Chapter 12: The Battle At Warehouse #2

The walking was continuous. The rain had drastically slowed, but it hadn’t come to a complete end. The occasional drizzle in the night sky was keeping the ground wet. This was no longer an issue as the damp grass and dirt would smack and gently clutter onto the armored feet of Ioren. She did keep the armor piece from encircling her head, and when the drizzle did come, it got her top head feathers a little bit wet. As a result, she would occasionally shake her head a little bit to knock the water off her.

The walk southward had been at least a couple of hours. By now, it was nearing 0100 in the morning. The dirt road was a mostly empty field. Stone had kept his sights ahead of him, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Being wet didn’t bother him in the slightest. He simply soldiered on like it was nothing. His shield, backpack, and two guns didn’t slow him down.

Ioren would use her tilon to continue saying a few comments here and there. Stone, on the other hand, was even quieter. For her, the Itrean felt a slight wave of nostalgia at the scene. Old memories would rise and fall of things she had been to before. She would imagine that daytime was even prettier.

“According to the map layout,” Stone explained. “There should be a series of uncompleted warehouses with number 2 being closest to being completely built. Each of these warehouses is supposed to have an office building.”

Ioren turned her head back. By now, the central hilltop was much further away than ever. While there were trees and light versions of swampland that they would pass by, this area was primarily unutilized.

“Do you need to stop and rest?” Ioren typed.

“No. This time is the best to do this,” the marine continued. “Most of them should be asleep. Knowing them, they are quite comfortable with maybe a guard or two on post, assuming that they have any at all. If we wait too long, then we will be fighting in the morning, we will be more tired than expected, or they will be even more on alert after one of their patrols fails to respond.”

Ioren agreed with the strategy of the entire plan. It was designed to mend with whatever they were going to face, but again, it was somewhat insane. Taking on so many individuals could prove to be easily overwhelming. Only good training, correct equipment, and best planning were the only way to establish a hope of victory. Regardless, the Itrean knew that there was a viable sense of hope. The armor she had on felt pleasant that even she lacked in a couple of days. No longer did the rules apply when it came to things that they were limited to do. A part of her did feel a sense of concern for Stone. To her, humanity was supposed to be nicer than its Itrean counterparts. While she believed it to be correct, her observations were starting to show that this was not always the case. She had to be aware that Stone’s bloodlust would grow more and more, especially if they walk out alive after all this. How many people would have to die to satiate that craving? Even the other individuals she killed didn’t reside too much in her mind, but she had to keep note of it. The argument was all but mute for now. This was simply not the time to discuss it.

They were getting close enough in the walk to see the outer edge of the array of buildings. Not far from it was the ocean. This location consisted of mostly uncompleted structures. Even the road almost ended right next to them. There was a crossroad point that might have been in the early construction process, but nature was reclaiming it rather well. On foot, it would be easy to transition to the east, but the growing number of trees and plants would make it challenging for anything else.

Stone’s vision could easily mark out anything that was unusual. Warehouse #2 had the neighboring structures with it and had the most amount of activity. Besides the ocean, one could see the beach, inoperable power facility, and a large storage vat near the first warehouse. Again, nature was slowly retaking what wasn’t completed.

Regardless of the supposedly inoperable generator, there was power being supplied to the building. In addition, a few light sources could be seen that were partially illuminating the surrounding structures.

“Make sure that we avoid the areas that are generating light,” Stone commented to Ioren.

“What is generating it?” Ioren typed.

“I can barely spot what looks like a wind generator near the beach.”

They had to continue their walk for a little while. Then, as more and more of it was coming into view, Stone could verify a small but sizeable windmill near the beach and dock. Its two blades were spinning continuously to generate a form of makeshift power.

“Should we take that out?” Ioren typed.

“No. We will bring alarm to them too early if the power goes out,” Stone explained. “We go with the plan as before. Just avoid the lights.”

