Crisis began descending the long ramp to venture further into the cave, staying cautious as they could hear sharp noises echoing up their only path. They took their time to not alert any possible enemies waiting at the end, but after a whole minute of walking, they slowed down once they saw light at the other end. The squad’s pace halted as Frost turned around to his team before they could walk into view of the second level of the cave, prompting them to take out their weapons in anticipation of another battle.
–You all ready?– Frost asked with a keen grin, being met with enthusiastic nods, although he noticed straight away that Scott was psyching himself up as well. Despite staying at the back of the group, Scott was holding the rifle he stole from one of the scavenger corpses with intent, and while it looked like he didn’t know how to use it, Frost was seemingly impressed to see him armed and ready to join the team in combat.
–Look at Sissy over here, even he is ready to cause some mayhem!– Frost exclaimed in a joking manner, yet praising Scott’s determination. He was startled when he heard his name, but as the entire team turned around to look at him, Scott stayed quiet and lowered his weapon sheepishly as Indie and Panda stared worriedly. Tricky and Indie made sure to stay at a safe distance from Scott, as his grip was shaky, and he could accidentally shoot at them at any time. But as Nitro, Panda, and Frost just laughed it off and didn’t take it seriously, they all just ignored the potential risk of him carrying a weapon.
–He won’t even get to shoot those weak ass guns– Panda scoffed before flaunting his giant machine gun, which only discouraged Scott from using his weapon. Compared to the rest of the team, he was armed with a poor firearm, and seeing as the squad could easily take care of any enemies, Scott began having second thoughts. But right before he discarded his weapon, Frost called for his attention with a deceivingly friendly gesture.
–Don’t worry about that, you just shoot everyone you see… except us, of course…– Frost affirmed lightheartedly but with a strangely reassuring tone, though he still sounded slightly scornful as always. After the team shared a brief laugh, Scott changed his mind and kept his rifle close to him, getting more comfortable despite not knowing how to handle it. But as he followed them down the ramp, he became considerably nervous once he saw what was actually found at the bottom.
Reaching the base of the ramp, the cave opened up more, but unlike the entrance, it was way larger in all dimensions. Crisis came across a digging site with a ceiling as high as Savepoint’s walls, a surface almost the entire size of the training grounds, and instead of grass or steel, the floor was made entirely out of rock and dirt. They were now in a proper cave, with a sort of small, makeshift quarry found inside. The circular area ahead consisted of many layers, decreasing in size as it went deeper, with a large dirt path spiraling and connecting each floor.
At first glance, it looked like a plain mining pit, and a well-lit one due to the multiple lanterns hanging from the rocky ceiling. But while there was little to be found in such a huge area, only a few crates and piles of rocks on each later, it was clear that it was getting put to use as Crisis immediately focused on the residents of the place. Miners could be seen on each circular layer, especially on the last one, where three tall piles of different rocks towered over the pit. The workers were dedicated to mining the walls of the pit to open it up more, loading up wagons on the rails that circled each layer, and passing through small deposits of materials close to the walls. And while they looked just like the other scavengers, they weren’t armed, at least not with guns, they only carried their pickaxes and mining gear, which was seemingly all they needed to do their job.
The team stood still and watched in awe as the miners worked like normal, completely unaware of their presence, and solely focused on their jobs. Some even got close enough to the ramp as they carried heavy bags on their shoulders, but they didn’t get to see the entire squad wielding guns standing right at the entrance. Even with what seemed like dozens of workers, not even one appeared to notice the; instead, they continued working like normal. The noise in the pit drowned out all the gunfire and screams from the entrance of the cave, but it looked like the workers deliberately didn’t pay attention to anything other than their work from how exhausted they were.
–They are just working?– Nitro asked in confusion, which was reciprocated by the rest of the squad, except for Indie and Frost, who were more skeptical than bemused. They took a good look around, already spotting different locations to take cover, as well as the most optimal route to descend the pit and clear their way. But as they cautiously stepped closer to the center of the pit, they grew suspicious of the unusual activity taking place.
–We can never know for sure…– Indie replied with prolonged thought, remaining in doubt as she tried to identify any potential threats. Since they were still only at the foot of the ramp, they couldn’t see what was found in the deeper layers of the pit, other than those three huge piles of rocks that just seemed to be used to store everything they mined. But with Frost becoming eager to explore, it was only a matter of time before one of them made a move.
