Chapter 2: Rock-A-Bye
There were two loud cracks as two black handguns appeared In Shayu’s hands. Just as the door swung open, Shayu’s black handguns went into the face of the janitor facing him. The man winced and his hands instantly went into the air. As he tried to speak he lost control of his words.
“U-uh… ah…” The crowd did not take immediate notice, behind the janitor, out in the concourse, it moved along normally, blissfully ignorant. For a split second, it was as if the crowd was actually ignoring the dangerous altercation that was about to unfold; but the peace was short lived.
Shayu stepped out of the bathroom, keeping his guns on the janitor as he slowly backed away, visibly shaking. “…o-oh ****.” Shayu held the guns on the janitor as parts of the crowd began to shriek and scream. Some of the people broke into mad sprints and dashed away, leaving others confused. Shayu raised his gun in the air and fired. Those who had been confused now realized the situation, and those who didn’t run dropped to ground and shielded themselves. A child began to cry, his mother laying protectively on top of him; she covered his mouth.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen!” Shayu’s voice was smooth and relaxed as he shouted out at the crowd, “We want to thank you for choosing the South Beach National airport for your traveling needs! Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that there may be a small hold up in your flight schedule!” Chris dropped the unconscious body resembling Shayu on the ground. Like the rest, he abstained from drawing his gun; only Shayu held a weapon in his hand.
Damon stepped out in front of the group with his hands in the air, “If everyone would make there way out in a calm and ord--”
There was loud blast as several bullets whizzed past Damon and the other four. Shayu twisted around and threw his handguns towards the ground. With a series of loud cracks the handguns vanished and large steel shields suddenly appeared in front of each of the five comrades.
“Airport security!” a voice boomed from down the concourse as the gunfire let up, “Drop your weapons!” A stampede of footsteps could be heard in the distance coming from the same direction the voice had. The first wave of guards were not approaching them, rather, the footsteps were the sound of several heavily armed guards coming to reinforce their uniformed and lightly armed friends.
“Typical,” Chris chuckled, “Shoot first, ask questions later. Ha! I wonder what’s shoddier, their rules of engagement, or their competence!” The civilians who hadn’t run kept their heads pressed against the ground. Muffled sobs could still be heard coming from the small child still somewhere in the concourse. “I mean ****, they almost-“
Raz spoke up forcefully, “Chill man we need to do this before they flank us. Shayu what are you waiting for?” Shayu Stood still and silent. The guards on the other side of the concourse stood still, holding their guns on the shields behind which the five stood. It only took a moment for the guard in front to take a step towards the shielded five, and the rest to follow behind, but before they could advance Shayu shouted.
“Gas! Gas! Quick Boys!” With several loud cracks grenade launchers appeared in the hands of each of the other four. They pointed the launchers around the sides of the shields.
“Open fire!” the submachine guns in the hands of the heavier armed guards rattled to life at the sight of the launchers, but it was too late. Civilians began to scream in terror and the four armed with the grenade launchers returned fire with a series of loud thunks. As the grenades struck the floor around the guards, they exploded into large, thick clouds of purple gas. The rattling roar of the submachine guns continued even as the guards lost their line of sight and began to cough. The bullets were stopped by the thick, reinforced, metal shields protecting the five in a loud storm of *pings* and *pangs*.
Several of the guards’ bullets, however, soared past the five and into the crowd of hunkered civilians. A shrill cry marked a civilian as she took a bullet to the shoulder. Gasping sobs followed soon after.
Shayu muttered through clenched teeth, “Can’t these things ever go off without a hitch?”
The gunfire carried on for several more seconds, but it eventually began to die down. Coughing could still be heard for a few moments even after the gunfire stopped. Once the guards’ side of the concourse finally fell silent, and all that was left was the sobbing and shuddering of the shaken and injured civilians Shayu raised his hand in the air as black a handgun reappeared in his grip. He fired another shot into the air.
