I immediately freeze in place, because I am well aware of what a shotgun blast to the head point blank will do to me, super human capabilities or not. The ambient light from my pointed away flashlight and a few other light sources in the room gave me just enough to get a decent look at the guys holding me at gunpoint. Turns out there were multiple, the guy in my face with the shotgun, and two more further back behind some stacked file cabinets with pistols spread apart enough to create a cross fire. One of which has a nice laser attachment oh so kindly indicating he is aiming for my chest. At least they are smart enough to aim for center mass, except that it's the center of my mass! The guy with the shotgun right up in my face is a younger looking dude with medium blonde hair, and a fancy suit that screams I am the boss. Pistol dude on the left is a black guy, who is either bald or has super short black hair, I can't tell in this light. The pistol guy on the right side of the room is a white guy with short brown hair, in what looks to be a suit with his shirt untucked and no jacket, with his tie around his forehead like some homemade guerilla fighter. Honestly I’m in no position to judge, they somehow survived this shit this long, they can wear whatever they want, clearly it works for them.
“Alright, here is how this is going to work. I’m going to ask some questions, you're going to answer them. This is a Blacksky Arms Annihilator mark five full auto shotgun loaded with twenty rounds of double O buckshot and capable of firing two of those shells at once. If you try to run or make any sudden movements I will drop the entire mag into you. Am I clear?” The man with the shotgun says to me in a frigid and piercing tone. I simply swallow and nod my head in reply, trying to suppress my fear.
“Good, first, drop the knife.” He says. I let go of the streak knife I didn't even realize I was holding until now, and it hits the carpet with a light thud. I don't remember pulling the knife out but I guess I did subconsciously at some point. I'm lucky I didn't stab myself with it in my panic.
“Next, what is your name?”
“L-Lucy.” I stammer out after a second of silence.
“What was that thing you shoved in your pocket?”
“My mana regeneration crystal.” I spit out quickly. The man’s demeanor softens slightly, but he clearly still remains guarded and wary. And keeps the shotgun in my face.
“You’re a defender?” He asks, skepticism clear in his voice.
“Yes.” I stammer out, my breathing slowly coming back down to normal and my chest starting to ache after the adrenaline spike starts to fade.
“Got any proof?” He asks, still skeptical.
“Yea, my DID is in my wallet in my pocket.” I reply.
“Hmm, alright, how did you find us then?” he asks, nudging the gun slightly closer. He gets any closer I might be able to swat it out of his hand. But maybe that's what he's going for, hoping I'll do something stupid. The other two would blast me anyways if I dared to try it.
“Clark told me you guys were holding out up here.” I reply truthfully, the stress of the situation making lying not even cross my mind.
“Where is he then?.... And who did he have with him?”
“He had a guy named Billy with him. But… they're both dead, some super zombie got them after Billy screamed and drew attention.” That earned me an incredulous look from the man with the shotgun, like he wasn't quite buying what I was saying.
Shotgun guy looked like he was thinking for a moment, but was interrupted as the guy on the left spoke out.
“Bullshit, she’s a fucking cultist. I bet she killed them and is leading those things up here. We should shoot her and throw her out the window!” He barked out in an angry tone. Two more people also poked their heads out of a door across the open area to observe the situation.
“Fire that gun at her without my permission and you will be the one going out the window. Now, what do you mean by super zombie?” The shotgun guy snaps at the other before asking me in a stern tone.
“I’m not a cultist you ass! Why the fuck would I be a cultist?” I snap back, ignoring the question. The pain in my chest is becoming worse as I breathe in hard to yell back.
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“Hey! I'm asking the questions here. George, don't instigate her. How do we know you're not a cultist huh? You came from nowhere, telling us the two people who left earlier are dead after you happened to run into them. And now you’re here with those things chasing after you. A little convenient for the cultists running around down there don't you think?” Shotgun guy asks.
“What cultists?” I ask back in confusion.
I guess he wasn't expecting that, because he also looks confused for a second before deciding on something.
“Alright, let's make this easy then. Follow me, right hallway, last door at the end. No funny business, keep your hands up.” He says, before backing up, turning around, and walking down the right hallway. I feel a bit of relief not having the shotgun straight in my face anymore, but quickly remember the other two pistols still pointed at me and start moving.
