Streaks of lightning ripped through the black clouds above; followed by a thunderous boom that echoed down below. AJ and Sev lied on top of a hill out studying the town from a safe distance. It looked more like a military installation than a place where people lived. Soldiers carrying assault rifles, stood behind blockades at the two major roads that lead through the town. There was a tower ever thirty meters throughout the town with soldiers on mountain machineguns acting as sentries. They shined a white spotlight that bullied back the darkness.

The two major roads rumbled as rusted tanks left their tracks in the dirt road. A convoy of three pickup trucks carrying four soldiers in each one, follow the tank as it patrolled around the outer perimeter.

“That place is heavily guard,” AJ said. “How are we going to get in?”

“We move in using stealth and only kill those we can’t avoid,” Sev said. “If Victor is as powerful as you say he is, using flash step will alert him. Last thing we need is a massive fight to wear us down.”

“Then if that’s the case, let’s hurry up,” AJ reached into his holster and pulled out his pistol. Though spectres don’t rely on them, its still issued out by the military. “Where do you think Harlot’s body is?”

“You see that hospital right to the left?” Sev said, looking at the tall building in the distance. It stood four stories and laid out in the shape of a cross. It’s right wing was completely collapsed as if a plane had crashed through.

“Yeah that’s their main headquarters,” AJ said. “I stayed there for a day so I know the place pretty good.”

“Alright, let’s do this.”

AJ and Sev skulked across the desert to the town. They used the darkness to obscure their presence as they geared closer and closer to the enemy. Sev grabbed AJ by the shoulder and pulled him back behind a boulder. A white tower light swept across and would have spotted them if it wasn’t for Sev’s quick thinking. Once the light had passed, He peeked around.

They were right at the first blockade. Two soldiers stood soldiers stood guard and two soldiers were in the tower with one moving the spotlight.

“There are four soldier at the blockade,” Sev said. “We can easily take them but I thinking about something.”

“And what is that?” AJ asked.

“Do you think these soldiers know what Carter is doing? If not then can’t we just walk right through without having to sneak around.”

AJ shook his head. “It’s a possible but I don’t want to take the chance. Let’s just continue with the plan and sneak inside.”

Sev looked over his shoulder and saw a soldier pointing his gun at them. He was about to fire but Sev pushed AJ against the wall and fired three quick shots from his silenced pistol. Two to the chest and one to the head. The soldier over dead.

“Holy shit,” AJ said.

Sev smiled. “Well I guess we know they’re not friendly.”

“Carter, Mike and Victor were talking about operation pale rider and some group called the Gaia,” AJ said. “I’m sure they got their soldiers in on it too.”

“So we’re in agreement, soldiers are bad shoot them if we have too.”

AJ and Sev managed to sneak through the town without having to kill anymore soldiers along the way. The closer they got the more soldiers were patrolling. Carter had his men closely guard the the hospital while leaving the outskirts lightly defended. They moved through the alleyways which made it easier to get through. They weaved around the dumpsters and wadded over the trash that filled the alley until they got to the otherside.

AJ peaked out and looked up and down the street. Empty without a single convoy coming. Across the street was a large stretch of open field and the hospital right in the middle. There were no soldiers stationed guard on the roof of the building. With only a handful of soldiers, Carter had to station them in more important places.

There was another flash of lightning followed by the loud crackle of thunder. Sev looked up and smelled the moist air. It had a metallic stench to it.

“Plague rain is coming,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess that why we haven’t seen too many soldier around or people,” AJ said. “They’re all probably somewhere in a bunker or something.”

The plague rains was nothing like normal rain. Carried inside each droplet was the plague itself and if it touched anyone they were dead. Without a cure death would occur in twelve days or less. The plague could only survive in water so once the area dried, it was safe to come out.

“Come on let’s move, don’t want to get trapped out here,” Sev said.

AJ held back Sev as he tried to run out and pulled him back into the alley. The streets grew bright and a rumbling convoy came passing through. Both of them ducked behind a dumpster waiting for the convoy to pass. They held their breath, not out of fear but because the dumpster had a strong rotten odor.

The rumbling of tanks and trucks grew quiet. AJ and Sev then ran out, hunched over and taking light steps across the road. Once they were acrossed they made a beeline for the hospital. They then stopped outside of the left wing. AJ looked up, it wasn’t much of a jump to get up.

“Hey, Sev you mind getting me up there?”

“I don’t know man, I’ve been working out but you’re kind of heavy.”

AJ shoved Sev. “Just shut up and throw me up there.”

Sev laughed as he grabbed AJ by the waist. With one toss, he sent AJ up into the air, just high enough that he landed on the roof with ease.