When there was no retaliation from the guards, Shayu kicked his own metal shield over before all five of the shields suddenly vanished, just as Shayu’s handguns had previously, “Mags, Damon, go.”
“Right”
Mags nodded silently.
The two split off the from the group and went their separate ways, Damon headed for a door labeled “Airport Personnel only” and Mags headed towards one of the flight gates through the crowd of cowering civilians.
Shayu, Chris and Raz then solemnly made their way towards the cloud of smoke. As they made their way through it, they walked past the limp bodies of the guards on the ground. They each breathed carefully through their gas masks, all three keeping silent. A single guard began to snore. Shayu looked over to Raz and broke the silence.
“Nice knockout gas, Raz. Thata’ homemade recipe?”
“Eh, it’s not too hard to make man, you just gotta know a little chemistry.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“What’d you make in your chemistry class Raz?”
“What you mean like back in high school?”
“Yeah.”
“A C+.”
Both Chris and Shayu burst out laughing, shattering the solemn atmosphere that had been building up. They walked through the purple gas, back towards the center of the terminal.
Shayu questioned further, “And yet you know how to make a gas that can put a man harmlessly to sleep?”
“Hey, I paid attention to the important stuff.”
“Apparently!” Shayu laughed.
“Yeah, though I should mention that there are a few side effects, and some of bigger ones will be up in about 5 minutes, it was either that or some of the smaller guys might have died. Anyway we should hurry.” As visibility returned, a completely empty terminal stretched out in front of them. They had nearly left the concourse and now stood amongst several larger abandoned shops and restaurants. The large area reminiscent of a food court had a large window on the left side which took up the majority of the left wall. Overturned chairs, along with abandoned baggage and half-finished meals, were scattered around the area. The large window looked out on the runway tarmac, and the ocean beyond it. Shayu and Raz each took a moment to observe the area. Something wasn’t quite right.
Chris laughed, “Damn I thought the rule was you weren’t supposed to leave your baggage unattended.” Chris stepped forward but Shayu threw his hand out in front of his larger comrade’s chest.
“Hold up. We’re not alone.” Chris paused and looked at Shayu; he then hastily surveyed the room. It was quiet, it seemed empty. Raz held his assault rifle in a relaxed but prepared position, carefully looking around the overly quiet room. Shayu just stood, and waited. Chris continued to look around seemingly as though he was confused.
After a moment Shayu turned to the side and motioned with his head back the way they had come, “Come on, let’s find another way around.”
As Chris shrugged, and as he and Raz turned around, a black figure emerged from around a column and swiftly raised it’s gun. Before it could open fire, Raz had already turned back around, and trained his sights on the black figure. Startled by Raz’s unusual speed and reflexes the black figure whipped back around into cover. The terminal was filled with loud resounding blasts as Raz opened fire. Without missing a step Shayu grabbed a grenade from his belt, and pulled the pin.
He threw the grenade to the other side of the column. The man, forced out of cover, sprinted for the next column but his ears were met with a loud blast as his Kevlar vest was met by a bullet from Raz’s assault rifle. The man’s body jerked and spun around causing him to fall hard on his back. Raz kept his iron sights trained on the man; Chris had only just raised his light machine gun.
Shayu calmly approached the man dressed in similar black apparel. The man was clearly in pain, but began slowly pushing himself to his feet. Noticing that Shayu was approaching, the man quickly reached for his gun once more. He managed to make it onto one knee and pull his firearm up, but before he could aim it, Shayu had raised the palm of his hand towards the man.
To the regular bystander nothing else would have seemed to happen. Other than Shayu’s, the only eyes that could see the shift were those of the man in the black, armored, HAZMAT suit. He was suddenly struck still, as if paralyzed.
~+~
The room went dark; black. The other two assailants in the background faded away from his view. A glowing purple eye suddenly opened in the middle of the single assailant’s hand, the glove that once covered the hand seemed to decay and fall away. Other than a low rumbling it was quiet. Breaking free of his paralyses, the man glanced down. His feet were very slowly sinking into the black muck that had become the floor. He began to panic, trying to pull himself free, but he could not find his voice to scream.
