Forsaken 2027 Read online

  "Thank you so much, it feels like I have been in there for my whole life. Those bitches blamed me for being here, those captives didn’t even talk. Even the men gave me the Coventry treatment. It was not like I managed getting us caught. The former lieutenant who led my protection detail, he led us down here saying he’d been here before. Everything seemed OK, we walked through the service tunnels and through the double metal doors. When we reached a circular cave, they ambushed us, several members died, some wounded. They took us captive, I have, we have been here since. If I’m rusty in talking, please don’t hit me." The woman named Dr Emily said. She slumped her shoulders, looked down at the floor, her body made slight twitches. He looked at Dr Emily’s face, tilted his head to the side, pursed his lips then said.

  "Why Dr Emily would I hit you, I saved you? My name is Joseph, how do you do?”

  Not sure she had this right Emily didn’t know whether to shake Joseph’s hand with her own right or left hand, it had been so long since she communicated with anybody. The two months locked in a cage without communicating, not even to the guards, who were her protection detail. Emily remembered which hand to use and shook with her right hand. Feeling good she remembered basic greeting protocols, unfortunate for Cain Emily was holding the open water flask in that hand. Emily shook Cain‘s hand and shook water from the flask all over Cain, making him laugh.

  "One way to impress them Doc. Don’t worry about it, it is only water," Cain said while laughing. Feeling mortified Emily couldn’t help laugh too. The laughter helped her remember how to interact with a person once she had their name. She didn’t feel as fearful as he said he would not hit her.

  "Hi, my name is Dr Emily or Emily if you would like. Thank you for saving us Joseph," Emily said and held out her hand after removing the water flask. Cain went to shake it when he felt someone’s intent before their movement began on his right. He stepped back letting one captive lurch past, tripping her as she passed, she crashed into Emily causing them both to fall to the ground. The Ratole who was still kneeling screamed, a former captive had her emaciated but wiry arms around her neck.

  "What the fuck, are you kidding me?" Cain shouted as he hit the one strangling the Ratole with the butt of his MP5. "Why? Don’t you two Neanderthals get it, these female Ratoles were trying to save you at the expense of their lives?" Turning to the side, Cain fired a three-round burst into one of the storage cases, near the one who tried taking him out, struggling to get off Emily. The sound of the shots hitting the cage, caused everyone to stop what they were doing.

  "Right. Everybody. Sit," Cain said and repeated the same in the Ratole language. Seeing the almost recognisable spilled items, Cain clicked on the storage box. All its unknown food contents transferred to his own inventory.

  Checking he now had them stationary, he grabbed one of the former captives, dragged her to the cages, forcing her to sit on her hands, palms up. The one Cain hit stopping her from strangling the kneeling Ratole, he dragged her back into a cage and kicked the door closed. She was shaking her head, an MP5 butt imprint was showing on her face. Turning the lamps up as bright as they could go, curls of black smoke streamed out of the funnels, and hung in the air. Cain looked into everybody’s eyes human and Ratole.

  "Being sincere, I get it, I do. You have been captives for two months, all the males with you are dead, more than likely turned into food. You feel failures for surviving when you colleagues died. I understand. I have been there too. But being honest here, it was those morons I killed who did this and a sadistic cook. Not these two females." Cain said pointing to the cages. Repeating what he said to the Ratoles, giving the strangled one a small first aid kit, Cain continued.

  "Like you, someone has dealt them a crap hand, like a zero in a baccarat game, or snake eyes in craps, or the chamber with the bullet in Russian roulette. These females are like you, they may look different but they have shitty hands too. Together we all are getting out of here. They are coming with us. I do not expect you to be their best buddy, nor even holding hand friends. But we will walk out of here together, or I leave you behind locked in a cage. Do you understand, Capiche?" Holding up his hand to stop any interruptions, Cain continued.

  "If I leave them here, another pack of Ratoles will find them, abuse them, then if they are lucky kill them quick." Cain then repeated the same words to the Ratoles adding that he would take them with him if they wanted to leave. He promised them he would see them protected from other humans and predatory Ratoles.

