The screams around me were passing….quiet but deafening. Distant explosions, the echo of gunfire…..it was all in my ears. While I sat still with barely any strength in my body to mend physically, it wasn’t really doing me any favors in my head.

(I just don’t want to be what I was made to be for once……Is that too much for me to ask?)

I felt like I was stuck in time, the sight of the face of that kid, looking a lot like hers the last time I saw her…. And both times, I was completely helpless

The sound of an alarm blared suddenly…..it didn’t sound like it came from the building, rather…it came from the sky

“Attention ... .Team count down to 75% percent….. Active Kill Leader; Roland Arnett”

(He’s been busy)

In the next moment, a shockwave just went through the walls of the building…..a good twenty seconds later, there was another ... .However this time, the sound of gunshots was a lot more prominent. Grappling hooks flew to the floors above me, and moments later, the whizzing sound of ascenders passed to the floors above me. I didn’t make any sudden moves that would attract attention, but I had my gun at the ready.

(Four man team….Guess their sniper’s nest managed to kick up the hornets around)

I couldn’t bring myself to move….because I knew it mostly meant proving my scumbag old man right. I didn’t feel fatigued, nor did I feel the pain from my slow-healing body….but I felt like I had the weight of the world on me…..I was frozen in place, even when the door on the far side of the room was getting rammed upon, sending metallic clangs throughout the whole floor.

I was stuck to my chair, gripping my handgun….hoping that I wouldn’t have to slaughter anyone anymore that I needed to.

However, these guys were amateurs in comparison to my prey….. the unevenness in their footsteps and the long pauses in between gave away their hastiness and inexperience in battle…slowed by the presence of corpses and blood.

So hasty that they decided everyone was dead just by looking at them….and judging from who just walked past, that includes me too.

I wasn’t in a hurry to correct his mistake as well…more like I couldn’t. I slowly moved my eyes up, avoiding looking directly at him.

His lips moved, yet there was no audible voice…. If I wasn’t hearing the breeze and the distant chaos, I might’ve thought that I had gone deaf, but I was quick to remember that they could’ve been in team comms.

I kept my peripheral vision on his lips as much as I could, trying to make out what he was saying

[What the hell has happened here?]

Turns out my predictions about them were mostly spot on

[You think the sniper team did all this?]

He immediately turned my direction from the shattered wall of glass, pointing his shotgun towards the top of the stairs. Considering he was looking up while standing right in the middle, it confirmed to me that these guys were untrained.

[Heard, making my way back]

Walking back from the stairs, he immediately dropped his stance and walked heavy footed towards the main hall. These guys have no chance against the Spec-Ops teams above….Maybe if I could…

I clenched my fist a couple of times to check how able I am, however it might’ve been a moment too soon, as the player who was just about to walk past me caught a glimpse of my movement.

He stopped, unsure of what he saw. My head slanted downwards and my hood up made it so I couldn't see his face without moving my head, meaning so couldn’t he. He placed the barrel of his shotgun on the top of my head, trying to get a look at my face….But as he pushed my head up, I sprang into action.

I shot behind his shin, causing him to flinch in pain…. I quickly got up and kicked him in the other leg, spreading his legs and letting him not take a defensive stance. Grabbing his shotgun with my left, I put two bullets in his head to break his face shield, and then pushed his pump-action to his face, causing him to loosen his grip on it. I wrapped around him and took him hostage, just in time for his friends to come running and attempt to turn the corner.

Aiming over my hostage’s shoulder, I returned fire ... .but they were quick enough to not walk into the fatal funnel to give me any more of an advantage. They retreated back inside, and I pressed my advantage, not letting them push through again.

“Move” I said to my human shield, but he resisted

“I said…Move!” I repeated, but this time I stomped the back of his calf where the exit wound was, causing him to drop to his knees for a second. Giving me all the time I needed to take his shotgun away from him and on my shoulder.

I grabbed him again before he recovered and pushed him towards the doorway. An ambush awaited me as one of his crewmates waited to jump me, but I had my gun pointed at him before he acted.

“Don’t even think about it” I scared him away from me, making him back off towards his friends, with his rifle pointed at me. And as I entered the wide open hallway, I had a clear line of sight at the other three.

