In his time in the marines, he had participated in what they called ‘war games’. They would be outfitted with bodysuits covered with sensors. They also had guns that were designed to look, feel, and operate like standard-issue weapons, except they didn’t shoot bullets, but sensor-activating lasers. If an arm or leg sensor was activated, you could continue to fight, but the suit would immobilize the affected limb.
A head or body shot would immobilize the entire body, and any hit would hurt, so it gave the marine a real sense of consequences for getting shot. Reece was a natural at these war games and was quickly chosen as a representative of his squadron in the marine’s competitive team-based sport, “Battletag”. He trained and competed in this for the last nine months he was in the marines. That training came in handy now.
The trio made their way down the building’s stairwell and back out the hole that had been blasted into the side of the first floor. That’s where their unchecked progress ended. As soon as Naeva stepped out into the street, she took several hits to her left side before falling back inside.
“Hold tight,” Reece told Naeva as the angry lycaon began healing from the wounds.
“Ciera,” he continued. “Can you go back to the second floor and see if you can take these guys out? They won’t be looking for you up there. Hurry.”
Ciera sprinted back to the stairwell and scurried up the steps. Reece peeked his head out and back in quickly, as several quick shots zipped by where his head had just been. A few seconds later, he heard glass break above him and the grunts of men as they were taken out by Ciera from up above them. Naeva had healed enough to stick her head out and look both ways. The two-man team that had hit her were lying dead near the corner of the building across the street, both shot in the head.
Ciera joined them and they sprinted as a group across the street and away from the gunfight. Reece covered the front while Naeva covered their six. Ciera kept her eyes to the rooftops and windows as best she could. Reece noticed a building that was darkened by the shadow of nearby taller buildings and had many windows on the first floor.
Reece made for the building and kicked in the front door. Once the two women were inside, he shut the door as best he could by leaning a chair against it. The first floor was mostly the lobby but had a couple of larger meeting rooms as well. The rooms were all heavily shadowed and seeing inside was difficult. They each waited until a couple of fire teams came closer.
As soon as they did, Reece discharged his weapon through the windows on his side, hitting the first guard in the face and the other in the neck. On his cue, Naeva and Ciera fired upon theirs as well. Both fire teams dropped before they even had time to react. The trio regrouped and headed out the door with Naeva leading. Reece had learned never to stay long in the same place to keep the enemy off-guard. This time, they made a gambit and made their way farther in towards the Order’s little city. The enemy was unlikely to expect this. Sure enough, three blocks inward and they came across a full squad awaiting orders to enter the fray.
The trio wasted no time and all three rounded the corner and opened fire simultaneously. The hail of bullets quickly downed the group before they could raise their guns or click their radio. Ironically, the radio came alive with a command to ‘engage’ just as Reece, Ciera, and Naeva ran by the downed squad of uniformed guards. One guard was still alive and feebly reached for the radio. Naeva put a round in his head and he moved no more.
They continued to play cat and mouse with the Order’s guards, Naeva taking a couple more hits. She recovered, but the three additional fire-teams did not. By the time they met back up with Karina, the Order’s men were either dead or had fled from the deadly quartet.
The group made their way further into the city and noticed that the elite’s apparent mansion had been locked uptight. Its location indicated it was probably the original governor’s mansion for the city before the zombie plague had hit. They made a temporary base out of a two-story building across the courtyard from the mansion to rest a moment and plan their next move. They checked their remaining ammunition, which was still in good supply, though Ciera’s Spear rifle only had three magazines left. Karina took the time to fill them in on the bloodbath she had made of their barracks. She spoke not with relish, but with a mix of sadness and annoyance.
“I almost felt sorry for the helpless lackeys as I slaughtered them,” she said with her head downcast. “It wasn’t entirely their fault that they had been seduced into believing the Order’s pisspreik ... err, bullshit. But at the end of the day, they made their choice to put their faith in megalomaniacs.”