In reality, this was going to be easy. The few sidelights only gave an indication of the building in the dark starlight environment. This also meant that most of the humans probably didn’t have some form of augmentations to allow them to see in the dark. If they could generate light, then it meant that they more likely depended on it.

Besides the primarily incomplete buildings, the central place of interest consisted of two structures. One was the main warehouse, which was the largest of the two. It was mostly a big single-story rectangular metal building with two entrances. It was large enough to have a garage to house vehicles if there were any in it. The other smaller one looked like a single-story office building. There was a window on one side that Stone could make out from his range.

By now, Stone made sure to pull out each piece of hearing protection to fit into his ears. This was a sign for Ioren to go ahead and activate her headpiece device. The torso wrap armor began to extend its metal sheath up her neck. It enveloped her snout, cheeks, eyes, forehead, and the rest of her head. Stone briefly looked at her. This was what an Itrean looked like with their wrap armor entirely on. She was nothing more than a walking metal lizard. The greenish-red color was evident. Ioren could see from her partially red-lit eye lenses. Inside, she had a tactical layout of the entire scene from wherever she looked. The breathing recycler could allow her to operate in space or naturally filter out anything toxic for her anatomy.

“Right now,” Stone explained as his voice got quiet. “I’m not picking any signatures coming from inside the buildings, but I can see something very brief by the only entrance of the smaller office building.”

Ioren closed her tilon and put them away. Any future communication would have to be done quietly on his part. They continued to get closer and closer to the location. Stone’s augmented eye was continuously making adjustments to spot anything out of the ordinary. The red silhouette was starting to get brighter and brighter.

“I can confirm one guard that is at the entrance,” the marine almost whispered to Ioren. “Do you see anybody else?”

Ioren shook her head. There was nothing that her vision could spot. Even her hearing was only that of the wildlife and distant ocean waves that splashed against the beach. It was becoming more and more promising on their approach. If there was only one person there, then it meant that everybody was inside. Then, of course, there was the possibility that they were in both buildings. The Itrean began to spot something that was etched on the outer office wall.

“I’m beginning to see the red silhouettes of a couple of individuals inside the office building,” Stone quietly told her. “Don’t see any form of alarm or notice of our arrival. When we approach, we will get to the corner and stand away from that window. The guard won’t see us coming. I want you to throw a rock to distract the guard. The moment that you do it, I will make my move. Understand?”

Ioren nodded her head to acknowledge it. She kept a good grip on the chief’s pistol.

“Good ... Don’t hesitate to take these men down. The armor etchings on those patrollers we killed matched the card. I can now spot that same emblem on the office wall. We might have hit the jackpot.”

Jackpot ... Ioren would have to look up that definition some other time. For now, she mostly understood the basic generalization of what it meant. They began to hurry at a quiet pace. By now, they left the dirt road and began to move through the wet grass. Any types of heavy shrubs or swamp water, they tried to avoid. The office building was getting closer and closer till they reached the sidewall.

Stone was keeping a close eye on the interior and exterior of the office building. The guard seemed bored from the silhouette movement. He had a single bolt action rifle in his hand and wore the optical lens device to allow him to see. He hadn’t heard of the silent approach of the two. The marine could also see that nobody was looking out the window or noticed them. By now, he could see red silhouettes in one of the adjacent interior cubicles near the window. They appeared to be asleep or doing something else.

Ioren bent down and picked up a small rock. At the same time, Stone wasn’t that far behind her. He pulled out and unsheathed his knife. Ioren poked her head around and could see the guard at the front, as Stone had just mentioned. With a simple hurl of her hand, she sent the rock flying. It landed on the exact opposite side of the building, producing a nice hard thump on the ground.

“What the?” the guard looked away momentarily at the sound. It was the queue needed as Stone stepped out from the corner, raised his knife, and threw it straight at the man. As his head was turned away, he would never know of the flying blade that was heading towards him.

