“Alright, give me a sitrep, captain.” Seth moved to the window, pushing past Mian. “What do we have?”

“Five police teams now. Looks like just lightly armed officers, but breaching charges are standard for police on Arcadia. A total of six military grade drones.” Redman paused for a moment as he accessed his CAM. “And they’re shutting down all exits in and out of the city, so if we don’t move fast, we’re going to be trapped here.”

“We need to get to that parking garage.” He pointed with the pistol to the garage opposite the one he had sent Yeter to. “There’s bound to be some sort of transport we can steal there.”

“Sir, I hate to remind you, but we have no weapons.” Xaleyp patted his sides to illustrate the fact. How were they supposed to get through twenty police officers and six drones with a single pistol?

“Don’t count your chickens,” Seth muttered, running over to the kitchen area. He began feeling underneath cabinets and countertops, looking for something. Finally, he must have found it. A click sounded in the room, and the middle portion of the kitchen opened up. “Armand was always a security freak. I should’ve known something was up when that guard actually let us in with the sword.”

Through the floor came a rack of an assortment of weapons. Two shotguns, five assault rifles, a dozen different pistols, along with ammo for each. Redman took a shotgun and a pistol before passing a rifle to each of the other three. All of them took plenty of ammo from the rack and pocketed what they could. Redman even grabbed a couple of grenades with a devilish grin.

“Xaleyp, I hate to ask…” Seth looked to his right, looking at thin air. He paused for a moment before shaking his head. “No, it’s fine, we’ll be fine. Xaleyp, I hate to ask, but do you think you could use the sword? Maybe we could unlock some of its power here. It’d help give us an edge.”

“Sir, who were you talking to?” Xaleyp asked. Had the man be speaking to himself? Or did he think that someone else was there with them?

“You, of course. Can you use the sword or not?”

Xaleyp rose his eyebrows and glanced sideways at Mian, who returned the expression, but neither pressed the matter further. She shrugged her shoulders to both keep the pack on her back and show her indifference.

“Sir, I really don’t think now is the time to try. If I can’t control it…”

“Fine, moving on. Let’s go.”

As they approached the door, an explosion sounded from beneath them. They walked out and looked over the balcony. The police were breaching. Screams pierced their ears. Gunshots rang out. More screams, followed by thuds as bodies fell. They were firing on civilians. Innocent civilians. Blood spilled out over the once cheerful dance floor. Some crawled, trying to get to safety, their bodies fighting for every breath. Others were charred from the force of the detonation. Cries of pain and fright came from below. All this death because Seth was here?

There were shouts from the police officers as they noticed the group’s appearance. A barrage of gunfire screamed towards them, forcing them to duck behind the metal of the railing. As it died down, Redman took a chance and stood up. He aimed the shotgun and fired off a round. The dozen metal balls hit one officer square in the chest. A large red spot appeared, and the man fell backwards, unmoving. Redman quickly hid again just before another swarm of bullets came towards them.

“I counted at least six more down there,” Redman said. He pumped the slide, and the spent shell popped out, clattering to the ground. Another took its place from the magazine underneath with a click. He looked directly at Seth. “And they’re still coming in. We’re going to need some fancy maneuvering to get out of this one.”

“I’ve had worse odds. So has Gareten.”

Xaleyp wanted to ask who Gareten was, but Seth was already aiming over the railing and firing. Two screams came from below, followed by another answer of gunfire impacting the metal above their heads. Seth ducked back down and pressed his back flat against the wall.

“They’re heading for the stairs.” He turned to Xaleyp and pointed down the path. “Keep your eyes peeled and make sure none of them make it up.”

Xaleyp nodded and brought the gun up to aim it. He felt his heart beating in his chest, threatening to burst. Suddenly a man appeared, and Xaleyp squeezed the trigger. The bullet tore through the man’s hand, forcing him to drop the gun. A yell of pain came from where the man sat on his knees. Xaleyp’s hands began to shake. The simulations and training ranges were one thing. Having to actually kill another human being?

Seth looked over and fired a round towards the injured man. The bullet tore through his head, a spurt of blood coming out and forcing it to jerk backwards. He fell over, dead. Redman looked back over the railing and fired another shell down to the main floor. There was a heavy impact of metal on metal, but no pained shouts.

“This is not the time to show mercy, Xaleyp.” Seth had a fire in his eyes unlike any Xaleyp had seen before. “These people will kill you if you give them the chance. You have to aim to kill, not wound.”

“Yes, sir.” Xaleyp felt uneasy about it and looked at Mian for support. She simply shrugged and kept her eyes on the stairs.

Seth and Redman aimed over the railing at the same time, firing off several rounds each before ducking back behind. Two officers below screamed out in pain. Seth took the empty magazine out of the bottom of the gun, replacing it with a fresh one. Another guard began stalking up the stairs as a barrage of bullets tore into the ceiling above them. Xaleyp brought his rifle up and took a deep breath. He squeezed his trigger. Metal screeched on metal with the impacts of the bullets on the wall. The officer fell backwards with several holes in his body.

“We need to keep moving,” Seth said. He glanced around the balcony. “Is there any other way out?”

“We could try the third floor, sir,” Mian suggested. She fired two rounds at an officer who was slowly climbing the stairs. “Otherwise we’re just sitting ducks here.”

“Girl, try seeing what’s in those two other rooms here. Maybe there’s a way out.”

Mian hesitated for a moment before following the order. She ran as fast as she could while crouching, quickly reaching the first door, and it hissed open. She was quickly back out and moving into the other one. Another barrage tore into the ceiling as they sat there, pieces of metal beginning to shower down on them. The roof was bending and cracking from the repeated impacts.

