Chapter [redacted]
The rangers were closing in on Olakh, the mysterious and long-abandoned station that had haunted their thoughts for days. From Altor’s best guess, they would arrive in about fifteen minutes. He left the cab and went to the adjacent carriage, eager to finalize their plan. What they would face at Olakh was still unknown, but one thing was certain, they needed to be prepared for anything.
“Gents, we will be arriving at Olakh in fifteen minutes,” announced Altor as he entered the dimly lit carriage where the other rangers were gathered.
“Well, let’s just hope those weapons are still in working order. Without them, we can’t breach through the perimeter to the other rails,” replied Captain Miller.
“What perimeter?” inquired Gage, looking confused.
“Are you serious?” Miller replied, shaking his head. “Why do you think we came all the way to Olakh? The Redline set up a defensive perimeter around all the other tracks and tunnels leading out of Ratza to our other stations and facilities, except the one to Olakh, because they didn’t think there was anything worth going there for,” explained Captain Miller.
“So those weapons are our last hope of making it out to friendly lines,” Gage muttered. “Well, that’s something,” he replied.
Suddenly, the train shuddered, and the lights flickered out, plunging them into darkness. The rangers strained, hands going around their weapons. After a few heart pounding moments, the lights flickered back on and the train stopped shaking.
“What the hell was that?” shouted Slazer, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his rifle tightly.
Altor ran to the cab and after glancing at the fuel gauge he gasped, “About that… The train is very low on fuel, so we might have to walk the rest of the way to Olakh.”
“Goddammit,” Slazer muttered. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I wish we still had working diesel plants in our territory; one day, all of our trains will have no fuel—”
Mack interrupted him, “Actually, we do have diesel plants from before the separation with the Redline; they just don’t work anymore.”
“Separation?” inquired Altor, curious.
Captain Miller sighed, “Well, I guess that story was overdue anyway; we can pass some time that way,” he continued. “Thirty-five years ago, The Redline was part of the Greater Eastern Alliance. We, the Phoenix Guard, were an elite division in their Military—”
“Wait, we were part of the Redline?” interrupted Mack, shocked.
“Yes, we were,” replied Miller, “But it didn’t last long… To keep it short, the alliance was very unstable, with its members constantly engaging in disputes resulting in small skirmishes and whatnot. But things hit their boiling point when the scouts discovered the Western District—”
“So, Captain, you’re telling us that we didn’t find the Western District until fifteen years after the Great War? How is that possible? asked Gage, skeptical.
“If you would stop interrupting me, maybe then I can explain why that is,” said Miller, frustrated.
“The Metro we have grown to know it isn’t complete. From our best estimate, we have only uncovered less than 5% of all the tunnel networks and stations—”
Miller glanced at a sign through the carriage window. It read, “Olakh.”
“Protocol Delta V, rangers, we have arrived…” whispered Miller.
Protocol Delta V? Is Miller expecting trouble? We’ll see, I guess, thought Altor.
The rangers armed themselves and turned off the safeties of their weapons; things were about to get serious. Miller signaled Altor to slow down the train at the upcoming station gate. Following Miller’s orders, Altor decreased the throttle till the train came to a stop.
Station Gates are similar to Transit gates, except that they are smaller in size and are usually made of weaker metals such as steel or iron.
With their hearts racing and spirits high, the rangers disembarked the Exodus one by one in formation. Altor turned off the train, and the tunnel was soon absorbed by darkness. “Flashlights on, rangers,” ordered Captain Miller. Altor finally came out of the train and turned on his flashlight. As Altor’s flashlight scanned the tunnel, he could see multiple pieces of it had broken off, with debris lying in the corner’s and along the sides.
This tunnel was dying to tell its story, and, well, the rangers would soon see it.
The Station Gate was badly damaged, with most of it ravaged by rust and a lot of claw marks were visible all over the gate. Soon, Altor’s gaze swept across a large hole at the bottom of the gate; a metro train had rammed into the gate from the inside…
Altor’s eyes widened at this, and he took a deep, cold breath.
Those poor souls. The gate probably malfunctioned, leading them to ram their only ride into the gate in hopes of getting through it, thought Altor.
And half of the train did get through, except just not with it’s occupants alive or in one piece…
“By the tunnels,” exclaimed Slazer, looking at the crashed metro train.
After absorbing the scene for a bit, the rangers approached and boarded the wrecked metro train, exiting through the back. They were now officially inside Olakh.
