The Mulligan Planet (11 page)

When I emerged the house was
empty except for Gregorvich who was dressed in a three piece suit,
“I’ll be carrying the suitcase.” I nodded, “Looks good, come on,
let’s go.” We stepped out into the pouring rain to see the others
had packed the truck and were almost ready to go, Minks tossed me
the keys, “See you there sir.” I gave him a thumbs up and got in
the car and started the engine. As Greg got in and put his suitcase
on the back-seat the entire vehicle shook violently under his
massive size, “I detonate it with my phone, call the number, boom.”
I nodded and pulled off onto the road, “Do us a favour and keep
that in your hands for now, I don’t want to be a pocket dial
fatality.” He almost smiled but it evaporated quickly, “I could’ve
saved them. I could’ve saved so many.” I knew what he was feeling,
I had it too, I’d had it several times before over the years,
“Don’t dwell on the past, there’s nothing we can do about it.” It
was weird having so few cars on the road, “It isn’t the past, it is
now. There has been no period between then and now. I should’ve
died with them as a warrior.” These words almost made me want to
scream, I flexed my hands, and lowered my foot slightly, “No, Greg.
This is now,” I lowered my foot some more and felt the push start
to hit, not like my car, but it was raining so it felt just as
scary, “everything before this point is nothing, all that matters
is now,” the accelerator touched the floor, “John, slow down.” My
heart pounding against my chest, “Do you want to die? I can make
that happen.” he went to grab my arm, “Yeah, hijack the vehicle in
motion and watch how far that gets you.” He retreated and started
fuming, heavy breaths fogging the windscreen in front of him, “Tell
me, do. You. Want. To. Die? Because I don’t care to be perfectly
honest.” he remained silent, “Fine.” I lifted my hands off the
wheel, sat back and watched Greg, whose eyes kept darting to me
before finally staring me down, “You know you won’t die.” I began
drumming on my legs, “I’ve been alive for hundreds of years, I’ve
had time to develop into a powerful vampire, so you’re probably
right. But the same can’t be said for you. Your decision. I really
don’t care.” I looked up at the road; we were coming up fast to a
turn, “Grab the wheel.” I put my hand to my ear, “Pardon?” he
growled, “Grab the bloody wheel!” I grabbed it and pumped the
brakes just in time to reach the corner, “Don’t test me again
Gregorvich.” He grunted. He hated me, but I didn’t care, he wanted
to live now. We continued for another hour in complete silence
before signs started to pop up for the Brisbane turn off, “Thank
you.” I looked at him and nodded, “Yeah, it’s alright. So where do
we go from here?” he tightened his hair into a ponytail to make
himself look more professional, “Queen Street, we’ll walk to the
CBD from there while the others take a slightly more scenic route.”
I kept driving through the winding roads, people had started their
trips to work, “This is going to be good, we’re going to get
through this, then we’ll go home.” Greg’s hand fell on my shoulder,
“I know we will, you’re a good leader.” I smiled weakly; I needed
to get these guys home. They were my responsibility.

The parking lots were all
already full as well as the street parking, “We’re running out of
time John.” I was getting pissed, “I know.” horns had started to go
off as the rain became heavier and the drivers became angrier, all
of the sounds assaulting my senses as I attempted to focus on the
task at hand, “You know what, screw this,” I parked the car and
took out the keys, “Grab the case and get out.” he looked at me
like I was crazy, I sighed and got out and waited for him to
follow, the rain pounding on my head, “Come on!” I heard him ruffle
around before he got out with the suitcase, I put the keys on the
roof and shut the door, “Not my car, not my problem.” People
started swearing and catcalling us, “Oh sod off!” I flipped off one
driver shortly before hearing police sirens going off down the
road, “Leaving!” I heard Greg slide across the bonnet as I ran down
an alley, the police yelling after us, I couldn’t suppress my
laughter, we were trying to stop terrorists but still had to run
from the police. We got spat out on a long street, “This is the
street, third building.” I stopped laughing, “Lucy, tell Jason
Minks its go time.” We went up to the building while watching the
police looking around at the end of the alley, I heard tires
screeching, “That’ll be Minks, drop the case and let’s go.” The
police had spotted us and were moving to intercept, “What about
them?” the truck drifted around the corner ahead of us, smashing
into several small cars, I didn't want to say it but had to,
“They're collateral. Drop the case.” the police approaching had
noticed the truck ramming its way toward us and slowed to a jog,
“No.” I turned and looked at the menacing face of Gregorvich
staring me down, “What?” he shook his head, “No more collateral,
not after Wednesday.” the truck was now seconds from us, “Fine, be
like that.” I pulled one of my pistols out and aimed it at the
officers, “Today is not your day.” the police drew on me, “Put the
weapon down!” I fired a shot into each of their shoulders, “That's
your only warning, now turn around now and go call for backup!” I
turned to grab Greg’s arm but he was swinging it at the building's
doors while pulling his phone out, “Down!” As the case went flying
I tried to duck but I was too slow, bang.

