by Tom Cain
"Calm down John this is going to be quick and easy" Hark replied winking and smirking.
"Your last guy went quick and easy Hark" Marko jested.
"You killed our scout, congratulations" Hark replied clapping his hands again.
Hark nodded at his line of men who scrunched up their faces and began to change. Each man bulked up, like a sudden injection of steroids and testosterone.
"So you brought a band of freaks as well huh?" John said.
"This band of freaks" Hark said making inverted quote marks with his hands in sarcasm, he continued "will be the end of you all".
Crying and squealing continued as Harks men continued to bulk up, all now mutated body builders, left arms bigger than the right or right bigger than the left, long sharp nails protruding from their hands, hair growing in quick succession on their shoulders and back and saliva falling from their slobbering and writhing mouths.
Marko whispers something in Mias ear who immediately jumps off and runs for a building on the left flank. One of Harks goons gives chase straight away.
"Be careful Mia, you got one on your tail" Marko said shouting.
"That won't save her Gibbs" Hark said.
"Ok boys, let's do this. I got Test you get the others".
Grip and Chrissie step forward, cock their guns and point them in the mutants direction. Six of the men charged forwards howling, water streaming from their mouths as they run, some soldiers run forward to meet them and others let off some shots in the mutant charges direction. The mutants get hit by the bullets which penetrate their skin, shoulders, legs and necks, all bleeding, yet they do not cease charging. With a thud the initial wave of mutants knock down a few soldiers and are jumped on by the rest. Marko grabs a mutant by the head as he charges, swings him around using his own momentum and throws him into a concrete wall which cracks, Marko jumps straight on him pounding the mutants face and body with a flurry of fists. John steps forward as Valeria snatches one of the berserkers from his path and throws him to the side with one arm, eyes glowing and axe in hand, she jumps high in the air raising the halberd above her head and plummeting down onto her target who narrowly avoids a devastating blow.
"So this is it Hark, game over. How do you want this to go?" asked John, slowly getting into a sprint position and placing his left hand on his hat. Dust continues to flow around them as gunshots echo across Zone three.
"This ain't going to be easy John" Hark insisted pulling out a black hand pistol and cocking it slowly. John crunched the ball of his foot into the floor cracking it as he jetted forwards, Hark pulled up the pistol and aimed at John's head who was closing fast twenty meters away. Johns left arm grabbed his hat still in fast transit towards Hark and held it at arm's length, bowl of the hat first. Hark lets off a few shots but hits nothing but dust. John is moving too quickly. The hat reached Hark, as soon as the bowl of the hat covers Harks face John immediately follows through with a strong right hand punching through the hat and connecting with Hark’s nose with a big crunch. Hark now baffled by the jolting hit he just took falls on the ground confused. John grabs him by the scruff of the neck.
“So Hark, who hired you to try and bring me in or down huh?".
"Huh? I don't know what… hold on… huh… I'm not telling you shit John" Hark replied dazed.
John felt a sharp pain in his right leg, Hark has jabbed a stunner into his thigh. The small sharp instrument was a portable or projectile taser, it would be shot or otherwise stabbed into the target and was meant to incapacitate them without the use of deadly force. The syringe looking device buzzed away in johns leg making him grind his teeth and give Hark a very angry stare, Hark was stunned himself that the voltage alone wasn't bringing Test to his knees. Hark managed to gather his thoughts and stagger to his feet. John now hand on the stunner tries to pull it out, Hark hits him with a hard elbow to the face knocking John over, Hark himself falls over clutching his bleeding and broken nose. John, his face cut and the stunner still releasing enough charge to keep his attention on pulling it out moves his right arm to clutch the device and rips it out. He lets out a sign of relief as Hark brings another hard punch down on his face. This time John laughs through the pain of the leg wound.
"That's your punch Hark? That's the punch you have been working on all these years?" he chuckles staring up at Harks surprised face.
"You broke my nose John" Hark replied wiping his nose.
