DeadlyEevee
DeadlyEevee
(The Following is a cut portion of a person focused story.)
Chapter 1
A Guest
In the ruins of an empty place where old 1970 style cars lay dead in the streets, strange monsters lurked the abandoned buildings and vacant streets. The city itself was now only a ghost as well as the vast array of people that live there. The people had been consumed by some white globs with black liquid running through them. One of the last people ran across the street of old State Z, province 15. The city had been quite large but now it was run down and neglected due to no repair being done on the buildings.
The only truly living person there kept hidden to the shadows wielding her gun. Her allies were in State W. Ater knew that there was something important out there she had been sent to find. T units had proved ineffective and were easily turned against each other by whatever these monsters were so she didn’t have a single idea of what exactly she could do against one of them. She caught her breath as the building of her mission came into view. It was an old, rundown Local broadcasting station. It had been set up in the middle of the state for convenience sake. She wondered to herself what exactly was important in the old building. She was a soldier in the end though and had orders to follow. The only equipment she had was webbing with several magazines and a second clip, a sidearm in its holster on her left hip.
She glanced at the building from her spot in the shadows before making a quick dash from it toward the side entrance door, quickly whipping out a little device that silently unlocked the door. She slid inside quickly and the night vision goggles flicked on due to the dark interior. It lit up the insides as it was bright in there. She absentmindedly locked the door behind her as she scanned the area. She spotted one of the monsters covered in the filthy white orbs and shot it. The Monster burned alive as the Uranium tipped. Well, technically they were a synthetic gel with radioactive molecule tipped bullets but it was faster to just call the Uranium tipped bullets Ater thought in a matter of a few seconds.
Ater moved to the next door after clearing the area, pressing her somewhat thin body up against the side of the door. She exhaled and slowly opened the door entering the area. She dropped them before they could make a noise. She scanned the room and slowly entered, being cautious this time around. She spotted the basement door and rushed to it, pressing her body up against it. She whipped out the blocky device again and unlocked the door. Ater slowly slipped down the staircase, closing the basement door behind her, her nerves on the edge as she descended. Her feet reached the large basement floor and scanned her surroundings. Then she spotted her target and let out a groan which was a mixture between annoyance, anger, and general discomfort all rolled into one.
A man roughly the same age as her occupied a small room blocked by three different laser walls. Why exactly was this dude behind so much security? Why did HQ get a message from SC informing them to go retrieve this person? She didn’t know and she really didn’t like it. She eyed the old blocky computer that seemed like she could bash in four skulls with and it’d still be fully functional. She sat down at it keeping her rifle at her side and began working as fast and as silently as she could to shut down those laser walls. She rubbed her face before checking her watch for the time, continuing her disarming of the last two security walls. What felt like ten minutes seemed to be more like twenty.
She quickly got up and rushed into the cell with her gun raised and at the ready, checking behind her repeatedly. She ziptied this strange person’s wrists and ankles together before putting him over her shoulders and carefully slipped out of the cell, checking the corners. She slowly made her way up the stairs and entered the front lobby. Five more of those monsters had gathered there and she dropped them quickly. They didn’t have a chance of fighting her like John’s Waynes enemies had no chance. She exited the same way she had come in moving as fast as she could which wasn’t as fast due to the unconscious guy on her back. She slid into an alleyway when she heard a loud screech erupt from the old broadcasting tower. She hoped none of those monsters would spot her on the second leg of the journey. She reloaded her gun, sliding the empty mag into her web to replace the absent space of the full magazine.
Ater made it back to her Jeep she had been given to use on this mission. She opened the door as she checked her surroundings and tossed the unconscious dude onto the floor of the car as she ran around the side of and hopped into the driver’s seat. She started the car, the engine silently starting. She checked in the back and smiled as it was empty and she began driving the car along the road slowly with its tires rolled along the pavement road as she slid down so her head was the only thing peeking over the dashboard. The roads were somewhat abandoned and she was using both the paper map she had, a motion detector, and a person detector to navigate the road slowly. She had to stop and start the car repeatedly as enemy tanks or infantry rolled or walked by her car not thinking anything of it.
She had made it out of the city and onto the somewhat better kept roads allowing her to drive a bit faster. Now all she had to do was make it the extraction zone in State Y, province 15. This was harder than it looked as she had to be there on time. Her extraction was the old metro station in the big city in State Y. It was the only viable underground station still viable for piloting a Metro Train to. She wasn’t given an amount of time they could stay but she hoped she had ten extra minutes. She wasn’t counting on it but a lady could hope. She looked out her right side window and out at the grass field where she could see a white obelisk off in the distance sticking up into the sky. A yellowish white orb grew off of the top of the obelisk, red fleshy vines wrapping around the marble obelisk.
Ater sighed as those monsters made the world a living nightmare. She sighed as the jeep whirred along the road. She looked out the left side of her window and eyed the small town she drove past where four yellowish white heavy tanks rested. They were enemy heavy tanks, creations that didn’t have a crew to speak of. Their mere appearance disturbed her just by looking at her. She left them behind her as she hoped she hadn’t gotten unlucky and disturbed those living tanks, hoping they’d just stay sleeping. She repeatedly checked her mirrors and sighed in a bit of relief as nothing happened.
