Rise of the Phoenix: Act 3

by Dameon Gibbs

  Still disoriented by the blast, he crawled closer to the central hallway, not realizing how far he had jumped. If I only had competed in the long jump.

  The first person he saw was Tom. He was lying face first. As Tucker got closer, he realized that it was only the top half of Tom, the explosion having blown his legs down the hall. He gagged until he saw what remained of the other scientist splattered on the wall like graffiti. That’s when his breakfast reappeared.

  Ramona, please tell me you made it. He looked into the room across the hall and saw her on her side facing the wall. The enemy could have been standing next to her waiting with guns at the ready, it did not matter; at that moment he was going to get to Ramona, and nothing was going to stop him. He made his way across the hall to the room where he last saw her. His heart stopped as he found Ramona’s head lying in a pool of blood.

  Chapter 2

  Rice started calculating the odds: stay here and most likely get shot or run for cover and most likely get shot. FUCK IT! he thought as he went running, but stopped when two quick gunshots from beyond the soldier went off. The assault on his beam that he was hiding behind stopped. He dared to poke his head around the beam and saw Pitch in the distance with a smoking gun up and the attacking soldier dead on the floor.

  They had exchanged a quick nod before the last two members of the enemy squad appeared to the right of Pitch. The small man took off again firing over his shoulder at his pursuers. Rice quickly changed magazines and ran to join in the battle.

  Pitch’s gun clicked empty sooner than he wanted and he dove between two machines. His sidearm was back in his hands before he got up. The machines in this section provided little cover, and he fired as he retreated to cover better, two shots for every ten of theirs. He got a glimpse of Rice flanking the firing soldiers, with his weapon firing. Rice clipped one of the soldiers in the shoulder which seemed to merely piss him off and then he took off, running around them behind cover. The soldier he shot followed his movement, the barrel of his gun moving like the hand of a clock.

  Perfect. The distraction gave Pitch the opportunity to find a way to sneak back around. There was a small opening just under a machine that he could fit through without being seen. This is when being short has its advantages, he thought as he quickly crawled through. He kept low and hurried along the machines.

  He could see the gun battle to his right between’s Rice’s men and the enemy soldiers: it was at a stalemate. Okay, I’ve still got time. Three huge fireballs went off in the south end of the complex. The orange glow changed the hue of the whole complex. Edge's plan worked better than expected.

  He then noticed both enemy soldiers also looking at the blast. It’s like they’re on a silver platter. Pitch came right at the enemy who were startled by how close he had gotten without them knowing. Pitch drove five solid shots into the man’s chest and face. Fuck you and … he paused as the other man was already dead.

  “I think that’s two each,” Rice joked as he walked towards Pitch, his gun still on the enemy.

  “Yeah, yeah. Beginners luck, kid,” Pitch replied sarcastically. “Quick grab their guns and ammo; we’ve got to get to the rest of the team.” He tossed Rice one of the G36C assault rifles. “Now we’re evening out the playing field.”

  They each had grabbed magazines and a grenade from the dead soldiers before they started towards the others.

  “Edge, how are things up there?” Pitch radioed.

  “Hot! We’re loading the cranes up and sending them your way.”

  “Roger, four tangos confirmed down; other four still fighting Rice’s men?”

  “Yeah, they’re holding their own. The enemy has not advanced beyond the point of engagement. You gonna help?” Edge asked.

  “Taking their weapons first,” Pitcher replied. “I think it’s time these bastards know what it is like to pick on someone their size.”

  “Most of them are taller than you,” Edge slipped in the jab at the same time Rice said,” Damn straight!” Smiling to himself, Pitch decided to hear only Rice’s enthusiasm.

  “Damn straight,” Rice added again, offering Pitch a radio he had removed from a dead soldier. “Hey, we can listen in to their communications chatter.” Pitched immediately took the offered radio and cranked up the volume.

  “Facility you have the green light to flash and burn. We’ve toyed with them long enough. Beta team commence assault.”

