“Unhand me you bastard!” Elhisia screamed. I could hear the tugging her shirt made as she tried to pull herself from either Rikor or his men.

I passed a row of tents on the northern side of the camp and trotted onto the open field and saw two of Rikor’s men gunning down two women as they sat on the ground with their hands up begging for mercy.

I squeezed my trigger, flooring the brutes with three bullets each. Another group appeared to the far right, chasing down two men who were trying to escape into the ruins of the stadium on the opposing side of the field. I sprayed a few shots, but missed them completely, watching as the two men dropped to the ground dead.

“SARGE’S ORDER…KILL EM ALL,” Someone roared to my left, making me jump back behind the tent. It wasn’t cover, but it hid me from their sights. I was still on the northern section of the tents.

The entire field was mayhem, and cacophony, with only frustration settling within me as I couldn’t see Elhisia, which made me think one thing.

That bastard Rikor was looking to exfiltrate her now, but not without the lineagecube. Knowing what the lineagecube was, and how important it was to Colvolt Weitson was the game-changer. That sly old bastard would’ve never divulged such information to anyone, but now that Elhisia stole it without his prior knowledge, then all hats were off the table.

If Valeon was aware of what was going on within this ruined stadium, then surely, and I would bet my life on it, Colvolt would’ve told them about it, but not what it did.

Screams and bullets thundered around me making me feel as useless as a stone. Despite my best to stick to the shadows. I had no choice but to kill a few of Rikor’s men as I went west of the camp. Thanks for the tip Huono I said, at watching bodies drop with no white cloth attached to their shoulders.

I peered right, noticing a tent being ransacked and ended the men with a tight squeeze of my trigger and huddled back over to another tent. The tent was as thin as paper and provided zero covers, but the shadows they cast were enough to keep me from being noticed.

I drew myself back into open, firing a range of bullets at a posse, gunning down patrons as they tried to scamper away. I hit three of them in the neck and shoulders but missed the other four. I swerved left, ensuring I wasn’t unseen hearing as people ran past the tent.

A whimper burrowed into my ears, drawing my attention. Then a gunshot shot past me splitting the space between me and the woman that lay there crying with her hands over her ears.

My wrist snapped back, revealing my short sword I thrust the blade up. Then took another wild slash at the side of the tent, slicing it open, then changed from Night vision to X-Ray, watching as everyone ran towards the trailers on the left of the camping site.

I fired a wave of bullets at another on my right, hitting a man who tried to creep behind a group of women huddled outside crying as they tried to bring their dead friend back alive. The girl in the tent whimpered into a cry, I look I tried shaking her free.

“Don’t go out!” I growled, watching as the girl’s whimper trailed into a cry. “Huono and his men have relieved Rikor’s men of the Armory, so stay put, if you go out head towards the Armory, stay low and keep quiet as possible!”

I took up the closest piece of cloth that was close to white, ripping it in two and tying it around the left arm and mine. I gave the girl a nod and left.

I jumped out of the tent once it was safe and made my way down the dark pathway, hopping over cuddled bodies and crying men and women. I aimed, then downed another one of Rikor’s men who’d skipped past a tent to my left. I reloaded a magazine, then loosed another wave of bullets on the field, then dressed back after watching five men drop to the ground.

“Help!” someone screamed to my left, drawing my attention, I skipped over a dead body, and hid between two tents, then fired in the open hitting one of Rikor’s men in the back.

A man appeared out of nowhere next to me, I barely heard his footsteps and reacted too slow. A bullet zipped right past me hitting the ground with a thud and the bastard landed on my back, I flipped him over, snapping my short sword into place, then buried it into his neck watching as the blood spilt from his neck onto the soil, ending his life.

“HE’S ONE OF US!” Huono shouted as he sprang past me with his men. About the time I mused…a whole two minutes. I thought bitterly.

Huono and his men charged down from the north taking out Rikor’s men in a charge of bullets and guts. It was as meticulous as I would’ve liked, but it made them backpedal into formation, something wasn’t expected to do against common employees.

They should’ve known better though…they trained them.

“WHERE IS IT?” Rikor hissed through the com. “WHERE IS THAT THING YOU’VE BEEN PLAYING WITH. IT’S WORTH FIFTY MILLION CREDITS!” He screamed elated.

Fifty? More like 300 million I said to myself. I wasn’t happy to know the bastard was going for the lineagecube and had Elhisia, but all the cards were in his favour.

I peeked over to the right, firing a wave of bullets at a group that was trying to flank, they went down easily, then retreated a few steps over, leaving me enough space to manoeuvre through their blind spot.

