Richtofen continued leading the frontlines as he relished being at the helm and commandeering the group towards our goal. Primis kept me close by as he fired round after round from the barrel of his MP5K. The waves of shambling bodies erupted towards us like a turbulent sea as the undead continued in their droves. I felt my heart sink with despair as I gripped my famas gun. The flurries of bullets seemed to just be swallowed up by the hordes as nothing seemed to impede their onward march. Primis' body stiffened with apprehension at yet another empty magazine was dropped from his gun.
Undeterred by the ineffectiveness of the bullets; Nikolai disregarded Primis' woes and recklessly continued unleashing his FNFAL into the hordes. Takeo, however, made every bullet count as he carefully calculated each shot with his dwindling ammunition supplies. My famas was beginning to feel worryingly light as I tried to hold on to as many bullets as I could. I stood simply stood there - flanked by the safey of my comrades on all sides - praying for a power up. But instead, I heard the fire trap behind me power up with a rush of electricity as the lever reverted to the upright position.
Primis heard it too as he quickly indicated to Takeo and Nikolai who instinctively turned to cover him as he ran towards it. There were clusters of undead amassing behind us and the fire trap would keep them at bay - allowing us to focus on the hordes ahead. I readied my famas as we all watched the good doctor valiantly navigate the treacherous path.
He weaved himself through the trembling bodies, gnashing teeth and outstretched hands - all vying for a taste of his flesh. Once he was finally within reach, his hand crashed down on the lever as he pulled it to start. He then jumped back as the flames erupted from the ground - consuming the undead in the bright cleansing fire.
Our collective attention was now back on the hordes ahead as they streamed towards us in ever greater numbers. Richtofen, by now, had also severely depleted his ammunition supply as he happily opted to using his knife. The way he moved with such speed and grace was mesmerising. His quick swipes and sharp thrusts; he danced the dance of death as the bodies dropped to the floor one by one. Primis was now back beside me; eyeing Richtofen with a look of disgust before finally turning away.
He then launched himself into a crowd of undead as he fired the remaining rounds of his gun. Every headshot was precise and mathematical. Each bullet trajectory was instantaneously calculated and acted upon. Both men were so different yet so similar. The traits they shared had bound them as merely shades of the same man.
To my left, I quickly spotted some undead soldiers piling through the barricade. I readied my famas and fired just as one had scrambled over the barricade. As the body crumpled to the floor; a blue light emerged from the aether. Both heads immediately snapped around as Richtofen and Primis eyed the light. Upon closer inspection, I realised it was the death machine power up which temporarily granted a large silver gatling gun with infinite ammo.
Richtofen grinned as Primis glared back at him with a raised brow. The two men then sprinted for the power up as they weaved through the mass of bodies littering the ground. I watched in awe as they moved with such inhuman speed. Primis, being the closest, was the first to get there. He smiled triumphantly before smugly reaching out his arm to grab the power up. But before his fingers could graze against the blue light; he was suddenly knocked off his feet.
Richtofen had charged his way towards Primis before thrusting him out of the way with a heavy shove. He grabbed the power up with a sly grin before the gatling gun materialised in his hands. His shoulders slumped as he adjusted to the weight of the gun before I watched the barrels begin to turn. A deafening spray of bullets then suddenly shot out of the gun - decimating the hordes.
Within minutes, the tsunami of undead had been reduced to a few stragglers - clearing the path ahead. Richtofen pushed on as we all ran through the gate following closely behind him. I quickly slung the famas over my shoulder and grabbed the MP5K from chalk outline in the wall. The gun seemed to just appear from the wall and fall into my hands. Primis stood behind me and restocked on ammo before we made our way to catch up with the others.
Richtofen stood atop the steps as he lorded over the land with his new weapon. As Primis and I hurriedly made our way up the steps; Richtofen shot at the undead which tailed behind us. Once we made it up to the lander, I was instructed to stand by the Soviet mural and let everyone else do the work. Richtofen then realised the power up was waning as he began to descend the stairs boldly meeting the oncoming hordes and unleashing a final flurry of bullets. His eyes flicked wildly with manic pleasure - proudly wearing the blood of the damned with utter delight. He terrified me. And it was seeing him like this that reminded me of just how dangerous he truly was. He happily immersed himself in the destruction.
The others all kept an eye on the doorway to the left and the stairs to the right which led to another barricade. I held my MP5K at the ready but figured I was not going to get many shots in. Suddenly, Richtofen quickly ascended the stairs without his gatling gun as everyone anxiously peered down. I stepped forward a bit to see a large horde of undead coming our way.
"Out of way!" Nikolai bellowed as he pushed Takeo and Dempsey aside.
The determined Russian ran towards the stairs before diving down them. Upon hitting the ground he created another massive explosion which took out the whole horde. Once the dust settled, we saw Nikolai dusting himself off with a smug grin.
"Ayyyyy! I told you I make big boom!" He grinned.
"Great vork Nikolai! I enjoyed vatching zheir limbs fly all over zhe place!" Richtofen cooed affectionately.
Dempsey shuddered at Richtofen's shrill voice before swiftly shooting an undead soldier before it got too close. Smaller hordes continued to assemble before we finally noticed the last stragglers.
"One grenade comin' right up!" Dempsey laughed as he pulled a grenade from his belt and cooked it.
He threw it towards the stragglers. The resulting explosion created four crawlers before killing the rest.
"Oooorah!" He yelled before returning to us.
"So what's the next step to gettin outta here?" Dempsey asked me - ignoring Richtofen.
It was clear the gesture greatly angered the German. I tried to ignore the seething tension in the air and opted to simply respond to Dempsey's query.
"The next thing is to use the landers. We have to use them in a certain order to spell out the word 'luna', Dempsey", I explained.
