Arc 2 - Chapter 11: Let The Counterattack Begin!

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 6:47PM)

“Hello?”

“Hey David! Long time no hear!”

“Is that you Gwen? Are you using the homemade telephone Gary made?”

“Yep. You gotta hand it to the guy, he makes basic yet cool inventions.”

Between the destroyed bar and the adult lounge, Gwen and David found solace through communication. Having the vintage phone pressed on her right ear, she carried the main bulky body with her left hand.

While David had his left arm extended, with the phone faced in front of everyone, as the speaker button was already pressed.

“Listen. Something horrible happened to us during our little party. We got ambushed by four liches, and they managed to escape.”

“Unfortunately, we also got ambushed. In fact, one of them took Boris.”

Gwen took a step back, leaving her grip on the floor to loosen slightly. Her grip on the phone tightened, the delicate metals creaked against her strength, leaving her fingertips to ache. All the while everyone held their breath, as Gary’s homemade phone didn’t have a speaker button.

“So they took Boris…”

““““““““““What?!””””””””””

Everyone exclaimed with wide eyes and sunken hands, as their heads shook in unacceptance. The only men, who were Stan’s group and Luke, began running freights of thoughts across their mind.

—Who would take Boris? Is it a lich?

‘If Boris has many connections to the government, then it would be ideal to pry details out of him, but why now?’ thought Gary.

‘There’s a lot of holes to be filled…’ thought Fred.

Despite not talking, all of them huddled into a group as they rubbed their chins repeatedly. Either they did that, or rubbed the back of their heads, they focused onto the debris ridden floor beneath them.

And as for Gwen, she continued to have the blaring metal pressed into her earlobe.

“Where’s he heading?”

“Jerry told me he had to put a needle inside Boris’ jacket, a means to showcase and pinpoint his location.”

“I don’t know how that works, but that seems cool. So David…”

She straightened her back along with her neck, leaving a strained pop to crackle her bones. Inhaling deeply, her lungs built up with air, until she pushed it all out with ease.

“I think there’s a way to also pinpoint their locations as well.”

“How so?”

Gwen walked toward Luke and Stan’s group, who all turned their heads to look at her. Stopping the haul of their thoughts, they let their hands drop onto their thighs, as she soon stopped in front of Fred.

“Showcase your little gadget.”

“But it was built on the spot.”

“Hey, never know till you try.”

Fred crouched down in return, and placed his backpack on the floor as he opened it. Pulling out a black radio box, it looked handcrafted and old, making it seem it was built off of scraps.

Despite everyone eyeing it casually, Gwen was the only one to sparkle her eyes. Placing it on the floor, near the phone, she gestured to him to turn it on.

‘Here goes nothing.’

Rotating the knob, a small static noise grazed through the speaker.

Everyone flinched at the sudden high pitched frequency, and they all jabbed their palms onto their ears. Slightly clenching their eyes, this small torture was over, once it was replaced with a shrilling message of—

“All units! I repeat! All units defend the military complex! Numerous zompires closing in! Unidentified variant! Oh shit—”

Cutting off the signal was none other than an explosion, which loosened some of the bolts of the radio.

All the people that went through The Array, looked down as they recalled the unidentified variant. Their bodies coated in cold sweat, Fred, Gary, and Diego shivered the most, leaving their knees to falter from their own body weights.

‘I guess we’re going to have to deal with those things…’ thought Fred.

“Not those steamed zompires … they’re making their public debut here out of all places.” Said Diego.

Everyone swayed their heads back and forth, hoping to minimize the remembrance. Looking at the three men, who are considered the weakest in strength, she sighed.

“I’m sorry, but those zompires are our lowest threat. Can you help out the soldiers in the military complex?”

“I… we’ll try.” Said Fred.

Nodding at her order, Fred crouched down and turned the knob on the radio. Static blaring against their ears, it was only for a split second, as they encountered a random transmission.

“If there’s anyone out there! Please save me! I’m at the Zirardge National Tower! There are these two maniacs slaughtering everybody, and … and one of them has bats and the other has chainsaws—NO!! N—”

The transmission being cut short, it was ripped apart by the motor of a chainsaw. Putting her hands on the back of her head, she looked down on the box, while taking a couple of steps back.

“Chainsaws … You told me a story about a friend you were close with, yeah? This person sounds the same as that boy.”

“It’s a long story, but I want you to deal with him. He’s the fastest out of all of them. He outpaced me of all people.”

Gwen placed her hand on her collar, gripping it tightly with narrowed eyes. While staring at the radio, a speck of sweat ran down her right temple, stalling on the edge of her jawline.

“Sure. I could handle him.”

All the while Luna darkened her face, as the man described in the transmission sounded familiar…

“Chainsaws … can it be …?”

Turning the knob, Fred did it twice, the transmission being one used for police chatter.

“We got some crazy jokers jumping onto buildings like monkeys. One of them could stretch, and the other has wolves. Requesting assistance.”

Luke lit up his eyes. Remembering their grizzly breaths, it let his bones to freeze, and his body to quake.

“That’s Ryan and Harold.”

“And me and Luke would deal with those two.”

