Chapter 34: Retribution
From a nearby collection of smaller buildings, in the decrepit ruins of an old house, Eli watched. Waited for his chance. For his prey to come to him.
The scuffed and scratched binocular lenses painted his view of the research lab with an obscuring, grainy texture, and the mid-day sunlight glaring off the stainless steel doorway arch forced him to squint away from it’s brightness.
Five JSU soldiers were patrolling the perimeter in staggered groups. Three leading, two trailing. One rifle per group. The pile of charred, burnt feral corpses outside the lab was probably the reason they weren’t all carrying firearms. If these marauders were as inaccurate with guns as their dead comrades he’d found during his last clearing mission, then killing a small horde of ferals should have used up a big chunk of their ammo supply. Hopefully.
The patrol was getting closer to his position. Only a couple more minutes until the operation was set to begin.
He took one more quick count of the enemies. It was difficult to keep track of them all as they moved in and out of the lab’s entrance lobby, but not impossible. Nineteen at the research lab, five out on patrol. If they started out with twenty five, the ferals must’ve gotten one of them. Or there were twenty-four from the start. Or some of them were deeper in the lab, out of sight, and had stayed there the entire half-hour Eli had spent observing their movements. Which was definitely a possibility.
A snarl of rage pulled at his lip when he took another look at what they’d done to Walela. It was a level of cruelty he’d only ever heard about. They’d stripped her naked and tied her hands and ankles to a steel post outside the fence. Her head hung limp, forehead pressed against the post, her long black hair tangled and matted with blood, sweat, and sand. Long gashes of ripped flesh crisscrossed her entire back, from her shoulders to her thighs, turning her light-brown skin dark red. An older man with white, crew-cut hair stood beside her, talking to her, sneering at her battered figure. Whenever he didn’t like something Walela said, he’d hold up a hand, and one of the female soldiers would mercilessly whip Lela’s exposed backside with a cane. They must’ve been at it for hours, long before Eli showed up; Lela no longer had the energy left to even cry out when her skin was split open.
As he watched, the older man gave orders to the soldier holding the cane, and they both retreated inside the chain-link fence that enclosed the lab’s main entrance and the two remaining JSU vehicles; an armored panel van and an oversized SUV that looked closer to a military personnel carrier than a standard SUV. After shouting directives to some of the soldiers, the man, along with the torturer, climbed into the back of the panel van, shutting themselves inside.
Eli jerked the binoculars away from his face in disgust and anger.
He flipped open his rucksack that sat on the floor beside him, stuffed the binoculars inside, and left the bag where it was as he rose to his feet. Fighting with it hanging off his shoulders would only slow him down, limit his movements.
He drew his combat knife from his belt, holding it ready as he crept through the empty ruins of what was once an upscale, middle-class home. Leaning against the dirty wall by the back door, he stayed perfectly still, listening, waiting for the patrol to reach him. He needed to let them pass by before he attacked, but he also needed to kill them all before they made it past the house and back into the open where the assault could be seen from the lab. And he had to do it without any guns being fired. A patrol taking too long to walk behind a house was strange, but gunfire was alarming, and he didn’t want them sending in reinforcements just yet.
They were close.
He turned his head to peak through the window to his left. The lead group of three soldiers was finally entering the kill box. Further down the street, the other two were walking right into position as well, moments away from being slaughtered by Vivi. As soon as she made her move, he could make his. The stragglers needed to be occupied by Vivi before he moved, or else they’d see him take out their allies and raise the alarm.
Vivi stalked out of a smaller ruined home, fast and low, and blindsided her victims from behind.
His turn.
Crouched down, Eli rushed out the open doorway to his right. He rolled his steps, heel-to-toe, prowling across the sandy yard. The three women walked side-by-side, forming a convenient line, and they only noticed Eli when he was right behind them.
“Huh?” The bitch on the left said, turning her head just as Eli kicked out at the back of her knee.
