by Paul Kane
He returned to Tate, taking him by the arm. "Come on, we have to fall back!" It wasn't easy getting away with the Reverend's limp, and when they turned the next corner, Jack saw Mark and Sophie running to meet them.
"Jack, what's happening?" asked Mark.
"We're under attack, kiddo. And not just from those Russians - from the cult as well."
"What?"
"We don't have much time. Have you seen Mary? Adele?"
"Adele, no."
"But you've seen Mary?" said Tate. "She went looking for you."
"Oh no, did she?" Sophie was choking back tears.
"What is it?"
"There was an explosion," Mark told them. "In the caves. Maybe the soldiers got in down there, I don't know. But... I think she might be..."
Jack shook his head. "No way, not Mary!"
"I didn't get a chance to check, there were men coming up the steps," Mark told him.
"There are men everywhere," Sophie added, with a worried frown.
Jack gave Mark the rifle, then placed his hand on the lad's shoulder, squeezing firmly. "Anyone can see which way this is heading. It's Assault on Precinct 13, and you've gotta get out of here. Remember what Robert said if things went south."
"But-"
Jack looked at him sternly. "Do it, Mark - that's an order. Get Sophie out, get Tate out. I'll follow when I've checked on Mary and found Adele."
Tate's hand went to his mouth. "Gwen! She's still inside." As soon as he said it, the castle took a hit. The shell punched out the top corner of the building, opposite where they were standing. Mark shielded Sophie from the dust, as Jack and Tate turned their backs on it.
Coughing, Jack spluttered, "I'll find her too, now go!"
"I can't leave her alone, not again."
"Go!" repeated Jack, taking off himself.
Sophie and Mark took an arm each and tugged, but the Reverend was still reluctant to leave. Then more soldiers found them, bullets spraying the floor. Mark lifted the rifle, but he'd never fired a gun in his life - hadn't even trained for it. But he'd been taken by surprise and had no bow and arrow with him, no sword or staff. He had no option other than to use the weapon he'd been handed. When he tried to fire it, though, all he got was a click as he pressed the trigger.
Mark looked up and saw several soldiers all aiming their weapons in his and Sophie's direction. This was it. They were dead.
Then, suddenly, he was being relieved of the rifle, and bullets were fired from it. Tate aimed for the men's legs, wounding but not killing them. Mark's jaw dropped, but he didn't have time to ask where the Reverend had learned to use one of those things, nor how his aim was so good. There was another wave of attackers coming, a mixture of Russians and cult members.
Pushing Sophie behind him, Mark laid into the first one, a robed figure who ran at him a machete raised. Mark used his momentum against him, grabbing that arm and breaking it at the elbow. He relieved the screaming cultist of his weapon, just in time to meet a blow from another blade which was heading for Sophie.
Tate, for his part, was still firing at the soldiers - slowing their progress towards the castle. When the rifle ran out of ammo, he picked up his stick again and tackled the closest of the soldiers with self defence moves and well placed blows. When it came to fighting the cultists, though, Tate was still wavering; dangerously so, as Mark had to hack at one of their arms to stop a machete swipe from finding the Reverend's neck.
While he was doing this, his attention divided, Mark felt someone at the side of him. When he turned, a fist glanced across his chin. He stumbled, shocked, snapping out of it just in time to see a bayonet about to be rammed into his chest.
Then the attacking soldier was being struck, with almost as much force as the blow which had taken Mark by surprise. When the soldier looked to see who'd done this, he got a kick in the groin as well. Sophie nodded, as if telling the man to stay down. Mark smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"We've got to get out of here," he called over to Tate. "Before the castle's riddled with them. Jack said he would follow. Reverend? Reverend, we need you!"
Tate still looked like he was going to disagree, then at last relented, and the trio made their way towards the path that seemed to have the least amount of troops flooding it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
His place was with the men.
But his mind was also on the women in danger: Mary (who wasn't dead, no matter what Sophie and Mark had seen), Gwen and Adele.
Her especially.
