Sanctuary

Outside of the base, the sounds of battle had begun to die down.

"This place is completely overrun," Dre was saying.
"They sleep not until every last human here is still."
"Right. We need a way out. If there are any survivors they'd probably hole up in the command center. We should head there."

Vishka picked up on a stray thought. Roy O? He wondered who that was, but decided not to ask; the name was thickly veiled in Dre's emotions, and Vishka didn't want to distract him at this point. Humans seemed to find it difficult to think and act simultaneously.

Before long, the pair came across one of They. At this point, gunshots would have alerted the entire search and destroy network to their presence. Vishka tried something else. The dragoon before them was a lower rank -- his mind was marked so.
Investigate the southern quarter, Vishka ordered. Immediately.

Sure enough, the dragoon heard only the thoughts of a higher-ranking dragoon officer, and not the thoughts of a Fyr na Vishka. He wasn't the smartest. Two-year-olds never were.


The two rounded a block. It was much darker here. More dangerous. It gave They an advantage. Not to mention that They would gravitate towards the dark. It was a comfort thing. Light disturbs Them.

Vishka saw a man cowering in the corner. His eyes were closed. What was it called by the humans? Praying? No, this man reeked of fear; so much so that Vishka couldn't know his mind. It would probably be better, he reasoned, if Vishka were to stay out of the man's sight. Let Dre comfort the coward. Then shoot him. Because this much fear would attract the entire attack force like iron filings to a magnet.

Dre, we should put him out of his misery.

 

“Josh?” Pause. “The other people are running."

Joshua looked up at Jessica. Who was she again. Does it matter? We’re all going to die. But I don’t want to die. Then get up. But…

Jessica didn’t give him much time to finish his thought. She grabbed his collar and pulled him up. Who was she again? Suddenly, they where running. Joshua was vaguely aware of the dragoons ahead of them. Who where they again? Death. They are death.

It was as if someone slapped him in his face, then poured a bucket of ice cold water over him. The peace of his crazed mind was swept away by a wave of memories. They where here, inside the bunker. He and Jess had gone to the Wall. Jess was taking him… somewhere.

Joshua’s eyes widened. “Oh god,” he whispered, “They are inside the bunker. Oh god.” Jessica gave him a glance, then pulled him into yet another side street. Why wasn’t she carrying her MN-800?

Joshua’s heart skipped a beat as Jess pushed him against a Wall. “Dragoon patrol.” She said. Joshua nodded weakly. “What happened to your gun.”

Jess gave him another glance. “Out of ammo.”

Joshua’s mind started to clear. This wasn’t the time to panic. His father would have been ashamed if he had seen him. He had acted like a nitwit, not like a Pastor. He had nearly gotten himself killed.

Suddenly, he realised that he was still clutching his black gun case. He stared at it for a moment. His father MN-800.

Joshua kneeled and opened the case. The modified MN-800 stared at him. He considered his chances with this gun, then dismissed that thought. He wouldn’t stand a chance.

He looked up to Jess. “Take it.” Without giving Joshua much of a look, she took the gun out of it’s container, and loaded it.

Half a minute later, they where running again. Three times they met a Dragoon. Three times Jessica killed it. Joshua was amazed. The modified MN-800 seemed to all but ignore the Dragoons’ armour, making every kill swift and efficient.

After a few minutes, Jessica halted again. She pointed at one of the doors. The command centre. Off course. The large metal doors where locked, and a dragoon was currently trying to claw his way in.

Joshua put a hand on Jess’ shoulder. “No use wasting ammo if it just gives up and goes away.”

 

Jess looked at Josh. At least he was talking again, even if he wasn’t making sense. “Dragoons don’t give up,” she replied. Before he could answer, she lifted the gun and fired. The Dragoons head exploded into gore and splattered over the steel door. “This is a nice gun,” she said, examining the MN-800.

Josh stared at her, hopping from foot to foot. “What now?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know the password to the Command Centre.”

His mouth sagged open. “What? Now you tell me?”

 

Zefie hung back around the corner with V, listening to the screeching of the Dragoon’s claws scrabbling against the thick steel door. For an instant she almost thought she was back in the Junkyard, but the shadowy shapes of fallen bodies at their feet pressed the reality in on her.

