The Long Dark by B.J. Farmer (important books to read .TXT) 📗

her gasp, but she had to continue – had to prove that she had the resolve to lead these people. She came in close to him, whispered something. He seemed to nod. She then put the gun to his forehead and pulled the trigger.

The man beside me had cried himself out. He couldn’t bear to see what was about to happen, so he didn’t look, but that didn’t mean he had wholly given up. I didn’t need to speak Korean to know that he was pleading with her. She ended his suffering quickly with a bullet to the top of his head. There was no value in torturing him.

The spotlight was on me, literally and metaphorically. I was the final act. I inhaled deeply as she stood before me. She began to speak, but as odd as it may sound, something else, a buzzing of some sort, held my attention. I couldn’t understand her, anyway.

I thought maybe I was going crazy. More sporadic gunfire startled me back to my senses, or so I thought. Janna seemed to be aware of the buzzing as well. She stopped. We shared a glance. Seeing that I heard it too seemed to take the energy out of what she was saying – to dampen her despotic pep-rally. Murmurs filled the gallery, and Janna shouted something towards her guards. They began looking into the dark sky.

Shots came from a direction other than the front of the base. Confusion filled Janna’s face. She yelled something before slowly pointing the gun at me. The end was near. As much as I wanted to stare the bitch in the face as she pulled the trigger, I couldn’t. I began to close my eyes when I heard it. It was as if a million bees had launched themselves at us. A fast whoosh then followed before finally a loud WHACK!

Janna was on the ground, kicking her feet, and screaming. What the fuck, I thought. A large drone lay next to her, two of the propellers still spinning. Her guards quickly grabbed hold of her and dragged her away from the courtyard and towards cover. I could see her face, even though her hands were grasping at a loose fold of skin and trying to keep it in place. If she lived, she’d be severely deformed.

Gunfire flared up. The sounds of pops and whizzes let me know they were too damn close.  All it would’ve taken was someone aiming at my copious self, and I was doomed.

The courtyard had emptied entirely. All that remained of the gathering were the ones who hadn’t managed to find cover before they were gunned down. By whom, I had no clue. All I knew was if they were killing the Order, they couldn’t be that bad.

I saw the headlights of a vehicle: its engine revving hard, heading in my direction, followed by the sounds of what I knew were Grays. They were in the base. The vehicle locked up its tracks as it slid up beside me. A man quickly opened the door and hopped over the tracks to the ground in a single bound. Without saying a word, he began to cut the ropes that bound my hands to the pole. Even after my hands were untied, I continued standing there, unsure what to do – what the hell to think. And completely surprised by who I was seeing. But goddamn did it make me happy.

“Jesus, man, you are needing do ged your ass moving,” Aadesh said, crouching behind the truck for cover. “Quickly, drough dis side of de cab.”

The sounds of bullets hitting the side of the truck could be heard over the din of the gun battle. “We can’t leave… where the hell is everyone?”

“You have do drusd me, man. Bud led’s go.”

“Behind you, Aadesh!” I yelled.

Aadesh spun around and fired two rounds into an incoming Gray. Two more were on her heels. “Go, dammid.”

I struggled to get onto the tread as Aadesh dispatched the two Grays. He then swung the rifle over his shoulder and gave me a push. “Fuck,” I yelled, as my leg twisted on the slippery treads. I managed to make it to my seat without further aggravating my wound. Aadesh, for his part, had taken out another two or three Grays in the meantime.

“Dere is a rifle in the back sead,” Aadesh said, panting for air.

“Where are we going?” I asked, as reached for the rifle.

Before he could answer, at least three Grays had launched themselves on the truck. In short order, one pounded on the front windshield, while two others bashed the passenger and driver’s window. Aadesh swerved hard, back and forth, trying to dislodge them but to no avail.

I took a deep breath before grabbing the door handle. I exhaled hard as I pulled up on the handle and pushed the door open with every bit of energy I had left. The Gray swung wildly as the door flung open. He fell to the ground. I then stepped outside and aimed my rifle towards him. I’m not sure how, but his head went missing after just one shot.

The truck swerved hard to the left, nearly causing me to fall all the way out. I hung on precariously as the truck whipped violently in the other direction.  “Ged dis ding off me!” Aadesh yelled.

“I can’t get a fucking --” Before I could finish my sentence, he lay over the best he could considering the Gray had him by the hood of his coat, trying to pull him out through the broken side window.

Don’t raise up, I thought, as I both stabilized myself as best I could and aimed down the site of the rifle. The first shot missed. The second, though, put him permanently out of commission.

We made it to the small building we had been kept in when we first got to the base. Apparently, that was the rendezvous point. The door came open, and a head popped out. It was Sam, and he