Whoever decided to let me drive an armored vehicle had lost their mind. Normally, I drove a Charger with too much motor that made a ton of noise. Giving me something that was practically a tank was enough to intoxicate me. The fact that it had guns mounted on the sides and front that were being manned by computers run by poor Fiona was even better.
Theoretically, it would not take down the gates of the FGN. However, I had no intention of going through the gates. The gatehouse had been damaged heavily by the initial conflict. I revved it up and took off at an astoundingly slow twenty-five miles an hour. Black smoke chugged out a smokestack. The treads tore up the asphalt underneath of them. Fiona was at the ready in case we needed the guns to damage the gatehouse a little more.
As the armored transporter hit the cinder blocks, two men jumped from inside the building. Gunshots rang out, but were almost lost behind the sound of the engine purring as the vehicle began to force its way into the building. The treads now tore at the cinder blocks as well as the asphalt. The building began to list to one side. Malachi pointed at it and Fiona fired the guns on that side. The bullets were armor piercing and ripped through the cinder blocks and metal.
“Do not do that again,” I told them. “We could hit houses and gas mains with those things.”
“Fair enough.” Malachi looked out the side window as the building gave way around us. It tumbled onto its side, taking down a gate with it. A SWAT team was already filling the hole with their own vehicle. A second machine, similar to this one, was going to be behind us to block the hole we made. We intended to round people up or kill them. There was no one escaping.
Bullets began to hit the machine as we exited the gatehouse and entered the neighborhood.
“So, are we supposed to hang out the windows to return fire?” Malachi asked.
“Sure,” I told him, turning the beast and picking up another five miles an hour.
“You realize there is a man in front of us right?” Fiona asked.
“He will move,” I told her, trying to get even more speed.
“What are you doing?” Malachi asked.
“Hoping to build up enough speed that he cannot get out of the way,” I admitted.
“I think it tops out at forty,” Xavier told me.
“That should be fast enough,” I said, pressing the accelerator down to the floor. It maneuvered like a dead whale and chugged along like a tank. The man jumped out of the way in plenty of time. I frowned, feeling disheartened by it. However, we did have a lot of attention. Men were running out of houses, filling the streets. I counted about fifty attempting to surround us. One fired an RPG. It exploded against the rear. The machine jostled, but continued forward.
“Are you sure we can’t shoot them?” Malachi asked again.
“Yes, I do not know what sort of bullets those are, but they would rip through safe rooms and Lord only knows what else. If they have hostages, we would kill them. I’m not going to be the one explaining that.”
“Safe rooms are concrete. It’s stronger than cinder block,” Caleb informed me.
“It went through metal,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but the safe rooms are metal and concrete. They are like nuclear bunkers. They shouldn’t be pierced by these bullets.”
“Should not be, not cannot be,” I said.
“Point taken,” Malachi huffed, moving out of the second front seat. Caleb moved into it. Malachi found something that made a squeaky noise.
“What is he doing?” I asked, unable to see him.
“Opening a flap,” Xavier said.
“What if they hit us with another rocket launcher? Where did they even get a rocket launcher?” I asked.
“I have one,” Malachi chimed in and started firing.
“How are we going to get out of this vehicle and into the building?” Xavier asked.
“It’s a riot vehicle,” Fiona said, her voice a little shaky. “It has all sorts of things on it.” To demonstrate, she did something and smoke fluttered up in front of the vehicle.
“What is that?” I asked, trying to steer through the cloud.
“Tear gas,” she answered. Someone handed me earplugs. Caleb took them out of their packaging and shoved them in my ears. I protested but his answer was lost. I couldn’t even hear the treads tearing up the road or the engine humming anymore. We were within a block of the building. A head exploded outside the vehicle and I didn’t know if it was Apex or Malachi. Considering the damage, I didn’t think a handgun was going to do it, but I couldn’t guarantee that Malachi was using a handgun anymore.
I maneuvered the beast turning it around and began backing up to the building. Caleb was using hand gestures to tell me where I was. I stopped when I felt the machine hit the building. Caleb made a face at me.
