With all that time awake, I began thinking about what conspired yesterday. I hadn't been shot in a pretty long time so being shot twice in the same day and both not being deadly wounds was very strange. The men were very good shots yet not a single bullet hit my torso or head. I began contemplating what they may have been after and the only logical idea was that they wanted to take me alive. There are a few uses for living captives: experimentation, torturing for information, bait, food (if they are desperate enough). Still, to stay and fight after so many of their men had been killed was very strange. Would they really trade all of their lives just to bring me in or was their something special about me? What stranger, I looked over the edge of the building where I pushed the large soulless over and it was gone. That thing can really take a beating apparently.
I went around to the dead men (or should I say the pools of blood because that was all that was left of some of them) and took their guns, clubs, and equipment (I had a lot of extra handguns and melee weapons after that looting). Fortunately, no one got to them before me because I used up most of my ammunition on the large soulless. I still had a mission to complete and the only ideas I could come up with for Mike disappearing is that he was captured or eaten (or both). I explored the general area, peeking into building windows, attempting to find some sign that indicated that humans had entered recently. If Mike had been captured, they were holding him somewhere. I didn't have my hopes up on coming across any men wandering around the city, but I was wrong. I saw three turn a corner and quickly fired on all three, bringing them all to the ground. I went for body shots instead of head shots because they are easier and leave a small chance that they might still be alive. I approached the men, finding two still alive and one dead. I kicking their guns away from them and checked to see if anymore were hiding. I kneeled down near the one that wasn't bleeding as much and grabbed his shirt.
"I'm going to give you two options: either you answer my questions and I put you out of your misery or I leave you to get eaten alive."
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Why were a large group of men shooting at me yesterday?"
"I swear, I wasn't part of it…" he answered.
"I don't care if you were, I want to know why I was attacked!"
"We were instructed to kill or capture any human we found."
"Have you captured anyone recently?" I described Mike to him and he said they brought in two guys not too long ago, one of which matched the description i gave.
"Why capture?"
"The boss wants to find a large outpost. He said that it's a few miles from here and some of its members come here to loot."
"Why does he want to find it?"
"To destroy it and take its supplies?"
I wanted to ask more questions, but I knew soulless would be showing up soon and I could see the guy drifting away.
"Where can I find your boss?"
The man's eyes began drifting off. He was starting to lose consciousness.
"Answer me!"
"His outpost is four blocks that way and two blocks to the left!" screamed the other man, pointing in a direction, "Please! Save us! They're coming!"
I turned around and saw the soulless approaching. I didn't have time for pleasantries or to verify the information so I quickly took out my pistol and shot both in the back of the head. I then preceded to beat my way out of the converging soulless group as they feasted on the two fallen men.
The leader sounds like a real villain. The man I talked to seemed to put an emphasis on "destroy the outpost" rather than the supplies being more important. I guess even in the mist of all the destruction around us, people still feel the urge to create more.
I followed the directions give to me and found a rather large building (probably a small warehouse) that had small writing on the side, very artistically written and poetic. It spoke of a prophecy that soon, the last remaining humans would become gods of this world. I stopped reading after that since I was more focused on rescuing rather than reading fictional stories. I listened at the door and I could tell that there were a large amount of people inside so bursting in guns blazing wouldn't have been smart. The alleyway between the building and the one next to it were close enough together that I managed to prop my feet in-between the two and climb to the roof (though I probably looked like a complete idiot doing it). There was a door onto leading into the building, but it was locked. I may have been able to force it open, but I didn't want to alert anyone that I was present (I also didn't want another soulless building raid) so using a knife and the back of an unloaded gun as a hammer, I managed to remove the hinges and take the door off.