AJ kneeled down and surveyed the area with his pistol. He aimed down the sights and when he was sure it was clear; whistled for Sev to come up and join him. Unlike Sev, AJ wasn’t physically strong. He couldn’t pick up trucks or leap over buildings with a single bound like Sev. Hitek was his speciality and he used it with relative ease, something that Sev didn’t have the skill for.

“Ok AJ, where do we go now?”

AJ saw an opening where the roof had collapsed. “We go through there. Once in we look for someone who’d know where Harlot’s body is.”

“I’m pretty sure Mike knows, that’s who took it.”

“Alright, I know where Mike’s room is. Also we should find a way to communicate with East. I’m sure Carter has a telegraph line somewhere in his office.”

With most satellites down, radio communication was long gone. Commanders from bases across the United States relied on landlines to communicate to one another. This meant that communication stations were fought over constantly by the remaining countries.

AJ and Sev ran to the hole and jumped down into it. They landed in a hallway on the fifth floor of the left wing. There was no sign of enemy soldiers anywhere. Sand covered the floors with wires hanging overhead. AJ pointed his gun down the hall, looking along the sights.

“Sev, you should go to Carter’s office on third floor,” AJ said. “I’m going to go find Mike’s room and get him to talk.”

“What if Victor and Carter are in there?”

AJ smiled. “Then don’t lead them back to me.”

Through the fourth floor where Mike’s room was, AJ moved about in silence. He took light steps with his aiming his pistol. His finger wrap near the trigger but wasn’t wrapped around. Struggling echoed from inside the room. He picked up the paced and went down the hall. At the door, he took a deep breath before reaching for the knob. The door swung open and Mike stepped out into the hallway with an arm wrapped around his neck and a gun pointed to his head.

“What are you waiting for, I said move it!”

“I would, but I’m afraid your friend will shoot me,” Mike said.

AJ saw Harlot look around’s Mike shoulder. Bloody white bandages wrapped around her head and over her right eye. Her mouth almost dropped when she saw AJ standing in the hallway in front of her.

“Harlot, how are you still alive?” was the first thing AJ asked.

“I should be asking you that question,” Harlot said.

“Spectres have high regenerative abilities,” he answered.

“The bullet only fucked up my right eye,” she said. “Other than losing my right eye I’m pretty good.”

“Well you won’t be after Victor catches you,” Mike said. “He’s going to kill both of you in a blink of an eye.”

“He wasn’t able to kill me the first time,” AJ said.

Mike thrusted back, knocking Harlot backwards into the the room. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out spherical object that fit right in his palm. He pressed down on the button and AJ collapsed from the sonic wave it emitted.

The wave shook AJ’s ear drums as he rolled around on the floor, covering his ears with his hand.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Harlot asked.

Mike stepped over AJ’s body and stood across the hallway. Holding up the sphere in between his fingers, he smiled and showed it to Harlot.

“This little doohickey right here is called a wave bomb,” he said. “Victor supplied us soldiers with a way to fight against you spectres if we managed to get the jump on you. He gave us a whole lot of weapons. which is cool.”

Harlot aimed her gun and tattered her finger on the trigger, firing three shots. Mike dove to the left out of the first two shots but the last one grazed his shoulder causing him to drop the wave bomb on the floor. The wave bomb rolled away but was still close enough that it had an affect on AJ.

“You bitch!” he shouted. He pulled out a gun he had hidden away in his pants leg and fired away at Harlot who slipped back into room and behind the wall. Mike stood up and stormed over into the room. Right when he stepped into the doorway, Harlot came out swinging her gun. She bashed him in the nose with the bottom end of the handle.

He staggered back, dropping his gun on the floor. When he looked up he saw Harlot pointing the gun at him. Before she could fire the first shot, he stepped in and under the gun then grabbed her wrist. He moved her aim some it wasn’t directed towards him.

“Let go you bastard!” Using her free hand, she clenched it into a fist and swung a punch. The blow ran across Mike’s face and dug into his face. He staggered back but not before knocking the gun from her hands. It slid over to AJ who was unable to grab it.

Mike lurched forward and held up his dukes. He sent two jabs at Harlot who managed to sway back out of the way. She side stepped out of the way of his next attack, but he recovered with another punch which she dodged too.

Across the room was a computer desk and small laptop. Harlot waited for Mike’s next attack and stepped around his punch. She stood right in front of the desk with her back leaned up against.

Mike clenched his fist and cocked his arm pack. With all his strength he jabbed. Harlot swayed to the left and grabbed him by the pack of his neck. With one clean motion, she slammed his head into the computer screen and stepped back.

