‘Last chance’ didn’t mean shit to the fast-approaching freshies though, but right before I could start laying them out, the compound filled with gunfire.
In an effort to avoid getting shot in the face, I dropped to a knee and took a quick breath as the freshies started to panic and the body count started to rise.
Deciding that it was in my best interests to take advantage of the fact that the freshies were far more interested in the guys with the automatic guns, I started taking shots.
I was cautious at first, not wanting to pull all the attention back to me, but when it became clear that they were pretty much all going for the guys I decided to really open up on the ones that were still coming for me, killing them with ease as my bullets tore through anywhere up to three people at a time.
+1 Firearm Skill
Firearm Skill: 29/100
Level Progression: 120/250
“I really gotta start focusing on some other skills…” I muttered to myself between shots.
GeriatricSuperHero (Community): Watch your arse!
Despite Pete’s warning, he didn’t give me the opportunity to take down the three curious nellies that had come through the ‘gate’ that Freddie had left open, and instead pretty much split them in half with his more powerful and significantly louder sniper, which I guessed he must’ve picked up in the time I was held prisoner.
+1 Firearm Skill
Firearm Skill: 30/100
Level Progression: 130/250
I was doing alright at first, we all were, but as we got louder we drew more and more attention, and before long I was spinning around and shooting like a gun-toting dreidel, which wouldn’t have been a problem if I wasn’t burning through ammo faster than an overexcited teen at a paintball game.
And as if that wasn’t enough of a problem, it fast became clear that the guys over by the hut were barely moving towards me, if at all, and it wasn’t like we could exactly talk to each other, what with the gunfire and not being able to stop shooting.
We needed a way out, fast, and it didn’t look like there was any hope of us getting the exit we so desperately needed.
And then I heard it, somewhere in the distance, the unmistakable call of someone about to do something incredibly fucking stupid.
“Leeroy Jenkins!”
At least fifteen people managed to shout out a startled “What the-” before Brendo, along with the Js, came through one of the walls the steggies, destroying the wooden defence with ease before going on to crush a good couple dozen freshies while the Js and Brendo fired into the stunned crowd.
Say what you will about us, but Zoey’s Fighters knew how to make a motherfucking entrance.
“Come on!” Brendo shouted as he came galloping over to me with one of the Js, his steggie mount knocking freshies every which-way with its armoured head.
“When the Hell did these guys get armour?” I asked as I climbed up onto the back of the metal-covered dino.
“You were gone for a while,” Brendo replied from the front of the steggie with no shortage of pride as the J sitting between us stood up and took a few shots at the gate, “figured we’d increase our chances of success as much as possible.”
“Great job by the way,” I breathed out as genuinely as I could while shooting, “let’s go get the others.”
“Already taken care of,” Brendo said, nodding over to where the others had been before guiding the steggie to the hole he’d made in the compound’s wall, “the Js are picking up Miles and Paul while Chad makes a move for the bus. Did you see what they did?”
“I did.” I replied coolly as I turned my focus to making sure no one managed to get lucky and grab onto the steggie’s tail, “I’m guessing Pete didn’t take it all that well?”
“He did not.” Brendo chuckled, “Seriously, he was fuming for at least an hour when he first spotted it.”
I was about to respond when we abruptly came to a halt, making me damn near fall off the steggie.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked with more anger than I’d intended, rationalising that it was just because my amazing escape was being drawn out.
“Muties.” Brendo replied coldly.
“How many?” I asked as I barely managed to shoot a freshie who’d managed to climb up the tail.
Brendo swallowed hard and let out an almost breathless “Lots…” before turning us around and galloping towards the gate, giving me a great view of the at least two dozen Muties who’d come to inspect the bloodshed.
“Looks like we’re goin’ for Plan B…” I trailed off as I tried my best to shake off the unpleasant feeling I was all too used to having with the Muties.
“Did you hear the siren?” Brendo asked as we barrelled through the wooden gate, squashing a good number of freshies who’d been apparently been hiding behind it, “Because I definitely didn’t hear the siren.”
“I did not.” I said after watching in amazement as the other two steggies came crashing through the compound’s front wall and started following us into the forest, “Probably just the gunfire blocking it out.”
“I don’t know… That siren is pretty freakin’ loud, you know?”
I wasn’t really sure how he expected me to respond to that, though that didn’t matter as, right as I was about to ask what the plan was, Chad and the Dino-Franken-Bus, or DFB for short, came smashing out of the compound, covered in the bodies of freshies and Muties as it hammered through the forest after us.
“Well…” I squeezed out past a gulp, “that’s absolutely terrifyin-what the shit!?”
Suddenly we were crashing through another compound and I was dodging pieces of wood and people as Brendo apparently made the unilateral decision of mass-slaughter.
“What are you doing!?” I yelped as we made a sharp left turn and started towards another section of the smaller compound’s wall.
“Ringing the dinner bell.” Brendo replied coolly as we barged back into the forest, leaving a wake of trampled bodies and crushed huts, “I’m guessing that things are gonna be pretty dicey from here on out, so I thought that drawing the Muties towards a slightly easier meal was a good start in ensuring we get a clean getaway.”
