Angel of the Damned

AotD - 2

         Drake approached a large pile of needles and leaves mixed in with camouflage netting.  The angel moaned softly as Drake lowered her onto a patch of grass and set his pack beside her, careful not to pinch the tube running between the mask and tank. He grabbed the netting and ripped it away to reveal an old Alliance Solar Rover with a cracked solar panel on the roof.  Drake pulled his pack on and placed the angel in the passenger seat of the rover. Dropping his pack into the footwell, Drake closed the door and shoved it into the rovers storage compartment. He walked around the jeep style vehicle and sat in the driver seat, pulling the door closed behind him.

       Keying the ignition and sealing the rover, he reached up and thumbed the helmet release.  It split apart and slid back into the suit.  Twisting the valve shut on the oxygen tank, he removed the mask from the angel’s face.  White hot pain coursed up his side.  His hand clenched around the bloody gouges in his side before he pulled it away, a new layer of blood covering his glove. The angel’s eyes flickered over to him as he looked at the blood on his fingers.  Her eyes were full of pity as they stared at him.

       “Don’t look at me like that,” he said and activated the onboard computer.

       “Drake, the ASR is online.  Is that you, or do I need to activate the defense measures?”

       “Yeah, Nathan, it’s just me.” He touched his ear. “The Lycan found food: an angel or an angel half breed of some sort. She’s in bad shape.  If she dies, the angels will bring down their wrath upon us.  Tell that corrupt asshole Draco that the jobs done and I will be around to collect payment within a few hours.”

       “How much did we lose? Nathan asked.

       “About twenty shells,” Drake said.  “I’ll have a more precise count when I get back.” He brought up the GPS.

“Okay.”

       “See you soon, Nate.” He put the rover into drive and glanced at the angel, who was now unconscious in the passenger seat.  He guided the rover away from the sheltered spot beneath the trees and onto the old road. He kept an eye on the angel.  Her silver eyes flickered open and shut as her breathing fluctuated.

       “Come on, stay with me,” he told her.

       She mumbled something that sounded like a name but Drake couldn’t be sure. He looked over at the angel and pushed the rover faster.  The forest thinned and concrete structures dotted the trees before it vanished completely and the old road turned into a cracked and ruined street.

       “Where are we?” the angel whispered.

       “Almost to a safe place,” Drake said.  He reached over and squeezed her hand.  He felt her pull her hand out and pressure increase on his side.  His gaze snapping down to see her fingers tracing over the punctures in the suit, her blood streaking it.  She looked up at his face. “You’re badly hurt.”

       “Relax, I’ll be able to help you soon,” he said.  He returned it to her hand to her side

       After a few minutes they approached a chain link fence surrounding the only entrance to the city of Arkane, and Drake brought the rover to a stop.  Several armed men stood around the gap in the fence’s  perimeter, their nanosuits old and worn.  Drake reached down and grabbed the mask from the top of the oxygen tank.  He slipped it over the angel’s face and spun the valve open.  He thumbed the mask release and his mask slid back into place.  Two of the men walked over, each going to a different side of the rover.  The one on Drake’s side rapped on the glass with the barrel of his gun. Drake exited the rover and leaned against it.

       “If it isn’t the mutt come crawling back,” the guard sneered.  “It looks like he brought a bitch back with him.  Who is she?” He motioned to the angel, and his partner rapped the window.  The angel lifted her head, cracking her eyes open for a moment before her head rolled back to the side.

       “I don’t know her name,” Drake started, “but she’s badly injured.  I brought her here for medical attention.” He looked over at her and grimaced at the silver blood streaking down her face and soaking her clothes.

       “She ain’t human,” the other guard remarked. “Last I checked, only those damned bloodsucking leeches had silver blood,” the man said.

       Drake ground his teeth. “A vampire would have recovered and sucked me dry by now.  So let me in.”

       These purist bastards would kill her if they knew she wasn’t human.

       The men looked at each other before motioning to the other guards who raised the gate.

       “How hard was that?” Drake asked.  He got back into the rover and drove the rover through the checkpoint.  He brought the rover to stop in a row of similar vehicles next to the tunnel entrance.    He shut down the rover and there was a pop as the air seal released.  He got out of the rover and shut the door behind him. He opened the other door and retrieved his pack  first, shouldering it before he scooped up the Angel.  She curled in towards him, groaning softly as he descended the cracked concrete steps toward to the second checkpoint.

       The huge steel doors were covered in graffiti and posters.  A retinal scanner on the wall scanned his eye and there was a solid thunk as the lock disengaged and the door slid back.  Drake stepped into a small antechamber lit by a dull red light next to a second door.  The light flashed red and then green.  Drake reached up and thumbed the mask release button under his chin.  He opened the inner door, balancing the angel in his arms.

       The girl shrank away from the explosion of sound and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.  Small blankets and boxes stacked against the walls of the subway station served as homes and held invaluable possessions. Drake walked past the grime smeared faces of the city’s occupants.   Dull lights flickered overhead giving off enough light for Drake to see a few feet ahead of himself.  

       Several women grabbed his arms and pleaded with Drake for any money he could spare as he walked.  Children stared up at him, their eyes wide and  faces filled with despair, except one little girl, who sat in a dirty, faded sundress.   Her eyes brimmed in happiness as she brushed the hair of a doll smiling as she did so.

       Drake turned and opened a door into a well-lit hallway.  The cries and pleas of the occupants faded as the door shut behind him.  Several offices lined the hallway, a young couple exiting the one each holding the hand of a child barely two years of age.  They diverted their eyes at the sight of Drake and the angel in his arms.