Once we were through the clinic and into the opposite corridor, the temperature dropped drastically. As we walked on, the temperature continued to plummet.
The corridor took a ninety-degree turn to the left, at the end of which was a group of four men with rifles. It was a moment before one of them cried out and pointed at us.
As their guns were raised, I dove for an open doorway on right side of the corridor, Makara and Samuel right behind me. As the first shots were fired, I crashed into the floor. It was freezing cold in here. I looked back, across the corridor, to see that everyone else had remained behind the corner, cut off from us. Anyone who tried to walk across that corridor would be shot down.
“They have the hallway covered,” Samuel said.
“If they’re smart, they’re going for reinforcements,” Makara said. “We have to figure a way to take them down.”
Another doorway led out from the other side of the room. The camera feed had shown a group of Angels near here. The only question was where they were.
“They should be nearby,” I said.
That was when a man appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened.
“Makara?”
Instantly, Samuel, Makara, and I had him in our sights.
“Don’t shoot!” he said. “I’m with you guys.”
“You’re Angel?” Makara asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Where are the others?” Makara asked. “We saw them on the camera feed not five minutes ago.”
“A lot can change in five minutes.”
“You’re the only survivor?”
“Of my group, yeah. I think Grudge and some of his men are down on level six. So, that’s where I was headed.” He paused. “My name’s Damian, by the way.”
“Damian, we have to deal with these Lords first,” Makara said. “They got the corridor covered, and my men can’t move on until they’re taken care of.”
“We can sneak around,” Damian said. “While they’re focused on your men, we can hit from another direction.”
“How?”
“We’ll have to go outside.”
“Outside?” I asked.
“Follow me,” Damian said.
Damian turned from the doorway, disappearing into darkness. We looked at each other and went after him.
Damian led us away from the corridor, and the temperature continued to drop. It wasn’t long before gray daylight filtered through the twisted, collapsed ceiling. This part of the Bunker must have been destroyed, somehow.
“So, Grudge is alive?” Makara asked. “What about Char, Marcus?”
As Damian began climbing the rubble in order to reach the outside, he cracked a smile. “Yeah, Grudge is alive. As far as Char and Marcus…I can’t say. They stayed behind on level one, and we haven’t heard from them since the war started.”
We climbed after Damian. If Char and Marcus were on level one, then the news probably wasn’t good.
I put my foot on a large slab of concrete, boosting myself up. Damian had already reached the top and was standing above the network of Bunker ruins.
“You sure you know where you’re going?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
Makara pulled herself onto the ceiling, followed by Samuel. I was the last one to exit the Bunker, and what I saw rendered me speechless.
This entire side of the mountain was simply…gone. Something had blasted it all away, leaving behind a crater. We were on the opposite side of the mountain, which up to this point we hadn’t see yet. The exits of corridors opened into the free air, at least down to level seven or eight.
“Guess we know where that third nuke hit,” Samuel said.
I still didn’t know why Bunker 84 had nuked itself. It could have been done by the Community, but whatever the case, it had allowed Elias to take control. The bottommost levels of the Bunker would have been largely unaffected.
“This way,” Damian said, moving out of the Bunker exit and onto the mountainside.
Damian angled himself toward an opening in the rubble not far from the one we had exited from. It was a short walk before we made it to the entrance. After walking a few steps inside, Damian spoke softly.
“Alright, the Lords are just around this corner…”
We edged to the corner as more shots split the air.
“I think they’re being fired on from the other side,” I said.
“The perfect opportunity to strike,” Samuel said.
Samuel waited a moment before giving a nod. He checked around the corner, stepping out into the open. I went after him, seeing the four Lords from behind, guns all pointed toward our men.
By the time Makara was also in the open, we fired into their backs.
The two men in the middle went down immediately while the others snapped toward us. Before they could even aim, however, they also went down. Silence followed the brief firefight.
Samuel called out.
“It’s us! When you come around, hold your fire!”
Lionel and the other Angels appeared from around the corner, running toward us. We ran ahead, meeting them in the center.
“That was some luck,” Lionel said.
Damian clasped Lionel’s hand with his own. “Good to see you, brother. I thought we lost you on nine.”
“You did. But I’m hard to kill.”
“Damian,” Makara said, cutting off the reunion. “Lead us to Grudge.”
Damian nodded. “Right. He should still be down on six.”
We followed Damian to a flight of stairs. We took them two at a time until we reached the sixth-level landing. The sounds of gunshots and men’s screams came muffled, distant.
Damian ran forward onto level six. The gunshots grew louder as we neared the center of the level, passing open doorways. We took several turns until we came to a final corner, around which Damian took a quick glance. He pulled his head back, resting it against the wall.
“Five Lords,” he said. “They’re set up behind tables in the mess hall. Faced away from us. They must be firing on Grudge and the Suns.”
“Take them out,” Samuel said. “They won’t see us coming.”
We stepped into the hallway, moving slowly so as not to alert the Lords to our presence. I took careful aim with my Beretta for the man on the left. Five of us were lined up, and still, none of the Lords had turned. They had no idea we were standing there.
I waited for Samuel’s gun to go off before I opened fire. The man on the left immediately dropped, the back of his shirt darkening with blood. I tried to separate my mind from this grisly task. With all of us firing on the Lords in their exposed state, they had all fallen within a matter of seconds.
It was another moment before Samuel spoke.
“Come on.”
We walked into the mess hall, a place that truly lived up to its name. The fluorescent lights above revealed a chaotic maze of upturned tables and chairs, and the scent of blood stunk up the air. Blood pooled under the corpses, spreading over the linoleum. Lionel’s men went to the bodies, rummaging for ammo and weapons. From a hallway leading out from the mess hall, a familiar man appeared.
“Grudge!” Makara called out.
He held up a hand in greeting, using the other to motion the men behind him forward. Three tired men entered the mess hall.
We met in the middle, a good distance from the fallen Lords.
“I thought you were dead,” Grudge said.
“Almost, but we’ll explain later.” Samuel said. “Think we have enough here to make the push back?”
“We need more,” Grudge said. “Much more.”
“Know anything about my family?” Michael asked.
Grudge looked at him. “I think they’re okay, Michael. I haven’t seen them since this all started, but they’re probably on level one with most of the civilians.” Grudge sighed. “Honestly, they’re probably safest there. It was mainly the men they were interested in killing.”