Her knuckles were white as she clutched Thom’s rifle, loaded and ready to fire, but she knew it was safer to wait and hope the Dragoon would give up than open fire. A glance at V showed the same tense anxiety as Zefie felt written across the medic’s aquiline features.

As the seconds ticked by, Zefie kept expecting the Dragoon to appear around the corner. In the confined space their breathing seemed loud enough to attract an entire squadron.

She wondered what was so important in the command centre; V had said something about a disk …

Cautiously, she leaned out to look again around the corner. The Dragoon was still clawing away at the door. Further along there were two dim shapes, hazy in the darkness, that Zefie thought might be humans.

She peered closed, but the shapes disappeared behind the wall.

Ducking back round by V she whispered, “Still there. There’re two people down the other end. Went behind the wall.”

“They must have had the same idea as us,” V nodded.

There was the sudden cracking of gun fire and then silence. They both paused with bated breath. Or maybe the others would shoot the Dragoon.

Looking round the wall, Zefie could now clearly make out the figures; one was a young man who looked nervous and ashen, the other a somewhat blank-faced girl with bright, cyan blue hair and several pierces.

She glanced at V, “Well, it’s gone.”

 

Hunter heard an explosion as he moved above on the rafters using the shadow’s for cover. He stopped flames came from a doorway below two of the enforcer’s came rushing out covered in flames and screaming with pain. Hunter mused as he watched the two burn how their skin melted. Bastards were cruel enforcer’s abusers of their power. Then came an invader. Hunter took his blade by the hilt and dropped. His left foot balancing on a rafter down as his right foot moved to the next lower then he’d landed on the shoulders His blade embedded in the skull of the attacker. Hunter leapt from him to the ground landing in a crouch. He licked his lip from a spatter of blood. The two enforcer’s now dead and smoulder lay close by.

Hunter moved with a swiftness that would put a snake to shame. The warrior just slain laid on his back Hunter gaped at the size of the brute nine feet tall. And every bit as menacing in looks well armoured and would have put up a fight if not for the surprise attack. Hunter moved again using the shadows he darted through the door speed becoming faster as he moved another brute tall well armoured and packing weaponry alien to him. Hunter went low his jagged blade sythed at the ankles the armoured cracked He jerked back looked and saw Hunter come from darkness. Eyes covered by black shades. Hunter was no fool and knew all about stealth.

The warrior fired his weapon a blaze of lights flickered in the darkness moments of flashes lit up the stealthy assassin as he moved swiftly in a circle. Suddenly the flash stopped the gun fell silent and the brutes head slammed onto the floor rolling away like a ball.

Hunter moved quicker these brutes would get deadly and he’d learned to keep the surprise on his side. More flashing lights another had spotted him Hunter flew low sliding on his chest his blade out he turned and rolled back into the darkness again the flashing of the gun lit him up but the adversary was too slow Hunter brought his blade up hitting the groin low upwards carving deeply. The beast howled dropped to his knees released his weapon and saw the deathly horror that now awated him as Hunter stuck his blade through the mouth.

The command centre would be the place to go Hunter thought and moved quickly with the shadows his ally he went

 

"Well, all right, then," V said, glad to have the threat removed. She edged out from the wall and spoke to the other two people.

"We're friends, don't shoot."

It would be much too easy to kill allies in the darkness. She wondered how many times that had happened in the last ten minutes.

"I'm V and this is Zefie. We need to get to the disk."

 

Joshua watched the Dragoon fall to the floor. Great, now what. Sure, he had basic security clearance to the Wall, but he didn’t have a clue how one would enter the Command Centre. Suddenly, he heard voices. Human voices.

"We're friends, don't shoot. I'm V and this is Zefie. We need to get to the disk."

Joshua tensed. Did dragoons set up traps? He wasn’t sure. And even if they did, could the mimic human voices. He longed to walk over to what seemed to be other survivors. But he remembered that at this moment, survival was more important then social interaction.