(Dull weapons and plate carriers….No Cyber-Gears)

One of them brought his hand up to his ear, switching his comms to public. “Alright, alright…Hold on. Everyone, let's just calm down.”

“Drop your guns and keep walking back. And don’t you even think of……” I commanded them

“We are in a Battle Royale…we are not going to drop our guns” Their lead man replied cutting me off

“I wasn’t asking” I put my gun behind their comrade’s head to scare them more, but that just got two of them into a ready stance

Their lead threw out his arms at his teammates “Stand down, both of you….Let me handle this”

“Look….” He holstered it instead, having his arms up to me to pose that he is not a threat to me…yet

“I know, you don’t want to do this….because neither do we. We all want to get out of this death trap, and the less blood we have to spill, the better we all will sleep at night…..”

He took a step closer but I didn’t let him, letting out a shot right in front of his foot, forcing him to back off “Don’t you fucking dare”

“You saw this bloodbath, didn’t you…Lost your friends?.... Look, I can’t even imagine what you are feeling right now, but we fought our way here too. And I get it that this is not like it was behind a mouse and keyboard…..”

“You were law enforcement, weren’t you?” I cut him off, and his silence proved me right

“Empathy followed by double reinforcement ... .Basics of hostage negotiation they teach at the Police Academy. Too bad it only works on the uninformed” I shut his resistance down completely…. Giving him no choice but to listen to my commands

He broke his silence after looking frustrated for a second

“You are right… but it’s just me…I’m the only cop here. All these guys are good men, including him. Some of us trying to get our loved ones out…..others trying to get out to see their families again”

He took another step back “We are just gamers who want to go home….Listen, I don’t know who you are…. But all I can ask you is to do the right thing here…”

“Back off to the main stairwell, and when all of you are out of my sight, I’ll let your friend go…. Turn back, and leave this place….And don’t expect me to show you the same mercy if you decide to come back”

“You expect us to take your word?” his distress was a clear sign that I almost had him at the breaking point

“Your other option is to watch me put a bullet through his head”

“And you think that we won’t return the favor?” Just one more push

“He’d be still dead ... .So if you really care about his life over your own? I’d suggest doing exactly what I said. Even if I go against my word, a chance is always worth taking over certainty”

He stood silent with his face twitching and oozing hostility. He looked both ways at his allies before making his decision

“Fall back”

[What?]

“I said fall back. Slowly towards the door…. Do it for Liam”

[We talked about this… she looks the age of my son, we can….]

“She’s not a civvie….. I’ve seen the worst of the worst, this one is something else, and my gut tells me that this is a fight that we don’t want to take. Do as she says”

[She’ll kill Liam]

“She will if you do otherwise”

(He’s cautious….and a good leader)

They slowly backed away, guns still trained on me, waiting for me to slip up….but the crevasses on their faces grew when they didn’t get a single chance.

“MOVE IT!” I hastened them while darting my eyes between all three of them. As they took one step back, me and the hostage took one step forward ... .but anyone lesser would’ve lost their life in the next instance, as a barrage of footsteps bombarded from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder in a flash to witness the squad who went above earlier, barging in, rifles armed and ready.

“GET DOWN!” I shouted to the other three, pushing their friend towards them while relieving him of his shotgun.

And as the bullets came flying, I moved into the room beside me, sticking to the spots where the light didn’t reach to get them off my scent.

I ducked behind the wall, now armed with a pump-action…separating myself from the all-out firefight that was going on in the halls. The sound of the automatics going off was deafening, but both sides firing in controlled bursts was all I needed to hear to know I wasn’t up against complete amateurs.

(Stupid, stupid, stupid…. That was extremely stupid…. What am I even doing?)

While I wallowed in my idiocy, I kept pulling back on the shotgun’s forend, catching all the shells that got thrown out of the ejection port.

(I have to forget all of it for now……Remember why you are here….and << Focus on the mission>>)

I froze for a second, haunted by the remnants of his voice guiding me in my head… I shoved my father’s voice out of my head for now—there was no room for doubt.”

After 8 shells ejected, no more came out.