She dropped to the ground, supporting herself on both hands, her body weight pressing the rifle she was holding into the red sand.
Eli followed his opening kick with a backhand stab through the middle soldier’s throat, a fountain of blood spraying through the air when he yanked it out. Using the momentum from freeing his blade, he smashed his fist, still gripping the knife, into the side of the first soldier’s head, laying her out cold, face down in the dirt. He spun to face the last enemy, throwing his knife from close-range in the same movement, sinking it hilt-deep into her chest. The middle woman was clutching her bleeding throat, gurgling and stumbling backward as Eli stole the knife from her belt and drove it into the side of the third soldier’s neck. He pulled his thrown blade from her chest, spun around once more, and plunged it into the middle soldier’s heart. A clean, deep cut across the throat finished off the first unconscious fallen enemy.
Three hostiles killed before they even knew what was happening. Three bodies sprawled out in the dust.
He unclipped his radio, switched it on, and pressed the transmitter as he scooped up a free rifle. Behind him, Vivi was pulling her hatchet from the skull of one of her targets, the other laying beside her, nearly headless.
“Hailey. Report.”
The radio crackled a moment later, “I think you’re good. No changes at their camp.”
“Alright. You know the plan; move in when you see me get close.” He left the radio on and clipped it to his belt.
“Roger.” She confirmed, using the radio code he’d started teaching her on on the long drive from Mist Haven.
They had to move fast, while Lela was still alive, and they still had the element of surprise on their side. Vivi ducked and ran toward him, skulking between houses, constantly checking to make sure she didn’t catch the attention of anyone at the lab. A quick search of the bodies around him turned up one spare magazine of 7.62mm ammo for the assault rifle and three large knifes that needed a good sharpening. When his sister reached him, they ran inside the ruined house where Eli had left his bag.
After ditching the half-dull knives on the floor, Eli traded rifles with Vivi, since her newfound weapon had a shoulder strap and his didn’t, and slung it over his shoulder. Grabbing his bow and arrows from where they were leaning against the wall, he took three of the acid arrows from their quiver and held them carefully together in one hand with the recurve bow.
“Ready?” He asked Vivi.
“Ready.” She lifted two large mason jar Molotovs with sinister excitement.
“Alright. Be careful, stay low, and wait until I draw them out before you light ’em up.” He nodded to the incendiaries.
She leaned in, pressed her lips firmly against his, then looked him in the eyes, “You be careful, too.”
Vivi’s wavy golden hair fluttered behind her as she ran out of the house through the back door.
Eli took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, focusing his mind, calming his nerves.
“Haaaah…” He rolled his head around, stretching his neck and shoulders, “Fuck it.”
He ran. Out the front door, full sprint, straight for the right-hand side of the research building. The hot desert sun beat down on him as he hauled ass across a hundred and fifty meters of barren landscape that was a lush, green, perfectly manicured lawn three centuries ago. Vivi should be off to his right, staying hidden, circling around from the back of the lab, but he was running full-tilt toward the front. And, all too soon, he was spotted.
Inside the fence-off encampment, seven of the JSU soldiers were causing a ruckus, and the ones who already held guns were aiming them his direction.
“Who the hell is that?” One of them yelled. “Hey! Asshole! Stop right there!”
The other women all shouted in unison, some at him, some at each other. They scrambled through the gate and ran out to confront him, but he veered off to the left, toward the tall concrete monument sign perched at the entryway to the lab’s parking lot. It used to read ‘West Arkansas Advanced Biotechnics’, but it had been faded and chipped over time, becoming a blank stone slab of protection from gunfire.
He slowed to a jog near the sign, nocking an arrow as the first explosive cracks of rifle fire echoed through the surroundings. With maybe thirty meters between them, he turned sideways, drew the bow to full tension, and released a shot at the closest adversary. He knew how to use a bow, hell, he’d been bow hunting dozens of times with the old man a lifetime ago, but he was out of practice. Aiming high, he tried to score a chest hit, but the arrow struck the woman’s upper thigh, exploding into a spray of toxic green liquid and crimson blood.
