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Chapter 41 – Into The Deep
Part 1- Boarding
Three days had passed since Liz, Alex and Bip had returned from the first ring. The day had finally come for the group of mages to travel deep into the city to take out whoever was behind this. Alex, Liz, and Bip stood slumped up against the side of the helicopter that would take them into the city. Liz turned her head to look to Alex.
“So the Ora headquarters, you think that’s where well find Elaran society?” asked Liz.
“Seem likely. I wouldn’t put this whole thing past them, the only thing I cant figure out is why,” Alex responded.
“Well in any case, once we get there we’ll get some answers out of them one way or another,”
Bip looked up to Liz, his eyes filling with concern as he did. He turned to look at Alex who shared a similarly concerned expression.
“Well well well, you’re here early,” Came Calems voice from next to them.
Alex, Liz, and Bip turned their heads to see Calem and Edgar walking up beside them dressed in their immaculate white cloths.
“I'm proud of you,” Calem continued.
“Don’t patronize us,” Alex growled.
Calem turned his head in confusion at Alex's words. A loud slam came from behind the tail end of the helicopter. A woman wearing an engineering uniform ducked under the tail of the helicopter to look at the group.
“She’s all fuelled up and ready to go when you are,” The engineer said before ducking back under.
Calem and Edgar walked in front of Alex and Liz and into the opened doors leading into the helicopter. Edgar pulled himself up into the chopper followed behind by Calem. Liz turned and went to enter as well. The engine began whirring to life as the blades began spinning above them
“Come on Alex, we should get a move on,” Liz yelled over the noise.
Liz turned to see Alex looking off into the distance. She followed his eye-line to see General Barker and Captain Young engaged in a heated debate.
“Huh… wonder what that’s about.”
General Barker flailed his arms about and yelled at the Captain before storming off in the opposite direction. Captain Young looked down at the ground for a moment, clenching his fists tightly. He turned to look at Liz and Alex who quickly averted their gaze. He quickly jogged his way across to the helicopter.
“Come on let’s get going!” The Captain yelled.
“What was that all about?” Alex asked.
“New ordered, ill be coming with you into the city! Now come on we need to get out of here Asap.”
Liz pulled herself up into the helicopter and took a seat followed behind by Alex and Captain Young. The helicopter blades continued to spin faster and faster kicking up a strong wind around it as it took off up into the sky.
Part 2- A Surprise Landing
Liz looked out over the destroyed city, completely devoid of any real life. it seemed oddly peaceful to her despite what she knew. She turned her head to see Alex sitting next to her with Bip curled up in his lap. Across from them sat Calem and Edgar in peaceful silence. Standing by the doorway was captain young, grasping tightly to the handrail as he looked out over the city. The speakers in the helicopter began to crackle to life.
“Attention, we’ll be arriving at our destination shortly,” came the captain's voice from over the speakers.
Liz looked across to Captain Young.
“So what's the plan for when we get in there Captain?” Asked Liz
Captain Young turned around to face Liz and the rest of the group.
“You can call me Tom, no need to be so formal all the way out here,” Tom replied. “ As for the plan we’ll be landing on the roof of the building and then making our way down. Everyone inside is to be assumed hostile and should be dealt with accordingly. We don’t really know what we're walking into so be sure to not let your guard down at any time… understood?”
The rest of the group nodded in understanding of there orders. Captain young looked up from the group and out of the opposite doorway. His eyes widened as he noticed something strange shimmering from one of the building bellow. He quickly stood and walked to the door, grabbing onto the handrail as he did. Captain Young scanned from building to building. His eyes locked on to something catching the light. He took in a sharp shocked breath as he realized what it was.
“We’re…” Tom’s words were cut off by the sound of glass shattering.
“What the hell was that!” Alex exclaimed.
Tom quickly ran to the door leading to the cockpit and pulled it open. He walked inside the cockpit to see the captain lying face down on the control panel in a pool of his own blood. The window had been completely shattered leaving shards of glass everywhere. Captain young turned to the rest of the group.
