Armored Chapter 7

A flash of light and a snapping sound much like what a God snapping his fingers must sound like issued from the rifle. Dust and debris kicked up and blew away from the armor.

At the inevitable end of the barrel's path a GOLIATH instantly had its internals, human pilot and machine alike, ripped out and ejected out of the back of the armor in explosive fashion. Behind the GOLIATH armor, the ground seemed to take a mighty blow. A section of ground 3 meters across and 4 meters deep seemed to lift up and blast out in a massive volcano of concrete and earth.

The remaining 4 GOLIATH armor scattered in different directions and returned fire. One of them pulled another one of the Cantaloupe sized grenades from a slot at its waist and lobbed it in an arc.

As the grenade lofted high and raced down directly towards the old world armor the nobles rifle released multiple streams of steam from the barrel of the weapon that sounded like water hitting a red hot frying pan only magnified a hundredfold.

I watched the rifle as it seemed to be cooling itself and the grenade landed on the energy shield and detonated. A gout of viscous flame splashed over the shield and slowly poured down the bubble-like shape of it.

When the flames settled to the bottom of the shield in a harmless ring around the armor the rifle began tracking its next target. The motion was slow and steady as if in no hurry.

Another ferocious snap and flash were followed by the sight of the wall one GOLIATH had taken cover behind being punched through.

I couldn't see the ultimate fate of the GOLIATH, but based on the flailing severed right arm of the armor I saw sail through the air I figured the armor had been destroyed.

Two armor were left to oppose the noble in his old world armor. The amount of fire coming from the two GOLIATH armor seemed paltry now. Little ripples sprang forth on the shield like pebbles thrown in a pool of water. The machine guns the GOLIATH armors used were simply too weak to do any real damage to the shield.

The rifle began to cycle and cool itself again as the armor patiently waited for the process to finish.

Begging began to flood the knight's com channel as one of the two remaining pilots began to beg for his life. His voice was choked up and nearly unintelligible. He begged for his life. He offered to keep his mouth shut. He offered anything he could.

The noble didn't even care to answer. The rifle cooled and there was another snap. The begging over the com channel cut out instantly.

When the begging voice cut out it was like I had been slapped out of a half sleep. I began cursing inwardly.

What the hell am I doing just standing here!!?? I'm next! Move you fool!

I finally realized with my sick and addled brain that I needed to move. Once the last armor fell we scavengers would be next.

As the noble waited for his rifle to cool and tracked his new target who had now started to flee wildly I looked around to see my option. Time seemed to slow a fraction.

My eyes raced around my sockets looking for a way out. The tunnels were the first thing I looked at. The darkness of the tunnel seemed endless. I stifled a shiver and took in the supply crates left on the ground by the knights.

Not likely. Anything in there that might even be able to help was beyond my knowledge or ability to use. The time needed to even dig anything out was too much.

That left the tunnels. I made my decision. I looked at the scavengers around me frozen in shock and indecision and decided to try and give them a chance too.

"Scatter!!! We are next! He's silencing everyone! He's not going to let us live!"

I shouted the words as I began sprinting to the tunnel entrance. It could barely be called a sprint actually. More of a shambling run. My legs burned and my breathing came in ragged drags. I could feel fluid in my lungs that made me cough over and over. I kept running as fast as I could while wheezing and coughing.

I heard the sound of feet hitting the ground behind me and took a half second to look behind. Three men had followed me towards the tunnel, while another half dozen scattered in random directions. Every other scavenger stayed where they were. A few of them lying on the ground where they had slept simply watching with raised shocked faces. The rest were standing or kneeling with similar looks of shock and confusion locked on their faces.

I pitied the fools. They were dead for sure, but in the moment I realized I was probably dead as well and decided to push their fate from my mind.

As we ran another snap echoed through my skull informing me of the likely fate of the last armor opposing the noble. Time was short. I was close to the tunnel entrance at this point.

I looked over my shoulder towards the noble to see the old world armor turn towards the scavengers and level the submachine gun that was usually mounted on its waist towards the rear of the armor at the spot the majority of the scavengers SHOULD still be at.

When the submachine gun came to rest at the spot the scavengers were expected to still be grouped up the armor seemed to sort of twitch and jump a little.

I could see the armor freeze for a second before its head began to turn and track me and the other three scavengers as we dove into the cover of the tunnel's entrance.

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A second after I dove into the tunnel with my two accompanying scavengers I heard a magnified voice.

"No!! Don't go in there you bastards!"

Rage filled the nobles voice with a little fear included as well. A split second lapsed before I could hear the rapid-fire sound of the submachine gun and felt the concussive force of high caliber bullets as they riddled the entrance opening and began blasting away patches of concrete.

I continued running onto the pitch black tunnel while this happened. I felt like the reaper was breathing down my neck again.

The firing stopped after a few seconds and then started again followed by shrieks of pain. I knew the noble was killing those scavengers who were not able to rise to flee or were too stupid to do so.

I kept running and we began to run into twists and turns in the path. We ran down a flight of stairs and into what looked like an open space with chairs. Multiple paths branched off from the room. Two paths leading to the left and right. The paths and objects could barely be seen at all in the dark.

Behind a circular desk, four two-sided metal doors that seemed to slide in either direction stood. I guessed they were elevators.

All four of us stopped and began catching our breath. We were gasping and coughing. Dust filled the air and we coughed all the harder. One of the men spoke up.

