There were several more dead Custodians here, some blown apart, others shot, but of greater concern, nearly two dozen very alive Skel were clustered about or inside the stairwell. Those with guns or crossbows were taking turns to shoot up at the Custodians who were on the first floor and trying to get back down the stairs.
I gestured for Sergeant Xiao and his men to take cover behind the plant pots, and then we opened fire. We took down several of the psychotic Skel before the others even realised what was happening. The survivors then charged us bellowing with rage, but after a couple more fell, the rest beat a hasty retreat into the corridors to either side of the elevator. From there, they used the corridor corners as cover and sniped at us with their single shot, bolt-action rifles and crossbows. But every time one of them jumped out to shoot at us, we shot at them, throwing off their aim and driving them back.
Our victory was not without cost, though, for one of the Custodians took a bullet through the throat and he died almost instantly, in spite of Sergeant Xiao’s attempts to staunch the blood flow.
After that, the sergeant informed the major that the way for Beta and Charlie Companies to retreat was clear, and so a minute later, while Sergeant Xiao's squad and I provided covering fire, around four dozen weary, demoralised Custodians rushed down the stairs and retreated outside to their waiting vehicles.
As we followed them out, the Skel pursued us to the door and tried to pursue us further, but the Bushmasters' machine gunners drove them back.
Captain Smithson and the survivors of Delta Company joined us, their still functioning Bushmaster and solitary G-Wagon filled with wounded. The rest of Delta Company's men, including Sergeant Xiao's unit and myself, were then loaded into Beta and Charlie Company vehicles that had spare seats thanks to the horrific casualties suffered.
The surviving Custodian vehicles beat a hasty retreat towards Newhome, passed through the town's eastern gates, and headed directly for the hospital. As we went I noticed that the Custodians were completely demoralised. They'd gone out this morning nervous and tense but expecting to obliterate the Skel and sniper by brute force. But they'd had their behinds handed to them by the Skel and had suffered horrendous casualties in the process.
With Beta Company in the lead, the vehicle column pulled up directly in front of the hospital. I jumped out of the Bushmaster with the captain and helped unload the wounded from the vehicles. And although I'd spent my life resenting the Custodians and their strong-arm tactics – even considering them my enemy - right now my heart went out to them. Many were suffering from fractured bones, burns, crossbow bolt and bullet wounds. Some sobbed or wailed, and others screamed in agony.
A small army of paramedics and doctors, as well as orderlies pushing gurneys, rushed out of the hospital and quickly began tending to the wounded. The seriously wounded were seen to first, the medical personnel stripping off helmets, armour and webbing so that they could properly assess the nature of the wounds. Bandages and compresses were applied, tubes were inserted into veins, and one by one the wounded were lifted onto the gurneys and rushed indoors. Custodians with less serious wounds sat on the curb or milled about, awaiting their turn.
While Captain Smithson went to check on his wounded men, I sat on the curb with my head buried in hands, and tried and failed to get the images of today's atrocities out of my mind - images of men on fire and shrieking in pain, of men with broken limbs and gunshot wounds, of men burned or hacked to death. And to what end - what had been achieved? Absolutely nothing. If they'd listened to me when I told them that a front assault wouldn't work, none of this would have happened.
I was wondering when I could get to a phone to ring Nanako and tell her I was back safe and sound, when I heard her voice further down the road where Beta Company vehicles were parked.
"Excuse me, sir," I heard her say, "I’m looking for my husband, Ethan Jones?"
"You shouldn’t be out here, woman," a gruff voice snapped back.
It really was Nanako! I immediately set off towards her, threading my way carefully through the milling throng of doctors, orderlies and Custodians, stepping around gurneys, pushing my way between groups huddled in conversation, even backtracking a couple of times. As I went, I heard her continue to ask Custodians if they’d seen me, but as it was Beta Company back there, none of them had. She was becoming more frantic each time she asked the question.
I finally caught sight of her, and my heart broke when I saw her walking hesitantly towards those who had been killed in the battle, their bodies laid in a row at the side of the road and covered with black plastic sheets.
"Nanako!" I shouted when I was close enough for her to hear me over the din.
She spun around and with eyes brimming with repressed hope, scanned the crowd until she noticed me pushing my way past several Custodians to reach her. She ran towards me as fast as the ankle length, black funeral dress would permit.
We met beside a Bushmaster blackened by Molotov cocktail hits, and I pulled her into my arms and held her tight, resting my chin on the top of her head. She snuggled against my chest and looked up into my dirt-streaked face.
I kissed her gently on the forehead. "Told you I'd come back."
She lay her head on my chest, and as I ran my hand through her silky black hair, I shut out everything else - the moans of the wounded, the frantic shouts of paramedics and doctors, even the memory of today's debacle - until Nanako was the only thing I was aware of.
She had to ask the question a second time to bring me back to the present. "Are you hurt?"
"Just a couple of bruises."
"Better get those looked at - knowing you that probably means you're sporting a dozen broken bones."
"Seriously, nothing so dramatic."
She nodded, but I could tell she wasn't convinced. "So what happened out there – why did you come back so soon?" she asked.
