Urban Survival: Chapter 1 part 2

The two brutish looking Ayra walked off towards the ramp to the next level of the parking garage. Their weapons at the ready.

“Fal, why are you sending those two Jokers to take care of it?” The Ayra in the skull armor asked. “They’re stupid and clumsy. They’ll probably attract more of those things.”

Max could not help but notice how the Ayra’s voice sounded like he had an Australian accent, which he found… strange. Nevertheless, listening to what the skull armored Ayra had said, Max looked at the two Ayra walking up the ramp. One thing that he noticed first was their rifles. Neither of them was silenced and this worried Max, a lot.

“Fal, or whatever your name is, he’s right,” Max said nodding towards the Ayra who now disappeared through the opening in the ceiling. “They have unsuppressed firearms. If they shoot at the Cree, others are bound to hear it. They could attract a Murder. I’m sure their own pack is already on its way, don’t make things worse.”

Fal jabbed the barrel of his gun harder into Max’s chin, “I’m going to murder you if you don’t shut up! ...What is a murder?”

Max flinched as the cold metal barrel dug into his skin.

“Bad,” The skull armored Ayra answered him, “It’s a horde of the Cree.”

Aeila appeared as if she was going to say something but she was interrupted by two loud screams and bursts of gunfire. The four of them looked around.

The two brutish Ayra fell through a hole in the ceiling where the concrete had given way to the weather. They landed in a heap but quickly scrambled to their feet aiming their rifles up and through the hole. Max could hear their loud and heavy breathing.

“What happened?” Fal asked, yelling at the two oafs.

“It just… snuck up on us,” the large one panted.

“How did it possibly sneak up on you in the light?”

They didn’t answer but instead let off a few more rounds through the hole. The shots rang and echoed off the buildings in the city.

Fal only now realized how loud they actually were and yelled, “Stop shooting!”

The two Ayra ceased fire and backed away from the hole. The smaller of the two backed up into the open wall that faced the street. All was quiet, too quiet.

Unexpectedly hands grabbed the Ayra from behind clawing at his armor. The Ayra screamed as a pale head tried to gnaw through his helmet. As the angry and hungry Cree clawed at the Ayra’s chest, it hit something that started beeping.

“Get off of me!” the helpless Ayra cried.

The Ayra finally managed to pull away from the Cree’s clutches. The Cree however kept hold of the beeping object, which had detached from the Ayra’s armor, and began to gnaw on that instead.

“Get down!” Fal yelled pulling Max to the ground with him, purely as instinct not because he wanted to save Max’s life.

The Ayra all dove for cover as the beeping continued. Max threw his hands over his head and tensed up. The beeping stopped abruptly and all seemed deathly quiet.

The whole of the parking garage shook as the device in the Cree’s mouth exploded, sending flames and shrapnel everywhere. What was left of the Cree toppled to the streets below. Pieces of concrete fell scattering on the ground around Max.

He looked at where the explosion had taken place and assessed the damage. Dust hung heavy in the air and caused them all to cough and wheeze. There was now no longer a wall or floor within a six foot radius of where the detonation had taken place.

“Holy crap!” Max gasped

The female Ayra, Aeila, was the first to get up. She ran over to check on the Ayra who had been attacked by the Cree, but he waved her off pushing himself up off the floor. As everyone slowly got to their feet, a horrible shriek rang out from the streets.

Fal ran over to the wall where Max had originally climbed over and peered out onto the street, “Oh no…”

Cree were running at the parking garage from every corner of the street, there were hundreds of them.

“Told you so,” the skull armored Ayra mocked.

Fal turned and glared at the Ayra, “Shut up! Let’s get out of here.”

He then began to sprint toward the ramp and towards the upper levels of the garage. The others followed.

Max was about to follow until he watched the first Cree jump out of the hole the two Ayra had fallen through and attack Aeila.

The momentum of the Cree threw them both over the edge and through the hole in the floor the explosion had made. Aeila barely managed to grab onto the edge of the hole but was able to keep her grip.

Aeila cried out for help but the other Ayra kept running, ignoring her. The Cree that had attacked her clung onto her legs clawing at her armor, trying to find a way to tear at her flesh. Max saw that the other Ayra were just going to leave her there to die.

