Chapter 24 - Fenrir Snow - Killzone
November 17, 3040 2:45 AM
Our communicators are on, we're in our positions. The building is rectangular, one story high, aged, and plain. I'm not even sure what the walls are made of, probably carbonidium, an old alloy that hasn't been used for decades. A few windows adorn the side looking dusty and unclean. This place, like everything else in this city, is shabby and run down. I can't believe people make cross country trips using this station.
At almost 3 AM, the November air is cool, but I barely notice thanks to my fur. The city lights create an orange tint that paints the walls of the building and I stare at it while the others enter. We haven't seen or heard anything suspicious, not even a peep. It's a simple sweep job, but we can't be too careful. So far, these halfkinds have proven themselves to be rather resourceful.
Our communicators have been switched to sound mode. I'm not sure if Trevor is listening, but per his orders, it's on. I'm at the east entrance, Colbo is at the north, and Erawan is at the west. Our weapons are drawn, we're fully equipped and alert. All three of us have the access keys provided us by Primm officials. It's mounted on top of my helmet, all I have to do is put it in front of the scanner and I'm ready to go in.
"I'm in position. Confirm that you are all ready," I say.
"Confirmed," Colbo says on the communicator.
"Confirmed," Erawan responds.
"All right, on the count of three, use the keys and open the doors. Enter slowly and cautiously, got it?" I ask.
"We got it," Colbo says.
"On my count," I say. "One, two, three."
I present my key and the scanner automatically engages. I hear a beep and the doors slide open. I take my first steps in.
I can't see the others. I've only had a glance at my surroundings. I know Erawan stands on the opposite side, but there's too much blocking my view. Benches, teleport pods, item stands, and structural pillars are some of the things that are in my way. Even then, it's too dark to see clearly. The only light are the moon beams and street lights that shine through the cloudy windows.
"Can any of you see?" I ask the others.
"No," Colbo says. "It's damn dark in here. Even a hawk would have a hard time seeing this mess."
"I have a light on my helmet, give me a second," I say to the others.
"It'd be appreciated," Colbo says.
I'm about to equip my flashlight, when I sense something odd. Colbo and Erawan continue to move forward as I hold my position and try to figure out what is off. I don't see or hear anything funny. It's quiet, too quiet, but that's not always a bad sign. It's something else, something I can't put my paw on. It smells funny in here like a hint of sulfur. And then, I realize what it is. Oh, shit!
"Colbo don't move!" I yell. It's too late. The quaking hits my feet and a piercing noise vibrates through my ears.
"Goddamnit!" Colbo yells. I hear him on my communicator. His bellow echoes through the walls. "My foot, it feels like someone clamped it with spikes. It hurts! Fuck!"
"Erawan, are you okay?" I say through my communicator.
I don't get a response. I can't really see through the rising dust, but I think I see the shape of an elephant. Sure enough, Erawan responds.
"I'm okay," he says.
Colbo continues to curse in pain. Meanwhile, I take another sniff into the air. The scent is familiar to me now.
"What happened over there?" a voice asks me. It's Trevor. I guess he is listening in after all.
"The place is booby trapped with garden mines," I say through the communicator. "They're small and non-lethal, but they can cause damage if tripped."
"No shit, asshole!" Colbo says.
"You'll live. Stop being a pussy," I say to him.
"They totally fried my foot, so screw you," he says, grimacing through the pain. "It doesn't seem to be too bad, just hurts like hell. I think I might be walking funny for the rest of the night."
"That's okay," Trevor chimes in. "Fenrir, you'll need to find a way to disable the mines."
Disable the mines? I can barely see, let alone know where they are. But suddenly an idea pops into my head.
"I'm going to use the marble shooters," I say. "If I put them on low charges, they'll hit the mines and set them off. I can clear out the ones in front of me and then go to Erawan's and Colbo's locations to set theirs off. All of you need to stand back."
"Do it," Trevor says. "Everyone fall back!"
I nudge my nose on the black box located above my front paw. A red light discharges from it and I stick my wrist out, aiming in front of me. Small, bright neon blue flames pour out of it like a cereal box and hit the ground running. It only takes seconds for them to make contact with the mines and I see puffs of smoke and flying metal shoot into the air. The mines are being detonated one by one, each little flame doing its job, each little flame clearing my path.
In less than a minute, all the traps in front of me are gone and I can see a well-defined road of dead mines in my way. I head towards the other's positions when, suddenly, another peculiar smell hits my nose. It's pungent, dirty, like the back of an alley or swamp. It's the scent of a living thing.
"We're not alone!" I yell to the others. Once again, I'm too late. Swift whizzing noises fill the air and bright, meteor like streams fly from the center of the building. Before I even realize what's going on, I promptly run behind a nearby item stand for cover. It's the dash of my life, but with my nimbleness, I'm able to make it.