"I hope I didn't fuck up my hat" said John getting to his feet. Hark throws another punch, John moves and the punch connects with his left shoulder, Hark follows with another punch, again John moves this time the punch hits John’s other shoulder, Hark recoils in pain holding his right hand.
"Argh shit John" Hark says.
"Yeah that one's made of metal" John said smirking.
John grabs Hark around the waist and picks him up off the floor charging into and through a building wall.
Marko is holding one of the hulking mutants face down over a broken wall after having kicked him over it. The mutant begins to push upwards, Marko cannot stop him, after a struggle the mutant stands back up, Marko still firmly holding the back of his head, the mutant screams and punches Marko in the chest forcing him to release his grip on his neck. Mia jumps from a building onto the mutants back and begins pounding it with the butt of her gun. Blood starts to flow from his head, Marko stands back up noticing Mia's attack, slides along the floor and trips the mutant up. Falling to the floor Mia rolls away stopping the creep from landing on her and Marko begins to pummel the hulking creature with a barrage of punches.
"Shoot the damn thing Mia" Marko says to Mia while flailing into its ribcage.
"I'm out" Mia replies "but looks like you got this one" Mia runs off after seeing a few soldiers trying to take another soldier down.
"Thanks sweetheart!" he says sarcastically, stopping and staring at the mutant who is seemingly now not moving after serious punishment.
Suddenly the mutant eyes open and with a roar it grabs Markos neck and throws him off, Jumps on him immediately and another scuffle begins.
Valeria with a bloody face removes her straight hand from the neck of her fallen foe and sees a mutant break the neck of two soldiers. She dashes forwards closing thirty meters in a few seconds, as the killer swings a furious punch she ducks and cuts the back of his knee with just the nails of her hands. Screaming the mutant tries to turn and grab her but grabs nothing but stone. She stops in a crouched position and looks up at the domineering aggression of the mutant, her eyes glow, he stares directly into them. His own eyes flash purple and he freezes, a confused expression passes over his face, Valeria takes this opportunity to jump on him, legs around his waist and begins to head butt him on the bridge of the nose, he does not scream in pain, in fact he doesn't even re-act, he is locked in a trance. Valeria manages to make him tumble over onto his back, his eyes now closing, blood pouring from his now terrible facial wounds. She stops covered in blood, stands up, the mutant is still breathing but doesn't not move, frozen in position. She wipes the blood from her forehead and runs off to help more.
Grip fires several more shots into a mutant, who knocks him out of the way, the grizzly gang lander makes his way towards Chrissie licking his lips. She doesn't have her gun, it was knocked out of her hands by another roving mutant heading for a kill, the mutant grabs her throat and pushes her back in to a building doorway. She grabs a knife from her waistline and thrusts it into his belly and twists. The mutant surprised back hands her with his right fist knocking her unconscious and removes the knife with a look of relief. He throws her on the ground on the floor of the derelict shop and licks his lips again. Anger and desire wash over him just as he feels a sharp pain in the back of his head, he stares through fuzzy eyes as he turns around and see Mia with a fire extinguisher, she immediately puts another hard hit directly into the mutants face who stumbles over a counter and onto the floor unconscious. Chrissie comes too, and gets to her feet.
"Where is that son of a bitch?" She asks Mia.
Mia looks over to the counter and gestures. Chrissie Stumbles over to the counter grabbing the extinguisher from Mia as she passes. She mounts the mutant who is squirming on the floor and repeatedly brings the heavy metal onto his head, it bursts with a crunch.
John picks Harks up again after having put him down several times. Now in a mess, Hark says
"You know who sent me don't you? He paid a shit load. Well half of a shit load" Hark slobbers.
John steps over some rubble, his boots hitting heavy on the floor.
"I don't know who sent you Hark, if I did you would already be dead" said John.
John took Harks leg and began to drag him across the broken bricks and stone. Harks body was already broken, battered and bruised; he couldn't stand anymore it was pain without deaths release.
