by Amanda Rose
Fire Fury Freedom
Amanda Rose
Copyright 2018 Amanda Rose
Smashwords Edition
[email protected]
Cover by Daniel McCutcheon
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1: Boom
Chapter 2: The Map Maker
Chapter 3: Yokuton
Chapter 4: Departure
Chapter 5: Magick
Chapter 6: Quan
Chapter 7: Dark Secrets
Chapter 8: Grid One Life
Chapter 9: Into the Freezer
Chapter 10: Old Ryoko
Chapter 11: Occupation
Chapter 12: Tin Can
Chapter 13: Civil War
Chapter 14: The Long Trip
Chapter 15: Mountain Climbing
Chapter 16: The Ice Cavern
Chapter 17: Recuperation
Chapter 18: Descent
Chapter 19: The Train Station
Chapter 20: Death Trap
Chapter 21: Tomakomi
Chapter 22: Recon
Chapter 23: The Attack
Chapter 24: Imprisoned
Chapter 25: The Escape
Chapter 26: The Plan
Chapter 27: The Final Showdown
Chapter 28: Freedom
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Other books by this author
Connect with Amanda Rose
Dedication
I dedicate this book to all the big dreamers; imagination is our greatest strength.
Chapter 1: Boom
“There’s no time, just grab and go!” a tall woman with short spiked auburn hair called out as she slung a black backpack over her right shoulder and sprinted away. It was a dark office, with little light shining in from the waning moon. Looking back she called once more as she opened the door, “The one surprise we left will be enough to cause a huge fuss, and if you don’t watch it you might wind up part of the ‘big bang’! Suako get a move on!” she insisted.
After a few more keystrokes on the control panel Suako looked up, brushing her long brown hair off of her sweat drenched face to reveal an enormous grin, “I thought they might have problems sharing.” Throwing her tools into a bag, and shoving her pistol into her belt, she quickly stood up and began to dash toward the tall redheaded woman. Suako glanced at her watch, “Mei you ready?” She asked as they sprinted down the corridor of a large building. “Do I have a choice?” Mei asked light heartily, as she panted, exhausted from running.
The girls stopped dead in their tracks as the end of the hall. Both looked puzzled and panicked. “Shit, which way?” Mei asked aloud. As Suako was about to speak the door to their left flung open. Suako drew her pistol, and Mei pulled out a knife from a holster around her ankle. Two young men, at opposite ends of the twenties age spectrum, and one older man in his late thirties, all dressed in combat clothing which matched that of the girls, came hurtling through the doors. “Whoa! It’s Kato, don’t shoot!” the young black male gasped when he saw the women. Mei and Suako breathed a sigh of relief. “A little on edge?” the older man asked as he slammed the door shut behind him, locking it. Mei shook her head with disbelief, and put her knife away. “I thought you guys got out already?”
“We can’t stay long, they know we’re ‘ere, talk ‘n walk, but keep your voices down,” Kato said as he marched on forward and kicked open the door to his right. “Vince, how close are we to the exit?” asked Mei. “I have no idea, Mack?” Vince asked, looking over to the older man. “The exits will have been blocked off by this point; we need to get down to the storm drains. We can’t use the elevators or they’ll know, but we can use the shafts. The stairs are too risky at this point. Sub level is where we need to get. That’s seven stories down. We’ve got…” he looked to his watch, “just under twenty minutes, let’s move!”
They all nodded, and turning a corner, they saw the elevator doors. Kato and Mei went to work on pinning them open. Suako looked over to Vince and noticed blood dripping from his arm. “They got you. Here, wrap this around the wound,” She said handing him some cotton wrap. He nodded. “Thanks. The bullet just skimmed me. I’m alright,” He said stoically, as he began to wrap his arm. Suako tied it off when he was finished.