Altor and the others were greeted by a dark, gruesome scene. The wide courtyard of the station was filled with corpses covered in snow lying everywhere, mostly rotten with even more claw marks on the surrounding transportation vehicles. Altor’s eyes then swept from left to right, and he noticed four distinct buildings: two in the middle and one on the right side, and one on the left.
Altor noticed that the station was illuminated by natural light, he looked up and saw the roof of the station had collapsed. Snow was pouring in through there covering the entire station in a thick layer of snow, with rays of light coming through it as well.
Olakh wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill station; it was prewar, and was used to store metro trains transportation equipment, with all of it complemented by four station buildings with control towers embedded within them. The station Gate was located equidistant from all the buildings.
The rangers gripped their weapons tightly, and after a few deep breaths, Captain Miller ordered, “There, the building marked with the number ‘2’, thats the one. Lets go, rangers.”
Altor felt uneasy as the rangers started walking. For the first time in his life, he felt actual, genuine fear, but he pushed forward like the others.
It was also very cold, Altor could see the other rangers shivering as more cold air came from above the surface through the hole in the roof, but that wasn’t all, the weakened and injured rangers found it difficult to walk through the snow covering the courtyard.
For Captain Miller, returning to Olakh was very difficult. Though he tried to hide his true feelings by keeping his composure, his eyes told a different story. He felt like a person who had returned to their worst nightmare, but a feeling of regret also lingered in his mind—regret for leaving all those people behind…
The other rangers were still new; most, excluding Miller, were below the age of 25. Like Altor, they were young and felt invincible, but even they could see the horrors of Olakh—the loss, the sadness.
The rangers walked by several corpses. Good thing there faces aren’t identifiable anymore; I would rather see a fully decayed corpse than a fresh one. Makes life a lot easier if you ask me, thought Altor.
There was debris everywhere, with makeshift construction vehicles flipped on their sides and other pieces of infrastructure falling apart into disarray. Soon, the rangers stumbled upon the remains of a few Ravagers near the entrance to the number 2 building.
Even though dead, the remains of the Ravager painted a terrifying picture in the minds of the rangers. It showed how powerful they really were; among the dozens of corpses, only one belonged to a Ravager. One Ravager ended these peoples lives, destroyed their dreams, and crushed their hope of a better tomorrow. It just goes to show how one beast such as this can make a huge difference.
The rangers cursed the corpse of the Ravager in their minds, and a few spat on it. But as they reached the door to the building, the ground started shaking. At first the rangers thought it was probably a minor earthquake, but soon the sound of multiple trains coming their way echoed through the station.
“It is the Redline,” a ranger said, fear etched into his face.
The others took a step back, and everyone looked at each other. They were afraid… “It can’t be; we would have heard them—” muttered Mack.
“It is possible. The Redline has superior train technology to us; they probably followed us using one of their covert ops trains,” said Altor.
Another ranger said, “We are all going to die; they will slaughter us.”
“Everyone calm down,” exclaimed Captain Miller. He continued, “We need to get inside this building and get the cache of weapons and equipment if we want to have a fighting chance. Fear will not help us; bravery and hope will. Trust me. We didn’t come this far just to die; we came to win, and we will.”
Miller is right, the Redline soldiers will have trouble getting to us across this thick layer of snow, we might still have a chance if we can get the weapons and take up positions, thought Altor
The rangers composed themselves and then bashed through the door into the building. They sprinted into the darkness, their flashlights illuminating the bloody walls and floor ahead. A few stumbled over corpses but quickly stood up. The sound of the trains was getting closer; the rangers needed to hurry. But soon they encountered a huge obstacle: the ceiling behind the hidden entrance leading to the second floor had collapsed. The rangers had to find another way to get to the weapons.
Miller glanced at a notice board on the wall, “Explosive testing facility,” the sign read.
“Rangers, we need to find explosives or something to get us through that debris, one of these rooms should have some old or homemade explosives lying around, find them, QUICK!” shouted Captain Miller.
The rangers frantically ran to all the rooms, swiftly kicking down the locked doors in search of the explosives. Altor kicked down a door and said, “Room 4-F1, no explosives.”
Room after room all that could be heard was, ‘No explosives.’ But as all hope seemed lost, a ranger shouted, ‘Quarter 9-F3, 2 C4 explosives with a functioning detonator. ’
The ranger ran to Captain Miller and showed him the explosives.