All the furnishings, walls, windows, and pillars had vanished; it was just a black void with black quicksand that in a way resembled latex. Yet from some unknown source a low rusty orange light filled the space. The man continued to try to tug his feet out of the ground as it seemed to slowly swallow him up. Unlike him, the assailant stood on the ground as if it was solid. The purple eye in the center of his palm grew ever brighter. The man looked back up frantically at the assailant, raised his gun, and opened fire. The silence was broken by the bullets and the man’s voice returned.
“ARAAAAAAGH!” The bullets, as if weighted down by some invisible force, arced downwards and whizzed into the black muck. The assailant just stood there, the eye on his palm glaring at the man.
The man’s firearm clicked, the magazine had emptied. As he looked back in terror, something black fluttered past his face. As another one floated by, he took notice. It was a butterfly, and it was one of many that had begun to fill the room. It was a butterfly, but it was not like one that would be seen fluttering in the daylight, these were pitch black and their movement did not seem propelled by theei wings, which almost seemed to open and close in slow motion, but instead they just seemed to float.
Suddenly the gas mask that covered the assailant’s face fell away, the straps having decayed, revealing the dark haired assailant’s devilish grin. One of the black butterflies landed on the assailant’s hand. The black, almost dead looking insect opened and closed its wings a few times very slowly.
Suddenly the assailant’s hand jerked and it was around the bug crunching it audibly.
The purple light from the eye vanished into the balled fist, the man could not help but scream. Bodies shot up out of the black muck between them. The sounds of various screams, cries, and wails filled the air.
They weren’t bodies.
They were mutilated, missing limbs, backs and heads twisted around, but they weren’t bodies. Mouths full of razor sharp teeth gaped in unnatural place, inhuman limbs sprouted from their figure. As a mass they lurched forwards towards the man as he screamed and fell on his back.
He tried to turn over or stand up to run, but the black muck still held tight to his legs and now it was threatening to swallow his whole body up. The creatures crawled hungrily and ravenously over one another, still wailing and screaming as if they were being prodded with seething hot iron.
As the man continued to try futilely and frantically to free himself, one of the creatures sprouted from the ground at the assailant’s side holding out a black revolver. The assailant calmly placed a cigarette in his mouth, pulled out a lighter, lit his cigarette, and put the lighter away. They were almost upon the man. The assailant casually took the revolver, pointed it at the man’s head, and pulled the trigger.
*BANG*
~+~
The man was gone. Shayu stood above where the man had been. All that remained of him was his small submachine gun. Shayu just stared at the empty space for a moment before his knees finally buckled and he fell. Chris who had since moved to stand beside Shayu, caught him before he hit the ground.
“**** dude, you ok?”
Shayu’s attention remained fixed on the space where the lone soldier had been, the soldier whom he had made disappear. He was dazed beneath the mask that still covered his face; it took him a moment, but he eventually recovered. He raised his still-gloved hand and brushed it against his mask, as if half expecting it to brush across his face instead.
“Yeah…” Shayu slowly pushed himself back onto his own two feet, “damn that’s one hell of a headache though… I feel like a horse just kicked me in the face.” Chris laughed as Shayu reached down to pick up the small firearm the soldier had left behind.
“Like a ****ing bronco?”
“Yeah.”
Raz moved to stand next to Shayu, “That’s what you get for using the eye, like a dumb ass.” Shayu shrugged.
“Yeah well-“ Footsteps echoed into the concourse from the main section of the terminal. All three turned their attention towards the sound.
Raz raised his gun once more and set his gaze forward, “Here come the cavalry…” he trained his rifle forwards and squeezed the grip, “these guys’ll probably be actual military too.” Shayu sighed and raised the gun he had just scavenged, Chris quickly raised his weapon as well before shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Alright let’s burn some fuckers!”
Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:25 am