(Buckshot rounds….Walls about to get a new coat of paint)

I slid a round into the chamber through the ejection port and extended the forend, and filled the tube up with the rest with two thumb slides. And all I could do was wait patiently for the third partying team to attempt to clear me…..But then managed to catch me off guard.

A cylindrical tube rolled into the room, and didn’t take me even a second to realize that it was some kind of grenade…but it was nothing like I’ve seen used in the field before

I leaped back away from the door before it went off, but it was of little help as the last thing I was expecting it to do was spray something around the room like the sprinklers in a garden. Tagged by the liquid, I expected the worst….but I felt no different. And it didn’t take me long to figure out what the purpose of the grenade was.

After it finished spraying, it started sending a pulse along the room and to the outside ... .and the liquid that sprayed on my arm glowing and the sudden burst of footsteps outside the door signified that this might be allowing them to see my position through the walls. And the barrage of bullets that came through the paper thin walls was all I needed to confirm that.

The volleys were thrown at me in controlled bursts, which meant that they couldn't track my movements live… if only I figured that out before biting a few rounds.

I figured that my position was getting marked everytime that grenade sent a pulse out…which meant I could use it to my advantage.

I felt sections of my chest bruising up from the rounds that slammed into the plates in my vest….but it was nothing compared to the damage the corrosive gas did to me earlier. Switching my positions away from when I’m marked, I had one eye on the wall next to me and another on the grenade.

Timing it as the pulse passed over me, I dropped down to the ground as a hail of bullets passed over my head. But I didn’t waste a single millisecond….placing the barrel against the thin wall and sending a hail of buckshot in the direction the bullets came from. The pellets spread and punched a hole in the wall, while also punching one in the shin of the enemy that was on the other side.

He fell to the ground with an audible thump, not expecting to have his leg separated from the rest of his body that soon. He then helplessly looked at me, straight into the shotgun barrel with sweat beading down his face as I pulled on the forend, chambering another shell. By the time he exhaled, he no longer had a nose to breathe through…..or even a face.

(Get up!)

With their friend biting the dust almost immediately, it was a given his friends would be running at me blind to retaliate…. Given their proximity to the door, I had three seconds.

I got up in one, and rushed at the main door in the second, with my hand gripping the shotgun’s forend. And when it was second 3, the expected rush arrived. One entered into the fatal funnel, only to get struck by my shoulder charge which pinned him to the wall next to him. Using the sudden stop in momentum, I was able to chamber another shell and send a hail of buckshot into his friend’s plate carrier, causing him to fall to the ground clutching his chest.

I chambered another but at that moment, I felt my trapped adversary getting a chance to stab me in the back of my shoulder, but I was able to fend off the sudden spike of pain

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I turned my weapon towards his leg, and put a round in his shin, severing his leg and causing him to fall against the wall. I had to back away to avoid the sightline of their fourth, but my legless adversary attempted to retaliate, pulling out his pistol to return fire ... .To which I responded by two quick buckshot rounds to the chest, which clearly pierced his armor and into his vitals.

I had my gun trained at the door from away from the paper thin wall, but no one entered ... .And considering the pressure on the remaining two from the first squad….the most logical thing they could do is retreat.

The sound of burst-fired rounds slowed, as one side was clearly on the backfoot.

(Single shots fired at a consistent pace….Using your side arm at a time like this means you are either carrying something or out of ammo)

But the shot timings were even, confirming my suspicions that they were retreating.

“No ... .We don’t have the time, we need to go, or we are going to get screwed by this Anomaly Zone ... .Upstairs, now!”

(Anomaly Zone?)

The sounds of footsteps distanced, and I wasn’t sensing anyone nearby. I took this moment of calmness to reset.

I used the holes in the walls, and the doorway to check if my instincts were right, and after a few seconds of caution, I was highly assured that they were. I pulled the carcass of the enemy who I killed in the room, darting my eyes through the surface of his tactical vest, looking for anything that I could use… In the meantime, I switched my comms back to the team channel while I swapped out the plates on my vest…only to barge in on a time that they were in the middle of a fight themselves.