Although he had, had his differences with the Ayra, he would sooner save one than let a Cretin kill one. And maybe it was a flaw, but whenever someone was in danger, he felt an urge to save them.

Max ran over to the edge of the hole and stuck out his left hand to offer his help. Aeila gladly took it for she was struggling to keep her grasp on the cold concrete, and the thrashing Cree on her legs was making things twice as difficult.

Although her visor was dark and Max could not see her face, he could sense how terrified she was. Pulling her up until her other elbow was over the ledge, Max drew his pistol. He pointed it at Aeila and she said nothing.

“Duck!”

Aeila quickly ducked her head and Max pulled the trigger. The bullet hit its mark and the lead projectile ripped through the forehead of the Cree assailant. The Cree’s expression went from anger and desperation to a calm nothingness as its limbs went limp and the Cree crashed to floor below.

Max helped Aeila the rest of the way up onto the solid ground.

“You… Saved me?” Aeila asked, breathing heavily.

“Now is not the time, we’ve got to go!”

Aeila looked out at the street. The Cree were now upon the garage and beginning to climb the walls of the building. “Right sorry, come on!”

She dragged Max towards the ramp to the next level and he followed quickly. They ran through each level until they reached the roof. As they ran through the opening to the roof Max could hear the rain patter against his helmet again. He had gotten used to the dry shelter of the parking garage, so the rain almost stung as it hit the bare skin on his face.

As they set foot on the roof, the first thing he noticed was that Fal and the other Ayra were not there. Aeila lead Max to one of the sides of the building. It was facing a twenty-story building, and he noticed that there was a large makeshift bridge that Max had not seen from the street. The bridge extended from the twenty-story building to the parking garages roof. Aeila stepped onto it but stopped when she noticed Max had.

“Come on!”

“What is this place?” Max asked, hesitant to go into the building if it were full of Ayra.

Aeila turned back and grabbed Max’s arm, pulling him onto the bridge, “It’s a safe house. Now come on!”

Max was still hesitant on whether or not he should follow the Ayra, but a loud screech from the Cree pursuing them made him think again. He decided it was better to live than to be ripped to pieces by the angry Cree, so he followed Aeila.

The bridge extended from a room in the building where the windows had been cleared, leading to a single door guarded by two Ayra soldiers. Once Aeila and Max had reach the end of the bridge, and set foot into the room there was a loud creaking noise and the bridge began to rise. It worked like a medieval drawbridge; two large cables reached down from higher up in the building and connected to either side of the bridge. These cables pulled the bridge up and away from the parking garage.

The two Ayra guards raised their weapons at Max when they saw his uniform but Aeila told them to lower them, so they did.

Max could see from around the bridge the Cree come sprint into view as it came to a stop flat against the building. Hundreds of them came pouring out onto the roof of the parking garage and even as they reached the edge of the building, the Cree behind them continued forward shoving the Cree in the front ranks over the edge and falling to their doom.

Behind him, Max heard the door open and he turned around. An arrogant looking Ayra walked through staring at Max. In his hand he carried a rustic looking pistol. He wasn’t wearing a helmet and his short brown hair looked ragged. He looked like a human in his mid forties without the helmet on.

More Ayra soldiers walked past and two of the soldiers grabbed Max’s arms restraining him.

“Jaq, he’s alright, he saved my life.” Aeila pleaded with the arrogant Ayra.

But Jaq just shook his head, “Aeila, it doesn’t matter. He’s human, we can’t trust him! At least, not now, not after he almost let those things into our safe haven.”

“Sir, that wasn’t my fault, and I didn’t come here to fight! I came here to survive!” Max told the so-called Jaq.

Jaq struck Max across the face with his sidearm. Starbursts erupted in Max’s skull and his vision began to blur. He would have fallen over if it were not for the two Ayra holding him up from behind.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say,” Jaq said.

Grabbing Max by his cheeks and forcing Max to look him in the eyes he continued, “Lucky for you I can’t afford to let you go. You know where we live. However, since I’m such a nice guy your wish to survive will be granted… for now.”

Violently letting Max’s cheeks go, he stepped back. Aeila continued to plea for Max but Jaq ignored her. He motioned to the soldiers holding Max, but before Max could look behind him, more starbursts erupted in his skull and his vision went black.