“What’s your name, son?” asked Captain Miller, looking at the ranger who found the explosives.
“Romeo,’ replied the ranger.
“Well Romeo today is your lucky day. You know how to plant those C4 explosives?” inquired Captain Miller. The ranger nodded.
“Good, plant those C4 explosives right on the debris, then take cover inside one of those rooms and then detonate the explosives on my command. Did you get that, ranger?” gasped Captain Miller.
“Yessir.”
The rangers quickly took cover inside one of the rooms and Romeo soon planted the explosives after which he took cover inside one of the rooms, “Explosives planted sir, waiting for further orders,” Shouted Romeo
“Detonate them, ranger,” ordered Captain Miller.
Romeo pressed the trigger and nothing… He pressed it again but still nothing happened, he then noticed that the antenna of the detonator was badly damaged, “Sir, the detonator’s antenna is damaged. I can’t detonate the explosives from far away” said Romeo.
Punching the wall beside him, Miller replied, “it’s okay, ranger. We’ll find another way.”
Outside the building the sound of multiple trains stopping could be heard, the Redline had arrived, “Sir, we don’t have time to find another way, I can maybe detonate the explosives if I stand right next to them,” replied Romeo.
“What?! NO!” Barked Miller, he continued, “Are you crazy, you will—”
“Die, I know sir… And I’m willing to make that sacrifice,” interrupted Romeo.
He then proceeded to exit the room and ran towards the debris where the explosives were planted, “Romeo stop, don’t do it, there has to be another way,” worriedly said Captain Miller.
“Romeo, please don’t do it, what about your family? What about us?” said a ranger.
As Romeo stood there with the detonator in hand, he thought about his family, his son, who was only eleven years old. I’m doing this for my family, for my brothers, I need to calm down, he thought
“Brothers, I have always been trying to find my purpose, my role, in these dark, desolate tunnels. During the battle at Ratza, I thought that was it, defend the people,” he replied. He took a deep breath and continued, “But now I have come realize, all I ever wanted to do was help the ones closest to me, thats all of you, my brothers, I’m a ranger of the Phoenix Guard and I’m proud of it.”
Romeo looked at the detonator and smiled, “Don’t worry about me, I know if it was any of you in my position you would do the same. Because if not us, then who?” after saying that Romeo pressed the trigger…
Miller tried to exit the room to stop Romeo but as he came out, all he heard was a clicking sound and soon the explosives detonated, Miller was thrown back by their force, and the station shook very badly due to it, with the explosions sound echoing through the nearby tunnels.
After the smoke from the explosion cleared the ranger’s came out of the rooms and ran towards Miller, who was a bit shaken up by the explosion with blood splattered all over him, “Holy shit, sir you’re bleeding,” gasped a ranger.
“It’s not mine, its our brother’s, Romeo,” replied Miller. He then stood up and put his hand over his chest and said, “You will be remembered Romeo.” The other rangers observed a moment of silence for their fellow comrade, ‘He was braver then all of us’, ‘he saved us’, were some of the things which the rangers said, with one of Romeo’s friends saying, “He always wanted to go out a hero, even at Ratza he was the first one to go through the eastern gate and into the hell, which we called a battle.”
“His sacrifice will not be forgotten. Rest in peace, brother…” said Altor.
But the rangers didn’t have the luxury or the time to mourn, they soon had to continue to the weapons cache and ready themselves for what lay ahead. The explosives had cleared a way straight through the debris and destroyed the door leading to the hidden passage, “Lets go rangers, lets make sure Romeo’s sacrifice wasn’t in vein,” said Captain Miller.
The rangers headed by Captain Miller sprinted toward the hidden passage and soon entered it, it was very narrow but after two minutes they soon arrived in a huge armory like room with a two covert ops metro trains parked at the nearby connected rails, which could be seen through chain-link fences.
Looking at the weapons, Slazer said, “oh baby, this is gonna be fun.”
Captain Miller ordered the rangers to arm themselves with the newer more sophisticated weapons, Altor replaced his old pipe rifle with a prewar AK-47, Even after all these years, these bad boys are still working, thought Altor.
While all the rangers were arming themselves with newer weapons and armor, Captain Miller noticed that the tracks leading out of the tunnel were blocked by mechanical barriers, which had to be lowered before they could make their escape. He saw a lever nearby but when he attempted to pull it downwards, it wouldn’t move, it was stuck…
Millers heart sank for a moment as he thought, This lever is the only way to lower those barricades, we won’t be able to escape till they are lowered. Wait didn’t Gage do a repair course on these things.