  With everybody agreed, Cain led the way back towards the killing area. It’s a good job the bodies dissolve, there is that at least, Cain said to Enoch. The last thing I need is for both sides to see the mayhem I caused. Walking through the open area, they followed Cain across the circular cavern then headed down the other tunnel.

  Cain took the point, he was ready for the two Ratoles he left hog-tied in rawhide. The female Ratoles walked nearest to Cain, Dr Emily came next with the four troopers around five yards behind her. They had walked one hundred yards into the tunnel when the female Ratoles became excited, they chattered to Cain, pointing up the tunnel. Holding up his hand for a stop, he had them repeat what they said.

  "What’s wrong?" asked Emily as she walked over to Cain’s side. "What are they saying? I can’t understand, the chitter, how can you?" After listening to the female Ratoles, Cain turned to Emily.

  "Well Dr Emily, I’m surprised that you as an Ethologist don’t understand their concern or worries. They said, a big bad monster killed their boss and all their people. They would rather live as pets to us savages rather than join another pack, so long as we can protect them," Cain replied, then handed out water flasks to the Ratoles. "Oh, and they told me they can smell two male Ratoles up ahead.”

  As Emily listened to Cain talking, she wondered how he knew she was a doctor of Ethology. It then hit her, she told the Ratoles what she was. Her face flushed in anger, she balled her fists, shaking with tension she said.

  "You were there, or you overheard what I said when I told the Ratoles what I was. You heard me why did you not free us then? I’m sick of dying, again and again." Emily wept as she shouted, then hit Cain several times on his chest. Cain wrapped his left arm around her, letting her cry for a moment or two.

  Cain looked at her for the first time, her face and body. She was not beautiful like Toni nor was she someone you’d only meet in a darkened room while carrying a sack. No, she had a nice face even under the dirt and smudges of captivity. Individual features stood out like her kissable lips positioned above a soft round chin while her delicate cheekbones swept down to a cute button nose. Her eyes larger than most framed by long lashes, were a soft luminous brown, matching her hair, when cleaned of all the accumulated dirt of the last two months.

  Then he read her game tag. It was then he noticed that she was a magician class, level four player needing one hundred and thirty-five points to reach her next level. He noticed she also had a low health, (56/367), not an NPC.

  "Oh, donkey piss. You’re a player, a beta player, like me?" Cain replied. "Why didn’t you say something? I thought you were another NPC that is why they would not talk to you." A pause grew into which one of the Ratoles spoke,

  "Your woman seems to give you grief. Maybe she needs to make babies, more of your young. Perhaps you could give Bridget or me babies, they would be strong after being born.”

  Laughing at the comments, Cain ignored the now silent Emily, who still leant on his chest, telling everyone to follow him out of there. Letting Emily pull herself together, they followed Cain up the partial lit tunnel, heading up the slope when Cain heard voices from in front. They must have spat the Ratole fur out, bet their mouths taste like they have been licking a cat bum. He turned to the Ratoles, telling the one called Bridget to shout to the two he knocked out earlier, before killing the boss.

  "If they call her Brid-get, what do they call you?"Cain asked the other female Ratole.

  "Me, I am called Baa-do, Brid-get and I share th
e same father but a different mother." Brid-get did as requested, telling Cain the two males would join their group, once they freed themselves of their bindings. They said invisible beast knocked them out, trussed them ready for eating. Cain laughed as he told Brid-get and Baa-do, he knocked them out earlier. Baa-do wrapped her Ratole arms around Cain and gave him a hug.

  She thanked him for not killing her little brother Dan-do. Cain led them to the two bound male Ratoles. It agitated the freed NPC humans, seeing the larger male Ratoles. Baa-do, who didn’t shout up the tunnel chattered to her little brother, Dan-do. Once freed, Dan-do and his friend, Koj-ak, hugged the female Ratoles. The Ratoles told each other their stories. once they finished they all kneeled before Cain and pledge their lives to him. He was now the leader of their new pack. Emily tugged on Cain’s arm but jumped back when he twisted in place, pointing the MP5 at her chest.

  "Sorry," Cain said, "old habits die hard. What can I do for you Emily? We need to move out before anything else happens down here." Emily would have spoken when a loud explosion sounded from the far tunnel. Everybody except Cain squatted, the Ratoles were shaking in fear.