“My name is Joshua Pastor, I am here with Jessica Bennet. We are well armed!” He paused, and suddenly felt stupid. “We mean you no harm. We just…” We just what. What where they doing here. Joshua sighed. “We mean you no harm,” he repeated, “but could we have your full names? Are either of you military?"

 

Hunter moved swiftly then came to a halt he heard voices.

“but could we have your full names? Are either of you military?"

Hunter flexed his fingers across his swords hilt and moved silently on his toes towards the voices he stopped using the dark to hide.

Before the other knew it Hunter stood straight behind him blade across the throat of Joshua. Hunter waited for another sound he heard it. These were friendly’s Hunter retracted the blade and sheathed it.

“Prey is all around. You talk too much they will find you by sound.” He said looking into Joshua’s eyes. Hunter’s hidden under black shades in the darkness. Sound was the only sight Hunter needed here.

 

Keeping the MN-800 aimed, Jess tried to see details of the newcomers. In the darkness it was hard. Both seemed too slight to be Dragoons, and the voice had sounded human. She started to lower the gun.

Jess whirled as she caught the flash of steel at Joshua’s throat. She backed out of arms reach and kept the gun aimed steadily at the face of the attacker, staring down the length of rifle into his dark sunglasses. Just as her finger was about to pull the trigger, the stranger let him go.

“They will find us by thought,” she replied. “They do not need sound.”

 

“They will find us by thought,” Jessica replied.

“They do not need sound.” Jessica Said again.

“An understanding of thought is too mask your emotions within and to use darkness to mask your body. Walk with the shadows as though you are a shadow and for a fleeting moment you will confuse them giving yourself the advantage use that moment wisely and you’ll be fine.” Hunter said his voice low and soft.

He stepped back flexing his hands. listening for movement. for now there was only them.

 

Joshua stared at the newcomer for a while, then stared back at Jess. "Wha.. Wha..."

His surroundings started to spin, and in the middle of a black vortex, Joshua fainted.

 

"They'll find us," said V, ending the tit-for-tat among the others, "no matter what."

She went to the steel doors and looked at the access pad.

"If the worst happens, you get here as fast as you can."

She was only eleven years old but age didn't matter. All the military taught their children what they MUST do if the bunker was ever breached by They. She had been shaking at the thought.

"But...but I would want to help people."

Her father put his hands on her shoulders, they felt heavy as though he was conferring the responsibility for the colony onto her.

"If you want to help people, this will be the only way."

He led her to the access panel and taught her the code, making her do it several times and showing her the override code for the retinal scan as she would not have clearance for that.

"I'm trusting you, V," he said, "don't fool with this. This is serious business."

"I won't, Dad, she said, her hand slipping into his, "but you'll be here. I won't need to do it because you'll be here."

He wasn't. She bent to the access panel, racking her brain for the correct sequence. If she didn't disable the retinal scan first then attempts to put in the code could result in the door fusing shut.

She trained her small light on the keys, trying to remember a sequence that she had learned a long time ago. Her fingers flexed and hovered over the buttons and she desperately wished that someone who knew the codes would show up.

 

Hunter stood and watched Joshua faint.


"My name is Hunter." Said Hunter.

 

Jess blinked, not understanding what he meant. Training had taught her to evade attention but to hide her thoughts? Who was this man?

One of the two women went to the steel doors. She examined the control panel by the door and a small light blinked into existance. Jess moved to put her back to the wall, hoping the door would open soon.

Josh hit the ground with a thud. Still aiming the gun in the general direction of the two strangers before her, Jess glanced down at him, frowning. What was he doing?

“Joshua?” She nudged him with the toe of her shoe and stared at Hunter. “What have you done to him?”

 

"He is excited." Replied Hunter.

Hunter crouched down besides the fallen Joshua.

"He has merely passed out into the blackness of his own fear."

Hunter's head tilted to the side. I hear appraoching footsteps." Hunter added. He rose looking at the group.

"I will return." He said, and moved off disapearing from sight within seconds as though he was never there.

 

Zefie listened to the others talk with a sense of disbelief. Her fingers twitched on the trigger of her rifle, and she wished V would hurry and open the door, though the look on her friend’s face suggested she wasn’t entirely confident in the code she was imputing.

