Lillian May Buxley watched Mac through slitted eyes as he flicked through the photos, noticing the sudden change in his demeanour.
She'd let him think she was asleep after he'd taken such care to ease her onto the sofa and had searched for a blanket. Actually it was a large tablecloth but that didn't really matter. It was the most care anyone had taken of her in a long while.
She wondered who he was. He'd known Hal Jackson well enough to call him by name, and Hal had obviously known him, but the ork's apparently kind nature didn't seem to fit with those kind of social circles.
Lilly watched as Mac called out for the strange creature in the basement and then disappeared out of sight.
She yawned, true tiredness finally setting over her. She'd get over today. She had before and she'd do it again, perhaps, if she held herself together she might have someone to help her.
The others from the school where she lived had been kind enough, keeping her fed and safe. She had her purpose - keeping Hal and his cronies happy.
Hal Jackson was one of Lady Catherine's bitches. The warlord had learned that rather than fight the gangs she should recruit them.
They were offered the protection of Catherine's troops and privileges in Catherine Town.
All they had to do was police their area and pay a tithe, which of course the gangs reaped from the local populous.
When the school-haven had been unable to pay Hal and his goons things had become violent and they threatened to kill someone.
Then he'd spotted the fifteen year old Lilly and had made a deal with the then leader of the school-haven; Hal would reduce the tax for the school so long as he got to have Lilly whenever he visited.
Faced with the option of having one of his people executed or letting Hal ‘have' the young girl who didn't have any connections with the other people there, he chose the latter.
Hal had given their original intended victim a beating anyway, just to remind them all who was boss, then his men had dragged the kicking and screaming Lilly into a disused part of the school and he'd raped her.
In hindsight she realised that Hal could have been much worse. He could have beaten her and forced everything, but in fact he had taken his time and coaxed the young girl into relenting.
Perhaps he had considered that to be her acceptance and let him rationalise what he was doing.
The people at the school couldn't look her in the eye when she returned.
When Hal came the next time, a month or so later, and had once again threatened to kill someone if the tax wasn't paid, Lilly had come forward despite earlier protestations from her peers. She had gone with Hal with only the faintest of resistance, having prepared herself for the inevitable.
The Leader of the school-haven hung himself that night.
Even so, Lilly had gone with Hal the following three times he'd come. Allowing herself to go through the ordeal knowing that her actions were preventing further harm coming to the small community in which she lived.
Although no one ever talked about it, she knew that the others felt shame. They did however ensure that she was always looked after.
It was just a shame that she'd gone out this morning, knowing that Hal was due. She couldn't bring herself to go with him again and so she'd snuck out of the school. But they'd found her anyway.
Now, laying on the soft sofa her lids becoming heavier she glanced at the pump action gun on counter top and half toyed with the idea of stealing it and getting out of here, look after herself. Who was she kidding, no one could last alone in the zone.
She rolled over and went to sleep.
IC- Signs of the Underground
Moderators: arcanus, Curren, Drake, Otto, Black
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
Major-General Henderson strode onto the Main Communications Office aboard the Avian and spoke quietly to the dwarf who had served as his driver for two years.
To the other personnel in the MCO it looked as it often was, like two old friends engaging in small talk.
In fact Henderson was instructing the dwarf to send a coded and encrypted message to one of his militia groups on the ground.
This particular group was based in an old Coast Guard station on the Lake Michigan shore. It was a well defended outpost, secretly supplied by the UCAS military with enough defences to keep most of the other gangs from getting too close.
The dwarf sergeant major scratched absently at his short beard and sent the message.
***
Klaus peered through the huge magnifying glass at the steaming tip of the soldering iron.
His steady hand guided it and the solder to the tiny wire poking through the circuit board. There was a faint hiss and a puff of smoke and he pulled back leaning into his chair back.
"Try that,"he instructed.
The full automaton glanced down at its arm and suddenly the hand folded back out of the way and the barrel of a machine gun slid forward out of the machine's forearm.
<THAT IS BETTER> HAL said, reversing the process.
Klaus grinned. "Of course it is."
Suddenly the military grade comms unit to his left sprang to life, gave a soft chime and an amber light flashed on the console to indicate the receipt of an incoming message.
He read it, made a few notes and then climbed the ladder to the old control room.
Perched like a ship's bridge on the top of the building the control room was now being used as a rec space for the Signs.
Ty was there.
Klaus passed on the message.
The next window in the defence screen was in three days.
To the other personnel in the MCO it looked as it often was, like two old friends engaging in small talk.
In fact Henderson was instructing the dwarf to send a coded and encrypted message to one of his militia groups on the ground.
This particular group was based in an old Coast Guard station on the Lake Michigan shore. It was a well defended outpost, secretly supplied by the UCAS military with enough defences to keep most of the other gangs from getting too close.
The dwarf sergeant major scratched absently at his short beard and sent the message.
***
Klaus peered through the huge magnifying glass at the steaming tip of the soldering iron.
His steady hand guided it and the solder to the tiny wire poking through the circuit board. There was a faint hiss and a puff of smoke and he pulled back leaning into his chair back.
"Try that,"he instructed.
The full automaton glanced down at its arm and suddenly the hand folded back out of the way and the barrel of a machine gun slid forward out of the machine's forearm.
<THAT IS BETTER> HAL said, reversing the process.
Klaus grinned. "Of course it is."
Suddenly the military grade comms unit to his left sprang to life, gave a soft chime and an amber light flashed on the console to indicate the receipt of an incoming message.
