Through Flame and Shadow

The group begin their supply run which doesn't go as easy as planned.

Bryan awoke the next day. As he did every day, he reached to the table aside his bed, picked up his watch to reveal the time, “14:38”. He let out a low grunt, reached his other arm towards the back of the watch and wound it. He lifted himself out of bed, put on his outdoor gear, garbing himself all in black and left his bed section. As he walked towards the door of the sleeping quarters, Mother is stood in the doorway.

 

“Afternoon, lovely. Lewis has your dinner at the gate. Be careful on your run.”

Nuzzled in Mothers arms was Prince, his tongue hanging out as he stares lovingly at Bryan. Mother had recently washed him, he started to look a lot more refreshed. His fur, soft and golden, he is either a Golden retriever or a Labrador, Bryan couldn’t remember what each breed looked like specifically.

“Cheers ma, we’ll be fine, done this a thousand times before”

Mother hugs Bryan, gives him a kiss on the cheek and pats him on the back. Bryan leaves the house, heads towards the gate and climbs the stairs. Lewis and Jade both sitting, eating from metal trays. Bryan stepped closer to see another tray containing Beans, Sausages and Mashed Potatoes. He sat next to the pair and the three ate without talking, only letting out low moans of enjoyment.

Once the three had finished, they put their backpacks on and left. They headed through alleys, wandering the city to head to the meeting place. The Journey took little over two hours and met with no issues or sightings of Demons. They approached a brick wall, standing 13 feet tall and topped with spikes and barbed wire. A large gate sat in the middle of the wall. Lewis approached and whistled three increasing notes. Shortly after, the gate opened slightly, enough for each person to squeeze through.

 

On the other side of the gate, crates stacked around a wide open space. Towards the back of the compound, a building stretching the length of the wall. 6 men stood in the middle of the space clad in green and black camouflage with thick body armour and black helmets strapped around their chins. Behind the men, a large All-Terrain Vehicle with a trailer attached, atop the trailer sat an Echo Transmitter. The man in the middle stepped forward, the only thing distinguishing this man from the others was his black Beret.

 

“Afternoon, gentlemen. Lady. On time, as always. This is why I like dealing with you guys. No f*****g around.”

Bryan stepped forward and shook the hand of the man.

“Alex, a pleasure as always. How’s business?”

“It is what it is, you got anything for me?”

“Yeah, we got 3 new people. We’ll have them ready for pick up tomorrow morning.”

“Wonderful, your crates are where they usually are, help yourself. We’ll pop by about 8 O’clock to pick up your newbies and the trolley.”

“No worries. One more thing, we’ve got a new recruit for Home. He’s a dog. Any chance of something for him in future?”

Alex stormed towards Bryan, stood within his personal space, his nose touching Bryan’s as he begun to bellow, his breath seeping down Bryan’s throat.

“I’m not going to start supplying for a f*****g animal, Bryan. What the f**k is wrong with you? We’re trying to run a f*****g operation, you collect some people for staffing, I feed you guys, done. Why have you got to try and complicate s**t? I’m already giving you supplies for the f*****g kids you’ve got. Don’t push your f*****g luck, Bryan or I’ll stop feeding those little, pointless s***s you’ve got upstairs and that’ll be on your hands. Those f*****g kids will have died because you couldn’t stop asking for more. Is that what you want because you’re sure pushing things that way!”

The compound went silent except for the sound of Alex, grunting as his face became bright red, the veins in his neck bulging. Bryan put his arms up in a surrender position.

“Alright, chill the f**k out dude. I’ll make do.”

 

Alex stepped back, the colour in his face returned to normal as he gestured towards a pile of crates on a trolley. Bryan looked at Lewis and nodded his head toward the crates. As Lewis stepped forward a large smash could be heard followed by a roar of fire. Everyone in the compound swung around, facing the gate to witness a blaze at the base of the door. More crashes and flames appear, bottles soar through the sky, a cloth ablaze from the neck of each one. One of the soldiers shouts.

“Take cover! We’re under attack”

Lewis tapped Bryan on the shoulder, a smirk across his face.

“Do you reckon he figured that out on his own?”

Bryan chuckled, shook his head and swung his arm to suggest he be followed. Jade and Lewis followed Bryan to the building that sat at the back of the compound. Flames roared across the area. Two of the soldiers had been hit by some of the bottles, their screams pierced the air as their skin crackled and their blood sizzled. They ran aimlessly, their allies attempting to extinguish the flames with cloths.

Bryan peered over a box, hunched within the darkness and clear of the fire bombs. The main gates flung open, followed by a group of people drifting through the flames on metal platform like snowboarders. Once passed the flames, they jumped off the platforms and charged at the remaining soldiers and began to savagely beat them, ripping their helmets off and smashing their faces into the ground. The men kicked, punched and slammed into the soldiers.

 

Once all the soldiers lay dead, the assailants started loading crates onto the ATV. Bryan turned to see Jade sat behind him, alone. Bryan’s head darted left and right looking for Lewis. Bryan whispered to Jade.

“Where the f**k is he?!”

