Following Panda’s orders, the rookies ran to the corridor to hold the barriers in place at the first corner of the hallway, right next to the stairs from where the enemy was coming from. Both teams secured their respective hallways, but they were separated by the triangular corner between them, so they couldn’t see each other. Once all five of the rookies, including Saint, were in position, Cookie and Panda returned to the shutters, where the latter smashed the window to the conveyor line that cut across and into the furnace room to take a peek at what was going on behind the doors.
Cookie crossed to the other side of the conveyor, positioning himself behind the other shutters, while Panda stayed next to the diner with his machine gun in hand, removing his shield and tossing it over to Cookie for him to protect himself and the Heartaches’ backs as the antipunks were trying to break in. It didn’t take long for the enemy to pile up in the furnace room, trying to force their way into both hallways by shooting holes through the shutters. But their attempts to scare Panda and Cookie away were nullified by their resilience, as they kept blocking the shutters while taking cover on the sides.
However, with the number of antipunks trying to get in, it was only a matter of time before Panda and Cookie got overwhelmed, just like the rest of the team since there were even more enemies coming from the entrance, and they also had more ground to cover. Due to half of the Heartaches being injured, only Agnus, Kayden, Ryu, and Zayn could properly hold their barriers in place, though the rest provided support by forming a line right behind them. While those four were strong enough to resist, their barricade consisted of only a few thin steel sheets that didn’t even cover the entire width of the hallway, so they had to use their bodies to block the enemies’ path.
This method proved to be dangerous when the antipunks began shooting at them, prompting them to hide behind the barriers and slowly back away, letting the antipunks make their way further into the left hallway as they reached the top of the stairs. The antipunk gunmen stayed back while the ones armed with swords and axes pushed through since they wouldn’t have a clear line of sight on their enemy, and while most of them decided to attack through the left side, the Heartaches were able to slow them down a bit by using all of their members' strength to hold their barriers and push back the antipunks to break the stream of antipunks running up the stairs.
While the four healthy ones held on to the barrier, the rest began fighting back in the form of kicks and warning swings of their swords to hold their ground. They managed to impede the antipunks’ advance, but at the risk of staying within their reach as some tried to pull the Heartaches into the mass formed at the stairs. Since they were still able to defend themselves, the enemy’s attention shifted towards the other hallway, where the rookies were already struggling to keep the antipunks away despite having less to deal with.
They didn’t have as many hands as the Heartaches, but they gathered more scrap to set up a rather sturdy pile of steel that almost reached the ceiling, so they were much safer from the initial burst of antipunk bullets. And although they seemed relieved to not have all the pressure on them, Saint quickly realized that the Heartaches were in trouble when he heard them fighting off the antipunks that got too close. He stood up slightly and peeked through a small bullet hole in the wall of scrap in front to assess the situation, and while more enemies were coming his way, he was more concerned by the number of antipunks flooding the left hallway.
–We gotta draw them in or the others won’t be able to resist– Saint ordered as he continued to peek out of the barrier, but Shade almost immediately pulled him down while the others tried to shut him up.
–What, are you crazy? We can’t let them get here. They will know we’ll try to escape through there…– Chappy asked in frustration while briefly looking back at the diner, having to raise his voice due to the loud ringing from the furnace room and stop Saint from talking as he refused to sit back down like the rest.
–If you shout like that, they will come regardless…– Ace scolded Chappy, though he was more focused on composing himself and holding the barrier in place with Shade. They set their backs against the barrier to use their legs for a steady grip on the ground now that the antipunks were trying to push through, with Chappy now doing the same as he quieted down. But unlike the rest, Saint was discouraged by not being able to motivate his friends to help the Heartaches, and while he complied and continued holding the barrier, he paid attention to Zoey, who seemed to agree with him but was slightly hesitant to speak.
–You are right… Without them, we probably won’t get to fight off the enemies outside… They are definitely waiting there. We need them with us…– Zoey commented indecisively but stared only at Saint to show her full support. After a bit of consideration, the other rookies were becoming inspired to help, though they were nervous to do so with the antipunks behind banging on the barrier. However, before they could make a choice, Saint stood up again, and after listening to Zoey, he made his decision as he was already trying to get the antipunks’ attention.
–Let’s just leave them and run for our lives… There is an exit over here!– Saint shouted with forced desperation, deliberately facing the antipunks at the stairs as he pretended to head towards the diner. His action caught the rookies off guard, but they immediately pulled him back to stop him from leaving.
