by Tom Cain
"Ah, he good with tinkering stuff, I'm sure he's ok" said Marko.
"You want me to go looking for him John?" asks Mia.
"Ah shit. We can't hold up this mission much longer. Can you go have a quick look down there for him?" asks John.
"Sure, give me a sec" said Mia. With that Mia heads back to another manhole and opens it, jumps down and runs off to try and find Burke. Ron nods agreeably.
“Ok John listen, i gotta get back down to the office and sort some bullshit out between Yellow and Blue markets. It’s hitting the fan after trade has slowed since the doctors announcement” said Ron putting a hand on Johns shoulder and looking at the faces of the group.
“Can’t promise all of them will return Ron, but I will do my best” John said quietly.
“I know, just wanted to, I know they are in good hands” replied Ron leaving back down to the city.
John addresses the group.
"Ok, you guys ready for this?". Asked John standing facing them all.
"Where's first?" Grip asks.
"We are heading to the river, we are going for the tower first" says Marko shouting.
"But what about the hostages?" Chrissie questions John.
"That's where Ahiro wants us to go, if we march on to Three’s place in Zone five they will have an army waiting for us. Let's get the tower done, disrupt the BCC around the whole state and then take Three out. We can be there in a few days" John asserted.
"The river Squire?" Ruf, another of the fighters asks.
"Yeah, anyone know the best way from here?" John replies.
"It's a two day walk from here, your cargo bike can't take us all" said Grip partially smiling.
Suddenly a voice came from below.
"or a four hour drive, depending on the vehicle". The voice continued "and it's only four hours because of the traffic".
Finally two hands appeared atop the man hole, it was Burke, looking fresh faced and ready.
"Holy shit Burke! You made it. Good to see you man, why’d you break the door?" Marko said smiling and surprised.
"You said drive, what do you mean by drive" said John looking sternly and not surprised at Burke.
"Hello to you too John. Didn't think I would miss this little trip did you?" replied Burke, he continued after Johns glare becomes even stronger "um um, there is a stock roller not too far from here. It's in an abandoned building site Farrow used a while back. It hadn’t been used in a while as he had no takers, should get us all there in one piece. Assuming that we don't get caught out in Banditland".
John didn't look concerned. Marko nods at Burke and John and then addresses the group.
"Listen up soldiers" he stands up on a large lump of concrete resting on the floor "we are going to the tower first, to get there and get past the BCC without all of us losing our lives we need to get to the river. We will take a boat or boats down the river to clear the checkpoints. When we hit After Burn Lake we will find a safe place to dock near Station thirteen. That station is quite close to Swiss Towers so we will make our assault there. Now, that's quite a way from here so when we get there we will plan our attack depending on what we see. But guys this mission/attempt is vital to all of our survival, so let's get this thing done!".
The group feel confident.
“Wait! Burke you kroll, where the hell were you?” Mia said a little more annoyed that she should be and appearing from another manhole slightly further down the road.
“Huh?” Burke looked confused.
“I’ve been looking for you, went back to your cage, but you had broken it. Where’d you go?” Mia asked marching over to him.
“Ah, sorry Mia, I just found my own way back here. Had a little trouble with the door. Will have to apologise to Ron another time I guess” Burke gulped.
“Next time you go out on your own, you can stay out on your own. But, still, I’m glad your skinny ass is safe. You made it through the turn” said Mia. Burke smiled and winked and shy wink.
“So I guess we are on our way then" says Grip for the last time checking the magazine of his rifle.
"I got your back Grip" said Chrissie swallowing hard.
"Ok guys let's move out, we are heading north to a bunch of derelict buildings, Burke said he has seen a stock roller over there and we are going to use it to get to the river" said Marko commanding the group forward.
John, Marko and Valeria make their way through the crowd to the front and lead the group north. The road was crumpled and dusty, what's left of the vacant and destroyed cars are scattered all around. Plants grow through the cracks in the roads, life, defying the destruction.
Mia takes a scouting route; the wasteland is never a safe place to travel. Not with so many gangs, greeners and wild mutants around. She travels on the top of buildings and through the broken cars and apartments on the way. Keeping a very watchful eye, she is an early warning system for the group, and especially now Marko.
The group, led by John, Marko and Valeria make their way through the desolate streets five miles north and reach the terror tram track, which they must cross to reach the buildings where Burke saw the vehicle.
"Ah shit John" Marko says.
"Yeah I know. Fonz". Replied John.
"What's up guys? Why the long faces?" Burke asks after making his way past some burly troops.
"We lost Fonz near here, down by station five" John replied sounding oddly solemn.
“Ah shit, sorry to hear that. someone close?” Burke asked.
“We knew him pretty well yeah. He would have been real useful doing what we are about to do” Marko said.
Grip and Chrissie come to the front.
"Guys, let's keep going, you know there is always trouble on that tram" says Grip.
"Oh, yeah, I second that, don't want to meet what's riding today" said Burke.
The tracks looked clear so the group crossed over the double lines. A high pitched scream comes echoing from the south.