I got hit by the shock-wave of
smoke which was more an annoyance more than anything. I turned to
the sound of the van doors opening, “Guns up!” Minks’ voice rang
through the street, I caught my backpack as well as the gas-mask
and assault rifle that was flung at me; I pulled the mask on and
watched the world get instantly clearer, “Move up! Mike, take
point, Kyle, get to blast prep, Greg, Minks and Gabe, keep this
floor clear!” the ringing and mask muffled the “Sir!” response, I
pushed through, Kate and Wolf joined my sides as we moved in, there
was the mangled remains of a security guard sprawled against the
front desk, “Up the fire escape, floor by floor!” our shoes
slamming against the stairs after ripping the door off, “Wolf, take
the first then up, Kate, fifth to ninth, I’ll take the tenth to
roof. No survivors here, we’ve already got one.” Wolf bashed
through a door with a large red one printed on it and I took this
as my cue to tear my mask off, “Kate, stop.” She spun around
looking for a target and I pushed her gun down, lifting my mask
while she did the same revealing her confused expression. I pushed
her hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek before kissing her, “I
love you.” Her eyes shot slightly wider, “Um… ok, well, can we talk
about this back at home?” ouch, “Yeah, of course. Get up there.”
She nodded and bounded up the stairs, “Goddamnit.” I kicked the
step and pulled my mask back on before running up to the tenth
floor, the sound of gunfire forcing me back to the memories of
base.

I started checking the large
office room as I stalked across the light blue carpet, white
cubicles littering the entire floor, plenty of cover for guards. A
chair moved slightly two cubicles from me making me drop to a
crouch, I peeked around the corner of the first cubicle as I passed
it, empty, I moved onto the wall of the one where the chair moved,
laying my rifle on the ground as quietly as I possibly could I
slowly produced my pistol with my back to the wall. I waited a few
seconds before spinning around the corner while maintaining my
crouched position and quickly surveyed the empty cubicle, the chair
rotating on its swivel slowly by itself. I frowned under my mask
and knocked the chair over as I stood. “Progress update team.” a
few seconds of silence was eventually a flurry of voices and
sounds, “Multiple primary targets down! Moving up to fourth!” I
picked up my rifle, “Affirmative, keep me posted.” the audio of the
fight happening a few floors below me cut out just in time for me
to hear a whisper a few metres from me.

I began sniffing the air in an
attempt to trace those sharing the room with me but the mask was
constricting my senses, “Come up nice and slow so we can talk about
this.” I checked my clip as I crouched into the cubicle, “I
guarantee I'm much better at hide and seek than you.” another
whisper found its way to my ears but I still couldn't pinpoint
them. Finally deciding that the cons outweighed the pros I tore off
and tossed the mask across the floor, “Can't say I didn't warn
you.” there it was, the final whisper, I closed my eyes and tracked
the sound back to its source. Five men, sweating, four wearing a
cheap deodorant while the fifth had a rich cologne sprayed heavily
over a sweet, floral perfume in an attempt to hide the scent of
what I'm guessing was another woman from his wife, “I know you're
guarding him, I know you're probably depending on this job, but
believe me when I say it's not worth it. If you stand with your
hands up I'll tell my team to let you go.” I waited for a response
that came in the form of semi-automatic gunfire smashing the wall
ahead of me. I switched my rifle to semi-automatic while keeping my
breathing regular and counted the gunshots that tore through the
white walled cages of work-a-day men and women. 'What are the
normal people doing today?' I thought as I rose, firing four death
sentences in a second that immediately put the suited guards on the
ground before they had the chance to reload. Releasing the breath
that I had held in during my brief shooting left me open to another
strong scent, “Oh that's disgusting. Really? Are you going to get
up or am I going to have to come and get you piss pants?” the
Korean man from the slides shot up with his hands in the air,
“Plea-” I squeezed the trigger before he could finish the word, a
smoking hole sitting between his eyes as his arms dropped uselessly
beside him, dragging his body with him.

