Septiplier One-Shots

Choices PT I

To brighten up your days, I present to you a lovely new chapter, written by the talented author144! :D

“Jack, you have to let me go!” Mark’s voice echoed up to me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head furiously. I looked back down at him, feeling my heart drop as I saw just how crestfallen he looked at my refusal. His eyes were wide, and he looked like he was crying, or it was the rain, I wasn’t really sure. I felt my own grip slipping, and I looked up to where my other hand was cramping, gripping tight to the edge of the cliffside. The rain poured down onto the ground making the rock slippery and wet, and my grip was slowly loosening itself. “Jack, please.”
“I’m not giving up after I came this fucking far for you, Mark.” I snapped, looking back down at him. He looked both hurt and taken aback by my words, and I felt my lower lip tremble. Off the edge of this cliffside, below us and right behind Mark as I stared down at him, was the bottom of a deep ravine, a great chasm in the ground, a canyon, whatever it was. We were outside of town, we weren’t alone but the other people here weren’t exactly going to help us, either. “I came all this way, I fought for you, and dammit we’re going to get out of this.” I met his gaze again, and found it reciprocating my own hopes. We would get out of here, we had to.
“That’s cute.” a voice spoke above me, and I looked up against the rain. A man stood there, dressed in all black and weighted down by the rain and heavy tactical gear that held close to his body. He was smoking a cigarette, and leaned down to blow the smoke into my face, sending me into a fit of coughing. He stood up, flicking the butt of the cigarette into the abyss below us, and he glared down. “I’ve been pulled through hell backwards because of you, you green haired Irish fuck,” he hissed, and I spit out the bitter taste of the smoke from my mouth before glaring up at him. “Now I’ve got orders to get rid of you both, and what a precarious situation it seems we have here. A perfect opportunity.” I watched his boot come off the ground only to slam back down onto the hand that was keeping us from falling.
I tipped my head back, and my scream echoed off the stony walls below us.

....

48 hours prior

....

“Bob, what the fuck is going on?” I asked, ducking under the yellow police tape that quarantined civilians from entering. Bob turned to me, leaving Wade’s side as the tall man spoke quickly with the few police standing around him, including a sketch artist who hands were moving impossibly fast. I had arrived in America only days before, and while I was on my way to Mark’s, I received an urgent phone call. Now that I was here, I had no idea what was going on. Police were everywhere, dogs scoping out different parts of the house.
The front door was lying on the lawn, one of the windows in front of the house was shattered, and bullet holes riddled the front side of the house. The drive had been torn apart by several vehicles attempting to leave as fast as they could, and through the windows I could see that some struggled had occurred indoors, leaving the living room and the kitchen a mess. Several officers shot me a look when I ducked under the tape only to turn away when Bob welcomed me. He put a hand around my shoulder and turned me away from the commotion.
“Jack, Mark was kidnapped late last night.” My eyes widened, and Bob hushed me before I could ask several of the questions that bubbled to mind. “Shh, don’t be too loud. There’s people here.” I knew that a large crowd of people had gathered outside the police tape, curious as to what had happened. I glanced at them all, looking worried and confused. “We don’t know why, but he called Wade in attempt to get help and the phone call was cut short after some shooting. We tried to get over here from the hotel, but by the time we got here, he was long gone.”
“We’ve got a lead!” the leading officer announced, standing in the doorway of Mark’s house where there was no door, and he held up some pictures. He narrowed his eyes at Wade and Bob, and beckoned them to follow him to the black van sitting in the driveway. Bob pulled me alongside them, and we got into the van. The leader looked at me, frowning. “Who the hell is this?”
“Officer West, this is Jack. He’s another close friend of Mark’s, and he’s just as important as we are to Mark and this case.” Bob explained, and Officer West looked me over before nodding finally and leading us towards the back of the van. There was a small table set up, bolted to the floor of the van, and the other officers got in, already debriefed. West set down a map on the table top and smoothed it out before setting out some pictures of tire tracks beside them as well as witness reports. I stared, waiting as West took off his large aviator shades and set them down as well.
“Tying in what witnesses said and the tire tracks, it looks like we’ve got a black 2011 Cadillac that was headed south towards the edge of the city. Tapping into the cameras around the area, we found an abandoned warehouse where such a vehicle was parked, along with several others, and it looks like they’re waiting for further instruction.” West explained, and I nodded as Bob looked over the information. Wade was sitting silently in shock, and I looked over the map. The warehouse was circled, and I had a sinking feeling.
“What’s the plan?” I asked, and West looked at me, seemingly impressed that I was brave enough to ask such a question, and he chuckled. I looked at the map again, and Bob set down the witness reports.
“The plan is to send a team in and flush the group out towards the east where we’ll have another team waiting for stop them. We’ll attack from this side and-.” West paused in his explaining after pulling out a map of the warehouse itself, and he put his finger to one ear. He listened, and then he scowled, slamming his fist onto the table. “Fuck,” he snapped, and my eyes widened. “We can’t do that, they'll recognize us. Evidently they have turrets set up, and whoever is leading this attack has my team’s faces imprinted into its hard drive. It will shoot on sight.” West looked generally angry, and Bob coughed a small bit.
“We can’t get a new team in?” he asked, and West turned to glare at him.
“It doesn’t work that way, we can’t just order for back up troops. That would take a couple of days to find out who they don’t have registered and then a couple more to gather a new group together. Its futile, we have to think of another plan.” West snapped, staring furiously as his hands that now held his glasses again. Bob looked somber, staring down at the table, and the vehicle went silent save for the ground bumping underneath us. Was there another way in? Then, slowly, a thought dawned on me. I looked up at West.
“They won’t recognize me.” I said, and Bob stiffened next to me. “Send me in.” Wade glanced up from staring at his feet, and he and Bob shared a glance of disapproval before shooting it at me. However, West was nodding, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before slamming his fists back onto the table.
“That’s a great idea! Cameron!” West snapped suddenly, and another officer who was sitting in some seats next to us stood upright, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling. “Suit this young Irishman up to get into the building.”
“No, I have to go in without any sense that I am working for you.” I told him, and West looked at me. “Give me a weapon, maybe, but otherwise I have to go in solo and do it on my own.” West nodded, finally, and then gave the man named Cameron a single nod. Bob and Wade tried to protest, but Cameron instead led me up to where he was sitting and found me a 9 mil. He showed me how to shoot it, and changed my sneakers for a sturdy pair of boots. He gave me a knife to hide in them, and a jacket to wear that was darker than my own, better to hide in. We pulled up to the warehouse, hiding a considerable distance away, and West was beside me as we all stepped out. He clapped a hand onto my shoulder.
“You ready?” he asked me, and I nodded, staring at the warehouse from far away. I wasn’t sure if I really was, and I hadn’t thought about the possible outcomes of throwing myself into this, but I didn’t care.
I was going to get Mark back.