Chapter 2: The Long Night?

“This is Rue Lucordaire,” Lina said. “You have two choices. You can take a right at Rue Des Cevennes or continue walking till you reach Rue De La Convention.”

“Do you know where the ogre strongholds are located?” English asked her.

The woman seemed to think about it as she maintained her walk. Only the stars helped provide illumination, but the artillery bombardment had almost ceased entirely. The slim streets had large amounts of debris strewed about. There were a few cars on the narrow road, but most broke down long ago. Artillery shells had battered half of the buildings, and the smell of smoke and death seemed to hover in the air.

English continued to walk forward, never really looking over toward Lina. Instead, occasional questions would regularly interrupt the long silence of walking.

“Thank you for saving my life,” she told him. The doctor seemed like he was going to say something but changed topics.

“Tell me about the closest stronghold that you know,” he asked her.

“I don’t know if there is one close, but my team was ambushed near Rue Duranton near Square Duranton.”

“How many ogres?”

“10 ... maybe more. More reinforcements come from the east.”

“They use their bolt action rifles or the human-made M82s?”

“Both. The tank destroyed was...”

“One of yours, I know.”

“They sniped us from the buildings too.”

Lina continued to analyze her associate. Doctor English was always to the point. He seemed nonchalant towards her, not thinking about her feelings and on a singular goal that had to be met. While the woman knew that keeping an eye out was necessary, the fact remained that they were sitting ducks. The darkness was their only shield, but they had to keep their voices down. At least Lina could give a pass on why English was so quiet. Perhaps it was to discourage the possibility of getting sniped. Regardless, the woman remained uneasy. Finally, the man briefly turned his head in her direction before looking ahead.

“Tell me about yourself,” English asked.

“About my service or about me?” She asked.

“You...”

“I was born in the Eastern side of Paris, near Brou-sur-Chantereine. My mother is Algerian. My father, French.”

“Your English is impressive.”

“You are surprised my English is so good, no?” There was a hint of a smile on her face, even if it was brief. “My dad was an English teacher. Taught me and my cousin.”

“I see. That is good. The ogres predominantly speak the language as well.”

They were approaching the crossroad. Doctor English gestured for the woman to hover near the corner. The man peeked his head over.

“See anything?” she asked.

“One on the roof,” English explained before he pulled his head back. “Near the park that you described.”

“What is your goal? Why are we heading to the ogres?”

“I need samples.”

“They’ll kill us.”

“Perhaps.” English pulled out his magnum. There was a spectacle of shine as the starlight glimmered from it.

“You ... can kill them. You have something in your gun.”

“Yes, it can kill them.” The man fished into his trench coat. “Your rifle won’t hurt them, but this will.”

The doctor pulled out of his coat a small handgun. It was a compact pistol, but it seemed crude by design. It had four barrels on it, along with an intricate firing chamber. It almost seemed over-engineered by design. However, the woman looked at it closely. She shouldered the rifle so that she could hold the pistol with her free hand.

“This can kill the ogres,” English informed her. He fished out some bullets and handed them to her. Lina looked at them. They had a bright silver color with brass casings to them. She put them into her pocket.

“How can this hurt them?” she asked.

“You pull the trigger, and it fires one shot. You have four shots. You reload it using the switch here. Pop open the chambers and change the rounds. You understand?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I ... I don’t understand. Why trust me with this gun?”

“Are you going to shoot me in the back with it?” There was a lot of weight in how he asked that question to her.

“No! No...”

“Use this only when you need to.”

Doctor English continued to push with his own agenda. Lina was often left to question the motives and the sanity of everything that was happening. She looked at the small pistol. It seemed so weak when compared to her rifle, but who was she to argue if this weapon could kill them? Even then, it was better than nothing.

“All right,” she said. She kept the pistol aimed low. The doctor pulled out a small white crystal from his coat. He then spoke into it. When he did, the thing glowed. Again, the woman was just shocked at what she was seeing. Was this some sort of advanced technology? Regardless, Lina couldn’t hear what the man was saying. A hint of a voice echoed from the crystal, almost as if it was like some radio. However, there was a hint of a feminine voice that responded on the other end.