At the same time, the marine rushed forward, anticipating the possibility that he would miss. However, the knife landed true, impaling the man in the back right of the neck and throat. His gun fell to the ground producing a dull thud sound. He tried to gasp for air, but the metal cut off his ability to speak. There was a slight gurgling sound as Stone charged him and used his shield to slam him into the ground. The sheer strength was more than enough to do it. Knocking him on his stomach, Stone used his weight and power to do a slow form of smothering while keeping an eye out in the interior of the building. The audible noise didn’t go that far, but he had to be careful.

Ioren watched the event unfold as she kept her gun at the ready and watched the main entrance. She watched as Stone had reached down and was grabbing the knife handle. Using his strength, he held the man down for what seemed like half a minute. Any form of struggling from the guard slowly withered away. The coordinated strike and press down smothered the man to death. Stone stood up to see that the guard’s eyes were open as he lay dead on the ground. He wiped the blood off the knife-edge before sheathing it again.

From Stone’s vision, he could see more and more of the interior. He could see one of the red silhouettes that seemed to respond to the thud sound. He or she was sitting down on some chair. The person’s head showed a state of wonder towards the slight noise. The marine was not going to take his chances any further. He stepped towards the door and quietly tried to pull the handle. Not much to his surprise, the door was locked.

Using sign language, Stone said three words to her. “Grenade ... Door ... Together,” as the queue for her on what to do next. Ioren understood the concept as she pulled out one of the disc-like grenades from her hip. They took several steps back as the Itrean was using her thumb to work with the primary button interface. Stone pulled out his shotgun and disengaged the safety on it.

It was now or never, with a simple heave, Ioren threw the grenade at the door. It attached itself to the door, and the countdown began. The marine held his shield up to prepare for any fragments that would come their way. Suddenly, it happened.

EXPLOSION ... the door was rocked with a powerful blast that radiated in all directions. The shockwave was enough that it blew the door inward, ripping it from its hinges and towards the ground interior. Fragments and pieces of the entrance flew out in multiple directions. The great commotion caused a sudden alarm in the interior.

“Move! Move!” Stone yelled as he charged towards the entrance. His shield was in one hand, and his shotgun was in the other. Ioren was not that far behind as she pulled out her AKT from her other hand.

“We are under attack! Get up!” yelled one of the men inside the office.

The marine could see the layout of the entire area. His augmented eye painted a perfect picture of the scene. The office building was small but not tiny either. There were thin cubicle rooms that separated the main hall itself. The blown door lies on the floor. Several red silhouettes were lying on the floor or sitting down by the table when the explosion occurred. The blast was jarring that their ears were ringing. Some stammered and struggled to stand up. Most of them were unarmed.

As Stone had stepped in, there were no people that were in his direct line of sight except the person in the right cubicle. This man that was somewhat tipped off to the commotion outside was the one that was screaming for everyone to get up. A pistol was in his hand. He stepped around the cubicle wall to investigate the explosion further, but the marine was ready. The moment that the man appeared, the shotgun was already aimed at the man’s face. A simple trigger pull and the man’s head lit up as heavy buckshot ripped into his head. Blood and teeth showered a little bit as the round blast was powerful. Knocked back and down to the ground, the man was dead before hitting the ground.

“Two coming from your left!” Stone yelled at Ioren.

There was enough room for Ioren to use Stone for partial cover. His shield would have to do in this battle as he didn’t have much else to really protect him. She would have to remain close to provide fire support. It didn’t take long as they pushed towards the front left and right cubicle. A machete blade smacked the corner of the edge near Ioren’s left side. A man jumped out with his pistol in hopes of shooting the two. Using the chief’s pistol in her left hand, she fired two shots at the man before he fell to the ground. She then pulled around and kept both of her pistols pointed at the other person who was close to the window. He had already pulled out a makeshift scattergun and had it pointed directly at Ioren’s head. Amazingly, he managed to fire the gun, partially hitting the Itrean’s face with a shower of small pellets. Her armor easily shrugged it off as she had direct aim with both her pistols. She pulled the trigger on both guns, hitting the guy in the chest. She turned around to see that Stone was proceeding further inward.