The dust started to settle as
“Explosives are all set!” crackled though my ears, I ran back to
the fire escape and began to make my way back up, “Then pull back,
everyone to the roof, and get that chopper up there!” a door
slammed open a few floors below me producing Kate and Wolf, “One
left sir.” Kate wiped blood from her lips, “Let’s get him then.”
They smiled at me, “Yessir.”We moved up the final three sets of
stairs before ramming through the roof's doors to find a cowering
brown haired man in a blue suit crouched in the corner of the roof,
the terror in his bright blue eyes when he looked at me was kind of
depressing really, “Go away! Just leave!” I dropped my gun, “No.”
Wolf was the first to reach him, moving the fifteen metres between
us and the target in a blur, “I’d be sorry if… No, even then I
wouldn’t be.” Wolf lifted him up by the collar, staring into his
sobbing eyes for a moment right before tossing him off the edge
like he was a rag-doll, his screams echoed but were quickly became
submerged by the chopper rotors tearing through the rain. The rest
of the team joined us as the helicopter landed between Wolf and I,
“The police have this place surrounded, let’s get out of here.” The
team started to get into the chopper while I bent over to pick up
my gun, “Hey John, your mission, you should get the fun part.” I
looked up just in time for me to barely catch a small cylindrical
detonator that Minks had thrown at me, “I thought this was the fun
part!” we laughed for a second while the helicopter lifted a few
feet in the air and I started to make my way over, sliding the
detonator in my pocket. I was a few feet from the chopper where
everyone sat when a massive sound rattled me to the core; it was
like a whale call mixed with a fog horn amplified a hundred times.
The chopper pulled away from the building as the pilot lost
control, Kyle, young Kyle, I never got to know him, I watched as he
tumbled out of the helicopter while hands reached out to catch him
and missed.

I tried to make a sound but
everything was muted as I looked up to the location of the sound to
see a black, cigar shaped… ship purging through the black and grey
clouds. It would’ve been at least a kilometre and a half long, a
thick blue smoke was pouring out of its sides. “John!” sound had
returned to me, I switched my gaze to the helicopter, Kate’s hand
outstretched “We have to go!” they were twenty feet away, 'Easy.
Jump, grab the skid, get in' I took a step back ran for the ledge
and leaped, why didn’t they come closer? My hands made contact, but
my grip was lost immediately, the soaking metal was too slippery, I
swung, making the chopper rock as I flailed, crashing through one
of the opposite building’s windows. The chopper sound began fading
while I rolled on the carpet in pain, they must’ve thought I was
hanging on. “Lucy, contact Kate.” Nothing, “OLHUD, track Kate.”
Nothing, no static, no beep, nothing, I was alone. I felt like I
was going to explode but get torn inward at the same time, I rolled
over, my legs filled with broken glass, “Where are you John. Come
on, you know this, you’ll be fine, you just have to find out where
you are…” I clambered to my feet, removing the glass in the process
which healed instantly, what normally took at least a few minutes
closed over in a second. I was in a dark, white room, no furniture,
no pictures, just an empty room with a broken window. Wind sprayed
me with the hard droplets raining down as I moved over to the
window and looked down to the street, the blue haze was dissipating
over the street where people ran, some screaming, some collapsing.
Focusing was becoming an impossible task after the sound and the
head first connection with the window had shook my brain to the
point that my enhanced senses were next to useless against my
pounding heart and the almost painful adrenaline amount of
adrenaline slipping through my system. I pulled off my backpack and
scrambled through it for a few seconds before making purchase on my
binoculars, well, monoculars now, I’d smashed one of the lenses and
bent the sight. After breaking off the broken half and discarding
it I looked down to the street again with the aid of a visual
enhancement, those who’d collapsed were getting back up and
following the others, but they weren’t following, no… they weren’t
the stumbling and screaming masses, these people were
chasing
the others down and… grabbing them, one man came
into my vision more prominently than the others, a vagrant, he had
grabbed a woman and was, “No way…” yes way, he was biting her, I
retreated from the window and bumped into someone who’s arms
wrapped around me. I swung my head back, connecting with hard skull
wrapped in soft flesh, my would-be assailant crumbling at my feet.
When I turned to face him he was still moaning despite the smashed
in skull, his jaw snapping violently, “Nonononono…” His pressed
suit coated in fresh blood, I held my head and rocked slightly,
“WakeupJohnwakeupJohnwakeupJohn…” I stuffed the broken binoculars
in the backpack, pulled out the detonator from my pocket, flipped
the clasp and traced the button with my finger, “Later.” I closed
it again, put it in my bag and slid the straps over my arms, my
first contact still twitching on the floor, this wasn’t a person,
not any more, 'It’s not your fault John' a roar pulled me out of my
moment of self-reassurance, it was from inside the building, the
door. I sprinted across the room and slammed the wooden door shut
as fists and heads slammed on it from the other side. Ok, so I was
less concerned by where I was and more where was I going to go. The
slams getting harder, the door creaking against the force and
weight, “SHUT! UP! I’m trying to think!” The suit moaned again and
I lost it, I scooped him up and took him to the window, then it hit
me as I looked over his shoulder to the ground, seven floors, give
or take, “Oh thank you.” I smiled and gave him a light slap on the
cheek, I’d need my rope.