Since she'd come to the castle, Jack had felt a certain connection with Adele. They'd talked and spent time together. She'd reminded him what it was like to be in the company of an attractive woman. Reminded him there were more things in this world than fighting the bad guys. Just as Mark was protecting Sophie, and Gwen was in Tate's thoughts, Adele was all he could think about. Where she was, if she was all right, how he could get her out of here. She'd said that she'd at last found a home after all that travelling, and now it was being torn down around her. Jesus, she must be terrified.
Jack paused to dispatch a couple of Russians, dropping and rolling along the floor so that he knocked the feet out from under them; one of his favourite wrestling moves back when he'd been on the circuit. This was usually the place where he'd say, "You've just been Jack-Hammered, pal!" but it wasn't the time for glib remarks. His newfound family was being attacked, being threatened. Being destroyed. All that did was make Jack angry. Really angry.
Suddenly, there she was. Adele. Down on the Middle Bailey, soldiers crowding in on her. It looked like she was trying to surrender, but they kept on coming. Jack made to get down there as quickly as possible, but in the end he didn't need to. Somehow, from somewhere, Adele had acquired a rifle of her own. She swung this around, shooting the Russians dead.
As Jack watched, he saw two of his men come to her aid - he recognised them as Wilkes and Ferguson - and she spun fast, about to blow them away as well. "Adele, no!" he shouted. "Friendlies!"
She turned to see who was calling, saw it was Jack, then saw the men were there to help. As he hurried to join her, however, his attention shifted to an armoured vehicle that had crested the incline and was now on the Bailey itself.
As Jack stood there, he saw the hatch on top open, and a very familiar figure clamber out. If his size hadn't given him away, then his olive skin certainly did. They'd met once before, over a year ago now. Back then the man had been shot by Bill after Jack had taken a beating from him. He'd often wondered what would have happened in a rematch, and it looked like he was about to find out. Tanek was staring straight at him, and for a second or two it seemed like he'd only ventured out because of Jack. Then Tanek produced his crossbow and shot a couple of Rangers for sheer sport.
Grinding his teeth, Jack made it the rest of the way to the Bailey, hollering as he went: "Come on down, you big ape. We got unfinished business!"
Tanek grinned, aiming the crossbow at Jack. Then he placed it on top of the AFV before reaching inside the vehicle. He pulled out what looked like a large metal spear, about the same size as Jack's staff.
The olive-skinned man hopped down, and swatted away another one of the castle's fighters with the pike. Jack spun his own staff. There was no way this sadistic sonofabitch was going to get his hands on Adele or the others - he'd personally see to that.
"Come on then, let's see what you got."
"You. Talk. Too. Much," was Tanek's staggered reply, and he rushed Jack, hefting the metal lance high.
Jack blocked the move, his arms juddering with the vibrations of the blow. Christ, the man was strong; his 'death' had done little to change that. He was also as quick as ever, in spite of the limp - given to him, Jack knew, by Mark.
Nevertheless, Jack pushed him backwards, getting in a strike to the stomach with the end of his heavy staff. He might as well have been hitting concrete, because Tanek hardly even flinched.
Okay, thought Jack, try this.
He cut to the left and
, at the same time, brought the staff up to strike the back of Tanek's neck: the same spot he'd punched Jack the last time they met - signalling the end of the fight. Tanek's pike was up in a flash, not only preventing Jack's blow from landing, but retaliating with one of his own - which caused Jack to roll forward. He came up poised to fight, narrowly avoiding the sharpen end of the spear.
Tanek tried again to impale Jack. As he shifted sideways, Jack noticed more people emerging from the armoured vehicle. First up were two oriental women in skin-tight black leather outfits, carrying lethal-looking swords. They climbed down like spiders navigating a wall. A couple of Jack's men had a go at them with their own swords and soon found out how outclassed they were, the women spinning and twisting as they slashed open necks, arms and thighs. One move from the girl on the right practically sliced some poor fighter's head - a young Ranger called Mundy - clean off.
