Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 21: Skirmish

I take the map that Orion gave me and hand it to Tori. She knows the city better than I do. We step outside, waving Orion goodbye, and stepping down the front steps. The guards watch us walk down the concrete walkway, still with their stupid helmets on.

     Then, gunfire rings out, and I instinctively duck behind a railing. I look around for the others, finding them hiding in a different place. I get my new rifle, unslinging it, and aim down where I can.

     There were about 5 guys outside the gates, shooting at the kid guards. The helmets had protected them. Maybe they weren't that stupid.

     I take a shot, knocking one down as he grips his chest in pain. He looked to be about my age. I felt terrible, but not it was gone when I saw one of the guards fall off their post to their death. They had been shot by that guy.

     The guy I shot falls to the ground, blood spewing to the ground. Another one of them sees me, but I duck and avoid a fatal gunshot. I wanted to save as many bullets as possible, so I move into the open and fire at the men.

     The second guy falls from my bullet, and Blake neutralizes the fourth. I quickly aim and hit the third one, square in the ribs. The fifth guy fired at me, grazing my arm and drawing some blood. I fire at him, and he drops his gun in pain. It had gone into his shoulder.

     Skippy and some of the others like Kemora and Orion rush out, guns drawn. About half of them go to loot the guy's bodies. The other half starts to do something with the gate. Kemora walks to me.

     "You Alright?" She asks.

     "Yeah." I say, looking at my arm. He had made a small indent that broke the skin but nothing in muscle or bone. "I'm good."

     I stand up and see the other half run in with their loot, and the others close the gates. I'm confused as to the purpose until I see Z's rushing out of nearby buildings. A lot of them. The gates shut, and the Z's start banging on the metal.

I just killed 3 guys.

     "Inside!" I hear from Orion, and we all rush inside the courthouse. It was a crowded run, but eventually I get through. I see my team, and walk over to talk.

     "You all Alright?" I ask them.

     "Yeah." They say in consensus.

     "They nicked my arm, but it's fine." I add, and Tori looks at it. It had already started to scab up, and the bleeding was at a minimal. I rip a small piece of material from my shirt, and start to wrap it all around the wound.

     "How's the gun?" I hear. I turn around and see Skippy. He was holding a sniper. I assumed it was his.

     "Took down three of them." I say. "Good right?"

     "Yeah." I hear him say as I reload it. "Well, I guess you all need to get going."

"Only problem is.." Orion says. "The sickos are crowding the exit."

"There must be more than one way out, right?" I ask.

"I mean, if you count the sewers." Orion says. "But that's dumb. Ton of sickos down there."

"Why not just climb the fence?" Adam asks. "Like, other side of building, climb fence, out."

     "That's a tall fence, Adam." Catey says, studying it. "But I guess we could try."

     "Any other plans?" Adam asks.

     We were all silent, except for Orion. "You know." He begins. "You're always welcome to stay until they're gone, or for the day." He says.

     "We appreciate the offer." I say, getting a little sick of it. "But we really need to get going."

      "Alright." He says, getting some cables. "Suit yourself."

     We grab the cables and walk to the west courtyard. The other kids there watch us while we try to scale the fence. It was about 12 feet high, so it could be worse. I throw the cable up onto the wall around a post. It loops around, giving me a secure way to climb to the other side.

     My hands find themselves scaling the cable and my feet planting themselves against the wall. I had rappelled on a vacation before, but this had... many less safety precautions.

     I reach the top of the fence, straddling the wall and moving the cable from one side to the other. Then, I shimmy down to the street below, my pistol ready at all times. Tori and Blake make the climb as soon as I do, so we have to wait for Catey and Adam.

     Once I'm to the ground it toss the cable back over the fence to the others. Even over here, we could still hear how many Z's were piling up near their gate. No wonder they built a wall. It's worked for them so far.

     Thankfully, no Z tried to ambush us while we were climbing down. The other two made it to the ground safely, most of us looking unfazed. Except for Catey.

     "I hate rappelling." She says, and Adam laughs.

     "It's fine." He says. Carey's eyes flick towards him. "Maybe you'll figure it out some other time."

     "Yeah, how about no time?" Catey says, giggling.

     "Hold up." I say, noticing a crowd of Z's. They were near the first on ramp to the highway. Damnit. "We're gonna need to find another way onto the bridge."

     "Where can we go?" Blake asks as Tori opens up the map.

     "Just keep following Cadman Plaza." Tori says. "There's an on ramp."

     "Great." I say. "But we need to make a detour to not be seen by them."

     "Ok." Blake says. "I have an idea."

     "What is it?" Catey asks.

     "Do you guys have an elastic string or a rubber band by chance?" He asks. We all look stumped and search our bags. "No? Damn." He mutters. "Okay, no diversion then. Let's just get around them."

     "We'll go through the building." I say, already running in that direction. I enter a corner building, walking through to a back exit onto Clinton Street. Then I follow it around the intersection. The Z's never notice.