Deadman - Book 2 Chapter 23: Have Mercy

Book 2 Chapter 23: Have Mercy

We moved across the hall, into a small room that seemed to have been used for storage. There was a ladder up to the roof which we climbed, staying low as we exited so that we could avoid detection. Leah pulled out her rifle, and peered through the scope which I realized had some kind of night vision function. The patrols seemed to have moved outward toward the walls, so our path to where we believed Mercy was being held was clear.

We slid down from the roof and fell back into our pattern of one person moving up, while the other watched their back, followed by the other moving up and switching roles. We didn’t encounter any more patrols, and made it the rest of the way with no issue. I peeked out of the alley, and looked toward the target building. I saw three guards at the front, two on the roof, and based on the patrol pattern we’d seen as we walked this way, this was one of the most heavily guarded areas, where all of the patrols converged..

We did a loop around the building, looking for any alternative entrances or exits. It was two stories, windows only in the front, the size of a warehouse. I could see why Leah had tagged it as the most likely place for storing the Remnant’s lost personnel and goods. An assessment that I shared, especially when I caught the scent of blood in the air around it. The only entrances were the front, and presumably the roof. Unfortunately the smooth stone walls gave us no obvious ways to climb up to it and make our way inside. We backed away from the building slightly to talk.

“Did you see any other way in?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Only access seems to be the roof and the front door. There are at least ten guards inside, one large group of prisoners, and a single room with only two people in it on the second level. That’s likely where Mercy is.”

I nodded, realizing that her scope had the ability to read heat signatures as well. “I could charge the front, make it to Mercy and maybe even the other prisoners, but by then they’d have reinforcements, and while I could fight my way out, I doubt I could keep everyone else alive while I do it.”

She shook her head. “We aren’t worried about anyone else for now, they were secondary objectives that I see no way of accomplishing. Just Mercy, the other personnel can be used as bargaining trips or a source of information, but once they torture Mercy and determine how far her betrayal goes, they’ll have no reason to keep her alive. She’s got the shortest time limit, so she’s our priority. Though obviously we don’t want to risk the other prisoners… I have another idea of how to get in.” She tapped her jump pack. “These should have enough juice left to get us onto that roof.”

“Should?” I asked.

“It’s hard to say. They can burn a lot of energy on a fall like we just had, and the readout is vague,” she pointed to a small screen on the side of the handle that had the same readout as my projectile shield. Her’s had a small chunk of energy left, and mine a sliver.

I nodded, it was the best option we had. We circled around to the portion of the roof that seemed the least defended, and waited for a patrol to pass. Leah went first, moving quickly but silently to the wall, and ascending gracefully up to the top. I did my best to follow her example, moving up to the wall, I pressed down on the button to ascend, but unlike Leah’s smooth ascension, I blasted up hard and fast, rising up along the wall until my chest was above it, then I began falling. I reacted just in time to catch myself by the fingertips and pull myself up.

As my eyes crossed the threshold of the roof I saw Leah drawing a knife across a man’s throat just above me. She gently lowered his limp body to the ground before gesturing across the roof at the other one. I moved quietly, drawing my sword. When I was within reach of him I stabbed him through the heart from behind, placing my hand over his mouth to make sure he couldn’t scream. I lowered his body gently, then did a quick sweep. There were no more guards, but Leah was kneeling over a hatch and gesturing to me.

I approached her, and, after she did a quick scan of the immediate area below us with her scope she gestured for me to go down. I did so, landing lightly on my feet as I entered the room. The light was bright inside, and it took me a moment to adjust, but I kept my ears open and inhaled deeply as I hopped down. I could smell the group misery of the cell below the most clearly, a scent I was very familiar with, and the strong scent of blood in the direction of the holding cell in which we believed Mercy was being held. It was strong.

Leah dropped down too, and landed next to me, doing a quick sweep just as I had. We moved toward the door to the exit, when suddenly the entire building rocked, and I heard the sound of a tremendous explosion. We stood there, waiting for the building to settle, then exchanged glances.

“I thought they were going to wait for your signal?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Something must’ve happened. New intel, or something else that would have pushed up the timetable. Doesn’t matter. The objective is the same.” I could hear a touch of anger in her voice as she spoke, which surprised me, I hadn’t known her to emote much beyond mild amusement.

I simply nodded, she returned the gesture, scanned with her scope, and slowly opened the door, crouching as she did so. I followed suit, and followed her out of the room. We were on a platform railing above a warehouse floor. I could see a number of scared prisoners cramped into a jail below, as well as what looked like dozens upon dozens of metal crates. Many of them were pried open, and I saw everything from lasguns, power armor, and jump packs, to what looked to be medical equipment, or at least seemed to look similar to what I’d looted from abandoned hospitals in the past.

Those outside of the jail were moving around animatedly, and I saw one of them run into an open power armor suit which closed around him, then grab one of the lasguns and start moving toward the door. A few other guards moved in that direction, but the majority of them stayed put.

We were exposed where we were, but luckily the guard’s attention was too occupied to worry about looking up. I followed Leah as we moved across the railing to a room at the far side of the warehouse. The door was locked and she pulled out a set of small delicate tools which she slid into the lock for a few moments, then removed, sliding the door open. What came out were screams.

We moved quickly inside and closed the door, hoping those below hadn’t taken notice of it. Inside was a large man, he wore a simple shirt and boots over which was an apron. He didn’t turn around as we entered. Behind him I saw a table and a squirming pair of legs. That’s where the screaming was coming from.

I moved without thinking, feeling my adrenaline spike and my heartbeat speed up even though I’d managed to stay calm and steady up until this point. I grabbed the man by the head and threw him into the far wall. It dented it, but before he could recover or scream I’d crossed the room and wrapped my fingers around his neck, lifting him by the throat. I saw true fear in the man’s eyes as he became aware of what was happening and saw me.

“De-vil.”

I nodded. “Yes,” I said, squeezing hard. The man’s neck snapped and his eyes went glassy. I let his body collapse to the floor. I took a moment to try to calm myself. I hadn’t expected to lose control, but I didn’t beat myself up too much about it. Lots of people need killing, and that guy topped the list, at least for that brief moment.

Once the red had receded from my vision I turned to look at Leah and Mercy. Leah had unpacked a small first aid kit and was doing what she could to patch her up. There were cuts on her face, her nose had been broken, as had several of her fingers on one hand, a few of which were also missing their nails.

“Can she move?” I asked.

“I can,” croaked Mercy herself.

Leah nodded. “They hadn’t made their way down to her legs yet.”

Mercy stood, and walked over to the corpse of the man I’d just killed. She closed his eyes and muttered what sounded like a prayer for him.

“Why?” I managed to ask.

“He was my cousin,” she said simply.

The building rocked again, and I had to catch Mercy as she stumbled.

Leah looked at us both. “Let’s move.”