“Shit, we need to hurry.” Seth turned to the door Mian went in, and when she didn’t come back out, he aimed his rifle over his head and fired blindly downstairs. The bullets impacted nothing but ground, ricocheting wildly. “Come on, girl.”

Yet another officer began coming up the stairs, and Xaleyp fired a trio of bullets at her. Each tore into the woman’s body. She jerked and fell to the ground, and a pang of guilt spread through Xaleyp. These people were just doing their jobs. They woke up that morning expecting a normal, maybe even boring, day, and now, so many of them wouldn’t be going home. How many had wives and husbands? How many had children? They would never see their parents again. Then again, neither would Lina.

Mian came out of the door, the pack bouncing on her back, and rushed over, sliding to get behind the cover of the railing. She was panting, and beads of sweat peppered her brow.

“First one is complete bullshit, just a standard bedroom. Not even as nice as Armand’s.”

“Get on with it.” Seth stood briefly and fired off a succession of bullets before the gun clicked empty. He replaced the magazine with a new one. “I’ve got three left.”

“The second room has a hidden tunnel leading out to the back alley. There are no guards there yet, but I’m sure there will be. It’s probably our best way out.”

“Well, let’s get on with it.” Seth passed his rifle to Redman, who handed him the shotgun. Another man was cautiously moving up the stairs, stepping over the dead bodies. Seth fired the shotgun at him, the force lifting the man off the ground and throwing him against the wall, where his body slumped and didn’t move. “Give us some covering fire, captain.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be right behind you.”

Redman stood and began firing bursts of gunfire at each officer he saw. Very few rounds hit, but it kept them from firing back. The other three moved to the door. It hissed open and revealed a fairly normal inn room, a bed at one side and a bookshelf at the other. Next to the bookshelf was a portion of the metal wall turned into an opening. A passage turned to the left and disappeared as it descended.

“Sir, is it a good idea to leave the sword with him?” Xaleyp asked as they entered the tunnel.

“We’ve been through this already, boy. Of course, it’s a good idea. He wouldn’t dare run off with it, and the Arcadians wouldn’t know what to do with it if they got their hands on it. They’d hardly know what it is. Besides, Gareten trusts him with it, so I do too.”

Xaleyp nodded his recognition of the words, but inside he was thinking, the gears within turning as fast as they would go. There it was again: Gareten. Apparently, it was someone that Seth knew, but who, and why did he keep mentioning that name all of a sudden? It sounded familiar, maybe from one of his history lessons. He couldn’t place where he had heard it, but there wasn’t much time to think about it, because Mian was tugging him into the dimly lit tunnel.

“Come on, we have to keep moving,” she said.

Their footsteps were echoing loudly, bouncing off the walls. Seth led the way down, keeping the shotgun aimed and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The lights within were few and far apart, leaving them mostly in darkness. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, curving sideways almost all the way, when they finally saw a light of the back alley at the end. Behind them came some running footsteps followed by an explosion. Redman came charging around the corner, the sword bouncing on his back.

“Grenade,” he said as they looked at him. “Should buy us a little time as long as they don’t know where this comes out.”

“They know where this comes out.” Seth held up his arm to keep them from rushing out. “Three officers and a drone, so we’ll have to hurry. Xaleyp, you get the drone, while Redman, the girl, and I take out the officers. On three: One, two. three.”

They broke out into the alley all at once, pushing past one another. Xaleyp quickly looked around and getting a feel for his surroundings. To his right were the three officers running down the alley and yelling when they came out of the door. The drone was streaking overhead, passing by and turning in the narrow space to make a strafing run. He used the assisted aim of his CAM to fire his rifle at the gun on the bottom first, causing it to burst into flames after being hit by a series of bullets and rendering it useless. Another barrage to the body of the small ship disabled it before it could attempt a dive attack. It spun in circles and crashed into the side of the building across the alley, tearing a hole through the metal and coming to a rest somewhere within with a crack.

Around him, there was a brief burst of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted around his head, followed by grunts of pain and bodies thudding to the ground. He turned in time to see the three officers fall over. One of them was trying to crawl away, leaving a blood trail on the hard ground. The bottom half of his right leg was missing. Seth walked over and shot into the man’s temple with his pistol. He stopped moving at once. Redman was leaning against the building. There was another bullet hole in his shoulder. He clutched at it with his opposite hand. Blood oozed between his fingers. His face was starting to go white.

“Today is just not my day.” He managed a weak laugh. His CAM must have been pushing adrenaline to keep him going. “Which way, sir?”

“The parking towers are that way.” Seth pointed the direction of the officers, where there were the flashing lights of police, then started running in the opposite direction. “So, we’re going this way.”

“I thought we were finding a transport, sir,” Xaleyp asked. Them going a completely different way made little sense to him.

“We are, but not in the middle of all that. There’s another parking tower just around the corner. We’ll find one there. Hopefully, they don’t have it shut down yet.”

They came out of the alley into a rather dark street. Lamps spaced evenly up and down the sidewalks and the lines on the road were the only sources of light. No flashing police vans, not even any cars. A few drunken citizens staggered, leaning against walls and ignoring the activity around them. The buildings reached into the surrounding air, one of them being the parking tower to their right. Some lights in the windows were on, casting silhouettes of people moving within.

“Let’s move quickly,” Seth said, sprinting across the street. The other three followed. Redman staggered slightly as he lost more blood. “Stick together, watch your corners, don’t take any unnecessary risks. Are you going to be alright, captain?”

“Fine, sir, just going to need a hot shower or something once we get out of this mess.”

“You’re going to be waiting an awfully long time for that. You know what they say: Out of the frying pan into the fire.”