N-23: The last days

Chapter 4 - Explosive escape

The Ragers were still in the store, looking for them and ransacking the whole place.

“We need to move” Jake whispered.

“You ain’t go to tell me twice, captain obvious” Liam said, bringing out the bomb he had finished designing days ago. “So, this is lucy. It has the capacity to blow this whole building to bits, but we need to escape. Once activated, we have about a minute or two to leave this building.”

“Problem solved then” Alex said almost happy.

“You know, for a professor, you are quite dumb. So, we blow the building with us in it einstein? Wonderful idea” For a mechanic, Liam had a very sharp mouth. Alex almost went at him but Jake looked at him furiously.

“You guys should pull yourselves together. We are in a big prick of a problem here. We could actually die!”. Jake almost shouted. There was an instant rush of movements outside the store room. He quickly decreased his voice “We need to work together please.” He then turned to Liam. Liam brought out a fancy gadget and scanned all around him.

“So, there’s good news and bad news.”

They all leaned towards him.

“Calm down y’all. The good news is that we could detonate this here and make it at the exit which is a left from here in under forty seconds. The bad news is that they are about 10 to 15 hyper-ragers blocking our path. If we move out, we could set off more that would come our way. And according to my calculations, we have like a five to twenty percent chance survival if we do that ”

“seems like we have no other choice” Maria pointed out. “it’s just a matter of time till they figure out where we are. And have you been feeling the shaking of the ground. Something big is coming. We need to escape this now.” They all felt it, the ground vibrating at intervals. Like something walking towards them. Something Big!!!!

“So this is what we will do; I will go out, distract them. While they follow me, I want you all to run out there like crazy. Then I will find a way to lose them and get out before this whole place explodes” Jake suggested. Not more of a suggestion as it was final. They all had one or two things to say about it but they knew Jake. He wouldn’t change his mind. Tightening his grip on his shot gun, he looked at him team and nodded. He then went outside and shot up, signaling the Ragers. Immediately, they all ran to get him.

“Go Now!!!” He shouted as he ran from the ragers.

His team went after they were sure the coast was clear. They regrouped, pushing towards the exit. Unfortunately, not all the Ragers had ran after Jake. About thirteen were blocking the path to the exit. Sam cursed under his breathe and got ready to engage. A Rager from the other end lunged at Maria, and she barely had time to react. Her spear flashed, but the Ragers momentum knocked her to the ground. Alex was there in an instant, his boot slamming down on the Rager’s head, crushing it underfoot with a grotesque squelch.

“Maria, you okay?” Alex asked, helping her up.

“I’m fine” she replied, breathless but unhurt, her arm covered in Rager’s blood.

They continued their desperate push, the exit now in sight. Sam opened fire, the noise deafening. His shotgun blast tore through them, sending chunks of flesh and bone flying, while Liam shots picked off those trying to flank them. Rita was like a spartan warrior. She sent heads flying more than executioners in the past centuries.

As they reached the exit, a Rager lunged at Sam. He sidestepped, driving his knife into its side. Blood spurted out, splattering on the floor. The last one grabbed Rita’s leg, its claw raking across her arm. She cursed and used her machete to severe its head. Then she continuously crushed its skull with her boots. Everyone was looking at her.

“What?” She asked.

They all shook their heads and moved towards the exit. Sam shoved the door open and they stumbled into open air, hearts pounding and adrenaline surging. They had made it, but Jake was still in there, maybe dead, maybe alive. They all moved a bit from the store incase it exploded. They knew Jake would detonate it even if he didn’t find a way to lose them.

Jake still in the store, was fighting for his life. He was almost out of ammunitions, and the Ragers weren’t stopping. He looked into his bag, the only thing left being two grenades. He immediately knew what he had to do. He activated Lucy, calculating he had less than a minute to leave the building. He pulled the pin out of one of the grenades and threw it towards the approaching Ragers. They went boom but some survived. Using that head start, he ran towards the exit throwing the final grenade to slow them down. It went boom and he finally ran out of the store.

5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Boom!!!