FicWad

I'm sorry it's been so so so long! I had my A Level exams during May and June, and if I failed I won't be able to go to university, so they were very important. But I've had a couple of weeks since then and I only just started writing for this story today so that's a terrible excuse. I was a little apprehensive about writing this chapter, because I'm not used to writing fight scenes, and I have a lot more readers on my other on-going story which is why I've updated that and not this one.
Again I'm sorry, but this chapter is longer AND it's got loads of action in it so (hopefully) enjoy!!
Panda'xo


The day came all too soon. I felt myself actually wishing for death if it all went wrong; I knew that there was no life for me without Gerard. He was my life. I vowed that no matter what happens today I would protect him and Mikey, and Ray as well once we found him. They all needed to carry on.

My ankle still hurt like fuck to stand on, but my ribs felt as good as new. It was going to be difficult fighting like this, but I had to be there.

As we got into our car, Gerard driving, Mikey shotgun, and me in the back, I thought back to how great the past week had been. Well, the week hadn't been great, nothing had been great since Ray had been taken, but the only time I've really been happy since then was when I woke up next to Gerard. And now we were all cruising at 100mph to what may basically be our suicide. We all knew that it was inevitable that some of us wouldn't make it home, and now was the time to show what we were made of.

No Dracs or Exterminators were on the road to apprehend us. Either our plan of leaving 2 days before the 6 week deadline worked in tricking them, or it was a trap and they needed us to make it to headquarters for it to work. I would bet on the second one.

We drove silently, occasionally throwing reassuring smiles at each other, as if a stretch of the lips, a hint of teeth, could save someone's life. If we were going to die, then it was going to happen. There was no stopping it.

As we drove I mulled over my decision to not tell Gerard my feelings unless we both made it back. If he was shocked, it could make him lose focus during the fight. And if he didn't feel the same for me, and I didn't want to admit it though I knew it was true, I'd probably step in front of an Exterminator's shot, because with that I may be able to save someone's life by giving my worthless one. Maybe it could even be Gerard I save... I shook my head, focussing back on the plan. I didn't need to think of what-ifs when I'd decided I wouldn't tell him.

When we finally reached zone 1, we kept to back streets, perfectly following the map Dr D had shown us every night to study. Our procession seemed to go unnoticed, as there was no alarm or ambush as we drove through the city. Mikey and I had our ray guns at the ready, but we only saw civilians. We would never shoot at anyone who wasn't a direct threat, anyone who wasn't trained specifically to kill us. A few of the people in the streets gaped at us, but none seemed to say a word. I could've sworn I saw one guy salute us... Maybe someone undercover?

As we stopped the car in a small road by the back entrance of HQ, Gerard turned to face Mikey and I.
"Never let them take you alive. And... I love you both. Just in case it's so long and goodnight in there..." I put a hand on his shoulder, looking between him and Mikey.
"I love you both, too." I whispered sadly.
"I fucking love you both, and I love Ray so let's go kick some ass and get our friend back!" I couldn't help but smile a little at Mikey's way of gearing us up for the fight. We got out of the car and met the rest of the group.
"Okay. Everyone remember what they're doing?" We all nodded. "Then let's get in there and fuck shit up!" Dr D continued, and we made our way to the door, guns at the ready.

Dr D broke down the door and we all swarmed in. We glanced around for a second, noticing that there were also no guards here, but there wasn’t time to process the thought or possible meanings behind it before we split off down the two separate corridors as planned. Dr D went off with his group, leaving Gerard to lead ours. Mikey flanked his right and Toxic Spark was on his left, Red Hurricane and Hollow Flame in tow, their hair shining red even in the dim light of the corridor. This left Venom Rose, Acid Rain and I at the back. I would have preferred to be at the front, in with all the action, but with my ankle they had decided to place me here.

Everyone was a sharp shooter, but combat and athletic abilities varied, which had all been taken into account when planning which group we would be in and which route we were to take. A lot of planning had been put into this attack, and I just prayed that we could find Jet before it was too late.

We stalked down the corridor which had a slight downward slope, informing us that Dr D had been right in knowing that these rooms were located underground. We didn’t break our ranks, and we kept an eye out for any signs of movement which weren’t our own. We got to the last corner of the corridor, stopping just before turning it, as we knew from the map that a few metres past the bend were the two small chambers our group needed to check for Jet. We also knew that there were bound to be guards at the doors.

