Apocalypse online, p.42
Apocalypse Online, page 42
Brad pulled back behind the truck, loading new shells. “One second.” He shook his head. “Party limit is set to five.”
“Damn it,” Jake hissed as a round punched through the back of his truck into the asphalt beside him. He shifted his position to take sturdier cover behind the truck’s frame. Unlike a conventional vehicle, Jake was certain there was no engine block to hide behind.
“Got it,” Brad called.
A notification flashed across Jake’s vision.
Raid group joined.
Green dots appeared on Jake’s mini-map, marking out Aron, Chet, and the two mages' locations, along with Brad. Where’s Sam? A scattered sea of red dots lay ahead of them. Aron and Chet were running back to the trucks after getting the others to safety; so were Teresa and Ceres. The rest of their normals who could fight were nowhere to be seen until a few guns peeked from the grocery store windows and some others managed to pop up on the ruined structure’s rooftop.
He scanned the map. Sweetness was off, far from the group, stalking some red dots through the ruins. Then he spotted Sam. She was on the ruined remains of the shopping center, far ahead of their group, almost behind enemy lines.
Why are you being so reckless? Jake thought before a bullet snapped past his head, forcing him back into cover.
“Jake, is that you?” Colton’s voice called out.
Jake peeked around the corner. Colton looked genuinely shocked to see him there. It looked like Colton hadn’t figured out he and Sam had left on their own.
“It is, old man,” Jake shot back.
Another group of Colton’s men tried to break from cover. The normals on the rooftop pushed them back with a spray of gunfire.
“Thought one of those pill poppers got you, and your sister ran away.” Colton laughed. “What a naïve old fool I was, trying to believe in the best in people, huh?”
Jake’s nostrils flared as he let out a sharp breath. Believe in the best in people my ass.
“Why’d you do it, son? Why did you betray us, betray humanity, for these damn dirty, alien-loving bastards?”
Jake topped off his Winchester’s ammo. “Colton, these people are fighting back against the aliens, not for them. If anyone is betraying humanity here, it’s you and yours,” he shouted over the truck. “This is your first and only chance to surrender.”
Brad shot Jake a look. “What the hell, man? You can’t just do that. They hurt some of the normals trying to run back. They almost got Christine and Danny.”
“They won’t take the easy way out,” Jake said, knowing full well how crazy Colton’s people were. But outside of a faint hope they could resolve things peacefully, he watched as Sam’s dot moved behind their lines. “Drop your weapons and we can talk, Colton. Don’t, and we’ll do to you what we’ve done to all the seeders.”
Colton laughed. “Boy, those alien lovers got you wrapped around their fingers, don’t they, son? Don’t worry, we’ll be over there soon to put you all out of your misery. We won’t allow these aliens to control our own and kill us from the inside.”
A group of red dots moved through the ruins to flank them. Jake snapped to his right, Winchester at the ready. At the first sign of movement, Jake fired. The round dug into a ballistic shield; every member of the group had them as they rushed into the open. They brought up pistols over the notch on their shields. Gunshots rang out.
Aron crashed into the Tesla in front of Jake, his heavy shield shrugging off the abuse. “I got you, Jake. Chet, back me up.”
Chet ran behind with his pistol at the ready. The pair rushed the shield wall as Sweetness charged from behind. Sweetness smashed one of the rear men into another. Like bowling pins, their shield wall toppled. While some men avoided getting knocked over or were quick to recover, Aron charged into their line, knocking them over with a shield charge, then turned his shield to block incoming fire. Chet finished off the struggling men with his pistol, killing them before they got to stand.
Sweetness was busy ripping and tearing the throats and faces of the others, eating as much as he could before rounds sent him tumbling away.
Aron caught a round to the calf, dropping to a knee with a muffled growl. “I’m hit,” he hissed through his mask.
Chet caught a round to the shoulder and fired a wild spray at Colton’s men. Chet hit a few before he had to drop behind Aron’s shield.
“Cover me,” Brad’s voice came through Jake’s mind. It was the party chat they had explained the night before—or raid chat, in this case.