A shriek of pure agony ripped it’s way from her throat. She dropped to the ground, wailing and clutching her wounded leg, which only resulted in her hands also being melted by the vile spitter acid. White steam rose up from her leg, clothes, and hands; she thrashed around wildly, and screamed out to her comrades, begging for help. But they were useless to her. Another hostile joined her on the ground, an acid arrow sticking out of her ribs, and the two people who tried to pull them out of the fight made the mistake of grabbing their acid-covered clothes, burning their own hands in reward for their rescue efforts.
He dived behind the concrete monument sign, catching his breath after his prolonged sprint. The soldiers who could still shoot unloaded their weapons into the barricade he leaned his back against. They rapid-fire dumped every single round in their magazines until their rifles clicked empty. Exactly the reaction he’d expect from someone with a big gun and sub-par training. Final arrow nocked, he spun out to the side of his cover, took aim, and shot another random asshole in the gut while she was reloading.
He dropped the bow to the ground and brought up his assault rifle. Two standing enemies, two running away with ruined hands, three screaming in the dirt, and another six running out of the lab. Squeezing the trigger, he managed to blast the face clean off one of them before a round of return-fire forced him back behind cover. His neck was hot. His left ear was ringing. There was a burning pain in the side of his head. He’d been shot. His heart was pounding with adrenaline as he reached a trembling hand up to the left side of his neck. Bullets continued to slam into the stone monument and kick up sand all around him. His neck didn’t hurt when he touched it, but it was bloody. Moving his hand up, a searing pain coursed through the top of his ear when he touched it. Those motherfuckers shot the tip of his left ear off. Not just his ear, either. A line had been carved into the side of his head behind his ear, dripping blood down his neck, soaking into the collar of his shirt.
His roller, driven by Hailey, careened past him just as the sound of shattering glass and tortured screams alerted him to Vivi’s arrival. He needed to get back in the fight, help his sister, kill those JSU shitbags before they could try to retreat. He ran out from behind his safety sign and shouldered his rifle. The scene in front of him had completely changed in the short time he’d been hunkered down. It was chaos.
People were running around on fire, rolling in agony, being melted by acid, shooting blindly in every direction, screaming, and hiding behind vehicles. He focused on eliminating the active shooters first. His rifle clicked empty after downing only two of them, so he slung it around to let it hang across his back, and drew his pistol. Another two fell dead before he even got his pistol raised, though. Vivi leaned out from behind the building’s corner, shooting bursts of cover fire from a distance, and Hailey knelt behind his roller doing the same thing. She’d parked the car beside Lela, using it to shield her friend from the battle while she got some revenge with the rifle they’d brought from Mist Haven.
“Hey!” Eli shouted at Hailey. “Get her outta here!” He put two shots into a JSU soldier who was hiding from Vivi, cowering behind the SUV.
The petite guard didn’t move, she just kept shooting, but mostly not hitting anything.
“Hailey!” Eli crouch-ran closer to her, putting one more hiding coward out of their misery along the way. “Take Lela and get the fuck out of here! Now!”
Her eyes were wild and murderous, but she nodded in response that time. She abandoned the fight in favor of saving Lela. Remembering she was supposed to bring Lela a safe distance away while Eli and Vivi engaged the enemy, she drew her knife and got to work freeing her friend.
Through the flames that blocked off the doors to the lab, the silhouettes of more hostiles moved up from deeper inside the lobby. He needed to press forward while they were still disorganized and separated.
“Moving in!” Eli shouted to Vivi, warning her of his intention to advance inside the fence, letting her know he was about to enter her crossfire zone.
Vivi pulled back from her position after finishing a quick burst-fire that shredded through the torso of the last burning soldier.