“I’ve thought about it too,” said Reece. “I don’t like the idea of killing our fellow humans, but like you said... they chose to stand in our way of saving the rest of humanity from their overlords and the near-countless hordes of undead running rampant across the world. We don’t really have much choice.”
“And we’re not done yet,” added Naeva. “We’ve got who-knows-what behind that gate.”
“Exactly,” said Reece. “And we need to attack quickly before they have time to regroup.”
“What did you have in mind?” asked Karina.
“Well, I was thinking that you and Naeva could jump the gate, eliminate the guards, and open the gate for me and Ciera. How does that sound?”
“I don’t know about Karina, but I can’t jump that gate,” replied Naeva.
“How about with a pole?” asked Karina.
“Yeah,” replied Naeva as she thought about it. “But where would we get one?”
“Well, this is an office building and I saw some cheap and super-long hand-rails on the stair case,” answered Karina. “Reece, do you have a screwdriver handy?”
Reece tossed her a screwdriver from his pack and they scouted the stairway out.
“How are you holding up?” asked Reece as he looked into Ciera’s eyes.
“Well, I could use a top off, if that’s what you meant,” she replied somewhat bashfully, which seemed out-of-character for her.
Reece didn’t reply. Instead, he stepped up to her and gave her a long, wet kiss which she eagerly accepted. He too fell into the kiss and they lost themselves for a moment. When he finally broke it off, he could swear he saw her eyes gleaming more brightly than before. He too felt more energized. She smiled at him and he grinned right back. Karina and Naeva came back from the staircase. Karina tossed the screwdriver back to Reece who put it back in the pack. Naeva had a six-meter-long wooden pole with her.
“Do you think that’ll do the trick?” Reece asked.
“Yeah,” replied Naeva. “This’ll be more than enough.
“Alright,” said Reece. “I think we have a viable plan. Are we ready?”
The three girls nodded and the four of them headed back out of the building and walked to the gate across the courtyard. Ciera had her Spear drawn and swept the area for snipers. Seeing none, they continued to the gate, and Karina and Naeva nodded to each other. They both took off at a sprint, with Karina quickly outpacing Naeva and easily making the jump.
They were already close to the gate, so Naeva was only a couple of seconds behind when she stuck the pole in the ground and used it to vault over the gate. Reece could hear the commotion as the two women fought whatever was on the other side. The sounds of fighting were abruptly drowned out by a voice over a loudspeaker or megaphone, Reece couldn’t tell which.
“I’ve got a deal for you all. Whichever of you can defeat either of these two girls, you won’t have to fight in the pits anymore. You’ll earn your freedom; this I swear to you as the Mayor of this fine town.”
Reece could hear cheering on the other side from a great many voices.
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“Ciera,” said Reece. “We’re going to have to get that gate down ourselves. It sounds like the girls are going to be too busy to open the gate and may well need our help.”
“I agree, but what are we going to do?”
“I know there are vehicles around here somewhere. If we can find one and start it up, we can try ramming the gate.”
“Okay. I don’t have any better ideas, so let’s get to it.”
Ciera and Reece headed back towards the other buildings across the courtyard. They split up and Reece ran down into a parking garage. Inside, it was dark, but Reece could make out the shapes of several vehicles. He could only hope that one of them would start. He started with a large pickup truck. The driver’s door was unlocked so he hopped up into the cab and searched for the keys. They were sitting in the center console.
“Bingo!” cried Reece.
He put the key in the ignition and the old gas-powered truck started up. Reece just shook his head. He never thought he’d get the chance to drive an antique like this. It was a collector’s item, and it was rare for one to have fuel ever since they stopped producing petroleum, which was decades ago. Luckily, it worked just like the newer vehicles except for the power source. He put it in reverse and pressed the ‘gas’ pedal, backing out of the spot.