–What are you doing??– Ace asked in confusion before losing his focus and starting to panic after seeing Saint seemingly change his mind and try to bail out on the team. Panda and Cookie heard him as well, though they couldn’t turn to see if Saint was actually trying to escape on his own, so they only kept listening. But before any of them got an answer, Saint sat back and used all his weight to block the barrier, concentrating on the sounds behind as the antipunks began heading towards them.
His call tricked the enemy into thinking they were escaping, and although Ace almost ruined the illusion, most of the antipunks saw the opportunity to push through the hallway in hopes of having a clear path to flank the Heartaches. The latter took a moment to realize what was happening after hearing Saint’s call, but instead of panicking, they were pleased to see that he was able to remove some of the pressure put on them as the antipunks were now focusing all their force on the rookies’ barriers to getting into the right hallway.
The Heartaches continued to hold out, even managing to push their barrier back to where they had originally set it up. However, there were still some antipunks trying to push through their hallway, but it wasn’t anything compared to the number of enemies coming for the rookies now. Saint had seemingly caught the attention of all the incoming antipunks, as the new ones that were arriving immediately headed to the right hallway. The rookies were now faced with the harrowing task of holding out against ten times their strength, but luckily, their steel pile was made of thick metal that was too heavy to push, so the antipunks could only chip at it and slowly dismantle it by removing the layers of scrap.
Despite having good protection, the rookies could feel the barrier getting weaker as the antipunks fiercely picked at it until they were down to a thin wall of the small pieces of scrap that they cobbled together. It became clear that they would soon have no wall between them and the enemy, so the rookies began to worry heavily, looking back at Panda for some sort of instructions. Panda was too busy keeping the shutters in the right hallway close, so he couldn’t even turn back to check on them, though he could hear them struggling with all the groans and heavy breathing. But as their leader couldn’t be there to motivate them, Saint was left to think of a way to encourage his friends, and after a bit of deep thinking and breathing, he gathered all his strength to push the barriers as hard as he could to block the antipunks entry.
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–Hold on!! We got this! We have to keep pushing! Come on!!– Saint yelled with increasing intensity, though he was exhausting all of his strength as his body began heating up and the veins in his arms began pumping as much blood as they could to keep him pushing.
He had to put more effort into it first since the rookies weren’t fully committed to keeping the wall in place. But shortly after seeing him give his all to keep them safe, they began pushing with him, applying as much force as possible to relieve him of some of the weight of the barrier. They had to use their backs and hands and actively push backwards with their feet to counterweight the antipunks on the other side, making it hard for the enemy to advance but not for too long since they would run out of energy quickly.
–It’s just like the game, we got this!– Chappy exclaimed with optimism but slowly gave in to the stress as he let out a few nervous laughs. While he and the rest managed to keep pushing back and enduring the weight, the antipunks just didn’t stop pushing forward, even after realizing that the rookies had not escaped and were continuing to hold their ground.
They had the advantage as they had far more hands to push, and they seemingly never got tired, with only a few of them going back to the left hallway as they were adamant about finding another way through the hallways. Both sides were pretty unbalanced since most of the enemy manpower and strength were found in the right hallway, despite the stairs leading up to the barriers being full to the brim. It was a slow push, but with brute force, they were starting to overwhelm the rookies, whose legs couldn’t support all the weight as their barrier seemed like it would break at any moment.
–Hold on for a few more seconds! We are almost there!!– Panda shouted back at the rookies, though the Heartaches could also hear him, so it served as a bit of motivation for both teams to keep resisting. He didn’t say much since he and Cookie were busy dodging bullets flying through the shutters, which were almost crumbling. They couldn’t keep them closed for much longer and were gradually more exposed to the enemies in the furnace room, who tried to stab them with their swords through the openings. But Panda and Cookie remained strong and fearless, avoiding getting hit with their hands full and even enduring the now deafening high-pitched sound nearby, which seemingly didn’t bother the antipunks at all or was ignored by them.
The rookies fully believed in Panda’s words, though, and seeing how hard he was fighting back, they tried their best to keep their pile of steel in place. They weren’t nearly as strong as him, but together, they were able to give the antipunks a hard time pushing their barriers as they found more strength within themselves. However, it did come at the cost of them turning red like Saint as they pushed their bodies to their limits, using all of their weight to prevent the antipunks from overthrowing their only means of protection. They looked at each other back and forth, almost sharing contentious stares to compete for who put in the most work. It was Shade who had the most strength, and seeing the shared spite of the enemy in his peers fueled his arms and legs to keep pushing, though he was beginning to struggle to breathe.