Stan walked right beside Luke, and placed his right arm around his neck. Giving Gwen a nod, another man walked up beside Stan, his skin more dark complected than the others.

“You guys are going to need some defense, so I’ll go too. Last time I checked, you don’t have a blessing, Stan.”

“Don’t worry, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Using his right hand, he opened up the left side of his jacket, showcasing the amount of junk in his pockets. Loaded in trickery, Miles gave him a small chuckle, while wiping a gleam of sweat from his forehead.

“And you’re going to need me? Right?”

The three of them squinted their eyes and sealed their lips; as they all stared at Jack with deadpan faces.

“Right?”

“Ah, the more the merrier.” Said Miles.

“You guys are jerks.”

“And you’ll reason with Harold … right?”

Gary faced the four boys, his cheeks pushed up to his lower eyelids. His hands shaking softly, his softened expression made all four men look down with hardened eyes. Stan especially grinded his teeth, as he took a step back amongst the three of them.

“We’ll try…” Said Luke.

“... Or we could just capture him.”

Pushing his feet forward, Stan faced himself in front of Gary, tightening his face as he made eye contact. His scleras starting to redden, a sudden chill ran down his spine, leaving his body to quake.

“We could capture him, by any means. So we could find a way to bring him back. Sounds good?

“Okay…”

Fred looked down with a softened face, as his finger trembled by Stan and Gary’s little conversation. Inhaling an abundance of air into his pink lungs, he turned the knob, as he transmissioned once more. This time, he went back into the military channels.

“We got a hostage situation inside the Hoover Metal Company building! Two pale weirdos are holding … a chubby bowl-cut haired man and a bunch of other men and women! Requesting backup!”

David and Gwen raised up their eyebrows, along with everyone else seemingly in shock as well. Scratching the right side of her head, scrunches of dandruff littered her leather jacket.

“The industrial district? That’s near your guys’ location.”

“Perfect. Me, Jerry, Jenny, and Loraine will take a shot at retrieving Boris; and rescue the hostages.”

—Hold up, he said there were two weirdos? Who is that other lich…

Only a handful of people dawned on the right number of liches concerning him. Luke, Fred, Stan, Gary, and even Jack raised their hands up to their chins, and rubbed them intensely. But this sudden action was short lived, as Fred turned the knob, into a channel different from both the military and local police force.

“I’m inside a bar on the South side of downtown. Some crazy woman is eating my boyfriend! Please! Someone help-AAAAHH—”

“That’s … Gemma.”

Fred pulled back his hand. His lips quivering, his legs trembling, even his breathing turned rampant. Placing his left hand onto his chest, Benn raised his right hand, signaling everyone’s attention.

“Me and Hope will go after her.”

“Benn…”

Fred’s hands shook intensely, tightening his knuckles to glow a deathly white. Standing up from the rubble of debris, he glared at Benn, his vocals contracting like a machine running without lubricant.

“Don’t tell me you still love her.”

“W-W-What do you mean? J-J-Just hear me out—”

“Hey.”

Luke placed his hand on Fred’s shoulder, digging his fingertips into the fabric of his shirt. Leaving Fred to turn around, his face softened, yet his hands shook dangerously below his waist.

“I know you want to save Gemma, but…”

“But what Luke … How do you know killing her would be the only solution? If there’s a way to save her … then—”

“Fred…”

He heard an angelic voice, coming from his left.

Slowly walking toward the silver-haired man, the woman in question looked up at his youthful face. Placing one of her hands onto his chest, Fred instantly looked down, and felt the touch of just her smooth fingertips.

“We could capture Gemma. I know me and Benn don’t have any fancy gadgets, but—”

“Can you…?”

A couple of tears swelled up within his eyes, followed by averting his gaze elsewhere. Rubbing his left hand alongst his right arm, his voice broke down with each syllable, as she rubbed his chest up and down.

“Can you at least try to bring her in? At least an effort.”

“Of course.”

Benn let out a huge sigh, with all the air he trapped in his lungs soon pushed outward. Drying his throat, and his upper lip, he folded his arms underneath his burly chest, and sunk his cheeks.

‘I think it’s going to be impossible, but I don’t want to say it to him.’

In return, Fred gave Hope a fluttering smile, along with his throat quivering the words trapped in his vocals. Extending both of his arms, he gave her a hug, and pushed her face into his slim and bony chest.

All the while he shed a tear, from his left eye.

“T-Thank you…”

“No worries.”

Seeing the two embrace each other, Luke looked away from the warmthful sight. Although Fred was his best friend, he made a little pout, which left his cheeks to blister a hint of jealousy.

—At least he ain’t Sean. Good thing he was kicked out a year ago.

The phone hanging up from the other end, Gwen placed it back into her pocket, although it wasn’t hers.

“Perfect! There’s six liches that we need to deal with.”

“There’s an extra lich holding Boris hostage; making it seven.”

Clapping her hands back and forth, Gwen let everyone’s attention back onto her. Noticing they were still nervous, since their enemies aren’t the usual zompires or humans they’re used to … it made them feel anxious.

“Don’t worry y'all! We’ll make it out of this, with or without me.

And then; with a simple countdown of the clock; The Dark Angels…

—“Let the counterattack begin!”—