"Wait" said Marko. "Can you feel that?" he continued. Marko took to a knee and put a finger on the tram line.
"What are you doing?" Burke asked raising his voice and urging that they continue onward.
"It's the tram, it's coming" said Marko.
"Ok, everyone find something to hide behind, we do not want a fight with whatever's on that. It's only the south tram, so we are lucky, let's ride this one out" Shouted John.
Marko looks up to the surrounding building and sees a flashing light.
"Mia is up on that building. She's using her lighter to tell us something" Marko said to John.
"That's morse code, shes saying…" Burke whispers and stares for a moment, "greeners".
"Ok guys we got greeners on that tram, let's get our heads down" Marko pipes up and orders the group to stick behind anything they can find thirty forty feet around the tracks. An abandoned tram on it side is the first place a few hide, others behind crashed vehicles and large slabs of building and road concrete. The tram roared in the distance and that distance was now closing very fast, the group held tight and hoped the greeners didn't jump off on their way past. As the tram got closer and closer to the crossing tensions ran high.
"Ok Grip, if they get off here, just get my back ok?" Chrissie said keeping a watchful eye on the approaching trouble.
"I got your back as long as you got mine" Grip replied.
"Burke get behind me" Marko said pushing Burke back behind him.
“Sure, sure I got no arguments with that Marko" said Burke, crouching behind the burned out car they were hiding behind.
Thundering past, the rails glowed green as the greener gang kept a lookout for victims. A few soldiers want to fire, John snatches one of the men's guns and forces him to be quiet with a ferocious stare and grabbing the scruff of his neck. There are six greeners on the tram, the tram screams past the group and shoots into the distance, Grip steps out.
"Phew that's lucky". He said.
Just as he says that they see one greener jump off the tram and
turn back. The mutant is small, could be a child, a boy, standing, staring and silent. The boy stares silently at the group standing about thirty meters away. His head tilts, he has an estranged look in his eye. He stares directly at Valeria, who stares back. John stands up behind her.
"What is that little thing?" John asks.
The boy crouches and then launches into a sprint forward towards the group making a bee line directly for Valeria. He is closing in the soldiers aim their guns, the boy starts to scream, the frequency of his scream makes the soldiers and Valeria hold their ears, Valeria's eyes glow purple, the boy doesn't react and continues to run. The boy gets within six feet of Valeria when John steps in front of her and grabs the boy by the throat with his metal arm. The boy immediately stops screaming and struggles to break free of johns vice like grip. John lifts the boy off the floor maintaining his grip on the boy's throat. His face twisted and mutated, green saliva falling from his mouth and onto Johns boot. After a few minutes the boy stops struggling and his body goes limp in John's hand. John put him on the ground.
"Shame when the green get them that young" he said staring at the body. Valeria nodded at John in appreciation, John nods back. The rest of the soldiers starred on in horror having witnessed something awful. The veterans took it in their stride.
“Losing life that young isn’t uncommon in the world after the flash. Anyone can be dangerous. Some younger greeners more so, with immaturity added to the mix you can get a shit storm.” Said John.
“That could have been you if the turn went bad” said Marko staring at Burke.
The group gathered together after the assault on their ears by the screaming mutant boy and followed John and Marko across the tracks about a half a mile further north. The stock roller was located in an old tram station.
The station itself was grey, the old large steel doors remained intact, but some of the walls had been damaged by various battles in the area. John approached the large double doors with Burke a few steps behind and the group moving tightly together.
"John, this is it. The roller is inside there. The doors will be locked but we can try and blast them open or cut through?" said Burke.
Just as he said this Mia jumped down from a rooftop near the station.
"There's a large hole in the roof, possible grenade or explosive of some type" Mia said to the group.
"Ok, let me get some rope up there" one of the group members came forward with some tough looking rope.
"No need. You can climb up on top of that old burnt out tram and then onto the metal guttering" Mia said.
The group turned to look where she was pointing and sure enough there sat an old burnt out tram shell sitting to the right of the station, above that some black metal guttering was resting on the side of the building leading up to a broken roof. The group one by one slowly make there was up the side of the tram shell and onto the guttering. The guttering was unstable at best and a number of the group have trouble finding their footings. Mia and Marko are up on the roof with a rope to help anyone who struggled. John ignores the guttering and pounces on the tram shell with a single jump then onto the roof with another. When he lands the roof creaks and cracks.
"Whoa whoa whoa John, take it easy, we are all up here" Marko said watching the roof carefully.
"Ah we are all fine" John replied hearing the roof concrete start to break. Suddenly a large crack appeared in the foundation of the roof, the crack made its way all the way underneath the team's feet and started to break. The team one by one fell through the roof and landing hard on the cold concrete floor. The rubble followed their fall. Marko and John landed on the roof of a large red vehicle. Only one member of the team was slightly injured by the short fall, the soldier took a deep breath and felt a sharp pain in the side of his chest.
"Ah, I landed funny on a something hard" the soldier said to Grip.
"You must have broken a rib, you going to be ok man?" Grip replied holding the wounded soldiers elbow and helping him up to his feet.
