Sheldon leads. For all his bulk, he moves with finesse and motions us to advance forward. I can barely hear the sound of his footsteps on the cement, even with all of his equipment strapped on.
Keegan follows Sheldon across the street and then turns to wave me on. I can tell he’s tense by his rigid movements. For a brief moment our eyes meet, and his give nothing about his feelings away. I’m sure mine are wide with fear, anticipation and anxiety. His finger rests on the trigger of his gun, ready for the slightest change of plans. In front of us, in the distance, looms the stark outline of the main wall surrounding the Hole. Almost there.
The thick cement blocks grow larger and more intimidating as we converge on them. They tease us with their steadfast reputation and their unwillingness to allow our freedom. No one has ever escaped the Hole. Either the guards caught them, shot them as they attempted to slip away, or they weren’t strong enough to climb out.
But we’ve come to change that.
We creep into a shanty butted up against the barrier in order to avoid the cameras. A metal bowl sits on the table with some kind of mush left inside. Steam rises off it, so the owner hasn’t been gone long.
So far, too good. The lack of surveillance has me unnerved. Wouldn’t the guards have noticed by now? The silence screams the obvious, for nothing is ever quiet around here. The hair rises on the back of my neck and I finger the trigger of my Glock, feeling jumpy inside. What is that old saying? If something can go wrong, it probably will.
Just then, I feel a deep rumble and hear the metallic clanking of a tank slowly ambling down the street outside. My eyes lock onto Keegan’s, fearing the worst. All of us immediately duck below the window while waiting for it to pass. My blood curdles and adrenaline pumps through my limbs. I hold my breath as it passes.
Sheldon waits a moment and then motions us forward using hand signals. He disappears into the darkness, then Keegan, and then I follow with Zeus. I step out of the door, crouch down, and look for Keegan’s signal to head for the stairwell that leads to the top of the wall. My eyes strain as I focus on his silent movements. Clenching my jaw, I sprint to him.
Just as Isaac is about to follow suit, shots split the air, tinging off the metal roofing of the shacks. So much for surprise. He dives for cover near the wall, grimacing under the weight of his load-bearing harness. He cringes at the volume of the guns while crawling to us. My insides jump with each shot, but I reach out and pull him into the mouth of the stairwell, knowing the worst is yet to come.
Keegan motions frantically for the rest of the group. After watching Isaac cross and seeing the amount of tracers zipping through the darkness, they hesitate. I can see the whites of their eyes widen as if the Grim Reaper himself beckons them to hell. In their moment of indecision, an explosion rocks us, and confusion abounds.
When I look again, all that’s left of them are bits and pieces of flesh, combined with the pungent smell of smoke. My helmet disappears in the concussion and searing pain hits me like a jackhammer. It feels like my head is on fire, and I grasp at an object stuck in my hair. Some sort of flaming ember burns my fingertips as I rip it out of my hair and toss it.
Our cover has been blown.
I turn left and see Keegan shouting at me, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. My left ear rings from the damage and my eyes water from the smoke. The blam, blam, blamming of the guards’ guns opening up on the wall makes my head throb. A few citizens of the Hole spring from their houses with terrified expressions. I scream at them to take cover, but not before the guards mow them down with a serenade of bullets.
Keegan yanks me forward into a dark entrance hidden in the wall before I can even think about what I’ve just seen. He runs back outside, directing traffic in chaos while bullets rain down.
Sheldon waits for as many people to file in the small entrance as possible. I see his eyes tallying up bodies. I know at least one man’s down, but from the constant gunfire, and from the concern on his face, there could be many more. Or all.
Zeus’s lips pull back over his teeth and he barks with aggression. The hair on his back stands up straight. I put a steady hand on his collar to keep him close to me. I don’t want him running off on a mission alone.
The guards begin shooting down the narrow staircase, but there’s nowhere else to go. Someone comes in screaming to warn us and I can barely make out the words over the melee.
“Tank! Tank!”
As the words register, fear envelops me like a black hole. I’ve heard of the horrific power their tanks possess. One shot alone would blow us all away. Sweat seeps through my layers. The wall of gunfire from up top becomes so intense that I feel like I’m living an out-of-body experience. There’s nowhere to hide as the unionized force of the guards rain down bullets that disfigure the walls around us and cut people down.
In desperation, Isaac pulls a grenade from his harness and lobs it up the steps, blowing them into silence and buying us a few more precious seconds.
Once Keegan gives the signal, Sheldon starts up the steps, gun ready and begins rapid firing at the guards waiting at the top. Keegan follows him with all that’s left of us trailing behind. Sweat burns my eyes and I can barely focus as I fire off a slew of rounds. I stumble for a moment and realize I’ve stepped on Zeus, who faithfully followed me into the fray. I push his head behind me to block him. I don’t want him shot.
The narrow staircase opens into a wide path on top of the wall edged by barbed wire and manned by more guards.
Sheldon reaches the top and immediately engages two guards. Keegan stabs one from behind, and Sheldon shoots the other one in the stomach. Blood spurts out like a fountain and Sheldon shoves him into the barbed wire wrapped around the outside of the path.
As I clear the last step, a guard grabs me from behind. I gasp as panic surges through me like fire. Remembering the knife stored in my cargo pants, I relax momentarily to reach it and then plunge it into my assailant’s leg. He grunts with the shock of pain, and as his hands loosen, I spin and stick him again in the chest. Watching him fall backward is surreal, but I don’t have time to think about it. I glance around me, and everyone is firing off rounds while pushing forward. The guards swarm us like piranhas, taking chunks out of our team bit by bit and shot by shot.
Keegan shouts something, his eyes panicked. I can’t hear him over the hammering of guns and screaming, so I focus on his mouth. “Radio for backup!” He fends off another opponent, slicing his knife through the air and twisting it into the guard.
Sheldon moves to find the radio but gets tied up. I look around for Isaac, but he’s already moved forward to set up the explosives in the main doorway. Despair seeps into my bones like venom as I search for the radio. And then I spot her.
Veronica lies on her side, her face fearful as she holds out the radio. She opens her mouth to speak, but blood trickles out. I duck under a punch, and take it from her. My opponent slashes with his knife, barely missing my torso, and Zeus takes him down. He digs his teeth into his hand with a vicious bite and frees the knife. I pick it up in a flash, and stick the guard in the neck with it.
The screaming and blasts of gunfire unnerve me, and my hands shake under the duress of combat. I fiddle with the buttons, hitting them all while yelling for backup. Everything sounds muffled. I can’t hear myself think, let alone what I say or what the person on the other side replies.
I drop the radio when another explosion blows out half the wall with a loud boom. People stumble over the side, and I leap to grab Keegan’s arm as he begins to slip over the side. He pulls himself upright just in time to see Sheldon plummet over the wall with his adversary. The cement barrier lining the walkway is gutted with twisted pieces of barbed wire dangling over the side.