Card-Carrying

Allison looked to Faulkner. He stood at the doorway; his rifle slung across his chest. She slung hers onto the back of her shoulder, then she tucked her ponytail into her neck gaiter to hide it. Nothing could be left to chance. She nodded and made her way around to Faulkner’s back. He stepped out and turned left down the hall. Allison followed suit. Keeping herself upright after her torture session was difficult, but she put her mind to it and moved as casually as she could. Act like you belong. Act natural. But don’t appear to try and act natural. Relax. Just walk casual. She repeated to herself. Her eyes moved over the others in the room, trying not to make eye contact with them for too long. She wasn’t sure if they’d notice her purple irises and call them out, but it was better to not chance it at all.

Faulkner led the way. He waved to others, spoke in passing, and worked the disguise. For his part, he was a lot better at this than Allison was. She kept up behind him, hoping the bulky clothing went a long way towards hiding her feminine frame from curious glances. The hallways wound this way and that. She took note of just how much equipment they were storing here. Then she remembered what the man had said before. He was using captured demi-machina as test subjects, most likely involving the virus and the infected. It was a prospect that she was more than glad to avoid in her future. It was at that moment she realized that there wasn’t a plan that Faulkner shared with her. Too late to ask now. She had to trust him. He had come back for her, so that trust seemed well-placed now.

She looked ahead and put one foot in front of the other. They went up a flight of steps and then out a door. The castle opened up into a courtyard. The sky above was dark. Rain pelted down from the clouds. Puddles were already forming in the grass. This was good. The storm would prevent the curious from looking their way and keep most others inside. The rain also muffled the sounds of others and themselves. Faulkner stepped out into the rain and Allison followed. She came up alongside him. When she scanned around and saw no one, she pulled his head to her mouth.

“What’s the plan?” She asked with her mouth right next to his ear.

“Find the motor pool. Drive out of here.” He replied, doing the same to her.

Allison let it go and stepped to distance herself from him. It was a solid idea. If they were found out, they could always gun it. It was risky, but they had no better alternatives. What’s more, she still had to get into contact with command. She was sure that a rescue team was being prepped for CSAR, but she couldn’t count on them until they established communication and she gave them her location. So many things to do, and she wasn’t even outside the castle walls. One step at a time. She reminded herself. The ensuing walk through the courtyard brought them through a large gate and into another, larger courtyard. The guard at the gate waved them through. Easy enough.

They filed in through the gateway. On their way in, they passed by tents and trailers. Here, there were the vehicles. Trucks were lined up along the grass off the cement walkways. Faulkner headed right towards one. Small. Light. Fast. Like the one she had seen before, only this one looked like a newer design. They looked around. Soldiers milled about, but few were out in the open like them. Faulkner picked up the pace to a power walk and Allison followed suit. They reached the truck without issue. Faulkner took the driver’s seat. Allison took the passenger’s. Since it was a European model, the steering wheel was on the right side. She took her rifle out and put it on the floorboard with her rucksack. She pulled her pistol out of it and kept it at her side. Her rifle was worse than useless now, but the pistol would shine in this confined space. She kept it hidden and had her other hand around the rifle that was between her legs.

“Good thing about military vehicles is that they never lock them and they don’t need keys. Now let’s see here…”

Allison watched Faulkner turn a knob next to the steering wheel. They waited. Allison kept her eyes on the windshield, but it was hard to see anything through the rain. Time seemed to crawl on. She tapped her foot idly on the floor. Faulkner turned the engine over after the glow plug light went off. Being a diesel engine, it required a different procedure to start than a gasoline engine. The headlights lit up. He found the windshield wipers and turned them on.

“Alright, we’ll pull up to the gate. I’ll handle the talking, you be ready to smoke him if he gets too curious.” Faulkner instructed.

“Roger.”

Allison felt her palms start to sweat as her grip tightened around the pistol’s frame. Her knuckles were going white. She was doing everything to stay still. Her thumb moved along the safety that was currently off. The truck approached and the guard waved his hand, signaling them to stop. Faulkner pulled it up to the gate. Allison grabbed the handle and rolled down the window as he stepped up to her side. He began speaking immediately and she could tell he was asking questions from his inflection. Faulkner spoke back, hard and fast. The man continued unabated. Faulkner shot back at him, feigning exasperation. Allison tried not to seem twitchy. He’s not buying it. She thought.

Her body moved on its own as she flattened herself against the back of the seat. The guard looked at her dead in the eyes. Shit. Faulkner watched and leaned up against the wheel. His left hand was down on the gear shifter. The guard said something to her but she didn’t understand. What she did understand though, was his finger pointing at her and the word “maske” that he said. Faulkner tapped her arm two times in quick succession. She brought up the pistol and quickly put two rounds into the guard. He doubled over and fell back. Faulkner threw the truck into first gear and gunned the engine. They flew by the tents as they came around the bend in the roadway.

They couldn’t hear the shouting over the storm and the engine. The bullets, however, spoke louder. Rounds pinged off the vehicle as Faulkner brought it around when the road dipped down and into a tunnel. Allison grabbed onto the door as she quickly rolled the window back up. The truck flew through the gate. A guard got out in front and Faulkner rammed him, bouncing him off the grille and sending him to the side. They crossed the entrance bridge and passed through the last gate. He turned left and put the truck into second gear. They had gotten the memo now and bullets rained down on them. The window exploded. Allison jumped in her seat and swore. She looked down and saw that there was a fresh hole in her uniform pants leg. She gripped it and leaned back.

“Take the next left! Dammit!” She shouted.

Faulkner did as she told him and pulled the wheel to the left. The tires squealed as he downshifted back to first while he took the corner. Once he got onto the straightaway, he put it back into second and then up to third.

“You good!?” He shouted.

“No, I just got fucking shot! Fuck!”

“Put a tourniquet on it and hurry.! I can’t stop this thing!”

“You keep heading in this direction, I’ll worry about myself!”

Allison dug into her pack and felt around for her first aid kit. She found it on the belt and opened it up, retrieving a Combat Application Tourniquet. She worked fast as the truck went down the road. She slipped it on above the wound by at least two inches and cinched it before tightening it until it felt like it hurt enough. She swore the whole time to herself as she did it, but she couldn’t take the chance that the bullet had hit an artery and risk bleeding out in the passenger seat. She clenched her teeth and pulled out some mild painkillers, downing them with her canteen’s water. It wouldn’t make the pain go away, but it would dull it enough to let her focus.

Faulkner took the truck through the residential neighborhoods. Allison looked out the back window for any other pairs of headlights. No doubt they’d send others to chase after them, but they were in the clear for now.

“Where to?” Faulkner asked.

“Keep heading west. We need to cut through town and get out of here. Keep to the main roads.” Allison told him.

“They’ll be expecting us to do that.”

“Yeah because it’s the fastest way out of the city.”

“You got a map?”

“Yeah but I don’t need a map to tell you to get the hell out of here.”

Faulkner took the truck right into the city limit and stopped.

“Well we need to get a general route now.” He protested.

Allison growled and went fishing for her map. Something thudded nearby. She stopped. Her blood went cold again as her body sent a chill down her spine.

“Faulkner.” She said, her tone dead calm.

“Yeah?”

“We need to go. Now.”

“I told you, I-”

“I said we need to go, right fucking now!”

A machine leg stepped into view in the headlights. Allison and Faulkner looked up through the windshield. The dazzle pattern was unmistakable, even through the rain as lightning lit the whole town up.