Alex stared at the schematics for a couple of minutes. He tilted his head to one side, then the other. Then he tilted his head again, all the while stroking his chin as if deep in thought. Krizzik stared at him for a while. He didn’t want to interrupt the awakened, but after a long uncomfortable silence, he opened his mouth to speak. Alex saw his alien companion begin to say something and decided to speak up first.
“I have no idea what I’m looking at. I appreciate you allowing me to try and figure it out, but I’m sorry, I can’t understand this.”
The schematics were set up very different from those on Earth. Alex probably wouldn’t be able to understand those either, but at least they would be more familiar to him. These on the other hand, were actually nonsense to him. They didn’t show a floor plan or a cutout of the building giving him that classic dollhouse perspective of the building. Instead, it was as though every single drawing from every single angle appeared all at once overlayed on each other. Alex could make out the general shape of the building, but that was it. He wondered if his intelligence were higher, would he be able to interpret the data.
Could Lila interpret this?
“It is alright. We do not have time to go over the entire layout of the building with you and we cannot make a schematic that you would be able to understand.”
“Ok. I’ll just take the Cliff’s notes version. Just give it to me straight.”
Krizzik looked at Alex with obvious confusion, but decided to just move on as if understanding his ramblings.
“This was the hospital that serviced the large majority of the city’s population. It is so large in fact, most of the building is housed underground.” Krizzik pointed to the schematics, gesturing to a part about a third of the way from the top.
“This is the part of the building that is visible,” he continued now pointing to the other two thirds of the building. “This is what is underground. We didn’t understand why they would be guarding this location so fervently until we realized what was going on. They could house a significant portion of their numbers in this underground bunker. They would be able to maintain their army for months inside the bunker from the stores of food and water inside the hospital. It is easily defensible, they have limited power from generators hooked up to the hospital, and they would be able to use our medical equipment.”
“So, you believe that they are creating the variants in the hospital? You also believe that they have a significant portion of their forces inside the hospital? I can see why you are excited, but it seems like a good way to get us killed. How are we going to get in? How will we move around unnoticed? Most importantly, how will we get out alive?” Alex asked.
“These are problems that we have spent hours to solve. After studying the schematics for nearly the entire month you were gone, we have found a potential solution. There are service vents that we can access that will guide us into the lower levels of the hospital. All we need to do is crawl into the vents without being spotted. Once inside, there is only one place it leads, the interior of the hospital. Unless they see us enter, they will not know we are coming,” Krizzik said, his chest puffing ever so slightly. He pointed to various tunnels that led down into different parts of the building.
“So we have a way in, that’s great. That still leaves us with trying to find a way around without getting caught.”
“Again, the solution is the service tunnels. We will send a group to key locations in the hospital. From those locations, they will be able to set off charges meant to either draw the attention of the Zotari, or to destroy large portions of the hospital,” Krizzik said.
“I would think that you would want to avoid destroying the hospital. This is your city after all. Whatever you destroy to take it back, will be one less thing you have. If you destroy too much of the city, what’s the point of even retaking it?”
“We cannot allow the variants to disseminate into the larger ranks of the Zotari. It will be our doom. If we can destroy them here and now, we will have done more than just taken back one city. We will have dealt a decisive blow.”
Alex admired the Saxan’s resolve. He had no doubt the alien would lay down his own life in the pursuit of his people’s freedom. He wasn’t sure if he would do the same if their roles were reversed. Everything Alex had done thus far was for his own survival.
How far would he go for the people of Hillcrest? Of Earth? How deep were his loyalties?
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He couldn’t answer any of these questions, but they still gnawed at the back of his mind. He could also feel the snake king starting to voice his own opinions on the matter, but he did all he could to ignore the serpent. The last thing he needed was some egotistical, narcissistic telling him how he should act.
“So, I guess you have it already planned out then?”
Krizzik began going over the plan in detail. Alex didn’t necessarily need to know it all, but it was good to have at least a general idea of all the moving parts. There would be a few groups that would move to create a diversion, a few more to destroy key structural elements, and then Alex’s team.
His team would be small. Their role would be to recover as much data as they could about how the variants are created, what abilities they have, and what side effects the variancy process had on the subjects. Oh, and they would kill anybody they saw.
