop coming in. No doubt they are doing the same tactic as us, and I reckon that there must be loads of them in the other room. I sigh at this situation as it's such a big pity that this nightmare means that we don't have the visions to see through the wall, so we can just shoot through and wipe them out that way.
Even though it looks doubtful, I have a look around to see if there is anything in here that I could use to my advantage.
Ah hello, I see a hole in the wall on one side and it looks quite big, maybe if I can go through it might lead me to somewhere, though then again it might not, still it's worth having a look through the hole to see if it does. Well I guess here goes; I suppose it's better than nothing.
I quickly get there but unfortunately it does not lead to anywhere at all, and it's really dark in here. Aww nuts I guess I'll have to think of something else, this isn't good as we need to get out and quick, but it's too well guarded, hang on, there is the stairs, that is if the surrounding enemies aren't guarding them and somehow they can be pushed back, then perhaps we can avoid them and just deal with the enemies upstairs and fight our way to the exit, and then get to the van and get out of here, hopefully then there won't be any more pursuers, though knowing our luck there'll probably will be some, but it's worth a try in any case.
The first thing is to ensure that we can get to the stairs without any enemies in our way, and so before I do anything else I discuss with my brave allies fighting here my plan, such that we clear the enemies outside so we can access the stairs, while 2 of us from each group go up the stairs and then once up there, the rest of us go up the stairs and when we're all upstairs, two of us will go left and the other two will go right and fight our way through, until we reach the top of the stairs and then finally we'll go from there.
I like to think it's a good plan and I hope it works because it's all I've got, which is frustrating as I like to have back up plans, so I feel like I'm not desperate or worse defeated which is something I wish to avoid at all costs.
Ok, I head over to the edge of the door so I'm not exposed before I shoot my gun while hiding in cover, spraying and praying for one clip if you will to see if there are any enemies waiting outside this door, and if there are I'm hoping very much that they'll be dead. After firing my magazine, I reload my gun and aim it before peeking over so slightly.
Initially I thought that the coast was clear, and I was about to take the stairs and motion my allies to get into the next position, though maybe it's just as well that I didn't as I suddenly see a few enemy soldiers approach me. I shoot them down but it is concerning to find that I could have been killed, and I have not exactly pushed them back away from the stairs just yet. There must still be a good number of them, but then again this might work better because if they intend to guard the stairs at all costs, and if I can wipe them out as they try and defend it, then it will be even quicker than taking the stairs, hmmmm.
Oddly enough the enemy sends a few of their soldiers to rush in and shoot us down, though they get mowed down fairly quickly even though it was a close call, which is quite alarming for us to say the least, especially with all the close calls we've been having. Still at this rate it will mean that perhaps these enemies will fall down in no time, which is good for us because then we can get out of here without the fear of more reinforcements. Come on enemy grunts just die and get it over with, you might as well being as how poorly Neptune treats you.
Sadly though they do not come, and maybe they've resorted to guarding the stairs or perhaps the entrance to their room, but I can't just barge in or else I'll end up dying and that will prove to be very disastrous. I guess I'll just have to try and shoot any enemies that are guarding the stairs because then if there are any guards left, I can shoot more of the enemies down, and if not, I can get to the stairs and put my other plan into action, either way I'm happy as long as I can avoid getting shot down by the enemy.
I shoot from cover again, ensuring that I cover as wide an area as possible even though I don't have many bullets to fire and they get used up pretty quickly, hoping that any of the soldiers waiting to attack there will be killed by my fire. I reload as quickly as I can and while making sure that I'm nowhere near the stairs, I move to a position so that I can see clearly the room on the other side of the stairs, without entering the room itself, as no doubt they are positioning themselves so that as soon as we enter we'll be shot down, just like we're doing to them.
I move into position carefully so that I don't get shot and oddly enough there aren't any enemies there, they must be more cautious now since we've gotten a good number of them right now. I then give the signal for my Lastation friends to lie prone outside the door to where I am, and once they're in position I shoot from cover this time at potential enemies at the top of the stairs, and the sound of the bodies of enemy soldiers falling down the stairs confirms that there were enemies there.
I finish firing and I reload my gun, but my gut tells me that I ought to retreat back as I have a feeling that they'll be coming down and shoot us in retaliation, and indeed they do but they quickly get mowed down by the four of us. The thing is that as we shoot the enemies down, I find that although we're eliminating them slowly but surely, it's too slow and if the enemy reinforcements are just going to wait for us as well as for more reinforcements, then we need to get moving before even more enemy reinforcements show up. For me it's not a question of will we get out, it's will we do so before more enemy reinforcements show up.
After reloading my gun I motion for Stealth to come with me and cautiously we head for the stairs while remaining crouched and keeping our guns aimed up. These stairs I do not like as I feel that they could break at any moment, or that we could fall over because of how uneven they are. I really hate the noise of the creaky stairs because we're effectively giving our position away, and in fact every now and then, a few enemies with pistols approach us and try and shoot us down, but we're much too quick for them.
