SNAFU: Hunters

Rook’s  heart pounded. Bang. Bang. Bang. Louder than the sound of the gunfire around him. Bang. Bang. Bang. He turned his fire to the spot Mouth had vacated while the man stuffed his leg with a Quick Clot pad and tied off the wound. Bang. Bang. Bang.

It wasn’t until he heard the screaming that he realized the sound he was hearing was not his heart at all. It was the sound of an AA12 automatic tearing down the hallway, clearing the way for their escape.

“Move it!” Deacon called, blasting a hole into a decrepit Ghoul’s chest.

Rook felt a moment of relief at seeing the man, a brief moment of reprieve. He had thought his earlier lapse had gotten Deacon killed. It was freeing to know he wouldn’t have to live with that guilt. Even more freeing to know they now had a chance, a chance to escape, a chance to make it back home. Things had been looking bleak, but now, what if . . . What if they could really make it?

He almost wanted to smile.

In that moment of relief, Rook had been distracted for a moment too long, had seen Deacon’s face change, twist and contort a moment too late, had heard the man call a warning but couldn’t make out the words in time.

If he had, Rook would have known a Reaver had ripped through a Sink Hole beside him. He would have stopped it from digging its claws into his soft abdomen. And he wouldn’t have been dragged screaming down into the Depths.

* * *

“Rook, watch out!” Boss called, spun and aimed true. Right at the head. Click. Dry. And he knew then that it was over. Rook had been torn into before Boss’s  spent mag could even hit the floor. Nothing more could be done but to save his team.

“Cypher, Mouth, we are leaving now!” He ran up and hoisted Mouth’s arm over a shoulder, pulling his Beretta 92FS.

They galloped down the hallway together to the beat of Deacon’s AA12 pounding away, broke into the stairwell and shut the metal door. They bolted it shut just in time for the beasts on the other side to slam into it. It would hold for a short while.

“We should move fast. More of those things are going to open up in here, Boss, and we got no room to fight,” Deacon said. Blood and sweat oozed down his arms.

The walls were glowing all the way up the stairwell. The team rushed upwards while the hell spawn slammed the door below.

“Where the hell were you, Deacon?” Boss demanded.

“Reaver clocked me a few floors up, Boss. Got lucky. He wanted to use me to open a Hole. I woke up before he could do it. I came as soon as I could. No bites. Don’t worry.”

The downstairs door slammed open sending a shockwave through the stairwell. Boss knew they had maybe a minute before the Reavers caught up. Maybe less if the Arachmonae pushed through first and took to the walls. He turned and started to hoist Mouth up the steps. “We need to move fast.”

“No, Boss,” Mouth said and pushed himself from Boss’s shoulder. He leveled his Mossberg pump. “You guys move fast. I’ll hold them.”

Boss waited a moment. “Deek. Trade.”

Deacon handed over his AA12 and took the Mossberg. “Do God’s work, my friend.”

“God? You know that’s not my style.” Mouth pulled open his tactical vest. Boss could see a single grenade dangling within. “I’ve got a one-way ticket and I’m taking them straight to hell with me. Get out of here.”

“Move,” Boss ordered and they took flight up the steps.

Three floors up, they heard the pounding start and all the while, Boss watched the walls glow, hoping they wouldn’t open up another hole ahead of them.

When they reached the top, the pounding stopped.

Then a powerful blast rocked the building.

* * *

Boss, Deacon and Cypher burst out onto the rooftop. Boss turned on his heel, slammed the door then wedged his empty AR against the handle. Chopper had already touched down. Three bodies lay face down between the roof entrance and the chopper.

The Reavers crashed into the door as Boss loaded into the he-lo.

They took off in time to see the door give way, Reavers and hell spawn filling the rooftop almost instantly. And through the sickly fog that encased the surrounding city, a familiar red glow spilled out, breaking free.

Boss strapped into his seat and pulled on his headset. Deacon and Cypher were already settled. Cypher sat with her computer in her lap. She looked a little shaken, but okay. Deacon had his hands clasped together in prayer. Blood dripped from between his fingers.

“Cypher, we need to organize a strike team ASAP,” Boss said, thinking of Rook and Mouth – he wouldn’t let them die for nothing.

“Already on it, Boss. I’m reporting in now to HQ and requesting Emergency Response Forces.”

Boss nodded; he had no more to say.

“What the hell happened down there, Boss?” Chopper’s voice blared strangely over the radio. “We got reports of PK-EM readings popping up all over the city.”

“Leak betrayed us, Chop. He opened a Sink Hole down there. A whole network of them.”

“Shit. That would explain the Reavers on the roof. Came out of nowhere, Boss. Four of them. Took care of it though.”