Unless… unless they felt like they couldn’t win. That they were losing. And destroying the city was preferable?
Does that mean… that they’d nuke the city?
Felix froze at the thought. It was an unrealistic scenario a few months ago, but now?
Now it might not be unthinkable. If they’re willing to bomb the city, what’s to stop them from dropping a nuke? We have to get out of the city. Have to get out, and now.
“Gear up. Now. Don’t bother taking anything that you don’t plan on carrying for long. Because we’re only going to stop long enough at the post office to give everyone else their gear. We’re done with Tilen,” Felix commanded.
“Why not stay here?” someone asked. Felix wasn’t quite sure who it was.
“Because an artillery strike is only the first move. And honestly there’s no escape routes from here. This is a dead end,” Felix answered. Moving to the closest case, he picked up the rifle he’d secured for himself. It was a shortened version of a military battle rifle. Andrea had drilled him repeatedly with it and several SMGs. This was one that he’d been relentlessly trained on. She’d told him repeatedly that standard use rifles weren’t going to be useful in most city fights. Being that Legion operated in a city, it was all she would allow him to work with.
Need to thank her. Somehow. Both of them, since they both worked on this with me.
He’d already donned the dark fatigues, tac vest, and webbing. Felix was fully loaded with clips, grenades, a knife, and anything else he thought he’d need in city fighting.
Grabbing one of the extra clips from the case he slipped it in and felt it click into place. He pulled the charging handle and took a slow breath. The nerves were starting to creep up on him.
The plan was to take a group of people, with only one who had any rifle experience, another who was little more than a street thug, and two who were probably homemakers straight out into the street that was now an active war-zone, and try to get home.
All the while dodging Skipper and her people.
You got this.
“Mount up. Steve, you’re on point. I’ll take the rear. Everyone else, pick a case, and get ready to hump it all the way home,” Felix said.
Being the only other person with any sort of experience with a weapon, he was the logical person to take the front.
They made their way up the stairs and met with their first obstacle of what felt like it was going to be a very long night.
Hanging around the entry in broken walls and shattered objects, the pawnshop was a ruin.
Whatever had gone on up above ground had landed squarely atop them. Only Felicia’s knack for safety measures had spared them.
Clambering over and through the broken husk of a building, they eventually managed to get onto the street.
Only to find it was as bad, if not worse, as the pawnshop had been.
Gigantic craters littered the streets and holes were torn out of buildings all around.
The city of Tilen had been attacked with artillery. This was a scene of a city not under siege, but in a war with active combatants.
“Oh my god,” Julia said, standing on his right side. She rolled her shoulders under the weight of her bulging backpack. “I… I can’t even begin… I mean… This wasn’t a staging area. This was all civilians… we weren’t… we were just trying to survive.”
“Unfortunately, someone decided that it was worth it, if it took care of a local Skipper resource. That’s my guess at least, but I’m pretty confident in it,” Felix said.
Shaking his head, he started down the sidewalk, weapon couched in his shoulder and finger in the trigger.
Having the situation elevated meant that everyone else would either be hunkering down, or panicking. Given that the city was already on edge before this point, and most of this entire territory seemed like it was living under apocalypse rules, Felix was betting on the latter.
“Only one warning,” he said. “Then you fire. Keep the number of rounds low if possible to conserve ammo. It’s unlikely they’ll give you a second chance, so don’t give them one.”
“You’re a nasty asshole, boss,” Julia said. “A man after my own heart.”
“I’m going to give you to Miu when we’re done here. She could use a second. Then you can tell me if I’m a nasty asshole, or just a realist,” Felix said. “Let’s cut the chatter, keep an eye out.”
Felix kept himself on high alert as they walked down the street. There were several times they heard noises from the alleys, and investigated none of them.
This wasn’t the time to play investigative detective, and he wasn’t about to split the party either.
At long last, the post office came into sight. Or what was left of it.
It’d clearly taken a direct hit and the entire front was a wreck of broken bricks.
“Move to the rear entrance. That’s probably still intact simply because of the way it’s positioned,” Felix said.
Steve swung out to the right, his rifle held steady as he changed their direction.
Turning the corner through the alley, they arrived at the rear parking lock and secured entry. Standing around in large groups around the lot was what could only be citizens. It was hard to tell clearly what was going on since they were only going by the light of the moon, but he could see enough.
They were gathered around something on the ground in the corner, in the center where it looked to be an argument, and a bunch of people were battering on the rear door of the post office.
“Back up,” Felix hissed.
Steve backed up slowly, everyone else doing the same.
“Drop gear and prepare for a firefight. I didn’t see any guns, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any. Make sure you’re chambered, safety off, and have your clips ready. Try to keep your finger moving. Burst fire only. No full auto,” Felix ordered.
Twenty seconds later, and everyone had dropped their cargo. Julia and Steve looked sure, the others looked sick.
“You two will be up front, kneeling. I want you to try to only shoot if people start heading our way. Got it?”
The two of them nodded at Felix.
“Great. Julia, post up on the right and keep it clear. Steve, the left. I’ll hold the middle. Keep your fields of fire clean. If I move, move with me. To start this party off, I’ll fire a single shot over their heads. If I fire after that, light ’em up,” Felix said.
A single breath and they were staring back into the parking lot.
Nothing had changed.
Everyone got into position quickly, their weapons trained on the targets.
Aiming just above their heads, Felix fired a single round.
In an instant the world changed.
The single round cracked the air and echoed.
“Clear out!” Felix called. “Now! Only warning!”
Apparently the situation was far worse than he had thought it was. Because they all turned towards his group, and charged.
Sighting the individual who had started moving first, Felix pulled the trigger for a split second. Before he could even determine how bad he’d hit that one, he moved on to the next target.
Then everyone opened up and muzzle flashes lit the night.
Nancy and Amy spent their entire clip in seconds. Both freezing up on their trigger and holding it down.
Steve and Julia fared better, each tracking targets and firing selectively.
They got within thirty feet of Felix and his squad, before it was clear to everyone that this wasn’t going to work. The rounds were penetrating multiple people and bodies were piling up rapidly.
What had started as a mob rush, now quickly became a full-on retreat. Everyone tried to head back the way they came, scattering as they did.
“Drop as many as you can. No survivors if possible,” Felix called, shooting one of the fleeing people in the back with a burst of fire.
A dead round locked up his rifle as he sighted a woman who had almost made it to an alley.