Eventually when we're close to the top of the stairs, I call for Noire and Uni to head to our location, while both myself and Stealth watch to see if there are any more enemies who wish to attack us. From this point to when Noire and Uni are with us, there hasn't been a single enemy coming towards us, no doubt they have found that trying to attack us has resulted in their deaths, and so instead they wait for us to come to them, they're probably hoping that they can avenge the deaths of their fallen comrades.
We split ourselves into three groups with myself and Noire heading right, Stealth heading to the left, and Uni covering the stairs just in case they do in fact decide to attack, even though I'm not sure that they will. With ourselves split up myself and Noire then shoot from cover in the room, in hopes that we can shoot a few of the enemies hiding there. Unlike before they shoot back though because of us hiding they don't hit us but with them shooting at the bricks, we're forced to move down a couple of stairs being as how I'm deeply concerned that they could still kill us from the possibility of their bullets penetrating through the bricks.
They stop firing and so myself and Noire fire at them again, but they don't appear to be firing at us back this time, either they're dead or they're waiting to ambush us. Either way after reloading we cautiously head into the room to see if we have in fact defeated the enemies there, and after looking there are in fact no more enemies, they've all been shot down by us both.
This is good yet although I've already seen this in the ground floor; it's shocking to know how the conditions upstairs are ever so grim, with the floor boards being old, and broken. There is no furniture here, and I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like sleeping on this floor, which I'm certain they have to at the extreme risk of the floor falling down and them falling to their deaths. How are they supposed to sleep here, or even have to put up with going up those uneven stairs?
For now though there's nothing I can do but to fight our way out, and at least now with myself and Noire clearing this room, it's just a matter of all of us finishing off, meeting up, and then making our way to the vans and escape.
Before the rest of my team do get to finish off, myself and Noire get in position such that any enemies in the next room that dare attack us will get shot, while any enemies that try and head for our position from the ground floor will get hit, as I have a feeling that the enemies downstairs will hear us upstairs and will be sure to intercept us. In fact more enemies try and attack both myself and Noire though like before they get shot down, despite how there has been numerous close shaves there and all of these close shaves have not been good for our nerves at all.
Eventually like before they back off when they like the others, learn that attacking us will do them no good, but I keep being reminded of how it's only a matter of time before more reinforcements will show up. Soon though I realise that there is something else to take into consideration, which is that the enemy are sure to pursue us if we take one of the vans. Hmmm, do we defeat the enemies here at the risk of more reinforcements, or do we just get out as soon as possible resulting in the enemies potentially pursuing us?
At least there is some good news in that now all of us are together and the areas they've fought through are now clear. Hmmm I suppose now's the time to make a decision regarding our next move, but soon I have an idea, which I tell to all of my allies as quietly as possible, and soon afterwards we cautiously head down the stairs, while aiming our weapons in case any enemy decides to show themselves.
When we're at the bottom section of the stairs, we wait as no doubt there'll be enemies waiting at the doors, and so we go up to the door and shoot from cover, so that we can wipe out any enemies who are watching the door. We do this for quite a while, being sure that there won't be any more enemies to shoot at us when we make our quick getaway.
After a short while of this shooting, myself and my Lastation allies quickly run to the exit and when outside, I look to see if there are more enemy reinforcements. Ah good there are no more reinforcements coming from the trucks, but there might be some more foot soldiers coming from the buildings on the other side of the street, and so while the rest of my group keep an eye out for more troops, I shoot at the tyres of all of the vans except for one which is to be the one we will use to aid us in our escape.
With the Loweeans giving plenty of covering fire for us, they shouldn't even know that we are out sabotaging their vans, and when we give the signal, the Loweeans head out and as soon as they do, we head in the van and have the same seating arrangements as before.
There doesn't seem to be any more trucks heading our way either, this is excellent most excellent and even though I'm certain that there are still a good number of troops in those buildings, they won't be able to pursue us.
From the looks of this, now it's just a simple matter of driving out of here and to the location of where the newspaper says, so we can do what it says and finally wake up from this accursed nightmare. I like to think that by the time there are new enemies in sight, they won't recognise us and so they won't engage us, I hope. It would be nice to finally get a break before we get to the destination, but we'll have to see and even if the worst does in fact happen and that there'll be more reinforcements pursuing us like before, we'll be ready and we'll survive like before.
With this assurance that we've seen the last of these sorts of enemies, Rom drives off while we read the newspaper that we've picked up from the train station.