–Might as well see for ourselves…– Frost added with a wicked grin as he stared intently at some miners walking obliviously a couple of meters away from them. He watched them push the wagons in circles on the first floor, collecting the materials their colleagues had mined and then delivering them to the bottom of the pit. Frost kept a close eye on them, not just observant, fueling his apathy and lust to kill as his eyes lingered longer on the defenseless workers. The rest of the squad picked up on his festering hatred, and to Scott’s surprise, most of them seemed to share his spite towards the workers.
–Wait, maybe we cou-...– Scott tried to suggest after sensing the intentions of the squad. He stepped forward to be heard, but since they were already waiting for the order to strike, he was ignored and left behind as they charged at the unarmed workers before he could share his idea. Scott was left speechless, but with nothing else to do, he stayed at the bottom of the ramp to watch as Frost led a brutal attack on the unsuspecting workers.
The squad entered offensive mode as soon as they saw Frost run straight at one of the workers carrying a wagon. Applying the same tactic of splitting up, they split up to cover both sides of the first floor, with Indie leading Panda and Tricky through the right while Frost led the others through the left. Even Candy charged into battle behind Tricky, which Scott tried to stop, reaching for her hand before she got out of range, ultimately being left alone. And with him witnessing another carnage about to unfold, he got an even closer, graphic look at what the squad was truly capable of.
Frost claimed the first kill as he jumped over some of the crates with equipment in his way, catching his target by surprise as he leaped onto him. Doing a flip midair, the worker was disposed of with a hasty slash that started on the back, made its way to the front of his chest, cutting half of his shoulder, and left him on the floor to bleed out in a second. Kiwy followed up right away now that the first kill had alerted everyone on the first layer, but she was much quicker at claiming kills, creating a competition between her and Frost as they sliced their way through the left side.
The miners panicked and began yelling at their colleagues below, but before they got a chance to run away, they had already been surrounded. The workers at the bottom activated an alarm, but that only helped to create more chaos as Crisis quickly advanced through all the layers of the pit, taking everyone in sight. Frost and Kiwy were the most effective killing individuals, picking off those who tried to hide behind crates, inside wagons, or the ones who tried to head for the ramp.
But as Indie and Panda joined in on the action, the workers began dropping at a disturbing rate. Their bullets could end their lives instantly, especially Indie’s. Her aim was impeccable, landing headshots almost every time she pulled the trigger. Panda was more inaccurate, but the spread of his machine gun meant he could reach more targets at once, meaning he was able to shred through larger groups of workers when they grouped up in a corner in a desperate attempt to save themselves. Nitro was also good for dealing with large groups, only needing one grenade to blow all of them out.
However, to not take away from his teammates, he restrained himself to only shoot down the pit, creating a bowl of certain death as all the workers instinctively tried to reach the bottom, where it looked like there was access to the real facilities of the cave. Each explosion he caused rocked the cave, making the lanterns above flicker and the piles of rocks tremble. But as he soon found out, he only got to shoot a couple of times before it became risky to keep engaging, leaving the others to take care of the remaining workers. There wasn’t much for Candy and Tricky to do; they only followed their teammates, as they were the ones to take all their lives. And while they didn’t seem to enjoy the fighting as much as the rest, they didn’t seem bothered to watch how their team slaughtered helpless miners; it only helped spot some of the ones who slipped past Frost or Kiwy.
But the one person who truly seemed to be disturbed by all the bloodshed was the only one not taking part in it. Scott watched every single death occur a split of a second apart from each other. Each kill shook him just as much, but as he noticed how Crisis could effortlessly take someone’s life, he slowly became numb to all the murders he witnessed. Perhaps what shocked him the most was seeing the absence of any resistance or fighting from the miners. They could do literally anything but run away, but for most of them, they didn’t even get a chance to react to the lethal strikes that would end their lives in the blink of an eye.
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Some miners did have pickaxes to defend themselves, but as they could barely block Kiwy or Frost’s attacks, let alone Indie and Panda’s bullets, they immediately lost hope and gave up on any attempt to protect themselves. One second, they were carrying bags, loading materials in wagons, or just peacefully mining, and in the next, they were dead, just another corpse lying next to their colleagues.
Luckily, all of their deaths were fairly quick, except for the ones that got their limbs blown off by Nitro’s explosives. He never seemed to confirm kills, and while he didn’t need to, his victims often were left unrecognizable or confused with others since their only remains were a couple of limbs or pieces of flesh. But since he didn’t play too big of a role in clearing the pit, the mess he left was relatively minor, at least compared to Nitro, and in the end, the rest of the team took care of the workers as cleanly and swiftly as possible.