A hand landed on her right shoulder and she let out a shriek as she whipped out her pistol and stuck it up against the owner of the hand. Her mind registered that the stranger she had risked her life to save had finally woken up and had been brain dead enough to scare her half to death. He took his hand off her and backed up a little.
“Kind of a nasty way to say good morning, Don’t you think? By the way, where are we going? I don’t recognise where we are.” The stranger said friendly enough as Ater turned her attention back to the road quickly.
“Sorry. I didn’t think you were awake and we’re kind of in a place where everyone wants to kill us. We’re heading to an old Metro station in the next province over. That’s all you need to know. Something showed up in Province Z roughly a year ago. Whatever these monsters are, they aren’t friendly. As for you. Any idea why someone at the top of the command chain sent me to retrieve you?” Ater said as he smiled at her and slid into the passenger seat.
“Not really. I know I was tossed in a sort of a jail cell where you probably found me sobering up but that’s about it. At least I think it was a jail cell but I’m not too sure. How are you doing though?” The stranger asked. Ater looked at him blankly and rolled her eyes as she grumbled in annoyance.
“I am fine but you talking is getting on my nerves. My nerves are already on the edge being behind enemy lines as we currently are.” Ater said as she gave him a quick glare. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and lay back in the seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard. Ater drove on in silence as she rubbed her nose a little. It was getting dark and the outline of the big city her extraction point was in was getting closer. She pulled off to the side of the road with her gun raised and checked the duct tape over the lights of the jeep before climbing back into the driver’s seat and continuing on her drive with the light blocked by the duct tape, her goggles being much safer to drive with. The stranger watched her as she continued the drive, following her orders to hide in front of the seat in the passenger's side. He obliged as Ater drove the car as she sat on the edge of the seat. He realized he had been in more danger than he had originally thought he had been in.
Ater scanned the rooftops wearily and eyed the outlines of four legged creatures with yellowish-white skin with a main body that out shells as big as her entire arm to knock out aircraft. She could clearly imagine how the creatures looked. The cloudy sky was lit up as a few of the creatures woke up and projected light up into the sky, the light beams a disturbing yellowish. She brought her car to a stop and turned it off before ducking under the dashboard and gripping her rifle. He had no idea why she ducked but that was soon solved when the ground rumbled as he could hear tanks pass by just in front of her vehicle with the sound of marching boots. The next twenty minutes slowed down to what felt like an agonizing thirty minutes.
Ater waited ten minutes after the procession passed by before sliding back up and turning her car back on. She drove to the old Metro station slowly making it to the old parking lot. She parked in the middle of the road and flicked the vehicle off. She quickly scanned her surroundings. He cracked his door open slowly as she did the same and made a mad dash for the entrance to the Metro station. He struggled to stay caught up to her as she rushed to the entrance, covering him as he caught up to her. She pulled him inside and pressed him against a wall as she pushed her body up against the wall as well.
Ten humanoid figures had entered the parking lot with their guns scanning the area. They were enemy troops and she had kept her night vision off so she didn’t have to see them in any great detail. She checked the time on her watch. Five minutes left. She pulled him along behind her as she wove her way through the large station hopping over obstacles and making her ways down onto metro train platform nine. She checked her watch. One minute left. Then she heard inaudible words come from behind her and she ducked behind a pillar pulling him behind it just missing getting the both of them shot. At the top of the dark stares to the platform the enemy stood. She flicked on her night vision and returned fire. Her eyes widened and ducked behind cover just as bullets bounced off the pillar with a twang.
Her eyes spotted the two hostiles which descended the platform across from her and quickly aimed at them and fired. The two soldiers barely had time to fire as they were killed instantly by the bullets hitting them. She stuck her gun out of the pillar and fired it at the two still at the top of the staircase not caring if she landed her shots. The two enemies begun dumping rounds at her pinning her behind cover as friendly artillery began tearing up the old Metro station upstairs, the relieving noise of friendly explosions making her somewhat happy.
Ater grabbed a grenade and rolled it to the pillar on her right, shooting the hostile as it leapt on top of the grenade. Its body ignited and turned to dust as she ducked back into cover avoiding the bullets. The last hostile popped out of cover to charge her just as the flashbang went off. She could hear it screech and he popped out of cover and put two bullets into it. It collapsed and wheeled in pain as it slowly burned alive unlike its ally. He looked shocked as she dropped to her knees as two infantry rushed down the stairs and shot at two more hostiles as they emptied their mags at her. She wasn’t hit as they went down making sure the other half of the content of their magazines didn’t hit her.
“Are you hit?” Ater asked him as she quickly scanned the other platforms, her heart racing. She quickly reloaded her rifle and forced herself to keep her heartbeat calm as she quickly checked him.
“No. I am good.” He replied quickly as he crouched behind the cover. Ater dropped three more hostiles who were coming down another set of stairs before they got the chance to even see her. The train came screeching into the station right on time, the doors screeching open. Ater waved at him and he rushed toward the train as two soldiers gave him cover from the train windows. Ater followed after and as soon as she entered the station the doors were slammed shut and the underground pulled out of the train with another screech as the two were finally in safety.
