Visisonor's blog

Chapter 14: The Price

Vera’s whole world narrowed down to a barrel of a gun — a dark abyss staring down at her, ready to spill fire and death. Her vision became unsteady, she was struggling to focus on the pistol.

Suddenly she realized it was the gun that was shaking, not her vision. She shifted her gaze to Chloe’s face and noticed glistering streams running from her eyes.

— I… can’t, — whispered Chloe through tears.

She grabbed the barrel of the gun with her left hand, turning it around, then tossed the gun to Vera and stepped aside.

Vera did not waste a moment. She sat up, caught the pistol and fired a shot.

Max had just enough time to realize what happened, but not enough to do anything about it. The bullet hit his forehead, killing him instantly.

— Thank you, — said Vera, not yet fully believing it all was real.
— Just like in the diary, — whispered Chloe absently. — And I didn’t realize until… Oh, what have I done?
— It’s all right, — Vera stood up and approached the other girl.

Chloe held her head in her hands, stuttering unstoppably:
— The fight. The right thing. Really believed it. I nearly got you killed… Intended to! Didn’t even stop to think… But it… It’s not right!

Vera hugged her, and Chloe continued mumbling something barely audible into Vera’s chest, until Vera straightened her and shook her fiercely:

— Pull yourself together, Chloe! It’s not over yet! We need to get out!
— Not a chance. Now they’ll be onto us for real.

Something clicked in Vera’s mind.
— Oh. They didn’t hit us…
— Because they were ordered not to, — finished Chloe.
— Where have I seen this before? — Vera wondered aloud. — Why, though? If they could simply kill me on sight… Or you could, just as well.
— You don’t know Max. He wanted to be sure I could do it. To see it himself. It was a test for me.
— I’m glad you failed it, — Vera gestured to the corridor the two of them came from. — Do they know it?

Now it was Chloe’s turn to have a realization click in her mind. She ran up to the door, opened it and shouted:
— Code Green. Call med crews!

Then she slammed the door shut and just stood there, taken aback.
— Well, I’m still alive. It’ll buy us some time, but not much.
— The window! — suggested Vera.

---

They climbed out to the street, now filled with faint glow from the eastern horizon. Knowing they couldn’t just circle the house to get back to the bike, they went in different direction, managing to pass by two buildings and not run into anyone. But this could not go on indefinitely. Chloe peeked around the corner and gestured Vera to stop.

— It’s Marc. With two guards. Coming this way.
— The negotiator, — acknowledged Vera.
— I’ll try to distract him.

Vera nodded, and Chloe went off, slinging her rifle on her shoulder to look casual.

— Chloe, — greeted Marc when she approached. — How did it go?
— Splendidly, — lied she.
— Whom did you bring? — he asked. — The dandelion, I hope?
— No, — Chloe shook her head. — One of the twins.

As they talked, one of the troopers took the radio. The panicked voice was loud enough for all to hear, and it said “The boss is dead! I repeat…”

Chloe didn’t wait for it to finish. In one quick motion she shoved her rifle to the neck of the guard with the radio and pulled the trigger.

Vera, watching all this unfold from behind the corner, came out with pistol in hand. She didn’t have much choice in picking the first target. Marc grappled Chloe’s rifle, and she couldn’t hit him because Chloe blocked her line of fire. The other trooper aimed his rifle at Chloe, ready to start shooting.

Vera was quicker. But the trooper was armored, so she had to use the whole magazine to bring him down. Chloe and Marc, wrestling for the rifle, turned by this time, and she no longer shielded him from Vera’s fire — but Vera’s gun was empty. Meanwhile, Chloe did something her opponent didn’t expect — she released the magazine of her rifle and pulled the trigger, shooting into the air to empty the chamber. She grinned as Marc wrought the now useless weapon out of her hands.

But then he punched her in the chest, sending her to the ground, coughing and out of breath.

He turned to Vera and reached for one of the pistols holstered on the back of his belt.

Vera realized she had not enough time to reload, so she let go of her gun, sprang towards him to shorten the distance and kicked his hand, knocking the pistol out of it.

Then she followed with her knee, aiming for his groin. Marc saw through that and blocked.

He threw another punch, hoping to bring Vera down in the same fashion as he did Chloe. She stepped back, out of his reach.

He tried to pull his other pistol, but had to raise his arm instead to block Vera’s kick aimed at his face.

Marc shifted his tactics then: he no longer tried to reach for his gun and focused on the fight.

Vera was ever so slightly faster, but he was stronger and tougher, so he could afford to take a few of her hits.

So he kept advancing on Vera, pushing her back towards the wall.

As she blocked a series of strikes of her advancing adversary,

Vera tried to use his own momentum against him when he presented an opening for a kick.

She did kick him, squarely in the chest.

However, Marc stopped advancing just as she did so, and this kick propelled him back. Much further than Vera intended to.

This gave him enough time to finally draw his pistol.

A shot rang out.

Vera staggered back and slid down the wall, howling in pain.

Then a burst of gunfire hit Marc from the side.

The whole fight lasted a couple of seconds, and during this time Chloe regained her breath, took a guard’s rifle and shot Marc — barely a second after he shot Vera.

She ran up to Vera and tried to apply some pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, only causing another pained scream.

— I wasn’t fast enough, — she said in shaking voice.
— I let him… draw a gun on me, — murmured Vera disappointedly. — How embarrassing.
— Don’t speak! You need to save your strength!

A sound of footsteps reached them. Chloe leaned out of the corner and saw troopers following the path she and Vera took earlier. She fired at them, and they dispersed to look for cover, returning fire.

At this moment the earpiece came alive with voices: the reinforcements were close enough to pierce the jamming.

— The cavalry, — groaned Vera.
— What? — shouted Chloe, getting back into her cover.

— Vera, do you copy? — asked Tess in the earpiece.
— I’m hit, — replied Vera. — Max dead.
— Hold on! — urged Kate anxiously. — We are coming!
— Listen, — wheezed Vera. — Don’t blame Chloe. It was a trap. But she helped me.
— A trap?
— She led me here… — Vera struggled to remain conscious. — And was ordered… To kill me… But she didn’t.
— I knew it! You shouldn’t have…
— She… helped me kill… him instead. — Vera’s voice became fainter with each passing second. — Kate. Promise me…

Chloe dropped the rifle and bent over Vera, holding her hands.

— Don’t you die on me! — she shouted in despair.
— I’ve done it, sis… Can… Rest… Now… — Vera squeezed Chloe’s hands with all her remaining strength.
And then her strength left her.

The sun finally rose, casting long shadows and filling the scene with harsh light. There were cries and gunshots behind them now. The troopers came around to attack from both sides, but syncon forces arrived too and made quick work of the troopers. Chloe didn’t pay attention to any of that. She just sat there, as if frozen, unable to do anything — even cry.

Kate was running in front of the others. Chloe stood up silently, giving her enough room to kneel down near Vera.

Kate hugged the still warm body, hoping till the end Vera could yet be alive. Almost a minute passed before the realization finally hit her.

— You!.. — she sprang up to her feet and turned to Chloe, simmering with cold fury.

She punched Chloe in the head, knocking her to the ground.

Then she fell on top of Chloe, grabbed her by the throat and raised a hand for another strike. Chloe didn’t even try to resist. But Wolf caught Kate’s arm:
— Kate, no!

He pulled her up and and held her by the shoulders:
— Didn’t you hear Vera’s words?

Kate couldn’t say anything. She leaned to his chest and broke down crying.

The end