“Gage, the lever to lower those barricades is stuck, its probably the rust. Do you think you can fix it?” asked Captain Miller.
After taking a look at the lever mechanism, Gage said,” Yes, I can fix it sir, but it will take me about thirty minutes due to—”
Gage was interrupted by sound of gunfire outside the building, the Redline were inside Olakh…
“You have twenty minutes. Slazer, Mack and doctor Tallen stay with Gage and protect him ,If you don’t hear from us in forty minutes, than leave.” said Captain Miller.
The rangers hesitantly nodded.
Rest of you, follow me. We need to buy Gage some time so he can repair the lever, lets give those Red bastards hell,” ordered Captain Miller.
Altor looked around him as he followed Captain Miller, there was only 15 of them left, he was doubtful to if they would be able to hold of multiple trains full of Redline troops but, it doesn’t hurt to try, he thought.
The rangers went back through the hidden passage and into the building, Captain Miller ordered 3 rangers to barricade the front entrance but before they could do that a hail of bullets came through the front door cutting right through them. “SHIT, SHIT,” shouted Captain Miller.
The rangers were now surrounded and trapped inside the building, Captain Miller ordered 7 rangers to stay and defend the hidden passage, while him and the remaining others including Altor, went to the watchtower located on the second floor and took out Redline troops from up there.
Altor was the first one to reach the watchtower and as he peaked through the windows, he saw dozens of Redline troops all over the courtyard, suddenly one of them spotted Altor and started shooting at him, Altor quickly got down behind the thick metallic walls of the watchtower. This was going to be a tough fight, but Altor and the others were up for it.
The others soon caught up with Altor inside the watchtower. “It doesn’t look good, Captain. We are completely surrounded and outnumbered,” gasped Altor, looking at the other rangers.
“Well, that was expected. We just need to hold the Reds off for…” said Captain Miller, but he stopped to look at his wrist watch and continued, “fifteen more minutes.”
Altor nodded, after which the other’s took cover behind the walls. They then proceeded to return fire at the Redline soldiers. The sound of bullets reverberated across the station, with several rounds whizzing past Altor and the others.
Altor fired back multiple times, killing many Redline soldiers, but that didn’t matter; every time a Redline soldier died, another came rushing past the station gate.
Captain Miller was very distraught due to the battle, he had seen too much death, all these soldiers were just people dragged into a war due to politics...
Miller had taken a grenade launcher from the armory, and with his adrenaline surging, he quickly aimed at a group of Redline soldiers rushing towards the building’s entrance. With great regret, he shot a single grenade at them. An audible pop could be heard by the others as Captain Miller fired the grenade, and soon it impacted the Redline soldiers, blowing up. The area where the Redline soldiers once were was now shrouded in smoke.
“Forgive me” said Captain Miller, while unloading the rest of his grenades at the Redline soldiers. The Soldiers ran around in all directions, disoriented by the constant explosions.
But at this moment Altor also felt uneasy, he took a moment to look at Captain Miller, he was visibly troubled by what he was doing, with his hand’s shaking as he held the grenade launcher, Altor watched as many other injured and fallen Redline soldiers were struck by more shrapnel. Those Reds don’t want to fight anymore then we do, they are just following orders like me. This is not right, none of this is, thought Altor.
But right at this moment a few rounds went flying past Altor, striking Miller in his right Shoulder, with another one penetrating his left leg. Miller’s blood spewed all over Altor’s face and armor as he fell to the floor, dropping his grenade launcher.
Altor and another ranger rushed to Miller’s aid. “Sir, don’t worry it’s all gonna be fine—” said Altor.
Captain Miller interrupted, “I have been through worse son, just help me with this tourniquet.”
Altor helped Captain Miller put a tourniquet over his left leg while the ranger kept pressure on Miller’s shoulder.
Soon the sound of gunfire stopped and a person announced using a megaphone, “My sniper has just taken out your leader, surrender now and you will be shown leniency in your sentencing, traitors.”
Captain Miller recognized the voice and asked, “Colonel Holler, is that you?”
“Captain Miller, you’re still kicking huh. Gunshots wounds were never really enough to keep you down,” replied Colonel Holler.
“Well its good to talk to you again, old friend. I thought I would never see you after what happened at Narkon.”
“Don’t play games with me Miller, we aren’t friends. Now, are you surrendering or what?”