"Yeah, I think I will be alright, I wouldn't miss this for the world" said Hatcher, the wounded soldier.
Lisa, another one of the group but more important a medic came over after picking herself off the floor. She studied the injury and began the healing process.
"Good man!" said Marko from on top of the vehicles roof.
"what did we land on?" John asked getting to his knees and wiping the dust from the roof of the vehicle.
"That's a stock roller gentleman" Burke said picking himself up.
The stock roller was a large red vehicle, the size of a single decker bus and wrapped in solid steel armor plating. The front had a sharp, snow plough shaped ram attached. The windows had no glass in them apart from the rear, which had been reinforced with wire mesh to prevent shattering but not bullets. Each of the wheels arches were covered with steel plates to stop anyone trying to shoot them out. The inside shell had been gutted of any insulation and replaced with titanium plates found lying around various battlefields and left by either the BCC during the Early Day Wars or by FADE labs. Not all the panels had been covered as there wasn't that much titanium available to the people who made it, but most of the vulnerable spots where a bullet could be taken had been checked and re-enforced. For the most part the stock rollers shell would now stop most high caliber bullets.
The tires were thick rubber, and windshield was grated half inch steel. It was made by ex-military who found each other through the battles and banded together to make a "for hire" security detail. Ivan Swiss never hired them, in fact, the Battalion Band as they were known where killed off not by the Border Control Company but by greeners, slowly but surely whittled down to single digits. It was always thought Swiss Security had something to do with it, this though, was more a cloak and dagger approach rather than the usual BCC public display of brutality.
The problem with removing insulation and adding metal armor was that the stock roller was now very heavy so it was slow, also it was fitted with a few difficult starting devices to stop any uneducated types stealing it. Burke though knew all of these things.
"Ok, let me get on starting this up, there is a few kill switches dotted around that I have to turn off" Burke said hopping up onto the chrome step of the roller an opening the door.
"How long do you need Burke?" asked John.
"Ah we should be on our way in fifteen minutes" Burke replied.
John nodded and scanned the room to make sure everyone was ok and that it was safe. A few members of the group jumped on board the roller to help Burke, grabbing some tools they saw scattered around the lock up. A jolting sound came from outside, like a metal pole being dropped from a great height. Marko looked at Mia and gave her a nod, she jumped back on top of the rollers roof and through the hole in the ceiling they fell through. John, Marko, Valeria and a few others approached the large doors bolted shut, John nods at one of the crew who slam the bolt open releasing the door and Marko kicks it open. It slams open with a creak and a thud. They see nothing but dust. Tucker, one of the group steps forward.
"I don't see anything, but I definitely heard it" he said looking back at the group with his dark eyes. A sudden rush of wind and a blur passed and Tucker was on the floor wincing in pain. Valeria's eyes glowed purple and she smiled clenching the halberd with both fists tightly. The rush of wind came again and John took a wild left swing at it, he hit nothing but air. Burke stuck his head up from the stock rollers engine.
"Are we going to have a problem here guys?" Burke asked nervously.
"You got five more minutes Burke, we might have some trouble here" Marko said.
Mia jumped down from the roof to join the group and took out a large silver revolver from a strap around her back.
"Ok so who are we dealing with?" John asked keeping a watchful eye.
"Can't make them out" Mia answered.
"Them? Looked like we were only dealing with this speedy guy" Marko said.
"No there are a group of guys over behind tha
t building, waiting for something, I'm not quite sure what yet" Mia said.
Valeria smiled as the rush of wind came again heading for the group, her eyes glowed purple again, she put a hand on Johns chest as to stop him from taking any action and she presumed a pouncing position. The rush of dust and wind came straight for them and she jumped into it, the glow of her eyes fading into the blur as it blasted passed the group and disappeared. The group held fast and firm.
"What the?" Grip said opening his eyes. A high pitched scream was heard from the distances as a dusty, blurry, distorted haze rushed towards them again. The rush of wind came to extremely quick halt directly in front of the group, Mia's gun now pointing directly at it. The dust and wind settled which left Valeria one foot on the ground and one knee over the body of a man whose eyes were now bleeding, she was holding him by the face and breathing heavily.
"Wow, well I think she got him" Marko said.
The man, now clearly dead was deformed and had obviously developed a hyper muscle functional mutation allowing him to travel very quickly. Valeria rose to her feet and stood again behind John.
"Good job" said John.
Valeria didn't stop staring at the body. Tucker got back to his feet with the help of another of the group. Clapping came from behind a building half a street away, the group again stood at attention awaiting the next assault. A group of people started to emerge through the dust a man clapping in the middle.
"Well done John, you got this far, but I got new order that came in" The man clapping said.
"Who just ordered a death wish?" John said with a furrowed brow.
The group broke from the dust and standing in the middle was Hark Reilly and a group of hired thugs.
"We just got new orders John" Hark said looking at Johns group of soldiers.
"Where’d you get these guys from? Little London I bet. Did Shaw give these guys to you? How much are you paying them? Huh?" Hark said aggressively.
"Hark, you lucky bastard. You think this is going to go your way?" John asked.
