The Industrialist

Damian.

Rebel Camp, Southern Wall, Axe Central City

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The lasers were diverted to someone else. They were caught by surprise. The other SHF soldiers were still oblivious of an attack from their rears, which gave the attacker ease.

The individual single-handedly decommissioned SHF personnel, one by one. Fifteen operatives, highly trained. Damian was not sure who, it was dark and fast. The man in a hooded cape moved in the shadows.

He threw one man to the wall, and although he was wounded with some lasers chafed his back, and burning his cape, the man was never discouraged.

Limbs and necks were broken. Seemed to be this man adept at killing his enemy by breaking their necks. Although, the man helped them, however, the sight gave him a cold sting to his bones.

Something was familiar with the man. He was a man, but not a man entirely. How could a man, even with the utmost skill and training, could throw people onto walls? And lasers were only of little hindrance.

A golden opportunity arose, Damian dragged his wounded comrades toward the exit. Others lay dead by the lasers. He left them. He could not carry them all. Jefferson crutch carried the wounded with the help of able rebels. The lasers were silenced and were replaced by screams and shouts and the cracking of bones, large thuds against body to wall.

Horrifying to even gawk at the scene.

’No such man!’ Damian thought. ’No such man can do that.’

He counted the men that exited the formerly known rebel camp. There were only ten of them, three were injured, the others died during the skirmish, all twenty in just less than three minutes.

Joe and George survived and luckily, only a few scratches from the sharp scraps they crouched behind.

They outnumbered the SHF however, he did not expect to reach this number of casualties in just so little time.

They pressed on as fast as they could inside the tunnels towards the exit, three of them bloodied, and one has almost half dead and was carried by two of his comrades. The mysterious man in a dark hood and gas mask gave them ample time to recuperate.

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The SHF were now silenced, no more commotion inside the room. Something had told Damian that the mystery man was not their ally. In his gut, somehow convinced him that such man was a half-breed Abominant.

However, his features were that of a man but his strength and movement say otherwise.

After a moment of running further inside the tunnels, they reached a crossroad. Before they turned their direction, Damian looked back at the far end to where his eyes permitted him to see, the lights above flickered for an unknown reason. Probably, the lasers had somehow distorted the electrical lines.

He had two poison bombs that they carried with them as Lance had provided him for his external exploits outside the wall. Damian activated them and threw way back to where they came from.

He had a gut feeling that what he did was right. It was an Abominant, he convinced himself. Jefferson did not talk about it, probably overwhelmed with their escape and concerned with the hundreds of their comrades now heading outside the walls.

Jefferson told the group that preparations were made for them to transfer to the prison. It had its own generator, diesel-powered, old school, but what was important was the prison’s self-filtration system. And the fortified walls and fences that would protect them from Abominant attacks.

The blue cloud covered the expanse of the portcullis of the cave, hopefully to the premise of impeding the incoming danger. Secondly, the blue cloud would obscure to where they went.

"Hang in there, Flint." It was his comrade who was badly wounded as they crawled for an escape. The laser burned his thigh, penetrating against his jeans. A charred skin surrounded the golden-brown flesh.

"I will be drinkin’ booze after this," Flint said, his exasperation muffled his words.

"Damian, watch our backs. I don’t know what’s in there, I’m sure it’s not human. We should head out to the sewer entry for a shortcut,"

"Sewers? We have wounded, boss!" Damian retorted.

"We can’t outrun that thing there. But it won’t expect us going inside the sewers."

Damian saw their faces, even with their disgusted expression thinking about the sewers, somehow, they agreed to Jefferson. Jefferson was right, his survival instincts as a soldier somehow were triggered.

An inconspicuous hatch was located at an immediate small corner connected to the sewers. It would take them a level below and they had to submerge their lower extremities, belly high.

Damian opened the hatch, battling against rust, after he made sure that no one was after them in sight. Ten of them, including the wounded submerged on a dark horrendous flowing water.

The water was cold and an awful warm temperature sometimes hugged their bodies.

One of them vomited as the appalling smell invaded their nostrils. The tunnels had dim lights, spaced equally just to give faint illumination These tunnels were not maintained for years, or maybe a decade, and the lights were not augmented since it was constructed. Especially, the sewers.

They slowly walked against a soft current of liquid waste and the smell got even worse every time they pressed on.

"How can we get out without detection? We are hundreds of people going out of the walls," Damian asked Jefferson who was ahead of them.

"I made arrangements. I made a diversion on the eastern wall to divert police units." Jefferson answered.

"What kind of diversion?" Damian asked.

"Sabotage. Short-circuiting stuff. You know, just like the old days." Jefferson grunted as he dragged one injured comrade with him.

"Target?"

"Morrison Robotics. East Sector."

It was a company that was contracted by the Government to manufacture police robots.

Why attack police robot manufacturers? Damian had little or vague idea.

What he knew from the rumors of several faction members differed from each other.

One Chapter Head said, the most sound of all rumors, that to weaken the police force of the Government and send them a message that the Rebels were getting stronger. Moreover, easy for the rebels to maintain illegal operations in and out of the walls.

One Rebel Runner said that Jefferson and his trusted soldiers were stealing police robotic and weapon designs. They want to manufacture it. Also, a near probability, but more dangerous to think of the agenda.

Damian had a lot of sewage stealth crawls during his deployment days as they moved in tunnels to avoid detection. Sewage tunnels were the best place to hide from the Abominants as fecal wastes masked human smell. However, he hated it the most. He was more inclined to contaminated air face-to-face firefighting.

Finally, after thirty minutes of sewage swimming, they came rolling from a small portcullis where liquid sewage flowed out into old storm drains that supposedly connected to the seas. Their bodies were soaked in a shallow sump pit.

They built these storm drains underground, miles and miles from the city and towards the main wastewater facilities before they reached a body of water.

They had their masks on.

"We better get going," Jefferson said as they let themselves out from the pit.

Damian and his comrades were exhausted, their breathing was more perceptible against the nose channel of their gas masks. A few were bent on their knees, trying to recuperate from a laborious and appalling swim.

"Probably word had reached already the SHF headquarters. They are gonna send more units."

"And that man, too. It’s an Abominant." Damian said as he reloaded his handgun. He left his rifle while he carried one wounded rebel.

"Are you sure?" Jefferson asked.

"Yes. I am sure of it. It’s not human to eliminate fifteen assassins that easily and without a weapon." Damian said and Jefferson nodded.

"Axe will be doomed," Jefferson said.

"Why?"

"If he’s what you say he is. Then he will know the passage in and out of the city." Jefferson said.

They had long stares. Even their resting comrades were horrified by the notion.

"What are we going to do? Are we going to kill that man?" Joe said.

"We can’t kill him. We can’t risk going back. The SHF might have recuperated by now. Let’s just hope that he got lost in the maze." Jefferson said.

"I am not banking on that. I have to go back. I have to warn Lance." Damian said as he started to turn back towards the sump pit.

"No. He already knows." Jefferson said.

"How?" George asked.

"The News. I am sure by now that the sabotage of Morrison Robotics will hit the mainstream. And if Lance watched the news, well he always does, he knew by now that we are attacked and started our escape." Jefferson responded.

"Does he know where to find us?" George asked. His expression was clearly concerned with the kid. Joe too.

"Yes. He knows. I gave him coordinates."