The gunfire inside was loud and noisy. Even though Stone and Ioren were using suppressed guns, the syndicate members were pressed to fight indoors with makeshift weapons. The scattergun blast further added to the internal commotion. Yelling and screaming were almost muted at some points.

“One in the leftmost cubicle!” Stone yelled to Ioren. The marine had his riot shield held up. He could see three men and a woman at a nearby table that were struggling to get up. Some had rifles or shotguns. All of them were trying to meet their attackers with whatever they had available.

The woman had a bolt action rifle in which she had pulled the bolt back to load up a round. Stone already had the shotgun aimed directly at her. With a simple trigger pull, her chest took a direct hit before she fell back onto the table. One by one, Stone executed the three other men, with the last getting his pistol aimed and shooting the shield to no avail. A final blast from the shotgun blew the man’s throat and lower chest open before he fell to the ground dead.

Ioren had turned to see a man lift a revolver hand cannon with his right hand. It was aimed directly at Stone’s left side. The thug was still partially dazed from everything as he tried to get his finger on the trigger. He wouldn’t get the chance. The Itrean fired three shots from her AKT pistol. Two of them hit the man on his right hip and side as Stone doubled back a little bit to meet the attacker. Instead, the Itrean rushed and headbutted the man to the ground before raising and putting a bullet into the man’s head.

“Clear at the moment,” Stone said as he weighed his options. Eight people were dead that Ioren could clearly see. Her eyes would look in the opposite direction of the marine to ensure that he was fully covered.

“Bossman! Call up the main base and let them know we are under attack!” It was another person that Stone was trying to figure out where it was coming from. As he stepped around to the main walkway, he could see a set of stairs that went downward. The stone-carved steps led underground. His vision couldn’t spot where it was coming from since it had to pierce through bedrock.

He had to make his decision then and there. He had to keep pressing forward, but there was a significant problem. The fact that only he and Ioren were doing this meant that there could have been people inside the warehouse. These individuals might be responding to the attack. The gunshots alone could be clearly heard. If he went down the stairs, there was a risk of being attacked from the front and rear. He had no real choice. He could retreat and allow the people down the stairs to get ready to attack them or go back and attack the warehouse. This location did seem to be the prime area to hit first, so he decided to press on.

“Ioren, cover my flank,” Stone ordered her. “Watch for anybody from behind us.”

She acknowledged it as she kept her AKT aimed behind her. She remained close behind him as the marine started to walk down the stairs slowly. His shield was pressed forward. He hadn’t been keeping an eye on how many shells he had, but he knew that he didn’t have much choice. Meanwhile, she could hear that there was a commotion going on downstairs.

Using the high ground as a slight advantage, Stone took his first step when he saw a man with a rifle appear from the dug-out hallway below. He didn’t hesitate when he fired his shotgun at him, hitting him on the shoulder. The man screamed in pain as the marine fired another round into him, knocking him back into the wall.

“Come and get it, you sons of bitches!” Stone yelled down the stairs.

He could see the underground hallway. There were makeshift lights that were there to help keep things illuminated, but the bulbs were fragile and easy to break. It was a straight walk that would lead to a crossway. There was already the dead man that lay at the center. Stone, however, knew that it was about to get busy. Ioren had the responsibility of keeping her eye up the stairs. They started to take a couple more steps when the wave finally arrived.

“Kill the intruders!” another person yelled ahead of him. Suddenly, they all came out. It must have been like disrupting a hornet’s nest. Three men jumped from cover, aimed, and fired with their rifles and pistols. The shots harmlessly hit the shield and bounced off, doing no damage. The gunfire was loud as it was before. Adrenaline was in full swing as Stone knew that this was nothing but a shooting gallery. He rapidly pulled the trigger of his shotgun, firing wave after wave of buckshot into his opponents. The stopping power of the shotgun was incredible. His arm could easily handle the recoil generated from each shot, even with one arm alone.