"The Skel were ready for us. We're lucky any of us got back at all."
"I'm sure you had something to do with that."
I nodded, though without satisfaction. I wished I could have done more.
I slowly became aware that the Custodians closest to us were eyeing us with disdain and displeasure at our unseemly display of public affection, not to mention that no one else's wives were here.
"Did you come alone?" I asked, concerned.
"No, your mother is back there. She refused to come any closer," she said, pointing behind her. "Should I go now?"
"I think that would be wise, we're making a bit of a scene," I said, but quickly grabbed her hand as she stepped back. "Seeing you here, now - I really needed that."
She smiled appreciatively, and then I saw her back to my mother, who acknowledged my safe return with a much more restrained greeting.
After they'd gone, I turned around and jumped when I saw Captain Smithson standing there, watching me.
"The general wants a word with you," he said wearily.
"With me, sir?"
"I hazard to think he may be more willing to listen to your counsel now."
"Very well, sir," I said, wondering what the outcome of this meeting would be. The last meeting resulted in me being blackmailed into joining today's ill planned attack, and I had no desire to join another such venture.
The captain led me to an awaiting G-Wagon and we were driven to Custodian Command. We went upstairs to one of the station's briefing rooms, but the captain grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him before we entered.
"I wonder what could be achieved by a platoon comprised entirely of people like you," he said just loud enough for me to hear.
"Like me, sir?" I asked nervously.
"By people who are crack shots when shooting in the dark or through smoke."
Chapter Twenty-Three
"What exactly are you trying to say?" I was worried now; convinced he knew I was a genetically engineered mutant.
He leaned closer. "Every fibre of my being is telling me to arrest you and hand you over to the geneticists
like I'm supposed to, but as much as I am afraid of you, there is one thing I am even more afraid of."
"And that is, sir?"
"That without you, Newhome will fall and we will all end up Skel slaves."
A massive wave of relief passed through me as I nodded to acknowledge his comment. By some incomprehensible miracle, he knew I was a bio-engineered echolocator but wasn’t going to turn me in.
We entered the briefing room, which was a large room filled with white boards, desks, and photo boards covered with hundreds of photos of the apartment block the sniper was using as his base of operations.
Several Custodians were in the room, including the general, Major Harris, and Colonel Kim. They were clustered around one of the photo boards and were in the midst of a heated argument about today's botched attack and other options open to them. I so didn't want to be here.
"I have brought Consultant Jones as ordered, sir," Captain Smithson said, interrupting them.
Ceasing their argument immediately, the officers turned to appraise me, causing my skin to crawl. What did I have to do to get out of this paramilitary force?
"Ethan Jones," the general began as he walked over to a desk under a window, "In recognition of your exemplary service in combat today, I hereby award you the honorary rank of sergeant."
"I see, sir." What, no admission that I was right and they were wrong to launch a direct assault upon the Skel? And a promotion - what was that about? What did they want from me now?
General Lee picked up a sophisticated black rifle from a desk beside him and handed it to me. "You seen one of these before, Sergeant Jones?"
"No, sir, should I have?" I replied, for in all honesty, I didn't recall having seen such a weapon before. My hands, however, told me a different story - the rifle's weight and feel were achingly familiar, just like the Austeyr assault-rifle had been the first time I picked one up. Well, snatched it from King, truth be told.
"It's a Blaser Tactical 2 Sniper Rifle," the general said, "And I was hoping you were going to say the Rangers trained you in how to use it."
I didn't like where this was going at all, so I didn't reply.
"This is the type of rifle that accursed sniper is using," the colonel interjected. "We have been able to determine this by examining the 0.388 calibre bullets he's firing at us."
0.388 calibre? No wonder the bullets have been penetrating the Custodian’s ‘bulletproof’ armoured vests and helmets and so easily.
"So you haven’t been trained in how to use it, then?" the general pressed.
"I'm sorry, sir, but as I've told you previously, I have no memory of the year I spent in Hamamachi."
"Shall I jog his memory, General?" Major Harris asked, scowling at me spitefully.
The general nodded, so the major bellowed at the top of his voice. "Bring her in!"
The door swung open and two six-foot-tall Custodians marched a diminutive and somewhat reluctant Nanako into the room.
The shock from seeing my wife dragged into the Custodian's briefing room like this distorted my senses and sent them reeling, and then most unexpectedly, triggered another seizure. The horrible sense of déjà vu swept through me, trying to convince me I'd been in this exact situation before, and then a memory from my past tore into my mind. I saw myself back in the street on the edge of Skel territory, a raging Skel warrior charging straight at me. A Japanese Ranger stood on my left and I was holding him upright by his collar. He was bleeding from several gunshot wounds as well as gagging and choking.
I could have done without this distraction right now - yet another memory fragment I couldn't place or understand. Yet this memory could be my first clue as to who wiped out my Ranger companions – was it the Skel? But if so, how did they manage to pull it off? And more to the point, what were we doing there in the first place?
"We don't buy this amnesia story of yours, Sergeant Jones," Major Harris said, pulling me back to the present. "So before I stick your wife in prison on charges of espionage, would you like to revise your answer?"
