5. Chapter 5 (1/1)

act ii - heat

i was with my best friend ryan. we were walking in a busy street in manhattan. i looked up to the sky. it was fresh. blue sky, the sun

ight as usual. then, i heard a crash. then an amazing blue light blinded me... i woke up. raven was up now, i got up and walked over to him, he was making some sort of stew. he turned to me and said "antlion. the stew makes you feel as full as possible. really nukes those days you spend without food. here have some." i took the ladle and took a sip of the stew. it tasted decent... although it was still better than what the combine feeds us. "it's good." i said, raising the ladle in agreement of myself. i handed it back to him. "so. are you part of the resistance too?" "actually no... i'm not. some guy sold me the pipe and i've been under the radar since." that was enough to tell me i can probably get him out of here. there was just one thing i needed to do. "alright. well i need to do something real quick then. you wouldn't mind me patting you down would you? it's just something we have to do to keep cr devices away." "yeah it's fine. go ahead." i patted him down and found nothing. "you're good." "well i'd hope so, i did just beat 2 cops to the ground with a pipe yesterday." i laughed a little bit at that one. i have been wondering for a while how he got the pipe if he was never affiliated with the rebels. "hey, if you aren't with the rebels how did you get the pipe?" i asked. "there's always those people out there that sell them for like 25 credits. they aren't that much. and the only reason i can do so much is because i'm built like a tank." i smiled, "well that's good. i could use your help. i promised jack i would

ing someone back with me to the caves. so you want to go? raven sat there blankly for a moment. as if he didn't know what i was talking about. "the caves?" he asked. "you are further behind than i thought... the caves are where the rebels are holed up. i can

ing you there, get you formally introduced. all that good stuff." he nodded and got up. "so uh, which way is it?"

- at the caves -

me and raven got on the lift and hit the button to go down. there were some vorts at the bottom. probably waiting to come back up. we stepped off and let them on then headed down the tunnels. suddenly i heard people yelling and a bunch of clanging of metal together. as we walked into the steelyard, a

ight light shown on us and nearly blinded us. "turn that damn thing off, it's out new comer and someone else." the light shut off and beswick ran up to us with someone in a gas mask. quickly alexei inside. we are expecting a raid any moment now. you didn't see cota out there did you?" he spoke frantically as if he were about to lose it. "no i didn't see any cps at all. but that doesn't mean they aren't coming. this is raven. he saved me from a cp." beswick turned to raven and gave a nod, "good to have you on board. now alexei i need you to be ready for this. here take my glock and get on the lower part of our little barricade we got here. raven on me." he handed me the pistol which i took, but was a little nervous. i had never shot someone before. "and alexei remember. most of them aren't human. don't feel bad about this." i nodded. then ran off to the lower area. there were already two above me and the person with the gas mask was in the lower area with me. "alright i caught your name. alexei was it? i'm danny. good to have someone on point with me. even if it is just with a pistol." he smiled.

- about a half hour later -

we were waiting. me and danny had our backs to the wall now. we were sharing our stories from the cities. "i came from 74 to here. as far as i'm concerned 74 is over seas. probably in old america." just then we heard a huge explosion. the lift came rolling down at high speed. and it didn't stop. it kept going. then we saw figures rappelling down from the top to the floor we were on. someone shouted "combine! take them down!" just then danny and i both aimed and started unloading tons of rounds into the rappelling cp units. some fell, others made it to the bottom and started setting up shields of their own. i turned around and saw a huge mine cart coming between the two barricades. making us untouchable behind the barricades. we had an upper hand. i kept firing at those closest to me. danny reached to his radio strapped to his vest, " tell me the refugee situation is taken care of." i heard come back through the radio, "they are all in the bar. hold out as long as you can then get up here." danny turned to me, then went back to firing. just then, a loud whirring sound filled up the caves. then a small metal ball dropped down and lit up. it rolled towards the mine cart and when it got to it, it stuck and started beeping. danny looked over and i could barely hear him say "shit..." then the mine cart exploded. the barricade was completely shattered and at other places was fallen over. i came to my senses. i was under a bunch of rock that fell when the roller mine exploded. i saw danny get up and start to dig me out. i saw more combine coming. this time they were all rushing us. i reached for my pistol on the ground and started shooting them. as soon as the last piece of rock was off, danny dragged me to my feet and yelled, "run alexei, let's get the fuck out of here now!" i could hear the sound of more roller mines being deployed and and turrets being set up. me and danny were in the back of the whole fall back. i saw danny reach for his radio, "bes! me and alexei are on the way. keep one lift down for us. and give us some god damn covering fire." once we got into the steelyard, danny pointed at a lift at the far corner of the area. we ran to it and hit the button. it started going up but really slow. the combine came through the destroyed barricade. danny shot and i shot. but it was hard to hit on a moving target. i looked up to see more rebels shooting from the catwalks above. some were on the ground, bleeding or dead. by the time we reached the top most of the rebels were already falling back to the inside of the lounge. we hit the button on the generator to close the door and ran inside ourselves. we could still see and shoot through the little fenced out area of the gate... beswick was through the hallway. i could hear him. i ran to him and he looked at me and mouthed "give me a moment." he was speaking into his radio which was barely audible. "yes i hear you. come in from behind them and destroy the tunnels behind them. we have another way out. and yes once you destroy it come down and join the fight." he turned back to me. alright what do you got for me?" he asked. "ye barricade is destroyed and most rebels have fallen back. the rest i'm afraid won't have a chance to." he nodded and started back to his radio. but before he could get any words out there was a huge explosion, followed by the sound of screeching metal on metal. and then another one heard far beneath us. everyone went quiet. bes finally spoke into his radio, "crow was that you?" and i heard the reply faintly, "yes haha. we ran into a ton of them and sprinted past as we lay down c4. although we are trapped in the lowered tunnels now. we will take the alternate route back up alright?" "ok, stay safe." bes smiled then turned back to the crowd with a determined look on his face. "we have blocked off their escape! now let's finish these guys off before the rest can dig out the tunnels!" the rebels all yelled in excitement as they charged to the elevators. you could see them shooting all the way down as they yelled. it felt like the 7 hour war except backwards. this time the war was our war. our fight.

- raven -

i was in a hut. one of the closest to the tunnels. i looked around for anything that could be useful, and i saw a dead rebels body, in his hand, a suppressed mp7 with a red dot sight on it. i pried it from his hands and took as much ammo as i could find on him. i looked around some more, there was a door on the other side of the hut. i opened it to hear a roar of gunfire. i stepped out to see two rebels going up an elevator. i saw another one on the ground. it was a lot bigger but it would have to do. i crouched down and went into the shadows. as the tunnel came into sight, i saw combine everywhere. we didn't stand a chance here. i kept going. but as i turned to face forward, there was a combine not 5 feet in front of me. i came up behind him slowly, and kicked in his legs. when he was on the ground i aimed the mp7 at his head an shot. i heard the life support in his suit go crazy, but i kept going. i was almost there. i needed to run to the elevator from a huge crossing... i had to. so i sat there for a second, waiting for a good time to. but just then the lights above me turned on, and some of the combine were looking right at me now. i sprinted for the elevator. shooting as i ran, dodging all their shots. i slammed my fist into the elevator button. it started up. there was pulse rounds flying everywhere. i shot back down the elevator, but then there was a great crash, and then another. everything went quiet for a second. i looked up, the rebels had stopped shooting, and they looked over the balcony. the combine had backed off. as soon as i got up the rebels started cheering. it was just then when everyone stormed onto my elevator i managed to jump off just in time to get back onto the balcony. i pushed my way through everyone and found alexei, he was with beswick.