His pistol held in the sul position1, Eli ran past the soldiers he’d left writhing in pain from his acid arrows, giving them the mercy of quick headshots before entering the enemy encampment. A short woman jumped out of the panel van’s back doors and tried to surprise attack him, but her aim was shit. He returned three shots, in a tight grouping, straight through the center of her chest. And one more through her head when he ran over to the van. The white-haired old man, still in the vehicle, let out a primal war cry and took a flying leap at Eli with a wide swing of his knife. Easily side-stepping the ridiculously lame attack, Eli watched the man crash face-first onto the unforgiving pavement. He tried to get up, but Eli pistol whipped the back of his head, putting him down for a nice little nap. The old guy was the first man he’d seen among the JSU forces. His very presence at the research lab screamed ‘valuable target’. Eli wanted him alive.
Shouts and gunshots started coming from inside the building. Vivi had moved on to the next phase of her attack. While she picked them off from outside by shooting in through the windows, Eli hopped into the van, intending to steal the keys if they were in the power switch. He wasn’t willing to risk letting anyone drive away if they had a chance. No keys in the switch, but he found them in white-hair’s pocket, the second place he looked.
A bullet ricocheted off the cement in front of him when he went to check the SUV for keys. A JSU soldier had been brave enough to run through the dying flames that had kept them trapped inside the lab building. A fucking huge soldier. Way bigger than she looked through dingy binoculars. The Amazonian redhead towered over Eli. She had to be at least seven feet tall, maybe more, and she was remarkably fast. She held her pistol one-handed at arm’s length as she ran, shooting off rounds one after another, hitting just about everything except Eli, emptying her gun as he rolled off to the side.
He sprang back up to his feet ready to shoot her, but she’d already closed the distance between them, her empty pistol discarded. She back-handed the gun out of his grip, sending it skidding away and underneath the SUV. She followed up the back-hand with a right hook. Ducking low and stepping inside the swing, he hammered two heavy jabs against her ribs. Without letting up, he kicked her knee out from under her, forcing her to drop to a kneeling position, and cracked her across the face with an elbow strike. She caught him with counter hook to the face almost simultaneously, and stars exploded in his vision from the force of the impact. He stumbled back, the taste of iron filling his bloody mouth, shaking his head to clear his unfocused eyes.
“Who the fuck are you?” The Amazonian shouted, back on her feet, face smeared with blood from her broken nose, and looking notably less brave than she was five seconds ago. “Why the fuck are you doing this?”
The gunshots from the building were slowing down as Eli spit out a mouthful of blood.
She has to be related to the giant JSU officer who showed up in Lancaster. He silently lifted his guard. I’m taking this bitch alive.
Without wasting any more time, he rushed in close. He managed to block her hits as she tried to keep him away, but he’d have some gnarly bruises on his arms to show for it later. Finally up close enough, he got an arm under one of hers, twisted his lower body, pushed her shoulders down, and flipped her forward over his hip. She grunted when her back connected with the concrete, and Eli didn’t give her any break from the fight, immediately going down to wrestle with her, forcing her to roll over until she was laying on her stomach. He straddled her upper back, locked her elbows against her sides using his knees, and locked her into a choke hold. His biceps strained against his sleeves from the effort it took to hold her still. She was strong, but not strong enough to push herself up with his full body weight on top of her back. She couldn’t exactly fight back with her hands pinned beneath her, either, so all she could do was helplessly kick her long legs against the sandy pavement while he cut off her breathing.
Her face turned redder and redder. Her eyes slowly rolled back, and her eyelids fell shut. Her body went limp beneath him. She was out.
Leaving her unconscious body where it lay, Eli exhaustedly staggered to his feet and stepped over the tall redhead woman. His hands were slick with his own blood as he ejected the spent magazine from his rifle and jammed in his only backup. He slapped the charging bolt back, chambered a live round, and resumed his task of securing the vehicles. He threw open the driver’s door of the massive SUV, found the keys on the dash board, and pocketed them with the other stolen set. The gunfire coming from the building sounded like it was only being directed outward by then. Vivi’s ammo must’ve run dry. From the sounds of it, there were only a couple of hostiles still alive inside.