“There ain’t a damn thing that’s clean about this.” I scoffed as the DFB mulched a fresh group of victims and lured a small detachment of Muties to the utterly stunned freshies, “Does this plan even have a rendezvous? Or were you just planning on leading the guys around on an insane murder circuit for a while?”
“There’s a rendezvous,” Brendo said, making no effort whatsoever to hide the fact that he was offended by my wording, “but the path to it was through that hole we made.”
“And you guys weren’t expecting a bunch of Muties to end up blocking said hole… Alright, I s’pose that’s fair enou-Jesus!” I yelped as we hit another wall, “Can you at least give me some warning?”
“I could,” Brendo replied as our J had the time of his life, shooting any and all the freshies that were unlucky enough to end up in his crosshairs, “but where would the fun be in that?”
I went to respond with something either witty or bitchy but didn’t get the chance as we crashed through yet another section of wall.
“This can’t be good for the steggie’s brain.” I proclaimed before desperately trying to block out the memory of the fancy brain surgery that had made the DFB.
“Ah, that’s what the helmet’s for,” Brendo said confidently, “besides, we’re all done, no more walls.”
“Reall-” I started then stopped as we smashed into another wall.
“Lol, no.”
Following that last wall, Brendo finally decided he’d had enough of the carnage and decided to point us towards the rendezvous, leaving the screams of Mutie and freshie alike to echo uselessly into the night.
“Still got eyes on Chad?” Brendo asked as the other two Js, along with Paul and Miles came up beside us and maintained pace through the forest.
“Yeah,” I replied after clearing my throat of the tiny bit of vom
it that had come up when Brendo had decided to do the dino equivalent of a burnout in the last compound, “yeah, he’s still behind us.”
“Good, good,” Brendo said as he adjusted course slightly and gestured for the others to do the same, “surprised that thing hasn’t fallen to pieces yet.”
“Say what you will about those guys back there, but they were resourceful, and I doubt they’d just throw important stuff at some wacky experiment.”
“You never know, might’ve decided to take advantage of their free vehicle.”
“Eh, I don’t think so.”
I’m sure the conversation would’ve gone on a bit longer, we very may well have eventually ended up on the first ‘How are you?’ since I’d been rescued, but then something went ahead and decided to happen.
At first I couldn’t tell if what had dropped down on top of the DFB was a freshie or a Mutie, but I quickly deduced it was a freshie once it started leaping around in panic.
Oh, yeah, I should probably add that I’d started shooting at it before I’d tried to identify it.
“Can’t you keep this thing steady?” I snapped as I accidentally managed to shoot through the windscreen of the DFB, missing Chad by barely a foot.
“I’m tryin’ my best, Zo,” Brendo replied, “but it’s kinda hard because, you know, we’re in a forest.”
I went to respond but stopped when I noticed the freshie was unarmed and flailing, trying desperately to get my attention as I slipped a new, half-empty mag into my DMR, my ammo having finally run its course.
“Why’ve you stopped shooting?” Brendo asked, “Waiting for a clear shot?”
“No, it’s just…” I said before noticing the chat and smiling, “Well I’ll be damned…”
BallaPlaya (Local): iTS ME1!!!11
Chapter Ten
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t altogether surprised that Julian managed to make it out, nor that he’d managed to perfectly time a jump onto the DFB, but as we pulled up to the rendezvous, a small clearing where Pete was standing with a sniper, it quickly became clear that the rest of Zoey’s Fighters were far more shocked.
“How in the Hell did you manage to get on top of my bus?” Chad asked as Julian shakily climbed off the DFB.
“Your bus?” Pete scoffed, “Just because they mutated my baby doesn’t make it any less my baby.”
“You sound like a grief-stricken parent from Chernobyl.” I chuckled, earning more than a few dirty looks from the guys around me, “Anyway, Julian here is rather… talented.”
“Resourceful and talented?” Julian laughed as he struggled to stay on his feet, “When will the compliments end? Nice to meet you all by the way.”
A few murmured agreements came from most of the guys in the group, but not from Miles.
“Julian, huh?” the other former Metois soldier in our party huffed, “Figured you’d be one of the first to be chortling on whoever’s balls were required to get the Metois up and running again.”
“Think again,” Julian replied coolly, “I’m out for the more adventurous life now, ready to rock out with my penis out.”
“Speaking of, we really should get you some armour.” Brendo interjected, showing just how uncomfortable he was with Julian’s meaty clackers which were on display under his poorly stitched loincloth.
“Guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Julian said with a smile, “but seeing as we’re heading to the Spire there doesn’t seem to be much of point, does there?”
“How do you mean?” I asked, ignoring the fact that he just assumed he was definitely coming with us.
“Well we’re all gonna die before we get anywhere near there anyway, right? Doubt a few plates of armour are gonna save me.”
“See!” Chad exclaimed, “This guy knows what he’s talking about.”
“This guy’s balls are hanging out, Chad,” I added flatly, “maybe you should consider getting your advice from someone else.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Julian chuckled, “Anyway, point is that, if it were up to me, we wouldn’t be going there.”
