Case 002 - Meat bag

After my first shift at Pacifica I have received some nice bonuses. Well. They looked nice till I saw huge minus sum at the bottom. Finance department has automatically deducted half of my money for debt servicing and etc.

So unlike rest of my team I was brooding a bit while drinking beer in bar next to HQ. Damn that beer taste like horse piss. Man, I wish there were some German beer brewery here so I could enjoy some really nice beer. But I guess even if I had found it beer there will cost me at least 10 times the price of standard beer.

I have finished my beer and went back to TT barracks having nowhere else to go except firing practice range. But after I stepped in I have received urgent call from dispatcher.

"Markus Berkut, company needs your assistance. If you agree for extra shift you will receive double pay rate till the end of a shift." - dispatcher said.

"Rush hour again?" - I wondered already running towards my locker.

"We have only one Trauma Team ready and another one lacks two EMTs and both security specialists. Company wants to use half ready team as emergency back up and relief team. Do you agree to join the shift?" - l listened to her while reaching armoury and starting to put equipment on.

"Dispatcher, I am already busy equipping and performing check up. Be at hangar in 5 minutes."

"Acknowledged. TT congratulates you for your sacrifice and cooperation."

"Oh, knock it off."

Paramedic armoured suit. Check. Boots. Check. Bulletproof vest and tactical rig. Check. Helmet. Check...No wait comms are not functioning properly. Use replacement. So Helmet, Check.

Finally guns. SMG and 12 mags. Check. Grenades. Check. Little Shit and 4 mags. Check.

"Dispatcher I am ready which hangar slot is rally point this time?" - I have said starting moving to hangar.

"Slot A-5" - got quick message from dispatcher.

When I reached hanger I have realised what Trauma Team Rush Hour looks like. Almost all aerodynes are gone while techies are busy cleaning up and preparing to fix and refuel little birds coming back. I have seen even little blood stains on a floor. Seems not everything went easy for some teams.

"Berkut here! Hurry up we got urgent request for back up. One team is already there trying to get client out of Scavengers meat shop in Wellsprings. But they are heavily outnumbered and they are already 3 minutes late. So hurry up! " - Alex Cruze is here and so must be Rene Macha.

"Guys I have thought you are off to somewhere. How the hell have you end up here?" - I waved at them while getting in.

"Me and Alex wanted to do some extra fine tuning on our little birdie here so we stayed when we got double pay offer. So we have thought why not. Ok. We are just waiting for EMT. Then we can take off." - they started doing their flyboy magic as I started hearing engines warming up and unleashing small fire bursts.

I have also done some checks on side SAWs mounted on sides of the aerodyne. Everything is ready and working just fine. My gut feeling tells me that we will need that firepower today. Just as I have finished checks unknown EMT hopped in.

"Luther Cross reporting." - just as he wanted to continue Alex and Rene started take off.

"Markus Berkut. Glad to meet you. Our pilots for today are Alex and Rene." - I greeted him and quickly introduced others.

"Yeah, I have just comeback from vacation and dispatcher sent me here." - Luther replied while taking out one of large med kits.

"Rush hour heat. Anyways we are there to help our team evac client and bring him to Arasaka's private hospital." - I started briefing him about whole situation.

Flight was very short and by the end of briefing we have reached Wellsprings and were 20 secs away from Scavengers meat shop. On arrival I saw a two Trauma Team Security Specialists unable to get into one of the corridors of 5 floor building. What even worse they had limited ammo left on them due to very small retaliation fire from their side while enemies kept unleashing lots and lot of bullets.

"Trauma Team A-5 requesting target highlight. Do you copy that?" - Alex started contacting Security Specialists.

"Trauma Team A-2 reporting. Targets will be highlighted via lasers and our Smart Links. Sending now."

"Love working with professionals. No screams or panic. Guys get ready for combat manoeuvre and quick landing." - Alex said and we could feel engines roaring louder while Gatling gun in front started rotating and unleashed hail of bullets next second.

"Luther when we land take one of ammo crates. Our colleagues seems to be low on ammo. I will grab two crates as well." - started taking crates out of their niches and attaching them using mag strips on my bag. Damn they are heavy but I have to run only for 10 meters for them so no big deal.

After pilots have finished attack dive they made a quick circle and then landed next to main entrance corridor.

I quickly jumped down feeling how my backbone almost crashed and fall out of my ass. I definitely need more training and strength enhancement. Aerodyne behind has quickly took off and continued providing fire support.

Reaching colleagues position I dropped ammo crates next to them. One of them switched positions with me and started taking out loaded magazine and grenades. I was busy keeping enemies supressed. I have run out of 4 mags when they finally completed refilling ammo and grenades.

"We are ready. Use flashbangs and frag grenades for breaching in. On count of 3." - I said preparing grenades and preparing impact frag.

Other nodded and took out flashbangs.