With a loud holler, he let out a spew of slurs and curses. After that he quickly reached into his left shoe and pulled out a knife he had hidden away. It had a smooth blade and a jagged tooth back. He turned around swinging the knife. He cut through the air and forced Harlot to stepped back.

His attacks were sporadic and all over the place. He didn’t aim, only swung. Harlot held her hands close to her as she weaved out and around each of his failed attacks until she felt her back hit up against the wall.

Mike twisted the knife so the blade was facing downward and stabbed down at Harlot. At the last moment, she grabbed his wrist, keeping the knife from coming down on her. Contested, it was sure strength that would when the fight. Harlot felt her arm shake as Mike’s muscular physique made him stronger than her. Slowly the knife inched closer towards her face.

“Gonna take that other pretty eye of yours,” Mike laughed.

She noticed a knife hidden between his waist and belt. The man had many knives hidden on his person but this knife would be the one that killed him. She jerked the knife out from his belt in one swift motion. She then plunged it right into his stomach and gave it a twist. She ripped it out and stabbed him in the stomach multiple times.

A red blood stained spread out around the area she stabbed him at and blood dripped onto the floor. His eye grew wide and his jaw dropped as he let go the knife. It felt onto the floor as he staggered back, wobbling and about to collapse. Blood spilled from his mouth as he glared at her.

“Y-You bitch,” he said with a mouth full of blood.

His body went limp and hit the floor with a thud.

With mike dead, Harlot rushed out into the hallway where AJ had passed out. She ran over to the wave bomb and stomped her boot down on it, crushing it and stopping the effects. She then rushed back over to AJ where she kneeled by his side.

“AJ are you alright?” she asked, holding him in her arms. “Come on wake up!” She tapped him on his cheek until his eyes started to quint and his mouth moved. He opened his eyes and looked up at her with a smile.

“You got some white stuff on your mouth,” he muttered.

“You idiot.”

He lifted himself up, and glanced over at Mike’s dead body in the room. A pool of blood expanded out from him.

“Looks like we dealt with one problem,” he said.

“Yeah but we also have ten more,” she said. “I got Mike talking a bit and learned what operation pale rider is. They aircrafts we saw earlier were flown on auto pilot. Since the war pretty much killed everyone there was nobody around to turn them off. Which is why they kept bombing their last target over and over again.”

“So what are they gonna do, use them?”

She nodded her head. “It turns out the Gaia are an organization of spectres and soldiers who want to end the wars between all the remaining countries. They’re going to use the aircrafts to bomb each capital city and then use the aircrafts to assert their dominance.”

“But that’ll kill millions of people!” he said. “We can’t let them do that!”

“It gets worst,” she said. “Pale rider is a two part operation. Second operation involves them recreating the spectre weapons using the schematics and design from your sword.”

“That’s why they sent out that distress beacon to lure us here.” He stood up, dusting up the back and front of his pants.

“Alright you ready to flash step and win this?” she asked.

He looked distressed. “Um, about that. I can’t use flash step.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Somehow Victor is faster than me even when we’re both in flash step. As long as I don’t use it he can’t sense me.”

“We can use one of those wave bombs Mike used on you?”

He reached down and picked his gun off the ground. He cocked the it back, disappearing the empty bullet case, and smiled. “Sure but we’ll have to get the drop on Victor without him noticing us.”

“Easier said than done.”

AJ took out his radio communicator he kept in his back pocket. It didn’t rely on satellite and allowed him to speak to others in close vicinity.

“Hey Sev, I got Harlot, turns out she’s still alive.” He waited for a moment, there was a brief in static. “Sev are you there?”

“Hello there boy.” The voice was Carter.

“Carter, you bastard, what did you do with Sev?” AJ asked.

“Don’t worry yourself, Sev is...mostly fine,” he said. “You should worry about yourself. Victor is a powerful man I’ll tell you that. But you don’t have to fear him since he’s not here.”

“Where is he then?” AJ asked.

“...He left a long time ago. He went to enact phase one of pale horse. Death from the sky that’ll bring new life to this world.”

“I’m going to stop you.”

Carter laughed. “We’ll see about that. Currently I have multiple spectre’s in my office to protect me. I want you to come here...alone.”

“That’s not going to happen,” AJ said.

“You’ll come alone unless you want to see your friend dead.”

With the odds stacked against him, AJ had no choice. He told Harlot to go secure an escape vehicle. When he saves Sev they’ll need a quick escape. He doubt the soldiers will just let them walks right out of here.

Something also felt strange about Victor and Carter. It didn’t feel like Carter was the mastermind behind all this. Someone, most likely Victor, was pulling the strings from the shadows.