Our sighting of Phryne’s banished husband making his way to the electric field of the south gate for his daily rations alters our original plan.
“Do what I say, and I won’t fucking kill you.”
He eagerly accepts our proposal.
Stacked, waiting outside the gate out of sight, I whisper at Xander loud enough for Leon to hear me, “Before we go in, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“What’s on your mind?” Xander replies, reaching out to hand me and Leon one of the remaining grenades we found earlier.
I tuck it into my pants and tighten my grip on my borrowed rifle. Looking back, I smirk before asking, “Who really won that duel between me and Leon in the pit?”
They both instantly crack a smile.
Xander shakes his head before he spits and replies, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
I can’t tell if he was kidding or not.
“Maybe you’ll get a rematch when we get home,” jokes Leon as we chuckle to ourselves remaining as quiet as possible. Even Cyrus can’t hold a straight face.
Then, a soft silence.
The realization of what is about to happen sinks in like someone just punched it into me. It anchors itself deep within my gut. A seriousness moves over all of us. This is finally going to happen.
I raise my gun and ready myself, lungs racing.
This is it.
Phryne’s husband steps up to the electric field like he’s done most days since Lethe banished him. The sentry droids raise their weapons but relax again after scanning him. The electric field vanishes. Phryne is waiting on the other side.
“Now!” shouts Xander.
We both close in and destroy the two sentries.
“Go! Go! Go!” shouts Xander as we push the gate single file into the city, guns raised and at the alert. Alarms wailing, 34 is under our attack.
Cyrus and Leon fire into two more sentry droids who just spotted their fallen comrades. They go down sizzling, a puff of smoke after each one hits the pavement.
We tactfully move a few blocks in, guns still raised, ready to kill anything that tries to stop us.
The look of confusion on Phryne’s face as she makes eye contact with me is priceless.
Middle of the street to our left, a squad of security droids approach. Red eyes gleaming in our direction.
I take aim. Three trigger pulls. Two of them fall.
The others circle behind the apartments to our left.
The gunfire alerted more of them. Out of nowhere, a group of Lethe officers rushes us from the front, bunkering behind their portable light barriers, sparing no ammunition. The sound of bullets and particle rays cracking over my head puts my entire life into perspective.
We sprint as quickly as we can to cover, running towards the gunfire, landing at the first busted wall in front of us. Our target building in sight. Hiding inside the Delta fortress across the street, Kalli’s virtual prison.
An explosion erupts from their gunfire, sending fragments of their barriers and the building around it in every direction. Leon’s work. My contributions are much more subtle.
I snap a peek around the corner behind us. Three officers rush towards our squad. Two droids behind them. They have us surrounded.
Holding only my rifle over the edge I hit one of the officers in the face with my first shot. Blood and brain matter smacks the concrete wall behind him. The weapon recoils. Bolt snaps back into position. The other two officers retreat to cover as the droids aim to kill, still advancing. A beam of particle rays traces my movements. It smashes through a wall as I barely escape, diving into the broken glass door of an apartment tower. Leon and Xander rush the droids from the alleyway behind me, reducing them to scrap metal in seconds.
No one sees it. It’s too late by the time my brain even processes what happened. From behind the dumpster a rouge droid fires. Cyrus absorbs most of the burst. He falls lifeless to the ground under the pink mist as we scatter for cover.
One of the human officers charges after me, trailing through the crumbling building I smash into. I point my rifle at his chest.
He grabs the barrel, jerking it from me.
Almost losing my grip, I plant my kick in his torso sending him into a splintered table. He looks up and reaches for me.
I lift the gun and fire three rounds into his chest and another into his skull for good measure.
Bursting out the back entrance, I meet back up with Leon and Xander across the street. Blood is everywhere. The smell of gunpowder and death fills the cool, morning air. The sun cracks the horizon in the distance sending streaks of orange and deep red stretching far into the darkness. The city’s alarm screams through the fog. Bullets ricochet from every direction, pinning us back between the brick wall and the side of a concrete building.
My eyes find the newness of the Delta Project facility again. Tuning the gunfire out, I frantically search for a path, but they have
us cornered on all sides. I have to get in there. I’m still coming for you, Kalli.
Just three of us left. Grossly outnumbered. We didn’t expect it to get this messy. This was supposed to be a simple hit and run. Lethe was prepared this time.
“I’m going to try to make a run for it!” I shout over the sound of heavy caliber gunfire. “Xander, can you cover me?”
An explosion erupts a few meters in front of our cover sending rock and shrapnel raining over us.
“I’m going with you. You’re not doing this alone.”
There’s no time to argue. They're getting closer.
We aren’t going to make it back.
“Whatever happens to me, don’t stop until you free those