He read it, made a few notes and then climbed the ladder to the old control room.
Perched like a ship's bridge on the top of the building the control room was now being used as a rec space for the Signs.
Ty was there.
Klaus passed on the message.
The next window in the defence screen was in three days.
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arcanus
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1775
- Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:18 pm
The Curse of Remembering
Mac stood in the doorway, his conversation with 'Red' had been typically one sided, 'Selfish ape' he mentally chuckled to himself.
He turned his head "Selfish thats what you are" he threw the fond joke down the basement staircase, a series of wookie like protestations arose, following by that same sad crooning.
A sadness settled over the once great resturant, casting his vision back to the ravaged walls, 'Mac' looked with renewed interest.
The damage hadn't been caused by just small arms fire, no this was heavy stuff, holes the size of cueballs sat within thick old masonry.
Careful not to wake 'Lily' he gingerly stepped across the floorspace.
His academic mind clicked in, analysing what he saw, 'There were two fights' he thought, the evidence was unclear to the untrained eye, but a Major in sciences was useful for something.
The mold growing upon the larger bullet holes was older, nature had had longer to assert her control, the small arms damage and the unknown grooves were newer, less moss and lichen.
Hades looked down at the photo, "So the question remains did you make it!", a sense of loss gripped 'Hades' strongly at that point, a sense of guilt!
When the rumour that Granite and Co had got out, had reached the Signs they were bitter and betrayed, but now, what if they hadn't.
That thought hung in the air for quite a while, while 'Hades' and 'Red' returned their vigils.
He turned his head "Selfish thats what you are" he threw the fond joke down the basement staircase, a series of wookie like protestations arose, following by that same sad crooning.
A sadness settled over the once great resturant, casting his vision back to the ravaged walls, 'Mac' looked with renewed interest.
The damage hadn't been caused by just small arms fire, no this was heavy stuff, holes the size of cueballs sat within thick old masonry.
Careful not to wake 'Lily' he gingerly stepped across the floorspace.
His academic mind clicked in, analysing what he saw, 'There were two fights' he thought, the evidence was unclear to the untrained eye, but a Major in sciences was useful for something.
The mold growing upon the larger bullet holes was older, nature had had longer to assert her control, the small arms damage and the unknown grooves were newer, less moss and lichen.
Hades looked down at the photo, "So the question remains did you make it!", a sense of loss gripped 'Hades' strongly at that point, a sense of guilt!
When the rumour that Granite and Co had got out, had reached the Signs they were bitter and betrayed, but now, what if they hadn't.
That thought hung in the air for quite a while, while 'Hades' and 'Red' returned their vigils.
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
"Jesus!" Mac blasphemed as the full picture of the devastation within the restaurant.
What the hell could have warranted this type of assault?
A lot of the damage had been covered and patched. So this place had been reoccupied. The assault hadn't made it to the kitchens which explained why they were still operating.
Down In the basement Hades peered into the almost pitch blackness, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the odour of decay that permeated nearly everything here.
He wanted to check the bodies to see if Curren was among them.
The lighter he used to provide light in the absence of a torch revealed a dozen dead, some bloated and rotting corpses, others looked as though they had recently perished. None of them was Curren.
He stumbled back up the stairs the stench still filling his nostrils and burst loudly into the restaurant. He made it as far as the bar and threw up.
Lilly woke with a start, sitting bolt upright, her heart pounding and the delirium of sleep still heavily upon her.
"What? What's up?" she called, eyes wide and fearful.
"Nothing," came the reply, the intensity telling the young girl not to argue.
Mac looked at the girl, the curtain/blanket pulled up over her shoulders.
"Get dressed, we're getting out of here."
Without question the girl swung her legs down and Mac noticed her bare feet.
Grabbing the shotgun he checked it was loaded and told Lilly to stay put then wandered back across the street to the mall.
There her found her old trainers, checked the size and scoured shops for shoes.
Surprisingly he found a clothing store that was only half ransacked. The security doors at the front had taken one hell of a beating. Someone had spent a lot of effort getting in here.
Cautiously he entered, shotgun leading the way, but his own efforts were for naught for whoever had broken in here had long gone. He saw why the place had been worth the trouble. The shop had an armoured fashion section that was now almost completely bare, stripped of every piece of protective clothing the looters could carry.
He hunted around for something suitable and came across some boots that looked about the right size for Lilly, and some clothes for her too, jeans, underwear, t-shirt.
Grabbing some items for himself too he then returned to the restaurant but not before piling a few items in disarray around the shop front.
There was enough left in there, mostly normal clothing but a few choice items, to warrant a return here with more bodies.
Lilly was grateful for the new clothes, the boots fit perfectly but were big and clumpy and she couldn't get them and the jeans on at the same time so she kept her skirt. The t-shirt was a little on the small side too but aside from being a bit clip and not quite long enough to reach her waist it did cover more than just he bra.
Dirty denim jacket finished off the ensemble. Looking in what was left of a mirror she didn't look too bad.
The ork sighed as he readied himself to leave. Red would take some convincing to leave, but Hades figured that this place wasn't too good even for the awakened creatures heightened constitution!
What the hell could have warranted this type of assault?
A lot of the damage had been covered and patched. So this place had been reoccupied. The assault hadn't made it to the kitchens which explained why they were still operating.
Down In the basement Hades peered into the almost pitch blackness, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the odour of decay that permeated nearly everything here.
He wanted to check the bodies to see if Curren was among them.