Mei and Kato managed to pry the doors open. Suako pulled off her jacket and began ripping it into strips. “Everyone tie this around your hands so we can shimmy down the wire cables. We don’t have time to stop for splinter injuries,” she threw a piece to everyone and they covered their hands. “Everyone quiet!” Mack suddenly ordered in a harsh whisper. An echo of heavy combat boots rang up through the nearby stairwell. Their hearts began racing, Mei looked to Mack and nodded, “Let’s get a move on, we can’t get caught before the fireworks! Suako you first, grab a wire and start moving down.”
Suako wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm. Briefly closing her eyes, she deeply inhaled, then stepped forward to the empty elevator shaft. It seemingly stretched down forever into an abyss of darkness. “Now or never,” she told herself under her breath. Reaching forward she caught a death grip on the wire, then hopped her feet off of the floor and quickly clung to the wire with them. Vince was getting onto the wire beside her. Reality quickly hit hard and she accelerated her pace moving down the line.
Soon everyone but Mei had got onto the wire and started descending. Mack held onto the wire and hadn’t moved down yet. Quickly and carefully Mei held onto the edge of the floor, then swung her legs up to Mack, who then attached her feet to his jacket. Adrenaline was pumping at its max through each of their systems. “Don’t let me fall Mack,” she said, looking over her shoulder to him. His eyes met hers and he gave a slight head tilt of indication.
Taking a tear gas explosive from her pocket, she set and threw it down the hall. She then immediately pulled the pins out from the base of the elevator doors, and allowed her body to drop back. The doors slammed shut, it was suddenly pitch black.
Mei hung upside down from Mack’s waist. Holding on with one hand he reached to help pull her upright with the other hand. “Y’all ok?” Mack grunted, his deep voice echoing down. “Yes,” came Kato and Suako’s replies simultaneously. “Anyone got a light?” Vince chuckled. They snickered and carefully kept pressing forward. Mack managed to help Mei onto the wire next to him. “Good to go Mei?” he asked. “I’m a little disoriented, but otherwise good to go,” she said.
“Double time people, before lights out we were at sixteen minutes!” Mack’s voice boomed. “Oh shit!” Kato exclaimed as he sped up. The darkness was deceiving and time pressed over their heads. Not until they were able to see a slight bit of light near the bottom had they known anything of their whereabouts. Each one was relieved to feel firm ground beneath their feet again. They quickly forced open the doors at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
They made haste to look for manhole entrances into the cities sewer system. “Mack, time?” Kato asked as he scanned the floor with his eyes. “Two minutes and counting. Let’s make this quick people!” He called ahead to the team. “Found it!” Mei called from the front. The others dashed to her. Suako and Kato helped her lift the metal disk up. Vince tied back his shoulder length brown hair, looking
over to Kato he joked, “Hope you don’t get anything stuck in your beard down there, bud.” After placing down the heavy cover he looked to Vince, “It’s a goatee man!” then stood and waited for the girls to finish climbing down into the sewer before swinging his legs down onto the ladder and going in after them. “Vince get your punk ass down there now!” Mack ordered pointing to the hole. Vince and Mack scurried downward.
Abruptly Mack’s watch began beeping. “Get ready!” Mack said as he dropped down into the filth below. Everyone threw themselves against the wall for support. The ground began to rumble and an earth-shattering explosion could be heard from above. The roar of it infiltrated the tunnel and rebounded off of stone walls. The earth shook as if there had been an earthquake, and tiny pieces of stone feel from the walls. The intense vibrations nearly caused them to fall over. The deafening noise surrounded them. “Keep moving!” Mack yelled above the roar of the blast.
Suako tried to yell over the noise “There’s more then just that!” and with that she scampered down the cylinder corridor. The others followed, trying their best to maintain balance against the intensely shaking ground beneath them. Finally after several minutes they came across an opening above them, leading up to the streets of the city. “Over here!” Suako called to the others, “I think we’re just in time to see the show!”
They climbed up the ladder and onto the streets near the subway entrance. The five of them looked back to a seemingly far off building, reaching up into the sky with flames bursting out of it. One roaring explosion after another fired its way out of the building like an erupting volcano. The fire blazed in its glory as black smoke billowed up into the night sky.