“Everybody get down, we’re being shot at!” Tom ordered.
Everyone quickly followed the captain's instructions dropping down to lay on the ground except for Alex. Tom moved further into the cockpit shoving the deceased captain's body out of the way and taking a seat at the controls. Alex walked into the room trying to stay as low as possible.
“It’s gotta be the same guy who attacked me and Liz,” stated Alex.
“It would seem that way. Guess whoever he is he doesn’t want us getting to that building. Landing might be a little ruff, been a while since I've piloted a…” Captain Young's words were once again cut off by a loud explosion in the back of the helicopter.
A loud siren began to sound out and they were bathed in a flashing red light. The chapter began to spin out of control.
“What’s happening!” Alex yelled over the siren.
“The engines been hit, we’re going down!” Captain Young yelled over the siren.
The helicopter continued to spin out of control towards the ground. Alex quickly moved into the middle of the chopper. He reached out his arms to either side of him and began to strain every muscle in his body. Blue orbs began to emanate from his hands growing larger and larger until they covered the entire vehicle.
“I hope this works!” Alex yelled as sweat began to pour from his face.
Tom continued his desperate attempt to pull the helicopter back under his control to no avail. He looked out the windscreen as the ground grew closer and closer.
“Hold on!”
Part 3- No Time To Relax
The helicopter crashed into the middle of the street with a loud bang, sending chunks of the road and the vehicle flying up into the air. The helicopter continued to scrape across the ground sending sparks shooting out in all directions. Every one inside began to bounce and flail around the cabin as Alex strained to keep the shield up. The helicopter came to a screeching halt, suddenly plunging them into an uncomfortable silence. After a brief moment, the door to the cockpit came flying off its hinges and Tom pulled himself out. He let out a long pained groan as the rest of the group joined him outside of the crash site.
“Good job on the landing,” Edgar groaned sarcastically.
“At least we’re alive,” Alex hissed in return.
Tom rubbed the back of his neck as he turned to look at the crash site. The blades of the helicopter slowly began to bend before snapping off and falling to the ground with a loud crash.
“Yeah… looks like that’s out of commission. Guess we're going to be on foot from here on out,” said Tom.
Liz look down the unpopulated street full of broken-down cars and toppled down street signs. The street was lined with several towering skyscrapers. Liz's eyes locked on to a shadow moving underneath one of the close by cars. Slowly one of the creatures crawled its way to a standing position and began to shamble its way over to them. Liz's eyes widened as an enormous horde of the creatures began to storm out of every alleyway. She turned around in shock, noticing a similar horde flooding towards them from the other end of the street.
“Ahhh.. guys.. looks like we’ve got some company,” Liz said as she raised her finger to point at the horde.
The rest of the group turned to see the approaching sea of creatures, hundreds strong making a line straight for them.
“Oh shit,” exclaimed Alex.
“We’ll deal with these things,” said Calem as he detached his broom from his back.
He felt a hand sternly rest itself on his shoulder. He turned around to see Tom looking at him authoritatively.
“No matter how good you think you are, if you take that many on close up you’re a dead man.” Tom let of Calems shoulder as he turned around and walked into the wreck. “ wait here and don’t do anything stupid.
Liz, Bip, and Alex looked out over the horde as it continued its approach.
“There's so many of them,” exclaimed Bip from his position above the pair.
“Don’t worry… we can take them,” Liz replied confidently.
Alex looked across to Liz his eyes filling with concern. Tom came back out from the crash site clutching three rifles in his arms. He walked over to Calam and Edgar holding the weapons out towards them.
“Take a gun and start shooting,” ordered Tom
Calem and Edgar both grabbed a weapon and looked it over intently.
“I’ve never used one of these before,” Edgar grunted.
“Aim and shoot, it’s pretty self-explanatory.”
Captain Young walked across to Liz and Alex and held the guns out to them. Alex grabbed the last weapon. Tom looked over to Liz as he reached into his holster.