"1...2..3!" - I give command. Two flashbangs are out flying and explode midst air. While enemies are recovering I throw impact grenade aiming at ceiling above enemy positions. It explodes like air-burst mortal shell killing and injuring a lot of enemies.

We rush in and our smart guns make quick job of finishing all of them. Next few minutes we are busy clearing rooms and corridors till we reach butchery.

Quickly killing all ripperdocs and assistants we start looking for our client. However, I freeze when I see a pile of corpse in a basin. Missing limbs, eyes and organs. They all look like broken toys with pieces missing and everything covered in blood and detergents.

My hearts starts to beat faster and breathing pattern changes into short and quick ones.

"Markus! Man up! Markus" - I could hear something shouting at me. I reach for special stimulant pouch and take out sedatives. Thanks for drilling and training I do everything automatically and after 5 seconds I can calm down. I am cool. My mind is not shaken with this horrible blood carnival in front of my eyes anymore.

"I am fine. Markus Berkut reporting." - my voice lacks any emotions.

"Good. Now keep an eye for enemies while we try to find our client." - then they start walking towards a another pile of bodies throwing them down as if they were some debris blocking their path.

Slowly feeling of cool starts to fade off but this time I am ready and will not panic again. I keep observing corridor and I see some heavily modified borg approaching us with two assault rifles.

"Tango! Heavy Tango here!" - quick report and I start firing. But damn borg is too heavily armoured so he can just shake off most of my smart bullets. He started getting closer and closer supressing me.

"We got our client. Start retreat! Break contact!" - easy to say but that motherfuckers is like walking tank.

I decided to improvise and throw EMP at him. However, before I could throw it he started so fast that distance between us decreased to mere few meters. He crushed a wall I used as a cover and sent me flying. While flying I kept firing but still no damage to him was inflicted. I landed near operation table on a body of killed ripperdoc. My weapon was out of ammo while that borg started getting closer to me with grin on his face.

Fuck fuck fuck. What should I do. Then I saw a shotgun under the body of dead ripperdoc. Without much hesitation I took it out and fired at borg that raised his leg preparing to crush me into bloody pulp.

"AAAAAARRRRRHHHHH" - he shouted loudly while falling on his back. His leg was completely destroyed. Thanks to adrenaline in my blood I didn't care about heavy recoil of shotgun. I quickly stood up and aimed shotgun at his head.

"Hasta la vista, baby" - I pulled a trigger and his head explodes like a watermelon, well watermelon full of cables and wires.

I quickly picked up my SMG while attaching shotgun to mag strip on my back. Then I started running towards my colleagues. I saw them running and one of their EMTs were carrying a big black bin bag. Other two were carrying some containers with strange cables hanging out of them.

Finally, we are out of that shithole. I can see aerodynes landing next to us. We quickly jump in. All EMT end up in my aerodyne. They are doing some of their magic while Luther keeps looking at monitor and black bin bag. Next moment they cut it and I can a torso of heavily modified person. Everything below his stomach is missing except for cables connected containers.

"He is going for shock! Start resuscitation and nerve control protocol." - one of EMTs yells.

"Crap, blood loss is huge! We need to find the bloody leakage and cauterise."

"Not an option, his nervous system is already fucked up. So just keep pumping blood in him."

"I have found it! It is near the liver!"

"Shove your finger in there and try to reduce blood loss till we make it to hospital"

Man, it is quite fascinating to look at work of professionals especially in such dire situation. No unnecassry moves or hasty actions.

"Pilot how long before we make it to hospital."

"ETA 1 minutes and 27 seconds."

"Make it 1 minute or meat bag won't last long here."

Alex turned on boosters and I can feel how we speed up. I even had to get hold of safety straps as acceleration was so strong that I have felt possibility of falling down. Luckily that session of Need for Speed is over as I can see private hospital landing zone.

Hospital medics quickly took away client the moment we landed. I decided to take a sit and light a cigarette.

Luther crashed next to me. I offered him a cigarette which he gladly accepted. We had few moments of calm since boosters overheated engines and our bird need some time to cool down otherwise we might fall down on a way back.

"Hey, Luther why the hell did you use a bin bag? Couldn't use a stretcher?" - I wondered and asked him.

"Client was like this when we found him. A black bin bag hanging on wall with few life support machines connected to him. He was in such a mess that even taking him out could lead to death so we had to carry him like this. " - he let out a smoke and told me whole situation. -"I saw how you froze when we got there. First time seeing such meat shop eh?"

"Yeah, even braindance cannot prepare for such thing." - I still can see those piles of dead bodies and blood everywhere.

"That's some of those things you can get only through first hand experience." - he finished a cigarette and we decided to get into our little bird.

"Night City is not just lavish techno world. It is a meat grinder. Humans get in and most of them end up minced meat." - I whispered looking at floor covered in blood and used medical supplies.