  Pitch snapped to the northern engagement. “Awwww, SHIIIIT! Edge we got comms chatter that they’re about to …” Pitch stopped midsentence as a series of powerful explosions went off in front of him. All the gunfire from Rice’s men stopped. “…do that,” Pitch said dejectedly. “We’ve got to help the survivors. They also said there is another team coming in.” Pitch and Rice ran full speed towards the wreckage.

  Pitch saw three of the enemy standing launching grenades from their under-barrel launchers. The explosions rippled through the machines which caused secondary explosions. Workers were screaming as they tried to avoid the grenades. Screams were of pain from the maimed or dying.

  “Fuck! Incoming!” Edge screamed as he was drowned out by a massive explosion.

  Pitch snapped around to see the explosion practically rip the control room from the catwalks. And that wasn’t the worst of it.

  ۞۞۞۞

  Edge stood in the control room watching the battles unfold below. Like everything else that had happened these last few days, the scenarios were less than desirable. Edge would painstakingly analyze plans to make sure he was not putting his team in harm’s way unnecessarily, but the nature of his missions often made that nearly impossible. When those instances occurred, he always made sure he was in the thick of it. The moments where he could only sit back and watch his plans fall through killed him.

  Now, Edge watched his best friend move through the labyrinth of welders, cutters, and other various machines out-manned and out-gunned. Not thirty feet from him his other Delta brother was also engaging a superior force. Edge wanted to join in the fray, but they had all agreed that having him be their eyes above was more valuable.

  With the low lights and constant gunfire, I can’t see jack shit. I’m just babysitting the facility director slash resident dirtbag; he thought as he glanced at Quinn, who was still ready to bolt the second Edge dropped his guard.

  Pitch had just radioed in that he and Rice were en route to support the rest of the security team with defending the workers. Well, I’ll be a preacher in a whorehouse. This is working out too well. Gunfire caught his attention as he watched Doom engage a solitary soldier. He had to fight the urge to go out and help. For a second Edge could not tell if he worried more that Doom might lose or that he would have to deliver the bad news to Doom’s wife. Either way, he would lose. She believes in shooting the messenger.

  “Second wave of crates is en route. Where should I drop them?” Aaron asked as he ran next to Edge.

  “Pitch took care of his section so drop them along the outer wall, but don’t block the escape route,” Edge instructed.

  “Got the perfect spot,” Aaron replied as he went to set the new location. “Looks like your friends are getting their asses handed to them, you bastard,” he added to Quinn.

  “Don’t get too cocky; I know the toys they usually play with,” Quinn replied.

  Pitch came over the radio just before the northern test area erupted. “Holy crap.”

  “Crates are just under us, it’ll be another minute before they reach their zones,” Aaron yelled into the com unit.

  Shit, I knew they were holding back. Edge’s mind flew into planning mode. Five plans popped into his head at once as Pitch’s voice broke through his thoughts warning, “…another team coming in.”

  Edge’s eyes flew back to the west entrance and saw another team entering, carrying much heavier firepower. Two men had shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. I guess those are the toys Quinn mentioned…..are the crates still under us? Yes - FUCK! “INCOMING!” Edge yelled, runn
ing for cover before the entire control room rocked from the massive explosion.

  Two RPG’s slammed into the bottom of the control room and, as Edge feared, the flammable crates blew up doubling the explosive force. Edge and Quinn were thrown towards the east end, colliding with each other as they slammed into the control console. Edge’s head hit the bottom of the panel and then a second time as Quinn rolled into him. For a guy full of hot air he sure weighs a ton.

  Edge shoved him away and took in the damage. At the west end, the two RPGs had blown large holes into the room, and the exploding gasses had buckled the floor upwards. Edge saw Aaron’s body laying on a control panel; his eyes were open, but there was no life in them.

  As he turned to check on Quinn, he saw the motion of a wheel, metal, and a cushion coming at him. The chair hit Edge’s arms as he batted it to the side. By the time, he could say, “What the fuck?” Quinn was in a full sprint down the catwalk heading to the northeast. Oh, no; Edge denied, they are not going to get to kill you before I’m done with you.