“Hey. Thanks for making sure I’m alive. That was frightening. I don’t know my name but what’s yours?” He asked and held out his hand. She grunted as she shook his hand.
“You can call me Ater. I am a part of Braivian Special forces, Unit 5A. Glad to meet you.” Ater said as she smiled at him. It wasn’t a genuine smile as Ater couldn’t genuinely smile anymore. Her fake smile was the only smile she could give.He shook her hand and smiled happily at her as the train screeched along the railroad line as she looked around the train. There were two other ladies in the train similar to Ater except one had blue with blue eyes and the other had red hair with red eyes. He guessed they were wearing contact lenses.
They saluted him as they welcomed back at Ater with a smile and a hug after personally checking her over for any marks before checking him for wounds. Both had managed to be unharmed despite the previous state of harm they had been in. The three ladies with colorful hair hugged, seeming to be very good friends. Eventually all three looked at him out of curiosity.
“So what exactly is so special about you that Ater fetched you from whatever dark, musty, and stinky pit you came from.” The lady with blue hair said as she squinted at him like he was some sort of bug.
“I really don’t know in all honesty. I did just wake up not too long and I can’t remember much of my past either. Anyway, May I ask who you are? I don’t particularly like people being rude to me and all.” He asked as he stuck out his hand to her though she didn’t accept his hand. SHe crossed her arms as she stared at him like he had just said something offensive.
“I’m Blau. That’s all you need to know.” She said as she stared at him somewhat angrily. She crossed her arms before walking over to a seat in the carriage next to a boarded up window. The train shuddered along as her friend sighed in embarrassment for her friend.
“Pardon my Sister. I’m Jaune. At least you can call me that. It’s more of my codename.” Jaune said as she smiled at him and grabbed his hand and shook it heartily. Ater rolled her eyes as she left the wagon and crossed into the next one.
“Well it is very nice to meet you. If you don’t mind, can you please tell me what is happening. I have no idea and from what I saw out there it didn’t look like they were very peaceful either.” He asked Jaune as he returned her bright, joyful smile.
“Basically that. We don’t really know where these things really came from, only that they are hostile and are very intelligent. I think most of what you were fighting were pure units. When this monster infects a person and takes over their body the resulting is often sluggish and is used more as cannon fodder. We had sent in a T-unit but pure confusion erupted. Still don’t know why or how that is possible. I think we can still push them back and exterminate them. Ater. Well I think she doubts our retreat has stopped and has just halted.” Jaune said as she smiled at him, her expression of joy putting him in a good mood against his will.
Ater came back grumbling and whispered something into Blau’s ear before crossing the short distance of the train carriage and whispering into Jaune’s ear. She never did tell him what was happening and had chosen to leave him in the dark but Jaune, the kind soul she was, told him they’d be taking the train all the way back to the capital. They weren’t told why but all of them got ready to settle in for the night. Ater offered to take on the first watch. He figured the security of the subway system which seemed to stretch from one end of enemy territory to another was in doubt.
He ended up finding a nice enough place to sleep on the cushioned seat of a booth in the corner. Ater downed a mug of dark brown liquid and seemed to jolt awake as Blau laid down on the seat she had sat down on. He supposed it wasn’t so bad to end up with these three lovely ladies who looked to be as old as him or at least as tall as him. He wasn’t exactly tired at the moment and sat back as he debated to himself exactly who he wanted to talk to as he still had a few questions he had left to ask. He watched as Jaune and Blau fetched their military issue blankets from their packs and put them on as Ater left the carriage to supposedly refill her mug.
He silently stood up and followed her out of the room not too long after entering the other cabin, crossing the slight space between the train carriages carefully. The other train carriage looked like it had been repurposed to serve as a mobile fortress and to hold a slight bar in it as well. He closed the door behind him and walked up to Ater slowly.
“Hey. Thanks for making sure I got out of there alive. I really appreciate it even though you were just following orders. I am curious though. How do we know those things you fought won’t follow us?” He asked as he joined Ater at the only appliance at the bar. She smiled as the machine spewed out its coffee into her metal mug.
“Simple. Each metro tunnel has flood proof tunnels we still control. They were closed as soon as we left that station. You can’t cut through them due to how thick they are and it is kind of useless to go around them. That’d take a lot of time and I’m not sure if our enemy is patient or not.” Ater said solemnly as she sat down on a stool and took a sip out of her coffee. He eyed her curiously wondering what was up with her.
“Well I guess those flood doors are nice. I suppose that is a somewhat decent comforter. Anyway I am glad you got out of there safely which I am glad for. I know as a soldier I figure you’re planning on being killed.” He said as he watched her carefully, watching her different quirks carefully. Ater seemed to always stand up straight whenever she was tense but now, when she was being peaceful, she leaned on her right leg. She seemed to hide her contentment behind a shroud of unmoving coldness toward him.
“I suppose. I still find it extremely concerning. My nerve says that those won’t hold or they’re planning for something. It all just sort of unnerves me.” Ater said as she sat down on a stool and took another sip of her coffee. He sat there in silence as he patiently watched tiredness creep onto her face, her body relaxing into a more calm demeanor. Ater’s eyes watered a little as she smiled from the sip of coffee as it warmed her throat.