Each member of the raid was given a communication device. It looked like a piece of chewed up, cinnamon gum. Krizzik gestured to have him place it behind his ear. Once he did, he was able to hear the comms of all others linked. When he spoke normally, he could talk to everyone in his small squad. If he touched the tip of the device and spoke, he would be able to communicate with everyone on the mission on an open channel. Communication would be crucial so they could coordinate. Alex’s team would need to strike at the perfect moment to diminish the risks that they would face. The other teams would need to time their attacks to cultivate the most confusion possible.
Krizzik went over the battle plan in depth with each of the squads. He went over their timings, contingency plans, everything. They needed each team to execute flawlessly. There was little margin for error.
The time came for them to make their move on the hospital. Luckily for them, the service vents were relatively easy to approach without being spotted. Unfortunately, one group had been spotted in their way to their vent. They weren’t close enough yet to give away the entire plan, but it was still a blow to lose a squad before they had even started. Krizzik had a pained expression. It was hard to listen to the squad as they were being slaughtered. They only sent out occasional callouts on the open channel, but it was still disheartening.
“Keep moving into position. It is imperative that we do not lose another group. Move swiftly, but remain hidden,” Krizzik said on the open channel.
One by one, each of the squads radioed in signaling their descent into their tunnels. The planning had been done and now, all they could do was execute.
Alex crawled down the steep, cramped tunnel for what felt like forever. He couldn’t see anything, but Krizzik had assured him there were no forking paths. Each tunnel led to one place only. There would be illumination upon arrival at the end of the tunnel. Without much to do, Alex continued. Not that he could turn around even if he wanted to. The tunnel was so small, he couldn’t even get on his hands and knees. The Saxan warriors could, but whoever designed this tunnel didn’t have humans in mind. At least not bulky, enchanted humans. Alex felt like that one kid that did the worm at the school dances in seventh grade.
I’m definitely doing a better job though. Jeremy sucked at the worm.
Alex was about to ask Krizzik the famous question ‘are we there yet?’ when he saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
“Finally!” Alex said a little too loud.
Krizzik glared back, signaling for Alex to shut up. Alex mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ and continued his crawl. They finally made it to the end where a clearing awaited them. Alex was finally able to stretch out. He still couldn’t stand all the way up, but he would take what he could get. He hadn’t ever considered himself claustrophobic, but after that, he wasn’t so sure.
The other groups had also arrived and started to plant their charges. Nothing seemed to be going wrong. Alex realized he had been holding his breath since they had arrived at the doorway at the end of the tunnel. It had been fifteen minutes at least and he still didn’t even feel like his lungs were burning. These enhanced bodies were no joke.
When the final group had planted their charge and announced that they had returned into their respective tunnels, Alex finally relaxed. Now it was only a matter of setting off the charges. Each group would need to stay in the tunnels to detonate otherwise they would be out of range. Once the group had set off the charge, they were to exit and return to camp. Krizzik had determined that if they failed in their mission, it would be better for at least some of them to make it back. No sense in everyone dying.
The first two groups set off their charges and announced that they were returning. Theirs were simply diversions meant to get a larger number of Zotari gathered in one area. After enough time had passed, the second group would set off their explosives, hopefully bringing the building down on them. A few minutes later, they set off their charges. Alex could feel the rumbling from there.
This pattern continued for the next few minutes until the last group detonated their explosives. This time, Alex felt his stomach drop. The rumbling was much louder than any of the explosions before. That was to be expected as this group was much closer to where Alex’s team was, closer to the bottom. What wasn’t expected was the large chunks of the tunnel falling down on top of them. It was collapsing.
They hadn’t intended to enter the hospital just yet, but without another option, they all charged through the doorway. Behind them, they could hear the tunnel filling with dirt. It started to pour into the open doorway, making a pile at their feet. Alex looked at the now blocked doorway with desperation.
“That was our escape plan. What are we going to do now?” he muttered.
“We will continue to our mission. We will find another way out. There has to be another way out,” Krizzik said.
He directed soldiers back at the camp to start mapping out an alternate route for them on the open channel. Without wasting another second, he started to move forward, not even sparing a glance behind himself to see if they were following. He knew they would be.