The lighter he used to provide light in the absence of a torch revealed a dozen dead, some bloated and rotting corpses, others looked as though they had recently perished. None of them was Curren.
He stumbled back up the stairs the stench still filling his nostrils and burst loudly into the restaurant. He made it as far as the bar and threw up.
Lilly woke with a start, sitting bolt upright, her heart pounding and the delirium of sleep still heavily upon her.
"What? What's up?" she called, eyes wide and fearful.
"Nothing," came the reply, the intensity telling the young girl not to argue.
Mac looked at the girl, the curtain/blanket pulled up over her shoulders.
"Get dressed, we're getting out of here."
Without question the girl swung her legs down and Mac noticed her bare feet.
Grabbing the shotgun he checked it was loaded and told Lilly to stay put then wandered back across the street to the mall.
There her found her old trainers, checked the size and scoured shops for shoes.
Surprisingly he found a clothing store that was only half ransacked. The security doors at the front had taken one hell of a beating. Someone had spent a lot of effort getting in here.
Cautiously he entered, shotgun leading the way, but his own efforts were for naught for whoever had broken in here had long gone. He saw why the place had been worth the trouble. The shop had an armoured fashion section that was now almost completely bare, stripped of every piece of protective clothing the looters could carry.
He hunted around for something suitable and came across some boots that looked about the right size for Lilly, and some clothes for her too, jeans, underwear, t-shirt.
Grabbing some items for himself too he then returned to the restaurant but not before piling a few items in disarray around the shop front.
There was enough left in there, mostly normal clothing but a few choice items, to warrant a return here with more bodies.
Lilly was grateful for the new clothes, the boots fit perfectly but were big and clumpy and she couldn't get them and the jeans on at the same time so she kept her skirt. The t-shirt was a little on the small side too but aside from being a bit clip and not quite long enough to reach her waist it did cover more than just he bra.
Dirty denim jacket finished off the ensemble. Looking in what was left of a mirror she didn't look too bad.
The ork sighed as he readied himself to leave. Red would take some convincing to leave, but Hades figured that this place wasn't too good even for the awakened creatures heightened constitution!
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arcanus
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1775
- Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:18 pm
Hades prophecy was more apt than he'd anticipated, it was 'Reds' whimpering growl that alerted him to something amiss.Hades wrote:The ork sighed as he readied himself to leave. Red would take some convincing to leave, but Hades figured that this place wasn’t too good even for the awakened creatures heightened constitution…
Slowly the ork turned, typically horror story-esque, then he saw it a large dark shape extending from the shadows of the ceiling.
It resembled an emense moth, combined with aspects of humanoid features, this one was truly horrifying, instead of some amalgamation of insect and man,
this one resembled a horrific combination an of insect with human parts trapped within it.
This including a face, screaming in pain or terror, upon its wings, Lily gasped in fear, the sound trapped within her throat.
GM wrote:Make a Willpower roll?
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
Hades let out a sigh and glancing at Lily said, "Here," and threw his shotgun to the young girl knowing the thing was no use to him agianst this monstrosity.Ha - who says Jimmy's dice roller is frugal?
Willpower: 18 10 5 5
On the basis of that roll:
Scooping up a broken table leg he was pleased to see a couple of screws protruding from the top end, remnants of wood still trapped between the threads.
"Okay, motherfucker," Hades said in a low threatening voice, "Lets dance!!"
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
18 MONTHS LATER...
“Goddamit, Sam! Where in the hell are they?” Lillian May Buxley paced around the room like a caged lion.
Samual Brownfeather shrugged his broad shoulders but didn't take his eyes off the road before him. He wasn't sure but he was convinced that he had seen movement among the dilapidated buildings down on the right. But that was a half hour ago, just when his shift on watch had started.
Sam moved on his seat a little adjusting the stock of his assault rifle to sit more comfortably in his shoulder. He couldn't help thinking that there was a sniper out there right now looking at his through a high powered scope, the graticule perfectly centred between his eyes.
Then again it could just have been a dog, though they seemed to be avoiding the old coastguard station these days. Many of their kin had wandered close and ended up on the roasting spit.
“Some dog would be nice tonight, don't you think?” Sam asked Lilly ignoring her perpetual pacing. She was always the same when Mac went out on a hunt or some other mission.
“What?” Lilly asked, taken by surprise.
“Dog. Wouldn't it be nice to have some meat to eat tonight?”
Lilly frowned at him. The big Salishe Shidhe indian was always hungry. “Yeah, I guess.”
It was then that she noticed how tense Sam looked. “What's up?”
Sam gave a faint nod of his head in the direction of the derelict building. “Thought I saw something. Could be nothing but, you know.”
“Want me to go get Ty?” Lilly volunteered.
“Could be a good idea,” Sam agreed.
Tyrone Beggs moved to another window and peered through his high powered binoculars. He couldn't see a thing, not a sign of anyone out there but that didn't mean there wasn't someone out there, or some thing.
“Dog?” Ty asked hopefully. There hadn't been a food drop around here for weeks and General Henderson wasn't exactly regular with his supply runs. Not that generous either.
A rumble echoed up the concrete and steel valley like thunder. No, not thunder, like a truck with half it's exhaust missing.
Ty shifted position, moving to another window to get a better view down the long approach road.
Something big and yellow was roaring up the street bashing its way through the detritus of three years of neglected humanity.
Over the angry roar of the engine Ty caught the staccato chatter of small arms fire. He glanced at Sam and Lilly. They'd both heard it.
“Lilly, tell the others and get someone up on the Fifty,” the ork instructed.