“Sorry but the rest of the armory was too damaged,” Tom said as he pulled out his pistol and held it out to Liz. “You can have this one.”
“No need,” Liz said as she held her hand out in front of her forming a sharp icicle from her palm. “I'm good.”’
Tom smile and nodded as he turned to look at the other pair.
“you two take that side, well take this one. Make sure to make every shot count.”
Part 4- Stand-Off.
The air was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire. The front row of the infected on each side began to topple over and blood began to pool around the ground. The Creatures behind toppled and stumble over there fallen allies. Liz formed a long sharpened shaft of ice in the air and sent it flying forward like a spear. the spear pierced the chest of the creature at the front of the horde, coming out the other side and continuing down the horde. The infected continued to gain ground on the group despite there efforts to hold them back. For every one of the creatures that they killed two more joined them. Calem's gun began to let out a series of clicks as it stopped firing. He looked down at the weapon.
“I think I'm out of Ammo!” Calem yelled .
Alex gun began to let out a similar sound as Calems.
“crap… me to!” Alex replied.
“Looks like we need a plan b,” Tom said as he holstered his weapon.
Edgar chucked his gun towards the creatures, bouncing harmlessly off one of their heads. Liz continued to barrage the horde with sharpened icicles.
“So what’s plan B then,” asked Liz.
Tom looked all around from building to build. His eyes locked on the boarded-up doors to a grocery store.
“Over there!”
Tom ran across to the doors cocked his leg back and sent it slamming into the door to little effect. The rest of the group joined Tom by the door as he desperately tried to force it open. Liz looked over her shoulder to see the horde of creatures getting ever closer, surrounding them and blocking off any chance of escape.
“might wanna hurry up!” Liz yelled in a panicked tone.
“I’m trying!”
Captain Young doubled his efforts. Liz raised her hands sending a blue mist shooting forwards. A chest-high wall of thick blue ice began to form a couple of meters in front of them she turned her body causing the ice wall to surround them completely. The creatures slammed up against the wall, continuing to grasp towards the group in vainly. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked down to the ground. Her eyes were once again drawn back to the ice wall as multiple of the creatures toppled over it and continued there march. Alex spawned his blade as Calem unclipped his broom and Edgar pulled out a bin bag. They stood their ground, dealing with each of the creatures as they got to close. Tom cocked his leg back once again and sent it flying towards the door. Without warning the door swung inwood revealing a man holding a pistol behind.
“Get in!” the stranger ordered.
Tom looked on in disbelief for a moment before quickly snapping out of it and entering the building. The stranger raised his gun into the air and began shooting at the creature as the rest of the group backed into the building. After they were all inside the stranger quickly slammed the door closed behind them moments before the creatures got inside. The room was filled with silence broken only by the sound of the group's heavy panting.
“Looks like I got ya in the nick of time,” the stranger chuckled nervously.
Without warning, Tom lunged at the man, pinning him up against the wall. The rest of the group looked on, shocked by his actions.
“What the hell are you doing!” Liz said sternly.
“How do we know this guy wasn’t the one who shot us down.”
“Look man… I don’t know what the hell you're talking about,” the man said in a panicked tone.
There was a clicking sound in the back corner of the room.
“I told you not to let them in,” came a voice from behind them.
The group looked to the source of the voice to see a man with a think beard pointing a gun towards Tom.
“Put him down, or ill make you wish those creatures got you.”
Tom slowly realise the man and turned around to face the other with his hands raised above his head. The first man quickly dashed over to his companion panting in relief.
“Thanks Ryan… so what now,” the first man said.
“Don’t ask me, you’re the one who let them in,” Ryan replied.
“hmmm well, we should probably take them to see Emily.”
“sound’s good to me, have fun explaining this to her,” Ryan said as he pointed his gun over the entire group. “Everyone walk in front of me, don’t do anything stupid or I won't hesitate to put you down."
The group looked around to each other before forming a line in front of Ryan. The automatic doors leading deeper into the store began to slowly pull open as the group was marched towards their unknown fate.