Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XX

"I'm telling you guys, this place is so wonderful. We've gotta spend a weekend here sometime," Avery says.

"Whatever. Now-" Luke starts to say, but the most unlikely of things stops him.

The sound of barking.

ELLE

Music: Last Evil from Gradius ReBirth

There are a lot of unpleasant sounds in this world. Although "unpleasant" might be the wrong word to use here. "Absolutely horrifying" seems more appropriate. Because this sound isn't just one dog barking, but more than one dog. A LOT of dogs.

My hand shoots to Sam's as we turn in the direction of the barking that's starting to get louder and louder. A group of at least a couple dozen dogs, all of them either Beagles, Spaniels, or other house dogs, are charging right for us, barking like crazy. We all have our standard weapons on us, but there's simply no feasible way to take down all of the dogs before they reach us.

However, when the dogs do reach us, they don't really do a whole lot. They mostly just pounce on us or leap onto our bodies and just run us over. And for dogs that are about a fifth of our height, they've got quite a powerful shove. Some of us fall over from the knockbacks, and a few unlucky people like myself have to deal with getting scratched and clawed on. None of the dogs make any effort to bite us, which I'm grateful for.

This dog ambush only lasts for about fifteen seconds. Once the dogs have all left, we stand back up and brush ourselves off. "Okay, they have to be somewhere around here," Heath says, and we all nod.

"Guys! Over there!" Shanna yells, pointing in a random direction. Following her fingers shows us Brooklyn tied to a tree just a few feet away. The ten of us start running in her direction...

And then get halted by a robotic wolf that literally leaps in out of nowhere. It cocks its head back and then gives us a lion-like roar. It starts slowly walking in a circle around us, making computerized growling noises, its yellow eyes burning into our heads.

Before the wolf gets a chance to strike, Heath fires a round of bullets at it. Only a few hit, and one of them does make a hole, but none of them do any major damage. The wolf faces Heath and lunges at him, tackling him and pinning him to the ground. Skylar rushes to his defense and gives the wolf a swift kick, creating another hole in it. The wolf just gets back up and starts snarling at her.

I pulled out my vial of pepper spray, thinking back to when we caused that one cabin to catch on fire. I dive for one of the holes and spray it into it. This causes the wolf to short-circuit for a second, spazzing out. When it's finished, its eyes turn red and it starts spitting out... dog poop.

"Ew..." I squeal, backing away.

Luke ends up getting the last laugh. He creates his sword arm and slashes it onto the wolf, managing to slice it completely in half. It looks less disgusting since it's a robot, but just the thought of it makes me feel queasy.

At some point during the battle, Avery and Mackenzie are able to get Brooklyn untied and ungagged. She pants, "Thank you," and is barely able to stand upright.

"Let's get you home, quickly," Sam says. With that, we all start our trek outside of the forest.

---

Music: Power of Anger from Salamander Arcade

Okay, think of the thing you're scared of most (an object, not a scenario or thought). Now imagine that you're in a train car full of that object. Terrifying, right?

Well, that's our friend Brielle right about now.

Back in Washington, Brielle has been riding with Srout and his circus team for the past two hours. Previously, they had ridden on the subway for around a half hour, then got off and found their "circus train" (cause those still exist), and have been on the road to Vancouver since. Srout didn't trust Brielle around the circus animals, so of course, the most logical place to place her is in the car with all the clowns, right?

Yeah, maybe not the smartest idea on Srout's part.

Most of the clowns are not in their costumes at the moment, and instead are just wearing plain white tank tops and shorts. A few of them have remains of makeup still on their faces. One or two of them are only half-shaven, and that combined with the somber looks on their faces gives Brielle the chills.

The clown sitting next to Brielle glances in her direction and notices how frightened she is. "What, you got a problem with us, girl?" His deep voice is enough to make anybody wet their pants.

Brielle looks at him with wide eyes and slowly shakes her head no. The clown shakes his head and mutters to himself, "Child." Brielle just goes back to looking down on the floor, thinking about her younger sister and continuing to pray that she's still safe, and that these crazy lunatics haven't gotten her yet.

(okay, seriously, this would've been so much better in Brielle's POV, Viper)

(just keep going, damn it)

Eventually, Brielle decides that she's had enough of sitting in here with these bozos, and opens the curtain to poke her head inside the head car, where Srout is sitting along with the train conductor. She whispers, "Is there room for me in there?"

Srout gives her a funny look for about a second before rolling his eyes and muttering, "Go ahead." Brielle silently thanks him and makes her way through the curtain, taking a seat on a small bench by Srout. Unlike the other clowns, he has now changed into a jacket and has fixed up his hair, making him slightly more appealing to be around.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes, with only the sounds of the train to accompany them. Brielle decides to try seeing what she can get out of this guy. "So, uh, you know the man who brought me here?"

Srout doesn't look at Brielle, but he does respond. "Yep. Been a pal of mine since high school. I've got a bit of a love-hate relationship with the man. He's a bit on the whacko side."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Brielle says, choking a laugh. She then adds, "Well, if he's such a crazy man, why are you going through with this?"

Srout leans back in his seat and sighs. "That's just the way his business works. One time, a bartender let one of their girls escape, and she was unfortunate enough to have him find out. The next day, she and her family were found dead in a dumpster. It's vicious what lengths this man is willing to go to."

Before Brielle says anything else, Srout turns to face her and sternly tells her, "And don't even think about trying to pull a fast one on me. I'd prefer for me and my family to stay alive, thank you very much."

That was not what Brielle was going to say next, but she still slumps back in her seat, defeated. Srout stops talking to her, leaving Brielle alone with nothing but her thoughts.

Fun chapter, and a nice little throwback to Taken Away to top it all off. Things are going to start heating up soon, so stay tuned as always.