When he had cleared the space, Reece changed gears to ‘drive’ and took off out of the parking garage. Ciera arrived just as he leveled out onto the street. He assumed she must have heard the antique noisy engine from the truck when he started it. Stopping the growling beast of metal, he waited. Ciera popped open the truck’s passenger door and swung herself up and inside, closing the door behind her.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” she responded, a glint in her eye and a wicked smile on her face as she looked straight ahead.
Reece pushed the pedal to the floor, as far as it would go. The wheels squealed for a second before they took off, directly towards the heavy gate. By the time they hit it, they were going just over fifty kilometers per hour. Even at that speed, the gate still gave out, but only barely. Slowed but still moving, they drove into the inner courtyard, crushing a couple of the mayor’s ‘pit-fighters’.
Putting the truck in ‘park’, Reece jumped out while Ciera hopped out of the cab, making her way back to the truck’s bed with her rifle in hand. Reece quickly assessed the situation and determined that he had made the right decision. Several fighters and at least ten guards lay dead or dying around them, but Karina and Naeva were both badly wounded and fighting back-to-back and there were still over twenty fighters left facing them.
And these fighters weren’t regular humans, not one of them. They were a motley group of wererats, lycaons, a large bear-like man, a couple of scaled people, and a few other human-looking guys and girls (except for talons, claws, hair, horns, and other features that showed they weren’t your run-of-the-mill humans).
“They shouldn’t be fighting us,” thought Reece. “They should be fighting with us.”
Reece took a deep breath and decided to put his power to the test. He picked the biggest enemy still in the fight and strode right towards him with all the confidence he could muster. With the three powerful women backing him up, it was considerable.
“Stop fighting right the fuck now!” yelled Reece as loud and commanding as he could as he looked around to each person around him.
Then he spoke directly to the large bear-like man, but loud enough for everyone in the area to hear him easily. He pulled out his radio and turned it to channel forty-four and pressed the talk button.
“I know you fight for your freedom. I heard what the mayor promised you. I say that you are already free. Your collars can’t hurt you for as long as I hold this button down. It jams their signal to them. Join us and take the fight to those that shackle you and I promise to help release you from those shackles as soon as this battle is won. After that, you can stay with us or go your own way. I leave the choice to you.”
As Reece spoke, he took in the sight of the bear-man before him. He was nearly a meter taller than himself and his thick knotted muscles were covered with thick brown fur. His face was a mix of human and bear as he was in a hybrid form. He had sharp teeth and long claws like a bear but stood like a man.
“The name’s Bjorn,” growled the large man-bear. “And we accept your offer.”
As one, everybody who was in the courtyard looked up at the fat mayor who was standing on a raised platform. The rotund man dressed in gaudy finery pulled a rectangular device from his back pocket and pressed the button. All the pit fighters winced in expectation of the pain they’d grown accustomed to receiving whenever the mayor brandished the device towards them. When they realized nothing happened, the atmosphere instantly changed.
The mayor desperately pressed the button continuously to no avail before turning and running into his mansion, tossing the device at the mob below him. Reece with his companions and all of the former pit fighters chased after him. Bjorn, the bear-man, picked up the device that the mayor had tossed aside and crushed it in his massive paw-like hand.
“Free the rest of the servants and slaves and bring them to the outer courtyard. We’ll find the mayor,” yelled Reece to the angry mob, as he didn’t want them tearing him apart before they could question him. “Ciera, Naeva...can you make sure everyone that makes it out is covered in case any more guards decide to show up?”
Both women nodded.
Karina led the way with her speed, though there were a couple of vampires that were fast as well. Neither looked well, both were gaunt males with pasty white skin and greasy black hair. Like the rest of the pit fighters, they wore only grey and black rags and their collars. The rest of the group began rounding up the servants and house-slaves and funneled them out to the courtyard.
Many of the slave girls were in various stages of undress and the fighters offered them their ragged shirts with which to cover themselves. Ciera found some real clothes and brought them out to the girls to change into once they were safe. They readily accepted and allowed the group to lead them out of the large mansion. Some were shaking, others crying, but all left with their saviors with all the speed they could muster.