The women stood ready to protect the next person getting out of the AFV. A figure who, straight away, put on his peaked cap before dropping down. In his long coat and maroon military outfit, it could only be The Tsar himself. Here to oversee the fall of the castle: and The Hooded Man's empire.
If Jack could take him out then -
But he had more pressing issues to deal will. Literally, as Tanek and he clashed weapons, each pushing against the other, neither willing to give ground. Jack's feet slipped a little on the slushy grass, but he dug his heels in, unwilling to let Tanek take an inch.
Although his identical bodyguards were there to protect him, The Tsar was not averse to getting his hands dirty, it seemed. Because Jack saw him take out his own sword: long and curved, Jack had seen its like in movies, but had never seen one being used for real.
The Tsar ran one of the wounded soldiers through, pulling out the blade and admiring the blood dripping from it.
He's just as sadistic as De Falaise... as Tanek, Jack thought, possibly a fighter in the past, but now prefers the sure-fire kill. I might be able to use that, if I can get close enough.
Then The Tsar's attention was drawn to Adele and the men flanking her: Jack's men. With the oriental sisters - twins? - in tow, The Tsar glided forward across the Bailey towards them.
Jack had to finish this right now. Had to get across to Adele before she ended up like Mundy.
That was easier said than done, because Tanek wasn't in the mood for quitting. The olive-skinned man flashed his teeth and gave one last shove, but Jack realised what he was doing and decided to give him that inch he wanted. In fact, he could take the whole Middle Bailey if he liked. Without warning, Jack took the pressure off his staff and stepped aside, causing Tanek to lunge forward, struggling to keep upright. As he passed by, Jack gave him a whack across the shoulder blades to help him on his way. Pitching him almost into the side of the steps.
He wasn't completely out of the game, but it would have to do for now.
Jack sprinted across the field, holding the staff horizontally to take out two more Russian soldiers, each end smacking into a face. He was going to be too late to reach Adele, because the twins were already closing in. And although she had a rifle, he knew that they'd still make mincemeat of her. Wilkes and Ferguson lunged forward, their intention to stop the women, but in reality all they could really do was try not to get themselves killed.
To begin with they did pretty well, holding their own against the two bodyguards, as fast as they were. And Jack was almost there when the first of them bought it: Wilkes receiving a savage slash to the side that bit into him to a depth of about four or five inches. He looked over at Jack, his eyes pleading as blood poured out of the wound.
"You bitches are gonna to pay for that," Jack promised, holding his staff by the end and swinging it so that it caught one of the bodyguards across the forearm. The shock of this bought him enough time to kick her over onto the ground.
Her sister looked across, and paid the price - as Ferguson got close enough to aim a punch at her head. The Tsar, instead of coming to their aid, pulled back slightly, raising his sword in a defensive stance.
The sister closest to Jack was recovering quickly, getting to her feet and taking a swing at him with her sword, then skirting past and making for Adele. "Where do you think you're goin', huh?" shouted Jack, grabbing her hair and yanking her back.
Ferguson had the drop on the second, raising his sword to bring it down on her. But she'd only been feigning weakness from his punch, and lifted her sword up to meet his, before kicking high and knocking him out of the way. Her path to Adele was now clear. Adele held the rifle up, then cast it to the side, attempting to surrender once more.
Jack dragged the first sister back and, jamming his staff under his arm, wrapped his other one around her neck - in a wrestler's chin lock - forcing her to her knees. "Back away from the little lady, sweetheart, or I'll crush your sister's windpipe." He hoped she could tell from the look on his face that he meant business.
The other bodyguard did as he asked, slowly backing away from the defenceless Adele. "T-Thank you, Jack," the woman called over to him. The look of sheer relief on her face was thanks enough. They weren't out of this yet, though. But as he glanced over, he saw Adele take a handgun out of her coat.
Attagirl, thought Jack.
She pointed it at the other oriental woman, covering her. Then a weird expression passed over Adele's face, a sort of calmness... as she pulled the trigger. Jack was stunned to see her do that, because he didn't think she had it in her. Then again, life on the streets post-virus could do a lot to a person. He expected to see the bodyguard fold up and hit the ground. Instead, she stood there - apparently as surprised as everyone else that she was still alive.