  Explosive Retreat

  "See, it comes. The one who killed our boss, it comes with thunder, just like it killed the boss," Brid-get said. Touching Baa-do who was holding her litter brother, on her shoulder, Cain told her he was the one who killed the boss. Remember his head I have in my inventory. To which Baa-do nodded her head. Cain told everyone, Ratoles first then Emily and the NPCs, all the noise was a trap being sprung.

  Cain told the NPCs and Emily again that something had triggered that explosion, which caused the rumbling sound. That they all needed to move fast, now. Cain offered to let the Ratoles free, they refused, still pledging their services to him. A service prompt appeared, but Cain dismissed it before it blocked his UI.

  A small prompt showed Cain he was the leader of a pack, it needed a name. Without giving it any real thought, he called them the Ra-Team, which pleased them beyond any measure, given a name, not a number. Koj-ack complained about the food, asking Baa-do if they had one of their daily ration packs. Those filled with the worms and fungi paste.

  Checking his inventory, he noticed the unknown food had changed to Ratole daily supplies. He had two hundred and ninety-seven packages. Deciding to give the Ratoles game tags, since they had names not generic numbers, at least he did not have to make names up. Cain thought as he called up their game tags, males first then females.

  He split the daily packs of food between each Ratole. He then gave them each a Glock and a G3, with five magazines and two water flasks each. Koj-ack also received twenty sticks of dynamite, a detonator, three reels and thirty blasting caps.

  Asking if either Koj-ack or Dan-do had a local area map, which they did. Cain overlaid his own and highlighted the terminal he would visit later. He asked them if they could make their way there, they all said they could. Equipped the Ra-Team ran up the tunnel, he watched their gamer tags get small. It was then he noticed they all changed their names, adding a new surname. Dan-Cain, Koj-Cain, Brid-Cain and Baa-Cain, they were in the Ra-Cain Team.

  "Well, I’ll be, never saw that happening," Cain said out loud.

  "Never saw what?" asked Emily. Cain told her what the Ratoles had done, how he had never seen it coming.

  {These things happen when you mess with the programming code. These are the things that can happen in Forsaken, it is an adaptive game. Though I would hasten to add, nobody else would have saved the four Ratoles.} Enoch said, as Cain turned to face the NPCs and Emily,

  "OK, just to fill you in, they sort of belong, are mine, OK. They left and are going where I sent them, to the foothills of a mountain range. From my game prompts on my HUD, that explosion killed two level seven Gekards, whatever they are. They had over eight hundred health. Where there are two, there will be more. I don’t think the explosion, and subsequent cave-in will keep them back for long. We need to blow up this tunnel, to protect the airfield service tunnels, which are just ahead. Will you help me?" Cain asked.

  Working as a team, the four female troopers on one side Emily and Cain on the other, they swiftly laid the explosives in the tunnel, right down to the circular area. Emily ran the reel of wire back to the service tunnel, Cain connected blasting caps to each stick of dynamite. He gave Emily the privilege of pushing the detonator when he heard screeching coming from down the tunnel.

  Equipping the G3 and using the optic, Cain looked back down the tunnel. He noticed half a dozen reptilians come around the corner of the far tunnel. From a marker on the wall, one of the oil lamps, turned right down, Cain estimated they came to his shoulder. Later Cain would remember when Enoch showed him the snapshot image, they were like lizard centaurs. Something made Cain want to whisper rather than talk.

  "Emily," Cain said waiting for her to look at him before continuing. "When I open fire the second time, count ten seconds then push that bloody plunger, unless I yell at you to push it now. Nod if you understand?" Cain swapped out his weapons, equipping the M249, he noticed Emily nod, his G3 hung on his battle harness. Seeing this the four troopers moved further down the service tunnel. They squatted and put their heads between their hands.

  Using his night optic, Cain waited and watched these creatures, reading some of their game tags. Each one was a level six Gekard, all had full health. They clustered at the entrance to the tunnel nearly six hundred yards distant.