Miller didn’t respond.
Altor could soon hear the Redline soldiers rambling among themselves, he looked at the wall beside him and saw a small hole left by a bullet. When he looked through it, his blood went cold, with his eyes widening, two Redline soldiers were standing in the courtyard holding makeshift RPGs.
“Sir they have RPGs aimed at the entrance and at the watchtower, we need to leave now!” swiftly said Altor. But it was too late, the Redline Soldier’s shot two rockets at the rangers defending the entrance, the explosion shook the entire building and made Altor’s ears go numb for a moment with smoke coming from below.
All the rangers posted at the entrance were now dead…
“Miller this is your last chance, surrender now, or we will blow up the watchtower.”
Hearing this Miller, who was in immense pain, shouted, “okay, okay…”
He then looked at Altor and said, “Son, I’m gonna confront Colonel Holler alone. Its the only way any of us are making it out alive.”
“But—” said Altor.
Miller unholstered his pistol and interrupted Altor, “I’m a old man, I have been through a lot Altor, seen horrors one couldn’t even imagine. Last time I was here at Olakh, I ran, I escaped and left the others to fend for themselves, I won’t make the same mistake twice. My time has come and I would rather go out protecting my fellow men then run away like before.”
Altor Reluctantly nodded. “Good… Now listen. I’m gonna distract the Colonel, while I do that, run down to the hidden passageway and leave aboard the trains, Gage should have fixed the lever by now. Do you understand Altor?” explained Captain Miller.
With a heavy heart Altor agreed, him and the other ranger took positions at the stairs leading downwards.
“We surrender Colonel Holler, I’m coming out.” Shouted Captain Miller.
Grunting in pain, Miller stood up, with blood pouring from his shoulder and limped down to the first floor. Each step he took going down the stairs was like accepting his fate, the closer he got to the end, a feeling of peace and calm came over him. When he reached the first floor he saw a lot of debris scattered near the hidden passage with the bodies of the dead rangers lying there.
Forgive me brothers, your deaths are on me, I assigned you to defend the passage, but don’t worry… I’ll be joining all of you very soon, I just need to deal with some old business first. Miller thought to himself.
He soon reached the door leading out of the building, after going through it his eyes adjusted to the light outside. He soon found himself standing with his pistol in his left hand, in front of Colonel Holler, with the other Redline soldiers gathered in formation, rifles aimed in Miller.
But suddenly a loud roar could be heard coming from one of the tunnels leading into Olakh. “Seems like my old friends want to meet you, Colonel Holler,” Miller sarcastically said.
“DROP THE PISTOL NOW! OR WE WILL SHOOT!” barked Colonel Holler.
“Oh, this thing?” Miller said, casually lifting his pistol. “I’m not here to use it, I just came down here to accept your surrender.”
The colonel burst into laughter alongside the other Redline Soldiers. “Seems like blood loss has made you lose your mind Miller,” gasped Colonel Holler, he then looked at the soldiers standing next to him, and said, “Arrest this traitor.”
Miller swiftly pointed his gun at Colonel Holler, and said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you—
The Redline soldiers aimed their guns at Miller. “Look at yourself Miller, you said you don’t want to hurt anyone, yet here you are. See men, these so called rangers are nothing but traitors and hypocrites,” said Colonel Holler.
“I haven’t shot you yet, now have I? I am going to give you something Colonel Holler, something you and your men didn’t give us, a choice.” replied Captain Miller.
He continued, “You heard those roars right? Well those Ravagers, they are attracted to noise.”
As Miller said that, one of the Redline soldiers, while holding his radio, whispered to colonel Holler, “Sir, we have lost contact with our scouts in the nearby tunnels…”
As the Colonel heard that, the grin on his face faded and was replaced by worry and fear.
Seeing this, Miller said, “I think you know what I am getting at. So now you have two choices, either you and your men can peacefully leave, or I can shoot the station gate behind you, leaving all of us to the Ravagers mercy. So what’s it gonna be Colonel? Live? Or die?”
Silence filled the air, as the Redline soldiers looked at Colonel Holler, awaiting his response. “How about you put the gun down—”
Before Colonel Holler could complete what he was saying, Miller pulled the trigger and shot the station gate. “Wrong answer… Colonel…” gasped Miller, after which he dropped to the ground. The blood loss had taken it’s toll, Miller was nearing the end…
Before long, more deep, growly roars could be heard echoing through the vast tunnels, reverberating off the walls like a death knell. The Redline soldier’s faces were now etched with fear, with the Colonel panicking as radio chatter was filled with soldiers outside Olakh asking for backup, as they were swarmed by horded of Ravagers heading for Olakh.