Sound suddenly pierced the earplugs. The men outside were holding their hands to their ears. I considered doing the same. I had no idea what that was, but it was awful. My eardrums were protesting and my head suddenly began to throb. Question answered, I could get a migraine even when I couldn’t feel a broken foot. The darkness couldn’t drive the pain of that away. It stopped suddenly. My eyes had teared up. My throat burned. This could not be happening. There was movement and Caleb roughly moved me out of the driver’s seat. Fiona was rubbing my temples. I wanted to shoot her, but it would have been a waste of a bullet. Instead, I smacked her hands away.
“You could hear that?” She asked, yanking my earplugs out.
“Yes!” I shouted at her, my ears were still ringing.
“Me too,” Malachi told her. He looked a little ill. “I don’t know whether to shoot you or myself. What the fuck is wrong with my head?”
“It is a migraine,” I told him.
“Whoa,” Fiona answered. She looked at Patterson. He looked a little green. “You could all hear that?”
“How could you not?” Caleb screamed at her.
“I feel very sorry for Eric and Apex,” she said. “The sound is super deep. It’s more something you feel than hear. It isn’t supposed to be audible. The pressure waves caused by the sound are supposed to cause ear drum damage, but ear plugs stop the damage because they stop the pressure waves.”
“They don’t stop them all,” Patterson told her with a weak smile. “Psychopaths have terrible senses of smell and taste, but we have great hearing.”
“Yes, we do,” Caleb looked at me.
“I have a perfect sense of smell,” I responded.
“And good hearing,” he sighed and leaned against the steering wheel. “Fiona, you are going to have to drive.”
“Um, we should do something,” she pointed out the window. There was a whole bunch of guys coming towards us. They looked pissed. I reached over and stomped on Caleb’s foot. The massive machine lurched forward. Everyone began to move away.
“You realize if we leave, they are going to try to take that building,” Patterson said.
“Oh, that is a problem,” I said. “My head still hurts, but it is subsiding. I say we mow this lot down, and leave Fiona in here to do terrible things to people who get close. Malachi can stay too. The rest of us will head back to the front entrance on foot.”
“That’s a horrible plan,” Fiona said.
“Why? Malachi will not really shoot you,” I told her.
“We’ll be overrun,” Malachi told us.
“Fine, Fiona, collapse the doorway of that building so no one can go up the steps,” I said. Fiona stared at me for a moment, as if she wondered if I was firing on all cylinders. I probably wasn’t, but it seemed like a good enough plan.
“How do our guys get out?” She asked.
“Rescue chopper,” I said as if I had to think of everything.
“Rescue chopper, right.” She frowned. “Gabriel?”
“Collapse it,” the radio in the vehicle buzzed.
“You’ll bring the entire building down,” the radio buzzed again with Xavier’s voice. “We’ve got the door covered. They won’t get in.”
“Do I want to know?” Gabriel’s voice echoed in the vehicle.
“No,” Apex’s voice sounded tinny and commanding. We began to pull away. Malachi found the flap again and began firing. There was a bump.
“Did you really manage to run over one of them?” Malachi asked.
“Should have moved. It isn’t like this thing is inconspicuous and stealthy,” Caleb said. I agreed with Caleb, but I didn’t say anything. Fiona looked like she might throw up if it was mentioned again.
Fiona stayed in the vehicle when we returned to the main gate. The gunfire came with us, but there was a line of cops shooting back at them. The rest of us climbed out the back. A couple of guys in tactical gear climbed in the front. I wanted to tell them not to do anything stupid, but they were SWAT. They weren’t supposed to do stupid things.
“We’ll have to sweep houses as we go along the blocks,” Gabriel told us. “We are going to move as large groups and clear houses in smaller groups. If you get ambushed, send up a flare.”
“Who has time to send up a flare when you have been ambushed?” I asked Caleb. He shrugged. Gabriel either didn’t hear me or ignored me.