6. Chapter 6 (1/1)

act ii - malik

the battle ended some time after that, raven found us after the two crashes. beswick told me that i should go see the doc, so i came down on the next elevator with raven. beswick led us to the doctors shack and we let ourselves inside. the doc looked at me, "god, you got fucked up pretty bad didn't you? alright no problem, we can use medigel and get you fixed right up." i turned to beswick, he nodded and left the shack with me and raven inside. "alright well let's start with your torso, that seems to be the most affected area." he took some green gel and started applying it to the cuts and gashes around my body. raven cringed, yet i didn't feel anything but better. "we have to get back to the city alexei, the rebels need more people than they have already. you saw how bad it was." he said. "yeah... so after this we can go back. pick up people little by little. the more people we have the better." i said back to him in agreement. the doctor worked on me for about 5 more minutes, astonishing time for the amount of wounds i had from the roller mine. "try not to get yourself killed again would ya?" he said. i nodded then motioned raven to follow me out of the shack. i walked out, and looked down at my bandages covering the medigel. now they didn't look as bad as they did during the fight. raven looked at me, then to the ground. "we have to go back to the city don't we..." he said. "you said it yourself. these people don't stand a chance unless we get more people in here and armed." i looked around for beswick and found him by the generator through the tunnel. i looked back to raven. then nodded my head towards beswick. we got to him and he looked at me, with all my bandages and medigel. "you should let those heal before you go back to the city, that is, if you are going back." "we are. we have to. the people here need more, there isn't any way we can take on the combine with what little force we have here." beswick nodded, "we got the lift back up and working if you need to leave. that medigel should heal by the time you get back to the city." i unholstered my pistol and handed it out to him. and raven pulled out an mp7 and held it out. beswick nodded and took both of the weapons. he turned back to fin and danny. me and raven walked to the lift, there were people being dragged out and bodies on stretchers coming through. it made me hate the combine more than i had before...

- 7 hours later, back at the city -

me and raven came through the hole in the barred gateway, but raven pushed me back and held a finger to his lips. he whispered "cps, stay down." we sat there for about 10 minutes, i don't know what i felt there but i knew that it was going to

ing the whole thing down fast if i didn't control myself. raven peeked the corner, and turned back to me "they are gone let's go." we got up the ladder and walked casually out of the sewers. there were two civvies outside, watching us come out now. i threw on my beanie and took off my face wrap. they stared at us as we walked by, but we didn't care. all we needed was someone that was capable enough to keep the secrets of the rebels from the combine. we walked up the board leading into district 2. raven looked as if he was just about to say something as we passed a cafe. the door flung open, and someone came rushing out. followed by two cps. we dashed to either side of the walkway. i looked at raven, and we rushed after them. the man was running straight for the apartments. he bashed the door in and turned around to see all of us following him. the cps took out sidearms, and they began to shoot at the man, he flailed around a bit, and sprinted up the stairs. the cps followed him up, pistols drawn. but as they got to the final step, there was a loud series of shots. followed by blood on the wall. the man had pulled out an ak and gunned down the two cps, their bodies slowly falling to the ground. he looked at us, "you two need to leave, now. go." he said in an arabian accent. i looked him dead in the eye and said "i'm taking it you know beswick?" he looked confused. "who's beswick?" raven smirked and looked to the ground. "look buddy we got two options here, you get to come with us and we get the hell out of the city or you can stay here and die. no doubt they know who you are now." he said. malik looked surprised at our show of courage. then he nodded slowly. "i'm at a lack of options either way. let's go now before they find us." we led him to the sewers, and as we came inside we heard footsteps, and lights. we ducked down. i leaned around the corner just enough to see 3 combine on the other side. i looked to the man, he had picked up both the cps weapons before we left. he held out a hk socom in one hand and a glock in the other. raven slowly grabbed the glock from his hand. i grabbed the socom. i held up 3 fingers. dropped them, and we turned the corner and shot the cps before they even knew we were there. we rushed through the rest of the sewer.

- canals -

we were out. the man seemed out of

eath, and shocked by the sights of the canals. i looked to him, " what's your name anyway?" i asked him. "malik. it's malik shabar." we waded our way through the canals, but when we came to the open area to the barn, we saw jack. he had his crossbow drawn and he was aiming down to the barn. we crouched and approached him, i tapped his shoulder. he turned quickly around and told us, "cps. stay down." we pulled out our weapons. and spread out to cover. jack handed me a small metal device, "what is it?" i asked. "a radio. switch to frequency 490. i will tell you what to do." i switched the frequency and looked back up at him. he put an arm on my shoulder and pointed to a rock in the middle of the canals. "i need you guys to get over there and provide covering fire for me. once i get close i will take shots at them. got it?" i nodded. and ran to malik and raven. i told them the plan, and started sprinting to the rock. malik sprayed with his ak, so that the cps needed cover. by the time we made it there the cps were down behind most of the cover. i used the radio, "jack we are here, waiting for your go." jack activated his radio, "got it. 3, 2, 1, go go now." we all turned over the rock and started shooting. there were pulse rounds ricocheting off the rock. we heard some biosignals go off, so our shots were counting. jack ran by us and made it under the barn. he crouched by the ladder. we saw a cp coming around and we all shot him. he fell to jacks feet, he climbed and we could hear the remaining biosignals go off. the radio came to life again. "alright we're good. get up here." i nodded to raven and malik. i got up and walked over to jack. he was kneeling over one of the dead cps. he looked up at us. "they were human once, the cps at least. the cota, not so much. these could have simply been people that were trying to help their families and get a living. this is our world now. the faster we learn that the better." he got up, looked away for a second. then looked back, "make no mistake alexei. they aren't human anymore... not anymore..." he turned away again. and we walked away.