Sinners 01 - Branded (38 page)

No one sleeps. Whispers of prayers echo throughout the room. Sniffling occurs somewhere,
but not one person closes their eyes.

I lie under my blanket, peering at the map of the commander’s quarters. It looks impossible
to breach. I sigh and fold it up while rolling onto my back. I wonder what Cole is
thinking right now. I didn’t get to say good-bye, but maybe that’s better for both
of us. I just wish I could tell him I’ll be waiting for him afterward. I wish I could
tell Sutton I’m not angry with him and that he’s incredible—for keeping the letter
and making sure it got to me.

Most of all, I wish for peace. If I survive this, all I want is to live with Cole
and to live in peace for the rest of my life, knowing I made the right choice.

Loaded up with guns and ammunition, we trek the silent streets. The moonlight glints
off our equipment, and another squad moves away from us toward the hospital. Their
figures fade into the early hours of morning. Hours seem like minutes as sweat drips
down my nose.

An array of assault rifles stolen or bribed from the guards mingles within our group.
Some people, like Keegan, have M16s while others, like myself, carry handguns with
knives as a secondary weapon. They also issued extra ammo, jackets, and helmets before
we left. Mine latches uncomfortably tight under my chin, so I leave it unbuckled despite
Keegan’s harsh words. He says I tempt fate with my stupid decisions. But I think fate
could’ve taken me long before now and told him so. Now my strap hangs free.

I look left, right, and then left again. We need to get to our destination before
the rest of the groups proceed.

Sutton set it up so each team would assault various points of strategic importance
at the same time with the hope of causing mass confusion within the guard structure.
I hope with all that’s in me that it works. We’ve all witnessed the havoc the guards
can wreak when prepared. Now, we’ll find out how they act when assaulted.
For a change.

My mind drifts to Cole—where he is, how he feels, if he’s thinking of me too. I carefully
wrap the memory of his face inside my heart and close it for later. I need to focus
on each step and thinking of him only draws my attention away from my mission.

Sheldon leads. For all his bulk, he moves with finesse and motions us to advance forward.
I can barely hear the sound of his footsteps on the cement, even with all of his equipment
strapped on.

Keegan follows Sheldon across the street and then turns to wave me on. I can tell
he’s tense by his rigid movements. For a brief moment our eyes meet, and his give
nothing about his feelings away. I’m sure mine are wide with fear, anticipation and
anxiety. His finger rests on the trigger of his gun, ready for the slightest change
of plans. In front of us, in the distance, looms the stark outline of the main wall
surrounding the Hole.
Almost there.

The thick cement blocks grow larger and more intimidating as we converge on them.
They tease us with their steadfast reputation and their unwillingness to allow our
freedom. No one has ever escaped the Hole. Either the guards caught them, shot them
as they attempted to slip away, or they weren’t strong enough to climb out.

But we’ve come to change that.

We creep into a shanty butted up against the barrier in order to avoid the cameras.
A metal bowl sits on the table with some kind of mush left inside. Steam rises off
it, so the owner hasn’t been gone long.

So far, too good.
The lack of surveillance has me unnerved.
Wouldn’t the guards have noticed by now?
The silence screams the obvious, for nothing is ever quiet around here. The hair
rises on the back of my neck and I finger the trigger of my Glock, feeling jumpy inside.
What is that old saying? If something can go wrong, it probably will.

Just then, I feel a deep rumble and hear the metallic clanking of a tank slowly ambling
down the street outside. My eyes lock onto Keegan’s, fearing the worst. All of us
immediately duck below the window while waiting for it to pass. My blood curdles and
adrenaline pumps through my limbs. I hold my breath as it passes.

Sheldon waits a moment and then motions us forward using hand signals. He disappears
into the darkness, then Keegan, and then I follow with Zeus. I step out of the door,
crouch down, and look for Keegan’s signal to head for the stairwell that leads to
the top of the wall. My eyes strain as I focus on his silent movements. Clenching
my jaw, I sprint to him.

