Maids VS Apocalypse
Chapter 115: Straight to the target.

Chapter 115: Straight to the target.

Darkness enveloped the lands and the silence grew more oppressive. Mark had believed that they would reach their destination before the end of the day, but even as an hour passed since the sun set he didn’t see any signs of a human settlement.

"Say, did we make a stop along the way?"

He had checked the time after switching places with Franco and realized that the Italian hadn’t switched with Lara as they had planned beforehand.

It was probably his way of being considerate of the moment they were having, which made Mark wonder how long he had been sleeping on Lara’s lap.

"No," Lara replied after a brief silence. "That did not happen."

"We made a slight detour along the way." Franco got up from the bench he was napping on, stretched his arms, and yawned. "The first road was destroyed."

"Oh, I see..."

Intact roads were a luxury in a dying world. It should have been clear that they wouldn’t always get to go with the ones they chose. Mark felt a little bad for having slept through it all, and since he had been following the other truck he never even noticed that they were driving on a different road.

"We shouldn’t be too far though. There is-"

Lightning flashed in the distance forcing silence inside the truck. A faint sound echoed seconds later: a cacophony of roaring thunder and rumbling explosions.

Mark thought he had seen something in the split second when the world was illuminated, but it was only when the orange glow of growing flames began to spread did he knew for sure.

Far in the distance, the outline of several buildings could be seen along with the rising trails of smoke that melded into the night sky. Hope’s End, or whatever was left of it, appeared to have been struck by another disaster.

[Turn off the lights.]

Ramsay’s voice came in through the radio on the dash. Mark was about to do as instructed but realized he didn’t know how. A hand extended from behind his seat just then and flipped a switch causing the road ahead to turn pitch dark.

Franco grabbed the radio and spoke in a solemn voice.

"An attack?"

[Clearly.] Ramsay replied. [I can’t get through to the nearby base. The signal is jammed.]

"What are we doing?"

[We go straight to the target.]

Mark didn’t need to mask his true feelings even as he listened to the conversation. It was natural for him to be shocked by the unfolding events even if his reason was different from what everyone might assume.

A battle has just started. That confirmed the warning given to him by the mysterious Friend. If the rest of what he said was true then the ones attacking were those who caused the CDC.

A thought flashed in Mark’s mind making him recall what he was thinking about before he fell asleep earlier.

’Right, the Peace Keepers might not have as much control as they made it seem...’

Why else would anyone dare to attack an area under their control?

Mark felt a little foolish for believing the Sergeant when he said what he said about no one daring to go against them. The red hoods who had attacked them the other day were proof that the PK emblem wasn’t enough of a deterrence.

Several more explosions echoed from the city and the sounds of fighting grew louder by the second. It helped hide whatever noise the two trucks created as they veered off of the paved road, and under the cover of darkness, they quickly approached the border of the city.

Ramsay had picked a spot that was relatively close to their destination. The rest of the distance would be traversed on foot so they prepared to leave the vehicles behind, but Mark decided to take at least one of them into his inventory.

Everyone drew their weapons and proceeded through the preplanned route. Ramsay went ahead to scout. Alex led the vanguard with Franco following right behind him. Mark was in the middle with Lara on his left and Elya to his right. Lastly, Ben took the rearguard. With someone his size behind them they didn’t need to fear an attack from the back.

It was clear from the start that the logic behind such formation is to keep the weakest among them safe. Mark felt a little ashamed but knew there was nothing he could do about it.

They kept to the buildings and followed Ramsay’s instructions to avoid any unnecessary encounters. Nevertheless, as they got closer to their destination it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to stay out of trouble for long.

’They really are attacking the shelters...’

BOOM!

The building a few meters to their left blew up as if it was struck by a tank shell, blowing a wave of smoke and dust into the surroundings. The squad made an abrupt stop, retreated a few steps then entered a side alley.

Mark raised his head and saw a bunch of shadows leap across the gap over their heads. An instant later blue streaks flashed in the opposite direction. Just as he returned his gaze to the front he saw that Alex and Franco had suddenly accelerated.

Up ahead, three figures rushed into the same side alley only to stop abruptly when they spotted the duo. Their weapons were already drawn, but their reactions were slow. Alex stabbed one of them through the chest, Pivoted, and kicked the ground, skewering the second.

The third one was momentarily taken aback by the blonde one’s speed and failed to notice the sickle that was about to stab him right between the eyes.

The sequence happened in the blink of an eye leaving Mark to witness only the conclusion as they passed beside. It was then that he got a glimpse at the three that met their ends at the hands of his squadmates.

Red cloaks and black masks. The instant they caught his sight, Mark recognized what kind of enemy they were facing.