Chapter 12: Beginning of the End
The Brawlers stopped on a street corner and hid at the back of a meat market. Everyone, except Quickfeet, decided it was time to sit and rest a bit. Quickfeet responded to vote by explaining how everyone was "just a bunch of wusses". Quickfeet, however, reluctantly decided to stop and rest with the others.
Behind this meat market, the only entrance was a entrance through a wooden fence. The small area fenced in was covered in concrete, the back entrance under a small ledge and in the corner of this area sat a dirty dumpster filled to the brim with trash and junk.
Blue was placed against the wall. He was slowly regaining energy, but something such as running was still a bit of a struggle. Nekrozoa put the cure on his right side and John plopped down next to Blue on his other side. Across the wall, the Brawlers Zylix, Ruby, Swordkill, and Yacazuma sat in that order. Quickfeet decided to stand, Nekrozoa was crouched in the middle of the pavement, and Captain Chip was guarding that one entrance in the fence.
Zylix was looking at the ground, resting his elbows on his spread knees and looking through them. He let out a depressed sigh. Captain Chip noticed the noise. He quickly glanced at Zylix and sadly looked at the ground, but was quickly back to his guarding duties. Ruby looked at him and gave him a pat on the back, but Zylix seemed to not notice.
Quickfeet stood with slightly slumped shoulders and looked grim. "We can't stay here long. You guys know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know." Nekrozoa said while standing up. "I gotta get Blue back up to speed. I'll grab something in that shop."
Quickfeet huffed angrily.
Nekrozoa started for the shop's backdoor. "Just relax, would ya? Once we get some food in Blue over there, he'll hopefully be good as new. I'll be right back." The doorknob clicked and squeaked open. Nekrozoa stepped inside and pulled the door behind him, having it close softly behind him. Quickfeet started to pace in circles with his arms crossed, looking at the floor in front of him with that grim look.
Yacazuma sat next to Sworkill with his katana leaning next to him against the wall. Swordkill looked over to Yacazuma.
"You and Rageblood... how'd that happen."
Yacazuma didn't look at Swordkill. He was looking the other way in a dream-like state: not particularly looking at anything but concentrated on that imaginary focus point.
"To put a long story short," Yacazuma softly said. "We decided it would be best to work together instead of being rivals."
"That simple, huh?" Swordkill questioned.
"Yep" was all Swordkill got back. He looked at Yacazuma for a while, expecting more, but was soon looking back at the ground.
Nekrozoa finally walked back out of the door. The two Brawlers immediately next to the door (Ruby and Swordkill) looked to see Nekrozoa bringing out a pound of raw, ground hamburger. Nekrozoa walked over and kneeled down in front of Blue, offering the hamburger as a token or a gift. Blue, who was looking straight up at the time, looked down at Nekrozoa's offering and quickly flung his head back up.
"I'm not gonna eat that," Blue said in a tired voice.
"You'd better," Nekrozoa urged. "We've still got a long ways to go to the hospital."
Blue still looked up. Without looked at him, he took the meat from Nekrozoa and reluctantly chomped on the hamburger. Each bite he took became more and more vicious. Blue somehow found the treat delicous and was soon tearing into this raw food.
Ruby was looking over with a disgusted look on her face and Swordkill was looking at Blue enjoy himself with a smirk.
Blue was finishing the hamburger. As he got down to the last bite, he stood up, then started to hop in place with his hands in a fighting pose as if he were imitating Rocky Balboa. Nekrozoa stood to his feet as Blue was moving about.
"Alright! Let's do this!" Blue exclaimed.
Quickfeet stopped pacing and looked at Blue and saw all the others standing up as well. Quickfeet looked back at the ground momentarily. "Ugh... finally..."
****
Blue was up and moving now. The Brawlers were sneaking around corners of buildings, watching for any Robos or zombies as they worked their way to the hospital. Something was awfully suspicious, however. They snuck around buildings and corners and posts numerous times, but no matter how far they went, there weren't any zombies. None whatsoever. The Brawlers noticed eventually.
Yacazuma was looking around, expecting more zombies as they all rounded a corner. "Something's very wrong here..." No one seemed to hear him (or if they did, no one answered).
Eventually, they made it about five blocks from the hospital. The entire squad was lined up, pressed against the wall of the "Watchmen Life Insurance" building. Captain Chip looked back at where they came from with his rifle ready, watching for anything that might be following them. Up front was John, ready to fire at anything they might encounter.
John was about to round the corner when Yacazuma, who was behind him, pressed his hand onto his shoulder.
"Wait. I have an idea." Yacazuma looked down the line to see Quickfeet.
"Quickfeet! Do us a favor, would ya? Run down to that hospital as fast as you can and see if any of those guys are down there."
Quickfeet leaned forward so he could look Yacazuma eye-to-eye. Quickfeet's eyes looked sinister he smirked sarcastically "Now you're talkin'!"
Quickfeet stepped out of the line. He made braced himself against the ground and sped off like an orange bullet: once standing in a frozen running position, but only leaving behind a cloud of dust after the blink of an eye. The Brawlers watched intently as that cloud of dust trailing Quickfeet took off straight and then suddenly turned right at a far-off corner at a 90 degree angle.
All of the Brawlers stood frozen, staring at where Quickfeet disappeared. There wasn't a word said among them. The only audible noise was the occasional gust of wind that came by pulling debris through the air. The Brawlers waited for at least ten minutes and started to lessen their tense postures.