Just as Isaac is about to follow suit, shots split the air, tinging off the metal
roofing of the shacks.
So much for surprise.
He dives for cover near the wall, grimacing under the weight of his load-bearing
harness. He cringes at the volume of the guns while crawling to us. My insides jump
with each shot, but I reach out and pull him into the mouth of the stairwell, knowing
the worst is yet to come.

Keegan motions frantically for the rest of the group. After watching Isaac cross and
seeing the amount of tracers zipping through the darkness, they hesitate. I can see
the whites of their eyes widen as if the Grim Reaper himself beckons them to hell.
In their moment of indecision, an explosion rocks us, and confusion abounds.

When I look again, all that’s left of them are bits and pieces of flesh, combined
with the pungent smell of smoke. My helmet disappears in the concussion and searing
pain hits me like a jackhammer. It feels like my head is on fire, and I grasp at an
object stuck in my hair. Some sort of flaming ember burns my fingertips as I rip it
out of my hair and toss it.

Our cover has been blown.

I turn left and see Keegan shouting at me, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. My left
ear rings from the damage and my eyes water from the smoke. The
blam, blam, blamming
of the guards’ guns opening up on the wall makes my head throb. A few citizens of
the Hole spring from their houses with terrified expressions. I scream at them to
take cover, but not before the guards mow them down with a serenade of bullets.

Keegan yanks me forward into a dark entrance hidden in the wall before I can even
think about what I’ve just seen. He runs back outside, directing traffic in chaos
while bullets rain down.

Sheldon waits for as many people to file in the small entrance as possible. I see
his eyes tallying up bodies. I know at least one man’s down, but from the constant
gunfire, and from the concern on his face, there could be many more.
Or all.

Zeus’s lips pull back over his teeth and he barks with aggression. The hair on his
back stands up straight. I put a steady hand on his collar to keep him close to me.
I don’t want him running off on a mission alone.

The guards begin shooting down the narrow staircase, but there’s nowhere else to go.
Someone comes in screaming to warn us and I can barely make out the words over the
melee.

“Tank! Tank!”

As the words register, fear envelops me like a black hole. I’ve heard of the horrific
power their tanks possess. One shot alone would blow us all away. Sweat seeps through
my layers. The wall of gunfire from up top becomes so intense that I feel like I’m
living an out-of-body experience. There’s nowhere to hide as the unionized force of
the guards rain down bullets that disfigure the walls around us and cut people down.

In desperation, Isaac pulls a grenade from his harness and lobs it up the steps, blowing
them into silence and buying us a few more precious seconds.

Once Keegan gives the signal, Sheldon starts up the steps, gun ready and begins rapid
firing at the guards waiting at the top. Keegan follows him with all that’s left of
us trailing behind. Sweat burns my eyes and I can barely focus as I fire off a slew
of rounds. I stumble for a moment and realize I’ve stepped on Zeus, who faithfully
followed me into the fray. I push his head behind me to block him. I don’t want him
shot.

The narrow staircase opens into a wide path on top of the wall edged by barbed wire
and manned by more guards.

Sheldon reaches the top and immediately engages two guards. Keegan stabs one from
behind, and Sheldon shoots the other one in the stomach. Blood spurts out like a fountain
and Sheldon shoves him into the barbed wire wrapped around the outside of the path.

As I clear the last step, a guard grabs me from behind. I gasp as panic surges through
me like fire. Remembering the knife stored in my cargo pants, I relax momentarily
to reach it and then plunge it into my assailant’s leg. He grunts with the shock of
pain, and as his hands loosen, I spin and stick him again in the chest. Watching him
fall backward is surreal, but I don’t have time to think about it. I glance around
me, and everyone is firing off rounds while pushing forward. The guards swarm us like
piranhas, taking chunks out of our team bit by bit and shot by shot.

Keegan shouts something, his eyes panicked. I can’t hear him over the hammering of
guns and screaming, so I focus on his mouth.
“Radio for backup!”
He fends off another opponent, slicing his knife through the air and twisting it
into the guard.

Sheldon moves to find the radio but gets tied up. I look around for Isaac, but he’s
already moved forward to set up the explosives in the main doorway. Despair seeps
into my bones like venom as I search for the radio. And then I spot her.

