As mass panic spread across the whole of the town square, night was approaching. The four boys had fled ever deeper into the fairgrounds, nearing the central tower. Before reaching the last few rows of stalls closest to the tower, the boys haulted as one of the attackers appeared ahead; they had been cut off.
The people attacking the town square appeared to be wearing some type of specialist covert ops gear, masking their identities from the public.
Just beyond the row of stalls ahead, a young boy was seen crying frantically, slowly twirling as though looking for what can only be assumed to be their parents. Broken swarms of people were running in all directions, trying to escape the oncoming onslaught.
"That kid there, we have to help him," Ray insisted.
"Us against that big guy?" Alice questioned. He was already on edge, but knew Ray was right.
"I'm scared as Hell, but I'm not letting either of you guys get hurt," Bryce proclaimed.
"We in this?" Ray asked broadly.
As the masked aggressor hovered his sites over the small child, Ray, who felt a great sense of responsibility, immediately grabbed a heavy plate off one of the stalls and threw it as hard as he could so that it smashed against the man's shielded mask. Instantly the aggressor turned his attention to the four boys, and as he fired in their direction, Sadie and Alice took cover behind the stall to their left, while Bryce and Ray took cover behind the stall to their right.
The aggressor not knowing who to shoot first, started firing towards Sadie and Alice.
"Damn it! Why is the military doing this?" Alice cried out in confusion.
"What are you talking about? Covert gear doesn't mean military!" Ray hurriedly tried to explain.
More shots were fired at the stall the two boys Sadie and Alice were hiding behind, as they reacted to holes being created around them. Their adrenaline was pumping like never before.
"No going back now," Ray bravely announced.
Ray was swift, as he lept over the stall counter and ran over to scoop up the frightened child. When the aggressor turned his attention to the heroic Ray, he was caught off guard as Bryce and Alice rushed over, slamming together into the aggressor, knocking him off his feet. Sadie then came storming out, joining up with Ray to hull the child to safety.
"Stay alive!" Sadie shouted back.
As the aggressor was on the ground, Bryce took this opportunity to grab a small statue off the stall above them and slammed it across the aggressor's seclusive face shield, cracking it, while Alice kicked his dropped gun away. The aggressor too reacted quickly however, as he pulled a small firearm from his chest holster. Alice, filled with adrenaline, grabbed ahold of Bryce, yanking him away from the line of fire just microseconds before the gun went off.
When the aggressor stood up to fire, he was blindsided by a stranger who had witnessed their group's heroic act. The gun went off, but this stranger gave the two boys the time they needed to run for cover as a close combat brawl ensued.
"This is crazy! Why is the military doing all this?" Alice again questioned.
"Alice, for the last time, that isn't the military!" Bryce called out.
"Then who the Hell are they?" Alice inquired.
"I don't know!" Bryce responded.
The sounds of gunfire was roaring around them.
As the brawl between the stranger and aggressor carried on, the two were back and forth, grabbing the arm of the other, deflecting and hitting the line of fire away as they wrestled over the gun. It didn't take long before the aggressor managed to get a shot in, causing the stranger to collapse. Amongst the confusion, the aggressor picked up his assault rifle and shot into another panicked civilian who was passing by. The civilian was sent crashing over the stall where Alice and Bryce were hiding. One of the shots went astray, piercing through the stall. A voice cried out in pain as the shot had pierced Bryce's shoulder, alerting the aggressor of their position.
"Bryce!" Alice cried out in a panic. He immediately rushed to aid his friend.
The assailant slung the rifle over his shoulder, resting it along his side before pulling out his hand gun and reloading it as he approached the stall. Alice was occupied trying to stop the bleeding while Bryce was gritting his teeth, writhing in pain. Just when the assailant pointed his gun down over the counter, the edge of a table was slammed over his shoulders, along the back of his neck, knocking him down. The impact was so great that his body shook and the grip on his gun was lost.
Pulling both him and the dead civilian off the stall counter was Ray, who then rushed over to Bryce's side.
"Bryce!" he called out, seeing his injured friend.
As Alice applied pressure to the wound, Bryce grunted through the pain.
"Alice, let me see the wound," Ray demanded.
As Alice lifted the cloth away, blood was soaking further into Bryce's shirt, and Ray reapplied the pressure with Alice.
"Hold that there! Bryce is going to be fine; it's a clean shot but we need to get him to a doctor and we need to get this wrapped up until then."
Even with all the sounds of gunfire spreading wide, Ray ran along the stalls in search of a suitable cloth to tie around Bryce's wound. Luckily he stumbled across a stall that had a small medkit, some rubbing alcohol and just the cloth he needed.
As he was removing the stall curtain however, the wood pillar holding it splintered as bullets narrowly missed Ray, instead hitting the post. Ray ducked down, and in a panic, ripped the curtain down before bundling it up and made a break for his friends.
Fewer people were in the immediate area, but a few stray citizens were still ducking in and out of the surroundings.
When Ray made it back to his friends, he quickly rummaged through the medkit finding some gauze. He took hold of the bloody cloth Alice was applying to Bryce's shoulder, instructing Alice to let go.