“Shield broken on left…Covering your push, Tatsuo”

“I got their flank…Box them in, Tatsuo-san” guess this is one of those rare instances I’ve heard Haru straining her usually calm voice

“Leave it to me”

I could feel an ounce of weight hiding deep in their usual carefree disposition. Something I’ve heard many times before back in the real world.

I stayed silent until they had finished their fight, which in the meantime I restocked my rig with the scraps my two recent kills had left behind. But considering how quick they ended it, it gave me an ounce of reassurance about their skills.

“Third-parties?” Tatsuo asked trying to catch his breath

“Nothing on my end, I’ll keep watch until you guys loot up…. Leave a couple of plates and couple 556 clips for me” Hayato sounded mentally exhausted, apparent by the fact that he wasn’t goofing off as he usually does.

“Still hanging in there?” I asked, wrapping a shell holder around the back of my shotgun

“Look who decided to talk to us mere mortals from her holy solo mission” And I instantly take back what I said about Hayato being himself

“Yu-chan! What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Couple of close calls…. But it’ll take a lot more than that to keep me down” I replied, in the hopes of quelling any concern from Haru

“Just make sure your overconfidence doesn’t mean the end of you, Yulia-san…. but now if you got a second, I’d like to know what the hell is going on? Going in alone was never a part of the plan” Tatsuo sounded demanding, but I knew well that he was more concerned that antagonized

“I screwed up…… I just saw Roland and I….” I paused for a second as I didn’t know how I could explain myself “They are here, all of them…in this very match. I needed to know that…I needed to see that with my own eyes. Know that I wasn’t just fighting for nothing” I clenched my fist and closed my eyes, desperately trying to block out the visions of when it all began…. I was hoping the HP Potion I just found could help but when did it ever?

Tatsuo didn’t say anything for a few seconds, guess he was ready to chew my head off if I said anything that he didn’t like…..but he didn’t know what to say this time.

“Saw you health bar taking hits, you need help?” he effortlessly changed the subject

“I got it under control….mostly….. guys here seem to be in a hurry, something about an Anomaly Zone or….something” My hands were buried in the pouches of the deceased’s tac-rig…finding myself a couple of unique utility that I was all too familiar with

The comms went silent….made more unnerving by the only sound I could hear being the clicks of the buckshots and slugs I fitted into the shell holder.

“Guys?”

“Just….give me a second” Hayato sounded hurried, it was clear that this was something that he wasn’t expecting.

“Oh noooo!” Just by how that sounded I knew that I was to expect bad news

“What is it, Hayato-san?”

“Fuck!....He play everyone good. All makes sense why he sent so much people after you”

“Can you cut to the chase, Hayato-san?!” I demanded while I took cover behind the door, ready to rejoin the fight

“It’s a mechanic in BR matches back in the day, only happens in rare occasions so I didn’t think it was worth mentioning….It’s the game’s way of making sure that people don’t flock to one POI”

“In Japanese! Please!….” Clearing the room, I carefully push forward, outside the room and into the main floor

“Basically, by the time the clock for this zone runs out, your whole area is going to be filled with gas that will turn you inside out….. I thought it was an oversight when your friend sent a ton of trigger happy teams at you but now I get the feeling that this is exactly what he wanted.”

I slowly cleared the main stairwell “Now that you mentioned it, I’ve not run into a single team apart from Roland’s hit squad….until now”

“Which means that everyone on our side of the map is rotating through the Grave of Towers to avoid the Anomaly Zone…. Which means whoever is left gunning for your head, will be waiting for you at Derelict Foundations, waiting to sandwich you between them and the zone of death that’s about to drop on you…..Which also means that we have to backtrack and go around GODDAMNIT!”

I held position for a second, acknowledging Roland’s calculated tactics

“What’s my fastest exfil… escape from here?”