“I take it you’re on edge from that. I do have to say thank you again. I don’t know what would have happened if they had gotten into wherever I was being held. I am curious though. Where did you find me by chance?” He said as he leaned on the counter and dazed off into the reflection of the coffee machine.
“I suppose that I should tell you. I found you in the basement of a radio broadcasting station. It’s strange that you didn’t know where you were.” Ater said, her fingers wrapped around the entirety of the mug she was using to drink coffee from. He simply shrugged. The only thing he remembered was that he was being arrested by cops for being drunk, possibly while driving. He wasn’t sure seeing as he was here and that he didn’t know if a car could be driven from the backseat. He shrugged as he thought he must have been crazy.
“Anyway. I better be heading back. I still want to talk with your friends back there before they fall asleep. I figure I may be stuck with you for a while knowing how slow bureaucracies are.” He said as he walked back to the old train car and opened the door as Ater didn’t say anything at all to him as he left. He crossed the small gap and entered the passenger car and slipped over to Jaune who was the only one still awake. He sat down across from her on the floor, grunting as he sat down. He sighed as he smiled at her and she grunted.
The two sat across from each other in silence as she looked at the door with the rifle resting on her shoulder. He eyed her figure a little and thought she could have any guy she wanted if she had wanted to as she was beautiful. Though she was dirty and extremely tired and exhausted. He slid backwards towards a seat and rested his back up against it.
“I take you’re the quiet one of the group? Maybe the deep, brooding one? I mean Ater liked talking a lot but you seem like the walking stereotype of a silent one.” He said, joking a little. She simply grunted a little at him as she continued looking at the door.
“Or perhaps you’re silently horny.” He joked and he let out a laugh as she shot him a glare. He shook his head and joked a little in amusement. He sighed as he clearly wasn’t going to get in any conversations with her and he stood back up before moving over to the booth and laying down. He tried sleeping on the cushioned seat and listening to the rattling of the train car but just couldn’t sleep steadily. He just couldn’t sleep though and heard Ater came into the train car and wake up Blau. He supposed they thought he was asleep.
“Got any information from headquarters on him by chance?” Blau asked groggily, keeping her voice low as she wiped at her eyes a little. Ater made a grunt as she sat down.
“No. Just checked in. They made sure to inform me how important he was. Not much more than that.” Ater said quietly as he could hear her slide down and lay against the train car booth as Blau slowly stood up and cracked her fingers. He grumbled a little as he got up as soon as he heard Blau leave the train wagon and heard Ater fall asleep. He went to the other door opposite of the train car Blau had entered and looked through it. He quietly slid the door open before slipping over to the unknown train car and opened it. He closed both as he entered the new train car and looked out a few of the windows as the train rattled towards wherever it was going. He eyed the several loads of boxes in the center of the train car as well.
The boxes were locked up with heavy padlocks as well and he knew he wouldn’t be able to open them anytime soon. He sighed none the less as he couldn’t fix his curiosity. He looked out the window of the train and grumbled in annoyance and watched the metro tube wall fly by. He wondered what exactly this headquarters looked like as the train cars rattled on. He paused as he eyed a poster.
It was an advertisement for some western which he thought was a bit odd. The woman on the poster looked like a happy Ater dressed up like a typical western antagonist with a black hat and poncho and a squint that was barely scary or intimidating. Blau came up behind him and eyed the poster with a sad smile as she eyed the old thing while resting the gun against her shoulder.
“I see you’ve found an old poster.I almost forgot these existed. It’s kind of nice seeing one again, you know.” Blau said as she smiled at it as if she was recalling a simpler day. He nodded along though he had no idea what exactly was going on.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this but I think our world leaders are going through something. I think they may split but I am not sure. Honestly, I hope they don’t.” Blau said as she worried a little at the matter, her mood dropping as she eyed the thing. He paused as he didn’t know what to make of it as he scratched at his chin.
“I don’t think that’ll happen. After all you do need two people to run a government effectively, right? Preferably there are more to run it as well. Either Way, It’s not like I know where I am so you’ll have to tell me where we are.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I believe this was train number five. Old train, good train. The reliable kind you know.” Blau said as she huffed before sitting down on the bed, noticing the train slow down as it neared its destination. The wheels grinded to a screeching noise. He grunted as the train slid to a stop with a screech as it reached its destination at an abandoned train station. Two soldiers with blacked out visors and gray uniforms were sitting on the edge of some military crate talking to each other barely only noticing the train. He sighed as he joined the others as Blau raised an eyebrow. He followed Blau back into the middle cabin of the train station and joined the other two as they disembarked the train. Ater walked up to one of the soldiers and began conversing to them in German quickly before coming back with a reply.
“Rest of the train tunnel is closed. We have roughly eight other provinces to move through. Apparently the areas have been sealed off from enemy bombardment. I don’t know when an engineer will get out here soon. I hope they get it open soon.” Ater said as she slid her gun down in front of her and in a ready to fire position. Blau bit her lip a little and grumbled in a bout of worry while Jaune sighed as she looked deadpan at the staircase and began walking towards it. She seemed to be more the one to carry one while the other two tagged along. He grabbed a pistol from one of the crates and followed after the trio.
He watched as Blau and Jaun begun talking to each other in German and he couldn’t understand them as their boots thudded against the ground.