“Hey, Zo?” Pete said, his eyes darting between Julian and I confusedly, “Am I missing something, or is this one of the guys that held you captive?”
“One of the very same.” I replied with an unconvincing smile before noticing Julian’s somewhat worried expression, “But he’s good people. He kept me company through all this. Also, why was I in there for so long? Did you guys decide to have a little vacation time while the boss was away?”
“Do you know how long it took just to get away from those dudes?” Paul asked, surprising me with his existence, “And then we had to scope out the compounds, come up with a plan, figure out a way to get to you, it was all very meticulously organised.”
“So… Paul did most of the planning?” I chuckled in response.
A few nods and a couple of amused eye-rolls were my response, indicating to me that while Pete had been the primary ‘action man’, Paul had been the brains, and he wanted to make sure I knew it.
There was a part of me that wanted to sort of knock the idea that I was going to be all grateful out of Paul’s head, you know, because I’m a bit of a bitch, but I decided against it when I saw just how embarrassed he was from the simple act of me bringing attention to the fact that it was his plan.
“Good job,” I practically sighed, “seriously, thanks for getting me out of there, Paul. You guys wouldn’t believe how boring it was in the-”
“As much as I’m enjoying catching up,” Chad interrupted, “but I really think we should be getting on the bus.”
I went to ask why, but stopped when I turned around and saw exactly why.
“Shit…” I whispered as I saw the dozens upon dozens of glowing green eyes approaching us from the dark forest, a small part of me damn near shitting itself as the obvious blur of a Bearie zipped behind their ranks, “On the bus, now!”
The gang didn’t need telling twice, and not even three seconds had gone by before we’d all loaded into the bus, excluding the brief tussle that ended with Pete shoulder barging Chad away from the driver’s seat before slipping into it himself.
“Are the Js gonna follow us?” I asked, making no effort to hide the desperation in my voice as Pete threw the bus in gear, well, whatever ‘gear’ was with the dino-powering vehicle, and we started hammering.
Well, thundering.
“They’d bloody better,” Chad replied after coming to sit with me at the back of the bus, sighing disappointedly after losing his seat, “otherwise those pricks’ll end up knocking us off the road.”
“I take it things weren’t all rainbows and lollipops while I was gone?”
“Eh, wasn’t horrible, but the Js are requiring a lot of upkeep, and without you around they’re very finicky when it comes to following orders.”
“Good to know…” I breathed out in relief as we started truly pulling away from the Muties and our tyres found solid road, “I mean, not good for you guys, but good that I’m needed.”
“I got what you meant.” Chad clarified with a little smile before looking around the bus at the guys, “It’s weird to think that this is all that’s left of Zoey’s Fighters, huh?”
“Is a bit.” I replied with a shrug, “But I don’t mind it so much, feels a whole lot less crowded.”
“And there’s no way we’d be doing this right now if we still had the bunker,” Miles chimed in somewhat giddily, “seriously, the longer you were away, the more excited I got about the Spire.”
“Yeah, turns out only one of us has enough of a brain to know that we’re driving into a death trap.” Chad said matter-of-factly.
“Hey, what am I then?” Julian laughed, the excitement of getting away from the Muties clearly affecting his mood.
“Okay, my bad, two people with brains.” Chad corrected before turning to face me again, “With that being said, I’d follow you to the gates of Hell.”
“Not in?” I goaded playfully.
“Honestly?”
Chad chuckled before shaking his head, “No freakin’ way. I’ll drop you off though.”
“Lucky we’re not heading to Hell then, I s’pose.”
“Yeah, just it’s close brother, Liennam.” Paul joked.
“You guys are being overdramatic,” Brendo said, apparently having decided he was sick of being a bystander in our conversation, “Liennam’s really not all that bad.”
“You’ve been?” I asked curiously.
“Once,” Brendo replied with a nod, “drove through it with Pete and Freddie way back when, isn’t that right, Pete?”
“Mmhm,” Pete called back as best as he could without taking his eyes off the road, “the trick is to just keep driving. Oh, and armour plating. Lots of armour plating.”
That was enough to get me to look around concernedly at the wooden patchwork our bus was barely being held together with.
We were in rough shape, that was for certain, but for some reason that just made it all the more exciting for me, you know?
There was a chance we weren’t going to get far into Liennam.
There was a chance that even if we did manage to get into Liennam we weren’t going to get far.
And there definitely was a chance that, upon reaching the Spire, our ultimate destination, we’d die before we even got through the doors.
And that is the most exhilarating feeling in the whole wide world.
“This…” I trailed off as a smile grew across my face, “This is going to be interesting.”
FRAGGED 14
Chapter One
“Here we are…” I whispered to myself as I came to stand beside Pete in the driver’s seat of the DFB, “Welcome to Liennam.”
It was bizarre, surreal even, being parked at the start of that long suspension bridge the separated the seemingly endless forest and the city of Liennam which was bathed in the orange glow of early morning.
We’d made it so far, done so much, but at the same time I felt this undeniable sense, this uncrushable feeling that we were at the point of no return, and that once we went into that city we weren’t coming out.
Fragged Page 42