I take a few seconds to recover, then moderately peer from the side and see that the projectiles keep coming. We're being fired at. Some are aimed at me, others are aimed at Colbo and Erawan, and they're all originating from the middle.
The ammo fires at us fast and reckless. I'm not even sure what our enemy is trying to hit. It seems he's bombarding us with random shots. I realize that whomever is shooting isn't an expert. A true marksman wouldn't be draining the power on his gun, he'd conserve what he has.
"Whoever is doing this is a horrible shot," I say to my comrades over the communicator.
"Agreed, he isn't hitting jack," Colbo says.
"I think with his unfocused nature, I can charge at him," I say. "I'm the smallest of us and you still have mines in front of you. I have a straight clearing to this guy, I'll try to rush and overwhelm him. Whatever he has coming for me, I can dodge it."
"Being the hero, eh, wolf?" Coblo says sarcastically.
"No, just taking the best option."
I stay behind the item stand and continue to hear him waste away his ammunition. I gently peer out and try to get a fix on his location. At this point, the smoke has cleared and my eyes have adjusted to the dark. I can see his outline, hiding behind an assembled fort of benches. It's an unobstructed line from me to his little barricade. Time to make my move.
I don't think, I simply churn my legs. My top speed is 65 miles per hour and, at this moment, I'm certain I'm hitting it. The creature is only 40 or 50 feet away, I'm near the fort in less than a few seconds. With all my might, I lunge forward, colliding through the benches and nail him head on. Chairs and scraps fly everywhere, a thunderous crash echoes through the walls. I've hammered him with all that I got and he goes sprawling across the floor, taking his blockade with him.
For a moment, I'm out cold. I overestimated my distance and applied too much force on my victim, which causes me to get slightly knocked out in the process. But when I come to, I see the broken and deformed pile of seats in front of me. My victim is trapped under it.
I pounce on the stash and bury my head underneath, but, to my surprise, I feel nothing, see nothing, and smell nothing but broken benches. I am utterly perplexed, but I don't have time to think about it. The muffled screams of my comrades enter my ears. I can't hear them with my head encapsulated by this mountain of mass, so I pick it up to see what the commotion is.
"Behind you!" I hear Colb
o yell.
"What?" I respond.
For the third time, I'm too late. I feel a massive fist hit my back and I drop to the ground in milliseconds. The blow takes a few moments of my consciousness, but when things come back to me, I feel something cold, rough, and slimy wrap around my neck. It's firm and stiff, like a boa constrictor. Before I even realize what's going on, it's completely squeezed around my head.
If I was able to see myself, I'd see an enormous half man, half crocodile creature choking the life out of me with its colossal tail. Unfortunately, I'm not watching as an outsider, I'm experiencing it. I struggle mightily, trying to position my head so my jaws can clamp down on him. It's no use, though, there's no way I can twist my head in position. My paws flail around uselessly, the energy starts to fade. I feel myself letting go. My awareness is fleeting, slipping away from my reach.
He uses his appendage to turn my body around so that I'm facing him. I stare into the face of this thing as my vision blurs and my air passages tighten. I see beady yellow eyes and a protruding snout snorting directly at my nose. His skin looks like it's tough as nails, harder than any kind of synthetic leather I've seen before. And his teeth are terrifying. They are sharp like blades and stick out of his mouth in random, chaotic directions.
The last thing I think before I'm about to pass out is that I'm going to be this guy's early breakfast. But something amazing happens. His tail loosens and I fall straight to the ground with a thud. I'm once again out for a few seconds and, once again, when I regain my consciousness, he's gone.
But not for long. I hear the pounding of his footsteps from behind his makeshift fort. He jumps beyond it and lands in front of me. His mammoth feet are the first thing I see. I then raise my head bit by bit to see the rest of him. He's wearing a tattered shirt with cut off sleeves and loose jeans. The muscles on his arms are well defined and the scales on his body make the ones on his face a pale comparison in roughness. His hands are webbed. On the tips of his fingers are thick, jagged claws. His body is hunched over and he's breathing heavily. He stands in front of me, a massive tower of flesh and bone, and raises right arm high in the air. He outstretches his fingers and prepares the claws. It's time for him to strike a fatal blow.
I'm still recovering from nearly being choked to death and I am too weak to fight back. I try to react, but it is in vain. Things flash in front of my eyes, from the beginning of the mission to this moment. I trace through my thoughts on the objective, my disagreements in its purpose, my understandings of the enemies, and the moral ambiguity of it all. So many of my questions will remain unanswered. I didn't want things to end, not until I've become satisfied, not until I understand things clearly.