Then he saw it. Behind the woman, just off to the left of her, was Ferguson, who'd been coming up behind, to restrain her. Adele's bullet had put paid to that. Jack's head was spinning. She'd missed and shot Ferguson by accident, clearly not as used to a gun as she appeared. But the wound was slap-bang in the centre of Ferguson's forehead, a million to one shot for a mistake. She'd been aiming for him, and she'd hit her target.
Adele turned the gun on Jack. "Now let her go," she told him.
He couldn't take any of this in. "What are you doing, you can't-"
"I said let her go, Jack. Don't make this any more difficult."
Difficult? What was she talking about? Jack looked at the other twin, then at The Tsar. If they hadn't appeared as puzzled as him, he might - just might - have leapt to the conclusion that she was working for their side. An infiltrator. No, that was impossible. Not Adele. She'd just seen the way the wind was blowing, that was all. Had chosen to try and switch sides to save her life. All that time surviving out there alone, you put yourself first. But it didn't have to be that way, he'd show her.
"Let's talk about this. We can still get out of here, you and me. Don't-"
"Shut up," Adele snapped. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You're scared, I understand that, but-"
"You understand nothing!" she screamed, and this time it wasn't her voice. Not the one she'd spoken with before, anyway. Not the voice of the Adele who'd toured the castle with him, eaten with him as they'd gotten to know each other. This was the voice of a ghost. A voice he knew all too well. "I say again, Jack. Let her go."
For a second he almost did it, purely because he was so astonished. But Jack instinctively held on to his hostage. If he was walking out of here, it was with the Chinese woman as his captive. Not with Adele - or whoever she was - arm in arm, like in some stupid chick flick. Jack should have known better, he'd never had the greatest luck with women. But for her to turn out to be...
There was a sudden pain in his back. He was forced to let go of the woman then, because he needed to reach round, lessen the agony there somehow. Agony caused by being struck by something.
The Chinese bodyguard stumbled forward out of his grasp, towards her twin, rubbing her throat. Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Tanek standing there, pike held like a very long club, having jus
t returned the favour of Jack knocking him on his ass.
Another blow and Jack was on his knees, his staff on the floor, kicked out of reach. Adele still had the gun trained on him and he couldn't decide which way would be better to go, a quick shot to the head - like Ferguson - or having Tanek ram that pointed piece of metal through him.
Through his broken heart.
The twins were edging their way towards Adele, and she was watching them out of the corner of her eye. Jack had no doubt that she'd turn the gun on them in a heartbeat if she thought she was in danger.
"Leave her be," Jack heard Tanek say to them. He'd recognised her as well, or at least a part of her. The part that must have come from him. The psycho who'd started all this in the first place. The reason they were all here today. As Adele came closer, still holding the gun out straight, Jack could see the same look in her eye now: an insane look. The look of a daughter out for revenge.
Jack gave a sad laugh. "I thought we had something there for a while."
"Oh, please," she said, then spat at him. "You were one of the men who murdered my father! How could I ever have feelings for you other than loathing?"
Jeez, do I have lousy taste in broads or what? Well, it's cost you this time, hasn't it, numbskull?
"Father?" asked The Tsar, now deeming it safe to come closer, though not before his bodyguards joined him again. "You don't mean that-"
Tanek nodded. "She is De Falaise's child." He exchanged a long look with Adele, who smiled. "The person I came here to find."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
They'd been lies, pure and simple.
No two ways about it. Tate had lured her here under false pretences, as she'd told him repeatedly. When the message had reached her about the approaching army, one that apparently made De Falaise's look like a joke, she'd leaped at the opportunity to come to the castle for more weapons. If the soldiers passed through New Hope, then her people would need all the help they could get. It wasn't as if Robert was using them, was it? Gwen had to admit she'd been puzzled as to why they were suddenly going to give them to her, after denying them for so long, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Telling Andy, Darryl, Graham and the others that she'd be back soon, she'd headed off for Nottingham with Clive Jr.
