Something Flowing

After they had dug up the trapdoor that lead to the secret bunker below ground, they found nothing but dust and empty crates, all of which had a small Division 7 emblem printed on the bottom corner of the iron handle bars. Ed swore aloud and kicked one of the iron tables so hard that it moved by a few centimetres. The screech that accompanied the table, almost excruciating to Safu’s ears. It was only after they made their way out of the secret basement and enter daylight again that Ed’s phone went off with numerous notifications, most of which was CNet trying to get his attention and notify him that two bombs had indeed gone off. They got into the car and sped off toward the East Rand Traders Square, where a huge cloud of dust and smoke rose and connected with the dark rain clouds overhead.

Connor and Laura had managed to get back to the second entrance of the fleamarket, but had consequently been pinned down by a massive brute the size of King Kong. The mountainous man roared as he brought his huge blunted axe down on anything and everything that closely resembled a standing structure, and man. Something must have gone wrong if he had been meant to be support for the Others that accompanied him, as he flung the axe, now turned mace, around and struck at the Others behind him, briefly giving the Connor and Laura time to breath and recuperate.

            Ed stopped dead in front of the entrance to the fleamarket and jumped out of the car. Safu had his retractable spear equipped since they had left Prime that morning, but Ed had to get his bow and quiver, as well as his trusted two pistols out of the trunk first, making for quite an awkward moment as Safu first had to wait for him to get ready. Ed’s bow had taken on a form of a normal composite bow over the past few days, though it still acted very much like the compound bow Ian had bought him quite some time ago. The black-crystallite microorganisms had replaced much of the bow’s pulleys and structure, though left just enough of it intact for Ed to still feel as if he had some control over the new framework of the bow. Safu was no fan of his bow, as he snorted and shook his head at the sight of it.

            Ed ignored him and ran into the market at full speed. He knew that the firefight was over on this side, but could still hear gunfire coming from the other. The dead or the dying covered much of the main square, right before the stage. It was clear that the bomb had gone off from there, though it seemed that many smaller explosions had erupted at the various corners of the market. Dust and debris covered most of the blood and pieces guts that had spilled in the explosion or following gunfire. They had just made it by the ABSA ATM that an Others agent guised as a police officer fired at Ed and Safu, forcing them to hold back against the wall.

            Ed breathed that Safu should make his way around the stage, then got the first of fifty arrows out of his quiver and readied his bow.

More gunfire ensued as Safu reached the other side. He knew that he was no good with a gun, and even less so in unarmed combat, but he knew, he could run. He used this to his and Ed’s advantage as he sprinted across the opening and into the stalls at the other side of the square, drawing the attention of the agents.

            Ed peered out of the cover, and then walked completely out of cover as he saw the agents face the other direction. He picked them off one by one in fast succession, with only two still standing when they had noticed that their comrades had fallen silent. Ed ducked into a row of stalls and peaked out from underneath the clothing that hung on the racks. He saw that Safu had pinned his spear through the far agent’s back, its point protruding through his chest. The last remaining agent noticed this and dropped his weapon, fell onto his knees with his hands in the air. Ed had just come up, out of cover as he saw Safu tackle the man from behind, effectively snapping his neck in an elegant forward roll and thrust.

            Ed walked forward and retrieved the only arrow that hadn’t broken off inside his victims’ fallen bodies. He notched both, nodded at Safu, and continued on his way toward the other side of the fleamarket.

It had been years since he had last visited but everything still seemed the same. Clothing stores lined a couple of rows, and pirated gaming stores could be found in between. There were food stalls here and there as well, but were mostly overshadowed by the huge mobile-phone stalls. They did not need to run far for things to look extremely out of the ordinary – broken stalls and Others agents lay all over the place. Blood covered most of the standing elements that one could see, and broken corpses, bent in the most unbelievable ways lay around each and every corner. The smell of fire and fresh blood filled their nostrils, which seemed to faze Safu little, though it took Ed all the way back to North Africa.

           

‘We have to help them!’ Ian shouted at Devon. Ed had already given up, though he was secretly trying to figure out a way to get out of that basement and up that trap door. He, too, felt that they should have done something. This was one of the few times that Devon had refused to follow an order given by Ian. ‘Get out of the fucking way!’ Ian roared, punching Dev as hard as he could in the face, Devon not even flinching at the punches. ‘Fuck! Off!’

Explosions shook the floor above them, and all of them knew that the family who had taken them in had finally been killed. Ed closed his eyes and rolled his fists into hard balls, his nails digging deep into his palms. He had to do something. Ian roared even louder, but Devon merely kicked him in the stomach once, causing Ian to fall backward and gasp for air. Ed opened his eyes and charged at Devon.

‘Something!’ is all Ed could remember saying as he woke up three hours later.