"Ah shit, it was the doc" he coughed through the blood spilling up into his mouth. "Ahiro sent me, but I got to tell you something you ain't going to like Test". Hark dragged himself backwards far enough to reach a wall and sit upright, John kicked him back down again, Hark moaned in pain.
"You don't get comfort now you backstabbing son of a bitch" said John emotionless.
"Argh John, we are paid to retrieve or kill people other people pay for, we don't question it", again he coughs but continues, "he has released Seven from the birthing chamber. I only know this because he told me" he splutters again.
"Where did you last see him?" John asks putting his boot on Harks chest.
"I saw him…" Hark is interrupted by the charging and tackling of John by one of the hulking mutants, this one put John through an adjoining concrete wall with a thud. John grunts as he feels the impact, smash, they both crash to the floor, the mutant dribbling with excitement.
"I get to kill John Test. This is going to be a day to remember" the freak proclaimed raising his arms over his head ready to deal a final heavy blow.
Johns right arm began to glow green, a small motor inside was beginning to warm up through his anger, he lifted his right arm to throw his retaliating blow but before either mutant or John could submit their final blow a jolting bang and a large hole appeared in the chest of the mutant. His eyes widened in confusion, John pushed him off to reveal Marko standing there with a large bore pump action shotgun taken from one of the fallen soldiers, the barrel smoking.
"You are welcome" Marko said.
"Ah, I could have handle it" John replied snidely.
He picks himself up and dusts himself off.
"What's the situation out there?" Johns asks.
"We got six of those freaks down, they took out five of our guys. Mia has Hark where you left him. Valeria is still out there doing what she does" Marko reports.
"Sounds good to me" John replies stepping back through the hole he was put through.
Hark is being held at gunpoint by Mia, she has her silver revolver barrel burning his cheek.
"Ah just kill me it's all over anyway. How many did we kill?" Hark said spitting blood on the floor next to Mia's shoe.
"You son of a bitch" Mia said angry, she raises her gun as to back hand him across the face when Marko speaks up.
"Hey Mia, cool it! He's a goner anyway".
"Ah just kill me already" Hark demands.
"I don't know Marko, what if we let him live?" John asked pulling Marko to the side.
"John he just tried to kill you, his guys tried to kill us, we can't let him live, he will only be back with more thugs for hire" Marko replied confused.
"Yeah, I know, but the doctor knew Hark didn't have much of a chance, it's like he is baiting us" John says thinking, he continues "Ok, get a few of the guys to take him back to Little London, tell Shaw to keep Hark locked up until we get back".
Marko stares at John for a moment and accepts his decision reluctantly, Marko hoists Hark up from the floor and both him and Mia carry him outside.
"Why’d you let him live Test?" Grip asked slowly climbing over the rubble.
"I don't know, I just feel he will be useful before the end, shouldn't kill something that could be useful Grip" John said brushing himself off and making his way back out of the broken building and towards the stock roller station.
“We will see if you are right” mumbled Grip.
Burke had now finished the work on the stock roller, he had to initiate several kill switches inside the shell of the vehicle. A few soldiers helped him with the switches.
"Burke" John said reaching the old station.
"John, I'm in here" Burke replied from inside the roller.
"John, I'm not going to lie all that noise slowed me down a little bit, and I found a small issue with the roller. We have a small puncture somewhere in the fuel line" Burke said jumping out of the door.
"Is it drivable?" asked John.
"Yeah it should drive no problem, but we will use more fuel than we would normally unless I’ve got a bit of time to find the puncture" said Burke.
"No time Burke we have to get going, we have already lost a bunch fighting those surprise assholes only a few miles or so away from Little London. Can you try and fix on the fly?" John asks.
"Yeah, of course John, I will do my best" Burke replied.
"John, Hark has gone off with two of our guys, he's tied up and on his way to Shaw" said Marko dropping through a hole in the wall made by one of the offending mutants.
"How many guys do we have left?" asks John.
Marko shrugs and shakes his head.
"We had fifteen in total, we have seven left, excluding the guys taking Hark back. You, me, Marko, Valeria and seven soldiers from Little London" said Mia joining the group.