“Is that a school bus?” Sam mused.
“Goddamit, Sam! Where in the hell are they?” Lillian May Buxley paced around the room like a caged lion.
Samual Brownfeather shrugged his broad shoulders but didn't take his eyes off the road before him. He wasn't sure but he was convinced that he had seen movement among the dilapidated buildings down on the right. But that was a half hour ago, just when his shift on watch had started.
Sam moved on his seat a little adjusting the stock of his assault rifle to sit more comfortably in his shoulder. He couldn't help thinking that there was a sniper out there right now looking at his through a high powered scope, the graticule perfectly centred between his eyes.
Then again it could just have been a dog, though they seemed to be avoiding the old coastguard station these days. Many of their kin had wandered close and ended up on the roasting spit.
“Some dog would be nice tonight, don't you think?” Sam asked Lilly ignoring her perpetual pacing. She was always the same when Mac went out on a hunt or some other mission.
“What?” Lilly asked, taken by surprise.
“Dog. Wouldn't it be nice to have some meat to eat tonight?”
Lilly frowned at him. The big Salishe Shidhe indian was always hungry. “Yeah, I guess.”
It was then that she noticed how tense Sam looked. “What's up?”
Sam gave a faint nod of his head in the direction of the derelict building. “Thought I saw something. Could be nothing but, you know.”
“Want me to go get Ty?” Lilly volunteered.
“Could be a good idea,” Sam agreed.
Tyrone Beggs moved to another window and peered through his high powered binoculars. He couldn't see a thing, not a sign of anyone out there but that didn't mean there wasn't someone out there, or some thing.
“Dog?” Ty asked hopefully. There hadn't been a food drop around here for weeks and General Henderson wasn't exactly regular with his supply runs. Not that generous either.
A rumble echoed up the concrete and steel valley like thunder. No, not thunder, like a truck with half it's exhaust missing.
Ty shifted position, moving to another window to get a better view down the long approach road.
Something big and yellow was roaring up the street bashing its way through the detritus of three years of neglected humanity.
Over the angry roar of the engine Ty caught the staccato chatter of small arms fire. He glanced at Sam and Lilly. They'd both heard it.
“Lilly, tell the others and get someone up on the Fifty,” the ork instructed.
“Is that a school bus?” Sam mused.
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
The bus jerked to the right as it bounced off the hulk of a parked car.
McLarren Hades cursed as he fought the steering wheel. She was a bitch to steer with one tyre gone and one wheel buckled inward.
The screams of his passengers had died to whimpers and he was kind of glad that he wasn't so distracted.
Pulling on a chain overhead he cursed again. Instead of the deep resounding blast of the horn he got nothing, although he hoped the deafening roar of the engine would be enough to warn the others that he was coming.
His eyes began to sting with the irritating smoke flowing back from beneath the bent and twisted hood and filling the passenger compartment.
An SUV with the roof hacked off pulled up alongside the bus, the man beside the passenger letting loose with his assault rifle before the driver was forced to pull back to avoid another wrecked vehicle.
“Anyone hurt?” Mac called over his shoulder.
There were twelve of them, the survivors of just one more little enclave that had struggled to hold itself together inside the CZ in the face of roving gangs, rampant bugs, starvation and more recently Lady Catherine's recruitment drives.
There were also two other members of the Sign's Gang.
Before anyone could answer, if any of them had heard him over the din of the motor, he swung the bus around crashing it into the wall of the coastguard compound so that the vehicle did a good job of blocking the entrance.
The ork leaped from his seat and yanked the door open. “Everyone, out!” he yelled.
Suddenly the deafening beat of the .50 calibre machine-gun mounted on the roof of the compound hammered the air above them, even raising dust from the parking lot below. It spat it's lethal rounds out over the heads of the terrified people being ushered out of the bus and towards a door that was yanked open by yet another ork.
Not looking at the approaching vehicles for a brief moment, Lilly leaned out from behind the plate steel gun-shield and flashed a smile at Hades as he turned from the bus and looked up to see who was manning the gun. He smiled back and saw the sudden change in Lilly's expression. He was too late to do anything.
The rocket struck the back end of the bus, lifting that quarter a few feet off the ground. The ball of fire from the high explosive round caused the fuel and air inside the tank to expand violently. The tank split and the fuel ignited, sheathing the back of the bus in flame and scattering shrapnel in every direction.
Hades coughed and then winced as a searing pain in his side took his breath away. As he began to scramble to his feet, adrenaline powering his muscles he noticed the long chrome tube protruding from his abdomen. His sigh was inaudible over the screams of the people he had just rescued and over the noise of the gunfire coming from the roof and the street beyond the flaming wreckage of the bus. “Shit!” he muttered, annoyed.
Beside him a young dwarf lad, maybe fourteen years old lay dead, his body broken by the blast. Anger welled up inside Mac and he turned like a predator towards the attackers on the other side of the barrier.
But the bus was aflame now, there was no way he was going to come out of the other side of that in any fit state to fight.
The smoke was thick in the car park and Lilly couldn't make out what was happening. Neither could she see beyond the billowing smoke that the gentle wind was blowing in her direction.
“Shoot!” Lilly cursed as she climbed out from behind the gun emplacement and scampered towards the door.
Below in the chaos of the parking lot Tyrone Beggs was helping the refugees into the building. He saw Mac's face full of anger an hatred and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Easy, Mac,” he warned in a calm tone.
“Fucking Volk!” Mac fumed, the woman's name all the explanation he was going to give to his friend.