“Good,” English concluded. He put the crystal back into his coat.

“What things do you carry with you?” She asked him.

It was proving to be futile to ask questions that he would avoid answering. At least she was starting to gather more and more information on his personality type. It was frustrating, but maybe the answers would come later.

“You have the choice,” he told her. “You can stay here or fight, but I can’t protect you from here if you stay.”

“I fight...,” she said.

“Do you know any of the buildings on this road?”

“Yes ... yes.” She stepped around English and pointed her finger passed the corner. “That ogre is by a hotel. I used to work there for a few months. It has a ladder to get up.”

“That is all I need to know.”

“You’re really going to fight them? There’s too many of them.”

“It always is.”

English said nothing more. He turned around the corner and started to hurry in his walk. Lina had no choice. She wasn’t going to remain there and wait for somebody to grab her. She kept the pistol close to her as she started to run. She kept her footsteps as light as possible.

It was madness. Lina’s mind knew they were in another death funnel. Urban warfare was horrific. An ogre could be ready to shoot from any window. At the same time, the doctor was practically fearless.

However, the woman could feel like something was watching her. It only occurred until now. Perhaps it happened because of English’s lack of gaze upon her. There were too many places to be observed, and they were in a wide-open area. She did her best to keep an eye out for anything hostile.

It was a quiet jog. However, as they moved through the street towards the park, Lina could more easily spot the ogre. It appeared to be a she-ogre due to the breasts. She was serving as a lookout, but her attention was lackluster. A small lantern rested beside her, illuminating her entire frame for even a rifleman to pick off. It was something that Lina hated so much about the ogres. They were so stupid in their tactics, but it didn’t matter. Their invincibility was what made them so dangerous.

“Hold...,” the doctor whispered as he held his fist up to stop her. By now, the park was more easily observable. A hint of firelights could be seen coming from that direction. As the woman looked, she could see the hints of blood and gore on the streets.

“My team...,” She whispered back.

“Is gone,” he answered back to her. “Consumed by them. Do not mourn, for they were lucky.”

“I know.”

Doctor English pointed into the open door of the hotel. There was no hint that the ogress spotted them. Both of them walked in to see a small reception area of some sort. The interior had been looted thoroughly.

“I saw three near the park,” English said.

“You could actually see them?” she asked. “How do you know?”

“Saw one on the roof. The three are by the main gate of the park. They have a mortar setup, so we must be quiet.”

Doctor English continued to walk past knocked-down shelves. The main elevator was inoperable. They reached another open door that led to a set of stairs before the man started to climb up.

“We heading to the roof?” Lina whispered as she followed along.

“Must clear the guards,” he replied quietly. “She can shoot us from there.”

They quietly moved up the set of stairs. Rubble and dust had gathered more and more as they went up each step. The doctor was keeping an eye upward as he seemed cautious.

“The humans are leaving Paris?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she replied. “We can’t win.”

“As expected.”

“Why do you refer to our forces as ‘humans?’” she asked him. “We’re human. You make it sound like you’re different.”

“I am human.”

To Lina, she couldn’t make sense of what he just said. It wasn’t a satisfactory answer, either.

It didn’t take long before they reached the third floor.

“Any ogre transformations in Paris?” he asked her.

“No ... no...” she answered. “I was told Germany and Italy had them. Small outbreak in Madrid, but NATO is keeping them busy. Where do you come from?”

“I understand,” was his only response.

“I wish to know more about you,” she told him. “Stop giving me half answers or no answers.”

“You wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy the truth.”

Lina was left shaking her head. They reached the top floor of the building, where there was an exit. The doctor used his hand to gesture to Lina to stand back and remain as silent as possible. He held up one finger. Within a few seconds, he then held two fingers and finally three. The gesture didn’t entirely make sense to Lina on what he meant.

The doctor took his gloved hand, turned the knob, and opened the door. There was a hint of a squeak from the hinges as Lina was right behind English. They had just reached the outside roof when pandemonium struck.