Ioren turned her head to see that more was coming down the hallway towards Stone. She felt two of the pistol rounds slam into her chest and lower abdomen, but they bounced off the armor. She bent down and held both pistols, firing them dual-handed. More men and women were coming out to the hallways as the three men were quickly cut down. One of the men had a makeshift sub-machine gun as he dove down and went full automatic. Streams of bullets were striking the shield. Stone ducked down to ensure that he had full coverage of his protection. He then tapped the button of his shotgun to activate the scope interface. With the shield in front of him, his augmented eye could process what his shotgun was seeing. He started to pull the trigger on each person that came running and shooting.

The Itrean was doing an excellent job with her pistols. She would watch as the bullets hit two men. Her armor was holding well too. Most of the weapons were low-powered, but she knew that could change at any moment. More people were coming out, tripping over the dead and dying.

“Ioren!” Stone yelled at her. “Fire one pistol at a time when dual wielding. Time each shot to conserve rounds!”

It was true. While it looked cool to fire both guns at once, it was difficult to do such a task. A couple of times, a stray bullet would miss and hit the back wall. So she started to alternate between each gun when she fired it. This ensured that she had some aim for each firearm.

Stone’s shotgun continued to unleash torrent after torrent of bullets. Some of the men and women of the syndicate wore makeshift armor, but it was no match against the M212. The buckshot was close to armor-piercing as it could be. Blood and even gore were starting to gather on the walls. Everyone was in the fight of their lives.

Click ... Ioren saw that her AKT pistol was empty. She quickly ejected the magazine, reached for a fresh magazine with a gun-filled hand, and slapped it into the AKT. She was about to resume firing when her vision looked up the stairs behind them. She could see it. Two men that had entered the office building both had PDW-20s in their hands. She reacted as quickly as she could as she raised her pistol and opened fire on the two. Apparently, the two men were trying to figure on what was going on in the firefight. They both had body armor that was like the Mclevar vests. Two of the shots hit one of them but didn’t pierce it. She had to aim for the unprotected portions and keep firing. The gun firing at least staggered the two men upstairs that were caught by surprise.

“Shit!” yelled one of them. Ioren, couldn’t let this come to an end. She climbed up the stairs while continuously pulling the trigger of her AKT. One of the men tried to fire back. Two shots echoed from the military carbines as they splashed against the stairs, blowing chunks of concrete away, narrowly hitting the Itrean woman.

She could see fear in their eyes. They weren’t expecting to see such a thing as her. Even if she was smaller than they were, fight or flight was taking over their thoughts. Finally, one of the men took a shot to the head as he crumbled over dead.

“What the fuck!” yelled the other man. For a slight moment, he almost tossed his gun down and started to retreat, but Ioren wasn’t going to let this person escape. She continued to fire at the other one. He took a shot to the arm, causing him to recoil a little bit. By instinct, she raised her other pistol and began to open fire with it in tandem. Again, two of the shots missed and hit the wall. The OCP pistol clicked empty as the final bullet hit the person in the leg. He took another round in the throat as he fell to the ground.

Stone kept seeing person after person come through the hallway. Despite having an advantage, he knew that the shotgun was about to run out of shells. He also knew that he was blocking the only exit. This was giving the defenders a form of determination, knowing that their backs were against the wall. He had to consider going back up the stairs, but instead, he simply grimaced. Pure bloodlust was in his eyes. Each person that tried to attack him was getting gunned down. It was nothing but a hallway of death. One man that had a pistol watched in horror as his hand was shot almost clean off. He fell screaming before another shell of buckshot hit him in the head.

“Fucking die!” the marine yelled. He kept firing when the shotgun clicked. Suddenly, he could see a man and a woman with a pistol in machete charge at him. They continued to try to shoot at him, but the shield was holding firm. He quickly pressed the release switch for the arm grip and scope deactivation. He tossed the shotgun to the ground and reached to unholster his Desert Falcon.