  Setting up the bipod on a scrap oil drum that one trooper had previously set up for him. Cain nearly stopped breathing, a gamer tag came into view, a level fifteen creature entered his field of view. It had a staggering, nearly full health bar, (3261/3927).

  "Shaft me sideways till Sunday, that thing must have been in the explosion. It’s still got a brick outhouse of health left," Cain whispered as he breathed out and pulled the trigger. Eight seconds flashed by as easily ten of the level six Gekards milled at the bottom of the tunnel. Cain used a quarter of the ammo belt, walking the barrel back and forth across the tunnel. Satisfied he’d riled the creatures he let the pressure on the trigger relax.

  All those shots, causing only flesh wounds at that distance. Cain ignored all the little hit and bleeding tags, as they rushed up the tunnel, making nearly eighty yards, when he fired again.

  They ran headlong into the sustained fire from the M249, ten seconds and four of the Gekards tumbled beneath the one hundred and twenty-two shots. Slowing the charge as they avoided the dead and dying, some four hundred yards short of Cain’s position.

  It placed the Gekards in the kill zone as Emily pushed the detonator. Thirty pieces of dynamite exploded as one, destroying the props filling the tunnel with arm length pieces of timber spinning into the Gekards before hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, ore and earth filled the tunnel.

  They quietly made their way back to Cain’s entry point, it didn’t take them long to walk back to the tower. Several NPCs spilled out of the two barrack blocks, near the foot of the control tower. There was lots of cheering and people shouting as Cain led the subdued troopers and a silent Emily into the dark entrance of the control tower.

  Returning first to Col Hope, Cain told him they finished the quest. He’d killed thirty Ratoles closing a tunnel system which had breached the service tunnels. That he had also killed a boss and found a new species, called Gekards. Col Hope marked the quest as complete. Cain stopped the pop-up message while the Col was still saying.

  "It sure is a shame Joseph, that there is no proof of you killing a boss. The treasurer, my corporal opposite Gunny would have paid out a little bonus, on proof of a Boss’ death. They are so rare you know, almost fairy tales." Hope finished with a smug smile on his face. That was before Cain dropped the blanket, now soaked with blood from the boss’s head on the Col’s desk. Causing the man to flinch back and go a slight green colour.

  "You mean this little thing?" Cain asked while unwrapping the blanket. Hope didn’t make it to the trash bin before he lost his liquid lunch, soon f
ollowed by his breakfast as he continued to retch.

  "I wonder if he could throw up his arse next," Cain said as he and the women walked out of the rather smelly office, leaving Col Hope with his love affair sick bucket.

  Chapter 16

  Crashing out

  They all traipsed to see the Gunny on the ground floor of the tower who welcomed Cain with open arms, as much as the reserved NPC could, from the other side of his desk.

  "Well, Sonny, what have you gone an done now. I’m sure I can hear the Col throwing up down here. You think he’s reached his boot laces yet? Joking apart, thank you for finding these four wonderful ladies, who went with Dr Emily as part of her protection detail. These troopers they’ve been missing for these last two months. It could have been longer, but that’s as far back as I’m sure of.

  Anyhow, well done on bringing them back and fulfilling the quest. Did you see any sign of the other members of Dr Emily’s protection detail?" Cain told the Gunny what he’d placed together regarding the protection detail. The leader took them down into an area he thought was safe, it wasn’t. They walked into an ambush, several of them died they captured the rest, lets just say they did not last long. A pack of Ratoles ate all the males as food. I eliminated that pack with extreme prejudice.

  "Bugger, I knew sending that shavetail, 2nd Lieutenant Gorman, out with some of my men would cause problems. Col Hope thought he was a shining star, being his daughters, husband's nephew," said the Gunny. "I’m not looking forward to telling him he ain’t coming back. Gorman was a nervous, panicky type, jump at his own shadow, you know what I mean Sonny?”

  Cain agreed with him saying most shavetails were no better than a good Sargent. "That be the truth of it Sonny, that be the truth,"the Gunny replied. "Oh, you need to see out corporal for payment of the quest. Remember, she’s the one who deals with the finances and handing out of quest payments."Cain looked at him like he was joking, seeing that look, the Gunny added.