Nanako looked at me, her eyes wide with alarm. She didn't know what the question was, but had correctly guessed the answer they sought wouldn't be good for me.
I glared at the major while I rode out the rest of the seizure. I despised these men and their intimidation tactics, especially considering how much I’d helped them today. All the same, I couldn't invent answers to give them what they wanted.
"So this is what it’s gonna be like, is it?" I asked when the last traces of the seizure faded away. "Every time I don’t play along with your ridiculous requests you’re gonna use my wife to blackmail me?"
"Mind who you’re talking to, Jones!" the major shouted angrily.
Aware I was about to cross a line that would bring dire consequences, I quickly back peddled. "Major, I'll tell you anything you want to hear if it'll keep my wife out of prison, but what's that going to achieve? My amnesia is real - go ask Doctor Nguyen in the hospital's neurology department if you won't take my word for it. As for this sniper rifle, as I said, I don’t recall have seen one before. However, it does seem vaguely familiar now that I’m holding it."
"That's more like it," the major growled triumphantly. "And in that case, you are hereby given twenty-four hours with which to re-accustom yourself with the weapon and then engage and take out that Skel sniper."
I suspected this was where they were heading, but all the same, I nearly dropped the gun in shock when they actually said it - for they'd just handed me a death sentence.
Nanako knew it too, for her expression mirrored my shock and then magnified it tenfold. "You can’t ask him to do that!" she exclaimed.
"You will be silent unless spoken to, woman!" the major snapped, his voice tinged with far more anger than the situation warranted, as though her comment had been a personal affront to him.
Nanako shot a fleeting look in my direction and took a step towards the general, ignoring the major completely. "General, sir, if you want my husband to take out the sniper, don't ask him to do it on the sniper's terms, but on his own..."
"You will not speak!" the major bellowed. He turned to the Custodian privates who'd brought her here. "Take her away."
"No - let her finish," Captain Smithson interrupted.
The major's mouth worked like a fish out of water while the privates hesitated in carrying out his order. The major outranked the captain, but with the general present, that was kind of irrelevant.
"Go on, Mrs. Jones, what do you mean by ‘on your husband’s terms?’” Captain Smithson prompted.
"Ethan excels at infiltrating enemy lines and taking out the enemy from the rear, sir."
"Is this true, Sergeant Jones?" the general demanded.
"Yes sir."
"I thought you said you couldn't remember what happened in Hamamachi?"
"This is how my forager team and I despatched Skel who tried to get the jump on us when we were foraging," I replied.
"You fought Skel when you were a forager?" the major queried. "With what weapons? Where did you get them?"
"Not now, Major!" the general snapped before turning back to me. "Do you think you can eliminate this sniper using this strategy?"
"Yes sir, I do," I replied, desperate for him to believe me. At least this way I had a chance - one on one against the sniper with a sniper rifle? No chance.
"Very well," the general said. "Captain Smithson, since Jones is in your command, you're in charge of this mission."
"Thank you, sir," the captain said.
I put the heavy sniper rifle down on the closest desk and followed the captain from the room, indicating for Nanako to follow us. When the three of us were in the passageway outside, I breathed a sigh of relief – I couldn’t get away from the general, and especially the major, fast enough. What was the major’s beef anyway?
"Right then, what equipment do you need for the mission - I presume you'll be going alone?" the captain asked.
"No, he's not - I’m going with him," Na
nako butted in before I had a chance to say anything.
"It’s far too dangerous, there’s no way I’m gonna risk your life out there," I declared emphatically.
"All the more reason for me to come."
"Nanako…"
"We’ve had this argument before, Ethan, remember? I’m coming with you, and that’s that."
"But…"
"If your wife wants to accompany you, Jones, then she will do so - and that is an order. I have seen you two in action and you make quite a team," the captain interjected.
"Yes sir," I said, swallowing hard, though it was to her that I was acquiescing, not his order. She'd saved my life at least twice on the night the Skel attacked the sub, and I knew there was no way in the world I could stop her coming. "I also want my two foragers, David and Shorty. As for equipment, I'd like two pistols with silencers and three bows. I also want to spend tonight in training, and then go out tomorrow night."
The captain stared at me suspiciously. "Your foragers? Bows? What exactly have you lot been doing while you were supposed to be foraging, Jones?"
"Just trying to survive, sir, nothing more," I said sincerely.
He didn't look like he was buying it, but he let it drop all the same.
We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for the mission. Shorty and David were brought in to Custodian Headquarters, fidgeting and tense, afraid they were about to be charged with some major misdemeanour. However, when they found out why they'd been brought in, they were none the happier. But as Captain Smithson was with us, they kept their griping to a minimum, though I knew they'd let me have it with both barrels later.
Using Custodian funds we purchased black outfits for each of us - black runners, pants, t-shirts, hoodies, and beanies. Pistols with silencers were signed out of the armoury for Nanako and me to use, and three top-quality recreational bows from North End were provided to Shorty, David and Nanako. I would have given anything to be able to use one too, but my chest hurt too much to draw the string.
Forager - the Complete Six Book Series (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Series) Page 38