It's a quiet walk, as I get close to the Halway the two with pistols move around behind me and move to follow, at least until one tells the other to watch the door. No other words are exchanged, but I can see the people from before peeking out of a door on the left side of the hallway to stare at me. We get to the end of the hall and shotgun guy throws open the door. It's a conference room on the corner of the building, with no small amount of firepower laid out on the big oval table in the middle of it. Another shotgun, two more pistols, and what looks to be some sort of marksman rifle sit neatly unloaded with their prepared magazines and extra ammo lined up along with.
But that's not what gets my attention. Out the windows directly across from the door is a view of the central bunker. It’s not the greatest, some buildings are just tall enough to obstruct some of the view. But if you walk all the way up to the windows like we have, you can see the bunker itself and the majority of the surrounding parking lots. And that was where the problem began, because both the bunker and surrounding parking lots were bustling with activity. Even from so far away it was easy to see just how much was going on as large swaths of little dots hurriedly ran from different places to other different places. The parking lots looked stacked with various stacks of supplies stacked around them, with the exception of four giant open spaces, one in the center of each parking lot. Around the perimeter of the parking lots it looked as if a crude wall had been erected, but what it was made of I can't tell from this distance. Outside that wall, a sea of moving darkness constantly ebbing to and fro but strangely not crashing against the walls. The bunker hasn't been left untouched either, the once powerless and dark structure is now open and covered in makeshift lighting and torches. Above the massive center door a banner now hangs, one who’s symbol I can see clearly without any visual aids, even from here.. I don’t know what exactly the symbol stands for, but I know one thing for sure, it's definitely demonic in nature.
“What the fuck? Oh…… shit. That explains a few things.” I say aloud, still reeling from what I’m seeing.
“Yea, they’ve been setting up for a while now. I’ve worked with people enough to know you’re not bullshiting your surprise, so you're not a cultist. But how the hell did you not see all that going on?” He asks me, finally putting away the air of hostility around him.
“I was on the fifth floor, at least I think it was the fifth. Either way the other buildings rose up enough to block my sight of…. That.” I say, gesturing to what is clearly a demon and or cultist base dug into the central bunker.
“You got unlucky then. Either way we’ve been watching them for a while. Definitely cultists, don’t know which demon they are worshiping but they are up to no good. As far as we can tell they got something inside the bunker that’s preventing outside help from getting in.” Shotgun guy replies.
“How can you tell?” I ask.
My question answers itself before he can, as a large flash illuminates the city for a second, before seemingly being repulsed by a dome around the city, which only becomes visible when the airborne explosion clashes with it. A visible ripple passes through the dome towards the top, and when it reaches the top it rapidly descends down towards the ground and into the bunker. Great, some kind of shield set up by cultists.
“Thats…. Bad.” I say, trying to find the right words to describe how fucked our situation is but failing miserably.
“Understatement of the year. Now I don’t believe we properly introduced ourselves. I’m Robert, VP of strategic property incorporated. Well, I was VP, probably not going to be a company after this. The guy with the tie on his forehead here is Toby.” Robert says while guestering to Toby, who simply nods at me in response.
“The other guy who was at the front is George. The others around here are Sara, Karen, Greg, and Seymore. They’re in various rooms around the place. Speaking of, we should probably get Karen to look at you. She has some first aid training and you aren't looking too good.” Robert says.
The cut on my hand still stings a bit, my chest and stomach hurt like hell, and breathing causes slight pain every time I inhale. I don’t think anything is broken, hopefully, but at a minimum I’ve got a hell of a bruise. I go to take a step back and everything just… comes down on me at once. All the terror, exertion, and pain slam into me like a tidal wave, leaving my head spinning and my senses reeling. I stumble back, trying to catch myself and failing miserably as pain flares up in every part of my body. Someone grabs me just before I hit the ground, and lays me down slowly.
“Shit, Toby go get Karen. Hey kid, just breathe, it's gonna be fine.” Robert tries to comfort me as the day's experiences just keep sinking in.