           

Ed had managed to get over it with time, especially after the whole story with Sarah’s killer. However, he had no more time to think about it. He forced the images to drain from his mind as they came upon a huge open space with a hulking man near the FNB ATM at the other side of the small opening. Safu merely let out an unbelievable gasp and let the spear rip out of his hand. It punctured the huge mountain of a man’s right shoulder, though he seemed to have thought it only as a little mosquito; extremely oblivious at the pole that now protruded from his shoulder.

He roared and turned around, swinging his mace in the movement. Ed was Safu was glad that they hadn’t been closer as the radius of the huge man’s swing must have been a whole two metres.

Ed noticed Laura and Connor behind the ATM, hidden between the thing wall and the broken machine. A huge pool of blood covered most of the floor, though, and it was then that Ed noticed a sharp piece of bone sticking out of Connor’s leg. Laura was busy applying pressure and tearing her sleeves off so she could bind the broken leg.

Ed had fired three more arrows, all at the brute’s neck, none of which fazed him at all. He roared and came crashing down over Ed, who ducked out of the way. Safu had ducked the other way to try to keep him off Ed’s trail long enough so he could devise some sort of a plan.

Ed ducked further off, buying himself enough time to drop his bow and arrows in order to get out his pistols. Both of which he unloaded into the brute’s back. Nothing seemed to pierce his thick body enough to actually do actual damage.

Safu had managed to run up to the thing as it swung around to face Ed, jumped up onto its back and pulled the spear out of his shoulder. The brute flailed about as it attempted to reach his back, though its hulking arms did not make it possible. The eagle-eyed agent took that advantage, dropped his spear and unsheathed his machete, which he used to cut at the thing’s throat. The brute finally got a hold of Safu, pulled him off effortlessly, and threw him against the broken ATM.

A stream of blood flowed from the gash in his throat, however the brute carried on swinging his blunted axe back in Ed’s direction. After a few seconds, the brute had looked more like a creature that consisted out of blood and flesh. Its roars had turned into insane gargles consisting of red spit. Ed reloaded and unloaded his last two magazines into its neck, missing zero shots. This time it seemed to irritate the brute a bit, as it slapped at its own throat, which in turn seemed to hurt too. Ed then devised a little plan.

Ed ran forward and ducked underneath the brute, picked up Safu’s spear and rolled out to the other side. He then ducked around again, as the brute swung his axe down on Ed’s last location. Ed ran toward the area where he had dropped his bow and arrows, turned a corner and ducked behind the stall where he peered out to see what the brute was doing.

As he thought, the brute had turned its attention back to Safu, who was still struggling to get up. Ed then ran out of cover and threw the spear as hard as he could at the upper portion of the brute’s body, piercing him in his upper back. This got its attention.

It slowly turned around, by which time Ed had already gotten his bow, and fired off at the thing’s neck. It flailed about as it turned. The spear in its back hit the wall of a still-standing stall, causing it to pierce even further in. It stopped to feel at its back, and pulled the spear out; dropping it as Ed fired all of the arrows he still had left at its neck.

It looked at Ed with pure evil in its dark, emotionless eyes, then let out another gargle-howl-grunt and charged full speed at Ed, who ducked out of the way again, got up as the brute sped by and charged right into a stall at the back. It took a while to get up, but Ed had already picked the spear up again. As the brute swung around and charged at him again, Ed was motionless, waiting for impact.

The brute did his hybrid gargling thing as the blood now covered his entire lower body, causing its massive feet to slosh at every footfall. It charged right up to Ed, who then picked the spear up just in time and held it forward.

The brute slumped forward and a snap could be heard as Ed could not support the massive weight of the brute. He had run so fast into the spear, it stuck right through its neck. Its blood covered the entirety of Ed’s semi-broken body.

When Ed finally opened his eyes, he was in the hospital where Elizabeth was sleeping in the chair next to his bed. Laura was also there, leaning in the doorway, though her attention was outside, where Ed could hear Ian and JR.

            “One fucking rule!”

            “I’m sorry!”

            “One! I trusted you!”

            “I’m really sorry!”

            “You have no right to visit Ed,” Ian said after recomposing himself, the air right out of him. “Come back only when you have gone over what you have done.”

            Ed heard nothing after that, but he saw Laura making way. Ian entered the room, then, with half of his arm in bandages, and a couple of more bandages wrapped around his head and waist. Ian sat down slowly in the chair on the other side of Ed’s bed and sighed.

            “What are we going to do with him?” Ian asked as he looked up at Ed, who was merely staring at what had just happened. Ed did not think of an answer, though, and instead redirected his attention to Laura.

            “You did well, kid,” Ed told her. “Go after your man. Talk some sense into him.”

            Laura smiled at Ed, clearly glad that he had recognised her skill earlier that day. She then hurried out of the room and down the hall. When Ed looked back at Ian, his friend merely looked at him in shock.

            “You look like shit,” Ed remarked, then grimaced at his own bandaged legs and arm.

            Ian smiled. Elizabeth woke up shortly after.