“Ziplines on the roof. It’s high up and you got cloud cover…no need to worry about getting shot off it.” Hayato briefed me

“Which means I need to pick up the pace, cut that squad off before they get a chance to run”

“Yu-chan…listen to me. You only got a little less than half an hour to get out of your area…..You need to let this go. Fight them with us, where we can have your back” Haru tried to appeal to my better nature….but I didn’t have one at this moment

“Before you guys pulled me out of that water, I made a promise. Everyone who was there that day, everyone who’s ever set foot in that place, I was to make them regret that they ever did…. These guys are after me because I killed their friends when I got out… So I can’t let them go”

Readjusting the grip on my shotgun, I start to clear my approach up the stairs “They’ve been looking for me for a while and they won’t back down…..Even if I let them go, they are just going to be hunting me….This is something I need to finish”

“Yulia-san, an Anomaly Zone is End Zone levels of gas concentration….. it will kill you in seconds if you get caught in it”

“I’ll make it….This is not the first time I’ve had to punch a clock”

The uncomfortable silence that followed was the sign that they gave up trying to talk me down.

“Check your map ... .I marked where we are going to meet…. The zone you are in is a lie, it’s just going to pull the opposite way. Meaning we meet at Derelict foundations, and fight our way towards the steel mill, that’s where the zone is going to end and most probably where your old friends are going as well….Just….don’t be a hero”

(I never was, Hayato-san….And I could never be)

I turned my left over and checked the map, there was now a blip directly east of me and there was a faint hazy circle blinking in and out in the area I’m in…. Guess that’s what an Anomaly Zone is

(28 minutes…..)

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath calming my nerves before they fired off.

“Going dark ... .Catch you guys in a bit” I muted my comms, focusing fully on the task at hand.

I underestimated Roland…. He meticulously planned all of this to happen, just so he could bring me down to his level…..or die if else.

Everytime I consider letting loose, I see her in my head….comforting me when all it has done is take from me

(I’m sorry, Minami. I have to….just this once)

<>

His voice whispering in my head makes it even more appalling.

“You win this time, Roland….But never again” I told myself, just so I don’t forget

I closed my eyes and entered that cursed space

When I opened my eyes, the space felt even more living than it did in reality. The darkness held me down as it approached to consume me….. But I started to have second thoughts.

I forced myself to remember the aftermath…. How after every time I am left with nothing, with noone ... .with only his approval.

“No….Never again” I started to struggle, loosening the shackles of shadow that held me down, but I couldn’t break out fast enough.

I started to get veiled in darkness, the shadow crept up my legs…..but before it consumed me fully, I broke free and attacked it….which brought me back

I had my back to the wall to the rain of glowing embers—It ignored my clothes and burned my skin. My ears rang, and all the unnecessary noise around me faded away, apart from the sound of distant footsteps and the close gunshots. My senses heightened; I ascended the stairs with complete confidence…with no concerns of being ambushed….

A few floors later, those distant footsteps turn louder, along with the sound of high caliber rounds….. Small arms and automatics, with the hiss of a radio being the furthest. The Spec-Ops team has engaged onto the other team…but wait…there were two more distinct guns.

(Three teams, 10 different firing patterns…..Shots angle too steep from my direction meaning uncontested entrance through the doorway)

I took out the spherical grenade I scavenged from my previous kills, and pressed the button on the top. A blue pulse spread across it, glowing bright like the highlights on Cyber-Gear.

I rolled it into the active battlefield, with it stopping right in the middle….a second later, the whole room got engulfed by a quick flash of blue, sending a pulse across the whole area

“Ahhh!! Shit….” Everyone was clutching their ears, as if they were hearing their unpleasantly ghostly voices. But I was already in the room before they even knew it.

My nearest prey was the group of the two. Cloaked in shadow like the one that tried to enshroud me, they blended into the darkness of the dimly lit room, but their brightly glowing red eyes and the sudden chill from their presence took away their advantage

The barrel of my shotgun found itself pointed towards the first one’s chest, allowing the buckshot to tear through clean.

(Don’t finish him yet…use him. Wait for the other’s desperation to kick in)

“No!” His wraith-like eyes met mine….bloodlust turning into fear at a moment’s notice. He pointed his weapon at me and was rewarded with limbs full of buckshot pellets. The enemy dropped his weapon and yelled in pain. I rushed at him with my knife, dropping him and burying my blade in his lower stomach under his armor

The chill behind me shifted, which alerted me to my initial adversary’s attempts to retaliate. He pointed his AR at me and opened fire… the burst missed me but a few shots found his companion’s armor as I side-stepped his line of fire.