“It’s a beautiful sight, but we should get moving. The Company will send out agents after us shortly. Split up and meet back at the grid eight warehouse. Don’t use the subways systems either, the stench of the storm drains are a giveaway,” Mack walked off. Slowly the others pulled their attention away from the slowly collapsing building. Mei and Kato scurried off toward a vacant truck. The street was vacant. The area was destitute, as were many of the surrounding grids around the Companies headquarters on pristine grid one. The ground had shattered glass and other such garbage littered on it.
Suako looked to Vince, “We need to make sure you’re not infected.” He looked at his arm, “Kato has disinfectant back at the hideout, he can check it out. Let’s get a move on,” he turned his attention to her and then signalled her to follow his lead. They started forward and crossed through a junkyard; Suako maintained a hand on his pistol, ready to draw at any time. “See any wheels we can salvage?” she asked scanning the area. “Nothing that wouldn’t require a lot of time… look ahead, the sun’s gonna’ rise soon. We need to get to grid eight quickly. Come over here,” he said as he walked over to a flat piece of metal that stretched out from a pile of miscellaneous scraps.
Vince pulled a map from the back pocket of his pants. Rolling it out it over the metal frame he showed Suako the layout of the grid system. Each grid area was in the shape of a square. Grid one, the Company’s headquarters location, was four times as large as the other grid squares. Twelve squares lined the outside rim of grid one, coming to a grand total of thirteen grids that combined to form the city, Torusan. The number two grid was located to the north-western most section and then the numbers started their count in a clockwise manner. “Here we are in grid eleven, we just have to cross through grid ten & nine and we’re home free. It’s too far to walk if we want to get there before too many eyes get a glimpse of us. What do you propose?”
Suako paused a moment looking all around herself. “This discarded metal isn’t going to help us any. Mack said no subway, but if we can find a change of clothes we can pull it off. Easier to steal clothing than a vehicle, do you agree?” After a few seconds staring down at the map of Torusan, Vince came back with his reply, “Agreed, where to?”
Suako turned away and started walking off. Vince grabbed his map and shoved it in his pocket, then hurried to catch up to her. “This area may be impoverished but they still sell clothing. The stores won’t open for a little while yet,” She explained. “We can’t leave a trail; the company will catch onto our us in no time flat if they suspect it’s us…”
“Halt!” a voice without warning called from behind them. Suako spun around and drew her gun. Vince pulled a short sword from a holster around his back. “Who are you?” Suako demanded. “You’re under arrest!” A voice called as a figure came forth from behind a pile of rubble. It was a Company guard, his gun drawn and aimed at Suako’s head. “Drop your weapons!” he ordered.
“Ready Vince?” Suako whispered. “Yeah,” he concurred. With that Suako fired her pistol knocking the guard’s gun from his hands. Meanwhile Vince dashed forward, using a leg sweep the guard fell flat on his face. Vince pinned the guard to the ground, using his knee in the small of the man’s back to hold him down. Pressing the blade of his sword to the guard’s neck, he looked over to see Suako walking up. “Who else is headed this way?” Vince questioned the man.
In slight shock, the guard responded in a cold sweat, “N-no one… I’d been tracking you since the storm drain… I’d thought it was an evacuation drill! I didn’t who you were until you emerged above, I swear…” he responded in a slight daze. “Did you call for back up?” The guard was mumbling something beneath his breath. “I said ‘did you call for back up?’!” Vince pressed his sword on the man’s neck with an increased amount of pressure. “No, my radio broke… It was smashed in the explosion!” he insisted attempting to pull away from the blade. Vince turned his attention back to Suako. She placed her gun away. “He’s likely telling the truth,” she said. Vince pulled the sword away from the guard’s neck and thumped him with the handle on the back of the head rendering him unconscious. “He’ll be out long enough for us not to be tracked,” Vince said standing up.