Suddenly, in the distance, were the soft sounds of pings and twings from gunfire. The same place where Quickfeet disappeared is where Quickfeet rocketed back. He took the same path he took to leave, making a beeline at the Brawlers.
From the distance, Quickfeet brought one of his arms up and waved at the Brawlers still waiting on him. Barely audible, Quickfeet shouted at them above the scaping of his feet against the ground.
"Run! Run! Run! Just go!"
Quickfeet picked up his pace as a noise filled the air. The rumbling noise that they all heard at the tower was sounding again. Nekrozoa also could've sworn that he heard that muffled roar, too. It didn't take long for that source of the rumbling to show again. It round the same corner that Quickfeet ran, toppling over one of the already-crippled buildings at the corner. Under that craft, the Brawlers could see that huge, zombified mass trying as hard as they could to catch up with the blazing Quickfeet.
The remaining Brawlers could take the hint. Everyone turned around and started to run in the other direction. Behind them, the craft's front glowed brightly. The glow condensed as it did before and blasted at a chunk of a tower off to the side of the road near its base. The lack of support brought this building down like a lumbered tree. Quickfeet looked up in the shadow of this large block and, in a panic, skidded to a stop; an action that proved to be fatal.
The building slammed noisily into the ground and kicked up a gigantic cloud of dust and debris. From behind the new wreckage, the zombies climbed up and over. They leaped back to the ground from the building's side and continued running at the fleeing Brawlers.
The aircraft was streaming through the air above the Brawlers. It easily blew past them up in the sky. Some Brawlers looked up to see the craft dropping Robos to the ground as it flew in front of them. Zylix, John, and Captain Chip aimed their projectiles up into the air and tried to destroy Robos as they came down. Only a handful were shot down as more Robos dropped to surround the Brawlers.
One Robo on the ground raised its rifle and shot at the Brawlers. One bullet flew through the air and made contact directly into the side of Ruby's leg. Ruby, who was running, lost support in the shot leg and screamed as she fell to the ground. Robos walked up and surrounded her as many of the other Brawlers continued running without knowledge as to what has just happened. The surrounding Robos gathered around the downed Ruby, who looked down on the ground and sniffling in pain.
Machine gun fire ran through the air and toppled over one of the looming Robos. It fell over as its electronic brain was destroyed in a clip of lead. Captain Chip rushed at the group of Robos surrounding Ruby.
"Don't you touch her, you fucking assholes!"
He kept firing and downed one, two, and a third Robo while running forward. Captain Chip stood in front of the disabled Brawler and continued firing at any Robo that made its way toward him. As he fired, he could see the zombie herd closing in, but was forced to focus on the deadlier robotic soldiers.
The Brawlers ahead, still unaware of what was happening behind them, were cut off by a approaching group of Robos. One Robo looked past them and fired its weapon. Nekrozoa looked back only to see the aftermath: Captain Chip falling to the ground as he was shot in one of his kidneys. The Robos in the back rushed to him and started beating him with their rifles. Ruby rose and screamed for her brother, but was immediately stopped into the ground by another Robo.
The remaining Brawlers still had the other Robos to deal with. More Robos circled in on the trapped Brawlers with guns ready. Yacazuma started to swing his blade to slice off the head of any Robo that got too close. This brought John and Zylix to shoot at any Robos they could. Swordkill and Blue started to rush back to Captain Chip and Ruby to see if they could help, but were stopped by another line of Robos stepping in front of them. Nekrozoa was helplessy holding the cure under his arm, occasionally spewing plasma from his free hand in hopes it would work its way to a Robo's brain. The Robos started to crowd in on the Brawlers to the point where everyone stood back-to-back (even with the attacks these Brawlers dished out).
In front of the trapped Brawlers, the aircraft was landing to the ground in the very center of the road. Nekrozoa looked to see the craft stand on a tripod formation of legs. The door shot open and a ramp immediately shot out from under the door. Robos were walking out onto the ramp, but behind them were the shapes of two figures: one with four legs and four arms, and another creature with a muscular creature with a large, round head.
The Robos on the ramp gave way to reveal the two figures to the light. Nekrozoa's heart sank. Seeing AppleCore sided with the enemy, even after the injection, made him lose hope of any sort.
Blue looked at the group ahead and arbitrarily screamed. "Vyrokk! Vyrokk is that name I heard! I remember now!"
John was blasting away at Robos. "Great Blue! A wee bit late for that now, though." Next to John, Yacazuma's sword was knocked out of his hands. The Robo that took away Yacazuma's sword used its rifle to pin him to the ground. After that, one Robo got a lucky shot into Zylix's arm, stunning him as another Robo brought him to the ground. Eventually Swordkill and John fell as well. Only Blue and Nekrozoa were left standing. The Robos closest to the approaching figures split apart to show the two to these Brawlers.
Nekrozoa saw who his enemy was and shouted at it in disgust. "Virus! You bastard!"
Virus and AppleCore looked with deadly glares at Blue and Nekrozoa. Under the pinning force of the Robos on top of them, the pinned Brawlers looked up to see who Nekrozoa was talking with. Captain Chip and Ruby have disappeared in the crowd of Robos and the zombies crowded around the army of Robos.
Virus looked menecingly at Nekrozoa. Its two right arms raised up to point two, glowing handguns at Nekrozoa.
"Game over," he mocked.