Jade nodded to the right where Lewis was crouched behind a box further along the hallway. Bryan sighed exasperatedly. He signalled for Jade to stay low and keep close as they headed the opposite direction.

Lewis crouched around the corner and saw one of the men scouring through a box. Lewis approached slowly, tossed a stone at the wall behind the man making him twist to see what had made the noise. This gave Lewis the opportunity to approach without being seen. His left arm swung around the man’s neck as Lewis twisted his body, bringing the man crashing to the ground on his chest. Lewis pressed his knee into the man’s back and pulled his neck back, cracking his neck, killing the man immediately. He rested the body in a corner where it could barely be seen.

Lewis continued through the building, weaving through flames and sticking to shadows, eventually leading outside where Lewis could see the flames flickering and casting shadows on the wall. A man and woman were loading crates onto a nearby trolley. The woman checked the contents of the box while the man loaded them onto the trolley. Lewis knew he could time this and take them both out. He waited for the man’s back to turn to the woman, as he did, Lewis slapped his hand to the woman’s mouth, pulled her into the building and slammed her face onto a wall and threw her to the floor. The echo from the woman’s heading hitting the floor was chilling.

A voice appeared from behind the wall.

“Amy, where the f**k you gone?”

The man had returned to collect more crates and noticed the woman missing. He walked into the building where Lewis lunged at the man, his hand thrusting into the man’s throat, slamming him into the wall. Lewis begun rapidly punching the man’s face, blood spurting from his nose, his teeth cracking as his cheek crumbles, loosening his eye from its socket. The man’s body slumped to the floor. Lewis peered outside to see the attackers searching the area. They must have noticed their people had gone missing.

Across the courtyard, Lewis could see Bryan choking an attacker and laying him to the floor. Four people could be seen outside. They seemed to be all that remained. The woman in the courtyard shouted.

“Come on out, you little f***s. We know you’re here, show 

yourself and we’ll show mercy!”

Lewis could hear the tremble in the woman’s voice. The compound was somewhat cleared of the flames, the group seemed to have extinguished some of the blaze before beginning their looting. Across the compound, Bryan’s voice could be heard as he walked towards the woman, arms in the air.

“Just how many of you are left? I mean, come on. It was a nice little sneak attack but like f**k am I going to let you get away with it! These are good men. You’re a greedy little c**t who’s going to get what’s coming to you!”

This seemed like a good time to make a move. Lewis followed the shadows of the wall around the back of the group while looking around for something to use. Lewis grasped a large stick, charged at the biggest guy of the remaining group and swung as hard as he could, cracking the man’s skull and forcing 

him to the ground.

Following this, the remaining attackers swung around and charged at Lewis, followed by Bryan tackling one of them. Jade appeared from behind one of the buildings, turned one of the attackers around and kicked the front of his knee, crumbling him to the ground. Jade then proceeded to stomp on his head while Bryan held the other man to the floor and proceeded to clasp his fist into a ball and dropping it with strong force onto his face.

Lewis held a ready stance as the woman ran at him. He stepped to the side, leaving his leg out, tripping the girl, landing on her chest. Lewis pulled the girl up, took her to Alex’s body, his face no longer recognisable. He kneeled the girl in front of him, gripped her chin and twisted it fiercely to the right, snapping her neck. Her body slumped down next to Alex’s. Lewis picked up Alex’s beret and placed it into his bag.

 

 

The three regrouped. Lewis breathing heavily and angrily, tears rolling down Jade’s cheek as Bryan observes the area. Flames still roar in parts of the compound. Bryan points towards the ATV.

“F**k it, let’s use that to get home, load it up with as much as we can, as quick as we can and get moving! We’re going to need as much as possible, I can’t imagine the strays are going to get collected tomorrow, now.”

The three load up the ATV with as much as possible and strap it down onto the trailer. Lewis climbs the ATV as Jade and Bryan sit atop the crates of supplies. The engine revs as the vehicle begins to move forward and leave the compound through the flames that remained at the gate.

“How much power do we have in the Echo, Lewis?”

Lewis checks the meter on the transmitter gauge, showing enough power to last 3 hours. He gives a thumbs up to Bryan and continues driving.

 

 

The ride home was clear, the Echo Transmitter kept any Demon’s away allowing the group to return home within an hour. The three dismount as Mother runs towards them.

“Bryan, Bryan! We’ve got a problem. Carl left Home, I don’t know where he’s gone, he wouldn’t tell me and I couldn’t stop him!”

“For f**k sake, are you taking the piss?!”

Jade steps forward

“What do we do? Should we look for him?”

The four stood by the gate in silence as they all pondered the 

next move.  Bryan put his hand onto Lewis’ shoulder.

“Do me a solid, get all the supplies packed up and sorted, I’m going to go look for him. I know where he is. Turn off the transmitter, we can keep it as a backup or if we take this out for a supply run”

Lewis nodded at Bryan, Took Jade by the arm and begun unloading. Mother returned inside, leaving the two to the labour. Bryan turned back towards the gate with an exasperated sigh and left once more.