Cure for a Nation

Chapter Thirteen

The storm was letting up as Daniel and Claire slid down the side of a fallen Destroyer that blocked the street leading to the Imperium headquarters. After a full minute of navigating the wet steel of the war machines legs, Daniel finally dropped down to the street and surveyed his surroundings with the blue light attached to his chest piece. He heard a quiet thump behind him and looked up to see Claire bouncing off of the Destroyers leg and falling when she wasn't ready. He caught her with an "oof" and set her down gently on the ground. He patted her on the helmet and drew his carbine again before stalking down the street. Claire followed, all too aware that their light made them easier to see from a distance. What lay beyond the circle of light Daniel cast around him was a mystery to Claire and she began to feel more and more uneasy. They were still walking down a street, that much was certain to her, but she began to wonder how wide the street was. The rain finally stopped falling but the clouds had yet to pass. Claire noticed there were many more robots around her and she had to take care to walk around craters in the asphalt. The robots were sometimes laying in piles as tall as her and the street was peppered with bullet holes. Daniel came to a stop. "We're here," he grunted over his shoulder. Claire looked around eagerly but it was still pitch black beyond Daniels light. He took notice and dimmed his light much to her displeasure. "You're not going to want to see this," he said quietly before pressing on. He clambered over a barricade, his boot kicking a mounted machine gun and spinning it on its creaky hinges. Before the light got far enough away, Claire looked back and saw that the entire barricade was covered in fallen Imperium soldiers in destroyed armor. She gulped and took care not to fall too far behind Daniel as he climbed over a Valkyrie's cannon. There were many more robots than there were soldiers scattered about on the floor and Claire wondered what the soldiers felt when their own robots turned on them. She looked up again and saw an Imperium soldier standing in front of her, making her jump. Daniel laughed. Claire scowled. It was Daniels reflection on the shattered cockpit of a fallen Valkyrie. They spent the next five minutes climbing over barricades and walkers, bullets and shells, robots and soldiers until they came to a set of stairs. The steps were destroyed, reduced to piles of rubble with only a few smooth spots showing. "Holy crap," Claire groaned as she caught her breath, "how much farther?"
"Just at the top of the steps is headquarters," Daniel explained, casting looks into the darkness.
"Ugh. Why is it so far?"
"The square was designed to hold walkers as a last defense. Did you see that?"
Claire looked around but couldn't see anything past the glow of the glow stick on Daniels chest.
"Nope," she said as she knelt down, "now let's take a break."
Daniel picked her up and set her on her feet again. "No, come on," he said as he dimmed his light even further, "we aren't safe here. Now move." Claire obeyed, noting the hard edge to his voice. What did he see, she wondered as she ran up the destroyed steps as fast as she could. She looked over her shoulder for a brief moment and saw a quick flash of orange in the distance. Bandits, she thought, that's what he saw. She began to notice more and more lights popping up far away until they were surrounded. She heard a distant pop and she saw Daniel duck his head slightly. "Faster!" He commanded, taking the steps three at a time. There was another pop and the dirt at Claire's feet flew up onto her pants, making her jump. She saw Daniel vault over something ahead of her and she saw at the last second it was a barricade and leapt over it and landed on the discarded armor of an Imperium soldier. Daniel was kneeling nearby, peeking over the edge of the barricade at the distant glow of the bandits lanterns. "You good," he asked as he stared down the sights of his carbine.
"I think so," Claire answered as she gathered her wits.
"Then come on, let's get inside."
Claire followed close behind as Daniel ran up to the wall of a building. It was concrete and riddled with bullet holes and burn marks and in the center was a massive door. It was a steel wall with a small number pad to the side of it. Daniel pushed a series of buttons but to no avail. The door wouldn't respond. "Shit," he muttered beneath his breath as a bullet whizzed into the wall beside him. "What?" Claire asked, out of breath.
"Doors are jammed shut," he explained.
"Can we find another entrance?"
"I don't think so. Not right now, at least. We're surrounded on all sides."
"Can you fix this?"
"Maybe if I had time."
Another bullet snapped even closer to the two, making them flinch. "Which we don't have. Come on," Daniel said as he ran back to the barricade. Claire moved to follow but something held her back. There was an odd marking in the wall beside the number pad and it seemed to call to her. "Whoa," she breathed as she held a hand to it. She rested a hand against the wall and the marking began to glow red. It was a circle with a thumb print on the top of it and with strange symbols spiraling across the outside of the circle. "It's a lock!" She shouted suddenly, drawing Daniels attention back to the door. "Claire!" He yelled as the distant pops started to sound like a hailstorm, "get back here!" The bandits in the distance whooped and hollered as they approached like an army of heavily armed apes. Claire took a step towards Daniel but looked back at the lock uncertainly. "I think I can get this open," she yelled over her shoulder. "What!?" Daniel shouted as he fired blindly over his shoulder, giving pause to the distant bandits for a moment. "I can open the door," she yelled as she crouched beneath the lock, "can you keep them back?" Daniel sighed and looked at where Claire said a lock was. All he could see was a blank wall beside the useless number pad. I wish I had a better idea, he thought as he rolled his shoulders. "I'll do my best," he answered finally before turning back to the fighting and letting Claire chase her rabbit.