Gerard turned to face us.
“Ready?” He whispered and we nodded. He nodded back once and turned his head back around, lifting his hand and pointing it ahead sharply. That was our cue to round the corner, keeping in formation. Sure enough there was a whole group of guards by the door. There wasn’t time to count how many before the loud crash of gunfire ensued, and the blinding light of our ray guns illuminated the bleak corridor and we were forced to duck and weave through their shots. We had caught the Dracs off-guard, and at least six of them were down before they even realised what was going on and had begun to shoot back. We blasted through the rest simply enough, the air filled with cries and grunts as bodies littered the floor, the harsh scarlet of their blood splattering the grey bricked walls. The sight we had caused gave me a sickening jolt in my stomach. I would never get used to the bodies, the realisation that I could have caused such harm, destruction and death. I’d never wanted to be a killer. But now I had to shoot to survive, to keep my friends alive and hopefully find my family. I hated what I’d become.

We made our way into the room to the left, greeted by more Dracs. The walls must be soundproof, otherwise they would have reacted to the cries just outside the door, I thought errantly. We finally broke ranks, ducking and weaving behind the storage crates which littered the room. I couldn’t see Jet anywhere, but we had to get rid of all these Dracs before we could move to the next room. I heard a grunt from beside me and turned to see Toxic’s arm laced with blood. I stared with a gaping mouth for a moment, unsure of what to do, before he turned to me.
“I’m okay, just keep shooting!” I nodded and did as he said. I could see Gerard over the other side of the room, his brow furrowed in concentration and he battled beside Mikey, both of them shooting down Dracs with impressive accuracy.

I had to leap onto the floor as a well-aimed shot was blasted my way. It grazed my jacket, burning a hole into the material to the right of my chest, but luckily not hitting the skin beneath. I let out a shaky breath, realising how close to being hit I had come, as I jumped back up and hit the Drac who had shot at me straight in the chest, watching as he keeled over onto the ground.

“Search the boxes!” Gerard shouted and I looked around to see that all of the Dracs were lying motionless on the concrete ground before opening all of the crates in sight. As soon as all of the crates had been looked in, and Jet Star had not been found in any, Gerard gave us the signal and we left to go into the next room.

Either no one had sent a signal of our attack, or the Dracs were planning an ambush for us all when we met back up with the other group, because there were none except for the remains of the dead that we had met a few minutes before cluttering the low ceiling corridor. We went into the second room and were once again thrown into a gun battle with an even larger gang on Dracs.

The room was showered with the blinding lights of laser fire, and the chokes, grunts and squeals of the dead and injured were all that could be heard. Again the room was littered with crates, and I began to wonder if Dr D had gotten it wrong. Why were we searching for Jet in their storage cupboard? On the other hand, why would they have so many guards if it were only a storage cupboard?

A yell and a scream took me away from my thoughts, and I turned towards the noise to find Hollow Flame sprawled on the floor, blood spilling from her chest, the darker liquid mixing with the vivid red of her hair. Her eyes were wide open, but unseeing. She was motionless, and I heard a sharp intake of breath from around the room as we realised she was gone. Dead. Killed. Murdered.

A sharp pain made me look away from her body, and I remembered that there was still a battle to fight. My breath hitched as I saw blood oozing from my arm, but it wasn’t a fatal wound, and I needed to keep fighting. Everyone else had gone back to shooting, although I noticed that they would occasionally throw quick glances at Hollow lying on the floor. It made it all seem so real. We all knew that some wouldn’t survive, but the realisation of the truth of that knowledge seemed overwhelming.

Instead of this scaring me, it just made me angry. How could they kill her? Her husband… And her son. They were in the other group, they would have no idea that she was gone. I wondered who would tell them the news as I ducked out of the way of a Drac’s shot. I wondered if they’d said a proper goodbye… It wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve death.

Anger washed over me again and I allowed adrenaline to take over. The pain in my arm disappeared and I seemed to shoot quicker than before as it coursed through my veins, knocking down Dracs like bowling pins. The deafening crash of each separate gunshot seemed to fuse together into one resounding thunder-like bang as we all shot out at the enemy who had killed our ally, our friend.

Again, it was soon over, and we all rushed towards Hollow’s body. Venom Rose checked her vital signs and officially declared her as deceased. Venom delicately closed her eyes so she looked as though she could have been sleeping, if the blood and the lack of movement from breathing weren’t signs.
“We… We need to check the crates.” Gerard said, reminding us all of our mission, but with less resolve than before. We nodded solemnly and began our search as we had in the previous room. I searched through 5 large crates and found absolutely nothing. I sighed, hoping the others had found Jet in the other room.

“I’ve got him!” I heard Mikey yell happily, and I gasped running over to where he was standing. Sure enough, Jet was curled up in the crate we were standing over, gagged with his hands and feet tied together. I leaned down and released the gag from his mouth as Mikey took out his penknife and released Jet completely.