The grocery store erupted in a roar of gunfire as every normal with a gun opened up on Colton’s people. Balls of fire rained from above, smashing into vehicles and crazies alike. Colton’s people scattered. Many of them were gunned down in the ensuing chaos, but there were still far more of them to deal with.
Brad reached Aron and Chet, casting heals on them and Sweetness. The four of them huddled tight together as Aron stood.
“We’re hitting their right flank,” Brad said as their group began to advance. “Jake, cover us.”
Jake swung out from cover, working the lever action on his Winchester, then caught a crazy right between the eyes. “I’ve got you covered.”
“Don’t forget about me, Jake,” Sam teased.
He looked to the rooftop, where Sam had climbed onto the building’s edge. Before Jake could say anything, Sam jumped into the chaotic fray.
She’s going to get herself killed, the thought screamed across his mind.
Sam took out a pair of fleeing crazies before she crushed another under her weight, driving her knife into their spine. Jake wanted to take a moment to be impressed, as her health hadn’t dropped an inch from what should have been a rough landing, but one of Colton’s people spotted her.
Before Colton’s rabid follower could bring his rifle to bear, Jake put a round through his heart. Sam put a bolt between his eyes for good measure before she darted away through their lines.
With knife and crossbow, Sam thinned their ranks from behind while their front was too distracted by the assault to notice her. Rocky leapt at the faces of any of Colton’s people who managed to get the drop on Sam before she noticed them. Unfortunately, Rocky’s attempts to save Sam always drew more attention to her, as his victims screamed before he could kill them.
Jake shook his head, blasting away with his rifle, catching another man in the throat. Another rushed for Brad’s group with a bottle in hand. What the—It had a burning rag attached to it. Jake fired a rapid volley at him, catching the man in the torso with his last shot. The fire-bomber crashed to the floor, his Molotov cocktail smashing into the ground with him. The bomber’s screams filled the air as flames engulfed him.
“Thanks for the save, Jake,” Brad said.
“Very nice shooting.” Teresa said.
Jake raised a brow at the girl. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was trying to hit on him. “Sure,” he said absentmindedly as he focused on shooting. He blew out another man’s shoulder as a spray of blood shot out of his back.
Colton’s lines were breaking apart as his band of rabid followers ran back for the trucks. Brad’s team was already there.
Aron smashed a man’s face in with the flat of his shovel, throwing him to the ground. Chet fired a quick burst into his chest, then to another of Colton’s followers. One man made it to the truck door, but Brad blasted him away with buckshot. Another fumbled with a Molotov in his hand, trying to light it. Jake was about to put him down when Sweetness pounced him. With his sharp claws, Sweetness ripped into the man’s chest before he could light up their team.
“Colton’s getting away,” Sam called out over party voice. Gunshots rang out. Jake watched as his sister spun around, gripping her arm. She rolled into cover before he checked her health. It had dropped fifteen points. “Through the ruins of the grocery store,” she said through gritted teeth.
Rocky assaulted Sam’s attacker with muted squeaks across the chaotic battle.
“Sam, are you OK?” Jake asked.
Sam threw a knife through a man’s throat. “I’ll be fine, Jake. Soon as Brad gets here.” She winced sharply. “Get Colton and his men before they hurt the survivors.”
Jake didn’t want to leave his sister in anyone else’s care, but he didn’t see much choice. Their people needed him to protect them. There were too many of Colton’s people between him and Sam, and if he asked the mages to cast Fire Storm again, it might catch Sam or the others in the middle of it. He considered asking Brad’s team to take care of Colton, but they were swamped fighting off the rest of his thugs.
It was up to him.
“Teresa, Ceres, how are you two on power juice?” Jake asked as he checked his guns.
Ceres tilted her head. “Power juice?”
Teresa shrugged. “I think he means mana. If that’s the case, we have plenty. We only cast a single Fire Storm each.”
“Mana, right,” Jake corrected himself. He considered taking his fire axe with him, but it was too bulky of a weapon to bring into a firefight. “You two are with me. We’re finishing this fight.”