Chapter 1
A Guest
In the ruins of an empty place where old 1970 style cars lay dead in the streets, strange monsters lurked the abandoned buildings and vacant streets. The city itself was now only a ghost as well as the vast array of people that live there. The people had been consumed by some white globs with black liquid running through them. One of the last people ran across the street of old State Z, province 15. The city had been quite large but now it was run down and neglected due to no repair being done on the buildings.
The only truly living person there kept hidden to the shadows wielding her gun. Her allies were in State W. Ater knew that there was something important out there she had been sent to find. T units had proved ineffective and were easily turned against each other by whatever these monsters were so she didn’t have a single idea of what exactly she could do against one of them. She caught her breath as the building of her mission came into view. It was an old, rundown Local broadcasting station. It had been set up in the middle of the state for convenience sake. She wondered to herself what exactly was important in the old building. She was a soldier in the end though and had orders to follow. The only equipment she had was webbing with several magazines and a second clip, a sidearm in its holster on her left hip.
She glanced at the building from her spot in the shadows before making a quick dash from it toward the side entrance door, quickly whipping out a little device that silently unlocked the door. She slid inside quickly and the night vision goggles flicked on due to the dark interior. It lit up the insides as it was bright in there. She absentmindedly locked the door behind her as she scanned the area. She spotted one of the monsters covered in the filthy white orbs and shot it. The Monster burned alive as the Uranium tipped. Well, technically they were a synthetic gel with radioactive molecule tipped bullets but it was faster to just call the Uranium tipped bullets Ater thought in a matter of a few seconds.
Ater moved to the next door after clearing the area, pressing her somewhat thin body up against the side of the door. She exhaled and slowly opened the door entering the area. She dropped them before they could make a noise. She scanned the room and slowly entered, being cautious this time around. She spotted the basement door and rushed to it, pressing her body up against it. She whipped out the blocky device again and unlocked the door. Ater slowly slipped down the staircase, closing the basement door behind her, her nerves on the edge as she descended. Her feet reached the large basement floor and scanned her surroundings. Then she spotted her target and let out a groan which was a mixture between annoyance, anger, and general discomfort all rolled into one.
A man roughly the same age as her occupied a small room blocked by three different laser walls. Why exactly was this dude behind so much security? Why did HQ get a message from SC informing them to go retrieve this person? She didn’t know and she really didn’t like it. She eyed the old blocky computer that seemed like she could bash in four skulls with and it’d still be fully functional. She sat down at it keeping her rifle at her side and began working as fast and as silently as she could to shut down those laser walls. She rubbed her face before checking her watch for the time, continuing her disarming of the last two security walls. What felt like ten minutes seemed to be more like twenty.
She quickly got up and rushed into the cell with her gun raised and at the ready, checking behind her repeatedly. She ziptied this strange person’s wrists and ankles together before putting him over her shoulders and carefully slipped out of the cell, checking the corners. She slowly made her way up the stairs and entered the front lobby. Five more of those monsters had gathered there and she dropped them quickly. They didn’t have a chance of fighting her like John’s Waynes enemies had no chance. She exited the same way she had come in moving as fast as she could which wasn’t as fast due to the unconscious guy on her back. She slid into an alleyway when she heard a loud screech erupt from the old broadcasting tower. She hoped none of those monsters would spot her on the second leg of the journey. She reloaded her gun, sliding the empty mag into her web to replace the absent space of the full magazine.
Ater made it back to her Jeep she had been given to use on this mission. She opened the door as she checked her surroundings and tossed the unconscious dude onto the floor of the car as she ran around the side of and hopped into the driver’s seat. She started the car, the engine silently starting. She checked in the back and smiled as it was empty and she began driving the car along the road slowly with its tires rolled along the pavement road as she slid down so her head was the only thing peeking over the dashboard. The roads were somewhat abandoned and she was using both the paper map she had, a motion detector, and a person detector to navigate the road slowly. She had to stop and start the car repeatedly as enemy tanks or infantry rolled or walked by her car not thinking anything of it.
She had made it out of the city and onto the somewhat better kept roads allowing her to drive a bit faster. Now all she had to do was make it the extraction zone in State Y, province 15. This was harder than it looked as she had to be there on time. Her extraction was the old metro station in the big city in State Y. It was the only viable underground station still viable for piloting a Metro Train to. She wasn’t given an amount of time they could stay but she hoped she had ten extra minutes. She wasn’t counting on it but a lady could hope. She looked out her right side window and out at the grass field where she could see a white obelisk off in the distance sticking up into the sky. A yellowish white orb grew off of the top of the obelisk, red fleshy vines wrapping around the marble obelisk.
Ater sighed as those monsters made the world a living nightmare. She sighed as the jeep whirred along the road. She looked out the left side of her window and eyed the small town she drove past where four yellowish white heavy tanks rested. They were enemy heavy tanks, creations that didn’t have a crew to speak of. Their mere appearance disturbed her just by looking at her. She left them behind her as she hoped she hadn’t gotten unlucky and disturbed those living tanks, hoping they’d just stay sleeping. She repeatedly checked her mirrors and sighed in a bit of relief as nothing happened.