"What's the order?" Dempsey asked.
"I'm not too sure. But if we look up at the sky we should see the letters", I replied.
Richtofen glared at Dempsey before storming off and leaving us all. We were still out of breath from the fight so no one put up any resistance to his departure. I could tell that I was appearing far too knowledgeable than him and worried that it would annoy him.
"He's just a big baby!" Dempsey smiled - as if knowing exactly what concerned me.
"You know more about this stuff than him and he doesn't like it... so what?" Dempsey grinned triumphantly.
"He ain't the only smart one around here!" Dempsey added before Primis cleared his throat.
"Yeah, I know doc! You kinda are the doc!" Dempsey waved his hand toward Primis.
Suddenly, we heard one of the lunar landers start up. The lander on the far side of the facility began to rise up in the air as we could make out the slim outline of Richtofen standing behind the railings. His dark slender silhouette contrasted with the radiant glowing sky behind as he hovered through the air. I could just about make out the subtle turn of his head as he looked down at us before looking away in a deliberate attempt to ignore us all gawking up at him in surprise.
"Well fuck me..." Dempsey whispered aloud.
We all slumped down against the wall of the mural as Dempsey went to deal with the crawlers. He killed three of them before a the aethereal voice spoke:
"Max ammo", the voice announced.
We just sat there in disbelief.
"Well, we could have fucking done with one of those earlier", Nikolai slurred angrily before reaching to grab a vodka bottle from his belt.
We all shook our heads before feeling our guns suddenly become heavier. Our attention was then back onto the doctor as we continued to watch him ride lander after lander. He threaded winding pathways in the sky; every so often, reaching over the railing to catch the letters. After the eight ride on the landers - the tannoy spoke.
"Fourth node has been activated", the voice announced.
We all watched as Richtofen's final lander flew over to the scrap yard. Everyone jumped to their feet and ran over. Takeo was the fastest to his feet as he made his way to Richtofen. As expected, I found myself trailing behind the others. We ran through the alleyway and before passing the remains of me and Primis' camp. I noticed my bag still laying by the firepit and quickly grabbed it. When we made it to the scrapyard; Richtofen was standing at the Casimir Mechanism - looking down at something.
As we got closer, we realised it was a glowing orb. It was beautiful as its soft light radiated from its fiery center. We all stood marveling at its aetheral glow before Richtofen suddenly began firing his ray gun at it. The sudden onslaught caused us all to look at him in shock.
"Zhrow zhe Gersch device!" He commanded impatiently.
We did as we were told. Primis and I each threw one as Richtofen continued firing. He then pulled out his Zeus cannon and fired into the orb. We all looked on in bewilderment at Richtofen's outburst. But in a manic turn of events, he also then grabbed one of Takeo's matroyshka dolls and threw it into the purple light of the gersch device.
"Thank you!" A familiar voice suddenly spoke.
"You have repaired the mechanism, and I am in your debt", Dr Gersch added.
Everyone looked at each other, wondering what on earth all that firing did to trigger Dr Gersch's gratitude. The orb began to float up into the sky as we all watched it disappear. The room suddenly went black and white before we heard an ungodly shriek.
"Come find me!" Samantha screeched viciously before the room went back to normal.
"Oh, I plan to jou little brat!" Richtofen sniggered before he began walking toward the Casimir Mechanism.
He flipped open one of the control panel covers and began pressing buttons before the device suddenly began to hum with power. After some more tinkering, a beam of energy suddenly shot out the front of the device. It seemed to tear open the air as it revealed an aethereal blue and violet portal.
"Finally!" Dempsey threw up his hands and jumped in.
"Oh no, not again..." Takeo grimaced as he held his stomach in anticipation.
"Come on Takeo, it's fun. Like scary supernatural amusement ride", Nikolai said as he slapped Takeo hard on the back.
The two men jumped in next as Primis and I approached the portal. He gave me a reassuring smile and a nod to jump in together. But as I did so, I turned to realise that he was not beside me. As I leapt in the air, I saw Richtofen grabbing Primis by his short collar and pulling him back.
"Oh no, jou aren't coming vith us", he sneered as his manic eyes glared into Primis'.
"Jour services are no longer required", Richtofen hissed venomously.
Primis immediately tried to fight back before Richtofen strengthened his grip.
"I vill take it from here!" Richtofen growled before throwing Primis to the ground.
"Noooo!" I cried out as Primis then looked up at me.
But he seemed to just smile. He smiled as if he knew something the rest of us did not. His initial instinctive look of surprise had softened into a calmness. My attention was then suddenly torn away from Primis as I felt an arm wrap around my waist. When I looked down I saw the familiar jacket sleeve and signature black leather glove on the hand.
"Richtofen! No!" I yelled against his grip.
I then felt myself being lifted off of my feet. The portal was slowly beginning to degrade and it struggled to maintain its uniform oval shape. Despite my protests, Richtofen lunged through the air with me in his arms before diving through the swirling purple light. My vision was quickly overwhelmed by the vivid hues of incandescent violet and aquamarine rays of energy. As we began to travel through space and time; I felt Richtofen's firm grip of me become completely weightless.
Tears began to well up in my tired eyes as I panicked at the thought of being without Primis. I had come to rely on him so much. My mind began to drown in negative thoughts and worries that I would never see him again. But when I remembered his calm expression; I felt some respite and comfort - he had a plan.
We would be going to the Siberian facility next but he had no idea Richtofen was going to overshoot it. How would Primis ever find us again? I quickly turned to see the cosmodrome behind me distort as the dimensions began to fall apart. All I could do was watch the portal close as Primis pointed to my chest - indicating to the meteorite he had given me. I looked down at it puzzled before I found myself being flung through the narrow channels of space and time.
What did he mean by the meteorite?
End of part fourty-nine...