The two headed towards the new waypoint Jane had set for them. This was where the entire squad would regroup. Since allocating his stat points, Dan and Allen hadn’t encountered any additional resistance.

The environment still hadn’t gotten any better as they continued moving through the streets. The occasional splash of bright colors from signs and giant ads didn’t do much to enhance the dark quiet buildings and trash and abandoned vehicles littered on the street.

“I don’t like this,” Allen said. “Kodak and the resistance forces undoubtedly know we’re here on their turf. Any competent fighting force would have already attacked us again by now with an army.”

“An army?”

Allen looked over his shoulder. “You don’t send mere squads of regular soldiers and shitty first tiers to fight off high-ranking agents.”

Dan wondered about Kodak-Cresh. Not just about their agents, but who they were in general. Why was Allen so anxious about these guys?

“Hey Allen, what do you know about these guys?

“Kodak or the resistance?”

“The Kodak agents. Who or what are they?”

Allen looked from side to side, holding his minigun and making sure he was ready for anything.

“A bad time for a history lesson, kid. But I’ll keep it short,” Allen said. “Kodak-Cresh was the result of a merger between two former shards into one. Kodak, along with the Alpha Corp and the Church of Nano-Evolution, make up the big three shards in the entire East. Kodak agents are known for valuing strength and brutality above all else. All of the most wild stories of superhuman strength are mostly from Kodak’s side.”

“So, they’re the crazy ones?”

“We’re all a bit crazy if you think about it,” Allen said. “Kodak also thirst for action and are hyperactive. They’ll abandon a readymade plan if it means they can get into the action faster. But if you want to see crazy? Look up the Church after we’re done. Those guys use actual magic.”

“Come again?” Dan asked.

“Magic. As in sorcery and otherworldly powers. They do all kinds of crazy shit like teleporting and shooting deadly energy blasts from their hands. Just be thankful that it’s Kodak we’re up against and not those fanatical assholes.”

“Wow, I feel weak as shit hearing all that.”

“Don’t. Alpha agents are considered the most boring but practical,” Allen said. He turned the corner around a building at the intersection. “We’re not driven by strength or influenced by some ridiculous religion like Kodak and the Church are. The other two might own more land than we do, but we’re still in the game because we can actually strategize and follow through. That goes a long way when you’re fighting masochistic brutes and fanatical magic users.”

Dan and Allen continued their walk while on high alert. He recalled a comment Jane made about something called a Dead Zone.

“Hey Allen, do you know what a ‘Dead Zone’ is?” he asked.

Allen glanced back at him before refocusing ahead of him. “Used to be called Antarctica. I’m surprised Jane even made a comment like that in front of you. Well, it’s pretty much an open secret by now that the Alpha Corp wants to launch an invasion into that territory to crush the Church.”

“What’s so important over there?”

“A meteorite crashed into that land two hundred twenty years ago. That rock is the source of all of the magic abilities the Church agents have. All past attempts to invade or infiltrate that place has gotten us nowhere. You get the picture?”

Dan wasn’t a master strategist, but he didn’t need to be to understand the significance of gaining control of the Dead Zone.

It didn’t take too much longer before both Dan and Allen reached the waypoint. Dan looked up and saw the familiar blue circle floating above a three story building. The blue circle suddenly vanished and Dan saw the spinning blue icon in front of him for a few seconds.

“Uh oh,” Allen said. “That’s not a good sign.”

The blue circle reappeared again but a few hundred meters away.

Dan’s mind was invaded by Jane’s voice. “Change of plans, you two. I’m moving the waypoint. Too many vantage points and places for snipers to hide.”

“Ma’am, you do realize the waypoint is pointing us underground?” Allen said.

“I do. Not too glamorous, but we’ll be meeting up in an underground subway station. I don’t like the feel of this. Did you encounter any additional resistance?”

“We did,” Allen said. “The kid killed some first tier Kodaks and got himself a new rifle. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“That it’s suspiciously quiet? Yes, I haven’t encountered anyone on my end. Neither have Ben or Hailey. I haven’t received any updates from Kate. Do you know her whereabouts?”

Dan and Allen exchanged glances.

“Not at this moment. Kate briefly joined us for a bit before we split off. She decided it was worth breaking off from her path to visit the kid.”

Dan didn’t expect the few seconds of pause from Jane to be so unsettling.

“Understood. Carry on to the waypoint.”

Allen and Dan resumed their walk through the quiet streets. By now, the darkness of night made the area even more of a ghost town. Dan continued to watch their rear, keeping his assault rifle trained on anything that could be tailing them.

A few hundred meters later, they reached the entrance of an underground subway and made their descent to the waypoint.

Dan was the last to step off the stairs. His eyes automatically adjusted for the surprisingly bright lighting inside the subway tunnel. Allen walked up to a locked gate and yanked the chain off, breaking it as easily as if it were a slinky.