  A brief hissing noise caught Edge’s attention just before another detonation shook the control room again and knocked him to the floor, this time from above. The flames of the explosions cascaded down like fireworks, and the control room began to shake. As he got up, another unworldly scream, something monstrous, echoed throughout the facility. Then the floor started to drop. That’s not a scream, Edge’s brain realized, that’s metal structure failure! The west side of the room dropped, throwing him towards the jagged metal holes in the floor.

  He reached out and grabbed one of the consoles. Okay, they’re dropping the control room. Well, this is different, Edge thought as he climbed back to his feet.

  The sound of metal bending and snapping overhead was not a sound Edge wanted to be near, and he lunged for the door Quinn had escaped through. The angle was steep, and his legs felt every stride. He reached the catwalk and sprinted across it like an Olympic athlete. As the supports for the control room failed and the structure tumbled slowly to the floor, the ceiling cables supporting the catwalk were progressively pulled from the ceiling from the center outwards. Edge was near the corner platform when the collapsing catwalk caught up to him, and he could feel the floor give way beneath him.

  “Oh why the fuck not?” He lunged for the platform as a base runner in a headfirst slide, landing a few feet from where he wanted to be. Hand over hand he furiously crawled up the almost vertical catwalk. His hand had just reached out to the platform when the catwalk separated. It fell slowly enough that he was able to push himself off the end of the catwalk and onto the platform. It was not until he was standing up looking down at the chaos below that he realized he made it. Thank God for Dust’s running regimen. From his position, he could see Quinn through the pathways. He took off after his target like a lion on the hunt.

  ۞۞۞۞

  Tucker grabbed Ramona and dragged her to cover. She snapped awake with a startled gasp.

  “Oh my God, you’re alive!?” Tucker exclaimed excited and confused. Looking back at the pool of blood, he realized it was from Mac.

  “What’s in my hair?” she asked, still dazed.

  “If I told you, it might ruin your breakfast, too,” he wiped the thick substance with his sleeve. “We need to get to Trident.” She managed a nod as they crawled back.

  Trident moved next to Miller. “How much you got left?”

  “One clip. You?” Miller asked, his fatigue showing.

  “On my last mag. We need to lure them in now. There’s one in each of the rooms and a third hiding by the concrete pillar in the hallway. We’ve got to let them see us retreating; that’ll bring them to us, where there’s less cover.”

  “I like it,” Miller added with a smirked. “Move on my go.” He and Trident then set themselves to take off. “Go!”

  The duo soon moved with purpose in opposite directions. Trident bolted while keeping his eyes just above the counter. Take the bait guys. Come on.

  Miller took the opportunity and sprinted across the room. Spotting movement the soldier across from him took aim and fired. Miller hesitated and returned fire, failing to realize that his brief pause would lead to his demise. Raising his weapon at his attacker, Miller was hit center mass. The old veteran stumbled back, hitting the workstation hard and sliding down.

  “You need to stand down and turn yourself in. This isn’t Thermopylae and you damn sure are not Greek,” one of the soldiers shouted.

  Trident watched as Miller was gunned down. Rest in peace, he thought, frustrated to see someone that loved their country taken out.

  Leaning his head against the wall, “If I’m not a Spartan, then why can’t you make it pass,” Trident shouted. He was answered with a hail of bullets that tore in the walls all around him. “I guess he didn’t like my question.” Panning his head, he noticed Tucker and Ramona moving about not too far from his position and worked his way over to them.

  “It’s just us left, and there’s still three of them. I need to get you two out of here. I have a plan, and it requires you two to help. But first, please tell me you have some ammo?” Trident asked hopefully as he peered over the counter, only to spot what he expected, the two soldiers were flanking and slowly worked their way towards them. It was only a matter of seconds before they would be on top of them.

  “I…I maybe have half a clip left,” Tucker replied.

  “That’s better than nothing,” Trident acknowledged. “Okay, I need you to move to the far end of the station and engage the guy on your side. While you distract them, I’ll go after my guy and flank them.”