"What do we do? Which way?"

He seemed like he was begging for an answer. His voice was filled fear and it sounded like he was weeping. Another more mature voice cut through the darkness.

"We have to avoid being found. The noble is not going to show an ounce of mercy. We have to find a hiding place. Maybe we should split up. It might make it harder for him to find all of us."

It sounded like a familiar voice. I began to marshal my thoughts while I dug in one of my chest pockets. I dug out a completely cloth wrapped cylindrical item. Quickly tearing away the cloth wrapping it revealed an object like a test tube sealed in both sides.

Inside the tube was moss. It glowed in the dark with an eerie green glow. This was one of the items I had spent money on in the city in preparation for my trip.

Glow moss was an odd moss that grew in dark caves or under extremely thick foliage. It glowed in the dark but would lose the effect completely when exposed to direct sunlight or any other strong source of light.

It wasn't exactly the best light source but it didn't require batteries and was cheap. As the green glow lit up the faces of the men around me they stopped bickering among themselves and all looked towards the source of the light and at me. I noticed the familiar voice came from the older scavenger I had talked with before while on watch. The one who gave me what little advice he could.

As everyone seemed to be looking at me my head cleared. I thought about our problem and spoke.

"Down. We should go down." I pointed at the elevators and continued. "This looks like a lobby of some sort. This is a bunker, right? If this is the lobby it's basically the entrance to the bunker. Nothing good is on this level."

Another voice cut me off.

"Nothing good? What the hell are you talking about?!! We are not here for a treasure hunt! We are fleeing for our lives!! Fuck old-world treasure. We only have one life!"

Everyone else seemed to be in agreement, but I spoke up again while shaking my head and pointed at the man's face who spoke.

"You're bleeding from your eyes."

The words seemed to confuse them. I didn't give them any time to think it over as I went on.

"We are all dying of radiation poisoning. We are all dead already. We have been in the radiation for less than a few days and we are all already on our last leg. This isn't going to get better for us. We hide... We die. We wait... We die."

The face of the man who spoke showed horror at my words, but the other two faces showed recognition of the truth. The helpful old timer spoke again.

"We are all dead men. You're right. Why down though?"

He looked me deep in the eyes while he gave me time to answer.

"Whatever the noble is looking for is probably down there."

I pointed to the elevators to put emphasis on my words.

"I want to know what he is after. More importantly, I want to know how I can screw it up for him! He is the reason I'm dying and I'll be damned if I don't wreck his plan before I die."

As the pathetically simple plan was spoken it truly sunk in for me that I was dead. My spoken and mostly false bravado became real in that moment. I realized I really did want to wreck the nobles scheme however I could. What little time and life I had left was worth it as a bet for that. I wasn't going to let this asshole get what he wanted.

As the new meaning of my short life took seed inside my head I grinned fiendishly and looked into the three sets of eyes looking back at me.

"And who knows, maybe we could even make it that noble's grave down there. It's a gamble and I have nothing to lose. How about you?"

I flashed my most crazy smile at the three as they all showed differing levels of shock and awe at the stark nature of my plan.

POV change

In the large building covering the entrance of the tunnel the old world armor fired the last few rounds required to execute the remaining scavengers. None of the scavengers who had not fled into the tunnels had survived. Their blasted and torn corpses lay sprawled here and there. Limbs severed from their bodies could be spotted everywhere among the dead.

The old world mech turned towards the tunnel entrance and froze. It trembled in such a fashion that it seemed the pilot was starting to do something before stopping and starting a new action before stopping again. The pilot seemed locked in indecision.

This continued for a while. Maybe five or ten minutes later the old world armor released a hiss and two jets of mist from its shoulders before a mechanical and heavy click was heard.

The old world armor dropped to both knees and became motionless. A portion of its chest suddenly jutted out and separated to the left and right. Cursing and yelling rang out from the newly opened hatch.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!! Fuck you-you piece of shit rats!!! Stupid shits I'll fucking kill you!!"

The noble climbed out of the opened chest section while beating his fists against the chassis of the armor. He continued cursing and raving while he began to walk away from his armor in a stiff rage-filled nature and towards the supplies left in the middle of camp.

He was outfitted in odd almost metallic clothing. His clothes seemed to be all one piece. His chest was covered by a thicker portion that covered all of his vitals. His head was wrapped in a metal helmet with a futuristic look. A glass visor covered his face.

He mumbled to himself. All of the cool control and aristocratic method of speech was gone from his demeanor.

"I can't let these little shits get their hands on what's down there. It's mine! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I don't have time for this shit. Damn it."

He dug through the supplies before coming out with an aggressive looking assault rifle. The rifle couldn't be compared with the rifles a few of the scavengers had been using. This one was obviously in much better shape and more high-tech.

He loaded a magazine into the rifle that was full of little metal slivers, looped an ammo belt over his shoulder and paused while he looked at the dark tunnel.

"Damn it...."

He looked to the corner of his helmets glass were a readout was scrolling down slowly. It read 34:45:17.

" Damn it, I can't wait that long!!"

He straightened up, glared into the dark tunnel before slapping himself on the side of the helmet and entering it.

As he stepped into the full dark of the tunnel two lights on the side of his helmet lit up shooting streams of light down the tunnel. He moved cautiously and slowly with his rifle fully up and ready to fire.

"I guess I'm hunting rat tonight."