I knocked my enemy off balance with a strike to the side of it’s knee, causing it’s leg to fold inwards. Taking advantage of his moment of daze, I felt for the chip in his collar under the veil of shadow and ripped it out, and dug my thumbs into his eyes. He barely had the strength to fight back and I kept digging deeper, causing him to scream even louder. I kept pushing until I felt the bone and left it there to be a loud distraction…. As if I could hear his cries, so could the enemy.

“LET HIM GO!” now the other tried to strike, but he was immediately lit up by the others in the room, immediately granted the mercy of death.

They immediately lit up the wooden crates we were behind, in the hopes of hitting me and silencing the screaming that took over the room. They managed to achieve one of their goals as the room went silent in a mere second. By the time they caught another breath, I was long gone.

“Did we get her?”

“Assume we didn’t…. maintain high alert and clear the bogeys”

(2 down, just 8 more)

I retreated into the dark areas of the room, letting the two other teams tire themselves out….use their strengths against them. The feeling of a thousand scalding needles searing themselves onto my skin kept me focused on every small detail….so I wouldn’t miss the first opportunity I had to strike.

The closest team to me oozed arrogance ... .their ghastly and distorted voices were heard by everyone even while their comms were disabled by the EMP I used. The furthest were all fearing for their lives….. I could hear them dragging their heels, doubting every move they made…. The trigger on their weapons rumbling as their fingers shuddered in uncertainty…. They were aware that their comms were compromised…. Hence the shift in the winds as they wave hand signals at each other.

While I’d prefer to deal with the weaker team first, I’d have to cross a firing squad to get to them….. so I had to deal with the closest group of hostiles first.

“Push forward in double file…. Move to execute”

(Not yet…)

The second their defense weakened as they gave me a sliver of attention less, I was there to make it their last mistake.

I kept low on my approach and was immediately in front of one hostile in a second and a half, another half a second later, I buried my blade in the side of his neck, destroying the chip in his collar and pinning the hand he tried to defend with like a note on a corkboard. Leaving my enemy to suffer, I slipped past and placed a full shell of buckshot into the chest of the next hostile which pushed the hostile back due to the force.

My skin started to soothe which made me uncomfortable…. alerting me that the other group of adversaries in the room is trying to capitalize on the chaos. I didn’t have even a millisecond to waste.

I pushed forward and took cover behind the plates of my staggered adversary, slanted sideways with my back pushed towards his chest…facing his friend in pain, I pulled out my sidearm and put a round through his brain while a wall of lead followed, striking the back of my temporary human shield, as it shattered the slab of ceramic on his back before it stopped short through multiple layers of flesh and bone. I pushed my shield aside and returned fire. My first three rounds found the chest of the closest shooter, but his plates made sure that it wasn’t enough.

I started to back off into the cover of the shadows, but my right began to soothe, indicating a flank…. And reversing that element of surprise, my aim found two rounds to the head of my flanker. His head shield broke, and the burning returned to me.

The poor state of their armor and the closer threats to each other, deferred either group from pushing towards me…. giving me a chance to reassess. Swallowing up a stamina potion, I didn’t stop moving my heavy feet until I retreated into the darkness and behind solid cover.

Loading a new mag into my pistol didn’t take even a second…however I hesitated before I loaded up the tube of my shotgun. I looked outwards to assess the ongoing battle and figured that I had a few dozen seconds before the two remaining of the more equipped hit squad unit were going to decimate the other team of four. I opened my inventory to see that I didn’t have any slug rounds to make up for the stopping power I would need to end this fight quickly….. So I had to improvise.

I felt around the dead body next to me and pulled out the knife in his chest. With 4 buckshot shells in my hand, I cut around it, leaving a bit off the end so the cover doesn’t come off. Turning the shotgun upwards, I started to load it carefully.

(One regular, one cut) I kept repeating that in my head as I filled the tube up with the last 4 shells I had

A pump of the shotgun later, I looked for the red glowing gems in the shadows. I darted my eyes around, looking for my prey, I paid attention to how my skin soothed to sense where they were through all the walls and cover. A few instances of intel gathering later, it was time for me to strike.