  “This isn’t Thermopylae,” Tucker whispered. “You’re outgunned; we need to get out of here. Let us just make for the passageway out of here,” Tucker suggested.

  “Not you too with the history BS. Listen, they’d shoot you before you even make it halfway down the hall. This is the only way,” Trident reasoned.

  “You can’t expect to take out all three,” Ramona questioned with uncertainty.

  “It will be a lot of fun to try,” Trident whispered with a smile. “Okay, get ready.” Tucker shifted into his position, clearly not liking this plan.

  “Don’t do this,” Ramona pleaded to Trident.

  “This is what I’m trained to do m’lady,” Trident responded. Now the waiting game begins. Trident listened to the soldiers approach, as the crunching of glass beneath their feet gave away their exact location. Taking another second, he glanced at Tucker kneeling and ready to go. Time to do this.

  The two soldiers stalked forward. Stopping at the workstations, the soldier nearest to Tucker scanned the area with his G36C tight to his shoulder, ensuring that all the bodies no longer held breath in their lungs. A sense of completion came over him as he examined the body of Miller and like everything else in the room, he was riddled with bullet holes. Movement in the shadows brought him back to the mission as Keeast’s words replay in his head, No One Lives The Facility Alive! Poking out above the counter were the heads of that woman and the tall guy in the suit. With a sinister grin dawning on his face, he carefully aimed down the sights and pulled the trigger.

  Trident noticed the grunt on Tucker’s side had stopped moving, and his gut told him that the time to move was now. “Tucker Now!” Seeing what was happening, he did his best to cover Tucker, but someone else had already beat him to the punch.

  ۞۞۞۞

  Doom hung onto the catwalk as it collapsed from under him, the connection at the control room end having been blown apart by the RPG attack. With the catwalks destroyed and falling to the concrete floor below, Doom inspected the rummage. Fuck! Lost both my weapons. Can’t stay up here now.

  Loosening his grip he slid down the catwalk like an oversized playground slide, grabbing the railing every few feet to slow his descent. Although that was not enough to keep the catwalk grating that served as the floor from doing a number on his butt. Halfway down, a jagged piece of shrapnel cut into his hand. Flinching in pain he released his grip and
finished the downward trip to the floor in a near free fall. Hitting the bottom hard he continued to roll until momentum was finished with him, stopping him flat on his back.

  “Oooohhh, yeah, that’s just what I wanted,” he said to no one as a boot slammed into his chest, pinning him to the floor, a gun aimed at his face.

  “You killed my team,” The soldier growled in annoyance.

  “Oh! It’s just you,” Doom grunted.

  “Yeah, and this is just a bullet to the brain…AHHH,” he yelled as Doom jabbed the hidden blade from his belt buckle into the man’s calf. The gun went off, shooting way over Doom’s head. Wound and distracted, Doom promptly hooked his attacker’s leg and climbed, stabbing the knife into both the man’s quad and side before taking the butt of the soldier’s gun to the face.

  Regaining his balance from the attack, the soldier had found that Doom was already to his feet. He paid little attention to his bloody wounds and more attention to the fact that the butt of his gun only seems to anger his opponent even more.

  Surrounded by flames on all sides, both men glared at one another as small explosions from the rockets continued to ignite more machines.

  “You brought a knife to a gun fight,” the man mocked while aiming his rifle directly between Doom’s eyes.

  “Yeah, but I can still do this,” taunted Doom as he dove behind the catwalk. Surprised at Doom’s speed the soldier stepped on his wounded leg to give chase and stumbled right into Doom’s football tackle. They hit the ground hard. Doom was certain he heard the man’s ribs crack, but the soldier was determined to pound each other.

  Tumbling around on the floor he managed to smash Doom in the head with his elbow, quickly realizing it would not help much. Being that a blow to the head with the butt of his weapon only piss him off. Granted the blow managed to provide him the necessary space to get his weapon pointed back at Doom, who promptly swatted it away like an annoying nat.