2 It Better be Worth It

I reached the bottom of the hill without slipping even once which I considered an achievement considering the hill was sand and loose rocks l. I was parched and intending to go drink the whole well in the station.

Josh was waiting at the bottom of the slope looking smugly pleased with himself. "Good shooting." He said when I was within earshot.

"Cheers" I said dispiritingly and was about to walk past when I turned and said, "Oh and if you put me on sniper duty for 4 hours in advance I will dunk you in the station well and throw a 20,000 volt charge in."

Josh merely grinned mischievously and said," As you wish."

I walked into the station which was as dingy as it appeared from the outside. The well was positioned in the centre with a few delegate doors scattered around which I assumed led to the Enforcers rooms. There was a wooden bucket hanging above the well but I simply dunked my head in and savoured the cool water.

After drinking my full and filling up my water bottle I slumped outside to find everyone preparing to go inside and loot. Josh yelled above the chatter,"Everyone split up inside. Strip the place and find the cash. Call Alex when we find the safe because he had the Charges." Alex lovingly fingered the plastic explosive charges he was holding.

Josh continued,"What you find you keep but the big money gets split between everyone. Let's go!".

I charged towards the door and became involved in the scrum that I sued trying to get though the door. Nessa got through first with me closely on her tails. She went down I went up, towards the drivers area.

The unit was like a boarding school with stains all over the walls and I thought I found a sock in one of the cupboards I searched on the way. The corridors were carpeted in black which did an excellent job of muffling footsteps.

Not just my own as I found out a moment later. An intake of breath as a walked through a door betrays the presence of someone else but as I turned I wasn't quick enough to stop the baton coming towards my head.

The impact sent black spots dancing across my vision. I staggered clutching the wall and caught sight of the man. He was small and looked like he had already soiled his trousers. He came in for another hit but I dodged and he lost his balance and fell forward only just recovering his feet.

I grabbed the baton and kneed him in the balls and finished him with a head butt that sent more black spots across my vision but the sickening crunch and howl of pain gave me vindictive pleasure. He was screaming like a baby so I knocked him out with a kick to the jaw and bent to rifle through his pockets. He was carrying and ID card and and envelope which I resolved to search later and pocketed.

5 minutes later I was dragging the man out by the back of his shirt and dumped him at Josh's feet. "See if he knows anything" I said.

Josh said, "He'd better"

At my questioning look Josh answered,

"Alex put all the C4 he had on him on the door and nothing happened except the door got a bit sooty. Why did you have to go and knock him out then?"

Anger flared in me, "Look what the son of a bitch did to my head."

Josh studied me lazily, "Fair enough."

Nessa who was walking past cried out, "Looks more handsome!"

I ignored her and focussed on Josh again, "Let's take him back to HQ. We're too exposed here. Any Gens wondering past could just kill us right here."

Genesis' or Genes for short were a branch of Elite Enforcers that we're called Genesis' by everyone except the official records after the mysterious person who led them codenamed 'Genesis'. They had been exploring the most remote areas in the new world recently for unknown reasons and this was about as remote as you got.

"I agree" said Josh and then called Andrei over, "Get everyone out and back to HQ. We're too exposed and everyone within a 50 mile radius will have heard those shots."

Everyone then mounted their hover bikes (much like Earth Motorbikes except for the hovering part and therefore the lack of wheels) and sped off over the desert towards the vague direction of HQ.