But I guess this is it. I helplessly watch him thrust his arm in my direction and close my eyes.
A second has passed and I feel nothing. His swipe should've been struck by now. I open my eyes to see him staggering backwards, landing on his back on top of the piles of benches. He clutches his chest, breathing deeply, and I see a blackish red liquid leak from behind it. It trickles down to his leg, where another wound oozes from his thigh. I didn't realize it earlier when I scanned him, but the first wound was there before the second one. He has been shot twice.
I look behind him and see Colbo with his cannon of a gun. It's smoking. I then look at Erawan. His firing baton is also smoking. Two shots had been fired indeed, the first from Erawan, who stopped this halfkind from choking me to death, the second from Colbo, who saved me from getting disemboweled.
The halfkind is now completely incapacitated, lying on his belongings, life fading away. I gain a second wind and recover from my encounter. I arm my weapon. A shot in the head should do it.
I look at him. He's helpless and his eyes tell the story. I don't have to kill him, he's already dead inside. The toll of running and losing family members must be quite heavy. Poor guy.
"Trevor," I say. "We've subdued one of the halfkinds. He was firing shots and I engaged him physically. Colbo and Erawan then fired a few of their own and he seems to be mortally wounded."
"He's not going to live?" Trevor asks me.
"No, he's not."
"Was he the only one there? No others to be found?"
"That's correct. He was alone," I say. The halfkind coughs out some blood and continues his struggle to hold on. "Should I end his misery now?"
"Not yet. See if you can get any information from him, like the location of the others."
I look at him, his condition getting worse. Even if he was healthy, he wouldn't talk, but an order is an order.
"Do you know where the others are?" I ask. He says nothing. "He's not going to talk."
"Very well, then," Trevor says. "End it."
The barrel from my helmet juts out. It's armed and ready to go. I take one last glance and say, "Sorry, guess you'll be joining your brothers and sister."
Suddenly, his eyes widen and he shakes his head.
"Brothers and sister?" he coughs out. "Who are you talking about?"
I look at him cautiously. The expression on his face is of utter confusion.
"The bear and the cow, Oscar and Maddie," I say. "They're dead."
Even though he's approaching his last breath, he has enough energy to display the shock he is feeling. I'm no mind reader, but he looks like he has no idea they're dead.
"You killed? them?" he agonizingly musters to say. "But, how? did you know where to find them? They were? hiding."
"We found a clue to their whereabouts, a letter on our vehicle," I tell him bluntly. "It said your brothers and sisters wanted to meet us, but when my colleagues got there, they only found, Oscar, Maddie, Isaac, and Iris. Then a standoff occurred and those two died in the process."
"Letter?? Clue??"
Astonishment still carries on his face and it starts to shake. I see him moving his mouth, but no words come out. It's like he's talking to himself, figuring out some kind of brain teaser while I watch him, dumbfounded by his actions. After he's done, he lets out a small laugh.
"That.. bastard," he says to himself. "He sent you your clue? everything? the bomb? the betrayal? even my death? was part of his plan? we were all pawns? family duty indeed?"
I stand there confused by his words. "Excuse me? Pawns? What are you talking about?"
He looks me dead in the eye. "My brother, Tiago, they're? at the Li station. They're planning to? use the teleporter to get out of this? city?first to San Francisco, then? to the?Moon. If? you? want to?stop him? you and? your team?will find him there."
He picks up a wrist transmitter that is next to him. He must have been wearing it, but it probably flew off in the heat of battle. He clutches it and uses his finger to press a button. It makes a beep and he tosses it away.
"I've given him the signal," he says. "He'll think everything? is? going according to ?plan. He won't know what's? coming his? way."
"Signal for what?" I ask him.
He then lifts his other arm, which he had hidden behind the rubble during our whole conversation. He's gripping a bulky metal cylinder. It looks familiar only because I've seen it before. Lombardi Lawton had tossed one at us when we were fighting him. It's a bomb. Crap.
The trigger is squeezed tightly, and I pray that he has the strength to hold on.
"Sorry? I armed ? it before? you told me? about Oscar?and Maddie?This one? is supposed to be?pretty? big," he says, blood spewing from his mouth. "Better? run? fast?neither? of us? has ?much time."
Those are his last words. His eyes close and his head tilts back, the bomb he clutched so firmly releases from his hands and hits the floor with a clang. Seconds seem like an eternity. I turn around and sprint as far away as possible. The ground jolts behind me and a tidal wave of force flings me forward.
After that, I don't hear or see anything. I lose my breathing in a typhoon of fire and a swirl of objects. Gravity seems to be going up and down, left and
right. My mind gets lost in a sea of nothingness.