As the Redline soldiers ran around in Chaos, lying on the ground, Miller thought, I did what I had to do, I don’t regret it, I gave Colonel Holler a choice…
Soon Miller coughed up some blood, he started remembering old memories, some good, like the time he was drinking in his quarters with his old comrades, after nearly getting run over by a train. Those were the days, thought Miller.
But not all were good, as his mind was still clouded by the gruesome things he had to face: Loss of rangers under his command, Romeo’s sacrifice, and Olakh…
Right at this moment a Ravager tore through the metro train lodged inside the station gate, and came into Olakh. “FIRE AT THAT BEAST,” ordered Colonel Holler.
As more Ravagers poured through the station gate, the sound of gunfire was soon muffled by screams and roars…
Seeing all this, Miller felt afraid, with the last bit of strength left in him, he reached down to his right pocket and pulled out a old picture, it was of his family, his wife, Anna, and his 9 year old son, Barnes. That picture was the only thing that remained of his family… The only thing that brought him comfort.
He soon looked toward his right and saw a Ravager rushing towards him, in this moment, after taking a deep breath, he smiled. As he clenched the picture in his right hand, he whispered to himself, “The true soldier fight’s not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” This was the truth that guided him, the only reason he continued through all the pain and suffering, it was all for his comrades, his only remaining family. After this he closed his eyes, accepting the inevitable. For a moment his mind was clear of all worry, now, there was just peace.
I’m coming home, he thought, as his last breath escaped him.
Altor had witnessed the entire ordeal, he was hiding behind the debris and was shook by what became of Miller. Thank you, sir… I’ll make sure the other’s know what you did for them, for us, for me, he thought.
He then sprinted to through the hidden passage to reach the others. He exited the passage but was greeted by rifle’s aimed at him by the other rangers. “Sorry Altor, we thought it was Reds…” said Mack.
Gage noticed that Miller wasn’t with Altor and asked, “Where’s Miller?”
Altors looked down and didn’t respond.
“Altor? Where is Miller?”
“He—he’s dead. He distracted the Reds so we could escape…” hesitantly replied Altor.
The other rangers were taken aback by what they heard. “No, it’s not possible, maybe he’s just injured. We need to go back for him,” gasped Slazer.
As Slazer walked toward the passage to go for Miller, Altor grabbed him by the arm and said, “I said he’s dead. I saw it happen. Miller sacrificed himself so we can have a chance, we aren’t wasting that.”
To break the tension, Gage said, “The levers fixed, the only problem is that the trains are low on fuel… We need to divide ourselves among the two trains so we can reduce the weight, leading to less fuel consumption.
“Good, so what are we waiting for?” inquired Mack.
Gage took a deep breath and worriedly said, “The second train only has enough space for one person, and thats including the weapon crates. And thats not all, the train’s engine is very old, meaning it could breakdown on the way out…”
The rangers were taken aback by what they heard, with fear slowly creeping inside of them. No one wanted to ride aboard that old relic, seeing this Altor announced, “I’ll do it. I’ll ride on the second train.”
The others looked at Altor in disbelief. “Are you sure Altor? That train is a death sentence—” said Slazer.
“I know, and I’m willing to take that risk,” interrupted Altor, continuing, “We have been through a lot: Ratza, The Ravagers, Larston and now Olakh. We didn’t let fear control us then and we won’t let it control us now.”
The rangers moved by Altor’s words, proceeded to load the weapon crates onto the train’s after which one by one they boarded the first train. Altor soon followed suit and boarded the second train.
“Everyone ready?” shouted Altor, standing inside the train’s cab near the control panel.
Gage pressed the ignition button, the train’s diesel engine sprang to life with sounds of knocking and clicking coming from it echoing through the tunnel.
“Train one, ready,” shouted Gage.
Altor then tried to turn on his train, but as he flicked the ignition switch, the train wobbled and staggered forward, followed by the engine turning off. Slazer and the others worriedly gazed at Altor as he could be seen attempting to turn on the train. On the fifth try, the stubborn engine finally gave in and turned on.
“Train two—Ready,” yelled Altor.
As Altor said that he felt relief. This is it, against all odds, we made it…” Altor thought.