The stairs were hard as rocks so I didn't have to worry about them creaking. I came across two guys unnoticed while I was descending through the building. A quick stab through the spine and a hiding spot for them in the shadows and everything was fine. The building had a decent amount of food, equipment, and weapons stored up and even a few electric generators (I didn't even realize that there were lights on in the building until long after I left) though the building was very quiet, that was until I reached the second floor. the second floor had a viewing glass to view the first floor, which was a large open space with crates stacked in the corner. A very large group of men were gathered in the open area while one man (the boss apparently) was speaking to them. On the far right side, I saw three bodies chained to crates, one of them being Mike. He was still breathing, but it looked like they really beat him up. If he was still alive, that means that he didn't tell them the location of our outpost. The only thing left to do now was to wait out the meeting. There was no possible way I could take on so many men, especially if they were as good shots as the ones I met yesterday. I decided to listen in on the conversation. I waited for two hours so I'm not writing down everything I heard, but I'll give a brief overview. Apparently, many of their men have been killed and one of the men who saw it all said that one stranger killed many of them along with an extremely large soulless with a blade for a hand. The boss degraded him for running and yet thanked him for the information. he then instructed his men to take the guy he just degraded outside and kill him (I heard a guy pleading for mercy as the voice became quieter and quieter), he instructed his "smart" men to set up a trap to capture the large soulless and to send out smaller, but more dispersed over a short distance survey parties to find the man. He then went on a big speech about the "master plan", which was completely insane and stupid. How he got these men to believe it is amazing. Lastly, he ordered a man to torture the prisoners. I sat and listened, being able to do nothing as I heard men yell in agony. No one admitted anything though. Afterwards, it got very quiet. I checked through the window and saw that nearly all of the men had left, probably going on the search party. Footsteps were coming from the nearby steps and I ran into a nearby room and waited for them to pass. I was able to kill both of them since they both went in different directions. I knew that if I didn't go now, that the opportunity would pass by and I might be captured. I waited about five more minutes to make sure the men outside were far enough away not to hear the gun fire. I snuck up to the window, looking out of it and shot everyone I saw (except for the hostages), emptying my clip and quickly replacing it as more men appeared out from behind crates and nearby rooms. I had the advantage this time since they would have to poke their heads or guns out to shoot me, which I could quickly shoot off. The amount of men began to overtake me so I dropped my handgun and brought out the semi-automatic and mowed down a large mob. A few of the others were more difficult to get so instead of taking the stairs, I hopped through the window and landed on the first floor (nothing broken, but it wasn't a pleasant landing). I quickly put away the semi and brought out to handguns and I maneuvered around the objects they were hiding behind and shot them. When everything grew silent, I backed up toward Mike and the others and I began trying to use the crowbar I had to break open the lock. It was then that I heard a voice behind me.
"Well, well. It seems we have a hero among us."
I spun around and point me gun at the man.
"Wait, hold on there. I'm unarmed," he said in a playful yet toughing voice. It was the boss. "I suppose you'll be wanting this." He held out a key in his right hand and then tossed it to me. I caught it.
I wasn't sure what to make of this guy. I tried out the key on Mike's lock, not looking away, and it worked.
"Why?" I asked.
"I can't have someone murdering my men left and right and it appears that you won't leave unless they come with you." He paused for a moment, smiling. I unwrapped Mike from the chains as he continued. "Tell me, you're a man of high understanding, correct? You must be to have made it this far. You've spent your time toiling to survive and have become a skilled man nonetheless. Why not become more, gain more than you ever would have before this all started."
Mike was starting to come around. I helped him up and put his arm around my shoulder to help him walk. "I don't deserve more and I don't want anything," I said.
"We all deserve much more than we have and now is the chance to seize it. You want something from life as well. I can see an emptiness in your eyes. How long do you think you can live with it, Jack?"
At the sound of my name, I pulled the trigger and shot him in the chest. He feel to the ground lifeless. I was so confused and dazed and didn't know how he knew my name. It didn't occur to me at the time that Mike might have told him I would find him. We started making our way to the door when Mike spoke, "Wait. Bring the old guy."
"I can't carry you both."
"Then don't. Carry him." Mike left my side and stumbled over to one of the dead guys and grab his gun. He began gathering equipment from the dead bodies.
"Alright." I unchained the old man. He was unconscious so I carried him on my back. It felt wrong to leave the other person, but there was nothing I could do. I quickly undid the person's chains before we left. I noticed that the boss wasn't bleeding. It seemed odd, but nothing more at the time. (I should have shot him in the head).
As we got outside, we saw two men. I quickly drew my handgun and Mike shot a round from the shotgun he had. I knew more were nearby so I told Mike we had to get going. He was still having trouble moving (it looked like he'd been shot awhile ago, which wouldn't be surprising). We made our way through the city, avoiding soulless, cutting through alleyways while the men tried to create a strategized attack. We took out a few more men and soulless as we were leaving (I was really hoping we wouldn't run into the large one) and after about a half hour of running around, we finally made it out of the city and into a large nearby gathering of trees (my territory). We waited for the men to follow us and as soon as they were out in the open, we opened fire on them and quickly left. After a short detour, we were back on the road to our outpost.
Approaching the gates, we saw Mike brother standing outside who yelled in and out came Lexi running to Mike. I stayed back, not wanting interfere with the reunion and not wanting to talk to Moses. It was then that I saw a small blinking clip attached to Mike's shirt. I ran over to him and ripped it off to look at it. I was no expert, but it looked like an old tracking devise. I looked around to see a person far away in the bushes with what looked like a controller in his hand. I ran after him.
I managed to catch and kill him before he could tell anyone. The devise was short range so he had to follow us, but he was stupid to stand in plain sight. It was so smart of them to do that. I wouldn't have even expected technology to come back into play after so long. I told Mike what happened and in return, he told me and his brother everything that happened to him and what he learned about whatever that group was. I also told him that he and I need to have a talk about his brother Moses.
- Jack's Diary
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Share your piece of mind.