The Salvation

Chapter 42

|Andrew|

The gunshots already raged through the night barely ten minutes after they snuck into the camp. Andrew wanted to scream at Felicia and gloat about how right he was and wrong she was. The guards came thick and fast, opening fire at the very sight of them. The rain was both friend and foe, acting as a way for Andrew and Felicia to mask their actions from the soldiers, but the deceitful rain had the same effect for the soldiers, making both parties able to sneak around unknown to the other. Andrew shot two guards down and hurried down a trench dug by the soldiers. Felicia took cover behind a tent. The soldiers were numerous, more than Andrew had originally expected. The five hundred seemed a thousand in reality.

Felicia hurried across and dived into the trench next to Andrew, shooting with her handgun at anyone she could see. A day ago the rain was soft, but this night it had picked up slightly. Andrew shot at two soldiers coming into the trench. The rain washed the blood from all their bodies as soon as it hit. Andrew felt a bullet skim past his left bicep, and shot back with his AK-47. Andrew backed down the trench, Felicia close behind him as he moved. They moved in between the helipads lined with helicopters, some of them starting with their blades spinning in the angry rain. Andrew looked for the first helicopter he could find that wasn't manned. They're readying an escape...

Andrew looked up at a helicopter, beige and armed with miniguns and missile launchers, without a pilot. Andrew climbed up the side of the trench, grabbing Felicia's arm and pulling her up next to him. Andrew climbed the steps to the helipad and opened the door to the helicopter. Two firm and layered hands grabbed Andrew by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the side of the helicopter. Andrew fell back and seen the same figure all in Onyx uniform right hook Felicia.

Andrew charged forward, tackling the Onyx guard, but four more were there just as quick to restrain him. Andrew reached for his combat knife, but one of the Onyx guards grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Andrew screamed in agony as his arm was dislocated and another guard was pounding his stomach with muscled arms. One of the guards grabbed Felicia and pinned her against the helicopter, kneeing her in the back.

"Enough!" A familiar voice boomed as fifteen more Onyx guards hurried onto the helipad, assault rifles trained. Two people were behind them, one was the instantly recognisable Deborah Fisher and the other was a woman in a suit holding an umbrella over her head. Andrew assumed the woman was just some servant. "Let them go!" Her Onyx guards dropped Andrew and Felicia. The two fell together to recover themselves, their muscles aching.

Andrew climbed to his feet, pulling Felicia up with him. "President Fisher... Long time no see..." Andrew greeted over the rain as Felicia relocated his arm, painfully.

"What you're doing is highly illegal, and might I remind is punishable by death!" Deborah warned sternly, her umbrella woman standing still as not to aggravate her master.

"Sorry, I'm not caught up on your laws..." Andrew defended rudely. "I don't personally fall under the United Wasteland..."

"You do actually." Deborah turned to her Onyx guards. "Bring them into my personal tent, Miss Lloyd is waiting for us there." The Onyx guards followed her orders instantly, grabbing Andrew and Felicia and dragging them through the camp to Deborah's tent, where another woman was waiting. The woman had brown hair tied into a neat bun with two bangs out, she was wearing a business suit. Deborah stood next to her, drier than any of her guards or Andrew and Felicia. "This is my Head of Affairs, Katrina Lloyd. She knew about your arrival before you had even left Glade."

"How?!" Felicia asked, shocked.

Katrina Lloyd smirked. "That's Class 5 Authorisation, I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that you coming here to steal one of President Fisher's helicopters is unnecessary." Katrina informed.

"Then I guess you don't know what's coming..." Andrew said as he shrugged the Onyx guards off him.

"On the contrary, we do Mister Pratt." Deborah confirmed. "The Apex is coming for Colorado City, and we need some help stopping it."

Katrina stepped forward. "We're going to just give you a helicopter Mister Pratt, assuming you can pilot one." Katrina continued. "Callus Mariartus is a-"

"We know who Callus fucking Mariartus is, get to the point!" Andrew snapped back angrily.

Katrina frowned at him. "He is leading a team to rig a trap in the city for The Apex, however there's a chance he might be forced to evacuate if The Apex arrives too early." Katrina continued explaining. "Unknown to him we're setting up a more trustworthy back up plan."

Andrew sighed. "What do you need us to do?"

"If The Apex arrives and Callus is driven out of the city, he will leave behind a half rigged reactor beneath the hospital which needs to be activated. You have one of Callus' smartphones, do you not?" Deborah asked. Andrew nodded. "We will call you and tell you what needs to be done, but it's a two man job. One person will need to keep The Apex busy and very well distracted whilst another completes the job Callus mightn't be able to."

"Wait so this Apex thing is real?" Felicia asked.

Deborah showed them a video, one of The Apex crushing soldiers. Andrew gulped at the ferocity of the beast, but Felicia just stood and watched, aghast. "As you can see it's become hostile to humans. When I seen it, I didn't believe my eyes. I was there when it escaped from an underground facility..."

"The one near Colorado City? I was there too... I watched it break from the ground and stand up to block out the moon from sight, it's eyes were..." Andrew stopped.

"Red." Deborah confirmed with the same concern in her face. "Andrew I can't trust Callus, but I can trust you..."

Andrew looked at Felicia, who nodded. "We'll do it."