She wasn’t at all happy with the blue-haired woman, Jessica, aiming a gun at her either; she was used to being the one holding the rifle rather than looking at it, and she had a feeling the other woman’s was a better gun than hers, despite Thom’s modifications.

At least she was faring better than the younger man, Joshua, who was now lying in a faint on the floor. Not that she could blame him; she’d nearly shot the rifle when the older man had appeared wielding a knife. And she didn’t understand a word of his talk about shadows and darkness. Thankfully, she wasn’t the only one on that account – Jessica blinked, looking, if possible, even blanker.

She also didn’t seem to understand that the other man had fainting, nudging him with her toe and demanded of Hunter, “What have you done to him?”

“He is excited,” came the emotionless reply.

Zefie snorted.

“Righ’. He fainted,” she muttered, edging closer to V. “How’s it lookin’?”

 

Hunter leapt up onto a rafter one hand gripping the metal while the other swinging to catch a holding. Suddenly he was up. He moved easily along maintaining a balance while watching the group below. He saw danger he moved dropped away into the darkest corner his jagged blade drawn and down he landed killing one instantly. He moved using surprise as his ally taking another. The brutes were harder to kill and Hunter felt his luck changing. He felt a pain hit his side then he felt the liquid of blood runnig down his skin.

Bastard had hit him.

Hunter used his strength to evade kick stab slice evade parry stag and the head of his adversary came away. Hunter moved back to the shadows. How lucky that group had been the attackers taken his prey finished killed but he felt weaker his wound taking him. He felt weak. He went back using the rafter’s to climb Hunter disappeared into the Darkness keeping a watchful eye on the hopeful group below.

 

“How’s it lookin’?”

V's fiingers twitched and a sequence of numbers came to mind. She closed her eyes briefly, seeing the number pad pressed and then copied what she remembered.

"I just hope this is the sequence for disabling the scan or we're sunk."

When the sequence was finished the small glowing light that should have scanned her eye switched off. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Strange that the door still has power," she said, "though I think it's on some kind of auxilary."

Now...to try and remember the code itself.

 

Darmetrius felt his way through the apartment complex and to the outside with the flickers. As he approached the door to exit, he heard a banging that increased in volume everytime he heard it. It was most likely more of those things. He got lucky with the first one, the others couldn't possibly be so gullible. He hightailed it out of there and sprinted off to the left as soon as he touched the streets.

He was a fairly fast runner, due to his training for basketball with his brother, so he struck once he had an open path. Making the most of his advantage he made a couple turns, so as to not be spotted by They. This wasn't foolproof, but hopefully effective enough to live another day.

Really, he was tired of running, but these forces were supernatural. He had no way of jumping in a battle with more than one of them, no matter how froggish he felt. First his family, then his girlfriend, Darmetrius was pissed. He passed by a few fellow citizens on his run, wishing he had time to stop and warn them of the danger that drew close. The lights flickering even outside made it difficult to be certain of where he was going. He was hoping that wouldn't last much longer, so he'd have a good view and know where he was.

Beginning to run out of breath, he approached a door with two women attempting to open it. One lady looked contemplative with a light pointed at the door, the other looking at her as if she also needed the information the lady was trying to retrieve. Behind them was a guy and another lady, the lady had some serious heat. He pulls up to them, huffing and puffing.

"Ladies... we need... to get this... door open soon." He said gasping for breath. After finally catching it, he offers something more fluid. "You do NOT wanna know what's chasing me."

 

"You're right," V said tensely, "I really don't want to know. Can you shoot whatever it is?"

She bit her lip between her teeth. The second code was behind a wall of memory and she was having difficulty remembering it at all.

 

Dre, we should put him out of his misery.

The thoughts came through with little emotion. Despite all the time Dre had spent talking to Vishka, he still managed to be amazed by the path his thoughts often took. Here they stood, faced with the complete and final extinction of humanity, and Vishka wanted Dre to kill a fellow survivor.

I can't just kill the guy, besides I don't think he's any harm to us.

You humans will never cease to amaze me.

Vishka's thought came through with more than a hint of skepticism. Dre wondered briefly if all his time with Vishka was beginning to rub off on him, make his mind stronger than it was before.