At this moment, Stone could see that he could easily take down only one of the individuals, but not both at the same time. He raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The powerful round blew the man’s head wide open before his machete even hit the shield. The woman, on the other hand, was about to hit him. A very brief flashback reminded him of this scene before. She even almost looked the same as well. A gunshot from behind him could be heard. Ioren had the chief’s pistol in her left as she gunned down the woman.

Suddenly, all was quiet. No screaming and no woeful agony was being waged out. Instead, Stone had nothing but an angered look on his face waiting for the next person to come after him. Ioren stepped aside to him while she kept an eye up the stairs. She tapped him to let him know that they should move, but she could see that he was briefly uncontrollable. Blood covered his shield, and the hallway was littered with the dead of at least twenty-five people. The marine was breathing heavily before he was about to step forward.

His augmented vision showed nothing to him. The stone bedrock was making it impossible to see what was around the corners. For now, it looked clear of anything hostile.

Ioren tapped him again as he almost snapped at her. He looked down at her to see that she was gesturing him upstairs. He had to reconsider pressing forward. The underground area would have to wait, but she showed no look of concern towards the underground passageway. She couldn’t hear anything that was out of the ordinary except the occasional sound of dripping blood.

“Fine ... godammit,” Stone angrily said as he quickly holstered his handgun. Then, he went and picked up his shotgun. “Let’s go to the warehouse and clear it out.”

He had to turn his back to the hallway. It was a risk that had Ioren continually checking down the mutilated hallway. There was no activity. She knew that there had to be more from the warehouse. Even the marine knew that they were getting ready to launch more and more of a counterattack. They were likely going to investigate the disturbance that was going on.

Stone was quick as he went and ejected the huge box-like magazine for the shotgun. Ioren already grabbed it from his back and handed it to him. It was cumbersome, especially with their hands and arms filled up with other gear and guns, but it was doable. He held onto the shotgun before sliding the magazine into place.

“I’m running low on the shotgun,” he told her. “How much do you have?”

She only had a spare magazine left for each gun as she gestured to her sides. He started to head up the stairs with his shield at the ready. So far, it was clear. Upon reaching up the stairs, Stone could see one of the downed men. One of the PDW-20s was lying on the ground.

“Holster your guns,” he ordered her. She did so as she saw Stone toss his shotgun to her. He then reached down and picked up the military carbine. He briefly looked at it as he made a couple of comments.

“Thirty rounds...,” he said. “They were in a hurry to meet up with us ... they will be launching another group to come and investigate everything here. Get by the blasted door and use it as cover. Keep firing that until you run out and switch back to your other pistols. We will gun them down when they come from the warehouse.”

They stepped over the other dead as they made their way to the knocked down door. Taking up both sides of the door, Stone began to look through the thin walls. Both of their eyes could make out at least seven men that were armed up with various military-type guns. They were slowly heading through. The marine went and took his shield off. He planted it in front by the frame edge to cover himself and help add to the protection besides the wall. With both his hands freed up, he began to adjust the settings on the carbine. Ioren was comfortable with her spot. She was all set.

Stone bent down and activated the extendable scope on his PDW-20. It synced up with his augmented eye as he positioned the barrel out into the open. The targeting computer gave a perfect layout of the outside. Wherever the gun was aimed at was where it was going to shoot.

These individuals were much like the other two that Ioren already combatted against. They wore the Meclevar vests, and all had PDW-20s in their hand. The one thing that she did spot was what Stone had commented. They might have looked like they were intimidating, but these men were poorly trained with their firearms. Most likely, they didn’t even know the various capabilities that their guns had. They walked out in the wide-open in the solid dark and didn’t know that the scopes could quickly reveal the darkness like it was nothing. Only a few had the optical lens devices on their faces to help them see. Even then, those optical lenses could only reveal so much. By now, Ioren could hear two of the men speaking as they were getting close enough to the office building.