The miners didn’t stand a chance and were obliterated in a matter of seconds. Crisis didn’t even need to reach the lower layers as Nitro had already cleared them, though they still rushed through the spiraling path to reach the bottom, where they found a few still alive who were hiding behind the piles of rocks, only to be executed with a single bullet from Indie. And like that, the pit was seemingly all clear, leading Scott to step closer to the edge of the first layer, growing concerned by the pure enjoyment and satisfaction the squad got out of killing all the workers.
Almost scared of the same soldiers that saved his life and village, Scott was distressed while watching Crisis take out the miners. Their approach was aggressive and direct, meaning a quick, mostly painless death for the enemy, but Scott noticed some of the team members were way too thrilled about it, even laughing loudly and maniacally in the case of Nitro. But even when they weren’t expressing twisted pleasure in the killing, Frost, Indie, Panda, and Kiwy looked quite focused and resolved to kill defenseless people. They didn’t seem to discriminate with their relentless attacks, showing no mercy on opponents who couldn’t even fight back. Even Tricky and Candy were part of it as they cheered for their teammates to annihilate everyone at the scene, and while they didn’t seem to put much thought into their actions, it still frightened Scott with all the senseless killing.
Scott was dazed, terrified, unsettled, and, most of all, in disbelief as he began fearing his own teacher and superiors. He thought hard for a moment before turning back to run away from the scene. But as he was about to escape, he noticed that all of the screams and gunfire had drawn to a halt for the most part, with the alarm dying suddenly after a loud thud. He hesitated to look, but the short-lived silence, cut off by Crisis’ casual chatter, eased his mind enough to take a peek down the pit to see what had happened, but that only caught the team’s attention.
–Hey, get your ass down here!– Frost shouted at Scott from below, and as he had already shown his face, he was forced to comply and run down the spiral path to regroup with them at the bottom. But as he made his way to them, he couldn’t ignore the trail of torn bodies and blood splats they had left, which he had to run through. Scott kept his eyes above the floor to ignore the pool of remains at the bottom, and while focusing only on Crisis, he soon saw what they had found.
At the bottom of the pit, left of the ramp, there was another gate blocking Crisis’ path. It was a much smaller one, as it was part of a reinforced metal wall embedded in the quarry, with a small window facing the piles of rocks at the center. The team got to look inside, and while the room appeared no bigger than their private lounge, they could tell it was the entrance to an unauthorized area, mainly because there was a red sign that indicated it. The gate blocked an elevator that claimed to lead to the core of the cave, but as the miners had shut it down in their panicked escape, Crisis had to find a way to unlock it.
–So, this is more than a mining site… Who would have guessed?– Panda asked sarcastically as he read the sign in front. He showed some curiosity after peeking through the bulletproof window and seeing workers running around frantically inside it. Their alarm was still on, and while it didn’t make any sound, it flashed a red light inside the room, prompting the team to stay put as they checked the corpses around them, confirming that everyone was dead.
–I guess we’ll have to go deeper…– Frost replied with a vicious grin, almost the same one that Nitro had painted on his bandana, which he had to pull down after receiving the signal from his chief. Taking the initiative to break into the well-shut gate, Nitro pulled out a couple of explosives to plant on the locked door, giggling to himself with mischief while his teammates backed off.
Staying near the three piles of rocks to take cover, they all waited eagerly for the explosion, but Nitro had to step back a bit before setting it off. He grabbed his detonator before taking cover with his team, and right as he was about to press the trigger, Scott noticed some of the workers approaching the window next to the gate, now armed, geared up, and sticking close to the sides of the entrance in anticipation of the blast. While Scott tried to warn the squad, they were focused solely on the center of the gate when Nitro pressed his thumb on the trigger, blowing a large hole in the gate.
The force of the blast was strong enough to make them flinch as the rock piles next to them began tumbling, as well as sending metal bits of the wall flying toward them. And while they dodged all the debris, the explosion served as the perfect opportunity for the men inside to attack. Out of the smoke from the blast, the armed workers that Scott spotted came running out of the gate, rushing straight at the squad.
They began shooting right away, but while the team stayed behind the piles of rocks, Panda had to step out of cover with his shield to draw attention. He successfully blocked any incoming bullets, but as he kept getting shot, he didn’t realize other workers were flanking them with swords and pickaxes. They charged at them with such speed that the squad didn’t get to react, with Indie only getting to aim before the enemies surrounded them.