A hand landed on her right shoulder and she let out a shriek as she whipped out her pistol and stuck it up against the owner of the hand. Her mind registered that the stranger she had risked her life to save had finally woken up and had been brain dead enough to scare her half to death. He took his hand off her and backed up a little.
“Kind of a nasty way to say good morning, Don’t you think? By the way, where are we going? I don’t recognise where we are.” The stranger said friendly enough as Ater turned her attention back to the road quickly.
“Sorry. I didn’t think you were awake and we’re kind of in a place where everyone wants to kill us. We’re heading to an old Metro station in the next province over. That’s all you need to know. Something showed up in Province Z roughly a year ago. Whatever these monsters are, they aren’t friendly. As for you. Any idea why someone at the top of the command chain sent me to retrieve you?” Ater said as he smiled at her and slid into the passenger seat.
“Not really. I know I was tossed in a sort of a jail cell where you probably found me sobering up but that’s about it. At least I think it was a jail cell but I’m not too sure. How are you doing though?” The stranger asked. Ater looked at him blankly and rolled her eyes as she grumbled in annoyance.
“I am fine but you talking is getting on my nerves. My nerves are already on the edge being behind enemy lines as we currently are.” Ater said as she gave him a quick glare. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and lay back in the seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard. Ater drove on in silence as she rubbed her nose a little. It was getting dark and the outline of the big city her extraction point was in was getting closer. She pulled off to the side of the road with her gun raised and checked the duct tape over the lights of the jeep before climbing back into the driver’s seat and continuing on her drive with the light blocked by the duct tape, her goggles being much safer to drive with. The stranger watched her as she continued the drive, following her orders to hide in front of the seat in the passenger's side. He obliged as Ater drove the car as she sat on the edge of the seat. He realized he had been in more danger than he had originally thought he had been in.
Ater scanned the rooftops wearily and eyed the outlines of four legged creatures with yellowish-white skin with a main body that out shells as big as her entire arm to knock out aircraft. She could clearly imagine how the creatures looked. The cloudy sky was lit up as a few of the creatures woke up and projected light up into the sky, the light beams a disturbing yellowish. She brought her car to a stop and turned it off before ducking under the dashboard and gripping her rifle. He had no idea why she ducked but that was soon solved when the ground rumbled as he could hear tanks pass by just in front of her vehicle with the sound of marching boots. The next twenty minutes slowed down to what felt like an agonizing thirty minutes.
Ater waited ten minutes after the procession passed by before sliding back up and turning her car back on. She drove to the old Metro station slowly making it to the old parking lot. She parked in the middle of the road and flicked the vehicle off. She quickly scanned her surroundings. He cracked his door open slowly as she did the same and made a mad dash for the entrance to the Metro station. He struggled to stay caught up to her as she rushed to the entrance, covering him as he caught up to her. She pulled him inside and pressed him against a wall as she pushed her body up against the wall as well.
Ten humanoid figures had entered the parking lot with their guns scanning the area. They were enemy troops and she had kept her night vision off so she didn’t have to see them in any great detail. She checked the time on her watch. Five minutes left. She pulled him along behind her as she wove her way through the large station hopping over obstacles and making her ways down onto metro train platform nine. She checked her watch. One minute left. Then she heard inaudible words come from behind her and she ducked behind a pillar pulling him behind it just missing getting the both of them shot. At the top of the dark stares to the platform the enemy stood. She flicked on her night vision and returned fire. Her eyes widened and ducked behind cover just as bullets bounced off the pillar with a twang.
Her eyes spotted the two hostiles which descended the platform across from her and quickly aimed at them and fired. The two soldiers barely had time to fire as they were killed instantly by the bullets hitting them. She stuck her gun out of the pillar and fired it at the two still at the top of the staircase not caring if she landed her shots. The two enemies begun dumping rounds at her pinning her behind cover as friendly artillery began tearing up the old Metro station upstairs, the relieving noise of friendly explosions making her somewhat happy.
Ater grabbed a grenade and rolled it to the pillar on her right, shooting the hostile as it leapt on top of the grenade. Its body ignited and turned to dust as she ducked back into cover avoiding the bullets. The last hostile popped out of cover to charge her just as the flashbang went off. She could hear it screech and he popped out of cover and put two bullets into it. It collapsed and wheeled in pain as it slowly burned alive unlike its ally. He looked shocked as she dropped to her knees as two infantry rushed down the stairs and shot at two more hostiles as they emptied their mags at her. She wasn’t hit as they went down making sure the other half of the content of their magazines didn’t hit her.
“Are you hit?” Ater asked him as she quickly scanned the other platforms, her heart racing. She quickly reloaded her rifle and forced herself to keep her heartbeat calm as she quickly checked him.
“No. I am good.” He replied quickly as he crouched behind the cover. Ater dropped three more hostiles who were coming down another set of stairs before they got the chance to even see her. The train came screeching into the station right on time, the doors screeching open. Ater waved at him and he rushed toward the train as two soldiers gave him cover from the train windows. Ater followed after and as soon as she entered the station the doors were slammed shut and the underground pulled out of the train with another screech as the two were finally in safety.
“Hey. Thanks for making sure I’m alive. That was frightening. I don’t know my name but what’s yours?” He asked and held out his hand. She grunted as she shook his hand.