The first was separated from me by a paper thin wall, but I had a good idea of where he stood from the echo left by his feet. I sent a round of buckshot through the wall, catching my target off guard. But before he could react and return fire, he found himself eating a cut shell, passing his damaged plates and punching a hole through his torso. The last remaining hostile from the military group opened fire on my position, emptying his rifle mag, burst after burst into the wall I shot through in the hopes of suppressing me.

Tracking his ballistics, waiting for an opportunity….but my focus broke for a second as a shockwave went through the whole building, with the sound of shattering getting closer and closer.

I instinctively went low and shielded my face as a rain of glass just erupted, towards me, leaving shallow cuts behind. The wind rushed passed, embedding sand in the cuts on my legs ... .but it was nowhere close enough to slow me down.

My adversaries on the other hand were more affected by this than I was. The group of militants used the moment to retreat, leaving me with the group that were staggering to regain their footing and concentration….which was the perfect opportunity for me to strike.

Moving right into the long hallway, I rolled my second EMP grenade next to the doorway, although off the mark due to the roaring winds cutting through, it was close enough to scramble their comms. I hit the ground in an instant and used the sound of the electric blast to muffle my attempt to blow a hole in the drywall between us, and sent my last makeshift slug shell right into the unprotected shin of the leftmost enemy. He immediately hit the ground and stared back at me. I pulled out my sidearm and emptied a quarter clip into the shadowy gap between his red shining eyes.

“NOOO!” they hesitated for a second looking at their now dead comrade. And by the time they opened fire towards the hole in the wall, I already made entry through their front door.

I fired into their exposed flank, managing to hit all three rounds into the side of the chest of the adversary in the middle. The closest however, had a riot shield…but by his wide posture, it was clear that he was more concerned about covering his allies as much as he could rather than worrying about falling over by the blowback…..and I took that to my advantage.

By the time he lifted his shield, I ducked behind cover and discarded the old mag in my sidearm, swapping it with a new one. Staying low to avoid any gaps where they could shoot from, I leaped onto the shield, with my left foot on the top rim. I used my weight to pressure him down, and used my momentary height to put two rounds into the other two hesitating adversaries, one broke the head shield of the left enemy, and the other hit the plates of the right one.

I pushed myself off into a backwards dive and hit the ground ... .putting two rounds each into the now exposed knees of the one holding the shield up.

He shrieked in pain and fell to his knees, planting the shield in place and using it as a support to prevent him from falling over. I got back up and used the shield now as cover, as my adversaries wouldn’t dare fire upon their ally in the hopes of getting to me…..but they were smarter than I gave them credit.

They put away their guns and ran at me screaming. I could see the two ethereal figures closing on me through the transparent window of the shield. They had a split second gap between each other, so I got out into the open, towards the left and executed the first enemy…. Two rounds to the chest to stagger, and one round to the head to kill. The other however got too close for me to take aim. I stepped backwards and he was swinging his knife at me… but his technique was sloppy, I grabbed his arm during a wide-swing and snapped his wrist to steal his blade. I locked up his arm under mine and plunged the knife into his head only for it to collide off his head shield…I plunged quickly again and the shield shattered, and the third plunge ended deep in his eye socket…..the last, was in between his forehead…where he fell to the ground and I put my weight into the blade so it reached the very corner of his brain.

Suddenly my back started to soothe, which made me immediately roll to the right, avoiding the rounds of a handgun to my back ending my life. Barely hanging onto his shield for support, he tried to hit me with an unsteady hand…. He didn’t even have time to register that I had already shot him in the gut, tackled him onto his shield and that he didn’t have his gun anymore.

I had my hand on his collar and my gun to his head, a trigger pull away from finishing this fight…..but he just lied there and didn’t resist

“Do it then ... .kill me” but the words of that demonic and distorted voice confused me.

At that moment, a sharp pain shot through my head…..as if something was clawing my brain from within. I clutched my head and closed my eyes in agony And when I opened my eyes…it all came back to me.

