To Be A Warrior

Chapter 74: The End

Sam lets out a shuddering breath, which sounds just as uneasy as my own breathing. "Right. Good news first. Peter's with me. Nicole managed to get a transport to come pick him up and get him back to Abel. We have cams on the rig, and I've got a radio link with a few survivors holed up on the accommodation block. They're safe, and there's no evil gunk coming out of the sink.

"In less good news-Janine, Callista, you're on your own. That rig is moving out to sea too quickly to follow by swimming, and our boats were destroyed when the cliff came down."

"Also, Sage insisted that all the rig's workers had in-depth knowledge of how the place works," Peter states. "Jones is going to use anything he has against you, and I mean, he's already triggered a V-Type horde and then drawn it to the rig. He's not big on moral reasoning."

Janine narrows her eyes. "He does not have the sample of indestructible zombie yet. It may be somewhere on this rig, but if he had it, he'd have already used it rather than making threats."

"And remember, somewhere on the rig is the cure for my immortality, which, if we get it, would mean no more indestructible zombies at all."

"'If?'" I repeat. "There's no 'if' about it. We're getting you that cure."

"Heh. Yeah," He says bashfully. "Thank you, Five."

My reply is a tight smile. "You can thank me once I've gotten you those nanites."

"The risks are great," Janine says. "If Jones releases the vial of indestructible zombie fluid, we have no more burn cubes left to destroy it. The world would be overrun within a matter of weeks. But the opportunities are just as great. Runner Five, we will scale the central staircase and make for the laboratory building."

I nod as we start moving towards the staircase. We don't have a second to waste. We have to take Jones down, and I'm getting that cure to Peter even if it kills me. I have not worked this hard to get him this only for it to be snatched out of my hands.

A grimace passes over my face when I hear feedback from the speakers overhead.

"The thing is, Abel runners, I've always known there was something up with you. Something wrong."

Metal screeches, the sound jarring and painful. Sam screams in warning as the boom of a crane on the rig starts swinging towards us! Janine grabs my arm and pulls me forward, her burst of speed getting me out of the way just in time. I feel the gush of wind as it swings right behind me, and I realize just how real it can be when I say, 'even if it kills me'.

Jones starts swinging the boom of the crane around, and I know better than to stay and see if he'll try to hit us again. He will. He wants us dead. He wants everyone dead.

It's so strange. Most of Sage's principles where sturdy, clean cut. He did do some very wrong things, like sending those people off without operators. He did them because he believed it was his way of keeping order. I don't condone it by any means, but I know that many of the amazing things he accomplished came from his strict rules and regulations...

But there's a problem when rules are too strict, the leash around the neck of a person being too tight. People who wholeheartedly believe in something sometimes go too far, like Jones did. I want to believe that Sage helped him, but I honestly think that Jones simply went from one extreme to another. First with believing everything the Ministry said, to believing in Sage and twisting his own beliefs into something horrific.

Metal screams as Jones swings the boom of the crane around once more, and again we both narrowly miss getting hit. Sam lets out little whines of fear each time, and I can hear my heartbeat in my ears as my legs burn and exhaustion clings to my muscles like the sweat that clings to my skin. The desperation to get away keeps me moving.