I feel ever so relaxed now that we've finally reached a point where we don't have to fight anymore even if it's just temporary, and it's amazing how we've made it in one piece, not a single one of us has been shot despite all of the opportunities that they had, it's incredible, but we're not out of the woods yet and somehow I have a feeling that what we're going to face will be much worse than what we've already been through, even though it's been absolutely dreadful with the amount of soldiers and coming up with strategies to defeat them, not to mention the vehicles and the chopper, but there should be no trouble between here and our next destination, hopefully at least.
"You ok guys?" I say to them all before nodding their heads and praising me for my successful planning.
"Thanks a lot for the compliments my friends, you have done ever so well and I highly doubt my plans would be successful had I not had capable soldiers and friends like yourselves to carry them out. We must not give in even if our bodies demand it. What the newspaper will say I'm certain will be tough, but we will get through this and we will beat Neptune again and again, until one day we'll defeat her for good." I say to them.
I must say it's one thing for it to give me the location, which is in some woods in which to get there we just have to keep going on this road, but it is rather interesting to find that it gives us lots of information regarding what we have to do when we get there, though it does alarm us all after reading what it says.
Apparently Neptune has developed a nuclear dooms day device which is more than capable of destroying every living thing on this planet in this dream, though for all I know it could actually be in the planet that we live in. This is not good and something tells me that stopping this will not be easy, but at least once it's stopped we can wake up again.
A nuclear bomb capable of destroying every living thing on the planet? What about friendly fire or has she somehow managed to bypass that physics, and why would she want to do this, does she not realise that it will take out her people just as much as it would with ours? Oh wait this is Neptune we're talking about, absolutely selfish, cares about not a single person but herself, she doesn't care if anyone else is happy, fed and entertained as long as she is. How dreadful, still I must not worry about the stakes, we just need to keep calm and defeat them, which I'm certain we'll do.
The thing is that this task of ours will be split into 3 sections and the first one will involve us finding the codes to disarm the nuclear core, which is to be in a bunker in the woods which is booby trapped. I doubt it will be easy and the thing is it can only be done by 6 of us being dropped off outside on foot, as well as us using weapons that they provide which will be 6 SA80s with 1 clip of 100 rounds in each one. Hmmm I have a feeling that this looks quite familiar, it reminds me of a paintball game show I watched a long time ago, it was fantastic.
With this memory playing through in my mind, my gut tells me that we'll be facing an army of enemy troops as well as 3 of the Planeptune villains who have tried in vain to defeat us in our nightmares. While I'm sure the troops will have semi-automatic rifles with limited clips, the main villains will be armed with similar weaponry to us, and we must be careful as even though we have survived this long, I have a feeling that our luck is about to run out especially with how we'll now be in the woods meaning that the enemy will be all over the place.
I worry about that idea of our allies dying because what will happen? Will it mean that they will be dead when we wake up, can they be revived? I like to think so but my gut says that I cannot be certain this time around. Oh no, oh no I don't think I can bear the idea of losing any of my friends, they're all brilliant and a lot of people rely on my friends to guide them, to lead them, to care for them not to mention to rely on in their time of need.
I'm certain that these thoughts run through the minds of my allies as well, the difficulty of the situation, the likelihood of us losing and dying, as we are getting closer and closer to the destination.
Oddly enough the nightmare we're in is such that our guns have changed to SA80s with 100 bullets inside. While I find myself thinking about the bleakness of the situation, a new line of thinking runs through my mind, that of optimism and opportunity, optimism that we can succeed like before, and opportunity that we can defeat and own Neptune and her goons once more.
I look at the faces of my allies and they are full of confidence, determination and pride in who we are, and what we can do, as we have huge sincere smiles on our faces which are wonderful to see, and it's brilliant how Noire flirts with me with much pride as she smiles. We all place our left hands out in a pile like a team that's ready before lifting them out and yelling with pride.
Oddly enough I then hear an emotionless voice make an announcement.
"Weapons live in 5….." The voice says.
Ah we must be nearby, I know we need to get out of the van and find cover, and I can only hope that we don't get ambushed as we get out of the van. I have no fear inside me but adrenaline and determination, as I realise that it's best to only worry about the bad stuff when it happens, and at least right now we have a chance to stop it, a chance which I'm certain we will do our best in succeeding in this tragic but necessary and hopefully rewarding task.
"4…..3…2…1…game commences." The voice says.
It is then the 6 of us get out of the van with our SA80s in our hands. Come on Neptune do your worst, throw your booby traps, your grunts, your special troops, all of it at us but we'll do our best and we will defeat you no matter how many of us are left, be it just one of us, or all six.
I say this to myself as I get my bearings of this place and come up with a strategy to defeat the enemy, as well as to ensure that we can win on 3 occasions so we can defeat Neptune, wake up as well as to more importantly defuse that deadly nuclear device, with which the moronic mad Neptune intends to use to kill us all, though I'm certain that she will survive that weapon along with her moronic makers. OK let's do this for ourselves, for our allies and for our future.