Suddenly the whole tunnel shook strongly, an RPG had hit the building above them. The Redline soldiers were still fighting the Ravagers.
“LET’S GO” shouted Altor, over the loud noise of the diesel engines.
“See you on the other side, comrades,” gasped Slazer.
Altor slammed the throttle, and soon the train lurched into motion. The two trains were traveling side by side, they soon traveled through a steep ramp leading to the exit tunnel, but suddenly the tunnel wall to the left of the train’s collapsed…
The rangers were soon subject to bullets hurling towards them as the Redline soldiers shot at the Ravagers.
“WHAT THE HELL!” Cried out Gage.
“EVERYONE GET DOWN!” Yelled Altor.
It was pure chaos, and at this intense moment Altor’s train turned off… it soon came to a full stop right in front of the breached wall. Seeing this Colonel Holler ordered his men to shoot RPGs at the stopped train.
The other rangers watched helplessly as the rockets struck the track and tunnel walls beside Altor’s train. Altor repeatedly banged the control panel and flicked the ignition switch multiple times to no avail. Having lost all hope, he dropped to floor beside the controls, and for a moment he stared blankly at the cab door.
This is it, I knew this might happen. The others have to leave, they cant stay here for me, Altor thought.
He swiftly reached for his old hand-held radio, turning it on he said, “This is Altor, does anyone copy?”
“This is Gage, we read you loud and clear. We’re coming back to rescue you, just hang tight—”
“NO. Don’t come back for me, the Reds have me pinned, you and the others will only get hurt trying to help.”
With a heavy heart, Altor continued, “Leave… Go without me—“
Hearing that Slazer snatched the radio from Gage’s hand and worriedly said, “Have you lost your mind Altor? We are coming back, whether you like it or not. We don’t leave our own behind…”
Hearing this only made what Altor was about to say even harder. With tears flowing down his cheeks and with his hands shaking, he replied, “This isn’t about me comrade, its about the people back home. They need us, they need you… Don’t worry about me, I’ll find my way back, I always do. I’ll see you on the other side—comrades.”
The rangers aboard the first train were inspired by Altor’s words. Slazer couldn’t bear to talk anymore and handed back the radio to Gage.
“Understood Altor, we are leaving… We will be waiting for you back home at Bosan’s bar, don’t be late or you’ll have to buy the drinks.”
Altor chuckled and as he was about to reply the radio died. At the same time a rocket struck the roof of the tunnel ahead, making it collapse with debris covering the tracks.
The only way out was now gone, or was it? Altor’s eyes soon glanced over at the tunnel adjacent to the one which just collapsed, “Under maintenance,” a sign read lying beside the tracks leading into the tunnel.
In a last ditch effort he flicked the ignition switch and to his relief, the train engine turned on.
“You couldn’t have turned on 10 minutes ago? I’m gonna be late for the drinks,” Altor said while looking at the control panel.
He quickly reversed the train to the railroad switch, and swiftly disembarked the train through the left door, protecting himself from the oncoming fire from the right. He then sprinted towards the railroad switch while under fire and changed the track blades so they lead to the maintenance tunnel.
After this he boarded the train and as he increased the throttle, the engine made a loud noise, this gained the attention of the nearby Ravager’s, who were now rushing towards Altor.
Oh shit, thought Altor, as he looked at the Ravager’s rushing towards him.
But that wasn’t all, as Altor’s train entered the maintenance tunnel he was taken aback by what he saw, the tunnel tracks took a steep decline ahead. Suddenly three Ravager’s lunged at the train’s cab, seeing no way out of the situation, Altor maxed out the throttle making the train go down the steep decline. Altor grabbed his rifle and shot at the Ravager’s through the cab windows, but as the train started to gain speed, he quickly strapped himself on the chair near the controls as he didn’t way to be knocked around in the cab if anything went wrong.
The decline made the train reach speeds so high that the train’s speedometer stopped working, Altor could only hold on tight as the train traversed through the endless dark, ruined tunnel. Pieces of debris started to hit the train, destroying the train’s front lights but also striking the Ravager’s, making them lose their grip on the cab.
The train’s front windshield started to form cracks as more debris hit, but that wasn’t the end of Altor’s problems. He soon saw lights further ahead, it was an old-broken down Transit Gate, and it was only half open. The train was about to crash, and all Altor could do was watch and pray that he would somehow survive.
He closed his eyes and soon everything blacked out.