Teresa and Ceres nodded. They followed Jake in a mad dash from their trucks to the grocery store. Bullets snapped past them, hitting the ground around them as return fire from the store flew toward Colton’s people. Jake picked up the pace as a tracer flew right past his eye line, followed by a series of blue shimmers. He didn’t stop to ask questions until they smashed through the ruined grocery store doors.
“What the hell was that?”
“Magic shield,” Teresa answered. “It’s meant to protect us mages, but we can cast it on others.”
Jake stared at the pair of mages, dumbfounded.
Ceres cleared her throat. “She means you got shot, but the magic shield we cast on you protected you.”
Jake blinked at the mages. “I didn’t feel anything.”
Teresa nodded with a proud smile. “Short of the heaviest attacks, you won’t feel a thing. Not until the shield breaks, anyway, as yours is about to.” She extended her arm to Jake, then pulled it back in a rolling motion. Blue wisps of energy flowed away from him and into her hand. “Or we deactivate the spell. I need to conserve mana, after all.”
“Makes sense,” Jake said. “Let’s check on the survivors first, then we hunt down Colton.”
Ceres and Teresa agreed and followed him to the center of the grocery store. A group of people were huddled together, armed with bats, knives, and axes. They weren’t going to be able to do much against Colton’s people and their guns.
“Everyone OK back here?” Jake asked, taking a mental headcount.
“We’re fine,” said a trembling woman called Brianna, but everyone called her Bri for short.
“We aren’t, Bri,” a worried man beside her said. Percy was his name. “Christine and Danny haven’t come back yet.”
“What? Where did they go?” Jake almost snapped, concern thick in his voice.
“The kid got antsy and needed a potty break,” Percy answered. “But that was a couple minutes ago. They should’ve been back by now.”
“Damn it,” Jake said under his breath as he started toward the bathrooms.
Heather stood up. “Need me to come with you?”
With nothing but an axe in her hand, Jake wasn’t so sure. He shook his head. “Stay with the others. They’ll need you to heal them if Colton’s people get through.”
“But you might need healing if you go fight him,” Heather said.
Jake took off at a hasty pace. “Not if I shoot first.”
“A healer really would be helpful if things did go wrong, Jake,” Teresa insisted while they marched past a ruined deli. They were heading to the back, where the supermarket stored and received goods.
Jake slowed his pace and was careful to minimize the noise of his footsteps as they neared the restrooms. He spoke in a low whisper. “And if Colton gets past us, they’ll need her to keep the normals alive. Now focus. We’re clearing the bathrooms.”
Teresa and Ceres looked to one another, then raised their hands to Jake. Blue energy flowed from their palms, encompassing him in a shimmer of energy. In the blink of an eye, it vanished.
Jake readied his Winchester and entered the men’s restrooms. It was quiet, without signs of anyone save for some old blood where seeders had slaughtered someone and turned them into fertilizer. They moved on to the women’s restroom. The opening was already damaged from some large creature forcing its way inside, likely an alpha.
As Jake stepped inside, he found the restroom stalls completely demolished. The back wall was smashed open. There was a trail of blood leading into the warehouse beyond. Fresh blood.
Jake’s chest tightened. If you hurt that kid or his mother, Colton, I’m going to kill you real slow.
He picked up the pace, rushing into the warehouse. He followed the trail through towering shelves and crates. As he turned the corner, a burst of fire crossed his path. Teresa and Ceres dove for cover, but Jake held his ground. He trained his rifle on Colton and his men.
“Well, well, well. The prodigal son returns at last,” Colton said as he held Danny up in the air with a gun to his head. Christine was bound tight at his feet, giving him more cover.
Four men flanked Colton, two on each side. One of the men had fresh bandages, stained crimson, over his thigh.
“Let them go, Colton,” Jake demanded. He trained his sights on Colton’s head, but the older man shifted the boy into his line of fire with a twisted grin.
“Afraid I can’t do that, son. See, this poor soul’s been tainted by the aliens.” Colton shook his head sadly. “A kid. Can you believe that?”