"Alright Bryce, listen to me. I need you to keep this on the wound as tight as you can."
While Bryce struggled to apply pressure, Ray popped open the rubbing alcohol and began dumping it first onto his and Alice's hands.
"I need you to help me shred this cloth," Ray instructed.
Together, Ray and Alice tore the curtain into strips.
"This hurts," Bryce managed to cry out as Ray was then holding the bottle of alcohol along with the gauze.
"Well it's about to hurt a whole lot worse," Ray stated as he stuffed a strip of cloth into Bryce's mouth and pulled him forward to expose the back of his shoulder, revealing his further blood soaked back.
Ray dumped the alcohol over the bullet's entry point, and went to apply the gauze as Bryce screamed in pain. The stinging was to a degree he had never felt before.
"Help me wrap this!" Ray commanded Alice. "Take that off!" he followed up to Bryce.
When Bryce pulled the bloody cloth away, Ray then dumped more alcohol on the hole at the front of his shoulder, emptying the bottle and applying the rest of the gauze over the wound. Alice and Ray worked together to quickly wrap up Bryce's shoulder, with Ray ensuring the bandaging was tight.
"Now hurry, we have to move!" Ray exclaimed.
The two boys helped Bryce to his feet and ran for a different source of cover. By this point, there were some civilians who were taking their stand against the attackers in an effort to protect their friends, families or were simply pushed to the edge from the ongoing chaos around them. Some of them had perhaps accepted their fate and seemingly wanted to take even one of the troops down with them. Some civilians in fact, even bound together in an attempt to bring down a few, but ultimately their lives too met their end.
Close to the central tower, the boys stopped where there were two small buildings just outside the tower, and fitted themselves in the small space pinned between the two structures. Ray began using the remaining cloth to help support Bryce's arm into a sling, while Alice noticed that by the entrance of the tower, there was a desperate woman carrying an infant.
The boys pressed themselves against one of the walls as they heard footsteps. Two of the troops attacking the festival square passed by the small opening before Alice took the chance to peer around the corner back at the woman who was being chased by another one of the troops. This one was marching towards her with a knife in hand. Alice's chest was pounding.
Seeing the coast was otherwise clear, Alice made the decision to split off from his friends in an effort to help.
"Alice, where are you going?" Ray tried to shout at him quietly, but it was no use. He huffed. "I'm going to kill him," Ray claimed in frustration, as he tried to run after Alice before Bryce grabbed him, pulling him back with more troops coming in their direction.
"Crap," Ray exclaimed, having seen the troops briefly. They would have to lay low for now. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone else noticed Alice who was on his way over to aid the woman in need.
On top of the tower, the man had his attention brought to the surveillance screen when a red light began flashing on top of the monitor. He was breathing heavily as he had become aware of the tense situation both above and below. On the screen he witnessed a distressed woman rushing into the building, carrying a small infant, as a covert operations specialist marched in soon following. By this point, he could feel the gusts of wind being generated by the chopper behind him, but he stood there distracted as his mind raced.
Very soon, Alice too barged into the building, looking short on breath. The man now had an expression of puzzlement, seeing someone as young as Alice rushing in to help. This is when the sounds of a rapple followed by a voice behind him drew his attention.
"So you're the red herring who's been eluding us all this time. It's time to return what you stole. We know the artifact is here; we're sure of it."
Blyke was now wearing all the gear he was provided, including his own attire he'd wear during high risk retrieval operations. It was dark, charcoal grey in color but similar to that which the troops were wearing on the ground.
"Hand it over and come quietly," he said, slightly muffled by his head gear. Every word however, was heard clearly.
"All those people down there, is all this death really necessary?" the man responded. "Your people would go this far just to keep your company's secrets?"
Blyke hesitated, showing signs of doubt as he momentarily turned his head in thought, but under his gear, his eyes were unseen.
"Just hand over the chip and this can all be over," he persisted, knowing full well the damage is done.
The man pulled a small case from his pocket, backing up a couple steps while gripping it in his hand. He had only flashed it briefly so Blyke could notice.
"I can't do that," he declared, taking a few steps around his station. He was carefully biding for time. "You seem like a better man than the rest down there," he began hesitantly.
"What makes you so sure?" Blyke interrupted.
The man put his hand out, weary of what might happen next. He took a couple more steps back, still clutching the case tight in the other as he answered, "You haven't pulled your gun on me yet."
"You seem quite adamant," Blyke stated before stepping closer, "And who says I need a weapon?"
Blyke removed the injector from his tool belt, pressing the button on the device which popped the needle out with a snap. As Blyke grew closer, the man continued to back off until he was pinned against the edge.
"Last chance," Blyke said, planting himself a mere few feet away, "Hand over the artifact," he sturnly demanded.
The man's heart was beating fast as he began to sweat, "And let it fall into the wrong hands?"
Blyke cocked his head when given this response.
"I'm sorry, but no," the man proclaimed, shaking his head.
Just as Blyke readied himself to lunge in the injection, the red herring quickly stepped back, allowing himself to fall, with the case, over the edge.