It was all the distraction Ty needed as he quickly grabbed the blood slicked length of tube, and simultaneously pulled on it whilst shoving Hades back out into the open.
Hades gave a yell of agony as the jagged edges of the metal ripped through him. He swayed, his energy deserting him but before he could fall Ty grabbed him and yanked him, in slamming the reinforced door shut as he did.
Other members of the Signs were putting up heavy steel shutters to block the ground floor windows.
Hades collapsed to the dusty ground, coughing up blood.
One of the new-comers rushed forward to help.
“Leave him,” Ty instructed.
“But I'm a doctor,” the man declared as he knelt down beside the injured ork.
“Leave him, doc,” Ty said again, voice too loud, his tone too sharp to convince the doctor.
Eventually Ty grabbed the man's arm and hoisted him to his feet. He stared into the man's eyes. “He'll be all right, doc. Just leave him.” This time the doctor seemed to realise. There was no hope for the ork, a stomach wound like that would kill him for sure here, with no facilities, no operating theatre. He would be just another of Chicago's victims.
He had no idea.
McLarren Hades cursed as he fought the steering wheel. She was a bitch to steer with one tyre gone and one wheel buckled inward.
The screams of his passengers had died to whimpers and he was kind of glad that he wasn't so distracted.
Pulling on a chain overhead he cursed again. Instead of the deep resounding blast of the horn he got nothing, although he hoped the deafening roar of the engine would be enough to warn the others that he was coming.
His eyes began to sting with the irritating smoke flowing back from beneath the bent and twisted hood and filling the passenger compartment.
An SUV with the roof hacked off pulled up alongside the bus, the man beside the passenger letting loose with his assault rifle before the driver was forced to pull back to avoid another wrecked vehicle.
“Anyone hurt?” Mac called over his shoulder.
There were twelve of them, the survivors of just one more little enclave that had struggled to hold itself together inside the CZ in the face of roving gangs, rampant bugs, starvation and more recently Lady Catherine's recruitment drives.
There were also two other members of the Sign's Gang.
Before anyone could answer, if any of them had heard him over the din of the motor, he swung the bus around crashing it into the wall of the coastguard compound so that the vehicle did a good job of blocking the entrance.
The ork leaped from his seat and yanked the door open. “Everyone, out!” he yelled.
Suddenly the deafening beat of the .50 calibre machine-gun mounted on the roof of the compound hammered the air above them, even raising dust from the parking lot below. It spat it's lethal rounds out over the heads of the terrified people being ushered out of the bus and towards a door that was yanked open by yet another ork.
Not looking at the approaching vehicles for a brief moment, Lilly leaned out from behind the plate steel gun-shield and flashed a smile at Hades as he turned from the bus and looked up to see who was manning the gun. He smiled back and saw the sudden change in Lilly's expression. He was too late to do anything.
The rocket struck the back end of the bus, lifting that quarter a few feet off the ground. The ball of fire from the high explosive round caused the fuel and air inside the tank to expand violently. The tank split and the fuel ignited, sheathing the back of the bus in flame and scattering shrapnel in every direction.
Hades coughed and then winced as a searing pain in his side took his breath away. As he began to scramble to his feet, adrenaline powering his muscles he noticed the long chrome tube protruding from his abdomen. His sigh was inaudible over the screams of the people he had just rescued and over the noise of the gunfire coming from the roof and the street beyond the flaming wreckage of the bus. “Shit!” he muttered, annoyed.
Beside him a young dwarf lad, maybe fourteen years old lay dead, his body broken by the blast. Anger welled up inside Mac and he turned like a predator towards the attackers on the other side of the barrier.
But the bus was aflame now, there was no way he was going to come out of the other side of that in any fit state to fight.
The smoke was thick in the car park and Lilly couldn't make out what was happening. Neither could she see beyond the billowing smoke that the gentle wind was blowing in her direction.
“Shoot!” Lilly cursed as she climbed out from behind the gun emplacement and scampered towards the door.
Below in the chaos of the parking lot Tyrone Beggs was helping the refugees into the building. He saw Mac's face full of anger an hatred and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Easy, Mac,” he warned in a calm tone.
“Fucking Volk!” Mac fumed, the woman's name all the explanation he was going to give to his friend.
It was all the distraction Ty needed as he quickly grabbed the blood slicked length of tube, and simultaneously pulled on it whilst shoving Hades back out into the open.
Hades gave a yell of agony as the jagged edges of the metal ripped through him. He swayed, his energy deserting him but before he could fall Ty grabbed him and yanked him, in slamming the reinforced door shut as he did.
Other members of the Signs were putting up heavy steel shutters to block the ground floor windows.
Hades collapsed to the dusty ground, coughing up blood.
One of the new-comers rushed forward to help.
“Leave him,” Ty instructed.
“But I'm a doctor,” the man declared as he knelt down beside the injured ork.
“Leave him, doc,” Ty said again, voice too loud, his tone too sharp to convince the doctor.
Eventually Ty grabbed the man's arm and hoisted him to his feet. He stared into the man's eyes. “He'll be all right, doc. Just leave him.” This time the doctor seemed to realise. There was no hope for the ork, a stomach wound like that would kill him for sure here, with no facilities, no operating theatre. He would be just another of Chicago's victims.
He had no idea.
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Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
Lilly ran into Crossroads on her way down from the roof and he handed her a shotgun. “We've got someone approaching the side entrance,” he said.