As Bjorn and the other pit fighters emptied the house of all the people within, Reece and Karina tracked down the mayor. It took them a while to locate his panic room. This one happened to be in the basement and was locked with a steel door. Karina tried it, punching it with all her might but couldn’t dent it. Reece had an idea and bared his neck for the girl.
“Try this,” he said. “It seems to juice you up a bit.”
Karina nodded and bit into Reece’s neck, sucking his blood for several long moments before finally forcing herself to stop.
“You are just too tasty,” she said to him as she wiped the blood from her lips with her hand.
Turning back to the door, she punched it again. This time she dented it and the door started to buckle. Several more rapid-fire punches and the door flew off the hinges and into the room. They rushed into the room and saw the mayor at the far end. He was standing near what looked like an escape pod and a small podium with several small buttons on it.
“You lose,” he said laughing as he mashed a button on the podium and ran for the escape pod.
He couldn’t have known just how fast Karina was, or he wouldn’t have waited to boast. He had about a meter to make it to the pod, while Karina and Reece were over twenty meters away. Before he finished his first step, Karina was on him and threw him into the wall directly opposite the escape pod. Reece was there a couple of seconds later and examined the console.
There was a timer with a six, no... a five, no... a four... Karina saw it too and yanked Reece towards the escape pod and ran for the broken door. Reece didn’t think, he knew he didn’t have time. He jumped into the pod and pressed a red button, the only button he saw on its plain console. The seat dropped back and so did he. Then he was shot forward at a tremendous acceleration, nearly causing him to throw up. He held it down and heard a loud explosion behind him. This was followed a few seconds later by another explosion, then another. Each grew quieter as they became farther and farther away. He held still as the bullet-pod encapsulating him jetted forward through a long pipe. He could just make out the pitted metal on the inside of the pipe from the glow of the console’s sole button.
About twenty seconds into the nightmare ride, the pod began to slow as it cleared the pipe and scraped across the ground before coming to a stop. Reece sat up and looked around. The mayor had set this up as an escape, so Reece wasn’t surprised to see a couple of uniformed guards waiting for him. Luckily for him, they were expecting the mayor and not an enemy. Reece drew his pistols and put several rounds into each of them before re-holstering the weapons.
He climbed out of the pod and did a second assessment of the area. It looked like a small clearing in the park, but in an area not easily seen as it was surrounded by thick palm trees. There was a Glowbug ready to go and a small road leading out of the tiny clearing.
Worrying about his companions, Reece frowned as he hopped into the solar-powered dune-buggy. It looked like the latest model and was fully loaded with features. The backend also contained supplies for a long journey. Water jugs, food containers, an extra solar sail, and several other necessities were all packed neatly within. Apparently, even this mayor’s escape plan needed to be cozy.
“His loss is my gain,” Reece thought to himself, providing a cold comfort as he energized the vehicle and took off down the small road.
He came out into the town’s central park. From the smoke and fire in the distance, he figured he was about two miles from the destroyed mansion. He poured on the energy and the Glowbug took off towards the mansion. As he got closer, he could see a large crowd gathered in the outer courtyard and he breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea how big the explosions were and didn’t know if anyone had survived. He still had a knot in his stomach as he thought of Karina.
She only had about three seconds to get clear of the mansion and he wasn’t sure if even she was that fast. The mansion itself was little more than s smoking crater, though pieces of it lay scattered all around the inner courtyard and even some had landed near the folks standing around in the outer courtyard. As he pulled up, he saw Ciera, Naeva, and... Karina, all coming forward to greet him.
“Did everyone make it?” he asked them.
“Yes, we got everyone out and they’re okay. Thank you...” answered Bjorn, the bear-man who was looking a lot more like a man now that the fighting was over.
“Reece,” came his reply to the implied question as he stepped out of the Glowbug. “My name is Reece. It’s nice to meet you, Bjorn. Now, how about we get those collars off?”