Dre led the way past the broken man, motioning for Vishka to follow once he was sure the guy was harmless. The command center was just up ahead. That would be there best bet if they wanted to live for any extended period of time. It was also a fairly good chance that someone else had decided to try and hole themselves up there. If they could get a group going, then everyone would stand a better chance.

Dre heard footsteps in the hall behind them and instantly turned to see what had caused the noise. Nothing but shadows.

Dre...I sense something...Dre we must go. Now.

Dre could feel the seriousness of something akin to tone of voice in his mind. There was something else though...maybe fear?

It was then that Dre heard...no, felt a distant rumble down the hall. It took Dre a moment to distinguish the two distinct rumbles. There were two of those...whatever they were, and they were coming fast.

 

Artemis could hear breathing and talking, but he was trying to convince himself that he heard nothing and that it was all just some prank. He was trying to convince himself that there was no noise in this world total silence, he was trying to drown everything. He didn't want to open his eyes, even though he could hear the footsteps beside him. He had to muster the courage, he knew denying and trying to ignore it wouldn't work. He opened his eyes and saw to heavily armed figures passing by him. What were you suppose to do in this situation? A hello or wait wouldn't work, but instead he got up. As long as there were people there would be a small chance that they would be going somewhere secure. Artemis just started following them, no words, and no eye contact. He was still afraid and couldn't control the shaking of fear, and this fear was what ate his words. He balled his hands into tight fist and just stared at the figures, two men with war atmosphere. He didn't really want to look at him fearing he may know or figure something he shouldn't know. Artemis feared they may kill him, but they were his only hope.

 

"You're right," V said tensely, "I really don't want to know. Can you shoot whatever it is?"

He looked at her with a smile. If only she saw him in action earlier, but he didn't expect her to know that.

"I shot one down... but there were more. I couldn't really see 'em. It was so ugly... so much armor. I'm surprised I was able kill the one I killed."

Darmetrius looked at her again, this time taking into account that she looked flustered at the door as if she was running from something also.

"You ladies in some kind of trouble?" he said keeping a lookout for They.

 

"Um..." V didn't find it helpful that this guy was chatting her up as she was attempting to remember the code, "considering that Sanctuary was just breached, the Wall broken, and the city overrun...probably about the same kind of trouble you have."

She shook her head and tried to concentrate.

 

“Joshua, dinner is ready.” Joshua looked at his mother. He didn’t want to go inside, he wanted to play. “Get in here young man!” Joshua sighed.

“Is papa home?” Joshua looked at his mother. She always seemed so happy, she always smiled. “He’s in the back. Go tell him dinner is ready would you?” “Yes mama.”

He walked to his father room. He opened the door and saw his dad was holding a gun. Joshua shivered a little. He didn’t like guns. “Mama says dinner is ready.” Joshua’s father looked up. “I’ll be right there Josh.”

Joshua stared at his father. He was a large yet kind man. One of the militaries best. “Whatcha doing?” His father frowned. “Trying to figure out how too…” He paused. “Never mind.” He smiled at Joshua. “We going to the shooting range tomorrow Josh?”

Joshua nodded fiercely. “After that, can we go to the command centre papa?” He watched his father freeze. “Why would you want to go there?”

Joshua tilted his head. “V keeps bragging how she can get in, but she won’t tell me the code.” Franklin Pastor looked at his son. “V?” Joshua nodded. “Varenna.”

Joshua watched his dad put away the gun. “Look, Josh, that code is for emergencies only. James may think it is his duty to tell his daughter how to enter the CC in case the Wall falls, but that is his choice.” He stood up and walked to the door. “If the Wall falls, leave the saving to me and your brother. You take your mother, find a save place and stay put.”

He patted Joshua on the boy’s head. “Now let’s go. Smells like your mother made lemon pie for desert. Joshua grinned. He loved lemon pie.

“I love lemon pie.” Joshua murmured. He opened his eyes, and reality hit him like a brick. His father wasn’t here to save him, he hadn’t saved his mother. There was no lemon pie. Just the dark Bunker around him. He looked up at Jess, who was still holding his fathers rifle. “What happened?” he said, as he scrambled to his feet.