Indie and Tricky came under attack immediately, struggling to hold off the miners and their reckless swings until Frost and Kiwy came to help. They jumped in front of the team, taking both sides to defend the team, keeping Candy and Scott behind them to prevent the miners from getting to them. They were swift with their counters, blocking each strike before returning a deadly blow almost instantly. But as they only got to stay behind the rock piles to not step into the gunfire, they left Nitro alone to defend himself. He was closest to the blast, and while he immediately stepped behind Panda to protect himself from the incoming fire, he couldn’t cover himself from the attackers flanking them.
Nitro’s explosives were useless in close combat unless he wanted to kill anyone within a five-foot radius, so he began kicking anyone who got close in a panic, pushing them away to stall them long enough for Panda to follow up on the attack. With Frost and Kiwy taking care of the direct attackers, Indie peeked out of the rocks to help Panda with the shooters from the gate, shooting a couple to draw their attention. With only a brief second to take advantage of their distraction, Panda turned to the attackers coming from both sides, using his shield to bash them in the face before using his machine gun to return fire forward.
As Panda had stunned the rushers surrounding them, Frost and Kiwy came out of cover to finish them off quickly, only to then charge at the gate to take down the remaining attackers. But as both Candy and Scott were left behind, they were caught off guard by three miners who were left alive by accident, only having dropped their weapons after surviving Frost and Kiwy’s attacks. Without hesitation, they leaped at the most vulnerable members. One of them tackled Candy to the ground, with Tricky immediately helping her fight him off, but the other two focused on Scott, overpowering him in a second as they brought him to the ground as well, immediately restraining his movement.
Similar to his fight with Shade earlier today, Scott rolled around the floor with his two attackers, trying to wiggle his way out and fire his rifle at them. But as they snatched it from him and tossed it a foot away, he began resisting using everything he had. Unable to move his arms, Scott threw some kicks at the miners, who pushed their weight down on top of him, beating him up to a pulp. He was able to take their fists to the stomach and chest but began panicking when one of them picked up a rock next to them, swinging it to his face before a gunshot was heard.
Tricky had shoved Candy’s attacker off her, allowing her to withdraw her dual guns and fire back a couple of shots to take him out quickly. She was too rattled to put any thought into her actions, mindlessly shooting at anyone who posed a threat. While Tricky tried to calm her down before she could hit one of their own, Candy noticed that Scott was about to get his face caved in by a rock, and after pushing her own teammate away, she took the shot on the two miners on top of Scott. She opened fire carelessly, aiming a bit too low to hit the target, but luckily, the two miners shielded Scott from the bullets, taking a lethal shot each, although only one was killed instantly with a headshot.
With one attacker still alive and now desperately trying to take Scott down with him, who now had enough room to move once again. But as he couldn’t think well at the moment from the shock of enemy blood splattering his face, Scott turned pale for a brief second, giving his attacker a distant stare as he was about to take his life. Candy had used both clips of her pistols and needed to reload, but as she saw that Scott allowed himself to be punched twice by his attacker, she tried to crawl over to him before he gave up on his life.
–Scott!!!– Candy shouted in dismay, urging Tricky to help as well, although they could only crawl towards Scott before it was too late. With no one else able to help, Scott remained frozen until he heard Candy’s screech. He was brought back to his senses, and while he could barely see with the blood on his face, he noticed that the exhausted attacker on top of him was throwing another punch at him, and that’s when he took his chance to defend himself.
Now feeling his arms free once again, Scott blindly reached for the rifle lying a foot to his left, but his move alerted his attacker, who immediately tried to steal it from him. With a bit of a struggle, Scott retrieved the rifle, but as he couldn’t grab it properly, he just used it to bash it against the miner’s head, knocking him out in an instant. He looked like he was going to bleed out soon from the bullet he had received to the side of the stomach, and with his body growing cold, Scott got away from him as fast as he could, regrouping with Candy and Tricky as they continued taking cover.
After Indie took out the two last sword-wielding miners, she provided cover for Panda as he obliterated the three enemies in front. He had to hold his shield with one hand and his weapon with the other, but as he had enough strength for the task, he remained protected behind his trusty shield, with the pure power of his gun managing to resolve the altercation in a matter of seconds. With the enemy dropping dead at the foot of the now open gate, the squad took a moment to compose themselves, getting out of cover as it looked like the rock towers next to them would collapse and crush them at any second.
| THE LONELY PATHWAY ENVISIONS MY SIGHT
ECHOES OF LAUGHTER AND BOUNDLESS CRIES |