While Colton positioned himself behind his human shield, Jake couldn’t help but think about Sam. It just as easily could’ve been Sam in this position, being used as a shield. Except, the difference was now that she had skills. All Jake’s doubts about the value of the pills were gone. Sam would kick this guys ass if she were in Danny’s shoes right now. And if she didn’t, Jake would tear him apart limb by limb.
Danny struggled in Colton’s arms, his cries muffled by the duct tape wrapped around his mouth.
Jake tightened his grip on his rifle, just waiting for the opportunity to blow Colton’s brains out. He wasn’t sure how long Teresa and Ceres’s mage shield would hold up to four guns shooting at him, but he couldn’t let Colton kill Danny. He was just a boy. “Danny isn’t corrupted by any aliens, Colton. None of these people are. The nano-pills were made to fight seeders, not help them. You would know that if you hadn’t ambushed those kids at the park.”
Colton shook his head in disappointment. “I see they’re using that good heart of yours to twist you to their side, son. But you haven’t seen what they’ve done, not since you ran away. Those bastards killed Sue, Louis, Bryce, and more. This little bastard stabbed James in the leg.”
Good job, kid, Jake thought. Maybe the kid had a little Sam in him after all.
“We need to kill them all, Jake,” Colton continued. “All those pill poppers, even this kid here, much as it pains me.”
“You son of a bitch,” Jake snapped. As he took a step forward, all the rifles trained on him.
Colton glared at Jake. “Easy, son. I know it ain’t an easy thing to do, killing your own kind in the middle of an alien invasion, especially when the aliens infested some cute kid. But this is what has to be done for humanity to survive against the alien threat. So I’m giving you a choice.”
Jake’s brow knit tightly together. Oh, here comes the part where he tries to blackmail me. How adorable.
He doesn’t actually think that’s going to work, does he? Hazel asked with a mixture of confusion and awe in her voice.
Colton gestured at Teresa and Ceres, hiding behind different crates. “Kill those two witches with you, and I’ll forgive your sins against humanity. You can join the neighborhood watch once more, even your sister. Or you can try to kill us. But that cute little Winchester ain’t gonna stand up to a bunch of automatics.” The old man smirked. “Choose.”
“Teresa, Ceres, you’ve got smaller spells than those big things you threw outside, right?” Jake asked through party chat.
“Of course we do,” Teresa replied.
“When I shoot, you take the gunners out. Pick your targets,” Jake said.
Floating numbers appeared over the gunners’ heads from one to four. A skull appeared over Colton’s head.
Before Jake could ask, Ceres answered over party voice. “We have target markers just like in other MMOs!”
Jake couldn’t help but grin. All he had to do now was get Colton to expose himself. “See, that’s going to be a problem, Colton,” Jake said to the crazed man. “You see, I took the nano-pill too, not long after I ran away from you. Now I know for sure none of these pill poppers are possessed by aliens like you claim. So if you’re going to kill that kid, you’re going to have to kill me, too. Just like you’re going to have to kill my sister. You had a pill popper among you all this time.”
Colton’s jaw dropped, and for a brief moment his grip slackened on Danny. The squirming kid swung his feet forward, then slammed them back into Colton’s stomach. Spittle flew out of the older man’s mouth as he staggered. Jake fired at Colton’s head, but the man’s erratic movements swung him out of the way in time to catch the round in his shoulder. Colton dropped Danny and fled deeper into the warehouse.
The men guarding Colton opened fire with their automatic rifles. Rounds smashed into the shimmery blue shield around him. Cracks formed in the barrier in mere moments while he advanced, firing his Winchester from the hip as fast as he could. Teresa and Ceres popped out of cover, swinging their palms out to the gunners. The bolts of flame set the men’s clothing on fire as they screamed. The others ran for cover, but the bolts chased after them. The crates they hid behind caught on fire.
That’s going to spread, Jake thought as he charged forward. “Teresa, Ceres, take these guys out. I’m on Colton,” Jake ordered as he charged through their lines. Rounds snapped past him, but as Colton’s thugs turned their attention on him, a new wave of firebolts rained on their position, forcing them back into cover.
