Chapter 33:
Bullets hit me in the chest and arm and I jerked back into the cover on reflex. My health dropped into the yellow, almost into the red, a startling reminder that I couldn't be reckless. These people were living in an endgame zone after all. I caught them off guard, but by no means did that make them weak.
I peeked out of cover and looked for my shooters. Two people stood on the rooftop of a store at two o'clock, armed with M16s. One had me pinned down while the other was shooting at another building to my right, presumably where Noya was holed up.
"You know, if you keep shooting at me I'm going to start taking it personally!" I leaned out and returned fire, but only managed to graze the man before I had to pull back. Wood suddenly exploded into splinters as bullets tore through the walls.
I dropped to the ground, arms over my head as what sounded like a swarm of angry wasps wreaked havoc above me. Store shelves were ripped apart, merchandise fell to the ground, and sawdust hung in the air thick enough to choke on.
"Argo, you okay?" I shouted. If it weren't for our earpieces I was sure she wouldn't have heard me over the cacophony of gunshots. I eyed the three health bars underneath mine. Argo and Sinon were still in full health. Noya was missing half, but it was slowly climbing up after he no doubt applied a medical syringe.
"I'm still kickin'. Ya sure know how to make friends," she said.
"It's a curse I tell you," I crawled back and sat underneath the broken window. "Sinon, we got two targets up top."
"I see them," she said. A moment later, I heard the telltale crack of her rifle and the man aiming at me had his entire upper torso suddenly explode as his corpse slumped over and fell off the roof. His partner stared wide-eyed at the spot where his friend had been then he looked up behind him.
"Sniper! They got a sniper in the hills!" he shouted. A sniper round tore through his neck and sent his squashed head flying.
"They know I'm here. I have to relocate," Sinon said with a grunt of effort.
"Got it. Do whatever you have to," I said, ejecting my spent magazine and slapping in a new one. "Noya, you holding up okay?"
"I'm fine, but these guys are getting their act together. They're coming down on my position pretty hard," he said.
"Retreat if you have to. We can't afford to lose anyone right now," I got up to my feet and turned to fire out the window again, but the store's front door was thrown open and a man charged inside carrying a pump-action shotgun as black and weathered as his armor.
We saw each other at the same time, and I said, "Sorry, we're closed."
I dove to the side in the split second it took him to bring his shotgun up to pulverize the counter behind me. I hit the ground in a roll, got up to my feet, and pulled my sawed-off out in one continuous motion.
One of its barrels erupted with a pull of the trigger. The shot hit home. A spray of pellets ripped his armor into pieces and sent him crashing into one of the shelves, knocking it over.
I let out a shout of triumph, but it died when he didn't explode into pixels. The player let out a furious yell and fired his shotgun from the prone position he was in. My avatar reacted to the shot before I felt it. The sudden exertion of force knocked me off balance, slamming into my left side like someone had clipped me with a baseball bat and I collapsed to the floor. My MP7 fell out of my grasp and skidded a couple of feet away.
I caught the very edge of his shotgun's spray. It was nothing short of a miracle I was still alive, but the fall aggravated my injuries, intensifying the stinging sensation, and I grit my teeth trying to shove the feeling to the back of my mind.
I don't know if it was survival instinct or if I had fallen into a sort of combat trance by that point, but a nagging feeling at the base of my skull told me I needed to roll away, right at that moment. So I did. Not a second later, the space where I laid a moment ago was eviscerated by another blast from the man's shotgun.
I bumped into the store counter and grabbed the edge to hoist myself up when I heard the 'ka-chunk' of another shell being loaded. There was no time to think — only react. Somehow I managed to hold on to my sawed-off after everything and snapped it up to fire the other barrel
Thunder boomed inside the small shop. I beat him to the punch. The tiny pellets riddled his shotgun to pieces. The arm holding it was reduced to little more than a shredded stump of a limb. In the real world, it would have been nothing but hamburger meat and he'd be dead from the shock and blood loss.
But all he did was roar a challenge and charge me with wild abandon. I was out of shells. There was no way I'd be able to stop him before he reached me and taking my pistol out and firing would take too long. Anything that wasn't an instant counterattack would spell my utter doom.
So I dodged to the side and stuck my foot out as he passed.
He tripped over it and I was a comical whistle away from a bad cartoon skit as he crashed into the store counter. He growled and started turning to face me again, but I was already on him.
Literally...
I jumped onto his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and locking my ankles together. My arm snaked around his throat and squeezed. His veins pulsed in a panic against my forearm, furiously trying to pump oxygenated blood through his system, even if he didn't technically have any.
His one good arm flailed about, trying to pull me off, but I held firm, using my body weight to lean back and apply more pressure to the vital veins and arteries in his neck. He staggered from side to side, his movements growing more sluggish and uncoordinated. Sure, he may have been able to breathe and think just fine, but eventually, his avatar would succumb to strangulation.