“Wha?” a deep female voice echoed. Doctor English was on her in less than a second. Lina was amazed at how quick the man was. By the time the she-ogre tried to lift her gun, the man had pulled out his sword and slashed upward. It was a perfect swipe. The monster’s head was cut clean off. Blood was spat about as the decapitated head rolled before the rest of the body crashed to the ground.

“Hey ... Shalina,” a mumbled male pink ogre responded. He was lying down not far from the entrance when his eyes opened. Lina was taken by surprise, not expecting that there was another ogre in the darkness. The woman took aim and fired the pistol twice, hitting the monster in the heart and head. It made quick work of him. The woman realized that she had managed to kill the giant with simplicity.

“HEY!” It was another ogre on the other side of the entrance. He was quickly roused to get up from the gunshots. He pulled out a large club and began to rush towards English. However, the man was quick as he raised his magnum and fired. A heavy gunshot rang out, piercing the ogre’s skull. His brains blew out as he crashed to the floor.

“We’re under attack!” The voices came from the park. Lina knew that the gunshots had alerted the enemy. However, she quickly turned her head to see another ogre in the opposite building. He had his rifle aimed at English.

“Watch out!” Lina cried out.

The doctor turned his head to see the ogre. He had his magnum turned to shoot him, but the ogre already had his sights set on the man.

A gunshot echoed in the distance. The ogre’s head blew as blood sprayed from the side, causing him to topple over to the ground. Lina knew that the doctor wasn’t the one that fired the shot.

“Doctor,” a female voice called out from the doctor’s coat. “They are loading up their mortar. I got you covered. Get out of there now!”

Lina turned her head around to see where the gunshot came from. The voice was different. It had a light Russian accent, but she spoke in English. The doctor waved over to Lina.

“They killed them!” A distant ogre voice rang out from the park. “Shoot the humans. Kill them!”

“Come on!” English yelled to Lina.

“We need to get down!” Lina yelled.

“Come to me now!” He ordered her as he stood at the edge of the building. His voice was aggressive to her, but the woman had no idea what he was asking.

“Why?” she walked forward to him. “They are about to shoot at us!” She stood next to him. “We need to head down the stairs if we hope to get out alive.”

“That wasn’t what I was thinking,” he calmly told her.

Lina heard a thumping sound. The mortar fired a shell into the air. While she was distracted, she had no idea that the doctor took his leg and slammed it into her back. The force was strong enough to send her flying forward ... straight off the ledge of the building.

Time seemed to slow down for the woman. Her thoughts registered it all. The bastard had betrayed her. She was sent hurdling into the air. Her body spun as everything gained speed. She was falling, falling to her doom. The pavement would be the only thing that would break her fall.

She was halfway down as gravity continued to pull her down faster and faster. Her guns flew from her hands. Lina’s body was in full panic, knowing she was about to die. Her body would ultimately crash into the concrete, and she would die instantly.

“AHH!” she screamed. In mere split seconds, she would be dead. Why did he do that? She knew that the man should have never been trusted. That he...

Catch...

Her body came to a slow, cushioned halt. Something caught her just before she slammed into the pavement. It was so fast that she couldn’t even register it. A pair of hands were holding onto her.

“Ah! Ack ... What?” She reacted in shock. She turned her head and saw that it was the doctor. They were on the street, and he had caught her.

“How? How?” she reacted in total surprise.

An explosion rippled to the top of the building from where they were at. The mortar shell slammed and blew in all directions. Fires broke out as the hotel took damage. If Lina had remained there, she knew she would have been dead.

“Go get my pistol,” the doctor ordered her. He stood the woman up so she could walk on her feet. She saw the gun and started to head toward it.

Lina needed answers to what had just happened. It was physically impossible for a person to move that fast. Nothing made sense except the fighting that was taking place. While she could see the pistol, she couldn’t see where her rifle fell to. She slid down and grabbed the handgun before she ran back to English.

“How!?” She yelled at him.

“Annika!” Doctor English ordered. “Fire at will. Pick your targets and go. I’ll close in and mop the rest.”

“You got it, Doc,” the female voice called out from his trench coat. He then looked over to Lina.