His boots were heavy, like they were made of stone, and each step forward burned his thighs. The flood of adrenaline spiking his blood kept him standing, kept him sharp, but he was crashing fast. The cool, smooth steel of the gunstock pressed against his cheek, he took aim into the shadowy entrance. The ethanol Molotovs had burned out, and the JSU soldiers inside took the opportunity to make an escape. But the only escape they found waiting for them outside was death. The rifle kicked his shoulder as he sprayed them with high-velocity retribution.
The abrupt silence that followed was painfully loud. The ringing in his ears pulsed with such intensity he could feel it behind his eyes. The smell of gun powder, blood, and death brought a nauseous knot to his stomach.
“Vivi!” Red droplets flew from his lips when he yelled, his chest heaving from labored breaths.
“I’m fine!” She yelled back from where she took cover on the other side of the building. “Did we get them all?”
“I don’t know!” He crept inside, rifle up and ready. “If anyone’s still hiding, throw down your weapons and come out! Surrender peacefully and we’ll let you live!”
No reply.
“Final warning! Surrender now or you will be killed!” He felt his eyes shift, adjusting to the darkness in the lobby.
Still no reply.
“Vivi.” He called out through one of the windows. “Get a count of the bodies outside. Leave the big redhead and the old guy alive. Quickly.”
“I’m on it.” She said, accompanied by the muffled sound of running footsteps pounding against sand.
Three blood-soaked corpses, one of which was missing the top of its head, had fallen in the middle of the room, surrounded by hundreds of spent bullet casings. The reinforced concrete wall Vivi took cover behind when she gunned them down was covered with deep scars from the battle, but nothing managed to punch all the way through. They were panicking, terrified, firing wildly at nothing and, to Eli’s immense relief, not getting anywhere close to killing their target.
“Fourteen bodies!” Vivi shouted from outside. “Two survivors!”
“I’ve got three in here!” He yelled over his shoulder as he backed out of the lab, still cautious of anyone they could have missed.
“That’s all of them, right?” Vivi asked, inspecting a pistol she’d just picked up.
“Yeah. All of them we saw, anyway.” He kept his eyes on the building, scanning the windows of the upper levels as he pulled out his radio and held it up. “Hailey.”
Eli’s anxiety grew as the radio remained silent in his hand. Right as he was about to try again, she finally responded with a raspy voice. “I’m- I’m here.”
Just from the sound of her voice, Eli could tell; she’d been crying.
“Is Lela well enough to travel?” He asked.
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
“Alright. I need you back here to collect all their weapons. And hurry, more of them could be scheduled to arrive any time now.”
“I’m on my way.” She said.
Eli returned the radio to his belt. “Vivi.” He turned to face her. “There’s a spool of steel fencing wire in the van. Use it to-“
“Holy shit!” She dropped the Molotov-scorched rifle she was holding and raced over to him. “Eli! You got shot in the fucking head!” She turned his head to the side so she could see how bad the damage was.
“I know.” He pulled away from her. “I’m okay. I need you to restrain the prisoners. Use the steel wire, tie them up, and keep an eye on them while I clear the building. Start with the woman, she’ll be more trouble if she wakes up before you’re finished.”
Her wide eyes never left the side of his head. She was worried about him, but she still listened to him. “Alright, yeah, prisoners…..are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m good. Now please, hurry.” He pointed to the panel van.
“Mm.” She narrowed her eyes like she didn’t believe he was alright after getting part of his left ear shot off, then huffed, spun around, and ran toward the van.
Eli was breathing hard, exhausted and aching as he looked up at the stainless steel arch over the front doors. Whatever the JSU wanted from West Arkansas Advanced Biotechnics, Eli was going to get it first. Or burn everything they might want just to keep them from achieving their goals.