“You can call me Ater. I am a part of Braivian Special forces, Unit 5A. Glad to meet you.” Ater said as she smiled at him. It wasn’t a genuine smile as Ater couldn’t genuinely smile anymore. Her fake smile was the only smile she could give.He shook her hand and smiled happily at her as the train screeched along the railroad line as she looked around the train. There were two other ladies in the train similar to Ater except one had blue with blue eyes and the other had red hair with red eyes. He guessed they were wearing contact lenses.
They saluted him as they welcomed back at Ater with a smile and a hug after personally checking her over for any marks before checking him for wounds. Both had managed to be unharmed despite the previous state of harm they had been in. The three ladies with colorful hair hugged, seeming to be very good friends. Eventually all three looked at him out of curiosity.
“So what exactly is so special about you that Ater fetched you from whatever dark, musty, and stinky pit you came from.” The lady with blue hair said as she squinted at him like he was some sort of bug.
“I really don’t know in all honesty. I did just wake up not too long and I can’t remember much of my past either. Anyway, May I ask who you are? I don’t particularly like people being rude to me and all.” He asked as he stuck out his hand to her though she didn’t accept his hand. SHe crossed her arms as she stared at him like he had just said something offensive.
“I’m Blau. That’s all you need to know.” She said as she stared at him somewhat angrily. She crossed her arms before walking over to a seat in the carriage next to a boarded up window. The train shuddered along as her friend sighed in embarrassment for her friend.
“Pardon my Sister. I’m Jaune. At least you can call me that. It’s more of my codename.” Jaune said as she smiled at him and grabbed his hand and shook it heartily. Ater rolled her eyes as she left the wagon and crossed into the next one.
“Well it is very nice to meet you. If you don’t mind, can you please tell me what is happening. I have no idea and from what I saw out there it didn’t look like they were very peaceful either.” He asked Jaune as he returned her bright, joyful smile.
“Basically that. We don’t really know where these things really came from, only that they are hostile and are very intelligent. I think most of what you were fighting were pure units. When this monster infects a person and takes over their body the resulting is often sluggish and is used more as cannon fodder. We had sent in a T-unit but pure confusion erupted. Still don’t know why or how that is possible. I think we can still push them back and exterminate them. Ater. Well I think she doubts our retreat has stopped and has just halted.” Jaune said as she smiled at him, her expression of joy putting him in a good mood against his will.
Ater came back grumbling and whispered something into Blau’s ear before crossing the short distance of the train carriage and whispering into Jaune’s ear. She never did tell him what was happening and had chosen to leave him in the dark but Jaune, the kind soul she was, told him they’d be taking the train all the way back to the capital. They weren’t told why but all of them got ready to settle in for the night. Ater offered to take on the first watch. He figured the security of the subway system which seemed to stretch from one end of enemy territory to another was in doubt.
He ended up finding a nice enough place to sleep on the cushioned seat of a booth in the corner. Ater downed a mug of dark brown liquid and seemed to jolt awake as Blau laid down on the seat she had sat down on. He supposed it wasn’t so bad to end up with these three lovely ladies who looked to be as old as him or at least as tall as him. He wasn’t exactly tired at the moment and sat back as he debated to himself exactly who he wanted to talk to as he still had a few questions he had left to ask. He watched as Jaune and Blau fetched their military issue blankets from their packs and put them on as Ater left the carriage to supposedly refill her mug.
He silently stood up and followed her out of the room not too long after entering the other cabin, crossing the slight space between the train carriages carefully. The other train carriage looked like it had been repurposed to serve as a mobile fortress and to hold a slight bar in it as well. He closed the door behind him and walked up to Ater slowly.
“Hey. Thanks for making sure I got out of there alive. I really appreciate it even though you were just following orders. I am curious though. How do we know those things you fought won’t follow us?” He asked as he joined Ater at the only appliance at the bar. She smiled as the machine spewed out its coffee into her metal mug.
“Simple. Each metro tunnel has flood proof tunnels we still control. They were closed as soon as we left that station. You can’t cut through them due to how thick they are and it is kind of useless to go around them. That’d take a lot of time and I’m not sure if our enemy is patient or not.” Ater said solemnly as she sat down on a stool and took a sip out of her coffee. He eyed her curiously wondering what was up with her.
“Well I guess those flood doors are nice. I suppose that is a somewhat decent comforter. Anyway I am glad you got out of there safely which I am glad for. I know as a soldier I figure you’re planning on being killed.” He said as he watched her carefully, watching her different quirks carefully. Ater seemed to always stand up straight whenever she was tense but now, when she was being peaceful, she leaned on her right leg. She seemed to hide her contentment behind a shroud of unmoving coldness toward him.
“I suppose. I still find it extremely concerning. My nerve says that those won’t hold or they’re planning for something. It all just sort of unnerves me.” Ater said as she sat down on a stool and took another sip of her coffee. He sat there in silence as he patiently watched tiredness creep onto her face, her body relaxing into a more calm demeanor. Ater’s eyes watered a little as she smiled from the sip of coffee as it warmed her throat.