In a sudden burst of energy the man turned and slammed me into the nearest wall. My head was the first to make contact, slamming into it at full speed. The blow left me in a daze. My vision swam with dots of color and chaotic stars.
Not green bunnies though, I thought to myself. That's when I should worry.
The man tried to bash me against the wall again, but I gathered enough of my wits to be ready for it. I pitched forward and let my body absorb most of the blow. It hurt, but not nearly enough to let go. A gurgling shout left his lips and covered my arm with spittle. He tried again, but the impact felt like getting hit by a fluffy pillow. The next two times were even softer.
His legs gave out from under him and he hit the ground face first. I didn't release him for another ten seconds but when I did, I drew my pistol and emptied the entire magazine into his head. It took until the final bullet to put him down for good.
"And stay out," I mumbled to myself as I reloaded. Just as I was about to relax, a nagging feeling pressed against the back of my head. A presence was looming over me and I snapped my gun at the person coming inside.
It was Sinon, Hecate in hand. Despite the never-ending gunfire coming from outside, she was completely unscathed.
"Oh hey. Like my new store?" I asked her, lowering my gun and gesturing all around us. "I got it for a steal but the neighbors are just awful."
A torrent of gunfire shredded the walls again and I ducked down my head. Hot lead pelted the store again and when I looked out the front window, five more guards were taking positions inside the building across the street.
"You see what I mean?" I slapped in a fresh magazine for my pistol and shot back. One of the men staggered when my bullet hit him in the shoulder, but he recovered quickly and fired back. I sprung up to my feet and jumped over the counter to take cover. I pulled out a medical injector from one of the pouches on my belt and stabbed it into my arm. My health climbed back up, but far too slowly for my liking.
Sinon slid behind one of the shelves and pulled her Glock free, leaning out to shoot back every time there was a break in their fire. "I swear, ever since I met you my life has been getting more and more hectic."
"Hey, it's not like I wanted to piss off an entire town," I replied as I joined her in returning fire. "I just have that effect on people."
"You won't get an argument from me," Sinon said. She fired the last few rounds of her magazine and reloaded as she scanned the ground. "Heads up!" she said as she reached down to grab my MP7 before tossing it to me. I snatched it out of the air, reloaded with practiced ease, and sprayed a hail of bullets at the opposite side of the street. The head of one of the guards suddenly jerked back, a bright red dot on his forehead, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Thanks. But you know, you wound me with those terrible words," I managed to grin at her despite all the bullets flying past us. "Besides, I bet you're loving the rush of an all-out gunfight."
Her eyes shined. She may have been a sniper at heart, but there was a certain exhilaration to being in the middle of a warzone, much like skydiving and bungee jumping. All without any real danger to boot. It was an adrenaline junkie's dream.
Sinon quirked a charming little half-smile and delivered a burst of gunfire that took down another player inside the building across from us. "Well, it is fun. In its own way."
"You can say that again."
A clamor came from inside the building. One of the guards started shouting and their gunfire suddenly shifted away from us towards whatever was inside with them. A moment later, one of them was thrown through the front door and rolled into a heap onto the sandy road. Noya came stalking out of the shadows of the interior and unceremoniously fired two bullets into the man's face.
"Nice one, Noya," I complimented. He flashed me a quick thumbs-up then stalked back into the building, but not before raising his SMG and gunning down another player coming outside without so much as breaking stride.
"How are you holding up?" Sinon asked me.
"Could be worse. Stay here and keep a lookout for me," I said before making my way to the back room. "Argo, please tell me you have good news."
"I got squat," she said while in the process of digging through the dresser inside the alcove. The entire room was a mess. The bed was overturned, its sheets crumpled into a ball in the corner. Various clothing articles and tools used for gun maintenance were thrown in every direction.
Hell, there were even a few spots on the ground from where Argo had pried off the floorboards. "It can't be in here. I woulda found it by now. Ya know, it ain't a nice thought to have, but ya think maybe that Aki guy had the key on him?" she asked. The question made me uneasy.
"The way our luck's been turning out, I wouldn't be surprised," I said. As much as I wanted to avoid entertaining that particular train of thought, it was starting to become more and more of a possibility. I pressed my knuckles against my temples, trying to squeeze any modicum of an idea out of my head. It didn't work, but it did hurt.
Sinon suddenly came into the room, holstering her Glock. "What's the hold-up?"
"It's that stupid thing," I said, jerking my head in the direction of the offending door. "We're not getting anywhere until we unlock it and we have no idea how we're going to do that."
"That door there?" She asked.
"Yeah, that-"
Sinon summoned her rifle, her anti-material rifle, and fired it with a tremendous explosion that shook me down to my core. The security door bent inwards with a hearty shriek. Sparks flew from the large crater Sinon had put in it. She pulled the bolt back on Hecate and fired again. The door didn't survive a second shot. It was blown clean off its hinges and tumbled down the basement stairs.