“Come with me before they shell us!” he told Lina.

The woman wasn’t going to argue. She followed the man to the adjacent building. As she dove into the entrance, she could hear gunfire break out in the distance. It was coming from the park and behind her. Lina gave a cold look to the doctor.

“You had your own sniper?” she asked him.

“For every mission, you need to have a partner,” he told her. “Reload your pistol.”

Lina had to surmise that the feeling she had earlier was the other unknown stranger, most likely a person on the rooftops. Doctor English was never in any real danger, at least from what she could tell so far. She watched as the man ejected the magazine of his gun and inserted a fresh one in its place. Lina followed suit as she popped open the loader, pulled out the spent cartridges, and inserted two new ones in their places. She closed up the breaches and looked at the man again.

The gunshots in the distance continued as another mortar shell fired. The doctor ran up, held his arm out, and tried to funnel the woman away from the entrance of the building. However, the shell impacted far from the building. There was a pause in the gunfire.

“I got two of them,” Annika responded to Doctor English. “Injured another. The mortar is still in operation. I see more activity in the park, but I can’t track them.”

“Keep shooting and watch out for the shells,” the doctor ordered.

“Roger.”

Lina was shaking her head at the events taking place. She knew that she left her rifle behind, but the pistol worked at least.

“You alerted them,” he told Lina.

“I didn’t know there was more than one,” she replied.

“I did tell you.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I raised three fingers,” he said.

She sighed. “I thought you were counting down before you were heading out. Besides, I still saved you.”

“After the fact that you alerted them.”

“That isn’t fair. Besides ... I don’t know what’s going on. You were up there, and now you’re down here. You kicked me off the building and caught me. I need answers!”

The doctor’s gaze seemed focused away from her. The place’s interior appeared to be a set of dorms or apartments of some sort. Finally, the man looked back at her. For a moment, Lina’s eyes swore that she saw a momentary yellow glow come from beneath the man’s tinted glasses.

“You have one chance,” he explained to her calmly. “I’ve seen the park from the roof. I’ll take you there. From there, we fight the ogres and dispatch everyone that’s there. Assuming you survive the ordeal, then you’ll have your answers. It’s that, or you flee and never return.”

Lina knew that she was heading further into unknown realms against enemies that were clearly more powerful than she had ever imagined. There was certainly more going on than she ever understood. Whomever this man was, knew what he was doing. He was the only means to take out these monsters. Even if she did flee, then it was likely she would never get this chance again. Her frustration remained focused on the ogres.

“Fine,” she answered.

“Good,” he said. “Be ready and remain still.”

He slowly approached her. Lina could see that the man was stepping behind her. English had put all his weapons away. The woman wondered what was about to transpire for a few seconds until it finally happened.

For a second, Lina’s eyes looked forward. Suddenly, she saw a pair of outstretched black wings. They looked like a demon was about to wrap herself up. Suddenly, they engulfed her. She felt herself encapsulated in warmth but simultaneously in two places at the same time. She had little time to react but to be immersed in the moment.

Finally, the wings were withdrawn. Lina was released as she found herself in a brand-new environment. No longer was she in the building but in the park. Her mind was trying to make sense of what had just happened.

“Wha...” She reacted, but the doctor put his gloved hand to her mouth. He shook his finger at her to tell her to remain quiet. How she had been transported from one place to another was beyond impossible. They both stood surrounded by trees and green grass. In the distance were sets of movements. The occasional flash could be seen where the ogres were firing the mortar in an attempt to kill Annika.

“Ergh!” One of the ogres yelled out.

The sound of the distant gunshots could be heard, followed by the sound of a whizzing bullet. The monsters were distracted. The doctor stood ahead of Lina when he pulled out his sword in one hand and his magnum in the other. He was marking out all the targets in the area.

This time, English held out four fingers. He pointed in the direction of the street. Then, he pointed at an area where there were tables and held one finger. The doctor gestured for her to remain hidden in the bushes for the time being. She followed his command and found a perfect spot near a tree. The shrubs naturally obscured her from observation.