Veronica lies on her side, her face fearful as she holds out the radio. She opens
her mouth to speak, but blood trickles out. I duck under a punch, and take it from
her. My opponent slashes with his knife, barely missing my torso, and Zeus takes him
down. He digs his teeth into his hand with a vicious bite and frees the knife. I pick
it up in a flash, and stick the guard in the neck with it.

The screaming and blasts of gunfire unnerve me, and my hands shake under the duress
of combat. I fiddle with the buttons, hitting them all while yelling for backup. Everything
sounds muffled. I can’t hear myself think, let alone what I say or what the person
on the other side replies.

I drop the radio when another explosion blows out half the wall with a loud
boom
. People stumble over the side, and I leap to grab Keegan’s arm as he begins to slip
over the side. He pulls himself upright just in time to see Sheldon plummet over the
wall with his adversary. The cement barrier lining the walkway is gutted with twisted
pieces of barbed wire dangling over the side.

This isn’t good.
I yank Keegan’s jacket before he can fixate on the spot where Sheldon used to be.
His eyes snap to my face with unbridled fury. He grabs my arm and the rest of our
small group advances under a hailstorm of bullets. With three hundred yards to go,
I begin hoping we can pull this off. My eyes can’t help but take in our surroundings
as we run.

The sun breaches the horizon, reflecting off the metal roofs of the houses and bringing
a clear view of the Hole with it. Smoke billows over the buildings like dark fingers
reaching toward the sky to escape the carnage. I grimace at the smell of charred flesh
and my eyes burn fiercely. I wipe them with my sleeve. Through the haze, I view the
stark outline of the hospital and wonder how the assault on the training center is
going.

I trip over a body riddled with holes and keep going.
Come on, Isaac. Come on. Come on and blow the doors
.

The large main doors of the commander’s residence blow open with a deafening blast
that makes the wall beneath us quiver. Rocks and cement rain down on us like hail.
Dust mixed with smoke makes sight impossible.

I pull my jacket over my face to breathe. Minutes pass, but they might as well be
days. We continue sprinting toward the entrance as bullets zip over our heads. No
doubt, the guards will reinforce their lines soon.

I glance back and see more of the rebels have arrived to support us, and relief sweeps
through me.
They got my call.

As we storm the entrance, I notice Sutton off to my right. The hope within me continues
to build. I’m breathless from carrying guns and inhaling mouthfuls of thick dust.
If Sutton made it, then Cole should be here too.

“They knew we were coming,” Keegan shouts to Sutton over the war waging behind us.

“Part of the assault wasn’t timed properly. Didn’t happen fast enough—gave them time
to figure it out.” Sutton’s voice is raw and his words scratch out.

“Where’s everybody?” I try yelling to make myself heard.

“All communication was cut off.” Sutton’s face is covered with a mask of dirt, but
I can still see his worried eyes and thinned lips. The gun strapped to him doesn’t
look natural after being used to seeing him in scrubs.

Our group and Sutton’s group break off to search the compound for the commander. We
head left down a wide path toward the commander’s quarters and Sutton’s group heads
right toward the main control room. Knowing we’ll rendezvous in the middle gives me
confidence. If we, or they, don’t show up, we’ll go looking for each other. The darkness
inside swallows us whole as the temperature drops.

I follow Keegan, the new point man, into the abyss of a hallway. The cement construction
smothers almost all light from the outside. Staying close to Keegan, we hug the wall
on the left side, keeping our weapons readily available. It reminds me of playing
hide-and-seek in the woods with him.
But this is for keeps
. I focus on breathing and strain my eyes, seeing dark shapes in the hall. The black
plays with my mind, but I keep going because this is what we trained for.

Keegan abruptly stops, and I smack into him as Zeus almost bowls me over. Bending
down, Keegan points to a delicate, thin wire stretched across the hall. A tripwire
.
This place is trapped. Nausea and fear climb up my insides, but I push them back
down. I point it out to the person behind me as I step over it.