Within the outskirts of grid ten, just as the sun peered over the horizon, they stumbled onto a tiny clothing shop. Suako pulled a safety pin off of her pants, pulled it apart and used it to pick the lock. “Nice trick, where’d you pick that one up?” Vince asked as he kept a vigil.
“Hurry, they’ll be here any minute! I can’t die here, not like this… What’s taking so long? Common, common!”
“Just let me work it. I’ve only ever seen this done before.”
“We don’t have time! They’re gonna get us….”
“Just shut up unless you want to die in this cell!”
Suako stood there, eyes wide open, not moving, gazing at the door in a trance. “Suako? Suako are you alright?” Vince suddenly interrupted and placed his hand on her shoulder. Suako put him into an arm lock and firmly spoke; “You won’t get us today!” intensity burned in her eyes, then gradually faded as she came back to realize reality. Heart pulsing and in confusion she let him go “S… Sorry Vince…” She apologized shook her head and went back to picking the lock on the door. Vince pressed the issue no further.
Seconds later there was a click and the door opened. She nodded to Vince and they entered the shop, quickly pulled off their dirty garments and put on clean clothes from the racks. Shoving their old clothing into Suako’s backpack, they wished to leave no trace. “The world is starting to wake up out there,” Suako stood frozen momentarily as she listened to footsteps outside. She turned her head to see Vince and he tossed her bag back to her and finished pulling a sweater over his head. Quickly he looked just outside the door. “Good ears, no ones there right now, common before they show up.”
They fled from the store and went down the street. “Vince slow down, I want to get the hell out of here just as bad as you do, but we have to avoid detection. Act Normal.” Vince lessened his pace and took in one long deep breath. The sun graced the earth and slowly but surely everyone was out about doing their daily chores.
After a mile-long nerve-wracking speed walk they finally approached the subway. The train was jam-packed. Suako and Vince blended in as best they could. Fi
nally sitting down they felt home free as they were carried off to their destination.
Mei had fallen asleep against he truck window with a small smile painted upon her pale face. Kato glanced over at her and saw the sun shine playing off of the colors vibrant in her hair. The streets were bleak. Houses and shops poorly constructed, out of the cheapest materials around, lined the grids gravel streets. Many homeless slept on the street under newspapers and broken streetlights lined the area. Children played with the remnants of ruined items that gave the illusion that the area was a dumping ground, which wasn’t far from the truth.
Looking over to his left as he crossed over a slight incline Kato could see the metropolis of grid one. The enormous central building could be seen even from afar. The cobblestone streets were clean, homes were all like palaces, and parks safe for children to play were found on every block. A grand fence separated grid one from the other grids, attempting to keep all other people from entering their ‘perfect world’. Turning his attention back to the road Kato clenched his fists around the steering wheel and shook his head in disbelief.
A half hour later they entered grid eight. Reaching over, Kato gently stroked Mei’s cheek with his rough calloused finger. “Mei,” he said gently, “we’re almost there.” She slowly came to, yawned and had a big stretch, “Thanks for waking me… How long was I out?” “Nearly since you stepped in the truck, you had at least a good hour of sleep.” Sleepily she rubbed her eyes and sat up in the seat.
As they approached the gates of the warehouse they saw Suako and Vince half way to the doors. They drove across the lot and up to their two companions where they offered to drive them the last thirty some odd feet to the entrance. They hopped out of the back of the pickup and opened the doors from Kato to drive in.
The inside of the hideout was covered in old rusted car parts, and useless tools. A fair size table with cheaply knocked together metal stools around it, and there was a large chalkboard on wheels behind the furthest chair back. Running water could faintly be heard, and then dissipated. “Guess Mack was determined to be the first to shower,” Vince chuckled. “And I suppose you two were determined to be the first to look good in your snazzy clothes, hmm?” Kato asked with a coy expression on his face. Mei giggled as she sat on a stool leaning up against the table.
