Story face had managed to fire his weapon though, he'd had enough time just to fire a round that blew through the Nano-blanket that was about to engulf him. It gave him the valuable seconds to figure out what was going on and release his own Nano-bots, they burst forth from around him, most of them colliding with Ben's Nano-blanket and frying along with the others, a few managing to fall to freedom. Story face continued running, angrier than ever, running past the horrifying screams of his colleagues towards Ben. Danny shouted Ben, who was unaware that one of the assailants had got away and was almost on top of him. With an almighty blow Story face crashed into Ben, knocking him three feet. Ben tried to stand up and run but Story face cracked him across the jaw with his fist, causing Ben to stumble and smash his head hard on to the floor. He tried once more to get up but then felt a tremendous searing pain that started in his back and flowed outwards in motion to finally engulf his whole body, and then a split second later his mind.
Story face stood behind him, the barrel of his gun giving off a wisp of smoke from the bullet that he had just fired at Ben, the body below him slowly deflating as Ben's lifeblood began mixing with the stagnant rainwater around it. Story face looked up towards Danny and lifted his gun. Danny turned and ran, the rest of the camp that had got away were running too, the van in the distance hurtling towards them all. Danny heard a shot and saw someone drop in the corner of his eye. He knew he was meant to be the target, so it filled him with a strange relief that it was someone else dropping to the floor. He heard more shots, but none of them connected with him, there must have been too much chaos around him for the assailant to get a clear shot. The whole world was passing in slow motion, the van ahead getting closer, but not close enough. He was racing towards the van with all his strength, all the while the sudden death of his friend being replayed in his mind in a constant loop.
The van screeched next to him and the side door opened. Danny jumped in and slammed the door shut as the guard in the passenger seat fired off a series of rounds that kept his attacker at bay. With a screech of burning rubber the van skidded round to turn back to the exit and then sped away furiously, weaving its way through the terrified camp members who were still running for their lives. They left the attacker behind as they rushed to get out of the city. Danny started to breathe normally, feeling a lot safer, but with a crushing sadness. He had just seen his friend murdered in cold blood, he had never seen death before, never glimpsing its ugly face, and it was something he had always avoided thinking about, but that was now impossible. The van turned the corner on to the exit road and out of sight of Story face, who was lifting his phone to his ear.
“I have a vehicle heading East on Center Boulevard, number plate WE4 HH7, all units engage” He said before placing his phone back in his pocket and turning back towards the camp.
Chapter 9 – Zombied
MARIAM AND MATEO’S House
Brandon pulled up outside Mariam and Mateo's house. He had already picked Samir up and he was sitting next to him biting his finger nails. He was feeling a bit queasy; he wasn't built for any of this. As a doctor he had been used to running on adrenalin when dealing with patients, but this was so different to anything he had trained for. He was running away to a group of resistance fighters to help destroy the architects of an evil enslavement of humanity, it sounded more like the plot from a movie than his life, how could any of this really be happening?
“Are you okay?” Brandon asked him, knowing he clearly wasn't, “We'll be fine Sam, I'll get us to the rendezvous point”.
Mariam and Mateo came running out their house like their lives depended on it. They had been told to look normal, not to give off any behaviour that might attract attention. They had only just stepped foot outside the house and were already failing at that. Some people just weren't natural at being freedom fighters guessed Brandon. They both jumped in the back, closing the doors quickly behind them.
“Have you finished?” Brandon said, “You all need to calm down, I already have Samir here chewing his fingers into stumps. It's all going to be okay, we just need to act naturally”.
Naturally? thought Mateo. None of this is natural.
“Sorry Brandon” said Mateo, “We'll be on our best behaviour from now on”
They had all gone through the exploding spy-phone situation, the instructions to where they were to meet, the disposal of everything that could connect them to their old