The two entered and walked farther through the tunnel until they saw the rest of the squad standing around some benches.

Jane had already faced their direction as they walked towards the team. Ben sat on the floor rummaging through his backpack. Hailey stood a bit farther away from the group with her sniper rifle slung on her shoulder.

Curiously, Dan didn’t see Kate anywhere.

As they finally met up with the rest of the team, Jane wasted no time.

“Did you encounter anything else on your way here?” she asked Allen.

“Nothing I hadn’t already told you. Still no sign of Kate anywhere,” Allen said. “You and I both know this behavior is out of line even for her.”

Ben looked up and greeted Dan with a wave. “Hey Dan, I see you got yourself a new gun.”

“Yeah, took it off a Kodak agent I killed,” Dan said proudly. “Finally got to see some action and got an upgrade from my pistols.”

“You killed your first agent. Congrats. How does it feel?” Ben asked.

“Well, I’m not a psycho so I’m not going to say I enjoyed it. Just glad I got some new firepower. Plus I took someone out who far outclassed me in stats. That’s cool, I guess.”

“Killing is a part of being an agent,” Hailey chimed in. “You learn to live with it after a while.”

Dan didn’t know how to respond to that. While he was no stranger to fighting and taking lives for the sake of survival, he didn’t willingly seek out violence. For Hailey, she was most likely used to taking lives as easily as moving her index finger on the trigger. As the team’s sniper, she had probably racked up hundreds of kills behind a scope.

Dan responded with a simple nod and left it at that.

Jane walked away from Allen and stood by herself staring into the air. Dan and Allen exchanged looks.

“Uh, is she alright?” Dan asked.

“Kate finally got back to her,” Allen whispered. “It’s a call between the two of them.”

Jane abruptly turned around and walked back to them. “Kate is stuck in an ambush and needs our help.”

Dan looked around to see the reactions of the group. The other three were exchanging odd looks with each other.

“Wait a second. Kate never asks for help,” Hailey said. She loaded a new magazine into her sniper. “And an ambush? By who? If it’s just rebels, she could handle them just fine on her own. And the Kodak forces Allen and the rookie encountered were just first tiers. How could Kate be struggling?”

“I initially thought the same,” Jane said. “But Kate says she’s encountered a tier two Kodak agent leading this enemy team.”

“I still don’t buy it,” Hailey said. The disdain from her voice made it easy for Dan to assume the two didn’t get along. “Kate always talks a big game about her skills. I say let her handle her own mess.”

Dan looked over to Jane and wondered what she her next order would be.

“It’s no secret that Kate and I don’t see eye to eye,” Jane said.

Ben snorted at that comment, which was met with a glare from Jane.

“Nonetheless, Kate is a teammate and needs our help.” Jane looked over to Dan. “Get ready to put your new gun to use. If there’s a second tier Kodak agent in the mix, then their fighting force will be more coordinated. We’re moving out.”

Jane was the first to move and she grabbed her two submachine guns off her coat, one in each hand. Allen followed suit while Dan remained in the middle. Hailey and Ben followed behind him through the subway tunnel as the team made their way back to the surface.

When they reached the stairs, Jane stopped and looked at Allen.

“You take Dan and go up there. The two of you alone should be sufficient to back up Kate against the ambush.”

“Yes ma’am,” Allen said. “Let’s go, kid. You and me again.”

“Right,” Dan said.

Jane gave him a stern look. “Don’t do anything brash. Do as Allen orders, no questions asked.”

“I understand,” Dan replied.

Both agents made their way up the stairs and back out onto the desolate streets. Immediately, Dan felt something was wrong.

“I don’t hear any gunfire,” he said. Dan was used to hearing sounds of gang warfare back in his hometown, the cracks and pops in the air of distant shots. But here, Dan heard nothing even though Kate claimed she was caught in an ambush.

“You’re right, kid. That’s odd,” Allen agreed. “Either Kate has somehow evaded the ambush, or…”

“Or what? Could she already be dead?”

“Not likely. Kate would never be taken out that easily. The other possibility was that there was no ambush in the first place. But that wouldn’t make any sense. That would mean that Kate lied her ass off.”

Before Dan could ask why anyone would do such a thing, something metal and cold poked the back of his head.

“Don’t move, agent,” a voice said behind him.

“What the fuck?” Dan said.

Allen had already begun spinning the barrels of his minigun when green laser pointers appeared from the building windows across the street. Dark figures hopped over the scattered vehicles and quickly approached them.

Dan’s eyes adjusted to what was in front of him, and red human outlines were quickly dominating his frontal view of the street. He saw regular people dressed in old dark fatigues pointing guns at them, presumably the rebels. Mixed with them were a few Kodak agents that made the rebels look like dwarfs in comparison.

In just a few seconds, Dan counted numerous gun barrels all pointing at him and Allen.

“I think we’re fucked,” Dan whispered.