Lilly knew he meant for her to come with him, help defend the south side of the compound. She grimaced as she took a step towards the front, wanting more than anything to check the Hades was all right. But she knew what had to be done, she knew she'd have to go with the ork and help. She'd given her oath to the gang to help defend it.
Quickly she followed Crossroads.
Ty pulled back around the corner of the wall as he changed magazine. The fucking Volk, as Mac had put it. What a bunch of ass holes. Human supremacists. Bigoted ass holes, he corrected himself. The trouble was, he knew from the stories he'd heard from frightened refugees the Underground had managed to smuggle out of the city, that the Volk had a lot of men. And once they got their teeth into you, they just kept coming.
Swinging back around the corner again he fired controlled bursts out at the enemy who were swarming into the parking lot like ants. Holy shit, he thought, there's so many of them.
The block wall beside his head exploded as a bullet ripped through it. He felt a sting on his forehead and then the trickle of blood as it flowed down his temple and cheek.
Quickly he ducked back out of sight of his attackers.
The ork felt someone behind him. “How's the guts?” he asked.
“I'll live,” Hades replied savagely. “How's it looking?”
Ty looked at his best friend and shook his head. “Man! We're fucked if they keep this up. They've got a lot of folks out there and some heavy ordnance too. Three to one, them to us I guess. Sam's keeping them busy with a few others at the front door, but this place wasn't built to withstand this kind of assault. Won't take them long to push us back to the main offices.”
Hades nodded his understanding then peered around the corner. “That guy with the red bandanna. He giving the orders?”
“Yeah. I keep trying to put him down but he's a slippery fucker!”
As Hades watched about a dozen heavily armed humans ran into the parking lot, towards the vehicle garage.
“They're going to try and flank us on the right,” Ty observed. “You must have really pissed them off getting the girl out.”
“I guess so! Shouldn't have capped their el-cappo! Sorry!”
“Fuck!” Ty swore with a mixture of praise and admonishment in his tone.
After another moment watching the humans push forward Hades came to a decision. “We're fucked!” he confirmed Ty's earlier assessment. “Let's regroup at the boats.”
Ty agreed, realising that this place was lost. He limped away, the wounds he'd received about eighteen months ago restricting his movement.
Hades grabbed a HK227 from one of his fallen comrades and emptied the near ful clip in the general direction of the bad guys then scooted quickly back deeper into the building. He moved to the control room where he saw Klaus watching the monitors, keeping an eye on the attacking force.
Mac came up alongside him. “We're getting ready to bug out mate. Get yourself to the boats.”
The dwarf nodded and started gathering his tools and a few choice components he couldn't bring himself to be parted from.
Mac scooped up the mic for the mil-spec radio and dialled in the emergency frequency. “Sign One to Home Fire emergency call, over!”
With no response he called again.
“This is UCAS Containment Zone Command, who is this?”
“This is McLarren Hades. Get me General Henderson immediately,” Mac instructed, desperation in his voice.
As he waited for a reply he watch the refugees being ushered quickly towards the three waiting coastguard vessels in the covered dock. Those boats were sturdy and quick. The gang had them all fuelled and maintained ready, just ion case they needed to make a rapid departure, just like this.
If he could get the general to dispatch gunships to assist in the defence of the compound then they might just get away with not using the boats.
“I don't know how you got this frequency code, and I don't know who you are,” the voice declared. “General Henderson is not available, now get off this channel!”
“Who is this?” Hades demanded.
“Colonel Benjamin Westlake, UCAS Air Force.” the man announced proudly. “Now get off the air.”
To emphasize the point the colonel switched the frequency off.
“Mother-fucker!” he cursed.
His scowl eased as he saw Lilly come into the room, the rifle in her hands looking way too oversized.
She saw him too and looked visibly relieved. “Hey! Are we leaving?”
“We are,” Mac confirmed.
Ty came in next and handed a key to Hades. It was easier than bending down himself.
“Get going,” the younger ork order his two companions. Then he slipped to the floor pulling boxes out from under the radio bench. After that he pushed a steel plate aside and reached into a shallow hole.
What he had in his hand looked like a pistol grip, complete with a trigger and an aerial at the top.
Strangely the compound seemed dead quiet, except for the muted rumblings of the boats in the covered docks.
Instinctively Mac's hand reached for the shotgun on the bench beside him and he crouched down, using Klaus' workbench and the radio cabinet as cover.
A flicker of movement at one of the two doorways into the room drew his attention. It was the metallic object bouncing off the hard floor somewhere deeper within the room that finally alerted Hades to the real danger.
He dropped to the ground just as the grenade exploded and winced as something heavy, blown across the room by the blast, bounced off his leg.
After the near deafening boom Mac heard the cautious footsteps as the humans filed, weapons at the ready, into the room.
He crawled commando style out towards the wall, watching the boots and shoes and trainers of his attackers from under the desks.
It didn't take long for the men to come close. Mac sighed quietly. This was going to be like Urban Brawl taken to an extreme.
He jumped up mere feet from the human who flinched in surprise. When the shotgun went off it was millimetres from the man's nose.
Most of his head disappeared in a torrent of bone, blood and gore.
Hades moved quickly towards the throng of humans coming in through the door, pumping the action, pulling the trigger, pumping again, pulling the trigger.
Then the shotgun was gone, thrown at the men, distracting them for a few seconds whilst he drew his knife and crashed into the mass, fist and blade lashing out.
The snarling, brutal, raging ork caused the humans to waiver. They were used to their greater numbers inducing fear into their opponents. This lethal fury that had come amongst them was something they were not prepared for.