“Fuck. Thank you.” Jet gasped as we got him out. Mikey pulled him into a hug, followed by Gerard and me. A huge wave of relief crashed over me, relief that our mission hadn’t been worthless, and most of all that my stupid, stupid mistake hadn’t cost the life of one of my best friends.

“Hate to break up this reunion, but we’ve gotta run!” Toxic urged, pulling me from my thoughts. We let go of Jet.
“Are you hurt? Can you walk?” Gerard asked Jet.
“A bit but I think I can.” He replied, tentatively taking a few steps forward. He didn’t seem to be in much pain from the movement, but I noticed he had a slight limp. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
“Alright. Come on.” Mikey handed Jet a ray gun and Gerard hauled Hollow’s body over his shoulder. It wouldn’t be right to leave her, she deserved a proper goodbye.

We rushed back out, this time Gerard not in lead as he was slower under the extra weight. Toxic and Venom loudly whistled out the signal we had agreed upon to say that someone had found Jet and that we all needed to get out. As a group we ascended the sloped corridor towards the entry door, and thankfully found the other group waiting where the corridors joined into one. I noticed that Neon Laser and Neutron Rocket were also carrying bodies, but there wasn’t enough time to work out exactly who the bodies belonged to, because as soon as we ran for the door we saw the enormous ambush waiting by our vehicles.

There must have been at least 50 of them, and although we had found Jet, we had lost 3 of our group, and we would have been hugely outnumbered in the first place. We dashed into action, trying to follow Dr D’s plan of just trying to get out rather than trying to kill all of the Dracs. If we could get everyone in the cars we could get out of here and hopefully back to zone 6 without being followed.

The brightness of the sun made it a lot easier to focus than the artificial lights inside the building, and we seemed to be making good progress. All of our – well not really mine, but everyone else’s – training seemed to have given us better agility, and we were able to dodge most of the shots fired. A few grazed past us, hitting clothes and damaging the top couple of layers of skin, but not harming us enough to even slow us down. The Dracs on the other hand were dropping like flies. I made sure to cover Gerard, especially as he was greatly hindered because he was carrying Hollow.

We had killed the majority of the Dracs, but it looked as though they were calling for back up, because a few of the ones remaining were talking into devices on their wrists as they fired. We began to hedge our way towards the vehicles as a group, Dr D sometimes shouting directions at us. We were just a few feet away from our cars when Neutron buckled in front of me and fell to the ground, dropping the body he was holding in the process. Mikey and I quickly grabbed both of them, because we needed to get to the cars, and fast. Neutron was still alive, so I tried to hold him as carefully as I could, mumbling to him that he’d be okay. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and Neutron was a little heavy for my small frame, but I had to go on.

“Get in, get in!” Dr D yelled as we were a couple of feet from the cars, and we all made a dash for it. I yelled for Venom to get into our car as she could try to see to Neutron, and Mikey and Ray dashed to the car behind. I heard a yell from somewhere outside as I lay Neutron on mine and Venom’s laps in the backseat, with Gerard in the driver’s seat, but when I turned to look, everyone was in a car.

“Go! Everyone’s in a car!” I told Gerard and he sped forwards. My heart was struggling between the joy that Gerard, and also Mikey and Ray, were safe, and the heart breaking sorrow for everyone who had lost their lives.

I craned my neck, watching all of the other cars follow, and the Dracs try to shoot at our cars, as Venom took off her jacket to hold against Neutron’s wound. He had been hit in the lower chest, which seemed to be spouting profusely with blood. His eyes looked almost vacant, but he was still breathing. I took his hand in mine, trying to give him some sort of reassurance that he could make it. He could, couldn’t he? I looked up at Venom hopefully, but she shook her head at me ever so slightly. I gripped Neutron’s hand tighter, hoping he wasn’t in too much pain.

The car was silent other than the soft words Venom and I spoke to Neutron as he lay dying in our arms. Although she was a doctor she had nowhere near enough medical equipment to treat his wound, and I could see the pain etched onto her features from knowing that her skills were basically of no use.

After an hour or so, Neutron’s slow breathing hitched and stopped completely, and I felt tears in my eyes as I realised he had passed. I had only known him a few weeks, and I hadn’t known him well, but he seemed like such a genuinely nice guy, and to see someone die in my arms that way was just too much. Venom noticed my distress, and took Neutron’s body from my lap, telling me to climb into the front seat for the rest of the journey, saying that everything would be okay. I tried to open my mouth to thank her, but no words seemed to want to come out, so I gave her a kiss on the cheek and awkwardly climbed into the front seat.




So... How was it? I'm really not used to so much action and it was kinda difficult so please let me know if it was any good. I'll hopefully update again in the next couple of days!
Panda'xo