"Ah shit, how did we lose that many?" asked John.
"Those mutants where tougher than we thought, they fought like ragers" said Marko.
"I think Hark fed these guys something, chances of them all having the same mutation like ragers is not likely" Mia said.
"hmm, let's get going, we shouldn't hang around here for long, Mia grabs the guys taking Hark back and tell them to let Shaw know there are dead soldiers that need a proper burial out here, let him know where we are headed" said John signaling everyone to get on board the roller.
"Ok guys, I need a couple of assault rifles you got there in that bag, I want to try and attach them to the top rig so we have some fire power should anyone try and attack us. After all we do have to go into Banditland" said Burke moving around inside the bus and grabbing a couple of the rifles from a bag on of the soldiers was carrying.
"I will give you a hand" one of the soldiers said, Burke nodded and they made their way up onto the roof hatch.
"Ok Mia you are in the driver's seat, we need to be heading east then south, we are going to get to a dock fifty or sixty miles south of the border, hopefully we can pick up a boat to get us up to the port near station thirteen in Zone Eight" Marko said.
"Everyone else you know what to do!" Mia shouted.
All the soldiers sat in one of the cold black steel seats and held their gun out the window. The engine started with a rattle as Mia found the starter button under some grey rubber dashboard. Black smoke poured from the exhaust as the roller rolled to ramming speed, headed directly for the front metal entrance of the station. They impacted the door with a thud and both metal doors flew off in different directions giving everyone on board a bump. The journey to Swiss Towers had begun.
CHAPTER NINE
BANDITLAND
The ride was bumpy at best and everyone was getting sore and tired. They had been driving for a few hours, the roller was slow, and twenty miles per hour was its max on flat tarmac. They were travelling over rough terrain and it was getting dark.
Banditland was a desolate and desperate waste of sand and dust. Two hundred square miles of cracks and caves and crevasses where some of the worst of the worst hide from the prying eyes of the zones. Outcasts, rapists, thieves and murderers live out in the waste. Many have set up camps, some even small settlements; there is no law for the residence of Banitland, no one
and everyone takes blame for anything that happens out here. The punishment for everything is death.
"So what do you know about this place Burke?" Chrissie asks.
"Ah just stories you know" said Burke who was resting up against one of the sides of the roller beneath a window.
"Tell us one, it’s not like we got something else to do" Chrissie asks keeping a watchful eye out of the window.
"Ha ha ok well, I know a couple. Which one do you want to hear? The pirate captain of Afterburn Lake or the story of one of the Eight?" Burke asks.
"Tell us the one about the Eight, I don't know that one" Grip says getting interested.
"Ok, so the rumor is, and it's only rumors but, one of the Eight lives out here in the deep south in the mountains. Apparently she was exiled because she killed one of her siblings. Each month she leaves the mountains to find a fitting tribute to atone for her treachery. The thing is that the tributes he picks are always someone from the waste, and it's what she does to them that makes it interesting." Burke stops for dramatic purposes.
"Ah stop being an idiot Burke get on with it" Chrissie said.
"Ok, ok, well she goes out into the waste and picks a subject, follows them for a while, then finally when there is a chance she pounces. She takes them back to her cave in the mountains, skins them while they are alive, and eats them bit by bit. It's said that she has something in her saliva that keeps you alive until she gets to your belly button" said Burke with wide eyes.
"This woman is like a mosquito then?" Marko asked with a smirk.
"Ha ha Marko" Burke said sarcastically "not like a mosquito but I wouldn't want to meet her" Burke replied and gave Valeria a glance who didn't even acknowledge him.
“Doesn’t stop until she gets to your belly button?” Kairi asks. “So she starts eating at your feet then? That’s twisted” she sat thinking.
A large bump, thud and a bang interrupted the conversation.
"What in the blue hell was that?" said John looking back at the rest of the soldiers from the front.
"Mia stop the bus" John demanded, Mia slammed on the breaks.