A gunshot, close. The bullet tore through the flesh in Hades' left arm, covering the face of the man beside him in his blood. But he didn't stop.
The sound of a fog horn drowned out the noise of the frantic fight and Hades knew it was time to go. He broke away, taking a few shots as he did so.
Some of the men who had begun to make their way towards the sound of the horn turned at the ork's thunderous approach.
McLarren bowled one of the men over, ripping the SMG from his hands as he did so. He used it to clear his path to the door, firing wildly at the men in his way, making them scatter.
He burst through into the open air, hurtling down the slope towards the wharves.
Two of the boats were already out in the lake and Mac sprinted towards the last, gunfire and a hail of bullets following in his wake.
The vessel was pulling away from the quayside before got there but the leap across easy.
The ork landed on the quarterdeck where a launch would once have been, looking like a vision from hell itself, covered as he was in the blood of many different people.
Without much of a pause Hades rummaged in his leg pocket and pulled out the strange looking pistol grip. He pulled the trigger.
On shore the earth beneath the compound shook. Moments later it erupted upwards, concrete, steel and bedrock blasted towards the sky and in the briefest of moments it was engulfed in a roiling ball of flame.
The shock wave rocked the three motor cruisers a hundred yards off the shore line.
A few feet away from the blood soaked ork a human, one of the refugees from the bus, stared at him in open mouthed astonishment.
“Hey, doc!” Hades greeted with a sardonic grin.
The doctor remained speechless.
"Mac!" Sam yelled from the wheel house. "Someone on the radio for you."
Hades moved forward through the crowded boat and took the mic. "Hello?" His voice was laced with anger.
"Hades?" came the familiar voice of General Henderson.
Lilly knew he meant for her to come with him, help defend the south side of the compound. She grimaced as she took a step towards the front, wanting more than anything to check the Hades was all right. But she knew what had to be done, she knew she'd have to go with the ork and help. She'd given her oath to the gang to help defend it.
Quickly she followed Crossroads.
Ty pulled back around the corner of the wall as he changed magazine. The fucking Volk, as Mac had put it. What a bunch of ass holes. Human supremacists. Bigoted ass holes, he corrected himself. The trouble was, he knew from the stories he'd heard from frightened refugees the Underground had managed to smuggle out of the city, that the Volk had a lot of men. And once they got their teeth into you, they just kept coming.
Swinging back around the corner again he fired controlled bursts out at the enemy who were swarming into the parking lot like ants. Holy shit, he thought, there's so many of them.
The block wall beside his head exploded as a bullet ripped through it. He felt a sting on his forehead and then the trickle of blood as it flowed down his temple and cheek.
Quickly he ducked back out of sight of his attackers.
The ork felt someone behind him. “How's the guts?” he asked.
“I'll live,” Hades replied savagely. “How's it looking?”
Ty looked at his best friend and shook his head. “Man! We're fucked if they keep this up. They've got a lot of folks out there and some heavy ordnance too. Three to one, them to us I guess. Sam's keeping them busy with a few others at the front door, but this place wasn't built to withstand this kind of assault. Won't take them long to push us back to the main offices.”
Hades nodded his understanding then peered around the corner. “That guy with the red bandanna. He giving the orders?”
“Yeah. I keep trying to put him down but he's a slippery fucker!”
As Hades watched about a dozen heavily armed humans ran into the parking lot, towards the vehicle garage.
“They're going to try and flank us on the right,” Ty observed. “You must have really pissed them off getting the girl out.”
“I guess so! Shouldn't have capped their el-cappo! Sorry!”
“Fuck!” Ty swore with a mixture of praise and admonishment in his tone.
After another moment watching the humans push forward Hades came to a decision. “We're fucked!” he confirmed Ty's earlier assessment. “Let's regroup at the boats.”
Ty agreed, realising that this place was lost. He limped away, the wounds he'd received about eighteen months ago restricting his movement.
Hades grabbed a HK227 from one of his fallen comrades and emptied the near ful clip in the general direction of the bad guys then scooted quickly back deeper into the building. He moved to the control room where he saw Klaus watching the monitors, keeping an eye on the attacking force.
Mac came up alongside him. “We're getting ready to bug out mate. Get yourself to the boats.”
The dwarf nodded and started gathering his tools and a few choice components he couldn't bring himself to be parted from.
Mac scooped up the mic for the mil-spec radio and dialled in the emergency frequency. “Sign One to Home Fire emergency call, over!”
With no response he called again.
“This is UCAS Containment Zone Command, who is this?”
“This is McLarren Hades. Get me General Henderson immediately,” Mac instructed, desperation in his voice.
As he waited for a reply he watch the refugees being ushered quickly towards the three waiting coastguard vessels in the covered dock. Those boats were sturdy and quick. The gang had them all fuelled and maintained ready, just ion case they needed to make a rapid departure, just like this.
If he could get the general to dispatch gunships to assist in the defence of the compound then they might just get away with not using the boats.
“I don't know how you got this frequency code, and I don't know who you are,” the voice declared. “General Henderson is not available, now get off this channel!”
“Who is this?” Hades demanded.
“Colonel Benjamin Westlake, UCAS Air Force.” the man announced proudly. “Now get off the air.”
To emphasize the point the colonel switched the frequency off.
“Mother-fucker!” he cursed.
His scowl eased as he saw Lilly come into the room, the rifle in her hands looking way too oversized.
She saw him too and looked visibly relieved. “Hey! Are we leaving?”