The memory hit like a bullet—her voice, soft yet pleading, as she stood in the shadow of my rage. I blinked, and for a moment, I saw her instead of him. The trembling hand on my gun wasn’t his; it was hers. The same look of fear. The same accusation

I saw no more figures of shadow…no more eyes of the soulless, it was rather the eyes of the hopeless…..the bodies of the slaughtered…..Slaughtered by my own hands.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” His voice was no longer distorted, and his face was of the one who valued the life of his friend when I took him hostage. Blood mixed with tears in his eyes…..The anger, the sorrow…. None of it was hidden from me anymore.

“I didn’t want to do this…I told you to…..” My voice shook as I tried to convince myself

“They just wanted to get out…..You murdered them all” He was wheezing due to his injuries, but the hatred in his eyes was far more than his will to catch his breath.

“It was me or them…I didn’t” I tried to take away my gun, but he mustered the strength to hold it under his neck

“It should’ve been you….. This world would be a better place without monsters like you!” He didn’t bother putting pressure on his stomach where he was losing blood, instead, he held an iron grip on the barrel of my gun.

“I would rather die than face their families and tell them that I failed to protect them.” He didn’t let me pull free “You might not remember me…..but know that I’m the only one that wishes your end to be slow and painful…..I hope one day you watch someone better than you butcher everyone you care about in front of you….and I hope he kills you even slower”

He squeezed my hand, and my finger on the trigger….. The echo of the gunshot rang louder than the heavy winds that were striking me…. The splatter of his blood blending into the rest that is already on me.

The room rang silent and I was alone….I tried saving a life and all I did was end up taking more…. The worst part is that I didn’t feel any remorse.

My disgust with myself was as much as the exhaustion and pain I felt…. She always told me to value all life, but how can I if all I do is take them away. Every day, I try to do right by her….to live up to what she saw that I could be…but the more I try to escape the darkness, the harder it pulls me back in.

I got back on my feet and looked at my gun….. I checked the mag to see only two rounds remaining. But instead of carrying it….I just dropped it on the floor.

I limped my way towards the closest wall. My fatigue lingered longer as there was less oxygen in the air at this altitude, but nothing a SP vial couldn’t fix. A few seconds later, my breathing began to stabilize. My burning wounds faded as the HP vial started to take effect. I turned over my hand to check the map, only to see that I only had 12 minutes till the Anomaly Zone hit.

(I was too slow…..And I can’t take a break….just yet) I pushed myself off the wall and walked the windy corridor

(Now that I think about it ... .what the hell was that shockwave?…..was it the Anomaly Zone?)

As I walked passing room by room, my eyes caught on to the sight of a table of gear. Sand was piling on, but it hadn’t piled up enough to cover up all of it.

Utility, Heals, Weapons, Ammo….. And 2 unlinked Cipher pieces.

I picked up one of the pieces and stashed it in my inventory….But I couldn’t risk taking another if it meant marking me on the map to everyone in this match.

But as I was wiping away the sand from the table, there was something else buried underneath

I lifted it from the bottom and examined it.

(Compound Bow…..this might be what I just need….if only there were some…) And there it was even before I could finish my though

I pulled out an arrow from the quiver, and to my luck they were steel tipped. I put the arrow back in and put the whole quiver on my back, and as I took the bow off the table, there seemed to be a familiar looking radio underneath.

Out of curiosity I turned it on, and it was already tuned to their frequency

“We need to leave now, Nick…. AZ is almost here and we can’t treat Sam and Riley in this damn wind.” said one voice

“There are no shots fired below, she’s coming, we don’t have the time” the voice of their leader sounded a lot less confident that before

“Maybe she’s dead?”

“She slaughtered more than half of us, and did that over there….. You think she can die to a group of nobodies?......Prep for evac. Get the injured out of here, the others and me will hold the rear….delay the Monarch as much as possible”

“She’ll kill you all….You shouldn’t have provoked her with The Purgatory….”

“And that’s why we are doing this in the first place….Get yourselves out of here, win this thing and rendezvous with the others…..Name Richter as the new commander or if he’s not found yet, name Harper…. If we can’t kill the Monarch, we’ll let the Anomaly Zone do it for us….even if it cost us our lives.”

Wasting no time, I threw the radio out of the window….preparing for one final attack

I wonder how many times I have told myself that lie already?