They couldn’t talk anymore, only reserving their energy to keep breathing as they pushed past the pain. But as much as they tried, their barrier started to collapse. They didn’t have big parts like the Heartaches’, so instead of metal sheets, they only gathered small pieces of scrap that they somehow put together to form a somewhat stable wall. But that barrier was no longer as solid as it was after the antipunks started ripping out every party. The pieces left were heavy since they were the foundation of the wall, but it was no longer sturdy enough to stop the enemy from tearing them apart and tossing them away, or even throwing them to the other side to hit the rookies. They were almost crushed by their own barrier as the upper side was torn down, but they continued to hold as much as they could despite all of it crumbling on their backs.
The rookies had to close their eyes to focus on their breathing, but Saint glanced back to see that their wall was about to collapse and let the swarm of antipunks in. They would be dead as soon as that barrier was down, and it seemed like it would fall at any second now. There were already antipunks poking their weapons in to get a few blind swings on them, but they weren’t able to reach down yet, though they were going to very soon. So, to avoid getting crushed and dying in vain, Saint crawled away from the barrier to let the rookies hold out on their own.
They took a moment to notice his absence, and while they were clearly confused, they didn’t get much time to question him as he was now actually running towards the diner. He dashed into the room to peek out the windows and see if their plan had worked, and he was pleased to find out that it had to some degree. The antipunks outside had appeared to move in closer to the factory through the front, with almost all of the ones on the sides gathering at either end since that’s where the two main exits were.
While there were still some surrounding the left side, which the Heartaches were clearly aware of and frightened, the right side seemed mostly empty. Only a few enemies were waiting outside, near the cargo bay and closer to the furnace room, where they kept their distance as more smoke came out from the sides. But seeing that the courtyard right outside the diner was completely clear, Saint couldn’t help but get excited and try to take advantage of the opportunity to lead his friends to safety.
–It’s clear, we can go now!– Saint shouted as he ran back to the hallway to warn his friends, who stared back and promptly let go of the barrier to follow him. They all turned hopeful when they saw that he was heading to the diner door to escape without any enemies in sight. But right as he ran back to the diner, Panda finally was able to turn out, and after seeing him approach the diner’s exit, he was startled into running as well.
–NO! DON’T GO THERE! IT’S GONN-…– Panda shouted with a fearful expression, as if he were witnessing a tragedy unfold right in front of his eyes. He and Cookie simultaneously distanced themselves from the shutters all of a sudden, but the latter was the only one to run back to the middle of the hallway with the Heartaches since Panda tried to chase after Saint and grab him before he reached the diner door.
The antipunks from the furnace room broke through the shutters and rushed into both hallways, letting more of the horrific sound coming from behind irritate the rookies and Heartaches’ ears. Both teams were caught off guard by the sound but were more concerned to see the furnace room filled with thick black smoke and fire showing up right next to the shutters, which was somehow even more unsettling than all the lava they witnessed before.
The high-pitched noise came right from the two sets of boilers placed on each side of the furnace room, right before the shutters. The antipunks there tried to ignore them as much as they could, and even when they saw all the smoke coming from them, they focused more on breaking into the hallways. However, when they finally broke the shutters and cornered the Heartaches and rookies, they only got to enjoy their accomplishment for half a second as the boilers right next to them had reached their limits and were about to cause a catastrophe that would end their lives in an instant.
The rookies were the most worried when they saw Panda running after Saint like he was trying to save his life since he dropped his gun and seemingly ignored everything else happening just to run after him. He tried to warn him about the diner door repeatedly, but Saint wasn’t listening and continued rushing out of the factory, not even checking back to see if the others were following. The rookies could tell immediately that it was a bad idea to join him just from seeing Panda’s reaction, so they stayed in the middle of the hallway, right next to the door to the stairs, allowing the antipunks to break their barrier.
The enemy had surrounded them, but that didn’t seem like the main concern at the moment, as once Saint had gotten behind the counter next to the exit door, Panda knew he couldn’t get to him in time and quickly retreated. With the antipunks breaking in from the furnace room, he outran them as he reached for the rookies, dodging a few swords before leaping as far as he could to get down alongside them, who couldn’t comprehend what was going on until it was too late.
They had only seen the black smoke for a second before the antipunk swarm was all that was found in both directions. With their vision getting clouded rapidly by the smoke filling the hallways, they prepared for the worst alongside the Heartaches and Cookie. But as they braced themselves to be overwhelmed by the antipunks, the enemy coming from behind completely disappeared in the blink of a second once the boilers burst, shocking both squads to the core. But out of all of them, it was Saint who had disappeared in a fiery, blinding explosion as well. He was gone.
| WE ALL HAD DREAMS WHEN WE WERE YOUNG
BUT NOW WE’RE LOADED JUST LIKE A GUN |