“We are,” Mac confirmed.
Ty came in next and handed a key to Hades. It was easier than bending down himself.
“Get going,” the younger ork order his two companions. Then he slipped to the floor pulling boxes out from under the radio bench. After that he pushed a steel plate aside and reached into a shallow hole.
What he had in his hand looked like a pistol grip, complete with a trigger and an aerial at the top.
Strangely the compound seemed dead quiet, except for the muted rumblings of the boats in the covered docks.
Instinctively Mac's hand reached for the shotgun on the bench beside him and he crouched down, using Klaus' workbench and the radio cabinet as cover.
A flicker of movement at one of the two doorways into the room drew his attention. It was the metallic object bouncing off the hard floor somewhere deeper within the room that finally alerted Hades to the real danger.
He dropped to the ground just as the grenade exploded and winced as something heavy, blown across the room by the blast, bounced off his leg.
After the near deafening boom Mac heard the cautious footsteps as the humans filed, weapons at the ready, into the room.
He crawled commando style out towards the wall, watching the boots and shoes and trainers of his attackers from under the desks.
It didn't take long for the men to come close. Mac sighed quietly. This was going to be like Urban Brawl taken to an extreme.
He jumped up mere feet from the human who flinched in surprise. When the shotgun went off it was millimetres from the man's nose.
Most of his head disappeared in a torrent of bone, blood and gore.
Hades moved quickly towards the throng of humans coming in through the door, pumping the action, pulling the trigger, pumping again, pulling the trigger.
Then the shotgun was gone, thrown at the men, distracting them for a few seconds whilst he drew his knife and crashed into the mass, fist and blade lashing out.
The snarling, brutal, raging ork caused the humans to waiver. They were used to their greater numbers inducing fear into their opponents. This lethal fury that had come amongst them was something they were not prepared for.
A gunshot, close. The bullet tore through the flesh in Hades' left arm, covering the face of the man beside him in his blood. But he didn't stop.
The sound of a fog horn drowned out the noise of the frantic fight and Hades knew it was time to go. He broke away, taking a few shots as he did so.
Some of the men who had begun to make their way towards the sound of the horn turned at the ork's thunderous approach.
McLarren bowled one of the men over, ripping the SMG from his hands as he did so. He used it to clear his path to the door, firing wildly at the men in his way, making them scatter.
He burst through into the open air, hurtling down the slope towards the wharves.
Two of the boats were already out in the lake and Mac sprinted towards the last, gunfire and a hail of bullets following in his wake.
The vessel was pulling away from the quayside before got there but the leap across easy.
The ork landed on the quarterdeck where a launch would once have been, looking like a vision from hell itself, covered as he was in the blood of many different people.
Without much of a pause Hades rummaged in his leg pocket and pulled out the strange looking pistol grip. He pulled the trigger.
On shore the earth beneath the compound shook. Moments later it erupted upwards, concrete, steel and bedrock blasted towards the sky and in the briefest of moments it was engulfed in a roiling ball of flame.
The shock wave rocked the three motor cruisers a hundred yards off the shore line.
A few feet away from the blood soaked ork a human, one of the refugees from the bus, stared at him in open mouthed astonishment.
“Hey, doc!” Hades greeted with a sardonic grin.
The doctor remained speechless.
"Mac!" Sam yelled from the wheel house. "Someone on the radio for you."
Hades moved forward through the crowded boat and took the mic. "Hello?" His voice was laced with anger.
"Hades?" came the familiar voice of General Henderson.
-
Hades
- New Blood
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:25 pm
“Carl,” McLarren confirmed his identity using the general's forename.
“I'm guessing from the open radio calls and the very large plume of smoke coming from your place that shit and fan have something to do with it?”
“You could say that.”
There was no humour in the ork's reply and Henderson paused for a while before speaking again.
“Did... Did you get her?” he asked tentatively.
There was yet another pause as Hades considered how he and his companions were about to get screwed over again. “Yes, general. I got her.” As he spoke the words he looked across the aft deck of the vessel to a young girl, maybe the same age as Lilly. A girl who was the general's eldest niece.
The relief in the general's voice was obvious. “All right Mac. You tell your boys I'm putting the kettle on. Keep coming due north by north-east. You'll meet an escort in about fifty miles.”
Hades didn't reply. He felt a cool hand slip into his. Looking down he saw Lilly's smoke stained face looking back up at him.
“Oh, and Mac?” came the voice on the radio.
“Yeah?” Subdued, tired.
“Thanks.”
“'Kay.” He sighed and Lilly squeezed his hand tighter.
“I'm guessing from the open radio calls and the very large plume of smoke coming from your place that shit and fan have something to do with it?”
“You could say that.”
There was no humour in the ork's reply and Henderson paused for a while before speaking again.
“Did... Did you get her?” he asked tentatively.
There was yet another pause as Hades considered how he and his companions were about to get screwed over again. “Yes, general. I got her.” As he spoke the words he looked across the aft deck of the vessel to a young girl, maybe the same age as Lilly. A girl who was the general's eldest niece.
The relief in the general's voice was obvious. “All right Mac. You tell your boys I'm putting the kettle on. Keep coming due north by north-east. You'll meet an escort in about fifty miles.”
Hades didn't reply. He felt a cool hand slip into his. Looking down he saw Lilly's smoke stained face looking back up at him.
“Oh, and Mac?” came the voice on the radio.
“Yeah?” Subdued, tired.
“Thanks.”
“'Kay.” He sighed and Lilly squeezed his hand tighter.