The western side of the camp, where Rikor’s men had commandeered as their own was quiet. The bullets and screams had been behind me, but I knew enough not to just trust my ears, but my instincts.

I switched from Night Vision and watched as Eight Men pulsed into existence once I switched over to X-Ray Sight. These bastards were huddled into one tent. I turned left and found that more men, too were hiding within the tents. Shit!

Only one thing left to do I mused bitterly. If these bastards didn’t have to enhance hearing due to their cybernetics. I would’ve crept my way through their camp easily. My ISOP training allowed that, but I couldn’t get past enhanced ears. That was one of the first things they taught us.

I pulled the white cloth from my bicep, fishing it into my micro-bag. Then I slowly pulled two grenades out of one of my pouches.

I tossed each grenade at the opposing end, watching each sail for a moment, then braced for impact. “GREEEENNAADEE!” I shouted, watching as the men scampered from within their tents. I scampered through the tents as if someone was chasing me. “GET DOWN THEIR TOSSING GRENADES!” I shouted…watching as fright crept into each one of their faces.

Bullets shot right past me as I hunkered down in the maze of ruin and peeped back to see what barely shot me. It was bullets from Huono’s forces, as they fired wildly at Rikor’s men as they pushed towards the western side of the field. This is good I thought, the grenades caught their attention…this is good!

I raised the volume of my Elhisia com and heard tugs and footsteps pounding as they moved. The steps weren’t fast but concentrated. Damn it!

The cabin is this way, I believe, turning a corner and switching back to Night Vision. I hopped over a slab, skidding across the ground then bolted up the rubble of stairs.

The sparkles of broken glass sparkled as the sun began to rise to my left, leaving me with little light to navigate through the maze.

“Cobra King, this is Stranded. Do you copy?” I said through my comm. No one answered. “Cobra King, this is Stranded I’ve found the egg, requesting an extraction, do you copy?” Nothing again.

I finally made it to the cabin that Elhisia had used and broke down the door to a space. The laptop she used along with the connecting wires now hanging off the floor with newspaper scattered about.

“DAMN IT! I MISSED THE BASTARD.” I hissed. I stormed through the door bolting down the pathway and stormed up the stairs trying to reach the highest floor.

I sped down a gloomy hallway, shattering walls with my cybernetic shoulder and jumped to another building. I fell two floors down then climbed another staircase only to be met with a slab of concrete which forced me back down to toss myself across another building.

The rattlings sounds of gunshots were now more than the haunting sounds of screams and moans which truly made me weak with how time truly felt slow in the past five minutes.

As fierce as the wind was, nothing could compare to the icy texture of the wind. I watched as dawn crept up from the horizon spraying sunlight across the desert mounts and dunes in my sights. The purple and orange clouds looked like flames barely extinguished as the clouds began to drift eastward.

I zoomed in on a trail of wafting dust and sand, as a buggy sped down through the sand, making its escape. The bumps and grunts of the vehicle matched those in which Elhisia was in, as I monitored its path.

Tracking Rikor would’ve been difficult if I weren’t familiar with the direction he was headed.

Sector A8-416.

Rikor’s man was headed there before I killed him, which drew my suspicions even further. “Cobra King…this is Stranded, do you copy? I asked one final time. That meant one thing, either Colvolt paid them off, or they were killed.

I had but one chance to make this right, and one way to get this done. Stop Rikor before he reaches Sector A8-416. It was that, or having to pay back Mr Black 200 Million credits, or do the job he wanted me to do.

There’s no way in hell I’m working for him I mused, as I skidded down a broken wall. The man was not just sketchy…but connected, nothing’s worst than someone who’s connected.

I tossed my submachine gun in the next chair, twisting the key of the buggy of Rikor’s man, then placed the tablet into the empty slot that sat in the middle of the dashboard. I pulled the severed hand from my pouch, then lined up the eyeballs perfectly this time.

The tablet came alive with the ding, then watched as the map resonated onto the screen. A blinking white dot, which I assumed my location pulsed on the screen intermittently. I tapped the button on the bottom of the screen marked as A8-416. The line snaked its way through the map and ended at the destination. I weighed the direction in which Rikor took Elhisia.

“Gotcha you bastard,” I said, stomping my feet into the accelerator, feeling as the steering wheel tugged left from the torque.

I know I didn’t have much time to catch Rikor before they finally arrived at his destination. It was either I get there or watch Elhisia and Zanton die and all the money I planned to gain from helping Elhisia would disappear in a heartbeat. “…can’t have that.”