“I take it you’re on edge from that. I do have to say thank you again. I don’t know what would have happened if they had gotten into wherever I was being held. I am curious though. Where did you find me by chance?” He said as he leaned on the counter and dazed off into the reflection of the coffee machine.
“I suppose that I should tell you. I found you in the basement of a radio broadcasting station. It’s strange that you didn’t know where you were.” Ater said, her fingers wrapped around the entirety of the mug she was using to drink coffee from. He simply shrugged. The only thing he remembered was that he was being arrested by cops for being drunk, possibly while driving. He wasn’t sure seeing as he was here and that he didn’t know if a car could be driven from the backseat. He shrugged as he thought he must have been crazy.
“Anyway. I better be heading back. I still want to talk with your friends back there before they fall asleep. I figure I may be stuck with you for a while knowing how slow bureaucracies are.” He said as he walked back to the old train car and opened the door as Ater didn’t say anything at all to him as he left. He crossed the small gap and entered the passenger car and slipped over to Jaune who was the only one still awake. He sat down across from her on the floor, grunting as he sat down. He sighed as he smiled at her and she grunted.
The two sat across from each other in silence as she looked at the door with the rifle resting on her shoulder. He eyed her figure a little and thought she could have any guy she wanted if she had wanted to as she was beautiful. Though she was dirty and extremely tired and exhausted. He slid backwards towards a seat and rested his back up against it.
“I take you’re the quiet one of the group? Maybe the deep, brooding one? I mean Ater liked talking a lot but you seem like the walking stereotype of a silent one.” He said, joking a little. She simply grunted a little at him as she continued looking at the door.
“Or perhaps you’re silently horny.” He joked and he let out a laugh as she shot him a glare. He shook his head and joked a little in amusement. He sighed as he clearly wasn’t going to get in any conversations with her and he stood back up before moving over to the booth and laying down. He tried sleeping on the cushioned seat and listening to the rattling of the train car but just couldn’t sleep steadily. He just couldn’t sleep though and heard Ater came into the train car and wake up Blau. He supposed they thought he was asleep.
“Got any information from headquarters on him by chance?” Blau asked groggily, keeping her voice low as she wiped at her eyes a little. Ater made a grunt as she sat down.
“No. Just checked in. They made sure to inform me how important he was. Not much more than that.” Ater said quietly as he could hear her slide down and lay against the train car booth as Blau slowly stood up and cracked her fingers. He grumbled a little as he got up as soon as he heard Blau leave the train wagon and heard Ater fall asleep. He went to the other door opposite of the train car Blau had entered and looked through it. He quietly slid the door open before slipping over to the unknown train car and opened it. He closed both as he entered the new train car and looked out a few of the windows as the train rattled towards wherever it was going. He eyed the several loads of boxes in the center of the train car as well.
The boxes were locked up with heavy padlocks as well and he knew he wouldn’t be able to open them anytime soon. He sighed none the less as he couldn’t fix his curiosity. He looked out the window of the train and grumbled in annoyance and watched the metro tube wall fly by. He wondered what exactly this headquarters looked like as the train cars rattled on. He paused as he eyed a poster.
It was an advertisement for some western which he thought was a bit odd. The woman on the poster looked like a happy Ater dressed up like a typical western antagonist with a black hat and poncho and a squint that was barely scary or intimidating. Blau came up behind him and eyed the poster with a sad smile as she eyed the old thing while resting the gun against her shoulder.
“I see you’ve found an old poster.I almost forgot these existed. It’s kind of nice seeing one again, you know.” Blau said as she smiled at it as if she was recalling a simpler day. He nodded along though he had no idea what exactly was going on.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this but I think our world leaders are going through something. I think they may split but I am not sure. Honestly, I hope they don’t.” Blau said as she worried a little at the matter, her mood dropping as she eyed the thing. He paused as he didn’t know what to make of it as he scratched at his chin.
“I don’t think that’ll happen. After all you do need two people to run a government effectively, right? Preferably there are more to run it as well. Either Way, It’s not like I know where I am so you’ll have to tell me where we are.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I believe this was train number five. Old train, good train. The reliable kind you know.” Blau said as she huffed before sitting down on the bed, noticing the train slow down as it neared its destination. The wheels grinded to a screeching noise. He grunted as the train slid to a stop with a screech as it reached its destination at an abandoned train station. Two soldiers with blacked out visors and gray uniforms were sitting on the edge of some military crate talking to each other barely only noticing the train. He sighed as he joined the others as Blau raised an eyebrow. He followed Blau back into the middle cabin of the train station and joined the other two as they disembarked the train. Ater walked up to one of the soldiers and began conversing to them in German quickly before coming back with a reply.
“Rest of the train tunnel is closed. We have roughly eight other provinces to move through. Apparently the areas have been sealed off from enemy bombardment. I don’t know when an engineer will get out here soon. I hope they get it open soon.” Ater said as she slid her gun down in front of her and in a ready to fire position. Blau bit her lip a little and grumbled in a bout of worry while Jaune sighed as she looked deadpan at the staircase and began walking towards it. She seemed to be more the one to carry one while the other two tagged along. He grabbed a pistol from one of the crates and followed after the trio.
He watched as Blau and Jaun begun talking to each other in German and he couldn’t understand them as their boots thudded against the ground.
